First Day of Boarding School [Ended]

[The Jenn]

Teo's first time away from home. He had never spent a night away from family or friends before. Never been so "on his own". Even with his Dad standing next to him in the entrance lobby, he felt at once adult and terrified. But in a good way.

Looking down at his son's eager face, Parzifal shoved away the worry that gnawed at a part of his gut and smiled. Most of it was for the boy's benefit. Left to his own devices, he would far rather not send his son to a boarding school, in Corvistowne or anywhere else. He would rather his son complete his schooling at home, going to and from each day like most children. Two years of sustained pestering on the subject had slowly worn away his resistance, however, and here they were. The Farlisle Institute. As Corvie as Corvie came.

He shifted awkwardly and smiled at one or two people who glanced their way, Diamond charm radiating subconsciously as he walked to the front desk. He wore his human form for both prestige and clear speech today, however much he would have preferred wearing feathers next to his son.

Check-in procedures went more quickly than he would have liked and he was soon faced with the prospect of leaving his son for the next five days. A coach would bring him home on Friday evening, and it was currently Sunday afternoon. More than a few hours' drive by coach to get out here. Parzi was just glad that the boy's mother's family was willing to foot the bill for this, because he wouldn't have had the funds for all of the necessary incidentals otherwise.

"Dad, I'll be fine," Teo muttered under his breath with a reassuring grin. The equivalent of a middle schooler, he was ready for this! Even if he wasn't. "Trust me. It's okay. I'm really looking forward to this. And I won't be alone - I've got a roommate. Love you. Gotta go."

And then, with barely a few more words exchanged, he and his bags were gone.

Gone to run down the hallway to the wing with his new room in excitement!

[Kitty]

It had taken quite some effort to get his enrollment in the program, but he was finally here. Well, M=his brother was as well .... but Malachite wasn't exactly a student. He got tutoring, yes, but he was certain his brother wouldn't be able to keep up here. It cost them a little extra but .... here they were nonetheless.

The two brothers had arranged a schedule for this as well, Boston would be the one controlling where they went during school hours and Chite would get that control afterward. They probably would have gotten less awkward looks and stares if it had been the other way around, but Boston has two main reasons for it. One, he was the student and he wanted to be rather open about what he was, he loathed being thought of as an odd tail, and two .... he didn't want Chite to take the brunt of the teasing. His brother definitely didn't have thick enough skin to take the harassment he was fully expecting. Their mother was quite adamant about making sure he knew what he was getting into ... and he did. This is what he wanted though, his other schools had been so boring.

They were just leaving their room and appeared to be walking backward with how their feet were arranged, when the first person they spied was some sort of avian. Well, might as well try and make a good first impression, father said it'd be a good idea.

He spoke, his voice rather low for his age and carrying a bit of a Hisstor accent, something none of them had ever come to understand ....

Well, hello ... I'm Boston.

Well that felt awkward.... he hadn't ever been the child with the best social skills or mannerisms, Malachite and Serahi were far better at that. But it was a try, right?

Malachite twisted his head around to eye the stranger for a moment, then his brother .... hmmm, if Boston was so sure of himself them he'd just have to make his own little intro to, wouldn't he? Maybe, just maybe they'd make friends here, his brother was off to a good start with his attempts at not being, well .... like mother.

and .... hi! I'm Malachite. It's nice to meet you.

[The Jenn]

The first person Teo passed without pure Corvie coloring made him pause to look closer. And then stop all together and gawk a little. Not Corvie at all, and whoa, was it half Lowlander? And half Hisstor? Intense. That kind of made his Tulgey look like nothing in the face of its weird. At least he wouldn't get quite as many looks as his father had been worried about.

And then its tail talked to him.

"Whoa. A talking butt." He couldn't quite help himself, his beak snapping closed as soon as it slipped out. He gave an awkward shuffle and a nervous laugh. Not the right way to start a new school. "Um. Sorry. You surprised me. Hi. To... both of you? I'm Teo. Are you, like, conjoined twins or something? Or...?" He left the question open-ended, not really sure what else they could be. Maybe cursed?

His own bright orange Corvie fin was proof enough that anything could happen.

[Kitty]

Agitation quickly overtook him, talking butt? He was not a posterior for one thing, and second... well, second he just wasn't... and that's all the logic he needed. Had he any ears to flip backward this agitation would have been a little more obvious, as it was ... his portion of the fur bristled a bit.

Sensing his twin's agitation, and knowing full and well what that just might mean in a moment or two, Chite twisted himself around a bit to almost be as forward as his brother and nipped his shoulder for a distraction before turning his attention back to the stranger. His voice was still light and chipper besides the fact that he knew he was in for an earful later.

Nice to meet you Teo... and yes, yes we are. Boston here is really bright, he's the reason we're here.

Maybe introducing a compliment would soothe his brother's injured ego? He certainly hoped so, he'd really hate to drag his brother, fuming, down the hallway. That was just plain difficult anyhow.. .what with his ability to fly and all.

Why couldn't his twin be more like father instead of mother? Must be a lowland... thing. Or... something... anyway.

Do you live close to here?

[Harpsdesire]

Joel heard voices in the hallway outside the dorm room door where he was putting away the last of his brand new notebooks and erasers, humming to himself cheerfully. He felt the happiest he had in some time, ever since his internship with Dr. Price had come to an unceremonious end. She had called it 'suspended indefinitely', and he knew this to mean the same as 'when you're older', or in other words, so far in the future it might as well be never. It had been almost enough to send the usually irrepressible Joel into a spell of depression. Almost.

Being sent to the Institute was nearly enough to make up for the loss of the job he adored, or at least to distract him considerably. It was very good opportunity, he knew, and was it was probably going to be fun, too. That's what his dad had told him, and Joel saw no reason to doubt it.

Speaking of fun, the voices outside his door became clearer as he stopped humming to listen. They sounded like kids his own age! His ears pricked forward with unconstrained excitement and he threw open the door, bounding out to meet the others with more enthusiasm than dignity.

He looked at the two (... er... three?) boys in the hallway, somewhat mystified by the mix of realms, among other things. He stared at Boston and Malachite for a few moments, dumbfounded as he tried to imagine what that skeletal system must look like. He'd have to get an xray of that at some point... He closed his gaping mouth (hopefully before things had time to get awkward), and smiled broadly at the other students. "Hi, you guys!" He said brightly, seeming unconcerned by the oddness of the other children.

He was curious, of course, but he didn't find the mixes off-putting compared to some of the things he had seen in Corvistowne. After all, experimenting on children, while dreadful, was not unheard of, and all sorts of strange things happened.

There seemed to be some measure of tension in the air that he had previously been oblivious to, and he paused for a second, trying to tone down his exuberance somewhat. He was an outgoing child and hadn't yet developed the sense of self-consciousness that would come with the onset of his teen years. Stumbling his way into a touchy situation with overbearing optimism wasn't always the best way to go about making friends; Joel knew this from unfortunate experience. "Um... Hi?" He repeated, at a considerably lower volume. "I'm Joel. What class are you all in?"

He looked from one face to the next, still grinning, although a bit more uncertainly, now. The lowlander side of the duel realmed twins looked more than a little irritated, which was a little intimidating when added to the inherent creepiness of being a talking scull attached to someone's tail.

[The Jenn]

The more he saw of the two, the more Teo desperately wondered what kept Boston's eyes in his sockets. Or what made them work at all. He would have loved to take a closer look, but getting all up in someone's face to stare into their eyeballs wasn't exactly polite. He'd already gotten a lot of that stupidity out at home, anyway, after first gaining his "interest".

"Oh, um, heh. Sorry again... Boston. I've just never seen twins so close before." After a tiny shuffle of awkward, he shook his feathers lightly and settled. "I live in a city a couple hours away. Not too close. Sometimes the Court of Diamonds for a few weeks at a time, but it depends. How about you? Do you guys really live in Corvistowne?" And that probably came out worse than he'd meant, too. Darn it!

Before the pair could respond, a voice piped up nearby and he craned his head around to see a Corvie about his age. Big kitty, wow. "Hey there," he responded cheerfully enough, glad for the distraction. "Um. I'm Teo. Going into my first year here, actually. How about you?"