dis_acdmy_log | Opening Ceremony!

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Opening Ceremony!

Who: Everybody!
What: Opening Ceremony! Say hi to all your new friends! It's a meet 'n' greet!
When: OPENING DAY!
Where: Just inside the Academic Building
Warnings: None yet. Yet.
[In a wide open hall with banners and a various sundry of celebratory items, the headmaster's rousing speech begins to come to a close.]

In short, you all are here to save our world! There is a threat out there that we must face, but we cannot face it alone. [His demeanor is pleasant, but thinly veiled. His stress is evident in his words, but he is attempting to stay cheerful.] We must do our best to watch over our friends and family and neighbors, no matter who they may be.

We are all responsible for one another. [He lets the silence hang for a moment before letting off and overly cheerful--] HaHa! [Was that a bit forced? Or was it just me?]

Well, guys, it’s time for me t’go, got lotsa stuff to take care of bein’ headmaster and all. But please, get to know one another, go check out classes, and find out where you live on campus! [He gestures to various sections of the room, all labeled with bright colored papers and text.]

I’ll see y’around!

[And with that, the headmaster is off! ~~No, seriously. Watch him go, he’s movin’ fast for such a short guy.~~]

((OOC: WELCOMING CEREMONY LOG! Feel free to create starters here and tag everyone! Don’t be shy. :) You can use prose or action text, whichever you’re more comfortable with.))

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[ Jack doesn't see a lot of people around with his shade of hair who aren't somehow also magic. Granted, he doesn't see a lot of people around with his shade of hair anyway, so, you know. Curiosity abounds.

He waits until she's climbed to the top of the roof - where he's currently sitting, by the by, as casually as though he belongs there and it's perfectly normal - before he speaks up to get her attention. ]

You seem a little lost. Last I checked the sidewalks were all on the ground.

[Aisling glances up from the edge and freezes--pun not intended.

Your hair. Your hair is short, but it's white and you're young--you're like her you're like her you're like--

--and then her eyes settle on eyes that are blue, not green. Not like hers.

Her face flashes from shock to hope to pain, and then settles into a half-scowl. She looks almost hurt. Because it's totally your fault you remind her of her people, yep.]

I don't care. I know where I am and what I'm looking for.

[ He doesn't really understand why she's looking at him like that, and her expression changes so rapidly that if he'd blinked he would have missed it. But the face she settles on - that one he recognizes, if only because he knows it's a face he's probably worn too many times before to count.

He's not exactly sure how to ask, but he scoots over a little closer on the rooftop, not to be deterred. ]

Okay, well, maybe - maybe I could help you find it?

[ He pauses for a beat. Okay, deep breath, shoot: ]

...Are you okay? Because you seem a little...upset. Was it something I said?

[Thump. She drops to the edge of the roof, legs dangling freely, still looking angry.]

...The gardens. I'm going to live there. I can find them on my own.

[For a moment, she debates with herself over just jumping down and not answering. She doesn't care about being rude--but then she'll be pestered about it.] You aren't who--what I thought you were.

[ Jack shrugs. ]

I could tell you where the gardens are, but since you insist, I won't.

[ He still doesn't really...get it. He hasn't ever gotten that kind of reaction from anybody that he didn't understand why, and he's still curious, so he slides down to the edge of the roof to sit next to her, dangling his legs over the edge as well. ]

Does it have anything to do with...uh... [ He points to his hair, and then to hers. ] With this?

I can find them on my own.

[She jumps up when he sits, but she doesn't leave. Instead she just balances on the edge, arms crossed.]

...Yes.

[Aisling doesn't want to hope. She glances at his eyes again.] Have you ever heard of the Tuatha de Danann? Could you be one of them?

Edited 2013-10-11 20:55 (UTC)

[ Jack regrets that he never learned much about other spirits and creatures of myth that lived in the world - all he knew was what little bits of knowledge he'd picked up over the years from experience. And even though she probably isn't a child, the same way he isn't a teenager, he hates to disappoint her. He meets her eyes for a second, and then looks down, ashamed. ]

I wish I could say yes, I really do, but I've never heard of them and I'm not one. I'm sorry. I'm just...a kid who used to be human, and got turned into something else. [ He pauses for a long moment, then looks back up at her. ] Is that what you are?

Edited 2013-10-11 21:22 (UTC)

You were human? I didn't know that anyone could change that.

[And suddenly she feels a little bit bad.]

It's alright. They've been gone for a long, long time. Far longer than you've lived, if you look anything like your human-age.

[She whispers.]...I'm the last.

Edited (way to forget words) 2013-10-11 23:33 (UTC)

[ He smiles softly, glancing down at the ground below them. ] I'm about three hundred and then some, actually. You'd think I'd have learned a thing or two about them in that time, but apparently not.

[ But he knows, at least, what it's like to be alone. ]

How long have you been...by yourself?

Edited (guess who sucks at homonyms) 2013-10-12 02:16 (UTC)

[Why had she said that. Now her chest feels all achey inside and her eyes feel watery and she hasn't cried in years and years and she isn't now. She isn't. She jumps over the not-human's head to distract herself.]

Four-four hundred. A while before you, then. But--I made a friend for a while. A human friend. Brendan. It was a nice year.

["My name's Brendan! What's yours?" Aisling takes a deep breath.]

My name is Aisling. What's yours?

[ Four hundred is a long, long time to be alone. He feels a pang of sympathy well up inside him, a resonating ache in his own chest because he knows - does he ever know - that nobody should have to be alone for that long.

He doesn't know what happened to the rest of her people, and he's not sure it's a good idea to ask. But he has her name, at least. That's progress, right? His smile gets a little bigger. ]

Jack Frost. Just Jack is fine, though.

[ A beat - ]

Would you like another friend?

[You aren't prodding the wound, good for you!]

[Have an Aisling in your personal space, trying to reach out and touch the frost patterns on that hoodie as if it's the most natural thing in the world.] Jack Frost. Are you a winter spirit, protecting a winter place?

[She looks at him seriously.] I wouldn't mind it.

[ Jack tilts back slightly at first - he didn't expect her up in his space so fast - but relaxes after a second, letting tiny fingers brush up against the frost on his hoodie. He smiles. ]

I am a winter spirit, but I don't protect places. I protect people. Kids, mostly, but other people too.

[ A beat. ] That's settled, then. Friends?

[Wow, Jack is really cold. She ends up circling around him to his other side while listening, letting her hands pat over him. She's really touch-y.] I didn't know there were spirits to protect people. Have you fought Northmen?

[Her lips quirk up.] Alright.

[ He has to stretch his neck over his shoulder - and then give up and turn the other way - to follow her progress as she moves around him. Which, honestly, he doesn't mind that much. It's just a little...odd. Funny, almost. ]

You mean like, vikings? [ He hasn't heard them called Northmen frequently, but he knows of them. ] Nah, but I make it snow on 'em. Does that count?

[And then she's sitting on the edge again, head tilted so her crazy long hair is hanging into space. Her expression is...kind of freaky for a child. Almost murderous.]

Freeze them. They're invading Ireland. They burn and kill everything in their path, be they elders or children. They're why Brendan had to leave! They nearly killed him right in front of me, but I got my wolves to kill them instead.

Edited 2013-10-15 15:13 (UTC)

[ He has to work really hard to keep the shock off his face at suddenly being asked to commit wholesale slaughter - okay, yeah, the Northmen sound kinda bad but Jack's not...sure...that's what he was meant to do with his abilities. He coughs uncomfortably and attempts to skim over the subject by focusing on a different one. ]

You have wolves that kill people?

Yes. They're my friends, and they don't like intruders any more than I do. And they listen to my commands when I'm a wolf, too.

[ Jack blinks, once, twice, slowly. Okay, so shapeshifters are not unheard of where Jack's from, but - ]

You're...not a wolf now, though. So you're a wolf sometimes?

[Smug:] When I want to be.

[And then there's a big honkin' wolf sitting there.]

[ Wow, that's...wow. Jack stares with undisguised shock, suddenly dwarfed by a wolf that used to be a little girl less than half his size, a minute ago.

Is this real life? It's one thing to hear about shapeshifting; it's another thing to see it in action. ]

You, uh, you weren't kidding. [ He blinks a couple of times, then holds up a hand as though to touch - but hesitates. ] Can I...?

[In answer, she presses her muzzle against his hand. Then her fur puffs out because alright wow cold.]

[ Jack laughs. He can't help it. And then he ruffles the thick fur around her neck with his hands because fuzzy things are fun okay. ]

That's awesome! Can you turn into anything else, or just a wolf?

[!!! Aisling yelps and falls back--she might not feel the cold that much there, but she was not expecting it. She shifts back to her girl-form, looking a mixture of annoyed and proud.]

I can be a doe and a salmon, too! I like being a wolf best, though. They're the toughest!

That's a...good reason to like being a wolf, I guess. [ He pulls his hands back, looking a little sheepish. ]

So, what, do you just...do wolf stuff all day? [ What do wolves even do. ] Like...hunting?

[ He has a brief, uncomfortable moment recalling his first winter by himself - when he was set upon by a pack of hungry wolves - and has to wonder if that ever happened to....any travelers in her forest. Besides the Northmen, anyway. ]

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aislingoftheforest - 2013-11-09 01:17 (UTC) - Expand

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