Round 4 graveyard

[foundationmods]

[When your character dies, however that may be, they will feel themselves floating. For a moment or two they will linger at the site of their death, hovering just above everyone, watching.

Then they will feel a pull and they will get tugged all the way to the studio, through a wall, through the hall, through a door.

The place they end up in looks to be a backstage area. There is an area for storing supplies, a coat rack full of empty prinny costumes, a lounge area, and a place to rest. All of these areas are marked by a green border between the described rooms and the doors that go elsewhere. You will see prinnies come and go, hurrying around as they do their work for the day. But within those borders, some of the prinnies will take off their suits, revealing the human souls within. Men, women, old, young, there is a large mix. They are all very dead, though, and seem used to being dead.

And among all of the dead is one living girl, one who seems to be running the show behind the set. She can be found giving instructions to prinnies and telling them where to put things, but she will always take time to give everyone who arrives the same warning:]

Hi there! I'm Marona, and this is the backstage area. There's a lot to do yet, so if you could help us out I would really appreciate it.

All the areas with the green on the floor are safe to be in as ghosts. Your souls won't get pulled away as long as you stay in the safe areas. If you want to go outside of there, though, you have to put on a prinny suit. And if you do that, you have to follow the rules of the prinnies: no killing anyone, follow the orders you're given by the living, and try not to blow up too much.

If you have any questions, I'll be here! But you can come and go as you like. Just don't give Mr. Dazai too much trouble, okay?

Comments

[foundationmods]

[Nothing else to note of the power lines! Go infiltrate those buildings.]

[merirut]

[Welp, good thing Alcor was here because Sandalphon definitely wouldn't have been able to tell those lines apart. Infiltrating a building though... while he's not the sneakiest around, it's still more his speed than anything related to technology.

First off before attempting any kind of actual entry though: any obvious ways up or anything? Like ladders or whatnot?]

[foundationmods]

[There are ladders going to each building, yes. They are hidden among the bark of the trees.]

[merirut]

[Handy! And also logical because he doubts those guys know how to fly anyways. Are there any apparent blind spots they could use to approach one of those ladders or does it just seem like people don't care about prinnies wandering around... because if it's the latter, he might just make a beeline to the ladder.]

[visionem]

[ Alcor's gonna let sandy handle the scouting because he's no good at that kinda stuff when he's stuck on the ground. He will dismiss ogre though, so now they're just two prinnies and he's going to have to figure out some way how to walk very shortly but.

It's fine? It's fine. ]

[foundationmods]

[The houses tend to be on one side of the tree, so if they approach from the other side they should be in a blind spot. Once they get right under it, they can climb up the ladder undisturbed.]

[merirut]

[Success?! Okay well... Sandy's definitely going first because he doesn't trust Alcor not to fall on top of him by overthinking the use of his limbs when climbing a ladder. With that said, he'll at least be cautious enough to not just rush all the way up there.

So first things first, when they reach the top of the ladder, does it seem like anyone is around? He doesn't mind eavesdropping on conversations, but if there's no one there, he will enter the treehouse.]

[visionem]

[ This is a very fair assumption to make, and it may have happened if Alcor went first but worst scenario avoided! Now they just have a second worst scenario of a box trying to figure out how to use a ladder. He watches Sandy intently the entire time, making note of which rungs he used for each leg and flipper respectively. Using a ladder is more linear than walking because there are only so many options and one clear destination in mind.

When its finally his turn he takes a deep breath, successfully takes the few steps forward to reach the ladder—actually no he definitely wobbled a bit and kind of faceplanted into the rungs.

Left flipper, right flipper, left leg, right leg....left flipper, right flipper, left leg, right leg...

...................

Nearing the top he's memorized the exact flipper holds, the texture of the ladder under his flippers, and the exact height he needs to use to reach each rung.

Finally, he reaches the top and stands there triumphant, having conquered his personal Mount Everest. ]

[foundationmods]

[Congratulations, Alcor.

And when they reach the top, there is indeed one man sitting up in the tree house. Said man is currently holding a sandwich missing a couple bites from it, indicating that he was probably just eating.

He's also staring at the two prinnies now in his hiding place.]

Uh.

You guys need something?

[merirut]

[Oh shit they've been discovered--

Well actually never mind. It's honestly really weird to him how indifferent everyone is to the prinnies, but he won't look a gift horse in the mouth. How to approach this though. He looks at Alcor and then back at the man, patting Alcor on the back with a flipper in hopes of unbalancing him into stumbling/falling forward.]

...Can we rest here for a bit?

[visionem]

[ Sandy, just hoping is more than enough. Down Alcor goes face first onto the floor, but at least he still has the echos of congratulations resonating in his mind. ]

Climbing a ladder is an arduous task, dood.

[foundationmods]

That doesn't explain why you climbed it in the first place.

[But to this guy, a prinny is not a threat. They're just weird. So he sighs, and he pats the ground near him.]

Come on, go ahead and sit down for a bit. Are you hungry? Do you guys even eat?

[merirut]

[Uh. Hm.] It looked like it'd be fun.

[Unless you're a lavender prinny that can barely walk, but meh. Meh! He'll at least have the grace to roll Alcor over beside the guy though, before settling down himself albeit a little gingerly.

What are they even doing here, really.]

I don't need food, but coffee would be appreciated. [A long pause.] Dood.

[visionem]

Ah, if you're offering I wouldn't want to decline the invitation, dood. [ ty sandy you're a bro. Lavender prinny does sit up once he's in place, he's got that down pat! ]

[foundationmods]

[Sitting up is the easy part, right?

But yeah, the guy will pass a cup of coffee to Sandy and another sandwich to Alcor.]

It's not that great, the Foundation doesn't exactly give us anything good. That one black-haired kid at the house, Kurusu? He can make some good shit. You should ask him sometime.

[Not that this man has had coffee made by that particular Akira, but. Akirenbucks.]

[merirut]

I'll do that, thanks.

[He does mean it, though. It's been a bit since he's had coffee because he hasn't made it a priority since he died, so it is nice. As he stares deeply into the coffee cup, he comes to a pause as he contemplates how he's going to do this with a beak uh. ...Maybe he'll hold off until it cools down a little more.

So while that's happening, he'll take a look at their surroundings as they chat. Anything suspicious or notable here?]

But is this what you do here all the time? Eat and drink coffee all day?

[visionem]

[ It is, it is. Luckily he has ample experience eating...but not with flippers. Some minor fumbling before he just decides to go for it which is awkward but hey enthusiasm? ]

I would think it might be monotonous staying here day in and day out dood. Do you have times where you may take a respite, dood?

[foundationmods]

[There are several kinds of rifles and ammunition up there. This is clearly a bunker for sniping people.]

Yeah, staying up here kinda sucks. But we have to keep the perimeter, you know? Nobody's tried running away from this containment procedure, but it happens all the time.

Honestly? I'm glad they haven't tried to run. There's kids in there. I don't think I can shoot kids.

[merirut]

[Hm. That's good to note. Are the windows mostly situated in the direction of the house then or is it more like a ~360 degree view of the area around them?]

Sounds difficult. [He'll give it a pause to take a gulp from the cup because look he's gotta keep up the image somehow but most of it will definitely end up on the floor because what is flipper-eye coordination?? It's a myth that's what. But maybe he can use this somehow??]

...I'll wipe this up. [Stands up. Can he use this as an excuse to snoop through this guy's stuff?]

[visionem]

[ A small sense of satisfaction ripples through Alcor that he wasn't the one responsible for awkward flipper coordination. He's just been responsible for everything else, it's fine. ]

I understand, dood. We have to adhere to all of our duties diligently, though there are times we are fortunate enough to receive breaks, dood. Is making food and refreshments what you do on your break, dood?

[ Just gonna assume this guy has one even if his intention is to figure out if there's a shift/guard change or break time. ]

[foundationmods]

[It's closer to 200 degrees, so they can see both the house and the road. A wide angle of view, but not a full view.

Alcor is smart to distract the man with talk while Sandalphon goes for cleanup supplies/rummaging, too. He doesn't notice what Shandalphon is doing at all.]

Yeah, pretty much. It's 12 hour shifts and they're so damn long. I just sleep when I get back to base, and I try to do all my eating and stuff out here. It's not like there's much to see here anyway, not until my relief comes at 6.

[There you go. 6am and 6pm for shift changes.

Also, there isn't much in the way of useful information in the man's stuff, but he will be able to grab a walkie-talkie if he can sneak it in. Luckily the prinny body is fake so he could just shove it in his prinny mouth and 'eat' it.]

[merirut]

[.........Oh. This is the benefit to wearing a costume he supposes? Why is this a thing. He surreptitiously takes a look over his shoulder to check that the guard isn't watching. Welp, guess this is happening so. Chomp.

This is fine?? Who needs dignity anyways, he's already in a penguin costume. And who knows, maybe this will be helpful if they wanted to scream about moose or something.

In any case, he'll come back with like, one of the dude's shirts or something and use that to wipe up the mess. Sorry but he's gotta clean?]

So you don't get to talk to any of the other people watching the house? [A beat.] It sounds lonely.

[visionem]

[ Alcor totally saw that Sandy, but no one else needs to know. For now. He got what he was interested in, so just gonna keep chatting the dude up as a distraction. ]

That truly does sound difficult, dood. I hope one day you will be able to take on a better job, dood. [ If those exist within the Foundation... ]

[foundationmods]

Sometimes I do, but it's pretty boring most of the time, yeah. We used to chat over the walkie-talkie, but the boss yelled at us for it so we stopped.

[He shrugs at the mention of a better job.]

We all get crap missions sometimes. Maybe my next one will be better, who knows. This is honestly better than prison, so I can't complain too much.

[merirut]

[No small talk over the walkie-talkie then, noted?!]

That sounds like a harsh boss. Are they around here too to keep an eye on all of you?