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

[dogmetaphors]

He wasn't actually present when we were there.

The spell he used to turn all of those people into puppets is called the Zhenlong Chess Formation, it...

[...wait. Should he still pretend like he doesn't know anything about it?]

The person who cast the spell can create a white chess piece to control the black chess pieces. So he doesn't actually need to be anywhere near the lake.

[skyaflame]

And this is a man and not another dragon, is it?

[ Because... That seems more like a dragon to him. ]

[dogmetaphors]

He's human.

I don't think a dragon would use one of the Three Forbidden Spells.

[skyaflame]

I'm not sure what the forbidden spells entails, but the dragon I know certainly does as he likes.

[dogmetaphors]

[Mo Ran shakes his head.]

I believe you, but... this person is human. He was after the holy weapons stored in the lake, but they were destroyed before he could make use of them.

[skyaflame]

Holy weapons stored inside a lake... [ isn't it strange how familiar some things feel like even in another world? ]

What's the use in all of that? Needing holy weapons and forbidden spells... What's the end goal? That's probably how you can find your killer.

[dogmetaphors]

I agree.

[Mo Ran scratches at his head.]

The thing is, he's no master of the spell. He wouldn't need to kill people first if he were.

[How Mo Ran knows this is probably another story, uh.]

[skyaflame]

That doesn't narrow down your suspects? Don't have a socerer to spy on them, I suppose...

[dogmetaphors]

It's a forbidden spell; people don't exactly advertise knowing them.

And it's hard to spy on someone if you don't know where or who they are.

[Still, he has been giving it a lot of thought.]

[skyaflame]

Hmm. Spying doesn't need to be so specific. If you have many, you're bound to hear something useful. You can narrow it down from there or persue different avenues.

[ There's no ethics if you want to play politics and all. ]

[dogmetaphors]

...You're used to this sort of thing, huh?

[Mo Ran sighs.]

You're overestimating the influence I have. I'm a disciple; I don't really have any desire to manage so many people even if I could.

[There's definitely a sense he's done just that before, though.]

[skyaflame]

Something like that. Enemies and allies alike have to engage in that sort of thing, whether it's on the battlefield or elsewhere.

Then, have someone else with that sort of influence do it for you. Which of course can't be done right away, but if you have time to be here, I'm sure you'll have time to work on other endeavors as such.

[dogmetaphors]

The sect I'm in is small. I won't trouble Uncle with hunches, not when the other sects already don't take him seriously.

[Hmm...]

I have another two years before my shizun wakes up. I'm sure he'll have ideas.

[skyaflame]

If your master is that reliable, then why not I suppose? Of course, situations may change with time though, so it's good to plan ahead.

[dogmetaphors]

I'm really no good at that sort of thing.

[Mo Ran is awful at planning ahead and knows it.]

[skyaflame]

Mayhaps that's what you can work on while you're here then? You can't leave everything up to your master forever.

[dogmetaphors]

[..............................]

Why not?

[Wait, hang on. Let him add to that.]

I plan on being there for him forever.

[skyaflame]

So you plan on burdening him forever with your problems? I think my teacher would have given up on me on the spot if I told her something like that.

[dogmetaphors]

I convinced the Ghost King of Hell to let him go because we were married, why would I be burdening him?

[He just said that with his whole chest in front of the cameras and everything.]

1/2

[skyaflame]

[ .... How childish. ]

2/3

[skyaflame]

[ He's a little bit envious though... ]

3/3

[skyaflame]

Ghost kings of hell care about marriages?

[dogmetaphors]

He was obsessed with marrying "beauties". I told him he couldn't keep my shizun because he was already married to me. So he told us if we could pass through the barrier without it destroying our souls, he'd let us go. And we passed through the barrier.

[And then the Ghost King found out that Mo Ran was still alive, but that's not important!]

[skyaflame]

[ ...... ]

It's worrisome such a figure would be worried about such frivolous affairs such as "beauties."

In any case, isn't that more reason to work harder? A student should surpass the master, a husband should protect their spouse.

[dogmetaphors]

Mm, I don't really get it either.

[Oh, well. He's not worried because it's not like he'll have to interact with the Ghost King when he actually dies because of the whole marriage thing.]

I'll be there to protect my shizun when he wakes up. I don't plan on letting anything bad happen to him ever again.

[He might not be smart enough to figure out who massacred everyone in the lake, but that? He can do.]