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]

[???

Okay. Okay, backing up a second because she is gonna TRY to use her single braincell.

She copies the motion of his left hand tapping his right arm.]

"Right"? Like the direction, or, um... "correct"?

[suddenlybees]

[ What-

He shakes his head. And taps his temple. ]

[heartablaze]

[im dying

she is trying her best]

I... sorry. I'm trying to figure out what you...

...

Okay. Um. Something about your head? Or do you not remember?

[suddenlybees]

[ He smiles a little, holding up two fingers, then placing his right hand on his chest. ]

[heartablaze]

[you have 2 whole hearts kano wow thats impressive]

...Your... heart, maybe?

Or just you in general?

[suddenlybees]

[ Two hearts and three nipples

Still with that smile on his face, he points at Hikaru, holds up two fingers again, and juts his thumb over his shoulder. ]

[heartablaze]

Me... two...

[oh. uh.

:(]

Are... you asking me to leave? Or is that another word?

[suddenlybees]

[ Uh...

points at Hikaru's chest, and then juts his other thumb over his other shoulder, like that would make a difference ]

[heartablaze]

[hmm

well her little wilty sad face goes away at least]

Okay... You... would have done something if I was right, so....

You need me to... do something, somewhere. Not "leave", but... [She mimics the thumb over the shoulder.]

Over? Or behind?

[suddenlybees]

[ He shakes his head for what might be too long, but he's got to do it slowly and carefully.

He taps his right pointer finger on the back side of his wrist, and does the thumb over shoulder thing. ]

[heartablaze]

[you lost her man, she's just shaking her head]

I don't know what your arm pointing means, Shuuya, I'm sorry. Um...

This is something you're asking me, right?

[suddenlybees]

[ Kano, trying to use the most simple universal gestures,,,

He sighs and shakes his head and reaches out to pat her on the head with his bloody hand. ]

[heartablaze]

[nooooooooo

she wilts again under that pat, uncaring that there is blood everywhere]

O...okay, um...

Maybe... we should go back, then. I want to understand, Shuuya, I'm... sorry I'm not...

[Maybe he's right. Maybe she is stupid.

...

She bites her lip, then raises one finger.] Were my other guesses right at all? About you forgetting, or, um... your heart? [And she raises a second.] Or were those both wrong?

[suddenlybees]

[ If it were really that important for her to understand, he probably would not be forcing them both through charades. But it's by not coddling her that she's made to think, right?

If charades aren't working, then change the game. Twenty Questions, Hot or Cold, those games work too, as long as they're games.

Kano holds up one finger. ]

clutches my chest at that meta i hate you

[heartablaze]

[ah. a spark of hope.]

I got something right, then. Okay...

What you forgot... do you mean you forgot what happened to your neck, or you don't know how to help fix it? [She is keeping this to two options for now.]

hehe

[suddenlybees]

[ He has to think about this one, because technically both are true- he has absolutely no idea what to do about the neck thing besides his tried and true plan of just laying on a couch and not moving for days at a time, but if she's asking what he had meant, then,

he holds up one finger. ]

[heartablaze]

[Mm. She nods her understanding, a little sad, but kind of relieved.]

Okay.

The second thing, then... was it about your heart, or about you...? The, um... [She puts her right hand against her chest.] That one.

[suddenlybees]

[ Um, hm.

He holds up one finger, but also does the wobbly hand gesture. His heart but sort of? Not literally his heart, but his...? ]

[heartablaze]

[Oh, yes she understands wobbly hand, the universal sign of "ehhhhhhhh kind of".]

Like... your feelings? That kind of heart?

[suddenlybees]

[ That's it. His feelings, about all of this- of somebody doing this to him, to this degree of brutality- it's a bit complicated to put into words, much less charades.

So instead, what he offers Hikaru is a dejected smile, and holds out his hand. ]

[heartablaze]

[Ah. Something about that smile hits her visibly.

Still, she doesn't hesitate at all to take his hand, squeezing it tight.]

We don't have to talk about it, then. Or... I guess, I don't have to talk about it. It's okay.

[suddenlybees]

[ He never wants to talk about this; there's no point, and it doesn't change anything. But Hikaru guessed his meanings correctly, so the least he can do is give her a definitive answer.

He squeezes her hand back, and then loosens his grip- doesn't let go, but so he can turn her hand around and trace onto the palm of her hand what I really hope is the correct kanji I'm copypasting:

天命 ]

[heartablaze]

...

[It's an answer that hits hard, one that flashes bubbling sorrow up through her eyes even though she tries her best to keep it from blurting out her mouth.]

Shuuya... that's not...

...

[He doesn't deserve this. But she knows she can't tell him that, and her words halt, her eyes screwing shut as she tries to let her emotions form words without shoving him into the ground.

Is what's most important to her worth ignoring everyone else's feelings?

...

She swallows, her hand tense under his own, flinching in pain as she brings her left hand to weakly rest against his wrist.]

You... you can't do what you need to do, if this is...

[If he was right, if this was "tenmei" - his fate - then...

How would the dragon ever face the gods he despised, if they'd already snuffed him out?]

[suddenlybees]

[ It's with quiet resignation that he smiles, hopeless, faithless, but he shakes his head all the same. He imagines he would have thought just the same before, that it'd be impossible for him to achieve what he needed to do if this... if he... there's a brief touch to his left elbow, before he pulls his hand away again.

He takes a step back away from Hikaru and makes his motions slow and deliberate:

He hooks his pinkies together.

Holds his hand up and traces a cross from forehead to chest, shoulder to shoulder.

Brings both hands up to his temples, pointer finger straight up while the rest of his fingers curl into fists.

And finally, he drops his hands, and points at Hikaru. ]

[heartablaze]

[She has to try not to jump to conclusions. But her eyes are glassy as she tries to read it out, tries to voice it as he goes along.]

You promised something. To...

...God? And to...

...To Goat, maybe?

And to...

T-to me...

[Her lip quivers for a moment before her jaw tightens, hands clenching against her chest, but unwilling to say anything else. Not until he's had a chance to correct her.]