graveyard part 2

[gamehead]

hunter's game the graveyard You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin. At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over. Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless. On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead.

Comments

[hintcoinplz]

[Luke wasn't expecting to wake up in a new cabin. He jolts upright with a loud gasp, the last thing he remembered was being forced to drink a bottle of poisoned milk. Only this time he wasn't writhing in pain, so what's going on here?]

W-where...

[therealrobin]

You're dead, kid. Welcome to Critter's idea of hell.

[hintcoinplz]

I...what?

[Processing information in 3...2...1...]

I'm dead?!

[therealrobin]

[Just have a look, you stupid kid.]

[hintcoinplz]

[Give him a break Damian he woke up just seconds ago. Once he's a little more cohorent, it looks like the information is sinking in for real.]

...I see then. I remember what happened to you, I suppose that's proof enough. But why are we still here?

[therealrobin]

Critter. [That ought to explain everything, but Damian doesn't have much faith in this kid's brain cells.]

We're playing a game where we unlock places and clues for people, and the living people have to figure out what's really going on.

[hintcoinplz]

[Oh that's right. Luke remembers new places appearing. So that was their doing?]

Do you know how many places are left to unlock?

[therealrobin]

Don't have a clue. I just got here, too. Sort of.

[He hesitates before deciding to come clean.] I was kind of busy beating up a troll. [And he feels bad about it. Kanaya seems friendly enough, for a freak.]

Your parents are here. Ema watches the trial every day. [The children of hunters. Maybe they should form some sort of club.]

[hintcoinplz]

The first thing you did after coming here was beat someone up?

[Damian will get an odd look for that. He didn't even realize that was something you could do in the afterlife. But he's quickly distracted by his other comment.]

I get to see my parents?

[And he just perks right up.]

[glowing_skye]

[Have a nudge from Mom.]

Hi, Luke.

[hintcoinplz]

[That's a voice he didn't think he'd hear again. He doesn't respond right away, and instead quickly looks up at her in wide-eyed shock.

She was here. She was actually here.]

[glowing_skye]

[Nudge nudge nudge.]

You look like you've seen a ghost.

[hintcoinplz]

M-mum...

[He tries holding it in at first, but choked sniffle escapes and soon tears follow. He's been doing as well as he could without his parents there, but with their death, the stress of trying to help lead the trial, and then his following death, it was a lot for a kid to take on at once. He can't keep the brave face up anymore.

So he'll just hug her instead.]

[glowing_skye]

[Ema pulls him in, holding him tightly for several moments.]

You did really well yesterday. I'm proud of you.

[hintcoinplz]

[He buries his face in her shoulder, trying to get his sobbing under control but it's hard when all the fear and grief he's been holding in for days comes pouring out.]

[glowing_skye]

Shhh. It's okay now.

[Well, it's not, but at least they're together and comfortable for the time being!]

[hintcoinplz]

[That's okay enough for him. Eventually he starts to calm down to the point where he can talk again.]

I-I'm sorry I couldn't stop what happened to you before.

[axeforasong]

[Mayu just shrugs]

Protector is silly, yes? Hello.

[hintcoinplz]

Protector? Oh, right. You mean England.

[speakveryclearly]

We mean America, we found out the truth about that days ago.

[hintcoinplz]

...America's the real protector? I mean, I know England wasn't the real one since he's a hunter, but...

[speakveryclearly]

Yes. It's America. That's how the hunters were so effectively able to manipulate him.

[hintcoinplz]

Talk about a weird choice for protector.

[Not like he can talk. He can't say for sure what he'd do if say, his dad needed his help.]

[speakveryclearly]

He's the [air quotes] "hero".

[axeforasong]

Probably needs help just writing down names...