02 - week two

[afflictionmods]

WEEK TWO

When the glitter settles and everyone returns to their dorms - or wherever they intend to sleep for the night, if you’re planning on sleeping at all - your first week of school officially ends. Perhaps it was better than you expected, perhaps it was worse.

Hopefully you learned a bit more about teamwork and school spirit.

Still, this course is going to run for longer than a full week, and come Sunday morning you’re still exactly as you were when you settled down for the night. Still in Estelline, still with that mark on your wrist, still connected to your partner. There are some changes, though. The bookstore has received quite a few books, and those of you who added to the bulletin board and pep rally tasks in the first week will find an envelope taped to their dorm door (or themselves, if they spent the night elsewhere). Inside of the envelope is some kind of voucher! Furthermore, the common area is covered in a bunch of glitter.

Also, there are a ton of eggs in the kitchen – at least 10 dozens.

Florence or Lorelei are still available, should you wish to speak to them.

Finally, you've got some new locations to explore.


SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

TASK LIST

CLUMSINESS AFFECT DETAILS (BEGINS TUESDAY ICLY)

W2 CYOA SIGNUPS
CYOA Signups for Week 2 close Sunday, May 29th at 6pm EST.

THREAD SURVEY
Google form for partner threads, due by Friday, June 3rd at 6pm EST. Optional.

W3 CYOA SIGNUPS
CYOA Signups for Week 3 close Friday, June 3rd at 6pm EST.

OOC NOTE

OOC: Anyone who performed in the Pep Rally (Sabo, Madara, Riku, Shizuku, Herlock, Idia, Flat, Miach) task will be able to redeem a voucher for a prize with one of the NPCs. This can be handwaved, and the prize selection is below.

-Single-serve coffee machine wither a selection of creamer. Comes with packs of coffee beans.
-Popcorn maker and kernels.
-High-quality tea kettle with a selection of just as high-quality tea.
-Carbonation machine (think Sodastream, etc) with flavored syrup.

Any coffee, tea, popcorn, etc. will last characters up to two weeks.

Anyone who participated in the Bulletin Board task will receive a voucher for your choice of two pairs colorful socks with cute animal designs. (Worry frog design available.)

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[magicam]

[If Saturday was bad, then Sunday is... well, not worse, no, but almost as bad, at least. It takes a hot minute to bounce back from something like that, but at least he's making a decent show of it when he's in a public-facing space... like going between the convenience store and the kitchen and his room, avoiding the common room wholesale, because he also knows how much of a menace glitter is, and there's no way he wants to track it back to his room.

So Madara will likely find him on his way back to his room from the kitchen, bedecked in an oversized School Spirit Hoodie, coffee mug in hand, and will be greeted with a bright smile all things considered.]

Mama~ How are you~?

[festiverogue]

[Yesterday was not great, Madara knows. So he's checking on someone who probably didn't need all that hell on his plate. He was going to find Cater in his room, but he's glad to see him out and about.

He flashes a smile right back, big and beaming, dressed in his own school spirit tee and some athletic shorts.]

Heeeey, Cay! You're looking too good today! New shirt?

[Haha. He's so funny.]

[magicam]

[The greeting - and seeing Madara's own college kid getup - really can't help but force a laugh out of him. It's ridiculous, what's being done to them, and the expectation that they could just live a normal school life between it all...

And yet, here they are, living a normal school life between it all.]

Yeah, yeah~ Totes figured it'd be fun to be twinnies with someone else here, ri~ight?

[festiverogue]

[Sometimes you do ridiculous things to cope. He's all smiles, even if he looks the tiiiniest bit tired.]

It looks like you're twins with me! How about that!

[magicam]

[That tired look seems to be sitting on both of them - though with coffee in hand, Cater would surely just blame it on, you know, actual sleepiness, more than anything else.

No one can claim he's lying, then.]

Yeah, yeah~! We could be way cuter, buuuut~ This is what they gave us~

[festiverogue]

We do what we can with what we've got!

[A little laugh.]

Hard to look cute after yesterday, you knooow?

[magicam]

[There it is.]

Toootally. Yesterday was, like, super exhausting.

[festiverogue]

[Madara's smile doesn't fall at all.]

It suuure was! You really nailed it, though.

[magicam]

Eeeh? Really?

[And he just looks away a bit, rubbing at the back of his neck.]

Cay just didn't want to find out what would happen if we failed, yanno? If it would be, like, ~off with your heads~ or something?

[festiverogue]

I mean it!

[Waving a hand.]

You kept a cool head and you did what you needed to do. I'm just glad it wasn't anything toooo serious.

[magicam]

...You really think so?

[Because he doesn't think so. He was panicking pretty bad, and maybe just... leaned into focusing to not think about dying.]

With what they threatened at orientation, Cay didn't know what else to do...

[festiverogue]

I do think so! Whatever gets you through a situation like that without totally freezing up is the right thing.

[Because if Cater had seen how tense Madara was, he'd have known he was expecting worse. At least all they got was a little zap or two.]

I'm hoping it'll be the last one they stick us with, but I'm not optimistic.

[magicam]

Well, it was either that or, like, run away, and there's no way that could happen...

[Oh, he was also expecting much worse, so when all they got was a couple (painful) zaps... Well, that mostly put the pressure on even more, because clearly the worse outcome would come when they failed, right?

But they didn't fail, and they were still in this program.]

Eeh... Cay's pretty sure it's only gonna get worse, and he suuuuper doesn't know what to do... But Mama sounded so calm, it was totally admirable, yanno? How'd you do it?

[festiverogue]

You're too good to run away from your partner, right?

[A beat.]

Since you know each other from before, and everything. It just makes goooood sense.

[But the smile kind of... mellows at that last part.]

I'm an idol, remember? So I'm a greeeeat actor!

[Are you buying it Cater or are you Seeing?]

[magicam]

[Oh, he's Seeing, which is why he can let his facade crack ever so slightly, too. It's scary, and Idia's probably feeling... some kind of way, but if he has a problem with it, then Cater will just make a snack run for him to make up for it, if he even comments.]

Nah. Cay's not that good... he ah... almost let him die once, yanno?

[Ghomari was a wild event, man.]

And it's not like I feel all that guilty about it, either? We didn't know that was what would happen, but... participating in that yesterday was mandatory, so... what if something worse happened if I left? Cay was just way too scared to find out.

[A long sip of coffee, and a heavy sigh before he puts a bright smile right back on, since it dropped quite a bit in the midst of that admission.]

Sorry for showing off a totally uncute side just now~

[festiverogue]

[Weird how Madara feels like they both unlocked a door to something at the same time.]

Things must be pretty wild in your world...

[If people are just almost dying in school... or adjacent to school. Madara can't relate. He swears. He promises.]

It's not like it wasn't a scary situation, but you did what you had to do. You both got the job done. I respect that, even if you were scared.

[As he adds two more people to look out for to his list...]

As for me being calm... I've seen some things. Long story. [A smile, genuine.] I'll tell you when we pass the course. I think you'd just be toooo scared of my world if I put it all out there!

[A beautiful bluff, because the truth is that he sees himself as one of the monsters, and he'll do anything to fight that end.]

[magicam]

[Cater's still not entirely sure if it's a good thing that they've taken these steps, but... well. Either this is all a strange dream (unlikely) or... this friendship will be just as brief and fleeting as all the others. It won't matter in the end, anyway, and if this course wants him to be vulnerable: here it is. With anyone other than the one person who will remember it at home.]

Hah... you could totally say that...

[People sure are almost dying in school. Often. Because that's a normal thing that happens.]

Well, someone had to...

[And yet, the fact of the matter was, he could have left it up to Sabo entirely... and didn't. He handled a decent chunk of it, and they solved it in time.]

Hmhmmm~ I think you might be totes scared of my world if I told you everything, too, yanno?

[He's teasing, sure, but also... he can't be sure that whatever is normal in Madara's world would prepare him for his own.]

[festiverogue]

[In Madara's world, it's the average everyday people who are the real monsters. Insidious stuff he wants to distance himself from... and yet, he can't. Because he'll do anything to make sure nobody else dirties their hands.]

Ohoooo? Scaaary worlds for both of us! That's not what I want to hear. Cay's world, please cut Cay a break~

[He moves in a little closer and drops a hand on Cater's shoulder.]

I'm gonna consider it a date: we'll swap stories. I can't lose, even if you are cute.

[magicam]

[And, well, it's much the same in Cater's, except... the scars the everyday monsters leave behind can breed real, actual monsters. Ideally, no one should have to deal with them, and yet...]

Haha, there's a totally normal culture fest coming up, but he just knoooows something'll go wrong there, too, yanno?

[Hopefully the worst thing that happens is that the Light Music Club fails it's audition because of Lilia being Lilia and Kalim being Kalim, but. We all know that's not the worst that happens in Pomefiore chapter.

And then Madara's hand is on his shoulder, and he's going on about a date, and him being cute, and, hey, is that a blush? Just a light one? Sure is.]

Cute? After all this? You're really trying hard to get that 'kyaa~' out of Cay, aren't you? Buuut it's totes a date.

[festiverogue]

[They'll have a lot to talk about if either of them ever find the headspace to do it. Madara's weirdly counting on that, because there's just something about Cater that makes him think too hard when he's trying to parse the guy out. It does feel suspiciously like being Seen, but he's kind enough in his heart to let it pass without pointing it out.]

After all what? I happen to think heroes are suuuuper cute and cool. And that's the role you got handed yesterday. Cay just has to deal with Mama's praise~

[magicam]

[The slight willingness to open up just a bit at a time must be the result of being Seen - and yet... he's still not entirely willing to admit that's probably what's going on, here. That would require a lot of admissions about himself... and some acknowledgements about Madara, too, that he doesn't quite want to believe just yet.

No one ever said he was selfless.]

Noooo way, Cay def wasn't the hero yesterday! Heroes totally don't break down after their missions, right?

[Ah, wait. Admitting too much, there.]

[festiverogue]

[People call Madara selfless... when they don't truly know him. Everyone else calls it like it is.

But the part of him that's selfish is also equally protective. Which is why something screws up in the pit of his stomach when he hears that Cater broke down yesterday.]

I should've talked to you then...

[Another mistake. Another thing that'll reinforce his own feelings of inadequacy. Well. He earned it.]

Heroes can cry, you know. Maybe you don't have superhero shows where I'm from, but the best heroes are honest with themselves about their limits. That's sorta how they overcome them.

[Even if heroes aren't real.

He moves in a little closer.]

Not to be weird, but... if you need somebody to vent to, I'm open.

[magicam]

[It's not like he never has before. It's not like he's never had the pressure of a life on his shoulders before, either, but here there wasn't any privacy to simply shut down. It was like being a little first year with a bright-eyed roommate that didn't actually care all over again.]

There are hero shows in Cay's world, he just never really watched them~ His sisters never liked them, and now they're more, like, Idia's territory, yanno?

[The realm of the Online And Nerdy sort instead of the Trendy Influencer sort.

It's probably for the best that he never watched them anyway.]

Hmhmmm~ Cay will totes take you up on that if you let him offer the same, okay~?

[festiverogue]

[Madara notes that little aside about Idia with a flash of a grin. Heroes are something he's intimately familiar with, from acting to his early idol unit. Maybe he ought to bring that up with Idia, find some common ground.]

I'll try not to impose, but you got it. Thanks, Cater.