log; and then everyone died

[subservience]

[... Jiros is actually not quite sure what to do in this situation. Or about being dead, really. His thoughts are somewhere along the lines of '... well, shit' and 'damn' and 'I guess I'm dead'.

...

Oh, and he's being attacked by frogs. That's kind of important too.

SO YEAH RUNNING LIKE THE WIND and half-looking for someone to partner up with though really how is he supposed to tell who else is dead—]

Comments

[inexistence]

[ welp, the number one indication would be that you can run them over.

like right now, for example--

honestly, at this point, celandine is just very used to waking up in strange places. while he's admittedly never woken up dead before (this tends to be a once in a lifetime experience, probably), it's something that he came to terms with about five minutes after his rather rude awakening in the middle of the scramble crossing.

everyone dies. what he's more curious about is if the frogs really were graffiti come to life, or if he's just looking at this entirely the wrong way. it's when he's simply walking down the street, vaguely amused at the fact he can pass through people any way he pleases, that he's suddenly run over by a person who's very obviously running away from something.

before he can even look surprised, he finds himself getting bowled over.







ow. ]

[subservience]

[Yeah, 'ow' kind of sums it up. After hissing in pain, he stands up, brushing dirt off his clothing.

... Ah.

Right. He ran into someone. That's probably not good and he should apologize.]

... I apologize for the accident. Are you... unhurt?

[It actually does not occur to him what this implies yet—]

[inexistence]

[ yes, you ran into someone. and that someone is currently staring at you with his glasses knocked half-askew. let's see now, today's checklist includes....

1) waking up dead
2) getting run over by someone, also presumably dead

he thinks about this for a moment, and decides that it's probably a bad thing he can't even muster up a single iota of surprise to go along with it all. what catches his attention is the other boy's usage of language. he amends his list quickly:

3) said dead individual talks as though he swallowed a 19th century dictionary

he snorts with a little laugh, and gets up. glancing behind the other boy for a brief moment, his slightly mismatched eyes refocus on the boy's face. ]

I'm not hurt, yeah. But weren't you running from something?

[subservience]

[... he is not sure why he just got laughed at but okay.

And oh yeah, he was—]

Ah... correct.

[yeah, he should return to doing that.]

... You should also take care to flee. They appear to be dangerous.

[and he really should be running now but he should probably make sure this guy runs too...]

[inexistence]

[ haaa... must be one of those martyr types. his sister was one of those. so was his best friend. it makes him wonder just what part of his non-sacrificial personality tends to attract people of that sort, even in the alleged afterlife. his eyes narrow slightly at the approaching killer frogs, vibrant in their colours of doom, and he grins. ]

Yeah, they do. And since they're probably gonna target us both, we might as well run together.

[ welp, time to grab your hand without particularly caring for your protests and/or your sense of personal space. he'll suddenly take off and drag you with him!! ]

[subservience]

Hey—

[and now his thoughts are somewhere along the lines of 'what the hell DON'T JUST TOUCH ME LIKE THAT' but he's not going to voice that because that's just rude. He's also cutting off his own protest because that's probably also rude. Or inappropriate. Or breaks some kind of unwritten rule somewhere.

Dragged—and wait wait wait it's finally clicking...!]

Wait, you're de—!

[Dead too! Except phrasing it like that sounds too stupid, so.]

... Your life has ended as well?

[HE TRIED VERY HARD TO KEEP HIS VOICE CALM and you can probably tell.

He also does not understand why you are grinning. ?_?]

[inexistence]

[ it's okay, jiros, he gets that a lot. probably more than he should, really, but since that didn't stop him while he was alive, he doesn't see any reason to change it now that he's dead. unfortunately, he's pretty good at reading people's vibes (comes from years of reading a partial tsundere) and therefore figures that you're probably pretty fun to mess with.

except running from frogs takes priority. his voice sounds a little absent-- ] Well, yes, I'd assume so. Life flashing before my eyes and all.

[ since in movies, people's lives are always shown flashing before their eyes when they died. he actually saw no such thing, but he sees no reason to say that. ]

[subservience]

[no. NO HE WOULD NOT BE FUN TO MESS WITH PLEASE DO NOT TRY.]

You would... assume so?

[that does not sound like a proper yes but whatever.]

... My apologies for your loss, then.

[you should apologize to someone if they died, right...

also have you let go of his hand yet—]

[inexistence]

[ ... okay, that's surprising. he actually takes a moment to look back momentarily, eyebrow poised in the arch of a perfect question mark. ] Why? It's not like you killed me.

[ and it's not like he's lost anything. really, his life was never his in the first place, so from his perspective, nothing of value was lost. this boy's formality, however, kind of amuses him a little. he almost reminds him of Eithri.

out of the corner of his eyes, he spots the frogs again. his hold on your hand will tighten!! you are not getting your hand back anytime soon jiros so dealwithit.jpg ] Ahhh, it looks like they're gaining on us. Any bright ideas?

INNES OVER HERE

[plenty]

[ basically she woke up on the ground and is not happy about that.

the long story is that she spent the entire debriefing frowning at the reapers. marchesa doesn't usually frown. she usually smiles, often with a hint of teeth and a promise of retribution by armed thugs storming your house in the middle of the night. what makes her frown is that this entire charade is disgusting, and she's actually dead and this poses problems in all sorts of ways.

first of all, she's dead.

second of all, the very fact that there is a system set up like this means that someone is profiting off of it.

third of all, she doesn't like being a part of a conspiracy that she herself didn't perpetuate.

it's with those thoughts in mind that she brushes herself off without another word. the lack of colour in the world around her is honestly jarring-- she blinks rapidly, as though hoping to clear the monochrome film, but gives up after a few seconds of squinting. the world at large is very different colourless, and to be entirely honest, she finds it unsettling. which must be the reapers' goal, all in all. the least she can do is to bear it and flick them the proverbial finger.

first things first, however. she needs to explore her environment, verify the facts for herself, and then find herself a partner. the crows of people milling about are annoying. can they really not see her?

as though to test her hypothesis, she reaches out abruptly to grab the arm of the first person that catches her eye. ]

SOMEBODY GET THIS PSYCHO AWAY FROM ME

[prohairesis]

[ everyone dies someday.

but Innes has always lived in the past. despite the gravity of the situation, he finds his thoughts constantly traveling to the moment just prior to his death, puzzled. why had that been worth it?

dying shouldn't feel this unfulfilling.

he returns to "reality" when someone grabs a hold of his arm. he stops immediately, held arm twitching in a shortlived decision to pull away as he lays eyes on a woman—who can see him, touch him, hold him there. unnatural.

well.

what now? ]

WOW RUDE!!!

[plenty]

[ she's always had a good eye.

the fact that her hand comes in contact with a solid person surprises her as well, briefly, even though she had been the one to reach out. she immediately holds his gaze, eyes narrowing slightly, but is interrupted with another person walks by right through her outstretched arm.

well, that proves that she just happened to get lucky. it's just that she doesn't particularly believe in luck. nor does she believe in fate. instead she believes in opportunities and her intrinsic right to grasp them (both literally and metaphorically). it's why she doesn't let him go.

instead, she bites her lip. ]

Sorry, that was rude of me.

NO U

[prohairesis]

[ despite her apology, he doesn't think much of the contact. he may been taken back, but he's far, far from tensing when it feels like he's just experienced an adrenaline crash. the world around him is moving, throbbing—and he's dead. right.

alive or dead, he was never in much of a position to be accepting apologies, so he doesn't say anything to that.

if she can touch him, doesn't that mean . . . ? ]

Are you . . .

NO UUUUUUU /edits this a million times

[plenty]

[ the movement of her arm had caused her sleeve to hike. she doesn't notice until he speaks, and her eyes automatically dipping shyly. the rope burns are red, ugly things on the skin of her wrist, and she resists the urge to pull her sleeve back down. it seems like death has left a mark on her.

instead, she forces out a shaky laugh. ]

I might... be in the same predicament as you. [ and she looks up here, now, with a tilt of her head, as though challenging him to contest her claim. ]

ugh, you spammer

[prohairesis]

[ the movement of her eyes prompts him to do very much the same, and in the process, catch a glimpse of a burn—friction? it's no business of his, so his thoughts don't linger on it for long as he lifts his head, considering her words.

funny how they can converse like this as people are walking through them with every passing second. a lot of things can happen to the dead, it seems. ]

I see. . . . Are you alone?

gosh dealwithit.jpg

[plenty]

[ ... it's funny, but out of context, those words would've sounded like he had intentions to take her to a dark alleyway somewhere to do racy things. marchesa's no stranger to that sort of thing, and sometimes even welcome the attention, though she prefers classier, richer men (and endless teasing, even if she's more vanilla of a girl). judging from the seriousness of his expression, she guesses that he had yet to realize the implications of his words, and resists a small smile.

on the other hand, her mind is clicking away-- this person seems reliable, but appearances aren't always indicative of efficiency, and marchesa will never settle for anything less than the best. she's about to say something when there's a sound like crackling static coming from over to her left.

she turns. materializing is the most colourful specimen of floating graffiti frog:



... amidst a sudden rush of adrenaline, she recognizes this as a chance. she freezes, stock-still.

what are you going to do? ]

/deals with you two weeks later

[prohairesis]

[ he would never think such lewd thoughts, Marchesa.

that frog looks terribly off place, and as it approaches, a sense of danger triggers in him. Innes shrugs out of the woman's grip—he'll apologize later if need be—to position himself between her and the creature. even without his instructor, he should be able to handle this . . . ]

Behind me!

get in here kanye-kun

[dutyties]

[... There are a lot of things strange about this picture. Aside from, well, being given a second chance at life.

For starters, he has no idea where he is—and for that matter, his surroundings don't look even remotely familiar. It's definitely not anywhere within the Empire. In all honesty, it's as if he'd been transported to another world entirely, given how utterly different everything looks. It occurs to Alois that between his outfit and his weapon, he also looks nothing like the people walking by. He's not entirely sure of how to describe their manner of dress (except maybe somewhat scandalous for some of them...) but 'odd' comes to mind.

The land of the dead—or wherever this may be—is certainly peculiar, though Alois can't exactly say he was expecting otherwise. Whatever he might've imagined the afterlife to look like, though, it probably wasn't this.

Still, he doesn't have time to waste. He remembers the information given—meaning that his top priority right now is to find a partner.

... And why are those frogs attacking him—

After a couple of unsuccessful attempts to fend them off with his spear, Alois will just be running away now, yep. It's an unsettling sensation to move through people, but really, there's no point in going around them, so he simply forces himself to deal.

Hopefully he'll be able to find someone else who's dead, as unpleasant as the thought is for the other person...]

no

[kanyekun]

[Ace never was one to needlessly pick fights, and given his history of dodging pursuers, he's about as well off as can be in his allegedly dead state. Unlike a certain someone, he's not all up in people's bodies, even if he can pass through them. That's, like, so intrusive.

Anyway.

On a leisurely stroll—never mind the same kind of frogs chasing after him—to find a kinsman in his dilemma, Ace turns on his heels to face the same direction as Alois, by whom he's just passed.]

Wow, Alois.

[Since when did you make phasing through people a hobby??]

wow okay

[dutyties]

[Wait a second, he knows that voice—]

Ace?

[Alois just kind of stares at him for a moment before glancing at the frogs chasing him and then the ones chasing Ace.

... Welp. No time right now to stand around and figure things out.]

... Come on. We need to move.

c:

[kanyekun]

Okay. Which way?

[In case you didn't realize, Alois, there are frogs coming from both directions.]

:|

[dutyties]

[And that's why they move perpendicular to both directions because they live in a 3-D world, gosh.

So yeah, Alois will just be making a 'this way' gesture as he starts moving, again phasing through people.]

[kanyekun]

[Gosh, there are people there.

Except there's no longer a choice in that, so Ace follows suit behind Alois—oh, he can keep pace, but he always has the rear when they work together—phasing through people without issue. Since Alois is Mister Leader, he'll keep on following.]

[dutyties]

[As they move, Alois glances back at Ace, as he thinks over the information they were given.

... There should be one way to stop this.]

Have you found a partner yet?

[kanyekun]

[Ace regards Alois curiously, then shoots back:]

Aren't you my partner?