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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:46 pm
((If we get to page 100 (without ooc posts) before March 1st, I will personally give everyone 1,000 gold.))
((Ready, start.))
((All questions, comments, concerns, are to be posted in the ooc thread in the main forum, or PMed to me, so there are no extra ooc posts in the RP thread.))
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:27 pm
Ophelia Rinaldi thought herself to be a very selfless person. Hadn't she, after all, left the island she'd grown so fond of because her mother had asked it of her? And hadn't she stayed on at the school even after her sister had been disowned, because her brother had asked it of her? Why, she barely even went shopping anymore, instead focusing on her studies, because her father approved of scholars.
Which was why she was sitting here in Alec's class, waiting for it to start, instead of burrowing herself in her room with shopping magazines on the pretense of 'mourning'. Thinking that, she was reminded once again of the fact that her baby sister was dead. And though she knew some would probably call her cold, she just couldn't find the remorse that Ambrose possessed. For as long as she could remember, Isadora Danni Rinaldi had been a burden on her, and the family.
She remembered how it had been before Isadora had come into her magic. She'd taken up all of their father's time and devotion, refusing to be the sweet, obedient daughter her mother had so coveted. So Ophelia had formed herself into that, to please her mother, while Isadora had lived as she pleased, running wild beneath her father's watchful, approving eyes. Ophelia had been the obedient one, the well breeded one, but still she'd come in second in the eyes of the family, who'd all had a soft spot for little Isadora. All but her mother, of course, who'd had the clearest view in Ophelia's opinion.
When Isadora had been pronounced a black witch and been shunned from the family, Ophelia had been certain that it would finally all be about her. But no, her mother had focused most of her energies on making certain Isadora knew she was despised, complaining endlessly about 'that little heathen'. And her father...Rolling her eyes, Ophelia remembered the way her father had immersed himself in the family business and the family's honor. He'd rarely given Ophelia any attention unless it was to criticize or ask a question.
Ambrose had been the only one who'd ever seemed to have any time for her, and even he seemed to be hopelessly attached to the family disappointment, always wanting to make her feel welcome when she so obviously hadn't been. Well, no more, Lia decided, smiling slightly despite the strange pressure she felt in her heart.
Now the little pest was finally gone for good, and finally things would be the way they should've been from the beginning. Ambrose would only have her to focus on, as would her father, and her mother would no longer have to complain, and therefore focus her attentions on her older daughter. Everything would work out perfectly, she was sure, now that Isadora was dead and out of the picture.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:04 pm
After another quick shower and throwing on some professor-worthy atire Alec had made it to his first class. He was a few minutes later than he normally would be, but he was glad to see that some students had already made it to his room. Lia in particular stood out to Alec. The older sister of Danni. He wondered for a moment if she felt any remorse at all for her sister's passing. But seeing as she wasn't anywhere near the funeral Alec had to assume that she didn't, and that left an awfully bitter taste in his mouth.
Alec somberly walked behind his desk and took his seat, waiting patiently for any other students to make it to his class before the bell rang in exactly 2 minutes. Alec leaned back in his chair, a mute expression stretching over his face. It was not one of sadness or anger, it was simply blank. As if Alec had come to terms with his emotions and had decided to simply ignore them for the time being. It was quite off putting actually if one were to look too closely at him.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:12 pm
A small helping of pasta still in her hand, Athena strolled into Alec's classroom with just enough time to sit down and be ready before the bell rang. She wasn't as boistrous as normal, and she seemed generally unemotional, but it could be seen that the pasta was a possible sign of recovery or hope. Behind her was Adolf. He'd had nothing else to do today other than find Ialo and talk about what had happened, perhaps warn the man about his goddaughter's plans to use Dust if necessary, but she had asked him explicitly to wait for her, so that she may talk to the Headmaster as well.
As such, he'd decided to simply take to following her as she went about her daily schedule, trying to perhaps steer her mind towards something more positive and more helpful than attempting to reclaim a dead friend.
Waving to her teacher as she sat down, she said, "Hope you don't mind, but my godfather Adolf's gonna sit in on your lesson today." She motioned to Adolf, who inclined his head respectfully.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:12 pm
Lia looked up when Alec walked in, and immediately straightened just a bit, an easy, calculated smile one her face. It wouldn't do for anyone to think she had poor posture.
"Good morning, Professor." She said sweetly, batting her eyes and tilting her head just a bit to show off her best angle. Her smile faded just the slightest bit when she took in the odd expression on his face, and abruptly remembered that he'd most likely attended Isadora's funeral the night before. Slowly she let her smile fade into a demure expression, and her eyes lowered in respectable mourning fashion even as she held back a giggle and a grin. How good an actress she was, to play the role of the grieving older sister.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:24 pm
This was honestly the latest Ialo had slept in late for long time, barring the times he was unconscious or sleeping several days in a row. The sun was well up into the sky, the first class of the day had started - classes did not start seven in the morning, like some public schools. Ialo was a teenager himself not long ago, and knew that most young people like sleep. Especially after a hectic night. Classes at MFHS started 9 AM, which was a reasonable morning hour. A little early for some, a little late for others... but Ialo didn't care. Because the Headmaster was currently hiding his head underneath his pillow, doing his best to ignore glaring beams of sunshine bearing down through the window, and the increasingly annoying birds outside.
To no avail, unfortunately.
"You know what would be a big help, Seven?" He couldn't see her, but he could sense that she was standing nearby, and was probably tilting her head, waiting for an order. "There's a student I need to see." Ialo was racking his brain, trying to recall which class said student has first. "I think he'll be in Leaton's class this hour... maybe?" Ialo flung the pillow away, and sat up cross-legged on his bed. "Arzol. He's a demon. Use your sensors, you can't miss him. Please find him, and bring him to my office."
Yeah, Arzol would know some interesting things about Danni... hopefully. Ialo wasn't oblivious. Just a selective focuser.
He looked at Seven, as she nodded and left. It wouldn't take her long to find him, so that gave Ialo perhaps ten minutes to get ready. Ha! He could do that. It really paid to be able to use magic.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:34 pm
Alec nodded at Athena as she walked in the door, making note of her expression this morning. He was both glad and sad to see her as she was. She was obviously mourning for Danni, and Alec had to respect that. Not many were. But he was also sad to see her this way. She hadn't been in his class 5 minutes during his first lecture of the year and already she had found a special place in his heart with her spunk and fervor for life. Alec spoke respectfully to her though as he addressed her question. "Not at all. In fact, he might find today's lecture to be quite intriguing."
However, when he saw Ophelia's expression on her face, Alec instantly knew she was trying to impress him. And what's more she was doing a poor job of it. If she were truly being a mournful sister she wouldn't have even acknowledged the fact that he had walked into his own classroom. Alec's opinion of her was dropping astronomically, and she probably didn't even realize it. All the better then when life finally catches up with her, Alec thought to himself.
But now was not the time to be brooding over poor family values. Now was the time to be educating the younger generation on a highly important matter. So, with a small sigh, Alec heaved himself from his chair and stood behind his desk, using his hands to support himself. He spoke evenly to the class, not showing any true emotion, not wanting to influence their thoughts with anything more than what he had to say. Alec noticed that many of his students were paying attention to him, and several of them were on edge because of his serious demeanor. Alec wanted this, he wanted them to actually think for once about the situation he was about to lecture on.
"...As many of you are aware, one of our classmates has recently passed on from this world. If this were under normal circumstances, if the early death of a student can even be called normal, then I would have canceled class so that you all might have time to mourn properly." Alec paused for a moment to watch his student's reactions. "...but as it is, many of you are not, and probably WOULD not take that break and use it properly. Many of you would probably go about your lives as if nothing happened. And why is that exactly?" Alec looked around, and thankfully saw that many of the students were becoming incredibly uncomfortable in their seats, some even were beginning to show signs of tearing in the corners of their eyes. Many of them had in fact deliberately ignored Danni for one reason or another, and many were most likely thinking that they WOULD probably goof off if Alec had canceled classes today. Alec continued with his speech, keeping an eye on all of his students as he did so.
"...I can't say why it is for anyone in particular, but I can make an educated guess as to why many of you wouldn't. It's because you simply did not know Danni. And the reason you didn't know her is because you CHOSE not to know her. For whatever reason it may be, you made a conscious choice to ignore her and go about your lives as if she didn't exist. And why is that?" Another pause. Alec was now definitely seeing some solid emotions coming from his students. There were even a few suppressed sobs coming from various corners of the room. Alec took all this in in stride, continuing the lecture. "Again, I can't give a specific reason for any one person. But as a consensus, I believe it was because you all thought she was different. You all decided that she didn't fit into what you thought was 'right' in your life. And I honestly believe that that stems from a HUGE misconception you ALL have about what dark and light magic is. Everyone in this room knows that Danni used dark magic. I made it so you all knew that, I made it so you all knew what each other did on the first day of class. Immediately I saw that many of you logged her out of your minds the instant she said it. Why? Maybe fear, maybe loathing, maybe some misplaced idea that dark magic is bad, I don't know. But the fact is that you did. And I'm here to make sure you don't make the same mistake again."
Alec suddenly snapped his fingers and instantly the phrase "White=Good/Dark=Bad" wrote itself on the blackboard. Alec then suddenly turned around and deliberately struck a giant X through the phrase with his bare hand, causing the board to screech a horrendous noise as his now rock hard nails dug into the board's surface. When the act was done, Alec slowly turned around and gave one final statement before he allowed his class a few minutes to soak in all that he had said. "Since you don't get a cheat sheet in life, notes are optional for this lecture."
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:35 pm
As it was, Arzol currently had more important things to do than attend classes. He was smoking on the west side of the building, leaning against the wall and blowing out a stream of smoke as he glared at the bright, cheerful sky, then at the silent, forboding grave across the way. Both seemed to mock him, for he'd gotten absolutely nowhere, and Dunstall and Gambit had come back earlier, with absolutely nothing to report that he hadn't already known. There were no paths left behind. Ambrose, the older brother, had also dropped off the face of the earth, being traced to Hawaii before his trail had been wiped away as well. Which left them smack dab in nowhere.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:41 pm
Athena would not take notes. With the way that Alec was approaching this subject, something she herself had taken to memorizing for personal benefits, she did not think that she would need them. She remembered still the original reason for her interest in figuring out what each magic was--Lin and the elf's reactions--and this subject never ceased to keep her thinking. She knew much on the branches of magic now, though she probably still knew less that Alec did.
She would memorize his lesson, committing it to heart, for it held very much for her.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:42 pm
A woman with teal hair ad teal eyes approached the smoking student from around the corner. "There you are," she said to him. "You're Arzol. To the Headmaster's office with you." She stood straight and tall with perfect posture, a position that exuded authority.
Seven had impeccable sensors. With nothing to go on but a photo (or in this case, a verbal description from her Master) she could deduce who was who and whom she was looking for.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:43 pm
Adolf just listened, calm and seemingly unaffected by Alec's impressive ways of keeping one's attention. He was interested, however it may seem. He'd never bothered much to learn why people made these assumptions, the reasons behind the different kinds of magic, or the different kinds of magic in the first place. It had never been particularly necessary; he had grown up a yokai amidst yokai; there wasn't the diverse atmosphere there was now. It had, as such, never been necessary to learn these things.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:48 pm
Lia let her eyes tear, while inside she heaved a sigh, wondering why the hell that certain name had to keep popping up in conversations. She'd died, and died 'misunderstood'. Ok, they got it, fine, whatever. She didn't see as how Alec's stern lecture had anything to do with her, since she was positive she knew all about the girl who'd shared a roof with her for fourteen years.
She knew she'd been someone who'd gone out of their way to insult her, who'd deliberately ruined a number of her plans just to spite her. She'd been a dark sheep amongst a nearly spotless family, and had never even bothered to act ashamed that she brought such dishonor to the family name, which let Lia add selfish and uncaring to the list of Danni's characteristics. She'd blown off family obligations, tearing up the clothes her parents bought for her and hanging around in ripped jeans and dirty tee shirts, along with that dreadful cloak and work boots, which had Lia adding lack of fashion sense and courtesy to the list of what Isadora had been.
At the top of the list, from the very beginning, the word 'dissapointment' had been practically engraved there, for that is what Danni had been among the Rinaldi's a complete waste of potential, and therefore a complete waste of space.
She winced a bit in distaste when Alec ran his fingernails over the board and produced the squealing sound of nails on a chalkboard. Well, that didn't seem necessary, and she didn't see how he could possibly consider the concept on the board to be false, when it's what the Rinaldi family lived by.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:52 pm
Scowling, but not being able to risk being kicked out, Arzol swore under his breath and began stalking his way to the office, flicking his cigarette away as he did so.
Upon reaching the office, he entered without bothering to knock, too acustomed to having doors opened for him automatically. "You wanted to see me?" He asked, absently twirling the earring in his right ear. He'd seen humans do such things, and he thought it him made look very stylish.
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:03 pm
"Just a moment," Ialo called out. The office echoed with his voice, though Arzol and Seven were the only ones there. And truly only a moment later, the Headmaster came in, ignoring the doors and phasing right through the wall. He sure as hell did not want any student having even a semblance of an idea of where he slept at night.
Because he was tired, and did not feel like pulling out a suit and tie, and was in a bit of a rush, Ialo was wearing simply jeans and a plain black t-shirt. Shoes were an afterthought.
"Sit, Arzol." The Headmaster took a seat at the desk, and gestured towards the chairs on the opposite side. "And tell me why you think I called you here."
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Feb 15, 2010 6:10 pm
Alec had seen the forced tears in Ophelia's eyes, and it made him despise the girl even more. He had the distinct feeling that everything he was saying was going in one ear and out the other. But now was still not the time to act on that. He was getting into the swing of his lecture and he didn't want to lose his audience now.
Alec started his lecture by walking around to the front of his desk and sitting down on it, giving himself a good spot to relax for the hour he had with his student. Once he was situated, Alec jumped right into what he felt was possibly the most controversial thing his students would hear all year long. "Truth be told I was going to give this lecture in a few months after you all were able to handle higher levels of magic. But under the circumstances I felt that you all needed to hear this now before things got any worse."
"Now to sum up what I will be teaching in more detail later: magic is simply energy. Recall that we established that the act of using magic was essentially breaking the rules. Magic itself is the means to do that. The only way you can alter anything in life is with some kind of force, and in this case magic is our force." Alec paused for a brief moment for his students to take in this simple logic. He could have gone on about how all magic stems from a single source, but that was a lecture on it's own and would simply have to wait for another time. Alec now had to continue with his current lecture.
Alec waited a few more seconds to let an uneasy silence hang in the air before he made his next statement. "Now tell me, why is it that people think dark magic is bad and light magic is good? Has anybody truly thought about it, or have you all accepted that at face value?" Alec looked around and was getting a lot of blank stares. He expected as much, and made his disappointment known to his class. "I thought so. Well, I can tell you that it stems from the fact that anyone who has ever used light or dark magic has used it to accomplish acts that THEY thought were 'right' for the energy itself. And I honestly think that the idea of what was 'right' for light and dark magic stemmed simply from what color it was." Alec snorted at this. "People are so stupid sometimes." Alec looked at the whole class again as he continued. "Think, has anyone ever seen a light magic user create hellish beings from white light that want nothing more than to slaughter and maim, or has anyone seen a dark magic user heal grievous wounds with an oozing, festering pile of black energy? No, you haven't. And I'll tell you why, it's because no one has TRIED to do those things." Alec stood up from his desk and looked each of his students in the eye before he continued. "And that ends today."
Alec suddenly held out his right hand over the floor to his side and summoned a beam of white light. It seemed to give off a heavenly glow, an inviting one that seemed to make anyone who stared into it fall into a state of pure bliss. But what came out of this beam was anything but. Instantly Alec morphed and twisted the beam of light to form a large body. The body then grew legs, a head, and a forked tail. The legs grew spines, the head grew a mouth filled with blood red teeth, and the eyes began to glow a hellish yellow color. Yet the entire beast was still shining with the same brilliant white light that Alec had brought into existence from before. The beast was made entirely out of white magic, yet it looked like something out of a nightmare.
Alec had a strand of white magic in his hand that was acting as a leash for the beast, and it was a good thing he had it too. The beast was trying to desperately claw at each of the students, a white ooze dripping from it's mouth that burned through the floor like acid. The beast saw Ophelia sitting in the front row and made an especially enthusiastic lunge for her, and Alec decided to let the beast get just close enough for Lia to smell it's breath and count each of it's serrated teeth in it's shining maw. Alec of course jerked the beast back before it could lay a claw on her, but he felt that Lia needed a solid scare right now to shock her into reality. Alec held the beast at bay as he addressed his entire class once more. "Now tell me, if white magic is purely good, how is it I can create something that is purely evil?" Alec held the beast in place firmly, waiting to see his classes reactions to the whole ordeal.
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