White Cloud City IC

[Dorni]

Phoenix Academy. Lifeblood of the city, gateway to greatness, largest collection of martial knowledge in all of White Cloud City, charged with training the stars of the next generation. And while all of that was mostly true, the more mundane reality of the classroom didn't quite measure up to the stories that sometimes were told. The classroom was arranged much like an amphitheater, with rows of desks arranged in a half-circle with each level elevated above the row that came before. There was a good amount of open space between the front row and the writing-board covered wall, perfect for demonstrating a technique if it became necessary to do so.

And though the teacher hadn't arrived yet - there was still time before the start of class - your fellow students had already started to trickle in. A trio of girls were giggling conspiratorially in one of the front-row sections, their well-cut silk clothing announcing them as nobility despite its ostensible nondescriptness. A number of other students had been filling up the seats in the back row. Largely dressed in functional clothing bereft of extravagance, their was little to give away any of their origins. The same could not be said of a black-haired boy reclining with his boots on the desk in the middle row near the wall who wore an extravagant jacket. Said black haired boy cast the occasional smug look at the kids behind him and to his side, few of whom would meet his gaze for long.

And thus, the first day of Phoenix Academy begins. Where are you and what are you doing?

[Zelphas]

In the leftmost corner of the classroom sits two short, wispy white-haired teens, a boy and a girl. The boy has pulled his chair all the way to the extreme corner of the room and sits with his back pressed against the walls, gazing over the room with too-wide pale grey eyes. In his hands are several sheets of parchment and a small inkpen; he is scribbling over the parchment furiously, barely glancing down at his writing as he does so.

"Three in front, together--or pretending, or just meeting, or--several in back rows, why always back rows? Not in the corners, corners make sense, safer in the corners--" A constant stream of muttering issues from Shiori's mouth as he writes, not minding the volume of his voice in the slightest. As he reaches the end of each page of parchment, he tosses it in the direction of Hitomi, who is sitting next to him. "Boy in fancy jacket, middle row, black hair, seems confident--how can anyone seem confident, when--oh right they aren't supposed to--they can't--others know him, maybe important, probably not important--"

[manwithaplan]

"Your jacket is very well made."

Adarata, the farmboy with a solid right hook, was dressed modestly. There were a few old dirtmarks on his baggy worker's pants, and underneath them, his feet were done up in wraps. Even so, he wore a jacket that looked like it could deflect a bowman's missile. It was crafted from thick leather of a deep brown shade, and yet it seemed to be thin and forgiving in all the places you would want it to be. A quality piece, and clearly ancient, if the reparative patch on the back was any indication.

Yet his attention wasn't on his own clothing, but on the even more spectacular jacket that the black-haired boy in the classroom was wearing. As if this shared feature meant for camaraderie beyond reproach, he had made his way over to this fellow, and sat down beside him. Adarata had no notes or papers to put on the desk in front of him.

"Could I ask you where you got it? Mine is an ancestral heirloom."

[Rizban]

Sitting separated by at least a few seats about one-third of the of the way from the front, the boy with disheveled light brown hair hastily pulled back into a mess of a ponytail glances across the room before adjusting his glasses and returning his interest to the book splayed open in his lap.

"Hmpfh," he mutters to himself. For all the prestige and educational opportunity associated with Phoenix Academy, so far, the boy was unimpressed. What was next after this droll meeting? A pep rally?

[Hyperbolic sine]

Tsugiharu had chosen a seat in the in edge od the back row, opposite to the door - a seat from where, no matter where he was looking, he would give his back to no one. It, however, hadn't really been a purposeful choice, though not really unconscious either; it was simply the default choice his upbringing had ingrained into him. His clothes, clearly tailored towards ease of movement rather than fashion and elegance and a dark shade of grey (because that's the actual colour one needs to blend into the darkness of a city, not pitch black), were hardly the attire of a noble, but at the same time the excellent make and careful placing of the many pockets bespoke of something more than a commoner's vests: in other words, the impression one would get just by looking at him would be very subjective. The fact that he wore his chain shirt - made from precious mithral, harder than steel yet much lighter - concealed under his outer garments did not help.

Still, fact was that he probably wasn't going to be looked at anyway. He had quite the feeble pesence, and in a classroom with much flashier people he was bound to just fade into the background...but he didn't really mind. He wanted to make friends, of course, but he saw no reason to rush into it: there would be plenty of time to socialise when forming groups to spar, or after the dorm rooms would be assigned, etc. His gaze swept across the room, as he tried to get a rough idea of what his classmates were like; lingering briefly on the two figures muttering after dragging their chairs into a corner (were they ok? That really seemed...odd), it fell on the smug guy and the other one who approached him with a question out of the blue. Half to get a reading on both of them and half to see if the over-friendly guy was going to get burned (he definitely didn't remind him of his brother's charismatic manners, no sir), he focused his hearing on the pair.

Spoiler: OOC

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Also, Knowledge (Local/Nobility) (1d20)[7]+4/+2 on the smug guy, because why not. 11/9. Not foreboding at all.

[tonberryking]

It was her first time in any real kind of classroom.

Though it was short and shorn, her silver hair was a rarity--the other kids have at most only seen three or four other students sporting it--and stood out against her rather dark olive skin. Her shiny eyes matched and they were mostly looking forward to the empty 'stage', though now and then she darted them around with an overly eager energy at random targets. Most of these students ignored her. The tomboy was also dressed rather curiously, on her part: her almost black tunics, and pants were all but shapeless and looked vaguely like stagehand gear but draped over them was a gaudy rust-brown scarf and sash that probably is, or was, part of a stage costume.

The color is extremely unlucky if one were superstitious and it seems to have earned her a mild ostracism she's probably not even aware of-- nobody is sitting near her and a few students keep giving the ragamuffin strange looks. Whether it's over her hair, or her outfit, though, isn't clear.

[Dorni]

The Crazy Corner

Hitomi snatched her brother's parchment out of the air and hunched over it, adding her own scribbles, circling some parts and underlining others. "Back row safe, back row far from teacher, from attention, won't be noticed. Good. Won't draw attention-" She broke off her own stream of muttering to underline one line particularly vehemently. "Jacket boy thinks hes important -- Doesn't know -- maybe--"

A boy sitting near the pair of them slowly turned to look at them as their muttering continued, head tilted somewhere between confusion and alarm. "Are... you two ok?"

Middle row

"Oh, that explains it," the dark-haired boy responded, looking Adarata up and down. His smug grin was replaced by a concerned and friendly smile that didn't touch his eyes. "Please forgive me, but for a moment I thought that old work coat was the best you had, but now I see you're wearing it in honor of your ancestors."

One of the girls in front giggled and glanced back, but the other two didn't react at all.

Spoiler: Bluff or Diplomacy DC 10

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Yes, he's not really trying to hide that he's mocking you, he's just doing it in a way that isn't technically an insult by phrasing it as praise.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Nobility) or Knowledge (local) DC 15 (except Tsugiharu)

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There isn't any mon or design that announce's the boy's identity, but the color scheme is clearly the clan colors of the Kaiu Clan - one of the city's Great Clans. The Kaiu boast that "We Are The Wall", and they make good on that claim as some of the city's foremost builders, engineers, and stonemasons. They maintain the city walls and are experts in fortifications.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Nobility) or Knowledge (Local) DC 20

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But they're not only builders of fortifications - as the foremost builders in the city, they've constructed significant portions of the city over the years and are major landlords. Much of their political power comes from owning marketplaces and being able to decide which businesses to rent space to.

Spoiler: OOC

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To be clear, the classroom isn't so large that your characters cannot be aware of what's happening in other sections or move around. I'm differentiating by location to keep the post organized since several conversations may be progressing at once. Feel free to decide what your character is aware of / paying attention to.

[manwithaplan]

Adarata looked as if he were still piecing together what the other boy was trying to say.

"Are you trying to offend? They're just, er...they're just coats."

[Zelphas]

Shiori breaks off scribbling for a moment, glancing through the boy's eyes. Whatever he sees there, it frightens him. "...No," he whispers, his eyes darting around the room and seeming to notice all of the people for the first time. "No, of course not."

Shiori bends once more over his scribbled parchment, his mutterings silenced by the awareness of the slowly filling room.

[Rizban]

His eyes passing over the students once more, the boy spots the extravagant jacket in familiar colors. A bead of sweat drips from his hairline and down the back of his neck, thankfully obscured by his hair. He suddenly spots the lone girl with the silver hair and strange black clothes (tonberryking) sitting only a few seats away.

"Hey, kabukimono," he stage whispers towards her as he turns slightly towards her. "Come sit over here."

He points quickly at the seat to his left and then returns to pretending to read his book, waiting to see what she'll do.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Spoiler: OOC

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Taking 10 on Bluff for 11. Uh...is there a reason why Sense Motive isn't on the list?

Thought so.

Yet the young man seemed unfazed by the insult, and Tsugiharu couldn't really tell he if it was on purpose or the guy was just naive.

...should I stop this before it escalates? Logic screamed 'no, you're not involved, stay out of it', but no one else looked like they'd intended to step in. And, if the guy was indeed a commoner like he seemed to be, no one likely would.

Weighing his options, he kept observing.

[tonberryking]

"Hm?" Her ears twitching in a curious way, the silver haired girl looks over at Cōngmíng.

Nobody else has paid her much mind, though she suspects the well dressed girls in front mentioned something about her hair--she assumes they're commenting on how garishly short it is or something most other girls comment about herself-- so she isn't sure what to make of it.

"Hey thanks. You wanted something?" she asks, taking the offered seat without a hint of suspicion.

[Rizban]

As she takes a seat, he furtively makes eye contact before returning to his book. Steadying his nerves, he tries to make a good impression.

"Want something? Not really. You just seemed... alone. No reason for that on the the first day, when this is the best chance to make make... acquaintances. You see the posturing peacocks," he flicks a thumbs towards the jerk in the flashy jacket, "happy hens," a nod to the giggling girls in the front row, "and the skittish squirrels," an eyeroll in the direction of the two nervously taking notes. "The day hasn't even started, officially, and they're already. Already forming groups that are going to last the year, if not the the rest of their lives. So, which animal are you going to be? As for myself..." he flicks his wrist to cause a softly glowing, white potion to appear in his hand and makes eye contact again with a smirk, "I've always been a fan of the jade rabbit."

With a light snap of the fingers, he makes the potion disappear once more into his storage ring.

[tonberryking]

There is an obvious twitch of the silver girl's eye when the final animal is named; it's an alright attempt at a poker face otherwise but it would not be surprising to learn she was only a stage hand (...and fencer...) rather than an actress. Still... she seems to be able to keep a secret if only by giving a technically true response:

"Oh, I'm not a rabbit, definitely," hares are different from rabbits after all, but nobody needs to know that right now, "But... if we're talking of this menagerie, you may call me Kotestu." Well that either means little iron or tiger iron...iron tiger? Strange coincidence that she came prepared with such a name, but Kotetsu sits back a little, only cautious rather than on full alert, feeling satisfied with her response.

"And what's your name, jade rabbit? And... can you tell me if all schools are like...this?" she gestures with one hand wrapped in canvas--both black and rust-- in a sweeping motion over the classroom.

Spoiler: OOC/rolls

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(1d20+8)[27] Sense motive. Kotestu is wondering if Cōngmíng knows--regardless if he has like a magical hengeyokai radar or some other trick up his sleeve, what she is, or if the universe is messing with her.

[Rizban]

Spoiler: OOC/Sense Motive

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She's confident he has no clue what she is.

The jade rabbit is the mythological animal that lives on the moon, known for its alchemy skills, particularly in creating the elixir of immortality. Hence his flashing the potion as he said that.

Chuckling somewhat at her awkwardness, he feels some of his own melt away.

"Ko-er, I think we'll get along just fine. You may call me... Congming," he says after only brief hesitation. The corner of his mouth curls in a smug smirk as he finally settles on his academy name.

"I don't really know what most schools are are like, though my... sect's school was much more focused on... combat and... spirituality, cultivating of the self. And yours?"

[Dorni]

Middle row

"Che," the boy replied with condescending eyes on the dirt stains covering Adarata's pants. "I'm not trying to offend you, I'm offering to help you. See, piety is admirable, but you wouldn't want to get mistaken for a peasant now, would you? Even though the academy is gracious enough to take them in and fill their heads with hope, they still won't amount to anything. Its quite a cruel reality."

His smile took on a subtle shark-like tone. "But if you follow me from now on, I can introduce you around and show you how to train the right way. How about it?"

"Oh! Hey bro!" The voice belong to another boy who'd just entered the classroom, wearing a similar jacket in the same colors as the boy Adarata was talking with. He approached the table and was tall enough that he loomed over Adarata. His nose was slightly crooked as though it had been broken once before, spoiling any softness his face might have had. "Bro, is he giving you trouble?"

The sitting boy just looked over at Adarata, expectant.

Spoiler

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He is offering for you to be his underling. Adarata can reasonably expect rewards for doing so - the brothers are clearly from a wealthy clan - but you would be obligated to take orders from them. If you accept and carry it through the adventure, you will gain a Complication to represent this. If you refuse, you run the risk of drawing these bullies' ire. You will gain 1 VP.

The Crazy Corner

"If you say so," the boy replies, clearly intrieged. He eyes your parchment, and you can all but see the question forming in his eyes at why start writing before class has even started. Then they abruptly light up in understanding. "Oh, are you writing a story? Cool! What's it about? Can I see it?"

[manwithaplan]

"You're being underfooted with me!"

The expression on the farmerboy's face grew wider, still mostly just confusion - but now there was a bit of hurt as well.

"You must be able to tell that I'm from the peasantry, but you still said those things as if you didn't know any better. That's all very insulting. I'm not sure if I want much to do with you or any of your business."

He welcomed the new boy with a slight wave, looked back to the first one to respond, and looked surprised to see that it was on to him to explain.

"Oh, it's all quite alright. Your brother's not very fond of me and I'm not sure why, but I don't mean to make a fight of anything. Erm, I will have to decline the offer, though."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Well, the situation wasn't looking good for the commoner boy. And now one of the smug guy's cronies had arrived. What to do? He could offer the commoner boy a seat near his own, but it was likely that would be viewed as an admission of defeat; he himself didn't care, but he knew most other clans did. On the other hand, though, he couldn't imagine the boy would have an easy school life if he kept the seat he'd chosen.

*Sigh* ...I'm going to regret this...

Tsugiharu quietly raised from his seat, and with silent steps he weaved through the desks to approach the group. He wasn't actually trying to hide, of course, but between his natural tendency to not attract attention and the fact that "silent" was his default walking mode, it was entirely possible that no one would notice him until he spoke up from besides them.

Spoiler: OOC

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Taking 10 on Stealth (@+3 from stance) for 25.

"We're all equal inside the academy. The professor is going to arrive soon, can you just drop the matter?" he said, trying to pacify the situation, the turned to the commoner boy. "Uhm, there's still a few seats free up there, if you want."

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy (1d20-1)[15]

[Zelphas]

Shiori's eyes snap to the boy in sudden suspicion. Is he--can he be--

He controls his breathing, looking down at his hands to count his fingers carefully. He glances at the piece of scrawled paper in front of him, reassuring himself that the words are perfectly legible (at least to him). His eyes sweep over the room, looking for any odd corners, any bits of nonsensical imagery or movement... like the boy suddenly appearing next to the two rich boys and the commoner boy. Shiori begins to breathe more quickly in fear, controlling his breath again with an effort. He starts the whole sequence over again, noting the boy to make sure that he doesn't disappear. It's not a dream--or, I think it's not a dream. He's not one of THEM. Probably. Maybe. I don't know. I don't think so. Yet.

Shiori glances back at the boy next to him with a shock, suddenly remembering that he was there. "It's not a story," he answers shortly, then pauses. "Or, maybe it is a story, but it's not my story." His voice takes on a low sing-song quality. "The world is a story that's telling itself, and we only can see a page or two at a time--unless we cheat. And so we try to understand the story, without context, and the story sometimes seems like it could be happy on our own little page in our own little corner in the middle. But the context... I tell the story that I see in my own words, and I hope it isn't a horror story, even though--even..."

Gently, Shiori takes his pages back from Hitomi, tidying them slowly away in his backpack. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you read my story," he says to the boy, grave solemnity weighting each word. "You're telling your own story, and if you use my context, it will be... bad. Your story will end better if it isn't mixed up in mine." He smiles slightly, bitterly, for just a moment.

Spoiler: OOC

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Diplomacy to get the boy to believe that Shiori isn't just trying to blow him off--he legitimately thinks that he's trying to help him: (1d20+10)[19]

[manwithaplan]

Adarata had one last look at the two well-dressed boys before eyeing down the third one with a little more weariness.

"Oh, well, alright. Let's go." He stood and went, but not without politely waving to the nobles. As he was on his way with the darker-dressed boy, he leaned in close for a whisper.

"Thanks for retrieving me from that. I wasn't sure if I was saying the right things or not."

[tonberryking]

"Well, Cōngmíng, my schooling as it were was just some...basic studying with other kids in the theater troupe. An older playwright made sure all the kids could read, and handle math and measurements but he kept throwing harder and harder stuff at us to make sure we got it. Can't have someone be looking over the wrong script (not that I'm much of an actress) or someone working the ticket counter getting short changed. We got more than enough to get by, but you know it was hard keeping the same kids in the room all at once..." she looks over the classroom, clearly surprised any sort of master teacher would be able to corral a room full of kids this size... However this was a martial academy, so...

"My father trained me with the sword, though. Personally, but he told me stories of places like this and other dojo so I would know a little of what to expect." though it may not have been enough. The slight altercation by the rich looking boy and the other two leaving his side caught her attention briefly, but she tries to remain polite and attentive to the boy who asked her about her past.

[Dorni]

Middle Row

The sitting boy's smile turned contemptuous at Adarata's answer, but both he and his brother blinked in surprise at Tsugiharu's voice and unexpected intrusion into the conversation.

"Yeah Benjiro, please forgive him and let the matter drop," piped up the girl from the front row who'd been giggling earlier. The sitting boy swallowed whatever reply he'd been about to give and looked to her, reconsidering. "Its the first day - I'm sure its just a misunderstanding."

"Very well, Kaede" Benjiro settled on, turning back to Adarata and Tsugiharu. "I agree to let this go. Let's all work hard and enjoy our time here together!" With his back again turned to Kaede she couldn't see the slightly sinister grin that he paired with his friendly declaration as the pair moved to walk away - one that promised that he, at least, had ideas about what enjoying his time here meant.

The Corner

"Oh. Well, alright then. I guess." The boy looked disappointed at the rejection, but quickly shifted his attention to the far side of the room where the drama with the four boys was playing out.

[Hyperbolic sine]

Tsugiharu mentally noted the two names that came up, then gave a polite nod before turning his back on the group and returning to his seat with the commoner boy. He did not fail to notice the grins, though...

...well, I figured.

He wasn't particularly worried, though...if they were in the same class, they ought to be more or less matched in power, and if Benjiro and his cronies intended to fight unfairly, well, too bad for them they were up against a Kuroda. For all the doubts Tsugiharu harboured about the ruthlessness with which they were supposed to be applied, he did not have any particular misgivings towards the methods themselves; if they poked the bush, the snake would come out to bite.

"There wasn't a right thing." he answered his potential new friend once they were seated. "Anyway. Sugimoto Tsugiharu." he introduced himself.

[manwithaplan]

"Izuka Adarata, it's a pleasure to meet you. I hope we can be friends," he trailed off a little at the end there. He seemed to be aware, at least, that he was within a social situation that he did not fully understand.

[Hyperbolic sine]

"Sure."

It was earlier than he anticipated, and definitely not the way he anticipated, but he made his first friend at the academy. All considered, Tsugiharu's day was off to a good start. Well, he might have stepped on a couple toes in the process, but still.

"So, uhm..." He struggled for a moment to find something to keep the conversation going, his people skills being what they were, then remembered what started the whole thing. "You were saying that's an heirloom?"

[Rizban]

Spoiler

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"Well, Cōngmíng, my schooling as it were was just some...basic studying with other kids in the theater troupe. An older playwright made sure all the kids could read, and handle math and measurements but he kept throwing harder and harder stuff at us to make sure we got it. Can't have someone be looking over the wrong script (not that I'm much of an actress) or someone working the ticket counter getting short changed. We got more than enough to get by, but you know it was hard keeping the same kids in the room all at once..." she looks over the classroom, clearly surprised any sort of master teacher would be able to corral a room full of kids this size... However this was a martial academy, so...

"My father trained me with the sword, though. Personally, but he told me stories of places like this and other dojo so I would know a little of what to expect." though it may not have been enough. The slight altercation by the rich looking boy and the other two leaving his side caught her attention briefly, but she tries to remain polite and attentive to the boy who asked her about her past.

He suppresses a chuckle as Kotetsu says his new academy name. That's never going to get old.

"Playwright, eh? I suppose that explains the costume. A word of advice though, from from personal experience, unless you want to be the center of attention, you might want to to find some clothes a bit more... subdued. While everyone is trying to work out their position in the social the social hierarchy, drawing too much attention is only going to cause problems... unless you plan to push everyone around and be top dog..." he adds with a hint of warning in his voice.

[Zelphas]

Shiori stares into the middle distance for a few moments, before the scene between the noble boys, the commoner boy, and the boy who hopefully isn't a hallucination caused by his nightly pursuits draws his eyes. He notes the first noble boy's sneer, a fragmented memory of his early diplomat training surfacing for a moment. That one probably isn't going to let things lie as it is; he probably realizes it, but I can try to warn the commoner boy all the same... Shifting from his seat, Shiori walks carefully across the room, striding as though he is walking on a thin pane of glass rather than solid floor.

"That isn't really fair to dogs, though; they're usually fairly careful about treating their pack well," Shiori breaks into the conversation between the other two people as he passes, speaking as though he had always been a part of their group. "And dogs dream of hunting and playing with their masters, so they're all pretty gentle." He continues past the two without ever breaking stride or looking towards them.

Finally, Shiori stops in front of the commoner boy,staring at a spot just to his left. "He still doesn't like you," he says bluntly, pointing at the noble boy who started the whole mess. "I thought you should know, though you probably do already." Nodding to himself, Shiori turns and begins heading back to his seat.

Shiori pauses, then spins around suddenly and abruptly pokes the other boy in the upper arm. His shoulders sag with relief. "Oh, good. You're real." He turns back around and begins walking carefully back towards the corner again.

[manwithaplan]

"Right, well, my father-"

He did not get to speak before another stranger arrived, this one the most unusual of them all.

"Uh, thank you, yes. I'll have to do what's in my strength to reconcile with that fellow." He spoke with his mouth, but his eyes were wide, not conforming to his politeness.

After Shiori was going on his way, Adarata leaned over to Tsugiharu.

"I have to ask you something in particular. Is this all quite ordinary to you? That boy from the Kaiu clan, and just now this prophetic fellow, have to be the two strangest folk I've ever met. And in one room! Is it the case that many people like them will be around here? Where I come from I'd thought that all people were about the same and believed in the same kinds of things."

[Hyperbolic sine]

Tsugiharu watched with the corner of his eyes the strange kid approach, but he didn't look ill-intentioned, so he didn't really think anything of it. Sure, he wasn't sure why he came all the way there only to tell something that was pretty obvious, but-

!?

He was poked. After all the "I'm not really worried", this random guy came and poked him before he could react. Metaphorically staggering from the heavy blow to his ego, he just watched Shiori return to his seat, not uttering a word until Adarata spoke to him again.

"I...well, sadly, I don't think nobles looking down on commoners is too rare. But him...I mean...do I not look real?"

[manwithaplan]

"A few moments ago it was as if you had appeared from out of thin air. Perhaps you gave them some sort of fright?"

Aware of the slowly-filling classroom, Adarata cut the conspiracy short with a polite nod, leaning away from his friend to pay attention to what would happen at the beginning of the proceedings.