GRAVEYARD ✨

[probe]

POPULATION: GHOST TOWN

You die - and then you wake up.

For a second, it feels as though you can't breathe, and then your head breaks the surface. You crawl out of a pool of blood and into a large, crystalline room. Moving images play across the crystal walls, and if you watch close enough, you'll realize that you're seeing the land of the living; a familiar space station with familiar faces. You can watch these images for as long as you'd like - there are several very large benches (as in, you have to climb them to sit on them) around the room for you to rest on while you do.

Regardless of how you died, it seems as though you're not quite gone completely. You're in one piece, at least. That's good news. However, your surroundings are not exactly what you remember.

When you exit the first room, a bleak, empty city sprawls out ahead of you.

The city itself is large. The framework of it seems to tower higher and higher than you can see, up into the black opal sky that shivers and curls every so often. A river entirely made of blood runs through the city, winding around buildings and ending at the crystal room. The most noticeable thing about the buildings themselves is the fact that thorny vines made of pure white steel dig into the walls and floor, cracking the foundations.

The residential building is worn down and old. It's two floors, and has a few small studio apartments built for one or two people to live in. The beds are extremely uncomfortable. It has a communal area downstairs, but the TV is broken, and the couches are torn apart. Sometimes, this building feels obscenely hot in temperature, and smells like rotten eggs.

The grocery store is your typical convenience store. There's a large selection of food in this area, but it all tastes the same - like chalk. On top of this, every so often there will be bloodstains on the walls, the floor, and the displays. They change in size and location, each time you enter the store.

The clothing store is thrifty in nature. All the clothes here are uncomfortable and scratchy, and don't fit quite right. While you're here, time feels... weird. Distorted, almost dreamy. As you're picking out clothes and trying them on (no money needed, just take what you want), you swear you can hear a gunshot in the distance.

Enjoy your time in this city, and remember...your story isn't quite over yet.

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Comments

W3, Monday - TALK TO SLOTH

[probe]

[a figure breaks the surface of the pool and comes floating out of it. they give their arms a shake to get rid of the reddish water.]

Wow! Just like home!

[slowly, they glance around. their hood is down, and a long wad of cloudy-white hair billows up into the air around them. their skin is white, like a marble statue, and their eyes are completely black save for the silvery irises and pupils. a single, spiraled horn is still protruding from their forehead, but in addition, two small wings sit where their ears would be.]

Man, you guys really went and just... died, huh! Burning, stabbing, suffocating... Maybe next time, try fighting back a little more!

[holeful]

["Maybe next time try fighting back a little more" I came out here to have a good time and I am feeling so attacked right now.]

Ah, Sloth? [He remembers that fucking horn. That said he is very distracted looking at all that fluffy hair right now.]

... I'd think fighting back would be something you don't approve of, though...

[probe]

Hey!

[he could be, like, a smidgen less cheerful, but it's fine. that's definitely the same horn, yeah. he settles in a float in front of fukuda.]

Nope! Mortals fight all the time! And die all the time, too, wow! Oh--you mean because of my alignment? Well, I just don't do the fighting myself is all!

[holeful]

[Hm. He supposes that makes sense? Anyway the cheerful attitude doesn't seem to bother Fukuda. He is still staring at the fluffy cloud hair.]

You said this place is like your home?

[probe]

[it is very long and fluffy. if he touches it, it might be soft? who knows.]

Not this place exactly. But how everyone gets here! You know, you almost had me before when you brought up the Styx!

[holeful]

[He is too polite and also this week depressingly unmotivated to touch it unprompted but he might ask in a minute. In any case, Fukuda takes a moment to connect the dots, and then ventures a guess;]

So would that make you Hypnos?
[A sleepy bitch with a connection to the greek underworld. Who else could it be?]

[probe]

[both hands come up sort of like jazz hands.]

Wow, you knew! That's me!

[bachelorbored]

Oh, thank god.

Did you bring the nap castle? I'm seriously deprived!

[probe]

Nap castle? Oh! The pillow fort! Nope.

[don't say it so casually.]

You haven't built one here? Wow! You guys had better get a move on if you want more amenities!

[bachelorbored]

A move on what?!

Oh! Don't tell me we actually have to kill people? They don't die! Trust me, I've been checked!

[probe]

Oh, trust me, dying when you're already dead? Pretty hard to do! Or if you're a god, I guess.

If you work hard, you get rewards, right? The indulging doesn't stop here, right?

[bachelorbored]

Hah, I'm way ahead of you. I've been napping non-stop in my pile of shredded foam that once was the couch I did not bleed out on to!

Should I get fancier? Maybe I could stack the mattresses...

[probe]

Oh, that's a good idea, huh? If you stack them in a triangle, it could make a little room you can crawl into!

[niceguyferatu]

I fought back plenty, thank you very much.

...so is this how it works? You can only reveal your faces to us in death?

[probe]

Mmm. The Pact of Punishment says you got double-teamed! Wow, rough!

I guess it depends on the Avatar! It'd be funny if one of us came down and was still concealed, huh?

[niceguyferatu]

The--the what now?

[probe]

Oh! I write down how you all died on my scroll!

[niceguyferatu]

...in advance, somehow? You say your "pact" says it, not you--is it somehow prophetic?

[notaccurate]

I did fight back.

[Hello to you too, Sloth.]

But I can't exactly do anything when nobody will give me a weapon to defend myself with.

[probe]

Oh, weaponless? That's rough. Try stealing one before everyone else does next time! Or, you know, maybe you could ask for one!

[notaccurate]

I did. Wrath said no.

[probe]

Right back to stealing. That's just terrible!

[the words sound sarcastic, but they actually... speak them... pretty earnestly? maybe too earnestly.]

Look at the bright side! Now you don't have to worry about dying!

[notaccurate]

I suppose this wouldn't be too bad if I was on Despair's team.

[How can he be lustful in a graveyard full of clowns?]

[kokytos]

This is like home to you? I guess at least one of us is feeling more comfortable.

[ Well met, Sloth. They haven't spoken. ]

[executeprogramming]

Query: Are you to be the watchdog for this week? What is your opinion on inconsequential violence in this place? Given the effects do not seem to last, I cannot see why the one called Despair was so worked up about it.