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

[specialdog]

[ even with an explanation, she still looks deeply confused and unimpressed...

but after another long moment of judgmental staring... Akane shrugs off her hoodie and hands it over to him... ]

... Just until you warm up.

[compendiem]

[ Minato hesitates for a moment, and then takes the hoodie. Instead of wearing it, because he's not really sure it would fit, he just hugs it close to his chest. ]

...It's really warm. Thank you, Akane.

[ He's going to leech all body warmth from this hoodie and return it cold, sorry. ]

[specialdog]

[ it's a pretty oversized hoodie so it would proooobably fit him, but honestly, she appreciates him not putting it on.






actually, in retrospect ]

... You've showered, right? [ because, like, last time she checked he was just wearing the same clothes and....... ]

[compendiem]

[ He may or may not have picked out 2304985 of the same plain white button up shirt and black slacks to wear for his entire time here. ]

You're going to have to give me a time frame.

[ He's showered... at some point in his life, yes. ]

[specialdog]

Like... Within the last four days?

[ why is her bar so low?! ]

[compendiem]

[ Why is her bar so low......... ]

Does it have to be a shower, or does a bath count too?

[ Does it have to be fresh water or does the ocean count? What about the pond, or the river. ]

[specialdog]

Baths still count!

[ you asking that is not reassuring!!! ]

[compendiem]

[ He needed to make sure. ]

I've taken a bath in the last four days.

[specialdog]

Good job. I'm very proud.

[ obvious sarcasm... ]

[compendiem]

[ With all sincerity: ] Thanks.

Did you need something from the freezer...? I could hold the door open for you.

[specialdog]

Why would I trust you to do that, after this?

[ she sighs... ]

But, for the record, no. I don't need anything from the freezer. What sort of stuff is even in there?

[compendiem]

Because you saved my life? I wouldn't let the door shut on you.

[ Also because he's well aware of how dangerous a freezer is, where he wanted to trust that nobody would be stupid enough to get trapped inside one before. ]

It's a freezer, so it's... frozen stuff. Meat, mostly. No corpses, though.

[ He looked specifically for that.............. It's a creepy mansion with no inhabitants, anybody would be on the lookout for where the previous residents have gone, okay. ]

[specialdog]

[ Whereas for her... She wanted to trust that nobody would be stupid enough to get trapped inside one and has now been proven wrong. So she'll just. Politely(?) brush past that. ]

Were you expecting corpses?

[compendiem]

I mean... I wouldn't be surprised if there were?

[ But he really wouldn't be surprised by much, if anything, either. ]

There's bedrooms and a freezer and everything... if there aren't any people here, at the very least I wanted to find signs of people. A name, or picture [ or corpse ] or something that would give a clue to what this place is. The type of people who used to live here.

[specialdog]

Hmm...

I don't think it means anything. I think it's just here to scare us. [ what a boring explanation, akane... but she looks at him expectantly. ] So? Did you find any clues before almost turning yourself into the corpse?

[compendiem]

[ Is it just here to scare them... He could think of ways to make it scarier, like having the main hall be flooded with blood instead of water. ]

Well... nothing conclusive. The people here are rich. [ obviously, seeing the size of the place ] And they're American. Are rich Americans evil?

[ Does that give any clue as to what the darkness is???? ]

[specialdog]

[ No, that would be too easy. It would be cheap and tacky to just put blood everywhere! Akane... Considers. ]

I think so. They're usually villains on TV, right?

[ The darkness... is capitalism. ]

[compendiem]

[ We solved it. The darkness is capitalism ]

Hm, that's right. How do we defeat evil rich Americans without a mecha?

[specialdog]

Hmm... That depends on how far along we are... If they're an early enemy, we probably defeat them with the power of friendship or something stupid like that.

But when it comes to a final boss - you just have to kill them.

[compendiem]

[ The way things are progressing, it still feels like early season 1 to him; they've only just gotten the first real conflict, after all. ]

I wonder if we've powered up enough to be able to kill them? I think I'm pretty good with my nailbat, but that doesn't work on everything.

[specialdog]

I'm totally unarmed, and I've never had to fight before, myself. If it comes down to fighting, I'll probably get killed.

[compendiem]

[ Hopefully it won't come down to a final boss battle, but Minato can't deny that it'd be so much simpler to just fight the boss, rather than run around playing this "game."

On the other hand, the "game" involves fighting too, if their shared dream about Tsuru was any indication of the dangers here. ]

...If we're together, I can handle anything we'd need to fight. Milla is strong, and so are Ookurikara and Shess. They'd be good people to rely on too, I think.

[specialdog]

None of us can really rely on each other at all. When we're possessed we aren't ourselves, and can't even remember what we've done.

Besides, I don't know any of those people that well... [ not that she knows Minato that well either, but... ]

[compendiem]

[ It's a warning Minato's been told before, and he hasn't found a good answer for it yet. He looks down at the ground for a moment, and then back up at Akane. ]

That's true... There's a lot of us, though, so the chances I've been possessed is pretty low. Dunno if you want to take that chance, but at least... I'll look after you, when I'm myself?

[specialdog]

Hmm... [ she considers. or... pretends to consider. ]

Promise?