Beginning

[thecastle]

One moment you were elsewhere, surely speaking to your friends, fighting in a battle of your life, dying, or even in a state of non-existence in its entirety. It doesn't matter now, since when you open your eyes it’s become clear that not only is everything around you foreign and unfamiliar, so is everyone. And there seems to be a fair lot of you, at that.

It's easy to discern a few things upon a cursory glance, once you pick yourself up from the field of grass you're resting on. The place you've awoken in seems to be fairly tranquil, for the first few moments at least, and the view of a newly budded sakura tree is among the first that will greet you. In the distance, is a towering castle that manages to look all at once both imposing and welcoming at the same time. There's also an odd pendant around your neck, which you'll find won't come off despite your best attempts. In your pocket you'll find a room key, engraved with a number.

The weather is currently cool, with the sun brightly shining in the sky, though there are a few too many clouds to make it a completely clear day. While most of them appear rather normal, every so often you might spot one that looks just a bit off— like a storm cloud that's completely lost it's way. Lucky for you, it doesn't seem like you're going to have to worry about any inclement weather anytime soon, as they'll vanish from your vision as quickly as they came.

A large stone wall surrounds the entirety of the castle, though it's anyone guess why that is— maybe it's for your safety, maybe it's to keep you trapped, or maybe it's for another reason entirely. The only breach in the wall is a single gate that looks like it certainly led to the outside at one point, but that too has been cordoned off by solid stone.

Fortunately, there's nothing to stop you from entering the castle itself, where you'll find it's pretty grand all things considered. The lighting inside is provided not by electricity, but by magical flame that adjusts to the time of day or night. Actually, if you're looking for anything electronic anywhere, or even a simple power outlet, you'll be sorely out of luck.

For now, it might be best to explore and make some sense of where you are and why you're here— maybe one of your fellow travelers might know something? There are some plaques in the Great Hall that might catch your interest given their focus, in addition to one ridiculously large golden one that seems to bear rules.

Welcome, fellow warriors, to your very long stay.

Comments

[pseudoregelia]

[Field - 1]

[The young girl who wakes up looks clothed for colder climes, if only slightly. Grass sticks to the fake fur of her jacket's hood as she takes in her surroundings, too bewildered to even say a word.

Well, at first. When she stands, it's in an abrupt bounce to her feet, her voice ringing loud and clear and high in her panic.]

Wh-where-?!

[Rules - 2]

[After exploring the field, she'll eventually make her way into that super suspicious castle, peering around warily. You will be able to find her here staring first at the plaques with open surprise, particularly at those for Ayumu Narumi and Hiyono Yuizaki, before winding up in front of the obnoxiously golden rules.]

Excuse me?!

[Warriors? Duels? Murder? She thought they were done with all of that already!]

[Kitchen - 3]

[Eventually she can be found in the kitchen, staring into the refrigerator at all of the food inside.]

The people who own this place must be really rich, huh?

[Darn. If only she had a cook she could ask sweetly to make food for her...]

rules!

[deontological]

Rather distasteful, isn't it?

[Sen makes a face at the golden plaque. She supposes it can't be helped - there are always those who would see blood spilled, but... right now, at this moment, she can't help but feel it's awful.

To subject such a young girl to this kind of thing...]

[pseudoregelia]

That's putting it mildly... Don't tell me they kidnapped all of us just so they could play out a sick game!

[Her tone is offended, but... Not actually all that afraid. It's hard to say if she's truly so courageous or the full weight of it has yet to hit.]

[deontological]

That they've bothered to include rules regarding what people will get should they succeed seems to imply that is indeed their goal...

[U g h. Honestly, Sen has better things to do with her time than serve as someone's entertainment.]

That being said, the success or failure of such a game would depend heavily on the willingness of people to go along with it.

[And from the looks of the plaques, there are those who would. Yikes.]

kitchen.

[toubib]

And bored. [ in vanitas' much-vaunted life experience, being rich and being bored as all hell tends to come hand-in-hand. it's probably something to do with all that money, which turns all of which you can afford into utter trifles, hardly worthy of your time and energy.

while hiyono is peering into the fridge, he's been flipping through cabinets and drawers with a tedious look on his face, one that morphs into a languid grin when he looks in her direction. ] And not idiots, unfortunately. Unless we at all felt inclined to grab turkey legs and beat each other to death with them.

[ a beat. ] Oh! There's an idea.

[pseudoregelia]

And waste so much food?

[HOW COULD YOU EVEN SUGGEST A THING, VANITAS. THIS IS EVEN MORE APPALLING THAN THE MURDER RULES IN GOLD ON DISPLAY IN THE HALL.]

A whole turkey leg is way too much, but if an amazing chef cooked it up... [She's clearly got someone in mind for this, with the way she allows the sentence to trail off thoughtfully. A chef that she knows is, in fact, right in this castle somewhere. She'll have to catch him and drag him in by the ear at some point.]

[toubib]

Put it this way, if we murder each other with food, we'll have more than enough food left over for everyone.

[ less people to eat, less competition!! clearly this is what this whole thing is about. but there's nothing about vanitas' countenance that suggests his words are anything more than a jest, even as he flips a few cabinets closed. ]

Kitchen

[irrationalities]

[Unfortunately he would not make food for her, asked nicely or otherwise... but in fairness, he does have the same sort of thought in mind sans the 'nicely' part. Mahiro also has absolutely no compunction with going up and staring into the fridge with her, even if it might infringe on her personal space, oops.]

You're only coming to that conclusion now?

[pseudoregelia]

[It's okay, she's already spotted her preferred chef's name and picture on the plaques outside. Her attempt to summon him here by sheer willpower has clearly failed, but she can be patient.

Sort of.

She'll drag him in by the ear later if she has to.]

It's really something else, seeing this much food in one place. [Goodness!] Since they kidnapped us, they can't complain if we need to eat, right?

[irrationalities]

If they stocked it like this, then they're probably expecting us to eat. Are you seriously this impressed by this though?

[To be fair, he pretty much came from a rich household and while his home didn't have this much, it's still not... that impressive to him.]

field

[breakingthrough]

Your guess is as good as mine.

[The girl shows up behind Hiyono without so much as a warning. She may indeed be out to startle the already confused girl.

At least she's telling the truth.]

[pseudoregelia]

[And she'll give a jump at the appropriate time, turning quickly on her heel to face the other.]

Who are you?!

[breakingthrough]

You don't know who I am?

[Of course she doesn't. Does that mean Edna won't mess with her anyway? Of course not.]

Beauty like the most delicate flower with the incredible strength of the mountains-- the greatest Earth Seraph of the last thousand years or so-- Edna.

[..............]

kitchen!

[tangas]

[ miyamura makes a noncommittal noise behind her, standing just outside of what's considered a polite distance. ]

You think so? Could afford a TV or two, couldn't they?

[pseudoregelia]

It's pretty old-fashioned... but there's a blend of Japanese and western architecture too, isn't there?

Whoever owns this place must be eccentric.

[And yet, she doesn't turn from the refrigerator at all as she talks, still eyeing the food hungrily. She knows exactly who she wants to cook all of this for her, but she'll have to find him first, the brat.]

[tangas]

[ guess he's stuck waiting. ladies first, blah blah. ]

Huh. You're Japanese, too? That makes two of us, then.

Kitchen

[2zero1]

[ He's not too interested in chatting to all of the random people here, but he's in the kitchen trying to find something and he overhears. Whatever it is, he's not having much luck.

For a second he debates not answering at all, but when he looks at her, he responds offhandedly. Hope you don't mind an incredibly gruff looking man as your company, Hiyono. ]

Or well connected.

[pseudoregelia]

[She only has eyes for food right now, look as shady as you like Hei, she doesn't mind.]

Even if they're well connected, it still means they have access to a lot of wealth... [Her tone is thoughtful even as she basks in the glory of f o o d.

Ah, she really needs to find her cook.]

As long as they're the ones who decide what to do with it all, it's functionally the same for us.

[2zero1]

Depends. [ Still rummaging through, and it seems he settles on a loaf of bread, which he's just taking a giant bite out of with no manners. ]

They could handlers, and if they do it's beneficial to know who's actually running the show.

rules

[miirai]

... Mii? Is something wrong with your profile, too?

[ "Too" implies that there's something off about Rika's own plaque. ]

[pseudoregelia]

Definitely! How rude, calling an innocent girl like me such vulgar things!

[She probably means the stalking and snooping parts which, honestly, are entirely fair.]

You're... Rika Furude-chan, aren't you? [Supposedly a over a thousand years old...]

[miirai]

Nipa~☆

[ She smiles and beams, looking rather pleased with herself. ]

And you're Hiyono. [ Honorifics? What's that. Sounds fake. ] I could tell by the picture.

[notimmortal]

[Jansen has also been looking at the rules and like Hiyono, he's not too keen on the dueling and murder part. Okay, he knows sometimes killing is the only solution, assuming the problem doesn't involve an immortal.]

Yeah, I'm not really into fighting if I can avoid it.

[pseudoregelia]

[And Hiyono is firmly on team No Murder Allowed!]

This is despicable... I'm having a hard time believing any of this is real.

[It's just so... awful. How twisted do you have to be to pull something like this?]

[notimmortal]

Yeah, but my dreams tend to have a lot more weirdness in them. And maybe some naked girls. Or I'm the only one naked and everyone is laughing at me.