Introduction!

[utopiamods]

The tram quickly arrives at the academy station, and the students onboard are ushered off and directed to the front lobby of the school. They can't miss it; there are signs up pointing toward the main entrance, reading "New student orientation" in big, bright letters. If anyone should care to move off the path, try exploring somewhere else, a teacher will conveniently appear to shoo them back toward the lobby, assuring them that "all your questions will be answered inside".

The lobby is big and spacious, looking more like a university or perhaps a fancy international hotel than a high school. There's a woman sitting at a desk ready to check everyone in, but she's not important right now; what the students should pay attention to is the large flat-screen TV set into one of the walls. As soon as everyone has gathered inside, it clicks on and starts to play a prerecorded video. A cheerful woman appears on-screen; when she speaks, she's so chipper you might just feel your teeth starting to rot.

"Good afternoon to our new students here at Utopia Academy! Thank you for choosing to enroll with us for this, our first semester of the new year. Our battle system is the best in the world, set up for you, our students! I hope that you all had a fun journey here, and that you've all made some new friends! You're going to need them soon, so keep them close, okay?

"Now, I'm going to explain the rules for you. Make sure to listen carefully, and remember, you can find all of this and more in the Exaclan manual!"

A map of the academy appears on-screen. The woman stands green-screened in front of the map.

"Our academy is fully integrated with a virtual network that includes several layers of tactile, empathic holographics geared toward the battle game Exaclan. Exaclan is a game fought between groups of Players using their respective Weapons; if a Player wins a battle, he or she takes possession of the opposing Player's Weapon. This way, Players can own many, many Weapons. Collect them all!

"As for the Weapons, you might be wondering where those come from. Well, as it turns out, only a few of you are going to be Players. The rest of you are Weapons! Players, if you equip your custom-fitted Exaclan gloves, you will be able to unsheathe your weapon from the chest of any Weapon you own."

Meanwhile, behind the woman as she speaks, a stylized cartoon sequence plays out in which a man in knight's garb pulls a sword from the chest of a woman in an elaborate princess gown.

"Now, since you're all just starting out here, you don't own any Weapons yet. In order to take possession of a Weapon, you must ask permission, and then promise to own and protect it. This is very important! Be nice to your Weapons, and in return, they will bring you to victory!

"The items you draw out of your Weapons' chests aren't real; they are part of the holographic Exaclan system. Each person's Weapon will be different, and they aren't just guns or knives, either. Their form is partly determined by the Weapon's personality, but it's partly randomized. Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe not. It eliminates natural advantages!

"Now, like I said, the Weapons aren't real, but the damage you do in battle is real. You will feel every blow you take from an opponent's Weapon, and physical damage done to your Weapon will damage the person you drew it from, too. So be careful, or you could cause serious damage!"

The woman holds up one finger, grinning ear-to-ear;

"If you win a battle, ownership of the Weapon you fought against transfers to you. You also earn one Token, and you earn an additional Token for every five battles you fight, whether or not you win. Tokens can be used to buy Upgrades, Link Charms, Memory Charms, and Legend Fragments, so do your best to earn as many Tokens as you can!

"Oh, right, about the Memory Charms... you're probably wondering why there are some things you can't remember. That's just a little precaution we took to make sure that you would participate in Exaclan. You've each been stripped of ten memories: Some of them are very important, but some of them aren't. You can purchase a Memory Charm for five Tokens, which means to regain all of your memories will cost fifty Tokens. Ah, there's a catch, though: You can't use the Memory Charms you buy. You have to give them to other people. So get along with your fellow students and make as many friends as you can, okay?

"Now, if you have any other questions, make sure to consult your Exaclan manuals. They will tell you more about the rules of Exaclan, what you can and cannot do with your Weapons, and so forth. Following this video, the list of Players for this Round will be displayed. Anyone not on that list is a Weapon for this Round. Sorry!"

The woman holds one hand up in front of her face apologetically, but continues smiling as ever.

"In conclusion, welcome to Utopia Academy. Let's all do our best and achieve utopia together!"

The video clicks off, replaced by a pale blue screen stating the following:

PLAYERS FOR ROUND -2:
Dave Strider
Gino Weinberg
Grenn Atair
Koharu Izaki
Molly Hayes

((OOC: Feel free to post reactions and general mingling in this post. From here on, you're free to make posts, fight battles, attend class, etc.! If you have any questions, get in touch with a mod.

Edit: A mod mistook how much Memory Charms cost. They're five tokens, not ten. Oops! So the post has been edited slightly. That is all!))

Comments

[queenscheckmate]

The teenager looked into the direction Gino was waving and--

No--

Le--

But he--

She watched h--

Then wh--

No.

Cerulean eyes opened wide and shook at the discovery. No, that couldn't have been Lelouch. But there was no mistaking that outfit. It wasn't the Ashford Uniform and it wasn't Zero's attire.

Emperor.

She took a step back. This wasn't right. That memory was still in tact. Lelouch had died. Kallen saw it by her own eyes. Zero killed Lelouch. Lelouch was dead. She had cried. And two months later, she had gotten over it, finally. But now... No. That person standing there... that couldn't have been Lelouch. No way, no how.

A step back turned into a couple before she turned around and bolted out one of the doors. This wasn't true and she wasn't going to believe it.

She refused.

[imperceptible]

At Gino's suggestion they play along, Kevin's eyebrows shot up. Being honest, playing along with their kidnappers was the last thing he wanted to do right now. He wanted to find whoever was responsible for taking him from his home and-

Yeah, that was the fast track to nowhere. He didn't even know who it was at this point.

So, with an aggravated sigh, he glanced back at the screen and frowned at Gino's name. "So anyone not on there is a weapon?" For some reason, Kevin didn't seem surprised. Something, deep down inside of him, seemed familiar with the concept. As if he had known all along since his arrival that he was capable of being a weapon.

... which freaked him out on an all new level, really.

[thatguywhohasablog]

"Well yeah, they never said everyone had a sword." Another shrug. "Anyway, looks like nobody has much of a fucking choice, do they?"

He paused, watching the kid shuffle his feet, and frowned.

"Hey," he said, "you want to team up? Doesn't look like you have to do much of anything if you're a Weapon or whatever. Just get to kick back and watch me lay on the beatdowns. Right?"

[greennotgold]

"Do, um, do you know what this all means?" he asked. The older boy had sounded rather knowledgable.

[tenwholeryou]

"But-" You're still a kid too, or you don't understand, it's not even a weapon, or I've only just met you.

The first he wasn't sure about, with his eyes covered he could be older than he looked. Who could tell? The second he'd have to deal with when it came along, and not where everyone could see. The last... well, the last and only time he'd trusted a stranger to fight for him, it had worked out.

After a few hmms and hahs, he nodded. "Okay, but my weapon is special, you know! It won't work just yet, the dream told me so."

[summerstars]

It took Grenn almost a full half-minute from staring to try and rally some sort of reply. Both due to what he said and how to simply formulate the answer, and to come up with the words.

"Missing limbs isn't as much of a "handicap" as missing pieces of your mind and soul," she finally managed to snap, if only because this was (platitude as it may be) what the nurse that had been with her when she woke up had said.

Crippled, ha! She had a great urge to whip out one of her legs and beat him over the head with it. Well, at least he'd been so upfront with that sort of attitude, she knew to, if possible, avoid him. If not possible, well... er... that was for later to figure out.

[frozen_desires]

The look Tougyu gave her at that remark could only be described as both frigid and crazed. To him, her words were born of ignorance and not knowing the horrors of Iwahijiri. In Utopia, he'd seen girls before who had been maimed by careless owners. Owners who had then grown frustrated with their suddenly less than desirable weapons.

Usually, any female who was unfortunate enough to be damaged soon became discarded completely by the male populace, only to be oppressed by all of them. Grenn wouldn't have survived a week in the original academy.

Well, no matter. She'd figure it out soon enough.

[summerstars]

Grenn rolled her eyes. While the look was certainly unsettling, looks couldn't kill you.

This place was unbelievable. All this tech and.... Grrr. She hoped there would be weapons she could use from this clumsy monster of a "mobility aid". Had she had her hover chair, she could have fought from that.

He could think what he wanted. She knew that she (unfortunately) had a weapon. Otherwise, what was she doing here?

"Didn't anybody ever tell you not to judge the outside? You don't look like you could produce much of a weapon yourself," Grenn said sharply. Not that she meant it, exactly. She was of the mind that if you were here, whatever was produced would work as a weapon. It was the player's responsibility thereafter to actually figure it out.

[bitofafiction]

"Victorian Batman," he echoes, laughing. "I like that one. I think I'll keep it. To be frank, it makes no particular difference to me whether you accept the metaphysical implications of my name so long as you call me by it. I am sure, if we continue this fascinating association, you will eventually notice that being Sherlock Holmes is something I am tolerably good at."

[veepofchess]

"Oh?" he asked, a bit intrigued. "What's their reputation?" Were they useless against the school's system, or were they key players in it?

[thatguywhohasablog]

Very, very slightly, Dave smiled. "Cool. We'll work on that, I guess."

The dream ... Right. He vaguely remembered the hilt of a familiar sword in his hands ... Shame he couldn't just pull it out of himself, but apparently Strife Specibi weren't an issue here, and he was probably going to have to learn to use weapons other than swords if he was going to last three seconds at this shit.

[thatguywhohasablog]

Dave shrugged. "Got no idea why we're here or what whoever's in charge of this is doing it for, if that's what you mean. Seems pretty fucking inscrutable to me."

[thatguywhohasablog]

"Yeah? Well I'm pretty fucking good at being Dave Strider. I don't know what it is, it's like this weird skill. Like I was born with it or something. I'm a lucky guy."

He sticks his hands in the pockets of his sharp but slightly dusty suit, and looks Sherlock up and down. Or he probably does, anyway. It's hard to tell behind the shades.

"So you got any idea what kind of magical soul pick axe or whatever you're keeping in there?"

[summerstars]

Shivering, Grenn rubbed her arms, resisting the urge to look back over the lobby behind her. She hated people like that... Staring instead at the part of the lobby with the reception desks and some very, very generic, but pleasant, people behind them, she swallowed.

There was really only one question that needed an answer, and needed it now, though her mind was clamouring wildly for more information. How would the battles actually work, where they would sleep, eat, would that cost anything and, an--

Tugging sharply on her hair, Grenn took a deep breath. Please let there be answers soon. But the most important one had nothing to do with the practicalities of... this place.

It still took Grenn almost a full five minutes before she'd gathered herself enough, and managed to (she hoped) formulate a coherent question. Now, she could be completely off, and they'd laugh at her. She hoped (bizarrely) she was right.

"Excuse me," she chose one of the generic receptionists at random, they all looked just as pleasant, and tried to smile. "Um... a question... Time. How does it work here compared to where everybody's from?"

It was a strange way to formulate things, but controversial theories of time-space pockets, of "wrinkles in the universe" and several other half-remembered such things, floated in the back of her head.

[bitofafiction]

"A rapier. Pity, really. I don't know if I'll find anyone here who can take proper care of it."

Was that a challenge? That sounded like a challenge.

[thatguywhohasablog]

"Okay that sounds eerily like you want a piece of this, which would be creepy even if I wasn't like thirteen years old," Dave said, apparently unmoved, "like, yeah, okay, I'll take proper care of your rapier – but presuming you're not actually talking about my little boy hands around your dick I do actually know how to use a sword."

[bitofafiction]

He cracks up.



It takes him a while to form words again.





In the end: "Good Lord no. But I am glad to hear it."

[utopiamods]

"Oh," the receptionist perked up, shifting against the counter as she accessed her small monitor. "Utopia Academy prides itself on using only the most advanced temporal software. Of course, it depends on where you've joined us from. If I could have a name, Miss..?"

[thatguywhohasablog]

It occurs to Dave that something's missing from his memory; he can't quite put his finger on what it is but there's something weirdly absent when he tries to think about of course I know how to use a sword, I've been doing it since I was a little kid. But of course they've all lost memories; his frown is only brief, he'll work it out.

"Yeah? I can pull the fucker out of your chest if you want proof or whatever, but only as long as we're both agreed that my barely pubescent digits stay away from your meat rod. I mean, I know Sherlock Holmes being a massive homo is like traditional and everything but I've got my limits."

[summerstars]

Most advanced temporal software? And... Grenn didn't know whether slam a fist on the shiny top of the desk or whine petulantly. She did neither. They have some disgustingly advanced tech, but do not consistently implement it?

Then the question caught up with her, and she blinked.

"Um, Grenn Atair."

If time did not flow differently, she had less than a week until graduation! And Lyra would wonder where she was... Grenn hoped she wouldn't... She lost whatever it had been, and frustrated, realized it was still connected to that "big thing" she had forgotten (or had had removed).

[bitofafiction]

He raises his eyebrows.

"Entirely agreed, yes."

[utopiamods]

"Atair..." The receptionist elongated the name as she clicked through, and a few seconds and an overly long vowel later, she looked up with a smile. "Ah, you're one of our long-distance students! The time difference is rather large, I'm afraid... You should get back at about the same time you left, if you're staying for the entire year" Her smile was a sheepish one, as if to say, 'temporal software! What can you do?'

"Was there anything else?"

[summerstars]

There wasn't much else to do than cling to the words of "about the same time you left". She knew she probably disappeared somewhere after having left Lyra after... whatever that talk had been about, which meant, that even if she lost several hours, she would be back in time for the next day. Please, please let it not be worse than that.

"Ahh... n-no." Grenn shook her head and steered away rather quickly after an awkward smile, brain completely empty of all the other things she may have wanted to ask.

Not until she was at the edge of the group of milling 'students', did she remember all the other things she'd thought of earlier, but she didn't turn back. Staring at the people wandering around or talking, Grenn had no idea how to approach one (or several) of them to convince them to... be her Weapon.

They'd probably have the same attitude as... that guy earlier. People always (mostly, not always) did. And besides that... How did one go about this, anyway?

[frozen_desires]

Oh, that was right. In all this confusion of waking up someplace unknown and being ushered along, he'd forgotten one key fact.

He was a weapon.

Slowly bringing a hand up to his own chest, Tougyu glanced down and pulled his hand away, as if he was expecting his weapon to be there. When there was obviously nothing, he turned his hand around and glanced at the back of his palm.

"I don't have my glove." He murmured quietly, as if he were just realizing that fact. "I'm one of them..." There was a strange way he said "them." As if them were synonymous with trash.

And yet, he didn't seem overtly angry or even upset. If anything, he seemed... hopeful.

[trollofthree]

"Convenient, right?" He grinned, and gestured around at the clumps of other 'students' with his free hand. "Looks like they're all figuring out the same thing..." They were, actually. And his pool of prospective weapons was dwindling; most of the uniformed girls were bunching together, and a small gaggle of kids had formed off to one side. Judging by the grouping, the pale kid with sunglasses was his third opponent. He glanced over at where Kallen had been until she'd fled, and then over at Lelouch. Neither were looking like good options.

Well, not like this was a problem. He leaned down, so Kevin wouldn't have such a job of looking up, and offered the hand that had until just then been in permanent residence on his shoulder. "Hey, let's join forces!"