you tell me we can start the rain

Well... the snowing got quite heavy quite fast. I just hope I don't get sick.

It would be nice if the stormy conditions didn't last very long.

I swear... this place gets weirder every week as we go. Will somebody please explain to me... what happened just a few days ago? It's giving me a headache.

[private | hackable]

I haven't seen Saffron in a while.

However, that's rather comforting, actually.

I've been here how long...? Almost a year and a half, I think. It's nearing the end of October, and I am distinctly afraid of what this place has planned for us this year.

It distantly makes me wonder just how aware Mistress was of this holiday -- I'm sure she knew of it a little -- and what she'd think of this place's means of celebrating it. Not that I want her here.

I'm glad I can speak again.

It doesn't mean much to me, though. I'm very busy.

[Patchouli is seen, in her bed in the library, waking up after she seems to have been asleep a while.]

Hm... that's better. I'd almost forgotten what it's like to work in solitude... hm, how much have I missed? I haven't kept track...

[Static permeates post, making it difficult to decipher. The following is the audible part. It is spoken in a very cold empty voice.]

Another...

... broken toy...

... ending. Kill...

... suspect.

... any toy...

... time... win. Kill... feel useless.

[ooc: Full transcript of post, for Haruhi to be able to hear.

"Another one falls, another failure. Another broken toy thrown into the chest. This is not an acceptable ending. Kill her. Kill them all.

Still, she is suspect. I feel cold near her. She gives me the same feeling as any toy in this house no matter what she tries. Nothing at all from her. Still I must search more.

Next time, we win. Kill them all. I want to. I can't.

I feel useless."

Possibly done largely for effect.]

Sixteen. The Tower. A symbol of disastrous fate. Collapse.

Twenty. Judgement. Restart. Release. Renewal. A new beginning. Salvation. End of repression.

Four. The Emperor. Authority. Control. Discipline.

It is easy to miss. I can sympathize.

Two signs form one command. Half sixteen is eight; half four is two.

Eight. Justice.

Two. The High Priestess. Knowledge. Quiet disposition.

Can we piece this together? Can we?

[Ladies and gentlemen, this is somewhere outside the mansion. Though you wouldn't know it from looking. Around the area a large amount of objects of varying sizes and materials have been placed in a ring, and they have all suffered the same fate; they are melted beyond much recognition. Counting them (and you get a chance to, as the camera turns round to show each), you will count twenty. Four have been pulled into a tighter circle.

In the middle of all this, we soon see a very weak looking Patchouli. She is pale and looks all but dead.]

Jace... someone... [She begins crawling (with significant difficulty) in some direction as the camera cuts off.]

[ooc: She used pretty much her limit of power on each. Hence, she's very much over-spent.]

[The library. A small table. A Justice tarot card is seen again; from her perspective it is, again, inverted. There is one more card face down in front of it.]

I called it.

I'm not proud, though.

[She turns over the other card... The Tower. From her perspective, upright.]

[Patchouli is seen holding the letter of summons. She is reading it over, over, over. The back has had a design resembling a vertically-reversed Justice tarot card drawn in it. Obvious symbol is obvious, but still.]

Right. Right. In all my schadenfreude for 'her majesty', I can't find anything good or bad to really say about this. Suffice it to say, I recommend you all be on your guard, and all who can, carry anything that'll allow you to take notes. Communication devices, note pads, anything. I have got a really, really bad feeling about this.

Well... nice nap. Sorry nobody heard anything... been busy. In any case, back to actual research; I think that's a pretty good idea.

I'll start with one of the first things I can think of that I'm missing...

-> Can anyone tell me who is Isolde and what importance she has? That was from the memory-change last time...

Whoever can aid me, thank you.

[ooc: If anything's changed, she hasn't really noticed.]

[There is the sound of footsteps up on the top floor of the library. To a marching rhythm. Quite loud, too!]

--still to be done, have to identify a single obvious difference between beings on our side and mirrors, which could be mechanically detected. Maybe a way to open the other side without actually going there...

...should check with markets. Will need to restructure magics. Could use assistance from other wizards or similar. This'll take forever to prepare.

[This whole time she has not realized the recorder was on, and it switches off here.]

Feel worse every day. I'm ready to explode, but I'd take everyone with me if I did, I fear.

I...

Admittedly, I might want her back. But I don't know.

...I'm almost scared of this. The less sense any of this makes, the more likely it is to be awful. Might be time to build a few new spell cards.

[private; Kairi]

Can you... stay with me, until it ends?

Best to just... stay out of the way...

Right?

Until this is over, I'm staying in the library.

[[ooc: Sorry this is a day late, but I didn't have internets much yesterday.]]

Kaylee. You're not here for me enough.

[Video just shows Patchy, only in her underwear, reading a transparent book, then closing it and dropping it in frustration.]

I guess it could be worse. I know my way in and out of places, so I'll be fine to move around. Fortunately.

Well... that wasn't so bad. For once, I think the mansion actually thrust me into a position that was actually correct!

I don't think I knew Kairi so well, actually, before that... weird.

...sorry about the walls. And the floor. And the ceiling. I don't know what came over me...

[[ooc: Patchy, during the event, blew up a tone of things on the fourth floor. It was just a few of the building's interior walls, though. Feel free to notice holes in the ceiling and floor, too, on several floors.]]