rakuen | [on the platform: attn. all characters]

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[on the platform: attn. all characters]

Rakuen is warm in the noon sun, not humid enough to be uncomfortable but bright enough to make the transition from train to platform momentarily disorienting. The group greeting you is rather large, but also rather uneven - on one side, ten students in black and green; on the other, five in red and white. Whilst the green group are all fairly average, all teenagers other than the tiny, frail woman leading them, the red group are a tad more varied. One of their girls is tiny, the size of a small child, and her wings are beating patterns in the warm air. At the other side of the group, a warlike man looms over his comrades.

When they notice the arrivals, one out of each group steps forward. A lively teenager with ridiculously long red hair is the first to speak.

"Excuse me! Over here!" That's all she's contributing for now, her counterpart steps forward from the red group to continue. He explains, more calmly, that they're all prefects of Rakuen, from the two battle schools on the island. Fortitude - the girl in green waves - and Conquest. They all arrived just like you did, weeks or months before this.

"Please," he finishes, holding up a clipboard. Which seems rather unnecessary given how few names he has to read, "Come forward when we call your name, and we can answer your questions. I'm sure you have many."

As the Conquest prefect, he reads, "For Conquest school: Yuka Kazami," and leaves it at that.

"I'm Sora," the girl adds, "We're from Fortitude. Come ask us anything, even if I don't read your name! Let's see... Asagi, Juri Arisugawa, and Shion."

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[Cirno had quickly hidden herself from view, behind another person, the moment she spotted the new arrivals. She was interested in who was to show up but at the same time, she wanted nothing to do with them for the most part. Why try and make friends who were just going to dissappear anyways, so she decided to be shy today so she could see if any of the people stuck around.]

Yuka stepped out of the train, absentmindedly flipping open her parasol.

Ignoring the waiting group of people for the moment, she took in the landscape. A wall to the north, with unfamiliar buildings behind. More to the northwest, not to mention the structure she was standing in. And there was a certain strange feeling in the air. Suspicion turned into confidence.

She was no longer in Gensokyo.

Before she could contemplate this further, her subconscious began to nag at her. Like she'd seen something familiar, when she'd glanced at the apparent welcoming committee. But that was ridiculous. She didn't know anyone in the outside world.

There it was again. A flash of light? She stepped forward to get a better look... and stopped dead in her tracks. The flash was revealed as sunlight reflecting off wings made of ice, the wings of someone she hadn't imagined she would see here, had never seen like this at all.

Rucksack and parasol fell to the ground unnoticed. Yuka's entire attention was riveted on this sudden sight.

"Cir... no?"

Hearing her name being spoken made Cirno look around at the group she was standing with. Once she realized that none of them had called her, then turned to the new arrivals. She came out of hiding with a very confused look on her face. Someone in this group actually knew her?

"Yes...?"

She took a step forward, quickly spotting the woman who called her name. She thought hard for a moment and the resulting headache from trying to remember the woman's name or how she knew her made her wince and place her hand to her forehead.

"I'm sorry...I don't remember you....Who are you?"

Hearing that reply did nothing to alleviate Yuka's confusion; in fact, it added to it. And seeing Cirno out in the open didn't help, it just confirmed what had alarmed her before. The Cirno she'd said good night to yesterday had looked about in her early twenties, in human terms. The Cirno she was looking at now looked what, about twelve?

And that just plain didn't happen. Fairies sometimes grew up with unexpected rapidity (although trying to remember why that was gave her a terrible headache, and she quickly abandoned that train of thought). But she'd never heard of the opposite thing happening, to fairies or to anyone else.

For a moment, ingrained manners took over, and she replied, "I'm Yuka Kazami." Then, as she picked up the things she had dropped, burning curiosity took over, and she blurted out, "How did you get so much younger?"

Removing her red beret to scratch her head a bit at the last question, Cirno walked forwards a bit more, not straying far from the others. She was just as confused, if not more.

"It's nice to meet you Yuka...If I'm supposed to know you, I'm really sorry about this."

She hesitates for a moment, glancing back into the group before straightening up and putting the beret back on her head, crooked as the sword emblazoned on it was facing to her right a bit. She tried to make herself look like a model prefect as she spoke again,

"This place...I mean..Rakuen takes away our memories. One that was taken from me and I just got a few rounds ago was the memory of Gensokyo...of home."

She pauses for a moment, taking another step forward, her curiosity was taking away her apprehension of past visits of this place. That last question bugged her quite a bit.

"What do you mean by get so much younger? I've always been this way...I think."

"Ah. Maybe that explains why... well, it's not important."

Yuka contemplated how to go on. There were certain aspects of her relationship with Cirno that she... just couldn't describe to her now. Not to a Cirno who seemed to be so young. If it turned out to be important later... well, she could climb that tree when she came to it.

"And we... were good friends. I'm sure of that. Although I suppose I might have forgotten things about you too... There's no way to tell for sure, is there?"

She paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to describe this. It would be easy for humans. You can say "14 years old" about a human, and people would have some idea what that was like. But age didn't really have all that much to do with maturity for youkai or fairies. At least, not consistently.

"When we first met... you looked about as old as her," Yuka said, pointing over at Jade. "But the last time I saw you, before waking up on this train anyway.... you looked almost as old as me." She shook her head. "I've read stories about magic that makes people younger, but I don't know how it could happen in real life."

The smile the crosses her face was not a guarded one like she had been wearing for a while now. It was one of pure joy. That word scared her to death but at the same time, brought hope. She walked away from the group, coming to stand in front of Yuka. Her hands were clenched in the sides of her uniform skirt as she found hard not to just outright hug her.

"If we are friends you gotta promise me one thing! You can't disappear on me like everyone else okay?"

She knew she sounded like a scared child when she asked that but she needed that promise. She didn't want to get close just to be torn away from another friend again.

With her moment of fear out of the way, she looked to Jade at the last remarks and gesture. She blinked, tilted her head a bit and shrugged a bit. Her next statement felt like something that should have been said sense the beginning, "It's this place. It does whatever it wants to...Like send big monsters after all of us!"

That smile... it had always made her heart melt. It had done so when they first met, and despite the strangeness of the situation it did so now.

But the next thing Cirno said turned Yuka's mood fully serious again.

"... Disappear?"

"Yeah...Like Marisa and Alice and Kotaro. They were all here for a while and then they just disappeared...."

Cirno drops her gaze to the ground, that joyful smile had faded into a sad and once again guarded expression. She messes with one of the rings on her left hand, trying to collect her thoughts on the subject. She was started to get a headache as she was thinking about it but shook her head to clear it.

"They were all here for a while but then just vanished. They left behind a Memory charm and a Upgrade ring..."

She holds up her hand and points to the ring she was playing with, this one having a star burst shape on it. She looks proud of it but at the same time, sad that she has it.

"This one is Master Spark..I got it from Marisa's disappearance."

Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes for a moment before she stubbornly wipes them away, refusing to cry anymore on the subject, even if she could not remember why it hurt so much. This had changed her quite a bit, and it showed in her eyes.

"Marisa..." Yuka looked pensive. Marisa and Alice had been here, and disappeared... but they'd never been missing, had they? And Cirno had apparently been here quite a while too. She definitely wouldn't have missed that. Could she have forgotten those specific events? Just how far did this thing go?

She pushed the thoughts aside. There would be time for that later. There was something more important to do right now.

Unfortunately, she wasn't sure she could honestly say what Cirno wanted to hear.

"Cirno... You never gave up on me, never abandoned me. So there's no way I'm going to leave you now. Not until we can both go home."

She paused for a moment. This was going to be the difficult part.

"But... if someone like Marisa didn't leave, but was taken away... whatever did it could be too much for me too. So I can't promise that I won't disappear."

Now Yuka's expression went from pensive to determined.

"What I can promise you is that no one is going to take me away without a fight."

Although that wasn't what she wanted to hear, it still counted to her. Cirno smiled once more, wiping at her eyes again to make sure there were not any lingering tears before nodding.

"Thank you...That means a lot to me."

She then blinked, as if remembering something important, which it was. The whole reason for them all standing and waiting on the train! She blushes a bit at forgetting that and takes Yuka's hand, tugging slightly, trying to lead her to where she needed to be.

"Oh yeah! I think Flynn said your name. You are in the same school as me! He can answer any questions that I don't know. He's been a Per..I mean Prefect longer then I have."

She points over to the group she had been standing with and tugs again, but gently.

Yuka's smile was a little wistful. "I'm sorry I can't be more reassuring. But if I just left things out... it wouldn't be any better than lying." Her expression shifted a bit towards the self-deprecating. "Even Yuka Kazami can be worried by some things."

She let herself be pulled along without complaint. "Oh? I didn't even notice. I was just so surprised..."

School? Interesting. She'd seen the school in the village a few times, but this was obviously something on an entirely different scale. Well, one way or another, her path went through here, and she would make the best of it.

But wouldn't she look kind of strange in the middle of a typical class?

Cirno shook her head a bit, "That's okay. This place doesn't like promises being kept mostly anyways." She knew better at this point, seeing so many people come and go. She continues to lead her over to said person, being glad she was paying attention for one of the ones she was no in charge of.

"If only all of the train welcomes were this nice. The one I had to do, I almost got punched. The school is sorta fun. The classes are kinda interesting, Like Poisons! And we fight the other school and each other and it's interesting...Unless we lose and then we get punished."

She seems to be hopping from subject to subject, almost if she's not telling the entire thing...or she forgot where she was going with what she was saying. Either way, she was letting it all out at once in her excitement.

She stops a bit away from Flynn, looking to him and then back to Yuka with a question on her mind. "Like I said, It's not my turn for most of this...but I can stay with you while Flynn explains things if you want. I can stay for a bit but...Then I gotta go to my job."

She had taken a job for today, not expecting much to happen or anyone she might know to show up. It was something for her to do other then sit by the lake and think for once. She rubs the back of her head with her free hand, feeling silly for doing so now.

Yuka fought to keep her expression composed while Cirno was looking, but she could feel her face twisting up when the other girl looked away.

There were moments when the bright, enthusiastic girl Yuka had known so long still shone through, but at other times... Something had obviously hurt her very badly while she was here. Quite possibly more than just what she'd mentioned before. After all, hadn't they just met from the other girl's perspective?

And Yuka didn't really know what she could do to help. It had always been Cirno herself who seemed to know what to do in situations like this. (Although Yuka admitted that she had a certain bias in the matter.)

Well, there was one course of action that seemed reasonably obvious. Stay. Be as good a friend as she could be. Don't leave, and don't let anything take her away.

Conveniently, this was what Yuka would have wanted to do anyway. She would not abandon her family. And if this place didn't like it as a promise, then it could take it as a threat. Yuka was pretty good at those too.

It still didn't feel like enough.

Yuka smiled again as Cirno turned back. "I'll be all right, if you have other responsibilities. If we're in the same school, I'm sure we'll be able to talk again soon."

Cirno didn't notice, still being excited but she lets go of Yuka's hand. She wanted to stay but her promise to the Toy Store still was important too. She stood there looking conflicted for a moment before speaking once more. "Okay..But do go to the shop and get a PDA thingy. It can contact me or anyone else no matter where we are here. If you need some raks to get it upgraded, let me know okay? Just stop into the Toy Store in town and I can give you a few."

She smiles and backs up towards the group once more, lowering her voice, "I promise..I'll tell you everything that happened if you want later. Just let me know."

She gives a quick wave as she takes to the air and quickly heads back into the group for the greeting, glancing back to her, hoping to look reassuring to her before dissapearing behind the group once more.

[It took her a moment to realize... hey, she'd seen this fairy before.]

Hey! [She noticed her for a split second; that hairdo and bow combo gave her away fairly well. It was odd, but Sanae felt like for some reason this was one of the only memories she had.]

[Cirno wasn't paying too much attention to the newcomers. She heard the 'Hey!' but looked to the wrong people, trying to find out who was calling and who they wanted. She then turned at spotted the girl staring at her.]

...Can I help you?

Edited 2012-07-30 04:44 (UTC)

[She looked at her again for a minute before nodding.] Yep, I remember you... I think! From Gensokyo. I know I've seen you once or twice before.

[Gensokyo. The one word that mattered to her right now. She came out from hiding and walked slowly up to Sanae.]

I know this will probably sound weird...But I don't remember you. I'm Cirno, It's good to meet you again!

[This cheered her up, even though she was confused as all heck. This was one memory she wanted back soon because greeting people from home and not remembering them? Starting to bug her a bit]

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