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

[festiverogue]

[He wraps his arms around her, pulling her close.]

Shizuku...

[He wouldn't love a person like himself if he were Shizuku. But he's not her, so he supposes he can't account for her actions at all, or make any kind of decisions from her point of view. He can't see her point of view. He hasn't been as innocent as she is in years.

How horribly was she treated, that just making her laugh and letting her be herself is good enough, when he has blood on his hands and all? It may not make sense to him, but then again it doesn't have to. He's not making this decision; she is, and he's accepting it.]

There's nothing I can say that'll change your mind, is there? Stubborn, too... I don't know about this side of you. [He's teasing, and it's clear in his gentle tone and soft voice.] You gave me way more chances than I deserve and you stayed with me no matter how much I proved every bad thing I've had to say about myself to be totally accurate.

[Pulling back slightly, he tips her chin up.]

I can't say I won't ever hurt you, but if you don't mind that, I'll stop being such a pain about this. I'm not sure I get what love feels like or what it is to me. If it's the way I feel right now, then I'm pretty sure I love you, too.

[cheerfuldays]

( maybe someday he will see her the way she sees him. maybe someday he'll be kinder to himself. if she tells him enough, she'd like to think it might sink in. but for now, free of memories and idle thoughts, she's here in his present- they're here together. )

I love you.

( firmer, more definite compared to her confirmation earlier- and gentle and warm, too, all while she holds him. )

... To be honest... I don't even think you've been as bad as you say you have. But I already knew you're harsh on yourself.

All I want is to make you smile, though.

[festiverogue]

[His heart aches, and he's sure she'll feel it too. Still, he can't help smiling when she says that's all she wants, even if the smile is just a little less easy than usual.]

You do make me smile. You make me smile, you make me feel warm and wanted, you even make me feel like maybe I could pull off the hero business if it came to it.

[cheerfuldays]

( shizuku gently squeezes his hand in hers, leaning against him in response to that twinge. )

You are wanted.

( there it goes again... 'heroes'. ... they've put this off long enough, haven't they? )

... Madara? Let's go back to our room. I want to know more about you. I probably should have asked a long time ago, but...

( as she'd said before, he seemed like he didn't actually want to talk about it, and she was trying to respect it.

but somehow that feels like an excuse. )

[festiverogue]

[He tried so many times to tell her so much, and failed every time. But if she's giving him the chance, he'll tell her everything. It's probably beyond the point at which he should have explained himself, but this speed-run of getting to know someone hasn't really allowed him to do things at a reasonable pace.

But he won't stop himself this time.]

Only if you'll tell me more about you, too.

[cheerfuldays]

( her? but she's such a simple person, honestly. it feels like what you see is what you get.

but... well, she cant' deny him that. )

Alright. We still have some tea... I can make us some when we get there, how does that sound?

[festiverogue]

[He pulls her in gently by the hand, and presses a kiss to her forehead.]

That sounds good.

[cheerfuldays]

( shizuku sighs softly, letting the moment of affection linger for as much as possible before they start the walk from the camelia facility back to the dorms. it'll be a while, but... )

... Do you want to wait until we get back, or...?

[festiverogue]

[He shakes his head.]

Once I figure out where to start, I'll just have to go for it. Is there anything you want to know about in particular?

[cheerfuldays]

Alright.

( she pauses- speaking, at least, the walk doesn't need to be even longer- and frowns a little. )

I... ... who was that with you? In the memory.

[festiverogue]

On stage?

[He's really hoping she means Kohaku. But just thinking of Kohaku makes him smile, and it's a deeply fond look that Shizuku probably hasn't seen from Madara before. Kohaku gets him in certain ways.]

Kohaku Oukawa, my partner in Double Face. He's like me, in a way, in that he wasn't brought up to do good things and is doing his best with what's expected of him. Where I picked this trouble on my own, he was born into it: his whole family's assassins, basically.

[A beat. Maybe he'll explain the whole scenario.]

The guy we took care of was trying to screw over Kohaku's agency and trying to use up one of my oldest friends, when that guy's no good at fighting back. He'd done it to countless other industry people. The audience was totally made up of his victims.

[cheerfuldays]

( 'with what's expected of him'... )

I see.

( she hopes one day, kohaku could get out of that. that madara could, too- that their expectations don't shackle them further. but she can't help but wonder if saying so would be insensitive to what they've been through. she'll just keep that prayer in her heart, for right now. )

So... Double Face deals with people who hurt idols?

[festiverogue]

[He has to think on that for a second.]

Hmm... Mostly, yeah. You could say that. [He thinks about the Gatekeeper incidents and that whole mess with the SS Tournament.] And we put people in line who've kind of strayed off where they need to be.

[A smile, soft and faint.]

Although recently Kohaku had a solo live and invited me to perform with him, so that was a nice change. He even themed it after one of my favorite things, even though he doesn't like it.

[cheerfuldays]

... He sounds sweet.

( despite everything else she learned about him first. she really is just like this, huh? )

What did he theme it after then?

[festiverogue]

[Madara looks completely amused.]

Cherry blossoms. He hates them, I love them.

[He laughs faintly.]

I'm a liiittle old-fashioned.

[cheerfuldays]

It's charming. ... I like cherry blossoms too. I've missed the last two opportunities to go viewing properly, though.

( she simply wouldn't be granted the privacy to do so. she doesn't resent her fans for this, though. it's just... to be expected at this point. )

... It sounds like he really cares for you.

[festiverogue]

I want to take you sometime. We'll find a place.

[He says it with conviction.]

Kohaku's a funny guy. I'm looking forward to working with him for a long time. He deserves a break after dealing with his weird group.

[cheerfuldays]

Mm. I want to meet him.

( in a perfect world, their two units could meet somewhere, hang out and have fun together- no talks, no judgement, just getting to live.

shizuku squeezes his hand in her own. )

What's his unit normally like?

( she's not sure what entirely to ask- what he wants to give. so she'll navigate from point to point, however shakily- )

[festiverogue]

I'll make sure you get to meet, if I have anything to do with it.

[He'd like that, even if it'd be really weird having the murder idols and the cute idols become friends...]

They're... Their leader's just something else. He caused a whole fuss in the industry and tried to pull some stuff. Somehow, it just never stops.

[A little laugh.]

Honestly, I thought the idol industry was bad, but I'm wondering if maybe it's just where I'm from that's bad. There's levels to all of this.