and then they fell. [rakuen revolution opening post]

[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.

Ah, 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. Mechanical, monotonous.

"Next stop: Rakuen City. This train terminates here. The next stop is Rakuen. All change." The train rocks steadily as it winds its way through white drifts of now. Sunlight streams through the window, heating the air and making the seats almost uncomfortably warm. A puff of steam from the train winds its way lazily past the windows when the wind is right.

It's strangely difficult to shake off the sleep; the rhythm of the train seems to lull you back into slumber and the air is warm and heavy, making it hard to keep hold of a thought. Finally, though, the nausea settles, the last of the dream fades and you can take in your surroundings. And, perhaps more importantly, those around you in a similar state.

"We have arrived at Rakuen City. All passengers must leave the train. This train is terminating here. This is Rakuen."

Comments

This seemed to be a good idea at the time okok

[knightime]

[Oh hey. Well, Dave was kind of awake by the time he got jostled. He glances over at the other, expression unreadable and eyes obscured by his glasses.

He has half the mind to shove the other back just because, but doesn't. Instead, he'll just look at you and maybe shift a bit.]

[sciioniic]

[Sollux doesn't seem super comfortable with this development; he moves to pull his hand away, but then thinks better of it. Sighh.]

Right. [He wipes some blood off his gummy mouth with his free hand.] Yeah, okay. I'm Sollux.

[hugling]

[okay maybe holding hands is not... the best idea. Teddy lets go, but he leaves his hand right next to Sollux's on the seat, in case he changes his mind.]

Cool. Where are you from?

[sciioniic]

[withdraws his hand kind of gratefully]

[shrugs]

Alternia. Which you'd probably know if you'd ever been invaded by us, so I'm guessing you're from a totally different plane of reality, or something.

[hugling]

[he just wants to help]

Yeah, I guess so. I'm from earth. Mostly. I mean, I grew up there.

[sciioniic]

[huh.]

That's the humans' planet, right?

[hugling]

[kind of shrugs.]

Well, people who aren't human live there too. But mostly it's humans, yeah.

[sciioniic]

Oh, really? I wasn't really paying much attention when we, uh... [he shrugs again.] Are you a human?

[hugling]

Nah, I'm an alien. Or, two different aliens. I was raised as a human, though. It's a little complicated. What do you call yourselves on Alternia?

[sciioniic]

I'm a troll, and I'm pretty sure humans are aliens too, but OK, whatever.

– Wait, two different aliens? What does that even mean?

[hugling]

[Teddy takes a deep breath. He wouldn't normally get into this much detail, but the kid with the gray skin seems less likely to be weirded out by his ridiculously confusing life story.]

Not on Earth they're not. But, uh. My birth mother was a Skrull, and my father was Kree, and then my mother had one of her attendants smuggle me away after I... hatched, and I grew up on Earth.

By the way, where I come from trolls usually live under bridges. Or on the internet.

[sciioniic]

[blinks]

[pointlessly]

OK, I have no idea what a father is. Is that some kind of alien thing? Like your other genetic donor or something?

[drawsdeath]

She peers at it for a few moments, squinting at it before it makes sense. "Oh, that's a real shame," she says, with all the sympathy of someone who didn't understand and therefore pitied him.

"I bet life's pretty difficult for you, then... I've never met somebody who was mute before."

[drawsdeath]

You were fighting a werewolf?

[Yeah right...]

[hugling]

[can you even blink without eyeballs]

Uh, yeah. Do you guys not have parents?

[sciioniic]

[not very well.]

Uhh, yeah, but not like ... wait, are parents, like, a ... reproduction thing, for your species?

[his facial expression suggests that he finds this idea weird and kind of repellent.]

[hugling]

Uh, well, mostly? I mean they're both pretty... war-based cultures, really big on the conquering, so maybe not the most, you know, the nicest parents, generally. And humans are really big on family, it's a huge deal.

[sciioniic]

... Yeah, trolls were pretty big on conquering too. But we used to just be raised by lusii. Like, these big monsters that you have to take care of once you start getting more competent at basic household tasks than they are. Eheheh. Not that that takes all that long.

[hugling]

Huh. That's... pretty different. Some humans adopt babies and raise them instead of their biological parents. And not everyone has two parents, lots of people on Earth have one or zero or like, four or five, because they get divorced and stuff. But everyone has to have two... genetic donors, I guess. Unless you're a clone.

[knightime]

Dave doesn't want your pity. He isn't any weaker or any less just because he can't talk. He continues to write, although he takes a little more time to write so it's eligible.

'it isnt that bad
i mean conversation is a bitch obviously but its not like i have any fucking problems with it
life is gonna be difficult anyways
if people really want to get to know me theyll put the effort in so if they dont
it means one less dumb fuck to deal with'

[drawsdeath]

That gets a laugh, and Becca nods her head understandingly. "Yeah, okay, I see that. My name's Becca, what's yours?" The pity was ebbing away since he obviously didn't need it. It couldn't completely go away like flipping a switch, but it was lessening.

[knightime]

'Dave Fucking Strider'

If she asks whether the Fucking is actually part of his name, he will probably say yes. Whether he's telling the truth or not? Well, that's something you'll have to guess. It's probably not actually Fucking, but there are some people he's tricked to believing it was.

[drawsdeath]

"Aren't you a little young to have that for a middle name?" she asked with a laugh. She wouldn't believe it was actually part of his name, but she might humour him and pretend for a while.

[knightime]

He huffs a bit. Well, he would, but no sounds really come out.

'bro had the best taste in names
wouldnt have given me a name unless he thought i was fucking worth it
spoiler
i am very fucking worth it
also thirteen isnt that young
and ive been through enough shit to figure i deserve it'

Because his session was full of bullshit anyways.

[subjugated]

While 11 couldn't answer Suzaku's question at all - none of this made any sense, if he didn't know better he would have said that either all of them were under a unusual kind of fox charm or that someone had released a kind of drug into the air. Or that ...well, mainly Gino was lying on purpose. But on which purpose?

He only looked at the blond and the masked man next to him in passing, and then turned so he could see both Britannia and Suzaku. He would not answer the empire's remark about uneven fights. Sure, it was tempting, but absolutely not worth it. And even answering indirectly... sometimes, the other nation was surprisingly good at understanding what he had almost not said.

"It might be easier if we answered the question of why we are on this train and where we are going first." It was a quick question - not so much out of interest, more to distract. The first solid thing that came to mind.