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

[unfriendliest]

[ his eyes narrow in confusion. flicking between lili and the shattered sword before him. it makes... an odd sort of sense. how would mitsutada get here, anyway? ]

Then what...

[coastal]

I don't know - I think we're supposed to defeat it, somehow.

[her brow furrows as she faces him]

But... you're not alone in this. We're going to figure something out.

[even though they're both gryffindors who ran off without getting much help]

[unfriendliest]

How? He... It... is already broken.

[ is he supposed to melt it down...? ]

[coastal]

I'm not sure—

[though she doesn't really get much time to really consider it? she's about to ask the girl that's on the other side of the field, but it seems like the boggart has other ideas. while the uncertainty and worry grip them both, the broken sword pieces will remain where they are, but other wisps of shadow will take form behind lili into the shape of a rather stern looking man. he speaks with authority, his tone scolding:]

Lili An - traitor of the Water Tribe, how many times must you fail before you learn?

[and just the very sound of his voice manages to make lili's blood freeze in her veins, eyes widening as she panics, voice hushed as she whirls around]

—Father?

[unfriendliest]

[ he turns to see the new apparition when it speaks, eyes narrowing. this mitsutada, if it's even really him, is broken. there's nothing he can do about that now, but he can fight this, if he has to. kara remembers what she told him, weeks ago now, but not so easily forgotten, and so his hand moves back to his sword. ]

This is the one who locked you away?

[ he's angry - about that, and about mitsutada, and if an outlet for that anger willingly showed itself, he will gladly use it. ]

[coastal]

[she catches his hand moving for his sword and - it's automatic. she's on her feet, in front of her father, arms spread so that ookurikara can't get any idea to try to attack him. because even if he can't figure out why he's angry, she knows that she can't tolerate violence against her father]

You can't—

[though the vision of her father doesn't allow her to finish. one hand moves to catch her wrist, grip tight.]

What are you doing, throwing yourself into danger? You're being rash, Lili. There is no use in allowing you to be free any longer if you can't behave.

[and despite everything - the fact that she'd just told ookurikara that this was probably a test - she finds herself faltering in the face of her father threatening to confine her once again]

[unfriendliest]

[ he might have ignored most of the others, but for now, he stays his hand. ]

You said we have to defeat it somehow, right?

[coastal]

R-Right— [she tries to find her focus, because she has to be able to win against this. they have a mission in front of them and she can't fail] I think—

Are you ignoring me? [the phantom image of joon-gi tightens his grip on lili's wrist which makes her wince and starts to pull, as if carting her off somewhere and lili almost forgets to dig in her heels] You're to return to Suiko Palace at once. Your exile sentence is over, and you are to wait until the king collects you as his bride.

Wait! Father!

[and she pulls, trying to snap herself out of it before she gets dragged much further away, but it's hard when she hears it in his voice. when she thinks that this is all he ever expects of her.]

I can't - I have more to do...!!

[unfriendliest]

[ when he starts to pull lili away, kara is on his feet in an instant. he doesn't draw his sword, as much as he'd love to, but he does grip the man's arm to stop him, scowling. ]

Let go.

[coastal]

[the man is stopped when kara places a hand on his arm, and returns his scowl with nothing more than a frown. the leader of the water tribe retains his calm much better than his daughter]

Unhand me. It is a father's responsibility to make sure that his children grow properly. While she may appear lovely, she still needs discipline.

[lili trembles in her father's grip - though she can't place whether it's from anxiety or anger. she looks up, around, searching for escape as she always does - though it's then that she'll see the girl across the field, and she tries to remember her cautioning. laugh? don't let herself be paralyzed?]

There's - We have to focus. [she keeps looking around, even if her voice has taken a rather nervous tint that she's never had in this place] There has to be something.

[unfriendliest]

[ kara doesn't let go, continuing to stare the man down. though he doesn't look away, he addresses lili. ]

If that wasn't always Mitsutada, then this wasn't always your father. They must be fakes.

[coastal]

Fake? I'm only reminding Lili of her place.

[but she shakes her head, just trying to break through the panic and focus.]

The girl said - laugh? Are we - are we meant to laugh in the face of all this?

[EASIER SAID THAN DONE WHEN NO ONE ASKED FOR THE SPELL]

[unfriendliest]

That's her choice, not yours.

[ ugh, what a dick

to lili, he asks: ]

Can you do that?

[coastal]

[it's hard to get her to laugh in the first place - but she looks at her father who continues to give her a disapproving frown and she finds herself torn]

Enough games, Lili. Continuing on like this will only put others in harm's way to try to protect you. Your efforts will amount to nothing.

[it's her greatest fear.

but also lili's first reaction to many things is anger, and she finds herself operating off spite regardless as she scowls]

You—

You... stupid old man! H-Ha! I'll - show you...!

[it's a weak laugh - but it does get the image to be distorted, even if only briefly.]

[unfriendliest]

It's working...?

[ he doesn't know how to help lili here - he's never been very good at joking, or anything like that? but he can hold whatever this is in place, so it can't escape whatever they need to do here.

seems like laughing might be the key after all? but how are they supposed to do that...? ]

[1/2]

[coastal]

[how are they supposed to do that?

joon-gi's face is like marble, unfazed and unbothered even in the face of lili's laughter. almost as if the boggart senses that it's time is limited here with her, it taps into her deepest worries:]

Foolish girl. How could I ever come to love a useless daughter like you?

[and lili's laughter gets stuck in her throat as her eyes widen, hearing the worry she'd kept in her heart spoken out loud.

she'll never be good enough.]

[coastal]

[ . . . and then the laughter finally does bubble out, even if it's not happy, or pleased. rather it's tired, and the shadows starts to wisp as joon-gi starts to disappear, and lili's laughter only comes more harshly.]

Right... right!

[the figure in front of her turns to ash and starts to retreat back into the darkness of the wardrobe, and she just sighs after her laughter is through, feeling far more empty than she ever had in this place.]

Tell me something I don't know.

[unfriendliest]

[ he watches the boggart retreat. what was that? he stares at the wardrobe for a long moment before turning back to her, brow furrowed. ]

Lili...

[ kara doesn't know what to say after that, but there has to be something. mitsutada would know...

...oh. mitsutada. with dread coiling in the pit of his stomach, he turns to see if the broken sword is still there. ]

[coastal]

[unfortunately it is - and lili's gaze will fall on that next. she feels cold, and tired, and more than a little bit upset - but it doesn't show on her face aside from tears pricking at the very edge of her eye. she raises her hand to wipe at them because she doesn't have time to cry right now. it's fine, because it has to be.

she reaches out to tug on ookurikara's sleeve, to get his attention again, if only briefly]

... I'm going to ask that girl if there's anything else we can do to make it simpler. Do you want to come with me? If not, I'm going to be right back.

[as she's realizing more and more that ookurikara is someone that lili doesn't want to leave alone.]

[unfriendliest]

[ his eyes lock onto it, staring in resignation. if laughter is the way to defeat... whatever this is, then kara isn't sure that he can do it. he doesn't laugh often in the best of times; how is he supposed to laugh at one of his only friends dying in front of him?

silently, he shakes his head. he can't really bring himself to look away, so lili will have to go on her own. ]

[coastal]

[ . . . she nods - because she figured as much. he wouldn't be the type to abandon a comrade, even if it's not true.]

Remember it's not really him - I'll be back as soon as I can.

[and she'll rush off to go and get the spell that maybe they should've asked about in the beginning but it's fine]

[unfriendliest]

[ he doesn't move when she leaves, simply staring at the shards and wondering what to do about them. if it's not mitsutada, he doesn't need to take them back, but... he still can't laugh at this, not after he'd found tsuru's very real broken sword.

somehow he almost misses a new trail of smoke, looking up just in time to see it take the form of a young boy with a bright grin, calling his name. ]

Karaaaachan~!

[ he thinks he knows what to expect here, but it doesn't make him feel any better about it. he watches silently as this new apparition approaches him, eyes on the knife in its hand. ]

[coastal]

[oh fuck this

lili gets her answer and immediately whirls around to check back on kara and - he sure isn't alone. don't mind her absolutely sprinting her way back across the field now to try to intercept before he has to watch yet another one of his comrades break in front of him.

so she'll yell, because that's what she's good at]

Ookurikara - repeat after me!

Riddikulus!

[unfriendliest]

[ startled, he glances over his shoulder at lili, and back at sada. fractures have already begun to appear in the blade, but kara shakes his head, and stares sada down, voice quiet when he repeats the word. ]

Riddikulus.

[coastal]

[presumably, magic happens.

the fractures in sada will seem to pause, and the image of him disappears into

google said that the boggart turns into something that the caster finds amusing

what does kara find amusing]