week four: mingle

[cyclists]

Week Four
22 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.

"We've been asked to open another gateway for you guys, but...it's funny. It sort of feels like things have calmed down. The corruption's temporarily evened out and the universe is stabilized for now, but that doesn't mean we should stop looking. Take a look and see what you can find on the other side. You might even get to learn something new."

When Sol finishes, they turn to face Lune, allowing for the other to speak for themselves.

"A bit of reprieve of welcome, isn't it? Please take this time to recover, even as you make steps forward to continue your good work. Thank you, thank you."

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 be able to hear each other's thoughts whenever they look at one another! They may not hear every single thought that occurs, but the link will partners to hear thoughts as though their partner is speaking out loud. The more private the thought, the more likely the partner will pick up on it.



Welcome to your week three mingle! As a reminder, this is break week! This means no murders and no trial! Your normal schedule will resume next week. We will still be hosting a laid-back mini-event on Tuesday, however.

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

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library

[autocatalysis]

[ wow, that's quite the dramatic reaction? what brought that on, Miki? ]

What has who been reading, exactly?

[stillstands]

[ don't ask, julius. don't ask... ]

Milla. Milla gave me the book.

[ A pause, and then she looks bolt upright from where her face had been in her hands. ]

Oh god she said she got it from Lune.

[autocatalysis]

A little bit of 'light' reading recommended by our hosts, then?

[ is he going to be able to pick up the book and flip through it miki, because that's what he's going to try to do. ]

[stillstands]

[ She's going to make a sort of mortified squeaking sound if he does. ]

Recommended to Milla, at least. I'm not even sure I want to know why Lune had this, but...

[ It's the ciiirrrcclllleee of booookksss. ]

[autocatalysis]

[ cool, she can squeak, and he can flip his way through it, skimming his way through and expression staying very, very blank.

it probably doesn't take him long to get to around where she was, considering the book we're talking about tbh, at which point he just blinks very slowly, then stares up towards the ceiling. ]

The Lord of Spirits enjoys trashy erotica. What a concept.

[stillstands]

She said something about it being a guide to the human concept of romance and courting. Maybe we need to stage an intervention?

[ Because if someone courted her like that she'd run for the hills. ]

[autocatalysis]

[ miki says that and his eyebrows just raise before he flips randomly further into the book just to see if it ever improves.

the verdict: ]

... she didn't sound serious, did she?

[ do they need to stage an intervention. Milla, your scroll says human literacy. is this really what that means. ]

[stillstands]

She sounded completely serious.

[ She’ll get the salt and purification water. ]

I understand learning about more human things through books, but someone has spread a huge almost of misinformation here.

[autocatalysis]

Still, there should at least be enough examples of a more normal courtship somewhere in all this fiction to realize that this particular example is anything but.

[ ... ]

Lune, you said? Did they recommend this of their own volition, or did someone else give it to them?

[stillstands]

I have no idea. I just know that this copy came from Lune — no idea if it was his idea of a romantic novel originally, or if someone told him it was.

[ She. Hates this? She hates this. ]

[autocatalysis]

...... If it wasn't his, then who here do you think might have suggested it to him.

[ hey Julius there's supposed to be a question mark in there??? ]

[stillstands]

I don’t know if it was his or not. And, honestly? I have no idea what other people enjoy reading... maybe someone here has a unique taste in romantic fiction and wanted to share it around.

Or they thought it’d funny to give him this and tell him it was how human relationships worked.

[autocatalysis]

The latter is honestly a little horrifying, considering he's meant to be one of our guides.

[ ... ]

Should we try to meet with them both? As. An intervention?

[ he is probably one of the worst people to be holding said intervention tbh. ]

[stillstands]

I think he just doesn't know. There are a lot of non-humans here already, so if they're getting information from a trusted source that maybe they shouldn't be trusting so much...

[ She frowns at the book and shrugs. ]

I'll try and get some other books to Lune. Ones that have other portrayals of romance that are maybe a little less escapist fantasy based.

[autocatalysis]

Seems like a sound enough idea. Did you have anything particular in mind already, or?

[ He's still flipping through the book, tbh. Call it trainwreck syndrome, morbid curiosity, whatever. ]

[stillstands]

[ Julius, please love yourself? ]

There's a load of classics, I'm just wondering which one would work the best. Maybe something like Pride and Prejudice? It's got an old-fashioned theme, which might appeal to Lune at least.

[ Miki are you calling Lune... old? ]

[autocatalysis]

[ Can't, never heard of the concept. At this point he's just wondering if there's anything redeeming about the writing.

But he makes a thoughtful noise at Pride and Prejudice- not because he's read it, because he hasn't much bothered with the fiction here- but because of the reasoning for it. ]

They do have that sort of sense about them, don't they. Sol doesn't- they seem more like one of us, but Lune seems... removed?

[ A nice way of saying old, sure. ]

[stillstands]

[ There isn't. ]

I don't want to say mature, but... cryptic, certainly. [ Old. ] Wise? Maybe?

[autocatalysis]

Some approximation of it, at the very least. [ Old. ] It's probably a cultivated air, too?

[ Maybe. People aren't just Like That, right? ]

[stillstands]

Cultivated air... maybe? There's something about him that doesn't quite mesh but not in a bad way. [ She's not really sure how to say it. ]

Can't really call it dignified when he reads books like this and thinks it's a shining example of human romance though.

[autocatalysis]

It's the kind of thing you'd either have to actively try for, I think? [ Dubious... ] That vague sort of crypticism, I mean.

The rest of it is probably just Lune.

[stillstands]

[ Just Lune sounds fair. ]

Or it's a way to get around the limitations on what he can and can't say by being so cryptic.

[autocatalysis]

... That also sounds like something he'd do, even considering only his behavior at trials.

[ like continuing to try to talk through the darkness after it's already gone and gagged him. ]

[stillstands]

It probably is. I don't doubt he wants to help us, but something is definitely limiting his involvement.

[autocatalysis]

Haven't they both established that it's the universe being incredibly unhelpful in regards to its own apparent salvation? Sol, at least, I'm pretty sure keeps complaining about it.