Meet and Greet [Intro #2]

[utopiamods]

You are brought to your campus and shown to your dorm rooms before you are given permission to wander the campus and the town. Meaning Fortitude students can mingle with Conquest students, they can go visit the shop (shop post will be up later today), or speak to the headmistresses and mayor. Each student now has the Exaclan manuals, a uniform, a school bag with either a shield or a sword on it, and the glove used to pull weapons.

But make sure to come to the battle area later to see the exhibition match! 

Take advantage of the free day, the freedom won't last long. Sooner rather than the later the round will start, Players will be named, Weapons will lose their privileges, and the battles will begin. So you might as well go out and make friend or start rivalries, anything to help you along later in the round.

Comments

[countryofassholes]

Any displeasure Lelouch might have had at her holding him back went completely over her head as she smiled at him unabashedly.

"Do I know you?" She asked quickly, excitement in her voice as she looked him over. Though that feeling of familiarity persisted, she couldn't quite put her finger on it as she looked over the lanky youth.

[veepofchess]

So she didn't seem to know Zero's identity. That was good. "No, I don't believe so. Have we met?"

[countryofassholes]

"Hmm... no, I don't think so. But I've definitely seen your face somewhere before..." She trailed off, deep in thought as she narrowed her eyes and tried to concentrate.

It had to have been recent, within the last 20 years and often enough for the familiarity to ring so strongly in the back of her mind. At the palace? No, he didn't look to be a knight or some such. And his face would have changed over the years if that had been the case, gotten older and...

Older?

"Ah!" She suddenly yelped, sticking a finger at Lelouch's face, nearly touching his nose. "Clovis's painting!"

[veepofchess]

Damn you, Clovis. It was difficult to remain anonymous when you had a sibling that was fond of drawing everyone around him. All someone had to do was see that painting and see him at school and the jig was up. But he continued to pretend to be bewildered. "I'm sorry?"

[countryofassholes]

But wait... wasn't Lelouch dead? True, Nunnally had been discovered alive, but as far as anyone else was concerned her brother was...

"What's your name?"

[veepofchess]

"Lelouch," he replied. He made a point of leaving off his surname, either his false or real one. Neither of them particularly fit who he was.

[countryofassholes]

She knew it.

With a laugh, she threw her arm around Lelouch's shoulders and drew him in close, grinning all the while. "Marianne's son, right? So you really were alive all this time!"

[veepofchess]

She was-- Dammit! But he let her jostle him without complaint, really. "Who-who are you? How did you know?"

[countryofassholes]

Still squeezing him tight without any chance of letting him go, when he asked her that, she simply gave him another enigmatic smile. "I'm the Britannian Empire, so of course I'd know." And then, she proceeded to poking his cheek. "But wow, time really does change someone... you've grown up so big!"

[veepofchess]

He tried to push her off of him. "It's been over 8 years- Let me go!" He acted like her identity took a moment to sink in. "You're who?

[countryofassholes]

"Britannia." She repeated, not quite ready to budge but at least no longer squeezing the life out of him. Instead, she took that moment to once again get a really good look at him. He was taller now, that was for sure, but his face seemed to be the same, if a little more mature. Still young, still energetic and always thinking. Unbeknownst to her, her eyes softened a little as she chuckled again and gave his hair a ruffle.

[veepofchess]

Was she actually genuine? Had she somehow actually missed him? What madness was this? "How is... What are you talking about? How could you be Britannia?" This was a convenient way of getting her response without looking suspicious. He supposed she was doing him a favor.

[countryofassholes]

"I just am? I'm like any of the other nations." The response was understandably vague, but it was like asking a 10 year old why they existed. Britannia wasn't old enough or experienced enough to understand why she had conscious thought. That her existence was derived from the voices of her people rather than some contrived manifestation of the land.

[veepofchess]

He let it lie there. "Would you let me go?" He tried to shove himself away again.

[countryofassholes]

At the shove, she laughed and held him closer purposefully before finally letting him go. She remained uncomfortably close though, mostly out of habit more than anything else.

"What have you been doing up until now?"

[veepofchess]

"Hiding in the Tokyo Settlement," he answered, smoothing his hair back down and adjusting his uniform back into the position it belonged in. "With Nunnally. And we were quite happy and peaceful there until that train pulled us in here."

[countryofassholes]

There it was again. That hint of differences in timeline that simply didn't add up. Still, having been over that with at least 4 different people now, she simply wasn't in the mood to try again. So, instead, she let it slide without question.

"Nunnally is here too?" Now there was a cause for concern. "Where is she?"

[veepofchess]

"I'm sorry, I meant 'us' as in you and I. No, I haven't seen Nunnally." Which was the genuine truth. But he left out anything else he may know about the reasons. "I'm not sure if it's better for her to have been left behind or for her to come here. Zero was causing quite a bit of trouble in Area 11 last I knew."

[countryofassholes]

"Oh, well don't worry. I saw Zero earlier today!" She remarked cheerfully enough, like she hadn't just announced that a terrorist and known killer was on the loose in the school. "Which means you should probably stay close to me or the Knight of Seven. The Knight of Three looks like he's on his side so..." She shrugged. "I don't think he'd know about you, but he's already killed two members of the royal family so it's probably better not to take chances."

[veepofchess]

Lelouch blinked. Who was the Knight of Seven? He couldn't place a name or a face to that title. It was probably one of the Rounds too busy attempting to subjugate parts of the EU. "I hope I haven't given him any reason to kill me. I'm in exile. I'm only a student now." He shrugged, looking rather casually naive. Uncharacteristically so. "But it really is upsetting to think of what happened to Big Brother Clovis and Euphemia..."

[countryofassholes]

At Lelouch's feigned sadness for his siblings, Britannia couldn't help but reach out again to pat his head and smooth down some of the hair she had messed up. As far as affectionate touches went for her, that one was uncharacteristically gentle. If questioned on it, she'd blame it on the emotional stress of finding one of her princes alive again. That much should be allowed, right?

"Either way, he's not getting you." And at that statement, something icy took hold in her gaze again as she smiled lightly.

[veepofchess]

Well. It's only feigned for one of them. "Are you sure being near me will keep him away? Won't he go straight for you?" The last thing he wanted was Britannia dogging his steps. He wasn't really sure what to make of her. How much of her behavior was a feint and what was genuine. And what of Charles' attitudes had taken hold in her.

[countryofassholes]

"Hmm... maybe, but I don't think he'll be able to hurt me." Something flickered over her face at that moment, a sparse second of indecision. For a moment she wondered at telling Lelouch that she couldn't be killed the way normal humans could. That the only thing that could hurt her was injury to her people and land.

But she didn't, she remember all to well what had happened the last time she had freely declared her lesser immortal state. So, instead, she remained vague. "And it would be better if I didn't leave you alone too much. Call it a hunch~"

Her reasoning? Flawed, definitely, but in her mind she knew it would be better to have a bigger target next to a smaller one. Besides, Zero couldn't possibly know about Lelouch being alive and in this city.

Right?

[veepofchess]

No, Zero has no clue where Lelouch might be. None whatsoever.

That was the last thing he wanted. He did not want this woman to feel like she was charged with protecting him. He didn't want her following him around. "What makes you so sure about that? I mean, the whole Britannian military has been after him for a couple of years now. How could you stop him? If I don't stick out too much, I'll probably just slip through the cracks."

[countryofassholes]

Right. That sort of thing would be impossible.

Continuing her frustrating vagueness, Brtannia simply smiled at Lelouch's questions and wound her arm around his shoulders again, this time in a more friendly sort of manner than spine-crushing affection.

"So what should I call you? Your full name is kind of a giveaway."

Yes, the solution was to ignore his inquiries.