WEEK 1 - MINGLE

[foundationmods]

WEEK 1

You've found a safe haven from the wind and the snow - yet, perhaps you're not quite out of danger yet. The Resort Staff are odd, but seem harmless - jumping to any whim you might have, if it doesn't make them oddly lock up.

The weather all week is perfect - the perfect temp and snow for plenty of skiing. The firepit in the courtyard is always lit too, with ingredients for smores and hot chocolate always available in the lobby. Though...in the halls, a strange bunch of songs keep playing from the hotel's sound system. Is whoever runs this place a weird cover song enthusiast?

So far, everything seems fine....but there's a weird sense of unease lingering over the Resort as everyone wakes up Monday Morning. Maybe that has something to do with that strange memory that popped in your head when you woke up? Or maybe it's that all of you woke up in the middle of a snowstorm, with no memory of how you got there?

In the end...even though everything should be fine, why does it feel like this is only the prelude to a nightmare...?

PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS | MURDER PROPOSALS/VOLUNTEERING | LOCATIONS

MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

Comments

[dereban]

It's honestly a lot more freedom than you'd expect. The gazette doesn't have to be especially long, and it's easy to print as long as an article is written. Besides, Gotou -- that's our club advisor -- he's never in the club room, so a lot of us kind of just slack around for the most part? We only have that one stipulation since we need to do something to make us look like "an actual club that means something for the school", really. [ She shrugs at that second part. ] We've only known each other a few months, but I guess you could say that we're kind of close?

[ They got too close, during the personality exchange. In ways that she didn't expect, much less want. ]

Yeah, it is. I heard good things about where Arisato's from on Monday, and I've always wanted to visit Tokyo. Apparently our ghost friend is from that area, too.

[latebluemer]

Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen our club advisor. It's a big school with a lot of clubs, so it's not surprising, but we don't really even have any stipulations for what we need to do.

[Not to mention that she's literally just cheesing the whole thing, but that's just the nature of the dueling beast. Getting too close or really showing her hand would just be inconvenient. Maybe the club thing is her fault after all.]

... Even the Apprentice is from Japan? I didn't... expect that.

[That's almost more surprising than the ghost thing. Somehow.]

[dereban]

It's possible that they might be advising another club most of the time. Ours does, anyway.

[ But he's also a slacker, so there's that, too. . . ]

He is. I asked him to make sure, but the markings in his room that denoted how many days he's been dead was decisively Japanese tallying. Which is different from how other countries do it.

I'm still wondering where this is, though, because even if he's from Japan, I'm pretty damn certain that this place? Isn't Japan.

[latebluemer]

I really don't think I want to see a dead person's room, especially one I'm living next to...

[That's more to herself, a disgruntled sort of mutter because she also knows that in the present situation thinking that way is more of a luxury than anything else. It's just not great to have to wrangle her own thinking when things keep... escalating.]

But it would make sense for this to be overseas or somewhere far from Japan. The style, and the writing, and even the food, I think. Did the ghost not know, either? Or did he just not tell?

[dereban]

That's fair. To be honest, it's probably a lot worse than you'd think, since it doesn't look like the room was really. . . fucked up, I guess?

[ It could have been worse!! ] Yeah, I noticed that. The building itself, not to mention the writing and even the television channels. They're not Japanese. I'd assume we're probably somewhere in America, really.

Now that you think about it, I didn't actually ask him.

[latebluemer]

But a lot of people have looked at it already, right? Hopefully they got everything. There's booby traps, too.

[And there's no need for her to hike up her poofy skirts and go trawling in a room that has ink and glitter exploding in places. Worst case scenario, they find another dead person's room and she has to sacrifice one of her more low-key outfits. Or she asks the staff for a spare work outfit. Who knows.]

I wouldn't know what America looks like... [never been, she is regretting her sedentary lifestyle a little bit these days!] But maybe we should ask him. There are a lot of things he won't answer, but still.

[You never know!!]

[dereban]

Hopefully. . .

[ She can't help but sigh yet again, pinching the bridge of her nose. While she's not high about looking through a dead person's room for clues, it does look like they don't have much of a choice in this matter. ]

Well, I just know what I've seen on TV myself, really. I can definitely try asking, though. Probably won't hurt, at the very least.

[latebluemer]

[Hopefully they won't have to look through any more dead people's effects or whatever. There's so much hope here.]

I think it's a good idea for us all to put our heads together on this. [a pause, and then she smiles a little] It's still a little weird. A ghost in the machine. I don't really know what to think.

Though I guess he's not really in the machine anymore.

[See: ghost at the sleepover.]

[dereban]

[ Inaba has zero hope for this... ]

Yeah, it still kind of- [ it freaks her out? she doesn't like supernatural things?? ] It's weird.

[latebluemer]

[Look, she only has experience with VR mindgames, sometimes CTRL + V or ESC still works.]

It's definitely weird. But it's still better than having to deal with the skeleton, or -- or the death. I'd rather deal with ghosts than that.

[Also typing to a ghost has a peculiar sort of intrigue.]

[dereban]

Ghosts kind of deal with death, you know. Because ghosts are inherently dead.

[latebluemer]

Of course I know that. I meant more... when he died.

[Dealing with fresh bodies. Dealing with all the blood and the messiness and the funerals, not that funerals are probably a thing in this neck of the woods. Being left wondering afterwards. Though of course, they're left wondering anyway.]

This way, he's just kind of disconnected from his body, I guess? It's not as bad, somehow.

[dereban]

[ Inaba shrugs her shoulders a bit a little helplessly, because. . . what can she say? She doesn't think it's any better or worse, whether it's a ghost or not, but that's mostly a hangup on her end than anybody else's.

Ghosts just have a different set of things that bother her. ]

I mean... I guess? But just thinking about it is honestly just a constant simple reminder that, "hey, there's a dead guy talking to us"!

[latebluemer]

That's true, too...

[To be honest, she's not arguing so much as trying to sort through their current situation of communicating with ghosts via text and hanging out with other ghosts in the corridors. Hm. But since Inaba doesn't seem into sleepover ghost stories--]

But he's still the only one who can talk to us. The jacuzzi monster, and the rats, and the... moose? For some reason, the staff can understand them.

[Actually, she's not sure about the moose. But maybe?]

[dereban]

. . . The jacuzzi monster?

[ Why is this the first time she's hearing about this. ]

[latebluemer]

The jacuzzi monster. I thought everyone knew about it by now.

[She's certainly made no secret of it, and the other two aren't exactly the quietest people either.]

There's some kind of invisible oil monster that likes to take naps in the jacuzzi outside. Um... It doesn't leave unless you call the staff on it.

[dereban]

Well clearly I didn't!

[ Just going to throw her hands up in the air a little overdramatically. She's not actually frustrated, though. ]

That's... definitely something. I kind of wonder what it is. I mean, if there's a nue here, maybe that invisible oil monster has some sort of designation? Like maybe an ikuchi or something.

[latebluemer]

I did think about putting up a sign.

[But seriously, that's not her job, and so the jacuzzi goes unlabeled for now. Inaba's theatrics go unremarked upon, though they do get a little smile.]

You think this is something like a youkai inn? [how much more anime can we get here] I mean, an ikuchi sounds pretty close, but it had hands.

[This poor monster is now this.]

[dereban]

What, like "warning: oil jacuzzi monster is here, out of service"?

[ Is she serious? Who knows. ]

Maybe? I mean. . . the Apprentice did mention monsters. And there's also the nue. But also how could you even tell that it had hands?

[latebluemer]

Some people might not be looking closely. How would you feel about climbing into a jacuzzi full of crude oil?

[Only semi-serious. But more seriously still, there are some among their number who just do not pause or are not so observant. The aftermath does not bear imagining here.]

Anyway... when it climbed out, there were oil handprints.

[dereban]

[ Inaba hugs her shoulders, grimaces and says only one word: ]

Gross.

[ She seems to be cuing up the dramatics however before humming a little bit. ]

Well, good to know that it has handprints? Did it have footprints, too?

[latebluemer]

It was super gross!

[She doesn't quite match the theatrics, but she definitely matches the level of drama. Because seriously. She could have stepped in that. Cinque could have stood in that........]

I didn't see any footprints, though. I wonder if it just walks on its hands.

[This has turned into a really weird mental image.]

[dereban]

... or maybe it has hands for feet.

[ Which is just as weird. ]

[latebluemer]

So maybe it's a monkey. Is every other guest in this place animal-shaped?

[So many questions.]