subdivided | week four: mingle

week four: mingle

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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No.

[a quick shake of his head, there, a breath exhaled to try to steady himself. luckily for xion, he's too distracted by this to be annoyed that she's just hiding instead of helping, that she's seeing this figure at all; he'd get up on his own if he could, but instead he's left feeling stuck.]

No, it wasn't what I intended-

[it wasn't part of the plan then, and it isn't what he meant to happen this time either... but apparently if there's any constant in his life, it's the best-laid plans going wrong.]

[ hey so

y'all can have your dramatic traumatizing moment

xion's gonna just slink away for a bit

brb ]

[bye girlie

the boggart is just going to clutch at the ground then, dirt and blood mixing underneath tenka's palm, and there's just a beat where he feels his breathing get more shallow, like it's getting harder to take in air. even still, just like the knife when he first received his wound, he tries to keep his smile in place

he looks up to shirasu and huffs out a ghost of a laugh]

—sorry, Shirasu. I think - our time's finally run out.

[he struggles to keep himself lifted, but as his head bows - shirasu might see none other than one of his own kunai stabbed into tenka's back]

[xion is so valid and i support her choices to just bail on this. shirasu doesn't, glancing worriedly after her-- where does she think she's going-- but before he can complain, there's the sound of tenka's voice again, and that draws his attention.]

Don't be an idiot. You've survived before, haven't you--

[there might be a touch of desperation, there, much as the reasonable part of him says this isn't real at all. it's kind of hard to listen to, in the face of this... especially with his own weapon in tenka's back, making his breath catch.

it takes a moment to speak properly.]

...don't give in that easily again.

I said it'd be - the two of us until the end, right?

[as family.

he gives up on holding himself up, collapsing on the ground and rolling onto his side with the last of his strength, just because that'll make it easier to see shirasu.]

So -

I guess that means this is the end.

[if shirasu won't be with him anymore.]

You have more than just me to worry about-!

[it's not real, it shouldn't be real-- but the more he reminds himself, the more he doubts.

this was real once. the last time he tried so hard to convince himself it couldn't be so, wasn't he wrong?

if he's wrong this time too, what then?

he can't quite keep his distance, though he knows he should; shirasu leans forward to reach out, there. if he can touch him then maybe that will help make it clear if this is false or not.]

[you'll have to pardon the blood and dirt. but when shirasu reaches out, there's the faintest look of warmth in tenka's eyes even as they're unfocused. he'll reach out to try to meet him where he is, and there's another choked laugh]

Yeah - Soramaru and Chuutarou will be waiting for you back at the shrine...

[wait, always waiting.]

Sorry, I won't be -

[their hands are so close, just inches apart. then centimeters. it's both familiar and foreign. the last time he lost shirasu, he was just out of reach - but it's a little funny that only now is he reaching back.

he feels his strength fading]

- able to welcome you back.

-yes, you will.

[because he doubts he's returning to where he was, after this. can he, if they kill him? it still seems like that's a foregone conclusion to shirasu, for all that he's been allowed to live now, for all that he can call it living.

if this turns out to be something real, they're going to have to meet elsewhere. he reaches a little further, lets their fingers interlock as he takes hold-- and breathes out a faint, disbelieving little laugh of his own.]

...I really can't get away from you, can I? Not even here--

[is he just cursed that way?]

[it's only when shirasu grasps tenka's hand that they'll be able to touch - that he'll be able to feel already that tenka feels cold, like all the warmth is draining even from the sun. but there's just a slightly confused, but ever so unfortunately fond look in tenka's eyes even as he tries so hard to see shirasu

even if he's fading]

Did you ever really... want to?

[but his voice is getting softer, weaker. finally, tenka appears as weak and fearful as he's always felt on the inside.]

... hey Shirasu -

[because he knows this is shirasu, in the end, and not fuuma kotarou]

Y'know... even now... we'll always...

[his breath stutters but he has one last word, just one - ]

Love...

[and isn't it fitting

that no other word would be kumou tenka's last]

...I know.

[whether this is real or not-- that statement is. he knows it is. even though they should all know better, after everything-- after him.

this may not be the first time he's seen it happen, but last time wasn't like this; it's painful to watch the life bleed from him, especially with tenka's blood on his own weapon. this wasn't anything he ever wanted, it wasn't meant to come to that--

but it will one day, whether he's there or not. maybe because he's not there to stop it.

he'd never dare do this to any tenka still conscious and able to see, but-

shirasu leans down far enough to press a brief kiss to whatever spot on the back of that hand is cleanest.

he's already said goodbye before. there's no point saying it again. there's also no point returning that last word.

so he'll just like, be here having a fucking Time when xion gets back and she gets to deal with that, small fighty child come help the situation thanks.]

[ eventually, xion does return, now armed with a stick—not the plain one she usually carries, but one far more delicate and reserved for a specialized purpose. she'd been pumping herself up to face the boggart, convinced it was using the form of someone important to shirasu in order to lure him in and harm him further...

instead she finds the both of them on the ground, with shirasu's lips pressed against a very still tenka's hand, and suddenly she feels like she walked in on something private and intimate and she has half a mind to just turn the other way and leave them be.

... but she doesn't. even though she'd willingly gone with him to make sure he could struggle and suffer just a little for what he'd done to her friends, she can't help but feel some sort of sadness. pity, maybe? she's not sure. either way, while her voice remains firm and focused, she's not quite as bitter as she'd been before encountering the creature. ]

... Shirasu... whoever you think that is, it's not really him. We need to get rid of him—of it.

-there's no getting rid of him. I'm fairly sure the universe has made that clear enough.

[his voice is still fairly quiet as he shakes his head, there, finally letting go and straightening up again. shirasu could stab tenka himself and there'd be some way he'd stay around, even if just as a ghost to haunt him.]

[ ... against her better judgment, she walks over to shirasu and extends her free hand to him so that she can at least help him back into the chair.

with xion now here, tenka's form begins to shift—it's subtle, and for the moment, it remains locked into his visage as it tries to discern xion's worst fear while her back is turned to it. ]

[you know, pretty much any other time he'd reject it in favor of just struggling on his own-- but after all of that? yeah. he accepts her hand after a brief pause, though as soon as they've managed and he glances behind her... his brow furrows.]

-Xion-chan.

[that comes with a gesture for her to turn around-- this doesn't seem like a time to have her back to... whatever is going on there.]

[ she does so at shirasu's warning, drawing the wand she's borrowed from hermione. when she turns around, the boggart starts its transformation, the red at the tips of tenka's wild locks slowly taking over the rest of his hair as it starts to spike out.

the knuckles of the hand she holds the wand with whiten. ]

I know it's a lot to ask after all that, but... try to think of something funny. Hermione told me laughter is their weakness. And this should help—riddikulus!

[ she points the wand at the boggart, which is now halfway between a dead tenka and a yellow-eyed axel, her ice magic using it as a sort of conduit.

can anything make shirasu laugh right now? ]

You want me to what--

[...because yeah, that's a very, very tall order right now. it might be on a good day, but after everything and especially this? it's asking a lot.

but-- he'll try.

xion will probably manage to affect it first, though, seeing as he's having a hard time thinking of anything that'd do the trick.]

[ xion might've been a smart cookie by choosing to actually ask the npc what to do, but that doesn't mean she fully knows what she's doing. as such, the spell doesn't do terribly much. the tenkaxel amalgamation now has pink cotton candy for hair? that isn't that funny... ]

I know, but that's what we have to do—RIDDIKULUS!

[ saying it louder and more forcefully should make it stronger, right? ]

...if you say so.

[andie i really think they're just going to create something horrible at this rate, holy shit

because the best shirasu can come up with is thinking of times they've made him laugh before, and given certain things tenka has done in canon? the thing they have created of this boggart is now crossdressing very terribly.

they're trying their best?]

[ she just kind of

stares at it

and stifles the tiniest of laughs

and it winces? ]

—Look, it worked! Keep going! Riddikulus!

[ another burst of xion's magic hits it, and it starts dancing? ]

[okay, this is progress then. so what else comes to mind that used to make him laugh...

ah, that's right.

now it's dancing but even worse, with a distinctly drunken stagger to it, and this time even shirasu breathes out a very quiet half-laugh.

he's not going to burst into laughter at the boggart, like, at any point, but this is what you're getting out of him? at least it seems to make it stagger back a bit more.]

[ it's a good thing xion's here, then, huh? because now that shirasu seems to have gotten the hang of this, she's able to more openly giggle at the creature, who just straight up isn't having a good time anymore. between wobbling and just barely tripping over its already ridiculous-looking self, it shouldn't take much longer...

then, in a slightly unsettling blend of both men's voices, its mismatched eyes look over to them—one yellow, the other glazed over—and says, ]

"GoT iT mEmOrIzEd?"

[ and xion just fuckin loses it, because how is she supposed to keep herself together when this is supposed to be a reflection of her deepest fear and it pulls out that tired line? ]

[i can't believe we really just went from trauma to full shitpost?

neither can shirasu, because this thing is now a mess. it's nowhere near as funny to him, he doesn't really get why she finds that in particular so hilarious-- but at least between him managing a little humor at it and her absolutely losing it, that will probably do the trick.

thank god for xion or this would have just been nothing but the depress express.]

[ shirasu joining in appears to be the final nail in the boggart's coffin, and tenkaxel finally just falls over its dumb as fuck-looking self and vanishes in a puff of smoke. when the haze clears, a small key like the one hermione had initially mentioned is left behind.

give xion a few more seconds to calm herself, lightly wiping a single tear from the corner of her good eye. ]

We... we did it.

...I suppose so.

[it's a little embarrassing that it turned out to be just something like this after all, but-

well. he had his reasons for letting it get to him, honestly. he just shakes his head, exhaling a sigh.]

Take that and let's get back then, shall we?

[because he's pretty sure she will not hand the key to him.]

[ sobering up considerably once she gets those last few chuckles out, she nods and grabs the key before it can fly away and keeps it tucked between her palm and the wand. before she starts walking over toward hermione to turn in their task, though, she utters, ]

... You'll need both hands to push yourself, after all.

[ she's rude now, at least to shirasu, ]

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week four: mingle

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i regret telling you to come harm me

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