WINTER TERM OPENING CEREMONY AND CLASS START

[thewatchers]

WINTER TERM OPENING CEREMONY AND CLASS START
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The snowfall has only intensified as Daybreak moves into the first day of Winter Term classes. A school-wide orientation will be held in the auditorium, followed by an open period where tours will be given to new students by student volunteers. After a noon lunch in the main hall, short introduction classes will be held where the syllabi will be distributed and professors can give a brief overview of what they’ll be covering over the term.

A. ORIENTATION ASSEMBLY

With a new school year comes a fresh address. The orientation assembly is one of the few times that the Headmistress and High Seer, Mila Duchene, speaks to the gathered faculty and students about their purpose and why they’ve been found and gathered here. About how Nightfall looms ever closer, and how together they will be the flames who light the coming darkness.

It is, in the manner of many orientation speeches, fairly long-winded. Those who have been here for more than a year have likely heard this speech before, though it’s slightly more urgent this time. Maybe it’s a good time to get to know the people on either side of you a little better while the Headmistress talks, because you’ll be here for a while. Or maybe you’ve planned ahead, and you have something to entertain you at orientation - much to the shared entertainment or dismay of others in your vicinity, perhaps.

Or you could actually be listening to the speech. It’s up to you.


B. SCHOOL TOUR

For students fresh to the academy, the sprawling nature and architecture of Daybeak Academy can be quite intimidating. Fortunately, helpful student volunteers have been tapped to help escort the new students around and give them a feel for campus. Student volunteers are typically chosen for both their experience on campus and helpful nature. While some scripts are provided, students are encouraged to ad-lib and put their own spin on campus and what they like about it. New students are, of course, encouraged to ask as many questions as they can to make sure they fully understand and familiarize themselves with the campus as quickly as possible.

C. SNACK STATION

During the first three days after the Holiday break, throughout the campus grounds are small stations manned by the kitchen staff and volunteers, the smell of hot chocolate, cider, and frying bread fills the air, stirring the appetite and promising warmth on this cold winter’s day.

Every booth has hot chocolate, some spiced with cinnamon and nutmeg, others rich and creamy, but always with an option for marshmallows, peppermint bark or caramel drizzles - with non-alcoholic hot cider for those with an allergy to chocolate. For food options, naturally being France there are crepes of all types and beignets on offer, with jam- or custard-filled berliners, while those looking for a more savory fare will be treated to rissoles - a fried bread stuffed with minced meat or bechamel sauce and cod.

While the drinks are on tap and readily available, it may take a few moments to get the treats out, so might as well make conversation while a fresh batch is made.

code bases by tricklet

Comments

[lastexit]

I guess...

*Growing up sucks, especially the way she's gone.*

So who were you before you were afraid?

[suddenlybees]

Huh~ What a great question! I supposed I was somebody who was "not afraid"?

[ An absolutely fearless

newborn baby ]

[lastexit]

Did you mean to admit you're constantly afraid?

*She says that with a very casual smugness.*

[suddenlybees]

Oh. [ crap ] You're good.

What if I meant I was never afraid, until just this very moment where you're starting to scare me?

[lastexit]

That's not really how my powers work.

*Sips cold chocolate, tastes like victory.*

[suddenlybees]

Are you ever going to tell me how your powers work, or are you just going to keep gloating? So smug!! It's not a good look!!!

[lastexit]

I hear things, about people. Who they are, their magic. Just... hearing things.

*She sips at the chocolate again and she's still not making any noises other than talking.*

What is it you do?

[suddenlybees]

[ What a nosy power... It's a little uncomfortable, but rather than let that on- rather than answer Maya's question and return the favor- Kano instead touches a fingertip to his temple. ]

What do you hear right now? Can you hear me inside?

[ Guess what I'm thinking, Maya!! ]

[lastexit]

I don't read minds.

*This is why she doesn't explain, people think 'oh man a mind reader' and don't get she just- isn't that.*

Your sound is white noise, no music, no tempo. Just a lot of nothing. The fear is under that, it's there but I have to listen to really find it. The you behind your bullshit.

[suddenlybees]

[ "Hearing things" but not the most obvious thing to hear- thoughts. He doesn't want to be convinced, but mostly he isn't used to being called out on his bullshit directly to his face. ]

That's how I am, am I? Bullshit, and a whole lot of nothing on the inside? Wow~! That's a little insulting, don't you think!? Does that even count? "Nothing"? Maybe there's something more you can't hear?

[lastexit]

There's a lot I can't hear.

*That's really the problem she's having, trying to push past this nonsense is getting annoying.*

It's like someone's put a veil over who you are. I can hear anxiety, and... desire? Deep stuff, stuff that's been there longer than you've known me. So I'm not what you're afraid of. You're not nothing, you're pretending to be nothing.

*Jerk.*

[suddenlybees]

[ "You're pretending to be nothing." Again, that's jarring, like being doused with cold water and for a moment, there's complete silence, both inside and out, his guard dropped—-

and immediately slamming back up with the screech of metal on metal. ]

Alright! I think I'm done being psychoanalyzed, so here, here, take your chocolate milk back!

[lastexit]

...You dropped your guard, for just a moment.

*She'll take her no-longer-hot chocolate back. At least she knows what his magic is, at least a part of it.*

[suddenlybees]

Can you blame me, hearing something like that? All that stuff about anxieties, and desires, it's like something out of a fortune cookie! It's universal! I won't fall for it!!

[lastexit]

It isn't?

I mean, I'm probably nothing but fear and anxiety, so much I'm numb to it, but I'm definitely covering it up with a layer of white noise.

And...

*Maya points out various people. Walking around not at all involved.*

She's not afraid, he's pretty much nothing but confident, he's a self-aggrandizing egomaniac, she obnoxiously peppy, and that boy is just angry. All the time.

[suddenlybees]

[ The way Maya boils people down to a single, overly-simple trait is enough to make Kano want to dismiss everything she's saying, absolutely not wanting to get caught up in the same sorts of lies he so intricately spins himself. Like she's just really good at psychoanalyzing people and it has nothing to do with magic or hearing his soul or whatever. Maybe the way he acts— boisterous, happy, impossible things for him if he never contracted in the first place— maybe it's so obvious a projection that it seems obvious he's hiding the exact opposite inside.

He really really hates this, hates anything that swings the spotlight over towards him, and tries to push it back if he isn't able to hide around her. ]

...Do you hear that all the time? Whether you like it or not? Sounds exhausting...

[lastexit]

I can ignore it, tune it down a little. But it's always there?

*Maya shrugs. She had to turn it up to hear at this distance, she had some control just not enough.*

Supposedly with training I'll be able to better tune what I'm doing, what I hear, how much I hear. But for now I just deal.

Make footsteps again. That'll be new.

[suddenlybees]

Well, try to ignore this, okay!?

[ He jabs a thumb at his chest, but he might as well gesture to all of him, for wanting Maya to stop looking into him- though the damage is already done. ]

And what's this about 'making footsteps'? I'm an idiot, so you've gotta spell it out for me if you're making a metaphor or something!

[lastexit]

You make that difficult.

*Soundless sip.*

And not a metaphor, I don't make noise. Nobody hears my breath, I never worry about waking anyone up when I sneak around. I constantly startle people cause they can't tell I'm behind them.

*Maya stamps her foot into the ground with force that definitely should make noise. Nothing. Nada. She's a ninja or something.*

[suddenlybees]

[ The first comment gives him a complicated feeling, one that he decides to brush out of the way instead of worrying himself over it. ]

Huh... That's something really useful, you know? Being quiet like that!

[ Being able to sneak around without people noticing... it takes a lot to disguise himself to that extend, while it seems like something Maya just... is. ]

But if that's the case, how come I can still hear your voice, even though there's nothing else?

[lastexit]

It has its downsides.

*Maya could make herself make noise, but it was a lot of work to suppress herself to the extent that her boots made noise. Or that she could clap.*

No idea, most of how my powers work aren't really something I know. I just- am.

[suddenlybees]

Hm~ Well~~ You'll figure it out! I believe in you!! That's why you're here, after all~ If it's something you want to know, the school will help you out!