GRAVEYARD

[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, but it leads you to somewhere that's not the front lawn. 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. On the desk are some blank pieces of paper along with crayons, as well as a written note next to them that says PLEASE DRAW THE PREFERRED ANIMAL :). It looks like this is how you ask for a meeting with a Leader. 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. As of Week 3, each person has the ability to send messages on their PHS unlocked.

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

Comments

[heartablaze]

[She's very, very quiet from where she sits, her dog lying next to her.]

...

My PHS only ever flashed once.

I... know everyone on my team that's still alive, Yoshizawa-chan, and that there were seven of us. Do we know if that much is safe to say...?

[siblingless]

[A nod!]

It's completely safe, I promise! I already shared the names of everyone on my team, and no ill effects came from it. Most of the rules from the other side don't apply to us.

[heartablaze]

...

[She seems very hesitant, very tired, and her eyes are red. She spent most of Monday morning crying I can guarantee it so this should not be a surprise. But she rests a hand against her On Fire Dog Friend and takes in a breath.]

I'm with Goat-kun.

Won-san, Xie Lian, and Usagi-chan were all that was left on my team. Goat-kun and I confirmed that maybe there was a way to make a bridge between where the dead were and where the living were, but they... couldn't remember how.

I think Oji-san tried to tell me a couple weeks ago, what we needed to do... but it was all blacked out.

[maidforservice]

[STOP KILLING GOATS?????]

. . . did it flash the week I died, Lady Hikaru?

[heartablaze]

...I think so, yes. The week Shuuya-kun was executed.

[maidforservice]

That is the week Master Won killed me.

[a small smile]

We shall have to ask one of the other Goats here if their insignia flashed this week. If so, then. . . your team should be safe.

But we should also try to convey to the other side that all known Goats should be protected.

[heartablaze]

...I can try to let Chijin know. All the Goats know who the others are, we all met in a big group last week.

It blocks things out if we're not careful with our words, right?

[maidforservice]

Mmm, yes. So I have been told.

But so long as the gist of your message passed through. . .

[siblingless]

[...]

Oh, no.

[JUST. KNEEJERK REACTION, GRIMACING. The bird buries itself in her hair, jittering.]

We need to inform Soo-won-san or Xie Lian-san as soon as possible. If no one else on Goat-san's team has killed, then... [AHHHHHHH THEIR GOATS!!] I, um... I'm really sorry to ask, but do you remember who killed you?

[heartablaze]

[WOW SHE SURE HATES THIS

She nods.]

It was Rufus-san. I let him do it.

Nii-chan had told me what happened when he splintered, so I'd hoped maybe I could have been okay when I woke up. But I never fell asleep.

So I left the notes I could remember, and I went and found him. He... had both his hands, and weapons I don't remember ever seeing. But he let me fight him, until I couldn't remember how anymore.

He... um... killed me after that.

[siblingless]

Wilde-san... [Oof.] I am so, so sorry.

[Big yikes! She holds her hand out to Hikaru, trying to be comforting.]

Wait— But Swan-san told me the person from my team was ordered to take care of the one who was splintering this week. Does this mean it's true, and two people have started to splinter each week?

[heartablaze]

[Ah. She's surprised at the hand outstretched, but she'll gently take it, squeezing it a little.]

It's okay. I'm okay, you know? I told him he could, so long as we didn't, um... didn't do it where anybody could see. So he fought me outside in the desert, and I gave him my water bracelet so he could use it however he wanted.

He knew about my splintering, though. I asked him if it's why he was awake, and he said it was.

[siblingless]

... I'm still sorry. I understand how awful it can be. [Considering, uh, they're both dead.] Do you think he was ordered to kill by Wolf-san?

[maidforservice]

[she looks a bit surprised at this???]

— Master Rufus was one of the first to send us messages. Because of that, we believed he was on team Wolf.

But Master Shiro said their insignia did not flash this week. Were we wrong about his team. . .?

[heartablaze]

It only flashes when our leader gains a memory, right?

I... I know we knew that meant somebody on our team killed somebody else, but I don't know if anyone knew who or why.

[maidforservice]

Yes. That's what Fox told me the week Master Shima killed Master Laine.

[and after Bucky confirms Rufus's team. . .]

. . . if we were not wrong about Master Rufus's team, then we were wrong about why the team insignias flash. It may only be related to Leader memories; not team kills at all.

[lionson]

[Oh no, poor Hikaru.]

Hey. You're doing great, telling us all of this. Thank you.

Do you wanna take a break? We've got time, if you need time to get everything out.

[heartablaze]

[She shakes her head.]]

Mn. I'll be okay, Shiro-san.

Someone did something to me last week, something that wasn't, um... wasn't splintering. It felt different. It's gone now, but...

It just made things kind of hard, that's all.

[lionson]

[It's probably innocent HE WILL TELL HIMSELF IT WAS PROBABLY INNOCENT]

Yeah? was it one of those memory-things?

[frostythehitman]

[ oh my god, he just died, everything is SO MUCH

He wants to sit down but there isn't a chair around, so he just. puts a hand to his head. ]

He--both his hands? What the hell does that mean?

[heartablaze]

He... had both hands? Like, um, two of them.

[This doesn't help at all.]

[tensecondsahead]

Usagi doesn't seem like the type of person to kill on request. We can try and ask the other two. [There's a timeframe now, something they have to work with.]

[heartablaze]

Onee-chan would try her best, but... I think it would be really hard for her to hear.

[Because SHE'S having a hard time listening to all this and she knows she and Usagi are cut from the same cloth.]

Chijin and Haku-san might be better. I just... hope they don't keep her in the dark. I know she would be upset.

[tensecondsahead]

Sometimes you can't avoid upsetting people. [He doesn't like this. It's one thing if it's someone who can do this, if the Realm were full of kids like the ones he knows who can look an opponent in the eyes and kill without regret if it becomes necessary. But Usagi isn't one of them. Hikaru isn't one of them.]

Thank you, for gathering all that information for us. It's a big help.

[heartablaze]

You're welcome, but... It wasn't anything I did, really. Chijin was the one who found all of us, and Goat-kun helped him as best as he could.

I'm just lucky I found out enough to help.