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bellelurette2025-03-31 04:55 pm
lesmodsalouette) wrote in bellelurette2025-03-31 04:55 pm
WEEK FOUR
WEEK FOUR
25 Guests
The day is rung in by a myriad clocks tolling at once.
It's a familiar sound. It's the first time you're hearing it.
Once again, Monday is upon you, and once again you have just arrived at the castle to meet your new roommates. The last week is gone without a trace - nothing there to remind you of its existence. Injuries have been replaced with the old aches you may have felt before coming here, keepsakes have vanished and decorations have returned to their original state.
Formally, this is a clean slate and a fresh start. But that's not how it feels in your mind - your bodies may be rewound, but your hearts are steadily continuing, carrying the weight of a time that never was.
As always, the castle is new and old at once. Static, yet ever-changing. The curious minds among you may find it a good idea to explore a little.
TIME LOOP:
-Characters wake up with the clothes they had with them at their canon point, like in the intro log unless you wish to have them affected by the weekly effect as early as Monday.
-The state of their bodies is still exactly the same as it was on the intro log (for better or worse). This is independent of the weekly effect.
-Any items they accumulated last week are also reset (sorry you'll need to build up your weapon cache again), except items that were given out as event rewards. Please note that the item uses are not reset.
LOCATIONS UPDATED:
- garden, library, promenade
- aquarium β wintering room
- photography studio β tea room
-The state of their bodies is still exactly the same as it was on the intro log (for better or worse). This is independent of the weekly effect.
-Any items they accumulated last week are also reset (sorry you'll need to build up your weapon cache again), except items that were given out as event rewards. Please note that the item uses are not reset.
LOCATIONS UPDATED:
- garden, library, promenade
- aquarium β wintering room
- photography studio β tea room
WEEKLY EFFECT
This week the castle's whims have decided to put on a little fashion show! Characters may awaken to find themselves dressed in an outfit that they have once worn... or an outfit that they might have worn, in a future that has never come to pass. These clothes are not period-accurate and instead reflect the characters' own lives and thus worlds! It's time to shine in an outfit you absolutely love - or absolutely loathe!
The drawback is that these magical clothes also cannot be removed until sundown. Whatever outfit you woke up in? You're stuck in it! The only way to escape your dress-up fate is to damage the clothing, but if you do so you'll find yourself stuck naked until the beginning of the next day. The castle's strange properties do at least provide a little cloud of mist that will follow characters around for modesty reasons.
The new clothes will remain after the day of their appearance. They'll lose all strange properties and become garments that can simply be worn or discarded at will, like all other clothing.
The drawback is that these magical clothes also cannot be removed until sundown. Whatever outfit you woke up in? You're stuck in it! The only way to escape your dress-up fate is to damage the clothing, but if you do so you'll find yourself stuck naked until the beginning of the next day. The castle's strange properties do at least provide a little cloud of mist that will follow characters around for modesty reasons.
The new clothes will remain after the day of their appearance. They'll lose all strange properties and become garments that can simply be worn or discarded at will, like all other clothing.
(OOC: Counter proposals are open until Tuesday! Murder proposals are closed! Thank you all for your enthusiasm!)
gardens;
He hears her mention what she does about the spider lilies and turns his attention towards them. ]
...I know of them.
[ He simply says, more than anything.
Maybe it shouldn't be surprising others do as well. ]
no subject
[ a quiet hum, her head tilting back to affix him with an over the shoulder glance. and even in her world alone the flowers carry many meanings. many of them, most of them related, but all the same. ]
What do your stories say of them?
no subject
[ Blade takes pause, looking at them as he walks on over to the spider lilies, reaching out with one bandaged hand to touch it.
He sees these pretty often. Whether in truth. Whether it is simply a trick of his own mind. He had been looking to see if they would show here. But only now... ]
...They're often associated with those who have crossed beyond. Stories that feature them, would make sure they're related.
And your world's stories?
no subject
[ they're just flowers. they're as real as anything else in the chateau, solid and present in his hand. ]
They are called higanbana, the flowers that grow along the banks of the Sanzu. That is, they grow on the shores of the river that separate this world from the next, the near and the far shore.
They are commonly associated with death and funerals ... to some, though, they represent an eternal separation.
[ ... 'saying, 'I'll see you again,'
but i'm lying.' ]
Some legends say that when you see someone you will never meet again, these red flowers will bloom along the path.
no subject
...Eternal separation.
[ Well, that sounds about the same kind of relevance to the stories of the Xianzhou by their symbolism to the dead. Once one has passed, it is essentially exactly just that.
...Will that secondary legend hold true...? He isn't exactly entirely superstitious. ]
And, an omen.
Though, they are out for everyone to see. But, will everyone else here know of them the very same way?
Perhaps, their appearance is intentional in some way. Or, just happenstance. What do you think?
no subject
[ so perhaps it could be either, though the meaning would likely quite differ based on which one it was. ]
If they were intentional, what do you think is meant by it? They are planted often by graves. The Witch, in his own way, attempting to pay his respects to the dead?
[ honestly, it's commendable that she can deliver that piece of speculation in an even tone. ]
If they aren't meant ... Then truly, I wonder.
[ quiet, buried doubts from the master of this castle, creeping through despite himself? a reminder from something else, something beyond the little pocket of space the Witch has kept in stasis? who can say. ]
no subject
But...
Because he isn't, his mind, half-wonders - is it him who has planted them intentionally? Blade can't envision it; maybe he's wrong. A crazy level of distorted sentimentality doesn't rule it out, but... ]
...this space is not only haunted by him. Whatever flowers that could have been meant to be here, might have been overwritten. Could have been made to be brought here by something else.
[ The inherent stable nature of this place means that this is possible too, isn't it? ]
A sign of the further deteriorating space. And maybe, a warning.
[ An appropriate omen. ]
no subject
Homura has learned not to pay them more attention than necessary, those reflections in broken glass of the girls each witch once was, because humanizing the fallen is actively detrimental to accomplishing what needs to be done. but even so ...
even so, it is hard not to notice at times, and even harder not to wonder. ]
If that is the case, I think who or what the warning is coming from might be the thing in question. Who it is meant for might be just as important.
[ an eternal separation. you will never see her again.
the banks of the sanzu, the far shore. there the dead go, crossing on to spaces you won't be able to follow.
time, implacably marching on, saying that none of this is meant to last, imposing its will despite the witch's best efforts otherwise.
which of these might it be? any and all of them, or something else? ]
no subject
...Though, he certainly agrees.
The "who" is imperative. ]
Could be.
[ A warning...
That speaks to the dead. That speaks to those still alive. That speaks to perhaps the Witch himself as well. And perhaps, whatever else may be beyond each and every single one of them.
The possibilities are endless; but limiting any single one of them seems to hang a darkened curtain over the stage, where each actor remains.
...An unknown script to fulfill. ]
The remaining threads are already unraveling, revealing what has been obscured from all of us.
Whatever else is out there can't be hidden forever. Can't hide any longer.
...The meaning of it should become clear. And we should prepare ourselves best as we can.
no subject
But I do not disagree.
[ something cursed, trying to break free. what has their Witch unwittingly brought together, here in this space outside of time? ]
One way or another ... Something's coming.