WEEK 1

[whimsicalism]

Well! That was some tea party, huh? You've finally seen the faces (or perhaps the singular is more proper here?) of your captors. A pair of creepy twins seem to fit the overall theme of the Castle at least. Why not have Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum, after all?

Regardless, it doesn't seem that they're changing their minds any time soon. The first floor of the Castle is still open up to you. The Audience Hall is still locked most of the time so perhaps you can meet the Alices there if you need to. There are plenty of things to occupy your time before the inevitable slow erosion of your memories. If this is a game, who will make the first move? You or the twins?

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

((OOC: Welcome to peace week! There will be no case this week so just have fun and explore. If you want to investigate please put Investigation in your top level. Don't forget to put threads in for regains or go to the Audience Hall to meet the Alices.

Also, if you want to keep up to date on things we now have a discord server!))

Comments

TUESDAY

[whimsicalism]

investigation

[strictura]

[ Early Tuesday morning before the designated breakfast time, Nagisa will be up and investigating the dining hall. He's curious to see exactly when and how the food shows up there -- "magically," he assumes, but some details would be nice -- and he wants to start paying attention to what food they serve, and what the rolling ratio of junk food to healthy food is. Nobody's going to be living off of nothing but sweets and soda on his watch!!!

Is there anything immediately notable upon an initial glance around the empty room? ]

Re: investigation

[whimsicalism]

[There is a vending machine with some tape bits stuck on it but since Nigel took the only thing still stuck under those, this isn't a new piece of information for Nagisa since presumably he went into the dining hall at some point after that.

But other than that? There are some general snacks scattered on the table for some mid-meal snacking for the guests before breakfast is served but everything is normal for now. Do you wait for breakfast to be served?]

early evening

[ballooncaged]

Okay, that's it, I have had it with you!

[Mizuki is tucking Nigel's head under her arm like a football and stomping over to the main table.]

Not wearing a skirt is one thing, that's your decision! But I'm not letting you give yourself osteoporosis and scurvy! If it's together as co-investigators, WE are having some REAL food.

[Reaching the table and sitting down (releasing the boy), she's picking out some grilled fish.]

See, like Shingetsu-kun! Hi, Shingetsu-kun.

[ballooncaged]

foyer -> dining hall -> portrait gallery -> bedroom (#9)

[So you know those nice big benches in the foyer? Mizuki is taking two of them, one in each hand, huffing and puffing through to her accommodations. By the time she's in the portrait gallery, she has to switch to walking backwards with an underhand grip, which bothers her, but continue she does. The goal, evidently, is an improvised bench press; past the bed, in the sitting area, she lies on the foyer in front of the TV, while she lifts the other bench forming a cross. The couch has been repositioned to partially block the window, showing a carousel with obstructed horses underneath a ferris wheel. If she catches someone staring without announcing themselves:]

What? Want a turn?

library

[Because the thing is, Mizuki has resigned herself to the possibility of being stuck here for a long time. And that means keeping strong in body and mind. So here she is with a great big copy of Native Son. Lack of nonfiction is driving her crazy!!]

Does the Queen just do everything with magic and never have to learn anything? Ugh, that's going to get so boring...

[xxxx_me]

[He saw her around the time when she reached the bedroom hallway, hurriedly moving aside in case she needed to get past room 18 (she did not).]

...What's that for?

Portrait Gallery

[rhododendronhoney]

Um...do you need help? Or just a spotter?

[Dang, she's strong. Cori's got some muscles from carrying around baking trays all the time, but even she can't haul two benches at once.]

library 1/2

[byzer0]

[ Did you know the library is a good place to find catboys? Of course you did, because cats like to lay on every suitable surface that you might otherwise use for a hobby or to sit yourself. Catboys as it were are reading, or at least Natsuo is, settled on one of the couches flipping through a Zoobook with a shark on the cover. The commentary gets him to pause in his perusal. ]

You have to learn plenty with magic unless you want to suck at it.

portrait gallery

[caligulass]

[Veronica stares in... well, she's impressed on some level, but it's also entirely buckwild. She's seen some wild shit in her time, but...

...]

No. I think my arms would snap.

portrait gallery

[soverainty]

Ah, you're strong! That's the first time I've seen anyone move two benches at once like that! Are you training for some kind of sports tournament??

[... She probably shouldn't be chattering like this at someone in the middle of exercise, but Niko was out here double-checking the portrait gallery (possibly in light of all the newly-labeled bedrooms) and then someone came along with two literal handfuls of benching -- so it's not like she can help reacting on the spur of the moment.

It takes her a moment or two -- or three -- to stop sparkling and remember herself, and then she just looks very sheepish indeed.]

But, if you actually need any help... I could try...

[She's tiny and kinda noodle, though. #anattemptwasmade]

library;

[golden_king]

[ Hopefully Mizuki wasn't expecting to be in here alone because suddenly someone has joined her. ]

Sometimes people like boring things. Though it's really hard to understand trying to live your life like that.

It really is such a waste, isn't it?

[rhododendronhoney]

[Today, Cori can be found in the library most of the time. She's got a bunch of paper and glitter pens out, and is writing a list of things down. If you peek over her shoulder, it seems to be mostly personal notes, with some recipes sprinkled in.

Still, she has a duty, and she does eventually end up back at the dining hall, once more cannibalizing the snacks they have to make her own designs. This time, she's got several cookies, and is ripping up fruit leather to arrange on them in various patterns, along with frosting. She'll hold out an undecorated cookie to anyone who comes by.]

Hey, want to try making something yourself?

[seventhlittlemonster]

Well... How can I say no? I can just stick whatever I wish on them?

[He loved decorating cupcakes and cookies with Momma... maybe this will give him a similar sort of joy!]

INVEST: Empty Rooms

[soverainty]

1.0 | Law & Order: Some Vacancies Unexplored (Bedrooms)

[Well, she hasn't heard too much of the exact details of the ruckus that's been going on with all the time changes (Daylight Savings Sucks, but luckily she's from Japan) and all of the laundromagic, but Niko sure has noticed that some of the rooms have been filled in — at least namewise.

She's also taken to carrying around the little purse of Stuff that she unearthed in the media room; Rule #1 of mystery games, after all, dictates that you should Apply Items To Every Surface (and possibly every NPC, but it's probably better not to bother the Alices too much with this just yet).

So she's going to be wandering curiously around the hallway and peering into the newly-opened rooms, and checking out the ones with names that haven't been opened yet. With the items that she has (the broken earring, the horse hair, the lion's tooth and the colored pencil), what doors will open for her...?]

2.0 | Windows into the Soul (or Just Some Window Pain) (Bedrooms Redux)

[Once she's gotten her fill of snooping around the unoccupied bedrooms, she's going to peek around for anybody that might be coming out of or returning to their rooms, or maybe even just passing by. Today she's dressed up in this particular outfit which really seems chromatically a lot more appropriate, even if it isn't as thematic for their neighborhood disaster castle.

Anyone she spots will get Niko sidling up to them, a little hesitantly but still purposefully -- hands clasped together in front of her in a gesture of appeal, head slightly bowed, and when she's done lowering her head to ask you'll be able to see the sparkly eyes she's adding to the picture.]

Sorry to ask this, but... I wanted to see more of how this castle works. Not just on the outside, but on the inside, too! So please! Let me see what's outside your window?

3.0 | Ring Around the Rosey (We All Fall Down) (Garden)

[Later on she can be found outside in the garden, ensconced and almost invisible amidst the roses except for her industrious fingers -- she's making little bundles of flowers, though it's mostly daisies and other types since she doesn't have anything to take care of the rose thorns. Maybe she's just sitting there for the aesthetic or the camouflage??

If anybody comes over or wanders around the garden keeping her company her head will pop up from being focused on her task eventually and she'll give them a beaming smile.]

Did you want me to make you a bracelet or a necklace or something? I was going to get something to decorate the rooms, because the castle looks so gloomy from the outside...

[And kind of from the inside too, considering all the murder that's already decorating the place.]

TIME TO STEAL MORE STUFF FROM MISSING KIDS

[whimsicalism]

[First, the earring doesn't unlock anything new. It seems that whoever it once belonged to has had their room opened already.

As for the others: The lion tooth opens room seven, Simba the Prince. The broken pencil opens room twelve, Anna the Artist. Finally, the horse hair string opens up room thirty one, Esther the Harpist.]

rooms ii: window boogaloo

[imozon]

[I mean, she still looks like she fits in pretty well.]

Outside my window? All right. It's a little weird, though.

garden

[undershadow]

I'm good. [ wait, she's already embarrassed her, she should really just: ] Cute idea, though.

[ Oh no, did that sound sarcastic... ]

Investigation

[seventhlittlemonster]

[Having woken up later than everyone else once again after staying up late from the negative stimuli, he decides he should investigate the Media Room. He's big, he's strong, but he still wonders if he'd be able to move this huge video cabinet without incident. Maybe he'll find something in the nooks and crannies of this mysterious castle. Maybe he'll find nothing. We'll just have to see.]

Re: Investigation

[whimsicalism]

[He can move it alright! There's not much here just a lot of dust and wires for the TV and VCR. It's quite impressive that you can pick it up, though.]

Investigation

[littlebratziska]

[Franziska really doesn't know what to do with herself here.

For one thing she has no tasks, an she has not had so much empty time for possibly her entire life, certainly all of it that she can remember. There's always something that must be done, something that must be learned, something to be investigated, exercises and errands, and now that she's quite devoid of any such purpose she feels like she no longer knows who she is.

She'd explored most of the castle, on a surface level at least, after she'd woken up, and it was all useless. She'd spent Monday mostly locked in her room, after having taken a copy of the rules, and a copy of the card, and note, and the profiles in the portrait gallery, and everything else that had been written down that she'd found and gone over them with a fine toothed comb as well as she could, trying to find details - in the phrasing, in the paper, in the designs and typeface, anything that might provide some kind of clue.

After having eaten nothing but an apple taken from the dining hall all day, she had to come out on Tuesday, if only to get some breakfast.

In the Dining Hall she put together a light breakfast, a little bowl of oatmeal and some orange juice, feeling sick with lack of purpose and of worry - about the idea that maybe the people here really were from many worlds, about what that would mean if they were, and the possibilities of escape, about the ever-present threat of violence that the rules had left to loom. How is she meant to be perfect in circumstances like these?

She looks too formal for breakfast, as always, with a white ascot neatly tied at her throat, adorned with a large blue gem, black gloves, and a puffy black dress with matching blue buttons. Her feet only lightly touch the floor as she sits back and stares blankly at the stairwell to nowhere.

Nothing here made sense.

Later she'd apparently decided that she had to live with this place, even if she didn't like it. After walking to the top of the staircase to investigate, she spent some time going over the layout, and trying to find where an exit to the rest of the castle was - from outside the castle looked much taller, and surely this couldn't end here.

Later in the day, expression sour, she can be found in the library, trying to find any books that deal with leatherwork. Her? Thinking of trying to cut up a leather chair to cover this pathetic tree branch and make herself a proper riding crop? Well, if one had been provided along with the rest of her clothes....

In general at other times she's wandering through the rest of the rooms of the castle, restless and dissatisfied, trying to find something that doesn't belong, trying to figure out what and where this place is. Feel free to run into her trying to pace distances with foot length between inside and outside, or touching various pieces of furniture, or stone, or metal, to try and see if anything feels wrong.]

investigation

[whimsicalism]

[Well, most things feel right but some things... it's a subtle thing to be sure but for someone fixated on the perfect might pick up on that sometimes the texture of various building materials feel off somehowtoo soft as if it were made of soft clay, for example, and at second touch it feels normal again.]

dining hall

[soverainty]

Von Karma-san... Can I sit here?

[Niko's always up promptly and ready for breakfast, and it's not even the fateful day where the road to dining hell is paved with goo'd intentions, so the two of them can breakfast in... some kind of peace. Maybe an awkward one, considering the last time they talked and also how Franziska kind of vanished for an entire day??

At this point Niko is kind of swinging between having mortally offended the overdressed young lady or possibly scared her off for over 24 hours, and both are kind of--

Well. For now, she's just standing here with a little bowl of fruit, and a couple of slices of toast. Light breakfast buds?]

Library

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori is flipping through some short chapter books, herself. She does notice Franziska's searching, though.]

What are you looking for?

investigation

[undershadow]

[ Welp. Another morning, another breakfast. The table in the dining hall is slightly oversized for Lena, length aside, which she is painfully aware of as she makes her way through a stack of (silver dollar) pancakes. After abandoning her plate where it is, she scrutinizes the vending machine. Technically, she scrutinizes the vending machines, plural, but only one merits really long contemplation! She does grab a package of whatever the castle version of Pop-Tarts are, however. If anyone else walks in on her in the middle of her look-see, she'll casually propose: ]

Oh, hey. What do you say we shake this bad boy until something falls out?

[ That's a joke, right...

She spends the rest of the morning and early afternoon walking through the garden, where she's looking for disturbed earth, mostly, or stuff that people might have buried. Or poisonous plants, since there are a few she'd recognize! The more goth and showy the flowers are, the more likely it is to be something she's aware of. During the course of her checking the bushes, she accidentally steps into the meadow and and finds herself back in the foyer out of nowhere. ]

Seriously?! Ugh, I hate magic.

Foyer

[rhododendronhoney]

[Cori blinks when she sees Lena appear out of nowhere.] It's not all bad...