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

[notgentle]

[It's the fourth day and that is a tough time to be a Dio in the mall when you decided to buy new clothes yesterday, even though you are still wearing them today. Dio can be found pacing through Yotsukoshi, comparing pairs of differently priced similar items and then always rejecting them both. Acetaminophens in the pharmacy. Shrink-wrapped CD cases, which you might catch him trying to put directly into the display usage CD player. Perfumes.

...that is, colognes. Well, apparently there are a lot of different density categories and cologne isn't one of them but perfume is, and that density category applies to both masculine and feminine scents. ONLY THE FORMER BEING OF INTEREST TO HIM!!! IT'S NOT HIS FAULT THAT THE LATTER HAPPENS TO BE DISTRACTING AND INTRIGUING!!! BY THE TIME YOU GET A SECOND GLANCE, THAT PRIMROSE PERFUME SAMPLE IS TOTALLY HIDDEN!!!]

---

[By lunchtime Dio has acquired himself a bucket of crab legs and seems pretty peacefully excited for once as he sits down at a table to pick one up and eat it. The spines are pinching his hand a little, so he grumbles a little as he rotates the flat side into the soft part of his palm. Then he bites down and--] God! Ghk-what! [Well, that's more likely to be the point in time when you notice him properly, coughing up chips of shell.]

Crab Adventure

[thegreenhornet]

...okay, I can't watch this. That's not how you eat crab.

[Britt even turns around as if he literally couldn't look at Dio do that]

Thank you bro

[notgentle]

Hikinghey! What do you mean?

[Dio reaches out to grab Britt by the elbow and turn him right back]

I mean, after this I don't see why anyone fucking eats crab--

[thegreenhornet]

You're eating the legs! You know what's the point of eating animals?
Eating the meat, not the first thing you see!

[Fiiiine, may as well show what's the key of crab-eating]

Where's the rest? You didn't throw the rest of the crab, right? Where are the pincers?

[notgentle]

[Oh, an omnivorous man, that's interesting!]

The pinchers are this, I guess... [He waves the leg with the "pinchy" end facing up and then puts it down on the table.]

I'll have you know they sold it like this. [He puts both hands around the bucket to lift it up and show the bounty of Alaska King crab legs. Indeed, in the immediate vicinity there's also no evidence of other crab parts that were removed. Just the fries, which are sitting off to the side untouched for now.]

[thegreenhornet]

[Britt takes the pincher, turning it in his fingers. Well...]

Wow, these are...rather small. Not worth much, I guess...

[That bucket makes Britt facepalm. Oh no...]

Right. I'm no expert about crabs, but I think you got scammed.

[It's not like he ever saw how someone cooked a crab, but he remembers he always got served the body of the crab, not the legs]

[notgentle]

[Dio's face falls.] You're shitting me. This was supposed to be the big thing for the...

[Saying "day" is too embarrassing. He just looks away and starts stuffing French fries into the void of his soul]

[thegreenhornet]

You're not missing much. Crab's good, but it's not like it'd have changed your life forever.

[notgentle]

Hey, I'm not expecting a chorus of angels here. You really think there's a food that can do that?

perfumes

[classmated]

[ TOTALLY HIDDEN!! Except not nearly hidden enough. ]

That's a good scent for you. [ He says jovially with a completely straight, honest face that has no trace of sarcasm (despite the meta sounding utterly sarcastic). ]

[notgentle]

How would you know? You can never tell until you put it all the way on!

[That guy - Wake, right? He does sound so earnest and nice about it that even Dio can't believe he's straight up lying manipulatively, so instead the defensive approach is to doubt whether Wake is correct about the statement he made in good will.]

[classmated]

Is that how it works? I thought it suited you because of the name. "Primrose." Doesn't "prim" describe you pretty well?

[ Pointing at your hat, come on you can't tell him that doesn't look proper! ]

[notgentle]

!

[Dio takes back everything uncharitable that he just thought about Wake. He toys with the brim of said hat, unsubtly tickled pink.] I guess prim is one thing to call the gentleman look. Sure.

I don't know if roses are the meaning you want to go for, though. Every rose has its thorns.

[classmated]

[ And he's happy Dio's happy! Wake is easy to please, and apparently so is Dio. ]

Haha, I guess that's true, but there's nothing wrong with thorns. They make you appreciate the rose even more because of the work you put into getting close to it.

[notgentle]

[No wonder Torri gave the impression that she and Wake get into a happiness feedback loop a lot!]

You really think so? Huh, so the rose grows the thorns to defend itself.

[classmated]

[ Happiness is infectious, what can he say! ]

Just like people. We only ever push people away to protect ourselves. [ This conversation sure took a strange turn. ]

[notgentle]

[His eyebrows go up.]

That's philosophical. [And yet he's not averse to it.] What do you mean, push people away? People don't all just sit there like plants with roots.

CD corner

[totalbullshit]

[ Helena is on the way back from one of her semi-regular bathroom trips as she spots Dio. Initially she considers just walking past him, but their last run-in was unexpectedly pleasant and... what is he even doing? She squints and before she knows it, she has already stopped walking. ]

Is this performance art or do you need help?

[notgentle]

It's these manufacturers who need help, I'll tell you what. [This particular CD player had been pretty small, about a foot square, so he puts one hand underneath it and holds down the CD case in the open slot to show the unholy sandwich to Helena.] This is a CD, and this is a CD player. What the hell? Are they different brands or something?

[totalbullshit]

[ ... ]

[ She's half waiting for the point where he says "gotcha" and reveals the whole thing to be a circus comedy skit or something? But that isn't happening. So all she can do is examine the disaster with raised eyebrows. ]

You've never played a CD before, have you?

[notgentle]

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......

[This is a dilemma. If he says no, then that proves she knows something he doesn't, and that makes him look bad. If he says yes, then she'll mock his material interest in musical media. Well, shit, he has to say something before the silence gets awkward.]

I have my audio files on... memory cards.

[totalbullshit]

[ Joke's on Dio because the silence has been awkward from the very start. Helena is aware that they're all from somewhat different worlds, but the idea that someone has never played a CD before it still utterly alien. It's not like they're modern for her anymore either, they're just not forgotten. ]

So that's a yes.

[ Not letting him get away with pretending it isn't. ]

What are you even trying to play here?

[ She holds her hand out in the hopes of getting to examine the CD. ]

[notgentle]

It's this.

[He hands it over. If Helena has heard these pieces before, she might be surprised that Dio's preferences aren't more flashy like his--]

I don't know it or anything, just looked cool.

[totalbullshit]

[ ...oh that's. A glance at Dio, a glance back to the CD, an amused huff... ]

I understand why the visuals appealed to someone like you.

[ As much as it's phrased that way, she really doesn't mean it negatively. ]

I come as the bearer of bad news however. To play it, you'd need to unpack it. To unpack it, you'd need to pay for it.

this is after lunch but before the minigame I guess???

[notgentle]

[What does it say about Dio that despite his easily offended nature, he completely accepts Helena's comprehension without complaint? Is he that determined to allow specifically her to coexist with him comfortably? Or is he just that unironically convinced that cowboys and circuses and cymbals are cool?

He crams the CD back onto the rack with a clash of plastic.]

Well, that's not happening. I blew like half my budget on those AlaSCAM crabs. [Immediately defensive:] Thought it was a large portion.