The clock strikes twelve. The gong of the grandfather clock in the foyer tolls out the time in slightly unnecessarily obnoxious loud noises. The ambiance of this old mansion demands respect, care, awe --
Okay, no, wait, why are you even in this stupid dusty house?
No reasons are forthcoming, because everyone knows that people just end up in places like this sometimes. That's just how the narrative device works. The hows and the whys don't matter -- all that matters is that you're all here, so you'd better get cracking and start exploring, because it's not like you can leave yet.
Or ever, maybe.
 Good day, sirs and madams. Might I interest you in a nice glass of blood...y mary?
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PHASE I [ 02 15 ] All you see is white. The crash of thunder hits your ears next, punctuated by the piercing pitch of white noise in the background. After a few blinks, your vision comes back to you. Oh good, glad that you’ve joined us in the land of the living. Unlike the nondescript corpse at your feet – it looks like… a butler? Oh dear. You’ve already killed Murder Suspect Number One in most situations. How terribly ironic.
After all, who could’ve killed him but you? You might not remember, but there is definitely a murder weapon in your hand. It’s probably a knife or a poisoned glass of wine or-
Wait, is that a toaster? A full on toaster? Or maybe it’s a taser. Maybe you bludgeoned this poor guy with an entire encyclopedia. Either way, it looks like your murder weapon is a little unconventional, whether it’s a stranger’s pair of underwear or a hair curler. Are you really supposed to believe you committed a murder with these? (Yes.)
That said in the next second the double doors will be opening up. It’s pretty clear you’re not alone. Think quick!
PHASE II [ 0600 ] Exploring more around the compound, you’ll find plenty of those tall, oil portraits of people hung around the walls. When you start walking, they’re all strangers. However by the time that you feel like you’re wandering around for an hour, two hours, they might start looking a little bit more… familiar? Mom? Is that you?
You don’t have time to think about that, though. You were clearly framed! You don't’ have a motive for killing some random NPC –
“Or do you?” a portrait will ask.
Oh. Holy shit. Well it’d just be rude to leave, right? Whether you stick around for conversation or not, you’ll find that was just the beginning. The portraits are going to start grilling you. Welcome to CERES Central’s Roast of You. What was your motive? Don’t you know you should respect the servants? How would you feel if you were caught like that? Careful turning your back on them though, because if you ignore them for too long, the subjects in the portraits may just reach out and snatch you to join them in their portrait world.
At that point, the only way to get out is to swap places with some other poor, unsuspecting soul wandering around.
PHASE III [ 1045 ] You know what makes me hungry? Murder.
What’s the point of making a mansion this big anyway? Who’s even here? Either way, whether you’re looking for the kitchen to make a fine post-homicide sandwich or just trying to escape, you’ll eventually make it to a stairwell. The most finicky stairwell ever. Is that a trail of bloody footprints leading up the steps? What? No. Stop it, just climb.
Or well – don’t climb too quickly now. The staircases apparently have a mind of their own, swapping from one doorway to another. You definitely haven’t seen this before. It would seem that these stairs might even be interested in keeping you in a circle forever, no concern for whether or not you’re hungry or, god forbid, need to use the restroom.
However the portraits in the stairwell will provide a little tip: “The stairs are gossips, you know. Why don’t you tell us a little something about yourself? Make it good!”
Weirdly enough, sound advice – that is, if you’re interested in shouting out your most embarrassing secrets into the void so a mansion can keep talking shit about you. Oh well. Your alternative is just being a stair golem. There are worse fates.
PHASE IV [ 1430 ] This hall is oddly quiet.
Well, until you hear it – the soft sniffles coming from down the hall, the broken sobs. It sounds like someone’s crying. For one reason or another, your footsteps take you forward – there’s really no point in going back now after all, right? Yet as you continue to walk… walk… walk… the crying becomes louder and louder. More desperate, more despaired. In time, it’s clear that this person is wailing, screaming, “How could this happen?!”
Within the span of a breath, all the lights in the hallway go out, leaving you in pitch black.
It occurs to you then that you hear a second set of steps. When did you stop walking? A cold chill runs down your spine and you find yourself running then, despite the fact that it feels like this pitch black hallway goes on forever. The other footsteps pick up, remind you that you’re not alone. No, certainly not.
Best hope that you find some assistance soon – otherwise it looks like the Butler Association is going to ignite some righteous vigilante justice on your ass.
BONUS [ why o'clock ] You’re in the grand ballroom now, ready to present your case. Armed with a cob pipe (don’t smoke inside, it’s rude), a detective hat, and a single spotlight aimed right at you, you now have to explain how you came to the conclusion about the True Killer that is Obviously Not You. Rather, it’ll just be the character of whoever tags into this prompt – yes, you are suddenly so very sure that they’re the ones who are the ultimate mastermind of this entire game and… you’re just going to have to bullshit the reason why even if you know virtually nothing about them. It’s a dog eat dog world out there, you know?
Sorry about that.
Should you actually provide enough of a compelling case or they take pity on you, having a villainous breakdown for the sake of the plot, you’ll be awarded with a coupon that’ll give you three free scoops at your local ice cream parlor! (Note: you must buy the first two scoops in order to qualify.) Of course, if you’re not able to nail them down as the killer, you are obviously the killer yourself (citation needed).
From there, you’ll be dragged off to face your punishment: for six grueling hours you will be tickled mercilessly.
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
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phase iv. hi--
is more or less what kei is literally thinking as he confidently (read: blindly and somewhat furtively) grope his way around the pitch-black hallway. well it's well-known that one cannot feel hunger (or, well, much of anything) while being in a Trion body, that doesn't stop one from wondering if, perhaps, the entire situation wouldn't be so bad if he had a small tv and a few croquettes to munch on.
the reason why the entire situation isn't as unnerving as it could be to kei would be due to the fact that he isn't particularly good at otome games (actually, he's never played any otome games barring that one time kunichika sat him down and made him play muv-luv, which, in his opinion, wasn't much of an otome game -- for one, it had too little luv and a really cool amount of muv) (he'll never live down anyone revealing that he spent more time playing that game than he did in the training rooms that week) and therefore does not have the expressed level of empathy needed to care about sobbing disembodied voices in the darkness.
he's also shit at horror games, too, which may explain why he doesn't find the fact that his footsteps are leading him on and not the other way around disconcerting at all. kei figures that it's just his natural instincts kicking him, taking his feet to brave new places, and anyway, even if he doesn't really think about it like that, he is a child soldier who's used to fighting aliens intend on turning most of the population into sentient energy sources, so something like a little lights out and some kid throwing a tantrum in the distance isn't intimidating at all in comparison. probably. sort of. he thinks, anyway, though he doesn't have to put any effort into not thinking too hard about it. if pressed, he'd say his instincts told him so.
it's those same instincts that causes him to bring up his kougetsu the very moment something sings through the darkness right for the space where his head would've been if he'd taken just one more step. the weight of the weapon feels top-heavy, a concentrated force that causes him to whistle, low, in the darkness. the sounds of splish splash that follows is infinitely less interesting, but no less baffling -- water? by his feet? now that wasn't there before. (oh, oh! maybe it's the crying person's tears!) ]
Hey, hey, hey-- first sobbing, and now surprise attacks in the dark? You really need to get your emotions under control first. [ but the prospect of something trying to attack him in the dark is so novel and interesting that he slides out of the attack and brings out his second kougetsu vibrating with excitement, just in case. ] Look, I can wait until you stop crying, and then we can have a good go at it? I won't even count the first strike; I'm a fair guy.
smh
He jumps back, because although he can't tell whether this guy is friend or foe, he doesn't feel safe assuming the former at the moment.]
Sorry, but I'm not the one crying. [...] I've also got no interest in having "a good go at it" without reason.
[Whether a reason exists yet or not remains to be seen.]
laughs
Wait, the crying isn't you? [ now whatever it is the guy was saying sinks in as unadulterated surprise crosses kei's face, invisible in the darkness but there nonetheless to add some flavour to this text. he lowers his twin kougetsus a little to squint into the darkness with an air of vague disbelief. ] No way, but you're the only other guy here. If it's not me, and it's not me, so wouldn't that mean it has to be you?
sighs
(This may be a naive hope.)]
By that logic, from my point of view, you'd have to be the one crying...
daily reminder that this is your fault!!!
Yeah, but I already told you that it's not me. [ so, uh, it can't be him!!! first person who says so is right, isn't that how it works? that's how kei's decided for it to work. moreover: ] Plus, the ground's soaked. What kind of a hard life do you think I had to have in order to cry this much?
[ his feet splashes in water as though for emphasis. ]
ilu2
... The water was from me. [jsyk.] And I don't mean that it was from my tears or anything, since we just established that that wasn't me.
[He's... He's actually not sure how to explain things to this person??]
... Listen, can we just agree that neither of us was crying? I think there are more important things right now that we need to focus on.
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Like getting out of this hallway, right? Yeah, I can agree to that. [ he says this like everything else he's been saying makes perfect sense too, a sagely nod to go with the sheathing of one of his swords. a curious beat. kei reaches up to scratch the back of his head. ] But could you not do the water thing again? If there's a third, crying person out there, I'd like to be able to move unhampered, if it's all the same to you.
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[Sincere! ... But maybe with just a bit of dryness, because he wasn't entirely sure of how this would go down.
At the next part, though, he lets out a light laugh, as if he's already forgotten about how close this guy came to giving him a headache.]
Haha, I'll try. [That's like 90% of his skillset, though.] I wasn't really expecting to run into anyone else in this hall.
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And I didn't expect someone to swing a halberd at me, but I'll take it. [ especially since there was a lot of force behind that halberd!! and the water thing is interesting!!! you seem strong!! there's a feeling of contemplation as kei studies the darkness. ] So... now what. Keep walking? Think we have to take down the crying person?
[ he seems way too interested in the halberd part and the taking down someone part. ]
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[... Tachikawa. Tachikawa, please. Also, Karl's not interested in throwing down???]
Keep walking sounds like the best idea we have right now, but maybe we shouldn't resort to fighting someone right away?
[Maybe he shouldn't say that considering what he just did a minute ago, but still!!]
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Hmm... but this situation feels a little bit like it's a 'final boss', doesn't it? [ it's a legitimate take on the situation?! even though most of kei's exposure to video games comes from kunichika's vidya collection, and kunichika obviously has her biases. but kei thinks that he reasonably knows the genre to guess a few things, and the situation now? seems very video-game like to him.
with a small laugh and very good-naturedly: ] Anyway, what's the point of tossing us into a house like this without having us fight our way out?
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Also... there's something about this situation that's beginning to remind him of his life just before waking up in this place, aka on Mt. Nerga where he attempted to talk things over with his biological dad only to essentially be told "no shut up you pansy FIGHT ME."
... If nothing else, this guy's being a lot friendlier about it than Barion was, but there's that same feeling of talking to a wall while trying to not settle things by beating each other up.]
... That really is how things seem to end up as most of the time, isn't it...? [He sighs.] Still, if we can talk things through, we should try that first.
[STOP DENYING HIM HIS DIPLOMACY.]
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Uh... sure, yeah. [ dubiously. ] I'll be counting on you to do that, since I'm not really a talking kind of guy. But when that fails, I'll go and beat them up. [ if you haven't noticed it yet..... sobs.... he's really not here for his brains...... but at least he's aware of his own faults?! maybe this is a sort of character development?? anyway, talking has always been jin's forte. sometimes kazama too, if you can get him to start talking, since when he starts he doesn't really stop until he's done with his point or whatever. but kei? he likes to think of himself as an action man.
'action man'. but whatever, enough talk. kei lets that instinct take his feet again, hollow steps in water until he's found solid ground once more, fully expecting to hear footsteps following him in his wake. onto more interesting topics -- the interest in kei's voice only grows: ] So are you a Neighbour? How long have you been a soldier?
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[He's... getting that impression...
And he is indeed following Tachikawa!!]
A Neighbour? [Uh, he's pretty sure he doesn't live next door to this guy.] And let's see... about ten years, give or take a few.
[Though he's not a soldier in the conventional sense—but that's not really a detail he feels the need to mention.]
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Ten years, huh. No wonder the force you had was pretty good. [ in contrast, kei's only been a soldier for what, four years? but throughout that time, he's taken down Neighbours who were far older and had far more experience than he did, so he's not at all that intimidated by the experience gap. in fact, he's excited. definitely excited. ] So what does that water stuff do? [ ... ] Wait, don't tell me. I kind of want to find out myself.
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[Karl, on his part, while proud of his abilities, isn't thinking about how good he might be vs. his companion here because he wouldn't like to assume, except that's a moot point because he's not even thinking about competing with Tachikawa at all.]
... Find out yourself? I'm not gonna shoot it at you again, if that's what you mean...
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-- wait, how accurate are you? What's your control like? [ maybe he's just too used to fighting with izumi, who can hit a gnat out of the air and avoid kei by a hair's breadth no matter where he is, but. maybe it's okay to get to know his new, potential and shiny ally a little. ]
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[Karl isn't, like, 100% opposed, as he enjoys a good friendly fight once in a while, but having it be one of the first things he does with a complete stranger is... er...]
Not counting when completely in the dark, I don't have a habit of missing, if that's what you mean.
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he's also totally taking this as a 'yes' for a mock fight later-- ] And of course! Yeah! As soon as we beat up the boss. Don't tire yourself out too much, okay? I want to make sure that it's a good fight.
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[He hasn't really seen much of this guy's skills, but he's probably at least pretty good to have blocked his attack.
And wow, that was not a yes.]
Umm, I haven't actually agreed, you know...
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[ but kei was so sure he did?!??! ]
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... Sorry, but I don't think I'm really in the mood for a friendly fight right now. Some other time, maybe.
[And maybe when they're not, you know, complete strangers??]
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[ a beat. ] What do I call you?
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[Quietly, he sighs.]
Karl. Like I said, pick a later date? Anyway, what about you?
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