WEEK ONE

[slowpokey]

Welcome to your new home!

"...Sweet Home: Strangers Strike Back. Airing this Sunday on Lulu."

That's how the video ends. That's how the entire presentation ends, the one that you've been given with a breakdown of what you're doing here, how to earn your wishes, and most importantly, how to use your phone. They promise you that you will go home in four weeks, and hopefully, you won't go home empty-handed, and that your hard work will pay off. Either way, your actions will undoubtedly make for a satisfying finale, and wonderful ratings week after week!

The price in exchange is, well, your privacy. Cameras will not be monitoring you 24/7 (they can't air super inappropriate content, after all!!!), but enough to capture what could potentially be your best and worst moments on the show. Maybe if you plead hard enough, the producers will be merciful and edit out some of your shame, but for the most part, it's best to be ready for anything.

Which includes your introductory day! How exciting. You arrive at the house on a bright and beautiful Sunday morning, and your arrival happens by waking up in a twin-sized bed. Those phones that you were told about are either right next to you or in your pocket; it buzzes with a very interesting song that's certainly telling you to wake up. It will not stop playing until you are awake.

With the alarm, though, is a notification on the screen: "TOUCH TO OPEN!" Tapping the screen as instructed will give you a set of instructions - though, if you don't open it yourself, it will do it for you after a minute. Those instructions are:

HELLO! WELCOME TO SWEET HOME DAY ONE! :)
PLEASE PROCEED TO THE KITCHEN! FUN REFRESHMENTS AND ACTIVITIES ARE WAITING FOR YOU ALL! YOUR WEEKLY CHALLENGE WILL COME TOMORROW. FOR TODAY, HAVE FUN AND GET TO KNOW EACH OTHER! <3333

The kitchen is filled with various snacks. Chips, cookies, cake, blood for vampires – you name it. It's there. It's entirely possible they went a little overboard…but there's something interesting about the snacks. Everything is in a locked transparent case, enticing you to unlock it by how tasty it all looks. How do you unlock it? It's simple, according to the little notes left on the cases. "TO OPEN, INTRODUCE YOURSELF TO SOMEONE IN FRONT OF ME!" The cases are indestructible and will not open until you do this simple task.

Board games are present with some classics like Never Have I Ever prompts, Monopoly, Candyland, you name it!

There's also some music playing in the background on a set of speakers. This is free for you to mess with and shuffle through the modern-day playlist. In fact, pretty much everything in the house is free to tamper with.

Anyone who partakes in at least 2 joint activities with different people (board games, snacking, fighting, dancing, getting up to no good...anything, really) will be rewarded with a complimentary bath bomb on their bed on Monday morning!

Take a look around the house, get to know your housemates (and roommates), and relax on this fine and wonderful Sunday!

OOC Note: The bath bomb reward is not going to be mod-sanctioned, go ahead and just assume your character received one if they interacted with 2 or more people on Sunday ICly.

Also, characters will receive a weekly stipend with enough money for groceries and a few luxury items. You can choose to do whatever you want with this cash, though.

Weekly Challenge

Come Sunday evening, though…that's when the Challenge is issued.

A notification appears on your phone that says "CHALLENGE!! OPEN ME." Doing so will reveal the following instructions:

Did we mention that we forgot to get commercials? Oops! For those who don't know, commercials are advertisements for viewers to try and scam people into buying things they don't need. This time, however, you're going to scam people into buying things that they probably need, for the entirely wrong reason!

Your task this week is to film a commercial with at least one other person. You are to take one of the household objects in this house and give it new meaning. That hairbrush over there? Use it, and it'll turn your hair any color, style, and texture that you want it to! Ooh, how about that washcloth? Wiping your face with it will apply makeup to perfectly suit the occasion! Y'know, stuff like that. It's not actually real, but we think it'd be funny, so work with someone and get it done! Remember, your wishes are your rewards, along with some other fun little prizes! :)

Commercials will all be played on everyone's phones AND the big screen TV next week Sunday! Get excited!

You can film your commercials using your phones, as they are state-of-the-art technology. There are phone stands/tripods/etc. that can be found in your bedroom closets for you to use. Go wild, go ham, be entertaining and have fun!

OOC NOTES: The challenge thread must have a minimum of three comments per character, though I encourage threading beyond that for the sake of cr. I will accept in-progress threads as a completed challenge turn-in. There will be a top level next week for reactions to all the commercials as they play on screen for the characters, but you're free to also thread out reactions if characters stumble into the filming in-person, etc.

The Rest of the Week

The rest of the week will have a fun little treat for the guests: Cats! That's right, cats will show up to the home periodically every day, asking for food. Feed the cats on demand and they will be satisfied. If you don't and they sense that you are walking away, you will have one unlucky event happen to you at some point during the week. What that is can be something as mundane as spilling coffee on your shirt, to having an accident so bad that you need to go to the clinic. The choice is yours.

...

Throughout the week, the following individuals will experience strange phenomena…

– On Monday, Luocha will have the misfortune of encountering a cat that really has decided it doesn't like him. It will try to bother him in various ways, whether it be attempting to scratch him, pee on him, nibble on his shoes…it will do this every hour for 4 hours today, starting at any given time of the day. It will leave Luocha alone afterwards, though it may still stare him from time to time…like a normal cat would. Maybe he can even try to befriend it…

– On Tuesday, Sakura will have a very specific struggle. The first electric or battery-powered appliance she tries to use simply will not work no matter how hard she tries. Even if she charges the appliance, it will not work. The one way to get it to power on is to ask it nicely. Insulting it will get it to actually move and smack her. Whoops! Time to throw down with some electronics?!

– On Wednesday, Jeanne will wake up to something very strange. There will be vines, leaves, and flowers that have grown all around her bed. It's rather unruly, actually, and inhaling the pollen for too long will make her a little loopy. Drunk, essentially, minus the alcohol. It is possible to get a hangover from this and nursing it will be done the same way it normally would be if alcohol were involved. The greenery will go away by Thursday midnight, but she can also make it go away earlier if she rips them out of the roots. (Which are in the floor. Don't worry about it)

– On Thursday, Avery will find a book on his bed when he wakes up. The book says My Diary. He can write whatever he wants in it, but if he writes something about any of the other residents, the book will drag him to wherever said resident is – in the house OR the town – and read his writings about them outloud, right where the resident can hear it all! Sadly, there is no way to test this out beforehand, as any thoughts that are unrelated to the other residents will be kept confidential. The diary will disappear on Friday at midnight.

– On Friday, Hakuya will gain a voucher, good for one day, for free candy at Sweet-E's! He can get a max of two full bags of whatever candy he wants. The bags are freezer bag-sized. The candy itself looks normal, but eating it will cause something interesting to happen. Hakuya will 1) gain a pair of shades that, if removed, will make another pair of shades to go on his face; 2) his top will turn into the equivalent of a disco ball shirt; and 3) party music will follow him around wherever he goes for the next 2 hours. Congrats, you're the coolest kid on the block!!!

OOC Notes

Welcome to the Week One log of Sweet Home Round 2! I had a lot of fun with this and hope you guys enjoy the game. Some important notes:

• Please do not literally burn down any buildings or property in this game. ICly, if a character tries, the house will immediately put it out via temperature regulation and built-in sprinkler systems. If your character has fire-based powers, they can affect people and objects but will not cause great damage to the overall building. Do not mess with the built-in safety precautions, please. There is an OOC reason for this that I will not disclose and please do not ask me for it; I am serious about shutting down anything that involves this at any point in the game. You will only get a slap on the wrist if it happens after being warned.
  
• Challenges are due at the end of the week, along with AC! See the AC + Rewards page for more information.
  
• Gossip Board submissions are essentially a way for your characters to get exposed ICly on any shenanigans they've gotten up to. This is purely on a voluntary basis OOCly. A link to submissions can be found below.
  
• OOC Plotting for Week One can be. found here! Feel free to reply to that top level with anything you're looking for.
  
• Feel free to ask any questions in the #mod-questions Discord channel! And please don't hesitate to ping me too so I don't miss it. Thanks!
  

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Comments

[twelvehundred]

I imagine that they are! I can hear their voices even worlds away, cheering their representative on and hoping for her continued success... [She looks so prideful and...almost genuinely touched for a moment, let her compose herself, this is unbefitting--] Ah, I can fill their hopes and dreams filling my body as we speak!

But you are correct, it is not a crime to be directionless in a new place!

[Still, Bakushin's brows knit a bit in slight concern.]

However, I do hope that you are able to find a goal to set for yourself here and fulfill it! Whether it be for your home or merely for yourself, you should always stride forward in all that you do, to find your own Kara way and blaze that trail for yourself, no matter the place!

[curvaceous]

Hahaha! You're a very sweet class representative. You actually care about your classmates, which is really nice, honestly.

[ Her experience is a student government that was mostly in it for popularity, so it is, admittedly, refreshing to see someone so earnest in her position. ]

Mm? You think so? Ah, well... I don't really know what I want to do with my life! A lot of things had changed for me back at home, so I've had to redirect my attention, to say the least. What's a goal of yours that you want to accomplish here? Let's brainstorm!

[twelvehundred]

Is that not the role of a class representative, to take other's needs into consideration and help them shine alongside myself?! Why, I would like a word with whoever yours are, as they are not doing their jobs properly!

[But ah, let's not focus on that--Bakushin's ears perk a bit when Kara brings up her situation, and she seems to nod her head as she takes all of the information in.

(She admittedly only takes about half of it actually in, but that's just because Bakushin has slightly selective hearing--)]

To be in such a directionless situation, humu humu...I can understand now why you lead an uncertain path in life, but fear not! Though you may not be a member of my class, I shall gladly take you under wing to forge your own Kara way! Perhaps what would be most paramount to that is finding what you are skilled in?

While I am in pursuit of the ultimate speed and convincing the new Headmaster of a direction and learning rubric that focuses on student freedom, that may not work for you, and that is okay! Is there perhaps something you want out of life, that you do not have now?

[curvaceous]

Oh, are they not? I guess not. Prom was pretty bad, so yeah, you can totally have a word with them!

[ Hehe. Anyway, Kara has no interest in being taken under anyone's wing, but she'll humor Bakushin's idea anyway. If nothing else, surely she'll figure something out for herself the more she talks to Miss Class Representative. ]

Hmm, that wouldn't apply to me since I'm not in school anymore. But that's quite ambitious of you. I respect that you're challenging the higher ups. [ Genuinely. ] Something I want out of life, huh? Mm... Maybe the ability to live a normal life? Does that count? If you're looking for something waaay more ambitious, then...maybe...to own a collection of the cutest fashion possible!

1/2

[twelvehundred]

[Bakushin will absolutely take that and keep it in the very organized parts of her mind, but she listens to the rest of that and seems to consider it genuinely. You can practically smell the gears turning in her mind, causing smoke...]

Own a collection of the cutest fashion possible...to give yourself the life you have long wanted and been denied, by surrounding yourself with the cutest things to wear, as if to spit upon life's hand that it has dealt you...

Humu, humu...

[...]

2/2

[twelvehundred]

COMMENDABLE, KARA!

[Bakushin says that brightly, extending her hand once again to Kara with a bright grin on her face.]

That you would take your life into your own hands! That you would work to seize that which is yours! Commendable, truly commendable! It is but a small dream to start, but it is an admirable one!

Come, let us not waste time here! We must find these cute fashions at once, and I shall be glad to help you if you'll have me!

[curvaceous]

Huh? Really? Wait, you actually liked what I said?

[ She was almost expecting to be told to be even MORE ambitious, so this is a pleasant surprise. One that she is actually very enthusiastic about. ]

Awesome, I'm never gonna say no to shopping! Let's go get something cute for you, too! Might have to cut out a hole for your...tail...that's real, right?

[ REGARDLESS, she will take Bakushin's hand excitedly. Gal pals!! ]