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Post by saraismythe on Jul 8, 2011 17:39:14 GMT -5
Late Friday Morning, October 21st, 2011. Markswell's High Academy, front lawn.
The car itself was fairly remarkable. A large black stretch limousine, all windows but the front three tinted to the point of obscuring any and everything found within. The driving wasn't terribly so, mostly smooth, although one tire nearly caught a kerb on the last turn going up the drive. The driver was utterly unremarkable, just another caucasian male in his late twenties with no notable facial hair wearing a black suit and simple sunglasses.
"It is a nice grounds."
"I wonder if they have a swimming pool?"
"Doesn't look over-landscaped either, whoever handles the plants here must be fairly good at it."
"Those buildings are pretty big, even for a school. I wonder if they have a lot of students?"
"I wonder why nobody's out on the lawn right now."
"I hope I can get something to eat right away."
Curious eyes watched the school's grounds go by, noting the open spaces- and the less-open spaces between buildings. Walks there and there, and the front entrance- large and imposing as all architects seemed to want schools to be. Was it for a sense of solemnity, of seriousness? Or was the school intended to frighten students? An odd thought.
The stretch limousine smoothly rolled to a stop alongside the walk, parked neatly with the tires almost precisely three inches from the edge of the raised pavement. The man driving the car got out with simple, efficient motions, head turning smoothly as he scanned his surroundings. It was empty right now, likely due to its being eleven in the morning- classes were probably in, and the sporting fields weren't visible from the front drive. The man pulled a cellular phone from one pocket, holding it to his ear and speaking quietly into it for a few moments.
"I wonder how the people here are?"
"I bet they think I look strange. I probably do, to them."
"I look strange to most people, that's not unexpected."
"I hope they have nice medical staff."
"Maybe they have a small forest on the grounds somewhere?"
"I can hope."
"I wonder how big the library is?"
Several seconds passed, the man looking around the grounds once more, then walking around the limousine, certain he'd given enough chance for the vehicle to be spotted. They were expected, after all.
Coming about to one of the side doors, the man opened it and stepped back, looking around watchfully.
A pale foot came out from the limo's darkened interior, daintily setting bare sole on the fairly clean concrete of the walk. A brief flash of silver was visible before she stood out of the limousine, long forest-green skirt swishing into place and covering the bit of metal. A luggage pack was set down beside her as the light flashed briefly off her thin golden bracelet, before brown hair fell about in a long, straight mass half-obscuring the white peasant blouse and its black false-corset. She stepped a few paces forwards onto the concrete, relishing in the interesting texture under her feet as blue-gray eyes watched the school building. She seemed not to notice the next passenger exit the vehicle.
A pale foot came out from the limo's darkened interior, daintily setting bare sole on the fairly clean concrete of the walk. A brief flash of silver was visible before she stood out of the limousine, long skirt swishing into place and covering the bit of metal. And the same girl, down to every last detail except for her skirt being a dusky blue and the false-corset being white, stepped from the limousine, one hand gripping the handle of a large black suitcase.
A pale foot came out from the limo's darkened interior, daintily setting bare sole on the fairly clean concrete of the walk. The second to disembark moved away a short distance, allowing a third girl of the precisely same appearance, except for the duffel over her shoulder, the black skirt, and the deep red false-corset to get out, and step a few paces away.
Two more times reality repeated itself, the fourth girl wearing a white skirt, a black peasant blouse and a crimson false-corset, and the fifth with a gray woolen skirt, gray peasant-blouse, and ice-blue false corset. Each of these brought with them a regular luggage in a deep green, contrasting with the plain gray of the first pack.
The girl with the blue skirt tilted her head as she looked up at the school, the others looking in all the other directions.
".....I hope I'm ready...."
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 8, 2011 22:00:00 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
Darryl Markswell tugs on a sports coat over a back v-neck t-shirt and steps into his shoes, glancing in the mirror to make sure that no lingering bits of cream-cheese hang onto the sides of his mouth. All clear.
He swings open the door and steps out into the hallway, walking briskly down halls and around corners until he gets to the front doors of the Low Academy. Forming his face into a welcoming smile, Markswell swings open the French doors and steps outside. Already, five identical girls are waiting beside a black limousine. A quick step into the mind of one (all of them?) reveals that she is (they are?) Erin Kella, one of the new juniors this year.
“Erin Kella!” he calls reaching the girls and waving to the driver. “Welcome to my academy. I am Darryl Markswell, the headmaster. What you see behind me is the lower school, which houses our younger students, grades six to eight. Over to my left is the upper school, grades nine through twelve. You’ll be staying in the Vespian dorm. You will have a roommate, but you will each have a bed, so don’t worry. Do you have any questions?”
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 8, 2011 22:32:21 GMT -5
All five girls tilted their heads to regard Darryl from a small variety of viewpoints. Each peered at him through nearly identical bangs, and each pushed a few aside slightly with an identical gesture of their identically free left hands. For a few moments, there was silence, and then the one with the black blouse stepped forwards slightly and curtseyed, the other four curtseying at precisely the same time.
"...hi." Her voice came out almost a whisper, a soft soprano with meek undertones. "Um.... I... I don't think I have any questions right now..."
"...but, um. If you could, ah.... show me the way around, please, sir?" The one with the dark green skirt finished the temerous question, all five girls cocking their heads to the side to look up at the headmaster from an off angle. "I'd, ah..."
"Well.... I'd hate to get lost on my first day here..." The one with the black blouse and red false-corset continued. "It would be bad to not know where my classes are..." She scratched at the side of her head as if thinking.
"Oh... but, um. Do I start classes today? Only, the day is mostly over...." The one in gray half-murmured, looking over at what she presumed to be one of the buildings that held classrooms. "And, um...."
"I know it's odd...." Said the girl with the dusky-blue skirt. "...but if you could, ah... not tell anyone about my... you know."
"Social position..." All five murmured in chorus.
"Well.... I'd appreciate it..." Finished the one with the black skirt and white blouse, fidgeting with the cloth of her duffel bag.
All the while, the man in the suit simply watched, waiting to see the girl safely within the school building before he could leave himself, staying to his job.
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 9, 2011 6:23:41 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
Markwell beams. No one’s ever asked for a tour before! Well, no student, at least. “I’d be delighted to show you around! No one knows this place as well as I do, you know.” Except Rick. The thought flashes involuntarily through his mind, and he immediately tries to un-think it. (Which is impossible, just by the way.) It’s best for him not to think of the little seven-year-old he gave a home so many years ago. “Follow me, Erins!” He sets off toward the High Academy, not looking back to see if he’s being followed.
“Hmm… Classes… Well, we don’t even have a schedule for you yet, so it might be a tad difficult to send you to class, now, Erins! Oh, that reminds me, I have a question for you-- would you rather be all in the same class or be split up? Any way is good with me.” She’s so nervous, it almost makes him laugh. Most of the new students he greets are boisterous and loud, with parents constantly reminding them to be polite.
He turns back as she mentions her social status (five times). He mimes zipping his lips closed like a zipper and throws away the invisible key. “Your secret is safe with me, Erins.” Not to mention the confidentiality agreement he signs every time he admits a new student, but he’s not much of a gossipier anyway.
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 9, 2011 22:26:10 GMT -5
All five girls blinked as Darryl turned to walk, five identical heads turning in unison to the man in the suit. He nodded to the girls, and they returned the head-gesture before following the creator (and presumably headmaster) of the school. Three sets of luggage wheels rolled along with the distinct, half-sliding sound that those little hard pieces of plastic always made, be it on concrete, tile, linoleum, or wood. The other two, of course, had bags that were not being dragged, and thus made much less sound as they walked, five sets of bare feet doing nothing to increase the noise. One might, at first, be excused for thinking that the girls had all trained in stealth- but a moment’s thought would yield the question- how much would it hurt to walk in a feet-slapping stride on concrete or gravel?
That said, the five moved along in near-silent unison, following the older man towards the front doors of the High Academy, shifting orders and positions a few times until they could form a relatively comfortable cluster behind the man.
“....I’m not sure...” The blue-skirted girl at the front of the group temporized at the question of class grouping. “I mean.... since I’m not sure if there will stay exactly five of me...”
“....it might be safer to all be in one class...” Continued the black-bloused brunette, frowning a little. “But then you’re using five class places for one person...” Her face cleared at the middle of the thought- which was continued, frown and all, by the one in gray.
“...and I’m not really doing things the efficient way. I could take five classes each period...” She brightened slightly before leaving off, almost seeming to perk up a little in a way that caused her bangs to shade her eyes a bit less.
“....but then what happens if one is sick, or I wind up with more than five?” The blue-skirted girl sounded a bit worried there. “And what could I do useful with the spare periods, since you probably haven’t got enough classes total for me to take five each period and not be in any class twice?”
The girl wearing the green skirt, currently at the back of the group, cut in here. “What do you think is the best idea?”
The closed-keeping of her social status is, of course, met with no verbal response, though the expression on each girl’s face seems to be a little more relaxed- though they all still seem a bit nervous of the discussion, and perhaps a bit wary of being seen out and about.
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 9, 2011 22:41:14 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
He listens carefully to the girls’ musings, then is slightly taken aback when he is asked for his own opinion. Another thing that hasn’t happened much before.
“Well, from what I gather from your thoughts, you don’t have a clue. Personally, I agree that it would be safer all in one class, and that if there were suddenly more Erins running around campus it would mean another free period, so I believe that we should keep all of your different selves in one class. And about using five class places, don’t worry about it. The rooms are plenty large to accommodate all of you.”
Markswell reaches the front of the upper school and pulls open the French doors, steps inside onto the carpet.
“This is the Main Parlor,” he begins, switching to tour-guide mode, “the first thing that you will see when stepping in and the last thing that you will see before leaving. Over there is the admissions office,” He gestures at the small room to the side of the parlor. “and those are the elevators that will take you up to the dorms, classes, and etcetera. There are stairs over there, through that door.” He points to a dark wood door on the right of the room.
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 10, 2011 0:04:41 GMT -5
All five girls nodded at the same time- but not quite in synch. Still, their expressions were uniformly a bit awed as the large doors were pushed open and they stepped into the building, following Mr. Markswell. Each set of feet gently brushed itself on the doormat (assuming one was present) before moving aside so the next girl might enter, all five brunettes proceeding to look around in different directions. Outside, the faint noise of a motor could be heard as the limousine departed with a slow, calm pace.
The brunette with the black blouse eyed the stairs speculatively, looking forwards to what was next- but the one in gray was peering at the admissions office, trying to see what was in there without actually heading over there. Another was looking at the designs of the gingerbread around the edge of the ceiling, and the remaining two were focused on Darryl himself.
"....so the dormitories are close to the classrooms?" The black-bloused girl wondered aloud, though quietly, before glancing up at the headmaster- then turning her attention to the doors again.
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 10, 2011 11:08:29 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
Markswell turns back to look at the Erins, musing over her question for a moment before answering. “Well, that depends on what you mean by ‘close’. The High Academy dorms are on the top four floors, and the classrooms are sixth from the top. So, not right next to the dorms, but close enough so that you don’t have to wake up too early for classes. The Training Center is between the classrooms and dorms.”
He smiles at the girls, then crosses the room, sidestepping armchairs and coffee tables as he does so, and pushes the elevator button. “We’ll head up to your dorm first, so that you don’t all have to carry around those bags. Then the tour shall continue!”
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 10, 2011 11:35:30 GMT -5
"That's convenient..." Murmured several of the five girls- it would be hard to say which with the brunettes facing all different directions. It occurred to Erin that this would mean students could easily get to classrooms at off hours, and she had to wonder if the rooms would be locked or unlocked, and whether students would go to classes, or teachers would change rooms- if the former, it was likely (in her eyes) that the teachers would use their classrooms as offices- but the latter would beg the question of where teacher offices would be.
Still, she let that thought sit for the moment- it was pretty likely that she would find that out when the headmaster got to showing her the classroom areas of the building. Or should that be classroom floors?
"...how are the dormitories divided?" Inquired the girl with the gray clothing, following one of several lines of thought that Erin was having at the moment. "I understand it's probably male-female divided, but further than that, how are they split?"
The green-skirted girl was focusing more on the texture of the carpet under her feet as the five followed the headmaster to the elevators. Going barefoot always made these sorts of things interesting- and she had to wonder if she would be allowed to continue that as she preferred. Again, though, she didn't say anything- she really didn't want to draw attention to that habit of hers, and figured she would be told if there was something wrong with it.
The five girls dodged around the furniture in a loose, uneven manner, the layout of the area causing them to incidentally rearrange their order, each following a different path across the lobby. Given the nature of the five brunettes, the movement would be a bit surprising to anyone expecting them to act in unison.
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 10, 2011 20:04:18 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
“As I said earlier, you’ll be in the Vespian dorm, which only houses eleventh-grade girls. The rest of the dorms are divided the same way-- gender, then grade-level. Junior and seniors share a level while freshmen and sophomores have their own. Girls have the upper two levels, then boys. For each dorm, there are four teacher’s apartments. The teachers on your dorm are all female, and they will be like your mothers away-from-home.”
The elevator doors slide open with a pleasant chime and Markswell steps in, moving to the right to stand next to the control panel. He presses down the door open button, just to make sure that all five girls get safely onto the elevator-- wouldn’t want an injury on the first day on campus, and definitely not on Markswell’s watch!
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 12, 2011 13:01:51 GMT -5
All five of the girls piled into the elevator, each shifting their bag or luggage such that one bare foot was to either side of the container, reducing the space they occupied there. It kept things from becoming a tight fit, and allowed extra space should anyone want to take the elevator as well, a common consideration from Erin.
The girls packed themselves against the back wall as well, turning a sea of attentive eyes in Mr. Markswell's general direction- though none of them was quite looking straight at him, he was definitely the center of all attention present.
....well, except for the green-skirted girl, who was busily wiggling her toes on the elevator floor and apparently enjoying the texture of the carpeting here.
After waiting a few moments for the headmaster to hit the elevator button and the car to get underway, the brunette with the gray dress spoke up.
"Um.... what are the dormitory rules, Mr. Markswell? Or will those be explained by the teachers there...?" She didn't want to presume, after all.
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 12, 2011 16:07:18 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
After hitting the button for the top floor, he leans back against the elevator wall. It’ll be a minute or so before they reach the juniors’ dorms, as the elevator is not the fastest known to man. He keeps meaning to replace it with one of the new state-of-the-art ones, but just never gets around to it.
“Hmm, let me see. There aren’t that many rules.” He hold up a hand and ticks them off as he says them. “No drugs, no alcohol, and no, erm, intercourse. You’re supposed to have the lights off by midnight, but hardly anyone listens to that one. Students of the opposite gender are allowed in your dorms-- provided the doors stay open and at least one of the teachers for your dorm knows about it. Laundry is to be put outside the doors in the hamper by ten every Tuesday morning. It will be picked up and returned to you by Friday afternoon, clean and folded.” Markswell smiles.
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Post by saraismythe on Jul 14, 2011 13:56:35 GMT -5
All five girls blinked (not quite in unison) as Darryl explained the laundry, all of them but the one with the black blouse tilting their heads (gray skirt and green skirt to the left, blue skirt and white skirt to the right). There was a moment of silence before several of the girls looked at one another with matching expressions of concern, lips slightly pursed. The brunette in the black outfit with the red false-corset was the one to speak up, though.
“Ah.... my laundry is... well. It needs different handling, since I can’t safely wear polyesters and such without, er...” All the girls blushed at that, ducking their heads. Bare toes dug at the carpet in the elevator for a few moments before the one in the gray skirt finally muttered out.
“Well.... my talent can’t work with them, so if I accidentally trigger it then, I’ll, uh.... I’ll be....” She gestured vaguely to herself before stumbling to a halt, the sentence finished several seconds later by the green-skirted girl.
“...naked.”
The mortification in the air about having to admit that (aloud) to the headmaster was thick enough to cut with a hand, nevermind a knife, and the girls kept their heads down, looking anywhere but at the older man. In fact, they seemed equally reluctant to look at -each other- as well. The ones with the luggage and suitcase fiddled with the handles of their bags, where the other three began working their hands at each other gently.
“Oh! But, um...” The girl with the green skirt was speaking now, half-mumbling towards the floor, but still loud enough to be heard in the elevator. “...if I can have the use of a washtub, I can handle it myself. So you don’t have to have anyone handwash my laundry.”
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Jul 15, 2011 9:46:22 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
when life gives you lemons…
Markswell laughs, but not in a mean way. “Erin, I run a boarding school. There are hundreds of kids here. Do you really think that none of them have clothes that need to be hand washed? Just slip a note in with your laundry, and it’ll get taken care of correctly.”
The door slides open with a pleasant chime. He steps out into the dorm common area, a smallish room with a few armchairs and a television. A girl glances up from her perch on a couch, feet up on the coffee table, but quickly looks back down at her textbook.
Darryl Markswell leads the way past the common area and down the hallway, stopping about halfway down the hall and unlocking a door on his right. It opens to reveal a hallway with five doors, the one at the far end being the bathroom. Three of the doors are open; the fourth is closed.
“Alright, girls! This is your dorm. Well, you’re actually going to have three dorm rooms, but that’s beside the point. Four of you will have to share two rooms while the fifth will have her own-- unless you create more of yourself, that is. Ella Vickrow lives in that room.” He points at the closed door, then hands each girl a key. “Go on inside, make yourselves at home.”
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Post by saraismythe on Aug 22, 2011 13:06:25 GMT -5
All five girls look at the keys in their hands, peering at it for a moment- and then each of them looks at a key in the hand of one of the other girls. "...are all these keys the same?" Inquires the girl in the dusky blue skirt. "Or do they at least unlock all three rooms? It's just that that would be more convenient."
Three of the other girls nod, though the green-skirted brunette simply glances about in the short hallway with an idle expression. There is a brief shuffling of bags, leaving both the duffel and the shoulderbag in possession of the black-skirted girl, and one luggage to either hand of the girl with the black blouse. The gray-skirted girl winds up with all five keys, slipping them onto a small ring decorated with a Kerokerokeroppi keychain- or perhaps it's a Kerokerokeroppi keychain with a small ring on it.
Either way, the bags are moved, all brought to one of the open rooms, where the two brunettes that took them begin unpacking and placing clothing- and perhaps surprisingly not much else.
The green-skirted girl finally lifts her attention from the carpet, turning her gaze on the headmaster. "Do you think perhaps I could attend two different classes at once? It's just that I don't think I should be taking no advantage of my situation-" Here, she gestures to the other two girls in the hall, one of whom seems to be doing something (incongruously) with a PDA, though the gray-bloused girl is carefully brushing out her hair, demonstrating a possible advantage of Erin's power by doing her hair while standing behind herself.
"-but I do recognise that it would be a lot more complicated to have completely separate classes." She concludes, bringing her hands about in front of her to lace fingers against the front of her skirt. "I think that probably would be the best compromise...?"
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Aug 22, 2011 17:48:03 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
being ignorant is not
so much a shame
as being unwilling
to learn
"All five keys are interchangeable." he says, smiling at them, uh, her. "It would be quite difficult to keep track of three different keys, so we had the locks on your doors changed to be identical to each other."
All the locks in the building are slightly different, just for the safety of the inhabitant and his or her belongings. Markswell does have a master key, though, one that's made specially to open every door in the school. It's always on him-- can't let that get into the wrong hands!
And then the next question.
"Of course, Erin! Feel free to split up your classes any way you'd like. Whether that's one per class, two classes at once, or just all in the same class. Anything goes."
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Post by saraismythe on Aug 22, 2011 18:24:42 GMT -5
"Just two classes per period, please..." Says the girl with the blue skirt as her hair is steadily woven into a single French braid. "I don't think I'll ever stay at just one of me, and two classes will let me be sure I'm using the time I have without much risk of missed classes should one or another come up ill." She makes a few more notes in her PDA and then begins brushing out the hair of the green-skirted brunette who has moved without any visible communication to stand in front of her.
As she continues using the brush the gray-clad girl who is braiding her hair had used moments ago, the other two girls emerge from the room into which the luggage went, taking up positions in front of the blue-skirted brunette and each other, each of the two handing a hairbrush back to the girl behind her. The entire arrangement is strangely synchronised and out of synch, as the girls all do the same thing at the same speed- but with different details and out of unison.
The black-skirted girl, now in front, seems to have a small marble mortar and pestle and is grinding something or other up- it smells like basil (and probably is).
"Thank you, Mr. Markswell." She says quietly as they all have been speaking thus far. "I suppose you probably have other, more important things to get to, and I think I'm out of questions for now. Should I be expecting a call when my schedules are set? Only, I didn't see where I could plug in the telephone I brought with me."
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Post by Darryl Markswell on Aug 22, 2011 18:50:20 GMT -5
Darryl Markswell
being ignorant is not
so much a shame
as being unwilling
to learn
He watches the whole procession, strangely reminded of a conga line, with just the hint of a smile on his face. "Alright then, Erin. I'll leave you to it. There should be a plug near the desks for your phone. If you think of anything else, don't be afraid to call. Your schedule should be ready within a few days."
Markswell waves, then turns and walks out of the dorm pod. He can already tell that this girl will be a nice asset to his school-- polite, intelligent, resourceful. He looks forward to seeing her around the school, in one or more of her bodies.
He might never get used to seeing the same girl in two places at once, though. Even though he runs a school for mutants, he's still easily amused and startled by what these kids can do.
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