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

[aureus_veritas]

Ed's eyes narrow. Things obviously just went from bad to worse. He had plenty of issues with all the information he'd just been given, though he doubted any amount of protesting would faze these people. With an indignant snort, Ed folds his arms over his chest.

"Wonder what happens if we refuse to do jack shit," he mutters, mostly to himself.

[summerstars]

Grenn had only been on her way to look for Yuki, and not about to reply to the mutter, but it wouldn't really be right to let others repeat the mistakes they had done...

"Uh... I wouldn't do that. You... er, after three days of no battling, you, um, start to lose tokens. And if you want your memories back..." Grenn paused to shrug and grimaced. "That's if you're a Player, of course..." The guy was one of the new ones, so Grenn had no idea if his name was up there on the list or not.

[aureus_veritas]

That had Ed looking over to the speaker, cocking an eyebrow. That figures. Of course things were just going to get worse from this point out. Why had Ed thought any differently?

He runs his hand through his hair with an irritated groan. "Great. But what about going home? Does battling have anything to do with that?"

[summerstars]

She turned the wheelchair to face him fully, and briefly gave him a grimace.

"We don't know. We have to assume it will... But this... uhm, game of theirs may just be the beginning..." Grenn trailed off unhappily and shrugged, remembering the muddled 'dream'. "But if we don't assume that playing their game will get us home... And we get punished if we don't, and we can't leave, what to do then?"

There was nothing to do. Unless there was something else, but she wasn't about to share that with the first person she met, and especially not here in the lobby.

[aureus_veritas]

Ed stays quiet for a moment, frowning while his mind works furiously to figure something out. There has to be another option. Preferably one that didn't end in death.

"The punishment is just losing tokens? What happens if we lose all of them?"

[summerstars]

Grenn looked up at the blond and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't thinking... Probably was. She shook her head.

"Technically, nothing... But you'll continue losing them, and if you want the memories they took away, it's gonna be hard with tokens in the minus," Grenn said with a grimace. "And... I don't know. They might decide to do something else, if taking tokens isn't... uh, deterrence enough."

She really hoped he wouldn't get the idea of doing something like not participating. She shook her head.
"Trust me... Last round two of the children attempted to play an ordinary board game after having drawn the weapons to get around the fighting part..." Grenn looked up again and gave him a brief, direct stare. "There was tokens docked, and the penalty warning. On children."

[aureus_veritas]

A single eyebrow arches upward. While Ed can understand that it seemed especially harsh to issue punishments on children, most of the reasoning behind that became lost on him after Izumi Curtis had become his master. Then again, he and Al weren't like most other kids and had somehow endured that beating. Most kids were more fragile, weren't they?

"But there's still nothing guaranteeing that. And chances are that whatever 'power' is locking our memories away or whatever will become ineffective once we find a way out of here, right? Our focus should be on all of us leaving, not on surviving."

Though even as he's saying that there's a strange, nagging feeling in the back of his head. Like there's something he's supposed to do here as well. But what...?

[summerstars]

"... And, um, leave before our memories are back? We have no guarantee that they'll be returned when we leave..." Grenn shook her head and frowned. "And personally, I know I'm missing at least three things I want back before I think of trying to leave and possibly... sacrifice the other taken memories..."

Grenn shrugged. He could, of course, attempt to do what he thought best. She was, after all, contemplating doing something that could possibly bring down severe punishment on her head. She would still do it.

[aureus_veritas]

"We don't have any guarantees of anything, period," Ed mutters with a scowl. "Like I said, there's still a chance our memories would be returned if we find a way back to our respective homes."

He looks over at the girl with a half-shrug. "I'd rather spend my time doing that then playing their little puppet game."

[chainedbyred]

"You get your ass kicked," Russel replied, as he walked up behind Ed. He was genuinely glad to see him, but he was showing it in his own way. "Fights aren't so bad."

[aureus_veritas]

Without looking over, Ed just snorted and rolled his eyes in response. "Of course they're not."

He'd just spent the last 12 hours of his life at home fighting non-stop. It wasn't bad, it was just exhausting. And it sounded like a fight here was pointless. Participating in this game was just a rouse to keep them here longer.

"Great," he muttered, annoyed. "Just great..."

[chainedbyred]

...Something didn't seem right here. But he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "How about one round later? For old time's sake?" He actually gave him a bit of a smile, unable to keep a slight note of admiration out of it.

[greennotgold]

Edward really was here; it wasn't just some error with the screen.

And Fletcher's brother was talking to him. This could be bad.

Fletcher quickly made his way over to where the two of them were standing and clung to his brother's sleeve. He caught that last statement -- so it was, indeed, his brother who'd been picked as a Player and not some random new arrival who just coincidentally happened to have the last name Tringham.

[aureus_veritas]

"'Old time's sake'?"

Only then did Ed actually turn to look at who he was talking to, raising an eyebrow. He didn't recognize the guy at all, not even vaguely. Judging by his stature and the way he held himself, he was too young to be in any way associated with the military; the guy couldn't be much older than himself, and if someone else his age had enlisted he would've heard about it somehow.

His eyes briefly glanced toward the younger boy when he appeared, then turned back on the elder. Edward was sure he didn't recognize them. Though he supposed it was possible that they'd had a brief encounter before and the memory had just filed itself away somewhere inaccessible.

"...Do I know you?"

[chainedbyred]

The fond look Ed had been getting broke. Then it changed. Into something resembling a scowl. "...Sorry, you looked like someone I thought I knew." He turned to leave, pushing his hands into his pockets.

[greennotgold]

"W-wait," Fletcher stammered out, grabbing onto Russel's sleeve again; his hand had gotten dislodged from its grip when Russel moved his arm. "You're Edward, aren't you? Edward Elric? You're a-alive?"

[aureus_veritas]

Both of Ed's eyebrows arched up at that reaction. What the hell was that?

He looked down at the younger boy when he spoke, brow furrowing. Alive? What was THAT supposed to mean?! "Yeah, but... How'd you know that? Have we met before?"

[idkmybffxiao]

For someone so tiny, one might never have suspected that Mei had the lung capacity to drown out the entire room of talking people. They're about to know better in three, two, one, and...

"EDWAAAAARD-SAMAAAAAAAAA!!!!"

If only the room could burst into a million flowers and sparkles to go right along with that delighted shriek, but it couldn't, so his name is the only warning he has before there is a tiny pink girl barreling through the crowd. The very moment she got close enough, she threw herself at him, fully intending to flying tackle him with a great, big HUG.

[aureus_veritas]

There's no mistaking that voice.

Nor is there any mistaking the way she addressed him.

One would think Ed would be more ready for a Mei attack... but he's not. He'd been under the impression that she'd developed a crush on Al. Which was... fine, he supposed. Though it did mean that he'd more or less dropped his guard around her. Which means that right at this very moment, Ed's been knocked off his feet with a yelp of shock and alarm and is now being smothered on the floor.

Which is also not good for all the cuts and bruises he's sustained from the Father fight. So, wincing all the while, Ed attempts to squirm free and pry Mei off of him.

"MEI, WHA- OW- WOULD YO- GAH! - GET OFF!! STUPID BEAN GIRL
GETOFFGETOFFGETOFF!!!"

[idkmybffxiao]

Good luck with that. Mei is latched on like a vice.

"I can't believe it you're really HERE and alive and it was so scary and--" The girl ignored the yelling and squirming at first, but the damage to his coat eventually dawned on her. She sat up, though still on him, and blinked. "Aaah! You're hurt!"

Wait.

Waitwait. More importantly, what did he just call her?

"HEY! DON'T CALL ME A STUPID BEAN GIRL!"

[aureus_veritas]

Ed levels her with a look. Yes, he's injured. Plenty of damage to the torso area (the extent of which he had yet to actually check out), cuts all over his face and bruises everywhere else. His clothes were shredded in places and while he'd wiped most of the blood of his face, his hair was still caked with it. As always, Mei is so damn observant.

"I'LL CALL YOU WHATEVER I DAMN WELL WANT, NOW GET OFF OF ME!!!"

He goes back to shoving at her, trying to pry those grabby hands off.

[idkmybffxiao]

The look is more than enough to get her to scurry off of him. The yelling? Insult to injury there. This couldn't possibly be the boy she loved. He was loud and angry and when did he get so short, now that she's thinking about it? It didn't matter. She'll worry about that later. Even without her alkahestry, she might still be able to do something.

"Quit yelling!"

While he may have glared Mei off of him, it doesn't stop her from trying to pry his shirt up and get a look at whatever injuries she couldn't easily spot. "Now hold still and let me see!" Huff. "It can't be that bad if you're still screaming your head off at me..."

[aureus_veritas]

Whoa. Whoa whoa, is she serious?!

"HEY!" Ed swats at her, grabbing for her wrists to keep them away from the edge of his shirt and scrambling into an position that'll make it easier to either fend her off or to get the hell away from her. "You don't need to see anything, I'm FINE!! What the hell's gotten into you?!"

[idkmybffxiao]

"...but what if you need to go to the infirmary?"

Because he really did look to be in bad shape now that she wasn't hugging him to death. Mei tried to twist her wrists out of his grip, planning to keep them to herself after that. "What are you talking about? I can't be happy to see you?!"

[aureus_veritas]

Ed makes a face, waving the question off. "It's a bunch of cuts and bruises, it's nothing that time won't fix."

Then he lets go, scooting away from her a bit just in case she decides to get clingy out of the blue. "And no, you can't! You're NEVER happy to see me!! And yet all of a sudden you're acting--" He gestures wildly at her. "-like this at me!"