[It might be the case that Leo's family had sent her here for a little polishing, but that doesn't mean she's the indecorous sort who would disrupt an important ceremony. At least, not on purpose. But she's an eddy in the otherwise smooth current of the proceedings all the same. Even smoothed and combed and stripped of her usual braids and ribbons her long, thick pale hair stands out, marking her as foreign. And she's just plain bigger, more mature-looking than most of the first-years - or for that matter, most of the third-years - and while the upperclassmen aren't likely to mistake her for one of them, her face being obviously new, confusion tends to follow in her wake as some of the other first-years wonder if they've gotten mixed into the wrong line somehow.
Still, she at least looks smooth, following the procession and accepting her rosary with polite grace. No cause for complaint there.]
b. The Rest:
[As the day wears on and she starts mixing in with the rest of the students, though, it becomes easier to see how she fits in and how she doesn't. She's perceptive enough to see how the students are expected to comport themselves and disciplined enough to follow suit: to relax, keep her pace slow and voice low, offer a bow or curtsy to her upperclassmen and the nuns. But she has a deep voice that carries a boyish, energetic tone, a certain spring in her step, and flashing eyes that seem to offer a challenge to everything they light on that give the sterner nuns to linger when they pass her.
And if her manners come off as a little tomboyish around the edges, her interests are unabashedly so. The clubs she visits are all those that can be considered martial arts or contact sports, and she'll ask pretty much anyone who gives her the time of day whether there's any sort of equestrian club. No matter that they're in the city; surely any school with such strong aristocratic roots must have some sort of property or arrangement so that the students can learn or practice their riding?]
no subject
[It might be the case that Leo's family had sent her here for a little polishing, but that doesn't mean she's the indecorous sort who would disrupt an important ceremony. At least, not on purpose. But she's an eddy in the otherwise smooth current of the proceedings all the same. Even smoothed and combed and stripped of her usual braids and ribbons her long, thick pale hair stands out, marking her as foreign. And she's just plain bigger, more mature-looking than most of the first-years - or for that matter, most of the third-years - and while the upperclassmen aren't likely to mistake her for one of them, her face being obviously new, confusion tends to follow in her wake as some of the other first-years wonder if they've gotten mixed into the wrong line somehow.
Still, she at least looks smooth, following the procession and accepting her rosary with polite grace. No cause for complaint there.]
b. The Rest:
[As the day wears on and she starts mixing in with the rest of the students, though, it becomes easier to see how she fits in and how she doesn't. She's perceptive enough to see how the students are expected to comport themselves and disciplined enough to follow suit: to relax, keep her pace slow and voice low, offer a bow or curtsy to her upperclassmen and the nuns. But she has a deep voice that carries a boyish, energetic tone, a certain spring in her step, and flashing eyes that seem to offer a challenge to everything they light on that give the sterner nuns to linger when they pass her.
And if her manners come off as a little tomboyish around the edges, her interests are unabashedly so. The clubs she visits are all those that can be considered martial arts or contact sports, and she'll ask pretty much anyone who gives her the time of day whether there's any sort of equestrian club. No matter that they're in the city; surely any school with such strong aristocratic roots must have some sort of property or arrangement so that the students can learn or practice their riding?]