graveyard

[mygod]

Graveyard

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the town

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post one

Welcome to Deda

So, you're dead. Sucks!

Except you might not feel dead—after what feels like a long brush with dreamless sleep, you wake up in a quaint hole: a coffin in an uncovered grave, blanketed in fog. Entombed with you are any personal items (unless they're trial evidence, sorry), and a strange feeling of... lightness? Whatever corruption was in your blood seems to have cleared away with your death, and your injuries are healed, besides any cool scars and lingering aches.

Once you make your way out, a quiet, verdant graveyard (literal) awaits you. You could take a look around the various locations, but the same fog that greeted you surrounds this place, keeping you from venturing too far outside of the town limits.

Still, you may as well get yourself situated. You're not done yet.

Welcome to the graveyard! Here's a quick primer:

You are dead. However, characters are healed of their critical injuries; they may keep any scars or lingering pains that you like. Additionally, they are no longer corrupted. The monstrous force inside you has subsided; this means characters will no longer have powers, etc.

● Setting ● The graveyard has the overall look and feel of a small New England town from the '90s; characters can travel any of the Graveyard Locations, fenced in by fog and forests. But the fog makes this place otherworldly, and strangely permeable. Maybe you can influence your surroundings?

● Living Watch ● Where there are screens, you can view the living side. This includes televisions at the bar, Heaven's Night, and in the apartment lobby—you may even spot a passing glimpse of them in a mirror or glass of water. Only public gatherings like mingles, trial, etc, can be seen and heard this way.

● Items ● Personal inventory transfers over to the graveyard, including items that may be stolen during trial. The only items that stay on the living side are ones that are voluntarily given away. Thursday victims will receive their items in their rooms on Sunday, after Execution. Those who arrive any other day will have their items in their grave with them.

● Injuries and Death ● Characters can still be injured and die here. While characters do not stay dead, please let the mods know if it does happen, so we can inform you of how it works.

● Audiences ● You can audience Death in person, but none of the other NPCs are currently available. You can ignore the note section and go to the apartment penthouse directly to visit, or meet him wherever.

● Effects and Events ● Weekly effects still hit the graveyard, and you may use items on the living unless otherwise noted. Mini-events will go up at the same time as their living counterparts. CYOAs are still available for our sweet deda.

● OOC Notes ● Alluding to the fact that the graveyard exists OOCly is okay, but please keep details of what it looks like, what happens here, plot, et cetera, to yourselves. Feel free to ask the mods if you're not sure about anything!

scawwy mygod
gy locations ✦ locations ✦ statuses ✦ ic profiles
Audiences ✦ reporting ✦ private conversations
murder proposals ✦ rulebook

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FULL NAVIGATION

Comments

[tactic]

No...

[ It's whispered, anguished. He's reminded again of the deaths of the people closest to him as stares down at Yuffie's lifeless face. Denial rages inside of him, telling him that this is impossible, that it can't be real. She wouldn't... she wouldn't be here like this.

But it's grief that overwhelms him, and he desperately pulls the small creatures away from her. Every single one that he can reach. ]

[segnale]

[WHAT THE HECKIE IS GOING ON

nona just freezes for a moment, before rushing towards aventurine and the body.]

[mygod]

[ cool. they can both try to deal with this body.

for aventurine, he can try to pull off the little sand crabs to preserve her, but it doesn't really matter. they tug away tiny pincerfuls of skin. and the water will claim her eventually. he was too late by far, which is just like him. for nona, as she gets closer, her lifeless doppelganger stops speaking entirely. but the whispered thoughts continue, as though spoken directly into her mind instead: what if this was the nona that was supposed to live? maybe she lived here. maybe this one didn't have a monster inside her. who killed her, anyway? was it aventurine?

one of them should grab the key that's on the body's waistband either way.

especially because the birds have wised up? they're coming. they're violent. uh oh. ]

[tactic]

[ It's a futile effort, he knows that, but he just... He can't see her like this. His shoulders slump, and he drops a hand over her eyes, meaning to close them all the way as he turns his face to the side.

... And catches something shining on her waistband.

His eyebrows knit together, the sounds of the seagulls and Nona's approach drowned out as he focuses on this very strange item. A key. Nona had asked him about a key. This key? Yuffie didn't wear a key on her.

Clarity slowly creeps its way back into his mind as he reaches out to tug the key free from the body. ]

[segnale]

[if there's any solace in the situation, it's that sometimes, death is a kinder fate than the alternative.

there are too many thoughts muddled in nona's heads right now—too hard to tell truth from fear, from delusion. but the birds are coming and there's the key, so that's what they should focus on right now.]

Hopefully this was worth it...

[mygod]

[ should they stop and think, there are abnormalities here, details that don't add up. they can find some solace in this: reason and rationality.

but it's as though the lighthouse itself has an area of influence, one that drives the birds mad and raging, and also creeps into their minds. i'm going to bed-kun after this, but for tomorrow, they will experience the following,

for aventurine: the loss and isolation and loneliness has grown so strong that it borders along madness. he will have a more and more difficult time deciphering reality from fiction, and will start to experience hallucinations.
for nona: her suspicions against aventurine will only grow worse and more convincing in her mind. as soon as she steps back in the house, she will start to forget how to feel happy, as though that part of her died on the shore.

even as they try, they won't be able to shrug off the doubts and emotions completely. not even when they're attacked by the gulls and forced to retreat inside again, before the birds descend on the corpse instead.

unless they want to stick around and watch how that goes, maybe they should get going. ]

[tactic]

[ oh great madness and hallucinations that's his wheelhouse actually

With his brief moment of clarity, Aventurine acts. He pockets the key (so many things are going into his pockets today), grabs the axe in case he needs to swing on some birds, and pushes himself back to a stand in order to take Nona by the wrist with his other hand so he can pull the both of them back inside.

Not once will he look behind him toward where he's left Yuffie's body. He has to believe it isn't her. ]

[segnale]

[AVENTURINE GRABBING THE AXE...... SUSPICIOUS!!

nona tenses when he grabs her wrist, but thankfully (?) at least nona has no self-preservation so even though she thinks aventurine might suddenly chop her she lets him pull her along.

they are getting going!!]

[mygod]

[ SUSPICIOUS!!!!

neither of them should look back, it's not great out there in the frenzy of scavenging birds descending on a body. but it's fine. even if they aren't real (which, who can say for sure), they're dead anyway.

so, they can move along. back inside the house, the atmosphere is tremendously bad. the sound of flies intensifies; from aventurine's perspective, they've descended on a new meal in the kitchen, an arm sticking out limply from the sink, wearing a familiar gold bracer.

nona, meanwhile, can realize that she isn't carrying anything. aventurine has the key, the axe, her wrist—and she left someone outside, to be taken by the equivalent of sea vultures. if she wants people to live, she's already failed. actually, she's a killer—that's why she's here? the hand at her wrist will literally start to burn, like salt and rust burns through metal. maybe she deserves to be alone.

actually you know what she can see the arm too if she likes, it looks like the stuff that this dude wears woah weird ]

[tactic]

[ Once they're back inside, Aventurine slams the door shut, leaning his back against it as he catches his breath. He keeps hold of Nona's wrist, unaware of whatever discomfort he may be causing her, and when he looks up to see a familiar arm in the sink, his grip only tightens.

He inhales sharply as he lets go of the axe to slap a hand over his mouth instead, that sick feeling in his stomach intensifying and threatening to lurch itself up his throat. He can't look away fast enough as his mind starts collapsing in on itself. No matter how many times he tells himself that this is just a trick, that there's no way Ratio of all people could be here, it's like he can't be convinced.

A distant part of him thinks that yeah, he's finally lost it. This was going to happen eventually. ]

[segnale]

[more dead people ):

but when aventurine's grip begins to burn against her, she yanks her hand away with a scream. her gaze is torn, between her wrist and the arm in the sink, nausea swimming in her head.

weakly,]

Aventurine...?

[she isn't sure why she calls out for him. a plea, an inquiry of concern, an accusation?]

[mygod]

[ more dead people ):

aventurine, you're hurting her.

the flies buzz, and the smell in the kitchen is frankly getting to be unbearable. a mix of rotting fish and something else entirely. the birds outside are still in a frenzy, keeping them from leaving again. it is an absolute attack on the senses, between pain for nona and the building dread in aventurine and the stench and noise and sickly-thick air.

by the way, not far from nona is a small kitchen knife on the counter. it looks a little bloody, but perfectly useable. just in case she wanted to grab it. you don't know what's out there, behind that locked door. ]

[tactic]

[ He doesn't know he's hurting her!!!

Which is why he looks back at Nona with visible confusion when she yanks her hand away. ]

Nona, what—?

[ Only to look away again because he catches another glimpse of that arm and its bracer. The smell consumes the entirety of the kitchen in an instant, and Aventurine can't stay here. He's got a key burning a hole in his pocket, and that's what he desperately tries to focus on as he reaches his limit and hurries out of this nightmare, back to the bedroom.

The locked door, the locked door, the locked door. It's a mantra repeating in his head, trying to keep all other thoughts out. Oh, and the axe gets abandoned in the kitchen too, yippee. ]

[segnale]

[great she will grab that knife thanks

but likewise, she's reaching her limits for staying in the kitchen so she rushes after aventurine, to the bedroom.]

[mygod]

[ they are free of this horrible kitchen, hooray!

the bedroom feels smaller than before—more cramped. it's meant to house two people, but the beds are almost pressed together side by side now, and the photos from before are all torn down, books scattered in disarray. but there are no bodies in this room at least, and the sensory overload is less intense; it is an uneasy calm.

the door awaits. the key they've acquired will work, but that scrimshaw is really burning a hole in aventurine's pocket now, and the knife nona is holding is a comfort. they can open the door—it leads into the tall hollow of the lighthouse itself.

when they're ready, they can proceed. ]

[tactic]

[ There's a grimace as passes by the torn down photos, but he can't pause here. He needs to keep his momentum and so he continues to the metal door, using the key to unlock the door and swing it open.

All the while, he feels like he's having a battle inside of his head, but he ignores it as best as he can. Scrimshaw in his pocket, save him. Save him, scrimshaw in his pocket.

Once he makes sure Nona is with him, he'll proceed into the lighthouse. ]

[segnale]

[SCRIMSHAW!!

but she nods at aventurine; she's ready to proceed further, whatever awaits.]

[mygod]

[ off they go! into the lighthouse...

when they enter, it's quite dark, but they can see a light at the top—as though someone has left the door to the actual lantern open. the light leaks downward enough that they can see their way.

otherwise, it is, predictably, a vertical climb. there is a spiraling staircase that winds up the perimeter of the room, creaking and made of metal. it's not incredibly wide, so if they stand side by side, they'll have to make room for each other. alternatively, one will have to walk behind the other.

but the lantern room is the only place they haven't scoured yet. there is the infuriating drip of water coming from somewhere. aventurine will REALLY want to gaze upon the scrimshaw. nona hears a whisper, echoing gently inside the ribs of this lighthouse, a low murmur. it's hard to make out, but it sounds familiar. sounds like home, coming from above. ]

[tactic]

[ Would Nona like to go on ahead while Aventurine pauses at the base of the staircase to dig out the scrimshaw and look at it?

He promises not to attack her from behind (unless?)... ]

[segnale]

[sorry nona doesn't trust you right now to let you behind her back aventurine

she will wait.]

[wolftonic]

[ sorry you get one from this journal bc I'm mobile SORRY but okay the scrimshaw........ she is so beautiful....🥺 in the low light, he can see it the engraving is actually much more intricate than he first realized. it has the waves of sand and auroras, of stars and eyes, the stylized portraits of people he's missed for a long time. it's beautifully made with fine engravings and the only good thing in this hellhole of a house. maybe it will give him the strength to make this final climb.

nona sees none of this, since she's waiting and observing. it looks like aventurine is just holding a sharpened whale tooth. for her, she hears something up the stairs. behind her. something grips her ankle like fingers might, and it burns. maybe it would be easier, if she had the scrimshaw instead, but for now she just has the horrors to keep her company. ]

[tactic]

[ NEHAN WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE

Wow, the scrimshaw really is saving him. Aventurine stares at it, mesmerized as his murky thoughts become clear. Strength blooms in both his heart and mind, and he tightens his fingers around the whale tooth as he finally begins to ascend the stairs.

Scrimshaw be with him. Nona, no idea what's happening with you, though. ]

[segnale]

[okay aventurine is clearly going through it right now so maybe he's not a threat to her? she will go pursue the noise.]

[mygod]

[ nehan who. anyway, they ascend. the scrimshaw gives aventurine strength, though whenever he's not focusing on it, he still sees... things. pictures of people he recognizes in the rust on the walls, a torso or limb of a familiar friend abandoned on the steps; their hands grab at him, burning like a curse wherever they can reach, voices speaking quietly into his mind. it gets worse the higher they climb.

nona can follow him to investigate the noise, though she doesn't have to go far. there is a distant scream, then it gets closer, and closer, until it whizzes right past her ear and lands on the ground below with a sickening thud.

whoops! another body. another nona, actually. one who has been pushed off the staircase from above. it feels like a bad dream, or a premonition. the knife in her hand is a comfortable, grounding weight while another body falls. and another. one nona crashes into the railing, grabbing at the real nona's cloak in pained sobs and desperation, and everywhere her hands touch, it burns.

everything they've experienced so far crescendos as they near the summit—they're close now, but who knows what's waiting for them there. ]

[tactic]

[ HE IS CONCENTRATING SO HARD ON THIS SCRIMSHAW if only he knew the horrors Nona is currently experiencing, he would be giving this tooth to her, but right now, he thinks he's the one being a mess and a burden.

Nona seems to be keeping it together, so why can't he? He can't even look up anymore, too affected by what this strange lighthouse is trying to throw at him. He flinches away from the burning touches of these apparitions, the cries seeping into his mind, and he quickens his pace. ]

We're— [ His voice is a rasp, and Aventurine halts his speaking in an attempt to keep his voice from trembling but fails to do so. ] We're almost there, Nona.

[ Encouragement for her. Encouragement for him. ]