the_newlydead_game | ROUND 4 DAY 4

[For some reason, you feel good today...stronger. Which is great, maybe you're just psyched up for the latest ~fabulous event~ cooking from the ConAgra-McKee Foods kitchens...

[The Newlydead Game^TM ✨Super-Special✨ 👻Spooktacular🎃! 🗡Murdermance💘 at the 💀Murder Manse🏚!

[The house is a huge, Victorian monstrosity straight out of the mental idea of an Edgar Allen Poe story--delicate wrought-iron chandeliers and candelabra hanging from vaulted ceilings; ornately carved molding and flocked wallpapers, mosaics and inlaid wood floors. Most of the rooms seem legitimately old, cobwebbed and musty, with dusty dropcloths laid over the faded furniture, and distressing shadows cast in the flickering candlelight that never fails to not light up every corner, no matter how many candles are set up. You're not sure how the cameras are picking all this up with how dark it is. You honestly wouldn't be surprised if some of the taps in the bathroom actually run blood. A few of the rooms are locked, in particular a few bedrooms on the upper floors, and a heavy door off the mud room that's chained and padlocked; presumably it leads to a cellar.

[The exception to this is the conservatory, the one large room in a building filled with tiny, closed off rooms. One wall is lined with massive paned windows, another a huge fireplace, the others covered in stern portraits and other random Victorian-area knick knacks. And sprinkled around all of that are Halloween decorations, the kind more Pottery Barn than Party City. It's set for a party, complete with games like bobbing for apples and a spread of fancy Halloween "finger" foods and drinks that glow under black light. A playlist of seasonal hits like Spooky or The Addams Family Groove toots along near a dance floor. Need an outfit for the costume contest? There's plenty. There's also a smoke machine and a photo booth. In the backyard is a corn maze.]

Hellooo contestants, guess what time it isss? Why, it's only the best time of the year for sweeties like us! Time for Pumpkin Delights and Black Cat Brownies, the perfect treats to give to your trick-or-treaters this year! Now, even though someone's given US a trick today, we've provided a treat for you--a Halloween ball! Play with your fellow Casanovas, make your best impressions, and grab your favorite Sexy Pizza Rat cosplay! At the end, you'll get to choose from all the remaining contestants for your Marry-Kiss-Kill. And remember what we talked about last night--this time, if you deal to make it even, you're all going to be punished!

[With murder, Swiss Miss adds. In case you weren't quite sure.]

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At least...

[he shifts, frowning up at something]

Are you feeling better? It seems that there's an outdoor space here, and I was thinking of taking a look.

Huh? Yeah, sure, I'm fine.

[rises from her chair and turns to look where he's looking]

[It doesn't look like anything in particular, just more random pictures and crap on the walls?

[Wait, no. There's a glint of something red from across the room, like a flash, or a reflector, maybe. But who knows, firelight, it does that]

[That said, Kaiba turns away when she stands, heading towards the door to the outside. It's cooler than indoors but still warm for "October," the sky hazy and rather red-tinted despite it clearly being night. There are no stars, but a low, blood-red moon.

There're some outbuildings scattered to the side and a fence if you go back too far and what was once a patio against the house, but most of the space is taken up with what looks to be a well-kept corn maze.]

[She glances over everything but then comes back to the corn maze, wandering over to get a better look.]

Are the plannin' on havin' people race through that or somethin'? Or just wander through and get romantically lost, maybe.

[it looks pretty corny, though possibly a swath is just missing further up, depending on timing]

How long does it take to go from being romantically lost to just normally lost? Or is that proof of how long the couple is meant to last?

Nah, it's just romantically lost if you end up talkin' about your feelings while you have nothin' else to do, or if the stress makes your relationship stronger, or somethin'. Were you interested?

Being romantically found sounds like it would be more useful, to be honest.

[and before he can say anything else, the sky seems to shimmer for a moment, and then the vista below the house (because of course this house is at the top of a hill) goes from looking like some stereotypically creepy dead forest to what looks to be the husks of large, boxy buildings. large, dark shapes with varicolored LEDs trudge between them--a few seeming to notice the house and begin plodding this way.

at the same time, a sound like a great many people saying even more things all at once rises, punctuated by the appearance of a massive, multilegged mech flecked with blue paint. it casts across the yard with a beam of blue light, as if scanning for something. there's some yelling from the personas, and smoke begins to pour from the corn maze--you get the feeling that there is probably a large hole just past where you can see. the mech then begins clomping towards the shed, where you can hear ike and soren possibly running into trouble.]

[incidentally, a previously unnoticed monitor winks on on the patio]

Holy Honey Buns, you guys are terrible at this!

[Cassica's not really paying attention to the monitor at this point. Suddenly there's a mech destroying everything with lasers and that gives her a tiny bit of PTSD flashbacks. Just a little.

She looks around frantically, backing up a few steps.]

T-The hell?! Where did that thing come from?!

Good question!

[Kaiba is doing a pretty good impression of someone not freaking out, though his fists are clenched way too tightly for someone who is totally chill. It at least somewhat helps that the mobile armor's lasers seem to only be for scanning so far; save for when it stepped on the shed, the actual destruction seems to be coming from your gamemates' weapons/personas/dragons and whatnot (though since when was that a thing anyway?)]

This can't be real. This has to be VR or some sort of lucid dream space or something...

[or maybe it doesn't matter and he's just talking since he's not sure what else to do as a real normal ("""normal""") person with nothing super but ego. At least the action doesn't seem to be coming all the way up to the house yet.]

What do-- Are you okay?

I'm fine.

[Her voice is strained. She is not fine. She would be fine in a car, but outside it she is very aware that she is ALSO just a normal person with no superpowers. She keeps looking around for a course of action, words coming quick.]

No. It seems more like, the other part was the simulation. For the show. And it broke? But I dunno why they're keeping mechs around... Should we go— [Then she finally registers the monitor and storms over to the patio to address it.]

You. The hell's going on?

You got the clown called in on us, and now our party's ruined! Just look at that stupid machine! Do you know how long it took to grow that corn maze!?

[she cuts off Kaiba before he can say anything]

You be quiet, Devil Cake. I can't believe you let those stupid media jerks in here! We are not collaborating with them!

I didn't get anyone called on any—

[she breaks off and looks at Kaiba]

What? Did you do something?

...I hacked into my voting console, that's what they were squawking about last night. But I certainly did not summon some robotic monstrosity like that.

[he gestures towards the spider-like robot shooting out wires towards--is that Akechi with a lightsaber??--and sneers at the monitor]

Really now, a blind man could design a robot with better aesthetics.

First of all, don't blame me, that thing's not half sweet enough to be designed by the good men and women of McKee Foods! But since somebody here shut down the firewall--among other things--those persistent data-stealers were able to waltz right in to our fabulous Halloween bash! Before anyone even waltzed, mind you! Ohhh, it's a travesty! Now someone's gotta switch it back on, or we're all gonna be bugged with pop-ups and sign-in prompts for the rest of our lives! Also, we won't be able to send you home. So there's that.

ROUND 4 DAY 4 - HAUNTED HOUSE PARTY

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