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

[kazokun]

[ He's Right There and also standing closer than he normally needs to be, because Luna's speaking up is around other people's normal conversational levels and she's going to need to shout at the top of her lungs by the end of the day. ]

No, you were too far to hear.

[ She was probably like ten or twenty feet away, in —not pure silence, but it would have been quiet enough for people to hear her. ]

Or, rather, I'm not sure I recovered fully from the other day yet. I can't hear as well.

[ It's just brain damage on the account of being dropped on his head. He'll get better. ]

[brokethefirst]

[Another obnoxiously long pause. She doesn't even respond to his first statement, almost looking as though the entire sentence went completely over her head.]

O-oh. You mean from your fall in the lounge? That's odd. As far as I know, you didn't show any sign of concussion. And someone said they had kept you from, um, hitting the ground...

Well... let's see. You can understand me at the moment, correct? [She's talking at about her regular volume, on purpose.]

[kazokun]

[ If he let somebody fall onto the ground and smashed their head/face/whatever had happened back there, he would be tempted to say otherwise as well. At least Subete later let him know about what happened with Lio, and Ayabe's also talked to Lio and put it behind him. Sometimes a series of accidents can lead up to a tiny undetectable concussion that got worse after he saw Luna, it could have happened like that. ]

...Yes, I can understand you, but it would be easier if you spoke up. Are you feeling alright? You're sounding like Anya.

[ With all the pauses, like she's needing the time to process things. ]

[brokethefirst]

[Get used to the pausing, Ayabe, it's gonna happen a l o t.]

Ah.

Y-yes, I'm fine. I'm... unfortunately having a problem similar to yours. I can hear some things properly, but... it, um, takes some concentration sometimes.

[She seems to be talking just fine, though. She does raise her volume slightly.]

That's why I spoke up in the dining room. I want to see who's been affected, and to what severity.

[kazokun]

[ Ayabe can try and concentrate all he wants, but if he wants to hear something he'll have to move closer. Speaking hasn't been a problem, though, on the account of being often surrounded by such noisy people that he can't hear himself think sometimes, and he just has to do his best and speak up above that despite not hearing his own voice.

But if it's hearing, he speaks up a little too, whether or not that will help Luna. ]

Most everybody I've spoken to since yesterday has had something wrong with their bodies. For me, it's gotten worse over just one day. Do you think this is fatal?

[ Just going right there, yeah. Disease progression is real swift. ]

[brokethefirst]

[wow that's a depressing turn of topic]

What? No, no... I-I wouldn't jump to that conclusion at all. We don't even know if it's actually a disease we're dealing with right now.

Is there anything else you've been experiencing that's been different? Fever, headaches, loss of balance... anything out of the ordinary for you?

[So, outside the panic attacks and everything.]

[kazokun]

[ Everybody's going bonkers all at once, so it sounds like a disease to him. He shakes his head, though, because it's been fine for him. Not being able to hear isn't a terrible inconvenience for somebody who doesn't go out of his way to make small talk with people to begin with. ]

Not me, but there's another boy, Isaac- he has his arm in a sling and I hope he was able to talk to you again about that. He's been having trouble keeping balance. Ling has been hallucinating things too. They all sound like brain problems to me.

[ If not a disease, then poison. The brain's a vital organ; asking whether she thinks this is fatal isn't too far a leap. ]

[brokethefirst]

[Ayabe if you didn't already have some psychiatric problems she would be having some suspicions right about now.]

It... could be neurological, yes. But right now, there's not enough conclusive evidence to say that it's a disease causing this.

How would we have caught it so quickly, and why would we all develop completely different symptoms affecting different parts of the brain within the same day? Ignoring incubation times, the number of airborne pathogens that could act that quickly without any other inherent symptoms is slim. If you add the fact that some of the people here claim to not be human, or not be from Earth... entertaining the idea that they might be correct, at least, then you'd have to classify it as zoonotic, which limits things even further.

[A beat. She blinks, then glances to the side, her smile sheepish.]

I'm sorry, I suppose that was a little technical. Let's focus on getting some more information first, okay? Urgency is fine. But it can be dangerous to just guess.

I'll see if I can find Issac. I'm glad he still has the sling. But... um... who did you say it was that was hallucinating? I didn't quite understand.

[kazokun]

[ ...He's going to blame it on the partial deafness for why he zones out for a minute or two there. Couldn't it be possible there's some superbug out there that acts really quickly and chews up different parts of the brain at random and that's why there's a large spread of symptoms. It doesn't have to be a disease that's known. ]

...Right. Uh... I don't know what sort of medical information you need, so I'll leave that to you. [ ganba Nik ]

It was Jin Ling who was hallucinating, though. The noisy brat who whines a lot and threatens people with his uncle.

i'm suffering card ive never been to doctor school

[brokethefirst]

[Look Ayabe, you gotta start somewhere, and sometimes that's with what you know, otherwise you just live life guessing and being paranoid and that's no way to live at all!!!!

Anyway, here, have an apologetic smile. Sorry, kiddo.]

That... narrows it down, I suppose. [Noisy defines like half of the people around here, and the last part of his sentence just kind of. Dissolved into the background. Hn.] Could you describe him a little bit? What was he hallucinating?

me, who's gone through pharmacy school: thank god i only play dumb teens

[kazokun]

[ How to describe Jin Ling beyond "noisy brat"?

He thinks for a moment, and then flips through his notebook to one of the earlier pages, where he's been taking notes of people's profiles, just the important parts he wants to remember about them:

Rulan (Ling) Jin
- 15 years old
- "LanlingJin Junior Cultivator"
- "combat, sword surfing, ancient Chinese corpse medicine, core strengthening, dynasty K9 unit, rich bachelor status"

Most of it's copied word for word because heck if he knows what half these words mean. Does any of this help identify him?? The 15 year old who looks Chinese. ]

He couldn't explain what he was seeing, but it sounded like people who aren't there, or movement that didn't happen.

[ Ghosts. ]

i took three fourths of a BA in theater design and here i am: pretending to be a doctor

[brokethefirst]

[If he is not showing her those notes directly, she will definitely try to take a look without getting too much further into his personal space than she already is.

15 years old, Chinese, well-to-do, athletic. That would suffice enough.]

So they were visual. Okay.

Have... you been seeing anything like that either, Ayabe?

[kazokun]

[ He does show them to her, since it's for her benefit in the first place. There's nothing much besides what's on the profile and also the room number at the moment, because he still holds onto the assumption they won't all be here long enough that he needs to get to know any of them very well. ]

Nothing... quite like what he was describing. Have you?

[ Granted, he's in his own head a lot and doesn't pay attention to people or things happening around him unless it's shoved into his face like the aftermath of the lounge war. Ayabe doppelgangers look plain and ordinary enough to be easily missed, even by himself, and disappear into the crowd. ]

[brokethefirst]

That's... [SIGHS. She made out about three words there, but the tone provides enough context that she can at least try to work it out..........] I'm sorry, but that's a little too vague. What sorts of things are you seeing?

[You remember her saying we need more information WELL THIS SURE IS MORE INFORMATION......]

If you're asking if I've seen people... yes, I have. In a manner of speaking, anyway.

I thought I might be looking into a window or a mirror the first time it happened.

[kazokun]

Somebody who looked like you? For me, I thought I saw my brother, Umetsugu, but when I came closer, he was gone.

[ His younger brother doesn't look exactly like him, but, being siblings, his face is close enough. Rather than appearance, it's the personality that has Ayabe lean towards his brother: the boy was smiling and laughing and there's no way that could be himself in any iteration. ]

[brokethefirst]

N-no, um... it was just someone who looked like me, I'm afraid. They didn't really do anything to me.

[He clearly said "somebody who attacked you", right? Right.]

Your brother... I imagine that must have been unsettling. I... I don't think I'd want a loved one in a situation like this.

Is he your only sibling?

[kazokun]

[ Didn't- what? His hearing's really going down the drain; he leans in a little closer so he doesn't miss anything, casting his eyes down when he hears her call his brother a loved one because. yeah. ]

I have five in total: three brothers and two sisters. The oldest is thirteen, and the youngest just turned seven.

[ And he's seventeen, so even between him and the oldest there's an age gap that sets them apart. He wouldn't want any of them to be in a situation like this, even though they're the sort of people who would probably enjoy running around throwing confetti everywhere. ]

[brokethefirst]

[Please don't make this an accidental kiss, Ayabe, I don't want for this to be how we activate the kiss counter. Anyway, Luna will allow it, it's fine, personal space doesn't exist when you can't hear anything.]

That's a rather large family. But... I feel if they care for you like you care for them, it must be a nice household. At least, I think it might be.

Your names as well... Ayabe, Umetsugu... and your family name is Reito, correct? Are you from Japan?

[kazokun]

[ Haha! It's a nice household. He'd like to think they care for him too, but he's not so sure. ]

Right, I'm Japanese. But my family name is Ayabe. Most people call me that, instead of Reito.

[ something something you gotta earn the right for first names, but also he's just Ayabe throughout the entire manga so he's Ayabe here too. ]

[brokethefirst]

[It takes her a second, but she slowly starts to fluster as she grows aware of her mistake.]

O-oh, um... I see. I apologize. When we were introduced, you must have used the Western presentation of your name, then, didn't you?

I've heard it used interchangeably with someone I work for, so I'm, um... I'm very sorry if I was coming across too informal...! That wasn't my intention.

[kazokun]

Huh? No, I don't care about that. You can call me by whichever name if you want.

[ For Luna only!!! just Luna can use his first name if she really really wants to, or she can use Ayabe like everybody else. It's just what's more familiar to him, with his siblings calling him onii-chan and his classmates calling him Ayabe and him talking to nobody else. ]

[brokethefirst]

...Thank goodness.

If it's really okay with you, then... could I call you Reito?

[Yes, he just gave her permission; no, she didn't hear it.]

[kazokun]

...Yeah, you can call me Reito.

[ Luna is now like the fourth person in the entire world who's ever called him Reito and I'm going to doubletake every time she calls him that because who is that ]

[brokethefirst]

[It's okay I'm having to change all my thread tracker info now or I'm going to forget so I'm glad we're descending into this hell together]

Okay. Thank you, then, Reito.

If your hearing gets any worse, or if you notice anything else strange, would you let me know? If you can't find me... let's see. How about you leave a note with your name and the date under the door of Room 1, and I'll look for you as soon as I see it.

Does that sound okay with you?

[kazokun]

[ That's dedication... me not being able to remember which names Ayabe uses for people is just him avoiding mentioning people's names as long as I can.

He's also going to have to get used to hearing his name, it makes him stop and pay closer attention when he does. ]

I can do that. Who's your roommate again? They wouldn't be nosy about reading a note addressed to you if I slide it under the door...?

[ If he write anything more than his name and date, anyways. On his side, Ken would probably respect his privacy; Dazai would take the note and not tell Ayabe he received anything. ]