THE LAST WEEK

[bathymetric]

You wake up with Saturday gone, but... not entirely forgotten. In the same way things seem to be breaking down in the facility, things beyond what you know are starting to fail as well. You get flashes of an unfamiliar room, a groggy sense of timelessness... and then you're back to reality in your beds. It's Sunday.

There are no new locations to unlock this week. You actually find yourself down some - Area D has flooded completely, and the groaning on the doors to the other areas indicates that perhaps the flooding won't stop there. Someone, however, seems to have taken all the memorials (except for poor Zelos-David, god rest his soul) and moved them to the Lounge "overnight." There's a handwritten note on top of all of them, which simply reads "Thought you guys would rather have these than not. :)"

While you obviously won't run into Angel anywhere, use of the Ouija or pestering of the new Assistant are still more than permitted! Otherwise get your affairs in order, get ready, and brace for impact, because one way or another? The end is coming.



SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

[ ooc: Welcome to your final week! Make sure to check in and read up on endgame here, and don't forget to turn in any and all remaining threads you can over here! The final pull for regains will be conducted Wednesday night, and then... well, endgame approaches! Arms and legs inside the vehicle, we're near the end of the ride! You've all gotten so close and done so well! ]

Comments

SUNDAY

[bathymetric]

[ Area D is now flooded. ]

[hardnosed]

[ Well!! Don't like that.

Jasper wakes up truly frantic for the first time in almost two months, even though it registers far more quickly this time that there's no use for it. Still, when she bursts through her door to the lounge beyond, she looks excited, her hair somehow even more unkempt than usual. She promptly grunts with annoyance and stops short before walking straight into Rose's memorial portrait. At this point, about thirty seconds are taken up with Jasper opening her mouth to yell about people leaving their garbage everywhere, registering what it is, closing her mouth, glowering at Rose's face with obvious discomfort, stepping backwards, picking up the note, making a face at it, and tossing it back down again. Then, and only then, does she turn back to whoever's already up. ]

You saw it too?

[ Obviously the memorial portraits were brought over for a reason, and she heads over to the doors to Area D to figure out why. It does not take long. She leans against the wall opposite the doors to the restrooms and crosses her arms, musing to herself. ]

So much for his plants. [ Wait. ] The sword—!

lounge

[philoxenia]

[ Ugh, she hates that. She feels even more restless as she leaves her and Zerinda's room, and when she sees everything in the lounge, it's-- a shock. It's not the sort of thing she wants to be reminded of first thing in the morning, but oh well. That's fine.

But Jasper pulls her attention away from Rhea's portrait, staring serenely back at her, and she frowns. ]

That... room, just before waking? ... I did.

Doors to Area D

[bolderfell]

[Therion's still groggy and somewhat out of sorts--he really wanted his Odyssean ear-plugging plan to work and it clearly didn't, it's Sunday again--when he hears Jasper's alarm.]

What? What sword?

[fivestagegod]

[Damn, last night was just a case of [NOBODY LIKED THAT], wasn't it.]

I saw something, anyway. I can't say for sure what it was, but there was definitely something.

lounge

[nothingcanstop]

I...almost thought it was a dream.

[ Hi, Jasper. Friend. Pal. ]

But, it was too real to be that. Or...too unreal.

MONDAY

[bathymetric]

[ Area C is now flooded. The same mysterious person seems to have brought a decent variety of alcohol from the bar into the dining area overnight, though! ]

Ouija

[bolderfell]

[Some of Therion's vending machine spoils this morning are weird--a fake beard, really?--but some are completely delightful. After winding a little bird's key to see what it does and listening to its song, Therion slips the necklace's chain over his own head to wear with his scarf. This one's a keeper. He's still smiling wistfully when he receives a snow globe containing a rustic town built into red cliffs. For a long while, Therion just watches snow fall over Bolderfall's wooden stairs, the slums below and the Ravus Manor above, while the blue bird sings its lamentation over it all.

Then he goes to get breakfast, notices all the liquor, and darts over to the Area C doors.]

...Oh, damn it.

[He quickly heads back to the library so he can try to contact one of their unseen... uh... "allies" through the Ouija board. It's not like he trusts them completely, but supposing they do actually want to help, rising waters seem as good a problem to give them as any.]

Hey. Are either of you there.

[He spends the rest of the day evacuating tools and parts from the workshop to Lif's room. Hey, the guy's not using the space, right?]

Ouija

[bathymetric]

[ It takes a bit, but! It does eventually start moving with the Purpose it has whenever Red Text is here. ]

H-E-L-L-O

vending machine

[fivestagegod]

[...Huh. Well, you're seeming...pensive? Not necessarily in a bad way, just...]

Someplace you recognize, I take it.

area c doors

[philoxenia]

... That's really not good at all, is it?

[ Here's Mira, staring at the doors with her arms crossed. But she looks undeniably worried. ]

[fivestagegod]

[Birkin isn't really a lot of places right now, though that may be due to the everything going on - he's not accustomed to flooding, outside of that one...accident in the Arklay labs, but he is accustomed to the notion of collapse; when so much of one's work is done underground (in labs, in sewers, in subway tunnels to fucking nowhere) it's not an unfamiliar threat if something goes wrong. Or, well, if something goes right; he doubts this is any sort of intentional self-destruct, but it wouldn't exactly surprise him, either.

Anyway.

He can be found in the infirmary for large periods of time, double-checking what's there and trying to sort out what should be done with it; he's definitely wandering around with one of those clipboards and taking inventory, though. What he decides to do depends on what the next few days brings with it, he supposes.

Other than that...well. Oddly enough, he's in the chapel later in the evening; he doesn't usually go in there for any reason – not that he avoids it any, he just has no real use for it – but it seems like an acceptable place to be. It's quiet, it's reasonably secluded, it's...admittedly right next to the fucking death door if this place decides to flood as well but you know what, that's fine, it's not like he'll be here terribly late. It's just somewhere to be with his thoughts, and so that's where he is: just standing against the back wall, arms folded, looking like he's thinking about something but god only knows what.

Before he leaves, he takes a bunch of those candles that are around the place and sets them up on the altar. Seventeen of them. Lights them. Stares at them for a while like he's trying to figure out what he thinks of having done that. ...Decides that in the end, memorials are still a fucking stupid practice that he doesn't understand, and he's not sure that was worth the effort.

(Maybe it was worth the fire hazard, though. Make the Professor deal with it if the place goes up.)

Whether any of that was worth it or not, he seems calm about all of this, though abnormally so; he's usually a lot twitchier when things aren't going well, but for now he's keeping pretty even. It's a forced kind of evenness that doesn't seem all that natural, but it's better than nothing.]

chapel

[nothingcanstop]

[ She doesn't catch a lot of this. Just...mostly him staring at the candles. Maybe lighting one. But, Della's quiet in the doorway, letting him have his moment, before entering, slowly. ]

William?

[philoxenia]

[ When she goes to the dining area to get a bit of breakfast--for once, she's too keyed up to bake or cook--she notices the alcohol... and it seems a little strange? She'll make a note to check on it later, but she's seated here, with some waffles and tea. There are a few pots of it set out, too.

At the Area C doors, she sighs. ]

So much for going to the arcade...

[ ... which is why she ends up in the bowling alley. If anywhere has more games, it's a bowling alley, and bowling alleys usually have-- ]

Aha.

[ DDR. Nice. That's how she spends most of her day, but she does consider playing a round of bowling, herself. Probably by herself. It's not as fun, but... you know.

Later in the evening, she's in the lounge, reading through... a Bible+? Okay, sure. She looks pretty engrossed in it, oddly enough. ]

bowling alley

[nothingcanstop]

[ You know, Della's mostly been in the arcade for her gaming needs? But, that simply can't happen now, so. Bowling alley it is, as she decides to get some energy out there. ]

...Another one's been here, this whole time?

[ SHE DIDN'T KNOW. ]

[mouflon]

[ After discovering the new flooding, Rin can be found throughout the day milling variously around the infirmary, the laboratory, and the whole of Area B. Though it's hard to say exactly what she's doing, there's a nervous energy to the way she seems to be taking inventory that might make it easy to guess that she isn't entirely sure, either.

If she looks up and sees someone, though, especially if they don't seem like they're doing anything particularly, she might ask: ]

Hey, don't you think it would be a good idea to move all of these supplies somewhere else?

[ They have. So many empty rooms in the lounge, now. ]

TUESDAY

[bathymetric]

[ Area F is now flooded. Some supplies from the Laboratory have been moved to the Fitness Room. ]

ANNOUNCEMENT

[bathymetric]

Meeting room. Now.

[ The Professor’s voice is steely when he speaks up on Tuesday morning. No loftiness to it, no smugness. Not even anger, really. Brass tacks.

When you’re all assembled in the room, your new Assistant standing by near the screen, it… was already on this time, actually. But he does wait until everyone is here to speak up. ]

As you have noticed, the integrity of the facility in which you are being held is failing. The cleaners are working to restore it, but… if they cannot, we must alter the experiment. And even if they cannot... I suspect we’ve all had quite enough of things as they stand right now, haven’t we?

If we repair the facility within the next few days, then enjoy a week with no incentive to kill from me. But if not… I will offer you a chance to end this when Friday comes around. Be prepared. I do not intend to make this final test easy for you.

[ And that’s that, and he’s gone. Looks like the end really is coming. ]

[fivestagegod]

[Anyone stopping by the infirmary today will find that it's been rather thoroughly raided, though there's a sign tacked up in the lounge as the day wears on.

ALL RELEVANT INFIRMARY SUPPLIES
(BANDAGES, PAINKILLERS, ANTISEPTICS, ETC}
HAVE BEEN MOVED TO ROOM 20
IF I'M NOT IN THERE AND YOU NEED TREATMENT I CAN BE FOUND IN ROOM 9
DON'T MESS WITH THE SURGICAL EQUIPMENT UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO USE IT
Sure enough, the door to Room 20 is being propped open with one of those landscaping aids such that it can't slide closed; Birkin can be found in there for the majority of the day, getting some sort of backup infirmary set up in the event that something truly stupid happens over the next couple of days. Or, you know, the proper infirmary ends up lost to the fish.

It's not perfect, but it seems suiting enough to have the place people show up for healing be Rose's room. Maybe she would have liked that; he doesn't know.

Another sign can be found in the lounge later in the evening:

WE ALL NEED TO MEET UP ONE LAST TIME
BEFORE EVERYTHING GOES TO SHIT
THURSDAY, 2:00, SAME PLACE AS BEFORE
He's...trying, at least.]

[philoxenia]

[ Well, that's very not good!

Tuesday, after the announcement, Mira spends a lot of time in Area E. Sometimes she's moving things from the supply closet to the lounge. Sometimes she's in the kitchen baking a lot of... bread? Flatbread, and crackers, just in case the dining hall somehow goes dark. (And, you know, there's always muffins in the dining area. She's committed to her brand.)

It looks like she's using her room, actually, to store a lot of stuff; she's not using it, after all. Hello, new food pantry, it's time to stock you with cans! ]

[nothingcanstop]

[ This is just how it's going to be for everyone, isn't it? WELL Della decides to help with the...moving of things. She's taking up residence in the chapel, moving as many symbols and tapestries as she can. She's ferrying them from Area B to Area A, to the art room specifically. It's going to get kind of crowded, but that's alright. The only problem is some of these are a bit big for her. Like, the tapestry of Greek Gods from her world. She struggles with it, as it keeps coming unraveled while she's walking and just spilling out everywhere. Exasperating, this is. ]

Oh, Selene. We're really in it now.

[ The tapestry...it covers her. ]

WEDNESDAY

[bathymetric]

[ Area B is now flooded. Some food from the kitchen has been moved to the dining hall. ]

Kitchen staff!

[bolderfell]

[With so many people gone, the facility is so quiet--quiet enough for the groaning of the failing structure to get in a guy's head. Therion leaves his room early (for him) and spends the late morning in the dining room, whittling a couple things out of the wood he rescued from the workshop. One, he carves with a reference: it's a janitor from the pin-up calendar, standing by a palm tree with mop in hand. The other appears to be a simple, blocky key into which he meticulously carves a looping, rippling pattern like light through clear water. This one takes a while.

The janitor he leaves on the edge of a sink in the Area A men's restroom. The key he ponders for a minute before keeping it after all.

Then he goes over to the dining area's kitchen door and knocks.]

Hey. You still here?

[Later, he's in the fitness area. While the sight of him on the mats sans cloak and scarf might be familiar to some who've caught him at dance practice, he's doing something a little different this afternoon. He's got a sword--vending machine standard issue, of course--and appears to be practicing his technique with that, instead.

He's never been one to train, but with a showdown looming, needs must.]

THURSDAY

[bathymetric]

[ Area E is now flooded. Enjoy your last day, everyone! ]

MEETING

[fivestagegod]

[Well, there goes Area E. RIP, infirmary.

Anyway.

Come 2:00PM there's going to be a lot of loitering happening outside the restrooms we've got left, in Area A; he'll be just kind of standing around out there until everyone has shown up that's going to, leaning up against the wall and playing with that godforsaken leech that is, inexplicably, still here and alive somehow.

He seems a little terse when the meeting itself starts; not particularly worked up – he's still trying very hard to force most of that out – but generally just...not here for a whole lot.]

If you're here to hold hands and sing or make grand statements about how we're all not going to die or something, you're going to be disappointed. We're obviously not going to die, because that isn't an option.

You all heard what the Professor said. So right now, we need answers. Anything that's going to help, anything you can think of that can be done before tomorrow. Or that you think you should be doing. Anything that isn't "lying down and dying" is potentially on the table. Let's talk.