04 - week four

[afflictionmods]

WEEK FOUR

Saturday comes to a close, and it’s time for some rest and recovery. Perhaps the TLC you deserve will come this week, or perhaps the nightmare will continue. It’s hard to say with things being so strange around you, from Wei Wuxian’s disappearance to the sudden addition of objects and places and creatures from your homes. Who knows what this week will bring? Nothing ordinary, that’s for sure.

You wake up on Sunday to an increase in those little glimpses you saw yesterday. What were snippets of songs, locations that might’ve seemed familiar, and creatures that were dormant, are now all alive and whole. When you go to the karaoke bar, the songs you once knew are there. Monsters and animals are alive and sentient. New business are abound. Vehicles are operable, and perhaps some of your old belongings are back, too.

However, some of these things aren’t even things that should exist outside of your dreams. They may be far too strange and unusual to be real, or just things you don't remember ever seeing. The only thing you remember about these things in particular is that they were, quite literally, in your dreams this week.

That being said, every few hours, all of these things from your homes and dreams fade out and get replaced by new sounds, places, beasts….only to maybe come back again at another time.

Well. At least there's one constant here: You’ve got a handful of new locations to look at, with the fog having spread once more, and they aren't going anywhere. There aren’t as many new places that are native to Estelline this time around, but that may be for the best, considering everything going on.


SETTING TRACKER

SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY

NEWSPAPER SUBMISSIONS + EDITION #1

SAGE / FLORENCE / LORELEI

MEM SHARE DETAILS

OOC NOTE

OOC: Details on this week can be found here!

Also, we have a lot of participants for the news activity from last week. Neat! Everyone who participated in some capacity will have a small polaroid camera delivered to their doorstep. There's limited film, though - 10 photos per camera. It doesn't seem like there's any extra film at this time, either.

Finally, there will not be any weekly tasks this week. You guys are going to be busy with memshare and dreamscape stuff; instead, enjoy the Estelline University Newspaper!

FULL NAV

(CODE)

Comments

MONDAY

[afflictionmods]

[cheerfuldays]

( at some point, shizuku will of course get up and walk around. breakfast and working out are both important after all, though she's also content to relax by the pool, either in the water itself or sitting with her legs dangling over the sidelines. (and yes, her swimsuit is so very cute.) to the side, one can see a towel, tablet and a coverup- though it can be assumed her actual clothing is in a locker room inside.

eventually though, shizuku takes a trip to the mall, shizuku mostly wanders a little, though some more spa day things do sound nice... and she's not the best at arcade games but she could give them a shot, maybe.

but that's when something strange happens... rather than exiting to the main lobby as she leaves a store, she's in someplace far more familiar. But that should be impossible...? But it's there- the Stage SEKAI has replaced the mall lobby. )

I- how did this... Am I seeing things?

(( mall prompts can also lead into SEKAI discovery if so desired! ))

mall

[goodfaiths]

Eh?!

[ The stage...it's beautiful. Riku looks so impressed with this, and he greatly prefers seeing this over the parking lot. He looks over at Shizuku with a bright smile on his face. ]

A stage! Wow, where'd this come from?

[cheerfuldays]

I have no idea- but. Riku, this is the first stage I performed on with my new group...

( so like. you can imagine her confusion, right? )

mall

[tosa]

(It's a stage?! And Mutsunokami has never seen a stage like this before. It's so much fancier than the simple ones they make at the citadel for their spirit rallies and stuff, )

Woah! Is this part of the mall now, too?! Wonder if we'll get a show...

[cheerfuldays]

I- I don't think so? I know this stage. It shouldn't be here...

stage sekai

[cloudalike]

[ This is NOT what he expected to see when he exited one of the mall stores... It looks like - it looks like a stage. Uh-oh, oh no, oh no.

Chongyun spots Shizuku and rushes up to her. ]

Shizuku, d-do you know what this is? You don't think someone is going to perform, are they?

[ He says perform like a man fearing for his life. ]

Stage

[herlocksholmes]

[Oh. Oh, this is odd. There's a stage here. Sholmes is pretty sure it wasn't here before, that's for sure. Hearing what Shizuku says, the detective approaches]

You most likely aren't, Miss Shizuku. Your eyes are not deceiving you.

[Sholmes poses]

I have arrived.

[As if what catches Shizuku's attention and has her in disbelief is him being here, not the stage]

[selfconcept]

[ For those of you who wander the courtyard after dinner on Sunday, you might see a tent fixed up. Hien is also nowhere to be found when the tent appears. He doesn't even come back to the dorm room on Sunday night.

On Monday, the tent finally opens, revealing a fire stove that Hien is currently using to cook some instant noodles in a small pot. Maybe you'll be tempted by the smell. Either way, he's either cooking food inside the tent (it has a tarp) or continuing to snooze inside on an unfurled sleeping bag with a comfortable blanket.

If anyone passes by, they might notice that Hien looks a lot more tired than usual, a hint of slight redness in his weird eyes (maybe from fatigue), and definitely out of it. This tent is his home now.

What might be concerning is the blotch of dried blood on the back of the tent. But, you know? It's fine. It's nothing to worry about. Everything is Fine.

also feel free to wildcard!! ]

[partymagician]

[ When Hien doesn't come back to the room, Fai is worried. He grows even more worried when he can feel strong emotions coming from Hien that eventually settles into a hollowness.

Honestly... that hollowness is worse than anything else.

But, Fai gives Hien some time to himself, wherever he may be, because he knows that not everyone wants company when they're feeling such strong emotions. So, it isn't until some time after Hien has opened up his tent that Fai finally comes by. He happens to stop by while Hien is sleeping, so Hien will wake up with his head in Fai's lap, Fai's fingers lightly brushing through his hair as he silently watches cat videos on his tablet. ]

[undertakings]

[At some point during the day, Hien might hear the rather conspicuous sounds of heavy footsteps approaching the side of the tent. Even though it's relatively bright outside, a glowing red light hovers close enough to the fabric that it's likely fairly that it's visible even from the inside of the tent. It only lasts an instant though, as the light appears to move away as it makes a few electronic-sounding beeps.]

Leave it, Fido.

[A beep back.]

Someone's inside. You don't need to pick it up. [There's a few footsteps through the grass to where the tent flap is, and Shin peeks in.] Oh.

[herlocksholmes]

[Oh, this definitely is not fine. It's far from the first time Sholmes sees dried blood. He knows it so well by now. Which is why he has to approach and look inside. Bam, surprise visit from the great detective]

monday

[totalcatastrophe]

[ The smell is as good excuse as any to shadoop right up when Hien finally has the flap opened up. Luci, despite mostly keeping his attention on the food, still cranes his neck to get a good look at this set up. ]

Going through a rebellious phase, huh?

[mirrite]

[The tent part doesn't raise any red flags, because Marcus already knows that Hien is a weird little guy. The looking tired... well, honestly, how many of them have really been sleeping well lately? Marcus knows he sure hasn't.

That patch of dried blood definitely causes a raise of the eyebrows, though, and so he pauses outside the tent to fix Hien with a suspicious look.]

... I'm not sure whether I'd be more worried if I knew that was yours or someone else's.

[catarou]

[ After grabbing a bit of breakfast, Gentaro steps out into the courtyard--

And what he sees first makes him freeze in his tracks. It's a shop, eye-catching and brightly colored. More than that, it looks like it's been pulled directly from Shibuya into this place. He doesn't know what the hell is going on here, but when he approaches with no shortage of apprehension, he spends a while simply... looking at it.

Eventually, he goes inside. It's a perfect recreation of Ramuda's place, down to the inner office and the unique artwork adorning the walls. For a while, he sits on one of the couches, hands folded in his lap and caught up in memories. There's even one of the novels he's read on the table, as well as a deck of cards and a pair of dice.

It all becomes too much, though, and Gentaro leaves. He heads to the Camellia District, where he practically makes a beeline to the electronics shop. He is absolutely taking a tablet and a laptop, because writing everything by hand, while fine, is a bit less preferable to typing. But, strangely, Gentaro finds something that doesn't quite belong.

Lollipops. They're identical to Ramuda's, and it's unsettling that they're here. Gentaro grabs them and places them in his bag, but wherever he goes, the lollipops follow. In the bakery, on the tables in the common room, scattered all around the bookstore... and, strangely, his own works are there. Gentaro's half-tempted to pinch himself to see if this is just a screwed up dream, but he supposes now that anything is possible. It feels like he's unable to steady himself, but the next thought is to post to the network, with his real name-- ]

If you happen to stumble upon lollipops such as the ones shown in the picture, please bring them to me in the common area. I would heavily advise against eating them, as they taste extremely unpleasant.

[ And, of course, he attaches a photo. After this, he takes a seat in the common room, where he types away at his laptop. ]

electronics

[cheerfuldays]

( she wasn't normally one for electronics, but had thought maybe something like a laptop would be nice for the room. she hadn't expected to find anyone there already- let alone looking so shaken. )

Gentaro? Is everything alright?

network

[goodfaiths]

Do they? What do they taste like?

electronics shop

[exofractured]

[Phantom has his own errands here - namely, locating batteries that fit in the emotion detecting toy, although he's browsing literally everything. Finally, a buffet of interesting otherwordly technology.

And... candy? He pauses to inspect a lollipop in some confusion.]

Where did this come from?

[unsinksyourship]

[This fine morning, those with eagle eyes or good timing may find that they have a brand-new method of transportation out of the lower campus! This is one of those old-timey streetcars, but with less old: the outside is shinier than you'd expect, and while it trundles along noisily it's not the creaking of age.

The streetcar seems to run principally to the museum district, where a light rain mists over everything and a very peculiar edifice has made its appearance nearby; the doors are thrown wide, allowing you to see the enticing selection of old books, most of it in Japanese. The interior is beautiful and full of colors and the smell of old books -- you could browse for a while, or you could even explore. There's also a very large stack of books on the floor in front of the counter, for some reason.

Notably, if you're here particularly early, the patched shoji screen door at the back of the shop is slightly ajar -- investigating it will bring you to the shop's back rooms, which seem to have been... ransacked? Or someone just went through knocking things askew and rummaging around the tatami, kicking the teakettle to one side like some kind of barbarian. There isn't even all that much here to mess up, just all of that and Tamamori, sitting at the low table in the middle staring sort of blankly at the opposite wall with his mouth slightly ajar.

He's never up this early, so maybe the silly expression is lack of sleep; it seems irritated somehow, but low-key irritation is one of his staples anyway.]

Hmph. This place could have had the decency to have some real secrets.

[Somehow, though... someone answers him. From above:]

Tamamori-saan... I don't think the Boss is here! I haven't seen anybody in here at all, not even Haruhiko-san or any of the others! So, can I read now? Can I?!

[If you happen to look up at this point... you will see a strangely humanoid frog clinging to the ceiling -- he's about the size of a watermelon at the moment -- looking down with pleading eyes that would be more fitting on a puppy dog than an amphibian. When he realizes you've seen him, Frog Man screams and falls off the ceiling.

........ Later on! Tamamori may also be found in the messy and somewhat dusty room on the second floor, cooing at the small goldfish in its bowl. Saying things like, Goldfish! I didn't think I'd see you again! I was thinking of naming you if you lived more than two days this time. or occasionally clumsily pointing a polaroid camera at it.



Later still, when Umebachidou loses what charm it had or Tamamori gets tired of dealing with it, you might run into him in the streetcar itself reading on the way somewhere, rain nearly always hitting the windows like stormclouds following the tracks; or you could stumble upon the other new attraction on its route, the beautiful and colorful Café Éclair. Here, you'll see Tamamori messing around in the kitchen trying to make coffee (presumably) or poking at the gramophone with careful movements...]

Mm, it's just the same, it's almost disappointing! If this were really a dream or a vision, I'd be able to read these discs or the coffee would be brought out by a cute waitress.

But this will have to do. Frog Man!

[... Frog Man walks out of the back at some point in a waitress costume. Don't ask.]

[OOC: ALMOST FORGOT TO NOTE but here's some more detailed/supplemental info on Tamamori's dreamscape stuff!!]

Cafe eclair

[selfconcept]

[ Hien got out of the tent in the courtyard to take a walk. Fresh air. At some point, he ends up near Cafe Eclair and then spots the Frog Man in a waitress costume. He squints.

... ... ...

??????? ]

The fuck is this.

you know where

[teidaisei]

[ Before the appearance of Frog Man proper, or rather when he's not within immediate sight (because if Kawase walked into the cafe and immediately saw frog man in a waitress costume this thread would get more derailed than when the Giant of Umebachidou pushed it off the tracks), Kawase enters much like he usually does, probably close to the time he usually does between classes. He does a quick cursory look around just to see if the cafe looks to be empty, and then sits down at their usual booth, looking over to wherever Tamamori is. ]

If you're the one making coffee, I'd rather drink the water from the puddles.

umebachidou, early morning

[undertakings]

[Considering he's probably read a good number of the texts that were already available at the school bookstore, it's probably only natural for him to wander into Umebachidou at some point (while it exists, anyway) to browse through the shelves. And while he'll still pick at some of the works in Japanese, he'll gravitate towards any books that seem to be written in English.

But at some point, he will draw close to the backroom once he hears whatever rustling and noise is going on in there, only to see the rather absurd sight of Frog Man hanging out on the ceiling. The whole comical display is enough to make him raise an eyebrow as he tries to figure out... what exactly is going on here.]

What is that?

[A pointed glance at Frog Man which is probably rude but whatever!!]

bookstore...

[vivens]

[ sure, sabo could do some further exploration of the newly formed environment to get a better understanding of what is going on but that's absolutely not what happens. he sees books and that's it for him...especially given that these are books that he can somewhat make heads or tails of. it's not perfect science but a hell of a lot better than reading the language here.

or otherwise, presenting to you one sabo lastname who is part taking in one of his better favorite past times: being a nerd aka reading. ]

frog...man...book store

[goodfaiths]

[ Naturally, Riku would find himself wandering into this strange little book shop that's appeared in the museum district. It's reminiscent of home, in a way; certainly old-fashioned, but it's interesting, so he decides to check it out.

While walking around the store, he catches a glimpse of Tamamori in the back. He grins and greets him: ]

Tamamori-san! Hello-

[ But the presence of another voice, another being startles him. That is...that is a frog on the ceiling. Oh my god. ]

...Huh?!

[herlocksholmes]

.......

[Sholmes was curious about what was going on. He was exploring this new café, entering to take a nice and long look, and instead he finds Tamamori cooking, and a frog with a waitress costume. It's a ridiculous enough scenario for Sholmes to wonder what he just walked into.

Wow]

Now what's this nonsense I'm witnessing, Mr. Tamamori? Who is the frog fellow?