rakuen | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Yomiel, anyone
Format: Any
This log is: open
Location: Conquest courtyard
Summary: Yomiel finally shows.

There's someone standing almost casually on the edge of the courtyard, hands in pockets, rucksack over shoulder, and - observing. He's been keeping out of sight for the past few days, trying to find an easy way out of here - flipping through the handbook in that rucksack had been all the evidence he needed to decide he didn't want to stay. But he hadn't been able to find one, of course. So it looked like he was going to have to follow the rules here - at least for the moment.
He hadn't been teaching any classes for the past few days, obviously, and he very probably was going to be punished for that, but he didn't care too much. Couldn't do much to a corpse. No, first things first - limitations were annoying, so he needed to find a Player for - next time, perhaps, he wasn't sure of the time - even if he wasn't too fond of the idea. And see who else was here and if he could use them in any way.

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...he was, actually. But he certainly wasn't going to mention that right now, not if Apollo didn't press for it. He'd just have to be really quiet when he finally did go in there, and pretend that was the reason no one had ever noticed him entering or leaving. ...dorms, though. He hoped he didn't have a roommate, that would be - more difficult to explain.

"...I wondered what the commotion was." So, a puzzle. "- question. Nobody knows the reason for fighting, everyone wants to get out, and schools can get punished for losing, right? Why not just stage the fights so they're always a tie? Unless that's part of the puzzle too."

...on the other hand, why bother putting effort in straightening that out? He doesn't care about these people, he just needs to get away himself. And if their captor did this just for a puzzle, there's no guarantee they'll be allowed to leave later either. "You're right." He shakes his head and shrugs. "Anyone ever tried to just - leave on a boat or something?"

So Yomiel didn't have anything to say about the dorms? It was still suspicious, but Apollo didn't think he could push the issue without getting confrontational about it. It was nice to run into someone that agreed with him, instead of assuming they should just do whatever they were told.

"That's because the punishments aren't part of the system. That one's all thanks to how gung-ho our headmistress is. There's some in Fortitude that'll lose to us on purpose so it doesn't become a problem... but I'm not sure exactly who will do that." Apollo's keeping his voice down now - there's no telling who else might wander through and overhear them. "Staging a tie might be possible, but it'd be tough to manage. Usually the fights end when either the Weapons or the Player on one side passes out."

"I really don't know what's been tried or not, but ... it seems like if escape was that easy, no one else would be here. There's still some people that have been here since the fighting first started. I've already spoken to one of them," he mentioned, but he says it like it's left a bad taste in his mouth.

Ah. Getting quieter, was he? Yomiel wasn't too worried still about anyone overhearing - what could they do to him? - but better to go along with that anyway. It'd make him seem more normal and he didn't want to scare this one off when this was someone helpful. So he lowered his voice in kind, glancing about out of the corners of his eyes - not that it was visible what with his shades.

"So forfeit simultaneously." The handbook had mentioned those - and also skimmed over punishments, then again. "Or take something in that knocks both Players out." ...actually, now he was considering something else - the headmistress was only one person, right? "- better yet - don't play around with rules. Just attack whoever's in charge without starting up any official 'battles' and take over."

"I looked around some myself, but better to check. ...oh? And what did they say?"

"Are you serious?" Apollo hissed it to him, taking a quick look around himself. Okay, he doesn't even see anyone else, but that suggestion still came close to giving him a heart attack. "Fine, fixing the battles might be possible, but taking over the place? There's no telling how powerful the headmistresses are, or what they can do - you've noticed that not everyone here is human, right?"

They might've had the greater numbers, but it seemed entirely too risky. At least in the battles, no one truly got hurt. After seeing that huge turtle thing that had appeared with the opening of the tower ... if the headmistresses were in on it, there was every possibility they could do crazy things like summon monsters out of thin air, too. Apollo doesn't know; he hasn't been here long enough to find out.

Shaking his head with an almost frustrated look, all he says to that is, "He filled me in on the punishment part, that's all. They do it for breaking the rules, too, not just for losing battles." Apollo rubs the spot on his left wrist where his bracelet should have been, wondering now if the tidbits he'd been told by the 'old-timer' had been given in good faith after all.

"Entirely." Yomiel's back to grinning cockily - perhaps a bit annoying right now, actually, but he doesn't care. The bit about what they can do is a fair enough point, yes, but - "Fine. Don't do it directly, then. Slip some poison in whatever they eat or drink. Easiest idea off the top of my head, and I'm sure there're more."

To be fair, he does have - a trick or two up his sleeve as compared to anyone else here, even the non-humans. He does know he's still dead, after all, even if for some reason he can't perform any ghost tricks. Yet. Can't harm a dead person. As far as he knows, at least.

"Ah. Figures. Then I suppose I'll be up for something soon." He doesn't seem overly bothered by that prospect, though. "Still, what if it is possible to just escape, and the only reason people haven't tried is they've been told it would already have been attempted? Worth some more experimenting with."

"W-What?! No, no way, that's completely out of the question! Where would you even get it? It's not like you can waltz into the grocery store and pick up a bottle of poison!" Now Apollo's gotten louder again, entirely by accident, so disgusted by the idea that he even takes a small step back. Just because Apollo was briefly willing to entertain the idea of a revolt didn't mean he'd be a party to murder. There's no possible way Yomiel meant it, was there? That had to be some sort of morbid joke...

Taking a deep breath to try to calm himself down, he shakes his head, "Anything that isn't too risky is worth a try, but... what do you mean, up for something? What did you do?"

Oh, he meant it all right. A few years of being dead did that to you. Seeing as Apollo seems so revolted by the prospect, though - he assumes because he doesn't like the idea of killing others, that's usually it - he lets the grin fade and shoves in impatiently, "Brew some up yourself. And I didn't say you have to kill them, if that's what's bothering you. Just get them incapacitated enough to have some sort of advantage. Knock them out for as long as you need and just keep re-dosing them, maybe."

Yomiel waves his hand dismissively. "Haven't been showing up to these classes I'm apparently supposed to be the teacher of. That's against the rules, I gather."

"No, it... wouldn't be worth it. On a lot of levels." Apollo shakes his head at that, at a loss when it comes to explaining why. Despite all the fighting and other crazy things going on here, no one was actually being hurt by being trapped like this. So hurting someone else to try to get home ... that just wasn't right, not to mention how underhanded the use of poison was. It amazed him that Yomiel could talk about it that way.

"You're sure a paragon of responsibility, aren't you?" Apollo said it with a mutter, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I'm not actually sure what the punishments entail, so all I can say is ... good luck."

"Not worth it? When they've kidnapped everyone here, dragged us to fight for their own amusement, and punish at their own leisure if we don't do well enough?" He pauses, then shrugs and adds, "If you say so."

"Yeah, yeah." His tone is just as dismissive now. "I'd be surprised if anyone expected me to just cooperate right after getting off the train. I'll see what I can do about teaching from now on."

...right, he's found out what he needs - simple enough - so he might as well go now. A bit abruptly - "...thanks anyway. See you." - followed by a two-fingered salute. He stops for just a minute before leaving to tack on a last, "Oh, right. And if you see a cat with a red handkerchief 'round its neck, mind bringing it to me? Don't think he's here but if he is I don't want those headmistresses getting their hands on him."

"Yes, I do say so," Apollo replied stubbornly. "It could be a lot worse." And talking to Yomiel had helped put that into perspective - as badly as Apollo wanted to go home, he wouldn't ever take it to the level of hurting someone else to do it. If there was more than one solution to every problem, then there could be more than two, or three... it was just a matter of finding a better way.

He couldn't say he was very sorry to see Yomiel go, not with how the guy nearly gave him the creeps. "Sure, maybe I'll see you around the teacher's lounge. But..." And then Apollo trailed off, furrowing his brow as he gave Yomiel a questioning look. The majority of what he'd said had been loud and clear, except for one thing. "... What's a 'cat' supposed to be?"

"As long as you're fine with just sitting around and waiting for it to get worse." Eh. Yomiel might as well go find out more about these towers later too. Though he's not too confident that this 'puzzle' will let anyone out, taking a look at it might reveal more about those behind it.

"A cat?" Yomiel actually turns his head back over his shoulder to give Apollo what would be a very odd look without the shades. "...small animal? Pointy ears, usually long tail, short- or long-furred depending, notorious for catching pests? Don't tell me you've never seen one."

"Hey! I'm not going to sit around. I can find methods that don't involve hurting someone, that's all." That statement of his is enough to make Apollo a little huffy, and he crosses his arms over his chest, eying Yomiel all the more doubtfully after that explanation.

"That's it? I..." He pauses to reach up and rub at his forehead, feeling a sudden headache coming on. "I don't... think so? It's not ringing any bells."

"Let me know if you can think of any 'methods' that don't." Yomiel sounds almost amused again now. Which probably isn't going to help Apollo's opinion of him any, but just that idea is so - laughable. If they were taken here by force, that's the only way they'll get out. Besides - as long as it wasn't permanent harm, did it matter that much?

That strange look only intensifies, but he's not going to bother continuing to question the other. No matter how strange it is not to have ever seen a cat. "...right. Long tail, short-furred, pointy ears, handkerchief around neck. If you see anything like that - ...I would be very grateful if you got him back to me." Hard to admit as that is.

"Yeah, sure I will." His reply is a touch sarcastic, but he's also getting distracted by the growing headache he's got. Apollo's trying to pay attention to what Yomiel's saying about the 'cat', but the knowledge keeps slipping out of his head nearly as soon as he's heard it.

"... I'll let you know if I see it." Though at this point, all he can properly remember was the part about something having a red handkerchief. Wouldn't it be easier for him to get another one at the store? Oh well, at least that should be easy to spot. "Good luck with whatever they end up doing to you."

With that, Apollo turned and made his way to the Red dorm, rubbing at his forehead once more.

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