PREP Highschool

Locales found within the main city centers; primarily Inside, Riverside, and Skyside.
Ironsmith
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

[Detention]

"Why? Does this conversation bother you?" Aiko asks, surprisingly sincerely. "...It's something you'd rather not think about, isn't it? Something better left to wiser people than you?"
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Detention
Mary's fists clench. "You're so lucky there's a seeing stone right there, or I'd give you a matching black eye on the other side!" Aiko really needs to learn not to antagonize the girl who could kill her in so many ways just by accident. "Try, 'I don't really care how you ran your tin-pot dictatorship' and 'I have a better role model at home anyway.'"
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Rebonack
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Re: PREP Highschool

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[Study Session]

It's gotta be a shapeshifting thing, right? Like, demons don't really age do they? Not like regular people do, anyway. So whatever they look like is what they look like. That or if they get altered somehow. So what happened to Mary that's making her want to look like THAT?

Honestly Khannie really LIKES how her human body turns out. She doesn't really... micromanage it or anything. It's just an expression of what she thinks human-her looks like. And... if she's being totally honest her real pokemon shape isn't THAT bad. At least she isn't a bag of garbage or something.

Khannie is, likewise, studying for a math test. Just... a math test that's a little more advanced. Khannie is pretty precocious when it comes to math. Pretty much required if you're doing wizardy since holding spell formula and solving them in your head is no walk in the park. She sets her book aside and moves over to Mary's desk.

"Okay this stuff isn't THAT bad. What's the sorta thing you're trying to find in this problem? Once you know that then you've just gotta cancel out the bits you don't need."

Easy!
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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Study Session
It must have been a significant event, to alter Mary's self-perception so much. But she's kept quiet about it to Khannie, which means it's probably something combination of embarrassing and serious. Something she probably shouldn't keep bottled up. Maybe something she should tell someone she trusts.
Mary shows Khannie her worksheet, which deals with bizarrely-named currencies and units of measurement.
Given how the Nexus is, it's not clear if these are real units or just made-up names. "If there are 16 fleabonks to a zort and 4 planners in 5 zorts, how many fleabonks are in a panner?" Mary's constructed her solution incorrectly. "It's 9 and 3/5, right?"
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Earl of Purple »

Outside
Ironsmith wrote: May 04, 2023 5:46 pm
Oh, bonus. It's nice and toasty inside.

Aikobaz claims her seat in the carriage and waits patiently as the loremasters open a gateway to...

...a surprisingly strange-looking place. This was supposed to be where the Bloodplunders came from, right? She saw it in the dream she had with Aigothurz. Why did it look so different?

"...Oh."

Aigothurz, you prankster, you.

...Now that she thinks on it, this may be a perfect time to do some reconnaissance. She still has some tea in her system from this morning. She was intending to use it to study, but this seems more immediately important.

Aikobaz settles into her seat and rests the back of her head against the cushion, closing her eyes and letting herself drift away. That should help her preserve her dignity in ther interim.

In the meantime, she's going to try to focus on the palace, figure out what is being said about her arrival...
The palace is, as palaces tend to be, an immense structure of travertine with lots of rooms. The main throne room is mostly deserted, a pair of servants with shaven heads wearing sleeveless dresses are working on cleaning the floor, and six more honour guards in copper lamellar are standing guard- four around the large central throne, a chair carved from an immense block of jade and decorated with spindly-limbed elephants, and two next to a much smaller chair, to one side and just in front of the main throne. That chair is made apparently from silver, though despite the material it's relatively plain, with a threadbare red velvet cushion placed upon the seat.

There's a congregation of people in one of the throne room's antechambers, a smaller room with an onyx altar upon which is a padded cushion of red velvet. Sat on the cushion is a creature resembling a bushbaby with large eyes, though the primate's eyes are faceted red spinel. It's the only one sat, as the crowd- a mix of stoic loremasters in vibrant robes and incense-puffing hats, military-looking figures wearing sculpted brass breastplates and striped capes over simple robes, and probably nobles wearing excessively flamboyant outfits. Loremasters seem to get more important the more stripes they have, whilst the soldiers- if that's what they are- in brass appear to get more important the less stripes are on their capes. The nobles are all brightly coloured, though they all seem to be avoiding shades of blue. The military figures and the nobles are gossiping, but don't seem to know much; the Loremasters aren't answering any questions. They know Aikobaz is on her way; but they don't seem to know anything about her, even her name. Just that the loremasters have found another potential princess; apparently, it's been two or three weeks since the last died, and there's been three failures since. So there might be some kind of trick or test she's expected to pass.
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Rebonack
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Rebonack »

[Study Session]

"Okay you're just kinda putting it together wrong. It's easier if you turn the variables into letters 'cuz those are easier to keep straight in your head. So Z equals fifteen f. And four p equals five z, so you write those equation down. Then you can substitute z for fifteen f since those are equal, right? Then what have you gotta do next?" Khannie says, framing the equation for her friend a bit better here.

While Mary is puzzling through that Khannie considers her friend.

Mary hasn't talked to her about whatever triggered the appearance change. Maybe she's sensitive about it? Khannie will have to approach this with careful words since she doesn't want her friend to clam up about it. If something's wrong then her room-mate should probably know about it, right? If only to be someone to talk to.

"So, uh, I like you're new look? Did something happen that made you decide to mix things up a bit?"


Hmm.

Probably not the greatest attempt at wordcraft but that was an attempt, right?
Ironsmith
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

[Detention]

"I'm... aware." Aiko says through closely-grit teeth. "Your mother is a remarkable woman, and I would make no further attempts to upstage her. I..."

Aiko takes a deep breath, hoping the momentary hesitation catches Mary's attention. Sekhmet suggested talking to her like a fellow teenage girl, and Aiko is banking on the more emotional tone to help with that.

"...I do not say any of this to boast." Aiko continues. "...And while I could truthfully say that I wish you would learn from my experiences, because the world does not need another Aikobaz III, the more honest statement would be... that I miss it." She rubs her thumbs together and shakes her head. "Not the crown. Not the throne. Not the wars and the papers and ruling all I see. Just... home. And I'm grateful for any opportunity I have to speak about it again, to bring it back to life for just a moment." She runs her finger under her good eye, discretely flicking away a tear. "...Surely you understand that, at least?"

[Outside]

Three failures?

That's an area of interest. If one heir died, she might dismiss it as tragedy. Two is suspicious. Three is a clear indication that someone or something is systematically killing them.

Before anything else, Aiko needs to find out what.

Focusing on the words from the assembled guests, Aiko tries to shift the dream back toward the deaths of the previous three princesses; what happened to them?
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

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Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Study Session
Mary tries to write out what Khannie explained, but the second question distracts her. She turns around in her seat so Khannie can get a good look.
"Thanks! I like it too." Mary happily receives the compliments. "Um, no. It's just something I thought of," She looks away as she says that, not meeting Khannie's eyes.

Detention
Mary shakes her head. "I really don't," It seems genuine, not meant to insult Aiko. Mary really doesn't understand what it's like to lose a home. All the places she's lived before meeting Sekhmet were not places she'd want to go back to. But Aiko doesn't know where Mary comes from, and Mary isn't inclined to tell her.
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Ironsmith
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

[Detention]

"...No?" Aikobaz frowns. "Do you mean to tell me that, if some twist of fate separated you from your mother now, you wouldn't miss her terribly?"

She lets the question hang in the air for a moment. It's a situation that's strictly hypothetical, but hopefully that's enough to get through to Mary.
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

Want some rye? Course ya do!

Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Detention
"I would. Believe me, I know I would. But that's not what you were talking about." Mary sighs. "I don't have a home like that. Everywhere I've lived is just a place. Most of them sucked. I don't want to reminisce about them." There's probably some stories there, but Mary just said she doesn't want to tell them.
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Rebonack
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Rebonack »

[Study Session]

Being fair, that WAS a pretty distracting question.

"I think my dad would blow a gasket is he saw me dressing like that. But I dunno, not really my thing. Sorceresses usually have a look. You've probably noticed with the other girls around campus. That just not my deal,"
Khannie says with a shrug. "I always thought that your mom wasn't really into that kind of thing, either. Does she know that you changed up your uniform like that?"

A pretty solid question.

But also a distracting one.
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Study Session
"You could rock that look," Mary suggests with regards to the way sorceresses tend to dress, but she understands the point.
"Mum... She knows, and she's not happy," mentioning Sekhmet in connection with this situation elicits a grimace from Mary. Maybe there's something to it? "I can't wear this to class because she won't sign off on the consent forms." While PREP may encourage its students to modify their uniforms, there's still a dress code, and what Mary's wearing sits well outside the bounds of appropriate schoolwear. There are exceptions granted if the student is the type of protagonist that needs an unusual uniform, for example an inventor's power armor or a succubus'... Reduced clothing, but that requires parental consent, which Sekhmet adamantly refuses to give. "It's silly, I could wear literally nothing as a dragon, and no one would bat an eye."
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

bc56 wrote: May 06, 2023 2:42 am Detention
"I would. Believe me, I know I would. But that's not what you were talking about." Mary sighs. "I don't have a home like that. Everywhere I've lived is just a place. Most of them sucked. I don't want to reminisce about them." There's probably some stories there, but Mary just said she doesn't want to tell them.
[Detention]

Aikobaz tilts her head quizzically. "...What a strange contradiction of terms." She says, almost idly. "You would miss your mother, but not the home she provides? I can tell you from experience that the house is not the same when its keeper has departed." She shakes her head. "It does not matter if that house is a crystal palace or a humble hovel by the sea, it loses its luster when it is empty."

She pauses a moment before adding, "And I did not say that you would necessarily be separated from her and keep the home, either. To again cite myself as an example, you could find yourself spirited away to a distant land or even banished to an entirely different realm. Would you not miss the home, the mother and father and brother you have now, if that happened to you?"
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

Want some rye? Course ya do!

Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Rebonack »

[Study Session]

"Maybe. But it's like... why? I mean, I get it. Looking pretty feels nice. But... that just seems a little overboard for me, I guess?"
Khannie replies with a shrug.

Could she rock that look?

Eh.

Maybe. She doesn't mind looking pretty for her boyfriend. But does she want everyone ELSE looking at her?

"Hah. I know what you mean about the dragon thing. Like, I could dump my clothing in my normal shape and no one would care. But y'know, if I wore a some skimpy outfit WHILE running around in zoroark mode I bet that would still get looks. It's about how you present yourself."

Khannie grimaces a bit. "I dunno if I would want weirdos who want to gawk at pokemon in bikinis staring at me."
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Detention
Mary thinks Aiko is overcomplicating this. "It's not a contradiction! The manor is as much home as the cabin was, because mum and da make it that way. Losing a place is nothing. It can be rebuilt."

Study Session
Mary understands that, at least. Sekhmet warned her about people who are only interested in what she is, not who she is. If someone is only interested in her because she's a princess, or worse, a succubus, she's supposed to get away from them. But yet she still wants to dress like that? "I understand. I don't want creeps staring at me either. It's just... Looking pretty wasn't really something I could do in my old life. I was lucky if I just looked pitiable. Having people look at me with respect, admiration, even desire? It feels good." Street urchins aren't always treated very well. That seems like one reason. But probably not the whole story. Feelings like that probably aren't new, so what was the triggering event?
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Earl of Purple »

Outside- The Whispering Sea

And so Aikobaz dreams the past! The ritual for each of the three failure princesses is the same; they sit upon the smaller throne in the throne room, whilst a crowd of nobles and military men kneel on cushions with loremasters standing amongst them, when a man and a woman wearing gold paint arrive from the temple-antechamber carrying a plush red velvet cushion with the bushbaby sat upon it. The first princess, an elderly woman in a dark green dress, smiles and reaches out to stroke the animal with shining eyes as it's set upon her lap, where it sits for a rather boring half an hour where nothing much happens. Her smile falters during that time and she lolls back, stopping the stroking and her eyes fade as she dies, before being carried out by more naked people, these ones painted silver.

The second princess is a purple-skinned child, aged between eight and ten, with long hair in a white dress. She squeals when she sees the bushbaby brought to her, but despite smiling at it, she doesn't touch the creature even as it's put upon her lap, smiling down at it and looking a little awkward. She crosses her ankles and blushes and turns to one side, before the gold-painted pair shake their heads and take the bushbaby away. The girl bursts into tears, and gets up and runs off towards a rather awkward-looking loremaster who picks her up and carries her out.

The third princess is middle-aged, with a walking-stick resting next to her in a yellow blouse and a blue skirt, her right foot in a black shoe and her left foot clearly a prosthetic. She does touch the bushbaby after it's set upon her lap, rather awkwardly patting its head as it purrs. It looks up at her, as it has with the others, and when the gold-painted pair walk over to shake their heads and remove the creature, she nods her head and smiles slightly before taking her stick and struggling to her feet, before limping out of the room.
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Rebonack
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Rebonack »

[Study Session]

Khannie is suspicious!

But Mary doesn't want to spill it and Khannie doesn't want to press too hard. So for now she makes affirmative noise and lets it go.

"So. About that equation. You didn't think I was gunna forget, did you?"

Oh no math isn't over yet.
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Ironsmith wrote: May 04, 2023 5:46 pm[Parts Unknown]

"It isn't?" The vixen blinks, snout quivering as she processes this information. "Ooooh no. I messed up, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone but I thought it'd be okay to talk to you about it because you already know but you didn't and now uncle Braeg is going to be so mad at me and and and-" The vixen sniffles, which is a really bizarre sound to hear from a fox.

Almost as bizarre as open sobbing.


[Crystal Dorms]

"...Well, I should... I should hope so." Aiko says after a moment, cheeks orange. The innuendo could not be more obvious. Though whether that's coming from Mac or fate is difficult to tell; he seems to be relying on a different system than she is, but it's close enough that she can't deny his interpretation outright.

And it... does describe a situation she could reasonably find herself in.

"That should conclude Auguries for now." She says after a moment, gathering up the cards.
Parts Unknown

"Don't worry. He probably wanted you to tell me which is why he told you in the first place." Kol tells her. Which...honestly Kol isn't lying that definitely sounds like the kind of thing he would do.

Crystal Dorms

Yes, definitely super good augury. Mac definitely isn't making all of it up because he's never done this before.
Mac, oblivious (or is he?) lightly drums his hands on his legs.
"So! What's up next, then? You mentioned a couple of other subjects. We've gone over two."
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Study Session
"I was hoping..." Back to math they go. It'll be more of the same, with Mary gradually figuring things out and Khannie explaining. If she still has questions to ask, she'll get another chance. There's still time.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Rebonack »

[Study Session]

There's always still time.

Until, of course, there isn't time anymore.

"Hey, you work on that next one okay? I'm gunno go and grab us some snacks at the depot. You want anything specific?" Khannie asks. Once Mary gives her reply Khannie will head out!

This is for a reason on Khannie's part. Partly to give Mary a chance to take a stab at the problem on her own and partly to give Khannie a chance to think about what her friend is going through. Obviously something is up. But Khannie isn't sure how to approach it. She doesn't want to just pry really hard or Mary might clam up. Mary's cautious about stuff like that. Probably because of how much time she spent on the streets.

It's weird.

Should Khannie think of her friend as lucky or unlucky?

Obviously she was unlucky. She lost her parents, lived on the streets, then got caught up in that stupid white butt-grimlin's game. But she was SUPER lucky that Sekhmet got her freed from the grief seed and then adopted her. Maybe Mary is just both?
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Re: PREP Highschool

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Study Session
Offering to buy Mary food may or may not be a good idea depending on whether you value her friendship or your wallet more. She eats like, well, a dragon. At least she's aware how expensive it is to feed her. "Beef jerky and chocolate pretzels. Um, but I don't want to waste your money.,"

Away from Mary, Khannie has a chance to think. The word she's looking for is probably "fated." A lot of good and a lot of bad have happened to her, but all of it highly improbable. Mary herself has said as much. She specifically called Sekhmet "the best thing that ever happened to me."
So why is she so blatantly going against Sekhmet's wishes? Did something happen to strain their relationship?
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Re: PREP Highschool

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[Study Session]

Right right.

Chocolate pretzels and jerky. Mary likes lots of different sorts of food but meat and chocolate are big ones. Given her uncle's predilections and Maridia she's pretty sure that dragons just love chocolate in general. Maybe it's because chocolate beans were used as money in some places and dragons like loot and so chocolate is maybe kind of loot by some definition?

Or maybe it's just because chocolate tastes good?

Either way, Khannie agrees that chocolate tastes good.

She gets the jerky and pretzels for Mary and some chocolate dipped hot peppers for herself. The depot has these candied ones sort of like the cherries that get put on top of sundaes, except for peppers instead of cherries and they are AMAZING. Khannie really has no idea why she can stomach spicier food than most of the dragons at the dragon dorms but hey the Nexus is full of mysteries.

...oh my gosh they have habanero teriyaki steak bites. They aren't REAL jerky. Not that flat tough stringy stuff. They're more like candied spicy meet and Khannie absolutely adores the things. She grabs some of those, too.

Fated.

Yeah.

That's probably it.

That describes most of the kids at PREP though, doesn't it? Everyone has gone through weird stuff that's both super lucky and super unlucky. Khannie did too.

Maybe fifteen minutes after she leaves Khannie returns to their dorm room!

"Okay I got the snacks Mary how's the math going?"

Surely it has been going great and nothing has gone wrong.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Study Session
As Khannie enters the room, she'll beat Mary talking to someone. She sounds upset.
"I'm fine, no thanks to you."
...
"For the last time, I'm not going to change! Unless you come fix what you broke, I'm going to keep trying to do it myself!"
...
"Khannie's here, bye."
SNAP!
As Khannie steps in, Mary snaps her compact mirror closed. Khannie's probably somewhat familiar with the device: it's enchanted for long distance communication with someone who has a similar mirror.
"Math's fine, fine, just fine. I, um, solved a couple more problems..." Mary completely fails to conceal the fact that things are not fine.
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Re: PREP Highschool

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[Study Session]

Oh no things aren't fine.

At the insistence of fineness Khannie replies with an empathetic, "Yeah? That's good," in a tone that immediately suggests that Khannie, too, knows that Mary isn't fine and that if Mary wants to talk about it that Khannie is totally up for it.

"Who were you talkin' with?" Khannie asks as she offers the baggie of chocolate dipped pretzels and (not chocolate dipped) jerky over to Mary.

Khannie would very much like to know who her friend was talking with.

Fix what?

Keep trying to do what by herself?

If there's anything Khannie learned from doing Magical Girl work it was that trying to do everything on your own just got you killed or worse.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

bc56 wrote: May 06, 2023 3:30 pm Detention
Mary thinks Aiko is overcomplicating this. "It's not a contradiction! The manor is as much home as the cabin was, because mum and da make it that way. Losing a place is nothing. It can be rebuilt."
[Detention]

Aiko opens her mouth to object, but quickly decides that would be pointless. She could point out that the difference between losing a house and losing a kingdom was one of significant scale, but Mary has no frame of reference for the latter. Better to stick with familiar ground.

"...Yes. Exactly." She begins again. "Your mum and da made a home for you, and if anything happened to them, you'd miss them." She rests her arms on the desk in front of her and sets her chin on them. "...I know I miss mine. The empire was all I had left of them. It was my job to take good care of it for them, as much as for everyone else. Not having it anymore is..." She weighs her words for a moment, trying to find the right term before quietly deciding it probably didn't exist.
Keeper wrote: May 06, 2023 8:28 pm

Parts Unknown

"Don't worry. He probably wanted you to tell me which is why he told you in the first place." Kol tells her. Which...honestly Kol isn't lying that definitely sounds like the kind of thing he would do.

Crystal Dorms

Yes, definitely super good augury. Mac definitely isn't making all of it up because he's never done this before.
Mac, oblivious (or is he?) lightly drums his hands on his legs.
"So! What's up next, then? You mentioned a couple of other subjects. We've gone over two."
[Parts Unknown]

"...You think so?" The vixen sniffs, wiping her snout on her paw. "You don't think he's going to be mad at me? He's scary when he's mad... really scary." She's still shaking in his claws, visibly terrified at the prospect.

[Crystal Dorms]

"Comparative Geography and Intro to Romance, yes." Aikobaz nods, putting away the cards. "...Both of which I would rather study alone, if it is all the same to you."
Earl of Purple wrote: May 06, 2023 5:41 pm Outside- The Whispering Sea

And so Aikobaz dreams the past! The ritual for each of the three failure princesses is the same; they sit upon the smaller throne in the throne room, whilst a crowd of nobles and military men kneel on cushions with loremasters standing amongst them, when a man and a woman wearing gold paint arrive from the temple-antechamber carrying a plush red velvet cushion with the bushbaby sat upon it. The first princess, an elderly woman in a dark green dress, smiles and reaches out to stroke the animal with shining eyes as it's set upon her lap, where it sits for a rather boring half an hour where nothing much happens. Her smile falters during that time and she lolls back, stopping the stroking and her eyes fade as she dies, before being carried out by more naked people, these ones painted silver.

The second princess is a purple-skinned child, aged between eight and ten, with long hair in a white dress. She squeals when she sees the bushbaby brought to her, but despite smiling at it, she doesn't touch the creature even as it's put upon her lap, smiling down at it and looking a little awkward. She crosses her ankles and blushes and turns to one side, before the gold-painted pair shake their heads and take the bushbaby away. The girl bursts into tears, and gets up and runs off towards a rather awkward-looking loremaster who picks her up and carries her out.

The third princess is middle-aged, with a walking-stick resting next to her in a yellow blouse and a blue skirt, her right foot in a black shoe and her left foot clearly a prosthetic. She does touch the bushbaby after it's set upon her lap, rather awkwardly patting its head as it purrs. It looks up at her, as it has with the others, and when the gold-painted pair walk over to shake their heads and remove the creature, she nods her head and smiles slightly before taking her stick and struggling to her feet, before limping out of the room.
[Outside - The Whispering Sea]

Okay. So not killing, unless she gets really old in a hurry. That's a good sign, at least. But given that the genealogist was looking for relatives, she's still not likely to pass the test, whatever it actually is.

Hm.

What else can she learn about the bushbaby?
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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Study Session
"Just mum. Calling about my 'look,'" Mary answers. She eagerly takes the food and scarfs down a piece of jerky immediately. "She's worried about nothing, it's not a big deal," That conversation sounded like a big deal.

Detention
"I don't have anything left of my parents either," Mary admits.
That's probably a shock to Aiko, because Mary very obviously has parents, and she looks too much like them to be adopted. The unusual circumstances surrounding her resurrection are not public knowledge.
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Ironsmith
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

[Detention]

"...What do you mean? There's everything left of your parents. You live with..." Aiko trails off, looking Mary over. "...No..." She mumbles incredulously. "Were... were you also born out of wedlock? Wait." She shakes her head. "Parents. You were adopted. Your birth parents were other people entirely."

Granted, that still could mean Mary's a bastard. But it's not necessarily the case, and...

Wait.

Shit.
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

Want some rye? Course ya do!

Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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bc56
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by bc56 »

Detention
"Yes. Uh, sort of. It's complicated." Mary responds to the adoption comment.

Wait. Did Aiko just say "also?" Ohhhhhh. Mary doesn't know much about how royalty is supposed to act, but she knows that being born out of wedlock is a Bad Thing. No wonder Aiko has self-esteem issues. But that's not information Mary can take advantage of right now, so she files it away from future use.

"I was five," she adds, not that it really explains anything.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Ironsmith »

[Detention]

"I'm... sorry to hear that."

Aikobaz falls silent again, fidgeting with her thumbs as she tries to find another subject to broach. Clearly this one was upsetting Mary and putting Aiko herself in something of a vulnerable position.

But, no. She can't seem to get her mind off family. She'll just have to find a different facet.

"...I heard about your date with Aigothurz." She says simply. It sounds like a non-sequitur, and probably is, but it's the best she can do on such short notice. "And how badly it went. I understand I was indirectly a large part of that. Do you really hate me so much that you can't enjoy time with my brot-... my cous-... with that sweetheart of an orc?"
Who're you? ...Don't matter.

Want some rye? Course ya do!

Here's to us!
Who's like us?
Damn few,
And they're aaaaall dead.
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Re: PREP Highschool

Post by Earl of Purple »

Outside- The Whispering Sea

Well, the bushbaby has large eyes, and eyes are a bit of a theme throughout the city. A common motif in mosaics, murals and even graffiti. There's also usually a bushbaby on the statues decorating the public spaces of the city; not as the main depiction, but sat on the shoulders of robed loremasters, clinging to the legs of armoured soldiers, and cradled in the arms of nobles- many of the latter are female, but not all of them. The bushbaby itself rarely leaves the antechamber of the throne room, where it sits on the altar and is attended by naked servants with painted skin, occasionally feeding it grapes, elephant milk, and blood from criminals imprisoned in the dungeons. It never seems to sleep, and only moves to eat or watch its favoured servants.

If Aikobaz looks inside the carriage, there's eyes hidden in the internal decoration, glimpsing out at her.
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