((For the characters of Lilian and Sondra Van Ryan))

It is yet another wonderful spring day here on the Island of Shokushu, a name that Sondra had learned long ago meant 'tentacle' in Japanese. Rather appropriate, given the nature of the island's...'native inhabitants'. The weather is warm, the birds are chirping, and there are virtually no clouds in the sky. In other words, it is a perfect day. Sondra had decided that it was so perfect that she would skip all her classes for the day (well, all of them except for Art, a class she wouldn't skip if she had two broken legs and a major concussion). "Why waste a even a moment in class on a day like this," Sondra had asked herself when she got up this morning and looked out the window, "when I could spend that time enjoying the weather outside?"

And so here she is now, dressed lightly in a black lace-up corset and a short black miniskirt, and her black cat ears and matching tail, and lounging in the fork of a giant, weather-beaten oak tree with an open book in one hand and a half-eaten banana in the other. Across from Sondra is her large black backpack containing snacks, her art supplies, a few novels, some nourishing snacks, and a few of her favorite 'toys'. Resting on top of the book bag, nestled in a little groove, is an iPod Touch with a set of portable speakers attached.

Sondra had spent a lot of her free time doing some drawings of other students, some of them hustling and bustling from class to class, some of them socializing in the hallways or outside the campus and dorm buildings, some of them doing...other thing.

But right now Sondra was more interested in resting her head on her backpack and catching up on her reading than filling up the pages in her sketchbook...

The name's Lilian Valentine, my dad's a member of a 2nd tier Gothic hard rock group, not Beatles or AC/DC big, but they still do alright for themselves in the modern age.

I woke up as the plane made it's descent, I guess the flight was boring as all hell because I wasn't the only girl that had taken a nap, most of the people on the plane were out like a light or drifting to consciousness. I just laughed to myself as I brushed my hand through my bed head, i dug around my pockets for my mirror but, didn't find it. I was a little pissed, my coin knife was gone too... when the plane landed at the dock I was the first one out and I was sure I looked like I hated the world. I was wearing a simple outfit, black denim shorts and aRed blouse over my usual thick cotton & silk wrap around my chest and shoulders; I still think it worked better than most bras. I was missing all my little toys from my pockets and was definitely in a bad mood, i guessed someone went through the sleeping student's pockets for contraband while the plane was in the air... they could have at least told us so I could have hid them in the lining of a jacket with a tinfoil shielding or something... actually, guess that's why they didn't tell me.
As I walked away from the dock I saw something pretty interesting, or I thought so anyway. A large tree and a girl sitting by in in a pair of fake ears. Decided i might as well talk to her, better than going to whatever room I was supposed to live in until they let me go back to tour and moping about my confiscated toys.
"So you been here long?"

Up above in her perch, Sondra yawned softly and closed the book she had been reading with a snap. "That's enough of that, I think." She said to herself as she put the finished novel away, and then turned off her iPod and stuffed it into her book bag along with the rest of her stuff.

There was a municipal waste basket in between the park benches below. Sondra lazily tossed the remains of her banana with a flick of her wrist and the peel landed in the wide metal bin with an audible whoosh.

Sondra checked her watch. "Hmm...classes should just about be getting out by now..." Right on cue, the school bell went off and the doors of the campus building swung open, and Sondra's tree soon became a tiny island in a roaring sea of students as her classmates stampeded through the school grounds on their way to the dorms or to some outdoor activity. Sondra smiled and waved down at those she recognized among the growing crowd before laying back to rest her eyes for a bit.

About fifteen minutes later, as the rushing tide of students finally receded, Sondra opened her eyes to check out the scene below. As she looked down from her perch, she spotted a sexy red-haired girl looking up at her. Sondra gave the newcomer a friendly smile as she listened to her talk. "I've been here about seven years now, give or take. Hold on, let me get my shit together here. Just a second..."

Sondra got the rest of her things together and slipped her backpack on before dropping from the thick branch that she had been using as a perch. Using the skills she had picked up from her gymnast sister Kelly, Sondra performed a few back-flips off of the lower branches before landing neatly onto the soft ground below.

"Ah, that's better. Much easier to chat when I'm standing on solid ground. After straightening herself up a bit, Sondra walked up to Lilian and proceeded to introduce herself. "My name's Sondra, and I'm probably one of the oldest students you'll meet here at Shokushu."

I watched the blonde girl as she performed her little flips out of the tree, was a bit surprised, but I guess i shouldn't have been, she did look the cheerleader sort... well at least the cheerleader sort I knew from T.V. and magazines. She said she'd been around here for seven years, i assumed she'd stayed for more than one degree or was doing multiple majors or just was very indecisive and took breaks between semesters... she didn't seem like a stupid sort that kept failing classes or anything like that.
"Sondra huh? good to meet ya, glad you're not a prude, least I don't have ta fuckin censor myself. Name's Lilian by the way, Lily'll do just fine though. Just got off the damn plane... can you believe i took a nap and they went through my pockets?"

I listened to my voice and couldn't help hearing the anger, oh well, first impressions always suck anyway. My hands rested on my hips and they were shifted to the right.
"Glad I didn't decide to wear a skirt, kinda feel sorry for the girls that did y'know..."
Was ranting a little nervously actually, happened now and then.
"So might as well just get right into it, I'm fresh off the plane and you're a vet, what's this damn school like mate?"

Sondra hesitated, not quite sure how much to tell Lilian about the...less pleasant aspects of school life on Shokushu Island. After some careful thought, she decided to hold off on that discussion for the time being. Hell, if this Lilian was anything like Sondra, she most likely wouldn't believe anything she'd have to tell her about, oh...say, tentacled alien monsters raping students or crazy experiments being performed on some secret lab, until she experienced any of it for herself.

"Shokushu," Sondra said at last, "is...pretty much like your average school, except no boys. The rules here are pretty strict, certainly more so than at the public schools I've attended prior to my arrival here. The consequences for breaking the rules are certainly harsher here. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've literally gotten my ass whipped in detention just for coming into class late or for being 'insufficiently attired'. Hasn't stopped me from continuing to break the rules yet, of course."

Normal schools, well there was a concept foreign to me. A private tutor was all I had known growing up but, hell if I was going to tell her that.
"Literally whipped?! they seriously use whips! okay that's kinda scary... bitchin, but scary."
Alright so I thought whips were the cruelest coolest weapons ever, sue me... I wondered for a moment if they'd taken mine out of my bags, probably had... I kept it only as a decoration really, never had gotten to use it in anything beyond my dad's concerts... and one unfortunate roadie which will remain nameless that is now paralyzed from the waist down.
"So whats there to do round here Sondra? Kinda hope it's not all work here, would make days of pretty much me in my room with my games."

"There's a little something for everybody here. There are various clubs on the campus. I never been to any of them myself, but I hear some of them are pretty cool. I've been wanting to get some students together to form a band for a while now, but with all the craziness that's been going on in my life, I never really got the chance to get it going."

As she chatted with Lilian, Sondra slipped off her backpack and placed it on a nearby bench before unhooking her silver and black vacuum-insulated travel bottle that contained a freshly blended tropical smoothie. "Let's see, what else...? A few students here have managed to throw some pretty decent parties, both in the Dorms and out on the beach. The last one I went too even had some alcoholic drinks, including what's generally known around here as 'contraband punch'."

Twisting the cap off, Sondra took a swig from the bottle before continuing. "There's some nice places to relax, too. There's an arcade in the dorms, as well as a hot tub, which few people seem to know about. We have an indoor pool as well as an outdoor one that not many people use very often. There's the ever-popular Shokushu Beach and the lesser-known hot springs, and if you're the adventurous type, there's plenty of areas on the island to explore in your free time."

There were probably other things to add to the list, but Sondra couldn't really think of anything else to add off of the top of her head...

"So, what do you like to do for fun, Lily?"

Listening to her list of the activities of the students just brought a smile to my face, well what i did hear anyway, The mention of a band was the last thing i heard, everything else i remember now but, then it was out of my notice.
"What I like to do for fun huh? Well funny you mention wanting to start a band, I'm a keyboardist, other than that I usually play video games, gonna miss playing online actually... gonna miss a lot of things about that damn bus."
a freudian slip, I caught it a bit too late to do anything about it.
"My Dad's a keyboardist in this gothic rock band, kinda lived in a tour bus most of my life after mom died. No biggie right mate? Takes all types to rock the world."
I decided to tell her, not like it was some big secret after all. I decided not to mention my love of porn, animated or real, or burlesque, or strip tease... and my plain love of watching just for watching, i didn't practice self pleasure to em, I just got a thrill enough from watching and the idea of getting caught, I guess i'm an adrenaline junkie.

"Wow, that's awesome!" Sondra replied in a tone of admiration. "It certainly sounds like we got a lot in common there. My family's also pretty gifted musically and artistically. None of them are all that well-known, but they're all pretty damn good at what they do, and me and my sisters all picked up on it, each in our own way. My younger sister Ashely kicks ass at the keyboard like you. Kelly's the drummer in the family..."

Sondra took another swig. "Me, I sing and play the guitar, same as my twin sister Josie. Gotten pretty damn good at both over the years, though I haven't managed to get a whole lot of practice in with the guitar these days..."

As she spoke to Lilian, an idea suddenly flashed in her mind. "Hey, Lily, I got an idea! What do you think about the two of us getting a band together? Could be pretty sweet, and I already got a drummer in mind who might fit in pretty well."

Sondra had been wanting to get a band together since before she left home several years ago, but fate and circumstance continued to conspire against her. Until today...

A sly grin crossed my face as I heard her offer her little idea, Couldn't help it, it sounded like a bit of a dream come true, I always had wanted to one up my dad and hit it major unlike his 2nd tier band and a start was a start no matter how you looked at it.
"A band would be great! course think we'd need some more than just a guitar/singer, drummer and keyboard, would definately need a bass and a lead singer at least. We might be able to find some here course, there's a big pool and hell if I wanna do any auditions, damn things bring out the worst you'll ever hear half the time and weeding through sucks."
Honest words, or blunt words, whichever you want to call it. It was true though, could even see it in those american's damned american idol auditions.
((think we can bring other characters in now))

Airi quietly stood alone glancing from side to side as she did beside the wall of the dorm to the west of the entrance, a spot that was out of the way of the main path though she could still be heard. she fumbled around with a small speaker she wore at her hip. She wasn't skipping class, she was still working out her attending classes actually, well that was the official story she was told anyway. she flipped a switch on the odd speaker smiling faintly as the music began
I need to practice even if I am not recording again until I graduate and return for the new rewritten contract that their letter promised
Of course she would be going back to earth, the Hybria owned her as far as shokushu and the slave trade was concerned. She smiled to herself as she let the lyrics and motions flow from her without a single flaw, it was a thing of beauty to take in whether you watched her move or heard the melody pass her lips, she even ignored that she was wearing her short skirt and that the white and blue stripped panties she wore were flashed to any that looked whenever she made one of her quicker; or stronger movements.

"Hah! Take that!" Sara shouted triumphantly as she performed her finishing move on her opponent, taking her out for the second time. "That's three times I beat ya, cuz!" Sara waved three fingers in front of the red-haired girl standing beside her.

Fiona just grinned and srugged it off as she always did. "I did come close a couple times, though, didn't I. It wasn't like ye was just kicking my arse all over the arena the whole time."

"Heh, true enough. You did actually whip me pretty good in the second round. Wanna go again? I might actually let you win this time."

Fi just laughed and shook her head. "Tempting, but no. I been cooped up in this stone and brick prison long enough. The sun's a-shinin' and I'd rather not waste the time staring at a screen and pressing buttons all day." Fiona hated being stuck indoors all day, especially when she could be spending her day playing out in the sunshine.

"Aright, I'll just have to kick you arse some more later, then. We should go to our rooms and get changed, though, if we plan on spending some time outside." The two girls grabbed their belongings and walked out of the arcade together and took the elevator to their respective floors, and then headed to their dorm rooms to get changed out of their school clothes and into something a little more comfortable...
----------
Sara was the first one to finish getting dressed. The ridiculous uniform, which hadn't even fit all that well anyway, was replaced with something more her style: a long sleeve blue and black "Affliction" hoodie tee, a black velour "Metal Mulisha" brand draw-string pants, and black zip-up micro-sued boots. Just as she was headed out the main doors to wait for her cousin, Sara paused in mid-step when she heard the music.

"Now, that is some bloody amazing talent right there. Who could be singing so beautifully?" Sara's question was answered the moment she walked out the door, for she spotted a pretty damn cute teal-haired girl singing and dancing outside the dorm, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was quickly drawing an audience. At least at that moment. A brief glance behind Airi would be all it took to discover that she was being watched.

The tallish, hooded Brit was foremost among the small gathering of admirers. Sara's arms were crossed and her head was tilted slightly as she looked on, a slight grin spreading across her face as she gazed upon the angelic figure that move ever-so-gracefully in front of her...

"You got quite a gift there, my girl. You ever gone pro?"

Airi continued her performance until the song faded to silence . it was the applause that finally drew her from her world in her mind to the audience that had formed behind her. She smiled slightly when the turned to them offering a simply friendly wave to them all. She looked up to Sara as she moved from the bulk of the crowd.

Airi rubbed the back of her neck before she finally got up the guts to answer; truthfully as she so often did, She did hate to lie, telling partial truths didn't cross her mind as just as bad.
"Oh, thank you Very much Miss and I have yes... I have recorded and done many tributes in Japan... Before you ask; I am here to study Music Recording Technology so I can be more active in the process of music production. I am Katsuragi, Airi it is a pleasure to meet you."

She the name Airi would be difficult to recognize even for her fans, only the most obsessed knew the real name of Sairen Sora after all. She looked at the audience behind Sara before looking back to her a slightly worried look on her face.
"I did not mean to gather such a crowd, I do hope that I will not get in trouble for this..."

"It's nice meeting you, Airi. I'm Sara Watson. Make any Sherlock Holmes jokes and I'll break your bloody leg." Sara cracked a smile to let Airi know that she was kidding.



"I wouldn't worry about getting into trouble for any of this. You're sharing a very impressive gift with a small group of our peers, who obviously loved what they heard. Certainly nothing wrong with that. As a musician myself, I'd be personally offended if some divvy with a badge came by to give me shit just for expressing myself to the other girls here, musically or otherwise. If those daft old fools who run this joint happen to have a major problem with us students harmlessly expressing ourselves to our classmates, I say they can all go to hell."

"Sherlock Holmes? I do not know what that is..."
She'd never really read all that much outside the realm of fantasy and science fiction, she had a little in common with her fans at the very least.
She listened intently to Sara's rant as the crowd behind her dispersed. She couldn't help but laugh a little bit when she was finished.

"You are very outspoken! I like that in a person very much. you said you are a musician yes? What do you play may I ask? It would be wonderful to work together sometime actually! or even if you would let me hear you play, I do love to hear other people's work."
she seemed a little happier now that she had before; when the crowd was still gathered, like she was uncomfortable with having so many people around, and indeed she was, she was worried about being recognized.