Archive World of Darkness: The Academy - Pulling It Together

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Sean was barely aware of the other students stepping through the Door, azure eyes focused in the distance. When Renata came up to address the 'new' girl, she slowly tilted her head down to glance at the shorter young woman.

After a long, uncomfortable look, the tall, black-haired beauty shivered, gave her head a shake, then hunched her shoulders, arms folded beneath her prominent bosom. Embarrassed colour bloomed in her cheeks.

"I didn't follow you Renata, you guys followed me and Ms. Dorn. My mother... I... It's..." Her smooth, velvety voice faded to a bare whisper, and she leaned in close, so the Caramine functionaries wouldn't overhear. "I'm Sean."

Her admission made, she quickly looked away to avoid seeing the look in Renata's eyes. Her lips twisted into a questioning curve as her attention fell on Frida and Deacon and the device in his hands.

[Frida Ricci]

Luckily for Deek, he had happened upon one of the few women in the world who wasn't attached enough to the feminist movement to actually care much about the blatant sexism of the remark. Whereas any other woman might have slapped him, Frida merely adopted a thoughtful expression, and then nodded in agreement.

"Your thought progression is logical, and I suppose she does have a rather mid-20th century sort of appeal in that manner, doesn't she? Much more Marilyn Monroe or Bettie Paige, as opposed to today's more traditional boyish standards of beauty. I am surprised that sort of thing appeals to you though, I assumed most young men of today's generation had been succesfully groomed by the media to be attracted to more unrealistic standards of beauty. It's very Renaissance of you, Deacon."

[Deacon Knight]

"You know, I was thinking the exact same thing." He empathized. "People misunderstand me on so many levels. All they see is a strange, burned out genius, who's roguishly handsome by the way but they never stop to appreciate the artistry in who and what I am. Do you know what I'm saying? I just feel, I feel like no one understands the canvas beneath the color."

If anything, when creepy artist girl finally snapped this bit of connection they made now would keep her from stabbing him with a screw driver later. She was cute, knowledgeable and certainly possessed a certain somethingp that could hold his attention for hours but she carried a vibe that told him she was Dahmer in a dress.

[Frida Ricci]

She tilted her head a little and studied him, trying to decide if he was joking with her or if he was being serious. Finally, she nodded slightly, and caught his gaze with that uncanny one that she only used when studying something she intended to paint, as if she were trying to memorize exactly what it was. It seemed whether he was joking or not, she intended to give him a serious answer.

"That's because you paint your picture to disguise your canvas, Deacon. If you use colors garish enough no one will ever notice how fine the pigment, or how quality the fabric beneath. But I think, perhaps, you intended it that way.. am I mistaken?"

[SalmonMax]

Renata for her part stared, flabbergasted at the 'new' Sean. All thought of other worlds or customs agents in D&D armor or Freaky Frida flirting fled in the face of real, honest to God, Scout's honor, this-is-really-it-no-bullshit magic. Sean was a guy, and now he was a girl. Poof! Huzzah!

Always having been the kind of person who looked into the hat after the show, Renata did the equivalent act here. She reached out and grabbed Sean's breasts to see if they were real or not. After a second of stunned groping, she went for the hem of 'his' shirt, clearly intent on yanking it up to get an actual look.

[Dawn OOC]

"Ah," the man said. "I see. We will be happy to record your Key. Representatives will be sent to talk to your people." He reached into a robe and pulled out a scroll. "Here are the restricted items." Sylvia took a look; it was a long list of disallowed items. And more than just items; there were places that were under embargo, and Dalton was on that list.

"I'm afraid your friend isn't here," the guard said, rejoining them, giving them an apologetic shrug. Catching sight of Renata, he became distracted as he added, "No one matching that description has been seen..." His voice trailed off as he watched one pretty girl fondle another.

That explained why Deek's Badonkadonk-a-tron seemed to be having trouble locking onto Lucia for more than a few seconds. Perhaps it was finding similar fine ass before realizing it wasn't the booty he sought.

[Sylvia Dorn]

Sylvia's slight relief was expressed with a sigh. If Lucia hadn't come to Caramine, so much the better... even if it meant scouting out dozens of other worlds to find her. All considered, it would be astonishingly bad for her to be found here.

"Ah, fair enough. At least we know she didn't come this way; we can try another possible world. Our key," she said as she pulled a few coins from her pocket, "is three copper coins and a silver coin. Thank you for your assistance; I'll let our Council know that you'll be sending representatives our way. I'm sure King Henry will be pleased to meet you," she said with a smile, hoping that the utter nonsense would keep the bureaucrat happy while she stepped back over to the door.

"OK folks, she's not here. Time to go home." With her body between the guards and the tray, she dug a white feather out of her bag along with a slip of paper on which she'd previously jotted down her concern with how this whole mess was threatening the safety of her students, then put both in the tray with one hand while tapping the coins against the metal in an effort to provide a bit of auditory assistance to her lie.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

Carefully avoiding the look on Renata's face by focusing her deep blue eyes on Frida and Deek, Sean was completely shocked and surprised to feel a pair of hands squeezing her new boobs.

Squish, squish! Sean wasn't sure she actually heard the noise, or just imagined it.

Her eyes snapped down, utterly stunned, watching Renata feel her up, unable able to react. It was the most... surreal feeling she had ever had (other than realizing the sex-change in the first place of course) and not all that unpleasant. The fabric of her jersey rubbing against her nipples was... interesting. Stop thinking about that!

Sean finally managed to react once Renata went for the hem of her jersey, hands grabbing for for her wrists firmly, but gently. Despite arms considerably slimmer than the powerfully muscled ones she had as a guy, it seemed to Renata that Sean was as strong as ever.

"Hey! What do you think, you're doin', Ren? They're as real as yours," Sean hissed in a whisper. The new girl pointed with her chin at the goggling guard. "There's a gu- people watchin'."

Seeing Ms. Dorn head to the Door again, Sean hastened to follow her. "Come on, Ren, seems like Lucy isn't here - Stop that!" Sean slapped Renata's hands away from her jersey.

Sean was anxious to leave, yet simultaneously, reluctant. How the fuck am I going to explain this back home? Jesus Christ! What is dad going to say?

[Deacon Knight]

"Well, certainly," Deacon said calmly as he followed where the merry band of psychopaths was headed off to next. "The real artistry of things lies not on the outside, but underneath all decoration. The whys and wherefores, if you will. The reasons behind why things are the way they are."

He pointed to the sky above them. "You see, the blue color of the sky is due to rayleigh scattering. As light moves through the atmosphere, most of the longer wavelengths pass straight through. Very little of red, orange and yellow light are affected by the air. However, much of the shorter wavelength light is absorbed by the gas molecules. The absorbed blue light is then radiated in all directions. It gets scattered all around the sky so in whichever direction you look, that scattered blue light reaches you. Since you see the blue light from everywhere overhead, the sky looks blue." He shrugged and slapped the side of the Badonkadonk-a-tron to get it 'working' again. It seemed everyone's abilities worked fine except his. "The sky is the art, but without understanding the scientific process behind how it gets that way, or the canvas in this case, how can you really appreciate it for what it is?"

He chuckled and looked to Frida. "I keep people on their toes by giving them grand artistry, but get a kick out of knowing that for all they think they know about the art, they haven't even glimpsed the canvas. It's a hoot, you should try it sometime."

[SalmonMax]

Renata jerks her hands away from Sean and looks over her shoulder to glare at the guard. She then took a step away from Sean before turning towards Sylvia and asking, "So what, we're just going back now?"

[Dawn OOC]

Before Sylvia could open the door, it opened, and a strange bat-like creature peered out. It seemed startled to find people crowded around the door; then it shuffled out to the side.

And behind it was Ravi and Ryan, following him into the light, blinking. Ryan looked dirty and exhausted; Ravi was wearing strange, rough clothing. Both had silver collars around their necks.

The bat creature waved to them and spoke; the others heard a shrill cry, while Ravi and Ryan heard, "Clear the door so they can leave. Come here, I will remove your collars."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan stepped out into a whitewashed square. Or maybe it was that everything that had once held color had been sun bleached into a drab uniformity. The truth of it mattered little because standing directly in front of the portal were people, actual human people, and ones that he knew. "Oh my god, it is so good to see you here!" Ryan stepped aside and then looked back at the bat creature, "I'm sorry I doubted your people's honesty, please remove the collar and we can go our separate ways in peace." He turned, back to Ms. Dorn and the others, "Did they return Blaize already? I she OK?" He jabbered on for a few moments about slaves and farming and a cliff and, and, and. Finally his jaw clicked shut, after a second of looking around, really looking around, he asked, "Where are we? Can you get us home?"

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

Ravi blinked as he emerged into the courtyard, then blinked again as he spied other human beings. Some of the faces were familiar, but Ravi had literally arrived at Dalton the day before he'd been kidnapped, and was not yet completely au fait with the Dalton Academy who's-who. The fact that Ryan immediately started babbling relievedly provided a big clue, however.

Poised as always, he stepped over to the bat-like creature that had accompanied them and bent his neck slightly so that the collar could be removed. "These are friends of ours." he said with a smile. "Thank you for bringing us safely to them."

[Sylvia Dorn]

The situation that Sylvia had thought almost over had suddenly gotten a lot more complicated. Getting out of here was no longer just a good idea; it was imperative before the Caramine guards got involved. Whoever the giant bat was... well, he'd probably just have to come with. Thankfully, he did indeed seem to be removing the collars from her students' necks. Collars of any sort that required someone else to remove them could really only mean one thing....

Frantically, she scribbled her predominant thought - "Please let us all get home!" - on a slip of parchment, and shoved it into the metal tray along with another white feather. As the collar came off of Ryan and then Ravi, she pulled the door open to the blackness of whatever membrane it was that separated the worlds.

"Now! Everyone through!" Door held firmly open, she didn't budge and the message was obvious: students first, then her.

[Dawn OOC]

The creature nodded to Ryan, then removed the collar as he talked. When Ravi approached him, the bat-thing gave another nod and freed Ravi as well. Then it stepped back and hopped up on the wall, crouching and watching the reunion. It didn't seem to catch Sylvia's anxiety.

[Frida Ricci]

Frida studied Deacon curiously, obviously engaged in what he was talking about. She looked as if she was about to respond, but then the door opened before them, and she turned to the new arrivals. A brief expression of surprise flickered across her face, although admittedly Frida's version of surprise was little more than a slight furrowing of her brow, barely noticeable to most.

"Well.. they don't appear to have come from the academy. Very curious."

At least no one could claim the young artist of missing the obvious. Once Sylvia opened the door however, the young woman seemed more than willing to go back through, and without any hesitation stepped through the dark portal. This was, after all, becoming old hat to her by now.

[SalmonMax]

"Wait, Blaize? My roommate Blaize?"

Renata looked at Sylvia as she held the door open.

"She was still in bed when I came to meet you guys. There's no way she went through the door."

At Ms. Dorn's furious, urgent glare, Renata walked towards the door...hesitated...then stepped through.

[Deacon Knight]

Seeing the strange new species Deacon's eyes grew wide with amazement. "Oh, sweet, they got chadra-fan in these doors. Ryan! Wassup? I see you went and got captured, good plan dude, keeps them from getting suspicious. We were going to try that but we were short on bat people," He thumbed over to Dorn. "But we did locate Satan's second cousin... so I suppose it evens out. Where ya headed and what's up with the neck brace pimp you pull something trying to shave with your feet again?"

He looked to Frida. "True story, it's hilarious, I'll tell ya some time."

[Ravi FitzCoventry]

"Coming!" called the exotic young man as he stepped over to the knot of people. He smiled at Sylvia, meeting her eyes. "Always a pleasure to meet a decisive lady. I take it by your urgency that introductions can wait, though." With that, and another smile, he turned and stepped through the blackness.

[Rorx]

Jason had been more stunned by the antics of the others from the Academy than the new world around them, and had taken to concentrating on learning what he could of that until Ms Dorn announced it was time to go. With the sudden arrival of Ryan and another student he didn't recognise his attention was drawn to the man-bat creature that accompained them. Even a cursory examination was enough to tell that it would be a dangerous opponent in melee although it was difficult to tell how well they could use a ranged weapon.

As Dorn starts trying to move people through Jason joins her in trying to herd the disparate group to the Door.

[Ryan Jackson]

In reply to Ms. Dorn's sudden command Ryan nodded eagerly, "If it means going back to sanity I can't imagine any place I'd rather be!" Ryan spun pushed back into the blackness.

[Tatiana di Jadzian]

The arrival of Ryan, the other guy, and the man... bat... thing seemed to throw everyone for a loop. Sean was privately relieved, yet strangely nonplussed, that no one other Ms. Dorn and Renata seemed to realize that she was Sean. Still, she was just as anxious to head back to Dalton, if for a different reason.

Sean followed the last of the students through the door, shooting Ms. Dorn a questioning look in passing. She gestured at the most obvious of her newly acquired attributes, obviously concerned about how they were going to deal with this on the other side.

Just before Sean crossed the planar boundary, Ms. Dorn heard her exclaim, "Wait! Blaize was already in her ro-"

[Sylvia Dorn]

As soon as Sean - or the girl Sean had become - had cleared the portal, Sylvia darted in behind him/her. She didn't particularly want to wait to see who (or what) might try to follow, not now; the best hope would be to slam and hold the door on the other side if anyone tried.

[Dawn OOC]

The door closed without issue, and soon Sylvia was rejoining the others in Lancaster. They were home again.