Forum Thread

Ah, Newbury. is there more beautiful of a place? That's a rhetorical. Don't answer that. Anyways, it's positively lovely, ain't it? Up on that little hill of its, overlooking the city, right next to the vast sea. It's beautiful.

Perfect.

It wasn't always like this, y'know? The Masquerade incident left a lot of fear in the air, definitely. But since a mass overhaul of the staff, the atmosphere's gotten far better than it used to be.

10 years later, it's the start of another year. Another batch of students. And Homeroom 2A's definitely the standout. Consisting of prodigies, all four prefects, and a few other miscellaneous, notable students.

Let's see how this year turns out.

"Right, Uncle?"

The Dean turned to face his nephew, faint smile not quite matching the unhinged grin of the professor.

"...Something like that."

He said, gaze falling back to his papers, signing the last letters.

"It'll be interesting. You're dismissed, Kendo."

"See you tomorrow~!"

---

The Grand hall is just that.

Grand.

Impressively, so. Flags of dozens of countries adorn the walls, along with a trophy case, impressively large amounts of framed class photos, and lanterns levitating in the air. The tables are massive, designed to fit the entirety of the student populace of One house, usually around 200 students in total, each.

And all of them are full. Of course, not all of these students will survive the year. At the head of each of the tables, is a singular student- the prefects.

The pinnacle of studentry.

And, of course, past the tables, sit the professors, the vice-dean, and the Dean, right in the middle.

As the students start to settle, a dirty-blonde-haired man stands up to his full, rather impressive height.

He tapped his earpiece.

"Hello? Hello? Can everyone hear me?"

The professor's voice rang out, from the Magical speaker system.

"Hah, I can never get used to these things. Didn't have this thing back in the day. Ahem. Welcome to Newbury."

He laughed cheerfully, hands on his hips. His mismatched, red-blue eyes scanned the room.

"I see familiar faces. A few new ones. The Banquet will start soon, I swear. I know you're all hungry. But, before, allow me to introduce our staff- and the prefects you'll be following for the duration of this year."

He cleared his throat, smiling.

"First of all, I'm Professor Kendo Ramirez-Satou. Just call me Professor S. This man beside me is the Dean, Mercader Videntus. Dean Videntus."

A man with maroon hair nodded, going back to sipping wine.

"Beside him is Vice-Dean Aleksandr Konstantin."

The vice Dean clicked his tongue, pointing a finger gun to the crowd. Kendo laughed. Patting the blue-haired man on his left on the back, he started to speK again.

"This is Professor Artemis Renfield Wright. Beside him is Professor Emmaline Wright."

He gestured to a pink-haired woman who was rather quietly sipping from her cup.

"Potions Master Magnus Exitor is on the other end of the table, and beside him is Professor Iliya Volkov. Currently, two teachers are absent, Professor Lydia Satou, my younger sister, who's running late, and professor Evan Warner, who's spending time with family at the moment."

He cleared his throat.

"...Now, uh, the prefects! The Quetzalcoatl House Prefect is Trixie Thatcher."

The green haired girl grinned.

"Frost Dragon is Elona Avery. Phoenix is Nyx, and Siren is Song BingLiu. Wonderful, I think we’re done. The banquet will start shortly! Just stay in your seats, and uh, socialize. I suppose.”

The professor sat back down.

“Have a great feast!”

---

There were too many names to remember. If she even cared to. Sure, she'd probably learn the names of the higher-ups and perfects within the week, but as for the large crowd of students that sat at adjourning tables, she couldn't have cared less. It wasn't why she was here

The microphone the mismatched eye man was using was too loud for her ears. The hood of the cloaks the school provided did little to stifle the barrage of noises. It was all she could do to sit patiently for when they would be dismissed. She doubted they would have classes on the first day, so all she had to do was get through this banquet and the following tour before she could retreat to the safety of a dorm room.

Not safety... But at least, a quieter place.

The only person of interest at the moment was the man who was talking himself, with his mismatched eyes and loud voice. He seemed too cheery, as if something was astray here that they weren't addressing.

Oh well..

Elona listened to his speech quietly, shooting a glare his way when her name was mentioned. She wasn't much of a big talker, quite the opposite really, and his voice was grating enough for her to already be pissed off to the point of tuning everyone else out.

She had very big, and very unresolved anger issues. Sure, patience was truly a virtue for her, but setting her off came just as easy. Elona had barely even looked at the food, glaring at the spot on the table in front of her very angrily, as though the table itself had wronged her.

---

When his name was called, a young boy with freshly dyed hair displaying the rippling colours of the ocean waved with a kind smile. Olive eyes crinkled with the motion, but behind the placid smile and calm demeanor was a student itching to run up the teachers and learn. It wasn't a secret to anyone who had been at the academy for longer than a few months but Song BingLiu was a bit of a teacher's pet, a loveable one that most forgave easily granteed but exactly the type that most people would balk at. His ever flowing ambition to learn more and more made him both the professor's favourite student but also the bane of their curriculum's existence when Song BingLiu inevitably outstripped his peers yet still hungered for more.

Fidgeting in his seat as they were forbade from getting out until the banquet proper started, Song BingLiu settled for watching the small talk with the students sitting around him only able hear a buzz of noise as the halls filled with more and more conversation. He didn't really trust his voice this early in the term but he seemed quite happy to simply watch, only tuning in when some to ING was directly addressed to him with small hums and interjections. Occasionally he threw tight lipped smiles towards the teachers, the only evidence of his true awkward self. It was only a matter of time before one of the teachers looked over at him at the same time as well, but when he caught Professor Wright's pink eyes flicker towards him, Song BingLiu had to stifle a yelp and yanked his wandering gaze back to the conversation around him. Despite being the Siren House's perfect, his favourite faculty member would always be the enigmatic Magic Theory professor. Professor S. was an amazing advisor and Song BingLiu thoroughly enjoyed his music lessons despite the hurdles and always absorbed his history lesson with attentive ears, but Professor Wright was really the only faculty member who could keep encouraging Song BingLiu's growth, especially with his fickle magic. It definitely helped that perhaps because the prefect was always badgering the professor with questions that Professor Wright seemed to mark his work especially stringently, almost unthinkable due to his already notorious strict standards of grading.

Ah, he really really really wanted the formalities to be done with so he could show the professors what he'd been working on during the break. His fingers practically itched with unbound magic as if sensing his impatience.

---

Nyx smiles as her name is mentioned, her fingers drumming against her leg as she tries to let out some of the energy her racing heart is making. Her heart always raced at one of these, the one thing she could stand against easily. And that fastened pulse is never good when you have to sit still for too long. Sure, the feasts themselves are boring when it comes to everything else, but it was always more so the principle of what it means to be at her level. She had to be the example, and her family was known for never breaking.

Once the headmaster was done, she finally starts to work out some of that building energy. She quick talks those who start a conversation with her, some used to her unique style and some almost intimidated by how fast paced she tended to speak. She would have loved for a better way to let out some of her magic, but knew it had to wait til later

---

Trixie sighed as her name was called, resting her chin on her hand.

How utterly meandering and boring these formalities were. A bunch of old men yapping on and on about some boring thing. She sighed melodramatically. Where were the fun people? Why was she sat with all these Little Mr/Miss Perfects, again? Perfect. Prefect. Right. She was prefect.

She slumped over in her seat, throwing her head back.

Right as hundreds of plates, and a feast of everything you could think of blinked into existence at the table.

---

Yanara sat at her seat, quickly bored by all this talking, fiddling with a small token under the table. She made the machinations of the small metal cube move with minor gravity manipulation. It was difficult to control at such a small scale but that is what practice was for. She suddenly heard a small groaning sound from within the cube and realized the mechanism had stopped working. “Great,” she thought, realizing she had rotated one of the gears too quickly, “Well, nothing a bit of elbow grease can’t fix.” When she looked up, the speech had ended and the feast had begun. “Perfect” she thought as she immediately began helping themselves to a leg of lamb.

---

So the vice-prefects weren't important enough to get announced?

Ldeya mock-pouted, although it was no surprise that the teacher's pet Song BingLiu was prefect.

Crossing her legs, she examined the slightly bloody steak before her, elegantly cutting it apart. Her posture was a combination of perfectly mannered grace and sarcastic boredom, her head resting on a knuckle. Red eyes bright and piercing, a few students made attempts at timid conversation before shrinking back when she focused on them.

This was boring.

"Song BingLiu, already trying to impress the teachers?"

---

At the familiar voice of someone he would always be tuned to cut through the mindless rumble of strangers, Song BingLiu turned to beam at his friend and vice prefect. He liked Ldeya, she was hardworking and endlessly charasmatic, able to handle conversation with anyone while he fumbled through most basic interactions. Everyone liked her and as endlessly popular as she was, Ldeya still chose to speak with his awkward self so it was nice to know that she valued their friendship as much as he did.

He tuned into her words and flushed, waving his hands in sharp jerking motions. "N-not really..." He stammered, shaking his head as his voice came out more as a withered croak than anything melodious befitting of the Siren House. He had really only been practicing throughout the break and since he hadn't done much today other than sit around, magic sat right under his skin, crawling and bubbling up in demands to be released, used, let loose. He wanted to put words to it and express them into something more than the sparks and vibrations that constructed his muscles and vocal chords, but when he opened his mouth, magic swallowed any sound, leaving him gaping in the soundless void he was left with.

Pressing shaking lips into a thin line, he could only smile faintly. "Not really..." He repeated, voice thin and apologetic.

---

Andrea slid into the seat beside Elona. No one seemed to want to occupy it, but honestly? With the intimidating aura she radiated, glaring daggers at the table, who could blame her? She drummed her fingers against the table, watching the row of professors intently. Hmph. Only head prefects got a mention? Oh well, no matter. All Frost Dragons were natural born leaders, it was understandable for her not to be mentioned. Andrea made sure to give Elona some personal space, a hint of a smile tugging on her lips. The poor table.

Rui En entered the dining hall just as the speech ended with a crash of the large doors, having swung them shut a little too hard. She shrugged nonchalantly at the faces that had whipped around to glare at her, as if she wasn’t the culprit, sitting down at the tables with her saw scaled viper coiled neatly around her neck. She swept into a mock bow, greeting the new blood at the Quetzalcoatl table with a bunch of roses and a cunning smile, before turning back to BingLiu and Ldeya, watching them with sparkling eyes as if she expected a fight. Though given the nature of the Siren House, that wasn’t going to happen. Still, one could hope.

Lukas was... tired. Per usual.

He sighed, slumping into his seat, cradling his head in his hands.

Another tedious day- and there his sister was, waving at him. Tiredly, he waved back at Professor Emma Wright.

He put on a smile, watching as the students milled around, talking as they ate.

---

Trixie waved cheerfully at Rui En.

"Rui En! Don't scare the new kids so early. It gives off a bad look! We're not scary. Let's make sure everyone's smiling, yeah?"

---

“Me? Scare children? Don’t be silly, Trix, I’m just saying hi” Rui En grins at Trixie, waving back with equal enthusiasm. “Besides, I gave them roses” She adds, stroking the snake on her shoulder “How’s term been for you? Managed to avoid dying, I see”

Rui En scoots a little closer to Trixie, changing her focus from the Siren table back to her own, and picking up a plate of gimbap.

"Hehe~ Something like that, yeah!"

Trixie giggled, not touching any food herself. She'd eat later.

"How're you doing? You look healthy and happy, hm?"

---

"Oh?"

Ldeya raised an eyebrow at his stammered response.

"Are you just glancing over there hopefully to see what the professors are eating?"

She smiled lightly, the sharp corners of her demeanor softening ever so slightly. As absolutely boring and stiff as Song BingLiu was, no one could ignore the time and effort he put into his studies. It was obvious there was something he'd been working on that he was excited to show the teachers, one of the rare students who actually bothered with studies over the holidays.

"What newest magic trick have you figured out?"

---

“I’m doing rather well. Shocking, I know. Been traveling around whilst I can, you know? I bought a lot of cool stuff. Didn’t manage to bring any here, seeing how much care this silly little baby here needs” Rui En patted the snake on her shoulder. “Lugged two entire suitcases. One entirely of her stuff. I keep complaining, but I’m always going to bring her” Rui En laughed lightly at her own remark

“Say, Trix. How’s prefecting going? Perfect? I’m surprised they let any Quetzalcoatl become prefect, honestly. But it certainly seems like a very tiring and boring job. Did it rob you of your appetite, hmm?” She teased, playful, as she finished her plate of food and pushed it away.

"Oh, Rui En. I never eat anything here. Who knows where it came from? Also, who else was gonna do this... honestly, tedious job?"

Trixie smiled.

"Your snake is adorable, by the way. Really cute. What's her name?"

She smiled as bright as she could.

---

“Hmm? Oh right. You never eat here. But you know, no one’s ever died eating the food” Rui En shrugs, then lets out a soft chuckle at the mention of the prefect role being “tedious”.

“Why, thank you. She is rather cute, hmm? Her name is Sparkles. Saw scaled viper, primarily hemotoxic and cytotoxic venom. Small and dangerous. This little baby can cause some serious cell and tissue damage, and stop your blood from clotting too. But she’s a precious little thing, never hurt anyone”

"You never know. Can't hurt to be careful. It'd be so easy to kill someone here. Y'know?"

Trixie's fake smile continued.

---

“Naturally. Of course I’ll be careful, Trix. And besides, however unfortunate, there’s a million other ways to die, given our school’s history.” Rui En downed a bowl of soup, before speaking again.

In a low tone, she spoke up once more. “Anyways, Trix. You need to stop attempting to smile. It’s getting a little creepy, it looks rather forced” Another short pause, as Rui En took in Trixie’s features again “Something wrong, Trix?”

"Wrong? Rui En, whyever would anything be wrong?"

She giggled, hand over her mouth.

"I'm not forcing anything."

---