Assembly [Both Schools]

[musicalee]

By Sunday morning the translation system was back online. Signs were readable to everyone and each screen ordered students to the Battle Arena for 12 noon. Prefects were sent out to make sure no one leaves the campus until that time and then gathered up everyone to take to the battle arena.

Once everyone was seated, the prefects taking up the first two rows, the staff appeared. All of them looked grim; even Recette who's usually cheery face was gone, Dolorosa had an expression usually worn by Santana. As they came to stand in a row in front of the students, it was Dunleavy that stepped forward.

"As I am sure you are all aware, yesterday there was an attack on the Exaclan system and the city of Rakuen itself. I first would like to apologise for the inconvenience and the amount of time it took to get the system working again. Luckily there was no permanent damage."

That was the easy bit, Lee blinked, they hadn't had any sleep at all, working until the early hours to help repair the system. Considering the six of them did not share a common language, it had been a difficult process. The next bit was harder; she hated punishing people. She always felt like she had no right to. But she did, she had taken on that right and responsibility when she became mayor and this was a serious attack.

Perhaps they had been too soft with them, experimentation and trying to cheat was one thing. But this was an entirely different category.

"We have, of course discovered the perpetrators of this crime." She nodded, sending Santana and Nanami to collect Suzaku Kururugi and Lelouch vi Britannia from the stands. They were both prefects which was disappointing. Lee would have hoped they would know better.

"Lelouch vi Britannia and Suzaku Kururugi were both found to be the ones that began the attack." Though she had a feeling she knew which one had had the idea. The other didn't seem intelligent enough.

At least they were responsible for each others wrong doings, and so Lee didn't have to punish an innocent.

"You have both been found guilty of attacking the city of Rakuen." She paused, because giving the accused a chance to speak was considered civilised in most worlds and cultures.

Comments

4/4

[musicalee]

Once that was dealt with she looked out at the see of faces. Though a fifteen minute penalty was severe, the crime was serious and so after much discussion once they had regained the ability to understand one another.

"Furthermore Suzaku Kururugi and Lelouch vi Britannia are stripped of all rights for the week of the thirteenth round of this session. Though they may fight if chosen as Players, or be owned as Weapons they shall have no rights and therefore shall be treated as discards effective immediately until the next rest day."

Now that that unpleasant business was attended to it was time to actually announce the next round. "In other news I would like to congratulate Conquest for winning the round, and Cirno especially for her round win. I am sure you will each do wonderfully next round, and we will not have a repeat of this unpleasantness."

The screan turned on behind them and Dunleavy read out the names that showed on the screen.

Conquest

Suzaku Kururugi
Arthur Pendragon
Ein
Jack Noir
Yuka Kazami

Fortitude

Rebecca Harcourt
Dave Strider
Merlin
Juri Arisugawa
Nanami Asagi

((Note that if Dirk confesses he will be added to the punishment of having no rights also, if Jane confesses she will be and if neither of them confess they will not be.))

[afraid_of_my_shadow]

As soon as he realized that they were going to be forced to watch those penalties, Alex pulled up the hood on his jacket. He couldn't watch. It sickened him too much.

He was glad to just move on to the normal proceedings until,

Becca was a player.

Becca was a player.

Becca was a player.

She was going to be so upset. Alex looked over to her, immediately heading to her side and taking her hand in his.

[pencilpremonition]

Becca had curled into a ball on the floor while the punishments were going on. She'd just gotten to her feet again in time to hear the list of players being read out. And her name was the first one.

The colour drained from her face, and since Alex was right there, she turned, trying to wrap her arms around him and hide her face in his chest, already starting to cry.

[afraid_of_my_shadow]

Alex let her, wrapping his arms around her and petting her hair. He wanted to vow with someone he didn't trust just to avoid being a prefect, but to leave Becca to be someone else's weapon? He couldn't do that to her. How could he?

"I-it's okay Becca. I-I'll be there t-to protect you the wh-whole time." He holds her closer to him.

[pencilpremonition]

She clung tighter to him, shuddering and feeling sick. "I...I'm supposed to protect you..." But she definitely didn't feel like that was possible. "I promise to protect you," she murmured, getting the vow out of the way quickly.

[afraid_of_my_shadow]

"And of course you will. I wouldn't have it any other way." Alex held onto her, missing his powers again. Becca's pain seemed to be good at making him miss them. "I-I'm sure you'll have no problem. A-and I'm sure Sora'd f-fight you. Sh-she'd be c-careful. I-it'll be okay. You c-can wait so you o-only haveta do it o-once." He just rest his cheek against her's, holding her close.

[ecthelion]

[Finding Weapons this round would be easier than the last one. After all, Ein knew every player on Conquest's list with the exception of Jack Noir.

And barring that, he also wanted to speak with this Lelouch, whose impassioned speech earlier had attracted Ein's attention. The order of Rakuen was not a fair one by any stretch, and according to him, they agreed on that much.]

[moorecowbell]

[Wonderful. She had to go play at being a Rose Bride. Very well; she'd just have to do a better job than... than the real thing, and that couldn't be hard at all. She scans the crowd of Conquest Players. Ein just happens to be closest]

You there! Boy!

["boy" even though he looked to be about her age]

You're one of the Players for our house, right? And you need a weapon, right?

[ecthelion]

Yes, I'm Ein. I'd be glad to protect you, miss...

[moorecowbell]

Nanami Kiryuu.

[She bristles a bit at the being protected bit--not because she doesn't think she needs it, but because this kid isn't her Prince. But...]

Is there something we need to do to make this official, or..?

[ecthelion]

All I have to do is say I'll protect you. Which I will, of course.

[And bam, it's official.]

[frozenmemories]

Cirno would have been more proud of her victory if what had just happened did not happen at all. She slumped down in her seat and pulled her knees to her chest as she listened at watched the whole thing, not moving or speaking. She actually had not spoken all day, relying on surprising people with the fact she would fly in their faces if they tried to leave.

She watched the screen curiously when the names were shown and she shook her head and lay her forehead on her knees. Two people she knew and trusted were Players. She frowned, actually considering leaving before she could be seen to try and avoid everything. She knew that meant she'd be a Discard but at the moment, she just wanted to pretend that nothing bad had just happened.

[justaflowergirl]

Yuka strolled over and gave the fairy a reassuring pat on the back.

Or at least, that was what she was trying to do, but the effect was probably somewhat diminished by the pensive look on her own face.

Lelouch and Suzaku... she hadn't had much contact with either of them, although there had been that amusing encounter in the rain. What had happened yesterday had been bad, but did they really deserve this?

On the other hand, they had nearly gotten her drowned. That wasn't something she could forget so easily.

Even more disquieting, however, was Lelouch's speech. She found that there were parts of it that she couldn't really disagree with. But were his actions really consistent with his stated goals? She wasn't convinced, and the discrepancy was deeply concerning in it's own right.

Also, those jokers had nearly gotten her drowned!

[frozenmemories]

Cirno looked up slowly at the pat on her back. She offered up a tiny smile to Yuka when she saw who it was, trying to hide the fact that the assembly bothered her. She slowly sat up, pulling her legs under her as she did so. She looked back to the Arena and the smile faded away quickly as she spoke softly for the first time today.

"I told you that things got bad around here...This is the worst I've ever seen. We've had letters talkin' about Terrorists and attacks on staff...But..."

She shakes her head and looks back to the ground mumbling to herself, "I want to finish this and go home."

[justaflowergirl]

Yuka nodded. Privately, she wasn't sure she agreed. The punishments here, at least, struck her as comprehensible, whereas the ones of a week previous seemed to have been doled out in a fit of pique. Still, this weekend had definitely brought more than it's share of problems.

"Hmmmm... But I don't know what we can do that we aren't already."

She paused for a moment before continuing. "Do you want to team up again this week? I don't know how good I'll be - if your weapon is like what I've seen you use back home, it's a lot shorter than I'm used to - but I'll try my hardest."

[kingofpoisons]

[Day stood looking angry. If you dare to approach her. Conquest students are probably lucky that Dunleavy insisted on handling this matter.]

[savedbyasong]

Shion was sat alone, the day before had been frightening; unable to understand anyone. He felt bad he had upset the small flying girl and was starting to hate the fact he couldn't remember. How many people considered themselves his friends? He wished to be friends with all of them again, but he brought pain to them when he didn't remember the time he had spent with them.

He watched the punishments with a growing sense of horror. Though not being able to understand anyone had been frightening they did not deserve this... He found himself agreeing with the dark haired boys speech. How dare they bring punishment to others when all they wanted was to escape.

He watched though, tears building in his eyes. He had to see, he couldn't avert his eyes from such cruelty and nor should he. He had to see it and remember it, to remember why this place did not deserve to exist.

The loss of rights was also a shock, it was one thing having to bargain and vow to gain rights that should be automatic. But to have them taken away completely, even if only temporarily...

He recognised three names on the list, but made no move to find them. He was running all the information through his head, working out how to deal with it.

[the_stand_cometh]

The Stand was actually only made to dislike this place more seeing this display. He normally fine with humans punishing humans, but this was different. This was overly cruel, and some other creature could have easily enacted this punishment. He might be a little nicer to his weapon this week.

Asagi took that chance to sneak up behind his former weapon and whisper into his ear, "Vow with me?"

[savedbyasong]

At the whisper Shion jumped out of his seat, his eyes widened and he turned to look at Asagi warily. "Um...."

After what had happened last week he wasn't sure he wanted to be Asagi's Weapon again...

[the_stand_cometh]

"You could always be a discard," Asagi shrugged, about ready to walk away.

[secretlyuseful]

Merlin was shocked at the punishments, he had seen worse of course. He had seen Camelot under Uther and the punishments for magic there. But... Dolorosa seemed like a kindly person and he didn't think the others were particularly cruel, so why this?

He got a bit confused during the calling out of names, and was looking for Arthur whose name had been called out when he realised he didn't have a mark on his hand.

"Oh..."

[ferriedmemories]

"Hey, twice in a row! Not bad. Need a Weapon?"

[secretlyuseful]

Komachi confirmed his suspicions and he grinned and nodded, "Do you need a Player?"

[ferriedmemories]

"I do! And I certainly wouldn't mind being yours."

Re: 4/4

[jurist]

Juri was a little discomfited by the punishments being meted out before her eyes, but she told herself it wasn't her problem. She barely knew either of them, anyway, even if Lelouch had been her Player in the last round. He'd left her to her own devices, mostly—a fact for which she was grateful.

She breathed a little sigh of relief when she heard her name on the list of players—not that being a Weapon had been so bad, but it wasn't her preferred role. Of course, now she'd have to find a Weapon, and she wasn't so certain how to do that. Should she just start asking everyone in sight?