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« on: September 19, 2016, 02:19:01 PM »
A low murmur filled the auditorium as students from each of the academies filled the room.
Malina shifted her feet and crossed her arms. She would be lying if she said we wasn't a tad nervous. Looking over her shoulder she saw the rest of the team wasting their time on their scrolls. Very out of character for Chiu, she thought, but disregarded it as she shifted her gaze to the Vacuo class, to the Beacon class's left. There was a good chance that she would see someone from Alapelagias here. After being away for nearly a year now, she wondered if anyone had changed, how her teammates would like them... her thoughts trailed off as her gaze shifted from student to student, absentmindedly.
Zabar, meanwhile, took a cue from Malina's team and was wasting time on his scroll. On it, several unread messages sat in his screen.
11:52:32 AM <Dustin> Please, for the love of god, take the match seriously.
11:52:44 AM <Weigela> Oh come on, he'll do fine, Dustin. He's got better combat scores than most of us.
11:53:01 AM <Dustin> No, I know he'll do well. But I also know him, and you know him. Come on, remember when we had to go out in that sandcrawler for a week? Remember how he brought liquid ass and used it to keep away Grimm? Yeah, it worked but at what cost!?
Zabar smirked.
11:53:38 AM <Zabar> I'd say that is was a good plan.
11:53:42 AM <Weigela> No it wasn't.
11:53:42 AM <Dustin> No it wasn't.
11:53:45 AM <Zabar> Whatever.
11:53:59 AM <Zabar> I know this is important, I'll be... sociable.
11:54:10 AM <Narina> Can you guys not do this when I'm in class? Wait, where are the two of you??
And that was Zabar's cue to leave. He refocused his attention on students from the other academies. He didn't like their uniforms.
Brooke looked nervously over her shoulder. The rest if her team said they would be here in time, but of course they were a no show. She tugged on her skirt slightly as she looked up on to stage set up in front of her. She hated wearing these uncomfortable clothes. Hopefully this whole thing will be over soon. The last time she attended the Vytal Festival, she had to go to Atlas. At least it wasn't as cold here, she thought.
The murmur in the room died down to an uncomfortable silence as Alban walked up to the stage out from behind the curtain and approached the microphone. "Students." Alban began in an almost too relaxed of a tone. "I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all of you from the other academies to Vale and Beacon. We hope the accommodations set aside for you will be enough, the spare dorms and sparring equipment among other things. And for students native to Vale, I expect the best. Now, on to why we're all here. I'm sure you all know that 78 years ago, the end of the Greyed War left the world in near ruin, but we built it back and built it back better than before. I, fortunately, did not have to live through that war. But my father did. The things he told me when I was growing cemented in my mind that a war of that caliber must never happen again." He paused for a moment, looking at each academy's students. "That is why we are here. Not to fight and beat each other, but to teach each other through combat and culture how to be better people. Remember that. To encourage this, we've set up several bounty boards around the room, each with a special selection of missions for students new and old. We encourage you do not go blindly into these missions with those you know. Learn with those you don't know." On cue, countless bounty boards slid out of the floor on the outer edges of the room. "As a parting note, there will be a formal ball solely for those of you who choose to participate in the tournament. Take the rest of the day to get settled or go on new missions, classes have been postponed until tomorrow."
And with that, he walked back behind the curtain.
(OOC: If it wasn't clear, this is a social thread. Meet new students, go to bounty boards, pick a mission, have fun. Or just be social, it doesn't matter.)