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 Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 4:36 pm
Miss Ambrosia's introduction was not one that neither Duncan nor Aina had expected from a school official, to say the least, but the surprise was certainly a pleasant one. Aina wandered away from Cesc and the two grandparents as soon she heard the sound of a four-legged friend behind the school doors, smiling delightfully when she saw Ambrosia and her hound friend at last. Duncan laughed, giving Gertrude an amused and approving glance before turning to greet Ambrosia in full.
"Good morning, Miss Ambrosia, Roger," he said, nodding respectfully to the two of them, a gentle grin about him. He extended a hand out in greeting, bowing his head with Gertrude's introduction. It is an honor to meet you. What a lovely ambassador you have here," he chuckled, turning his head toward the now-idle Roger. Unsurprisingly, Aina was petting the boy's head before Miss Ambrosia had given her permission, the Frei not at all questioning of Mister Roger's icy blue eyes or mechanical posturing.
"Hi, Mister Roger," Aina greeted sweetly, her hand gently brushing the top of the hound's head. She leaned to the side to admire him, ribbon touching the ground as she floated low. "You have really pretty eyes, but you can't run away from Miss Ambrosia like that," she admonished, patting Roger's cheek. Looking up at Cesc, her smile widened. "Do you wanna say hi to Mister Roger, Cesc?"
"Ambrosia," called a deeper voice - an orc woman walked with much more certainty toward Ghislaine's three guests. There was a magnolia in her braided hair, and she stood a head above the tallest in the group. Giving the smaller woman a reassuring smile, she turned to their visitors, waving once. "Hey. I'm Ula, nice to see you. Ambrosia's assistant," she added, then gave a curt glance down to Roger, "When Roger doesn't send her running. Are you all ready for the tour? We have a lot of ground to cover."
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Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 12:07 pm
"I absolutely want to say hi to Roger," said Cesc with an eager smile, bending slightly to join Aina in petting the pup's head. Roger's tongue stayed out and his eyes squinted in happy acceptance of being well-loved, although it was a little unsettling that the dog neither breathed nor sniffed at them. His nose twitched like a living dog's, but there was no air emanating from it, a slightly jarring realization.
"Yes, we love being stroked, don't we, Roger?" fawned Ambrosia, patting the dog's side. She turned back toward Duncan, smiling brightly. "Yes, we find it very beneficial to introduce the children to undead pets at a young age. It soothes the natural curiosity about the Other Side and normalizes other-life."
As she spoke, Ula approached, and Ambrosia's smile was undiminished as the orc woman introduced herself. "Ah, yes, Ula is our resident guardian angel. I doubt the bells would ring on time if Ula didn't hold them accountable. But yes, please, let's begin the tour. Would you like Roger to heel with you, Aina? He loves you already, I can see it."
Cesc colored slightly when he heard the woman's name--he'd only met one other Ulla, and that, er, well... a slightly different set of circumstances. The blush was succeeded by a sudden feeling of self-consciousness, but that, too, was allayed by the realization that nobody either cared nor noticed his momentary distraction.
Except, of course, Gertrude, who raised an eyebrow an eighth of an inch.
"Lovely to meet you," she said to Ula, nodding. "Gertrude Maplethorpe, and my charge, Rhedefre."
"Thanks for having us," said Cesc with a smile.
As they began to walk into the campus, Cesc stayed beside Aina and Roger, smiling down at the girl. "I'm glad we got to keep Roger for the tour," he whispered. "He's pretty cute."
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Posted: Thu Apr 13, 2017 12:52 am
“Mhm! Can Roger walk with us?” Aina asked, hugging the hound neither breathing nor sniffing with all the affection in the world. She gave the hound a small smooch to his head as they continued into the campus, and the Frei smiled up at Cesc, nodding. “He’s a good boy,” he whispered back.
Ula, for her part, had noticed the stag’s blushing, but chose not to acknowledge it – instead, she smiled politely at both him and Miss Maplethorpe. “We always welcome guests,” she said, formally, as she lead the tour group through Ghislaine at brisk pace. The campus felt warm and lush with flora, surrounded in hills the very same as the one that Roger had bounded over.
“This is my first time touring the school, but I will do my best to keep the information accurate. You’ll correct me if I’m wrong, won’t you, Ambrosia?” Ula teased, glancing down at the golden-haired woman. “The most important thing about our school, I would say, is our lack of structure in comparison to most schools.”
“I see! We visited Morgan’s Elementary last,” Duncan mused, “I’m impressed at how variable education for magical children can be.”
“Yes,” Ula agreed, glancing back at him. “A few of our students have transferred from Morgan. It is a rigorous school. I am a Morgan alumna, myself,” she added, “But it is not for every child.”
A group of children were playing in the garden close to their tour path – one of the children, surprisingly human compared to many of her cohorts, ambled to Ambrosia and company. “Miss Ambrosia! Miss Ula!” she said, holding a wand up, “You got guests! Can I show ‘em the magic I learned today?”
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Posted: Mon Apr 17, 2017 10:37 am
"Yes, we are in capable hands with Ula as our guide, you know, but then again, everything is quite safe with Ula! Morgan, yes, they do an admirable job. An admirable job. But we very much value freedom of expression, creativity and imaginative learning here," continued Ambrosia with a smile, and the way she seemed to look around herself at everything at once rather than focus on one specific person (say, Duncan or Aina) illustrated her point. "We have, of course a rough schedule of the day--but much of what we do is self-directed activity and collaborative play. Magic is not to be shackled, after all."
Cesc nodded in agreement, although he couldn't admit to having thought one way or another about the shackling of magic, nor the education of magical children, before today. He looked down at Aina, trying to ascertain whether she would be happier in a setting like this or like Morgan, when one of the children popped into their group.
"Oh, hey!" greeted Cesc with a smile. "How's it going?"
"Ah, hello, Rosita! Have you got a new spell for us today? Let's have a demonstration for our guests. Do you need a partner? Miss Aina may like to assist," beamed Ambrosia.
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Posted: Thu Apr 20, 2017 12:55 am
Rosita, ever the maganimous student, gave her teachers and their guests a sweeping curtsy with her dress. Ula smiled at the display, more than used to the girl volunteering to show off her magic to guests by now, and quietly let Ambrosia do the guiding. With her encouragement, Rosita smiled curiously at their two unique Raevan guests, and it was clear in her expressions that she had many questions to ask them.
"Hi," Aina greeted after Cesc and Roger, hiding a bit behind the Sigel and waving demurely. Duncan, for his part, smiled politely at Gertrude, then chose to stand back quietly and watch the display. Rosita, wanting to impress the Raevans in particular, hummed and hawed at Ambrosia's suggestion to include a guest in her spell.
"Hmm... Miss Ambrosia, can you help me instead?" she asked, holding her hand out to her. "'Cause I wanna show 'em and I can't show 'em as good if they're helping! You know?" she explained, fiddling with the magnolia tucked behind one of her ears. Leaning in to speak to Ambrosia alone, she whispered: "It's gonna be a spell so I can make sparkles show up!"
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Posted: Sun Apr 23, 2017 11:43 am
Gertrude exchanged looks with Duncan; the display of the children was quite to her liking, but as she took a moment to look around and see just how many children seemed to be out to play, she wondered: was it playtime? Or was Ghislaine structured enough to prioritize learning? She held her concerns behind an impassive expression and smiled gently at Rosita's display.
Ambrosia leaned in as Rosita explained and made a small 'oh!' of understanding, then stepped to the side to align herself with the child. "I see! Ok, Miss Aina, Mr. Rhedefre, you are to be the spectator this once!"
"We'll be super good spectators," promised Cesc, gently reaching behind himself to put an protective arm around Aina.
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Posted: Mon Apr 24, 2017 12:09 am
“Mhm,” Aina agreed, feeling a bit more at ease with Cesc's arm protectively around her. Rosita smiled triumphantly, wiggling her shoulders as she prepared herself for her spell, swishing her wand in the air to practice the motions. Ula crossed her arms, posture relaxing some as the small witch in front of them took in a breath.
“Okay, Miss Ambrosia, stand real still,” Rosita began, keeping her wand steadily in the air, perfectly vertical. She slowly drew the wand back towards her, taking in a breath, and did a small hop as she lurched forward to complete her incantation – “Sparkles!” she said, rather matter-of-factly, though one thing did go wrong in the process: she dropped her wand.
Aina gasped as the wand clattered to the ground, hiding as best she could behind Roger and Cesc, and Rosita let out a small scream. Thankfully, there was not much damage done in the process, though a few sparks popped about in Cesc's direction, fizzing in and out of existence making sounds similar to Pop Rocks. Duncan raised his brows, slightly alarmed, as he leaned ever so slightly back.
“Uh oh,” Duncan chuckled, kneeling down to pick the wand up for Rosita – as flustered as she was, she seemed hesitant to move. “Here you are, Miss Rosita. What a wonderful spell!”
“Rosita messed up her spell!” called another student from the distance, and it seemed like Rosita was gathering a small crowd away from where their classroom was being held. Rosita spun around, hands bundled into fists.
“Shut up, Isiah!” she shouted, and the boy in question approached the crowd, too, a bit more confident in approaching the Raevans present. The small child smiled curiously at Cesc, glancing at his orange ribbon and reaching forward to give it a slight tug.
“Why don't you have legs?” Isiah asked, furrowing his brows – Aina drew back at the question, flustering. “That's kinda weird. Are you a ghost?” The bluntness of Isiah's question gave Duncan a quiet start, but Ula took responsibility quickly, leaning forward to meet Isiah's eyes.
“Mister Isiah. That was a very impolite question,” Ula reprimanded. She glanced to Ambrosia. “Miss Ambrosia. Should I take Miss Rosita and Mister Isiah back to class?”
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