WEEK 4

[bathymetric]

Another trial, another week, and still you're probably running lower on answers than you'd like. And on people - you lost three since last Sunday. By the end of this week, you'll have been here for nearly a full month, yet still the days crawl on.

You wake up Sunday, again with no memory of Saturday, but this time with a simple message on your devices: You may resume requesting items, if you like. Enjoy. Guess it really was just a stealth motive after all, but at least it's being communicated that it's over! That's something, at least.

And when you leave your rooms on Sunday, there's another new area to explore! This one is... certainly more ambitious in its construction than the last one, to say the least. But hey, you have a pretty neat place to host parties, if you feel so inclined! That's... fun...

Hey, you gotta find the fun in situations like this where you can! Silver linings, right?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 4! Remember to turn in AC here, threads for regain coins here, and if you feel so inclined you can visit Angel's office hours over here! ]

Comments

MEETING

[fivestagegod]

[Anyone showing up to the meeting today will get...something decidedly shorter and blunter than the usual greeting; today has apparently decided to be total shit and he hates everything but he's here and clearly that's what fucking matters, isn't it.]

If you've found anything or you've got something to say, get it out there so we're all on the same damn page.

[bolderfell]

[Speaking of pages, Therion has apparently folded a whole bunch of them--torn out of the back of a Bible +, no less--into origami cranes. A closer look reveals that each has a sentence or two written on the underside of their wings in a different color, so as to stand out between the printed lines of several sea shanties:

'Angel doesn't remember most of her past before Professor.'
'Angel woke in a facility one year ago leaking melted rock.'
'Angel has to follow different rules than us.'
'Professor teaches somewhere in Yurup.'

Well, he tried with that last one. Maybe this one's the kicker, though:

'Angel recognizes Pandora and Hyperion.'

He's folding more Bible cranes, but they're just decoys, and it's a pretty thin excuse not to look at anyone. Out loud, he only asks:]

Where has everyone investigated so far? ...And did anyone find my note in the bath room the other day?

[snackooed]

As you know, I took pretty good care of the bar the other day.

[ Ema is...stress-eating, actually, ravenously scarfing down a bag full of M&M's like it's nobody's business, but that's neither here nor there. She does have the sense to make sure her hands are clean before she reaches into her labcoat pocket and pulls out a zip-lock bag containing a pretty sizable chunk of purple rock, wrapped in crinkled paper. And she'll see that it gets passed around-- ]

Does anyone recognize this? Maybe one of the Gems? I found it in the freezer, covered in ice. Had to chip away at it for a good couple minutes...

[bolderfell]

[...Well, the combination of this rock, the information Therion's brought to the table, and one of his own, er... unpleasant encounters with mad scholars paints him a pretty ghastly picture of an idea. As a great man once said, "Something happened here. You hope it was a miracle, but it probably wasn't."]

...I don't recognize it, no.

[You know, from his expertise as a jewel thief.]

Also, I've investigated most of the bath rooms so far. Not much there.

[Though he adds another annotated paper crane that I forgot to his collection. 'No surveillance in bath rooms by vault door.']

[emberserker]

I haven't seen it either, and I know my gems. It might be an ore exclusive to this world.

Mods?

[ladygeryon]

[Nira takes the rock and taps on it from a few different angles, including trying to lightly scratch it with a nail. She's got some experience with geology, can she tell what family of gem it belongs to at least?]

[bathymetric]

[ Interesting! So it's definitely on the softer side, as rocks go, and it's definitely all the same material - whatever this is, you've got a ridiculously pure sample right here, even if it's mostly unrefined. This is a natural formation of the crystals, there's no signs of any kind of polish or modification.

It's a little tough to place it in an exact family, though, unfortunately. ]

[nothingcanstop]

[ Della narrows her eyes at it, slowly...trying to connect some things. ]

I don't, personally. Maybe we should be careful handling it.

[ Following in Therion's example, Della starts writing something down, on a bit of note paper.

The Atlas was Angel's and she has no idea how it got here
She recognizes Hyperion and Pandora and the symbol found last week
Just theorizing, but she said whatever radioactive thing she was leaking was purple
Conclusion: Someone's planting information about her around the facility

She's...markedly careful about writing this, leaning over it mostly and flashing it to those close by. ]

[bolderfell]

[Ah. Therion stirs restlessly. He didn't want to talk about this--mostly because he hardly understands what happened, exactly, even though he was there--but. Yeah. Maybe it's an important comparison to draw.]

I've seen something like it, once.

[He tugs at his scarf, but doesn't write anything down. Not information he needs to hide from the Professor, then.]

I was helping a scholar track down people who'd gone missing. Turns out some madman was draining them of their blood to make... crystals out of it.

[hardnosed]

[ She shakes her head, regarding the rock with a look of distaste. ]

Whatever it is, it doesn't have a place in our world.

[lovelikeyou]

That doesn't look like a piece of a Gem. [she says like you're just supposed to hear the capital letter] It's probably a natural rock, from the ground somewhere.

[Gems, after all, definitely look modified and polished!]

[fivestagegod]

[He still fucking hates everything, and it sounds like he's getting this out here just to have it out there at all, but...well. It's something.]

I was checking out the arcade earlier. Found that.

[He gestures toward the sign.

CHANNEl 42, 21:49]

I've transcribed what happens, with regards to that, if anyone wants to see it.

[And he has! He'll pass it to whomever wants to see it; it's kind of a lot.

There's also another, smaller set of notes that's decidedly harder to read for the sake of keeping focus off of them.

Professor doesn't know where the things we find are coming from.
He's getting pretty pissed off, yelling at the cleaning staff.
We've been here for a long time, processing us to come here took weeks.]

[bolderfell]

[Therion frowns, and it's as much at the main entry as at Birkin's furtive side notes. He taps the transcript once before passing it on.]

...Looks like our Professor moonlights as a thief. A thief and an employer of thieves, and a special instructor of theft. That something they teach at academy these days?

[baitless]

Given what people have told me about the artwork here, that’s not terribly surprising. I’ll admit I’m surprised they teach that, though...

[...]

...granted, we did offer certifications in it back at the Academy, but that was strictly for combat purposes.

[hardnosed]

This was in the pool.

[ Jasper produces the following scrap of paper, now warped into waves from drying out, and she passes it around. ]

The material looks like it came from the art room. The text... half of it isn't even legible, but it reads like an invitation to me.

[nothingcanstop]

...What kid made an arts-and-crafts project?

[hardnosed]

Who says they were one? When there's no other option, you use whatever tools are available.

[ it's fucking glitter pen, jasper ]

[philoxenia]

[ Once she's got the paper, she'll... write that down in her own notepad. Guess who's going to lose a lot of sleep trying to figure this out!! ]

It sounds like one to me, too... to the bar, it seems.

[hardnosed]

Right. And then they say they have... something and liquid. Probably the same ethanol garbage that's there now.

[pimpplan]

[ When Zelos gets a hold of it, he reads it over a couple times before unfortunately opening his mouth: ]

... I think I've got an idea as to what it says. [ He flips it around and points towards the first line. ] This definitely says "If you want to bone, come to the bar tonight," right?

[bolderfell]

[SIGH.]

"If you don't want to be alone tonight, come to the bar tonight. We'll have snacks and liquor."

Probably.

[philoxenia]

[ you know when your brain just fills things in sometimes

at least she didn't say it

but boy does she turn red ]

[blackmass]

Lord forgive them, for they know not the common sense they lack.

[hardnosed]

What does a bone have to do with anything else in that sentence? Don't be ridiculous.

[valentinus]

[ Omg...Zelos please ]