Author Topic: The 3rd Day  (Read 5853 times)

Offline Hanako Tachibana

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The 3rd Day
« on: June 29, 2012, 12:52:18 AM »
The new day brings with it a new newspaper.  This time, both of you find today's issue beside your beds.  As always, you can't choose not to read.

Well then, off you go.  Find out what you can before you become lost...
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #1 on: June 29, 2012, 09:14:40 PM »
Serako wakes up and gets ready to start her routine, but realizes that it is Sunday.  She wakes up and notices the newspaper by her bed. 

She wishes she hadn't.

The horoscope is nothing that she hasn't come to expect.

She recalls a woman with headphones at the cafe...  she had... green hair...  could she also be one of us?  I remember she was wearing headphones.  there were...  five of us there...  what if they are working through us one by one, killing us?

Reading backwards up the paper has its advantages and disadvantages.  She discovers what is footing the bill to this newspaper and begins to cry.  no sobbing, no screaming or surprise, just tears falling onto the page as she continues reading.

Ophiuchus...  that sounds made up.  Like- wait...    Her basic knowledge of astrology kicks in and the name sounds familiar.  She goes over to her computer and boots it up.  She glances through http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus , before realizing that she needs to be at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus_(astrology)

After spending a few moments fretting over the idea of a 13th star sign, she gets to work.  She's terrified.  She needs to figure out how to stop this.  it's killing her, and other people too. 

kagome kagome...  that's a japanese song...  I remember how to play that. 

Serako picks up the phone and calls the clerk from yesterday, more composed now, she explains what she found out.  She also tells him that she is about to try and save someone else.  That she has to or else it is gonna kill her. 

Serako Spends the entire day not eating out of nerves.  She knows that what happened in the park wasn't heat stroke, but she drinks plenty of water to stave off the heat.  She briefly has an idea and makes a mental note.

On the way out of the house, she grabs her trench coat.  She doesn't want to get attacked by whatever demon locusts the paper is predicting.  At about 2P, she bikes to a grocery store and picks up 4 dozen eggs and a cheap water gun.  She fills the water gun and jams it into her pocket.  she empties the eggs into a plastic grocery bag and bikes to the park.  She buys a hotdog and eats half of it before deciding to throw away the rest.  She begins her patrol.  Looking for the 13th sign girl. 

headphones...  probably headphones...  but maybe it is someone else.....
« Last Edit: June 29, 2012, 09:58:33 PM by FelyxZephyr »
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Offline DonQuixote

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2012, 09:50:33 PM »
I blearily wake up far too early.  I suppose that's what comes up dozing off in the early evening.  What time is it?

God.  It's six.

As I sit up on the sofa, I notice the paper next to it.  Goddamnit.  Might as well read it, though, I suppose.

Oh, look, another death.  That's hardly surprising.  Two murder, I guess, if you count this "H.A." shit.  And--

"Wha...oh, fuck."  That...that explains a lot, really.  So, she's been eating years of my life.  Out of some morbid curiosity, I glance at the horoscopes.  Oh, helpful.  I "may" learn something new.  I just fucking did.  And, yes, it did change my opinion on things.

"Goddamnit," I mutter.  "God...God fucking damn it."  I lie back, absorbed in this new train of thought.  "Let's see.  One year per issue, and the issues come every day.  That gives me...yeah, about two months.  Two months to live."

I suppose a part of me expected that I would be more...distraught over finding out that I was going to die.  I never thought about it, but it feels strange.  Like I should be breaking down in tears...or something.  But, no.  Just this sort of...irritated resignation.

"I mean, really," I ask myself, "what could I even do, anyway?  I'm not going to kill other people for this goddamn newspaper.  And there doesn't seem to be a way to stop it--I still don't know why I started receiving it in the first place.  So, I guess that's it.  I am well and truly fucked."

I close my eyes.  "God...damn it."

I lie like that for a few hours, drifting hazily between sleep and wakefulness.  I don't want to get up.  It's too early and I have no reason to be up and there's nothing I can do and it's all worthless.

Finally, at nine, I can't stand it any more.  My mind has begun wandering and I'm thinking about all the horrible things that could happen to me.  Some...are less horrible than others, admittedly.  Certain...ways in which she could draw the life out of me.  But it's still fucked up.

I get up from my sofa and slump over to the kitchen.  I should probably eat something.  I go to the refrigerator and open it.

*Clink*

Oh.  Right.  I still have that alcohol left over from when Lawrence came to visit a few months ago.  "Yeah, fuck it," I say.  I pull out the half-empty bottle of vodka and get out a glass.  After a moment of consideration, I put the glass away.

By the time the bottle is empty, I'm starting to get depressed.  I'm not completely plastered yet--I've got a pretty decent tolerance, after all--but I'm certainly well on my way.  Maybe I should have eaten breakfast first.

I collapse back onto the sofa and am surprised to find myself crying.  "Why?" I ask the newspaper.  I'm just drunk enough that it doesn't seem totally stupid.  "Why me?  Why would you do this?  Throw a beautiful woman at me, just to drain my life away.  Sure, I don't know what I'm doing with myself, you bastards, but...but..."

I pause.  What if...oh God.

"That's why, isn't it?" I demand of the still-silent publication.  "I never really had anything ahead of me anyway, did I?  I was just going to waste my time and money and not even get the goddamn degree and never amount to anything....I can't even pick a topic for my dissertation, for Christ's sake.  I was just going to be a stupid mess of useless."

I begin hiccuping between the tears.

"I guess....maybe I should be thanking you?  For sparing me from that?  I dunno.  Maybe Hannah was right.  Maybe I am worthless.  Maybe...maybe this is for the best."

I rest my hand on the newspaper.  She really was beautiful.

"So...yeah, I guess.  You can have me?  But...I dunno...I'd just like it to be...special, maybe?  I...I dunno."

I lie there, intoxicated, for the rest of the afternoon.
“Hast thou not felt in forest gloom, as gloaming falls on dark-some dells, when comes a whisper, hum and hiss; savage growling sounds a-near, dazzling flashes around thee flicker, whirring waxes and fills thine ears: has thou not felt then grisly horrors that grip thee and hold thee?”

Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2012, 08:02:01 PM »
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2012, 09:19:44 PM »
unkown will roll
Rolled 3d6 : 4, 1, 4, total 9


Phobia will roll (+4 for only threatened)
Rolled 3d6 : 2, 6, 2, total 10
DC 16

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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2012, 09:31:03 PM »
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Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2012, 09:39:14 PM »
Serako is extremely nervous, but she checks her watch and starts towards the lights, making sure that she has the water gun and the bag of eggs

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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #7 on: June 30, 2012, 10:01:21 PM »
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #8 on: June 30, 2012, 10:20:57 PM »
That's not what I expected.

Serako curses herself for not expecting children (the worst monsters of all....)

"HEY!  What are you kids doing?"

Serako is shaking in her boots, but trying to seem strong.
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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #9 on: June 30, 2012, 10:27:44 PM »
Most of the children ignore you, but one of them turns around and says something to you.  You can't make out his expression because of the mask, but you feel like he is smiling.

"We're playing a game.  Want to join us?"
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #10 on: June 30, 2012, 10:32:35 PM »
"I don't think that person wants to play your game.  Let her go and I'll give you my treasure."  Serako holds up her bag of eggs.
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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #11 on: June 30, 2012, 10:44:14 PM »
"We don't want to stop playing though~  How about, if you give us your treasure, we'll play with you instead. It'll be fun~"
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #12 on: June 30, 2012, 11:08:35 PM »
"Fine.  But you have to promise to not play with this person ever again."
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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #13 on: June 30, 2012, 11:17:09 PM »
As the words come out of your mouth, the song the children were singing changes.  No, that isn't quite right.  The song is the same, it's just that now the singing is coming from behind you.  And in front of you.  All around you, in fact.  You aren't quite sure when, but the children seem to have formed two circles around you.  The child who spoke to you is standing in the  outer circle, which is standing still and the children in the other, closer circle are walking around you.  Each of the inner circle children are wearing a bright sash, one red, one orange, one yellow, one green, one blue, one purple, one black, and one white.

Their song goes like this:
Kagome kagome, the bird in the cage,
when, oh when will you come out?
In the evening of the dawn,
the crane and turtle slipped.
Who's that behi~ind you?

As the verse ends, the circling children stop moving.

"Well?  Whose behind you?  And you can't look.  That would be chea~ting~"

Please make a Perception roll and an IQ roll.  You may use your best Perception modifier.
Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #14 on: June 30, 2012, 11:20:20 PM »
True to the rules, she doesn't look.  Just listens.

Rolled 3d6 : 6, 4, 4, total 14
Target 12

IQ check
Rolled 3d6 : 4, 4, 2, total 10
target 10
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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #15 on: June 30, 2012, 11:25:23 PM »
Seeing as you can totally see the children in front of you, the only possibilities are the child in green, the child in black, or the child in orange.
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Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #16 on: June 30, 2012, 11:26:50 PM »
1-2 green
3-4 black
5-6 orange
Rolled 1d6 : 1, total 1
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Offline Hanako Tachibana

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #17 on: June 30, 2012, 11:35:32 PM »
You announce your guess, and a stillness fills the clearing.  Breaking the silence, the child who spoke to you starts to smile.  Rather, his mask starts to smile.  A terribly wide, toothy grin.  He walks slowly towards you, then speeds up, then runs.  Faster than you can believe possible he reaches out a hand towards you and





"Thanks"





grabs the bag of eggs.  The fox mask shatters, and the illusion of a child with it.  A white fox holding the bag in its mouth bounds of into the forest.  The other children rapidly drop their human forms and bound of in every direction.  When you blink, the forest, the shrine, and your bag of eggs are gone, and you are standing next to the body of a woman in the middle of Moongate Park.
Girls do their best now and are preparing. Please wait warmly until it is ready.

Offline DonQuixote

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #18 on: June 30, 2012, 11:42:17 PM »
I start drunkenly singing "Highway to Hell."
“Hast thou not felt in forest gloom, as gloaming falls on dark-some dells, when comes a whisper, hum and hiss; savage growling sounds a-near, dazzling flashes around thee flicker, whirring waxes and fills thine ears: has thou not felt then grisly horrors that grip thee and hold thee?”

Offline FelyxZephyr

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Re: The 3rd Day
« Reply #19 on: June 30, 2012, 11:55:03 PM »
Serako collapses on the ground, crying, and slowly pulls herself towards the woman on the floor.

"Alizza?  Are you awrright?"  Serako shakes the unconscious woman with one arm and wipes her nose with the other.
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