THE MOCK WEEK

[grimgrinningghosts]

[You find yourself waking in a large dressing room, incredibly spacious, but in intense disarray. The bed is comfortable enough, and each room seems to be equipped with a working bathroom and shower, so it's at least livable. But aesthetically, the place has hit the floor.

The horrifying clock mounted on the wall reads 9 am. After enough searching, you'll find a large tourist-y map of the studio on one of the dressers. An ominous note attached to the map with a paperclip reads "12PM WAITING AREA". It's not like you have any choice in the matter, seeing as there doesn't seem to be any way out.

Upon exiting the dressing room, you note a crooked star attached to the door bearing your name. There are 24 others like this, bearing names that you may or may not recognize. A quick tour around the studio reveals it to be in a similar state of disrepair, but something doesn't sit...right with you. Though the place is certainly creepy, you get strange vibes as you explore the building. As you move about the dust-filled halls of the abandoned building, you may spot movement out of the corner of your eye, or hear strange noises from behind you. It's nothing to be worried about, though...right?

At the very least, you'll find some comfort. The projection room and attached theater still seem to be in working order, though you'll have to manually grab one of the reels off the wall and start the thing yourself. In addition, the waiting area and lounge are both filled with reading materials, and the later features a large stage and a microphone. The commissary seems to replenish itself with food whenever you take your eyes off of it, ensuring that we won't be going hungry anytime soon. There are also cabinets full of ingredients and a small kitchen should you not trust whatever your benefactor is placing out for you.

Fortunately for them, the smaller individuals amongst your party won't find a great deal of difficulty moving around. Though their beds remain oversized, there seem to be appropriately-sized staircases and escalators placed about in appropriate spots, so as to make their lives easier. After all, they can't just keep relying on the others to get up to the cabinets and such, can they?

While you're waiting to find out what the deal here is, you might as well come out and socialize.]

(ooc: Welcome to the Foolish Mortals Mock Week! Please follow us on Plurk at foolishmortals for updates, and if you're so inclined, please feel free to join your Discord-inept head moderator as he struggles to set up a Discord chat up for everyone.)

Comments

Sort-of INVESTIGATION | post-motive | OTA

[terribibble]

[After the announcement on Sunday, Fiddleford spent all of Monday hididng in his room having a pretty intense crisis. He's turned it upside-down about five more times looking for his memory ray (still with no success). He's finally dragged himself out, mainly because there's only so long a man can go without eating even when his fear is driving away his appetite. He looks even worse than he did on Sunday, if that's possible. He's still wearing the same rumpled suit.

A little bit after the motive is announced he can be found in the commissary eating beans out of the can with a spoon like a fucking adult. Were there beans on the table of actual prepared food? Probably. But this is comfort food, even if it's the wrong brand, and he trusts what's in the cupboards more. There is also a bottle of the previously-untouched alcohol next to him, unopened. It is definitely too early in the day to start drinking but he's thinking about it.

Later still it's time to venture into the office. Mainly he's looking for pencils and paper because he needs something to be doing with his hands and drawing blueprints is always good stress-relief, but it's easy to get side-tracked in a room with so much stuff in it. It seems most logical to check the desk drawers first.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Well, the desk drawers certainly seem packed. Though the place is in disarray, there's a lighter and a pack of smokes in here, as well as a flask that appears to be filled with very old bourbon. If we're speaking in terms of things Fidds is gonna find suspicous, however, there's a plain manilla folder stashed inside one of the drawers.]

[terribibble]

[... Can he... can he take the smokes? It's not chew but it'll do.

He is definitely going to take a look in the folder, though. He's very familiar with the habits of men who have things they want to hide (Ford) and he knows what an unlabeled folder means. Something in there is worth looking at.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[He can!

They're...animation model sheets. Wow. That sure is something.]

[terribibble]

[They're his now. Same with the lighter. Hopefully whoever owns this desk isn't going to be mad at him. Or kill him. Ha ha. Ha haha. Heck.

Are they for a particular character? Or set of characters?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[They're for a set of characters, not just one particular one. If he's spent any time watching the films in the projector room, most of these characters will look familiar.

At the top of the pile is this sultry lady.]

[terribibble]

[Huh. He hasn't actually spent much time in the projector room, but he remembers what that exuberant blond girl said. Jess. Jessica. Could be a connection, right? Not that he's really one for solving mysteries, but he does like to fix problems and this makes him feel like maybe he's a little less useless.

He's going to pocket the page. Maybe he'll find that girl later. Is there anything else of note in the folder, or that drawer? If not he'll move on to the next.]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Actually, there are a lot of other model sheets in here. As soon as Fidds pockets that page, he's going to see this handsome fellow.]

[terribibble]

[Aw. That one's almost kind of cute. Like the cartoons Tate used to watch. And under the rabbit? Are there more?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Three more. There's this little guy,, a taxi cab and...this one seems a little creepy.

In fact, looking around the room, there's a lot of film posters that feature these characters. That last one doesn't seem to be on any of them.]

[terribibble]

[Huh. Maybe he was for something still in production? Or a design that got scrapped. Fiddleford wouldn't know the first thing about how cartoons are made, he couldn't begin to guess. Is there anything interesting about the posters, other than the characters featured on them?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[There's a few poster frames on the wall, and they each seem to utilize the same cast - the girl, the rabbit, the baby, the taxi. Each of the posters features at least one of those characters, with titles like "Something's Cookin'", "Trail Mix-Up" and "Roger's Baby Buggy Blunder" There's one poster frame that's been emptied, with a torn blue edge still visible.]

[terribibble]

[... Huh. Now see, he's not really genre-savvy enough to immediately think 'that might be a clue'. But he's anxious and fidgety enough to be bothered by how it looks. Either that frame needs to have a full poster in it or it needs be empty. He's the kind of man who quintuple-checks his equations and has to drop everything and solve his favorite cube puzzle every time it's even a little bit out of whack, there's no way he can let that go.

Which is to say, he's going to see if he can remove that torn piece.]

commisary

[pinkflip]

[After all that, it's time to get something to eat. And look, there's a man there! One she hasn't spoken to, and who looks...pretty... Yikes.

Kim approaches hesitantly, fingers laced together at her stomach, and when she gets close, she leans over to say hello.]

Hi there. I'm Kimberly. You were at the weird announcement, right?

[terribibble]

[Now lucky for Kimberly, he specifically positioned himself facing the door so he wouldn't get surprised by someone showing up unannounced. That's happened before. He doesn't want to drop these beans, they're all that's keeping him going. He does still look at her like she might bite him, though.]

Both of them, yes.

[It takes him a little too long to realize he should probably give her his name, too. Proper introductions are hard to remember when everything else is so hecked.]

Name's Fiddleford. Dr. Fiddleford McGucket.

[pinkflip]

Oh, you're a doctor? [She'll take a seat across from him, trying for an encouraging smile.] What kind?

[terribibble]

Mechanical engineerin'. So probably not much good here.

[pinkflip]

Makes ya feel any better, I'm kind of the same way. Gymnasts aren't made for a lot of sleuth work...but we're gonna get out of here, you know?

[terribibble]

You think so?

[He doesn't sound all that convinced but he'd kind of like to be.]

[pinkflip]

I know so! I've- I've got it on good authority. There're people in my town who'd never let m- any citizen go missing. We've got superheroes out looking for us, swear it.

[terribibble]

... Superheroes.

[You had him like right up until that, Kimberly.]

[pinkflip]

Aww, c'mon, superheroes are supposed to be encouraging! [She winks.] Promise I'm telling the truth. There's a team of them guarding my city.

[terribibble]

I mean. Y'have to forgive me but it just sounds...

[Far-fetched. He's about to say far-fetched, after everything he's seen (or has the vaguest recollection that he's seen). After waking up here with no explanation. There's a talking cricket here. Are superheroes so impossible?]

Well. Guess it doesn't sound any more odd than the rest of all this.

[pinkflip]

I getch'ya. [A little grin, and a little giggle.] I didn't believe it when they first showed up, but now...

Well, they've never let me down before. They're not about to start now.

the apostrophes Begin

[terribibble]

I really and truly hope you're right about that. Seems to me if there was a way out from the inside someone'd've found it by now.

Aside from. Y'know. I mean no one's goin' to. It's insane.