An elegant envelope was slipped under Caoineadh O' Briain's dorm room door. It was a deep beige colour, with dark decorative scrolls decorating its surface and an elegant wax seal baring the letter 'W'. Inside was a simple note:
Miss. O'Briain;
Please meet me in the School Auditorium at 10am tomorrow morning for your year-end examination.
Best of luck, Professor A. Winter
steal
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 3:48 am
Keen woke to find an elegant notice under her door, lucky for her she was an early riser or she would have slept in and missed her exam. The banshee read the letter a few times and after saving the lovely wax W, got ready for her year end testing.
Had she been alive, Keen's heart would have been racing with anticipation as she headed to the auditorium. What was going to happen? How long? Hopefully she would make no errors.
Finally with her mind still racing along at it's own pace she arrived at her examination room. Unfortunately, being a banshee, she was far from formally or even semi formally attired. She did however have her long pale hair up..
Keen would find the auditorium dark, save for a single spotlight that was focused on the stage on the opposite end of the room. A brief glance around the room would prove that it was strangely empty: there was no Professor in sight. Before she would get discouraged and leave, however, a gnome would pull on her sleeve, and with a few hushed words, would pull her towards one of the side doors. It was very forceful, but Keen would find herself with a bound stack of papers in her hand, before being shoved out onto the stage…
…And into the spotlight.
"Good Morning, Miss O'Briain." Came a woman's voice from the dark of the room. If Keen strained her eyes, she would be able to see a silhouette of the Professor, sitting in the very middle seat of the whole auditorium. "Thank you for being on-time." The silhouette moved as though she were bowing her head with gratitude.
"You have done a considerable amount in this school year, however, there is still one thing you need to work on: diction." There was a small pause. "I am aware that your specie might want you to hinder your speech, but I believe you must begin to hone it. So I have created this exam for you. If you can prove to me that you are capable of controlling your voice, I will allow you to advance to the next year."
"Will you accept this as your exam?"
Steal
Professor Winter is going to try and have Keen use something she is not used to using: her voice! She now has three choices:
--> Agree to the exam
If Keen agrees to the exam, please have her give some form of confirmation.
--> Refuse this exam
If Keen refuses this exam, please have her attempt to get out of it somehow.
--> ???
If Keen does neither, i.e. if she has some concerns, have her express them somehow in your post!
- Please RP Keen making one of these choices, and quote me when she comes to a decision!
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:19 pm
Keen looked around the room, confused at the lack of... well anyone there. A strange spotlight was on the stage, as if someone was preparing for some form of play or presentation. Was she in the wrong place? The banshee glanced around thinking about turning around and leaving, but it was too late, she found herself being tugged upon, her arms heaped with papers. She soon found herself, dragged on the stage, looking rather shell shocked. This had to be some kind of mistake!
A greeting, the first words spoken to her since she came into the room, unless one called the quiet words of the gnome, which she did not, since they really were not well spoken at all. In the darkness.. there seemed to be someone, a figure, the teacher? Keen strained her eyes looking at the shadowy form, who spoke words of thanks. Keen parted her lips, not able to really speak back, she merely nodded and bowed in return.
Diction!!
A semi look of horror crossed the banshee's face and she looked around as if there was someone else that should be spoken to. No one, just her. She gulped and a whimpering squeak came from her. What could she do? Did perhaps this teacher know of some magic way to ensure she would not hurt someone with her voice?
Hastily she wrote a note out, holding it up in the light of the spotlight for the teacher to see:
Do you really know how to make it safe for me to speak?
There was a lengthy pause. No doubt due to the Professor having to strain to see the words on the notepad from such a distance.
"That my dear, will be up to you." The Professor said cooly. "I understand your hesitance, but a Bean-Sidhe's wail can hold great power. If you can control it, you could turn the tide of a battle. If you let it control you, then you will get nowhere substantial in this world. So, ultimately, the choice is yours. You can either try to make it safe for yourself to speak, or you can do nothing, and watch it destroy everything." There was another small pause from the silhouette in the audience.
"But, if it makes you feel any better: your voice, as it is now, could not hurt me if you tried." She was trying to be understanding, and her voice was soft and sweet in her attempt.
"So? Will you continue with this exam?"
Steal
The options are the same as my last post! (Agree/Refuse/???)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 1:50 pm
Keen stood in place, slightly trembling as she fought to control the fear that was running through her. Ironic really, that one that fights with fear was now.. Fighting against it.
She took a deep breath, and slowly nodded. She had to try, she had to give it an attempt, the thought of finally being able to speak to her friends, to sing as she had always wished. She could only do those things among her own kind, but to be able to do it here in the school with the new friends she had made.
The choice was apparent, she would do her best. She nodded more firmly.
"Very good!" Professor Winter sounded more than pleased with her agreement.
"Now, when you arrived, Mr. Crinkle gave you your script. Please say the following poems on each page as best as you can." A small, thoughtful pause. "And do speak loud and clear. You must be heard from every corner of the room."
The silhouette put on a pair of ear plugs, just in case.
Steal
Keen's exam is in FOUR parts! You will find them, and their completion requirements, below. Make sure you do them in order. I've left the results vague, so you're welcome to expand upon it however you wish! Have fun playing her tongue-tied, or screechy.
PART ONE - Freaky Fred
The tongue twister: If Freaky Fred Found Fifty Feet of Fruit And Fed Forty Feet to his Friend Frank How many Feet of Fruit did Freaky Fred Find? How to pass this part:
Roll a 1d4 and match it to one of the following results: 1: It's awful. Something in the room shatters. (Fail) 2: Nothing breaks, but she also can't seem to get through it… (Fail) 3: She manages to get through most of it, but gets a little tongue tied. (Pass!) 4: She manages to say this perfectly, without incident. (Pass!) If you hit a fail roll, you must redo this part until you complete it! Once you have rolled a winning roll, you may go onto the next part.
PART TWO - Thinking a thought
The tongue twister: I thought a thought. But the thought I thought wasn't the thought I thought I thought. If the thought I thought I thought had been the thought I thought, I wouldn't have thought so much. How to pass this part:
Roll a 1d6 and match it to one of the following results: 1-2: It's awful. Something in the room shatters. (Fail) 3-4: Nothing breaks, but she also can't seem to get through it… (Fail) 5: She manages to get through most of it, but gets a little tongue tied. (Pass!) 6: She manages to say this perfectly, without incident. (Pass!) If you hit a fail roll, you must redo this part until you complete it! Once you have rolled a winning roll, you may go onto the next part.
PART THREE - Bitty Batter
The tongue twister: Bitty Batter bought some butter “But,” said she, “this butter’s bitter. If I put it in my batter, It will make my batter bitter.” So she bought some better butter, And she put the better butter in the bitter batter, And made the bitter batter better. How to pass this part:
Roll a 1d8 and match it to one of the following results: 1-3: It's awful. Something in the room shatters. (Fail) 4-6: Nothing breaks, but she also can't seem to get through it… (Fail) 7: She manages to get through most of it, but gets a little tongue tied. (Pass!) 8: She manages to say this perfectly, without incident. (Pass!) If you hit a fail roll, you must redo this part until you complete it! Once you have rolled a winning roll, you may go onto the next part.
PART FOUR - Mr. See's Saws
The tongue twister: Mr. See owned a saw. And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw. Now See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw Before Soar saw See, Which made Soar sore. Had Soar seen See's saw Before See sawed Soar's seesaw, See's saw would not have sawed Soar's seesaw. So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw. But it was sad to see Soar so sore Just because See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw! How to pass this part:
Roll a 1d10 and match it to one of the following results: 1-6: It's awful. Something in the room shatters. (Fail) 7-9: Nothing breaks, but she also can't seem to get through it… (Fail) 10: She manages to get through most of it, but gets a little tongue tied. (Pass!) If you hit a fail roll, you must redo this part until you complete it! Once you have rolled a winning roll in this section, quote me!
Steal rolled 1 4-sided dice:
4Total: 4 (1-4)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 6:51 pm
Keen listened carefully to the instructions, wincing slightly at the thought of speaking loudly. It was hard enough to speak out loud at all, but to do it loud enough to be heard... ughh.. she wanted to cry.
Well she had to bite the bullet, so looking at the first paper she cleared her throat:
"If Freaky Fred Found Fifty Feet of Fruit And Fed Forty Feet to his Friend Frank How many Feet of Fruit did Freaky Fred Find?"
A lovely musical sound filled the room as she spoke, her voice floating to all corners of the room, the slight Irish lilt making it all the more lovely to hear. It was like she had no fear at all, and so there went the first of the four parts.
Having done the first so easy, she looked at the second page. She read the words in her mind and parted her lips to speak, but nothing but a strange hiccuping sound came out. " I thoug... I thou.. thoug..... a ..though..." The words babbled in a stream of disjointed syllables.. over and over, like a broken record. She whimpered softly and lowered the paper, trying to gain control of herself again. What a miserable attempt. She wiped her hands a bit and lowered her head trying to get control of herself once more.
Steal rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-6)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 6:57 pm
"I thought a thought. I thought I thought "
Once more she got all twisted. She frowned and tried to regain herself but the words didn't want to come anywhere near the way they should. She had managed to get the word thought right finally, but it was as if that was the only word now that she could get off the page in the correct manner. How could a small series of words make such a bad impact on a person. She wanted to throw a small tantrum, to scream in frustration but she bit it back as hard as she could.
"I thought a thought. the thought I thought I thought. I thought I thought I thought"
It was a bad loop again, but this time was worse, as she got caught up in it, she felt herself getting badly frustrated, so much so that the worst that could happen at the moment did... "I- I- I" The last 'i' was said so loudly that it caused something at the back of the room to shatter, splintering and causing her to jump. Luckily the shock brought her back to herself and she quickly bit back the sound covering her mouth with her hands.
Steal rolled 1 6-sided dice:
2Total: 2 (1-6)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:03 pm
This time was worse, having lost herself she was terrified of trying again. As soon as her lips parted a small keening sound left them, and the pale ghoul lowered her head. She snapped her lips closed and dropped to her knees. She had to get a hold of herself, she was just proving all the bad things about her kind. If she could say one perfect, could she not say another? She tried so hard to speak the words again, and nothing more than a small whimper that turned into a loud screech left her lips, shattering something else.
It was like a loop playing over and over, getting worse each time around now. Failing wasn't bad enough, now it was like her own voice was mocking her, refusing to show that she had any control. Each word broke and shattered something, each sound was enough to make her want to cry, and because of that it made her fowl up more and more. She had to break free of the loop.
She looked around like a trapped animal, and found a saving grace. A bottle of water that she practically ran to. A drink.. that could help, maybe her mouth was just too dry. That had to be it. If she had a moist mouth things would sound right.
Steal rolled 1 6-sided dice:
3Total: 3 (1-6)
Posted: Wed Oct 14, 2015 7:09 pm
Well at least this try nothing broke. She stumbled, faltered and in the end was not able to say all the words, but at least it was better than the last few tries, which showed she was on the right path again. Well she hoped that is what was shown. She did wonder though, if her teacher was in pain. Even with the ear plugs something would be filtering in... and she feared at the very least there would be headaches going around.
A severe back spin led her words to become shrill and nervous again, once again something broke. This exam was going to cost the poor gnomes much in the way of maintenance just to fix this single room. She whimpered and lowered the paper, thinking that if she got out of this with her pride even slightly in check it would be a miracle. One thing was for sure, she would never take for granted the work that went into the few banshees that she knew that did speak.
