New World for the Class Act

New World for the Class Act
Date of Scene:	16 February 2013
Location:	Cornelia
Synopsis:	It took five minutes for the students of Alexander Academy to lose their world by the Heartless. Now, this journey takes them into the World of Ruin. Destination: Cornelia.
Cast of Characters:	Niklas Dragonius, Jidro Gerrison, Seloria Delacreaux

---

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
Galianda was a prosperous land, however, it had its own shares of issues and the ever presence of danger lurking. It as not prepared, however, for the Heartless came and tore through the world, clawing and gnawing everything that they could get a hold of.

The students of the Alexandra Academy fought against the creatures as best as they could.

... But the world disappeared into the darkness.

Here tells the tale of two of the friends that have landed somewhere. In particular, Jidro's face is planted onto the earth, feeling like he just hit a train of some kind. "Wh---what the.."

Blind.

His hand moves around for his spectacles. Feeling around for them, he manages to place them onto his eyes.

His eyes bring him to see grass, but he doesn't look beyond that to know where they are at. "Nik?!" His eyes sweep along the grass, "Nik, where are you?!"

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Five minutes ago, Niklas Dragonius had been hitting on a girl in the courtyard of one of the many sub-campuses of the massive Alexander Academy. Four minutes ago, his hand had been on her blouse, messing with the buttons. Three minutes ago, he had been interrupted by a tremendously rude little black thing. Two minutes ago, he had been fighting for his life and hers against a tide of darkness. One minute ago, he had gone blind, the kind of blind you can't go, the kind of bind that's darker than the darkest darkness and deeper than the deepest black, the kind of blind that makes you feel like you've lost your eyes, had them plucked out of your skull.

Right now, Nik is spat out into the grass, the darkness receding like a tide as he skids along the dirt. He finally comes to a stop, rolling over onto his back and letting out a low, quiet moan. That hurt. That hurt a lot, actually; he hadn't been able to adjust the angle of his impact or anything. He was just...fired out of the darkness!

Cid calls, and Nik struggles to sit up. "Cid? Hey, Cid! I'm fine, I'm over here! Are you okay?"

"...do you see Linda?" He adds hopefully.

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
It is amazing what can happen in merely five minutes. It took that long for the members of the Alexander Academy to lose everything that they had. It is amazing that it brings them into a world that no one really knows of.

The Levitani slowly staggers over to his feet, his fingers moving over towards his face. Cid is worried, alright. His attention shifts around, trying to find his friend. "Nik! Where are you?!" He ferverishly adjusts his glasses while crawling around to find Niklas.

Of course, he hears the voice right behind him.

"You're alive!!" He sounds elated, his hand moving in front of him while he looks behind him. "...No, I have n--.." By the time his head faces forward...

... An imp stands face to face to greet him.

The imp gives a slasher-smile.

"NIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!"

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Five minutes was enough time for the Heartless to swarm a whole world. Five minutes was enough time for the heart of a universe to be eaten inside-out, for shadows to consume everything. Five minutes that Niklas Dragonius would never, ever forget. Five minutes that-

Whoops, internal monologue interrupted. Nik pulls himself to his feet slowly as he hears Cid's ear-piercing scream; he looks pretty ready to fight, ready to punch the dark creature that had showed up, that he was sure followed them through the shadows and out into this new world, that he was sure was ready to-

Oh, wait. It's an imp.

Nik wanders over to the thing slowy, his hand on his hip, his finger going to pick at his ear. "Jeez...the way you screamed I thought you were being attacked by a Marlboro or something. Relax, it's just an imp; you can take an imp no problem, right? Your grimoire thingy."

"A man's gotta be brave! Plunge into the unknown with a stout heart, and that kinda thing."

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
The black mage is quivering in fear over the imp with the slasher-smile pointed his way. His hand holds onto that codex, hugging it close to him as he attempts to scoot away. A few tears swell up along his eyes as he looks with pure fright over the imp. Oh Leviathan, Nik, take care of it.

The Lavitani gives Nik a glance, then he starts to come to.

"..Y--yeah. You're right." He sucks in a breath and he huffs. He glares right towards the imp, "I'll take care of thi---..."

The imp reaches over to snatch the glasses off of Cid's face, then two fingers jab right into the shorter human's eyes.

*DOINK!*

"GAAAAAAHHHH!!"

Cid is rolling on the ground, twitching in pain. Meanwhile, the Imp is standing on his stomach triumphantly. The muffled cries of pain stir from the young mage.

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Nik's face just slowly slides into his hands. He's trying really, really hard to keep from laughing at his friend, he REALLY is. Cid's a good guy, Nik knows; he doesn't deserve to be laughed at when he's honestly really trying. That just...that wasn't fair. It might've been funny, but Nik knew how delicate an ego could be, how fast you could feel like a jerk at laughing at your friend.

Nik moves over to crouch down next to Cid. He's still ignoring the imp completely. A friend's pride is way more important! Pride and self-confidence and that kind of thing. "Hey. Cid."

Pooooooooooooooooke. Poke. Poke. "Hey, Cid! C'mon, get up. That guy's a wuss. You're not a wuss, right? You're the heir of the Gerrison family. It's your job to be a master wizard; can't you...magic at it?"

Nik wasn't really much of a mage. He was a prodigy when it came to his particular martial arts style, but actual magic wasn't really his *thing*. He left that to other people, more suited to intellectual pursuits.

Nik pokes Cid again, then stands up, a thought popping into his head. His hand goes up to his brow, and he starts looking around thoughtfully. "Oh, hey, I wonder if my guitar came through?"

Nik wanders a little bit away from Cid. "I know I had it when I was unbuttoning her shirt...yo, Cid, did my guitar fall anywhere that you saw?"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
How humiliating.

To get beaten up by a small creature like this. This is an imp. He is a Behemoth class! There s no way that he is going to get beaten up by an IMP! AN IMP! Hier of the Gerrison family holds onto his eyes, wincing whie he avoids tearing up.

The strike at his pride by an imp is rather insulting. It is then that Nik moves over to crouch next to him and offer his advice. Several pokes later, the teenage listens to him. "... N-no! I'm not a wuss!" He grits his teeth, then he stands up to his feet to open up the pages of is book. "...Yeah! I am to be a master wizard." Pride is the greatest thing that Cid has to hold onto.

More than anything. When he gets his glasses back, he flips the codex to a couple of pages ahead. "Asundering blaze, curse the living with your wrath." He flicks a hand open, revealing asmall ball of fire.

"Fire!"

He swings his hand out, letting the flames engulf the imp, who gives off a cry before it flees.

..There is a moment of satisfaction that come from the fleeing imp. Nevertheless, the question from Nik earns his attention, "Huh?" He looks around, "...I don't know, but let's....---"

His eyes widen when he finally gets a look around where they are.


With the vision cleared from the attention of the imp, it is likely that the duo are able to see the expansiveness of the Cornelia Fields. But nearby is the sight of a large town and a massive castle just ahead. They aren't far from each other.

And of course, Nik's guitar is about a couple of feet ahead, but it seems to be moving.

Wait, it's two imps trying to run off with it!

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Nik's grin widens as Cid takes his destiny into his own hands. Yeah, a lot of people would never understand what this kind of thing meant to someone like Cid; a lot of people would laugh or jeer or make fun of him being unable to fight even one Imp when he was so highly-trained, so specialized. But there's a huge difference between training and serious fighting, and even if the campus occasionally had wandering monsters, it's a whole different world to fighting in the real. He wasn't sure Cid had even TAKEN some of those courses that had students go fight real monsters; they didn't really seem his sort of elective.

So seeing his friend manage to do something with any kind of bravery...well, that made him smile. It made him happy for Cid, it really did. He was just that sort of guy.

Now that Cid isn't immediately in danger, Nik takes a second to really, really appreciate the scenery. It was pretty. It was really, really pretty; beautiful, in a way that the cities of Ramuh and Chocobo and Shiva never really were. It was a primal sort of beauty, a glorious, living revelry. It was grass and mountains and fields and trees, the way Ramuh must have been in times long ago, the way the continents once were. Nik grins. "Oh, man. That's...that's just...look at that. That's glorious. That is really, honestly glorious. Real glory. This is- hey!"

Nik notices the imps now, and now it isn't a pride thing for Cid - now it is his /guitar/ that is at stake. "Hey, hey you! You put that down right now or I'm gonna come over there and beat the crap out of you! You hear me? Huh?!"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
It feels good, being able to take the matter into his own hands. It is true, Cid is a huge coward. Given that this is probably the first time that the Gerrison Heir has fought something in the real world, it is amazing that he managed to pull himself as well as he did. This is hi first, honest-to-Leviathan fight against something like this. At the same time, Niklas is grateful for having a friend like Niklas. A first friend and true friend. Surrounded by people, but no real friends, it is good to have someone as genuine as the martial artist.

With his attention towards Niklas, he does decide to get a glimpse of the area around them. It is nice, thinking over to the area. "...Not quite like Leviathan. This place has a very archaic look to it, wouldn't you say?" He takes the moment to adjust his glasses. "... I remember that our continents were like this thousands of years ago. There were old images of them painted in the museums." He smiles, but that smile wanes when he hears Nik's attention turning towards something else.

 !!!!

The Imps yelp, hearing Nik's voice and they are tailing fast.

"Hey! Hand that back!" He is not going to use his magic as it would put his friend's guitar at risk. He is not going to let his friend down. "Nik, let's get it back!"

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Nik is everybody's friend. That's the great thing about Nik. All the polite, upper-class-as-hell people might sneer at him behind his back and smile fake smiles at him because he was a slacker and would never amount to anything, but the people Nik cared about - the real people, the people who understood what was important in the world - never would. He didn't care if he never made friends with the guys at the top and the people who wore their ties so tight they might as well be nooses; he had his friends. He had the people *he* liked, not the ones his parents liked.

Cid is one of those guys who just needed some /freeing/. Some /help/ getting to that point of pulling down his tie and putting a smile on his face. He knew Cid was a good guy; he just...needed that little bit of aid.

"Yeah, I remember that field trip! I think, uh...Tracey?" Nik calls as he starts running after the imps. "Maybe it was Stacy! I can't remember! But I totally remember that picture of Ifrit with the desert and no cities, and that picture of Ramuh with all the plants, and..."

"IT WAS MELINDA!" He shouts, putting his hand against his face as he leaps over a rock effortlessly. "You know, the one with the giant- woah, hey! Cid, cut 'em off, I think they're trying to go left!"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
"Actually..."

Cid was going to try to interject the recollection with the person's name as to make the process faster. However, once Nik is on a roll, it is usually futile to try to say anything until he is afforded a bit of space to interject. So instead, Cid rubs the back of his head and he continues to listen while he is running behind his comrade.

Oh god, running. The black mage has not been known to be a runner or anything of the physical sort of nature. He is going to get winded, fast.

And as thus, he hears Niklas's calling for him to flank them at the left.

When the mage attempts to sprint ahead, he moves to intercept them.

"Oh no you don't." He flips the pages of his codex, preparing the spell.

Except, they flank to the right. Move right! And with the mage preparing to chant something, one of them holds onto a slingshot and fires a shot of something in his mouth.

Cid is left choking and gagging. Well, that's one way of 'silencing' him.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Ten minutes ago, Seloria Delacreaux had been reading a book about summoning in the library of Alexander Academy. Five minutes ago, she had faceplanted onto the ground, landing on the book with a oof, some meters away from Cid and Niklas. She knows those voices.

She also knows that guitar.

She sighs, and brushes dirt off of her stockings, before she gestures, her hand flipping out as she murmurs softly, her lyrical voice rising, "Sylph, maiden of the air, fey of the wings, grant me your secrets, your knowledge, and power."

Sylph rises into being, the Second God looking down upon the imps as she strikes down with a gust of wind - aiming to knock the guitar into the air, rather than hurt them, seeing as everyone is taller than the imps.

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
The realization that Cid knows more about who Nik is making out with than Nik does is one to be saved for a later date.

Right now, mercifully, Nik is more concerned with his guitar. The little imps go right; Nik does too, flanking carefully with Jid to ensure that he can pin the things down and snag the wooden instrument out of their hands. He sees Cid about to cast a spell, and his lips spread in a wide grin-

-aaaaand then Cid gets silenced by a slingshot to the mouth. Now Nik is forced to make a choice; dive for the guitar, or save his friend? For an agonizing moment, Nik considers his guitar. He LOVED that guitar. That guitar was closer to him than his family. Learning to play that guitar had been one of the best things that ever happened to him in the Academy; it had gotten him more friends (and more flings) than he could count, and he was determined, DETERMINED, to form a band around that guitar.

But that's no choice at all, because a guitar is a thing, and a friend is a friend. Nik moves to tackle Cid, hard - hard enough to force the junk in his mouth out of it when Cid hits the ground, hopefully!

"You okay?" Nik asks, as the sound of wind whipping up starts whirling around behind him. He looks up from his position on the ground, squinting against the sun to see who's helping them.

...

...

"Uhhh...Ami, right?"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
On one hand, his pride is shot. On the other hand, his throat was shot at and he has a choking hazard in his mouth. The young mage is trying to get the blasted thing out of his throat. There is an agonizing feeling of a slow and painful death.

A choking hazard. From imps. What a way for the heir of the noble family to go.

However, the young man is quickly tackled to the ground. The impact of the teenager tackling him is enough to dislodge the choking hazard out of his mouth. And as it spills, it rolls to the ground. It is a rock.

MEANWHILE,

The imps are getting off scott free with a new treasure. They will try to figure out how this thing works and smash it into pieces. At least, that is until a gentle breeze wrap around the instrument and it floats out of their hands. "Eeep!"

...With the guitar gone, they look around and the realize a woman who summoned a powerful elemental force is standing before them.

2x Imps have fled.

PAN TO THE TWO!

As Cid is left gasping, he finally exhales a sigh of relief, "... Thanks, Nik..." He feels a tad down that he failed his friend, but his attention is given to the aiding woman, "...Seloria!" The (former) student council president, elated to see yet another familiar face, waves towards her.

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"Seloria! Right, right." Nik corrects himself as Cid corrects him.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"Ami is a nickname, technically usable, but Seloria is more correct." The teenager looks up, bowing to Sylph as the Divine hangs there, caught by the magical power Seloria wields. "Thank you, Goddess; may your wind be strong."

Sylph disappears, and the guitar drops out of the air; Seloria neatly catches it, then walks up to the two boys, offering her other hand out to pull them up.

"Nice to see you here. I'm amazed you didn't show up with a girl's blouse, Dragonius."

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
Nik takes his hand and stands up, scratching the back of his head and laughing. "It's good to see a bunch of us are still okay! Hey, have you seen Linda? I guess we didn't all arrive separately, and I had my hand on my guitar and *that* came through..."

"Speaking of, thanks for the help with that!" He's not the least bit disappointed in Cid. He knows Cid did his best; not like Nik can ask for anything more than that. Nik stands up and stretches a bit, then stretches some more; he yawns, then sits down and begins checking to make sure his guitar didn't get /un/-tuned by the imps. The imps were fiddly little things.

"This place is pretty cool, huh?" Nik asks after a random moment of him playing with his guitar curiously. "It's like nothing but hills. Crazy! Where do you think we are?"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
Cid is honestly relieved to see mostly the past residents of their world. Even better that they are people hat he knows. However, the Student Council President regains his composure. "...Than you for the aid, Miss Delacreaux."

Now, once his bearing is regained, he looks over towards his more laid back companion. While he is making sure that the guitar is still tuned, Cid cannot help but try to consider the sitution. "I am not certain. However, beyond those hills, I could hav sworn that I saw a town and a castle." He muses thoughtfully.

"In fact, I want to say hat we are within the vicinity of one."

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"Well, Cid, I don't think we're in Ramuh anymore."

Seloria's drawl is ironic and teasing, raising an eyebrow at the former student council president, her green eyes merry with mischief. She does a little twirl, her braids swinging around her head as she points. "Well, shall we make merry and go adventuring?"

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"One sec, one sec!" Nik fiddles with the guitar again, strums it...and finds it to his liking. He sighs in relief, then stands up, slings it over his shoulder, and nods, crossing his arms. "OK. I'm satisfied. This thing's okay, they didn't mess with it. Probably didn't have a chance. Thanks, Seloria."

He thinks for a moment, looks her over, and whistles appreciatively. "I'm happy to make merry with you any day. So, where to? The castle?"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
The Gerrison heir gives a displeased look towards Seloria, further shaking his head. With them in neither Chocobo or Rumah, the group are left to figure things out themselves. Thankfully, given the fact that there is a town nearby, that means that the group can try to find answers over their current situation and move on from there.

After a moment of Nik adjusting himself, Cid considers the situation. "I was thinking more of the town. To visit the ruling castle, it would require an audience with the royalty. It would be a good idea, given our situation, to start from ground up and then we can figure out our next course of action. We may find answers about where we are and possibly figure out the area itself."

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Seloria gives Cid a 'I don't care about your displeased works, we are going on a ADVENTURE whether you like it or not, mister heir!' You really got the worst option here out of all the girls that could have shown up. She does however rake Niklas up and down with her green eyes, a smile quirking her lips. "You wish, master performer." She drawls.

"Well then, to the town!" She adjusts her beret and starts off.

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"You would totally enjoy it!" Nik calls after her as she gets a head start. He whacks Cid (GENTLY) on the back, accounting for his own strength the way only a really really good martial artist can, a grin on his face. "She's pretty cute, huh? Let's get moving; don't wanna get left behind! But let's trail behind a little, just...y'know. For observational purposes."

Unabashed and unashamed. Live life to the fullest, that's what Nik does! He's...he's probably a terrible influence on Cid.

"Speaking of, how'd you know all that stuff? Have you been reading up on old castles and junk?"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
The only option left for Cid is to grimace towards Seloria. He /really/ does not like where this is going to go. All what he knows is that this particular one will be trouble. With the fact that they have no idea where they are, any sort of needless trouble is not something that he wants to encounter.

The magician grimaces, thhinking over the situation. His thoughts are interrupted by the hefty pat on the back, which causes him to stumble over. "Hrk!" He glances back at Nik, regarding the cuteness of Seloria, "... I suppose so." She's trouble, more like it.

Time to get moving.

As they start walking along the path, Cid is observing the surroundings, noting the sight of imps, asps, and spiders. His features become more pale as he gazes over the wild-life around.

"...Nggh..."

Change of topic. This is a topic that makes Cid comfortable. Having some sort of comfort zone will help keep his sanity. "Yes, I've studied the ways that the kingdoms operated. It's similar to how businesses are ran, but with some differences." He muses, "You'd be amazed over how little has changed in customs and courtesies."

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"You /guess/ so? C'mon, man, look at that sweater, that is a /great/ sweater. That is a *clingy* sweater." Nik whacks Cid on the back again.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
"I can /hear/ you!" Seloria yells over her shoulder, eyeballing Nik fiercely.

Both Nik and Jidro are absolutely correct. Seloria is trouble, and she's more than trouble, she is Trouble, with a capital 'T'. It is probably a good thing she's only been at the academy for a couple of months. She is also pretty cute.

She does whirl around and walk backwards very easily, tilting her head as she slows up to be able to talk to the two, her green eyes alight in magical mischief. "Aren't you like, a heir or something? Don't you need to know this stuff?"

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"I know!" Nik calls back at her, cupping his hands over his mouth to make sure she can hear. He grins and waves as she eyeballs him fiercely. She turns around, and he looks her over again, his hand going to his chin. "Yeah, I could definitely work with that...I'm feeling kinda inspired right now! Hey, do me a favor and smile, huh? I wanna see what you look like with a smile!"

Then he looks back at Cid. "Oh yeah? I had no idea. I didn't really get into the history stuff...I mean, I know the family history, but that's totally different. That's, like, basic junk. What do I need to know what it was like thousands of years ago? It's not like it's gonna come in handy normally. You know, *before* we got attacked." Nik shrugs.

Jidro Gerrison has posed:

"To be fair, not many people generally take the time to reflect on the past." Seloria is given a glance over. Cid is taking a more demure look to it as he considers the situation. "...Thousands of years have passed. Many people generally prefer to deal with what's now." It is something that he has considered. There is no condescending tone to it, just more of a matter-of-fact tone.

"...Though, it helps to know of the past. As I stated, while we did not anticipate being in an area as archaic as here..." It looks like the group are getting closer, approaching the city of Cornelia itself. The place looks a lot larger the more they close in.

"Some of the princples still apply."

As they reach the town, they will find that the small area is pretty peaceful. Greenery everywhere, the people are tending to their daily lives.

Seloria Delacreaux has posed:
Well, never let it be said Seloria doesn't appreciate getting told she's pretty - she gives one of thouse thousand-watt brilliant smiles, which she normally gives to someone that's shared a interesting tidbit to her, not one she normally tosses out.

Then she whirls around when they enter the city, biting her bottom lip. "Oh, it's so pretty!" She gives a chipper chirp, bouncing on her booted feet. Whoops, watch out -

Best grab her before she runs off.

Niklas Dragonius has posed:
"Dang," Nik observes as she smiles. He'd have to write a song later; that was the usual fare, he wrote a song when he thought a girl was cute. (His folder of songs on his cell phone was absolutely ludicrously huge.) Wait-

Cell phone! Nik whips out his phone, clicking through the magitek device thoughtfully. No service. No service. No service. "Hey...do you guys think we've slid back in time or something? I mean, like you said, it's a very archaic place; it looks like it's from ages ago. And-"

"Hey, where are you going? Don't run off like that!"

Jidro Gerrison has posed:
"...Perhaps we went back in time," notes Cid.

He stops walking to take the glasses from his eyes and he rubs his them along his chest. After cleaning the glasses, his eyes drift towards Nik, "It could be that we entered another world, or the past. We won't know until---"

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF------ she runs off.

"W-wait!" And Cid is following behind Nik to retrieve the hyper girl as they arrive.