The twelve teenagers step off of the plane into the Houston airport; all sore from the twenty hour flight from Alternia, a small country off the coast of Australia. When the princess, Feferi Peixes, was forced to abandon her country due to her life being in danger because of political unrest, she had decided to take her eleven friends with her. Alternia was a country stuck in the past, still ruled by kings and queens. The Peixes family reigned over most of the country, while the Ampora family reigned over a lesser portion. While Feferi was the princess of the Peixes family, Eridan Ampora was the prince of the Ampora family.
Gamzee Makara, a tall, lanky boy wearing ridiculous face paint, was the first to speak. "Wow... This party's bitchtits wicked yo... just look at all of these freaky motherfuckers!" he exclaimed as a very overweight woman wearing much less than she should passed the baffled group. Remembering his family, he pulled out his phone and texted his father that he had arrived just fine. Even though his father was busy subjuggulating a lot, he really did care about his son. His father is the head of the Subjuggulators, the law enforcement of Alternia.
It wasn't long, however, until the group erupted into a cacophony of chatter. Only bits and pieces were audible over the din of the airport at midday, so herding the group became a difficult task.
"Oh this is so EXCITING!" Feferi squealed, "I can't wait to explore and meet all of the new people here!" She rushed around, trying to get a glimpse of everything in the foreign airport; acting like anything but a princess.
"Fef, these people here don't deserve to get to know you. You are so much better than them," Eridan commented proudly, strutting around with his head held high. Karkat punched him on the shoulder. "Ow! What was that for Kar?" he asked.
"Being a fucking pompous hipster as always," Karkat replied scathingly. Eridan stood up tall, looking down on Karkat.
"You know Kar, your dad wouldn't like you punchin royalty like that." He smirked, thinking that he had something on Karkat.
"Just because my dad is a preacher doesn't mean he thinks you are so much better than everyone else. Where would you get that idea anyway? He fucking preaches about equality and shit like that," Karkat said loudly as he sped up so he wouldn't be walking by Eridan. Karkat got quite a few angry looks from the people nearby for his constant use of profanity, but he was used to it.
They eventually made their way to baggage claim and retrieved their suitcases. Equius Zahhak, the Royal Guard in training, took care of lugging all of their bags off the belt, showcasing his impossible strength. He wore his broken glasses as straight on his nose as he could get them, and he didn't smile much because of his crooked teeth, so many incorrect first impressions were given in the next few days.
While Equius was busy retrieving bags, Vriska amused herself by participating in a quick round of High-Stakes Blackjack with a few strangers. She giggled, proud of her quick victory and that she was upholding her father's legacy of champion gambler.
As the cluster of teenagers walked to the buses outside of the airport, Terezi Pyrope, daughter of the legendary Legislacerator of Alternia, pulled out her phone and quickly replied to one of her online role-playing buddies. Stuffing the phone back into her pocket, she turned her blind gaze to Kanaya Maryam, who was scolding Vriska for gambling so quickly after they arrived in the new country.
"Really, what were you thinking? You should not have done that without knowing more about their culture. No one has any idea what people here find offensive. Please mind yourself better in the future, Vriska," Kanaya finished, allowing her motherly rant to end. She was, after all, the daughter of the Royal Midwife, and she had quite the maternal streak.
"Oh, shut up Kanaya. I could care less what you think. And anyway, I didn't take a risk there. I only mimicked what they did and said. At least I am smart about interacting with these people," she exclaimed, making a contemptuous gesture towards Nepeta Leijon, who was making an absolute fool of herself fawning over a young couples' cat.
"Oooh! She is just so cute! May I- huh?" Nepeta squeaked as Equius tapped her shoulder.
"Nepeta, I do believe it is time to board the bus. Although I do understand your STRONG love for cats, I believe it would be advisable to proceed quickly out of the airport," Equius said in a quiet voice.
"Okay Equius! Just lead the way!" she chirped as she turned away from the flustered young couple and the violated looking cat.
Nepeta adjusted her cat ears she had received from her parents as a going away present and continued walking, her blue cat's tail dragging slightly on the ground. From inside her oversized green jacket she drew a photo of her family standing outside of their pet shop. She purred and stowed the crumpled sheet of paper in her pocket.
Her head snapped to the side in surprise as Sollux Captor frantically made a dash back to baggage claim, his red-and-blue glasses bouncing on his face. "Crap! My computer!" he huffed as sprinted towards the belt making a loop through the open room. Frantically chasing a black messenger bag, he snatched it from the moving black plastic right before it disappeared behind the dark flaps hiding the mechanics and conveyor belts of the baggage claim. "I almost forgot it!" He gasped as he caught back up with the group. His father would have had a fit if he had lost his computer. His father was a hacker employed by the Peixes Family, so Sollux knew a lot about hacking and programming.
Finally the teenagers began to board the bus which would take them to their new home, Crocker Apartments, where they would be staying indefinitely.
All was going smoothly until Tavros Nitram rolled up in his wheelchair to the bus. "Excuse me, sir? Would you... uh... happen to have a handicap lift?" Tavros asked the bus driver quietly.
"As it so happens, we do!" the bus driver exclaimed as he led Tavros over to the lift and got him situated in the back of the bus. "I... I'm really sorry I caused you trouble, sir..." Tavros said, looking down at his immobile legs. Even being the son of a public speaker who was very outspoken against bullying and promoted high self-esteem, he had a lot of confidence issues due to teasing about his legs and his father's so called 'lame' occupation.
"Really, it was no trouble at all!" the bus driver said as he closed the doors on the bus and sent it rolling.
Aradia Megido sat silently next to Feferi, hoping she wouldn't be asked to do anything for the royal bitch. Aradia sighed. Well, she didn't really think Feferi was that bad, it was just she was born into being Feferi's handmaid, and it was not what she wanted to be doing with her life. "What's wrong?" Sollux lisped when he heard Aradia sigh.
"Oh nothing," Aradia replied hollowly. Nobody knew that she wasn't content with her place, as it was supposedly a very sought after job.
About thirty minutes later, the bus arrived at their destination. The twelve gathered their luggage and filed off of the bus, eager to see where they would be staying from now on. The apartment building was six stories tall and fairly extravagant. "This will do," Kanaya stated before gracefully heading towards the entrance to the building. The others followed her through the rotating door into the lobby.
"Uh… What rooms are we staying in again?" Tavros queried, twisting his fingers nervously and hoping he didn't get placed in a room with Eridan.
"One second," Karkat said as he pulled the papers explaining everything out of his backpack. "Eridan and Sollux are staying in room 200-"
"Ugh are you kidding me!" Sollux interrupted, "I seriously have to put up with this douche as a roommate?"
"You must be fuckin jokin Kar," Eridan said at the same time.
"No I'm not 'fuckin jokin', you two are going to be roommates," Karkat replied angrily, "Now where was I. Tavros and Gamzee, you two are roommates."
"That is motherfuckin awesome isn't it Tavbro," Gamzee said.
"I guess so…" Tavros murmured.
"The other pairs are me and Equius, Feferi and Nepeta, Aradia and Kanaya, and finally Terezi and Vriska," Karkat finished. A few groans came from Terezi and Vriska but everyone else muttered in agreement. "We are on the fourth floor in rooms 413-418. Just pick a fucking room, they are all the same. I will give you the keys once we reach the rooms," Karkat said with authority before getting in the elevator. The rest of the group followed him silently for once.