onceuponacomm | CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5

Almost half of the non-fairy population of Aira Niluc is gone.

Some may be feeling the absence of their fellow participants in this story. Others will stay focused on the wish they want to get. What never changes is that the story goes on, bringing you closer to the end -- and to another chapter. What will it bring this time?

Snow!

Snow as far as the eye can see, a cold blanket covering the new area. Some winter amenities are now available, ready for perusal! But that's not all there's to find: everyone also will find reminders of their homes, of people they know, of happier times.

Of their wishes.

Who will try to reach their wish this time?

[[Welcome to Week 5! Feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. However, please try to keep investigations to Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday! You can also privately contact Hamelin at your leisure.

In addition, a reminder that any Murder Proposals for this week are due by Tuesday 3:00 PM EST/12:00 PM PST! However, please note that you have the option of submitting murder proposals for a later week as well.]]

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[Yeager isn't intentionally avoiding Alexei after that, he's just lost in the ice maze for awhile and otherwise busying himself elsewhere. He does eventually end up at the sparring grounds, however, and he's not exactly surprised to find Alexei here.

He could turn around and leave, sure. But he figures Alexei won't want to talk about earlier and he's not particularly interested in bringing it up at all so fine, whatever.]

I would ask if you wanted a sparring partner, but I'm fairly sure my ribs still haven't recovered.

[Hi Alexei, earlier today definitely didn't happen.]

I would accept if you offered, but I like to at least pretend my fights are fair.

[Hi, Yeager.]

As it stands, I doubt I broke any of them.

I may never recover from such a grievous injury, milord...

If I'd broken them, you wouldn't be talking quite so much.

[Wow.]

Are you just here to beat targets up, then?

A shame, isn't it.

[Unfortunately, Yeager will never shut up.]

That was the plan, ja, but I wouldn't want to get in your way, milord~

If you were interrupting me, I would have told you as much. By all means, do what you came here for.

...Very well.

[He's not exactly fond of training with anyone else around, but sure, why not. Alexei will probably keep to himself, so sure. Yeager will be all the way over here, training with the sword this evening. He's not entirely ignoring Alexei, but he's not keeping a very close eye on him either.]

[He'll watch for a while as Yeager does...whatever it is that he's doing over there; he doesn't seem disapproving, at least, though that may just be because he doesn't seem like much of anything.]

You saw the same thing I did, didn't you.

[It's blunt, and it's not particularly inquiring.]

[...goddammit, milord.]

I... Yes, I did. At least, I'm assuming I did, since they were people I'm unfamiliar with.

[He pauses in what he's doing, but doesn't turn to face Alexei just yet. He needs a moment to catch his breath, after all.]

[...]

They were new recruits after the war; they died a few years ago.

[...Anyway.]

I've seen a few others since then. Keep reflective surfaces covered, as much as you can.

[He turns at that, like there's a question he wants to ask - but it dies before he can even figure out how to word it. He doesn't want to know the answer. If Alexei's telling him this much, he can guess what the answer is, anyway.]

I see. I... I'll be sure to keep that in mind, milord.

[Reflective surfaces... So not just mirrors. That's going to be significantly more difficult to avoid...]

How frequently have you seen these... illusions, I suppose?

Enough to know that it isn't always the deceased. Sometimes it's living people; I find that it's easier to ignore, when it's living people.

[...So yeah, he's predicting he's going to be seeing a lot of dead people.]

Oh. Ja, I can certainly see how that would be easier.

[Difficult in different ways, maybe, but certainly less awful in general.]

I appreciate the warning, milord.

...Of course.

[It's...awkward, but the acknowledgement is there, at least.]

[Reflective surfaces, of all things... This week is going to be hell.]

I wonder why Hamelin's decided on this now...

[But he shakes his head once that's out there; who knows what that man is thinking.]

Outside of the ice and the church providing more reflections than we can reasonably avoid in that particular area, I have to wonder if it's a way to discourage us from doing things involving the mirrors.

[Seeing as those are apparently proving kind of important.]

...I'm fairly sure this is going to end in at least a couple of broken mirrors.

[But maybe that's Hamelin's goal, who knows!!]

Oh, we're absolutely going to destroy them. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what he's after.

[He hates this.]

Either way, I'm sure it will stop when someone inevitably dies.

And at least one person will at the end of the week. I doubt that will change now.

[He'd be certain of it even without these influences, but this? Yeah. This is going to get someone to snap.]

It's just a matter of avoiding them as much as possible until then, I suppose...

That would be prudent, yes.

[...]

You shouldn't have seen what you did earlier.

[...]

Ja, of course. I won't speak of it to anyone, milord.

[That's the problem here, right?? He's not really sure. Is that the problem??]

[BITCH DOES HE LOOK LIKE HE KNOWS HOW TO ARTICULATE WHAT THE PROBLEM IS- ]

I'm not concerned about that, but that's good to know.

[...]

You're managing remarkably well with that weapon for someone I maimed over a week ago.

[?????????????]

Only years of experience and muscle memory enable me to power through the pain.

[we're just. not gonna address that ever again, are we.]

[damn right we aren't.]

Clearly, I'll have to try harder next time.

[smh........]

I look forward to seeing how many of my ribs you'll break, milord.

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