Meet and Greet [intro #1]

[utopiamods]

As you all crowd onto the platform with your bizarre mix of faces, expressions, clothing and wild theories, you are met by two girls. Both are in uniforms that would match if not for the colour differences - skirt, waistcoat, and a light summer shirt that seems totally inappropriate for the thin layer of snow coating the station platform. Both have a beret with a crest - one's shows a sword, the other's a shield.

At the first lull in the chatter, the taller girl, her uniform red and white, speaks out over the crowd.

"Hey, losers!"

She explains, in short, irritated sentences, that they're prefects, representing the two schools in Rakuen. Santana, Conquest, she says, gesturing to herself with a smile that would be smug if she didn't look so annoyed to be out here. Nanami here is Fortitude, she adds, pointing to the pale girl half-leaning on her other arm. The girl nods.

"We're here to get you sorted and back to campus. If you wanna ask stupid questions, do it on the way. It's freezing out here."

The girl introduced as Nanami interrupts. "When we say your name, please move quickly and quietly to us."

"Yeah, then we can go back to the dorms."

They separate, moving to stand several metres apart, and both pull a list from their waistcoat pocket. Alternating, they start to read out your names.

Comments

[cullscuttlefish]

I'm so sorry. I mean, yes, you knew it was going to happen, but it sucks. It reely sucks.

[Wow. That sure is some close-range smiling. Feferi steps back a little. After all, she and Sollux are just regular friends. Okay, regular friends that...

...

It feels like something else should be there, but she can't come up with anything.]

I don't think this is weird dream shit, unless I woke up from a dream within a dream within a dream on the train...

[Bwooong. Trollception.]

[sciioniic]

[Sollux's smile drops a little, in slight confusion – partially at feeling her move away from him, but mostly because of what she says after that.]

Really? But ... FF, you're dead.

[he doesn't sound quite as sad about this as might be expected – just confused.]

[cullscuttlefish]

[Okay. Moving away is a bad thing, and she takes the step closer, only to need to sit down a moment later.

Dead? She had been perfectly alive the moment she went to take a nap. What in the world had happened?]

...dead? What are you glubbing about, Sollux?

[sciioniic]

You ... [He gets some serious browfurrowing going on over here, trying to think about what happened – but the whole duel business is totally gone. He shakes his head, looking kind of perturbed.] You died, it was ... after I went blind, fuck, I know I know what happened, but I ... don't remember.

[cullscuttlefish]

I'm sorry, this is just kind of a shock! The last thing I remember was going to sleep in the horn pile, then waking up on the train. So I don't think this is a dream thing, as much as I would like it to be one.

...shit. I don't know what happened, and you can't remember. What a pair we are.

[sciioniic]

[Sollux frowns.] I remember that. You went to sleep before AA exploded, but ...

[he sighs, and drags a hand down his face.] This is so dumb, it doesn't make any sense at all.

[cullscuttlefish]

No, it doesn't. Not at all. I mean, as far as I know, I never pissed off anyone to the point they would want to kill me...

[Because she doesn't remember how she dumped Eridan.]

[sciioniic]

[Sollux shakes his head and shrugs; of course he remembers that she broke up with Eridan, but without that memory it doesn't occur to him at all that he'd murder her over it.]

I don't know. [he sighs.] It sounds like the last thing you remember was a couple of hours before the last thing I remember, so ... maybe you just forgot more than me?

[cullscuttlefish]

[She sighs as well, giving his hand a squeeze.]

Maybe. Or maybe being dead makes you forget things easier.

[sciioniic]

[squeezes her hand back, grateful for the gesture of reassurance]

I dunno. Maybe. But I'm glad you're OK.

[cullscuttlefish]

And I'm glad you're okay. Even if it's not - well, you don't hear the voices of the imminently deceased anymore, so I can't call it entirely bad.

[It's hard to dwell on it too long, anyway. It makes her chest hurt and tears come up to her eyes.]

[sciioniic]

Trust me, FF, I'm doing great.

You know, apart from whatever this weird shit going on here is. But if you're here too it can't be too bad.

[he smiles again, if a little sadly, but it's really not a we're-just-friends sort of smile.]

[cullscuttlefish]

I'm glad. And you're right. Even if Gamzee and Vriska are going to the other place, we're all still friends. If we keep each other on the same radar, it's going to be okay.

[That sad smile...it's not a 'we're just friends' kind of smile. Feferi tries to remember, but --]

Ow! What the -- why does it hurt when I try to remember you? I know we talked and all of that but when I try to remember the details, it feels like an ice pick in my head...