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! ))

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SUNDAY

[arsholes]

MONDAY

[arsholes]

[Along with the morning Fantasy Costco deliveries this morning is a gilded invitation on heavy cardstock that reads:

"Dinner tonight will be a traditional Asgardian feast in the memory of all who have passed before courtesy of L. Odinson. (Brought to you by your local branch of Fantasy Costco)."

Any apprentice who comes to the Great Hall at dinner time will be treated to a lavish feast featuring strange fruits, warm breads, fancy cheeses, strong alcohol, and (of course) every kind of meat imaginable laid out on one of the long tables. Garfield is here to chaperone, munching on fancy cheese and directing Unseen Servants while they make the rounds refilling glasses and fetching food from anywhere on the table upon request. Loki did have a lot of gold to burn there at the end and liked you nerds enough to spend it all on you.]

TUESDAY

[arsholes]

WEDNESDAY

[arsholes]

[Your collective nightmare for Wednesday is CW: Electrocution, CW: Panic: Panic freezes your lungs, grips your chest. You're on your stomach in the pit, your chest, mouth, and nose burning, and blood running hot down your lip.

You scramble to your feet and begin to run, for the exit that's just maybe 20 feet in front of you. You smell the burnt smell of ozone as the air around you shifts and charges, and then blinding, burning pain hits you between the shoulder blades, electricity coursing through your whole body as you stagger, and fall, your vision going immediately black.

And then you wake with a gasp, safe in your bed.]

THURSDAY

[arsholes]

[Your collective nightmare on Thursday night is CW: vomiting blood, CW: impalement: Once again, you are lying at the bottom of the pit. Your fingers curl into fists, and as your muscles stop spasming and come back under your control, you manage to push yourself up, through the pain and the freefall-feeling of the lightning that's supercharged your body.

You begin to move forward. Toward the door. Toward freedom. Toward escape. You reach out, your fingertips inches from the handle.

There's a metallic click. And then nothing but blinding pain, as an iron spike lurches out of the ground and through your stomach. Your head lolls forward as blood sprays from your mouth, and you watch helplessly, your feet dangling off of the ground, as the stone floor of the pit greedily soaks up the offering of your blood.

You lift your head and reach for the door again, straining against the spike through you. Another burst of pain, hot then freezing cold, as another, thinner spike pierces through your thigh. Your hands are shaking now, your vision beginning to go blurry and dark. It hurts so bad, that you almost don't feel the third spike pierce you through the heart. Almost.

And then your vision goes black, once again, and once again you wake up whole in your bed.]

MOTIVE: You Are What You Fear

[thealchemist]

[Nobody sleeps well, Monday night. The nightmares are all different, and all easily attributed to stress. After all, you've been stuck here for seven weeks, now. It's a wonder anyone is still sleeping.

Still, nightmares based on your worst fears or phobias, easily explained as they may be, are nothing to scoff at.

Even Heisenberg sounds affected, when his voice rings out throughout the tower.]

Good- [he yawns loudly, and the sound fades as if he's holding his receiver away from his mouth while he does so.] Good morning, apprentices. You know the drill. I've got a little incentive waiting for you in the Great Hall, so meet me there.

[Anyone who does come to the Great Hall will find him waiting, lying on his back across a table and tossing a small glass orb, about the size of a fist, up into the air over his head. Next to him, there are ten more glass balls identical to the one in his hands, lined up in three rows of three, with the one extra sitting in the center of a row by itself.]

Ever seen a real crystal ball before? Crazy old women use them, they say, to tell the future. Usually what they're doing, is copying down your credit card number from the reflection. But these?

[He catches the ball that he's been idly tossing and sits up, then holds it up between his thumb and forefinger. The light catches like smoke inside of the glass orb, too small to make out details.]

These don't tell the future. They see the present. They see the heart of you, and what you fear most.

[He looks around, sizing up the apprentices one by one, before he tosses the ball in his hands to Orthrus. Then gestures for everyone else to come up and get one as well.]

I'm not saying what you see in that crystal ball is going to happen, if nobody follows through on rule 4. Far be it from me to pretend to have the gift of prophecy. But...

[As the apprentices take their orbs, he looks at the dwindling supply, and at some point, the fact that there's an extra hits him, making him go a little pale.

His brow furrows as he reaches out, takes the extra, and rolls it between his palms, fidgeting with it without looking into it.]

...Chances are pretty low you're gonna get struck by lightning, too. [He taps his temple.] But never zero.

[And before anyone can ask about the extra crystal ball, he disappears with it, leaving the apprentices to ponder their orbs.]

((OOC: Welcome to a nightmares motive, and goodbye to sleep! As with the hallucinations a couple of weeks ago, this one has a psychic aspect aside from just what's in the balls (not pee). The nightmares that you choose can be as serious or as silly as you want! If you want to focus on a fear of spiders, or holes, instead of fear of becoming your parents, or dying alone, then by all means.

But each night, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, there will be a collective nightmare as well.

Tuesday's nightmare is [CW: Suffocation]: You're not yourself, but you don't know who you are. You are inside of the pit, which is barren, aside from a door in front of you with a glowing exit sign. As you begin to run for the door, poison gas pours in and you begin to choke on it as it completely obscures your vision. Finally, your vision begins to go dark, and you collapse, and then wake up.))

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

[When the new floor opens, Mei wanders the solarium in awe. She takes note of the plants, but the main attraction seems to be that big carnivorous one. Thankfully, we're talking the girl who loves meat. She tosses a few sticks of beef jerky into its "mouth" and claps excitedly.]

There you go! Who's a good plant? You are!

[The planetarium seems to catch her attention for longer; she gazes at the stars a little, thinks, and starts to play with the dial. At first, she's putting in random dates and numbers to see what it'll do. But eventually, she sets it to July 27th, 1885 and stays there for a while.

Still, Bruno left her in charge of the animals, and she needs to be a responsible petsitter. So you'll find her later out in the garden taking Chiffon for a walk and putting back the grass every time he digs up the lawn, or in the Great Hall giving the rats a salad while she eats curry rice. She'll occasionally look off at nothing and sigh.]

[arsholes]

[The plant, a vibrant red and green monstrosity, snaps it's "jaws" eagerly to snarf down the jerky. It's not sentient enough to talk but it seems pleased to get a tasty meat treat!

Meanwhile, in the Great Hall, there's a package waiting for Mei. One she definitely did not order.]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

[Good plant. Always good to make new friends.

She will end up going to the Great Hall! And... very cautiously opening this. Maybe taking it to the entrance hall first for ease of sweeping in case it's sand again, unless it's too heavy.]

[arsholes]

[Out of the box pops ten rats! Mei might not be able to tell them apart but they certainly recognize her. It's also notably that they're each wearing very thin and tiny collars with their names on them: Rosa, Oscar, ect.

With them is a note, written in Garfield's handwriting, attached to a small sachet of peanuts:

Found these guys and thought you might want them back. Easier to ship rats than a dog so no charge this time. - xoxo Garfield ]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

There you are!

[She crouches and pets them all before handing out the nuts.]

He even labelled you all, that's so cute! Where have you been?

[arsholes]

[Sadly, they are rats so all they know is they're in a box, they have peanuts for snacking and they don't know where Bruno is. :(]

solarium;

[replacementshield]

[ Felix steps into...

... ]

...That's a big plant.

[ Good job stating the obvious. He is just going to keep watch and ensure he's closer so that she remains safe, because wow. ]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Right? I've never seen one that big! I thought carnivorous plants just ate bugs. We'll have to give it chunks of beef or something.

[replacementshield]

I've never even seen a carnivorous plant before in my life.

[ And he is extremely wary of it. Just because of how big it is. ]

I'd think the plant would be fed enough by the Patron or Heisenberg since it's being kept here, so we don't really have to give it anything.

solarium

[encelevenemus]

...Gods above, is that some kind of malboro?

[just what we fucking need]

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Oh, you know what this plant is? I didn't know carnivorous plants got this big!

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

You think so? But it's so hungry, just look at it!

[encelevenemus]

Ah...no, on a second look, I do not think it is the same. Such plantlife is not wholly uncommon on Eos, however. Most far larger than that.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Really? Bigger than that? The ones on Earth just eat bugs!

[encelevenemus]

Indeed. Malboro and their ilk are oft found in rarely-traveled swampland, but they can grow to colossal size with a mouth large enough to swallow a young garula if they should wish to.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

Um... how big is a garula, exactly? We don't have those either.

[encelevenemus]

Ah...hm. [That seemed to confound him somewhat, like she had just asked him to explain an extremely basic thing.]

They are large herbivores; younger ones can be the size of a horse, but greater in weight and density.

[ghostsguysgyuudon]

And it could eat one of those?! How does something that big live in your world?

[encelevenemus]

...Easily enough? Malboros are far from the largest or most dangerous wildlife; they're quite slow, for one thing. So long as one does not stray into the swamplands they call territory, it is simple to avoid such dangers.