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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Comments

i

[autocatalysis]

I'm pretty sure you can think of more creative ways to kill me than that.

[ there is no way that's safe to drink. ]

Are we taking a leaf out of Minato's book, now?

[specialdog]

[ She laughs, a very genuine laugh. ]

I may as well, right? He won the contest.

[autocatalysis]

I somehow feel as if this might have been the wrong lesson for you to have learned from all that.

[ Don't lower yourself to the level of suckish cooking, just... put in more feeling, maybe...

That's how it works, right? It sounds about right, but what the hell does he know about cooking and how other people do it. ]

[specialdog]

That's everyone else's fault, not mine.

[ There was plenty of feeling! She passionate and lovingly made things that Minato would like! And gave zero thought to anyone else! But, like, there were feelings! ]

[autocatalysis]

I'm not sure it works like that if the point of the contest was for you two to try to better appeal to the rest of us.

[ That... was the point of it, right? Seeing who cooked better. By popular vote? ]

[specialdog]

It was about seeing who was better at cooking. But I can't be blamed if all the judges voted based on feelings and not skill.

[ At least she actually doesn't seem pissed about it? Probably because the winner was Minato. If this had happened with anyone else she'd be furiously offended. ]

[autocatalysis]

Well, I suppose you have that much correct. If it helps, your food was much more edible.

[ Julius didn't vote so whatever!! mainly because i missed the top level when card mentioned it. ]

But that doesn't mean you should start ... what are you doing, anyway?

[specialdog]

[ Hmm, she sways back and forth a bit! She's always pleased to be praised. ♪ ]

... I'm playing potions!

[autocatalysis]

I can recognize that much, at least. My question was more: to what end?

[specialdog]

Just for fun.

I thought it would be neat if it would change colors or explode, but the smoke is pretty interesting, too.

[autocatalysis]

I think that might just be the parts of it stuck to the sides of the cauldron starting to burn rather than anything really magical.

[ He would know, because he is the kind of cook that would probably burn water. ]

[specialdog]

You think so...? That kinda takes the fun out of it, you know?

[ she sighs ]

I wanted to make a real potion, but I don't know what the ingredients this book lists even are.

[autocatalysis]

Let me see it.

[ but he just kind of picks it up rather than waiting for her to say yes or anything like that, whoops. He glances through it, looks thoughtful, and then: ]

... Okay, so I don't really know most of these either. But I might be able to make some educated guesses, at least?

[ welcome to jrpg life, where weird spoils from monsters can absolutely be involved in your next equipment synthesis regardless of how developed or modern your world is. ]

[specialdog]

[ She sidles up next to him so she can look at the book, too! ]

Hmm... Maybe something like this one...?

[ She's like, about to point to the Hiccoughing Solution, because that seemed harmless, but then the mods were fools and gave me permission to make love potions, SO AT THE LAST MOMENT SHE SPOTS THAT AND BRIGHTENS AND BOUNCES ON HER HEELS! ]

--Oh, oh! This one!

[autocatalysis]

... A love potion?

[ what even does that involve. rose petals, pearl dust, peppermint, powdered moonstone, ashwinder eggs... right, that. that shouldn't actually do anything, right? snake oil for peddlers to swindle the desperate with?

probably harmless on ingestion? a better option than some others might have been? ]

Here I thought you already had a boyfriend, though.

[ he says, even as he gets up to look through the cupboards. ]

[specialdog]

It's just for fun. Just to see if we can do it, you know?

[ ... Wait did she mean 'just to see if we can be a couple' referring to her and Minato or did she mean 'just to see if you and I can make this potion'--TOO LATE, MOVING ON, she's also going to try and help get stuff out to be helpful! ]

Rose petals, rose petals! ♪ [ Hey, she recognizes those on sight! Nice. ]

[autocatalysis]

[ that should probably be more concerning, and yet: ]

Oh, so it's one of those kinds of relationships.

[ ... he sounds so unimpressed, are these teenagers okay...

anyway, she's got that covered, so he squints at several different pale powders before finding one with the correct looking sort of pearlish sheen. ]

I'll get the peppermint and eggs, you get the moonstone?

[specialdog]

Hey, hey, what's that supposed to mean?

[ Akane absolutely relies on the plausible deniability clause! She was just talking about the potion, obviously!

Well, she seems to just think he's joking anyway. ]

... And what does moonstone look like?

[autocatalysis]

Pale rock, not shiny, but catches light. Kind of gleams like pearl, but more rainbow, like- opal, or something like that. Probably. It can sometimes come in different colors...

[ Well, him not commenting further on the relationship probably is a good sign it was a joke?

And even if she gets the wrong thing he can't quite reprimand her. While the peppermint is easy enough, there's... At least a few kinds of eggs in here, and while he can guess he's looking for snake eggs of some sort it isn't as if he can tell what's an ashwinder egg versus say, a runespoor egg or something. So he grabs a few he hopes are the right ones and heads back to her little workstation. ]

Fair warning: I'm not one hundred percent on these. Also... Probably a good idea to start fresh and use a clean pot?

[ he's helping. ]

[specialdog]

Hmmm... Okay!

[ She can't fault him, he's already much more on top of this than she was when she looked at the book alone. She comes over with her best guess at moonstones and sets them on the table, then takes her cauldron and just. Moves it to another spot and steals a clean cauldron to replace it with.

She's not going wash something, gross! Think of the effort! ]

We'll just do our best and see what happens.

[autocatalysis]

Hopefully it doesn't kill anyone.

[ indigestion, on the other hand... but his tone's as dry as ever, so.

what are the directions for this outside of crushing up the moonstone until it's powdered, anyway, how much do they need...

also how much do you think cooking skill translates to potions because uh. gestures at these two. ]

[specialdog]

Don't worry. Everyone will blame me, if it does.

[ So you'll be fiiiiine. That's the concern, right?

Akane can follow a recipe if she has one in front of her! She's good measuring, she just wasn't good at figuring out what was what. ]

[autocatalysis]

That's not exactly what I was concerned about, but you shouldering all the blame isn't fair either?

[ julius is probably the person in that office bit going 'i broke it' when he didn't actually.

he can also follow directions decently enough, so... Something something, throw a pinch of this in, a dash of that, stir evenly counterclockwise for 8 spins- oh, hm, it's looking like of shimmery. ]

What does that book say it's supposed to look like at this point?

[specialdog]

[ She just shrugs. She feels persecuted! But also feels like that's just the natural state of things!

Akane looks at the book, then back to the potion. ]

Umm... Just like that, I think? Kind of shiny... This is way better than just smoke!

[autocatalysis]

Wait, you're saying we actually got this right on the first try?

[ oh no what has he done

well ]

... What's the next step?