Fortitude: Round 5 Start

[mamarosa]

Once again Dolorosa stands on the stage with her four Prefects, Nanami is finally out of her coma and the three other Prefects stand on either side of her. It should be a familiar scene by now, Dolorosa smiling out over her students, but maybe she looked a bit happier than last round. That can only mean one thing...

"Hello, my students, another round has come to an end and another is starting anew. We were the victors of round 4 and just as you have in past rounds, won or lost, everyone fought well," she takes a moment to applaud her school, "I am so very proud of all of you, each of you are coming more and more accustomed to the school and excelling, even if you believe it to be unfair. With this unity you will all do great things here. Don't let me down."

"I hope you're all enjoying the bonus of extra Raks for winning the round, I suggest you all go out and buy yourself a treat, I am particularly fond of the chocolate that Recette sells in her shop, but you're not here to hear me talk about sweets, let us get to the battle records." behind her, as per usual, the Battle Records show up on the screen.

"I believe we had more Fortitude battles this round than any round past, but let us congratulate Nanashi for defeating Jade, Spain for beating Nanashi, Inui for defeating Spain, Dave for defeating Gamzee, and Jade for defeating Marisa."

The interschool battle records appear on screen, "For Inter-school battles we should congratulate Jade for defeating Cirno, Spain for defeating Suzaku, Nanashi for defeating Golbez, Spain for defeating Golbez, Dave for defeating Suzaku, Jade for defeating Suzaku, and Marisa for defeating Cirno,"

"Lastly, we should congratulate Dave, Jade, and Spain for winning the round," Dolorosa begins to applaud for all the victors.

"And without further ado, the Players for round 5 are:
Dave,
Marisa,
Jade,
John,
Daenerys

Have a wonderful round!"

While the screen usually remains on the names those who are going to be Players for round time, it unexpectedly cuts over to the Conquest assembly. Dolorosa looks up at the screen and covers her mouth, she knows what's coming and knows that she doesn't want her students to witness it.

"Losing the round, as bad as it is. Is not what has made me angry today." Okay it was a big part of what had made her angry, but, "On Friday evening I was attacked, in my office. We have told you time and time again, it is not our fault you are here, taking your anger out on us is not necessary or smart." Her eyes glinted again, "I have my suspicions as to who my attacker is, and they will learn. That disobedience is met with punishment. That I cannot be threatened, and it is unwise to try." At that she turned to Flynn and he crumpled, her and Satana focused the warning penalty on him. The pain would be too much for him to stand or talk. It lasted for ten minutes,anyone who moved or talked was hit with a warning penalty strong enough to sink them to their knees. When it was over she stepped away from Flynn, who was curled up on the floor. It would be a few moments before he had the strength to stand. "Dismissed."

Throughout the broadcast Dolorosa tries to cut the stream but nothing works, Fortitude students won't be punished for moving or talking but it is still something she does no want them to witness.

"Please remain calm my students," she says in a shaky voice as the stream cuts out, "I'm sure everyone will be fine."
 

Comments

[wakingsavior]

<<'Shit, how'd that happen?'>> John knows how attached to that thing Dave is, and he's kind of worried about how he's going to handle things. <<'Do you have enough to get a new one if you can't find it?'>>

He feels like Dave's avoiding telling him something. He isn't sure if he should ask or not, and goes for "not" this time.

[knightime]

<<'I...dropped it.'>> Okay, he's just going to put his face in his hands. How do you intelligently say, I dropped my shit without saying someone slapped it out of your hand?

<<'I was going to look for it after I took a nap.'>> This is kind of true. He'd eventually go look for it. Or just shell out his raks for a new one. <<'From a scale from Strider is suave as usual to don't quite your day job, how stupid and obvious am I?'>>

[wakingsavior]

<<'Well, your day job might be in jeopardy after a few hours of sleep, but...'>> John shrugs and punches him lightly in the arm. At least Dave knows he's not fooling John, and isn't trying to just carry on. John appreciates that. <<'What happened?'>>

[knightime]

Dave instinctively flinched at that. He scowls a bit, hating himself for flinching when he knew it was John. He also couldn't help but remember that Nanami had punched him before dragging him off.

<<'I don't know.'>> His brain is made of fuck, okay? He's still wrapping his mind around it. <<'I...'>> He has to steady his hands. Fuck this shit. <<'Think I died.'>>

[wakingsavior]

Oh god. Oh god oh god oh god. The color drains from John's face, and he has a moment of... being really obviously freaked out. But he takes a deep breath to steady himself and nods decisively.

<<'Okay. We're going back to your room so you can go back to bed. And... I'll try to get you something to eat, maybe? Are you a player this round? I missed the announcement.'>>

[knightime]

He's really glad you didn't ask him how he died. It's one thing to admit he died (which he has trouble with as is). It's even harder to admit that he died because of something like he couldn't swim. And Dave kind of looks kind of tiny and tired and he was pretty sure most of his dreams had to do with water and not being able to breathe. And he hates that John is freaking out. He didn't want the other to know because of this.

And he just shakes his head, because he doesn't think he can stomach anything right now. <<'You do know that all three of us are Players this round. Right?'>> Good job, Egbert. Way to miss important shit.

[wakingsavior]

John wants to know. John wants to know if it's anybody's fault so he can go kick some ass and he wants to know how so that he can try to keep it happening again, but on the whole, Dave... doesn't look like he's doing very well, and John figures that asking for details would be pretty much exactly the worst thing to do right now.

He does stop and blink at the revelation that they're all Players, though. <<'Oh. I am? Huh.'>> It's definitely a step up from last week, anyway. He shrugs a little <<'Well, whatever, you're still going back to bed, man, you look like shit.'>>

He reaches out for Dave's wrist, catching hold of it like Dave has often done to him, and starts walking. You may not have absconded before getting cornered, Dave, but John's going to get you out of here now.

[knightime]

Dave wished this didn't bother him as much as it was showing. Usually, in the session, he just kept going. But maybe it was different. Usually there weren't other people watching him die. He didn't have the terrible feeling of hopelessness.

He just nods quietly.

He pulls his wrist out of John's hand, only to lace their fingers together. That felt more comfortable. More secure. John could tease him, but he preferred it this way. At least this way, he didn't feel so separate from the other.

[wakingsavior]

John doesn't feel the need to tease Dave - especially if he had died, that was probably really scary, John would want to hold someone's hand, too. He looks at Dave and flashes what he hopes is a reassuring smile, and squeezes his best bro's hand.

It's only a couple of minutes to get from the assembly to Dave's room, and as they head inside, John pulls out his PDA instead of letting go of Dave's hand, typing as best he can with one thumb, and holding it out for Dave to read.

hey dave, do i need to do that thing where I take your shoes off and tuck you in?
or can you manage the shoes yourself?

It's a little bit of a joke, hopefully it'll at least make Dave roll his eyes, but John does mean to tuck him in, sort of. It's not like there's anyone to really look out for them, here, not like back home before Sburb. So they gotta look out for each other. That's how John sees it, anyway.

[knightime]

If only that were the only time, John. If only.

Dave's ears start turning red, and he kind of stiffens a bit. He didn't want to be trouble. Sis taught him how to be independent and get around by himself. It's always been like that. Maybe he's still too used to that mindset. He forgets that he can rely on John and Jade, and now Rose. It wasn't SBURB, where he let John go on his own and he became the Server player for both Rose and Jade.

He kind of just walks past John, kicking his shoes off. God, he's being such a brat today. This really was not the time for him to get offended and be bratty, but oh well.