week one: mingle

[cyclists]

Week One
30 in Competition

As the sun rises on Monday morning, all participants will find themselves awakening with a sense of purpose. Regardless of where they slept the night before, they’ll find themselves compelled to return to the main meeting hall first thing in the morning.

Approaching the hall, however, they will find a large, swirling mass grey in color looming near the sakura tree. This swirl cannot be approached just yet, but seems to be locked and waiting for something more.

As the last member of the village enters the hall, they will find Lune and Sol at the head of the room. Though they’re together, it’s Sol who speaks up first this time.

“Last night, Lune and I were finally able to get some answers. Or, at least, something we can do to help. The core’s still experiencing fluctuations and some instability, but we’ve figured out a place some of it might be coming from.”

They stop, excitedly holding up a scroll.

“This core is connected to several worlds out there. It’s the heart of the universe and everything that happens here can be affected by the outside, and can affect the worlds you come from. We found somewhere that seems to have a source of darkness lurking around…if we find it and clear the corruption, we can help stabilize the core a little more and help protect yourselves while you’re here.”

With that, they seem to lose steam just a little, looking back at Lune for a moment before nodding.

“So, uh…we were able to open a gateway for you to this world. Checking it out might help us pinpoint the source and get this done faster, so…leave whenever you’re ready. There’ll be another gate on the other side to bring you back here.”

That seems to be it, though Sol looks back to Lune again. “Anything else?”

"Look after one another," they repeat again. "And do not believe it is possible to be over-cautious."

The moment participants leave the hall, they will find that the gateway has changed from grey to white, the opening widening enough for multiple people to step through. The Signs will soon take their leave, and all will remain peaceful once more.

In addition, as the week goes on, partners will find that a simple touch (even accidental) may incite the bond between them to grow stronger for a moment. They will experience a swap of memories through their connection, taking a moment to see a piece of their partner's past without any control over what exactly is being shared.



Welcome to your week one mingle! Please note that as of this week, murder proposals are open. CYOA sign-ups are also live, and will close at Tuesday, 8 AM PST. They will be running on Tuesday afternoon and evening, so please be mindful of your own availability!

In addition, ensure that all of your week zero private conversations were reported on the page, and your week one private conversations are reported on that page. If you'll be taking anything from locations, please report that as well.

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Comments

[unfriendliest]

[ he stops a few feet away, staring at her. something's wrong, but what can he do about it if that's all he knows? she's not giving him anything to go off of, if there's been another attack, or something else. ]

See what?

[coastal]

[she takes a moment to answer, as if she doesn't trust her voice to stay steady. eventually she'll force out the words - ]

.... just like Friday... but apparently not.

[it doesn't feel right to talk about this to kara of all people - and she'll just move to exit the main hall]

[unfriendliest]

[ his blood runs cold. like friday? does that mean...? his eyes move to the front of the hall, but no ominous scrolls are waiting there. confused, he turns back to lili, but -

ah.

under any other circumstances, he'd let her go. but after tsuru, after mary, ookurikara won't stand by and wait to hear that someone else has died, so he casts once last glance toward sol and lune's thrones before going after her, using his longer stride to catch up. ]

Did you see someone else...?

[ he can't finish the question, but... just because they all saw it the first time, there's no guarantee they will again. if something's happened, ookurikara needs to know, so they can get to work on finding a way to stop it from happening a third time. ]

[coastal]

[please stop rubbing it in that he's taller than her, even if that's also not very hard.

regardless she's just going to keep walking, leaving the main hall area because she generally just refuses to be in public when she's on the verge of cracking. she forces her shoulders to straighten, her fingernails pressing so tightly into her palms that they might draw blood.

she tries to force herself to be alright, because it's shameful to be otherwise.

at his question, she just nods.]

Today. And yesterday.

[and she wouldn't be surprised if it would come tomorrow too]

[unfriendliest]

[ twice...? it looked like everyone was there this morning - everyone who could be, anyway. ]

Who?

[coastal]

It doesn't matter.

[not in the sense that it'd matter to anyone else but her anyway.]

So far... it's only looked like a trick - something to incite panic.

... It's probably just the punishment I get for voting for those wretched 'guides' of ours.

[there couldn't be more venom in her voice if she tried, really]

[unfriendliest]

[ well he was about to say it does matter but then she kept talking and

he's almost impressed? under different circumstances, he might be. ]

You... voted for them?

[ respect ]

[coastal]

[the question steadies her a bit.

because she doesn't want to dwell on who she may or may not have seen - those are too scary, too fearful to consider. she'll be on edge for the rest of the day regardless.

but she can be angry.

it's easy, to dwell in the anger instead.]

... I couldn't vote for her. Not when she didn't choose to be here of her own volition. I understand what happened to your comrade, and I don't forgive her... but I didn't find her more at fault than those who make play at being our allies but still fail to be of any real help.

[at least - that's what lili's impression of the situation is.

her expectation of those in power might be uhhh a little fucking high]

[unfriendliest]

None of us chose this.

[ he doesn't like it any more than the rest of them, least of all for the role he played in implicating mary for what happened. however... ]

You'd rather that... [ what do they keep calling it? ] ...that darkness be left free?

[ kara doesn't like sol or lune much more than she does. but there should be a very clear priority here, and it's preventing more death. lili should know that. ]

[coastal]

.... I never said that I was expecting anything from my choice. I didn't tell anyone else that I was doing it. There wasn't going to be a majority vote in the favor of them anyway.

[she was aware of that. she shakes her head. she didn't do it for any noble reason, and didn't think that there was any way she could've convinced others of her own beliefs.]

But I didn't want to compromise my integrity for them. I'm not going to give up in the face of unjust authority.

[and automatically, a little defensively:]

If you're going to call it stupid, then do it already and leave me alone.

[normally she finds kara's company to be fine - but even now, she thinks she'd do it again]

[unfriendliest]

[ he didn't mean to imply it was stupid, and he's not going to say it now. in all honestly, he wants to agree with her.

and yet. ]

Mary was corrupted.

[ whether it was just or not, that much is fact. ]

[coastal]

[that manages to get her to stop walking.

and then she'll turn to face him.]

... she was. And she's gone.

[which lili hates, because they couldn't figure out another way to purify her. they still know too little, and it frustrates her so deeply.]

I'm being reprimanded for refusing to comply with nightmares, and I can't vote the way I did again this week or else I'll die. No matter my personal feelings, I can't repeat what I did and put my partner at risk.

[there's a tiredness in her voice - but her gaze doesn't imply she plans on yielding just yet. she wonders why they're having this conversation, if he's trying to talk sense into her or something else.]

Am I missing anything, Ookurikara?

[unfriendliest]

[ she's missing the fact that he doesn't want her to die next, but. there's no need to say so. she seems to have no plans for that, anyway. ]

What do you plan to do?

[1/2]

[coastal]

[don't say that out loud she'd be so confused because what does he care

anyway]

I'm considering not sleeping in protest.

[is she serious]

[coastal]

[ . . . sorry give her a second to realize that she sort of just ran out of her home without even fixing herself up for the day? and she's in front of someone who she actually doesn't hate?

so she looks surprised for a second before immEDIATELY TURNING RIGHT BACK AROUND AND TRYING TO GO BACK TO HER HOUSE]

Bother me later!

[unfriendliest]

[ ...now that is stupid and he's about to say so, she's turned to make a beeline for her house.

so, uh. fine. he'll just keep an eye on her to see how this not sleeping thing works out, then. ]