MINGLE | WEEK THREE

[lockedmods]

MINGLE LOG | WEEK 3
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Another week gone, and with it, two of your number. Nine of you--or ten, depending on whom you count as yours--are dead. And still, there is no escape.


Pratibha won't turn up on her own this week, but you may be able to reach her if you try. For some reason, she seems particularly scarce every day but Thursday.


Sunday arrives this time with no mysteriously provided gifts, but if you gather together anyway, perhaps you'll find your spirits lifted by a sense of presence?

[cw: hallucinations]
On Monday morning, the house's next attempt to force you all to murder is not necessarily immediately apparent. As the day creeps on, you might catch a flicker of something from the corner of your eye, or hear a murmur when you're sure you're alone. Maybe Anemone was right to worry about losing your minds.

((Mod note: If you don't want to play with this particular motive, let us know! Like Week 1's blot motive, we've provided temporary IC outs in the motive announcement under Monday's header, and you should ALWAYS choose OOCly not to engage with something that isn't right for you, for whatever reason.))

Whatever your mental state, the house's dread ritual continues on. Those solving Tuesday's puzzle will actually find they have a couple days to complete it; once they find all the clues, they're welcome to ask their fellow living housemates for help actually making use of them. Solving the puzzle completely earns you the key to an indoor pool, though the stiff cover over the jacuzzi remains locked tight.

Pool party on Wednesday, anyone? No? It's fine; the day is yours to do with what you will.

Starting Thursday's puzzle requires that all parts of Tuesday's be completed, and once you're done, you can have yourselves a cozy, lovely dinner party. If you're up to it, anyway. If not, you'll also have the key to that jacuzzi, so soak those troubles away with hot water and jets.

Friday is investigation time once again. The investigation post will go live at 3 PM EST, 5/23.

Saturday is the day of your third real ritual. You may find the ritual post here at 12 PM EST, 5/24.

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

code bases by tricklet

Comments

WEDNESDAY

[lockedmods]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Nonstop, all fucking week, Leon's been dealing with the soundscape of his nightmares. It started small - stomping, heavy, deliberate footsteps in the halls, coming and going, too loud to be any of his fellow kidnapping victims. That alone would've set his teeth on edge, but then came the sounds of guttural groaning, the chanting ("corazón, corazón, gloria las plagas"), the distant sirens.

He remains stoic through all that, mostly seeming a little more jumpy and quick to startle than usual. It's not real and he knows it. It's not easy to ignore, but he's done harder things. It's only when he catches a glimpse of a small figure dressed in blue go darting past him in the hallway, sobbing with fear, that he finally breaks down.

"Sherry?!"

In the moment, he doesn't think about how by now she'd be almost as old as Ashley, not the twelve year old she was when he saw her last. Without hesitation, he runs after her, rounding the corner and very nearly running into whoever else happens to be there at the moment. Or actually running into them, if they're particularly unlucky.

Later on, in the greenhouse he resumes his training drills to try to get some of the anxious energy out - very carefully setting his knife aside so as not to panic and stab someone if the house starts to get to him again and shadowboxing bare-handed instead. He's just starting to work up a sweat when a voice comes from behind.

"Getting sloppy without me there to whip you into shape, rookie."

Leon whirls around, catching sight of a reflection that isn't his in the glass - a red beret, a scarred face, a disapproving sneer - but when he blinks it's gone, leaving him staring at his own wild-eyed expression transposed against the dark of the mountainscape on the other side of the window. He breathes out, slowly, and sits down, rubbing his hands over his face.

Hallway

[richesse]

[ Lortel is, in this instance, quite unlucky. He bumps right into her, sending her tumbling back onto her butt, though she seems no worse for wear, really. ]

Ow... Leon? What's going on? "Sherry"? [ extends a hand to him, looking for some help up ]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ The impact jolts Leon back to reality quickly, at least. He blinks, reeling back, before realizing what's going on and hurrying to help Lortel back up. Taking her hand clears away the rest of the sense of dread and urgency, and he blinks as the confusion fades. ]

I - nothing. Just thought I saw someone I recognized. Sorry about that. You okay?

[richesse]

… you’re having hallucinations, aren’t you?

Greenhouse

[windmilled]

After his ghostly encounter in the sitting room, Luis needs to take a break to decompress in someplace with green things.

While spending some time with the journal was enough to neutralize the effects for a few minutes - or at least, enough to distract him - by the time he ends up in the greenhouse he can hear fast-moving combat boots following him.

For the first time since he's been here, the greenhouse feels menacing in the dark. He can hear something moving, and it sets his teeth on edge. Even moreso when he sees the knife set aside. His rational mind says that no one has been able to get in or out of the house for weeks, and the chances of that starting now just to let in a madman with a knife were pretty slim. But the animal brain is harder to convince.

"Leon?" he calls out into the foliage, and sighs with relief when he turns a corner to see Leon sitting down, clearly not in mortal peril.

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Leon jerks to attention at the sound of Luis’s voice, sitting back upright and twisting around to look at him.

“Luis? Something wrong?”

It sure sounds like it, at least. His hand doesn’t move to pick up his knife again just yet, but he thinks about it. The odds of this being a problem that could be solved that way are low - not zero, but low.

[windmilled]

"Not anymore," Luis says. He comes around the corner and sits down next to him, not a full hot tub's distance between them but not right up on him either.

"Just... I think perhaps I'm not getting enough sleep, eh?" He doesn't seem particularly tired, though. Or at least, not tired as in sleepy.

hallway

[doctopoda]

[Seeing someone running headlong towards him, the actuators react before Otto can - a metal arm darts out like a snake. It's only Otto's own last-second flash of alarm that curves it to block Leon's way, rather than holding out a claw to intercept.]

Leon? What's wrong?

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ The flash of snakelike movement before Leon's brain has time to catch up does not help his mental state, and as it curves to block his path he ducks into a baseball slide and half-rolls back to his feet once he's clear, unsheathing his knife in one smooth movement. Thankfully even here and now he is a man of impeccable trigger discipline, and once the initial shock wears off and he sees who he's dealing with he instantly drops his combat stance and puts the knife away. ]

Jesus, Otto, I - you didn't see a little girl run past just now, did you?

[ Priorities! ]

[doctopoda]

[The arms automatically open their claws at the appearance of the knife, but Otto draws them back. Once it's gone, they calm more fully as well.]

No - I'm sorry, I didn't.

[madderbloom]

[ The greenhouse has become a familiar haunt of hers. Today, Anemone lies in the grass staring at the ceiling while Gulliver snoozes by her side. Occasionally, you may hear her talking to herself. ]

Ranmaaa, are you there? I'm so bored. What do you guys do all day? [ Sigh. ] It's the same walls every. Single. Day!

[ She might be going mad, but she doesn't mind it. In fact, she's been in better spirits since the communication with the dead. Her journal lays open by her side like she's hoping words will start appearing in it. ]

[ cw: hallucinations

Nice try, house. Anemone's head has already played host to unwelcome headaches and voices in the past that she's not as bothered as she should be about seeing things that aren't there.

Sometimes though, she can't help but be deceived. ]

You're here! I knew you would come for me!

[ Whoever she thinks she sees, she has been waiting for all this time. Cue an emotional Anemone running into your arms. ]

[mind_chess]

[ What better arms are there to run into than those of esteemed prosecutor Miles Edgeworth? ]





[ that's a joke he has no idea what to do in this scenario ]

[madderbloom]

[ Goode luck Edgeworth, you're getting hugged around the waist by Anemone. ]

What took you so long?

[mind_chess]

[ Standing as still as a statue. ]

I... was evading the badgers...

hallucinations

[doctopoda]

[He catches her automatically, but Otto can pretty clearly see what must be happening here.]

Anemone?

[He tries to gently take her by the shoulder.]

Re: hallucinations

[madderbloom]

[ Have Anemone hugging him at the waist as much as the actuators will allow. ]

I'm so happy to see you!

[doctopoda]

Ah - of course. I'm glad to see you too.

[He can tell that she's seeing something, but he's not sure what the correct course of action is, exactly. She seems so happy. It'd almost be a shame to reject her.]

Investies

[windmilled]

By Wednesday, Luis is starting to get pretty deep circles under his eyes. It had been easy to ignore when it started, the sound of buzzing and skittering like the wingbeats of large insects are distinctive enough that unless he's half-asleep logic is able to win out.

Not so, when he starts to see a dark shadow out of the corner of his eye that makes his back tense. He can feel his pulse in the scar on his back, and this time that primal fear is not as easily assuaged by logic. He puts his back to walls, and jumps at shadows, not catching on easily to the idea that talking about it makes it better.

Until, maybe in the kitchen, or the hallway, or the greenhouse - it's so real that it gets him every time - he sees the flash of a knife behind whoever he's talking to.

"Look out!" he yells, reaching out to grab them and pull them out of the way.

[Investies, but also open:]

In a quiet moment he goes to the sitting room with his guitar and her journal, leaving it open to a blank page on the table next to the chair that he sits in as he quietly plays.

After a while, he takes up his pen and clicks it, idly, before picking up her journal and writing lightly on one of the blank pages - near the back, where it feels less like he's intruding.

Hola, señorita.

Sorry for the intrusion.

Investies

[lockedmods]

[After a while, there's a soft knock on the nearest wall.]

[windmilled]

[Observation: New writing can appear in Eui's journal even when the journal is - to a certain extent - observed.
Observation: Ghosts are real(?), and can interact with physical objects to communicate, but are limited in doing so by how much the house will let them get away with.
Hypothesis: The journal can be used without the broader spectacle, as observed at the meeting.
Experiment: Write in the journal and see if there is a response.

Data: this????]

[Luis has in fact backed a chair up against the wall, and so when there's a soft knock from behind him his head swivels - perhaps guiltily, having been caught using a dead(?) girl's journal for scientific ghost research - toward the sound.]

Hello?

[He also can't discount the possibility that he made up the knock entirely.]

[plangona]

[octavia has been really going through it these last few days. first they learn ghosts being among them and now the non stop voices and hallucinations. it seemed to get worse as the week goes on with this stupid house making her feel crazy.

she tries to ignore it because it's not real, the house is playing tricks on her mind but sometimes it sure does feel like it's real as she is walking through the house, she catches a glimpse of a familiar face from home and one of the following will happen as she ends up being deceived by it as she turns the corner to goes after them:

a. if it happens to be someone she wants to see, she immediately calls out their name (which may vary per encounter) and there may or may not be tears threatening to fall from her eyes ] Hey— wait up. You can't just walk off like that.

b. alternatively, especially if she considers them an enemy, be careful because her hand noticeably goes to grab her weapons or maybe swing her fist forward looking like she is ready to hit someone but it should be easy to stop her at least compared to usual] Why the hell are you here?

c. later once she has come back to her senses though, she looks pretty worn out and tired, the disparaging voices and the words whispered to her grow louder, sometimes blurring together] Stop it— shut the hell up already.

[doctopoda]

[Like most people, Otto's been slightly twitchy all week. But he's got an advantage most don't - whatever's getting into his head has not affected the actuators' cameras. With a second look or two, he can when things are there and when he's imagining things.

That helps most of the time. It helps him shrug off things like the water dripping from his hands, or the smell of the river, or flashes of Sun light in the corners of his eyes.

Sometimes, though, it's nowhere near enough.

It starts with her voice, distant. Otto tries to ignore it. He knows better, doesn't he? But stranger things have happened, both here and before. And he just can't escape the sound. By the time he actually sees her, turning a corner, he's started to think that somehow, maybe - ]

Rosalie...?

[He follows, picking up speed, to the greenhouse.]

Rosie! Wait, I - I'm sorry!

[Where - he starts to move frantically between the rows of plants. It's as if she's just right there, he knows she's there!

After that, he's noticeably withdrawn for the rest of the day. If hallucinations are continuing, it's not obvious - at least, not until he suddenly turns to a mirror hanging on the wall of the sitting room and lashes out with an actuator, smashing it.]

That is enough!

[inlocked]

[ peeks in the door of the sitting room, looking deeply upset for him. ]

… Otto.

[doctopoda]

What -

[He whips around, then stops to squint at her. All four claws look as well, spinning and clicking.]

...Pratibha...?