(no subject)

[garmentgoddess]

Who: Rene Randall and YOU
What: Rene blasts in!
Where: Around
When: Starting Tuesday



Everyone was still getting their bearings in the new world, dealing with the many strange and fantastic surroundings. In that situation, a teenager with a piece of paper in her hand may go unnoticed. And she had been, which is why she started going up to people.

"Excuse me," she asked, "I'm looking for a place called Smash Academy. It's supposed to be here, right?"

Comments

[babylonmechanic]

Rene was fortunate. Wave happened to be passing by, carrying a box of supplies. Everything was in shambles, and it would take a lot of work to make the mansion fully livable. It was frustrating, but what choice did they have? She happened to notice someone new showing up and asking about the Academy, and all she could do was scoff.

"You're a bit late for that," she said. "Academy got blown up. Congratulations on being stuck here now, though."

Tact was never her strong suit.

[garmentgoddess]

Blown up? Well...that would explain the mess.

"Blown up?" she repeated. "By what? I mean, I know it's--it was--a fighting school but I didn't hear about any enemies!"

[babylonmechanic]

"Wasn't any enemy," Wave replied. "The damn moon fell on us. It's a wonder we're all still alive."

[garmentgoddess]

The...moon? That had to be the name of some sort of weapon. "Yeah, I can imagine. All of you? That's amazing!"

[babylonmechanic]

"Near as we can figure at least," she said. "Damn place just won't stop messing with us... So the point is, if you're looking to enroll, you're a bit late. The Academy kinda doesn't exist anymore."

[garmentgoddess]

"I'm supposed to be teaching, actually..." She looked around for a moment before facing Wave. "Can I ask you something? It...may come off as too personal though."

[babylonmechanic]

"You can ask, whether I feel like answering is another thing," she replied.

[garmentgoddess]

"Well...at first I thought you were just wearing a fake beak, but it moves like a real mouth...And you're...y'know, purple and all. Are you really a bird?"

[babylonmechanic]

Wave sighed. "Yes, I really am a bird."

[garmentgoddess]

"Wow." Rene had heard that this was a strange school, but she had assumed it was in the way Lanseal had been strange. "All right. Well, we've got that out of the way, so now I know."

[babylonmechanic]

"You're not the first to ask the question," Wave replied. "It's no big deal in my world, so really, the rest of your worlds are weird for not having people like me there."

[garmentgoddess]

"Huh," Rene mused. "I'd heard this place was another world, but I didn't think that was so literal. Everyone I know is human..." Though a moment later she added "even Aliasse, although she's sort of special."

[babylonmechanic]

"Most people are, I'm learning," she said. "I'm from a world with humans and animals like me. But that's another matter. Sorry, you're not gonna find what you're looking for here, but you might as well make yourself at home anyway. No idea when you'll be able to leave."

[punchtheflute]

Oh, man. This person was going to be super disappointed!

"No, I'm really sorry." Sonny said, shaking his head. "The Academy got blown up by the moon? This is... uh. I don't even know? An Island of some kind. I don't even know where the City went!" he said apologetically. "But all the teachers and students from the school are here, so, if you were looking for someone in particular, they could still be here?"

[garmentgoddess]

"Well uh..." She looked back at the paper in her hand. "I'm supposed to teach here. So I'd imagine I'd talk to the headmaster."

[punchtheflute]

"Nuh-uh. No-one's seen him for months." Sonny replied. "The assistant Headmaster came back to perform a wedding ceremony? But apart from that, the Hand have been kind of absent. They might be here at the mansion? But I'm not holding my breath."

He wasn't at all sure if they were around.

"But, um, my name is Sonny Moe! And it's nice to meet you? What were you going to teach?"

[garmentgoddess]

It was still better than what happened to the Lanseal headmaster. Not that it made anything clearer. "It's nice to meet you too, Sonny! I'm Rene! And I'm supposed to be teaching everyone domestic living."

[punchtheflute]

"OK! Rene! That's a nice name! Well, domestic living is a really useful thing to teach? We used to have a Home Ecc' teacher called Miss Able, but she left a while ago. You might find that your skills are useful here? Because this house is pretty old and beat up?"

He looked at the mansion and gave a shrug.

"....unfortunately, I don't know who would pay you for that."

[garmentgoddess]

"Oh, I don't need payment. Nobody's in teaching for the money," she giggled, thinking of the brown suit Brixham had worn every single day. "What are you working on right now? Can I help you out with it?"

[punchtheflute]

"Well, right now I'm just exploring around and trying to find useful stuff? Like food and other supplies."

He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a folded canvas bag, the likes of which you might use at a grocery store.... but it looked old and a bit threadbare.

"I thought maybe the forest would have some fruits in it? Berries or nuts or maybe mushrooms. There's no food inside the mansion. Or at least, the one can I found and opened had expired a looooong time ago."

[garmentgoddess]

"I don't know much about foraging, but I can shake apples off a tree if you need. Should we start looking?"

[punchtheflute]

"Yeah! Let's go ahead and check it out!"

He started off towards the woods, arms swinging at his sides.

"So, what kind of a world do you come from, Rene?"

[garmentgoddess]

"Uh..." she groaned. "That's a hard question. Well, we just ended a huge war, so that was good. I was a Lancer in it, an anti-tank class. But as for what KIND of world, I guess I don't know what that means."

[punchtheflute]

"Oh! I'm glad you survived that! I've never been in a war, but I have met some people who were? It wasn't really great?"

He remembered Future Ishimaru and Hajime. They'd been fighting a war for years and it had taken a toll on them.

"Well, I mean like... OK. I come from a world where there are lots of monsters called Pokémon! Humans train and battle us or keep us as pets. I have a friend who comes from a world where there's a lot of robots who are so human? You could hardly tell the difference! Then there's worlds where animals like birds and hedgehogs and cats? They walk on two legs and wear clothes. So... stuff like that, I guess."

[garmentgoddess]

Rene thought back to Juliana, sacrificing herself to save the school. Had she known that using that power would kill her? She had to have known it would severely harm her, at least. Prior to that, Juliana was one of the few people at the school that Rene couldn't see herself getting along with, always so hostile to everyone. But after, she regretted not getting to know the woman.

But she couldn't dwell. She was in a new place now, with new people to reach out to.

"Well...it's humans and regular animals. Like birds and hedgehogs and cats. They don't act like people though, just like animals. I guess humans are animals, but most people don't think of it like that. There are some special humans too, but not very many. Most of them were regular humans once, but they underwent a procedure to make them something called Valkyria." She shrugged. "I think that's just in Gallia that that went on though, not everywhere. I'd be surprised to find them very far away."