WINTER COMMON ROOM - WEEK 3

[dormheads]

common room.

Similar to the rest of the architecture, the common room in the Winter Dorm is almost more reminiscent of a tea room or parlor that you would find in a manor. A chandelier hangs above, everything in the room glistening in the light that is both welcoming and just a tinge cold. Seating is available for a number of people to gather, adjusting each week to seemingly accommodate a little bit over the number of people assigned to the dorm. A piano doesn't sit too far, and sometimes when the room isn't too full, it's almost like a beautiful classical melody will begin to play itself to make up for the empty space.

Or... is that a showtune...?

Who can say?

This week, we're getting into the holiday spirit! So pop some bubbly, be a little sweet - it's that time of year.

specialty room.

However on the first floor, there's an oddity amidst the serene architecture. One of the rooms opens to a Gaming Lounge, complete with screens that stretch across the entirety of one wall length-wise. Incredible comfortable chairs and couches sit opposite the screen, comfortable enough to steal you away from the outside world for hours upon hours. A series of gaming systems are hooked up to the screens, and a small tower of handhelds sit on a bookcase nearby. Every game you can think of is downloaded and programmed onto each device, though every time you start one up it seems to immediately pull up an otome game or farming simulator. The lighting system changes between a rainbow of colors, and one wall is lined with snacks that are a little less decadent but still just as delicious. The room will adjust based on the needs of the game you play, a wall spinning out to roll out DDR dance pads, virtual reality goggles, or whatever you could need for the ultimate gaming experience.

No, it isn't incredibly reminiscent of Dude Perfect's Game Time Lounge. You're imagining it. (But really, click the link for a better idea of what the room looks like.)

---

Please use this as an open post for members of Winter Dorm. You may post top-levels whenever you'd like and go wild. A new post will go up at the start of each week.

Comments

[azuta]

Oh right, the rat.

[she still doesn't get that]

Well.... it depends on what information we've gleaned from the murders, correct? If anyone's received any motivation from them or any hints -

But I also think that there's something to be said about their lack of ability to talk or give acceptable reason, when they are people who would otherwise want to. I'm not sure if it's coercion, hostage, or the compulsion theory....

However I'm of the opinion that while it's wonderful to know those lost can be revived, it would feel circular to bring them back only for them to have a chance of being hurt again.

So I think we ought to divide and conquer.

[disreguarded]

Okay - okay, okay, okay.

[actually beau is just going to like, sit down for a second, and then she immediately crouches instead, like a gremlin, thinking.]

So we have - two different kinds, now, we're working on old information. We thought that they couldn't say it unless forced, but Byleth admitted to Crow of her own volition. So the other two just were... scared, or unwilling to admit, which - fair. Caiman said - he wouldn't...

[one sec.] Caiman said he wouldn't have killed Molly if he'd had the choice. Rupert said something similar.

And then we have the executions, which have people being forced to do stuff. So that's compulsion. But we don't know if that's how it is with the murders.

Actually - Iris, do you know anything about the sleepers?

[azuta]

The sleepers... Ah, the people who are placed outside?

[she crosses her arms at that and tries to think]

.... I know that there's a theory on a pattern presented at trial yesterday, but - I think we'll need to see if it continues to hold. I think there's some overlap to those who are asleep outside, and some other oddities we've noticed.

[a glance to catra, wherever she is, sweet baby]

[disreguarded]

There's some overlap... okay. [she rubs at her face.] I don't know what the overlap could be, though, maybe I'm just not... seeing it. I don't think I've talked to them enough to figure out what it is.

-- This is gonna be a touchy question, so sorry. Or whatever. But did you know about Rupert? Like before he got caught.

[azuta]

[she shakes her head]

It's a reasonable question, and Caleb already beat you to it - I'm not offended.

But... no. No, I did not. [and her expression turns a bit more somber] He didn't tell even me when I'm sworn to student privacy, which is why I think...

There's likely something else at play.

[disreguarded]

[she mutters something that sounds like "fucking caleb"]

Something else. [...] Are we thinking like, administration level? Or like, spooky fucking terrifying force like the Somnovum?

[she's not going to know what the somnovum are, beau]

[azuta]

... I don't know.

[and that frustrates her too. her brow furrows and some of that anger continues to simmer.]

Could there be something we're missing? In the clues you've all been given. The idea that this is some kind of show... but - there is no cast or crew. No lighting. And the idea that we're scripted into following certain plotlines goes against information that other murders are premeditated.

After all - nothing could have compelled Crow to go along with a script, right? What Byleth described still sounded very... like him. And at present you all sound like yourselves - from what I can gather.

So I wonder if there's another way to look at it. It's not the first time I've been inserted into a work of fiction, but this is a much more sinister genre.

[steelo]

The curse, right? The school spirit one?

[ my theorizing!!!!!!!!! ]

[azuta]

[she nods]

There's been a few instances of that, from what I've heard reported.

[steelo]

[ nodding!!! give him a minute. he pulls up his phone, and pulls out his pattern notes. ]

Taichi and I found that out. Every time someone's been cursed with the school spirit thing, they've been asleep outside - and they've been from the same dorm as one of the victims.

Catra's week was weird. She transferred over here, though, so it still fit the pattern we'd found, but... that threw me off, a little, too.

[azuta]

[ . . . . she tilts her head at that]

I suppose....

Well, keep an eye on it in the coming weeks. You've all done well in creating other systems that definitively par down suspect lists and help locate evidence so you shouldn't need to rely too heavily on individual theories.

[steelo]

[ hmmmm... ]

...I think we need to talk to Byleth-san. That's really gonna be important. Is anyone here really close with her?

[ she's very nice and apparently a murderer but ichiro isn't super close with byleth so. ] Especially because she was able to confess. We had to punch it out of Rupert, and... even when he was with us, there was still stuff he couldn't answer, even though he was hella cooperative. And Kaoruko wouldn't tell us shit. Sally-- Annie, Annie said that there wasn't any reason someone couldn't confess, as far as they knew, either.

[disreguarded]

Well, yeah. Dimitri is. [jabs thumb]

[steelo]

[ I JUST ERASED DIMITRI

anyway he kind of makes a face? not a "oh no" face more like a "holy shit that's a landmine rn" ]

...yeah. I think... if he feels comfortable. But, I think if she can tell us stuff, that might help - it might keep her safe, too.

[disreguarded]

I can talk to her. [blows a kiss to crow but beau really only wanted to kill caiman i'm sorry her morality sucks]

I'm gonna talk to Taichi later, too. I think they're somewhat close.

[steelo]

Okay. I talked to him a little bit about getting these things, so... hopefully his dorm's on that right now, too. We gotta work together as much as possible.

[disreguarded]

Yeah. Yeah, he's good at organizing shit. And Caleb's over there too, so.

I can talk to M-- [a pause. a longer one.] ... Not really close with anybody in Spring otherwise, so. Maybe Claude.

[repress]

[ he's depressed, not deaf? he's literally right here? anyway, he runs a hand over his face, pushing his hair back for a moment, expression closed off. ]

Beauregard should try, but she did not tell me much. She was as tight-lipped as Rupert.

[steelo]

[ i'M SO SORRY im crying i literally just erased dimitri mentally.

anyway, he gets a sympathetic look immediately, but nods. ]

So... I wonder if there is something blocking them. Do you think she would've told you, if there wasn't...?

[repress]

[ he shrugs, one-shouldered. yesterday was a shock to him, too. ]

...She may have kept her secrets, since I was her student. [ maybe some weird sense of protectiveness. ] But while it does not clear her of her crimes regardless, I do not think she would have acted frivolously.

[supercatty]

. . . I talked with her.

[she isn't as close to Byleth as Dimitri is, of course, but. . .]

She-- [. . .] She couldn't tell me anything. Wouldn't tell me anything.

[. . .]

And she couldn't promise me she wouldn't kill again.

[steelo]

[ ughhh baby girl. ichiro frowns at her, brows knit together, sympathetic. ]

...yeah.

She said Rupert was her "partner", right? So... the two of them had worked together. And she picked up a new partner, too... one of the ones on the list.

Ugh. [ he reaches up and scrubs his face for a second. ] What a shit situation. We gotta figure out how to break people free of that, and without ... you know.

[ killing them, ]

[supercatty]

Break free of-- of what? We don't even know what it is that's making them do this.

[it's not mind control. not as far as Catra can see. but. . . it's some kind of coercion. because to her, neither Rupert nor Byleth are the type of people who would murder for no reason whatsoever]

[refate]

The theory right now is that they're being controlled the same way that the people at expulsion are, or at least... compelled, maybe?

Something to fulfill the adlib scripts, maybe. Maybe there's consequences for not doing it.

[ but he doesn't believe they'd murder for no reason, either. even if the two of them killed someone important to him, it's not - them he's angry with. ]

[steelo]

[ nodding!!! and adding on: ]

I guess I'm wondering if it's the same thing that kept Iris and the others under control, or not, too.