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

[autocatalysis]

So I've noticed.

[ dryly, and as unfazed as ever. and even more so: ]

How long have you been working at it? [ not as a jab at her puzzlesolving skills or lack thereof or anything, but more- ] I think I've heard that these things end up locking themselves after a certain amount of time.

[specialdog]

[ she... shakes the box as if that would help, or like she could guess what's inside by the sound of it. ... She cannot. Something... Small? ]

Really...? I've been at it for like fifteen minutes, already...

[ which can feel like an absurdly long time when you're frustrated. ]

Did you get one? Were you able to open it?

[autocatalysis]

Don't look at me; I don't know how long it takes before these things decide enough is enough.

[ uhhhh anyway i am making this executive decision now, yes, ]

But I managed to retrieve something of some personal value, yes. I think one showed up for everyone.

[specialdog]

... Then you know how to solve it, right? You've done it before?

[ so do it again..... please....... ]

[autocatalysis]

I doubt the puzzle's the same for everyone here. [ is what he says, but then he rolls his eyes and huffs. ] Give it here.

[ could it be... that he is in some ways a pushover... ]

[specialdog]

[ !! Akane hands it over enthusiastically. A savior!!! ]

Thanks! I'm just not good with this kind of stuff.

[autocatalysis]

[ blandly, as he works at the box: ] I'm used to tinkering with small, fiddly things. It's fine, though this isn't exactly what I expected to be doing with that particular skill today.

[specialdog]

Do you have something better to be doing?

[ here. in this old village. where we're stuck. :T ]

[autocatalysis]

I honestly did not expect that it would ever be useful here, really.

[ no, but, ]

[specialdog]

Then it's kind of lucky, right? They gave you an outlet to be useful!

[ uhhh, couldn't that be read as calling him useless otherwise......??? fucking rude..... ]

[autocatalysis]

I'm going to be very generous, and pretend that you didn't just imply me to be useless outside of opening these boxes for people.

[ well, ]

[specialdog]

[ she laughs it off. just a friendly joke!! you know, like friends make. jokes!! laughter!!! ]

It's not that you're useless, it's just this particular skill set. Right?

[autocatalysis]

[ are they friends......... is that what they are..... ]

Not incorrect, unfortunately. And it isn't as if fixing up anything like your portable GHS would matter anyway, since I doubt there's any network to connect to.

[ does the village have like, electronics. an electrical grid. infrastructure??? wireless?? ]

[specialdog]

[ Narrator: The feeling was friendship. But neither of them had ever experienced it. ... Just kidding, They're like... Acquaintances?? Who knows! But she's friendly and that's what matters! ]

You mean my phone? [ GHS? Like... GPS??? She doesn't understand but, context clues. ] Yeah - there's no wi-fi or data or anything out here.

But as long as you have your other skills, you can still be useful with those, right?

[autocatalysis]

[ they talk, and he doesn't walk away, and truly, that's what really matters. incredible. ]

Oh. I'm surprised this is the first instance I've run into of blatantly different terminology for the same thing. You make calls with it, it can be tracked, and has some number of other functions programmed in such as a calendar or alarm, correct?

[ it's so neatly miniaturized and portable... it's a pet project he'd been toying with the concept of every now and then, but currently his level of tech is roughly somewhere back in the realm of large and clunky wired landline phones from ye early 2000s.

(remember how i kept saying in plasma that julius invented the cell phone? yeah. that's not for uh, five years his time.) ]

As for my other skills-- not without something to aim them at, unfortunately. If you remember what the ones listed on my scroll, anyway.

[specialdog]

That's right. All of those, camera, flashlight, music player, web browser...

[ oh my god... Julius... What a useful skillset for anywhere except here!!! As for his profile, she does remember the important parts--swordsmanship and hand to hand, for example. ]

The ones from your scroll seemed like they were combat stuff, right? That's probably way more useful. At the very least, for self defense.