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.

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Comments

[counterclocked]

i

[Today, if you're walking down the hall or in any public area, you might catch a certain redhead walking straight into a variety of objects. Oops! A table in the dining room, a bookshelf in the library, or he might even walk straight into you. If he does:]

Oh, shit - are you okay? I'm sorry, I don't know what's up with me today...

ii

[About halfway through the morning, he's had a chance to check out the new placard. He glances towards the nearest clock to see how long it'll be until lunch is going to be served, and pauses. It probably shouldn't be taking him this long to determine what the clock says? And yet, here he is, still squinting at it.

After a good few seconds of staring, he looks towards whoever's closest with a frown.]

...What does that say?

[Did he lose his ability to tell time, too? Haha, weird.]

wildcard

[If none of these prompts work for you or if you'd like a PC, hit me up on discord or at incendiary!]

ii

[shortforever]

It says...

[Look at Chuuya, squinting up at the clock. Luckily his eyesight is going a lot more slowly, so he can still read the clock with some effort.]

...10:35. Why?

[counterclocked]

[Here they are, both squinting at this clock.]

I just thought... [Ugh.] You're sure it isn't earlier than that?

[It absolutely is not.]

[shortforever]

Pretty sure. The clock's kinda blurry though.

[He'll just go up to the clock to see it better. Less squinting involved if he's right up by the wall.]

Nope, definitely 10:35.

[counterclocked]

[He looks inordinately disappointed by this for a moment before he just sighs, glancing towards the ground.]

Right. Of course it is.

[Weird reaction aside—]

Hey, thanks. What's your name? I'm Hunter.

[shortforever]

Chuuya.

[Don't think he missed that look, though.]

Why are you so disappointed? Want it to be lunchtime?

[counterclocked]

No, that's not it. It's more like... I don't know, have you ever wished something was different for a long time, and you think it might have changed, but then you realize that it's still the same as it was?

[That explains absolutely nothing.]

[shortforever]

[It explains absolutely nothing, and Chuuya is left to assume Hunter is actually upset about the time itself.]

See, the funny thing about time is that it's always changing. Just wait a bit and it'll be different.

[counterclocked]

[He shakes his head.]

Yeah, no, I know. It's just - you said it was 10:35, right? But that isn't what it looks like to me. It's been like that for a while.

ii, monday

[kazokun]

[ Is he like Babo Kim who never went to school and thus Ayabe can't be disappointed in him for not being able to do something simple like tell time... Every day Ayabe lowers his standards for people. ]

It's around 12:25. Half past noon. See the small hand? That's the hour hand, pointing to the twelve. The longer hand is the minute hand... There are sixty minutes in an hour, so the five means it's five twelfths of an hour, or twenty-five. Does this make sense?

[counterclocked]

Yeah. I know how to read it...

[Theoretically, at least.]

It just - looks different to me. It's kind of a long story.

[kazokun]

[ ...Ayabe digs into his pocket for the small blue notebook, and flips it open to a page with the words Erebonia, Zemuria, Liberl, Calvard, and Crossbell written on it in some weird language he can't place but it's somehow still understandable to him. ]

Like the opposite of this?

[ Unable to understand something you recognize, versus being able to understand something you don't. ]

[counterclocked]

[He glances down at the notebook, but shakes his head as soon as he sees what Ayabe means.]

No, it's like, it looks like 12:25 to you, but it looks like 8:13 to me. I kind of have, uh... Time problems.

[That explains nothing!!]

[kazokun]

...Time dyslexia.

[ Like that??? ]

[counterclocked]

[After a moment:]

Yeah, I guess that's an okay way to describe it.

[kazokun]

[ He will take okay. Being able to tell time exactly isn't a huge deal as far as he can see, when they don't really need to be on a strict timeline for anything. ]

That's... fine, isn't it? As long as you have a general sense of morning, noon, evening, and night.

[ Does he though ]

[counterclocked]

I guess, but... It's usually nice to know what time it is just, like, in general?

i

[soba]

[ considering toi hit like 50 people with a chair over the weekend, he deserves to get walked into ]

Just watch it next time.

[counterclocked]

Right. Yeah, I definitely will.

[He looks relieved about the lack of anger, but it means he's continuing on instead of just leaving.]

It's just... Have you noticed anything weird going on? Like, obviously this entire situation is weird, but specifically today.

[soba]

Today...

[ hmmm ]

Oh. I guess so.

[counterclocked]

[After a beat:]

So, the weird thing you're noticing would be...?

[soba]

[ hmmmmMMM ]

Come with me.

[counterclocked]

Uh...

[He pauses for a moment, before he shrugs.]

Yeah, sure. Can I ask where we're going, though?

[soba]

To the kitchen.

[ if like... hunter can get there.... ]

[counterclocked]

Okay... For what?

[He can definitely get there!

He might walk into a wall in about five seconds while trying to turn the corner if Toi doesn't stop him, though. It's fine.]