fifth loop

[cancrymods]

SUPERBIA

On midnight of the seventh day, it happens again. Time rewinds itself back to the Executors' starting point, putting them right back at the beginning of the loop. This is now their fifth time experiencing the events of the Superbia loop. Some of the school's long hidden secrets are starting to come to light... but is it enough to bring them close to breaking the loop once and for all? Only time will tell. ... Hey, wait just a second...! Use this log to investigate during this seven day period and drop a comment down to the Investigation Request subheader if you'd like to explore. If you're continuing or building off of a previous loop's investigation results, please link to it in your comment. If you need a refresher on the loop mechanics, check out this post. Good luck, Executors.

Comments

INVESTIGATION REQUESTS

[cancrymods]

[heir_to_ruin]

Once he's done sulking Ruin is going to head back to the library to start poking at things... Chiron looked at the yearbooks but only this year's.

So what about last year's book? Can he find Miss President's junior picture? A feature page on the student council (maybe she was treasurer or VP last year?) More importantly can he find Miss President's friend from the photo that should be President?

[ourtomorrow]

Monarch is going to be a Terrible Truant this loop! Instead of even pretending to go to class, he is on an agitated Orange Butterfly Hunt.

The loop's getting shorter - he doesn't know what that means, only that whatever it is they need to do, they're running out of time in which to do it!

ACTIONS TAKEN LAST LOOP

[cancrymods]

[heir_to_ruin]

Just cleaning apparently!!! Rude

[emberserker]

Investigated, discovered the principal was gone, filled the pool with ice, and grew a feeling. Shh.

[heir_to_ruin]

[Everyone shows up on the stairs and Ruin, who had been in the middle of researching something, -a book that is now going to be reshelved and it was fucking midnight he doesn't remember a page number- shouts a wordless, frustrated growl of a sound before dropping straight down onto the stairs.]

Dammit!

[Punching the stairs might not be a great idea but y'know it makes him feel better, don't judge.

Yeah he needs a few minutes to sulk, thanks guys.]

[alcahest]

Ruin?!

[ they're all disoriented right now, and she's not sure what's going on either, but Mona is immediately crouching down to catch Ruin by the wrist after that punch. ]

You'll hurt your hand...

[etincelledefierte]

Hey. Ruin? Breathe with me. In through your nose, out through your mouth. Put a hand on your stomach, feel it go up and down. It’s going to sound dumb, but it’ll help you calm down.

[she’s trying her best]

[mementomoritz]

[Normally a fount of boundless cheer, Medic looks honestly a little exasperated by now, too.]

I'm going to have to redraw that entire diagram.

[She was in the middle of noting down some recent advances in her research. This time loop is impeding scientific progress and she is not okay with that.]

This has fascinating implications for the status and stability of the loop, but I still don't like it.

[crypddyd]

[Like Ruin, Lion is not handling the loop well. On the stairs he snarls, looking... actually better than he did last time? But still a little wild eyed]

I tire of this- our foe wishes to relive these halcyeon school days...

[A pained look crosses his face]

... then taking it from them- that surely will draw the rat out.

[Uuuuh, Lion? That might be a very bad idea?]

[alcahest]

Lion!

[ she's not angry at him, but she definitely is scolding him. ]

That's too extreme! We don't have to fight them!

[heir_to_ruin]

We've already figured out she probably doesn't know.

[Yeah he's still on the floor but he reaches up to grab Lion's hand, trying to get him to refocus that anger on him.]

And that would be terrorizing everyone else that has no idea it's even happening.

[And he knows, as impatient and angry as he is... Lion doesn't want to do that.]

[emberserker]

[Just last week, she would have agreed with him. Now? She hesitates before shaking her head.]

I doubt that'll work. After all, we already know who she is -- even if she denies there's anything wrong.

The principal's gone, after all. Not just gone. Erased from memory, just like the previous Student Council President. This is a rather new development, isn't it?

[etincelledefierte]

No.

[She knows she's going to have to fight, one of these days. But not until she knows who she's fighting.]

Not until we know who exactly we need to fight, and more importantly, who we don't need to fight. We don't need to go in guns blazing needlessly.

[calculated_risk]

An Awakening (open to just one person)

[It starts at lunch, when Genius and another student are splitting snacks and are left with one odd item left out. They offer to play rock-paper-scissors for it, and she extends her hand and pumps once, twice, thrice-]

Aw, too bad, looks like I win!

[She blinks, looking down at her extended flat palm. A sudden feeling slams into her chest. She blinks, looking around, and runs out the classroom door, panting and staring at her hands.]

I-I'm dead? How-how can this be? Who-who am I?

[She starts walking down the hall, eyes wide as she seems to take everything in with a brand new perspective.]

Catching Up

[Eventually after getting informed of the situation, Genius goes hunting down her fellow Executors, generally looking to fellow students over adults, though she seems strangely comfortable even around much older teens.]

So tell me, just how much have you discovered about this place? How much have you changed so far? Has there been anything new happening in this loop?

[ooc: you can also assume she's just asked one of these questions instead of all of them]

Library

[Genius wanders into the library, and finds her feet bringing her to an area with much more advanced texts. She slowly picks a math text off the shelf, frowning as she looks down at it. None of this makes sense...yet at the same time it feels more right for her to be here than otherwise.]

There's just one missing piece that could make this all make sense...if only I could grasp it...

awakening

[emberserker]

Another one? The effects of this Layer really are speeding up the process.

[This is stated by a girl leaning against a pillar behind Genius, arms crossed.]

It behooves me to inform you that you're not alone, new Eidolon. Not by far.

[schardynfreude]

[The loop is shorter. It's only a week, this time, he thinks? And they merely appear there at the stairs again.

The others are frustrated, or talking it out. Chiron laughs. It's a startled little chuckle at first, but then it builds into what seems like genuine amusement, and then...builds off of that into something a little tinged with mania.

It was the middle of the night, so he didn't feel the need to cover himself up. If one looks, they can see his skin is of a much paler pallor. Dark lines follow his veins, along his face, down his neck, even along his fingers, and a substance that appears not unlike pneuma seems to drip and stain from his mouth, from his eyes--eyes that have turned dark, sclera pitch black and giving his gold eyes a further unnatural glow about them.

The laughter dies down before it gets, uh, too out of hand, and he sniffles like he genuinely heard something absolutely hysterical. Hand to his face as the shake of his shoulders passes, and pushes back his unruly hair.]

My, we'd best figure this one out quick. Lest we stay here forever. [That probably should not be said with a lopsided grin and such a cheerful tone.]

[mementomoritz]

Yep, that sure would suck- ooooh.

[Patient spotted. Mercifully, he's at least managed to head off most of her initial questions at the pass by having that whole conversation with her earlier.]

Can I please have a sample? I can confirm for you whether or not that's a psychegenic appearance shift in a jiffy! [She pauses a moment, and adds conscientiously:] A "jiffy" is here defined as anywhere from five minutes to one hour, depending on if anyone else is already using the science labs right now.

[alcahest]

[ everyone seems to be so — brittle over this. it isn't as if Mona isn't worried herself about their situation, but... Ruin's frustration, Lion's rage, and now Chiron too. she's far more concerned about her friends in this moment than their objective here. besides, there's nothing she can do about Superbia's problem right now. at least she can try to help the others.

she isn't sure what to say to Chiron, though. she isn't sure what brought on that laughter, or why lately he seems to be poised at the brink of some terrible precipice, or why he looks so ill. it's disheartening, how little she understands. being useless in solving the mysteries and troubles they've encountered is one thing; it hurts far more to be useless in this.

at a loss for words, all she can do is reach out and clutch the hem of his sleeve. she's tense with anxiety, but all the same, her expression bleeds compassion. ]

[discutio]

...Chiron?

[he is, uh...concerned]

What's going on?

[ourtomorrow]

[ ....He hadn't been seeing things.

He'd thought it was a trick of the light, back when fighting the Revenant. Dismissed it as his own mistake. His imagination.

But it wasn't. ]

Chiron.....san....?

student-faculty luncheon boogaloo

[schardynfreude]

[So...presumably everyone's going to do...chess club lunch get-together talk about what's learned have snacks maybe get a mystery knock on the door.

Chiron's also here, tucked into a corner of the room, munching on chips and playing chess seemingly with himself given the way he spins the board to play each side. The sunglasses are back on, but his skin and face and general Everything seems to be clear at the moment? So. There's that.

Share what you've learned with the class, everyone! Now that, in theory, you're rested and not burning things down. (IN THEORY.)]

[emberserker]

[EXCUSE]

I found something a little interesting, shall we say.

[Wolfsbane rests her elbows on the desk and folds her hands in front of her face.]

Much like the records of the last Student Council President have faded and the Spectres no longer remember her, the same has since happened to the principal. Just as the loops began to shrink, at that. The office is still there, unchanged, but nobody so much as acknowledges it belongs to anybody.

So I believe not only was the principal a red herring that led us around for far too long, but Miss President, as it were, is either keeping a tighter leash on things or simply falling apart.

[ourtomorrow]

[ Monarch is flopped face-down on a desk in a corner of the room. He'd tried so hard to pace himself while searching for that butterfly. Tried so hard to remind himself that the Layer wasn't that large, that if he did a thorough job he'd find it eventually.

He has now combed every inch by methodical inch of campus. And then backtracked - he had been looking for a moving target, after all.

He'll be very embarrassed if anyone approaches him, because his eyes are shut and his breathing is soft and steady.

The boy fell asleep. ]