From the time that she had come to live at Phalanx House, a transplant all the way from San Francisco, Cora had made herself right at home. There had been changes recently, more and more students coming to Phalanx meant that rooms had to be shared instead of single occupancy, and the whole thing had made some of the residents a little… twitchy. For her, it was a pretty good situation; she had found herself roomed with her best friend, and since both of them were perpetually early risers who understood the need for personal space and communication, well, they weren’t having problems. By now, she felt that she was a pretty integral part at Phalanx Home, and she was definitely the type of person to try to help others find a home here the way that she had.

This was exactly why Cora found herself practically bouncing down the stairs. She had heard that there was a new resident coming to Phalanx, a young one from the sound of it, and she wanted to reach out the way she did with most of the newer kids. The memory of what it had been like to find out that she was gifted, that she could do things that nobody was supposed to be able to do was ingrained on every spare inch of her mind that wasn’t already reeling on a daily basis. The first time that she had stepped foot inside this house, she had wanted someone, anyone, to give her any kind of guidance or reassurance, and while she had gotten that on some level, it would have been nice for someone her age, who had a little more of a recent experience with the terror that this kind of thing could hold, had come her way. So she had made herself the unofficial welcoming committee of Phalanx House.

Humming under her breath, the way she always did when she was a little on the nervous side, Cora made her way into the main lobby. She was looking for a very specific type of person; someone who was wide-eyed and looked afraid. Someone who looked overwhelmed. She had seen the same look on a lot of faces in the past, at least when they weren’t coming directly from Monroeville, and it was pretty easy to pick him out. Well, between that and the fact that they were the only two people in the lobby.

He spoke first, and his timid voice resulted in a comforting and warm smile on her end. When she was meeting people who were new to Phalanx, or new to their world in general, she tried to turn down her own energy level. For people who were already overwhelmed, she had a feeling that would be a little much. “The one and only!” Reaching up, she pulled her blue hair over one shoulder. “And you’re Ezra. At least I hope you are, otherwise I’ve been seriously slacking.” It wasn’t a question, she had made sure to find out his name before meeting up with him. Ezra Davies. Jaxon and Eliot’s brother. She hadn’t heard the details of their pasts, not wanting to pry too far or dig too deep into something that they might not want to divulge to other people. She dropped down into the chair next to his and crossed her legs at the ankle, turning slightly so she was facing him.

His confusion was natural, she had felt all of that and more when she had first learned about her ability. The only benefit was that she had a mother who had explained everything to her, before shipping her off to Phalanx because unlike her mother, she had no idea how to control her power, and none of her mother’s methods were working for her. The fact that she could still be in San Francisco right now if they had was not something that she really wanted to think about. Over the past three years or so, she had fallen in love with New Orleans and Phalanx House, and she had made some of the best friends that she had ever hoped to have. “Oh yeah. And it was terrifying the first time it happened.” She took a breath, clearing her mind, before feeling the familiar swooping feeling in her stomach that always accompanied her power. It was like catching the top layer of your nail on something sharp, containing all the discomfort of something that was dangerously close to actual injury. Holding out her hand in front of her, she sent a vine shaped, black shadow wrapping around her wrist and forearm, before letting it dissipate altogether.

Using her power was never fun, but Cora knew that sometimes it helped the newer kids coming in to see that there were those who were like them, people who had abilities that they didn’t totally understand. Even that little jolt of her own power had set something in her mind on edge, had set everything slightly off kilter. But she shoved the feeling down, leaning forward slightly and resting both of her arms on the chair arm. “They call me a shadow manipulator. My family figured out what was going on when I literally encased myself in a cube of… mostly solid darkness. Bit of a shock for them.” She tilted her head to the side. “Since you’re here, I’m assuming you can too. Am I right?”