WEEK ZERO: MINGLE

[retellers]

WEEK ZERO: MINGLE (43 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. Speaking of new, if participants turn on their PHS, they'll notice another section available. There's also an alert for a new message, titled TEAM ASSIGNMENT. Opening it will reveal which Leader they have been assigned to. Furthermore, at the corner of the PHS screen is an icon of an animal, depending on who their Leader is. It is visible only to them and no one else. That's not the only change, though. Participants may not notice at first—or perhaps they will?—but sooner or later, they may realize that they're... missing something? Strange. Three Leaders can be found around the area, open (?) to approach. If participants want to speak to them more privately, or to an absent Leader, it looks like they'll have to go through another channel. Which is to say, the Planetarium is now open! Finally, for the rest of the week, the participants will inexplicably have the urge to be physically affectionate. That person you just met days ago? Time to cuddle! This complete stranger you ran into? It sure is tempting to hold their hand. This urge can range anywhere from minor to impossible to ignore, depending on the situation. Enjoy your bonding!

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Comments

[stillnot]

That's... A lot to swallow.

[ she's not super well versed in myths, but she knows who hades is! ]

[reconnective]

[he gives an almost lazy sort of shrug in reply.]

I told you, it's kind of a long story. [namely for reasons like that.]

[stillnot]

It would be cool to hear the details sometime. It sounds like it's a much bigger story than anything I've heard of before.

[ ... but she's fine with it not being right away. ]

[reconnective]

It's been a long time now. [it's quietly said like he's actually realizing just how many years the journey itself took.] But whenever you want. I'll tell you about it.

[sharing is fine, he thinks. but for now there are stars.]

[stillnot]

So you did something like that... When you were even younger?

[ ... bad? ]

[reconnective]

Yeah, but not by much. I was fourteen the first time we met him on Herc's world.

[14 is still technically a teenager and therefore this is not so bad to him.]

[stillnot]

[ i mean... ultimately you do what you have to. clem has since she was 8. AJ has since he was, like, born. ]

Huh. Sounds like we've both had to deal with the dead.

[reconnective]

Yeah? ["zombies" hasn't actually come to his mind but he can at least pick up from context clues that clem's world is pretty disturbed.] It's weird...I was talking to someone else and he said it's like a lot of us came from places with monsters running around everywhere. But this place is still really peaceful.

[stillnot]

[ she just nods. she cannot imagine that their experiences are similar past that, though. ]

... It's nice here. But it freaks me out. It's hard to relax.

[ she assumes that it's only a matter of time before monsters show up, honestly. ]

[reconnective]

[can't wait until someone dies and clementine can say she was right to feel that way. but sora seems to pause because...well.]

...I think I get it. We always had something that needed to be done or people that needed to be stopped or worlds that needed to be saved. There wasn't always a lot of time to take a break. So being here and having freedom to do whatever we want can be kind of weird sometimes.

[he's just handling it better than most, maybe, by keeping busy instead of being on edge.]

[stillnot]

[ she's a lot more concerned about an outside threat than an inside one, honestly. anyway, wow, Sora's life sounds familiarly exhausting. ]

I'm still not used to being in one place for so long.

I don't even know what to do with all the free time. I wish we knew more about what we're going to be up against so that I could be getting ready.

[reconnective]

["me either."]

When I asked Fox what we should do, they said we should get to know each other. It's not a perfect answer, but it's not really a wrong one either. That way it'll be easier to come up with a plan when we do know what we're going up against.

[stillnot]

Getting to know each other was going to happen anyway. We're all stuck here together.

Sounds like they just want us to keep each other busy so that they don't have to.

[reconnective]

And there're still people who don't even like being in the same room as other people. [getting to know each other is still an effort!!] It's not that easy for some people.

[stillnot]

I've definitely met people like that.

... They turned out to be assholes, anyway.

[ she says, pointedly ignoring that there are certainly people out there who would describe her at one of those people. ]

[reconnective]

[...is he legally allowed to call someone an asshole? hm.]

Even more reason to try and get anyone like that on our side to make this work.

[stillnot]

... If we can. If they're not a liability.

[ some assholes are lost causes! ]

[reconnective]

[he just makes a face.]

We'll make it work. Trust me. [he will friendship as hard as he can, so help him.]

[stillnot]

We'll try.

[ she will too. her friendship just looks very different. ]

[reconnective]

Good. [he believes in you, clem!! but with that said...] Wanna see some of the other constellations I recognize? There's some pretty weird ones.

[stillnot]

Yeah, show me.

[ she bets he knows all kinds of weird ones if he has one of himself. probably ones that didn't even exist where she's from. ]

[reconnective]

[considering the part where he's taking her hand to use it to point at this goofy-ass thing.]

What do you think this is supposed to be? [he's just curious about her guess.]

[stillnot]

[ me squinting suspiciously at every time Sora is physically affectionate and whispering 'was it Sora that smooched someone'

anyway. it's just a small circle on a bigger circle, so... ]

... A snowman?

[reconnective]

[stop it he doesn't know how smooching works. but he tilts his head to look at the constellation once more.]

Actually that's a pretty good guess. But it's called a Moogle. That's its head, they have these little pom-pom things at the top that stick straight up. They don't like when people touch it though.

[stillnot]

A... Moogle.

[ ... his description of it sounds ridiculous... what kind of a creature is that. ]

I can't picture it.