graveyard part 3

[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

[tsunneverset]

[He looks surprised and a little pleased when Bruce stands up for him - it's not something that happens to him often - but waves him away.]

Ta, Bruce. You're a mate, but America's right - this is between me and him.

[He tilts his head back in America's direction.] I did manipulate you so the hunters could win, but you knew that. You've known ever since you saved Ukyo. That was the only trick I tried to pull with you, though. As for the reason...I can't tell you that, but I can say that I never lied to you unless the rules forced me to.

And if you're wondering about how much you should trust me and how much I trust you...[He can't tell America about the hunters' incentives, but there is still one thing he's been trying to hide for the sake of pride and even a little fear. He makes a beckoning motion with his hand.] Come here for a moment.

[asapplepie]

Fine.

[He considers saying that England should come to him, but he isn't angry except by force of habit. Instead, he gets up and walks over the where he is.]

[tsunneverset]

When you get here, wave your hand in front of my face.

[His voice is low, his gaze fixed straight ahead of him.]

[asapplepie]

Ugh, what is this supposed to prove?

[But he does it and then frowns.]

Your eyes are weird...

[tsunneverset]

[His gaze doesn't move, doesn't even flicker. Even if he'd been trying to trick America for some reason, the unnatural stillness of his eyes is impossible to fake.]

Figure it out for yourself. And then ask me again how much I trust you.

[His tone and face are even, but his heart is beating fast. Dead or not, this is the most vulnerable he's ever been. He hadn't really thought about what he'd been giving up beyond wanting to unlock a clue and thinking that his sight wasn't going to do him much good as a ghost, but he's starting to wish he'd followed Poland's example and simply chopped off a limb. Without his sight, he can't tell when an attack's coming or defend himself at all, and while he realizes that there likely wasn't going to be much danger in this cabin, it still terrifies him to know that anything could happen and he wouldn't be prepared for it at all. Two thousand years as a country and for the first time, he feels completely helpless.

It's not that he thinks America will take advantage of his blindness, but even just him knowing how weak England is right now scares him...and is the surest way he can think of to prove that whatever lies he may have said, the emotions and intentions behind them were genuine. Even if everyone else in the cabin knew already and America would have likely figured it out eventually, this was his choice to put such sensitive information in his hands. Their relationship had always been fraught with power struggles, from America fighting for his independence to England struggling to stay on equal footing despite his decline. So here he is, voluntarily admitting that right now, America held all the power between them and that England can't stop him from doing whatever he liked. He can only hope the other country gets the message.]

[asapplepie]

[Whatever his feelings about the situation, his growing realization of what's going on makes his stomach twist. He doesn't like this, he doesn't like seeing England this way. For all that he wants to prove himself stronger, seeing the person he looked up to for so long weakened has always scared him. But England's meaning in telling him isn't really something he understands.]

I don't - I don't get it...how did this even happen? Is it because...because of how you got shot?

[tsunneverset]

No, it's nothing to do with that. Poland showed you his missing hand, right? Every night, one of us gets to unlock a building or one of the clues to this supposed real game and leave a memento by giving something important up. I told you and Lithuania that I'd leave something if I were still around, so...[he shrugs] It's not like there's much to see around here anyway, and the less I have to look at Spain's face the better.

Also, my poems are not crap, you tasteless illiterate gorm.

[asapplepie]

They aren't worth doing that. You should have done a hand, and then I could build a cool robot hand.

[tsunneverset]

But my left hand probably wouldn't be enough and if I lost my right, I wouldn't be able to punch Poland.

[And then quietly:] Besides, it wasn't the poems that I was concerned about. If I could unlock something that could help everyone left get out alive...then whatever I gave up didn't matter.

[asapplepie]

It was just a stupid phone call, so that was a stupid thing to do.

[He sounds angry, but it isn't about not trusting England anymore; he's just upset that this is happening. But even so, he recognizes that England is trying to tell him something important.]

I...I mean...I was glad that you did that, I was really happy you were still alive. But you could've done something less stupid. You could've given up your eyebrows or liking tea or the queen.

[tsunneverset]

Well, it's not as if I knew that ahead of time. And sod off, I'm not giving up any of those things. I doubt Critter would have accepted them even if I tried.

[He reaches up to ruffle America's hair, misses, and winds up awkwardly patting his shoulder instead.] Anyway, it's not so bad. This cabin is small enough that I can manoeuvre around easily, and it's not like I'm missing out on much not being able to see what's going on onscreen. It's really the same as listening to the radio.

[asapplepie]

But when we go home, what if it's still like that?

[tsunneverset]

[He shrugs.] I doubt it will be, but even so, there have been plenty of humans who get by being blind and go on to accomplish great things. I'll be ashamed if I do any less, and I have centuries to work from.

check plurk

[asapplepie]

Hmm...

I wish you could just tell me why you want the hunters to win. We're not even playing. And it bothers me.

[tsunneverset]

I wish we could tell people too. But Critter's made it explicitly clear that if we tell anyone, even after we die, it won't happen. And...we really, really need it to happen.

[asapplepie]

I know it's not just...bad stuff. I just wish I knew.

I...I don't know why it's like this. This morning if you'd said I could talk to you again, I...I would've said different stuff.

[tsunneverset]

What would you have said?

[asapplepie]

I...C'mon!

[He immediately looks embarrassed and sort of annoyed, not that England can tell. But it probably comes through in his voice.]

Dumb stuff. I don't remember. You can't expect things to be like before when you're not even going to die.

[tsunneverset]

[scowls at him] We're both dead, it seem a bit silly to get all flustered now. I'll haunt you forever if you don't tell me.

[asapplepie]

Oh, don't make me say stuff. You know.

[He sighs and swallows.]

I'm sorry, though. Honest.

[tsunneverset]

[He visibly softens.] You have nothing to be sorry for. I shouldn't have gotten upset with you. None of this was your fault.

...hmm, I've decided it isn't silly for ghosts to be stoic and dignified after all.

[asapplepie]

You're not dignified, you're gonna be, like, bumping into walls.

[tsunneverset]

Nonsense. I've already mapped out the terrain of this cabin. I know where the alcohol is and I know where the tea is, I foresee no problems from here on out.

[asapplepie]

Okay, but you're still a loser. You threw a bottle at me, that's sad.

[tsunneverset]

It's not sad at all. The alcohol is seemingly limitless here, so you don't have to worry about the waste. Besides, I missed, didn't I? [Actually, he doesn't know, but he didn't hear the thunk of two heavy hollow objects hitting each other, so he's assuming so.]