daybreakacademy | FEAST OF ST. VALENTINE

FEAST OF ST. VALENTINE

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The auditorium floor has been cleared and polished to perfection, the smooth wooden surface prepped and ready to accept the students of Daybreak Academy as they step onto the floor to strut their stuff. Lining the walls are tables with lavish hors d'oeuvres, desserts, and drinks. For now, at least, the drinks are non-alcoholic, although there are a number of wine bottles and ale casks ready to be broached once the battle is finished.

Along the south wall, an array of weapon lockers has been set up for the students to deposit their weaponry for the coming invasion, with Valet Golems collecting arms and printing claim tickets from slots in their frames for students to reclaim their equipment before the battle. Familiars are taken to a spacious sound-proofed holding pen where they can relax before the fight without having to hear any loud sounds or music that some might find alarming.

The ball kicks off with soft classical music intended for austere, formal dances that have been popular among the moneyed and nobility for generations. This segment, thankfully, ends after about fifteen minutes as the DJ station is opened up to student volunteers who can play whatever they wish, shattering the atmosphere in an instant.

A. SNACK BAR
As is common in Daybreak, the food tables are stocked in opulence that can only be described as excessive. Hors d’oeurves and desserts are present in abundance, stacked high on porcelain platters resting on displays made of enchanted ice, the cold from the ice keeping the snacks and desserts at an optimal temperature for consumption throughout the night. Bowls of punch and other non-alcoholic beverages line the table, and behind the table sits massive wooden casks of German ales and meads, as well as a large display of fine French wines. These particular drinks are cordoned off for the first part of the dance, but will be opened up as soon as the battle is finished.

B. DJ STATION
Before the dance, student volunteers were able to sign up to DJ the dance, the Facility expecting students will be best suited at providing a musical experience that will be most enjoyable to their fellows. The DJ station has several turntables, access to a vast catalogue of music from over several centuries (some with original master recordings), and a microphone system they can broadcast commentary over. The DJ schedule is posted, each volunteer is given roughly equivalent time at the station, and can man the booth however they wish, including what, if any suggestions from students they’ll accept and how much they talk about or over the music.

C. DANCE FLOOR, PRE-INVASION
The dance kicks off with the first segment, which involves about fifteen minutes of formal ballroom music followed by an open floor for student music, although the volunteer for this segment is given instructions to keep the heavier dance music out until after the battle. Pre-invasion, expect a lot of soft classical and slow-dance music and not a lot of music with a driving beat.

D. CLEAR THE FLOOR...
About fifteen minutes before the arrival of the daemon invaders, the dance floor will be cleared and the Valet Golems will sweep onto the floor, collecting claim tickets and returning weaponry and equipment to their rightful owner (usually). With the incoming invasion, Faculty will assemble on the outer ring of the dance floor and be prepared to cover students should they struggle or extricate students who find themselves in danger. Students will assemble on the inner ring, pointing their weapons inward at the emergence point which will be marked on the floor for maximum intimidation factor when the Daemons emerge. This is also a good opportunity for Faculty to give some last-minute pointers and remind students to attempt to take some of the Daemons alive, if possible.

E. IT’S A BALL AND BLITZ
”TREMBLE MORTALS!”

A portal comprised of pure flame opens on the dance floor as massive humanoid creatures, red scales covering their bodies save for their yellow bellies and black bat wings, as well as massive jagged horns adorning their heads emerge. Spewing flames and brimstone from their mouths, their expressions are ferocious but quickly fall to shock and alarm as they see the force assembled before them. The largest, presumably the leader, speaks up.

“Dark Lord Below why are there so many of you!?”

The command to attack is given at that moment as the students descend upon the hapless Daemons. There are several dozen Daemons, and while a single Daemon is more than a match for a single student, there are enough students present to face each one in groups of four to six, and in these circumstances the Daemons, while equipped with flame breath, swords forged of bolts of lightning, and whips of fire, do not stand a chance.

F. BRING ON THE CHAMPAGNE
Once the Daemons have been defeated, golems will once again appear to sweep the floor, clean it and polish it so the dance may resume. During this time they will also cart off any captured Daemons, should the students have managed that. During this time, the students will be invited to the snack tables as true Champagne from the Champagne province is distributed in celebration. Servers will take their places to broach the casks and distribute the wines on order to any students or faculty who would like them. Younger students will have somewhat limited access in consideration of their relative size, and the servers have a good eye for when they need to cut someone off.

G. DANCE FLOOR, POST-INVASION
After the invasion is when the dance will really pick up steam. Faster songs and heavier beats will be unleashed on the students flush from their victory over the Daemons, and this is when the dance floor will get hot. Slow songs will still make their way in, but once the fight’s done, be ready to bring your A-game.

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"...yeah. Yeah, you have," Twozias says as the dance continues. Despite
everything, all that had happened to her, what she had to do now... she loved Michael like a dad. After all that he'd done for her, how could she not? Twozias is content to spend the rest of the dance with Michael in calm, serene silence, uncharacteristic for her. But as the first part of the dance wraps up, she melts away into the crowd.

***

There's a very brief altercation between the two Tyziases during the brawl with the daemons. Brief enough, in fact, that Michael doesn't even have to intervene. Something happened to end the fight quickly. Unfortunately, that something apparently isn't the two Tyziases merging, since Michael feels a feeble, sloppy tug later that night, the same kind that Tyzias used to give him before she got the hang of his summoning ritual.

Michael's still a little unsettled by the conversation, enough so to follow her lead and finish off the dance in silence. "I'll catch you later," he says when it's over. "Gotta go back to being Kano and all."

And he does. So that's that.

He keeps an eye out for the Tyziases during the fight, as much as he can in the chaos. Their altercation is brief enough that he doesn't catch it; there's a lot going on, and five students to look after where he normally only cares to watch for two. Luckily, the summons doesn't come until later in the evening, when he's already shed his Kano duties and returned to being himself.

He recognizes calls from Tyzias, and she's usually more precise with her runework when shit's not going down. So he'll appear in a hurry. Tyzias Two is fun to spend time with, but he knows her appearance is probably dangerous overall.

What he finds is an eerily familiar sight. A bloody, eleven year-old Tyzias, arm still nothing but a stump, face covered in teal blood, breathing hard, clearly wounded, and sitting in the middle of some kind of shaky rune circle. There's no mask to be found. "M-Michael," she manages to choke out.

"What the hell?"

Michael only hesitates slightly before stepping out of the circle. Under normal circumstances he would read this as a trap, but things with Tyzias have been so fucking bizarre lately that this might as well happen. Anyway, seeing this scene again...he remembers perfectly how he felt when he saw her the first time, and it doesn't feel the same now. It's not easy prey or a fun mystery anymore.

He kneels in front of her, reaching one hand for her stump. If the other one comes up too, like he's offering a hug, he doesn't stop it. "Okay, no problem. Let me see."

Twozias(?) immediately leans into the hug, bawling and sniffling. "I-- what's happening, I-- I don't--- it hurts and I-- where are we, I don't remember--- I-- it hurts in my chest and I--" What little coherency she has soon devolves into senseless ugly crying.

Now that he's up close, Michael can see that two halves of Twozias's mask, bloodied and bleeding inky black ichor combined with teal blood, sit behind her. It's a remarkably clean cut.

Michael peers over at the mask, then scoops Tyzias Two up into his arms just long enough to scoot the both of them back into his summoning circle. If anything untoward starts to happen, he'll just warp them both out. He's a little tempted to do it right now - his office feels like a safe space - but the trip outside of space-time tends to upset mortals. She's already so upset.

"It's okay. I'll take care of it," he says in what he thinks might be a comforting tone. Comfort isn't a forte of his. "Give me your arm first." There won't be much sense tending to whatever soul damage she probably has if her body goes and dies.

He can cover her entire stump with his palm, just like when she was this age before. The cauterizing, though...she'd been unconscious the first time, and he hadn't cared about her pain anyway. What will it be like if she's awake? Maybe he shouldn't. He's been shadowing Hieke's first aid lessons after everything that's happened lately, and they've gone over binding wounds. Michael isn't sure if that's enough for something this big, but he'll give it a shot.

Removing the pocket square from his suit jacket, he starts to tie it around the stump like a tourniquet. No need to worry about blood flow to the limb, after all. "We're at Daybreak Academy," he explains as he works. "It's safe here, relatively."

"O-okay," she sniffles, clinging to Michael tightly. But at this distance, Michael can see that the mask on the ground is slowly disintegrating, with the almost-imperceptible flakes of... whatever it's made out of flying through the air and attaching themselves to Twozias's face.

Michael startles a little, moving away from the flakes as if to prevent them from landing. This does absolutely nothing.

What he does then is based more on instinct than any logical consideration of what to do. "Tyzias," he says, putting a surprisingly gentle hand on the back of her head to keep her face pressed into his suit jacket. "Close your eyes for a minute."

That mask thing wigs him out, and they are going to teleport back to his office right now.

"O-Okay." Twozias's grip on Michael tightens as she squeezes her eyes shut. It would be almost adorable if it weren't for the strange and potentially dire circumstances surrounding it. Even when they arrive in Michael's office, Twozias doesn't let go and her eyes stay closed.

And of course that's when Michael's phone starts buzzing.

Michael completely ignores his phone!

"Okay, you're good, we're here." He pats the back of Tyzias's head distractedly, and then disentangles himself from her enough to get another look at that arm stump. It seems...wrapped up okay? He guesses? He really should have brought them both to the medical ward, but he's not certain that they'd distinguish between Tyzias Two and the other Hollows. Michael's killed one of the other ones himself, so it's not like he's not terribly concerned about them, but he thinks getting into a fight over Tyzias Two would be bad for his continued career.

...damn it, okay, the phone is getting irritating. He pulls it out to check the caller ID.

FEAST OF ST. VALENTINE

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