ROUND -1

[utopiamods]

This morning, the marks of ownership disappear from the bodies of every Weapon who was owned during the previous round. The woman from the introductory video appears on the Exaclan video screens across campus, and on all of the computer screens as well.

She doesn't look very happy.

"My, you weren't very enthusiastic this time, were you?" she says, frowning and waving one finger in disappointment. "That's no good. If you don't fight, you can't earn Tokens to buy your powers or your memories back! If you don't even have those, imagine how hard it'll be to earn Legend Fragments!"

She smiles; the shift from her previous expression is sudden and startling. "You know, if you hear the legend, you just might learn a few things!

"We didn't want to do this, but it looks like we're going to have to. Okay! From now on, Players, you can only go three days without fighting. After that, we'll start taking away one Token a day. And you want your Tokens, don't you?" She smiles even more widely, as though she has no idea why anyone might be upset at being forced into such a situation. "To get you all started, we've given you some free tokens! You already had three each, you know, and we've added seven more. That means you all have ten tokens, so visit a booth and get spending."

She pauses, and then snaps her fingers, "Ah, but only Players can do that, so if any of your Weapons want to buy something, you should do it for them, okay?

"I know you can do it! Believe in yourselves and each other, and you'll achieve utopia!

"Now, here are the Players for this round!"

The screen goes blank, and the following appears:

PLAYERS FOR ROUND -1:
Fletcher Tringham
Kevin Smith
Mei Chang
Meryl Silverburgh
Oichi
Suzaku Kururugi
Tsuki Aoi

Comments

[greennotgold]

A small smile finds its way onto the boy's face. "Really? Um-- great!" He nods again. "Okay, then. Um, my name's Fletcher, by the way, and I promise to protect you." He thinks that's how it should go.

[bitofafiction]

"My name is Sherlock Holmes, and I accept."

Oh look, there's his ownership mark back again. He smiles.

"Can I trouble you for a general note of permission?"

[greennotgold]

Fletcher shows no signs of recognition toward the name. He just replies, "It's nice to meet you! Oh, and sure. I'll write one right now."

There's a pen in his pocket -- even if his alchemy has somehow been shut off, he likes to carry around something to write with, out of habit -- so all he has to do is head to the receptionists' desk and ask for a slip of paper.

It's only a moment before he has a note written out for Sherlock, signed and dated. Though, the date he's written under his name concludes in the year 1915, so perhaps something is off...

[bitofafiction]

"Thank you," he says, folding the note and putting it away in his pocket. "Good luck. I'll look for you if I need to purchase something from the booths."

1915: a useful number to know. He doesn't comment on it, though.

[greennotgold]

"Okay! I'll help you buy whatever you need," he says. "Um-- I should go find my brother and see if he wants me to be his Player..."

[bitofafiction]

Something about those words makes Sherlock smile again.

"An excellent idea. Goodbye then," he says, and turns away.

[greennotgold]

"Goodbye! See you later!"

That was easy. He already has one Weapon, and it's only been a few minutes.