02.50 - week two, saturday

[afflictionmods]

W2 SATURDAY

Like last Saturday, everyone will get an announcement on their tablets; this time, the announcement is preceded with a bell of some sort before Lorelei appears on the screen again.

"Good morning, everyone. This is an announcement to let you know that today's lesson will take place starting at 8:15 tonight. Again, today's lesson will be starting at 8:15. Please meet at the lower campus exit near the lecture by 8:00pm; Florence will be waiting for you there.

If you have a bag for some snacks and, perhaps, an item you can use for self-defense in the case of an emergency, please arrive with those things on you. We will provide you with an overview of what to expect when you arrive at 8pm.

Thank you."

The alert ends.

You have the day to prepare, ask each other what the hell is happening -- Florence and Lorelei do not seem to be available, strangely enough. There's a lot to take in with the information you have now. But before you know it... night falls.

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[unsinksyourship]

If we were dead, we could be ghosts, or we could be possessing machines...

[Sorry, WWX got him into tale-telling mode and it takes him a minute to actually address the next part.]

You can tell where we are in this fog?? You really are something.

[Fog Boy rides again!]

[affligere]

There are infinite possibilities, good and bad, and I may have a better ability to imagine all of them.

[escardos]

Well, we can't take it down as an option until we try it.

[ he snaps his fingers, confident in his assessment. ]

Sometimes you can resolve things by just talking it out. We could just ask them if there's anything they want to talk about. Some spirits are there because they have lingering regrets and grudges, right?

[cloudalike]

[ Also starting to feel a little mad?? ]

Having more weapons would also assist in all of this. I could not even find a proper staff.

[catarou]

[ Oh boy, does he! He clears his throat. ]

I shall relay to you an incident I investigated. [ yeah ok. ] You see, this is a story that has haunted me ever since the day I became involved. It was my intention to write a story inspired by urban legends of Shibuya, but I uncovered more than I had ever anticipated.

You see, there is a mysterious gambling den that appears only on the night of a full moon. On these nights, a strange phenomenon occurs. The streets of Shibuya become devoid of any life. As they say, "the lights are on, but nobody is home."

It is only if one has an invitation to the gambling den that one may navigate the silent streets. I came into possession of one, through a remarkably difficult process. They say that those who acquire an invitation are forever cursed.

[ He's not going to elaborate on that? Okay. ]

The next full moon, I took to Shibuya's streets. There, in the middle of the Scramble, a building had appeared: the gambling den. It was the sort of ostentatious place I prefer not to frequent. However... I was not alone. A notorious gambler, renowned for his truly exorbitant debts, was there as well. I watched him enter the den, and while I would have had no issue entering, I did not dare to risk it. Not after hearing the gambler's scream pierce the deathly quiet night.

I returned home, and the next day, I inquired about the poor soul. However... even the most ruthless of debt collectors had not a single clue about the man. To this day, I believe I am the only one who knows he once existed.

[magicam]

[And what about you, Idia? The circumstances can't be the best for you, either???]

[boop]

[unsinksyourship]

That's not the same at all, I don't think I'd trust you to drive a bus or a plane.

[This guy seems like he'd drive too fast. He kind of gets that a plane is more complicated but this is not backwards compatibility, Flat.]

[escardos]

Of course not. Everything is amazing, after all.

[ he smiles. ]

Were you bitten by a komodo dragon? Is that why you're scared of them?

[totalcatastrophe]

Buck-cawk.

[ Just chicken noises. He isn't even trying tonight. ]

PART THREE (THE FIRST)

[afflictionmods]

[ Your bus finally comes to a slow, eerie halt. You look outside and it is dark, hazy. It feels like another world entirely, almost, but looking at the concrete sign sitting on the grass outside reads "ESTELLINE MUSEUM". The bus driver lets you know that this is your stop. Before you can properly get out, however, the doors and windows fly open, and some force throws you out of them. (Yes, you may possibly fly out through a window.)

The lights in the museum -- which is right behind the concrete sign -- are off. The entrance light, however, is on. It has an arch over the doorway that looks like it may be breaking, judging by all the cracks in it. The doors open and invite you in; looking around, though, you have nowhere else to go. This is it. This is what you're here for.

--

The good news is, when you enter the museum, the lights flicker on. It's a little dim in here, but it's bright enough to where you can at least see what's in front of you and make out shapes everywhere else.

The first floor of the museum seems...eerily barren. Some cases are cracked and empty; other exhibits seem to just be missing. There are, however, a few for your viewing.

They are all ghouls of some sort. They are all rather large in size and appear to be sculpted and sitting inside of glass cases lining the walls of the first floor. There are three empty cases among the bunch, though. There's not a whole lot to do here, given that all of their plaques lack any sort of description - you can absolutely examine the statues from outside of their cases, but otherwise...moving on.

The second floor unlocks. In fact, this floor has a lot of items that look familiar to you...because they're from your entire stay here. A lot of the items are mundane objects but they have meaning because of the context, the memories that came with them. Hot chips are encased within glass, every object from last Saturday comes with its own display case, a defused bomb sits open and on top of a mount, and there's even a display with the eggs Mutsu made for everyone in it. There's something of significance for just about anyone here. But that's not all.

Photos line the walls - photos of all of you. Some are group shots, but a lot of them are of each of you individually, representing moments at the university that somehow meant something to you, good or bad. There are actually captions that come with all of these, too – one or two sentence descriptors about the context of the photo. ]

PART THREE (THE SECOND)

[afflictionmods]

[ Some time after the characters are done exploring, there's suddenly a loud click that shuts off all the lights. No matter where the characters may be, they are now engulfed in darkness, unable to see a thing. But if they get their tablets out, they'll be able to see...something, sneaking past them, lurking in the shadows. It's hard to tell what it is, though it's entirely possible that you may have a good idea of what it might be.

Either way, the lights will turn back on – even dimmer this time, but just bright enough for you to see that one of those ghouls from the first floor is out of its casing, very much sentient, and staring you down. You're its target.

If you are unlucky and get caught by a ghost, it will end up possessing you, though mind the specific traits of each when you get taken over. Only one ghost will possess you at any given time, and you may feel the urge to act against someone violently or verbally.

However, it is entirely possible to avoid possession by outrunning these ghouls or hiding. That being said, those that are not possessed may want to help the people who are snap out of it before they do anything too rash.

Pain share will help (depending on how you spin it!) in that those getting possessed will still be able to feel it even if they're not really themselves right now, but it is not a requirement. ]

( OOC: Welcome to the possession part of the event. Possession is optional, but the idea is this: The ghouls will find a target and chase them down (note the descriptions on how these things happen). Again, it is possible to outrun them or hide somewhere to avoid getting an encounter, if you'd rather not have your character be influenced and instead try to help people out of their possessions!

For the sake of allowing more than 15 people a shot at these possessions, you can assume that the ghosts will hop around and possess different people at different times. And yes, if you'd like, you can get possessed by multiple (at different times) -- we will leave that up to you. The ghosts will gradually start to get tired with all of these possessions, assuming that they've been successfully, uh, "exorcised".

Regarding injury, it is entirely possible, yes, but please ask and communicate with involved parties before proceeding with an injury. If you'd rather avoid injury entirely (which is absolutely valid), you can always duke things out verbally! )

[selfconcept]

It was a pain to heal from that, but I'm not scared of them. I think they're pretty interesting.

[ Well. That's one way to think about it. ]

[kaientai]

No, I'm the idiot who didn't realise what I was getting into.

[ at least you have to laugh about these things??? ]

But you work with what you've got, even if it's not ideal. I'd rather help a little than not at all.

[unenvying]

[ lightbulb moment. ] Ohhhhh. You mean ghosts and spirits, then.

[ technicalities!!!!!! but wei wuxian is glancing at the bus driver now and squinting. ]

I don't... think so? [ Thinking. ] It's not like anything either of us recognise, so what if the bus driver and the entire bus are not youkai and also not ghosts?

[cheerfuldays]

I don't think I'd like to do it again, personally. ... After this, if we're not all too tired, maybe we could play a card game together? idia and madara too.

( something to relax and ease the mind. something to look forward to, after whatever this is. )

[fabulation]

Hmm...interesting.

[ Okay, but are there any places that look forbidden or even closed doors of interest? ]

[unsinksyourship]

[He's slowly learning!!!!1 It's a pain in the ass to have this many apps when he has barely started poking at the translation and camera functions, you expect him to remember the others exist??

He hits the Flashlight app and immediately shines the light in Florence's face. Sorry Florence.]

Ah! Th-That's really bright...

[You didn't even shine it in your own eyes, genius.]

[escardos]

Oh, that's a good one! Good job.

[ he claps ]

Here, let me try. [ he clears his throat, and-- ] Buck-cawk!

[fabulation]

[ Okay, he kind of asked for that, but he is that meme "points at eyes points back at you water tribe out", kind of deal. It works even better because he's a Hydro Vision user. ]

[escardos]

Wow...

[ flat will tap on the glass on the items in the second floor with his knuckles. how thick is the casing? ]

[mirrite]

Are you kidding me? I knew they were treating us like some kind of experiments, but this is ridiculous...

[vivens]

[ THE TIMING OF THIS TAG. ]

Admittedly I don't have much knowledge of ghosts, but it would make sense to try to reason with them if it's possible. Especially if they have simple regrets that are easily worked through.

[herlocksholmes]

[Oh, these ghouls are something. Sholmes slowly walks around one of the exhibits, looking at it from all angles]

Now, what does it tell you if you find these ones left behind when everything else has been broken and gone missing in some way?

[What say you, dear fellow?]

[teidaisei]

The sticky paper? [ He will learn all these new modern terms eventually. ]

I've seen them around. Maybe after this field trip. [ Kawase's not committing to anything because he's more of the "obey the rules" type, at least when it comes to school but. This is different. But also, this might be more effort than he could be bothered with. Hmm. ]

[unsinksyourship]

[He definitively stopped outside to let other people go through the arched doorway first, staring at it suspiciously the whole time until he's sure it's not going to fall and crush them or trap them inside (probably) (he's not sure). Tamamori has one hand in his pocket the whole time and the other on his tablet, though he really should probably have both on his tablet for maximum efficiency.

Look, he's not even a ghost hunter, he just writes about them sometimes. Sidling into the place...... Sidling through the place, giving a wide berth to the three empty cases that seem somehow more ominous than the full ones.]

Uh. Weren't there supposed to be other people here? What was that about saving people again...

[Wandering up to the photos and like, he'll look at the photos in a minute but he's going to try looking behind the frames?? Are these just normal photos...]