Round 2

[mamarosa]

It could be a repeat of last week, Dolorosa stand on the podium looking out over the students of Fortitude, "Welcome students, I hope you have had a good week. I enjoyed watching you battle, even if we have lost the first round. Don't look down, there are many rounds to come."

If you were here last round you may notice that Nanami, Fortitude's prefect, is missing, "Before I go on and announce the winners of last round and the new Players for this round, I would like to inform you that breaking the rules is not allowed and will not be tolerated. Nanami has been punished for behavior unbecoming of a prefect, if I will punish her I will punish you as well.

"It is worth knowing that the rules are on page nine of the player handbook which you all have been given. Any one who cannot read may request a copy be sent to their PDA, an advanced PDA will read the rules to you. Please do not break the rules and give me an excuse to punish you" The peaceful smile on her face may be a bit disconcerting.

"Since we have covered that, we can now move on. While we did not win the round I would still like to congratulate you on a wonderful round. Conquest not only won more battles than us but one of their players hit the win condition. If you turn your attention to the screen behind me it will show the battles found by Fortitude."

On the screen behind her the Battle records for Fortitude and the Inter-school battles that they had fought were shown. She read the Fortitude battle records first.

She smiles kindly at the crowd, "I'm proud of you, there were very few Fortitude only battles, only one in fact, Dave vs Kotaru, congratulations Dave for winning.

"Also in fighting Conquest you all fought valiantly and I am proud of all of you. Extra notice goes to Dave for beating Feferi, Spain for defeated Golbez, Vriska for defeating Feferi, and Lelouch for defeating Homura," she claps politely and expects the others to clap as well.

"While no one in Fortitude won this round I would like to extend our congratulations to Conquest for winning and particularly Lithuania for winning the round. We should be gracious losers and fight harder next round. There is nothing to be ashamed of."

The battle records disappear. "Next I welcome our new students who joined us yesterday, you have been placed into a very kind school, so please enjoy your stay. Now I have here the list of those chosen to be Players this round, for those who have just joined us this means these students and faculty are the only persons with rights this week. The rest of you have no rights, you may be granted rights by being owned by a Player." Her smile doesn't waver, "I'm sure all of you will grant your Weapon's rights.

"To own a weapon you must vow to them, you know the vow has worked when they receive a shield mark on their hand," she held her own hand up to show to new ones what it looked like. "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 Nanami tells you to, as after today she will not be punished. There is no school today but I suggest you use the time to vow to Weapons if you are a Player or find a Player if you are a Weapon. School is Monday to Friday starting 8am, I look forward to seeing you in my classroom."

"Now for what you have all been waiting for, this week's players are:

England
Rapunzel
Marisa
Yuri
Dahlia
Oichi
Dave

I wish you all the best of luck, fight well and make me proud."

Comments

[bedtime]

"Yes... he was going to kill Ichi," she looks at him tearfully, slowly climbing back to her feet. She removes the vest-- her neck has stopped bleeding-- and hands it to Yuri. She approaches Spain and Gamzee. Not close enough for him to reach her should he go for it, but she sinks to his level. Oichi is very calm despite what Gamzee says and does and makes her own effort at helping. "Shh, little Gamzee, shh... go to sleep now, ok...? Take a little nap... it'll be ok, we'll forgive you, so go take a sleep..."

[koyo]

The sleeves of his uniform are torn, his skin is cut, and he can feel blood running down his arms.

Blood. This is blood. This is his blood. This is the blood of a nation. This is an attack. He is being attacked. He was being threatened. No, everyone was.

It hurts. He hisses loudly, his arms tensing and beginning to tremble from the pain. There's one last push, nails gripping back at Gamzee. He's about to move his hand to the other's neck when a movement beside him causes him to freeze in place. It's Oichi and he shoots Gamzee a look, daring him to try something now. Otherwise, he does not speak, waiting to see what was going to happen.

This was not an Exaclan match. This was not a game.

[mrdickery]

His vest in hand, Yuri follows Oichi's movements, choosing to take up a spot at her shoulder as he watches the exchange.

If Spain intends to do something about Gamzee's threats, Yuri won't be the one to stop him. The two reasons being that A: he's a player this round and that means there's this... "penalty" to look forward to, and B: the kid is strongly reminding him of Zagi, and when it comes to people like that? There's really only one cure.

But Oichi's the one he tried to kill, so for now he'll stay quiet and watch.

[honkhonkwoof]

His hands still, but he finds a deep pleasure in causing some kind of pain for Spain. A vicious look is casted at Oichi, and he hisses. "How THE FUCK am I supposed to sleep? MOTHERFUCKING sun isn't right, MOTHERFUCKING everything is fucked up." They probably don't know what he means by this; but it wasn't like he cared. His head throbs, and his limbs ache; but his anger fuels him. Sure, he'd love to take a nap. Wouldn't that be just great?

He groans, frustration overwhelming him, and his hands slink away from the cuts on Spain's arms to linger near his wrists, ready (not really) to stop any more punches. His eyes flicker back and forth between all the people above him, and he starts growling again, starting deep in his chest...

[bedtime]

"Shh," she says, and she scoots closer, brushing his hair from his face. She's fearless as she does it and doesn't seem to even consider the fact that he might attack her again. Oichi genuinely wants to soothe him. "Shh, it's alright... the sun will soon fall to moon and the stars will be bright in the sky... All you have to do is wait, ok...?"

[koyo]

He's relieved when Gamzee moves his hands but he can still feel the pain-- that stinging sensation where the cuts are. He lets Oichi and Gamzee converse, his eyes darting between the two of them to see what would happen next. Though he was angry before, Oichi's words have managed to calm him some. Hopefully, it would do the same for Gamzee.

[mrdickery]

There it is again, the feeling that Oichi isn't all there in the head. Yuri seriously has no idea how she could act this way towards a guy who just tried to tear her throat out and it shows in the way he raises his eyebrow.

Still, it isn't exactly his place to interfere until he gives it another shot, so he'll spare a quick glance at Spain to see if he's holding his position before returning his eyes to the pair.

[honkhonkwoof]

Gamzee completely freezes as she brushes back his hair, muscles tense. His breath hitches and his growl slows to a stop. He expects pain, expects her to sink her nails into his neck and rip and tear, or maybe just throttle him, but she does none of this. His surprise is clear on his face, shock overpowering anger. He'd attacked her; any troll -- and probably any human -- would take this chance to tear his throat out -- he's almost completely vulnerable as he is. But she doesn't do this... nothing close to it. It's just strange.

So now he's staring in bewilderment, blinking stupidly at Oichi. "What the motherfuck... what the hell are you doing? Stop touching me," It comes out a hoarse mutter, and he clears his throat. "Stop. Motherfucker, stop that." He scowls, showing more teeth, but it's got less sincerity in it than before, and his hand only twitches, instead of going for her. Fuck.

[bedtime]

"Shh, it's okay, little one... you are so tired, but Ichi will let you rest..." She continues to brush through his hair as soothingly as she possibly can. "Ichi forgives you, ok...? It's all ok now... no one will hurt each other, and we can all be friends, and it will be good..."

[koyo]

He looks down at Gamzee's hand. Something is happening. What's happening? Spain is confused and looks from the pair to Yuri. Does he understand what's happening? He's never been very good at reading situations. Someone give him an answer.

[mrdickery]

Don't look at him, Spain. He doesn't have a clue.

When he notices the nation's glance, Yuri gives a shrug. If he had to make a guess, it's probably that Gamzee is as weirded out by Oichi as they are but that's probably not entirely accurate. He hesitates to call her kind, only because he doesn't know her well enough to make that kind of call yet. Still, that's starting to look like that might be the case.

Or... she's completely disconnected from reality, but that's probably not true.

[honkhonkwoof]

He raises his eyebrows and gives a small growl. "I ain't little. And I don't need your forgiveness, none of you." He would... say more on that; he would thrash and bite off her hands -- but the situation isn't the best for him right now. And it's fucking weird. What the fuck is she even doing? Trying to calm him down? There's no way in hell he'd left himself be hushed like some kind of wiggler. Is she really trying to soothe him? Or is she just trying to get his guard down? "Sis. Hey. Take your hands off of me. I ain't no grub. Motherfucking stop it." He doesn't make any moves to dislodge Spain or hurt Oichi, though. Fuck, no. Stop it, stop, stop...

[bedtime]

"Ichi will take care of you now. Everyone needs their mother once in a while... there's no shame in that... so shhh, ok?" She continues to pet him, totally oblivious to everyone's confusion. Disconnected from reality is the most likely thing; she's reminded so vividly of the brother whose name and face she cannot recall, so vividly that she nearly sees him in Gamzee's place.

Her hands brush his horns and she thinks them pretty, so she murmurs that: "Look, look... you're a beautiful creature, tall and strong, so don't scowl like that... smile for Ichi."

[koyo]

Spain is torn between being impressed and wondering if something is a little with Oichi. He hasn't moved or pulled back since he tackled Gamzee but with the way things were going. . . maybe he could let him go? No, that wouldn't be the wise thing to do. He threatened to hurt so others. He wasn't nearly as willing as Oichi to forgive him he looks at her.

What are you doing, he tried to kill you.

[mrdickery]

It's not the first time Yuri has seen something like this. Rather, it's not the first time he's seen someone completely forgive the person who just tried to murder them, though he would have thought there was only one person like that in the entire world.

Then again, Estelle never mumbled things about mothers and setting suns but, once again, what does he know?

When he sees Spain's look directed at Oichi, internally he has to agree. Just because it worked for Estelle doesn't mean it'll work for her. Gamzee doesn't exactly strike him as the reasonable type.

[honkhonkwoof]

Gamzee looks at her with a frown, muttering lowly. "I don't need no one takin' care of me, and I don't know what the fuck a mother even is." A shudder crawls through him when she brushes his horns, muscles tensing before relaxing without much of his consent. "Shit. Sis, you really shouldn't be touchin' those." It makes him feel dizzy. Dizzy and way too relaxed for this situation. And that also makes him feel extremely stupid, as there's two other humans looming over him, and oh sweet mirthful messiahs he probably looks so fucking pathetic right now. With a growl he looks up at Spain. "Can you get the fuck offa me now?? Pretty motherfucking sure I'm gonna die out of shame any second."

[bedtime]

She lets her hands drop away from his horns at that-- she doesn't want to disturb him, after all-- and looks at Spain and Yuri with her hands still petting Gamzee's hair. Her expression is vacant and she is quiet. Will they let him go? That's what she's wondering.

screaming, never got a notif, i'm sorry

[koyo]

When Gamzee growls at Spain, he almost wants to growl back. He wants to get back at Gamzee. He killed Lelouch and had tried to hurt Oichi. They couldn't just let him go this easily.

Could they?

Spain lingers for a moment debating with himself over what to do. Finally, there's a low growl from Spain and he begins to get up. With that over, he holds his arms, glaring at Gamzee.

I ate it.

[mrdickery]

At Oichi's look, Yuri meets it with a harsh one for a moment before he finally shakes his head, letting out a low sigh.

"This isn't exactly something you just let go." He feels the need to point that out. Like seriously, are he and Spain the only two on the right page here? "But it's your call." And he shoots Gamzee a single look, a warning, even though he doesn't say anything to accompany it.

He still feels like words are wasted on this guy, but if this is her choice then... damn, this is seriously messed up.