pregame | i really hope we actually planned to have a cemetery and i didn't just imagine this

[feminitis]

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cw: suicide mention

[feminitis]

...

[ah. well, the way he's not looking at her is pretty telling. she'll do him the courtesy of returning her attention to the gravestone she's cleaning up (which spares her from noticing the skeletal hand popping out of the dirt like a daisy, which is probably the better option for the both of them; this isn't the time for her to freak out about skeletons).]

He... killed himself. So that he could get onto the train.

[resumed]

[that also isn't surprising. demigods die young all the time and often in self-sacrificing ways to save other people. so he debates what to say even if it's pretty obvious he's angry about it, but in the end he nods.]

But because of that, everyone was revived and you were able to go home. [...] Where I'm from it's a little more complicated to bring people back from the dead.

[feminitis]

...where I come from, once you're dead... that's it. It's all over.

[nico probably already knew that, though, given that he's figured out she came from a world without magic.]

How do you bring people back where you're from?

[resumed]

[there's something of an off-kilter sort of smile.]

Special circumstances, usually. Not everyone can do something like that, but if you can find the soul of the deceased and they haven't chosen to go to Elysium and try for rebirth, you can bring them back if you can bring them through the Doors of Death.

But usually they can't leave, or they've already moved on. It's possible to summon their souls though, as long as they're in the Underworld.

[feminitis]

[the doors of death... sounds creepy.

sei doesn't say that out loud, but she's thinking it. she has the good grace to not falter in her cleanup, though she's now pulling weeds that are growing near the gravestone. this section of the cemetery is looking much more tidy, at least!]

That... sort of sounds like what happened in the games you all were stuck in? Or at least, from the little I heard, people in your things died and came back instead of all of you dying to find the way out... [...] That's going to have to be how things are here, too, right? There's not a way back, but we have to buy enough time for them to find one.

[resumed]

[very glad that percy never told sei about his canonpoint, this is funnier. but at least they're making good work cleaning up! sei is doing a great job with cleaning up the blood and weeds.]

Right. In our war, we had to make sure a certain amount of people were still left alive in order to fulfill the conditions for the Crafters to bring everyone back. [war? game? same thing in this case.] Though I think Shess also said he came from a situation where everyone but one person had to die, including their overseers. It may become an option for us if it means buying time on our end.

[give him a second to start pulling some weeds around his feet.]

Either way, we probably only have a little while before our time's up.

[feminitis]

[i mean maybe he would have if i wasn't such a huge fuckin flake back in 2017]

It's an option, but I'd prefer it if we didn't have to use it... it seems riskier.

[given that the nightman wants to keep as many people as possible. sure, it might work, but it's a lot to lose if the tpk gambit goes poorly.]

...we'll figure something out for sure, though. We might not have a lot of time before all of this starts in earnest, but despite all of our eccentricities, I'm sure we'll all use it well. We all know what's at stake, after all.

[resumed]

[he doesn't quite readily agree with her. he hopes that everyone knows what's at stake and that they may all get along for the sake of getting the job done, but...well. it's hard to say just yet.]

It's a last resort is all. Most of our plans aren't put into action until right at the end anyway and they're not always guaranteed to work out. It's also going to depend on the kind of people that arrive in the first place and if they'll be willing to listen to us in the end.

[feminitis]

It would be nice if we could break into the Nightman's office and look at his stuff to see who he's planning to bring here, but even I can tell that would end really badly.

[imagine if they got caught as impostors before the game even started.]

[resumed]

[...hm....]

Wouldn't it only end badly if we were caught? [says mister "sneaks around in shadows so often people don't realize he's there."]

[feminitis]

...I like the way you think!

[oh n]

[resumed]

[this is how they die.]

If we can distract the Nightman long enough for one of us to take a look and make copies of what he has, it should give us an idea of what to prepare for. Right? He can't be in his office all the time.

[feminitis]

[they die and we have to replace them with new npcs, and that's how we don't have to retcon anything if we swerve]

Exactly! He has to step out sometime! There's no way anyone or anything can be everywhere at once.

[lol]

[resumed]

[he ponders that because he's from the canon he's from.]

It depends on what he is...do we even really know?

[feminitis]

...well, he's a bastard, that much is for sure.

[she makes a face and shrugs.]

[resumed]

[sei...]

Okay, besides that. We know he's not human, but do we know what kind of monster he is? Or if he's something else?

[feminitis]

[she's not entirely wrong. she's just also not entirely right.]

...we may need to ask Shinnosuke-san that, or Junpei-san or Vax'ildan-san [oh i hate how honorifics look with his name] if we can still get in touch with them. They're the ones who've had contact with him.

[resumed]

I don't know about getting in touch with the other two, but we can try. Do you think Shinnosuke would actually tell us if we asked?

[shinnosuke seems rude but maybe he can still be useful.]

[feminitis]

Oh, he'll act like he's not going to tell us, but with him, you just have to listen carefully and read between the lines.

[see, she's smiling when she talks about it with nico, but if she was talking to shinnosuke directly about this, she'd be grumbling.]

[resumed]

[ah, yes, he's familiar with this brand of friendship because this is how he engages with like 90% of the people he knows.]

Sort of sounds like you've had plenty of practice. You must have spoken to him a lot.

[feminitis]

We were in the same game, so that certainly helps.

[going through murder together will give you plenty of chances to practice!]

[resumed]

[so nico needs to strangle shinnosuke for not mentioning percy sooner, too. good to know.]

What were the participants like in your game? Anyone else noticeable?

[moving on to another gravestone, though there seems to be a few things sticking out of the dirt that are gathering his attention as he starts shifting things around.]

[feminitis]

Well... that would depend on what you mean by noticeable...

[weeding... weeding... she reaches for one of the things sticking out of the dirt, kind of on autopilot. i imagine it is not a weed, though.]

There were a lot of very... strong personalities there.

[resumed]

[congratulations on your new femur, sei. this is yours now.]

There were plenty of strong personalities in ours, too. But there were also people who came from the same place before the game started. I don't know if it was like that for you.

[and he may not get an answer because bones.]

[feminitis]

[wHY BONES



sei doesn't answer - at least not right away. once she realizes she's holding a femur, she's just going to... gently... try to push it back into the earth. go. begone. go back to your resting place, femur.

when she does speak up, her voice is a little shaky, but she's trying very hard not to freak out since she did say earlier that she's not scared of anything.]

Ah... yes, we had a few people like that. Percy-san and Annabeth-san came together, and so did Jason-san and Damian-san... [damian is young enough that he should probably be getting "-kun" but he's also Intense so. he gets an upgrade.] Oh, and Chane-san came with her... husband...? [she's pretty sure they were married??] ...Lecter-sensei and Graham-san were from the same place too...