The Kingdom

This bugs Keith, if he hadn't had his mind to cluttered with a bunch of thoughts he perhaps would have banged the keyboard after another failure to find an unblocked site that would lead to more info. He wondered whether info about himself would suffice but he got the feeling that that wouldn't be the brightest idea. Perhaps a terrible one if he ever planned to force information out of anyone. That would hopefully be a complete last resort that he never had to use. His powers weren't something he liked to use on people he barely knew, or people that he liked.
He looked around to see what everyone else had been doing and to see if there was any classwork to occupy himself with at the moment. He'd continue his info search later or when something happens. He seriously doubted it in this normal looking class room.

[Classroom 2]

A bell rings, the class concluded. What exactly was the point of this? The teacher was very nearly passed out next to his excessive amounts of mugged caffeine the entire class, and no one even seems remotely phased by it. As the students get up to leave, it suddenly occurs to Keith how few there are. The classroom is big enough, but barely half-filled. An aimless lesson, an apathetic teacher, and a sparse amount of students. What is to be made of this?
Maybe the next class will be more informative, but first Keith should pick up some supplies and his full class schedule from his room.

[Keith's tasks]:
1- Complete!
2- Complete!
3- Complete!
4- Retrieve school supplies from dorm room

Lesly watched the boy, curiosity in her eyes. Why was he so nervous? She glanced around, but it didn't seem that anything was wrong. She looked at the doors like they might hold the answer, but nthing was there. Sighing, she looked back anlt the twitchy boy. She jogged up towards him and stood before him. "Um. Are you alright? You're acting... twitchy." She commented, eyes concerned.

That was a strange class over all. He walked to his dorm again, accidentally making a wrong turn at some point but ending up at his room anyway. He wasn't entirely sure what to get out of his room so he just took out everything, making for a rather large backpack. Once he got used to his schedule he'd lighten it up.

[Gymnasium]

The boy didn't respond until the teacher was out of earshot. His hands were still in a state of constant movement as he spoke.

[Student]:
"Yeah, gym just isn't my favorite class. I'm really just here to wait for a friend, then I'm gone."

His gaze went to the exit once more, then back to Lesly.

"Hey, this is gonna sound weird, but do you have, like, some paperclips or rubberbands or something like that. I like to keep my hands busy."

Lesly looked down at her hands and smiled, "Yeah, here." she pulled off a hair-tie from around her wrist. She handed it to him, smiling. "Hope this will do. Don't ask me why I have a hair-tie, I don't even know." she chuckled. "Um, you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but who are you waiting for? I don't mean to be nosy." she asked, tilting her head to the side in curiosity.

[Room 1W]

All the dorm rooms are similar in appearance, differing only slightly and due to its occupants. Each average dorm room is equipped to house two people, and although Keith's side of the room is still practically bare, the opposite bed reflects the style of its owner; the roommate Keith has yet to meet. Whoever he is, he is not here right now, probably at a class.
Whatever. That isn't the matter at hand right now anyway. Time to check out Keith's class schedule.

[Keith's schedule]:
1. Technical Education- Room 2
2. Roaming period
3. Group Studies- Room 13
4. Lunch
5. Superhuman Biology Studies- Room 5
6. Social Studies- Room 9
7. Physical Education- Gymnasium
8. Language Arts- Room 11

Looks like he lucked out. Right now is his free period. This would be a good time to explore the school.

[Keith's explore progress]:
1- Dean's office
2- ???
3- Dorm rooms (West Wing)
4- Classrooms
5- ???
6- ???
7- ???
8- ???
9- ???
10- ???

[Gymnasium]

The boy accepts the hair band gratefully and begins winding, tying, and retying it into different shapes. He really is very good with his hands it seems.

[Student]:
"I'm waiting for... you're roommate actually. She has a free period now so sometimes I skip class with her."

He smiles, but with a certain shyness about him. He seems reluctant to elaborate on his relationship with Primrose, or even to say her name, which is more than a little strange considering he just thanked you for defending her.

"You're new aren't you? I was new a while ago too, and so was she. One thing to get used to is how much people don't give a d*mn about showing up to class."

That sound familiar. Weren't there a lot of people missing from the last class too?

"My name's Fletcher, by the way. I guess we'll probably be seeing a lot of eachother. You know, since we have a class together, and since me and your roomie are practically attached by the hip."

He gives a nervous little laugh, but Lesly just barely hears it over a sudden crash. The gym teacher's office door topples over. A low creaking sound is heard and the other doors follow suit. It looks like someone broke them off by the hinges, but there is no one else in sight.
At the sound of the impending chaos, the students scatter, taking advantage of the distraction to take off in all directions. The teacher tries to get things under control, but no one even looks at him.
Fletcher shoots Lesly one last smile and takes off as well.

-- What will you do? --

Lesly smiled, "Oh cool. Nice to meet you Fletcher."

She glances around at all the chaos, sort of confused at what had happened. "What the hell?" she asks no one in particular. She sighs, and then smiles, "What's a first day without a little fun?" she grins then heads off to the locker room, swinging her backpack over her shoulder and heading back out. People were still flowing around, and she takes the opportunity to sneak out of the gym and out into the hallway. She turned and jogged down the hallway. She really wanted to just hang out in the Auditorium right now.

[Hallway]

Lesly heads straight to the auditorium, while Fletcher heads towards the garden; beside him is the small figure of Primrose Cain; she gives Lesly a sideways glance, but says nothing. Fletcher says something to the shorter girl, but Lesly is too far to hear it. Whatever it is, it certainly catches her attention. Gossip is definitely a reoccurring theme in this school, but at least she knows it's something good being said this time.

Lesly gives Primrose a small smile, then heads off towards the Auditorium. She swings her backpack in front of her and rummages through it to grab her mp3 player. She pulls out a pair of panda shaped earphones and sticks them in her ear, plugging them into the music player. A moment later, soul music is blasting into her ears.

She turns into the Auditorium and glances around to make sure no one is there.

(For the next week and a half I'm going to be away so I won't be responding)
Keith walks of in what he thinks might be east. He is probably off by 90 degrees so perhaps it's more like wandering aimlessly. He'll probably follow someone who is looking shady and then follow. That would be the best way to find information right? Over all, he doesn't see anybody that is doing anything completely out of the ordinary. He looks around a different hallway.

[Auditorium]

There doesn't appear to be anyone else in the auditorium right now, but Lesly looks around backstage just to be sure. Away from the emptiness of the main stage, save for a few stray props and leftovers from music classes, the rear of the auditorium is actually fairly cluttered. The most obstructing features are a number of old bookcases and file cabinets. Most of them have collected quite a bit of a dust and have a noticeably abandoned look to them, though there are still a few books on the shelves and papers in the cabinet. As firmly settled as they are into the backdrop, there is something distinctly out of place about them. In a situation like this, the only thing to do is investigate!

[Hallway]

Keith wanders for a while, occasionally passing another student in the near vacancy of the halls. He just misses the entrance to the east wing-- the girls' dormitories-- and eventually finds himself at the door to some kind of garden.

[Garden]

Directly at the center of the school, Keith stands in the open air of the garden that many students use as a common area. It's large enough to allow some roaming space, but surprisingly thick with people. It's a choice hangout for students of all ages, it seems.
There is a commotion at the center. A few students stand on the rim of a stone fountain and try to garner the attention of the crowd. While some stop what their doing and listen, most simply ignore the mild uproar and go about their business. A girl-- she looks barely old enough to even attend this school, and is probably only standing on the fountain for the boost in height-- speaks to those who stop and listen with a deeply passionate look in her eyes, unfitting of someone so young.
This could be interesting...


-- What will you do? --

Keith decided to wander nearer to the fountain so he could hear what this little girl had to say. Chances were that this girl wouldn't have something that was too valuable but one could always hope. Keith set himself somewhere to the girl's left and tried to make himself comfortable. There just was no way that he could but he listened and stayed anyway.

[Garden]

[Student]:
"A bunch of kids coerced or taken against their will to a location where they have little to no contact to the outside world; most people would call this kidnapping. So why is it acceptable in the case of The Strange House? Does this place really seem like a legit school to you? Then why are you all so content to play by someone else's twisted rules? You've all been spoon-fed the idea that this is a safe place, but what really happens to the kids that 'graduate' this place? There is something very wrong here, and I know there have to be more of you who want to find the truth!"

The girl speaks passionately, but the attention she receives for her speech is less than positive. The masses clamor with barely-hushed laughter, as if sharing a private joke. Eventually, they lose interest and continue on as if nothing happened. A few students lag behind and talk with the speakers, but probably more out of politeness than anything else.

Something about the small girl's words strike a chord; the Tech Ed computers that blocked out so much of the outside world. Then again, nobody seems to be taking her seriously, and her whole conspiracy angle seems pretty far-fetched. Either way it's hard to imagine such a slight child being very knowledgeable about this puzzle of a school.


-- What will you do? --

Lesly walks towards the book case and runs a finger through the dust. "Geez, you'd think they'd be more sanitary." She sighed and picked up a book. After blowing off some dust and coughing up some more dust, she opened the books pages. Nothing of interest in this book, just some Shakespearean crap. After replacing the book, she walked over to the filing cabinet at her left and opened the top drawer. Except for a file or two, it was pretty empty. The second drawer down was even less exciting, holding only dust and some blank printer paper.

After searhing a few more shelves and cabinets, nothing of interest really showed up. She sighed and sat down, grabbing one of the only files that seemed interesting, and opening it. All it was were some old photos from the yearbook class, showing students excited for a dance, happy for their team winning, and other various hallways filled with students. She sighed, looking back up and noticing a cabinet that she hadn't seen before.

It was small and wooden, wedged up between the wall and a bookshelf. Something about it seemed... important. When she walked over, she notced that it wasn't as dusty as the other cabinets were, as if it had been dusted off recently, or had just been recently placed back here.

[Auditorium]

The top drawer of the wooden cabinet opens easily, revealing a number of files lined up in a seemingly random order. There are a few gaps in the assortment; some files having been removed. At the very back of the drawer, one especially worn file sticks out at an awkward angle away from the others. The weathered manila folder looks set to fall apart at the slightest touch. The left-most corner of the file reads "Knoll, Eliza -- 1982"

You aren't to sure whether any of this is true and it probably isn't completely true seeing as to how many people are taking her seriously but she did seem to have a point. Perhaps he should ask a few questions or at least let her rant about whatever she seems to want to get everyone to listen to.
He walks by her attempting to look casual or at least a little less interested and waits for the crowd that was less than interested to leave. It was still a lot more crowded than he would have liked but this was a popular hang out.
He decided to ask anyway, "Do you know anything about what happens to us?"

[Garden]

The girl looks mildly surprised by Keith's question, or maybe just by the fact that he would ask her anything. Her dark eyes soften and she hops down from her perch to sit on the stone rim of the fountain. The few others who stood with her subtly redirect the attention of the present crowd as she speaks.

[Student]:
"If I knew that-- If I knew that for certain-- I wouldn't have to keep doing this just to make people think. However, I have it on good authority that the people that 'graduate' from this place never make it home. I don't trust this so-called school for a second, and that's why we need more kids on our side."

Keith looked puzzled, "Do you know if we could go home before we graduate," he was getting slightly worried," like during holidays?"

[Garden]

A purely sympathetic look settles on the girl's face, very near patronizing coming from this child.

[Student]:
"You're another one of the new students, huh? Figures. There are visiting days, when friends and family can come in to check on you. Sometimes the real teacher's pets reportedly get some time off to go home, but I have some doubts about that too."

She sniffs self-importantly. Who does this girl think she is? Who is she anyway?

"At least you're new enough that you still have an open mind. The longer people stay here, the more brainwashed they get."

"Eliza Knoll?" Lesly picks the folder out from the cabinet and places it on top of the cabinet, she would go through it later. After glancing over the other files, she closes the cabinet door and opens the next on down. More files, but none of interest. The last drawer was the same, holding nothing of interest.

She sighed and closed all the drawers, then picked up the folder she had laid on top. "Why's it so worn..." she questioned.

"Oh?" he looked around. The place didn't exactly look threatening but he wasn't entirely sure about very much around here. What she said sounded true over all, or at least about the few things he actually knew about the place. Perhaps hanging around with her might reveal a few things. If not then at least he would have someone who wouldn't hesitate to tell him things he would know. Speaking of which.
"Oh yeah. Do you know anything about the Kingdom? I tried asking another girl but she didn't want to tell me at the moment," he might as well try anyone he knew.

[Auditorium]

Lesly flips open the aged folder, careful not to tear the pages within. Enclosed immediately inside is a student application, followed by a handwritten letter.




The name at the bottom of the brief letter is blanked out. By the date, the name, and the content of the letter, it can be guessed that this file was submitted at the time that the school was first founded. It seems that, firstly, the school is not terribly old, and perhaps not all that it seems. The writer of the letter seems to suggest a sort of study being done on the school; on the students?
And who is this girl being mentioned? Why would she be so important? There are more papers in the file but they are all a jumble of strange words and numbers and other equally cryptic notes.
Lesly can't understand most of it, but slips the file into her backpack anyway. No one will miss it.