WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE

[retellers]

WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE (21 remain) Rise and shine, gremlins. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and it's the start of a new week. To the participants, yesterday's events may seem distant now—albeit not as distant as their life before this. Whether or not they notice, they will have lost a memory upon waking up. As usual, the participants will find that their lodgings have changed, and should anyone check their PHS, Chiron, Ochako, Soo-won, and Dorothy's profiles have been removed. They may also find that they have difficulty recalling complete details of the past weeks. Furthermore, it looks as though the rules have updated. Not everything is the same as the previous pattern, though. The barrier to the north is back up, and once more, what lies beyond is an empty field. In contrast, however, participants may notice that they can finally access a place they haven't been able to before... Additionally, it looks like the Leaders aren't around. No matter where the participants look, they're nowhere to be found. Should anyone try calling for them in the Planetarium, there will be no response—not even a message telling the participant that they're busy. Finally, everything around the participants begins to... glitch? Buildings may suddenly blink out of existence and then back in, random items like chairs or cups may suddenly distort even while they're being used, and looking at any particular thing for too long may give someone a headache. It's worse than it was that one week, though: participants will find that it's happening to themselves as well. Body parts might suddenly glitch out of existence then back in, and there will be a shot of pain when it occurs. It'll happen randomly, but it also seems to occur more often if they're touching something or another person.

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

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[robopriest]

[Oh, great. This time skipping again. Hansa only has a moment to inwardly hope that this won't be another ten years, but-]

[He instantly shudders, patting over himself with a grimace.]

...Oh, that is so weird, to have a regular body again.

[Someone realized he is supposed to have a cyborg body! But enough about that. There's a fight. Hansa frowns, already stepping forward threateningly to grab ahold of the man's shoulder, his voice low.]

Hey! Hey, break it up, or I'll turn your spine into a pretzel!

[arkitect]

Ah- those suggestions really were a bit on the nose, were they not...?

[rule of funny: he has to use a fake name, only to immediately remember his real one. but he looks somewhat relieved that hansa finally remembers about himself, at least.

... but then that fight breaks out, and, well. that's not his business!

emet-selch leaves this to the jocks, pulling the girl a little further from it so she's not too close to this mess.]

I expect this will be handled shortly-- are you unharmed?

[papasha]

[Ahhhh, memory slap is hella strange. He blinks, and suddenly, it's lunchtime? And he's not sure if he should be hungry, but he's too distracted by the boy.

He almost trips on the desk he stands up so quickly.]

Ash...?

[A long time ago, he use to play his part, and he use to chide a certain someone about keeping the temper in check. Maybe he has a brief moment of emotional lapse.

He pretty much just swings right past Hansa and cold-clocks the man in the face. This body isn't nearly as beefy as usual, but it's less about that and more about how expertly he knows how to strike.]

[retellers]

[ The girl lets herself be pulled away, looking startled. ]

Huh? Um... Ah, yes...

[ Meanwhile, Blanca decks a man. The man is now down and out. The Ash lookalike slinks away. ]

[robopriest]

...Oh.

[There Blanca goes, before he can do anything himself. Hansa blink, surprised. Hope they don't go for detention for this! Gritting his teeth, he moves to kick the man in the side for good measure, before turning back to Blanca.]

Hey. Are you okay? [And then he comes over to the girl and Emet.] By the way, my names were fine. Geez. [To the gir:] Looks like we took care of him, huh?

[arkitect]

I was not complaining, Hansa.

[just giving him a slight nod, before glancing over to blanca-- you good, there?-- and then gesturing to the unconscious man. why is he in this school. check him out.

and then, back to the girl:]

Have you an idea what that was about?

[who was this guy bugging her.]

[papasha]

Mhm.

[Nooo, Ash-child come back. Blanca looks... kind of sad about it? He didn't even get to make sure the kid was okay. His frown turns kind of sour when he glances down.

He'll check the guy out to see if there's anything useful hiding around in pockets, or something.]

[retellers]

[ The guy has a wallet with money in his pocket, I guess.

The girl responds, smiling in gratitude. ]

Oh, you know how it is. Men just suck, sometimes! No offence.

[ She looks at Blanca. ]

... Is he okay, though?

[ Blanca, that is. Not the guy on the floor. Fuck him. ]

[robopriest]

None taken.

[Yeah, men DO suck.]

[He looks back at Blanca, eyebrows furrowed in concern.]

...I don't know. Hey, Blanca! [He wanders back over, clapping a hand on his shoulder, but his voice is quiet.] You look like you saw a ghost...

[arkitect]

I have some suspicion a place like this may well be full of them.

[he created it that way once, after all.]

...shall we attempt to find the boy?

[there's no telling which way he went, probably, but... they can try.]

[papasha]

[Hmmm. Well, he takes a little of the guy's money, sorry. Not for himself, though.

He stands up into the clap of Hansa's hand on his shoulder, and he shakes his head a bit.]

I'm all right. It just... looked like Ash is all.

[He holds up the money and waves it a bit at the girl.]

Here. Lunch compensation for him harassing you. We should go get some, too. Maybe the people familiar to us will be there...?

[retellers]

Oh, it's fine! I brought my own lunch, actually... Would you like to join me?

[ She smiles sheepishly. ]

I made some for my friends too, but they ended up not coming...

[robopriest]

...

[He grins at the girl. Sure, this might all be fake, an illusion, all over again, but...]

[How could he say no to that?]

Your friends ditched you? Forget them. We're your new friends now.

[arkitect]

[of course. emet-selch exhales an exasperated breath, because he does feel it's probably best to follow more familiar faces... but he can see that grin on hansa's face and is pretty sure they're going nowhere.]

... well, if he insists, then I suppose we're staying.

[papasha]

[What kind of friends would just not show up for food? Honestly.

He gives Hansa a playful jab of an elbow. It turns out, the slut is a delinquent, and the delinquent is also a slut. Sorta.]

We'd be honored.

[Time to have lunch with a girl.]

[retellers]

[ I hate everyone here except Emet.

But the girl beams. ]

Great! How about we go to the rooftop? It might be hard to find a seat in the cafeteria by now, anyway. Hehe.

[ Unless they have Very Strong feelings about eating elsewhere, she'll grab a bag and go ahead and lead them up to the school roof.

Once they're up there, she hands all three of them... bentos? This is definitely not appropriate for the setting, but hey, at least the view of what's still Emet-Selch's city is nice. ]

[robopriest]

[SHUT UP HE'S BEING NICE TO THIS GIRL WHO GOT ABANDONED BY HER FRIENDS SMH]

[But he follows. You know, up here...it really is beautiful. This city feels like its lost in time.]

[And it is, in a way.]

[He takes the bento from the girl, giving her a nod.]

Thank you for the meal. You really made these yourself? Some friends, skipping out on something like this.

[arkitect]

[jan if they did class intros do they know her name. will he look stupid if he asks. IF THEY DON'T KNOW HE'LL ASK but otherwise send help jan.

emet-selch has no complaint about the rooftop, though; he likes having the view, even if this is clearly not the same place he recreated. it still looks the same on the surface, something he hasn't seen in-person for some weeks.]

I suppose they are not terribly reliable.

[he's looking out at the skyline as he speaks, though, not at her.]

[papasha]

[Yet again, I'm being gaslit.]

Sure. Let's go to the rooftop.

[This is very much what Ash's friend would be accustomed to, he thinks. Heading to the roof to have lunch. But he follows the girl, and Hansa and Emet to the rooftop.

He looks around, and then joins them so he can take a bento.]

It looks good. [In before we're told it looks disgusting.] Are they busy, or did they simply turn into no-shows...?

[retellers]

[ It does in fact look good! And will also taste very good, if they dig in. Apparently, this girl—whose is An Onoya, if they were paying attention to introductions—can cook. ]

They didn't show up. How horrible, don't you think?

[ She sounds more jokingly upset than anything, though, as she takes a few steps to better peer at the skyline. ]

... Isn't this city beautiful? But everything, no matter how beautiful, comes to an end eventually. Hey...

[ She turns back to look at them. ]

Which do you think is more important, the past or the present? Would you sacrifice memories of a painful past so that you could be happier in the present? Or would you give up the pain of the present so that you could return to a time when things were better?

[robopriest]

[Everything comes to an end eventually.]

[He glances over at Emet-Selch, his expression suddenly somber, before he hides it by looking down at his bento. Its delicious, really. A meal in the city of the dead.]

[And what she says...]

[He frowns.]

What kind of questions are those? [He shakes his head. Even after everything, his answer would be...] Haven't you heard the saying? "The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there". Which is to say that, I live in the present, and I always will. But that doesn't mean I want to sacrifice my memories, either. They make me who I am. My present couldn't exist without them, even if they were painful.

[arkitect]

[he does have the bento, but he is not eating it because he is forever more cautious than that. it's not like he'll die that fast if he doesn't eat, anyway, it's fine.

her questions, though they don't get him to look away from the city, make his brow furrow, mouth pulled into a thoughtful frown. he doesn't need to be looking to know that hansa likely glances his way; still, he doesn't look back.]

...there are moments when I do wish it were possible to simply return to a better time, and between the two, I would never sacrifice the memories of my own history.

[a brief moment of honesty, at least. it's easier to say so here, looking at a vision of that past.]

But such things are not so easily done, nor is it such a simple thing to undo all which has occurred. To unmake what has been created. For better or worse, the world carries on.

[he has accepted the present and the fact that he will never bring back what was lost-- but while emet-selch won't go back to his old ways, well. especially here, it's hard not to miss what once was.]

[papasha]

[Well, that's some heavy conversation for cute bentos on the rooftop.

Quietly, he glances from Hansa to Emet, and then away while the two of them answer the girl in turn. He's... answered this already, hasn't he? He's answered it here, at the beginning.]

I still agree that your memories make you who you are. They are your experiences, after all, whether good or bad. It's what I would personally choose, too. Continuing to live in the present, trying to be happy in it.

However, I think it is up to each person to decide what's best for them.

If it means forgetting their painful past to live in a happier present, or if it means giving up their painful present to return to a better time in the past. I don't condone living in the past, but... I understand its appeal when your present is a terrible place to exist.

[retellers]

[ That's rude, Emet.

But she smiles at Hansa. ]

... That's a good answer. I know someone who'd probably agree with you... though for many, it's probably easier said than done, huh?

[ Her gaze sweeps over the three of them. ]

Would you say you're content? All of the painful things that happened to you, especially recently... Were any of it worth it, for what you gained? New memories, friends, loved ones... Two of you are totally dating. Oh, though I guess that makes one of you a third wheel here. Awkward.

[robopriest]

...Oh, dating? [He looks directly at Emet, before back to her.] Its not really dating. Its...well, I think we'd be here for a while if we explained it.

[Its just how it is! Hansa nonchalantly shrugs, before chewing down on some rice as he considers his answer.]

And...yes, I'm content with what I have. What I gained. What I'm not happy with knowing that people's lives are being played around with. [A pause. His eyes narrow.] So, little lady, who are you? The Realm? You sure seem to know a lot about us.