Peace Week

[mockmods]

[So, with introductions made, you're all left to your own devices for the time being. Explore, make friends, try not to go insane in your new surroundings. Maybe organize a game of that Trailseeker thing? Your time is your own.]

[You are woken every day at 7:30 AM by the same robotic voice that woke you on day one. At 11pm each night, a similar message plays reminding everyone about the start of quiet hours and dimming the lights.]

[If you want to talk to Penny, she can be found in the Security Office if she's not anywhere else in the Facility. Office hours appear to be whenever.]

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

((Please tag any investigation toplevels as such, and ping the mods on Plurk or discord if possible!))

Comments

[mightdoriya]

[Mercifully, Izuku isn't there when the explosion goes off. He'd been in the Common Room, but definitely close enough to hear and feel the way it rocks the entire building. His notebook tumbles from his lap as he moves without thinking, running towards the direction of the sound of the blast only to just round the corner as the smoke from it is beginning to clear.] What ha-!? [He starts, but he's caught off guard by Penny suddenly shoving past him, causing him to falter and stumble to a stop. Only then is he able to look past her and onto the scene, his eyes falling on the silhouette that's so...strange for his eyes to comprehend that he can't quite suss out what exactly just happened here. What...just happened here?]

[mockmods]

[You know how in cartoons, when someone sets off a stick of dynamite and it leaves a little outline of them against a wall or whatever?]

[This isn't really anything like that, but it might be kind of similar if you squint, and ignore the smell of burned human.]

The Trusty overstepped his boundaries. The Assistant failed to effectively dissuade him from future transgressions, so I stepped in personally. Is that sufficient explanation for you, Shounen?

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku listens to the voice as it explains to him what happened, but only...sort of. He doesn't come any closer to the site of the blast, because he doesn't really have to to see that someone just died and he will not be going any closer than this, thank you. Actually...the one thing keeping him anchored is the fact he's being spoken to, and he has someone to answer. So he does, quickly, his voice clipped and his feet rooted to the floor.] What did he...do to overstep boundaries? [What on earth did he do to deserve being blown up on the spot, basically. Adreniline is also a hell of a thing for Izuku, as it tends to be, so it's likely the full gravity of what just happened isn't going to hit him until he's coming down from that.]

[mockmods]

[Please, Izuku. Incinerated, not blown up. Possibly vaporized. ...By a very large explosive fireball.]

He was attempting to force access to a locked area of the Facility.

[All this still in the same pleasant tones that have informed everyone of the start and end of the day in your time here, like the Researcher is just discussing the weather.]

[mightdoriya]

[Hey guess what, shut up, blown up incinerated either way you just killed a guy, man Izuku takes a shaky breath through gritted teeth, his mind racing.] Is it against any rules to be here right now? Are you going to do this to anyone else?

[mockmods]

Don't forget who makes the rules, Shounen.

[And at that instant, everyone's electronic ID's chime. There's been an update.]

I had thought that not engaging in breaking and entering would be considered common sense, but perhaps I overestimated you all. I will be more specific in the future.

[mightdoriya]

[He was juust about to ask about that little oversight. Turns out that it's not one at all.] The rules said we could explore freely. If he tried to break down the door then I'll concede to being wrong on that, but otherwise...I don't see much point in even having certain rules if you're just going to change them. [Izuku isn't going to stand there and say that breaking into the locked room was a smart idea, but...it would at least have potentially gotten them some kind of information. He can understand where the thought was coming from.]

[mockmods]

And you have been allowed to freely explore the unlocked areas of the facility. I can easily remove the rule if you find it too confusing.

Damage to Facility property is also forbidden. Picking a lock can be quite damaging.

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku's hands ball into fists, staying stiff at his sides.] And should we assume "punishment" means immediate death? [Just so we're clear, and all. This death was...needless. Pointless. Even if he was getting into something he shouldn't have...he'd done nothing to deserve such a horrific demise.]

[mockmods]

I am told being prepared for the worst means one will rarely be disappointed.

A trite aphorism, but generally correct.

[hyaku]

[Shigeo himself had missed everything entirely, having been in his room until he decided to go out and walk around for a little bit. That's when he sees Penny pushing Izuku aside, and out of curiosity he walks over to the other teen to see what's happened.]

Is something wrong, Midoriya-ku--

[And he looks over in the direction that Izuku is looking, and stops in his tracks.]

...i-is that... a person?

[It's asked with a lot of hesitation, and trembling in his voice.]

[mockmods]

That is a matter for philosophical or religious debate, 100%. Scientifically, the past tense is now entirely applicable, if it was not before.

[hyaku]

H-huh?

[No don't throw that kind of stuff at him he's stupid..]

The past tense...?

[His eyes are stuck on the body, while he talks to their lovely scientist friend. And he can just feel the stress starting to rise from getting a lesson in the middle of his brain trying to process what he's seeing and smelling.

36%]

[mockmods]

[Well, fortunately, there's not really a body left so much as a vague outline.]

Correct. Simply, this is an ex-Participant.

[hyaku]

Eh?

[His voice raises in tone, and he takes a step back.]

Th-this was another participant? Did.... did someone else do this to them?

[mockmods]

I did.

[hyaku]

..........what?

[That answer has Shigeo's blood go ice cold, and he suddenly feels.. very unsafe here. Extremely so.]

[mockmods]

The Trusty was attempting to gain access to a restricted area. The Assistant failed to sufficiently dissuade him.

I took action to correct the issue.

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku stiffens when he hears Shigeo's voice, glancing over at him as he comes up to his side. And for a moment he's...stuck, unsure how to handle this situation. From what he'd learned at UA, he'd be immediately trying to keep any civilians from walking up on the scene unawares, but...he doesn't think they're in immediate danger? So long as they don't break any "rules"... That, and Shigeo is his age. He doesn't feel right trying to tell him what to do, even if the sight before them is pretty grisly.] Y-yeah.

[hyaku]

Why...?

[Is all he can really get out at that. Why is there a burnt body here? What happened? Who was it? Was it a bad guy? Did someone get in a fight?

Did this have to do with that "termination" rule...?]

[mightdoriya]

He tried to get into a locked room. [He says quickly, his tone still a bit clipped. He hopes that Shigeo will at least glean from that that apparently trying to force entry anywhere in this facility is going to mean certain death. Which...that wasn't in the rules, as far as he remembers reading. He'll get to that, though.]

[hyaku]

He was.. h-he was killed just for that..?

[That's. Alarming as shit.]

I thought.... didn't they say that this place was supposed to be safe?

[42%]

[mightdoriya]

...I'm sorry, Kageyama-kun. [That's all he can think to say, right now. It was never safe here, Izuku knew that. It wasn't going to be safe. It just took until now for that to fully become a reality.]

[hyaku]

[The fact that that's all Izuku has to say doesn't settle well. He really did think they'd be fine here after talking to Penny, that this was totally different from his past experience where he and his friends and brother almost died but.. now it seems like it's worse.

Back then he had his powers. Back then he could protect everyone. Back then he had his master to protect everyone too but here... there's nothing. He's as easy to break as an egg.

And it's scary.]

...

[He doesn't say anything in response. He just stares at the ground with wide eyes, shaking as he tries to keep it together.

60%... 67%....]

[mightdoriya]

[Izuku recognizes a mental breakdown when he sees one, or at least someone on the verge of being Very much not okay. And...sort of out of the instinctual urge to protect, he takes a step closer to Shigeo and holds out a hand across where he's standing him, as if to guard him from the hard truth as much as the scene before him.] Nothing like that is going to happen to you, Kageyama-kun. I'm not going to let it.