Welcome to Gaia! ::

NOTE: AT THIS POINT, THIS THREAD IS CLOSED FOR RP!

However, every question at the Prytaneum was, IC, on this tour, whether or not you RPed them in this thread. In addition, the thread is still open for any questions your characters might have about the grounds; feel free to post anything you want to ask about any area of the Prytaneum.

All questions asked in this thread will be answered, and relevant questions added to the FAQ in the second post.

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"It's been a while since we had this many new recruits all at once."

All of the new Chosen, by this point, have interacted with Alvin Davies, Head of Housing -- a small, narrow-faced Chosen of Hera who is not hostile, but extremely matter of fact and focused on getting things done as quickly and smoothly as possible. He's given out room assignments, pointed people to the dorms -- and these, they had to explore themselves. They're not part of the Tour. Or, at least, not an important part of it.

He was brusque. A little sharp. Unopen to questions. It's a good thing he's not the one leading the tour.

Instead, at this point, Maxine "Call me Max" Voigt has taken over. She's a tall, dark woman, with a natural mess of dark hair and a wide, white smile. The badge ot her shoulder, larger than most, marks her distinctively as Athena, but she certainly doesn't look like a bookworm. She is the Headmaster, and she's gathered any interesting Chosen into the Assembly Hall to start the tour.

"It's exciting to see so many new faces," She says, with another flash of white teeth, but her dark eyes look a little worried. Maybe it's also alarming.

"It's probably going to make the tour a bit slow, though. We'll take a walk around the grounds, have a look at everything the Prytaneum has to offer, and you can ask questions, as we do.

"We'll start here, right here, with our Assembley-Hall-Slash-Theater, where we have community gatherings, important announcements, and where Chosen can also put on their own plays and performances. Yes, we can put a roof over it in the winter, but yes, it's really cold in the winter. You'll get used to it." She beams as she says this, finally, head tipped to the side.

"Questions? Concerns?"

Group tours were hardly on Theo's list of Fun Things to Do, but in this case, she thought that it was entirely reasonable to offer. Especially given that she was still more than a little dazed by the whole experience. She listened politely enough as Max welcomed them and told them about the Assembly Hall.

All pretty run of the mill stuff that she'd expect on a tour. Though the idea of living in a place where it snowed in winter was going to be... trying. And somehow, she doubted she would ever get used to that. Still, when Max paused for questions, Theo decided that some curiosity appeasement was in order.

"Umm, yes. Though I'm not sure if it's a question or concern. I just... None of us are crazy, right? We all heard gods talking to us. So, why us? And why here and not, I dunno. Greece or Rome?"

Nodding slightly with eyes narrowed in thought, Theo shrugged a little and quickly stood up for her recruiter.

"He did explain some. It's just, I'm a scientist, you know? I was hoping maybe there was a more in depth explanation. I mean, you gotta admit that all of this is pretty confusing."

She blew a strand of hair from her face and looked sheepish.

"I didn't even believe in gods until Poseidon hijacked the TV."

"Who did?" It made Max hesitate just a moment, looking aside toward the Head of Housing as if he could help -- but no. She was left to her own devices, answering the difficult questions, and she could afford to take at least one moment to explain as best we could.

"They're real enough, and they have real power. I've seen magic, real magic, and I guarantee you it's not something that can be explained away with science, but I can tell you that science is also real. Somehow both exist together: this mythological idea of the world that was birthed into existence thousands of years ago and a physical, measurable explanation for what we could call supernatural phenomenon."

Again, she paused, digging up through a well. It wasn't that she'd never explained this before, but to such a large group --

"Hestia's around, somewhere. When we head to the Hearth, maybe she can show you something concrete, if that'll help solidify your beliefs, eh?"



"You should have internet pretty much everywhere so -- well, call, email, Skype her?" Max smiled, absently, at the young man, one of her shoulders rolled in a shrug. "Unless you've already been doing that, and you mean in person, in which case -- we'll open up paths home, soon, we just want to get everyone settled here first."

Eden moved over to a seat in the further back, his sketchbook opened as he took in the surroundings. Considering he was suppose to be chosen by Aphrodite, he didn't see much of her influence around. The other houses were not as interesting to him, but it was interesting to see the chosen that had come.

Quite the group to be honest.

For example, the Poesidan girl had an interesting frame, and she probably would've made an awesome model, but her clothes didn't do justice for her hair color and maybe she could've used some green...

The sketch happened while everyone was getting the lowdown and tour and he tapped the pencil against the paper. It didn't have any real questions, cause he felt like...well.

The mental image of such a creature channeling the words of Poseidon spurred a laugh from Osmond that he hid behind a curled finger. "Oh, god— Err, gods. I understand they're in their lofty heavens and all, but there's gotta be better ways to get into contact."

Come the mention of his daughter, Osmond's eyes shimmered. If there was anyone he was fond talking about, it was definitely Ellie. "She's fifteen," he replied, shoving his hand back in his pocket and giving the floor a little kick. It swelled those feelings of missing her. "Turned about three months ago." He tilted his head at her. "So, chosen by Poseidon, eh? Guess that means you're into the sea or something? Or maybe that's your vocation? Since you mentioned a talking shark, heh."

DaisyMilk

"Welp, that's definitely one of the golden reasons for being here, then," he said, feeling some of his tension ease.

"Well, as they say, gods work in mysterious ways," he said with a small, offhand laugh. "But that's mighty impressive—marine biology. Travel the oceans, study its creatures... Takes me back to my days as a kid. I would've totally enjoyed doing something like that. Been doing it long?"

However, when he became the point of questioning, he looked a little sheepish. Osmond was always a tad reluctant to share things about himself and almost felt inclined to turn more questions back to Theo to prevent himself from talking. Instead, he rolled a shoulder, and said, "Ahh, I'm a middle school teacher, gardener on the side. Nothing fancy or big, just trying to educate today's youth and so and so. Came here because Demeter said I had potential, to "appreciate growth", so here I am trying to figure out what they meant."

DaisyMilk

Somewhere near the back of the crowd, Lincoln stood silent, surveying the headmistress with a mixture of wariness and curiosity - though his face seemed to indicate annoyance, rather than simple observation. And at over six feet tall, with the muscular build he had, he was not exactly the most welcoming looking of people. His clothing, however, was simple: jeans and a black tank with a jacket thrown over. Dark brows were stooped over his eyes, lips pressed together, and he had to wonder why there were so many of them.

The god that had come to Lincoln had not, exactly, explained things well, but the young man that had actually been the one to recruit him - a tall, cheerful fellow with a head of blond hair and a wide smile - had filled in some of the very obvious gaps that Ares had left behind.

He was here now, as well, Lincoln saw, ambling about and saying something about alligators. Lincoln's brow furrowed even further, but he remained, as usual, silent for the time being; the questions he had were likely to be answered during the ensuing tour, after all. He tugged absently on a lock of hair and narrowed his own gaze slightly, arms folded across his broad chest.

So far, he had not heard of anyone else that had been Chosen by Ares in this particular batch of new recruits; but Lincoln would just have to see who his roommate was and whether or not he had just missed anyone saying they had been from Ares.