week 3

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WEEK 3

Another week gone and it's still Christmas! Or is it? The paint on the walls is beginning to crack and fade, with especially large chunks in character's bedrooms revealing scratched words like "cantgetoutcantgetout" and "god help me i just want to go home i miss my home i miss my mother i miss" etc. Yikes! The locations page might be updated throughout the week as characters discover more. Seems like now's the perfect time to investigate and hope you'll get closer to finding out what's going on here. There's always more places to look and more things to find!

As a reminder that this week's activity check is now live! And as usual, it's never a bad time to submit threads for regains! Have you been naughty or nice? Naughty children still get presents too, don't worry. And if you'd like to check-in on Thursday night, you always can! You never know what fun you might run into.

So go exploring, find something new and pay no mind to the creepy writing on the walls. We're sure everything will be fine! After all, nothing ever goes wrong on Christmas, right?

sunday | monday | tuesday | wednesday | thursday

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SUNDAY

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[ You might hope there would be no surprises this week, after Kido re-joined the land of the dead and said his weird cryptic cat stuff, but your hope would be in vain. Just like the week before, our culprit was taken to the shed. We all know how that goes, don't we?

Anyone daring to take a closer look will find that this body has been strangled, in addition to two strange puncture marks on his neck, where blood is dripping down his open shirt collar. Now, don't worry, he won't be coming back to life or anything. Arai is dead. ]

[thatdarkmage]

[ Yay, another corpse!

Another day. ]

INVESTIGATION

[acherontiastyx]

[well I mean technically it's Orthodox Christmas now so uhhhhhhhhhh. But anyway. Guzma's going to look around Room 2 now that he notices things looking a little... off.

After that, he's probably just. Gonna go outside, because he's tired of being in this creepy house even if it's freaking cold outside and he's from the tropics. He's not going to go far, at least, and he's gonna try and make some snow Pokemon. Not Pikachu, mind you. Nah, he's giving a snow Pinsir a shot, because it doesn't seem too difficult to make. It's a little janky, maybe, but it's pretty recognizable as a large snowbug, so. Hey.

After he's had his fill of the cold, he's going to go back into the kitchen to make himself some hot cocoa. ...honestly, other than looking around his room, it's been kind of a nice, normal winter day, and it would be kind of nice if it wasn't, you know, for all the fucked up shit going on.]

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[There's nothing immediately obviously wrong with Room 2 (although god, those reindeer are unnerving if you stare at them too long). But if Guzma pokes around enough, he might find something under the bed . . .]

kitchen;

[thatdarkmage]

[ Did someone say hot cocoa? Well, he'll happily step his way into the kitchen at this time. Maybe he's drawn in by the smell, or by chance, who can say?

... Though, he has a (not-so) fantastic idea in his mind. Has Guzma noticed him yet or is he still busying himself with making cocoa? ]

INVESTIGATION... Ish.

[theothermrgray]

[Dorian is still out of sorts after that disaster of a trial, and the strange messages on the walls aren't helping. After making sure room 1 hasn't been tampered with, he stops by the guestbook for a moment to look over the profiles, before suddenly remembering the ransom notes that would always show up next to it... Hm. He decides to go to the craft room to pick up some paper and a pen, before returning to leave a note of his own:]

To whomever is behind these motives; What do you want from us? Why must you torment us so?

[He leaves it there on the table and heads off to the library, where he will spend most of his day trying to distract himself.]

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[Though the paper doesn't move at all and no one approaches it, Dorian might find at the end of the day that the message has changed. It's still in his own handwriting, using the same pen he had, but a new message has appeared:]

You don't need to know.

[commemoration]

[With the death of Lena, Yumemi is now down a roommate, and perhaps that's why she doesn't linger too long in her room and instead makes herself busy. First, she checks the Christmas tree and actually finds two presents with her name. Afterwards, she busies herself with sliding a note under everyone's doors or pushing it into their hands when she walks by. It says the following:

Special Activity in the Arts and Crafts Room! Please stop by at 3pm if you'd like to take part! There will be hot chocolate, papercrafts, and a special presentation hosted by yours truly. It will make me very happy if you attend.

-- Yumemi Hoshino

Those who decide to see what this is will find that Yumemi has pushed a bunch of tables together so that everyone can sit together for this bonding activity she's put together, with stacks of bright construction paper, markers, and safety craft scissors (so that no one gets hurt!) as she smiles.]

I have been thinking, and I have come up with an idea for all of us to get to know one another better and form stronger friendships. I think it would be nice if we all sat together and made something each of us like that we want to share about ourselves? For example, I crafted this.

[And here, she holds up some origami stars she made.]

I also attempted to draw some constellations! If anyone is interested, I would be happy to show them to you and provide information about them, as well as many other stories about the heavenly bodies of the universe in a special presentation that I've put together to pass the time here.

[... She misses being at the planetarium and doing presentations with the projector, but this is the best that she can do for now.]

[theothermrgray]

...Constellations, you say?

[He's not sure about messing with the art stuff too much, but the stars are nicer.]

I suppose we could do to listen to your presentation.

arts and crafts

[acherontiastyx]

[holy shit mother fucking hot chocolate that he didn't make. it tastes so much sweeter like that...]

Lay some star stories on me, Yumemi.

investigation

[starblessed]

[Seconding that mention of today being Christmas! xристос се роди y'all~

Anyways, maybe Lunafreya should be a little bit more unnerved by seeing the facade beginning to fall away from the house, but each glimpse does the exact opposite--it reinforces her determination instead. So when she first notices it Sunday morning, of course her first motion is going to be to search the entirety of room 12 to see what else she can find that might hint at the reality behind this holiday house.

After that, she'll be making her way to the infirmary. They haven't been able to save anyone yet, yes, but that doesn't mean Luna's about to stop trying!]

investigation + other!

[doublesmall]

[there are definitely going to be regrets for this but you know what, chuuya is going to look around room 9 now that shit is getting weirder, let's find out just how much worse the cursed nutcracker room has gotten.

and after whatever comes up there, he'll check out those presents-- the first one definitely seems to lift his mood, as he pulls out his oversized black coat and immediately drapes it over his shoulders.]

It's about time.

[there's some other stuff also, but the raincoat's not important now that he has his coat, the book doesn't seem like his thing, and he's pretty sure the glowing rock isn't a thing he wants to keep. so whoever's around will get:]

Hey, do you want any of this stuff?

[lastly, he'll pop by the crafts room briefly to snag something to write on and a marker, and the following will be taped to the door of room 9:]

WANTED: one less haunted room and a roommate that won't drink my wine behind my back.

-Chuuya

MONDAY

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[ This morning in the foyer you'll find the tree trimmed with care. Have we mentioned it's huge? It's pretty out there. But what should you find, mounted high on top? Why, an Angel, of course, whose heart has been stopped.

Angel is dead, that much is clear. How the tree hasn't fallen, that's neither there nor here. Merry Christmas! ]

Investigation + ota sads

[transparentanswer]

[Things aren't any better than they were two days ago. Ries is dead, Kido is dead, Hans is dead, Diana is dead, Kantera is dead.

And Shintaro Kisaragi killed Lena and Arai.
Yet here he is, alive and unpunished. He spends most of his time in Room 5, staring up at the ceiling and staring at a particular picture on his iphone. He's covered in pine needles because they just keep falling and he doesn't even care anymore. Though, if anything strange is starting to happen in the room, he'll certainly notice it.

Later on, you'll find him in the kitchen, sitting down with his hands buried in his arms––tightly gripping his phone from which soft music is playing. If he doesn't eat, he dies. But what's the point? Even the soda doesn't taste good anymore. There's an untouched sandwich on the table next to him. He doesn't want to go into the foyer, where his guilt is written on the walls, or the dining room, where he destroyed two lives––so staying here will have to do. If you catch him looking up, you'll notice heavy, dark bags under his eyes and light bruising on his hands, in addition to the healing burn from last week.

Late night, unable to sleep, Shintaro will brave the Library, spending most of the night lounging in a comfy chair by himself, stewing in his own misery. As his insomnia persists, he'll start halfheartedly looking through the many tomes for anything that particularly catches his eye. Pick up a book, flip through it's pages, set it back down. Repeat. What's the point? He really doesn't know––maybe he just wants to avoid being a complete waste of oxygen...although that ship probably already sailed when he sent two people to their deaths.

It's another hard day.]

TUESDAY

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MOTIVE

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[ Another bright winter's morning! Though this one seems a little more bleak than the ones before it... It seems several locations have changed overnight, and not for the better! The Foyer, Kitchen, Pantry, Dining Room, Infirmary and Library have seen better days.

But you're all here for the motive, so of course there's another odd piece of paper, made of the same strange magazine cut-outs as before. This one reads:

killing is easy, isn't it? some of you know what i mean. but so far all i've heard is talk. if you haven't killed someone by next week, then i guess we'll all know you're not strong enough to do it.

it must be sad to be so weak.

Rude, much? ]

presents + investigation

[starblessed]

[Goodness. The tone of this house is rapidly changing by the day, isn't it? They're seeing it through new eyes, and the story that's being painted now is a far more sobering one than cheer and celebration.

But even though the lobby has changed so thoroughly, Lunafreya has presents in her stocking today! First is a masquerade costume, lavish in its creation and covered in pearls, but a much older style than she's used to when it comes to fashion. Decidedly not her size, either! It's set aside and then she pulls out...

Oh.

Her hand goes to cover her mouth as Lunafreya slides a brown leather-bound notebook from the stocking. It's impossible, and yet it's here, just as surely as if Umbra had brought it back to her... she opens the front cover, turning to the first page, where a dried sylleblossom is pressed, and that'll be it for Luna for a little while. Seeing the notebook, being able to run her fingers over Noctis's words, remembering writing her own messages to him and the happiness she'd felt any time Umbra had brought the book back--all of it is overwhelming, especially in juxtaposition to the hellish sort of atmosphere the house has taken on lately. For a long while she'll be in the foyer, just looking through the book and overcome with emotion.


Receiving the book the two of them had shared won't wholly distract Luna from the rest of the goings-on, though. Again she can be found picking through the infirmary, comparing its destruction now to the way things had been the day before, and later she can be found in the dining room in spite of its oppressive atmosphere. Her eyes are closed, her hands clasped as she sits in the center of the room (though she'll open them should anyone approach!). This is her duty, here and now. To be a light in the darkness, to bring what light she can to a dark world and to hold back its corrupting influence--it is her calling and her birthright, and be it here or in Eos, Lunafreya will not back down, no matter how strong the feelings in the room around her seem to get.]

Investigation!

[transparentanswer]

[On Tuesday, you might notice that Shintaro looks a bit different––in fact, he's wearing someone else's sweater. He looks slightly less dead inside than the past three days, but it's obvious he still hasn't been sleeping.

After spending a bit of time taking in the changes to the Foyer, inspecting the walls and the signs of other holidays. He also spends a bit of time at the piano, but he doesn't play anything because it's just not the same anymore. The foyer is way too tainted for music, right now...
Sigh.

Later on, he'll bring his investigation to the Library, as he likes to do. If things are changing in the house, the Library seems like the place that would have the best clues. Having the near perfect memory that he does, and given that he's looked through the library several times already, he's checking for any additions or disappearances, as well as anything else that might be strange. At least this place is still comfortable, so you might be able to find him taking a seat and playing games or listening to music on his phone.]

[secretingredients]

[ So about those kitchen changes... yeah, some people are not even remotely amused. He's a little heartbroken actually. As soon as he walks into the kitchen, he stops, disgusted and shocked in equal measure. ]

No... not my precious pantry!

[ Thug Dangerzone can be found running from the kitchen to the pantry with a garbage bag, trying to clean up all the stuff that's suddenly gone rotten overnight. ]

How am I supposed to cook like this??

WEDNESDAY

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what's this?

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[ There's something strange happening on the stairs today. Was there always a door going up? It might be worth having a look, see if that thing opens. ]

THURSDAY

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SLUMBER PARTY!!

[starblessed]

[For one reason or another, Friday mornings seem to be when they all awake with that sense of dread--there might be other ill happenings throughout the week, but Fridays have without fail led to heartbreak and sorrow. It's for that reason that Lunafreya's proposed they all take shelter together, sharing space and camaraderie to ride out the night with hopefully no body the next morning. Given Thug's unfortunate end earlier this week, she's even extended the invitation to Brasco and Princess Starshine! After all, they don't seem to enjoy this any more than the rest of them are, and it would be terrible to wake up Friday to find that in lieu of one of their deaths, the house had seen fit to slay one of their hosts instead.

They're piled into room 2, the reindeer room--everybody's been encouraged to bring blankets and pillows with them if they have any, and Lunafreya has prevailed upon the kitchen to at least find something edible. Surely snacking on stale crackers or beef jerky throughout the night is festive, right?

At least the hot chocolate hasn't gone bad yet.]