rakuen | Event: Sunday evening

The train finally came to a halt in which seemed to be the middle of no where. There was a small hut, but just like the train station in Rakuen there were no staff. Still the doors opened and out on the platform a woman stood. She looked stern and some might recognise her from the town; her dusky pink hair made her stand out in a crowd.

"Weapons please collect the equipment of your colour from the luggage compartment. One tent per team, one stove, one sleeping bag. If Players require their Weapons to have sleeping bags come and tell me, I have some extra in the store." She spoke in a tone that seemed used to being obeyed; a soldiers tone some might recognise it as.

After the equiptment was collected she set off up the hill expecting everyone to keep up. Astute campers will have noticed Dolorosa, Day, Nanami and Santana in the small crowd and so hopefully realise that escape was nothing but futile.

Of course if they still tried they would find they couldn't get very far, if they went too far in any direction or tried to follow the tracks they would pass out and reappear just a little behind the main group.

The camp site was just over the hill, a valley surrounded by hills, a river running through it. Their guide told them to make camp, Fortitude this side of the river, Conquest the other; there were stepping stones. "All Players are to report to me while Weapons pitch the tents."

She waited until the Players were gathered, "My name is Clara, I am your guide for your trip and I expect you to behave yourselves. As you have guessed we have a slightly separate set up, you have each been provided with a Weapon, in some cases two. There shall still be fights, training fights each morning in your camps and a fight in the evening which shall be interschool. Do your best; for as well as raks winning fights will get you more points."

There were no smiles but a pause for them to take in what she had said so far. "There will also be other activities, from climbing to walking to canoeing. I am sure you will all find something you excel in. Each of your Weapons has been provided with a ring, it cannot be removed until the end of the trip. Touching it with your gloved hand will invoke the penalty, though I trust you all not to abuse that power."

She looked over to the campsite and the activity there and raised her voice so she could be heard by those putting up tents. "All cooking is to be done by the Weapons, points will be given and subtracted for cooking skills, tents will be inspected every day. Weapons require permission to share their Players food, there are Weapon meals provided. If you wish your Weapon to stay in your tent they may but permission must be given." She looked like she couldn't work out why anyone would want that despite the grey skies and drizzle.

"Today you may get to know the camp site, there shall be no fight tonight but there is wood to be collected and if you collect enough we can have a large camp fire. Points shall be awarded for meals, Weapons are to come to me for ingredients."

With that she nodded and walked away, presumably to pitch her own tent. Have fun campers!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Just tell them I said you could have one too," she said, not realizing the hypocrisy inherent in the statement.

Sora would do exactly that!

Later. Because right now, it was time to set up the tent. She'd found a good level spot, but getting it up was proving to be something of an adventure. She was pretty sure she had the pieces together right, but getting everything where it should be was tricky with just one person. But she thought this pole was set up right now...

And the other end was drooping!

Around to the other end, tighten up that rope...

But now the left side was too tight! And the right was coming loose!

And so it went. But after circling the tent a few times, Sora thought she had it right. At least, it was stable, the sides were straight, and she didn't see any mysterious bulges in the walls when she set Komachi's sleeping bag down inside.

When she heard Clara announce the Weapon rules she wasn't sure whether to be perturbed or bemused. Under the Exaclan system she'd known, people lived in fear of assault, mental trauma, and in general each other. Here, the order of the day seemed to be petty inconveniences, or at least the possibility thereof.

Well, Komachi seemed pretty nice, so she didn't think she needed to worry about that! But it still bothered her. She still remembered what Tsuki had said, about why they'd created the Exaclan system...

But what could this system be intended to save people from?

Well, there was no point in speculating about it now! She needed to get her sleeping bag and then see about dinner.

It wasn't too hard to find Clara... Sora guessed she needed to be in a fairly obvious location so everyone could get ingredients and stuff. "Hi! Komachi said I could get a sleeping bag!"

"Did she now?" Clara was almost finished with her own tent and turned to the red haired girl.

She had told the Players to come and tell her, but she didn't say anything just raised an eyebrow. "Team colour?"

Sora didn't catch that subtext at all.

"Gray!"

Clara nodded and found the spare grey sleeping bag. "Very well then, show me where your Player is staying."

She could just send her back and ask for the Player to come and ask, but it would take up time.

That seemed unnecessarily complicated, but Sora just shrugged and led Clara back to where she'd set up their tent.

Clara followed her, "Komachi was it?" She said to the tent, waiting for the girl to come out and speak to them.

"You really have to hear it from me, then?"

She was just about to start napping, too. What a pain.

"If it's not too much trouble. Unfortunately some people can't be trusted, and will lie which just makes everyone look bad." Clara looked completely serious.

"Well, she can have one." And she would have so answered even if she hadn't previously said so. People deserve to be cut breaks sometimes.

Clara nodded and handed it over, "Very well, let me know if you have any trouble."

She knew that this was new to a lot of people, and didn't want it to be harder than necessary.

"That doesn't seem right." Sora frowned. "Tsuki says it's okay to lie if there's a really good reason for it, but... that just seems kind of trivial."

Event: Sunday evening

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