WEEK 8.

[trustwellness]

WEEK 8 Orihime Inoue and Mikazuki Munechika are dead thanks to the Wordsmith's motive. While only two have died this past week, it feels much emptier around here now. There's only ten of you left. There's so few of you now. Saturday is given to regrouping and rest; on Sunday morning the clock chimes as it always has, but at least there are no bodies to find today. It seems you're safe for now. The night before wasn't necessarily a peaceful one, however; you'll probably feel a bit groggy when you wake up, and it seems you've regained something that you didn't realize you'd lost... Unfortunately, regardless of how well you may or may not have done this week, it seems that there's nothing else for you here. No new floors have opened up below the seventh; it looks like for now, that truly is all. Perhaps it's a good sign. Perhaps it's one of the worst yet. Only time will tell. APPRENTICES REMAINING: 10 APPRENTICES REMAINING: 8

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY

[OOC: Welcome to week eight of Trustfell! Feel free to make as many top levels as you'd like and tag out to other characters! This post is for all of your interactions this week... at least until the weekend. Don't forget to save those threads for coins and the activity check!

If you'd like to get in contact with the Wordsmith, you can do so through letters or the switchboard!]

Comments

TUESDAY

[trustwellness]

MESSAGE.

[wordsmithery]

[This morning passes relatively quietly; the time at which the Wordsmith usually addresses you with an incentive of some sort actually passes without incident today.

Perhaps he's busy; perhaps he's grown tired of you. Perhaps he just wants to see what you'll do at this point.

Either way, it seems he doesn't want much to do with you now; granted, it's also possible that he doesn't particularly have to do anything, judging by the writing on the chalkboard in the conference room today.

It doesn't really look like Noir's; it doesn't look like anyone's you'll recognize, either. It's eight words, the handwriting thick and blocky but simple.]

DID YOU REALLY THINK YOU COULD SAVE THEM?

[matchbreaker]

[ Still no replies from the dead in the mailroom, and then no ping from the Wordsmith. No reply from Noir on Sunday, and in the absence of any other things to do, any other thoughts other than to "prepare" in the same way her and Silver had plotted, Elda sort of marches down to the chalkboard sometime in the later morning.

. . .

What the fuck. Who the hell is that?

Elda of course writes back, expecting a response, something to the effect of "who the hell are you" and when nothing comes after five minutes, after ten, she grits her teeth and glares at the chalkboard. And then finally, not even sure how she feels about this, how she's going to respond (well there has to be a meeting now, and that's going to be hard...) she scrawls right below the message: ]

YES

[ And then puts down a heavy period. ]

[feistytrader]

[Silver wanders in to check on the chalkboard, and... That's... The last thing he wanted to see today, really. He doesn't recognize that handwriting- is it the Wordsmith's? He should have written to him before this, maybe someone else will know- but he does know that he wants to write something on there too.]

We're going to save them, whether you like it or not.

[acherontiastyx]

[...his face goes kind of white, and his knuckles go whiter.

He picks up a piece of chalk.]

i believe you can eat [ah, fuck, it broke from pressing too hard, hang on] shit, asshole

[oyashiromama]

[... That's not something she wants to see today. The moment Hanyuu walks into the room, she freezes. ...But then she storms over and grabs a piece of chalk. In fact- Hanyuu doesn't care if it's going to erase, each night, as everything resets, she will come back, each day, and rewrite. She has a single furious message, that she will...not write just a single time. She won't...]

I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.
I WILL NEVER GIVE UP.

[She keeps writing it. She will until her the chalk's so small she can barely hold it. No one responding just makes her more determined. If she has to scream into the void, she will. But if there's even a chance someone out there will see, she will not stop.]

[elepe]

[...you know, of all the rooms she had never bothered to see for herself, the conference room is one she's been kind of kicking herself for. She never saw a reason for it, really, and she had more to worry about.

Still, she decides to go in and check it out, thinking it might be a good idea to talk to the person in the chalkboard...and...

...well, considering how fast she turns on her heel and gets right the hell out, she's not happy. In fact, the farthest thing from happy. She didn't want to be right.]

[firstaid]

[Estelle doesn't even know what to do when she sees the message in the conference room.

She just... falls to her knees.

Hope? She can't find it anymore.

What can they do? What can she do now that she's broken to pieces, it feels like?]

MEETING

[matchbreaker]

Meeting, 5:00, Dining Room.
I'll drag you there myself if you don't show

[ That note's slipped under all the living's doors by Elda and written in her neat script, even if it's clear that it's a little more hurried than it has been previously. Her nerves are running high. She almost considered putting this in the conference room itself but she didn't want that message staring down at them the whole time and she didn't want to erase it in case it was relevant later. So dining room it is.

She makes fries for the meeting and brings up both wine and orange juice. She also makes rice. People liked Silver's rice last time, right? The whole food thing still annoys her, but it'll be there! As people start to come in: ]

We need to make a plan for what we're going to do going forward, or at least discuss some ideas about it. It's clear things are escalating.

[ Her eyes are in predatory mode this entire time. But . . . No, she can add onto this, at this point: ]

We're united in this, so let's work out what we know and what we intend to do. So let's hear it. Suggestions? Ideas?

[matchbreaker]

First things first. Guess there's no incentive the guy's put out for us this week. He seemed so irritated at the last trial, I wonder if he's concluded it's just not going to work. Anyone talked with him and found anything else out? Most I've gotten is he was complaining about being tired.

[ Wordsmith, that is. ]

[feistytrader]

...When was the last time anyone heard from Noir? Elda and I both tried to contact her on Sunday and got nothing.

[That's probably pretty important, but other than that...]

I've also made a bunch of the... Cyrobombs? ...The ice bombs. I'd like everyone to have a few of them in the event that the Wordsmith decides to turn Kageshirou on us.

[It's not much of a plan, but it's better than being sitting ducks.]

[foundfate]

I think we need to move our priorities to 'escaping first' and then worry about the others next. We can't help them if we're stuck here.

[He had been so focused on finding a way to help the dead that he hadn't been making much progress on the 'escape' front recently.]

I also think we shouldn't take what was told to us today as the truth. It may be a trick.

[bynight]

[There's something in the building with you.

If you're out very late tonight, you might hear it. If you're lurking on the seventh floor, you might hear some noise as something tries to get into the locked doors, banging and picking at the lock. When you approach the noise, it ceases, and you might just see a blur of movement slip away from you in the darkness.

You might hear footsteps by the chalkboard, as an unknown assailant investigates it. Whether or not he finds anything is unknown, because by the time you approach, it vanishes.

It performs a thorough investigation of every room in the building that night, bar the ones that are locked. But trying to track it down proves futile.

But, if you're out late enough, you might just hear a sharp and distinctive voice speak out to you from somewhere in the darkness.]

You're out awfully late tonight.

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda can see in the dark, but even the dim lights of the university at night do sort of throw her off. But more to the point she turns with predatory eyes in the direct of where she's pretty sure the voice came from.

Her fingers also flex, becoming more claw-like as opposed to just long lady finger-nails. ]

Who the hell're you?

[ That's her response. The voice isn't very recognizable and when she's only ever spoken with a little over 30 people for a few weeks... ]

[feistytrader]

[Silver's made the chem lab his home for several nights; he'll be fine without the extra sleep, and this... This is all he can do right now, so he might as well do as much of it as possible. It would help if he had a better idea of what he was doing, but it's too late for regrets about how much he's studied chemistry or killed the guy that knows the most about it.

He doesn't really expect company in here, much less a voice that he can place the general direction of, but not see. He doesn't move, but he beckons his Pokémon closer to him, and pauses what he's doing to speak up.]

I can sleep later.

[Who is that? Are they a threat?]

What do you want?

[sportadork]

[GREAT GOOGLY FUCKIN MOOGLY

okay, so maybe he is out late tonight. it's been a stressful day, and sometimes you gotta work out that stress by spending an unreasonably long time in the gym.

but that does not mean some random fucker gets to give you a goddamn heart attack when you're just innocently walking back to your room.]

Don't do that! ["who even are you" would probably be a better question but he's more in a chiding mood right now.]

[iaspis]

[Jasper turns sharply at the sound, staring in the direction of the voice.]

I'm always out this late.

[foundfate]

[Tonight is clearly the night for spooking people.

Watanuki had been trying to do something else entirely, but the sounds he had heard were enough to draw his attention. He nearly jumps out of his skin when he hears that voice too.]

YAAAAAGHDON'T DO THAT!

[acherontiastyx]

[...that just causes him to straight up knock his hot chocolate attempt off the Bunsen burner.]

What the hell!?

[matchbreaker]

[ So if anyone sees Elda out and about today, she'll be obviously stressed, but presentable. Determined, even. That's why she's been dragging people to the meeting, running around trying to remember key facts or maybe search rooms she's searched before, write letters, stockpile things...

Basically, trying to be useful, indomitable.

Sometime in the middle-later part of the night, a little after the meeting but before she actually goes to bed, Elda slips into Room 11, her actual assigned room as opposed to Hanyuu's, where she's actually been living for a while. Fortunately, the rooms are sound-proof so you won't hear her screaming, but if you happen to be walking past even something sound-proof can't exactly block the thumping sound of something hitting the door with a great deal of force.

She'll be around for everyone else through most of the rest of the day. This is just her little moment for herself. ]

room 11

[sportadork]

... [huh. that's sure a weird noise. from a room he was pretty sure wasn't actually occupied anymore.

so he'll just sorta. sit and wait patiently out in the hall near the door.]

room 11

[feistytrader]

[...It's pretty hard to miss the sound of something hitting the damn door, it's true. It's also pretty concerning, so Silver waits until it settles a bit, then knocks on the door.]

[firstaid]

[At the beginning of the day before the message in the conference room, Estelle goes to the vending machine to get her haul. She's not sure how she feels about the warhammer, but as soon as she gets the sword, she recognizes it from the drawing Mikazuki gave to her and she holds it to her chest and starts crying.

Why? Why does this place feel the need to keep knocking her down. She said she would take care of this if she ever got it, but she didn't think it would... happen. It's not like she can talk to him, or is it like she'll be able to tell her worries to him anymore. This... just makes it a reality, she feels.

After the message is seen in the conference room, she's around the building, carrying the sword with her. Probably not the wisest thing to do, but she's just... out of it.

She's in the kitchen making a simple sandwich. Something so she's at least eating and taking care of herself. After that, she goes to the new library just to pick up a random book, then to the greenhouse and just sits against a tree. She's there for quite a while just staring blankly at... something. She's definitely not asleep, but she just doesn't seem to be there anymore as she absent-mindedly eats her sandwich with a book open to a random page on her lap. And yes, she has the sword lying next to her.

Honestly, she may need to be dragged to the meeting, because she sure didn't get the note and she sure hasn't returned to her room.

She is not okay...]

Greenhouse

[feistytrader]

[Well, Elda asked Silver to go get Estelle for the meeting, since Elda had to go grab Lusamine. He's not really sure where to find her other than the libraries, so he just starts checking every room, which works out, since the second library is on the same floor as the greenhouse.

He's quick to approach her.]

Hey, we've got a meeting today, are you...

[...She looks really out of it, and that's enough to get Silver to pause for a moment before continuing.]

...Are you coming?

greenhouse

[iaspis]

[Is it a bad sign when the large orange alien looks concerned? Maybe.]

You... don't look well at all.