*gasp* Quinn found the body he found the body he found th-

(That was a reference to the latest Live from Averno episode)

Anyway, do we think this is enough of a plan to start? Also, when does this story take place in relation to the other stories of Averno? Maybe before Bittersummer and the podcast start, and idk when anything else takes place in relation to those. 

I missed out on the conversation, but I think the ideas you guys came up with are great! XD

I figured we might as well start already... I hope that's okay!

-- Phaedra Phillips --

I sat against a wall of the core of the Birdcage, knees pulled into a comfortable but probably weird-looking position, and worked on my homework. Our teacher had given us a week to decode this message, which was supposed to be hidden under multiple ciphers, but I had a sinking suspicion that it was actually just gibberish.

I closed my computer with a groan and refocused my attention on the conversation a cluster of others were having nearby about fibonacci numbers.

"I love the numbers," said one of them, "but I can never quite believe that they're actually in nature."

I entered myself into the conversation, you know, as one does, and said, "Well, then I'll go grab some pinecones from the forest to show you."

Some of the older students tried to warn me away from going into the forest. I didn't listen. I mean, what was the worst that could happen? The woods were just trees. The trees were just wood. It wasn't like it was haunted or anything.

When I entered the forest, I almost felt it get colder. By the time I couldn't see the road, I'd started shivering. It was just the shade, I told myself. There couldn't be anything going on. But I knelt down to pick up some pinecones anyway. I figured it would be best to get out as soon as possible.

I looked up from the ground, pinecones poking into my palms, and froze. There was a deer in front of me. Right in front of me. I hadn't heard it enter. I felt my hair stand on end. Something was absolutely, positively wrong with this deer.

I pushed myself off the ground, and when I looked back, the deer had disappeared, like it had never been there.

I turned and ran.

It wasn't until I made it safely back to the Birdcage, dropped the pinecones on the ground, and hid in the comforting stillness of the pillowfort realm* that I realized what had been wrong with the deer.

It had three eyes.

--

Did anyone recognize the quote I snuck in there?

*I'm not sure if the pillowfort realm is actually canon or if it was made up by people in DHS. It's basically a realm full of pillows and calming music and various nice things like that. It can be accessed from various places around campus, but DHS is the only department with an entrance to it in our dorms.

Here we go!!

Abi Maywood~

I rest bang my fist on the keyboard of my laptop and groal loudly. No one looks up- this is a regular occurance in the DCD Barn. I refocus my eyes on the screen and delete my frustrated keysmash. Where was I? Right, the battle. The soldiers on the front lines wore golden armor that gleamed in the sun, and on their shields was the...

"Hey, Emmaline!" I call.

A frizzy-haired girl looks up from an armchair nearby. She's clutching a sketchbook and a huge mug of coffee, which I'm pretty sure is her seventh of the day. "What's up?"

"What's the word for the thing?"

"I'm going to need a bit more than that."

"You know, the thing!" I gesture wildly with my hands. "When you have a shield and there's a symbol on it, kind of like a family crest but... not."

"An insignia!" calls a boy from across the room, and I snap my fingers.

"Yes, that's it! An insignia." I bend over my laptop and begin writing again. ...on their shields was the insignia of the Lost Queen. Perfect.

Disregarding the fact that I've only written about three hundred words today, as opposed to my goal of a thousand, I close my laptop and stand, stretching. Leaving the computer on the chair, I walk across the room and leave behind the tense chatter of the Barn.

Picking my way carefully through the garden, I head in the direction of the Silo and a much needed distraction. It isn't long before I can hear the much louder and only slightly more chaotic sounds of the Destruction kids. It looks like today they're blowing up some kind of tower they've made out of steel drums and filing cabinets.

As I approach, one person looks up and flashes me a smile. "Abi!" they greet. "Long time no see." For the record, I was here this morning.

"Hi, Charly," I greet. "What are you guys doing?"

"What does it look like? We're trying to see how many explosives we need to put in the filing cabinets to make the barrels fly the farthest."

I nod. "Sounds like fun."

As someone shouts something in the background, Charly leans closer. "Did you hear what happened last night?" When I shake my head, they continue. "Rumor has it some DCM kid saw Bonebug in the forest last night."

I raise my eyebrows. "No way."

"Yeah. Want to find out if it's true?"

"What, by going into the forest? That sounds like a bad idea."

They grin. "Come on, I'll let you blow up a car if you go."

To be honest, I don't need much tempting, and they know it. I shrug. "Alright, deal. I've got long enough before tea time."

I wave goodbye to Charly and leave, covering my ears as the filing cabinet tower explodes. I direct my steps to the nearby edge of the forest, dark and still even in the mid-afternoon sun.

As I reach the treeline I pause. Something about the forest is... unsettling. Dangerous. But I brush aside my misgivings and walk into the trees. It gets dark way too fast- the trees shouldn't block out this much sun, but somehow they do. I pull my jacket tighter around me as a chilling wind blows.

I almost want to begin calling Bonebug's name, but I don't. Not only do I not think it would help, I don't know what else could be hiding here in the forest. A New School is full of stories, and not all of them are pleasant.

As I walk through the trees, I hear a rustling noise behind me. I whip around and freeze. I relax a little when I realize it isn't Bonebug, nor is it something more sinister. It's just a girl. A girl with pink hair, kneeling on the ground to gather pinecones. She doesn't seem to notice me, so I stay still and quiet.

I glance once over my shoulder, and when I look back, the girl is standing. And she isn't alone. In front of her is a deer that hadn't been there a moment before. Looking terrified, she runs in the opposite direction. Before I have a chance to wonder why, the deer turns its head to look at me.

I stare into its eyes, and they reflect a light that isn't there. A chill steals through me, and I take a step back. My foot snaps a twig, and I look down, just for a second. When I look back, the deer has vanished. I sprint back to the edge of the woods, where I stop, force myself to take a few calming breaths, and walk out normally like nothing had happened.

I'm distracted all through tea time, and when I finally lay down in my hammock, I close my eyes and envision the scene from earlier. I frown. Something had been wrong. Very wrong.

When I had stared into the eyes of the deer, there had been one too many.

~~~

Sorry this is so long! I got really into it. @Kitten, would you want to ship Phaedra and Abi?

i hate to do this but imma change Abell's dep to just DUE bc it's confusing being in two departments! just ignore anything i've said before about DCM in the rp. sorry!

do we have to wait until everybody has posted at least once before we continue? sorry, im really excited for my first rp! also, Azalea, do you think we could ship Abell and Morgan? I think they would make an interesting match. if you wanna take their story elsewhere, though it's totally fine!

Roan~

I wake up, painfully, on the fire escape.

I grumble and try to sit in a more comfortable position. This happens more often than you would think. As usual, there's an empty mug in my right hand, residue from yesterday's coffee in a sticky ring at the rim. My laptop is still open, falling off my legs, probably dead. There's a stack of Latin books near my left hand.

I love hanging out on the fire escape. I've sort of claimed it as my own territory. I've got a box with random essentials in the corner- a few books, some candy, Sharpies to write on the walls (most of the doodles on this stretch here are from me), a flashlight, earbuds, extra pens, plenty of paper, a stress ball (for exams) and some other miscellaneous things. 

I was also smart enough to bring a pillow up here to sit on, but my back is dying from sleeping up against the wall the whole night. I stand and stretch, assessing the amount of homework that is scattered about. The conclusion: too much. At least it's a Saturday...

"Roan!"

I turn around. It's Ambrose, one of my DDL classmates and good friends. From the looks of her, she probably just put out a fire in the kitchen. "What's up?" I ask.

"I need you help!" she says.

"Dear, I'd like you to take a look at my workspace. My time to be helpful has been stolen by the homework gods," I reply.

She takes a look around. "You slept up here again, huh?"

"Well spotted. Sorry, Ambrose."

"But you would love it!" she begs. "I'm doing some research on cryptids and their significance in ancient literature. I heard about a DHS kid and a DCD kid who both saw a three-eyed deer last night! And- and- I got Collins to join in. He's already armed himself with a Polaroid and Animal Crackers."

At this point I know I'm not going to refuse her. She's put literature, monsters, and Animal Crackers all in one place. I sigh and pretend to be disappointed. "Where do you want to start?"

Five minutes later, I'm standing outside Cracker Corps with some dusty old books Ambrose shoved in my arms, Ambrose and Collins mulling about around me. (Collins has Jell-O as well as Animals Crackers, which is a bonus.) I've got half an essay shoved somewhere in my arms, so I could convince myself that maybe I'd get some work done at some point. (I won't, obviously.)

"Where are we going first?" Collins asks.

"DHS," Ambrose replies. "Less likely to get caught up in an explosion."

"Yeah, but we might fall victim to Sudden Earlobe Death," I complain. I hate the crazy DHS music. You can hear it all the way across campus. "And how are we supposed to find whoever we're looking for? We don't know who they are, or how to get through the darn maze."

"I'll just ask someone," Ambrose says dismissively. "There was a cryptid sighting- people are bound to know about it, right?"

I roll my eyes. Here we go... 

@kuromi/moth, I think we could ship them! Maybe they should just be friends at first, though?

I lean against the beautiful glass panes of the first floor of the reclaimed Holy House of God cathedral, idly ignoring my work for the moment, in favor of gazing at the woods. Nature has always intrigued me, as history does. That’s why I’m also taking biology with Hidden Sequences. Where I am now is where I live, though, even if it’s not quite a home yet. I feel so out of place, a city kid who somehow ended up in this funny little town. I start thinking of all the quirks that I’ve picked up here- the lack of modern technology, the obsession with cryptids and undeterminable headmaster at A New School- and suddenly I get a flashback.

Last night, I was outside. It was one of my first nights here, and I couldn’t sleep. Catching a glimpse of the stars outside my window, I headed out, carefully shutting the heavy oak door with a creak. It was breathtaking, but the night was chilly, so I didn’t plan on being out long. First I walked around campus a bit, then I curled up on the grass, watching the sky. Beautiful. But it was cold, and I knew I should probably get back to my room, so I got up. Walking along the edge of the forest, I kept getting this strange, shivery feeling whenever I looked into the forest, like something was watching me...wait! I think, jumping up from my seat. There had been a deer staring at me...okay, that’s normal, but it was a very, very wrong deer. A deer with three eyes.

Throughout the rest of the day, I keep thinking about that night, trying to make sense of what I’d seen. I’d researched everywhere and there was no way this was some strange alternate, with those glowing eyes and the feeling it gave me. So I began to wonder...could this be something else entirely?

Well, there was only one way left to find out- to talk to someone. I headed out the door.