Chronicles of a Monstrous Academy

[LadyHarpy]

"Clarissa." She answered simply as she smiled at the new attention. "What's your's?"

[Maeve]

"She's with us," Ophelia said as she checked the name on the list. She then lifted her head and smile at the new girl. "I'm Ophelia. Nice to meet you."

"Good! I'm Aurelia, and this is Lily, and Melanie," the blond girl added, pointing at the two others following them. "And what's your name, little guy?" she asked to the young boy.

[MelancholyMelody~]

Lily lifted a hand as she was introduced and said simply, "Hi." She turned to Harmony. "You wanna stick with us or go flying outside, it probably won't be very interesting here." Harmony smiled and stood closer to her, signalling she wanted to stay. Lily smiled and turned to Venus. "How about you, Venus?" Venus nodded her head and shifted closer too. At least she'd have her Monsters with her, that was better than being alone.

Tate looked up as the older girl asked for his name and referred to him as "little guy". He sighed inwardly. There was nothing he could do. He was almost the youngest in the group and the only male. This was bound to happen. It was better than them treating him differently because he was homeless, though.

"I'm Tate. Just...Tate." He looked to the other girl who'd approached him and Clarissa first. "What about you? I didn't get your name."

[Tsemara]

Melanie felt completely out of place. But she guessed that she was bound to feel that way for for the time being. Any minute now, I'm going to wake up in a hospital somewhere with a concussion. And this is all a product of a doctor induced painkiller overdose. Wouldn't that be a kick? I think I'd raise hell on Earth, if that was the case. She hesitated a moment before following the others. The idea of being in close proximity with creatures that she had formally believed were incapable of living peacefully with humans was not a calming thought. It was possible, though. Just not in a lot of things she read.

Then, the last thing she wanted was to be in a large group of people that were likely shorter than her, that she didn't know, being dragged around some fantasy world where things that would usually eat adventurers can be domesticated. That was something she wanted to do by herself. Though that wasn't the brightest idea she'd had in a while.

The redhead made a casual wave when she was introduced to another set of new people.

[BubbleTrouble]

Lucia looked over as Aurelia came over along with Ophelia. It seemed like they were becoming quite a large crowd. After Aurelia had introduced herself to the newbies along with her younger female companion, Lucia turned to Tate to answer his question, "I'm Lucia, nice to meet you," she said with a smile. She the turned to Aurelia, "Aurelia, the board says mostly that I should just help where I can, have you got any use for me?" Lucia figured if nothing else she could tag along on some of the missions with one of the groups.

[Tsemara]

Melanie listened to the exchange between the old and new students. She felt a bit odd, being in the company of people shorter than her. True, that was something that happened quite a bit. However these were new people. Aurelia might have been shorter than her by a couple inches, but it was enough for the redhead to feel slightly self consious.

Banishing the thoughts from her head, she moved closer to where Lily stood with her monsters. The others looked like they would be busy making plans. She hesitated, slightly, being in close proximity to the harpy. Up close, the bird woman was facinating. Mel had to remind herself that she shouldn't stare. Neither people nor birds cared to be stared at. She leaned over, to speak with Lily. "So how does this place work? Are we going to be placed is different houses and crazy stuff like that? Or is this just an every man for themselves kind of place?

"And do we have to pay for our things? Because I don't think I've got anything to cover school supplies and uniforms and stuff."

[Maeve]

"Bah, not really," Aurelia first answered to Lucia, "but you can come along with us if you want. The more the merrier, right?" And the more older students they could have, the less work Aurelia would have to do. The blond then took a look at the list Ophelia was holding and moved to a nearby table where a couples of newbies were sitting, quickly finding the rest of her little group.

"I think we have everyone," Ophelia said after she checked the list. She then lifted her head from the sheet and took a few seconds to explain the visit they were going to do, telling the younger kids they could ask any question they had and all, and introduced herself and the other higher-level students around.

"So, off we go," Aurelia said, leading the now somewhat large group outside of the hall. Once she got close to the door, she stopped for a second, pointing at a large board on the wall. "This is the Board of the Academy. It's the place where you can find information about what's going on in the school, available missions, exams and all." She took a small pause, waiting to see if anyone had a question.

[MelancholyMelody~]

Lily noticed Harmony fidgeting a little at her side and turned to see Melanie had moved closer to them. She placed a hand on the Harpy's shoulder to settle her and the Monster stilled. She heard the other girl's voice and turned back to her to listen, knowing at least that looking at the person who is talking to you is the polite thing to do.

"Don't worry, you don't have to pay, everything's on the house. This is...well, it's your new home now." Lily paused for a moment, not wanting to bring up the subject of never going home again so soon. Instead she turned her attention to the other questions Melanie had asked her.

"Well, we used to have houses but..." The other girl seemed old enough to know the truth, even if the younger kids could have it kept from them for a while. "There was some trouble a few years back and we...lost a lot of people. We don't really have enough for the different houses thing to be... The point is, for now, no. But it's not just everyone on their own. You have to learn a few things about this world, Terra, then you can take a test and if you pass, showing you have the basic knowledge needed, you get your first badge, a bronze one, your first Monster, and you're placed on a team with two other bronze badges, along with a mentor who'll take care of you all and help to teach you. You go on missions, varying in difficulty, obviously the harder ones left for the higher ranks of student and teacher. You can take more tests later on to advance in level from bronze to silver, gold, and then platinum which is... I guess I'm getting ahead of myself," she sighed. "You'll learn a lot more soon enough, but you get the basic idea for now, right?"

Harmony smiled and jumped around beside her, making small noises. Lily gave a small smile back and ruffled her hair. "Settle, you. Oh," she turned to Melanie, realising she should introduce her Monsters. "This is Harmony, by the way, and that's Venus," she pointed over her shoulder to the giant Venus fly trap that tilted its head down a little in greeting.

Before long a large group had gathered, Lily trying to remain at the back and away from the crowd as they began the tour.


"Likewise," Tate answered the girl who introduced herself as Lucia, thinking maybe he'd been too swift to judge someone once again. But it was only natural to be on edge under the circumstances.

He remained quiet as the girls talked and sorted things out, following behind them as they headed off to get together with whoever else was listed on the sheet. Sadly it seemed the group he was in was a rather large one. He was soon surrounded by people, and he didn't like it one bit. He swiftly made his way out of the crowd and stood to one side, keeping a small distance between himself and those on the outside of the group.

Soon they were moving, but before they'd even begun they were stopping again. He looked over as he heard Aurelia's voice. "This is the Board of the Academy. It's the place where you can find information about what's going on in the school, available missions, exams and all."

"Missions? Exams? Oh shit. Great, now I'm part of a Goddamn school system again. And this time it's not like I can just live on the streets with all these friggin' monsters around."

Aurelia took a small pause as though waiting to see if anyone had a question. Tate certainly had a few, but he wasn't about to draw attention to himself. He could wait to be filled in later on, or ask at the end of the tour; most questions would probably be answered along the way, anyway, or so anyone with a brain would be able to guess, he thought.

Suddenly someone stuck their hand in the air and shouted out. "SO WE'RE LIVING HERE NOW!?" Tate rolled his eyes. He wanted to know the answer as much as anyone, but shouting out questions that would more than likely be answered in the next few minutes was stupid, not to mention raising your hand and then not waiting for anyone to even notice it before you start yelling. Still, the person continued.

"WE HAVE TO COME TO SCHOOL HERE!? WHAT ABOUT OUR HOMES?!!"

He had to fight every fiber of his being not to punch the kid in the face and shout as loud as he could into their ear for them to shut up and let the people in charge speak.

[Maeve]

((I Tate!))

Aurelia looked at the kid who had just shouted questions to her. She didn't really appreciate it, though in the situation, it was somewhat understandable. After all, most of the kids had arrived a few days, or just hours, before the gathering of this morning and didn't had any explanation as far as where they were and what was going on.

Aurelia sighed and shook her head. It was always a rough time, having to tell those kids they would probably never see their home and family again... She took a look at Ophelia standing not too far from her, apparently thinking the same as herself. It was better to tell them the truth now, before they learn it by themselves. "Let's go sit in the stairs in the entrance hall," she said, pointing through the doors to a large stone staircase in the entrance hall, leading to the upper floors of the school. The room was empty and the stairs could provide sitting, since this was going to be a long explanation.

The blond leaded the way and waited for the kids, or most of them at least, to sit down. She stood in front of the group, just far enough to be able to see everyone. They all seemed so young. She sighed once more, then look at the other higher-level students, hoping one of them would speak up. Though, she was the oldest of them all, and it was her duty to explain everything to the newcomers. She sighed once more and started:

"To answer your questions," she said while looking at the kid who had yelled before, then at the rest of the group, "yes, you're living here now. As some of you might have heard or remember, you all crossed what we call a portal. Portals link the Earth and this world, called Terra, together."

She took a pause before continuing. "This school was set up to greet newbies like you and to teach you the basic about this world, so that you could at least survive in it. You might have realized it, but Terra is somewhat different from the Earth. For example, it has a larger variety of living creatures," she said, pointing at her naga companion waiting beside her. "So yes, you will need to go to school here."

She waited a little, wondering how to approach the final question, the one about homes... Before she could say anything, a young girl lifted her hand. "Yeah?" Aurelia asked. "So, we could just cross another portal and get back home, right?" the girl said. "Hmm, not really," Aurelia slowly said, trying the best way to phrase her thoughts. Before the kids had the time to start muttering, she pursued: "Portals appear at random, and link many worlds and planes together. Technically, you could just cross a portal back to Earth, but as of now, we have no way of creating portals, and no way of knowing exactly which world is linked through the randomly appearing portals." She took a pause to breath and noted the expression on the kids face. Some, among the oldest, had apparently understood what she was saying, while the younger kids still looked unsure of what that meant.

"So there's no way to get back to our home?" a girl who appeared almost as old as Aurelia asked. "For now, no," Aurelia simply answered. She knew it was hard, especially for kids, to suddenly be ripped out of their normal lives, and she wanted to leave them enough time to understand the situation and ask all the questions and concerns they might have. After a minute or so, the girl spoke again. "For now?" she just asked, looking back at Aurelia. "Does that mean we will be able to go back home later?"

Aurelia took a little time to really think to her answer. It wasn't really in her habits, but she didn't want to give the newbies hope where there wasn't much. "The Academy has three main goal. The first is to greet and teach newcomers to this world; the second is to help the nearby population, and the third is to study this world. This includes the study of portals and other strange phenomenons. Some of the higher-level students and teachers are working on this, but it is unlikely they will get anything real soon."

She left the kids a little time to think, then asked nicely: "So, does anyone have another question?"

[Tsemara]

Melanie listened to Lily's explanation avidly. The redhead was slightly relieved to know that she wasn't expected to pay for her non-negotionable schooling, nor for boarding. On the one hand, she was thrilled at the opportunity to be part of this world. On the other, she found herself on the depressed side at the thought of not being able to see her family. For now anyway.

She began to wonder what kind of troubles occured that would wipe out enough people to make the houses superflous. This is a fantasy world. YOU figure it out, Mel. Point taken. There were probably monsters that didn't care for human companionship. Even still... "I think I understand. You have to admit, this is a lot to take in at one time," she replied to Lily's question.

"Nice to meet you, Harmony." She greeted the harpy. "Sorry if I startled you." Melanie was tempted to offer a hand in greeting, but she wasn't sure what kind of reaction she would get. She was a bit more than a foot taller than the monster, but she knew enough about harpies that she didn't want to know what would happen if she freaked the bird woman out.

The redhead gave Venus a polite bow, having been introduced to the animated, carnivorous plant, before.

When the actual tour began, Melanie turned her attention to the leader of the group. The shouter irked the redhead, if only for the fact that she was not fond of people who yelled unnecessarily. Aurelia's explaination of the situation was incredibly disheartening. It would have been nice to have some access back home. Or at least her cousin to share the adventure with. He'd probably get a kick out of this place too.

She waited a moment, after Aurelia inquired about more questions. The redhead tenitively raised a hind, feeling slightly foolish in doing so. When she was certain that she had gotten the older student's attention she voiced one, well two, of her myriad of questions. "Out of curiosity, what do you mean by helping the nearby pouplation? Does that have something to do with the 'missions' you were talking about earlier?"

[Kuma]

((<- Maeve
Sorry, I'm too lazy to switch to my main now...))

Aurelia looked at Mel and waited for her to ask her questions. "Yup, partially at least," she answered with a smile. At least some of the kids seemed to have understood the situation enough to notice it wasn't such a bad thing. The blond continued her answer, thinking it was probably a good idea to go over the basics sooner than later. "The Academy needs supplies and resources to be able to work properly. Since we don't have much time to grow our own food or mine or forge things, we need the help of the nearby populations to be able to survive. We protect them and help them when they need it and, in exchange, they send us everything we need. Plus, it's a good way for newcomers like you to start your journey in this world, without having to face horrible dangers and all that kind of stuff."

"Now, you don't need to worry. Most of the time, the locals only ask us to bring them some small things they need to complete an order or to chase small critters from their fields. Before you start to do missions, you will receive a small formation about this world and this school, just enough to ensure you won't end up being eaten alive by something. Your classes, will start tomorrow, and I'll show you where the classrooms are later. Once that's done, you will be teamed up with two other newbie students and one higher-level one. That student, your mentor, will be the one guiding you through the world and teaching you what you need to know. Mentors all have their own ways of teaching, but they have all been chosen because they have the qualities and abilities needed to show you around and help you grow."

The blond took a pause and then asked: "Anything else?"

[LadyHarpy]

(sorry for not posting in awhile, i was in the process of moving)

Clarissa Listened intently to all the new information and followed closely to the front. Years of being the top student made it a habit of her's. She couldn't help but think that this world was like one of the many fantasy books that she read when she wasn't studying. The monsters were amazing and she couldn't wait to make on her friend. She raised her hand like she did back in class back home, her face gone from cheery to serious and demanding in some sort of way.

"Do we get to choose our monster's when we get them or are they just assigned to us?"

[BubbleTrouble]

Bah, not really, but you can come along with us if you want. The more the merrier, right?" Aurelia said to Lucia. The younger girl nodded to the blonde, she decided she would tag along, she could be of use after all. "The more the merrier," she repeated the older girl. "I'll just go and tell them my plans in the ward... don't worry I'll catch up." Lucia ran away, politely making her way through the small group. "See you again in a second!" She waved a little. It wouldn't take her long to get someone to cover for her, but she might have to change too.

She arrived back a little way through Aurelia allowing the kids to ask questions, she waited patiently at the back of the group.

[Maeve]

Aurelia smiled as she saw Lucia had come back, then she brought her attention back on one of the new girls who was asking a question about the monsters. "Your first monster is usually chosen by the school, simply because we judge that most of you don't have the knowledge to pick a monster that will suit you and will rather pick one that you find cute, which isn't always a good idea. The other ones are obtained by various methods, but in all case, you will be able to chose if you want them or not in your team. You will get a class on monsters soon though, where you will learn about all that kind of things." The blond paused, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to ask something.

[MelancholyMelody~]

{{Tee hee! I'm glad, Maeve! He's so much fun. :'D}}

"I think I understand. You have to admit, this is a lot to take in at one time," Melanie replied to Lily's question.
"Yeah. Don't worry, you'll get the hang of things. We were all in your position once, so you never have to hesitate to ask us things, even if you think it's something stupid. We all felt that way when we first arrived," she offered the other girl a smile. As she greeted Harmony the Harpy smiled and nodded her head to her, seeming to accept her. Although she liked playing with younger people because of their energy and enthusiasm being close to her own, she much preferred the way older people acted, especially when meeting her for the first time. Getting her feathers pulled and being poked at was never fun; older people knew better than to do things like that though.

Lily kept to one side, a short distance from the group as they gathered on the stairs, making herself closer to some of the older students. This way, if she was asked anything during the tour, she'd always have someone to help her out if she was finding it hard to explain things. The young woman sighed as she thought to herself she was definitely going to have to practice this more if she was going to be a mentor. She was going to have to teach three people about this world, how to survive, how everything worked, and if they ever did anything wrong it was like she was their parent; it would be all her fault for not teaching them any better.

The thought alone was exhausting, and she began to question whether she was really up to it. Surely she wouldn't have been chosen those in charge didn't think she could handle it, but then again with the way things were with the people in charge at the moment it was very possible they had simply seen her badge level and experience and assigned her to be a mentor without thinking about her personality as an individual.

She watched over the group of newcomers to the world, seeing their reactions to learning this was it. They would probably never go home. For her it hadn't been as bad. Lily had had nothing left to live for in her home-world, and the Academy had saved her life as far as she was concerned. She tried to imagine what it would be like to have to leave those she loved behind. She thought of what she would have felt like if her mother had still been alive and she'd disappeared, leaving her alone. Suddenly she could relate to the looks of despair on some of the newbie's faces. Even the idea was awful, but having it really happen? She didn't envy them.

The thought occurred to her that she'd also be having to deal with their feelings about wanting to go home and missing their loved ones. She could feel a headache starting to emerge.


The girl who'd introduced herself as Lucia said she was heading off to the ward to tell them about her plans. The ward. "Dammit, she's a doctor or...nurse or something. No wonder her first question was if I needed medical treatment... I guess it wasn't all about my appearance at least... Stupid," Tate thought to himself, and though he decided not to judge people on what they said, more specifically what they said to him, he knew about five seconds later he'd be doing the same thing.

He squatted down beside the banister one side of the stairs, a little way away from the rest of the crowd, and listened silently as Aurelia answered the rude kid's questions. So it was official. There was no way home. While others the same age and even older than him struggled to understand, he got it immediately. More so than a lot of even the oldest probably did. It was most likely that they'd all live out the rest of their lives here. They would die here. Finding a way home wasn't going to happen any time soon, so they'd all be lucky if it did happen in their lifetimes.

He wasn't really unhappy about it, he had to admit. There was no real life for him in the world he came from. However he wasn't exactly happy about it either. After all, if nothing else at least he knew how to survive on Earth, now he had to learn about an entire new world. Not a city, not a state, not even a country. A world. A whole, wide, and extremely different world. Full of monsters. But...this world offered him free food, free clothes, a free roof over his head and an actual bed to sleep in at night. So for now, this world was the winner. And that helped a lot in dealing with being stuck here.

One of the other new girls from before, the older one, Mel, then raised her hand and asked about missions and helping people. He stayed quiet as Aurelia answered, interested in finding out more.
"Looks like I don't have a choice in that either...but they had to ask for something in return for a home, clothes and three meals a day... Maybe it could even be...fun? At least...I'd have people to fall back on. Not that I need it," he quickly caught himself. He knew eventually he'd have to rely on someone again. It had been a long time since he'd had to do that to the level he was going to now. He prided himself on being able to take care of himself down to every last little thing, now he was going to have to go back to almost being a little kid again.

He sighed heavily, wondering if there was any way to get out of this deal, if maybe he could just get a job in one of the towns, or even at the castle, and pay for a little place of his own or something. Suddenly the other new girl, Clarissa, raised her hand with a question. Again he remained silent, listening to the answer. Everything seemed to make enough sense. Still, something was bothering him. There was one answer that hadn't been given. It didn't sound like it was going to be randomly, either.

He looked around. Nobody else was raising a hand. He sighed, realising he'd have to ask by himself if he wanted an answer. Slowly he stood up and raised a hand, making sure he'd be seen on the edge of the crowd. Aurelia looked to him and he asked. "This might be a little...vague, and maybe you don't even know the answer yourself, but... Why are we here?"