moonmoonacademy | NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

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NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME
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Fall slips into winter at almost an alarming speed, the days getting shorter and the nights getting colder. But you’ve all seen darker before, and Daybreak is still a warm haven for the wayward, as long as they’re willing to make a stand. And in between all those dramatic revelations and battles for the fate of mankind… well, someone still needs to shovel snow off the walkways.

A. is for Apple
Some of the passing students or faculty might have noticed the strand of apple trees the dryads planted (or roped anyone not moving fast enough into helping them plant) way back during Earth Day have been growing rapidly. As fall draws to a close, they’re officially ready for harvest, bearing loads of ripe, tempting-looking fruit in their branches.

Anyone willing to help out the gardening club is welcome to come apple-picking, as they load baskets up with fruit. The skin of the apples is a very pale golden yellow, and the aroma is almost overwhelmingly sweet.

You can eat them without suffering ill-effects. In fact, you’ll feel a little stronger and more vigorous than normal for a few hours, fresh and revitalized until it wears off. But if you go to sleep after eating any, you should be prepared for some distinctly bizarre dreams...

B. All Souls Away
The collection of disagreeable, displeased, frequently-honking ghosts haunting campus has not gone unnoticed. No one needs a haunting in the darkest time of year, when they tend to gather in power and intensity, so Daybreak is doing… whatever the exact opposite of spring cleaning is.

Any of the more benevolent and trustworthy ghosts that want to stick around are welcome to do so, but the troublemakers and the ones that want or need to pass on are being gently but firmly shown the door.

Maybe you’re helping the staff as they conduct various rites and rituals, figuring out the obscure tricks necessary to usher out the not-so-dearly departed? Some need song and some need silence, some require salt and others unlive and die on smoking incense. The dead are as varied as the living.

Or maybe you’re helping to keep the long-term hauntings around, making sure the more welcome ghosts don’t get caught up in this mess.

...Or maybe you just wanted to find a quiet place to study, and accidentally walked into an exorcism. That’s always possible, too.

C. Meat is Mordor
Did you know that November 1st is World Vegan Day? Don’t worry: if you didn’t, the highly enthusiastic grad student standing out in the courtyard is about to tell you all about it.

They’ve even brought a special friend to help teach people about the importance of respecting our animal friends. He’s large, he’s blue, and he has terrifyingly pointy horns- he’s a fun fae creature commonly known as an “orc’s ox”.

The whole thing is going pretty well up until their assistant manning the nearby booth giving out free samples of fresh vegan cooking gets a little too enthusiastic with the salt, and accidentally scatters some onto the ox.

You know how some fae are repelled by salt?

Yeah.

Hope you’re good at cattle wrangling, because he’s taking off at top speed and not slowing down.

D.
UN: nitelite005
We’ve faced down a lot. We’ve triumphed time and time again. But it’s finally time to settle things, once and for all. The ultimate question. The one that plagues us all. That haunts us.

Is a hot dog a sandwich?

DISCUSS.

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A:
[As tempting as the apples are, one of the newer students has so far managed to avoid giving in to said temptation, having the understanding that picking them doesn't necessarily mean it's okay to go eating any of them; for all she knows, there's something that they're specifically needed for later.

Being a little on the short side makes some of these trees a bit of a pain, though, requiring her to actually climb up the things or to otherwise leave the taller ones to someone taller than her.]

D: (UN: Teana)
whats a hot dog

its a food! its a sausage that you wrap in a long piece of bread
but it doesnt look like a dog so i dunno why its called that

its a

[.....]

why dont they just call it a damned sausage then!

why is earth so WEIRD about this stuff

maybe sausage in a piece of bread is harder to say than hot dog so thats why???

earth has lots of names for everything and not all of them make sense but everyone uses them so getting used to it is easier

i guess

but wait

dont sandwiches use TWO pieces of bread

you make it sound like these things use only one

doesnt that mean the answer to that question is no

oh its only one piece of bread but its cut down the middle

like this!!

hot_dogs.jpg

huh

looks kinda weird

but it also kinda makes sense?

A:
[Katida hadn't planned on doing much—just going and sequestering herself in some corner of the academy's library until she needed to go anywhere else—but then something happened that caused her to throw that entire plan out:

1) She was asked for help with something. She wasn't the friendliest individual, for reasons she didn't really go into detail about, but she was quite used to doing all kinds of work for people, and she rarely ever actually refused a task as long as she was compensated.

2) She found that the job in question this time was helping to pick apples. Apples. One of the few things that some people may notice about her, aside from her general demeanor, is that she absolutely loves apples and anything made using them.

So, of course, she got to work straight away. Well, after confirming that she would be allowed to keep a few for herself—a payment of sorts for her assistance. She made sure to limit herself to three, while the rest of what she helped pick were swiftly delivered to where they needed to go.

It's possibly worth noting that the ones she chose to keep were some of the smaller ones.]

B:
[When she did finally gets around to going to the Hall of Pythia like she had originally planned, she notices that things there seem to be rather crowded. Not with people, but— Okay, yeah, some of these are people. Dead people, but still people.

Why are there so many ghosts in here?

As she walks through the library and heads toward some out-of-the-way corner, though, it's impossible not to notice that many of the ghosts seem to be giving her a particularly wide berth, actively moving to keep their distance from her. The sight may be a just little strange to any onlookers of the living variety, but to her it's feeling far more normal than she'd like to admit.]

Edited 2020-12-02 03:17 (UTC)

[Lia, of course, was helping pick the apples as well--she'd had a hand in planting them, after all!

Lia is, of course, keeping a few for herself as well. She has a whole basket that she's planning on taking back to the dorm. She pauses when she notices what Katida's taking as payment.]

You're not taking any more than that?

Don't think they'd like if I took too many.

[Though, if the amount that Lia has there is Okay, then maybe...? ... Hm. Not sure.]

Wasn't there something specific that they're for?

[She tilts her head thoughtfully.]

I don't recall anything of the sort, and I don't think anyone mentioned stuff like that back when the trees were planted on Earth Day...

[Well, if they weren't being grown for any particular purpose, then it's probably fine? She's eyeing another of the trees, now contemplating going and taking some more.

She's dead silent for a few moments.

...

And then:] How many would be the limit, do you think?

Hmm... A basket about this size seems like it'd be a safe bet, probably? More or less depending on how much you'd end up eating. I'm using a lot of these for baking, so...

I'd eat them. [She doesn't specify how many; they're apples, so the answer to the question of how many she would eat is yes.

When Lia mentions the basket, Katida's eyes are immediately on it. One of that size would probably last her a week, though, maybe two. Unless she paced herself, in which case it could last much longer. She knows she can't run entirely on apples and will still need to venture to the cafeteria and such, but daily apples for awhile would be great.]

Edited 2020-12-03 04:40 (UTC)

Then let's get you a basket!

[Lia beams.]

There should be another one about this size around here...

[She can't decide if she should be happy that Lia's apparently decided to help get her set up with more apples, or suspicious of that smile like what is your endgame here. ~~Spoiler: Lia's endgame is friendship, because it always is.~~

So, Katida tries to keep herself looking neutral, or at least neutral-ish, while quietly starting to look to see if any baskets are still lying around.]

[~~ALWAYS~~

Lia hums thoughtfully to herself as she starts looking for a basket as well.]

You know, I don't think I've ever seen apples quite like these before... I'm even more excited about trying them, to tell you the truth!

[And, of course, to see how good they are for baking.]

Most of these are bigger than what I'm used to seeing. [Most of them. The ones that she initially had picked for herself are somewhere around normal to her.]

They look, I don't know, a bit brighter too. [They're extra shiny, she thinks. Almost excessively so. Though, so be fair, she's more-accustomed to red ones, not these golden things.

She's still looking around, too. Why is it so hard just to find just one extra basket for these things? Were they all in use or something?]

[Out of all the things Epel was expecting from coming to Daybreak was... actually not this! He was used to picking apples back home, sure, but to come to a fancy rich people school and be doing something he was so accustomed to... it's actually a little reassuring in its own way?

It's nice.

He's looking over the apples he's picked for ones to take for himself--maybe he can send the seeds back home to his family?--when he notices the ones Katida's taking.]

Those are kinda small, aren't they? You oughta at least take bigger ones for helpin' out.

[She pauses and looks again at the three that she'd picked out for herself.

It's a strange thing, hearing the suggestion that she's basically not taking enough payment for what work she's done. She's nowhere near used to asking for or trying to take more, because back on the other side, back on Remlia, she probably wouldn't have been able to get away with such a thing even if she were justified in doing so; it likely would have been seen as her overstepping her bounds.]

Maybe they are, but it's fine. [Is it, really?]

Are ya sure?

[It doesn't seem fine to him!]

There's so many that takin' a few more or some bigger ones shouldn't be a big deal or anythin'. I saw someone walkin' around with a big ol' basket.

[He holds one of the apples from what he's picked out to Katida, an apple on the bigger side.]

I'm— [Katida begins to answer, but immediately shuts right up when Epel keeps talking.

When he holds that apple out to her, she just kind of stares at it for several moments, wondering if the offer is serious, before reaching out to put one of her hands on it. There's nothing stopping him from either pulling it back away from her, or letting it go to let her take it.]

Are you sure?

[He nods, letting go of the apple.]

Go on ahead and take a few of these.

[He gestures to the ones he's picked.]

[She almost wants to say that she really shouldn't, but the offer has been made and she doesn't want to offend by refusing it.

She looks the selection over for several moments, before picking out a few that look to be around the average size when compared to their peers—nothing too small as that was what Epel had taken issue with in the first place, but she's refusing to take any of the largest ones—and cradling them with one arm, along with the ones she already had, until she can find something to put them all in.]

Th...ank you. [The words come out awkwardly, like she's not very used to saying them.]

Edited 2020-12-04 03:22 (UTC)

[The sudden influx of ghosts and spirits around campus actually did not give Leon much in the way of discomfort. At this point, he'd seen enough ghosts around campus that the novelty and initial fear wore off for him. It helped that most of them were benign, barring a few annoying pranksters. ...And those seemed like they were being taken care of.

Still, he wandered into the library of the Hall of Pythia, looking to head to the library to get a quiet place to study. When he moved in though, he noticed a lot of the ghosts giving space to a girl wearing quite an outfit... and quite a remarkable hat, for that matter. That was weird. Really weird. Most of the time the ghosts never bothered parting for much of anyone, barring more illustrious or powerful members of the staff who walked with purpose. ...But this wasn't deference in respect. It looked like fear.

He didn't have much time to ponder it, though. He noticed as the girl walked, a paper flitted out of her bag onto the floor; how, he wasn't sure. There wasn't exactly a draft in here. Maybe one of the ghosts did it, but he didn't bother figuring out who was or wasn't responsible. He just walked forward, following Katida, picked up the paper, quickening his pace to catch up.]

Hey, this fell out of your bag. Haven't seen you around. Are you newer around here?

[For what it's worth, any fear, scorn, or negativity had no place on Leon's face. Even if the ghosts seemed Concerned about her presence, he was either foolish, stupid, trusting, or kind enough not to be.]

[The moment that the word "hey" registers with her, she stops in place, and by the time he's saying that she dropped something, she's already turning around. Once she's actually facing toward Leon, he will see her studying him intently for a few moments before casting her gaze back down, away from his face and more toward the paper that he had picked up.

It's an annotated map of one of the places that she frequently found herself in back when she was still on the other side; Cadena Forest, as well as the network of caves beneath it, was fairly large and somewhat easy to get lost in. Something like this probably could have been left in whatever room she's been assigned to since she doesn't need to carry it with her at all times, but she has something of a habit of never really letting her belongings leave her person.

She looks back up once again, after taking the paper back and slipping it away.]

You could say that, I suppose.

[She's greeted with something of a friendly smile, with a hint of wryness to it.]

Well, welcome if you are. Sorry if not everyone's given you a warm one.

[He shoots a glare over his shoulder at some ghosts that seem to be particularly wary of her.]

Name's Leon. Leon Kennedy. Grad student, and newcomer this year too.

I like your hat, by the way.

[That throws her off a little bit; why is he apologizing for something he has nothing to do with? Actually, why is he bothering to apologize at all?] It's fine, I'm used to it. [It's not actually fine, but she is used to it, and quite frankly she expects it.

She allows herself to look away a bit before returning the introduction.]

Katida. [Just Katida; the Clan didn't have any particular need for family names.] They said they were putting me into "11th grade," whatever that means. [And just like that, it's made incredibly obvious that she's not from anywhere around here.

When he compliments the "hat", she snaps her gaze back onto him with such speed that he might think for a moment that doing so had somehow offended her. All she does for a few seconds is stare; who in their right mind would say such a thing about a Dragon Scar?]

Nobody's ever said that before.

Take it you haven't really had much in the way of a traditional education, then. That's okay.

Eleventh grade is about two years away from graduating from high school, which is... the last of what most places consider mandatory schooling. Though I wouldn't stress too much about the numbers or the mandatory part. Around here, skillsets and knowledge can vary wildly between people at the same level.

[Her reaction was a surprise at the compliment, wondering if he had somehow overstepped with something so... innocent? He did blink in surprise, though. After all the weird things he's seen, the hat looked kind of cool, if a little creepy. He wasn't sure if it was looking at him too or not, but truthfully, he just thought it was nothing more than a hat.]

...Really? Huh. Do people just not like the aesthetic, or something?

[He honestly has no idea what a Dragon Scar even is, let alone its significance.]

[It was, in fact, looking at him. Giving him the same wide, red-eyed stare that it gives anything else. But, it does nothing more than that, for now.]

Among other things. Most people where I'm from don't like anything about me. [She says it bluntly as though it were a simple fact, her tone and expression doing very little to give away how she feels about it. There are people that don't actually give a damn who or what she is, but those people are a particularly-small minority.

She also doesn't plan to elaborate on that if she doesn't absolutely have to; the less anyone here knows, the less reason they'll have to judge her themselves, she thinks.]

Sorry to hear that.

[He has to wonder why that is. Obviously he doesn't know her, but judging by how most of their current company doesn't seem to like anything about her either... well, something about her must be supernaturally offputting? That's the only deduction he can come to. But whatever it is, he can't put his finger on it.

But until she did something that proved she was unworthy of trust, he didn't see much of a reason to shun her or treat her badly either.]

Present supernatural company excluded, hopefully people here will be better about it. There's a lot of different folks from all walks of life here. And they're quite open-minded. Moreso than most. Gotta be, if they actually have daemons on staff as teachers.

[All walks of life, huh? Someone like her may not be seen as too unusual, then, so perhaps she doesn't need to be on-guard quite as much as she normally is. Whether that is the case remains to be seen, though, so for now, she'll keep on the way she has been.

But...]

Daemons as teachers? Either somebody doesn't know what they're doing, or they know exactly what they're doing. [She knows how these things work. She knows that eventually, after she's returned to Remlia and accomplished her goal, she'll need pay whatever price Atruum intends to ask of her.]

There aren't many, I'll grant. And they're difficult taskmasters. Tough to please. But one of them's apparently pretty popular. And infamous.

[Leon shook his head, and laughed awkwardly, running a hand through his hair.]

Guy's named Valvatorez. Watch out for his exams. They get... creative.

[Katida is completely silent for a moment, wondering if she actually heard that right, because that's not exactly the sort of thing she would expect to hear attributed to him.]

I'll... keep the warning in mind.

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NOVEMBER TEST DRIVE MEME

Raelyn / Dungeon Fighter Online PC/OC

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The Witch (Katida) / Dragon: Marked For Death

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APPLES

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