THE GRAVEYARD

[divus]

THE LANDING

You’re having an out of body experience. That’s how it starts, dying. There isn’t any pain anymore, and for a moment, not much of anything else. Your thoughts are a dim hum in the back of your brain, the tips of your fingers seem miles away. Despite that, you find yourself moving, moving, moving from the last place you were in your own body and forward, until you reach a door that you haven’t seen since the beginning of the game. A door that wouldn’t open. A door cold to the touch and seeping with mist. It opens before you, and as if of someone else’s design you walk through it. As it closes behind you, you get the distinct feeling that if you turned around, you’d find it vanished.

What takes up most of your attention, however, is the tolling of church bells. They clang in rhythmic, almost maddening persistence--seems you’re just going to have to try and ignore them, as they show no signs of slowing or stopping, wherever they are.

Once the cacophony becomes easier to manage, the bong, bong, bonging evening out to a pulse inside your ears, you realize that where you are seems to be a world that's incomplete. The floor is nothing but a landing of invisible matter, a spooled red carpet leading you to a few rows of pews and a lone confessional.

You will notice, immediately ahead of you, a cute little mailbox fit for a suburban home. It bids you welcome, though the cheery paint job is a bit muted in this dark place.

Simple and neat furnishings dot the edges of where the landing seems to be: railings mark the unseen edges and draperies and sconces float in the void, giving an illusion of walls. Be careful, however, because they can easily be fallen through if leaned against. Fortunately, someone seems to have kept that in consideration, as a helpful sign warns just this.

On one side of the confessional, a room with bookshelves, a writing table, and pens and paper has been provided: a minimalist study for when you need a bit of privacy to think. On the other side, a wing of dorm-sized, lockable bedrooms provide another bit of space to oneself. There may not be enough for everyone, but nobody really has to sleep--so just take turns!

To the left of the pews, it looks like a miniature bar has been crafted with a small but decent selection of drinks. There's a small television seated on the counter, but it only seems to ever work two times a week: the week's opening announcement on Monday mornings, and Saturdays, tuning in at the beginning of the trial and tuning back out again at its conclusion. There's also a piano to one side of the bar, allowing anyone to provide musical accompaniment to their drinking.

Perhaps most interestingly, an ornate black doorway at the far end of the room leads to a curving hallway that ultimately leads to what appears to be a temple. It's similar to the altar room they'll remember from the living side, but there are no power inscriptions, and the only furnishings are wavering, grayscale candles on the walls that never seem to burn low and great sculptures of leaping rams. The two black-marble statues meet in the center, curved horns joined above a platform, decorated with nothing but a lone offering bowl. The dark marble of the item is cracked, but it seems like it'll still get the job done. Try sending something, if you wish!

Maybe this place is meant to be more. But for now, Patience is the only notable figure you have to place your attention on, and she comes forward to welcome you immediately.

"Welcome to my dominion," she greets in her usual, cheerful candor, and points at your hand, where you hold your godly token. "Now that you've been eliminated, I'll take that back and return it on your behalf. Don't worry, though, I'm not leaving you empty handed."

OOC NOTES

Hello, eliminated competitors, and welcome to the graveyard. Although it isn't much to look at, now, this area will be growing and expanding in time with the help of your characters' actions and participation in weekly events. What they unlock will have an impact on the living side, overarching plot elements, and ways to communicate between both planes!

When it seems like there isn't much to do, there's always one option left: gathering information. So sit back, enjoy the afterlife, and put on your thinking cap!

full navigation.

locations ♦ taken ♦ profiles ♦ weekly curfew ♦ murder proposals
ic rulebook ♦ temple offerings ♦ private convos

Comments

[hymned]

[ Chuuya would be successful!! Whether it's because Julius is too lost in thought or because he lets Chuuya hit him or because Chuuya is just that good we'll never know. He deserved that, probably. Probably.

Whatever the case, that sure is Julius, punched square across the face. He rubs at his jaw a little but doesn't react much otherwise, leveling a very neutral and blank look at Chuuya, neither affronted or... anything else, really. ]

... And that was for?

[goatsongs]

It's for your little brother.

[And for everyone else, for dying after they worked so hard to save him the first time-

But mostly it's for the feelings of someone who's lost their brother. Chuuya understands that best.]

[hymned]

[ A wry, half-scoffed out noise that probably would have been a laugh in better circumstances-- his expression is notably chagrined now rather than calculating and measured as it was just a moment earlier. ]

Fair enough. I'm sure he'd be glad for it, since he's not here to do it himself.

Hopefully he won't ever be.

[ At least not until this little game is done and over with, and they're supposedly all revived. ]

Nice arm, by the way.

[goatsongs]

Hopefully.

[But Chuuya's not any kind of an optimist.]

Thanks. -Shiki and the ninja guy aren't here, by the way, but Patience says they're fine.

[Guess whose name he doesn't care enough to remember!]

[hymned]

[ Huh. His arms cross over his chest, loosely. ]

Not everyone is here? What about- ah, Ava, I think it was, and the gentleman with too many watches?

[goatsongs]

Who? -Eh, whatever, if there's anybody but me and Gau I haven't seen them.

[hymned]

[ Well. Hm. ]

... What happened, anyway, if I may ask? With the frozen pond and all. I think most of us assumed that those two were fighting somehow, and managed to drag you and Gau into it?

That ... doesn't seem to quite be the case, judging by your reaction.

[goatsongs]

Nothing to do with 'em. Gau was out there on the frozen lake, barefoot, who even does that? Even if you don't break the ice you're going to get frostbite! And it's so dark at night there could be a hole right there and you'd just walk into it-

[Ahem. Chuuya tries to turn off fussy parent mode and just give the facts.]

So I tried to pull him back away from the lake, but I couldn't budge him, and then the ice cracked and we both fell.

[hymned]

Ah. That's...

[ Unfortunate, sure, but it's not like saying it helps. Trying to save someone and bringing the both of them down instead... ]

Well. I suppose, at least, the good in that is no one else had to take the fall for what was a mistake?

[ He doesn't see Rachel here so that's uh, fine. Let him think this for now. ]

[goatsongs]

Since you just died, I'm going to be nice and assume that wasn't a shitty pun I'd have to hit you for.

['take the fall' for two people who fell in a frozen lake and drowned.]

What happened to you?

[hymned]

No, it wasn't meant to be. I just wasn't watching my words closely enough, apologies. Anyway, what happened to me was what I'm pretty sure was an innocent mistake- just one caught too close to curfew, on my part.

[ It's not a happy expression he makes, because in some ways it would have been easier if someone had gone after him with the intention of killing? ]

I got caught up talking with one of the teenagers here. Rachel, if you remember her. We ended up talking about a lot of nothing, this competition, what everyone was trying to do to avoid having to kill, stuff like that, you know. Anyway, there was this tea recipe she was really eager on trying out and already had the things on hand for, and because I'd mentioned I'd had a bit of a headache she decided to try to make some for me. We lost track of time and by the time it was done it was already pretty close to curfew, so we split after a single cup on my part.

I'd realized I'd been poisoned, not long after, but by that point it was too late for me to make it to the infirmary to try to treat myself with anything, so...

[ Here he. Is. ]

[goatsongs]

[It'd be easier to have been murdered. Chuuya wouldn't regret having failed to save Gau and only speeded up his death.]

What kind of tea recipe includes poison? I don't remember any of the cookbooks in the study having something like that.

[...that said, he also is willing to believe it was an accident.]

[hymned]

The longer this game goes on, the more I start suspecting that no one here actually knows how to read.

[ At all or closely enough, anyway. ]

In any case, either she was truly that ignorant or a cunning enough actor to fool me, and I highly doubt it's the latter. Trust me, if I'd had any inclination it was premeditated, I wouldn't be the only one standing here in front of you now. At the very least, I would have done more to try to indicate who it was before I lost consciousness.

[goatsongs]

[he can read he's a poet!!]

What are they teaching kids these days... I learned 'don't eat weird things' when I was three.

You're a good guy, not trying to drag her down with you over a mistake.

[hymned]

Apparently, not poisonous plant identification. I'm guessing she's never been on a camping trip in her life...

[ It's not his fault because he didn't see her go gather them or see them much in the process of being brewed into tea, okay. ]

Hah. Well, if she isn't here now, then I suppose I can take solace in that I'd managed to at least accomplish that much.

[goatsongs]

...Might want to double check with Patience that she isn't with Shiki and watches guy.

[wouldn't that just be the worst.]

[hymned]

... You don't know something I don't, do you?

[ Yeah, now wouldn't that be awful??? ]

[goatsongs]

Only that you've just told me two people who I thought were alive have been dead for a week, so it's possible.

[hymned]

... I'll take that into account, then.

[ Looks at the tag tossed at Patience and settles into wait. ]

Did you ever get anything from Sieg, by the way? I don't think anyone on that side knows whether or not they can contact ours, but I ran into him after... well, and he said he'd wanted to try to write something to you.

[goatsongs]

He didn't sign the note, but I thought it might be him who made me French toast.

[The smile on Chuuya's face is gentle and fond. The smile that doesn't come up when talking about alcohol, or even poetry, but just about the kids he's called his.]

Madoka and Ray have written me too.

[hymned]

That's good. I'd offered to try to help him with it, but unfortunately I'm not much good with words either, much less any actual cooking.

[ He's more likely to set the stove on fire. Otherwise he ends up accidentally fussing and lecturing even via letter-- don't laugh at him... ]

I can't say I've spoken with either of the other two much, but Madoka's a good girl, I think. And Ray... well, I get the feeling he's resourceful enough to not need too much fussing over.

[ Unlike certain others he'll certainly be doing so for. ]

[goatsongs]

Ray's smart, but he's the least likely one to let people fuss over him when he needs it.

[Even Sieg is more likely to allow people to take care of him.]

[hymned]

Yeah. He's got that sort of independence to him that makes me pretty sure that even if he got it, he wouldn't know what to do with it.

[ It almost sounds as if Julius is speaking from experience, considering the wry shift of his tone, but. ]

But then again, he's really not who I'm most worried about.

[goatsongs]

It's the job of an older brother to look after his younger brothers.

[There's no question whether Chuuya's speaking from experience.]

If any of mine were here I'd have tried to punch a god on the first day for involving them.

[hymned]

[ ... the corner of his mouth quirks just a little at that. ]

One of the only reasons I didn't try was that I knew he wouldn't appreciate it.

[ But he sighs after, deep and exhausted. ]

Honestly, I just hope he doesn't try anything reckless. He's done it before, to try to protect me, but...