WEEK ONE

[lesmodsalouette]

WEEK ONE

32 Guests

Maybe being swept away to a fancy castle isn't what you wanted (Hickey aside), but the fact of the matter is that you're stuck here, at least for now. Thankfully there's enough food even if hot chocolate for breakfast might be a bit rich for some palates. There's at least a stock of raw food in the kitchens, but your hapless kidnapper is a Witch, not a chef, so you'll have to perform your own, manual kitchen magic if the provided meals aren't to your liking.

Just try not to burn the place down before you get the chance to take your host at his word (that you'll be leaving in a week's time, certainly, trust).

If you do get the cabin fever immediately, the grounds are a beautiful reprieve from the great indoors -- and if nothing else, perhaps you can find time to get to know your fellow guests. The weather is gorgeous all week, cheerfully sunny, which lends something to the mood.

WEEKLY EFFECT

This week, characters will feel heightened emotions periodically. If they're very happy about something, it'll feel like the best thing in the world! If they'd usually brush off something mildly annoying, suddenly it'll grate on their nerves. This effect will last throughout the week until investigation and is completely optional.

[OOC: Welcome to Week 1! Despite the lack of any threatened murder (except in Witch's direction), there will be a case this week. We'll have a small optional event on Wednesday at 1PM EDT/10AM PDT, but it won't require real time threading and can be done over the course of the week. ]

MONDAY • TUESDAY • WEDNESDAY • THURSDAY

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Comments

[coldseep]

( potential cw: the person in question sacrificed his life (twice) (dwbi) to make a pact with the spirits of nature to sink an island and kill everyone since he was both angry and heartbroken 🫡 if this runs up a little close to suicide cw vibes or otherwise, feel free to avoid!!

Hwylryn picks up the ruby, mediating on what he should say until something, finally, spills out. )

... I saved someone who... He didn't want to be saved, I think.

( Between this person being a very freshly touchy subject for him and the feelings amplification thing going on this week, Hwylryn starts to tear up. )

... But what was I supposed to do? I loved him so much. And I... didn't want to be...

( ... alone :'(

The ethereal bishie tears roll down his cheeks as he hesitates with the tiny, as if unsure with himself if the confession is yet complete.

Murmuring audibly, but mostly to himself: )

... Maybe I was just being selfish.

( He finally sets the ruby down. )

[antemeridian]

[ oh, that

Homura visibly starts at this particular confession, hands fidgeting where they're clasped neatly at her front, fisting atop her skirt,

before she forces them lax again, smoothing out any wrinkles from the pleats, and then can no longer look directly at Hwylryn for as long as the word cloud remains around him. ]

[coldseep]

( He sees her fidget and look from him out of the corner of his blurry eye, and while he can't guess why - whether it's because his sin discomforts her, or if it's something else - he doesn't seem to press his presence on her while she seems avoidant; perhaps surprising for someone who's made a hobby of harassing Dan Heng.

He just smiles a little sadly in her direction. )

[antemeridian]

[ He may smile at her, and she can only try to avoid his gaze.

She doesn't leave the room, though. There is that. ]

[cleansheets]

[ ....................................... yeah, ow. Angelo grits his teeth. ]

At least you had the power to do something.

[ So hey, Hwyl finally has a small part of an answer to what is wrong with Angelo. ]

[coldseep]

( Oh...

He's quiet for a few moments. He didn't want to get teary on anyone, but here he is. )

... I'm sorry. For your beloved... your captain.

( He's presuming, considering. O Captain, My Captain... )

I only had so much power... in the face of someone too willing to die.

( He doesn't know if Angelo's captain is like that, but... he hopes not. )

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo looks like he's been struck. Hwyl is only putting together what he himself implied, and he has nobody to blame for that but himself.

Because he knows, he knows, he knows that the Captain is... That he's... That...

His fingernails dig into his palms, hard enough that he wishes it would draw blood. Blood - blood is alive, and blood is red like...

Red like a comet, a beautiful light in the night sky. Red like the Captain's mobile suit, red like the Captain's jacket, red like the Captain's soul, red like roses.

The Captain is dead.

The simple words he has avoided thinking to the end for days now are finally in his mind, final and inescapable. Angelo thought he might scream, but he finds that he doesn't. There are no sounds to describe this anguish. There is nothing he can do to fill this void.

So instead, there's a simple comment, and his voice barely even breaks saying it. ]

He tired himself out. He was wont to do that.

[ The Captain didn't want to die, but Angelo's never been sure he really wanted to live either. That's what made him so powerful. ]

[coldseep]

( Was it cruel to put it so simply, so bluntly? Hwylryn thinks so, whether or not Angelo thinks anything of it - and he does not think he himself is worth a moment of Angelo's thoughts, not right now. He has his grief to grapple with; he has these memories, wont to be recontextualized in the light of anguish, already vulnerable to the sands of time weathering away the fine details, surely precious to him.

Hwylryn has fought to recall Gwawlyn, though Gwawlyn was from a time so long ago that he is now recalled only in legends - a work of fiction, to those who know his name. Hwylryn has had to fix himself to his memories to hold fast to them - driven a stake through his heart into these memories of his brother - so that he would not forget. And now he must do the same for his sweet, foolish Balthazar? For another thousand thousand years?

Forever?

He doesn't think he can do it. He can't. He won't. Hwylryn hasn't yet changed his mind on this fact. )

... Balthazar was like that, too.

( He says this softly, lest the tears infect the sound of his voice in a way that would sound - gaudy; pathetic. It's so hard to say his name. )

I hope they're both resting well.

( This is what he says in his words, with his weak smile. But what his tone of voice suggests is very opposite: I think I need to rest, too.

It's not as destructive, self-punishing as Angelo. It's simply heartbroken, and resigned. )

suicidal ideation cw

[cleansheets]

[ Angelo at least thinks he understands the unspoken sentiment. He shouldn't be here. He should be with the Captain - Witch has committed the greatest of all sacrileges by ripping him away from their cold and silent embrace. If he could not do anything else for his Captain, then the least would be to make certain he rests comfortably. To hold him until the bitter end, giving all his own warmth for a man who made him come alive in the first place.

Instead he's standing here, listening to the fragile voice of an immortal dragon, who speaks to him of loss.

It seems like a bizarre joke.

Is the Captain resting well...? The Captain always slept when he could no longer help it, like a child who does not know his own limits. And now... now he is resting up for good, leaving the world doomed without him.

And Angelo is still here.

In the end he doesn't find anything to say to Hwylryn. His throat is tight and he won't cry right here, right in front of everyone, and there simply are no words for the enormity of feelings. So Angelo simply nods - to agree? To excuse himself? It's anyone's guess, but he is leaving the room to go and be alone now. ]

[antline]

...

[Here, he's taking a napkin to wipe off his tears, don't mind him.]

..........

[He is silent for a moment, but he eventually speaks.]

I...don't think that is selfish. If it is...maybe it's a good kind of selfish.

[coldseep]

( Ah... the gesture surprises him, but he doesn't stop him - he just smiles a little weakly, somewhere between appreciative and self-deprecating. )

... I hope so. ( He exhales, trying to ease out of his tears... he doesn't why he's having more trouble than usual... ) He scolded me for it. Then he did the same thing all over again... I don't know if I should have just let him go through with it the first time, or...

[antline]

How could he go through it a second time...if you were so adamant on stopping him the first? Was he simply stubborn?

[Does it even make any sense, for something like that?]

[coldseep]

( That earns a laugh from him - pained, but fond - wet with tears. )

... Uh-huh. He was stubborn. So stubborn, and stupid, and self-absorbed. He wasn't thinking of me either time at all, even when I was right there. But that's also why I liked him.

( The real culprit here is Hwy's terrible taste, turns out. )

Whatever he felt, he felt a lot. He was so hurt and angry he couldn't see past that. And all that rage... made him beautiful. It burned him out, like a star. I just wish it didn't.

[diel]

[ a tremor runs through him as he listens to hwy’s confession. combined with his own, it’s like all those years ago have come back to replay in his mind.

it hurts; it’s so noisy and messy and saturated with his feelings. a reminder that he’s never far from his ghost. ]

I hated being saved. And I was happier - after. [ it doesn’t seem like hwy was happier after. ] What were you supposed to do…? It’s so hard to let go of love…

[coldseep]

( He'd meant to comfort Yoru in his own suffering - lacking in context, but caring enough to at least want to offer a hug - but he'd been so wrapped up in this sudden, overwhelming emotions he'd just... wallowed, and begun to sink.

It is hard to let go. He's never been good at it. He struggles, even now.

... )

... What came after, for you? That made you so happy?

( The answer doesn't need to be a literal thing - his fate, exactly. What comes after when you no longer let someone save you? When you can no longer be saved? Relief? Peace? Is that what he'd denied Balthazar...?

It is unfair to ask Yoru this. He isn't Balthazar. It might be cruel to ask. But he is selfish, as kind as the people may be here, to try to reassure him otherwise. )

[diel]

[ a couple of things. things he'll tell hwy eventually. ]

I was free. I'm free - to do things I've never gotten to do.

[ his arms raise, helpless. hopeful. see? he's not chained, even if the past lurks in his shadow.

but he can see that hwy struggles, so... ]

Sorry, I'm sorry, Hwylryn. Sorry... you have to cry. Sorry it hurts.

[coldseep]

( Free, is it...

He wants to ask. But he's decided to let Yoru choose when he speaks on these things - even Hwylryn has his secrets, after all.

He shakes his head softly, the droplets falling. )

... You didn't cause my tears. You don't need to be sorry.

( ... )

... Would it be too much to ask to hug you?

( Is this for Yoru, or himself, right now? ... Honestly, he knows he shouldn't have asked. Even if Yoru wants to say no, he'll probably feel bad for it. So, this is a little cruel of him, when they're all balancing the weight of these confessions.

But he knew this, and asked anyway. Sorry, Yoru. )

[littlegentleman]

[Hwylryn had been kind to him, so Junior doesn't like seeing him cry. He hesitantly comes over and puts a small hand on his arm, because he's a little too uncertain about doing anything more personal than that, like offering a hug.]

I think...it's understandable to do selfish things, when you don't want to lose someone.

[He can relate, in his own way. He can't claim that any of the actions he's done were to save another person...but he'd most certainly been selfish, when faced with having to let a person go. Had made decisions and been deceptive just to keep them in his life a little bit longer.]

[coldseep]

( Ah... the gesture is small, but weighty. He can't bear anything alone - but it's cruel to hope to share it with someone as small as this. Surely, all these people - Junior, especially - can barely take their own. )

... You've gone through a lot. ( He smiles a little weakly. ) I'd have hoped you wouldn't understand... for at least another hundred years.

( Would Junior live that long? ... Well, it doesn't matter, he guesses. He, himself, won't be. )

But... I'm also happy that you do. Do you think that's bad of me?

[littlegentleman]

[All things considered, Junior wouldn't be surprised if he had an exceptionally short lifespan, compared to most humans. Time would have to tell, on that regard.]

Maybe I have...I don't know.

[Life had become so overwhelming, so very quickly, and he was still trying to sort out how he felt about his place in the world.]

No, I don't think it's bad. It feels less lonely when other people understand you, doesn't it?

[coldseep]

... Mm. I think so. I... really, really hate being alone.

( 🥺 )

... Can I hug you?

[fourtuity]

[ She wasn't going to say anything. But something about that makes her think of something else. And that prompts her to speak. ]

...Maybe. But being selfless is hard.

[coldseep]

... Yeah.

( A beat. )

... It's hard to be without them. But you're asking them to bear the weight instead. It's awful.

[fourtuity]

[ She bites her lip, eyes falling to the ground before shutting them. ]

But...it's a chance for a future, isn't it?

[coldseep]

... Yeah. Just a chance.

( He rubs at his eyes... ugh... )

... But chances can be really fleeting, huh?