Characters: everyone
Location: The sort of location M.C. Escher wishes he'd thought up.
Date: nights 211 & 212
Summary: I hunt for you with bloody feet across the hallow'd ground
Warnings: potential for violence, death, and psychological horror; please note in subject lines if any specific warnings come up!

like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
I want to find you tear out all your tenderness

Right, I've got a question.

[It's after lockdown, Alfie has done as much searching as he can with his injuries, and now he's laid up on the couch. He's in the mood to bother the network.]

These "waxing strips" that I've spotted in houses, the ones made for hair removal - what exactly is the fucking point of them? They're modern, I can tell by the packaging, but we've got scissors now; we've got razors. Has humanity truly not moved beyond pouring hot wax over themselves? Fucking hell, I'm disappointed in you.

[He's 90% joking, 10% genuinely baffled.]

Waxing strips - for the man who wakes up in the morning and decides he wants to take his entire mustache off.

[He snorts.]

No, no, I know they're for legs; the little pictures showed as much. Never much saw the point in taking all the hair off your legs, but I hear it's becoming popular in America in my time. Does this trend continue until we all do as the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians did? Do we pick up writing in little pictures, as well?

[Ginger's smiling face, for the first time in ages, is presented to the network without that extra underscore of mania. Toned down, she still radiates energy and optimism, but it reads as far less hectic, her eyes more focused, the tired circles around her eyes significantly lessened.]

Hi everybody! Real quick, I just wanted to let you all know that England and I have set up a post to make it easier and more, like, organized to submit sewing requests, as well as let us know if you have any sewing supplies you'd like to donate!

[She attaches a link to the following post. It's fairly obvious from how composed and grammatical she sounds in it that England helped her with the whole setup.]

Lemme know if you have any questions! Like always, we're totally here to help. We're still available through our inboxes, as well, of course, but it would be nice to have everything in one place.

[By the time that Quark posts this message, he's already been on his own for a few days. He thought he could handle it, but once Charlie left, it was like a rubberband snapping. His depression began to settle in on him like a weight, only getting worse the longer he stayed alone. He looks tired, and tries to pull a cheerful, normal smile on his face as he addresses the Network.]

Hey, anyone need a bite-sized explorer in their party? I've been making food runs for awhile, but I think it's about time I move onto something else. Charlie and I left plenty.

[And hopefully it'll last a decent amount of time.]

Lemme know. I don't mind traveling across town to meet up if I have to.

Characters: everyone
Location: mysterious, white hallways
Date: Day 193-194
Summary: Find friends. Get lost. Don't look.
Warnings: Potential for gore and psychological horror. Please note any specific warnings in your subject lines!

While confusingly similar, the area is split into a few different sections:

The Core
The hallways here are narrow and twist at a rapid rate. With how dazzlingly white everything is, it's easy to not realize you're coming on a turn and slam right into the walls. There are no rooms here--no one starts here, though they may find it while they wander. At the center is a large, round area, like the center of a spiral. There's a lot of air pressure here.

The Inner Hallways
The largest area, filled with dead ends, gentle slopes and twists, and, occasionally, difficult-to-see drops where a higher hallway intersects with a lower one without a wall to separate them. The whole place tastes vaguely like blood. Most rooms are here--most people start here.

The Outer Hallways
The outer ring of the ball of yarn. It's not as thick with halls and twists as the other two areas, leading to a lot more boring walking in one direction. It's totally possible to circle around the same path multiple times without realizing it, as everything is so similar here. Occasionally, footsteps can be heard just outside the farthest walls. Sometimes, something breathes. There are a few rooms here--some people will start here.


Remember to note what kind of eyes your character has in their top level!

I meant to announce this a while ago, but this town doesn't exactly like making anything simple.

In the aftermath of the Admin's announcement a while back about supplies running low, I took the liberty of looking into how our food is restocking. Nobody else had mentioned they were doing so, and it seemed like something we should know sooner rather than later.

[There might be a slight note of annoyance that she was the only one who thought about and followed through on this. Or if she wasn't the only one, the only one that's announcing the results. Not that she's going to go into a full day-by-day at this exact second. She's not a politician - she isn't here to make some kind of long-winded speech.]

Preliminary results are showing no change in how much food is being stocked in stores. Anybody who wants to know the full details of what I did in my experiments and how can ask for them.

That being said? My experiments were far from conclusive. There's only so much I can do by myself, and I'm not sure how much time we have exactly to dedicate to this. Don't get careless with food just because we think that food supplies are fine for now. That won't always be the case.

[And hey, on that earlier note of slight annoyance.]

And if anybody's interested in trying to do a more thorough experiment, or if at any point you or a group you're with empty a restock point completely, contact me. Or if you've done something similar and haven't said anything yet, now's a good time to add your own contribution.

[Haurchefant is holding the tablet in one hand, his features are serious.]

I wish to speak of the ill fate that befell us over a week ago and the air of discomfort that followed thereafter.

The workings of this place set us to hunt one another. It turned brother against brother. That was dark magicks at work, not our will.

[He shakes his head.]

Since then some among us have retained the eyes. Now is not the time to take a knife to one another, rather we must rally together. We must find a way to end this mummery, not perpetuate it through violence.

I know not who the Prophet was and I care not. What I care about is our safety. If we let this place drive a wedge between us we will lose this game, whatever it may be.

Pray, keep strong my friends.

[Zach hasn't made a network post in a while. In over a month, actually. The last time, he'd looked happy, had been ridiculous with Steph, doing a reading of Norfinbury's finest literature.

Right now, he looks gaunt, terrified, and sad when he shows up on camera. His coat swallows him up, and he's all hunched shoulders, not really looking at the camera. His eyes are still strange looking, the Prophet eyes still plaguing him. There's nobody with him in the frame.

He rubs a hand over his face, sighing loudly, before looking up at the camera.]

So, if math is right and all, today - or yesterday, or tomorrow - is my birthday.

[He lets out a bitter chuckle.] Shoulda known that even my 21st would suck balls. Heyyyy, I can drink legally! I don't have anything to drink! Happy birthday to me!

[He holds a hand up in the air in a fake cheer, letting it drop back to his lap afterwards.]

'Nyway. [Time to change the subject. He's got nothing good to actually say or offer, he's been way too lost in his own shit to think of what to do to help out on how to get out.]

I've been thinking about trying to build my laser cannon back up, but I don't really know where to even start. What does one need to build a laser? Can anyone help?

[He's not actually looking hopeful in terms of getting an answer. He keeps on looking down at his hands like he's missing something, the back of them obviously scratched to bleeding. Someone is not at peak health, right now.]

[The microphone crackles for a moment, Lutha struggling to get his tablet in place to speak properly. His voice is just as sullenly tired as usual, though his words have taken a sharp, cross tone.]

Oi. We need to talk.

Last I checked, there's over two dozen of us wandering around this nightmare trap by the museum. Still no food source. Shouldn't be a problem if we have that many people to go in and out, except getting rations takes time, and we can't just have two or three people working on it blindly. Yeah, I know, we just fucking talked about this, what, two weeks ago? But we need some better damn coordination than what we have right now or guess what? You'll all starve to death.

Look. If you're still stuck in this damn maze of tunnels, regardless of what the fuck you're doing, then say something here. We need a damn head count. If you don't want to say specifics about where exactly you are, then just don't. Not my business. I just need to know amounts.

If you're bothering to run rations for anyone in here, either say something here or just talk to me privately. How much you can carry and how fast you can get through this place without hurting yourself are key, and keep in fucking mind it takes almost an entire week to get from that museum to food and back.

[A pause. He lets out a tight breath, a muffled sound against the mic as he rubs at his face with his hand.]

And if you're even thinking to come over here to join the mess of people already crawling through here, use your head a little. Don't just add to the people that are already fighting for food unless you have someone around here to actually back you up reasonably.

Can we just fucking do that much? Alright? Sound easy enough?

[He doesn't answer that before the feed ends.]

[There's a very heavy pause when the audio starts. When she finally does speak, there's a kind of flatness to her voice. Moreso than usual.]

There's really no other way to say this. For those of you who knew Luna, she didn't make it. It was an anomaly attack.

[There's another pause, slightly more awkward. She'd rather have talked to people privately and not done something... hugely public like this. But she doesn't know who Luna was friendly with, really. At least Quark already knew.]

...I'm sorry.

( Closed to Charlie and Charles )