WEEK ONE

[killerwaves]

WEEK ONE

29 Vacationers

As much as this vacation was unplanned, hopefully you've found some time to enjoy yourself this weekend as you've settled in. The idyllic beach, all inclusive food, drink, and shopping might be almost enough to distract you from that pesky talk of sacrifice. Vacations really are about letting your worries pass you by. Hopefully you've found the time to set up your U-PINION too, because if you haven't, it's been chirping incessantly since the date turned to Monday. And come Monday at noon, everyone's device will let out a pleasant jingle, heralding several announcements across the screen:

Happy Monday! We've hope you've been enjoying your time at Sungem's Peak. The Mermer (intranet) is now fully operational. Chat with your friends and get recommendations for how to best enjoy your vacation, by:

• Reading about your fellow vacationers via their profile
• Chatting on the network
• Asking honest questions via our anonymous poll system
• REQUIRED: Reading the RULES set by the administrators

We're also happy to announce our reward system is live! Complete tasks to receive special items to improve your stay!!! Contact your administrators for any questions or concerns. We hope you have a wonderful week!

The artificial peppiness of the announcement just oozes out from the U-PINION, and soon thereafter everyone will be accosted by a friendly robot that forces a physical copy of the rules into their hands anyway. Just in case. They'll also present a copy of the tasks this week as well, for any interested parties.

!

TASKS:

Be Nice
Now that you're acquainted, tell another person one thing you like about them, and why.
(REWARD: RARE!)

Let's Play!
Play a game with someone else. Any type of game: board games, card games, or even a party game! (Reward: Common )

Summer Spooks
Tell a two-sentence horror story in person, or on the network.
(Reward: Common)

((OOC: Welcome to Week 1! This is a peace week, so they'll be no case this weekend. However, we have something for you to chew on Saturday, time to be announced later in discord.

We'll also be playing around with the network and seeing what works as far as formatting goes, so thanks for bearing with us! Also please note, that the poll questions are anon, but any answers won't be. ))

MONDAY • TUESDAY • WEDNESDAY • THURSDAY • FRIDAY

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Comments

[conchy]

[A frightening story or two? Lobelia has a few hundred of those, but personally, he thinks they're all quite delightful!]

Before that, mademoiselle, why don't you give us an example?

[So he knows where the bar for "frightening" is set here. He's not entirely without social graces.]

[necrotiem]

I can certainly try, but I just think things most others find frightening are fascinating instead.

Let's see... [She curls her fist beneath her chin in thought.]

My younger sibling wakes me in the night crying and screaming about his nightmares. I've gone to his grave to beg him to stop, but it hasn't worked.

[conchy]

Oh! How effrayant.

[The right person would certainly find that frightening, anyway, but Lobelia's reaction conveys amusement much more than fear.]

Let's see... Have you heard humble the story of the magician family?

[necrotiem]

[She likewise shows more interest and delight than anxiety, palms opening to him in invitation.]

Do tell! There is no history of magic in my family - I studied it while away - so I am unfamiliar.

[conchy]

Oui! Now then, where to begin...?

[From the very start, he supposes. Here goes!]

There was once a family of magicians living on a small island known for its inland sea. When they welcomed their only son into the world, they taught him a lesson he would never forget: "Everyone has the right to be happy— everyone and anyone."

The boy took their lesson to heart, seeking happiness above all else, until he finally found it. Upon rendering his Papa and Maman lifeless corpses, he had found his happiness in their sacrifice!

[necrotiem]

[This also doesn't seem to be a particularly frightening story for her. Quin gives her fists a little shake in appreciation.]

Well done. They might have been a little more careful with the lessons they tried to impart. It's a story about lessons with a lesson attached. [He simply had to do it to 'em...]

Though it ran a little long. I do hope you can still get the credit for it.

[conchy]

A fair assessment, mademoiselle Quin! Had Maman and Papa recognized the true power of their lesson, they might have thought twice about imparting it to their son... but there's no sense crying over spilt milk. One way or another, he would have learned to seek happiness on his own.

[Ah, but that's right: there's a task attached to these stories, isn't there? Lobelia was simply enjoying a little trip down memory lane, but he'll make an effort to conform to the demands of the task for the sake of gaining something new and potentially interesting.]

"Maman and Papa, your lesson was not for naught, as happiness I did seek without aforethought. Your cri de mort will live on within the conque, the seeds planted by your lesson quite féconde."

[passetemps]

[ :( that one is just sad ]

[idologue]

[ Honestly... Lacus spent too long living with war orphans for this, she's just :( ]

[necrotiem]

[Is it? Waltaquin seems unmoved by her own story.]

What's with that expression?

[passetemps]

That particular story feels more like tragedy than horror to me, is all.

[necrotiem]

It's tragic the narrator isn't getting their full night's rest, certainly.

I think the horror lies in not knowing who or what raised the sibling.

[passetemps]

My interpretation would be that there is no true phantasm at all, but that the narrator is plagued by grief and survivor's guilt and is unable to let go, all of which manifests in a vivid hallucination.

[ YEAH HE KNOWS IT WAS YOUR STORY, BUT, ]

[necrotiem]

[jesus christ buddy lighten up]

I see. I wouldn't know; I've never felt anything of the sort.

[Even the way she says it is a little dismissive, as if the value of life and death doesn't carry a very high price.]

[passetemps]

Consider yourself fortunate.

[necrotiem]

Oh, I certainly do. Near every day, in fact.

By the way... [She laces her fingers together.] Someone losing so much of their minds that they cease to see reality is also a frightening end.

[passetemps]

I will grant you that much.

[gravitys]

That one feels a bit sad. Let's see...

[ Hrm. ]

There's a door in the office that takes you where you're meant to go. I opened it and there was nothing there.

[microtransactions]

Oh! Existential dread writ large, a classic.

[gravitys]

I'm not usually a storyteller, I gotta say.

[microtransactions]

Honestly, neither am I. I'm better at collecting stories than telling them.

[gravitys]

So what's your favorite one you've collected?

[necrotiem]

I suppose I missed the mark.

[Everyone keeps saying that...but she really can't see it.

Waltaquin cocks her head to the side.]

I like your take on it. Being destined for obscurity in oblivion is rather heart-gripping, isn't it? Especially if you're someone who'd like his name remembered.

[microtransactions]

Huh, when you frame it that way ... Hang on, I think I've got something that could be read similarly?

"I'm the best hider in hide-and-seek!
I was found only once, but never again."

[gravitys]

Yeah, some people are big into bein' remembered.