GRAVEYARD 2.0

[retellers]

GRAVEYARD Well, that sucked. But no matter what your death was like—whether it was something peaceful or traumatic, you'll find yourself waking in a completely white room on the floor. Small and empty, there isn't anything else there besides an open door to walk through. But before you do that, you'll probably notice that whatever injuries you may have had, including whatever may have been the death blow, are now gone. That's exciting. Stepping out of the room, it seems that you're in a large... house? with three different floors. Everything from floor, ceiling to furniture is completely white, except for the drawings that are plastered to the walls in each room. These are all colorful, drawn in colored pencils and crayon, and resemble a child's drawing. The other notable thing are the windows. While they're present all around the building, looking out of them only shows TV static. Besides that, everything is furnished with the absolute bare minimum of each room. The first floor is all typical common areas one would find in a house. There's a kitchen, living room area, laundry room, dining room, and a main hallway where the stairs are. There are also helpful drawings in these rooms that show the rooms much more lavishly decorated than they actually are. There's a door that appears to be the way to exit the building, it's locked. The second floor consists of nothing but twenty bedrooms. Each room has one queen sized bed, an empty dresser, and an attached bathroom with only a sink, toilet, and shower. Like the first floor, each bedroom has drawn pictures that show it looking much more lavish than it actually does. Thanks for nothing, artist! The third floor only has two rooms. One appears to be a home office with nothing but a desk and two chairs, one behind it and one in front of it. While there's blank pieces of paper and crayons on the desk, the note that was previously there is gone. The other room is much larger, and it's completely empty save for the many drawings lining its walls— in fact, the walls are covered in them, much more than in any other room. On closer inspection, though, it seems like these aren't actually drawings? The papers seem to be showing scenes from the living area. Everything from inside the hotel to the areas beyond the bridge are visible here. However, when curfew hits on Thursday nights, they revert to being normal drawings! Except for the fact that they're all drawings of stick figures being murdered in various ways. Well. At least there's plenty of things to draw with, if you get bored. Also, a handy link to the previous post.

NAVIGATION locations ₓ˚. statuses *+:｡ ic profiles :ₓo ic rules ･ﾟﾟ･｡ audience requests murder proposals ｡✧o private conversations ･ﾟo｡ curfew ･ﾟ✧ memories

Comments

[dawnblushed]

[No, Sumire, it's your birthday now. Time is an illusion.

Anyway, these courtiers look briefly surprised by the question, and then they laugh.]

You've got such a sense of humor, Princess Y̶̢̛̛͚̙̲̼͚̝̖̣͔̲̪͉̙̥̜̳̱̲̫̖̳̌̇̾̀̏̒̔̉̆̍̃̑͐̓̉͌̃̈̉́̑̄̕̕͜͝͠͝͝͝͠ô̴̢̤͔̟͓̝̳̥̘̟̭̥̏̀̉͒n̵̢̧̨̨̩̝̲̜̝̪̯̹̻͔͔̦̣̠͔̬͖̹͎̙͎̮̭̻͚̫̗̱̉̄̀́͊̅̈́̆́̒̂̏̍̆̈̔̌͒͋̋̊̂̇̍͋͆͋̅̀̄̚͘͜͝͝a̸̧̡̧̧̢̧̧̛̦̫͎̝̜͍̳̻̼͔͚̫̼̫̠͎̖̪̬̞̹̖̝̙̓̍͗͋̽͌͌͗̅͆̾̈̍͠͝ͅͅͅ!

[exercisms]

[Whispering to Sumi. . . ]

Do you want to leave. . . ?

[siblingless]

[...

Wow, that's unpleasant.

She recoils at how, presumably, distorted that sounds. And nods rapidly at Mob, whispering at him.]

Yes, let's just go.

[dawnblushed]

[Well!

Sumire is a princess, so honestly, she can go wherever she pleases. Where are they headed? Her rooms (which a servant will helpfully point her in the direction of)? The courtyard? The gardens?]

[exercisms]

[They're trying to escape this anxiety hell, so I guess they will try to go out to the gardens?]

[siblingless]

[The gardens sound nice and pleasant and anxiety free. Let's go, General.]

[dawnblushed]

[The gardens are lovely!

There's a little gazebo with a table and some chairs to relax and enjoy the scenery from, and beautiful flowers that have been grown with care to be aesthetically pleasing no matter which angle one views the bushes from.

Just briefly, they'll catch a glimpse of a tall, blond-haired man presenting something to a girl with long, red hair - dressed in the same robes as Sumire - but only momentarily. When they blink, the vision is gone.

Instead, they're approached by two people.

One of them looks just like Sumire, save for the small, delicate beauty mark under her eye.

The other bears a resemblance to Mob, but he's got spikier hair.

Sumire's doppelganger is dressed in the same robes she is, and the boy who looks like Mob is wearing his same clothes, too.

They speak in unison.]



w̴̱̞͈͔̞͈̅͊̈̍̅͜ ̷̫̘͖̞͓̮̱͕̟̙͇̹͂͜ḧ̵̛̤̰́̍̆̚ ̴̡̢̢̨̟̝͕̬̲̘̯͙̠̽̓̔̚͠ó̸̰͇͙̜̰͔̭̰͔̣̞̳͎̓͑͐͋̎̉̐͜ͅ ̸̨̢͇̲̰̰͈͖̙̾̏̍̓̂ą̵̡̡̭͓̩̗͔̭͍͇̿̐̌̍͝͝ͅŗ̴̞͓̌̆̄͆̄̔͑̍̅̕͜͝e̴͚̜̳͕͙̼̹̞͎̱̙͙͛͂̆̀̑̉̿̒ͅ ̵̤͕̋̆ÿ̴̘̬͙͖̓̾͒͛͑̑͂̊͆͘̚͝͝ ̷̛̪̭͆̔̚͝ơ̷̦̳̺̹̤̦̫̙͔̍̒̌̑̍̒̐̽̐͐̍̅̈́̇ ̴̡̡̛̯̠͓̩͓̖̲̦̗͛̓̍͛̽̅̆̍́̈́̌̐̂̚͜u̸̯̦̖̥̗̫̗̘̥̪̯͙̎͊͋̀ ̴̢̱̥̠̂̽̍̌̾́̒̕?̵̟͍̓͑͊́̀̒̄͂̌̍̔̊͝

[exercisms]

[Oh no! It's the real general! He's in trouble now!

. . . Actually, something about the real general seems familiar, doesn't it? But he can't quite place him.]

S - sorry! We didn't mean to.

[siblingless]

[...

Closes her eyes, just for a moment. Takes a deep breath. Then glares at the two people in front of them.]

I'm sorry, but I won't go through this again.

[Grabs Mob's hand

and tries to keep walking, her other hand briefly fumbling as she reaches for a rapier that's probably not quite here at this moment. This is fine.]

[dawnblushed]

[The other princess and the other general stare after them as they go. They don't speak a word.

With each step that Sumire and Mob take, their surroundings get darker. It's like the sun is setting, rapidly disappearing behind the horizon - faster than it should, but at the same time, it feels like the exact right amount of time has passed.

Eventually, it's the dead of the night. There are torches lining the halls, but strangely enough...

...no guards.

There's a door up ahead, though. It's partially cracked open, and there's light coming from it.]

[exercisms]

[He'll follow after Sumire, holding her hand, though he glances back behind him again at the other general, still a little confused.]

Should we go through there?

[siblingless]

[... Hm. Don't like this. She takes a look back after they make it to this point, trying to gauge their options. Hopefully, Kasumi and Ritsu aren't still chilling back there.]

Is there anywhere else for us to go...?

[dawnblushed]

[They can go back the way they came, if they want! Or they can keep walking down the hall.]

[exercisms]

[Glancing back down the hall again. But Sumire didn't want to talk to that girl, did she. Looking at the door again.]

It'll be okay. Let's go.

[siblingless]

[... A bit hesitantly, but she nods.]

All right. But let's be careful.

[The door is partially cracked open, right? Is it enough for them to get a glimpse of what's on the other side first?]

[dawnblushed]

[It's hard to make out exactly what's in there, through the crack in the door.

But there's what looks like two people, standing very, very close to each other.

There's also blood at their feet.]

[exercisms]

[Peering in through the crack? Hmm.]

. . . Uh! It seems bad in there.

[siblingless]

[Ah.

Bad.

Sumire tenses up, stifling her gasp with a hand against her mouth.]

They could be injured, or worse. [She forgets this is likely all fake, despite just seeing her very dead sister again. Though, it seems she hasn't forgotten enough to not add a very quick:] ... Be ready to run, okay?

[Time to shove the door open. Any cursed circles in here waiting to turn them into gloves?]

[dawnblushed]

[No circles! They wish.

Instead, what they'll see is...

Well. Each one of them will see their father, impaled on the point of a sword. The sword is in the hand of... the person they consider to be most important to them!

That important person's gaze flicks toward them, and they pull the blade out of their father's stomach. The man's body drops, lifeless, to the ground, and his blood drips from that sword.]

[exercisms]

[Haha. Well, not going with General Ritsu here - for lore, it's better if it's Reigen doing the stabbing here. But it is his father - his kind, useless father, who always laughs and tells Mom not to scold him. Mob's eyes widen and his expression goes dark as he stares at this happen. He has that similar aura around him as he's had other times, times both Sumire and Yona have seen, when he's completely lost his temper.

But then, instead, his eyes squeeze shut.]

No! That's not real!

[siblingless]

[Ah. That sure is her father, murdered by the very same senpai she loves. For a single, horrifying moment, it's impossible to find the same courage that allowed her to walk past her sister's ghost. Her eyes are fixed on the scene, unable to turn away from the blood slowly pooling on the ground and the drops sliding off Akira's sword.

And then Mob shouts, and she snaps out of it.]

—Kageyama-san, let's go!

[Her sword is missing, and so are the weapons she pilfered from the gateways. Previous experience has shown her that these dopplegangers won't hesitate to hurt them, so... uh. Time for a tactical retreat, unless Mob has another idea. Goodbye, murder. It's leg day.]

[dawnblushed]

[Goodbye murder indeed!

Unfortunately, murder is hot on their heels. If they glance backwards, they'll see that same important person, leisurely walking out into the hall after them. They wipe the blade of the sword, then nod; suddenly, armed guards are pursuing them down the hall.

They can turn left, turn right, or keep running straight ahead! What will they do?]

[exercisms]

[Good. He definitely can't keep up with Sumire when she's running as hard as she can, but he'll do his best, jogging behind her, holding hard to her hand and trying to avoid looking back.

He remembers who Reigen is, but everything about him as a person - what he's like, what their relationship is like, the reasons he'd appear here now - have been gone for weeks now. What's left are just fragments of memories he's tried hard to hold on to, to try and understand the reasons some of the things this person told him mattered, despite all of the lies he knows he was told.

But there is that memory he got back, just before he died, that confused him even more. The time when Reigen seemed like he was on the verge to admitting to everything, asked Mob what he already knew. Back then, he'd said with such confidence that Reigen was. . . a good person. And since then, he's had to wonder how he came to be so sure of that.

But there's no time to worry about that when being chased by a murderous doppleganger, so still holding onto her hand, he'll keep running. If they keep going straight, those guards will probably catch up to him, and Yoshizawa will be caught, too, as he doesn't think she'd run ahead and leave them behind. So he'll take her hand and try ducking down the hallway to the right.]

[siblingless]

[Bad, bad, bad.

She holds onto Mob's hand with as much strength as she can muster, determined not to leave him behind. It's easy enough to go on autopilot, carefully slotting herself into same mindset she used in the metaverse. Avoid an ambush. Evade capture. Don't let your teammates trip or be knocked down. As they go down the hallway to the right, Sumire will keep an eye out for anything she can grab to use as a projectile, a weapon, or simply to knock over to create an obstacle for the guards chasing after them.]

[dawnblushed]

[To the right they go.

It's a pretty straightforward run. The hall is actually the space between two larger, ornate buildings - and the roof of one actually seems slightly curved. If they can latch onto it, somehow, they might be able to make it up onto the roof!

Unfortunately, there isn't really anything in their path to knock back at their pursuers, but also, that means there's nothing for them to trip on.]