graveyard part five

[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. (The graveyard so far)

Comments

[construe]

[ Wow fuck her fucking unlife. ]

Just kill us for good. Just be kind for once. End it now.

[agentx13]

[ When Sharon's finally done trying to beat Critter into a pulp, she huffs a sigh and gives Critter a look as if determining what to do with it next. She barely glances at Kirigiri. ]

Sorry you got killed. Seems I could have used you in the end. All of you, really.

[ Uh... ]

Nearly all of you.

[construe]

...You tried your hardest, until the very end. Even when it had become hopeless, you still tried. It's commendable. We could not have asked for more.

[agentx13]

I should have tried harder. I missed something. [ She glares at Critter and then lets the creature go. For now. ]

So. [ She looks around the room. Is this... that building in the graveyard? Sharon had thought it was a shack. Damn it. ]

What have you been doing with yourself since you died? Besides sending clues, I mean.

[construe]

...It's like a purgatory. There has been nothing for us to do but consider our actions...

[agentx13]

[ Sharon gapes. ]

Seriously?

[gamehead]

Nope, not yet! You still have a shot at surviving, you know!

[construe]

I do not wish for a second chance at life if it means the others will not be returning.

[tsunneverset]

No. Not yet. [He's realized by now that attacking Critter won't do any good, but his voice still thrums with rage.] Let it bring us back if it wants. I won't leave this town until I find a way to save everyone, I swear it.

[construe]

It won't let that happen. It possesses all the power here.

[agentx13]

Unless there's a way to block that power, like it blocked Steve's strength...

[tsunneverset]

There has to be a way. There has to be. It wanted us to be pack - well, now it's time to start acting like one. If we live...then we work together. We find a way out for everyone. We never surrender. And we show Critter that bringing us back will be the biggest mistake that creature's ever made.

[agentx13]

Okay. Let's think about this.

What does Critter want?

And what can hurt the pain in the ass?

[tsunneverset]

It said it wasn't about revenge to you, didn't it? Then perhaps...it wants us to learn something. Or to prove ourselves better than the ones who killed those wolf cubs. Abstaining didn't do the trick, but it may have been too late for that anyway, given that by that point every person there had already voted for someone else during the game.

As for that, I wish I knew. Physical combat isn't the answer. [He narrows his eyes.] Maybe we should just start burning everything down, plants and animals alike, until it brings everyone back. It already hates us and nothing we do seems to change its mind, so why bother trying? It's not like it can do anything worse.

[speakveryclearly]

No--

[Kanaya makes the slightly daring move of putting her hand on Kirigiri's shoulder.]

No, don't say things like that. Kyouko... you were doing the right thing. The entire time, protector or predator, you acted - to the absolute best of your abilities, and protector in both roles, really... [You Even Tried To Protect Me in a way, is the subtext there.]

And -- the realm of the living, your world in its complex situation... it needs a Super High School Level Detective. It needs you. Please don't buy into this despairing mentality. You deserve to live.

[construe]

The world I come from may no longer be worth saving. [ Harsh, but true. ] And there's no place for someone like me in a world like that.

[ She looks down at her scarred hands just to give her eyes somewhere else to point at aside from Kanaya. ] I do not want to go back. Not without the rest of you. That is what I agreed to fight for.

[speakveryclearly]

Hey, it's not as if we would have all gone back to the same location anyway, is it.

[The words ring hollow as she says them. That's not really true, is it? She and Charles have discussed this... how likely it is they'll all meet again. And she does wish they could remember one another, be together in some realm, but they can't. Very soon, she won't be able to help anyone anymore.]

Maybe... maybe we'll be sent into a real afterlife, if we're not brought back.