rakuen | Checking in

"-iyo? Hello? Reiko?" Sora peered around the doorway, sheet of paper in hand. On it were five names in neat handwriting, which she had on good authority as being the names of her princesses. At least, she hoped so. In any case, one of them had decided she wasn't allowed anywhere without it. She thought it were Reiko. Or maybe Tomoko. They were all nice names.

But this room only held a young boy. Sora blinked at him for a moment, then walked the rest of the way into the room, because he looked, in her professional opinion, totally miserable. "Hey!"

Fletcher looked up when the strange redheaded girl wandered into his room. "Um-- h-hello!" He'd thought he wasn't supposed to have any roommates, but maybe he'd heard wrong. But... a girl? "Are you, um, in this room too?"

"No," she said, without any real embarrassment. "I'm looking for my friends. We're meant to be meeting at," here she glanced at her list again for the one circled name, "Koharu's room, but I forgot to ask where that is."

She flopped down on one of the free beds, and smiled up at him. The precious list was proffered, "Have you seen them?"

"O-oh!" He stood up and went to go peer at the list. "Um-- no, sorry, I haven't met any of them... And I'm the only one in this room so I don't think this is the right place... I'm sorry."

"That's okay," she tucked the list into the pocket of her blazer, dropped back onto the bed entirely and let her arms drape over the sides. "I left really early. I'm sure I'll find them in time. Haaa, I'm tired."

She lay like that for a bit, then cracked one eye open to look over at Fletcher again. "What do you think of the school? I couldn't get over how big it was, at first."

Fletcher sat back down, hands folded on his lap, and looked down at the floor. "Um... it's kind of nice... it's really big..." But he fidgeted a bit as he talked. "I-I don't really like fighting, though. And my brother's here, but he's in a different dorm..."

Edited 2010-12-30 21:36 (UTC)

"Someone's making you fight?" She rolled onto her side, then sat up. Problems already? Maybe they had been right, and this was still the same system. She might not be a Player for now, but one of the others was, and that meant nothing had changed. If someone here was forcing him into something he didn't want to do... "Who?"

Edited 2010-12-30 22:55 (UTC)

"Well--the school." He pulled his knees up under his chin and wrapped his arms around his legs. "If we don't fight we, we can't get our memories back, right?"

"That's not the only way!" Sora leant forward, earnest, "If you ask, I'm sure..." But she wasn't sure, just yet, whether people would be willing to spend their tokens on other people just like that. She hoped, though. And until then?

"I'll buy your memories back," she offered, without another thought. "I'll participate in as many battles as I can. I'm sure Re- To- um, my Player won't mind if we give some to you."

Fletcher blinked up at her, eyes wide in surprise. "R-really? But don't--don't you have your own to buy back?" It was beyond him why a complete stranger, someone he'd never met before, would be so generous for someone like him.

She nodded, suddenly energetic again. He didn't look as upset any more, and that was a huge victory. Her own problems could be worked out in time; his took priority, and she was sure the others would understand. "I'll be okay. A knight will face anything if it's to help someone!"

Despite himself, Fletcher found himself smiling. He almost couldn't believe that someone he'd just met had offered something like that.

"Th-- thank you!" He made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a hiccup, as though he wasn't sure whether to be happy or what. "But-- I... my brother needs them before I do, and I--" He couldn't just say "Buy them for my brother instead", that would sound so ungrateful.

It had taken a little while for Russel to find Fletcher's room. It didn't help that he was on the way other side of campus. He didn't even bother to knock, instead he just let himself in. "Fletcher?" he said, to at least make sure he had the right room. He ignored Sora for now, as he crossed toward where his brother sat.

Sora's smile softened, and she was on the verge of including his brother in her promise when the door clicked open again and someone who looked like he fit the bill walked in. When he greeted the younger boy - Fletcher, so apparently she'd forgotten to introduce herself too - familiarly, that clinched it. They'd need some time to talk, so she fished out her list of names again and began to study it. She'd almost managed to remember one of the names for an entire second before! If she kept working at it, maybe the memories would come back on their own.

Fletcher looked up. Ah, it was his brother... He'd intended to spend some time alone and pout about the whole situation, but with the red-haired girl here it seemed like that wasn't going to happen, so whatever.

He smiled up at his brother, then over to Sora. "Oh-- right, sorry. My name is Fletcher Tringham. And this is my big brother."

He crossed to Fletcher and gave him a hug. "You okay?" he asked. He sat down beside Fletcher. "Hey," he said to Sora. "I'm Russel."

That hug was sorely needed. Fletcher clung back just long enough not to embarrass himself in front of the strange person.

Then he blinked in surprise. Russel? He hadn't heard that name before. Wasn't his brother's name... ... he drew a blank. What was his brother's name?

His breathing grew quicker just slightly, but he tried not to show his panic. Why couldn't he remember his brother's name? He'd just introduced himself as something-- what had he said? Why couldn't Fletcher remember?

Edited 2010-12-31 05:19 (UTC)

"Hi, Russel! And Fletcher too. My name's Sora," she dipped into as good a bow as she could manage whilst gathered up on top of a bed, her list crinkling in her hands. "It must be a relief to be with someone close."

Russel! His name was Russel! Fletcher muttered it under his breath to himself in hopes of remembering. How could he forget? They were brothers, Fletcher had known him his whole like, how could he ever forget that his name was Russel?

"Y-yeah. It, it is," he said, but he sounded anything but relieved.

Russel absently rubbed his brother's arm. His anxiety was obvious, even to him, but he didn't want to address it at that moment. Not in front of a stranger, anyway. "Hi, Sora. Actually, could you give us a minute? There's something I need to talk to Fletcher about." His face was a little stony. Fletcher would know it's how he got when he was annoyed with something and he wasn't trying to look it. But for others, it just made him a bit hard to read.

"Ah- Okay! I really should go find the others," she swivelled herself so she could clamber back off the bed without faceplanting into anything solid, and made a brief, terrible effort to straighten the covers for whichever unfortunate soul might have wanted to use them later. After a few seconds, she gave up, tucked her list back into her pocket, and gave them both a wave. "If you want to talk, I'm in the Red dorm, okay? 1-A!"

And then there was the sound of air rushing to fill a sora-shaped space in the centre of the room, as she left again. Her cheerful "See you both later!" just managed to slip through the door before it closed.

Fletcher didn't have a chance to say anything before Sora stood up and left; all he could manage was a wave. He was kind of numb. His brother speaking had distracted him, and he'd forgotten the name again.

Finally, now that they were alone, his breath hitched in his throat and he looked up with a panicked sort of expression. "Brother--!"

He rolled his eyes at Sora's departure, and cringed a bit when she'd said she was in his room. Boys and girls together. Great. This was going to suck.

But more importantly, Fletcher was upset. "What's wrong, Fletcher? Did something happen?" He knew he shouldn't have let him go on his own in this strange place.

"I can't remember what your name is," he said, voice shaking. "I--and you just said it again but now I can't remember it!" That was coherent. Way to go, Fletcher. Well it's not like he could really help it. "What am I gonna do?!"

Russel stood, and leaned over toward Fletcher, his hands on the boy's shoulders. "It's okay, Fletcher. They said we'd all lost memories. Some of them are probably more important than others."

His mind was racing, trying to remember. Trying to pull that name out of whatever hole it had fallen into. He went through every masculine name he could think of, trying to attach it to his brother's face, but none of them fit right. He heard the words he'd just said, but they seemed wrong. It wasn't okay, it wouldn't be okay until he could remember.

He covered his eyes with his hands and whimpered. "I don't want to fight, though! Why-- why are they doing this to us?!"

"Calm down, Fletcher. You don't have to. Listen to me." He pulled Fletcher's arms down so they can make eye contact. "You're still my brother, no matter what. Even if you can't remember my name. I'll protect you. You don't have to fight anyone."

He sniffled a little, not outright crying but still feeling pretty miserable. At least he understood and wasn't mad about it. "What if someone wants me to be a weapon? Or-- what if they pick me as a Player?"

"Then you just tell them no. They'd have to be insane to want a kid to fight in the first place. And just because they pick you, that doesn't mean you have to fight in the first place. It just means you're capable." His voice was certain and resolute. In his mind, he made plans to find out whose ass he had to kick to get an exception made.

"But what about the memory charms? If-- I don't-- people can't just buy them for me." And then he remembered what the video had said, that that was exactly how it was supposed to work, and added, "Not without me doing anything in return! That's not equivalent exchange!"

If he thought about it rationally, he realized he wouldn't have to fight or be used; the video had said that Weapons had to agree to be owned, and if he was a Player he could just avoid owning anyone, probably. But there were still problems.

"I'll get yours," he said. "I'm your brother, it's my job. And I'll give you my credits and you can buy some for me. That way it's all even. Okay?" He reached over and ruffled his brother's hair, in a way he hoped was comforting.

That was even? It didn't really seem like it. But then his brother ruffled his hair and he couldn't bring himself to protest. He always wanted to protect Fletcher from everything; the least Fletcher could do was not complain.

"I... um, okay." But he still wasn't happy with it.

"We'll be okay. I promise," he said, pulling his brother into another hug. "Nothing bad will happen to you."

Fletcher clung, much more tightly than before, and didn't let go this time. He couldn't shake that feeling of guilt that he was a horrible brother for not being able to remember something as simple and basic as a name, despite knowing it wasn't his fault. So he didn't say anything.

Just like any other time, Hiyo walked to her dorm room casually. She had notice no differences to whatever arrangements had been made and was planning to relax for a bit before going back out. Small beads of sweat slid down her cheek as she made to open the door and -

"Who're you?" she asked, eyes wide slightly as she found the other boy in her room. "I... don't remember you being here," she said to herself, and glanced at her surroundings. The room seemed like the same as any other, the only thing was the people in it.

She saw the glove that he had and her eyes narrowed for a moment, but ignored it for now and offered him a smile. "Well, I don't think that all matters, actually. I'm Hiyo, it's nice to meet you!"

Fletcher was sitting down at his desk now, after hanging out with Molly, and going through his Exaclan rule book. If there were any other rules he didn't know about in this game, he wanted to at least know what they were. So far, though, he hadn't gotten to the part that would explain what the symbol on his hand meant, that it showed he was somebody's "object".

He looked up at the girl who'd just walked in. Wait, he was supposed to share a room with a girl? He turned bright red. "I-I'm sorry! I thought-- I mean, I, I think they made a mistake... M-my name's Fletcher, they told me I'm supposed to stay here..."

"Oh, really? I wonder when they made that change," though for the life of her, Hiyo couldn't remember her roommates' names anyway, so it wasn't like this arrangement was bad or anything. It didn't have any effect on what she had planned to do that evening. Not that she cared anyway, either.

She sat down on one of the other beds across from his, and made for small talk. Might as well, right? "Are you new to the Academy? If you ever need anything, just let me know!"

"It wasn't like that before?" Huh, why would they change that? The old way seems to have made a lot more sense.

He nodded. "I-I just woke up on the train this morning and then they brought me inside and I watched this movie about, um, Exaclan with everyone else..."

She shrugged in response, "No, it's just that I don't really remember being told I was going to have a new roommate~"

The topic of Exaclan came up and she shifted uncomfortably on her bed for a moment. "What do you think of it? The idea of Exaclan," she asked, looking straight at Fletcher.

"O-oh. I'm sorry," he mumbled, and looked down at his lap.

"Um... I don't... I don't know. It seems really awful to make people fight like that. And--and they kidnapped us, too!" He looked up, looking a little desperate. "I really didn't enroll here and I don't remember getting on that train!"

"It's bad, isn't it? We're just Iwahijiri's toys," she muttered darkly and her hands tensed in her lap. "Making us fight each other for their own amusement is wrong."

She looked up to him, however, when he mentioned being kidnapped. Did Iwahijiri really go that far as to take people away from their homes and bring them to the Academy? "You mean, you didn't enroll here?"

Iwahijiri... he thought he'd read that name in the guide book somewhere. He'd have to double-check.

He shook his head. "N-no, I just--I woke up on that train and then when I came in the lady at the desk said I enrolled, but I know I didn't!" He was actually shaking a little. "I never would have! They took away our memories and they're trying to--to make us fight...!"

"H-Hey... It's alright, calm down there," she stood up and moved to sit next to him, patting his head. "Things'll be alright, you know? You just need to stay positive!" Well, there was her optimism in play. Hiyo didn't really want to do this, but if it was enough to keep her mask up, then...

Her lips tugged into a frown and she looked at him straight in the eyes once more. "What do you mean took away your memories?" she questioned.

He looked up at her. She was so nice... He was at least lucky that he'd gotten someone like Hiyo as a roommate.

"The... the lady in the video said they did it to make us fight. I..." His lip wobbled, but he willed himself to keep from bursting into tears. "I can't remember my big brother's name."

Her eyes narrowed at the thought of an older brother, and she tried to remember something on her own. The name of an older sibling... Hiyo had a sister, but... What was her name? She tried to remember the name of her older sister, but it wouldn't come to mind.

How in the world did she forget her own sister's name?

"Dammit..." she whispered to herself and her knuckles turned white from tensing up so much. Her eyes were wide as she stared into her lap. "Dammit, why can't I remember..."

"...Hiyo?" Fletcher asked. "Um-- what's wrong? Did--"

She'd forgotten something too? Of course... Everyone had. There was no one at this school with their memories intact.

Checking in

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject