PREP Highschool

[Keeper]

Library

Mac has time to react, mostly because no one is talking to him. He isn't one to draw his saber willy-nilly, but he does move to body-block the sudden appearance.
"Ho there, buddy. Do we know you? I don't recall that thing having your name on it."

[bc56]

AA Field Trip
Once Darko strikes the final blow, Achuak relaxes. "Is everyone all right?" They still need to find the power cell things for the weird wax voice.

The Return
"What kind of store is it? Maybe I'll stop by." Mary knows full well (although she hasn't been there before). Khannie got her into nerd stuff (mostly tabletop RPGs) a while back, but she has to keep her image as a popular, non-nerdy girl up.

[quillpleasant]

Library

The momentum of the pale boy's lunge for the book sends him bouncing off the solid Mac, and he stumbles to the side. He bares rather sharp looking fangs and hisses at the seeq boy before grabbing the legs of the table and effortlessly yanking the whole thing to the side, hooking the notebook underneath is and sending it tumbling onto the floor a dozen feet away. Kind of like a hockey puck. Is it a strange way of getting the book? Yes, and yet somehow it happens. Maybe there's magic involved. Crouching, he begins to back away slowly, ready to intercept anyone who tries to get to it before him.

Darko, looking both confused and alarmed, instinctively tries to pull Asami back as the table is grabbed. "What is your problem?" he snaps at the boy, who responds with only a sneer.

[Ironsmith]

[A New Year of Magic]

Khannie wrinkles her nose a bit at the pirate girl's not quite a rant.

"I mean, okay, sure I guess. It's like, I dunno, the spirit of it or whatever? Action archeology is what it says on the tin. The cool part is the action and the archeology."

Also she doesn't ask what kraken tastes like.

She's assuming it's just octopus or whatever.

But maybe she's wrong on that one?

"Okay so cool to meet you I guess? But seriously why are you hanging upside down?" she asks, tilting her head to the side a bit to put her face slightly more in line with the student's.

[A New Year Of Magic]

Asami is a bit shocked as the experience overtakes her body, giving her pause. "Aaah... Oh me, that's good!" she murmurs awestruck, rainbows pouring out from her corona. As soon as the sensation fades, she immediately goes back to the bottle, eventually depleting it entirely of its contents.

"I think I just became a woman. Do you have anymore?" she asks curtly.

]A New Year of Magic]

"Be there a point to it if I don't?" Morgan grins and produces a second bottle from her coat, handing it to Asami. "Ye might want ter slow down a few knots, though, yer highness. Yer bladder be not thankin' ye fer too much at once, aye?"

Somehow, the second bottle is better still. A woody undertone colors the beverage, and the citrus taste is much stronger this time, possibly implying a different base. The image is different, too; Asami kicking her feet up on a large oak desk covered in important-looking documents, in the office of a fancy manor home that is very clearly not her own, watching an overweight man in a powdered wig being locked in a pillory outside and pelted with overripe tomatoes, while her crew looks on and laughs.

Morgan's attention, however, quickly finds its way back to Khannie. "This cabin be a place fer practicin' witchcraft, aye?" She asks, gesturing up at the rope suspending her by her ankles. "Well, this be mine. And sometimes I like ter haul meself up what that all the blood rushes to me head; makes me thoughts louder." She crosses her arms and looks away. "I be not stuck, if that's stowed in yer head." She says with a little pout. "An' if ye hear anybody sayin' I hung meself up with no earthly idea how to let meself back down, I say, call them a liar right to their lyin' face, savvy?"

[Earl of Purple]

A!A Field Trip

"Ugh... I'm mostly OK, I think. Me brain's rattled a bit, but I'm good." Mat tries to stand up and stumbles a little.

Darko will find her sword is lighter than it should be, and very sharp. Too sharp to half-sword it without very good gloves, and at nearly a metre and a half long it's a bit tricky to just stab down with it.

Outside Class- Hunters

"Oh, sure. Uh... meet me at the gates after school. I don't know where the arcade is. And I'll have to let my dads know. They'll say yes, I'm sure, but they'll want to know where I am so they don't get worried." And Agate isn't the only person they have to be worried about; one of their older adopted children has developed a gambling problem, and as she's also moved out they weren't immediately aware when she was abducted and sold into slavery. (Though Prumathe and Sekhmet rescued her.)

Cheer Practice

"I weren't expecting to be here, but... I got kicked off most the other sport clubs. It's this or sensha-do, and I'm... not gonna apply for that. Was on the netball team, but I broke someone's nose. She wouldn't pass the ball. I quit fight club because they don't do any fighting- Aigothurz set up an Ogres and Oubliettes campaign instead." Which was fine until Mat's Lamarckian Scholar was eaten by a were-thylacine after failing a Diplomacy (seduction) check.

Ecbatana/Immonia

"If there's another candidate, no. I won't miss him. Otherwise, who'll be my liaison with the citizen's council? Is there a citizen's council? Orcs burnt the last one alive on a pile of scarecrows." It's not a body that exists in Ecbatana's governing system, but Immonia worked differently. And no, as it happens. The citizen's council arranges elections for its membership, and without a surviving councillor to organise it- and no city to be a citizen of, really- nobody set a new one up.

[Gold]

[The Return]

Micah beams when Octavia agrees to help him. "Happy to hear it! And happy to lead the way to my place, too. Meet me outside the front gate after school?"

To Mary, Micah explains "Well, y'know, they sell tomes on different magical subjects - that's the 'lore' part - and tabletop and card games." Micah makes the distinction between the two kinds of game only because playing trading card games whilst sitting down is basicay a relic of the past - unless, of course, you're sitting in the seat of a motorcycle.

[bc56]

The Return
"Oh, it's nerd stuff," Mary says with exaggerated distaste. "No thanks "
She doesn't really mean it. In fact she intends to visit after school, probably by quietly following Micah and Octavia there. But she can't let people know that she's even slightly a nerd. It would hurt her image as a popular succubus.

[[brackets lover]]

[Library]

So, quite a bit has happened to Asami. Still a bit shaken up, she's helpless to react as Darko pulls her back, seemingly a lot easier to move her now than it otherwise would be. "What's going on?" she asks weakly, "Who is that? How did they get here?"

[Outside Class - Hunter's]

Asami beams at Agate. "H'okay!" shes responds cheerfully. With that out of the way, all that was left was to get the doughnuts, which Asami would likely share with Agate. The rest of the schoolday would go on as usual, save for Asami easing up on her bullying ways and being a lot kinder to Agate.

[quillpleasant]

The Return

Octavia's head turns into a white clock with red numbers, spinning excitedly. -it's a plan! i look forward to it, micah cardcaptor- She is going to get such a good grade in hanging out- normal to want, possible to achieve.

At the discussion of between Micah and Mary, the angel listens attentively, then seems to concentrate for a moment. -definition of nerd: "a person who is extremely enthusiastic and knowledgeable about a particular subject, especially one of specialist or niche interest." oh, in that case i love nerds! knowledge is a very worthy pursuit- Well she has access to a lot of basic information, knowing facts is far different from the understanding that comes with actually caring about subjects.

[Gold]

[The Return]

Micah smiles and rolls his eyes at Mary's apparent dismissal of 'nerd stuff'. "It's probably more fun than... than-hey, what do you do for fun, anyway?" he asks, mildly surprised at the realisation he doesn't know.
Either way, Micah doesn't mind his image as an affable nerd - it means he's racked up quite a few favours doing other people's homework for them.

In response to Octavia, Micah simply says "Everybody's nerdy about something, you know."

[Keeper]

Library

Bouncing off Mac does not make a BWOMP! sound but at this point it happens so often maybe he should enchant his uniform to do that. He’s big and round but why does everyone seem to speed up once they’re on a collision course with him? He moved in front of the weird kid but he didn’t think the guy would just keep going.

Still, he seems to be on a singular mission to violate Asami’s privacy, so Mac is going to have to take measures. He draws his saber but holds it upside-down so the pommel almost looks like the head of a magic rod. A number of tiny ice spikes freeze into existence around the diary like a tiny pokey cage.
”Judging from his obsession with your diary, I’m going to say a weirdo.”
Totally a weirdo.

[bc56]

The Return
"I go to the sports games, explore, paint." Mary sounds defensive. She's offended by Micah saying what he enjoys is more fun than what she enjoys.
"And it's plenty fun, thank you."

[Ironsmith]

[Cheer Practice]

"Whatever, Brignole." The demon twin rolls her eyes as Mary walks away from her.

"...Well. Looks like Baz wasn't entirely wrong about her."

"Ya don't say. I mean, I know she can be kind of a bitch for no reason at times, but I kinda figured there'd have to be something there for her to consistently hate Brignole that much."

"...So what's the move?"

"First and foremost, we show her up. Obviously. Our position's a lot stronger here as long as we're in the top two slots."

"...Heh. All right. She might be in line to be queen of hell, but we rule this field."

"...Ugh, that was so corny."

"So was not. It was badass."

"Yeah, maybe in your head, but saying it out loud it's corny."

"Like to see you do better."

"...Let's just focus on handing her ass to her first. The dramatic one-liners aren't exactly necessary."

"So you can't."

"Shut up."


[Ecbatana/Immonia]

"...That would be good to know." Aikobaz smiles and gives a polite, shoulder-deep bow. "Thank you. I will speak with you again soon."

And with that, she attempts to withdraw, back into Ecbatana's presence. All things considered, that seems to have gone rather well.

[Earl of Purple]

Ecbatana

Immonia doesn't try to stop Aikobaz from leaving, and she can rejoin Ecbatana easily. The bushbaby tilts its head and stares as Aikobaz returns to it, but doesn't say anything in response to seeing her. It feels... somehow content, though also a little worried.

[quillpleasant]

The Return

-exploring does seem fun! i have not yet ventured outside of school grounds, so there is much i have yet to see in this world- says Octavia diplomatically. -perhaps you can give me some pointers-

Her head, still a clock, makes a sudden ringing sound. -ah, it is time for my class! i will see you after class, at the front entrance. don't forget!- With a wave at Micah she steps back and then vanishes in a flash of white light. Teleportation definitely makes being on time easier.

---

The Library

The kid is definitely a weirdo, as he ignores Mac to dart back to the diary in a blur of superhuman speed. Snarling at the icy cage, he begins striking it with his fists. Apparently his skin is resistant to damage at the spikes aren't wounding him, but they're certainly impeding his progress.

Darko, meanwhile, rolls his eyes and sighs heavily. "I know what this is. He's not real. It's my magic, punishing me for not using it by causing problems for my friends, as usual." He steps forward, crossing his arms defiantly. "Well I'm not going to do that! We can easily stop some stupid construct from some stupid book without me using my magic, so just give it up!"

The pale boy's eyes flash red in anger, but he's still focused on getting at the diary, not rising to Darko's jibes.

[Gold]

[The Return]

Micah is about to say something, but is cut off by the sound of Octavia's alarm-clock head and swivels to face the source of the noise. "I won't forget!" Micah dutifully reassures Octavia. "Enjoy your class!" he adds, brightly waving her goodbye until then.

Blinking heavily from the flash of light, Micah says "She's so cool..." to nobody in particular before turning back to Mary "Anyways... did you say you paint? That's a pretty nerdy thing to do... not that I have a problem with it. I wouldn't mind seeing some of your paintings sometime," Micah says, not in a malicious tone but surprised and slightly pleased (to have his earlier statement proven right.)

[bc56]

Cheer Practice
"They shoulda waited until I was out of earshot to start plotting against me," Mary mutters. "Did they give you crap when you joined?" she asks Mat.

The Return
"She seemed a little odd though..." Mary responds to Micah's comment.

Then he calls painting nerdy.
"I am not a nerd!" Mary snaps. "If you want to see my paintings, come one of the art shows," she calms down a little, "There's one every month in the art building."

[Ironsmith]

Ecbatana

Immonia doesn't try to stop Aikobaz from leaving, and she can rejoin Ecbatana easily. The bushbaby tilts its head and stares as Aikobaz returns to it, but doesn't say anything in response to seeing her. It feels... somehow content, though also a little worried.

[Ecbatana]

"...I'm sorry, I'm still not quite..." Aikobaz gestures toward her face. "Is that a good look? Bad look? Did I do what you wanted or did I mess up somehow?"

She stares back at the bushbaby blankly, hoping she gets an affirmative answer.

[Artemis]

[Hunting Class]

Landon trudged towards the pavilion where the Hunting Classes took place, near a bank of woods on school property. The pavilion was open to the elements on four sides, but contained desks, a blackboard, and a roaring space heater to keep out most of the cold.

In addition to his schoolbooks, Landon had a quiver with an unstrung bow and arrows in it. He dumps his bag at his desk and perches atop it, pulling out the bow and some wax, stringing it and waxing the bowstring.

The professor hasn't arrived yet, or at least isn't in the pavilion. Landon usually comes to class early, as it's one of his favorites. He loves the outdoors, and was uncannily good at tracking.

[[brackets lover]]

[Library]

So, Asami has a habit of jumping to action when there's danger. In a sense, she was dependable in that way. For some reason, however, she was hesitating to do anything here. Its as if something about being at PREP made her more of a scatterbrain.

Still helplessly sprawled out on the floor, she manages to raise her voice at Mac, "It's not a dairy! Its a notebook!"

[Hunting Class]

When Landon gets there, he'd find Asami standing by her desk. On the desks close by stood several bags of sugar, bottles of water, corn syrup, an industrial-sized container of peanuts, a few wrappers from sticks of butter and vanilla extract. Of note, however, was the comedically large saucepan which seemed to contain residue from a recent mixture and that same mixture having near-entirely encased Agate's desk and almost finished cooling. Bored from keeping watch over this process, Asami rubs her eyes and suddenly looks to Landon. Spontaneously, she dashes towards his desk at... a surprisingly mundane speed and swipes for a handful of his arrows. Of course, she'd try to keep them away if she managed to get them in time, speeding up slightly in order to tantalize Landon.

[Gold]

[The Return]

Micah shrinks back in mock fear at Mary's outburst, raising his arms defensively. "Alright, alright, you're not a nerd and denial is just a big river," he grins.

After that, Micah pulls one more trading card out of his cloak; this one, labeled "Clock Resonator", has a picture of a small, cloaked imp standing in front of an analogue clock. Micah looks at the clock, which curiously appears to change to reflect the current time, before declaring "Well, I have to go to my sacrifice cooking class. Might take a look at that art show thing, though - could be interesting to watch." With that, Micah turns and walks off, no flashy teleportation needed.

[Artemis]

[Hunting Class]

Landon, not sitting directly next to his quiver, it being on the ground while he was up on the desk, doesn't react quite fast enough to stop Asami from snatching a few. They're nice arrows, fletched with grey goose feathers. They were tipped with small blunt heads for birds and small game.

"Hey! Those are mine!" Landon leaps off his desk to face Asami, bow in hand. "Give-"' He spots Agate's desk. "What in the Nine Hells have you done to that desk?"

[[brackets lover]]

[Hunting Class]

As Landon stops to admire Asami's work, she stops as well, gleefully smiling. "Oh, its this western treat called 'Peanut Brittle'. Its almost done cooling if you wanna try some~"

[bc56]

The Return
Mary knows what Micah's insinuating, and she doesn't like it. "Hmmph." Mary also turns and walks away. Micah and Octavia aren't the only ones with classes to get to.

[Artemis]

[Hunting Class]

"No." Landon says firmly. "Thank you." He holds out a pale hand. "Now give me my arrows back."

[Earl of Purple]

Cheer Practice

Mat looks away from Mary as she asks the question, and Mary might get the impression that Mat's blushing if she could, if the fur wasn't in the way. "To... an extent, yeah."

Ecbatana

The bushbaby shrugs elegantly and holds up a tooth, a human canine complete from root to crown. The metrodeus then disappears, trying to end the dream...

And when Aikobaz wakes up, she'll be holding the tooth it showed her in her left hand.

Hunting Class

Agate arrives! She's running a bit late from her Doomed Narrative support group, so she's been running to catch up. She's a dwarf, with a stout build, dusky skin, metallic copper hair, and green eyes. She's wearing a pretty standard copy of the school uniform, accessorised by a large yellow topaz on a chain around her neck and steel toed boots. Unlike Landon, she doesn't seem to have brought a weapon with her.

She pays very little attention to everything else until she slumps into her chair. Then, she's left staring at her desk, tilts her head to one side, and punches the desk, cracking the brittle and taking a piece off and eating it.

[Ironsmith]

[Cheer Practice] (Flashback)

"You've got to be kidding me. They're really just letting anyone join these days, aren't they?"

"Gotta be. Why even have tryouts if they're going to let someone like that in? She looks like Puppi's last chew toy."

"Nah. That thing got a proper burial looking twice as good as she does."

[Ecbatana]

Aiko jolts awake, the bath splashing around her as she springs up, rather abruptly flinging soapy water on anyone standing in front of her.

"Sorry!" She calls out to said unfortunate parties, blushing a little and settling back down into the bath, hastily covering herself before the suds have a chance to expire. "I, um... I think I sat on something..."

She's careful about getting back down again, looking back behind her for any sign of the offending object. She doesn't find anything, of course, but reaches out with her left hand as though she did, palming the unseen object and holding it up, just out of the water.

"...Huh." Aiko muses, looking over the tooth. "That's a weird thing to find in your tub. Should I be worried?"

[[brackets lover]]

[Hunting Class]

"If you want it, why don't you come an-"

As Agate arrives, Asami cuts herself off and begins to walk towards her own desk, dropping the arrows off near Landon. Asami stands by her seat and smiles nervously, bowing to Agate. "H-hey, Agate. What's up?" says Asami.

Of course, with most of the students gathered, the teacher begins to arrive as well. Mr. Huntsworth, an unshaven and unclean man covered with scars, approached the pavilion carrying a cage with opaque sides save for the grate at the front. He walked up to his front desk and placed the cage down, smiling to the kids. "Alright, class, today is a very exciting day because we're going to," he says, looking into grate as he talks and suddenly sighing, "Have a free period to study for the upcoming test." He stands to face the class, putting his hands on his desk to the side of the cage. He pauses absent-mindedly and clicks his tongue a few times before addressing the class again, "Do any of you know how to play the flute?"

[bc56]

Cheer Practice
"Someone oughta do something about that," Mary nods. She leans in conspiratorially. "If I get the opportunity I'm gonna take them down a peg. You want in?"

[Keeper]

Library

Mac looks between Darko and the strange person.
"Oh, he's not real? Okay."
Then Mac rounds on the magic person and immediately fires a blast of lightning at it.