castle_whims | WEEK 3

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week 3

WEEK 3

All three deaths last were tragic in their own ways. Was trust so fragile in that castle that a simple misunderstanding could end in blood? It seemed to be the case. The trial proved that without a doubt. Surely no one else would make that mistake again. As another week begins the tea cup elevator has granted access to a new area. Maybe the new amusements of a festival will ease your wounded hearts?

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

[It's time for week three! We're almost half-way done with our trip in the castle. Don't forget to submit your memories here and your activity here. Even though, the Queen seems to be a little more steady on her feet you can find her and the other Alice at the audience hall. As always, don't forget to submit your comments for fabulous prizes.]

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[Oriko is, in fact, paying attention to the size of the place (she's gone up that stairwell often enough to know), and she's well aware that the stalls area is enormous, comically so. Disinterested in the food, however, she'll be spending her time browsing the games. Though she isn't playing any yet, she does stop by a ring toss booth and lean against the counter, expression wistful.]

Are these weighted against the player as unfairly as those in the real world, I wonder...

[Later, her expression is anything but wistful as she stares down a fortune teller booth, almost unblinking, as if it might just sink into the earth if she stands here long enough.

Away from the booths that are certainly put there only to mock her, you might otherwise run into her looking up at the starless sky by the outdoor arcade.]

Isn't it odd that it already seems to be nighttime here...? [What might that clock have to say about this?]

[ Looking up... he hasn't spent much time out here yet, but it's been dark each time, and never when it was supposed to be. ]

I'm curious if it's a matter of "already" or "always".

Yes, precisely. Or even "nighttime for a reason?"

[She's still looking at the sky, but it's not talking back to her, so eventually Oriko comes back to earth.] I haven't been to many carnivals, but this has to be the ambiance everyone wants them to have. Still, if we want to know what time it is, we're out of luck.

Should we try to do something about that?

[ He nods. ]

I was thinking it was to fit the atmosphere myself... just like with the dining hall, it seems like they've probably designed this place based on idealized images of things, and you see much more art of street festivals set at night than during the day.

[ ...Which makes him think of something, actually, but he can come back to that later, because he's pretty sure he gets the implication in what she just said. ]

Ah... Seeing if changing the time on the clock changes the time up here, you mean?

If we assume that many of these things are sights neither were able to experience when alive, the foundation this castle seems to be built on makes more sense.

[From the rooms and landscapes that seem pulled out of picture books to the ... wall play-doh. Oriko wonders just how far logic that's based on a lie can be pressed.

She nods, looking at the machines around them and then back toward the festival stalls.]

I haven't seen a clock like the one in the foyer so far up here; I assume we should at least start with what we know.

[ He's slightly wary about it, since didn't a tree limb fall last time when it got rewound to a previous murder? Without knowing what area might be affected if they try it again, it seems like that could potentially be risky.

...There's no reward without some risk, though, so. ]

Hopefully it won't hurt anything, but... it's probably worth checking. We can try it and see what happens.

[Nothing appears to change right away. Since the crime scene is a lot farther away from the foyer than the garden, it won't even become obvious until the return back to the stalls. It's daylight now and some shouting from a girl is happening near a ring toss stall.]

What--what are you doing, Ninagawa?!

Edited 2020-10-19 00:58 (UTC)

It seems to be working!

[Certainly he can't hear her, even if she yells down the teacup elevator's rabbit hole shaft as day turns to night on the second floor.

This area is also more difficult to navigate, so even with agreeing with Nagisa to separate, it takes some time to find anything that's changed - beside the obvious shift in time.

Oriko follows the girl's voice toward the games area, probably not too far from where she was hanging out earlier. Presumably this is the trashed area that Manaka found, but is there anything else on the go now that she's close enough to hear the shouting?]

[ He's a little out of breath from running back up the stairs, but he manages to catch up to Oriko before too long. At least she's tall enough that she's hard to lose.

Well, it clearly worked. He doesn't say anything for the moment, not wanting to talk over whatever voices from the past they're getting here, especially when he's not sure if they can do this more than once. ]

[Now that Nagisa's here, he wouldn't recognize the first voice but Oriko does. She never met this person directly but the other voice, also female, probably confirms it.]

Miki. I should have known you'd want to play hero now that Catarina's gone.

['Ninagawa's voice is mockingly sweet, even if they're the only ones who can hear it. The area around the booth is... a mess. Blood that clearly was cleaned up in the present is everywhere on the surrounding stall. The ring toss stall also is fixed.]

Don't--don't bring her up! What's wrong with you!?

Edited 2020-10-19 01:18 (UTC)

[She visibly balks, if only slightly]

That voice...?

[Oriko is speaking softly to avoid overriding anything happening in front of them, and in the spaces between words. Like Nagisa, she wants to be careful not to miss anything.

But, wordlessly, she points to the blood in the middle of the argument.

Look, she seems to be implying. It's possible more than one person may have...]

[ He glances up at her reaction to the voice; it doesn't sound familiar to him at all, but maybe it's different for her?

He nods when she points to that blood. That must be what they're arguing over, right? So what they're seeing here is... a murder that followed in response to another one...? ]

[If they look closer to the blood, there's outlines of two bodies. Apparently Mao was busy.

There's a snarl from Sayaka as the sounds of a struggle become evident as a bloody knife appears on the ground.]

I'm not going to just sit around and let you hurt more people!

[Stupid girl.

She thinks she knows how this ends, but Oriko won't look away until it's over.

If there's anything else around the bodies that might indicate an identity or anything, she'll keep her eyes roving over that as the confrontation goes on.]

[ At this point, he's more curious about how it started than how it ends. Unless there was another alteration to the rules in the past, it doesn't make much sense for a single person to kill more than one in this game unless someone showed up in the wrong place at the wrong time. ]

[One has to wonder why they didn't see this situation from the start, though - unless they should have turned the clock back even further?

Well, they can have that conversation out loud when everything's run its course.]

[The bodies are just outlines for now, unfortunately. The reason they are seeing this they have no way of knowing but the arguing continues until the knife vanishes again. The ring toss is loudly destroyed again as a third body shape appears among the remains of the booth.

Minagawa gasps for air as Sayaka speaks.]

I didn't--you're coming back with me, to trial!

Ha...ha... I don't think that's going to happen, do you? Sayaka Miki?

Gah--I'm not like that Kure--you deserved it!

[ ...The way this is ending up isn't surprising, but that crash kind of was. He's glad that it seems that all they have to worry about this time is the noise, though. ]

[The sound of Sayaka running away fade. The scene is over and the fates of Mike, Anna, Mao, and Sayaka have been discovered.]

[It's over.

Oriko turns and looks at Nagisa, still silent for the time being, as words come a little slower.]

So with no one to punish for the first two deaths, I believe we know who would end up facing justice instead.

They were already dead when the last one showed up, right?

[ Sighs and shakes his head... he's not without sympathy, but still. He's starting to see what the Cat was saying now about how much of a mess that last group was compared to them. ]

Unless she was spotted before she could get away, she would have been better off testifying to what she saw at the trial instead of trying to get into the middle of it herself.

last prompt is maybe a breadcrumb for anyone who needs to kickstart murder investigation? thumbs up

arcade

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CLOCK (for whenever you two get there)

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