Here, where we tremble at the same old thought; here, when our legs give out and we get caught.

[trustwellness]

[It’s been a fairly peaceful week; the lack of incentive has been both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, no one is being explicitly pressured to kill; perhaps this week will be the one in which you decide that enough is enough.

On the other, you haven't heard from your dead friends in over a week now.

Either way, Friday dawns as it always does; while it's quiet, as usual, there's a heavy sense that something isn't right hanging over the university. Maybe it’s the usual feeling of dread this place brings, the sort of fear and uncertainty that has caused others to leave their rooms late at night even when they know just how dangerous it is; maybe it's something more.

Whatever it is, the feeling isn’t lessening any as time goes by and if you’re willing to risk opening your door before the clock chimes this morning, you’ll find the hallway clear. You won’t find any bodies or blood (or crushed tomatoes), but as you move to explore you’ll find something off in the foyer.

Perhaps the first thing you’ll see is the cracked wall near the clock, where the now-familiar being made of shadows and silt has taken over, rippling behind the wall like it’s waiting for something. Some of it has seeped out onto the floor as well, pooling on the ground in a manner that's almost agitated, and it’s edging closer and closer to…

Is that a man in a bat costume?

...That's possibly a little concerning for several reasons, if we're all being honest with ourselves.

Either way, Batman isn’t the only one incapacitated on the floor here; it appears that Watanuki is also out cold, lying on the ground nearby. Both of them are a bit too far away and the entity is a bit too close for you to risk running over there, unless for some reason you don't happen to value keeping your legs attached to your body.

Of course, if you didn’t wake up early, the Wordsmith’s voice probably will get your attention; it can be heard throughout the building, sudden and intrusive.]

I have made an effort for the rules to be very clear, Apprentices. And yet time and time again you choose to act against them. Do you truly hate the university so much?

Rule Five has been broken by Distinguished and Independent. After this long, you should all know precisely what the consequences for that will be.

[And it seems, for now, that that's all he's offering – no details, no mention of exactly how Rule Five was violated. It's possibly because that's just how the Wordsmith is when it comes to extraneous details; it's likewise possible that he sees no reason to offer them if for no better reason than he doesn't want to encourage another attempt. However, while he's certainly been a lot of things, a liar with regards to offenses that have been carried out isn't one of them; he isn't incorrect about one other thing, either – that being that you certainly should know what the consequences for this sort of action are going to be.

The shadows are swift as they surge forth from the wall, the darkness rippling again before shooting forward, thick tendrils sweeping over the floor and wrapping quickly around the limbs of its intended targets, creeping up over them in a manner that's slow and almost possessive in nature. It doesn't move to consume right away, however; for a long, horrid moment it lingers, pressing down low over the bodies of those it's subduing, and it's difficult to say why. It's slightly different to the normal behavior of waiting for witnesses, though it certainly seems to be doing that as well; usually it carries out that sort of thing on the floor, well away from anyone it's going to overtake.

Its intentions become a bit more apparent, perhaps, when Bruce stirs a bit on the floor, when Watanuki's eyes flutter open.

They tense up almost immediately, writhing against whatever's holding them down; the oppressive weight the shadow entity is putting on them, the grip it has on their limbs is inescapable – and surely they know it's inescapable, they've seen what this thing does, they know what's happened to everyone since Kyrie tried to fight against it on that first week – but that doesn't do anything to deter the natural human instinct to try to escape, whether through fear or simply a matter of fight or flight.

Bruce is taken first – perhaps because he's stronger, harder to deter and keep pinned down; either way, the entity is swift in devouring him, sweeping over that pointed cowl and spreading out immediately to pool on the floor again; Watanuki follows shortly after – and its difficult to say, really, whether the swiftness of it all is torment or mercy, given that it allowed them to wake up at all.

And with that, only eight apprentices remain; the Wordsmith seems to have nothing further to say on the matter, allowing the university to fall into silence once again.

The shadow, on the other hand, will be present in the foyer for the remainder of your stay here, spilling down from that split in the wall. Perhaps it's keeping watch; perhaps it's serving solely as a reminder that you aren't going anywhere.]

Comments

[acherontiastyx]

[....................

Welp. He's... welp.

Time to ineffectually yell at the shadowy mass as though those inside can hear him.]

...f... fucking hell, you noodly bastard and you weird, kinky bastard!! You couldn't let us have this one Friday without trying something dumb?!

[oyashiromama]

[Fridays are synonymous with death. They're the top of the hourglass, empty, the death knells of June for Hanyuu.

...This day is all at once completely new and no different. Two are lost, but not to a traditional crime. She wants to- she almost runs over to shake the two awake, but she knows that's a fool's errand. Stay alive, Hanyuu, you have to stay alive, because you could maybe fix this-

It doesn't make listening to the Wordsmith any easier. Nor does it make watching Bruce and Watanuki be consumed a simple task. She...has to think about this. She has to--

Hanyuu will sit down with the familiar YES or NO paper, a little later in the day. She kneels on the ground, with that and a bowl of rice.]

Kageshirou, can we speak?

[trustwellness]

[There is a bit of a pause before any response comes; Kageshirou is going through the regular motions of seeming rather disinterested in anything that's going on, but after a while an answer comes - it's familiar with this game by now.

YES.]

[oyashiromama]

[...]

Did you eliminate our friends' souls?

[trustwellness]

[Neither yes nor no.]

[oyashiromama]

...Did something eliminate our friends' souls?

[trustwellness]

[Again, neither yes nor no.]

[oyashiromama]

[Her hands curl to fists in her lap.]

Is this something you know the answer to?

[trustwellness]

[YES.

...Kageshirou does not have much personality, looks like, but apparently it is entirely capable of being an asshole.]

[feistytrader]

[It's never really good to wake up to the Wordsmith's voice, but Silver doesn't bolt to the damn foyer until he hears the word independent. And when he does, he's just in time to watch them disappear. Not that he could have done anything about it if he was there. Not that he can do anything about it now.

There are plenty of thoughts and emotions going through his head. Instead, he occupies his hands with keeping Mugetsu- Watanuki's pipe fox friend that he left with him last night, why didn't he think anything of that, what's wrong with him- from heading over to Kageshirou and simply turns around and leaves entirely too calmly for what just happened.]

[elepe]

[Lusamine's awoken by the sudden talking from the Wordsmith. She's usually pretty timely in terms of being awake, but it's startling--she's all too used to what these days bring, and she's somehow wondering how she slept.

...When she hears the titles in question though, uh. Needless to say she's out of there and running to the foyer--just to see everything take place.

...She has no intention of running up to that creature and stopping everything, but she watches everything happen--perhaps it's crueler that it waited for Watanuki and apparently Bruce wake up before consuming them, but it's not out of interest she watches. It's out of anger. When it's finished, Lusamine speaks up.]

...Wretched man. How do we know you simply did not kill them for your twisted pleasure? It's not as if they knew where you were.

[She says that without expecting a response, before just...walking away. What a way to have a Friday go.]

[firstaid]

[Estelle's never really spoken/interacted with the shadow creature before. Well... she's just going to stare at it while sitting on the floor in the foyer. She has an iron nicking sword with her and is really tempted to just... poke it. But it may not be a good idea.]

Um... hello?

[She's not sure what else to say.]

[trustwellness]

[...There is so much rippling being done on this floor, but eventually it'll kind of creep a little closer. Not like it's trying to eat her or anything, but...hi, Estelle.]

[firstaid]

[She notices it creeping closer and her automatic response is to scoot back juuuust a little. She grabs her 'sword' by the blade and decides to try to poke the creature with the hilt of the sword.]

I... I'm Estellise. Um... you have our friends, don't you?

[trustwellness]

[Well, it...is actually likewise scooting back a bit from being poked, because apparently that's just going to be what our day looks like today.

It doesn't speak or anything, but still.]

[firstaid]

[How odd...

She feels like she should feel fear right now (yet maybe fear is something that she's felt so much she's dumb to it) yet it's backing away from her like it's afraid of her. So she'll put down her sword, and like the naive princess she really is, despite seeing people eaten by their shadow friend, will hold her hand out in an attempt to touch it.

...because that will totally end well.]

[trustwellness]

[It'll actually move away from that, too, albeit in a bit of a vaguely haphazard manner that seems more slow and confused than anything.]

[firstaid]

[This is... really weird! For something that always attacks their friends at trials, it seems afraid of her? Or confused? She's not sure.

So now out of naive curiosity, she's going to try to inch forward some more to try to touch it.]

Are you afraid of me?

[trustwellness]

[It kind of shifts over to the side a bit, but it doesn't keep drawing back, at least.

...What are you going to do, exactly, just like. Stick your hand in there or try to pet it or what are we doing.]

[matchbreaker]

[ Elda actually didn't get up in the morning - or well, she did, but then did some morning ritual stuff and just went back to sleep. And then she got the ping from the Wordsmith and she was just like really? REALLY. She stands, and then shuffling her way towards the foyer...

Well.

She sees all of that shit? That's some kind of shit.

Elda... Decides to sit down with the shadow and the yes or no like other people have, but she can't hold back her glare. She's been left with a lot of questions, and really, this thing can't even answer them all (Rule 5, what?) ]

Hey, you wanna talk?

[trustwellness]

[For a good moment it doesn't really do anything; it just kind of ripples on the ground like it's got something better to do before eventually deigning to actually answer the question.

YES, though for all the pausing you can practically sense the I GUESS??]

[matchbreaker]

[ Good enough. ]

So are you Wordsmith?

[trustwellness]

[NO.]

[matchbreaker]

So what, did those guys attack you? And that somehow counts for Rule 5?

[trustwellness]

[NO.]