Round One start: Conquest School

[kingofpoisons]

When characters wake up the next morning there will be an announcement on all the screens. "Please report to the lobby at 12 noon for important information about this round." Anyone who is not in the lobby by twelve noon will most likely be found by the prefects and taken there by force.

When the characters turn up in Conquest Lobby they will see the woman they saw battling yesterday, and perhaps talked to before that, on the small raised podium. she is eating a piece of bread. Santana is next to her.

"I hope you slept well," she says when she finishes her bite. "Today the first battle round of your time in Rakuen begins, please listen carefully because I am not going to repeat myself.

I have here the list of students chosen to be Players for this round. Listen carefully, these are the people who have rights this week. The rest of you have no rights, the rest of you can be granted rights by these people if you agree to be their weapon.

Now I am going to assume that none of you bothered to read the manual so apologies if you actually did. There are rules to be followed and they are on page nine, failure to follow them will result in consequences and I'm sure no one likes consequences." She pauses to eat some more.

"The most important rule is that if you are a Player battling is not optional. You will not like the consequences of ignoring that rule at all," yes you should be very afraid of the smile that crosses her face.

"To own a Weapon you must vow to them. Vowing to own and protect them, when the Weapon has given their consent a mark appears on their hand." Here she held her own hand up to show the sword that marked her own hand.

"Players may give their Weapons permission to access the school facilities, and to eat from the full cafeteria menu among other things. If you haven't got a Player then you are a Discard, make sure you know all the rules and do exactly what Santana tells you to."

She paused to eat more bread, really these lot looked like they wouldn't even understand what she was saying. She paused to see if Santana wanted to add anything there. Santana for her part just scoffed and sarcastically wished everyone good luck.

"Today is Sunday, every round starts on a Sunday, Saturday is your free day, no one is a Weapon or a Player on Saturday so I suggest taking advantage of it. Anyone who wants to take on a Saturday job for extra Raks is allowed to. There is no school on Sunday but I suggest you take the time to vow to Weapons if you are a Player, or find a Player if you are a Weapon. School starts tomorrow 8am sharp, breakfast is from 7 until 8."

She grins again, "So since I am sure you are all desperately excited to find out who is a Player, they are as follows.

1. Lithuania
2. Homura
3. Golbez
4. Aqua
5. Feferi
6. Aisha

If you have any questions please come and ask them. If not, follow the rules, don't get into trouble and Battle well!"

She grins again.

Comments

[antitank]

Homura would be lying if she said she wasn't surprised to hear her name being called out. But she doesn't let that show on her face. She's read the rulebook and understands the game well enough. The only thing left to do is to fight.

She doesn't approach anyone, but stands on her own quietly, looking around.

[herplaceinthesun]

Aisha is glowing with happiness, a funny thing to see. But she gets to fight, and she gets to eat well? Besides being stuck fighting for some invisible group she had no idea about, she was failing to see what the problem was here.

Especially since she didn't have to get bossed around by that Santana girl. That's a bonus if she's ever heard of one.

[trollofthree]

Gino wasn't particular bothered to see his name missing from the list - he didn't recognise any of the names, apart from one, so that meant life was fine. If Suzaku's name had been up there, there would've been an encounter.

But for now, he concentrated on finding the person whose name he did know. Being taller than most of the crowd meant this was almost absurdly easy when she looked that happy, and he made a beeline for her.

"Yo, Aisha!"

[herplaceinthesun]

"Hey! I guess they weren't kidding about the battling, right?"

Well, not really for her. None of these people were trying to kill her, so a fight was just a fight. Aisha wasn't the type to take them personally unless she'd been upset (which wasn't really that hard to do), so she was pretty excited about it. It was a Ctarl-Ctarl thing, she guessed.

Everyone else seemed like they thought it was serious business.

[trollofthree]

"Nope!" He didn't sound particularly serious, either. Presumably at some point in the time between the exhibition battle and breakfast he'd decided to treat the whole thing like a holiday. A holiday full of fighting people for fun. It was great. Life was great.

"Speaking of, you wanna fight with me?" He at least remembered enough of the dream to know that his weapon was something useful, and he'd gotten a ring from the cute little shop the day before. He was feelin' pretty confident, all things considered. "You seem like the right bet."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku listened to the woman carefully. He was not planning on staying here any longer than needed, but Lelouch was here and he wouldn't leave without him. He doubted Lelouch would leave without Nunnally, so he couldn't just attempt to escape on his own.

He had flicked through the manual the night before, and was not impressed by what he saw. The lack of rights didn't bother him that much, after all having to fight for someone in order to earn basic human rights was a system he was used to.

He looked around, looking for anyone familiar.

[cullscuttlefish]

Feferi's first reaction? Utter shock. Her second: a feeling of disgust that something like this was reality. It was one thing, fighting random imps in a game. This was something different.

She had also taken a moment to scan the manual, and she didn't like it at all. The system needed a change, that's for sure. It was a hemospectrum all over again.

It was then that she caught the glimpse out of the corner of her eye, and walked over. "Are you okay? It's a shock to me, too."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked at the grey skinned horned creature that stood in front of him. He had been slightly distracted on the train but had seen a few of these creatures whilst exploring. He hadn't spoken to any of them though.

He nodded, "It seems that they are using a basic model for oppression," he said quietly. "Why though..."

[cullscuttlefish]

"That's it in an oyster shell. It's terribubble." Feferi sighed, folding her arms over her chest. "I had hoped to have a little time to adjust, but it seems that's not in the cards for me. Play their little game, or..."

She didn't want to think about it. If she didn't play, then there were consequences. She knew that.

[secondtoone]

[He's not a Player. Admittedly there was little chance of it, but Red can't help feeling both disappointed and spurned. Even if he won't admit it to himself, being thrust into a competition makes him want to, well, compete. That and now he'll need to find a Player... someone to take pity on him. He isn't looking forward to that.]

[As reluctant as he is to approach anyone, Red opts to stand against the wall and look around the group. Someone could always come ask him. Someone usually does.]

[trollofthree]

[ he doesn't have long to wait. It only takes a minute or so for Gino to hunt down a Player of his own, and then he's firmly on the job of finding Aisha more Weapons. ]

[ for example, this guy. Amble amble amble mock-salute. ]

Yo. You got a Player yet?

[secondtoone]

[Red hears someone approaching, and is a little disappointed to see that it's not one of the announced Players. He turns to Gino anyway and shakes his head once. Then, as more of an afterthought than anything, he gestures to Gino, hoping that conveys the 'you?' he'd like it to. Hunting for pencil and paper can be such a pain, he's learned already.]

[babygotback]

[Admittedly, Marik was slightly disappointed on his name not being called. But, he didn't dwell on it for long, upon hearing the other alternative.]

A job, eh...

[stoppedhiding]

[ Oh, it's one of his roommates. Even if they haven't met yet IC. It would probably be hard not to notice. ]

Do you require a "Player"?

[babygotback]

[He jumps a bit at the sudden question, though he does turn to him and shrugs.]

Me? Ah, I guess so! Though, if I'm not picked, then I don't really mind.

[shakes]

...So how likely was it that Lithuania would be able to use a musket?

The boy's eyes flitted around, trying to see from the reactions of the people in the room who had been choosen a player. He hated to have to contract like that, it was similar to what he had back home and he hated that too, but that Santana girl looked scary. So he at least wanted to see the alternatives.

[duchy]

Lithuania, at least, was looking at Latvia curiously. It would be better, he'd decided, to start with people he had at least met, and that was Latvia. From the future, apparently. That was still really weird, but better than nothing. He wasn't sure how to broach the issue directly, though--it did at least strike him as an incredibly cruel system for the weapons--so he was just watching. Maybe Latvia would approach him.

Of course, Latvia might just shake some more. It was Latvia.

[shakes]

The now older nation's smile was strained when he finally approached Lithuania, but it was there. "G-good morning, Lithuania."

[bloodbrother]

He didn't hear his name. Oh well. He supposed that made it easier to ease his way into this strange system. He hid under his parasol, leaning against a wall to the side. Why wasn't the sun affecting anyone else this way? He didn't understand it. Maybe he'd been spending too much time inside working and he'd messed himself up somehow. It would just figure.

He sighed and walked over toward the crowd. It was time to play along. "Ah, I guess I'm a Weapon if anyone needs one?" He had raised his voice a bit, but he wouldn't be surprised if it went unheard in the excited chatter that followed the announcement. Nor would he particularly mind.

[stoppedhiding]

Having thoroughly read the manual at the first chance he had, Golbez wasn't surprised by anything Day said -- not until his name was called as one of the first round's Players, anyway. He didn't like the idea of owning other people, but this was the way things were for now. He'd have to play along with the system at least long enough to find a way around it.

When Sam spoke up, he turned to look at him. "Do you know what sort of weapon you have?" He could just barely remember using his own in that dream he'd had on the train... Perhaps it was the same for the others.

[bloodbrother]

He considered a moment. "A stake." He blinked a bit. Why would he say that? And why would it be that? "A silver stake. Like you'd use on vampires." Because they're real, dontcha know. He was glad it was at least a familiar face approaching him.

[calmandstorm]

[Aqua had read the manual, so she knew what being named a Player entailed...and it was wrong. Owning a Weapon, being given privileges while they weren't, fighting as though it were a honor--! She lets out a low breath, her fist balled up tight. It was wrong, and Aqua was almost tempted to let them fine her...

But she can protect them as a Player, and if that's the case, then the choice is obvious.]

closed to Sollux

[cullscuttlefish]

[Once she was done speaking with Suzaku?, there was one more troll Feferi needed to find. She wasn't about to let Sollux be a Discard. She walked up to him, putting a hand on his shoulder. ]

Sollux, you are not going to argue with me on this. Stick out your hand. I am going to vow with you.

[sciioniic]

[Sollux seemed pretty relieved to hear it, for all that it was a demand to submit to someone's ownership. He wasn't exactly thrilled by the whole prospect that had been outlined to them, but being a Discard wasn't particularly appealing, either, and if he was going to have to be somebody's property... well, better Feferi than anyone else here, right?]

Heh, yeah, okay.

[He presented his hand as instructed, looking a little apprehensive but otherwise fairly relaxed about the whole thing.]

[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi took that hand in both of hers, and began murmuring. ]

I promise to protect you, to treat you with the utmost respect, to give the same rights as I have, so long as I am a Player. Do you agree?