![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
DECEMBER EVENT/TDM
bulletin board updates
✽ There are several new points of interest at the bulletin board this month, most prominently a wooden box with the slit on the top just large enough to drop a sheet of paper inside. Above is an explanation of Secret Santa and a form to fill out for those interested in participating to write down their name, homeroom, and locker number. Sign-ups close on 12/5, and following assignments, gifts may be given in person or through one of the student council members if anonymous gifting is preferred (contact the mod to hire a stuco elf).
✽ Right next to this box is a poster with a large orange giraffe painted on it. The contents of the poster has nothing to do with giraffes, but rather, is an advertisement for student store commissions featuring quality work with quick turnarounds and a special discount for the month of December if you buy five or more commissions, or bring the shopkeep a warm drink and maybe a snack while they're working.
✽ To the side of the class roster and current ranks is a digital countdown, and scrawled on the bulletin board itself is the message "You're almost there! You can do it! One more push!" but it's unclear whether this message refers to the countdown to the new year, or to the long glass tube situated along the edge of the bulletin board next to it. Maybe both. The tube looks similar to a graduated cylinder, holding a total volume of 5000 ml and currently containing 4850 ml of dark red (presumably) blood, hot to the touch. It can not be broken or removed. The mod will be in contact if any character action this month causes the volume to change.
✽ A neatly typed notice, half buried under all the other announcements, contains a reminder that tuition will be due soon for those students continuing to study at Yogen. If tuition is not paid in full by the end of February, "compensation" will be taken instead.
✽ And finally, there is a notice from the student council that proof of club activity is once again due for submission to the student council by 12/24, otherwise the club will be dissolved and resources taken back. Please submit activity proof to the toplevel below.
✽ Right next to this box is a poster with a large orange giraffe painted on it. The contents of the poster has nothing to do with giraffes, but rather, is an advertisement for student store commissions featuring quality work with quick turnarounds and a special discount for the month of December if you buy five or more commissions, or bring the shopkeep a warm drink and maybe a snack while they're working.
✽ To the side of the class roster and current ranks is a digital countdown, and scrawled on the bulletin board itself is the message "You're almost there! You can do it! One more push!" but it's unclear whether this message refers to the countdown to the new year, or to the long glass tube situated along the edge of the bulletin board next to it. Maybe both. The tube looks similar to a graduated cylinder, holding a total volume of 5000 ml and currently containing 4850 ml of dark red (presumably) blood, hot to the touch. It can not be broken or removed. The mod will be in contact if any character action this month causes the volume to change.
✽ A neatly typed notice, half buried under all the other announcements, contains a reminder that tuition will be due soon for those students continuing to study at Yogen. If tuition is not paid in full by the end of February, "compensation" will be taken instead.
✽ And finally, there is a notice from the student council that proof of club activity is once again due for submission to the student council by 12/24, otherwise the club will be dissolved and resources taken back. Please submit activity proof to the toplevel below.
12/20 - 12/24 finals week
✽ The week before winter break is finals, with many students cramming as many math formulas and foreign country leaders into their heads as possible without it all spilling over, while other students have decided to chance the practicum instead. Those who have signed up for the practicum are asked to meet inside the auditorium after homeroom at the start of the day while test takers begin their written exams. Students are allowed to change their minds on which to take, up until the end of homeroom on Monday, after the bell rings and the doors close.
✽ For the test takers, finals last for five days, from 8AM until noon each day, after which students are allowed to go home, or have lunch and continue studying in their homerooms or in the library. At the end of finals on Friday, students are asked to remain in their homerooms over lunch break while their exams finish being graded, after which homeroom teachers will return and ask certain students to go with them to the faculty office. These are the failing students. Which the homeroom teachers themselves have the pleasure of executing for their failures. All other students are dismissed and wished a happy winter break.
✽ For those opting for the practicum, finals last for two days, from 8AM until noon on Monday and Tuesday. All students from all grades meet in the auditorium the first day and are told the very simple rules for this semester's practicum: in order to raise your failing grade, all you have to do is kill another student, upon which you take their points for yourself. At the start of both days, students first gather in the auditorium for a headcount and then are given a half hour no-killing grace period during which they are allowed to scatter and find the best sniping/ambushing/hiding spots. The hunt is limited to four hours each day and kills must be done on campus; any kills done outside of these parameters are just for fun and do not count towards their final grade. Points are given for kills involving students in the same grade level of different homerooms (e.g. third years only benefit from killing other third years) and points are revoked for kills involving other grade levels or test takers not participating in the practicum. They studied hard, leave them alone. Most students need only one or two kills to pass, but multiple kills stack and earn them extra credit that will carry over to the next semester. Students who end the second day with a still failing grade will be called to the faculty office. ... All remaining students are dismissed and wished a happy (early!) winter break.
✽ A winter storm starts to whip up around noon on the 24th, raging through the night before settling down come morning, blanketing the entire campus with several feet of snow.
✽ For the test takers, finals last for five days, from 8AM until noon each day, after which students are allowed to go home, or have lunch and continue studying in their homerooms or in the library. At the end of finals on Friday, students are asked to remain in their homerooms over lunch break while their exams finish being graded, after which homeroom teachers will return and ask certain students to go with them to the faculty office. These are the failing students. Which the homeroom teachers themselves have the pleasure of executing for their failures. All other students are dismissed and wished a happy winter break.
✽ For those opting for the practicum, finals last for two days, from 8AM until noon on Monday and Tuesday. All students from all grades meet in the auditorium the first day and are told the very simple rules for this semester's practicum: in order to raise your failing grade, all you have to do is kill another student, upon which you take their points for yourself. At the start of both days, students first gather in the auditorium for a headcount and then are given a half hour no-killing grace period during which they are allowed to scatter and find the best sniping/ambushing/hiding spots. The hunt is limited to four hours each day and kills must be done on campus; any kills done outside of these parameters are just for fun and do not count towards their final grade. Points are given for kills involving students in the same grade level of different homerooms (e.g. third years only benefit from killing other third years) and points are revoked for kills involving other grade levels or test takers not participating in the practicum. They studied hard, leave them alone. Most students need only one or two kills to pass, but multiple kills stack and earn them extra credit that will carry over to the next semester. Students who end the second day with a still failing grade will be called to the faculty office. ... All remaining students are dismissed and wished a happy (early!) winter break.
✽ A winter storm starts to whip up around noon on the 24th, raging through the night before settling down come morning, blanketing the entire campus with several feet of snow.
OOC
✽ PC faculty still have finals: they will either take written exams excluding that of their own subject, or they can take the practicum. Players with faculty characters are asked to reply to the toplevel below to indicate the number of failed students per class, but characters do NOT have to ICly be responsible for killing failed students. Unless they're cool with that, and if so, please let me know.
✽ This is a reminder that for any character that murders (again, please let me know), they will experience the same pain the following night and lose powers/abilities for one week. Two weeks after the murder, +1 tally and +100 merit points will be awarded for each kill.
✽ 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 all floors, including the locker area but not the rooftop. Please mind the void, murderers.
✽ This is a reminder that for any character that murders (again, please let me know), they will experience the same pain the following night and lose powers/abilities for one week. Two weeks after the murder, +1 tally and +100 merit points will be awarded for each kill.
✽ 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 all floors, including the locker area but not the rooftop. Please mind the void, murderers.
no subject
But his partnership with Komaeda is even messier than that. It's a shade of blue and a shade of red that form a sticky purple, just like before, but it's tainted by orange and green that form sickly stains on it. So it is that he stays here, hovering above Komaeda, seeing despite his eyes covered because he knows the person beneath him is watching for him, and so it is that Rio takes too long to respond, quiet and distant and noncommittal, ]
Maybe...
[ It is a cute idea, but his mind is elsewhere, because he thinks too much these days. Rio thinks of trust and love and hope, of such things that shouldn't matter to a doll. Then, though it's unrelated, he asks: ]
What do you see?
no subject
( he looks around, he looks at rio, is that who komaeda is supposed to see? or is it deeper than that? he laughs, and looks to the side. )
I see lights. ( his thumb brushes against rio's eyebrows, feeling how soft they are, and how much effort was put into creating his model. isn't hasn't been that long since they completed him, or are completing. it's like fireflies, little small dots that blink here and there inside of rio, but they aren't stagnant. like fire flies, they have to build up their light, release, and do it again. this chemical reaction... he could call it hope, or particles of it, will they stay? will they disappear? )
I find that I've stared at the ceiling too long, when I close my eyes, I see the leftover after images of said lights.
( they're meant to use each others eyes, see things the other person can't see, and komaeda looks around the rooms trying to find something he can mention. )
The portraits? ...Sometimes I feel despair wafting off one. I look back, and it disappears. Ahaha, do you think my eyes are bad?
no subject
[ Rio can only see the world through his own lens. It's sharp and logical, and it passively records everything, so unlike humans who can fixate on little details. What does he notice? How does he view it? It's those little questions that tug at him.
It's not bad to try and see the world through another person's lens. He stiffens a little at the mention of despair though, a tiny frown pulling at him. ]
That depends. Which one is it?
no subject
( knowing it's not good for his eyes is meaningless, he has to see like this to choose what he should do, and howhe should react. he doesn't like despair, but he loves hope, and despair happens to be a sickly smog of darkness, a poison that wafts from the body that eats away the good. it's meaningless though, nothing that hope can't defeat, so he doesn't feel worried. )
The one with the eyes, they're like emeralds, I thought he was an older Tsukimi-kun, but... the change in hair color is too drastic.
( if he has to explain this through his vision, then he'll look up to the paintings. )
It's only sometimes, and other times, I feel as though they're nothing more than someone passing by, watching us.
no subject
If that person were ever to show up, Rio would gladly work with him. He would swallow down every bit of distaste and coordinate, and without a doubt he they could get more done together than most.
But Komaeda...
...
He doesn't want him anywhere near Hiyori. ]
Your eyes aren't bad. The person in that portrait is the type who's simply living for themselves, so he they're not held back by anyone or anything, so they can be anyone and do anything.
[ He frowns a little, that twitchy little frown. He's not being factitious. His personality with them was probably the closest he came to the "true" Hiyori, but even then, Rio wouldn't pretend that any of them knew his true face. ]
For example... If I cure your disease and give you a happy life, that would be interesting, right? But it might be fun to take you apart piece by piece, too, and see what happens. I could even break you down until you're just barely hanging on, and then carefully build you back up, and see what that does... Maybe I'll change the world for the better, or for worse, or I'll simply watch and see what happens. No matter what I do, no matter how it ends, I'm satisfied with the results.
[ Did that mean he had despair? Rio's not sure. For as much as Komaeda has talked about hope, he's rarely touched on the other side of the coin, and so he leaves him to draw his own conclusions based on that. That, he thinks, is the core of the real Sou Hiyori. ]
no subject
he looks back to the painting. )
It's only sometimes what I feel from that photo, but that could be the despair from behind the wall. Whoever passes by... it's faint, though. Or, it's a despairing event... I can feel it.
( he hums, thinking about how he should handle this. talking about his abilities, or maybe his intuition, his talent? it causes problems, he can tell when someone hopeful or despairing is about to happen, and his radar has been off ever since coming here — maybe because they're dead, and that foreboding feeling holds no weight here. )
From the sound of it, that person can do the impossible, but that's not wrong. ...It's all about how he uses it. What are his lows like, well, if we stay in character. What are your lows, what's it like to break you apart...?
( he blinks curious, but rio can't see him, and thus he'll close his eyes completely as he pulls the other closer to him, this way that the other can lay their head on komaeda's chest if he allows it.
it might be nap time as they speak. )
Ahaha! It's interesting, interesting!
( is there an answer to breaking the true "sou hiyori"? )
no subject
He decides to play the role of "Sou Hiyori" for a little longer. ]
It's hard... I'm in my 20s, but I have more accomplishments than almost anyone. I'm the greatest surgeon the world has to offer, a top medical researcher, a psychologist, and I can work with advanced technology. I excel at social situations and making connections, and I can read people perfectly. I replaced most of my body with doll parts, so I don't have to worry about age or disease.
[ It's a mouthful, but he lists off every one carefully. It's quite the accomplishment for someone so young. ]
I have nothing, I love no one, and I am nobody, so you can't take anything away from me. I don't care what the dice show, since I'll just keep rolling until I get the outcome I want, so I don't have any lows. So if you wanted to break me...
[ It would be difficult because he's set up to be everything and everyone, to have everything, and yet to be and have nothing at all. Sou Hiyori is a man who takes and takes, who consumes everything around him without ever finding satisfaction, because his only goal isn't something that can be clearly defined. It's about one thing, and one thing alone... So it's infinitely difficult, and yet, the solution is so simple it's almost funny. ]
You would take away my control. I think of every inevitability, I ensure I can lose nothing, but above all else I need to be in control at all times. Because if I lose that, then I don't know what will happen. Because my life is the only thing I have to lose.
[ That's what Rio thinks, anyway. Hiyori was the most difficult of the Floormasters to understand, but even so, he had picked up on things over time. ]
His floors... Hm, I wonder if they bothered him. They were a memento mori... Though you could say it was a memorial too, I guess..
[ There was death at every turn there. ]
no subject
those words sound what komaeda wants to amount to, if a person lacks these aspects, does that mean nothing can hurt them? sou hiyori has quite the idea, but even komaeda hums softly as he listens to this person that has changed their body so much they no longer suffer age or disease, that too... is slightly upsetting, but perhaps there can be hope in that? he tries to figure out in his head, gauge the rights and wrongs, wondering what parts are hope and despair.
...he's supposed to be learning how to code. )
He's a successful person, but he sounds lonely despite being sociable, and understanding people. I can understand that.
( he's not too different, there's parts that he can relate to that makes him lack the need to judge him, but there's parts that make him curious. his flaw that'll ruin him is control, and that's never something komaeda needs, because his luck allows him to come out victorious every time — though, someone who had no chance of that, someone who threw their dice, and if he rolled bad, he'd make it work into his favor even if it went deeper and deeper into a hole he couldn't crawl out of.
his eyes open again to look up at the painting... control, power, even shin has a bad habit with that. )
I don't care too much about power, but... from hearing you talk about him, he sounds like someone who's transcended death, killed himself, but is still a common denominator in various lives.
( besides, even rio doesn't like talking about him, and shin didn't seem fond of any of the pictures up there. )
If you do something unpredictable, he'll trip over his own two feet... life seems too boring if you know everything that's going to happen...
no subject
You're looking at it from the wrong angle. Try turning it around and looking at it again. I have nothing, I love no one, and I am nobody, so you can't take anything away from me.
[ He repeats those words now, slower this time. ]
I can do as I please, and I can take as I please, and I have nothing weighing me down. I've attained true freedom. I've attained true happiness.
[ Loneliness is a concept for those who have love, and sadness is reserved for those who find disappointment in their life. Sou Hiyori was blessed with a talent that was unrivaled amongst his peers, save those at ASUNARO, and he had no attachments to bind him. He had no emotional constructs to bind him, no moral dilemmas to constrict his actions, there was only the need to ensure his continued existence. There was only the need to work within society's rules, a fun little game that he could play as he went along. There's only fear and happiness and living... Life's better when you only have to think of your own desires, don't you think?
That's why it was true freedom, and that's why it was true happiness. There was no one who could take it away. It was a unique existence. ]
He's a little different than most people, though... Well, I guess anyone could reach that last one. Plenty of people do, actually, just not as effectively as me. Because I don't have to justify it.
[ Humans are inherently selfish like that. The problem is that they try to make excuses for it. They spruce it up and paint it gold and advertise it as a wondrous delight that anyone can enjoy. Sou Hiyori had no need for such falsehoods. In that regard, he was far more honest with himself than most. ]
Hmm... You could probably say it's the journey that makes it fun. It's laying out all the pieces and moving them, and ensuring that everything goes exactly according to plan. You have to plan for every inevitability, you have to be willing to adapt as needed, and so on and so forth.
no subject
( he can do all that because he has nothing, and no one, and nobody, so there's nothing that can be taken. sounds like he'll flip the coin to what he wants at the moment, he'll decide what he wants, and justify it by his own means. komaeda abides by no one's rules, but his world isn't so black and white like this one, but maybe that's because he lives in a grey world that he's created himself, and the colors he sees are the ones that matter. )
That's the type of person you are, you could hold the world in your hands, crush it... watch it turn... but you're no god, you're just like the rest of them.
( those humans who do what's needed to achieve their personal end, and no matter what the cost happens to be when he has to plan for every inevitability. no matter what happens, he'll be ready. komaeda has five steps ahead, maybe six, a lucky seven, but this person has to account for everything; it seems he leaves no surprises for himself or anyone else.
his lips part, exhaling slowly. )
Hm...
( then it turns into a yawn, and there's a few tears that bead up in the corner of komaeda's eyes, and then he closes his eyes as he allows his thoughts to wander on the topic of that person. he can see him now when he closes his eyes, and he's not bad to look at, but... )
He sounds interesting, all a person would have to do is not get caught in the jaws of his trap. Though, hearing it like this, there really isn't one at all... it's from how people view him that he could become a danger or not. When do you think I can meet him?
( .................... )
no subject
[ If one could see through the facade, then perhaps they could avoid being caught by him. But how much does that matter when those around you are enamored with such a flawless human being? He would be a valuable asset in a place like this where medics were limited. There's a faint frown at the question, and he seems hesitant to answer that. If he tells him to avoid him, then he suspects the opposite will happen should he arrive.
Well, all he can do is offer a warning. That, and he could try threatening Hiyori. Rio doesn't think a direct threat would work, but there's more than one way to skin a cat. He shifts his position, settling a little more comfortably on Komaeda. ]
I couldn't tell you. He's not here, though. I guess if he ever decides to show his face.
no subject
( he removed himself from humanity, traded his body parts for something more sturdier, and that says a lot about his mindset. doing everything in his power to avoid any problems that could cripple his chances by preventing them in unorthodox means. there's no judgement when he thinks about it, already lifting his right hand, staring at his prosthetic, and then laying it over rio's waist. )
Does that mean you like him, Riokun?
( considering he doesn't like humans, and that person tries to remove what makes him human to begin with, but... there's always a few parts of a person that a human isn't willing to part with: their intelligence, and their soul.
he doesn't have to answer such a rhetorical question, he's made his feelings known. )
no subject
He didn't like me, so we were on the same page.
[ Hiyori didn't care for any of them very much, really, but least of all Rio. He leans his head into the crook of his elbow. He can feel Komaeda's heart beating beneath him, slow but steady, and he closes his eyes to focus on that sensation. ]
...
You're comfortable.
[ It's not quite a subject change. He had initially pegged Komaeda as someone similar, but that doesn't seem to be quite right. He's warm and comfortable, and being with him like this feels safe. It shouldn't, not when the person beneath him is a bigger threat to him than anyone, but it does. ]
no subject
he can put two and two together, especially when they come in quick succession in the way that they did. it's too positive for his liking, but he looks back up to the frame where he questioned about that person, and he understands what can make him uncomfortable. what rio spoke about can be unsettling to certain people, but he knows that person better than what komaeda does, and for someone to be ran by logic to x, y, z of how it needs to make sense.
maybe that person is uncomfortable?
komaeda doesn't have much of a preference in people aside from hope and despair, he always talks about the former, but the school lacks the latter half.
if he was drenched in despair, komaeda wouldn't mind having him around. though, he's just a normal human, with different needs that goes above, and below humanity. if he can be anything to person by easily switching his mask, then that's an advantage for him towards those that believe it. it's just what he'd do after once they were ensnared in his trap? )
Sleep.
no subject
[ There's a discontented little grumble, but Rio doesn't offer any real objection to being told to sleep. It doesn't bother him anymore, and he's adjusted his behavior to match. Komaeda would nudge him to sleep each time, wanting him to go first, and he's accepted that as a part of who he is. It had bothered him at first, as a person who watched both his own back and another person's, but he's started to appreciate having someone else that he can trust to.
He adjusts his arms a little more, loosening and then tightening his grip, shifting his position and nuzzling up against Komaeda as he settles in what must be a better position before he dozes. It's always easy to tell when he enters his sleep mode; it's far more sudden than a human, happening within seconds, and everything about is a flawless replication of how a human might be. The rise and fall of his chest slows along with his breaths, his heart rate slowing in turn, his body slipping into a relaxed state that he never seems to be capable of when awake. The content expression, too, isn't something he seems to be capable of while juggling so many thoughts and trying to unpack so many poorly understood emotions at any given time.
He's comfortable like this. ]