Digimon: The Seven Seals Ver. 2.0 (PG-13) [RPG Thread]

[Samayouru]

Maddison Pellerzi​

Aquinas Dormitory, 3rd Floor​

Maddie put on her best smile. “It’s no problem at all,” she said and came down a couple of steps to grab the other end of the girl’s suitcase. “Ready? Heave!”

It wasn’t long before Maddie’s forehead began to moisten with sweat. The suitcase itself wasn’t all that heavy with the two of them working together but going up the stairs was still a challenge. She glanced up when they got close to the end to find another kid – a pale boy with messy black hair – looking down at them. “You ladies look like you could use some help down there~” he said.

Maddie grunted. “Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind,” she replied. “J-Just help us get this thing up this last step and I think we’ll be good.”

By the time they’d finished Maddie’s face was a sharp tint of red. “Whew,” she said under her breath, panting. God, she must’ve looked so stupid waddling up the stairs like that, her lungs burning and drenched in sweat. The very least she could do was tell a joke to take away the awkwardness of it all. “Well that’s my work out for the day finished.” She dusted her hands and gave the boy and girl a thumbs up. “I’m Maddison Pellerzi,” she said. “Just call me Maddie – it’s easier to remember.”

All of a sudden there was a loud clanging sound – to Maddie it felt like the bell of a clock tower. A voice followed this clanging on the speakers in the corner of the corridors. “Attention, students,” it said in a droning, posh, womanly voice. It reminded Maddie of GlaDOS from the Portal games, only nowhere near as memorable. “Dinner is now being served in the Dining Hall. Please make your way downstairs where a member of staff will be waiting to escort you. Thank you.”

Ah, food. Maddie bit down on her tongue to stop herself from licking her lips and approached the girl with the suitcase. “Let me know if you need any more help,” she said, and stood by the stairs, waiting for the others to come out. “I could use a drink.”

And so everybody heads downstairs, ready to get some much-needed food, and after that some rest. It’s been a busy day for everyone, after all, and there’s no doubt that things will get busier once everybody settles in and get used to life at Patriot Academy…

​

A white KnightChessmon stood high up on one of the many peaks of the Digital World. He waited with baited breath for any sound of disruption in the distance before looking down, surveying the land below him with unblinking eyes, and snorted. Dull, greying valleys spread out for miles around, standing as a grim reminder of what the Digital World was slowly becoming. He then cast his gaze out across the equally dismal sky and pawed the ground with his hooves – there wasn’t an Archangel in sight. He chuckled. It looked like the distraction the other Horsemen had created had done its job quite well.

Satisfied with his search, the KnightChessmon cantered down from his peak and across a ledge pointing out over a particularly wide trough in the land to talk to his troops.

They were quite a fearsome bunch in his eyes – all of them having digivolved to the champion stage quite some time ago. A couple of them shared similarities with each other, like the Birdramon preening its feathers and the Kokatorimon scratching at the earth to sharpen its large talons – or the two insects among the group, a Kabuterimon and a Snimon, both of whom were sniffing the air. The only thing all of them had in common was quite simple – all of them had the ability to fly.

And that was why he’d chosen them all for this mission.

The KnightChessmon cleared his throat and stomped one of his front hooves to get their attention. “The plan worked,” he told them. “The Archangels have fallen for our trap.” He cast a hand out towards the invisible barrier to their world behind the group. “Now is your chance to sneak by unseen,” He told them. “Once there, you’ll have twenty-four hours to explore the landscape – once that time is up, you are to return through the rift and report back to base with your findings.” Then he reared up onto his hind legs. “Now go!”

The assembled digimon didn’t have to be told twice. They rose up on their wings and soared towards the barrier just as a large rift opened up large enough to take them in two by two, while KnightChessmon watched confidently with his arms folded.

But unbeknownst to the centaur digimon several smaller shapes were also starting to move below, making their way to a much smaller rift hidden underneath the ledge he’s standing on… ​

ONE WEEK LATER…​

The days that followed after meeting your fellow roommates almost feel like a blur. You meet your new teachers, other students and slowly get accustomed to your new routines. It isn’t long after this that the school trips start. Being a high-class school, Patriot Academy is more than capable of providing a school trip of some kind every week, and now it is your turn to go on one of these trips.

The trip in question is an Arts Festival – located just beyond the city of London. The trip there isn’t all that eventful and you aren’t given free reign until you get off the coach and are sorted into groups. After that, you go off and enjoy yourself (or not, as the case may be). You have been sorted into two groups consisting of five people:

Group 1: Maddie, Tim, Mackenzie, Amélie, Hitomi.
Group 2: Alex, Tobias, Eric, Chelsea, Conrad*.

Group 1 is currently on the left side of the festival grounds. Group 2 is on the right side.

CONRAD: While you have not chosen to do any of the arts, you have come along thanks to being offered the opportunity to gain some extra credit by volunteering to be a helper at this particular event. You have been designated a group of kids to take care of, including the four others in Group 2.

The Arts Festival is divided up into three different sections: Art, Drama and Music and the festival grounds themselves are fairly large. Because this area is used a lot for similar events a fair bit of the ground itself has become quite patchy with the odd clump of grass here and there. It’s quite crowded too, so remember to stick together with your groups!

Overall the mood is quite relaxed and easy-going right now, but that’s going to change quite soon. Enjoy yourself while you can…

The Arts Festival Map​

A – Entrance

B – Drama Stage

C – Music Stage

D – Artist’s/Writer’s Alley

E – Medical Attention

F – Catering + Seating

G – Restrooms

Maddison Pellerzi
Arts Festival, the Artists/Writers Alley (Group 1)​

Damn it, Maddie thought as she finally set the pencil down on the desk she was working at. She frowned as she cast her gaze across the picture she’d been working on, depicting what looked like a really muscular guy with a rocket launcher in his arms aiming at another muscular guy wearing a pyramid-shaped helmet on his head. He was also holding an extremely long knife in his hands, pointing it at the guy with the rocket launcher. Maddie’s shoulders hunched. Hands – why were they so hard to draw? No matter how hard she tried she could never get Nemesis’s grip on the rocket launcher’s trigger right – meanwhile Pyramid Head’s robes looked more like curtains, making him look more silly than threatening.

She paused at last to look at her smartphone, tapping on the icon for her inbox. There wasn’t a peep from her mom or dad, which made Maddie huff. She could use a bit of company out here, even if it was packed with people…

She decided to look up and see if she could spot anybody from her dorm room, taking in the distant melody of orchestral music coming from the other side of the festival. Maybe they’d make for some interesting conversation.

---------------------------------

INFORMATION ADDED: The Arts Festival

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

ERIC DUIKER
ARTS FESTIVAL: MUSIC STAGE
Eric was walking towards the music stage because he heard a familiar, and quite frankly nostalgic, song coming from that direction.

"Well I can't stand to look at you now, this revelation's out of my hands
Still I can't bear the thought of you now, this complication's leaving me scared
Stay when you think you want me, pray when you need advice" - the lead singer of a Seether cover band singing "Country Song". Seether is a band from Eric's native South Africa.

Eric listened to this cover band, with a banner of their group's name "Honey Badgers From Hell", which had a cartoon honey badger with a guitar, and surrounded by blue fire, as a mascot.
Eric was bobbing his head, tapping his feet and humming the chorus.
His mind went back to when he saw Seether live in Pretoria a few years back. It was the only time Eric saw any sort of live performance. An old coworker of his now deceased parents gave a ticket to him for his birthday about a few years back.

Eric waited for the band to finish the song for being before he gave a big round of applause, clapping, and then trying to let out a loud whistle that honestly kind of hurt his throat for a while.

Eric then headed over to an instrument display, looking at various drums, strings, and flutes from all over the globe.

 

[Schade]

Tobias Myhre
Patriot Academy

The next few days following the entrance ceremony of the semester had gone by pretty swimmingly. If you'd ask Tobias what he'd been up to he'd likely answer with a very nonchalant "dunno..". In reality though, Tobias had been up to quite the misadventures already. The academy was huge! Or so he thought. Making it around the buildings were no easy task, and due to him always getting lost, he ended up getting late for classes quite often. so often, in fact, that he started preparing for the classes earlier than the others in hopes that he would be able to make it on time. He was always the first to leave the dorm and the last to enter the class, but the teachers understood, to a certain degree. His crudely made map had been upgraded, but even that prooved to be useless, as even if he somehow managed to find the right way, he would stumble and fall down some stairs, slip on wet floor, accidentally get slammed in the face by a door, get abducted by aliens, you name it. School-life was not as easy as they made it sound on daytime cartoons.

Regardless, the classes went by swimmingly once Tobias actually managed to attend them. He had feared that english courses would be difficult for him to understand, but he madde hefty use of his dictionary, as well as his newly found roomates and friends to make the best of it. He got along nicely with the rest of the group from his dorm, and lucky to him, He was the one who snored, meaning he weren't woken up by annoying snoring in the middle of the night, though some of the others had nudged him slightly to stop his snoring without actually waking him. It was actually kind of surprising someone hadn't just choked him out with a pillow yet, but he took what he could get with gratitude. Though they weren't al super best friends, they all got along at the very least, though some of them were a bit shy, distancing themselves from the others. Tobias figured it would all work out in time.


Arts festival

Ah yes, the arts festival. The highpoint of the semester apparently, happening the week after said semester actually started. It was a cute event, and though Tobias was pretty biased in his artistic interests, he figured he could make the best of it. He had been grouped with all the boys from his dorm except from tim, who was put in with a bunch of the girls from a different dorm. similarily, in his place, A girl who had introduced herself as chelsea had taken up his regular spot with the gang. A cute, plain-looking girl with a warm smile and a big heart, she had no issues with greeting the gang and get chatty. Tobias liked characters like that, the honest and up-front kind of characters. all in all, it would seem the arts festival would be a success.

.. Or so one would think. It didn't take more than exactly 3 minutes and 37 seconds before he had lost sight of his group. With a huge sigh, he looked at the big sign by the entrance depicting the map of the area. It was a rather small area actually, which wouldnt make it too difficut to find the grup again.. Or so one would think. On his personal quest to find his grou, Tobias managed to stray as far as to ending up with group 1, the writer's block, the main stage where an elderly couple were failing miserably to rap in order to be relevant to the youth present, only to be out-rapped by a literal poodle standing next to them on the stage, one of the food stalls, the girls bathroom, a closet of sorts, it was dark in there, the gas station on the opposite side of the road from the festival, and then finally at the stage for musical numbers once again. the elderly couple had left the scene now, and it had been taken up by a sounr around the edges man, dancing in a black body-suit to that themesong fromt he Ghostwasters franchise while wearing a pumpkin mask of sorts. The interpretive dance was nothing short of inspiring, and Tobias couldn't help but join in, standing in front of the stage with a small handful of like-minded doing the same dance. Surely the group would catch up to him eventually if he just stayed put here with his new god.

 

[Monster Guy]

Tim Wolfe
Aquinas Dorm > Dining Hall > Arts Festival

At dinner, Tim ate a lot. When he was stressed out, he found that food made everything better. Much to his surprise, the place had lots of vegetarian options too. He got a salad covered with dressing, mixed fruits, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and a veggie burger. His mom made the best vegetarian meals ever, and what they had here wasn't quite that good, but it was still tasty. Of course no meal would be complete without some form of dessert. Tim really helped himself to every type of dessert they had available. Which included a lot of ice cream, and cupcakes.

After he finished eating, Tim went outside, and fed some grapes to the cute little squirrels under the tree. The rest of the day was uneventful. Tim went to bed pretty much right after dinner was finished.

---

The week had gone well so far. He wasn't bullied by anybody. The classes were fine, if a little boring sometimes. He managed to not stand out too much in his music class. Which was a relief to him, because he did not want to get bullied for his girly singing voice. It was difficult to avoid standing out in drama class though, but the acting challenges they gave the students to perform were surprisingly fun. During that week, they also announced they were going to attend an Arts Festival at the edge of London. While Tim liked getting out of class for a bit, he was still kind of worried about getting lost in a crowd of people, and having to deal with so much loud noises. He was already starting to get a headache just thinking about it.

As soon as Tim stepped off the bus, he quickly got lost in the crowd of people. Of course, nearly everybody was taller than him. He walked around for a bit, trying to find his bearings. The classical music they had playing in the background definitely helped in making him less nervous about this whole situation. It was pretty music instead of a bunch of people trying to talk over one another, and other annoying noises. This was peaceful. Tim even caught himself humming along with it.

 

[TheSequelReturns]

~ Amélie Dumont ~
Arts Festival

This first week of school had been unlike anything Amélie had ever experienced before. Classmates of all ages interacting freely was disorienting enough as it was. But having to stay with kids of assorted ages, including younger (and dare she say, hyperactive) ones was a brand new experience to her. As an only child, having a younger sibling was something she hadn't had the chance to experience. If it was anything like her time with these youngsters... then she wasn't sure if she was lucky or missing out.

Dorm life itself was also strange. Amélie was used to having her own space. Not just her own privacy, but storage. She was used to leaving things scattered about and not having to worry about someone stepping on them, moving them, or what have you. The school she was starting to adjust to. Sharing a room with several other girls? Not so much. Praise God that headphones had been invented.

But for now...

Amélie stood before one of the stages of the arts festival. This one was set up for stage plays, and they were currently midway through a fantastic rendition of Macbeth. She was so entranced by the actor's performances, that she had lost track of time, the group, what else she might have been missing, and even the Artist's Alley right behind her that she was determined to look through before she left. The noise from the nearby music stage was annoying, but it couldn't be helped. But having Macbeth performed while a strange assortment of music played in the back ground made the experience that much more unique.

A quiet moment passed between scenes on the stage, and Amélie looked around, trying to see if any of the other girls from her dorm were as excited about the play as she was. But with this many people wandering around it was hard to pick anyone out. She quickly shifted her gaze back to the stage. They were changing the background sets. She'd have a few precious moments to peruse the Artist's Alley. She ducked towards the stands filled with art and books, keeping a watchful eye on the stage play.

 

[Andydemon]

Alex Wesker
Aquinas Dorm

“Yeah, if you wouldn’t mind, J-Just help us get this thing up this last step and I think we’ll be good.” One of the girls Alex approached accepted his offer for help, but it didn't seem like they needed it that badly considering they were already close to the top of the steps and all Alex had to do was grab the top of the suitcase and pull it up. Alex still felt better knowing that he had helped regardless, even if he didn't show it.

“Well that’s my work out for the day finished.” The girl that replied to Alex earlier said before giving him and the other girl a thumbs up, “I’m Maddison Pellerzi, just call me Maddie – it’s easier to remember.”

"Alex Wesker." He replied returning the thumbs up. All of a sudden a bell rang and a voice urged the students to go to the Dining Hall for dinner. At that prompt, Alex headed down to eat, reminding himself that he needed to keep his little sister updated on how he was doing in school on his first day....and see if she was doing okay without him.

One Week Later....

Alex and his roommates all went on a trip to an Arts Festival. There they were split into 2 groups made up of Alex's roommates, and the roommates of the girls he helped the week before. Thankfully, Alex's group was sent to the side of the Festival focused on music, which was certainly more in his line of interest.

Among the attractions, Alex found one where you could play a piano in front of a live audience, and it was empty. Seeing this as an opportunity to show off for a little while, Alex stepped forward towards the piano and took a seat in front of the keyboard. After taking a deep breath, he placed his fingers on the keys and immediately began playing Chopin's Revolutionary Etude.

 

[GoldenHouou]

Hitomi Sakagami
Aquinas Dorm, 2nd Floor Staircase → 3rd Floor

Oh, no. Things got worse.

So, so much worse.

Hitomi had barely come to terms with accepting help from one stranger, when another one appeared atop the stairs. Worse, this one was a boy. His polite tone called for an equally polite answer, but even the simplest words of gratitude seemed to elude her. It was frustrating. If nothing else, at least she should have known how to play the game of formalities, much as she disliked it. And she... did know how. Just... not in English, and not this very moment.

Thankfully, the other girl didn't share her ineptitude at basic social interaction, and could offer a reply in her stead.

Not knowing what else to do, Hitomi bent into as deep a bow as her awkward position would allow. Outwardly, she was smiling, if a bit awkwardly. Inside, she wanted to sink through the floor.

She meant to keep her gaze downcast once the boy approached in order to avoid eye contact at all costs, but found her attention drawn to him instead. His shirt, more specifically, and the two kanji displayed on its fabric. Wind, and demon. She knew the combination had once been used to write the adapted name 'Fuuma', but wasn't certain if it was what it referred to. She wondered if the boy even knew the kanji. She'd seen a lot of them used for decorative purposes, with the bearers usually none the wiser of what the characters meant. It wasn't common for foreigners to be able to read kanji, even if they knew a few choice words of the language. But... the boy did have some Asian features, so... maybe---

Realizing she'd probably stared for too long, Hitomi quickly snapped her gaze past the boy at the remaining steps. She traced them up to the third floor - which seemed much, much closer now than it had a moment prior - and it was then that she saw him. A yet another kind stranger offering his aid, though with remarkably less confidence than the other two. Hitomi blinked, taken aback by the sight. The boy seemed... shy, for a lack of a better word, and yet here he was, willingly talking to a stranger. No, a group of strangers.

Why? That was weird. He was weird. He was--- was being too brave. Braver than her. She could never---

No. She had to say something to him. The other two were too focused on the suitcase.

"Th... Than--"

They reached the third floor much sooner than Hitomi had anticipated, all thanks to the other two's strength. The sudden thud of the luggage cut Hitomi off mid-sentence, and she never did find another opportunity to continue. She knew she should have thanked the three, partaken in introductions and maybe thrown in a 'nice to meet you' for good measure. But... she was horrified of interrupting the two while they spoke, and by the time they were done with introductions, it was too late. A voice blared from the corridor's speakers. Dinner; that was the gist of the announcement.

The only thing she was hungry for was rest.

So as people begun to flow towards the cafeteria, Hitomi mumbled out an apology that no one was likely to hear, bowed as deep as she could, and slipped to hide in her room. She was beat, both from the physical labor and the amount of people she'd interacted with in the last five minutes. To recuperate, she'd need to rest in total solitude for at least twenty four hours.

Which, she realized as she entered her room and saw the other bunks, was unlikely to happen. Ever.

Wordlessly, she went to check if there was enough room under the beds to crawl into.

~~~​

Arts Festival

The past week hadn't been... as bad as it could have.

Hitomi managed to keep a low enough profile not to attract too much attention, and though she didn't think she'd ever get used to sharing her dorm room with so many strangers, she had managed to find a few quiet places to sneak off to when needed. The library was practically her sanctuary.

Things couldn't stay like that forever, though. If she kept hiding away from people and keeping to herself, she'd eventually be seen as weird. She'd managed to get away with her reclusiveness thanks to the first week's hectic schedule and the fact that nobody really knew or paid attention to each other yet - but in time, that would change. Exchanging a few pleasantries here and there when she couldn't find a way out would no longer cut it come next week - or next month. If she didn't start coming across as social and exciting to be around soon, she'd lose her chance forever.

She had to make a friend, and fast.

But as she stood at the edge of the festival and watched an endless flow of students pass her by, she realized she had no idea how to do that. She'd had friends before, yes-- but that was before... before that incident, and felt like ancient history by now. It was easier to make friends when you were a child.

She could have started with her roommates, and one might have argued that it'd be the most logical starting point, too. Hitomi wasn't so sure. If she messed up with one of them, she risked making the entire room's atmosphere awkward. And if the others found out it was her fault... she couldn't even imagine being able to deal with that. No. She had to practice her fun person act and make a friend outside her room first. You didn't jump directly to the final boss. You had to gather a party and some exp first.

Gathering whatever little courage she had, Hitomi stepped into the crowd.

Half an hour later, she was still aimlessly wandering around, with no idea who to approach - or how. She was starting to get frustrated, and it took all she had not to start thinking ill of the faceless masses that kept pushing her around. Bad thoughts were bad. She shouldn't think bad of people. Not even--- not even jerks who weren't watching where they were going.

And then, she caught a glimpse of a familiar silhouette a few feet away. It was one of the two boys from earlier - the shorter, timid one, whose courage had frustrated her so. Timothy, she believed his name was; they shared a few classes, though they hadn't really talked since the day they first met. Hitomi still hadn't thanked him - or Alex - for offering their help. She'd only given her thanks to Maddie, peeping up one evening in their room.

This was it, she thought. The perfect chance to kill two friends with one stone! ... to... kill two birds, and make a friend. Make a friend, Hitomi.

She didn't even realize she'd started to walk towards him while trying to sort her thoughts. By the time she did notice, she was almost next to him - and suddenly, it dawned on her that she had to start a conversation. Oh--- oh, no, she should have rehearsed this a little before diving in! Q-quick, how would a normal person begin? How would a cool person begin? She had to thank him. She had to become friends with him. But to start--- people talked about the weather a lot around here, right? Small talk, they called it. Small talk, weather, friend, small, thank--

"S-small friend!" she called out, voice unnecessarily cheery, one hand raised in an exaggerated greeting, "Thank weather!"

Nailed it.

 

[Solsabre]

Mackenzie Grayson
Arts Festival

Mackenzie’s first week was actually fairly uneventful. Her uncle’s worries of the school exploding after the first couple of days were unfounded. Truthfully, Mackie was too preoccupied as she took everything in with wide-eyed wonder at the variety of people attending the prestigious school, the elegant art and architecture, and the never ending stream of activities. The school never slept. Mackenzie occasionally spied out the window late at night to spy on the Astronomy Club.

That’s not to say the week’s been perfect for Mackenzie, she’d already managed to rack up one tardy after getting lost briefly between two of her classes. Not to mention, she always ran into her first morning class right as the bell rang. Mackenzie was not a morning person, not unless it was the weekend.

However, Mackenzie bounced off her upper bunk at the first ring of someone’s alarm to get ready. They were going on a field trip! She blitzed through the bathroom to do the necessities and rushed back to her bunk to change, flinging clothes randomly over the bed post. Mackenzie squirmed in her seat on the bus, unable to sit still.

She dashed away from the school group as they unloaded from the bus, dodging around Conrad a little too close for comfort. A teacher blocked her way, herding Mackenzie into a group of four other: Maddie, Tim, Amélie, and Hitomi.

Along they went, supposedly staying together. Mackenzie squeezed through the crowds to keep up with her roommates and Tim. Finally, she found herself meandering near the Artist’s Alley. The young girl eyed, with a large grin, at the potter working their wheel with the clay. She edged closer to the potter’s table to get a closer look at the damp pieces on display.

Five minutes later, Mackenzie blitzed away from the stand, the potter yelling at her for poking holes in the drying pottery. Oops. She ducked away out of sight sheepishly, her uncle’s voice filled with disapproval in her head. The blonde-headed child groaned loudly, pulling at her hat. How was she supposed to figure out what a proper lady was?

Mackenzie glanced towards the drama stage, but barely paid it attention since it sounded like they spoke another language. However, she spotted Amélie completed absorbed in the play. The older girl was odd to Mackenzie. Not a bad odd, just a different-I-don’t-get-it-odd. In a roundabout way, Amélie oddness reminded her of her uncle and his household. Mackenzie logic, clicked. Maybe, Amélie was a proper lady that Uncle Bernie kept going on and on about!

Mackenzie fist pumped the air with a squeal at her astounding revelation. Though for a brief moment her enthusiasm deflated as she recounted Amélie’s normal habits and found it rather bland. Ack! The young girl sighed, but she smacked her cheeks as she pumped herself up for the challenge. All or nothing!

The little blondie stealthily (she thought so) creeped through the crowd until she was just a short ways away from Amélie. Using all her cunning and skill, the brave adventurer studied her prey. Shifting her body just so to stand a little taller and straighter, moving her arms and hands to mimic as well. Mackenzie also observed the play with a tight delighted-looking smile and she stayed that way. The agony! Mackie gave up the rigid posture after a few minutes with a groan and slumped. The play was changing scenes, but the child was disinterested. She glanced back to Amélie, only the older teen was no longer there. Instead, the French girl was heading back towards Artist Alley. Abandoning the drama stage, Mackenzie followed in close pursuit, trying to keep close and practice Amélie’s ladylike walk.

 

[storymasterb]

Conrad Griffin
Arts Festival

Music surrounded him, drowning out voices and other sounds. All sorts of genres and styles had been performed already, it seemed. At some point he had heard someone playing the famous Jaws theme music and had only just caught himself from reciting "Crocodile in Rogue" out loud in response. Curse the catchy belt jingles, he'd thought dryly.

He was trying to shepherd the group he had been assigned, but that was proving a failure already. Tobias had vanished what seemed like almost immediately. Alex was now playing a song he sort of recognized vaguely on a piano before the rest of the group, which consisted of Conrad himself, a girl called Chelsea, Erik, and a few others, discounting the vanished Tobias. He didn't want to interrupt Alex, but at the same time, he didn't want a lecture from his parents about taking responsibilities seriously should the story of how he immediately lost one of his charges reach them.

That lecture had been played out enough times already. Especially after Richard...

The old pain of betrayal began to stir, but he pushed it aside. No. That was long gone. And he wouldn't let his parents down like that again. So that meant finding Tobias.

The week had gone by decently enough. He fit in. He got on with the others. He turned up to his classes and took in the academy. And then he'd volunteered to do this for extra credit, knowing it was the sort of thing his parents would expect him to do. The Griffin family hadn't gotten where it had by meekly doing the bare minimum, they'd say. No, Griffins stood up and excelled. Griffins led. So he had volunteered to lead, and just a few minutes into leading he had lost someone. He tried to keep the others close, Eric looking at instruments within his sight, Alex performing, Chelsea nearby and the others he was looking after clustered around. At least that way they could search together, and maybe take in the festival as they did so. He wasn't particularly into music, pieces that reminded him of catchy belt jingles from Kamen Rider aside, but some of the pieces he had caught had aroused his interest.

He waited for a lull in Alex's performance that he could use to suggest that they try to find Tobias. As urgently as he wanted to find their missing member, he couldn't help but admire the music the other boy was playing, and Alex seemed to be enjoying it. When a lull finally came, he stepped up.

"Thank you," he said sincerely to Alex. "You play well." He didn't need to turn to the group for support, for some of the others had begun clapping. "It's just that Tobias is missing, and I'd like to try and find him, just to be safe." He glanced around, taking in the crowds. They milled around, thick and almost impenetrable-seeming. "I'm responsible for looking after you guys here, and we need to stick together for me to do that." It felt awkward doing this, interrupting Alex to make this speech, stepping up like this. He'd expected this job to be more straightforward than this. Just keeping track of the people he was given and browsing the festival beside them. Not spearheading some sort of haphazard search and rescue mission.

 

[Samayouru]

Maddison Pellerzi
Arts Festival, the Artists/Writers Alley (Group 1)​

Maddie glanced around, taking in the sea of people around her, and then at last a familiar face came into view. It was one of her dorm mates – the French girl with the long black hair (Amélie if she recalled correctly). She immediately got to her feet and put the drawing of Pyramid Head and Nemesis in her bag before walking across to meet her. She blinked when she got close enough to see that Amélie wasn’t alone either – the really hyper girl who also happened to be one of her dorm mates was trailing behind her, imitating the way Amélie walked. Maddie supressed a giggle. The girl had copied her movements quite well, if she could say so herself.

“Hey there,” she said, rubbing the back of her neck. She cast her hands to the crowds around them. “Busy festival, isn’t it? I was wondering when I’d finally spot someone I knew!”

It is then that all of you become aware of something, something that wasn’t present just a few seconds ago. It’s the air – once dry and easy-going, the air around you suddenly feels muggy and thick. It’s the sort of air that comes just before a particularly thick and nasty storm, and for some reason you can’t explain, the sudden change causes a feeling of dread to bubble up in the pit of your stomach.

Other people around you start to comment on the change as well, confirming that this isn’t all in your head. But what had caused it to happen? Was it a late summer storm, or maybe part of an event going on at the festival? You don’t know, and tilt your head upwards towards the sky as you ponder.

What you see overtakes any rational thought you might have about the atmosphere. There, slowly making its way across the blue sky, is a jagged black line – or at least that’s what it looks like at first. But as you watch this line grow you realise that the jerky trail it leaves makes it look more like a crack. In addition to this there appears to be black smoke billowing from out of the weaker points of the crack, and every so often a white jolt of what looks like electricity surges across the black surface.

You look around at other people, who’re most definitely talking about the sudden change in the air, but none of them are pointing out the growing crack above the festival. In fact it’s as if they don’t even realise it’s there. The only other people who appear to see it are the other kids in your group, who’re looking up at it as well.

All of a sudden there is a guttural rumble that sounds very much like thunder. The crack starts to grow in size, opening up like the maw of a beast, and more of the smoke spews out like the heavy haze of sea fog. You don’t get any more time to watch however, because as soon as the crack is wide enough an incredibly harsh gust of wind erupts from the maw, bowling people over as it makes contact with the ground. There is a cacophony of yelps and screams as this wind spreads across the festival, knocking down both people and displays alike, and it isn’t long before you feel a cold, pattering sensation lashing at your face. And then at last you realise that what looked like smoke were actually storm clouds.

The wind is quickly strengthening, and you’re beginning to find it hard to keep your balance. This isn’t really a storm – no, it feels more like a hurricane.

Somewhere above the vocal confusion, you can just make out what seems to you to be a sharp snarling sound associated with a very angry animal. The crack opens a little wider and something plops down out of it – something large and most likely dangerous.

What lands in the very middle of the festival grounds is not what you expected at all. It appears to resemble a chicken with cream feathers and a row of sharp teeth lining its beak (though how this was anatomically possible is anyone’s guess). It hunches over for a minute, pawing at the ground with hooked talons, before spreading out its wings and howling in an impressive display of aggression, knocking over a hotdog stand in the process. It tilts its head after doing this, following people running for cover with its gleaming eyes and goes fully berserk, toppling over displays and equipment that hadn’t been floored by the hurricane the first time around.

By now the clouds have spread out just enough to cover the festival grounds, they’re so dark now that they almost look black, and it seems that this mini hurricane has caused people to start panicking before proper authorities can get everything under control. And even if they somehow managed to create some form of order, you really doubt they’d be able to cope with this monstrous chicken.

Maddie, Amélie and Mackenzie – All three of you are at the Artists’/Writers’ Alley, where most of the paintings and displays have been knocked over by the wind. Only the really heavy pieces of art like sculptures haven’t been toppled. Most people have fled the area because of said displays being hurled across the grass like large, flat bullets.

You three manage to catch a glimpse of the giant monster bird landing on the ground, but don’t get the chance to get a decent look at it until it displays its ferocity and knocks over some of the food stands. At this point the three of you have the following options available:

Hide – As mentioned before not all of the art pieces got blown away, several of the heavier sculptures still stand. You could probably use one or several of them for cover if needs be.

Flee – You could try to escape while you still can. Not the best option considering the stampede of people attempting to find the exit to the festival too, but still viable.

Fight – Not recommended at this time. You’ll probably get your head bitten off or some other equally painful thing could happen to you.

Eric, Tobias, Tim, Alex, Hitomi and Conrad – You six are around the Music Stage area and you all have a much clearer view of what’s going on. As with everywhere else most people have fled the scene and instruments of all different kinds have been thrown across the ground by the wind, though thankfully they’ve been blown away in the opposite direction of where you all are standing.

You all see the monster bird fall from the crack, it’s a little bit closer to you, so you feel slight tremors as it lands. You see its ferocious display much clearer too, and judging from its height it wouldn’t take much for it to turn and see you all. At this point you six have the following options available to you:

Hide – You’re quite close to the restrooms, which happen to be buildings made of concrete and bricks. If you’re careful enough you could try to sneak into them without the monster bird knowing. You could also use the underneath of the stage in a pinch too, considering its one of those stages that can be put together and taken apart again.

Flee – You could try escaping, though that might attract the attention of the monster bird a lot quicker than hiding.

Fight – Not recommended at this time. You’ll probably get your head bitten off or some other equally painful thing could happen to you.

WHAT WILL YOU DO?​

Maddison Pellerzi
Arts Festival, the Artists/Writers Alley (Group 1)​

Maddie had seen a lot of scary things in her life. She’d braved the Barrows’ Mansion in the first Clock Tower game, survived Dead Space’s necromorph-riddled USG Ishimura and even kept her cool when Eternal Darkness decided to break the fourth wall to catch her off guard. But this? This was something new. Maddie took a couple of steps back when the bird monster thingie spread its wings and howled, pressing her hands against her ears to defend them from the awful noise it made. The storm wasn’t helping either – by then most of the people who had been milling about the Alley had scattered and several torn canvases that had once been overpriced paintings covered the drenched grass.

Maddie swallowed, digging her heels into the dirt. This was bad – this was really, really bad – and the worst part was that this time, she couldn’t press the start button to pause the game and catch her breath. She furrowed her brow as she watched the monster bird start tearing its way through the food stalls like it was in a freaking Godzilla movie and a chill ran down her spine. What if it turned around and saw her?

She turned to Amélie and the younger girl, taking her hands away from her ears so that she didn’t end up raising her voice, and pointed to the bird with her thumb. “Please tell me I’m not the only one seeing this.”

 

[Kung Fu Ferret]

ERIC DUIKER
ARTS FESTIVAL


Eric heard a giant thud from not too far away, the sky seemed to blacken, and then some bird monster thing about from an opening in the stormy atmosphere.
Eric noticed this outlandish avian creature, and looked for a decent place to hide. He noticed the countless others running from this large, feathered abomination. Eric assumed that, upon a second glance of this bird-like being, that it was probably less vulture and more ostrich. This probably meant it was most likely flightless, but could make up for its lack of aerial abilities by being quick on its feet, and probably packing a powerful kick.
This feathered freak seemed far more aggressive than all of the Big Five animals. The lion, the leopard, the rhinoceros, the African bush elephant, and the Cape buffalo, would look like part of a petting zoo compared to this almost prehistoric looking creature. What was this thing, anyhow? A mutant ostrich from beyond the stars? Eric did not know.

All he knew is that if Eric didn't try to stealthily hide without this creature knowing, he'd probably get eaten, or something like that.
Eric tried desperately not to get noticed, crawling underneath the stage where minutes prior, that super-awesome Seether cover band was performing. The band members, meanwhile, were nowhere to be found. Eric then waited for the giant bird-like monster, which he thought was either a mutant or alien, maybe an evolved bird from millions of years in the future, to stop the rampage, which didn't seem like anytime soon.

 

[Schade]

Tobias Myhre
Arts festival

Time really flew by when you immersed yourself in the wonderful yet somewhat disturbing world of interpretive dancing, or did it? Tobias was unsure of wether or not he had been there dancing for 5 minutes or an hour, being blown away by the pumpkin guys amazing stamina. Tobias own descent into interpretive madness was cut short by a sudden change in the air, literally. You know that feeling you get when you breathe in that clear fresh air right before it starts to rain? The feeling could be compared to that, though instead of a nice shower of rain, the feeling was something akin to what he would assume a sandstorm would taste like. It is the part of the story where the guy who dies first says something silly like "There's a storm coming" while staring into the camera for just a few seconds too long. Stopping the ritualistic movements, Tobias looked around curiously, and noticed the look of confusion and discomfort in many of the other attendees of the festival. Pumpkin man was still dancing.

Looking up towards the sky in anticipation of a thicc cloud of good savory rain, or acid, if you go by the sudden change of atmosphere, Tobias was greeted by a more sinister sight. Though still clear-ish, the sky was now decorated with what could only be described as a crack. A crack, plain and simple, was forming across the sky for no reason. looking around confused, it didn't appear as if anyone else was noticing this oddity. In fact, the only other people who seemed to take notice of this unsettling sight was his classmates, who seemed equally as disturbed by this as he was himself.

And then things got insane. Tobias didn't actually see what happened, or how things was happening, but it was now really, really windy. Like, he had endured some pretty bad storms back home, and this was easily on level with those. The sky was now filled with clouds, and it seemed a freak-storm had decided to join the festival. Then, from the opening crack in the sky which now looked more like a demonic grin, something.. fell out? Something was falling from the sky, and landed not too far from Tobias with such force that he felt the tremors in the ground as it hit. Collecting himself from the impact, he could now see.. A giant chicken? The cause of all this mayhem was a giant chicken-ish peacock-kinda wannabe ostrich with a side of duck?

Walking thanksgiving meal or not, The sight of the huge bird thing was admittedly scary, and it knocked over stands as it roared with a surprisingly chilling might. Maybe it was the confusion and panic of the masses, or the irony of a russian joke he once heard about the thanksgiving turkey eating you, but Tobias couldn't really stitch together any proper thoughts of action. What could he even do? He was very rusty in his Cluck-Fu, and going up against a bird that looked like it could kick you into next month was probably not a good idea to begin with. He was close enough for it to be risky, but he was an athlete, and though he was sure the turkey could eventually catch up to him, it would be one hell of a run for it regardless. Scouting out where the majority of the other attendees of the festival were running, Tobias started running like he had never ran before.

 

[Monster Guy]

Tim Wolfe
Arts Festival

Tim was so distracted by all the stimulation going on around him, he wasn't paying much attention to where he was going. Until he found himself crashing into someone. He knew how this was going to go. Whoever he had crashed into was probably going to yell at him for not watching where he was going. It was a crowded festival, there's a lot of stuff going on, accidents happen. Why did people feel the need to be such jerks?

As soon as Tim got out the obligatory "I'm sorry!" He looked up and saw who it was he had crashed into. It was her. That cute girl he had saw struggling with a bunch of suitcases on the first day. They shared some classes. He had seen her sitting in the back row of the class sometimes, trying not to be noticed. mainly because he was always sitting in the back row of classes trying to be noticed. He believed he had heard her name was Hitomi.

Tim's face had turned bright red. She must think I'm a klutz or something... Tim thought.

"S-small friend!" she called out, with one arm raised. "Thank weather!"

Wait what? For a minute, Tim's eyes narrowed. Did she just call me small? Even if it is true, she's not exactly an amazon herself... He took a breath, and his face returned to his usual meek expression. It's ok... It was probably a misunderstanding... She probably doesn't speak English well... I hope... At least she called me a friend. That must mean something good, right?

Tim fidgeted nervously, and wondered what to do in this situation. Introducing himself seemed like a good idea. "Um... hi. Uh... I-I-I'm Tim..." He stuttered, also giving a small wave. Although, now that he said it, he realized it was a dumb thing to say. She probably already knows his name. Ok, now what? Tim shuffled his feet, and avoided making eye contact, as he tried to think of something to say. Oh, why were conversations always so difficult? "Um... uh..."

Suddenly, Tim became aware of a sudden change in the air. It was that same feeling one gets when it's about to rain. That was fine, Tim liked the rain. Just as long as there wasn't lightning or hurricane force winds... I guess this must be what she was talking about when she brought up weather. Tim looked up, expecting to see gray clouds, but instead saw something completely unpexected. There were no gray clouds, just a crack across the sky. That is definitely not normal, yet none of the other people around seem to even notice the crack in the sky. "Um... a-a-are you seeing what I'm seeing?" He asked Hitomi. At least now he finally had something to say.

All of a sudden there was the loud boom of thunder, as the crack starts to grow in size, fog spews all over the place, and just as his luck would have it, there were gusts of wind knocking people over. Tim sighed. His first thought was getting somewhere safe, and out of this terrible weather.

Then, as if things weren't strange enough with this sudden hurricane, something even stranger happened. Something fell out from the crack in the sky. It landed nearby, and with such force, that Tim felt the earth shaking a little bit. After that passed, Tim saw what it was that had landed. Some sort of bird, chicken, creature. It wasn't like any animal Tim had ever seen before. He was actually rather fascinated by it. "Wow, have you ever seen anything like that before?!" In Tim's opinion, the poor thing looked like it was in pain.

Still, there was a storm going on. Now was not the time to sympathizing with giant chickens. Now was the time to get to safety. “We... have to get out of here!” Tim grabbed Hitomi's hand, and ran to the nearest safe place. Underneath the music stage. It was out of the path of the monster chicken, and sheltered, it should be safe there. There was only one other person hiding there. One of his roommates from the looks of it. Where had everyone else gone?

It was moments after arriving there, that he realized he was still holding on to Hitomi's hand. He blushed, and let go immediately. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry! I should have asked first."

 

[Andydemon]

Alex Wesker
Arts Festival

After a little under three minutes of playing, Alex had finished the song and took a deep breath as he relaxed and took in the audience's applause. As much as Alex hated being in the spotlight, he hated being bored more, and this was sufficiently entertaining. In fact he was contemplating another song when he was approached by someone. Someone familiar.

"Thank you," Conrad said to Alex. "You play well."

"No need to thank me." Alex stated casually with his hands raised up to neck level. "Nothing like a little music to kill time, right?"

"It's just that Tobias is missing, and I'd like to try and find him, just to be safe. I'm responsible for looking after you guys here, and we need to stick together for me to do that." Conrad told Alex bluntly, it didn't seem to bother him that they were right in front of a crowd and Alex wasn't about to interrupt him just for that. Anyone else probably would have to move the conversation somewhere more private, but Alex wasn't 'anyone else'.

"Sounds like we have some problem children on our hands, hmm? Alright, I'll be happy to be the big brother in this situation and help you out." Alex told Conrad nonchalantly.

Next thing they knew the festival was being attacked by some giant bird monster. Just when Alex thought he was just gonna be around searching for the others, now he actually had his own safety to be concerned about? Granted, the situation did have him worried about Conrad and the rest of their classmates....along with just about everyone else in the area...even if he didn't show it.

"Well, this certainly went to Hell fast." Alex stated to Conrad. "You still wanna look around for the others now? I don't think that thing is gonna make it easy."

Alex was no fool, he knew there was no way any normal person could take on a raging beast that size, least of all with nothing more than a switchblade. He could run just like everyone else was, but that would likely put him in the birds crosshairs if he let himself out in the open like that. Hiding seemed to be the best option here, but where?

There were restrooms nearby, but hiding in there really felt undignified for Alex. He then thought about hiding under the very stage he just played the piano on. The irony was not lost on him, that he would be using the stage that made him the center of people's attention to now hide. However, he wasn't too keen on leaving the others to die. He had a plan.

"Conrad..." Alex started, "Perhaps we should take cover underneath this stage. It'll keep us safe from...whatever is going on, but still give us some space to look outside and keep an eye out for the others. Assuming they haven't already run off with the rest of the crowd.

 

[GoldenHouou]

Hitomi Sakagami
Arts Festival

By the time Hitomi realized how mangled her sentence had turned out to be, it was much too late to correct it. The words had already left her. Perhaps she could have tried to hurry and correct herself, had she not been too frozen by her blunder to manage another syllable. She couldn't move. Her hand was still stupidly raised. Tim was getting closer and closer, step after step. There was no way out of this now. All she could do was wait for the other to---

--to crash straight into her, apparently.

The boy was light - but Hitomi was even more so, easily knocked off balance by the force of the sudden impact. Had it not been for a convenient stranger behind her to block her fall, she'd likely found herself feet up on the ground. And had that happened, she would've just preferred to fall straight through the ground and never, ever emerge again. Luckily such was not the case, and she was quick to regain her balance. Immediately, Hitomi whirled around to throw a series of quick bows and apologies at the elder student behind her. He shrugged them off and kept going, unhurt and unconcerned. A stoic hero or a thoughtless jerk? Who knew. At least he didn't yell at her.

With that piece of mandatory courtesy out of the way, Hitomi turned to shoot Tim a look of startled confusion, trying very hard not to let her brows betray her annoyance. What had he done that for? Her first thought was that he'd shoved her on purpose for greeting him so weirdly, but... considering how his expression seemed to more or less mirror her own, it... had likely been an accident. He probably hadn't even heard her. Please let him not have heard her. Please.

Still, if it was an accident, he should have really watched where he was going. And she... should have greeted him like a normal human being would. This wasn't how friendships were started, not at all.

What followed was an exemplary of awkward silence. To Tim's credit, he did make a feeble attempt to break it with an introduction - but all it led to was Hitomi mumbling out her own name in return, offering an awkward bow and then quickly returning to the safety of absolute silence. She already knew his name from the classes they'd shared - not that she was going to tell him that out of fear of embarrassing him. But... the fact that he'd introduced himself in the first place must've meant that he hadn't recognized her. He must've forgotten all about the suitcase incident, too.

Hitomi wasn't sure whether to feel glad - or the slightest bit sad. The weight in her chest suggested it was more a case of the latter.

The silence stretched on for an apparent eternity, filling the air with heavy, awkward tension. It grew worse with each idle second, until the air grew so thick it was starting to feel suffocating. It felt like a storm cloud had wrapped itself around her; she felt its weight press down upon her shoulders as if trying to force her to shrink. The girl tried to draw a deep breath to calm herself, but the air was humid and didn't seem to reach her lungs. She could taste a storm as she tried another inhale. It, too, was shallow. She couldn't breathe.

For the first time in ages, Hitomi tore her gaze from her shoes. And the second she did, she managed a breath. Sharp, sudden, startled.

Something was wrong. It was too quiet, for one; the once loud cheers had turned into concerned whispers. The music had stopped. The air wasn't just tense around her and Tim; the entire festival site had been swallowed by a collective feeling of dread. Some tried to laugh it off, she saw, but their laughter quickly died in their throats. The whispers grew louder and more frequent, until it all started to sound like the hiss of a dozen snakes. Hitomi felt goosebumps form on her skin, and quickly turned to Tim as if to seek confirmation for her worries. He had to feel it too, right?

Tim wasn't looking at her, though. He was gazing up at the sky. Reflexively, Hitomi followed suit - and immediately wished she had not.

There, far above all their heads, the sky was breaking apart.

Smoke and lighting poured out of a giant crack, like in a scene from an apocalypse movie. And yet, despite being impossible to miss, no one seemed to notice. The couple a few meters away was still looking up at the sky in mildly curious ponder, as if discussing the weather. There was no urgency nor alarm.

"Um... a-a-are you seeing what I'm seeing?

Hitomi's heart jumped. Tim saw it too. She wasn't going crazy.

The girl meant to answer him, to say something, anything to make sure she wasn't dreaming, but before she could open her mouth, a gust of wind stole her voice. It knocked her off balance, only allowing her a brief glimpse of what followed after; some sort of an avian monster with teeth and the nastiest shriek she'd ever heard. It was angry. It was close. It was huge, and there was no way they could outrun it if it decided t--

Tim shouted something, but Hitomi couldn't hear what. The next she knew, he'd pulled her along by the end, weaving his way through the sprawled instruments, scattered posters and confused people, until she could no longer see the sky. They were under something. The stage? They weren't alone, there was another boy there. Hitomi didn't have it in her to say hello, but she did nod her head in an attempt to bow in greeting. She didn't even realize she'd done so.

On the list of things she had not noticed... Tim was apologizing for something. Dazzled and overwhelmed by everything that was going on, it took her a minute to try and deconstruct the situation. Tim was red. He said he should have... asked first? The girl's gaze trailed from Tim's face to his retracted hand, and then to her own, hanging halfway between the two.

... Huh? Why was it...

!!

Realization was a thirty pound hammer, and its strike left Hitomi's entire face beet red. She felt her cheeks burn, and quickly yanked her hand to her chest as if to protect it. Did-- did they...? She hadn't held hands before! That was--- he should have asked, but-- but he had done it to save her, probably, maybe, hopefully, and he was blushing too, and this was way too awkward!

"U-um, it's..." her voice was barely above a squeak, and she kept her eyes on the ground. "Y-you were trying to help, i-it's... please don't worry, we--w-we've got a much bigger problem out... there."

Her voice died out, and for a moment she wondered which was a worse death; one of embarrassment, or one by a giant fanged chicken.