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wake up

You open your eyes. And then immediately squeeze them shut as a cloud of chalk dust gets clapped in your face, the student next to you looking surprised— but the sort of surprised as if they're faking it, barely suppressing a laugh. "What're you dozing off for, transfer student?" they ask, going back to wiping clean the chalkboard you two are standing in front of. "The sooner we get everything cleaned up, the sooner we can go home!" Another classmate tosses a wet rag at the side of your face, laughing as if a joke— if it weren't strangely warm to the touch, with dark red stains smelling strongly of iron.

All characters open their eyes and wake up in one of the classrooms around school. Whatever they remember last, it's lost in a thick, sleepy fog, the drowsiness still wearing off and making it difficult to reconcile the fact that they've never seen this classroom or these people in their lives, but somehow, it feels like they've been here forever. The other students all act familiar towards you, calling you by name and encouraging you to help clean the classrooms as part of observing the Vernal Equinox. Buckets of soapy water are set on the desks around the classrooms, light pink suds spilling over the sides, and both students and faculty can be seen hard of work scrubbing dark, stubborn stains out of the walls and floors. "It must be absolutely spotless," they murmur under their breaths. "All evidence must be erased."

You don't have to stay and clean. You could throw the rag back into a bucket and flip these strangers the bird and exit the classroom. But those who don't help clean even a little will find that they leave sticky red footprints wherever they walk, creating more work for everybody else and becoming very easy to track down and """accidentally""" knock over the backside of the head with a mop handle. Besides, it's not like you can walk out of the school and get back to whatever you were doing before. Your feet may bring you to the front door on autopilot, but the doors do not open for you, and neither do any of the windows no matter how hard you try to pry them open or kick them in.

Careful, though. On some windowsills, particularly on the third and fourth floors, rests a stack of five flat stones one on top of another: a gorinto to those who recognize such a thing, a pile of rocks to those who do not. The stones are all damp with water, topped with a scattering of wisteria flowers, and flanked by cheap packaged snacks. Whether on accident or on purpose, the moment you touch any of it—-

wake up

You open your eyes. The last thing you remember is touching a wet stone or trying to swipe the rice cracker beside it, and in the next moment, you're somewhere else inside the school. Characters who touch the gorinto or its offerings will find themselves pulled into a memory of high school life, one that feels like theirs, although they recognize that that's impossible. There's the feeling of being classmates with the other characters- perhaps two characters are seat partners, or best friends, or rivals, or club members- but despite the familiarity, do not know each other's names or recall ever seeing their faces before. Essentially, live your pre-established cr high school au dreams.

The memories fade in and out of different scenarios, but they all start off the same: You open your eyes.

(tw: implied suicide)

You're standing in front of a window, cold fingers wrapped around your wrist and pulling it away from the pile of stones. Perhaps another character has come to your rescue, or else one student in particular who shakes his head, whispers "don't," and walks away.

wake up

You open your eyes and wipe a bit of drool off the corner of your mouth. There's really no shame, when half the students sitting around you in the auditorium are half asleep as well. As if coming out of a dream, the characters don't remember getting here, just that they are now- sitting in uncomfortably hard plastic chairs in the back rows in the auditorium, the school principal's flat, droning voice reverberating oddly off the walls of the large room. No matter how hard you try, you cannot get up out of your seat.

"...and now, let us congratulate the graduating class," the principal says, stepping back from the podium. A single student rises to her feet and meets the principal at the center of the stage, her long dark hair falling across her face as she bows and receives her diploma. "Congratulations, graduate. May your life be full and prosperous. Please, if you would say a few words..."

The girl straightens and pushes her hair out of her face with one hand— she has no other hand, the entire sleeve of her right rolled all the way up to the shoulder and pinned flat. She forgoes the podium and the microphone, but somehow, her voice rings out clearly and reaches all the way to the back of the room: "Keep your eyes open."

With that parting message, she steps off the stage, disappearing into the mass of students who stand and fill the room with applause, drawing the graduation ceremony to a close. Characters find that they can now get up and move, which is a good thing because the other students are all pushing and shoving to get out of the auditorium and out the front doors, phasing right through the closed doors. Like a sieve, the school empties out, leaving behind the dregs.

wake up

Your eyes are open and the school is quiet. None of the students or faculty remain in the school, and all the staff— the principal, faculty, nurse, and counselor's— offices are locked. A skinny black cat flicks its tail from where it sits on top one of the lockers, where characters can find a copy of the school calendar showing the next two weeks to be spring vacation, with the school being closed for the holiday.

At least, with school vacated, it's clear from those left who's in the same boat and allows the chance for exploration away from prying eyes of the other students and staff. Introductions are probably in order, a discussion of what the fuck is going on, maybe also a plan of attack— or a plan for survival, at the very least, because there is no way out of this school. What ingredients are left in the home economics kitchen is going to have to last everybody the next two weeks. The student store is already empty. The water runs pink. The vending machines don't respond to jostling or being kicked over and brought to the ground, only the last dozen "merit points" on your PDA that you can't earn any more of, with class out of session. The snack you've been hiding in your locker should probably be saved as a last resort. The cats are starting to look tasty.

Hang in there. School will be starting again real soon.

OOC

✽ Characters experience the recurring feeling of drifting in (school life) and out (canon life) of sleep up until the graduation ceremony, after which they will have full awareness and come to their senses. Pre-established cr is possible to some extent, as a varying degree of familiarity may remain, but all characters will be strangers to one another unless they know each other in canon. All npcs will know the characters' names, but characters will not know each other's names until introduced.

✽ The second prompt occurs upon a character touching a gorinto or any of the offerings surrounding it. While touching it, characters fall into a trance and experience different scenes of high school life, with examples given in the prompt but players are free to play out any aspect of normal school life taking place at any time during the school year.

stopit

npc contact page

locations page

✽ As a reminder, all doors and windows leading outside are locked and cannot be broken. From midnight until 6AM, all sound disappears from the world. Characters are free to use their PDA as a network, but it is text (and shitty touchpad art) only and all threads are public.

✽ TDM threads may be used for bonus activity after April AC is submitted.

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You aren't gonna get through.

[ Haruhi chimes in, arms folded as she watches Ishimaru flare up against the door. ]

I tried everything I could think of, and it wouldn't open for me. It's locked tight.

It's Thursday.

[ Ala says this as a matter of fact, taking the bucket and... just holding onto it, really, both hands on the handles as she holds it in front of her lap as if this is enough participation to count.

She yawns, mouth wide without the hands to cover it, and would honestly love to be able to fall asleep standing up because she could do it right here if she could. ]

The school's just gonna get dusty again over break... Isn't this good enough?

I am 99% sure it's Saturday. [Ritsuka cups her chin in her hand.] Unless it's Friday. Then I'm 99% sure it's Friday.

[If a situation is strange, confusing, scary, and potentially dangerous, just do a bit! Instantly makes everything funnier, if not any less strange, confusing, scary, and potentially dangerous.]

Trust me, it's at least worth it to put in a good effort. Take a whiff of your rag; you'll see what I mean.

[It looks like whoever this is, she's another transfer student. And if Ritsuka can get her to come to her senses, then she'll at least have one ally in this place. She needs to start somewhere.]

[ When Haruhi got to the library, she had figured there had to be something hidden there. Something like a hidden message left in a book, or a key or something. So in her case, she was more just flipping through books without really taking in much of the contents. It was much more likely that the books weren't that strange.

The... somewhat odd typography aside.

As she looked around, she came across another person checking through the books. Someone else looking for a key? Except when she drew near, she noticed that this other girl was actually reading through them. Hm.

Haruhi opened her mouth to check her progress, but nothing came out when she tried to speak. The eerie silence was bothering her enough, but being unable to produce any noise was just plain creepy.

So, at the very least, she could wave a bit to try to get Himeko's attention. ]

Edited (shhhhhh) 2021-03-21 15:49 (UTC)

What happens if Ritsuka tries to get to know the NPC students a bit better and learn their names? Not just casual repartee while cleaning, but a concerted effort to be friendly?

Ew, no way!

[ Ala laughs and shakes her head, the heavy bucket being the only thing keeping her from running away from having to sniff a smelly old rag. Who knows where that thing's been? Actually, she does: it's been wiping up muck from all around the school, and has got to be gross. ]

I don't need to sniff it to know that it's gross!

Oh, my locker had clothes in it too. I guess if you wash them well enough they'll last until we go home.
Also, I found this weird notebook. It looks like it was used, but there's nothing written at all! Unless the words are hidden.

Um...

[ It's probably (almost surely) not normal, but Ala doesn't really have a lot of context for how high school works in general, whether everybody's supposed to graduate or just the best, or what a full graduating class numbers to. ]

She's gotta be, like, really smart or strong or something, right? The competition at this school must be super tough!

Depending on how she goes about it, they might give her weird looks for trying to reintroduce herself and ask their names outright, but she can learn their names by listening to them talk to each other. If she makes a concentrated effort to be friendly, they'll be friendly back to her and will joke around and act as if they've always been close friends.

[As the rest of the students filter out of the auditorium, Ritsuka stays behind, sidling up to the mystery student who kept her away from one of the gorinto shrines. (She's going to be mourning the loss of that protein bar for a long time.)]

Thanks for helping me out back there. [Her voice is entirely sincere, there's no trace of false friendliness.] I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't stumbled into me. Prrrrobably nothing good. [Laughing nervously, Ritsuka rubs the back of her neck.]

...what do you think the next semester is going to be like? You know. Classes and stuff. I want to get a head start on studying over break.

Oh, I'm Ritsuka Fujimaru, in case you forgot. Almost all of our classmates refuse to get my name right and it's honestly getting kinda annoying! Especially when there's more than one "transfer student" in the room. [She smiles.] Some of my friends call me Gudako, though. You can too, if it's easier to remember.

Thank you kindly! Ritsuka is probably going to make that first mistake once and then try to play it off as a bit before naturally integrating and learning their names just through overhearing them.

And if the rags are this gross, then we obviously need to clean. [Ritsuka rolls her eyes, but she's still smiling wide at Ala as she scrubs at the washing board with renewed vigor.

So much for that tactic, although it's really no surprise that her classmate refused to get a lungful of a smelly rag. What else, then?]

This is awkward, but... can you remind me of your name? Everybody else calling us "transfer student" all the time makes it hard to memorize anybody's names.

Oh, mine's Ritsuka Fujimaru. Some of my friends call me Gudako, though.

hopefully that's soon! I'm getting kind of homesick already ):
are you thinking about invisible ink? i saw lemonade in the vending machines! i didn't get it bc I don't like lemonade

[ The look on the boy's face suggests that definitely nothing good would have come out of leaving her standing there like a zombie until the end of time, but all he gives is a half-shrug of one shoulder as an acknowledgement of his help. ]

As if I'd leave you blocking the hall all day, Ritsuka.

[ Mm. Not calling her Gudako, like they're not that close friends— but he doesn't offer his name either, because surely she knows his? There's a lot of students in this school, but they've both been students here all year. ]

Anyways, next semester's going to be a killer. It's our last year, so that's no surprise, is it?

I'm Ala!

[ And apparently just Ala, thought she does shift her weight from one foot to another, fidgety after just a minute or two of carrying this bucket. It's like how misbehaving students are sent to the hall carrying a bucket of water... she's read about this in books. She gets it. This is awful. She wants to set it down but she also wants to help, and this is helping, or something. ]

How do you get "Gudako" from "Ritsuka Fujimaru"?

You know where it is? Oh, phew. This school is like a labyrinth and asking one of our, er, "classmates" for directions to the front freaking door would get me more weird looks than I can deal with.

[If Ritsuka "Gudako" Fujimaru has one talent, it's rolling with the punches of forceful weirdos who have an inexplicable use for her.

~~And making friends with all sorts of higher-order divine beings, but that's a talk for another day.~~

Really, this is the most normal thing that's happened to her today. For her value of normal. Which is "insanely fucked what in the world is wrong with you people" for most.

She immediately begins walking with Haruhi, stretching her arms.] I'm not all that strong, really, [her toned, although not jaw-droppingly athletic, biceps claim otherwise,] but I'll see what I can do to lend a hand.

Hm. If it doesn't open with my help, do you think we could find a crowbar or something in a janitor's closet? Worst case, we could figure out a way to smuggle some power tools out of the metalworking shop.

...it's normal for me, if you look at things a certain way,

[the forty-seven coffins that stood silent in the command room during the Grand Order are a testament to that,]

but you're right. All of this is wrong. [Ritsuka's face is relaxed as she's looking at the sole graduating student, at her one arm, but her scarred hands tremble. She can't tell if it's the heebie-jeebie kind of nerves acting up or the literal slightly-singed kind of nerves acting up, but either way, she can't stop it.

Becoming closely acquainted with the specter of death (literally, in Ritsuka's case) doesn't mean the fear of it goes away. She just got better at dealing with it. And right now, she sees forty-seven coffins on that stage alongside the last student standing.]

You're another "transfer student," right?

Haaaaaah. I should know that, but that was the exact answer I didn't want. [Ritsuka slumps, face forlorn. What's surprising is that the anxiety isn't just coming from the surreal situation she's found herself in; it turns out that "fear of high school" is wired into every teenager's brain. Even after escaping it to be drawn into a bunch of wacky globe-trotting and age-spanning misadventures, the idea of failing a test still sinks a pit into Ritsuka's stomach.]

I just wish I had some more tips from our upperclassmen before taking on our last year. [Plus, Ritsuka had a feeling that her new friend meant "killer" in more than one sense of the word.] Although "keep your eyes open" is definitely going to end up being more important than it sounds, it, well, looks like.

Edited (clarity, again!) 2021-03-21 06:46 (UTC)

Another important question: are there yearbooks in the library, or at least the most recent yearbook? Ritsuka wants to know the names of a few more people before the semester starts. Failing that, is there a club registry anywhere that she can access?

There are no yearbooks in the library or a club registry anywhere, but in the locker area where the bulletin board is, she can find a list of all the students in the school sorted by what class they're in, which will include both npcs and pcs (class assignments will be re-assigned after the game starts for the new year, so players can choose whatever classroom they want for the tdm). It's not much to match names to faces, but it's something, at least.

[ Yeah! High school sucks! That's something they can all agree on, and this definitely isn't a fun topic to talk about in any situation. ]

Too bad she's left already. She never was one to talk much... Someone more eloquent probably would've given us a sappy speech about "keeping our eyes open for opportunities," or to "being present in school life instead of sleepwalking through it." [ He shakes his head. ] All things considered, we're lucky. It was short and sweet, and we got to get out early.

Cleaning... Or Not:

[As if he's going to stay and clean.

The metallic tang of iron is enough to set off his flight or fight response. Making a face, he peels the wet rag away from his skin, holding it out as if it's somehow tainted. Perhaps it is. He's having absolutely none of this — what is all the chattering about "erasing the evidence" about anyway? Evidence of what?

Noah really, genuinely isn't sure what's going on. His memories seem to be clouded over — he knows what amnesia feels like, since he experienced it not too long ago, and to be frank he's pretty tired of getting it. Instead of sticking around to find out what's going on, Noah opts to get up from where he was apparently napping on the desk a minute earlier, disregard everyone telling him to clean up, and march out.

Unbeknownst to him, he's tracking red footprints down the hall. When he's sure he's out of earshot of other students, or at least, when he thinks he might be out of earshot, he reaches down to his hip and clasps the handle of his sickle...

...or attempts to, anyway, finding it missing.

Well. That's bad. That's very bad. How does one lose a sentient weapon? Noah swears he had Clamor... at... some point... when was that point? Ugh, his head hurts.

Clamor must have been stolen, is the only logical conclusion Noah can come to. Stolen or... somehow wandered off somewhere in all of his scythe-y glory? That doesn't make much sense, but Noah has seen weirder things. Maybe if he calls out...?]

Clamor? [No response, so he raises his voice.] Clamor?!

[Nope. No sentient magic scythes around. Maybe he can lie through his teeth and say that Clamor is another student at wherever-this-is if anyone overheard him screaming his head off.]

Memories:

[Noah made the mistake of touching whatever that gorinto stone thingamabob is (he's never seen one before in his life, and luckily for him he happened to find out what it was called through passersby) a couple hours ago, and ever since then, he's decided to spend the day guarding it.

Or, perhaps guarding it is not exactly correct. Protecting students from it is more like what he's doing. Were it not for a student pulling him from the horrible memories that the stones inflicted upon his psyche, he'd probably be lying on the floor completely incapacitated, and that's absolutely the last thing Noah wants.

He concludes that this place — not just the gorinto itself but the whole damn school — is dangerous, because there can be no other conclusion. What kind of school has a magical rock-thingy that shoves awful visions into people's brains? That doesn't sound right to him. And so, instead of doing normal school things (why would he waste his time doing that), he's making sure no one else falls under the awful spell of the gorinto. Should they do so, at least he'll be there to drag them out of it.

For the time being, though, there's no one around. Should someone wander up to it, Noah manages a soft,]

H...hey. Don't touch that. It's dangerous.

[in their general direction, and boy, he doesn't sound all that confident all of a sudden.]

Spring "Break":

[Noah isn't a survivalist. Not really. He's not really cut out for rationing food or figuring out why the water is pink (seriously why is it pink) or even just normal everyday person stuff like that in general. His proficiencies include magic (which he's found he can barely even use here, splendid), hitting things with a sickle (said sickle is missing), and accidentally getting warped through time and space to a different timeline (the little trinket that does that is gone as well). So, Noah feels pretty useless. He can't even punch through a window.

He definitely made an attempt, though. But he wound up bruising the hell out of his hands, so his knuckles are, uh, a little bit black and blue. It's fine.

With breaking out being a colossal failure, Noah is instead sitting in front of a vending machine, hungry and perturbed by the fact that no matter how many times he kicks the ever-living shit out of this stupid vending machine it simply will not cough up the chips. Is it broken? Is he weaker than he thinks he is? Clearly frustrated, he sits criss-cross applesauce on the floor with his bruised hands on his knees, trying to come up with a plan of action.

Those chips will be his. Eventually. Some day. Gods, help him, he's starting to think going to school sucks.]

Wildcard:

[Surprise me! If you want to plot or chat you can add me on Plurk! (

wolfchan)]

Edited (forgot to include wildcard and contact RIP) 2021-03-21 09:40 (UTC)

A. Ominous Tidings

Zagreus has never really liked sitting down. Or lying down, as it happens. Resting in general, sort of a foreign pastime for him. So being forced to sit is pretty alarming, actually! After he finally gives up trying to escape the chair, he spends the rest of the ceremony, such as it is, fidgeting and making idle comments to whoever's seated nearby. Which may or may not annoy the hell out of them.

And then it's finally over, and the instant he sees other students standing he bounds out of the chair and stretches mightily. When he talks, it appears to be addressed to whoever's around and feels like responding. "Whew...I've never been through anything so mind-numbing in my life. Never thought I'd say this, but not even my father's lectures are quite that tedious. Keep your eyes open, eh? I can't tell if that was a threat or a warning. What do you make of all this, mate?"

B. Restless

Zagreus is a restless man by nature. Whatever part of the Underworld this place is, it's somehow worse even than Tartarus. Or perhaps it is a part of Tartarus he's stumbled into, somehow. Whatever the case, his attempts to escape have been absolutely stymied for the first time, because it isn't a Fury or a massive monster that he can defeat standing in his way. It's...nothing in particular. He just can't get out. It's infuriating.

It doesn't take long for his restlessness to catch up with him, and so once the shades all file out the door that somehow won't open, he begins to wander the school aimlessly. He's simply exploring with no particular goal other than to find a way out if it's at all possible, and to try to make sense of all the things he doesn't understand in this place. Which is, frankly, a lot of things, even if he has some hazy half-memories of a time when he did understand them. And wow does that ever make no sense at all!

When he eventually runs into you in a random place of your choice, his face lights up and he approaches quickly--you may notice that he's wandering around barefoot. "Oh, hi there! I was just starting to think I might be all alone here now that all the shades have gone. I...don't suppose you've happened upon a way out of here, have you?"

C. Network

[It takes Zagreus a while to figure out the PDA, as well as a lot of asking people questions (to which they tend to respond with skepticism or disbelief, for some reason) and a lot of trial and error. Eventually, he becomes adept enough to actually send a message. Hooray for small victories!]

[From: P. Zagreus]

Hello! I'm told this note will reach everyone in the area, I hope that's true. My name is Zagreus, and I think there's been some mistake in the paperwork somewhere, because unless my father has become truly incensed, I really shouldn't be here. Er, no offense to anyone who earned their place in Tartarus! I'm sure you're all very lovely people and I'd gladly have a chat and get to know you, it's just...well, I live in the House, you see. I'm not actually a shade. So if someone could get a message up there for me, I'd be grateful. And not to brag, but I do have ways of getting my hands on some pretty choice contraband, which I would gladly give to anyone who can help.

D. Wildcard!

I'm open to pretty much anything, feel free to just reply with a starter or catch me at

thessjuli if you want to plot!

[Zagreus has been calling to her for a few seconds now, but she doesn't seem to have heard and something definitely seems to be wrong. Concerned, he's approaching with a hand outstretched when she whirls around and says his name--wait, no, not quite. He holds up both hands in what's hopefully a calming gesture and takes a step back.]

Oh, um--it's Zagreus, actually. You were close! Points for remembering the 'za' sound at the beginning, I've been rubbish at remembering anyone's names all day. Such as yours, unfortunately. But, er...is everything all right? You seem to be quite on edge.

What's the matter, mate?

[Zagreus arrives just in time to see this poor person losing their temper at a door and apparently suffering some sort of hair issue.]

Can I help?

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a. dumbasses unite

congratulations (i know you already got a tag for this but it's perfect for gudako)

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Noah Ebalon | Elsword

Zagreus | Hades | OTA

High School Dreams

B