[IC] Alma Mater Maximus

[TheHangedMan]

It was the third day of the new semester at Saint Dymphna's. Some students were reacquainting themselves with friends and discussing various topics, other students were still getting used to the large dormitory campus. Overall, things were proceeding as one would expect at such a large boarding school. The welcoming ceremony had just finished and it was currently lunch time. As it was still the first few days of school, there would be no classes in the afternoon. Until the week was over, every lunch time until curfew hours would be free time for the students.

Among the students, word had spread quickly about a large 'introduction party' for the newcomers. Outwardly, there wasn't anything unusual about it, however there was an undercurrent if secrecy in the air.

The truth was, every years, the upperclassmen would use the party as a way to break-in new students to the whole idea of 'you have powers now!', but of course, the people that just came to the school had no idea. Naturally, for the upperclassmen, watching their shocked and panicked faces was part of the fun when it came to revealing the hidden side of the school.

[HylianRose]

Belle found herself sitting alone in one of the larger cafeterias, slowly munching on pizza while reading Dante's Inferno. She'd been meaning to read it for the longest time and now that she'd finished her latest piece, she finally had the time to do so. So far, it was... interesting. She had to admit, the thought of placing her enemies into a fiery inferno was a rather pleasant idea but she didn't know if it would be considered... 'tasteful.' She didn't consider it so, anyway.

Sighing as she reached Canto XIII, something about trees groaning and moaning. She'd probably get to it later. For now, she had enough of it. Placing the last bit of pizza crust into her mouth, Belle stretched, the sudden realization donning on her. How long had she been here? Like... an hour or two?

...

Her shoulders jumped up in a shrug as she jumped up and walked over to the counter to get more pizza to stuff in her face. Picking up her books along the way, she made way for the nearest outdoor table and sat down, content to watch the cloud pass by as she nibbled on her pizza. It was a nice day after all and cloud watching was a particular hobby of hers.

Her mind went back a few days ago, to the phone call with her mother. She could feel her heart tightening at the thought. Her mother had that affect on her. That feeling you get when something comes by that fills you with such dread that you simply want to run for the nearest tight, dark hole to crawl in. Then again, she might start burying you in it. Belle wouldn't have put it past the old crook.

Her mother was determined to marry her off to some wealthy son of some company CEO or something. She had no interest in it what-so-ever. Her father kept trying to tell her mother that but she refused to listen. How many guys had she turned down? At this point, it was becoming an art form.

Regardless, she was here now, one year later, sunbathing with pizza between her teeth and a lovely (completed) painting in her room. Life was good.

[SillyGoy]

In a relatively lonesome corner of the campus lay a youth slumped relaxedly on a bench, in a manner most carefree as he put an elbow over the back rest. Utterly still, such that he was just as part of the scenery as the walkway, the nearby tree, and the bird that sang within its branches, he appeared to be absorbed in a small book that he expertly held with just one hand. The only perceptible movement he made was the unconscious traveling of his bright green eyes, and when they had exhausted one, the flick to another page would reset them to the northwesterly position they had grown familiar to.

"You haven't eaten lunch yet," came the thought, powerful and stark to the native processes of his mind. "Does this literature truly warrant such fixation?"

And at that, the youth stirred for the first time in many minutes, moving his feet and arms and letting the blood circulate to refresh them. He blinked once, and removed a stray lock of his short brown hair away from his face with a perfunctory swipe of his hand. Noticing a sudden blurriness to his vision, he also adjusted his glasses up the bridge of his nose. But all the while, he never took his eyes off of the book, and by the time he returned his elbow to the back rest, he was flicking another page.

"It's interesting, Cadwal," Timothy answered simply, within his mind.

"More interesting than lunch?" the ghostly knight pointed out. "This cannot be healthy."

Timothy then took the can of Nescafé sitting happily next to him and took a sip, though he was genuinely surprised that the liquid was lukewarm when it met his lips.

"Coffee is not a substitute for lunch," further admonished Cadwal.

"And what do you know about coffee, ser knight?"

"That it isn't pottage or pork cutlets, that's for sure."

The youth did not reply immediately to his ghostly companion, although this was characteristic of him and no cause for concern. Cadwal had learned to become patient with this trait, although the fallen crusader was mildly surprised when his charge actually closed the book, decisively so with a clap from the meeting stacks of pages.

"I appreciate your concern for my health," concluded Timothy. "Fine, I'll go to the cafeteria."

"That's a good lad."

And with that, he stood up, stretching languidly before walking to the building and tossing his empty can of Nescafé somewhere along the way.

[Apokalipse]

She had fallen asleep in the library...again. Poppy stretched her arms above her, her shoulders popping fantastically and a euphoric groan comparable to the sound of a high-pitched walrus rumbled through her throat. A gross groggy feeling had devoured her body, her face feeling unpleasantly oily and her eyes achingly heavy, and the nap had left her feeling like utter crap. But at least she had enough energy, the blonde felt like she could lift a mountain or heave the biggest building to ever exist. Poppy wondered distantly what that would be, but decided that she would find out sooner or later. An open book laid before her, on one of the beginning pages, yet there was no point in continuing to read it - she knew everything that would happen anyways, to the last dot. Yawning, Poppy felt her stomach rumble and decided that, yes, she could do with some lunch.

She ambled into the cafeteria and grabbed slices upon slices of pizza - okay, three pizzas, but she was going to eat more later. Poppy scanned the lunchroom, a nauseous nervous feeling washing over her body and she wiggled her limbs in a poor attempt to shake it away. When her eyes landed on a lone girl, she figured she might as well. Poppy began to approach the table, but in her anxiousness, she began to rush until she was at a speed walk and when she slammed herself into the chair, her plate smashing onto the table, her momentum caused her to slide off and to the ground. Unfortunately, she took the chair with her.

Poppy's head bounced off the floor, bursting with pain, and her hip collided with the floor, her knees knocking against the chair. Her face turned the color of her namesake and she struggled to her feet quickly, placing the chair and sitting gently into it, brushing her hair quickly.

"I'm Poppy." Poppy muttered quickly, avoiding the girl's eyes and sticking a hand out. She wiggled nervously in her seat and scrunched her face.

[deadpixel101]

A young pair quickly jogged down the winding pathway. The set of twins was led by the sister, an excited grin on her face, followed by the brother, being pulled by his sleeve his face was much less exuberant. The girl was taking in everything she could with her eyes, catching sights of flowers and off colored bricks, really anything that had any visual interest to her. The boy, despite being behind, was the one watching the road.

"Hey! I'm thinking pizza today!"

The girls's clear tingly voice cut the air with ease. Her bright eyes flashed with her words, she exuded life.

"Pizza? We had that yesterday! And the day before!"

The voice of reason was much less excitable, though not lacking emotion. You can only have so much of a good thing after all.

"Yeah! Pizzas great!"

With that and a giggle she looked back to her brother, his face relaying his obvious distaste for the food to come. It was quite clear he could simply grab something of his own to eat, but they both knew that wasn't going to happen. Just as Nathan broke eye contact to spy the path again, he spotted the back of a boy just ahead. A head of brown hair they seemed quite average, an empty coffee can was currently being discarded at this current time.

"Ali!"

Enough of a warning to cause some sort of stop, Alice's ankles rolled, the momentum carried, and the two fell forward, skidding off the path and through the grass. She landed on her back, while he landed on his face. The girl looked up to see the face of their roadblock.

"...Uh..."

Her cheeks flushed slightly.

"HI!"

[Damiann47]

There Thisa was sitting in the grass of the yard, might not be the most comfortable spot to sit, but there was this novelty in enjoying the sunshine while surrounded by those small blades of plant. Even though they only started she was already getting used to the feel and just the general vibe of Saint Dymphna's, at least used enough to this school not to get lost of a daily bases, so that's a plus. The distinct sound of pencil meeting paper was dominating her local space, Thisa herself was intent on her own little project. In her lap was a tattered old spiral notebook, while not falling apart it had clearly seen some love over the last handful of years. On that day the subject of her drawings was a small motor and servo assembly, by itself the assembly wasn't anything too complex, but really it was a smaller piece to a much grander puzzle. Lots of shaking, set limit to 500RPM. Probably too weak, find alternative alloy. Sidebar too big, sand it down 1-2 CM. These were examples of notes written down, always one to improve her design Thisa was going over what existed, or more accurately what she planned to one day build seeing as she doesn't really have a way to machine these parts.

Even though she was extremely focused on wrapping up adjustments a sudden commotion on the walkway drew Thisa's eyes away from the white papers, curious in what happened she folded the page to serve as a marker for later. Book under arm, she got up from the mini-field of grass, not too mindful of any stains that could've remained. From her position way off Thisa could spot three people, one was some guy, average really not someone of note, and interestingly a pair of twins, not an everyday sight. More interesting it looked like both of the twins, a girl? Maybe it was a girl, was flat on her back, luckily off into the grass. The other twin, also on the grass, was met with an unfortunate face plant, if Thisa were to guess, that twin could be a boy, maybe. Thisa didn't want to get involved, least right away being at it was too early to tell what would happen, and well she wasn't up for social interaction. Instead the girl stood back, somewhat excited, to how this will pan out.

[TheHangedMan]

@HylianRose & @Apokalipse - Cafeteria

A few students caught the little mishap of Poppy, and sniggered in the background. One group got up and approached Poppy and Belle, leaving their own trays of food behind for a bit. There were five of them in total, three females and two males. They were still smiling, but there wasn't any malice in their smiles.

"Hey, you okay there?" one of the boys said. "That was one heck of a crash you had."

Up close, it was apparent that the five of them were upperclassmen, judging by the color of their ID laces; two juniors, a boy and girl and remaining three were seniors.

"You ought to be more careful," chastised one of the senior girls, right before cupping Poppy's face in her hands. Something akin to a jolt of electricity passed through her body for a moment, before disappearing. The girl immediately stepped back and lifted her hands in the air. "Wait! Before you fire off any accusations of sexual harassment, just give me a moment!"

She turned to one of her companions, a short male junior. "Some pain in the knees, head and hips, Dennis. Oh, and a bit of nausea."

The brown haired junior nodded stared at Poppy for a moment. He reached out and casually tapped Poppy's hand with a finger, and at once, all the pain in her body was gone. The girl earlier grinned knowingly, as did her companions. This was usually the part where they were amazed.

"Say, are you two girls new here?" asked the senior.

@deadpixel101 @Damiann47 & @SillyGoy - Campus Walkway

The sonorous sound of multiple footsteps could be heard from nearby. Coming in the opposite direction of Alice and Nathan, a group big enough to fill two classrooms - meaning they numbered at around eighty students - walked through the path. Actually, to call it walking was a definite misnomer; it would be more apt to describe their movement as 'marching'; they moved in unison and formation, and not one of them got in the way of the other.

The whole group was openly tense and rigid, as if afraid that something might pop out and attack them at any moment - which may be an accurate depiction of their current situation, considering the girl at the head of the group: a short, dark haired junior, with bags under her eyes and a frown on her face. She was fiddling with a Rubics Cube with some measure of annoyance.

To those uninitiated with the school and its various important figures, it would make a weird sight, but for those that were familiar, the crowds tenseness was not just justified, but completely necessary. The girl at their head was a Ruler, and she was also infamously known for her volatile temper, which, coupled with her terrifying ability, was truly a match made in hell. Simply put, once she inevitably loses her temper, everyone would start running.

After all, no one wanted to be around Louise Sophoro once she got pissed.

[SillyGoy]

"The footsteps of that band. What awful tidings," Cadwal remarked.

Timothy did a double-take between the spill of twins at his feet and the nervous crowd coming in hot behind him. Thinking fast, he crouched, and offered a helping hand to the beleaguered siblings.

"Hey, get up," he said, in a mild, cautionary manner, concern evident in his voice. "Louise is coming, and you don't want to be anywhere near her."

He wasn't new to St. Dymphna's, having been there as a freshman and boldly working through the sophomore year as everyone else did. Now at the sweet age of sixteen and a junior, he had always detached himself from the strange power-politics that ran about the student body, and always turned down solicitations into any of the parties that wanted him as a member for some reason or another. Having taken a lonesome route, Timothy typically spent most of his time alone, either poring through a good read or contemplating silently in the campus chapel.

[deadpixel101]

Alice took the hand as quickly as she could, using the new support to pull herself upwards. Nathan made do by himself, straightening up while rubbing his new sore cheek. Landing on one's face was not optimal.

"Thank you very much!" Alice pumped the hand up and down for a hearty shake, while looking off at the oncoming crowd. The girl in front carried an air about her, one that would come with the smoke of a thought to be dormant volcano. Alice would usually try and introduce herself, as making fast friends was something she had grown to do, but she heeded the warning tone given, and decided against it.

"Watch where you're going please." Nathan mumbled to his sister, pinching her shoulder as he came up behind her, receiving a slap on the arm in return he looked to Timothy. "Thanks for the help, uh, I guess." He didn't really receive any though that wasn't really anyone's fault. He looked back to see the enclosing group, and regarded the girl taking point.

Alice looked to Timothy and quickly offered an escape. "Cafeteria?" She asked simply, trying to use as little time as possible. They were getting pretty close...

[HylianRose]

Belle blinked as a girl seemed to appear out of nowhere and crash into her life... literally. Wide-eyed and bewildered, Belle raised a brow at the girl when she offered a hand and introduced herself as Poppy.

...What... a strange person.

A small giggle grew in her stomach and escaped through her lips and she lifted a hand to her mouth as if to halt it's escape. She stopped however as a group of some upperclassmen and her classmates approached.

"I'm not... Though I suppose I'm never in class long enough for anyone to really know me." She returned, chuckling. She'd at least seen most of these people but she didn't know their names or much about them. The powers weren't that much of a shock to her though she couldn't say the same for Poppy.

Still, even though she'd spent a year here, she still hand problems with her powers. Besides, not coming in as a freshman had it's disadvantages. As far as powers were concerned, she was still a sophomore. She turned back to Poppy and smiled, a soft yet playful smile. "It's nice to meet you, Poppy. I'm Belle." She introduced herself, and then nodded to the group near them.

Once that was done with, she returned once again to her pizza, stuffing her face, small bits of red forming around her mouth. "Yoh rike pitha thoo?" (You like pizza too?) she asked Poppy, her mouth full.

[Obscene Symphony]

They came in the blink of an eye. One moment, relative calm in the cafeteria. The next, pep and chaos, wrapped in charismatic exteriors.

The St. Dymphna's Spirit Committee.

In they came, whooping and laughing and cheering, engaging every student they saw. They were clad in bright school t-shirts with paint smeared on their faces in the school colours. To newcomers, they'd recognize them as the upperclassmen who'd cheered at them and thrown streamers when the new grade came inside for the first day. Older classmates would likely see them as the irritatingly cheery welcoming pests, but they didn't care.

Their leader, Aila Duquesne. She skipped along, smiling, a thick ponytail of cornrows swaying with every step. Following her were about nine other students, all juniors and seniors, all trying just as hard to rally up the newbies. Aila hovered around for only a moment before climbing up onto a table, motioning for her partners to quiet down.

"Hello everyone your attention please!" She called, her voice somewhat louder than what would be expected, carrying clearly to every corner of the large room. She smiled. "Now, before someone takes me down from here, I'd just like to announce that we hope to see all you freshmen at the intro party tonight! Believe me, it's a party you'll want to be attending." A sly knowing glinted in her eye. "As for the rest of you, welcome back!"

Aila didn't have much time to say more, as a teacher came to get her off the table, grumbling something about "Respect of school property..." and "Advertising out-of-school events on the grounds." The rest of the Spirit Committee left the cafeteria in pursuit of any area they hadn't already hit. It was pretty important, after all, to get as many newbies to that party as possible. Better they find out about the school's 'eccentricity' there rather than finding out on their own and freaking to about it.

In any case, she saw a bit of a crowd around the end of a table and moved toward it, seeing a few familiar faces in the bunch. "Hey! You alright there?" she asked as the image of a dishevelled girl came into view. However, it looked like a few from the group already had it covered. Nudging the senior boy, she murmured, "Little risky doing that during the day, don't you think? Don't want to scare them off too soon..."

[Apokalipse]

“Oh, I’m fine.” Poppy insisted to the others, her face impossibly turning redder.

Was she new? Yes. Should she say that? Was there possibly some hazing sort-of-thing that these students might do? Poppy had heard about hazing in other schools and the idea quite scared her. At her last school, there was the dreaded Freshmen Friday…where they dumped freshmen in trashcans. Smiling politely and tightly, Poppy reluctantly nodded her head.

“Yeah, I’m new.” Laughing nervously, she turned to the girl she joined, her mortification doubled at the fact that this girl saw her fall. “Er…”

“Yoh rike putha thoo?” Poppy squirmed in her seat, trying to understand the girl before nodding exuberantly. She had something in common with the girl – pizza! Common traits lead to friendship. And, Poppy read somewhere, if two talk about someone or something they both hate, they are more likely to become friends. “What do you hate? I hate sand, spicy stuff, and spiders. There was also this one girl named Samantha at my old school and she was a down-right bitch.”

What her answer might be, Poppy didn’t know, because just at that moment, people burst into the cafeteria, faces painted and cheering. Poppy nearly lunged herself out of her seat in surprise, but managed to save herself the embarrassment by clenching onto the table. After the speech the one girl – a rule breaker, apparently – made, Poppy nearly died of excitement and nervousness.

“A party? Should we go?” Poppy asked, glancing at her tablemate before she caught on. “Er, I mean, not that we are doing anything together. That was just an assumption. My dad used to say, and I’m pretty sure everybody else did too, that when you assume you make an ass out of you and me. Man, sorry, I shouldn’t assume or I’ll make us asses.”

Poppy gestured wildly to the side as if to ‘crazy’ and raised an eyebrow, taking a quick bite of her pizza.

[HylianRose]

Belle nearly spit out the pizza in her mouth when Aila and her 'squad' arrived as loud and flashy as ever. She chuckled, shaking her head. For a school that had such abilities, being flashy around new students was the norm. She remember her first year here when this group pretty much attacked her. It was in that moment that she knew something was up. Something.

After the party, she'd had a much, much better idea of just how much that something was. She blinked, remembering that Poppy had asked her a question. What... did she hate? Such a strange question. "I... uhhhh... I 'm not sure. I guess... I dislike.... Oh! I don't like sweet foods... That's... That's it, I guess. I don't like horror movies either I guess... I just don't do well with scary, I guess."

I said I guess a lot... Ughhh...

She blinked when Poppy brought up the party. She'd almost forgotten that it hadn't already happened this year. It would be interesting to go again and watch the faces of the new students, to observe rather than participate. "We should go." She replied, smiling brightly over at Poppy, completely disregarding the fact that Poppy had spewed word vomit at her.

"Feel free to assume. Even if you are an ass, it won't change how beautiful you are." She replied, chuckling. Then, stopped, suddenly realized what she'd said. "That sounded better in my head. Anyway, an ass or a gentile, I believe all humans have some merit. I don't think being an ass is all that bad..." She added, more careful with her words this time.

"But yes, we should go to this party." She finished and took another bite of her pizza.

[TheHangedMan]

@HylianRose @Apokalipse & @Obscene Symphony

The group that came earlier joined everyone else in gawking at the Spirit Committee. Of course, they recognized <<Aila>> and her special brand of eye-catching uh . . . something, but it was never really the kind of thing you could get used to. Of course, when they were inevitably told off by a teacher, most of the students laughed good-naturally. The older ones nodded in approval - strange though it might be, it still got people to attend the party. Though the different factions of that school used that same party to gather new members, it was still imperative that they get the new kids to attend - the Spirit Committee was right after all: It was better they become familiar with the less normal parts of the school in a place where it could be controlled, rather than in some random place where fatal accidents could happen.

The group that had initially approached <<Poppy>> and <<Belle>> split up; three conversed with <<Aila>> and her Committee while the remaining two stayed with former aforementioned girls.

The oldest girl couldn't hold back a chuckle. <<Poppy's>> awkwardness was a bit adorkable to watch - kind of like watching a pug chase it's tail. "About the party, she's right. It's a great way for all the newcomers to be introduced, and don't worry, there's no bullying," added the senior in consideration for <<Poppy>>.

"As if anyone would attempt a bull-session with Winston or Louise around," muttered her companion loud enough for them to hear.

With <<Aila>>, the boy that preformed the treatment on <<Poppy>> explained himself. "It's no problem. Mine's not one of the more frightening abilities anyway - if anything, I'd say it's rather attractive to be around," he said cheerfully. "Besides I think the girl somehow didn't notice."

@deadpixel101 @SillyGoy & @Damiann47

Louise group stopped as they neared <<Timothy>> and the others. The cause was because Louise herself stopped; apparently, she had gotten to a point of frustration with the Rubik's cube she was toying where she could no longer focus on anything else, including walking. After a few seconds of frustrated twisting and glaring, she gave up and shouted: "Hey, any of you guys have any tips for fixing this thing!?"

Her question was met with stiff silence. No one wanted to answer her, for fear of giving the wrong answer. Of course, Louise was beginning to look annoyed with the lack of answer, so it was becoming increasingly clear that they were doomed either way. The group looked at each other nervously, desperately wishing someone would sacrifice themselves for the whole.

"Oi, you, girl over there," she said, looking at <<Thisa>> with a frown, "you look smart, you mind helping me here? These guys are useless," she added while jotting a thumb at the crowd behind her, who were much relieved at no longer having to offer up a human sacrifice to the tiny goddess of darkness.

Meanwhile, coming in from the other direction was a group of four students. They stopped in their tracks when they saw Louise and scooted closer to <<Alice & Nathan>>, positioning themselves strategically behind them. "What's going on here?" one of them whispered to the two. The oldest one of them silently pulled out a cellphone and began recording with it, an expectant look on his face.