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!

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[stillnot]

[ Clementine is still thrown off by the word zombie? and, like, she knows what movies are but?? huh???? zombie mobie???? oh well ]

I haven't. Which means it's probably somewhere where it blends in, right? Where you wouldn't notice it?

[evocationary]

The gift shop, probably. [ lup says idly. ] Seems like a place where you'd hide a bunch of keys. Is it an answer key? Or is it an actual - oh, it's actually a key. Huh.

[ she'll just adjust her stupid pink hearts headband that she's still wearing and lead the way! ] This - is not what I had in mind when I was thinking about what we were going to have to do to collect nova, but sure. I'll take it.

[papasha]

We'll find out if we see it, I'm guessing. Let's try the gift shop then.

[They don't have a choice, he thinks, with Lup already leading the way. He offers Clem a mildly apologetic look, but then a knowing smile, and he nods after Lup so they can follow her.]

The third one is an anklet... It may have been the one in the emporium. We can check there afterward. [Hm.] What did you think we'd have to do for the nova?

[stillnot]

[ Clem's fine with it - and gives Blanca a quick smile before following after Lup. ]

Sounds like a plan. You think all of it will be this easy?

[ well. she's not sure if they'll be easy to find, but like. this is nice and nonviolent. ]

[evocationary]

Yeah, we can go from the emporium to the emporium, big guy.

[ look it'd be ooc if I didn't call this out - she shrugs wildly at his question, a huge over exaggerated gesture. ]

I don't know, fight monsters? Wrestle a dragon. Something dangerous. [ to clementine: ] I mean, physically easy, probably.

[papasha]

[it's fine, blanca is going to pretend to be a big dumb dorito in my stead. thank you, blanca, for taking one for the clown team.]

We won't have far to walk, at least...

[He glances between the two of them.]

I'm not sure I have experiencing fighting monsters, or dragons.

[stillnot]

It would be nice if everything is in one place.

[ turn that dumb into optimism. except the way she says it sounds a whole lot more like she's being pessimistic. oops. ]

I have experience with people and walkers. Not really used to fighting anything else.

[evocationary]

You don't even want to know what I've fought. [ she says dismissively. ] But we don't have anything to fight right now, unless the zombies crawl out of the - sorry, the walkers climb out of whatever DVD case they're trapped in.

[ they've arrived! she immediately beelines for the counter. ]

[papasha]

[Well, he has stupid manners, so he stops and motions for Clementine to follow Lup in. Seeing as how, like, Lup nyoomed in quickly anyway. He follows them both inside, taking up the back.]

Humans may be more dangerous than some monsters, or even dragons, I'd imagine. [Wait, HOLD UP. He looks a bit startled.] I beg your pardon?

You--fight zombies?

[CLEM?]

[stillnot]

[ Clem heads inside, and despite having been here long enough to know it's not really necessary, the first thing she does is start pacing along the aisles to just. check that the building is clear. ]

Don't make a big deal out of it.

[ she means 'don't have some weird moral hang-up about killing walkers' and not 'don't be shocked by zombies existing' but how would anyone? guess that?? ]

[evocationary]

[ lup is staying out of this one, my dudes.

she looks at the fallen display for a second. and then she takes a bowl full of pins and just upends them on the floor. the place is already a mess, why not add to it. she's looking for a key? wow. ]

[papasha]

[He shoots an unsettled look in Lup's direction, sort of like "WHAT?!" but he does not, for an instant, expect Miss Fantasy Dungeons Elf to understand his issue with a young teenager having to--

It isn't even about the zombies?! She has to fight for resources for survival?! WHY IS HE THE ONLY ONE WHO TAKES ISSUE WITH THIS!!]

Miss Taako. [Which woman does he try to leash currently, in this moment, when they both split into separate directions? He goes down one of the aisles adjacent to Clem, but heads in Lup's direction.] Things may be easier if we do not make a mess.

[stillnot]

[ when she's done checking that it's safe... she heads down an aisle too. "Taako" can handle the mess she just made! Clem calls out to her, very casually as if unaware that she just made the mess worse: ]

Search that pile of junk, okay? I'll check over here.

[evocationary]

[ for a moment she doesn't even respond, because he's calling her taako, and then she remembers. ]

Oh - please, this is making it easier. [ she crouches down to search through the mess. ] Leave her be, dude, she's not going to want to hear you fuss at her.

[ she says this idly. ] Ooh, there's some good-ass shit in here! Where were these pins yesterday? [ she raises her voice: ] See anything, girly?

[papasha]

I'm more worried about you than I am Miss Clementine actually.

[I--well, he doesn't peep over the aisles because he's so fucking tall, so he kind of just... looks over the top of them in the different areas they aren't at yet.]

Do you see what we're looking for, Miss Taako? The school key, or the anklet?

[Hmm, hmm. He looks around on his own aisle. There's a bit of a mess here, too, for some reason. Who made this mess? There's... a lot of glitter. Kano?]

[stillnot]

[ Clem is the only one who doesn't find anything with her quick perusal of other aisles... So she heads over to help Lup sift through the mess without comment. ]

[evocationary]

[ clementine just ditches the child leash, hell yeah. ]

No... there's an ungodly amount of glitter, though. [ which means when clementine comes over to her she's immediately going to leave a glittery handprint on clementine's arm. greetings. ]

Oh - wait, is that a key? [ she points to something glittering down the aisle. ]

[papasha]

[Blinking, he turns to glance down the aisle in the direction Lup points. Will he regret this? Probably. Is he going to be a gentleman? Absolutely.

So he goes to retrieve it for them. It's a key!]

Ah, it's the key.

[It is covered in glitter. And also, now he is covered in glitter having picked it up.]

[stillnot]

... It looks like someone was trying to do arts and crafts with it.

[ why... ]

[evocationary]

[ there's glitter EVERYWHERE. ]

I'm going to be covered in glitter for the next year. [ she says, dryly. ] Well. I guess that's one down.

[ she pushes a bunch of trinkets aside. ] So that means we have the anklet and like, the movie - do we have any ideas on where the movie might be if it's not here?

[papasha]

[He holds it... pinched between two fingers? This does not stop the glitter from sticking wildly to everywhere, including places on his clothes nowhere near the key.]

Mm. [He is thoughtful for a moment.] The inn perhaps?

[stillnot]

My guess was the arcade. That's where all the screens are.

[ but there is that computer in the inn...? she does not know and just. shrugs. she stands up and tries to dust some glitter off of herself. it doesn't really work. ]

[evocationary]

[ i'm so glad they're all gonna be covered in glitter for trial. ]

We can check both, but like, none of the arcade machines have disk drives. [ she's just going to live with the glitter. ]

Hmm. [ she nudges stuff out of the way with her foot. ] Hey, girly, did you check under the shelves?

[papasha]

Let's check the inn, and then we can go to the arcade if we don't find anything. How about that?

[He has brought the key back over to them, as well as himself, as well as ALL OF THIS GLITTER. He peers at Clementine a moment,

and then reaches up to pinch her nose very quickly and briefly with his glitter hand. Now she has a glitter nose.]

[stillnot]

I glanced down, but I didn't... Crawl around looking or anything. Probably should, though.

[ which she's about to go do before Blanca pinches her nose? she flinches away from him, making a face, then tries to rub the glitter off with her sleeve. now there's just glitter on her sleeve too. perfect. ]

Hey.