daybreakacademy | (no subject)

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Who: Nekane, their class and you.
What: Nekane teaches their class, rests in the facility lounge and raids the library.
Where: Classroom, then the staff room and the library.
When: May 21st
Warnings: None. Will update if it changes.

Classroom

['Teacher of Rituals and Urban Legends' is weird but they'll take it. Nekane has had worst titles and if being a teacher meant they would get their hands on a lot of information then so be it. The only problem was the whole teaching thing. But hey, fake it 'til you make it or whatever.

They're already at their desk by the time class rolls around. Nekane is absorbed in whatever they're writing in a notebook so any questions prior to the actual start of the class go ignored. But once the clock clicks over to the hour, they shut the book and take a final swig of the large cup of coffee on their desk before standing up.

The detective's full name and their 'title' is written on the chalkboard without comment and then Nekane drags a stool to the front of the room and places a beat-up teddy bear on it. There's a red thread that has been stitched into the bear's stomach.

Nekane finally speaks and they sound very tired. And they do not bother with an introduction.]

Who here's heard of One Man Hide-And-Seek?

Lounge

[Once class lets out and Nekane is done answering (or deflecting) the students' questions, they immediately duck into one of the facility lounges. Being hired by Daybreak didn't mean they knew everyone here. Names and faces were only the beginning of what made up someone and the easy part to memorize, even without photographic memory.

And the room has coffee. Bonus.

Nekane is tucked away in a corner of the room with their back against the wall, or as comfortable as they can be without jamming their wings on anything. Their gaze seems to sweep across the room quite frequently but always lands on the door when they see it open, watching whoever walks inside.

There's still some coffee left in the machine but all the sugar packets are gone. Oops.]

Library

[Daybreak's library is well-known for being massive and a place where Nekane had immediately wanted to go once they saw it. And since all of their classes are done, they can spend the rest of their day here. Wonderful.

Unfortunately for others, it means a lot of books are missing. In a library as big as this one it's not enough to really put a dent in it but...that book you wanted to read? Gone. The reference material you need for homework? Poof. Perhaps the person that appears to be hording books like a dragon hordes treasure may know where your things got to.

This is what happens when the school hires someone who loves books and has an obsession with information, after all.]

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[ Ekkehardt can't help but notice being eyeballed as soon as he walks in, being fairly attentive himself. He stops, hand on the door. ]

Something for you?

[ His voice is even, and a little amused. It's not often he gets watched so intently. ]

[Pretty quick to notice he's being watched. Of course, Nekane knew they're the only other person in the room at the moment so having someone starting at the door is pretty obvious. It'd mean more if Ekkehardt noticed being watched through a shadow if Nekane was using them. Well, it's something to keep in mind.]

Eh, it's fine. I just have a headache. Didn't mean to glare.

[A reasonable excuse, they think. Nekane returns to their coffee like that is actually the case but unless Ekkehardt leaves now, they're intensely aware of the man's current presence in the room.]

A headache? [ The frown on his face is slight, but noticeable. ] Well, I suppose that's your business, but if you need anything for it, I can probably do something for you.

I am one of the infirmary staff, after all. It's my duty to see that everyone within these walls is in good health.

[ He starts making himself some tea, as he talks. ]

You're new, are you not?

Edited 2019-05-22 15:05 (UTC)

[One of the infirmary staff? That's good to know. Although if Nekane was to take Ekkehardt's appearance at face value, he looks more like a professor then infirmary.

But they've made that mistake before and won't make it again.]

If it doesn't stop, I'll take you up on that.

[The dark circles under their eyes may be a good hint as to why they have a headache - if they weren't lying, anyway.]

Yeah I am. Nekane, teacher of urban legends and rituals. You?

[Or something like that. Nekane did make up the title on the spot when asked what they wanted to teach.]

Pleased to meet you, Nekane.

Me? I've been here for three years. This year will be my fourth. And I was a student here, some time ago. [ A small smile. ] I'm not unfamiliar with the place, you could say.

It's my hope that you ask for help when you need it. [ It might actually be a first, people he's vaguely acquainted with asking for help. ] It is, after all, my job.

[ He stirs his tea briskly. ]

[Three, going on four years. And was a student here once. A pretty good source of information then. They just have to make sure they don't need Ekkehardt for his actual job, at least for themself anyway.

Nekane nods and takes their own sip of coffee.]

I doubt anyone wants to bleed to death. I'd be a pretty crap way to go when you have someone to help on hand.

[So says the person who would absolutely bleed to death out of spite and nearly has more then once.]

Don't think I got your name.

[He wasn't sure about the class, but he'll need it to be a more efficient hunter, he thinks. He never heard of this, but the name and teddy bear gave him some idea of the context]

Is it some kind of spirit summoning game?

[You know what they say: knowledge is power. And having knowledge helps avoid having something you don't know take a chunk out of your arm.

Nekane gives a tired thumbs up in Fakir's direction.]

Bingo. It's a ritual for contacting the dead, also called 'One Man Tag'. You're suppose to use a doll instead of a human body, but I've known some idiots who tried it with a person. Pro tip: don't do that crap.

[To be blunt. It can get messy. Really, really messy.]

There's a couple of rules you have to keep in mind if you want to try it. Anybody wanna guess what they are?

[He considers it]

I assume having an appropriate 'hiding' place from the name and remaining hidden for a period of time?

[Fakir didn't comment on the swear]

Got it again. Places like closets are usually used for this ritual. Catch is it's gotta have a tv in the room somewhere, so keep that in mind.

[People are going to be curious enough to try, after all.]

Game starts at 3 AM and shouldn't exceed two hours, or whatever you summoned will be too strong to get rid of. And don't stop the ritual halfway. If you do that, it isn't my damn problem what happens to you.

[Putting that out there.]

Now when it comes to the doll, there's a couple of things you need to do to it. I've got the red string in it, but is there anything else?

[The eagle-eyed may notice the bear is a little thin on stuffing...but there's obviously something inside of it or it wouldn't be standing up on its own.]

Let's see... that bear looks pretty thin? Are you suppose to stuff it with something special?

Yeah, rice. They're supposed to be innards, since I doubt anyone is dumb enough to use actual innards. You'd better be, anyway.

[Not that reading the actual instructions for these games ever stopped people from being stupid. Nekane would be out of a job if that was indeed the case.]

When you're preparing the doll, you take out all the stuffing, replace it with rice and sew it up with a red thread. The rice's role is to attract a spirit and the read thread's got the role of sealing it in the doll itself.

But there's also something of you that has to go in it too before you stitch the doll up. It ain't blood, so what's left.

[He rubs his chin in thought]

...Hair?

Nope. [They pop the 'p', although they don't mean it to sound sarcastically for once, and hold up a hand.]

Fingernails. Clippings mainly but I've known people who used the whole damn nail. It has to be your own. But feel free to try someone else's if you want a learning experience.

[Nekane actually does not know if it matters. For the handful of cases they've solved that involved this game, nobody's been that dumb.]

[Sarona has been looking for a book on Runes of Ancient African Civilizations. She knows she had browsed it before and she needed it. If she was going to innovate and try to create new runes and inscriptions, she needed to branch out into different rune languages.

But now she couldn't find it. She knew it was here. She never forgot a book and this library never got rid of them. So someone must have taken it, but she has no idea who else would care. Another rune-geek like herself? Maybe.

Or maybe it's in the mountain next to the guy who looks like he'd about to call the books "his precious."]

You know taking all the books makes it a lot harder for other people to get their work done.

[Sarona is not wrong. Books are fairly important to Nekane, even if the first one they ever read started something that ended...poorly, to say the least. They don't like thinking about it. Point is, they love books and are what most of their paycheck goes towards.

They are not reading the book in question that Sarona is looking for but there is a chance it may be in the pile. There is a lot there - self-help books on technology and runes, history books, non-fiction and fiction (particularly adventure books for some reason)...they have an obsession with information and this school allows them to fill that obsession.

Nekane doesn't look up when Sarona speaks.]

You know if people learned to do their damn work early they won't have to worry about the stuff they need being used by someone else.

[What? They're paid to teach, not to be nice.]

People would get their work done early if some people didn't hoard far more books than they need in one sitting.

[That someone being whoever this asshole is. She hasn't met him as a teacher yet, because of how long she was gone, although she might recognize his name if she heard it.]

If you have the African Rune texts, I need them and you're obviously not reading them right now.

Guess that's a lesson someone's going to have to teach.

[Because Nekane sure isn't going to. They could drag this out a little longer but reading was a higher priority for the detective. Sticking their hand into a random pile, Nekane pulls out the exact texts Sarona is asking for and holds them out.]

Here.

[They have it memorized already, so re-reading it would just be for their own personal enjoyment. Have fun.]

Hopefully someone who knows what they're talking about. [Sarona doesn't snatch the books out of his hands only because she respects books too much to treat them that roughly. Instead she takes them carefully, looking over their covers. Yeah, there were all there.]

I'd say thank you but I just wasted twenty minutes looking for them when you could put things back where you got them when you were done.

[She has a point. Will Nekane actually concede that point? No.]

You're wasting more by continuing this damn conversation. And I do put them back.

[They may have just forgotten to do it after a while, absorbed by what the detective was reading, but they are not going to admit to that.]

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class

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[Library]

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