[physical education 101]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: transfer students
When: July 1̷̝̤̳̙̫̭̻̝͓̄̇̾̀̕͝9̸̙̱̹͍̮̈́́̀̅͛̐̔̋ 20
Where: the. . . gymnasium?
What: an ice breaker
Warnings: moderate physical injury (not debilitating), psychological horror (absolutely debilitating)

[The school is empty. The school is quiet. The only sound that cuts through the silence is the soft ticking of the hallway clocks that mark the passing of each second.]

[. . .]

[At least. . . until a stiff breeze whips through the classrooms, scattering dirty papers and jerking the curtains aside. The clock strikes 6:00 a.m.]

[The school bell chimes.]

[ Team rooms | Endgame | Rewards ]

Comments

[velluminous]

[ don't just talk about her smell so easily. wordlessly, she stands and limps wincingly after him. the day's events have left her ginger and exhausted, such that she doesn't raise her gaze high enough, nor linger it on his form long enough, to notice that feeble glow. ]

[ratiocinations]

[He pushes past the gym doors, turning to wait for her, holding one half open. And notices, of course, the ginger way she walks.

Offers an arm? It is simultaneously a gesture born from extraneous circumstances and nothing more than mere courtesy for a man of his time. The poor woman…]

[velluminous]

Ahhtch.

[ more breath than voice. Severine waving off the arm with an equal and potent mix of pride and exhaustion. ]

Your throat is not stopping you from speaking.

[ thus, her ankles shall not stop her from walking. ]

[ratiocinations]

[Then the offer is rescinded as swiftly as it arrived, though his own pride remains untouched. He does wait for her to pass before he moves forward, and the doors close behind them.

The school opens up before them like an empty maw.]

There is very little that can do that.

[velluminous]

[ an atmosphere so oppressive that Severine suppresses a shiver of revulsion in all but the very tip of her tail.

her mind begins to work. ]

It may be out here. It will be out here.

[ratiocinations]

[Yeah, it's. Spooky out here. Holmes has investigated some similarly eerie places in his time, but the knowledge of ghosts and things that go bump in the night add another layer of apprenhension to it all.]

Then let us keep moving so that we're not sitting ducks waiting to be sniped.

[velluminous]

Hha! Lead on, then.

[ratiocinations]

Hmph.

[And so he does, his long strides taking him far even in this state — but he is cognizant of his company, and does not lead so far ahead as to make her hurry.

Down the hallway, and there are more and more classrooms. Some with doors closed, others open. All empty. None drenched in red, however, which is promising.

The ceiling above is rickety and there are places where they can see through... though it is difficult in this lighting.]

There are multiple floors.

[velluminous]

[ difficult for him, perhaps. but where Severine's eyes had failed her in that dim, red room, now she follows Mister Adair's gaze. now she sees the scale. ]

We must be as first living souls here in twenty years.

[ratiocinations]

[No, he sees only pitch black in those gaping holes in the ceiling.]

Why us? Why now?

[velluminous]

There must be answer somewhere.

[ratiocinations]

[Yes, and a part of him is compelled to rush across the entirety of this school, even amid the darkest places, to find out.]

Surely there was a day when this was a normal school, filled with normal classes. And then there was one day where it was not.

We must find that dividing line. That will be that sticking point which informs all else, some strange event that must have caused this... haunting.

[velluminous]

[ a sensation like needles in her neck. her tail puffs up, and she tenses with an inward hiss. but it's merely a caress: the touch there and gone. ]

You pause still on that word.

[ratiocinations]

[He looks at her when she reacts in such a way; had she seen something? Felt it?]

If you were from my London, where there are no ghosts, no curses, no magic, then you, too, would have trouble comprehending this new reality.

[velluminous]

[ her hand strokes against her own nape. self-soothing gesture, perhaps? she finds, with disgust, that it does little to rub out the vestige of pain living somewhere underneath. ]

No such thing at all? Not even murmurations of it?

[ unbelievable! literally hard to believe. ]

[ratiocinations]

[Watching that gesture makes him reach up and rub the front of his own neck. Mere instinct. It’s sore, the skin raw, and the mark is bruising.]

In fairy tales and fantasies only.

[velluminous]

[ it hurts.

...

the sting fades. slowly. ]

These are not having motes of truth to them?

[ratiocinations]

In my experience? No. Even that which seems fantastical is always coupled with a reasonable explanation.

[velluminous]

Such needlessly stringent perspective.

[ratiocinations]

[…continues walking.]

You’re quick to assume. This is not a perspective I’ve cultivated simply by sitting idly and watching the world pass by.

[And it’s not like he’s unwilling to change it now.]

[velluminous]

[ ugh! limping after. ]

I speak not of you in specific.

[ratiocinations]

[You could have taken his arm!]

My world, too, is what it is, madam. I do not decide its rules.

[velluminous]

But where should such tales stem, if there be no basis for them?

[ratiocinations]

[Waggles his hands in his air! He doesn't know! He's English, and wacky magical folklore abounds in his culture, but that doesn't mean any of it is true!! Why does she want to keep debating this!!!]

Superstition! Desperate attempts to explain the unknown!

[Sometimes Black Shucks are just black dogs set loose on moors to kill people.]

[velluminous]

[ they are speaking far too loudly, and brashly, for two prisoners bleeding and half-dead from a ghostly encounter. with no idea where that ghost might be now.

however. unfortunately. Ms Fairplay loves the debate. ]

Yet here we are! Can your home be so untouched?