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]

Your father isn't here. You can choose your own suitors, if you want.

[ and since he doesn't know much about courting and kaoru's only confused him a bit, he's not going to reply to the second part ]

[coastal]

[ . . . she'd heard something like that before. it makes her pause before she shakes her head]

... I'm not going to force you to do something you don't want to just for my own satisfaction...

Whatever our relationship is... it's fine. You don't have to return my feelings.

[it's embarrassing to talk about... but she's also not going to stop being upfront with him.

being able to be direct is one of the reasons why she likes him, after all.]

[unfriendliest]

You're not forcing me into anything.

[



hm ]

...What if I do?

[ he isn't sure if he does, because kaoru's gone and made figuring that out more complicated somehow

but since it's lili, he's curious what that would even mean ]

[1/2]

[coastal]

Eh?

[she's





stopped functioning a bit. ]

Eh? [what if she repeats that or what if she tries something else - ] What?

[hm ]

You -

[might have feelings for her???? she's so startled because she's trying to remember what she told him that means and her explanation came up because - ]

[coastal]

Ah!!

[shE SLAPS A HAND OVER HER OWN MOUTH TO PREVENT HIM FROM KISSING HER and proceeds to say more but it's

muffled obviously]

[unfriendliest]

[ confused, he frowns ]

What...?

[coastal]

[thanks she hates it - she tries to speak again but her brain catches up that he can't. hear her like this.

she thinks maybe now it wouldn't be so bad if the ground opened up and swallowed her whole

she drops her hand and looks everywhere but at him]

.... what are you saying to me right now.....

[unfriendliest]

I just want to know - if I did have a crush on you, what then? Does that make me your... suitor?

[ he's not sure where he stands on this anymore? the way lili described it before was... well, not clear, but moreso than the way kaoru did. kaoru was pretty insistent on this though, for some reason? so kara is trying to figure this out as they go. he thinks it might help to know what comes after having a crush. ]

[coastal]

—oh, is that all. Don't surprise me like that...

[she feels... somewhere between relieved and disappointed. she settles at that, because he's just looking for an explanation on relationships in general.]

... if you want to court someone, that makes you a suitor, yes. From what I understand, it's a lot of strategic marriages for power and land.

[GIVES A GENERAL EXPLANATION TO PROTECT HERSELF]

[unfriendliest]

[ oh. hm. he considers that for a moment, then shakes his head. ]

...I don't need power or land.

[ guess he's not a suitor then ]

[coastal]

I don't either, it's so—

[there's a brief yelp as she suddenly winces, clutching her head and then trying to look around]

Kaoru, shut up!

[unfriendliest]

[ ?! ]

Are you okay?

[ he doesn't actually know about the partner effects because he's been avoiding feral as usual so WHAT'S HAPPENING ]

[coastal]

I'm fine, Kaoru's just... meddling.

[SHE SIGHS before looking back at ookurikara. she frowns, because she doesn't want kaoru to be right?? she just thought that's what kara meant... but she'll explain]

Either way... I'm not sabotaging myself.

You were just asking for a regular explanation on courtship and dealing with suitors as far as nobility goes, right? I don't particularly care for any of that and I don't know if it even applies to me anymore, but you probably had to see it happen a few times - so that's why.

[THERE. she glares in kaoru's direction.]

[unfriendliest]

How would you be sabotaging yourself?

[ what does that even mean in this context ]

...Kaoru explained a crush differently than you did. That's why I asked.

[ that probably explains nothing ]

[coastal]

I don't really know.

[kaoru is?? so confusing??? but regardless lili will blink at that, tilting her head]

... what did he say? How is it relevant...?

[she's trying so hard to understand what happened to this conversation]

[unfriendliest]

[ he closes his eyes to try and recall the whole explanation ]

That it's not just someone you want to kiss. That they understand you better than anyone, and you want to spend time with them. That you trust them, and you'll compromise with them on things.

[ unsaid is the fact that lili checks a lot of the boxes kaoru gave him sooooo ]

[coastal]

[????? as long as it's unsaid, she's not going to realize the connection

but she'll at least pause and tilt her head at that]

... well, it's... not as though he's wrong...

I think those kinds of relationships are built on a lot of trust and understanding... if they're done correctly.

[unfriendliest]

[ i hate that they're having this conversation in public, just for the record

because kara opens his eyes to look at her, expression serious as ever as he says, ]

It sounded like he was describing you.

[1/3]

[coastal]

[why are they having this conversation in public - it's probably the fact that they literally are treating this like any other time they've talked ever

but she doesn't like the way that her heart seems to treacherously skip a beat]

[coastal]

[lili, internally, in her mindlink with kaoru: can we get some more ice cream over here i beg of you]

[coastal]

[ . . . a bit shyly - ]

... you already know how I feel about you.

[she'd already told him once.]

It's not like that's changed.

[unfriendliest]

Nothing's changed for me, either. But that is closer to how I feel about you than how you described it before.

[ said very matter-of-factly, because she sort of knows this already? but he didn't know that that could mean it's a crush until today. and he still doesn't have any desire to kiss her, so if that does end up being a requirement of a crush, then he doesn't have one after all! but since kaoru said it isn't...

well, he doesn't know, exactly. ]

[coastal]

Mm, well it's... complicated, you know...

[she's just grumbling now. because yes kaoru's definition was more encompassing than hers... but she also didn't think that she stood a chance.]

... so what - I like you and you're not sure if you like me?

[at least she's point blank about it

but also

SOS]

[unfriendliest]

If I didn't like you, I would have left already.

[ but uh

he's not sure if he has a crush, no ]

[coastal]

Not that kind of like -

[fffsdlkjf goddammit she hates swords]

Pay attention to what I'm saying. [THAT WOULDN'T HAVE HELPED] ... is this why you asked what it'd mean if you did - have a crush on me?

[it's slowly

slowly

clicking]