utopiamods: (The right way to fight Exaclan)
Rakuen Moderators ([personal profile] utopiamods) wrote in [community profile] rakuen2010-12-28 12:37 am

Introduction!

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!))
frozen_desires: (always passed by)

[personal profile] frozen_desires 2010-12-28 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
At the mention of Exaclan, Tougyu's brain all but drifted off onto a separate tangent.

From the looks of it, this was Utopia Academy v.2 and he was part of the testing group. Just another guinea pig by Iwahijiri's standards. Was he meant to help pave the way for the rest of the men in this school? What about El and the rest of the student council? Had they known this was going to happen or were they just as out of the loop as he?

People like Sumita and Shoujou had always talked about El caring about their wellbeing, but for some reason Tougyu had never felt valued as a peer by the man. No, he had always felt more like... a chess piece. A pawn ready to be moved about as the master willed. Which was fine with him, certainly, but still...

All of these thoughts, however, derailed when he glanced back up just in time to catch the name displayed on the screen and- Koharu Izaki?

He knew that name.

He knew that name.

He knew-

"Eh?"
myownfuture: (Huh?)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 09:07 am (UTC)(link)
If the first indication that something was very, very wrong had been waking up on a train headed to Utopia Academy, the second indication had been trying to read the signs pointing to the main entrance and coming up short. Reiko should have known the kanji that were used; they were simple, stuff that she was sure she'd learned in elementary school; even the foreigners had been able to read them (though she didn't yet know about the automagical translation that was in effect). And yet... she couldn't read it. There was nothing.

She stared blankly at the screen for a while after the video finished. This was ridiculous. This was absurd. This was Exaclan in name, but not in spirit. What was this?

When the list of Players came up, most of the names were displayed in katakana, but there was one -- the fourth one down -- that she couldn't read. She wondered who that could be...
veepofchess: (bad morning after)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 09:31 am (UTC)(link)
Lelouch bristled and seethed by the end of the introduction. "What nonsense!" he muttered. "Making a game out of knights and battles. Is this an elementary school playground?" But what enraged him more was the fact that his own memory had been altered. Again. He wasn't going to allow them this second humiliation. He was going to play their little game, sure. He was going to end it, too.
myownfuture: (Tsun tsun)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 09:34 am (UTC)(link)
"It's one of the most elite boarding schools in the world," Reiko replied to the boy's question.

A boy who disagreed with Exaclan? Maybe it was because the video hadn't mentioned the misogynistic aspect of it. Or maybe... it wasn't like that here? Most of the names on that board were foreign and she couldn't tell whether they were masculine and feminine, and she couldn't make heads or tails of the one in kanji. "It is nonsense, though."
veepofchess: (cool as a cucumber)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 09:38 am (UTC)(link)
"Elite?" Ashford itself was no slouch, though it wasn't as though he'd had any choice in the matter. It was Ashford or nothing. It was the only place Nunnally would have been kept safe.

His face still showed his disapproval, but it was tempered by the fact that he'd seemed to have finally found someone that knew what was going on. "Is it normal for this school to collect its students unwittingly?"
Edited 2010-12-28 09:39 (UTC)
myownfuture: (Ow my brain)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
"No. That part's new," she said. "As far as I knew, everyone was enrolled there by their parents..."

She really didn't want to ask a boy for help, but he was acting cordial enough... and she had to know. "Er, I'm having a little bit of a problem, I think it's one of the memories they took away from me... what's the fourth name down on the list of Players?"
veepofchess: (cool as a cucumber)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 09:48 am (UTC)(link)
He looked back up at it, wondering what her problem was, but decided to be accommodating enough to comply. "Koharu Izaki," he said, with rather good pronunciation for a foreigner.
myownfuture: (Well for ONE thing!)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 09:51 am (UTC)(link)
"Koharu?!" she repeated, incredulous. No way. No way? No way! "You said Koharu Izaki, right?!"
veepofchess: (going over the plans)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 10:02 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, that is what it says. Is she a friend of yours?" He decided that any information was good information at the moment.
myownfuture: (Ow my brain)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 10:08 am (UTC)(link)
"Yes, we're friends." Not really the most accurate word -- they were less than friends, and more than friends. Allies? Compatriots? "But she... there are girl Players...?"
veepofchess: (going over the plans)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 10:11 am (UTC)(link)
"That's unusual?" he asked, with a bit less of a frustrated look on his face. It seemed he'd found a good person to talk with.
myownfuture: (Am I doing this knight thing right)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 10:24 am (UTC)(link)
"...yeah. I wonder why they changed it..."

...and this meant Tougyu wasn't even a Player. She wondered how that would work out.
veepofchess: (cool as a cucumber)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 10:29 am (UTC)(link)
"How does this program work, as you understand it?" He tried to to put on a bit of his casual charm, to try and get her to cooperate.
myownfuture: (Tsun tsun)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 10:32 am (UTC)(link)
She still wasn't sure she could trust this boy just because he was being so nice, but if she didn't explain it someone else would. She might as well.

Crossing her arms, she explained. "It's pretty much like how the video explained, except the stuff about the Tokens and memory loss is new. The Players own and do battle with Weapons, and if you defeat someone else in Exaclan, you obtain their Weapon. Up until now, it was always the boys playing Exaclan and owning the girls, except for Sora Himoto for some reason."
veepofchess: (FML)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
He took in this information, and nodded. "It sounds like a very unique school." This was saying something, coming from a student of Ashford Academy under the reign of President Millay Ashford. "Sora is a girl, then?"
myownfuture: (Am I doing this knight thing right)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 10:54 am (UTC)(link)
"Yeah. She's the only girl to be allowed to own Weapons, so far. I don't know why, though," she added before the boy could ask that question.

"I'm Reiko Date. Second year high school. And you are?"
veepofchess: (cool as a cucumber)

[personal profile] veepofchess 2010-12-28 11:57 am (UTC)(link)
"Lelouch vi Britannia," he replied, unable to keep a note of grandiosity from his tone. He paused a moment, deciding how to best introduce himself. "High school senior," he replied. Well, he had been until recently. "Student Council Vice-President," he also added.
thatguywhohasablog: either slightly concerned, vaguely impressed or mildly confused (huh)

/EDITS THIS A MILLION TIMES??

[personal profile] thatguywhohasablog 2010-12-28 02:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Dave suddenly understood very little indeed. This was way more complicated and unfathomable than anything Sburb had thrown at him yet, and he was increasingly certain that this, whatever the hell it was, wasn't part of any instance of the Incipisphere. It just didn't fit. Any freaking out he was doing over this, though, was staying firmly on the inside; he was just going to roll with it for now, at least until he had a better idea of what was going on.

"So I guess that makes me junior fucking nonsensical Pokémon master of pulling swords out of people with the power of friendship. Awesome. Any of you guys feel like letting these magic hands yank shit out of your chest? I promise I'll be gentle. Like a goddamn fall of spring rain or something. Newborn baby deer blinking their massive eyes up at these scarcely inclement weather conditions all over this shit but you won't feel a thing."
Edited 2010-12-28 14:34 (UTC)
tenwholeryou: (huh what where)

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2010-12-28 02:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Kotarou had, until this point, been following along with the numb comprehension of a child in over their head. He didn't even listen to the woman in the wall, that was too much; staring around at the others with the suspicion of three months' experience of one blonde man was more than enough to occupy him. But when a foreign boy next to him opened his mouth and managed to say an entire stream of words Kotarou didn't understand..? That was something he could focus on.

"Huh?"
summerstars: (not good)

[personal profile] summerstars 2010-12-28 03:36 pm (UTC)(link)
Grenn was briefly distracted from trying to figure things out by the guy beside her being rather loudly confused. He'd zoned out earlier, so the system was obviously familiar to him...

But in truth, Grenn didn't care about that. She cared about the fact that there were memories gone, and not just memories that impacted her, but, at least one of them, she abstractly knew, concerned something bigger than herself. And she couldn't do anything to stop whatever it was.

Then...

"... Frag. I'm going to..." Grenn bit off when she realized she'd muttered out loud again, and stared down at the bag where both uniform and her prostethics lay. She was going to have to use them, if she wanted a chance.

And what was with this place, with this level of holographic technology and absolutely, brain-stoppingly ancient mobility aids?! How did this even compute!
thatguywhohasablog: indifferent slouch (:/)

[personal profile] thatguywhohasablog 2010-12-28 05:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Dave glanced down at the kid without so much as a raised eyebrow. He could have been staring behind his shades, but it was hard to be sure.

"Kinda young for this shit, aren't you?"
tenwholeryou: (I will stand here until you vow B()

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2010-12-28 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
"No!" He wasn't sure what he was meant to be too young for, he'd gathered something of what she'd said about weapons that meant there would be fighting. Which, going by past experience, he'd really rather avoid until he could learn how.
He bristled anyway, now he had a convenient target for his frustration. "None of this makes any sense anyway, you know! People aren't weapons."
thatguywhohasablog: unimpressed by buster sword (who would even use this thing)

[personal profile] thatguywhohasablog 2010-12-28 06:52 pm (UTC)(link)
"Nah, this is some sparkly metaphorical crap," Dave told him. "Like we're all gonna be standing around making speeches about how pure our hearts are and resurrecting our fallen comrades with the power of our tears and shit while we pull imaginary video game ghost weapons out of each other's sternums."
tenwholeryou: (... the shit is this)

I'M SORRY DAVE

[personal profile] tenwholeryou 2010-12-28 07:10 pm (UTC)(link)
Again, Kotarou was left blinking. Was the guy agreeing with him? He couldn't tell. "What?"
myownfuture: (Huh?)

[personal profile] myownfuture 2010-12-28 08:18 pm (UTC)(link)
...vice president... A flash of someone else came to mind. Tall, dark, and handsome, or at least she assumed so, because in her mind's eye, Reiko couldn't make out Sumita's face.

That was weird. She'd never had trouble with that before...

"Student council, huh?" she repeated, her voice dark. "I wonder if you'll get to meet the student council here."

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