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

[eyefortrouble]

"Your god?" Aya looked around at the other students. They probably knew all this already. Should she really be postponing class with such basic questions? "Apologies. Please continue, I'll make use of your office hours. Thank you."

[peace_keeper]

Too late you triggered a lecture.

“While humanity was still mastering stone axes, the forge god Koss crafted my kind out of the cold white flame of Un. And into each of us he beat the Law with his silver chisel, that we would maintain order and protect the world of the gods forever more. Koss and the rest of the gods are dead, now. Or ascended to some higher form we cannot perceive. Their works remain, and we still protect them. Those us us who remain true to the old Law for the Concordant Knights.”

[eyefortrouble]

Aya blinked a good several times. "Okay. Got it," is all she manages, shaking her head as she gets to writing down some bullet points.

Then she stops. "Okay, so the world of the gods, the one that you're supposed to protect, is this one?"

[peace_keeper]

"No. It is a place far far from here. Deep in the Outlands. But humanity's influence and power is too great to be ignored, so we keep an eye on this world as well."

[eyefortrouble]

Aya bit her lip, deep in thought. So this god told them to take care of their own world, territory, whatever, and they eventually decided to come on over to Earth and keep an eye on it for...reasons.

But of course, it was more complicated than that. And even with Aya's very brief history with the world of the supernatural, she could tell humanity needed the help. If it wasn't vampires, it was daemons, if it wasn't Eve it was Nightfall...

"What do you mean by influence and power?"

[peace_keeper]

"In all of creation, there is no power that is greater than desire, and there is no creature in which this power burns brighter than in humans."

In truth, White Chain feared them at times.

[eyefortrouble]

Well, Aya isn't necessarily in a position to argue that. White Chain is obviously an ancient being with an overwhelming wealth of experience, but Aya had never met a human bent on world domination, and it was a daemon, possibly one of the first, who'd had her sights set on just that.

Of course, Aya doesn't give voice to these concerns, for the above reasons. But she does shift forward in her seat. "Desire for what?"

[peace_keeper]

"Anything. The will to change the world to suit your whims. The terrible blade called Want that let your kind become the dominant species of this planet and even break your way out of this reality and into the Outlands. Your lives are short, but they burn with purpose."