Happily ever after with a little flavor

[missrecalled_mods]

Sponsors for the ship? So... Sponsor'ship?

Rare had an hour seemed so long on the Isle, or carried so much hope. The King and Queen spoke to all who wished to speak with them, and to Yen Sid. At one point they even opened the barrier enough to go back to the ship where they conferred inside a silence spell with Sylvando. And once more for the King and Queen to return a few minutes later. Then back on the Isle they pulled a few individuals aside once more. Oddly, not those from the Isle this time. Aqua first. Then Lea. Then Æn'kae.

Finally the hour came to an end and the King and Queen called for everyone's attention. Mal stepped forward to address everyone.

"Alright, so here is how this is going to work," she told them without preamble, once she had their attention. The wind pulled at her purple hair, pulling it like a banner behind her. "Here are the terms by which we will take the people we will name to Auradon. Each person will be assigned a sponsor. If you want to change sponsors you may let us know once we are back in Auradon. Your Sponsor will be watching out for you. You need to check in with him, her, or them, regularly. How often that will be will be between you and your sponsor, but the sponsors will report to King Ben and myself. Behave and you'll get to stay in Auradon, and we will let you know when your probation is over and you no longer need to check in with your sponsor. Break the rules of Auradon, hurt anyone, steal.... depending on how bad the act and how many were harmed, we may, with your sponsor decide to give you a warning... or you may wind up back here. This is a chance to prove that the sorting magic was wrong, that you are good people. Or can become good people given the chance." Mal looked and sounded like she was clearly waiting to make her own judgments.

"As I list each name, please go to your sponsor if he, she, or they is here. If not, come stand with the king and I."

She took a deep breath. "Xion, your sponsor is Lea." she pointed to him, suspecting that she didn't actually have to, but it was good to set a pattern.

"Utau, you are with Sylvando, who is on the ship so come join us." Then a bit of a wicked grin. "He's also keeping an eye on Nadeshiko and Nagihiko, why not let him keep an eye on all three of you," she said, knowing she was throwing fuel on an explosion waiting to happen. But she trusted Sylvando to sort out which of the kids actually belonged on the Isle.

"River you are with Æn'ki. Hope you like animals," she said with a grin that wasn't all that softer than her last as she gestured to him.

"Morgana and Emporio, you are with Aqua," she added nodding to the woman with the blue hair. "Of course we understand if any of you want to stay..."

She turned to the Headmaster. Doctor F.... We're aware of you, and your efforts, I assure you. We'll be speaking with those heading to Auradon. But for now, stay where we can see you while the rest of you, those coming with us? You have ten minutes to get your stuff if you have any and say goodbyes to anyone if you want to. Goodbyes with the headmaster will be supervised so we can make sure he is being as good as he claims these days. Alright. Ten minutes, starting now!"


**************************************************

The gathering of belongings and saying of goodbyes was accomplished in the allotted ten minutes without much trouble. Getting everyone onto the boat, then equipped with lifejackets- thankfully the boat's owner was a bit over prepared so there were enough for everyone, if only just-, and reasonably settled for the trip back took a bit longer, however. The boat was a large catamaran, painted mostly in blue and purple pastels. The life jackets however, were the standard safety orange, and so stood out as sharply as they were meant to. The water was still rough so once everyone was equipped, Sylvando advised those unused to boat travel to settle down somewhere until they were in calmer waters.

Getting back to the mainland took time as well, though not quite as much as getting there had, as the tide was in their favor for the return trip. Still, there would be plenty of time for conversation, awkward silences, or angry glaring during the trip. And Sylvando himself wouldn't be adverse to conversation, provided it didn't interfere with the steering of the vessel. Those without their sea legs would also want to be careful walking around, as the boat-while large for a catamaran- wasn't large enough to prevent it from rocking.

Once they'd reached the harbor and the Bibbity Bobber had been secured in her berth, her passengers and crew disembarked and began the trek back up to the school. There seemed to be an inordinate amount of junk that had once been clearly blocking the road before the path to and from the harbor had been cleared. All of it was the sort of things one might expect to find in a modern city- cars, sign boards, fallen trees and lamp posts, etc- but there seemed to be too much of it for the simple vanishing of the populace to account for it all. Very odd.

Once they arrived at the school, they were led past the pretentious sign and statue of King Beast and directed into the lobby. There, they were issued phones and information sheets. On account of everyone being exhausted, no formal welcoming ceremony was planned for that evening, and those staying were directed to the dorms to get showered and settled in. Since that was sure to be a process in itself, Ben, Mal, Sylvando, the other sponsors, and anyone who still had the energy would likely be around for all that as well until everyone got settled. Thankfully the exhaustion had been anticipated, and it was announced that there was soup in the kitchen's refrigerator that had been premade and portioned out and needed only to be reheated for supper at each person's leisure.

The next morning however, proved that Auradon was still Auradon and couldn't really go without some kind of official welcome, as those who came down to the lobby would find a simple but tasty breakfast of muffins, fruit - provided by Malia-, tea, and coffee waiting for them along with the eternally chipper Sylvando, ready to answer any further questions they might have.


****************


Professor Yen Sid and the Headmaster stood and watched the ship through the barrier until they could no longer see it. Then the headmaster, looking bitter, turned on his heel, stalked back to the school, muttering under his breath about needing to speak with someone. He did not say who, but it did not seem like it was likely to be a pleasant conversation.

Yen Sid, on the other hand, turned to those who chose to remain. “Shall we get these supplies in before the humidity destroys them?” he asked, gathering his things into his bag before grabbing it and one of the boxes.

Comments

[elvendryad]

Chell gave him a nod as he did in silent thanks for the assistance, and then with the boxes balanced, carefully started toward the path. They did indeed have to lean against his head a bit, and seemed to be threatening to teeter to the sides. After a few steps, frowning at the boxes, he looked to be thinking about it, and lifted one shoulder at a time, just slightly, rolling them forward as if uncomfortable with something. There were sounds, if the professor were close enough to try hearing them over the sounds of the breeze and rain and surf, of something creaking subtly, the hard shapes hidden under his armor adjusting themselves, letting go of one another in some limited way to twist a little, making small changes in how his armor sat, and letting his shoulders reach forward more easily.

Holding the boxes forward in front of him just that inch more, they weren't leaning like they were, as he took another experimental step, and then another. He'd go more slowly than his usual pace, but he wasn't about to dump the contents of the boxes from the movements made by traveling, that much seemed certain enough. It seemed almost a bonus, that he'd twisted his upper torso a little to the side, letting him see around the boxes more clearly.

He wasn't even part of the zoological branch of that classification system, let alone of a similar order, class, or even phylum. Perhaps he'd be an interesting specimen to study sometime?

[misery_called_npcs]

Interesting. The professor said nothing, showed no indication that he had noticed anything. He simply continued to lead, carrying his own share of the load.

[elvendryad]

Chell was quiet as he followed; he was going to be more cautious on any stair-steps and doorways, and inclined to want to set the boxes down not far inside the building. The first order of business was to get it in out of the weather, after all, and then they could deal with getting it to where it ought to go, once it was no longer in danger of being soaked further.

At least it was easy enough for him to set the boxes down, when he did, leaning them forward against the wall before he crouched and pulled his hands out from under them. That was when it was more apparent what he'd done with his own structure, as he stood back up, the view of his front then less obstructed. However he'd accomplished it, it looked like he'd shifted forward his shoulders, and turned the top part of his torso while he was at it. He corrected the latter as he turned back toward the door to make another trip, his shiny armor plates riding a little against one another for a moment before their bottoms lifted up and out subtly, to re-settle as he finished straightening back out. He wasn't wearing armor after all; those pieces were attached to him, just as surely as leaves on more ordinary trees were. He'd doubtless grown his plating. But it left the question of what his structure looked like beneath those bits that gave him a more humanoid silhouette....

If someone wanted to continue helping him load up more boxes to carry, they'd probably make short work of it before the boxes themselves were soaked through and lost structural stability. And if not... he'd just have to do what he could by stacking the boxes up first, and then attempting to lift them like that. Either way, he wasn't going to complain about it, simply keep going until there was nothing left to bring in from the rain....

[misery_called_npcs]

Yen Sid would suggest that they get this load at least locked away before they went for the next, The Isle being what it was, but in the end would let Chell have the final say, staying with and helping.

[elvendryad]

Honestly, that would get him to pause... were there other people here, besides those who'd been at the shore? ...Ones who would what, horde whatever food was in these for themselves? ...Please tell him the place to keep them was nearby; the other boxes at the shore were fairly unguarded, and getting more saturated, too, if this truly was a concern.

He was willing to take direction from this human for now; he'd seen the dragon defer to him, so surely that counted for something? He'd have preferred if his other senses could still be of use to him, for better knowing what to do when dealing with humans... but this one, at least, looked little like the ones he'd so often had to defend against....

[misery_called_npcs]

He led Chell down to his laboratory and one of the locked rooms off of it. He drew a key from his sleeve. He unlocked the door to a large, but mostly empty storage room with rusted damaged shelves that had clearly been repaired many times.

"We can load the boxes into here for proper distribution once it is all cataloged."

[elvendryad]

Honestly, this all struck him as a bit much, but whatever. The door didn't look to be something he figured he couldn't deal with if this human turned out to be unreasonable, so he brought the boxes in as directed, setting them down against a shelf a bit of a ways inside; there would be plenty of space to load the rest in, and the quicker they could get it all out of the rain, the better, right?

[misery_called_npcs]

As soon as they got everything in the room he ushered Chell out and locked up again, then went for the next load.

[elvendryad]

He was quick enough on his feet when not laden with cargo, but paused on the way out, stepping past one of the other classrooms' open doors, one in which someone had trashed the place more than usual.

He narrowed his eyes, surveying it, metaphorical gears turning. It was still raining out, the boxes were either increasingly-soaked cardboard, or increasingly-slippery something else....

He stepped inside. There was a pause, and then a small sound, the creak of old, weakened wood giving way, and then he stepped back out, carrying some small desk's top in one arm, eyeing over the cracks in it that ran through the now-empty screw holes where it had once attached to its supports. It looked like most of them had given away long ago; he'd merely provided a final tug to take care of the only one left that had been just barely holding on.

Satisfied enough that it would do what he'd borrowed it for, he resumed heading toward the exit, and to the shore where the rest of the cargo was waiting. It would be more secure, to load the boxes up onto a relatively solid, flat plane of a shape, than to rely on his two separate hands beneath them. Better weight distribution, better support....

[misery_called_npcs]

"Is there a reason you are hastening the destruction of this school?" Yen Sid asked, dryly. "I'll remind you we lack for tools to fix things at the moment."

[elvendryad]

"It was already on the ground," he said, matter-of-factly. "It would do better later with a base which could stand some chance of supporting it. And in the meanwhile, it may serve another purpose."

[misery_called_npcs]

"Very well, let us get this done, shall we? Perhaps on the next trip we should see to the plants?"

[elvendryad]

A simple nod, and he followed him out; how was this likely to go? A few more boxes left, and the potatoes...?

[misery_called_npcs]

Pretty soon they had everything in. "Would you like to work with the plants first or help me sort the supplies and take inventory? Or would you prefer to do something else?" Yen Sid asked once the plants were on a counter in his lab and everything else was locked away.

[elvendryad]

"...I don't know. It all ought to be done. What would you prefer?" Whatever it was, he was content to help how he could, especially since he figured it meant being able to at least attempt to verify whether this human was more trustworthy than not....

Once again, he found himself wishing he had those senses of his back, like they'd been for all too short a time earlier....

[misery_called_npcs]

A warm smile. "I would not mind help with the inventory."

[elvendryad]

A nod back, but he was mostly quiet. If the human wanted to show him what he'd need him to do, he could take charge of that. Otherwise, he'd take a box once he could, and just... start trying to open it without destroying it, given its soaked state.

What had gotten packed into the boxes, anyway?

[misery_called_npcs]

He led him back to the storage room and opened the door. He grabbed a banged up damaged clipboard and a pen. "Would you prefer to write the list or unpack and sort?"

[elvendryad]

He blinked, hesitating, and looked between the pen and clipboard and the human, briefly.

He wanted him... to write? He actually had to think about that for just a second; how long had it been since he'd held an instrument like that? Did he still remember how? He was sure he did, but....

"You ought to write, if you want to be able to read it afterwards," was what he ended up deciding on. Maybe if he'd practiced a bit first.... But he hadn't yet. More than that, would the human be able to read anything he'd write, given what language he'd be writing in?

He moved to inspect one of the last boxes they'd moved to the pile, leaning down to see better where a corner of the cardboard was beginning to split apart. It had gotten worse since he'd set it down; surely it would work to set its contents onto the shelves, and leave this falling-apart container empty?

He straightened back up and carefully picked at the tape holding the top shut... and slowed subtly as another thought finally occurred to him. He hadn't questioned how Foulques and Morgana had been able to converse with him; he'd expected them to. A common language made that easy, after all. But this human? For that matter, the other ones out on the shore...?

But if they all knew it, then someone had taught them, which implied a good few other things about them... implied a good few other good things about them. But that, then, left more than a few questions about the entire encounter there on the shore, and what the debate had really been about in the first place. And this train of thought... honestly, as confusing as it was, he was a little more relaxed in his body language even by the time he set the wet tape aside on the nearest shelf's corner. He pulled the flaps open to peek inside and pulled out something from the top of it, holding it up so the old human could see as he looked it over himself as well.

[misery_called_npcs]

Yen Sid did not know what caused the shift in the other, but so long as it seemed a positive one, he felt no need to comment. He simply waited to make notes on what Young Ben and Mal had sent them.

Well, waited and watched. It was rare that the man ever did anything simply...

[elvendryad]

Chell pulled the things out of the box and set them out on the shelf nearby, making short enough work of it. Cans, some jars, some tins of... well, he didn't open those up just yet; getting things out of the larger boxes and into view was first, right? And then set that wet box aside carefully. Maybe it could be used for something else, once it had dried and recovered some of its structural stability? And then he repeated the process with the next one, not commenting as he did. Cans here, jars there, boxes and bags, and... well, it wasn't taking long for him to set things aside; the human probably already had ideas on how he wanted to organize things already.

He was quiet as he did, keeping his thoughts to himself, but judging by the look on his face, he was certainly debating something as he worked to unpack....

[misery_called_npcs]

Yen Sid took notes, working as the other one did, letting Chell set their pace.

[elvendryad]

He didn't seem to be in need of pausing for a break any time soon... he simply kept unpacking, silent despite giving some of the items a more curious look than others, though he didn't change pace for those. Most of it, he simply set out, keeping his thoughts to himself.

It took until he'd gotten a fair way through the boxes, before he finally spoke up, quiet, a little hesitant. "Do you... know the dragon and Ben well?" He didn't exactly pause long in setting out what he'd had in his hands and grabbing more as he peeked back to the sorcerer. There was definitely something on his mind, watching to see the other's reaction as he asked that....

[misery_called_npcs]

He kept making notes even as he replied to the question with one of his own. "By the dragon, do you perhaps refer to Queen Mal?"

[elvendryad]

A very slight pause, but only that; it sounded right, and he nodded. "Mm."