The Knights Next Door

[+Sorana she/her]

Shana grabbed her backpack and followed Rob out of the car.

"I've got maths first, but then we'll be in the library." She told her friends and sighed, when she took a look at her watch. They were early, and at the same time early, never really worked well. "Anybody else in the library today?" Her eyes darted to Rob. "Maybe we could start to reesarch some of the defensive structures we talked about. That would at least be useful, compared to reading about bees or plants."

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unwilling to head to class, the test looming over her, although there was this sliver of hope, that maybe, maybe she had managed to pass and could go on.

@Ookla the Maybe-Existent @allothers

[AonEne he/him]

@Ookla the very snazzy 

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

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Really sorry, end of term.

"I already signed myself up, my parents were smart, they had me able to sign myself up, and forge their signatures at a young age."  Nym said.  She thought that her parents knew, that eventually, things would change for the worse. @Ookla the Roleplayer

[AonEne he/him]

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You’re fine! Sorry if I bothered you  

“Oh, okay, good then,” Cassie said. She mused for a second. Should I be okay with her having forged the signatures? “You forged them well, right?” 

@Ookla the very snazzy

Edited December 14, 2019 by Ookla the Roleplayer

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

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You're good.

"Yeah."  Nym saw the hesitation on Cassies face, and guessed the reason, but didn't say anything.  Her parents weren't necessarily preppers, but they had known that the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, and that bad things did happen.  And they did, Nym thought, trying to force these images out of her head.  @Ookla the Roleplayer

[AonEne he/him]

15 hours ago, Ookla the very snazzy said:

"Yeah."  Nym saw the hesitation on Cassies face, and guessed the reason, but didn't say anything.  Her parents weren't necessarily preppers, but they had known that the world wasn't all sunshine and rainbows, and that bad things did happen.  And they did, Nym thought, trying to force these images out of her head.  @Ookla the Roleplayer

Cassie shrugged. “Don’t let anyone find out.” She nodded at the door. “If you need help getting to any classes, don’t be afraid about asking me or a teacher or someone.” 

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

5 hours ago, Ookla the Roleplayer said:

Cassie shrugged. “Don’t let anyone find out.” She nodded at the door. “If you need help getting to any classes, don’t be afraid about asking me or a teacher or someone.” 

"I'll do that."  Even though Nym had no intention of doing so.  She liked to figure things out herself.  So, she steeled herself, took a deep breath and went in, making her way to her first class. @Ookla the Roleplayer

[Eluvianii he/him]

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Are there any third years to share classes with?

 

[Wyndlerunner he/him]

13 minutes ago, Ookla the Evil Penguin said:

 

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Depends on what you mean by Third years. In the US, High School is divided into four years: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. AKA 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grades. So James is a Senior, because he's 18.

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

31 minutes ago, Ookla the Eccentric said:

Depends on what you mean by Third years. In the US, High School is divided into four years: Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, and Senior. AKA 9th, 10th, 11th, 12th Grades. So James is a Senior, because he's 18.

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Oh storms, I'm used to three. But either way Edwin would be a, Junior? He's 17.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

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We figured that maybe everybody writes a little about class and then we can accidently meet in the library so that we can rp together.

 

[I think I am here. he/him]

On 13/12/2019 at 6:28 PM, Ookla the Dreamer said:

Shana grabbed her backpack and followed Rob out of the car.

"I've got maths first, but then we'll be in the library." She told her friends and sighed, when she took a look at her watch. They were early, and at the same time early, never really worked well. "Anybody else in the library today?" Her eyes darted to Rob. "Maybe we could start to reesarch some of the defensive structures we talked about. That would at least be useful, compared to reading about bees or plants."

She shifted her weight from one foot to the other, unwilling to head to class, the test looming over her, although there was this sliver of hope, that maybe, maybe she had managed to pass and could go on.

@Ookla the Maybe-Existent @allothers

“Bees and plants are cool, but yes, defensive structures would be useful. I’m in the library too,” Rob said, looked to a side building in the school premises. “Straight after English. Which means debating.”

Looking ahead he began on walking before looking back when he didn’t see Shana walking as well. He felt a little bad for her, especially that he couldn’t help, even though she’d helped him with debating.

“You will do good,” he said, tried to be reassuring. “Just remember, they can’t make you redo the grade for one test. So in the big picture, you will do fine.” He gave her a thumbs up and slowly turned to walk away.

Debating. Which meant hanging around his teammates. Who hated him after losing all of their debates. The sphere in his pocket pulsed as Rob wondered if a punch to the face would make them cast aside their glares. But no, why would Rob do that? He was a good person, a good student, and he dealt with demons every week, odd looks were nothing.

[+Sorana she/her]

Shana sighed and then followed him towards the building. "See you." She said quietly, and then finally stepped into the building and inside her classroom. It was loud, as usual, their teacher would still have to come and she forced a smile on her face, while she greeted her classmates. Yes, there had been a fight and she had somehow ended up between the lines. No she wasn't hurt. No, she hadn't done the homework, but if she could just write down the results, real quick?

They continued to talk, to chat, to talk about newspaper articles and what they had learned about the fight, while Shana copied the homework. She knew she wouldn't be able to explain it, but then it didn't matter anymore. She knew she had failed - so this single homework wouldn't change the game. She was already so far behind, that she had no chance to catch up, no matter what she did.

Still it was like a blow to her face, when she finally held that sheet of paper in her hands, when she saw how badly she had failed. "We need to talk." Her teacher informed her and she nodded, knew that they had to talk. See if there was a way to save her.

The other pupils had left for the next class, while Shana waited at her teacher's desk. The woman looked at her, gestured for her to sit down, a grave expression on her face. "You know, that you need to do really well on the next test, or you will have to redo the grade?" she asked and Shana only nodded, stared at her hands. "I suppose my - , Doc has to sign this?" She asked and gestured at the test, saw sorrow cross the woman's face. "Yes, he has." she replied softly and then nodded to herself, as if she had made a decision.

"Shana, would you like to go somewhere, to talk?" She asked carefully, and Shana jerked upright, the test forgotten. "What?" She asked, unable to put everything into the simply question. Did she know about the killing, about the Voidbringers? But she couldn't know, the Unmade - "You are in an age, where sometimes a girl would like to talk to a woman, preferably to her mother." Again the sorrow and Shana slowly understood what this was about. Poor urchin, having bad grades. "Doc is fine." She snapped at her teacher, and started to stuff the test into her bag. "I don't need someone else." I don't need someone pretending to be mother. Her mother. Shana swallowed, her hands curling into fists.

"Then maybe a place, where you can catch up on maths. Maybe talk to others, that overcame the same situation you are in?" Her teacher went on and Shana strongly shook her head. "I am fine." She insisted, her eyes resting on her red hands for a moment, before looking away, back at the teacher. She seemed concerned. Truly and honestly concerned and while her words maybe weren't the right ones, she really tried to help. "I appreciate this. But I am fine." She repeated stubbornly and nearly jumped up when the woman raised an eyebrow as reply. She wasn't fine. But maybe she didn't need to be fine. She only needed to be able to kill and then the world would be fine.

Without waiting for her to say anything else, Shana rushed from the room, angrily wiping tears off her face. She was fine. She had to be. Stupid maths. She could always redo the grade, it didn't matter. She needed to train to be fit, to polish her fighting skills. Then she would be able to finally move past this. If they got rid of them all - if she knew she oculd protect the others, there was no need to kill. She only neededto be come strong enough, intimidating enough, that she could do it.

Breathing hard, she stood in the hallway, it was more or less empty, she was late already, had to go to the library. She dabbed at her eyes again, furious at herself for crying, at the teacher for talking and at the world to throw all of this her way. Her parents. Why did everybody have to mention her parents. Couldn't they simply leave her alone?

"Shana...?" she heard her teacher from behind her, and ignored her, ran along the hallway towards the library. Let her think she was some poor urchin. Maybe that would stop her from following Shana around.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Ookla the Dreamer

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

Nym's first class was choir.  She walked in and was immediately greeted by the teacher.  By his name tag his name was Mr. Brown.  He asked if her name was Nymina, and she simply said "Nym" he replied "Ok, Nym, what are you?"  She said "I'm an alto, I can maybe sing soprano or Tenor."  He put her with the Altos and said to the whole class, "This is Nym, a new student,"  all eyes were on her.  "Would you like to tell us where you came from, Nym?"  Here goes, Lopen thankfully didn't say anything.  "I have harkend hence from over yonder... I mean I came from Minnesota."  Everyone was staring at her like she was crazy, but Mr. Brown acted like nothing had happened.  "Thank you Nym, let's warm up."  And proceed to teaching.  Later, Nym saw Lopen snickering in the corner.  This was going to be a long day.

Edited December 15, 2019 by Ookla the very snazzy

[AonEne he/him]

Cassie parked, then went into the library, greeted the librarians with a smile, and started working. 

[I think I am here. he/him]

Rob was a little early to class. He could see some of his classmates hanging just outside the classroom door while waiting for the teacher to arrive, let them in. Among them was Ethan and Maria. His debating team. As he walked over Ethan looked over at him with a sense of resignation, held up his palm-cards, small slips of paper with his debating speech prepared on them.

“So, give us the bad news again,” he said. “I’m guessing you don’t have a speech again? Or, at least, anything beyond: ‘I am Rob. You are wrong. Thank you’.” As he mocked Rob he stiffened his face, moved his arms like a robot and Maria laughed a little, covered a hand over her mouth when Rob looked back at her.

“Sorry,” she said a little quietly. “But Ethan’s right. We always lose our debates, because you don’t write speeches.” She shrugged.

“It’s alright,” Rob said, because it was easier to keep a straight face and pretend it didn’t hurt than the alternative. “I actually do have a speech this time,” he said and held up his sheet of paper, with his argument written on it.

“Oh, wow,” Ethan said and snatched it out of Rob’s hand, held it front of him and squinted his eyes. “You actually did something this time. Who would have guessed?” Rob reached to grab it back and Ethan turned, stopped him and continued to read it over. Rob felt a sudden flash of anger, wondered what Ethan’s smug face would look like after being punched into a wall.

He stepped back instead. A little part of him worried at how easily the thought had come the forefront of his mind. The sphere in his pocket pulsed and Rob wasn’t sure what to do, just looked at Maria.

“It’s good,” Ethan said finally, threw it back and Rob caught it. “It’s not in Palm-cards, and you probably copy-and-pasted it off from some website, but whatever, it’s the best you’ve ever done in debating.” He sighed and Rob saw as the teacher and the rest of the class arrived. Now the debates would begin. “Let’s just hope it’s enough.”

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Will write the actual debate later  

 

[Eluvianii he/him]

Edwin got to school thirteen minutes late, it couldn't be because of the cat, that had barely taken five minutes tops. He obviously had finally taken too much of a deviation. He'd have to start repeating streets tomorrow.

He first stopped by his locker to do something quickly. He left all his books there except for the one he would be using on his first class and left that one in his hand. That would make things easier. The hallways were empty as he looked for the classroom, History with Mr. Foreman. Edwin took a deep breath in front of the door and opened it. The teacher stopped talking and forty pairs of eyes stared at him.

"Late again, Mr. Bennet?"

What do you mean again? It couldn't have happened more than once or twice... or did it? "I'm sorry, it's just... something came up on the way here."

"As always, I'm sure." Some laughed at that. "Just go to your seat."

Edwin didn't answer and just made his way there as quickly as he could. He placed his backpack on the floor and relaxed, as long as there weren't any unexpected noises coming from it, everything would be fine.

And of course now it came. Now that the stress was gone, he couldn't help but, think. Forty people here, maybe a thousand or two in the entire school. They probably had spent their Sunday playing, or shopping, or just relaxing, but he had killed a man on his front yard, and now back to pretend nothing weird happened. It was a strange feeling, like in the morning, it still felt like a dream, it probably would be easier to pretend it was, it probably was the best for his mental health too but, could he just lie to himself like that?

"Hey." someone was touching his shoulder. Victor was trying to get his attention. "What did you  do this time? You look terrible."

Was it that obvious? "It's nothing." he said. Victor was about to ask for details again when the bell rang. What? Where did the time go? he had been late, yes, but it felt like he had just sat down.

He looked at his notebook, it was completely blank, he might as well not have attended the class. He got up and out of the classroom in a hurry with a quick apology to Victor, glad to have an excuse not to answer people's questions.

[+Sorana she/her]

Shana scooped up some water with her hands and then dunked her face into it, cold water running all over her face, down her throat and a little even down her shirt. She looked up, looked at her face in the mirror. Her grey eyes, her light hair. She looked harmless, maybe even cute. Just like any fifteen year old girl would. Inhaling a little stormlight she watch it highlight her fair skin, the way it made her hair shine just a tiny bit. She looked less harmless now, more like a fifteen year old girl playing around with some special effects on their mobile. Holy sheen or something like that. Highlight your skin and hair.

The door opened and she turned her head to see another girl step into the bathroom. She headed directly to the toilets and Shana exhaled, made the glow vanish again. Her hands gripped the basin in front of her, while she continued to stare at herself, at face. She didn't look like a killer. She finally decided, didn't look at the girl again when she washed her hands. Her face was harmless, and while trained, her body looked sportive, not like a soldier or a killer of some sorts.

Stepping back from the basin, she tilted her head to the side, watched her hair, as it fell off her shoulder, the girl thankfully leaving the room. Contrasting Rob or Edwin, she was popular. She was good enough to represent their school at events, and while her grades never had been good, people rarely cared about grades, when she won a competition for them. The other pupils liked her, they admired her, they wanted to be like she was. Boys wrote her nice letters on valtentines day and if she didn't do her homework, then someone always let her copy theirs. Her life was perfect. Except, that it wasn't. None of them knew, and she was sure, that if they knew, they would discard her. Rob, Edwin, James, Cassie, Leona, they knew and they still liked her. They spent time with her and they tried to help her. Contrasting the empty ones at school. They were her friends.

She pulled out her mobile, checked for a reply from Ben, and frowned when there was non. Maybe his mobile was switched off, or maybe he was still asleep. Healing others tended to leave him exhausted and he had healed her again, several times actually. Still, she couldn't shut down that nagging feeling of worry and her thumb hovered over her display, when she considered to write something else. Could she? Wouldn't it feel as if she pushed him to reply?

I love you. She finally typed. If you need something, let me know, please?

Grimacing at the words, at their cheesiness, she stuffed her mobile back into her pocket and finally left the bathroom.

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

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So, I'm confused.  What are we doing and where are we meeting?  Please help me.

 

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the very snazzy said:

So, I'm confused.  What are we doing and where are we meeting?  Please help me.

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At the library. You can have your character come there directly, or write a little 'school scene' before you do that.

 

[I think I am here. he/him]

“And that concludes the debate,”

The chairperson stated, and the adjudicator began looking up at the kids, cleared her throat. The rest of the class was watching in the audience, and Rob kept a straight face, even though he was nervous inside. The debate had gone well, but then again, every debate seemed to go good, until they were announced as the losing team.

“This debate was a curious one,” the adjudicator began, looked to the opposing team, and began giving them feedback on how they went. Someone had gone overtime, and that had gotten points deducted. Another hadn’t presented enough evidence, and the remaining needed to make more eye-contact.

In the end they had a score of 216. A higher score than Rob had expected.

“And now, onto the affirmative team,” the adjudicator said, turned her attention to Rob and the other two next to him.

“Maria, you did a great job of introducing your team. You had good eye-contact...” the adjudicator droned on while Rob kept sitting at his desk. He had read out the speech Shana had written out. Some of it was too long so he had to summarise it, but most of it was really well done, at least according to Rob. Briefly he wondered whether Shana would be up for debating. She was really good at writing speeches.

“Ethan, you...” the adjudicator turned to her next target and Rob leaned over slightly, whispered to Maria. “What she’d say about you?”

“That I need to stop pacing around when I talk. And that I need to work on my emotional delivery.” She looked distraught. “I got a score of 81.”

81 was beyond good, according to Rob, especially because he normally got 0s in debating. “Don’t worry,” Rob said plainly, trying to comfort her. “If you think you’re doing bad in ‘emotional delivery’, just wait for me...” Maria laughed a little but held herself back as the adjudicator glanced sharply at her. Rob decided to stop talking.

Finally Ethan’s score was announced. 70. Rob did the math. That meant he would need a score of 65 for both teams to draw, and at least a score of 66 to get his team to victory. Ethan already had his head in his arms. “There’s no way we’re going to win,” he stated.

“And now, onto Robert,” the adjudicator said, narrowing her eyes at Rob. Rob met them with a blank stare of his own. The adjudicator consulted her clipboard and then looked back at him.

“I am pleased you have actually put effort into your speech this time. However, your work still leaves much to be desired.” Ethan groaned and the adjudicator ignored him, continuing.

“Your ‘manner’, that is, the way you delivered your speech was atrocious. Strong eye-contact, but no changing in tone, no expressions, no adjustment of pitch or volume, and certainly no emotional attachment to this topic. You just stood still, like a rock, and delivered.” Rob tried not to see the irony of that.

“However, and this is a change from your last couple debates, your ‘matter’, that’s your speech, statistics and arguments, were excellent. You displayed good understanding of the topic, and some of your arguments were hard to rebut. I feel like this is a testament to what you can do if you actually try hard in debating.” Rob refrained from telling the adjudicator that someone else had written his speech, he doubted he’d get the points otherwise.

“I hope in the future you try to focus more on your delivery now that you know you can improve. You’re score is 71. Affirmative team wins.” The opposing team stood up and left, and Rob’s eyes widened only slightly. Maria told Ethan that they were the affirmative team and he was in disbelief. The first win Rob had ever had in debating.

————

Shortly after that, the bell had gone and it was time to switch classes. Rob had some time in the library, and as he entered, he tried looking for anyone familiar.

[King Aragorn of Gondor]

Nym wandered around the school, looking fo the library trying to avoid eye contact and ignoring the odd looks thrown her way of people she passed.  Geez, word got around fast.  She had spoken in Shakespearian more than once in choir and she got a few waves but more odd looks.  She finally found the library, and went in, she had some time to slaughter.  She saw a few people in there and waved, found a book called Wizard for Hire and sat down. @Ookla the Maybe-Existent @AonEne

[+Sorana she/her]

Shana walked through the hallways, a smile on her face again, waving and greeting those she knew. Now and then she stopped, exchanged some banter with the rest of her team, assured them she would be there for training, and that no- her math problem wouldn't have a negative impact on them. At least she hoped that it would be that way. Another more smiles and waves, only playful bump into her shoulder, that left her irritated and checking for an attack, before she nervously covered her mistake by a loud laugh and finally reached the library.

Cassie was working there as always and she waved at her. Nym was already there as well, reading close by and Rob. Shana waved a greeting at Nym, but walked to Rob. "Where do we want to start?" She asked, her voice low. "Fortification, or security?"

@Ookla the Maybe-Existent

@Ookla the very snazzy @AonEne

Edited December 26, 2019 by Sorana

[I think I am here. he/him]

“Fortification,” Rob said quietly as well, held up a small book he’d gotten about castles.

“We can make our walls thicker from the outside with enough stone. And we should make a moat. So no one can go near.” Putting the book down he looked at Shana again.

“I won the debate. All, because of you. Thank you.”

Picking up the book again he gestured to a diagram of a castle.

“We could refashion the roof to be flat and able to be accessed from the second floor. Then set up areas people can scout out and fire ranged attacks from. A vantage point.”

[+Sorana she/her]

1 hour ago, Ookla the Maybe-Existent said:

“We could refashion the roof to be flat and able to be accessed from the second floor. Then set up areas people can scout out and fire ranged attacks from. A vantage point.”

"You're welcome." Shana smiled at him slightly forced and sat down at a table close to Nym's. It had four stools, in case Cassie or Nym wanted to join them, but she didn't want to disturb them from work, or studying, so she figured a separate table might work well.Leaning over she took a look at the book Rob had found and nodded, when she considered his ideas. Taking out some paper and a pencil she quickly drew a rough floor plan of their home.

"I failed maths." She told him while drawing and only looked up when the floor plan was complete. "If we flatten the roof, we should also add a small, thick wall around it. So that the scouts and long-distance fighters have something to hide behind. And we definitely need to thicken the wall enclosing the estate, otherwise the moat is only half effective."

"In general, I htink the moat might delay some, but as they can do the same, but in a twisted way, we need to take into account, that they might be able to fly over everything we set up." Hence the thicker walls of the building itself.

"Maybe we could add a secret way out of the whole area. Deep in the ground, as an emergency exit."