MINGLE | WEEK FOUR

[lockedmods]

MINGLE LOG | WEEK 4
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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

3/3

[madderbloom]

[ Can you hear it? The sound of an anguished scream echoes off the walls of the house. ]

[inlocked]

[ She does not move.

She cannot hear you.

She has been here for a long time. ]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

Anemone!

[ Leon comes running the instant he hears the scream, leaping up the stairs two steps at a time to find -

Oh. Oh no. Not again. Not already. He crosses the room before he can think about it, placing a hand on Anemone's shoulder and trying to split his attention between her and Pratibha. ]

Oh, god, I'm so sorry.

[madderbloom]

How can this be?! [ Anemone chokes out between sobs, not letting go of Pratibha's hand. Why does the house keep taking and taking? ] Leon, we all saw her! She was here! Just yesterday, she was with us!

[selfreliar]

What's--?!

[Aqua's not nearly as fast as Leon, but he wasn't too far, having helped with the pool puzzle. He clambers up--and registers what's happening in a flash.

He stills, then moves over to the other side of the pedestal.]

Anemone, let me see one of her hands. I'm going to check for a pulse.

[windmilled]

[Luis also comes running at the sound of the scream.]

What is it? What's going on, is someone--

[As he climbs up into the attic, he finally sees what everyone is looking at. He stumbles over the last step, staggers forward, a short, wordless cry cut off in the back of his throat.

Usually, when he feels this hopeless, he's staring down an inferno. But right now, he's never felt more cold.

Someone better catch him or hold him back.]

[plangona]

[ it was way too soon for another death according to how things have been over the last few weeks but from hearing the scream like everyone else, octavia immediately follows the sound only to stare in shock at the scene front of her] What... this doesn't make sense.

What happened?

[madderbloom]

She was like this when I found her.

[ Anemone releases Pratibha's hands to Aqua and pleads. ]

Help her, Aqua. Bring her back.

[selfreliar]

...

[Aqua can't say he hasn't felt the same, in other circumstances. As always, he can only do what he can.

Is there a pulse at all in Pratibha's wrist?]

[inlocked]

[ No.

Aqua, thanks to his medical knowledge, will be able to tell that the state of her body is unusual. A body this long dead should in a much more advanced state of decomposition, but she doesn’t look like she’s been embalmed, either. ]

[richesse]

[ Lortel is next to arrive; even if she’d missed the scream, everyone rushing upstairs would have been hard to miss.

She doesn’t say much; she just goes over to Anemone and pulls the girl into her arms. ]

[windmilled]

[Luis can tell, before Aqua says anything.]

Her neck-- [Often when the pulse goes faint you have to feel for a larger artery.]

Aqua, check her neck, too. [His voice cracks.] Please.

[selfreliar]

[Before Luis speaks, Aqua's expression starts to fall, but stops. Turns into vaguely muddled confusion instead. When he makes his request, Aqua hesitates, then nods.]

Right. Yeah.

[He moves up to check the pulse in her neck. If her state of decomposition doesn't make any sense, what other signs are there that she's been here a long time? Can he tell how long?]

[doctopoda]

[Otto arrives amid a sudden banging and clattering of metal, a sound that's only growing more familiar the longer he's here. The more often he finds himself frantically hurtling around the house, always just a little too late to be of any use.

Today, it takes the size and breadth of the actuators a moment to squeeze and scuttle into the attic. When he does, they automatically draw him back, snapping and whirling as if to threaten...what? The house, the empty air.]

No. No, what - what happened? Who did this?

[inlocked]

[ If he keeps his finger there for long enough—and it will take some time—Aqua may feel the faintest flutter.

The real sign she’s been here for a long time will be more obvious once he gets a good, closer look at her face:

Her skin and hair are dusty. ]

[nothingbadeverhappensto]

[ Leon's gaze darts around the room as more people file in. He's still got Anemone by the shoulder, trying to offer some measure of comfort, though anything he can do at this point seems horribly inadequate. Luis asks Aqua to check her pulse again, and he unconsciously holds his breath - not hopeful, but not wanting to disrupt Aqua's concentration either.

A long moment passes, giving time for the details of the room to start to sink in. The dust everywhere. The pedestal. The state of Pratibha's body. None of it quite adds up. ]

... Anything? [ he asks, voice barely above a whisper. ]

[selfreliar]

[If Aqua's anything, it's patient. When he's rewarded with that infinitesimal flutter of movement in her artery, he looks across her body at everyone else in their grief, horror, and agitation.]

She's alive.

[Just to make things add up less. He retrieves his hand and rubs his fingertips together, shedding dust.]

...But this body's been like this for a long time.

[windmilled]

[She's alive.

Luis drops to his knees, like a puppet with its strings cut, tears welling in his eyes as he crosses himself and then for good measure kisses the ring on his finger.]

Gracias a Dios.

[madderbloom]

[ Pratibha's alive. You've just thrown her a lifeline, Aqua. Anemone hugs Lortel back, sobbing even harder with emotion. ]

[richesse]

Shh, shh. I’m right here, Anemone.

[ Lortel holds her tight, stroking her hair. ]

You heard him. We can still save her. We’ll find a way.

[ She says this for Luis, too, and for Otto. ]

[doctopoda]

[Otto sags, the tentacles easily supporting and lifting him before he can do anything close to falling.]

Oh, thank god.

[madderbloom]

I thought she h-had...Oh Lortel, I'm so glad.

[ Don't scare her like that! Anemone had assumed the worst. Now relief floods her and she sniffs loudly, looking at Pratibha over Lortel's shoulder. ]

Hang on, Pratibha. You better stay with us.