What is going on? Why is there such a fuss outside...? I don't see anything.

[Note: Takami is one of those people who won't be able to see anything, because of the very little violence in his life, and the fact that he really is just a normal human being is on the inside is a good person.]

Would someone explain what is going on?

[One of the volleyball courts on the far side of the complex is littered with volleyballs; results from an intensive training session. But hitting volleyballs doesn't quite let out the stress bottled inside Minako, so she's hurling golden hearts instead.]

[Having been at the party the night before, Risa arrived back at her room after Takami was already asleep, so she just hopped into bed without any idea of what to do with Floon - to her amazement, it sank down to the bed beside her feet and promptly fell asleep. Apparently living balloons needed sleep too!

So when Takami wakes up, which he generally does before Risa, he'll find her fast asleep with a balloon sitting at her feet. It's not a regular balloon, though - it's got small black eyes, a yellow X where its mouth would be, and what appears to be a cloud stuck to its head. Also, if he looks very closely, he might notice it growing and shrinking slightly, rhythmically, almost like it's breathing.

What will he make of this?]

((ooc: hope you don't mind, hon! i just couldn't wait for them to meet XD i'll still keep up with the other thread.))

[It has been many days since he last saw Takami, and this is both an irritant and a worry. The younger man is someone Ashura has come to call a close friend, and while he can respect Takami's tendency for wanting his lonesome, it also deeply concerns him when he does not so much as get a communicator call from the other to at least let him know he is not damaged in some way. He had worried much during the recent sleeping sickness....

And seeing as Takami was not making the effort to come see Ashura, Ashura took it upon himself to go see him. And that is what brought him to Takami's door, knocking loud enough to make sure he was heard and impossible to ignore but without being terribly annoying. He crossed his arms, waiting, looking somewhere between worried, irritated, and impatient.]

[Someone's huddling under the covers today, sounding a little frustrated and...sick.]

Ok. [Cough, sniffle, he's gotta ask:] Medical advice; who has it.

T-Takami-senpai? Takami-senpai?!

[Risa is in a complete state. It's been two nights now that Takami hasn't returned to their room, and she's starting to panic. She can be found running around pretty much everywhere, looking for his body - NO, no, for him, he's not dead!

When she gets around to her voice post, she's sniffling and hiccuping frantically.]

[Voice]

H-Has anyone seen Ta-Takami Ichiro? He - he's really tall, dark hair, g-glasses - we sh-share a room, and he - he hasn't - for two nights - [quiet sob] - just t-tell me if you've seen him, okay? A-Anywhere, whenever it was, just -

[And she dissolves into tears.]

((let's try this once more. thread with Takami is closed, everything else is open!))

[Someone has been spending some time with the computers. She's been attempting to get outside of the system. She hasn't been trying that hard, at least, not yet.]

There has to be some way to access other systems....

[She yawns]

Tieria, have you tried getting outside of the system?

[When Risa arrives at Takami's door that evening, she's a little more put-together - her hair is clean and loose around her face, and she's wearing a cute floral top with her jeans instead of her big, baggy hoodie. She's even put on a touch of makeup, although she's not sure why - she just wants to make a good impression on him after all the times she's made a fool of herself.

This is crazy. Is she really moving in with Takami-senpai? She can bardly believe it, but she's here.]

Takami-senpai? [She knocks, adjusting the small but extremely full and rather heavy duffel bag slung over her shoulder.] It's Risa.

[When Risa has to leave Takami-senpai's room, something occurs to her - that night, she'll be returning to an empty room. He's still across the hall, but will that be enough if someone comes after her? Will he hear and react in time?

Besides, she has to stop depending on him. So, putting on her best bright, cheerful voice, she speaks over the communicator.]

Um. Hi! For those who don't know me, I'm Risa Koizumi. I just got here a coupla days ago. And I was wondering... is anyone, like, looking for a roommate? In one of the apartments or something? I don't really know anyone too well, but I'm not that tough to live with, I promise! I'll be really clean and polite and won't cause any trouble. I just... I don't really want to live alone anymore... [Her voice trembles a little.] ... So! Um! Just let me know, okay?

[Risa can't think of what else to do. A few minutes ago, the last thing she wanted to do was see Takami-senpai, but now... she's so, so scared, and she can't think of where else to go. Hopefully when he hears the news, he'll forget about what she said last night. Hopefully...

... she just can't even think about that right now. She's scared out of her wits.

Standing outside his door in jeans and a hoodie, her hair thrown into a sloppy ponytail, she knocks on Takami's door frantically.] T-Takami-senpai? Are you there? [She sounds every bit as terrified as she feels.]

((ooc: new post to coincide with the news from the daypost. Thread with Takami will be closed, but if anyone else wants to encounter her in the hallway, they can!))

[Risa has discovered the arcade! Glory!

She doesn't recognise any of the games, but she gets the idea of most of them - she walks straight past the dancing and instrument games, which are just hopeless with her coordination, and chooses a fighting game near the back, Deadly Battle IV. Before long, the arcade is filled with whoops of excitement and groans of aggravation as she battles her way through the monster, the ninja and the kung-fu master.

The battle with the token girl proves to be the hardest - she's really throwing herself into it, her feet twitching when she kicks and her voice raising and raising in pitch.]

C'mon... c'mon, you can do better than - omigod, how did that hit not kill you? I'm gonna beat you into the ground, you...

[Although she's had a few attacks of tears since she arrived, it doesn't all hit Risa until evening, when she finds herself in an unfamiliar bed in her unfamiliar, empty room with no sounds of her family around her, and realizes that she won't be going to school tomorrow. She won't be hanging out with Nobu and Chiharu and their boyfriends, and that dumb shrimp Otani -

- for some reason, that's what pushes her over the edge. The idea that she'll never be called Jumbo-girl again, she'll never punch him across the room for being a meathead again, she'll never be called All-Kyojin again. The thought opens up a great, gaping ache in her chest that makes it hard to swallow, to even breathe.

She stumbles out of her room, unable to bear the sight of those empty walls anymore, and crumples against the door next to hers. She knows that people around her are sleeping, but she can't seem to silence the loud, hiccuping sobs that make her entire body shake. She's never going home. Never mind where she is, if it's some weird kind of prison-resort - she's not going back.

She's not ready to leave home! She's only 15!

She takes a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but it just comes out in a long wail. Why? Why her?]

[Takami, dear, I feel like you have been avoiding me as of late. I haven't seen you in ages! Do please come over to my apartment and share dinner with me. It would be nice to have a companion for the evening, and even better I'd get to see you~!

I hope you won't be to intimidated when I say I'll be cooking - and that it will be traditional foods from my land. Trust me, I can handle the basics well enough. No one has ever gotten sick or died from my attempts at cooking, though my chefs might weep a bit at the final presentations I give.

Say 7pm~? See you then!]

No way, you've got it all wrong! There's no way a guy like me's suited for jail life. This fragile mind, this youthful body, by sentencing me here you've guaranteed the loss of my wide-eyed innocence, tearing away the one joy many young girls had been anxiously waiting for since I hit puberty!

Please, Oh Great Prison Robot of the Future, grant me sweet freedom!!

[ Those in the area will take note that their newest resident is appealing his case to a trash bot. ]

[Accidental Voice | Action]

[Holding a hand to her temple, it appears as though Mikuru is concentrating deeply, her cute brows scrunched up in a mixture of consternation and focus. She remains like that for a long while, before giving a short defeated sigh.] There has to be some sort of communication...[Her shoulders slump a little and she sounds frustrated.] Especially when the technology here itself feels all too primitive.

[Obviously troubled, she appears downcast, but her small hands clench into determined fists. If this computer appears to know so much, doesn't it realize just what sort of fire it is playing with? She's failing miserably. But if she can't somehow...do something about their current situation, then certainly there is nothing but a bleak future. It's too important that things go according to plan. There is no way her superiors would allow something like this to happen. At the very least she would be briefed by now.]

Oh...was this recording? [Suddenly panicking her eyes widen and she flails. She hasn't said anything she shouldn't be has she? Swallowing nervously, she tries to remember. In any event, this is important.]

[Video]

[A beautiful young girl with reddish brown hair comes into view of the camera. She's pretty, with an innocent air to her.]

Um...um...! I have...a question for everyone. Actually, it's more than one. Oh! For those who are unfamiliar with me, my name is Mikuru Asahina, by the way. [Wringing her hands anxiously, her doe-like eyes glance up innocently into the camera lens.] I was wondering if anyone here knows of a way in which to communicate with individuals from home? If that is at all possible within this facility. As well as...I've heard that people have disappeared and returned to this dome on occasion. Some however have disappeared all together, though...

[She takes a small breath.]

If it's not too much trouble...could you please explain to me those instances...and whatever information you might remember or know regarding them?

[the communicator is flicked on. The voice coming out on the end is rather excited for a newly arrived prisoner.]

1.609 kilometers-! That's amazing, there isn't any kind of deep-sea technology back home that can recreate a city beneath the water's surface. And by that I'm sure that I'm not on Earth anymore – this must be an another planet, or an entirely different dimension altogether...what's this?

[She pauses as she fiddles with the communicator, switching it to the video function easily.]

Oh, so it really is a communicator... Hello! My name is Ami Mizuno. Is anyone else there?

[When Risa Koizumi arrives, she is...

asleep.

The video turns on when she flails in her sleep and whacks herself in the head, letting out a surprised cry of pain and a long string of utter nonsense.]

- it's okay, Princess! I found the Sword of Healing, I can -

- I did it again, didn't I? Sorry, sensei -

[That's when it strikes her that something is very wrong. She's in the middle of a lush, beautiful park, with a strange dome-like structure overhead and unfamiliar buildings all around her. And there's this thing on her head, this strange thing telling her about her crimes and the prison and something called Acumen. The answer seems perfectly clear to her.]

- still sleeping. Still sleeping. I mean, prison? As if! If anyone deserves prison for verbal abuse, it's that little shrimp. This seems like a cool game, though. Am I making up my own games in my dreams now? So cool! What should I do, Mister Acumen?

[She fiddles with her headset a little more, and finds a map. No sign of quest markers, though, so she's not sure where to go. She wanders aimlessly, waiting for a random encounter - NPCs always have something to say about the quest.]

D'oh!

[Have a wet Takami, with the hood of his light blue sweatshirt up, staring at the sky. There had been talk of rain today, but the weather didn't seem too bad. He had practiced in worse, after all. But, he remembered a promise...]

Ah, Ashura-san, Reira-san... It's raining today. I'm not sure if you'd want to practice in this weather. I'll be-

[He was going to say jogging, but remembers that he doesn't want to give any inkling of his disadvantage. Still, maybe... He'd just say he was going at a slower pace than normal. He wasn't sure.]

I'll be outside, if you still need to contact me.

I really hate storms. [A sigh.] And it seemed like it was going to be such a nice day. Oh well. I doubt that there will be any loss of power, but make sure you have your flashlights just in case. And... and... other provisions. Anyway, hope everyone stays safe~

[And that people have enough sense to heed Acumen's other warnings and she really REALLY REALLY hopes it won't be as bad as predicted. Akane hates things that have the potential to be spooky. -_-;;]

[Private to Al]

Hey, Al~! I'm finished with my morning work out. Did you still want to meet so that you can show me your alchemy? [As usual, she sounds chipper and excited.]

[Those seeking a shower or bath this morning may notice that there is a new door at the far end of the bath house. It has no lock. If one were to open the door, they would find a short, dimly-lit corridor leading to a mostly empty room, grey-walled and drab. The most striking feature of the room is a very tall, narrow glass tank that takes up a good deal of the space; it has a ladder extending up the side to the open top, and is filled with translucent orange liquid. A white towel hangs from the uppermost rung of the ladder.

Upon closer examination, however, one will notice a potentially alarming sight - there is a teenage girl floating in the liquid, completely naked, with her eyes closed. She does not move, and there are no bubbles coming from her mouth or nose to indicate that she is breathing. Anyone who already knows Ayanami Rei will recognise her short, pale blue hair - anyone who saw her the day before will also notice that the sores on her body appear to have vanished.

What is she doing? And how will the person seeing this react?]

((ooc note: If you call out to her, she will hear, as one can hear and speak clearly through LCL. So if you want to dive in and grab her, don't say anything first! Also, she has her communicator on out of habit - LCL does not damage electronics - so she will still understand people.))