rakuen | New Arrivals (All new characters)

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New Arrivals (All new characters)

You're falling, and you can't remember why. It's a sickening feeling that makes your insides lurch; the darkness and the vertigo combine, and all you can think of is a story you heard once, somewhere.

Ah, I remember now. It's... a simple story that everyone knows. A legend of a Princess, the Demon Lord who kidnapped her, and the Knight who fought to save her. The Demon Lord had kidnapped the Princess countless times, but every time the Knight bested his challenges and rescued the Princess. No matter what tricks and ploys the Demon Lord used, the Knight would always triumph in the end. This was because--

The world tilts on its axis one last time, and the dream slips from your mind as easily as it arrived. A new voice intrudes on your sleep. Mechanical, monotonous.

"Next stop: Rakuen City. This train terminates here. The next stop is Rakuen. All change." The train rocks steadily. Fog envelopes the windows, obstructing your view and reminding you of an unsettling dream simultaneously. The air is humid inside the carriages, a vent beside your feet heating the air and making the seats almost uncomfortably warm. A puff of steam from the train winds its way lazily past the windows, a slightly different shade and consistency as the grey fog.

It's strangely difficult to shake off the sleep; the rhythm of the train seems to lull you back into slumber and the air is warm and heavy, making it hard to keep hold of a thought. Finally, though, the nausea settles, the last of the dream fades and you can take in your surroundings. And, perhaps more importantly, those around you in a similar state. The train judders to a stop, the shape of buildings and people only now barely visible as shadows beyond the windows.

"We have arrived at Rakuen City. All passengers must leave the train. This train is terminating here. This is Rakuen."

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Alex nods, his hand reaching up to the drawstrings of his hoodie. He noticed that no one seemed to have any of the emotion shadows he was so used to seeing on people, if anything, that made him feel more lost than anything else. He kept looking around at the people in the crowd with a bit of puzzlement.

"I-I don't remember g-getting on the train."

She rubbed the back of her head and looked around. "I don't think any of us do."

Alex stood quiet for a moment, then offered her his hand, "I-I'm Alex." He looked around again, "Y-you think the g-government's g-got something to do with this? Y-you weren't part of the C.R.P., were y-you?"

She took his hand grinning. "My awesome name is Prussia, but you can call me Maria, if it's easier!" she said.

She considered his questions, "Government? Nein, West's government did things like this once, but they packed the trains much more than this and weren't kind enough to knock everyone out during the journey." She frowned, "But things are different and I would have known if West was going to do things like that again, and she wouldn't have done that to her awesome sister!"

She then stopped thinking about it and asked, "What is the C.R.P.?"

Alex just listened a bit confused. The words were mostly English, and both languages he understood, but he had no knowledge of the events that she was talking about. Something wasn't lining up, but at least he could answer the last question though he was surprised she hadn't heard the propaganda. "I-it's a government p-program that says it helps children with psychological p-problems," he looked over his shoulder a bit nervously before continuing, "or at least th-that's what they s-say they do. I-it's a p-part of the U.S. g-government. I-it's not as n-nice as it p-pretends ta be."

"Amerika's government?" she asked. "I did not know they had a program like that..."

She tried to imagine the America she knew forming government programs with secret malevolent agendas... that kind of thing only happened in video games. "Well, I'm not from Amerika's land or government! I'm from... I'm from..." she trailed off getting a puzzled expression on her face. Why couldn't she remember West's real name. Her precious little sister was not called West by the rest of the world. "West..." she tried to focus on another sister, but she couldn't even remember the name of her twin!

Her accent should help, though, it was heavily German.

Alex smiled, "G-Germany, right? M-my parents were from there. Mum only spoke German. They l-left c-cause Father owns an apartment c-complex in America." He noticed the expression, but was baffled about the lack of a shadow. He was pretty sure that there should have been one there, but he couldn't see anything.

She is about to answer that he had guessed correctly, but her eyes cloud over and when her expression clears she says, "What were we talking about?"

This was the first time Alex saw that expression in someone else- but the feeling was familiar enough he could recognize it with the aid of her question. He wasn't sure what he said that had sparked that, so he decided to try to be general and smiled as if nothing weird had happened, "M-my family's f-from the same place as you."

"Oh! That's awesome, it's an awesome place! If only... if only I could remember what West's name is," she frowns, that's a weird thing for her to forget and she's not someone that suffers from random memory lost. She, in fact, is really good with names, but pretends she isn't when she doesn't like the person.

"I'm sure you'll remember...." Alex shrugs a bit, "I don't know too much about Germany. I was never there, but mum talked about it a lot."

As soon as he said Germany her expression blanks. "Your Mutti talked about something?" she looks confused again as she speaks, but it's faster to clear up this time.

"Her home country at times. She liked it there." Again, he just acted like nothing happened. He hadn't yet read the manual and learned about the memory charms. As far as he realized so far, the dream was only that, a dream.

"Then why did she leave if she liked it?" she asked. She would read the manual from back to front later when she found out about it.

"Well, there were b-better opportunities in America, s-so Father moved, an' that's where I grew up." He shrugged a bit, looking a bit awkward. He wasn't too fond talking about his father.

Considering she only had an ancient nation she recognized as a father figure and no one she recognized as a mother figure, she really couldn't understand. It was one of those things about humans she didn't get.

"Well Amerika always claims she has the freest country," she said. She didn't really agree though.

Alex looked puzzled for a second. "Y-you're talking like America's a p-person...?" Inflections on voices he wasn't very good with, but that was a simple matter of grammar. 'She has' indicates the country personified, which wasn't too weird, but the way it was used reflexively was. Usually people would use 'they', referring to the people in America, right?

"Ja, she is," she said casually. "So am I, a country and a person, that is."

"... How d-does that work?" At least he could believe it, even if he wasn't sure how it worked. How much weirder would it be than the aliens that called themselves trolls?

She thought for a moment, "Hmmm~ Not actually sure, never thought about it. I get sick when the economy doesn't do well. I go to war when my boss tells me to." She shrugs, "It's just what I am."

Alex listens with interest and nods when she finishes, "I-it's interesting."

She nods in agreement, "Ja, life is never boring for a nation!" Except, when they weren't one anymore. She doesn't mention that fact.

Alex laughed a bit and smiled, "P-personally, the most e-excitement I l-like is a good c-computer game."

"Kesesese~ Video games are awesome! Japan makes the best ones!" Prussia said.

"I m-make the best ones," Alex jokes. "B-but yeah, Japan h-has some of the b-best, but a f-few American artists a-are making s-some g-good things lately."

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New Arrivals (All new characters)

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sorry for the lateness

It's no problem!

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