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

Fortitude

[fracturedsoul]

[ wow sorry for the delay ]

[brittspierce]

Britt steps out of the train and looks around her with wide eyes. She's not scared, she's not wondering how she could here or how it could be possible. She's actually quite happy and excited. Looking around again she's kind of glad that she's not in her cheerleader uniform. She would stick out quite a bit...not that that had even been a problem for her before.

When her name is called she bounds up to the boy with a huge grin on her face. No she's not excited at all. What on earth would give you that impression.

"Fortitude? It already sounds awesome."

A pause just for more looking around, "I had a dream like this once. Where a train took me somewhere magical...except in my dream there were unicorns Is this place magic?"

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk raises his eyebrows at the girl's reaction. That's certainly a new one.

"Not really. The fighting each other with removable soul weapons shit sure seems like magic, but it's actually predicated on some super-advanced virtual reality computer software. Sorry to disappoint."

[brittspierce]

Well, that would be because you've never had anyone quite like Brittany around here before. Aren't you glad you do now?

And she's just going to stare at you, her mouth open ever so slightly. Sorry, she didn't understand a word that you just said you're going to have to keep things simple if you want to get through to Britt. But you'll learn that pretty quickly. "Right...so it seems like magic but it's not magic? Okay, I can go with that...so what happens now?"

[fracturedsoul]

Hey, it's better than all the people who scream and demand to be sent home right off the bat.

"Right now is what we call a rest day. There's no fighting or harem ownership bullshit for today. You get to spend the next twenty-four hours becoming acquainted with the city and the Exaclan game rules. Once we lead you back to Fortitude, there'll be a tour."

[brittspierce]

That's true! But don't hold your breath you might still get that from one of the others arriving today.

Rest day, she like the sound of that already. She nods her head a few times as he speaks. Mhmm, she totally understands all of that, "Oh, so this is like a game? That's cool I like games and I'm good at them too...sometimes. What game is it like because I am not good at Monopoly or Scrabble. Hungry Hippos on the other hand I'm amazing at."

What? Don't look at her like that...

[straightupzorra]

Santana had been walking around making sure that the Prefects did their job. Well, it used to be her job but someone had to take over after they were gone. It's then, after she checks up on Dirk and sees if he has any food for her (which may be the real reason she's checking up on him), that she sees Brittany.

Or, to be more precise, she hears him. The comment about Fortitude has her turning her head, it's such a familiar voice and one she wants to hear more of, even if she's spouting pride for the opposing school. But it's the comment about dreams and magic that really has her.

"Brittany!" It's within that moment that Santana pulls Brittany into her arms and hugs her hard, "You're here again. In Fortitude?"

[brittspierce]

Brittany's just trying to take all of this in. If it's not magic then what is it? It has to be magic...well, that's how she's going to think of it anyway because magic is awesome. All that technical stuff is just going over her head so her immediate reaction is just to ignore it and daydream a little instead.

Then she hears a very, very familiar voice and before she knows it she's being pulled into a hug. She laughs a little and wraps her arms back around Santana in a close hug, "S! You're here too? This day just got even better!"

A pause, "Again? Have I been here before? I don't remember that...maybe my memory's just getting worse. And yeah, Fortitude!"

[straightupzorra]

Santana knew that Brittany wouldn't remember being here, 99 times out of 100 people don't, and Britt wasn't going to be any different. The only bad part is that this time she's in Fortitude instead of Conquest. But then again, Santana could just bring her into the Prefect dorms, it's not like anyone could punish her for it.

She doesn't let go just yet, "I've been here for a long time, B. You probably saw me earlier but I haven't seen you in months. Don't worry about not remembering being here before," she frowns a bit, "I'm in Conquest, we're in opposite schools."

[brittspierce]

No, she definitely doesn't remember...but if you told her she'd been here before Santana then she's probably going to believe you. Because you would never lie to her about something like this. And Britt was definitely willing to do anything to see her friend! B and S could never be separated for too long.

"Yeah, I did see you earlier! We are at Senior Prom and my dinosaur theme was the best ever." Britt keeps her arms wrapped around Santana too and that's probably a good thing because you're going to see a pout if you pull away. "We're in opposite schools? But...how did that happen? I don't want to be in a different school from you."

Re: Fortitude

[love_debased]

Furiae waits politely for the prefects to finish their little introduction before approaching, trying to remain calm through all of this. Even though there were people... attacking the prefects on the other side. Um.

She stepped timidly up to the boy who seemed to be in charge for the moment, wringing her hands a little. "Excuse me, but I believe there's been some kind of mistake..."

Notably, her arms are unusually long, which might have something to do with the white feathers running all down her forearms. Also, she has a tail. A weird segmented tail that looks kind of insect-like, poking out under her white dress.

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk is just ignoring the Conquest side of the platform for now. He sticks his hands in his pockets as he raises an eyebrow at Furiae.

"In your case specifically? 'Cause none of us particularly want to be here."

[love_debased]

"Is that so?" She frowned, that wasn't really the answer she was hoping for.

"If you don't want to be here, is there some reason why we can't simply leave? What is the purpose of this place...?"

[fracturedsoul]

Underneath his glasses, Dirk couldn't help rolling his eyes.

"The purpose is to shove us all into kinky BDSM battle harems, from what I can tell. And trust me, we'd have left if we could. There ain't any way out."

Re: Fortitude

[remitter]

Izumi blinked and took a moment to examine the situation he found himself in. School. How long had it been since he had been in anything resembling a school? And now he found himself, he presumed, enrolled in one.

He smiled a little and headed for the green group without a single word or a hint of fuss save for a polite bow. It was better, after all, to go with the flow until he could get more information, something he intended to gather from the boy with sunglasses the moment the opportunity presented itself.

As he approached the group he paused. That scent. His smile grew ever so slightly as he approached the green-clad boy and took what he assumed was his place in the group. At the very least he would get answers soon if Asagi was close by.

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk turned an eye to Izumi as he approached. This guy at least seemed like he wouldn't be any trouble. Lucky Dirk, getting stuck with platform duty on a nice, easy week like this.

"Any questions?"

[remitter]

"Several, of many different varieties, but I won't trouble you with the bulk of them presently."

Izumi looked around for a moment and brought a forefinger to his chin.

"I wonder, though, if you know someone named Asagi. He's one of my coworkers, and I can smell him from here, or at least someone who smells similar enough to be interested."

((OOC: Oh God I forgot I didn't have any icons put up. I will work on that while we do this awesome thing called introductions. *jazz hands*))

[fracturedsoul]

Dirk would have answered, but the way that question was phrased made him pause and raise an eyebrow. After a moment, though, he nodded -- they'd never met as such, but he did like to keep an eye on his fellow Fortitudians.

"He's a member of Fortitude, too. Lucky you. Not everyone's fortunate enough to have someone they know around right upon arriving."

[the_stand_cometh]

Asagi was nearby, but in his suit, not his school uniform. It was Saturday after all. He is watching the proceedings and has noticed Izumi in the group- It was hard to miss him with his height after all.

Rather than approach him, Asagi hung back, letting him check in with the prefect. His tie was undone and he was lighting his cigarettes with matches rather than his lighter. He could wait until Izumi was finished to talk.

[remitter]

Izumi looked around briefly as he settled into the group, standing there in polite silence. And then he noticed Asagi.

The sudden observation didn't even make him flinch, although it did make him smile a bit more. He raised his hand and gave Asagi a polite wave before looking straight ahead once more, content to stand there like a good student for the moment.

"Ah... Delighted."

[the_stand_cometh]

Once they were through the important explanations Asagi walked over. "I did not expect for you to show up." He ashes his cigarette on the ground. "So, what do you think? A sub-dimension? Closed space?"

[trageteas]

It would be a lie to say that he'd ever been in an odder situation than this one. More difficult to cope with, certainly, but even as a child there was at least some information to find a way to wrap his head around. Needless (?) to say, not knowing was much worse.

He blinks when his name is called, having half-expected to be ignored or told that he must be in the wrong place. It seems almost prudent to run away at this point, but years of quietly obeying his "superiors" has resulted in an attitude that isn't outwardly rebellious. A bit more slowly than the others, he steps forward, looking the man he was just directed toward up and down. (Part of a school? He doesn't look it.)

"'Fortitude', is it?" he asks, resisting the temptation to express his displeasure instantly. "And what is that supposed to mean?"

[fracturedsoul]

"Not a lot," Dirk admitted as he looked up from the sheet to Jules. "The assignments are pretty arbitrary."

[trageteas]

He sighed, quietly. "It's nice that you're willing to admit it. Well then, are you going to explain the rest to me?"

[fracturedsoul]

"It's not so much a matter of being willing to admit it when I'm in the same boat as you. A prefect is just an ordinary abductee who's met certain conditions."

But Dirk nodded. "You're here to take part in some shitty battle game called Exaclan. You get to own people, or be owned, depending on the capricious week-to-week whims of the random number gods; you've got a weapon of some kind in your soul or some shit; you also have a manual in your bag that explains the rules."