WEEK 1

[strangerpeople]

WEEK 1

[You now know why you're here, Titled. The question now is, is there a way to get out of here without invoking the rules? What will those who brought you here do to get you to kill?

Time will tell.

There are fifteen strangers in this place.]

Comments

Mosaic

[byanyother_name]

I take it you think there's something odd about this area, as well.

[If she's looked at it, his profile says he is Shuuichi Minamino. He seems friendly enough, and fairly calm despite their situation. He offers her a small, pleasant smile as he approaches her.]

I've wondered, when everything else is so thorough, why this space is unfinished.

[incrediblystressedout]

[She's looked at his profile and is now internally cursing the lack of a gender indicator on it when she hears his voice. Wow, that's a pretty man.]

Um. Yeah. The whole place kinda looks like it was redone recently, I think? Maybe this was the last thing they were working on.

[byanyother_name]

[Unfair! 'Being mistaken for a girl' is listed in the dislikes. Though that might not be the first place anyone looks for a gender indicator.]

It does. Many things seem new. That this was the last thing they worked on makes sense, but why leave it like this until our arrival? It seems suspicious.

[incrediblystressedout]

Well, I'm used to artwork just kinda being piled haphazardly around the place, but that's probably just me. And like, statues, not big installation art like this thing, either. Maybe they ran out of money?

Pfffffft. Nice motive reference.

[byanyother_name]

Perhaps. It strikes me as slightly mundane for such an outré situation, however. Almost pedestrian. "We're sorry, but the scene of your murder is incomplete due to lack of funds."

[He is definitely making fun, but it's of their situation, not her. He might be a little too used to this kind of thing...]

[incrediblystressedout]

Hm. Well, if they left it unfinished on purpose, maybe that does mean something...

[She's beginning to see the reasoning in the next thread down, just a little.]

[byanyother_name]

That's what I've been considering. Or whether there might be some other reason relevant to what is happening here for it to be in this state.

[That's how mysteries go, right? And she knows where to find Kurama if she wants his input. Though booze isn't his specialty.]

[incrediblystressedout]

This whole place is either abandoned or somehow populated by invisible people, so I'm gonna say abandoned.

[Please let her have this.]

Maybe whoever's keeping it here took it over suddenly?

[byanyother_name]

I'm inclined to say abandoned as well. Invisible people aren't generally incorporeal, as well, and no one has bumped into thin air.

[He is here to calm people down, not freak them out more. She can totally have this.]

That's certainly a possibility. In that case, there may be signs of who was here before.

[incrediblystressedout]

They were running a pretty upscale mall, if nothing else. Some of these stores are pretty high-end, and this is a lot of art for a business place.

[byanyother_name]

That's very true. Presumably it's in what was originally a good neighborhood. It's very clean, as well. Well-maintained outside of this supposed construction area.

[incrediblystressedout]

And honestly the construction makes sense if they were making enough money to add stuff like this, but then whatever happened here stopped them in the middle of it...

[byanyother_name]

That is a possibility. Though our captors have clearly already made adjustments to the mall. Why not do something about this?

Perhaps I'm simply paranoid, but in a situation like the one we're in, anomalies itch at me.

[incrediblystressedout]

Finding stuff that's out of place is kinda the basis of puzzle-solving. And scary as this stuff is, it's really kind of a big puzzle, when you think about it.

[byanyother_name]

It is. I like puzzles but I have to say I prefer them without the risk of death.

[That's not what he gets nine times out of ten, but he'd prefer it.]

[incrediblystressedout]

Wow, you too? That's exactly what I've been thinking for the last week. We should write a 'zine.

[byanyother_name]

One about puzzles or about avoiding the risk of death? [His tone is light and joking, eyes amused.]

[incrediblystressedout]

"Puzzle-solving for the death averse", maybe. We could get a deal with LucasArts.

...issue. Well, at least he didn't make the pun out LOUD.

[byanyother_name]

[He's more than willing to play along.] I must admit I'm not certain if that counts as a niche market or not. On the one hand, I would presume being death-averse to be the most common state of life. On the other, I think our situation of potentially deadly puzzles is less than common outside movie theaters.

[Or Makai. But that was a different issue.]

[incrediblystressedout]

Any puzzle can be pretty dangerous if something decides it doesn't like you while you're solving it.

[Jude.]

I think it could be useful.

[byanyother_name]

That...is very accurate. And rather insightful. [His voice is a quiet, resigned sigh, just for a moment. Kurama has run into enough like that.]

It would certainly be nice if we could save a few people from situations like our own.

[incrediblystressedout]

If we figure out how to do that, we're definitely writing it down.

[byanyother_name]

Given we are probably mostly from different worlds, at least we'll be assured widespread distribution.

[incrediblystressedout]

That's the theory everyone seems to be going with...are we sure about that, though? We're all from Earth, right? Different times definitely seems to be the case, but what does "different worlds" actually mean?

[byanyother_name]

'Parallel universes' would perhaps be a more apt description. There are definite differences in not just time period, but actual cosmology and I suspect to some extent physical laws.