DECEMBER EVENT/TDM

[adsum]

full navigation

bulletin board updates

✽ There are several new points of interest at the bulletin board this month, most prominently a wooden box with the slit on the top just large enough to drop a sheet of paper inside. Above is an explanation of Secret Santa and a form to fill out for those interested in participating to write down their name, homeroom, and locker number. Sign-ups close on 12/5, and following assignments, gifts may be given in person or through one of the student council members if anonymous gifting is preferred (contact the mod to hire a stuco elf).
✽ Right next to this box is a poster with a large orange giraffe painted on it. The contents of the poster has nothing to do with giraffes, but rather, is an advertisement for student store commissions featuring quality work with quick turnarounds and a special discount for the month of December if you buy five or more commissions, or bring the shopkeep a warm drink and maybe a snack while they're working.
✽ To the side of the class roster and current ranks is a digital countdown, and scrawled on the bulletin board itself is the message "You're almost there! You can do it! One more push!" but it's unclear whether this message refers to the countdown to the new year, or to the long glass tube situated along the edge of the bulletin board next to it. Maybe both. The tube looks similar to a graduated cylinder, holding a total volume of 5000 ml and currently containing 4850 ml of dark red (presumably) blood, hot to the touch. It can not be broken or removed. The mod will be in contact if any character action this month causes the volume to change.
✽ A neatly typed notice, half buried under all the other announcements, contains a reminder that tuition will be due soon for those students continuing to study at Yogen. If tuition is not paid in full by the end of February, "compensation" will be taken instead.
✽ And finally, there is a notice from the student council that proof of club activity is once again due for submission to the student council by 12/24, otherwise the club will be dissolved and resources taken back. Please submit activity proof to the toplevel below.

12/20 - 12/24 finals week

✽ The week before winter break is finals, with many students cramming as many math formulas and foreign country leaders into their heads as possible without it all spilling over, while other students have decided to chance the practicum instead. Those who have signed up for the practicum are asked to meet inside the auditorium after homeroom at the start of the day while test takers begin their written exams. Students are allowed to change their minds on which to take, up until the end of homeroom on Monday, after the bell rings and the doors close.
✽ For the test takers, finals last for five days, from 8AM until noon each day, after which students are allowed to go home, or have lunch and continue studying in their homerooms or in the library. At the end of finals on Friday, students are asked to remain in their homerooms over lunch break while their exams finish being graded, after which homeroom teachers will return and ask certain students to go with them to the faculty office. These are the failing students. Which the homeroom teachers themselves have the pleasure of executing for their failures. All other students are dismissed and wished a happy winter break.
✽ For those opting for the practicum, finals last for two days, from 8AM until noon on Monday and Tuesday. All students from all grades meet in the auditorium the first day and are told the very simple rules for this semester's practicum: in order to raise your failing grade, all you have to do is kill another student, upon which you take their points for yourself. At the start of both days, students first gather in the auditorium for a headcount and then are given a half hour no-killing grace period during which they are allowed to scatter and find the best sniping/ambushing/hiding spots. The hunt is limited to four hours each day and kills must be done on campus; any kills done outside of these parameters are just for fun and do not count towards their final grade. Points are given for kills involving students in the same grade level of different homerooms (e.g. third years only benefit from killing other third years) and points are revoked for kills involving other grade levels or test takers not participating in the practicum. They studied hard, leave them alone. Most students need only one or two kills to pass, but multiple kills stack and earn them extra credit that will carry over to the next semester. Students who end the second day with a still failing grade will be called to the faculty office. ... All remaining students are dismissed and wished a happy (early!) winter break.
✽ A winter storm starts to whip up around noon on the 24th, raging through the night before settling down come morning, blanketing the entire campus with several feet of snow.

OOC

✽ PC faculty still have finals: they will either take written exams excluding that of their own subject, or they can take the practicum. Players with faculty characters are asked to reply to the toplevel below to indicate the number of failed students per class, but characters do NOT have to ICly be responsible for killing failed students. Unless they're cool with that, and if so, please let me know.
✽ This is a reminder that for any character that murders (again, please let me know), they will experience the same pain the following night and lose powers/abilities for one week. Two weeks after the murder, +1 tally and +100 merit points will be awarded for each kill.
✽ The void in the auditorium continues to grow, and (pending character interaction) by the end of the month will encompass the entire right wing of all floors, including the locker area but not the rooftop. Please mind the void, murderers.

Comments

[silentabyss]

☽ Constellations

[As usual, Noah is in the courtyard doing stupid shit.

This should come as a surprise to no one, as Noah is prone to doing dumb stuff with magic these last few months since he's studying a completely different type than what he's used to using out of Clamor's spell book (of his own accord — wish he'd do this with math). This level of stupidity is maybe not so much foolish as it is... er...

What even is this?

This scene can be spotted from any window facing the courtyard, and maybe depending on distance, it's a little difficult to tell that Noah is the one responsible for drawing pictures in the sky. Sometimes, there are starry cats drawn. Sometimes, he writes words. Sometimes, he draws students' faces. It really does seem to vary, but every couple minutes a picture printed on the fabric of the galaxy itself twinkles to life on an invisible movie screen. It truly is like being at one of those drive-up films.

If you approach, you can probably hear him telling a group of students gathered around him that the spell is called Star Coaster, reason being that there's a golden track that appears as a similarly-golden star traces its outline, and that track appears to not entirely be connected to the drawing itself. It's in Clamor's spellbook, okay, he'll show you if you want.

That said, he's also taking requests for who or what to draw. Please be mature.

Surprise-surprise, Noah looks happy for once, too, laughing when he gets a particularly fun request or when he fudges the spell slightly and the golden track is just a bit outside of the galaxy itself.]

☽ An Eye for an Eye

1.a cw: violence, gore mentions, discussion of injury, PTSD & other severe mental health discussions, Noah generally being himself

[The second day of the practicum lets out, and Noah seems to not entirely be with it. This isn't uncommon for him, since he normally blacks out and goes on autopilot for days, sometimes weeks at a time — but it's probably obvious to those who saw the signup sheet just why he's not completely mentally sound.

At noon on Tuesday, having successfully passed classes this semester, Noah — covered head-to-toe in splatters of blood — shuffles out of the school at a snail's pace, a hand placed over his right eye. Observant folks may note the smear of blood half-obscured under his palm, like that side of his face might be heavily injured, as well as the fact that he's cut up to hell and back. Lacerations line his cheeks, over his nose, his arms where his uniform has been sliced open; there's a distinct bloody spot on his lower left side that's very clearly a stab wound which Noah is currently leaving completely unhidden as he stumbles along, and there are bruises on his throat as if someone might have tried to strangle him.

And despite all of this, despite every single injury, the rest of the blood on Noah doesn't match his various wounds... it's not his own. It's clearly not his own, because he passed, didn't he?

Maybe, during exams, you felt a sense of deja vu, like you'd written that answer before, or walked this same hall seconds earlier. To most students, it'll be simply an innocuous passing thought. To those of you who know... you know. Somewhere, hours ago, Noah had died, and time had rewound to save him.

Noah shuffles past you, wherever you are, be it in the courtyard or in the dorms where he's headed. You could call out to him if you want, get his attention, maybe stop him from stumbling over himself due to bloodloss, but he's headed toward the dorm bathrooms to clean out some of these wounds.]

1.b cw: PTSD & other severe mental health discussions, suicidal ideation, discussion of injury, Noah continuing to be himself

[Noah's tired.

Wednesday morning, he wakes up in agonizing amounts of pain, and to him this is a good thing — it means he's dying, finally. But this had happened to him before, several weeks ago, for no single reason he could explain, so maybe not. Maybe, by tomorrow, the pain will be gone and he'll wake up and he'll still be here. Someone who's more mentally sound might consider this a good thing; Noah considers the possibility of carrying on to be an impossible feat. One he's only doing for a select few people, at this point.

The first thing he does is get up and head to the dormitory showers, dragging himself down the hallway lifelessly. Then, for quite a while, he stands at the bathroom sink cleaning off the wounds on his face in front of the mirror, taking extra care of his damaged right eye before covering it with a makeshift gauze eyepatch. He doesn't think he'll be able to see out of it again, but an eye infection sounds less than fantastic right about now.

After that, he makes his way to the kitchen to try and make himself breakfast, but the lack of depth perception is severely fucking with him. Not only is Noah not the greatest chef in the world, but he nearly slices his fingers open when he's trying to cut strawberries, and several times he drops something else and reaches for it only for his hand to close around empty air.

Wherever you find Noah that day, don't expect him to say much. He's entirely on autopilot, dissociating heavily, and somewhere in the back of his mind he's daydreaming about being anywhere but here.]

☽ wildcard

[oh no, my noah... he's broken

anyway hit me, or chat me on discord or wolfchan for plotting

also if anyone wants a custom starter/thing for the practicum come yell at me bc :3c]

1.A

[mermaidcursed]

( the moment she felt the recollection, she knew- and the moment that time was up, things were safe, nene was out the door, regardless of what she left behind. she knew this was a bad idea- she knew it, she knew it, she knew it-- where is he? pushing through the halls, trying to not get sick at the sight of a corpse or the blood on the walls and floor, nene runs. she runs until she finds him, slowing down to not startle him.

she can't gently call his name or anything of the sort, but she can speed up a little to cut him off where he walks-- oh... her noah. her noah...

after a moment, tears welling up, nene reaches over and squeezes one of his hands. she's here. she'll help. let's go get you cleaned up. she has first aid things in her room, he knows this by now. they'll clean him up and he can rest. )

[silentabyss]

[It's not like he can see her anyway, what with his hand pressed to his eye — and indeed, he doesn't so much as move it as soon as he comes to awareness. Instead, he turns his gaze away. Elsewhere. She had not wanted this for him, they had talked about killing and dying and to stop doing any of that, and of the people Noah wanted to see today, Nene probably isn't it. But it's inevitable, with how they are.

Instead of making excuses, or trying to defend himself, or breaking down sobbing and screaming like he wants to, he just lets Nene grab his hand and guide him.]

...you don't want to touch my hand. Th...there's... blood. On it.

[mermaidcursed]

( nene pauses, looking back at him. she knows there's blood. it's warm and slick in her hand, and she hates it. she hates it on him, she hates the bruises and cuts and whatever happened to his eye, please let him still have his eye--

she didn't remember to put her coat on, standing in the snow like this. it's cold. he needs to get inside, warm and cleaned and changed and resting. but instead, she turns and brings the back of his hand to her face, holding it close and brushing her lips against dry skin.

another squeeze. and then she doesn't let go as she takes the lead back to the dorms. )

1.b

[wolfetracks]

( sidney gently taps noah's shoulder. he knows.

he knows. and learning to do things again when injured, even if it could be temporary- he hopes to god noah's is temporary- is hard. quietly, sidney sighs. )

Let me help. Okay?

( he's learned, after all, how to manage. he's had time to heal, noah isn't quite so lucky yet. sidney squeezes noah's shoulder lightly, before letting go and reaching for the bowl that was nearly knocked to the side. when noah wants to give him the whisk, he's ready. )

[silentabyss]

[The tap on the shoulder is appreciated, even if it does startle Noah; he's really going to have to get used to this being blind on one side thing. In this place, it's a detriment. Back home, it will be too, but Noah has a feeling that reincarnation means leaving all of these injuries behind anyway.

Not that he wants to reincarnate. But still.]

...I can do it.

[It's a response that comes about ten seconds too late. Despite everything, Noah's still stubborn as a damn mule, and he's not about to just give Sidney the whisk...

That is until he tries to reach for the carton of eggs on the counter to close it and his hand swats at empty air, again, and then when he reaches out for the bowl he yet again nearly knocks it over. There's a huff, small and frustrated, before the whisk is handed over about three inches too far away. To Noah's eye, it looks fine. It looks like Sidney doesn't have to reach.]

[wolfetracks]

I know. It's frustrating.

( dropping everything because he can't hold it or balance properly... and then, of course, his own scarred eye. his vision recovered, somewhat, but... )

It's just for a little while, while you're healing. I can help you get used to this, though- and until then, support you.

( as fathers do. before he takes the whisk, he gently runs a hand through noah's hair, careful but affectionate. he doesn't know if there's bruises under there, if there's cuts that couldn't be bandaged or anything. )

Can you hold the bowl for me?

( asked as he keeps it steady until he can take it. )

wildcard, practicum hello

[starrypoint]

[second day of the practicum, subaru isn't so lucky to have a partner that's there to have his back, that'll duck into a room with him and line the place with non-lethal traps so they can focus on surviving any who would seek to spell their demise -- amami and him were split almost immediately, before the second half even began, and so to see a familiar face in noah makes him laugh out loud, even before he sees the state of the other he's diving in to hug him--]

Lon-chan! Oh, I'm soooo happy to see you, I was gettin' pretty lonely wandering the halls by myself! Let's hang out!

[but, you know, if they're both out here, that can only mean one thing... yeah.]

[silentabyss]

[Because of the... er, circumstances? Noah's gut reaction is to immediately conjure magic to his hands shortly before he realises that Subaru is not here to stab him (and why would he?); the magic fizzles out immediately, and despite various injuries, Noah somehow manages to find it in him to return the hug.

"Let's hang out", he says, to which Noah bitterly wants to respond that they're not hanging out so much as fighting for their lives, but he hates to face the reality of it. "Hanging out" it is, then.]

...I'm glad you're still alive. [Subaru doesn't strike Noah as someone who's... great at combat.] We shouldn't stand out in the open. Let's find somewhere to sit down.

[Somewhere where they can be surrounded on all sides with walls and a locked door, maybe.]

I'll keep you safe while we look.

[starrypoint]

[subaru can't even blame him for the magic, and he's unbothered by the sound of it fizzling out. he's more bothered by the injuries noah's already sustained, though subaru himself hasn't gone without consequence he's... got them hidden well enough, among the normal bruising and pain that came with sports practice not a week ago.

anyway. he gives the other a gentle squeeze before he lets go, nodding.]

'Kay~. I know a couple good places 'cause Ama-chan and I looked around yesterday, but we've gotta be careful. [...] Someone might be waiting to ambush anyone who's looking for a rest spot.

[as if told by experience... anyway, subaru'll start off, though he won't... really be looking into going to check out rooms proper, more heading to the stairs. the elevator is a bad spot too, so.]

I'm glad you're still kicking too, Lon-chan... though I know I shouldn't, 'cause you've got that handy magic Clamor-san taught you and all...

1.a dorms...

[samuraiwomen]

[ She's mad. Fists clenched, white knuckles, glaring till she almost wants to cry mad. At Noah, at this school, at all the effort they'd put in together for his grades, and now look... She caught sight of him in the halls after exams. Sara is furious, because she tried, and Noah got hurt anyway.

She can't take it out on him now, maybe not ever. She has to swallow it and step forward, try and sooth her shaking hands as she knocks on his dorm door, like she did so many months ago when she'd found him cleaning up after his fight with Hyde. She didn't have any fabric this time. She's holding something she doesn't want to spill, despite her warring emotions. ]

Noah, are you there?

[silentabyss]

[It takes a good few minutes for Noah to come to the door, but he's there and still kicking — there's a very low, muffled I'm comin' blearily called out and the sound of shuffling before the door opens. At the very least he's showered since the whole ordeal? So that's good? Still, he's hunched over like standing might be a bit hard (it is), and normally he's elated to see Sara even if it doesn't show on his face, but today...

His eyes are just... dead.]

...hi. [A beat, and then,] How were exams today...?

[For lack of anything else to ask.]

[samuraiwomen]

They were fine.

[ Perfectly normal, but hard to focus when there are sounds of students dying all around you. Sara sighs, and pushes at the door lightly, forcing her way into Noah's room. He doesn't look as bloodied as he did earlier, but if he's got bandages lying everywhere, she wants to see.

Sara gives Noah another concerned glare, holding out a thermos of soup. ]

Here, it's miso soup. Mine's not as good at Subaru's I'm sure, but "Izumi-san" did promise you. You should try to drink a little before you go to bed, even if you don't feel like eating.

constellations

[adsum]

[ Hikaru is one of the students gathered around watching Noah rearrange constellations, clapping their hands for him every time the image or word comes together. It's... okay, yeah, magic being real is a no brainer, but this magic in the sense of inspiring wonderment and delight. ]

That's awesome, Noah! How many stars can you connect? Can you do all the stars in the sky?

[ The hundreds of thousands of billions of stars... It'd be super cool to see, either way [

[silentabyss]

O-oh, um...

[Hi, Kid Who Clamor Really Seems Fond Of, someone who Noah Should Be Jealous Of but he's really not because Hikaru is like the least threatening thing in existence and if he's going to be replaced by someone he'd prefer it to be this kid honestly.

Anyway Noah being an angsty teen aside,]

N-no, that's too many, I think. It would take a lot of mana to do that... Oh, stand there for a second.

[Stand there, because Noah's going to play connect the dots with his little galaxy curtain and draw Hikaru!]

[adsum]

[ Nobody's replacing Noah, I'll kill them myself ]

Here? Oh!

[ Hikaru watches the threads trace out a face, a smile— really, they're the most generic face in existence, but there's no mistaking who Noah is drawing because the number of people in the school who can still smile like that, they can count on two hands. ]

Wow... Do you next?

Constellations

[emptyembers]

I feel like this is becoming a bit of a habit, us meeting up like this,

[He waited until people had cleared out some, mostly because he didn't want to impose, but also maybe because he wanted Noah's attention for himself. Who knows.

He walks over to Noah, hands stuffed in his coat because it's cold, and gives him a warm smile.]

This is beautiful, by the way. You're getting better at it.

[silentabyss]

[Whoops suddenly the blood is all in Noah's cheeks, odd how that happens around Yukio in particular huh.]

Th-thanks... I... uh... it's just that this one looked fun, so I skipped ahead by a couple lessons...

[Like, months of lessons, because he wanted to learn something more advanced and somehow he managed to pull it off.]

...I just thought maybe it would make people happy. I think it might be working. Um... give me something to draw.

[emptyembers]

[That little fond smile he had on his face just seems to soften as Noah talks. He looks up at the sky for a couple of seconds in thought before he looks down at the snow.

It takes him a moment of trying to find a stick and not finding one to simply decide to use his finger to draw a somewhat similar looking pendent on the snow.]

How about this?

1.a

[emptyembers]

[Something has felt off all day, and it didn't take Yukio all that long to figure out what it was. He would glance at the clock every now and then, tapping the tip of his pen against the desk until he was able to get up and all but rush out the door.

He had hastily managed to grab his bag, though if he forgot something it would just have to remain forgotten. He wasn't about to turn around and go back to grab a misplaced pen or a piece of paper.

No, he all but ran towards where he thought he'd find Noah, though the moment he did he felt a cold wave of fear and anxiety wash over him.]

Noah...

[He was moving over to him, reaching out to touch him though he pulled his hand back almost immediately. Noah probably didn't want to be touched right now, but at the very least he could be close enough to catch him if he needed him to.]

Come on, let's get you into the bathroom. Let me help you.

[silentabyss]

[There's a very delayed response to that, Noah continually shuffling forward until he registers Yukio being there in his space in general, and then seems to blearily realise he's being spoken to. Oh... it's Yukio... and he's fine, which is good.]

...hi. [For lack of anything else to say.] I could... use the help. I got pretty messed up.

["Pretty messed up" like he's not desperately trying to hide his eye right now and like he's not sporting several other wounds that need urgent attention. He keeps shuffling forward, though, not wanting to impose otherwise.]

w-w-w-w-wildcard

[subtract]

[Day one of the practicum, nearly through. By now Add's school uniform is torn here and there, particles of crystalline dust trailing out of the still-fresh wounds beneath, one foot dragging behind him in a limp... but the red stains splattering his jacket aren't his own. For the first hour or so, Add didn't have to do much more than wander out in the open to draw eager opponents to himself. But after leaving a few mangled bodies in his wake, battered and beaten, stabbed with their own weapons, or flesh still smoking from electrical burns... well. He might've had a little too much fun early on.

His remaining classmates know better than to approach.

Which makes the rest of this practicum very boring, honestly. The violence had been a nice change of pace... but now that he has to chase people down, it's becoming more of a chore. Even when he kills indiscriminately, it's harder to find people once the weaklings have already been eliminated like this...

but it's fine, because there's still at least one person here who won't run from him on sight. He doesn't go looking for Noah intentionally, but their paths end up crossing all the same. Add grins when their gazes meet, seemingly oblivious to how he looks like absolute shit right now.]

Oh? You're still here? Haven't been too busy, have you...? Kekekekeke...

[silentabyss]

[Noah should probably say something like... you know, "sorry for punching you" or something like that, but he doesn't. This isn't the time nor the place for that kind of thing anyhow, and he's thinking that he might somehow be on Add's list. It would make sense, with how the guy talks; Noah knows better than to step closer or even try to skirt around and head the other direction lest he get taken unawares. Still, he puts his back to the nearest wall before someone sneaks up on him. He can do that much.]

...no. Not at all. [The bitter sarcasm is probably obvious.] You're probably the cause for over half the bodies piling up, if I had to make a guess.

[No one else strikes Noah as that sadistic, and for what it's worth, he probably shouldn't be thinking to himself that there's some way to salvage the shattered remnants of friendship with this guy. Yet he is, because he always is, because unfortunately Noah's kinder than he gives himself credit for.]

Constellations bc Noah Deserves Some Happiness

[redoutlaw]

Damn, kid. That’s impressive.

[He had been standing there for a bit now, just sort of watching the display of stars. It was cold, though, so he decided that walking over would at least warm him up. And maybe he should stop being a creep.]

How’re you doin’ all that?

[silentabyss]

[It's not creepy! Noah's been attracting an audience while he's been playing. Aka showing off. But playfully.]

Oh, it's... it's magic. Do you have that where you're from? You have the sentient crocodile, so...