On the platform: Meet the new characters

[utopiamods]

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, six 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 young man wearing shades steps forward first.

"Excuse me." A second boy, a few years older and more serious looking steps forward from the red group. He explains that they're all prefects of Rakuen, from the two battle schools on the island. Fortitude - the boy in the sunglasses and the others dressed in green - and Conquest. They all arrived just like you did, weeks or months before this.

"I know you have many questions but first please come to the person who calls your name."

He looks down on his list to double check "For Conquest, Nanami Kiryuu, Hukaru Hitachiin, Madotsuki and Aria."

"If I call your name," the green-clad boy had stepped forward again, "it means you're with Fortitude, a.k.a the slightly more awesome school. Brittany Pierce, Jules de Ferrier, Izumi and Furiae."

Comments

[trageteas]

"Pardon me if I find that difficult to believe." More likely that he was being lied to, though heaven only knew what anybody had against him to set up such an elaborate lie. "There's simply no reason such circumstances should ever happen."

The last bit was more intriguing than the rest, especially given this man's other claims. "So you say you're not fighting aimlessly, but rather in order to be allowed to leave."

[fracturedsoul]

He wasn't going to bother trying to convince this guy; he'd figure it out eventually, and Dirk had more important things to spend his time doing.

"Right. There's six towers scattered around the city that we're pretty sure we need to open up. We've got two of them down already. Only prefects can open 'em, and fighting helps you meet the conditions that are required for becoming a prefect."

[trageteas]

"And how long has it been since you began?" Quite a while, one would assume. Wasn't that always how magic worked in these fairy tales?

He cocked his head at this explanation of prefects' apparent duties; already familiar with what such a position typically entailed, these additional duties seemed entirely out of place. "The same prefects that monitor the students, or have you twisted that as well?"

[fracturedsoul]

"Me personally? This is my sixth week. It's the thirteenth week of the session itself."

He shook his head. "Nope, the very same. Play along like a good little puppet and you're awarded a position of power."

[trageteas]

Thirteen? Fitting. It hadn't been very long, then; whether it was the beginning of an endless quest or a sign that there was still hope, one could not yet say.

"Thank you for your honesty." It was almost reassuring that this boy, at least, was making no attempt to sugar-coat the situation. Manners and carefully-chosen words to soften harsh blows were Jules' norm, but he was in no mood to re-learn everything that he knew about socialization. "And I imagine that next you'll tell me that any effort to defy that will lead to some kind of harm."