WEEK FIVE

[whimsicalism]

WEEK FIVE

There's one thing that belongs in Closetland: Monsters.

It was a monster that brought the students here to begin with, and it's a monster who controls their lives now. By now, some have even accused their classmates of turning into--or always being--monsters themselves.

The academy is just as cold as it was last week, autumn air seeping in through the unfriendly architecture and the artificial light seeming darker than before. The occasionally cloud of purple fog snakes through the hallways at ground level, a constant reminder of the new presence haunting the school and her role in the past five weeks of torment. Now that Kakuya is back in a body of her own making, the music room is silent, though the rooms and halls of the Academy themselves occasionally fill with a low, haunting flute melody. With the school's new overlord already wishing her ill, Nanami's already deflating power and free roam capabilities are more or less completely limited as well: She's just one more toy in the box.

The stairwell has opened into another new floor. Upon closer inspection, it seems to be the uppermost one. This is the top of Ira Academy, and while it likely bears some new answers and some new locations to try and find a solution to your plight, is there anything that can heal some of the rifts that formed from the accusations thrown at the last trial? Still, if you don't find answers, then you'll be here playing this eternal deadly game.

Is the devil you know better than the devil you don't?

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

OOC NOTES

Welcome to Week 4! Nanami has joined the party! She no longer has office hours but still be contacted privately, as can Kakuya, who is no longer stuck in the music room. New locations are now open, and some minor adjustments have been made to the IC profiles and rules. 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. The SHEEP are still taggable, though you may find them in a...different mood.

You now have a week to make sure your AC in for last week and to start collecting AC for this week. Remember to submit your regains, and sign up for a spot exploring this week's mystery if you want to!

Comments

[shinedsobright]

Assholes!!

[it is still a swear but u can say it in a pg-13 movie!!]

yeah yeahhh

[copycut]

Actually, I want to start with the one that attacked Valmont. That one... almost seemed like it was controlling the others, don't you think?

[ So, Kuro's priorities here are Monster Washing Machine → Nanami Washing Machine → all the others. She approaches the monster one first, without a lot of caution; assuming it looks inert, like a normal washing machine, she'll pop it open and peek inside. ]

Investigation x2

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat feels as if the students have mostly reunited after the emergency meeting. Good. All the more strength on their side. Now it is time for investigations. The first stop Adorabat will be the Little Fears room. She enters and looks around before fluttering closer over to the screens. She's looking for anything, trying to take note of everything, and gets her police notebook out to record the things she sees.]

[panglici]

I think it's more like we couldn't be scared. I guess their criteria for "monster" and "not monster" is different from most of ours?

FRET NO

[violence_ensues]

ASSHOLES!

[copycut]

Maybe it's because we were under a monster's control?

[shinedsobright]

It'd be nicer if Carrie's theory is better...

[He has killed many an emotion in his day he could probably manage it for fear!!]

[shinedsobright]

[Fret will take a dueling sword and step away from the group to practice a couple swings and jabs at the air.]

Yeah... This'll work.

[copycut]

Well, it might be. Actually, I told this to Sonic already, but... If we're talking about "monsters" like Kakuya, the biggest difference between "us" and "them" is the way we think. Maybe it's not just whether we feel fear or not, but the—"frame" we see the world through.

Re: MYSTERY SIGN UP

[romancing]

SLAMS HAND DOWN

[romancing]

I can defend myself, so you don't have to worry about me~. I'm not really good at teaching, though.

[ she's here to vibe at the meeting and do nothing helpful as per usual ]

[panglici]

I don't know about leather, but I can sew cloth pretty well. Might not end up as neat as Thomasin would've made it, but... she's not here. Do we have canvas anywhere, though?

[She might be underestimating how hard it is to handsew canvas, but... this is being useful, she can't just stay quiet.]

also not here

[panglici]

[GEE WHO AMONG THESE WHOLESOME CHILDREN COULD POSSIBLY HAVE SAID THAT WORD HMM WHAT A QUESTION]

[violence_ensues]

[...It takes a couple seconds for Adorabat to remember just who this person is. Koishi!]

Oh, maybe you can five it a try? The only way to get better at things is to do them, right?

[panglici]

If we were literally mindless, then... well, at that point did we even have a way to see the world? Obviously she has one, but....

[This is getting way too philosophical way too fast.]

[copycut]

We were brainwashed, not automatons. [ Kuro's face scrunches up with thought. ] We had to have some sort of "programming" [ she makes heavy air quotes ] for when Father wasn't around to tell us what to do.

[panglici]

She was really clear about it. "You were considered monsters before you woke up." And none of us remembers any of that time. Could that "programming" take the place of ... I don't want to say "a soul", but "what makes us individual people" is a mouthful. Could we have just been left sleeping with something else walking around in our skins?

[canreallymove]

...Yeah. Bein' brainwashed is basically...

[Oh hey Sonic.

He swallows.]

You're not followin' your own will, but someone else's. So he'd need a way to make it so we obeyed him remotely. Could be a spell, could be an actual chip in our brains...

[canreallymove]

...No prob. I never really wanted them anyways.

[copycut]

[ Something about that makes Kuro go quiet. She stays that way for several seconds.]

Mm. [ She hums, light and almost chiming. But— ] That's possible. Right now, though, I'm not sure how we'd check whether or not something had been there.

CW: Mao Mao Spoilers

[violence_ensues]

Um...

[Adorabat pokes the tips of her wings together.]

Remember when I said I was royalty for a while in a meeting before this one...? I think this was the second time I was brainwashed. I wish I could help say how to break out of it, but I never could on my own.

[copycut]

If it were a... a chip, couldn't he have just reactivated it?

[ Despite the programming metaphor, Kuro is much less knowledgeable in the area of technology than she is Weird Soul Magic. ]

Adding some two cents finally

[canreallymove]

[Very quiet, but he does finally speak.]

Guys, we...we need to assume that we aren't gettin' our powers back and we can't rely on them. If we had any. So...we gotta adapt. So it's something to keep in mind. I...can do my best to help with that, but.

[Yeah, he's still clearly trying to get over what happened. It's an understatement to say it all stinks. rn.]

[canreallymove]

It depends. If something conked it out, or it short-circuited, or we were able to overcome it permanently because of whatever Kakuya did.

If it was a chip that brainwashed us, somethin' happened that made it not work anymore.

Re: Adding some two cents finally

[lets_dewey_it]

I understand. I never had any powers to begin with, so I think I'll be good to go.