Author's Note; First off, sorry for the delay, I got caught up in a few things, so I had difficulty finding time to write, but well, better late than never. Enjoy.
Daily Life and Circumstance
It’s been two weeks since my fight with Kiryat. If I were to comment on my whole situation after, I could best sum it up in three words; pain, boredom, and confusion.
Pain, in that my right arm wasn’t going to be healing anytime soon, boredom in that school life can quickly grow to become monotonous and repetitive, especially in a magic academy, and confusion in that the validity of Morgan’s real gender becomes more and more obscured the more I interact with him.
But hey, since time immemorial, school has always been a place for suffering, so I’ve got no right to complain.
Actually though, aside from school being school, everything else has been running quite smoothly.
After the drunken monopoly fiasco during last time’s Welcoming party, Rose Bud manor and its residents seem to have mellowed out.
The old lady, Miss Jumblee, is acting a bit nicer to me, which I found really weird at first. I mean, it would seem odd to anybody if someone’s attitude suddenly did a 180 in a single night. Although I can probably guess that it’s because she found out I’m not just some talentless guppy who leeched off his talented little sister.
I was a talentless guppy who could punch a crater through a mountain.
She’s a bit excited about this fact. Miss Jumblee has been muttering to herself about the extra fire she’d have this year. Apparently, there seems to be a yearly competition amongst the various Tenant houses, and now she’s as excited as ever to participate, saying something like, “With this, winning this year’s [OMITTED] won’t just be a pipe dream!”
Well, whatever floats her boat I guess.
While this competition business, which I’ve heard very little about, already sounds like a pain in the ass, at least there’s one good thing that came from this situation. The old lady’s a bit more pleasant to be around now.
If she keeps this up, maybe I’ll change her nickname from Old Lady, to Landlord.
My fellow tenants have also been relatively easy to handle. Avril is acting like Avril and eagerly clings to me every opportunity she gets. Nanami and Quinn are pretty much acting the same way.
The others I’m not too sure about, due to my limited opportunity to actually talk to them. Surprisingly, despite the fact that we were living together, I’ve had few interactions with them. I think it might be due to the fact that they are my seniors, so our schedules don’t quite match up.
Like Norm for example, who I’ve interacted with the least. He is someone whom I haven’t really had the opportunity to talk to since the Welcoming Party. Well, not like I actually talked to him all that much then too… I’m also in a similar situation with the other male tenant… Um...the-the guy... the other one, that… that other guy, who’s very mediocre and side characterish face is very hard to distinguish.
I’m pretty sure he introduced himself two weeks ago… but honestly speaking, his face just blends so well with the setting. I might aswell start calling him Background Character A, it might be easier to remember than his real name, which was….um… it was something.
Well regardless of Background Character A, the other two tenants are a little bit more memorable. Miss Coll, who is quite ardent in me addressing her as Lacie whenever she’s not in her ‘teacher mode,’ is a bit easier for me to remember, considering I see her and her flock of messy purple hair almost every other day during my Mu class. Although everytime I do see her, it either while she’s sleeping, or while she’s preparing to sleep.
It might be a bit hypocritical for me to say this, but really, what a lazy person.
She’s like a cat, spending more than 16 hours per day asleep.
The other one, Phi, is memorable for a whole ‘nother reason. Mainly because after spending two weeks in the same roof as her, I can say, without a shadow of a doubt, that that person is definitely, positively, in every way, shape, and form….a sexual predator.
She hits on, and flirts with almost every person in the manor, well, everyone but background character A. For some reason, all the girls hate him, even the usually passive Lacie, and my very accepting little sister.
Well anyways, Phi Baron is a very open minded person. She’ll attempt to court everyone. The barriers of age or gender do not get in her way. This is evident from the way she looks at everyone, an expression where she fully utilizes those lewd eyes of hers. Everyone has been subjected to this vicious glare, from Miss Jumblee while she’s cooking food, to me, whenever I walked through the hallways with only a pair of boxers and an undershirt on (I know, I’m a very risque person). The woman has no limits. Even going as far as putting Quinn in her strike zone.
The eagerness she has whenever someone needs to change that green haired, blue toned child’s clothes and the excitement she has whenever she attempts to grab Quinn….either Phi has an unexpected motherly side to her, or she’s a full blown pervert and pedophile.
If she were a pedophile… is it really safe to keep Quinn in the same house as her…?
...Well, I’m sure its fine… if worse comes to worse, I’ll just keep Quinn safe behind locked doors. This method has worked for a certain mystery tenant for quite some time now. A person, whom I’ve never once met even after spending two weeks under the same roof.
Really, as a fellow shut-in, I both feel a sense of awe and jealousy towards this mysterious tenant #8.
In any case, those are the type of people I hang around with outside of class.
As for in class, aside from Morgan, I’d be lying if I said I made anymore friends.
Rather, I think I have quite a few enemies?
*****
A typical day of my school life starts at my Underwater science and history class.This course begins a school day following my B schedule. My A schedule in comparison, which consists of Math, Languages, Basic Science, and Basic History, is something I’d rather not talk about. For one, it’s a bit, no, scratch that, it is very boring. There’s not much to say about my A day class life when I spend the majority of it sleeping.
Though truth be told, Underwater Science and History is almost just as boring as my A schedule class.
The abbreviated U.S.H is just like I said, almost as boring as these compulsory classes. The key word here is ‘almost’. It’s a bit more interesting, well slightly. I had hoped I could learn a little bit more about Quinn or at least where she came from if I took this class, but it exceedingly became obvious that that endeavor was looking to be impossible.
First of, I don’t know whether it was because it was only the start of a new semester or something but it’s already apparent that we wouldn’t be learning anything about the Deep Sea any time soon. This was a predicament, considering it was this type of area that had the highest probability of being Snapper Head’s origin and by extension, the highest probable location of where Quinn’s kind most likely resides at.
This was quite a conundrum, considering I only took this class in order to learn more about Quinn. But truthfully, I’ve learned more about Quinn from Quinn herself then I did from this class room.
First off, about Quinn. Well, she’s… rambunctious. Whenever I’m at home, she clings fiercely on to me, which is cute at times, but it gets really irksome real fast.
Also, Quinn’s developed a habit of imitating me.
Like for instance, when I talk, there’s always a distorted babbling that echoes me. Being a toddler, she doesn’t make a perfect imitation, but she has gotten the minute connotations and overall tone down. When I make myself things like a sandwhich, I have to be extra careful and make sure dangerous kitchen utensils (i.e. Knives, a.k.a Baby Killers) are well out of reach from that surprisingly acrobatic blue skinned monkey. There was also this one time, when I went to the bathroom… well, you get the point.
Since she’s a girl, I thought it would have been a great deal better had she taken to imitating someone like Nanami… I don’t want her to develop any of my… bad habits.
But I guess beggars can’t be choosers.
The good thing out of Quinn’s devotion to me is that she’s very obedient, which should come as surprising, considering her developmental age. It makes things easier whenever I go and remove her from my head, which has quickly becoming her favorite perch.
It’s a good thing too that she doesn’t cry out as often when I do forcibly untwine her from my hair. Leaving her on my head for long periods of time causes my neck to develop an annoying crick. Strangely, this phenomenon has been occurring more and more frequently… It’s almost as if Quinn herself was growing heavier and heavier by the day...
Well anyways, what I’ve surmised from U.S.H class is that its exceedingly boring and positively pointless.
That’s why on most days (today included), I spend my time napping freely, which is a course of action that fits the delinquent image I’ve apparently cultivated these last two weeks.
“...”
I’d prefer not to have reputation like that, but its no skin off my back. It makes things easier this way actually. Nobody bothers me so much. No reproachful glares, no unnecessary confrontations, no gang of guys to hang out with, no secret meet ups…no unexpected confessions… no slice of life, wacky and fun school events….
Y-yup, I’m fine being alone, it s-suits someone like me.
H-hahaha….
****
My next class of the day happens to be Monster Taming.
It’s full class name is [Advanced Placement -Monster Taming - Expert Division].
There are 4 levels (or in this case, classes), that teach monster taming; Introduction, Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert. Many of the various classes in Newgrounds follow this sort of pattern and like a normal subject, one can choose to be placed within a regular class or an AP class.
And as it so happens, being a 1st year while enrolled in an AP Expert class is apparently a pretty amazing feat. Although I’m not the only 1st year so that kind of dampens the excitement a little bit, but its not like I cared for prestige in the first place.
Actually, the fellow first year, Noire, is a fellow who pretty unlikable in his own way.
He’s one of those, moody and brooding guys. They type who sit and skulk all day without talking to anybody. Everyone thinks he’s all cool and mysterious, but in truth a lot of guys have interpreted his actions as a sort of high and arrogant.
As a result, not many people like his attitude in class. His reputation outside of this class isn’t great either, although that’s most likely due to the fact that he’s a monster tamer, and not because of his attitude.
In a class of monster tamers it isn’t obvious but out there, it becomes clear that there’s some sort of discrimination going on.
I experienced this firsthand during my match with Kiryat. Although Kiryat himself showed no signs of outward hostility, I had noticed that the mood had completely changed when Aleksey announced my ‘unfortunate’ occupation.
I’m not the only one who’s faced with this situation, in fact, it seems like every monster tamer has experienced a similar situation.
Today though, the level of discrimination became so apparent, that during class, one particularly naive student piped up and asked about it to our teacher, Mr. Salvatore.
“Mr. Salvatore, why does everyone hate monster tamers?” he bluntly stated
Mr. Salvatore, looked up. He was previously writing out a long series of spells on the blackboard, but stopped at due to the student’s question.
He placed the piece of chalk he had in his hand on the table, before turning to address the class.
“What makes you think Monster Tamers are hated here? Newgrounds is a school that strives for equality, you know, there’s absolutely no way Tamers would be discriminated against… absolutely no way…”
Salvatore tried feigning ignorance.
“That’s a lie isn’t it?” Another student raised his hand and chimed in. “Just look around. Not only do the rest of the students avoid us upon knowing we’re MT’s but even the classroom is of lower quality than the rest of the school.”
Upon pointing this out, the rest of the students swerved their heads to look at the already too obvious truth. The classroom was indeed outdated. No, it would be more appropriate to say the classroom was neglected.
It was old, with obvious signs of decay ridden all over. The walls had accumulated mold, the furniture was just about ready to break, and this classroom in particular was still using outdated materials. Being an AP Expert level class, one would have expected to find a bit more modern age technology to furnish the place, but instead it was equipped with ratty books and an old blackboard and chalk, things you’d be hard pressed to find even in developing 4th world nations.
Not to mention the fact, that it was painfully obvious that this classroom was isolated from the rest of the school. It was the only class located so far out near the Arenas and a clear effort to separate it from the rest of the rooms was clear.
“Doesn’t the school hate us too?” The previous student, desperately waved his hands as he gestured towards the room.
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Salvatore awkwardly scratched his head.
“Well, I guess I can’t keep such treatment a secret for much longer.” He laughed heartily to himself.
Not like it was ever a secret.
I thought inwardly. A guy like me, who, in my personal opinion, was quite sensitive to what went on around himself, had deduced a long time ago that I was particularly hated due to my Monster Tamer status. I mean I knew some people already antagonized me for other reasons, but a large part of that was due to this particular reason.
“I’ll answer your question.” Mr. Salvatore spoke to the class while making his way to the black board, chalk back in hand. “But I suspect that most of you already know why though… “
He silently scribbled on the board. After a while, he moved to the side, to reveal a neatly written string of words.
[Necromancy, Transmutation, Mind Control, Life]
Upon showing the class the list he created, Salvatore asked a question.
“Now, does this list look familiar to any of you?”
After a few seconds of quiet pondering, another student, who sat near the front, raised his hand in response.
“Um… Isn’t that a list of magic arts that have been forbidden by law.”
Salvatore nodded.
“Correct. Necromancy, Transmutation, Mind control, and Life magic are Arts that have been specifically outlawed in both its research and usage.
Oh about.. 40 years or so ago, these four branches of magic were deemed dangerous or abusive in one way or another, so the newly anointed International Bureau of Magic outlawed and banned them.
Today, we normally call them the Four Great Forbidden Practices.”
“Um, what does this have to relate with Monster Taming?” The clueless student who was the first to ask a question chimed in once more.
“Ohoho, Well, it’s simple.” Salvatore took hold of his chalk once more, and circled the words mind control on the board.
“It all has to do with Monster Taming’s specific connection with this particular branch of magic.
You see, the art of Monster Taming and its subsequent magic was originally a subcategory of Mind control magic. Some of you may already see the connection. Monster Taming’s most basic and core spell is [Suggestion]. Unfortunately, [Suggestion] is a spell that acts very similarly to a normal mind control spell. It directly affects a monster’s brain and subdues it’s thinking capabilities, makes them more prone to suggestion, while lowering their natural instinctual drive.
In fact, the first monster tamer was actually a user in mind control magic, which further solidifies the belief that a monster tamer is synonymous to a mind control user.
Now technically, the Monster Taming spell is not exactly a Mind Control spell, per say, but its close enough to the point where some Monster Tamer’s are treated as Mind Control users.”
“Um, even with that, isn’t it a bit unreasonable to have so much hatred towards us?” Another student, a female with a small side ponytail dangling from her left side, commented.
Salvatore took a deep breath, and looked out through the partially cracked window.
“Ah… That’s true. What I told you is just icing on the cake. What I’d reckon the real source of animosity towards us Monster Tamers probably comes from the event 20 years ago… The particular event which not only ruined our reputation, but also made it harder for our type of magic to advance.”
Hmm? Event?
History wasn’t exactly my strong point, so I didn’t exactly know what Salvatore was depressively talking about while he solemnly stared out the window, like some kind of widowed housewife.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one. The clueless student once again asked a question.
“Mr. Salvatore, what is this event you are talking about?”
As if released from his stupor, Salvatore turned back to the class once more.
“Oh yes, it might be a bit hard to recall such an event. Not many of you were born that long ago….
Well, it was a particular event that terrorized the whole globe, and solidified the relationship between Monster Taming and Mind control. It wouldn’t be wrong to call what happened 20 years ago a terrorist attack and an international tragedy all at once.”
Salvatore paused for a moment, as if to recollect his thoughts.
“What happened, was, simply an uprising.
During an international peace conference, a well regarded Monster Tamer seemingly went out of control, and was the main instigator in an attempted takeover, which would later lead to a casualty count of 10,000. Half of this number is credited with the Monster Tamer.
He played a crucial role in this large scale terrorist attack, and in his wake, completely shattered the already flimsy viewpoint people had towards Monster Tamers.”
Mr. Salvatore took another deep breathe.
As someone who was still a child during this event, it was quite a surprise as to why the man ended up as a monster tamer.
After a few seconds, Salvatore resumed.
“Now, while this event has been shrouded in secrecy, and you’d be quite hard pressed to find any accurate source of information about the topic, There is one portion of this tale that has been blown way out of proportion.”
Salvatore emphasized this point.
“The monster tamer in question, was regarded as the main perpetrator and leader, so, as a result, a customary background check was performed and an investigation was conducted. Now, as to the credibility of the claims made, I’m not too sure of their truthfulness, but I don’t think the world cared at the time.
They needed an outlet of aggression. A group of people whom they could act as their stress relievers. For the people 20 years ago, this group was us, the Monster Tamers.
The “claim”, that shocked the world then was the fact that the MT was found to also be a practitioner in Mind Control Magic.
The fear created from this event, as well as past transgressions conducted by Mind Control users back when it wasn’t outlawed, all accumulated as the discrimination towards Monster Tamers.”
The class room sat in silence, soaking in what salvatore had said.
Salvatore chuckled to himself,
“You know, due to all the commotion, there was actually quite a heated argument as to whether Monster Taming should be added to among the four outlawed magic practices.
We were this close to never seeing a monster tamer ever again, but in the end, the event was waived off. Aside from its connection with Mind Control Magic, Monster Taming was already a generally looked down upon practice, since many people considered it a low tier profession, due to its numerous setbacks.
Well I guess, it is a bit ironic, considering that it was this weakness that saved Monster Taming in the end.”
Salvatore once again lapsed into silence.
The rest of the students were equally shocked, and followed Salvatore’s quiet with their own. Like Salvatore said, not many people knew about this event, well, at least not many people my age.
It would be more accurate to say that the Parent’s of the students are the ones that influence this discrimination the most, rather than the students’ own feelings.
Breaking the silence, Salvatore suddenly clapped his hands together, an action which shocked most of the kids out of their stupor.
“Well, things aren’t so bad now, then when I was a student.”
At this new information, the student who repeatedly asked questions asked another one.
“Teacher, you were a student here?”
Salvatore smiled fondly, reminiscing.
“Why yes, yes I was.
Back then, Newgrounds was simply called Imperial Academy, and it was quite an exclusive school. Now, they changed the school name and made it a bit easier to access, but during my time there, Imperial Academy was quite… strict to say the least.
Well nevertheless, I did grow to hold fond memories of my time as a student… as well as some unpleasant ones…Due to the event 20 years ago, it was honestly quite tough to stick to Monster Taming without feeling the urge to give up.”
Salvatore’s faced darkened for a second before it changed back into his usual expression.
“You guys don’t have to worry about anything though.” He reassured.
“The events have mostly cooled down, and unlike before, School Policy has changed greatly. Unlike in the past, the school is definitely on your side, no matter what the other students think.”
Salvatore smiled out to the rest of the class. Strangely, this course of actions brought on a surprisingly calming effect, as everyone’s expressions visibly brightened.
...Well, almost everyone.
I still held the same droopy eyed expression I had from when I came in here, but there was also another student, whose usual grim face was extra grim.
Honestly, I only noticed this depressing individual since his ‘aura’ stood out from the rest of the class. Well that’s probably since the rest of the class was a bit too upbeat.
One thing to note about most of the students taking this course was that they were strangely… positive. I don’t really know how to describe it. They had the typical type A personality, Optimistic, outgoing, and sociable. This was quite the contrast from the apparently dark path of a monster tamer and its tragic circumstance.
Maybe it was a common disposition for Magicians inclined to Monster Taming to have such a personality… I didn’t really know. But I guess, in this situation, people whose characters were on the other end of the spectrum would be considered abnormal.
The not-so positive individuals I’m referring to would be Noir and myself.
Well I don’t really count, since I don’t consider myself a ‘normal’ monster tamer. For one, I had zero knowledge on the actual spells Monster Tamers used, so it came as a surprise to me to know about the connection between a MTs and Mind Control magic.
Another thing was that I relied on Timmy. While on the outside, our labels were that of Master and Pet, truth be told, I felt more of a fond kinship with that big boar. Something more like family.
On the other hand though, Noir Grime though, was a completely A-typical monster tamer. He was rather gloomy, and held a perpetual scowl on his face. He was almost as unsociable as me, and he deliberately pushed people away, which further ostracized himself from everyone else in the class.
Well, despite his attitude, Noir was actually one of the strongest MTs in class, and by extension, probably one of the strongest MTs in Newgrounds.
He had that weird goblin of his, which I first saw briefly during the 1st day of class. Goblins were normally weak, but in Noir’s hands, his Goblin was strong, exceedingly so.
If I had to guess, the Goblin would be somewhere around A to AA rank, but considering the fact that it was always subjected to the Monster Tamer’s signature [Suggestion] spell, which halved a monster’s real potential while subduing its natural instincts, the Goblin’s real strength would have probably been around AAA to S rank. Noir’s Goblin was a creature on par with Timmy, but due to its several limitations, in actual combat, it was about 2 ranks weaker than him.
Well, anyways, this gloomy fellow was extra gloomy today, which made him stand out even more from the flowerfield I call the rest of the students.
I could see Noir groaning, and cursing under his breathe. I don’t know exactly why, but it seems like today’s subject caused Noir Grime’s mood to go grim.
Ring Ring Ring.
Drawing my attention away from Noir, I heard the faint echoing of the school bells. Due to the classroom's odd location, the alarm doesn’t really reverberate this far away from the main buildings. In fact, I had to strain my ears just to hear the ringing noise.
The rest of the class, whom had all grown accustomed to the softness of the bell, all noticed its blare. They turned towards the left wall, which was in the general direction of the main buildings.
Salvatore, who also noticed, sighed, before he took black board eraser, and began vigorously rubbing the chalk away.
“Well, I guess, that’s the end of class for today. Aside from our little conversation, I’d say things have been a little bit uneventful, but hopefully we can change all that during the next class meeting.”
He mumbled goodbyes and such while he cleaned the blackboard.
His positive attitude was met by equally as positive replies.
I on the other hand, ignored Salvatore, and after one final glance at the room before me, I promptly left in a hurry.
Due to the distance this classroom was from the Main building, if I didn’t run off now, I’d most definitely be late for the next class. As a result, I pushed past the crowd of students out the room, and ran towards the main buildings, fighting the cool autumn winds that blew against me.
In my wake, through the corner of my eye, I could still see the cursing Noir, who just now started to approach the exit.
****
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