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

[omegathree]

I'm not dependent on anything besides my own wings. Flying as a bat or a dragon comes naturally.

I don't have to consider balance.

[This broom? Terrible. 0/10.]

[televised]

... I see.

[The more she hears about Val's life, the less she understands? Either way, she's leaning forward in an attempt to get her broom to go at something other than a snail's pace.]

We need to speed up if we want to catch up to that key.

[omegathree]

[That's fair, all things considered.]

Shall we try?

[As soon as the words escape him, the broom violently shudders and zooms off, Val holding on for his life.]

[televised]

[WELL.]

H— Hey! Wait up!

[OFF SHE GOES, NYOOMING AFTER HIM. Except, her broom seems to randomly alternate between going stupidly fast and stupidly slow. Which totally means that her grip on the broom is gonna start to weaken. It's fine? It's totally fine. Val might want to watch out, though. Because she's gonna catch up with him just in time for her grip to slip, thus causing her to go flying off the broom when it abruptly switches back to grandma speed.

Bad.]

[omegathree]

[His own broom stops entirely as he tries to pull it to stop. The broom does obey that, halting in its tracks suddenly. It also means that he's tumbling off of it and crashing into a tree.

This is going fantastically.

He groans from the ground and takes a moment to pull himself up.]

These... are terrible.

[televised]

[Yeah.

Well.

Depending on how unlucky Val is, North is either landing on top of him or a couple of steps away from him, her broom shortly following. Either way, she groans out of sheer frustration.

Succinctly:]

I hate this.

[omegathree]

[ Val is not a lucky man, but he is a sturdy one. Just as soon as he pulls himself up, North knocks him back down.

He'll just stay sprawled out for a moment. ]

I don't disagree.

[televised]

[She

rolls off of him.

And then stares into the void.]

At least we reached the forest.

[omegathree]

That's one step closer.

[ He takes another moment to stare into the unfeeling sky before hauling himself up.

His broom zooms into his hand. Val looks so tired when it returns. ]

Let's find the key and be done with this.

[televised]

[Once she picks herself up, dusting herself off and grabbing her broom again, she gives the scroll another glance to check up on the key's location.]

It's this way.

[Hopping on, a teeny bit less wobbly than before. She shoots him a glance.]

Are you good to go?

[Since. That just happened.]

[omegathree]

[ At this point he'd much rather walk, but there's no way running is going to get them to the key quickly enough.

So he hops on, looking deeply tired. ]

Yes. Lead the way.

[televised]

Got it.

[Well. If he's sure, then off they go! This time, at a more reasonable, less grandma pace.

Eventually, they'll catch a glimpse of... itty bitty wings? Before it disappears into the foliage.]

[omegathree]

[ The more practice, the easier flying like this becomes. He still hates it though. ]

It's really making things difficult.

[ Farther into the forest they go. ]

[televised]

Of course it is. [WEARY.] Why wouldn't it make things unnecessarily difficult for us?

[The deeper they go, though, the darker it gets. The key reappears in the corner of their vision every now and then, but it's getting harder to spot it with the little illumination they have.]

[omegathree]

[ Val is fire, so he'll make a ball] of it above them, so they can see. It keeps up with them, even as quickly as they travel. ]

When has anything here been easy?

[televised]

Can't expect the universe to be anything but a dick, I guess.

[Thanks for nothing, universe!! It just keeps getting darker as they travel, though, so the ball of light is definitely a lifesaver. Still... As a minute passes and the key seemingly disappears into the void, North slows down enough to get a proper look at their surroundings.

Or, you know, try to. It's super hecking dark at this point.]

I don't see the key anymore... Any chance you can make that fire brighter?

[omegathree]

[Figures this universe is about as helpful as his own. But his promise has nothing to do with this one so he refrains from saying much. He already knew the universe wasn't helpful. At this point, it's just rude.]

Certainly.

[The orb of fire flares brighter and grows, dropping a few inches lower, illuminating their position.]

Does the paper say anything new?

[televised]

[She checks the scroll again, but judging from the look on her face... the answer is obvious even before she shakes her head.]

It hasn't changed since we last checked it. [Huffing, she stows the scroll away again before glancing at him.] Can you see anything? I don't exactly have night vision.

[Sure would be nice if they didn't have to navigate through the forest! Or if they had someone they could ask for directions.

Like maybe the creepy as shit, glowing pair of eyes peering at them from somewhere behind North. Even with the additional lighting, it's a little hard to make out the person's shape between the foliage — except for the fact that they are stupidly tall.]

[omegathree]

[Val, as somebody who did the majority of his scaring in the darkness, does have night vision. It takes him a moment to look everything over, but his gaze settles on the figure.]

There's someone.

[He can't make out the person that well, because the forest is dense.]

You there. Make yourself known.

[Of course that's going to work.

The figure is taller than anybody from the village, but maybe there are others around? That's new, now that he thinks about it.]

[televised]

[North is going unnaturally still the moment the words leave Val's mouth, in the way only a machine could. She doesn't blink. Doesn't breath. Doesn't even twitch. The only thing she does, in fact, is hiss out a very quiet—]

—What?

[And then she's turning around, wobbly as shit as she tries to look at whatever Val's gaze has settled on. She's just in time to witness as a centaur steps out into the dim lighting, armed with a bow and arrow.

... But the centaur isn't alone, because shortly after they begin to approach North and Val? Another centaur steps out from their left. And then another. And another. And another. Until they're just kind of, uh. Surrounded by a small gaggle of centaurs.

It's fine? This is fine.]

[omegathree]

[He doesn't notice the way North goes still, because he's preoccupied by all of the centaurs suddenly surrounding them.

This is... probably bad. They're completely outnumbered and surrounded by half-people-half-horse creatures. Not to mention the way they're armed.

Val may have a sword on him, but he needs to be much closer to use it.

Still, they did move forward when he asked. So the most reasonable thing to do, would simply be this:]

Have you seen a key pass by?

[televised]

[Yeah. North turning around so fast, it's a miracle her head didn't pop right off her body.]

Are you crazy?! They're going to—

["Kill us," she means to say. But as she hisses at Val, the centaurs share a glance between themselves before helpfully(?) pointing them eastbound. North stops in the middle of her panicked rant, staring.]

—Wait, what?

[Nani? The fuck.]

[omegathree]

We are fine.

[Huh! Well, at least that worked out? Or at least it seemed to.

He mostly ignores North, because the centaurs aren't currently trying to murder them. He's also trusting that North can also protect herself in some way and in some form. After all, everybody here has access to magic.]

It seems they're giving us directions. Now, we'll leave you to your forest.

[Maybe they have bows and arrows on them at all times.

Either way, they don't need to get into a fight here. Probably.]

[televised]

[North, externally:]

T... Thanks?

[Also North, externally:



There's a bit of a stare-off between her and the centaurs, before she slowly starts to turn her broom in that direction.]

If they're not gonna attack us, then let's just go.

[It looks like they're free to skedaddle without a fight, at least. But is this truly the right direction? A mystery.]

[omegathree]

[Val just turns away from the centaurs, apparently not viewing them as even a little bit of a threat. They didn't start a fight, so they're simply residents of the forest and nothing more.

They gave directions!

Now all they need to do is follow them. (Probably.)]

That went well.