castle_whims | WEEK FIVE

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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!

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[It turns out that Neku isn't the only skittish one here. Watching Fret interact with the kitten, it's obvious that it's real, but haven't other things in the school felt real and turned out to be tricks meant to hurt them? Nanami sidesteps, bumping into the desk she was leaning against and knocking off some papers. They fall to the floor near Fret's dropped cellphone. Unfortunately, this also means she's kind of standing in front of said phone. They can worry about the retrieval later.]

There's no way that cat could be here at this school...!

[This could easily refer to the fact that the vending machine routinely spits out animals: It might not just be this one cat but the fact that cats appear in the item delivery slot at all.] It has to be some kind of trick. Because I.. never thought I'd see it again.

[Fret's sweating a bit when the phone gets further out of reach, even sliding under some papers a little, but he's got to act natural here. That's pretty hard to do when she's acting this weird about the cat, so he just takes a step back himself and leans back against a counter in the room. Thinking, and glancing back at Neku who is still making herself small, back at Nanami again. This is so weird. It clicks once she talks some more though.]

So basically...

[Maybe it's because Nanami is acting just like someone who's being haunted, or maybe not, but Fret picked up on the morbid implications immediately.]

....Neku's a ghost?

[Despite the fact that she's acting like she just saw something that shouldn't exist, it seems like it takes Fret's suggestion to make Nanami's brain fully catch up with the implication.]

...But if she was a ghost, she wouldn't be here, right? She'd be in the other place?

[The only spirits that have crossed the lines between the lands of the living and the dead are monsters, after all.]

Maybe this is some kind of second chance.

I think so! But I did name her after a legendary player for good luck. You think she came back from the dead?

[...He'd be kind of embarrassed if a cat pulled that off before any of his friends but... it'd be fitting?]

Actually, she was wet when I found her! It'd make sense!

[Pulling Neku off his shoulder now and holding her over his head Simba-style]

A Legend who knows the way!

It was? [Nanami recoils.] How dirty...I really don't understand how these things keep getting into the school.

[As Fret lifts the kitten up, she locks eyes with her again. Despite the chills, she feels a brief moment of connection there. The frantic, weeping apology she'd wanted to give as a child isn't so easy to summon now, in front of him, but -]

Put that thing down! Don't you know you'll scare it, and then you'll just get attacked?

[She crouches down to clean up the mess on the floor, including both those papers and the cellphone.] And when she does attack you, you'll deserve it.

[The kitten is similarly frozen, then as if on cue, Neku starts to wave her paws around after Nanami scolds Fret. ...Probably because cats don't like to be held up, and not specifically from the moment of eye contact?? But in any case, Fret hurries to put her down as instructed then. ]

Whoa, did I miss something, like you becoming a kitty mind reader? And I thought the only one here who likes attacking me was-

[It's sad because by this point he ONLY has the eraser to compare it to, but this is just his lot apparently. Regardless, he's cutting off cause he sees she grabbed the phone, never mind the rest of the stuff, and now he is standing back up as fast as he possibly can!!]

Ohneverminddidyougetthatformethanksamillion!

[Then Neku weaves between his feet trying to get away from them and making Fret stumble as he tries to reach for all of it. This results in a comical hop to keep his balance as the kitten leaps onto one of the desk chairs to watch the chaos unfolding.]

Edited 2022-09-29 08:58 (UTC)

H-hey, what's the big deal?! Don't just go grabbing for things; you're attacking me without permission!

[It's a farfetched complaint for someone who's been doing a lot of the attacking, as he's already all too familiar with. She will, of course, try to hold onto everything she just picked up, leading to a brief power struggle tug-of-war session.

There's no way for this to end, really, except with the inevitable. If this were ~~one of Fret's animes~~ fictional, Nanami getting knocked off balance would wind up with a funny pratfall resolution. But there's nothing all that scripted or elegant about the way Nanami hits the desk and then, after slipping, the floor, possibly elbowing him in the process.

The phone tumbles down around her collarbone somewhere while the papers fall to cover her (very vexed) face. On top of the pile is what looks like some sort of supply order list.]

Whaaat?!

[The elbowing is badly timed to a hop and now Fret has toppled as well, fallen right on his ass. He sighs.]

Womp womp. [At least he's in a better state than poor Nanami though. He will pluck the paper off her face as a favor, though he almost puts it back after seeing the way she's scowling.]

Yeah, sure, my bad. What even is all this stuff...

[While he's briefly investigating that supply order list, the kitten tilts her head at Nanami's supine position and hops back down to investigate her. No sudden movements or she'll run away, but this may be the opportunity to whisper words of regret!!]

[Yes, it would be a perfect opportunity to get some closure, to work out the root of some of her deep, roaring anger and jealousy, when Nanami flops her head to the side to murmur at the cautious little kitten, she doesn't start with the kindest of assumptions.]

...You're gloating, aren't you? You did this on purpose to see me suffer. Like you'd ever just act on impulse and hurt someone...

[Okay, well, that could still lead to a revelation. They'll work on that privately for a little while now.

The supply list doesn't contain many unusual items on it - it seems to be things for the general upkeep and running of the school, like "paint buckets - they keep using it so wastefully!" and surface polish, the notes about the order itself are more interesting.

At the end of the itemized list are a few other figures, including time to retrieve and import-fees.]

["Mrrr." She just takes a seat at that, staring with her tail swishing back and forth. Fret looks over again curiously at the murmur, not quite understanding what she said other than a bit of the middle part, but at least she's not going through his phone so he'll go back to squinting at the list. What do these things mean!]

[I feel weird doing this on Nanami's journal but now I'm just committed to the bit. She's continuing to have a one-sided conversation with the cat here, just talking herself toward some conclusion and kind of meekly beginning to dust herself off and collect whatever else has fallen.

As for the supply list, most of the items there are things you recognize from around the academy as regularly in demand, like the aforementioned paint as well as linens and toiletries. The annotations and additional calculations all look to be for an order of things to be shipped in to the academy.

There's another sheet of paper under that one; this one is handwritten.]

[Commitment is always appreciated!! Fret has no idea why Nanami suddenly decided Neku is her therapist, it's very confusing, but she is being a good listener so he guesses it can wait. Whatever the case, they are both such a mood right now for falling and just... not getting up yet.]

Y'know, I think we might have something here?

[What's the handwritten paper say?]

[There's definitely some kind of therapy going on, since she's actually getting a little teary while talking to the kitten. At some point, the sniffly phrase "if you took him away, I wouldn't have anything" surfaces.

The handwritten note may not have familiar penmanship at first, but the tone is likely a clear giveaway. It's several brief notes on a revision to the the start of the school year written in a flowy but very restrained hand, as if it weren't being done with totally natural control. What might catch Fret's eye in particular is the following miniature diatribe:

Unbelievable. Those transfer students are already gone... the """Senior""" prefect helped them out, and now with her gone too I've wound up with everything on my plate! That girl never once knew when to follow the Principal's rules, and now lok who's paying for it!

I guess it's good that they're gone, anyway: It felt like they knew more than they let on about this place, like they were judging everything we did.

Even if I don't have much time, it doesn't matter! I'll make the school year commencement run without a hitch all on my own if I have to!]

[Neku is loafing by the time Nanami is crying. Somehow, being closer to the ground she's on makes it look even more like the kitten is listening. And is that soft purring? In any case, it looks like he found the most important thing on these papers anyway.

Now for the incredibly daunting task of asking her about this after he let her slip away into this almost dreamlike moment. He'll just grasp onto that murmur he caught like he's been a part of this "conversation" the entire time. Gently now.]

Um... so Nana... this kitten belongs to someone you know? Do you, like, need me to let you give it back to him or something? I wanted Neku to be Neku, but- after our luck pays off, it's probably fine?

[It's not like he asked his parents who don't remember him if he could have a pet!]

[That's probably the most important paper he'll find in here, yeah! There's lots of other fun flavor around like art projects, rankings of the students' performance in various events - but most of it seems like busywork information tracking and not like it has any influence on anything.

Nanami sits up partially, at least enough to prop herself up on her elbow. She clutches his phone tightly to her chest as if it's some sort of anchor.]

No! [Fearful and a little too quickly.] ... My brother doesn't have time for a pet right now. I doubt he'd pay any attention to her. Not when he's so obsessed with that girl...he'd think she was just a stray. [And after a moment in which it's hard to tell if "she" is Neku or herself, she holds the hand that isn't deathgripping his phone out to the cat.]

[Fret gapes a bit when he notices she still has the phone, he assumed she would have relaxed her grip on it at some point in all of that and he wouldn't have to worry about it, but damn! Sure, it's a cold world here without cell phones, and only natural to cling onto one for dear life after being so deprived, but why'd it have to be that phone?? .....Also, it's been a long time since he's had to think about Nanami's relationship with her brother, and he was fine not being reminded, yet this makes a disturbing amount of pieces click into place. For a moment, he is actually speechless for once.]

Oh.... kay! [this sounds a little less than okay all things considered!]

[Neku did go wide eyed at the shout, and those eyes are on the hand reaching toward her, her neck craning back a bit. The dramatic pause continues...

But for Fret, the picture that Nanami's brother's cat's implied death was not a coincidence has finally completed, and he is now really angry with his life that this somehow isn't in the top 5 worst things he's ever heard of, because even after everything it still seems like it should be. Maybe he's just gotten attached to this kitten already. He claps, focusing.]

Okay yeah. I don't know what's up with your bro, but if that's how it's gonna be, it's for the best if I keep taking care of her then?

[Neku's tail swishes a few more times, but she finally stands up to headbump Nanami's hand just as she might have been tempted to take it back. If they're one and the same, she has to make things difficult too, clearly. Fret remains completely uncertain what to make of all this, but fortunately she revealed this side of herself to the least likely person in the Academy to dwell on things that should not be dwelled upon, so he firmly decides that all's well that ends well and presses on, waving around the CLUE.]

And now for something completely different! Do you remember writing anything about transfer students?

[Maybe she just said it because the thought of reuniting Touga with the same kitten she'd carried in dirty and abandoned all those years ago is humiliating, or that she's afraid he'll turn his gaze away from her right after she promised to take care of everything for him. But there's something else to it, isn't there...? He's been acting so strange lately, and she'd almost forgotten that while working this job just to prove herself. She blushes when Neku gives her the headbutt, turning her head slightly to speak sideways toward Fret.]

Transfer students? No idea what you're talking about. You're the only class of students I ever did any work with here at this Academy. I only ever remember having information about you.

Wait, is that something I wrote? I guess it makes sense, since this would have been our - my - office... but I don't remember anything like that.

[With that, Neku returns to her loaf.]

Yeah, the writing seems just like you. And these other students left here at the same time as the Senior Prefect... you at least knew her. It seemed like she was in charge of them or something?

[Nanami, who was just one type of lost and confused while talking to the kitten, looks another type of lost and confused being told about something she apparently wrote with no recollection of it. At the mention of the Senior Prefect, however, she tosses her shoulder in a quick shrug.]

Well, I guess at least that part makes sense. She was always getting in trouble and refusing to behave... so she was punished; maybe it had something to do with them?

But, listen. At the beginning of this semester, I barely even remembered her at all. Actually, it's like there are still a lot of holes from that time...like I'm in a fog.

Then... What made you remember? Is there anything that jogs your memory? This'd be so much easier if I could do it myself!

[He will at least show her the thing.]

Seeing it do anything for ya?

[She looks at the paper, doing a really exaggerated squint as she reads it.]

Yeah, that's probably my handwriting? It looks a little weird, but that's normal for this place.

I don't remember anything else, but looking at this it sounds like this might have been the last straw with Father.

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WEEK FIVE

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