ALWAYS OPEN Magic Unbound: Wolpurgiswora University

[rissa]

​

1 2 3

• Your Invitation

  Etiquette

  Rewards
  Welcome to another year at Wolpurgiswora University, where young women (and recently, men) come to learn, harness, and develop their Guardian Share— the powerful magic that lies deep within each and every Guardian; the power behind their Epithet; their sliver of Grace.
  
  While all Magical Guardians begin as mid-tier witches power wise (or worse), Wolpurgi alumni graduate with exclusive and tailor-made skill sets, weapons, armor, and magical paraphernalia that was conceptualized and customized for (and sometimes by) each guardian. By the end of their training, both their gear and knowledge (be it history, spell theory, or hex-tech construction) is a perfect representation of their niche expertise and general preferences and proclivities; effectively transforming students into creative, educated, and well trained killing machines in order to face the forces of pure incorrigible evil.
  
  
  

  If you would like to register for entry, visit the deputy headmistresses office with your soul brooch in hand for magical identification and an advisory meeting on academic placement.
  
  Admissions: Always Open

  
  
  Summer nears its end as the school year begins anew, ushering in several new faces, several new phases, and for the students in Years 1 through 3, several curriculum alterations that may prove Wolpurgiswora University to be more dangerous than it's been in many betwixt years.
  
  Beyond the uncanny existence many now face and the drama that's been stirred into action, the Magical Guardians of the World Between can feel it; the Breath of the Halted Nigh drawing near. The time has come to set aside differences, philosophies, and creeds... but not everyone is so keen on relenting, despite the fact that everyone whose been there longer than five years has felt the sporadic, anxious, paranoid feeling crawling up their spine.
  
  A normally peaceful space, the World Between has begun to change— altered by the emotions, the intents, and the overall wellbeing of those within. On the day Minister Marsden Scarheart made the plea that they should rip the Guardian Share out of the young men who'd been given Grace the ground shook for hours, steadily, shifting the World Between. The very next day, when Minister Cunningham proclaimed she'd crush any who attempted, the rose-pink sky erupted, a violent storm born and releasing mint-green lightning for hours on end.
  
  At the beginning of the new school year, with the World Between's summer season coming to an end, the warm air just a tad sticky when not under shade, the ground lies still and the sky unbroken, both waiting patiently to see what would come.
  
  As both were but echoes and manifestations of the silent, private voices from those living within.
  
• Your Invitation

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  Etiquette & Expectations​

  
  
  

  When posting IC please use the following:
  
  — A header that includes character name, location, and a tag (ie. @rissa) for direct interactions with fellow characters/players. If you would not like to be tagged, let it be known!
  

  
  
  — All the basic roleplaying "rules" apply here (and all Magic Unbound IC threads), with the caveat that due to the very nature of the roleplay, all characters will inevitably get the "main character treatment" once or twice throughout the narrative. Don't hate the playa, hate the game, baby.
  
  On the flipside: many characters (even NPCs) come into Wolpurgiswora as the 'chosen one' of their home world— this is 100% absolutely acceptable IC behavior, one that's often expected by the administration. One that often doesn't fully "break" until 3rd year. So— if that's the route you'd like to take, please feel free to do so! OOCly, however, you're all equal minions for me to emotionally torque. Needless to say, just roleplay with respect and you'll be gucci!
  
  I'll be the one supplying these spotlight moments, but I'm continually inspired by posts and the development of characters and their relationships therein. If you'd like to play a certain trope, scene, or concept out, feel free to bring it up in the OOC or message me privately!
  
  
  — Collaboration. Co-creation. The creation of player lore. I absolutely adore all of these things. One of my favorite things about being a GM/DM is being presented with characters, their choices and beliefs, and then designing challenges to overcome, emotions to unpackage, and foils, be it environmental or social.
  
  So go ham. You've an entire world at your fingertips and I eagerly await to discover them.
  
  The worst that'll happen is that I ask you to edit something back within lore constraints.
  
  This, however, also applies to interactions (perhaps not so much this thread as the IC Class threads, unless otherwise stated) between characters and posts in general; attempt to move { something } along in each reply. Be it the narrative as a whole, a conversation between you and another player, etc. Not every post needs to be several paragraphs long, though please don't feel the need to trim posts if they end up chonky (ima eat em up either way).
  
  — If another player can't respond within a week or two, don't fret, we're just gunna move on until they can hop back in or we get a replacement student. I tried to base the Class rosters off a couple factors: characters that felt best for the concepts I wanted to play with, their preferred posting speed, boog refinement responses, and some [redacted] stuff I shan't talk about just yet.
  
  That's about it for now, but I'll tag everyone in the OOC if any major additions or alterations are made.
  
• Your Invitation

  Etiquette

  Rewards
  Rewards? Why yes!
  
  There's a couple reasons why though— so let's go over those first.
  
  The Wolpurgiswora University thread is a "hub" for and betwixt the separate class threads.
  
  The words, scenes, and chapters within will be considered "canon" but it will not follow the typical reply-response-reply of a plot driven thread. Nor will everything posted in this thread be mandatory for you to respond to. Two parts CYOA and one part random encounter, this thread is meant to be a catch-all for fun, spooky, or tense interactions that happen outside of the structure and plot of the separate classes, but still pertain to the overall story we're trying to tell.
  
  Think of it like this: Wolpurgiswora University is quite large. At any given time there's at least 500-800 students, not including the faculty and alumni that sometimes loiter about. There are a TON of interactions that happen throughout ones day or week that don't get spotlighted or even remembered once the experience is through, and that's essentially what's going on here.
  
  Sometimes it will be simple day-to-day interactions. Sometimes it may be an obstacle to overcome. 9 times out of 10 these "prompts" will be solo-driven, meaning you'll only need to respond however many times it takes you to fulfil the achievement. (Kinda like an IC boogaloo!) Other times, it'll be a group detention scene or a 3v3 in the hallway after lunch.
  
  
  Due to it's quasi-optional nature, I'll be handing out small, 'random' rewards over time. First posts. 10th. So on. Take a peek at the types of rewards below:
  
  
  

  Common	Uncommon	Rare
  Gemhearts Amount: 1d4	Gemhearts Amount: 1d6	Gemhearts Amount: 1d8
  Old Coin Purse Amount: 1d10+5	Old Coin Purse Amount: 2d10+5	Old Coin Purse Amount: 3d10+5
  RPC or "Roleplay Credits" Amount: 1d4+1 OR 2d4+1	RPC or "Roleplay Credits" Amount: 1d6+2 OR 2d6+2	RPC or "Roleplay Credits" Amount: 1d8+3 OR 2d8+3
  Magical Trinkets Varying in amount, quality, and home world design. Like a Painted wooden key whose teeth change configuration every day at dawn	Magical Trinkets Varying in amount, quality, and home world design. Like a Opalescent conch shell that giggles when you hold it to your ear	Magical Trinkets Varying in amount, quality, and home world design. Like a Thimble that helps you daydream when worn

  
  

  *RPC can be turned into Crystal Tears with the current exchange rate being: 10 RPC to 1 CT​

 

[rissa]

ONE.​

It was mid morning perhaps, when Headmistress Greystone descended from the rose-pink skies. She plummeted in a flurry of silk, charmeuse, and chiffon, of wisteria, grey-violet, and pale dogwood cream and hovered above the pygmy Yggdrasill tree in the center of the forecourt, surveying the growing crowd of students. Galactic-sized wings sprouted from her gown then, the very fabric altering and reshaping itself to fit her needs as she pranced away, to all corners of the campus, those wings ever visible. When she returned, she landed en pointe.

A soft, excited murmur rippled through the crowds. They were segmented by nothing more than age and familiarity. Oohs and ahs were whispered and hollered about, a soft but growing trill that stirred the pink and yellow songbirds into melodies of their own.

"Welcome, students, to Wolpurgiswora University."

Though she did not yell, her voice was heard all across campus. No matter where, no matter who, Headmistress Greystone could be heard... even felt. It was most noticeable for the new students, perhaps, to feel the hope that radiated from her voice— from her very presence that felt vaguely familiar to all Magical Guardians. Enthralled by the emotional tug in her melodic cadence, one that put the songbirds to shame, first and second years unconsciously made their way towards the pygmy Yggdrasill tree, which Greystone stood before, arms outstretched to either side, projecting herself across the World Between.

Minutes, she explained to the crowd, there were only minutes before the Betwixt Celebrations began.

New students looked around confused, the forecourt was a sprawling garden with green, shrubbery, and matching fountains dappled across it, along with pink flagstone slabs and some kind of melted white-rock between. The stones were all smooth, well worn slabs and sometimes, when the white-rock caught the sun just right, it sparkled— but nothing screamed celebratory. In fact, outside of the startling rose-pink beauty, there was a certain kind of thrum that was one part excited and two parts anxious.

Elder students, recognizable by their long hooded robes, did not mill about. They walked, strutted, and sashayed with purpose— first to the four dubiously large bulletin boards in front of the main hall and then onwards, into its mysterious bosom. When the small fragmented crowds started to get restless, there was a small all-knowing smile from the Headmistress, her eyes soft but deceptively astute. If one found themselves holding her gaze for longer than a moment they felt a strange calming sensation, not unlike being swaddled as a child by a loved one you knew would do anything to keep you safe.

There was a delicate clap from the headmistress and the entire forecourt transformed. Booths, benches, and covered cabanas erupted all across the massive three-tiered forecourt. Corner workshops were set up between garden intersections, though they were careful to keep the tables and chairs levitated above the grass. Bunting was strung up across booths, flags that wiggled gently in the southwestern wind were everywhere, along with fairy lights that danced with pink, yellow, and blue.

"Today is a special day. For students new and old, as well as the faculty here at Wolpurgiswora. Today is the beginning of your magical enlightenment, the beginning of your career as Magical Guardians." Greystone paused for dramatic tension and then spoke with such tenderness a few of the youngest students simply began crying, unsure why her words held so much weight within their hearts. "Today is the beginning of the rest of your life… and I'm so happy to be here to experience it."

The headmistress took a couple steps forward, towards the crowd, and continued, her hands rhythmically moving, conjuring and altering the space between her hands. When she spoke, her own memories and far-sight blossomed before them all, giving them their first sneak peek at the massive grounds that would be their temporary home for the next eight academic years.

"The Betwixt Celebrations is an orientation and a party, all in one, where faculty and older students welcome the younger years into our protective embrace. Until a little before dusk, you're free to roam the campus grounds, take tours by different Academy Guides, collect your student visas, visit the Tailory, the library, the flying pitch, the Mysteriatium, the gardens…"

"It will be a long day. There will be refreshments in the Main Hall all day long, as well as an early dinner for all, before you go find your homeroom classes and sleep soundly in your new rooms." While there was no hesitation in her words, there was a subtle downturn of her lips as her eyes sought out the very few young men milling about. "If you've any questions, now or in the future, please, do not hesitate to find me or one of the professors."

---

UNDER STVENA'S WISHING TREE

"And this," the young woman said enthusiastically, "Is Stjvena Circle." She made a face after three seconds of admiration, "It's actually an octagon though, see the 8 sides?"

Two first years glanced at each other and devolved into a fit of giggles, but the 5th year guide didn't notice. Nor did she seem to care, admiration and glee simply radiating off her.

"You'll recognize it, of course," she guided them down another flight of stairs, to the very last tier of the forecourt where a large swathe of green dominated the space. On either side were tall sloping walls and old stone buildings connected to the main hall and behind it, was a gate that led to somewhere else. At this vantage point the circle wasn't nearly as visible, being shaded and dominated by the tree in the center of the green. "It's where you and every other guardian soul-transports into the World Between!"

And as if on cue, light spewed from the circle, pulsing, and previously unseen runes of a script undecipherable (despite the magical auto-translate affects written into the very fabric of the world) rose off the surface of the blue-grey stone and burned with a minty green brilliance. A few heartbeats later a young woman clutching her soul-brooch landed with a wobbly shuffle in the center of Stvena's Circle.

"Did you see?" the tour guide asked, "Did you see the star that just bloomed?" She made to continue but movement caught her attention and instead cringed as the new student bent over and retched. "Oh no… Well, there's some professor's down there… and I've got to take y'all to the library next! We'll just skip the Tailory, since that one'll be going there next."

SOUL BROOCH IDENTIFICATION

"Well, hurry it on up, I ain't got all day!"

Fern stood there dubiously, unsure whether to feel affronted or comforted. The aggression reminded her of home. Of her mother's stern but loving words, the jabs (physical and emotional) from her older brothers, the dry, sage advice from her older sisters. So far everyone here had been cheerful, perhaps a bit anxious, true, but there was a pep in almost every step and a gleeful glint behind every eye. It was unnerving, really, to be around so many happy-go-luckies at once.

She shivered but stepped beyond the threshold, white knuckling the soul brooch in the palm of her hands. Fern didn't like the idea of anyone else touching it, but since she had to she relented, placing it down on the counter a bit too hard. She flinched at the sound ricocheting around the small private room. The elderly woman behind the desk only chuckled.

For a moment absolutely nothing happened. Fern stared at the woman staring at her brooch, growing more and more self conscious the longer she did. She didn't understand why this was necessary anyways, her soul-brooch was like every other one she managed to take a peek at in the few hours she'd been here. Palm-sized, gold, had a few pretty different-colored gems affixed to it.

Nothing really special, despite her family's insistence.

The woman stared at Fern's soul brooch, seemingly lost in thought, until finally— finally pink flames erupted around it. Fern screamed, reaching for it instinctively and getting caught in the fire.

"Why'd you go and do something so dumb for?" the elderly lady said through her shock, dipping out of sight to search through a bottom drawer behind the counter.

Fern clutched her hand, staring at it in shock and then back to her soul brooch that was no longer on fire. It hadn't hurt or anything, but it felt odd, and seeing it aflame just didn't sit right with her.

"It's just part of the printin' process," the woman behind the desk said with a huff, tucking a lock of silver-white hair behind her elongated ears. "Come," she motioned, pointing towards Fern's hand. "This should take away the pain within moments, and then speed up the healin' process. Shouldn't be longer than three days. More than like won't scar either; Qwik Fix is a life saver."

"Uh, right," Fern said as she offered her hand and a glob of lavender cream was deposited onto her hand. "So I just, what, rub this in?"

"Yep, but go do it outside and send the next one in. Here's your student visa. You'll find that it will self-destruct at the end of the year. Always does. We do it as a roll call of sorts, anyways, don't forget your brooch. I'll see ya' next year, prolly."

"Well, thank you, I guess. Coulda told me it was gonna burst in flames, but I appreciate the aloe."

"Most people don't stick their hands into fire, young one, but you're welcome. Now stop wastin' my time and get goin'."

THE BULLETIN BOARDS OF FATE

The crowd around the bulletin boards did not lessen, no matter how long one waited. If anything, it simply surged larger every so often— an undulating black and grey-violet crowd with varying level of excitement, disgust, and unbridled glee. A hundred hushed conversations could be heard within the mass of students vying to see their classroom numbers and Homeroom Supervisors. Old students and new were conversing without abandon, though two older students seemed to be the loudest:

"I can't believe they gave the 1st years Supervisor Miwa again!"

"Did they? Ugh. It's just not right—"

"Ugh, whatever," said the huffy 5th year, her Providence-colored tassel swishing as she turned on her heel. "Let's go."

Despite the talk and the angst surrounding the new placement of homeroom teachers, advisors, and professors, be they known or unknown, there was a hum of contentment. Eventually, despite the lingering, everyone would get a chance to peek and find their name and reveal the final portion of the Betwixt Celebration: a class meeting an hour before dusk that would include a full guided tour of the campus, introductions to better acquaint oneself with fellow students and the diverse faculty, a few presentations and lectures about magic, strength of will, and the university's rules and regulations.

DON'T BE LATE!

Class 1c Faculty, Room 101

MIWA AMAMIYA
Homeroom Supervisor

LYSITHEA ERMENGARDE
Class Advisor

OVIDIA SAULE
Student Counselor

MYLARA STER
Classroom Attendant

Class 2b Faculty, Room 202

PHILOMELA TWIST
Homeroom Supervisor

DUAN WEAVER
Class Advisor

AIKATERINE STRAVOSI
Student Counselor

AGRIPPINA GLIPTHYA
Classroom Attendant

---

Welcome to Wolpurgiswora and the World Between. I hope you enjoy your stay! If you're interested in joining us, peep the first post and head on over to the sign up thread! Otherwise, without further ado...

GM NOTES

ok i'm gunna try and keep this short and sweet since yall've already read enough:

- the first post here, responding to "ONE.", is mAnDaToRy; I would like you all to introduce your characters, set them within the world and get a taste for them. if you'd prefer to do your orientation all in one post, feel free to do so! but if you'd like some npc and player character responses sprinkled throughout, reply & tag baby.

also: feel free to create npcs as necessary for your characters to fit within the world and derive the vibe:tm: from the foundations i've laid in place. like i mentioned in the sticky post above; describe and create your own worldbuilding to your hearts consent, especially in regards to your character's home world! the worst i'll do is ask you to edit something that strays beyond my envisioned lore

- have FUN sorry it tOOK so lONG I BEEN LOWKEY DYING

- if you have any questions or would like to collab (or just request a small npc response) feel free to hit me up! i'm sorely regretting my choice of no discord server for this. ive seen no less than three wolpy memes in the past few days //but its so hard sharing stuff on iwaky cryyy

 

[PolyesterH]

Daniela Navarro, Earth-> Stjvena Circle, @rissa

One. Two. Three. Four. Every step of hers barreled onward like a train. Her act was nothing short of asinine frankly. She had barged into some other supposed hero's diplomatic session, watching supposed protectors sell something else away in some political game she despised almost as much as the enemy itself. How absurd, to demand that innocent people give blood to the parasites of the world who have done nothing in their existence but prey on the destitute and helpless. They were lying, but you could never put it to words how you knew.

Others try to stop them of course. All of them were relatively new, and strained to manifest power that they were born to yield. One by one they got in the way, the predator watching amused at the futile effort for the lancer. She was strong, something was obviously making her as strong as them. Daniela batted the first foe, carrying an ornately colored staff, to the side with the edge of the lance. That's going to definitely be brain damage. I remember when you were a pacifist. I miss those days.

The other tried to line up a shot on her legs, but Daniela had more than enough experiences with guns. With a quick step to the side, she positioned herself so that a shot would hit the mans parried comrade. They grimace, lowering their gun as the third in the party tries to sock her in the face. Sliding under it, the man aims his gun straight at her chest. Daniella's eyes widen as he pulls the trigger, her brain reminding her of the fact she was mortal and she still felt fear the same as any woman. Goodbye. I'm sorry he couldn't find you. I was hoping he wouldn't have to find out he failed.

The bullet cracks the air brass sailing straight to end the life of the noblewoman, but in its way a brooch appears on her chest. It's a completely unprecedented one, one that nobody recognized. The bullet crumples against the brooch, turning into naught but bent brass as it catches on her clothes. That's not mine. What does that mean...?
Her fear fades away, her own narrative reinforced and raised high and tall for all to se. Kicking off the ground hard enough to grab the attention of everyone there of her continued survival, she continued her sprint towards the Parasite. She had no clue what this blessing was, but it had saved her life. It was proof of her fate, that the world itself would not let her die. She was declared the heir, and in a sea of false pretenders this brooch had designated her the true successor.

"Foul beast, choke on your own ecstasy!"

The latter, sensing a challenge and interested in claiming the odd jewelry in their own name, took the opportunity to rush forward. Crushing the last gem she had, she surges from borrowed strength. With a decisive move, Daniela parries the longsword almost as old as the Parasite and drives the jade tipped lance into the heart of the beast, closing her eyes and the last instant to brace for impact. The metal pierces into the skin, slides the rib cage of the Vampire apart, and turns the heart into a popped balloon. Magic surges through her lance from within, and around her body from without. It means this is where I get on. I won't know why you yet, but in time I will.
She opens her eyes and swings the lance, finding not only herself in a new place but the weight of the lance completely lifted away from her. Seeing herself in front of the crowd, she raises her lance to the sky and speaks with a prideful and enthusiastic voice. She paid no mind to the fact to the blood of her target was currently flowing down her clothes, dripping from the lance onto her hair, and pooling onto the ground. Nor, it seemed, to the fact that there were people looking at her that looked very little like humans. Well, would you look at that, I'm in. You all have a lot to answer for, in time.

"I got them, I slew them! I saved the day!" You were not picked for your attentiveness.

 

[Nemopedia]

Lyssander
Omen of Stril

Ophelia
Scion of Stril

The Bulletins Board of Fate @rissa​

Summers in Stril were vibrant. The return of their guardians and heir to the throne was celebrated with a ten days long celebration, their favourite foods served as special treats during the course of the festival and many balls and functions littered between to give everyone a reason to come out and see how the two teens had grown this time. Ten days of celebration that mostly centred around Ophelia, who was expected to be the future crown and the new sun of the kingdom. If anyone thought that was quite enough attention for the princess they were in for a surprise, as following the ten days celebrating their return was a mere week's rest before a three days celebration was thrown in lieu of Ophelia being born.

And then there was the lantern festival, followed by the swallow's festival which honestly was more of a lover's festival than anything and a time where everyone would confess their ardent feelings, followed by the opening of the oyster season which was more of a beach party.

Shortly put, Lyssander was usually glad for summer to be over and to be back at Wolpurgiswora. Usually, wasn't it for Minister Scarheart's frantic plea that had reached even the celebratory Stril throughout all of the celebrations as the 'worst birthday present ever' presented to Ophelia.

"She should try me," Ophelia had bristled so loudly, as if the threat was targeted against her, but the princess had always considered every address to Lyssander as a personal matter of her own. Besides, as it turned out later, it fell exactly in line with the official stance of Oatharvest, as Minister Cunningham had declared just the same.

Minister Scarheart's plea had reached its marks, however. Rippling the water surface that had remained still for too long as Stril's prophets came forth once more, reminding Ophelia and her parents of the 'sleeping star and its omen'.

"I am a rising star, Lyss swallows them, and the only omen now is my bad mood," Ophelia had exclaimed, which had shown exactly how much more she had to grow, but Lyssander had appreciated all the same as he had no plan of standing up for himself whatsoever.

"I'm not moving into your dorms," Lyssander had declared when they finally made it to the front of the bulletin board, dark eyes scanning over the many announcements and within the back of his mind in which he tried to recall the affiliations of every teacher. A common ritual, for the man knew not all teachers were in favour of his presence at Wolpurgiswora, but one with an extra load this year thanks to Minister Scarheart's behest. "Besides, Starswallow and Oatharvest are still on good terms," he reassured the princess, cool fingers brushing against the back of her hand in comfort before pushing himself out of the crowd once more, allowing the next line to see the bulletin board.

"But Oatharvest has power and you are clumsy!" Ophelia protested, the heat of frustration and something else tinting her cheeks. "And there are only so many of us," the princess continued to fret like she had done the rest of the summer in Stril and was likely to do so for the rest of the year.

Stepping past the edge of the crowd, into more open space, yet a little shielded by the shade of the trees and the looming buildings of the school itself and out of view from the rest, Lyssander faces Ophelia again.

"I'm not alone, there is Yuneksia in Starswallow and in our class," he says, a fatigued smile following after and the press of the cool palm of his hand against the flushed cheek of the female who instinctively leans in, eyes fluttering shut at the familiar gesture between the two. A slender hand covered the tender touch shared, the buzz of magic exchanged mixed with something else left unworded tugging the corners of her lips upwards.

Moments passed like that in silence, deep trust and faith exchanged before Lyssander withdrew first, fingers catching each other before falling apart once more.

"Let's meet the class," Lyssander said, leading the two of them down the path in a rare moment.

 

[Nougat]

Yuneksia Endrimm | Psychopomp
Under The Wishing Tree ⋅ @PolyesterH @rissa

Yunek didn't think he could ever get used to the sweltering heat which greeted him upon his return to Wolpurgiswora. Back home, there was a snow storm right before he left, and the weak fire he had going had not been quite enough to counter the cold winds slipping in through the faults in his walls and roof. He'd looked forward to the prospect of warmth at the time, but now he found that he already couldn't wait for the temperatures to cool.

Tazi, on the other hand, didn't mind the heat at all. What it did mind was how Yunek had pushed it away when they first arrived, complaining of the heat generated by its proximity. It had huffed, and then it had disappeared into the shadow of a girl who appeared after them. Tazi had long since stopped being upset, but now it seemed to derive enjoyment from running away from Yunek, if the sharp barks of laughter from unknown sources were any indication.

Yunek was (slightly) more patient than Tazi was careful, however, and he remained unmoving until his gaze landed on a passing girl, whose shadow was just a touch misshapen and far too dark. "Get back here," he hissed, lunging forward to pull the creature back into the light.

He would have launched into a lecture right there, if not for the fearful squeak he heard. Yunek looked up, meeting the wide-eyed stare of the girl whom he had just jumped at. He raised his hands in surrender, face heating up with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to attack you. My familiar was hiding in your shadow, and–"

Yunek didn't have a chance to finish his fumbling explanation before the girl ran off. He trailed off, before slowly sinking down into a crouch, covering his face with his hands. He moved his hands only to glare at Tazi when it nuzzled his shoulder. "You are an absolute menace," he grumbled, even as he reached out to ruffle Tazi's fur. "No more playing around. You know how they feel about our being here; we cannot give them any more reasons to say we don't belong."

Tazi slotted itself naturally by Yunek's side as he stood. He was determined to collect his new student visa and check the bulletin boards as soon as possible so that he could spend the rest of the time before the class meeting hiding out in the Main Hall. Yunek was distracted, however, by a triumphant yell from Stvena's Circle. The person who stood there had clearly been in the midst of some battle before appearing, as evidenced by the blood that dripped from her weapon and her clothing, pooling onto the stone beneath her.

Absolutely not. There were professors milling about. They would get this girl situated and clean up the blood. There was absolutely nothing about this that was Yunek's problem. "Don't you dare, Tazi," he hissed, bodily turning his familiar towards the stairs even as it looked back, ears flicked forward in interest. "I'm getting my visa, checking my class assignment, and then we are going to the Main Hall for ice cold water and to eat our body weight in whatever they have there, now come on." As he'd expected, the mention of food seemed to pique Tazi's interest, and it showed much less resistance as Yunek began to usher it away from the circle.

 

[Hyphae]

Alice Fawns
Edge of forecourt, loitering near the Bulletin Boards of Fate.
​

Alice looked nervously around the forecourt, anxiety eating at the edges of her mind like an itch that she couldn't quite scratch. Almost as if on cue a small part of Alice's mind decided to contradict that sentiment, presenting to her chemical and arcane formula both, something that would scratch that itch, easing her nerves and letting her think clearly – a gift from one of the remaining mods from her time as Pharma. This particular formula was rather well refined, unsurprising given how often she'd thought about it, but even as good as her Module was – especially paired with her particular magical nature, Alice wasn't quite willing to try out an untested compound on a person, not ever herself – and certainly not for something trivial like nerves.

Dismissing the experimental formula Alice instead pulled up a different formula, conjuring it to her hand in the form of a pill before quickly downing it. This formula wouldn't do much to stop her from panicking, but it'd at least help to mask the external symptom thereof, preventing her from sweating or shaking too violently and helping to keep her breathing steady. With that out of the way, Alice turned her attention back out towards her surroundings.

This was where she was meant to be right? From the number of students milling around, she gathered that this was in fact probably the right place, not that it did much to calm her nerves – being in the right place was the least of her concerns all things considered.

Not even 24 hours ago she'd been transported to this place in a flash of light, by a tiny magi-tech device in the form of a gemstone brooch – something that to the best of her knowledge absolutely should not exist. All things considered, Alice felt she'd taken the sudden teleportation very well; sure, her breathing had become shallow and she hadn't stopped shaking for at least a couple hours after the fact, but she was pretty sure those things hadn't been obvious, and she'd managed to keep up her poker face and avoid crying until she'd gotten well away from prying eyes – even when they'd made it clear that they knew her name.

Name aside, the people that summoned her here said a lot of crazy things – not least of which being that Alice had been enrolled in an interdimensional school for magical girls – and not just magical girls in the real sense, but actual fantasy magical girls, that could cast spells and brewed potions and whatnot. Alice's current leading theory was that she'd been kidnapped to play a part in some kind of elaborate reality TV show, though based on the things she was seeing, her confidence in that theory was waning by the minute.

Reality TV or not, Alice couldn't exactly see a way to safely extract herself from this situation, not when whichever Corp was pulling the strings behind all this had already proven they knew her name and wielded an absolutely massive amount of power. That meant she'd have to play along, which is how she'd ended up here…

"Welcome, students, to Wolpurgiswora University."

When the woman spoke Alice couldn't help but feel there was something off about her voice – it didn't have an uncanny quality to it as some cheaper AI she'd heard did, in fact, the voice felt almost familiar to her for some reason, but there was definitely something not quite right about it. It took Alice a bit before she was finally able to put her finger on it, the woman's voice was clear – far too clear – somehow managing to cut through all the other sounds around Alice without getting all jumbled up with them in her head.

Several steps backwards and some close monitoring of her audio implants, confirmed the woman was in fact utilising some magical effect to make her voice heard – one that was apparently able to resist anything Alice thought to test short of fully cutting off her sense of hearing.

That had to be a magical girl ability – there was absolutely no way there was magi-tech capable of producing an effect like that and she hadn't heard it used to blast ad reads directly into her ears – which meant the woman was either a magical girl herself or had one nearby – sound, voice, or something else along those lines – another one to add to the already staggering list of magical girls this Corp seemingly possessed.

Except, saying that there was a Mega Corp with at least two dozen magical girls at their disposal, none of which Alice could recognise, on top of being able to acquire/develop an almost inconceivable amount of magi-tech – again, none of which Alice could recognise – might be an even more absurd claim than the story they were spinning. At what point does saying there's a Corp that secretly possesses all that and is using it to run a reality TV show – apparently inside an impossibly large invisible Faraday cage no less – become a more ridiculous conspiracy theory than having literally been transported to an entirely new dimension?

Occam's razor kind of broke down when all of the explanations were absurd.

"… Today is the beginning of the rest of your life…"

Shit. Alice suddenly tuned back into reality, realising she'd gotten distracted by her thoughts and missed most of the speech. She had a bad habit of doing that at the best of times and this place was seemingly dead set on giving her a dozen new questions in the time it took her to even guess at an answer for one of them; like why did the headmistress sound so familiar despite Alice having never laid eyes on her before?

Drugs could do that, she was certain – in fact, Alice had to clamp down on her mods to stop them from trying to design one such concoction at the thought – but at the same time she was pretty certain she of all people would have picked it up by now if there was something in her system. Maybe one of those old directed magnetic pacification systems could also do it, but her brain was still intact so– Damn it!

"… If you've any questions, now or in the future, please, do not hesitate to find me or one of the professors."

Alice waited for several seconds desperately hoping that the woman would continue speaking, even as the other students around her started to move. When it became painfully clear that the headmistress was done talking Alice silently cursed herself – it'd been a while since she'd been to school, but she should have remembered to record the speech.

Should she go find one of the professors as suggested in the part she actually listened to? Ask one of the students? A single second of introspection was all it took for Alice to decide she'd really rather not do either of those things.

Lots of students were crowding around those notice boards she'd spotted earlier. Perhaps she should check them out… Maybe once the crowd had thinned a little.

Alice awkwardly flapped her arms by her side, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet, while eying the bulletin boards from the sidelines and straining her ears in an attempt to catch some clue as to what was going on… Were they seriously called the Bulletin Boards of Fate?

 

[Cwispy]

Alexander Black
Hyperventilating near the Bulletin Boards of Fate. @Hyphae @rissa

"ALEX!" The ticket printer vomited another strip of paper, the electric grind of the machine blending into the general din of the restaurant.​

Hey Tubs, where u at? Alex swiped up, making the message disappear. He absently dropped a wire basket into the fryer, hearing the hiss and pop of blistering hot oil work its chemical magic on flour and buttermilk.

"ALEX!" Literally anywhere but Florida. As soon as he could leave he would, but culinary schools outside of state were going to be expensive. He scrolled and scrolled, dimly aware of another ticket printing. He tossed his phone on the counter and snatched the ribbon of tickets, arranging them loosely. You can't b serious.

Another message. He flurried into motion, opening a fridge, popping a package, buns on the grill, patties on the flat top. Salt and pepper flying. Another ticket. Pork belly mofongo. "Fuck."

"ALEX!" His mother burst through the door, a whirlwind of silver black hair and Spanish curses. "Alexander Black, I know you heard me calling your name." Alex didn't stop. "I need you to go to the store for me. We're out of lemons." Alex returned a look that was the approximation of how? "And limes." Double how? "We're busy Alex." As if he couldn't tell. "Just finish up back here and hold off on that mofungo order. Then I'll come in the back and Jennie will work bar." Alex assented with a nod, dusting his hands on his apron. "Gracias, baby."

He finished his work, cleaned his hands, folded up his apron and then hopped off the barge, hitting the docks. Sorry Cammy, I had to work. Gabby called in sick. He sent the text and leaned back against his car, a cigarette ashing slowly from his lips.

A reply. You always work. His fingers worked back and forth across his phone, typing and erasing, ellipses slipping in and out. Bargaining could work, but it wouldn't matter if his schedule had no integrity. He could get angry, or come up with a plan. He knew Camelia could be assuaged if he seemed at least somewhat prepared to make amends. Instead, he wrote nothing.

It's okay.
Somehow, that felt worse.
I know it's not your fault.
He didn't deserve her.
Is Gabby sick sick again?
I don't know. I hope not. I don't think she can afford to go to the hospital again.
Who can?
Lol not anyone we know.
He smiled absently, glad at the graces that had given him Camelia. Finally, he left to go get lemons and limes.

~~~~~~~~​

2:30 AM and he was finally done. Pretty early for closing. Customers petered out earlier than usual, the summer song of party boats still hammering somewhere in the distance. He was soaked in sweat and basically drowning in the muggy ocean air. Popping out of the kitchen he saw the collapsed form of his mother passed out on the bar, a drained bottle of Jose next to her head.

"C'mon mom." He hoisted her into his arms, hearing her mutter a string of incoherency. "Time for bed." After depositing her below deck on her bed, he went across the hall and found his own tiny room. He unlaced his boots and freed his feet. He wiped down his face but neglected to do any more cleaning than that. The leaden lure of sleep was a siren call.
But first. He had to check under his mattress.

Alexander Black refused to have a frame for his bed, because that would create a space beneath, a space in which terrible things could dwell. Luckily the hard uncooked beans he arranged in a neat circle were still there, untouched. That bit of magic he got from a creole catholic whose beliefs went far beyond the ordained.

Then he shuffled over to his closet. A heavy iron lock framed its knob, with a thick wedge of tape covering the keyhole. He scraped off the tape and produced an iron key from his chain. Then, with a clunk, he locked his closet and replaced the tape over the keyhole.
His mother never approved of Alex's preoccupation with the space under his bed, or the darkness in his closet. Her superstitions were limited to government conspiracies, and theoretical methods of weather control, but beyond that she favored neither religion or spirituality. Whatever his mother needed was always at the bottom of a bottle of Jose.

It was his older sister, Aubriella, who believed, wholeheartedly, that something evil followed her brother. He remembered the nightmares endured, and the way she looked at him after he woke her. Like he was something evil.
His closet secured, his bed warded, Alex pulled the cross on his necklace to his lips, and prayed. Another thing the creole catholic had promised would keep him safe. Then, last but not least, Alex plugged in the small scented night light next to his bed.
Whatever Alex tried, having a bit of light was always tried and true. The monster in his closet could never get to him as long as he had a light.
Or so he hoped.

Alex fell asleep hard and he fell asleep fast, dreaming of missing school and working naked in his mother's restaurant.

"Crumbs, crumbs, crumbs!" Alex repeated as he struggled through each leg of his pants. He was two hours late, it seemed. There was a blue text bubble front and center on the screen of his phone.
Sleeping in again, Mr. Black? My class is more empty without you. Good ole' Coach Kern. Another blessing Alex made sure to count on the cross this morning.

Mrrow. Ragnarok brushed up Alex's shin.
"I'll feed you in a moment, Bitch Mittens." Paying no heed to his insult, Ragnarok continued to weave in and out of Alex's feet as he stumbled around his room, collecting books and papers, a toothbrush sticking out his mouth.
His head was halfway through his shirt when he noticed something. Glittering there on his desk, a small silver brooch. He hesitated. Then he threw his mattress up against his wall.

"Fuck. It got in. Again." Sweat beaded down his forehead. One small bean was out of place.
Suddenly Ragnarok leapt into Alex's arms. The tortoiseshell hissed and growled, aiming all her discontent at the closet.
"Wha-"
thudthudTHUD. The closet door hammered in place. It splintered and cracked with each concussive smash. At that same moment, the brooch began to glow.

"DON'T RUN ALEX." A black voice oozed through the cracks.
Alex, clinging tightly to his cat, prayed frantically to a god he never believed in. He snatched the brooch into his palm. If crosses and rosary beads were supposed to work, he wouldn't pass up a magically glowing trinket. It was perhaps a millisecond of thought where it occurred to him that brooches weren't supposed to glow, that closet doors weren't supposed to slam against their locks, and – perhaps worst of all – he had the sneaking suspicion he wouldn't make his date with Camelia today.

Thwp. Alex was gone in a flash of lilac and the closet said no more.

~~~~~~~~​

"Welcome, students, to Wolpurgiswora University."

Obviously every kid reared on Power Rangers, Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball Z, wants to be something different. Magical, special, bursting with power that could, quite literally, change the face of the world. Alex was no different, spending the bulk of his elementary days pretending with every fiber of his being, buzzing in and out of imagination in a way that only potent psychedelics could recreate.
But sometimes, you should never meet your heroes.
Alex knew he was awake. He knew he wasn't dreaming. Because unlike other people of Earth C-10-18, Alex had to be very careful about sleeping. About dreaming.

"… Today is the beginning of the rest of your life…"

And there it was, the horror of the Imax. He began to cry and shake involuntarily –a fair response to being plucked from your existence without any warning. You see, when Alex was a very tiny kid, he wanted to be an astronaut. It was his dream to land on the moon and waltz on the rings of Saturn.
It wasn't until he went on a field trip to the Imax and watched a documentary about rockets and the cosmos, did Alex realize that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with space. The unparalleled movie going experience tricked him into thinking he was actually leaving earth, that he was hurtling towards space and away from everything he'd ever known. Young Alex erupted into bawling, snot clogged sobs. His teacher had to hold his hand and tell him he was okay.
After that experience Alex had rejected his dream. For the rest of his days his feet would stay planted on terra firma.
Now he was back at the Imax. I don't want to be special. Magical. Just take me home.

"… If you've any questions, now or in the future, please, do not hesitate to find me or one of the professors."

"Have you ever been to the Imax?" He croaked, more to himself than anything. He dabbed his eyes dry on the fur of Ragnarok, who, amidst this world of pastel and impression, was thoroughly unimpressed. He clutched her and gave her a quick kiss, his only anchor in this interdimensional trap door of a school.
Was everyone else cool with this arrangement? Were they freaking out like he was? Luckily Alex spotted someone who also seemed to be floundering. A girl with hair the color of a pale moon, and eyes the color of… blue? Green? It was hard to tell what color they were, reflecting like crinkled foil paper trapped in clear resin. He approached with bludgeoning slowness, holding the tortoiseshell close to his chest.
He was about five feet from her and had no idea what to say. He certainly had questions, important questions, but the vaguely shell shocked expression shared between them killed his desire for inquisition. Instead he landed on a life line, a surefire question that never fails to start a conversation.

"You like pizza?"

 

[Hyphae]

Alice Fawns
Panicking near the Bulletin Boards of Fate. | @Cwispy ​

"You like pizza?"

Alice froze, eyes going wide as they locked onto the speaker. Bar the clerical stuff she'd had to sit through when she'd first arrived, Alice thought she'd done a pretty good job of avoiding interacting with anyone – a skill she'd honed over years of practice – but skilled as she may be, it suddenly seemed very much like she was being directly spoken to.

Alice noted that the speaker was a boy – rare, but supposedly they could also manifest as magical girls here – probably a couple of years older than her – though she'd never been any good at determining that kind of thing – and carrying some kind of fuzzy mammal.

Should she respond to him? Look around and hope he was talking to someone else? Alice was pretty sure there wasn't anyone else in her vicinity that he could be addressing, and he definitely seemed to be looking right at her, but she could hope right? And in any case, surely it'd be rude to make assumptions and speak if, in fact, she wasn't the person he was talking to…

A long second of silence passed, over which it became increasingly clear to Alice that for all her wishful thinking she was in fact being spoken to. What now? Should she pretend she hadn't noticed the guy and just walk off? That wouldn't work, she was looking right at him.

Also, did he say pizza? Like the food? Admittedly, even back when she'd had the money, Alice had never been much of a foody, especially not since nutrient paste was well within the limits of what she could fabricate and far more convenient, but still, pizza was made with bread and fruits and stuff, right? What kind of person opened a conversation like that – was he trying to imply he was rich?

Oh, wait. Alternate dimensions, right? Either this guy was an actor pretending to be from a world where mass agriculture hadn't been rendered all but impossible, or he literally was.

"Um– I've never eaten pizza. I've tried pizza flavouring before? It was fine. I've heard that flavours don't really taste much like the real things though."

Was that enough to constitute a proper answer? If it was Alice didn't feel particularly relieved – her mind already working on trying to figure out all the different ways this conversation might unfold and what answers she would give. Rationally, she knew it was an exercise in futility, inevitably he would say something she hadn't thought of, or else say something she had thought of and she'd manage to flounder her response anyway.

For the umpteenth time, Alice wished she'd downloaded a charisma program, something to help her read people's cues or figure out what to say next. Sure, the idea of just downloading social skills felt wrong to her somehow, and the kinds of people who used them always managed to rub her the wrong way, but still, surely anything would be better than this.

Alice was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was staring at the guy. Staring was meant to be rude, so she shifted her gaze to stare off over his shoulder instead. Except not looking at the person she was speaking to was also meant to be rude, right? Having once again made the mistake of letting herself become aware of that familiar contradiction, Alice found her gaze flickering back and forth between trying to make eye contact with the guy and looking literally anywhere else, trying to find the sweet spot where she was looking without staring – whatever that meant – before her eyes finally came to rest on the fuzzy creature held in his arms. Looking at animals was okay right?

The creature was rather cat-like at first glance, but rather dull in its colouration. Actually, on second thought, it might actually be a cat, just an archaic one, for lack of a better word, seemingly lacking the colourful gene mods that had come to characterise the modern breeds.

Alice found herself a little calmed by the animal's presence. At least she could trust that it wouldn't ask her any difficult questions.

 

[PolyesterH]

Daniela Navarro, Stjvena Circle, @rissa @Nougat

Squawks of dismay sounded from nearby students as Daniela's presence was registered. It was clear as day, based on the myriad of reactions that sprouted around her, to tell who'd been in combat and who hadn't; some gagged at the pooling of blood beneath her feet, others simply stared astoundedly, while others dragged their eyes across the lowest tier on high alert, hackles raised, pulling in the ambient magic around them. Some of the students continued to stare once the realization that no danger lay in wait, while others simply walked on, in disgust or indifference, though a couple took a few hesitant steps forward.

She blinks, not quite registering the reality check right in front of her. After all, its not like it was her blood. She had just killed a monster and the first thought on almost everyone's mind was the blood she grew to not pay close attention to? What does a gal have to do to get some recognition around here? She snaps out of her thought process when a simple spell cast by the two cleanses the blood off of her, seeping off her clothes and body and onto the ground. There was a lot of it, though she was far past the point of getting bothered by the sight. That's not a good thing Daneilla.

The blood now off her body, she rests the handle of the lance on the ground and looks around. Its at this point she finally realizes that some of the crowd wasn't human, and some looked like weird humans. Some were incredibly short and stout, some had pointed ears, and others were something else entirely. She grips the lance anxiously, looking through the group who looked just weird enough to know something but normal enough to be someone that would get her enough to explain the situation.

Their gaze settles on Yunek, who looked like a normal man moving away from the circle. His demeanor was odd enough to be great, while being a human made him a natural choice for someone to get a briefing from. Moving through the crowd with a great deal of energy, Daniela speaks loudly as they wave with their free hand.

"Hey mister, can you answer some question for me?"

 

[SilverPaw]

It was the day that term at Wolpurgiswora University would begin. Anwen knew this, because she'd been summoned there during what they called 'summer break', and had a few things explained to her. She couldn't quite wrap her head around it, still. Apparently, their place was an in-between world which connected to all others. At the same time, it wasn't the spirit world or the afterworld, which she'd always thought fit that description. It seemed that any afterlives, spiritual realms, and whatever other 'dimensions' all had a connection to there?

Either way, her brooch let her know that 'today' here coincided with start of term there. Today, she was saying her goodbyes to her family and village. Her mom hugged her tightly, her dad held a protective hand on her shoulder. Anwen burrowed into the embrace, and ignored the look of worry in their eyes.

"Stay safe, my heart," a whisper of a wish from her mother. Anwen nodded into her chest.

"I believe in you," her father pitched in. At this, his daughter grabbed onto him, and drew him into a group hug. After a moment, she extracted herself, and went to say her goodbyes to her siblings – to those that weren't being held back protectively by their other caretakers.

"Rowan, Ivan, Altan, Zayd, Sarin, Cerise…" She went from one to the other, exchanging signs of affection and small trinkets. Rowan, tall and broad-shouldered, with the scruffy beginning of facial hair. He clapped her heartily on the back, and she returned it with a pat on his shoulder. He gifted her a simple leather bracelet, which she immediately put on. In return, she gave him one of Maer's donated scales, hiding it within his palm.

Ivan waved from a moderate distance, one of the adults warily hovering nearby. Cautiously, she approached, looking from the parent to her friend. The reedy, gangly boy shook her hand; he offered her a piece of an antler, which she tied to her belt. She returned it with a painted polished stone pendant.

This went on until eventually, her brooch began to glow. Anwen was reminded of the first time that had happened.

It had been the beginning of the end.

She was near death, taken by the curse, sleeping restlessly in a secluded shack. No one liked the quarantine, but it was for the best.

Anwen woke every now and then. It must have been a dream, but she heard a calling. She tried reminding herself that she should stay put. But it was so difficult to remember or care why.

Swaying, she stood up. With slow, faltering steps, she went out.

It felt like an eternity. Here and there, she collapsed. But something drove her to pick herself up each time. She crawled, and clawed at the earth, and dragged herself further out.

It was lightly snowed, the winter thawing by day. Yet it was night, and cold, oh so cold.

She wasn't sure how far she went. She barely saw anything; it was night, and her sight was failing it. She could still see spirits, barely. That's how she oriented in her haze. That, and instincts. Or maybe, the curse was guiding her, in a way?

She made her way across plains, through a forest, by a partly frozen river and lake…Then she was wandering into a cave.

"Who goes there?" she heard a deep rumble, one that reverberated through her chest and bones.

"…What?" Anwen asked weakly. She made her way forward, Spirit Sigh blinding her with a large grayish-white shape. She stumbled over something, and fell into something…scaly?

She patted it over, looked around some more, and realized something. "Oh. You're hurt."

"And you are dying," came the growled response.

But the girl just nodded. "It's the curse. You too, right?" she guessed. After a long moment of silence, she said, "Let me help."

"There is no helping this," he hissed immediately.

"You don't know that," she insisted.

"There is but one fate for those cursed. To perish," he retorted.

Anwen just shook her head. "Let me try?" There was no response. Anwen closed her eyes, and nestled against the great being. She felt its being, and used the remnants of hers to try and patch up those glaring holes in its aura.

"…What are you doing?" he grumbled darkly.

"Mmm…healing," she murmured sleepily.

There was a long exhale, a gust of wind passing nearby from the sheer force of it. "Even your whole life force will barely extend my life for a day. This is futile, girl. Quit it."

Anwen teared up, saddened by the thought that this one last thing she thought and ought to do was declared impossible. "Sorry," she said, blinking away tears. But she didn't stop.

"Cease it," he hissed again.

Sighing, she did. The curse was taking her faster than she'd thought. She couldn't even raise her arm any longer, nor open her eyes any more. "Join…your…spirit…to mine?" she slurred.

Just when she thought he'd refuse, he asked, "Give me your name."

"Anwen," she managed to get out.

"Maerithryvvin."

That exchange was enough. The grand spirit of a draconic serpent wrapped around her soul. It was like standing underneath the largest waterfall. But also, like the waterfall was inside of her somewhere.

Then a blaze overtook her, burning from within. It burned, and she screamed and writhed – and her new would-be familiar did too.

Time passed. They were growing cold now, and perhaps, they might have died. But then, the brooch manifested, and carried them elsewhere.

At the university, they'd been able to keep them alive. When Anwen and Maer had woken, they'd been hale. There was no sign of the curse, but apparently, it had been burned away on its own by their bonding.

At present, the brooch's glow surrounded them, and they were being transported to the university once again.

The sight and sounds of Wolpurgiswora were familiar, and comforting. Even Maer liked it. Anwen knew she'd miss her home, but this was a good place. After her arrival, she looked around, absorbing the sights. It was more crowded than she was used to, and warmer than any summer she'd ever experienced.

The Headmistress' speech moved her to tears. Maer seemed wary, though willing to give the odd woman a chance.

As enthralled as she was, it took the reaction of those in front for Anwen to notice a commotion. She struggled her way forward, curious at what was happening. Susurrating murmurs surrounded her. There, ahead of the students, stood a girl covered in blood, celebrating a victory over something unknown. No one knew what to do with her, though a few people looked around to see if there was danger. Maer was very much on guard too.

By the time Anwen made her way to the stranger, the blood had been cleaned off her already, and the unknown girl was reaching out to an older student. "Um, are you okay?" Anwen checked in with her just in case. "You weren't injured, right?" As far as she could see, the girl was fine, but in this place, in the in-between, Spirit Sight wasn't always accurate, and could be overwhelming if she focused on it too much.

Anwen's gaze landed on the older boy. There was something very familiar about him. "…Do you have a spirit with you, too?" she questioned, peering at him intently.

@PolyesterH @Nougat

 

[Nougat]

Yuneksia Endrimm
Under The Wishing Tree ⋅ @PolyesterH @SilverPaw ​

Yunek was so close to leaving. Mere steps from the stairs. Tragically, a voice that Yunek was rapidly and reluctantly becoming familiar with called out to him first. He would have pretended that he didn't know she was addressihg him, but it was unfortunately obvious that she was speaking to him, considering there were no other men in their immediate vicinity. He could hardly pretend he hadn't heard her, either; he'd already stopped walking. So Yunek resigned himself to having to stay, and he turned to face her with a barely restrained sigh and a wan smile.

"You're a first year, I'm guessing? I can try to answer your questions. I'm just a second year though; one of the professors might be better if you want help to find them."

His attempt at pawning her off to someone else was, unfortunately, thwarted by the appearance of another student, who spent a moment expressing her concern for the other girl before turning her attention to Yunek. So now he was talking to two people, which was, frankly, two more than the amount of people he wanted to interact with before his class meeting later. Unfortunately, he was trapped by social etiquette, whereby it was considered rude to just run away and hide whenever someone approached him.

Speaking of such, "A spirit?" Yunek glanced down automatically, just to find that Tazi had, of course, hidden away the moment someone had actually approached them. Coward.

Yunek, tragically, was unable to do the same. So instead, he answered, "Yes, I suppose. Tazi's my familiar. It's just hiding right now because it's shy." Or not so much shy as utterly uninterested in approaching new people unless it found anything interesting (such as a girl dripping in blood). Yunek didn't see a point in explaining how much of a recluse the creature was, though.

"I'm guessing you also have a familiar, then?"

 

[PolyesterH]

Daniela Navarro, Stjvena Circle, @rissa @Nougat @SilverPaw

Daniela was entirely oblivious to the devastating nature of her interruption, and the fact that she had singled out a man who very much didn't want to be here. She also managed to completely miss the fact that there were a lot more women here than men. Upon the man stopping there was no small amount of anticipation as he turned around and gave her that weak smile. The six words smack her in the head like a brick.

She was airheaded, but she wasn't stupid. The only time someone uses the term 'first year' is if they were talking about a school. This was one of the worst bits of news she heard in a long time. At least as bad as when she learned her dad is after her. Their once happy and cheerful demeanor shatters into a thousand pieces, barely hearing the next few sentences. Her smile and optimism is gone. This isn't that bad.

"This is a school. That's very unfortunate."

She had been fighting for her life and community for years and she now has to go to school. Again. She was supposed to be done with it forever when she graduated high school, but the brooch that had saved her from being murdered has saved her life at a terrible cost: public education.Why are you like this?

She turns her attention to the concerned woman. She also seemed relatively new, and much stranger. She was also someone that was concerned the second she saw her. Speaking up, Daniela answers her question while they're still fresh in her mind. At least discussing her injuries meant she wasn't concerned about having to go to class.

"No, I'm fine. My brooch stopped the bullet. The blood on me belonged to the vampire I killed. You two seem to know whats going on. Where am I, who are you, and whats a spirit?"

She asks the three questions rapid fire one after the other, not waiting for a response for any one question. I hope they know what a vampire is.

 

[SilverPaw]

Anwen Kier
Under Stvena's Wishing Tree
@Nougat Yunek, @PolyesterH Daniela​

Anwen nodded sagely at the older blonde boy. "I know how that is." Maer was pretending to be asleep right now – as much as someone who didn't need sleep, and was interwoven with her very soul could pretend such a thing, that was.

"I'm Anwen, It's nice to meet you, Tazi," she introduced herself at the shadow, assuming the spirit could very well hear her. Anwen then tilted her head back up at the boy. "You too,…?" she trailed off questioningly, obviously waiting for the boy to provide a name.

She nodded at his guess. "Yes, Maer; a dragon. But he's in here," she tapper her chest. "Doesn't like showing up either," she commented. The dragon in question rumbled in a metaphysical sense, which kind of felt like a distant storm to her. "I never said you're shy," she thought at her familiar, certain the unintentional comparison had bothered him.

She then turned to the other girl. "I'm glad you're alright. But I don't think that you need to stay here if you don't really want to." The fighter was obviously unhappy about being here, or maybe about schooling.

"I'm Anwen Kier," she then went on to answer the previously bloodied girl. "Also a new student, but I was first summoned here during their…summer break." It was clear the concept was strange to here. "This is a place called Wolpurgiswora," by the careful way she pronounced it, Anwen was still unfamiliar with it. "It's a place that connects to all other places?" She scratched at her head. "You best find someone who knows more to explain it, I don't really…" she trailed off, sheepish.

However, the concept that people from all other kinds of worlds could come here was most obvious by the fact that this strange girl did not know what a spirit was. It boggled the mind, and Anwen looked at her in clear shock. "Um, spirits are…A spirit is your life, your aura, it's the energy all around in the world, in nature. When there's enough of it," she gestured with her hands as if forming a ball, to indicate a concentration of an indescribable substance, "a spiritual being can be born. They're not physical, but you can interact with them all the same."

She wasn't sure how else to explain something so vital about her own world; she'd always taken it for granted that this was just something people knew. Which lead her to a question of her own, "But what is a vampire?" Anwen smiled wryly, sure this was something very much obvious to the other girl. However, it was an unknown to her.

 

[PolyesterH]

Daniela Navarro, Stjvena Circle, @rissa @Nougat @SilverPaw

Daniella's eyes practically sparkle. This was such a unique and odd world, with many different kinds of people. Amongst her very ordinary world she had been chosen as the exceptional woman she was always told she was. And now there was a need of her. This realm did not know of one of the greatest dangers facing her world. She opened her mouth to speak. Daniella no, use your brain cells. There's multiple universes here. Remember what your parents taught you about tolerance.

"In short, vampires are evil undead bloodsucking slave driving parasites that prey on the weak and vulnerable of society in order to feed their gluttonous and insatiable appetites for ecstasy. They are vulnerable to sunlight, as the mere presence of something beautiful and pure is an anathema upon their unlives granted to them by the forces of Darkness. The one I was taking out happened to be a gang leader whose gang of thralls was wiped out by my efforts. I was fortunate to interrupt some useful pawns who were in the process of negotiating with the beast for their own personal gains. I fought past them to skewer their would be leader through its vile heart."It's so over. Half of that wasn't even true. We are not recovering from this.

As she speaks, her voice is proud and authoritative much like a preacher to a congregation. She pauses for a moment, thinking about how she should continue. Anwen was polite enough to introduce herself and tell her what a Spirit was in this context. Being a Catholic, it wasn't exactly the terminology she was familiar with, but she on some level had to respect the words people used here. After all, this was a common area between different places. Probably planets by the look of things. She hadn't introduced herself yet. She leans slightly on her land and smiles sweetly, tone returning to a normal conversational mannerism.

"My name is Daniella Navarro. I'm from Chicago, United States of America, Earth. It's nice to meet you. I never heard of an inbetween place between planets, not even from the important people I talked to back home. I never saw a Spirit in my life, how do I interact with them?"

 

[Nougat]

Yuneksia Endrimm
Under The Wishing Tree ⋅ @PolyesterH @SilverPaw ​

Though Yunek didn't move, his shadow did. In a moment which could easily be missed, it shifted into a new shape, sharp eyes acknowledging the girl who had greeted it. But it was only for a flash of a moment, before it melted back into the darkness.

Yunek ignored that completely, rather used to Tazi's antics. He was more fascinated in the idea of a dragon. There were no dragons where Yunek was from (at least as far as he knew), but he'd read about them while hiding out in the library last semester. He wouldn't bombard her with questions, though he was rather tempted to do so. "It's nice to meet you both," he said instead, dipping his head in acknowledgement. "I'm Yunek."

He was glad that Anwen, a first year though she was, seemed to know a fair enough amount that all Yunek really had to do was nod along to her words. And he supposed it wasn't the worst thing to meet new people – admittedly, Daniela's explanation of vampires was quite interesting. "They sound similar to the keepers," he mused, more to himself than to either of them. It wasn't as though they knew about the stories he was told in his childhood, after all.

The name of Daniela's world meant nothing to him, of course. Nonetheless, it was probably polite for him to introduce himself as well. "I'm Yuneksia. Endrimm. Yunek if it's easier. I don't know much of where you're from, but not all worlds are too aware of the World Between. Mine certainly is not, for example." They were still unaware, as Yunek didn't want to be labelled as deranged on top of everything else the people of his village thought of him. He was glad, at least, that time in the World Between seemed to pass quite a bit faster than it did back home, else they would have long assumed him dead and burned all of his belongings.

"Not every world has spirits you can readily interact with, either." His own world, once again, being a good example, one strange shadow creature from the Forest notwithstanding. "But I'm sure you will have some chances here. I think quite a few familiars are spirits of some sort; a girl in my year has a spirit inhabiting a skull for a companion, as an example."

And that just reminded Yunek of his primary goal of getting everything done early so he could hide from the heat until it was time for the class meeting. He pivoted topics without the least bit of grace, focused largely on the goal of, at the very least, getting away from Stevna's Circle. "The university grounds are quite large, so if you haven't been on it before, it can be easy to get confused, especially today when it's so busy. I could show the both of you where to go, if you'd like."

 

[littlekreen]

Melody Le Doux - Under the wishing tree

In a distant land that she knew not the name of anymore hung a curious witch upon a scarecrow's cross. Rough-hewn fabric Bodice threaded by a scarecrow's stand to hold up a humanoid shape as its feet stood upon a small ledge affixed to the pole. A stern breeze of an oncoming storm raced past it to vanish a focused chant into gusts as they blew by. All the same, the hat and dress flapped madly but firmly anchored to a scarecrow of heavy, dyed burlap that did not move. A rat fled that garden in a fit of panic from sensing the oncoming storm, looking for shelter and food. However, it made a single mistake as it tried to run by to stop and bite at plants and salt left at the bottom of the pole. The pole creaks as the baleful eye of a face of tan burlap ignites and smooths so slowly to flesh as the small rat's head perks up at the sound.

A tearing noise came as scarecrow spoke with the rat trying to dart away but slipping in the grass, "Parasite. Blight. So much of their food stolen and defiled.No more."

It wasn't slipping as much as the grass started to quiver and move. The witch stared as the rat flailed and tried to bite for his freedom at the plants tethering it. Even as pale white roots grew through its legs, each new white root creeping upward pulled the waters of life deeper and deeper. The endless thirst of the beleaguered Green here sated just a little more. A scream rang out in tandem as the rat fought the undertow just for the too-wide mouth of stitches to frow and looked up as it gained contours. The Green felt a wasting spirit in the caretaker's garden as she knew the Green had put her here for a reason.

The pole she was on flexed and slipped away when she stepped off the bar. A loud creaking bent the wood back into place as the shape of the burlap pulled into that of an amber-eyed woman with skin the shade of weathered burlap. The mouth sneered as arms gained the definition they needed to pull open the door. An amber eye stared down the hall as a boggart hiding in the shadows noticed her in horror. A poor woman had lain a line of salt across the doorway she was in, looked up, and started a prayer. Melody growled and picked up a loaf of bread to throw at her stopping the noise from grating on her ears.

Even though the woman began apologizing, she paid little attention to it. She waved dismissively with a hand as the woman stared at Melody with a sure mixture of terror and gratefulness, "Invoke a rightful guardian. Someone that cares. Did your grandmother teach you nothing?"

Melody always felt groggy coming out from meditation and stumbled forward drunkenly toward the boggart panicking at the line of salt holding it back from crossing into the other room. Desperately trying to get away from the predator staring her down. Candles shifted as the wind behind her guttered them, shaking the meager light and guttering half of them. The amber stare continued in that growing dark, moving closer and closer to the boggart, who yelled useless platitudes. Her sneering face loomed above, unmoved and uninterested in that particular creature, but it did not need to know that. The one that did revel in terror moved a shadow too close to the burbling mess beneath her as she raised a left hand. Salt glowed and drained from the doorway, setting it free when in the same motion, cooled it into a rock salt dagger to ram the mottled yellow crystal into the wall next to the doorway. The tainted shadow screamed, pinned beneath purity.

A head peeked from the doorway behind her at the noise, and Melody chuckled, "Sunrise will come soon. A pity you will never see it."

The burlap-gloved hands reached forward and grabbed a flailing shadowy arm as the faintest glimmer of red started to creep over the horizon. A mouth as black as coal full of flailing wrath opened to bite at the claw while fending off a reposite with its shadowy claws. A sickening tear came as Melody started to chew. A blackened soul chewed apart and eaten piece by piece as the boggart looked on in terror. Nothing escapes the green. Even as sunlight crept up the hallway behind them, it moved not quick enough to save it from being hunted by its predator.

The woman reappeared and knew not to whine at the caretakers. A burlap finger went to her mouth, cleaning off the meal, then pointed at the salt knife; she explained, "Keep it in the dark until the next full moon and leave it on a cleaned stone until the next sunset. By morning the salt is safe to use."

She softly shuffled the way she came and returned to the scarecrow's pole. Empty and forlorn without her until she hopped backward onto it and stretched her arms with a swift motion. Fixed to the wood frame again and ready to feel the morning sun on her burlap face. The relief of all the plants around her at the taint's removal flooded in.

---

At least until the forces of the green saw fit for her to be needed elsewhere with immediate effect. There was a quiet shuffle of leaves near the wishing tree as it bloomed far above. A hangman's noose was around her; a body fell from inside the tree's canopy in a straining bounce of the branch. A figure clothed like a scarecrow, face obscured by a wide witch's cap, swayed faintly to and fro from the noose. Though tethered under her shoulders didn't see fit to move; that fact was harder to tell at a distance. This place she was in now was immaculate. Ignoring gasps nearby, she returned to her meditation and dangled, seemingly lifeless.

 

[Meleck]

Matti woke to find himself laying in a strange dimly lit room. A little sliver of light managed to crawl under the door giving just enough light to give someone the creeps in the darkness. Even with the limited light he could tell that almost everything in the room was white. The walls, the sheets and blankets, the ceiling. Green lights flashed occasionally, gently breaking the darkness like aliens. The room was also filled with the distinct hum of fans droning on their one note and the smell of disinfectants.

A moan escaped Matti as he tried to roll and get comfortable in bed that was as hard as the marble walls he could barely make out. Beeping faster with his attempted movements, the machine called for help as his heart rate and blood pressure rose with the pain.

A moment later a young woman entered the room and spoke,
"Glad you are awake! You gave us quite a scare."
Her voice was charming and Matti thought she could have been an angel. If Matti was not in pain, he would have considered asking her out. Her uniform looked black in the darkness.

The pain he felt brought back memories of what happened. An accident, being hit by a transport while riding his hover bike and being thrown and hitting a stone wall. Tears fell from his eyes as the memories flashed in his mind. Pain racked his body as he reacted again trying to save himself from the impact that came again. A gentle hand touched his for a moment, then the world went away again.

---

Six weeks later, Matti found himself in a rehab facility. Unlike the hospital, this place had large windows, fireplaces, and nature. It was away from the city he knew so well. Hours of air transportation by hover car. This was an elite care facility tucked away in the wilderness. It was still close enough that his parents could visit, when they had time. Far enough away that Matti's care would not be a problem for their busy professional and social lives. His recovery was spoken in terms of years, not months or weeks.

"You should be dead," an older woman said, looking at him in his wheelchair.
Her features were harsh and her hair was pulled back in a tight bun on her head. her clothes were brown and her black shoes clicked on the floor announcing her arrival before she got there.

"It is a miracle that you survived…. Your chart says that you may never walk again. Injury to the L3 and L4 vertebrae, broken arm, leg, and pelvis," she said in a critical tone.
Bending over she pulled off his socks. A pain shot in his right foot and his toes ever so slightly curled. Matti grabbed the wheelchair and squeezed.

"Good," she said as she did the same thing to his left foot and got the same response from his body.
"Someday, you may walk again…" she said.
It was the first time anyone had said this. He hated being in a wheelchair. He hated people having to help him go to the bathroom. He hated being lifted in and out of bed by machines.

A middle aged man came into the room. His clothing was charcoal gray and was fitted like a butlers - prim, proper, and pressed.
"This is Alexander," the woman said.
"He will be your tutor," she said with a bit of a smile as Matti frowned.
"Being in a wheelchair does not get you out of school," she added.
"Alexander, show him to his room and help him get settled," she added as she walked out.
Matti did not like the sound of this…

---

Months passed and Alexander became like a grandfather to Matti. He taught Matti well. Not just the required subjects but skills he could use with his hands, carving, weaving, some woodworking and leather working, and a bit of metal working. As they worked on things, Alexander told Matti stories of the ancient times. Stories of when magic ruled the land, of witches and warlocks, great battles between good and evil magic. Matti was interested. Alexander eventually started teaching him the old language, about the gods, and the prayers. Matt's family were not religious and these stories were different from the fiction he read as a child. Matti soaked it in like the time he spent in nature.

One night while Matti was sitting out in the night sky watching shooting stars and the northern lights as they danced in the heavens. He sat in awe. Here there were billions of stars that could be seen unlike at home. This was as close to a sacred moment Matti had ever had.

Sitting in his wheelchair he chanted one of the old prayers, a prayer of gratitude and strength. As he sung, Matti heard an animal approaching. A black kitten. He continued. As the cat approached, light and pain filled the air. A broach appeared about the size of his hand. It glowed with a silver light and pulsed like the dancing lights in the sky. It felt like it came out of his chest, wracking him in sensations of pain and power. He gasped for breath as the kitten jumped up into his lap. He could feel the pressure of the cat's weight on his legs.

Matti did what all teenage boys are pronged to do, he hid both of the cat and the broach. Like what most teenagers learn, Alexander found them.


"I am not a witch!" Matti said in a loud voice in his room.
He had transitioned to being able to use a walker or canes some of the time. Heading for a chair near the bay window.
"Try to deny it as you will," the old man said with a smile.
"You have the gift," he added, setting the broach down on the table next to the chair.

"Musta!" Matti said as the cat did its dance of trying to kill him as he walked to the chair. Weaving between his legs and the canes.

Matti grabbed the arm of the chair and pivoted around, throwing his hips into the chair. Barely making it on the cushion. Alexander had been trying to teach Matti not to be so caught up in labels. Technically, Matti was a paraplegic. His legs were not working like they should and he could not feel it when he banged into things. Every day, they got a little stronger. It was a lie he told himself.

"Good. Only nine more times today," Alexander said with a paternal smile.
Physical therapy had been using Alexander to push Matti through the pain and to do his exercises.

Three new books appeared from Alexander's pockets and were placed on three different tables. One by the door, the fireplace, and at his bedside.

"Your young admirer would like a visit from Musta and you this afternoon," the older man said while taking the wheelchair out of the room.

Matti sighed and said, "But only girls receive broaches."
The older man laughed as he went through the door, "Things change, my dear boy.."

Matti put the broach in his pocket and pouted at the book problem.

The book by the door won. His admirer was Aili. A beautiful blond with long hair. She had a spinal injury that made her a quadriplegic. She and Matti hit it off well. They could commiserate about being far from home and their friends not that Matti had a lot of friends.

Matti, now, could recite the rules of conduct that her nurse would go over every time he visited. Matti viewed Aili more like a sister, most of the time. Her smile could light the room, though she now rarely smiled. It was dampened by the fact that there was always another woman in the room watching to make sure he behaved like a gentleman and to care for her.

The two of them did what teenagers do naturally, talk. Matti would tell her stories and sing some of the songs he had been learning. Musta would then get jealous of the attention that Matti gave Aili. Aili would play coy, then start to talk to Musta making Matti jealous, and then she would talk about gymnastics. Matti tried to follow the conversation but normally was distracted by thoughts of Aili doing flips and tumbling. Matti envied her for that. Matti envied her athletic abilities growing up. He was the kid that never got picked for sports. After one boisterous session, the nurse coldly said she would never walk again. Now Aili enveyed Matti's being able to get about even with canes.

Matti's powers started to truly manifest on Aili's birthday. Her parents came and after they visited, the nurse stepped out of the room with them. Matti leaned over her and closed his eyes and kissed her. With everything in him, he wanted her to get better. Power flowed out of him and into her.

He had been thinking of a healing chant he had just read and wishing he could heal her so she could tumble and fly again. She moaned and the world started to spin. Matti was not a stranger to falling, but this was different.

---

He woke to find himself lying in grass looking up at the sky. Musta laid on his chest and growled a deep growl every time someone tried to come near Matti.

"You need to get up," a young girl said to him.
"It is not safe to lay here. One of the professors is testing a magical wagon…" she continued.
There was the sound of a group of girls' laughter and the creak of wagon springs coming up the hill.
Matti and Musta moved as the sound drew nearer. Barely making it to the path before the wagon came flying by.
"Thank you," he said as he used the canes to finally stand.
The little girl looked at him with big brown eyes and asked him, "Are you a new student?"
A girl wearing a full robe with a hood called out to the little girl,
"Get away from him! Boys do not belong here."

The little girl pointed down a path. "Go, that way they will help you…" she said as she ran off.

Uneven ground was not something that Matti liked. It made his hip and back ache for hours. He used his canes and walked, children ran past him, groups of young people walked past heading places, some of the young people looked lost, a few boys were talking to girls, and other girls hugged each other and talked.
As he made his way along he realized he was the only one using canes to walk.
"What do you think, Musta?" He asked.
The cat looked at him and said, "You kissed Aili!!"
Her tone indicated that she was jealous and a bit upset.

Matti's mouth dropped as he stopped.
The cat turned and said, "You do not have time to stop! Come along."

They made it to the cabin as the crowd had thinned out. Matti waited in line. When it was his turn, the old woman in the shop waited for him to get his broach out. She finally had to tell him what to do.
"Place your broach on the counter," she said as patiently as if this was the first time she said it today.
Green fire erupted around the broach.

She pulled out a paper and said, "Here is your student visa. It is good for this year then it will disappear."

"Emerelda, go get his school clothes. He has a long walk to make," a long lackey figure appeared from the side room and quickly measured Matti up.
"Remember he will grow an inch or two over the year," she called.
The woman smiled and said, "Go on, I do not have all day."

Matti headed out, still lossed in what was going on.

 

[littlekreen]

Melody La Doux - Beneath the wishing tree

Beneath the wishing tree, about a curious ornament of predatory pedigree, was a small circle of interested and worried voices. The attention hardly bothered Melody, but she grew curious as the burlap face just faintly gained two sunken divots where eye slits crept open. Staring back at them as they started to poke her thick burlap clothes until a spoke of the wheel hurriedly parted the sea of young guardians and herded them away.

That firm voice of command told them with a tone they'd soon learn meant business, "Disperse! I'll handle this."

There was some begrudged grumbling of curiosity until one of Melody's hands took on muscularity and agency from the shoulder they dangled from. Eyes bulged as the heavy burlap gloves rapidly faded their texture in palming a student's head. A voice that smoothed as she breathed out dandelion seeds said down to them, "The Green is a wheel; you should listen to its spokes!"

There was a furor of piercing screams and laughter as the head turned to see Melody's tanned face and glinting eye take shape with its wicked glint of mirth too wide for her face. The rest of her body thickened and smoothed into either tan burlap clothing. The senior burned an evil eye at someone about to whistle as legs and hips filled out under weathered and dangling pants. Melody lifted her hands and shoulders to drop from the noose to the ground with a heavy thud against magic. The Wishing Tree yanked the loop that held her into the canopy as quickly as it had arrived.

The senior leaned in and stared at Melody's eye, seeing the broach, to frown for a moment, "As much as you are now our," there was a hesitation of a knowing mind not wanting to accidentally use the title of Predator among eavesdropping students before it was discussed among staff, " ah, have a guardian share, I won't deny you access. Do not eat here without permission. Head to the tent to get your identification."

Melody's face had finally lost its burlap texture in favor of a deep farmworker tan and made a smile that caused a murmur about the crowd, "Of course, spoke of the wheel; I serve the Green."

Quietly walking by in long, purposeful strides, with curious onlookers in tow working up the courage to ask her questions, Melody's glinting eye took a moment to stare at the creature hiding in Yuneskia's shadow—a wolf respectful to the mistress but too full to eat it right now and hungrily yearning anyway.

Soul brooch identification

She meandered but never stopped for breath, leaving a few less exercised trailing behind. Finally, showing up behind Matti, leaned to inspect his cane, then his familiar. Mixtures of frowns and consternation helped consider whether the spirit creature was tainted if, for a moment later, a smile concluded that the spirit creature was not. The panther was too cute to be food, even if she was allowed to eat it.

She waited patiently behind Matti and squinted one eye as he finished and got his visa in what looked like a wink. Her mouth split slightly to reach into a mouth of teeth and blackness and pulled out a broach backed with wicker and onyx and strange layers of ivory fangs.

The old woman raised an eye as someone whispered in her ear while Melody kept one eye closed to hand the broach over. Shortly the old woman is handed some candles and considers the change in procedure for a moment to begin preparing something slightly different. Namely, to suss out the correct name out of a multitude. The green flame flared again though it had a small cyclone of vibrant red ashes from the candles burning nearby. Melody peered at the student visa on offer, as an old eye considered her in turn, as it had a strange additional line she couldn't read. Put into a burlap pocket without a word shared as it was a puzzle for later.​

"We'll see about replacement clothes as soon as is practicable and come find you." Said the old woman to Melody as she busied cleaning candles up before the next in line. Melody nodded and hurried out since she didn't get much time to talk to people, working at night so often, and it seemed great fun to talk to awake people and their edible friends. She caught up with Matti soon after, though she still had one eye closed until she put her broach back in her mouth. The eye opened to writhing bone-white wicker as the missing amber eyeball quickly bobbed forward into place like a porcelain doll's eye pushed from inside.

The cadence was slightly off as she hadn't used her voice often for things not completely rote, so she had to think of how to hold a conversation, "You are... Matti? Hello! I'm Melody. Do you know why the Green brings us here?"

She looked down at the familiar with a friendly eye and a full voice, "I'm used to being called to handle naughty night creatures. I like your good kitty."

 

[SilverPaw]

Anwen Kier
Under Stvena's Wishing Tree
@Nougat Yunek, @PolyesterH Daniela​

Anwen listened attentively, fascinated. "Forces of Darkness," she repeated the phrase. That was familiar – one of the ways people in her world referred to the curse. Vampires sounded vaguely similar to the Malignant; pitiful creatures driven mad and violent, whose goal it seemed to be to spread the curse as much as they could before being taken by it. "…They can be negotiated with?" That struck her as incredibly bizarre. Maybe some desperate folk in Daniela's world were trying some very unlikely things to survive.

"Nice to meet you, Daniela, Yunek," she nodded at each of them. The vampire slayer's question immediately made her think of Maer.

No. However, just as immediate was the dragon's intensely growled denial at her idea.

"Er…" she looked at the shadow Tazi was hiding in. But the hound was just as disinclined to interact. Thankfully, Yunek had a good answer. "Right. The easiest will be finding a spirit here who's up for chatting…But the people in my world who can't do it innately do a lot of meditation, and the like. If you can start sensing your own energies, then in time, you can sense others' too…If we're really built all the same."

Yunek's words had given her food for though. Could it be possible for living beings not to have spiritual energy at all? According to her homeworld's beliefs, that was impossible. Anwen was hesitant to even consider the idea. Maybe, she'd make it one of her goals to try going around from person and person and seeing if she could sense their energy. Though, even if she couldn't, that didn't necessarily mean that there wasn't any. What a conundrum.

After a moment of distraction, she returned to the conversation. "Hmm, I don't know anyone from back home that knew about this place either." But when she told them about it, they were relatively accepting of the idea, even if they understood it as little as (or even less than) she did.

Anwen suddenly beamed at the older boy's idea. "Yes! Let's explore! Oooh, I haven't seen much of here, so please show us around! You can tell us about your 'keepers' too if you want to," she said. The excitement of seeing all the University had to offer lent a sparkle to her eyes, and she spun once in a circle in her giddiness. "Where first?" she asked eagerly, turning to Yuneksia for guidance.

 

[Nougat]

Yuneksia Endrimm
Under The Wishing Tree > The Bulletin Boards of Fate ⋅ @PolyesterH @SilverPaw

Though Yunek resolutely paid no attention to other commotion around him, lest he be dragged into another conversation, Tazi certainly noticed the negative attention that was cast on it for but a moment. The creature inched closer to Yunek, trusting its companion to keep it safe. Yunek, in turn, shifted his stance to block Tazi from whatever it was it had noticed, though he himself had not paid any attention to the girl who passed them by as she left at all, much more focused on the conversation he was currently a part of.

Anwen was remarkably more enthusiastic about exploring campus than Yunek recalled himself being on his first day. Granted, the guidance counselor he met when he was first brought to the World Between was quick to explain the contentious issue of his general existence, which may have somewhat dulled his excitement about going to school. Her excitement did make Yunek feel like he ought to at least try to give a good tour of the grounds for the two first-years. Pawning them off to one of the Academy Guides was still an option if he saw one, though.

Yunek headed for the stairs, half-turned towards the two girls to talk as he led them away, trusting Tazi to give him some warning if he were about to trip, so long as it was more likely to cause injury than entertainment for the creature. It took very little encouragement on their ends for him to launch into the stories of his home world; he always appreciated the chance to talk about the place he wanted to protect. "The keepers from my world have some vague similarities to those 'vampires,'" he started off as he began to walk up the stairs. His voice held a certain gravity, his tone somber. "Creatures that hide in the shadows, only coming out in the darkness of night to prey on the unwitting. They were supposedly guardians of the land, but something went wrong along the way. Perhaps they were corrupted, or perhaps they decided that humans are the enemy they must defend against. Some tales say that their silhouettes appear almost like someone that you loved and has disappeared, and it is only until you are right in front of them that you can see what they really are. Others say that they can truly take the form of someone who is gone, though the disguise slowly sheds throughout the night. Either way, by the time you realize what you are with, it's too late to get away. It's for this reason that my village had adopted the practice of destroying all traces of those who are dead or disappeared. If you have no attachments to those that are gone, their appearance cannot be used to deceive you."

He'd spoken slowly enough and walked quickly enough that the story finished at the same time that he reached the top of the stairs. Whether that was purposeful or coincidental, Yunek would neither confirm nor deny. He turned fully towards the two girls, shrugging his shoulders. His tone was much more casual when he spoke next. "Not everyone believes that keepers are more than a story to keep children in bed at night, but it's really as plausible as a sentient forest kidnapping villagers, so make of it as you will." Yunek had his own opinions, of course, but decided against dragging the girls into an hours-long discussion of a world they knew nothing about. Even the people in the Village didn't want to hear what he had to say, much less some people with absolutely no stake in the game.

"In any case, I think we should make sure you have everything you need, first of all," he said, making his way up the stairs. "Mainly your student visas and your class assignments. Once you have those, we're free to visit anything that might interest you. Wolpurgiswora University is quite large, so there's bound to be something you would like."

Initially, he'd planned to head for the soul brooch identification to get his visa, but Tazi, still hidden in Yunek's shadow, resolutely refused to move in that direction, turning instead towards the bulletin boards. On his part, Yunek gave very little resistance. As long as he got everything done, the order didn't particularly matter to him. As he walked towards the bulletin boards of fate, Yunek kept up a surprisingly steady stream of words. "You would like the library on campus if you have any interest in reading. I also like the flying pitch, personally, but I'm in Starswallow so I think it'd be bad if I didn't enjoy heights at least a little–on that note, we should probably stick with the main campus for now, but if you enjoy fighting, Oatharvest Academy has a space where you can freely fight without worry about killing anyone." It wasn't something Yunek was too interested in, but seeing as Daniela had arrived dripping in blood and swinging her lance, he thought it might be worth a mention.