Welcome to the New Year

[garden_of_maidens]

"Gokigenyou."

"Gokigenyou."

The clear morning greeting travels through the serene, blue sky.

Today, once again, the maidens that gather in the Virgin Mary's garden smile purely to one another as they pass under the tall gateway.
Wrapping their innocent bodies and souls is a deep-coloured school uniform.

Walking slowly as to not disturb the plaits in their skirts, so as to not toss their white sailor scarves into disarray... such is the standard of modesty here. Running because one is in danger of missing class, for instance, is too undignified a sight for students to wish upon themselves here.

Lillian Private Academy for Women.

Founded in Meiji 34, this academy was originally intended for the young women of nobility, and is now a Catholic academy of prestigious tradition. Placed in downtown Tokyo, where you can still see traces of Musashi Field's greenery, it is protected by God, a garden where maidens can receive tutelage from pre-school to university.

Time passes, and even now, in Heisei, three era-names past Meiji, it is a valuable academy, where nurtured ladies raised in greenhouses are shipped out in carefully packaged boxes after 18 years of schooling - an arrangement that continues to survive.
As the last note of Maria-sama's Soul rings through the chapel, echoing into the high rafters, the Yamayurikai stands tall at the front of the procession, ready to give out the gifts of rosaries to their newest arrivals.

The respective classes of each first-year are called, and each one receives their gift from the Yamayurikai members. The second and third year students are sitting by, simply watching, perhaps commenting quietly to each other whenever a particularly interesting first-year passes by, but they are quick to silence when the stern gazes of the nuns passes over them.

A new year has come to Lillian Academy, and the students are ready to start their adventures in life, love, and everything else.

Info | FAQ | Rules

[Open post for the welcoming ceremony and the beginning of the year! Feel free to use this for the actual ceremony, shortly thereafter, or the general first day of school. Welcome!]

Comments

[feminine_carnivore]

[ Oh, Chie knows who she is. She has to know because Chie knows who all the bullies in this school are. Not that Kaede might think of herself as one, but it's hard to be as prickly as she is and not have really terrified people at times. And so she puts Maki on edge a little, to have her come up to her. ]

Martial arts aren't about hurting people. It's a discipline, where you learn to harness your own body and control it. We don't want people to join who just want to learn how to beat people up!

[long_live_the_queen]

I already know how to do that, or I wouldn't have said anything.

[Ah, there's that arrogance. The way Kaede crossed her arms, set her shoulders and jaw.

But she was trying to be better. Trying to show that she wasn't just some violent creature straining to be let off the chain, that that wasn't all she was good for.

It was just...difficult, sometimes, not to fall into old habits.]

[feminine_carnivore]

W-Wait.

[ Chie touches her hand to her forehead for a moment, trying to ponder something important in her head. ]

Are you saying you already know how to beat people up, or just how to control your own body? Those are two important differences!

[ Because bullies aren't allowed! ]

[long_live_the_queen]

[Well, yes! Kaede was going to say as such, then abruptly stopped—mouth open to say the words, even. Because she did know how to hurt people.

...but that wasn't a very polite thing to say.

So...saying something else it was.]

...I can't control myself. Happy?

[feminine_carnivore]

[ Chie doesn't get mad. Not really. She's also under the eyes of the sisters who happen to be around, almost always out of sight until right when you do something wrong... So she doesn't let herself get too worked up.

Instead she stiffens just a little, hearing that honest admission from someone usually so frightening. ]

W-Well, then you should definitely join! Martial arts is all about control, it's like the first thing you learn, no matter what style.

[ That reminds her: ] I'm Chie. Satonaka Chie!

[long_live_the_queen]

[Being scolded or just glanced at sternly with that look by one of the sisters hurt worse than any smack on the wrist with a ruler. These were people who'd been kind to her when no one else would be, welcomed her to a place she would have had no hope of attending if left to her own devices.

She owed it to them to at least try to be less of an asshole.]

Kaede.

[That was all; no family name seemed to be forthcoming.]

[feminine_carnivore]

[ Chie might not have such deep feelings for the sisters as someone clearly does... she is at least terrified of them. No amount of kung fu training prepares you for the pain that is a sister wielding a ruler! Clearly they are masters of some kind of sealed martial art technique that can't be revealed!! ]

Kaede....san? [ She tries out the honorific, trying to be polite, but wondering if that's her first or last name. Not that it matters as Chie is already moving on. ]

So we have practices three times a week, but you can always hang out in the club room too if you want anytime! I'm usually running on our off days too if you need a partner! [ As if Kaede looked like she ever wanted a partner in anything? ]