WEEK 5 MINGLE - AMARANTHUS

[foundationmods]

Another trial, another horrible outcome.

This time, it affected so many people...and yet, they still weren't done.
Who would be killed next?
Would they be able...to handle whatever happened?🗈

Still, things were just the same as they had been the past few weeks.

The goats and servants were still around, and so too were the witches.
It was all becoming routine at this point.
Was that a good thing, or a bad one...?
It was...too hard to tell, now...

...Either way, they were now closer to the end.
So, like always...they had to see it through.


MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

CALENDAR | LOCATIONS | PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS | NIRRTI PC POST | WATANUKI PC POST

Comments

[incrediblystressedout]

[Joey's moved her occasional dance training down to the Ballroom this morning. She's even managed to get a proper leotard and tights from the goats, making it a lot closer to her normal dance practice. She is kind of having to follow music and beats in her head, though. Byers, bless him, occasionally flutters around in confusion, looking for a piano. Not that his rhythm is the greatest anyway...]

[In the Afternoon, she can be found in the Second Floor Library, mostly playing games on the computers. However, she does eventually get bored with this, and finds herself casually gazing steadily into the crystal ball at some point or another, looking deeply into it from several different angles.]

It looks like a snowglobe.

[Just saying. She might also be fighting the temptation to pick a less dangerous-looking book in here and take a short vacation.]

DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION

[foundfate]

[Well, this certainly is something.

He's going to watch her for a bit before he speaks up.]

Need a song to go with your dancing?

[incrediblystressedout]

Oh!

[Joey shouldn't be surprised to have an audience, but she was kind of zoned out.]

Yeah, I didn't think to ask the goats for a boom box and then when I got here I thought I'd start with exercises before I bothered them again...

[While Joey rambles, Byers floats over to the floor next to him. He's been remiss in presenting himself to the bird witch and wants to pay homage. Or he thinks he smells something edible on Watanuki's shoes. Hard to say.]

[foundfate]

[Watanuki gives Byers a little smile and lets him do what he likes for now. He'll turn his attention back to Joey pretty quickly, though. And with a flick of his wrist, he summons a shamisen.]

If you would like, I can play for you. This one hasn't been played in several months, I suspect she would like to sing again.

[incrediblystressedout]

[An instrument that looks like it belongs in a painting.]

Sure! Play what you like, I can find the rhythm.

[It's unlikely to be a real ballet piece, but she instinctively moves to first position as a starting point(e) regardless.]

[foundfate]

[It is definitely not a real ballet piece, and Watanuki is...well. He is no professional here. But for an amateur he's alright, and he can match the speed of what ballet music should be, sort of?

He's not singing though, she just gets the shamisen music.]

[incrediblystressedout]

[It's very different, but sometimes, even Tchaikovsky gets boring after a while. Actually, especially Tchaikovsky. Overplayed jerk. That's a very good rhythm for a stringed instrument though, and Joey has no problem staying on the beat, improvising a stately...series of moves, more than a dance, flowing from one to the other arbitrarily. She's nothing if not adaptable.]

[foundfate]

[What graceful dancing! Watanuki smiles as he picks up the speed a bit on the song, encouraging her to step just a little bit more quickly.

The question is, will she notice as the setting around them fades away from the mansion, and into the yard of an eastern-style house? Because Watanuki doesn't seem to notice the change, if the way he keeps playing is any indication.]

[incrediblystressedout]

[Joey does, in fact, notice, after a few measures of blissfully tuning herself in to the music. She slows, moving every two beats and looking carefully at her surroundings.]

[foundfate]

[Before too long, Watanuki draws the song to a conclusion, strumming out the last few notes to the slower pace that Joey is spinning at now.

Right as he finishes the last note, a chiming bell rings out through the open door Watanuki is sitting near. It sounds exactly like the bell on the door to a shop, and it seems to be coming from another part of the house.]

Ah. They're here.

[He says that like he has been expecting a customer or something.]

[incrediblystressedout]

[This has got to be a memory or a dream or both. Or maybe a prophecy? Why not assume all three.]

We should...go greet them, then?

[She hazards a voiced idea, and walks toward Watanuki and the door. Ballet slippers also work for inside Japanese houses too, right.]

[foundfate]

[Watanuki isn't commenting on them, at least? So it's probably okay.

Watanuki sets the Shamisen aside on a pillow nearby before standing up (when did he even sit down???) and starting to head inside.]

I'll go get the drinks ready. Can you greet her and bring her to the sitting room?

[For dream/vision/wtfland, Joey will somehow know exactly what room that is, in this house she has never been in before. She will also be able to make it to the front door with no trouble.

And waiting for her there is a familiar face, though perhaps a bit younger than she might be expecting to see, as this visitor is definitely a teenager.]

[incrediblystressedout]

[Wow, Yuuko's pretty when she's neither asking Joey to murder someone nor sneering evilly as she's puppeteered by a vengeful witch.]

Oh, Yuuko...-san, come in!

[Joey's just going to improv whatever role she's supposed to have here and listen to Watanuki. This is clearly Watanuki's memory and there's a good chance that something important is going to be shown.]

Afternoon

[improbablenotimpossible]

It really does look like one frozen in time.

[He agrees, as his fingers brush over the spines of books, but not pulling any of them out before joining her in gazing at it]

[incrediblystressedout]

[She tilts her head again.]

This is a room of magic books, right? Is this magic too?

[improbablenotimpossible]

Quite likely.

[He slightly nod his head, giving a derisive snort that sounds strangely nostalgic]

My boswell's editor had spend an inordinate amount of time around a useless version of this.

[incrediblystressedout]

Your...Boswell? I thought his name was Watson.

[Joey please.]

I wonder if it actually does anything or just looks pretty.

[improbablenotimpossible]

It's - I suppose it's a pretty obscure joke now.

[He simply shrugs his shoulders]

Well, there is only one way to really find out.

[incrediblystressedout]

I guess so...

[Joey narrows her eyes and gives the glass sphere an experimental poke with her finger.]

[improbablenotimpossible]

[He leans in, ready to grab Joey if the crystal ball starts behaving like the books. His eyes remained half-lidded, as the fragments flicker and then rotate, images flickering over]

It feels like if one focuses... something may appear.

[incrediblystressedout]

[Joey focuses, then just kinda...drags her finger along the surface, causing the motes to rotate.]

Aside from looking like a screensaver, I think all these dots are...movies?

[She focuses harder and brings something closer to the surface......]

[It looks like a battlefield in a science fiction movie, flying battleships shooting lasers at each other, artillery going off in the background, and for some reason, two identical people Joey recognizes as trolls lying on top of a...dead clown?]

I am not even going to attempt to understand this one.

[improbablenotimpossible]

...

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

And I do not believe we need to.

[incrediblystressedout]

You know, if this shows alternate realities, maybe I can Wizard of Oz this and check up on Jude...or at least, like, a version of Jude.

[She scrolls through for a while, images flickering...it seems looking for something that specific is tough to find. She makes a disgruntled noise.]

[improbablenotimpossible]

Nirrti did say the various fragments have differing odds of appearing during our first week here.

[He rest his chin on his hand, idly curious about a few people he know]

[incrediblystressedout]

[Joey spends a few seconds looking at Mickey Mouse in a cloak before deciding she's had enough of this.]

Do you want to drive?

Or...whatever the 1890's version of that metaphor is?