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Magic School Rejects



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Fri Jul 01, 2022 2:09 am
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Spearmint says...





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At least the rejection letter didn't burst into flames. It did give you a papercut, though, as if saying, "Thought you could get into the Lyndira Academy for Elite Mages? Ha, peasant." Needless to say, you were not amused.
But still… you desperately need to attend Lyndira. Perhaps you face pressure from your family, or you yearn to learn magic. You might have a secret agenda involving the aristocrats in charge of the school, or maybe you just want to pull a prank on those snobby students. Either way, you've got to get through those golden gates and into that magic school. And that means it’s time to use all the skills you have and infiltrate first-day orientation.
Get ready for a magical adventure!

~o✩o~


Characters:
1. @Spearmint -✩- Prehnite (Pren) Filosil
Spoiler! :
Name: Prehnite Filosil
Age: 16
Pronouns: he/him
Magic/ability: Divination, but with severe limitations. Prehnite can draw the future whenever he relaxes enough (like when he’s daydreaming), but the problem is, he’s terrible at drawing. (Especially people. His attempts at drawing humans alternately look like lumpy triangles, stick figures, or amorphous blobs.) His parents hired art instructors, but nothing really worked– Prehnite has to focus to draw well, but his divinations only happen when he’s unfocused and relaxed.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: Prehnite’s twin sister, Epidote, was accepted to Lyndira. While their family is well off, they’re not particularly rich, so the main reason she was accepted was because of her power: anything she draws becomes real, with no limitation except her imagination. Art lessons worked on her because she has to focus for her power to work, which means she became even more powerful… Anyways, Prehnite wants to go see how his li’l sis (by like five minutes, Epidote would say) is doing. =P

Appearance: Pale green hair, medium green eyes, slightly shorter than average. Pren often dresses rather sloppily, but he’d be willing to try to wear a uniform neatly, if only Epidote would draw a uniform and acceptance letter for him so he could go to Lyndira too… But nooo, Epidote just had to be honest and honorable and flat-out refuse. Hmph.
Personality: Pren is outgoing, definitely the type to just walk up to a stranger and say, “Hey, how ya doing?” as if they’ve known each other for years. This comes in quite handy whenever he wants to get away with things like taking advantage of a friend-of-the-owner discount. But despite his talkativeness, Pren doesn’t really have any close friendships, perhaps because his family used to travel a lot when he was younger, and just when he’d find a best friend, they’d move on. Pren is quite close with his sister, though. He knows that they’ll still have each other, wherever their family decides to go.
History/background: Pren’s family used to have a bit of a nomadic lifestyle, but recently, they’ve settled down in a city near Lyndira. Pren’s parents have made quite a bit of money auctioning off various knicknacks they picked up on their travels, though of course, it’s small beans compared to the wealth that most of the elite have.
Other: Pren’s father is a rocks and minerals enthusiast, hence the names Prehnite and Epidote. =P

Prehnite:
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Epidote:
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Tumbled prehnite with epidote:
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Prehnite (the character):
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2. @Teddybear -✩- Cain Heartly
Spoiler! :
Name: Cain Heartly
Age: 19
Pronouns: He/They
Magic/ability: Blood manipulation. Think bloodbending.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: He wants to prove that he is teachable, and that his specialty is valuable.

Appearance: (drawing enspoilered below)
Personality: Just look at him man
History/background: He comes from a family where odd and creepy affinities run in the blood. The accepted and trained response to a new 'undesireable' affinity popping up is to teach the child in question to suppress it and let it die out on its own, but when his ability began to show he refused to let it fade. He wanted to be a powerful mage, a respected, revered, and knowledgeable mage in his own right, and he wanted his affinity to be at the center of his honed skillset. The challenge was finding a way to do that...ethically.

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3. @mothbroth -✩- Brynn Thefina
Spoiler! :
Name: Brynn Thefina
Age: 17
Pronouns: Any pronouns.
Magic/ability: They can mimic people's voices, but only when it's the voice of someone they don't know.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: All the bragging rights. What's cooler than going to a magical academy?

Appearance: Brynn's appearance is reasonably youthful; you could say they have a baby face. They're also not very tall for their age, which doesn't help. They have long, naturally blond hair, but it always looks tangled because they refuse to brush it. Their style fashion-wise changes every other day, and they have a wide variety of piercings.
Personality: They prefer to be on their own, but they'd never pass up an opportunity to make a good friend. They're known to be distant at times, but if they care about something, they'll defend it until people are tired of arguing with them.
History/background: They never really had any issues with their folks. It was a normal nuclear family setting. Sure, nothing about their family was elite, but it was enough. Sometimes, people just need some time away, and that's exactly what Brynn wanted.
Other: They're a bit of a pushover.


4. @WeepingWisteria -✩- Saturn Capella
Spoiler! :
Name: Saturn Capella
Age: 20
Pronouns: He/him
Magic/ability: Saturn is a mirror empath, meaning he can feel who is feeling the exact opposite of his emotion. (Opposite emotion is defined through Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotions.)
Motivation for going to Lyndira: Two main reasons. Number one, Saturn’s best friend is attending Lux Academy, and they have a friendly rivalry. Number two, someone told him he would never make it in, so he needed to prove that guy wrong.

Appearance: Saturn has a light Caribbean complexion with long white hair he keeps in a bubble ponytail with shaved sides. He tends to dress on both sides of the gender binary quite freely. He’s short, only 4’11” or barely 1.5 metres. (Picrew in spoiler.)
Personality: Saturn deeply cares for others and seems to always be of service somehow. He works hard to learn skills he believes are helpful and has become a jack of all trades. He hates few things more than being a burden or a disservice.
History/background: Saturn’s parents died when he was twelve, leaving him and his sibling, Neptune, to live with foster parents: Edmund and Nellie Smith. Edmund and Nellie are not “elite,” making his rejection guaranteed from the start. Still, he decided to try and find out for sure than ponder forever.
Other: At seventeen, Satun lost his hearing in a car accident. He now primarily communicates in sign language, but he can still speak.

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5. @Liminality -✩- Siang Yi Novrum
Spoiler! :
Name: Siang Yi Novrum
Age: 19
Pronouns: she/her
Magic/ability: She can change the colour of water. The limitations are that 1. she can only change half her body mass's worth of water, that means something like 30 kg, and 2. she can only change colour, and not texture or taste or anything else.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: Learning magic! And confidence in her own ability to learn magic.

Appearance: She's tall and somewhat gangly in build, with a cold beige complexion. She has black hair in a pixie cut, and close-set brown eyes. She has a scar on her chin from an attempt to ride a bicycle once.
Personality: She's generally quiet and self-assured, as well as day-dreamy and whimsical. She has the propensity to accept challenges that are way out of her league, like trying to carry ten bicycles at once or convince a complaining kid that orange juice is actually the chocolate milk he wanted by influencing his sub-modalities with her colour-changing power. She doesn't like conflict, and is only really getting involved in this because she's confident no one will notice her at orientation and she loves the subjects offered at Lyndira.
Strengths: confident, calm, imaginative
Weaknesses: conflict-averse, overly distant, overly indirect

History/background: She comes from a modest family. Her parents run a bicycle shop. Siang Yi has never had much of a passion for bicycles, however. She spent her childhood putting on little magic shows outside the shop. Well, they were supposed to be experiments, but people like watching her use her ability because water that turns pretty colours is fun. When she turned 17, she decided to aim for going to magic school. She's received a couple of rejection letters from Lyndira already, and she's concerned she might be running out of time to get in.
Other: One of her main academic interests is how magic influences visual perception. As a result, she's particularly keen on any potions-related(Potion Crafting) and artifacts-related (Artificing) classes.
She's also trying to write a novel about a collection of sentient writing desks that live in an enchanted forest.


6. @Omni -✩- Corden Malarvick
Spoiler! :
Name: Corden Malarvick
Age: 19
Pronouns: He/him
Magic/ability:His words have the ability to get people to do things... well kinda. So far only his snoring has been able to do this, and his subconscious isn't really the best area to persuade people.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: He has been telling people about his Affinity and they just won't believe him. He wants to go to Lyndira Academy to partly get some help with this, but also because he knows that this could end up being something huge, not just for him, but for a lot of people. He never really got into the mage thing before, but now he wants, and needs, to get into it fast. What better way than Lyndira?
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Appearance:Corden is pretty tall and skinny and kind of unassuming. He has a fairly oval face and baby blue eyes. His skin is a dark brown, and he doesn't fuss with his hair or style all that much, but he has figured out that white is his color and he makes that very clear with his wardrobe.
Personality: Corden hides his insecurities behind humor, and makes that a large part of his personality. He's someone who goes with the flow and loves to be unbothered. What other people do, he doesn't really care unless it affects him. He's a really big person on "you stay in your lane, imma stay in mine." so his affinity definitely isn't something he takes lightly.
History/background: Corden's life growing up wasn't one that was great, but in his mind it was pretty average. He holds a lot of childhood trauma built up from living in the not great part of town in Ludus. His older brother kept him out of a lot of trouble, both in the streets and at home, so Corden grew up relatively happy, all things considered. His brother, Kayn, however, didn't have a great life. Kayn had to do a lot early on, but he did as much as he could to keep Corden out of trouble and into opportunities. Kayn always said that Corden would be the one to make something out of himself. So, when Corden started showing minor signs of magic, Kayn was overjoyed, saying this was his ticket to Lyndira. That was about five years ago. Kayn disappeared about four years ago. But, Corden tried. He really did, he gave it a good attempt to learn magic, but nothing ever came to him easily, and his attempts to get into a local academy or study on his own just ended in failure. When he turned 18, Corden's mom basically told him to get his life together or get out. So, he started really trying and eventually applied to Lyndira. A month ago, he got his first rejection. That has gone up to four, and now he's out of a home. So. Where else can he go but up? At least, that's his reasoning to try and sneak his way into Lyndira. He has nothing to lose now.
Other: Corden's subconscious has a terrible secret...


7. @HarryHardy -✩- Serafina Gianova
Spoiler! :
Name: Serafina Gianova
Age: 17
Pronouns: she/her
Magic/ability: Serafina has the ability to magically link lifeforms to one another so that when you do something to one of the lifeforms the same happens to the other. It would be powerful if it wasn't for the unfortunate fact that whatever happens to those linked life forms happen to her as well.
Motivation for going to Lyndira: Her ability if she doesn't master it properly has a very high probability of being rather dangerous to her. Given she doesn't have many other means to learn anything, this is her only way to make her own magic not be the cause of demise.

Appearance: Serafina is fairly tall, coming in just around six feet. She's rather thin, and its the sort of thin that comes from not having quite enough to eat. Despite that she's still stronger than she looks, although naturally she isn't that strong. She is pretty fast however. She's got fairly long midnight black hair, which has a slight natural curl to it. Her eyes are a vivid emerald green. She's usually weary very worn out trousers with some sort of shirt. Its not a surprise to see her barefoot too although she might find some sort of shoes to blend in better.
Personality: She's somewhat guarded. Having spent the better part of her teens on the streets she's learnt the hard way to be weary of people, especially ones that appear to be friendly. She's not necessarily standoffish or rude, just very neutral in her interactions with everyone until they earn her trust. Not having too many friends though she does tend to care quite a lot about the ones that do prove themselves to her. She also tends to think a lot and sometimes even talk to herself out loud, a habit of being alone a lot. This does sometimes lead to a bit of overthinking too to things that should otherwise be simple.
History/background: Serafina grew up in a fairly poor family on the outskirts of town. Her life was a pretty simple one up until she was around thirteen. She and her little sister didn't have a lot, but it was a happy childhood and they learnt to do a lot with the little they had.

Just about two months after her thirteenth birthday their house burnt down. Serafina was outside when it happened with her father. Her father immediately ran in to save her sister and mother. He managed to bring her sister out but neither he nor her mother ever made it out.

Since then, they've had to make do with what they can. Their relatives gave what they could, but it wasn't like too many of them were that much better of than they were. With her sister proving to be a rather powerful budding mage, Serafina set about working on the streets, doing what she could here and there, sometimes dipping into things that were of questionable legality all so she could get enough to add to what she got from her relatives to send her sister through a decent school while she had to pretty much teach herself everything she knew.

The one thing she allowed for herself was to get into Lyndira, knowing it could make a big difference. Unfortunately all the effort she went to ended up being wasted in rejection, not once but twice.

Now, going back into the streets to get enough to try again seems like more risk than maybe just sneaking into Lyndira and seeing what happens.
Other: As always Serafina is also about as straight as a circle.
Last edited by Spearmint on Mon Aug 01, 2022 12:12 am, edited 3 times in total.
mint, she/her


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Tue Jul 05, 2022 5:30 pm
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Spearmint says...



Prehnite


Prehnite was brushing his teeth when the letter from Lyndira came. It popped into existence right above the sink with a shower of gold sparkles, and Pren instinctively grabbed it with one hand.
"Oh, ourch." Pren spit out a mouthful of toothpaste and winced at the papercut the envelope had given him. Dropping his toothbrush, he opened the door and called out, "Hey E! My letter from Lyndira came!"
"Hurry up and get over here so we can open ours together!"
Pren quickly finished washing up and walked over to the living room couch, where his twin sister Epidote was waiting expectantly.
"On the count of three?"
Pren nodded.
"One... two... three!" Epidote tore open her envelope, skimmed the letter inside, and grinned. "Pren, I got in! Did you... oh."
Pren stared at his rejection letter for a few more moments, then forced a smile. "Hey, it's alright, yeah? Getting rejected from Lyndira isn't the end of the world. I'll be fine." He stood up, clapped his hands briskly, then gave his sister a genuine smile. "I'm seriously happy for you, E! How do you wanna celebrate? Cake? Shopping for school supplies? Rolling down a hill?" He smirked.
"Oh stop it, Pren! We're too old for that now." E laughed, then bit her lip. "But are you sure it's okay? I know how impressed you were with Lyndira when we visited..."
"Mm.... nah, who cares about that snobby golden school, y'know? So many stars and all that. Oh, I mean, I hope you enjoy it there, of course! I just meant-- um. Hmm. Wait, nevermind, I just had an idea!" Pren looked at his sister with a gleam in his eye. "If you really feel bad about me being rejected, how about you use your Affinity and draw me an acceptance letter and a uniform? Eh? Genius, amiright?"
E sighed and pulled her dark green hair into a ponytail. "I do feel bad, but you know I can't do that, P."
"Well, technically you can, but you won't." Pren mock-pouted. "If our Affinities were switched, I'd totally do it for you. But no, I'm stuck with the ability to draw the future... and cursed with terrible drawing skills..."
E lightly punched her brother on the shoulder. "Okay, well, since I won't draw you an acceptance letter and you don't seem to be feeling too bad otherwise... how about that cake you menioned?" She pursed her lips and looked at him a moment. "But you can always talk to me, got it? I don't want you to feel bad and sulk on your own, when your lovely sister could draw you some ice cream or something and talk things through with you."
"Oho, so you'll draw me some ice cream, but not a simple little letter?" Pren raised his eyebrows at Epidote, who scoffed and dragged him to the kitchen.
"Okay, that's enough about that. I'm hungry. Where's the cake?"

(489 words)
mint, she/her


.--. / ... ...- -.-. .-.. / - .--. ..- .- / .--- --- ...- .--- / .--- --- .--. .-- / .--. .--- .-.. / .--- -.-- .-.. .... -
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Wed Jul 06, 2022 11:07 am
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Liminality says...



Siang Yi


"Siang Yi, could I talk to you for a second?" Her mother said from the storefront, her hands gripping a toolbox.

"In a moment," Siang Yi replied. She stared intently at the trough of water before her. With a flick of her hand, she could extend her aura towards it and change the transparent water to a pale shimmering green. At the last second, she changed the thought in her mind to yellow. Sure enough, the water turned yellow, as though the green had never existed.

"Curious," she muttered under her breath, and she scribbled down a 'NO'. Her chart was filled with yeses and nos. A few times, she had found that changing the thought had not changed the colour immediately, and a few times, she found the opposite.

"What did you see?" she asked her father, who was sitting on the chair opposite her, his arms folded. His brows were pinched and he kept glancing towards Siang Yi's mother.

"Sorry," he replied, "I didn't catch that one."

Siang Yi looked back down at the trough. She heard footsteps. She knew there was a small crowd forming, standing around on the steps that led to the shop. A child whispered, pointing at the yellow water, "That looks kinda gross."

Siang Yi turned the water back and began to pack up. Her mother started shuffling towards her, the opened letter from Lyndira in hand. She looked Siang Yi up and down, and then her gaze fixed upon her left pinkie finger.

"Is your hand okay, dear?" she said, looking at the bandage.

"Just a papercut." Siang Yi said. In a few ways, her study today was a success. There had to be something that caused the colour change to be immediate rather than gradual. She had controlled for many factors, even holding the experiments in the same place underneath the bicycle shop's sign. It was a pity she couldn't get a proper room, but she had to make do with what she had.

Well, not for much longer, she thought.

The rejection from Lyndira had been disappointing, but it was to be expected. She hadn't wanted to resort to this at first, because she'd been waiting to see if Lyndira would see reason. After all, wasn't knowledge meant to be shared? Still, it was settled. Siang Yi was planning to --

"Siang Yi, what . . . Is there anything else you could do besides go to Lyndira?" her mother's voice cut off her train of thought.

Siang Yi looked up at her, blinking.

Her mother went on, "I know you've been working on this project, and I know you said there weren't any literatures . . . Liturgical . . . "

"Literature reviews?"

"Yes, that. That you could get outside of Lyndira, but . . . Isn't a third rejection a bit too much?"

Siang Yi frowned. "I don't know."

Her mother had talked about literature reviews, but really, what Siang Yi wanted was to speak to the experts at Lyndira about how substances could be made to change their appearance. How her powers worked, in greater detail. There were research notes in the library of Lyndira, from famous scholars, most of them long and gone, and really it felt like that was just the thing Siang Yi needed to complete her project.

The third rejection wasn't too much for her. But it was enough to make her consider changing methods.

"Mum," she said. "I'm going to go travelling with some friends tomorrow."

"Oh . . . Oh?" her mother said, eyes wide.

Her father raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You said I needed to get out more, right? So I'm going?

"O-okay," her mother said. After all, Siang Yi was nineteen, and she spent all her time either at home or in the library. She had gotten good grades all her life. Studying, studying and studying. Something like this was just fine for her parents, who otherwise might have been more restrictive.

There was no trip. Siang Yi was going to find a way to Lyndira.

. . . Somehow.


(682 words)
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Thu Jul 07, 2022 7:44 am
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WeepingWisteria says...



Saturn


Everyone in Saturn's home was happy.

Nellie was making a celebratory dinner that he begged her not to make. Neptune was probably curled up on the couch, listening to some violent true-crime audiobook. Edmund was whistling as he helped Nellie with the dishes.

And Saturn was sitting in his room, clutching the letter that ruined his life and cut his finger.

Saturn could feel his family's happiness like a pleasant hum in the back of his head. If he were in the same room as them, sitting beside them as he read his letter, they'd be outlined in their favourite colour. Neptune's smile would shine a dark lavender, and Nellie's working hands would be cyan.

But Saturn wasn't there; he couldn't be. Not with tears bubbling in his eyes and a tremor in his hands. "Get it together, Saturn." He couldn't hear his voice over his tinnitus, but the familiar vibration took the edge off the burning in his eyes.

He pressed his fingers against his eyes, taking a deep breath. He wasn't the only one Lyndira rejected.

Besides, everyone was so excited for him to get in. If he came into the room, full-on sobbing over some minor disappointment, everyone would worry about him. Nellie's face would fall, that cyan fading from her chest. Neptune would grab his hands a little too tenderly to sign an apology.

He calmly folded the letter, wincing at the blood he smeared on it.

When he opened the door, Nellie was already setting down the dinner plates. "Saturn! Nellie ran over to him. "I made your favourite dinner, and we're making tamarind balls for dessert!

Saturn smiled, his heart aching at how brightly her cyan silhouette was shining. "Thank you, Mom."

She grinned. "You got in, right?"

Saturn froze. Now was the time to tell them, and surely disappoint them and ruin their day-

Neptune grabbed his hands, his cataracts outlined in lavender. "Did you do it?" Neptune had only recently learned tactile sign language, so he was still a little slow, but Saturn appreciated it immensely regardless.

But that lavender was about to disappear because he wasn't good enough for Lyndira. Because he wasn't good enough for-

Edmund thundered down the hallway, wrapping Saturn in a bone-crushing hug, saying things that were nothing but mumbles to Saturn's ears. He pulled back, a wild grin on his face. "There's our Lyndira student!"

Six eyes stared at Saturn, all filled with expectations of him travelling to Lyndira. He was supposed to leave tomorrow to arrive in time to settle in. He'd attend orientation two days from now.

Except he wouldn't because all he had was a rejection letter and dread pooling in his stomach.

Nellie batted Edmund away, saying something to him Saturn still couldn't hear. "You haven't had a chance to tell us you made it in! So come on, tell us!"

Now to drop the ball. And disappoint his family. And continue living in their house in shame.

And feel that weight for the rest of his life.

"Of course, I made it in!"

Saturn froze. Why did he say that? Why did he say that? He didn't make it in; he wouldn't be able to stay in the dorms. But, as Nellie exclaimed and ushered him to dinner, he only knew one thing.

He needed to find a way to attend Lyndira, or his family would never trust him again.

581 Words
She/They/Fae

“the wist i knew would never allow a straight boy in their stories” ~Omni
“Hi Omni can I request wist get the role mom friend :]" ~winter
“ah yes, fear Wist's smile :) <- speaks of layers and layers of secrets” ~mint





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Fri Jul 08, 2022 7:01 am
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Omni says...



Corden


Streaks of dusk pilfered the spotlight of the evening sky as a bright orange ball soared through the air, colliding with knees, rugged shoes, elbows, and the ocassional patch of concrete.

Corden Malarvick rushed forward, punting the orange ball with his elbow before it hit the ground, although he himself did meet the ground, scraping his shoulder against the worn concrete. He shoved himself up off the ground again. One of his teammates, Colin, wooped at his save and high fived him. "Nice save, Corden!" He added at the end.

Corden shimmied and got back into the match. "You know it!" He steadied himself as one of the other teams juggled with the ball on the opposite side of the courtyard. He widened his stanced, keeping his feet solidly on the ground and further apart. As the ball bounced around, it started heading his way. He was holding a corner of the park, right next to the fence. One of his jobs, outside of the game, was to keep the ball within the park and not out of bounds.

As the ball bounced over to him, he reached his hand up to block it, when a Pop! cracked through the air and something knicked his finger. He seethed with the sudden sharp pain, and his arm instinctively retracted. The ball unceremoniously flew over the fence and out of bounds. Corden glanced down at his hand, and it was holding a letter. A letter, from Lyndira! Oh, no. He raised his hands to the grumbling players to hold up a T, calling for a time out.

"Well, duh, we gotta get the ball because of you," Omar, one of the other players, and also someone who really despises Corden's guts (for a reason unknown to Corden) piped up. Corden didn't really pay him any heed, but he knew he did mess up the game by having it go over the fence. Now, someone had to climb it to get the ball again. Thankfully, as Corden sat on down on a bench to the side, there were already a couple of other people already half way up the fence. Leave it to Lyndira to have this extremely unnecessary and inconvenient form of transport. Why not use the mail, like any sane academy?

But, nooo, Lyndira had to be special, because they were a magic university, so they had to make sure everyone else knew that at every available opportunity. Hopefully this letter was worth the papercut. He ripped the outside envelope open, and quickly scanned the letter. When it didn't register, he read it again, this time slower.

"Dear Corden,

We regret to inform you..."

And he didn't bother reading the rest. He sighed, crumpling it up and shoving it into his shorts pocket.

"So, you get in?"

Sana, carrying two water bottles, asked, before handing him one.

"Thanks," he said, taking a swig from the bottle before answering their question. "Nope. And that was the last one."

"Ouch. What're you gonna tell your mom?"

"Don't remind me," he said, groaning. "I'll... figure something out."

"Gotcha. Just remember, C, I gotchur back no matter what happens."

What was that even supposed to mean? Corden shrugged internally. Oh, right. This was supposed to be his final straw back home.

"Yo, Corden!"

Oh, great.

Omar strutted up to them. "I know that acceptance letter from anywhere. Don't tell me you applied to Lyndira. With what magic?"

"Hey, I have magic, just because I don't wanna show it to the likes of you..." It was a half-hearted attempt at a jab; he just didn't have it in him to try and crack jokes at the moment. It felt like everyone knew he was faking that confidence right that moment.

"Hey, listen, you don't gotta lie to me," Omar said, "you just gotta stop lying to yourself."

He heard a couple of oohs from the gathering annoying people in the background. Corden smiled wryly, taking the attack and letting it roll off his back. "I got nothing to prove, Omar. How about you?"

The totally-wanted-gallery oohed at that. Omar scoffed. "I'm not the one who applied to Lyndira, bro. Tell me, did you get in? Huh?"

Sana glanced at Corden. It was a look that was like, listen, if you wanna fight, I'm down to fight. Corden flashed them a quick No because that was literally the last thing he wanted right then. He feigned a yawn. "All right, guys, I'm gonna call it a night." He waved off the boos from the other players. "You can play without me."

"Aww, going home to your mommy?" Omar sneered as the other players started to disperse. Now he wasn't doing it for the crowd, he was just being a jerk for the sake of being a jerk.

"Yeah, yeah. Omar, go away, I'm not in the mood for your crap." Corden sighed, wrapping a cool towel around the back of his neck and packing his things into his small rucksack.

"Right, Corden." He held up his hands in mock defeat. As Corden got up to leave, Omar started up his crap again. "Listen, listen, if you're done with your whole applying to colleges stuff, and you need a job, my pop's got a position over at the mill."

"Thanks, Omar, really, but I'm not going to waste my life away at that deathtrap."

"Your brother wasn't picky." And look where that got him, Corden wanted to add, but he knew it wasn't needed, everyone knew it.

"Push off." Corden grabbed his rucksuck and opened the gate to the courtyard.

Omar wasn't one to take a hint, though. Must have been that mine air. He could hear Omar following him. He really didn't want to do this today. "Yo, Corden, you really think your bro wanted you applying to all those magic places, knowing full well you won't get in? I know you're used to disappointing people, but maybe your brother's memory shouldn't be one of them."

Corden knew it was a bait, something said just to get to him, and he shouldn't let it. It was dumb, stupid, and they both knew it. But, gods, was it true, and it did get to him. He stopped in his tracks.

"Got something to say?" Omar said.

Corden didn't reply with his words, but with a punch straight to Omar's jaw. Omar fell to the ground, groaning at the punch. Corden's knuckles screamed at the sudden impact, and he felt it reverberating all the way to his shoulder, which protested by trying to wrench free out of its socket.

It took Corden a moment to realize what he did. He took a step back, but it was too late. Everyone and their brother had stepped out of the courtyard to either gawk at what happened, or rush to Omar's aid. In a second, he was surrounded. Sana was nowhere to be seen. Ah well, served him right.

The first blow landed in his gut. The second, his face. He didn't remember the rest.

Image


Alayna, Corden's mom, had just gotten home from a longer-than-wanted shift at the local nursing home. When she got home, her son was nowhere to be seen. That was normal, but that often meant that the food for the night was still snugly in the icebox and she had to defrost it before making a small meal. That also meant that it took longer for her to make food, longer to eat, and longer to go to sleep for her shift the next morning.

She had stopped asking Corden to do this one simple favor long ago. She didn't expect anything from him, and yet she was still always disappointed.

Tonight was no exception, besides the exception of it being an extraordinary example. Alayna heard a knock at her door. She opened it, expected more terrible news, like she did that one night, but, it was Corden, thank goodness.

Corden, bloody and beaten to a pulp, waved a hand sheepishly at his mom. "Hey, Mom."

His mom had a mere moment of pure shock before her parental instincts kicked into gear and she ushered him inside. "How in the he--- who did this to you, Baby? Whose Momma do I need to go talk to?"

Guided by his mom, Corden slumped into a wooden kitchen chair. "It's nothing, Mom. Just a disagreement."

"It's not nothing, it looks like Hell's jaws took you in and spit you out again."

She disappeared into the other room, and returned with a first aid kit. As she cleaned the blood and grime out of a scrape on his cheek, she sighed. "Corden. Tell me what happened."

Tears silently slid down Corden's cheek, adding just a more stings to the plethora of pain he felt. Groaning with the movement, he fished gingerly into his pocket and pulled out a clumped piece of paper. His mom looked down and took it out of his hand. She gave it a quick read, and her face looked like it aged twenty years in that moment of realization.

Tugging over another chair, she sat in front of him and set the rejection letter to the side. "We'll leave that for our tomorrow selves." She wiped his face clean, took off his shirt, and applied bandages to the larger wounds on his back and side. "For now, you need to eat and rest." She grabbed a plate and piled on some leftovers from the cooler. Sticking it in front of him, she motioned him to eat. It was cold, but it was the most amazing food he had eaten in awhile. He grimaced at the pain of using his jaw like that, but the food was worth it.

As he got up and headed to his room, his mother cleared his throat. "And, Corden?" She started, staring him up and down, "We will talk about this tomorrow."

And Corden had to try and go to sleep with that notion stuck in his mind. He shuddered to think what tomorrow would hold for him.

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KateHardy says...



Serafina


Serafina was tired, more than she had been in some time. It wasn't like she wasn't used to this. Working for hours upon hours after having stayed up the whole night trying to study something wasn't exactly a rare occurrence anymore. Today had been especially bad though. It had just been bad timing. She'd ended up doing on too many physical things on the little list of odd jobs she'd managed to get for herself and as she walked back to the closest thing she had to home she could barely put one foot in front of the other. Not for the first time in her life, Serafina was glad that she hadn't allowed herself to cross the line of working later than seven in the night. The streets when things were properly dark would make her way too easy of a target.

Despite the pain that was viscously cycling around her entire body as various sore spots flared up with the movements she made, the wad of cash stuck securely inside her pocket made it all feel worth it. She'd have enough to get her sister through school for the next year or so. She'd have to think a little bigger a year or so from now, but the second application she'd sent into Lyndia was what that rode on. It should arrive soon enough two. Surely they couldn't reject her yet another time.

Almost as if the admission office had been listening to her thoughts and was picking the best time to destroy her there was a flash of light she remembered from her first time getting a letter from Lyndira. Even knowing to dodge did her no good as she let out a slight grimace at the paper cut that was now on her hand. At least everything else hurt badly enough she could barely feel it. It wasn't the first bit of blood she'd wiped on these pants.

Once she was sure her hand wasn't going to stain the envelope, she gingerly picked it up from the floor. Her hands trembling ever so slightly she slowly opened it right there in the middle of the road. She knew she should maybe wait to open it with her sister but she couldn't handle seeing the disappointment on Salina's face one more time. As much as she believed in herself to get in, she knew her chances were slim at best. She couldn't take the chance. She'd open it again in front of her sister if she knew the answer would be favorable. If not, well she didn't let herself think about that as she folded out the piece of paper.

Serafina only had to read through two sentences to watch her dreams come crashing down around her for the second time by the same neat lettering. Dabbing the tears that threatened to fall, she quickly stuffed the envelope back in. This wouldn't do, not at all. Without an education from a place like this she wouldn't be able to get to a level where she could put her sister through an academy she wanted to go to. Her aunt and her uncles helped, they really did, but they weren't much better off than Serafina herself was. She had made a promise to Salina and even if it killed her, she wasn't going to let little Sally's dreams be washed down the drain.

Doing her best to school her features into something that didn't suggest she'd almost cried, Serafina focused on making it home. She had to think, and the middle of the road wasn't a good place for it. If she was going to make the kind of money needed, she might have to look for a job that unlike her current ones which only toed the line of legal and illegal actually crossed that line. Either that or she was going to work so much she'd be unable to even see Sally. She didn't think either of them could handle that.

Before she could come to a conclusion she was already knocking softly on the door of what was basically a shack that they called home. It was one large room with little sections for doing things, held together only by good luck and lots of constant maintenance that Serafina did herself.

"Ina," came a familiar voice as the door opened a head of black curls covered her face.

"Hello Sally. Did you have a good day?" she asked as she slowly walked in, untangling herself from her sister.

Her sister might be fifteen, but someone she hadn't shaken the habit of rambling to Serafina about her entire day so as she always did, she listened, trying not to show the pain that some of her sisters more enthusiastic movements gave her and nodding and exclaiming at the right places.

After that went on for a while, it finally came time for Serafina to do her part as she told Sally the most distilled version of today's events she could manage without making her too suspicious. She knew Sally would immediately drop her studies and try to help out if she ever got wind that Serafina worked as much as she did. When things finally circled around to the letter she didn't know what possessed her to say but she found herself saying she'd been accepted.

"OH my GOD, that's amazing, we need to celebrate somehow," said Sally, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

"Calm down, Sally," said Serafina," we can barely afford to attend it as it is let's not waste any money celebrating."

"Okay no money, but we're still celebrating somehow. Not like that has ever stopped us before," said Sally, giving her the one pout that Serafine hadn't been able to resist since the girl was born. It was very unfair it still worked at fifteen.

"Fine," she said as Sally ran off to her corner of the room, probably to plan something up. Serafina smiled. She'd humor her sister on this one. Of course her not wanting to celebrate had absolutely nothing to do with money and everything to do with the lie but she wasn't going to tell her sister that. And as she thought further on it, maybe she'd be able to slip in there somehow after all. Doing that was far probably less dangerous than what she'd have to do otherwise to get Sally into an academy anyway. Yes she could do that.

It was time to attend Lyndira, whether they wanted her there or not.

1088 Words
Stay Safe
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Teddybear says...



Cain Heartly


Cain's day went by in a blur of plates and chatter. The lingering scent of frying food and dishwater followed him as he slunk home on aching limbs. Customer complaints still rang in his ears. Excuse me, this is cold, he would hardly hear a table call out to him over the constant rush of blood in his ears. He'd hardly notice his own responses, apology after apology as he returned it to the kitchen to apologize to the cook, who would look up from her rows of orders, eyes heavy with exhaustion, to accept yet another task.

The angry heartbeats of worked-up customers pounded on his ears as he recited his scripts, over and over while they got angrier and angrier. One man in particular stood, trying to make himself taller than Cain and failing. His face red with anger, hands flailing, fingers pointing, Cain lost track of what the man was doing until a shock of heat like molten glass hit is front, and Cain discovered that they'd been serving the coffee too hot.

More blurry chaos followed that, and then he was headed home, an angry patch of burning red down his front and only his hoodie covering it. His work shirt was tucked away in the backpack he'd slung over one shoulder. Did he remember to clock out?

It was a problem for tomorrow.

His shadow stretched and circled him as he passed each street lamp on the way to his apartment until he reached the front steps and unlocked the door. Once inside, his shadow blurred into the haze of the weak fluorescent light that flickered overhead. Ahead of him was a split entrance, a wall of mailboxes to his right leading into the hall of first-floor apartments, and a staircase to the left. Cain quickly got his mail, wrestling the wad of rolled envelopes and adds from the steel box, and headed quietly up the stairs.

Apartment 213, right next to his 215, was awake again judging by the sound of her heartbeat. It was faster than usual. Maybe she was working out? He lingered in front of her door to dig the sheets of coupons out of his wad of mail, stooped to slide them under her door, and then proceeded to his own apartment. His key stuck in the lock and he jiggled it until it finally popped open.

Finally, he entered the dingy little studio. The floor-to-cieling cage and his bed took up all but a small sliver of the main floor space, leaving just the tiny closet, bathroom, and kitchen all in a row just hardly accessible. He plopped down on his bed and crossed his legs, going through his mail by the light of the streetlamps through the window so he wouldn't have to wake Bernard - the, he later learned, female rat who lived in the cage.

It was mostly junk mail, rejection letters from a couple of universities, invitations to apply to others, advertisements and, jackpot.

He hurriedly opened the thickest of the bunch, a letter from his cousin. A series of letters. The handwritten one didn't matter, just a threat not to mess this up yada yada, the rest, though. Acceptance letters. Every prestigious university Cain could dream of, there was a letter here letting his cousin in. Every university except his first choice, he noted with a frown, but there it was, his second choice. Lyndira. Just one little name off from his.

Cain grinned.

He hopped off the bed and scurried to the closet, where he dug out his supplies. Next to a pristine Lux uniform - which he would unfortunately not be using - was a Lyndira uniform, and on the floor under a pile of clothes he hadn't bothered to wash yet, a little wooden box.

He ran a hand over the uniform feeling the pristine textures, the emblazoned school crest over the right breast, it was perfect. Snapped from his reverie by a quick series of thoughts and anxieties - I have to get this done now - he snatched up the box and returned to the bed.

Bernard had awoken to the rustling and was peeking out at him from inside a half-chewed cardboard tube as he laid out his supplies. This could not be a more perfect letter to alter. Ezra's name and Cain's could easily swap places, he only had to lift the ink and match it just right. He wasn't going to risk someone looking a little closer.

With a q-tip dampened with a slightly magical concoction he'd bought for way too much money, he carefully lifted Ezra's name from the page. Every instance of personalization for his cousin, he removed.

He set the blank letter aside, now a template, and got out some scrap paper. AKA his rejection letter. It was the same paper, perfect for testing which inks would and wouldn't match.

With a collection of inks and pigments, brushes and ink pens, he practiced and color-matched until the sun peeked through his window, casting his bloodshot eyes in an even redder hue. He flexed sore hands and finally, finally moved on to the final letter. More carefully than he'd ever done anything, he penned his name.

C

His hand began to shake, and he took a steadying breath. He had to be on the train in two days, this couldn't wait.

a

His neighbor was up again. He hadn't noticed when she went to sleep, but now she was clinking away in the kitchen, making the coffee she'd no doubt need.

i

He'd have to find replacements for his shifts. No time for a notice, but 'special circumstances' would probably cover it in future interviews. Plus, being a Lyndia graduate...

n

A giddy laugh bubbled up in his chest, and he shoved it back down. He laughed like a serial killer, if everyone who'd heard it was to be believed, and the walls were thin enough that his neighbors would hear. He much preferred them to have no opinions of him at all.

Not that that mattered.

He was going to Lyndia.

xXx


Not too many hours later, Cain sat restlessly between two strangers, Bernard's little travel cage on his lap, her big cage folded up under the seat, his duffle bag overhead. On his way.

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KateHardy says...



Serafina


Serafina let out a quiet sight as she sat at the one desk they had in their room...well house. Sally had gone to sleep an hour ago and she was no closer to figuring out how to get into Lyndira than she had been when she'd made that impulsive move. Still she sat there, twirling a pen absently through her fingers, willing for something to come up. She'd gone and commited on this now, all to avoid dissapointing Sally. Backing away from this would just achieve that exact same goal.

As she continued to mull over it, she decided that maybe she should leave that for the morning when her brain was not begging her for rest. It might be a better idea for her to figure out how she was going to sell this to Sally. Sally could never find out about the rejection, or at the very least she couldn't until Serafina had found some way to remain at Lyndira. She didn't know if that was even remotely possible but surely there was a way. There was always a way.

As her thoughts shifted to hiding this from her sister, her hand drifted to the carefully folded letter in her pocket. Unless she could maybe find someone to edit it for her so it said that she was actually accepted Sally could never see it. There was no way for her to get it altered well enough to fool Lyndira but she was someone might be able to help her fool Sally, maybe with a duplicate. Keeping the original letter might be handy down the line. Given she was going to need to take the train to get to Lyndira and say goodbye to her sister at the station or at the house if Serafina could manage to convince Sally, that at least was a little bit less guilt to worry about.

Serafina spent the rest of the night jotting down a rough map of what she could do about the letter. She knew it was dangerous to have a written record of something like this and she would have to make sure it was properly destroyed soon enough but writing down her thoughts was the only way to properly focus at a hour this late and she had no other time to spare the next day. It was going to be one of her busiest yet.

*******


The next day Serafina was out of the door as early as she could manage once she'd made sure her sister had enough for breakfast. Her sister, thankfully took her hurry as excitement to get ready to leave for Lyndira that day and not as the panic that Serafina herself was actually feeling as she had to try and get all her things in order in the span of a day while planning out this whole thing as she went along.

Her first stop of the day was to ask about the letter thing. She had worked this job fixing printers at this one place and the lady there had said she could come in for a favor anytime. The lady asked surprisingly little in the way of questions, almost to the point if Serafina wondered if she was the first one to request something like this. She didn't stand there and look the gift horse in the mouth however as she got the newly printed letter with a smile and a lot of thank yous before her rudimentary plan from the night before was being thoroughly burnt and disposed of. That part was taken care of. Now to go to the station.

She was beginning to seriously question her luck as that went much smoother than imagined too. The ticket was just about affordable and the train would leave at just about the perfect time for her to figure out a bit more of a plan and get the goodbye with Sally done. It was going to be horrible to pretend but she had to remind herself this was all to make sure Sally kept that smile on her face for many years to come.

Her first stop already proved fruitful. Xavier, a builder she'd worked with for sometime now was very helpful because as it turned out a son of a cousin of his had actually been accepted to Lyndira just last year. That was a wealth of information and Serafina noted it all down with a trembling hand unable to believe the good fortune shining down on her today. A very shaky plan that seemed like it could go horribly wrong at any minute was now forming in the back of her mind and for the first time since her hurried declaration she had something to stand on. She could maybe make this work.

The next stop brought her crashing down for a bit as her employer proceeded to physically kick her out and then spit on her for daring to leave. At least she'd got out with only a couple of bruises. Those could be covered up easily enough. Her next couple of stops were about the same. If it wasn't for Xavier providing as much help as he had, these would have being the nails on the coffin of that idea. As it is, she barely managed to not to get discouraged as she wondered out of the last one spitting out a "Schadenfreude" at the woman. Resisting the urge to laugh at her confused expression, Serafina raced out. There was no point doing this for much longer now. The shaky plan was going to be the only plan and she had to execute it.

Once she was back home, she was greeted by Sally who promptly presented her with a carefully wrapped parcel.

"Sally you shouldn't have," said Serafine the moment she stepped in to the house.

"Hey, its not everyday my big sister gets such a win, you have no right to stop me from thanking here," said Sally.

Serafina just smiled fondly at her, trying not to let the guilt or the tears currently poking around in her eyes to have a chance to fall. Knowing she could not properly handle opening this parcel just now in front of her sister, not without breaking down, she set about packing her meagre belongings into her beaten up bag that she'd recovered from a garbage dump a couple of years ago. She did her best to answer all of Sally's questions as she did so not wanting to put any damper on her enthusiasm.

*******


Half and hour later Serafina stood engulfed in a hug by Sally as she was about to board the train that would likely change her life. It was upto her and her haphazard plan to decide if it would be for the better or for the worse.

"Stay safe okay. Don't get into trouble, do your studies and don't hesitate fo ask for any money or anything you need in a letter?" said Serafina as she finally pulled away.

"I'll be fine I promise," said Sally, nodding, "I am more than old enough to take care of myself now. You just study hard and come back safe okay."

"I will," said Serafina depositing one last kiss on Sally's head before she turned around, heading into the train. She flopped down on an empty seat with a heavy sigh, clutching her sisters ever so carefully wrapped parcel tightly in her hand with her bag sitting on her lap. She hoped she'd be able to work up the courage to open it before arriving in the city.
Stay Safe
The Princess of Darkness

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Liminality says...



Siang Yi


The tourist information station in her town was usually quiet this time of year. It was a rather large round booth in the town square, with little diamond shapes decorating the side of its flat roof. She had seen the young person that worked there many times. They had black hair in a ponytail and often rested their elbows on the counter while looking around for new clientele. She'd never talked to them before, though.

"Hi," she said. She could see the large map of Alenda hanging behind them.

"Oh um . . . Hello. You live around here, don't you?" their eyebrow was raised. They were probably wondering what sort of tourist information she would need, given that she wasn't a tourist.

Siang Yi smiled. "Could I use the map?"

"Oh, sure. Go ahead. Let me just unlock the -"

Before they could say anything more, Siang Yi reached across and grabbed the edge of the counter, before hopping up and swinging her legs over to the other side. "Thanks."
The attendant looked at her wide-eyed. They seemed shocked that she’d done that, but ultimately they decided not to comment. Siang Yi hadn’t exactly intended to shock them. She’d just done what was faster, that’s all. They’d probably forget about it in a moment anyway.

Putting her hands into her pockets, Siang Yi looked up at the map. "What's the fastest way to Ludus?"

"By train, you could get there in about a week, depending on weather."

Siang Yi looked for the train route. Before she had looked for long, the attendant pointed out the route for her. It was highlighted in orange and meandered away from the Border Plains, moving down and almost going around the whole country before looping back to Anwir. From there, there was one more connection to get to Ludus.

"That's . . . long." Siang Yi pointed at another path which was coloured in blue. "How about this way?"

"Oh don't go there. This map is a little old. I can give you a newer one in this pamphlet."

Siang Yi shook her head. "No, I like this one, it's bigger."

The attendant’s lips pressed together. "Well, that blue line was supposed to be an underground railway. But they abandoned the project before it was finished. The land is really unstable there.”

"I see. Well, thanks for the trouble." Siang Yi turned to the stack of colourful pamphlets. "On second thought, I think I'll take one."

The attendant handed her a copy.

Siang Yi hopped back over to the other side of the counter. The attendant continued staring after her, so she gave them a wave. A small breeze blew, lifting several leaves off of the ground of the town square. Siang Yi pondered what to do next.

Time to pack some trail mix.

-
Just a few spots of sunlight shone onto the forest floor. It was a dark route, filled with greenery. Siang Yi looked down at the map. From what she remembered, the underground railway line had started from somewhere around a place called Sango. She had started walking early in the morning, and she remembered seeing a large sign somewhere that pointed this way, saying that Sango was some distance ahead.

She couldn’t see it yet, though.

Instead, there was the rustling of the leaves, and the occasional sound of animals. One cry sounded remarkably like a goose honking, though Siang Yi thought it would be odd for a goose to be hanging around here.

Siang Yi planned to stop by at Sango, maybe to find their tourist information centre and see if she could get further pointers. Or maybe a compass. A compass would be more helpful to her than vague directions, probably.

Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps coming from somewhere ahead of her. She stopped in her tracks. Who could it be?

She frowned slightly when she saw a person in a hat emerge from the trees, a walking stick in hand. They also had a coat that indicated they were from the Tour Guides Association of Alenda (or, as people in Siang Yi’s town preferred to call them, the Tourist Guides Association). It was purple with a little wheel icon in white.

“Hello there!” the tourist guide said in a booming voice. “I didn’t expect to see someone on this way.”

“Hi,” Siang Yi said. She liked having a default greeting – it made conversations so much faster.

The tourist guide crinkled his eyes in a smile. He glanced left, and glanced right. When all Siang Yi did was fold her arms, he decided to speak. “You . . . going somewhere?”

“Kind of. I’m following the Orchard Railway trail.”

“Oh! I know just where that is!” He sounded very excited all of a sudden. “You can find the entryway to the tunnel just west of here . . . It’s collapsed though.”

“I don’t mind,” Siang Yi said. “Could you . . . tell me where west is?”

“I could take you there! Follow me,” he said. Siang Yi didn’t see much of an option but to follow. It was just for a while.

“I was working as a porter on the train but they fired me,” he said, by way of explanation. “I’d heard all about this railway they were going to build. Was pretty excited for it, actually, since it would pass by my family’s place in Halai. But . . .you know.”

“Sorry you got fired,” Siang Yi said. She was glad she’d bought a pair of boots, as the terrain was starting to get rougher, the roots gnarlier and harder to cross. How were they ever going to build a railway around here?

“It’s because of those magic academies,” groaned the guide. “The trains are always so crowded this time of year because of them. And I’m pretty sure it was one of the students who got me fired, too. How was I supposed to know not to put magic supplies in the same cargo department as the rest?”

Siang Yi paid attention to that. She supposed she’d be pretty upset too, if someone broke her magic equipment out of carelessness. Not that she had many breakables in her kit to begin with. Though there was that one convex lens she had managed to buy off of a retired mage . . .

“I could take you to Halai,” said the guide. “That’s where the railway stopped, actually. They continued to cut a path through the forest for some distance after that, but it’s not really worth exploring if you ask me.”

“I’m good, thanks.” Siang Yi wasn’t keen on explaining that she was heading to one of said magic academies at the moment. Of course, she knew she couldn’t be sure if this man held a grudge, but she’d rather avoid trouble if she could.

Up ahead, she could see a pile of brown jagged rocks, overgrown with a layer of grass, where the sun shined.

“Here we are, then.” The guide gestured towards the pile. The railway entrance.

“Thanks. I can take it from here,” said Siang Yi. She started walking along the path, hanging onto her backpack.

“You sure?” she heard the guide shouting after her. She raised her arm and did a thumbs-up sign. The beams of sunlight were much wider here, and the Borland Forest at noon was an easier path to traverse when you could actually see where you were going. Soon, she was far away from the collapsed pile of stones, and far away from Sango.

1263 words
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Spearmint says...



Prehnite


The four-hour car ride to Lyndira was spent in a mixture of squabbling about what music to play, tearful goodbyes (the tears were from Pren; Epidote was quite rational about the whole thing, pointing out that she would come visit when she could), and friendly banter about what the twins saw outside the windows. Their butler/chef/general helping hand, Alfred, calmly kept driving despite all the noise, and eventually the three of them arrived at Lyndira.

Prehnite hopped out of the car and waited as Alfred unloaded E's suitcases from the trunk. He wiped away one last tear and hugged his sister goodbye, then said, "I know Mom and Dad are traveling right now, but if they were here, I'm sure they'd be saying that they're so proud of you!"

E rolled her eyes. "I think you're proud enough for all three of you. Not to mention sappy and embarrassing."

"Haha, well, that might be true. Anyways, don't forget to call me, okay, E? Tell me all the juicy gossip from Lyndira!"

"You bet." E ruffled her brother's hair, then grinned and started walking away with her suitcases in tow. "Bye! Make sure to get in the car before you start sobbing and making a fool of yourself again."

Pren laughed despite himself and waved, then climbed back into the car. He hesitated for a moment, reality sinking in. This would be the first time he was separated from his sister for more than a few days. The first time he wouldn't be able to just walk down the hall and knock on her door whenever he couldn't sleep. The first time he wouldn't be able to come home from school and exchange stories with his best-friend-from-birth.

The house would feel so empty without E, especially when their parents still traveled often (despite claiming to have settled down). Suddenly, Pren just had to see his sister one more time, and make sure she was settling in alright.

He asked Alfred for a pen and paper, then scribbled down a note to his parents, saying that he planned to stay at Lyndira for one more day. He figured he'd be able to find a place to stay the night (worst case, he could find a park bench or something), and anyways, his parents weren't coming back until next week. Pren folded the note, gave it to Alfred, then told him to go on home without him. Alfred protested until Pren finally gave up on arguing, grabbed his cap from the backseat, and ran off towards orientation.

Pren pulled the cap down low over his eyes and tried to blend in with the crowd of students. He glanced back at where Alfred was in the car, most likely debating between going home as Pren had said, or trying to find Pren and inevitably making a scene (at this point, most of the parents had gone home already, so Alfred would undoubtedly stick out as the only adult in the courtyard). Pren sincerely hoped the butler would choose the former course of action.

Walking confidently, just like he belonged, Pren skirted around the bubbling fountain and entered the front doors of Lyndira, trying to blend in with the other new students. Once inside, he noted the shining marble floors and walls decorated with tapestries. He couldn't admire them for long, however, because he was inexorably swept forwards into the auditorium by the stream of incoming students.

(574 words)
mint, she/her


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Mon Jul 18, 2022 11:19 pm
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WeepingWisteria says...



Made with the help of @Teddybear


Nellie sighed, taking a gold debate trophy off a high shelf and cradling it close to her chest. "I'm so happy for you, baby."

Saturn nodded. Nellie was not flashing any colors because she was not angry. If Saturn were happy, like he would be if he were good enough to be accepted, she'd probably switch from being a bright cyan to woefully dark every other second. She was so happy about his lie, but she didn't want to say goodbye.

Well, that made two of them.

"Thank you. I'm happy too." Saturn didn't react to the bitter pang of a lie. He mastered falsehoods too long ago to give them a second glance.

Nellie turned around, kissing his forehead. "You're all grown-up, now! It seems like I met you and Neptune just yesterday in that rundown shelter."

Saturn closed his eyes, welcoming that memory with a deep fondness.

Saturn was twelve, and Neptune was five. They ended up in the shelter half a year before. So far, no one wanted a blind child, and Saturn always made sure to act just odd enough to be unwantable if they showed no interest in taking Neptune home too.

Edwin and Nellie were the first couple to act differently. Neptune played by herself, lining a couple of toys in a straight line. Saturn curled up protectively nearby, drawing himself in a pretty dress. Edwin and Nellie were looking for siblings, for children they believed no one else would want.

For them, that meant Saturn and Neptune. And they've been a family ever since.


I'll write you as often as I can. I'll visit every holiday.

She smiled, handing him the debate trophy. "I know you will."

He hugged her tightly, trying to ignore the way guilt burned in his stomach.

---

Saturn waited for his train; his ticket gripped tightly in hand. Edwin placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you want to go alone?

Saturn swallowed harshly and nodded. I'm going to be living alone. I must do it."

Nellie and Edwin exchanged worried glances. Saturn's fear of trains was no secret, not when it came with good reason. But, if Edwin and Nellie came with him to Lyndira, they'd figure out he lied to them. They'd hate for him. They'd kick him and Neptune out, and they'd be homeless again, and it'd be his fault, and then Neptune would hate him, and everything in the history of ever would go wrong.

Neptune crashed into him, hugging him as tightly as he could before grabbing his hands. "You're going to have a great time because you deserve it." They sniffled. "Goodbye, Saturn."

Saturn smiled, trying to ignore the tears in his eyes or the pure dread in his heart. "Thank you. I'm going to miss you."

Saturn turned around, looking at Edwin and Nellie. "I'm going to miss all of you.

Edwin started sobbing, his hands shaking so hard it was hard to tell what he was signing. "Don't worry about us. Go live your dreams."

Nellie looked up at a speaker/ "They're announcing your train. You need to get going."

Saturn nodded, waving one last final goodbye, before boarding the train. Most cars were filled, most of them being future students with their families. Saturn pocketed his trembling hands and forced himself to walk towards the back of the train in search of an empty seat.

The first one he saw was next to someone with long black hair covering his eyes. He looked around to see if anyone could be related or traveling with this person. He cleared his throat. "Uh, excuse me? Is this seat taken?" He winced.

The person said something unintelligible. Saturn took a deep breath. This part was always awkward. "Sorry, I can't hear you. I'm deaf. Could you nod or shake your head?"

"I'm traveling alone, take a seat," the stranger signed in the stilted manner of someone who hadn't signed in a long time.

Or maybe not. Saturn stowed his suitcase in the overhead storage and sat beside them. "I'm Saturn." He took extra care to fingerspell slowly. He had no way of knowing how proficient this person was. "What about you?"

"I'm Cain," they hesitated, "Boy, H-E, H-I-M." His lips twitched, briefly forming an awkward, apologetic smile, and he gestured vaguely toward Saturn, seeming to forget how to say what he wanted.

"Same. Boy, H-E H-I-M."

"Where are you headed?"

Saturn sighed. "I'm not sure. I just needed to leave."

Cain didn't say anything for a moment. "Wanna come with me?"

"Where are you going?"

"Lyndira."

"Oh? You got in?" Saturn smiled, ignoring how the drop in his stomach made Cain's smile glow a dark black. "Congratulations!["/i]

Cain chuckled. [i]"Something like that. I take it you applied?"


Saturn nodded. "Applied and rejected. Probably because of the whole deaf thing."

Cain's smile wavered, then shifted into something unreadable, the black glow fading away. "Do you still have your letter?"

Saturn nodded, pulling the slightly bloodstained letter out of his pocket.

Cain was rummaging around in his bag, eventually taking out a little wooden box. He held out a hand for the letter.

Saturn handed it to him, his face contorted with confusion.

Cain took it, hesitating again once he had it. He set it down on top of the small travel cage on his lap to sign, "Do you want to have gotten in?"

He nodded. "It would help my family so much. It would help me so much."

Cain nodded. "If anyone asks, I didn't do this." With that, he opened the box, revealing a collection of inks, pens, mystery chemicals, and other tools. He immediately got to work removing the text and carefully penning in what he wanted it to say instead.

"Are you-" Satun leaned in a bit closer, still staying out of his way. "Are you forging an acceptance letter?

"No," he signed with a wink, getting right back to work.

"That's not going to work! They don't have my name in the system, and I won't have a board room or a meal card." Saturn rubbed the shaved sides of his hair. "A fake acceptance letter isn't going to be enough!"

"I do more than just letters. I'll take care of the rest when we get there."

"This is not going to work. This will backfire, and we will end up in prison."

Cain had finished the first half of the letter and was getting down to the last paragraph of text. "Just blame it all on me then. I've got...connections. Just trust me, okay?"

"Connections? What are you, a part of the mob." Saturn froze. "Wait, don't answer that. I don't want to know." He groaned, pursing his lips. "Just tell me what the plan is, please. I'm scared to ask, but I need to know."

Cain finished writing in the last of the text and laid the letter out for the ink to dry. "I was going to get into the office building and get some dorm keys for a room that was supposed to be empty for the semester. Getting my name in the system was going to be harder, but I was going to figure it out. Do you want in or not?"

Saturn froze, his hands ready for signing but still in the air. He sighed. Did he want in? How far was he willing to go to ensure he didn't have to return to Nellie and Edwin, ready to admit to his lies. This is your chance to protect Neptune. Don't screw this up. Saturn nodded. "I'm in. How can I help?"

Cain grinned. "You wanna be my lookout?"

"I can't hear people coming. But if we found a nice hiding place, I'd be able to watch for them."

"Can you buy me a few moments if someone shows up? Just act lost and dumb."

"Oh, that I can do. People eat up the dumb act when you're deaf. You speak with a twinge of a quote-unquote 'deaf accent,' and suddenly, you are the resident idiot.

Cain laughed softly, "I like you. It's a plan then?"

Saturn smiled. "It's a plan."

1,362
She/They/Fae

“the wist i knew would never allow a straight boy in their stories” ~Omni
“Hi Omni can I request wist get the role mom friend :]" ~winter
“ah yes, fear Wist's smile :) <- speaks of layers and layers of secrets” ~mint





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Liminality says...



Siang Yi


It wasn't long before Siang Yi ran into trouble. The idyllic green grass had hidden its dangers. Falling down a sinkhole hadn't hurt her too much, just a few bruises and a scrape, but there was now the problem of getting out.

Maybe, she thought, I should have followed that guide.

In any case, it was too late for regrets. Siang Yi looked around for a way out.

There was a broken branch by her feet, but it was far too short to be of any help here. She saw a long tree root dangling from the rim of the sinkhole. She walked over to it and reached up on her tip-toes, giving it an experimental tug. It loosened immediately. Nope, not that.

Next, she examined the sides of the little underground space she had found herself in. The soil was all loose and wet - had it rained recently? - and there were very few rocks to climb on. Siang Yi was pretty good at running because of her long strides, but climbing really wasn't her strong suit.

Probably should have thought of that before setting off on my own like this. Oh well. At least it's not a shark pool.

Siang Yi cast her gaze towards the tunnel openings that surrounded her. There was one behind her, in the direction where she came from, and then there was one in front of her. She looked down at the map, tracing the line of the abandoned railway.

No, she realised, this isn't totally a natural sinkhole. It's an entrance to the railway.

The tunnel was definitely wide enough for her to walk through. She could see a little spot of light on the stone-covered floor. That meant there had to be an opening on the other side.

Siang Yi picked up the branch next to her. Using a match from her backpack, she improvised a makeshift torch. Then, she headed into the tunnel with the speck of light.

It felt like she was in the tunnel for hours. Will I ever get out of here? Should I turn back, see if there's a phone signal? However, the light came and went, and each time it came back stronger.

Siang Yi took a pause to sip some water from her pack.

Finally, she found the source of the light: a small hole leading out into the open, blocked by a leafy tree branch that would occasionally blot out the light when the breeze sent it swaying. She couldn't get into it while holding the torch: if she made one wrong move, it could set the tree - and her - on fire. Siang Yi found a patch of dirt next to all the small stones and drove the torch into it until the fire was snuffed out. She put the remains of the branch through the straps of her backpack and pulled them taut.

Then, she pushed her backpack through the hole, before squeezing out herself.

She was free! She clambered out of the underground passage, relishing the feeling of the forest grass under her shoes. The tree branch had luckily been one that was swaying downward from above -- Siang Yi didn't think she would have had the strength to climb down a tree on top of navigating the passage.

With a frown, she realised the sky was already red. It would be night time soon. Siang Yi tried to reorient herself based on the map.

Her heart pounded. She wasn't sure if she felt scared or not.

Her not-fear soon melded into a hint of excitement as she found a landmark: the enormous oak tree just up ahead. That was a labelled tourist attraction around Halai. Siang Yi took advantage of her remaining adrenaline and started walking again immediately. Her legs were slightly sore, and she had the feeling they would get a lot sorer if she just stood there and let herself cool down.

When she arrived at the gates of Halai, the guards gave her an odd look. She presented her identification to them, and under their hard caps she saw them glance at each other. In the end, they let her through.

"Backpackers . . . " one of them muttered, rolling their eyes.

In a hotel room in Halai, she patched herself up. It wasn't too hard, since she'd often wrapped her own injuries from mishaps in her experiments. She hummed the theme song to a Saturday morning cartoon she liked to watch as she finished up. Whatever fear she had felt in the underground passage was melting away. She was beginning to look back on it as quite an interesting adventure, actually. I wonder if Lyndira will have books on the Orchard Railway.

She was restless tonight, and that worked to her favour. She had to be up at 4 am the next day to make it to Lyndira on time. This time, she was going to use a vehicle. Tomorrow, a taxi, she promised herself.

-

"Are you sure you are pointing the right way?" the taxi driver sounded doubtful. "I've never driven here before, are you sure . . .?"

The taxi driver was an elderly man with bushy white eyebrows. He was wearing a t-shirt that said 'Fisherman's boy'. He drove with a steady hand, but navigated with a much less steady confidence.

Siang Yi looked at her map again. She had gotten a second map at a Halai tourist information station, one which showed to route to Ludus in more detail. Still, it was harder to tell him the directions than it was to follow them herself.

In the end, she got him to let her off at the side of the road. It was close enough, anyhow. After handing him the money, Siang Yi began walking down the path. There were a lot of cars rushing back and forth.

The traffic slowed around the gates to Ludus. Siang Yi stopped to admire the shining city. She thought she might feel a little something more when she got here. Maybe the excitement her classmates back home had expressed a few years ago, when they got into their universities or magic academies of choice. But her heart was only filled with a determination to pursue her project.

Maybe later, she might wind down enough to appreciate the architecture.

Siang Yi headed through the gates. She squinted up at a clock hanging from the wall of one of the guards' booths. Ah. Looks like I'll be late.

The realisation shook her out of her stupor. She headed immediately for - yes - another tourist information centre.

"Hi. Could you tell me how to get to Lyndira?"


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Spearmint says...



Prehnite

Collaborated with @WeepingWisteria


The auditorium was a grand, gold-and-purple affair with rows of velvet seats lined up in front of a stage. The seats were mostly filled with students dressed in suits and dresses, although Pren also saw some people dressed more casually.

He glanced around, looking for interesting people to sit next to. Pren caught sight of a slightly odd-looking pair: a tall, black-haired guy next to a short, white-haired guy. He was immediately amused by the juxtaposition, so Pren strolled over to them and sat down next to the shorter person.

"Hey there! Excited to go to Lyndira?"

The short one looked at him, clearing his throat. "Uh, sorry." He winced, his voice sounding a little strange around the edges. "I'm deaf."

"Oh!" Pren tried to remember the bits of sign language he'd learned a few years ago. Sorry... Don't know much... "Um..." Pren gave up on the signing and pulled out his sketchbook instead. He wrote, Hi! My name's Prehnite, or Pren.

They pulled out a pencil out of his bag, gently grabbing Pren's sketchbook. Hey! I'm Saturn.

It's great to meet you! Pren drew a happy face next to the words. Do you know the person sitting next to you? He peeked at the tall one, who had headphones on.

That's Cain.

Oh nice! Pren smiled, though he wasn't sure if Cain saw. Anyways, you guys excited to go to Lyndira? My sister got in, and I'm so happy for her!

Saturn hesitated, his pencil hovering above the paper. Well, funny story. He drew an awkward laughing emoji.

No worries! You don't have to write anything you don't want to. Pren gave him a friendly smile. How about we talk about something else, like... how can Lyndira afford all these cool seats? He paused to rest his hand, which was starting to cramp. But Pren had more to say, so he kept going. Like, my chair is so plushy, and I'd totally bounce up and down in it if no one was watching. =P

Saturn snorted, covering his mouth with one hand. Maybe that's why poor kids are rejected, they need the money to fund their plush supply.

Haha, that makes sense! Pren paused for a moment, wondering if he should be revealing what he said next, but his talkativeness won out. Should I feel bad about sitting in these expensive seats, considering I was technically rejected? Eh, but we're paying for Epidote (my sister)'s education, so it's probably fine. He chuckled.

Suddenly the lights dimmed a little, and the headmaster stepped up to the stage. Their blue hair curled around their ears and they gave off a dreamy, flowy vibe. But Pren didn't notice much more than that, because he turned his attention back to the written conversation, figuring he didn't have to pay attention to orientation as he wouldn't be a student at Lyndira anyways.

Saturn nervously chewed on his lip, his pencil poised as though he was torn on whether or not to write his response. Taking a deep breath, he started writing. I was actually rejected too. He looked behind him before continuing. Cain was too. We're- He took another deep breath, clearly nervous. -still going to attend.

Pren stared at the two of them for a second, then broke out in a large grin. You guys are sneaking into Lyndira? That sounds epic! He thought for a second, then continued, I was just gonna check in on my sister for a bit... but honestly, that sounds so fun. Suddenly Pren realized he might've come off as too flippant, and added, Oh, though I'm sorry you both got rejected...

It's okay. But maybe... He stopped to carefully consider his next words. ...you could join us.

Prehnite chewed on the end of his pencil for a second, considering the offer. His parents were traveling most of the time, and it wasn't like he had anyone else to miss back home in Anwir (well-- except his school friends, but they weren't that close)... It could be risky, but since when had that bothered Pren? He gave Saturn a big smile and wrote, I'm in! =D

Saturn grinned. Awesome! You should talk to Cain when this is over. He knows more than I do about what to do.

Pren peeked at the tall guy again and nodded. Will do! He smiled at Saturn, then turned to the stage.

A short woman with brown hair was standing in front of a cauldron. She grinned at the students and tossed some more ingredients into the mixture.

"So! As I was saying, this is going to be an aura strengthening potion. It's going to be a lovely demonstration!" She dumped a clump of plants into the cauldron, then addressed the students again. "I'm going to add some powdered turmeric now, and then I'll stir it a bit, add some secret ingredients--" she winked-- "and we'll see what happens!"

As she sprinkled some orange powder into the cauldron, she continued talking. "Funny story, actually. For the longest time, I thought turmeric ended with a k, like, turmer-ick!" She laughed. "And then eventually my sister was like, Daphne, why do you always pronounce it that way?" Daphne kept chatting, mindlessly adding more turmeric as she got caught up in telling the story.

Suddenly the cauldron started to boil over, and the headmaster stood up. "Daphne..."

"Oops!" Daphne glanced down at the cauldron, which was now an alarming shade of red. "I--"

Crackle-- boom! The cauldron exploded, and Daphne managed to activate her aura to protect herself just in time. She stood there for a second with her face covered in soot and her hair sticking up.

"Again, Daphne?" A red-haired woman raised an eyebrow.

Daphne blushed. "U-um, sorry about that." She turned back to the audience and said, "But that was a fabulous example of a combustion potion!" Daphne sniffed the air. "And it smells like popcorn-- delicious!" With that, she gathered the pieces of her cauldron, winked at the students and skipped offstage. "Thanks for watching!"

After a moment of shocked silence, the students burst into applause. Saturn uncomfortably applauded with them, clearly having no idea what just happened.

The next demonstration was from a teacher with long purple hair. They introduced herself as Hyacinth, and performed some spoken and gestured spells that created an illusion of the headmaster in the air. The students oohed and ahhed, and after the demonstration, Hyacinth took a deep bow and glided offstage.

Then there was an abrupt wave of feedback from the microphone, and Pren winced at the sound. Saturn was unaffected, but most students immediately looked up from their conversations and towards the stage, where a red-haired woman with dark glasses was standing.

"My apologies," she said, not sounding apologetic at all. She made eye contact with the students and continued, "My name is Maryla Capsica, the Deputy Headmaster of the Lyndira Academy for Elite Mages."

She adjusted her dark-framed glasses. "I hope these demonstrations have served as a suitable example of what Lyndira has to offer." The Deputy Headmaster shot a glare at Daphne and added, "I can assure you that explosions are not a common occurence in most classrooms."

There were a couple of nervous giggles, but they were quickly smothered as the D.H. continued. "However, I must give a little warning now. I am confident that most of you aspiring students in this room are wholly qualified to attend Lyndira. But!" She raised her glasses, and her stare made Pren tremble. "For those of you who aren't... Well, I'm afraid we at Lyndira show no mercy to impostors."

The D.H. looked around the room meaningfully, her gaze seeming to penetrate each person's thoughts.

"And just in case you mistake this for schadenfreude, know that it gives me no joy to have to root out and dispose of outsiders. However, it is a necessary task to maintain Lyndira's reputation for pristineness and excellence." The Deputy Headmaster paused, then gave a smile to the students, some of whom looked quite intimidated now. "That said, I am sure the great majority of you are all exceedingly capable and ready to succeed at the Lyndira Academy for Elite Mages."

The Deputy Headmaster gave the students a final unnerving smile, then stepped back to her seat and made way for the Headmaster, who walked to the microphone with gentle steps.

They laughed, their robes floating around them. "Have no fear, students. The Deputy Headmaster is quite kinder than she appears."

Pren was pretty skeptical about that.

"But now, on to some final thoughts." The headmaster listed out some reminders for students to wear their uniforms and bring their school materials to their first class the next day. "...And that is all." The headmaster smiled. "Welcome, dear students, to Lyndira!"

Saturn sighed, turning back to the notebook. Okay. What was the lady's deal? What'd she say that made everyone panic?

Pren hesitated. Um... haha, well, it seems like we're kinda doomed. He winced. She's on the hunt for us rejects...

(1503 words)
mint, she/her


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KateHardy says...



Serafina


Serafina sat with a heavy heart and a mind swirling with so many thoughts she was starting to lose track of what was trying to tell her what. The present her sister had given her was still weighing her down like she was carrying a sack of bricks on her lap and apparently her brain couldn't decide between yelling at her for making this stupid pretty much impulsive decision and giving her actual good idea for how she was going to come close to actually pulling anything off here. It was a right mess and she needed to try and sort out at least some of it before she had to get off the train and then think really fast.

With that in mind, her heart getting ever heavier, she decided to set aside opening the present for the moment. It was for the best as she reasoned with herself, that way she was going to have a clearer mind to plan this out without putting having to hide tears. She'd open it right before she'd have to get off.

On that note, she gently set the package on the floor wrapping her feet protective around it, bust also not wanting to support its weight any longer. It wasn't like it was physically heavy, but well....it was best not to think too far. Focusing instead on the little information she'd gotten about Lyndira she thought about the fact that she'd essentially be sneaking into some form of orientation here. She had no idea if they planned seats based on the number of people accepted and if as a result she might accidentally kick out someone who was actually accepted nor did she have any idea if they would check something like her acceptance letter to get in. The information she did have suggested the second thing was likely but from her mental notes, there was a blank on the other problem.

Deciding to focus on the one problem she kind of new how to solve, she thought back to the mental map of Lyndira she'd been able to construct based on the little she knew and the bits and pieces she'd heard. Avoiding the main gate was obvious but from what she knew the side gates were also probably best avoided. Her best bet was climbing over the walls somewhere. If the orientation information she'd gotten wasn't too out of date, it was unlikely a school like Lyndira would change its traditions too often anyway, she would just need to hop over a specific part of wall and hope there wasn't anything preventing exactly that from happening. Given Lyndira's reputation she was hardly going to be the first person that would attempt to enter orientation without being accepted.

On that horrifying note, she concluded that she'd thought as far ahead she could on the part of actually making it into Lyndira once she was there. As for her accidentally kicking out someone who was accepted, it was going to have to join the now ridiculously large list of things she just wasn't going to think about. She was doing this for her sister and with any luck whoever missed out would be a snobby idiot that had gotten in without any of their own merit. Yeah, she could live with that being true.

She racked her brain for any more useful information it was willing to bring up at the moment. Besides the fact that uniforms were a thing she needed to get a hold of eventually there didn't seem to be much more to consider. The uniforms wouldn't be necessary for orientation so she'd plan that out based on how orientation went. Getting in was one thing, but somehow managing to actually stick out through the whole thing and get in was an entirely different matter after all. She couldn't go waste money on finding a uniform she might not actually need.

WIth that, Serafina fell back in her seat. She was done thinking for the moment, at least she had enough to be able to immediately leave the station and get to work like she actually did sort of belong. The announcement that they'd be arriving in half an hour rang through. She had to get ready to leave. As she pulled her bag closer to her, she remembered the present. She had yet to open it. Somehow she still wasn't ready. Making a decision, she decided to stuff in with the rest of her belongings in the bag. She would open, just only if she survived orientation. Maybe with that she'd feel less guilty because she would technically be sort of be accepted kind of and her brain really was grasping at straws and she knew it, but she tried not to let a tear fall as she put the beautifully wrapped package in among the rest of her worn out things, looking so out of place she couldn't bare to look at it for longer than a second before she was shutting it and slinging the bag over her shoulder.

A few minutes later the train started to slow down and Serafina got to her feet. As much as the guilt was swirling through her, she couldn't help the sliver of nervousness and somehow excitement that swept through her. She had loved the idea of attending the school after all and much as she didn't agree with its policies and this was all for her sister, she couldn't help the tiny bit of excitement for herself at maybe attending an actual school. With a half smile on her face she was soon stepping out of the train and doing her best not to get lost as she followed the directions she'd gotten.

By some small miracle she was standing in front of Lyndira's gates without being spotted. Getting the best view she could off the auditorium from the gate, she skirted around the walls, doing her best to look like a curious tourist just browsing around while mentally thinking of the closest section of wall to the auditorium she could jump through. She had zero idea about what might greet her on the other side of this wall but she'd worry about that when she was on top of said wall.

Speaking of being on top of the wall, she spotted a tree that looked to be just about perfect for her current goal. Before she could think twice, she looked around to make sure too many people weren't looking at her, and in the blink of an eye she was already climbing, swing her legs onto the other side of the wall in ten seconds flat. Years of climbing up all sorts of things was coming in handy now.

Dropping down without a though as she saw it was just grass, she did a half roll to disperse her momentum, and she was already jogging to join the thrum of actual students walking to the auditorium. It was surprisingly easy to blend in amidst the noise and general chaos and soon she was waking along looking for a seat she could take.

She didn't spend too long, sliding into the first seat she could find next to a green haired boy.
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Liminality says...



Siang Yi


Siang Yi caught the tail-end of the Potioncrafting demonstration and only wished she could have been up close. Never mind the explosion, that was a small one, as far as she could tell. The guard was closing the door behind her, apparently thinking she was just another student coming in late to orientation.

She listened to the Deputy Headmaster’s closing remarks, perking up when they mentioned “rooting out outsiders”. Huh, she thought. I guess they must get a few people sneaking in each year.

The auditorium was crowded. Siang Yi craned her neck trying to find a place to sit. Maybe if she slipped into one of the rows in the middle, people would be even less suspicious of her, because it would look like she arrived earlier. She couldn’t find a seat there, though.

Instead, the up-do of the Potioncrafting teacher caught her eye. The small woman was walking along the side of the auditorium, talking to another uniformed guard. Siang Yi kept a mental note of the teacher’s appearance. That must be Daphne Oakwood. I’ve got to talk to her at some point if I want to find out more about how potion-induced colour illusions work . . .

She hoped she would be able to ask Daphne some questions later.

For now, though, Siang Yi noticed the security guard was starting to look in her direction. She had to find a seat – and quickly.

She found an empty seat next to a tall person – remarkable, that student was a little taller than her, even! – and she promptly sat down. The Headmaster had begun listing some items they would need for their first day at Lyndira. Siang Yi pulled out a notebook from her mint green backpack and began making a list.

She found it slightly hard to concentrate. Her chances of being discovered were . . . slim to none, she told herself. After all, she doubted most people had even noticed her enter. Just to be sure, she gave a quick glance at all the students around her. The ones in her row seemed to be interacting with each other, but many were sitting rapt with attention, completely oblivious to the back rows.

Besides, maybe they were talking about some other type of outsider . . . Like an outsider to magic? An outsider to Alenda? I mean, what even is an outsider? It could be many things. There’s no inside if there’s no outside, but what's the point of having an inside and an outside anyway? unless it's raining, but it's a very fine day today . . .

At the end of her trail of thought, Siang Yi finally snapped back to the present moment. She had missed several items on the list she’d been trying to record. Not good. She turned to her seatmate, hoping they would have a notebook out too so she could copy the missing things off of them, only to remember suddenly:

She hadn’t actually asked if this seat was empty.

It was something her father had always been reminding her to do since that one time she made a particularly shy kid cry at a party because she’d sat in their chair by accident. She couldn’t afford causing a ruckus here – that would cancel out her background-character energy entirely!

She turned to the student sitting next to her, leaning forward slightly in her seat.
“Sorry,” she said. “Was someone else sitting here? Before I showed up?”

580 words
she/her

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The wince that you wince when you see your quote in the quote generator is quite a wince, I tell ya. To know that the whole YWS community has read and judged your quote is quite an awkward feeling like oh noes. *manly blush*
— Arcticus