Loud laughter and shouts quickly died down to murmurs and coughs as the tall, broad shouldered Principal Othello took to the podium, a single sheet of paper, obviously having been folded up a few times was planted down on the smooth oak wood stand. The principal was a veteran hunter, he wore an eyepatch over his left eye and a large part of his face was covered by big greying mutton chops. His hair was just about always a short black military cut, but tufts of grey had begun to come in and his age had finally begun to show.

The man was an enigma, going against every stereotype laid out for him. His appearance would suggest a formal, serious, strict man who took no nonsense and dealt out punishment as if he was in the army. However he was quite the opposite. He loved jokes, was often caught accidentally swearing in front of students and was seen as much more of a father figure to the student body than that of a principal. It was often the job of his vice deputy, the much younger Dr. Bordeaux to keep students in line and deal out punishment. She wasn't especially cruel though, and often only punished when it was fair and right to do so, unless she was in a bad mood of course.

Othello surveyed the crowd. Many of the students had only been at the school for a few month but they had made remarkable progress. A grin grew on his face as he began to speak.

"Dear students, today marks the first day of the Illuminate festival, a festival many of the older students I know have been excitedly planning for and a festival I [i]hope[/i] many of the younger students have no idea about." He said, his grin growing ever wider as he remembered the awestruck youths of yesteryears. "You all know I'm terrible at speeches, so I'll make this one short!" He said taking a sly glance at his watch as a murmur of laughter waved through the crowd. "Go out and have fun for the day, classes are cancelled as far as I'm concerned and the festival awaits." He turned and began walking off stage, to the awestruck face of Dr. Bordeaux, who had not been informed of this decision previous to the speech and would now have a [i]lot[/i] of paperwork to do.

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The assembly hall erupted with students eager to get out and see the festivities. And for good reason, the outside of Illuminate Academy had completely changed. There were stalls set up everywhere, with televisions advertising various companies selling anything from food to weapons to dust. The stalls were just as varied. On one end sat a rather creepy looking old man at a kissing booth while on the other was a very professional looking energy drink stall, complete with pretty girls to coerce young dumb boys into buying what was basically overtly expensive flavoured water.

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