WEEK FIVE: MINGLE

[cluedin]

WEEK FIVE

OCCUPANCY: 23

Rise and shine, little monsters. A new week is waiting just for you. The events of yesterday may have been hard to stomach, but time heals all wounds, after all. The damages the house has incurred over the last week have been reverted and the staff is hard at work fulfilling their roles in this mansion. A piping hot breakfast is served in the dining room promptly at 7am, every square inch of floor and furniture has been cleaned spotless, and Pumpkin is...probably around tending to the animals outside. As you exit your rooms on this lovely morning, guests will find that the barrier leading upstairs has diminished, and a new floor has been opened to explore.

For anyone who ventures into the ballroom, a new change may become apparent. Should you choose to look at the plaques long enough, two images will flicker and change sporadically. While Phoenix's portrait remains the same, on occasion it will change to an unrecognizable figure, flames surrounding the charred flesh. Likewise, Four's portrait looks just like herself, though if you blink you may miss the sharp knives protruding through her chest, rivers of blood dripping down her front. There is no rhyme and reason for the change...though perhaps it serves as a reminder to those who remain.

Additionally, the house rules have been moved from the ballroom and back into the hallway, mounted in the entryway as they were.

You know what to expect by now. Once a week, one of your own transforms into someone unrecognizable. But it's hard to empathize with someone without experiencing the hardship for yourself, isn't it? Worry not. Starting today, from the moment you wake, you will find that you yourself have changed into something unrecognizable. Claws, fangs, fur, scales, extra limbs, extra mouths...the changes are numerous as your monster form takes a hold of you. Oh but it's alright! It's just the physical appearance, after all. You're still yourself inside...but it may be hard to believe that as the week goes on.

Some of you may be able to brush these strange changes aside. Others of you may find yourself struggling to understand who you really are. And others of you will find even more problems on hand. Is it your imagination, or did the mansion grow several degrees colder? You just can't quite to seem to warm up. While you may normally be comfortable sharing blankets with your fellow guests, you now find yourself feeling a bit greedy and unwilling to share...well, anything, really. The insatiable greed requires you to take and take and take, no matter if you require the necessities you're taking. And yet even as you take, and especially as you consume, you find that you're never quite satisfied, belly never quite full regardless of how much you eat. That's troubling, isn't it?

You may experience only some of these events. Then again, maybe you're unlucky and you're experiencing all of these events at different points in time. Time is of the essence, however, and come Monday at noon a rustling crackle of static can be heard from overhead. Try as you might, you won't be able to find the speakers but a message will play loud and clear for all.

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Comments

[recrypt]

[ takes the clipboard from him. stares at it. ]

...Neither do I. I have no idea how these two things relate.

[ she's also trying really hard to wrangle her wings into not getting in the way in these rooms. ]

[oathic]

[please keep your wings away from agni's fire hair, although he's trying very hard to keep it down.]

Maybe... there's a cocoon inside her?

[recrypt]

[ she's trying. they only listen to her about half the time and she's only got one eye open this week. ]

That... sounds concerning? Then again, do we even know if her anatomy is baseline human?

[ maybe there is a cocoon inside her??? ]

[oathic]

... No idea. Are we supposed to open her up and check? This is just a fake, right...?

[recrypt]

Hang on, let me see...

[ squints at rest of notes with uno eye. ]

"Patient never liked being looked over or being the center of attention, but often displayed keen observation skills... Consistently hidden in her art. Further study of her internal thoughts may prove useful..."

... No, still nothing useful. Except that maybe her art might be the cocoon? Do you see any art around here?

[ the deja vu is killing her, honestly. ]

[oathic]

No... well, I guess we should look through the bag. But maybe it means she's shy and we need to help her open up?

[recrypt]

... I think I might tear it apart by accident. Or drop something, if there's anything small or delicate in there that needs precision.

[ a clipboard is one thing, but she's got talons for hands. ]

I can open her up literally though, if it'll be needed?

[oathic]

Okay, I'll try looking through. And hopefully not burn anything...

You can, uh. Start on that. Carefully?

[recrypt]

Sure...

[ delicately

pokes the doll with a talon. mmm, feels like fake flesh. does this have seams, are there fake stitches that will come apart... no.

pokes harder.

gets a zap for her troubles. ]

On second thought, let's see what you've got first and go from there.

[oathic]

[well, he was about to look through the bag—]

Yeowch. You okay?

[recrypt]

I'm good! Though I'm not sure what they want us to do with her if we're not allowed to do anything to her...?

[ maybe she's just doing it wrong. squints at the notes again. ]

"Further study of her internal thoughts..." Do you think we just need to open up her head and look at it?

[ or maybe the answer is that there's a diary or something. bag, reveal your secrets. ]

[oathic]

I don't think brain surgery is the answer here...

[rummaging through the bag...]

Medical supplies, more medical supplies... ooh, a camera.

[recrypt]

You say that, but the notes here sound a lot like the ones from the morgue, and those were surprisingly literal.

[ diagnosis: chip on shoulder. ]

That must be hers, though. Anything on it?

[oathic]

I am really not equipped to poke at someone's brain literally.

[well

he starts looking through the camera—and then suddenly drops it with a yell

because it might be smoking a little now

fire fingers bad]

[recrypt]

Neither am I, so--?!

[ dives for the camera??? good news she catches it before it hits the ground, so that's safe, at least as she lands on her front.

bad news the wings might have caught on things and sent them flying. what are things? who the hell knows I don't know how big this tent hospital is. maybe just some scalpels and whatever else is on the table if this really is an operating theater. ]

[oathic]

Yikes!

[AGNI IMMEDIATELY DUCKS]

[recrypt]

[ scalpel rain kills no one today, whew

she's just going to lie on the floor for a bit with her camera. this is great. vibin.

deadpan: ] ...They picked a terrible week to do this.

[ flamehands McGee and talons for fingers are doing great. ]

[oathic]

I guess it's... all part of the challenge?

[recrypt]

Uuuuugh. Do you think they do prizes for effort?

[ anyway wow, this is an old camera. nicely retro, very analog. ]

... Maybe we could take a selfie with her?

[oathic]

... What's a selfie?

[cameras exist in kubera but that term probably does not]

[recrypt]

A picture. Of yourself. So you hold the camera up but point it towards yourself.

[ selfie. ]

If she's shy, maybe ... making it look like she's with friends will help?

[ ?????????? ]

[oathic]

Ohhh. Okay, let's try it!

[recrypt]

I guess I'll have to be the one holding the camera, right?

[ just. let her get up. ]

[oathic]

Prooobably for the better.

[recrypt]

All right, fine, I got it.

[ carefully gets to her feet without more useless wing related shenanigans.

... frowns at the angle the doll is lying at. ]

Do you think we could sit her up some?