Welcome.

[trustfellows]

Rise and shine. There are a few things that matter right now - the fact that you're waking up in an unfamiliar but decently comfortable bed, the fact that you don't recognize the room you're in, the fact that you seem to have some sort of headache... Nothing severe, mind. Just the sort of odd, heavy fuzziness that comes with having slept far too long. You don't really remember where you were immediately before this, not upon waking. Something will come to you eventually if you think long enough, however - a couple of seconds of consideration will bring to mind a place, a memory, a recollection of where you were and what you were doing. It probably wasn't anything that would result in you being here, though. Welcome to Graceside Preparatory Academy. You may want to pick up the key to your room before you leave the room, but don't worry too much - your door won't lock automatically, so you won't be locked out if you've forgotten to pick it up. It seems you're not alone, either; the hallway outside your room is most likely full of other confused people by now, and should you turn around to look at the door of the room you just left, you'll find a nameplate with your name printed on it. There's a single word underneath it with no explanation. This is your title, but don't worry about that right now. Depending on when you left your room there may be a clock chiming in the foyer up ahead. It seems like it's seven, though it's difficult to tell if it's seven in the morning or seven at night. There aren't any windows, after all. Should you venture into the room with the clock, you'll find that the only exit is closed - there's absolutely no way to break down that steel bulkhead. It looks like you're not getting out of here anytime soon. The foyer also holds some very interesting information. There's a bulletin board with thirty-five pictures on it. Beside each picture is some very specific and very familiar information. Feel free to examine it. The bulletin board is large enough for plenty of you to gather around and gawk. Don't try to get at it though, that glass in front of it is very thick. If you try to break it, you'll find out the hard way that it's shatterproof. Sorry about that. Perhaps even more of a concern than the glass is the list beside the profiles. It looks like a set of rules. You might want to examine those, though they're not providing much of an explanation for why you're here or how you got here. So relax and get to know your fellow Participants. You might be stuck here for awhile.

Comments

[sadisticwarfare]

[You know, he could actually buy that they just forgot to add the "Lt." there. But at Yuri's question Archer sighs.]

I don't know. I'm not familiar with the man at all and I have no idea why he'd be listed on my profile in the first place.

[That's technically true.]

[hesperos]

You sure? You can admit to me if you two are best buds or something. I won't tell anyone.

[ One of these days he'll stop messing around. Today is not that day. ]

[sadisticwarfare]

[Just. This look.]

I don't know who he is. Why would I lie about something like that?

[hesperos]

[ What a bright ray of sunshine! It's dazzling. ]

Why would I know?

[ Okay, okay, though he'll move on. The guy is one of those very serious military types; though Yuri is on the fence of whether or not he'd get along with Flynn. ]

By the way, you mentioned something about getting recently promoted. Is that all you remember before you got brought here or what?

[sadisticwarfare]

No, I was on a train with one of my subordinates. We were headed to Dublith. That's the last thing I recall before waking up here.

[...]

What's the last thing you remember?

[Maybe there's some kind of connection here...?]

[hesperos]

I was back over at Nordopolica with some of my friends. We were about to go into the coliseum to speak with someone named Belius and that's about all I can remember.

...Of course that doesn't help us any, but something tells me not to be too surprised.

[ Oh well. ]

And while we're at it, why don't you tell me what a "train" is? Don't think I've ever heard of those before.

[sadisticwarfare]

[Well, that doesn't mean much to him, but Yuri's question catches him off guard.]

You're not familiar with trains? They're large vehicles that run on tracks that can carry people from one station to another.

["Nordopolica" certainly isn't any place in Amestris it's too creative of a name so perhaps he's from one of the other countries...? But surely they have trains too, don't they?]

[hesperos]

Nope, never seen them around or heard of them.

[ This is a little weird to him though since he figures he'd have heard of something like that before. Maybe this guy is just from a very distant place on a faraway continent. ]

Maybe they're not in widespread use yet?

[sadisticwarfare]

I could perhaps understand that if you were from some backwater town, but I've never heard of "Nordopolica" and I'm very familiar with Amestrian geography.

[because he's a nerd]

[hesperos]

And I've never heard of anything "Amestrian" or this Dublith place.

[ He guesses he can't really fault anyone for not hearing of Nordopolica, since he didn't know of it until recently, and totally isn't a geography nerd like Archer. ]

Zaphias isn't exactly a backwater town, either. It's the Imperial Capital, so it's pretty big and it's got a lot going on. So, I imagine you've heard of that place at least?

[ Maybe??? ]

[sadisticwarfare]

[Archer shakes his head after a moment.]

I'm afraid I haven't. This really is troublesome. If you haven't heard of Amestris, then... Well, I'm not sure what that means.

[It's too early to jump to conclusions, but they probably aren't anywhere near Amestris now.]