Round 1 [new characters and round announcement]

[utopiamods]

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

- I remember now. It's a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her.

The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess.

No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--

The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep.

"Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. This tramline terminates here; all change. Next stop: Academy Main Entrance. All change."

Sunlight streams through the windows of the long carriage, making the seats almost uncomfortably warm beneath its waking passengers. The air is muggy and thick, the atmosphere deeply tired. Your nausea settles, slowly. The last of the dream fades.

"We have arrived at Utopia. Repeat, we have arrived at Utopia Academy. Could all passengers please leave the tram, as it is terminating here."

The tram pulls to a stop outside the academy station, and the students onboard are ushered off and directed to the front lobby of the school. They can't miss it; there are signs up pointing toward the main entrance, reading "New student orientation" in big, bright letters. If anyone should care to move off the path, try exploring somewhere else, a teacher will conveniently appear to shoo them back toward the lobby, assuring them that "all your questions will be answered inside".

The lobby is big and spacious, looking more like a university or perhaps a fancy international hotel than a high school. Stood around are any number of students in the uniform of the school. Some of them even look awake. There are several receptionists at the desk towards the back of the lobby, but for now they seem busy with paperwork.


[ Note: the round announcement will go up in a thread once you've all mingled. ♥ ]

Comments

[queenscheckmate]

"I--" She confirmed it with her roommates... everyone remembered bits and pieces of the death and shadows around them. Although Kallen was the only one who remembered the tiger. She wasn't sure if that part was even real, but when she woke up screaming that morning...

"Is... that how you believe you know me?" Yes, she is avoiding the question because she doesn't want to think of the events that day.

[bitofafiction]

"It is, shall we say, a leading theory."

[lolisandminorities]

"If you are, then you require a weapon."

Turning his eyes on the pink-haired princess, Xingke looked upon the massacre princess with impassive eyes. It was impossible to tell what he was thinking but... hadn't he seen her face somewhere before? Something continuously nagged at the back of his mind that he knew this woman standing before him and yet for the life of him it remained curiously elusive. Perhaps because he had marked it of note but not terribly important, a passing bit of information stored away until necessary.

Regardless, perhaps that was a good sign. Surely, bonding with someone familiar would be better than allying himself with a complete stranger? Even if they appeared to be a Britannian. "Would you allow me to aid you?"

[queenscheckmate]

"I don't remember seeing you." Because it wasn't her. "I was... kind of preoccupied."

[themerryway]

She smiles wide at her brother, coming to see him. "I just need a bunch of Weapons, right? Or do you have something more complex up your sleeve, Lelouch?" Teasing.

[bitofafiction]

"Well then. Perhaps, as I said, I've seen you around in a context that did not involve folie à plusieurs."

[queenscheckmate]

"What are you getting at?"

[earlofpudding]

"Not a clue! But it doesn't really matter. This," Lloyd said, gesturing to the tram, which is far too old fashioned looking to be anywhere that he'd last recalled being at, "Can't be real."

It's as simple as that.

[loyal_liar]

"I think so. It en't my world, that's for sure," Lyra said, looking up at him.

"The place I come from is called Earth," she offered.

[loyal_liar]

"Besides playing along and trying to find out what's going on, I don't know what else anyone can do," Lyra said softly. Some people might think answering a rhetorical question was rather rude. Lyra wasn't one of those people.

[bitofafiction]

"Something bizarre and unpleasant is going on. More bizarre and unpleasant than the entire premise of this institution, I mean to say. I feel as though I tried to shoot you once," he realizes it is true only as he says it, "but I cannot imagine why and it's reasonably likely I hallucinated the entire episode."

[leftthesafetyon]

That... was not the reaction she was hoping for. Well, she'd just have to explain this in the easiest way possible.

"It's a projectile weapon that uses either gunpowder, gas, or other means to launch a small piece of either lead, shrapnel, or another metal through a short metal tube." Which is a fine enough explanation in itself, but Meryl felt the need to keep going. "They can range anywhere from taking up a whole room to being handheld, but the larger ones are usually called cannons."

"In a typical battle, handheld guns usually have a distinct range and power advantage, but they're also fairly loud, and have a nasty kickback- that is, the projectile pushes back on the barrel, and makes the gun launch backwards. The Exaclan system seems to have reeled this back, but at the cost of lethality- it may be best to shoot more then once for good measure."

That was shorter then she'd like it to be, but it was vaguely descriptive enough.

[queenscheckmate]

"It wasn't me," she said quietly. Now it was all coming together. "It wasn't me... you were shooting at."

[bitofafiction]

"Then who, or what, was it?"

[waddles]

"So it seems." Came the muted reply as Rafiel turned his gaze upon Lyra and shook his head, sending that one stray lock of blond hair sliding over his face. Truly, this seemed like such an awful thing to be subjected to and there was, as far as he could see, little he could do to stop it.

Still, humans had impressed him time and time again, doing the impossible and defying all odds. He highly doubted this time would be any different, higher power involved or not.

[waddles]

"Perhaps I will get the chance to ask you about your world, soon." Rafiel replied, wondering at the sudden possibilities presented before him. Different worlds, spanning as far as the imagination could go and each with its own different set of inhabitants and cultures. It sounded... wondrous, really.

"I am Rafiel." He said after a moment, treating Lyra to a small smile. "And you are?"

[queenscheckmate]

"A doppelganger. That's the only way I can explain it." Her hands fidgeted behind her slightly.

[bitofafiction]

"Well," he says philosophically, "it is not as though that is a new concept."

[queenscheckmate]

"The details are fuzzy, but I can remember. That thing... I remember who it killed. I--"

Drip.

Drip.

Don't mind that noise you can't hear. But it's definitely distracting her.

"But it wasn't me. I didn't kill Euphemia."

[bitofafiction]

He shuts his eyes tightly.

"I think," he says in a very soft voice, "I am glad I do not remember that part."

[queenscheckmate]

Kallen shrugged. "I can't remember what it said, but I remembered everyone it murdered."

[bitofafiction]

"I do not clearly recall anyone's death but my own."

[queenscheckmate]

"It's probably karma that I d--"

[bitofafiction]

Sherlock opens his eyes to give her an inquiring look.

[themerryway]

"Ah," she turns to see the tall man, and smiles at him. "Are you sure?" He had offered, approaching her on his own, so surely it would be, but Euphemia didn't want to hook him into something he might change his mind on later.