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Melia Stahlflugel Joined: 4 Aug 2005 Posts: 613 | Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 1:51 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Melia Stahlflugel: This theme, Any theme It was quiet in the academy; the only sounds Aurelia could hear were the west wind whistling through the trees of the upstate New York estate, and her own breathing. Focusing, she could hear the skitter of roaches in the room below, and mice in the ceiling. She'd have to tell the janitor about that. Beyond that, it wasn't really true hearing- but sensing that sounds were being made, and by what. Grass swaying, leaves shaking, out somewhere a squirrel was stuffing its cheeks.
And suddenly, Professor Xavier was in the room. Shocked, Aurelia broke concentration. It was still incredibly disorienting for her- someone that relied much on sixth sense- that he could block out all psychic trace of himself. She quite simply could not see his soul no matter how hard she tried... which meant he was perhaps the one person who could surprise her when she was meditating. "The others have arrived," he said, "They are filing into the front hall now." She nodded, having known this already, but not knowing whether she was supposed to go out or not. She followed him out and down the hall to the balcony that overlooked the front hall. In front of all the assembled students and teachers, he made his commencement speech. It was short and sweet, the effect being that he hoped everyone would have another great year at the academy. "I would like to introduce to you at this time Aurelia le Fay, the most recent addition to our family. She will be teaching Anthropology here at the academy." Aurelia's head turned at the mention of her name. The students and teachers politely clapped, and then the Professor concluded the assembly. New students were led off to orientation, and the Professor withdrew presumably to his study. So Aurelia was left somewhat awkwardly at the top of the stairs, staring down at the few of her fellow teachers that had lingered. But she didn't find it awkward at all; in fact she leaned forward and draped her arms over the side with a big grin and said, "Well, hello! I look forward to working with you all." OOC:I hope this is ok, etc. etc. >__O;; |
Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 884 | Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:19 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme OOC: Is this start of term, or sometime in the middle? I'm sort of assuming start of term, but I'll try to write it so it could work either way....
The hall was almost completely full, packed with all the students and teachers of the academy. Well, almost all. Having to move nimbly and with a dexterous care that he could only claim because he had once been a professional thief, Jean slipped stealthily into his designated seat -- complete with a little name tag that had been taped onto it -- just as Professor Xavier escorted the new teacher out onto the balcony. Having had nothing really better to do, with no papers or homework to be graded (a pleasant, if rare situation to be in) Jean had spent all the previous evening and well into the night experimenting with beans from a new local store. He had played with everything, from roasting degree to blend to grind size, and probably pulled almost forty shots of espresso altogether -- he lost count after twenty-five -- and probably downed half of each shot. Needless to say, he didn't even try to sleep that night, having finished cleanup at around four-thirty in the morning, and had passed the time by re-reading some Victor Hugo books. To tell the truth, he had actually forgotten all about the morning assembly, despite being reminded of it an hour in advance. Or, perhaps, he forgot about it because he had been reminded an hour in advance. At that point, he was engrossed in the dramatic ending of the book, and immediately forgot anything that anyone mentioned to him. It was rather a miracle that he remembered it at all, really. He had finished the book just in time to notice that the halls were uncharacteristically quiet and empty, which sparked something in his memory. Sitting in that rather uncomfortable chair, listening to Xavier's inspiring speech, Jean found himself struggling against that unmistakable feeling of sleep deprivation combined with caffeine high. He was ready to collapse into sleep at any moment, but could tell that the caffeine wasn't going to let him for at least an hour or so. It was almost amazing to him that he wasn't yet hallucinating. When the speech was over and the students began to file off to their respective places, Jean looked up in time to notice the new teacher staring down at him and the other teachers. He raised two fingers two his forehead and flicked them out at her in a sort of casual salute. If he had understood correctly -- which he might not have, considering he was running on a low amount of sleep even for him -- she would be working under his department. If that was the case, then he supposed it was best to at least try getting along with her. "What do you think?" Jean idly asked the teacher sitting next to him. "Think she'll fit in?" OOC: Well... I posted |
The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 398 | Posted: Sun Jan 25, 2009 8:37 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme OOC:Since it's commencement, I'm gonna assume it's the beginning of the term...? Correct me if I'm wrong.
Chavi had, of course, been on time; Chavi was always on time, and she glanced sideways at the tardy Jean with no small measure of disapproval. "I think she had better learn," she replied after a long moment, during which she'd given Aurelia a critical once-over and decided-- perhaps unfairly-- that she didn't like her. The casual way she'd addressed all the teachers struck her as being too friendly for someone who'd never met any of them. Chavi liked to preserve the space between herself and strangers, and didn't give Aurelia any indication she'd even heard her. Still, it was the woman's first day, and Chavi had learned that not everyone was as private as she was. Besides, she was fair-minded enough to realize that much of her own irritability this morning was her own fault; she, like Jean, had gotten little sleep the previous night because she, like Jean, had been experimenting. Not with coffee beans, of course-- she didn't have the patience for such subjective things. No, her experiments had kept her in the medical labs well into the early hours of the morning, and in the end she'd simply gone to sleep on one of the patient beds in the clinic. Unfortunately, her theories had turned out to be entirely wrong, and had fallen asleep frustrated and upset, with nothing to show for her hours of work. "Anthropology?" she said, turning her attention back toward Jean. "That's your sort of thing." She made no effort to hide her disdain for the subject; it was fairly well-known that she had little respect for such airy things. "So I suppose the better question is... how well do you think she'll fit in?" OOC:Eh... it's a post. |
| Melia Stahlflugel Joined: 4 Aug 2005 Posts: 613 | Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 12:23 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Melia Stahlflugel: This theme, Any theme OOC:Yeah, it's the beginning of the term.
Aurelia looked down at the teachers, sizing them up. A strawberry-blonde, dapper looking fellow saluted her, and she smiled and saluted back. Oh right, that's one of the heads of my department- Jean Auclair, I believe his name is, she thought, as she descended the stairs. Next to him sat a rather sour-looking tan-skinned woman. Both of their souls wavered in a way she had come to recognize as fatigue. Aurelia reached Jean after weaving through a group of teachers leaving, and extended a hand out, mouth starting to form words. And then she noticed them; creeping out of the walls, coming up from the floor and down from the ceiling, hundreds of them. All of them with faces and details worn smooth, and just the suggestion of clothes left- which meant that they had wandered without rest for some time since their death. At first Aurelia wondered how she'd failed to see this many ghosts, but then the answer became apparent. As one, they all turned to look at the woman besides Jean. "Oh," Aurelia said softly, unintentionally staring at Chavi. She shook her head, forcing herself to stay calm. "I'm sorry. Please forgive my rudeness." She bowed politely, and then continued as well as she could while surrounded on all sides by... whatever those spirits where. "Anyways, I, uh, I'm glad to meet you both, and sir, I look forward to working-" she paused with an uneasy smile as she felt the unnerving sensation of death on her skin as the spirits passed her to congregate around Chavi. But then one passed right through her. She gasped, then said, "Is there something I should know about this place? Are there always this many ghosts here?" She laughed nervously again and added, "Wouldn't happen to have an Indian burial ground under the foundation or something, would it?" OOC:Note: she can see souls, and their state, meaning tired, enraged, etc. but cannot see good or evil... hence her state of confusion about Chavi's ghosts. She doesn't know for what reason they're following Chavi- did she kill them out of hate or accident? Are they her family/friends? etc.
Note2: Ghosts that wander too long without rest first lose their voice, then their features, until eventually they're just a blob. |
| Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 884 | Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 12:52 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme Jean had just opened his mouth to respond to Chavi when the new teacher appeared and introduced herself... after a fashion. Not quite sure what the girl was saying about the "ghosts," Jean raised an eyebrow to Chavi, wondering if she had gotten anything more out of it.
"Glad to meet you too," Jean said, turning back to face the new teacher. He got the feeling from Chavi's expression that she wasn't in any better mood to deal with silly things than he was. For the moment, he decided that ignoring the "ghosts" question was probably the best strategy. Besides, he was vaguely miffed that she hadn't actually introduced herself properly. "I am Jean Auclair," he continued, his french accent coming through as thicker the more tired he got, "I teach the French and, ah... any other language as necessary. This here is Chavi Kaldev. She teaches, eh... the sciences." Here he winked at Chavi to let her know that he was kidding about not knowing exactly what subjects she taught. His memory wasn't so bad that he couldn't remember that after working with her for as long as he had. But it almost was. "The mansion, ah... how do you like her?" Jean asked, hoping to preclude any awkard silences. He wasn't entirely convinced that it would work, of course, but he was rather hopeful. OOC: I don't think Jean believes in ghosts, haha... |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 398 | Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 8:23 am | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme When the new teacher began talking about ghosts, Chavi shot Jean a sidelong glance, one eyebrow raised in an expression that said she wasn't sure whether this was a joke. Fit in? She would have shaken her head in disbelief, had she not been standing right in front of the woman. Not a chance. After a moment of being stared at, however, her expression shifted to one of annoyance. 'Indian burial ground?' Is this her idea of an icebreaker? She opened her mouth to say something scathing (she wasn't yet sure what), but Jean spoke before she had a chance to.
She didn't bother to clarify Jean's explanation of her position here at the Academy; she was, by now, more or less used his antics. She did notice that he hadn't even attempted to address the whole "ghost" thing-- she, however, hadn't his wish to avoid conflict. If this woman was going to go on talking of spirits and burial grounds, Chavi wanted to make it clear from the outset that there would be none of that here. This was an institution of higher learning, an academic safehouse. While she didn't particularly like the arts, she could understand their importance as a part of a well-rounded education. Ghosts, on the other hand, had no place here. "Yes," she added, knowing that she was about to be rather rude but not much caring. "Isn't it grand? If you ever get bored in the middle of the night, the phantom basketball team usually plays a few games out on the court around one-thirty. Or there's a poltergeist in the kitchen who likes to play hide-and-seek." OOC:Haha. I'm fairly certain Chavi doesn't either. XD |
| Melia Stahlflugel Joined: 4 Aug 2005 Posts: 613 | Posted: Tue Jan 27, 2009 6:24 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By Melia Stahlflugel: This theme, Any theme Aurelia took a few seconds to breathe and center herself. As the ghosts drifted away from her, she felt better and better. She wasn't used to being crowded to such an extent- either by the living or the dead.
"Ah, vous enseignez le Français? En fait, le Français était ma première langue, avec moi venant du Haïti et tous," Aurelia answered Jean flawlessly. "Je suis heureux d'avoir un autre orateur naitive ici à parler avec!" She raised an eyebrow at Jean's awkward attempt at a segue, but smiled. "Anyways, nice to meet the both of you, and I apologize for my behavior earlier. And to answer your question, I like this mansion well enough, given that I haven't seen much of it yet." Aurelia laughed Chavi's dig off. She had received these types of comments about her powers a lot as she had traveled, most often from scientific types. And she could relate to how they felt, whether they realized it or not. Just as they couldn't believe ghosts and magic were real, she was constantly confounded by technology. The solution was easy for lack of faith: seeing is believing. ...Usually. Well, she could at least try. Aurelia sketched out something into the open air. Her fingers almost danced, as if conducting an invisible orchestra. "I'm going to show you how I see this room. Normally I wouldn't do this, but," Here she paused to bring her fingers together, with a flash of orange. "I'd prefer if the two of you didn't think me crazy, considering we'll be working together. It'd be an insult to my pride, but more importantly, an insult to my ancestors." Aurelia drew her hands apart to reveal a shimmering mirror-portal in the air. The front and back were about three feet in diameter, but the sides were sliver-thin and could barely be seen. It wouldn't last long, so she hoped that they'd look through it soon. OOC:Translation: "Oh, you teach French? Actually, French was my first language, with me coming from Haiti and all. I'm happy to have another naitive speaker here to talk with!"
Note: She made a temporary mirror, which allows the unsighted to see spirits. They'll see some of Chavi's ghosts, if they actually look through. |
| Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 884 | Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 1:26 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme OOC: I think I'm much too lazy to throw dialog into google translator ;)
"<Yes. I am... French, after all>," Jean said, brightening only slightly. Only slightly, partly because he had a somewhat elitist complex when it came to people who claimed to speak French well that weren't themselves French (some of his Advanced French students discovered this after being very smug one day before a big test; Jean secretly redid that test overnight), and partly because he was really tired. Mostly because he was really tired. Vaguely, he recalled that he hadn't really slept the night before, either. When Aurelia began to wave her hands about in the air, Jean glanced very skeptically at Chavi. Normally, he was quite good at being tactful, but at that moment he wasn't completely sure that anything he said might accidentally come out in French instead of... just about any other language he might have meant to use. "She is a very pretty mirror," Jean said in English, though with a thick French accent. His tone was somewhat like a father humoring a child who was talking about their imaginary friend. "But I, cannot wear... rose color glasses, as we may say. A rose color mirror will be even less for me, I think." Trying to keep it from sounding like an afterthought, he added, "But I hope I do not offend your ancestor. We all have our own way of seeing a room, non?" OOC: I... just don't know |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 398 | Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2009 9:17 am | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme Chavi raised an eyebrow at Aurelia's open use of French; she was not offended, exactly, only a little surprised. Surely the woman knew it was rude to conduct a conversation in another language, when one of the group clearly didn't speak it? Or perhaps Aurelia simply lacked this basic tact as much as she lacked the ability to introduce herself without sounding like a voodoo-practicing nutcase.
When the mirror opened, Chavi glanced sideways at Jean, her eyebrow rising higher. But she was not the type to refuse to look in order to protect her own reality-- that was a characteristic she attributed to those voodoo-practicing nutcases. Besides, she had enough faith in science to know, without a doubt, that whatever this woman was doing had some logical explanation. So she looked. There were figures, skulking around the room. Some of them had faces that were disturbingly blank; others' faces still held every wrinkle, every eyelash. It was surprisingly detailed, she thought clinically, cocking her head to one side as she watched. She would have expected something more blurred, with less attention to detail. Or perhaps that's what those faceless "ghosts" were-- evidence of Aurelia's inability to fashion every piece in perfect realism. Still, it must have taken an enormous amount of concentration even to do this. Her eyes, when she turned them back to Aurelia, were amused. The rest of her face was clearly annoyed-- she was far too tired to be entirely amused, despite the fact that she was certain this had to be one big joke. The girl must be stupid to think they would fall for such a trick so easily. "Interesting," she said, glancing back at Jean (who was clearly attempting to refrain from being rude, despite his exhaustion.) "I'll admit that you're a fairly powerful illusionist. I would ask you not to insult my intelligence by telling me that you're anything more. No offense meant to your... ancestors, of course." This last was delivered with the same sarcasm as her earlier comment about phantom basketball players. Of course this overwhelming respect for her ancestors was only a part of the show, and Chavi could accept that. All magicians and performers used such tricks-- had to, to keep people from seeing their sleight of hand. Still, she had never been fond of magicians. This was turning out to be no exception. |
spy_4_hire Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 568 | Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 11:50 am | Characters: All for this theme; By spy_4_hire: This theme, Any theme Mei was with the other students during the commencement speech. She stood near the back with her arms crossed, chewing her Chubblicious Watermelon bubble gum and blowing bubbles with it. They were talking about what they did on their vacations and catching up one with another, but Mei didn't have anyone to talk to. No one wanted to talk to her anyway. It wasn't like she did anything exciting over the summer anyway. Her parents hadn't asked her to come and visit them, even though they knew she was going to have a break, so she stayed at the academy with a few others whose parents didn't want them and those who didn't have anyone. She pretty much spent it alone, since even the loneliest kid wouldn't talk to her.
She didn't mind, at lest that's what she told herself. As far as she was concerned they were just jealous because they weren't the top of their class. Why should she bother with envious, unintelligent teenagers? Mei glanced at group of bout five girls giggling about something or someone, and she rolled her eyes. Silly gossiping girls. Though it would be nice to have a girl friend to chat with about boys and movies, and they could go out shopping and see movie on weekends. She would never admit it to anyone, but she would have loved to be part of whatever stupid conversation they were having. All throughout the welcoming speech and the introduction of the new teacher at the school, she listened to the whispers and low chatters of the student body around her. When the speech ended, the students started heading on their way and Mei bit her lip. <"I'm a cool person,"> she told herself, in Chinese of course. <"They should be more than happy to have me join them. Right, Goober?"> <"Right!"> cheered her little red iPal in her hand. Mei took a deep breath, blew another bubble and walked towards them and hoped she wouldn't say anything stupid. "Hi," Mei said with a friendly smile. The chatter died instantly and four pairs of cold, aloof eyes turned and looked at her. The other girl, Cheryll, was sweet and cheerful and made a point to be a friend to everyone, but even she looked uncomfortable that Mei had intruded. "Oh, hi, Mei," said the uneasy girl, attempting to reach out to someone who was sure to be lonely. "How's it going?" "Pretty good," Mei nodded, almost mechanically, the friendly smile continued to stretch across her face. "How was your summer?" "Lots of fun, actually. I went to Europe with my family," Cheryll brightened up a little, and Mei felt her heart flutter. This was it. She was having a friendly conversation with a girl her own age! "I bought the cutest shoes. See?" Mei looked down as she modeled the new shoes. "From where? A circus?" Mei asked, the words tumbling from her mouth before she could stop them. There was a gasp and Mei's head snapped up. Cheryll's face had fallen, her smile vanished completely. Crap! That was the wrong thing to say. She had to fix it quickly. They really were cute, the color and the shape, they made her feet look so dainty. She had to apologize and say something nice about them, now! "I'm sorry," she said, flushing slightly from her mistake. All right, good, the apology was executed perfectly and sincerely. She smiled again and opened her mouth to compliment the shoes. "It's just that they make your feet look so big." Nope, that wasn't it. "You must be bravest person I know because I would never be caught dead in those hideous boats." Cheryll now looked devastated, and she sniffed, turned around and ran away. "Ugh! What is your problem, Mei?" asked one of Cheryll's friends as they all turned to chase after their friend. The little Chinese girl stood there with the silly friendly grin still plastered on her face for a moment. Then she smacked her forehead. <"I don't think that went well,"> Goober chirped. <"Shut up,"> she said flatly, as she turned around to head for the library. She wasn't hungry, and she didn't feel like sitting alone staring at a plate of wasted food in the cafeteria. She unwrapped another piece of gum and popped it in her mouth since the old piece was losing its flavor. |
| Melia Stahlflugel Joined: 4 Aug 2005 Posts: 613 | Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 10:38 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By Melia Stahlflugel: This theme, Any theme Aurelia frowned defeatedly at Jean. He was humoring her, how embarrassing! And then came the icing on the cake of failure, Chavi's outright condescension. She hadn't been expecting these types of reactions at an academy for mutants, especially since the Professor had seemed quite comfortable with her and her powers... but she was beginning to believe that he only understood because he was psychic.
She sighed. Continuing to try to convince these people would be beating a dead horse. Time to cut her losses. "Well, you two look pretty tired. I'll let you go rest up before classes start. I'm going to look around the mansion, as I haven't really gotten to yet. See you later." With a wave, she trotted off down the center hallway. One thing bothered Aurelia about what Chavi had said- "She called me an illusionist... what the hell's that?" She wondered aloud, shaking her head. Maybe she'd go find out what that was now- she had nothing better to do. She reached the library fairly quickly, after asking one student for directions. A rather frustrated-looking Chinese girl stood outside, with a small, cute robot beside her. She arrived just in time to over-hear the end of their conversation. "我可以关连," Aurelia sighed. OOC:Translation: I can relate. |
| spy_4_hire Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 568 | Posted: Sun Feb 01, 2009 1:48 am | Characters: All for this theme; By spy_4_hire: This theme, Any theme "你不知道," Mei replied crisply as she went into the library. She didn't seem to realize that she was still talking in Chinese. "她们浪费我的时间。“ Then she stopped as it occurred to her that someone was speaking her native tongue, and she turned around to see who it was. The new teacher from earlier. Who knew? Her eyes narrowed slightly, not sure what to make of the situation at first, but she broke out into a sweet smile and giggled. It was nice to hear someone other than Jean for once.
"你会说中文很好," Mei said sincerely, clapping a little and bouncing on her heels. Goober made a disgruntled sound and he clung to her shoulder in order to stay on. "你在哪里学习？" OOC:Translation: "You have no idea." --- "They were a waste of time." --- "You can speak Chinese very well, ---- Where did you study?"
So sleepy.... |
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