New Students (tag anyone who still wants in)

Kida looked at her hand as Belle patted it. "I hope so" she returned the smile before brushing strands of her white hair away from her eyes.

"So..." Belle tried to think of a lighter topic so get rid of the tension she was feeling. It was the same feeling before a tempest; a cautious vibe. "Anything you want to talk about?"

Kida glanced at Belle. She could tell she was trying to continue the conversation. "So is there anything happening at school in the next few weeks? I saw the hall, it was all decorated for Christmas" she smiled. "We don't celebrate Christmas in Atlantis" she thought aloud before turning to Belle.

"Oh, we're setting up for a Christmas ball," Belle explained. She proceeded to explain how it was a dance for the students and teachers to mingle and dance before stopping. "Christmas is a wonderful, but cold, time on the land. People exchange gifts, everything is all lit...it's," she sighed, "it's magical."

Kida smiled, "it all sounds magical" she murmured. "This year should be interesting. I've never been to the thing you call 'ball' either" Kida mumbled.

Belle thought about her negative experience, but shook it away. Besides, it wasn't all bad. "A ball is a gathering of people to come together. They listen to music, and dance, and wear beautiful clothes." She immediately thought of seeing Kida with her hair in an elegant updo.

Kida looked at Belle, seeing something was wrong, but she decided not to pry. "It's a strange name for a place where you dance and dress up" she chuckled. ""Do you have it every year? It sounds expensive" she said.

"It depends on how much your dress and hair doings cost," Belle replied. "the group back there was talking about going as a group. However traditionally people go as couples. In fact, I was going to Willow's to see what I could do. Or..." she tapped her lip, "make my own dress in the art room."

"Hair doings" she muttered under her breath, as if she would figure out what it meant by saying it. It was hard to understand slang for some languages, especially since she knew every language. But she got the gist of what Belle had meant. "So I can't go like this?" she gestured to her traditional Atlantean outfit and raised an eyebrow at Belle. "You make your own clothing?" she asked, intrigued.

Belle blushed, "Um, sort of," she explained. "I like to take old things that lost their value and make them lovelier than they were before." The Atlantean garb Kida was wearing was nice...just not nice enough to be ball appropriate. So rather than insulting her, Belle said, "Well, it could use something like, perhaps a sprig of fresh white flowers here," she gestured to the shoulder line.

Kida looked to her shoulder line when Belle gestured before glancing at her. "I think I should get some more clothes" she chuckled sheepishly. She glanced back at the other group, "you don't talk to them?" she gestured to the group.

"Well, I do. They're my new friends," Belle nodded to them, "but I saw you sitting here by yourself and wanted to give you a warm welcome."

Kida looked over at her group of new friends before looking at her. She smiled. She wasn't used to polite and nice people. "Thank you, I appreciate it" she smiled again. "So what can you do?" she asked, before waving her hands and making gestures to show she meant powers. "I know Nereids help control the current, correct?" she raised one of her eyebrows questioningly. "Can you do anything else?" she asked, a curious tone to her voice.

"Sort of, it's kinda stubby though," Aladdin replied, grinning at Rapunzel. "It's like any other goat's tail though." Their conversation was soon interrupted when yet another new student walked in. And, much to Aladdin's delight, she was pretty good-looking too. Even though she had white hair like an old person, she still looked pretty good. "'Sup?" he said, smiling at her.

"Besides moving currents?" Belle asked, "well, I can control water - as in create waves, make water bubbles..." To prove her point, Belle focused on a small vase of water. On cue, a small bubble of water floated out, bobbing in the air. "that sort of thing." She let the water bubble return to the vase as she saw Aladdin walk over. "Glad you could join us," Belle nodded. "Kida, this is Aladdin. Aladdin, Kida."

Kida smiled as Belle made a water bubble float out of a vase. "You're lucky to have a talent like that" she said. Kida looked over at the black haired male student who had decided to join them, smiling at her. She was puzzled by his interaction, but turned around to face him, "what do you mean by the word, 'sup'?" she mocked his voice, not meaning to be rude. His hair seemed to capture her attention quickly, it was extremely dark and long for a male. The only person she had seen with hair like that was her uncle, but his was short and tied back. She glanced at Belle when she introduced them. Kida smiled at Aladdin before leaning forward and touching his hair. "How did you get your hair like this? What country are you from?" she asked before realising she was being rude. She sat back down and put her hands in her lap, "sorry" she looked apologetically at him. "Hi" she smiled before looking over at his friends. They all had different colouring. One girl even having extremely long blonde hair.

"You know, 'what's up, what's shakin', how's the weather, that sort of thing," Aladdin replied, laughing. Although he could see that Kida was just teasing. She was awfully curious, touching his hair like it was an exhibit at a museum. "Um...it grew that way?" he said. "I'm from Greece. Why do you ask? Does everyone where you live have white hair like yours?"

"The weather is-" she looked over out the window, "sunny" she noted, not realising what he actually meant. She smiled when he mentioned Greece. She had read of that place, though mostly about the Greek Gods. "Yes. Everyone in Atlantis has white hair, apart from my uncle" She looked at Belle's brown hair. "Your hair colour is interesting" she added in reply to his other question before looking around the class.

Belle glanced at her hair. Brown, the same color as kelp. "You really think so?" She was flattered. Brown hair to her seemed kind of bland. Her sisters had hair ranging from different shades of blonde - hers was the darkest.

Kida nodded. She touched Belle's ponytail, an intrigued expression on her face. She stood up for a moment and moved to sit on her knees on her chair. "So no one else here has white hair?" she asked and lifted up strands of her hair. That surprised her. White was the only hair colour in Atlantis. Other colours didn't exist. It was rare to see someone with dark coloured eyes too. So Belle's and Aladdin's captured her attention easily. But of course she wasn't going to go poking them in the eyes. "Your hair colours match your eyes" she commented and moved closer to look at the colour of Belle's eyes. She then looked at Aladdin's before resting her elbow on the table with her chin in her palms. "Sorry" she sighed, "I'm acting like a child, aren't I?" she slightly laughed before playing with a rather long chunk of hair in her fringe. She blew her hair away from her eyes before glancing at the other two students again.

"To answer your question, one of the teachers has white hair," Belle pointed out, referencing Jack that day he taught. "But he's not Atlantean." Belle's eyes, which normally were a muddy brown, changed color on different days; green, hazel, and brown were the most common - Belle's eyes only turned blue when she was angered. "It's all right, Kida. I acted the same way when I first came on land."

Aladdin had to laugh a little bit. It looked Kida was a bit naive when it came to things like modern language. But that would probably change once she spent some time here. Plus, it seemed like Belle was willing to help her out, which was always good. Aladdin knew some satyrs back home that still talked like they were in an epic poem of some sort. It always made Aladdin's head spin a little.

"So.." Belle wrote Kida's name on the 'lighting designer' blank. "maybe the Atlantean lighting would fit the mood of the old forest better." She thought about the Unseelie in her art class; perhaps she would find them satirizing her uncle amusing...or maybe not. She glanced at the clock before aksing Aladdin, "So...when do you think this class wil get out? Is it me, or is it taking longer?"

Kida's brow furrowed in thought. "So, does that mean he's old then?" she asked. She had only ever known of elderly people with white hair, aside from the Atlanteans. She looked at Aladdin as he laughed, wondering what was funny before looking at Belle when she asked Aladdin when the class finished. For her, it had only just started, since she was late. She glanced up at the clock and stared at it for a moment, trying to read it, since she was used to Atlantean symbols, numbers and letters.

"He looks young," Belle replied, answering Kida's question. "But I'm sure he's several hundred - or thousand, years old."