[Episode Zero] School Daze

Archives of Occultus Magica's beginnings, ten years prior to the current story.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

Post by Kokuten »

"Wha-... Wha?" Percival looked up Duncan, feeling the God's words effectively silent, and now with Death gone and away! Suddenly, the cloudiness within his mind began to clear up and give way to new thought, such as... his hands were still up. His watch... It...

No... I only have one minute!? he blanched, looking and Duncan. Suddenly the boy became erratically distressed again, sitting up quickly and nearly threw himself off the floor.

"ThankyouDuncanbutitseemsweonlyhaveoneminuteuntilclassstartssokaythanksbyeeeeee!" said Percy as he spun around, quickly jolting down the hallways. Of course, this was also an over-reaction, considering the fact that he always set his watch to be five minutes fast.
Luca
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Miller was watching the small group chat amongst themselves, but never once did he intervene, even when Percival was pushed into the dirt. After all, girls don't like being touched by boys. Cause and effect, touch, shove. It was very simple. However, there was a slight problem. Percival seemed erratic with his behaviour afterwards, and Duncan fainting at the bench from overexertion of some sort clearly wasn't a good sign.

Sure, they were toying with energies beyond anyone's reckoning and they were probably smarter than the rest of the kids in the school, but they were still children. That, and they probably haven't discovered energy drinks yet either, which could be a big factor.
"Yamada-San?" He asked one of the teachers, who gave him a nod, "I think we need to refer some students to the counsellor."
"Which ones?" Yamada-Sensei replied.
"Caxton-San, Leetenbaum-San, Kagami-San..."
"You mean the Principal's little sister, Kagami Miyuki?" Yamada asked, surprised by Miller's un-knowledge of the subject.

Something just clicked in Miller's head. If Miyuki was a magician, what did that mean if her elder brother, the principal of the school, was also magical in some way, shape or form? He decided to displace the thought for now and brood on it later, "Yes, why?"
"Just curious. Miyuki is usually an excellent student. Why would she possibly need counselling?"
Miller thought it best not to press the issue, "Alright, my mistake. Just Caxton-San and Leetenbaum-San, then."
"Certainly. Together or individually?"

"Individually."
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Kai
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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A few minutes later, when the Lunch bell rang, signaling the beginning of the afternoon classes, life continued almost as normal, though it was rather obvious that those who were around that particular table had been affected by that strange turn of events. However, time went on, and the day soon ended, with everyone going their own direction, the many lives forced together by school scattering once again to the widely distributed homes or apartments in the city.
END DAY SIX
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Kai
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Days Seven and Eight pass by almost normally, except for one small detail....
Someone was missing.
DAY NINE, START

The last bell of the day had rung. Classes were getting out. People were leaving. Well, most people. There was one whom was entirely not present. Three were searching for others, and had found and gathered them. Soon, Raiko, with her friends and Aids Kiki and Ginga, had gathered Miyuki, Percy, and Duncan.

"So here's the situation" the self-proclaimed 'princess' began, a white dove sitting nervously on her shoulder, looking quite lost and flustered, "Ruarc is missing. He's been gone since Tuesday afternoon. First, I had thought he had simply gone back to where he had been living before, but then I found Laiose." The girl surveyed the group, probably gauging their reactions to being gathered here and questioned like this. The most probably question would have been "why did she gather us?" although what she had to do with Ruarc was probably also a mystery. Why she hadn't gone to the authorities was another.

"I need your help." She asked, folding her arms over her chest and looking them each in the eye. "And I assume you all have questions."
CadetNewb
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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'Great...one of the noobs went missing. It's rather obvious the nature of how it happened.' he mused. Outwardly though, he looked a little nervous, and was even wringing his fingers together. Duncan's back was hunched, and even his feet wanted to drift together to twist into a knot. Obviously, he was uncomfortable with the situation. And he was. 'It may just be the one or ones who ported us back to our homes picking us up for questions one by one, but there's always the chance that it isn't the case.'

That night, Duncan had protected the area from prying Normal eyes, but not Magical ones. Why? It was standard procedure not to in America so that other first responders would notice and come. Why make it harder for backup to arrive? But that wasn't the case here in Japan, which was either semi-lawless (which could actually work, considering the nature of magic) or properly maintained by a group that valued secrecy above all else. Which was stupid really. Just as stupid as assuming that Japan was a 'known' simply because it was a first world country. He wasn't going to let himself live that down.

Duncan meekly raised a hand, hoping Rai-hime would let him ask a question.
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Kokuten
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Ruarc? Missing? So that was why he hadn't seen the tall Second-Year in the cafeteria for the past few days. It was rather strange, especially considering most Druids have remarkable constitutions and in-general fix-alls when it came to sicknesses. Living on nature had it's benefits. Though, apparently getting kidnapped was not one of them. Percival had to think about this. Laoise was right there, his familiar. If they hadn't even tried to communicate with it yet, it meant that they were either A. Airheads, or B. Nonmags. The young Caxton was going to go for B, because that was the most polite answer. Next, Druidic familiars were usually very intelligent, if not wise enough to offer decent information. Plus, they tended to have that 'soul-link' to their respective counter-parts that was often helpful as well. Still. All of this meant nothing. Nothing! Until he knew one thing.

He straightened his beret, eying Duncan from the corner of his eye. He saw that he had a question, but he felt that he may have had a more pressing one. No... He knew it was more pressing. Likely the most pressing of any question that could be asked! He looked Raiko in the eyes, with that determined Caxton gaze, a gaze that sensed things within people. Not often what they were looking for, but more often than not, what they needed. He took a breath, and spoke first.

"Who are you, again?"
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Straken
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Laoise sat anxiously on Raiko’s shoulder as the human girl spoke with the young humans who helped Ruarc fight the large human bone structure during the previous week. The dove tucked her head under one of her wings and compressed the feathers on her body in distress, giving her the appearance of being at least half of her normal size. The usually vivacious bird was sulking in a lethargic slump due to the disappearance Ruarc.

She let out a melancholic call as the group discussed what to do. Laoise’s bond partner was beyond her range, and she could not sense him or speak to him. With an indeterminate distance separating her and the Druid, Laoise was feeling rather tired.
Luca
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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"He's been missing for three days," Miller told the faculty at large assembled in the Teacher's Lounge with their lunch, each with a photo of Ruarc for reference, "Are you sure you haven't seen him anywhere else in school? Tall kid? Irish?" The faculty at large shook their heads, frowning.
There's no way he could've gone missing by mundane means. The teacher pondered, If nobody here knows where he went, its magic related. No mundane kidnapper could take one of these kids and expect to live.

"I'll take it upon myself to investigate and find him, he's in my class, and he's my responsibility," Miller affirmed as the faculty gave a nod of admiration for a guy willing to spend his own time and effort looking for one of his students.
"Why not call the police on this too?" One of the teachers suggested.
"I'll call them myself," Miller replied, lying. He was going to try and keep this self contained. Bringing the police into this could be a headache since arcane power outclassed the Osaka Police Department by miles.

He needed to find the people he associated with to see if he could help them out, no doubt they'd already gotten a search party of some description organised. It didn't take long for him to deduce the people he associated with most: Miyuki, Duncan and Percival. He decided to find them after school, thinking that they'd gather to head out on a coincidental hunch.
It didn't take long for him to find them, he gave a nod to the children assembled, leaned against a pillar and said, with a hint of sourness: "Don't mind if I pitch in, kids? Ruarc's my responsibility too," He took a moment to adjust his tie and take off his glasses, sighing lightly, "The faculty is pretty rattled about this. Thought I'd do the brave thing and spearhead the official search," He breathed on his glasses and wiped them against his sweater, "If anybody else in the faculty tries, they could get killed, or worse."

He put his glasses back on, and they shone at the right moment to look fairly intimidating, "They'd be in on this masquerade, just like me."
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Duncan bit his lip and brought the fingertips of a hand to over his mouth while making sure to make his eyes frown with worry. Truth was, he was a little pissed off. Being nice just didn't get him the answer he needed quickly enough, and now, Miller came bumbling in assuming everyone here knew about magic. But what if that wasn't the case? Rai-Hime was definitely in the know, as the dumb bird was on her shoulder. Wait, no, correction; the bird was an idiot. It was most certainly not dumb, as dumb would imply that it was truly unintelligent. Idiotic was much, much more correct, as it meant that the bird was capable of thinking on the level with the rest of them, but acted in a foolish way. The same could be said for the rest of them perhaps.

Though, this Shrine Maiden may be a head above the rest judging by the way she carried herself. Hard to tell, really. And if she was bright, or at least a tad brighter than the rest, then her two retainers would know all about magic. But if she wasn't...well, only one wait to find out for sure.

"Um...Rai-Hime-Sama, are both your friends in the know?" Duncan asked meekly. "I mean, about the job his parents gave him?" Chances were, this young and bumbling druid had his job issued to him by his parents or elders simply because of who's kid he was. That's how things usually went with backwater hicks anyways. Pampered wimp...
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Kai
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Re: [Episode Zero] School Daze

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Raiko first turned to percy, getting a stern, and somewhat annoyed look, and waggling her index finger in front of the boy's face. "I'm Kokoro Raiko, Daughter of the Kokoro shrine and princess of the school. You may call me Rai-Hime, and don't forget it!" she made sure to impress upon him, before standing back a little and looking at Duncan.

"What job his parents gave him? He's my gardener and I gave him the job, and yes, Kiki-chan and Ginga-Chan know that he's my gardener. Why wouldn't they? They're my best friends." She seemed to still be a bit annoyed by the group, but when the teacher came in, she sighed, and appeared to master herself. she approached the man and spoke to him.

"Miller-Sensei, do you have a car that you can use to help us? We need to find Ruarc as quickly as possible, but I only have enough room for five people in my family's car, and one of them has to be my chaperone as the driver, and obviously there's more than four of us here." Raiko pointed to the occupants of the room, indicating herself, Kiki, Ginga, Duncan, Percy, and, lastly, the so far silent Miyuki, whom appeared to be mildly surprised at being indicated.

Once she was done pointing to everyone, she addressed the group again. "I know it's odd of me to ask you to find my gardener, but I think that he is your friend as well, considering how much he seems to hang around with you all. I'm sure some of you would like to see him back, no?"
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