mewreview: (Default)
Purr Honor ([personal profile] mewreview) wrote2014-03-24 03:30 pm

the graveyard

the graveyard




You wake up in your bed. At first, it might not seem as though anything has changed...until you try to leave the room. You'll quickly discover that while you can phase through the interior walls of the building, you can't open doors, pick up objects, or alter the environment in any way. Worse, the only people who can see and hear you are your fellow ghosts; to everyone else, you may as well be so much empty air.

That said, there are still a few other things you can do besides just observing those who are still alive. You now have the ability to conjure any food, drink, or reasonably small object out of midair, although anything you conjure will go unnoticed by the living inhabitants. More interestingly, there is now an intricate iron door embedded in the wall of the main room that you're sure hadn't been there yesterday. If you open it, you'll find that at long last you've exited the building...and the world outside looks quite familiar.

In fact, it's your world. Though...it might not be exactly how you remember it when you left.

You won't be able to get far in the area before you feel some kind of barrier preventing you from taking another step, but it's enough for you to know that something has Gone Terribly Wrong. Perhaps it's the bombed-out shell of your building, or the monsters screeching nearby, or the corpses of your army scattered on the ground; whatever the situation is, it's clear that you would have been in grave danger had you still been back home. Luckily, your ghostly status is still in effect even here; while there may be danger still lurking about, none of it will be able to affect you.

The building behind you has taken on a translucent, almost insubstantial appearance; only the iron doors remain as solid as ever. You can simply open them again to return to the cat's domain.

(OOC: Here's how this will work! Whenever someone new arrives to the graveyard, the world outside will change to their canon's world. We'll leave the exact location and situation up to you to describe; the only thing that matters is that it should be clear your character would have been in enormous danger had they been around. Everyone in the graveyard will be able to explore the area, which will at maximum be around the size of a large ballroom; you'll be able to see things outside the area, but you won't be able to take another step forward. You can interact with the setting, but you won't be able to affect anything living, and anything that might pose a danger such as bullets will pass right through you.)
vivillon: (we've managed to meet)

[personal profile] vivillon 2014-05-01 07:45 pm (UTC)(link)
[Serena thinks a moment, and a photograph of Serena, her mother, and her Pokemon team appears. She looks at it for a long time without saying anything.]

I--Oh. [Then the tears start coming. She's only a sixteen-year-old girl, after all.]
bigthings: (eh?)

[personal profile] bigthings 2014-05-02 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
It does! Which means there's gotta be a way to get back to the real world!

What have ya guys tried so far? [because obviously you've all tried to escape ghosthood right]
bigthings: (whine)

[personal profile] bigthings 2014-05-02 07:43 am (UTC)(link)
Wow, I understood like none of those words. Anyway, you're totally wrong. When people die, our souls return to the Great White Flow of the Rukh. And since we ain't gone anywhere, we're definitely not dead.
ladyofthehouse: (supicious)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-02 01:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[We're all not as proactive as Kouha apparently.]

There's a door that's become visible in the main common room, that none of those living seem to be able to see. It leads out of this place and to our homes.

However, we're not capable of returning to it. I assume that's because of this alternate plane hypothesis you have. It's also debatable that you will want to return having seen it. We all seem to have been in catastrophic situations prior to our arrival here.

[She's inclined to believe the door's contents too. Her and her people's entire existence being threatened would probably be the only thing she'd willing part with her connection to her people over. Especially if she could figure out how to rectify things for them while staying in a safer location.]
Edited 2014-05-02 13:29 (UTC)
ladyofthehouse: (worrisome)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-02 01:41 pm (UTC)(link)
... [Austria bristles at the question. Dead. She's dead, everyone speaking to her is dead and it's-- it's just.

It's somehow just slightly better than being alive and not herself anymore. If she gave up something precious to that cat to come here hoping for an opportunity to rectify things at home-- she was horrifically deluded. Possession or death...

But that's not Serena's fault. Austria's expression softens.]


I'm more myself, ja.

Are you aware of what's happened?
Edited 2014-05-02 13:41 (UTC)
bigthings: (hurt)

[personal profile] bigthings 2014-05-02 11:36 pm (UTC)(link)
[Yeah sorry, Kouha's already racing towards the doors before Austria's even finished talking, not even noticing how he happens to be running through various furniture and walls on the way. He throws them open - and then recoils, completely stunned.

The world outside looks similar to imperial China, but something has clearly gone terribly wrong here. The sky is dull grey and overcast; from the clouds hangs an enormous writhing black mass of tentacles reaching towards the ground. Underneath it, a figure as large as a skyscraper walks slowly towards the distance, its body composed of thousands of arms and hands. Everything the hands touch rapidly decays and dies; grass shrivels, trees wither, animals rot. The ground is littered with dozens of human corpses, none of them intact. Even now, a hand reaches out to grab a fleeing person before letting go; the body drops, its skin completely disintegrated.

Kouha watches all of this with wide eyes, too shocked for even horror or anger yet.]


W-what...what is this...?
ladyofthehouse: http://www.pixiv.net/member_illust.php?mode=medium&illust_id=18237858 (you've made things uncomfortable)

1/2

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-03 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[Oh honestly!

... Well she supposes she might as well follow him, for. Moral support. Or something. She's not running though.]
ladyofthehouse: (oh my)

2/2

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-03 02:46 am (UTC)(link)
[Eventually Austria will poke her head in after him-- what on earth is that.]

...

A-as I was saying, before you ran off. [Austria clears her throat.] All of homes are in various danger.
bigthings: (anger)

[personal profile] bigthings 2014-05-03 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
That's impossible! That thing - we beat it already! We beat it!

[Austria's words seem to snap Kouha out of his shock as he races forward, trying to get closer to the destruction. It doesn't take long at all for him to hit the barrier, slamming into it over and over again in his desperation to get out.]

En! Mei! Kougyoku! You stupid shitty Borg, let me out, I have to go help them, get the fuck outta my way!
hakurouken: (✿ Uh no...)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-03 10:05 pm (UTC)(link)
Miss Serena...

[Youmu couldn't begin to imagine what this was like for her, but the sight of her mutilated body probably wasn't helping one bit. Gently she puts a hand on Serena's shoulder]

Let's take a break elsewhere for now, I'm sure the living can take care of things here.

If there's anything you want to talk about...
hakurouken: (✿ !!!!)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-03 10:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Now you're the one that's not making any sense.

I already told you, the only reason we're still here is because there isn't a netherworld to go to any more. And even if there was it wouldn't stop people from turning into gho-

[Refusal to recognise their own death? Check. Same appearance as when they were alive? Check. Carrying a grudge? Debatable but let's not rule out the possibility.

Youmu takes a step back, obviously spooked by something]


You are a ghost.
vivillon: (we've managed to meet)

[personal profile] vivillon 2014-05-04 08:06 pm (UTC)(link)
[Serena wipes the tears from her eyes with one hand and clings to the picture with her other, though the tears keep coming. She can't quite manage words, so she nods instead. It takes a few moments before she can speak at all.]

What--wh-- [A few moments and a deep breath.] What have you all b-been doing?
vivillon: (in our brief lives)

[personal profile] vivillon 2014-05-04 08:07 pm (UTC)(link)
[Serena only belatedly realizes that the question doesn't really fit this place. She looks over at her Sylveon rushing about, at the situation she can't interact with--]

I--can guess.
vivillon: (in our brief lives)

[personal profile] vivillon 2014-05-04 08:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Serena spends the time after the case concludes following Ritsu around, because Ritsu is the one with her Pokemon. It calms her down to see how Ritsu is trying his best to care for them--it's reassuring to know they won't just be forgotten about and left in their Pokeballs or to roam around the place on their own.

That's when she finally finds it in herself to be interested in the door, and will address anyone nearby when she goes to look at it a little more closely.]


What is this?
ladyofthehouse: (side profile)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 08:57 pm (UTC)(link)
[Austria looks up from tuning a small violin she's willed into being because apparently pianos are too cumbersome.]

It's a door that gives you a general impression of what's been going on in our respective homes. I believe it's been here the entire time to be perfectly honest. [She gives the cat a rather bitter glance.]

However, it's only become noticeable to those who are in our predicament and the contents... Well. They seem to have a trend of being rather disturbing, however. Since you were the last to arrive if we open it should show us your world.

If you wish to open it I'll accompany you.
Edited 2014-05-04 20:58 (UTC)
hakurouken: (✿ Uh no...)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-04 09:00 pm (UTC)(link)
[Slowly she leads Serena away from the scene. Somehow Youmu seems a little hesitant about the question]

I'm not sure about the others, I've mostly been training and doing a little ikebana. It's been... quiet.
vivillon: (in our brief lives)

[personal profile] vivillon 2014-05-04 09:01 pm (UTC)(link)
My world? [Serena's hand rests on the handle of the door.] Disturbing... Disturbing how?

[She would love to see her home again, but "disturbing" doesn't sound like a good trend.]
hakurouken: (✿ ......)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-04 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
That...

[Youmu stays quiet as she thinks back to what she saw that day]

You remember the tree in my memories, right? The one that Lady Yuyuko and I were trying to force to bloom?

The seal broke, there were so many bodies...

[Taking a deep breath she tries not to tear up. It felt like everything she had worked so hard towards had crumbled in her hands and her death had been in vain. She couldn't even talk to the person she'd worked so hard to protect]

The barrier between the living world and the netherworld is weak where I come from, I wonder how many people it's dragged in...
ladyofthehouse: (dead pan)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 09:09 pm (UTC)(link)
The cat mentioned that we all parted with certain things willingly to be brought here.

If the contents of the door are to be believed, it's because we would have each been in danger had we'd stayed in our homes.
ladyofthehouse: (look away)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 09:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[Austria balls her hands into tight fists at her sides, tilting her head upwards so Youmu can't see her expression.]

...

[There can be no other explanation. They had to leave their homes to avoid danger and they offered up what was precious to them as payment.]

It seems rather cruel doesn't it? Obtaining refuge only to die regardless, while our homes suffer.
hakurouken: (✿ ......)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-04 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought when this was all said and done I would just be able to return home with Lady Yuyuko. Now I don't know what will happen...

[With a deep breath she rubs at her eyes. No point in crying now, she's had the time to sort out her feelings but her feelings are pretty clear]

Those spirits... If I was still in the living world I would have slashed up every last one of them.
ladyofthehouse: (coerced)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
...

When I lied, it wasn't my intention to make you die for me. [She'd voted no one. She'd tried to convince Youmu that she should do the same, without giving herself away.]

If I'd known... that it would have been pointless. That I would have disappeared regardless and been taken over by that thing...

[Would she have given up? That's not like her. They weren't concerned with saving anyone at the time, just themselves because of what that damn cat had led them to believe.

She'd been doomed from the start, her people had been doomed as well and Youmu had died for nothing and it made her bitter and angry.]


... I didn't know what to do.
ladyofthehouse: (look away)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 09:49 pm (UTC)(link)
...

My condolences.
ladyofthehouse: (dead pan)

[personal profile] ladyofthehouse 2014-05-04 09:52 pm (UTC)(link)
[Austria watches, feigning disinterest at the explosive reaction. It's upsetting to see and reminds her of how powerless she'd been walking through the small piece of her own world.]

We can't help them. We can't help anyone from our homes while here.
Edited 2014-05-04 21:52 (UTC)
hakurouken: (✿ Please don't agree with her)

[personal profile] hakurouken 2014-05-04 09:57 pm (UTC)(link)
You lied...? You knew?

[Her hands balled into fists and for the first time since she'd died Youmu was angry at someone other than herself.

But what good was that? What was she going to do? Hurt her? Kill her? She had already been hurt enough, they all had. Her fists uncurled and her shoulders dropped]


You could have said something... Those shadows don't have to consume you, Mr. Gavin proved that.

What did you think would happen if you stayed quiet? That everything would work out fine if someone else died for your guilt?

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