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]

[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.

[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]

And horror stories would be yours?

[Yagyuu attempts polite disinterest, but the slight tightening of his smile betrays his discomfort with the topic.]

[sockswithsandals]

[Giving him discomfort is just encouraging, reflected in the way his eyes light up and he leans forward just- slightly-]

Yes! I love horror stories! The chilling atmosphere, the rising suspense, the mystery so close to being unraveled until that very moment where it reaches its climax--the scream! It's incredible.

[--at which point he has sort of spun away to throw his arms out and bask in his horror story emotions. After a moment he calms the hell down and turns back, dropping his arms again.]

You're not a fan, are you?

[adieuche]

[That sound might be Yagyuu's teeth grinding. Maybe. He manages to stifle the reflex by the time Yotsuya turns around again, just barely.]

No, I wouldn't say that I'm particularly a fan.

[Downplaying is the name of the game!]

[sockswithsandals]

[Someone sure looks tense. Yotsuya tilts his head, the picture of not quite innocence but close enough.]

Do you scare easily? Is that why?

[adieuche]

[Deflect, deflect!]

Scare? No. I just prefer other things. Mysteries, for instance.

[sockswithsandals]

[Good effort, but--]

A horror story is a mystery! The chilling atmosphere, the unknown fate--most people fear what they don't comprehend.

[adieuche]

Ah, is that so? I hadn't thought to look at it that way.

[And never will again.]

I prefer something a bit more mundane in terms of thrills, like Agatha Christie.

[sockswithsandals]

[you say that now

He's not super into traditional mystery novels, but he's not so uncultured as to have not read a single Christie-]

There are horrific things in some of those. Murder.

[adieuche]

Murder is quite exciting so long as it's only in a book, don't you think?

[sockswithsandals]

No. Fake screams aren't as interesting.

[Real dead people also cannot scream, so don't go getting any weird ideas about his hobby.]

The people interested in that type of "event"... [Trailing off, shaking his head. It might be close to "weird horror obsession," but he draws a pretty firm line between himself and people who get excited about murder.]

[adieuche]

[Yotsuya does get a raised eyebrow for that first answer, but Yagyuu gets the picture quickly enough. He'll take some comfort that at least his roommate's interest doesn't extend into that turn of the macabre.]

You must enjoy haunted houses a great deal, Yotsuya-san.

[sockswithsandals]

[No only one of these roommates is stab-happy. Yotsuya is just weird. Weird enough to think about this question as if it's of great importance, briefly.]

Maybe. Sometimes. If you're expecting to scream, doesn't that produce a cheaper result?

[Answer: yes. A beat. "Yotsuya-san"... hm, yes, he's decided he doesn't like that.]

Just Yotsuya.

[adieuche]

It would depend on the person, I think. Some people are scared even if they know something isn't real, after all. [He's not speaking from personal experience. Not at all.]

It would be rude to address someone so much my senior like that.

[A beat.]

Yotsuya-san.

[sockswithsandals]

There is a difference. You go into a haunted house expecting to be scared. There isn't any mystery in that. The response is too excited--more adrenaline than fear. I don't like it.

[A blank look, after that; what did he just say...]

It's rude to disrespect your senior's wishes, in that case.

[adieuche]

You prefer something unexpected, then? Perhaps you're the type to play pranks on his friends.

[He returns a bland smile.]

Then I apologize for the rudeness.

[sockswithsandals]

[A sharp frown.]

Pranks are funny. Barely. I create horror legends.

[adieuche]

[Create? Despite himself, Yagyuu can't help but be a bit interested by that.]

How does one create legends, Yotsuya-san?

[sockswithsandals]

[Oh. Oh, it's his favorite question--! Even if you keep calling him -san how rude stop it.]

The same way you'd create any story, mostly. A plot, first; appropriate, though- no one cares about the horror legend of someone's bad exam grade, or something like that. Rumors help.

Then, you combine the requisite parts-- [This is complete with a strange gesture of squishing an invisible something between his hands, before he holds up fingers to count off these parts-] Cast, narration, audience. When those things combine, the truly terrifying horror legend is born!