THERE_ARE_FOXES_HERE

[SHIVERS]

You've been here two weeks.





It's Monday.

And it's too early to get up yet.












You've become very acquainted with the cracked blue paint on the ceiling of your new bedroom.
It has entirely splayed out at points, with several peels curling far enough outward to curl in on themselves.



You wonder what makes it do that.

You keep thinking a piece will crack off and fall onto your new bed as you sleep.
But, it hasn't happened yet.





You wonder what would possess someone to paint the room blue in a place this cold.

Maybe blue was somehow mandated.
Maybe someone wanted to paint the room, and blue was the only color they had available.
Maybe someone just really loved blue.





You'd heard that this site had been first built by some military or another.

But who the hell would even find something to guard, this far into the middle of nowhere?



There was something here now.
But they'd built it.
Or at least, moved it here.





Maybe this frozen hellscape had once not been frozen.

Maybe, somehow, this had been a naval outpost.
Or something.










Maybe they were just fools,
building this horrible place.

And maybe the people who decided to use it again -
the ones who painted your ceiling blue, whoever they were -
were also fools.

Maybe your employers are fools,
for taking this place and setting it up again.









Maybe you are,
for ever studying any of what landed you here in the first place.



Two weeks into the first job-
Two weeks into the first hands-on job in your field.
Two weeks into what should've been your career,

and you're cracking.

You read somewhere once
that without stimulation, the brain could end up hallucinating.
You can't stop thinking about that.

It's repeated so much in your head, now, that you swear the thought has its own voice.

You can't stop thinking about




























You'd been so enthusiastic.





oh sure, im used to being alone
Fool.

my biggest problem will probably just be fighting boredom hahaha
 -Dumbass

the pay is so good too itll be worth it = dipshit.








If you could do it all over again

If you were less incompetent












God, if only you could









If you could







































Please

I know it's my fault but i dont wanttoSTAYanymore






please


















could someone hear me




if i thought about it


hard enough  ?













































Interesting breakdown.

Not the worst, not the best.
Less bad than the last one, at least.

4/10 Short but sweet.








OK.


You should get out of bed.



'Let's get up, please,' you tell yourself in your head.

You say it again when no muscles move; without the 'please' this time.








You turn your head and look at the clock.




It's about that time, anyway.

You reach to stop the alarm clock before it goes off,
only to realize you hadn't turned it back on after your weekend.

You're not surprised.







You aren't sure you slept at all.

You haven't been sleeping well.




You drag yourself out of bed, not bothering to put on anything other than the pajamas you were already wearing.

With that,
you leave your bedroom and make your way into the work room.









You can tell by the thin horizontal window at the side of the room that it's still dark outside.

It won't be light again for another few hours.
You wish you'd gotten used to this already.
It still made you feel uneasy.

You take a moment and stare out into the dark grey expanse of snow.


You hated looking outside;
you'd already found out the hard way that the longer you stared outside, the more your brain would assure that you were about to see something there.

But, you felt compelled to look outside at least once per morning.

A little ritual of yours. A survey to make sure everything at least looks fine.



Just as every day: There's nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing much in general.
The usual couple of buildings that happened to be in view of the window, the usual scarce handful of lights and lightposts that dotted the area outside.

Nothing else.







With that out of the way, you let yourself have a quick stretch,
then step over to one of the several drawers in the corner, and pull it open.





You sift between the many binders inside, grab one,

and unzip it.



Your hand thumbs through the various plastic pages lined with discs,
searching.







You pull out a random one you're sure you haven't tried yet.


You make your way to the table in the corner,
and pop the CD into the little boom box.








 

▶ Diving Woman
Japanese Breakfast

As you let the music play, you finally turn on the PC at the center desk,
watching as its three monitors light up.


As you do, your schedule is the first thing to pop up.


8:00 AM: ANALYZE MARKS



Turning your eye and cursor to the other monitor,
you glance at the recent files; 
the footage you took personally on Friday, and the many hours of security camera footage from the last two or three days.

No marks on any of it today.
Unsurprising.




You click the task box, adding a green check mark to the end.


The next task pops up automatically.



8:00 AM - 10:00AM: ANALYZE FOOTAGE








Why?


What footage was there to analyze, exactly?


The tiny bit that was intact from the last expedition?
There's nothing to see.
And you already gave your report, if you could even call it that.

Random camera footage from around the station, then?
For two hours?
There isn't enough cash in the world for that.





So, two free hours, then.

That's almost worse.




You can manage it, though.







You don't really feel in the mood for a movie right now;
you need something to help wake you up.






With a quick walk back to the drawers,
you open a different one and rifle through it,

trying to wait until one of the video game cases looked interesting.




Nothing in particular grabs your attention.



Instead, you pull out a random assortment of cases without looking at them,
and gently drop them onto the couch.












You close your eyes 







and let your hand drift towards one.

[Guest]

Reach for:

SEVEN KNIVES
Horror-rpg. A pair of white eyes stares at you from the boxart, a silhouette behind the title, stabbing a dagger between the words.

Obscure, but with dedicated fans. The best way to describe it is... ominous.

[palencorgi]

(I forgot to sign in. that was me)

[knux400]

Something frustrating, but not too frustrating. A good challenge that'll last a long time and be satisfying to complete.

Bonus points if it's an older title with the low-poly graphics and textures you can see the pixels in

[Ignispark]

Something tragic or melancholic. And hopefully, not full of snow.

[MarxzVulpez]

How about that one with the really fun movement and the really good lighting and color

[SHIVERS]

Your hand grabs a case, and you open your eyes.




The game you're holding is called 7KNIVES.

It's got a pair of white eyes behind the title, a long dagger in place of the 'I',
and a nondistinct claw in the background, with a dotted circular line around it.

Checking the back, it's apparently a horror action RPG,
but otherwise none of the info is particularly helpful.



You've never seen this game before in your life.

You find this odd, considering you did a cursory glance over all the game cases on one of the first days you got here.
They aren't exactly well organized, though.
It makes sense one might've escaped your notice before.

You take it out, pop it into the game console, and turn it on.
Controller in hand, you plop yourself on the couch, watching the time using the clock on the wall just in case.









The game boots up.

On the title screen, the claw silhouette reaches forward,
only to stop as the title crawls in above it, the dagger rising up from the claw.



 

▶ Main Theme
King's Field IV

You check through the options first out of habit, but find almost nothing to adjust.
You do turn the volume down a little bit, though.

You find yourself feeling both self-conscious and cautious about having the game up too loud.
You know there's nothing around for miles, 
but

some instinctive part of yourself doesn't want to attract attention.



As you start playing, you soon find yourself sucked in.






























 

▶ Arise Within You
Parasite Eve

Not too far into the game, you're already finding yourself stuck; repeating some fights many, many times.
The movement and rhythm of combat is addicting enough to keep you coming back,
but you already feel out of your depth and you've only made it to the second area.
The saves being relatively far apart isn't helping.

But, you've got nothing else to do, and you're genuinely enjoying your time so far.
They nailed the atmosphere.
An old gloomy castle gave way to an eerily-empty space station,
the game apparently taking place across disparate time periods and settings;
though, somehow the protagonist never seemed to change. 

You're very curious to see where the story ends up.





But, with a quick glance at the clock, you realize your two hours is nearly up.
You hurry back to the last save point, worrying you may have forgotten to use it.
You hadn't, but you can never be too careful.

You shut off the game and stand up, finding your wrists a little bit sore.

You could probably stand to be more careful next time.








You step back over to the computer and click the task box, the green check mark appears.

10:00 AM - 10:15 AM: BREAK



Right. You have those.

Considering you just spent the last two hours playing video games,
you aren't exactly sure what would constitute a break right now.





You could use a shower, you think.
You last took one


   Friday evening, you think.

You had been taking them every day.

The last few days are a blur.



You      don't think about it.











You rummage through the drawers in your bedroom.

You're running out of clean clothes.
Laundry tonight, then.


The sun is finally coming up, you notice through the frosted glass of the tiny bedroom window.




In the shower, you try to keep your mind busy.

It's been too easy lately to lose time when not doing anything.
You used to talk with your friends while in the shower.

It's a weird habit you picked up as a kid.
You were always afraid to take a shower without talking to someone through the bathroom door.

You definitely don't need to do it, but
it always helped to pass the time.
And, if you were particularly worried about something, it

And really, it

And     it  ,























































         nything to not think about later today.

It always comes up faster than you want it to.
At least you could use the drone this time.





You turn off the water.

You grab the towel, running it ov























          n check mark.
Just in time, too. 
Your shower must've run a little long.







10:15 AM - 11:15 AM: UNLOAD/CHECK: DELIVERY BAY

Oh. 
It's Monday. That's right.

You don't even particularly remember what you ordered.

You suppose you'll find out.







You make your way back to the work room, through the side door,
into the entryway.

There, you've hung your-

Well, you've mostly just tossed your snow boots, padded jacket and pants onto the floor.



You make relatively quick work of slipping on your snow clothes, 
once again finding the extra layers cumbersome.

With that done, you unbolt the entrance door, and step into the stairwell.



You make your way down to the first floor, glancing briefly at where the stairway leads even further down.

You haven't even looked at the underground tunnels yet.
A small network spanning the various buildings in the area.
You could only guess at what they were previously built for,
though their only use to You would be as passage around the area without needing to brave the outside.

Luckily, you've never needed to use them.
You hope you never have to.






You're done staring, though.
Not helping your nerves at all.





You step through the exit door into the concrete area just under the base.
You still think it looks kind of like a parking garage, what with the metal walls with many holes at the sides, and the numerous support beams.

Knowing where you need to go, you pick the north door and walk out into the snow.

The wind hits you, and you swear that it scalds your cheek.
There have only been a day or two that you can remember where it wasn't windy out here.
You can't stand it.

You bundle up into your hood and begin trudging northwest.



Still, something about this weather...

You're very certain it should be even colder than it is.
You remember the brief walk you made from the             you made your way here in, to the inside of this area.

There must be some kind of temperature control keeping it from getting cold to the point of uninhabitability.
You've never seen any sort of devices around for this purpose, other than those that kept your station and the other buildings relatively warm.

You wonder if the large concrete walls around the area are truly helping that significantly.
No, probably not.

It must be something under the ground, you conclude.
Though, you don't have a clue how that would help the ambient temperature in the air.













You're no less puzzled by this when you reach your destination.

The delivery bay isn't all that far away at all, but the wind and snow make it feel like a proper hike.

You reach the building and force the door open.
The doors here so often got stuck, you'd gotten very used to bracing them with your shoulder just to get them open.



As you step inside, you quickly pass one of the drones at the side wall.

It's bipedal, with heavy-looking legs and powerful claws.
It sports a long, cylindrical head with a camera lens at its center, and a boxy torso.

There were three of these total throughout the area,
each one with differences in their physical construction, functions, and consequently, what areas they had access to.

All three were grey, but with their own colored patterns to identify them.
This one has a worn, yellow pattern of stripes, and what look to be little scribbles on its side,
though they're far too worn away to see properly.
It looks like it's seen the most use out of all three.

This one has the most access, with free reign of all outside areas, as well as every building apart from the station and the gate.
The one at the station has a wavy green pattern, and can't leave the station itself,
while the one at the gate has a pattern of purple triangles and could only be used within the gate and during expeditions.

Of the three, this one in front of you has the bulkiest frame,
with the station one being the lightest,
while the one at the gate seemed to be built for a mix of speed, dexterity, and sturdiness.




This is more than you've ever really thought about them, though.

You never use them.
They're creepy. Standing silently in their little corners.
They're like mannequins; artificial, corpse-like things that feel like they possess the capability of movement,
but simply choose not to do so.

These are
maybe a little bit better than mannequins.
By a smidge.
Not that it makes a difference.

You have no reason to use them.

They apparently have microphones in them somewhere that would respond to simple voice commands,
but you've only ever piloted them remotely via the station computer, and mostly just for expeditions.

You've actually never taken this one out of its wall charging station at all. 





You realize you've been staring at this one's non-face this entire time.
You brush at your arms to shake away that awful, restless feeling; like bugs are crawling over you.

Ugh.
You resolve to finish up here quickly.






You step properly into the room, and find your delivery boxes; still attached with the guide wire.
You detach the super thick metal wire and hit the button on the wall to reset it,
watching as all the slack gradually leaves it.

With that done, you get to work opening all the boxes, sorting out your various bags of supplies.



You never use all that much during the week, though the medical supplies are a notably new restock, after y

    esh vegatables. You know they'll likely just go bad in the fridge before you use them all, but you're getting sick of your usua


With the groceries all sorted and ready, you open the final box; the one labeled 'PERSONAL ITEM'.
You're allowed to order one personal item at the end of every week;
something not related to food or other supplies at all.

The selection was always limited, but it was nice just to have a treat for yourself,
or to replace something you'd forgotten to bring out here,
or just to order some sort of new activity yourself.

The box is only about as long as your arm, and you'd seen them put much smaller things in bigger boxes before,
so, you likely didn't go too overboard.

You at least hope it isn't anything too heavy, considering the other stuff you've got to carry.




Truth be told, you don't have a clue what you ordered for this.













You remember what you ordered.

[palencorgi]

Something re-usable & comforting. Maybe something like a portable radio or device with headphones, to listen to music or books on.

[skinstealer]

something with a texture that calms you- you couldnt get what youd want as a first choice, but you  hoped this would at least fill a small void.

[knux400]

A fidget toy, something to do with your hands during downtimes. Something small you could keep in your pocket and reach for whenever you get bored or nervous.