3.0 - week three

[afflictionmods]

WEEK THREE

Last night might have been exhausting for any number of reasons - maybe it was the emotional

toll of dealing with those ghosts, or maybe you stayed up too late after watching Jim Shrok. Who knows, but Saturday is over, even if some of you haven’t quite left it behind and half spirits that are still hanging on, tethered to you and weighing you down…

But that’s not going to stop a new week from starting. There’s no breaks in an eight week course.

There’s very little fanfare to the start of your third week of the course, though it does seem like the fog has lifted even more. It’s a bit more of a trek down the abandoned streets of Estelline, but surely a mile is walkable? Or you could grab a bike or try to hotwire one of those cars in the mall parking lot… Whatever you plan to do this week is up to you. All you know is you've got some new locations to explore.

As always, Florence and Lorelei are available.

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY

TASK LIST


( OOC Note: Luci, Mutsu, and Mae will each receive a small roomba! Congrats on the successful egg drop. It's a tiny little friend that cleans extra well, though this also means its trash compartment is a little smaller so it'll need to be cleaned more often. )

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

[exofractured]

[Walking back and forth to the museum district is more exercise than Phantom has ever wanted in his life, but he's not going to let that deter him from exploring the limited area they have. For a good number of hours in the afternoon, Phantom can be found in the museum gift shop, going through the science toys meticulously. He's seated on the floor to open boxes as needed, accumulating a little pile of potentially useful(?) tools like binoculars.

Some of the things under his scrutiny may be of less obvious use than others.]

I wonder how quickly they activate.

[However, when not preoccupied with toys for small children, Phantom does also take it upon himself to do some investigation. He starts at the gift shop's checkout area, looking for anything interesting that's been left behind, particularly phones or tablets.]

[Late in the evening and back on lower campus, he can be spotted walking quickly and slightly furtively to the gym with his messenger bag over his shoulder. Luckily, he has enough of an affinity with technology that he can divine the controls of a treadmill with relatively little struggle. Unluckily, that means that he's figured out how to get it to move, and is already visibly regretting everything about his life about five minutes into a speedwalk. He's still at it even if he looks to be cursing between panting. And then unwisely trying to turn it up faster.]

Hrk--!

[Probably he's not going to go flying. Probably. Help.]

investigation

[afflictionmods]

[Checking out the checkout area, Phantom will find... nothing in the way of phones or tablets left behind, unfortunately. There are plastic bags with the museum's logo, paper for wrapping delicate items, some pamphlets that are the same as the ones at the lobby desk...

And not much else. He might have better luck in another part of the store.]

[exofractured]

[Hm, very plain. Is there anything eyecatching as he does a thorough circuit around the store? He has an eye out for electronics or doors in particular, but also anything out of place.]

[afflictionmods]

[There's a bunch of knickknacks, but what might be most interesting is what seems to be an emotion detector - or at least that's what the box claims it is. It's a child's toy that says it's for helping children discover the correlation between their emotions and the effects they have on the world around them! There's a lot of exclamation points on the box.

There's also a remote controlled t-rex which is pretty cool.

The museum's gift shop is, as a whole, pretty neat and tidy. It seems like either not a lot of people go here, or the workers are (were?) especially diligent about tidying up. There is a half-full trash can, though, if he wants the murdergame experience of digging through trash for clues.

As far as doors, there's the door into the museum as well as one leading to The Outside World, but no signs of anything leading to a back room.]

[exofractured]

[These are very cool toys, and they're going home with him. Does the emotion detector have any further instructions inside, like a mapping of emotions to environmental effects?

Phantom briefly weighs dignity versus information before science comes out triumphant again, and he pokes into the trash. Strange that this would be half-full when they've only gotten access to the area recently and all. What's exciting in here?]

gift shop!

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach's spent all of Monday at the museum, but that is absolutely not stopping her from going back Tuesday and doing the same thing. It's just the by far most interesting place they've found so far and its remote nature means less unwanted socializing.

That said, Phantom's collection of trinkets draws enough of her curiosity that she actually seeks him out. She's gonna grab a package of those dinosaur pills from his hand to study it for herself. ]

Once way to find out, right? We just need to find water.

[exofractured]

[Ah, Malicious Compliance (version: small). Phantom is here for the exact same reasons as Miach, but scientific curiosity fortunately doesn't count as socializing. Even if he raises an eyebrow a little at her yoinking the dinos.]

True. Did they carry that here? I have no shortage of containers.

[He riffles through his pile of goods for the nearest adequate ones.]

[imitationsoul]

[ Miach gives him a quizzical look. ]

I don't think they require filtered water - we can just get tab water from the restrooms.

[ Which now makes her question how many of the people here have never seen water tabs before coming here - who knows, really, with all these worlds? ]

[exofractured]

I hadn't noticed those yet. Convenient enough.

[Alright, up he gets! With a gift store glass to put water in.]

I may as well test these before going through the trouble of carrying them back.

gym;

[fabulation]

[ Well, Xingqiu is going to come along and just stroll straight along into the gym, looking to start his usual routine.

It's not a surprise he also decides to come right on over to the machine, and then seeing Phantom failing at the treadmill. ]

...Hmm, shouldn't you be pacing yourself better than that?

[ He'll come closer, and see if he can hit a button to make it go slower. He doesn't want to witness a serious accident because someone fell on the machine. ]

[exofractured]

[Slower helps, marginally, although Phantom still staggers a little bit. He isn't getting his breath back that quickly, so he finally finds the button to pause the cursed thing. He needs air before he can retort.]

The entire... purpose of this exercise... is to manage a faster pace.

[No, he really could use a jock's advice here.]

[fabulation]

[ Oh my god. ]

Not really. The point of exercise is to work yourself up to a sweat but not to the extent where you can't breathe.

Did someone tell you otherwise?

[ Or maybe that is what Phantom assumed. Either he is all the more happy to prevent death by exhaustion here! He's far too much of a noodle. ]

[exofractured]

I hadn't expected it to be quite this...

[Unpleasant? Terrible? Suffering? Phantom puts a hand to the stitch in his side, and then the other hand to his arm. Why does everything hurt right now. It's only half his fault.]

How are you intended to improve quickly, then? Before next Saturday, by preference.

gym

[undertakings]

[Honestly, Shin's passing by and it's not really his intent to disturb... whatever Phantom's exercise routine here is, regardless of how unadvisable it is for a magic-turned-non-magic man to go from 0 to full throttle with the treadmill. With that said, his path through the building will take him past the machine Phantom's using which would be all well and fine. Normally.

Unfortunately(??), the ghoul still haunting Shin happens to just pop out of his body right when he passes the treadmill to fly straight at Phantom's face. noclip goooo]

[exofractured]

[Phantom may be recalibrating his estimation of just how many jocks are trapped here and how many of them still visit the gym late. He expected an intrinsic jock = morning person villainous equivalency, but here he is, somehow, suffering.

That being said, Shin is practical and quiet and fine in his books. He is perfectly happy to ignore Shin passing by him until he is suddenly under attack by a jumpscaring ghoul.]

Ack--!

[Phantom is as surprised as anyone that he still has enough breath left to yelp before he startles backwards, tripping over his feet and... unceremoniously being yeeted right off by the still-moving treadmill.

Ow. He's maybe a little sorry to Marcus for that one.]

[undertakings]

[a body has been discovered

Anyways, as indifferent as Shin can be, even he can't quite ignore the scream and the sounds of a dude flying off a treadmill. As he looks over to inspect the carnage, the ghoul draws back, seemingly satisfied by the reaction and the possibility of gaining a new ghost friend (no). There's a small glance over to the treadmill before his gaze goes back to Phantom's body.]

Maybe you should go slower.

[Because clearly that was the problem right.]

[exofractured]

And perhaps you should be less possessed.

[If Phantom becomes a ghost there is going to be spirit fisticuffs, and hopefully the energy he is sending the ghoul right now is getting that across. He might be inclined to be a little less crabby if he weren't in pain. Not that a few more bruises are going to make much of a difference in the broader scheme of things.]

Has that thing been following you since Saturday?

[You live like this??]

gift shop

[goodfaiths]

[ There's something very endearing about seeing Phantom looking at all the different toys. It's probably because he kind of seems like the mad scientist type and this is just hitting all of his curiosities! Something like that. Either way, Riku wants to join him, and he walks over to take a look at the dinosaur toy Phantom has with him. ]

You should take it back with you, Phantom-san! I had those sometimes when I was younger, and it's really neat to see them transform. I think you'll like it!

[exofractured]

Do I seem that easily entertained?

[...Possibly he shouldn't be asking this while surrounded by a pile of toys. For science. The realization sinks in a second or two later, and he clears his throat with some approximation of dignity before offering Riku the package he's holding.]

Here. There's no shortage of them for my purposes.

[He's so generous with free things...?]

[goodfaiths]

Haha, a little, but I think it's fine to have fun with it.

[ Whoops. But he'll go ahead and take the package and give it a look... ]

It's too bad there isn't water in here. I'd like to see them transform. Is this your first time seeing something like this?

[exofractured]

[WOW??? Phantom didn't know Riku was capable of murder.]

I was looking for tools that could be used for measurement purposes. However crude, even toys are more than we have available now. ...You're correct that I'm unfamiliar with these, though.

[...]

There should be sinks here somewhere.

gym...

[vivens]

[ my bruh.

sabo's in full understanding to push oneself for fitness reasons, but limitations also exist and sabo is definitely feeling as though that should be the case of what's happening here. i mean, normally he'd be more supportive of it but at the same time...?

how is his partner feeling? ]

You look as though you might want to take a break.

[exofractured]

I just [please disregard the panting] started-

[Phantom is definitely having a word with the manager later about the number of jocks in this university. But for the moment he's trying to look as not-about-to-keel-over and competent as someone can while breathing that hard, shooting Sabo a slightly defensive look.]

[vivens]

[ look. these jocks are looking out for him. mostly?? sabo will not disregard the panting and if anything he'll just casually walk up closer to phantom and place a hand on the treadmill. he isn't here to spot phantom but he will do something. ]

Then perhaps you should start a bit more slowly.

[ cue him doing the reverse and just very gradually lowering the speed a few notches until phantom doesn't seem as bad. ]

[exofractured]

[It's going to take Phantom a little bit to bounce back from those poor choices. He tries to glare, but... Unfortunately, that really is a little better.

Ugh. His poor side.]

I'm going to start suspecting several of you are hoping to leave me as bait for whatever Saturday's lesson turns out to be.

[But despite the sulking, he gives Sabo a little nod. It's not totally unappreciated, okay.]