Another Day, A New Beginning

Adrian Hexe Grimm

Inside of her head, Adrian was composing an aria. There were no words for it yet but as she went through the notes, she knew that the emotion she wanted to pour into it was a dreamy hope of youth. There would have to be a harp, because Adrian was fond of that instrument. Someday she would learn how to play one herself and it was possible that the backdrop for that would be here at the Academy. Maybe.

With the opening crescendo in her head, she entered the admissions office. She had already been there with Aurélie earlier in the week to register but they had decided to skip the tour then. The decision had seemed reasonable until Adrian noticed a short, nervous looking Asian girl wandering around the hallways, speaking to herself in disturbing tones and running straight into people who should have been right in her line of sight.

Even though Adrian had known and been prepared for strangeness -it was a school for the abnormal, after all- that had left her feeling taken aback. Since she was certain that somebody with very real psychological issues such as schizophrenia would at least be supervised well enough to be set on medication, she had concluded that there was probably something wrong with that girl on a magical level. Adrian hadn't asked at the time but she thought that if she had somebody with her, they might be able to explain some of the darker aspects of the Academy. They existed, surely. Every place had them. But it seemed as if the Academy might have some that were downright sinister.

So with that thought, Adrian smoothed out her suit and sat down in the waiting room for the guide. There was only one other person there -a woman with long purple hair listening to an mp3 player. Tentatively, Adrian sat down next to her, adjusting her glasses nervously as the aria died down in her head to a sotto voce. It seemed like she should have said something to that other person but socializing was really more in Aurélie's area than hers.

Instead, she settled back in her chair, back perfectly straight. The legs on the chair were silver and reflecting parts of the rest of the room. Adrian swept her hand down one of the front two and, using her power, sank her fingers through the surface. After a moment, she withdrew a hardcover notebook and pen.

Satisfied, she adjusted her glasses again and scryed for Aurélie. Thousands, maybe even millions of images flashed passed her eyes in rapid succession, leaving her dizzy. But she eventually caught a glimpse of her sister from one of the rings she normally wore, as well as from some other objects in the room. Aurélie looked a little bored in her class but otherwise fine.

Adrian hummed a few meters of the aria as it went into a pianoforte and, opening her notebook, began to scribble the notes down.

Aurora had gotten an upgrade.

Although said upgrade wasn't necessarily what she wanted. Instead of getting a first class flight or boat trip to Europe, instead the mage had, according to her task list, gotten an upgrade to her tour guide duty and was now going to be entrusted with two students today instead of the standard one. Normally she would have objected to something of the sort; Aurora preferred a more personal touch, and having a third wheel was generally bound to make things a bit more difficult.

Of course, one of students was a graduate student...a new TA actually, or so she was told, and the other was a composition student. Both music majors, or at least future music majors, making the tour all the more worthwhile because of the shared interests. Of course, that's what Aurora assumed. Like many students, it was also likely they were going to take music because they, Chronos forbid, thought it was easy.

Not a chance.

Clad in a blue and gold robe and adorned with gold linings, the mage walked into the front desk, and got ready to sign the paper that she had picked up her students...except this time the receptionist just waved her off, knowing full well that Aurora was probably getting tired of this whole process by now.

She was right.

There were only two people waiting...they must be the prospective TA and student. Well, time to get to work. Thirteen knelt down slightly and waved at the one with the headphones on. No doubt she'd probably been waiting some time.

"My name is Professor Aurora Silivasi, or Thirteen. I'm the Director of Music here at the academy. Welcome by the way!"

She gave out her hand, should either one wish for a friendly handshake.

"I'm here to conduct your tour. I suspect you're already waiting to do other things, I promise it won't be long."

Adrian Hexe Grimm

Adrian stood up as the guide arrived and was somewhat surprised to hear that young-looking woman was really the Director of Music. She was equally taken aback when the other woman who had been waiting with her was a teacher's assistant for the same department. It seemed as if somebody had conspired to place the three together, given their shared interest.

Ah, so here are the people I will be seeing often, Adrian thought as she tucked her pen away into the face of her wristwatch. She kept the notebook in her hands, thinking that it might be a little rude to bend down and stow it while she was supposed to introduce herself.

"Thank you," she said, shaking Professor Silivasi's hand after Haleth had let go of it. "My name is Adrian Hexe Grimm." She deliberately left off the von because it seemed overly presumptuous, no matter what Aurélie said about birthright and so on. And there was really no need to try and isolate the people whom she would be seeing in class. "I'm hoping to double major in music composition and voice."

As she stepped back, she almost did a double take, seeing that Haleth's hair was now flaxen. But since Aurélie sometimes did that herself, Adrian simply blinked at it like it wasn't any big deal.

Entropy. It was a force that broke down systems over a period of time, reducing everything to something of an ordered chaos in the end. During this gradual destruction however, other systems emerged from the chaos, giving way to fate and other random happenings that influenced a persons life.

In this case, entropy and fate had conspired to put two music students with the Director of Music at the academy...either this was one of fate's tricks, or the receptionist, as stated earlier, had recognized the fact and decided to put them altogether for the sake of making everything a little bit faster.

Either way, Aurora was already reasonably impressed with both of their ambitions academically speaking...one a graduate student, and the other a double major. Neither path was easy in the slightest; Aurora had only gotten one of her degrees after who knew how many years...it was certainly longer than most people spent in school.

The mage turned to open the door out into the hallway.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. How about we start with the auditorium since you'll probably both be spending most of your time there?"

Aurora nodded her head towards the door and walked out, making sure her students were following and not getting themselves lost on their first day. She herself had gotten lost a few times, having no orientation to come into. Thankfully, the disorientation she had experience didn't last long.

There was sound coming from the auditorium, and in respect, quietly opened the doors, waving the students inside as a small group of maybe sixteen students stood around the piano, with one accompanying simply by using the massive grand as a pitch pipe. A $100,000 pitch pipe. Cripes. At least none of them had heard the director or new students come in as they started their piece. <a href='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7nf1agjkBU' target='_blank' rel='nofollow'>Eric Whitacre, definitely not bad for acappella at all.</a>

Aurora started whispering in hushed tones as not to disturb anyone.

"This is the performing arts center where you'll either be singing, or putting your pieces on display. We have space for maybe 400 to 500 people. 750 on a good day. The school recently invested in the Steinway D-274 you see the students standing around. Hopefully, one of you actually carries a pitch pipe. There are adjustable acoustics in the form of silk curtains on concrete walls, and glass panels hanging from the ceilings. I've been trying to get someone to install recording equipment, but it's on hold for now."

Adrian Hexe Grimm

Adrian was walking on air. That was what it seemed like anyways, whenever she heard a good strain of music. She wasn't often involved in acapella herself but it wasn't exactly from lack of trying. Between her less than personable personality -she could hardly deny its state but sometimes she wondered how much of it was natural and how much of it had been cultivated to make Aurélie look better- and certain family matters, she often found herself at odds with other vocalists in terms of time and priorities.

Oh, she thought. It would be nice to actually sing with other people for once. However, Adrian wasn't especially optimistic about the idea. This was a new, literally magical place to them and she knew well enough that Aurélie probably saw it as her own personal playground rather than a place of education. Her older sister would probably want to explore of what she could do here, how her powers would be affected by the presence of so many other magical people. That would take time and Aurélie would probably want to be accompanied for the entire process.

Adrian was glad, of course, to be so useful to her sister. There weren't many people that Aurélie saw as essential but the familial bonds, baring one, were always strong in their corner of the world. A lot of times, that was the only safety net there was.

"Hopefully, one of you actually carries a pitch pipe," she heard Professor Silivasi whisper quietly, without disturbing the singers.

"I do," Adrian whispered back, after Haleth had given her answer. I wonder if I'll actually get to use it, though, she thought regretfully.

The lack of recording equipment was something of a bother but as long as she could find a surface large enough to bring the items through, Adrian did have a good way of fixing that problem. It was too bad that she still had no idea how to maintain Zauberin from the outside, however. That would have done away with the problem altogether.

"The both of you have them? Well hey, there may be hope for you yet."

Aurora chuckled slightly. If it saved using the Steinway as a 100k pitch giver, all the better. She wasn't against it by a long shot, but using such an instrument for a trivial task was something of a pet peeve of hers. Not a big one, but one nonetheless. Thirteen quietly waved at the pair, opening the door before the group down below finished. Frankly, she did not want to be around once the bickering about who was flat and behind tempo started. It was something that they would sort out later.

Back outside, Aurora started for the library, a large building that wasn't particularly far away, but enough so that the trio could easily get in some side conversation along the way.

"Normally I take students up to one of the south towers, but I think we're going to do the library first, if that's okay."

She was on the way to pick up sheet music at the time the students had come in, so maybe it was a good idea to show them some of that sort of stuff as well.

"This tour is a two-way street by the way, if there's anything you two want to see, or ask, I will try to accomodate or answer to the best of my knowledge."

Adrian Hexe Grimm

Ah, so here's an opportunity, then.

"Actually, there is something I was wondering about," Adrian started as she followed Professor Silivasi, coming up a little on the woman's right. She steeled herself somewhat, feeling as if she was about to step on sacred ground. But it was a question that had to be asked and seemed like ever since she had learned about the academy, people had been dodging it.

"I saw a particular student some time ago," she said carefully, as to not insult anybody. "I don't know her name but she was an Asian girl who seemed a little out of sorts." An understatement, to be sure, but certainly that girl hadn't seem to be doing anybody harm at the time. And Adrian wasn't trying to point fingers at anybody, just find a legitimate reason to justify vocalizing her concerns. "I have a vague idea of what her power might be but it seemed like she wasn't completely in control of it."

Frowning, she tilted her head, stopping herself from instinctively adjusting her glasses. "I know that the Academy has mandatory power classes but what happens if somebody never manages to master their abilities? Are there any precautions in place if somebody were to become out of hand?" Will anything happen if Aurélie she went back to...that state of mind? Adrian wondered.

Please tell me so I can better protect her.