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

Comments

[lecarre]

[If Rabbit was in this room, she'd probably be passed out, wouldn't she--

Anyway, Ange will do the dirty work of inspecting the body. Any obvious defining features that is has without, uh. Having a head? And is the classroom clean or a total mess?]

... This was certainly not a student. I suppose it was either a teacher, or from our memories once again.

[axecessory]

[ she just! sighs! ]

All right. Maybe she's not in this school at all, then...

[ are they just going to have to keep traveling through time until they find her? what is this place's deal? ]

Do you know where else we might find her?

[discernments]

[ Are they just going to have to wander the entire school until they're put to sleep again?

But if it's time— ]

Do you know what time her club is supposed to meet?

[ Isn't that what that other guy said? That they're supposed to meet sometime? ]

[retellers]

[ Rabbit is not in the room because she would indeed be passed out if she were. But there is a blade sticking out of the desk next to the corpse. If they look, they'll also see that it seems like there are random items scattered around the room, that don't seem like they belong in a classroom? It's like things that were inside a home were just inserted here.

The girl shakes her head. ]

After school, but also whenever Suzumiya-san wants them to. You guys should just look around.

[chanteuser]

[ is there anything that stands out about them? and the blade -- does it look significant in any way?

alex will grab some of the Most Important Looking Items if need be, and purposely not look at the body. ]

... His name was Miles Mayer, I think. It's... fuzzy, but this much I remember.

[ it's said very quietly. ]

... Do we need to stay here? Or should we keep looking for Rabbit?

[lecarre]

[Yeah if there's anything remotely noteworthy Ange'll pick it up. Otherwise, she just shakes her head at Alex's question.]

If he is from your memories, that answers that well enough.

We should keep looking.

[That's the main goal here, right? Thank goodness the murder victim wasn't Rabbit!

Time to bail!]

[axecessory]

[ hilda gets the feeling that they may not be awake to make it to afterschool. what can they do but go and search in the meantime? at least they seem to be getting closer to rabbit through her memories, finding people she's connected to. ]

Ugh. Okay, thanks.

[ she sounds a little disappointed, but unless there's anything else in the room that stands out, off they go! ]

[discernments]

Thank you.

[ To Hilda, as they both check out if there's anything odd in the room before they go: ]

Shall we just check every other classroom while we're here?

[ She doesn't know how to be effective more than that unless— ]

We could also cause a commotion to draw people to us.

[retellers]

[ There is nothing obvious that stands out about the blade except for whatever Alex may or may not recognize about it.

But when they walk out, they will... run into Haruhi again, with her arms folded. ]

What was in there? Did you find your band member?

[ Meanwhile, Hilda and Jeanne see nothing that stands out, so they can go into the hall and discuss. ]

[chanteuser]

[ oh. ]

...

[ to lie or not to lie? ]

Something like a model, I think? And no, we haven't found her.

[ ... ] She's about this height-- [ bunny measurements ]-- with brown eyes and auburn hair about this long. You haven't seen her since we last met, have you?

[lecarre]

[not a strong enough lie, Alex.

Ange shakes her head.]

You really, really do not want to go in there. It looks like an art project gone wrong. You do not want to get dragged into cleaning it up, do you...?

[DO NOT GO IN THERE, IMPRESSIONABLE CHILD.

Anyway yeah, their band member. Alex has got that covered.]

[axecessory]

[ meanwhile, with the cadaverless group... ]

What do you think? Should we look around and see if we can find the others while we're at it?

[discernments]

[ She nods. ]

We should regroup in case we are all made to fall asleep again.

[ Jeanne opens the door to the next classroom, as they walk along. Anything stand out?

They can walk, talk, and search. ]

[retellers]

[ I don't understand why you guys would think this stuff would stop Haruhi at all, because she is immediately stepping into the room and-- turning around. ]

You guys are pretty bad liars.

[ If they look over her shoulder, they'll see that it's now an empty classroom.

Meanwhile, when Jeanne opens the door, she'll see someone sitting at a desk closest to the window. They're looking out of it, so their face can't be seen. ]

[chanteuser]

[ ... huh.

that's slightly concerning but also? probably realm related, so it only throws her for a moment. ]

[ alex just shrugs. ] It'd be fun if there was though, right?

-- You didn't answer my question though. The girl I described, have you seen her around?

[lecarre]

[This is the first time all cyoa that Ange has been offended.

Excuse you she is a great liar.

... but anyway. Yeah. The girl. Alex has got this covered, Ange is just over here being offended.]

[axecessory]

[ oh, another student? they may as well ask? ]

Excuse me—! We're looking for our friend...

[ she's using a nice voice, be useful, whoever you are. she'll walk over—what's this person look like? ]

[retellers]

[ Haruhi scowls. ]

You're looking for my mascot. She's the one I've been trying to find all day.

[ Well, the person will look familiar--an older version of Rabbit, to be precise. She looks over at them and smiles. ]

Oh my. It's good to see you again.

[chanteuser]

[ ah. ]

Maybe? If it sounds like her... you really haven't found her anywhere yet?

It might be quicker if we team up and look for her. Or if we know where you've looked so we can look elsewhere...

[lecarre]

Yes... we all must be worried about her, right?

So let us all look for her together.

[THIS... MIGHT BE PROGRESS??]

[axecessory]

[ Hilda's relief is palpable—she's going to try and hug Rabbit(?) immediately, letting out a big sigh. ]

Bunny! I was so worried!

[ once the initial surprise fades, she's still sounding happy, but. huh. ]

Going for a more... mature look today?

[retellers]

[ Haruhi is looking at them so fucking suspiciously now. ]

Are you guys going to tell me the truth first? I'm not an idiot. You're really going to expect me to believe she's in some weird group with you all?

[ Ange's lies has become their undoing.

Back with Hilda, the older Rabbit laughs. ]

This is just what I look like. You're looking for the other me, aren't you?

[chanteuser]

...

We're not necessarily lying. She's... someone we know by a different name. Because she lost her memories. She was one of the people leading the groups we were split in to -- and for all we know, one of her teammates could be in this group looking for her.

It's just been easier to get to this point not going into detail because who would believe that a bunch of people who've been trapped somewhere for two months are now running through their own memories to find one of the people who've been guiding us the whole time?

[ at this point she might as well just be honest. ange, shh. unless she's adding to that with more information. ]

[lecarre]

[No she'll shh. It figures that their kind of sort of lie mostly truth is what they're called out on!!

This is why she lies!!!

But Alex has got it covered and Ange won't really say anything until necessary.

It sounds so ridiculous, really, but hey, maybe this chick goes for that sort of thing.]

[retellers]

[ Listen, she's calling them out because they said they are a group of performing runaways and then said that Rabbit is also a peforming runaway from proxy. This is bullshit. ]

I think you guys are confused. [ She places her hands on her hips. ] But your confusion is pretty interesting! Something is definitely going on here, so I'm going to get to the bottom of it.

[ she wanders off, they can follow. ]