School Log!

[wise_maiden]

Who: OPEN! Anyone! Teachers, Students, anyone dropping in for the open classes, anyone at the battledome (from about 1-3 pm), newcomers with questions, etc!
What: Catchall school days
When: March! (You can vary the dates if you'd like, if you want something from last week or on the 17th and onward, it's fairly open there.)
(Classes run from 9 AM-roughly 2:30 PM, and the log can include before and after-school activities)
Where: School / Battle Dome
Summary: It's been a quiet few weeks in Luceti, but school is still in session!
Rating: A+



[For some sense of guidelines:

- Anyone joining for the first time is allowed to poke around and ask questions and (possibly) take or have handwaved taking a test so they can join in immediately!

- The playground is open for after school or lunch break interactions. The cafeteria is also open. Also, random classrooms are available for students wanting to use it for private tutoring/study hall sessions/club meetings whatnot.

- World Sharing and Magic lessons are held at the battle dome, so non-attendees can observe if they like.

- You're not limited to the headers! Just do what you want--these are just some suggestions as to what's going on, but they aren't the be-all-and-end-all of what can be played with! Chat with each other, set up things! It's meant to be for CR!]


As always, please add your character to the roster here and update if there are any changes! Also, students/magic class participants, please respond here when you have a chance! Thank you!

Comments

[untrueheart]

[It isn't impressive, she thinks, it's embarrassing. She looks it, too, blushing without permission and furious with herself because of it.]

That didn't sound the way I meant it. [In small, zigzagging steps, she is at least learning to admit when things haven't gone her way.]

[selfhelp]

...Mm.

[He figures she's telling the truth, but that doesn't mean her words didn't sting. He's quiet for a long moment, mulling it over.]

Bad things happen to good people sometimes. Here, back home, it doesn't matter- it happens everywhere. There's no magic shield that protects you from it.

[untrueheart]

[Most stories don't work that way, do they? Sure, awful things happen to people who don't deserve them, but they're meant to end well anyway. Happily ever after. Rue thinks of Mytho and of Duck - people who deserve the happy ending - and shakes her head.]

Maybe there should be.

[selfhelp]

...Maybe. I don't know. I'd only want that kind of thing if it could shield everyone... and that would be impossible.

[untrueheart]

You would want to protect terrible people from bad things happening to them?

[After her last verbal misstep, she carefully keeps accusation out of this one.]

[selfhelp]

If I can, yeah. I mean, I'd want to stop them if they're doing terrible things to other people, but I wouldn't want them to suffer, either. Terrible people can become good people if their situation changes.

[He's the son of two villains, after all. He'd know.]

[untrueheart]

[Yet again Rue finds her voice stepping outside her usual control:] How do you know about all of this?

[Because, of course, his words apply so well to her and to her life and, well, doesn't everything? It does when she's all tied up in the emotional state where her rejection and need for love share a bunk.]

[selfhelp]

[He's somewhat startled by that - her voice, and the words themselves - and leans back in surprise. Why...?]

Know what? I'm just sharing what I believe...

[Had those words hit a little too close to home?]

[untrueheart]

Oh.

[They hit so close they might as well crash on the couch. Rue looks away again, already berating herself for her utter failure to be anything other than confrontational and strange. Isn't it hard enough, to face "magic" and know her personal dark awful secret and try not to be that terrible person?]

That's noble of you.

[selfhelp]

[Hmm. Hmmmmm.]

...So... what happened with you, then?

[For her to react so strongly, it has to be personal.]

[untrueheart]

Nothing. Nothing happened. [She doesn't quite snap, because there is a bigger part of her than she wants to admit that reaches toward the question instead. This isn't the place, as much as maybe she wants to share - magic class isn't where she'll do it.] Even if it did- it's not important.

[selfhelp]

It sounds important.

[He's usually not inclined to pry much, but it really does sound like something she ought to be talking about.]

[untrueheart]

Nothing can be done about it now.

[She has to force the words out, throat closing and teeth half-clenched around them. What if their classmates hear and start to stare?

All at once she levels her gaze at him, still blushing.]

What if I told you I am that person?

[selfhelp]

[He's surprised; after the last reaction, he hadn't expected to get anything out of her.]

... "That person"?

[He's not sure exactly what she means, though he has suspicions. Better to be sure with this sort of thing.]

[untrueheart]

[Once she starts down the road, it's harder and harder to stop.]

A- A terrible one.

[selfhelp]

[...Ah. Geez.

Billy glances up - the class seems thoroughly distracted with whatever's being taught at the moment, and it's stuff he knows already, anyway. This is serious, that much is obvious, and it isn't really the place for it.]

...Hey, can we talk in the hall? It's kind of loud in here, and I don't want to start shouting at you over the noise.

[untrueheart]

[No no no no no.]

Won't someone notice? [But yes. Some piece of this older boy understands.]

[selfhelp]

[Probably more than she knows.]

Maybe. Does it matter?

[He stands, offering his hand out to her. Is this important enough that it doesn't matter?]

[untrueheart]

[He offered his hand.

Rue catches herself biting her lip, sees her hand reach for his without her permission, but with it, too, like it's the start or the end of a dance.

And she moves away from the chairs, to follow him.]

[selfhelp]

[Billy loosens his hold once she's upright so as not to pull her along, though he lets it be her choice whether or not to break contact. Sometimes people just need that connection, he knows- Teddy taught him that plenty of times, with how tactile he was, and how much comfort he gained from it. For Billy it was more hit and miss, but he doesn't know this girl, and he doesn't know what would help her here, so he leaves the choice up to her.

Either way, he'll lead the way right out of the classroom, shutting the door behind them and glancing around for any other prying eyes. The hallway can be pretty deserted during class time.]

Come on, walk with me.

[untrueheart]

[No, she lets go of his hand. Too many wrong ideas get tied up in contact.]

Where are we going?

[She follows him despite the question. An empty hallway does not feel safe, it's too open.]

[selfhelp]

Around this time of day there's a couple of empty classrooms. I used to hide out there during magic class while I waited for Teddy to finish up for the day. It was nicer than walking home alone.

[He stops by a door, opening it up and peering inside before stepping away to hold it for her. It's small, but blissfully empty, and the size will help prevent noise from carrying much.]

This'll work.

[untrueheart]

[Following a boy into an empty classroom without a soul in sight. This is the material for a different sort of story. Rue's confidence, her projection of confidence, usually lets her smirk or stare through any such thoughts, but Billy rattled her and she stays rattled.

She doesn't know why she chose to follow him. Rue waits, just inside near the door, not fidgeting but looking like she might want to.]

[selfhelp]

[He puts some space between them, hoping to lower her discomfort as much as possible by not crowding her, and sits down on the nearest desk, fingers drumming on his knees. How to begin, how to begin...]

I used to think I was a terrible person. I did some really, really terrible things. It was a bad situation, and whether or not I could control it didn't change how I felt about myself.

[He glances sidelong at her.]

I needed the people who care about me to help me realize that I could do better. That I could be better. And if I can do that, then anyone can.

[untrueheart]

[She hears herself in the words he says. I'm a terrible person, I did really terrible things. Choices, many of them, that she made on her own - outside influences or no. A tiny strain of music inside her head whispers Duck said your story has a happy ending but she can't believe that anymore. This world, this story, is different and open and she doesn't know how to be anyone else.]

You get to decide who you are. We don't all have that privilege. [She says privilege like she wants it as far from her as possible.]