Week 4

[lockdownmods]

[ It's now Week 4 at Fayflower University. With the new week comes another memory, and a new floor to explore. That's nice, after everything, right? Right, of course it is.

However, other things have changed besides the floor access. The wall has always been a point of contention after the fiasco in week one. And then the frog, and now the investigation. However, going within three feet of the wall is oppressive now, in feeling. It feels as though you're being watched-- and targeted for something.

Be careful~]

LOCATIONS | PROFILES | HAN OFFICE HOURS | MEGUMI OFFICE HOURS

SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY

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TUESDAY

[lockdownmods]

Breakfast: Miso soup and rice with pickled vegetables and green tea
Lunch: Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
Dinner: Stir fried vegetables and rice

LECTURE - SIMPLE PLEASURES

[lockdownmods]

[At the same time as usual, you are all required to gather in the classroom. But this time it's Megumi and Han that stand front and center, waiting for you all to take your seats. Han is a little spaced out and Megumi... well she's very much a blank slate. It's almost impossible to tell what she's thinking. But you don't have to wait long to hear what she has to say. It's Megumi that begins speaking first.]

Now that you're all here we can begin.

For your third lecture, we are asking you not to think of the very specific skillsets that make you applicable for this course, but the very simple skills that you are all gifted with.

It is--

[In the middle of the lecture, a familiar red mechanical bird comes flying in. Megumi's eyes immediately meet the creature as it approaches and sits on her shoulder.]

Mistress, I've--

[Megumi frowns at the way she's addressed and the tone of the bird's voice.]

You are acting outside of your designated purpose. This is clearly an unacceptable malfunction.

[With one hand she reaches up and disables the small robot... and it tumbles to the floor. Altogether the piece looks to be in one piece but it's just scrap metal now. Elle is dead.]

I apologize for the unnecessary interruption. You may continue Professor Han.

[Han still looks a little distant, but he pulls a note from his blazer. It's about time he finally steps up and gives the lecture-- and he looks... neutral. There's no real discernible emotion on his face. He adjusts his glasses and reads the statement, clear and concise.]

"Every day, there are aspects of living that are important to us. Feeling a friend's warmth, tasting a favorite meal, seeing the night sky, saying hello to a friend or loved one.

Until one of you has managed to take the life of another hero, you will be unable to enjoy that simple pleasure."

[he pauses for a moment, then folds up the paper. With only a passing glance at Megumi, he heads back to the faculty office.]

[For the remainder of the week, one primary function will be unavailable to your character. That could be a sense like touch, taste or sight, or it could be a function such as their voice. What that is, is entirely up to you.]

[chumville]

[opens mouth.]

...

[...what the. there’s no sound coming out. he is growing gradually more furious.]

[swordsinternally]

[ There's... definitely something decisively wrong with Megumi, and Shirou immediately notices it with her voice. To be honest, it kind of upsets him to his core, after what she told him on Sunday, but he can't think about that. Did something happen? He doesn't know.

But he's scared to know.

Maybe someone else knows what happens; he'll ask later. Nevertheless, he'll say these words, to nobody in particular: ]

We'll make it through this. We have to. Even though I--

[ ...

He tries to move his left arm and realizes. Oh. He can't move it. It's still there, but it's like a hollow limb now. ]

[preconstruction]

[ You are acting outside of your designated purpose. This is clearly an unacceptable malfunction. The words hit him harder than the motive itself. Because he could have spoken them. Because he sees so much of who he was before coming here in that simple statement.

Daniel, telling him that he'd lied. Carlos Ortiz's android begging him not to tell where he was hiding. The deviant with that little girl running into the freeway and desperately, with every fiber of his being, wanting to go after her to stop her. His finger on the trigger ready to kill Kamski's assistant and hating himself that he couldn't because -- it's just a machine, what did it matter.

He waits until Han leaves, until everyone is done talking, and then he walks over to the bird and picks it up gently, as if holding something fragile and precious. hunched over the bird like this, it's probably hard to tell, but connor is crying. his expression is neutral, a flawless perfect face unblemished by the action, but tears run down as he cradles the tiny broken machine.

he touches it, his skin peeling back to reveal white plastic as he tries to diagnose elle's condition. would she even want to be put together, by him? the machine that would have detroyed every attempt this world had at androids? probably not. but it's the least he can do to see what it would take. ]

[itwasfeyt]

[....Okay that dead robot bird is bad enough, and so's the strange way both of them seem to be acting, but when Maya tries to speak up and throw an accusation at her former friend... she finds nothing there.

She brings a hand up to her throat, testing her voice. Nothing. No sound, no matter how hard she tries.

She settles for stomping her feet instead.]

Hey. Han.

[whatsmytalentagain]

...

[Great. Plankton's not the only one who lost his voice.

Luckily, Rantaro doesn't give up so easily. He takes out the tablet, glancing up at whatever happened to Megumi and Han, then shooting the human professor a text:]

where is todd

[After that, he glances around the room and motions for a paper and pencil.]

[myliteratureclub]

[In an instant... everything goes dark for Monika. The light in her green eyes are gone, and she looks around confused. But there's nothing. Even when she waves her hand in front of her face, it doesn't help. That hand begins to shake as she brings it close to her chest while trying to catch her breath.]

I-I can't see....

[sendintheclown]

[Gogol opens his mouth, a sharp HA! incoming.]

...

[Nothing.]

...!

[He cups his mouth in shock. After a moment, he tentatively removes his hands, and feels along his lips.

From one corner of his mouth, he mimes picking up a zip and yanking it, to no avail. He tries again. And again.

Looks like it's stuck.]

[donotlick]

[ Fuck. Of course now it's worse. Whatever happened to Vivienne has turned her into a full robot. It's not hard to guess what the deal is there. So, yeah, fuck.

The robot lady that killed Connor isn't there anymore. Cooool. Cool. Yeah. Hank's gonna put those worries away for a second. Everyone else -- what the fuck's up with this incentive? Losing... touch? A sense? Shit. The lack of any discernible change on Hank's part is probably something that should concern him, but he's been in such high alert lately that honestly he's just gonna count his blessings.

It can't last. It never does. But for now... He pinches himself. ]

Ow. Well, guess that still works.

[ Hank has lost his sense of taste. That won't be too fun when he notices, huh? ]

[devotingly]

[ waver is most obviously disturbed by megumi’s behavior, but says nothing. losing one of his senses? well, he can see, hear, feel, smell— what else could be missing? ]

—!

[ oh no. ohhh no no no. not this. anything but this—!

angrily and unable to speak, waver slams his good hand on the desk before storming out. ]

[ososoi]

--!

...--?!?!

[ Well, fuck. Oso's voice is gone. ]

[covertizer]

[ There's something chilling, and uncanny about how cold and clinical Megumi seems. But Akira doesn't have a lot of time to dwell on it before the motive is being read out - the first thing to do is focus on what senses he does have. Sight is still there, good. He can smell the scent of soap on his skin and clothes. He can hear. He can feel the sharpness when he pinches his skin...

As for voice, well. He'll figure it out.

He spins around to find someone to talk to and Akira, he of balance and ridiculous fears like climbing elevator wires without falling....

... smacks his hip so hard into the corner of one of the desks so hard it screeches back along the floor. And Akira doubles over, clutching the sore, bruising part of his body. ]

Ow, what the hell??

[ So his voice is fine too, good to know. ]

[yourfuture]

[ blinks. looks around. the fun thing about losing your sense of time is how long it takes to kick in! ]

What, don't I get one?

[12d3]

[Losing an aspect of living? Well, that doesn't sound... too bad. It'd be sad if he couldn't taste anything anymore, or feel the embrace of a friend but it was something he could live without, probably. Losing his voice would be terrible as a singer, but surely that wouldn't happen.. right?

Let's test it out!]

Ahhh...

[2-D sings a note, but strangely, he can't hear it. Actually... the room's gone deathly silent altogether, hasn't it?



Well that's no good.]

[buriedearth]

[ His gaze is on Vi--Megumi throughout the entirety of that, at first looking kind of upset. It's only natural...she seems to have lost every trace of herself as Vivienne.

Terra looks like he might want to say something, but by the end of it, his expression has changed to something less emotional, more calm--albeit eerily so.

Then, he takes a walk, away from all of this. ]

[pathofconquest]

[Well this is... this is fine. Ironic, even.

For the time being, he'll have to do without his sight. Ah... well this will be a challenge.]

[whatsmytalentagain]

[Some time after the meeting, Rantaro had to go get a fresh notebook and tie a mechanical pencil to it. He trusts the tablet only as far as he can throw it, so it looks like he'll have to communicate through this.

After writing a few common phrases on the first few pages (including "Can't speak, please be patient while I write what I'm trying to say.") he goes about his day as normal as possible.

You might find him in the starbucka again, pouring over the profiles and maps while he's basically ignoring his croissant. He... Might need to be reminded to eat.]

[swordsinternally]

[ Well, the good news is that the limb that's gone numb isn't his dominant arm, but this definitely sure feels awfully familiar, in all senses of the word (hah) to the point where he still seems rather comfortably at home back in the cafeteria, although he doesn't seem to spend much time there as he used to.

He's mostly here to enjoy the miso soup.

But now that they've got miso... well, back to the drawing board, he supposes. Which means he should check the home ec room for something in particular-- and he finds the renkon and brings it back along with some other simple ingredients to cook in the kitchen with one arm. ]

It's been a while since I've had to cook single-handedly, huh.

[ Then again, these are Shirou's memories he's handling. He's doing it anyway, though-- he's going to be cooking some kinpira renkon. And thankfully it's just a simple stir-fry vegetable dish with renkon and carrots, but look. He has a purpose for doing this. If anybody wants to try it, he's here at least. ]

[12d3]

[Well, he can't hear. And that honestly really fucking sucks. But 2-D's the ever optimistic sort and he's not seeing hallucinations of his dead guitarist following him around anymore, so this is an improvement so far! He can surely get used to not being able to hear it'll just.. take.. some time. That's all.

After the motive, though, he heads straight to the storage closet to get himself a notepad and pencil. That should solve a lot of issues with being deaf right up! He walks over to the first person he sees, writes something down, and then shows it to them. It's written in chicken scratch with a smiley on it and everything but he's doing his best.

It reads:]

Ello! I can't hear anything anymore, so I'm writing things down instead. It's quite lonely, not being able to hear people talking. :( But that's okay! I'll get used to it, I am sure of it! :)

Anyway, would you mind righting down what's wrong with you so I know? Thank you in advance.

[throwabookatit]

[ Like several others, Rebecca's having a little trouble figuring out just how this week's little lecture has affected her. It's unsettling but honestly she's not complaining, after how last week she was reduced to a raving loony.

It...doesn't take her long to figure out just what's missing, though, as she goes to her usual hangout, the library. There's still so many books to read, information to look for...

...But, as she sits down with the first giant book she's grabbed of the shelf, she's. Well, staring at it with furrowed brows, a deep frown-- ]

You have got to be kidding me.

[yourfuture]

[ Okay, so... Tess knows, on some level, what she lost. It's fine! She's fine. If she doesn't get... time itself, then she just has to find something to measure it by, right? Ideally it would be, like... horror movies, or something, so she'll have to settle for the next best thing.

Tess spends mmmmmost of today in the computer lab, watching all of Spook Explorations. Multiple times if she has to. ]

OH GET OFF YOUR BULLSHIT, MACK, THE GHOST DOESN'T CARE HOW SICK YOUR TATS ARE!

[ Tess Rubikov cares deeply about this. ]

[ososoi]

[ Oso is... doing better than before? At the very least, he's less withdrawn than on Sunday and Monday. Maybe it's because of... stuff. It's hard to explain. ]

[ Too bad he's mute now. So that's put a big dent in things. ]

[ ...So he's not really doing that much better. He's just less unsociable for the time being. Sorta. ]

[ Later on, he goes to Starbucks again. It reminds him of Totty. Even if he and his brothers had a falling out, he still misses them. ]

[ He's just picking at the Lemon Crunch Yogurt Parfait sitting on his table. He's... trying not to think about the lecture. About whatever has happened to Vivienne and Han. About how this would only go away if someone kills anyone... ]

[ ...No. It'll be fine. ]

[ Things will get better. Things have to get better. ]

!!!!!Knife Safety PSA!!!!!

[communitycalendar]

[Okay, so this morning didn't really go that well, considering he lost his hearing and he's absolutely exhausted. He's been up all night working on a very important project after the whole stabbing incident with Waver and Gogol. It seems these people need to learn proper knife care and safety after all. Cecil kind of expected better from them? Guess he should've set the bar for these people way lower when it comes to that sort of thing.

In the afternoon, he sends out a mass text to everyone:


COME TO THE AV STUDIO!!!!!
IT'S IMPORTANT!!!!!
THERE IS GOING TO BE A PRESENTATION ON HOW TO SAFELY HANDLE KNIVES!!!!!
-CECIL

Once you get to the AV studio, you may notice that there are chairs put into a few rows for people to sit down! And Cecil is standing by a projector, setting up a power point presentation. If you want to get his attention while he's busy, you might have to tap him on the shoulder a few times before he notices you.

You can see the very first page on the projector that reads "KNIFE SAFETY." He gives everyone a few minutes to sit down and get comfortable before he starts. It looks like it actually might be a pretty normal PSA!! That is, until Cecil opens his mouth. He also doesn't really seem to have any control over his volume right now. Sometimes he's talking at a normal volume, sometimes he's yelling.]

Okay, I think I'm ready now! THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING HERE! I REALLY APPRECIATE IT! I'm GOING to teach you how to HANDLE YOUR KNIVES SAFELY!

[He clicks the screen on his tablet to go to the next few slides, elaborating on each one for about 10 minutes each. The knife safety power point includes some very exciting facts regarding anatomy and reproduction, cleaning and handling, feeding habits, behavior, and enviroment. Some highlights include the fact that knives are social animals, reproduce asexually, and have gills! They also eat via pores in their blade, are cold blooded, and their organs are located in the protective shell that is their hilt.

Once Cecil finishes his whole presentation, he puts a hand to his chest and takes a deep breath.]

ANY questions?

cw: alcohol, accidental self-harm

[reshoot]

[If you happen to go into the Art Room later in the day, you'll find the young girl in a chair at a table. On the ground next to her is a broken bottle and a pair of scissors.

She is slumped forward, face down on the table. Her right hand dangles limply off, covered in bandages and dripping blood onto the floor. Her other hand lays across the table, next to a ripped polaroid of Megumi and her camera. If you come in the room and call out to her, you're most likely not going to get a reaction from her, and that's because...

Max Caulfield is Dead-ass wasted.]