(no subject)

[principals]

Who: All y'all
When: Day 1 – Morning
Where: Everywhere
What: School is in

[Somewhere, a bell begins to ring. You may know the type—obnoxious and loud, signalling the start of a brand new day of lectures and learning. Rise and shine, lovelies; wakey wakey eggs and bakey! And with that, just as the toll falls silent, you hear the sound you may have been waiting for: the click of a lock.

You're free to explore.]

Comments

[experiencepoints]

...

[I'm too busy gaping to even stop you. What the hell.]

I am so sorry

[anoblecaws]

[For all he tries, Henry is a mage. And mages, by definition, have absolutely no stamina whatsoever.]

[Too tired to run, he stops in front of her, and then flops on the ground.]

Uaaaaaaaahhhhh.

never be sorry

[experiencepoints]

[I'd protest but I am a mage with shit-all for stamina.]

The hell were you doing?

[anoblecaws]

She was real spooked about something, and I tried to help her out but she ran away instead!

[Somehow, Henry manages to push himself to his feet.]

But oh well. I'm sure she'll be fine.

[experiencepoints]

... She's a raptor, we don't want her to be fine, we want her to be dead.

[anoblecaws]

[ ... ]

Why do you want her to be dead? She's not hurting you.

[experiencepoints]

... Because it's a monster, and it will kill us if given the chance to?

[anoblecaws]

You don't know that!

[He's smiling, but the words coming out of his mouth are quite forceful.]

[experiencepoints]

... Yes, I do...? That's practically the definition of monster.

[sorry dude i'm from a jrpg world monsters are just bags of exp]

[anoblecaws]

She was scared. She was running away. Raptors have feelings just like everyone else, and they don't have one-track minds.

[experiencepoints]

It's a random encounter. It has a brain smaller than my fist. Monsters exist to kill people, eat, and reproduce, that's it.

[anoblecaws]

Have you ever spoken to an animal? Do you know for sure that's all they do?

[Notice his pointed refusal to use the word 'monster'.]

[experiencepoints]

... Yeah? I talk to an asshole bird all the time, but I'm talking about monsters, not animals.

[anoblecaws]

What's the difference?

[experiencepoints]

... A bit hard to explain without all my memories.

Animals generally don't fuck with people unless they view a person as a threat to them. A monster is something, usually twisted or mutated by some natural magic, that exists for the purpose of trying to kill people, regardless of what they do. Some monsters are smart and try to run away if they can't win, like that, but a raptor is just a lizard mutated into a monster.

That explain it well enough?

[anoblecaws]

Mutated by magic, huh?

Well, let me tell you, there wasn't even a whiff of magic on that raptor. And besides, if you're so upset by them, why don't you lift the curse? How does the killing of innocent creatures solve the problem?

[Sorry, he's just really against animal violence.]

[experiencepoints]

... Yeah? That's where they start, but they breed, make more monsters, and they're just natural monsters with no magic but still try to kill everyone they can.

[anoblecaws]

I see. Things are different where you're from. Did you know my mother was a wolf?

[...and now for something completely different????]

Not my birth mother, of course. But she raised me. I used to go into the forest all the time to play with her, help her hunt for her real pups, and all that. She treated me real well. Best mom anyone could ask for. She was a normal wolf. No magic.

And then, one day, she came into town looking for me. The villagers screamed. They'd never seen a wolf come into town before. They called her a monster, too.

And also they killed her.

[He delivers this speech with the same perfectly hollow smile.]

I don't know, maybe you should just give it some thought next time.

[experiencepoints]

[... it takes her a moment to digest this information, and given the way he's acting...]

We're from different worlds, that operate on different rules. I assumed this place works like mine, and you like yours, and we don't have any way of knowing who is right yet.

But, since you might be right, I at least won't attack it unless it's necessary.

I am so sorry, I completely forgot the point of that story while I was typing it;;;;;

[anoblecaws]

Thanks.

I appreciate it.

i'd laugh but i've done the same thing

[experiencepoints]

No problem.

Just don't get mad if it is necessary.

[anoblecaws]

If there's no other option, I'd understand.

[experiencepoints]

That's all I ask. Sorry about getting off on the wrong foot there.

[she's not actually terribly sorry but diplomacy is important at a time like this.]

[anoblecaws]

It's okay. I'm normally not this angry, but it's a touchy subject.

So what's your name?

[experiencepoints]

Nightingale. From Takshaka... or, Math, I guess.