castle_whims | WEEK FIVE

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!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Huh? Are you shy or something? [ Kuro sounds like she's teasing... But still, she pulls back. ] Sorry, sorry~ What were you saying?

[The creature sighs.]

I’m a sludge spirit, okay? Losing a hand ain’t a big deal but I sure didn’t want to stick around when ya chopped it off!

A sludge spirit? Why are you in a washing machine, then? Unless you WANT to get clean?

I’m not in the machine right now! I’m in the pipe connected to it.

Edited 2022-09-21 19:29 (UTC)

The water going through doesn't bother you?

Isn't it obvious, Emma? All the dirty water drains down there! [ Kuro giggles. ] Bu~t... What about Emma's other question? Why were the other washing machines on when we found you...?

There was more than one of ya, right? Thought I could get a bigger snack but after someone acted I took my chances and left.

Hm~m, I see... So, if I hadn't stopped you from pulling Valmont in, you would have popped out of another one and grabbed someone else next?

That’s right—can’t really fit all of you in one, can I?

Do you know how Nanami-that blond girl-got into one of the machines, then? Did you just spit her out?

Edited 2022-09-21 19:51 (UTC)

A sheep pushed her in. I just wanted to get out when that happened so I threw her out again.

Into the machine? Or... Do you mean somewhere else?

Was this sheep acting weird? Like, not working together with all the others?

Haven’t seen a lot of sheep so I don’t know and just into the machine. How else could she get washed?

Well... I thought she might have been put somewhere else with you and gotten knocked out when you left. Ugh, that raises even more questions, though...

I was really starving after I got let out of that room… didn’t really think beyond needing food. Weird, though. I thought letting that kid get washed would be enough but it wasn’t.

So it felt like there was extra room in your belly? Metaphorically, I mean.

Like I was eating the wrong thing. Didn’t feel like grime was going to fill me up.

[ Oh! Kuro thinks she gets it, but... ]

But that feeling must have gone away, right? You haven't tried to attack anyone since then.

You’re right; I don’t feel half as hungry as I did. Didn’t like that much. I prefer grime over whatever that was.

When the doll let you out, it was to use you as part of a game she's been playing with us. As part of that game, she must have made it so you had to feed on... Fear, or pain, or something like that. So, the effect went away once we won.

Does that sound right?

Fear… I think ya got part of it. I think staying in that room with all the boxes… I was craving something but didn’t know what it was. When she sent me loose I must have got a lot of it… not sure how I feel about that.

Mm. We thought all the monsters here were supposed to feed on fear, but it sounds like that isn't how it normally is for you.

[ So, either an effect of Kakuya's game, or an effect of the cells that wore off after a little while...

... ]

Hey. Do you have a name? You've been pretty cooperative, so asking is the least I can do.

Lived in a laundromat for the longest time… when it shut down I got an offer to come help this fiery guy. Free food and a roof over my head. That was… a while ago. That doll shook things up, though.

[There’s a sigh, as if the creature is thinking.]

Call me Lucky. Was the name of the old laundromat. You just don’t attack me again, alright?

(no subject)

copycut - 2022-09-22 00:25 (UTC) - Expand

whimsicalism - 2022-09-22 00:40 (UTC) - Expand

copycut - 2022-09-22 03:32 (UTC) - Expand

I feed on the dirt in it, so no?