WEEK 4

[whimsicalism]

WEEK FOUR

Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, it would seem.

The students of Ira Academy will find themselves entering the new week with their hunger sated, but it's likely the grisly scene of Friday's murder and the demonstration of the execution make the food hit much heavier. The risk of death is still very real, and astute watchers might also find it haunting to think about what sort of twisted game could have forced Yuta to lose control of his own actions. Or perhaps, for the fifth week in a row, people are just finding themselves angrier at their circumstances and their captor than ever.

After her release from the washing machine last week, Nanami Kiryuu can be found more often shadowing the other students around, hanging out in the periphery and putting in appearances even if she doesn't have information to share or announcements to pass on to the rest of the group - as long as no one makes an attempt to shoo her away.

The stairs open up to another newly remodeled floor, offering new locations that may prompt more answers to your dilemma--or more questions. There's no way to know which it will be. Thankfully, there's always a new mind-numbing relaxation activity to take in.

How long can this keep going on?

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday
Regains | AC | IC Profiles | Locations | Mystery Information | A Contact | Sheep Contact | Nanami Contact

OOC NOTES

Welcome to Week 4! New locations are now open, a couple of old ones have been tweaked, and characters have started the next week of their education. Please hit the mods with a ping in Discord and put INVESTIGATE in your subject line if you're interested in exploring a new location. Nanami may be putting in some public appearances in threads this week; otherwise, please ping + Discord tag her or the (SHEEP) if you want to speak with then. All NPCs are still available for their private contacts as well!

As a reminder, AC runs Sunday to Sunday concurrent with these posts and is collected based on the prior week; this means you have a whole week to get in AC for the week prior. AC for week 3 should be submitted no later than this coming Sunday. Remember to submit your regains, and sign up for a spot exploring this week's mystery if you want to!

Comments

CHURCH

[holyironmade]

A reading from the gospel according to Matthew.

[Jeanne stands in front of the shed with the cross on the ground and the bible in her hands.]

“The kingdom of heaven will be like ten maidens who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those maidens rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other maidens came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money.
Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’
But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

[Jeanne shuts the bible.]

You may think it strange that Jesus tells the story of maidens and a bridegroom when St. Paul's letters soon after praised the sacrament of marriage. Or that Jesus condemns "the one who has not", when you will recall the beatitudes from our first mass blessing the meek who shall inherit the earth. That is because it is a parable. About embodying the virtues as much as you are able, always aspiring to the divine example even before you are rewarded. Jesus did not control when he would be born onto this earth, whether it was under Caesar or Dido's laws that he would decide to give what was Caesar's to Caesar. We know there was a great shaman from Nazareth who was integrated with the Holy Spirit, performed miracles, and won the shaman fight. Even if the matter of His Father remains a mystery to us, we can learn from the words and take solace in the body, which is both the bread and the gathering of people. On that note...

[It is time for the presentation of the Eucharist aka Kuro fucking it up on the tambourine. The song One Bread One Body that has been prepared is pretty repetitive so they can build up to the verses and chorus gradually in a way that is a little bit not totally a disaster by the time all the Ritz crackers are distributed.]

[violence_ensues]

nnnnn... I mean, I get the point to always be better, but... what's up with the super-weird wording? It was hard to follow when you were telling the stories.

[holyironmade]

It is to show our respect for the two thousand years that have passed since that era, that these stories have lasted that long. Perhaps a modern audience would understand batteries for flashlights better than oil for lamps, but it is not my place to decide.

[She says even though she changed virgins to maidens after the great chastity incident of trial three...]

[violence_ensues]

[Wait, what!?]

Those stories are THAT old!?

[That's shocking!]

[holyironmade]

What year is it where you come from again, Adorabat? Is there a calendar?

[violence_ensues]

Um... July... in... 2020, I think that was what Mao Mao said.

[She hasn't really gotten to the point of recognizing numbers higher than 10. She's still a preschooler.]

[holyironmade]

So you know that twenty twenty does mean over two thousand. Did you know that it is actually based on how long ago Jesus Christ was born? He is a figure of legend, so some are not sure, but that is the general idea.

[violence_ensues]

He must be super old! How many stories does he have about him?

[holyironmade]

Old is not the term we usually use. He was killed as a young adult man, rose again, and forty days later ascended into heaven. The land of eternal life that you sadly cannot visit.

As for the stories, there are four believers who wrote sets of stories called gospels. "A reading from the gospel according to Matthew" means it is from that man's set of stories.

open-ish

[copycut]

[ What is Kuro doing here...? Even she doesn't know. Jeanne just seemed like she needed the support, and now, somehow, Kuro standing here with a tambourine. She keeps her eyes shut like she's really focused on keeping the percussive beat steady—or maybe like she just doesn't want to see anyone looking at her right now.

She gets through it, though. Once church has finished, she stretches, standing up on her toes as she arches her back, and then she calls out: ]

I'll take care of cleaning up, okay—?

[ She's in the midst of hanging Jeanne's makeshift hula hoop seating over her wrist when she begins muttering under her breath, ] A shaman from Nazareth... Won the shaman fight...

[holyironmade]

[Jeanne is grateful for the help not because she is about to faint but because she has some Schooling to give Adorabat (after the service is over instead of interrupting it, thank goodness), so the agreement is acknowledged with a nod. Afterwards, she glances at the tambourine that has to be taken back to the music room.]

Perhaps it is for the best that there are no cameras to come by in this place.

[Kuro seriously might have been cringing over there...]

[copycut]

Hm? [ She smiles, sly, apparently taking the comment in good humor, and— ] Don't you think I was doing a good job?

[ That's right. How dare Jeanne impugn her tambourine-playing skills?? ]

[holyironmade]

Far from it, you were outstanding.

[So she wasn't cringing! How many layers of irony is Kuro even on?]

It makes me wonder if you spent more time in that "Church" than you let on.

[copycut]

Absolutely not! [ She grins. ] Actually, I've never set foot in one. Their agent came to me, so I never had to spend time anywhere.

[holyironmade]

[She glances down at the Bible and her eyes remain lidded afterwards.]

I take it if that person was in such a hurry then there was more said about spells than scripture? To linger on the teachings when all is not well... An unusual indulgence for me. But it was important to learn the doctrine back when there was time to train, of course.

[copycut]

Mm, something like that. There was a disturbance in Fuyuki, so they sent one of their exorcists to us as an "Overseer"...

[ She was being so cheerful a second ago, but suddenly, Kuro's mood seems to sour completely. ]

To be honest, I almost feel bad comparing you to her, back when we first met. You have some of the same stupid ideas that she did, but you'd never act so... Slimy.

[ In fairness, Kuro just doesn't like Caren because she clocked her as not a normal human on sight. Nevertheless! ]

[holyironmade]

Do you really... think so...?

[Jeanne looks down at a big curl in her own hair. Future readers will be aware of the intentions she had in sharing the parable of the talents.]

I know that some of the men and women in the church are a cancer in the body of Christ&mddash;who want money or worse. I am relieved you recovered from dealing with her.

[temmapathy]

Oh, I don't remember hearing that first one before. Does it matter that there were ten of them total? Were they ALL going to marry that one guy?

[holyironmade]

[Glances down in kid's bible which is very silent on this issue in terms of commentary to keep this volume svelte but did say "virgins". Glances back up.]

It is not clear to me whether they comprised a harem or were guests. I must admit it sounds rather rude for the host of any important event in the modern day. Nevertheless, it matters that there is more than one maiden, to contrast the wise and the foolish. It is like the man who built his house on rock and the second man who built it on sand.

[temmapathy]

[Okay, she's not sure what that one word is, but she can kind of guess from context clues?]

Oh yeah, I think I know that one too! [Or at least she's heard it as a metaphor in some way.] It makes sense that you'd need contract, but ten is a lot. The other story also only had three men.

[She frowns.] Is it because of some difference between girls and guys?

[holyironmade]

Keeping in mind that I mainly hope to share the lesson of diligence from these stories...

[She honestly thought that Emma would be frustrated with the discussion of servants at all and so now Jeanne is a little afraid of ending up Doing A Sexism instead, a field of criticism she's still not intimately familiar with]

I do not believe he never discussed a large group of men. In these two stories, it most likely made more sense to show the three people spending money as men, while the ones patiently doing a service at the hearth with supplies were women.

[temmapathy]

[She's giving a bit more leeway because it's a story, anyways.]

Oh right, I guess back then the men were in charge of all the money. I guess now in the modern day they could both be about men or women?

[holyironmade]

Perhaps a version with five women who remembered something important and five men who didn't.

[That does make her lips twitch in amusement.]

Not as a rule, of course.

[temmapathy]

Oh, you could mix it up each time you tell it?

[holyironmade]

That way will be easier than "three women and two men brought their batteries, while three men and two women did not"...