[video]- A few days after Ben's speech

[hotheadwarmheart]

[A message from Lea appears on everyone's phones.]

So I was thinking... we don't know when more people are gonna turn up, but it's a pretty safe bet that eventually they will. And it's not super practical to have people walking around specifically looking for new arrivals all the time, or to throw a party and make a big speech every time new people show up.

So how about we set up a spot somewhere, like in the front entrance hall of the school, that's like an information booth? We could take turns manning it in case anyone turned up, and if anyone did, we could answer questions, hand out phones, try and explain the situation, stuff like that. We could maybe even print up some pamphlets or something that cover the information Ben went over in his speech, so we don't have to keep repeating the same basic stuff all the time. And to make sure people know where to go, we could hang a banner on the big 'Auradon Prep' sign; it's a big obvious landmark, so it'd be hard to miss, and the banner would serve double duty covering up the bottom part of the sign and making it seem less full of itself. What do you guys think?

Also, is it just me, or is everything way too... perfect, around here, appearance wise? And I mean like creepily perfect. Not just the grounds, but all the public areas, all the rooms I looked into before we were told which ones were off limits, everything.

There's nothing out of place that can't be explained by people just suddenly vanishing. No one's bed was unmade. No one's desk had just randomly accumulated stuff. The desks in the classrooms all look pretty much brand new. There's no cup rings on any of the tables, no fingerprints on the glass, no books in the library with dog-eared pages that I've seen, no random mysterious stain on the carpet that's probably been there forever, no scratches in the woodwork, nothing. What's up with that?

Comments

[missrecalled_npcs]

"I mean I would love to learn, but I'm not sure throwing more magic at the problem is really the best answer. If you're willing to share more, maybe we can help you brainstorm other solutions."

[hotheadwarmheart]

[Lea shakes his head.]

If there were some other way of handling this besides throwing seven Keyblade wielders at it, I think Master Yen Sid- another version of the guy you know- would have figured it out by now. The whole thing is a really, really long story, but the bottom line is that the evil Keyblade Master I mentioned has been planning this thing for well over a decade; a battle royale of our seven lights vs his thirteen darknesses. We don't show up to fight him with seven Keybladers, he's gonna get his seven lights elsewhere by snatching up seven innocent people to sacrifice for his crazy plan. Which basically forces our hand anyway.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Oh... so you are looking to have more than seven then?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

[Lea shakes his head.]

Not really. Like I said, we'll be lucky if we can even get the seven we need back home. Pretty much the only reason I got the chance at a Keyblade was that they were kinda desperate to fill one of the seven slots. We were still two short when I was first yanked out of there. One of the two others we were looking for- Master Aqua- is technically here, but she's not the same version of Master Aqua, so that doesn't really help us much, outside of the extra training I'll be getting. The multiverse makes things really complicated.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"I think I'm a bit confused. If you know the bad guy's plan is that you show up with exactly seven heroes on your side, and he has a contingency plan for if you have less... why wouldn't you want more?"

[hotheadwarmheart]

It's not that we don't want more, it's just that there aren't really any more to be had. By the time it's all over we'll probably have a few more for reasons that it'd take way too long to explain here, but we'll only be able to get seven for the initial confrontation. Active Keybladers are... really thin on the ground back home, to say the least.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"From what Mal has told me, doesn't time generally stop in your own worlds while you're in ours? Perhaps this is a good time to find more people who are willing to help." [A warm smile. It took all his self control to keep himself from volunteering. He had a responsibility here.]

[hotheadwarmheart]

The whole time-stopping thing kinda depends, I think? Though given where exactly I was pulled from it probably doesn't matter. Which is a good thing, or I'd be way more worried about it than I am.

But the rest of it... I get what you're saying, but I think that if deliberately bringing in help from other worlds like this was an option, the versions of Merlin and Master Yen Sid back home would have brought it up already. I mean, I could ask them when I got the chance, but the mechanics behind it are way over my head. And opening inter-dimensional portals on purpose isn't something you want to do unless you know what you're doing.

[missrecalled_npcs]

"Well... then it doesn't hurt to be prepared so that if they do think it is a good idea and know what they are doing, we are ready. You and the other Missrecalled are helping here. If we can repay that kindness, of course we want to."