thenearshore | School mingle log

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School mingle log - OPEN

Who: Teachers, students, library attendees and anyone else who just wants to hang around the temple of Menrva, a.k.a. Dead Kid School.
What: Even being dead doesn't mean you can skip out on your homework. (Teachers, please feel free to put up headers for your classes if you like!)
Where: The temple of Menrva, including its library and study rooms
When: April 1 - 10
Warnings: Please keep things school-appropriate. Hibari is watching. (also possible foul language, violence, firearm use: there's this Buddhist high priest taking care of the library, you see.)

(Schedule of Classes)

Library

[The library is at the back of the temple, with full-length windows onto a balcony that looks out over a valley filled with late-spring foliage. The books that can be found here cover a wide variety of subjects, from religion and philosophy to history, biography and the sciences. You can even find some fiction if you're here for lighter reading.

Tables are available for reading or studying in the library. Talk to Menrva or one of her shinki if you want to take something home: they'll check it out for you.

The shelves are imposingly tall and stuffed with texts. If you want something on the top shelf, you might have to find someone to help, or try to clamber up on your own -- careful, though, those shelves aren't built for climbing....]

Courtyard

[The courtyard at the front of the temple is large and paved, with blooming trees around the edges and a massive set of steps at one end rising to the columned entryway of the temple. There's a giant heap of scrap metal daubed with paint next to the steps. From the right angle, it's an avant-garde sculpture of a massive owl.

The courtyard is a great place for exercise, weapons practice, tree-climbing or hanging out with your friends on days when the weather's nice. Be careful, though: if you hang out here too long and don't look busy, Hakkai will hand you a broom. Those lovely trees drop flower petals and leaves all over the stone, and he can always use a hand cleaning up.]

Classes & Independent Study

[Classes are held every day of the week except Sunday, in temple rooms next to the library that have been re-purposed with large tables and plenty of chairs to hold all of the students who are interested in showing up. Anyone who's interested in a subject that's not on the class list -- kanji study, for example, or literature -- can show up to one of the study halls or make separate arrangements with Hakkai, Elsa or any other teacher.

One of the classrooms, as of April 2nd, has a number of desktop computers set up in it, with working Internet connections and basic office software installed. The computer classes haven't been scheduled yet, which means all of those machines are free for walk-in use: homework, games, trying to figure out what a keyboard is, surfing the Internet or laughing at dumb YouTube videos -- the sky's the limit.]

Dinner

[The school doesn't actually close, since it's also where Elsa and her two shinki live. Stay too late, or fall asleep in one of the comfier library chairs, and you may find yourself woken up and invited to dinner. With so many students around the place, Hakkai always makes extra.

If your god happens to be missing or you're not sure where to go, you might even be allowed to spend the night. If you stay over, though, Hakkai will definitely have cleaning chores for you in the morning. Those pretty stone floors need a lot of mopping!]

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Ballroom, 10 am - 12 n

[On Saturday mornings, Elsa can be found in the ballroom. Whether or not you have a partner, you're welcome to stop by for a quick lesson or stay the full two hours of class.

If there is an odd number of students, Elsa will be your partner.

Elsa is trained in International Style dances. She will teach any of those styles upon request up to the level she is comfortable with.]

(OOC: guess who is not trained in ballroom dance styles? But if you're fine with keeping it vague or just chatting, this is where she'll be. If you want to talk to her anywhere else in the temple or in another class, PP me at punnyinpink or PM Elsa's journal!)

Edited 2016-07-09 17:43 (UTC)

[Once he's managed to find the library, he'll go in and look around to find somebody matching the description of Hakkai. Brown hair, about 'this' tall...

Well, at least he's punctual, it's nine and he made it here on time. Hopefully he's not busy in the back or something.]

[Hakkai's not here for dancing: he's not really a dancing sort of man, but he is here with refreshments. He sets down a pitcher of lemonade and a stack of paper cups on the table just inside the ballroom door, and straightens up, smiling, to watch the class.]

Oh! Ekko, isn't it?

[It's only a few minutes before Hakkai appears in the library door, whipping off a kerchief that had been holding his hair back from his face and waving with the hand that isn't holding a broom.]

I'm sorry, I hope you haven't been waiting long! Let me just put this back in the closet and I'll be right there.

[He vanishes into the corridor, and is back almost at once with a workbook in bright, primary colors in one hand.]

I've gotten you a first-grade workbook. It will cover all of the early kanji you'll need to learn: you'll know some of these already, and then there are a handful that you see in names.

(Library, for Hakkai and/or Sanzo)

[It's only been a few days since Yukine was last at Elsa's school, but as soon as he steps into the library he can tell something is different. More correctly, he can smell something different.
He's used to a faint smoke smell in the living room at Daikoku's place, but--]

Who the hell smokes in a library?

[This is not a rhetorical question. Let Yukine at 'em- he'll chew them out.]

(Free Study, open)

[Hiyori is a harsh taskmistress, and Hakkai is a harsh taskmaster.
In one of the free rooms next to the library Yukine is trying to finish up his homework, and fix the homework he's already done.

Making a disgruntled sound he runs both hands through his hair, making it even more messy-looking.]

'Do it again' is easy for them to say! Ug, it takes forever!

[But despite his mood he's still picking up the dictionary to check things over again.]

[Elsa is calling for a break from class when Hakkai comes in, and as soon as she spots him, she heads right for him, her stride confident and relaxed because dancing brings her so much happiness that she can forget, for a time, everything tht's wrong about this place.]

One day, I would love to have the honor of dancing with you, [she says as she grabs a paper cup.] But if you stand by your not dancing stance, then I'll settle for you dressing up a little to chaperone that school dance I want to hold someday.

[Someday. She has so many ideas for fun things to do with their students, and with anyone else who wnats to join in.]

Thank you for bringing us lemonade. [Sh pours herself some and takes a sip.] It's delicious, like everything you make.

I'm very flattered, but Elsa, I'm afraid you only offer because you haven't seen me dance.

[--not that, in fact, he knows whether he can dance or not; but although she clearly knows what she's doing the whole style seems entirely unfamiliar to him. That's enough of a warning that he shouldn't try.

He smiles and clasps his hands behind his back, considering the room.]

Do you have any idea when you'd like to hold that dance?

[They'll have to prepare. And he might have to figure out where he can find an outfit that would qualify as "dressed up."]

[ Having spent the last couple hours helping Hakkai and Omi set up the school's new computer lab, Nagi now sits in the free study room with his laptop, taking advantage of the fast wifi here to get some research done. He's still just newly arrived after all, and there seems to be a lot of information he can glean from reading old postings on Heaven's BBS.

(He's also downloading some games at the same time, but hey, he can multitask).

He glances up when the boy across the large table complains about something out loud. ]

... are you okay?

Ah -- we've been trying to air it out! Sorry about that, Yukine.

[Hakkai laughs merrily, pausing by Yukine's table, and glances around for Sanzo. He hasn't been smoking in here again, has he? No; the scent isn't strong enough to be very recent.]

Courtyard
[Ankh ended up in this place mainly because of the conversation he had earlier with that guy who spoke Chinese. He had landed with a final flap of his wings, a few red feathers skiting across the stones mingling with the leaves kicked up by the wind of his wings. He pulled them in, gave his hair a shake, and stood for a few moments to just watch the comings and goings of people. After that grew boring, he headed for a tree to perch in and mooch off the wifi.

So there is a slender blond man sitting in the nook of a tree with a iPad in his lap. Every once and a while he makes a tch sound under his breath and doesn't seem at all perturbed with the few birds that have decided to gather around him, although he does keep on trying to keep the one song bird from grooming his hair.]

Library
[He had a theory to test out so Ankh headed for the books. He noticed before that he could understand people no matter what language they were saying, but he wanted to see if it worked for books as well. Before hand, he had to use the borrowed memories of his cop body, and before that, he just used Yummies to swipe languages, but here it could be different. He was able to feel and taste like he was whole, so maybe the langauges changed as well.

So Ankh grabbed a number of books off various shelves and sat down at a table, opening one at random and... the languages just shifted into place. The same for the next one, and the next one. He stared at a page in Arabic, a language he knew he hadn't contacted before and snickered to himself.]

So that's what they mean by the harpsichord joke.

Edited 2016-07-10 18:53 (UTC)

Yeah, that's me.

[He nods, and takes the workbook. Egh, this feels humiliating, but he's already realized he's not going to get that far without being able to read kanji in Japan.]

Thanks for this.

[Shrugging, Elsa chuckles.] Hakkai, you live with the school's dance teacher. If you'd like to learn, of course I'll teach you.

[But she won't press the matter. She misses dancing with a partner who knows the styles as well as she does, misses losing herself in the steps and turns, misses the trust that dance partners share when they're in the moment. She misses Anton, but all she can do is hope he's okay.]

Hmm. A week or two from now, maybe? Far enough from now that we'll have time to plan for it, definitely. And so our guests can decide on what to wear.

[Elsa knows what she will wear. Elsa always knows what she will wear to a dance.]

How does that sound? That should give us time. Especially if Sanzo helps.

[She doesn't expect him to, but that doesn't mean she's going to exclude him from the get-go. He can decide what he wants to do to help, if anything at all.]

[Hakkai's classes are usually quiet: with students at so many different levels, rather than lecturing, he just circulates around the study room to check work and offer instruction at every table.

This means if you're sitting there, he might at any moment very quietly lean over your shoulder and start commenting on your work in your ear.

Please don't jump too high.]

[He really didn't mean to suddenly walk up behind Yukine and appear like a ghost, but seeing another kid around his age struggling with work made him want to go right up and talk to them. Maybe he knew something that could help!

The little bulge in his jacket wiggled as he leaned over what the young shinki was working on.] Excuse me, what subject are you studying?

[When Kuroko heard there was a library, he had to go there. Plus it was a school and something about it felt right to go to. So he piled himself with a couple books-mostly classics-that looked interesting, and found a nice chair to sit down on.

His god, Arikado-sama seemed interested in books, so he wanted to ask the proprietor if he could take some home for the man to read.

But for now, he snuck Satan's head out of the top of his tracksuit jacket and opened the first book.

Please don't sit on him-oh wait, you already did.]

Dance
[The idea of school wasn't something that interested him all that much. Perhaps being detached from his life and not having any memories relating to it makes it seem less important. But when he looked at the list of classes available, there were one or two that peaked his interest.

And hey, it wouldn't help to arrive early right?

Wrong. Waiting for some other class to start, Riku's taken to wandering around the other shrine. And all that wandering has lead him into the ballroom, right when there's a dance class taking place.

And once he's realized where he is and what's going on, he freezes like a deer in the headlights right in the doorway.

If you need a partner, better grab him before he runs away! He flees as fast a legendary beast.]

Sword Sparring
[Now this is more his speed! No awkward dance moves. No music you're forced to move to. Nope. Instead, Riku feels right at home with a blade in his hand.

He's been practicing on his own for most of the time, so that he can go through the motions and figure out what's comfortable. Once he's tired of that and sure of his movements, he looks around at the other students and may just even approach you.]

Hey. Need a sparring partner?

Wildcard
((Riku's not frequent around the school, but he'll be around the campus on the days that he is there. You could find him anywhere!))

Edited 2016-07-11 01:42 (UTC)

It's my pleasure. [He glances at Ekko's face, and his smile becomes mildly sympathetic.] I know it looks like a children's book, but everyone has to start at the same place!

If you'd like to sit down...?

[Oi, is this really a laughing matter?]

Well, the smell is only kinda annoying, but I might go to one of the other rooms anyway once I'm done in here...
How did it get like this in the first place, though? I thought that you'd be all over someone trying to smoke in here, Hakkai-san.

Mm? [He looks up at the question, then waves his hand apologetically.]

Yah, I'm fine. I just wish I could get more right the first time. Doing it over is a pain.

[He then looks questioningly at the laptop.]

Is that one of the new computers Hakkai-san wanted to get? Or is that your own?

Wha-?!

[Yukine gives a jolt- he'd thought that he'd been alone in here! He can't help but say in a low voice,]

S-since when have you been there-?

[but he pulls himself together. It's only another boy, after all. Jeez, how did he sneak up like that though? (For the moment any suspicious bulges go completely unnoticed.)]

Japanese. [He shifts his notebook slightly, not sure whether it's too late to cover up the embarrassing number of red strokes on the page.]

[ Nagi's not sure if yelling about it would help at all in getting it right the second time, but he doesn't say so, only nodding in response. Interacting with so many people over the last couple days has impressed upon Nagi that his emotions tend to be very muted compared to other folks. ]

This? I got this one for myself. I helped him set up the other ones earlier.

[ Three desktops. There was a tablet too, which Nagi thought was pretty cool, and is already thinking about getting one of those for himself as well. ]

[He hadn't been yelling though... (Okay, maybe a little. loud. for a study area.)]

Ohh. [It's a slightly jealous sounding 'oh'. He would still be without a phone if it wasn't for heaven, seriously. (Stupid Yato.)]

That's pretty lucky. There aren't a lot of computers around here. What are you using it for?

[ Ky is no student, but merely someone interested in visiting the temple of a different God for once. What better temple to start with than the one that doubles as a school and opens itself to visitors?

As he walks through the courtyard, somehow, despite the students out and about, this person in the tree is the one who catches his attention. Perhaps it's the birds surrounding him... or maybe it's that rather irritated noise he's making while fiddling with that panel-like object. Either way, it piques Ky's curiosity enough to approach and poke his nose into the other man's business. ]

Are you having trouble, sir?

[Being the one who made the donation of computers to the school, Sonic felt he ought to at least check in to see how they were doing. And seeing as how the computer class wasn't up on the schedule yet, all the more reason to stop by and see if they needed any help. He didn't know where they set up the computers, but the library seemed as safe of a bet as any]

[Besides, he was supposed to be looking into fictional literature to help separate his working and personal lives]

Edited 2016-07-11 16:37 (UTC)

[Guess which class is one of Sheryl's favorites? Elsa's. As a dancer herself, this class gives her the opportunity to fix up a new choreography or two — some elegant twirls to the left, some sashaying of her hips to the right, then a few complicated shuffling of her feet in rapid succession.

But even Sheryl manages to learn a new thing or two, despite a few fumbles along the way. Ballroom dances aren't something she's done often, but they certainly give her something to think about.]

Miss Elsa!

[She jogs over to Elsa once she's done with her lessons, waving a hand with a tired, yet pleased expression on her face.]

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Page 1 of 14

School mingle log - OPEN

Saturday morning dance classes

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April 1

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Library

ota

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Math & Study Hall

free study

Library

ota - saturday classes

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> courtyard

Library - April 4th

Sat, April 2nd