[physical education 101]

[sevenhorrorsmods]

Who: transfer students
When: July 1̷̝̤̳̙̫̭̻̝͓̄̇̾̀̕͝9̸̙̱̹͍̮̈́́̀̅͛̐̔̋ 20
Where: the. . . gymnasium?
What: an ice breaker
Warnings: moderate physical injury (not debilitating), psychological horror (absolutely debilitating)

[The school is empty. The school is quiet. The only sound that cuts through the silence is the soft ticking of the hallway clocks that mark the passing of each second.]

[. . .]

[At least. . . until a stiff breeze whips through the classrooms, scattering dirty papers and jerking the curtains aside. The clock strikes 6:00 a.m.]

[The school bell chimes.]

[ Team rooms | Endgame | Rewards ]

Comments

[suplexer]

[ Along with the rest of Team Kenkou, Tifa bursts out of one of the doors flanking the gymnasium in a panic. One of her wrists and the opposite ankle are bloodied from some sort of restraint gouging deeply into the skin. As soon as she realizes she's safe, she falls to one knee as she tries to catch her breath.

She sends a panicked look around, but there's no sign of that thing, even though it had been right at their window.

More than that, though, there are other people here — also in uniforms, though they seem to be color-coded differently. Either way, she's going to need a few seconds to catch her breath before she can do anything else. ]

[selfportraiture]

[Ena's not really in the right mental state to Help, of course, and yet... she can't seem to help herself, either. There's a young woman panting, down on one knee, and she absolutely gets it.

And through the remaining, lingering ringing in her ears:]

Hey--are you okay?

[suplexer]

[ That voice does cut through the remnants of Tifa's panic, forcing her to look up. She's faced with a girl clearly younger than her, and it reminds her that she has to hold it together for people like this who might need her protection moving forward.

She shouldn't be showing this kind of weakness in front of strangers anyway, but that was... a lot. ]

Yeah. [ She clears her throat (was it a cough? hard to say) and pushes herself up to her feet so she can dust herself off. ] It's just...

[ She glances back toward the door she came from. shit sucked in there ]

[selfportraiture]

[Yeah, they're very much in the same boat, judging from the cuts on Ena's uniform, with coagulated blood trailing from her ears.]

... Yeah. Stupid question, huh?

[suplexer]

No, it's okay. Oh, you're...

[ She gestures at her own ear. Tifa's missing any blood there herself, as she wasn't the one who searched the clock. ]

[mogger]

T---

[ she almost says tifa's name out loud, exclaiming in surprise, but manages to clap her hand over her mouth before anything else comes out. her eyes widen a little bit and she rushes over, though she's still bleeding from her legs ]

Those creeps got you too?! Is-- Is anyone else here?

[suplexer]

Yu—

[ Similarly, Yuffie's name almost comes spilling out of Tifa's mouth on sheer reflex, but she bites down on it at the last second, her eyes going wide with shock and relief alike.

Tifa's also still bleeding, but the stinging pain seems to be long forgotten as she pushes up to stand and rushes over to Yuffie, grabbing her by the shoulders to hold her in place and look her over. ]

I... I don't know! Not where I was, anyway! Are you okay?

[mogger]

I'm okay, are you okay?

[ she says that, but as soon as tifa touches her she can feel yuffie's emotions: which is a large dose of fear, hidden by bravado. yuffie does not realize this has happened, for the record, and grips tifa in turn, in that slightly clingy way she does ]

[ her legs are bloody and have been bandaged, but otherwise she seems fine ]

Were you in a creepy classroom that was ripped to shreds? Like, literally?

[suplexer]

[ Tifa is not prepared for the sudden surge of fear. Not that she hasn't been freaked out herself this whole time, but this is different, like she can tell that it's coming directly from Yuffie. She blinks in confusion as Yuffie clings onto her. ]

... Yeah, I was. We thought maybe there were others since the yearbook was so small, but I tried knocking on the wall and didn't hear anything back.

[ Which doesn't make sense. Surely all these rooms were next to each other...?

What she might or might not be feeling from Yuffie only spurs Tifa to do what she wanted to do anyway, though, which is give her a big hug. It should make both of them feel a little better, she hopes. ]

It's just a relief to see a familiar face!

[undefinery]

[ There are... a lot of unfamiliar faces here, and all of them look varying levels of traumatized.

Mizuki's a little more polite to adults, but there's still some hesitation. ]

... It sort of looks like everyone had a rough time.

[ The teenager is also Le Gashed. ]

[suplexer]

[ Not another Le Gashed teenager. Tifa looks up, immediately remembering herself and that she's surrounded by other people, some who might need the protection of an adult at some point. She has to keep it together.

So she quickly stands, nodding as she takes in the rest of the room. While there are a handful like her and this pink-haired girl who have come out of doorways, others are slowly getting up from being passed out on the floor, having maybe suffered an even worse fate. ]

... Yeah, sure does. What happened to you?

[undefinery]

I'm okay, just got entangled a little bit! I didn't get spiders dumped on me or had my ears bleed, so...

[ You know! Could be so much worse!! ]

[suplexer]

Oh! Yeah, same here. So we really just went through the exact same thing, huh?

[ Because people in her room also had to deal with spiders and ear-bleeding, wow! ]

It feels like a whole lot of work went into setting this up, but I still don't understand why...

[brokenlance]

[after Dimitri recomposes himself, he finds her in the crowd not too far away. He remembered her abject terror, the panic in her eyes... he had to make sure she was okay.

...though he still didn't have a name to call her by.]

You're all right. You're going to be all right, Miss.

[suplexer]

[ And to think, it had been in the back of her mind that she wanted to find him to thank him, but it looks like he's made it over to her first.

Tifa shakes her head as if to dispel her disappointment in herself, pressing up to her feet as she gives him a firm nod.

It's fine. She's fine. ]

... Yeah, sorry. I just... really hate ghosts. And that thing...

[ But it's gone now. Was it all just meant to scare them? Then again, some of the other people here look like they've been through worse. ]

Thank you. You saved us...

[ And yet, she doesn't even have something to call him. ]

[brokenlance]

[he tries to keep his voice warm and encouraging]

Please, I did no such thing - it was simply luck. I cannot take responsibility for that.

You've truly been through a trial today. We should find a safe place to rest, and get our bearings.

[suplexer]

[ So he's the type who won't just take the compliment, huh? Tifa will keep that in mind. ]

It was quick thinking, and you went for the right spot. It doesn't seem like everyone did as well as us...

[ They really do owe him.

Still, she isn't willing to be singled out. ]

We all have been. So... maybe we should try to find some medical supplies? I think Usagi said something about a nurse's office...

[parttimesoldier]

[Suzuha is out here doing her thing, wandering around the gym checking up on people (and scoping out the possibility of any dangers lurking in the process). And it's just as she stumbles upon Tifa that she's suddenly damn convinced she's spotted that danger. That creepy fucking doll from earlier is right there at this woman's feet, why is she just standing there??

So, uh. Here comes Suzuha running in wearing a torn up and bloody yellow track suit, grabbing Tifa by the arm and trying to yank her to the side without preamble.]

Hey, watch out—!

[If she looks around, she will find, uh. Nothing. Whoops.]

comms buddies 2??? (no)

[suplexer]

[ Tifa's currently Going Through It and just trying to get herself back under control after whatever just happened, so to have someone suddenly run at her and grab her arm is definitely not what she needs right now. ]

Wh—

[ She's disoriented enough that she does get yanked to the side before digging her heels in, fight-or-flight instincts activating as she looks at where she just was, but...

She doesn't see anything. Judging by the look on this girl's face, though, she does. ]

What is it?

the thrilling sequel

[parttimesoldier]

[After everything that's just happened, Suzuha isn't taking any chances. If those dolls were connected to whatever that thing at the window was, then she's not playing around.

It's a relief that she's able to get her to move at least a little bit before she stands her ground. Suzuha's hand is still holding on tight to her arm, though her gaze snaps up to her face, brows knit in frustrated confusion, at the question.]

That freaky doll, what else? It's right—

[She waves her hand to where she'd seen it, turning her attention back toward it only to find... well, suddenly it's gone.]

Shit. Where'd it go? It was right there, next to you!

[suplexer]

[ Another freaky doll? Tifa follows the direction of the girl's wave, tries to look where she's looking, but there's nothing there. Was it there before? Wouldn't Tifa have seen it if it was right next to her like that?

Instead of just telling this girl that she must be seeing things, Tifa plants a hand against her chest and draws in a shaky breath. ]

Not more ghosts...

[ They completed the challenge and found the key; they got themselves out. Can't they be left alone now? ]

[moonfeather]

[Fio's uniform is purple-coded and her group who also share the same colors have probably seen better days.

When the other woman bursts through, Fio tries to stand up shakily.]

You... You were in one of the other rooms then?

[suplexer]

[ There's really a rainbow of uniform colors here. That woman, the witch, she was right to think their class size was too small.

Realizing that this girl is struggling to stand, Tifa pulls herself together enough to go help her up. ]

Yeah... it looks like there are way more than we could have guessed.

[ So many people here! All of them Going Through It. ]

[moonfeather]

[She stiffens up at Tifa's touch at first, but relaxes and accepts her help. None of the humans so far have shown any hostility. But if they were truly from completely different places then Fio probably isn't a total anomaly.]

We were completely cut off. And if it's not too much to ask... Was there a board in your room that was giving you warnings?

[suplexer]

[ While the girl's white hair is alarming given what Tifa usually associates that color with (thanks, Sephiroth), it's pretty clear that she isn't any danger right now and that she's just as trapped as the rest of them.

Once the girl is up, though, Tifa draws back, not wanting to overwhelm her. ]

That's right. First, it warned us to not give our names. Then it told us there was a key to find. It seems... like there's someone here trying to help us in their own way.

[ Even though she isn't quite sure what to do with the idea of a friendly ghost. ]