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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

Haruhi Suzumiya | Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan | ota

[uncommonsense]

a. [ This was starting to get frustrating.

Never mind that she had woken up and had been made fun of by some of her classmates (which, fine, the room looked like a disaster anyway), but now that she was actually at the front door, it wasn't opening? As much as she had pulled and yanked and kicked and pounded at the door, nothing seemed to get it unlocked as hard as she tried. So, she's decided to take matters into her own hands, which results in her tracking down one of her classmates... this one, right here? ]

You! [ As she walks right up to her target, arms folded and sizing them up. ] Finished cleaning for the day? Good. Help me get the door open.

[ No, you don't get context. No, she doesn't know if you were in her classroom or not... weirdly enough. But she is conscripting you in her battle against the front door. ]

b. [ Shortly after the graduation ceremony and everything's fallen back into place, there's a moment of worry... instantly followed up by a bit of excitement. This whole thing was weird, it was hard to tell where her time at Kouyouen ended and her time at Yogen began, and she should be scared out of her wits. But at the same time, this was absolutely certainly a mystery. Why she had been brought here, why there were others who had the same thing happen to them, and really... what this school even was.

So once introductions have been had, Haruhi immediately starts on her own investigation. She can be found in two places:

First, the faculty office. If no one was around, it was only natural to check out where the teachers typically worked. It looked like the cabinets were locked for the most part, but that's not really stopping her from snooping around a bit, searching under the tables for any sign of... well, anything! No stone left unturned after all.

Second, the home ec wing. It was only natural to look for supplies if they were going to survive here, right? Finding the kitchen was important, as was making a note of what was there. At this point, it finally dawns on her... ]

This has to last us for a while, huh? [ That might be a problem, depending on how long they'll be there and how many students are around. ]

c. [ Well, at the end of the first day, Haruhi tinkers with the PDA and sends a message to the student forum. ]

►H.SUZUMIYA

Hey! Make sure to read this!

If we're all going to stay here overnight, we'll need to find a good place to stay. I've checked around and I can't find a dormitory, so it's best we try to make our own arrangements! If you come across anything that can act as a blanket or a pillow, let me know about it!

Also, try to keep in touch! We're in here together, and we've gotta get out together too! Over and out!

[ She... didn't think that through too much in terms of security, but what's the worst that can happen? ]

d. ((this is the wild card option! feel free to reach out/pm if you wanna plot something!))

c; k.ala

[parhellia]

hey, don't "over and out" yet!!
have you found anything? there's some clothes in my locker, so at the very least, I have an extra pillow somebody can use!

[uncommonsense]

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.

[parhellia]

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

[uncommonsense]

It WILL be soon! If we put our heads together, we can figure this out in no time!
There might be invisible ink, but I don't have a way to highlight it to check. Thanks for the heads up by the way, I'm going to see if I can get the lemonade myself.

[parhellia]

I hope so! there's more heads here than I've ever seen before!
I'm heading to the vending machines too! if you figure something out, I want to be there to see~

a. dumbasses unite

[tempingforatlas]

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.

go team dumbass!

[uncommonsense]

[ And here's the biggest, forceful weirdo of them all! This girl... wait, doesn't she know her? Her name wasn't appearing in Haruhi's mind, but she might be from a different class. Probably?

Still, the more help the better. And it looked like she was in decent enough shape, so it'd work out! ]

Hmm, actually, a crowbar wouldn't be a bad idea. It felt like it was jammed tight.

[ They might get in trouble for busting up school property, but they should be allowed to go home on time! ]

Let's give opening it together a shot first.

[tempingforatlas]

They're trying to encourage "problem-solving skills" in students, right? Finding a way out of school when the door's locked seems like a good place to start.

[That's the excuseplanation that Ritsuka's giving if they get caught, anyways.

She takes up post by one of the doors, wrapping her scarred hands around it in a tight grip.]

On three?

[uncommonsense]

That's right! We'd be pretty lousy students if we couldn't figure this much out.

[ Heck, she can follow that. It was their fault for locking the door too early in the first place.

...If it was early. For some reason, she still couldn't figure out whether this was the normal time to leave. But whatever, they're here now, and it was time for her to get to her own position. ]

Alright, on three! One, two..

Three! [ And she yanks at the door, getting more and more frustrated as the door doesn't even budge. ]

c; h.akemi

[pillory]

There's nowhere to sleep and nothing to use for bedding. Put on a second set of clothes if you're cold and use the remainder for a pillow.

I wouldn't sleep near anyone else if I were you.

[uncommonsense]

I thought of that, but I don't think it'd be that comfortable. And why not? It's good to stick together in situations like this!

C; r. furude

[recry]

I will see what I can fine.

Fine.

FIND.

This thing is automobile correcting my spelling.

I don't like it.

[ There is no texting in the '80s. ]

[uncommonsense]

Have you looked in the settings yet? Maybe you can turn it off.

[recry]

How do I do that?

[uncommonsense]

[ Hmm. A good question. After a few minutes, Haruhi finally responds. ]

When I figure it out, I'll let you know! I'll add that to the mysteries to solve.

ooc note;

[uncommonsense]

(( this top-level went up late at night and my reading comprehension is bad. turns out haruhi can't get into the faculty's office. pls ignore that part of the prompt pls ))

c; a.ushiromiya

[counterfactual]

Should we even try to sleep at all?

[uncommonsense]

Of course we should! No one's any good if they're dead on their feet.

b.

[piercinggaze]

[Auditi's honestly more interested in the hardware in the kitchen than the food stocks, for the moment - she found a flathead screwdriver in the workshop a little while ago and currently has that stashed up her sleeve, but she's currently wondering if the danger of carrying around a paring knife without any kind of sheath would outweigh the security of having a knife. Not that she's terribly good with knives in the first place. Probably she'd just cut herself.

She looks up when the other girl speaks, though, and her brow furrows a little as she considers.] I saw a calendar earlier, it said that they're on vacation for two weeks? How long does it take you people to starve?

[uncommonsense]

[ Haruhi's locked onto taking a mental inventory of what there is... of course, she's not in charge of the food, but she wants to make sure someone does this! ]

It varies from person to person, but there may be some of us that can last that long. Still, it'd be pretty uncomfortable...

[ A survivalist may be able to do that, but 14 days is still a long time to go without a meal... wait. "You people"?

Haruhi turns her head, and... stares. The skin and those horns... ]

You... is that a costume?

[ It couldn't be. Could it? ]