WEEK 5

[whimsicalism]

Five deaths in one week. With the end of the last trial, you've lost eleven people in total. There's only ten people in the twisted wonderland of the Castle. Even if the new area is cheerful something seems just a little bit off. The arcade has gained a new arcade machine and the ghosts in the graveyard seem to have returned to their mechanical routines. Your powers, too, seem to be gone once more. It seems Halloween has ended for good now as your fifth week in this strange building continues.

Just when will this game end...?

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

[Welcome to Week 5! Don't forget to submit your memory losses and your weekly AC here. The Alices can be found in their audience hall. However, the Queen can be found roaming the castle this week! Just put 'Alice' in the headline and she might pay your character a visit. As always, don't forget to turn in threads for fabulous prizes.]

Comments

[ballooncaged]

[Where has Mizuki been Saturday, Sunday, and Monday? There is one answer: Trying to beat the high score at the Niko Niko Machine. She's got protein bars, Powerade, and the gifted hand weights to perform bicep curls as she alternates which arm holds the pistol. Heck, there's even bathrooms nearby. Mizuki just goes back to room 9 to sleep and make sure that Seven, Dark Dream, Nigel, and Nagisa haven't wandered off into a well.]

[seventhlittlemonster]

[Well... in the bedroom suite, he hasn't wandered into a well, but he was curled up and shivering like a leaf. There was a bandage around his left index finger; there wasn't really a bandage that could blend in with a complexion as pale as his.]

[ballooncaged]

[Mizuki is peering at him for a while, trying to figure out if he's chanting to himself or physically cold or what. It takes this long for her to notice the covering that is small relative to Seven's hulking form.]

Hey, find some knitting needles today?

[seventhlittlemonster]

...I did something bad. I'm- I'm sorry. [He wanted to lie and keep her from worrying, but after his encounter with Oriko, he had to talk to someone about it.]

[ballooncaged]

[It's Monday. You know what keeps happening on Monday. God. Mizuki wants to yell so much. She throws up both her hands.]

Elaborate!

[seventhlittlemonster]

Every week I... I just lash out and I'm so worried about doing something wrong that- I thought about what you said and I'm sorry. For how I turned out because I wanted to be like you all.

[ballooncaged]

[Mizuki puts her hands to the loose hair at her temples and breathes out through her teeth.]

Why would you want that? And worry about the rest of us so much you forget yourself? You are fun and artistic and sensitive and brave!

[seventhlittlemonster]

...Brave?

[He perked up at that specifically. He never thought himself to be brave. Quite the opposite actually.

But Mizuki telling it to him, he actually began believing it.]

I never knew why I wanted that. And yet I know all the reasons why I don't want that anymore.

Thank you so much, Mimi. [he's busting out the affectionate nicknames!!]

[ballooncaged]

You opened Franziska's mouth. If you were in pretendland as much as you think, you know she'd bite you.

[Hands creep up to her forehead]

Oh no... That's cute...

[DOES NOT HAVE TO STOP!!]

[seventhlittlemonster]

Yeah, perhaps...

Let's do our best from here-on out.

[ballooncaged]

Yeah! [Pokes chest.] You haven't gotten pushed down any stairs just yet!

[seventhlittlemonster]

Uh-

No I haven't and I don't know how capable anyone here is of doing that!! [mizuki no!!]

niko niko

[strictura]

[ Nagisa stops by to watch her play every so often, actually, though he's getting a little concerned by Monday afternoon. When she gets to the next win or game over, he pipes up from nearby. ]

It's best to stop and refresh every so often, you know. You think less clearly when you do the same thing too many times in succession.

[ballooncaged]

[It's a win! "Pow" go her lips! But she turns to him with her shoulders firm.]

Not having to think is the point. But I guess doing it even when you have been forced to reset and think clearly is the point, too. [So she starts by putting the one weight back on the cabinet reflecting its counterpart.]

[strictura]

Good. If you get caught up in repetitive actions to the point that you're going through the motions without thinking about it, your mind is more likely to wander where you don't want it to. So if distraction is your primary goal here, you're eventually going to reach a point of diminishing returns.

[ Even managing to turn a topic like video games into a nerd lecture; truly this is his real Super Elementary School Level talent. ]

...Shifting gears completely, what are your feelings on cephalopods?

[ballooncaged]

Oh, no, my "primary goal" is to kill my backstabber friend when I have to again.

[When. The gun goes in the holster again, and Mizuki turns completely.]

So like squid? Love all creatures of the sea.

[strictura]

Good. Then... here.

[ He hands over a small box, containing the pack of fish trading cards with the octopus foil, and the friendship ring, which is very clearly labeled "FRIENDSHIP RING" on the tag and therefore not anything weird. ]

I didn't really have a proper return gift for you the other day, but these seemed like something you'd like.

[ballooncaged]

Oh!!

[To not have too many things in her hands after accepting the cards, she puts the ring on her left index finger right away. A not weird place!!]

The other part can be like treasure. This is really great. Thanks—Shingetsu-kun.

[strictura]

[ With a slight flush, because it feels nice to have someone be happy with something he did!! ]

Y-yes, you're welcome. I'm glad you like them.

that niko niko life

[prescience]

I thought about bringing up a hot meal for you, but I'm afraid that gesture long ago lost its meaning.

[Oriko spotted Mizuki deep in gaming-related revenge earlier, but hasn't approached her until now - now that she's been latched onto the cabinet for this long.]

Does it anger you more that she did it at all, or that her reasons for doing it were so dismissive?

[ballooncaged]

And this would be the worst place, to top it all off.

[It's very funny. At least, Mizuki hopes Oriko shares her sense of black humor and isn't making some joke of the pathetic mess her diet has become. Mizuki turns, the toy gun still in her hand.]

I—I'm not doing this because I'm angry or I hate her, and knowing that just makes everything worse. [She frowns down at her hand.]

[prescience]

[It isn't a subject to joke about, or to treat lightly at all, but it's regardless some small relief to know that Mizuki would take the offer as genuine and not a threat.

Oriko leans against one of the other game cabinets, its lights beating in the background to repetitive music that should make the conversation funnier than it feels.]

Really? I see. Then why are you still out here?

[ballooncaged]

At first, I legitimately hoped that she would try to tell me something from beyond the grave like a glitch in the machine or whatever sci-fi cliche.

[But that hasn't happened. The special effects have their limits. It is day 3.]

Yuniko-chan had this... thing she would do where she'd make you feel like she really liked you. Not just in a "gochisou-sama~!" way but after that too. [This isn't getting her point across and is pathetic. Mizuki covers her heart with the hand gripping the gun.] I need to do what needs to be done next time.

[prescience]

Maybe some of that sentiment was genuine, even in the end? Is that what you're thinking?

[She watches the pixels on the screen go through their repetitive and bloody motions. It's hard not to think that maybe, written in a different story, Mizuki would feel a different way. Control of the narrative might have been in someone else's hands.]

It was finished in time. Finding her guilty protected the rest of us from reprisal. Next time, just what is it that you intend to do?