GRAVEYARD

[dormheads]

graveyard

students in time out: 10

It's a little hard to wake up when the melody that drifts into your ears is so comforting that it'd be so much simpler to stay asleep. Maybe everything that you remember last - the cold seeping into your fingertips, the pain of injury, or the darkness creeping into your vision - will just be parts of a bad dream.

But it's not.

When you wake up, it's probably a little disorienting - you have to push off a blanket and rise from this nice comfortable mat on the floor. Seems like you were all curled up for nap time. Literally. The room that you're in has furniture meant for small humans, children as some might call them, and everything is soft and plush to the touch with rounded corners. Blocks with the alphabet etched onto them, coloring books and crayons, and even a rocking horse dot the room to really give it that childish charm. If you can think of a child-safe toy, it's probably in one of the baskets that line the shelves of the room!

Around the room they'll find baby monitors that broadcast the antics of the living. Hopefully that doesn't feel creepy.

There is a yard outside through the glass doors, but it currently seems to be locked - and the glass won't break no matter how hard you try. There's a large pink door that feels enormous, ten times as tall as you, on one side of the room, but there's no way through that either. At the very top, you might see a directory sign that says: TO ADMINISTRATION BUILDING.

Huh.

Well... for now, get comfortable. It looks like you might be here a while.

WEEK 3 UPDATES
WEEK 4 UPDATES

main navigation.
locations ◯ statuses ◯ profiles ◯ rulebook ◯ audiences ◯ tasks
murder proposals ⬤ private conversations ⬤ rooming ⬤ vouchers

Comments

[wtfox]

[oh!

oh. hm. lila glances at him, her expression still furious, before her gaze drops down to her hands. she takes a breath. it's not his fault she's here.]

...hey.

[her voice sounds a little strained. it's probably fine.]

[souheki]

[Nothing makes sense? Nothing makes sense, especially not the fact that of all people, Lila is here with him. Maybe...? He tilts his head slightly.]

They sought you as well?

[Sorry Lila, he's usually faster on the uptake than this.]

[wtfox]

...

[she's quiet for a moment, but then she shakes her head, her expression flat.]

No. You know what happened with Otome last week, where she had to fight the person who got the most votes? That was me this week, only I wasn't as lucky as she was.

[souheki]

[It's very subtle, but his eyes widen in shock.

Of course. The trial. How could he have forgotten?]

...I'm sorry. [That that happened to her--that she must've died (died?) angry, hurt, confused. At least in his case...

He's not the touching type, but he looks like he wants to put a hand on hers.]

However, it may be a good thing.

[wtfox]

How is it a good thing?

[she, uh. she does not look happy.]

You're dead, I'm dead, and the two bozos who killed you are still walking around with no one even having a clue that they did it. We couldn't figure anything out, and everyone voted for a volunteer instead.

[souheki]

From what I was told, it is better for us to be... [...Dead, technically, but that feels weird to say when they're, uh. Here.] ...here.

[Though he doesn't blame her for being angry, and doesn't seem inclined to stop her from taking out her anger how she pleases.]

It halts the process of assimilation.

[wtfox]

...

What.

[souheki]

[Well, probably the first thing that sticks out as a good example is last week's execution with Otome and Kaoruko, but it feels like it would be greatly insensitive bring that up right now.]

This place. I was told we are being made into part of this world permanently, like those who cannot seem to comprehend anything strange. [Like Francy and Anna at the bakery... or the other students.] Death--if that is what this is--halts the process, and keeps us as ourselves. It means those working against it may be able to save us.

...I do not know if I would have believed it, had my thoughts not been manipulated shortly after.

[It had taken some time to figure out what was going on, and by then things were already a chaotic mess, but now that he's looking back on it, it seems like solid evidence towards the truth of what he was told.]

[wtfox]

...who told you this? Your killer?

[because, uh.]

That sounds like something they'd say just to try and make you not want to fight back. What, did they say they were coming after you to save you?

[souheki]

[A nod. Look, he gets it, but it was--]

Rupert, and... Otome.

[Which probably explains a couple of things.]

I was doubtful as well. [He's not naive??? When it seemed like they weren't going to strike unexpectedly, he definitely tried to ask questions.] They were willing to speak further, but shortly after they told me, it felt like... I was forced to believe they were lying. That this school was completely normal.

[wtfox]

[what the fuck my conspiracy theory was so wrong



as was lila's. she was very convinced it was byleth after the mama goose-baby goose, student-teacher comparisons.]

What the hell?

[she only gets so many swear words because she's from a children's show but this is one of them.]

[souheki]

[This is fine

Lan Wangji looks like he's trying not to make a face at all the swearing but he is quiet! She is allowed to feel her feelings.]

[wtfox]

[lila's hands are balled up into fists so tightly that her knuckles are practically white.

she takes a breath.]

...tch. So much for I'm really glad you're safe.

[souheki]

[...Yeah. Honestly, he can understand why she's upset! Even now, he doesn't know if Otome and Rupert were telling the truth--he's inclined to believe it, but he isn't the type to sit on his heels either way. And while he can understand why the two of them wouldn't have come forward, if they're truly working to save the rest of them, it's still...

Well. Calling it "unfair" feels like a massive understatement.]

...I do not know where we are. But I must believe that our consciousness means we are able to continue seeking the truth, and a way home.

[He can't believe anything else. Not when there's so much at stake for him back home.]

[wtfox]

...I refuse to be stuck here.

[so. yeah.

she'll look for the truth, and she'll look for a way home. and if there's anything they can use here - wherever here is - to determine whether or not otome and rupert were actually trying to help them? she'll use it.

but she's not going to stop being mad any time soon. lan wangji might be able to let it go, he might be able to understand what they did, and he might be broadminded enough to give them the benefit of the doubt -

but lila is a petty fourteen year old, and she absolutely is not.]

But if they end up here with us, they better watch themselves.

[souheki]

As do I.

[As far as Rupert and Otome, though... he could quote a thousand rules at her from his home about holding onto rage, about calm and kindness and all of those emotions that poison the heart. But his social skills, while lacking, are not so nonexistent that he can't understand that this isn't the time for it.

So he just nods slightly.]

...Even if they are correct, you should not have had to go through that.

[He obviously didn't see what happened, but given last week's execution, he can only imagine.

He hesitates.]

...May I ask who you fought against?

[wtfox]

[pixi, i don't know what to tell you, she's from miraculous ladybug. the whole show's premise is they fight supervillians who are people who are having a bad day that get transformed because of their negative emotions. if literally any character from this show was capable of anger management, there wouldn't be a show.

anyway.

she fiddles with her necklace and looks down again.]

...Manwol.

[souheki]

[It's fine, Lan Wangji was raised by Lan "constantly on the verge of bursting a vein" Qiren and we have 7 weeks to teach Lila how to meditate

But he's also immediately going to imagine basically exactly what happened last time--Manwol being forced to kill Lila in a much more personal manner. Ugh, what a terrible place.]

I see.

[He's not going to make her relive her traumatic experience unless she wants to, though. If she doesn't want to talk about it and would rather immediately start exploring (or would rather just curl back up under a blanket), that's perfectly fine.]

[wtfox]

...it wasn't even like I got killed by her. I was about to win that fight.

[if she'd just jumped immediately...! never mind the fact that jumping would have been a struggle with her snorlax-wrecked legs.]

But there were cars there somehow. One hit me.

[souheki]

[Oh... in that case Manwol probably feels terrible right now, wow.

But--]

"Car"?

[wtfox]

Oh, right, you're from an older time and place. Think of it as a carriage, but heavier, and faster.

[souheki]

I see.

[And given that he doesn't have a stab wound in his chest anymore, he's guessing the answer is the same for her, but--]

You are uninjured now?

[wtfox]

[she nods]

...yeah. I don't feel hurt. [...] Which really doesn't make sense.

[souheki]

Mm.

[He looks down, lifting up his hands. The cuts have vanished from them, and though it's not as immediately apparent, his leg feels healed, too.]

It is the same for me.

[wtfox]

...

[she sighs.]

So we're not injured, and we're... conscious, both of which are weird considering we're dead. And we're in some kind of daycare center.

[she frowns at their surroundings.]

...and there's a bear.

[what if she fights principal bear.]