whiteoak academy

[oshibana]

The country of Esmos has a proud tradition of raising the children of its noble houses into powerful mages who wield all manner of control over the magic that runs through the world. To this end, the most magically adept (and, typically, richest and most well-bred) children are sent to the prestigious White Oak Academy. Here, they learn how to get along and more importantly, how to mingle and socialize in high society. Etiquette and history classes are held alongside magical theory and combat and it's impossible to tell just which is more dangerous – the magic the students are learning to control or the social circles they're expected to begin navigating. Still, White Oak is known through the land for a reason and with nobles and royalty in attendance, the security and care taken in protecting their students make this the safest place in all of Esmos. Surely nothing could go wrong in a place like White Oak.

Comments

[calyptroll]

Tch. What a waste of good fruit. [Great, now she's angry about public safety hazards and kind of hungry. When's lunch period today, anyway?]

[On the bright side, the fact that Dulcie is by nature about as subtle as a warhammer to the face is working to Mina's advantage here, in that it doesn't seem to have occurred to her that the known illusionist right in front of her might have been responsible for what she's assuming was an absurdly lazy attempt to cover up a littering habit.]

Really, it's though people think the cleaning staff has nothing better to do than sweep up their garbage- as if the maids haven't enough trouble keeping this place in proper condition as it is.

[The heiress of the entire duchy of Calyptra has likely never been expected to so much as touch a feather duster in her entire young life- but she's been the only mistress of that large and lonely house since before she quite reached her fourteenth birthday, and she knows down to the last penny the cost of time and labor involved in maintaining a public building this size.]

[She may be a truly shitty classmate, but she's a surprisingly excellent employer.]

[heroineunderstudy]

[Now that gives Mina pause. Mina has lost count of the number of times she's internally—or externally—cringed at the ridiculous habits of the upper class, especially at White Oak, that disregarded all the trouble that they made for their poor, literally poor serving staff. Hearing Dulcinea of all people voice the same complaint that Mina has had to keep herself from saying lest she attract the ire of her "social betters" is surprising... although Mina will wait for the other stiletto heel to drop before she makes any drastic changes in her assessment of Dulcinea's character.]

It's, um, good we found them when we did. Fruit peels rot fast when they're under the sun, and leave behind this residue that's really hard to clean out of- [Mina blushes and clamps her mouth shut. Great. Now she's reminded Dulcinea that her classmate was commoner-born. She was guaranteed to be insufferable for the entire rest of this interaction.]

[calyptroll]

[Dulcie winces, her finely-carved features forming a perfect picture of delicate distaste, and says-]

Ugh, I can just imagine it.

[-something surprisingly sympathetic. ...Huh.]

When I was squiring for the Margrave of Redfall during that border dispute some three summers ago, they tried to launch an attack in the middle of the worst heat wave we saw all season. The stench on that battlefield was practically a killing blow all by itself.

[Her long shining hair, immaculately painted nails, and fondness for intricate silk gowns make it easy to forget that Dux Calyptra is a military title at the core- and for all that she looks like some porcelain puppet meant to play a noble lady in a children's show, the young duchess is no exception.]

[Her youth means that she's never been in command, not yet, but she's seen battle before, under the careful watch of older commanders who know to guide a young future officer properly- like any apprentice learning their trade under a master.]

[heroineunderstudy]

...what happens to all the people on the side that lost that died on the battlefield?

Do the bodies just... stay there? [She wrinkles her nose, imagining a mound of decaying corpses cooking in the summer sun.] Brrr. I hope not.

[Despite how gruesome all of that sounded, Mina can only think about how much of a pain that kind of thing would be to clean up]

[calyptroll]

Oh, it depends on the commander, usually. [Just perfectly matter-of-fact about this, as comfortable as if she's chatting with Nanette and Ethelyn about the latest fashions.] Some do just leave them for the vultures, if the battlefield isn't close enough to any towns to make people sick. Otherwise, they're usually piled up and burnt.

...And then there was that one general who kept loading the enemy dead into catapults and launching them back at their own side. Interesting man. Terrible at parties.

[Did she meet him at a party, or while manning a catapult? Unclear!]