EVENT - AWAKENING

[harmonizemods]

Who: PCs, ???
Where: Classrooms, ???
When: Monday, April 17, immediately after normal classes.
What: It's time.

The call came abruptly at the end of the day, as the students were preparing to end their normal session and proceed to their specialty classes. It was a small thing, easily forgotten: a staff member at the entrance to a few particular homerooms, asking one or two students to meet in the main hall. It was a little peculiar, to be sure, but they were only two weeks into the school year, after all--most students just shrugged it off as one of Chitoku's oddities.

Taue Shinichiro. Hazama Miyume. Tanemoto Ryuta. Kasubata Shizuru. Imaizumi Mirai. Uehara Himeko. Shikata Haruka.

Those called couldn't have been more different. What common thread could possibly have them brought together, few could fathom.

OOC note: Please keep everything in the same thread. Also, I'd like to keep up a fairly brisk pace, but I'll do my best to accommodate everyone. And please feel free to come into the chat at http://webchat.freenode.net, channel #harmonizerpg, for discussion!

Comments

[waterholdmedown]

Shit. This was almost too much for even Shizuru. She swayed a little on her feet, something very like but not quite vertigo combining with the bizarreness of the colors to make her reel. Whatever she'd been expecting, it hadn't been this. Drugs normally didn't act anywhere near that fast, so what the hell?

[allisnothing]

Haruka felt the sudden shift acutely, sending the hairs across her body on edge and a dizzying, sick feeling down to her gut. She caught her balance with her cane before recovering as quickly as physically possible. She breathed shallowly before saying to the rest of the group, no longer sounding in the slightest bit relaxed anymore either,

"Fill me in? What just happened?"

[burningbow]

The greens and blues mixed to create a sour note. Mirai forced his hand even tighter over his mouth and stared woozily at Sawatari. He had been keeping a wary eye on everyone. Now he was finding that impossible, so swiftly and stiffly was his head going side to side. All the fear he could feel at the minute was setting on how he was getting dizzy, and so he almost dropped Miyume off his left arm.

[phantomcloud]

The sudden wave of vertigo unnerved her. She felt... strange. Not quite attached to herself but not completely attached to herself either. In her disorientation, she moved away slightly just as Mirai's grip on her weakened. The dizziness combined with the fatigue and muscle aches she'd been suffering most of the day was just too much for her manage on her own. She slipped out of Mirai's grasp and crumpled to the floor like a puppet whose strings had suddenly been cut. Miyume just knelt on the floor, holding a hand to her forehead. Those familiar with such things would recognize it as the location of the fabled third eye. She managed to push herself back into a sitting position but remained on the floor, keeping her eyes closed.

[rulebook]

Standing upright was nearly impossible. Ryuta stumbled forward, trying to move toward the scientist holding the switch. Before he could even get another step, another rush of sickeningly twisted colors washed over him. Overly bright blues mixed with nauseating yellows, deep purples overtook bloodied reds. He fell to his knees, barely making it in time to catch his glasses before they fell with him.

He slowly looked toward the group of adults before him with a pained curiosity. "What....are you doing... to us?" He leaned forward a little only to be met with another wave. It took all of his strength to hold back his urge to throw up.

[hoshikage_himeko]

What the hell was going on? Something seemed terribly off. The colors combined with that strange wave of vertigo made her feel all dizzy. Himeko felt like fainting any second now. For a moment, she feared that she would immediately lose control over her body. Fortunately, she was able to at least regain a short amount of self-control back which, however, drained a lot of her energy, making her feel extremely exhausted. At this rate she probably wouldn’t be able to resist the urge to faint much longer.

She lurched forward, desperately looking for something to hold onto, so she wouldn’t fall to the ground.
The innocent, cute expression fully vanished from her face making room for a rather furious glare, she directed at the people in front of her, who didn’t seem to be bothered by that strange feeling in any way.
“What kind of...odd experiment is this? Stop… it already!”, she aggressively panted out her words.

[heirofkobe]

Taue dropped to one knee almost immediately, lowering his center of gravity and closing his eyes to stop the invasion of color, but nothing still felt right. In the least bit.

"Some sort of new weapon," he groaned, under his breath, but that made no sense. Testing new weapons on the supposed best and brightest of Japan's future didn;t make any sense.

What, then, the Hell was this?

[harmonizenpc]

"This isn't an experiment," corrected the blank-eyed woman from the medical team, without looking up from the small device she held in her hand, which cast a ghostly blue glow that reflected eerily on her face. "This is the part we know. Abreactions are within expected levels," she added, watching Miyume carefully for a few moments. "Safe to continue."

"You'll get used to it," added the woman in the military uniform, half-smiling wryly. "We all did. Think of it like flying for the first time."

And the worst of it did seem to be fading, as their bodies and minds began to adjust to whatever had changed around them. Yachiyo watched stonily, but eventually nodded with what seemed like it might be approval. "You wanted explanations, and now we can give them to you. Takaoka?"

One of the scientists at the center, an older gentleman, came to the forefront as Yachiyo took a step back.

"I will put this as simply as possible: you are now standing in another world, one in which the laws of time and space differ from our own."

He paused a moment, barely long enough for the group to take in this fact, before plunging onward. "Within the bounds of this artificially created space you are safe, but deeper in, there are monsters--mindless, violent creatures that seek to enter our world by any means possible. Fighting them by conventional means has proven too hazardous to carry on, but a few possess within themselves the means to fight these beings on their terms.

"You eight are among them. That is why you were brought to Chitoku, and why you are standing here now."

[rulebook]

Ryuta slowly stood back up as the effects seemed to slowly decrease in intensity. He stumbled for a moment before finally regaining his composure, albeit struggling to do so.

Hearing the older man's explanation, Ryuta couldn't help but scoff at the idea. Another world? Invading monsters? It sounded like a wild fantasy of a mad man. But as he thought about it, he could tell that THEY believed it. Why go to all the trouble of making this hidden laboratory with this expensive equipment? And he couldn't deny the feeling of this place.

"Let's say that we believe what you are telling us. From the sound of things, you need us to fight these... Monsters. Do we have a choice in this matter? And what is in it for us if we cooperate?"

[hoshikage_himeko]

Initially, Himeko wanted to argue with them much more. Getting used to that? She was just about to collapse because of all these strange things going on.
But except for her exhaustion, which was still present but didn’t seem to be as bad as expected, everything else including the urge to faint seemed to slowly getting better. She almost felt as okay as she did before coming here, even.
With a sigh of relief she sat down on the floor for a moment to catch a deep breath.
Next thing she immediately did was putting on her cutesy act again by changing her harsh expression into the usual innocent look. She deeply hoped nobody else had seen the expression she had made earlier, as it would ruin her image and make it harder for her to observe the rest of the group properly.

She then listened carefully to what the man, introduced as Takaoka, had to say.
It sounded unbelievable and Himeko wasn’t really sure what to think of it. But the idea of fighting bad monsters like in one of those fantasy adventure movies made her a little excited nonetheless.
“You say we will fight monsters like they do in fiction? Like really heroic heroes?”, her eyes started to sparkle again but then she realized that believing it just like that would probably be too naive, even for the impression the rest might have of her.
“I mean…I don’t believe you , though! That strange stuff that was going on just now doesn’t really prove that the monster part is true, does it?!”, she added a little more wary than before.
“Additional to that, the Ruleaholic over there is right. You brought us here. You should at least ask us if we want to participate or not!”

[heirofkobe]

Taue shook his head wryly, then turned in the direction of the blind girl, leaning closer so she could hear him.

"Yeah, looks like you were right. We've hit every last flag, haven't we?"

Everyone else's dubiousness contrasted to Taue's...acceptance of the situation. These were adults, well-paid by the Japanese government, and likely not in the business of wasting Glorious Nihon's time and money coming up with light shows to fool a couple of high schoolers.

No, this was real, and serious.

"I'll take you guys at your word as you have no reason to lie to us," Shinichiro said, "so I guess I have one question -- what do the eight of us have that lets us fight your cosmic horrors?"

[burningbow]

The nausea stopped. There was a sort of calmness to the surreal position Mirai had been put in. Once or twice he widened the fingers over his eyes and saw through the hand he had been supporting Miyume with - and the gaps were full of people all staring at him.

He opened his mouth to tell them to go away. When he did, he the words were hurting him. He wanted to tell them so much to leave him alone. He wanted the colours to come off the walls and swallow them whole. He wanted to unleash a hellish scream. He shut his eyes instead -

Something was moving on the floor by his feet. He saw Miyume lying on the floor as a result of the event and nobody from the authorities going over to help her as they spoke, again and again. As he stared, his knees began moving. The floor was hard. His knees moved. His legs folded, and he swung around his legs, as if he was unable to make himself comfortable.

"Hey. Wake up."

He went reaching down to the depths of his mind with an outstretched hand, bringing back his veneer of control - and Miyume's senses, if she could feel his touch. A certain smugness spread through his mouth. It pressed its thin lips to a thin smile. He seemed to retreat behind his eyes. And now they would see him showing no emotion other than curiosity at Taue's words - and the answer those who thought they had power had to give.

[phantomcloud]

Miyume stirred slightly when Mirai touched her and her eyes fluttered open. Curiously, her expression seemed to crumble, tears were filling her eyes and threatening to spill. She swallowed once in an attempt to hold her tears at bay. Her face was red with humiliation. As she struggled to stand, there was a bewildered mixture of hurt and anger on her face.

She wished she could say she was surprised but she wasn't. People had assumed she was faking it just to get attention and sympathy for years now, after all.

Miyume trembled like a newborn deer, her whole body feeling week and like she might collapse again at any moment but she managed to stand back up.

[harmonizefaculty]

"You have no choice. Consider this a draft," Yachiyo responded flatly, having taken the floor back from Takaoka. Sawatari and the woman she'd called 'Suwa' flinched a little, but she paid them no attention.

"It's a matter of national security. As for what's in it for you?" She smiled, thinly, humorlessly. "I'm surprised to hear something so self-centered from you of all people, Tanemoto. Consider it the price of your attendance at Chitoku. You'll also be receiving the best training and protection our nation has to offer.

"And what sets you apart..."

She strode over to a nearby locker, which clicked open at her touch. The contents were difficult to see from the group's present angle, but she selected something from within and came back to them.

What she thrust out towards them, end-first, was what seemed to be--what could be nothing but--a traditional wakizashi hilt with no blade, ending at the guard. It was a simple, unadorned affair, only notable for being a bit on the bulky side, and a thin line of blue light running vertically along either side. Those close enough to see the kashira, the endcap, might notice characters carefully embossed on it... and scratched out beyond recognition.

"Again, I can't ask you to understand. Not until you've experienced it. Do you trust us?"

She paused, glanced at Miyume and Mirai, and her lips twitched. "At least, do you trust us not to let you die?"

[heirofkobe]

Taue didn't hesitate. He simply stepped forward before anyone else could react, and grabbed hold of the wakizashi hilt from Yachiyo.

"I don't trust you for a lot," Taue admitted, "considering you hid all of this from us, but I do trust that you don't want us dead if you need us."

The hilt felt good in his hands -- high quality, though a lack of a blade was strange. He'd held swords before, and he knew just enough to know this one's hilt was pretty well made.

"So, come on. How does this thing make me able to fight monsters? It doesn't even have a blade..."

[harmonizefaculty]

Just as he spoke, a pale blue light erupted from the end, forming into a close approximation of a wakizashi's blade. Taue would be able to feel its heat--powerful, but not unbearable--and it would even reach those near him as a faint warmth.

"Show me that trust, then."

Her eyes hardened to flint, and her next words rang out like a gunshot.

"Seppuku seyo."

[burningbow]

Something in Yachiyo-sensei's voice made Mirai bare his teeth a little, and rise off the floor. No orders! The old familiar state of trying to ignore them came back to him, and for a while he wanted to turn the situation upside down. He simply could not imagine her ever daring to commit what she had requested of them.

Then, although he was sure it was something silly, he tried to watch what Taue would do. He visualised his roommate as a wall between him and the adults present. He felt a little better.

[phantomcloud]

For the moment, Miyume was too preoccupied with the task of simply standing up to give any thought to what Yachiyo was saying. She was too tired to really care why her history teacher had handed a light saber to the boy who'd called her a moe-blob earlier. All she cared about right then was simply sitting down.

"Excuse me, sensei. Could I have a chair, please?" she interrupted rudely.

[harmonizenpc]

Yachiyo's lips drew into a thin line at the untimely interruption, and it was Suwa instead who hurried from her place to wheel over one of the chairs from the consoles, and offered it to Miyume with a steadying hand and an apologetic murmur. "We'll take care of you after, all right? Yachiyo-san is..." Her expression told more than words could express.

[phantomcloud]

Miyume nodded, giving the woman an understanding, if tired, smile. She sat down in the chair, grateful to just be able to finally rest after so much standing. Pacified, Miyume settled down to watch the ongoing events as they would unfold.

[heirofkobe]

Shinichiro Taue's bluff had been called.

The laser-sword in his hand hummed with energy, the sound pounding in his ears even over the words the...instructor had commanded. He knew what they meant -- judging by the looks on the faces of everyone else, they all knew fairly well too.

"Man, if Katsura-sensei could see this," he offered. "He's probably wanted me to do this since the first day of school."

None of the adults laughed. Neither did Taue.

"Well, then," Taue said, extending the weapon out, and turning it around, both hands on the hilt, the tip of the light-blade pointing towards his abdomen. Deep down, he couldn't imagine this would be lethal -- there'd be no point in killing the bright, shining future, right?

Of course, there was the fact that thousands upon thousands of his fellow former countrymen had taken their lives in this very same fashion, but with cold steel instead of burning light.

"If this is goodbye, kids, it's been fun. Enjoy Kobe -- it's a Hell of a place, even if this might just be Hell."

With that, both hands drove towards his body, impaling himself on the blue blade. It felt unbearably warm, pain starting to radiate through his body, but he was still coherent enough -- just -- to actually complete what had to be done.

Both hands still on the blade, Taue suddenly jerked the hilt from left to right.

THIS time, there was nothing BUT pain. Lots of it -- his breath leaving him on a tortured scream that seemed to go on and on and on, throat gurgling with incomprehensible noises as he fell to his knees, head threatening to explode as seven words forced themselves out of his viscera to the forefront of his consciousness.

"Thou art I, and I am thou..."

When Taue's pain-wracked form looked up, hovering there in the air, unaffected by this world's color shifting, was a tall man with a white wig, wearing old European clothing. Shinichiro recognized him immediately, as would any in the room familiar with American history -- the Father of America, George Washington.

Why the first American President had seemingly exploded from his head, Taue didn't know. Moments later, he fell from his knees, flat to his stomach, eyes still looking up, mouth uttering a world, syllable by syllable through the pain.

"Per..."

He tried to fight up, but nothing. George still hovered, looking down at the young man with an almost fatherly expression.

"So...."

Nodding his head, old George disappeared from sight, leaving a crowd of onlookers and Taue himself pretty much gobsmacked.

"Na..."

After that, he jerked suddenly once more, then lay on the ground, limp as a dishrag. He was obviously alive though, breathing shallowly, too exhausted to move, and too confused to process why George Friggin' Washington had just shown up in the 21st century.