All Our Ducks in a Row [Open - Quincy Order Staff Meeting]

But I’m a creep, the unmistakable, silken voice of Haley Reinhart blasted through the speakers of the silver Ford Fusion that hustled down the back road. The smooth, jazzy cover of the famous song Creep dulled out even the loud roar of the engine as Luna accelerated out of a sharp curve in the road. “Vintage” was how the band described the cover, and maybe it was accurate, but to the Hispanic woman behind the wheel, this was how the song was originally meant to sound.

Everyone had their celebrity crushes – what girl in their sane mind didn’t have the hots for Tom Hiddleston? – but Luna was convinced that if there were ever a girl to turn her gay, it was Haley. With a voice that could melt the coldest of hearts and her chestnut colored hair, she was a devil of a woman

I’m a weirdo, the woman’s voice roared out with an almost inhuman amount of passion, sending chills along Luna’s arms.

From the crowd of coniferous poked out the head of the castle that stationed the main force of the Order’s population. Before Haley could belt out the next part of the chorus, Luna rounded into the entrance of the parking lot. Though plenty of space was delegated strictly for housing numerous cars for events such as this, Luna found herself hovering around the area like a vulture.

Finally, she found a less than ideal spot far off from the main door. She let the song continue, eyes closing as her head bobbed along to the slow bounce of the saxophone in the background. In that moment, she wasn’t a Quincy burdened with the task of saving the world from impending doom. She was just a young adult who had, on a number of occasions, been praised for her slightly above average voice.

She let herself sing along to the last few lines, uncaring of any person who happened to walk by while she swung her head to and fro and got lost in the moment of bliss.

But, as she learned, all good things came to an end far too soon. Haley’s voice faded away on a soft, low note and when the final key on the piano had cut off, the song ended. Alone in her silence, Luna opened her eyes and stared at the steering wheel quietly.

Whatever thought that was occupying her mind was stolen away when she caught a glance of the time staring at her with bright green eyes. It, along with various other lights from the car, reminded her where she was before flicking off.

Luna gathered her belongings from her back seat while humming the recently played tune quietly to herself. A binder, USB, and a laser pointer. Typical stuff one would bring to a lecture. Within the binder were many papers that had already been signed as well as a script for her speech, should she decide she needed to practice before going up on stage.

The walk to the castle and making her way to the meeting room was a blur. Too occupied with her own humming, the polite hello’s and introductions were almost instantly forgotten. Even when she passed by one of the higher ranking members of the Order – Amelia, was it? – Luna only offered the obligatory smile, handshake, and confirmation of her presentation.

Naturally, Luna made a bee-line for the side of the stage where the other presentators had gathered. Most of them were chatting among themselves, laughing or otherwise getting along, but not Luna. She hovered near the steps, that song still playing on repeat in her mind.

What the hell am I doing here? Luna sang in her mind. Parts of it leaked out in the form of faint hums and low grumbles when she got just a bit too into the music. Her foot tapped quietly on the wooden floor, head nodding along without a care.

Even when a young gentlemen gestured her to the stage, she didn’t lose the rhythm. She walked to the stage, footsteps in beat with a song no one else was hearing. She placed her binder on the small table provided while the technicians below set up the presentation.

Maybe half a minute went by before Luna turned to the crowd and smiled.

“Hello,” she said with a surprising amount of charm. After all, anyone who knew her would describe her as more of a stick in the mud. “My name’s Luna de la Cruz. Most of you haven’t met me, but I have been working with Lucas Lightner for many months to get the Karakura School for the Spiritually Aware rolling. Most of you know this informally as ‘the Academy.’”

The mention of Lucas naturally earned a few murmurs among the crowd. How many of them had been recruited him by? How many lives had he already touched just by entering the Order? It was no doubt just how invaluable he was when it came to banding everyone together and making this little pipe dream something more tangible.

Behind her, on the large computer screen, displayed the Academy’s proper name as well as the acronym “KSSA”. Below that was an address as well as an image of a google maps top-down view of the rural area that was currently under construction.

“As you can see, we’ve already made progress with actually laying the foundation for the building and are preparing for the main complex to be finished before the end of the year,” Luna continued with a smile.

She regarded the crowd for a silent moment before turning to face the screen behind her. The plain text and image slide flipped over to a bulleted format with dates as well as various currency markers next to each of them.

“These are the dates and estimates we have been given from the laborers we have contracted,” Luna explained. “With the help from a fellow member of the Order, Mei Rowan, we’ve nearly halved the initial expenses. We hope to maintain the same level of quality we originally promised six months ago.”

Luna’s eyes fell over the list as if reading it over, or refreshing her brain, but in actuality she just found herself lost in the climax of the song. The trombone and saxophone whaa’d in the front of her mind, harmonizing with her own, gruff voice that added a nice vibration to the otherwise silky smooth song.

“These dates and expenses, however,” Luna went back to her speech and turned her attention back to the crowd, “are projected based on standard human times. This is without the help of anyone from the Order. We hope to, once again, halve expenses and time with the help of just a few of you and your natural talents.”

The piano in the back of her mind chimed off beat and slightly off key to change the tone. A pause, like breaking a string, followed. And then, softly like a secret shared among friends, the song continued. Only Luna’s voice mixed in with Haley’s filled her thoughts.

Autopilot during the entire speech.

I don’t belong here, Luna took the stage in her own mind, Haley watching from the side with an approving smile.

“Of course, everyone who signs up to help with the construction of the KSSA will be paid and all their travel expenses will be taken care of,” Luna’s smile widened a bit, though not because of the idea of making the Academy.

Haley ohh’d and ahh’d to the rhythm of Luna’s silent singing, giving a bit more life to the quiet solo just before the pianist’s fingers slammed down on the keys. The trombone and saxophone buzzed to life and, once more, Luna found herself singing from the top of her lungs right beside her idol.

“So, as you can imagine, that’s why I’m here today,” Luna went on, almost as if she and the person inside of her mind were two completely different people. “I’m here to answer any questions any of you might have about this project as well as collect an initial list of who would be interested in helping build the KSSA.”

I don’t… belong here…

“Any questions?”

[1,365]

tl;dr, if you have questions you want to ask IC, now is the time.

"I can’t fucking deal……”

Rick still didn’t feel like he was ready to show his face around anyone else, not after his selfishly justified bravado in front of the pregnant queen and other attendees. He wasn’t necessarily running away, he just wanted to stay out of the line of fire for quite some time, he didn’t want to be made an example out of or ridiculed by the other Quincy for speaking his mind. The act itself was something that could easily be brushed off, but what if he doesn’t hear the end of it? That’s kind of why he was staying back in Karakura town.

Rick just finished the artifact capturing device, hoping that it could be something that could actually smooth things over for quite some time. For the little time that Calendrea was there, she honestly helped Rick maintain focus, as well as give him a bit of inspiration to continue with the assignment at hand. Procrastination can be a bitch, but Rick had a pretty good friend that kept him on task. After a few weeks, he nonetheless managed to bring it together. Still, he wasn’t necessarily here to show off his work.

This meeting seemed like a big deal involving a lot of things that the other Quincy would want some clarification on, like the construction project in Karakura town. Hearing about it up front was one of Rick’s main reasons for being there, simply due to the fact that he stationed himself there. His shop was there, the Ashia clan manor was at that place, as easily as the vigilance tower being in the area. Rick still performed maintenance on it from time to time, but as per agreement with Adimus, the technology was still being shared with a select few of the KSN. The Quincy would have to mend some fences if they were to officially move in.

It didn’t really take long to get there, Rick used his vigilance device in order to teleport back to the Berlin castle, making his way over to the meeting room. For better or worse, people already knew who he was, bearing some kind of aura to him. Maybe they were half expecting Rick to make some trouble, or make a scene? In all honesty, none of that would be needed, not unless something unexpected happened that Rick didn’t agree with.

After a few minutes of walking, Rick made his way to the back of the crowd, catching the beginning of Luna’s speech. She looked pretty hot, the last name gave off a bit of prestige to her. However, she was suddenly brought up things that Rick didn’t necessarily agree with. Or better yet, things that Rick didn’t expect her to say. Why does this always have to happen to him?

“Excuse me, I have something to say. “

Rick would motion for one of the attendants to bring the mic over as he started talking. She asked for questions, and she was going to get them.

“I must have missed something, but judging from the name, does this mean that the Academy is open to those that aren’t Quincy? I believe a fair education should be open to those that would wish to want to ascertain how to manipulate their powers, but if we are hardly putting up a universal course of study for the spiritually aware, that would imply that the KSN would demand to be involved? The KSN is a group that deals more with spiritually aware humans that aren’t Quincy, a group that’s more pro Shinigami, a group that we don’t necessarily agree with right now. I was under the impression that this was a school for the Quincy. In the sense of races, I do believe in the HUMAN race, we shouldn’t shut anyone else out, but can we really trust ourselves to provide a proper service to the people who enroll if we instill the belief that the hollows should be fended off and possibly eradicated for the safety of others? A lot of non-Quincy might not believe that, so how could we trust ourselves as educators to provide a good service to those who attend this school?”

After that question, there was another thing that Rick wanted to mention.

“I too trust that you are planning to incorporate the role of the Bauen Brille holy artifact that I invented for specifically this purpose. We are progressing in reverse if we don’t, that timetable can be cut down three times over if we had willing Quincy to use this artifact to help with the construction period. Heck, we can salvage money by making our own heavy machinery through the exercise of spiritual alchemy, allowing us to offer more pay to the laborers that can run it. It’s entirely reasonable that we knock up their pay grade if we require them for some sleepless nights. “

Hopefully, she wouldn’t consider this as Rick attacking her, he held his own fears about the task and its management. Rick only hoped that they call can remain on the same page for the time being, or that Luna can clarify things for Rick.

Total WC- 857

Fáelán stretched and flexed his body as he stepped out of the shower, finishing it off by running his hands through his hair forcing some of the water out of it. He sighed as he reached for a towel and started to dry himself off, "I really need to get my hair cut soon. Maybe i'll do it later depending on how long this meeting goes on for. I wonder how many people will actually show up." The man hung the towel over over the towel rack and walked through to his bedroom and started getting dressed but stopped halfway through pulling his jeans on and sighed, "I suppose i should wear the uniform actually. This is a proper official meeting." He removed the jeans he was half wearing and took out his uniform from his wardrobe and slipped into it. With a few shrugs and straightening out kinks, Fáelán glanced into the mirror to see how he looked and smiled, "Not bad. Shame its so uncomfortable." He stepped over to his door, grabbed his lab coat from the hook and threw it on as he exited his room. After checking the door was locked he turned and headed towards the meeting.

Fáelán arrived a few minutes before the alloted time for the meeting to start. The room was already quite lively with people meeting, greeting and catching up with each other, he took a deep breath, let out a sigh and walked into the room and searched for a spare seat. Once he found an open place he sat down and quickly skimmed through the folder of notes on the table in front of him. He didnt have time to ponder the subjects before the first speaker stepped up onto the stage and began her presentation. The mans brow furrowed at the name, 'Does that mean it's not just for Quincy? That's new.' He listened intently as Luna continued her speech. 'You're not using Quincy workers fromt he start? No wonder you've already gone over the original projected timeframe.' He stood up to speak but was beaten to the punch by Rick himelf. 'This should be good.'

Fáelán litstened to Rick and waited for him to finish, before speaking up himself. "I too wish to have a few things cleared up that i dont quite understand. Reiterating a few points Rick made, firstly the name seems to indicate that the academy will be used by non-Quincy. I hope this is not the case, as this is not only a place for teaching and training but also a secondary HQ and stronghold for the Quincy, hence why Karakura was chosen as its location. I'm sure you can see why allowing non-Quincy into such an important place would be an error. Secondly, why are you not using Rick's Bauen Brille for construction? Why are you not using Quincy workers already? What is the reason that you have been chosen to oversee this project instead of the originally planned Rick? Bear in mind that the origninal projections for the academy was approximately six months from starting construction to being ready for opening up. So i ask again, what makes you think that doubling the construction time, increasing the material costs exponentially, and not using Quincy workers makes you a more worthy overseer for this project than Rick?"

Fáelán took a breath and calmed himself as he seemed to be getting slightly annoyed, "On another note, staff. Of course administration staff can be moved from here or sourced locally, however the teachers and more specialised tutors that are to be working at the KSSA need to be sourced on a more global scale and with your completion date is getting ever closer. How many people have you already selected? How many have you contacted? Keeping in mind that some of these people will have other jobs and responsibilities and they have to give various amounts of notice to their employers to leave. On top of that is the time it will take for them to wrap up their lives and move to Karakura town and then settle in. All of this has to occur long before the opening day for the KSSA to allow for a smooth opening. So what are you currently doing to address this? Especially as with the addition of doing things properly, the opening date will continue to move up."

While the man waited for the speakers response, he glanced down to the folder on the desk and began to flick through it to find the notes on the KSSN project to see if there was anything else he wanted clarifying.

Raph stood slightly off to the side, not really having much to add to the conversation. Had he not had the standing with the queen he currently did, it was entirely possible that he would have been kept out of this meeting, despite being an affiliate of the Order. Again, not that it exactly mattered. He did his best to avoid mingling with those of the order, higher ups and lower downs alike. All that people really needed to know about him was that he was here. They could talk to her majesty if they had a problem, Raph wasn’t that concerned as of now.

He watched the presenters near the stage, all of them trying to be as civil as possible while thinking of how best to one up the others…except for one. This last one, a tanned woman, stood as apart from the others as one would expect, clutching to her items and just waiting for her turn. Strange. Many professionals that Raphael had met were mostly concerned with garnering as much either fame or attention as possible. As she approached the stage he decided to actually listen.

What followed was one of the strangest things that Raphael had heard from just about any of the quincy. A school being built in what was effectively the most spiritually neutral zone, thanks to Jian? That just smacked at not only arrogance, but also a bit of insanity. The logistical issues with this plan were vast. Were they going to have guards on the premises around the clock? Had they thought about what this would do to the surrounding area, having such a high concentration of spiritually aware humans in the area? Then was the KSN, another spiritualist faction, though faction was hardly the word for it. More of a loose alliance of different spirits held together not more out of fear than anything else. But if such a place was made available to all spiritualists…

Such hopes, however, were quickly dashed as a second man, one that Raphael did not recognize at all, began talking about the KSN and their pro-shinigami ideals. Raph frowned, ever so slightly. That wasn’t entirely accurate; the KSN weren’t pro-shinigami so much as they weren’t ANTI-shinigami like the quincy were. Though, to be fair, the ring-leader Jian, was practically anti-quincy…

The second to chime in didn’t exactly give Raph much more confidence for the quincys desire to cooperate. This worried him, and reminded him too much of America. Though he could see their side logically, they weren’t seeing the larger picture, nor did they really seem like they were looking for it.

Raph was quick to respond. “Speaking from the side of a spiritualist, I have to actually advocate for the screening and thereafter instruction of spiritualists. I’m not saying to take in anyone and everyone, but if more spiritualists were taught to control their powers and properly inducted into the spiritual world instead of just haphazardly jogging into it, like most do, then it could prevent more deaths and/or give mortals a fighting chance against the other spiritual races. Also, have you considered the other logistical challenges? What about protecting the students while they’re there? Not to mention defending the grounds and surrounding area in case of a large scale hollow or Shinigami attack? And what of the Shinigami? If they realize what is being constructed, if they should catch wind of it, they might attack to try and stop the construction, what then? I’ve encountered not one, but two hollows in Berlin alone. If there are two of them here then god only knows how many are in Karakura? With that there’s also the risk of the Shinigami presence being strengthened! I’m not saying that this shouldn’t be completed, but that these things need to be thought of completely.” After a second or two he added: “I do, however, agree with the utilization of quincy methods and manpower to speed up the completion of this project. Sooner completion means less risk of discovery or retaliation.”

Words: 673
Total: 673

Clicking through his 498 unread emails the Sternritter couldn’t help but sigh with annoyance. Sure from the outside the rank sounded glamorous and if the histories were anything to go by then being a Star Knight should be a live of adventure. Unfortunately none of that had come to be true. No being a Sternritter was about completing endless paperwork, being bound by meaningless bureaucracy and having just enough knowledge of what was happening to know that the Order was possibly doing more harm than good for the Quincy people but not having quite enough information to find a solution to the problem. The laptop beeped as a reminder popped up as the calendar pointed out that he was supposed to be attending a meeting right now.

Staff Meeting (Unclassified) – 3 minutes overdue

Ah that was right, they were having that open meeting that all ranks could attend. He had heard there was the possibility of some non-Quincy allies showing up as well. Hopefully no one would be stupid enough to start spilling classified information at this thing, the security around the castle had proven to be utterly atrocious. Shutting the laptop screen Aodh stood up and straightened out his uniform before crossing the room to his filing cabinet. Flicking through the contents he pulled a file out which he immediately tucked under his arm before locking the cabinet immediately.

Leaving his office, pausing only to make sure the electronic lock and clicked into place, Aodh set off towards the large conference room. His journey through the castle was accompanied by the click – clack of his standard issue boots against the hard floor of the hallways. The halls was shockingly sparse, a guard here, a clerical officer there but the usual bustle of staff or young Knights rushing to their duties was absent. Many of the castle staff were probably busy with the meetings whether they had been away setting up the rooms or were slaving away in the kitchens preparing food for the invitees. Calendrea had been hard at work organising this entire thing after all and she hadn’t been shy about grabbing every warm body she could to make sure it was all hands on deck. Aodh himself had only managed to avoid enlistment into her army of preparation by hiding in his office.

Eventually he finally reached the bloody conference room and entered as a woman was apparently giving some sort of speech to the room. Odd he was fairly certain such a thing hadn’t been on the agenda. Standing next to the door he waited silently as she introduced himself, upon hearing her name the Irishman raised an eyebrow. She launched into an explanation about the academy but Aodh’s mind was only partially on the subject. The rest of his attention was spent considering the young woman, she had been assigned to his Sphere without his consent by Freyleif in a move that he had found quite annoying. The de la Cruz family could hardly be lower in his estimate after her failure of a brother had vanished alongside his Regent leaving the Order in disarray.

Aodh let her finish speaking staying silently near the back where few people, if anyone, had yet to notice his presence. After a moment Rick spoke up causing the Sternritter to smile faintly, he had his disagreements with the man’s views but he couldn’t doubt his resolve when it came to supporting their people. His topic ultimately, as it often did, turned to Holy Artefacts and unsurprisingly his own inventions. It caused a flash of frustration in the Irishman, Aodh had hoped for Rick to take his place as the High Archivist, that is to say the Knight with the foremost knowledge of Artefacts, and to oversee the Vaults of ancient Quincy Tools not to mention the creation of new ones. However he was unsure if the man’s ambition would allow for such a role.

Aodh extracted himself from the group he’d been hiding amongst to walk around the outside of the room, faltering only for a moment in surprise when he heard his cousin speaking up. To much less surprise he heard Fáelán’s confrontational tone. The man loved to debate but rarely seemed to have the patience for it unless everyone around him immediately agreed to his version of events. Despite all that he couldn’t really call his cousin out on it, the other O’Mongan had as much right to answers as any Quincy when it came to such a momentous project. After all the ramifications of building the school could affect them all depending on how it was viewed by other factions.

As he reached the top table set aside for the Queen, Amelia and himself he quietly took a seat while the others where still speaking.

Hearing the others finishing to ask their questions Aodh cleared his throat and glanced at Luna. “If I may?” he asked. It was rhetorical of course, he was the Sternritter Birith so frankly he could do or say nearly anything he wanted. He remained seated, Calendrea had been careful to place the position of the Queen and her two Senior Officers in a very visible location. Nor did he bother to ask for the mic and instead simply spoke in a strong, if somewhat emotionless, voice.

“The plan for this Academy has been in the works for quite some time. I was approached in regards to his project by the Former Knight Commander and Sternritter Asch. Later after her Majesty took the Throne I was again requested to look into this project.” he stated calmly. “However our chosen location in Karakura Town, an area of potent spiritual activity, drew some… political concerns. The project was delayed until such things could be dealt with.”

Political concerns… that was putting it lightly. Jian and his KSN could destroy them all if they wronged him and Aodh had refused to green light anything until a dialogue could be opened up with the powerful Spiritualist. Walter and his right hand had promised to see to it but nothing came out of it as far as Aodh knew. Freyleif had promised to see to the problem as well but from what Aodh could gather those talks had not gone well. Regardless the KSN had been quiet and so the risk had been deemed worth the reward. Unlike many however the Sternritter Birith had refused the idea of turning it into a military installation. The Academy was not going to be a place to train Knights, such obviously military regimes could be done in the castle, and the academy was going to have a further reaching and more beneficial effect than that.

It was about time the Order did something for the people and if Aodh was right then Miss de la Cruz had the same sentiments… he really did need to have a meeting with her eventually, didn’t he?

“Dame de la Cruz was chosen by her Majesty to oversee the construction and completion of the Academy” he added his eyes sliding over to meet those of his cousin. “She was deemed the most suitable for the job.”

Well he assumed so anyway. Or Freyleif had just decided on a whim, she did that sometimes but it didn’t bother Aodh too much. Let the girl have as much ‘control’ as she wanted, that didn’t mean her every effort wouldn’t be scrutinised and watched by himself. Aodh was an educator by trade and just because he’d quit the High School didn’t change that, he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to keep a close eye on things. Then, if it was necessary, he’d step in.

Raising a folder he held it up lazy before letting it fall to the table. “Plans, estimates of time and cost alongside other such minutia have already been considered as our colleague has already stated.”

Aodh leant back in his seat. “Much of the labour is not difficult to find. Although volunteers who wish to assist with the endeavour will of course be welcomed… Quincy or not.” he stated with a quick glance towards Raphael. “I myself will be lending any help I can to the project leader. As for Staff, both administrative and academic, those are to be chosen at a later date. We have many specialists within the Order as well as the wider community to choose from after all.” he said with a faint smile “Those who are approached for such assignments will be given the appropriate time to hand in their notice if they have a current job.”

Frowning slightly he glanced at Luna “I do apologise I seem to have droned on a little.” he stated with a faint shake of his head before casting his gaze around the room “The Knight chosen for this assignment has my full support and utter confidence. I am sure our Queen feels the same way or else the choice would not have been made.”

Lie, lie, lie. However that’s what leaders did, right?

---------------------------
WC: 1534
Total WC: 1534

The smooth saxophone roaring in the back of her mind fizzled off with a chilling howl. Haley’s voice, as well as Luna’s, faded away soon after, leaving Luna’s mind blank and without the distraction she so desperately wanted to lose herself in.

For a brief moment, she started to search through her mental playlist for something else to occupy her thoughts. However, before the low, staccato notes of a cello could start to play, a man who looked straight from a vampire game stood up.

There was an awkward silence while an attendant shuffled through the crowd and towards the man. After being handed a microphone, the man cleared his throat and then rambled off his list of concerns.

Clearly, someone had absolutely no skills in public talking. He back tracked and restated things over and over as if he felt like he was talking to a preschooler. Even more irritating was that he felt fit to leave his passive-aggressive words on an attack of her character.

“I had planned to wait until the end to give a full list of those who have already signed up,” Luna addressed his jab at her omission first. “But since you’re so eager…”

She half turned to the screen behind her and began flipping through the slides. Some more layout designs and pages filled to the brim with text were breezed over, not really giving anyone a chance to glean any sort of information from them. After five or so pages of what was surely useful information was passed over, she landed on a page with names, photographs, and a short list beside said photographs.

The current page had three images, but given the continued on following page written in small text at the bottom of the slide, there was no doubt more of them.

First on the list was a picture of a grizzly looking man with short, dark hair. He glared at the camera with strained interest, as if something just out of sight was demanding his attention – or maybe he was just camera shy. Either way, he looked very uncomfortable.

“Erek Blackmore was one of the first people to offer help regarding the construction,” Luna said as she swirled her red lazer around his picture. “He has been working closely with our construction crews as a sort of leader. He has yet to actually make it to Japan due to some timing issues, but I have full faith in his abilities and experience.”

She flicked her lazer down to the next picture. The white-haired man leered at the camera, sporting a similar expression to the one he was giving her now.

“You might know this man,” Luna said after eyeing the man who was standing up. “Rick Rogers. His creation of Brille goggles will being an invaluable tool for us, once we have more Quincy to operate them. Hence me asking for volunteers. “

Luna eyed him for a second with an emotionless stare. It was almost as if she expected him to lash out at her with a huff and something akin to ”Well why didn’t you say this sooner”, but no such remark came.

“Mei Rowan,” Luna continued and moved her red dot to the face of a tired looking woman. She smiled at the camera happily, but something behind her eyes made her seem far older than she appeared. “As I’ve already mentioned, thanks to connections, we have a full crew of humans helping us out with the manual labor. Though they don’t have the powers we do, without them, this would never be a thing.”

The slide flipped over to the next page with no fancy transition.

“Cressida Schade and Aidan O'Mongan,” Luna concluded as two more photographs appeared on the screen. “They’ve both volunteered to help with the construction of the Academy. Much like Erek, they will mostly oversee our more accident-prone humans, as well as being one of the few who can use the Brille goggles.”

Luna flipped off her lazer pointer and then faced the crowd once more. She didn’t allow Rick another chance to interrupt before doubling back to his main concern.

“As for who we accept, the name is as you think it is,” Luna let attention swivel through the crowd, making eye contact with a few of the more eager looking viewers. “I think most of us are unfamiliar with what a Quincy actually is. For those of us who are aware, not all spirits are Shinigami or Hollow. To be a Shinigami requires training and being given the tools necessary to complete a job. Being a Quincy is much the same.”

Slowly, Luna started to pace the stage. Her legs were already starting to get jittery from standing still, but the idea of having to explain something so basic to what should have been leaders among the group…

Well, lets just say, Luna wasn’t expecting an impromptu lesson in “what am I”.

“The original Quincy clan were nothing more than spiritually aware humans who chose to fight back against Hollows. They refined their particular skillset into what we now consider the traditional Quincy toolset. Manipulating Reishi, using tools such as Selee, as well as the complete destruction of spiritual beings. These were all learned skills that were passed down for generations.”

She let the introduction of her little lesson hang for a moment, watching as a few of the brighter listeners started to piece together what she was saying. At least not all hope was lost.

“What we call a Quincy today is someone who has the blood of the original clan of Quincy. We have an innate talent for picking up these skills and tend to take to the arts of destruction.” She let her gaze wander for a moment until she picked up on some familiar faces. “However, not all of us are fortunate enough to be born into a family who’s even aware of their heritage. That is why you see Quincy suddenly discovering their powers so late in their lives.”

Despite everything, she couldn’t help but smile when a few people nodded along. At the very least, her last statements had hit home with some.

“With that bit of background knowledge, I think you can see where I’m going with this,” Luna continued when her gaze fell back on Rick and the others who were quick to initially raise their eyebrows at her decision making. “The KSSA will not be a generic Academy that opens its doors to any superhero wanna-be that thinks they can snowflake the world to a better place.”

Cough, KSN, cough. But she wouldn’t say that aloud. Last thing she wanted was another witch hunt. Not that the so-called KSN could even do much. Were they even still a thing? She hadn’t heard any news of their so-called leader, or really anything of note lately.

“We will accept all natural born Quincy and anyone else who is open and willing to learning the arts of destruction,” she clarified, hoping to end on a strong note. “Much like our ancestors, I don’t think this is something we can sit around and twiddle our thumbs and toes about. Any spiritually aware human who wants to wear the Quincy name and, hopefully, further expand our bloodlines, is more than welcome past my doors.”

Her smile faded slightly as her eyes locked on Rick.

“Does that answer your question?”

Supposedly, it did, but there were still eager Quincy ready to pounce at any loophole they thought they could find. Jeeze, one would think they were hoping for Luna and Lucas to fail at this rate.

She tried to pass it off as just concern. Despite the sharp tones that kept coming her way, all she could do was hope that, at the very least, the questions came from a place of genuine kindness, but everyone apparently lacked the social skills necessary to convey that.

Faelen all but growled at her as he white-knighted Rick harder than any classic Disney move Luna had ever seen. Against her best judgement, she just stared at him with a raised eyebrow and let him rant his pretty, little head off.

Once he was done, she waited. Ten painfully long seconds ticked by and she just stared. Only when the crowd grew restless did she break eye contact and shift her weight.

“You’ve been misinformed if you think Rick was the original project lead behind this,” she said bluntly. “The Academy was original Lucas’s idea. I won’t deny anyone’s participation in this nor will I discredit any work done, but I’m not about to lie to your face about anything.”

Another long pause.

“As for why I was recently put in charge?” She restated with a softer tone. Part of her wanted to shrug and roll her eyes, but she didn’t. She simply stood there and met Faelen’s burning stare. “Progress was at a standstill, so I stepped up. This Academy is the only reason I’m here, so I when I caught wind of recent complications, I approached the Queen and asked for her blessing in taking charge. Why this wasn’t passed on sooner is beyond me.”

Was it too obvious that she didn’t like Freyleif? Maybe, but she wasn’t going to linger.

“As I’ve already stated, I am using Quincy workers, but more hands are needed,” she continued, deciding not to pause this time for dramatic effect. “As far as I’m aware, there were no calls for help issued before I was given charge, hence the complete and lack of momentum on this. So, I took things into my own hands and approached those I thought to be the most valuable. I’ve already given them their shoutouts, but since the topic is brought up again.”

Luna turned back to the screen and gestured to the smiling photographs of Aidan and Cressida. She let the page linger for five more seconds before flipping back to the first page.

“These are our project leads,” she restated yet again. “My asking for volunteers is for anyone else interested in helping with the project. The more hands the better. I don’t expect any of us to work around the clock and I’m anticipating more pressing issues to crop up – like the Hollow threat in that particular area which will surely slow progress more than once.”

Did any of these people even think? Did they all live in some sort of picture-perfect world where everything happened insanely fast and there were no hiccups? She struggled to relate, but then again, who knew how sheltered these idiots were.

“So, yes, the estimated time is far off,” she concluded. “But, like with most major construction projects, that’s including potential delays and anything that might slow progress, as well as limited free hands to help. Considering the scale of this project, I thought I was giving a fair estimate.”

Man, her mouth was dry.

She turned to the stage and looked around. It took a second for her to pin down the table hidden in the shadows of the stage, but once she did, she strolled right on over to it. Meanwhile, Faelen continued with his pointless concerns. She plucked a water bottle from the cooler that sat quietly on the table and then cracked the seal on the cap.

As she walked back to center stage, she took a few large gulps. Once back in place, she swished some water around her mouth and then swallowed.

“Staffing will be taken care of further down the road,” she answered his final barrage. “I do plan to set up interviews and meet with people from all around the world to get an idea of what sort of experience I’m working with. That will be for a meeting later in the future, though.”

Another man stood up slowly. The mic was passed down to him as he looked around with an uncomfortable stare. Once he had the mic, he stared at it for a moment, as if to gather his courage, and then met Luna’s unimpressed gaze.

The threat of the Hollows was something she already touched on, but since he brought it up, she might as well further expand.

“We will be doing our best to purge the surrounding area of its Hollow presence during construction,” she began with a bit more enthusiasm. Finally, a question that didn’t feel like an attack to her character. “However, I’m not humoring the idea that it’ll be a safe haven for all the students. The Academy will be built durable and meant to last, but, more importantly, security will be high there. Students will be aware of the dangers of Hollows. Among the student registration will be various forms describing the uncertainty of the location as well as detailing what to do in the event of an attack.”

She turned her attention back to the screen and flipped back to one of the many slides she had skipped over. This particular one was filled to the brim and the text was slightly smaller than the other slides. Thankfully, no one seemed to have troubles reading it, however.

The slide went into detail about evacuation spots for untrained students, as well as mentioning possible additions of bunker-like areas scattered among the Academy. These secure rooms would be used to house those incapable of fighting in the event of an attack.

“The hope is that such a high Quincy presence in the area alone will be enough to deter most attacks,” Luna said once she had given the audience some time to read over the slide. “But this is a ‘plan for the worse, hope for the best’ situation. For the sake of confidentiality, this is all the information I’m giving out to those not directly involved in the project.”

There was a pause. The crowd murmured among themselves for a long while before Aidan stood up. He gestured for the mic and, once in possession, went off in his little spiel. Naturally, Luna just stood there and listened. He wasn’t talking to her, but to the crowd.

Was there something more to his words? It was hard to tell. He very rarely looked at her, but something about it seemed… forced.

Maybe she was making that up. Though he was supposedly her direct supervisor, she had never really talked to him outside of passing in halls. He never struck her as the approachable type, so she just let him be.

When he finished, she waved a hand dismissively and then smile.

“By all means,” the words came out light and polite. “I appreciate the input on the situation.”

Even if you don’t exactly inspire confidence.

Once he had settled back down in his chair, Luna looked through the crowd once more. She waited for, perhaps, a bit too long before turning off her slideshow and then smiling to the crowd.

“Well, I think that about covers my role in this,” she concluded with a clap of her hands. “If you have any more questions, or would like to privately discuss something, feel free to approach me after the meeting. Outside of the main hall is a table with registration forms you may fill out if you are interested in volunteering for the KSSA project. Fill them out completely and then hand them to me on your way out.”

She regarded the crowd once more, bowed, and then gave her closing lines.

“Thank you for your time and attention.”

With that, she left the stage.

[2,582]
[3,947 / 78 GP]

Thread exit for me! Luna will technically still be here, but I don't foresee myself posting at all.