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Doomsday Academy: Sianna Intro

Nov16

“What should I wear? What should I pack? Do you think they’ll like me? What do you think they’ll be like? Do you think I’ll get to dance?”

Sianna wasn’t really asking the questions. They were popping out of her mouth far too quickly to really expect anyone to follow them. But she had to get them out. There were so many questions, so many things she didn’t know. “Is it warm there, like the time we spent a year down south? Is it cold, like when we spent time in Uncle Martin’s cabin? What’s it like? What are the people like? Are they going to be mean, like those people…”

Sianna’s family traveled, they had always traveled. But they traveled together. And when they had been summering in a nice place on the outskirts of a really really big wheatfield, a spotted redheaded lady and a dark-haired man with the same nose and spots as the lady had shown up to talk to Sianna’s parents.

It had been one of those kids-go-play conversations, all hushed tones and some flailing of hands on her Mama’s part (and a bit more angry flailing of hands on her Daddy’s part, and that had been the weird part. Daddy didn’t get angry. Sometimes he got furious, but furious was an entirely different sort of thing from angry. Mama got angry).

But when it was over, Mama and Daddy, the redheaded spotted lady and the dark spotted boy had all been polite smiles, but polite-and-real smiles, not the weird fake ones. And Sianna had been going off to Doomsday Academy in the fall.

“Why do you think they call it ‘Doomsday;’ it sounds kind of mean. And why can’t you guys come with me?”

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Doomsday Academy: First Day of Camping Club

Oct2

This is set in Cynara’s Doomsday Academy, several years after its founding.

“This is camping club.” Cynara settled herself on top of one of her now-infamous chests. “You may wonder, ‘why camping?’ After all, it’s a hobby for what we once called first-world hobbyists.”

She looked around the club. The older students were smiling. They knew this routine by now. The new kids looked impatient, like she was making Dad Jokes.

Well, then. She smiled, the one Howard called the Mink Smile. “The thing is, ‘camping’ is really ‘surviving outside of civilization.’ And if you’ve heard anything at all about me, well, then you know survival is what I’m about.”

She had caught their attention, but, then again, they’d come here for a reason. “Welcome to camping club. Your first assignment is to gather everything you need to survive a day and a night in the wilderness – in under ten pounds of carry weight.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/819188.html. You can comment here or there.

Samurai have friends, a continuation of Doomsday for the Giraffe Call (@rix_Scaedu)

Sep25

This is written to Rix_Scaedu‘s commissioned continuation of the “Samurai” thread:
Gonna be a Samurai
Gonna Learn how to be a Samurai and
Being a Samurai Takes Work
If You Want to be a Samurai…
Gonna be a Samurai… Kitty?.

Fourth Year.
Austin was going to be cy’Lightning Blade, of course. That had been a foregone conclusion since he first met Professor Inazuma, and growing ears and a tail (siiiigh) just cemented what he’d already known.

“You should keep on studying farming with Professors Sweetflower and Lily, of course.” Principal Doomsday was taking care of Austin’s official move from cy’kidlings to cy’Lightning Blade, including the physical move from the kids’ dorm to the cy’Lightning house. “And don’t forget to make time for your friends. Remember – sa’Bulldozer, sa’Rainbow, sa’Lightning, sa’Vengeance and I were all in different cy’rees when we were in school, and we are still crew after all this time.”

His friends? Austin found himself blinking owlishly at the principal. “Sweetbriar’s probably going to go cy’Lightning Blade, too.”

The principal said nothing. Austin thought hard and fast. “Sianna. Sianna’s not – Sianna’s not a fighter, she’s a dancer.” Why hadn’t he ever been listening? “Sianna’s not going to go cy’Lightning Blade, is she?” She would probably go… cy’Lily? Or cy’Sweetflower. Who… were his secondary instructors for farming.

“Austin, were you listening?” Principal Doomsday leaned against the wall and huffed at him. “You’re not changing Mentors to be with Sianna. For one, then you wouldn’t be in a cy’ree with Sweetbriar. For another, you wouldn’t be happy as cy’Lily, in my opinion. And for a third, it’s a small school. You’ll still have plenty of time together.”

“But not sitting up all night talking…” Austin slapped a hand over his mouth. “I mean…” The words came out, unsurprisingly, muffled.

Principal Doomsday laughed. “You’re not the only one, I assure you. I told you, I was a student once myself. All of the staff were.”

“Not here though, right?” A change of subject, yay. Austin remembered to move his hands away from his mouth.

“No, long ago and not all that far away, in a place called Addergoole. I think your mother and your older siblings went there…?”

Not the nicest change of subject. “Um. Yeah. Yeah, that’s what Mom said. Somewhere underground? She never really wanted to talk about it.”

“Most Addergoole grads don’t. But we were all kids once. We remember.” The principal patted Austin’s shoulder. “You’ll still have time for your friends, and I’m sure Professor Leo – Professor Inazuma – isn’t going to say no to the occasional sleepover. Sianna’s a nice girl.”

“So’s Sweetbriar.” The words came out fast. Sweetbriar wasn’t nice, not really. She was sharp and prickly and sometimes temperamental, already deadly and altogether hard to read when she wanted to be.

And… and Principal Doomsday was smiling at him, no, grinning, why had he never noticed that minks had sharp teeth, help…

“Sweetbriar is an interesting girl. She’s a good friend, from what I can tell, and someone good to have your back in a fight. Of course, I’m biased.”

“Biased? Ma’am?” She was going cy’Lightning Blade, right, not cy’Doomsday? He didn’t want to lose both of his friends.

“She’s my granddaughter. One of several, of course – but she’s still my granddaughter.” The principal smiled again, and this time it seemed far less dangerous. “You have good taste in friends, Austin. You’re going to be fine.”

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Gonna Be a Samurai… Kitty? A continuation of Doomsday for the Giraffe Call (@rix_Scaedu)

Sep6

This is written to Rix_Scaedu‘s commissioned continuation of the “Samurai” thread:
Gonna be a Samurai
Gonna Learn how to be a Samurai and
Being a Samurai Takes Work
If You Want to be a Samurai….

Fourth Year

“Austin, you don’t have to fake a headache. Seriously. If you don’t want to come to the recital, just say so.”

“No! …No.” Austin had burrowed as far under the blankets as he could go, but he had to peek out so that Sianna could see he was sincere. The light seemed to stab at his eyes, but Sianna had to understand. “No, I promise-”

“You’re not supposed to promise.”

“Not unless you really, really mean it. I promise I really do have a headache. I – I wanted to see you dance.”

“You see me dance all the time Austin what’s going on with your head?”

“Not like – what? My head hurts. I told you that.” He was seeing spots, which had to be why he didn’t dodge Sianna grabbing him. “Ow, ow, my ears… wait.” He blinked up at his friend. “What?”

“You’re Changing, it’s not fair, it’s awesome, I mean, but it’s not fair. Come on, what did Miss Ascha say about Changes?” She finally released her grip on – on his ears? It still didn’t feel right, but those things at the top of his head had to be his ears. At least that explained why everything got louder when Sianna let go. “Come on. You’ve got to go see Nurse ’Adne.”

“What? No, it’s just a headache.” Samurai didn’t need to worry about a little pain, did they? What would Professor Inazuma say? “I’ll be fine.”

“Austin!” Dancers had strong arms; Sianna grabbed his arm and yanked. “Come on. You’re going to see Nurse Meliadne. Now.”

Having a tail was totally going to get in the way of being a samurai. Austin stared miserably at Nurse Meliadne’s three-way mirror. “I have a tail.”

“You have a tail, yes. It looks as if it’s some sort of cat, maybe a domestic cat, a house cat.”

“A cat?” Austin spun around again. “Not even a tiger or a lion or something cool, I’m turning into a house cat?”

“Not ‘turning into,’ not really. You’re going to get some physical characteristics of a cat – the tail, the ears, as you can see, maybe claws. And you’ll get some – I’ve heard them called emotional characteristics. Some people call it ‘the animal.’ For some, it will be something like wanting to take a lot of naps, or chasing small objects – or prey, so I’d watch yourself around mouse-like Changes. Or an urge to mark your territory – be careful with that, or Miss Ascha will be very irritated with you.” The nurse smiled.

“Oh, good.” Austin wrinkled his nose. “So I might act like an idiot, and I’m all messed up for being a samurai.”

“Why do you say that?” Nurse Meliadne settled into her chair and put her chin in her hands. “After all, cats are known for their balance.”

“Who’s going to take me seriously looking like this?”

“Meliadne, I heard Austin was Changing… Ah, there you are!”

Oh, no, it was Professor Inazuma. Austin hid his face in his hands, but couldn’t help peeking out to see the professor’s expression.

He was… smiling. Almost grinning, really.

“A cat change? Great! Now we get to figure out your balance with that tail.”

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/804011.html. You can comment here or there.

If You Want to Be A Samurai, a continuation of Doomsday for the Giraffe Call

Sep2

2 continuations were anonymously paid for; this is [personal profile] alexseanchai‘s requested continuation of the “Samurai” thread
Gonna be a Samurai
Gonna Learn how to be a Samurai and
Being a Samurai Takes Work.

First Year

“Dancing is a good idea, Austin, Sianna. It teaches balance, rhythm, and a sense of where your body is n relation to your partner.”

It turned out that almost everything was useful to learning how to be a samurai, at least to hear Miss Ascha tell it. But the weird thing was, everything was also useful to learning how to be a dancer, like Sianna – even swords-training – or a teacher, like Ethelwin wanted to be – even the meditation exercises – or even a bounty hunter, which is what Sweetbriar wanted to be this week.

Austin wasn’t sure if Miss Ascha was right; he wasn’t even sure if she was being honest or if she was just encouraging them to learn their math and dancing and meditation. But Professor Inazuma and Principal Doomsday agreed with Miss Ascha, yes. Dancing was useful for being a samurai. Addition and subtraction were useful for being a samurai. And science and history were very very useful.

They were his teachers, and Austin was going to have to listen to them if he wanted to be a samurai.

Second Year

“I don’t see why Sianna and Sweetbriar can’t run with you, Austin. You all need an escort, after all.”

“They’re going to run slow.“

“Well, isn’t that the point?” Miss Ascha could sound so reasonable when she was being so stubborn and difficult. “To see the city and understand it?”

“And to run.“

“Well, I’ll tell you what. You try it for two weeks, and if it leaves you miserable, then I will come up with another solution. But Ammon is willing to take the time to run with the three of you, and not many on the staff have that time or inclination.”

Austin had run all over his home town alone, before he came here. But he understood that he’d have to follow rules if he wanted to be a samurai. “Yes, Miss Ascha.”

Third Year

“And then the pre-collapse Americans… Yes, Austin?”

“Were they really shipping food all over the world?”

Professor Lily pulled another map down. This one had lines drawn all over it. “Many times they were shipping food to another country, like this, another continent,” she pointed at the map, “and then shipping a very similar food back from that continent. But most Americans in those days didn’t farm. Most people in affluent nations had never seen a farm, much less worked on one, as you have.”

“You’ve worked on a farm?” Sweetbriar had to know that already, didn’t she? But she turned around and stared at him.

“Yeah? Where’d you grow up?”

“Fishing boats.”

It explained a lot about his classmate, but Austin was more interested, right now, in what Professor Lily was talking about. “Didn’t anyone tell them how to do it more reasonably?”

“What sort of authority do you think would have done that, Austin? What sort does it now?”

“Well, whoever runs the town, right?”

From the look on Miss Lily’s face, Austin could tell that he was going to have to be a samurai farmer to make anything work out sensibly.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/799478.html. You can comment here or there.

Being A Samurai Takes Work, a drabble of Doomsday Academy for the Giraffe Call

Aug29

A commissioned continuation from (I believe) [personal profile] thnidu.

After Gonna Be a Samurai

and Going to Learn How to be A Samurai.

Being a samurai took a lot of discipline. That’s what the books had said. Discipline and hard work and kimono and…

And apparently it took math classes, too, history classes, watching tv shows called anime from before the collapse, and, peh, being nice to all his fellow students. Even the silly ones.

And it took listening to Miss Ascha as if she were his sensei. Which, Austin supposed, she really was. And that meant more math and history and geology and, well, more being nice to his fellow students.

He bowed very politely to Sianna. If she wanted him to learn how to waltz, well, he guessed he was learning the waltz with her.

I don’t have a strong mental image for Austin yet (except touseled light-brown hair), but Sianna looks more or less like this

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Going to Learn How to be A Samurai: continuation of Doomsday Academy for the Giraffe Call/@inventrix

Aug28

To [personal profile] inventrix‘s commissioned continuation of Gonna Be a Samurai.

Austin was going to be a samurai.

He was going to a samurai school, and he was going to have a samurai teacher, and he was going to learn how to be a samurai.

“It says in the letter that they gives you a full education, Austin. Math, science, history, literature, life skills. I wonder what they mean by life skills?” His mother shook her head. “Nothing about being a samurai.”

“But you saw him! You saw Professor Inazuma!”

“And I saw Director Doomsday. I must say, that’s an ominous name for the head of a school.”

“Wasn’t there a note on that, too?” The welcome letter had come with quite a stack of welcome-information, including a small bio on each of the teachers. “She was… what’s a prepper?”

“Something from the before world. But that’s okay, she’s probably from the before world, too.” Austin’s mother shook her head yet again. “Are you sure you want to do this, Austin? I don’t think it’s going to be all samurai training.”

“I don’t care! I’m going to be a samurai! Please, mom? Please? I’ll work extra hard all summer!”

“Well, let me talk to your father…”

Austin was going to be a samurai.

He looked at dismay at the uniforms available. “But what about hakama and kimono?” Kilts and pants and plain white shirts were so boring. Especially compared to Professor Inazuma’s clothes… “Do I have to wear boring clothes?”

“Austin, they’ve nice clothes. Don’t be rude.”

“We have kimono.” The nice lady behind the uniform counter smiled at both of them. It took Austin a moment to realize that that was Principal Doomsday, the head of the school. The weasel ears had thrown him off for a moment.

So had the strange smile. She continued, as if unaware of the panicked surprise on Austin’s face. “That’s one of the things I actually did prepare for. Here are your kimono,” she added a hefty stack of black, just like Professor Inazuma’s, to Austin’s pile of uniform clothes. “And Miss Ascha is waiting for you over there.”

Austin was going to be a samurai.

He was going to be a samurai, even if he had to take classes in math and reading – some of the kids here couldn’t even read! – and how plants grew, and poetry. Even if he had to share a room with girls – and other boys, including the ones that couldn’t read. Even if everyone else thought this school was about growing up to be a teacher or learning how to be a doctor or even, in Sianna’s case, a silly ballerina. (Were there even ballerinas anymore? At least they knew teachers still existed!)

He was going to be a samurai, after eight years of classes and then, Professor Inazuma told him, maybe more classes still. But he could start learning right away, not just the math and reading and farming and stuff, but really learning.

“I’m going to be a samurai,” he informed Sianna. And he got to start today!

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Landing Page: Doomsday Academy

Aug26

A sub-setting of Addergoole and the Fae Apoc, Doomsday Academy is what happens when a fae graduate of Addergoole decided to build something better.

It features Addergoole characters from two generations as professors, and an all-new cast of students. The school experience runs from ten years old to 18, covering a wide swath of education not often found in the post-apoc world.

And post-apoc it is. Set approx. forty years after the titular Faerie Apocalypse (“the Disaster” “the Collapse”), the world is a far different place. Monsters still roam the blasted countryside, and cities are mostly destroyed shells. The human/fae population are just beginning to move past bare survival. Electricity, running water, telephones – these things exist, but mostly in sheltered enclaves.

I Have this School (LJ)
A Drabble of Addergoole meets Doomsday (Facebook)

The Professors
Doomsday Academy: First Day of Math (by [personal profile] inventrix)
First Day of School for First years (LJ)
First Day of History Class (LJ)
First Day of Survival Class (LJ)
First Day of Law Class (LJ)

The Students
Aquilina at School (LJ) at least 4 years in.
Gonna Be A Samurai (LJ)

The Parents
The Tower (LJ)

The City
The Year Cya Didn’t Keep Anyone (LJ)
Tweets: Planning a City (LJ)
Takes a Village to Build a City (LJ)
Boom Town: Center Street (LJ)

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Aquilina at School – A Storybit of Doomsday Academy

Aug25

Written to [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon‘s prompt, set in the Doomsday Academy, at least 4 years in.

The compound had always been full of kids – cousins, siblings, unknown-relations; Aquilina’s mom & her people made kids like it was going out of style.

The first three years here at Doomsday had been much the same – the First Years got put into a dorm room, all together, and they stayed together until they Changed or otherwise moved on to a Mentor.

And now… now Aquilina was cy’Law, having very politely and conveniently Changed over the summer break, and she had, for the very first time ever, a room to herself.

It made sense, of course. Her new wings took up a lot of space, and she was still getting used to not hitting things with them.

But it was quiet.

Her bed was big, and covered with soft plush comforters, and her dresser was bigger than the one she’d shared with a sister and two cousins at home. The mirror was almost big enough to get in all of her Change, which was something of a feat. She could sprawl out and not run into anyone at all; even though the room had little more than the dresser, the mirror, the bed, and the desk, it was still spacious.

And way too quiet. Aquilina hopped off the bed and opened the door.

~

For her first three years at Doomsday, Aquilina and the rest of her yearmates had cheerfully herded from class to class, splitting up only for clubs and not even for all of those.

It was strange to move now with her cy’ree instead – a small cluster of Law students with their bright green-and-orange silk ties and socks, murmuring in the code Aquilina was still learning. Stranger still to peel off from the group on her own and join the rest of the fourth-years in their first class of the day – Earth Science, with Professor Sweetflower. And it was downright odd to sit down in the midst of pink-and-green, blue-and-blue, gold-and-blue, red-and-red, and so on. They might not have all Changed, but they had all changed over the summer.

When Professor Sweetflower stood up, though, a wave of relief swept over Aquilina.

“Hello, students,” the Professor began, in her honey-and-wildflowers drawl, “and welcome to your first day of Earth Science.”

Some things might change – but some things never did. It was nice to know the teachers, at least, were constant.

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