WEEK 3

[whimsicalism]

WEEK THREE

Two weeks, two trials, four deaths.

One thing is certain: The monster in charge of this place knows enough about everyone here that he also knows what can drive some of them desperate enough to kill. He is powerful, and he has access, and he despises the whole student body. The face of the class' captor has been revealed now, in a sense, and the flames of his hatred for children have turned out to be very real.

At least, for now, the students of Ira Academy have one another to lean on. Some might have found the post-trial camaraderie a comfort. At least everyone hasn't given up hope. At least many students are still finding their anger and their will to fight back.

There are fewer pretenses this coming week. Classes proceed as normal; the school day still functions as normal, but the further everyone comes from that first fateful meeting with the man in charge of this school, the further away and more incomprehensible the thought that there was ever really a chance of going along with the original plan, completing reeducation, and staying safe.


...Of course, you could still try. There'd be nothing stopping you.

But you won't, will you? That's just how the students of Ira Academy are. You'll visit the third floor of the Academy, ascending the newly opened flight of stairs. Maybe you'll investigate one of the new rooms, dwarfed by the echoes that bounce of the uninvitingly tall ceilings. There's probably still something in this place on your side.

Will you work together, or will you grow further apart?

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

OOC NOTES

Welcome to Week 3! New locations have been added and the third floor is now open for exploration. The library is a very large space and more than one person can investigate it throughout the week if you'd like. If you want to investigate one of the Floor 3 rooms, please hit the mods with a ping in Discord and put INVESTIGATE in your subject line.

As a reminder, AC runs Sunday to Sunday concurrent with these posts and is collected based on the prior week; this means you have a whole week to get in AC for the week prior. AC for week 2 should be submitted no later than this coming Sunday. Remember to submit your regains, and sign up for a spot exploring this week's mystery if you want to!

Comments

MORE library lore

[cellpreservation]

[After bringing it up, he'll return to his room to pick up a book, returning with it for everyone to read.]

"Lamashtu of Wrath." It definitely sounds fitting for our guy here.

[canreallymove]

...

...............

[He...he doesn't like this. He doesn't like the implications of any of this. And it's leading him to one conclusion.]

Yeah, I think I'm gettin' an idea and I'm not liking what it is.

[He looks over at Emma and Jeanne worriedly.]

I think you're on the right track, though I don't think he's goin' for just any ol' deal. Nah, man-this guy is just like Buttnik, but with fire powers. He's goin' all or nothing, he's not going to make a deal with a ruler that's not there. Think about it!

What do you do when there's an empty throne just sitting there without a king? You sit on it.

[shinedsobright]

[At some point while others were talking and Fret was listening, he touched the card. Hmm!]

Then what if he already did that?! Could explain what the Freaky Five wanted with those kids in the memory, and, you know, why he has so much power in Closetland.

[canreallymove]

Yeah. Could also explain why he can contain the monsters.

And that's way past bad news.

Mastermind Plot Theory

[keyringwitness]

...I don't think that's right. If he was really king, then he wouldn't need to keep them in containment, would he? They'd be his subjects.

The Principal is sitting in the throne, but I don't think he's ruling it yet.

And... [Yasu taps her chin, then snaps his fingers.]

We're his plan!

W- Wrath is the deadly sin that embodies, um, anger, violence, all that, right? I thought from the start that kidnapping us to, er, "reeducate" was just a pretense; none of this arrangement makes sense otherwise.

What if this is all some kind of ritual to solidify his place as the King of Wrath? Murder is, um, pretty wrath-y, after all. That might explain why he hasn't bothered mind-controlling us again, too. We were his obedient puppets, but once we broke out of it, we demonstrated the spirit and defiance that would be needed for a ritual of wrath.

I'm not really a, um, witch in this sense, but... if it's all about murder and emotion, then he eventually wins one way or another. Either he collects energy from each individual murder, or someone finally gets away with it, condemns the rest to death, and the Principal completes the ritual that way.

The motive making murder non-optional this week makes it blatant that he needs us to murder each other at some point. And, um. Being hungry makes people grouchy, after all...

CW: Mao Mao Spoilers

[violence_ensues]

[...]

[...]

[Well, this is a long shot, but... Adorabat raises a wing.]

Um... I've actually been royalty once. It was a really weird day, but... Could someone else take the seat before he does?

1/2

[keyringwitness]

I don't think we want, um, anybody on the throne. If somebody has an even stronger claim to it than the Principal does, then they'd be even worse to deal with.

2/2

[keyringwitness]

Wait, huh?!

CW: Mao Mao Spoilers

[violence_ensues]

Umm...

[Adorabat rubs the back of her head.]

I once got the power to zing and then the whispering said I should zing everyone that annoyed me and then take over as ruler of Pure Heart Valley.

["Weird Day" now seems like an understatement.]

[keyringwitness]

Z... Zing...?

[yasu is INCREDIBLY lost here adorabat]

[violence_ensues]

[Adorabat pokes the tips of her wings together.]

Um, it's... saying stuff you don't like about people in order to get others to laugh.

[With the way Adorabat describes it, it may sound like insult comedy.]

[keyringwitness]

L. Like a roast.

You took over the kingdom by-

[Yasu sighs.]

...you'd think that I'd have learned my lesson about questioning how things work where you're from by now.

[violence_ensues]

Yea... But at least I can't fire those purple zing beams out of my mouth anymore.

[ADORABAT-]

[keyringwitness]

T- That would be, um, troublesome, yes...

[Yasu shivers at the thought of what Lunon and her crew would've done to her if they could control her mind after insulting her. Now that was horrifying.]

At least you've learned your lesson...?

[HOPEFULLY???]

[canreallymove]

Man, either way, I hate when I'm possibly even kinda right with this stuff!

So, ok, yeah. I guess the best way to put it then is this: he's the king sittin' on the throne, and now he's flexin' his muscles to make sure he gets to stay king, and we're the ones he's using to make that happen regardless.

[cellpreservation]

The kings already vanished once. We just need to make sure his ritual doesn't work.

[keyringwitness]

You got it. [Good job, Sonic! You gold a gold sticker from teacher.] Which means that we need to find some way to stop this ritual before it's too late, if I'm even remotely right.

Re: Mastermind Plot Theory

[lets_dewey_it]

... _{[Oh no.]}

[panglici]

It makes all the things that I couldn't figure out fit into place....

[There is a brief moment where Carrie is visibly considering summarizing all of those, but then... she's horrified everyone already, no need to go into details as to what her own suspicions were.]

The important thing about all of this is that he's still something that can die, if he's so desperate to take up that throne that he'd go to all this effort.

[keyringwitness]

...exactly. If he's going through this much trouble, then he has to be vulnerable to something. We just need to find out what it is.

[Yasu considers making an analogy about vampire weaknesses, but remembers at the last moment that's probably insensitive and shuts her mouth.]

[panglici]

I'd think ice or water, in a simple elemental sense. It'd explain why anyone here with magical power can't use it, we'd be on too even a playing field then.

[keyringwitness]

I would like it if it was as simple as that... but, um. Hot enough fire just turns water to steam, and I'm pretty sure that whatever magic the Principal is using, it's at least powerful enough to do that.

We need to find some other way.

[panglici]

If we could bait him into coming here in person instead of using that - I know there's a word for the thing when it's not magic, probably, but the only thing that I know exists that lets you see and talk to someone that way is a distance mirror. He's not as powerful as he wants us to think he is if he's using one, that's the important part.

[copycut]

Mm. Sounds like it. Lamashtu was seen as an evil goddess who stole babies away from their mothers. If he's using her power—you get it, right? That makes us the stolen children.

[canreallymove]

Man, either way, I hate being right with this stuff!