Note: This is a bonus post. Hit “Previous” to see the scheduled post of the day.
Read the previous RP post and its comments to see what’s going on here. I still have room for two players.
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The orientation guide continued with some basics about the neighborhood – the nearest public park with sporting facilities, directions to the largest public library in town, the hospitals, etc – before getting everybody in motion, following her with trudging little steps around the campus. The names of the different buildings – after this and that donor or trustee – were a wash of meaninglessness to the non-humans among the freshmen.
As they walked down a long hall, where Ms. Selber mentioned some of the classes being taught, many of the freshmen talked among themselves. Kaldonia kept on.
“What kind of music do you like, Ilmardan? I could tell you what clubs play it.” Why were lizard madonnas so interested in the elvenoid species, he might wonder. The fashions didn’t hang on their bodies right. The languages were a little off in that mouth full of uniform, sharp, curved teeth.
Some nearby humans looked judgmental about it, a hip aloofness probably inspired by the social terror of being new. A male nymph drifted along nearby them, feet barely touching the ground, loose sky-colored curls floating around his shoulders. He wore a stickball shirt, hipster jeans and shoes, and a little backpack over one shoulder. There was some room to wonder, did nymphs owe their existence to the wild realms like elves, or the higher realms like giants and dwarves?
An orc jock tried not to step on any people and almost failed when a halfling got underfoot. That little guy was some kind of raging nerdlinger.
Yup, any kind of weirdo might be in this company.
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How about you? It’s urban fantasy. You’re in community college instead of the big leagues, for some reason, but it’s a place where you can start learning how to chuck fireballs or wield a zweihander, so … excitements?
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still room for two! join whenever.
Ilmardan raised an eyebrow “It’s achingly predictable, but I tend to go with either ancient Eltharin Madrigals or the cheesiest of manufactured mage-pop available. There’s no middle ground, I’m afraid. Though I have recently been enjoying a parodic mash-up of Ogre Throat Singing and Dwarf Deep Jazz, so there’s that”.
“You probably already know every type of classical Eltharin music plays in the opera houses and fancy restaurants here. Restaurants might be the best place for madrigals, but I sure couldn’t afford to eat at one of those… For mage-pop, hehe… There’s an adventurer club on the Boulevard that is the biggest place for that in town. We could go…”
Adventurers had a reputation for being the manliest men who liked to party with other men, but a few random ladies in one of their clubs would not offend. Tho the risk of being an inexperienced fella in one of them was the possibility of getting metaphorically eaten alive…
The tour guide took them through a series of gyms and the halls adjacent the locker rooms. Only a few athletes were walking those halls just yet. Selber seemed very uninterested in the athletics program. The orc lagged behind, more interested in this area than the rest. Not all orcs were meatheads, but that guy wasn’t defying any expectations.
A feyish mortal fell in beside Ilmardan on the other side. He was a hip guy with skinny jeans and tatts, gauges and a hoodie. A bundled up sword hung beside his backpack. Feyish were the result of generations of random intermingling of different kinds of faerie folk, sometimes including elves, more often including humans and halflings. It all shook out to short shorties with puckish features and slightly odd skin tones, tho there was much variety. This one had purple blush on his cheeks and outer ears, and over-large dark green eyes.
“Hey there. You’re not from the City, are you? I’m Josh. Josh Thornwhistle, trying for mystic knight. Haven’t settled on a school yet.”
Thornwhistle eh? No relation to the Thornwhistle’s chain of bakeries you have here in the City I suppose? I’ve seen them everywhere since I got here. You’re right I’m new though – Ilmardan Erenath, I’m from the Nation, though my family go back to the Heartland Elves of Old Minhala if you go far enough. Illusionist, if I can just get the hang of it. Kaldonia here was just proposing a trip to one of the local Adventurer clubs later tonight. I expect we could do with a mystic knight in case things turn ugly. You feeling adventurous this evening, Josh Thornwhistle? Or have you already apprenticed to one of the chivalrous lodges that forbids fun of all kinds?
Also, what’s that orc’s deal back there? He seems positively eager to start a fight. Throwback to before the Von Schweitzer Accords and Edict of Integration I guess, not that my people have much right to talk when it comes to dealings with his.
Josh rolled his eyes. “Guilty as charged. I’m a cookie elf. The matriarch of the Thornwhistles is that clurichaun you see on the box. The rest of us are mixed nuts… I figure I’ll pledge if I can transfer to a four-year school after this. Kaldonia, huh, which club?”
She said, “Magic Boots. No need to jump into the deep end. Plus I don’t think they like girls coming around at Handyman’s anyway.” She made a girly pose of disappointment.
To the orc comment Josh said, “That big guy? I think he pissed off the halfling on accident. He’s probably cool. Most people get that out of their system in primary school, don’t they?”
“If that was true,” Kaldonia said, “this city wouldn’t be occupied territory.”
“Well there we go then!” said Ilmardan. He fought down the urge to make a bad pun. Mystic knight… biscuit knight… nah, not funny enough. Nobody would thank him for that. “Perhaps one of you would like to extend him an invitation for tonight, if the mood suits? I expect we could all do with something to distract us from the political woes of this place and the rather unkind attitudes to gender that some people have here. I might even see to buying the first round of elixir shots if they have an alchemixologist who knows his drinks.”
…continued in the new post…