WEEK ZERO: MINGLE

[cluedin]

WEEK ZERO

OCCUPANCY: 36

For those of you counting along, you'll find that it's been three days since you've arrived at Master Blue's mansion. On this lovely Monday morning, the weak winter sun shines in through the spotless windows. The curtains in the ballroom have been drawn closed and cannot be moved away from the back wall during the daylight hours. The scent of a hot and delicious breakfast wafts from the direction of the dining hall at 7am, and small creaks and groans in the house urge you to awaken.

Perhaps you're a late riser though. No matter! There's still plenty of food you can make for yourself and ways for you to amuse yourself. Though the decor's been taken down, leftover Valentine's candy remains abundant, and a chilly breeze drifts through the halls. Best of all, all damage inflicted on the house has been repaired. In addition, a new placard has been mounted in the entryway.

As you carry on with your day in the mansion and explore the rooms provided, you may come to find that starting today it will appear as though you've all lost the use of one of your senses. Your vision may have grown dim, or maybe you really can't smell the enticing treats in the dining hall after all. How unfortunate.

Then again, something doesn't seem quite right. Walking through the halls, nothing seems terribly out of place. However, turning the corner or entering a room you will find someone who looks a little too much like yourself behaving in a fairly inappropriate manner. You would never read something so lewd. Who would ever think that you would wear something so pink? These mannerisms may seem innocent to others, but you can't help but disapprove.

Too bad no one else can see them.

Come Monday at noon, you will also find a new surprise. The wooden box with your name on it can now be opened, and a rustling crackle of static can be heard from overhead. Try as you might, you won't be able to find the speakers but this message will play loud and clear for all.

---

☙ main navigation ❧
locations 🐾 ic profiles 🐾 murder proposals 🐾 audience requests 🐾 statuses 🐾 private conversations

Comments

[kazokun]

i.
[ Ayabe starts off the week with two sets of bruises on his face and a faint smudge of blue ink on his cheek he's having trouble scrubbing off. It sure was a weekend. He's tired and looks even more so while he listens to the announcement playing overhead. SO TIRED. ]

What... was that? A story?

[ Some sort of weird horror story isn't what he was expecting, and for a moment he thought maybe it was somebody narrating their journal and somehow had it broadcast on accident, how embarrassing. ]

ii.
[ I never did a profile reaction toplevel so I'm doing it now, Ayabe just never read any of this until Monday, it's okay. He lingers around the three staff profiles, mostly, because they're the more important people to know in this place, but does a —what's meant to be a quick scan of the others, but, you know. Thief. Drug dealer. Assassin. SENSELESS SLAUGHTER jfc. ]

Ha ha. Funny.

[ For better or for worse, he doesn't believe any of it. ]

iii.
[ ??? if you want to catch him anywhere, your best bet is the conservatory, writing in a notebook at one of the tables, or his room upstairs just sort of deadeyeing the ceiling. But past Wednesday, if you call out to him, he'll completely ignore you. He's going to lose his hearing gradually at first but then be completely deaf by Wednesday, which is fine because then he can just sit there and close his eyes and pretend everything is just fine.

In the meantime, imagine him just speaking increasingly loudly to make up for it, like an old person, until he realizes what's going on and he'll shut up. ]

ii.

[madburnout]

[Well, he mostly came over here to talk to the dude who passed out and caused a big ruckus, but he looks back and forth between him and the profiles for a moment.]

Is it.

[Is it????]

[kazokun]

[ Who's the one who caused a big ruckus??? Lio got outed to him, so Ayabe does freeze and looks like he wants to turn around and walk away, but hasn't finished reading all the profiles and doesn't want to be chased off until he does. ]

It's sarcasm. Of course it's not funny, and I doubt half of this is true.

[madburnout]

[He doesn't actually want to terrify this basket case out of a room, so he keeps his distance.]

I believe it is mostly true. Simply framed in a way to make us question others. [Shrugging.] The same tactics have been employed against me before.

[kazokun]

[ Terrorists and assassins?? Ayabe doesn't want it to be at all true, frowning and crossing his arms across his chest. ]

What corrections would you make to yours? Before I even read this, Galo has already painted you in a bad light, and I was hoping you could prove otherwise.

[ But then he got slapped. ]

i

[shortforever]

[Oh, his handiwork lingers, good to know.]

It sounds like just part of a story if it's one.

[And those details make it sound like it's going to become a horror story.]

[kazokun]

[ He's rather be black and blue from ink than bruises like so many other people, christ ]

How stupid... Why say it in the middle of the day, then? That person should save it for night, or people are going to forget earlier parts of the story.

[ That's why you tell bedtime stories, so it can be the last thing you remember before going to sleep and there's nothing else to shove it out of your head. This would be a great bedtime story, and it's being wasted being told at noon. ]

[shortforever]

[Well Chuuya doesn't know about bedtime stories, so.]

I bet one of those three furries knows what's up, you could ask one of them.

[They work here, right? Maybe one of them did that broadcast.]

[kazokun]

I do intend to talk to Plum, but... Don't call them furries when you talk to them.

[ Maybe don't say that to people's faces when they can so easily poison their food or, god forbid, drop more confetti over their heads. ]

but what if I want both i AND ii

[allfornone]

[So I'm just going to set this in front of the profiles!! But also!! During the spoopy announcement!! And also Subete happens to be hanging out at the piano -- and although there's some sheet music out, he doesn't seem to be inclined to play? He's actually.... holding a few sets of dining cutlery while looking nonplussed.

Either because he appears to be trying to start a dining set at the piano bench or because of the announcement that just went around, or because Ayabe seems to be laughing at the wall -- there's all kinds of choices here?

He looks between a wayward spoon and his sudden companion and gives an awkward little laugh of his own.]

Aha... It sounds like one of those generic creepy posts you see online, doesn't it? It doesn't sound like anyone put a lot of effort into it at all...

[Hey house up your creepypasta game plz?]

[kazokun]

[ Subete is just so much. Ayabe stares at him in return— stares at the cutlery in his hands and his first thought is something about a betting pool rather than trying to wrap his mind around whatever is up with Subete.

With a brief shake of his head to clear out his thoughts, he glances up at the nonexistent speakers the announcement came from, and looks back down at Subete. ]

It sounded like a lot of effort to me, hand in hand with all the Valentines nonsense over the past few days. We must be part of some sort of promotional event...

[ Reality TV. Something where people get played for fools, and at the very end somebody goes "Surprise!!!" there was hidden cameras all along. Ridiculous. ]

[allfornone]

[Look, he can't help it when everything around him is so much he apparently just has to rise to the occasion. At least for the moment he has both feet!! On the ground!! Though honestly, the betting ring association probably isn't far off. What goes on in Silverware Vegas stays in Silverware Vegas.

There'll be little clinks as he looks between the piano and Ayabe and absently sorts and fidgets with all of his liberated dining utensils......]

It doesn't really take that much effort to make an announcement, does it? Though they've been pretty clever about disguising whatever technology they're using to go with all this classical decor. It's kind of nostalgic...

[Is it. Is this what the aesthetic of the elite is like or is it just him.]

I have no idea what they'd be promoting, but I was starting to think something along those lines, too. This really is the set up for a current reality show or game show. That would explain all the costumes, too.

[Says the guy marked as a robot pilot but whatever, he still dresses like a normal person so there.]

[kazokun]

Nostalgic...

[ His eyes keep getting drawn back to those eating utensils. At least stick them in your pocket? Don't accidentally drop them and scratch the piano, pianos must be kept pristine. ]

It must be a reality show. Something senseless with no rules or plotline.

[ It makes more and more sense when he thinks about it. People like this sort of stuff, watching people run around in confusion, beating people up and destroying their surroundings. It's stupid entertainment but entertainment nonetheless. ]

It's a violation of privacy. Kidnapping, forgery, these things--

[ He raps his knuckles against the profile in front of his- his own fairly sparse one. ]

iii

[inaudibly]

[Honestly, this kid has tremendous narc energy, so Nic didn't have any interest in talking to him, being the sort of person who gets narced on. Given all the murders. You know how it says in those profiles you don't believe.

But he kept noticing Ayabe react oddly as the week went on. In a way other people might not notice or think much of. But Nic knows exactly what's going on. Because that's how his entire life is.

So when he spots him on Wednesday, looking glum at the dining table around lunch, he'll tap Ayabe on the shoulder before signing at him. Of course, he doesn't expect the kid to know sign, but it's not hard to guess. He swipes one pointer finger across the other. Cups a hand around his ear. and points at Ayabe, eyebrows raised, as if asking a question;]

You can't hear?

[kazokun]

[ HONESTLY Ayabe would probably narc, yeah. For his own sanity, he tries to keep away from things that don't directly involve him, and this week has more or less reminded him that he should just mind his own business, grab a seat in a corner facing the door so nobody can sneak up on him and do his own thing.

The vigilance doesn't work out at all, seeing as Ayabe starts in his seat when Nic taps him on the shoulder— there's no way to be vigilant when he can't hear anybody approach. He stares dumbly at Nic's hands, then glances at his face and misses half the signs. And then sort of shakes his head a universal sign of "Wha?" ]

[inaudibly]

[Here Nic had thought the signs fairly self-explanatory!!! Guess not. That's fine. Well, he still lets out a bit of an annoyed sigh, but he pulls out his now well-used notebook, and writes down the same message;]

You can't hear.

[kazokun]

[ They might've been self-explanatory if he recognized the as signs and were actually paying attention, instead of spending the two seconds confused at they there's a hand in front of his face.

Words are something easier for him, written or otherwise, and he looks down at the notebook and then up at Nic before nodding. ]

ii.

[gitalong]

Is it really? Oo, what does it say?

[ what are words, Ayabe ]

[kazokun]

[ Oh noooo, has nobody read the profiles to Missile yet?? At least the dog is loud and that makes it easier for Ayabe to hear, he will never tell Missile to shut up again. ]

It's information about everybody here. You recognize the people in these pictures, right? This one is yours--

[ He walks over to Missile's profile to read it out loud to him: ]

"Oh, if only I had big, strong teeth and an aggressive spirit!"

[ You do, Missile, you have the strongest spirit out of anybody here ): ]

[gitalong]

Oh, yes, I remember that! I told Sissel that when we were saving Miss Kamila!

[ he doesn't seem bothered by the words at all, honestly ]

... Sissel and I were the only people there though. How did it end up here? Did someone interview Sissel?

[kazokun]

[ Between that quote and the one on his own profile, Ayabe's bothered about it in Missile's stead. ]

That's possible. The words on mine are things I've heard or said, but nobody's interviewed me about it- they shouldn't have those thoughts written here for everybody to see.

[ He hates it! But as long as there's no context and nobody asks, it's innocuous. ]

i

[slobjection]

I wonder... it does sound like a murder mystery, doesn't it?

[ hey its his best friend!! the one who set the fire! ]

[kazokun]

[ WATCH YOURSELF, PHOENIX Ayabe is going to set him on fire someday, Lio is right, fire is cleansing ]

Exactly. Like one of those murder mystery stories you'd hear on the radio, and every week is a new installment. Are you familiar with those?

[ Phoenix is an old hobo, so it's a tossup between him being old enough for radio podcasts, and him owning a radio. ]

[slobjection]

[ wow.......... respect your elders, ayabe. ]

Hmm. A drama radio show. Think that's what we're here for? An audience?

[kazokun]

[ Respect the kitchen and he might respect his elders ]

If it were that, we'd be able to listen in in our own homes. It's probably more like... a reality television show, and we're the actors instead of the audience.

[ Between him and Subete, it's the most reasonable explanation they could come up with besides Ayabe's running theory that all of this is just his student council president being a dick. ]