welcome to the mansion

[airlockedmods]

[The Champions wake up not in a bed, but alone on a plush, velvet seat. Some may recognize the backseat of a limousine, while some may not, but the windows are tinted black inside and out, and there's no chauffeur. All are wearing expensive formalwear, no matter what they thought they were wearing before.

The door opens by an unseen hand and reveals a gravel drive with a red carpet and a lavish fountain. Others are already there, and more limousines continue to pull up afterward. The front doors are locked, and overhead curls a large protective glass dome, keeping the cold void of space at bay, but hey, there's also an unparalleled view of the stars.]

Hey there, Champions, welcome to the IGS Fantasy Sweet. I'm PAL, your onboard maintenance system for this location. Your Overseer will arrive shortly. Please be patient.

Comments

2

[motherfucking_ghost]

[Aw, that's cute. It's like prom night all over again, except with a lot more confusing and less 'leave room for jesus' pep talks.]

Yyyyyep. [He lifts his arm in kind to show.] Good thing you reminded me, I kinda...forgot, a little. I was playing with it in the limo, but then this whole thing happened. It's kinda retro if you ask me, but hey, some people like that style.

[serrata]

... If this is retro then I'd really hate to ask what you think is modern...

[ She's looking down at her P.I.P as she says that, tapping away idly at the screen. ]

Have you looked through all the names and faces yet? I'm trying to see if we all have the same information.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Uh, sleeker? Not so manual input? Not a clunky piece of junk on your arm? I mean, I'm used to my helmet's HUD, and that's military tech, so I wouldn't expect anything that advanced in civilian hands, but still.

Little bit? Doesn't seem...right. At all. Like some things are right and other things? Waaaaay off.

[serrata]

How off, exactly? Mine is... close enough. Enough that it's a bit strange.

[ She's just trying to puzzle out if she's the only one who has a creepily accurate profile. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Check this out. It says I'm seven. Do I look seven to you? And that I'm an AI. And I don't even know what that hometown is; sounds like a colony way out in the boonies maybe? Colonies get weird names sometimes, but I'm not from it.

[serrata]

You're a bit too tall for a seven year old -- I'd put you more at maybe nine or ten.

[ good natured sass is today's coping method of choice apparently ]

I honestly wonder if the person filling these out wasn't making most of it up, though. It's all ridiculous.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Psh. I'm totally thirteen. Puberty's been kind to me. [u sassin the sassmaster??]

But like...they do get some things right. Maybe it's a translation error?

[serrata]

Oh...! That would explain some things. I mean...

[ A pause as she considers just how much she actually wants to try and explain. ]

... I'm living at my school right now but I wouldn't call it my hometown exactly. Live-in student I can understand, though.

[motherfucking_ghost]

That...is a little weird, but I'm not gonna judge. Do I wanna know why you're living at school of all places?

[serrata]

[ ...

. . . ]

It was just convenient, really. The facilities were there and our teacher didn't seem to have a problem with it.

[ That certainly sounds forthcoming enough but something about her smile when she says that gives him the real answer: no, you don't want to know. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[See, that makes him want to know all the more.] Wasn't it kind of creepy there at night? Like...got that forbidden-y feeling, night with no people there when you're used to it being daylight and bustling? Wild.

[serrata]

We don't usually do a lot of wandering around once it gets dark, so I've never really thought about it that much. And if we do ever have to, it's not that much worse than wandering around your house at night.

[ it's not like it's all that much quieter since everyone's just as dead during the day as they are at night ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

So there's like...a bunch of you living there. Not just you. [He's not sure if that makes it better or weirder...]

[serrata]

Just two others. So, it's the three of us. Me, Yuki-chan and Kurumi. We're the "School Living Club".

[ see, when she says it like that, doesn't it sound so much less weird? ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

...The...club of living in schools, or the school club people who are living?

[AS A ZOMBIE GOAST HE FEELS HE SHOULD ASK THIS also never let her know he's dead......]

[serrata]

Living in schools, of course.

[ Ha.

Hahahahah. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

Living people who are living in schools. Because of a club.

You know that still sounds weird, right?

[serrata]

I suppose it does if you don't know about our school.

[ HA................. ]

But it was all about encouraging independence and helping you foster important life skills for when you leave school and become an adult. That sort of thing is what the School Living Club is all about.

[motherfucking_ghost]

So you're like a senior in high school, learning how to live in the real world, by...living in the school with your other club members.

[serrata]

By living independently with the support of our teachers and the school facilities, yes.

[ you wanna make something of it, buddy. ]

[motherfucking_ghost]

[MAYBE HE DOES] So do you teach each other shit like writing checks and finding apartments or what?

[serrata]

Something like that! We have our own clubroom so we have to be completely responsible with keeping it tidy, keeping ourselves fed and making sure we get everywhere on time without our parents pushing us along. It's a bit like practice for when we move out and have to manage a house and our time by ourselves.