BACK TO SCHOOL!

[finchmods]

Back to School!

It's that time again! Summer has come to an end and students are beginning to return to Finchwood Academy. While some students remained on campus over the break for advanced studies (in beating down Shadows!), most will have a busy day getting to campus, moving into their new dorms, and reuniting with friends.

Students that flew to Maine are picked up at Bangor International Airport in private buses driven by the excitable duo of Klara Kowalczyk and Ronnie Moon. During the hour and a half on the bus, Ella Calloway starts a surprisingly successful singalong that thoroughly delights Ms. Kowalczyk; as a result she makes them promise they'll try out for the musical later this year! Students that are dropped off by parents or other guardians are greeted by various other staff members and, if desired, their guardians are welcome to stay until approximately 3PM to help them get settled. Before leaving, [Character B]'s [guardian of choice] gives them an embarrassingly affectionate goodbye that earns them a fair amount of teasing, especially from the freshmen. This might be a new low.

But the day's not over yet.

After dinner, all of the students are called to the auditorium for an assembly. During this assembly, a proud Headmaster Gladstone gives a speech about all of the good work the students of Finchwood Academy have done and their dedication to the mission. He knows that they're asking a great deal of everyone here, he says, but their strength, tenacity, and selflessness in the face of adversity has been nothing short of phenomenal and he's grateful. The man has never been much for speeches but, apart from the occasional mumble, he gets through this one admirably and it seems to come from the heart. [Character C] gets caught up in the moment and whistles excitedly from the audience, causing Gladstone to become momentarily flustered, then smile briefly, then continue on. Once he's done with the praise, however, he has more to say. Because of last year's many successes and the success of the much more limited summer class, he and Lenore have made a decision: starting this year, they will begin exploration of the Shadow World. Rather than remaining on the defensive, they will take the fight to the Shadows, explore the other world, and attempt to find a way to close the rifts for good.

To facilitate this, the student body will be broken into squads that will train together, fight together, and explore together. Gladstone explains that these squads have been designed for ideal balance by Lenore and Irene, then he proceeds to read off the list of squad leaders:

Scout Thoroughgood	Dustin Espinosa	Russell Reeve
Flint Chambers	Adam Ho	Justice Bishop
Lillian Armstrong	Theodora Sandoval	Pansy Tipton
Sabrina Lane	Neal Valentine	Kyra Wilkie

He congratulates these students on their unparalleled performances, encourages the other students to work with their squad leaders, and adds that the members of each squad will be posted outside of the auditorium after the assembly has concluded. Shocked by this roster, Neal Valentine begins whispering about Dustin Espinosa to Venus Rosales almost immediately. Can they believe this?? The sudden realization that Lenore is leveling a cold, knowing gaze at them from stage silences them both, though.

Shortly after this, the assembly ends and the students rush out of the auditorium to see the squad signups. Whoever got to the squad listings first, though, apparently had some thoughts of their own. Flint Chambers' name is surrounded by hearts and exclamation points while viva la revolución!!! is written beside [Second Character F]'s name and R.I.P. is written beneath Marzio Sarno's squad. Yeesh.

» ARRIVAL: For any scenes in transit to school or arriving at school.

» BEFORE ASSEMBLY: For any scenes on campus prior to the evening assembly.

» AFTER ASSEMBLY: For any scenes on campus following the evening assembly and the squad announcements.

» OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!