[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]

Does it kill you?

[ratiocinations]

[Yes. It is a deep, deep failure as a detective. He cannot say that much.]

Does it not bother you?

[Miss well-studied academic.]

[velluminous]

I yet live. [ of course it bothers her. ] Therefore, it was not so bad mistake. Where I am now? Remaining here? This bothers me more.

[ratiocinations]

[A small huff. It is reasonable for her to feel that way, but she's not like him. It doesn't needle and pierce in the same way.]

You are all energy, looking to unspool. [She's anxious, he means.] You should move, not sit.

[projecting]

[velluminous]

[ it's a subtler pain, perhaps. ]

I don't... [ a tired, hoarse tone.

... ] I want somewhere quiet.

[ratiocinations]

That place is not here.

[It’s brimming with people.]

[velluminous]

It is nowhere.

[ her lightning mind never calms. ]

And so, may as well stay here.

[ratiocinations]

[He is torn between asking if he may sit, or simply suggesting that they should leave. One gives into aching body, the other favors his mind — also railing against itself, though perhaps in a different way than hers.

It is unsurprising which one wins.]

No. There is a whole school to explore, and there must be a safe place where we can recoup - at least temporarily.

[velluminous]

[ she, whom the insomnia frequently grasps in its bony grip, looks up at him with tired, shadowed eyes. he has no want for ambition, hm? ]

This looks nothing like school.

[ as she slowly, staggeringly, leverages to her feet. she wants a bath. she wants different clothes.

but... perhaps none of that exists here; she will never know without looking. ]

[ratiocinations]

[Ambition is one word for it.]

No, it doesn’t.

[Not this part of it, anyway.]

But a school it must be, until we discover otherwise. Come, Ms Fairplay. [He turns to move towards the exit. Through tattered clothing, the faint glow of his tattoo might be visible.] No doubt you wish to wash the scent of fire away, and to not be so stained with blood.

[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. ]