l'Académie: The Huntington Academy

The Academy

Amid the breathtaking flora and fauna-painted hills of the French countryside rests the illustrious The Academy. Born amid a world plagued with fear and hatred toward that which it does not understand, the Huntington Academy resides as a safe haven for those facing the full extent of social discrimination. Originally established to house those bred from aristocratic lineage or possessing talents beyond human capability, the preparatory school has steadily grown into an internationally acclaimed source of unrivaled academic and social mastery for the world’s future generation.

Funded exclusively by the Hellfire Club’s White Queen (Valerie Huntington), the school’s business dealings have proved entirely legal and clean, raising eyebrows among the international community who have grown accustomed to the First Lady of Fashion’s morally ambiguous behavior. In several interviews the glamorous socialite has spoken on her innate desire to create a home for those facing social excommunication during the world’s modern Civil Rights Movement. Her involvement in the Hellfire Club being reduced to that of managing the business aspect of the establishment, the White Queen has refocused her attention on pouring her vast wealth and extensive social connections into cementing the Huntington Academy as a place for mutants and other metahumans alike to discover and refine their gifts while simultaneously acquiring a premier education on scholastic topics as well as social etiquette.

The Huntington Mansion

Constructed several miles outside Bordeaux, France, within the tranquil remoteness of the country's magnificent landscape, the school boasts inspired exterior and interior architecture. Signifying old wealth and modern opulence, Valerie spared no expenses on supplying the academy with the most decadent of amenities and décor; displaying pieces of art and artifacts of singular existence and priceless value, collected over generations of unrivaled affluence and nobility.

Redesigned to accommodate its expansive amount of students and staff, numerous rooms have been added to the Huntington Mansion to serve as classrooms, dormitories, etc. Equipped with a formal dining hall and lavish living quarters, the mansion provides every service found in an affluent household for its residents. Amid the many hallways a common rooms exists for the student to enjoy during leisure hours, as well as a lecture hall that holds the entire academy for formal announcements and other meetings.

Beneath the ground floor of the academy lies the training facilities for those students with superhuman capabilities. Built with the finest technological capabilities money can buy, the main features within the training facility is the Danger Room and Cerveau. This is also where an aircraft carrier holds the academy’s sleek black jet, designed with unrivaled technological features allowing it to fly faster and stealthier than typical jet models. It also possesses an ‘invisibility’ feature, allowing its exterior paneling to reflect light with a push of a button and cause the entire jet to appear as nothing but a wrinkle in the air, even to an acute eye.

The Grounds

The landscape on which the Huntington Mansion resides is carefully manicured and immaculately maintained. From the front of the school a magnificent driveway painted with vibrant flowerbeds welcome the mansion’s guests, while the majority of the grounds exist behind the mansion. Several sporting arenas allow students to partake in athletic activities of their choice, while a massive pool is open for free use during daylight hours. A greenhouse filled with rare and exotic specifies of plants and flowers is carefully tended by the school’s team of internationally respected botanists, and is open to viewing by the students as well as used for academic purposes.

The students are free to roam within the academy’s perimeters, which include the front and back grounds as well as a crystalline lake located nearby, during daylight hours. After sunset the security drones prevent all students from leaving the walls of the mansion without permission from a teacher.

The Library

Taking up an entire wing of the mansion, a massive library provides an accumulation of texts from every date and subject one could desire. Collected from generation of Huntingtons and Delacours, the study is even visited those not enrolled or employed by the academy simply due to its unrivaled contents. Journals from past monarchs and sovereigns reside within the library’s shelves, found exclusively within the Huntington Mansion after being passed down for centuries. The expansive study itself overlooks picturesque views of France’s natural beauty through floor-to-ceiling glass windows, optimal for a tranquil research environment when paired with the abundance of plush seating arrangements for those looking to escape within the library.

Hidden within the library and accessible only to staff is a collection of knowledge on genetics, black magic, and other potentially dangerous subjects. The existence of these texts are unknown to the outside world, and heavily guarded by the academy’s security system (see below).

Danger Room

Overlooked by a control center resting above the training floor, the Danger Room provides a realistic simulation for any situation one can imagine. Equipped with flamethrowers, razors blades, traps, robots, etc., the Danger Room presents its challengers with a specially designed training course to refine whatever aspect of their super abilities or other combat element they choose. However its most stimulating feature is its holographic capabilities. Able to morph and change into any location it’s programmed with, the Danger Room transports its users into the exact scenario of choice, making its training exercises as close to realistic situations as technologically possible.

Extremely durable and technologically advanced, the Danger Room is able to reprogram itself after every training course, automatically repairing itself from all but the most destructive of attacks.

Cerveau

Housed within a dome-like structure to enhance brainwaves, Cerveau is a technology designed by the White Queen herself to magnify her omega-level telepathic powers to godlike levels. Already capable of stretching her mind global distances, Cerveau allows the beautiful headmistress to refine her long-distance searches to locate and manipulate the minds of those across the globe as though they were standing right beside her. Constructed as a helmet-like object, Cerveau is linked to a massive database that instantly records all information obtained from its user, from the thoughts and memories of others to the minds of those it has touched, making finding previously discovered minds effortless. Currently Cerveau is programmed to work alongside only Valerie’s mental signature.

Security

The mansion’s entire technological programming is designed to fight against intruders. Top-tier security installments allow for instant recognition of unwarranted visitors, downloading their genetic blueprint and responding with a defensive mechanism designed to exploit the attacker’s personal weaknesses. This technology, found throughout the mansion, is the same used in the Danger Room, allowing the building to live as an almost conscious entity capable of activating a number of turrets, lazers, robots, etc. found throughout the mansion in the case of intrusion. These mechanisms are primarily enforced by extremely durable security drones that constantly roam the grounds, capable of implementing a variety of attacks to neutralize their targets. The security system also telepathically alerts its headmistress of any intruders, allowing her to execute any personal defensive strategies.

The entire grounds are protected by a combination of mental, mystic, and technological barriers, making its location impossible to discover as well as deterring any attempted assaults from outside.

RULES:

• Standard CV rules (No godmodding, specifically).
• Unless you’re a potential student/faculty member/ally, do not enter the mansion without permission. If you want to attack PM me your idea first. The mansion’s exact location is not common knowledge.
• Sell the security, they’re dangerous and nearly impossible to destroy.
• Message me if you'd like to become a student, staff member, or want to do anything else with the school.
• Send all PMs/questions to Valerie Huntington.
• Enjoy

AMAZING

Hurrrmmm

Nice!

@the_puzzler: Let's hope this works better than the X-Academy :P

I always like these school types. Good luck on the roster.

Seems the Vine Titans aren't gonna be the only young heroes quote/unquote team running around.

Nice :-)

Are the Vine Titans even doing anything? CPG is back, back I aint seen much IC action.

OP is tight

@myrmidon_:

Because we are still talking in a PM on whether we want it to be the Vine Titans or something new. Rome wasn't built in a day xP

@_tails_: That PM's been going for like 5 months and nothing has happened yet lol :P

As soon as I organize everyone who has joined/wants to join I'll set up a roster of students and staff.

@myrmidon_:

The PM was made like last week, so I think you and I are talking about something different :P

@_tails_: Oh, I thought you meant the ongoing PM. Looks like I was not added to the current one XP (And rightly so, I'd be useless) but there is a current Vine Titans PM going around which is just "there" lol

I always found the "Vine" whatever titles to be a bit...meta...

@myrmidon_: Okay :P

@the_ghostly_girl:

I'm trying to convince CPG on a new name :s

Why? We call our Solar System the Solar System. So in the vine, they may call it the Vine Universe for no apparent reason >.> lol

@_tails_: I just checked, you aint in the old one, I'll add you and show you what I meant lol

@myrmidon_: We named it the Solar System because the Romans called the Sun Sol and things of the sun Solar.

Given humanity's innate ego-centricism, we'd likely call our universe the "Alpha" or "First" or "Prime" or "Primal" universe or some other way of centralizing our place in the cosmos if we knew there were other universes.

I minored in sociology. I know this stuff.

@the_ghostly_girl: I've never of our Solar System be refereed to as Alpha or First lol And I'm not talking about universes, I'm talking about Solar Systems (and we name other ones) so calling this solar system Vine or whatever is plausible, it's fiction :P

Beautiful OP :)

@myrmidon_: Rewriting the Latin language or Rome's influence on the western world likely requires the COE's involvement. And it's a rather strange form of leaning on the fourth wall that isn't necessary.

We also use Sol because the Romans are kind of a huge deal for the west culturally speaking. I'd say that overall, the Roman Empire was at *least* as Important for Western Europe's cultural identity as Christianity.

It's not hard to call them the "Omega Titans" or "Ultra-titans".

I agree there :P

+1

@valerie_huntington: Limit.

That works perfectly.

@the_puzzler: Ok give me some time and I'll put up a post.

@the_puzzlerA pair of striking butterflies danced through the clear blue skies that hovered magnificently over the decadent academy grounds, flapping toward and away from each other in an inconsistent pattern understood only to them. Valerie watched them grow increasingly obsolete until their tango took them into the sun's light and out of her line of sight, forcing her to return her attention to the chess board in front of her. Resting on a understated wrought iron table beside the mansion's expansive pool, which shimmered in bursts of restless light against the warm afternoon sunlight, the immaculately hand-crafted chess set had been decided on as the place of meeting between Valerie and her recent protege. Freshly enrolled in the Huntington Academy, she knew little about Mr. Lance other than what was put on paper during his application for the illustrious school. Accepted based off his remarkable psychic abilities, not unlike the school's own headmistress, Valerie was helpless against her innate curiosity toward just how potent his telepathic talents were. As requested by the student himself, the White Queen had agreed to take him under her experienced wing, prepared to allow him glimpses into her thoroughly refined telepathic prowess.

With one callous movement she knocked over a black pawn with the white queen piece, showing a malevolent amount of interest in her game with herself as she awaited her student's arrival for his first private lesson.

@valerie_huntington: Everything was checked off on the wardrobe. Ripped jeans, "DARK STARK LIES" t-shirt and his old dress coat, this was the style of the infamous teen menace, the rebel, Spiller B Lancer. The pink haired puzzle kicked his dorm room door open and waltzed out, the noise of punk rock flooding the halls from his room, causing the annoyance of his peers. He pushed up his shaded glasses while checking out the local flavor, of course the girls simply scoffed at his rebellious behavior.

Second day here, and it was already time to meet the ice queen. It was no secret that the headmistress was somewhat of a champion in the mental mutation community, her powers were said to be the best. But of course, Spiller scoffed at these words for he assumed that he boasted a chance of some kind, maybe he did beyond his own arrogance.

That black pawn piece glowed with a tinge of pink for only a moment, before springing back up to a stand. "Risky business, using the most valuable piece to do a pawns job.." Spiller barbed while grinning, that arrogant grin. The teen took a seat across from the headmistress leaning back and letting out an obnoxious yawn. "So today's the day then yeah? Where either you learn that I got what it takes, or I learn you got game.."

@the_puzzler: Her brows lifted in haughty disbelief as Mr. Lancer approached her. While the academy primarily maintained a student body of aristocratic offspring, it was accepted that youth enrolled due to their remarkable superhuman abilities may be of lower income origins. However what she saw in the pink-haired telepath was utterly appalling.

Maintaining a cool exterior, even after his out of place comment, Valerie simply folded her legs and rested her icy gaze upon the troubled teen. "With age you'll learn, among many other things, that getting something done without error often require doing it yourself," she explained with frigid formality before transitioning into the regulations of her tutelage. "I must say Mr. Lancer, your clear disregard for the standards of a school I have graciously allowed you to attend shows a disappointing lack of etiquette and, more importantly, respect," she said with patronizing coldness, reaching into the Chanel shoulder bag hung on her chair to place a cigarette between her lips before lighting the end and blowing out a fume of delicate smoke. "However you will learn respect, and humiliation will be your teacher."

"As far as 'learning you got what it takes' goes, why don't you show me what it is you do have, Mr. Lancer? Because so far, I'm unimpressed," she taunted, leaning back in her seat with another inhale of smoke before turning her chin up to him in a notion of graceful arrogance, waves of superiority undulating off her supple figure. Her mind had already hardened in preparation for whatever the psychic student threw her way, the blonde beauty fully confident in her prodigious mental prowess.

How come I didn't see this before! Brilliant OP.

@valerie_huntington: "UNIMPRE-!? Grrr..." Spiller was instantly nerve stricken by her comment, having not faced a telepathic foe directly as of yet. As part of his mutation, his natural pink hair flared brightly along with his eyes, an odd silence surrounding the boy. And just like that, his telepathy advanced forwards towards it's target. It was like the beaches of Normandy, her mind. But this didn't stop Lancer's complex and puzzling reach advancing towards the mind.

First of, was this amazing defense. Instead of attempting to simply bash it down with focus, the telepathy of Spiller's psyche was so fine, it attempted to slither through the seams like water. "I have you now, headmistress!" Spiller's voice echoed on the utmost outer layer of the defense, though his mouth kept shut.

I Love the OP!

@_cain_: @atrocity_: Thank you both :)

@the_puzzler: His approach was uncommon, but not unheard of, and certainly not unfamiliar to the academy's meticulously-trained Headmistress. She could feel his mental presence creeping over her with an annoying, but not entirely sensational, liquid quality, attempting to breach her mental fortress as a gentle flood would. His methods were impressive for a telepath of his youth, but easily held at a controlled distance from her psychic walls.

Even more than her omega-level psychic potential and years of comprehensive experience, Valerie's innate ability to utilize every aspect of her telepathic abilities had always been what allowed her to remain the word's foremost mental matriarch. Attacking and defending, manipulating and destroying, controlling and deceiving; she managed to conquer every opponent she had faced on the mental battlefield through exercising telepathic feats unseen before her, using her abilities as an extension of herself rather than an ability to be forcefully harnessed. She battled with power and finesse, executing an unparalleled balance of strength and grace with her every strike.

"Sloppy choice, Mr. Lancer," she scolded within his mind. Deciding to teach as she battled him within the confines of their minds, she swiftly showed him the error of his tactic. The plane of their engaged minds was a battlefield, capable of creating and destroying a variety of psychically constructed means of attacks or defenses to be utilized at their creator's will. Just as Mr. Lancer manifested his mental presence as a creeping liquid in attempt to invade her psychic barriers, Valerie formed hers into an electric rod, dipping the psychic construct into his liquid conscious with the potential of sending the electricity straight back to the center of his mind in a painful counter to his advances.

Lies! Myrmidon managed to resist the White Witch :P

If I recall correctly, someone(you) never took their turn in that. Victory by forfeit :D

LMAO.

@connoisseur: Don't encourage that!

@valerie_huntington: Hey! I offered to continue, you just ignored the offer....Proof ...So technically I win by default! :P

This never works.

@valerie_huntington: >.>

@connoisseur: Thank Narnia for that alias lol XP

@valerie_huntington: "G-G!" Spiller cringed psychically, the mental electric backlash was indeed scolding. It was a foolish approach, not giving his all right of the start. He shut his eyes and dealt with this shocking issue, freezing the constructed pink water into solid ice. While hers was a palace, Spiller's mind was the train tunnels of mind bunkers, a mental Blitzkrieg situation.

That ice, was not finished. For the mental electricity Val had dipped was now trapped..Right near pockets of concentrated TP energy, water mines. These detonated without a moment's notice, blasting all around the mental connection that was supposed to be Val's defense method.

From the wrecked and explosively battered ice, a pink mental fog flew out and up, continuing the breach attempt right towards her recent memories.

@myrmidon_: LOL. What's with the Star Wars av?

@connoisseur: Felt like I needed a character change and making Myrmidon more Sith-Themed felt fun.

@connoisseur: I'm watching you ;P

@myrmidon_: Nope, it was your responsibility to defend yourself and you failed.

<-- Winner (that's to me in case you were confused) :)

@valerie_huntington: Alright, you win. But now I've got an excuse to go vendetta and blow this school up :P

@valerie_huntington: Ha! Guess I'll have to tiptoe now ;)

@myrmidon_: Never thought you were a Star Wars haha. So what, he's got new powers or?