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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jun 8, 2008 19:17:31 GMT
"Both," Madeleine said, pushing the door closed. Something told her that giving Arihant armour wasn't a matter of absolute urgency. "Usually power-related combat, but of course, that can tire people easily, and so they resort to non-magical combat. Then of course there are people without offensive powers - and the Cardsdale Youth movement that's been going on; they don't have any powers, so they obviously fight this way. Some of the upper rank in Marius' army would have guns - I've been shot by one of them..." Orla. Madeleine automatically flinched, the guilt still feeling fresh even now - even after everything Orla had done, she regretted... of course she still regretted it. "-but from what I've seen, they only use them as a last resort. Most of us don't like using guns. I have one for battle; but I've never used it against anyone and never will. It's cheating," she added, with a light laugh - a laugh that was too airy to be convincing. "Still, we'll be covering all forms of combat anyway, just in case. You can never be too careful."
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Post by Arihant on Jun 9, 2008 19:40:08 GMT
Guns? Wow. It may have seemed stupid, but something about the mention of guns made this all feel a hell of a lot more real to Arihant. He wondered... No, that was stupid. Still, though, he couldn't stop himself. He was wondering if... He glanced around the room, looking at groups of people - some his own age, many undoubtedly younger - dotted around, talking, laughing. Small elemental fights broke out every now and then between some of the people, but it was clear by the raucous shouts and giggles that these were normal - fun. They were... they were just children. And so was he, no matter what he may have done in his past. He just... he wondered what was so... what war needed its battles fought by teenagers? What was... But that was his ignorance again, now, wasn't it? It was probably... probably worth it, after all. These people, they all seemed so... normal. Or at least, as normal as people in a place like this could be. They didn't seem like fanatics, like the sort of people who would follow some cause blindly to the death without a moment's questioning - And after all, Kira was one of them too, wasn't she? Head of the Spies. As much as he repeated that fact to himself, he never really managed to grasp it. She was just so... so Kira. He couldn't imagine Kira in a war. But... well, he just hadn't fully appreciated the danger of the espionage, he guessed. A faint feeling of worry crossed his mind for a moment, but he pushed it away. He wouldn't think about that now. It wasn't like he could stop her from... OK, so he'd just stop thinking about it, then. That would stop him from worrying. But he... He needed to know what he was fighting for, didn't he? He continued looking at the groups for a moment, deliberating whether to divulge his ignorance to his Head, of all people, but in the end he decided just to stop thinking and go for it. That would be wiser, anyway. "Madeleine..." he began to ask hesitantly. "I should probably tell you, I don't really know anything... at all about this war. I only found out that Orchid existed a couple of months ago, and then I didn't know it was a combat zone, I just..." He swallowed. "Well, to be honest, I came here to see if they could cure me, but that's not the point. It's just... I hadn't thought I would be staying, and now that I... know that I am, I'm happy to fight this war for... for Orchid itself, if needs be, but I think... that I should probably know more."
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jun 15, 2008 21:08:59 GMT
Oh Jesus. One thing that really, really riled Madeleine up was people arriving at the school and practically being drafted into a combat that they knew sod all about. Though, it wasn't as though this was being kept quiet, and people should have enough sense to look up the back- But that was beyond the point. Madeleine sighed quietly, and gestured Ari over to her desk. The doors to the equipment store opened simultaneously, and a chair zoomed out and parked itself in front of her desk. Gesturing at Arihant to be seated, she dropped into the swingy chair behind the desk, before clearing her throat. "Listen, Arihant... if at any point in this you disagree with what this conflict is about, you can leave. We're not running conscription here, you don't have to do this. I just want to make that clear before I start." Casually, she leaned back in her chair, and looked him in the eye. "What are your feelings on... segregation, for want of a better word. Segregation in jobs, schools, homes - gender segregation, racial segregation, by religion, by background, that sort of thing."
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Post by Arihant on Jun 16, 2008 19:53:23 GMT
This wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting, he thought as he shifted uncomfortably in the seat behind Madeleine's desk. God, it felt strange to have this huge expanse of wood separating him and a girl who looked... younger than him. She was probably younger than him, anyway. Or not much difference. It all felt... surreal. Like children playing at soldiers. He hadn't expected it to hit him this hard, this suddenly, but the need to know was consuming him now. Great. "I..." He thought for a moment. Segregation. He should have known what he thought about something like that by now, but unfortunately Arihant's mind was nowhere near so lucid. "Well, I grew up in India, so there was... there was the castes and all that," he said slowly. "And for the first twelve or so years of my life I thought that... Well, that it was normal, that everywhere was like that. But now..." He mused for a moment. What did he think now? He thought of all the people he'd known when he was... on the run. The people in the trains, hitchhiking, sleeping along roadsides. Everyday people, pushed into a life of misery because of what they were born into... Well, it felt a hell of a lot less normal when he met them. "Now, I guess I... I hate it," he said quietly. Then another idea struck him, but not one he could say out loud. Segregation wasn't always bad, was it? Maniacs shouldn't be out in society. Thieves, rapists, paedophiles... Murderers. A faint shiver ran down his spine. He was glad Madeleine couldn't tell just how hypocritical he was being.
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jul 11, 2008 18:51:04 GMT
ooc: I have to credit Kira’s “A History Of War” for this; that was the post that introduced the cause of the Orchid War, so I’m sticking closely to her explanation and chronology, but I have had to make a few changes to fit other factors in – but apologies if it’s too similar.
Madeleine nodded at that, but her eyes strayed to a first year Warrior who was being a little too exuberant with a sword. “Excuse me,” she said politely to Arihant, before shouting across. “Matthew! Tone it down, that’s not what you’re supposed to be doing.” He quit it immediately, smiling ruefully across at her. “Right, sorry about that,” she sighed, turning back to Arihant. “Well, segregation is one of the main parts of this conflict. The other is territory… Whenever Orchid Hill was founded by Sir Horace Hoodham in 500AD, it was a school for everyone with high intellect and capabilities – and I do mean everyone. Not just humans; it was originally for all species, humans, goblins, elves, giants… And not just those with magical abilities, ‘gifted’ referred to all types of gifts, be they magical, musical, artistic, technological… “The school was built here, in ‘No Man’s Land’ – unclaimed territory. Orchid Hill doesn’t actually exist as part of any country, so that it belonged to nobody, and therefore, everybody could join the school; everybody could learn. “It became world-renowned very quickly, and it had a lot of power and influence – as it still does today. Some believed it to have too much influence – and others wanted this influence for themselves. People and places started to argue over ownership of the school, but because it was in ‘No Man’s Land’, it was futile. No argument lasted long. “But after that came what we call Speciesism – people argued that the school should belong to one species and one species only, excluding all the rest. Many argued that each species should have their own school, leaving the main Orchid Hill to humans. Of course, the schools for elves and leprechauns and all the rest would have been inferior. There was, and still is, a lot of conflict surrounding it.” Obviously, Madeleine disagreed with this. She wouldn’t be fighting this war otherwise, would she? Humans were in no way superior to others, all were – or should be – equal. And yet, trolls, giants, elves, leprechauns… all of them were persecuted, forced into hiding, slavery, or worse because of the vanity of humans. It wasn’t right. And neither was the rest of it… “After that, it kind of… expanded. Races and religions were brought into the equation. Should white people be excluded? Should black people be excluded? Is it Christian? Is it Islam? Is it secular? Should we ban minority groups, like travellers and immigrants from it? Should it only be for Britons, for Americans…? Should women be excluded? It just went on and on. Even the purpose of the school came into question. “Then, the goblin riots broke out about 200 years ago, and the human Head of the Inter-Species Co-operation Board, who had a grudge against goblins anyway, banned them from doing certain things, including attending the school. And that created a domino effect, and one by one, all other species were eliminated from Orchid Hill. “About a century ago, Karise Hoodham became Headmistress. The first female Head of the school, she was a little more… outspoken than the past Hoodhams had been. She condemned the exclusion, and that was why a wall was built, because so many people disagreed with her.” Madeleine laughed hollowly. “She was probably one of the most hated people in the world at that point. Karise created the idea of the groups – excepting the Warriors, who had been there since the school was first built – and when she was assassinated, her son, Jerome Hoodham, put them into place. At this time, though there was a lot of conflict, riots and arguing, outright combat hadn’t happened yet. This started with Jerome’s two twin sons, Major and Marius Hoodham – Major being our current Headmaster,” she added, with a nod. “The two led the school together for a while, but then Professor Hoodham broke away from the government, and their ideas of segregation and all the bans that had taken place, stating that he followed the beliefs of Karise and Jerome and wanted to put them in place. Marius, however, disagreed and believed that Orchid Hill should be for humans, and humans only. Violence broke out within the school; Marius tore the wall down, and four years ago, left the school – starting his own army to take control of the school.” She stopped there, and looked down at the desk for a moment, catching her breath. She always tended to go on like that when it came to talking about this – but after all, Speciesism, and what it would lead to amongst humans, was why she was here. Why they were all here – and why her brother had died. Madeleine looked back at Arihant, and looked him in the eye. “I’m here because I believe in what Professor Hoodham is fighting for – I detest the idea of eliminating anyone from the school, for whatever reason, be it their species, their race, the religion… that’s why we’re fighting this. I don’t know if you agree with this, but your opinions are your own,” she added, with a smile. “Like you say, if needs be, you want to fight this for Orchid Hill itself, but if… if not, no one will judge you for what you’re saying is right, I promise.”
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Post by Arihant on Jul 18, 2008 10:17:54 GMT
Arihant was silent for a moment, not quite sure if she was joking or not. But in a moment he managed to register all the signs of agitation that emanated from her when she was talking about this. She obviously felt passionately about it - well, that made sense, naturally. The Head of the Warriors would have to feel strongly about what they were fighting for. But... "Elves, goblins... they're real?" asked Arihant, extraordinarily confused. And then he blushed as he realised how rude he was being. "I mean - No, I'm sorry, I just... I didn't know that. That's just - that's the non-magic background talking again, I'm afraid." He smiled shyly. "Do you... know any?" He had a feeling that this wasn't exactly the appropriate thing to be curious about, but he couldn't really stop himself from feeling that way.
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jul 21, 2008 16:17:51 GMT
He didn't... what? Madeleine blushed as Arihant finished, feeling strangely embarrassed. "Oh, crap, I'm sorry, I just assumed... Sorry." That was weird. Of course, lots of Warriors came from a non-magical background, but most of them had grown up being at least aware of Orchid Hill, and many of the others just assumed that if this boy could breathe fire and this girl could spit metal, then hey, there was no reason why Fionn mac Cumhaill, Dopey, and Charlie the unicorn could exist too, right? As it was, any time Madeleine had had to explain the causes of the war before, the person receiving the information had always been away of the existance of said "mythical" creatures, and so she'd just assumed... "Sorry, yes, they're real - and more besides that. Giants, trolls, even demons... no, I don't know many personally. Obviously, Professor Hoodham holds meetings with several of them, but as of yet, I haven't gotten to know any of the representatives properly. Outside of school, no - I did meet an elf in a bar once, but that's a bit of a long story. They tend to keep themselves to themselves, especially after all that's happened. For them, it's hard to know who is friend and who is foe anymore."
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Post by Arihant on Jul 21, 2008 21:05:23 GMT
"Wow," said Arihant. There didn't really seem to be any other appropriate response. Madeleine's reaction had left it fairly clear that it wasn't really acceptable for even those with the excuse of non-magical families not to know about elves and goblins, and he supposed that made sense - most of the pupils here were Western, after all. He hadn't met anybody else yet - except Misa, obviously - who wasn't from Europe. Of course she wouldn't know what it was like in India. Especially for people in his caste. He'd had no TV, no computer, barely any money to spend on newspapers... The worldwide news felt unimportant, a muffled background noise outside his own personal bubble of school and naive dreams. And in Austria he hadn't really been travelling in magical circles... any circles, really. He'd kept to himself. And now, apparently, he was feeling the consequences. "I guess that makes sense," he continued. "Do they... Do they fight with us in battle?"
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jul 21, 2008 21:37:00 GMT
Ha. They should be so lucky. Madeleine shook her head, glancing over at the other Warriors for a minute. "Not at the minute. Professor Hoodham thinks that they provide too much of a target, which is true, but at the same time..." The other species possessed powers and skills that would prove useful in this conflict. It wasn't that they themselves didn't want to fight; after all, they were providing a fairly effective resistance. Professor Hoodham was just worried about everyone's safety, but Madeleine felt that it would be better for the others to fight alongside them. After all, more numbers could mean fewer deaths, and that could only be a good thing, right? "Well, it could be useful," she added, buttoning her lip on her own personal thoughts, but probably making them perfectly clear at the same time. "Even just the extra numbers, but I suppose he knows what he's doing better than I do."
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Post by Arihant on Jul 22, 2008 19:51:24 GMT
Clearly Madeleine thought that this idea was just about as stupid as he did. She didn't actually say it, of course, but her ever-so-slightly disapproving expression and tone of voice made her opinion on the issue completely clear. He knew it wasn't his place to pass judgment on a war that started - what had she said? Two hundred years ago? The fact made him feel thoroughly ashamed of his ignorance. But still. If they were fighting for these people, wouldn't it make sense that they would join them in battle? "What backup does the school have?" he asked. There must have been something to make up for the lack of... supernatural assistance. It couldn't just be what he had seen. Their magic was impressive, but it wouldn't be good enough, would it? The other side could do magic too.
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jul 23, 2008 10:06:33 GMT
Not much? "We have the Cardsdale Resistance... those in Cardsdale who support Orchid recently formed a resistance group - I think it was Kira's boyfriend who helped kick that into gear, actually -" Oh, balls. Tactful, Madeleine. Remember last night, Arihant and Kira had gone to the formal last night together? Idiot. She continued quickly, hoping she hadn't made too much of a gaff- "And they really are a lot of help, I don't know what we'd do without them. They don't fight with us, of course," she added, sharply, remembering all too well the battle when the Cardsdale youths were pitted against them. "Marius created the Cardsdale Youth Revolution, which... well, they get the non-magic teenagers to fight alongside them, which, personally, I think is disgusting. That could have so easily been a suicide mission, but I ordered... well, we'll leave it at that. I wouldn't stand anything like that, nor would Professor Hoodham - no matter what some of the villagers would want." Deron Miles, for one. He was... well, very enthusiastic. Not that that had stopped him from attacking Steve. Madeleine's blood ran cold at that, and once again, she wondered if anyone had told Kira about that yet - and if Kira had bloody well left him. "And the non-human lot have their underground network, which is huge. We work quite closely with them, and they supply us with weapons, equipment, etc., and they're usually good at getting certain... um... delicate information. We're not completely on our own, we do have them: even if we are the face of the war."
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Post by Arihant on Jul 26, 2008 7:50:06 GMT
"...I think it was Kira's boyfriend who helped kick that into gear, actually..." His fists clenched under the table as he realised who Madeleine was talking about. Deron. The rest of Madeleine's words washed over him as the less pleasant half of last night started to replay in his mind. The more he thought about it, the more angry he started to get. Sure, last night he had apologised to her for hurting Deron, but now part of him was wishing that he could go out to Cardsdale and do so again. It was just that one memory... His clenched fist crashed into her delicate chin, and Arihant could practically hear the crack - or at least, he fancied now that he could, he knew that her jaw hadn't actually been broken - and her head flew back with the force. And for a horrible, sickening moment, he thought that she'd really been hurt, that she was delicate enough for that to even killl her. Luckily for him, he had underestimated Kira's sturdiness. Which was probably easy to do, when someone looked as ethereal as she did. And then... even later in the evening, when all the conflict and fighting was over and they were laughing over their vanilla ice cream, that bruise had been there, that angry violet reminder of how he had failed to protect her. "...even if we are the face of the war," Madeleine finished, and Arihant flushed guilty (but at least unseen) as he realised that he'd taken in shamefully little of what she had said. But he had a question. "Does Deron still work at the resistance in Cardsdale?" he asked, and then he blushed again as he realised that he would have to explain the angry tone of those words. "I... Well, I 'met' him last night, and... the way he was talking about Orchid, I'd have assumed he was with those Marius people instead." Not to mention the way he had treated the Head of the Spies. Arihant didn't care if they were exes, you just didn't do things like that!
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Jul 30, 2008 20:23:31 GMT
Those Marius people... Madeleine frowned, tapping her fingers on the desk for a moment. "Well... he went... Last moth, one of our Warriors - Steve Ritzski, fled the hospital wing after a... well, I don't know how much I'd feel comfortable talking about, seeing as it is his secret. Not that there's any such thing as a secret in this school," she added, with a sigh. "Everyone knows everyone's business. But Steve... there was an incident with some medication, and Steve fled, not having any of his meds to take. He ... well, he went missing, and was a bit unstable. During the search, Deron found Steve, and... well, it turns out that Deron thinks that Steve had something to do with the death of his aunt and uncle. Now, I don't know if that's true or not - but you asked, so you can know. Deron... well, he attacked Steve and the Head of the Academics, and I think that... ever since then his impression of Orchid has been less than favourable. He was removed from the SCR, and I think that that has left him bitter - because whatever he thinks now, it was by his engineering that the resistance was formed." Deron Miles... she hadn't heard about him for a long while. But if Arihant had met him, and was asking... "Would you mind telling me what he said, or is that personal?" she asked.
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Post by Arihant on Aug 2, 2008 19:14:31 GMT
Arihant hesitated. That wasn't a real question, was it? He'd have to tell her, anyway. And last night... He didn't like speaking of it, of course, but not because he was ashamed. It felt special, like his and Kira's secret; he wanted to guard it jealously and stop anyone else from ever seeing. It was theirs. But he knew that that wasn't a good enough reason by any means. Madeleine was his head. Madeleine was responsible for the safety of this school. He had to tell her. "He, uh..." he said, then swallowed. "Well, Kira and I had left the dance and we were at the square in Cardsdale and we were... we were talking." What a marvellously awkward, garbled sentence. He needed to get some kind of award for that, really. "And Deron came up, and he spoke to Kira for a while - he said something about being kicked out of the SCR because of ..." He furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, the term he used was 'your crazy boy', or something like that. And he said that... that Steve had caused an explosion, I think. He, um..." He thought for a second. There was only one thing about Deron that he could really remember clearly, and the thought of it was making his fists ball up so tight that it was actually hurting him. "He asked how many villagers had been killed for the war," he said, and winced at how blunt that had sounded. "And Kira said that Steve hadn't known what he was doing, but Deron just kept getting angrier and angrier, and when she said it was an accident he... he hit her." The words made a rush of shame come over him again. He should have stopped it. He could have, if he'd acted fast enough. He looked down at the table, his expression dark, and said, "But I... I got him to leave, it was all right. She's all right, don't worry."
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Post by Madeleine Baudelaire&Russ Ford on Aug 3, 2008 21:03:02 GMT
He hit her? Madeleine stared at a knot of wood on the desk, frowning for a moment, before saying, slowly. “Well, thank goodness you were there, then. I didn’t ever imagine him doing that. I know he attacked Steve and Macy, but… Kira…” Maybe it was best not to talk about it. Arihant was clearly… shaken by it. And Madeleine couldn’t really wrap her head around it. “I only met him properly once. He was… almost obsessed with Orchid Hill. It was his dream to be in it, and he actually persuaded Kira to sneak him into a camping trip. He nearly got killed for it, Parmida was livid – she’s our resident… er… spirit, sort of. She was the first female Head of the Warriors. Her spirit lives in the necropolis below the school, but she helps to guard the pupils, so you’ll probably see her around.” Parmida was why Madeleine hoped never, ever, ever to end up buried in the catacombs. “I knew being removed from the SCR had hit him hard, but… well, hopefully he won’t lose those dreams. I always felt that I was fighting for people like Deron, who were banned from the school for not having powers, and because I knew if we stopped fighting for that, it would go on and on so that more people would be excluded, for race, religion, background. You might not be here, I might not be here. Still, it’s nice to see gratitude, isn’t it?” she added, sardonically. “I take it he won’t be coming near Kira again, then.”
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