October Event

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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.

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.

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.

Comments

[crystallomancy]

She's like SIX. I'm sure she DOES.

( ???? HARUKA... IS LITERALLY A CHILD... it's okay. )

[starrypoint]

[oh my god.................. pudding for silence.]

Okay, okay! I just wanna make a good impression on her~. Especially since otherwise I'm stuck with a piece of paper and a rock or whatever.

[he made a cat ouija board for steph but like, the cats would step on it. so.]

[crystallomancy]

You'll want something lighter and that you can see THROUGH, like wood with a hole in IT.

( not that he's ever... used one before... but just saying. )

It'll be easier for her to push that WAY.

[starrypoint]

[hm.........]

I think I can probably make something like that... Does she have a favorite shape?

[oh my god]

[crystallomancy]

( not that he... knows of...? )

Just make something eaSY. You're an iDOL, not a craftsMAN.

[starrypoint]

I'm more of a craftsman than an idol here, Natsume.

[even if he still practices.]

We can't be big names if we can't leave the school.

[crystallomancy]

Is being famous all being an idol meant to YOU, Baru-kun? How disappoinTING. I thought you were diffeRENT.

( ... )

[starrypoint]

You know it's not, Naaaatsume.

[c'mon.]

Have you done anything idol-like since you "woke up", Mr. Fortune Teller?

[crystallomancy]

( no, he hadn't, and he gives subaru a dark look before he pushes the two witch cats he's already cut out at the other, and the half-finished one while he's at it )

Excuse me for being a little preoccuPIED. ( a little cold, too. ) It isn't as if I haven't thought about doing someTHING, but it feels a little crass to put on a show a week or two after someone's DIED.

And it has been months since no one died--I don't think we've really had a moment of peace since the start of the school YEAR, in ApRIL.

[starrypoint]

And how do you think I feel? I woke up, met a couple of people, and then saw them get stabbed by a ghost girl you told me off the bat you killed!

[it's more of a raised whisper than a raised voice, and subaru loosens his grip on the pencil. switches it for a marker. very consciously, very concentratedly, marking the various faces he's drawn. not looking at natsume, because he's making so many missteps with the only person he feels comfortable doing it with and even then it's

it's nervewracking in a way.]

And then on top of that, I learned I was dead and stuff... The only times I like singing are when I'm practicing with the Music Club, Natsume; I'm not a solo artist.

[he has a solo, but he'd rather sing with others.]

[crystallomancy]

( natsume flinches— draws into himself, wonders if he shouldn't have told subaru in the first place anyway. things were going fine with other new people; they didn't know about june, and that was fine. maybe he'd been too hasty.

he sneaks a glance at subaru, lips pursing, and kicks it to the curb. what's done is done, and there are more important details lingering in the air. )

You met Kudo-chan?

( asked softly, simply. and then )

Who did she STAB? ( ... wait, that day— ) You went to meet with the little lamb and Saihara-kun, about your COIN...

[starrypoint]

Mmhmm.

[... he glances over, guilt gnawing at his chest, and then he lays his head on his arm. he can draw like this.]

To be honest... I knew about a couple of things in your presentation already, Natsume. Like how we were all dead, and how we come back -- how most of us come back, at some point, no matter if it's like Baachan did [dead and then returned] or if it's after we graduate and get moved through the cycle.

[...]

Through uh, samsara. Kudo-san talked about it with us, along with Macchi's contract... but I didn't want to think about any of it, [who would,] so I just... didn't.

[sorry hangs quietly in the air, unspoken in word but in his tone instead]

[crystallomancy]

( he hates it when subaru—when people—know more than him, and just watch him struggle for answers and how to put them into the right words and then fail that anyway. it isn't subaru's intention, no more than it was nene's or shuichi's. no one's intention at all, but it still stings. )

Turning your eyes away from the undesiraBLE, just like a little KID. ( but it's

hard, to stay mad at subaru. it was his first month—first week, even—in this place. embers lick at his heart and he smothers them with a sigh. ) I appreciate the late heads UP. Do you know what samsara IS, Baru-kun?

[starrypoint]

[he knows. he knows, but he can't help it. he didn't want to think of natsume dead, or himself, or aira when he woke up too -- he didn't. besides, natsume hadn't seemed like he was struggling at all. hadn't asked, hadn't reached out, had kept to himself and his own thoughts. how was subaru supposed to know?

at the question, though, he lifts his head a bit.]

Not really. I kinda get it's reincarnation stuff, just from like, context clues and junk, but I dunno what it is in detail. It's just a word I heard from someone.

[which implies it wasn't from chiaki, but whatever.]

[crystallomancy]

Put very simply, yes; it's the cycle of reBIRTH. To live, to suffer, to die, to do so without end until you achieve nirvana--freedom from the cycle in its entireTY.

( natsume's voice goes from tense to the more familiar, gentle tone he takes whenever he explains something, attention focused on the scissors in his hand. )

It's not an entirely impersonal sySTEM... Through karma, you work your way to the ideal of freeing yourself from the cycle; karma is gained regardless of your acTIONS. You could think of them as akin to our merit POINTS.

( and maybe subaru should think about that with regards to their little shopkeeper, but moving on. )

To be in the wheel of existence... to be in samsara is to sufFER, but if you perform well eNOUGH, you can escape IT.

( ... )

You didn't hear that word from her though, did YOU?

[starrypoint]

[subaru watches his friend, listening as his tone changes, as he explains, and he really doesn't want to think hard about this stuff -- but it's important to one thing, to someone he treasures, and so he does.

...]

What happens to people who escape it?

[freedom, sure, but-- what is that?]

[crystallomancy]

Don't answer a question with another quesTION.

( too many people in his life like this. but he'll answer, like always. )

...You're no longer bound by worldly cravings and deSIRES, by ignorance or purposeful wrong-doING. There's no concrete answer in most teachings for what lies after achieving true nivaNA, though if I recall there's one at least that has some mention of IT. I'm not a theology major nor am I a strict follower of Buddhism though--you'd have better luck asking Hasumi-senpai when he eventually shows UP.

( when, because death. )

[starrypoint]

[...]

Yeah, Kudo-san didn't mention the word to me.

[answer for answer. he has things to think about. it's definitely different than being "freed", it's more like the non-existence that chiaki mentioned... he definitely has to change it. he clenches his fist beneath his chin.]

Boss and I got to talking about this and that, and it swung up 'cause of the whole purgatory thing. [the acrid taste of a lie burns his tongue, but he can't tell the whole truth. he's being careful enough as is, and natsume... he loves natsume, he trusts natsume, but this isn't something he can help with.] Just in name though, we didn't get too hard into it~.

[because it's not out of the way for subaru just to brush things he "doesn't understand" -- or better put, doesn't want to understand -- off the table for something else, and for the shopkeep to be much the same.]

[crystallomancy]

( hmmm. natsume sideglances at him, then snips at paper again. )

They don't have to worry about IT. They don't even attend this SCHOOL, so they probably aren't in the cycle right now anyWAY. Just someone trespassing on the halls of the DEAD, into realms they ought not linger IN.

( like the underworld in greek mythos. which spells a different kind of worry for the little shopkeeper, but... )

I wouldn't worRY, ( he says, turning the paper, cutting a long spiral. ) Your little shopkeeper will probably be oKAY.

[starrypoint]

[it's good natsume isn't looking at him, because he flinches just a little at the words, then turns the pumpkin over to draw daikichi on the back.

... mmm....]

They will be okay.

[soft but but determined. pumpkin dog set aside, picking up a sheet to make a string of bats, folding carefully first. he wishes natsume's words were a comfort, but knowing as he does...]

I'll take your word for it though, Natsume~. I hope they can leave as peacefully as they came. ♪

[crystallomancy]

Without a word and in the middle of the NIGHT, unbeknownst to everyone ELSE?

( ..... )

I'd never forgive THEM.

[starrypoint]

[...?]

You two got cozy over the week, huh~? That's nice, they like making friends.

[crystallomancy]

( natsume considers the truth. that he's worried about subaru, that he suspects they're overly involved with one another, that he would find out the heat capacity of a human being if any harm should come to someone he cares for.

and then he smiles and lies, like always. )

Yes, we got to know one another quite WELL. I even brought Daikichi to meet THEM.

[starrypoint]

[subaru can tell that's not all it is, but he trusts natsume. it's fine.]

Did they like him? He's so~o comfy to cuddle with... Isn't Boss so cute? And fun to be around? They have the nicest smile too~.

[ya didnt ask but]

[crystallomancy]

You could stand to make it a little less obviOUS.

( just saying. )