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

[voidbreaker]

[ ... literally none of those words make sense, so Ash just goes to re-read the notes again but closer this time. And he'll get all that extra stuff Ty wrote in the chat. ]

...

"Patient appeared to be rather young and claimed multiple identities. Experienced resonance and memories that were not hers. Further study of memories required to separate and create unique lifestyle."

So, what. We ask the immoveable body if she wants to chat about her past and just pretend it's working?

[gitalong]

... Um... yes...?

[ no ]

Why does she have "multiple identities"? Is she a spy? Oh, or a tax evader?!

[voidbreaker]

[ ash just leans over and ....

turns the light off. ]

Nah. I think it's a mental health thing, rather than tax evasion and espionage. So many selves she doesn't know who the real her is anymore, I guess?

[gitalong]

[





the light turns back on with a distinct click ]

... Is a "real self" that important?

[voidbreaker]

[









ash clicks it off again. ]

I guess so. It's who you are, and what makes you who you are, or something like that. Maybe it's something some people just know instinctively [ like little house puppers who love their owner So Much ] and some people have to struggle with?

[ he glances over at the doll. ] Sounds like she's a extreme case of the latter.

1/2

[gitalong]

Hmm... and the note said we needed to examine her memories...

[gitalong]

[ the light clicks on ]

Ash, how do you look at a person's memories without them being dead?

[voidbreaker]

[ gah.

ash just closes his eyes against the light. ]

You don't. Stuff like the other week, when people's memories just rushed out like an open book isn't normal.

[gitalong]

I guess the four minutes thing souls do isn't really looking at memories either...

[ this is hard :\ the head of the lamp starts swinging back and forth as Missile thinks, flashing into Ash's face ]

Maybe she has a diary? I know you're never supposed to look in a secret diary, but this is important!

[voidbreaker]

[ ash just closes his eyes. he'll have his revenge. ]

You think they have personal items here? She looks like a doll, rather than a real corpse.

[gitalong]

This is a hospital! What kind of hospital doesn't let you take stuff with you when you get brought in for a check-up?

[ duh, Ash ]

[voidbreaker]

[ He spreads his hands with a shrug. ]

Point me and I'll find it. Or have a look yourself, lil' lamp. We probably need a better look at this doll for the moment.

[gitalong]

... Well, it's not like a book would be going anywhere.

[ that is NOT a challenge, Xion's diary, pls don't grow legs

Missile will extend the neck lamp in Xion doll's direction, light shining on her face. wakey wakey? ]

[voidbreaker]

Have you tried turning yourself on and off again?

[ with missile looking at the "body", ash goes to dig through the doctor bag for anything they can use to prod or poke at the body. scalpel... stethoscope...

...

frozen ice cream treat? ]

The hell?

[ He tugs out an ice cream - rectangle shaped, with a wooden stick. ]

1/2

[gitalong]

[






the lamp turns off ]

Did that do anything?

2/2

[gitalong]

[ but at the sound of Ash's second bad word, the bulb lights back up as the lamp swings back around to... "inspect" the treat. ]

Huh? Is that ice cream? Oh, that must be exactly what Miss Xion needs, then! After all, Miss Kamila always gets ice cream when she's sick!

[voidbreaker]

... Nah. [ bless you, missile ]

Huh. You think it'll work on dolls? It was in the bag, so maybe it's important somehow?

[gitalong]

Isn't forcing someone to eat when they're asleep a bad thing?

[ Missile keeps forgetting she's a doll. ]

[voidbreaker]

It's fine.

[ IS it fine? Probably. ] Maybe she just needs to know it's there?

[gitalong]

So we just need to tell her? Okay, I can do that!

[ you snooze you lose, Ash, any further suggestions will Not be heard as the lamp head swings back in doll Xion's direction ]

Hi, Miss Xion! We've got ice cream for you! I hope you like it - we kind of just found it in the bag... But it smells good! And it tastes even better! Probably!

[ what does he know, he's just a lamp ]

[voidbreaker]

[ it's.... fine. you go for gold, little missile lamp. ash'll wait until he's done, then add: ]

You wouldn't usually find this in a doctor's bag, so I'm guessing it's important to you. Maybe to who you want to be as well. It's worth a try, yeah?

[gitalong]

I don't think anything's happening...

[ because she's a doll, Missile! and not in the KH way ]

[voidbreaker]

[ pfffff ]

It’s not like a doll can eat it. Maybe we need to describe it? [ he turns the packaging around a bit. ] From the pic on the front it looks like it’s light blue, and —

The heck is sea salt flavour? Who eats sea salt ice cream?

[gitalong]

It's... salty...?

[ what the heck, that doesn't sound tasty at all. ]

Maybe it's supposed to be healthy.

[voidbreaker]

Isn't salt supposed to be bad for you too?

[ What'll happen if he takes it out of the wrapper -- at this point he's already just waving a wholeass ice cream bar under a doll's nose, so he might as well really commit to his stupidity. ]