WEEK 0

[whimsicalism]

Week Zero

Despite everything that made yesterday feel like a particularly spectacular dream, everyone will wake up today back in their dorm rooms and their academy pajamas (providing they changed before bed). The artificial light is still bright and happy, but the reality of the school year is truly beginning to set in. This is the true first day of classes.

This week, the ground floor of the Academy is open to explore. All of the rooms that were inaccessible on Monday are open for the rest of the week, though students will still be kept firmly on the ground floor while remodeling continues on the upper levels.

Classes are also in session, with a basic schedule advertised on the board outside the cafeteria. In addition to basic academic subjects, the courses offered have a slight bent towards soft skills: home economics, etiquette, and public conduct are peppered in with math and science. The textbooks available for classes are handed out at the beginning of every sheep-taught lesson, and they encompass several levels of learning on the same subject to account for the different levels of students in attendance, as if someone created a series of textbooks in the nature of this video series. Strangely enough, there usually seems to be one fewer book than there are students, as if someone wasn't accounted for when books were ordered. The Lady Prefect can often be found in attendance at these classes, though she tends to disappear right after each session for her office hours. All in all, she's a distracted, even daydreamy student, and she may occasionally ask for someone else's notes. But she's quick to take roll and remind others of deadlines.

Regardless, classes only last a few hours a day, and students are otherwise encouraged to pursue their own extracurriculars and self-improvement, including via gym and music room activities. There's time to eat and train on your own schedule...or maybe you want to try making a dent in the large collection of Zoobooks in the reception area, feeding the strange vending machine in the school store some of your red coins, or convincing a Little Brother robot to tell you what really happened when one of them started getting mouthy yesterday at orientation.

Two future dates linger on the horizon, both fresh from the discussions on Monday: The Little Brother that was behaving so strangely promised a game of hide-and-seek on Wednesday, and the first main school event, the spelling bee and dance, is slated to take place on Saturday.

How will you prepare?

Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

OOC Notes

Welcome to Week 0 proper! Events will unlock on the relevant day. Effective immediately, students are able to explore the week's locations for some more information about the school. If you'd like mod input on an investigation, please tag in the mods by writing (INVESTIGATION) in the subject line of your comment. If you'd like to speak with a Little Brother, please put (SHEEP) in your comment header. They're pretty wary of talking to students in secluded places, unfortunately, so while you can talk to them one-on-one, they don't offer a private contact post of their own.

The Prefect, however, will be available for her office hours. Nanami herself can be contacted in private via screened threads there. Given the general off-the-rails beginning of the semester, she is a bit distracted this week, but there's never any harm in reaching out!

Don't forget your regains!

Comments

Mystery 1 | Midnight Melody

[whimsicalism]

[Perhaps you’re awake when the clock ticks over to midnight. No one could blame you with the odd happenings over the past couple of days in a strange place. Perhaps you’ve finally fallen asleep after a long day of exploring. There’s silence outside your room, of course. The rooms are soundproof after all. The Prefect is in her bedroom on another floor and even the sheep seem to have powered down for the night.

Something shifts as clocks around the academy push into the new day. It’s the second day since your introduction to the strange world of Ira Academy. Some students might remember it’s also the second day since the stray sheep asked for a game of hide and seek.

Nothing seems amiss as the minutes slowly pass until it’s fifteen minutes past midnight. As soon as the clock in your room displays the time there’s a subtle shift in the air. If you’re asleep suddenly you wake for seemingly no reason. If you’re already awake you can probably sense the change regardless. For some, there’s music slipping into the silence of your room. Much like a snake, the lonesome melody curls its way into the room. It’s flute music and the particular song isn’t one you’ve heard before.

For others, the message may be different. Despite the comfortable temperature of your room it suddenly drops to a more mild temperature. A breeze wafts in depositing a scrap of sheet music near you.

If you open your door, both the music and breeze drift into the dormitory leading deeper into the Academy. Larger scraps of sheet music join the breeze as time goes on, as well. The sheep don’t seem to stir at all as this happens. The mysterious music changes into something else as one gets closer to the Music Room.

When the door is approached the music stops and the breeze stills. Paper sheets crumble into ash then fade. The door slowly creaks open. What will you do?]

((OOC: Welcome to your first mystery! This will serve as an introduction to the mini-events that will happen weekly throughout this round. While normally these mini-events will be more interactive and exploration focused, they also will be limited to four players each. Due to that the first will be slightly less interactive but open to everyone should they choose to participate. For this particular one, you can choose if your character hears the music or sees the sheet music before they exit their rooms. As mentioned the sheep won’t wake up during this.

Additionally, if you’re not able to participate when the event happens you may say your character was there if you’d like or tag in later.))

[canreallymove]

[Uh.

Uhhhh.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUH.

Well, ok then. This is happening. Clutching the music sheet, Sonic slowly makes his way towards the origin of the flute music. Sheets fly past him, as if he were the one kicking up the wind (but sadly, he knows it's not him, even though normally it would be), and he tip toes as he goes through the hallway. He peeks behind walls to check if something is there in front.

But nope. Nothing. No choice but to get to the music room.

And when he does, and the sheets turn to ash, and the door opens...

Well, you might be forgiven for hearing a gulp coming from him.

Hopefully there's no Gopher Highwayman behind this-]

[whimsicalism]

[Someone has set up a singular chair with a music stand next to it. The stand is now empty but, perhaps, if you strain you can hear the shuffle of paper as if someone was turning a page. A glint of light seems to shine off the metal of the chair in the dark room then fades.

Someone is watching.]

[spychic]

[Anya hears the music -- and she looks up, arching a brow. Slowly, she creeps out of her room, and she begins to head towards the source of the sound. If she sees someone following alongside her, she'll glance up at them...]

Did you hear the noise too?

[Her first inclination was that it might be Edward playing piano or one of the others playing music(? she was not listening too hard, admittedly), but if he's here as well, then...]

[whimsicalism]

[The room might look empty at first glance but something feels off.]

[bellabellabella]

[He is, in fact, right behind her, and seems puzzled by the breeze and the flute music but not terribly concerned.]

I did. Strange that none of the sheep seem concerned about it. They were firm enough in saying that no one was allowed outside their rooms after curfew.

[canismajorcontrolfreak]

Whuz-huh?

[While it wasn't exactly a good sleep, Dylan was definitely one of the ones trying to get rest. So suddenly waking up is already annoying, but the temperature randomly dipping and some random sheet music being blown his way?

Yeah, he's pretty sure he knows what's going on. He's not even fazed as the sheet music in his paws crumble to ash.]

Whoever is in charge of this prank, you're not funny.

[And without a second thought, Dylan walks into the music room, ready to look for how this trick is being pulled off.]

[lets_dewey_it]

I, uh... think this may be too elaborate for a prank. You know? _{[He's trying his best to not bounce off the walls over some crazy little ghost activity, but this was the kind of stuff that got him pumped, just absolutely chuffed.]}

[whimsicalism]

[The room seems empty at first but something does seem amiss. However... Dylan?

You hear a faint sound of a someone laughing at that. Young. A teenager, maybe? Feminine.]

[holyironmade]

[Jeanne has obviously been sleeping with her ridiculous amount of hair falling all over in front of her pajamafied shoulders. Still, her red eyes are bright. She... has no idea what to make of Dylan's statement.]

Perhaps we're being taught about how to put sound to music?

Re: Mystery 1 | Midnight Melody

[lets_dewey_it]

<sub>[Huh...?

Dewey's eyes shoot open as soon as he hears the flute. The scrap of sheep music also caused him to get goosebumps. But, still, a mystery? This was right up his alley...

So, out the door he went, with everyone else, trying his best to not get too excited as they were all led over to the Music Room.]</sub>

What on Earth could that be...?

Re: Mystery 1 | Midnight Melody

[whimsicalism]

[Something isn't right about this room at all. It looks empty but the seat set up definitely makes it seem like someone was here. The gaze you feel, however, makes it clear that someone is still here.]

[keyringwitness]

[Yasu usually spends her nights awake and reading. Tonight, she was awake and journaling, doing her best to make sense of... all of this. And the sudden draft, the sheet music fluttering inside her room, and the sound of a flute playing only make that more difficult.

If she was a detective in one of her novels, she'd have to investigate to get to the bottom of this paranormal occurrence. But the reason why Yasu gets up and follows the music (grabbing at one of the sheets to scribble down the score as best she can in her notebook) is simple curiosity overriding her fear at something so eerie.

When she finally arrives and the scrap she was holding turns to ash, she gulps. This was magic. Real magic. Not something she should be messing with.

But...

She peeks inside the door, not quite fully entering the room.]

H- Hello?

[Then, working off of a script that she spent years learning,] Um... is there any way I can help you, sir? Or ma'am?

[whimsicalism]

[There's a small laugh. A young, feminine laugh that comes from the seemingly empty room.]

Hello. I'm glad I can finally talk to you better now.

[curdle]

[ Of course Thomasin is awake now, and of course Thomasin follows the breeze and the music. It is only when she sees she's not alone in her path that she regrets having left her room in her shift, but it is too late to change that now.

She doesn't hang around before making her decision. While Sonic (and probably others!) has beat her there, she just steps through the threshhold into the music room. ]

[whimsicalism]

[As she enters, the mysterious voice that's present in this now not so empty room seems to turn it's attention slightly.]

Welcome.

[bellabellabella]

[Edward had not been asleep, of course. He also had not changed into his pajamas tonight, though he also hadn't changed for the day ahead.

And then he heard the music, something distant and haunting, and frowned. He'd thought that students were forced to stay in their rooms during the night. But...

He follows the Melody through the halls, listening intently, and when he did finally reach the music room paused, frowning. Ghosts were not real, he was fairly sure. At least, he had never seen one. So then what....?]

[whimsicalism]

[Whether it's a ghost or something else, the presence of someone unseen in the room is very clear.]

I hope my little performance met your standards?

[temmapathy]

[Emma wakes up shivering, and notices the swirling breeze. Grabbing the sheet paper, she peeks out the door carefully, before she starts following everyone else towards the music room. She peers in, looking to see if there's anything out of place there.]

[noblesnow]

[So Reika has already made her entrance elsewhere, but for the record, she felt very weird about Breaking The Rules and she gathered several sheet music pieces along the way which unfortunately all turned into ash in her hand.]

[violence_ensues]

[Inside Adorabat's room, she screams when she hears the flute music. There's some crashing noises, and then suddenly, Adorabat bursts out of her room, flapping her wings excitedly.]

THE TORBACLAUN! IT'S HERE!

Re: Mystery 1 | Midnight Melody

[cellpreservation]

[He was still awake, so naturally when he hears a sound he's quickly on his feet to go check it out, having swapped to his regular clothes now that it's no longer school hours. Given the number of other students wandering the halls tonight, it seems that whatever it is, at least he won't have to deal with it alone.

And, well. Even if the mystery musician is invisible, this will not stop him from trying to squint at that empty space out of reflex as the others talk first.]

[hashtagwoof]

[ Cool, he gets woken up by weird music. Totally not creepy at all.

He's armed himself with the jumprope he's pilfered from the gym yesterday - not that he knows how to use rope weapons well, but it's something. Now to follow the strange music... ]

Alright... Where are you...?

[ Keep cool. Keep cool, he's done something like this before. If he can get almost a hundred puppies with a vacuum, he can get one mystery thing with a jumprope. ]

[panglici]

[Carrie wasn't quite asleep, but the change in temperature... one notices things like that, in her (family's) profession. She sat up, looked to see if something had changed, and... she hadn't left a random piece of paper sitting on the floor, certainly.

She should've stepped on it, of course that piece of paper would just drift away when she opened the door to see if someone had shoved it in from outside. Still, it seems like it's fluttering down the hall... that's a lure, and from a quick look down the dormitory corridor, one that at least a few of the others have chosen to follow.

Carrie sighs, and gives chase. The flute-song is something right out of one of those stories from the west, and the growing number of pieces of paper is strange, but not something frightening. It's weird. The way they suddenly change to ash as the door opens -]

That's... concerning. Who's there?

Mystery End

[whimsicalism]

[It's about 1:00 AM when A begins to stop speaking. She speaks up:]

Everyone, it's been good speaking with you but I think you need to go back to bed. The sheep will probably start patrolling again... it'd be bad if they caught you here. I'll try to keep myself hidden from the Principal and Prefect for now.

If you ever need to talk to me... just start playing an instrument in the music room alone. The sheep will probably just think you're practicing and leave you alone.

[With promise that you can contact her later, the presence fades into silence. A's presence is gone for the moment. Congratulations, you've experienced the first Mystery: the Lonely Soloist.]