OPENING LOG.

[enjoyers]

Characters: Everyone!
Date: August 11th
Rating/Warnings: Nothing as of yet. Mark anything that qualifies a warning in your subject line!
Summary: Arrivals.
You want happiness. A company called RECOVERjoy has offered it to you, so you've signed up with them. Gaining happiness can't hurt, right?

Suddenly you're in a room, an apartment, with three other beds and unfamiliar faces. This is your assigned room, and it's quite crowded. You don't get much of a chance to think as your phone beeps--it's not your phone, maybe you've never had a phone, but there's one in your hand so you check it. It's a smart phone, nothing special about it, but now you've received a text from RECOVERjoy.

Welcome to Joywick! We're so happy to have you!

You've arrived in your assigned room, we hope you like it! Don't worry, you can move out once you've collected enough joypoints. Speaking of, if you'd like to check your balance, there's a special application that tracks it for you right on your phone! Handy, right?

... Did you check? If you did, you'll notice you have no joypoints. But don't despair! We're giving you a special mission. Make three (3) friends and get 200 joypoints! Gee, that's easy! Of course, we can't put a level on something like friendship, so just get to know people. Don't miss out on these easy points! We'll give you more information about joypoints once you're done.

Wishing you happiness,
RECOVERjoy : )

You're in this for 1 million joypoints, aren't you? Might as well get started.

(AFTER THE MISSION HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED OR ONCE 24 HOURS HAVE PASSED)

You receive another text from RECOVERjoy.

Great job on the mission! Or not so great job for those who didn't do it. : (

Well, you probably want more joypoints either way. Here's how! Look for another person. I bet they look fairly happy, right? Why are they happier than you? Because they've got the joypoints you need! The only way to get those joypoints is to steal theirs. How? Take their happiness away. It's easy! Maybe a rumor here, an injury there... but if you want the big points, be creative!
You want to be happy, don't you?

Wishing you happiness,
RECOVERjoy : )

... Not quite what you expected when you signed up. You can't leave, though, you still owe RECOVERjoy 500 joypoints and, well, you came here for a reason.

Comments

[adieuche]

My roommates.

[The smile quickly slips into a displeased frown. The rooming situation is by far less than ideal; he'd hoped at least to be able to make allies of the people he had to sleep with.]

One of them thinks that stabbing people is an acceptable form of social interaction.

[minus]

『You should be paranoid of more than just having your wallet stolen!

Many of us have end-game goals that they'd like to accomplish, and you seem like the type of character who knows what happens to someone when they're backed into a corner with no where to go.』

( Sorry Elijah. It's not for your lack of trying, but this boy is notorious for sniffing out people like himself. Maybe people similar to himself as well. That smile wraps itself around an inky black sliver of what lies underneath this boy's cheery exterior and-- )

『Minus.』 ( Emphasis on it. It even sounds like it ought to be capitalized. ) 『One of the two I lost is called 「All Fiction」.』

[minus]

『You don't look like you're old enough to drive.』

1/2

[noisy]

[ he's really starting to miss the ability to read minds.

although frankly, he's not sure if Neku knows what he's even thinking about... ]

You're not the only one, trust me.

[outfoxing]

[It's the air of brooding teen, it draws people in like moths to a flame...

But that reaction is definitely earning him a laugh, even though there's nothing malicious about it and he raises his hands immediately after to indicate he doesn't mean any harm. He doesn't even seem remotely off-put by that irritation!]

Ah, I didn't mean to startle you. I just thought I should tell you that you might want to consider leaving your headphones off or turning the volume down. I could hear it back there, and diminishing your sense of hearing in a new location isn't the best idea, right?

[sockswithsandals]

[FINALLY. The rest of her reaction is lost on Yotsuya, whose face breaks out into a grin the moment she makes a sound. Finally, someone screams. Where he was dead silent and too still before, he is now taking a hop-step back and throwing his arms out to the sides, beaming--although, it doesn't make him look much more pleasant, just. livelier.]

That's the point! You've done well!

[noisy]

I lie about a lot of things.

[ might as well own up to whatever it is he did. he's already broken it down for his ex-partner, what's the harm in a reiteration? ]

Unfortunately you're going to have to be a teensy bit more specific.

[sockswithsandals]

[Yotsuya spends all of his social time with a girl who dropkicks him, these kicks do nothing!! He just kind of...swats. at Bel's kicking. As if he does not care.]

Nope.

[noisy]

[ and if he notices that brief look? yeah, it totally goes ignored. ] Oh yikes, and I thought my housing situation was a little tense.

You seem relatively unscathed, however, if you're still walking around like this. Impressive.

[bound]

206.

[ Not that Meredith would have never been able to figure it out for himself, but he figured he'd leave the phone unless he absolutely needed it. So, he watches Elijah curiously. ]

... What are you doing?

[minus]

『Oh. I just thought a sexual offender like you would appreciate the appeal of Zettai Ryouiki.』

( Yeah, they're from the same canon, it happens. Nothing is safe anymore. Two of them spell Trouble, any more, and it's all-out chaos.

He's told to stop, in tones that are very, very irate and he clams up for long enough to draw breath, as if he hadn't bothered to breathe for that entire spiel about girl's sock lengths and how much bare thigh would be shown below the hem of their skirt. It's a classic, and it appeals to him just as much as hand-bra jeans or naked aprons. )

『That's not what your note says. What if I genuinely was hoping to find a friend in a fellow like you?』

[partnered]

You said --

[ He nearly chokes on the words, shoulders trembling from the tension knotting up his spine. ] You said if I --

[noisy]

Says the ambitious young thief casting yearning looks through the window.

I won't tell if you won't.

[adieuche]

[It may be dull act, but it's exactly that dullness Yagyuu is counting on to help him in the game. It serves him well enough at home, after all.]

I do like playing tennis.

[He says the words peaceably, unbothered by Yotsuya's disinterest. Most people don't play tennis like he and his partner do, after all. The next word's from the man's mouth make him stiffen slightly, though.]

Ah- Horror stories? What an unusual interest, Yotsuya-san.

[minus]

『Are you allowed to request a room transfer?

I never asked, but I have two really cute girls as roommates, so I didn't feel I had to.』

( He does take a moment after that to cross his arms and nod sagely, as though he understands what having a stab-happy companion does to a person. In a way, he does. )

[gatto]

[He nods.] Uh huh! Then we probably wouldn't even be here!

We could do it ourselves. [There's a moment where his smile turns into more of a smirk, but it's quickly gone, bright smile back in place.]

[partnered]

You told me that all I had to do was win your dumb game, and you'd let us all go back home!

[ He takes a step towards him, almost snarling. ] But you didn't even give me a chance to win --! I don't -- I don't understand --! If there was no way that I could fix things, if there was no way that I could... that I could...

-- then why did you make me play ?!

[sockswithsandals]

I'm not a sexual offender.

[Not only does this kid not scream when he's supposed to, he doesn't shut up and let Yotsuya mumble nonsense to himself in peace, either. Offensive. Is it so much to ask for people to just play the part assigned to them? By him, without telling, because that would ruin it, too...

It's a delicate process and now it's ruined. He looks at the note on the wall, as if he is mad at it, as if he did not put it there himself.

Kids these days.]

Do you believe everything you read?

evolves into wobbuffet

[noisy]

[ horror of unspeakable horrors ]

So far as I'm concerned, you could be going out wearing paper bags on your feet, and it'd still be an improvement.

[varmint]

[A more practical part of him completely agrees with what Kudou says, and he nearly gives voice to those thoughts before something else comes to mind entirely.] It would be even more fortunate if our other roommates were accustomed to clashing ideals and agreements.

Now we'll have nothing to bicker about. [he smiles as if though that were almost true.]

[He pats the pocket of his suit- feeling the familiar pack of plastic, and is relieved. They didn't take them.]

[minus]

『Oh no, you've caught me! I suppose it isn't true that beauty and brains are to never met in a single body!』

『By the way, I lied just now. I do intend to play this little game out to the best of my meager ability, which means no theft.』

this is all my fault

[sockswithsandals]

[They're so comfy!

He looks at his feet again, like he cannot see what is wrong.]

What are you talking about?

[sockswithsandals]

[Tennis is boring. He can't get anything about a person from tennis. Who's ever heard of a haunted tennis ball? There's nothing there; it's shallow, at best, and as far as Yotsuya is concerned, just because he's taking a little vacation doesn't mean he has to leave his hobbies at home.

Yagyuu's reaction--that kind of reaction to the idea of horror stories? It could be promising. He shrugs.]

I'm not athletic enough for tennis. Everyone has passions.

[adieuche]

[The nicest thing about acting the model student, the good, dutiful son, is that people read exactly what they want to in what he says. He can keep up his polite mask without ever once agreeing to such crass statements.]

I'm sure he will. It'd be unpleasant to have you fighting at all hours.

[minus]

『Well, you are offensive. You can be a mere offender, in that case.』

( He follows the other's line of sight to the note. The poor little note that so valiantly attempted to seduce the eye, and who was not at fault for Kumagawa's creeptacular reaction. He narrowed his eyes, just a little. Enough to resemble an entirely different sort of person, if only for a moment. It's a placid expression, but it's flat. It's flat enough for someone to realize that the Minus may not actually have complex emotions, not like others. )

『I believe in Shounen Jump Weekly, without a doubt. Perhaps I just wanted to believe in your words for a moment, and see where the experience led.』