Chronicles of a Monstrous Academy

[Tsemara]

Melanie thought about items that would allow water based creatures to survive on land for a period of time. Obviously this didn't mean leaving them out in a desert somewhere, but all the same, she wondered what the limits were. "With those things that allow water based creatures to survive out of their element, is there also something that would allow an air breather to survive underwater for a period of time, like if they needed to go on a quest or something like that?"

The redhead noticed how preoccupied Ophelia was with the locking mechanism on the door ahead. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she nodded when asked if she was ready. All the same she remained just outside the door, waiting to be invited into the room. She didn't want to barge in and offend whatever might be lurking within.

She was a bit surprised to see how empty the room was. She went over the list of different monsters she knew about. And what kind of name was Jekyll? She used to know a pair of ravens named Heckle and Jekyll but she hardly thought this was the case. Jekyll and Hyde? Hide? Hiding? I'm overthinking this, I'm sure. When the chest shook, she figured she had a really good idea what lived in the room. It's not an animated chest, I know this much. And its' probably not possessed. It's either a boggart, a mimic or bugger, what the heck are they called?! She gave up guessing, and waited to see what happened next.

[Maeve]

Ophelia looked back at Melanie, realizing she had not answered her last question. She blushed lightly, but quickly turned her attention back on Jekyll again. "Yes, there's also some devices that allow air breather to go underwater for a certain period of time. Though, for some reasons I don,t understand, it's way more difficult to make that kind of device than to make one for water breathing creature to survive on land. So the few we have are kept for important business." She paused, still looking at the shaking chest.

Suddenly, the two handles on each side seemed to break, creating arm-like structure finished by hands of screws and metal. The cover lifted, revealing two large, apparently sleepy eyes, two rows of pointy teeth. A large tongue came out and stretched slowly toward the apple Ophelia was holding. "You know I don,t like when you do that," the girl said, bringing the apple closer to her so the monster couldn't have it.

"Whatd'ya wan," the mimic box said, its large tongue forbidding it from articulating properly. It brought it back into its body, taking the time to shine its teeth before. "Be nice for once, we have a guest," she said, nodding in Melanie's direction, before throwing the apple at Jekyll's bottom. She hoped the manners of Jekyll had not frighten the other girl, as the monster's tongue came out once more to grab the juicy fruit. "Mel, this is Jekyll," she said, smiling faintly.

[Tsemara]

Melanie decided that she'd try to figure out the breathing devices later. For now, her attention was centered on the chest. He boggart theory flew out the window the moment arms broke away from the main body. She nearly swallowed her tongue as she tried not to say what was on her mind. It wasn't exactly proper to say in any sort of company.

It was one thing to play games that involved mimics. Didn't matter if it was a tabletop or a video game. Neither medium had sufficiently prepared her for the real thing. It was astounding. She made an honest attempt not to stare, even if it didn't seem that way. The redhead was pretty sure she was gaping like a suffocating fish. The fact that it could talk astounded her even more. More than anything it made the situation seem like one of those 'holy shit! a talking chicken!' moments. Except it wasn't a chicken. It was a treasure chest.

Mel made a wierd strangled sound before shaking her head. She appeared to have gotten a grip on herself and let out a friendly, "Pleasure to meet you, Jekyll." It's certainly a fitting name. She still hadn't entered the room, not having been invited inside. She didn't want to offend the mimic. In most of her experiences, even if they were the products of a game, they weren't exactly the most friendly things.

[Maeve]

Ophelia looked at Melanie. True, she looked a bit shocked, but at least she hadn't ran away screaming. The girl blushed lightly as she realized she had not invited the other into the room. She had not thought about it, but she knew that if the opposite situation had happened, she would have waited before entering the room. "You can enter, if you want," she said with a small smile. She then turned her attention back to Jekyll.

Apparently, the mimic was trying to figure how he could get another apple. He looked at his owner, then at the other girl. He let go a strange muttering sound, something that could be interpreted as a salutation for Mel, though even Ophelia was not entirely sure of what it meant. At least he didn't jumped on her, she thought with a shrug.

Truth is, Ophelia would have preferred having a gentle monster, something fluffy and furry, like a cat with wings. It would have been much easier to introduce it to newcomers. But it wasn't the case, and she was stuck with Jekyll. Not that she didn't like him... He was just, well, a mimic.

"So, what do you want?" the creature asked again, not finding any sign of another apple coming his way. "Oh, uh," Ophelia hesitated, being a bit lost in her thoughts. "Oh, yeah, I was wondering how you were doing and Melanie is new around here, and she wanted to see some monsters," the girl hastened an answer. "I'm fine," the mimic replied, apparently a bit annoyed.

Ophelia wasn't sure of what to do next, so she offered the first thing that came to her mind. "Want to come and walk around with us?" Noticing the doubtful look in the mimic's eyes, she added: "I'll give you an apple if you do." The box let go a sigh in agreement, before jumping out of the room. "C'mon girls, I ain't got all day!" Jekyll said, looking at the two girl. Ophelia let Mel passed before she exited the room, closing the door behind them. Apparently, the mimic was in a good mood and had decided to show the girls around, so he quickly leaded the way in the stables, commenting on the various creatures they met.

[Tsemara]

Melanie entered the room, at the invitation. She still kept a respectable distance from the mimic. She didn't want to completely geek, or was that nerd, out by trying getting to curious, or whatever. Jekyll seemed to want something from the other girl. It seemed to like the apple it had been given. Mel seriously attempted not to break her brain over how it digested its' food. Mimics just couldn't exist, like babelfish, gelatinous cubes, hydras, and bumblebees. Seriously. What was up with those little buggers? Science failed there.

Lost in her thoughts, Melanie almost missed what had been said. Though she understood the results. Jekyll was going to uh, hop, along with them as they wandered about. And he was going to get an apple out of it. She followed along, listening to the monster talk about his neighbors. She couldn't help but grin.

[Maeve]

Ophelia followed the mimic, staying beside Melanie in case the other had some questions. She nodded slightly in excuse at two other students while Jekyll called their monsters, some large bird that looked a bit like chocobos, "giant turkeys". The girl sighed as she followed her monster. The mimic just wasn't a friendly creature, and there was nothing she could do about it.

After a few minutes of walking around the stables, the little group had come across a good variety of monsters. Some that looked like giant animals, interesting but overall not that impressive, but also weirder ones. They had crossed one of the large doors leading outside and were getting closer to some giant fences. "That's the lizards' lair," Jekyll said. "They're big, but really dumb too," the mimic added with a grin. Well, as well as chest could grin anyway. Ophelia let go another small sigh. She knew far too well that the lizards - hydras, basilisks and wingless dragons - were a hundred times stronger than Jekyll, but the mimic seemed to think it wasn't the case.

Lost in her thoughts, the girl jumped in surprise when she heard her watch ringing. "Uh," she let go as she looked down to the device tied to her wrist. The screen was flashing, showing the time and a little note under that said "official dinner". "Oh, right, the ceremony," she let go out loud before looking at Mel. "Hm, I think Aurelia said it during the tour, but there's a special dinner tonight, for the newbies and all," she started to explain. "So, we should go back to the school soon if we want to get there in time. And I need to go grab Aurelia too," she added.

Though she didn't want to force the other to come, the first dinner of the year was always a good time for newcomers to meet other people and get more information. She then looked at Jekyll. "Are you coming with us?" she asked the mimic, who took a few seconds before answering with some mumbling that apparently meant yes. Ophelia looked back at Mel, waiting for her reaction before doing anything.

[Tsemara]

Melanie listened to the mimic as he showed them around. Every so often, she'd look over at Ophelia. It seemed that the monster was making up or puposefully getting some information wrong. Rude, foolhardy or delusional, the monster was giving her an interesting tour. The teenager sometimes would double-take if she recognized a particular creature.

It took her a couple moments to realize the bizzare out of place sound was coming from her wrist, as well and her human companions'. The alarm wasn't the worst one she'd ever heard. But Mel was certain she would grow to hate it, like every other alarm she'd ever had. She poked around her watch until it shut off. She didn't remember anything about a dinner. However, she figure that with everything that had happened that day, it was a wonder she remembered her name. She nodded and followed after her guide.

"I-we don't need to wear the uniform, or do anything special do we?" Melanie inquired. Just because she was new didn't mean she was allowed to botch certain things up.

[Maeve]

"No, you don't need to do anything special," Ophelia said with a smile to reassure the other, leading the way back to the school. "It's still your first day around, so you don't need to wear the uniform either," she added as they approached a side door and entered the building. The girl leaded her little group through some narrow halls and staircases until they were back to the house. She walked up to the couch where Aurelia was sitting, two young newcomers beside her petting her lynx.

The blond girl gave a look as they approached, a curious look on her face. "What do you want?" she asked Ophelia, having the bad feeling she would need to do something soon.

"Well, it's time to go to the dinner, remember?" the younger girl said. "Haven't you heard the alarm?" she added, pointing at her watch.

"Nah, I turned it off," the blond said like if it was the most normal thing to do, getting up and stretching her arms at the same time. She was a bit surprised to see Jekyll with the girls, but refrain from commenting for once. She loved the mimic, though it wasn't the best creature in public area. She made a sign to the younger newbies beside her to follow them, before leading the way out of the house.

As they approached the dining hall, a small crowd was already gathering. Aurelia leaded the way to a free table, not too far from where the teachers would be sitting. As usual, most of the other students had brought their monsters with them, which was making the room a bit noisier than usual. This would surely be an interesting evening, she thought as she sat down, her lynx laying down beside her feet.

Ophelia took a place in front of her friend. She let a space for Jekyll, though apparently the mimic had gone into a corner to play some tricks to other students. The girl let go a small sigh and decided not to care for a while. The mimic wouldn't listen to her anyway if she told him to stop.

Aurelia waited for the crowd to settle down around them before she spoke. "So Mel, how do you find the school?" she asked, trying to find something to occupy them while they waited.

[Tsemara]

Mealnie was relieved to hear that she didn't need to do anything special for this "official dinner". Though, with anything that had the word 'official' in it, it seemed like it should have been a slacks and nice shirt kind of thing at least. But she wasn't going to worry about it if the others didn't.

She waited for Ophelia to fetch Aurelia, still a bit confused as to why the blond girl held such a high rank. But as Jekyll had shown, looks can be decieving. And if this was all just an act to make her seem absent minded or whatever, then there was a good reason to respect the older girl. But that all remained to be seen.

In the dining hall, Mel still found herself staring at some of the monsters. Some of them, she believed, had been seen during the tour. She found herself sitting beside Aurelia, once she had stopp looking at a monster that she didn't recognize. She thought for a bit, before answering the blond's question.

"Honestly? I'm a little confused as to how I should feel about this place. I mean, on the one hand, this place is so insanely awesome, that I'm afraid that I'm going to wake up and find out I made it all up. It's like the fantasy of most geeks or nerds, depending on who you talk to." She held her hands up to make her point. "But on the other hand, I'm completely overwhelmed. Magic is suddenly real. I'm back in school. I have to wear a uniform. The monster under the bed is real, and probably not the worst thing I could possibly meet. It's like getting stuck in a tabletop game, and the DM is the kind of jerk that'll drag the game on until you want to eat your stats sheet." Mel realized that she had said something extremely geeky. She blushed slightly.

"Uh, sorry about that. I'm going to guess that you have no idea what that last stament was all about. I'll try not to do it again."

[Maeve]

Aurelia laughed lightly. "Don't worry, we all come from Earth," she said, smiling at Mel. "Not that I was into any of those things," she added, "but I still remember some little bookworms playing those things." She gave a look at Ophelia, but didn't say anything.

"Anyway, don't worry, you'll get use to it. Though it's a bit overwhelming at first, once you've learned a bit about this world you'll realize it's just like Earth. Well, with a couple monsters running around..." The blond turned her head toward the teachers' table. The seats were all empty, and there was no sign of anyone showing up soon. "Late again," she said before returning her attention to the people surrounding her.

Ophelia had the same reaction as her blond friend, wondering what the teachers were doing. "Arguing," he brain told her. True, though the school was now almost like it was in the past, the teachers' council still had massive problem choosing a new director.

The girl sighed and jumped a little when a bell rang, announcing the arrival of food. At least that would keep them occupy while they waited. She took a look to see where Jekyll was, but not finding him, she brought her attention back to the platters that had just appeared in front of them on the table. She grabbed some roasted vegetables and meat and started to eat, nervous to see what would happen next.

[Tsemara]

Melanie was relieved to hear that she hadn't wierded out her companions with her geeky statement. "I wasn't a bookworm," the teenager clarified. "I was more along the lines of a comic book junkie. But I played RPGs all the same." She put her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand. "No ammount of rolplaying or time spent reading graphic novels would have ever prepared me for this." There was a slight pause in the conversation before Aurelia commented on the tardyness of the instructors.

The arrival of food prompted Mel to remove her hand from the proximity of her face. She allowed herself to be distracted from her train of thought until her plate was loaded. There was a generous ammout of meat and mashed potatoes mounded before her. And, just to even things out, the redhead added some roasted vegetables to her mess. She then returned to her train of thought.

"Again? Is this becoming commonplace, for the teachers to be late to something they organized in the first place?" Melanie inquired. She kept her voice low, wanting to keep her words from being overheard by the wrong party. "How can they expect us to take them seriously if they do stuff like that? Seriously, this 'do as I say, not as I do' nonsense was old when I was four."

[Maeve]

Aurelia looked at Mel as she spoke, glad to hear that she wasn't the only one getting annoyed by this. Sure, it sometimes happened that teachers were later, considering the various unexpected events that could occurred in a school full of kids and monsters, but the recent conflicts amongst the instructors was worrying her more. The classes were supposed to start the next day, and the blond somewhat fear that the teachers would not be able to do their job properly, which would eventually affect her since she was the one in charge of the first exam. Or worst, she could have to teach... She let go a small sigh of annoyance at the thought.

"I didn't really happened before," Ophelia said after swallowing a sip of water. "Last year was a bit special, considering the... uh... events," she said uncertainly, looking around to make sure the other students were too busy eating and talking to care about the girls' conversation. "I mean, all the teachers are rarely present at dinners, since they have lots of things to do. Two or three are always there, and the other come and go depending of their schedule. Though, normally, they are supposed to be all present during special events, like today." She paused, looking at the empty table once more, then looked back at her companions. "I guess there's still some tensions within the council, so they're probably arguing somewhere..." she added with a sigh, a bit desperate to see the teachers act like this.

"They'd better arriving soon," Aurelia said, throwing a small piece of roasted meat under the table for Dusca. "Though the newbies might not care much, some of the older students are starting to be annoyed," she said, pointing at a small group of male students a few tables away from them. Even from where the girls were sitting, it was easy to notice the annoyed look on the guys' faces. And that wasn't a good sign.

[Tsemara]

Melanie looked between the two upperclassmen, as she ate. They both looked troubled by something. Eventually Ophelia spoke. The information the other girl related was not very encouraging. Infighting this early in the school year? "What would they be arguing about?" The teenager inquired. It probably wasn't any of her business.

She looked over to where Aurelia was pointing. Purturbed guys. Yeah, that wasn't a good thing anywhere. "What do you suppose they would do if something doesn't happen soon?" Her first thought was to instigate a food fight, but seriously. Who does stuff like that anymore? A wizards' duel seemed more likely. But with this many people, and monsters? Mel's brain continued to wander until someone answered her.

[Maeve]

"The direction job," both girl said together. Ophelia blushed lightly and Aurelia pursued: "There's no official principal or headmaster, call it whatever you like, right now. I thought they had agreed with nominating Helen until they really find someone..." she added, looking at Ophelia with a puzzle look. The other simply returned her look, not understanding the situation more than the older girl. "Ugh, anyway, it's that or something else have happened. Though I don't see what could require all the teachers," the blond finished, finishing what was left of her meal at the same time and throwing another piece of meat at Dusca.

She listened to Melanie as she asked what the boys could do. "Lots of things," she said as she thought. They were fully able to start a food fight, or monster fight... "Though, two of them are gold badges, so I guess they would simply get in front of the room and do a little speech to distract the newbies and calm the other students. Hopefully," she added with a small annoyed sigh. Technically, if the people with platinum badge, which were all teachers as far as she knew, were not able to do their job, the gold badges would need to replace them. And Aurelia really didn't like that thought... She looked at the guys one more time, wondering if one of them was going to do something or if she would need to do it. She then looked around the room, suddenly noticing that some of the other gold badge students were missing.

[Tsemara]

Melanie made a rather unladylike sound in her sinuses. This was ridiculous. "What happened to the old headmaster or whatever you call them? Did they step down? Or did something else happen to them?" She wasn't sure if someone had told her. But the teenager had a strange feeling that they probably didn't have a headmaster the year before either. The Nights of Lightning certainly did a number on the school.

While she ate, she gazed around the room as discreetely as she could. Mel couldn't tell what it was, but something was bugging Aurelia. Well, besides the obvious. The older woman looked about the room, noting some detail the younger girl missed. That was hardly surprising, seeing that Aurelia had been around longer. Though, the redhead noticed a number of upperclassmen looked purturbed. Something was going to happen, for good or ill, if someone didn't break the tension. More likely than not it wouldn't be good. She got a wierd impulse to do something she hadn't done in a while. Mel grinned. Hell, if it works, it works. If not, well, then you come out no better or no worse that you were before. Right? Right.

Mel wiped her mouth with her napkin, and paused to compose herself. She stood up swiftly, and said in a loud, but not yelling tone, "May I have your attention please?" She waited as some of the students quieted down to see what she was up to.

"Oi! Your undivided attention IF YOU PLEASE!!" The teenager stressed the last three words, quieting the room. She waited a moment more, making sure that everyone was paying attention. She grinned. "Thanks!" And with that she sat down and returned to her meal. It took the gathered students a couple moments to realize that her impending speech was a prank. There were some chuckles spread out through the room as the tension broke.