INTRO MINGLE

[dormheads]

week zero: mingle

remaining students: forty-two.

A buzzing alarm wakes you bright and early. You blink your eyes blearily, greeted by the sun's rays peeking through the blinds of a window. It's 7 AM, and it feels like you definitely went to bed way too late last night. Oh well, up and at 'em! Time to start your day! Except...

...this place looks unfamiliar. You're in a room with other people who are also waking up. Outside of the window is a large, sprawling school campus touched by the start of warm autumn colors. In the bathroom is--wow, another door through which are two more confused people in a similar room. Suite mates! In addition, if you go exploring within your dorm, you may find special access to a certain room. Though as you wander about, make sure you take a glance at the rules that are posted at each building.

Welcome to Wiwaldi Academy!

Outside on campus, the air is crisp. In the morning, your feet will crunch over a light frost and fallen leaves. The rest of the day is mild, but sweater and jackets may be needed in the evening and during the night. The sky is bright blue and empty except for an occasional stray cirrus cloud or two. It seems like fall is on the horizon.

🦋 ☀️ 🍁 ❄️

In each room, students will find their own laptops with a welcome screen:

Thank you for joining us at the beautiful campus of Wiwaldi Academy! All classes officially begin on Monday. Students are encouraged to enjoy leisure time on campus this weekend. Please be mindful as new additions to the campus are in construction, and these are off-limits to students until completion.

The icon in the top right corner corresponds to your dorm: Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter. Even though you are all sorted by a particular dorm, please don't hesitate to meet and mingle with one another! You all will have plenty of opportunity to do so on Saturday during the Sundae Orientation. An ice cream bar will be on the campus lawn between the dormitory buildings from 12PM onward, and everyone is invited to come meet and mingle while playing introductory games.

Don't forget to think about your EXTRA CREDIT! It's a chance for you to get ahead on your work. You wouldn't want anyone else stealing your extra credit for themselves, so keep all extra credit assignments under lock and key.

From all of us here at Wiwaldi Academy, we wish you great success on your future endeavors!

Signed,
Principal Bear

Near their desk is a backpack filled with the following:

- an acceptance letter (the envelope is clickable)
- school supplies (notebook, pen, highlighter, binder)
- a framed photograph of a man and his dog
- a smartphone
- a school jacket
- a personalized mug
- a little pack of konpeito
- a cashmere scarf
- one (1) voucher

On their smartphone, they'll find an email with the subject Extra Credit Assignment. The contents of the email provide the details of said assignment.

🦋 ☀️ 🍁 ❄️

Welcome to the Intro Mingle and the start of our game, everyone! Feel free to use the Saturday orientation as prompts for your top-levels. If you have any questions, you may use the Discord #questions-for-mods channel, or DM your mods (Dana, Francy, Anna, and Jan) directly. If you don't have all of us added, just let one of us know, and we'll create the mod DM for you.

A friendly reminder is that IC Profiles are not ICly unlocked yet. Please also stay tuned for Something Else on Sunday at 12 PM / 3 PM EST.

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Comments

[illuminance]

[ she comes from a strong culture of light based metaphors. ]

Well. That's from practice, too.

[duranduel]

[hm?]

Wait, really?

[illuminance]

Socializing and speaking is as much a skill as anything else. It has to be honed.

[duranduel]

...

[A glance away.]

Honed from something already there, though.

[illuminance]

You think so?

[ she just looks genuinely curious - it's not an argument. ]

[duranduel]

Yeah, it's like...you can't make something from nothing, y'know? Even the best sculptor can't just make a masterpiece outta thin air.

[And a shrug.]

But what am I saying...I'm just talking from my own experience.

[illuminance]

I see. Perhaps I take for granted where my starting point was.

But for what it's worth, I think you're doing fine at speaking with me, now.

[duranduel]

[Mandricardo's cheeks flush.]

Ah, you really think so?

[illuminance]

I do.

Opening up to people can take practice, but you don't need to worry about it too much, either. You can feel shy, or be quiet, or even misspeak. But that doesn't mean people won't still take a shine to you!

[duranduel]

Eh, I'm a third-rate, y'know. And I'm pretty jaded, but...

[He shakes his head.]

I'm sorry. You're sayin' real nice words. I don't want to bring you down with my bad ones. Thank you.

[illuminance]

You can be honest, if you don't believe me. I don't mind it.

[duranduel]

Ah, no, that isn't it. I'm not... [Now he's embarrassed!!] That's something we should absolutely believe in, I think.

[illuminance]

... But it's always hardest to relax and give yourself that sort of leeway, isn't it?

[duranduel]

[A long pause......]

[And then a shy nod. Yeah. That's absolutely right.]

[illuminance]

[ she feels like any more pep-talk will probably be overkill, so. ]

... I think we're due for introductions. My name is Luxanna Crownguard. It's lovely to meet you. And you are?

[duranduel]

...

[That's a pretty name, he thinks.]

Uh, nice to meet ya. I'm Ma...uh. [A cough.] Rider. I mean, I'm a Servant, so I can't give out my True Name and all. Sorry.

[illuminance]

Servants aren't able to keep their names, where you're from?

[ well, when she thinks about it, she doesn't really remember any of the names of her house servants. but that feels bad so she is pushing it aside. ]

[duranduel]

Not quite like that. Servants are like...figures of legends. Knowing the True Name of them gives people a lot of information...

Well, its not like people would know who I am...

[illuminance]

It's your decision. Everyone is entitled to some secrets.

For the time being, Rider is a perfectly fine name.

[duranduel]

[She's so reasonable that it makes Mandricardo's self-deprecation die in his throat.]

Yeah, I guess it is, huh? Too bad I can't find my horse.

[illuminance]

Those of us who arrived with animals had them in their dorm. I imagine this means your horse isn't present.

[duranduel]

That makes sense.

[And a thought comes to him.]

Well, its not like I could even bring him out unless I'm fighting, and he doesn't always listen to me anyways, so it's not a major deal or anything.

[illuminance]

Lets hope that this implies there won't be a need to fight.

[duranduel]

...

[A sigh.]

Considering Servants are summoned to fight, and I was summoned, that...sort of implies that might happen.

[illuminance]

But the rest of us were summoned too, and I've no such association. Might it be coincidence?