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Sorachi Kišo || The Great Hall -> Eastern Courtyard /
Ravenshadow Dew --
Octavian managed to recover enough to start up the conversation again, so their end of the table wasn't completely silent by the time older students started leaving. A few wearing a secondary badge on their uniforms depicting a howling canine gathered by the large double doors, and a short girl cupped her hands to call out, "Azures over here!"
Sorachi startles before hurriedly finishing his omelette and rising from his seat, syllabus under his arm. Students of higher rank are simply streaming through the doors, so he gives their resident Amber a quick wave. "I suppose we'll see you at a later date, Miss Zinna."
She wasn't able to maintain her strained smile and he wonders if she'd even be pleased to see them at all- as he waits for the others with Ryu ever and always at his side, he thinks she looks terribly lonely. She was sitting with them rather than accompanying any other Ambers...could it be that her cell were her only friends? Or perhaps she simply wasn't close with anyone else? He wants to reach out to her further but now wouldn't be the right time.
"Thank you again." The onmyōji says quietly before joining the rest of the Azures at the doors. They're separated into groups, presumably to make the numbers more managable, and he finds that he and the others he knows by name drift together. Standing before them is a...oh, he didn't know they make uniforms that small.
It's a young girl, although she's obviously a cambion as her lower half is that of a bird's. Her crisp pleated skirt gives way to feathered golden-brown legs and wickedly curved talons painted bright purple, the skirt itself modified to allow for the fanning of her tail feathers. The arms she folds over her chest are feathered as well, fused into wings that fold in such a way that she cannot fully cross her arms. She has to tilt her head to look up at them, the electric purple bow of woven braids on the back of her head bouncing with the motion. In doing so she reveals that there are no eyebrows above round amber eyes that are unmistakably avian, yet they are dissimilar in size. Half of her cool brown face is warped and disfigured, making her right eye narrower than her left and flattening her nose into two slits. Old scars give her skin a waxy quality and permanently slants one side of her mouth downward at an angle so that she appears to have a permanent exaggerated frown.
The look in her eyes suggests that she truly is frowning in this instance, however. When she speaks, it's in a tone that is purposely deepened and flattened so as to sound more mature.
"Greetings first years. I am Aliyah Bridges and I'll be giving you the first half of your tour today."
Ryuzaki peers down at her in mild disbelief. "How old are you?"
"Thirteen." She says in a tone that brooks no argument. "See this badge here?" The girl taps the canine pinned to her teal tie with a sparkly purple talon. "This marks me as a Prefect or Hound. I am directly under the Signifiers so you'll address me as Miss Prefect, else I'll have you running laps 'til your toe bones are worn down to nubs. Now, let's begin."
Ryuzaki makes an effort to flatten his amused smile and hums an affirmative, and with one last severe look in his direction, the little prefect abruptly turns with a click of her talons and begins leading them out of the Great Hall.
"What exactly is a Hound?" It isn't long before the oni asks his second question, head tilted inquisitively. He has couched his tone to be more 'respectful' but still receives a look that suggests she knows that he is humoring her. She humors him in turn.
"At Felblanc prefects are commonly known as Hounds or the 'Cú', a role that harkens back to the famed hounds of Fionn mac Cumhaill and Cú Chulainn himself." Her strident voice takes on a tone that suggests she's reciting this by rote. "We are the hunting hounds of the Signifiers and the school itself- oh, the Signifiers are elite students who work under the House Heads or Pillars. The Blade Signifier is responsible for interpersonal things and subjects concerning school life, while the Lance Signifier is moreso for the battlefield and the general safety of the students. But they're both your absolute seniors and have authority over all of the students in their Houses, so you'd best respect them!" She huffs.
"The Hounds answer to the Signifiers and we're responsible for discipline and peacekeeping as well as helping them ensure that everything within the House runs smoothly. So look for a badge before you go mouthing off to someone- but you should also look for it if you ever run into any trouble. The cicerone, Pillars, and preceptors already have a lot on their plates so we handle most problems ourselves." Bridges puffs out her chest at that. "For that matter, I'm a Basilisk so anyone from my House can come to me."
Sorachi gives Ryuzaki a bemused smile when he perks up with interest. It's good to see him getting out of whatever dark thoughts he'd been mired in. "How do I become one?" His voice lilts eagerly, golden eyes sparkling.
Miss Bridges hums. "Well the minimum requirement is to be a Teal student and get good grades. Then you need at least two reccomendations from those above you and to pass a test to qualify." She half turns to point a bony finger at the gathered Azures. "So be sure to study hard!"
Ryuzaki turns toward his friend with that hard light in his eyes and Sorachi worries he’ll rope him into his latest ambition.
The little cambion pauses to wave a hand down a long hallway that appears to lead into another wing of the fortress. "That's where most of the classrooms are."
Their tour takes them to most places within the school's formidable walls, such as the Armory (where she instructs Miss Onyx to leave her weapon "You're lucky they let you keep it so long!") the Campaign Rooms, ("You won't be seeing these for a long time, newbies!"), the Library ("Take good care of everything you borrow or the Librarian won't let you leave!"), and the entrance to the Western Beak Tower ("No one is allowed inside, the school isn't responsible if the poltergeist gets you!"). It's as she's leading them to one of the courtyards that another student...materializes into the empty air beside her.
Sorachi's heart jumps and Ryu jerks with surprise but Miss Bridges only looks up expectantly. Slouching in a wrinkled uniform with a Basilisk badge pinned crookedly to his violet tie, an incredibly pale young man falls into step with her despite her much shorter stride. There are dark purplish circles around his pupil-less silvery white eyes, and his haphazardly cut ashen hair falls limply across his scarred forehead. He slips a sheaf of papers from under his thin arm and passes it to her with a raspy, "The list you requested, Miss Prefect." The words are accompanied by the snap of bubblegum.
"Thank you." Her words emerge in a pleased chirp, but her face wrinkles in a pronounced frown as she flips through the pages, and he blows a bubble with his gum as he waits for her assessment. "Something wrong?"
"What's wrong is that there are too many of them!" The little prefect sighs, "Are the barracks done being refurbished?"
"Yes, they'll be ready for your inspection if you have time before lunch." There is no change in his blank expression or his flat, lifeless voice, but a flicker in his eyes suggests that he may be looking in her direction.
The cambion sighs and folds the papers under a wing. "I'll be there. Thanks Buu."
"No problem li'l miss." His voice is still monotone but he gives her a lazy salute before fading back out of existence.
Sorachi watches him go with wide eyes before turning to Ryu and speaking in a low tone. "You didn't smell him?"
"He doesn't have a scent. Or a presence." The oni frowns, nose wrinkling as he stares into the empty space the Violet had occupied.
Somehow their guide had heard the exchange, because she abruptly turns toward them with a grin. "That's because he's a Tenebris! I bet the only person he can't sneak up on is the Headmistress herself! So you'd better watch yourselves around me." She thumps a fist against her chest. "Buu is my right hand man!"
"We'll be mindful~" Sorachi can't help smiling as the young girl reveals her age in her enthusiasm. She catches herself too late, huffing in embarassment and swinging back around with her chin in the air. Her feathers puff up and she discreetly attempts to smooth them down.
"A-anyway, we're almost done! There will be other Hounds in the courtyard to lead you to your dorms. Any other questions?"
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"That sounds great!" Theron grinned, picking up her folder and flipping past the school rules, map, and miscellaneous information to the list of classes in the back. "Looks like we have Strat-Tac and CQC today! Hmmm and Demonology too. Nice~"
The rest of their meal passed with the chatter centering on their end of the table, as the general mood wasn't particularly upbeat after the disaster that was the entrance exam and a not-so-great year demon hunting-wise. Any cheer to be had usually concerned students reuniting and being relieved that their friends had lived another year.
Theron was among them, but he never let any deaths slow him down. If you were meant to die, then there was nothing to be done for it. Everyone's story had to end sometime.
He cheerfully bid farewell to Stella when she was called away for her tour, falling into step with his newly reformed cell as they made their way to their first class of the day.
Weaponry for the second and third years was being held in the Arena this morning. Preceptor Dayspring liked to start off the year by pairing everyone up for a spar so that he could assess them all at once. How he planned to keep an eye on so many battles simultaneously, Theron doesn't know. He suspects that their preceptor wasn't really planning to, however...
He stepped into the colisseum with a skip in his step despite the weight on his back, weaving between entering students to make his way toward their preceptor.
Preceptor Dayspring was lying on his back in a shadowed corner with freshly added sand, looking quite comfortable with a pink satin sleeping mask covering inhuman eyes and his uniform jacket folded into a pillow. Theron stopped a safe distance away and squatted to quickly poke his thin shoulder. He retracted his hand just in time to avoid having his finger sliced off. He didn't even see the exorcist move- merely felt the shift of air and glimpsed a flash of silver.
"Ughhh. What do you want Jaeger?" The spartoi groans and throws his arms over his face as if Theron weren't simply prompting him to do his job. It's no surprise that he immediately knows who disturbed him, there are few students who risk bodily injury by disturbing his rest.
"I got a new cellmate. Can I spar with him today instead of whoever you were going to assign to me?" The brunet requests brightly, folding his fingers over his rapidly beating heart. Hells, that was close! He needs to work on his speed and reaction time. Either that or Dayspring was a little more pissed than usual. The first class of the year was always his laziest.
"I don't give a single hairy-"
"Thanks Preceptor Dayspring!" Theron bounces to his feet and trots back toward his cell. Behind him, he hears a world-weary sigh as the exorcist finally deigns to get up and start the class.
At only 5'5, quite a few of the spartoi's students tower over him. His youthful cherubic features don't do much to make him appear more authoritative either, yet when he finally pushes his eye mask into his messy dark hair and casts his gaze over those assembled, many instinctively straighten up. Lackadaisical though he may be, many a third and second year can recall the painful injuries they'd received for not paying attention in his classes.
"Huh. Quite a few of you have returned...good for you." He hums, lips quirking upward slightly. Unlike the other preceptors, no one is really sure if Coda Dayspring actually cares about his students. His attention is always more on their weapons, and he looks over them now as he decides on which matchups would be most interesting.
"Bene, you know how it goes. Thirty minutes a match, you fight until first blood or the other side concedes. No magic or abilities for your first two matches. Best two out of three gets top marks." He twirls a gloved finger in the air before lazily pointing at Lilia. "You and Greene, over there." Dayspring jerks a thumb behind him, where the shadows will keep the dhampir from fighting in direct sunlight. "Kay and Lozada, other side. Jaeger and Michigan..." He silently considers Theron's massive weapon with obvious distaste. "Center, both of you work on controlling friendly fire."
Theron salutes. "Yessir!" Ohh, a challenge~ He's usually sent to spar on the outer ring so that his bullets aren't in danger of riccoheting or hitting other combatants. They're rubber for the purpose of training, but they can still do damage if he aims well. And he usually does~
Preceptor Dayspring continues his assignments as the brunet leads Atlas over to the center of the colisseum. They're in 'default settings' right now, so it's a large sand-covered area without obstacles or foliage to use as cover. He'll need to adjust his strategy accordingly! Once they're facing off a fair distance away, he withdraws the talismans that all students must collect from the Armory and smooths it over the back of his shield. Then a knife for good measure. During sparring matches and duels, students must dampen or dull the sharpness and magic of their weapons to insure no one receives serious injuries.
Theron swings Storm Border from his back and sets it in front of him though his stance remains loose and open, one hand on the bar and the other on his summoning circle. "Ready when you are~"
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Armistice silently worked his way to the front of the group so that he could better hear their guide, Kirin badge pinned to his right upper arm and syllabus held out in front of him so that he can follow along with her words and their movements. She provided extraneous information about each location they visited, as well as a rundown of school rules and expectations. The map also insured that he solidified their route in his mind so that he would be less likely to become lost later. He asked few questions himself, but the oni's piqued his interest enough to return his attention to the group. Ah, so a Hound and then a Signifier were the next ranks to achieve then. The positions were currently filled but that wasn't any reason to be lax in his efforts. Armistice decides then and there that he will become a Hound and then proceed to be promoted to Lance Signifier. Having a concrete goal beyond fulfilling his duties settles his residual discomfort at adapting to a new environment and gives him a new path to focus on. It is required to keep his mind from scattering.
He will ask more detailed questions on the subject upon meeting his Signifiers in person, it is important to know what he's up against and who he'll be replacing. Must they battle to maintain their positions or do they simply retire upon graduating? It's something to consider as the dimunitive cambion leads them to a marbled courtyard filled with lush greenery.
"This is the Eastern Courtyard, where students can relax or study during breaks." The prefect states, moving aside so that the Azures can peer through the large metal gates leading in. "There are Kirin and Amarok Hounds here to guide you to your dorms. Good luck." She flashes them a quick, lopsided smile.
"Basilisks, with me!" Aliyah then turns on her taloned feet to lead the other Basilisks deeper into the castle.
As she is leaving, a willowy youth with neatly parted pastel pink hair wreathed in flowers approaches. "Good morning Azures~ My name is Jacinth Beaumont but you’re free to call me Jace. Will the Kirin please follow me?" His voice is gentle and melodic, and there's genuine warmth in his magenta eyes when he smiles.
A girl with a red bob slinks up behind him, resting an arm on his shoulder with a crooked grin. "Jeanne. I'm taking the Amaroks."
