Nanaya

Iris Ascendis

March 2nd, 1526 SR

"Let's try diplomacy." - An unknown individual seconds before gunning down a room full of enemy soldiers, 1526 SR

---

The sun dawned on a new day at Wingram Academy. As the wee hours of morning crept in, peering in through the clouds, the rays brought joy to some and hell to many. It was, of course, only 6 AM by this point - what kind of psycho-murderer of a teenager would be up and fully charged, knowing that cafeteria breakfast was still an hour off and first classes were a comforting three hours away? Even as the distant echoes of a clocktower cried out throughout campus grounds and beyond - the Iris Record sparing no expense in its attempts to bring despair to late risers - most would elect instead to bury their heads beneath their pillows in search of extended rest. Others, still, welcomed the opportunity to begin in earnest.

---

@ERode@AThousandCurses

BOYS' DORM

The boys' dormitory was lively, to say the least. As the shuffle of the living dead rumbled through the building, should Otis find himself waking up around this time, he would first hear Davil's snoring and then see him continue to sleep like a fallen tree. In Chunji's room, he would awaken to the sight of a lone room, Rio nowhere to be found within. Mentally, Otis and Chunji would each have a mental ping in their minds; subconsciously, they would know this to indicate an unread 'urgent' notification from their Adapa. Should they open it, a message from Wingram's board of directors with an unknown 'sent' time would notify them of their first scheduled class and the student list of said class. It would read the following:

"We at Wingram Academy are excited to inform you, dear attendee, that you have been chosen as a year one student for Compact 3. Please find your way to room 103 in the main building for a 9:00 AM start time, attending today's session: Basics of Essence Day 1 - Survival. The class listing is as follows: Chloe Steeler, Chunji Yi, Ciara Ventura, Davil Wund, Hildegunde Nachtnebel, Iraleth Kyrios, Otis Tan Arillo, Rio. To the eight students of Compact 3, we wish you a fruitful and memorable experience here at Wingram as our nation's - and Castalia's - great future. A hero, stalwart and kind!"

Roughly around the time that the tower's chimes of life had cultivated the hatred of countless groggy students, a thundering bang and three consecutive crashes could be heard in the main hallway of the dorm's ground floor. Doors could be heard opening one by one to investigate the source of the sudden quakes, and a commotion would very quickly be raised in the middle of the hall. Were anyone to inspect outside the first floor hallway, they would see Rio, his golden phantom at his side as three greasy leather-clad thugs hurtled to the floor in front of him. Among all the combatants in this brief scuffle, none appeared seriously harmed, and Rio's phantom vanished into thin air upon some kind of realization from the boy.

"Please get lost, it's difficult to start the day expending essence right away. Stars grace us, the school's gonna try just as hard to kill us all today, I can already feel it," Rio would finally speak up, cracking his neck side to side as the thugs stumbled to their feet. After staring daggers for a few seconds, they turned and stomped off. "This ain't over, y'hear? We're gonna know why you fight like that, even if we gotta beat it outta ya," the middle thug would respond as they all disappeared from sight down another turn, presumably leaving the dorms entirely.

Rio would turn to nod at Otis and/or Chunji, if they caught his eye in the hall at any point during the altercation. Apart from that, the morning would go on as normal, unhindered by violent shenanigans for now.

---

@Estylwen@Sifr@Psyker Landshark

GIRLS' DORM

The calming essence had long since subsided in the room of the trio, and yet the meek peering of sunlight gave way to a serene atmosphere regardless. The low-yet-high rasp in Ciara's head had vanished to the depths from which it rose, allowing the other voices their time to exist in their beautiful chaos, handing back control just as readily as it had taken it away mere hours ago. It was a distant prospect now; a forgotten idea, or a blueprint left unfinished. Whatever that voice was, it couldn't influence the outside world for long, and for now it slept as others awoke. Unlike the boys' dormitory, filled to burst with violence from the very moment that moody teenage boys met the eyes of one another, the girls' dormitory did not have such conflict so early in the morning. That wasn't to say that the building was paradise, as tension dangled from many unsatisfied students denied their chance at a different roommate at the wrathful hands of their dormitory's head advisor. Regardless, no fists were swung and no spells were slung yet.

For Ciara, Hildegunde and Iraleth upon waking, they would each receive a mental 'ping' in their minds, that they would subconsciously know to be an unread 'urgent' message sent to their Adapa. Should they open it, a message from Wingram's board of directors with an unknown 'sent' time would notify them of their first scheduled class and the student list of said class. It would read the following:

"We at Wingram Academy are excited to inform you, dear attendee, that you have been chosen as a year one student for Compact 3. Please find your way to room 103 in the main building for a 9:00 AM start time, attending today's session: Basics of Essence Day 1 - Survival. The class listing is as follows: Chloe Steeler, Chunji Yi, Ciara Ventura, Davil Wund, Hildegunde Nachtnebel, Iraleth Kyrios, Otis Tan Arillo, Rio. To the eight students of Compact 3, we wish you a fruitful and memorable experience here at Wingram as our nation's - and Castalia's - great future. A hero, stalwart and kind!"

Iraleth, in search of a mail room, would recall one such room labeled on the door directly across from the head advisor's office. Upon walking inside, the room would be empty of people, apart from a pale girl dressed in a white longcoat far too big for her. She appeared to be zoned out, staring at a lightbulb on the ceiling with a squint in a moment of intense focus and an awful lot of 'hmmmmm...' noises emanating from her nostrils.

Iris Ascendis

Next day in a few hours!

Iris Ascendis

Oh shit.

Iris Ascendis

I uh, made a lil' something with Ciara :)

TikTok Tribute

@Estylwen

Zato vibes, honestly. I dig it!

<Snipped quote by Nanaya>

@ERode

Thankfully, the Sukuna equivalent of the setting is gone, dusted to atoms. Never to return.

Iris Ascendis

<Snipped quote>

*Otis, underneath the bed, pushing his agenda*

@ERode

Iris Ascendis

---

@ERode

BOYS' DORM

As Otis returned to the recording, he would begin to see an odd sight. The gnome, sat beside the unconscious Gulliver, took up a cross-legged posture as he began to meditate. From the crackling fireplace behind, flames would begin to slowly bend and shift, rising and levitating out and around Bronsteel in a spiral pattern. As it did so, the flames began to take on a more string-like texture, and didn't so much as spark when it made contact with the couch the pair sat on.

"It's less potent than usual," Raja would grumble from across, crossing her legs and her arms simultaneously with discontent as she half-pouted towards the gnome, whose eyes remained closed. His brow furrowed at her words, and for a brief moment, the intensity of the strand-like flames decreased in tune with this disruption.

"It's the best you'll get for now on such short notice, so deal with it. This one won't last if you rely on my services. It's a problem of your stinginess, not my capabilities," the gnome would respond, his words tinged with venom as the spark of his channeling returned. Raja scoffed, and cocked her head to the side to look away from the sight. "Then get it done. Today took a toll, and we need him - them - at their best in the days ahead. As expected, the other one couldn't resist turning it into a spectacle. Kid's full god complex, when he's handed the reins."

For a long time after that, there was silence, as if a mutual understanding achieved only by years of built trust was reached somewhere along that brief interaction. After a while, this silence was broken by the stringy flames all at once tightening around Gulliver, steam beginning to rise from underneath his flesh as runes began to brand themselves into the boy's body. The gnome began to strain as this happened, sweat pouring down his face and a few slashes slowly beginning to form across his arms. Rebound was setting in, and the old man was at his limit.

"Invoke Corda." With those words exiting the gnome's mouth, whispered almost in a voice that wasn't his own with a distorted echo that spread throughout the cozy cabin, the flames all at once fused to the boy's exposed flesh as runic tattoos. The fire vanished, and even the remaining embers in the fireplace died, leaving the humble abode's lighting purely in the hands of sunlight, dim candles and torches strewn about. The gnome coughed as he exited his meditative stance, standing up to begin throwing more firewood into the fireplace, not giving Bronsteel so much as a second glance. As he does this, Raja slowly rises out of her seat and moves to inspect Gulliver.

"That's the most I can do for now. Neither of them can push themselves like that for at least a week. The word's influence will vanish on March 8th at midnight, so ensure he doesn't hit rebound until then. If not, his prime essence will be damaged irreversibly," the gnome would speak in a matter-of-fact tone, before turning around to lock eyes with Raja, disdain clear as day on his face. "I truly hope you know what you're doing. We're running out of time."

Raja would wander past the gnome and into a nearby closet, emerging moments later with a ragged and moth-bitten cloak, throwing it over Gulliver. Then, she would hoist him over her shoulder much like how she brought him in here, and began moving towards the doorway. "Raja...!" The gnome's voice raised with frustration at her lack of response as he stomped towards her, but stopped himself. They exchanged one last knowing look as the principal looked back, and each nodded. The gnome would go back to stoking the flames of his fireplace and preparing tea for himself, while Raja took off outside and back towards the cliff she entered from.

Upon reaching it, she would pull a scroll out of the front pocket of her robes, and unfurled it. Reading it in a low tone, essence surged and twisted around her, increasing in intensity as sparks of electricity lashed out at the grass and rocks by the cliffside. "Iris Record," she would mutter, at the height of this incantation. As quickly as she uttered those words, she vanished, and Gulliver with her.

It's at this point in the recording that he would hear his door creak open. Slowly walking in was Davil, who was tip-toeing in pink bunny slippers. Upon noticing Otis awake, he sighed with relief as he closed the door behind him. "Thought I was gonna need to sneak in real quiet like, but I can see you're still awake, chum. Whew."

Davil would slide in with his bunny slippers and take to his side of the room, crashing into his own bed with exhaustion. After a moment to revel in his own comfort, he would look across at Otis with a curious brow. "What were you watching, anyway? Strigari Academy's yearly skirmishes aren't set to start for a few more months, so it couldn't be that unless you're watching reruns of last year's recordings. Hale of Starwood's grand finale match to become #1 against Pisces Claw was a huge upset, and I know lots of people that watch that one. Never understood the Hale hype though. The guy's kind of a dick, y'know? Poor Pisces though. Ah well."

The boy's mouth blabbered on at lightspeed, exposing himself quite quickly as a fan of Strigari Academy's ongoings. Within a few minutes, however, Davil had forgotten entirely about his question towards Otis altogether. A moment after finishing his rambling, loud snoring would radiate across the room from Davil's side, trailing well on into the night for Otis to either listen to or deal with in some way.

But regardless, the first day of Wingram Academy had come to an end.

---

@AThousandCurses

LIBRARY

"How did I...?"

Emelie pondered the question for a beat, as if it were something she had never even considered as a concept. Hand to chin, the girl was thrown off entirely by the thought even as annoyed students waited for their books to be checked out. Recognition would return to her shortly thereafter, checking out books at lightspeed as she nodded at Chunji's question. "I guess I just was. I can't say I'm overly familiar with how this place does things, but students seem to get all kinds of special offers based on varying factors. Lifestyle, past experience in certain fields, a rare prime essence codeword, a particularly powerful or notable Ethos, and all other kinds of things that catch Principal Raja's eye."

With a shrug, checking out the last student in line without acknowledging their existence, a halfhearted smile beamed out of her as she stared at Chunji. "I don't have many answers. The ol' Dragoness is unique even by the standards of Union education. I thought Strigari Academy's headmaster was a weirdo without match. That was, of course, until I met her - she's got a weird way of seein' the world, once you get to know her. All the same, I couldn't imagine this place under the leadership of anyone else."

The warmth of familiarity overtook Emelie for a moment before she once again realized where she was, giving herself a small slap on the cheek and a wave of dismissal. "Er, sorry, I'm a total space case today. To make a short story shorter, when applications were being filtered through, Raja found me to be somebody built for responsibilities beyond a life of study. Same goes for the people picked for the Ascendis Dormitory to undergo their weird little trials. Can't say I know much about any of that, though. Not even I know what the criteria is for that place, and I suspect not many teachers do, either."

The pale librarian's eyes lit up in horror as she watched something transpire behind Chunji. Moments later, the sound of many objects clattering to the floor overtook the library. Emelie rushed out from behind her desk, and upon looking towards the noise, there would be a mannekin on the ground underneath a pile of books. The ladder it was on appeared to give out from under it, and with it came nearly an entire bookshelf worth of books. "Shiiiiiit," Emelie cried, bolting over to assess the situation. A few other mannekin followed shortly behind, clearing the way with artificial precision. Emelie would look back towards Chunji with a shake of her head. "Sorry, we'll have to cut this short for today, I can't say I know what happened. But this sure as shit's gotta get done by tonight, so I'll be goin' into worker mode until sundown so I can make sure I don't get fired for mismanagement!"

Regardless of what Chunji decided to do, whether to stay behind or find a way to pass the time elsewhere, it was growing apparent that the previously mentioned sundown was not far behind. Orange rays peered through the windows of the library, the moon and stars sure to follow in short order. As Emelie and the mannekin quickly got to work assisting their fallen comrade and getting that area back in order, other students also began filing out to find other ways to end their days. If Chunji did make his way back to his dorms eventually, he would find Rio already asleep in their room.

The first day of Wingram had come to an end.

---

@Estylwen@Sifr@Psyker Landshark

GIRLS' DORM

"They'll kill you if you tell them the truth, you know. You're not a girl that opens up to others. That isn't you."

The low-yet-high raspy voice returned to Ciara's mind, cutting through the others momentarily. It was as if a spotlight was given to this one and this one alone, for this brief period of importance. It felt as if it was so close, closer than any of the others - as if simply moving would slam her against an unknowable pressure, as if breathing would rise her chest directly into an impossibly sharpened claw ready to pierce her flesh. Yet all the same, it was imperceivable, as if existing somewhere else despite its undeniable presence.

"They haven't been through what you have, child. What we've been through. Especially not that Astran knight. It'd be a losing battle to even try to connect with her. We've always known this, haven't we? Those like us can never fraternize with those like them. To back down now would show weakness - would show that we fear her, and that we concede to any execution her ilk might visit upon us."

The voice grew gentler with each sentence. It was a relatable, comforting blanket that would slowly coat Ciara. An essence with the concept of 'calm', slowly but surely overtaking the entire room, but subtly enough that it could be explained away as nothing more than a long day's fatigue finally catching up to tired warriors. It wasn't an instantaneous effect, but it did serve as this entity's way of dulling the conversation before they could even have the chance to work out their differences with clear heads.

March 1st, 1526 SR marked a massive change in the Vaalin Union as a result of Wingram's forming, and it was only the first of many long days to come. Whether they knew it or not, it marked a change that there was no going back from. In the days, weeks and months ahead, adventures of both whimsy and woe awaited. For now, though, none of those things were worth worrying about - an unknowable future remained unknowable, ultimately.

Finally, the first day of Wingram had come to an end.

Iris Ascendis

Was going to type up a post tonight, but I came down with some kind of stomach bug. Next round coming when I wake up!

Iris Ascendis

Already 300, huh? Very nice.

Iris Ascendis

@Psyker Landshark

All good, no rush! Take it easy.

Iris Ascendis

@ERode

Once Otis begins inspecting the boots, they would appear to be perfectly mundane boots. Even the winged heels would appear to be purely ornamental, and attempts to sift through the essences of the boots would find only mundane concepts like "flexible" and "durable" from the leather, or "aerodynamic" from the wings. There are no indications that this is special at all, but rather regular boots with a flashier design.