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Characters: Lyra Silvertongue, and anyone who drops by!
Format: Whatever you want.
This log is: open
Location: Red Common Room.
Summary: After finding out she's a player and poking around the campus a bit, Lyra spends some time in her dorm's common room.
Warnings: Probably none.

That woman was unnerving, and had been no help at all as far as answers went, but at least she'd given Lyra everything she asked for. Notebooks, paper, pens, pencils, markers, and a large pile of sugary snacks and candy, along with six cans of cola- she'd realized she couldn't remember what it tasted like, but it was one memory that she could recover through experience. The same with whatever the word was for that color the sky was.

Leaving the candy untouched for a moment, she tacked up her first two pieces of paper to the noticeboard, both written in Lyra's messy hand. The first read "I'm a Player looking for Weapons", and the second read "How much does anyone know about this place?"

She decided that would be enough for now, and started trying to draw a picture of Iorek from out of her memory in the meantime, as she curled up on the most comfortable chair she could find.

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He had just returned from his trip to the infirmary, from a short coma induced by dying in-game.

Admittedly, dying from the game was more than painful and his chest still tightened at the thought that he was shot dead [by Shoujou, of all people, but then a part of him expected it]. Maintenance, they had called it, and they - the students - had to be dead in order for it to be performed. He'd never heard of such a thing back in the original game, never needing the Players to die so gruesomely. First round and he was already dead. How pathetic.

Hence, despite the summons to the lobby, El instead walked back to the dorm, lightheaded but with the intention to at least speak with his council members. At least one of them should have survived through the ordeal.

Opening the door to the common room, he stopped for a moment to stare at the girl who was busy tacking a couple of papers on the bulletin board, frowning as he tried to recall who she was. He's never seen her before - at least, before the maintenance. A new student, maybe? Not that it was strange for Utopia to be accepting transfers. After all, Sora Himoto was one. His eyes flickered to the papers.

"I suppose that's one way to find a Weapon," he remarked lightly, head tilted to one side thoughtfully as he read the writing on one of the papers. A heartbeat, and El, his gaze moving from the bulletin board to the girl, offered a smile.

Lyra looked up from her drawing, straightening up and setting it down. Even upside down, it was fairly obvious what it was- a white bear in armor, in the middle of some kind of fight. Lyra looked up, and gave an answering smile.

"Well, I figured it was worth a try, since none of the people here are from my world- I didn't see you on the train, are you one of the people who was here before?" Lyra asked, looking up at him. If he was, maybe he'd be able to give her some more answers.

A new arrival then. El wondered if there was a pattern to this as students seem to arrive at different intervals.

"That's right. And you must be one of the new students, yes?" He took a seat on one of the available armchairs, reading the second sheet of paper tacked on the board. How much, eh? Not even they, who came from the original Utopia, knew a lot about this new Utopia. The rules of the game had changed, he could see no connection of Iwahijiri whatsoever . . . and now, that event they called maintenance.

He glanced down at the girl's work, an eyebrow lifting at the sketch. Creatively done and it looked completely from a fantasy book. "You draw very well."

Just be glad she didn't get around to coloring it. There'd be a lot of red.

"Oh- Thank you!" Lyra bowed her head in appreciation, "And yes, I am new- I just got here today."

"If you've been here for longer than me... How much has anyone found out about this place? I have some ideas of my own, but I want to find out as much as I can," she told him, nodding in encouragement.

El leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. Such an inquisitive girl, and to think that she's only arrived. Though he could understand her curiosity as well as confusion in this place. He's seen a few who had, well, problems adjusting with the place, constantly questioning the games.

Ideas of her own? He smiled inwardly. He'd like to hear what those would be.

"Well . . . " El paused, feigning another thoughtful look. He supposed that there was nothing wrong giving away what he knew about the original Utopia since it didn't give him or Sora Himoto any advantage anyway. Aside from the fact that she got all her princesses in one go.

"The administration of the school had been tight-lipped for a while now, refusing to answer questions directly. Though if I were to be asked, it's completely different from the school I've known."

"I'm pretty sure schools don't normally ask their students to fight each other," Lyra said, "Although I've never actually been to one."

Lyra leaned forward, and then tossed one of the sweets in the pile to the older boy, her expression serious- it looked rather odd, on such a young face.

"What's happened here, in the time everyone's been brought here? The game... Is it really so harmless?"

The uniform was cute, she had to admit. Except she just couldn't, despite however many attempts she'd made, seem to tie the ribbon around her neck properly. Instead of a bow it became a knot time and time again, frustrating her immensely. She knew how to tie bows, she'd tied so many before, but instead her fingers fumbled.

"What a stupid thing to forget." She said beneath her breath and through her teeth, sliding into the common room of the dormitory. When she saw Lyra, she brightened and wandered towards her.

"You're drawing?" She asked, looking over her shoulder while still winding her fingers through the ribbon. It still refused to become a bow.

"Oh- Yeah, this is Iorek. He's a friend of mine," Lyra said, pointing to the drawing of an armored bear.

"Do you want any sweets?" she asked, pointing to the pile in front of her as she flopped back and started working on drawing Iorek's claws.

Hmm... What should she have him fighting?

"Road... Is something wrong with that ribbon?"

You keep becoming a better and better friend, Lyra. She eyes the pile of sweets with interest, while working out the last knot she'd tied. "I can't tie it right." She said, narrowing her eyes.

"I can't tie a bow. Stupid, isn't it." She mutters, sitting on a chair opposite Lyra. In between them the candy, and she picked through it curiously.

"Want me to try? I think I remember how it goes," Lyra offered, setting her drawing down for a moment.

"Well, I could think of worse memories to lose- at least it's something that's easy to relearn?" Lyra hadn't found out that memories couldn't be regained any way besides paying tokens.

"You ever had cola before?"

"Would you?" She said while sitting forward in her chair.

"And cola? No, I haven't. What is it?"

"All right. Just hold still." Ta-dah! A bow!

"And Cola... I had it when I went to Cittagazze. It's a fizzy drink that comes in cans," Lyra explained as she opened two of said cans and handing one to Road.

"I forgot what it tasted like... But maybe if I drink it again I'll remember without having to pay?"

Sip, sip. Well, no memories were coming back, but maybe she'd be able to remember this time?

"Thank you." She said, looking down at the bow before taking the can. She'd watched Lyra's fingers intently, yet trying to recall the steps a moment later as her fingers curled around the cola can she struggled with the memory. You take the string... you...

Tasting the drink with her nose briefly wrinkling. It was acidic and strange. "I wouldn't mind forgetting how this tasted, to be honest." Tentatively she sipped again, to see if it'd get better.

"Lyra, try to think about how it tastes once a minute passes... tell me you still remember."

"Huh? All right." Lyra took a deep sip of cola before she set the can down and started to draw again, putting down a few lines of Iorek's opponents before she looked up, startled.

"What- But I know I just sipped it- why can't I remember what it tasted like?" Lyra was now starting to get really worried.

Kuchinawa just came from the library, having just returned a book and borrowed another one. They were simple stories, really. It was odd how he forgot them as soon as he returned them. He couldn't even remember the tale that was told after that round.

No matter, he could always find a way to regain his memory. He walked into the common room with his new book at hand and was about to sit on the couch when he saw a message (was it written in crayon?) posted on the bulletin board.

He pulled the message off from the board and read it to himself out loud. "I'm a Player looking for Weapons." He pinned it back in place Naive, but it could work. Maybe he should try it himself--

Nah. He shook his head and smiled.

She thought so.

"Just like I can't remember how you tied my bow." It just wasn't there, though she knew she had watched. She reached for some of the sweets, pooling them in her skirt as she crossed her legs on the seat of the chair. "Hmph."

"Ugh... So they've got some way to block us from getting the memories back any other way," Lyra didn't even bother to disguise how unnerving that was.

"That's... Why are they so desperate to make us play their game?"

"Well, what do you think?" Lyra asked, regarding him solemnly. Her handwriting wasn't that bad, right? Or was he interested in her offer?

"I came from a school like this before. Exactly like this. Another school called Utopia with a game called Exaclan in play. But the rules were very different."

Both in the game and the school, the rules indeed differed. The existence of misogyny, the oppression of the girls, the existence of Iwahijiri . . . they were not in this school. El kept his smile as he watched the expression on the girl's face change to something far -- unexpected for a young girl like her.

He would have commented on it, on how it didn't suit a girl like her, but kept it to himself. Instead, El picked up the candy that was tossed, rolling it over and under his fingers, and moved on to her next set of questions.

"Do you really think a game that forces people to fight each other is harmless?" El smiled at the candy, watching it appear and disappear on his palm. "Exaclan is a virtual reality game. Whatever injuries you acquire during the game - for example, if you were shot - will not appear on your body physically. However the pain that accompanies it will also be felt. It applies both to you, as a Player, and your Weapon. But lately, the administration had been taking a few liberties with the system."

The smile he wore grew for a moment, an amused curve, and his palm closed around the candy tightly. Liberties, he called it, and yet he couldn't find any other term to describe that event days ago.

What did he think? Now, that was cute. People often complained about how they could never figure out what he thought. If they had been more honest like this little girl over here, maybe they'd be able to understand each other a bit more. Maybe.

"I think it's an effective way of letting people know what you need. Did it work?"

"Wait... My partners will feel pain to in the game? If it was just me- well, I'm kind of used to it," And besides, she'd always been one to grit her teeth and deal with it, "But everyone involved can feel pain too?" She'd definitely have to be careful then.

The serious look on Lyra's face only intensified at his last comment.

"What sort of liberties?"

"Well, I just put it up, so I don't know yet. Although I'm more interested in what I can find out from the other note," Lyra told the- well, he was wearing pants, so he was probably male.

"If the weapon you're using gets scratched, then your partner also feels that injury. Think of it as a link between them. So just imagine if your weapon gets destroyed."

He left it there for her to think about. Admittedly, he hasn't seen weapons getting destroyed yet despite it being common in Utopia. Fits of rage, frustration from losing, the blatant imposition of misogyny on the boys . . . weapons being discarded or broken up wasn't that big of a deal to him.

"The last round was particularly interesting, you could say." El looked down at his hands, frowning, his voice sounding grim. "It was announced that everyone was to be killed for maintenance."

"Like daemons then," Lyra murmured, looking horrified.. It was the closest comparison that came to mind, anyway. She'd have to be careful then.

"Kill you all- but they didn't, right? You're still alive," Lyra pointed out, looking stunned by his last statement.

"And if they tried, why haven't the lot of you burned this place to the ground?"

"It's just a game after all, isn't it? Even if your character dies, all it takes is a reset button to revive them. But dying feels the same nevertheless."

The pain of being shot, the cold grasp of death around his heart, even the blood. He died. That much, he was certain of. Maybe it was an in-game death but in the end, he still died, spent much of the last several days in a coma. The administration of this school was playing with their students, watching with amusement.

Just like how it was for him before.

El lifted an eyebrow at the suggestion then laughed quietly. What an amusing girl she was. "I suppose that's a good point. But do you really think something like that would effectively destroy whatever motivations this school have?"

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