WEEK 7

[bathymetric]

Another Saturday gone and just like that you wake on Sunday, down five of your number. The largest dent taken out of you at once so far - it's surely noticeable, the head count being cut by a third. Almost enough to make you wonder how many of you will even be left by the next motive or two. Surely this isn't a sustainable rate for body counts to increase... right?

There's a new and, it looks like, final wing of the building to explore, bringing everything full circle. Maybe you'll get some more answers to some of the questions and mysteries of this place there - or at least, you can certainly hope for them. Time to turn your investigative eyes towards one last batch of rooms, who knows what you might find?

Angel remains around at night, her appearances much more common now that... well, she's certainly seen a downtick in necessary surveillance work, hasn't she? The app giving you a line to The Professor remains open, and well... whatever's going on with that ouija in the library continues to happen! You're not suffering from a shortage of leads, at least, even as things get more bizarre.

Something's going to have to give here, eventually. Right?



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to your last player case week! AC is over here, regains as always are over here, and... well, enjoy! After this we get to take our big turn towards the Serious. ]

Comments

Investigation

[bolderfell]

[Points to eyes, points to the Area E and F bathrooms. Let's go. Area E first.

In the afternoon, Therion brings the boombox back to the fitness area, sheds his cloak, scarf, and shoes, and gets to dance practice once again. It's something to pour his energy into, to get all this change and all these emotions out of him. It's something that, as far as he can tell, has kept the darkest of his traveling companions from burning out.

He could do worse than channeling Primrose Azelhart in times like these.

In the evening, after a shower, dinner, and a change of clothes, he heads to... huh. The arcade, actually. He's standing at the Tetris machine, and, like, wow. He sucks at it, huh. He growls to himself as the blocks stack ever closer to the top, but the controls are awkward in his hands, and--]

Damn it.

[Doo de doo doo, dead. Muttering to himself, he scans his key card to try again.

Once it's safely past lights out, he heads to the vending machine room. Some of his pulls are interesting: He knows what a lute is, for one, and he's always here for more Ziploc bags. But as he's packing up his last batch--]

Augh!

[--a statue lights up and starts to rise into the air...]

arcade

[mouflon]

Good try, at least.

[ ...You know, considering the curve he's being graded on. Even Rin can't be too down on a guy who is probably touching an arcade machine for the first time right now. ]

I figured you for more of a DDR type, though.

[ Or, like, anything that requires real physical movement, really. ]

[bolderfell]

DDR?

[FINALLY. Finally, it's going to happen.]

[mouflon]

Dance-Something-Something. [ She didn't try at all. ] A rhythm game. It seems like it might be more your speed, since it's about actually moving around.

[bolderfell]

Oh, like in the back? I saw Mira playing that. I didn't get it, but...

[He rubs his chin, intrigued. There weren't any buttons or joysticks involved in that at all, were there?]

How does it work?

[mouflon]

I've only tried it once, but... Basically, you stand on a pad. There's an arrow on each side, and you step where and when the game tells you to.

[bolderfell]

Seems simple enough.

[Oh boy.]

...Want to try it again?

[mouflon]

[ You know, when Della asked her this a couple of weeks ago, she said no. However, maybe because it's the middle of a Monday instead of the aftermath of a particularly stressful trial... ]

...Alright, but you're not allowed to make fun of me if I'm not very good at it.

[bolderfell]

Then you can't laugh at me. I don't even have electricity in my world, let alone this. [He gestures at the arcade as a whole.] Deal?

[mouflon]

I wasn't planning on it. [ Probably. Maybe. ] So, sure. Deal.

[ Even if there's obviously still some discomfort in the way she stomps over to the DDR machines. ]

Vending Machine

[ladygeryon]

What the-? [Nira totally came over when she heard Therion yelling, but now she's just staring at the statue.]

...I thought items were also stripped of their powers here.

[bolderfell]

[She catches him with a Trust Exercises book in hand, clearly about to chuck it at the statue.]

...

It's not alive?

[ladygeryon]

...I'm not sure. It's not any kind of Pokemon I know, at least. And I'd expect it to be moving around more if it was alive.

[bolderfell]

[Slowly, Therion lowers the book and dares to retrieve the floating statue, giving it a frown of consternation.]

How do I turn it off.

[Look at him, he's learning the terminology y'all moderns use and everything.]

[ladygeryon]

[Squint.] There's...usually a button of some sort? Or I suppose it could be voice activated. [She turns to face it more face-on.] Off!

[Presumably, nothing happens.]

[bolderfell]

[Yeah, probably nothing happens. At least it isn't doing anything else, either. He turns it over and around, searching for a button, and it just keeps on keeping on in its glowing, gravity-defying way.]

Don't think it's a machine. It's made of... clay.

[ladygeryon]

...weird. Some kind of magic, then, I suppose? [Nira reaches out to put a hand on top of it and hold it against the ground, trying to see if it will push against that.]

[bolderfell]

[It stays down without resistance. Man I don't even know, I've never Crossed Animals.]

I guess. But it isn't doing anything.

[ladygeryon]

Maybe it's meant to be a decoration of some sort? Some people put up those moving glowing lawn ornaments around Christmas, this could be some kind of other-world variation of that?

vending machine shenanigary;

[valentinus]

[ He was actually on his way to get some things himself when he heard the familiar sound of a certain someone yelling.

When he saw the statue out and flying, his eyes narrowed. ]

Did it attack you?

[ He'll start to approach, ready to like strike the thing down himself. Yeah this was probably dumb, but Vincent didn't trust any of the weird stuff here. ]

[bolderfell]

It's possessed.

[Which is neither yes nor no, but he doesn't have to take chances. Already, he's put a few feet of space between him and the glowing abomination and armed himself with a water gun, which he's definitely holding wrong. Is there a right way to hold a water gun when you intend to throw it? Probably not.]

[valentinus]

...Possessed?

[ Vincent really shouldn't take Therion's word for it. But there were ghosts around here, so like...well.

He's going in a mad dash to try to swipe it out of the air now with his metal claw. ]

[bolderfell]

[As far as I know, forged dogu statues from Animal Crossing are made just like regular dogu statues from clay, so the poor thing smashes against the floor with that satisfying break-a-pot sound. A victory for Vincent.]

...

[RIP in pieces, weird statue.]

Thanks.

[valentinus]

[ Vincent momentarily looked far too satisfied to have broken a clay thing that had no chance of fighting back. ]

It's no problem. Better to take care of a problem before it could become bigger trouble.

[bolderfell]

What was it. You ever seen anything like it?

[Therion approaches the fragments and carefully nudges them with a toe.]