Starting school anywhere new was always going to be rough for people, particularly if it represented major changes from what was experienced prior to going to school. For Liao that came from some of the abuses that she'd experienced before essentially being adopted by Tuxing, which created a sort of push and pull in that Tuxing had been double dosed and in terms of her actual age, was YOUNGER than Liao. Though, mentally, Tuxing had actually been the more mature of the two and that had played well into her double dosing and the sort of stand in for a mother that privately Liao did like. It also let her focus on her own training and training with Tuxing, and she was even able to show Tuxing some weapons training that Tuxing didn't have.
But then Heiya Island completed its own school and established it as a sort of prep school like those in Japan. On the surface it made sense given that Heiya Island, while open as a spot where China and Japan could have more direct communications and try to work through things that still went on between Japan and China over World War 2, it was still part of Japan. Thus the school's operation would be Japanese in its base style, though there were teachers that were good with other languages and having some knowledge on other cultures, which when Samurai Prep was announced as the new school made sense. But Liao really didn't want to go, she would have preferred to stay in training with the Five Elements, since they didn't have to. And in some ways displaying a personality that wasn't too different from Muxing, Liao wasn't that keen going, but she was enrolled and then stuffed into a uniform that fit in with a lot of Japanese schools, thankfully it wasn't a sexed up version of them.
"Whoever thought over this was dumb," Liao thought to herself as she made her way in and found a fairly decent crowd forming to enter the building.
Most of them had come from some of the various people that had been rescued by Interpol and brought to Heiya Island as a safe haven while then trying to find family and others that would care for them, and provide counseling for those that needed help otherwise. Some had seemed okay, though there were others that the counseling was only making slow progress, though some of those that had made the most progress had also become Animalians themselves. Liao shuffled the papers she was supposed to present and then moved into one of the lines that was forming in the hope that things wouldn't go too poorly. There wasn't too much to start with and Liao joined the line. It wasn't too long before she felt a small tap on her shoulder.
Liao looked over her shoulder to see a rather small and meek teen of Indian ancestry. The girl was still Human, but wasn't showing some of the signs that had been problematic with some of the other teens that had been rescued, and that was a relief. But the girl was also meek and nervous looking as she looked up to Liao. She opened her mouth to say something... but nothing came out and this left Liao a little bit perplexed by all this. Eventually she decided to speak on her own to figure out why she'd been tapped on the shoulder.
"Hello," Liao said slowly and in as soft a voice as she could muster, though some of her lingering irritation at having to go to school and potentially making up some years was still there, "was there something you needed?"
The girl opened her mouth, but then fell silent and backed away for a moment. By this point the teachers were coming out to call in the various students in the lines, which came to the line Liao was in fairly quickly having to go in order with the students ahead of her. She sighed and then moved on.
"I gotta get going," Liao said slowly and then moved on.
She passed the papers she had to the teachers that were present and was then given instructions to a locker number and then directions on where to go, which turned out to be a large open gym room that had a lot of large folding tables set up across the floor with a few members of the staff standing at various points. A lot of this fit with what Liao expected in that because so many of the girls were rescued from various places, it would be hard to place them into specific grades without knowing where they were. There was a method to it that Liao understood and respected, but that didn't change that Liao didn't like it. But she wasn't able to get out of it and thus took a seat at one of the tables that one of the present staff directed her to. Most of the people there were already Animalians, though only single dosed. One was a Guinea Pig Animalian who looked up as Liao sat down.
"Hey... you're one of the Elements, right, Tuxing? Isn't it?" the Guinea Pig Animalian asked in a cheerful voice, though her Chinese carried a heavy accent that sounded like it was from Vietnam or Laos.
"I am Liao," Liao answered, "Tuxing is more an adopted mentor."
"Not sisters?" the Guinea Pig Animalian asked.
"No," Liao answered, "and I'm actually OLDER than Tuxing... but she and her sisters got double dosed and I didn't."
"That sounds rough," the Guinea Pig Animalian answered as she moved some of her hair around while they were waiting for the tests to be administered, "but I was only single dosed too. I was diagnosed with Covid when they rescued me and was converted as a means to prevent it from killing me... and it helped with some of the other stuff too... though, there are some things that are a bit hazy and I need to talk with the therapists to work through that. But I'm making good progress. You can call me GP."
"GP?" Liao asked.
"For Guinea Pig," the Guinea Pig Animalian answered, "it works better than trying to figure out my actual name. The bad guys did a number on me there."
Liao was quiet on that, though it wasn't long before GP turned to the next person coming up to join them at the table, which turned out to be the same meek girl that had tapped Liao's shoulder outside.
"Hi, Indira, you're assigned to our testing table too?" GP asked.
"You know her name?" Liao asked to GP and then watched as the meek girl, Indira, sat down.
"Yeah, we were rescued together... though she'd only just been captured when we were rescued, so there was some trauma," GP said, "the bad guys did some really bad things and that's left her rather nervous and frightened over things. Particularly if one uses a harsh tone of voice or anything that would sound aggressive."
That got Liao to sigh and guessed that some of her irritation at having to attend school again and potentially being put back a grade or two had been taken the wrong way. She wanted to apologize, but it was by this point that the instructors began passing out the tests that would be required for the school to then assign their grades and thus no further talking was permitted. It proved to be a fairly standardized test and was multiple choice, which in theory wasn't necessarily the most reliable system, but given on how many tests they were having to administer on the first day just to figure out what grades they would fit in with, it was likely the most efficient system they could use. Liao kept her focus on her test and focused on the questions and selected answers with every intent they wouldn't have to send her back a grade.
It took about an hour to get through the tests, and once the last was handed in, everyone was tasked to return to the tables and wait. The staff would then begin running the tests through the scanners that had been brought in solely for the assigning of students to their grades and thus classes. There was a lot to go through and Liao was pretty sure this would also take some time, but as the sounds of some conversation reached Liao's ears, she took the opportunity to try and apologize if she sounded to "fierce" for Indira earlier in the morning. The girl almost jumped in surprise when Liao rested one paw like hand on her shoulder.
"Easy... I'm not going to hurt you," Liao said softly, "I want to apologize if I sounded rough or irritated earlier. In some ways I was irritated, but not at you or anyone else here. I didn't mean to scare you."
"What were you irritated at?" GP asked from across the table.
"Mostly that I had to come here... and had to wear a uniform that looks like it's out of some anime," Liao answered, "I mean... I'm OLDER than Tuxing and she doesn't have to come here because she was double dosed."
"But I like school," came a meek voice from Indira, making Liao turn to her.
"I was going to be a scientist... a biologist and work with the teams working to save the Tiger and Guar in India," Indira said weakly, "and help find a way to save so many wonderful creatures from going extinct... until the bad men... until..."
She began to sniffle a little bit, making Liao wonder if she was still dealing with some form of post-traumatic stress.
"You could still be all that," GP said cheerily, "and the Animalians have seemed to do fairly well with regard to things like education."
Liao couldn't disagree there. From what she'd found there had been some issues when WSA was founded in Lyre, largely because it was decided to move ALL Animalian students from the Lyre School District into WSA, which essentially put the Lyre School District at a point where it was too small to keep the school open and it would actually be cheaper to bus students from Lyre to another down at a more central location in that county, particularly while Human students weren't allowed into WSA. However, a lot of that decision had been made more because of the size differences between Humans and Animalians and WSA changed that policy in the space of a year and integrated the Lyre School District into WSA and thus saving on the travel issues for Human students in Lyre. Academically, there had been problems that Liao had found. In this, Liao saw no reason for Samurai Prep to not have a problem with the quality of its education.
"I agree with GP," Liao said to Indira, "don't let my irritation stop you from reaching for your dreams. As my concerns weren't at aimed against you. I... I suppose, in my own way, I wanted to be able to step up work with the martial arts field and be to then provide protection for Animalians, Heiya Island and the innocent. So that you wouldn't ever have to face what happened to you again."
"But wouldn't you want a friend?" Indira asked.
"Friends are good," GP agreed.
That actually made Liao blink as she thought back on it. While she was confident in herself and wasn't averse to winning someone's attention, she had also poured so much of herself into her own training that she really hadn't found many that would be truly friends outside of the elements themselves. But she also recognized that they had their own lives, Shuixing was married now, Huoxing had a man that she was seeing from time to time, Jinxing was actually taking part time lessons from some of the Interpol agents in computer analysis, Muxing had befriended and was teaching a different victim of one of these groups some of her own style, even if the new friend had become a different species of snake from Muxing. Tuxing seemed to be on good terms with some of the other masters that headed the martial arts schools on Heiya Island. Liao hadn't gotten anything like that.
"I... I hadn't thought about it," Liao managed after a moment.
"It'll be fun," GP stated, "we can all hang out, talk about cute boys, and you could show us some martial arts moves."
"Or maybe just talk about our day and be kind," Indira offered, "it's what my old school was like."
"That too!" GP smiled.
Liao nodded a bit, but couldn't too much more as the staff began moving about and that drew her attention. She gave one glance to one of the wall mounted clocks and noted it'd been about forty-five minutes since the tests had all been turned in, which meant that the school staff were starting to go over the results and write out where the assignments would be. GP and Indira both noted Liao's attention and sort of sat quietly.
"So what are they up to?" GP wondered filling he silence after a few moments and looking back to Liao and Indira.
"I would imagine they're looking over the results and figuring to which grades and classes we would be assigned to," Liao answered, "things that most schools would do and arrange toward the end of one school year and over the summer before the next."
"Hopefully they keep us together," Indira said weakly, "I wouldn't want to be alone..."
And ultimately they weren't. They were assigned to the same class and Liao wasn't set back a full year, which kept them all together. Some of it Liao attributed to the nature of the testing process, but at the same time, she also found that GP was actually far smarter than she let on. It made her wonder if GP had a name that and a G or a P at the start of the family or individual name and was playing to that as something fun, in a way similar to Huoxing in some ways. Most of the day was set up in arranging classes and the schedules and that gave Liao more time to learn more about GP and Indira. By the end of the day, Liao actually felt pleased with things and gave both a friendly chuff and a nuzzle.
"So... what were you wanting to ask me this morning?" Liao asked, "if I may be curious."
"I was curious if you were among those that the bad men kidnapped," Indira said weakly, "if you became a Tiger Animalian to be strong..."
"Well, part of my conversion was to be strong," Liao answered, "but I wasn't among the group that you were in... but I wouldn't mind being your friend."
Indira smiled at that.