myvillainacademy | ORIENTATION

[When you start to stir from your slumber, you awaken to the smell of dust and rotted wood. Your bed is far from comfortable -- lumps in the mattress, a tattered blanket that barely keeps you warm and a pillow almost as hard as a rock-- and you'll immediately see there are others in your room with you.

All of you are confused, surely. "Where am I?" "What place is this?" Questions like that stir through your mind while you take in your surroundings. Something might catch your eye before anything else, though. A coloured chest tied with a bow, a large gift tag is attached to it with your name on it. There's one for everyone in each dorm, and if you open it you'll find:

An old, worn school uniform.
A colourful costume.
And a pamphlet with information about you, about your stay in this Academy, and a map of the layout of the school and the training grounds outside. The descriptions are vague, leaving out important details about your new super powers called "Quirks", a bland description about how you were selected to join the Academy called "VA" (no explanation what it means), and even the map has lame descriptions of locations that don't really give you a good idea of where you're staying.

Before you can start exploring, or chatting away with your neighbors, a voice rings over old intercoms. It sounds low and comforting, like a long lost friend. But there's something about that that feels.. unsettling. A feeling in your gut that this voice was anything but friendly.

"Welcome, students. You must be very confused, but I assure you I'll be able to answer all the questions you have in just a few minutes.

For now, relax, explore, and meet your new classmates who will be staying with you during this semester.

Oh, but..... whatever you do, don't enter the dining room."

The intercom cuts off, leaving you with a cryptic message to think about on top of.. everything else you're dealing with right now.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Stories and dreams, as plentiful as the clouds in the sky. [ A shake of his head and he smiles, bittersweet. ]

...in that case, I think I'll look at it that way. Thank you—ah I don't know your name, do I?

Or as many of us as there are here.

[She watches the bittersweet quality of the smile, her eye flickering to meet his as though to ask, is that it? But as seems to be her M.O. here, she doesn't pursue it; merely lets it sit, along with the other probably-awkward things between them in the middle of this meeting of... minds? Messes? Something.

There's just the smallest shake of her head, right on cue at the thanks.]

... It's Mei. Misaki Mei.

[ There's a small hum but he says nothing else, at least for now. He doesn't seem to be the pushy type either, and it might be better to focus on the simple things first. For as much as they can be simple, given the circumstances and their conversation. ]

Ukyo. It's nice to meet you, Misaki-san. [ His smile brightens just then. ] It feels like it's been a while since I've been able to say that to someone for the first time.

[In some ways, Mei is good at breaking things down to the simple bits, and zeroing in on them -- like a math equation, a scientific summary, a quick disaster dossier. The latter might in fact be applicable here, but it's not the time to use that yet.

In other ways, that is, she is very good at complicating things, or at least at making them appear complicated despite (or perhaps by virtue of) doing very little. There's a small blink at the name.]

Ukyo... san. [it's not quite a question, but it's something] It's usually once.

[Or none, in her case, but she got slightly distracted.]

With or without the honorific is fine by me. I'm used to both, depending how people meet me. [ And speaking of that— ]

Ah right, of course you're right. Sorry, sometimes I get things mixed up...

Then, Ukyo-san.

[Since he doesn't seem inclined to indicate one way or the other (or to suddenly and spontaneously sprout another name, but that's neither here nor there where she's concerned), Mei simply repeats herself.

There's a brief glance at his fumbling about.]

It's a mixed up place.

[ Nod, nod, twice for good measure and a smile. ]

Even more so than normal. [ ... ] It might be too optimistic to think this is all one giant mix up. They don't really have schools like this nowadays, do they?

[ He might be asking her to fill the void of his stumbling, or maybe he truly believes that she would know better than him given their apparent age difference, not to mention her uniform too. ]

... The school and everything is older, maybe ten or twenty years.

[She does seem to be speaking from experience, though it's unclear whether she's obliging him by covering up his moments of awkwardness or just musing halfway to herself.]

If it was a mixup, our names wouldn't be here, and prepared. This isn't so different from our school. [...] We didn't have dorms.

Man, time can be such a pain... [ It's an offhanded comment but he doesn't question her on it, partially because he also seems to be musing to himself. This isn't how conversations are supposed to work, but it's possible they'll still learn about each other or this place regardless. ]

Ah yeah, that's true. My school never had dorms either, aside from the middle school I went to in France. But that was only for a little while. [ He pauses, looking at her before speaking again. ]

You said "we", is someone else you know here too?

[There's a glance that says she heard it, but she doesn't object to this odd flow of conversation -- she has no particular preference in interaction, and in fact might prefer less interaction even than this altogether, but no one here, probably, can get exactly what they want. It's one of those facts of life in a strange abandoned school-city with a bizarre masked mastermind.]

France... I see.

[She might see, or she might be looking at something else, but...]

As far as I know, I'm the only one here.

[Just perhaps, she's not yet used to being the only one. It's perhaps the smallest bit ironic.]

I would say I hope that you're able to find your classmates, but I'm not sure you would want to in a place like this. Even if it might be lonely, it's likely safer for them back in the world you came from.

[ One of those Catch-22's in a sense, and adding on top of that strange pile he sounds like he's speaking from experience. ]

Hmm. I don't know about that.

[Slow and musing like she's working through a particularly thorny word problem rather than whatever their current situation is supposed to be. Then again, her attitude hasn't made complete sense from the beginning, maybe.]

Ah? I'm sorry, I really shouldn't assume. Yes, there likely are as many dangerous worlds as there are normal and "good" ones... or at least, the universe is supposed to be balanced this way.

[ Spoken a bit fast and more like he's talking to himself at the end, but maybe she's used to this by now. ]

Danger. And wanting classmates here. They're two different things.

[That's all she seems inclined to say on that matter -- there's a reluctance even with that much, peeking out from behind the impassive way she sifts through things. One hand has drifted up to her eyepatch; it tightens there for a moment before drifting back down, apropos of nothing.]

The universe isn't balanced, anyway. It never is. It's a belief or a theory, like luck or--

[She stops short from finishing that.]

[ His lips press together, but he elects not to speak for several reasons really. His focus on her movements likely doesn't go unnoticed, a minor attempt to cover by fiddling with his hat once he notices how obvious he's being. ]

...fate? [ Blurted out without a second thought. ]

ORIENTATION

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject