WEEK ZERO: MINGLE

[guestservices]

W̴͍̎E̴̝̊E̸͚͝K̸͕̿ ZERO: MINGLE

(35 ḡ̴̻u̷͌͜ê̴̯s̶̢͑t̵̻͝s̴̡̐ ̴c̴h̴e̶c̴k̷e̶d̸ ̶i̴n̴)

Good morning, esteemed guests. Did you sleep well? We hope you found your accommodations suitable. It did take some time to get your rooms ready, after all.

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.

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. Some of you may even find this place familiar.

In addition, should you enter the elevator you will find a new button appears, proudly reading 00. Pushing this button will take you to a new floor where you will also find a few new areas to peruse. Explore to your heart’s content, get to know more of the hotel, and take your time in learning more about each other.

…speaking of…you may find yourself learning more about some people than others. For the duration of this week, you will find yourself with a connection to your suitemate that cannot be severed. You will be able to feel certain pains and emotions that they feel throughout the week. Nothing brutal, mostly those pesky, annoying feelings you don’t want to share with people. Are you feeling a little embarrassed someone complimented you? Your partner will feel this embarrassment. Got a nasty little papercut from misbehaving? Your partner will feel that, too. And if you don't have a suitemate? Don't worry. You'll find yourself attached to the suitemates right next door to you. Try not to drive each other too insane, hm?

Oh, and we would like to mention…housekeeping came by and has provided everyone with one (1) travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste. Clean your mouths, stinky guests.

N̸A̵V̴I̶G̶A̶T̴I̴O̸N̷.̷

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

Comments

A THING

[guestservices]

[did you enjoy getting locked in last night? at least you were probably used to it. maybe you weren't, depending on your last rodeo. anyway, at least it's over now, as the rooms unlock once more and you're free to go, especially since absolutely nothing happened during the night.

anyway, as you exit or make a move to, you'll find something strange happening. your feet move on their own, guiding you to a specific location.

once you stop, you and one other person are standing at the entrance to the butterfly garden.

two people in this thread, please!]

[sageguidance]

[ Yes, nothing at all.

Well, good morning, Alphinaud is here. ]

... And so it begins. Shall we?

[overruns]

[ dimitri is here, and he does not respond because after being compelled here, he is too busy glaring at the butterfly garden laid in front of them to quip about murder, shoulders already very stiff.

what are they looking at? butterflies? blood? pizza? ]

[guestservices]

[yeah, there's a table with pizza, just for them. surprise pizza party!!

no, but there are lots of butterflies still. the bad vibes are also still there, so careful not to touch them. actually, that might be difficult, because they're fluttering all over the place in swarms, whether they're the normal ones or the purplish ones—though the latter seem to be quite high in number.

however, if alphinaud and dimitri look carefully, they can see what's almost a path of sorts where the butterflies part, leaving just enough room for the two to walk forward.]

[sageguidance]

[ That's fair, Dimitri.

Alphinaud decides to take the lead, wandering into the garden when—yes, that's a metric fuckload of butterflies about. ]

Were there always so many of them here...?

[ It's rhetorical more than anything, as he pauses to squint ahead of them. Then: ]

—This way. We may avoid them down here.

[ Down the path he goes. ]

[overruns]

[ we never have crau pizza parties ):

dimitri narrows his eyes at the violet butterflies, which as usual seem to flock a little closer than is comfortable. he tries to brush one off as it gets too close, following quickly after alphinaud. ]

...Don't go too far ahead. We don't know if something's happened here.

[ though he's fairly sure that something has. it's just a matter of what.

[guestservices]

[damn, dimitri, why so moody during your nice stroll through this garden.

they head down the path, but eventually, it leads to... nowhere in particular, seemingly. now, they're surrounded by butterflies. with that said, more careful observation will reveal that one cluster, fluttering above a thicket of greenery and flowers away from any semblance of dirt trails, seems to be solely of the bad vibes butterflies... hm.]

[sageguidance]

[ He slows his walk, especially when the cluster of butterflies seems to only grow thicker. ]

... Yes, mine apologies—I suppose I am a little restless...

[ Alphinaud looks around, brow creasing. ]

A dead end? Or... Do you spot anything?

[overruns]

[ he'll catch up to alphinaud as they walk deeper into the storm of butterflies. it's hard to see all that's going on in such a cluster of movement, but the collection of dark, purple color sticks out. a literal congregation of bad vibes. ]

Maybe if we can get them to scatter...

[ he's just going to go agitate these butterflies so they can take a closer look at what's around the thicket, hopefully. ]

[guestservices]

[bad vibes!! but if dimitri and alphinaud approach, the butterflies respect this combination of a tall noodlehead and a tiny elf twink on a public date and slowly disperse.

as they go further in, probably crushing some plants along the way, they'll see something lying in the thicket that doesn't quite look like greenery. though it could just be funky flowers, who knows.]

[sageguidance]

[ Our kawaii date vibes are helping uwu

Anyway!! Yes, he'll be approaching, and the butterflies seem to disperse some. ]

Well, that was easier than expected. Onwards, then.

[ Alphinaud presses on, careful not to disturb what's beneath his feet too much, and—hm? Something seems out of place.

Curiously, he steps toward that something. ]

[overruns]

[ the power of the otp...

he waves some butterflies away as they get closer to... something? ]

Be careful.

[ that said, he's going to continue crushing some plants underfoot to go deeper into the thicket to investigate what's going on there. ]

[guestservices]

[once they get closer, they'll see that the something is clearly a body. it's lying there, almost peaceful in its relatively unbloodied state... but despite that, alphinaud and dimitri can tell that it's not alive. they're not sure of why they know this—just that they are certainly seeing something about the body that tells them this.

less confusing, however, is the body's identity. between the poofy green hair because fuck you siz i said not quite greenery not literally no greenery anyway that plus the pointy ears should make things rather obvious.

flayn is dead.



before they can do anything else, though, shadows erupt from the ground, swallowing her up and leaving nothing behind.

they'll have another moment or two to react to this tragic turn of events, before the shadows spread and engulf them as well, causing them to black out. when they awaken, the shadows have receded, and all appears normal in the butterfly garden again.

yay, what a nice date.]

[sageguidance]

[ Well, that's a lot.

Everything happens all at once, and then, eventually, Alphinaud comes to. With a jolt, he sits up, eyes darting about. ]

What... Seven hells, where did—?!

[ ?!?! ]

[overruns]

[ there is a moment when the butterflies finally clear out and let them see flayn's body underneath that his eyes go wide—but it's just for a second. he can't bring himself to be too surprised at who it is, not this time. he doesn't process much more than that before the shadows fall.

when they wake up, he fixes his eyes out into the abyss of the butterfly garden before pulling himself to his feet. ]

...We should inform the others of what we've seen, Alphinaud. And get somewhere safe.

[ he's just sharply swiping aside a purple butterfly that lands on his arm and storming out though, bye. ]