The Auditorium
Donna hadn't heard Erik Satie's
'Je te veux' in a while. The aforementioned French pianist's pieces were often tinged with melancholy, ruefulness a subtle overtone swimming within the gentle strokes of the keys.
This piece, however, was oddly playful and jubilant, the kind of piece that made you feel warm inside, the mind projecting images of a warm spring morning of walking past a boulangerie, the sweet smell of the freshest bread wafting in the atmosphere, titillating the senses.
"As classy as ever, I see." the wonderfully winged woman spoke into the massive space, the acoustics dutifully carrying her voice across the expanse.
As if on cue, a flash of gold and white came plummeting down from the ceiling, before bursting out to reveal their brilliant form, their own majestic set of white wings spread gracefully.
"Bien sur, mon amie." the man spoke, brushing aside a stray lock of his golden hair, wings flapping gently.
"Won't you join me up here? How long has it been since last we flew together, eh?"
"Another time," the Principal replied, smirking. "I believe you have a class to teach. I assume everything is in place?"
"Ah, where is your faith in me, Donna?" the man spoke after landing beside her, gesturing widely to the arrays of tables painstakingly laid out before the grand stage at the front of the space. "Nous sommes prêts. Monsieur Leery was a great help, comme d'habitude."
"Oh, I can imagine." she replied, a knowing smile present on her suddenly rather youthful visage.
"Well, I'll leave things in your capable hands. Remember what we discussed, hm?" she continued, looking directly at him.
There was a pause. The young man's features became noticeably more grave before softening ever so slightly.
"When have I ever let you down?" he joked, arms wide.
"Oh, shush." she laughed, thinking that was the first time she'd genuinely done so in a long, long time.
The Cafeteria
"Okay, guys!" Orion announced once he'd reached the lunch table, Tsugi and Asuna flanking him either side. "Let's scramble. I believe next we have..."
He unfolded a paper out of his breast pocket quizzically before concluding.
"Power Control! Sounds pretty straightforward." he commented, gathering his things together. "Hopefully it remains that way. It's in...
The Auditorium? Hey, isn't that where some upperclassmen were staring at Kim?"
He'd remembered the incident so vividly- the entourage was on their way to Language of Powers. As they passed the Auditorium entrance, some bored-looking upperclassmen were hanging by their lockers, ogling the Asian-American. One of them even went so far as to wolf whistle. A fatal mistake.
Whilst Orion had expected Kim herself to set these hooligans straight (which she absolutely looked poised to do at first contact), a literal dragon puppet had beat her to the punch.
"'Ey!" it spoke, its gruff and tough demeanor betraying its cutesy, googly-eyed appearance. "Watch those eyes of yours, young'un, else I'll make you wish Mommy and Daddy took out a Fire Insurance claim on you!"
It appeared the creature was not one of empty threats, as this immediately whipped the group into shape, promptly slamming their lockers shut and merging into the hallway's traffic flow seamlessly.
Orion sighed with relief, offering the puppet a nod of gratitude. Any longer, and the deviants may have been sent to the Nurse with
a lot of papercuts.
Evaluating the table now, things were in an interesting state indeed. Accordion dude had obtained a whole riot shield from
somewhere, Maria and Kim were doing their best Disney Princess cosplay, and Pamela was completely gone. For some reason, it felt as though a portion of the table's energy had left with her.
Strange, considering how social and upbeat she'd been. Perhaps she'd gotten bored?
Gwen was still with the giant a few tables across, too, but Orion didn't want to interrupt. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company.
Really enjoying each other's company, if he may, but far be it from this teenager to pry into other people's relationships.
He was staring into space when a shout from another table snapped him back to reality, The same direction lightning had come from earlier, which led him to meeting-
"Cool! I'll uh, meet you guys there!" he rushed, beginning to feel the tingles flow up within him again, practically scuttering out of the cafeteria.
Now in the hallways, which were becoming increasingly busier as lunch drew to a close, Orion saw Pamela up ahead, chatting to a dude who was a
tad on the shorter side, though nevertheless built like a brick wall, his long grey hair tied back like Geralt of Rivia.
All in all, he looked pretty cool.
While Orion didn't plan to intervene in their conversation, perhaps electing to offer a friendly wave of recognition as he passed instead, Pamela had scurried off, leaving the guy alone. Was she the type to bounce from conversation to conversation, Orion thought? Was she in some kind of trouble?
He concluded that he was, once more, doing what he did best - overthinking.
As he passed Pamela's (probable) friend, he offered him a smile and a shrug.
"Women, am I right?" he joked, before giving a friendly nod in
Geralt's direction and continuing his own trek to The Auditorium. According to Section 3, Article 9 of the
Bro Code, that meant they were now best friends.
Once there, the door was already open, left ajar. Inside, white feathers were dancing in the air, ebbing and flowing like the wind, providing a spectacle for the few students who were already scattered across the tables. What's more, the soft, jovial sound of classical music was emanating from the space, filling up the area.
Without warning, a numbered sheet of paper gracefully fell from above, swaying gracefully into Orion's path. His bewildered eyes darted around the ceiling but found nothing to attribute this act to, eventually looking down at the page.
"One?" he asked nobody. "As in, I'm number one? Aww, you're gonna make me- oh."
Now correlating the dozens of tables in the space with the number on the sheet, he looked around until he saw the appropriately branded table, situated close to the front and far to the left. Looks like he was the first- there were 4 chairs laid very neatly around the surface, currently empty.
He began occupying one himself, leaning back in his chair, his attention captivated by the music, by the elegant warping and wefting of the feathers above.
Mentions:
@Godjacob (Kim), @Abra Kadabra Alakazam! (Maria, Edric), @D34N.U5R (Braedyn), @Gold The Dragonite (Gwen), @DevVoid (Vince), @Cmeriwether (Asuna, Omar), @Cryronn the Mudkip (Tsugikuni), @Blotch'd (Pamela)
