divus | THE GRAVEYARD

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THE GRAVEYARD

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

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[Luna doesn't look at her, because Ai hasn't been the only one running with outright avoidance, but there's no apparent rejection, either. She's simply silent for a moment, and then--]

To defeat death.

To make sure that there would still be those willing to cut down the number of gods by force, if need be. That's all. If my death could serve as a distraction for those who came after me, then let it be used. That is how I played the Game.

You're disgusting. Half the gods and half the game wanted to win this peacefully. You can't defeat death with more death.

And the other half?

The solution appears to be to kill a majority of the other half, which certainly is logical. But no matter what, this is a Game where death is defeated with death. Death is a force that will always be present until it is properly uprooted, and incinerated to its very atoms.

That's ridiculous! Death is a part of life. Nobody wants it. Those of us who've died didn't ask for it. I just wanted to undo it for myself. But it happens. You can save people, protect people. But you can't get rid of death itself.

You can.

We've done it.

And what has been done once, can be done again. I played this Game in order to erase the existence of Death, because its only purpose is to snuff out the light of life in its prime, to eat away at everything that we've ever built and to erase even the small place we've made for ourselves in the universe. Saving and protecting people means nothing when their end is ultimately the same.

I know that as well or better than anyone. I didn't want to die. I didn't want to almost kill the industry I worked as hard as I could to join. I didn't want the only thing anyone remembers about me to be seeing me die in a freak accident! But death's a part of life! If it didn't exist, what would happen?

There are some who think the way you do, of course.

That Death makes the flame of life burn brighter. That Death is what gives life meaning. [...] But they could also not deny me, once they truly understood the nature of Death and all that it takes from them.

If death didn't exist... then all things living could reach their true potential. They would be able to reach for what they want, no matter how far or how extraordinary it seemed. That is something that sometimes only time can give.

Defy you? Once they understood? What were you doing? Do I even want to know?

How many people did you kill to break others into your ideals?

[...]

[She laughs, quietly. A little cold, a little hollow.]

What do you think, Ai? Robots do what they are created to do.

I'd say I've quite lost count.

You...

[Ai seethes, shaking.]

How could you? How could you kill even one?

I'm sure you know the concept of war, though you may have died before you could fully grasp it.

What do you think happens when immortals wage war?

[That could be a trick question, given where they are and what they've been doing. But, well.]

Then you're like the gods, aren't you? The ones who wanted this settled with blood. Having humans killed?

I would say that my position is closer to the gods here than many of you.

[She says that simply, as though it is already fact.]

But you misunderstand me. When I said that we had already once removed the existence of death in the world, I was not speaking only of robots.

Sorry.

[It's hard to tell who she's apologizing to as she stands there, takes a deep breath...

And aims a slap at Luna's face so hard that, if it connects, Ai's arm will go flying off across the room.]

[Well.

Luna just kind of sits there and. Lets her do it? She doesn't even move or flinch or anything. Because, uh, she's kind of made of metal, so this is definitely hurting Ai a lot more than it is hurting her!

Ai's arm probably flies pretty far.]

There is no need to apologize for something you don't regret.

[And also which was quite useless.....]

It wasn't to you. But if your response to anyone challenging you is to try and break them, you can't say that you just do what you were programmed to, right?

As I said, you misunderstand me.

I allow others to make their own choices, and have no interest in 'breaking' them, as you say. What I offer is an alternative. My creator and I agreed on what was needed for salvation, both for robots and for humans, and carried out our plans together.

And killed a lot of people, saying it was all to make other people want to get rid of death. I'm just saying.

That is not something I said, but something you inferred yourself.

But yes, I've killed many, and always have. That is what I was created for, because salvation in times of war is quite different from salvation in times of peace -- or even salvation in times like these. I was once Death, as I am now Life.

I am what the world needs me to be.

The world needs you to not.

And what do you know about the worlds, Ai Mizuno?

I know the things you say are naive and stupid. That people die and that's part of life. That it's worth it to try and protect people. That we should have, and could have, won without bloodshed, and that we can't let Patience win when she lied and cheated to get there and a lot of us never would've agreed to trade in our tokens if we knew what it meant.

And I know I can rely on others now, too. I know it's better to make friends than to stay on your own. That even if sometimes, some people betray your trust, that doesn't mean you're the wrong one. And you know what? Even if I'm out of this game?

[Ai takes a small breath, wipes her forming tears with her remaining arm, and pushes forward a bright, defiant, stage-worthy smile.]

I don't think mistakes or failures or a bad thing. You can always pick yourself up and try again!

[...]

[She just hears her out, and smiles. There's nothing really in it. Perhaps a sliver of a shade of something that once could have been, but nothing else.]

So that is the way you lived your life, and the way your world permitted you to live.

I will never tolerate the presence of Death, nor do I agree with your state-- [and she's only looked at her once or twice, briefly, this whole time] --but I suppose it is interesting, the ways in which many of you move in death here.

[Even if it technically isn't real; she understands something about that, too.]

As I've said... the choices that you all make are yours. At this stage, I am merely here to watch over the ending that is chosen. I will look elsewhere for what I need.

I didn't ask to be undead, if that's what you mean. But it's what I've got to work with. What do you mean, look elsewhere?

If the rest of the players pool their wishes, you may yet have something else to work with.

[She contemplates her own hands for a moment, then dips her head in a nod.]

If this Game will not bring salvation to my world, then I will keep looking. Within my world, for those who still wish for a future. Anywhere else that may exist. Though I may not have the means, I have the time.

[Problematic robot revenant continues to be problematic and immortal: the million-part series.]

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in_a_bottle - 2019-04-08 03:36 (UTC) - Expand

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artificialhighness - 2019-04-08 09:06 (UTC) - Expand

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