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GRAVEYARD ✨
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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[ Ha ha. He does indeed take that invitation to lean on him though, don't mind me. ]
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[ law will not mind...and just very subtly holds onto him. just a little and nothing overt. ]
If the word of Avatars doing this "job" longer than other is true, maybe they're one who has been at it for a while and can give us better answers.
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We've got a good range of people, here. Would be a pretty good idea to have a set of some responsible and reliable people ask questions, and come back and report regularly, huh?
[ Small hold is good. Steven has no complaints. ]
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Sure would.
Are you volunteering yourself to be one of those people? It's not going to stop me from asking questions myself, though.
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I'm not going to stop you from shit, just putting it out there so the Avatars don't get annoyed by five different people asking them the exact same set of questions.
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When more questions get asked and answered you can compile it all in one place for us.
[ since it looks like the main ones are going to be omi, luca, and douman other than law and steven here?? probably?? though some of them might end up being less helpful than others but who knows!
also? that casual delegation?? don't worry about it. ]
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I'll need pen and paper at any rate. Or if people are willing to let me commandeer entirely one of the two laptops in the new office room, then I can keep a digital log. [ If Law meant to tease him with the delegation, it seems like Steven hasn't noticed that, or even how easily he slips into work mode. Law as his partner in keeping the ball running, and everyone else providing data -- it's exactly the kind of set-up he has at home, and he seems comfortable with it. ]
...I kept some notes when I was alive, but I guess they were left behind. I can recall from memory anyway.
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I should have a notebook and a pen from when I was alive since it arrived with the other things that I had. I took some as soon as we arrived.
[ law also brought in a den den mushi when he died that looks like him but they don't have to talk about it. it's basically just a weird looking snail at this point anyway. ]
Worse of it all is that there will be more of us come Friday. [ isn't that a depressing thought? ] Or whenever it is that you showed up here.
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That works for now. I guess there isn't a guarantee that the laptops here wouldn't wipe... or that someone wouldn't end up busting it or downloading a virus.
[ He shakes his head. ] It was Sunday, just like you. Well, still have a few days until then.
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How many do you think we'll end up this time? With how they're acting, you'd think that killing one another would be the low on their agenda.
[ he's joking of course....since...well. law killed despite also having a similar agenda. closes eyes. ]
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It's ultimately a game of socialization, isn't it. If you're not a tight-knit group, then people will weed you out, and Luca's murder seemed to be purely based on the fact that Luca just wasn't someone who was important to the murderers. Based on past averages though, I would have to assume two more plus an execution.
[ The nicest estimate would be to simply say zero, but it wouldn't be likely. ]
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I was working with two other people when I decided to kill Douman and after speaking to them I realized that some of them might not even care to kill someone who was close to them if it came down to it.
[ just. casually mentioning this. there's no reason to hide it anymore, right? the dead can say no lies and hold no secrets. ]
Both of them are alive and I wonder if one of them will strike again and if the other will make their move. They seemed to be willing to get their hands around some people's necks.
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Though, if what Luca said is any indication, then murder isn't even necessary to begin with. It's reductive, I think. Just because murder fills up the "indulgence meter" faster, it still means that you're reducing the pool of people who can indulge in the first place. It's plus-minus zero.
That is, of course, assuming said so-called meter isn't entirely individual.
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[ a question asked multiple times and law just repeats it while shaking his head. ]
There could be something else motivating people to kill other than reducing numbers or trying to speed up the indulgences they're contributing. I know Pride and Wrath have told me there's no "conspiracy" going on but clearly there is something.
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Well. Some people certainly killed only for the sake of doing so. See individuals like HK-47, or my own death. In other words, sometimes there's just wildcards that don't quite fit into the mold but skew the data.
...What do you suspect is that "something"?
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[ no rules and all of that, right? ]
But I don't know. We're all trying to figure out what that "something" is. We've only gotten hints of what it could be and what could be happening around here. [ he'll give his head a shake. ] I've experienced memories, people have seen things, people have gone to places not found here...
[ AND NOW THEY KNOW THAT THEY'RE FOOD. ]
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Right. The little adventures people have gone to and come back injured from, and all that. [ Hmm... ] ...If only I'd been around to experience one of those for myself, then I'd have more insight.
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They don't get any better from the looks of it and seem to be related to the memories or experiences of anyone in the station avatars and us alike.
[ he'll give a sigh and a shake of his head. ]
The last one I saw ended with someone with a club through their chest—they managed to live but I never thought I'd have to get involved with something like that here. Douman was taken to the latest one if you want to ask them questions about it.
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It looked rough.
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It'd be interesting to see if there isn't another group that ends up popping out on Thursday. It's interesting that this place has so many routines built into it.
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