castle_whims | INTRO MINGLE

WELCOME IN

ORIENTATION DAY

(CW: Slight undertones of experiences of unreality.)

It’s a bright Monday afternoon at the Academy. If the sun happened to be visible, it would certainly be shining. The new semester that everyone has been waiting for is about to begin!

All students wake up at exactly the same time–not that you’re aware of this. Even those who don’t normally sleep must have given into slumber at some point; they, too, will jolt awake with the strangest sensation that someone was just whispering in their ears. The beds that you’ll find yourself in are small and unfamiliar, and you wake up wearing a uniform that you don’t recognize even though it fits you like a glove. A red book with black cardstock lining the inner cover sits on each dorm nightstand. Opening the book reveals a strange code of conduct. The following pages list, in alphabetical order, all of the students.

Beyond the handbook and a change of familiar clothes in the closet, there’s little personalization to the rooms, and they lack most homey comforts. As unusual as these surroundings may seem, it’s impossible to shake the subtle, lingering excitement: It’s the first day of school! What a delightful occasion. Shouldn’t everyone want to make the most of the year? The subtle, unshakeable desire to achieve sits in the back of every mind like the story of a happy dream. Perhaps you brush your hair or wash your teeth before going on with your splendid day. Your reflection in your bathroom mirror looks a little off, did you forget to cut your hair before the big day? Perhaps you realize that your nails or claws have been trimmed recently. A little odd but you must have been excited for a brand new school year.

The world outside the dorm room holds a few more answers, but most things are still shrouded in mystery. Today, it seems that some rooms are still locked up tight from summer vacation. Beside the dormitory and hallways, only the cafeteria, kitchen, gym, playground, school store, and A/V room are accessible. Outside the cafeteria, a digital sign titled DAILY SCHEDULE offers little structure, save for one afternoon event: 5PM - PREFECT’S ORIENTATION - AUDITORIUM. There’s a lot of business to take care of on the first day of school, after all. No one can just be expected to start learning without the proper preparation.

With some time to kill before the promised orientation takes place–and, according to that rulebook, everyone is expected to attend–students have only each other and the various robot sheep for company. With such a small class, perhaps working together will bring you newfound and long-lasting partnerships. The robotic staff seem polite, at least, if a bit confused at the sudden flurry of non-scheduled activities.

How will you spend your first day before classes begin?

OOC NOTES

Welcome to the IC intro mingle for Round 2! Your characters have the afternoon to meet one another, get lunch at the school cafeteria, review their student handbooks, harass the Little Brother robots, and prepare for the upcoming school semester in this post. As promised, the Prefect will meet everyone in the auditorium at 5pm and will post their own introductory comment at that time (Eastern).

While we're sure that some people are dying to get a head start on investigating all of the mysteries of the school (we're excited to reveal them), please hold your investigation comment ideas until the weekly post goes up tomorrow. As all ground floor locations should be open for exploration at that time, we invite everyone to scratch all of your investigation itches on tomorrow's post at noon (also Eastern)! In lieu of investigation threads today, characters may speak to/question/accost the Little Brothers, who have an NPC thread down below.

Thank you, and have fun!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Crimson meets crimson, and for a fraction of a second Edward's eyes widen, but none of the other markers are there. She's not pale enough, too soft, and, when he takes a breath as she steps close enough, he can feel the venom burn down his throat, the old familiar ache that was never entirely drowned. Still, it was very mild, even compared to the standard he'd held before meeting Bella. After having spent so much time with her this was so faint it barely registered as anything. But it was still there. He thinks back through her profile, and the claim under it that she had killed several vampires, and wonders if she really is more than she seems. But almost none of that shows, and when he speaks it is with a crooked smile that does not expose too much of his teeth, and he keeps his expression friendly and casual. His voice is attractive as the rest of him and, should she get close enough, even his scent. He has a glut of weapons, or normally would, that made the physical lures profoundly unnecessary. Overkill. Of course, that was only thematically appropriate.]

Edward. I would assume it was whoever... left us here. I would assume you go by Carrie, and not the dutiful witch?

You'd be right.

[She returns his smile - not that it's infectious (and not that she'd even use that metaphorical language, the narrator adds, having realized she predates germ theory) or anything like that, but it's easy to meet and return a disarming gesture when there's nothing seemingly threatening about the person who made it first. She can't sense anything off about him, but she can't sense anything beyond the usual five senses everyone has anyway.

Which is wrong, but she can't afford to panic about it right now.]

It's not often that I meet someone else with eyes like mine, I'm sorry if I was starting to stare.

Edited 2022-08-16 01:21 (UTC)

Ah.

[Perhaps his eyes will not reveal the monster in him - as they are meant to - as he had assumed they would. He laughed, though, his voice quiet and charming.]

Yes. One does not often see eyes of this color, do they? They run in your family as well?

[It was a question, and therefore wasn't even technically a lie. It would not have been regardless, of course - every member of his family had possessed these eyes, but for most it had only been at the very beginning of their new life. It was hard to imagine Carlisle as a newborn, with eyes so bright a crimson that they might have glowed.]

As far as I know, they do. Run in the family, I mean, not that they're common where I'm from. It's not always convenient looking so different, but....

[She shrugs, feeling strangely off-balance. Is it possible to be too well-intentioned? Something just feels... but it doesn't make any sense, to think that he's being purposefully kind as some kind of smokescreen. The profile was simple enough, hardly cryptic, and she has no reason to think he's any more complicated a person than that would indicate.]

...well, you probably know what I mean, right?

I think I do.

[His voice is still charming, but gained a wry edge, and he seemed to be studying her face, focusing on her eyes. He was used to being able to lean on his extra senses, and not having them was like an itch in the back of his mind, but at least he'd been having to practice reading expressions lately, and there was something of discomfort in her.

The fact that he didn't know exactly why was... frustrating. That, too, he'd had practice with, but he was far less used to it, to not knowing. He finally looked away, slightly frustrated. Hopefully it would seem to be the result of being Other, but not being able to know... ugh.]

It can be hard, at times, when you are different. It can be difficult to... fit in. Sometimes the only thing you want is....

[He broke off and shook his head.]

I suppose it doesn't matter any more.

[Not when his eyes were red.]

[Despite herself, Carrie actually blushes slightly. That searching look - it's just this side of uncomfortable, the way he's so intent and then looks away. That charming voice paired with frustration and inability to say plainly why he's frustrated, that's something unsettling, but at least that's a familiar kind of unsettling:

It is never good to have someone so handsome that most people would trust him without question frustrated by you, even indirectly.

But it isn't really her he's frustrated with, is it?]

It can be, but... here, that only matters if someone decides they want to make outcasts of us, and hopefully they won't.

[She knows nothing of typical highschool politics, Edward. Nothing.]

[Deliberately he takes a moment and composes himself, and when he looks back up his expression now is polite and apologetic and perhaps a touch wistful.]

Perhaps you're right. I'm sorry, I'm being very rude, aren't I? At the least, I suppose, the fact that this single trait is one we share might be a comfort.

[Humans always wanted to be unique, almost as much as they wanted to fit into a faceless herd, each striving to outperform each other in their identical individuality. They wanted to stand out, but they did not want to be seen as other. Surely this girl would take comfort, then, in the fact that there was someone else here like her.]

It's always easier when you know someone who can understand, isn't it. School is difficult enough without adding anything more.

[Despite the wording, he speaks it as a statement of fact rather than a question. His eyes stay on hers, because he is an excellent liar and not so experienced as to look away. The expression in them is not nearly as intense as it had been when he had tried to hear her thoughts, uselessly. The itch in the back of his mind remained, still desperate to know if she was taking all this as he hoped she would. How did normal people live like this?]

I'm not used to schools like this one, but you're right. It's easier to make it through a maze when you've got someone with you.

[It's a curious choice of words, but she's actually being somewhat literal there. Why this young man - almost an adult - reminds her of Malus, who ran through a terrible maze with her, Carrie couldn't explain if someone asked. Edward is the furthest thing from frail, though he is uncannily pretty and does seem very much lost. There's just something else at the very edge of her mind, something fluttering... and easy to brush off.]

[It is an interesting choice of words, but he doesn't know what to make of it. A problem that was very frustrating, though it was beginning to feel familiar. So, for now, he shrugs and dismisses it.]

I've not been to a school exactly like this one, admittedly, but there are similarities. Where were you before all this?

INTRO MINGLE

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