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

[vytis]

It'll be okay. [Lithuania smiles, though it's--a touch shaky.]

1/2

[notyetlost]

No, it won't!

Why aren't you getting upset? You should be madder than me.

[notyetlost]

[Poland's eyes widen at a realization.] You should at least be mad at me.

I opened that stupid church that made you get yourself killed. You'd still be alive if it weren't for me.

And now I might get to go back.

[vytis]

[Lithuania can't help but shake a little--something he's always had trouble hiding--when Poland states Lithuania's specific situation so plainly. Yes, he could have possibly been alive now, and thinking about that is something that he can't think about right now. He absolutely can't. He's not optimistic by nature, not at all, so this is hard, but...]

You didn't make me. And I might have ended up dead anyway.

[notyetlost]

[Poland knows Lithuania's not being genuine and it's just making him more agitated.] Get mad at me!

You would have gotten all the wolves days ago if I hadn't made such a big deal about sending clues over here. You had them all picked out!

It's my fault, get mad at me!

[vytis]

My gun was really for Miss Mayu. Mr. Hanekoma was going to check Sharon that night. I told you that, right? But I made my own decision.

[And something in Lithuania does break, then. He can't be this optimistic, it's just not in him. He lets his head rest on top of Poland's. He doesn't know what's going to happen after this, and it's frightening. Maybe getting angry at Poland would give him a scapegoat, but it would take away more than it would give him.]

Don't be so cruel, Len. [Lithuania hasn't really used that nickname since the Commonwealth era.]

[notyetlost]

[Poland doesn't know what to do or what to say. This wasn't how this was supposed to work. When he messed up, Lithuania got mad at him. Yelled at him. Hated him.

Lithuania could hate him till the end of time and that would be okay with Poland. Because he still liked Lithuania. He'd always like Lithuania.]

...

[But Lithuania wouldn't get to always like him. If he hated Poland now, he'd go away forever hating him.]

Don't hate me.

[vytis]

[Lithuania tugs Poland into a hug.] I don't hate you. This isn't your fault.

[notyetlost]

[He'd suggested this vacation to Lithuania , but there was no way he could have known this was going to happen.

He could have played harder, but he'd participated in meetings even if no one thought his suggestions were good. He'd gone to every kill he was able to.

He could have voted like everyone else and not made himself standout, but even Sayaka told him she'd really just gotten lucky targeting him.

He could have ignored the clues. He could have just let Lithuania stay in that brain dead comatose state. He thought he was helping. He's right though. Lithuania made his own choice.

It doesn't make him feel any better about it.]

I brought you back just so you could disappear again.

[vytis]

You brought me back. [Lithuania is frightened, though, and he can't push that down enough to hide it.] My people will still be there.

[notyetlost]

I know they'll be there.

But if I get picked I won't go home.

[vytis]

You can't stay in Preyer's Pass forever.

[notyetlost]

Yes, I can.

[Poland pulls away. No one alive really cares about him or even met him, the chances that he'll be picked are slim.

But the alternative is saying good bye to Ukraine and Lithuania forever. Returning home to a place where America and Spain are gone too. That's not a world Poland wants to return to.]

We're not gone yet. If we're gonna die our last moments shouldn't be sitting around in fear waiting for the end to close in on us.

And If I get to go back I won't leave until I've figured everything out, but I'm stupid--everyone tells me I'm stupid-- so you should just help me now.

[vytis]

[Lithuania can think of so many ways this could go wrong, even assuming Poland does end up going back. Lithuania has always been good at thinking about how things could go wrong.] With the clues, you mean?

[No one who's come back so far has remembered their time here. It might be pointless. If Poland was brought back, maybe all he would remember would be the first two days. Maybe bringing back the wolves would be the wrong choice somehow in Critter's eyes.

Maybe it would all go perfectly. Maybe the wolves would all get brought back and they would work together with the prey left alive. Maybe they would solve the mystery, and Critter wouldn't play any more of these games ever again--but it would be too late for the rest of them.

That's the most frightening option, he thinks.]

[notyetlost]

[Poland doesn't want to think about how it could go wrong. It's impossible for him to imagine how it could even get more wrong than it is now.]

Yeah. I might forget everything though so we should probably write it down.

[Somehow a pen doesn't seem adequate enough to deter Critter. Poland goes over to where Lithuania had been preparing food earlier, looking for a knife.]

I'll carve it into me when we figure it out. It lets us keep scars.

[vytis]

You're not carving anything into yourself. [Lithuania wanted that to have more energy, but he's tired suddenly and it can only come across as a vague sort of disapproval.] You already gave up a hand for this.

[notyetlost]

I won't have to worry about that if this ends how you think it will.

I don't need hands if we're gone.

[vytis]

M-mm, I suppose not. [Lithuania's response manages to have even less energy in it than his previous ones.]

[notyetlost]

Liet.

You're probably going to die. I'm probably gonna die too. I may never see you again and you may never see me again either. Most likely these are our last moments together.

How do you want to spend them?

[vytis]

[Lithuania doesn't want last moments at all, especially not in some cabin in the mountains in the middle of nowhere. But it's enough to restart something in his mind. He rubs at his eyes a little, self-consciously.]

Not as a zombie.

[notyetlost]

That's what I thought.

[vytis]

You still shouldn't carve anything onto your skin. Maybe we can't do anything about the clues, either. But--we can talk about them.

[notyetlost]

I don't mind, but finding a legible spot is the problem though. I'll probably be all scarred up like Hanekoma and Mayu times a thousand anyways. I'll ask Critter about it in a bit.

Okay so. While you were gone those two days I tried to figure it out, but I don't really know if I got anywhere.

[vytis]

[Lithuania tries to focus; he has, since he got back, seen the clues that showed up since he was gone, but he hadn't done a lot of thinking about them here.]

Did you come up with any ideas?

1/2

[notyetlost]

[Poland taps a finger to his chin thoughtfully.] At first I thought it was you guys figuring out what the motivation for us killing you was, but then you got set on fire so then I was like... meh.

But I mean you never said what you thought it was out loud in the trial, you just went straight to shooting Hanekoma in the face. Oh by the way that was super hot, did I tell you that?

But yeah. I think it might still be relevant somehow. I mean the people alive sure haven't figured it out and Critter's still calling us selfish and awful and junk.