The treant, amused, lifted the small girl onto its shoulder, and leaned against the wall of the forest. "Now, what would you wish to talk about?"
"Eh, suit yourselves," responded Polyanna with a wry grin. Turning to the excitable Melody, the candy mage lifted her hands palms forward to placate her. "Hey hey, cool down. And no, I had to stop these inchlings from trying, I'd rather you avoid the same. With that being said..."
Turning to the rambunctious bunch, Polyanna gave a short yell.
"Hey you kids! Now I know you value your free time, but the list for available classes for the month have been updated, maybe you'd like to check it out before frolicking about first, yeah?"
After all, some of the more popular classes filled up right quick. It'd be a shame if they weren't able to avail them because of being stuck here.
Hundreds of students were rushing in and out the building, which was an unending bustle of activity.
On the huge board, a list of available classes were displayed:
Basic & Intermediate Void Theory
Magical Geographies
Dueling Traditions
Chimera Construction 101
The board next to it had a list of Field Trips that were scheduled to begin:
Fae Territory (Cuillin Mountain range, Scotland)
Temple to Asura (India)
The third and last board were a list of quests*:
Manhunt: Spell-thief / Location: Ordos, China
Extermination: Released Experiment / Location: Morrison Mental Hospital
@AXIS I'd like to know how your character knew about magic. It's kept hidden from most of the world so unless they'd met someone that knew about magic or was born into the tradition, they'd have little way of finding out.
Also entrance to the school is on a reccomendation/invitation basis. They don't have entrance exams.
"You've got some guts trying to sneak away from me." A pointed look and dry voice said everything about what Polyanna thought of Rhea's attempt at getting away from her. "Maybe wait here a moment or I'll have the treants turn you into a potted plant again."
Her piece being said, she turned to the rest of the rugrats still shuffling their feet.
"I could ask the treants if what you're saying is true, you know that right?" And if it turned out to be false, well, there would be consequences for that. Well there would be, but she honestly wasn't in the mood.
Scratching her head, she gave the kids a once over before shrugging. "Oh what the heck, it's the first day, I'll let you off with a warning. Except you two," she said gesturing to William and La'Tavia, "since you so happily volunteered. Meet my in my office later afternoon, when you've finished signing up for classes. Bring a change of clothes too."
"In any case, I better not catch you trying this again. We keep novices," another pointed look at Rhea, with Viola added in, "outside of the forest for a reason, and we need the permits to keep track of who goes in and out. It's really easy to get lost in those woods, you know?"
About as easy as dying in there too, but she didn't need to bring that up.
"Now with that being said, any of you kids up for a sweet? It's on me." Smiling, the candy mage wriggled her fingers and a lollipop materialized between each finger. Should they take it, they'd find that the lollipop changed flavors depending on their mood, as well as gave them one hell of a sugar rush.
"Sorry little Firebird. We require a permit for you to pass," said the old tree chidingly. "Those are the rules I'm afraid. Not very bendable, like a tree branch, you see."
Another treant addressed Viola, beady black eyes scrutinizing her. "Methinks that perhaps this one is a bit more understanding," he said. The old tree bent down, and an unspoken conversation passed through him and the other treants. The roots gripping Viola slackened, and the treant picked up the mage with a tangle of branches that served as a hand. "But then what does this one want to learn, hmm? Us treants make bad teachers for humans, I fear."
"I'd listen to the treant, if I were you."
The childlike high pitch of Polyanna rang through from behind Damien. Dressed in her black Enforcer uniform, in her younger appearance, she looked at the students with a mixture of amusement and exasperation. "They're really slow when it comes to explaining things. They don't like rushing you, see," one glance at Viola, "but, I'm sure you already knew that."
She approached the group, giving a friendly nod to Liors and Damien as she passed. Her snow-white staff clacking audibly on the ground despite the dirt floor. Stopping in front of La'Tavia, the Head Enforcer raised a brow. "You'd think after the nth attempt at sneaking through to the forest, you'd learn better by now." With a nod at the trees, the roots gripping them down loosened, allowing the trapped students to dig their way out. It wouldn't do wonders for their clothes, but at the very least they were free.
"Thanks guys, I can take it from here."
"As you wish. Take care, Lady Sugar." The treants bowed, and climbing over the wall, assumed their silent vigil once more. However one of them, the one holding up Viola, stayed. "This one wants to have a conversation, I believe. I will oblige her, and the others, if they are so willing."
Nodding, Polyanna turned back to the group, scrutinizing, hands akimbo.
"Now, convince me why I shouldn't have you serve out detention for an hour or two."
"There's quite a lot of them now aren't they?" said Moss-Hands. He was fairly young for a treant, barely 500 years old, so he was always in a hurry when compared to other treants. Right now, he was enjoying a fascinating image of his first time deciding on something. An important milestone in the growth of a young ent.
A low and pleasant rumble came from the treant next to him. "Ho hum." Longbark was a treant that was significantly older than Moss-Hands, and he had been alive since before their forests relocation to the boundary within the University's walls. "I think that one means to distract us." He was of course referring to William.
It was unfortunate. The Treants were a long lived species, slow to act, but swift when they do, with a patience that spanned longer than human lives. Images of the past mattered little to them, when the present was an event that took so long.
And so it was with little hesitation that roots burst forth once again and pulled two figures into the ground. Zane, because they thought he saying 'dumbass tree' in front of a treant was rarely a good idea, no matter the context, much less while pouring water on top of someone they were fond of (no matter how exasperating they found her at times), and William, because attempting to use magic that doesn't instantly kill an treant was arguably just as bad an idea.
They left Liors alone, because it felt unseemly to punish so violet as shrunken as her, and because she tried asking nicely to let them go.
"So hasty, are you? One must not be so hasty," said Great-Oak, slow and ponderous even by treant standards, and thus also the wisest. "Talk slower, perhaps then we might understand you. Infants always talk too quickly."
Meruin, buried somewhere behind Viola, let out a deep, frustrated sigh. "It's amazing how neither of you saw this coming," she said, referring to Zane and William.
Gold was not so much judgmental (excluding one particular man) as she was no-nonsense. As such, while she had a fairly refined sense of tact, she was unafraid to point out reckless stupidity when she saw it. So she did.
"What exactly... where you hoping to accomplish with this half-brained scheme? Never mind I don't want to know," she said with a shake of her head.
One of the first things she did once she had free time was secure permission to enter the forest. She had myriad of reasons that were pointless to get into at the moment, but suffice it to say, she was an efficient worker. She had gotten to the administrative buildings as soon as they had opened, and once she had secured a pass, made a beeline for the forest as fast as possible.
Imagine her surprise when she was beaten to the punch by a whole group of students. Her first thought was that somehow they had been able to secure passes before the school year had started - that thought was quickly buried along with the students.
"So, yeah, I have to say this is amusing. I'd stay to help but I'm kind of busy. See you later!" The girl flashed her permit to the treants, who lifted the large gate for her. Running inside, she quickly disappeared from the groups line of sight.
Danyel,
Letter Bee,
Polaris North,
Rune_Alchemist,
Creative Chaos,
QueenNugget,
cosmiccowgirl
Member