tdm

[adsum]

full navigation

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.

You open your eyes and the inside of your left wrist is stinging; you stop scratching, pulling your other hand away before the angry red lines on your skin splits and bleeds. Somebody calls your name, just as you see a pan slide off the stovetop out of the corner of your eye, and the stinging on your wrist flares to a searing burn, hot oil splattering you and the person next to you.

You open your eyes. You're flat on your back in a room that smells of paint thinner, your chest is heavy, and it's so hard to breathe. Something is crushing your throat- a fluffy white cat with golden eyes, purring and kneading away, but then somebody calls your name and its fluff puffs twice its size in surprise, claws sinking into your throat, hooking and tearing as the cat scampers away.

You open your eyes. A kendo shinai comes down hard on your head, the one in your hand failing to come up quick enough to guard, your classmates groaning in sympathy all around you. Your head is spinning, you feel sick.

You open your eyes. You and a friend are seated side by side in the clock tower, back to the walls and feeling the resounding toll of the bell fill your entire being as the count reaches ten, eleven, twelve. The world turns to silence. Your friend opens their mouth to speak, but you cannot hear them. You cannot hear anything.

(tw: implied suicide) You open your eyes. Your classmate sits on the other side of your desk, a spread of sandwiches and juice boxes between you and the window to your side providing a clear view of the upper branches of the wisteria tree in full bloom. And the strangled look on an upperclassman's face as they fall headfirst from the sky on the other side of the glass, hurtling towards the pavement of the courtyard below.

You open your eyes—-

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 is an npc and will be available for threading in his toplevel during the vernal equinox and graduation day, but not during spring break. After the game opens, he will be available as a student for threading on the npc contact page. The graduating student will not be available for threading in this TDM.

✽ During spring break, all npc students and faculty will be absent from the school, with exception of one white cat and one black cat. For this TDM, in addition to the areas greyed out and inaccessible on the locations page, the faculty office and nurse's office are locked and unavailable, as there is no staff. The library and club rooms remain open, but supplies will not replenish themselves.

✽ 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.

Comments

emil | nier

[skeletally]

route a: cleaning

S-Sorry, it seems that I zoned out! Hehe...

[ The other students don't seem to mind a skeletal transfer student which is unexpected and oddly flattering. Even though he's still a bit confused—Emil's trying to figure out what was the last thing he was doing and he simply can't recall what it was—he's eager to help with cleaning! It doesn't stop the group from being rude, though. ]

I'll help! Just give me something to—

[ He gets something. Namely, a wet rag that lands directly on his face. It's not enough to make that somewhat eerie grin of Emil's disappear, apparently. Actually, there's no change in his expression at all. If someone happens to witness the situation, Emil will try to make it look like it's not a big deal. ]

It's okay, I'm sure they thought I'm going to catch it.

route b: graduation

[ It looks like Emil has zoned out again except this time around he finds himself in an auditorium with other students. It looks like some sort of special occasion, so he can only barely hold himself back from asking questions. The fact that he's far from being tall doesn't help either. ]

Who's speaking now? [ He tilts from one side to the other, hoping to see something, anything but the student in front of him is blocking the view. ] And now?

[ "Keep your eyes open." The words reach his ears but he doesn't seem to be too bothered by that. ]

Okay, I will! Actually, they're always open...

[ Care to check for yourself if he's telling the truth? ]

route c: machine

[ Ever since Emil has figured out how to use the vending machine, he's dropping by every day to use up some of his merit points (he's a good student and attends all classes, mind you) even though he doesn't even need snacks. Still, he finds joy in collecting them. ]

Granola bar, yes! [ He jumps up to where he's standing, absolutely thrilled to see a snack coming out of a vending machine. ] A new one!

[ Emil shall never learn about gacha games or it will be over for him. It looks like it's not even his first time using the machine today—there's a bag lying on the floor next to him where he puts all the loot. It's filled with some snacks already. ]

Oh, sorry. Do you want to use it? Let me just try one more time...!

[ He almost depleted all of his merit points, it seems. ]

route d: wildcard

[ Feel free to hit me up with a starter of your own! ]

route c: machine

[patcheel]

[Hana pouts a little, looking longingly at the spread of snacks in the vending machine, and peeking out of Emil's bag. She's an unfortunately poor student and seriously lacking in merit points.]

No, you go ahead... I used my last points on a bag of cheese puffs.

[He might notice the orange tinge to the corner of her mouth as she sighs dejectedly; she had them not too long ago, but...]

[skeletally]

Cheese puffs...

[ This name rings a bell, actually. Some rummaging in his bag turns out to be a good idea—he got a small pack of cheese puffs earlier. Emil holds it up above his round head with both of his hands before making an offering to Hana. Hopefully, she doesn't mind getting snacks from some bony kid. ]

They're yours! I don't need snacks.

[ And yet, he's here slamming his student ID against the reader repeatedly. ]

[patcheel]

[Hana is of the opinion this is all a weird dream, and if a skeleton boy wants to give her cheese puffs, she will gladly accept them. She claps her hands as Emil holds them up in triumph.]

Yay! Thanks!

[She takes the bag and opens it, crunching on three of the tiny puffs before what he said registers.]

Wait, you can't eat if you're a skeleton...

[Maybe she gets all the snacks.]

... do you just like the vending machine? I mean, it is pretty cool, like, if you haven't seen one before.

[Because she imagines Emil is from a world where everyone is a skeleton, and not that he might be dead.]

[skeletally]

You're welcome!

[ He's very proud of himself—at least his tone of voice reveals that because the grin on his face always remains the same. ]

It's so much fun! You never know what you're going to get!

[ It seemed logical that pressing a button under the snack he wanted to get would make that item drop down but it didn't always work like that for some reason. ]

I just like collecting this stuff.

[patcheel]

[She gasps, like she's just realised the vending machine doesn't work right.]

I did try for pretzels! I thought I did, but I got cheese puffs, and well, a girl can't say no to cheese puffs.

[Point made by popping a few more into her mouth. She holds the bag out to Emil, even though he said he didn't need snacks.]

Try some! You know, if you collect snacks and just leave them in your bag, they're going to expire in like... two years...

[Hana trails off, because her admonishment makes no sense when vending machine snacks have such a shelf life.]

... and you'll have... lots of snacks...

[skeletally]

[ Emil accepts the cheese puff and keeps it in his opened palm for a while before smashing it right into his own mouth. The crumbs fall on the floor and he looks at Hana. ]

This is fun! [ People seem to think he looks normal, so he needs to act like a human boy, right. The remark about the expiration date is a bit worrying, though. ] Should I give them all out, then?

[ But he likes his collection, aww. ]

[patcheel]

[Hana laughs, watching Emil with the cheese puff; it's a short, nasally bark of a noise.]

It is fun! Because you can share snacks with your friends!

[She gives a sage nod, having decided this odd boy with the fixed grin is now her friend.]

I don't know. I think maybe you can give them to people you like, but it's probably good to have a stash of snacks just in case too!

[She supports hoarding.]

a

[parhellia]

[ I'm crying, if Ala weren't half asleep standing in the classroom with a rag flopped on her shoulder after her own failed attempt at catching it, she would have screamed at the sight of his face/general being. But the familiarity is still there, the feeling that she and Emil have been good friends for a long time and who cares if friends are silly looking? She will fistfight anybody who says Emil is silly looking. ]

Aw, but you did catch it, though! With your face!

[ She peels the rag off her shoulder and lays it flat on top of Emil's head. ]

[skeletally]

I sure did...

[ It wasn't the most pleasant experience but hey, he had it worse. ]

Looks like I caught another one with my head, hehe. [ He's so good at this. ] I can help you out, Ala! You probably have a lot of other stuff to do!

[ Nothing wrong with calling a total stranger by their name. Not that he's even aware of that. ]

[parhellia]

Yeah!

[ Emil is the best and Ala jumps at the chance to shirk off her duties, especially when she needs to get home and... hm. No, she can't honestly say she ever has a lot of stuff to do, mostly going straight home from school to go to a cafe or take a walk around the lake or find her high school dropout bum of a best friend to bug and hang out with. ]

Let's go play when you're done! Do you think it's gonna take a long time for you to finish?

[ She could help... but no... ]