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

[veepofchess]

Now this was an interesting choice for the academy to make. And a very useful one too. Lelouch's demeanor was serious, and since he had little other choice, he openly approached the scientist. It would also be the best way of finding out just what this man remembered. "I'm sure that if anyone could find the answer to that question, it would be you, Lloyd."

[earlofpudding]

An interesting choice they might regret. Lloyd was already considering prying the walls open in a search for the projectors. He wondered how long it would take for the faculty to react to something like that. Maybe he could talk someone else into trying instead, just to check the timing, and--

"Hmm?"

It was the familiarity of the voice that drew his attention away from his own thoughts rather than the name. He turned to look. By now, Lelouch was probably used to the staring, though Lloyd didn't stare for too long.

"Well, well, just how many lives do you have?"

It may have freaked the others out, but he found it funny.

[veepofchess]

So he thought he'd died too. "I'll need to make use of your expertise. As you've already seen, we have quite the system set up for us here." No, he was not leaving the Earl room to refuse.

[earlofpudding]

And he would be happy to describe it in great detail if ever asked to! The Earl slipped his hands into his coat pockets and shrugged. "Of course! I was already planning to, but I won't have time to figure it out before I wake up. That's how it usually goes, you know? How unfair..."

Yeah. He still thought this was all one big, silly dream. People didn't just get stuck in a school with those who are either dead or missing. That it could be real was beyond belief for him.

[veepofchess]

"This is no dream," he said simply. "This is our new reality, such as it is. It would seem the reports of my death are grossly inaccurate," he told him.

[earlofpudding]

"It isn't?" That was irritating. There were plenty of ways the Earl could try and explain that away, too, but the thought that this was all just a lucid dream was starting to wear thin. "So is this a kidnapping?" Which made just as little sense.

"Your death looked very convincing to me!" If he had been worried about how this wasn't a dream before, it didn't last long. He was smiling again. Lloyd nodded towards the screen with the Player names. "Does that make the reports of your sister's death just as inaccurate?"

[veepofchess]

He paused before he responded about Euphie. "...Perhaps. Some of the details still remain to be seen."

"At any rate, I have a source for you to look in to," he began. "Tsuki Aoi. She seems to know more intimately than the rest the program at hand."

[earlofpudding]

"Well aren't you prepared. Tsuki Aoi, eh? Is she in here?" Lloyd certainly wasn't going to go talk to her right this instant, but actually having an idea of who she was would be a good starting place.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku heard the whispers as he moved through the hall, he wasn't the only one who had had a nightmare and they were all so similar it was scary. Suzaku shook his head, he was trying not to remember the dream, the deaths, the screams. He spotted Lelouch and moved towards him, he had seen the names. He had been surprised to see CC's name, so she had been brought here also. He wondered if Lelouch had found her yet.

His eyes widened slightly when he saw who Lelouch was talking to. "Lloyd?"

[veepofchess]

Lelouch smirked a bit when Suzaku found the engineer. "Should I leave you two to catch up?" His business was done here. And watching Suzaku and Lloyd was always amusing.

[earlofpudding]

Running into Lelouch may have not thrown him for too much of a loop, but this is a different story. Turning -- once again, reacting to the familiar voice rather than whatever random name he'd just been called -- to see Suzaku actually jarred the engineer.

"Suzaku?" This shouldn't be such a shock. There were all sorts of weird incidents going on here. He turned away to look at something else, if only to give himself a second to reevaluate his reaction. Okay. He had this. Lloyd turned back to face Suzaku and Lelouch, smile back in place.

"Suzaku! It's been awhile! How have you been?"

[swordofzero]

A while? From Suzaku’s count of time they had been here two weeks, but he guessed it was a while to be missing for. It made him wonder, again, what was going on back at home, had Schneizel won the war? Had Lelouch's plan failed? He glanced at Lelouch and then back to Lloyd.

"I have been all right, how about you? Did you arrive today?"

Suzaku had to admit the fact that Lelouch and Lloyd were both here made him more confident about the fact they might get out of here.

[earlofpudding]

Months, actually!

"I've managed to keep my head off the chopping block so far." Thanks most in part to switching sides at the last possible second. That had all panned out rather well! "I did! I wish I knew why. I'm hardly a good choice for something like this."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, not completely sure what Lloyd was talking about; but that was hardly anything new.

"It seems to be random, they have kidnapped people from all over but there are a lot from Britannia and Japan."

He didn't mention the other world thing yet, mainly because he didn't understand it.

[earlofpudding]

While Lloyd can only assume Suzaku knew exactly what he meant. Oh, timelines.

"Are there? Then it can't be that random, if they're primarily picking from those two nations..."

[swordofzero]

"Well..." Suzaku frowned, "Some people aren't from the Japan that we know. Most have never heard of Britannia and theres a few people from countries that I've never heard of."

[earlofpudding]

"Different Japans?" Different Japans, worlds without Britannia, people from strange countries. Lloyd looked intrigued rather than surprised or doubtful. "Alternate dimensions! How interesting!"

[swordofzero]

"Erm... I guess so..." Suzaku should have known that Lloyd would probably understand it and find it fascinating. "You've heard of these other worlds before?" He asked the question cautiously, which was the only way to ask questions of Lloyd because if you wern't careful you recieved a long lecture full of words and ideas you had no idea about.

[earlofpudding]

"Not any specific ones, but there have always been theories about alternate dimensions!" Of course Lloyd would know. Every nerd thinks about stuff like that at some point in time. "Not that those ever had any real value to them, but now look at where we are!"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, "You think this is an alternate dimension then?" It was a little bit worrying that whoever had brought them here could control something that Lloyd believed only to be a theory with no real value to.

[earlofpudding]

"It could be." Lloyd shrugged and took a look around at the other so called 'students'. "But there's no guarantee. Maybe everyone who's told you they're from elsewhere are just more holograms meant to lie to us!" Though down that road was endless amounts of paranoia. Thanks a lot, Lloyd. "Or we could all be dead and this is Hell~!"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked again but he was used to Lloyd so the words didn't shock him too much. "Isn't this a little tame for hell?" He asked. The smell of burning, Sora's sword disapearing, Suzaku shook his head to dispell the images, that was just a dream. Just a dream and it was not like he didn't of his friends dying every night anyways.

[earlofpudding]

"Oh, you've been?" Apparently the abrupt change of reality hadn't shaken the Earl enough to keep him from poking fun at Suzaku. Some people never change. "Alright. Let's go with the 'alternate dimension' assumption for now."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku shrugged and shuffled his feet, ignoring Lloyd's comment. "I guess so," Suzaku had no idea what an alternate dimension was; other than the existance of other worlds. "Did the theories say anything about getting out of alternate dimensions?" He doubted it, if they were just theories.

[earlofpudding]

"Click your heels together three times?" That reference was going to go so far over Suzaku's head. "They didn't. Everyone likes to theorize on hows and whys, but no one ever considers the 'how do I get out' aspects of it."