[Year 1, Water] No Dragonblooded Left Behind [Lighting A Fire]

Haifeng


He smiled softly and what looked to be possibly the memory of a blush at the lovely girl. A strange thing given his skin tone.


He was used to raw carnal attraction and blatant overtures of desire, but usually they were hardly what was true in the person's heart. This was not something a Cynis was used, and most of his House would think it cute. And yet this was still a first for him.


He quickly looked over to see what the servants were up to, scratching at the back of his head after smiling lightly to the young girl.
 
Ledaal Larissa


Larissa leaned out of the bedroom, a boot swinging absently in her hand.


"When do classes start?"
 
Haifeng


As if broken out of daydream he shook his head and moved on trying to play things off like he had just been thinking too deeply.


He moved to direct the servants a little more brusquely, but they took it in stride lightly joking with each other and pointing between the boy and girl and raising eyebrows suggestively.


A sudden THWACK like a small thunderclap resounded in the room, and one man started to rub his shoulder painfully while the other servants moved quickly, now chuckling and snorting at their companion and his comeuppance.
 
Everyone - In The Foyer~


Mountain Rose nodded at Syme. "Right in one, lil' master. I'm a watchamacallit...the byblow of one of the lesser Elemental Dragons with a penchant fer shapeshiftin' and pretty mortal women. I met Headmaster Bhagwei...oh, seventy or eighty years ago, way out in th' Scavenger Lands." She waved one gnarled hand in dismissal, then frowned and set to sweeping up the dust that the motion had dislodged. "But I'm sure ye're not too interested in such a boring story!"


She looked over at Larissa when the girl spoke. "Ah, that'd be tomorrow, mistress. Not too much in th'way of actual teaching tomorrow, mind you! They're going t'be explainin' the way things work here in the Heptagram, though, so I'd very strongly suggest none of ye skip out."
 
Tepet Arna


Having finished putting her things in order, Arna steps out of the girls' room and bows to Haifeng, having heard his introduction from the open door. "Tepet Arna. A pleasure, sir."


Having finished what in her mind suffices for a self introduction, she turns to Rose. "Will someone be coming here to show us to wherever this... orientation will take place, or will we be expected to find it ourselves?"
 
The Common Room


Mountain Rose smiled broadly at Arna. "No worries, mistress. I'll be taking ye there myself, tomorrow. Ye'll learn about the guides then, but...eh, better to show you inquisitive little youngsters, right?"


She made a negligent gesture with one hand, and a small orb of light appeared, floating around her briefly before vanishing in a cloud of sparks. "All of us staff members, down t'the very janitors'n'such can make these guides for ye. They'll lead ye to the rooms or locations we choose. I told that one to lead ye to this room, and I think the poor dear got a bit confused!" She laughed. "I have that effect on people sometimes, I suppose it makes sense I do it to little magic candle-flames, too!"


She chuckled a bit more, than looked at each of the students in turn. "I'd suggest ye all get a good night's sleep, though. Orientation varies each year, dependin' on who's givin' it, and sometimes it gets to be a little...long."


"Well, best you youngins get yourself to bed; got a busy day tomorrow and sleepin'll make it come faster." With the slightest hint of a sigh, Mountain Rose headed for the door, adding with a chuckle, "Guess you're all too old to be wanting ol' Rosie to tuck you in. My own lot, they got stroppy about that around your age, but of course a mother never loses the urge, even when her babies are up and grown and havin' babies of their own. Ah, listen to me ramble on as if that kitchen were getting clean by itself. Goodnight!"


------


You can wrap up or chat for a while, and I'll move things along sometime around....Wednesday or Thursday.
 
Ledaal Coreen


Coreen yawned as Mountain Rose left: it'd been a long day, even if her grandmother's sorcery let her arrive at the docks in mere hours rather than the weeks it would've taken in a more mundane conveyance. Somewhat belatedly covering her mouth, she glanced around at her fellow students, some of whom looked equally tired but were certainly better at hiding it. "She's probably right, and it's not like we've got much else to do. Grandmother told me a million times how dangerous it is to wander around in here. Not that we shouldn't go exploring! Just, you know, we should probably wait until after we know stuff like what kind of sign means 'Nasty Demon That Will Eat Your Legs Off In Front Of Your Face Behind This Door.'" She paused for a moment and then added, straight-faced, "Although they'd probably want to abbreviate that or it'd be a really big sign."


After a quick rummage through her belongings, she vanished into the bathroom, reappearing in a set of drawstring pajamas, the cornflower blue faded around the knees and elbows. "Let me know when it's fine to turn the lights out in the bedroom, okay?" she said to the other two girls, settling down by the fire to toast her feet.
 
Haifeng


He chuckled at the comment and looked to the girl. "We'll be ok. I know someone that gave me some good tips." He smiled as if at an inside joke.


He motioned to the servant to be dismissed, handing them some jade in the process and patting them on the backs in thanks. The one joker of the crush still absent rubbed his shoulder as if surprised it still ached. The still noded to him and thanked him before wishing him well and departing.


He then tossed his vest onto his bed in the room before exiting into the common room sans vest and commenced to do his pre-sleep stretches and meditation. And it was evident from his body that he bore several Artifacts of black Jade, although not all of them being immediately evident as to their purpose.
 
Ledaal Larissa


Larissa laughs as well before nodding to the boys and retreating into her bedroom to finish putting away the last of her things, except for a plain white nightshirt. Instead of ducking modestly into the bathroom as Coreen had done, she sits on the edge of her bed and begins to change, seemingly unconcerned if the other girls see her naked. The rest of her body is as firm and brown as her hands and face, but her back --


-- her back is an interwoven mass of scars. Some of them are partially faded with time; a few of them look to be only a few months old.
 
Ledaal Syme


Without a word, Syme retreats to the boys' bedroom and finishes unpacking. As he changes into his nightshirt, he catches a glimpse of Haifeng's black jade artifacts. Syme was not as social as most Dragonblooded. Small talk always seemed pointless and talking about mundane subjects always bored him. But there was one subject that could make Syme break the ice, and Haifeng was wearing it.


"Cool gauntlets!" Syme says, eyeglasses slipping down his nose. "What do they do?!"
 
Haifeng


He perked up at the chit chat. He had spent so many years being used to social interaction, even though over half of it was pillow talk in his House.


Standing up slowly, seeming a bit more like a belly dancer's protege than a Sorcerer in training. He looked to the young boy, his roommate it seemed, before smiling and saying. "Oh these?" Three blades of steel and black jade sprang forth noiselessly from what the three slits between his knuckles. Each blade curved downward, was thinner on the first half, and then thickened on the second half and was serrated. The serrations looked like siaka teeth.


"My family though I would be an Immaculate Monk with my love for the martial arts, so I was given these on my twelfth birthday."
 
Ledaal Coreen


Haha, I totally thought that artifact was a sex thing, Coreen snickered to herself, all too conscious that her face was burning scarlet again. I mean, Cynis has that reputation, although I guess bladed things would be a bit weird, even for a Cynis. Wish he'd bend over all slow again, though, hee. "Ahem," she said, getting up and wandering around to pry her eyes off her now-even-less-clothed fellow student.


In a desperate attempt to look anywhere but at Haifeng -Dear Mela, he's stretching again! - she retreated into the girls' bedroom, intending to re-arrange the few belongings in her chest. Before she reached it, though, something else caught her attention. "Ow! What happened" she exclaimed, startled beyond good manners at the sight of Ledaal Larissa's scar-seamed back.
 
Tepet Arna


Stifling a yawn, it occurs to Arna that she could definitely use the sleep, actually. Smiling tiredly at Haifeng, Arna says, "If you're that martially-oriented, I'd like to go a round with you some time. I was wondering how I was going to keep in practice in a school of sorcery like this. But for now," she stifles another yawn, "I need some sleep. Good night!"


Walking into the girl's bedroom, Arna's thoughts about whether to bother changing into nightclothes are interrupted by the sight of Larissa's back. Having nothing to say except mirror Coreen's question, she instead sits down on her bed quietly, waiting to see if Larissa would talk.
 
Ledaal Syme


"Neat," Syme says. He means it too, but honestly would have preferred that his bunkmate's gauntlets did something else. Surely black jade had more, well, interesting uses than just being made into a weapon. Monks had no sense of imagination, Syme resolved.


"I don't have anything like that," Syme says sitting in his nightshirt on the edge of his bed. "I was supposed to get a daiklaive, but I kinda suck at swinging a sword. Got this though!"


Reaching to the shelf over his bed, Syme picks up the silver tube covered in essence regulators and emitters. "Shoots essence beams," he explains. "Real fun."
 
Haifeng


He nodded to his, newly discovered, fellow martial artidt. "I look forward to it. Thank you."


He bent over before turning to one leg and then the other and then eventually slid down into the splits with ease. Still speaking to his roomie. "Very nice, but this gauntlet does have another function. The center claw can shoot forth like a grappling hook." He smiled
 
Larissa glances up. "What? Oh...those." A crooked smile crosses her face, like the expression she wore when removing the whip from her bag.


"Just a legacy of primary school."
 
Ledaal Coreen


"Wait, someone beat you? A lot too. Where'd you go to school, Malfeas?" asked Coreen, blinking at this new bit of information. Surely she can't be too much of a troublemaker or she wouldn't be here. She's a Ledaal, right? Maybe her family has money... Drat, I should've gotten Grandmother to tell me more about the House politics, but she hates talking about that kind of thing.
 
Ledaal Larissa


Larissa makes a sound halfway between a chuckle and a snort.


"No such luck. I graduated from someplace not nearly as pleasant: the House of Ancient Stone."
 
Everyone - The Dormitory Suite


The next morning arrived with the bright-eyed bustling of their suite's caretaker merrily opening doors and yanking open window-shades. "Everybody up," announced Mountain Rose, blithely ignoring the state of dress of her wards. "Ye've got class t'be goin' to, an' I gotta teach ye about how t'get t'yer classes!" She brought a tray of poppy-seed muffins with her, happily pressing them into her students' hands as they tried to get ready for the day.


"Now," she said, with a wide grin, "I'll be showin' ye how t'get t'yer classes, like I promised." She pulled a jade badge out from under her uniform and tapped it once, whispering something inaudible. A sphere of glowing white Essence appeared and bobbed twice in front of her before slowly orbiting the gathered students. "This lil' lamp of mine, it's gonna be takin' ye t'yer class today. Just follow it, and it'll guide ye without error. Today, I'll be goin' with ye, so no worries, but if ye get lost later on in yer career here, just run a lil' bit of Essence through your own badge, think o'my beautiful face, and tell me ye're in trouble. I'll come find ye, quick as quick. All right? Let's get goin', then!"


The glowing ball of light led them down the halls of the Hall of Terrestrial Puissance, Mountain Rose happily waving and stopping to chat with passing spirits and demons. They made it to the lecture hall just in time to find seats before Tepet Vigara stood behind the lectern and began talking.


It was a long speech, fulsome in its praises of the Dynasty, the Dragon-Blooded Host, the history and sorcerous puissance of the Heptagram, and essentially empty of any real meaning. Vigara was obviously an Air Aspect; nobody else could be so full of vapor.


"...however, I don't wish to keep you all here overlong, so I will now inform you of your schedules for the coming months. As this is your first year here, your classes are already assigned, as we wish to make sure you will be able to continue onwards with a minimum of unnecessary difficulty. Every Mercurysday and Venusday will be classes for learning Old Realm in the morning and the Introduction to Spirits and Demons in the afternoon. Every Marsday and Saturnsday will see you attending Introductory Astrology in the morning and Elementary Essence courses in the evening. Later in the year we'll discuss field excursions, but for the first few months we want you to get to know your classmates and begin learning the lessons on offer here. Since it's Mercurysday, and you're all here, we'll be starting classes today! But first, do any of you have any questions - about this year's classes, future classes, anything about the Heptagram?"
 
Tepet Arna


Arna spends most of the long-winded speech wishing she had gotten more for breakfast and drifting in and out of awareness, but when Vigara asks for questions, she raises her hand. "Will students already proficient in Old Realm be exempted from morning classes on Mercurysday and Venusday? Also, are there any extra-academic activities?"
 
He had long since lost himself in going through katas in his head and assorted methods of Sorcery as instructed to him by his grandfather in preparation of his schooling. This all stopped the moment he heard mention of the classes.


He searched his mind for questions and when Arna spoke he smiled as he knew that to be an excellent qustion, and a possible loopholefor more time for him to pursue other training.
 
Ledaal Larissa


Larissa nodded as Tepet Arna spoke; she had been about to ask the same thing. As she waited for the answer, she ran over a couple more questions in her head.
 
The Classroom


Vigara beamed down on Arna. "Ah, you came to this school prepared, did you? No, you won't be able to skip out on the classes, I'm afraid. If you're already proficient in Old Realm, then you'll have a few options - the professors will be able to tutor you in other languages, or arrange for those same tutors. Alternatively, you can refine your grasp of Old Realm as it relates to the occult." The pudgy Air Aspect waved his hand. "As for extracurricular activities...we find it best when they're student-run and organized. In the coming weeks you'll find student organizations being advertised in all sorts of ways! I know a few are already established - Sesus Birna is running a martial arts organization, and Ledaal Ridyah is looking for new members for her Gateway club, among other things. And, of course, you can organize your own, if you'd like."
 
Ledaal Larissa


Larissa raises her hand and waits to be acknowledged.


"What sort of textual materials on the First Age will we have access to? Will we get to read the unabridged editions now or are we still stuck with the 'edited for content and moral tone' versions?"
 
The Classroom


"Another good question," replied Vigara, nodding to Larissa. "As first year students, your access to...more specialized material...is fairly limited. You will have access to unedited histories of the Shogunate, though records from before then are not only limited but dangerous."


The rotund professor looked serious for a moment. "You must pay attention to the warnings you will encounter here. Sorcery is by no means a safe subject to study. Using your books as an example - there is a First Age history primer in one of the libraries on this campus, but so far no reader, mortal or Exalted, has been able to read it without being blasted to a fine powder of ash. Many, many First Age works are like this, and so for now your access to them is limited."


He smiled again. "In time, you'll be taught techniques to defend against some of the memetic defenses in these works, never fear. And, rest assured, we will not be foisting texts edited for moral tone on you all."
 
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