PREP Highschool

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
"Yes, fine, absolutely!" Mary says brightly, pointedly not looking at Khannie so her expression doesn't give her true feelings away. She's not going to speak to Khannie's fineness, but she doesn't seem fine to Mary at all. Getting between her and Kol like that, what is Khannie thinking?

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

It only takes a few moments before the odd feeling goes away and everything is definitely just dandy nothing to be worried about no CHAOS going on to speak of nothing to see here move along move along.

Khannie gives her head a shake, resulting in Maridia clinging to her head like a squirrel on a tree whilst giggling like an idiot.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Some of the other students were making fun of Mary so I just wanted to, y'know, be here when she's getting her new room set up," Khannie says, glancing back the way they came. "Two boys were pretty rude to us on the way in, though. Boy dragons, I mean."

They haven't been rude to Kol, though, which is definitely good.

Why would anyone be rude to Kol, anyways, he's nice!

"Anyway! We were just going to that new room of Mary's before we smacked into you like a pair of doofs. Everything's fine."

Everything's just dandy!

Aside from that fluttery, flushed feeling that's WAY more intense than anything Khannie has dealt with before what the heck is going on!?

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

Kol stares at Mary. She sure doesn't seem fine. But okay?
He absolutely glares when he hears Khannie speak, though. He steps forward and instinctively puts a protective wing over each of them."What'd they look like? They're probably just jealous because they have crooked horns and dumb brains unlike you two."
He can't imagine why anyone would be rude to such cute girls. But maybe some of the dragons act different to girls compared to him. But he also hasn't met everyone. Well. Maybe he has. The dragon dorms aren't that big.

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
Mary accepts the hug readily and presses up against Kol. "It doesn't matter. Let's just go find my room. We can point them out if we see them again," She pauses to find the crumpled room assignment paper. "It's room F5."

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

"I don't think it was a big deal; they were just jerks," Khannie replies, doing her best to keep her emotions in check. It WAS a pretty big deal, though. It made her angry and... not quite embarrassed. Ashamed? Like she was worth less even though the dragon body they were hissing about isn't really real. And ostensibly saying 'nice' things about her.

But it sure didn't FEEL nice.

There's a little spike of... something? when Mary and Kol are hugging and she definitely doesn't need to get worked up about it. Just breath. You're fine. You're not even a real dragon just chill. "Yeah let's get to your room, Mary."

To room F5!

Khannie noses the door open and all of her stuff is ALSO in here because of course it is she's been at the dragon dorms the whole time, right? That's a normal thing that makes sense. Most CERTAINLY not the work of any particular radiantly beautiful and highly clever person working in the background.

"Okay! Here we are! It's really cool that they decided to room us together since we're already friends. The room has felt kind of empty with just me and Maridia in here," Khannie says.

What about Sirius? He mostly hangs out in the watch on campus. Unless of course some kind of digimon adventure starts happening but so far things seem pretty mellow. Maridia takes flight from Khannie's head and lands in her little basket on top of a dragon-sized dresser. What would dragons need dressers for, anyway? They don't wear clothing.

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

Sirius is doing important stress training to get his DV points up. He is of course inside Khannie's watch.
Which is strapped to her real body's wrist and therefore isn't on her leg right now? Because if it was on her leg right now that might be worrying.

Kol, for his part, looks very confused.
"Wait...you already live here, Khannie? But I haven't seen you around. And I thought Mary said that was just a disguise. Why would they send you here?"

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
"Khannie, you're my new roommate?" Mary asks incredulously. "How did you get assigned here? Isn't this dorm normally for dragons?" Khannie hasn't secretly been a dragon this whole time, has she? She didn't use the claim about shadow illusions as an excuse to reveal her true form, did she? What's going on here?

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

That's a good question, isn't it?

Where is the watch!

Khannie is in fact wearing it on her foreleg, but it is embedded in an illusioned up sleeve so it actually fits. If she were wearing that tiny thing normally it would be crushing her wrist (ankle?) like that one poor kid that got turned into a dragon in a popular children's book.

But then there are some really valid questions are brought up!

"I guess we just haven't run into each other?" Khannie reasons as she places Mary's bag near the unused bed before sitting down on her haunches. "That isn't so weird. I don't know everyone here at Kazul."

Just a disguise. It IS just a disguise, right?

"I already said I'm just as disguised as you guys are," she repeats. Is that... true though? Why's she saying that? "It's an illusion. Sort of. 'Real' gets fuzzy around shadow illusions. I-"

A beat.

She glances back toward the door to see if anyone's in earshot. She drops the volume of her voice a few levels, lowering her head closer to the floor. "You know about Wishes, Mary. I haven't told that many people, but I wished to be a real human girl. But in spite of that they still put me here."

"I'm a dragon!" Maridia helpfully interjects from her perch on top of the dresser, as if that would have a major impact on the direction of the discussion.

"Please don't blab about the wish thing, okay?" Khannie pleads. "I try to keep it under wraps. It still feels like it was stupid and selfish. I mean, I'm happy about how it turned out but... I could have wished for something good instead."

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

Kol does not appear to be getting any less confused.
"I don't know what any of that means Khannie, but being as disguised as we are would be a very different story from being human. Since Mary is shapeshifted completely. And this is what I actually look like. So why didn't you fight the placement? Why would they put you in the dragon dorms if you've never looked like a dragon before five minutes ago?"

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
Mary looks surprised. "You wished for that? Khannie I ... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked you to disguise yourself like that." Khannie seems to be having trouble admitting that she's not a real dragon, which sounds like a problem with the disguise, which would make this whole mess Mary's fault.
Mary returns to her humanoid shape almost immediately. Now she feels tiny compared to her friends, but she suspects her being human-shaped might help Khannie feel better and encourage her to get the disguise, which seems to be causing some sort of problem, off.

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

Kol seems really great at being confused.

"Look, it doesn't matter. Don't worry about it," Khannie retorts, her scales standing on end just a bit making her look like a poofed up cat. "This is a protagonist school. I figured there was probably a good reason I got stuck in here and I guess it was to keep Mary company. It's no big deal, okay?"

It is actually a pretty big deal but Khannie is tough and she's trying to make it SEEM like it isn't any big deal.

Then she flashes a toothy grin at Mary. "Hey you didn't ask me to do anything, I offered. I usually dragon up before I head into the dorms, anyway. The other students in here look at me weird when I'm just a girl. But if you want to walk around the dorms with two legs I've got your back, Mary."

That said?

Khannie's body fades to black before flowing away from her, the darkness filling the shadows of the room until they're glutted and fat. And in the place of the massively up-scaled fairy dragon is none other than a regular human girl. Unlike Mary, with her tail and wings and eyes, the only thing that MIGHT give Khannie away are a few colorful streaks in her hair that were definitely there the whole time.

She moves to put a hand on Mary's shoulder.

"You've been through a heck of a lot I just wanted to help you feel like you're not going it alone, okay?"

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

Yup. Still confused. Is Khannie suggesting that she used to be a dragon but then wished she wasn't? Then how would the school know to put her into the dragon dorms? Did her parents tattle on her? Did they not approve of her wish? If she doesn't like being a big dragon why does she dye her hair like her dragon wings? Was she a big fairy dragon with a tiny fairy dragon friend? What's going on?!

Still, maybe it's just none of his business.
Well, I think these looks suit you just fine too." Kol moves his face over to them to gently bop them with his nose. With them shrunk his head is big enough to do both at once. It's not really the same when the other person isn't a dragon but he doesn't have hands so...
"And you know. I'm down the hall."
So Khannie. How do you feel about now even more big strong dragon being in your face? Less fluttery?

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
Mary blushes a deep black that stands out against her red skin. "Haha, thanks." She looks at the furnishings of the room. "So... What do I do for a bed?" Dragons don't need a lot of furniture and and the room is sparsely furnished as a result. Mary can already think of several things she needs, like another dresser (although she has very little clothes, her enchanted raiment can serve as most of what she wears), something to sleep on, and a mirror to get dressed and practice shapeshifting in front of, not to mention something to provide privacy for the aforementioned getting dressed.

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

You will never escape your confusion, Kol.

Anyway!

Khannie gets booped. The fluttery feeling does not go away. Kol is still crushingly cute and getting touched by him more does not alleviate that even a little. Is she just... she's been able to tell that she likes boys. That isn't a surprise. But the revelation that's especially cute dragon boys is a surprise.

This is probably Uncle Zebes' fault.

Somehow.

Or maybe Fortuna's.

Khannie's face flushes, though not nearly as red as Mary. That would be quite impossible.

"Yeah, thanks. I'll help Mary get her stuff unpacked," Khannie says. And then it quite suddenly occurs to her who the two boy dragons who were hitting on her are. "Those jerks from earlier? It was Gypaetusbarbatus and Mellivoracapensis. They harass me every time they see me no matter what I look like."

She figures that'll give Kol something to focus on.

Anyway!

Beds.

Khannie makes a bit of a face and sort of... gestures.

There's a Khannie-the-dragon sized nest of ferns and wildflowers and seed fluff that somehow remains vibrant and green in spite of the fact that Khannie has been sleeping on it for several days. It smells nice and looks really pretty! "That bed's mine."

Then she points at the OTHER bed that was delivered while Khannie was out.

Which is, apparently, a lava pool.

Just a big glowing puddle of molten rock ringed in heavily heat resistant ceramic etched with little sigils to prevent the heat it radiates from cooking Khannie and everything else in the room.

"I guess... that's supposed to be for you? Gotta admit our room having a lava lamp is pretty cool."

It gives off plenty of swanky mood lightning.

"I've only really been coming in here to sleep," Khannie admits. "So there isn't much furniture. I think we can order more? There's this raccoon you can buy furnishings for your room from."

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment


”Oh, those jerks. Crooked horns and lots of small things. Probably going to end up in the manuals some day. I have no idea how they got into Protagonist school.”
Being a total scumbag but a protagonist usually means a very elaborate character arc. Which often involves the world being very cruel to make that happen.

”I think I saw the dorm store but I couldn’t afford anything there.” Kol admits.

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
Mary looks skeptically at the lava pool. "It doesn't look very comfortable," she comments.
Of course she hasn't tried it yet. And she's standing outside the glyphs that are keeping the heat in, so she can't feel it (she loves the heat).
"A raccoon? I could use a mirror and a place to change in private, but I don't have much money." As far as royalty goes, Sekhmet is very frugal. Or maybe she just hasn't figured out that she can conjure real money.
Mary sets her bags down against the cave wall near her "bed. "And a desk to do schoolwork on. Kol, how do dragons do schoolwork?" He would know, he's been living with them the last few days.

[Gold]

[Lunch - Prank-Kids Pranks]

Suddenly, Micah bursts through the doors of the lunch hall, rushing frantically down the aisle and shouting "Help! L-look out!!" His belt is apparently missing, as his cloak is done up by a simple rope.

He is immediately followed by some kind of cartoon rocket with gloved hands - one of which it holds Micah's belt in - a malicious grin, and one of those round submarine windows. Riding on top of this rocket are 3 tiny (about the size of fey) kids, with water, fire, and air for hair respectively and all wearing orange goggles and onesies. They're giggling and laughing as they zoom across the room, and Micah throws himself to the ground as they swoop low, narrowly missing him and a bunch of other students.

► SHOW SPOILER

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

Khannie was half way hoping that mentioning their tormentors would get Kol out of the room so they can unpack Mary's stuff without a boy watching the whole process but apparently he wasn't taking the hint and instead talking about horns or something?

She has no idea what the deal with that is.

The question of how dragons do homework is pretty obvious but it makes sense that Mary wouldn't know. Draconic script is all shaped for easily scratching it into hard surfaces. Khannie doesn't answer, though, since the question wasn't aimed at her.

"You look like some sorta volcano dragon I'll bet it would be like napping in a hot tub," Khannie points out. "All the rooms have got default furnishings you can request but I think it's the extra stuff that costs money. And nearly all the dragon furnishings are extra, which is dumb. I guess they don't expect dragon students to care about furniture. Or to be loaded or something."

Khannie's family is decently well off. Making enchanted objects is a pretty well paying profession.

[Earl of Purple]

Lunch- Prank-Kids Prank

One student doesn't dodge or move away from the careening rocket. She's a girl, aged apparently fourteen, or at least she's wearing a uniform consisting of a skirt and shirt combo. She's mechanical, with no face; instead, a blank expanse of bronze marks the front of her face, framed by a blonde wig. She turns to watch the rocket as it passes, and raises her hand with the fingers folding back and a knife emerging from her hand. "Do you require violence?"

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

"Oh, dragon script can be scratched onto just about anything. Otherwise a lot of dragons have foreclaws that can hold a pen if they're careful. And if all else fails you can hire a scribe. I've met a few of them. They're real nice." Cute little kobold scribes. Kol can't afford one.

"Do you um. Need my help? Would you rather I leave while you unpack your clothes?"

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
Mary shrugs. "It would be awkward for you to go through my clothes. But you can stay here." One problem, of course, is the lack of dresser. For now Mary sets her clothes into three neat piles on the floor: Two spare school uniforms, one for a dragon and one for a humanoid, a set of comfy, loose pajamas, and a few sets of underwear.
(Really it doesn't look like nearly enough clothes to live with. She'd have to be washing stuff nearly daily if she wanted to always have something clean to wear.)
She then gets out and sets up a collapsible easel and painting supplies and a small cushion on which rests her royal circlet (she isn't wearing it right now). "I guess I need to figure out where to keep all this."

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

"And lots of dragons can shape change like you can, Mary," Khannie feels compelled to add. "Kol just got the short end of the stick."

That feels pretty bad to say out loud, so she offers him an apologetic smile. "Maybe once you figure out what sorta magic you got you might be able to shape change, too?"

One can hope, right?

Honestly Khannie has no idea what sort of dragon Kol is supposed to be. She isn't a dragonologist. Her knowledge of dragons is strictly limited to the ones she has common and direct contact with all the time. Like her uncle and her familiar and the occasional run-in with Fortuna.

She opens up the large dresser revealing that there are in fact SEVERAL empty drawers.

"You can use these spots for you clothes if you want? Leaving 'em in piles on the floor is pretty lame."

Don't be lame, Mary!

"Once you're settled in you wanna go hang out a bit? Or have you got homework you need to do? The library's okay but I've found a few cool places around campus."

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

Kol sinks to the ground, laying his chin on the floor.
"Well, everyone seems convinced that I'm some sort of lucky dragon." he demonstrates by waving his tail at them. The clover-like end is shiny, much like his horns.
"But I'm not sure if I feel all that lucky.

I'll be around, if you don't mind dealing with only going to places I fit..."

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
"Sure, we can hang out," Mary replies. She slides her things into the open space in Khannie's dresser. "But I'd like to at least try the bed first. That way I can ask for a different one if I don't like it." She shifts into dragon form, removes her uniform, and slips into the lava pool.
Her head pokes out a moment later. "Oh my stars!" she exclaims, "This feels so good. You guys have no idea. It's so warm and comfortable and it burns all the grime off my scales!" Sounds like she won't be requesting a different bed after all.

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

"What's a lucky dragon, though?" Khannie wonders aloud, pulling out her phone and poking at it a few times. "Huh."

She spins it around for the others to see.

Depicted?

Some sort of long white snake-y looking dragon with a very dog-like head.

"This is a luck dragon, I guess? He doesn't look much like you."

Very true.

Doesn't look like Kol at all. Not even a little bit. In fact, Khannie would argue that the luck dragon and Kol (and her and Mary for that matter) are about as similar as any random four pokemon might be similar.

But hey then Mary goes for a dip! Khannie doesn't seem too weirded out by this. Dragons going around wearing just their scales is pretty darn normal. When Mary pops her head out Khannie laughs. "I'll take your word for it; I'm not fireproof."

What sort of proof IS she, anyway? Or... was she? Dragons are all proof against something. Oh, right! It was charming magic, wasn't it? Though she's totally and definitely one hundred percent a real human girl now she's still pretty great at preventing her emotions from being manipulated. It has helped a TON to resist the grinding hopelessness that awful little white butt-gremlin's deal causes.

[Keeper]

Dragon of Disappointment

That does not, in fact, look anything like Kol. Of all the dragons Khannie knows, Kol probably closest resembles Zebes by default since he doesn't have mismatched wings like Fortuna or bug wings like Maridia. He's also not super fiery like Mary. But he does have a shiny thingamajig for a tail like Fortuna. And she's got a luck themed name.
"I don't really know what I'm resistant to. I kind of don't want to...test it?"

[bc56]

Dragon of Disappointment
"All right, that's enough." Mary rises the rest of the way out of the lava pool, dripping molten rock. She wipes her neck off then fixes her uniform back around it. "Where should we go?"

[Rebonack]

[Dragon of Disappointment]

Kol doesn't look much like a dragonite, either.

But he DOES look kind of like some of the other dragons in the dorms. Honestly, they're just as varied as pokemon. It's kind of weird, really. Why ARE dragons so diverse? Some have got big feathery wings. Or leathery wings. Or even kinda insectil wings like the ones Khannie had before her wish made her what she should have ALWAYS been all along.

A real human girl.

But anywho!

"We could try doing a moogle image search on you?" Khannie helpfully suggests. "That might be a good way to figure out what sort of dragon you are? Or you might not even HAVE a sort. You might be unique. Some dragons are one-of-a-kind. Heck, I'm pretty sure I was before I made my wish. I was SORTA like a fairy dragon but Maridia looks way different than me."

"I'm smaller and cuter and yellowerer!" Maridia interjects.

"Anyway, since Kol wants to tag along we should go somewhere we can ALL fit," Khannie says as she whispers a few words, shadows flowing around her like ink and steadily growing until her super-sized fae dragon body resolves again. Complete with the little dragon student uniform collar. "There are a couple cool places. There's an athletic field where they do dragon sports which are a ton of fun. Heck, sometimes a literal ton of fun."

If you're the sort of person who likes sports, that is.

"There's the campus gardens, too. That's a nice relaxing spot to sit and study. Oh! And the arcanium! That's the big... brass ball thing? With the blue crystals on it? That thing is heckin' rad."

A beat.

A somewhat sheepish grin.

"If... uh... you're a geek who likes wizardry. Which maybe you guys aren't."

Does Kol have any suggestions?

What dragon activities does he know about?

[Gold]

[Lunch - Prank-Kids Pranks]

Micah gets up, dusting himself off. Then, he jumps slightly when he sees the knife. "U-uhh... V-violence!? No, no, I-I just need you to help me catch that-Huh?"

He interrupts himself when he looks behind the mechanical girl and notices the rocket at the end of the room opposite him, accelerating towards them at an alarming rate.

"Duck!" he shouts to the girl as he crouches low. If she doesn't move, the rocket is on a collision course with the back of her head.

[Ironsmith]

[Lunch Room - New Girl]

tonk!

PREP's newest student clumsily drops her lunch tray onto the table in front of her, before plopping down at the table herself. She's not wearing the same uniform as the other students; in fact, she's not wearing any uniform at all, seeming to have a marked preference for street clothes. She's got a red baseball cap on her head, a white scarf around her neck and chest, a heavy rucksack on her back (soon to be by her side when she sits down), a beige cargo vest around her torso, and a pair of jeans that don't seem to fit her quite right.

Probably because she's very clearly not human. Her skin is a pale white, her hair a light green and perpetually caught in a sort of crescent-like shape over one eye. She doesn't have a proper nose or ears, either, her head just sort of smoothly running over the spots where they would be. And her hands seem to only barely qualify as hands; more like ribbons or flippers with little nubs for fingers. And while the pants obscure what, exactly, is going on with her legs, she seems to have completely forgotten to get any shoes, which means she's walking around on bare, toeless little stubs that probably don't count as feet.

The bizarre new student, however, doesn't seem to be especially insecure about any of this. Sure, she's avoided the crowded lunch tables, but a few seconds after she sits down, it becomes obvious why; she pulls out a hardbacked textbook, titled "Introduction to Medicine" and begins studying, munching quietly at her food as an afterthought.

She seems to be so deep into her studies, in fact, that she doesn't notice the prankster grab her backpack and run off toward the cafeteria doors, snickering to himself the whole way.