WEEK 7

[grimgrinningghosts]

[You've all been here for well over a month and it's getting harder and harder to keep spirits up. There has been small hope thanks to a mysterious person talking to you through your dreams. A small hope that maybe you'll be able to escape and get your friends back, but you'll have to escape first.

There are no new floors to explore, the outside area remains the same as it's always been. Might as well get comfy here.

11 guests remain.]

[ SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY ]
 

{Don't forget to fill your Week 6 Activity Check!}

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SUNDAY

[grimgrinningghosts]

[defyingfrigidity]

[Once again, Elsa's first stop when she wakes up this morning is the memorial. There are more deaths, which means more names and more monuments to add to Sophie's list. So she starts with the names first:

Tip
Star Butterfly
Kiara

She just... doesn't feel anything as she writes the names down. Not because she doesn't care, god she can still manage to care even after all of this, but the toll this place has taken on her is just. Immense. She thought what she'd had to deal with for most of her life had been bad, but that was nothing compared to how she's been feeling since waking up in this cursed mansion.

But... well. Conceal, don't feel and all. She has one more thing to do here before she can start wallowing again, and so, she gets to it. The sculptures this week are all pretty simple; a butterfly with tiny star patterns on the wings for Star, a proud roaring lioness for Kiara, and a little statue of Tip, nose buried in a book. When she sets the third one down, she sits back on her heels, examining her work and the statues that have been sitting out for some time now... and she just sighs, a long and heavy sound.]

I wish I didn't have to make these anymore...

[Without any new places to explore, and her paranoia over the new rooms added last week, Elsa has taken to spending time in the bathing room. Sometimes she isn't even really bathing, instead sitting just outside the divide between the men's and women's sides, letting the heat from the baths sink in. It's... comforting, and even if she can't completely relax in this place, it absolutely helps.

Elsa is also disappearing into her room earlier than usual at night. Which... well. She'd actually started to get better over the past week, coming out of her room more and more often, but it's almost immediately after dinner that she'll shut herself away again. This isn't some way of putting a barrier between herself and the others, though; after discussing her dream and the possibility of escaping and helping their friends... Elsa knows that they might need to contact Man again. And since he approached her in a dream... well. She has to start sleeping more to give him a chance to reach out, right?]

[chainbroke]

[ On Sunday morning, Elsa'll get a knock at her door. ]

Elsa? Are you awake?

[defyingfrigidity]

[She actually is! Going to bed earlier means that she's waking up earlier now, so she's just finishing up getting ready when she hears the knock, and goes to open the door.]

Of course. Is there something you need, Namine?

[chainbroke]

Good morning.

[ She has a tray of tea and a light breakfast: toast, and some fruit. ]

I just wanted to bring this to you.

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford finds Elsa as she's making her usual weekly addition to the memorial. He's brought what's become his own usual offering: a detailed pencil sketch of each of the departed. Tip looks gentle and intelligent, Kiara looks proud and fierce, and Star looks excited and animated. He tacks these up next to the rest of his work and glances over at Elsa with a tired half-smile.]

It's good of you to do this every week. I think it's bolstering to all of us to remember our friends who are gone. Reminds us of what we're fighting for.

[defyingfrigidity]

I couldn't just... leave it like that, so soon after it was started.

[It doesn't really give her much hope, since Elsa is still struggling so much with the idea that they have a chance of actually escaping, and she'd given up all hope weeks ago... but it still means something to her.]

It's not fair to them. They don't deserve to be forgotten, and they don't deserve to have their only memorials in this place be those tasteless rhymes on their gravestones.

[sixfingeredstan]

I wouldn't expect you to. [His smile grows a little wider, still gentle. They've all been run through the wringer these last weeks, and it's really starting to show. The growing lack of little girls running around the house is an especially hard blow, when it seems like that was the thing buoying their spirits for so long.]

I couldn't agree more. I wish we could do something about their gravestones. Change the inscriptions, grind them down to a blank slate and write something more fitting.

bathing room

[kindaruledatit]

[For one particular time that Elsa actually does head in to take a bath, she won't be alone for long. Because Wendy comes in not long after, toweled up, ready for anything. Specifically, bathing.]

...Oh. Hey. [A little wave as she nears the edge of the tub.] Having fun?

[defyingfrigidity]

[Elsa actually looks pretty relaxed for once. Which is surprising because when she's left alone with her thoughts and nothing else to do, she usually goes to some pretty dark place. But... she seems okay, slouched down in the hot water up to just below her chin, and eyes nearly shut. They snap open though, when she hears Wendy step in, and raises herself up just enough so that she can talk.]

I suppose so. It's been some time since I took a bath like this... I almost forgot how relaxing it can be.

[kindaruledatit]

[It's almost like she's an entirely new person. Wendy thinks it's nice, seeing her at peace, if just for a brief moment.] Whoa, dude. Sorry I broke the peace. Looks like I was right.

[She movies forward, stepping into the tub without testing the waters because that's what you do.]

Oof. Yeah, I may have tried this out last week with Namine. It's pretty cool.

[aboyandhiscar]

Well, you don't have to. You're just that nice of a person.

[Mike says, waltzing up to examine the additions to the memorial. He sort of frowns at the list--he really wishes that thing wasn't a self fulfilling prophecy.]

. . .it all looks pretty cool, though.

[defyingfrigidity]

Was that supposed to be a pun?

[Elsa may not have much of a sense of humor lately, but she can still... you know. Recognize jokes. And try to respond to them!]

You say I don't have to, but... someone does. We can't let our friends be forgotten, can we? Even after what Man told me, even knowing that they're not ghosts trapped here... it feels wrong to not leave something for each of them.

[aboyandhiscar]

--not intentionally, no. Not that time! Man, I gotta think up some other words for cool around you.

[rad? awesome??? his slang has never been so limited, gosh. He pockets his hands with a little shrug.]

I don't think any of us will ever forget, not at this point. But wanna make sure you're doing it for you, and not doing something that's just gonna make you sadder.

Sunday Morning

[aboyandhiscar]

[HELLO CHILDREN

WHO'S READY TO EXPLORE. After this little conversation, Mike's more than convinced something's up with the attic. So early Sunday, he's up and at them, pacing a little lightly by the stairs, before resolving to check it out. He'll make this known to anyone who's around. ]

Okay guys--so we know something's up with the attic. Something real bad, but it could help us out if we can figure out what's in there. Not asking everyone to go, but if anyone wants to be back up, I'm heading up now. If something goes wrong. . .well, you'll probably hear a scream.

So.

Ready?

[sixfingeredstan]

[Right. So Ford's not exactly keen to go into the attic, not after the incident with Princess Anna, but...well, if anyone's going to go up there, he's the most qualified person to come along and make sure nobody else loses their head. So it's very grudgingly that he comes to stand next to Mike, his chest puffed up indignantly.]

I don't approve of this, but like hell am I letting you go up there alone, without someone experienced in these matters.

[aboyandhiscar]

Hey, I've kinda absorbed some experience by proxy by being here, yeah? [he's way too casual about this.]

Anyway, if things get hairy, you turn tail, man. You've got stuff to build, remember?

[sixfingeredstan]

I will do no such thing.

[He's got his arms crossed, now.]

Only a coward would abandon a group of teenagers with a murderous ghost.

[kindaruledatit]

[Wendy definitely hasn't had the experience certain other people have had with ghosts before, but that doesn't mean she won't just sit around and do nothing while others are risking their lives.

This ghost lady has an axe? Wendy's got an axe. She's ready to throw down.]

Totally ready, dude! Like hell you're gonna go in there alone!

[aboyandhiscar]

[We've got an axe, a staff, and an eccentric old man that's probably killed someone before who knows WHAT COULD GO WRONG]

Heh, thanks. Kinda nervous, but so far, whatever's in there hasn't come out yet, so. . .who knows.

Alright. Let's mosey.

[INTO THE ATTIC WE FREAKING GO]

[whistlenotchirp]

Michael, for goodness sake. Please don't go into the murder attack.

[aboyandhiscar]

[why do people call him that he wonders. what do they know!! He smiles though, shaking his head.]

Gotta search every nook and cranny, you know? If things look bad, we'll come running, don't worry.

[chainbroke]

[ She is very not here for going up into that attic, but she's here for moral support (?). ]

Please be careful, everyone.

[aboyandhiscar]

We will. Or, well, as careful as we can given the nature of this place, heh. [comforting!!]

Hold down the fort, yeah?

[kindaruledatit]

[Not all of them can be foolish. You're a good kid for that, Nams.

Wendy shoots her a confident look and a thumbs-up!!]

Hey, don't worry about it. I'll be looking after these two the whole way.