MINGLE | WEEK TWO

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MINGLE LOG | WEEK 2
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Greetings, house guests. Surely you're getting into the swing of things, by now? Though, a friendly reminder: there is no escape.


Sunday is, once again, a quiet and likely somber day. At least, until there's one hopefully welcome surprise: belongings from back home that you may have missed will be delivered to your rooms today, if you did not come in with them. (Note: these should be the personal items from your applications, if your characters don't already have them on hand. The dead's personal items WILL NOT be appearing.)

Iris, Shauna, and anyone else in the house who might be considered a mother will also find a red carnation in a small vase by their bedsides. Enjoy these small creature comforts. You have earned them.

(Don't forget to check out the post-trial afterparty!)

Come Monday, everyone will once again wake up to a most unpleasant surprise: their motive for the week. This one is more immediately apparent than the last; the house's hunger has not been sated.

Pratibha is, once again, nowhere to be found, but this time, she's absent every day this week. What's up with that? (Should you feel strongly about this, you may attempt to find her.)

Bucking tradition, this week's first puzzle also arrives on Monday; it unlocks, of all things, a huge wardrobe full of fancy clothes. What could all this be for?

On Tuesday, the second puzzle appears; and it unlocks, this time, a grand ballroom.

On Wednesday, it will become clear what this week's locations are for. Because the ballroom doors open by themselves at 6 PM sharp, and reveal:

A ball. Splendid and scintillating, this gracefully lit space is warmed by the sound of distant music that has no apparent source. There are tables for food and drink, and more tables besides at which to sit. The star, however, is the dance floor; are you feeling brave enough to step out there? More importantly: with whom as your partner?

The windows display only endless green forest before night falls. Twilight and rising darkness paint the ballroom in shadows and shades of gold. All of it is enchanting and lovely to behold. The ballroom even sports numerous little nooks for ... privacy.

Remember, above all, rule 5: Get to know each other. Become friends. Become more. Who cares. Just do it.

Thursday brings calm after the busy storm of the ball. Rest, recuperate, and reflect; you all know what tomorrow brings.

Friday is investigation time once again. The investigation post will go live at 3 PM EST, 5/16.

Saturday is the day of your second real ritual. You may find the ritual post here at 12 PM EST, 5/17.

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

code bases by tricklet

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TUESDAY

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WEEK TWO — SECOND PUZZLE THREAD: YURI & GARRY

[lockedmods]

[ As always, the two will feel mysteriously drawn to their puzzle, which takes them all the way down into the crypt. Within, they'll spot something majorly changed: a stone coffin is in the center aisle between pews.

On the lid of the sarcophagus is the outline of a body and several strong magnets that you can slide across the surface. On each side of the coffin is a hole, with a left hand and a right hand drawn next to them on their respective sides.

What do you do? ]

[iflickerback]

[Hmm. This is... different. Yuri will try peeking into one of the holes.]

Wh- what, um... what do you make of this...?

[screamsalot]

Hmm...

[Garry leans down to peer at the holes more closely, wanting to see if he can see whether there is anything in them or not while at the same time also not wanting to get too close...]

Is there... something in there? Do we need to use the magnets to get it out...?

[lockedmods]

[ The interior is quite dark.

Maybe you’re feeling brave enough to go on and stick your lil hands in there? ]

Mods, I think the Library prompt warrants a ping.

[eldritchwaifu]

[ Today was shaping up to be an "eh" day.

She has her sketchbook back, which means she can finally chill in the sitting room and look over her initial ideas for Liam Prom...

... Buuuut she has a creative block for that fanfic, so she's set it aside in favor of designing a monstersona for the entire house. So far she's drawn it as a banshee, a humanoid mimic with an old fashioned trunk for a pelvis, and some manner of forest beast with a deer skull for a head. All three designs seem to pivot towards good looking androgynous yandere with a knife. She may be taking design suggestions.

Later, she finds she has to add teeth somewhere to the monstersona, because the desk in the library has drawers full of the things, and it's trying to eat Zoe's fingers. Zoe's immediate response is to whack the drawer with a book like she's scolding an animal. ]

NO! Bad house! No biting!

[ Eventually she has to move elsewhere for her daily dose of reading and comes across... The wardrobe. ]

Woah... [ She wanders in, mesmerized by the sheer amount of fancy clothes. Curiosity gets the better of her, and now she's sorting through the clothes, putting together outfits based on how well they would work as closet cosplays for going to theme parks with. ]

Wardrobe

[richesse]

Hm?

[ She hears a voice, and ends up gravitating to the wardrobe too. ]

Wow… look at all this. [ she plucks a ballgown off its hanger and holds it up to herself, smiling ]

Is this all for us?

[eldritchwaifu]

[ The eye on her leg looks at her first. ]

Maybe? [ Okay now she's turning her head to make eye contact. ] I mean, who else would it be for?

[richesse]

It just feels like such an extravagance… I didn’t expect the house to really give us anything, when it only seems interested in taking.

[ a cat like smile sneaks onto her lips, and she turns to Zoe ]

… want to try some things on?

Library

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[The drawer rattles in a warning way and slides more closed, but only partially, like it'd maybe like for Zoe to try sticking her fingers in there so it can snap shut on them. Mmm, calamari.

Ah, but... are splintery, wooden teeth the only things in there? Looks like a small book is poking out of a false lining in the side of the drawer, revealed by the. Hangry toothiness.]

[eldritchwaifu]

[ Oh?

Zoe's using that tentacle arm to try and pry the book out, using her other arm to hold the drawer open before the damn thing snaps shut again. ]

[lockedmods]

[ She will succeed!

She now has the small book in her ha—tentacles. What will she do? ]

[richesse]

[ After thoroughly inspecting the wardrobe with Zoe, Lortel wanders over to their other new location: the ballroom.

She wanders into what, right now, is simply a huge and echoing space, though still lovely with daylight streaming in through the tall windows. Her heels click resoundingly on the floor, the sound bouncing off the walls of this empty room. ]

How grand… one might think a real ball could happen in here. Though, how that would be possible…

[ pauses; considers. ]

Hm~ maybe it will be possible after all. Wouldn’t that be fun?

ballroom

[doctopoda]

I'd be surprised if any of us were in the mood.

[Though it is a pretty enough room. Otto's keeping his claws carefully raised, wary of scratching the parquet floor in spite of his general animosity towards the house. It's just instinctual, you know.]

It's a little better without whatever was happening last week, but even so...

[richesse]

Mm. It’s not to be feeling better, even if the house keeps trying to take a bite.

[ hands behind her back, Lortel twirls and walks backwards, staring up and around at the huge space. ]

I don’t know about that. A little fun might be something we could all use, right now.

[doctopoda]

...well, maybe. Though I worry a little about gathering everyone in one place like that. We'd make a much easier target. I wouldn't think it would want to simply bypass the ritual and eat us all, but - well, it's obviously trying.

[What's the point? Just to terrorize them? (He'll feel stupid about this later.)]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ Leon goes through his morning routine as usual - up at the crack of dawn, unfortunately for his roommates in Room One, shower, make breakfast in the kitchen - another meat and vegetable-heavy omelette and a cup of black coffee, both of which he'll offer to make more of if anyone catches him in there while he's cooking - before washing the dishes and heading out to the real attraction of the day.

The wardrobe isn't really what he's expecting, but sure, why the fuck not. He'll stand around in there, going through the drawers and shelves looking for anything particularly interesting - keys, crests, odd gemstones, anything that could open a door - but mostly finds a lot of clothes that probably wouldn't fit him, and...

Well. A classic-looking black pinstripe suit, complete with fedora and scarf, and also some vampire bullshit, he guesses? Huh. ]

[richesse]

[ biting her lips together as she watches Leon consider these choices. She is trying very hard not to laugh. ]

Well? Are you feeling debonair, or … classical?

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ Leon snorts, shaking his head. ]

Neither. Not really my style. [ says the man who refused to wear a tie while meeting the President of the United States of America. ] This kind of thing seems a little more your speed. You find anything interesting in here yet?

[richesse]

Well if that’s the case… I do like the second one.

Of course I saw something I liked. But we’re talking about you, Leon.

[madderbloom]

Rich people must have once lived here.

[ Anemone's in the wardrobe admiring the pretty clothes. She wants a closet this size! Seeing Leon in front of some outfits, she flits over. ]

Which one are you going to try on?

[ Because of course that's what he's here to do. ]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Yeah. What a mansion.

[ Who dedicates a whole non-closet-sized room to just clothes? Rich people, that's who. ]

And neither, probably. Don't see the point in playing dressup, and these aren't really my style. [ The suit is kind of cool, actually, in that old gangster movie kind of way, but again - not his style. ]

[madderbloom]

Well, you can't wear that to a fancy party!

[ She points at his simple and rugged outfit, agahst. ]

Didn't you ever work for rich people? A proper bodyguard would wear something like this. [ Her finger moves to the suit, then to the ruffled shirt. ] ...But I think this one looks more stylish.

[ It's an outfit she might see in one of her romance books. You know, with serious and broody male leads like a certain someone. ]

wardrobe

[doctopoda]

It all seems a bit too nice to punch holes through, doesn't it?

[He's looking through the clothing as well, a bit listlessly. Being a large man already, Otto's accustomed to needing to go to a bit of trouble for clothing that fits him. But the Big and Tall store doesn't exactly account for robot tentacles, you know?]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ By now Leon has gathered that Otto can't exactly take the extra arms off, and gives him a sympathetic look. He is, personally, in that standard deviation of dude-sizes and number of limbs where off the rack suits usually fit him at least decently, but even then sometimes the shoulders and arms are just tight enough on him to be uncomfortable. He can figure Otto's probably got it pretty rough in that department. ]

Maybe we'll find something with the holes already cut out. Some of this stuff seems tailor made for us - which, to be clear? Sort of creeped out by that. It's like the house is trying to give us gifts or something this week. I don't like it.