MINGLE | WEEK FOUR

[lockedmods]

MINGLE LOG | WEEK 4
Locations | Rooming | Full Nav

Another week gone, and with it, two of your number. Only eleven of you remain alive. And still, there is no escape. Or is there?

This week, something has changed. Something is different. Beginning Sunday, Pratibha is gone, and cannot be found or located at all. After Sunday's puzzle is solved, and the attic opened to you, you will see why. But what has happened? How has this happened? And why is the only other object there a strange mirror? Perhaps you should investigate.

On Monday morning, your motive quickly becomes apparent. Will you isolate yourself? Will you risk being around others? The choice, as ever, is yours.

On Tuesday, the week's second puzzle becomes available, and with its solving, the game room. If you wanted another way to unwind from all the stress, pressure, and uncertainty, at least there's this?

Come Wednesday, you may realize that at last you have full run of the house. Every room is available to you now. Nevertheless, you cannot run from the messages, which come thicker and faster than ever.

On Thursday, you may wish to visit the greenhouse. There is nothing there for you--including no mysterious messages, from the dead or otherwise. Should you wish for a reprieve, the greenhouse will grant it to you. That is, at least until curfew. Should you remain out of your room past that time, the messages will return, and they will be utterly inescapable no matter where you go--or if you are alone.

Friday is investigation time once again. The investigation post will go live at 3 PM EST, 5/30.

Saturday is the day of your fourth real ritual. The ritual post will go live at 12 PM EST, 6/1.

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday

code bases by tricklet

Comments

SUNDAY

[lockedmods]

WEEK FOUR - FIRST PUZZLE THREAD: AQUA & ANEMONE

[lockedmods]

[ The two will feel themselves drawn to the pool room. Against the far wall is now a rack; it contains a few fun things, like pool noodles and kick boards.

Notably, there is a series of pool rings. Notable, because they look a little strange: they’re octagonal, and they all look exactly the same in size and color. More notable still, because of one specific detail:

There are octagonal patterns on the tiles by the pool that are just about the same size…

What will you do first? ]

[selfreliar]

[First, can Aqua point out how rude it is to assign the guy who drowned to the pool puzzle?]

These are new.

[He picks two of the rings up. The octagons stand out as something important. Are they different weights or anything?]

1/3

[madderbloom]

[ Anemone is feeling like a genius after cracking that puzzle! She bounds up the stairs and into the attic, heels clacking on the wood. ]

2/3

[madderbloom]

[ A chill runs down her spine when she steps into the dusty old room. Her eyes are immediately drawn to the pedestal where a familiar figure lies, still as death. Oh no. No no no—

She rushes forward, grabbing Pratibha's cold hands with her own. ]

Pratibha? Wake up, come on. Wake up!

[windmilled]

[Luis does not leave the attic on Sunday.]

MONDAY

[lockedmods]

MOTIVE ANNOUNCEMENT

[lockedmods]

[As you all well know, the walls in this house don't just have ears. They have eyes, too. They've seen and heard some of you attempt to contact your lost friends. This week, with an equal number of you dead as alive (if you count this "Eui" figure), they seem more able to reach you.

Only, it's clearly not just your dead speaking to you, if you even believe it's them to start with. The house has things to say, too.

On Monday, at a point when you're around at least one other person, a message will appear to you. It might show up on the walls, the floor, the ceiling, the furniture, your breakfast toast--whatever, as long as it will be witnessed.

The message will be personalized to you. It will either tempt you to be the next murderer with whatever you'd find most alluring: a promise that with the house's power, you could achieve a lifelong goal, undo a regret, or save a loved one, for example. Or it might sow mistrust of the living and dead around you, reminding you that anything can be a trick in this house of lies. The message could be written in a hand that belongs to one of the departed, or it could be completely obvious that it's from no one but the house itself.

Please reply to this comment with the message your character will receive on Monday and react to at least one other person's message! It'll be fun.

The rest of the week, your toplevels will also receive tag-ins from the mod journal with additional messages. Some might actually even be from those on the other side. Some are definitely preying on you. Please fill out a reply to this OOC post so we know how to torment you until dieday. :) You are also free to handwave and/or write your own messages from the house in your TLs.

All messages can be crossed out/covered up/destroyed, even if the damage would otherwise piss off the house. Only the Monday one NEEDS to be witnessed.

Please address any further questions to the OOC post!]

TUESDAY

[lockedmods]

WEEK FOUR - SECOND PUZZLE THREAD: LEON & EDGEWORTH

[lockedmods]

Whether Edgeworth remembers leaving it here or not, the two men will find his custom chessboard in the sitting room. Six pieces have already been set up; notably, they are not the red and blue ones both men have played with before. Five white pieces and one black knight stand on the board like so:



Though they're likely already sick of unsigned messages, one more has been written on the table to one side of the board. It reads, 'The black knight wishes to avenge her queen. Work together to bring all white pieces beneath her blade in five turns. White moves first.'

Each of them must take one side, and can only move that side's piece(s). If they don't get it in five turns, the board will reset and they can try again.

A THING

[lockedmods]

[ Should anyone visit the attic today, they will find that the lone full length mirror has fogged over, despite no apparent cold or damp.

Investigate? ]

WEDNESDAY

[lockedmods]

[windmilled]

[Luis starts his morning as usual with a cup of coffee and some toast. He goes to the attic with a book in one hand and a damp cloth in the other.

He wipes her face clean with the patience of a nurse at a sickbed, and tries not to think of the difference between her cold, corpselike brow and the burning fever that had wracked his grandfather in his final days. As he sits with her afterward, he speaks quietly aloud.]

"Look, your worship," said Sancho; "what we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the sails that turned by the wind make the millstone go."

[The book that he's holding is not Don Quixote.

Eventually, there's a change of the guard, and he goes to the pool for a while, taking a soak in the jacuzzi.]

[selfreliar]

[Aqua's in a mood. Everyone is, surely, between the messages and the disturbing state of Pratibha in the attic, but Aqua in particular has never shown any previous inclination to broadcast his feelings. He's not demonstrative now, either. The vibes are just unmistakably low-key pissed.

It's an emo hoodie and ripped black skinny jeans kind of Wednesday.

He takes that energy to the game room, where he sets up a round of pool that he's apparently fine playing by himself, unless and until someone else wants in. Later on, he quarantines his brooding teenage angst to the ballroom. Here, he's playing some kind of wallball with a rubber band ball he found in the kitchen's junk drawer. Guess he's judged that month-old stab wound of his healed enough for physical activity. He doesn't seem to mind having to chase after the ball when he misses the rebound. It's better than waiting around for more of the house's taunting.

When he's finally worn himself down at the end of the day, returned approximately to his usual inexpressive state, he slides into the jacuzzi to space out.]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ The week is drawing to a close, and with it comes a wave of terrible, anxious energy for Leon. By now his initial injuries have healed enough that he can start to exercise in earnest again with minimal scolding from Aqua (or at least that's what he thinks), so almost as soon as curfew ends he makes his way to the pool, finally putting those previously inexplicable swim trunks to use as he spends the morning swimming laps like a man possessed. It's possible he overdoes it a little in an effort to burn the energy off, and for a while afterwards he can be found sitting in the jacuzzi trying to catch his breath and wind down a little.

Afterwards, he takes a detour to the library, where he spends some time browsing the shelves before selecting something that looks interesting and bringing it up to the attic with him to take a turn watching over Pratibha. He's no storyteller, not like Luis, but he'll read there quietly, sitting with his back against the wall and glancing occasionally at the mirror and the entrance. ]

AND NOW, FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT

[lockedmods]

[Something happens in the dining room. Specifically, on the dining room wall that houses the memorials. Beneath the picture the girls drew of Zoe, a message appears:]

This looks great! Thanks for keeping this up for me!

Also, don't let some dumb building drag you down. I've only known you guys for like a month and I know you're stronger than you think you are. Be good to each other! You can survive this! - Zoe

[Then, a little ways down where there's empty space to work, the same hand writes:]

We're all in this together!

[Then, drawings of three different versions of the same guy appear stroke by stroke, along with a big angry dragon they're apparently fighting.

GET LIAM'D, HOUSE.]

[madderbloom]

[ After visiting the attic and seeing Pratibha's condition unchanged, Anemone settles down in Pratibha's nook with her journal open on her lap and Gulliver dozing by her side. On the once-blank pages, she's scrawled:

1. "The house wasn't always like this."
2. "Pratibha fell first."

... And so on, a line for every key they've found. In the margins are notes of her own. Magic mirror? Curse or spell. Sleeping beauty? She'll solve this mystery even if it makes her head hurt. She's promised Pratibha. ]

investigation!

[doctopoda]

[Otto, too, has been spending a fair amount of time in the attic lately. There's nowhere to sit besides the ground, which he has trouble getting down onto these days, so he rests suspended by his actuators instead, hanging from a rafter like an over-large spider.]

- think we've gotten full run of the house now, for all the good that's doing us. I was never any good at pool.

[Idle updates for Pratibha!]

If you can actually hear us in some kind of separate ghost world, let me know? I won't have to pass on all the news then.

[Also, just, like. Let him know?

Later on, he will go and poke through the game room. First, he'll take a minute to sort through all the games, opening boxes and checking quickly through the materials there. Some board games involve a lot of papers; it wouldn't be a bad place to hide a note or something like that. The work goes fast with this many eyes and arms. Eventually, not feeling any complicated games right now, he takes a deck of cards and heads back to one of his more preferred lairs.

In the library, he's mostly reading, but a claw will wave the deck at anyone who passes through:]

Care for a game?

THURSDAY

[lockedmods]

makeup party / game night

[madderbloom]

[ As the dreaded end of week nears, Anemone gets the idea to hole up with her new roomies in a desperate bid to not lose anyone else. To pass the evening, she's gathered a makeup kit from the wardrobe and cards and board games from the game room along with plenty of snacks from the pantry.

Find her brandishing a makeup brush and offering to doll you up. When it comes to games she takes a backseat, mostly trying to learn how to play. Among the house's game selection, a large number of them appear to incite discord... Don't look at her, she just swiped whatever was available!

Gulliver is around and eager for pets for anyone in need some good cuddle therapy to shake off this week's horrors.

Lortel's invited! Boys can drop in if 1) they agree to be prettied up by Anemone and 2) they must leave by curfew. Anemone's barricading the room with the couch she's going to sleep on so nobody can leave. ]

[doctopoda]

[Eventually, whether he's chased out or leaves on his own to avoid The Makeovers, Otto is decidedly not at the makeup/game party. He'll be in the hallways until the last possible minute, pacing about on his actuators. Obviously, if there's another murder - when there's another, most likely - it's going to happen after nine o'clock. This isn't really accomplishing anything at all.

Still. He can't make himself turn in for the night until absolutely necessary.

Before that, he'll go to the attic to check in on Pratibha one last time. Here, he'll drag some things along on his way out to try and secure the door a little better.]

ANOTHER THING

[lockedmods]

[ Should anyone visit the attic today, they will find that the lone full length mirror has fogged over once again, despite no apparent cold or damp.

Investigate? ]

FRIDAY

[lockedmods]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ Leon spends the rest of Friday in motion, restless and agitated. He paces the house, doing circuits around the now-consistent halls with the pent-up, furious energy of a caged animal. Desperate and single-minded, it'll be hard to get him to stop stalking around long enough to hold a conversation.

It might be a good idea to try. ]

[doctopoda]

[After hearing about Luis, Otto stops by the ballroom briefly. Just long enough to see the body. It's far from the first he's ever seen, but he stands over Luis for a while anyway.]

...I'll keep an eye on her for you.

[He spends the rest of the day in the attic. He noticed what Luis was doing up here, days ago, and so now he too is reading a book:]

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit...

[...he doesn't have Don Quixote in his head, though. He's just reading the actual book.]