WEEK 2

[umbralant]

WEEK 2

monday

tuesday

wednesday

thursday

The first week is over, and two of your number are gone. Everything related to the case has been cleaned up, with nary a knife left at the Main Square nor a trace of the mud shapes that once painted the clock tower walls, although some stray graffiti still dots some storefronts.

However you may feel about the entire debacle on Friday, there’s no doubt that something has changed about the atmosphere, although whether it’s something tangible or just a trick of the mind is hard to say. Maybe it’s nothing. Either way, there are more palpable changes to the city, with some of the fog retreating away from a few of the surrounding areas, uncovering new buildings and streets along the way. The night, however, remains unchanged as always save for the slow waxing of the moon, leaving it bright and full as early as Thursday night. Regardless of if you take it as an omen or not, at least that means the streets will be lit up fairly well for the week, provided some inconvenient cloud cover doesn’t slide right in.

[[Welcome to Week 2! Note that new areas have been added, and can be found under the Week 2 tab on our Locations page. Once again, feel free to make top levels at your discretion, and remember to note it in your header if you plan on investigating any locations. You can also privately contact The Lady or Rembrandt.]]

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[bawcock]

[ Ever since he first encountered the lock in the post office, he's been kind of fascinated with it. What's with the keypad? What's with the metal door? Why's the damn thing so hard to bust into?

He's passively tried a few combinations since then (and reached peak amateur sleuth when he tried a makeshift fingerprint kit—bupkis there, by the way. And also a lot of time spent taking apart pencils) but with so many possibilities, it'd take an absolute miracle to actually unlock it that way. The only miracle he really believes in is the Luminary and since that gets him nowhere here, over the past week Erik's started poking around the building during the middle of the night trying, uh... different methods.

Will today pay off?? Will he just look like a silly fool? Who knows, but come Monday afternoon Erik can be found in the post office eying the mail chute.

If you're lucky, you'll see him actually crawling into it. Breaking and entering? Yes please!

Later in the day (after he either fails or succeeds), Erik can be found frowning at the books in the bookstore. There's not a lot to do here besides to try desperately breaking into locked areas, so a book wouldn't be the worst.

But he's not much of a reader and the look on his face makes it pretty obvious. After he gets over his apparent aversion, he moseys over to the area with the slimmest looking books and plucks one up to read. It's probably a children's book, fyi.

When he gives up on the books, he goes for the art studio. He'd going for Cultured today, clearly. If you ignore the whole mail thing, that wasn't cultured that was silly. He takes a particular interest in the kiln and actually goes and sticks his head into it. ]

Do you think this still works? Wonder what kind of stuff you could make in a forge this big. [ It isn't really a forge but whatever. ]

[umbralant]

[ Mail chutes were made to deliver disappointing Christmas gifts, not overzealous thieves Erik. So the fit is tight, really tight, but with the right amount of wiggling and fearless determination, he's able to start to make his way into the chute. It's a comical sight for anyone watching, but for Erik it's likely something else entirely.

When he's halfway through the chute he'll spot a pair of bright blue eyes, oval shaped and slitted. Unlike the "audience" at the opera house, there's only one. Also unlike the audience at the opera house, it's accompanied by rather loud hissing.

Hm. ]

[bawcock]

[ What are you talking about, you're the ones who left an entrance unprotect—

Oh crap.

There's no way he wants to just give up now! Should he hiss back? No, that's stupid. He stares at the eyes like a deer in headlights before trying the Direct Approach. ]

... Hey, you. [ You, uh, thing. Nice chute you have here??? Can't wait for this to turn out to be a cat. ] I don't suppose you'd mind getting out of my way, would you?

[umbralant]

[ In another universe, Erik hissed back and him and Blue Eyes became friends. Together they were able to defeat the masterminds and save the day! Except this isn't a fairy tale nor a pet simulator.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Blue Eyes does mind getting out the way. This is it's home, and defending your house from invaders is pretty important. The eyes close once, then blink open again, just several inches from Erik's face. From this close he can catch a shimmer of scales and the glint of fangs off the blue from its eyes. ]

[bawcock]

[ Ohhh crap, this thing is really close now!! He's starting to sweat. The best option really is to back out but also, he almost feels like he can make out what this is.

Come on, man, get it together!

Is there any chance he can reach out and grab it or is there not enough room? ]

[umbralant]

[ He absolutely can reach to grab the creature; points for bravery in the face of danger and pursuit of the unknown. And what he gets (besides maybe a sense of regret) is a mouth full of teeth clamping down on his arm. The sensation isn't what you would expect, not the piercing pain of fangs puncturing skin and flesh, but the white hot sensation of a roaring fire. The longer the creature holds on, the longer it spreads. ]

post office

[raventhaw]

[ ........look. she just came here to see if she had any presents from the lady. she did not expect to see a man's ass sticking out of the mail chute. ]

What are you doing?

[bawcock]

[ There's a joke in there that shouldn't be made.

Also, when he hears her, he pulls his head out of the chute. ] Trying to see what's at the end of this thing. Aren't you curious?

[raventhaw]

No.

[ .......actually, yes. ]

But go back to looking if you so please.

[bawcock]

[ Wow, that's such a great invitation. He's gonna hop on it right now.

Not. ]

What are you gonna do if I do?

[raventhaw]

Take notes, if you happen to find anything.

[ she pulls out her notebook and the pen clipped onto it from her belt. her free hand goes on her hip, leaning to one side, tilting her head slightly. ]

Don't sound so defensive. I have no reason to attack you, if that's what you're concerned about.

bookstore;

[reanbeans]

Haha, you look a little lost over there. Didn't find a book you like yet?

[ He saw him looking at the book like it was not exactly the greatest thing in the universe, so. ]

[bawcock]

Yeah, not that there's many that fit that description.

[ Look at him, he's not the bookish type. He shoves the book he's currently looking at back on the shelf since it hasn't caught is eye. ] How about you? Find anything worthwhile here?

[reanbeans]

Well, there's some nice fantasy novels, if that's what you mean.

[ Rean did enjoy some of the books here because they could all read Polish for whatever reason. ]

[bawcock]

Never read one of those before.

[ But again, not much of a reader. ] Are those the ones you'd recommend?

[reanbeans]

Yeah. Those can go really well with some sci-fi...but I think it'd be good for you to start out with fantasy first.

There's a lot of stories about adventurers that I'm sure could catch your interest.

[ Could because it's still an if, but he's had a good time with some of them. ]

post office / bookstore

[p_q]

[Honestly, Ulquiorra probably walked in just in time to see some blue numbskull vanishing into the mail chute?? It's enough, probably, to recognize the guy who's been turning circles around the post office since the first week -- it's not unexpected for people to start claiming territory, or just to start getting attached to locations.

Living creatures are weird like that.

But it looks like there is in fact some sort of territorial expansion going on, so he simply waits a few moments to see if any screaming happens before... turning around and walking off. He ain't got all day to see if somebody dies of their own stupidity even if this is just a prequel for More Death Later. It's almost a little disappointing to find Erik more-or-less in one piece raiding the bookstore later.]

... It doesn't seem as though that little escapade earlier was of much use.

[He can judge his reading material later. One judgment at a time here.]

[bawcock]

[ Thanks Ulquiorra, such a pal. First you "help" in the post office and now you withhold judging his interest in the Ugly Duckling.

Also, he had no idea Ulquiorra was there so he's surprised for a second before half-turning to face him. ]

Huh? [ Oh. ] Wait, you saw that?

[p_q]

[Well, he didn't rat you out (not that he would bother even if he were on better terms with the management; it's much more useful to let these sorts experiment with themselves), and he didn't close or mess with the mail chute, so honestly. That counts as helping. Be grateful.

And honestly he doesn't have much interest in the literature in the first place, please also see: his entirely uninspired reaction to the art studio. Too bad.]

Did you think you were being discreet?

[bawcock]

[ Oh wow, that changes everything! How blessed is he. He's very (not) grateful for your (not) help, Ulquiorra! ]

Well... no, not exactly. But I didn't hear that many people walk right by me either.

[p_q]

[Since he has no interest in whatever expressions are crossing Erik's face, Ulquiorra is totally taking this hypothetical gratitude at face-value. That is to say, absolutely nothing has changed other than his judgment continuing to make itself felt. How's the ol' blue-eyes wrangling? Any visible markings from the escapade?]

Hm. I'll wager you were paying more attention to whatever it was you were digging for, and much less attention to what was behind you.

[Great way to get ambushed, sure, which is another reason he should be grateful?? Obviously.]

bookstore

[galrarm]

[ Shiro usually spends his time here, so... he glances over at Erik. ]

Find anything interesting?

i wanted to use this somewhere

[bawcock]

Not unless you think "Male Delivery" sounds like a real page-turner.

[ He sure doesn't think so. ]

god fucking bless

[galrarm]

[ ..... ]

I'm sure it would be for someone.

[bawcock]

Couriers, maybe. But even they might get more than they bargained for.

[ 'cause honestly with a title like that, it can only go one way?? He's not sure how he went from Ugly Duckling to This but he sure did. Rembrandt, fix your system thx. ]