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Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 09/23/2014 12:41 AM

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Morning saw a boy ascending the steps on his way to school. It was still early enough in the year that the air had most of the mellowness of summer, but there was just a hint of the crispness of fall; already the days were beginning to get shorter, little by little. At 8 AM, however, that sun was in full view, unobstructed by so much as a cloud. It was a pretty good metaphor for how Ciri was feeling.

The morning was alive with birdsong, and he hummed a tune of his own as he walked. He was on the thin side, not tall, with a round face framed by wavy orange hair. Despite what his frame suggested about his strength, he was carrying two sizeable suitcases, and still had enough energy left to bounce a bit as he walked. Most people weren't too thrilled with the idea of having to go back to school after having spent the last two months doing whatever they wanted, but Ciri was stoked. This was a new school, a new place, a new life! It was going to be daunting living here without his parents, but he'd been promised a roommate, and nothing could have made him happier. They were just going to be the best of friends, talking about anything and everything into the night, studying together, playing games... Some of his friends had warned him not to get his hopes up too much, but he wasn't worried. He didn't have trouble getting along with people, and he was sure that if he was earnest and open, his roommate would open up too.

First, though, he had to see which room he'd been assigned to. That was why he was here, two weeks before class began. Another fifteen minutes of walking brought him to the director's office, and he knocked smartly on the door, putting on his best smile as he waited.
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 09/23/2014 11:39 AM

The door opened after a long moment with a creak, and a tall man with silvering streaks in his brown hair gazed down at Ciri with a curious expression. "Oh," he said, his voice soft, almost thin, despite the small smile of general friendliness forming on his lips. "Are you one of the new students? Come in, come in." The man moved away from the doorway to let Ciri in. "Do forgive me, I've just been heating up my lunch-- oh, actually… you're here early, aren't you?" he asked, turning back to Ciri with a curious expression.

The office was fairly large, decorated with a burnt umber couch and dark red curtains on the windows, giving the room a rich sort of warmth to it, which highly contrasted the director of education's pale skin. "Sit down, if you like," he said, moving towards a microwave at his desk, which seemed to contrast the rather classically styled room with a little piece of modern amenities. The desk was cluttered, despite the neatness of the rest of the room, and covered with papers and a cup of long-cold tea. "Mister… Ciri?" the man asked, after having rifled through a number of papers on the desk, and he tapped the stack on the wooden surface once to neaten them up.



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 09/25/2014 10:26 PM

Ciri beamed up at the man who opened the door. "Yep, that's me! I wanted to make sure I had time for everything. I've packed a lot of stuff, see, I've got two whole suitcases right here! I would've brought more, except I couldn't carry that much, so this was everything I could manage." The words poured out rapid-fire, one after another, as soon as he opened his mouth. He paused only to draw breath, but by then the interior of the room had caught his attention, and he peered in with undisguised curiosity. Almost before the director--- he assumed that this man was the director, since he was in the director's room--- had finished his invitation, Ciri bustled his way in.

"Wow, I've never been inside an office this nice before. It's very cozy!" he chirped. Upon being addressed as 'mister Ciri', he giggled. "I'm just Ciri, sir. Do you mind if I call you sir? I've still got a few years to go before anyone calls me 'mister' anything, I hope." Again, there was a short pause while he looked around, but then Ciri recalled what the man had said about his lunch. "Oh, but I didn't want to bother you if you were eating!" he said, half turning toward the door again. "Should I come back later? I only wanted to know what room I was assigned to, and I can wait outside, or go see the grounds, or..."
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 09/25/2014 11:11 PM

The man seemed a little more than bewildered at the hurricane of words that spilled out of Ciri's mouth, and he adjusted his glasses with a bemused, yet amused look in his eyes. "No, no, you don't have to leave, as long as you don't mind me eating in front of you," he chuckled, his calm mask breaking for a moment as his eyes lit up with a laugh, and he quickly cleared his throat, his face returning to quiet control. "And thank you; I've had this office for years, now, but the furniture wasn't mine. It belonged to the director before me… still, I think it's in good taste," he mused, nodding his head, then jumped as the microwave beeped. "Ah… one moment."

The man went over to the microwave and took out a small ceramic bowl of what looked like some sort of pasta, and he reached into his drawer for a fork and began breaking up the pasta. "So, Mister--or, rather, just Ciri--You're here to know your room assignment situation?" he asked, peering back at the paper on the corner of his desk as he twirled some pasta around his fork and ate it. He continued, once he'd swallowed, "Let's see… oh, you'll be staying in a residence hall, so you'll have lots of neighbors and a shared bathroom, but I wouldn't worry too much. It's never terribly crowded," the man lied, in truth he wasn't sure at all how the inner workings of bathroom hierarchy worked, but he didn't want to disillusion the boy.



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 09/28/2014 11:53 PM

The pasta looked pretty tasty. It was a good thing that Ciri had eaten before he'd arrived. It wasn't polite to ogle someone's lunch while they were eating, though Ciri flattered himself that he could probably cajole most folks into sharing some with him--- he was, after all, irresistibly cute. However, that was neither here nor there. He was here to get his room assignment, and as soon as the director ventured to offer some comment on the subject, Ciri's thoughts snapped back to attention. His face burst into a sunny grin at the idea of the arrangement. It was more or less what he always wanted: surrounded by people his age, hopefully all friends! It was almost more than he'd dared to hope for. The shared bathroom didn't faze him in the least.

"That's fantastic! Thank you, sir!" he said. "Are there games? Movie nights, maybe? If there aren't, do you think I could set one up? If we can just get a projector--- I could learn how to fix one up, or..." He stopped mid-sentence as he suddenly recalled a matter of grave importance. "Oh, how could I forget? I get a roommate, don't I, sir? Could you look up who it is if it isn't too much trouble?" That had been the part he'd been looking forward to most, after all!
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 09/29/2014 2:51 PM

The man looked a little bit overwhelmed at Ciri's rush of words, and he paused in mid-chew before swallowing slowly and adjusting his glasses, setting the bowl down to pick up the papers. "Well... yes, I... suppose all of that would be fine," he said, not wanting to admit that he hadn't the slightest idea what kind of activities went on in the dorms. He assumed they were safe, at least, given the authorities hadn't been alerted to any kind of strange activity for several years at least. "Um... you'll likely have to clear it with..."

The man trailed off as his eyes darted from line to line on the page he was holding, and his eyes widened for a moment before they blinked, squeezing shut as he lowered the paper. "Ahh..." he murmured, reaching a hand up to rub at his eyes. "There... must have been a mistake. Um... here, there must be an opening somewhere else," he said softly under his breath, shuffling through papers until he found a roster, his face mostly unchanging but his eyes growing more and more distressed.



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 10/05/2014 3:46 AM

It seemed like Ciri wasn't the only one who wasn't finishing his sentences today. The director, however, seemed much more alarmed than Ciri had been, though the boy had no idea as of yet what could have been so distressing. He leaned over as far as he could without unbalancing himself, trying to see what the director had been looking at, but as far as he could make out, it was just a list of names. He hadn't quite heard what the man was muttering. "Sir, could you please speak up a bit? There isn't a problem with my assignment, is there?" He scanned the document, looking for his name. The trouble with it was that he was always in the middle somewhere, so it took a while before he found it.

At last, he said, "Hey! There it is! That's me, and it says I'm with... 'Leveret'? Ooh, hey, that's a cute name! Not as cute as mine, but definitely right up there. I wonder what he looks like?" Ciri did wonder why the director hadn't just told him directly, since he'd been able to find his own name on the form just fine, but sometimes older people were inscrutable like that. Life was easier if you just rolled with it when they did that kind of thing.
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 10/05/2014 11:19 AM

The director had jumped as Ciri leaned closer, his face pale, and he stared at Ciri as the boy chattered on. "Oh, no no no, there has to be a mistake. Y-you can't be in the same room as... oh, dear, oh, dear," the man fretted, quickly shuffling through the papers, his eyes scanning for an empty room. "Surely..." He trailed off when he saw the place was packed, and his eyes slowly drifted back to Ciri's name, a small sigh coming out his nose.

"Alright," he began, slightly under his breath as he set the papers down, and he adjusted his glasses before looking at Ciri. "If... okay," he said haltingly, as if trying to get his thoughts in order, and he licked his lips once, letting out another breath. "If... any problems with your rooming arrangement should arise... we will work something out. I'm here to help you, alright? Leveret--" Here he paused, glancing around, as if afraid someone had heard. "Leveret is... a difficult young man. But you mustn't disrespect him. Alright? He will be very difficult... probably..."



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 10/20/2014 1:39 AM

Watching the director fret and make several false starts, Ciri finally began to frown. "Sir, I'm... not sure I understand. Is there something the matter with my roommate?" A dozen different possibilities flitted through his head. Maybe the other boy was a werewolf, or secretly a robot, or maybe he had really bad OCD and couldn't tolerate living with anyone else because they'd mess up all his carefully arranged bonzai plants. He could hear his mother's admonishing voice telling him not to jump to conclusions, but he couldn't help speculating. The way the director was going on made it all sound so mysterious.

Just as he was warming to the prospect of a werewolf or robot or heavily-OCD roommate and smiling again, the director regained his voice. Ciri waited patiently to hear what he was trying to say, since the poor man seemed to have an unusually hard time getting it all out, but it didn't turn out to be very informative. 'Difficult young man' didn't rule out any of the things that Ciri had come up with. Still, he nodded dutifully. "Yes sir, I'll do my best to be respectful of his condition!" He was sure that it would work out. He might be a little ignorant at first, but he was willing to learn, and there were all kinds of articles on the internet these days about how to treat people and their differences with respect. He was sure that his good intentions would win Leveret over eventually, no matter what his difficulty was.

"So, could you tell me what my room number is?"
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 10/23/2014 11:12 AM

"C-condition? Er..." the director stammered, a little frazzled looking. This child seemed so undaunted... but... The director tensed for a moment, looking back at the paper, then let out a slow breath. This could work. It was possible, it was very possible, or it would be, if it all weren't so improbable. Ciri would be eaten alive. Or... at least the director figured so. But if he was so willing to put himself forward... "Regardless... again, if any problems arise that you can't handle, I'll find an alternative. I promise." He took a breath, and read out, "437. That is your room number." Oh, his pasta had gone cold...

[Very short post, sorry!]



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 11/11/2014 4:41 AM

Ciri nodded along with the director's words like someone humoring a friend, and even had the nerve to throw in a jaunty salute. "Will do, sir! Hope you don't mind, but I think I'll excuse myself and leave you to your lunch. Gotta get my stuff set up and all--- you know, all those little move-in things. Can't delay!" And with that, he was out of the office faster than you could say, 'Ciri, how many cups of coffee did you have this morning?'

The room wasn't hard to find. The doors all had numbers on them, and it didn't take Ciri long to work out how the lot of them were laid out. All around him were the sounds of the other boys who already lived there. It was too early for some of them to be up, but others were out and about, and a few threw some curious glances his way. He greeted them all with a grin; a few smiled uncertainly back, while others averted their gazes or frowned at him. He clocked their reactions and made a mental note of who looked likeliest to warm up to him quickly, along with a few speculative guesses at who might be more receptive to cajoling.

The fourth floor was oddly quiet. Ciri paused a moment, wondering if everyone on this floor were late sleepers. Well, that was considerate of them to survey for that kind of thing, but if that was the case, he might not have such a good time here. He'd been waking up bright and early in the morning every day since he was five. His mother said it was because he was a 'sunshine child', whatever that meant.

The door to 437, as it turned out, would have been impossible to miss anyway. The wood was of a finer quality than the others, for one. Ciri rapped his knuckles smartly on it, listening with appreciation to the sound, then opened the door--- threw it open in a grand gesture might have been a more appropriate description.

What would he find within? A werewolf? A robot? The host club? "Hello, hello, Le-ver-et~ I'm Ciri, and starting today, we're gonna be roomies!"
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 11/18/2014 4:15 PM

Image


The boy that met Ciri's gaze as the boisterous young man burst in was, at least at first glance, none of the above. At first, he looked quite startled, his face running pale and brown eyes wide with shock from behind his locks of auburn. He stared at Ciri for a long time, before slowly moving to sit up straight from his reclined position on his bed, his eyes never leaving Ciri's face for a second. "Who are you?" he asked in a voice that could almost be described as childlike, a soft, wilting tone to it. He blinked a few times, drawing his knees up to put his chin on one of them as he stared at the boy in his doorway, his expression entirely unreadable. "And what are you doing in my room?" Either Leveret hadn't heard Ciri's introduction, or he was asking something else entirely, which seemed to be the case, with the flickering outrage behind his large eyes.



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 11/29/2014 5:51 AM

Well. Ciri blinked at the boy he found in the room, frowned, then blinked again. That was funny... From the director's attitude, he had honestly expected someone... Taller? Darker, maybe? This Leveret fellow looked rather as if he would have been picked on by the larger boys. Scratch werewolf or robot; if anything, based on his appearance, the most likely thing was for Leveret to be a ghost.

Wait, hold that thought.

Ciri unceremoniously dumped all his things on the ground and immediately rushed up to Leveret, completely ignoring the latter's angry outburst, to poke the other boy in the cheek. And then the shoulder. Ciri even went so far as to pat his head a couple of times for good measure before breaking into a big grin. "That's a relief! For a minute there, I'd thought my room was haunted! Leveret, right?" He was still very much in Leveret's personal space, but carried on as if he didn't care in the least, or perhaps because he wasn't terribly aware of the fact.
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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby zapdragon555 » 11/29/2014 6:35 PM

Leveret had immediately grown tense as a statue as Ciri rushed up to him, a silence of cold dread settling over him as the intruder proceeded to poke and prod him. Discomfort flooded Leveret's veins and he ducked away with a feral flash in his eyes before it wilted back to something like disgust. "Clearly there's been a mistake," he murmured, his small lips curving into a humorless smile as he tilted his head up at Ciri. "You aren't supposed to be here." Leveret blinked once, the smile falling. If this boy knew his name... but didn't know who he was really talking to... then...

Oh, Leveret was going to wring that director's scrawny neck. Or get someone to do it, at least. "Then again," Leveret began, shifting back on the bed to at least put a bit of space between him and Ciri. "I suppose if you weren't aware, I can't blame you completely. Who are you? You didn't answer me the first time," Leveret said, keeping a tight rein on whatever anger was hidden behind his eyes. He'd get this sorted out eventually. For now, to figure out who on earth had convinced the director that this... arrangement... was a fine idea in the least.



But there will come a time
You'll see, with no more tears
And love will not break your heart
But dismiss your fears
Get over your hill and see
What you find there
With grace in your heart
And flowers in your hair



"Tomorrow will be a good day."


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Re: Moving Day [Private]

Postby crow » 12/05/2014 9:21 PM

Ciri blinked as Leveret scrambled away from him. Was it something he had done? Ah well, this must have been what the director was talking about. That was alright; he could deal with difficult. It would just take a bit longer before they got to be good friends, and Ciri could be patient if he had to. And hey, he had gotten a smile out of Leveret already! Ciri beamed at him, the perfect picture of wilful obliviousness.

"Like I said before, I'm Ciri. Cirino, actually, but nobody calls me that. I wonder why? Oh well, I don't mind; Ciri is a cuter name anyway. Nice place you've got here! Where's the other bed?" He was already propping his stuff up against a wall and beginning to unpack, his mouth still running as he rummaged through his bag. "Do we just sleep on the same bed at night? I wasn't expecting that, but I guess it could be fun! And warmer. Does it get real cold in the winter here, is that why they do it? Oh hey, I found some snacks! Want some?" He held up a bag of chips, labelled in a foreign script, with a picture of a smiling mascot on it. "I found this in a market before I left home. No one knew what the flavor was, so I just bought it. It's more fun if it's a surprise, right?" He opened the bag and popped a chip into his mouth, chewing enthusiastically.
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