WEEK 5

[bathymetric]

That's three murders now - and this last trial got more than slightly out of hand. It looks like you might be in for another tough week... or at least, maybe that's just the refusal of this place to change too much. You lose Saturday again, but maybe six-day weeks are starting to feel normal by now. Who knows? The cycle of day and night continues apace, changing so little.

Speaking of change, though, there's a new area to look through, the biggest and most complex yet. And the end of one wing of the facility, from the looks of it - though you can probably guess where more areas might start to open up.

And speaking of opening up (segues!), this week if you're out particularly late, you might sometimes see Angel out and about! So hey, maybe change is on the horizon.

Just gotta hope it's a change for the better, don't you?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to Week 5! 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! Or, if you want Angel to come to you, that's now an option! Simply put a prompt after lights-out into your toplevel and indicate you want Angel in the subject line, same as investigations! ]

Comments

[mouflon]

[ Before noon, Rin can once again be found at the vending machine. She's never been a fan of mornings, and never has that been more obvious than it is now, as she feeds coins into the slot while still blinking sleep out of her eyes. For the most part, the rewards that fall out of the machine are the usual fare — barbecue sauce, some sort of weapon, ooh, another diamond — when suddenly, the machine deposits a black and green ball.

Hey, isn't this one of those pokeballs? Rin thinks, recalling the trial two weeks ago. There's even a button on it. Her thumb moves toward it, and before her sleep-addled brain can catch up to what she's doing, she presses down.

For the second time in two weeks, Rin cries out from the vending machine room. At least she just sounds startled, this time?

Later in the day, Rin can be found in the art room. It doesn't look like she's making use of any of the supplies, though. Instead, she's rolling a round, red gem between her fingers, absorbed in some last-minute contemplation. Still, eventually, she does what needs to be done: she throws it in the kiln and doesn't leave until she's sure it's good and cracked from the heat.

Finally, she can be found in the meeting room. She had a lot of time to think while she waited for that crystal to crack, and that's why she's... yelling at the video screen? ]

Hey, Professor, don't you think it's a little late for you to start having second thoughts? Or, how about this — if it made you so sad, why don't you let us go?

vending machine

[emberserker]

Oh, what is it?

[Anna can be heard down the hall, walking towards the machine with a sigh. She stops in the doorway and... stares.]

Ah.

[mouflon]

Why is it so big?

[ Toxtricity is like. As tall as she is. She doesn't like it. ]

[emberserker]

I'll bet it's one of Nira's. Or Piers', it certainly looks like it would know him.

[mouflon]

[ hhhhgh

Well, it doesn't seem angry, or hostile, so Rin can... safely take her eyes off it, she guesses. ]

This is what it came in, so I'm guessing Piers.

[emberserker]

[frown] Which leaves the question of what to do with it. Honestly... Where I come from, monsters are just a story you tell children to keep them from using magic in public.

Vending Machine

[ladygeryon]

[Nira's been taking care of Slade now that Piers is gone, and she looks up in surprise when the Obstagoon's ears perk up and he starts heading towards the vending machine. She actually smiles when she gets there and sees the giant frog-thing.]

Oh, is that your friend, Slade?

[mouflon]

Are they all this tall?!

[ It can look her in the eye! That's threatening! ]

[ladygeryon]

It depends. Most of them get taller when they evolve, of course.

[mouflon]

You mean it gets bigger??

[ why this ]

[ladygeryon]

I mean it was probably smaller before. Piers is...was a Gym leader, so I'd expect his team to be mostly fully-evolved.

Vending Machine

[drladysounds]

[Oh, another scream coming from the vending machine. Another horror must have landed. Shelley doesn't enter, she stays outside for now]

What is it this time? Horrible leech, dead jellyfish, or cackling skull?

[mouflon]

None of the above. [ Rin calls back, sounding none too pleased. ] I'd say it's some sort of basilisk, but that doesn't do it justice.

[drladysounds]

If it looks at you, you'll turn into stone!

[Right? That's what the Harry Potter movies said!]

[mouflon]

Not that literally! [ grumbles ] But it's a giant spiky lizard with a head crest, so what else am I supposed to call it?

[drladysounds]

[That description actually sounds kind of cool! Shelley peeks from the entrance.

Huh]

Wow, cool! Look at that cool fella!

[She has lost any wariness immediately]

meeting room

[fivestagegod]

[...That sure is Rin, yelling at the screens. Good god.]

Making any headway?

[mouflon]

Who knows? I doubt it, though.

[ She's smiling, but she doesn't look happy. ]

You caught the way he sounded after the execution, right?

[fivestagegod]

Yeah, I did. Less aggressively himself than usual for some reason. You think he's second-guessing this whole thing?

[mouflon]

Not exactly. I mean, if he was, wouldn't he have started a lot sooner? But I don't know what else you could possibly take out of it.

Maybe I'd have a better idea if he would actually talk back, instead of being a coward.

[ ...Yes, that last part is addressed over her shoulder, at the video screen. ]

[fivestagegod]

Yeah, they tend to be like that. One of the guys I worked for only addressed us over the PA system; we had to hear from him daily, so this is actually an improvement.

meeting room

[lovelikeyou]

Do you think he was really sad?

[She heard that too, but she just assumed it was fake or something.]

[mouflon]

I think that if he was faking it, he would have started the act sooner. The problem is that there's no way to tell if it's remorse for, you know, all of this, and not just him hitting some button he didn't know he had.

[ Admittedly, she leans toward the latter. But that isn't stopping her from yelling at empty air on the off-chance it's the former! ]

[lovelikeyou]

I've heard high-ranking Gems apologize before.

[It goes without saying that she's also seen them do the same exact thing later, so.]

Maybe he didn't like everything with...vessels.

[mouflon]

[ hmm ]

The first thing that came to mind for me was mommy issues, but your idea is a lot more interesting, actually. He acts like he's just a normal psychology professor, but when you think about it, we don't actually know how much more there might be to his history, do we?