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 Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:52 am
The Sun has Set
The student council was up to something. Each member of the council seemed preoccupied; they looked like they were planning something. But when asked each and every one of them would simply shrug and slyly change the subject. It had been a week. One entire week since the 'retirement' of their beloved gym teacher. Hellma had been gracious enough to give all of the students that week off from classes and obligations, which gave Junko the perfect opportunity to basically lock herself in her dorm room only allowing certain students in. Namely the student council, Lizzy and Xiu. There were no exceptions.
Christof had been toiling away at something as well, something he did not reveal to anyone either. Riley, Shehk and Jericho also weren't any help. Shehk's head would conveniently hurt again and she would excuse herself to go get some much needed rest, Jericho would just brush it off and pretend the question had never been asked, but Riley was the most responsive. Who is to say what is normal when our lives are a hurricane of change and disruption? You? She would say enigmatically. We've lost a beloved member of our faculty. These students have spent their time fighting, and dying, for this school and for their safety. I think we are all entitled to act oddly in this the strangest of times. It made sense. Junko, Shehk and Christof had all been on that trip so it would only be natural that they would be quite tired. It seemed reasonable enough, right? But there were..whispers. Rumors of what they could be up to. But they were just words spread from student to student, spreading like wildfire. Some passed it off as simply that: a rumor. Others were curious, but there were the few who had an inkling they knew what this was.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:52 am
Finally, the day came.
Riley received the message that they were ready. And then, without delay.. she took a walk.
Perhaps you were sitting in the cafeteria when you heard it.
Or the library.
Perhaps you were sitting under a tree or going for a run outside.
Or maybe the monotony of a class had you thinking you had just heard a voice in your head.
Wherever you were when you heard the message, it was clear, concise, and not very anonymous at all.
A direction. A very specific spot in the Weeping Forest that someone, no, Riley - there was no mistaking the voice of the Student Council president - wanted you to meet her at. Come alone, the voice said. Tell no one. Everyone who should be there will hear me.
And lastly, as the voice faded, the face of Professor Red flashed through their mind. That was their only indication of the nature of this visit. This calling.
The rest was shrouded in mystery.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 12:54 am
 Any student who heeded Riley's words would find themselves heading toward the weeping forest. When they arrived just outside of the open field, they would find five figures of varying shape and size. All of them were wearing red cloaks. At their feet laid several boxes. Each of these boxes were filled with red cloaks. Each student is given a cloak, and directed to put the cloak on and remain in anonymity for the duration of the service. These red cloaks were simple in design, yet their meaning was clear even without the black brooches decorated with red crescent moons. They were not the late Red's pin, but they were clearly replicas. They would commemorate Professor Red in style. Once students are allowed in the field, there is nothing to be found in it but a single, medium sized red and black box, sitting on a tree stump. The box has Red's pin symbol carved into it's front. The OOC Thank you for coming to Red's Memorial! This ORP has a few special rules. Please read carefully! Please make sure your posts do not have your student's name in it. Even if you have multiple students, keep their names out of your posts - no one is to know who you are!
Despite the anonymity of the cloaks, the Student Council is pretty obvious. Any questions should be directed to them.
You're free to put anything in the Red Box, at any time.
You're free to join at any time, even right at the end!
Be respectful!
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:34 pm
((This thread is now OPEN FOR POSTING))
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:52 pm
She'd pulled the hood up over her head when she'd been given one of the first of the cloaks, hiding her face with it. Calm, though underneath the hood the look of pain still lingered. Her head ached, her body ached, her heart ached.. it had been a long week. A week, yes, but a long one. She'd gone to help where she could, but overall she'd made a point of not raising any suspicion about what she'd been doing.
That was all she'd done in that matter. Or rather, she'd brought something with her when she'd entered the field, placing it into the large box as one of the first of the 'offerings' to their 'retired' teacher. It had taken some fussing to break the piece again, but it was distinct;
Black, slightly curved, stone..or perhaps even bone. It was uncertain which it was, but for those who had been there, what it was..was obvious. A piece of her. She made no noise outside of a slightly pained sigh, her hand lingering on it for a moment before she stepped back and went to stand with the others, if only to watch.
-----
She had gone. She hadn't really known the professor all that well, but seeing it effect those close to her...she'd made a point to go. She pulled her hood up over her head, careful of her ears, and then paused when it came to the tails, so many tails. For a moment, she wondered about it, before focusing and they all but vanished, leaving the fabric to hand loosely where they had been before. Perhaps even then they were there, left simply to act as though they didn't.
Still, she felt out of place being there, saying nothing and finding an out of the way spot to loom until she could find someone to be in the company of and feel less like the odd ghoul out. Hmmm...
-----
He said nothing as he donned the hood, just nodding to each of the council members. He'd already left his token to the werewolf, he didn't need to leave another one, but... well, if they were going to try and be a part of the school at this point, being respectful to everybody and at least being present would be..important, if nothing else.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:57 pm
It hadn't been there when Red fell; it had stayed home. Thus, it felt somewhat like an interloper, hood falling over its face in an attempt to disguise its beak. Surrounded by people who had been there, who had known their fallen Professor better than it by far... but it was here for two reasons.
One was Riley.
And one was because the pressure to cover everything up was merda totale. The cover-up was absolutely and completely wrong. It had stood up to its family and the elders when they had done wrong. Compared to that, standing here in a cloak was easy.
... And hard.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 3:58 pm
One of the five cloaked figures at the start, watched for any students to file on in. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, so far. Shifting a bit, he looked to his four comrads of the Council, giving a small nod from beneath his hood. Pretty soon the forest will be filled with a sea of red.
It was their way of honoring their late professor.
Seeing the first few trickle in, he nodded to those who took their cloaks silently.
----
The news of 'Red's Retirement' was upsetting in the very least. Quite frankly, he was glad that he missed the official ceremony, seeing how it ended up being nothing more than a load of bull, in a sense. However, as he gained the message of a real memorial, he couldn't pass up the opportunity. Red deserved to be honored for her sacrifice. Even he knew that much.
Soon after arriving onto the field, he donned the red cloak before glancing around to see how many others were here thus far.
Right now, he had nothing to offer to the professor, at least nothing he could think of. He just stood to the side and waited.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:26 pm
It wasn't particularly hard to hear about the retirement ceremony, and for the first time he was okay with not going. The original reason had simply been because he wasn't sure he would be welcome there since he had not known red personally, but now that he had heard what had gone down there, well . . . it wouldn't taint this ceremony. It'd be the real thing, for a real teacher - one he would never have the chance to speak to.
He gulped as he approached nonetheless. He too felt like an interloper despite having been on the trip, and amongst the older students he felt out of place, like a little scareling who could only follow what his elders told him. And he questioned: Why did they have to hide Red's death? Why had the boogiemen not alerted the public about the Hunter menace? Why was it so hard to believe that what once had been nothing but a ghost story was now as tangible as the sober atmosphere in the Weeping Forest? Were not most of Halloween's denizens ghost stories themselves?
Agh, it made his head hurt to think in circuitous routes. How he hated when things got complicated.
Eventually he found the area where the student council and several others had congregated; some forms were somewhat familiar, others not so much. Nobody was speaking, thus he did not either - he would hate to break the magic of the moment or disobey the order of being anonymous. Rebellion, he thought as he too took a red cloak and donned it at someone's insistence, the hood coming over his head with lip to spare.
Was this what it was going to turn into? Like one of his comic book stories, good vs. evil, citizens versus the oppressive government.
Would you rather be a liberator, or one of the enslaved?
The fu dog's words haunted him as he took a place off to the side.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 4:45 pm
He was not entirely sure about how anonimous he looked wearing just about anything. There was really no mistaking that hunch, but he tried his best to straighten, and keep limbs tucked away and for the most part hovered by the large red and black box he had constructed.
It was... a very odd feeling. Was he sad? Not particularly. Was he scared by the implications the so called 'death' of their professor meant? Yes. He was terrified. There hadn't even been any good Parts left.
A funeral without a body. It was the saddest thing.
As he watched the students start to come, all wearing red cloaks of their own, he fidgeted with his own, thoughts whirling. Suddenly, an important point occurred to him, and silently he called out to one of his fellow red cloaks in a mental voice only she could hear.
Mistress.... if we wish to remain anonymous, and do not want to be caught, and spent so much care to hide these things until now... what will people do with their cloaks when they are done?
He sincerely hoped it wouldn't be a bon-fire.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:11 pm
She slipped into the cloak silently, letting it drape and hide her slight form. She hadn't known Red well, nor had she been there when the werewolf fell, but covering up the awful truth dishonored Red's memory and made no sense to her. She had nothing to give but her presence. She was here.
-----
He'd never even met the professor. But if the Boogeymen thought covering this s**t up was a good idea, he was inclined to disagree. The red cloak was easy to wear; he was used to being hidden.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:14 pm
No one spoke. She had a feeling that it wasn't just for the sake of anonymity--though perhaps that played a big part--but for respect as well. In contrast, the school bulletin article had lacked any sort of respect. It had merely been an attempt to sweep everything under the rug--an attempt to pin the blame on Red, and then imply that things had been dealt with with her "retirement".
Of course, the students didn't believe that garbage, especially the students who had been there to witness what had happened. This ceremony was a testament of that. She watched the red-cloaked figures moving around her, and then her gaze fell on the box that sat on the tree stump. That was perfect--she had brought something with her, something that she had been meaning to "give back" ever since they arrived back home, but she had never found the right time or place.
She stopped in front of the box, gently running her fingers along the object that she held in her hands one last time. She briefly slipped her hands from the cloak to rest the object--a piece of the back plate--into the box to sit beside the other offerings. There was a pause--a moment of hesitation--before she drew her hands back into the cloak and backed away.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:16 pm
She slipped into the woods quietly, the call had happened not far from her room and left little to be guessed at who was making it, but she did nothing to reach the person in question or anyone else. Instead she slipped into the woods collecting one of the many cloaks and slipping into it.
Among others she stood wrapped in the warm cloak, she tried not to think about much as she stood there, clenching a bottle of ashes. The bone had long since been to other uses, but this she planned to leave, for now she simply looked around at the dark shrouded places where faces should be behind all the robes.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:37 pm
Ah yes, he thought, very slowly, gradually, and neatly putting on a red cloak and hood. A secret funeral service. Not a dual or...anything else. The flash of Red's face at the end of the message made more sense, suddenly. He thought it might be some sort of gym-related taunt. Or an attempt to irritate him.
He was glad this didn't have anything to do with being lured to certain...death.
She hadn't been there, he knew.
And maybe the students who hadn't needed more than a retirement service. Maybe it was the ideology. The crafting of the living student body.
He leaned against a tree.
Not to be mysterious, or smarmy, he just could not handle standing for long periods of time, and needed to lean against something before he dropped. It had been a long walk down.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:45 pm
It was a summoning, and he couldn't resist. He hadn't gone to the "official" ceremony, knowing that it was merely a farce, that for some reason the boogeymen were covering up everything that had happened.
Perhaps they had a reason, but they could have done it differently. Better. Especially considering how many students knew the truth. And could any of them trust the boogeymen now?
There was already a bit of a crowd, each person in an identical red cloak, and he took one of his own. He slipped it on, pulling the hood up, and then joined the silent vigil of the crowd.
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Posted: Thu Nov 17, 2011 5:50 pm
The rumors had been circulating for a while but there were no real answers to what was really going on. She had been left in mystery as had most of the students in school. However, when the time finally came, the message was clear. The Professor that had been taken from them would be honored and despite the risks, despite what the boogeyman had told them all, she went.
Making her way to the clearing in the Weeping forest she quickly adorned a cloak like everyone else and found herself looking out on a sea of red. The trip had made her tired, worn, but she wouldn't miss this. Not for anything. This was about respect to their Professor who had been lied about from the moment they had gotten back.
Pulling the cloak's hood fully over her head to hide her face she stood in silence remembering the field trip and what had really happened. She had seen it all, she had been there for the end and the speak of 'retirement' had only made her angry. Turning up again her focus went to the five figures at the head of this growing group. Lightly her fingers touched the replica of the Professor's emblem wondering who else was already here.
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