WEEK SEVEN: MINGLE

[guestservices]

W̴͍̎E̴̝̊E̸͚͝K̸͕̿ SEVEN: MINGLE

(18 ḡ̴̻u̷͌͜ê̴̯s̶̢͑t̵̻͝s̴̡̐ ̴c̴h̴e̶c̴k̷e̶d̸ ̶i̴n̴)

Good morning, esteemed guests.

Ha. Hahaha.

As you awaken on Monday, you’ll find that things are just as they were the night before. The kitchen will serve piping hot breakfast during the morning hours, the pool’s been stocked with fresh towels and the gardens are open for anyone who wishes to spend some time among nature. However, should you explore a bit, you’ll find that a few new changes have been made to the hotel itself.

Your room service menus are still on your desks if you wish to browse before leaving for the day.

The front door no longer spins endlessly, for one thing. Should you make an attempt to exit the hotel, you will find yourself entering a new location.

In addition, should you enter the elevator you will find...nothing? There are no new buttons. However, if you look on the Mezzanine you will find a few new areas to peruse. These rooms are still locked from the outside, but perhaps you may ask politely and be granted access. In addition, as you explore the hotel you will find that you have now lost access to certain rooms. How odd.

The portraits from the week before continue to hang in various parts of the hallways and in the rooms themselves, continuing to depict innocuous scenes. Like before, if you linger just a touch too long, you'll soon find that you and whomever you're with will be lost in a swirl of shadows and pulled directly into the portrait itself. You will have to find your way out just like before.

Strangely, however, you no longer have that connection with the person you are with. You're no longer in sync, unable to feel their thoughts or movement or really even have to cooperate. Instead, regardless of where you are in the hotel whether it's inside a portrait, a door, or even your own room, you will begin to experience a feeling of numbness. Perhaps it starts in your body, the inability to feel pain or the touch of someone's hand. Maybe it infiltrates your emotions, quieting everything you've been feeling lately to an even, neutral stance. After a while, you may become so numb you feel yourself fading away entirely, a limb slowly being erased, but you can quickly snap back if someone addresses you.

Try to keep yourselves grounded, everyone.

Finally, for those of you with a spare ticket in your pocket, feel free to visit the Starlight Gift Shop, stocked with new items for this week.

N̸A̵V̴I̶G̶A̶T̴I̴O̸N̷.̷

█ LOCATIONS █ STATUSES █ PROFILES █ AUDIENCES
█ REPORTING █ PRIVATE CONVOS █ MURDER

Comments

[outsidebones]

[coming out of a door, bedraggled.]

...That was quick.

[shaft]

[ between harrow and shinobu there's so much to take in ]

You mean you weren't waiting eagerly?

[outsidebones]

I wanted Souji but I was overruled.

[shaft]

Thanks, Harrow.

[ he missed this ]

[outsidebones]

Really, I hope you're prepared to make yourself useful around here.

[she will try to stick her hand through his face to see how ghostly it is.]

[shaft]

[ it goes right through him! she cannot touch his bones ]

Is this part of it?

[outsidebones]

I didn't expect this. I thought we'd be bringing you back more permanently.

[shaft]

... Yes. I do have to wonder if this satisfies the requirement of being at the lobby "alive" for the end of the game.

[outsidebones]

I am a bit of a stickler for terminology and I would say no, albeit in a unique position where it would be easy to re-alive you?

The only difficult aspect of resurrection is when souls are separated from the realm of the living. The journey back is circuitous and invites unwanted attention. If you have ever seen a man possessed by twenty insane and ravenous ghosts at once, you would not try it.

But if your souls are here it's only a matter of repairing any damage or decay to your body or growing a new one and then jump starting it...

I can at least make a skeleton and try to put you inside it. It will be fully articulable so you won't miss having meat.

[shaft]

[ claude, internally: all of life's pleasures come with having meat ]

Interesting. Do you have access to your powers to test this? Though if it's limited use, you'd be better off saving it for danger.

[outsidebones]

Yes. I have power to test it, but I don't intend to use them now. I'm saving them for a last resort.

[shaft]

What about my body in the grave? That can't be fixed up?

[outsidebones]

It can, but it isn't something I can do right now. The power I got back is only a small portion of my skill as a bone adept, and certainly no flesh magic.

[highestheim]

[ IS SHE LOOKING LIKE FUCKED UP AT ALL??? he books it over to her and instinctively reaches out to try and support her... before he remembers he can't touch her and frowns. ]

Are you all right?

[outsidebones]

[oh she was bedraggled from watching shinobu suck a giant dick but yeah i bet she also has angsty sad door injuries....she's bleeding from twelve of them....but it was mostly the dick sucking.]

...I think the better question is whether you are. You aren't physically present?

[she will just awkwardly touch his spectral self like it's a cool science experiment.]

[highestheim]

[ i hate you? also he will let her touch! or... not touch... as it were. ]

We're as present as we can be, I think... that is to say, I'm pretty sure we aren't able to return to the other side.

[outsidebones]

I was under the impression it would count, insofar as being in the lobby at the end goes. But this seems ambiguous.

[hmm. an annoyed twist of her mouth.]

Still, I'm glad you're here. I never responded to your last letter, because by the time I received it, I thought there might be a better way for us to speak...

[highestheim]

...We'll see, because I haven't given up on the others yet.

[ a wry smile. ]

Were you expecting to bring me back?

[outsidebones]

I thought it not unlikely. I didn't wish to use mine selfishly, but even so...I am glad to see you again.

[highestheim]

[ he smiles at her... ]

I would've been a selfish choice?

[outsidebones]

...As I said, I did want to see you again.