Realistic or Modern Zodiac Arc 1: Rise of a General

[DoughGuy]

OOC Here​

~ 3 days ago.

To: CTSSarith@Crowtree.mn.edu
From: PresidentFerarri@Crowtree.mn.edu
Subject: Keep an eye on this

Hey Sam

I’ve attached three files for you to view. Keep an eye on the man, they go by Lull Lyster. I suspect they will resort to violence if their sister is threatened or harmed. There’s no need to remove them from the campus if your officers spot him but perhaps keep one nearby. Also keep an eye on the sister, Lois, and take extra care they don’t get into any trouble. She’s a new student from England. I’d rather avoid an international incident when we’re trying to expand our overseas network.

D
_______________________________________________________________________________

To: PresidentFerarri@Crowtree.mn.edu
From: CTSSarith@Crowtree.mn.edu
Subject: RE: Keep an eye on this

Yo Dom

Consider it covered.

Sam

_______________________________________________________________________________

7/10/17
Free Posting Mode
Today’s Schedule
9am – Orientation lecture with Professor Cetus
11am – Barbeque at the Square for new students
4pm – First Photography Club meeting with Professor Arlindou​

It was a bright, sunny morning for the first day of the new semester at Crowtree. Cold, as it always was in the north, but lacking that cutting edge thanks to the summer sun and absence of wind. Many of the older students slept on peacefully in their warm beds. But for the new first years that wasn’t an option. The school had scheduled their orientation lecture as first thing in the morning. It was a harsh introduction to the necessities of adult life. But at least it wasn’t winter.

While each dorm was a fully furnished apartment they only came with a single bathroom. Fortunately hot water was in large supply even during peak hours thanks to the modern boiler system in the basement level. Time on the other hand wasn’t. While every bedroom had its own alarm clock provided it was up to the students to set it correctly.

~***~

For Sergeant Sam Sarith it was a pleasant morning walk to the University. He’d lived in Maine his entire life and was used to the chilly weather. Once you did a few midnight shifts during winter, with snow pouring down and winds bowling you over, anything above freezing was nice. Though he had to admit he’d done his best to spend most of the time inside his patrol car with the heat maxed out.

Crowtree coming into view up ahead brought a smile to his face. He hadn’t been there during the break and missed the place. The commissioner liked to keep him busy while the force had him and there wasn’t much time to see Mari, Angelica and all the rest. Rounding the corner of the neighbouring office building he spotted two cars already in the parking lot. Dom and Damien’s, preparing for the new semester. It wouldn’t surprise him to learn they’d arrived yesterday and hadn’t left since. He made his way over to the security office and unlocked the building.

Half an hour later, after dusting off both the proverbial and real cobwebs, why did it have to be under his desk of all places, he returned to the outside. There was still a good hour until the orientation lecture, but there were already a few students making their way across the Square, overly eager to be on time. Sam leaned back against the building’s wall and settled in. It was one of his rituals for the start of the new semester. Watching all the new students, getting a brief look at their faces, and preparing for the months ahead.

Today though he had to keep a bit of a sharper eye. At least one of them would be easy to spot.

~***~

Any students arriving early would find themselves out of luck as they reached the lecture hall. The school building was open but the lacquered wooden flooring, large glass windows and concrete walls did little to hold any warmth. In addition the doors to the lecture hall remained closed until 8:30am when Professor Arlindou finally unlocked them and allowed everyone inside.

The lecture hall was impressively large. Most of its bulk was hidden behind the main building, out of sight, creating a deceptive illusion that hid its true size. The two hundred chairs, most of which would be filled by the new cohort, were the standard university fair. Built on top of steel beams that spanned the sections of the hall with folding desks to keep things compact. They were comfortably cushioned and completely clean, broken up into 3 sections for ease of access. The heating in the hall had been turned on to brings things up to a comfortable temperature, and Arlindou remained by the double doors ensuring the heat remained mostly trapped within.

 

[Segue]

Dorm Room 12
8:32am

'Any students arriving early' is a wide and far reaching term, but one that could rarely be used to describe Skylar Rieman. The dulcet chime of her phone's alarm clock had gone off at 7:40, at 8:00 and again at 8:20, serenading her with the first 10-12 seconds of Walking on Sunshine before one pale hand reached out and swiped away the assault on her senses. No other sign of life from the mound of violet hair on the pillow until rays of sunlight stole across her head and triggered a mumble of discontent. Finally she lifted her head, swiped the hair from her face and swore at the bright daylight. "What... the hell time is it even?" That was when her eyes fell on her phone and she swore again.

"Shit!"

Her mouth tasting of old socks, she hauled herself out from tangled sheets and out into the bathroom. Fourteen minutes of scrubbing, dunking, rinsing and brushing ensue, then a much more wakeful Skylar stumbled back to her room and kicked shut the door behind her. Her silver smartphone glared reprovingly at her as she dropped her towel and pulled on jeans and a Jack Daniels tank top. Finally she yanked on black zebra shoes and socks, grabbed her bag and ran for the door - then doubled back to grab her phone. Finally with ten minutes to Orientation she dived back out of her room and skidded to a halt four steps from the hallway as she spotted the European woman watching her.

"Um, hey? Are you Mystery Girl?"

She'd wondered who was in the other room, but she never seemed to be there.

Wait! Orientation!

But, Roomie!

Teetering on the horns of a dilemma, Skylar did her best to split in two. Failing that, she raised a hand and arched a lone dark brow.

"Skylar, 12B."

 

[TerraBooma]

Dorm Room 217
7:30am

Ray woke up to the sound of music playing from his phone. Tuned to a local radio station he'd heard of one the way down. It was weird, seeming to be some combination of heavy metal and orchestral flutes. Ray thought it was weird but at the same time didn't mind it. The music itself was blaring loud enough to wake him up but hopefully not bother his dorm-mate. Shun was a...weird fellow, and in the last week, out of the few words Ray could get out of him established he liked peace and quiet. His roommate seemed content to just be locked up in his room most of the time painting, the results of which hung prominently on both his walls. Seeing as Ray had only brought with him a single poster of Wayne Gretzky, it seemed his roommate had deemed it necessary to decorate his walls himself. Ray constantly found himself coming back from errands only to have some new creation propped up on his wall. He might have complained, but for the most part he actually liked what he got. It seemed the Shun had deciphered his love of Hockey, and most of what he got seemed to fit the bill. Weird abstracts that Ray figured resembled a hockey rink, a couple different pieces of gear, he was actually pretty impressed. That said, Shun didn't really talk about it much, so Ray let them stay up as a silent token of his approval. He even left up the one he didn't understand. A weird almost creepy looking painting that unsettled him. It was...maybe a face? He couldn't quite tell, it was like a million things in one painting...and it unsettled him. He kept meaning to ask Shun what the hell ti was supposed to be, but he never seemed to quite get an opportunity with the few words they exchanged. At the very least, his friend was nice. Ashlei had visited the pair of them more often than not over the past week that he had been in the dorm, and Ray got along with her well enough. She was friendly! And despite knowing nothing about hockey, seemed to at least pretend she cared when Ray went on some tangent about the sport. Even still they got along well enough, and she helped allieve the awkwardness Ray felt when Shun just kind of sat there silently painting while he was in the room. Dude was determined to say the least.

For now though, he had to get showering. Quickly running into the shower, Ray turned on the water and took a quick cold shower. 7:30 was nothing compared to practice back home! He let the cold water run over him, waking him up as he felt its chill. Almost as quickly as he ran into the shower, he had finished up and gotten out. Cold showers might be good at waking you up...but they were far from pleasant. Heading back to his room, he threw on a Maple Leafs jersey and some jeans. He'd heard the locals complain of the weather, but so far the thick jersey had been enough for the Canadian exchange student. He had a jacket and coat, but he'd break them out when it was necessary. Tying his shoes together he walked over to Shun's room, surprised to find the door open and Shun painting like always. Had he been up already? Ray wasn't expecting that.

"Shun! Wanted to let you know, shower's open. But uh...how long have you been awake anyway? Looks like your making good progress on that thing, it's new right?" He motioned to the piece Shun was working on. "Anyway, I was thinking. Ashlei's new too right? We should meet up with her and whoever she's boarding with for orientation. Going to that sorta stuff always feels less sucky when your in a group. Whatcha think?"

 

[Azukai]

Dorm 217
5:30 am

It was just as the morning sun began to peek above the horizon, that Shun awoke to the wafting smell of pancakes and tea. On his nightstand was a tray of breakfast, delivered by the lilac haired girl who sat on the edge of his bed. She had a cheerful expression with an infectious smile that was mildly returned by the half-asleep Shun. Having come straight from her dorm, she was still dressed in a cat-pattern nightgown, but more noteworthy was the faint smell of alcohol that lingered on her body.

“Again?” Shun spoke with a mild slur that stemmed from his inability to wake in the morning. Nonetheless, he forced himself into an upright position and took a gentle sip of his steaming earl grey. Ashlei pouted in response to Shun’s declaration; however, her negativity was soon replaced by giddy laughter, and a slap against Shun’s back. “Don’t you have better things to worry about,” she said with a giggle. “It’s you and Ray’s orientation day! I’ll be fine, not even hung over for once.”

A sigh escaped Shun’s lips, but he did not pursue the topic any further. Instead, he scarfed down the pair of pancakes before settling into the chair of his easel. Standing before him was his latest canvas that depicted an incomplete abstraction of the campus. It was a rather dark piece, given the heavy tones that symbolized the vices which plagued a college experience. Ashlei rolled her eyes upon seeing the painting, yet did not comment–full aware her own behavior was subtly intertwined into the piece.

Time passed in silence as Ashlei did nothing more than observe from the bedside. For her, watching Shun paint was a soothing experience. Each of his strokes gently caressed the ivory fabric that became stained with his masterful demonstration of colour and composition. At his current skill, Shun was far from the master painters in history; however, there was no denying that he was well ahead of most, if not all, painters at Crowtree.

“And to think your parents wanted to ruin this talent.” Ashlei whispered under her breath. She spoke to no one in particular. Her statement was nothing more than a reiterated thought that both parties were well aware of. “Hey, Shun…–” She began in a normal tone, but before she could finish, she was cut off by the sound of “Shelter” bursting from the alarm of her phone. She quickly silenced the sudden distraction and directed an apologetic smile at the annoyed artist who glared her way. “My bad, my bad! Either way, I’m outsies. I think my roomie moved in recently. Might as well try and catch her before she’s off for orientation. Maybe, I’ll see you guys there!” Without further ado, she skipped out the door and into the hall. Her voice called out one last time; just before the dorm’s front door slammed shut, and she was gone for good. “Don’t forget to tell Ray about the pancakes!”

7:50 am

Shun set down his brush with a heavy sigh in response to the morning’s second distraction. Ray was standing in his doorway with the usual enthusiasm that the sports-fanatic demonstrated. Under normal circumstances, Shun might have ignored his roommate in favour of his painting, but with orientation so close, there was little gained in delaying the inevitable persistence.

“Ashlei may not join us. She is a Graduate student, unlike us. And yes, the painting is new…Perhaps I shall call it the Sins of Adulthood.” Shun’s response was short and to the point. He had no intention of holding a long-term conversation–a point made obvious by his immediate return to the brush. However, he hesitated just before the paint made contact with the canvas; pausing to announce a forgotten message. “Let me know when you plan to leave. I will accompany you. Also there are pancakes.”

8:30 am

Ashlei returned to her dorm while her roommate was in the bathroom preparing for orientation. Part of her wished to play a prank and startle the unsuspecting girl, but her better nature took over and relegated herself back to her room. With the only other occupant engaged away, there was no reason for modesty as she let her nightgown fall from her body and onto the floor. Retrieved from the closet, she soon slipped into a simple outfit of jeans and a pink blouse before struggling with her knee high boots that rested beside her bed. She then settled at the desk of her room where she heartily began applying her usual make-up. That being said, she was only part way through before the brush fell from her hand, and she soon found herself resting her head against the cool surface of the desk. A heavy sigh exhaled from her chest as she reached for one of many bottles that were littered in one of the larger desk drawers.

Without hesitation, she took several swigs of the cake flavored liqueur–lightly flinching between each drink. However, the bottle was quickly capped and thrown back into the drawer when the sound of her roommate began to stir outside of the bathroom walls. With a forced smile on her face, she directed her gaze towards her open door where a conflicted girl was greeting her presence. It was obvious she was in a hurry–the reason being concluded as ‘running late for orientation’. Thus, in rapid motion, Ashlei sprung to her feet, gave the girl a tight hug, then made for the front door where she beckoned with sudden excitement. “Ashlei, 12A…Your running late, I know shortcuts, let’s go!”

And without further statement, she was out the door, and on her way to the orientation hall.

 

[AiDee]

5:45

Mori is a very heavy sleeper. She needs at least two things yelling at her to wake up. Luckily, the school had provided her an alarm clock and she had her phone. The alarm clock was set to go off first. It took a moment or two before her phone went off as well and synced up. The young girl twisted her body away from the noise and laid there with her blanket tangled up with her legs. She buried her face in her pillow as the repetitive beeps pierced her ears. Mori tried lifting her body, she really did, but she collapsed under the weight of the urge to never part from the warmth of her bed, “I’m getting up...getting up…”

She quickly snatched her phone off the table to turn it off. Mori rubbed her eyes and squinted at the alarm clock on her table. The internet told her to keep the clock away from her reach if she wanted to get away from the wonderful comfort of her bed, “What a load of pish posh!” Mori threw her phone at the alarm clock. With skills that she collected from years of baseball, she managed to accurately hit her target and turn the alarm clock off.

Mori jumped out of her bed and did her morning stretches. She bent down to touch her toes to get the blood rushing down to her head. After getting the proper wake up call, Mori grinned and placed her hands on her hips. She picked up her phone and checked the time. It was a little before six, just enough time to do a bit of sprucing up. Mori picked up a small yellow watering can. The can was already filled with distilled water from last night. She slowly poured water over her plants and lowly hummed. She read somewhere that plants enjoyed positive noises to grow and while it could be a load of hogwash, she still made sure to treat the plants with only love.

Mori grabbed her towel and left her room. She knocked on the bathroom door and waited for any response. After not hearing anything, she opened the door and quickly turned the shower on. After fifteen minutes of showering, she quickly got into a white tank top and her blue running shorts. The young lady grabbed her track jacket and wrapped it around her waist.

It seemed like her roommate, Lois, hasn’t woken up yet. She glanced at the clock on the wall and then her at her phone. It was six-twenty. Perhaps she slept through her alarm or maybe she set it at a later time. Mori jogged a bit in place while she contemplated if she wanted to wake her roomie up or not. With her knuckles she beated on Lois’ door, “Lolo?” Maybe she was awake already and just staying inside her room.

Mori twisted the doorknob open to release the warmth kept up in Lois’ room. Lois was in her bed with clothing and other things that were strewn around her. Maybe Mori shouldn’t wake her up. Lois seemed strangely peaceful in her sleeping state. Mori hopped on one foot and then the other as she thought about what she could do, “Hey!” Maybe calling out to her could wake her up, “Lolo! Nettle! ..Wildflower! Child!” Mori squatted down next to her bed and poked Lois’ face.

Maybe she could clean up her roommate’s room while she waited. Mori grabbed the clothes on her bed and started folding them in a rapid pace. She was always cleaning her brother’s room and this was just another similar task. She moved on to stacking the books on the ground, maybe she could rearrange them to how Lolo’s schedule stacked her classes. Mori shook her head, that would be a bit over the top. Besides, she can’t be always helping her roommate clean. Mori would have to beat some cleaning tips into her. Maybe beat was not the word she should use. The young girl cracked her fingers and got up from the floor. She grabbed Lois’ clock and checked the time it was set to go off.

Mori darted back into her room and grabbed her alarm clock with a pad of paper and a pen. She configured her clock to go off at the same time as Lolo’s and quickly scribbled down a note for Lois to read, “Hey Lolo! I’m gonna be out for a jog! Remember, we have orientation at nine! I’ll be back and we can leave at the same time! ~Mori.” She ripped the paper out and placed it on her bedside. Mori closed the door behind her and unwrapped her jacket from her waist. She slid into her track jacket and left her dorm to go for her jog.

At eight in the morning, Mori returned to her dorm room. The alarm clocks were set to go off at seven-forty five, her roommate should be awake at this time. Mori opened the dorm room up and waved at Lois, “Hey, nice to see up, Lolo!” She leaned against the door frame, “How do you feel about running and trying to find where the orientation is going to take place?” She grinned and crossed her arms.

 

[Segue]

8:50 am

The slight violet-haired girl - 4 foot 10 in her thick-soled shoes - had seen Mystery Girl's smile and barely had time to notice something off about it before she was wrapped in the woman's cake-scented embrace. One whirlwind introduction later, and Skylar took off after her volunteer guide. She was not a morning person and hoped she could schedule classes a little later in the day, but she'd truly wanted to make a good start here at Crowtree. Why could she never wake up on time?! Ugh! She mentally cudgelled herself in frustration as she trailed Lilac around the corner, down the stairs and out into the frozen campus.

Double-ugh! Jacket! Too late now though...

Alternating between a quick walk and a trot, she followed her roomie through two courtyards and an alleyway down the back of a utility block, only to find herself out the front of the lecture hall building at least five (maybe ten!) minutes before she'd have gotten there herself. Assuming she hadn't gotten lost and ended up behind the pond. Again.

At least they weren't the last people here - there were a couple of guys over by the doors to the building, and another girl in closer to a dead run for the building. She could sympathise with that as she hugged herself tightly against the chill. "Why does anyone even live here?" she grumbled to Ashlei. "I mean, I know it's only my first day but you can't tell me you've never thought Crowtree would be loads better if it was outside Atlanta. Or maybe in the Bahamas. On its own island, with boats running hourly to Treasure Cay." She tossed a whimsical smile Lilac's way as they bore down on the hall and its implied warmth.

At least, there had better be warmth. Otherwise she might just be the first person to be expelled for lighting fires in a school building.

 

[0stinato]

Far too Early

Lois' dream had incorporated Mori's first tap-tap-taps on her door. In that dream, she was flying. She'd started off jumping off a fjord attached to a hand-glider, but that had disappeared in dream-logic and now... it was just her, Peter-Panning her way across the majestic blue-green sky.

The tap-tap-tapping was a woodpecker. A woodpecker who, now Lois was thinking about it, had no business to be tapping on anything in midair. However, at the time, when she was sailing through breezes and updraghts with her arms outstretched, nothing felt out of place. Her hair cascading through the air, its deep brown contrasting with the clouds she tumbled through... it was a veritable tumult of bliss of a dream.

However, Mori's wake-up knocks did start her brain on the express train to consciousness... but, true to the old British form, it was less of an express train and more of a replacement bus, because she woke up a lot later than she should have done. Perhaps all the moving in and excitement from meeting all the new people, plus hearing Lull's sighs on having to share an apartment with someone were all getting to her. They'd tired her out, and sleep was scarce.

She yawned, a couple of times, and wasn't sure what the time was. Even looking at the clock didn't help; she stared at it for a good minute but the numbers weren't registering as cohesive in her brain. So she gave up on the clock. But didn't get up.

She did change from her nightie into a skirt and a top she referred to as "cute" while Lull referred to it as "tiny and stupid", but that was as far as her movement got before she crawled under the covers again. Sometimes she wondered why people didn't just sleep in clothes. It crumpled them, yes, but if everyone did it, it wouldn't be frowned upon.

Her head touched the pillow and dozy sleep enveloped her again.

7:45 on the dot

The alarm was far too loud. Every time it went off, its high-pitched melody the only thing capable of waking the girl, it sent shivers of adrenaline and hate through her. Lois couldn't remember ever hating anything before the alarm came crashing into her life, either.

So she reached for her phone and slid the alarm off, dropping it back onto the floor after she was done. That was where it lived. Down on the floor, under the bed, where the socket was. Or, as the Americans called it, an 'outlet'. Outlet. That word made more sense, because it let out volts. It didn't sock volts.

She sat, just in time for Mori to come bursting through the door. At that moment, Lois saw the paper, scrawled on by Mori's hand, on the floor. Beside her baby-blue cardigan she'd worn a few days ago. Beside her left trainer.

"Huh? Oh, university stuff," she smiled. "I forgot about orientation. You'll be pleased to know," she said, swinging her legs out of bed and trying to smooth all her hair over her left shoulder, "I am fully prepared for this! I'm already dressed. You didn't expect that, did you?"

Lois stood there proudly, not noticing her skirt was on back to front.

AiDee

At 7:45, Lull added 6 sugars to his morning tea.

 

[AiDee]

Mori tilted her head at her roommate and grinned, "You are! Kind of.." She laughed and placed her hand on Lois' shoulders, "You may wanna fix your skirt!" The young girl picked up the blanket and began to fold it as quickly as she could, "We don't have a lot of time left! We can't be late already!"

The young girl waited for Lois to quickly finish up changing before grabbing her wrist and pulling her closer to the door, "Lolo, I'll find a map for us! I think there should be one at the entrance. I can run over there and then come back and then we can run to orientation!" Mori rapidly spoke while she jogged in place.

She grabbed Lois' hand with both of her hands and started to drag her out of the dorm room. She waited for the girl to put on her shoes, "I'm gonna go find that map now! You can follow along too!" Mori stretched a bit before sprinting down the hallways. Once she reached the stairs, Mori jumped a couple of steps at a time.

At the bottom of the staircase she noticed a billboard with a small box filled with papers. It seemed to be handouts of the map of the school. Excited, she called Lois through the echoes of the stairwell, "Hey! I found the map! Let's go, go, go!"

 

[DoughGuy]

7/10/17
Free Posting Mode
Today’s Schedule
9am (Start of Post) – Orientation lecture with Professor Cetus
11am (End of Post) – Barbeque at the Square for new students
4pm – First Photography Club meeting with Professor Arlindou​

With about five minutes to go before the lecture began Prof Arlindou left his post at the door, heading inside and making his way down to a side door at the bottom of the hall. A few seconds later a woman in a lab coat came through. The pair spoke briefly before lapsing into silence as they waited for time to pass. When the clocks struck 9am exactly the female professor walked out into the centre of the floor. “Good morning everyone.” she called out with a smile on her face. She waited for any final chatter to quiet down before going on. If any of the students decided they’d rather keep talking she wasn’t afraid to give them a rather scary glare until they shut up.

“The staff of Crowtree welcome you to your first year at our institution. I am Professor Angelica Cetus. I’m a marine biologist and the Dean of Science. With me is Professor Arlindou, a physicist and nuclear engineer.” The other professor stepped forward and waved at the students. “While other universities and colleges across the country prefer to throw you in the deep end, here at Crowtree we prefer to ease you in to better prepare you for the world of adult life. As such the two of us have been assigned as mentors to your cohort. If you have any questions about the university or the way things are run shoot us an email of come by during office hours. We’ll only be here for a year though so keep that in mind.”

“Today we’ll be running through the necessities of being a student on campus and there’ll be a short time for questions at the end. Afterwards there will be a barbeque on the Square for lunch. So let’s begin.”

<The speech covers things like the location of university buildings and resources as well as dorm rules. They reiterated the requirement of one club per semester. Students can skip lectures but tutorials have marked attendance. Unless there’s an emergency late assignments are a 0. There are no tests except those at the end of a semester. If your char has a question to ask it will be answered at the start of my next post.>

~***~

After the lecture was over the rear doors were opened and the students spilled out into the main building. From there they began to trickle onto the Square. The normal multitude of stalls were there, lining the edges. Some older students were purchasing an early lunch or very last breakfast. But the main attraction was the swathe of tables and grills in the middle of the area. The first order of sausages was coming off the heat and onto the plates just in time for the wave of students. There were rolls or slices of bread depending on your preference and plenty of condiments to satisfy anyone’s tastes. A single grill off to the side of the main event was serving a vegetarian alternative. Prof Arlindou was hovering on the edges of the Square, getting some pictures of the gathering.

 

[0stinato]

7:50

It didn't take Lois long to re-dress herself in the skirt. How she did it was simply taking it down, exposing her thighs, lower-legs and pants in front of her roommate - it was acceptable, surely? Lull never cared - and twirling it around her ankles before pulling it up again. It came down to her mid-thigh, and was of a yellow and grey tartan pattern. Paired with the "too small" shirt that gripped her shoulders, it'd be understandable if Lois was viewed as some sort of 14-year-old who'd got tall.

And Mori tugged on her wrist as encouragement, but abandoned Lois as soon as she got over the threshold of the door. Very excitable, was that one. Lois yawned when she came to a halt, feeling she had an opportunity to wake up a little more.

A socket-- outlet over there looked inviting. Perhaps a shock from the mains would wake her up?

Lois smiled and decided to not stick her finger in it. It would be a stupid idea. It wouldn't be like that menial buzz she felt when she touched that electric fence in the New Forest... at least Lois didn't think it would be. So instead she focused on her shoes before joining Mori in the hallway.

"What's where, when?" she said. 9:00. That was hours away! Well, an hour and ten minutes... but still.

"Look, there's the cafeteria," Lois prodded at the map. "Looks big, probably has a lot of food in it. We should go and explore there. And we have hours to explore before the thing if it starts at nine. We can go into this wing, then walk along, can't we?"

It seemed interesting to explore; she'd only really looked around the outside, seeing big trees where students apparently liked to study and take part in "unconventional activities"... Lois didn't know what that meant, but she could only assume it was a fun thing to do.

So she turned her hopeful smile on Mori, who seemed quite keen to jog around the campus anyway. That'd certainly kill time before nine.

8:45

The little tour they took was apparently more of a diversion, as Lois realised a door they'd walked in was not a door to the cafeteria, but to the study room behind the cafeteria. They only realised it was so close to the cafeteria after going ten minutes away to find a map.

However, it smelled good in there and Lois became fixated on guessing what might be available for lunch. She wondered aloud, her absent mind and absent mouth wondering if it was this thing or that combo, or this and this! but before long it was time for the orientation. Mori seemingly dragged Lois along, being the Responsible One while Lois was in Dreaming-Of-Food Land. Fortunately, she snapped out of it a few minutes before the talk started... before Professor Cetus began speaking.

It was the usual thing Lois expected. But she covered a lot of things Lois didn't even think about, such as a university bus service being in operation, and who to go to if you couldn't get through a paper for one reason or another... Lois' mouth was pouted as she wondered about that last point. Papers were hard for her; having never had much of an education, she had learned to read really late into her childhood life. She picked it up fairly easily, but writing was still something she struggled with. She held a pen in every way you could imagine, never seeming to find a comfortable stance for it to sit in her hand.

However, Lois comforted herself with thinking that she was older than some of the other students... so surely she'd match the writing prowess of the other freshers?

AiDee

At 10:10, Lull realised he'd misplaced a biro, and so stole his colleague's.

 

[AiDee]

Mori and Lois spent most of their time at the cafeteria before the orientation. The young girl was suddenly very interested in what the place had to offer, “We can get breakfast!” She chirped excitedly as she grabbed two trays. She handed a tray over to Lois as she filled up her tray with breakfast goods. She loved food but she also wanted to get to orientation on time. As she was internally conflicted, her hands seemed to be swiping up food and placing them on her tray. She stopped herself and rapidly placed the food back. Mori placed her hands on Lois’ shoulders and eventually dragged her towards where they needed to go.

Mori quickly slid into a seat next to her roommate and waited as all of her peers joined her. With a pen she began to doodle the facial structures of one of the female teachers near the front of the room. The clock ticked on as the students around her began to prattle on and on about different topics to fill up the time. Mori smiled as she saw the female professor walk into the center of the room. Oh thank goodness. If she picked anyone else it would have seemed like she was not paying attention.

The professor announced a bright welcome for the freshmen and waited for everyone to settle down. The noise levels didn’t budge until she death glared at the audience. Mori grinned and kicked her legs back and forth as she sketched the out Professor Cetus’ nose and cheekbones. Mori perked up at the fact that Professor Cetus was a marine biologist. Her smile could not get any brighter. The professor continued to talk up about Crowtree University and how she will be one of the mentors to help out whenever the group needed it.

Mori had never been so invested in a conversation once food was announced, “Barbeque..” She whispered. The mention of food made her salivate a bit, she swallowed and glanced at the clock, “This will take forever..!”

After a long speech that might have covered absolutely everything, Mori smooshed her face into the desk as she waited for the final bits of the lecture to be over. The door finally opened near the back of the classroom, Mori lifted her head and quickly jumped over her chair to head towards the doors. Finally, she can get up and can go run around, “Aaah! I’m ready to go for a run!” She shook her head, “No! Stay focused Mori! Food!” The young girl told herself.

In the square was filled with tables and grills and more importantly, food. Mori grabbed a plate and hopped on one foot and then on the other, “Food, food, food!” She chanted in a hushed voice. She covered her mouth with the plate and teetered on her heels as she waited in line.

 

[TerraBooma]

"Pancakes?" Ray said with a turn of his head. They offered pancakes with orientation? That was...weird. He wasn't complaining though. As he moved back towards the door, his stomach had started to grumble. He had usually eaten by now...maybe he could find something to eat! A granola bar or something would tide him over until mealtime...and he had a weird feeling that Shun didn't eat except so that others wouldn't think he was a robot. Runnign theory really. Still, after he grabbed a quick snack to tide him over until pancakes, he and Shun ended up leaving to orientation.

For most of it, Ray just sat in silence with Shun as he listened. His roommate preferred silence, and based on the death glare that the professor gave anyone talking, Ray was more than happy to join him in quiet listening. It was all pretty much the standard fare he expected, with one exception. He had noticed that Crowtree required club membership- and it needed to be more than just being on a sportsteam.- To be honest Ray didn't understand it, so he raised his hand when question period came up. "Uh, professor. Why IS it we have to join clubs anyway? I get that they're good for meeting new people who share your interests, but how come it's mandatory? The whole thing struck me as odd."

After the lecture, Ray and Shun ended up at the barbecue, Ray's stomach growling furiously at the sight of food and the smell of delicious sausages. Much to his dismay however, he scanned the area and couldn't' see any pancakes. Maybe they'd come later? His shoulders slumped slightly for a second. He was looking forward to those...shaking his head, he grabbed a plate and stepped in line. There was still plenty of food! He licked his lips as he waited, before a chant brought him out of his mumbling. Ahead of him a girl was bouncing on the spot and holding her plate so tightly he thought it might shatter in her hands. Chuckling slightly, he tapped her on the shoulder. "You don't gotta worry, there's plenty of food for everyone your going to break that plate!" He chuckled happily. "I share your sentiments though...it looks good." He motioned to the buffet in front of them, his stomach grumbling again, echoing Mori's words in protest of it not being full. "I uh...kinda didn't eat much this morning, so this stuff looks great!. I mean, there's no pancakes, which sucks, because they're the best breakfast food, but sausages are an okay second." The line shuffled forward a bit. "I should probably intorduce myself huh? I'm ray, nice to meetcha!"

 

[AiDee]

A tap on the shoulder alerted her of a tall student behind her. She hugged her plate and nodded, "It does look good!" Mori tucked stands of her hair behind her ear, "All food is good food." Mori told him in a very serious manner. The line moved up and she followed behind.

"I'm Mori! It's nice to meet you too!" She watched as the line progressed up to the point where she can grab the tongs and pick out a few sausages for herself, "Food...food...food!" Mori hummed. Slightly embarrassed, she glanced back at Ray and smiled, "I know how that is! I just get really excited to get something to eat!" Mori wondered if she could get seconds later.

She carefully balanced her plate and handed the tongs off to Ray, "Here you go..!" Mori walked off to the side and waited for Ray to finish up taking his share of the food. After a little bit she slowly walked towards an empty table, "Want to eat together? I only know like, two people here." She laughed and placed her tray on the table, "It would be nice to meet a new person!"

 

[Segue]

Well, that was kind of cool. Walking out of the orientation, Skylar was still running through the high points as far as she was concerned. The university bus into Greenville. The heads of department (Arts and Photography at least). The climbing wall behind the Maxwell Building. The mentorship program and the lack of pop tests (thank GOD, right?).

In the end with the lure of the barbecue outside she'd only had the one question for Professor Arlindou and she reflected on their brief discussion as she followed her nose toward the smell of roasting beastflesh. "Professor, maybe you've already run through this but I only arrived yesterday. How do I sign up for Photography club? Do we just check the schedule and show up, or do we do it through the Crowtree website?"

The queue wasn't that long when she made it to the grills, and (shunning the tofu burger station) she grabbed up a plate and bounced impatiently as she rode her way toward the front. There's a girl up ahead who looks even more excited about the prospect of free food, and a tall boy chatting with her. Just ahead of her in line though she sees an athletic student who just has to go out for track talking with a brown-skinned guy with dreads and she watches them chatter with approval as the line creeps forward.

Thankfully it was later in the day now so the Maine chill was bearable. That or being absolutely surrounded by Crowtree's Class of '17 was helping with their bodyheat.

You know, Maine was actually starting to grow on her.

 

[0stinato]

12:05

There was that whole "your eyes are bigger than your stomach" thing that Lois remembered as she lined up in front of Mori. No matter how hungry she was, after the talk a few moments ago, she decided to calm down. Perhaps it was the line, or perhaps it was the talk itself.

It had lasted... well, it was supposed to last for two hours, and halfway through, when Mori's head was more or less on the study surface to the side of each chair, Lois wondered how anyone could talk so much. The woman knew what she was saying, and she was a Professor in a complicated science, so perhaps her expertise allowed her to talk without going too off track or without becoming sore-throated... either way, the information Lois had absorbed was possibly... 10% of the whole available intel.

Yes, that must be what was bothering her, what had caused her deflation and therefore caused her to be 'sensible' and decide to simply go for a hot dog with not too much ketchup... and a few grilled tomato slices. Just in case people wanted them in burgers, but Lois was going to have them on their own. Tomatoes in general were okay... grilled took out the healthy so it made them tastier.

She turned to Mori, who had invited a tall guy to join her presence, so all Lois did was follow Mori while absent-mindedly looking at her tomatoes on her plate. Because she only remembered a few things... that was what was getting her down. Not too down, but it'd be a bit of a stain on her good mood. Especially as studies would be starting soon.

It didn't matter how many different colour-coded folders and brand-new pens she had, if she couldn't remember 90% of the information for her degree then what?

She sat, tugging on the back of her shoe with the toe of her other, then shuffled a little closer to Mori on the bench. With a smile, she raised her eyes to the tall - not so tall now he was sitting down - guy who'd come with them. What had he called himself, Ray? Easy to remember. Lois doubted she'd forget 90% of his name.

"Uhh, I'm Lois, I share a dorm with Mori..."

And whatever conversation followed in the later hours, Lois seemed cheerful in reply. It wasn't too late in the day and the sun was still somewhere behind clouds, so there was no reason to be pouting. Plus, with the first club coming up, how could she be expected to spiral into some abyss of worry? Lois didn't worry.

But maybe that was the problem. She used to not worry. But she was on her own now. On her own with a defective sponge for a brain. And Lois ate her food with painful swallows.

TerraBooma AiDee

If Lull had been present, he would have told Lois to re-tie her loose left shoelace, but instead he timed how long he could stand around for, not working, before he was checked on. Two hours, forty two minutes.

 

[Azukai]

8:55 AM

It was cold outside, but having lived here for far too long, the chilly wind was an unusual comfort for Ashlei. Nonetheless, she couldn’t help but laugh at her roommate who was suffering from the unexpected change in climate. “You’ll get used to it soon enough. Come summer, you’ll be dying for the cold to cool you down. But let’s get inside.” The hectic morning left little time for the two to bond. It was right after she directed her roommate to her appropriate seat that the imminent commencement threatened her away. There was a hint of disappointment in Ashlei’s expression, but she remained downright cheerful with her mild-flirtatious goodbye. “We’ll catch up soon enough, roomie! Try not to have too much fun without me!” Ashlei winked before skipping away.

9:05 AM

Shun lasted five, attentive minutes before he abandoned the speech and took to sketching the Dean instead. He had little interest in the semantics of the school. After all, someone such as himself had a snowball in hell’s chance of making a political impact–And that required he cared in the first place. The sketch was far more important, and two hours was generous time for a sizable progression. When Cetus fell silent, and students began to depart, Shun remained seated as he critiqued his work with satisfied nods. On the sketchpad was a striking resemblance to the auditorium’s stage and the inhabitants who stood atop it. Nonetheless, his focus was broken when Ray forced him to his feet in pursuit of the fabled feast.

The barbecue was the definition of a living nightmare for Shun. It was a culmination of the entire incoming class which meant a mass of students whom he had little interest in mingling with. Thus, when Ray was distracted with the burgers and potential friends, he took the opportunity to slink away from the campus square. Nearby, was a peaceful park where he could bide his time. Or so he hoped. It was just as he settled at the base of a tree that a familiar, but disappointed voice called from above. “Skipping social events again? Shame on you, Shun.”

Apart from rolling his eyes, Shun ignored Ashlei’s comment as he retrieved his sketchbook from the messenger bag at his side. All that was left was to ink the piece, and there were four solid hours until the meeting with the club. Yet again, his plan was foiled by the girl who jumped down the tree and stole the sketchbook out of his hands. “He–..” He began before his protest was silenced by a finger against his lips. “I will not tolerate this behavior, Shun. You will make friends whether you want them or not. Besides, I am hungry, and I’d hope you are gentlemen enough to not starve your lover.” A blank expression encompassed Shun’s face in regards to her claim of “lover”. For a moment, Ashlei held a serious face, but soon, she burst into a fit of laughter, unable to maintain her farce. “I’m not invited to your little party. Which is a problem because those burgers call to me. Thus, if anyone significant asks, today we are madly in love. Now, onward, we go, my dear!”

11:25 AM

The barbecue scene experienced substantial change in the time of Shun’s departure. Here and there, several cliques had formed with the majority who were equipped with their food, but some were still waiting in the remnants of the line. In particular was a familiar face for the girl wrapped around Shun’s left side. “So there is good news and bad news.” Ashlei began with a small giggle. “The good news is that the line is shorter. The bad news is that I have our first target for you to meet. Roomie!!” Her shout drew the attention of the nearby students–a fact that reddened Shun’s face. But Ashlei ignored them and sprinted forward. Without losing momentum, she slammed into her roommate whom she embraced in a sudden hug. Embarrassed by her behavior, Shun directed an apologetic smile Skylar’s way; however, he soon joined them with an awkward wave.

“H-Hi. Shun.” he mumbled.

Segue

 

[DoughGuy]

7/10/17
Free Posting Mode
Today’s Schedule
9am – Orientation lecture with Professor Cetus
11am (Duration of Post) – Barbeque at the Square for new students
4pm – First Photography Club meeting with Professor Arlindou​

"Uh, professor. Why IS it we have to join clubs anyway? I get that they're good for meeting new people who share your interests, but how come it's mandatory? The whole thing struck me as odd."

“Eric would you mind taking this one?” Angelica asked her co-worker. The man stepped up and addressed the crowd.

“As you all have probably noticed, our intakes per semester are quite small compared to other universities.” The man had a deep voice. Even as he raised his volume it remained low yet not booming. “In fact, at one hundred and eight seven students this is our largest in the last four years. Some unis will accept that many people for a single school. Here it’s not uncommon for you to be doing the same degree as only ten or twelve others. While you’ll likely get to know everyone doing the same course it means your networking pool is quite limited. In addition to gaining some new skills they are also a good way for you to meet and befriend students in other courses. When you graduate you’ll know a large variety of people in different industries and even countries. We cannot overstate the value of that network. Especially since many of you will become industry leaders.”

"Professor, maybe you've already run through this but I only arrived yesterday. How do I sign up for Photography club? Do we just check the schedule and show up, or do we do it through the Crowtree website?"

“In your dorm room you should find a schedule with all the available clubs, locations they’re at and the times they meet. If you head over to the university website you’ll be able to log in and register in your chosen club. I’m not too picky about things though. Turn up at the north end of the square today at 4pm and you can join in. Just make sure you register by oh, the end of the semester. The clerks might get annoyed if you aren’t done by then.”

__________________________________________________________________________________​

Professor Cetus was one of the last people to exit the lecture hall, only leaving behind a few chattering students who must’ve had large breakfasts. It was going to be a little difficult but she had a task in mind. Searching for one face in particular. As she scanned those nearest to the grills she got lucky and spotted them immediately. “Duuuuuun.” she muttered as she moved through the crowd. “Duuuuun duuuun.” Her target started moving off towards a nearby table with a group of students. “Duuuun duun duun.” Angelica moved through the crowd to stay behind them and out of sight. “Dun dun dun dun.” She raised a finger to her lips, signalling for the small group her target was with to stay quiet and not alert them.

“Dun.” With one final whisper she arrived. She reached out and tapped Mori on the shoulder. When the girl spun around Angelica would treat her to one of her most predatory grins. “Hello little fishy.”

She let a few moments pass before laughing and producing a far softer smile. “Good morning Mori. Seeing as you’re the only student doing marine biology this semester I thought I’d introduce myself early. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other in the coming months.” She turned her attention to the group as a whole. “I’m glad to see you three already making friends across the dorm borders.”

~***~

Professor Arlindou spent the first few minutes of the lunch moving around and through the crowd, snapping pictures. Students in their first moment of meeting, small groups coming together, the cohort as a whole for the first time. It was a little tradition of his, one he repeated on graduation. Afterwards if any students wanted a representation of their journey through the school those memories hadn’t been lost.

When he was satisfied with his portfolio he let the camera drop to swing freely around his neck and turned to his own search. With a far less serial killer style plan he looked back over to where he’d heard a loud shout earlier. His questioner was still there with two other students and he made his way over to join them.

“Thought I’d drop in and introduce myself before our club meeting. A sad little fact of the photography club is a lot of students use it for an easy pass.” he sighed and shook his head sadly. “But from your tone when you asked I’d hazard a guess you’re joining because you enjoy photography. So I thought I’d help you out and pass on your name to the administration myself.” He held out his hands towards Skylar, “Eric Arlindou.”

“And Shun, what a coincidence to see you here as well. I’m glad to see you’re looking to expand your artistic talents through photography. I’m sure you two will get along well together.” Finally he turned to the group’s third member, “I’m not surprised to see you bringing people together Ashlei. Keep up the good work.” Though their degrees hadn’t crossed the two had met at some point during Ashlei’s university life.

 

[TerraBooma]

"Uh...sure!" Ray said, nodding to the girl's proposal. She seemed friendly at the least, what was wrong with making new friends? "I'm in the same boat as you actually...only folks I know around here are this nice girl Ashlei and Shun over..." Ray's voice trailed off as he turned to go look at his roommate, who he thought was following him through the food line and had been behind him. As he realized the painter had vanished, Ray's smile turned to a frown, and he scanned the crowd for his roomate and- from his oppinion at least- friend. Just like the ill fated pancakes however, he seemed to miss seeing him. Realizing he was frowning, he forced a smile before turning back to Mori and her own roommate. "Well uh, guess he had something to do. Hahah." Ray didn't have a problem with Shun doing his own thing, but it kinda hurt for the guy to vanish without so much as a goodbye or a cya at home. "A-Anyway!" He said suddenly, trying to get himself back on point. "Nice to meet you too Lois! You guys seem pretty awesome, what's your majors?"

As if summoned at the mention of the word major, the professor from the lecture suddenly burst from the crowd like a fish from the sea, grabbing Mori and spinnging her around before flashy a...almost worrying toothy grin, and why was she calling Mori a fish exactly? This prof was...weird Ray made a note not to get on her bad side if he could help it. As Mori talked to her, he turned his attention to Lois, whom he hadn't spoken much too. "Lois right? Like I said, I'm Ray. Pleasure to meet ya! Hope we can get along, there's not many people around here, so it's good to make friends eh?" He paused, mind searching for topics to potentially talk about. "So uh...you like any sports? I know it's probably cliche but I like playing hockey...that's not weird right?"

 

[Segue]

11:25 AM​

Yes, she'd definitely have to make her way back to her dorm room at some point. Maybe she'd have more of a chance to speak with Ashlei then too? She seemed like a decent roomie, and she didn't seem like she had any irritating, noisy or caterpillar-worthy habits. Seeing Dreads casually run a hand through his hair, she grinned toothily in memory. There had been that one tall girl at school camp who had been a total heightist and kept acting like she was some kind of windup doll. After the second time Legs and her pack of hyenas had laughed her out of the dance hall, Skylar had climbed in through her hut window and made a few small changes to her hygiene kit. The scream next morning after she squeezed a live Banded Woollybear Caterpillar onto her toothbrush instead of paste was very satisfying.

Skylar tore her eyes from the maybe-couple ahead in the queue as a familiar voice called out and she was abruptly wrapped (half-tackled!) in a cake-scented embrace - her face buried in the taller girl's shoulder. Arms flailed akimbo, then swung in as she glomped Ashlei firmly around her middle and loosed a rippling laugh. When her enthusiastic roomie set her back on her feet, the violet-haired girl beamed and leaned into her side. "Hey girl! Great to seeya again!" She scooped up her plate from the ground and turned to return the boy's smile. "Shun my man! I'm Skylar, great to meet ya!" Someone is feeling a ways better. Maybe it has something to do with, oh I don't know, the sun coming out and returning life to the world? "Doesn't that food smell amazing?" She leaned back and inhaled deeply, then threw a glare at the two dozen students who dared to stand between her and her rightful prey. Turning back, she belatedly picked up on some of the body language (Shun's awkwardness definitely included) and steps back quickly from her friend.

"Oh hey, are you two..." she ran her eyes down the (apparently) Asian student's frame, then flicked them back up to Ashlei's face "...good friends?" That was when the friendly Professor Arlindou from the orientation popped up with a camera around his neck. Skylar definitely approved of that, and dimpled up at him as she took one outstretched hand. "Thanks Eric," her voice didn't even wobble at that, and she was clearly enthusiastic. "I paint, but I do love photography. I'm hoping to make it my major." She looked back over at the boy as Professor Arlindou turned his attention his way. "No way, you're doing photography too? What else do you do?"

She meant artistically... but it's open ended enough that the answer is probably more dependent on him than on her intent.

Azukai

 

[AiDee]

The young lady took a bite out of her food and nodded at Lois’ statement about them being roommates. Just as she was going to take another bite out of her sausage, she could hear the impending noises of the famous jaws soundtrack approaching her. Mori was tapped on the shoulder and as she turned around, she noticed Professor Cetus’ smile stretch into something that a female angler fish would have. The Professor laughed and Mori laughed along albeit slightly frightened at her sudden appearance. What if she was talking about something else? The Prof would have a completely different opinion of her.

The older woman explained as to why she had approached her so early in the barbeque. Mori flashed her a smile and nodded, “I'm the only student? Does that mean I'm your favorite?” Mori laughed and placed her plate back on the table, “Do you know my roomie? Her name is Lois!” Mori rapidly introduced her new friends despite whatever Professor Cetus had to say, “I like to call her Lolo or wildflower. She likes them! Oh! This tall fellow is Ray! Like a manta ray or a sunlight ray. At least I hope it's spelled like that.”

Mori turned to Ray and wrote letters on the palm of her hand with her finger, “Is it R-A-Y or R-A-E or...something?” She pushed her ponytail back and smiled at the boy, “Whatever, I don't think I will be able to remember a complex name like that without giving you a nickname. I'm Mori! But I think you already knew that Professor….” Cactus….Citrus…. “...Cetus...ma’am.”

Mori’s mood seemed to brighten up once sports were mentioned in the conversation. She needed to do anything to avoid her mini mess up with her newest lecturer, “I spent half a year playing hockey before I quitted for cross country and swimming.” She made a jogging motion and a swimming motion to each respective sport.

The extra burst of energy she used to introduce herself and her friends wore her out, “I'm sorry for ranting a bit, Professor Citrus!” Mori bit her tongue, “Shit...fuck...I mean, gosh darn…” Her face reddened as she tried to pull herself out of her own grave. Her coaches had no qualms with swearing, but this was her professor. She needed to be much more formal. Mori quickly drowned herself in her food.

 

[0stinato]

12:10

With Mori otherwise occupied by Professor Cetus from the hours-long talk earlier, Lois had only Ray to listen to. He seemed nervous somehow, and seeing that put Lois' mind at ease slightly. His obvious semi-anxiety was projecting in his voice, whereas her own panic was restricted to her head.

But she didn't understand why he was talking so fast and so clumsily; he was meeting someone new, that wasn't scary. Was it? So she smiled while he talked, hoping her attitude might put his mind at rest.

She was still getting used to the accents everyone was using, and, by his mention of hockey, and how it was "cliché" she could only imagine he was Canadian because of that. The accent difference was almost impossible for her to detect, although she knew there was one. In reality, it didn't make much difference to her.

"It's easy to make friends, especially if you see them everyday," her own accent was now a source of self-consciousness, but she tried her best to ignore her embarrassment about it. The flat Englishness of it all, it didn't fit on this table.

"Hockey's fine, but I've never really seen it, I heard it was really dangerous though. I hope it's not as dangerous as I heard it was? And I'm not very good at sports, I have severe asthma," why was she smiling so widely at that? "I'd love to be able to play a sport but even a treadmill is dangerous... I wonder if there is physio to help? What do you think?"

She nibbled on her hotdog again as Mori hastily introduced her - and Ray - to Professor Cetus. No doubt the Professor would most likely forget she existed after a few days. Lois was doing Environmental Studies, not Marine Biology like Mori was. But maybe she could sneak into a few of Mori's classes if she was bored...

AiDee TerraBooma

Lull was checked on as his timer reached two hours and forty three minutes. He was dismissed to his lunch break. Lull was unsure whether that was proper 'checking up' so decided to re-test the situation again tomorrow.

 

[DoughGuy]

“Do you believe in that Ghost the older students talked about?”

“The legendary thief who’s supposedly a student here? No way man. Probably just some professor misplacing their notes.”

“If you’re such a good thief why would you be robbing a uni and not a bank?”

“I dunno, I heard they’ve robbed the council offices, the library and even Strauss’s offices. Not a trace left behind, just stuff that goes missing. Everyone in Evertine knows about them, there’s gotta be some truth to it.”

“The library? What sort of legendary thief robs a library man? There’s your proof it’s not real.”

- Student’s overheard during the Barbeque​

7/10/17
Free Posting Mode
Today’s Schedule
9am – Orientation lecture with Professor Cetus
11am (Beginning of Post) – Barbeque at the Square for new students
4pm (Duration of Post) – First Photography Club meeting with Professor Arlindou​

Angelica was a little lost as Mori went on introducing the others she had been talking too. There didn’t seem to be a moment. She tried to keep track of everything that was being said so she could reply to it when the girl stopped. Time to start from the beginning. “My favourite, and also my laziest.” she began with a wink, “So you better be ready to work hard. But I’ll be there to help, don’t worry.” Onto introductions. “Hello Ray and Lois. If either of you are taking any sciences courses we’ll probably be seeing each other there eventually.”

And the final point. “Also there’s no need for such formality. Lesson one as your mentor. We’re all adults now, so we address each other by first name. So call me Angelica. And there’s no fucking reason to be worried about swearing. Just don’t do it for the sake of it.” She gave the group a friendlier smile. “With that I’ll have to be on my way. Enjoy the rest of your day and farewell.”

Over with the other group Eric was interrupted by the buzzing of his phone. He gave a quick wave goodbye, though it appeared he’d sufficiently spurred conversation between the students, and departed.

__________________________________________________________________________________

First impressions counted. So Professor Eric Arlindou was at the meeting square a good fifteen minutes before the students were meant to arrive. He looked no different to how he had at the barbeque, casually dressed in a white shirt and pants with the camera hanging freely around his neck. The only difference was a backpack by his foot. Not too long after he started waiting he was joined by another student who also had a camera around her neck. The two exchanged pleasantries and started talking. As each member of the club arrived they would, in unison, lift their cameras and snap a pic without warning.

As 4 o’clock came around students started flooding out of the classrooms. Fortunately even those coming out of the main building on their way to the square or dorms left a respectable area around the professor for the club to gather. Once those students left there were very few remaining in the area. So late in the afternoon there were very few classes left.

Eric waited until six members of the club had arrived, then waited a bit longer. After a few minutes he looked around and then sighed. “Looks like it’ll be just us six today.” he started, “Our seventh member appears to be missing. Makes things a little easier actually.” He clapped his hands together and spun on the spot to face the student who had joined him. “Everyone this is Niyilolawa, she’s a third year photography student. She’s not a member of the club this semester but I had asked her to be here since I need an even number of members. Now there’s only six you’ve got the afternoon off.”

“Awww I’m a little disappointed.” she bemoaned. She had a high voice and was very active as she spoke, constantly moving her head and making gestures. “I’m Niyilolawa which is a bit of a mouthful so I go by Nini or Lawa normally. Have fun everyone, you’ll probably see me pop into a few more meetings. And I’ll probably be seeing you in class Skylar.” She flashed the small girl a bright smile. “Toodles.” She wiggled her fingers in wave goodbye and left the group.

“Ok then everyone.” Eric announced. He picked up the bag at his feet and unzipped it. He pulled out five cameras one by one, handing them out. “Today we’ll be doing a team bonding exercise to get to know each other a little better. Let’s see, Skylar you pair up with Mori. Lois and Ray. Ashlei you pair up with Shun. You’ve got half an hour. Your goal is very simple. Take a picture of your partner that captures part of who they are in any way. You can be as creative as you want and go anywhere. But when I look at the picture I should instantly be able to tell something impactful about them. That’s it, off you go.”

 

[TerraBooma]

Collab between Ray and Lois!


4:00


With all the talk of ghosts and some secret, sneaky person breaking and entering into the place where the new students were expected to spend at least three years, perhaps it was a relief to hear Professor Arlindou’s voice addressing them all. He introduced a girl, a girl who trumped Lois in terms of education year, but who may have been younger. And Lois didn’t know how to feel about that. It simply reminded her - again - that she was young for her age. Immature, perhaps.


She pawed at the ground with her shoe, only half-listening to the Professor, but looked up as the girl introduced herself. With a name too long to remember, Lois was glad for the shortening. Finding herself sandwiched between Ray and Mori, in a sort of descending-height-order, she felt a little more comfortable. At least they’d joined the photography club too. Lois had joined because Mori had joined. And it must have been pure coincidence that her new acquaintance had joined alongside. Mori was more familiar. Ray was a bit more alien. He had some interesting hair, though, that was for sure.


Ray himself had mostly ignored the stories of ghosts and mysterious vanishing thieves. He was in a new place, and his parents had warned him some people might try and tease him with weird mysteries or strange folk tales that were meant to freak him out. For now his plan was just to ignore them, people didn’t just vanish, and ghosts couldn’t be real could they? For now he’d focus on Professor Arlindou and the new student he was introducing. Her name was...long, but Ray was pretty sure if he committed it to memory he wouldn’t forget it too much, plus she had nicknames! That would be useful. He himself had joined the club at random, since none of the other ones really struck his fancy. He figured taking photos of things would at least be a cool way to explore the area he’d be living in for the school year. And hey! He had friends in the club too, Mori and Lois had turned out to be joining up too, which was a pleasant surprise. Shun was there aswell, and Ray was determined to move past being randomly ditched in the food line. Shun was a weird guy...he probably meant nothing by it.


He turned to Lois when it became apparent that they would be partners for the first assignment and flashed her a grin and two thumbs up. This would be great! He was partnering up with someone he sorta knew….well not really, but that’s what this was for right? Making friends? He grabbed a camera and motioned for Lois to follow him, this was sorta a competition right? That meant plans were best discussed between the two of them. Once they’d put a little distance between the others, Ray spoke up. “Okay! A picture that shows what both of us are about...shouldn’t be too hard...right?” He paused, trying to think of something. “Do you uh...have any ideas? Oh right.” he stuck a hand out to shake. “Like I said, I’m Ray! Glad to be your partner for this, let’s kick some photo butt!”


And so Lois shook the boy’s hand. He had optimistic, bright eyes, eyes Lois possessed herself. Always looking into the light. Thing was, it was bad to look into the light for too long… it always gave her a headache.


“Uh, what are you all about? I think maybe we should just try to capture pictures when the opportunity comes! Posing for a photo doesn’t seem very natural, does it? Let’s just get familiar with the camera, I think. C’mon, we can walk around for a bit. There’s no rush. I was always told, never rush. If you rush, things turn out like…” Lois paused, not wanting to swear, “well, you know what they turn out like.”


With a sheepish laugh, Lois turned and placed her hands on her hips. Ray didn’t seem to be too bothered about her plan, and perhaps it was somehow sensible. Perhaps she was just a bit paranoid about how she looked when she posed for photos. That mole above her lip always looked like a fly, in photos, too.


There were a fair few things Lois hadn’t seen from the website. Despite the virtual tour she’d taken around the campus - she’d done it several times because she found it was fun - there were lots of things she’d missed. At one point, she spotted a good archway which was, to her, aesthetically pleasing. So she’d stolen the camera from Ray and, in an attempt to get familiarised with it, taken a slightly-blurry photo. Perhaps it would have been good. Perhaps. But some guy had entered shot on the very left, right as Lois had taken the picture.


“Oh. He ruined it!” Lois cried, but not in dismay, as she rejoined Ray. She found it quite funny. Failure, to her, was subjective. She didn’t think she’d failed - she had a picture of something. Yes, it was a little ruined by a guy walking into shot, but that was just how it went. It was a bad first picture, but Lois liked it. That was what they needed - this picture showed off her flaw. Bad timing. That was what she and Ray needed to capture…


“Hey that’s not bad!” Ray said enthusiastically as he took a look at the photo Lois had captured. It had a person in it, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing right? Maybe they should just start taking photos of things...wait a minute...an idea came to Ray’s mind, taking the Camera back again from Lois, he kept speaking as he played with the settings. “I like sports, like I said. That and...uh...well video games and cartoons are fun, especially the old ones from the early 2000’s...I mean shows are still getting good now, but there was a really sucky dip for a bit. He shrugged. “But you guys don’t have teletoon or YTV down here, so I dunno what channels to watch anymore, isn’t that funny?” Before she could speak, Ray suddenly raised the Camera and took a photo of Lois, a grin on his face. “I was thinking, what if we take it literally? Nothing shows more about ourselves than...well, a picture of ourselves!”


“Raaay!” Lois moaned, and grasped for the camera. The click had taken her by surprise and yes, there it was, some hideous girl staring back at her with her mouth slightly open as if she was forming the shape of a vowel, and one eye more closed than the other. The only good thing was that her mole actually looked like a mole. Not a fly.


“Ray! Why would you do such a thing,” she took the camera from him and attempted to delete the picture but… her thumb didn’t want to click Delete. It couldn’t. Ray was having fun, he was being friendly, and he was trying to fulfil their task. Lois stared at the picture. Her eyeshadow - yellow, a nice sun-yellow - was contrasted by her blue lipstick… Blue lipstick was hard to pull off, apparently, but Lois seemed to manage it alright. So what if her mouth was ajar awkwardly? Her normally “pretty” complexion - despite being a little pale - was gargoyled a bit, but still…


“Fine, we’ll keep it,” she said, but even pretending to be sulky was hard. Ray seemed thankful though, he was grinning. Lois knew she had to get back at him for that.


“What’s Teletoon?” she innocently asked. And it was a fair enough question - what was Teletoon? Some Canadian thing, she theorised, perhaps a bit like CBBC or CITV. But she readied the camera. Just in case.


Ray felt a bit bad about snapping the picture, but she seemed to get over it pretty quick when she started asking questions about Teletoon. He remembered that not only was she not from Canada, she was also from Britain. That...probably meant they had different tv shows and stuff. “Oh! Right. Teletoon is a TV channel if you couldn’t guess. It had lots of cool shows! Some of them were pretty silly, Like Iggy Arbuckle or Johnny Test, but they had some really awesome shows too! Like this one called Di-Gata defenders, it’s...kinda hard to explain, but it was kind of like monsters and dice mixed together, and it was awesome! Total Drama was a kinda weird show that was basically animated survivor. My favorite show was probably Chaotic, which had like, 4 different races! Overworlders were cool, underworlders were kinda creepy, Danians were...bug people. But mipedians were awesome! They were...basically lizards. One of my favorite characters was H’earring! Lame name I know, but he had big ears!” as if to explain his point, he did his best impression of the character, grabbing his ears and attempting to stretch them out slightly. “An-”


*Snap*


Lois stepped a few paces away hastily before Ray could react, and flipped to the latest photo - the one she’d taken of his face. With his eyes slightly off centre, staring at somewhere above the camera lens, there was no way anyone could conclude this was a posed photo. She giggled, and held the camera at arm’s length, showing Ray her handiwork.


“Really captures the true you!” with the edges of his ears poking from under his unruly hair, the boy was clearly having some degree of fun, with his mouth also open in the middle of a sentence. This was Lois’ revenge, but it was fun for them both, she knew. They were having fun with their first photography club meeting.


“What do you think? Shall we go and show the teacher?” she asked. The teacher. As if she was six. But, to her, Professor Arlindou was the teacher. Even if he was setting them free to roam in the grounds of the university rather than teach… but still, it was the same principle. He was their teacher. And besides, Lois didn’t want to call him by his first name… like Professor Cetus suggested. That was odd.

Ray pouted slightly, that wasn’t really fair. Tricking him like that. I mean, sure. He basically did the same thing to her, catching her in the middle of a sentence, but he was talking about cartoons! That was like, sacred. Still, he had to admit she got him good, so he’d roll with it. Besides, the picture WAS funny, he had to admit that much. It was all in good fun right? He’d just roll with the punches. “Sure, we can head back.” His pout shortly returned to a smile, after all, he was making a new friend! What was wrong with a bit of teasing here and there. “You look better in the picture though.” He said with a frown. “I look pretty dumb, at least you're only talking. Look at how far my ears are stretching.” He chuckled and started walking back towards the photography club. “So...what the heck are we going to call these things? Photographers do that right? Name their bits? We should come up with something fun.”


“I’ll call the one I took… Ray-bans. Like the sunglasses,” Lois said shortly. Then she laughed. “Not that I think you should be banned! You don’t look that bad either. I mean, the light makes your nose look nice…”


Later, the pair made their way back to the photography room, Ray himself going with the term "Lois Lane" after the superman lady. Was it relevent? probably not. But Ray had hit a creative block for the name.

 

[Segue]

Mori nodded as the professor agreed and then quickly turned it around, “Lazy?” She exclaimed and quickly jogged in place, “I will earn the title of your best and favorite student!” Mori made up her mind and glanced back at her friends. Professor Cetus seemed to be the go to person for the science department. The young girl continued to nibble on her food as she rocked back and forth on her heels.

Cetus placed her hands on her hips and grinned at the group as she explained that she was their mentor and there should be no formality. Mori’s eyes widened as she realized that she could use Professor Cetus’ real name. As the lady waved goodbye and went on her merry way, Mori couldn’t help but think that she was too cool to be a science professor.

Skylar was the third of the six Photo club students to arrive at the meeting square, leaving a foundation communications lecture the very minute the class was over with her rainbow bag over one shoulder and hurried down the paved paths to the square. There she found herself photographed, and the partners in crime managed to get at least one shot of her looking comically startled.

She recognized most of the other students there from orientation and Adventures in Queues, and the ones she'd spoken to she waves to or acknowledges with a raised hand. As they waited for their seventh she hung out with Shun and Ashlei, though she spared a few curious glances for the taller black girl over near Professor Arlindou. Maybe a teaching assistant? When she was introduced as Niyilolawa and a third year photography student, the southern girl exchanged smiles with her before she left. With any luck they would run into each other in a lecture, if not on an assignment somewhere.

She seemed cool.

Of course, now they actually had some photography to do and she waved away Eric's proffered device while hoisting a camera case of her own with a Pacman Ghost pursuing a unicorn into a storm cloud. More importantly there was a little Nikon logo beneath, with the silver now painted a matte black. I have my own, was the tacit message.

Mori had arrived at the photography club with her roommate and noticed that Ray had coincidentally joined the club as well. She waved at him as her eyes drew her attention away and towards the other professor that was there at orientation. The girl slowly pulled the elastic band that kept her hair up off as she listened to professor talk about his missing seventh member. Mori lifted her hair up and quickly tied it up. The assistant briefly spoke and gave the group a nickname to go off of. The girl nodded as she bobbed her head side to side, anxious for some type of movement. Nini waved goodbye and Professor Arlindou began to hand out cameras to each member except for one. Mori glanced down at the camera and by the time she looked up, her partner was in front of her.

Skylar looked up at Mori and gave her a fey smile. "Sooo... we didn't really have much of a chance to talk before. You're Mori, right? I think I saw you in the queue at the barbecue - you were bouncing, right? But that doesn't really tell me all that much about'cha. Though that professor looking like she wanted to eat you was a little bit weird," she grinned at the other girl. "I suppose I could compose something with you running from a Great White with a mortar board, but I don't know that that tells us much other than that you're tasty."

“Hi! Yes…” She drawled out her response as she quickly pieced together what she was going to say next, “Yes to everything.” Mori fiddled with the camera in her hand as she bounced up and down on her heels, remembering what had happened at the barbecue, “She wasn’t going to actually eat me! I think!” She giggled at the idea of running away from a Great White, “Do I look like a fish? Great White sharks only attack humans that look like their prey!” Mori rapidly threw facts out for her partner, “Do you enjoy photography? It seems like you’re no novice with that pretty looking thing around your neck!”

“Was it the lens that gave me away?” The violet-haired girl smiled again, then nodded at Mori’s point. “I guess not - but then, what is the natural prey of a university professor if not a frosh?” She winked, then got back to the point. A point. The point she’s interested in at the moment. “I love photography yes; painting as well when I’m in the mood for it, but photography only needs that perfect moment instead of, you know…” she pantomimes setting up an easel and stool on the university lawn, ‘sits’ on the air and muses with ‘paintbrush’ in hand before gasping as some imagined thing lands on her head. “It’s new though, I could only afford it two months back.” She got out her baby, a Nikon D750, and showed it to Mori. She even let her touch it if she wanted, though never quite letting it out of her grasp.

Mori lightly poked the camera, careful to not smudge the surface or scratch it with her fingernails. She glanced back at Skylar as her lips turned into a shaky smile. It probably costed her a fortune, Mori didn’t seem to trust herself when it came to this kind of stuff. Or rather, it seemed like people didn’t trust her with anything fragile. It probably came hand in hand with the fact that Mori enjoyed punching things and can get intense with competitions and sports, “It looks very nice and well kept after!” She twirled strands of her hair behind her ear, “Maybe we can take a picture of you miming! Or maybe a picture of you taking a picture!” She let out a gentle laugh and shoved her hands in the pockets of her track jacket.

“Yeah!” Skylar agreed brightly. “Sort of a non-selfie. I’m not used to appearing in my own pictures, but if you were taking it that would be different and it’s true that taking photos is a big part of my life so that’d work for representation.” She pauses and gnaws at her lip for a moment. “Maybe you could take it from slightly below looking up at me? And what can I do for you? You haven’t really told me that much about yourself; do you want to be on a trampoline? Maybe with a snorkel on? That way we combine all the things you know and like about the sea, and also how much fun you have bouncing,” she dimples. She might be giving this first project more credit than it deserved, but it was important to her that she do well here and completing the project on time would be a big first step. “Say… did you hear about the ghost? The one they say is breaking into places near here?”

“Oh!” Mori quickly searched her head for something else that the two can do, “If you aren’t comfortable with it, I can just always try and think of something else!” She started to slowly walk around the courtyard, leading Skylar away with her, “Things I like…” Mori thought about it and placed a finger on her chin, “...I like punching..” She thought aloud. Mori shook the statement away and quickly added more things in her list, “I also like sports and plants!” Mori gave Skylar an embarrassed smile, “Ghosts?” In a more serious tone Mori clenched her fists, and glanced back at her partner, “I want to punch a ghost.”

A star was born somewhere behind Skylar’s pale blue eyes. It swelled into an incandescent blaze and finally surfaced as a smile of purest mischief and delight. “We can do that. We can definitely do that!” She looked around in short darting motions - almost birdlike - and finally settled on a path leading down a row of evenly spaced trees off to the left. “Come on, this way,” she cried, snatched at Mori’s hand and took off down the path with her bag swinging on her shoulder. The dorms are that way and at the speed she was going she’d be there in a few minutes. “It won’t be a real ghost, but it will make for a better photo than planting a tree in the stadium!” It’d be less likely to get them lynched by the football team as well. Bonus!

“Where,” Mori quickly settled herself into a jogging pose and passed Skylar, despite the fact that she was the one leading, “Where are we going?” It seemed like they were headed towards the dorms, but Mori couldn’t be too sure. She did get lost earlier that morning, “Are we going that way?” Without any reassurance that she was going the right way, Mori broke free from her grip and sprinted ahead with her partner trailing behind her, “Am I really going to get to punch a ghost?” Mori asked excitedly, “I don’t care if it isn’t real, I just want to look cool while I punch things!”

Skylar was running as fast as she could, but the athletic girl with her longer legs soon began to pull ahead and she had to give some guidance. “Yes, the dorms!” She skids onto a side-path, following Mori in that general direction. “I’m going to be a ghost,” the Cajun cheered. This drew a strange look from a student the girls left in their dust, but soon they burst in through the front doors of the dormitory hall and Skylar took the lead; sprinting down the hall and in to Room 12. The Dorm rooms were all fairly standard, with two private bedrooms hanging off a shared kitchenette and lounge room. “I’ll get some sheets, can you check the cupboard for some flour?” Her room-mate had smelled a little like cake when they hugged before, she had to have some flour. Right? Leaving Mori to her own discoveries, she went into her bedroom and grabbed the thin standard-issue white linen from the box at the foot of her bed.

Mori placed her hands on her hips and took a gander at the kitchen, “Flowers or flour…” She whispered to herself, “Well..I’m in the kitchen so it’s obviously flour….I keep my flowers in the kitchen...oh no..” The athletic girl squatted down and opened one of the lower cupboards. Cleaning supplies underneath the sink and right beside the cupboards were pots and pans. Mori bounced back up on her feet and felt her knees pop a bit. Ever since she quit basketball and track, her knees have been a bit out of shape. Standing up, she pulled on the doors of the higher cabinets. On the shelf there was bottles of gin and whiskey and finally some boxes of flour. Skylar didn’t seem the type to drink, but she shouldn’t just assume these types of things, “Flour makes sense…!” Mori lifted herself up on her toes and slowly pulled the flour out, “Hey! Violet! Skylark! Sunshine!” She called out to her friend, “I got the...flour!”

The door to 12B opened, and the littlest mummy emerged. Or (after a moment to take it in), Skylar Rieman wrapped in and carrying half a dozen bed sheets. “I knew it!” She hadn’t known it. She’d hoped though. “I’ve got the sheets. Now we need somewhere spookiful…” she looked out the window at the cold but sunny day with some distaste. “But not too far away, or we’ll run out of time.” Violet looked up at her friend with a considering expression on her face. “Want to go to the boiler room Mori? Or is there like, a dark and shadowy grove of trees or something up this end of campus we could visit?”

“Do you think we might have access to the boiler room?” Mori blinked back at her, “I still get lost trying to go to the bathroom! We could try and search for a dark place!” Speaking of dark places, “As for your picture, you think we should go to a darkroom and have you hanging up pictures?” Mori was still worried about her end of the project. Skylar was very good at coming up with ideas while Mori was still stuck with nothing to show, “Oh wait! I forgot that I had a map!” She slid her bag off of her shoulder and pulled out a folded piece of paper, “This should help!”

Wait, a map? Caught in mid-thought, Skylar reached out to accept the paper and unfolded it, laying it against the wall by the door and tracing the path they’d followed from the photography club at the Square. “Where did you get this? It has everything!” There was the Lincoln Building and the Maxwell Building with its climbing walls. There was the lecture hall she’d been in earlier for her communications lecture. There were even a few blocks of Evertine around the edges. She looked up from her contemplation of a local coffee shop with the entertaining name of Sacred Grounds and dimpled at the other girl. “I have to get one of these - and that sounds like a great idea. And if we can’t find a darkroom, then we can use a dark room!” One hand dipped into a pocket and pulled out a trio of thick pieces of wire twisted into slightly suspicious shapes. It was almost like something a master thief from the movies might use to pick a lock- wait. One dark brow arched quizzically as a smile played about her lips, “And I’m pretty sure we can get into the boiler room. C’mon Ghostpuncher - let’s play!” She lunged for the hallway and the locked door conveniently around a corner at the end away from the front doors.

Fortunately there wasn’t anyone hanging around the corridors midway through the hour. Everyone who had classes was already in them, and most of the other students were out exploring their home for the next five months. This meant she was utterly unmolested where she crouched before the door and put her picks to work. It wasn’t the first time Skylark had done a little break-and-enter from the casual expertise she used to click the door open. Either that, or the lock was just that bad (it was). Shooting a quick smile up through her fringe, she opened the door and exposed a shadowed staircase leading down into darkness. There was a string hanging down on the left side of the door so she gave it an experimental tug but her only reward was a clump of dust in her hair. Ick!

Mori laughed at her partner’s newfound excitement at the map, “Have you noticed that most of the places here are very dreary sounding?” She was glad that it seemed like her partner enjoyed the idea, “There's a map on the school's website! There are some near the hallway where orientation took place.” The duo quickly turned into a corner and faced the boiler room door. It seemed like Skylar had appointed her as lookout as she picked the lock to the room, “How long have you been fiddling with lock pins?” She asked in a sly manner. Mori had her own share of troublemaking and a bit of rule...bending. The violet haired girl managed to open the lock and showcase the dimly lit staircase, “Ta-dah!” Mori plucked the dust bunny off of her violet hair, “Hey Vi, do you think we'll find any dead bodies hidden down there?” She grinned and pulled her phone out.

Utilizing the flashlight, she lit the stairwell. The stairs were made from concrete and looked slightly uneven, as if it was made on a slope. It was a straight shot down with no railings. Mori held her hand out and offered it to her partner, “Try to keep your balance! I once had a really nasty incident involving stone stairs!” She spared the details and slid her free hand down the walls. The particular accident didn't occur with her; however, she did see it in great detail. It was so gruesome that she could recall everything. What she was wearing, when it had happened, why it had to happen, and how it broke. Mori felt chills travel down her spine as she progressed further and further down the stairs.

Skylar threw Mori a sideways glance at her sly tone then her momentary tension eased when she confirmed Ghosty was only teasing her. She answered with a quick wink; no stranger to rule bending herself as she said, “I’ve been using them for a year or two now. I’ve been wanting to get into places I’m not supposed practically since I started High School, but it’s only recently I’ve started doing something about it.” Sixteen months ago to be precise. She was fourteen when she’d first really taken to photography and discovering Christian Richter’s work had been an eye-opener. Some of the places she had visited as a child still lay abandoned and so she had made it a personal goal to revisit each of them to see their hurricane damage. The high point had been her return visit to Six Flags when she had needed to avoid a security guard, climb a fence topped by barbed wire and then avoid stray dogs as she found her way to the rides her six-year old self had so loved. Those photos, as a growing collection of others, could only be found in an album she kept well hidden from her family.

The violet-haired girl came out of her brief reverie as her friend cleaned up her hair, and she gave her a quick smile in thanks. “I don’t know, maybe!” Blue eyes went round with assumed fear and she peered down the stairs, then glanced quickly back at Mori to see if she had gotten her. An urchin’s grin and tone in her gentle southern lilt, “But it all looked free of the dead when I was down here before. We’ll have to bring our own ghosts!” She started to fly down the staircase, but Mori’s warning caught her in mid-stride and she slowed to a more careful gait. “Ok, I’ll be careful!” And she was, the sheet-swathed mummy following her taller friend down to the basement. There was another lightswitch there, and this time the click actually brought a dim unshielded bulb to life. The sweltering boiler room was wonderfully atmospheric, with three laundry lines strung down one end of the room and a dark sooty window up the end that just begged to be cleaned. Skylar dropped her sheets and obliged, running forward and up the wall to brace herself legs akimbo with one foot jammed against a water line. Unwrapping part of the sheet around her arm, she lifted it to her mouth and spat, then commenced wiping a small clear oval through the grime.

The amount of dust in the room was overwhelming, at a time like this, she couldn’t help but think about her brother. He wouldn’t be able to stand a second in this place. Mori shrugged her thoughts away and stared at a device that was emitting a low hum and creating the humidity in the room, “So! How are we going to take the picture?” She got into a fighting stance and posed for Skylar, “Bring it, ghosts!” At that moment the machine behind her let out a ghastly moan, Mori laughed and playfully kicked the ground.

Once cleaned the window admitted some thin beams of light and after a speculative glance around the room Skylar flicked off the lights. “There!” That was perfectly atmospheric, and she quickly retrieved another white sheet to drape over each arm and draw up into a cowl over her hair. Sunshine the Friendly Ghost then approached her aggressive friend and lifted her face to catch the light. “Well, first we’ve got to make me all ghosty and then you can pretend to punch me. Can you do me?” She gestured to the flour packet; her dark eyebrows, violet fringe and face are the biggest breaches in the illusion. Smelling like baked goods was a small price to pay in the name of art.

Mori grabbed the flour packet and carefully poured out a handful into her free hand. She poured some of the powder over her violet hair, “I hope you don't mind this!” She stifled a laugh as she covered up her partner’s dark eyebrows and eventually moved onto her face, “Close your eyes..” Mori gently rubbed the flour over her face and dusted her hands off once the deed was done, “Oh wait!” She took a handful of flour and blew it all over the girl, “Finishing touches!” Mori quickly rubbed the flour off of her hands and pulled her camera out to snap a picture of the flour-faced ghost..

That had been a surprisingly intimate experience for Skylar, doing her desperate best not to laugh as the other girl patted and dusted the flour into her face and hair. She had to try not to sneeze as well, or it would be the whole Petit Shoe Incident all over again. The violet-haired girl still squirmed to think about it, but fortunately any betraying blushes were safely hidden beneath her masque. A fine white fog raised up as Sky Ghost blinked down the barrel of Mori’s camera, then she wrapped an arm around her friend’s wait and leaned in to look at the display. “That looks great! I look really spooky Mori. Have you ever considered working as a makeup artist?” She took a long step back, waved her arms and called out “Woooooooo…” in her best themepark ghost train voice. A plan was coming together!

Her next surprise was pulling out a sharp pair of fabric scissors, and she spent the next few minutes slicing one of her sheets into ribbons and attaching them to overhead pipes with small clamps and twists of tape. That only adds to the atmosphere by breaking up the dim light from the window, and she set up her camera with a low light filter at an angle that would capture the boiler, the shadowed dusty walls and a mottled pattern of light as well as her fearless friend in aboooout… “Fifteen seconds,” she said at last, setting the timer and turning to smile across the room. “Are you ready, Ghostpuncher?” Moving into shot, her smile drained away into a malicious sneer followed by an unearthly hoooooowl carefully pitched not to carry too far outside the room. As the seconds ticked down the ‘ghost’ stepped forward with her howl-face still on and her arms outstretched to claw at Mori with nails that suddenly looked a lot more dangerous than they’d been in daylight.

All she had to do was not blink and not punch her friend. Not blink...and no punches. Mori quickly got into a punching position. Her legs were apart with her less dominant foot, her left, was forward and her right was in the back. She lowered her chin and held back every urge to not actually punch her friend. She pushed off of her foot as her hand followed the motion. Mori halted just as her hand was about to hit Skylar’s face. Mori held the pose for five seconds before she heard the satisfying snap of camera's shutters. She relaxed her muscles and dropped her pose. She straightened out her spine and grinned at her partner, “I hope it looks nice!” Mori was certain that she had closed her eyes.

For Skylar the hardest challenge was not to fall over - or to laugh at their frozen tableau of Fearsome Ghostpuncher and the Evil Dead. In this particular case the Evil Dead was notably shorter than her fearless prey, but with the lighting and the atmosphere and (especially) Mori’s dynamic pose it looked perfect for what they had in mind. “Looks great to me - here, check it out. Mori Moray, Ghost Puncher!” Mori’s eyes were just starting to close, but in the frozen moment they looked as though they were narrowed with intensity instead. This time she actually handed over her beloved camera to let her violent friend admire her image on the screen (though she does put the lens cap on first). Time was a-ticking on, so she set herself to quickly getting down the sheet strips from overhead. She was caught up in this when she asked casually, “So… what do you want to do for me? Or do you already have a shot capturing my inner friendly flour cake?” She shot a quick bright smile across the room, then wound the bundle of sheet strips around her arm. Say… maybe another couple of minutes cleaning up the place and there would be nothing but a mysterious floury smell to show they’d ever even been here.

The athletic girl grinned back at her and stared at the image. She particularly liked the fact that even though her eyes were closed it looked like she was focused on the task of punching a ghostie. The violent girl quickly checked her camera roll for the picture of her violet haired friend, “I think it captures your goofy nature and great ideas.” Mori handed the camera to her and quickly started pulling the ribbons of sheets, clearing the room up, “Though…” She started voicing her thoughts, “It doesn't have the one thing I admire most about you.” Mori rolled the sheets up, “I really enjoy your dedication and energy! Especially when you started running back and forth to places! You would be a great member of the track team!” She quickly stopped herself, she was not here to recruit anyone into any team. She was in the middle of a project that needed to be done as soon as possible.

“I do have an idea for your picture! However, you will have to wipe all of your flour off!” Mori took her track jacket off and wrapped it around her hips, “We will need tape...some empty bottles...and your opinion on the idea!” She quickly voiced all of her jumbled thoughts, “I was thinking that the concept is that you're over an edge taking a photograph of someone hanging off the side. Of course...there won't be any real danger, unless you wanted there to be!” Mori was always excited for any real life danger. She did value her life, it was just her thrill seeking side.

Skylar’s head shifted from side to side uncertainly; she did have bursts of energy, but she also had short legs that meant she’d have to work twice as hard to keep up with the other runners. Before she was forced to make a decision though, her mercurial friend leapt to something close to her heart; a photo idea. An excellent photo idea, and her sheet strips were immediately put to better effect wiping the flour from her face as she spoke. “You know… there’s a door to the dorm roof as well. It’s locked though,” she added artlessly. Having only been on campus a little over a day, it was a testament to her restless (and arguably criminal) nature that she had already ‘cased the joint’. “How locked is locked?” Mori asked, and received a flour streaked grin and a twirl of a pick through Skylar’s fingers.

“Not very. And there’s a beautiful view up there of the gardens all the way to the square. Only… if I’m leaning over to take a photo of you, how do we get a photo of me?” Curse you, physical world! Constantly throwing obstacles in the way of art! Tucking the bundle of sheets up under her arm, she led her friend out of the shadowy Haunted Basement and closed the heavy door behind them. A hand through her hair raised a fine white cloud, but left her violet once more. If a few shades lighter than before.

Mori grinned, showing off some of her sharper teeth, “We have two excellent cameras! Do you happen to have a camera stand? We could position the camera perfectly with both of us in the shot and have a timer for the camera to go off.” She placed her hands on her hips and proudly puffed her chest out a bit, “I just happen to have amazing arm strength! I used to be on the varsity swim team!” For about a semester and then she quit because she didn't automatically become the captain. Plus it had seemed like her coach didn't really care for competitions, “Don't believe me?” She flex her arms and laughed as she showed off her lightly toned arms. Of course she wasn't too buff, but ever since she was a little girl, she was the last one to fall off the monkey bars. Her personal record was about two minutes, “I can hang off for a great amount of time. We just need to figure out poses and stuff!”

Well… “I have a camera stand back in my dorm,” Skylar began, musing on the practicalities of the whole thing. “I could get that maybe, and your camera, and head up to the roof?” And drop off her ghosty sheets, since right now it looked like the worst bundle of laundry ever. “If you go up to the top floor that isn’t locked, I bet there’s a window at the end of the hall. If you can work out how to get out there, then wait until I call and climb out?” She considered the idea and admired her friend’s awesome flexing powers and arms of muscle. “But how do we get the camera out below you to capture you? If I take it up the top, I need to have it leaning over the side to see you even.” She led the way back towards Dorm 12 as they spoke. “It might be simpler if you don’t hang out over the balcony, but just lean out to take a photo of me taking a photo of something out of shot?” They reached her dorm room, and the violet-haired girl threw Mori a quizzical glance.

“Maybe if the camera in on a high enough…” She grimaced, closing an eye as she thought about how the shot would be taken, “Hmmm..” Mori realized that simple route was so much more risk free and easier to do, “I think you’re right.” She leaned on the door, “New plan! Take a shot of you taking a picture with the beautiful scenery around it!” Mori waited for her partner’s response before continuing on with the plan.

Skylar nodded her assent, ducking quickly into her room to restore the sheets (including the shredded one) to the foot of her bed. “In that case we won’t even need the stand,” she mused aloud and abandoned that instrument to its prior place behind her door. She didn’t like stands. They were heavy and they got in the way of things and you had to carry them around even when you weren’t using them. Maybe if she had like… “What do you call someone who follows you around and carry things?” she asked her friend. ‘Servant’ wasn’t right. There was a word for it, and she let that puzzle occupy her mind as the duo made their way up five flights of stairs to another locked door. She knelt before it and began to work her magic. “Keep an eye out, ok? I think the super nearly caught me last night.”

Mori looked over the railings, keeping a close eye on the doors, “Someone who follows and carry things...is this a riddle?” She called out to Skylar. Ghost Puncher hummed on her own time as she crouched down over the stairs and searched for an answer in her head, “A uhm…” Mori remember the time when she spent a week learning how to golf, “Is it a caddy? I’m not very good with puzzles!” She spoke in a hushed voice. Mori turned away and glanced back at Skylar, “How close is it to getting unlocked?”

A tiny click. An urchin grin. “Pretty close,” she said, leaning on the door to open it ahead of them and lead the way out onto the roof. “A caddy? Maybe. Yes, I need a stand caddy, especially when I can afford lighting equipment.” That stuff was heavy! It struck her belatedly that the word she’d been groping for was ‘boyfriend’, but that was far too much trouble for a little help carrying her things. Wasn’t it? “Okay. We’re here now,” she began, and her voice trailed off as she took in the surrounding panorama. There were trees and buildings everywhere. Crowtree had a remarkably picturesque campus, but bereft of her sheets the wind chill was truly unpleasant and she decidedly underdressed for it. She began to shiver and wrapped her arms around her midsection but her determination was undimmed. “Let’s take this one and get down from here.” Mostly undimmed. “Where did you want me?”

Mori realized that being in the northeast was very different from being in the midwest. The cold here was more like tiny little frostbites. It was near the end of summer not the beginning of winter! Mori pushed back her dark hair over her shoulders and leaned over the ledge, looking off to the distance. She pictured how the shot would be taken in her head, “You stand over...here!” She grabbed her shoulders and moved her closer to the ledge, “Rest your elbows here and lean forwards with the camera up to your face!” Mori took a step back and tilted her head to one side as she pulled her own camera up. She peered down at the camera and then at the scene before her. Skylar’s head covered up buildings to the side and the sun seemed to make her head radiate and glow.

Mori snapped a picture from the side and glanced down at the image. It wasn’t the angle that they had agreed upon, but it still looked nice. Mori sat on the ledge and leaned back with one hand holding onto the wall and the other on her camera. The image was much more dynamic and looked cleaner too. Mori reeled back and showed Skylar the picture, “What do you think?” She grinned and spun on her heels, jumping down from the ledge.

Skylar knew better than to mess with another artist’s composition, and she allowed herself to be shifted and posed right up to the edge of the rooftop - if not over it. But then Mori didn’t push things quite that far and she found herself crouching with her elbows on the edge and looking through her viewfinder all the way down at… Niyilolawa? It looked like the third year student was doing something by the campus pond, although she could be just pausing between classes. She took a long-distance shot of her own and then climbed back up to her feet to look at her friend’s prize. “I like it! The light behind my head… it’s almost like a halo.” She smiled playfully, her eyes dancing. “Once they see that, they’ll never suspect we picked the lock to get here! Or they’ll never suspect me anyway!” She leaned in to tickle Ghosty’s ribs, then ducked back out of range of any reprisal.

She threw one eye at the sky, then checked her phone quickly. It looked like they’d taken their time with their project, but they still had six minutes until they were due back at the square. “Aaaand we should probably get back. We’re not that far from the Square, but we have like… five flights of stairs?” She helped Mori collect any effects, then led the way back to the staircase. Her irrepressible energy was finally starting to flag, but she had enough in her for one more run. Probably. Maybe.

Mori cracked her fingers and grinned at other girl, “It’s easier to go down flights of stairs than going up! I used to be on the tennis team. My coach would make us go up and down the stairs to work out our legs….It was hell.” Mori used the hand railing as she raced down. When there was a platform, she would jump from the third step. She was just doing her best to get down the stairs as soon as she could. Once the duo made it down five flights of stairs, Mori broke out into slower pace than before, which was a lot like speed walking, “We have about….” She looked down at her watch, “Two minutes! Wanna run the rest of the way?” Despite anything Skylar had to say, Mori took off running towards the direction of the square and the Professor.

Skylar already knew her friend was fit, but now she eyed her with new respect. “I’ve done some training with my freerunning, but it’s more agility and short bursts of energy than going on for hour after hour - or lap after lap.” She’d been riding high on a wave of enthusiasm for her project, but now she was beginning to feel drained. Walking back to the square sounded like an awfully good idea right now, so when Mori took off Violet simply looked after her for a beat. Then drove herself forward into a run. This first photography project was important to her. Possibly too important. And be damned if she was going to lose some credit just for being late to hand it in.

Two minutes.

She could do two more minutes running.

AiDee @TeamSkyrim

 

[DoughGuy]

7/10/17
Turn Mode
Today’s Schedule
9am – Orientation lecture with Professor Cetus
11am – Barbeque at the Square for new students
4pm (Beginning of Post) – First Photography Club meeting with Professor Arlindou

??/??/??
??? (Duration of post) – The Night of Terrors​

Eric took the first picture from Ray, the one he had snapped of Lois as he had gone on about Canadian television. “An interesting picture.” he said, “You’ve gone for something mental rather than physical. The most important thing I get from this is a sense of unpreparedness. Lois has been thrust into a position she isn’t ready for. How did you act after the photo?”

Next he took Lois’ photo. “Now this is something.” he turned the photo to the club members so they could all see. “You can see the pose from Ray is deliberate, but he wasn’t expecting to be caught on camera. There’s something in your life you do feel ready for, which is happening right now, but there’s something else behind it. It’s not important yet but could catch you unaware if you’re focussing too much elsewhere.”

Eric smiled as he examined the photos Mori and Skylar had produced. “I’m not surprised by the amount of preparation you two put in. And it really shows on the visual level. But does it show on the emotional level?” He peered more closely at the first image. “Punching a ghost. Quite an evil looking one too. Either you have a great posture or some amazing timing Mori. It has captured you in the motion of the attack. In this … I see a desire for you to conquer your past. Something you’ve left behind that still haunts you, perhaps unfinished business. A desire to conquer it, very straightforward and direct.” He looked up at Mori and gave her a measuring look, “I’d be careful about going down that road though. Violence rarely resolves things completely.”

“And now onto, well Skylar, I’m not surprised by the visuals here. Taking a photo of course. You look like you’re up somewhere high and that feels fitting. What do I see? I see someone who wants to see the world. The lean forward, an eagerness to find it. The elbows on the edge, showing the steadiness not to ruin the moment. The wall around the locked off roof of the dorms showing you’ll do anything, go anywhere for the perfect shot. And the light around your head to illuminate every moment.”

“Very good all of you!” he announced with a bright smile. “Everyone passes. And I’m eager to see what you continue to come up with throughout the semester.”

__________________________________________________________________________________

Spoiler: Ray

Ray awoke to the sight of the sky stretching out before him, an unending sea of blue sprinkled with clouds. A light breeze at his back would then alert him to his more immediate surroundings. His heels were firmly planted on the hard rock, but the tips of his toes were hanging out over the edge of an abyss. He was standing atop an enormous rock pillar. Far below him were the clouds, an impenetrable barrier between where he stood and the earth below. The entire pillar was empty of features. Even the surface was smooth rock unbroken by cracks. Nor were there any pebbles or even dust.

A voice echoed in the air, coming from no one place, but from all around.

“Everything in life comes down to a choice. Your own life approaches a fork that will determine your future. Which path will you choose? Show me.”

The scene changed. In the air before him a door appeared. The frame was solid grey steel rectangle, the wood within a light unadorned blue. There was no handle but it was currently ajar. The distance between the edge of the pillar and the door was about three metres.

Behind him a small cottage grew from the earth. Its walls were built of stacked logs while the roof was made of planks. There were no windows and only a single door on the right hand side. In contrast to the other door it was set directly into the house and had a semicircular upper half. The only man made material was the brick chimney that rose from the left side of the building with smoke lazily drifting out.

Once the door and cottage had both appeared the scene returned to silence, awaiting Ray’s actions.

Spoiler: Shun

Shun awoke on his back, staring up at what would first appear to be the night’s sky. But that thought would be quickly dismissed as he noticed the entire scene was moving at a rapid pace. Stars flew across the sky as mysterious formations in differing shades of dark blue twisted and spun like currents interacting. A slight curve to the sight would draw the eye downwards to where the ceiling met the floor. The floor itself was bare rock apart where Shun lay which had a rather comfy rug covering it.

At the opposite end of the room were two circular platforms raised a metre off the ground. Each was half a dozen metres across but empty. Were Shun to approach and peer at their surfaces there would be nothing to note.

The only other thing in the room was the most interesting. An easel awaited in the very centre with a small table next to it. On the table were a variety of brushes, some pots filled with liquid and a palette with a large range of colours pre-prepared. A chair had been placed in front of the easel.

When Shun came closer he would see shapes resolve themselves on the paper which had been placed horizontally. One the left side was an angel standing tall and proud. Their wings were outstretched and they held a sword in their hands, pointed to the other side of the paper. There a monstrous demon awaited. It had the head of a bull, arms of al ion and half a dozen tentacles on its lower half instead of legs. Both images had been outlined in a very light grey pencil but not coloured or shaded in any way.

If Shun chose to sit in the chair he would see a brief flash of a golden circle in the centre of the paper before it disappeared.

Spoiler: Lois

Lois heard the words before her eyes even opened.

“A path lies before you, straight and narrow. You walk it because you know no other. But the path is merely a leash. I shall free you little bird.”

As the final word drifted away her eyes opened. She stood upon a desolate plain. The ground beneath was hard rock, jagged and uneven. It was as if a dozen earthquakes had rocked the earth at once. Everything was covered in a layer of coarse sand. The sky above was a maelstrom of storms. Lightning struck in the distance and the rumble of thunder was a constant noise in the background. Random bursts of wind blew through the air, throwing sand into the air, getting it in her eyes and ears.

Just when she would be getting accustomed to the scene she felt a change. The skin on her hands bubbled and turned into a custard like liquid. The effect spread up her arms and over her torso. Her shirt was swallowed up by the effect, as was her skirt when it moved to her legs. aHer fingernails were the first feature to disappear. Followed by her knuckles and elbows. Every feature of her body that marked her as human melted away and was replaced by smooth skin. Her hands and feet began solid lumps. She felt her mouth, ears, nose and eyes disappear but none of her sense were affected. She could still hear, talk and see.

After two minutes the transformation was complete. Lois had turned into an indistinguishable humanoid doll.

The storms in the sky began to change. A patch of them no longer moved of their own accord, but shaped themselves into what could only be an enormous face. Hollow eyes opened up and looked directly at her. The cloudy lips opened up to release a booming voice. “Who are you?” it demanded in a roar.

Spoiler: Mori

Mori awoke to see a vibrant red colour filling her vision. She could move her head to the left and right, finding the gold laced edges of the carpet and the white stone floor to either side, but could move nothing else. She felt a presence by her side and then a voice whispered in her ear, “It is within all of us. An all-consuming force. Only a few can rise above it. I offer you a chance to become one such being.” The presence disappeared and suddenly she could move.

Trumpets sounded and a voice called out, “All rise for the king.” She was in a throne room. Behind her were dozens of nobles. Only they weren’t strangers. They were all people from her past. Teammates from previous sport teams and rivals she had played against. All of them were looking past her, to the person who sat atop the throne. A person she would easily recognise, for despite their aged appeared, it was clearly her brother. He was dressed finely with a white bordered purple cloak around his shoulders. To his right was a chinses man dressed in a military uniform and to his left was a Chinese woman whose hands had been replaced by golden facsimiles.

Her brother rose from his seat and walked down the steps to stand before Mori. There was something sinister in his smile. “It’s good to see you sister … accepting your place.” Suddenly Mori would realise she was dressed in the clothing of a palace servant.

Spoiler: Skylar

“You who dare judge, yet not judge yourself. Your failure ruins all you touch. Learn.”

The voice awoke Skylar. She would find herself standing in the middle of an enormous art gallery. There was no order to the layout. Walls sprung up randomly and made turns that went nowhere. Others formed passages within the rooms leading one to the same place they started. Knee high walls blocked a visitor’s path to display something small that could have been slotted in anywhere else with ease. Whatever the goal behind the design had been it had failed, unless that goal was to be as annoying as possible.

A figure soon appeared in her vision. They were dressed as a museum curator. But their exposed skin, their hands and face, was a shadowy black that seemed to have no substance. Only two glowing red balls indicated that it had eyes at all. With a sweep of its arm it gestured at one of the portraits on a large wall. It was taller than Skylar herself. The frames, which had once been cloudy and showed nothing, began to clear.

They were all of her. Every single painting and photograph was a picture of Skylar. And all of them were hideous. In some the lighting distorted her features. In others she had a vile expression that made the viewer want to turn away. Many of the paintings had taken artistic liberties, showing her in various acts of hate and destruction. Bat wings or demonic horns had been added to make the symbolism clear.

Spoiler: Alixce

“Want to try everything eh? Come on then girlie, keep up.”

The voice awoke Alixce. She could feel cold metal pressed against her limbs and a soft breeze blowing over her body. Her eyes would be greeted by a mess of coloured pipes and sheeting. A jungle gym. Quite a large one, as looking down would reveal she was at least a hundred feet off the ground. And looking up would reveal it was at least that far to the top. There were plenty oof places to climb, in fact there were almost too many, it would be slow going squeezing through the small gaps that were available. While the ground below was featureless, at the very top was a single door, waiting slightly ajar.

Then came the sound of barking, hissing and crackling. To her left, right, back and front, were four mechanical dogs. Steam vented from their joints with every move, causing the air to shimmer. The metal of their jaws glowed a bright orange, and they opened gouts of flame accompanied the odd barking. Their claws were circular, perfectly designed for gripping pipes, and their torsos were flat and multi jointed.

They quickly displayed their proficiency at climbing as all four began moving towards her. A rough guess put all four of them at fifty feet distance but they were moving fast and headed straight for Alixce. As they came closer their barking, and the accompanying flames grew more frequent. The cold metal became worryingly warm.

(It’s up to you Kal, whether she reaches the door or the dogs catch her. In either case the scene will progress, don’t worry)