rakuen | Conquest Round 17

Entry tags:

Conquest Round 17

When the students and teachers of Conquest filed into the hall for assembly Day stood with her group of prefects on stage looking not too impressed.

"Good afternoon," She greated them, "I hear that congratulations is in order. The third tower is open, even with your small numbers you succeeded. I am almost impressed."

She gave them a stern look, "But you only drew. I have told you before that drawing is not acceptable." A ripple of pain went through the audience, nothing serious. Indeed for those who were relatively new and had not seen Day at her angriest then it was possible they might think they had imagined it. A mere brush, a warning.

"Congratulations to Arthur Pendragon and Flynn Scifo who both won their battles, Cheshire; I hope you try better next time." Cheshire would feel pain then, just for a couple of seconds.

"The mayor will now speak to you." The screen flickered to life behind her and Dunleavy sat on the other side smiling kindly. "Well done, you opened the third tower and are one step closer to your goal. I hope you all enjoy your rewards and use them wisely. I shall now read to you the next part of the legend."

The previous parts of the legend came up on the screen behind her and Dunleavy began to read.

"Once, the Knight had not eaten for many days. All grew dark. The path was no longer clear, but the Knight did not waver. On the path, the Knight found a silver bowl, and in the bowl was a meal fit for a king. At first, the Knight suspected a trick by the Demon Lord. But at that moment, a tiny, pale bird flew across the path. Into the bowl fell a single rose petal. The Knight ate of the meal, and became strong again." There was a silence and then Dunleavy smiled again, "I hope the next round goes well for you."

She faded and Day looked back to the audience. "The next group of Players better win, and fight more. I know their aren't many of you but even more reason to fight with everyone you can. You need all the strength you can get." The list of names came up on the screen behind her.

Cirno
America
Arthur Pendragon

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Speak to Day?]

Suzaku listened to the legend with interest though he wasn't sure what it meant. His name wasn't on the list though he knew all three of those who were. He looked around for Vane, since he should check with him who he wanted to vow with.

Cheshire jumped up on Suzaku's shoulder, a grin back on his face. "I know you know things, and I think you know something new now too."

Suzaku turned at the feeling of someone landing on his shoulder, realising it was a cat and.... oh that's what cat fur felt l...

Suzaku blinked in confusion, again, and again, and again, clutching his head as his memory repeatedly reset itself. Better jump off Cheshire before he passes out.

Cheshire will jump back down, but not before rubbing his cheek against Suzaku. He was still grateful for the upgrade, even if tea would have been a good choice too. He wasn't thinking of memories. He figured Suzaku just had some problem. The cards fell a lot too.

He reset a few more times when Cheshire rubbed his cheek against his own. He felt a bit sick but managed to re orientate himself. "Hello Cheshire..."

Seeing Suzaku glance around, probably for him, Vane sighed softly in the back of his mind and stepped out of the little alcove in the wall he'd hidden himself in. Usually not fond of being noticed in these meetings, he was always doing his best to remain unobtrusive and out of the way. If only to keep the fact that Day's punishments had no effect on him a secret. That was one ace he'd rather not give away just yet.

As he stepped up to the brunette, he gave the man something of a wry smile.

"Hello Suzaku."

Suzaku nodded to him, not returning the smile. But Vane should be used to that by now.

"Hello Vane, I was starting to think you had found some way to avoid this."

He was indeed. Come to think of it, he was having trouble remembering if he'd ever seen Suzaku smile before.

"Hardly. I just don't like catching the eye of our hosts." He remarked honestly enough, eyes flickering towards the stage. As he shifted into a more casual stance and tucked his hands into his pockets, the smile he offered the teenager then was kind. "How are you today?"

"I don't blame you." Suzaku shrugged, "Alright. How are you?"

"Managing, thank you." He replied quietly. "Did you want to find a player now? I'm willing to leave it in your hands, you've known these people longer than I have after all."

Suzaku nodded again, "I know all three of them. You know Arthur, Cirno is..." How on earth did he describe Cirno?

"She feels things strongly, and is not the greatest fighter but has a very kind heart. And America is... loud."

"Who do you suggest?" Vane asked then, masking his mild interest at that name. If only because he recognized it slightly. It had been a long time since anyone had actually called it America, so much so that he'd actually forgotten it was what the A stood for in the NA and SA zone classification system.

It also didn't help that those zones were across the deadly waters of the Atlantic Ocean and that maintaining steady contact with them was growing increasingly difficult.

"We could ask Cirno..." She was someone that Suzaku felt like he needed to protect and being her Weapon he could do that.

"Then Cirno it is." Vane replied, putting a smile on his face. To be perfectly honest, he didn't really care who ended up being their player, so long as it wasn't someone too inquisitive or bright and- from the sounds of it? Everyone on this list fulfilled those conditions.

Suzaku nodded and pointed her out. "We should go and ask."

((We could leave it there since this rounds now over?))

The brief brush of pain is enough to make Apollo suck in a breath of air through his teeth, though it's gone as quickly as it came and he then looks around the hall, a little bewildered.

That was... had she done that?

Through the rest of the assembly, Apollo stands there silently, with an expression that's less than happy. In fact, he looks a little disturbed. Once the assembly's over with, he doesn't linger there, instead being one of the first people out the door.

Naesala follows shortly afterward, not allowing any of the emotions he's currently feeling to show on his face. While he understands this city and the people within it, it's begun to repulse him in a way he's never known before. He's trapped and bound by invisible tethers and there's nothing more he'd like to do in this moment than shed it all along with his human form and fly home.

Something, he knows, is impossible.

"Coin for your thoughts?" His voice is light and slightly mocking, as always, but it's offset by the furrow of his brow as he considers their situation.

"Naesala..." He turns to look back at the laguz, hesitating briefly before nodding to him. No one else had followed them out yet, and Apollo slows his pace to walk alongside him.

"Sure. That's got to be worth more than a penny." If he could even untangle his thoughts well enough to share them. The immediate concern seemed like the easiest place to start. "What happened in there ... everyone felt it. The entire crowd reacted to that. So we're getting punished for not winning these things? And it's not like getting privileges taken away, that was different."

Edited 2012-12-05 13:18 (UTC)

Taking the companionship in stride, Naesala adjusts his position accordingly, shifting his wings so that they won't hit the lawyer as they walk. It's an uneasy alliance, he's aware, but he'll take it for the moment. Especially since there is nobody else on this island that he even remotely trusts.

"It's the spur to the horse's side." He replied calmly, hiding his uneasiness as he always did by a calm mask of indifference. If Apollo was observant, however, he would see the small feathers closest to the laguz's back were raised up, much like a bird would fluff their feathers in aggression. "I take it such methods are uncommon in your world?"

"Yeah. It'd be illegal, in my country and many others. Other than the kidnapping and rampant coercion, the use of pain is... not battery, since it's not physical, but it's definitely putting us under duress. And all for what, gladiator-style battles where we're going to face being in pain anyway?"

He looks over to Naesala then, and... was he a a little ruffled? After having come to think of the laguz as unflappable, there was that not-settled look to him now that made Apollo feel even more uneasy.

"It's not right," he said, quieter now. "But what I don't get is how all of the others can keep letting themselves be forced to fight, over and over again, and not try to do more about it."

At Apollo's response, the crow let out a softly amused sound, almost like a chuckle if it were cut down into one short noise. "What an idealistic land you hail from." He murmured as an afterthought, thinking of all the wars he'd seen in his lifetime and the brutality used by commanders to keep their troops going. The example in the forefront of his mind was obviously Daein. Petrine had been merciless in her methods, enough so that 'don't kill the messenger' was more aptly applied in her case than in any other commander's. If she could motivate her troops the way Day was motivating them... he mentally shuddered at the thought of it.

There wouldn't be a man left standing long enough to utter a coherent sentence.

"I assume it's already been tried previously, with no success." Naesala replied then after a moment, his voice taking on an equally more quiet note. He didn't miss the spirit in the others, their tenacity and- his lips quirked upwards- fortitude. If they were doing nothing now, he guessed it was because previous attempts to escape or rebel had been met with failure.

He knew breaking out was impossible, he'd already tried to see how far his wings could take him with no success. Every time he tried to venture beyond the wall or fly straight up, he'd fall unconscious and wake up on his bed back in the dormitory. After the third attempt, he'd concluded that this magic barrier (or whatever it was) extended all the way around the island.

Fighting, on the other hand, didn't seem too plausible either. Not when the staff members had the ability to incapacitate their attacker with a snap of their fingers. With both those options out, all that was left was what the others were already doing: the towers.

Provided, of course, that that information wasn't just a series of lies fed to starving victims. In his mind, trusting the people who refused to give you any real answers was just about as foolish as one could get.

"Do you have a plan to escape?" He inquired, glancing sideways at the beorc with a raised eyebrow.

"Idealistic ... yeah. That's a good way to describe it." Apollo knew that there were a lot of places that weren't as lucky, particularly on his own world alone, but he couldn't keep telling himself 'it could always be worse' and be satisfied with that. The point was that it didn't have to be that way in the first place.

Looking down, Apollo kicks a small rock off the path in front of them, his shoulders hunched and his spikes drooping. He was aware that he probably looked like a sulking kid, but he felt like one, too. He just hated that he had so little control over his life. That was the one thing he thought he'd put behind him, but in Rakuen it had come back like a bad dream, and now he didn't even have the potential out of running away from it all.

"I have no idea what's been tried or not. I don't have any plans, but ... I was talking to one of the new guys yesterday, and he suggested using our greater numbers to take over the school. I told him it'd be too risky, and too dangerous, but now?... I'm starting to wonder if he had a point," Apollo admitted, his tone going quiet again.

Yomiel had been hovering from the beginning this time, leaning against the wall just next to the door. He'd only been paying absent attention though, waiting for the announcement of the Players - until he'd felt the tang of pain.

Rather than curling up a bit or flinching as most people would've done, he actually seemed to - go limp for a moment. An odd sort of limp, one might almost have said like a dead body if he hadn't still remained upright and recovered moments after, with his eyes narrowed. What - how was this - he hadn't felt pain in ten years, how was he suddenly -

...that had targeted him, the ghost, somehow, instead of his body. Only possible conclusion. And that was very worrying.

He waited patiently until the end of the assembly anyway, not looking entirely happy. And after that - he still had a goal here. There were three Players named, and he'd remember the names - now he just needed to find one of them in this throng of people.

At least one of those players was easy to spot as she just decided to fly over their heads and land in a open spot. She looked pretty mopey still but she was out of her room and not just taking off just yet.

She spots Yomiel and heads over, trying to offer up a smile, 'Hey...Are you okay? Ya look kinda upset?"

She wasn't one to be talking but still, She had things to do and Weapons to find!

Oh, it's - the fairy. That's still odd to accept, but then again, you'd think ghosts are unscientific as well. So...

"I'm fine." His expression slides carefully back into neutrality. He isn't going to say what he was worried about as long as no one else here knows of his little advantages yet.

"...you wouldn't happen to know who those new players are?" A nod towards the screen - he really only knows one or two people's names as of yet, so he has no idea.

"Okay...if you are sure about that.."

She frowns a bit, looking at him curiously before it hits her. She's never actually met him. She saw him on the platform before she took off like usual but still!

"Yeah, I do. America is cool and Arthur is strict but a good fighter and Cirno...Well that's me!"

She crosses her arms over her chest for the moment before nodding, "So who are you?"

"I am." And he'll just leave it at that.

- ah. So she's one of the Players? Well that was convenient. Not that he minds at all, starting to grin slightly. Right, he'll ask her first then, and if she says no - he'll try the one not described as strict next. He doesn't want strict, though he still thinks he could just disobey a Player despite what was said in the handbook.

"Name's Yomiel. Do you by any chance need a Weapon?"

She doesn't push the issue and shrugs it off.

Cirno blinks at the question and smiles a bit, "Of course! All players need a weapon at some point. It kinda gets nasty if you don't and Miss Day makes the penalties worse on you. Not a good feeling at all." She knew better by this point. Almost every time she's been a player she's been punished but she won't say that out loud.

"If you want I can vow you. Do you have any of your upgrades yet?" She's been floating slowly to eye level as she speaks, curiosity taking over.

"Worse penalties, eh? Something like what she just did?" A nod towards the headmistress, quietly digging for information. And, if that was right... hm. He'd been a touch jealous of the Players before, but if he thought about it, they were just as bound. They apparently had to find Weapons and fight, while Weapons were only limited in movement unless they vowed themselves... which only made it stranger that apparently none were fighting back. Not that he was going to mention that with Day still nearby.

"I do." Rather blandly spoken - he doesn't really want but he needs easier access to places. "Then it's a deal?" A short pause on upgrades - if that breaks the deal - but then she'd find out soon anyway. "Not as far as I'm aware."

"Yeah, I've been hit with them and..." She looks away at the next part, not proud at all of what was to be said, "Sorta caused some of them. I want to win so Miss Day won't be so angry with us and won't cause worse pain." She taps the ground with one foot for a moment, trying to think things through.

Cirno then looks up and smiles brightly, "It's a deal! I can get you a few upgrades, I have the raks to spare. I'll head over to the shop after all of this calms down okay?"

Again, his respect lowered a bit for the other residents here. This was a normal thing, and no one fighting back? ...well, he certainly wasn't going to lag about. Might not be able to do much as a Weapon, but as soon as he was a Player or found a Player willing to cooperate, he'd see if this headmistress could stand against an attack. Who knew, they might even kick him out if he just tried that, and that's what he wanted.

An expression of light shock flickered over his face for a moment, though he quickly hid it. "...that would be kind of you."

The fairy just grinned happily and nodded, "Not a problem. We have ta stick together around here to try and figure out how to go home eventually!"

She seems rather cheerful for what all she just said, "Besides, We gotta fight for those who have gone home. They keep taking people we care about as we go along." And there is the reason.

_{^{[[Also whoops just when I sent you a PM for something unrelated]]}}

"Right. ...thanks." He still hadn't expected help like that. Giving away information? That was free and made people owe you a favour. So why not. But this... oh, and he'd owe her a favour for it, wouldn't he. Well, he'd deal with that when it came up.

Wait - "Taking people?"

That smile fades from her face quickly. Her wings droop a little bit and she bites her lip for a moment.

"Yeah..I've been here since Round 2 and a lot of people have disappeared. I think this is the smallest the school has ever been. I know a lot of people that have been here and then just up and vanished one day. You'll know they are gone when they leave a upgrade ring and memory charm on their beds...Like Neph did today."

She looks down at the ground. She looks more like a little girl then a long lived fairy at this point.

"...vanished..." Well, that's interesting. "No idea to where or why? Or who might have taken them?" He juggles the options of either the headmistresses or maybe whatever had taken them to this island in the first place - probably the latter, unless the two are one and the same. He hadn't gotten that impression previously, though. "No sort of evidence beyond..." He hesitates for a moment before repeating, "- that 'upgrade ring' and 'memory charm'?" Upgrade ring's been mentioned, but memory charm - he remembers a dream or something, but...

It takes him a moment to remember that if he wants to keep his cover as a perfectly normal human for the moment, then he has to at least pretend that seeing other people's sadness affects him. He slips a look of concern onto his face and adds quietly, "...hey, you alright?"

"Pretty much. Their weapon shows up in one of the towers though and right now it's all guarded by these shadowy things..Oh yeah! Their name gets taken off their dorm room too."

There is a pause before she shakes her head, "No..I'm not alright, Too many people I made friends with and fought along side of have gone. But I'm not giving up just yet..There are people here still.."

"...so it's someone, or something, related to those towers. And who knows enough to remove names..."

After a moment of hesitation, he gives a small, sympathetic smile - though it looks a bit... off, if you pay close attention to it. He can only pretend so much. "Well, knowing this 'game,' -" or rather the sense of humour someone who'd engineer this would have " - they'll probably show up again if we win or something like that." Encouragement doesn't hurt him, and if they do manage to 'win'... better try for two possible avenues of escape, not just one. Winning might be a second.

Cheshire's fur fluffed up at the pain, and it seemed like for a second that his smile nearly disappeared. It took him a moment to smooth his fur again, skin still twitching. He muttered under his breath, "If you want to chop off heads so much, why don't you chop off your own?"

Well, his Brother's name wasn't up there, and neither was his own. If it was, Kaoru would have told him. He waited around, looking for someone to be his partner.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Conquest Round 17

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I'm so sorry I'm so late with this.

No no it's fine owo

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject