On the platform: Meet the new characters

[utopiamods]

As you all crowd onto the platform, which is drenched with sunlight though the air is cool you are met by six girls and ten boys. One of the boys seems to be a blue Hedgehog and one of the girls has wings; but the rest all seem human. All sixteenn are in uniforms that would match if not for the colour differences - skirts and trousers, waistcoats, and light summer shirts that seem totally inappropriate for the chill. Some seem irritable while others look excited. Each has a beret with a crest pinned to the front - nine depicting a shield on green, the other seven a sword on red.

At the first lull in the chatter, a frail looking girl with a shield on her cap steps forward.

"Excuse me, may I have your attention please!"

She explains that the sixteen of them are the current prefects of Rakuen, representing the two schools on the island. Nanami (she gestures to herself), Lelouch, Yuri, Sonic, Jade, Sora, John, Rebecca, Dirk and of Fortitude; and Santana, Flynn, Kevin, Gino, Suzaku, Golbez and Cirno of Conquest.

The introductions are over fast and the girl named Santana seems impatient, "So come over when your name is called so we can all get inside." They all move to stand in two groups some distance away from each other; a boy and a girl step forward and begin to read names from a clipboard.

Golbez, the Conquest prefect made an imposing figure, standing there with his perpetual glare on his face, as he read off the names. "Dave Strider, Cheshire, Isabela, Jade Harley, Jack Noir, Hideki Hinata, and Hiyo Shishidou."

Despite what seemed to be a broken leg slowing her down, the Fortitude prefect; Jade looked almost excited in her prefect's outfit and neon orange T-shirt that came to her knees. "Okay, the people I read off are for Fortitude! If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them, but please don't threaten me with violence... Komachi Onozuka."

Comments

[fracturedsoul]

Okay. Nice to meet you, Harley, I'm Dirk.

I know a couple of Daves. But I got this pair from a Dave's older sister here in Rakuen.

[witchofspace]

Nice to meet you too!

My friend Dave only has a super cool older Bro, so I guess it's not the same guy.

[fracturedsoul]

Apparently not. But you get used to that kind of thing around here. Pretty much everyone here's from some alternate universe or a different time period or another timeline they scratched to make a new one.

There's two Daves here and two other Ja-- uh, Harleys, too. Once upon a time I would've had trouble keeping track, but not anymore.

[witchofspace]

[Her ears perk up at the 'timeline scratch' bit, and she lets out the tiniest woof.]

You know about scratched universes?

[She's so intent on the former part of his statement, the latter only gets the smallest thought process of 'wow, thats a lot of striders'.]

[fracturedsoul]

[ Why is she woofing... Did Jade and Jadesprite have a baby? Or merge or something? ]

I was informed by one of the aforementioned Daves. Apparently I'm some alternate version of your Dave's big bro, and you're an alternate version of my buddy Jake's grandma.

[ He sure is taking this all in stride. It's hella weird but he's had a few weeks to get used to the idea. ]

[witchofspace]

Oh my gosh, Dirk, you know Jake? Is he here, too? What about your other friends?

[This is so cool. Daves little Bro is so cool!!!]

I was on my way to your session with John and Davesprite right before I got here!

[fracturedsoul]

He sure is. So's Jane Crocker. Did he ever tell you about us?

[ The. Coolest. Except for the part where that beret keeps making his scalp itch. He takes it off to scratch at his hair. ]

Dave mentioned that too. He said our session's fucked over easy with a side of hopelessness, but you guys are going to fix that little problem.

[witchofspace]

We tried to be kind of discrete, but I did hear some about you all! John won't be happy when he hears about the Crocker thing, heehee.

[Don't worry Dirk, the scratching doesn't detract from your cool in Harley's eyes.]

Oh no! Well, I brought all of our session with us, so hopefully we can settle in and everything will be ok! Do you have Time and Space players?

[fracturedsoul]

[ Oh, right, Dave mentioned that John has some strange aversion to the Crocker Corporation, or whatever it's called pre-scratch. Man why can Dirk not remember the human name the Batterwitch took. Batty Crocker? Butter Crocky? Dammit, Rakuen. ]

Shit, the whole thing?

Nope. We've got a Maid of Life, Rogue of Void, Prince of Heart, and Page of Hope. [ He pauses. ] That gonna be a problem?

[witchofspace]

The whole thing! I shrunk it down.

[She pauses for a moment, considering.]

Every session needs Time and Space, or else it won't work. You need Time to keep you on the alpha timeline, and Space to breed your new universe...
Well, I guess Dave and I will be your Time and Space players, then!

[fracturedsoul]

Whoa. [ Not that you can see behind his glasses, but he blinks in surprise. ]

The game's probably expecting your arrival. Wouldn't be much point in doubling up on the aspects.

[witchofspace]

It's a Spacey thing. Or maybe a Witchy thing!

[Smile!]

Very likely! Maybe that's why your session is messed up-- half of it isn't there yet!

[fracturedsoul]

Kind of jealous. I don't even know what my Hearty shit's supposed to be. [ Well, he has a bit of an idea but it's all jumbled up in his head because -- who told him all of this? He can't remember them, or the conversation he had with them, but he's sure there was something... ]

That's a relief. [ He doesn't like having such an important variable completely out of his hands, but now that he knows about it he can try to work with it. ] How long's it going to take you to get there?

[witchofspace]

I don't really know either, but part of the fun is finding out I guess! I'm still figuring things out about my powers.

[Wow, Dirk was so different from Dave! She really likes him so far, though.]

It's gonna take three years or so in total; we'd already been traveling for a year before I got here.

[fracturedsoul]

I think we can hold out that long. Oh, you'll be pleased to know that time probably doesn't matter around here. Jake and Jane arrived after me, but they never noticed I'd been missing. Figure I should let you know while we're on the subject.

[witchofspace]

A prefect told me that earlier, but I'm glad to know that it's true first hand!

Oh! What dorm are you all in? I think I'm in Conquest.

[fracturedsoul]

[ At least he hopes it is. There's still the slim possibility they're from a slightly different version of his universe. But he so doesn't want that to be what's going on. ]

Fortitude. [ He gestures to the shield pinned to his beret. ] Both the Daves're there too.

[witchofspace]

Oh! Did you see my timelines Dave around? He came off the train with me-- he got called for Conquest, too.

[fracturedsoul]

Ah-- no, I didn't. [ This place sure has it out for Striders and Harleys. ] That's good. It makes it easier to settle in if you've got someone you know around.

[witchofspace]

It's been a year since I've seen him, so it'll definitely be fun!

[She grins.]

I'm also really excited to try out school for the first time ever, but I gotta admit I'm even more excited to finally meet you guys!

[fracturedsoul]

[ He smiles back, slightly. She's not too different from the other Jade. ]

School ain't all it's cracked up to be. It's a pretty big disappointment, to be honest.

Meeting our predecessors is pretty exciting for us, too. I'll send Jake and Jane your way when I get a chance.

[witchofspace]

Really? It always sounded so fun when my friends described it.

[But that nugget of knowledge doesn't damper her good spirits!]

I hope we can all get along well.

[fracturedsoul]

[ He laughs; well, maybe she'll enjoy it. ]

I doubt we'll have a problem.

It's been nice talking to you, but I've got something [ a corpse ] to pick up. See you around, Harley.

[witchofspace]

Bye! Nice meeting you, Mr. Strider!

[She waves.]