Chapter 2: (Ab)Normal Days

Martin scowled as his bracelet buzzed to life, relieved to find it was merely a dinner announcement. At last his escape...for now.

"10? Right. Here or the Dance Studio?" He scratched his head, getting ready to leave.

Josh moved through the hall and entered the lounge, taking a seat in the corner of the couch.

He laughed. "Please don't do that."

He walked over to the door and held it open for her.

Lisa waved as she rolled through, grabbing the door on the other side for him.

"Shit," Miranda hissed. Well, she was going to follow Jordan anyways.

She continued on her path, entering the lounge and taking a seat in a beanbag.

Monobear's voice hardly came as a shock to Caleb.

"So much for writing..." he said under his breath. Still, there were bound to be some interesting events to unfold where Monobear was involved. He collected himself and made his way towards the specific room, where he was met with an unfamiliar face.

"Good day," he greeted, sitting next to him on the couch. Then he tilted his head for any sign of familiarity. "You are...Mr. Cobalt?"

"Hardly sneaky, Miranda," Ruby scoffed as she entered the lounge, plopping down on the other bean bag chair.

He followed her, and after a short walk, they arrived in the lounge. He sat down on one of the couches and waited patiently.

Jason quickly enetred the elevator and went down, tapping his foot and milling in front of the door.

When it opened on the second floor, he practically ran into the lounge, knifing onto the couch and falling silent, hands folded on his lap.

Jaden thought about it. "Dance studio. There's a boombox there, so it'll work out better. Seeya then!" At that, he went into the hall and made his way to the lounge, using the map on his wrist as a guide.

Eyes glued to the monitor already, as she was looking at the map, Jordan didn't even look at the lounge until Monobear mentioned it.
"We're..already here." She looked up to look at the room.

Someone she didn't recognize slipt right past her, as she observed one of the bean bags.
That's. Odd.

"Have we...met before?" Jordan asked Joshua.

Josh shuffled deeper into the corner.

"Mhm... I'm Cobalt. Then again, I guess now I'm just Josh."  He rubbed his arm awkwardly, uncomfortable with the attention.

Lisa followed, parking her chair near the couch and lifting herself onto it.

Claire sighed. "Welp, I was going there anyway," she muttered, stepping into the lounge and sitting down on a couch.

Miranda shrugged at Ruby.

"Give me nightfall and my own devices, and then we shall see how sneaky I can be."

Aris gave a wave to both Jadena nd Martin. 'Seeya two," She announced, before making her own way to the lounge.

She was rightly frustrated that all the beanbags were taken.

"Ey, Miranda! Scootch!" She didn't give the other woman time to reach before she started to shove herself onto the same seat.

"Uh, yeah!"

Martin, realizing he was being left behind, jogged to the lounge, glancing at the map once just to make sure he was heading to the right place.
He spotted Lisa and Jason, and slipped in right next to them.
"Hey guys."

Monobear scanned the room, counting up all twelve students to make sure everyone was present. "Well, you all get an A for attendance," he began. "But unfortunately, it's come to my attention that we have a few troublemakers in our midst. And not just the messy kind!" His red eye glared menacingly at Jason McDorne.

"Anyway, I just want to be an honest bear with all of you. I like you all. You're very good, impressionable kids. And that's why I worry for you! Because as it turns out, there are one or more murderers among you!" He pretended to act worried. "At least one of you rotten kids has murdered someone before you ever came here to this mansion. And you've gotten away with it! I can't believe they'd let students like that into Hope's Peak, but I digress..."

"What I propose is this: a bounty! I'm putting a bounty on the head of any student who has killed someone before. You can collect it by murdering said student. You'll have to figure out who that is. And the prize is this: you get to leave the mansion with another student! You can choose anyone to join you and avoid death as you leave this wonderful place! However... If you get caught, then you and your buddy will both be getting punished! So choose wisely! Once I catch wind of murder, I'll be the first one on the scene to ask who you'll be trying to leave with."

Monobear headed for the door. "On that lovely note, I want all of you off to bed! No supper! It's getting late, and I hate staying up to babysit a bunch of kids! Off you go!" And with those words, the bear was gone once more.

Josh stood up abruptly, arms pulled tight to his torso.

"I'm not sticking around. I can't do this again," he muttered as he exited into the hall.

“A bounty?! What kind of game is this?” Martin spat, disgusted yet clearly horrified, “If only the assassin were still here, this would be easy. N-not to say I’d do it, I mean…Let’s be clear here, I’ve never killed anyone! N-no one should be a killer, that’s ridiculous…” He started backing away from the others. He was clearly afraid of just not who might kill, but who had already done it.

“I’m in hell. This is hell. I’m leaving.” Martin made for the exit, ignoring the food entirely.

Miranda grimaced as Aris made her seat her own lap, but apart from that, she moved to make herself more comfortable with the new weight on her. She listened to Monobear speak, resting her head on the edge of the beanbag. Once he was finished, she gave Aris a small tap on the shoulder.

"Freeloading's over," She said, getting up to leave as soon as the woman was off her.

Aris snorted, getting up at Miranda's goading. "Righty-o, dancing queen," She said, hopping off her lap. After that, Aris made a beeline for the food, eyeing up the takeout boxes and plates.

She decided to take the boxes, scooping food into them and then sealing them into a small pyramid under the table. "You think the bear'd be mad if I take the bowls?" She yells to nobody in particular, simply staring at the food.

Claire looked down at her feet. "For goodness' sake, we've got certified psychos among us?" She sounded disgusted. "Well, I'm certainly not sticking around to find out which of us has killed someone. Good riddance to all of you." And then she was heading out the door.

Among the brief silence after Monobear's proposal, the faint tap of a pen knocking on paper could be heard. Caleb's eyes rested on the spot where their evil supervisor was only a few moments ago. They never shifted towards the food nor the students.

He scribbled a few notes and closed the marble notebook wordlessly. The sheer volume of ink was starting to weigh it down.

Without bidding farewell to anyone, he grabbed a slice of cake and left.

Watching the proceedings uncomfortably, Jordan gave a heavy sigh when Monobear's speech ended.

"Here we go again," she said, filling a plate with salad before Aris scooped up all the bowls. Sitting down, she lightly picked at the salad before looking to see who was left in the room.

"If anyone needs my services, the hypnotism ones, come find me in two hours. My room, if you trust me."