(ROLE) CULT

[dormheads]

cult.

On Monday at 10 PM, Rupert and Otome receive an encrypted e-mail.

d4rkness@Wiwaldi.edu

Come to classroom 1304; see attached map. You won't like what you're going to learn, though.

Be discreet and don't tell anyone.

Chad

No one is in the halls as Rupert and Otome creep to the abandoned classroom circled on the map. The normally locked door opens, revealing the room inside.

There are no windows and the lights are off, leaving the room cast in near darkness. Only a handful of candles, in what's probably a fire hazard, keep it illuminated; the fog being emitted from a personal fog machine doesn't help with visibility. What was once the teacher's desk has been pushed to the center of the room, with chairs seated around it. For some reason, there are cat decorations everywhere, mixed in with various (garish) occult items and patterns.

There is a cat-shaped bulletin board hanging on the wall, which reads:

» This world is trying to assimilate all of you, who started this year, into its setting. If it succeeds, you'll remain trapped in this school, your souls drained until you cease to exist.

» Each week, this place will make active efforts on a few select students. Once the weekend hits, they'll all be beyond saving. However, if any one of them is killed before then, they'll all be freed from the link, at least for the remainder of the week.

» Death isn't necessarily permanent. Those who died can potentially be saved. However, no such option exists for the fully assimilated.

» At the start of the week you'll be informed if you may recruit one person to join the cult. Provide a list of 3-4 people you want to recruit and you'll be told which one of them is approved. If you extend an invitation and they accept, they will join the cult the following week.

» Preventing the assimilation aside, even the original cult was meant to be a secret, so it's important that word doesn't spread. If anyone else learns about your involvement in the cult or your task, whether from your mouth or another's, this world may enact consequences. No guarantee on who they might affect, so it's up to you to decide if risking harm upon another is worth it.

Comments

WEEK 1

[dormheads]

[Chad is here, still in his panda costume. He's against a wall (or, well, more like his giant panda head is), away from where he might accidentally get stuck.

On a desk is a thin vase of wildflowers, along with a makeshift grave marker that reads Kaoruko Hanayagi.]

CHOICE: TARGET

[dormheads]

[A crystal ball on a desk reveals the names of the potential doomed this week: Catra, Lan Wangji, Mabel Pines. Please reply to this comment with the name of the character they will be killing before Tuesday 3pm PST/6pm EST!

(But, uh, have your characters find a way to ICly pick Lan Wangji this week.)]

[heartlands]

otome and rupert are teaming up to target mabel-- no just kidding it's lwj. happy pride

CHOICE: RECRUIT

[dormheads]

[Please provide a list of at least 3 people, ideally maximum 4, you want to recruit before Sunday at 1pm EST! The mods will then respond as soon as possible with the chosen recruit, at which point you may invite them with no consequence (unless they blab to someone else, of course).]

[momming]

List iiiis--!

Beau, Byleth, Claude, Luxanna.

Sure hope none of them get scapegoated wow

[dormheads]

[They are approved to recruit Byleth.]

CHAD

[dormheads]

[He's here for any questions.]

[heartlands]

[a few shocked moments pass after he reads the entirety of the bulletin board, before:]

...You're kidding. To save them we have to kill one of them? What sense does that make?

[dormheads]

[unlike the exasperated/annoyed tone chad has taken to talking to everyone on the public mingle, he sounds a lot more somber here.]

It interrupts the link. [...] If I knew of any other way, this wouldn't be the option I'd choose.

[heartlands]

How did you even learn about this in the first place? And - I'm pretty sure murder is a much bigger deal than breaking a contract, so I hope you have a good reason for why you aren't sending us home immediately now that this is happening.

[dormheads]

[he gestures to the crystal ball (probably, it's hard to tell with the stubby arm). but feel free to touch it.]

I don't control the way this world works, so I don't have the power to send you back.

[heartlands]

Then who does?

[...he'll touch the crystal ball, though.]

[dormheads]

[touching the crystal ball will reveal words and images, filling rupert with the knowledge of basically what's written on the board.]

... If you make it to the end of the school year, you should be able to return home. Ultimately, this world still acts according to an internal logic—it might try to keep you here, but it can only come up with so many plausible excuses for you to be unable to return to your worlds. That's my own interpretation, at the moment.

The problem is if people are absorbed into the setting before then. If they become convinced that they should stay, then the world has every justification to keep them trapped.

[momming]

... Why us, specifically? And how did you even learn death was the only option?

[ it's still said as politely as she can muster, but she honestly looks a little shell shocked. ]

[dormheads]

... Kaoruko passed on a note to let me know that she was nominating you two as the next members.

[as for the second question, he gestures to the crystal ball.]

[momming]

She's-- [ wow her voice cracks a little ] She's really all right?

[ but she'll pause and then slowly touch The Ball. ]

[dormheads]

She passed on a note to the principal while being held, though I doubt he had any idea what it was about. I haven't heard from her since she was expelled.

[touching the crystal ball reveals words and images that pretty much reveal to otome the same info written on the board.]

[momming]

... So if she--

[ wait. Give her a minute to process, also the crystal ball is weird. ]

Was that why she killed Hiyori? And do any of you have any kind of say in these expulsions or was that the world itself?

[ because she hated that ]

TALK WITH EACH OTHER

[dormheads]

[momming]

[ She just kind of bleakly plunks down in one of the seats and looks at Rupert. ]

... What are your thoughts?

[heartlands]

[meanwhile, he’s just kind of... pacing, looking distressed. that carries into his tone, too, when he says:]

...If this is the only thing we can do to give them even a chance to come back - do we have a choice?

[shoving a hand through his hair]

This is insane.

[momming]

I don't think we do. Or at least, if we decide to go through it, I can take responsibility.

[ Rupert looks like he might shake apart and not in the fun way. ]

[heartlands]

—But you’re already hurt!

[momming]

I've managed with worse. Though not really a scenario like this...

[dormheads]

[THE GRAVE MARKER SAYS HIYORI TOMOE. NOT KAORUKO. i'm crying]