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October Event
10/02 06:12
✽ Silence lifts at six in the morning, and there is still quite a bit of time before classes start. Early risers who decide to return to school from the dorms cross the courtyard and open the double doors and—- something cold and wet drips down onto their head: old blood from the torso of a student(?) bound by rope and strung up above the doors to the courtyard, body burned black and cut in half at the waist.
The air is heavy, and the entire school smells of blood.
Hope... month...
✽ A large poster advertising the student store has been tacked up on the bulletin board. For October, store hours are now 6AM to 8PM Monday to Saturday, and noon to 4PM on Sundays. Outside of those hours, the shopkeeper is occasionally in the shop and will leave the door propped open if they are, but more often than not, the door is closed and there is no answer when knocking on the door. Laundry tokens can now be purchased at a reasonable price. The rock gacha machine is now located just outside the door so it can be played at any time. Please continue to spend your hard-eared points on plain boring normal rocks.
✽ In the dormitory, the construction paper covering the oil paintings start to soak through with blood, causing the papers to grow heavy and fall. The distorted faces in the paintings seem to be bleeding from their open wounds, the canvas wet to the touch and smelling of blood. Blood dripping down the walls and on the floor do not cause the dorms to change, nor do the splatters of blood seen on the glass over the star dormitory rooms occasionally throughout the month, as if it had rained blood in the darkness and silence of night, although no other evidence is seen elsewhere in the courtyard.
✽ The wisteria tree slowly continues to lose its petals, and the area roughly ten feet around the trunk of the tree has become completely dead and barren, leaving dry dirt underneath. Despite shedding its petals, new buds are becoming noticeable now too. The spider lilies that bloomed during the autumnal equinox remain, still covering the rest of the courtyard and extending into the forest surrounding the school. Outside, the air smells faintly metallic at all times.
✽ Occasionally throughout the month and increasing in frequency and intensity towards the end of the month, characters with 13 or more tallies will find themselves sensitive to sunlight and loud noises, prone to vertigo upon standing or turning too quickly, and suffering ice pick headaches throughout the day.
✽ Characters with 5 or less tallies will hear faint white noise during the normally silent hours of midnight to 6AM, but no other sound.
✽ The class roster on the bulletin board acknowledges class 1-D for leading the rest of the classes in rank, being the first to reach 100. All characters in first year classes and #-D classes will receive 500 merit points and will be able to exit out the front door to the school. They will be able to make it up to the front gate, but will find themselves growing lightheaded and about to pass out if they try to squeeze through the bars or climb over the gate itself. Please contact me privately if they would try to get out anyways.
✽ The void in the auditorium continues to grow, and (pending character interaction) by the end of the month will encompass the entire right wing of the first floor past the lockers, the home ec cooking room on the second floor, as well as the art club room on the third floor.
✽ In the dormitory, the construction paper covering the oil paintings start to soak through with blood, causing the papers to grow heavy and fall. The distorted faces in the paintings seem to be bleeding from their open wounds, the canvas wet to the touch and smelling of blood. Blood dripping down the walls and on the floor do not cause the dorms to change, nor do the splatters of blood seen on the glass over the star dormitory rooms occasionally throughout the month, as if it had rained blood in the darkness and silence of night, although no other evidence is seen elsewhere in the courtyard.
✽ The wisteria tree slowly continues to lose its petals, and the area roughly ten feet around the trunk of the tree has become completely dead and barren, leaving dry dirt underneath. Despite shedding its petals, new buds are becoming noticeable now too. The spider lilies that bloomed during the autumnal equinox remain, still covering the rest of the courtyard and extending into the forest surrounding the school. Outside, the air smells faintly metallic at all times.
✽ Occasionally throughout the month and increasing in frequency and intensity towards the end of the month, characters with 13 or more tallies will find themselves sensitive to sunlight and loud noises, prone to vertigo upon standing or turning too quickly, and suffering ice pick headaches throughout the day.
✽ Characters with 5 or less tallies will hear faint white noise during the normally silent hours of midnight to 6AM, but no other sound.
✽ The class roster on the bulletin board acknowledges class 1-D for leading the rest of the classes in rank, being the first to reach 100. All characters in first year classes and #-D classes will receive 500 merit points and will be able to exit out the front door to the school. They will be able to make it up to the front gate, but will find themselves growing lightheaded and about to pass out if they try to squeeze through the bars or climb over the gate itself. Please contact me privately if they would try to get out anyways.
✽ The void in the auditorium continues to grow, and (pending character interaction) by the end of the month will encompass the entire right wing of the first floor past the lockers, the home ec cooking room on the second floor, as well as the art club room on the third floor.
Exchange Program
✽ On October 11, students participating in the exchange program are given one pocket knife each and sent out the front doors, upon which they will find themselves in that canon location as if they had stepped out of any normal door in the area. For characters who visit their own canon's location, they will find all their friends and family alive and happy— except for the one person they are closest to, who will be absent. Nobody there will recognize your character or the person they are closest to, regarding both as complete strangers, as if neither have ever existed in the first place. But otherwise... think of it as canon good end, in contrast to elevator bad end.
✽ There is no bus to take them back to Yogen and they can stay as long as they'd like, even forever if they feel like it. If they wish to return to their real home, though, they would have to first return to Yogen and figure things out from there. The first time they open the pocket knife, they will find a piece of paper tucked between the blade and the handle reading "Use to return." If they use it on other people, that's the local law enforcement's business. In order to return to Yogen, perhaps remembering Natsume's presentation mentioning how they got there in the first place, they will have to use the knife on themselves, or otherwise die by happenstance or, eventually, old age. Two weeks after their return to school, they will find one additional tally on the inside of their wrist.
✽ In return, Yogen receives three exchange students: two familiar and one not.
✽ There is no bus to take them back to Yogen and they can stay as long as they'd like, even forever if they feel like it. If they wish to return to their real home, though, they would have to first return to Yogen and figure things out from there. The first time they open the pocket knife, they will find a piece of paper tucked between the blade and the handle reading "Use to return." If they use it on other people, that's the local law enforcement's business. In order to return to Yogen, perhaps remembering Natsume's presentation mentioning how they got there in the first place, they will have to use the knife on themselves, or otherwise die by happenstance or, eventually, old age. Two weeks after their return to school, they will find one additional tally on the inside of their wrist.
✽ In return, Yogen receives three exchange students: two familiar and one not.
OOC
✽ The first prompt leads into this month's mini-event, which is becoming a misnomer, maybe they should be called murder events instead.
✽ All students leaving on the exchange program will icly be gone for at least 10/11 - 10/17, although they will be able to return at any later date in October, at the player's discretion, regardless of how much time they experienced on their trip. Just like in the bad end elevator and the void school, nothing physical can be taken back from the exchange trip, but characters can at least drain their bank accounts eating good food and exploring town before coming back.
✽ The new exchange students are former npcs Kouji Seki and Chiaki Kudo, as well as a new student ???. They can be interacted with in their corresponding toplevels below, after 10/11.
✽ All students leaving on the exchange program will icly be gone for at least 10/11 - 10/17, although they will be able to return at any later date in October, at the player's discretion, regardless of how much time they experienced on their trip. Just like in the bad end elevator and the void school, nothing physical can be taken back from the exchange trip, but characters can at least drain their bank accounts eating good food and exploring town before coming back.
✽ The new exchange students are former npcs Kouji Seki and Chiaki Kudo, as well as a new student ???. They can be interacted with in their corresponding toplevels below, after 10/11.
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Likely I simply had this set to talk just a hair too fast. That, and it's been a bit of a long day.
[her finger taps the device Senku had made for her that first month - she doesn't know how he engineered something that translates words to speech, but he had, out of what they had in the club, and it almost never left her side now. if not attached to her PDA, it was attached to a laptop. she hits the button that she knows controls the speed of the voice. a click down for now, and that'll do.]
Thank you, though. I appreciate it.
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[ It's advice he'd picked up from the others over time. They had strict deadlines and productivity goals. The company had no particular use for those who were unable to meet their requirements. But all humans had their limits.
Ranger misses that now. Any sense of purpose that he had evaporated when he arrived here. He remembers, too, the handful of reasons that they let themselves be rooted from to the spot: ]
Especially if you've had a long day, you start getting sloppy. Lemme guess, looking for a distraction?
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[before she can forget, she hits the shortcut to save the work, the device softly telling her that it's been done.]
I don't think I can make myself do more, though. I keep getting distracted from my distraction. And then missing obvious mistakes...ah, I'll have to wait until we get back together.
Tell me, Mr. Ranger, since we're already here. What do you do to distract yourself?
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[ He drums his fingers on the table, thinking on that for a few seconds. He's tried various things to distract himself. He did go to classes for the sake of it, but everything was too easy. He hadn't been intended for a high school. Reading was fine, but it could only do so much.
So... ]
Well, it's more or less just this. I was meant to support prodigies in science and technology, so y'know, I'm used to keeping way busier than this. It's pretty boring around here.
[ Aside from, you know, all the murder. That doesn't really seem like his problem though. ]
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[guess who totally thinks Ranger is a human? guess who has no idea at all about his cards or anything else - she just knows his voice and his presence, and that's all she needs for the moment.]
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Hmm... Well, messing with my partner ain't too bad! She has some pretty funny reactions. But since she ain't here...
[ He trails off, a small frown pulling at his lips. That was one more thing that he'd never concerned himself with. ]
Dunno, I never needed to! Job's always kept me busy enough that I didn't have time to think of anything else, ahaha. Maybe I should take up knitting?
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[even if it's sarcastic, the idea of doing something that would require some focus was always a good one. it's why people cooked, why they invented projects for themselves when there was nothing else.]
Though I admit that's a far cry from working in robotics...what we have here in the club is what we have, and I've heard that it's insufficient for most of the people here. It's a difficult thing, to have to fill time when you aren't used to it.
[she shrugs, but she's not bothered. so far she's managed to keep herself productive enough to avoid feeling too antsy.]
It doesn't have to be knitting specifically, but some kind of skill you know nothing about - something that'll demand a little trial and error, so you can set your own goals - it will keep your mind from turning itself over.
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Ranger taps the card against his face a few times as he considers. ]
Yeah, the technology here is pretty rudimentary. The company I work for is pretty sophisticated. It's pretty high end stuff even back home. But it ain't like I've got any real projects here anyway.
[ Which isn't to say that he has none, but it was a far cry from having distinct instructions and targets. His tone becomes more thoughtful as he continues on, ]
Hmmmm... Sure, making stuff might not be so bad. It ain't like there's any other way to get stuff around here. If I'm gonna do something, it might as well be something useful.
[ Well, something that's useful for him anyway. ]
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[even if she can't admire his creations in the same way, she'll support him, and be glad he tried.]
The sewing club shouldn't be too hard to find if you look - I know they have a variety of fabric. Oh, but according to everyone else, there's no red.
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I'll give it a shot. I think I know where the place is, just never had any reason to go in there... Hmm, no red though, huh? The art club's like that too, it's a hassle. You know what's up with that?
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[when you stay with three other people, you trust their eyes to be like your own in that space.]
Just another one of this school's mysteries, in the end. But even without red, I'm confident you'll be able to make something lovely. It might even wind up being an interesting challenge...changing your creative vision.
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The desk rattles for a moment as he places his hands on it and leans forward. The bottom of his boot scrapes against the floor as he pulls it back before tapping the tip of his boot against the floor with a series of small taps. ]
Hmmm... Maybe.
[ Ranger was loud and dramatic to the point of being obnoxious, but his voice lowers to something quieter now. It's far closer to the sort of tone that the average person might use when considering something for the very first time - contemplative and curious, but with a layer of disbelief tucked away underneath the surface.
Tap, tap, tap.... He manages to shake the anxiety out of it, but his voice remains unusually level, ]
Well, it's fine. Red's not really better than any color, I just like vibrant colors and patterns, stuff like that... [ There's a thoughtful little hum before he adds: ] It's the same with sounds, ain't it? Birds chirping and other nature sounds are fine, but so is the sound of rain.
[ Not that he's ever heard either of those, sans recordings and the knowledge inherent to him. ]
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[she sounds fond, and looks it - a little wistful, holding onto the good memories in her heart. a little smile, calm.]
But you...you're probably the sort who'd love music, the brighter the better. Something with lots of brass instruments, so it could go "pah-pah, pah-pah, dah-ka-da-daaaaaaa", the sort that makes your heart beat with it.
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But he keeps his tone light, pepped up by an exaggerated enthusiasm, ]
Ahaha! You got it in one. Yep, I like lively music... Well, I don't think I've heard much that I've disliked, though.
[ Mostly because his tastes reflect those of his creators, with just enough tweaks to feel individualized. Ranger offers a thoughtful little hum, his tone leveling a touch as he moves on, ]
But if I ever had the chance I think I'd wanna be a part of the scene you described. I bet nature's got a pretty nice soundtrack, ahaha! It must put your heart at ease to put your heart at ease to be outside in such a lively place, eh?
[ Right, it was good for people in general. There were many document benefits of spending time outside. ]
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[she laughs very softly. it's a good memory to have, and she wonders - does Ranger not know that joy? if he grew up in a busy city, it's possible, but also some people here come from such strange places it's easier to assume nothing, to let the facts come as they are.]
Say...I have an idea of what we can do for fun today, provided we haven't missed all the daylight.
[standing from her seat, she carefully collects the laptop - it has to go right back where Shin keeps it.]
Trust me for a little while?
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He thinks he has an idea of what she's getting at, but it nonetheless takes Ranger a few seconds to process it. This isn't the kind of conversation that he's used to. This isn't the kind of offer that should be made to someone like him. Or maybe it was? Ranger, too, was made with the intention of supporting humans. It's just one more piece of his existence that rakes at him. ]
... Huh? [ The confusion fades pretty quickly. His voice softens a little, some of the exaggerated pep ebbing as he lowers it to a conversational tone. The desk shakes again as he pushes himself off of it and stands upright. ] Sure, I don't mind. It's not like I've got anything else going on.
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[standing up, she takes the laptop back to its home - thank you for your work today, Shin's laptop. and then, she guides herself to the door, pausing before she goes all the way out.]
Just follow me, then.
[she expects Ranger to follow behind her, as she goes out the workshop and down the stairs, out into the grounds. she doesn't stop in the courtyard, rather, she keeps tapping away and following a path that will lead them closer to the dorms, where the grass and spider lilies are still growing, closer to the edge of the forest that surrounds the school. and then, when they are in the midst of it, halfway between the dorms and the school and the forest, she goes off the path, and then...sits down in the grass and flowers, laying her cane beside her. gently, she pats the ground next to her.]
Come sit down, and close your eyes. That'll be the best way to listen.
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Well, it would have to be good enough. He stops when she does, a few steps behind. He takes a seat next to her when prompted, one gloved hand, but he's not sure if he should accede to the latter. It was true that cutting off one sense strengthened the others as the focus shifted to them, but he wasn't so inclined as to so much as close one eye with the people he stayed around, and he trusts the company here even less for lack of any real knowledge of them.
So he doesn't agree immediately, and there is instead a soft huff of breath. But he shifts his position a little more. ]
Can't hear things properly when you're busy looking at them, huh? Okay, sure.
[ There's still a trace of uncertainty in his voice, but he seems willing enough to comply. In the end he knows it hardly matters. If he were that careless, then whatever happened would be deserved. ]
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and, the real reason she asked him out here, the sweet, bright sounds of small birds chirping to each other. not as many as there might be out in a field, or somewhere in the living world, but enough to color the senses, the birdsong in drops like falling rain to gently cover them both. they aren't concerned with anything but their own little lives, and Helena is absolutely still, silent - everything simply exists right now.]
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Ranger has been outside since coming here. He spent enough of it outside, but he was always busy. He was always distracting himself with one thing or another, or otherwise trying to find something to distract himself with. That was always how it was, and even moreso in a place where it seemed as though he'd lost anything and everything that justified his existence.
But he does so now, and is pleasantly surprised by the results. The sun bathing down on him is a novel sensation even now, warm and pleasant, and all the small sounds of nature that come together that blend together harmoniously. It's completely different than a recording, as he thought. It better matches the knowledge he has of such things; he knows how birds sound, how the ocean sounds, he knows the sounds and sights of places that he was never intended to visit. He knew everything that a human should know.
But he'd wanted to be human. He'd wanted to experience those things for himself. He liked the ideas of stars and constellations, birds and plants, of bustling cities and their bright lights. How lucky humans were, how fortunate, and how much he'd wanted to live that life.
But he takes this in without complaint. He thinks he should be happy, for all that he wanted it, but there's still a vacant and empty feeling. But he's not unhappy, either. It's not a bad feeling. He opens his eyes after some time, but it takes him a little while longer to say anything.
It's a nice sound, he thinks. Birds had nicer voices than humans. Simple and cheerful and full of life. He likes that sound. He ponders something for a little while longer before offering his thoughts in an uncharacteristically soft voice, ]
It's nice.
[ Just two words, but it's far more than he would normally offer. ]
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[she's also softer than normal - quiet as she's wont to be, and then some. she doesn't want to break this spell, however it's fallen about him, and partly because for a while there were no birds to chirp, to live their lives unbothered by human worry. Helena can't make herself pretend she's back where she grew up, with long grasses and the faint scent of a garden, with trees and the humidity of summer stuck to the back of her neck and how every breeze felt like a blessing. but she can be here, in a moment. no one is asking more of either of them than to exist - no one is in pain, dying, suffering that needs be answered.
it's been a while, but she feels like she's come up for air.]
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[ He waits a little longer, running through questions in his head. The questions of what could and would have been, the questions of why and what. He knows the answers to all of those questions, but not satisfied with the answers, he asks them anyway. He falls silent again for a time, eyelids closing halfway as he puzzles. He doesn't budge from his current position, holding stiller than he normally might.
But he finally glances her way. There's a soft, thoughtful sound after a time. The level tone remains when he speaks again, but there's a hint of hesitancy leaking into his voice, ]
Well, I always figured it would be. But y'know, experiencing something for yourself is always different. Can't say I ever went outside before I came here.
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[she says it mildly, keeping things like pity out of her voice on purpose. her eyes open and she turns her head his direction to be polite - it made people more comfortable, she knew, if she did such things, even if it would be simpler not to.]
But now at least you can make up a little bit of your lost time. There's this, and the snow is bound to come for winter, and spring is always wonderful...it hasn't rained here yet, but if it does, you can come stand in it, and listen to it that way. We don't have too much, but at the least you're free to go where you want in these grounds. Things like that will make whatever you decide to do a little brighter, to borrow your word.
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He wonders if he should feel guilty about this. He doesn't, though. Frustrated, lonely, worthless, jealous - but not guilty. He draws in a deep breath and exhales slowly. ]
Nah, this is already a lot more.
[ This world feels massive compared to his. He repeats himself slowly, a little more certainly now: ]
Yeah, that sounds nice... Hmmm, winter's next, right? Good, I've got a couple people that I wouldn't mind smacking in the back of the head with a snowball, ahaha!
[ that last bit is a joke. probably. maybe. ]
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[she says it as casually as if she was promising to hand him the homework notes, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. maybe he'll be able to take even more from it than what she can show him, in how it falls, how it supposedly blankets the world in a way that looks almost pure, like clouds brought down. those aren't her words, but she keeps them close - they're what she has, to register such things.]
Does that sound all right to you, Mr. Ranger?
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