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

[in_a_bottle]

[Ai walks carefully through the church. She's putting on a brave face, but if she sees someone out of the corner of her eye, she'll flinch and cover her head for a second before she takes a deep breath and waves.

Oh, and... she looks a little different.]

What is this? ...why is it so loud?

[goatsongs]

[The looks don't surprise Chuuya. He's seen a little of her skin before, underneath the makeup. That's not what has him frozen when he catches sight of her.]

...Ai.

[She shouldn't be here. She should have survived. She shouldn't have been targeted-

The question in his throat is 'who hurt you', but he can't make a sound. He approaches, hesitant at first, and then clinging to her all at once.]

[in_a_bottle]

[She flinches, visible even when most of her body is covered in tightly wrapped bandages, but shakily, she hugs him back.]

I tried.

[goatsongs]

You did your best.

[He feels that flinch, and he swears he's going to murder whoever scared her like this, even if they're already dead.]

I'm proud of you.

[in_a_bottle]

I bet he went and acted all nice at the trial, too, and now he's going to keep on killing for whoever told him to do it. "Nothing personal," my barely-attached head. Why any of this?

[goatsongs]

Who hurt you.

[He has a suspicion based on who's shown up, but...]

[in_a_bottle]

Geizsler-san came in while I was practising. I'd been looking for the killer who escaped last week, since he hit me with Equivalent Exchange, bragging about it. He said it wasn't Fortune he killed, like I thought, and that was someone else, and then he grabbed me and threw me into the studio mirror.

I don't remember what happened after that. The last thing I remember was, "Nothing personal. I'm just holding up my end of a deal."

[She shudders.]

I hope they did get him. And I hope that lightning felt like the real thing.

[goatsongs]

I'm gonna break his goddamn kneecaps.

[And that's if he gets off lucky.]

Good news is they got him, bad news is he said he didn't feel a thing.

[in_a_bottle]

...

[That hug is now clinging. Sorry. She's having trouble saying anything right now.]

[goatsongs]

[Chuuya rubs Ai's shoulders as soothingly as he can.]

I'm so sorry. I wish I was there to protect you.

[in_a_bottle]

I thought I could manage it. I let everyone know I was searching. Luna-san said they might come after me, and it's not like I've ever been her biggest fan, but I listened and tried taking precautions. It's not your fault.

[goatsongs]

[...something about that and Luna also being dead this week is alarming, but Ai's already worried enough.]

It's not your fault either. You did the best you could.

[in_a_bottle]

[She shakes her head.]

I was starting to have second thoughts about my wish, but I didn't want that chosen for me. You deserved whatever yours was, too. It's like any competition: someone's going to be crushed, and it's not always fair. I'm sorry.

[hymned]

... It doesn't get any better, I'm afraid.

[ His smile is gentle, though his general posture and body language is obviously restrained in favor of not trying to intimidate or scare her. ]

After a while, you might be able to tune it out? But last I heard, I think Chuuya was trying to make the bedrooms somewhat soundproofed. I don't know if they ended up that way, but it might be worth a shot.

[in_a_bottle]

It's going to kill my hearing, more so since it's sensitive. Though I guess ten years of decay didn't, so...

[hymned]

[ His head cants a little. He might be taking the strange skin tone in stride-- he's seen odder, both on himself and others, but even so, considering that last remark... ]

We don't need to eat, or sleep, or... anything else of the sort, here. I'm not sure whether we really count as still physically being embodied or not?

Perhaps your hearing will be fine when we're returned to our bodies in the end, with no true flesh to damage?

[ It's only conjecture, but he's trying. ]

[in_a_bottle]

I'm... a little used to that sort of thing. [She sighs.] Why couldn't they just send us back when we lost? If we're supposedly coming back anyway.

[hymned]

[ Would it be polite to ask? He's fine to keep dismissing it, though... ]

I don't know. If you asked me a week or so ago I would have said that I don't necessarily trust Patience to truly be as neutral as she claims.

[ He shrugs, though. ]

That said, she has as much or as little speaking for her honesty as any of the other gods here. I suppose it's just a matter of whether or not you care to take the gods at their word.

[in_a_bottle]

Well, I'm pretty sure Ruin arranged my death in some long con, so...

[someone tell her it was actually luna]

[hymned]

[ well, hm. ]

... I'm not sure it might have been Ruin, actually.

You see, she's dead too.

[in_a_bottle]

Wait, she what!?

[hymned]

Dr. Geiszler sounded quite proud of himself when admitting that he killed her, so unless this is just a case of unwarranted ego talking, I'd hazard that he was, in fact, telling the truth.

[ and also her death was mentioned by Cunning in their morning news, though not by name.

... he suddenly gets the feeling he knows what 'more than his fair share' might have meant when Cunning said it, because wow. somebody's been busy, apparently. ]

[in_a_bottle]

He said he wasn't the one who killed Fortune! That cheating... ugh, if he killed Ruin, then whoever ordered him to kill me and the target from last week had to have been trying to pick off weaker gods just to increase their own odds.

[hymned]

Not Fortune, but another of last week's victims? Was that- who, Hector then?

[ guess who doesn't know jack about what went down last week's trial and only knows about the dead in the other gy from asking patience ]

The last I knew, Ruin still had followers. Do you mean to say he was collaborating with them and convinced them to leave so that she would be left vulnerable?

--Also, before I let myself get too sidetracked, I'm sorry this happened to you.

[ they're all coming back, apparently, but still, it's obviously left her shaken. ]

[in_a_bottle]

Ruin had no followers left last week. Lost two and the last one defected just after carving a message on himself and sending it to me.

...Thank you.