Week 2

[thecastle]

Friday's harrowing events are clear in the minds of many—first and foremost, the death of Rika Furude, and of course the reveal and subsequent "sentencing" of Asch the Bloody. It also serves well as a reminder to everyone that the gloves are off, there won't be an easy way out for anyone and it is unlikely that there will be an option to 'wait it out' in the hopes of not participating in this 'game'. Or, as The Sage and The Teishu put it:

The Challenge.

Despite how you felt about the trial, it's likely that some rest would be welcome after all that transpired. Fortunately, some of your fellow warriors have taken it upon themselves to provide a reprieve of sorts, if you'd rather not be alone.

As if the events of the trial are supposed to be nothing but routine, dawns comes once more Sunday morning, punctuated with the sound of the rooster crowing obnoxiously. Any light sleepers hoping for their rest to not be disturbed may find themselves disappointed. Though, if anyone should wish, they may feel free to try to fall back asleep.

But, maybe that time can be better spent wandering. It seems that some places may have mysteriously unveiled themselves. It might do well to check them out. Or not. How anyone chooses to spend their time is ultimately up to them.

---

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

(OOC: Welcome to Week 2 of Ukimiya! Feel free to comment to the weekly top levels and thread as you like, and redeem coins at the wishing pool.

You can contact the sage with your pendants here, and the teishu here.)

Comments

SUNDAY

[thecastle]

DISQUALIFICATION.

[thesage]

[ The sun is shining, dawn is upon everyone, and if there were any birds, they would be singing. But there are not. It's probably unexpected to hear The Sage's voice broadcast across the pendants right after the enthusiatic rooster, but there it is. ]

If you would all come into the Courtyard. The sooner we get this over with, the better.

[ The Sage's voice is cold and short, without any notes of the typical cordiality it usually carries. Kind of like he woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

Anyone who decides to tarry will be prodded in a very insistent and annoying manner by one of the resident azure-colored minions. So much for a happy morning, eh?

Once everyone collects into the Courtyard, it'll be fairly obvious to notice The Sage and The Teishu standing next to each other ... and there's also an additional someone. That someone is another fiery red head, except his head of hair is decidedly much shorter than the recently departed one's. The Teishu is holding him firmly in his grasp, though with the way he is, you would think he considers Chiaki to be nothing more than a piece of rubbish. The most unnerving thing about the whole situation (though you'll be forgiven for thinking there's more than one) is the way Chiaki's eyes dart from one person to another, but he seems unable to do anything else. For those attentive viewers, you'll also notice his pendant is missing.

The Sage's posture is tense and there's a tight frown set upon his lips; his clothes seem to be a little dirty, as there are a few flecks of dirt staining white on his cloak. When he speaks again his voice retains that coldness and a not completely hidden thread of impatience. ]

There was an incident last night; one of disorderly conduct. I'd rather not have had my hand forced, but it seems it has come to this.

[ The Sage's right-hand moves in an upwards, slightly horizontal motion, and then he brings his right hand back to his left.

One of the walls surrounding the land and the castle flat out disappears— it was there one moment and now its clearly not. Everyone is suddenly treated to what appears to be layers upon layers of clouds: the reason for the castle being so entrenched in the first place is probably readily apparent. As is the fact that you are clearly very, very high up, there's no glimpse of land anywhere, just an endless horizon of sky and clouds. The Sage's irritable voice cuts in again. ]

Remember the second rule:

Physical violence against the Master Sage and Teishu are prohibited, unless permission is given.

[ It might feel that there's something there even though no one can see what it is at first; like a presence that feels unwelcome and unnerving. The clouds begin to roil and swirl, twisting into one another as they change from white to pitch black.

The Teishu then tosses Chiaki unceremoniously out into the clouds, with all the ease of discarding an unwanted toy. Before any of you can really process what's happened, the wall reappears in its spot.

But, it is plainly obvious that Chiaki had no chance of surviving any of that.

Chiaki Mamiya is dead. ]

I'm sure everyone now understands the full consequences of disobedience.

[ The Sage turns away from everyone, and he doesn't say anymore. As soon as anyone blinks, all that's left is just The Teishu. ]

[divertimento]

[So, ah. That happened?

Elliot looks reasonably horrified, both at the reveal and the fact that they just tossed his neighbor into the cloudy void, but says nothing.

What is there to be said? Any questions he'd have about why they're doing this to all of them would be met with the same tired non-explanations.

He's just going to... go... now. He spent the previous night just trying to get some of his bearings back, he can't fall apart again right now.]

[deontological]

[That... sure did happen.

Sen lingers for a few moments after it's over, staring at the space where Chiaki had been in shock. She knew, of course, that there are consequences for breaking rules... but she didn't think they would be quite this severe.

She takes a deep breath, shoots a measured look in the Teishu's direction, and leaves. There isn't anything productive she can say to him.]

[irrationalities]

[Well if that isn't a deterrent against trying to scale the walls, he doesn't really know what is. He knew Chiaki even less than Rika or Asch, so there's only some surprise as he sees the other boy getting tossed out and nothing more.

Still, if the Teishu's around, might as well try asking him something.]

Hey. Is that only the punishment for breaking rule two, or is that fair game for breaking any of them?

[gyakusatsu]

[This is not what Misora wanted to see the day after Asch's gruesome death. She didn't sleep that well to begin with and being forced to witness yet another display of needless cruelty for the third day in a row is starting to make her angry. She didn't know Chiaki very well, but it's the principle of the thing. The blatant disregard for life. The fact that these people think nothing of flinging a child off this... whatever the fuck this landmass is.

She's not surprised. But she's not unaffected either. Fists clenched tightly, she turns her back and returns to the castle, muttering furiously her breath.]

Give me a break.

[buddyoldpal]

Daamn, y'all don't fuckin' do anythin' halfway, do ya.

[ I mean, he's in the yakuza, Executions happen. Often. ]

Ya know, the way we do it, we usually give the fuckers a chance ta cut their pinkies off first. But that's just the yakuza.

[divertimento]

rhoda's room
[Elliot has spent most of his time since the execution holed up in Rhoda's room, just trying to get his bearings.

He supposes he could go to his own room, but this is where his bed is, and he's not sure he really wants to be completely alone.

He's been pretty quiet, mostly just sitting there, sometimes hugging his knees to his chest. His undereyes are looking a little dark and puffy, now. Every once in a while he picks up one of the notepads and tries to scribble something down - anyone glancing over would see him scribbling out some quick staves and trying to jot down some notes - but he gives up pretty quickly.

He's just not feeling it right now. And if Elliot's not feeling music, something's definitely wrong.]

laundry hut

[Back to business as usual - cleaning the one set of decent clothing he has.

Honestly, he doesn't even have it in him to be particularly angry at these awful robes anymore. If anything, he's just thankful the laundry hut is quiet right now. He's doing better than he was Friday night, to be sure, but he still seems to be lost in his own thoughts.

He will notice if someone comes in, though. He's pretty jumpy today.]

closed: natalia's room
[...all right. There was no sense in avoiding this any longer. He had a promise to keep, after all.

He hasn't spotted Natalia anywhere on the few treks he's had outside his own room, so he figures it's a safe enough bet to check her room.

Swallowing hard, he lifts his hand to knock at the door.]

[ofnobleheart]

[ natalia barely registered the knock on her end. once she realized that there was a knock she speaks. ]

Who is it?

[ the voice is strained the tired. natalia barely got any sleep last night, if at all ]

Their room

[professionality]

[ Rhoda herself has been in and out herself, but even despite this it's pretty easy to notice that Elliot is always there. Sitting gloomily. So on the next one of her trips out, Rhoda returns with some hot chocolate from the kitchen. Serving drinks is probably a good cheer-up move and at least she knows how to make them?

Her approach is steady but a bit cautious as she sets the cup down on the floor besides Elliot's mattress. ]

Here. You should calm your nerves with something, so why not start with something delicious?

laundry hut

[notimmortal]

[Like anyone else, Jansen totally has laundry to do because not only does he only have the one outfit, but it's got a lot of white and shows stains fast. Thanks to that, he's here almost daily.

As he comes in, he's whistling something to himself, so it's pretty obvious that someone else came in. He'll stop when he sees Elliot though since he's not one to do that when other people are around.]

Yeah, totally don't mind me, just cleaning my stuff.

[Though at least he seems to be okay and mostly normal.]

laundry hut!

[tangas]

[ oh, is someone already here? excuse miyamura walking in with a bundle of his clothes in one arm and... dressed only in his boxers. on the bright side, no jump scares here! he announces his presence by saluting elliot casually. ]

Yo.

[deontological]

afternoon - dungeon;
[So Sen hecked up and got herself locked up in here. Whoops!

...no, that's a lie. But she does take the stairs to the basement, intending on exploring the new area to the best of her abilities. Of course... she finds that it's rather dirty and gross down there. So.

Her next course of action is to head right back upstairs, change into the ugly green robe instead of her nice kimono, and head back down with some towels filched from the bathhouse and some bowls of water.

Operation: Cleanup is a go.]

evening - kitchen;
[It's been a long day and though her appetite has waned somewhat, what with... Chiaki getting disqualified... a girl's got to eat.

Grilled fish is on today's menu, but for now, she's trying to figure out how much salt she should add for flavor.]

Hmm... I don't want it to be bland, but...

dungeon

[devilsphysician]

[The man decoded to start heading downstairs when he notices someone ahead of him]

Ah, Senhime - what's with the water?

[Georik questioned, wondering what she exactly found]

Dungeon crawling y'all

[irrationalities]

[When a new section of the building opens up, there's nothing to do but to check things out, right? Besides, there's only so much they can occupy themselves with anyways. So while Mahiro doesn't necessarily expect to be alone in wanting to see the basement floor, finding Sen all decked out in one of those cloaks and equipped with cleaning supplies is. Baffling.

She isn't really? Is she??]

Are you seriously going to spend your time cleaning this place?

kitchen

[notimmortal]

[Just like a girl's got to eat, so does a man. Jansen is headed in to try and cook something himself when he comes across Sen.]

Start with a small amount. You can add more, but getting rid of too much is not as easy. You could also try adding some garlic or... nevermind just go with the salt.

[He was so about to suggest lemon, but after that trial, well he'd not blame people if they tossed every lemon in the castle into the fire.]

Dungeons

[professionality]

[ Rhoda's just on her road to finally, finally explore the new areas and she has to say, she didn't really expect to see someone cleaning in this of all places. Least of all Senhime, all dainty and noble as she looks. ]

Uhm... are you planning to use this space for something later?

kitchen!

[tangas]

Well, think of it this way. [ hi. he waves at her from the doorway. ] If you add too much of something, you can't really take it out. Salt. Pepper. Works the same way.

[notimmortal]

[Greenhouse]

[Well, there are new locations, so may as well take a look at them. One that definitely seems interesting is the greenhouse. So Jansen is definitely going to be taking a look around, but he's going to be spending time especially looking at the flowers.

He's going to take a few of the prettiest ones and see if he can cheer up the place a bit. He's definitely got a few plans there.]

[Great Hall or kitchen]

[After the greenhouse, Jansen has some flowers on hand and he's trying to find some sort of containers to put them in so they can decorate the tables. Unless there happens to be some vases available, he's going to have to make do with cups. Can't hurt to have a bit of color there and make this place less dreary. He's going to save a few of the flowers though. Feel free to catch him as he's doing this.]

[Hallways]

[The last few flowers he kept aside for a particular purpose. He's going to be leaving one on the doors of each of the still living girls here, well except Zero because she'd probably only like one if it was covered in blood or something else gross like that. He originally planned on just leaving something for Natalia, but really he didn't want to leave any of these ladies out when nearly all of them seemed to be nice girls.

Of course feel free to catch him in the middle of this and get the wrong idea. He's not leaving any notes either, since he feels its best for them to not know who did it and just know they have friends. At least this is better than mulling over yet another death.]

Greenhouse

[fedorascout]

I didn't think you were the kind of person that'd be interested in flowers.

[Or at least Kizakura thinks it's a personal interest. Who'd think Jansen is taking them to decorate the castle?]

Green House

[devilsphysician]

[The plants are certainly something interesting to the man, but instead of peering at the flowers themselves, he is closely examining their leaves - and grins as he recognized a few, going to take a couple of the planters when he realizes someone else grabbed the pot as well]

Ah? So I'm not the only one interested.

INVESTIGATION?

[fedorascout]

[There's a wine cellar! Amazing! And...completely useless, by the looks of it.

When you enter, you'll find Kizakura wandering around. He's dressed with the green cloak, staring bleakly at the empty barrels and at the bottles behind the lock]

My, how cruel of them, leaving the booze on the other side of a lock. I bet if they run out of motives they'll offer it as a reward for a killer.

[Hah! Okay, most likely not. Besides, despite the odds more people will die, Kizakura's pretty sure nobody will murder just to get some alcohol.

The dungeon is another place he started exploring, checking every nook and cranny. He opens and closes the chest a few times, as if he expects it to change. When somebody enters, Kizakura raises his arms over his head, doing 'ooooooh' sounds for a moment]

You know, these robes makes me look like some sort of crazy cultist! And even more because I'm standing in this dungeon. Dungeon that's completely empty, by the way. I found nothing that could be of use.

[...yeah, he's bored. The investigation didn't seem to reveal anything, so...yeah.

But later he gives it a try again. Investigation time! For example, the wine cellar. Could there be anything hidden somewhere among the barrels? Anything that looks out of place?]

INVESTIGATION

[maddogs]

storage

[ okay after checking out the sorely disappointing wine cellar and it's lack of contents, majima ends up searching through the storage area. while the boxes and brooms are dope if you're a loser who likes cleaning (not that we have any of those here kurosaki), what majima's really after is a key or at least suitable tools for picking the lock. he's particularly interested in the medieval-looking tool box because, heck, the only better place to hide keys for the wine cellar would be in a fruit basket. ]

Not that I'd just leave my fuckin' keys around, but stranger things have happened...

[ not that he's really talking to anyone of course, but maybe you overhear him anyway. could be he's just narrating his actions if they're gonna get spied on via-pendants. look the point is: alcohol would be pretty damn great and whatever is in this box might be useful?? ]

INVESTIGATION

[irrationalities]

Dungeon.

[A new day, a new morning and a new death. But hey, apparently it's dungeon crawling time now that all the commotion over Chiaki is over. Why he chose the dungeon of all places he doesn't really know but. Maybe he'll regret it, maybe not. He'll check out the chest first, since it's so blatantly out of place though.

If anyone wanders in--]

Hey. Give me a hand here.

Wine cellar.

[After that investigation of the dungeons, it's only natural for him to look into wine cellar as well. If anything though, it appears he's less interested in actually grabbing a drink than just checking out the general state of things. He'll pass over the barrels and while the gated partition gets a look, it's really the glass cabinets that catch his attention.]

They say they don't like rule breakers and they just leave this shit right here?

[presomnia]

morning, kitchen
[hey guess who's NEVER BEEN TAUGHT BASIC BLADE SAFETY?? apparently it's Tiki because she's hanging around here, her pendant held in front of her with the cord taut so she can try to saw the cord off with a kitchen knife.

Okay, well, she's cutting away from her, so she's got the rudimentary stuff down.

Obviously this isn't doing much for her, so she huffs and sets the knife down.]

It isn't working. [said real casual-like, as if there's nothing to be worried about at all in this situation]


afternoon, greenhouse
[At noon precisely, anyone around the outer castle grounds will be treated to a short, distant yelp followed by the sight of Tiki booking it out of the greenhouse, a fistful of flowers in one of her hands, looking like a drowned kitten. She stops a few steps outside of the door, looks up at the sky, turns around to look back inside the greenhouse, looks up at the sky again while holding out her hand, and then looks up at whoever's nearby and points to the greenhouse.]

It's raining in there.

[guess who doesn't understand sprinklers

this poor girl has so many stupid layers and she's soaked]


night, courtyard
[hey guess who apparently learned absolutely nothing from the last tiny immortal who went wandering around outside at night all by herself??? YOU GUESSED IT

It's exceptionally unusual to see Tiki outside of a common area, for her to be anywhere she could be left alone for more than a second at a time. She might be hard to notice, lying on her back in the grass, but she isn't very far from the entrance of the castle so please don't trip over her... Every now and again she raises her arm to point at the sky and trace connections between stars with her fingertip, but apparently she never finds just what it is she's looking for, so her face always scrunches up and she sets her hand at her side again.]