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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.

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

natsume sakasaki | ensemble stars!!

[crystallomancy]

≪cleaning up≫
( Natsume Sakasaki has never once, not once stayed behind to do day duty.

...That isn't entirely true, but he's skipped class enough times that it may as well be so. He doesn't see why today should be an exception, especially with as many hands on-deck as there are, so he ignores the halfhearted shouts of Get back here and help, Sakasaki! as he always has, even in a school both familiar yet unfamiliar to him, and rubs the sleep from his eyes as he walks.

He notices the red steps rather belatedly, and it gives him pause; he kneels down to touch the footprints, eyes narrowing at their viscosity, and he inelegantly wipes his fingers on the wall beside him to clean them. )

Something isn't RIGHT, ( he murmurs to himself, his voice turning up and out of key on the ends. That's putting it lightly, he knows --

so he sets off to investigate the school, giving what other students might be around a wide berth. The doors to the outside being closed and near-impossible to open give him a significant amount of pause, and. Look. Please don't make fun of him if you see him slouched beside one looking put-out, tired, and a little pink in the face.

He might've tried a little too hard to open one of the doors. )

≪gorinto≫
( He opens his eyes, and —

it is a perfectly ordinary day. Like any other day, he's elected not to attend class; he's decided to take to the library instead, stacks of books of all manners of things beside him. He isn't reading any of them though, not even the one in front of him, opened to page three-hundred-seventy-eight; he flips it idly to page three-hundred-seventy-nine, then back again.

Natsume is, instead, watching a couple chat at the end of an aisle. There isn't any sound to it, not even when the girl's shoulders raise like the hackles of a wolf and her face reddens in anger. He sees the knife before the boy does; he doesn't get up quick enough, because it finds itself planted in the boy's back when he's turning to turn, and Natsume is quick to sit back down among his books before the girl notices he's been watching.

That's when sound decides to chime in, in the form of the girl's hyena-like laughter as she backs off, and the boy's groans of pain. Natsume keeps his eyes steadily on the words he can't read, his heart pounding in his throat. He closes his eyes to get rid of the image, but it sticks like gum to air, and

he opens his eyes, and there's the window he'd been trying to open for the last five minutes. There's the gorinto he'd been trying not to knock over, but had incidentally brushed.

...There's whoever's drawn him out of his trance. Did you think he'd be grateful? He's glaring instead, feeling a little mortified that he'd been caught in some sort of stupid trance and still reeling a little from the ghost of a memory he'd been treated to -- )

Don't touch ME, ( is what you get instead of a "thank you for helping me out". Sorry. )

≪spring break≫
( It's nice to have the school to himself. Mostly himself. He avoids the library despite it being seemingly the best place to find him, still thinking about the unfortunate memory ("memory") he had, and instead winds up in the cooking Home Economics room, taking mental stock of what they have. Stick around long enough and he might treat you to a small lunch, considering the utensils he's taking out.

He might. No promises. Many promises that he won't stab you with the knife he's inspecting though. (He's relieved it isn't the same kind.) )

gorinto

[averagekid]

Woah!

[ the buck-toothed brat, the only other student here who might be skipping class, is backing up a bit. he's got his hands up in the air - he means no harm, dude!

timmy's initial reaction of shock at the harshness quickly turns to 10-year-old irritation, and he crosses his arms. ]

Sheesh, remind me not to help you out the next time you go all funky like that.

[crystallomancy]

( ...........damn dude there's a lot to unpack here hold up - )

...My apoloGIES. I don't like being GRABBED. ( does he... mean his apology? maybe? he doesn't really sound like it, or look like it, but he's not glaring at his new companion anymore. he just turns it on the stack of stones instead. mumblemumble: ) I've heard of psychics having visions by touching sentimental obJECTS, but I've never had such a thing happen to me beFORE...

( ...........................

sorry, bud. natsume's turning to look at timmy, all smiles. )

Would you mind doing me a faVOR? I'll make it worth your WHILE. Magician's hoNOR.

[averagekid]

Sure. I get it.

[ see, timmy is very very used to both weirdo teenagers and crackpots who turn around and mumble to themselves about stuff. so that doesn't even phase him. he hasn't moved a muscle by the time natsume turns back around.

blink blink. ]

What's the favor? [ does he have to clap more erasers ]

[crystallomancy]

Touch those stones for ME.

( very simple. )

I'll make you lunch if you DO. ( ...and he'll rescue him from any weird funk but more importantly, lunch. )

cleaning up!!

[bachagain]

[ class skipping mood. leo had enough of a time running away from most things involving Effort when he was actually in school... that was already without the haze of novelty and unclear recognition, though that's not an entirely unfamiliar emotion, to be honest. making strides to tuck away and avoid any half-hearted attempts of MILD VIOLENCE as a result of him doing the opposite of his due diligence? also not new. maybe.

it's all a very weird mix of nostalgic non-nostalgia, sprinkled in with some unsettling extra effects. he absolutely doesn't pay attention to his surroundings at times, but that red is something he toootally wouldn't have missed... right?

it's another splash of red that catches leo's attention again, but this one hits him with a sharp clarity that cuts through the mess that's everything else. he squints and then, this time, approaches. ]

Hmmmmm? Nacchan? [ that takes a little bit to settle for entirely different reasons than the usual, but it does, ] Why's your face kinda matching your hair? You okay?

[ and now we wish it didn't.

that sure is a greeting for this incredibly (natsume vc) not right scenario, but it's fine. ]

[crystallomancy]

( where most people might feel relief at seeing someone familiar, natsume... does not. it's not like he's worried or anything about it, but leo opening his mouth is enough to remind him how tired about 90% of knights makes him. )

What have I told you about calling me THAT? ( ........priorities! ) And I'm fine, thank YOU. I've just been around the school once or twice looking for a way OUT. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be one open to US.

spring break

[obsessiveness]

[ it's no surprise that izumi can also be found at the home ec. room, what with him being part of niki's kitchen back home and all. also herding leo and some other randos around can get exhausting? so here he is, ready to whip up a snack--

only to find natsume here. well, could be worse. ]

Find anything edible? Don't tell me you're going to cook for us all.

[ he'd rather do that, thank u ]

[crystallomancy]

( shut up mr. niki's kitchen member the only reason they didn't let natsume in is because they knew if they did natsume would actually stab someone, and they didn't want me to answer "yes he is a murderer" on this app. )

Everyone here is more than capable of fending for themSELVES. It isn't my problem if they've reached high school age and still have no idea how to prepare something with susteNANCE. ( which is a lot of words for "no, i'm not." ) Provided none of us are big eaTERS, we shouldn't starve or have to surrender to scrounging up snacks from the vending machines before break ENDS.

( which is also a lot of words for "yes, things here are edible." natsume half-looks like he would probably just make himself rice with some soy sauce and then call it a day though. he's eaten significantly worse before it's fine the body only needs a certain amount of food to power through the day and as long as you reach that calorie threshold all is kosher. )

[obsessiveness]

[ tbh that scans. last thing we want after the cannibalism schtick is actual blood on an idol's hands that isn't madara or kohaku, ]

You say that, but you do notice that there are kids here who aren't in high school yet, right? Ugh, I just hate how my diet's gonna be thrown out of wack in the mean time...

[ does he have to eat... instant shit... say it isn't so. he'd rather starve, but he knows better than to do that without knowing how long they'll be staying here for. anything to avoid the vending machine outside of milk drinks.

still, he frowns at the sight of ingredients natsume's pulling out. judgey as always. ]

[crystallomancy]

There are people who've been fixing themselves meals since they were much younger than that TOO. I have faith they'll be able to figure something OUT.

( and if not, natsume is... inherently nice enough to children that he would make them something, probably. he just doesn't like saying he's kind.



god that fucking look— )

Do you have an issue with what I'm maKING, Sena-senpai?

[obsessiveness]

Duh. Looks like you can't fix yourself a decent meal. Is that all you really need to fill yourself up?

[ like hello??? it's not like they're running out of ingredients or anything. why not take advantage of that? ]

[crystallomancy]

If we think we have a surplus NOW, we'll certainly find ourselves at the end of our ropes laTER. Pride comes before the fall and so ON.

( god he is exhausting. exhaustingly cautious. he's giving izumi a wave tho )

Feel free to make whatever you LIKE, I won't JUDGE. I'm simply choosing to take the exact amount that I need right NOW. Taste doesn't matTER.

[obsessiveness]

They're not gonna starve us to death this early on, you know. That'd defeat the purpose of bringing us here in the first place - whatever the hell it is.

[ smh. but fine, he's going to use this opportunity to flex on everyone in this room (who's only comprised of... natsume.............) with his impeccable cooking skills! that'll show him.

it may not be breakfast time anymore, but he's got scrambled eggs sizzling on a skillet, with a cup of rice waiting patiently on a plate nearby. doesn't really matter, with how limited the ingredients are. natsume does have a point but it doesn't mean izumi's going to admit it. ]

Hand me the ketchup, will you?

[crystallomancy]

( it's okay, izumi doesn't have to admit it. natsume knows :)

he's also going to be a good kouhai and give him the ketchup! not. he's setting it just out of izumi's reach. )

So you haven't figured anything out yet eiTHER? How disappoinTING. I thought surely between you and Tsukinaga-senpai, you would have at least discovered something notABLE.

[obsessiveness]

You really think I could poke around while I'm still keeping an eye on that dunderhead? [ sigh ] I might ask him if he's found anything, though. Maybe Leo-kun's habit of roaming around can be useful somehow.

[ maybe? but that's precisely the reason why izumi needs to keep a closer eye on him. who knows what's going to happen to them if leo opens some pandora's box at some point while finding a place to scribble on walls.

he gives natsume a pointed look at this petty move he just did, and reaches over to swipe up the ketchup. kouhais these days just aren't cute anymore :/ ]

[crystallomancy]

( according to tsumugi, he's plenty cute! it's extremely frustrating. he'll welcome izumi's ire any day. )

Animals do have a sense for that type of THING. ( ...mmm. ) I suppose my own wanderings haven't been for NAUGHT. Have you seen the gorinto on the winDOWS?