River’s Notebook
-> Two groups with their own goal
Our goal: Complete ritual
-> Map: Apartment building? City? Building, ground floor off limits
-> Length: Seven days, no repeats
-> No shadows – real setting
-> Own identities? Same position as others in building (tenants? cultists?)
Rules
-> Be social/communicate
-> Don’t try to leave
-> Don’t walk around at night
Other Group
-> Papyrus (Strength), Soot (Knowledge), Acorn (Social)
-> Goal: ???
-> Acorn “knows” us
Situation
-> Morning bell
-> Meals together on second floor
-> Logan (talkative) is a friend, generally liked, no enemies
-> Viewed as lovers? Partners?
-> Seven floors + open rooftop
-> Feeling watched/observed?
-> Miles some sort of leader? Talks about other people’s lives
-> Possibly two opposing cults in here?
-> Security walks around at night, once an hour
Building
-> Ground floor ng (Fingerprint lock)
-> 1. ??? (locked), infirmary (with unfriendly/suspicious doctor?) (Selene, is nice to Acorn)
-> 2. Meals, meditation
-> 3. Rooms
-> 4. Rooms
-> 5. Library, open rooms (also sports)
-> 6. Some rooms + ??? (locked)
-> 7. ??? (locked) cultist room? Miles talks in the evening (no symbolism?)
Incidents
-> Night 1, Logan lost tongue (is conscious, otherwise unharmed? Accident?)
-> Night 2, Vanessa lost fingers + Iris lost ???
“What were you doing down there?”, Aspen demanded to know. His nose was scrunched and eyebrows furrowed, the very image of unhappiness.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Not good at it, huh”, Aspen grumbled, shaking his head immediately when River gave him a questioning look.
River was certainly not aware of it.
Miles and Acorn were the type to attract people because they acted gentle and supportive. Sure, that was a way to do it, but River had his very own weapon, and it had shown itself in a game before.
It was the way he could give people the feeling that he was leading them. That everything would be alright. It was how he had followers in the asylum who went beyond their limits.
If River offered you a hand and promised you things would be fine, there was something inside you that would believe him.
“It will be useful, so I agree.” He didn’t like it, but Aspen saw no reason to refuse another weapon. “What are your thoughts about the victims?”
“One yesterday, two today. It could continue like that, or not – we won’t know for now. Logan and Vanessa are both well liked, but the teenager isn’t quite like them. Possibly no pattern in terms of age, gender, or appearance. The parts…”
“Are odd.”
“Very. Tongue and fingers… I could see a tongue being something for a ritual, but fingers? That’s unusual. Also the fact that they were left in front of the infirmary, as if to ensure they’d survive and get treatment…”
“If what Selene said is the truth.”
“Indeed.”
The wind swept through their clothes, a comfortable chill in the otherwise warm sunshine. Aspen squinted his eyes up at the sun, enjoying its warmth as he was thinking. “The whole situation with Miles was abnormal.”
“You mean that he let us in?”
“That too, but what weirded me out the most was him commenting on you.”
“Right. Most people wouldn’t exactly call me a good guy.”
Aspen exhaled through his nose in disbelief. “Not that, you idiot. Your eyes. He said you have good eyes.”
River touched his cheek, just below one of his pale green eyes. He tilted his head.
“Back when I first met you, it was your eyes that convinced me to talk to you, you know? They’re unusual. Not the color on anything. It’s like… Like a doll’s eyes. An imitation, not real. Hollow – but if you look closely enough, you can see the flame of life flicker inside. I like your eyes, River. I do. That should say a lot.”
The things Aspen liked the best were those that were close to his own existence – apart from humanity, as far away from normalcy as possible.
You’re a good boy, River, I know it. You’ve got good eyes.
How could Miles, who was supposed to be a kind person, like this pair of eyes?
Uncertain what to think, River stowed the thought away for the moment. “…Let’s talk about him later. He’s too complicated. What is your opinion on our next steps?”
“For us to win the game, we need… The who – the affected people that are chosen, the what – which part, the when, where, and how. The how and where is something we’d need to observe, the who and what we might be able to work out, and the when…” Aspen grinned broadly, proudly puffing out his chest. “I actually had a thought!”
“Well, let’s hear it.” River crossed his arms, voice soft.
“Sooo. Logan was the victim from the night of the first to the second day. Vanessa and that girl were the victims from the night of the second to the third day, today. The game runs seven days, right? That means, at the very very least, the last sacrifice has to be on the end of the seventh day, before midnight!”
“Because after midnight, it’s the eighth day. Completely right.” Seeing Aspen’s proud look, River gave him a thoughtless kiss on the fluffy hair. “Rituals tend to be rather strict. I’m guessing the time might be the same or at least similar for every part. That, or there’s a pattern to be found again. We should be able to work out the needed time for our last strike, and also figure out when the next victims might be taken.”
“I’m good at sneaking around.” Aspen used the chance to cuddle closer to his companion. “Shall I try to follow one tonight?”
“It’s a risk.”
“I’d take it, if you agree.”
Their eyes met. After a couple of seconds, River gave his agreements. “Try it. If you’re confident, I’ll believe in you.”
“So then, we’ve got something for tonight. What are you thinking about for daytime?”
“Would you mind if we split up? I’d like you to use the sympathy you’ve gotten to form a stronger group on our side. Ask around subtly if anyone has an idea what’s going on. Maybe even imply there’s some ritual going on and that you’re scared about everyone’s safety. Someone might reveal something. I will move around a bit – see if I can catch Soot alone and get something out of her, or maybe out of Miles.”
“No problem. Leave it to me! We can split up naturally in the rec rooms.”
People considered them attached at the hip, but that had as many advantages as it had disadvantages. It would be better if people didn’t think of it as too weird to see one of them wander around on their own.
Together, they went down to the fifth floor. Aspen joined some others in a workout, and River joined a group watching documentaries.
They were animal documentaries, and the ones sitting in front of the TV were exchanging their own experiences and knowledge about whatever was shown. It was easy enough to become part of the conversation.
On the screen, the image changed to a tiny, furry animal cleaning its nose with little paws.
River immediately fell silent, staring in a daze.
“Do you like mice?”, one kid asked happily.
“I do”, River responded, his own voice far away as he watched the tiny thing run around in its nest. “A lot.”
The kid said something about a friend of his having mice and whatnot, but at that point, River’s thoughts were already too far away.
Two rooms over, Aspen was on a treadmill.
As he had chosen his clothes, all of his outfits were designed to give him a harmless look. Contrary to River’s, who focused on making him appear reliable and mature, Aspen’s wardrobe was decently offsetting a lot of his scary aura so as long as he wasn’t in a bad mood.
Following his setting, people acknowledged Aspen as someone who wasn’t too fond of interacting with others, his “lover” excluded. That didn’t mean there was no way at all to talk to him though, and many thought he was a rather cute person.
There was no music inside the training room, and so people started talking. When Aspen made his moves to take part in the conversations, he was welcomed.
Funnily enough, Aspen had always had an easier time getting along with men, who for some reason were quicker to overlook the predatory glint in his eyes compared to women.
“Working off my bad mood”, Aspen gave as the answer when asked why he was training so aggressively today.
“Something wrong with River?”
“No, not with him.”
Give half an answer and people will fill in the other half themselves. Not with River, but with someone else, and the “fight” between them and Acorn’s group had already reached every single person’s ears.
“You went to the infirmary again, didn’t you?” Fascinating how everyone would know where you had been, even if you didn’t say it. “Did something happen again? Maybe we can give you some tips or something. You know, share our experiences.”
Right, right came the nods from several others.
“Hmm, yeah. Your experiences might help me think of how to deal with this.” Aspen gave a blinding grin that showed his little sharp canines. The complete opposite of River, he had no interest in puppeteering humans to follow along with his play, so he was happy to see that it didn’t take a lot of effort for him to get where he wanted to be. “Well, here’s the situation…”
Aspen personally thought he could lie, but River had repeatedly warned him to not lie, or if needed, keep his lies as tiny as possible. The young man followed the words of his companion obediently, well aware that River always had his reasons.
Bit by bit, he retold the happenings of their visit to Logan and Vanessa, followed by their run-in with the teenage girls.
Although he wasn’t good at puppeteering, Aspen still had all of his years before prison as experience to call back on. He had practice in getting along with others, so he could tell what they wanted to hear.
It was a hassle, but worth the effort for River. After all, the poor guy was suffering enough as it was, so Aspen wanted to help.
Aspen put the focus on his worry for their “friends” and how troubled he was at the girls’ breakdowns. In between – and he made sure to really not give it a lot of detail – he did a little curve back to when Acorn had made some implications about them being the perpetrators in front of the teenagers.
If he was honest, he was already getting a headache.
He didn’t want to be in this situation, but his role was important, and he wasn’t going to ignore that.
They had to win.
“The mood is indeed getting tense”, one guy lamented. “Don’t be too mad with the girls, they’re very young and-”
He stopped himself, looking slightly sheepish while his eyes wandered over the still young Aspen.
“I mean, it is weird, isn’t it”, another whispered. “I travel a lot and I’ve run into all kinds of situations. I even had run-ins with the mafia, but what’s happening here is…”
Foreheads scrunched, thinking. Ultimately, they patted Aspen’s shoulder, one by one.
“Anyway, don’t worry. We will look out for each other. If anyone is acting suspiciously, you can talk to us!”
“You’re all so nice”, Aspen sighed. “Thanks. I just hope this gets solved soon.”
The atmosphere lightened up, at least until the door to the room opened with a slight creak.
Author’s Note
My original thought was to have River’s notebook be a fun little way to have you guys able to check on info from previous chapters without breaking the immersion too much. By now… it’s so messy. Maybe I should have River clean up his own notes, eh?
