Oh, we could be the stars, falling from the sky [OPEN]

[taiyounoyou]

Who: Masaki and literally anyone
When: Early September, wibbly-wobbly time
Where: Aube 1st floor, Aube roof, Training hall
What: Masaki arrives on campus, does a bit of stalking, buys way too much cake, and practices her archery like a good hunter.
Warnings: None, I think! Will add headings if needed.


A. Arrival... 1 & 2
[1]
A young woman in her mid-twenties with short reddish-brown hair stands in the hallway of Aube's first floor. She's arrived at Daybreak with nothing more than a large rolling suitcase being tugged along behind her. All of her clothes and worldly possessions are in there--at least the ones that she really wanted to bring. It's not much, but she doesn't look put out by that. She's bright and cheerful as the morning sun, greeting everyone she comes across with an enthusiastic "Good morning!" whether they live there or not. She might not have asked to come here, but she's going to make the best of it no matter what.

[2]
Arriving at her assigned room, Msaki finds that someone has clearly already been here. Aside from the standard issue furnishing, there's a few large boxes deposited in the middle of the floor. Curiously, Masaki approaches them and picks the biggest one to open. The box yields an ungodly amount of packing peanuts and styrofoam and... the breastplate of a suit of armor. Her expression quickly changes to mortified, and she shoves the antique looking thing back into the box and closes it.

She is absolutely not wearing that. Nope, no way, no how.

...But neither can she just dump it. Her clan would kill her. So her only choice is to start pushing all the boxes into the corner of the room--and maybe stacking them rather precariously. Maybe she'll make a tower and put fourteen potted plants on top of it and never touch it again.


B. Stakeout
It's late. Some nebulous time in the evening. The sun has gone down, but Masaki is up on the roof with a jacket, a pair of binoculars, and a bag of chips. It's a little chilly up here when the peak of summer has started to ebb away, but she's a woman on a mission... And that mission has her binoculars pointed towards... the Lumiere dorm? What the heck is she watching with those? And why? It's definitely a little weird.


C. Cake, Cake, Cake
It should be a crime to visit France and not try all the desserts and pastries that the country has to offer. That's the kind of thing that interpol should be cracking down on, honestly. Which is why Masaki is being a good citizen... and returning to Aube's first floor commons area with a bag of Soliel goodies. There's an assortment of tiny cakes that she starts pulling out and arranging in rows on the counter. Is she planning on sharing these? Because there sure is a lot of them. More than would be healthy for one person to eat... But for the moment, she seems to be just staring at all of them with the utmost deliberation.

And then she takes her phone out and starts taking pictures.


D. Nose to the Grindstone
Masaki is at a school, which means she should probably keep up with her lessons--the kind of lessons that the Quincy would be interested in hearing about. It only takes a little trial and error to figure out where the training hall it--a little but of getting lost in the Citadel, but it's no big deal. She's an adult that's very capable of asking for directions, and mostly capable of following them.

Once she's sure that she's in the right place, Masaki gets to work. There's a few targets on the far wall that she's aiming at, and she faces those with a sort of seriousness that's been absent for most of her arrival at Daybreak. She goes over the basics. Posture. Stance. There's a bright glow as a longbow made of radiance forms in her hand. She holds it up, putting her other hand to the empty string and drawing back--as an arrow of that same radiance forms with the motion. Deep breath in--and exhale. Her fingers release the arrow and the bolt of radiance flies with alarming speed at the targets, making a small explosion against the far wall.

She stops only a moment to appraise the result, and then fixes to fire another shot at a different target.


[I'll match whichever format you want to use, prose or brackets!]

Comments

Stakeout

[lithoneysuckle]

So, mind explaining why you're watching my dorm like some kind of stalker?

[If she's not paying attention to her surroundings, Masaki might not even notice him arriving. His stance is definitely that of a warrior.]

[taiyounoyou]

[Masaki is a little too preoccupied to notice someone else joining her on the roof. So when she hears a voice, she jumps--and the binoculars tumble out of her hands. She makes a frantic grab for them, but ultimately it's the cord looped behind her neck that stops their fall. Thank goodness for safety measures.]

[She looks back at the boy with a bit of bewilderment but also embarrassment. And maybe a bit of guilt.]

What? I'm not a stalker. I'm just--you know! Looking for birds! I'm bird watching. For night birds. Owls. Owl watching.

[Is that even a thing? She's not sure. She really should have practiced this...]

[lithoneysuckle]

Uh huh. And do these owls live in Lumiere? You weren't exactly looking at the sky.

[taiyounoyou]

Of course not! The sky is dark! You have to find them where they're roosting... Like on top of buildings and stuff! I just happened to be checking the other dorm's roof when you showed up. Total coincidence.

[See? Look at her looking at the main campus buildings off in the distance! Look at her checking those roofs too! Total coincidence.]

B - for "But this isn't actually a thread, just a joke"

[aibolition]

Over in Lumiere a boy bleached white yawns, stretches his arms, then opens the window to catch some of the late-night air. He looks almost at ease for all of two seconds as his eyes fall on Aube's roof. He goes dead-eyed and leans out the window.

"GO TO SLEEP, IDIOT!"

He draws back in, slams the window shut, and draws the curtains.

continuing the joke...

[taiyounoyou]

Masaki freezes on the rooftop upon being spotted. There's a flush of heat in her face as he leans out the window and shouts across campus at her. Does he have to be so loud?

The slam of the window makes her flinch, even this far away. That's... really rude! God, why is he so awful?!

She doesn't go inside immediately. She hangs out on the roof for another hour, just to make sure he's not going to sneak out of the dorm and run amok while she isn't looking. But eventually she gets cold and tired enough that she calls it a night and heads inside to her nice warm bed.

D - for Dat Actual Tag

[unpocoloco]

He's already there, actually taking the time to practice. It doesn't bring the joy of guitar or anything like that but if there's one thing that could be said about him it's that he's got the discipline to practice any skill he thinks he needs to. And with all that happens here, he definitely needs to.

He greets the lady with a smile and a nod, but doesn't otherwise interrupt, reaching back for another arrow and firing it off. It's only after a second glance that he notices she hasn't got a weapon at all. His brow goes up and he starts to ask when that bow of radiance forms and his skin starts to burn.

He yelps and stumbles back, his own bow dropping.

[taiyounoyou]

She greets the man when he greets her, polite as she ever is. The training room looks big enough for multiple people, so she doesn't think to mind him too much. He's here to practice archery; she's here to practice archery... Maybe they can swap tips or stories later?

It's the yelp that brings her up short, startling out of her focus at that cry of pain. She doesn't think to dismiss the bow until she sees his skin burning in the light of it. It's gone in a heartbeat, and she holds up both hands as if to show that the radiance is gone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry--" she starts, saying the words quickly and repeatedly. There's a frantic concern in her voice, and her brows are knit together with worry. "That wasn't supposed to happen-- Are you okay?!"

[unpocoloco]

"Ay, no, it's okay," He manages between a hiss. "I'm okay."

It wasn't like it was a full-on blast, just a bit of peripheral from something smaller. He straightens out and looks over his arm. Just a burn, nothing melted through or anything horrific. He hopes his face isn't too bad-- only discoloration around where his markings would be on the one side.

"It's not you, it's... it's me. I'm not supposed to be around Radiance. I'm sorry. Let me just get out of your way." He just needs to grab his bow...

[taiyounoyou]

Oh, that looks... bad. Bad in a way that she feels very, very guilty about. Especially when he says that he's not supposed to be around radiance. She didn't have any idea that was something she'd have to be careful about... Especially here.

"No--it's okay! I can practice later," she responds quickly. "I didn't even think to check if there were any... uh... Radiance averse... people around? I will next time, I promise." Not that it does him much good right now, but boy does she stumble over what to call him. Would it be rude to ask if he's some kind of zombie? Probably. She already feels bad enough.

"Does healing magic hurt too? I can try to fix it, but I don't want to hurt you more."

B

[hawkwardness]

A hawk is perched not far off from her chosen stakeout point--my, isn't he out late? Tempting the owls, perhaps? But other than that, he seems like a perfectly ordinary bird until he 'speaks'.

< Dude, if you keep that up, someone's going to get pissed at you. You're really obvious. >

[taiyounoyou]

This hawk would not be the first person to startle her, and probably won't be the last. Once again, she jumps and looks around, but this time she doesn't even see anyone. She's alone on the roof, and there's a voice in her head.

What the hell.

"Pissed at me f... for what?-- Where are you?" Her second question comes on the heels of her first, thrown out closer to a demand than a question. Is someone playing a trick on her?

She stands up, tentatively looking around the roof, like there might be someone just out of sight. She does not at all question the bird--or the idea that a bird might be telepathically talking to her.

[hawkwardness]

< Right here. I'm the bird. The hawk. >

He's far from the weirdest guy around, this is a pretty tame introduction to the school, honestly. Nope, not feeling guilty at all!

[taiyounoyou]

I'm the bird. The hawk.

Masaki turns towards the bird, blinking in surprise. This? This is the person that's been talking to her? Even knowing that, she looks around again, like she expects there to be someone else. She's talked to ghosts and whatnot before, but talking to animals? Now that's just weird.

"Uh... hi?" A beat of silence. "Can you raise your wing if you understand me?" Just to be sure.

Grindstone

[lastexit]

"I've never seen anyone use Radiance like that."

Radiance sounds like candles, but louder and more... there. She assumes that people who regularly use their radiance have a stronger sound to them. But she hasn't really asked around to test that theory out. Maya's standing in the doorway in her usual workout gear. Comfort and only looks good because Maya looks good. And other than her words, not a noise from her at all.

[taiyounoyou]

The lack of noise that this girl moves with is a little unsettling. If not for the fact that she's been presumably standing there while Masaki has been firing, she'd almost think she was a ghost.

Maybe she is a ghost? Maybe she's not a blighted one, just a normal ghost this time.

"Oh, this?" She gestures to the bow. "Everyone in my clan does this. It's our trademark. Very secret, you know. Super hush-hush." She laughs like she's joking, but she's really not. She just thinks it's a little silly they have to be like this.

[lastexit]

"What's the point of a secret technique? It isn't like we're allowed to advertise all the supernatural to normal people."

Maya's voice doesn't carry enough anger to really sell how much she's grown to hate that aspect of this life. But it is a bit there. Still, hearing a proper use of radiance was good. She's never really had a lot of interaction with radiance. "So it's a technique, that means anyone with radiance could learn it if it wasn't secret?"

yet another stakeout...

[badinfluenza]

[From the direction of the door comes the loud crunching of popcorn before Lotte kicks it shut with the nonchalance of someone that didn't spend a lot of time on energy making sure she wouldn't be heard until this very moment. It'd just be embarrassing if someone knew how many fucks she gave.

She cheerily saunters over to Masaki's space and offers the buttery microwave bag over. If the woman bothers checking, the popcorn is...uh. It's red. It's a very bright, peppery red, and has the taste to match its vibrancy.]

What channel're we watching?

[taiyounoyou]

[The loud noise startles Masaki enough for her to drop the binoculars to her lap, trying to hide them a bit from the newcomer. That doesn't really work when the girl comes right up to her with... with something Masaki's not really sure about accepting. That sure looks like popcorn, but whatever that red stuff is, it's highly questionable.]

Nothing! We're not watching anything. Just... enjoying the night air! The stars are really nice tonight, aren't they? I think we should be able to see Saturn! Pretty cool, huh? [She remembers reading that somewhere, but she has no idea about the details.]

[badinfluenza]

[Oh, Masaki... So distrusting. See, Charlotte’s eating it!

...Then again, she’s eaten soap as a show of dominance, so. Whatever.]

Saturn, huh?

[Yeah, totally looks like she was looking at the stars. She hums thoughtfully while munching away at another peppery handful.]

So we’re seeing if we can find rings? There are easier ways to find out if someone’s available.

Arrival 1!

[betheman]

Gongenzaka most assuredly does not live in the Aube dorms- a few of his friends do however, and he was planning to visit to compare notes for a class. As it is, the enthusiasm catches him a bit off guard; not a lot of people have that level of cheer in the mornings, especially not right at the start of the school year.

The werebear blinks once, and blinks twice and-

Oh right, he should greet back. "Auh...G-Good morning..!"

[taiyounoyou]

Masaki doesn't seem to mind the delayed greeting. She just smiles wider at his blinking. He's like... a big sleepy bear. That's really cute.

Hearing the heavy accent in his voice, though, she switches to her native language. Her words come a bit faster in her excitement. "Do you speak Japanese? I don't think I've seen you around yet. I'm Masaki Kurosaki."

[betheman]

"Auh-!"

Oh thank goodness, "Y-Yes! I, the man Gongenzaka, speak Japanese... ...Auuh, I am not from this dorm however. Rather, I typically stay in the Lumiere dorm... ...I, the man Gongenzaka, was merely visiting someone..."

Ah, names though. "Mnh- Noboru Gongenzaka- it is good to meet you," he greets politely, bowing somewhat.

One thing that's definitely clear- Gongenzaka's particular manner of speech is....probably a good century out of date. Impressive, really.

D

[buddinghopes]

[Lia's around for training as well, but it's cut short when she sees exactly what Masaki's doing. That's...

... Whoa. That's kind of incredible to watch. She's gonna be staring quietly before murmuring--]

Amazing...

[taiyounoyou]

[Masaki doesn't seem to notice that there's anyone else in the training center, not until she hears the quiet voice. She pauses from her practice, looking around to find the source of the voice. Her eyes landing on Lia, and she blinks once, then smiles brightly.]

Oh, hi! I didn't even see you there.