CHAPTER 6

[faentasy]

CHAPTER 6

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

The dead now outnumber the living.

There's only one area that stayed a mystery until now. A new path revealed itself, leading to another town, surrounded by sturdy stone walls. Even from some distance away you can see the tower, rising high towards the skies. The path that leads to the city turns into gold before long, and the sky itself seems to take a beautiful tone, like it's painted with watercolors. It's such a peaceful-looking town, welcoming you with open gates. It must be nice to have another urban setting, after living in the same place for so long.

But no matter what you find it doesn't change the situation you're in. Now that your numbers are dwindling that's impossible to forget.

The story is nearing its end. There still are a handful of pages left. What will they bring?

[[Welcome to Week 6! 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; this is the last week for murder proposals as week 7 is endgame. Also, please note the shop's discount on magnifying glasses! ]]

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THURSDAY

[faentasy]

minor hallucination cw for the second prompt

[biqe]

[ Sometime in the morning on Thursday, Phil will go to the archives for a while to finally do some proper fairy tale reading; he'd skimmed through a few stories before, but this all seems more relevant than ever now. He takes special note of Little Red Riding Hood when he gets to it, and ends up looking through a few other versions of the story after that (some of which are... rather horrifying).

With a small stack of books on the table in front of him, he writes down a simple list of notable themes for himself and taps each item with his pen as he goes through it, looking thoughtful. ]

Red, hunting rifles, wolves, flowers...


[ A little later, if you happen to pass by at the right time, he can be found standing still on the path outside the palace and staring at a particular spot in the sky — though there's nothing visible there. ]

You don't... see anything unusual in the sky there, do you?

archives;

[biyishuangfei]

....Bugs?

[ He has no idea why Phil was listing these things, though he has a good guess what with the books. ]

[biqe]

[ Looks up and blinks ]

What?

Outside

[mirrite]

In the sky?

[He squints, shading his eyes with his hand as he looks up. Hmm... some clouds, but otherwise nothing of note.]

No, why? You seeing something there?

[biqe]

[ He nods. ]

A sort of shimmering light like an aurora. It looks like the abnormal chiral particle contraction from the day we fired the Kaleidoscope.

I'm sure I'm just imagining this too.

CASINO ROYALE NIGHT

[heroicact]

[Fairly early on Thursday, the usual flurry of invitations arrive from NHS, either by door or by carrier pigeon (by which we mean either NHS or Jack, really) or by sheer luck. The invitations are extra fancy and covered in cute doodled flowers and also pixie dust. Good luck getting that out if you've gotten it on your hands.

They humbly invite the addressee to a certain casino party to take place in the parlor around 5 o'clock of the evening or so, a night of gambling, gaming, socializing, and excellent food and drink and revelry. They also note that everyone should wear their casino best, whatever on earth that's meant to be.

Maybe once you walk into the venue, you'll truly understand -- the parlor is normally dark and cozy and relatively dignified, but just as with the relaxed ambiance of the bar previously, this evening it has been very much elevated into something a lot fancier, a lot more colorful, and a lot more eyecatching. It seems that giving everyone access to paints might have been a Thing, because now all the oil lamps are painted in lovely and occasionally extravagant colors, throwing light everywhere; they've also been dusted in pixie dust for that extra ridiculous feel. There are bouquets of colorful fresh flowers at the tables, bright tablecloths (neither of which are glittery, thankfully; there is another colorful dusting of confetti all around, though), and a spread of food (steak and potatoes courtesy of Tenn) and bar snacks; there's even some gelato from the gelateria placed on ice and occasionally refreshed through the evening.

Marcus and Makoto have apparently become Master Bartenders during their stay here, because they are here to provide a variety of drinks including some brought over from the sweets bar; there's also, of course, non-alcoholic varieties for those only indulging in one sin at a time. Your bartenders are doubling as your casino dealers for the evening, so roll on up to try your hand at poker, roulette, baccarat, and other games! There's cards, there's board games brought over from the gelateria as well (but no almonds), and plenty of chocolate coins and ill-advised bets to be made over the poker table.

Jack himself is flitting about as is customary -- the music is more low-key this time, trying out a few different styles that he's apparently run into in the archives. Is that... that's totally the low strains of jazz, right?]

[incompletely]

[ Tenn isn’t really partaking in the drinks or games, but he will be walking around and checking in on people. He doesn’t want anyone to get too drunk again, especially given that it’s a Thursday night…

He’s also wearing a nice suit with coattails. A dapper boy! He’ll approach anyone who’s taken some steak and ask: ]

Well? How is it?

[ He looks proud of the food he’s made! ]

Can I get you anything else with your meal?

wildcard;

[biyishuangfei]

[ But. What if confetti bomb from the side, tho? ]

[kowashi]

[ Shoving the hugest bit of steak in her mouth. ]

It's good, really good. Compliments to the chef.

[sempiternel]

Lord Tenn!! Look at you!

[ She takes his hand and twirls him around. What a handsome boy! ]

[heroicact]

Ahh, it feels like it's been a while since I've been able to eat this cooking.

[How long has it been? A couple of weeks?

Even a week feels like a lifetime around here (and sometimes is actually a lifetime, but we're not being morbid this evening!!), so while he may be exaggerating a little for effect Jack looks genuinely pleased with this thing of steaktatoes and is munching happily when he isn't speaking.

He also pats the seat next to him, because while everyone gets the urge to hustle and bustle--]

Can I ask for some company and conversation? The kitchen can manage itself for a time, yes?

[Well, probably not, but most people probably have their food already...!]

[gemuinemanagement]

[What is casino best... Suga just puts on a grey vest over his usual and calls it good.

First things first: he has the rest of his beaded friendship bracelets to pass out! Light blue for Yuri, silver for Makoto, dark blue and black for Marcus, dark blue and white for Phil. Hopefully they don't clash with their outfits.

The rest of the party is going to be spent chatting with people, munching on food, and playing solitaire. It's... it's the only card game he really knows... At least the glitter everywhere makes his glowstone sword hanging at his side look pretty.]

[sempiternel]

Thank you! It's lovely!

[ She'll put it on immediately, of course! It doesn't clash with her outfit because everything else is so distracting. Which is a plus! ]

[biqe]

Ah— [ This is very pretty, but why is he getting it? ] What's this for?

[mirrite]

You made these?

[Don't mind him just kind of admiring his for a moment before he puts it on. It ends up being partially tucked under his glove, but maybe that's for the best as it will keep it protected.]

Thanks. Sorry I don't have anything to give you in return, though.

[And he feels a little bad about it!]

[heroicact]

[Guess who arrived in an even more ridiculous outfit than usual, is reflecting off all the various lighting as badly as he did in the bar and moreover is wearing what amounts to an unnecessary amount of bling. What is his idea of casino best. What is it. There's glittering bracelets, a necklace, rings; there's even what looks like Christmas lights stolen from the snowy area woven into his braid, not lit up obviously but sparkling amidst everything. Also, he arrived escorting Yuri and Koto, and there's some outfit coordinating going on there so. Good luck, everyone.

When he isn't puttering about making sure the decorations are in place, the self-playing instruments haven't wandered off and started playing Dance of the Sugar-Plum Fairy or something to creep everyone out instead and the gelato is cool and consistent: Jack can mostly be found haunting the poker table. Is he one of those who doesn't know when to fold? It looks like it, because he's already down to his last chocolate coin before the first game is even over.]

Why is it that I always end up playing this game with people who have really good poker faces... How do they do it? How do they do it?

... Do you think they'll accept some of the chips from the bar...?

[At least it seems like he isn't drinking too much this evening, which may be down to the lower sweet content of the bar or simply because after That One Bar Week we are not repeating that!! Thanks!! But he does hang around the bar a fair amount, and may be requesting unusual drinks for those who somehow lose to him in games...]

[sempiternel]

[ Coordinating outfits is a yes! She's altered and spiffed up a gown from the boutique with pixie dust, so that when she dies, they can easily find her corpse by the trial of endless glitter. While she isn't as blinged out as Jack, there's still a fair amount! She's decided to go with red and gold there to match his accents. At this point, she's a walking glitter shaker. ]

You can always try, but before that - [ She slides him her chocolate coins from the chocolate river adventure. ] - You may use the rest of mine.

poker;

[biyishuangfei]

Maybe? I don't understand this game, but it really does look like you're bad at it...

[ So, you know. ]

Poker

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis has joined the poker world for one round of it and he's considerably better at it than Jack clearly appears to be. The despair amuses him visibly. ]

I don't know, I think you should wager higher next. Your soul, maybe? We're in a high stakes environment after all.

... alternatively, find something else sweeter than chips. I am not that picky.

[ideismo]

[Just judging from the way he usually handles himself, it's fairly safe to assume that this is more or less the last place Alexei would voluntarily choose to be. And that assessment would be correct - he isn't really one for indulgences, and despite everyone's best efforts here he still isn't one for parties. But he'll still be here, despite all of that; he's found somewhere a decent distance from the main gathering, where he can still keep an eye on everyone without being in the middle of all of the socializing and...the rest of that.

(Maybe he'll come engage a bit more thoroughly later. Right now, he seems content to chaperone.)

He does have a drink with him that he's working through slowly, for once; he still doesn't seem inclined to eat anything at these things, but he does trust Makoto to not poison him so at least there's that. Otherwise, he's got a notebook of some sort with him, and he appears to be rather intently drawing...something. It's hard to tell what, seeing as he closes it whenever anyone gets close.]

I trust you're enjoying the evening...?

[The question of why you're hanging out on the edges of it with him is sort of implied, but he doesn't seem bothered by the company.

(And yes, Suga, he actually has that bracelet on.)]

[scythegun]

[Yeager's swapped his usual outfit out for one of the suits from the boutique, so he's wearing purple tonight instead of the usual dark blue. He certainly seems to be doing better now, flitting here and there and chatting with people freely. No holding up the walls tonight!! If you happen to be holding up the walls, guess who's coming to approach you!!]

Come on, let's play a game! I promise I won't beat you too badly~

[He's going to gesture toward the cards, but you're welcome to redirect him or tell him no!!

Yeager's eventually going to take over one of the casino tables entirely - it's his now, deal with it. He's got some items set out because he keeps forgetting to give them back to their owners, so if you're missing something, come get it!! He's got the hairclip and magnet from before, but newly-added to his collection are: a letter, a night glowstone charm, a birthday photobook featuring Riku, and a box of financiers. He definitely has eaten one of them, sorry not sorry!!

You're also welcome to join him here for a drink, seeing as how he has a second glass set up. If he looks a little melancholy about it, that's just your imagination.]

[vogelfrei]

[ McGillis is not looking any fancier than usual, but that's really just because he's been wearing super fancy suits from the boutique since day one. He's looking around the decorations with a benevolent smile. ]

I have to say, you all have outdone yourselves. Critics might say that there definitely is too much of a good thing, but the enthusiasm comes through.

[ Through the evening you can find him... eating an unreasonable amount of gelato, really. You've all exposed his sweet tooth long ago, so now there is no more need for shame, right? ]

NEVER HAVE I EVER 2.0

[heroicact]

[At some point later in the evening, when everyone is somewhat in their cups or at least has a cup in hand, any cup: Jack will raise his own glass of what looks like some sort of wine, gesture, and the music will suddenly get louder to compensate. It certainly is a way of getting attention.]

Now. I believe... the name of this game is Never Have I Ever.

A game we learned here long ago (or at least I did), and I think it only fitting that we drink to the memories tonight. Yes? If I recall, you must merely make a claim about something you have "never, ever" done, and then everyone who has done such a thing must have a drink.

[edamamepon]

[ Come get a drink from Master Bartender Makoto. He's brought some of his wine stores as well, if anyone wants a simple glass of that. If you catch him at a lull in his duties at the bar, he's a little curious about some of these board games and if anyone dares to glance over at one-- ]

Want to play?

[ Later on, there isn't time for him to get too drunk here, but he is tipsy enough if anyone wants to touch his defenseless hair or discuss the meaning of life or the never have I ever game, he'll be around. ]