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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

NPC INTERACTIONS

[adsum]

[ stopit is an npc played by birdseed who can be found setting up some of the gorintos around the school during the vernal equinox, and lingering back in the auditorium for a short while after the graduation ceremony. He may not be the most helpful with questions, but he seems more willing to talk than the other npcs, and you take what you can get.

If you really want to thread with a cat, I am also willing to rp a cat. ]

mystery student (stopit)

[tempingforatlas]

[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.

[stopit]

[ 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?

[tempingforatlas]

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.

[stopit]

[ 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.

[tempingforatlas]

Looked like she was in a hurry, too. Can't really blame her for wanting to leave as quickly as she could. The atmosphere of this place is bleak. [And said atmosphere isn't exactly helped by a bunch of transfer students having varying degrees of freakout as they came to their senses over the course of the day.]

It's school, so, you know, go figure, but I thought things would be at least a little more celebratory than... this. Even if the last year is going to be as bad as you think, it's still going to be our last year!

Not to mention spring break.

[stopit]

[ His head turns sharply towards her when she says the atmosphere is bleak, almost looking as if he wants to ask why she thinks so but decides against it. ]

I guess people have their own plans on how they're prepping over spring break. I wish we could've had more of a celebration too, but you know how graduation always comes after the equinox. [ He shrugs, gesturing widely to the school itself. ] We spend all day cleaning and going through the rituals and whatever, so throwing a party and making a mess all over is gonna be a pain to deal with after. It's not worth it. 'sides, spending any more time than we need in this place?

[ Haha, yeah, no. Even if there were a proper graduation celebration, fat chance he's going to stick around for very long. With the way he shifts his weight in place, he doesn't want to stick around for long now either. ]

[tempingforatlas]

[Ritsuka is at least perceptive enough to notice he's eager to get home. She's not that much of a dunce.

Most of the time.

It's around a 40/60 ratio of being this much of a dunce, really.]

We should probably head home before the staff yells at us for loitering. I swear, no matter how many times I tell them I am not nearly cool enough to smuggle cigarettes inside the school they always think I'm about to light up in the bathroom or something. [At least the weird half-dream half-memories that remained after the ceremony were good for bantering. Ritsuka turns and starts walking towards the front door.] Do you think I just have one of those faces?

[stopit]

[ He doesn't need telling twice to head out the auditorium and towards the front doors— well, the lockers first, so he can empty it out and take his stuff home before they're reassigned new ones when school starts again. ]

You asking if I think you look cool, or like a delinquent? [ He scoffs, pulling a drawstring bag out of his locker and slinging it over his shoulder, because it's neither— she's got one of those dumb, friendly faces, if you ask him. ]

It's the hair. You know how old fashioned the teachers are. At least that makes it easy to figure out merits and demerits.

[tempingforatlas]

If they have a problem with my hair color, they should take it up with my parents. [Ritsuka pauses for a moment as her brain temporarily shorts out. She doesn't really like to... think about her parents. Or how distant they seem now, compared to Roman and Da Vinci. Or how absolutely, 100% dead her parents are. Just like Roman and Da Vinci, because her name is Ritsuka Fujimaru, and her life is a fucking nightmare.] It's all natural, I swear-

I guess they're really more hung up on the scrunchie. [She sighs, playing with her side ponytail.] But it's so cute! [she whines.]

[stopit]

[ No way it's the scrunchie. He frowns a little at the pause, but— no, it's not his business, he's not going to get involved with that. ]

You think so? Well, that's easily solvable.

[ He reaches over to slide the scrunchie off Ritsuka's hair and makes a break for the door. ]

I'm doing you a favor!

[tempingforatlas]

[He might be expecting Ritsuka to stand there, stunned while he makes off with the scrunchie, maybe uttering a confused "Eh?"

However, if there is one physical talent Ritsuka has cultivated, it's running. Having to skedaddle from Hera-fucking-cles down the length of an entire island while bridal carrying a (albeit quite dainty) gorgon tends to impress upon people the importance of leg day. If you can't get the natural motivation to do cardio, mortal terror will do just fine.

So when he runs, Ritsuka immediately takes off after him like a rocket, making wild grabs at the scrunchie.] Hey, give that back, you jerk! [she yells, laughter breaking up her speech. It's hard to tell whether to be more impressed at Ritsuka's good-naturedness or her breathing technique. Maybe she should join the track team?]

[stopit]

[ Oh shit.

Her hand swipes thin air only because he jerks his hand away in sheer surprise, caught up to in a split second and not making any more headway. ]

Okay, okay, okay!

[ He'll give it back! By stretching it between his thumbs and flinging it to bean her in the middle of the forehead. ]

cat CAT CAT CAT CAT komeowda

[commences]

( classroom 1-d is komaeda's natural habitat now, or one he has to grow accustomed to. while he has his reservations about a few things, he can't deny that he believes his luck is still at work — how else would he explain almost stepping in another pile of cat poop?

it explains one thing and one thing only, it must be that cat again.. komaeda's not a stranger to animals for he's had one himself, but even he's a little worried about stumbling upon references of an animal near him. staring at the mess on the floor, he sighs to himself as he tries to figure out what's going on..

he hadn't seen the small creachure anywhere, and he doubts it can just up and disappear at will — unless.. )

Are you here?

( just for extra measure, he's pulling out the bag of treats that was bestowed upon him. he doesn't take one out of it, no, rather he shakes the bag to see if the sound will lure it out. )

[adsum]

[ The stupid windows are all shut so the cat can't poop outside /: It's been trying, at least, and today's endeavors have been in class 1-D where it patted the window twice and then curled up behind the teacher's desk to zzzz for the next six hours. Being in the same room, the sound itself seems to be enough to elicit a start-up "mrr?" from behind the desk, and a fluffy white head pokes itself around the side to stare at Komaeda.

Take a treat out... Not going to waste energy trotting over it there's no promise of treats. ]

[commences]

( two can play this game — the staring game, where komaeda matches the intense gaze given to him by the feline. he had a feeling it was close (probably for the treats) by, and that tells him there's really no way outside, especially if the cat isn't able to get out. )

Does the sound make you show yourself?

( but keep its distance? understandable. no one will come to a hand if it doesn't feed. as unusual as this place is, to have a cat roaming around is just as odd. )

Don't answer that. ( instead, ) You really want one of these, right?

( there he goes, shaking the bag for extra measure. )

[adsum]

[ "Mrr," the cat goes again, unclear as to which question it's answering or whether it's just a cat making cat sounds, but it inches its way out from behind the desk, and he can see that it has bright golden eyes that are trained on his own instead of on the bag of treats. ]

[commences]

( he can't help but think how silly this is, if one of his associates were here, he'd be able to talk to the cat and get actual answers. as for komaeda, he can only rely on body movements and whether the feline sounds aggressive or not. )

I can't eat them, so they're all yours.

( he doesn't move outside of shaking the bag slowly, allowing the sound of the treats to knock together. he knows that cats aren't dumb creatures, no, they're a smart species so the way it stares at him isn't evidence for anything out of the ordinary. of course, the smile komaeda wears on his face helps hide the fact he's looking for anything suspicious. )

In return, I need you to work with me.

[adsum]

[ It's pretty silly, and while the cat makes little mrring noises at each break in the conversation as if returning it, it's also just a thing that cats do. It meows back when he talks, inches forward every once in a while as he continues to shake the bag, and seems tensed up and ready to spring on Komaeda's hand if it can get close enough and he still hasn't let it go. Otherwise, the cat looks like a normal cat, fur a pure white and seeming to have avoided the ping tinge that the water takes on, and it does not wear a collar.

How long is Komaeda going to tease it... Is he going to let it come into pouncing distance? ]

[commences]

( komaeda has seen wilder things, but what makes this event wild is that it almost feels too normal. he wants the cat to expose itself as their enemy or headmaster, but it doesn't. it only continues to make cute little noises and do what it wants — ngl, the little mrrs are cute... )

If only I had a better talent, but trash like me could never gain the ability to speak to an animal fluently...

( long sigh, anyway... )

Currency. ( a moment of your time. ) Purrency. For the vending machine, you can find me that, right?

( really? is he questioning a cat's intelligence for this? hell yeah he is... even going as far as to opening the bag......oooOoOoOOOoooOooo. )

[adsum]

[ He's really doing this, huh? As if the cat were a bird collecting shiny coins to slip inside the vending machine that doesn't accept physical coins in the first place. Regardless, the moment he opens the bag and tempts fate, the cat's pupils go wide like this plurk emote I scrolled back a month through Terra's plurk to find bc I know she owns it, it's this one:

The cat springs forward, claws out!! Does Komaeda drop the bag? let his hand get slashed? ]

[commences]

( STOP I LAUGHED NOOOO this cat is not normal, it cannot be normal!! but komaeda isn't really a scared individual, and so he's willing to take the masochistic route where he let's his dominant hand get slashed — you know a little blood never hurt, but it does kind of burn!!

why couldn't the cat scratch his metal hand?? bad cat, komaeda has to share custody with you and you're going to be grounded!! despite the feline hanging off his hand, komaeda closes the bag to prevent it from having anything!!

grounded.
grounded! )

That's not nice — ( okay, since he has the cat so close he will be picking you up, but is his blood going to get on the cat's fur??? smh.. ! as for those treats? going back into his jacket. ) We should get along, I have what you want, and you have what I want!

[adsum]

[ He says with a smile on his face.

The cat doesn't seem to have expected him to hang onto the treats instead of flinging them away from him, so at least when it draws blood, it looks surprised, ears back and wriggling in his grip to try to get him to drop it. Failing that, it stops struggling and gives him a mournful "mraaaaaoow..." and licks at the blood on his hand, which is unhygienic and also if these cats develop a taste for human flesh and blood in the near future, we know who to blame. ]

[commences]

( listen, when there's no more cat treats and dead bodies laying around, the cats are going to have to eat something?? don't worry, komaeda will be finding the perfect meal as soon as he acquires a knife and a potential victim. )

What bad luck, what if you get sick..

( the bleeding, but he doesn't mind the cat lapping it up. instead, his metal hand that's underneath the cat's chest lightly scratches at the area to comfort it. )

Then you'll throw up on someone. ( that'll be the good Lucknow! now with this savage in his grasp, it's time to exit this classroom because they're on mission: impossible. ) Now that you mention it..

( the cat didn't even say anything, help. )

How have you survived this long? You don't have a collar.

[adsum]

[ It's been living off the blood of its enemies. That, or actual cat food it must be getting somewhere, seeing as it can't get outside to hunt but doesn't seem malnourished in any way, although its fluff makes it seem much bulkier than it really is.

It meows a little higher pitched meow at the scratching, ducking its head to gently gnaw at a metal finger but gives that up quickly.

Once they exit the classroom, though, the cat's ears prick up and swivel towards the direction of the stairs at the other end of the hall. ]