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

[bellabellabella]

[He found her easily enough, and the tiny chamber filled with the scent of her fear, and the warm scent of her blood--but he was familiar with the dry ache that it brought to his throat, dull burning like fire. He was not thirsty, however, which made that tiny response even easier to ignore than normal, for all that some part of his instincts was reacting to the whole situation. Weak prey, separated from the herd. Her obvious terror fed into that, but this, too, he was more than used to controlling. And he couldn't see any reason for it. Nobody here had even been unnerved by him, despite what he'd assumed when he'd woken up. Still.

He did not approach her, yet, though he was in the same tiny, enclosed space, and no more did he leave. Was it him, that frightened her so? But what could she possibly have seen that would provoke it? He had not been careful, but he hadn't been that flagrant. When he spoke his voice was quiet and warm and polite, perfectly pleasant, slightly confused.]

Is something wrong?

[There was a pause as he considered that and decided it was bad wording.]

Apart from the obvious, I mean.

[keyringwitness]

Um- Um- I- Uh- S- S- S- Sorry, I-

[Yasu's heart is beating loud in her chest; partially from Edward's presence, partially from memories of all the times the madam scolded her whenever she was caught hiding and "slacking off."

So, of course, she defaults to what she'd say in that situation.]

How, um, how can I help you, s- sir?

[bellabellabella]

[His hearing, like his sense of smell, had been dulled ever since arriving here, but he could hear the thumping of her heart, and knew that her wet, hot blood would be rushing through her veins, soft skin so little guard-

With a practiced bit of effort, Edward redirected his thoughts. No use dwelling on things like that: his control was good, but there was still no sense in inviting temptation.

Her answer confused him. His expression had not flickered, but now became slightly puzzled.]

Were you following me?

[keyringwitness]

[On the one hand, Yasu really doesn't want to admit it, but on the other, she has the feeling lying about it is futile. So she meekly nods, hoping he'll drop it there.]

[bellabellabella]

[Well, drop it he does not, but he at least doesn't seem angry about it. If anything, he just looks... wary.]

Why?

[keyringwitness]

I... I... [For a moment, it looks like Yasu's about to burst into tears.

But instead she looks away, forcing herself to take a deep breath. Maybe if she just tells him why, Edward will have a perfectly reasonable (although not necessarily rational) explanation for all of the odd occurrences that have been bugging her about him.]

You d- d- don't move, sometimes. I, um. Noticed it in the music room the f- first time, and here now. You b- breathe, but that's it. I'm... really good at standing still... but even I fidget, or shuffle, or, or something, and I always have to do it on purpose. A- And judging by how you look like you're deep in t- thought each time, it's not that you're trying to be still, but that you're, er, forgetting to... [She trails off, not quite sure how to phrase the next part. "Look alive?" How dumb did that sound?]

There's your eyes, too. I, um, noticed it in the class r- roster. Your eyes are red now, but they weren't when the picture w- was taken.

And... [Another pause as she struggles to find her words, but she can't just avoid saying this last part.] Y- You make me terrified, and I don't, um. Know why. It's like... t- that feeling I sometimes got w- when I looked into the woods in the evening. I, um. Don't know how else to explain it. [Yasu deflates, still looking away from Edward.]

That's all. [Which is quite an "all" for how much Yasu sounds like she thinks these are just minor details. She's quite perceptive for a nine year-old.]

[bellabellabella]

[By the time she had finished talking, Edward was staring in some kind of shock.

Why did he keep meeting perceptive humans he could not read the minds of? If he had been able to hear any of her doubts he could have taken steps to assuage them, but... they had clearly been building very rapidly. It had only been a day.]

I...

[She was waiting for an answer, but it took him a moment to order his thoughts. He was not used to being taken by surprise like this, and truly did not care for it. He shook his head once, slightly, as though to clear it, and then put on his best disarming smile.]

I'm sorry. I hadn't realized I was frightening you. It can be easier to think, sometimes, when you focus on quieting the rest of yourself, even movement.

[And he would have to be more careful here. He had been letting his act fall to pieces, just because of everything that had happened to him, but that wasn't something he should be allowing himself to do, no matter where this may or may not be.]

I suppose the lighting must have been different, when they took my picture. I certainly can't remember it, so I assume it... it was some time after we were taken.

[Perceptive to notice that, but nothing he could do. Perhaps the excuse would be enough. He didn't look away from her the entire time that he lied; only an incompetent liar made such obvious mistakes, and he was not an incompetent liar. His voice was perfect, slightly confused by everything.]

Maybe it's better to be scared, when we have so little information about where we are. I'll try not to do anything else that might frighten you. I... I don't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt anyone here. If hearing that helps.

[And now that she's answered him he'll back away and leave her, unless stopped, and has acknowledged he needs to do better, he needs to be....

Be what? Does it even matter? Would it matter if he killed someone in front of the entire little school and drank their blood in front of everyone? What, exactly, could happen to him now? It was a habit to hide, but he supposed that until he knew more of his situation, that habit was one to maintain. Maintaining solitude was another such habit, but it seemed less wise. He needed the allies he could get. Of course, that looped back around to that first.

Clearly, Edward needed to be better. He made up his mind to begin, again, to try.]

[keyringwitness]

["It can be easier to think, sometimes." Then why did he look so shocked when Yasu pointed out his odd habit?

"The lighting must've been different." But a camera flash turns your eyes red, not the other way around.

"It's better to be scared." And she's seen that tilt of the mouth before, the way his face softens. When the closest thing that Yasu had to a grandmother did her best to comfort her, but Yasu could tell by the weight of her voice that there was a whole lake of secrets that she refused to let past the dam of her superficial affection.

Even with all of his reassurances, it doesn't add up. But Edward isn't the only one who can lie without missing a beat. Yasu nods hesitantly at each of his explanations, letting a flicker of doubt across her face be smothered by his smooth voice.]

R- Right... I'm, um, sorry. Everything about this whole situation m- must be making me paranoid... [Yasu offers a weak, quavering smile.] Thanks for being patient with me, M- Mister Edward.