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

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. ]

[fabulation]

Hmm...interesting.

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

[afflictionmods]

[Doesn't seem like it. There are no doors at all asides from the one you entered from. It doesn't seem quite right, but no matter how hard you look there's no doors to be found.]

[escardos]

Wow...

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

[afflictionmods]

[It's reasonably thick, tempered glass - thicker than the displays at the jewelry store, but it's nothing outrageous or impossible to break.]

[mirrite]

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

[selfconcept]

I feel like I'm in the exhibit of some stalker madly in love.

[ Creepy. Though Hien just says that while heing blamk faced as usual. ]

[partymagician]

It's a tad bit unsettling, isn't it?

[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?]

[escardos]

Why were they put in there in the first place...

[totalcatastrophe]

[ After getting yeeted out the window, he's sort of over being this close to the ground without a tail torch.

So, have a demon jumping and climbing up to his shoulder with the help of his tail just in time to answer Sholmes. He lives here now if he can help it. ]

These ones are losers.

[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...]

[herlocksholmes]

...perhaps the people who need saving are in the floor below. Careful, Mr. Mizumori. It's widely known some museums turn transgressors into exhibits, as punishment for misdoings.

[Yeah he's implying the ghouls from the first floor are the people to save]

[kaientai]

[ at least they're not on the bus forever? it's something? well, there's no point in complaining! ryouma will focus on at least seeing what he can see. ]

Makes you wonder why the museum is picked clean, of all places.

[ the obvious answer is "rare and expensive artefact" but it's not like selling an item like that is easy for average people! ]

[vivens]

I think another good question to ask is why they brought us here when we're supposed to be saving people.

[ and even though sabo has side-stepped the obvious answer, we're not going to talk about how there are items around that are from their experiences here. ]

[superstructure]

If it even was one in the first place. It feels a little too targeted to be just a coincidence.

[ Like if there were other things from the town around? That'd be one thing. But the fact it seems to be entirely focused on the thirty of them is a little...... sus........... ]

[partymagician]

[ The second floor is unsettling to Fai. Namely, because this feels so focused on their group. ]

Hmmm... this feels like a museum about us.

[ He'll look over the display of the cookies he made the other day, curious as to how it's here. Then he moves onto the photos—Fai in the dorm hallway with various people as they cut out shapes and draw, Fai and Hien sitting on a bench as they hold hands and Hien rests on his shoulder, and Fai watching Shizuku, Owen, Wei Wuxian, and Miach enjoy his cookies. ]

I'm surprised I never noticed these photos being taken.

[selfconcept]

Of all pictures, it had to be that one...

[ bro. ]

[cloudalike]

[ HE WILL ABSOLUTELY EXAMINE THE STATUES because he's never seen ghosts like this before. Or y'know EVER.

Will this be his first time seeing one in person??? He's kind of excited.

He eagerly takes a look at the first statue. Is there anything he notices right away? ]

[ignihidden]

[On the second floor Idia isn't taking well to his privacy being so obviously invaded!! He's at the wall of photos and if you get there early enough you'll see him trying to pry it off with his nerd hands.]

[When that fails, he's unzipping his hoodie and hanging it over the photo like a (lol) shroud.]

[There are still things that bear his name, though. There's a picture of a melted looking Kit-Kat that says "When Idia Shroud attempted to connect with someone." There's one of him and Cater standing in their dorm room, looking a bit less shy and jovial that usual, that says "Idia Shroud and Cater Diamond come to an agreement." There's a picture of the board game meeting! Still, there's only one that Idia seems to feel the need to cover up...]

[catarou]

... How interesting.

[ Actually, it's really bizarre! The ghouls unsettle him slightly, especially as some of the cases are empty. Hm. Was someone so careless they forgot to fill them...?

Anyway. Even more disconcerting is the photos. It's not a surprise that they're being watched, but-- this seems different. He absolutely doesn't like that someone has taken it upon themselves to take photos of them without their knowledge. ]

[iubar]

[ Up on the second floor, Ace is looking around at the photos and items. It's strange, seeing the pizza party photographed and a partially eaten pizza and a bottle of rum lingering around. ]

I wonder if any of this stuff is any good.

[ He knocks on the glass of one of the displays with the back of his hand. Just as a wonder if it was somehow preserved here.

Oh, and is Sage in any of the CYOA photos? Or the swim team? ]

[cheerfuldays]

( oh ouchies, shizuku definitely didn't land as gracefully as she could have, and madara will have to feel her hip, thigh and forearm all hurting from the fall. ... but. they might as well go exploring...

the statues are... interesting to say the least. some look so sad, she wishes she could offer comfort, and others are frightful and make her shy away. but one... one resonates, and it's. hm. how it looks so beautiful on one side, and so pained and ensnared by something on the other. it reminds her of her time in cheerful*days, and as a model. putting on a perfect mask, but the pressure was suffocating at best. shizuku stares a little too long, it seems... enough so that she doesn't actually notice if anyone else is approaching until someone taps her shoulder, making her jolt.

eventually she'll make her way to the second floor though and. uh. wow! that's creepy!! the photos... there's one from her little performance for the pep rally. a couple with hien. one with herlock. a few with fai. one with idia and one with cater. ... multiple with madara, one of which was a private conversation on every level.

shizuku frowns. one might even think she looks angry, which is certainly rare for her. )

You'd think I might be used to people taking my picture without permission, but this is too much.

[pr159]

[ Rideaux is up on the second floor, looking at everyone's photos, because as little as he cares about anyone, he still enjoys getting up in their business. He looks much less amused when he gets to his own pictures, though.

Like some of the others are saying, it really does feel like this museum is specifically about them. ]

Aaand fifteen display cases downstairs. I'm sure that's just a coincidence.

[ Though he's not sure what the three empty ones are supposed to symbolize, in that case... ]

cw self harm mention bc owen incident

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach's also on the second floor for most of the examination time, looking displeased as she looks at the pictures that seem targeted at her specifically.

There's a photo of her sitting on the floor in the lecture hall, chatting with Hien who is laying under a bench. There's a picture of her and Flat sprawled out on one of the beds in their room, likewise chatting. There's a picture of Miach clapping as Owen is stabbing himself.... There's a bottle of detergent. She also pauses in front of the hot chips, because... yeah, that was an experience alright. ]

Even inside our own rooms... This place isn't any better either.