WEEK 6

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Another week has come and gone, and three more people are dead. Nearly half of the guests are dead in a little over a month. The ghosts are still not reacting, and with Demyx's execution one has to wonder if the ghosts are even here anymore.

In the very least one more floor has been opened up: the trophy room, a shooting gallery, and a bathing room.

... Maybe keep Kiara out of the trophy room.

14 guests remain.]

[ SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY ]

{OOC: Don't forget to fill out your Week 5 Activity Check!}

Comments

[chainbroke]

I was lonely.

[ She knows. She knows how badly she screwed up. ]

I'd been alone my entire existence. Marluxia and Larxene told me that using my power to manipulate Sora would be the only way I could make a friend. And I believed them.

[ She hates herself for it every day. Even after Sora forgave her... ]

What I did... it was terrible. I shouldn't have done it, I know that. But I did, and the only thing I could do was fix it. I did, but... that doesn't erase the fact that I hurt Sora.

[terribibble]

[I... I just wanted attention.

Man it would be funny if it wasn't so sad, wouldn't it?]

Well... well no. You can't erase the things you've done. I mean you can when you're... when you can do the things that we can do. But you can't undo the fact that it happened. And I'm startin' to figure it's better not to hide from it.

[Which is very, very difficult for him to say when he spent so long convincing himself that was the good solution, the right solution.]

I've hurt folks here and there's no way to get away from that when we're all stuck in the same house, y'know. And I've tried makin' it up to them and some of them haven't always forgiven me entirely [Star] but I figure that's just how things are. You do your very best and that's all anybody can ask.

[chainbroke]

There's really no use in hiding from it, is there? It would be easier to, but... in the end, I think that would only make things worse.

[ It's hard, to confront the things she's done. But running from it would mean she'd be protecting herself, and that's not fair to Sora. Not after he had come so, so close to becoming Marluxia's puppet. ]

Mm. Making mistakes is... normal, isn't it? But I think how you approach the aftermath is more telling.

[terribibble]

I'd say that's right. I work a lot with math, y'know, where one little mistake can make everythin' go wrong and even quintuple-checkin' my work doesn't always catch it. And I've never just... just shoved the paper into a drawer and pretended I never tried in the first place.

[Which, now that he's put it like that, makes everything he did look extra stupid. He prods his own toast awkwardly around on his plate.

He thinks still, very often, about Mulan and how bad the mistake she made was and how calmly and bravely she faced the consequences. The issue he's always had is that he's not strong in that way and he never has been and he's beginning to wish now more than ever that he was.]

Y'know I thought everyone would hate me. The ones that saw, anyway. They could have and I wouldn't have blamed them. But Mike -- [And god bless Mike Chilton for always, always being the voice of reason here] -- Mike said to me that it didn't change the me that's here now. And I don't think what you did changes the you that's here now either, and whatever else that you is she's also good at heart.

[chainbroke]

[ If there's one thing she's learned above all else in this mansion (and, there's a lot she's learned her, let's be honest) it's that people are kind. Startlingly, incredibly kind. And accepting, so accepting that when she thinks about it, about how Maui and Lefou and Ford had accepted her so easily, it's enough to knock the breath out of her.

Which is what's happening now. Quickly, she wipes at her eyes. ]

Sometimes... I think I don't deserve how kind everyone has been to me. But other times, I'm glad for it. And so thankful, so much that think, maybe, I do deserve it. [ She holds her cup a little tighter, lifting her head so she can smile at him. ] Thank you for saying all of that. For what it's worth, I think you're a good person. Even if we've done bad things... I don't think anyone here is bad.

[ Which is why all the deaths and the investigations and the trials cut so deeply. ]

[terribibble]

[He nods, politely not pointing out any tears there may or may not have been in her eyes.]

I don't think so either. I always try and see the good in people. I think everyone has some in them, it's just... it's buried deeper in some than others.

[And with some, the bad in them outweighs the good enough that the good doesn't matter, but no one here is like that. He used to think Ford was, but much like a lot of his other decisions he's been shown how wrong he was.]

Thank you for tellin' me about it. I know it's hard to... to talk about that sort of thing.

[Hard to trust. God, he knows how hard it can be to trust.]

[chainbroke]

[ She's inclined to disagree with him. People like Marluxia and Larxene and half the Organization have existed, after all. But after such a heavy conversation, she doesn't think it prudent to mention that.

... His thanking her takes her extremely by surprise, though. ]

Oh-- you're welcome. But I should be thanking you for listening to me.

[terribibble]

[Deep down, sometimes, even he is inclined to disagree with himself. He's just always been a little too forgiving, because the alternative -- assuming the worst in people -- would probably team up with his anxiety and paranoia to kill him where he stood.]

Lets just agree on thankin' each other, how about that?

[He pushes his toast around his plate a little more and continues to fail to eat it.]

... When my littlest sister used to need cheerin' up, y'know what always liked?

[chainbroke]

I think that's a good idea.

[ Otherwise, they'd keep going around and around in circles and never stop.

Anyway. She tilts her head slightly to the side. ]

What did she like?

[terribibble]

[He'd know all about that. Being from the South and all. Sometimes you get stuck in a 'thank you' loop that'll go on forever unless someone intervenes.]

She'd have me do up her hair. Usually in a braid, I was better at braids than anythin' fancy.

[chainbroke]

[ Her face sort of lights up at that. ]

I don't mind if you braid my hair. I'm not sure how I'd look with one, but I don't mind at all.

[terribibble]

[Well if that doesn't just melt his heart a little. He's glad she likes the sound of the idea, too, because he can very well imagine she might not have. He knows he's not the person in this house she's closest to, not by a long shot.

It's just... he's gone an awful long time without seeing his family or his son. He wouldn't ever presume to consider himself fatherly to anyone in this house, that's not a point he feels you can reach in such a short time, but he can at least be sort of uncle-ish. That'll be good enough.]

I'm sure you'll look just fine -- and if you don't like it it's awful easy to take out again.

[He stands and walks around to where she's sitting.]

You don't mind me combin' it out with my fingers a bit first?

[chainbroke]

No, not at all. Go ahead.

[ It's amazing, when she thinks about it, how many gifts she's received here. Trust. Kind words. A slice of cake, a song sung with a friend. Now, her hair done up. It's a simple gesture, but it's a show of just how much she's grown to care for and trust everyone here. Weeks ago, she'd have been extremely wary about anyone touching her.

Now? It's comfortable. ]

Oh, but I don't have a hair tie or anything...

[terribibble]

Oh, don't you worry about that.

[He runs his fingers through her hair, pulling it back over her shoulder but not concerning himself with much more than any particularly troublesome tangles. It doesn't need to be perfect, the way he does it.]

How I do it, it won't need a tie. My sisters broke 'em too much. We all learned to work around.

[chainbroke]

[ That feels pretty nice, actually. She smiles and closes her eyes, and her instinct is to nod, but she doesn't want to mess him up. ]

What are your sisters like? You really love them, anyone could tell that.

[terribibble]

Well, let's see.

[He separates her hair into three sections, then lets them go and does it again. Just like he quintuple-checks his equations, he has to make very sure they're even.]

Ukelily was the oldest girl, three years older than me. She was real practical, mainly took care of the animals. She had a goose she trained up to be a guard dog. Folks look at a dog and the figure there's a chance it might be friendly; nobody looks at a goose and thinks it's anythin' other than a menace. It was brilliant.

Dulcimary was six years younger and she liked workin' with the plants better. Last I heard she was tryin' to get strawberries in all different colors and wasn't havin' much luck. When I -- when I got married she pushed Ukelily into a fountain tryin' to catch the bouquet. She was always a little headstrong.

And, ah. The littlest was Beans, who was the one I'd give braids.

[He makes a loop at the base of her braid, speaking of, and pulls her hair back through it. There. Natural tie.]

Wasn't easy for her bein' the youngest of eight so I always tried to pay her special attention.