unknownseas | WEEK 5

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! ]

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[Anna's been saving up her coins, so she's at the vending machine first thing in the morning. A few pulls later... well, nothing's prompted her to rage like the green lightsaber did, but now she's going to have to figure out how to get all this back to her room.

Later, though, you can find Anna in the sewing room again! She's finishing up that dress she's been working on, because formalwear and business suits are half her wardrobe already so why not... even if it is going to make her look like she's meeting about the stock market on Christmas Eve.

After lunch, you might see Anna check her pocketwatch, mutter something about "if we're near Peru, that means...", and go off to her room. She'll be inside her room from 1:30 to 2:30, not answering the door. Whatever that's about.

Whatever, off to the mineral hall, where she spends a lot of time looking at gemstones until she goes to hit up the dining hall for supper. Mmm, meatballs and radiating hatred of everyone around you.]

Hey, Anna. You busy?

[I mean, obviously she's busy, but is it the sort of busy where she can multitask or would she rather not split her attention between making her A Miracle On Wall Street dress and glaring at him today, is the question.

That said, he doesn't usually seek her out very much, so this is...a thing.]

[Anna pulls away from the sewing machine and looks up.] What is it? Did you find something?

Yeah. Nothing that's going to help us get out of here, though. I think I found something of yours.

Out of the machine? What is it?

[He's actually got it with him; it's a doll that the machine spat out at him. Not one of the horrible marionettes or anything; this one looks handmade, and...well, decidedly like Anna herself.]

I figured it was yours.

...

[Anna gets up from the sewing machine. She walks over to Birkin and looks it over, frowning.]

We made these when we were children. Why would he go to the trouble of getting that thing?

Because it's weird and intrusive, I'd imagine.

[Just saying.]

So who's the "we" in this situation?

[Anna bristles, and her hands ball into fists at her side for a moment.]

Ernesta. Before she ruined everything. We were raised together, my family took her in after a disaster hit her home and her parents were killed. We did everything together. I even found a crystal in her family's estate before we went back to Germany so that she could become a mage candidate too.

But then she got it into Mother's head that I was weak. That the family shouldn't waste resources on my becoming a mage and that they ought to just adopt her. And when I confronted her, she ran away. I didn't see her again until GRANBELM.

[...yikes.]

...You're probably really tired of explaining this by now, but just do it one more time for me - what's GRANBELM, exactly?

[Anna breathes in and crosses her arms. Okay, this'll bring her back. Familiar territory still, but not the kind that sends her into an Ernesta rant.]

A tournament to decide the Princeps Mage. Because magic is behind a seal where I'm from, with only the barest traces leaking through, the descendants of old mage families gather every generation and enter an illusionary world behind that seal on the full moon. We craft ARMANOX -- think of it like a robot, but made of magic and will, responding to what you envision -- and we fight, eliminating opponents by destroying their ARMANOX and the crystal they're using to channel their magic. Every full moon until only one is left.

[OH COME ON

WHY CAN'T HIS WORLD SOLVE THINGS WITH FUCKING ROBOT FIGHTS]

...So I'm going to guess that you were pretty close to winning this thing?

It's been going on a little over a year by this point, and there are only five remaining. I was getting closer. Ernesta was in my grasp, and then this place happened.

(no subject)

fivestagegod - 2020-05-08 04:14 (UTC) - Expand

emberserker - 2020-05-08 04:20 (UTC) - Expand

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emberserker - 2020-05-09 00:39 (UTC) - Expand

--You can sew?

[ sounds kinda impressed here ]

Of course. [She looks up and takes her foot off the sewing machine pedal.] I've been good at it since I was young. I just haven't had a reason to pursue it lately.

Too much other stuff going on?

My priority for a long time was magic. Training, planning, fighting in GRANBELM. And after that, defeating Ernesta -- sometimes that was the only thing I cared about. Seteth said having neither of those here might well be why I don't feel the same push anymore. Perhaps he was right.