Week 4

[bathymetric]

Good morning, New Rapture. A new day is dawning.

Sunday arrives ahead of schedule again, bringing with it the creeping dread that this is just how this is going to go. Welcome to the murdergame cycle.

At least there's another section of the city available to you! This one even has some things to do without you having to make your own fun. Which also means there's more to find about this place.

There's still over 20 of you alive... maybe that's something to celebrate? It could be worse! But... at least one of you is an attempted killer, apparently. Either way, better keep talking if you want regains!



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to the fourth week of Unknown Seas Round 3! Please make sure to mark any investigation toplevels accordingly, post your ac, and you can reach either Mayor Fontaine or Eleanor for conversations! ]

Comments

library

[sastruga]

[Of course Mafuyu is here. It's the library, it's where she spends most of her day. And, well, it's surprising hearing the slight static of the radio; for a minute, it makes her think she left her own here.

Seeing Mielle with it is a surprise.]

Mielle-san?

[honeyedtea]

[ Mielle jumps a bit – a kid with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar – and hastily shuts the radio off before giving Mafuyu a slightly strained smile. ]

Ah, Mafuyu– I–I probably shouldn't be making so much noise in the library this late... ahah...

[sastruga]

[Mafuyu just shakes her head, smiling sympathetically.]

It's alright. To be honest... I did the same thing here with my radio last week. [She sure as heck isn't about to judge.] So, don't worry about it.

Were you listening for anything in particular?

[honeyedtea]

[ The smile gradually slides off her face, replaced by something a little more pensive. ]

... I'm not really sure. I think... I might have been hoping to hear the broadcasts from last week again.

[ The motive is over and she knows no good can come of seeking out something what was made specifically to torment her, but... ]

[sastruga]

...Mielle-san. If you don't mind me asking... Ah, I'm sorry, the last thing I want to do is reopen wounds again, after what happened.

[The bullshit.]

But... your recording. It was related to what happened at the trial, correct?

[honeyedtea]

[ Ah. She should've expected that someone would eventually ask about that. Not that it keeps her stomach from clenching and going cold to hear Mafuyu be the one to voice that question.

She sets the radio down on the table and carefully keeps her eyes on that instead of risking looking at Mafuyu's face. ]

... It's... complicated. It would be wrong to say it's entirely unrelated, but...

[ She swallows hard. Suddenly, her throat is tight as well. ]

Everything that happened... comes back to the day my sister arrived at our house.

[sastruga]

[She regrets asking, a little, when Mielle avoids looking at her. Hesitates before speaking. It's too late now, of course, and asking Mielle to stop seems like it would make things worse, maybe.

So instead, she sits, facing Mielle. Trying to imagine what Miku or K might do...]

You don't have to tell me, if you'd rather not. But if you're alright with it... I would like to hear it.

[honeyedtea]

[ Mielle's hands return to her lap and she clasps them together like she needs something to hold onto, to anchor herself. If anyone else had asked her this, she would have been able to politely dismiss and redirect them but Mafuyu...

If she tells her the truth, will Mafuyu reject her?

For some reason, the idea of it makes her stomach feel cold and squirmy. ]

... Do you remember what I told you about her? That I... I wished I'd been able to do more to help her feel like she truly was part of our family. You see, I...

[ Mielle swallows hard. ]

The day she arrived at our home... I did something terrible to her.

[sastruga]

[She remembers, of course, and nods as Mielle poses the question. Mafuyu's head tilts ever so slightly at that last part, a gesture somewhere between surprise and confusion, perhaps. Something terrible?]

...What happened?

we gettin into the internalized misogyny and discrimination about sex workers, lads......

[honeyedtea]

[ She fidgets with her fingers for a moment before responding – it's easier to keep an eye on her restless hands than it is to look up and see whatever judgemental expression Mafuyu must surely be making. ]

... The thing is... my sister– that is, Aria's mother, before she married my father... was a commoner. She was, ah... [ Her voice catches. Even now, talking about it makes Mielle's skin prickle with unease. ] She was the sort of woman who would do... uncouth things with men, for money. Because of that, the people around me would speak ill of her. And they would tell me it made her and Aria both dirty, and below us. And that I shouldn't associate with them.

So on the day she arrived to meet us for the first time... when she tried to greet me, I... rejected her. I gave my greetings just as I'd been taught but... I couldn't bring myself to take her hand.