rakuen | Consequences [round 4| day 4 midday, open]

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Consequences [round 4| day 4 midday, open]

Characters: Romeo, Dahlia, anyone else who feels like it
Format: Prose, action, whatever
This log is: Open
Location: Courtyard
Summary: OOC note first: I have the mods permission to start this thread, all the announcement bit in this thread was written by Elle, who sent it to me to put in this post. Also the "victim" of the penalty was randomly selected.
IC: Actions have consequences, on day 4 of round 4 as a result of not fighting Dahlia goes into negative tokens.
Warnings: Pain, descriptions of pain, probably angst (when is there ever no angst?)

" At exactly noon on the fourth day of the fourth round the screens across the campus flickered. The usual view of ongoing battles and posts asking for battles or weapons was taken over by the face of the woman all the students in the academy knew very well by now. Her ever-present smile was glued to her face as she began to speak.

"Hi! I hope everyone is enjoying the round and fighting hard! Unfortunately one of the players for this round has past the minimum token value, the penalty will now take place." At that she gave a cheery wave and disappeared off the screen. The camera then panned to the courtyard to one student in particular.

The student in question was Romeo and he was in the courtyard eating an apple when a pain began, it was like the pain he had felt when he had tried to vow with Sherlock except it just didn't stop. It was in his head, like someone was stabbing him inside his mind. Within half a minute he had dropped the apple and was clutching his head. The pain allowed no thoughts and tears of pain ran from his eyes. This was different than anything he had ever felt before, and he couldn't run from it or hide from it because it was inside him.

And it just didn't stop. He couldn't help but cry out loud clutching his head as he curled up on the step where he was sat. To Romeo the pain went on for a long time, so long that he thought his brain was going to explode. In reality it was five minutes, five whole minutes and by the end Romeo was sobbing.

When it was over he lay still curled up in a ball, tight and frightened not trusting that the pain had gone away.

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"ROMEO!"

Zoro's deep, loud bellow could likely be heard all across campus. Seeing the boy there, writhing upon the ground and doubled over like some crumpled-up piece of paper, Zoro's usually unflapable nature broke apart instantly like so much fragile glass. Breaking through a small crowd of people, practically shoving them out of the way in the process, he broke into a run and zeroed in on Romeo as quickly as he could.

Upon reaching him, he slid to a halt on his knees, then reached down and nearly scooped him up. He stopped, though, with his fingers a hair's width away from Romeo's frame.

Can't touch him! Zoro mentally shouted to himself; the boy could be really hurt, so doing anything to move or disturb him might make matters worse.

"Nngh! Romeo-kun, just...hold on!" he shouted instead, suddenly flying back up to his feet. Instantly, he began a frenzied search of the area, his head swiveling around quickly in an attempt to spot someone - anyone - who might be able to help. Before he could find anyone, though, the pain seemed to subside, and Zoro grabbed the kid up in his arms.

"What happened!? Are you alright?" he exclaimed.

The pain had been so great that he had not noticed anyone else being near him but as it faded and the world started to settle around him he felt himself being lifted. He flinched but slowly realised that it was Zoro and relaxed a little. He wasn't used to being held but Zoro wasn't hurting him and after all that pain it made him feel a little safer. Like Mister Zoro would protect him if the pain came again, though he knew that wasn't true.

He was still crying, and any attempt to stop his tears seemed to result in more. But he tried anyways because he didn't want to cry in front of mister Zoro, or anyone. But it had hurt and he was still trembling. "I d...don't know..." he said vagualy, answering both questions, "It hurt..."

Edited 2011-04-28 11:45 (UTC)

Theta couldn't run. There was no way she'd make it there first, no way she'd be there in time...really to do anything useful. But here she comes, limping up just as fast as she can manage. So Zoro's gotten to Romeo first. That's a good thing, she knows Romeo looks up to Zoro. She takes a deep breath, glad that Romeo seems to be doing better now.

"Romeo...are you all right now? What happened?" She was worried, and it showed in her voice despite how surprised she was to be worried.

[[OOC - Iunno if you guys wanted this to be private, just skip over this if you want me to butt out, I don't mind.]]

Zoro oh-so briefly glanced at Theta as she arrived; something hanging in the air over what had happened earlier in the day seemed to affect his demeanor, for better or for worse, but with Romeo twitching faintly there in his arms, he quickly realized that more pressing matters were at hand.

"Geez...was it...was it that?" he muses aloud, gesturing almost angrily towards the large courtyard screen, where the cheery young woman had apparently passed down a painful sentence upon someone.

Eyeing a bench nearby, Zoro eases the young man into it cautiously, sitting him up only after he was certain that the position was causing no additional pain.

"Just...take it easy, kid," he said calmly. "Breathe deep."

The world was slowly coming back into focus and Romeo saw Theta there, he managed to nod slowly at her question of whether he was alright and was glad that the movement did not bring any more pain.

Romeo didn't really understand Zoro's question, he glanced at the screen and vagualy remembered the smiling lady telling them that someone had done something bad... something to do with tokens...

He sat up with help and though he was trembling the pain was quickly becoming a memory. He did as mister Zoro told him breathing deeply. He didn't think he had broken any rules! He tried his best not to!

"D...did I do something bad?"

"No," Zoro says, simply and strongly. "No, you didn't do anything bad."

He had certainly asked the question out loud if the boy's sudden subjection to pain had been related to what had been relayed on the screen, but there was really very little doubt that it, the school, the administration in general, that one of these was responsible.

Sitting down next to Romeo, Zoro hunched forward to keep himself at eye-level with the young lad. "Don't even think like that," he added; something in his voice, amazingly, managed to make it sound like a command and a reassurance at the same time. "It was something about this game, not you."

As soon as he was able, Zoro decided that he'd take Romeo back to his dorm and let him rest.

Romeo blinked up at Zoro, hoping that he was right, but even though he tried to do as mister Zoro said and not think like that he still thought he might have accidently broke a rule. Or made the school think he had. Still he nodded, recovered enough to not want to make mister Zoro angry at him. He reached up and started to wipe the tears away from his face.

Theta moved to sit down on the other side of Romeo, frowning deeply as she listened to the quiet conversation between the two of them. She felt out of place, like she wasn't needed there. Still, her first instinct had been to come and check on Romeo, so she didn't particularly want to think that was a bad thing.

She smiled for him, hoping that would reassure him. "You're doing grand, Mr. Romeo. Don't worry about things. It seems Mr. Zoro is going to take care of you, so I'm sure you're in good hands."

Romeo blinked at Miss Buckley and managed to give a shakey smile, he was starting to feel better already it had just been scary. He felt safe now though because mister Zoro was there and Miss Buckley and they were his friends and made him feel safe.

"Thank you sir," his voice was stronger as he spoke to Miss Buckley and then looked up to Zoro with eyes still shining with tears. "I think I can walk now mister Zoro..."

Enki had been in the common room, reading, when the screen flickered to life, and while he wasn't interested at first (had even got up to leave, assuming it was a battle about to be broadcast), his head snapped up when the woman mentioned 'past minimum amount of tokens' and 'penalty'.

What he didn't understand was what that boy... Romeo, wasn't it, was doing on the screen. He was not one of the Players this round, so he shouldn't---

When the child doubled over from pain, Enki almost did the same, but he did drop the book, hands curling into fists.

No... No way did they just...

"That... the penalty..." It's simply a choked whisper, caught between rage and pained compassion, and he got no further, swaying on his feet despite the fact that there is nothing to technically affect him adversely.

The penalty for dropping beneath the 'minimum' (probably zero) amount of tokens is pain, and quite a lot of it, apparently, levied upon... a random Weapon? Or just a random 'student' in general?

Either way, it made something twist upon itself inside the kirin.

How could they do that?

After Suzaku's battle with Zoro which he had lost he had went off on his own a while until he had calmed down and was no longer angry. He was not angry at Zoro, he had been a good oponent but angry at himself. That was the third battle he had lost this week! So now that he had calmed down a little he had decided to go and find Sora, she was always up for extra training.

He had just walked into the common room of Red Dorm when the announcement came onto the screans. Suzaku watched in horror as the child, a child he had been talking to not more than an hour ago, crumpled in pain. Anger filed him, anger at the system and how things like this were taken as normal. It seemed that no matter what world you were in those in charge would bring about injustice and cruelty.

He didn't know the boy, apart from as one of Sora's many friends, and he saw Zoro rush up to him on the screens before they went back to showing their normal things. Suzaku was shaking with rage and he saw over the other side of the room Enki, looking like he was going to be sick.

Suzaku couldn't do anything about the kid, and others were better for that situation but he could try and help Enki, as he knew that violence of any kind made the Kirin ill.

"Enki..."

Enki whirled around from where he'd been staring at the screen, even as it changed back to 'normal'. He wasn't any good at 'comforting', so he was relieved that Romeo already had two people there to care for him. All he had to do was try to get his own reactions under control.

"A child, Suzaku! It's... always the children---" Enki hissed and roughly rubbed a hand over his face, tired beyond belief to have that conclusion proven yet again. Always the children who suffered first.

"And why so *long! It's obvious that was painful enough, why did it... why have it dragged out?" Enki swallowed, shook his head, and tried to take a breath deep enough to calm down. They weren't actual questions, only theoretical ones.

Not because Suzaku necessarily wouldn't have an answer for them, but because Enki, with his history, was cynical enough to already know the answers, even though he hoped for better.

And the answer?

Probably; 'just because'.

Suzaku stayed silent as Enki spoke, he had expected the Kirin to be angry and upset so he let him talk, not interupting. Not that he had much to say, though what he had saw on the screens had been upsetting, and had made him angry he was not surprised. They whoever They were, were secret, never been seen in real life, they had them here trapped. It was not surprising that they could do anything and would do anything to insure their complience.

Of course to Suzaku this was nothing new, Britannia believed that those who were not strong should be purged and here like there the only way for anything to change was to play along, understand their tormentors, make them think that they were all on the same side and then change things from the iinside.

Exept that was stupid, and didn't work and sometimes you just had to switch and fight against them, because sometimes the ends were more important than the means.

No... that wasn't, the beginnings of a fuzzy headache started and Suzaku rubbed his head. That wasn't... he didn't believe...

"I know," was what he managed to say as he stood awkwardly in front of Enki, "Innocents... they are always the first to be hurt... it's not right!"

Except sometimes it is necessary... Wait where did that thought come from? Suzaku shook his head feeling confused and wretched not sure how to comfort Enki, or if he should be comforted at all. Because he was right, and there was no answer.

Why did people hurt others? Why had they been kidnapped? Why was a young child punished with rediculous amounts of pain for no apparant crime?

Sadly it was just because. Just because their tomentors could, just because thats the way the world worked.

Enki crossed his arms over his chest, but it wasn't so much a defensive action as an aborted (and denied) hug. With a scowl at the floor, Enki shook his head.

"It's... Not as if it matters to everybody, anyway... Some will not care," Enki closed his eyes, and his voice made it clear he simply didn't understand this, and hoped it was something that could be changed, somehow.

Suzaku nodded, he was not going to argue because he knew it to be truth. Some would not care, some would even think it right. "But that's why those of us who do care have to resist those that do this, who think this is right, and show those who don't care why they should." He stood awkwardly, not sure how to comfort Enki.

It seemed to be the right thing to say, at least in some fashion. The kirin straightened and nodded at Suzaku, a faint smile briefly flittering over his face.

"Thanks Suzaku," Enki said with grin and then shook his head. "I... think it's just been so long... since I've had to deal with stuff like this so... close? En's been fine for hundred of years now, an' it's only in the kingdoms where the king falters things like this happen."

Suzaku nodded, understanding in theory even if he didn't quite understand Enki's world fully. A world where the king, and his morality, was linked to the actual well being of the country.

"Unfortunatly here, they can do whatever they like and we have to be complient, because there is always the possibility of something worse." Something like their dream, but for real. Suzaku was under the impression that that had been a warning, a warning of what they could do if pushed. It was not a pleasent thought, but witnessing what he had just witnessed he was prepared to think the worst of their 'hoasts'.

Enki looked away for a moment, expression contemplative.

"I don't think... our system's perfect, but maybe," a pause to grimace, the thoughtful look erased by a childish look of displeasure. "Even if kings an' lords are no good for the people, maybe it's a good enough way of doing things. At least the ruler can't rampage unchecked." Enki's voice had started out uncharaceristically soft, but at the end, there was conviction there.

Not that he'd ever truly doubted the effectiveness of his world's system of rulership, and while he still held reservations... There were, at least, checks and balances that would guarantee some sort of control, even if the people the king ruled couldn't or didn't, do anything themselves.

Suzaku nodded, he still didn't fully understand the system that governed Enki's world and he definitly didn't understand why exactly he hated kings so much and yet was happy to serve Shoryu, because there was real affection there and when he spoke of Shoryu seperate to Shoryu being the king it seemed like they were good friends...

Suzaku didn't understand but he understood that Enki was still upset, and that his world was better at keeping rulers in their place. "Which is why we need to find out who these people are, so we are in a better position to fight against things like that," Suzaku waved towards the screan with a frown.

But even when they got to know who they were (if that would tell them anything), how would you effectively fight a group that seemingly could level punishment at will, without any apparent possibility for them to get around that? But Enki was feeling annoyed at tired of bringing up the negativity.

"Yeah, I suppose," Enki sighed and ran a hand through his mane and then straightened and smiled lop-sidedly at Suzaku. "At least the kid got someone to look after him." That was good, if not perfect.

Suzaku nodded, he had been surprised actually by the swordsman's apparant genuine worry for the kid. Having fought him just that morning and seeing his attitude towards Theta when she did not want to be his weapon... he was surprised by his behaviour.

It was good though, that the kid hadn't ended up alone after all that pain. It was worrying, the amount of kids that had been kidnapped and brought here. Suzaku stayed quiet, not really having much else to say. He watched Enki carefully to check that he was alright.

To be perfectly honest, Enki wasn't all right, but in the situation, about as good as he would get, especially with that display of wanton punishment earlier. Such things simply didn't mesh well with the kirin's nature.

Enki tilted his head, gaze turned somewhere to the side of the door leading out of the Dorm, not so much looking at that bit of wall as beyond it. Something faintly bright...

"Let's get out of here," Enki said and swept past Suzaku, not sure if he just wanted to move, or follow that brightness to somewhere that promised reassurance.

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Consequences [round 4| day 4 midday, open]

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