Ostrakon{A Literate Roleplay}

Semnai

The plane had landed on a slick concrete floor about twenty minutes ago, the ground marked with a rather large H painted in white with some neon marking placed at random around it. This was far from the most noticeable of landmarks however, with the extensive orchards of peach, cherry, but most of all olive trees surrounding the landing area and leading straight up to the building complexes. Their bushy leaves and straight, slender branches seemed to appear like green stars from the air, though from the ground their twisted roots and knotted bark became a bit too rugged to be continuously classified as if they were stars.

"Here we are, home sweet home!" the loud voice bellowed, belonging to the same man as before. By now you had learned that his name was Roderick Armistead, and that he was the proprietor of all the "fresh meat" brought to the Academy every month. Alcohol had been proven to loosen his tongue while on board, and had thus given the group of captives quite the annoyance on the flight here. Just listening to his brash tone discussing the most roguish of activities was enough to fill you with relief for the sight of land.

But now that you had arrived, these reprieved feelings began to be very brief. You were miles away from your home, in who knows where, surrounded by armed men who seemed very dangerous and held the guns with some caliber of intelligence, unlike most goons in action movies you'd watched. In cinematic films it always appeared so easy for the captives to escape, but here was very different...a real and very grounding fear took place in most of you, though of course there would be some people who thought in a very different manner. In fact, it appeared that some fellow captives were even daring to bicker with the guards. This simply caused them to lift their weapons, most likely trained not to respond to any young upstarts.

For those who were paying attention as they walked, it was evident that you were all being herded into a specific location. The walkway before you, which was made of a similar concrete to the pad the airplane had landed on, continued before you until it met marble columns and a palisade, which in their place stood before a long layer of swooping blue-veined stairs.

Once the large mass of students had all been "encouraged" to move forwards, the long Corinthian columns gave way to an open-roofed courtyard where tables stood stacked side by side. They were covered with bright, cheerful looking tablecloths of white and blue striped, which seemed to be vainly attempting to hide the disarray the rest of the scenery was. Blue paint which once covered the walls was peeling off in egregious amounts, and obvious rust lined the stone plates which had been placed in mosaic patterns years before. Now, though all the colors seemed to blend in a harmonious mixture of grey, blue, and white, the colored tones seemed to speak of sadness more then aesthetics.

"Y'all better go to each table, or else you shall receive the pain of a thousand ass-whoopings!" Roderick growled, before shoving the shoulder of the same girl who had cried before, and roughly turning away. Apparently this was as far as he was concerned, and from now on, you would have to deal with things yourself.

The first table you saw before you had a tall man with dark hair behind it, whom stared at all of you with an icy glare. He seemed mostly indifferent towards the entire situation, and he would have thus blended entirely into the backdrop of other tables, had it not been for the array of sharp and particularly nasty weapons spread on his table, besides the comparatively peaceful clipboard.

Across from him were two tables placed a short distance apart, but which contained distinguishably separate identities. One table carried thick books and leather bound tomes, with a very thin and haggard man seeming to fidget uneasily beside it. The other table contained naught but a pile of blood-stained music sheets, which a man in pirate's garb was attempting to read. A black Raven perched on his shoulder, and he struck chords at random on the violin he carried, which seemed to be slightly out of tune.

Walking a bit further, about four more tables came into view; each filled with equally unique characters. A table covered with math books and several periodic objects was manned by a classy looking woman, who seemed to outwardly cringe at each tuneless note the wannabe pirate played. Besides her was a table filled with art supplies and murky looking water, which was controlled by a relatively normal looking person...if you could forget the fact that she was a goat.

The last two tables were both before white-haired men, though one of them seemed to be more inviting than the other. Two white-haired adults, one with a blue kimono and the other in a snazzy tuxedo and gloves. Large vials and glasses of potions lined their table, with occasional bubbles or clouds of vapor rising around them as a result of all the scientific elements about them. The other man, though more becomingly attired in a blue cloak lined with snowflakes, seemed to have a table manned only with maps and was tapping his finger on the edge of his chair with an idle eye.

Most of you stayed still, unsure of what to do or where to go. The scene before you seemed rather similar, as most children who have gone to any sort of public vendor or school usually undergo such sights of tables lined up, with clipboards and adults giving off those fake smiles they all seemed to possess specifically for young ones. But the sight of at least thirty guards standing at attention behind you, and the dark square door that stood before you behind all the tables, was one that was truly menacing. No one knew what this place would have in store for them. None of you could possibly know what dangers lay in wait.

And once you did know...you would wish you could forget.

Quick Note:

I just want to acknowledge how cool it was, to log back on and see 1k reads! Thank you so much for all the support everyone, and I really hope that as this roleplay starts, it will prove to be an enjoyable experience for everyone as well  :)

I also want to stress how important it is that you finish your forms before beginning to roleplay on here. There is essential information about each character which WILL be referenced in arcs or chapters, so it's important to get forms done as soon as possible.

With that in mind, have fun everyone!