August Event

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Please let August be better than July I'm begging

✽ Due to 10+ classes raising their ranks last month, ALL characters have access to the courtyard via the door in the locker area and the windows facing the courtyard.
✽ Characters with 1-10 tallies are not able to get any further past the end of the courtyard before they fall unconscious; characters with 10-20 can get halfway to the pool building before the same happens to them; characters with 20+ tallies can reach the pool building but unfortunately, the door is on the other side. There are no windows on the walls, but from the clocktower, characters can see that it has a glass ceiling, though they are unable to see inside.
✽ Outside, there is no breeze, and it occasionally rains ash.
✽ Characters going up to the 4th floor will feel that the door is warm to the touch, and will occasionally open (see: missions)
✽ The student store opens, with the door propped open with a doorstopper. The npc running the store is currently not interested in conversation, but may be available for threading in the future and is available for threading in the toplevel below. Please see the updated bonus activity page for more information.
✽ Posted on the bulletin board and also handed to each club president before break is the notice that proof of club activity is due at the end of break. Please submit these proofs in the toplevel below.
✽ There is another ad on the bulletin board advertising an exchange student program for the month of October. Applications will be taken until the end of August, and there is a 300 merit point fee. Sister cities include Death City, Devildom, Ishigami Village, Lanling, LazyTown, and Maiami City.

Comments

[silentabyss]

☽ Courtyard

[It may or may not be known by the general populace of the school that Noah Ebalon does not ever fucking sleep, that he walks himself to the point of exhaustion to try to get to sleep because otherwise he wakes up screaming due to nightmares. He's been able to get into the courtyard for a month or so now though, sometimes taking a nap in the grass in a sunny spot, and he finds he can go a little farther this time than the last.

That's how he ends up beneath the wisteria tree, curled up and writing in a notebook, though he can sometimes be seen flipping through it and reading back through entries with a mildly perturbed expression. You're free to ask about his journaling if you'd like, or criticise his posture, which is... kind of awful.

That being said, the aforementioned lack of sleep is clearly catching up to him. He looks like a kitten drifting in and out of consciousness, catching himself halfway with his eyes closed and waking up to scrawl something else onto the pages of that fancy notebook of his. Rinse and repeat, over and over again, until he's on his side laying in the grass and twirling the pen between his fingers. It appears as though he's almost trying not to fall asleep out here, though... knowing Noah, it might be a good idea to try and talk him into it. Or suffocate him until he sleeps. Whatever floats your boat.]

☽ Ashes

[At some point when Noah goes out into the courtyard for what is probably another impromptu nap under the wisteria tree, however, it starts to rain. At least, he thinks that it's rain at first, until he rubs his eyes and realises. Not rain. Ash.

Is there a fire nearby? He can't tell. He's a short kid, after all; Noah decides he's going to simply climb the wisteria tree if he can and attempt to look over the treeline to check it out. That's probably where you find him, halfway up the tree and poised on a thick branch with the intention to go higher. Can he see the horizon line from where he's at? No. Is he going to try to keep going up? Yep.

Is that a dumb idea? Absolutely. It absolutely is. You could join him in ascending the tree, or tell him to get down, or just watch him hit his head on a branch if you really want. Or tattle on him and bring Clamor out to kick his ass for being stupid.]

☽ Student Store

[The student store is interesting, and Noah wants a suncatcher. You can sort of tell by the way he's eyeballing it with that look of wonder in his eyes, which he's trying to hide because don't perceive him. If you catch him looking like he wants a suncatcher, no you don't. And you especially don't hear the way he says idly,]

It's hard, but you can get suncatchers to catch the moonlight, too.

[Must've been the wind.

That being said, at one point when he's passing by the student store, if you're not there for him wanting a suncatcher, you're probably there to see him pulling an old clock out of his pocket and seemingly sizing it up to the other old clocks in the store. He looks contemplative, confused almost, and then turns to you to ask after a moment,]

Um... do you know anything about these clocks?

☽ wildcard

Come at me, we're gonna make August better. Or hit me up on the Discord or on plurk at wolfchan!!!

courtyard

[compendiem]

[ Honestly, Minato is in no position to critique anybody's posture, nor for being out and about past midnight and looking like a zombie the day after.

After watching for several minutes from the doorway to the courtyard and trying to guess what's gotten Noah so frustrated, Minato picks his way through the grass and makes his way over. ]

Summer homework...?

[ It's the beginning of break... That's almost incomprehensibly diligent. ]

[silentabyss]

[Haha, Noah doing his homework... that's cute.]

...n-no, um... [Please forgive his immediate shyness; he doesn't recognize Minato and he genuinely wasn't expecting anyone to come out here.] I... had this journal from back home, before coming here. When I found it again, it smelled like saltwater, and the pages were messed up like it had been submerged or something...

[He sits up a little more now, holding the notebook up so that Minato can see what Noah means.]

I can still read it, and it dried out okay, just... I don't know what happened to it. All of my entries from home weren't tampered with, and I've started new ones... I guess it's alright.

[compendiem]

[ Minato crouches down in front of Noah so he doesn't get accused of trying to peek at somebody's diary, but Noah ends up showing him anyways so it doesn't even matter. The pages are wrinkled like they tend to get when wet, and he knows by experience that the pages will always feel stiffer and almost brittle and never quite the same even if it's dried and flattened as best you can. ]

Like somebody accidentally dropped it in the ocean and had to fish it out...? Good thing the ink didn't run too much, though. Or pages gone missing. It's a pretty book, and it'd be too bad to lose it.

[silentabyss]

[Noah's handwriting isn't great; for someone who was previously a rich brat from a ridiculously-wealthy family, he did not pick up on the handwriting. If Minato can make out the chicken-scratch on the page Noah is showing him in that brief moment, there's notably a sentence containing the word Titania and time loop. He eventually turns it back toward himself and flips a few pages forward past a couple sketches, then to a blank page.]

Yeah... it's weird. I-I've never seen the ocean before, so I don't know how it could've been damaged.

[Is there an ocean near here? ...but that wouldn't make sense either, since Noah could only recently leave the school. As far as he knows, anyway. There's nothing telling about what could've happened within his notebook either, so he supposes there's no use trying to unlock memories that aren't there. It's never worked in the past anyhow.]

☽ Courtyard

[mermaidcursed]

Noah-kun...?

( it's not too unusual to find someone resting outside, in the shade of the wisteria tree- even if there's no breeze to offer a cool, refreshing air the area around the tree itself is cold, and in the heat of summer it's welcome. even nene embraces it sometimes. but noah is pretty anti-rest, so catching him like that is a bit concerning on some level.

honestly, once she's sure he's not injured, nene will just sit right down beside him though. )

Are you okay?

[silentabyss]

[He's literally halfway to being conked out when Nene approaches, and his reaction is to jerk awake like, no no I wasn't about to sleep who do you think I am, sitting up on his elbow to gaze up at her. He's alive, see, he's fine! And tired.]

Y-yeah, I was... reading, and playing with my pen.

[Which, by the time she's found him, is long out of his hand, but that's not the point. As Nene sits, Noah rolls over onto his back to look at her better.]

I... haven't slept in a couple days, but I'm fine. [NO?] I just figured out last month I could come out into the courtyard, so sometimes I've been sitting out here. It's nice to not be stuck in a building all the time.

[mermaidcursed]

I don't think you were doing either of those things.

( actually, she feels kind of bad for startling him awake- especially if he's been having more trouble sleeping. carefully, nene sits down beside him under the tree, which is the only blessing to the stale, ashy air outside: being what is likely their dead's resting place, it's cold. )

... It is, yeah. But, if you need rest...

[silentabyss]

I—I was doing those things!

[Nope, he was about to pass the fuck out.]

I, um... I'm fine, I don't need rest. [Says the boy still laying down, but alright. But also, Nene is sitting next to him and there's no way he can fall asleep now. It would be rude to fall asleep while talking to the girl he's so enamoured with, after all.] It's the first time in a while I've been able to go outside... do you think it's safe to go out at night?

[He has a moon to pray to, after all. Not that Noah's ever been as religious as Harque was, but certain things bring comfort in trying times.]

student store

[starrypoint]

[oh, neat, someone else was looking at those too...!!!!]

They can?! Man, that just makes me want a lot of 'em~. I'd hang them around every window so that there'd be plenty of sparkling things in the dark...♪

[silentabyss]

[Oh! Yeah! Noah looks a bit enthusiastic at that, though he's not much of a smiler, but his eyes do light up. So there's that, at least?]

Y-yeah, I used to live in a house with a bunch of large windows so we could view the moon, so maybe it works better there. The windows here... [kinda suck,] ...they're not great, but you might be able to make it work.

[starrypoint]

Awesome~! It'll be like teru teru bouzu, but for good luck instead! The shopkeep said that they're special, 'cause they take in all the happiness and prosperity and warmth and such that the sun gives off and holds it in tight! So you feel super happy and stuff just looking at it, I think~. I know I do~.

[...]

I wonder what the moon gives off~. Any ideas?

[silentabyss]

[It'll be like whaty whaty whatnow?]

Y-yeah, actually. Where I come from, the moon is associated with healing and rest. It was... um. My older brother was good at magic involving the moon, and my household worshipped it in a way, thus the huge windows.

[Even the tie he wears has a moon emblem clipped over the knot. The Ebalon family was really, really big on the moon, okay.]

I can't do healing magic like he could, though. Moon magic here could still probably heal, though...

courtyard/wildcard????

[sunstead]

[It's a sunny afternoon the next time Noah goes out to the courtyard, and laying face-down in the grass is a certain half-elf wizard, basking in the shade of the wisteria tree. yeah... so guess who hasn't been able to enter the courtyard at all up until now? and who hasn't touched grass in over a year?? this guy. he's catching up on that grass-touching quota all at once and no one can stop him.

he might've fallen asleep over there, it's hard to tell from a distance.]

clamor.........

[silentabyss]

[Technically, Clamor hasn't touched grass in like, a thousand years or something, so this must feel fucking awesome. That said, the ghost of a smile appears on Noah's face as he carefully makes his way over to Clamor.

Is he asleep? In the grass? Noah has half a mind to join him, and he carefully picks his way around roots and fallen branches to find a clear spot, hopefully without waking Clamor — assuming he is asleep for once, after all. He takes a seat, journal on his lap as it normally is, and leans against the bark.

It's nice to see his closest friend and only living family member — because he'd long-since established that they are family, even if they're not blood relatives — looking peaceful and not burdened by the stresses of this place, actually. That, at least, puts a normally-anxious boy at ease, just a bit.]

one (1) soft thread before everything starts to go to shit again

[sunstead]

[He doesn't move when Noah approaches, so he certainly seems asleep at first... but no, he peeks out from under his arm once Noah settles down next to him. It doesn't quite occur to him that Clamor being relaxed is why Noah is also looking more at ease... but hey, it's fine as long as they're both happy for once.

Clamor sighs into the grass one more time before leisurely rolling himself over, sitting up halfway to get a better look at Noah's book. He recognizes that journal, but...]

... Oh. Did something happen? It looks like the pages got wet. [which is... hmm... but maybe it's unrelated? but he knows how careful Noah usually is with his journal...]

thanks :)))

[silentabyss]

...I found it like this. It smelled like saltwater, and some of the ink is running, but I can still read everything I wrote.

[He shifts a bit, turning his notebook toward Clamor so that he can see the crinkled pages, ink running through chicken-scratch and little doodles of cats alike. The text is, as Noah said, still legible — depending on if his handwriting can be deciphered anyway. He looks vaguely upset for a moment staring down at the notebook, brushing his fingers over some of the worst of the wrinkling, and shakes his head. Not gonna be upset over a notebook. Not gonna be upset...]

There's nothing telling about the time I spent here, either. The last thing I wrote was clearly back when we were in Elrianode...

☽ Student Store

[wolfetracks]

Those...? Ah, a pocket watch. Not quite the same, but...

( it's been a while since he'd seen one, honestly- but it makes him smile just a bit. )

I can't say that I know a lot about clocks, but I can try. What do you want to know?

[silentabyss]

...umm...

[Well... it's Sidney. Noah can trust Sidney, obviously. So, he glances between the clocks for sale and the one in his hands, and then sort of pulls Sidney aside.]

This clock... I got it when I first came here. [Or perhaps, "woke up" is the better term.] It... it's four seconds behind, as you can see. For some reason, after midnight, if I'm holding it, I can still hear things for four seconds after. It doesn't seem like much, but... it's weird, right?

[wolfetracks]

( .................... okay for real that was not what he was expecting, but. okay. okay! it's just one of those days in yogen. it might as well just happen. )

Interesting... I wonder. ... In those four seconds, have you ever heard anything unusual?

[silentabyss]

[This might as well happen.]

...no. Just normal sounds that you'd hear at any other point in the day, before everything goes silent again. It doesn't work in the library, though — if I go into the library with it, it's still silent. If I give it to someone else, they get four extra seconds of sound, but they have to be touching it somehow. Like... if it's in their pocket or whatever...

...but I don't know why. That's why when I saw them in the store... I dunno, I thought maybe someone would know why.

☽ student store

[sisters]

( he's not actually here to make any purchases, but it's kind of nice to see someone else in the shop, even if they're just browsing. who it is stands out a little too; noah might've seemed to be going through it recently, but he strikes amami as a good kid nonetheless — sincere. so of course amami can't help but be just a little bit curious as to what's got him peering up with such interest, wandering over just close enough that he can hear noah's quiet comment once he approaches. )

Oh, I wouldn't have guessed. Have you done it before?

[silentabyss]

[He turns and looks up — sheesh, that's right, Amami is wildly tall — and then he shyly looks away after. Back to the suncatchers, which very distantly remind Noah of home in a weird way; the positive aspects of home, not the... rest of it.]

U-uh... yeah, when I was a kid. T...to be fair, my house had pretty large windows that we used to view the moon, so it might've been easier than... here. I could probably get it to work, though...

[He trails off and shakes his head, shoving his hands into the pockets of his coat. It seems silly, actually, to use a suncatcher for the opposite of intentions, and back then on Elrios the moon was bright and large and easily-captured by little glass ornaments like that.]

[sisters]

( is he tall or is noah just tiny... amami meets his eyes just long enough to smile before noah turns his gaze away again, peering up to take in the different suncatchers. )

Yeah? I guess that'd make it a mooncatcher then, huh. Almost sounds a bit more romantic that way.

( as if suncatcher wasn't already fancy enough, but something about a mooncatcher feels softer — more mysterious. a pause, and he gives a bit of a thoughtful hum. )

Does it make you think of home? The moon, I mean.

[silentabyss]

...yeah. It mostly makes me think of my older brother, though. My family worshipped the moon.

[And from most people's reactions when he's said that in the past, people think that it's a bit odd to do so. Noah has figured out from regular conversation that Elrios is kind of an outlier as far as "normal worlds" go, but to him, all of y'all are the weird ones anyhow. What do you mean you don't worship the moon... you don't have the El? How's your world alive even... idiots.]

...my brother was the only good part of that family. [And he supposes his house was nice too.] Things like this, [vague gesture to the suncatchers] they're nice. He would've liked them too.