vault113 | WEEK 1 MINGLE

'cuz it's a sin to tell a lie.

Week 1

As you sleep, you find your mind plagued with strange dreams. You’re still trapped, of course, there’s no way to avoid that, even in the comfort of your own mind, but you’re alone. Utterly alone. The radios and jukeboxes scattered around the place all spring to life, as if they’re speaking to you directly. On the other end, you see people talk about you. From your own perspective, it can’t have been more than… 48 hours since you were taken. From the perspectives of those on the outside, the times don’t match up nearly so well. It might have been days. It might have been weeks. It might have been months.

The voices discuss you. They discuss the way things have changed. They talk about how you just suddenly disappeared without a trace. Maybe they’re glad, glad that you weren’t around to see what happened without you. Or maybe they’re angry. Maybe they know that it was your fault. If only you’d been there, none of this would have happened. If you’d met up with that friend, they wouldn’t have died. If you’d been there to save her, things would have been different. If you had apologized, maybe… or if you hadn’t abandoned your responsibilities…

You don’t get the specifics either way. Your dream - or vision, it leaves your imagination to do all the work. But there’s one thing you can be absolutely sure of.

You are running out of time.

Well, what’s there to be glum about? The vault is your home now, lovingly prepared by Vault-Tec™! Who cares what some ghosts from the past have to say about you, eh? It’s not like you’ll ever see them again.

And no matter how deeply you were sleeping, The Overseer’s voice sounds out on the intercom and seems to wake you immediately.

“Hello, lovelies. We’ve decided to be extra generous to all of you, so we bring some good news for a change. I’m sure in the last few days, you’ve gotten pretty sick of that walled off little cellblock you’re cramped in, so you’ll be positively giddy to learn that we’ve prepared and unlocked the rest of the first level for you all to explore to your heart’s content. If you’ve given up on ever getting out of here, make yourself at home. If you haven’t, well, there’s plenty of fun and interesting tools to integrate into your work whenever you decide to take advantage the former group’s complete lack of initiative or willpower.

Oh, and before I forget… check the common room before you go.”

With that particularly nasty announcement, you will find that the doors that locked the rest of this floor off to you have all been opened up. And in addition to that, the profiles have been made public, joining the rules as framed pictures in the common room.

And if you wish to contact your Overseer or her robotic assistant, you are free to stop for a chat.

NAVIGATION

Vault 113: a short-run murdergame

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maybe they were a sea captain.

[ He might be more intimidating if that poured-over slouch of his wasn't so pronounced. Instead, she almost expects him to nod off in a beam of imaginary ocean sunshine. ]

There's cherry-cola syrup. It's decent.

[ Wine and cordial, huh? Klaasje pours from a bottle of red wine that has the vivid hue of artificial dye, but the miniature syrup-filled bottle she slides over next to the glass of wine. ]

Knock yourself out. [ Beat. ] Not literally.

Captain Suzy... doesn't have much of a ring to it.

[Kind of sounds like something that comes on the brand name in a syrup bottle, honestly. What Belphegor wouldn't give for a beam of actual ocean sunshine (or any sunshine) right now; in the absence of it he picks up the syrup and squints at it, like he can see anything in the light.

Then he just dumps a generous helping. Gives it a sip and makes a bit of a weird face.]

Mm... I don't think I could knock out on this if I tried. Should have asked for whiskey.

[He is alas not a bartender nor all that closely familiar with human spirits (alcohol), so he's at the mercy of more or less wild mass guessing.]

[ Whiskey? Klaasje can oblige. If she thinks there's anything peculiar about his heavy hand with the syrup, it doesn't show in her calm, neutral expression as she measures out brown liquor into another glass. ]

A drinker with a purpose. I respect that.

[ She's never really been a 'for the taste' girl, herself. ]

And maybe Suzy was his girl on the shore, waiting for the captain to come back. Do you think he made it?

[Demons are creatures of indulgence, in many different ways, even if Belphegor and those like him tend to be more unique in their tastes and affectations. He placidly watches the whiskey, then just starts double fisting it with his weird cordial drink.]

... Better. It's been a while.

[Which might account for why he's just sipping, really, or it might just be a given mannerism that he also treats his drink like a cat would, just short of lapping at it.

There's a long silence where he's either appreciating the drink or the strange wallpaper fanfiction.]

I mean, if Suzy had to go and support herself in a hole like this, she either moved on or buried herself here. The sea's not friendly.

[ Klaasje has some experience with eccentrics, artists, and worst of all, eccentric artists. She's seen some interesting approaches to drinking in her day.

This one is new. It's a little mesmerising to watch. ]

It's a better story if she dies.

There's nothing in moving on, dramatically speaking.

I wonder if the Overseer has her bones somewhere in the back.

WEEK 1 MINGLE

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