INTRO MINGLE

[whimsicalism]

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!

Comments

Little Brothers

[whimsicalism]

[The sheep robots are everywhere on the ground floor. About three feet tall, the small robots are covered in synthetic wool and their default expression is a slight smile. They may be cleaning spots in the dorm's hallway or rearranging kick-knacks in the classroom. One is even settling in as the cook in the kitchen!

They seem to be engrossed in their work but if you call out to them, they'll respond.]

[canreallymove]

[Well here's someone who's got some questions for these things.]

YO! SHEEP DUDES!!

WHAT GIVES!?

[whimsicalism]

[One of the sheep turns around and... blinks as best as it can.]

Sonic? What seems to be the matter?

[temmapathy]

[Emma wakes up, going through the motions with only a little bit of confusion, wondering where her brother is. It's only when she finishes reading the book that her conscious thoughts catch up to her subconscious ones-what the hell is she doing here? The school season on SIX shouldn't have started yet. She flings open the door, glancing left and right at the rest of the dorms before rushing towards the school store.

Later on, she can be found wandering around, having written down something on one of the pages of her notebook that she'll present to anyone she encounters or who bumps into her, although she'll do a double-take at any nonhumans.]

Sorry if I didn't notice you, I'm deaf. I can read lips, though it's easier if you know sign language.

Do you know where we are?

[Later on she'll have added "human" before the word "lips."

In particular, she can be found on the playground, peering outside the fence and squinting at the road, or in the cafeteria peeling an orange.]

[temmapathy]

[Emma finds a Little Brother that doesn't seem to be engaged in a particularly important task and taps it on the shoulder. Once it turns around, she holds up a notebook with a question written in it.]

Where is this place? Where's my brother?

[whimsicalism]

[The sheep smiles slightly more. How it manages to sign anything is a mystery but it does:]

Ira Academy, of course! Your brother isn't here he's not a student, after all.

[lets_dewey_it]

Stupid uniform with the stupid dorm room and the stupid, stupid... _{[Well, somebody's not having a fun first day of school, grumbling as he exited Room 4 in the dormitory. He was groaning to himself, but talking loud enough as if he wanted someone to join in on his anger.]} I can accept getting kidnapped into some weird place, it'd make for a fun mystery for my family, a daring escape by me, but a school? Not an ancient temple full of mummies? Not a secret government experiment building where I could meet aliens and/or find out I'm an alien myself? No death traps even?! What's the POINT?! Where's the fun in just a stupid lame school? I already have to go to one!

_{[Though, later, he seems to brighten up when he's at the playground, looking for some kind of way to turn these things into personal death traps. A good place to start is the swings, where he sits on one and then starts twirling around so he twisted the ropes or chains or whatever's holding the swings up to the metal frame, before backing up a bit.]} Hey, watch this! _{[He didn't even wait for somebody to tell him it was a horrible idea before his feet left the ground, leaving him to become a spinning projectile as he swung back and forth.]}

Re: Little Brothers

[lets_dewey_it]

_{[Well, these sheep were about as tall as Dewey was, so no reason to mess with them, but they were robots... Maybe he could rattle off some stock sci-fi lines against them.]}

Take me to your leader! _{[He pointed at one of the sheep, striking some kind of actiony-pose to assert dominance.]}

[spychic]

[Anya looks up, seeing as she'd been staring at the profiles. She sees the girl - the...telepath? Why didn't she hide it? What gives with this entire place? She's scared, and she's not sure what to do, but she speaks up.]

Anya doesn't know anything.

[Speaking--err, thinking of, she doesn't seem able to access her powers...]

Anya doesn't know sign language, either. Anya's sorry. [She shifts on her feet.] But Anya especially doesn't know where we are.

[spychic]

[Anya looks over one of the sheep robots, frowning to herself gently before she speaks up.]

...What is going on, sheepies?

Anya's...confused...

[spychic]

[Anya, by this point, has gathered that this is no normal school. There's a bunch of not-human people. The profiles are weird. She's been wondering if this is a very convincing dream, and that's before a duck-boy does a flying spin into the air.]

H--Huaaaa?! Watch out!!!! You'll get real hurt real bad!!!

[whimsicalism]

[The sheep looks very confused.]

While I'm sure Lady Prefect will be very glad to hear you calling that, I can't currently take you to see her. She's very busy.

[noblesnow]

[Routine is a powerful thing. Even after waking up in a strange room wearing unfamiliar clothes, her first impulse is to change into the equally unfamiliar gym clothes provided. Obviously she needs to work out where she is and what's going on, but she can do more than one thing at once, right?

So that's the state she is when she exits room 10 and heads for the playground, where she jogs in laps around the perimeter for a while. It's a little strange not having her brother there, but maybe she can find some other company?

Still following along in her morning routine as best as she can, her next destination is the kitchen (via the cafeteria, naturally), where she can be found rummaging through the supplies, getting an idea of what's available. She... may get engrossed in this to the point of not actually getting around to making anything.]

[lets_dewey_it]

Oh, it's no problem! _{[He looked a bit bugged before she specified she was deaf, but that look lifted off his face immediately. He didn't know sign language, so he started talking slightly slower, not too slow as to be obnoxious, making sure she could read his lips (beak?) easier. He also noticed her double take at him being a duck.]} I'm surprised by you, too! I only ever saw hairless ape creatures like you in this nightmarish sitcom world- oh, sorry, your question. No, I dunno where we are other than a school.

[temmapathy]

[Oh, huh, can they understand sign language? She tries signing briefly.]

Why just me? We were both on SIX before this! [And that academy name doesn't seem right either...]

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat peeks open the door and peers through before fully opening it and waddling through on the ground. She looks around, really confused. This is not where she was supposed to wake up. Last time she checked, she was with her friends. She didn't recognize this place, either.]

Mao Mao? Badgerclops? ...Anyone?

...

WHERE AM I!?

[whimsicalism]

Hello, Anya!

[The sheep bows it's head slightly in greeting.]

It's the first day of the semester, of course. [Though, the Little Brother pauses.] It seems that a lot of the students seem to have forgotten that, though. It's very odd.

[spychic]

[This was enough to make a little girl dizzy. Anya looked over the handbook, a dazed expression on her face, before she looked up. Papa and Mama never mentioned this. Papa knew a lot of school stuff, so he should've probably--warned Anya, yes? The tiny psychic shifted on her feet. Not to mention...there appeared to be a bunch of people around, but they were all odd-looking. And she could hear none of their thoughts.

She took a deep breath in. Looking over the profiles once more, she came to the realization this could only be one thing...

An enemy base. And they had Anya.

Remain calm. They prey upon fear! Anya assumed a brave stance...before she marched over to the first person she saw, and extended a hand.]

Anya is Anya! It is nice to meet you! Anya is new here too! So let's get along!

[....Unfortunately, she has the smile on her face...

Later, Anya can probably be found at the cafeteria where she's trying to find a bag of peanuts, or the gym which she's scoping out just in case there's a game of dodgeball. That could be dangerous, and she doesn't want to lose again.]

[spychic]

Hello, Sheepy.

[Anya looks curious, before she shakes her head.]

Is this part of Eden Academy? Anya studies there. Is this, um...um...a...friend school? [She means 'sister school'.]

[temmapathy]

[Oh wow, that's definitely a kid even younger than her. Emma takes a moment to write down some more text on her notebook before holding it out, kneeling slightly so it's more on eye-level with Anya. She's also made the text size a bit larger.]

That's okay. Your name is Anya? I'm Emma.

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat nearly flutters by but stops when she hears the ranting about no danger and stuff and gasps excitedly.]

YOU LIKE DANGER!? AND FIGHTING MONSTERS!?

[spychic]

[Anya smiles a little. She doesn't always need people to meet her level, but it's appreciated.]

Anya is Anya Forger. It is nice to meet you, Emma. Anya saw you in the school book thing. The manual.

[She tilts her head.]

Are...Are you really a telepath?

[She has to ask.]

[lets_dewey_it]

WHA-! NOW?! _{[Spinning in his swing, he tried to lean back and nearly hit his head on the swing's frame before sitting up stranger so that didn't freaking happen.]} I! HEAR! A! CHALL-! ENGE!! _{[Yup, he was absorbed in the speen and is definitely going to keep staying on his horrible twirling swing for as long as the chains were untwisting themselves.]} WANNA! BET! HOW FAR! I CAN! GO?!

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

[Never has Dylan wanted to befriend something more than these things. Robots! They're advanced robots! And they do the cleaning! That is really cool and one of his brothers would be so jealous if he could see this!

But the thought of that brother makes him remember exactly why he's approaching the thing.]

Uh, hi, Mr. or Miss Sheep...things. Question, is my family okay? And, follow up up question, are they still at home, or are they somewhere else?

[canreallymove]

Oh great, it knows my name-

[His foot starts tapping impatiently on the floor.]

Hey! Pretty sure there's a mistake about me bein' here! I don't do uniforms. Or school. I'm supposed to be out in the great wide world, you get my drift? You know, what my speed, the wind in my spikes and all?

[tap tap tap tap tap]

So how about you just let me out before I get real mad, yeah?