adsum: (Default)
adsum ([personal profile] adsum) wrote in [community profile] yogen2021-06-05 07:54 am

June Event


hello

You open your eyes.

And you scream.

Four long gashes tear your sleeve to ribbons and arm to searing pain, something sharp clamps down on your ankle and sinks into flesh and bone, down the hall another student dangles half a foot off the ground with their hair slowly separating from their scalp, and littered across the floor are bodies pooling blood and occasionally twitching— not in a last bid for life, but in the way strips of skin and muscle and fabric pull away from a person's limbs when several dozen invisible hungry imps have decided they don't want to be banished and would rather feast on the blood of their enemies if that's what it takes to survive.

For every instance of blood that touches the floor, the school pitches and transforms into a dilapidated version of itself, what npcs that were in the hall with you turning into shadow versions of themselves and taking hold of the fallen bodies to drag them to the auditorium. There, the empty room is pitch black. There, the threshold at the doorway crumbles and expands with each shadow that stands and feeds the void another sacrifice. In this school, in its darkness and its silence and its faceless students that cannot be touched, you may at least find some reprieve from the imps that do not exist, find fresh water flowing from the bathroom sinks, and scenes of normal school life playing out in the cracked mirrors that if you break even further you find that you return.

You open your eyes, and no time has passed. Something invisible tears open a student's throat, so close you can see their vocal cords bright white and vibrating as they scream. Blood splatters on the ground, and the school pitches and turns once again.

hi

For each fallen student, a new one transfers in to replace them. Between the student council election and the imp infestation, more and more you seem to be surrounded by unfamiliar faces. The contrast is stark between those veteran students with bandaged arms and a limp to their stride and long sleeves and pants despite the growing heat, and those students with bright and smiling faces, the ones who coo over the cats and share their lunches with anybody who looks hungry and sit in small groups outside by the wisteria tree to chat during breaks, ignorant of what keeps it fed.

With all the new transfer students, many teachers have decided to assign group projects for their classes: poster presentations on their favorite myth or legend, short skits portraying famous historical scenes, and, everybody say thank you Cain and Kelly, taking care of flour sack babies. Projects are by homeroom and can be done in groups of 2-4, because sometimes a family is a dad and a dad and a wine aunt and a dog. The projects are all due at the end of the month, and if you're able to keep your flour sack baby from being turned into a cake or torn apart by imps, you may notice that they start to feel... warm... after one week. At the end of the second week, they begin to make short, quiet noises— a gurgle, a breath, a whine. At the end of the third week, while you're cradling the sack in your arms, you swear it moves. At the end of the fourth week, well. The project is over. Maybe it'll hatch? Let me know if you make it.

can you hear me?

The veteran students don't seem very keen on working with transfer students who make excuses about not wanting to work outside of school, but newer students are more willing, eager to meet people and get to know them and learn about the school. They gravitate towards the bulletin board to check out the class ranks, new clubs, a new section on the board with several dozen slips of colored paper tacked onto it and a little container below containing blank slips and a pen so you can add your own wishes:
"I want to be normal. --XX, 1-A"
 "I want to live. --XX, 2-B" 
 "I want my friends back. --XX, 3-D" 
 "I want life to go back to normal. --XX, 2-A" 
 "I want my brother back. --XX, 2-A" 
 "I want more power. --XX, 1-A" 
 "I want to be loved. --XX, 1-B" 
 "I want to fix the past. --XX, 2-A" 
 "I want to find my family. --XX, 3-B" 
 "I want to be loved. --XX, 2-A" 
 "I want a normal life. --XX, 1-A" 
 "I want my brother back. --XX, 2-B" 
 "I want to see my family. --XX, 1-C" 
 "I want to die. --XX, 2-D" 
 "I want my friends back. --XX, 2-D" 
 "I want to fix the past. --XX, 3-D" 
 "I want freedom. --XX, 1-D" 
 "I want to live. --XX, 1-C" 
 "LUNCH DATE WITH IZUMI SENA!!! --XX, 1-A" 
 "I want to be strong. --XX, 2-E" 
 "I want freedom. --XX, 3-E" 
 "I want to live. --XX, 2-E" 
 "I want to die. --XX, 3-E" 
 "I want to remember. --XX, 3-C" 
Wishes are meant to be granted, but... Some of the newer students make an attempt at being a little more realistic and add things like "I want the answers to next week's math exam" and "I want a pony" and do check the board occasionally, so it never hurts to leave a wish of your own.

That's certainly the thought as the month goes on and there are more and more wishes for the construction in the clock tower stairwell to hurry up and finish already, as the entire month of June, from 6AM to 6PM, six days a week, the sounds of drilling and hammering and screaming and sawing can be heard in the stairwell despite no construction workers being seen entering or exiting the school. The clock tower itself is inaccessible while the stairs are being taken down and replaced with a brand new elevator— veteran students are particularly grateful, because it's hard to climb stairs and go to class when your shin is splintered and a thin layer of bandage is the only thing keeping your guts from spilling out onto the floor.

In the evening after the npcs leave, characters are able to open the doors on the second and fourth floors to find... that nothing looks any different. On the first floor, however, a set of elevator doors has been installed right by the front doors, and while the button to open the doors don't work, they can be wrenched apart and entered, revealing a barren space with metal walls, a clock hung on the back wall that ticks backwards, and too many buttons on the panel by the double doors. Most buttons are white, numbered -6 to 27 though out of order and not all the numbers are there. Some are black, one is red, neither colors having symbols etched into them. None of the buttons work when pressed.

Not yet.

it'll be alright

Until then, the clock tower can be reached as normal up several flights of stairs, the room at the very top bright and sunny with clock faces in the glass on all four sides, floorboards stained copper red and the air thick and difficult to breathe. For some, it's still worth it for the view of the wisteria tree in perpetual bloom in the courtyard below, especially as the heat and humidity of summer approaches and with it comes clouds of gnats that have taken up residence in the courtyard, hovering over puddles of light pink water left over from watering the courtyard overnight. Classes are no longer held outdoors, as teachers find it impossible to speak without gnats entering their mouths at any given opportunity, and the heat inside the school becomes near unbearable towards the latter half of the month as there is no air conditioning and teachers hesitate to open their windows. The homeroom teachers in 1-B, 1-D, and 2-C made that mistake once, opening the windows facing the courtyard and the gnats had gotten in, little homing missiles to their favorite food: blood, sweat, and tears. But if you don't cry, sweat, or bleed and aren't afraid of the gnats squeezing their way through the mesh screen in the windows, it can be nice to sit by the window and hope a breeze comes your way.

Those in classes 3-A, 3-B, 2-C, 2-D, 2-E, and all of the first year classes can find that they're able to open the windows in classrooms 1-B, 1-D, and 2-C to enjoy the breeze, but find an invisible barrier blocking their way and preventing any part of them from reaching out into the open space. 3-A, 2-C, 2-D, 2-E, 1-B, 1-D, and 1-E are able to remove the screen and exit through those windows facing the courtyard, keeping in mind it is the 3rd and 4th floors and they will have to climb back up to reenter the school. 2-C, 1-B, and 1-D can go a step further and find that the front door to the school opens for them, except when they try to leave, they run into an invisible barrier, unable to take another step out the door. But they can stand there and take in the sight of the school gates in the near distance, of the forest just beyond, of the npc students slipping past them on their way to and from home. At this threshold it is chilly despite the heat that smothers the school in waves, the air is fresh, invigorating, and when the sun passes overhead you swear you can feel it staring.

OOC

✽ Sometimes you summon murder imps and you gotta get rid of them yourselves. The imps are invisible unless supernatural sight (eg Nene, Clamor) or form (eg Moriarty, Sherlock) is regained, or are seen through an adder stone (possessed by Arthur, Gundham), but can still be fought either way through physical or magical means, or banished with the proper materials. They will NOT be rampaging and attacking everybody all the time, so this prompt is avoidable if you'd rather not, but they will gravitate towards 1) students who are alone, and 2) areas where there is already bloodshed happening.
✽ For the flour sack group project, groups are by homeroom and can number between 2-4 students. You may also assume npc students are part of your group if you wish.
✽ Characters may notice that physically, an elevator can't make sense without demolishing the first floor locker area, and they will have to accept the fact that not everything will make sense, and that sometimes, Ori just does not want to redraw floorplans. The elevator will be functional starting next month, maybe.
✽ Only windows in classrooms 1-B, 1-D, and 2-C can be opened by characters in classes that have gained at least one class rank to date. Those classes that gained at least one class rank last month are able to exit out the windows facing the courtyard only. Those classes with 30 or more ranks are able to open the front door to the school but not exit through it. To anybody else watching them open the door, they will see that character turn into a shadow and go through the motions of opening the door without exiting, exactly how npc students appear when they enter and exit the school.
silentabyss: (046)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-07 09:44 pm (UTC)(link)
...

Yeah— well, no, but—

[Noah is experiencing a 501 error.]

He asked if he could borrow it and then I asked why, and then he distracted me with that pass and then somewhere in between me being confused and him talking, I suddenly didn't have a PDA anymore, I don't know!
sunstead: (010)

[personal profile] sunstead 2021-06-07 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
Has he given it back yet? What have you been eating during lunch if you don't have your PDA? Do you need me to grab you something?
silentabyss: (089)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-07 09:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Uh, no... I don't have it. And I've been picking off of the leftover food the other students aren't eating off of their plates. [some people probably feel bad for the starving transfer student. probably.] And I'm fine, I'm not hungry right now.
moderating: (10)

[personal profile] moderating 2021-06-08 12:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ rubs her eyes because she been asleep... ]

Oh... Did you say PDA..?
Edited 2021-06-08 00:23 (UTC)
silentabyss: (002)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-08 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I did. I didn't think it would be gone this long. Uh— you don't have to worry about me, though.
moderating: (20)

[personal profile] moderating 2021-06-08 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Yawns... ]

... Ah, But I have a few more... That arent mine.... Maybe one is yours...?
silentabyss: (046)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-08 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh!]

How did you get... uh, nevermind, it doesn't matter. Do you mind if I look through them to see?
moderating: (3)

[personal profile] moderating 2021-06-09 09:40 am (UTC)(link)
... I made a wish after seeing someone else make theres.... And then I got it back...

[ Nanami hands him, his PDA along with Hinata and Nene's. Then she immediately passes the fuck out. ]
silentabyss: (003)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-09 03:54 pm (UTC)(link)
[Oh okay don't die

Noah checks all of them until he finds his, and then tries to pass the other two back... and she's asleep and he's confused so he just sort of sticks them into her pockets as best he can and leaves her there because he gets it, girl, he super gets it. Sleep well.]
moderating: (52)

[personal profile] moderating 2021-06-10 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
[ NOAH LMFAO. ]
sunstead: (010)

[personal profile] sunstead 2021-06-09 07:04 am (UTC)(link)
[... well, since the PDA issue seems to have been taken care of now]

That Komaeda... he's nothing but trouble! He hasn't tried to make you do anything weird, has he? You really need to stop hanging around him so much. I don't even know what I'd do if you started spouting off nonsense about hope...
silentabyss: (002)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-09 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not that insane. I just want him to see reason.

[Also when Noah broke down in the library that one time, Komaeda patted his head and leaned against him, so sometimes Noah thinks Komaeda's good! Only sometimes! Because also he's pretty sure that Komaeda murdered someone, something he recently formed a hypothesis about.]

No, he hasn't tried to make me do anything weird... other than stealing the PDA? All we do is talk sometimes, usually philosophical stuff. ...Sometimes he teases me about my nonexistent love life...
sunstead: (003)

[personal profile] sunstead 2021-06-09 08:06 am (UTC)(link)
Noah... some people just can't be reasoned with.

[and now he's also 100% sure Komaeda is bullying his son, so he's just going to sigh and put a reassuring hand on Noah's shoulder. it's okay, he understands, you don't have to say it out loud...]

You're way too young to be worrying about love. Real relationships take time, and even adults struggle with finding the right person. At least you're doing better than someone who died in their twenties and didn't even get invited to the wild parties where people would make out for dares.

[that's, uh, awfully specific]
silentabyss: (026)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-09 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah, I... I know, but sometimes it's worth a shot.

[And hold up what's this oddly specific scenario? Noah squints in teenager which means he's about to flip this conversation, or attempt to anyway. Enough about him, what about the fact that the adults wandered off during the King's Game? What did they do, play minigolf in the other room? Lame. Obviously Noah had more fun.]

Did you want to be invited to wild parties where people do that? ...can't you do that here? There's a bunch of adults here. You can, uh, what's it... "wild out" like Rika kept saying.

[Noah, in Hajun voice: Maybe go kiss someone.]
sunstead: (086)

[personal profile] sunstead 2021-06-13 07:54 am (UTC)(link)
[SIGH well the optimist in him can't say that's a bad argument... but seriously, why can't you just not hang around the crazy hope guy?? which, hey, brings all this together, since instead of kissing anyone Clamor got to listen to Komaeda try to make people choke and drown each other that day, he's never going to any wild parties ever again]

What? No, no, of course not. [that statement obviously wasn't about himself?? clearly.] What I meant is that you shouldn't let those things bother you! It's fine to take things at your own pace, you know? You're still young! If anyone's trying to tease you about it, that just means they still have a lot of growing up to do for themselves.
silentabyss: (019)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-13 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
[Surely there will be other wild parties which Komaeda is banned from for being himself?]

I'm not... bothered by anything. [YES YOU ARRRRREEEEE] I don't think I'd be good at those sorts of relationships anyway. I'm not... [good enough?] ...I mean, I'm not really looking. It was just curiosity, that's all.
sunstead: (047)

[personal profile] sunstead 2021-06-13 08:51 am (UTC)(link)
You're not? [that's questionable, but...] That's good! You really are too young to be getting into any kind of serious relationship. Give it time, I'm sure you'll do just fine! You're a handsome young man, after all!

[ONE (1) FATHERLY PAT ON THE BACK he's proud of u son, waiting until you're older and more mature to start dating... yes that's definitely what's happening here...]
silentabyss: (014)

[personal profile] silentabyss 2021-06-13 09:10 am (UTC)(link)
[VICTORY! Do not perceive him.]

I'm... really not worried about how attractive I look to people. Thanks though...

[Really he's worried about more practical things! Like the fact that he probably won't live to see twenty and vengeance against those who wronged him!]