week 7

[arsholes]

[On Sunday morning, there is a small gift waiting for the early risers in the tower: a gold key, dangling from a length of twine tied to the wooden beam across the ceiling at the cross section of the four dorms. Upon further inspection it has a particular symbol on the back half and a note that reads "Good job. Here's your reward". The note is signed Heisenberg. The key goes to seventh floor, where there is the same symbol etched above the keyhole on the lock.

Another new floor, another pair of deaths and their numbers halved in a matter of weeks. Things can't go on like this much longer.]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

✨WEEKLY DEALS✨
1. Random Record Shuffle* - A funky fresh record you can play in a record player! The only catch is Garfield gets to pick the artist. *Repeat customers now welcome [1 coin]
2. Pondering Orb - A large red-tinted orb. Good for pondering in your deep dark lair. [2 coins]
3. Dis Bear - A human-sized plush bear in fun monochrome colors! Good thing the doorways here are pretty big. [3 coins]



✨LEFTOVER STOCK AT 50% MARK-UP ON SALE✨

1. Moon God Mask - A very large moon mask that covers your entire head. It kind of makes you want to either get a hamburger or form a cult. [1 coin]




(( OOC: Don't forget to submit your orders for any threads that aren't with Heisenberg or Garfield! And don't forget activity check! ))

Comments

[encelevenemus]

[Most of the day, Somnus spent outside, practicing as he often did. Phantom blades of azure light manifested from the air, aimed at the unfortunate tree that served as his target. At no more than a gesture with one hand were they driven into the tree with a force powered by frustration and anger—none of which showed on his ever-steady expression.]

[Calm and calculated, no matter what he felt. No matter how much he wanted to forget the entire week prior had even happened. No matter how much he felt strangely as though he had been here before, left to pick up pieces freshly re-broken.]

[Gods damn you, Loki. You utter fool.]

[…Perhaps begrudgingly, he did make an appearance at dinner: staring blankly into a glass of wine, Zephyrus perched on the back of a chair beside him with a piece of meat held in his talons.]

[Had there been such an occasion when the first Oracle died in what came to be called a tragic accident? He couldn’t remember anymore. Gods, he hoped so.]

[…Somnus wasn’t fully sure of the exact funeral rites in the modern era. He barely remembered what they had been in his own time. We give this soul to the Glacian’s mercy, that Her embrace may…something. Shiva was not exactly Lucis’ patron, but death was as cold and as natural as the turning of seasons from autumn to winter. As unforgiving and unfeeling as stone and steel.]

[This was well known, and yet… Astrals, he was so tired of this.]

outside

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

[It's hard to miss Mei from her yard sale outside the building, what with the badgermole she's currently petting and the rats all over her. She hesitates before politely waving at Somnus.]

You're practising? Do you need any help?

[encelevenemus]

No--it is merely target practice, nothing more. Take care you stay behind me.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Ah -- okay! Right!

[She bows and watches cautiously, letting the animal posse gather behind her.]

I guess you're too strong to use the archery targets, huh...

[encelevenemus]

I prefer the open air to the training hall, personally. There is more space and therefore less chance of accidents.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

I guess you have a point. I haven't tried archery yet. Swords, magic, and alchemy symbols are already making my head spin trying to learn.

[encelevenemus]

I would not call myself proficient with bow and arrow, though I could use one were it particularly necessary. It is not something I was taught at great length.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Really? I thought it was one of those things they'd always teach rich people to show off how much they knew. I guess I never actually asked any if that was true, though.

[encelevenemus]

...I'm sorry, what?

[?????????]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

You know, archery classes and things like that. Hunting, too. Felix-san said he did it, but then, he also said everyone where he's from hunts anyway.

[encelevenemus]

You...do realize hunting and combat training is not necessarily a matter of leisure, right?

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Of course I do! I just also thought people like kings did it for fun. Sorry...

[encelevenemus]

In times of peace, certainly. For most in my experience it is simply a matter of survival.

outside;

[replacementshield]

[ Felix emerges outside, catching sight of Somnus pummeling the tree. Though the other man does not show any such frustration, it does keenly remind him of when Katsuya had been doing more or less the very same. So, he goes with his intuition. ]

Hmph. It doesn't look like you're partaking in a simple practice session.

[encelevenemus]

It is just target practice.

[Another flew past his shoulder and slammed into the tree with enough force to shake a few leaves loose.]

Nothing more.

[replacementshield]

[ Stubborn, he supposes. He gets that, and so he decides to go for a different tactic. ]

How long until you're satisfied, then? The tree doesn't appear well off enough to suggest you have been at this for a short amount of time.

[encelevenemus]

[The phantom blades vanished from the trunk, leaving no trace but the deep gouges they cut.]

Is there something you seek to accomplish in these questions, Duke Fraldarius?

[replacementshield]

There is.

[ Felix lifts his chin. ]

We've been at this for almost several weeks now, and I'm not so much a fool to assume that there is a single one among us who has not been affected.

[encelevenemus]

It would indeed be optimistic to the point of stupidity to assume otherwise. What of it?

[replacementshield]

Talking about what happened with someone isn't always a terrible idea.

[ It doesn't even have to be him, is the implication, because he sucks at it. ]

I haven't forgotten what you said at that trial to Loki, so I wouldn't be surprised if his death is bothering you.

[encelevenemus]

What, then, would you have me say? What would it matter if I said anything further at all?

[replacementshield]

I'm not going to hold my breath and say it's a cureall or that it'll change anything.

But, sometimes throwing a blade around isn't enough. [ ... ] I'm also not going to tell you what exactly to say. That's up to you.

[encelevenemus]

...Fine.

[That came out a little sharper than usual, another blade forming and slamming into the tree before vanishing without a trace.]

I have never, not a single time in my life, allowed my decisions to be ruled by emotion. And yet I doubted the blatant and obvious truth before my eyes, not because it was too simple but because I did not wish to believe it. In accusing Katsuya, my childish stupidity nearly killed every last one of you. And I am left here infuriated with myself for coming so close to failing.

[replacementshield]

Hmph. I see.

So you're infuriated you deluded yourself.

[ A costly mistake here, though it is not the first time anyone has done so. ]

A rightful reason to judge yourself as sorely lacking, as you were at the time. But, even you don't have a heart of stone, Somnus. And you still looked for answers despite how wrong you were. If not for that even I would have lost confidence in your actions.

But, do you still have any in your own after any of that?

[encelevenemus]

Yes, I do. Or I did before this Astrals-forsaken place and those in control of it managed to make me something other than what I need to be.

[The Lucii were cold, immediate judgement. Unflinching, unquestioning, devoid of emotion or anything but objective black and white fact.]

[The Mystic would have damned Loki on the spot without hesitation and felt nothing. Somnus, however, was becoming a different story and despising every second of it.]

…I do not know. I am not as certain of anything as I should be. As I need to be.