MINGLE | WEEK TWO

[lockedmods]

MINGLE LOG | WEEK 2
Locations | Rooming | Full Nav

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

Comments

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ Well. Leon didn't have to witness the worst of that, but he did hear screaming and find simultaneously more and less of a body today than he'd like. As soon as he gets the evidence squared away in the chest, he goes all but running around the house to check on the others, stopping wherever he happens to run into them. ]

Hey. I'm not gonna ask if you're alright because the answer is probably 'no', but. You need some company?

[iflickerback]

[Yuri had, predictably, retreated on over to the library. She pauses her reading for a moment before trying to hide behind the current novel she's reading.]

...

[Yuri might not be Totally Okay. In fact, she might be Not Okay At All.]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

You know I can still see you if you can't see me. [ says Leon, deadpan, before realizing how Yuri might take that in her eternal need to apologize for everything. ] ...Sorry. Not trying to make fun of you. Just wanted to see how you were doing. If you'd rather be alone right now, I can go, but...

[iflickerback]

...I don't know.

...

Ranma was... nice.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

... Yeah. I liked him.

[ At the lack of immediate rejection, Leon crosses the room and sits down on one of the armchairs across from Yuri, perched on the edge of the seat and resting his elbow on his knee and his chin in his hand. ]

He was a good kid. Wish I could've gotten to know him better.

[iflickerback]

[Yuri goes back to staring at her book. Not actually reading it, but only staring at a single word.]

...I don't know how much longer I can do this anymore...

cw: passing discussion of suicidal thoughts

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

To be honest? I don't either. What's the alternative, though?

[ Snap and kill someone? Give up and kill yourself? Neither of those are options as far as Leon is concerned, and he sure hopes Yuri isn't considering them either. ]

We keep moving. One foot in front of the other, one day at a time. Sometimes that's all there is to do.

[richesse]

… hi, Leon.

[ her perfect smile is back in its proper place, though it’s more hollow than usual. It’s still a good imitation of her usual cheer. ]

Don’t tell me you’re checking on everyone in the house.

[ she’s still holding the Gekkaja. Hasn’t really let it go. ]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Hey, Lortel. [ says Leon, sounding incredibly concerned. ] I am, yeah. Unfortunately this is a kind of situation I'm... used to.

[ Inasmuch as anyone ever gets used to the shit he has to deal with at work. ]

You, uh. You find something interesting there?

[richesse]

[ the tone of his voice actually gets a laugh out of her. the hollow smile persists as she directs it down at the weapon in her arms. ]

It was Ranma’s. We found it near her body.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

I see. Probably a good idea for one of us to hang on to it for now, then.

[ Looks pretty dangerous, but he can't really talk as the guy who's been walking around with a tactical knife in his pocket since day one. He settles down across from Lortel, frowning. ]

So you saw what happened, huh? Was... was that you I heard screaming, earlier?

[richesse]

… mm. Yuri, too.

[ … ]

Ranma was my friend.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Right, I noticed.

[ He looks away, staring off to the side. ]

We're all starting to get pretty close here, huh. You'd think this would stop happening, now that we're not strangers to each other.

[selfreliar]

[Aqua's back in Room 1, in his bunk, the back of his hand across his eyes. He doesn't move right away, but he's not pretending to sleep, either.]

...I won't say no.

[This was Rough, fam.]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Good, 'cause I don't really feel like being alone right now, myself.

[ He could handle it. He's been through worse on his own. But he's worried about everybody in the wake of all this. Aqua's good at at least pretending to keep it together, but Leon's starting to get the sense that they're alike in some ways, when it comes to high pressure situations, for better or worse.

He sits down on the edge of the pull out bed, breathing out slowly. ]

I know we're not really supposed to talk details until tomorrow, but. Pratibha wasn't exaggerating when she warned us this morning, was she? [ They both know she wouldn't, for one thing. But for another, what he and Edgeworth found in the laundry room... ]

[selfreliar]

Definitely not.

I didn't see the other... victims' bodies, but this one was... it was bad. And it was Saotome. [He lowers his arm, wrapping it loosely around himself instead.] We all liked him, didn't we?

[He was a loudmouth, sure, but he was a good guy. He did his best, always.]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Yeah. Would had to have been, for Pratibha to warn us about it. [ He thinks but does not say that they found his hand, because that does not feel like a useful or non-upsetting addition. ]

And... yeah. Can't speak for anyone else, but he was a good kid. Stubborn, but in the right ways. Feels wrong talking about him in the past tense already.

[selfreliar]

It does.

[After a couple beats, Aqua sits up and scoots to the edge of his mattress, so he doesn't have to hunch beneath the top bunk so much. He clasps his hands between his knees and stares at them.]

Sixteen is... too young. He should've had a long, bright future ahead of him.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Everyone’s too young for this kind of shit. Sixteen’s especially bad, though.

[ He thinks about Manuela and Sherry, put through their own living hells before they even would've graduated high school. Or junior high, in Sherry’s case. Leon’s not thrilled about the course his own life has taken, but at least he was old enough to have gone through some training first. ]

[bouchere]

[ Shauna shrugs; she's still numb, honestly. She'll probably write something mean about Ranma in her journal later because dying horribly is pretty fucking rude. But she's doing better than some of the others. ]

Why, so I can be upset when you die, too?

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ That actually gets a laugh out of Leon, huffing and brief as it is. ]

Sure, if you wanna think of it that way. I can also be a bigger jerk about making sure you're something approaching okay, if that'll make things easier.

[bouchere]

[ Shauna manages a tiny smile that doesn't reach her eyes. ]

Awesome, we can be assholes together.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

It's a deal. [ says Leon, resolutely. He hasn't talked to Shauna much if at all yet, but given how she acts at the rituals he did not get the impression she was gonna respond to the sensitive, touchy-feely approach well anyway. At least not from him. ]

So. Guess I'll just be honest - you've seemed like you're taking all of this pretty well from the word go, and given how most people I've known responded to their first time witnessing horrific bullshit, I'm going to assume this wasn't your first.

[ He folds his arms over is chest, looking concerned. ]

Am I right about that?

[bouchere]

[ Shauna looks distinctly uncomfortable at that hint of concern. No one here needs her life story; not when they're all in the middle of some horrific bullshit, too. But she shrugs in as much of an affirmative manner as is possible. ]

My soccer team's plane crashed. Most of us survived the initial crash, but no one came to rescue us. It went about the way you'd imagine.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Got it. [ He nods, solemnly. It explains a lot. ] Just trying to get a sense of how well people are doing under the pressure, and how many of us sort of know what to expect.

[ He deliberately does not point out that sometimes people like to crack on their second or third go-round, and that's a big part of what he's concerned about here. It's fine. He'll just keep an eye on Shauna with this in mind from now on. ]

I know I agreed to be a dick about this, but to drop kayfabe for a second - for what it's worth? I'm sorry that happened. And I'm sorry this is happening.