Clockwork Souls [IC]

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

"I certainly recall there had been a rather fanciful novel based on a great-great-uncle of mine. Before you leave, madam, may I ask your name?"

 

Cheeky one, aren't ya? A'ight then.

 

"I am Caeil. No need to tell my full name here, just call me that.
 

Well...young lady, I definitely expect you to show your best. It'd be a shame if your earlier display was the extent of your capabilities, after all. I'll see you later, Ms. Frankenstein." Accentuating the italicized word, Caeil then left the young noble girl alone, as she was intent on finishing her meal finally.

 

---

 

"Nonetheless, should you let me be your mentor, I assure you that it will not be a hindrance in any way. You will find that I am quite capable of handling myself, especially since I have made it all the way here. Perhaps you can empathize with this plight of mine."

 

"In that case...I guess I shall accept your proposal, Isaiah. Be as harsh as you could to me; I will definitely appreciate that.

 

Anyway...may I continue my dinner right now? We should be able to talk about this more tomorrow, right?"

 

Without waiting for the young man's reply, Erina started to continue eating her food; she was really hungry from all the anima she exerted throughout the day. Isaiah's image hadn't really improved in her mind, and him saying that he's a descendant of Sir Neirland as proudly as he did...for some reason that was slightly irritating for Erina. Nevertheless, he was definitely looking like someone that would definitely be able to guide her through this; and for that, Erina felt that she should curb her irritation for now so she could be an effective student.

 

After finishing what she had taken to her plate, Erina decided to call it a day earlier. Bowing in respect to Isaac, she returned back to her room immediately afterwards. Still completely tired of the day's ordeals and with the fact that she had just climbed the stairs again, Erina immediately fell asleep on the bed, not even waiting for Lena to arrive before she did so.

 

---

[Aix]

Truly, it could be a problem if Warschool Britannia won. They had been at odds with Daedalus College for a while in order to claim the spot of the greatest war academy and evidently they had earned the Emperor's favor already in order to arrange the games at such an inopportune time. Victoria excused herself from the dinner festivities early to think on it herself and call a Council Meeting to decide their course of action. She did, however, already have a plan in mind. It was something she had scheduled for later that year, but the circumstances demanded that they put it into action now.

 

She stood outside of the administrative hall. It was dark already. An Anima-operated street lamp system illuminated the school ground, but only managed to cast long shadows on this centuries-old campus. An ominous place to be alone after dark, and with this atmosphere, Victoria mused if where she was going to send them could be safer than here. The exact machinations of all the denizens of this place was beyond the scope of her information network, and she wondered if even Tristan knew everything that was going on here. Cults, secret societies, criminal organizations, dangerous individuals; as a place where ambitions gathered and power was harvested, Daedalus College had spawned its fair share of these. Despite its stellar curriculum, it could be argued that education was merely a front, especially now as it seemed various organizations had begun to move.

 

Having hesitated long enough, Victoria walked inside and tread the long corridor towards the meeting room. Her course of action in mind would send away several teachers, and glancing at the large staff building, she wondered if she could afford the decrease in allies. Opening the conference hall door, Victoria saw three pairs of eyes already on her inside. She was not late, these three of the Sage's Council had simply arrived even earlier than her, the conference caller herself.

[Cosmo.]

Charlotte ate quite a lot, mostly vegetables but also tried various meat dishes. She obviously couldn't deny the desserts and tried a few of them as well. Now tired and full of food, she decided to say bye to her new mentor and then go back to her room to sleep. She went to miss Valentino "I'm honored that you chose to be my mentor and i can't wait for this year to start, but since tomorrow is the first day of lessons i better be prepared and i'll go to sleep now." She then bowed down to say bye to her new mentor and headed to her room. The sky was beautiful and the college was lit up by Anima powered street lamps. A few students were also going back to sleep. She went to her room and took a hot shower, then put on her nightgown, it was simple and baby pink, but also quite warm and she loved it. she then laid down on the very comfortable bed and while hugging her stuffed bunny fell asleep, dreaming of the year to come.

[Aix]

Elizabeth's eyes sprung open in the middle of the night to the blaring sound of a wake-up bugle. While 0500 may be standard, late even, for a soldier, it was most certainly considered "the middle of the night" by this cranky Britannian highborn girl. A glance at the window and then at the clock earned a look of suspicion and surprise. Was this a prank?
 
"It's time to wake up! You have 5 minutes to get yourselves out here."
 
Elizabeth recognized that to be the Headmistress's Anima-augmented voice. What special occasion deserved getting the Headmistress to personally come and wake them up? As far as Elizabeth understood, working your way to high positions in society earned you the right to sleep in, and not have to act as the knocker-upper for lowly college students.
 
Getting up from bed made her acutely aware of each and every one of her body's aches from that poor excuse of a mattress. She had underestimated her ability to adapt to less-than-satisfactory living conditions, and was kept up for a good deal of time after they had all retired for the night trying to get comfortable. If not for the fact the bed at least looked relatively clean, Elizabeth would have actually preferred to sleep on the floor.
 
"I would like to never be poor," she said to herself. In all likelihood, she never would be, but she imagined it anyway. Despite a few recent shifts towards meritocracy, those born with money tended to keep their money in Britannian society.
 

Elizabeth pushed the limits of the five minutes. A very well-paying job in Britannian society was a Anima cosmetician, someone who could utilize medical Anima to revitalize the face, and making one look youthful and prepared for the day. As she checked herself in the mirror removing the traces of fatigue from her face, Elizabeth mused that if all else failed, cosmetics work wasn't altogether too bad. She hoped that they wouldn't be woken at this hour every day, else she may seriously consider work in cosmetics. She had come here to study automaton design, and as far as she was aware, automaton design didn't involve waking up at 0500.

Finally stumbling outside, Elizabeth found a lot of people already there. Among the gaggle of first years, there were also the mentors. Poor mentors.

"If you think this was early, think about how Sebastian and the chefs had to get up even earlier to prepare breakfast. You are all to make your way back to the Great Hall for a fifteen-minute breakfast before meeting at the training field. Mentors, I expect you to be leading the first-years."

What kind of breakfast only took fifteen minutes? It was the tradition of many nobles in certain areas of Britannia that breakfast was actually the largest meal of the day.

 

Elizabeth's face only showed pure dismay as she found lines of bowls containing thin oatmeal porridge upon the tables. Each table also had a few plates stacked with hard and slightly stale bread.

 

Sitting down on the nearest chair, Elizabeth nearly gagged as she forced a spoonful into her mouth.

 

But of course, it was only to get worse. The Headmistress once more stood up at the platform at the front.

 

"It's about time I announced our plans. The teachers have already been informed, but today at noon, two military airships will be arriving. We are going on a field trip to the front lines."

 

...What?!

[Dad]

Oswald had returned promptly from his self elected kitchen duty to the dorm room he would be sharing with his now established ally, Attwell.  Or, so he had assumed.

 

 "Oi, Ozzie, where were ye? You abandoned me to the tender mercy of a mentaller, ya know. That's not on. Not on at all." 

 

Attwell had returned shortly behind Oswald, who was unaware of what had occurred.  "Sorry about that, friend-o.  Had no idea such a person was approaching.  I was minding my luck in the kitchen, I was.  What a mess!  Had to give it a good scrubbin'.  But don't worry, Attwell,  I have a feelin' that if you're as cool as you are now, you'll have no problems with that mentor of yours.  Unless you had somethin' else in mind, of course."  Oswald was actually taking some things from his belongings, including a dry-wall knife, some self adhesive mesh, and some compound.  Where he go these things, or why he had them, no one knew.  But of course, Oswald was prepared.  He went to work right before Attwell, shaping up the hole he himself had put in their wall.

 

And not long after he had started did Oswald stand back, proud of his work.  "That outta do it!"

 

 

The day had come as quickly as it had gone.  Oswald was up long before the crack of dawn, sharpening Gertrude by the light of the breaking sun.  Then, a sudden announcement raised the rest of the students from their slumbers, urging them to be outside immediately.   Oswald, who hated to be late, jumped to his feet excitedly, wondering what the day had in store for him.  He jumped out of bed with Gertured in hand, and rummaged through his clothes for something to put on.  "Attwell!" he called still slipping on his pants.  "Something great is comin', it is!  Let's run!" he said stumbling forward from his bed, and accidentally into his shoes.  With a saving flip, Alfonso landed back on his feet, and ripped open the door.  He darted outside, just as another announcement came directed to the students.  Something about a short, 15 minute breakfast.

 

"Breakfast?  I love breakfast!" Oswald cheered.  He charged for the dining hall, and arrived second in line.  Delightedly, Oswald's eyes widened.  "Porridge!" he said with a cheer.  Maybe not as good as mom's, but porridge was a favorite for breakfast.    Oswald took a seat and began scarfing down his meal, as the Headmistress took to the platform at the head of the room.

 

 

"It's about time I announced our plans. The teachers have already been informed, but today at noon, two military airships will be arriving. We are going on a field trip to the front lines."

 

 

Alfonso swallowed his meal, and wiped his mouth with a napkin.  Looking up to the Headmistress, a very sly smile escaped him.  "That's more like it," he said with confidence.

[Love of Ghibli]

It was a new day at the academy and things were already going as planned. Sneaking Jacob in and making him some kind of assistant was not hard at all. Since he had dipped out of the dinner early to go make sure Jack was tended to he thought it would only be appropriate if he attended this whole breakfast thing. As he and Jacob  walked through the dining hall it was interesting to see the looks the new man on campus got. Certainly he did not look as refined as he one would expect but still the day would go on and surely he would most likely be forgotten about. T'was weird to see someone tower over Tristan in such a way, but what would you expect of a brute. 

"If you think this was early, think about how Sebastian and the chefs had to get up even earlier to prepare breakfast. You are all to make your way back to the Great Hall for a fifteen-minute breakfast before meeting at the training field. Mentors, I expect you to be leading the first-years."

 

Tristan snickered to himself. Sebastian was definitely one of the campus' most valuable resources. He is something worth keeping an eye on. He proceeded to stand by the door as students slowly crawled into to this morning ritual. Oh that reminds me, Jack I apparently need to mentor one of these students. Look out for one with potential. Um...sure...wait who's Jack. You, Jack Crowley, better than your actual name. Get used to it. Ugh.

 

"It's about time I announced our plans. The teachers have already been informed, but today at noon, two military airships will be arriving. We are going on a field trip to the front lines."

 

Jacob's eyes widened and he turned Tristan and looked in total shock. You knew about this! I will stipulate to being informed about this event and my mandatory attendance. Is this going to be a problem for you? I don't foresee any immediate problems. I think its only a training exercise and this school has proven to be a lot deadlier than any battlefield. Nevertheless we'll pick up some things from the workshop before we head out...and you get to meet some of my students. Won't that be lovely. Jacob said in the most sarcastic tone. Yes, yes it will.

[Cosmo.]

Charlotte was hugging her mother, they were preparing a cake together, the smell of desserts was in the air. Then her father hugged her...

 

"It's time to wake up! You have 5 minutes to get yourselves out here."
 

"AAAhhhhh!" Charlotte screamed woken up by one of the teachers. She looked around her, she wasn't home, it was just a dream. But the teacher that shouted to wake up wasn't near her, maybe a bizarre megaphone system was installed. Charlotte with that scream probably woke up everyone in the dormitory. Her roommate heard the teacher's voice too. "Better follow what the voice says, let's not get in trouble the first day of lessons shall we?" She said to herself while washing her face. She quickly got dressed and still yawning got downstairs.

 

"If you think this was early, think about how Sebastian and the chefs had to get up even earlier to prepare breakfast. You are all to make your way back to the Great Hall for a fifteen-minute breakfast before meeting at the training field. Mentors, I expect you to be leading the first-years." 

 

The voice was there again "I'm not going insane, am i? Did i eat too much yesterday?!" She thought " Oh wait, breakfast?! I love breakfast!"She said cheeringly while clapping her hands and happily walking to the Great hall. The sun was rising and it was a bit cold, but it looked beautiful. She got to the Great Hall, some people where already there. Charlotte sat down and started eating her porridge. It wasn't as good as last night's food, but still good.

 

"It's about time I announced our plans. The teachers have already been informed, but today at noon, two military airships will be arriving. We are going on a field trip to the front lines."

 

"But she said to wait for the mentors, where is she? where is she?" She thought while trying to find her mentor, Valencia Valentino.

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"Wake up, you sleepyhead. And I thought you're supposed to be a former military officer who knew when they should be awake or not."

 

"U-uh?"

 

Opening up her eyes, what Erina could see when she finally saw the light once more was Lena's half irritated half amused face right on top of her. It was definitely awkward, and the redhead almost jolted out in panic over that, but Lena seemed to get the signal and let her be once she was sure Erina was fully awake now.

 

"I'll meet you down there, I guess. There's only 4 more minutes for us to go down there and gather up at the hall."

"...You can't be serious."

 

"Well, see you later!"

 

"..."

 

 

"...Well this is quite a shame."

 

It was definitely not a nice way to start the day. Erina managed to arrive on the halls ten minutes later when everyone was still getting ready to "enjoy" their porridge, and she was still getting herself ready when she was there, even her arms weren't actually attached properly by then. By the time she arrived she noticed that the hall was already filled with people, and she struggled to find anyone she recognized. It seemed that they were supposed to wait for the mentors to fully arrive, for a field trip or something. Not really what she expected to happen this early, but eh. She decided to go towards Charlotte, who she noticed after a while of circling around to find her mentor, sitting near the girl.

 

"Ah, hello Charlotte, how are you? What are we going to do here, exactly?" Erina asked, clearly missing the announcement the headmistress just made earlier.

 

---

[Cosmo.]

"Ah, hello Charlotte, how are you? What are we going to do here, exactly?"

 

"Oh, good morning Erina! I'm fine, thank you, did you sleep well, despite the brutal waking up? Right now, we're supposed to have breakfast, and then wait for our mentors to come and take us to a field trip. So you should have about 5 to 10 minutes to have breakfast, i don't exactly know." She said smiling to Erina. "So, how's your roommate? Did you have any chance to get to know them more? My roommate returned to the room while i was fast asleep, so we didn't talk." This morning Charlotte felt happy and wanted to chat a lot, she was very excited about today, being the first day. "I'm kinda worried about the field trip though, they said that airships are gonna come to bring us to the location of the field trip, so it's gonna be quite far. Also, seeing as to enter the school we had to pass through a storm of bullets i wonder what they'll make us do today..." She said to Erina. Erina looked like she just woke up, which is probably what happened considering she arrived late. "So now all we have to do is wait for our mentors, now eat, it's gonna be a long day." She said, while grabbing and eating a piece of bread while chatting with Erina.

[Admiral_Stalfos19]

"This can't be right! No-one's supposed to go down to the forbidden section. Unless..."

 

Since having returned from her meeting with Ms. Ingham earlier that night, Stellar had been in her dorm mulling away at the possibility that the necromancy books that she was sure were there had just... up and vanished one day. One of only two things must have happened; either someone had stolen them for their own purposes, or one of the teachers had taken them just so Stellar could never get her hands on them. But who could've possibly known that Stellar wanted them in the first place? There was Ms. Ingham herself, but she only told her about them because she trusted her completely. The only conclusion she could come to was that someone had overheard her when she approached Ms. Ingham at the courtyard. Stellar breathed a heavy sigh.

 

"I really need to stop being so careless," she said, now racking her brain around all the people that could've heard something that she didn't intend them to. She spent several hours pacing up and down and mumbling to herself to keep herself thinking when all of a sudden...

 

"It's time to wake up! You have 5 minutes to get yourselves out here."

 

Stellar couldn't help but gasp. Time to wake up? She didn't even sleep this whole time, and now she was expected to drag her wired ass wherever they wanted her.

 

This was gonna be a bad day for her; she could just tell...



 & 
 

Eventually, Stellar and Julius met up where they sat down together the previous night. Julius looked to be severely lacking in sleep, but Stellar remained very wide-eyed indeed. The breakfast in front of them did nothing to alleviate either's mood; the porridge was awfully thin, and the bread was hard and stale.

 

"I can't eat this," Julius shoved his porridge aside as he said this, "Whoever made it clearly doesn't know what they're doing, otherwise they'd have given it more volume. And this bread should be toasted and cut up into croutons or made into breadcrumbs, not served to the people as is,"

 

"But you should eat something anyway," said Stellar, "It'll help keep your strength up."

 

"...yeeaah, hence why I grabbed some leftovers from dinner last night; I'll just have to eat them instead," Julius stated, then looking up at Stellar, "You realize I'm running on only 4 hours of sleep, here?"

 

"Could be worse, I myself hadn't sleep at all,"

 

"Oh really?"

 

"Oh yeah. The weird thing is that I'm not all that tired any more."

 

Julius shrugged his shoulders as he and Stellar watched everyone else eat their miserable porridge and stale bread in peace. They figured that Victoria had yet to make an announcement regarding today's schedule, but when it came, it wasn't what either were expecting... or were hoping for for that matter either...

 

"It's about time I announced our plans. The teachers have already been informed, but today at noon, two military airships will be arriving. We are going on a field trip to the front lines."

 

"Awe, fuck!" both Stellar and Julius ended up saying in unison. Stellar had rather that classes kept going throughout the day, rather than being cut through the middle as was planned, but although Julius would've appreciated the opposite, being sent to the front lines wasn't at all what he had in mind. Something told him specifically that running on empty wasn't such an unwise idea after all...