Riona Meehan didn't think she had been this excited for a Saturday morning in quite some time. The girls, perhaps, might be feeling differently, but the cloudy sky was already threatening rain on the horizon. It was a good day to learn things, she thought - and she was looking forward to learning them. One of the best parts about being a teacher, she had found, was that you learned as much from your students sometimes as they did from you.
She was dressed for the weather - stout hiking boots and trousers, with a rain jacket folded over the back of her chair. She hadn't told the girls that they would be going outside, of course, but a subtle little lesson about having to do things you hadn't expected and weren't quite prepared for was so delightfully on point that she hadn't been able to resist the idea.
Besides, it wasn't all bad. The Jade Seal Academy had a rich and interesting history, much of which was not actually taught in the classroom. It would be good for a new generation to learn where they had truly come from, and why... and what the price had been for this peaceable school.
She wondered if it would surprise them. Perhaps, perhaps not - perhaps they would surprise her. Children were always full of surprises. It was why she enjoyed them so much.
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OC - this thread is for the "responsibility to serve" group. The other group is on a separate thread, check discord for details if you have questions.
9 AM was not exactly Riet's favourite time of day. It wasn't that it was too early. Riet could not think of a time of day that didn't feel too early, or too late. It was just a fact of life, as far as she was concerned, that the human body was not built for wakefulness. That other people were so much better at ignoring the call to sleep than she was struck her as something of a personal insult.
The issue with 9 AM was that it occupied that awkward part of the day dead center between "waking up and eating something," at 6 AM, and "napping and eating something else," at 12 PM. Even the thermos of coffee she'd been nursing during her early-morning exploration of the campus hadn't really helped take the edge off that, and that thermos was back at her dorm, now, along with her jacket and umbrella.
As Riet slipped into the classroom, and saw the way Mrs. Meehan was dressed, she realized that perhaps leaving them behind had been a mistake.
"Um." For a moment, she was frozen at the door. Had she mentioned something about a trip outdoors, which Riet had forgotten? Or was she just dressed this way because she was planning on a trip after class? Nobody else was here, yet; she couldn't exactly work out whether to make a run for the dorms by checking how many of the other girls were wearing their uniforms. Not that sprinting there and back again would change her situation much. Besides, there was no real evidence the teacher was planning anything. For all Riet knew, she'd just decided to go on a hike later, and hadn't seen the point in dressing up formally for a small Saturday supplemental. Was that something she'd mentioned? Gahhhhh.
Oh--she was still standing at the door.
"Good morning, Mrs. Meehan." Eying the teacher warily, Riet took a seat.
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Holding a class on a Saturday is a cruel, cruel joke, and Miko isn’t laughing. She stayed up way too late watching music videos and now she’s paying the terrible price of being a little sleepy. She might’ve been tempted to just go back to bed if Ms. Meehan hadn’t called her out specifically.
And for what? Preparation for a class discussion? Can teachers even, yknow, legally do that? Keep kids after class- well, she supposes they can. Not that she’s ever gotten detention. Detention is only for the bad kids, everyone knows that. Miko is not a bad kid. She can’t be, if she wants to be an idol.
Although, dark horse idols are becoming a little more popular these days. Girls who have a little grit to them. They still follow the rules, though.
With these thoughts in mind, she shows up to the History classroom right on time. Since it isn’t technically a school day, she figured she could get away with relaxing the uniform a little, and she’s glad she isn’t the only one. Even if her fashionable cropped hoodie and high-waisted shorts are a far cry from the hiking gear Ms. Meehan is wearing. Which… actually… isn’t that different from the usual uniform.
Miko frowns, a little suspiciously, and takes a seat near Riet. She leans over to whisper, just in case, “Was there a dress code?”
Not that she would have time to change, but she would like to know exactly what regulations she might be breaking. You know. To keep track.
Miko frowns, a little suspiciously, and takes a seat near Riet. She leans over to whisper, just in case, “Was there a dress code?”
"Uh..." Riet glanced involuntarily at Miko, and then back at the front of the room where the teacher was waiting. It felt weird having people treat her as a reliable source of information on anything beyond bizarre magical trivia. And, also, just a couple seconds earlier, she'd been asking herself the same question. Still, the fact that they were both in the dark about special instructions for this class had to mean something. And if people were going to actually ask her things, she had to at least seem reliable and authoritative, right?
"Not as far as I know," she replied, at the same volume as Miko. "Maybe there was an email?"
Wait--oh, god, was she asking about a dress code because Riet had worn the uniform? Riet cringed almost imperceptibly.
"It just, er... Seemed risky to show up to class in casual clothes, I guess," she whispered, flashing Miko a slightly embarrassed smile. Obviously that was what they'd been meant to do, in retrospect, but she couldn't just say that.
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Kaya was so prepared for this. She had stayed up until 3 in the morning researching the Academy and all the weird stories she could find, and texted all of her relatives who had attended to try to get their stories as well. Her sister had replied "go to bed dork" and her mother had replied "Kaya honey are you eating enough? Do you want me to send you another care package? Love you sweetie, study hard!" And her grandmother had replied with "did ukrmm red add call abbbbbbbbbb skscs nft?" That was pretty standard for texts with Grandma, though - Kaya would call later for someone to help her decipher it.
Anyway, her family had not been much help, but she had done so much research, all the research. She had a whole notebook full of possible stories and 19 tabs of maps saved on her phone and she walked calmly down, standing up in front of the class ready to present in front of the other students, all of the teachers and school staff members, her parents, and her neighbor's dog, all of whom were looking at her attentively, which was when Kaya glanced down at her notes and noticed that she was completely naked and falling through the floor into-
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP
"Oh, heck!" Kaya sat up abruptly, apparently still in her bed and not falling through the floor, and dressed in her pajamas. Better than the dream option, but still not good. At least the research was okay, right? Right! Now she just had to find... clothes? Right. Presentation clothes! Button down shirt, cute (but professional!) black skirt, ballet flats. She had this down - she was running late, but she had this down. Kaya grabbed her notebook and slung her bag over her shoulder quickly, running through the hallway and out the door, making it to Miss Meehan's class...
At 9:02.
Whoops. Well, she'd tried. She'd... also forgotten to brush her hair, so it was probably a wild mess. Did she have a hairtie somewhere? She tried to smooth it in as she stepped into the room and make it look like she wasn't doing that. Success? Questionable.
"Thank you all for joining me."
Was that because she'd been late? That was totally because she'd been late. "Um... sorry." Kaya's voice was quiet, and she slipped in, trying to find a seat. There were plenty of them, but this hadn't started the way she'd been hoping for.
"Now that we're all here - let's go ahead and ask a question - why do you think you're here today?" Ms. Meehan's gaze singled out each of them in turn, and Kaya wasn't entirely sure that she'd prepared for that question.
“Thanks. I guess it’s too late now.” Miko nods slowly, still unsure but comforted by the fact that she isn’t the only one uncertain about what exactly is going on here. She’s pretty sure she would’ve noticed an email about this, but then again she isn’t exactly the best at checking her inbox or keeping track of anything beyond the latest gossip around school.
And the openings in the idol industry. A shame what happened to Mitsi, really, but she really should’ve been more careful walking out in the rain. Miko pats at the raincoat slung across her bag, reassuring herself of its presence. It wouldn’t do to get caught in a downpour and ruin her hair and makeup!
Speaking of hair and makeup, she looks over as Kaya bustles through the door with a wild look in her eyes. She waves the girl over, indicating the empty seat on her other side and probably totally accidentally also calling the attention of the teacher. Whoops.
Well, Ms. Meehan is kind of looking at all of them but she was also definitely looking at her, so Miko pipes up first, a little confused by the obvious question. “Because you told us to be here, Ms. Meehan.”
Is that too obvious? She tacks on, helpfully, “for the class discussion?”
Surreptitiously - for her, which isn’t all that sneaky at all - she offers Kaya a spare hair tie from around her wrist. One should never let a friend have a bad hair day without at least offering a hair tie or a hat.
"Now that we're all here - let's go ahead and ask a question - why do you think you're here today?" Ms. Meehan's gaze singled out each of them in turn, and Kaya wasn't entirely sure that she'd prepared for that question.
At one point, when Riet had been a little kid, her parents had taken her to see a doctor. As part of a sequence of tests, he'd shown her a box of raisins, and asked her to tell him what was inside it. She'd told him it had to be something other than raisins, because otherwise he wouldn't be asking. This felt a little like that. Still, as smug as she'd felt about spotting the trap at the time, she doubted whipping that response out now would win her any points in the teacher's books. Especially not the way the teacher was looking at them all.
Is that too obvious? She tacks on, helpfully, “for the class discussion?”
"Yeah," Riet said, grateful to Miko for starting them off. "Prep for the in-class debate you mentioned, right?"
Kaya looked as discombobulated as Riet felt; that was a little reassuring. It also put them at three for three for people who hadn't dressed up for a hike in the rain, which meant that Riet could probably relax on that score.
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Thank goodness for nice people. Nice prepared people, specifically. Kaya accepted the hair tie from Miko, mouthing the words thank you without saying them aloud - she didn't want to interrupt the discussion, after all. The discussion such as it was, anyway. It seemed like everyone else had pretty much the same opinion that she did, but since they'd already said it, she'd just look silly repeating it over again.
Except she didn't really have anything more to add. She finished pulling her hair into a ponytail, which hopefully looked reasonably presentable. "That's what I thought too," she admitted, looking at the other girls. "I... did some research?"
Ms. Meehan seemed amused. Kaya had hoped she would seem impressed, but that wasn't quite the look she was getting. "Research is good. Sometimes it's important to find out what you're getting into. Other times, though, mm. History is so interesting, that's why I teach it. The people who make history, though, they're not the ones who sit around. Sometimes the best way to find things out - whether that's research or something else - is to learn by doing. By jumping right in! Sometimes, if you really want to understand a subject matter, you have to be willing to take some risks. So, with that said..." Ms. Meehan gave them a smile that was maybe a little too gleeful, as the rain started pattering lightly on the window, picking up her jacket and pulling it on. "Let's take a field trip, shall we? We can talk on the way. You can leave anything you don't want getting wet here in the classroom - I'm not a complete monster, after all."
Kaya tried really hard not to groan, but this was not what she had imagined. She had thought this was going to be study and research and sharing ideas and... she was really not dressed for a trek outside. Tentatively, she raised a hand. "Can we change, first?"
"Oh, Kaya, I thought you were prepared? Come along, young ladies - history is fascinating, but there's no time like the present."
Riet's eyes moved to the dismal scene outside the window--then back to Ms. Meehan. Then to the window--then back to Meehan.
"Right."
She didn't really want anything to get wet, but she didn't trust this room to keep her pocket notebook safe, either. Should have left it back at her dorm! And taken the umbrella with her, while she was at it!
"Um..." Well, it wasn't exactly like she could back out now. "Sure!" She pushed herself to her feet and moved towards the door, putting on her best 'I am totally excited for this, no, really, I promise' smile. "How far are we going, out of curiosity?"
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Miko can’t help the suppressed panic that jolts her at the mention of research. Shoot, were they supposed to do research?! Nobody mentioned that! She gives Kaya a slightly frazzled glance, trying to tell how serious she is. She guesses that maybe it might have been implied, a little, but how was SHE supposed to know they had to have it by TODAY?
Her nerves are soothed a little by Ms. Meehan’s relaxed response, though something about the way their teacher is looking at them still has her on edge. Then, a moment later, the words actually register in her brain. She looks at the window at the same time as Riet, though her gaze lingers longer.
“Ms. Meehan,” she finally says, frowning, “it’s raining.”
Yeah, ok, obvious statements for 200, but she really feels the need to point that out. She stands up reluctantly, shaking out her raincoat but hesitating near her desk. She has her raincoat, but a quick glance over her two friends confirms that neither of them have any rain gear. And also… “the humidity would be just awful for my hair.”
She says that at barely a mutter. It isn’t her best defense, but the gears are still turning in her head. Luckily, something clicks after a moment, as she drags her feet after Riet. “And if you don’t let them get raincoats, Riet and Kaya could catch colds and then the whole school could end up sick.”
That seems like a more solid argument. Surely Ms. Meehan cares about her students’ health, right?
"It'll be just a couple of miles." Ms. Meehan was giving them a smile, too, although unlike Riet it seemed as if she really was enjoying herself. "And yes, you will get cold and you will get wet and you will be uncomfortable, but sometimes a little discomfort is an important part of learning. Think of how much history we would have to ignore if we chose to leave out everything someone might be uncomfortable with? It's important to learn, girls - both the good things and the bad. There's a lot more to magical girls and their history than you'll find in the classroom. There are... some things that some people would prefer you never learn." She sighed, seeming disappointed. "Well. I hope that this year's students are willing to sacrifice a little comfort for the sake of something important."
Kaya was frowning slightly - she really was not dressed for this, not at all - but at the same time, she didn't like being caught out unprepared. She was supposed to be the most prepared of the prepared! She'd stayed up so late preparing - it ought to count for something! Having all her preparations go to waste... no. No, she wasn't going to do that. Kaya set her bag on the table, where it made a nicely emphatic thunk, and fished out a pen and pocket notebook.
"It's okay. I'm ready. I want to learn." Perfect delivery, if Kaya was allowed to say so herself. She needed to impress the teachers, and if research wasn't going to do it, then she was going to do it whatever way was necessary. No one was going to say Kaya couldn't suck it up and deal with it, no way.
"Well, very good." Ms. Meehan seemed amused, which hadn't quite been what Kaya was going for, but it was at least better than disappointed. "And you? Girls? Shall we?" With no further commentary, she started towards the door, obviously expecting the rest of them to fall into line like ducklings.
Oh, good, just a couple of miles, in the rain. Her smile grew a touch more forced. Miko's attempt to get Meehan to show a bit of mercy fell on deaf ears, as she'd expected it to; she appreciated the effort, though.
"[...] sometimes a little discomfort is an important part of learning."
"Mhm!"
Meehan had to know what her health situation was; she had to know this would be a greater burden on her than on the other two. Maybe that was part of the point. Riet had been very strident about people having to do what they were born to do; maybe the unstated lesson was that sometimes people are born to do things they can't do. As if Riet didn't already know that. She might be okay on the trip itself, but there’d be a cost later.
The main thing holding some kind of outburst back were the hints. Lessons that people in the school didn't want taught; secrets that were worth suffering for. Either they were about to be inducted into a political cult, or... Well, Kaya seemed eager, and Kaya knew more about this school than any of the other students Riet had talked to, small a number as that might have been.
"And you? Girls? Shall we?"
Right. Well. Nothing for it. If this was something good, it'd be worth maybe missing a couple days of class. If it wasn't, Ms. Meehan had just admitted there might be faculty she could turn to for assistance afterwards. Riet started after her.
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir
Miko’s unease takes on the distinct edge of annoyance as her teacher just… brushes off her concerns. She frowns openly, now, in the face of this unexpected betrayal. That’s… that’s not fair at all. She resists the urge to stomp her foot on the ground or raise her voice or do any of the other things she really wants to do, because that’s not appropriate behavior for a future idol.
Take a deep breath. Ok. Count to three. Ok. She takes off her purse and puts it beside Kaya’s bag, pulling out her phone and putting it in the pocket of her raincoat where it won’t get wet.
She is so talking to her parents about this later. But for now, there isn’t anything to do except take another deep breath and think for a second. She considers her jacket. She considers her carefully applied subtle makeup and her braided hair that will poof up at the slightest provocation.
She considers Kaya’s determined resilience and Riet’s strained smile, and glances at Ms. Meehan one more time to confirm that she isn’t getting any sympathy from that corner anytime soon. She’d have more luck begging outside the talent scout’s office.
Being a good friend is hard. She pushes all her breath out and reaches out to tap Riet on the shoulder. Doing the right thing is hard, but she tries to do it anyways. For her career, that’s all.
“Here.” A small smile, as she hands her raincoat to her friend with a shrug that tries very hard to be casual. “You look worried.”
A little rain never hurt her. She flips up the hood on her cropped hoodie and crosses her arms over her chest in what is definitely not a pout, and follows Ms. Meehan out the door.
Kaya had been so wrapped up in worrying about her presentation that she hadn't been thinking about her friends. Miko was apparently way better at that than she was, and when she offered her raincoat to Riet, Kaya looked down briefly, ashamed. She'd been being stubborn for herself, but that didn't mean that others didn't need a little help. She'd have to try to be better about that.
Be more like Miko. Okay. Miko wasn't such a bad person to idolize. Kaya gave her a shy smile, but wasn't all that sure what to say.
"Well, ladies, if we've got that all sorted out?" Ms. Meehan led them to the doors to the outside. The sky threatened, but didn't attack quite yet. Ms. Meehan made a little hm sort of noise, and then shook her head. "Don't worry, girls. You wouldn't learn anything if you were completely miserable when we got there. We'll go a bit slowly. It's quite flat and mostly pine, so you needn't worry about the undergrowth."
Kaya felt like she should be thankful of that, even if she wasn't entirely sure what 'undergrowth' was or why pine made that better. She was not exactly an outdoorsy sort of person - Kaya's favorite way to be outdoors was on a screened-in porch, with a glass of lemonade and a good book. There was, sadly, no lemonade in sight. She sighed, then started forward, following Ms. Meehan onto the path.
"Let us know if we can help, okay?" she whispered to Riet. Kaya didn't know how much help they'd be, but maybe it would be okay. It was... actually not too bad walking. There were pine needles on the ground, and they made sort of a path or a carpet. It could have been worse. It probably would be worse, once it started raining, but maybe if they didn't go too slowly, they could get most of this done with before that happened.
"So, girls, while we walk-" Ms. Meehan's voice was bright and cheerful, in contrast to the gray and looming sky. "What would you give up, to be able to be a magical girl?"
As tense as Riet was, the tap on her shoulder almost made her jump out of her skin. The offer that followed it, though--that shocked her, somehow. She might have refused it, if Miko had left her with the time to think about it, but the idol handed it to her, put up her own hood, and was away again before she had a chance to respond. Some tiny asinine part of her groused that it was "too cutesy," and that it'd be embarrassing to be seen wearing it; the rest of her couldn't hear it over the sound of her putting the jacket on.
"Thanks, Miko," she said, a smaller, more genuine smile on her face as she followed the others out.
And then, as they left the room and then the building, another surprise:
"Let us know if we can help, okay?"
Riet's was pretty sure her face was on fire. That tiny part of her was suddenly much louder! It was humiliating to be the center of this much concern. What was she, a china doll? She knew Kaya didn't mean it as an insult, but...
"Don't worry--I'll be fine," she whispered back, putting on her most confident smile. "It's just a little exercise, right?" Hahahaha, fuck. That'd sounded fake, even to her own ears. Was bravado really going to get her anywhere here? She needed to--
"So, girls, while we walk, what would you give up, to be able to be a magical girl?"
Oooh, god, okay. Well. At least it was a change in subject.
"Um..." But talking about this in a group could be worse, if she couldn't find the right words. Especially after how kind the others had been. She didn't want to sound like a lunatic. She'd thought about what she'd be willing to give up for many, many hours, and whether she'd be able to endure giving up or experiencing things for them, but a vaguer answer would probably be better better, here. Even if it did make her wonder--no, it was just part of the class, goddamn it. Some part of the lesson about not being okay with magical girls being forced to do something, or whatever. Her eyes traveled down to the ground, and then up to the sky. After a moment, she spoke up again.
"Most of what I've got. Not anything that'd hurt other people, but... Plenty of stuff I can give up or take on without doing that." She shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. There were plenty of old stories about people making bad deals and losing something important to them in the process. She was pretty sure that if the upshot was that she became a magical girl, she could live with most of those outcomes. She'd just have to work hard to find a way out. More banal stuff, like pain or exhaustion, she thought she knew for a fact she could handle; that was, after all, close to where she already was in a sense. "So long as it also meant I could do--more." It felt like a lame way to end the speech, especially after putting on such a show of confidence to Kaya, but...
“The only thing that ever stopped me being exactly who I wanted,” she said, “was the worry that I would soon be dead … and now I am dead, and I am sick of roses, and I am horny for revenge.” -Harrow the Ninth, by Tamsyn Muir