week four | mingle

[showhost]

Welcome to your fourth and final week, teens!

There aren’t many changes around the house today: it seems everyone is dialed in on what needs to be done and the upcoming week. Everything that was on the fritz last week is now back to normal, aside from the Dress Up Your Blorbo curse. You can still do that at will.

Anyway, it's fine that all seems quiet.

There’s plenty going on anyway this week.

Dates | Embrace Space | Property Damage, etc | CR Event | A Thing
Truth Booth Voting | Match Ceremony Submissions

Comments

[singurarity]

I. SEKAI

[ You'll find yourself... elsewhere. There's literally nothing here, beyond that lovely sky, this expanse of Nothing that stretches out for miles. Except maybe there's a golden light, glowing off in the distance. You can't get to it, though. You'll encounter a wall of solid air that won't let you proceed, once you get close enough.

That's okay, though. There's a little more to see, including a little area where adorably stitched plushies and toy are seated neatly in rows. A ponytailed doctor, a brightly dressed woman vaguely resembling the Mona Lisa, a wolf in a cap, a little blonde girl in a simple dress, a little lego village, another little girl with a dog, a pair of brunette twins holding hands, a pigtailed blonde girl holding a staff. Picking one up will unlock a memory, but once you do, no other memories will unlock.

And then there's Ritsuka, just kind of tiredly gazing at them. ]

II. THE KISSENING

[ Well, Ritsuka did say she was here to help! And help she will, though with the addendum of: ]

Look, I'll help out, but there are a few kisses that are off-limits.

[ Unless you're Lessing, in which he and specifically he is getting a lifted eyebrow and-- ]

Okay, so which one do you want to help me with?

[ LET'S GET DOWN TO BUSINESS. ]

II.

[willandaway]

[holding up his card!]

I'm limited, too. [because he is a LOYAL MAN] But I think some of these are okay.

[singurarity]

I think so too--I already checked with Lessing on the ones to avoid, just in case. Want to try some of the safe ones, then?

[ The loyal homies do be loyalin'. ]

[willandaway]

[erry day I'm loyalin']

One of mine is a "kiss on the hand." That's simple enough, right?

[and he extends one gloved hand towards her c:]

[singurarity]

... Does the glove have to come off?

[ Does it count? ]

II

[hgeegh]

[His cheeks pinken at her forward approach.]

O-oh, yeah? Which ones are those?

[singurarity]

Anything involving mouth-to-mouth isn't gonna fly. Or... well, I could do a cheek kiss or a hand kiss...

[hgeegh]

[His body shudders at the mention of mouth-to-mouth. Imagine . . . a mouth-to-mouth kiss with Ritsuka! But, no, they're not here for that. He needs to get it together.]

Then how about another kiss on the hand? Like the one I gave you before.

[singurarity]

What should I give you, then?

i

[makeine]

[ oh, they're all so cute... anna peers at the dolls once she's found them and ritsuka, tilting her head at some more than others, before she turns her head up to the other girl to ask a question of most import--

thankfully not about her lovelife. ]

Are these your gods and goddesses? They don't look very impressive.

[singurarity]

No, these are some of the people who died.

[ Simply. ]

But Da Vinci would still call herself beautiful, even if she wasn't divine. She would have liked you.

[makeine]

[ oh. ]

I probably would've liked her too then. Sounds like my kinda friend.

[ ...

like the painter...? nah. anna'll point at the dolls. ]

Which one's your favorite?

[singurarity]

[ Yeah-- ]

I don't have one. [ Well, she probably expected that. ]

I think these are just the ones I've dreamed of the most.

I

[newlugers]

[ at first, Steve thinks he's finally died for real and has gone to an afterlife that isn't a reality TV show. It's enough to make his stomach drop into his feet - at least until he spots Ritsuka and her row of plushies. ]

Ritsuka! [ running over. ] Boy, am I glad to see you. I thought this was -- uh... nevermind. Where is this, anyway?

[ glancing around. ]

[singurarity]

... So you know what I said about my world getting bleached, right?

[ Hi, Steve. ]

[newlugers]

Yeah...

[ the movement of his head slows, drawing back to Ritsuka. ]

So then, this is...? I didn't think you meant it literally.

I

[rosethorns]

[She can’t quite decide if it all feels peaceful or unsettling, this blank expanse of nothing. Getting lost in it feels like it might be a pretty easy risk, if she had ended up here alone.

Ritsuka isn’t on edge at least, which makes it easier to join her in directing her attention to the dolls without worry. She leans in to get a closer look at one, the little wolf.]

They’re all so cute…

[singurarity]

[ As Dorothea leans closer, she'll feel a little brush of an icy wind against her cheek, though the weather (or lack thereof) hasn't changed around them. The wolf plushie continues to sit there in its adorable cap and jacket and lil button eyes. D'aww.

Ritsuka smiles, quietly. ]

Right?

[rosethorns]

[That touch of cool wind gives her pause, and she straightens up, glancing over the laid out collection for a moment longer before turning for another glimpse of Ritsuka over her shoulder. Her expression is soft, sympathy plain in the way her brows knit together.]

They must be important to you.

[A statement, but maybe a little bit of a question as well. Just how important?]

i

[titlecard]

[ Mark looks around, captivated by the... well, nothing. Not that he thought she'd been, but Ritsuka really hadn't been exaggerating when she'd told him that the planet had been straight up bleached, huh.

He sees the toys, but he's more interested in the lack of world around her. In Ritsuka, herself. ]

So this is what it's like, huh...

[ For a world to just... not be, apparently. ]

[singurarity]

Yeah. [ She doesn't seem surprised at all to see Mark there. Anyone, really. She's just grateful that she'd said something in time, before this had revealed itself. Explaining it now would have been ten times worse. ]

The only thing you could really see were the Lostbelts. Otherwise, it just looked like this.

[titlecard]

[ He's kind of past keeping things secret at this point — does it even matter here? — so Mark pushes off from the ground, lifting himself towards the sky to get a better look. Just flying there, silently, slowly spinning around in a circle to take in all of the nothing that there truly is here.

He'll lower himself so they can still speak at a normal level, even if he doesn't exactly feel like touching back down to the ground quite yet. He's just... kind of tired, looking at all of this. ]

I get it. Why you're doing what you are. Pretty sure I would too, if I was in your shoes.

[ It isn't a plea to let him help her, just a kind of silent resignation. She's going to do what she has to do. He gets that much. ]

i

[warhawks]

[ Hearing about it is one thing, but actually seeing it for herself... Asa blinks at the sheer emptiness of the expanse in front of her. Two things keep her from freaking out: a. weird shit has been happening for a while now, and b. after a few minutes of walking, she stumbles across Ritsuka, looking as tired as Asa already feels.

She stands beside the other girl, looking over at the toys with a frown. ]

Yeah, this place really sucks. But you probably already knew that.

[singurarity]

I did. [ Simply. ]

But it's been on my mind nonstop, so I'm not too surprised to see it again.

[warhawks]

Yeah, I get why.

[ Especially since in a week, she'll be back to... whatever this is. To destroying other worlds to preserve whatever is left of this one. ]

... Just so you know, this isn't me judging you or anything. It's not like my world's a great place either. [ She sighs. ] But is this really worth saving? Because if I were in your shoes... I think I would have stopped trying a long time ago.