USER #030066 | ON DEATH

[passio]

Hello. It’s Dextera. I appreciate everyone who checked on me.

I’m sorry that this post isn’t especially happy, since I’m not trying to put a damper on the nice festival we had, but I feel as if it’s important.

There are people here who are dead, in the worlds they’ve come from. It’s not a difference in time, as others have experienced. Nor is it the same as what happened to John and Dave and I, where we were killed here and revived days later.

Somehow, this town is able to bring people back to life, even outside itself, in order for them to serve some purpose here. I assume that if they return to their worlds, they will die again, unable to sustain themselves without whatever “magic” this town is able to work.

I realize there’s nothing to be done about this. I also realize that this is a Pandora’s box of information, since the perceived impermanence of death is a source of hope and despair, as well as fear, for many.

To those who are dead, please don’t feel the need to reveal yourselves. To those who have lost those they loved, I hope that this town will give you a second chance with them.

Thank you.

Comments

#33CCFF

[underworldpianist]

I'm not surprised. [ His very existence here to begin with hinted at it, especially since humans here can see and feel him. ]

I feel like this place runs 'close' to the realm of spirits. I don't know much else yet, but it seems like it'd be easy to find a 'door' back to the underworld here if you looked hard enough.

[passio]

It seems like the town doesn’t like it when people look. There are too many things we don’t know, and not enough ways to find them out.

[underworldpianist]

If the underworld is involved... if hell is involved, it would ruin the 'game' of this place for whatever hands are pulling the strings of this little town.

It might seem cruel, but it's probably not so ill-intentioned as that. Desperation for something this 'village' needs and a being that can't ask, so it draws people in, hoping for the best outcome? Or maybe even a more childish thing that wants company... that thinks of this place like a sandbox and us as playmates. Without finding out what being or beings reside over this land, I couldn't tell for sure.

Regardless, it could see this as granting a wish, as a means to motivate us or as a reward... or even as a way to placate people. It probably can't understand why it could be painful to see the dead again. Things from my realm don't tend to understand the complexity of human hearts, you see?

#81CDC8

[ditherer]

This place really does interfere with the gods' dominion, doesn't it? I can't even begin to understand how it works.

[passio]

In my case, the God I know isn’t here. The rules I’m familiar with don’t apply and I’ve accepted that, but even so… I wish I could try to make sense of it.

[ditherer]

From what I understand of the gods... where I'm from, only the God of Death has jurisdiction over people's souls. The dead don't come back to life.

Is there any pattern to the people who are brought to this place?

[asking for totally... innocuous reasons...]

#3630FF

[messianic]

[There are a lot of thoughts to be had in response to a post like this. Of course, he's known this since he got here (there's a flash of guilt for keeping it to himself, briefly, but he really hadn't thought of it as a big deal in a personal sort of way--), but...

The longer he's here, the less he wants to reveal it, and the less he wants others to know.

Selfish? Absolutely. But... it's where he's at, and how he feels.

(But there's another thought, too; if Dextera's bringing this up now, does that mean his brother...?)

Ultimately, it takes him awhile to think of a response to this, and what he settles on is:]

Are you okay, Dextera-san? This must have been a lot to process.

[passio]

[ dextera is extremely not okay, actually. he knew his brother was dead, and seeing him here should have been a joy—but he killed his brother. he let the doctors rip them apart, and his brother died for his cowardice. seeing his brother “alive” in such a temporary state has only upset him. ]

I’m OK. I was just surprised.

[messianic]

[#doubt

but it's not something that needs to be dragged out on a public forum, he thinks.]

Actually, I was wondering if I could come by at some point. I ended up with some coffee from back home, and I wanted to share. In repayment for the hot cocoa.

#EA0000

[theshowsover]

(color!)

[They'll go back to being dead...

But that can't always be true, right? Akechi has arrived here without any memory of his death, meaning it hasn't happened. There is a chance he can change the course of fate, with this chance. Akira believes that.

He has to. There's too many wrongs that need to be righted back home, and Akechi's death solves none of them.]

We can't know until we go home.

[passio]

[ …death is a touchy topic for anyone, but dextera knows with certainty that it must be especially so for akira. it’s not that he’s aware of everything going on in akira’s life, but his death here wasn’t publicized like the others. it’s different. it’s personal, somehow.

this makes it seem like there’s something else going on, too. ]

Maybe this town will function as an afterlife for some. If they never go home, they can never return to death.

[ is this how you comfort people ]

#4FB6C3

[totheno1]

[Pandora's box of information...how ironic.]

This wouldn't be the first time I've had to deal with others dead coming back to life.

Perhaps once we figure out this world, a way for some of us to stay could be looked into.

[passio]

[ a way to stay… that’s never occurred to him, even if he’s hoped for it. maybe there’s a bargain to be made, not to return. ]

Do you think something like that exists? A way to stay here indefinitely?

#B9536C

[scooptimistic]

dThatdsf ytru

i bopsh theer arent gifs invrolved

[ Please pardon her. She's not drunk, just temporarily one-handed. ]

[passio]

[ that’s right… guren told him that maya had been injured. he’d intended to check on her, but everything started happening, and then his brother… ]

“Gifs”? I think I understand the rest of it, but I can’t parse that one. I’m sorry, Maya.

#9b5148

[tosa]

(#9b5148

he could be sad! He could take this little nugget of information and reflect and ruminate and get all serious and worked up!

But ain't nobody got time for that because he's been there, done that already. It was exhausting. It wasn't fun. 0/10 would not recommend.)

This plcae sure is complicated.

(Let's keep this casual...ish...... Because Mutsu hasn't really talked about his Dead Person™ yet and he doesn't want his Dead Person™ to get any ideas that he doesn't need.)

Are you okay?

[passio]

[ this place is complicated. dextera, luckily, knows nothing about mutsu’s Dead Person™, and it’s really for the better because he’s already wrapped up in his own Dead Person™. ]

I’m confused, but I don’t think I’m not okay.

#FFCCCC

[anamnestik]

Being unable to die is certainly a strain on one's psychology.

Are you handling it well? It's a lot to take in.

[passio]

I’m doing all right. I’m used to coming back, but having your death disturbed can be difficult for people who haven’t experienced it before.

#E00707

[parodeity]

( color )

clarification question
like just to be sure
do you think its bringing them back or like
bringing ppl from diff time points
bc i think chronologically things can be fucked up for ppl from the same place

[passio]

I’m sure there are some cases where the time is just different, but…

For the person I’m thinking of, both they and I are aware that they’re dead. They remember it.

#000033

[whereabout]

As in, someone could come here remembering their death, so definitely not just from some time before it?

[ This opens so many cans of worms. So many.

But Joshua, being Joshua, tends to deal with his moments of emotional stress by backing the fuck away from them and focusing on something else - for instance, what might've been the source of this revelation for Dextera! That's way easier than thinking about what if Karin. ]

Is everything okay with you?

[passio]

[ that’s right—joshua has a dead sibling, too. one that he might desperately want to see, the way dextera was convinced he could fix everything if he could just see his brother once more.

he was wrong, but he understands that desire. ]

Yes, and yes.

But I think I’d like to talk to you about it privately.

[ so the real answer is that things are not okay at all! ]

#B91600

[heartsteals]

[ Dextera...

He's not the first person Lupin has heard this from, but he's much easier to believe and to interact with than Vriska. ]

To overcome death should be a joyous thing, yet I find myself rather afraid of the implications you mentioned. My plans to find a way to send all of us home would be nothing more than sending some of us marching to their deaths.

I must say this: please do not use this information as a reason to treat your own life lightly. This is not only to you but to anyone else who may be reading.

- Lupin

[passio]

Thank you, Lupin.

I think a lot of people here would welcome the chance to escape, but as others have mentioned… maybe there’s a way to help the people who want to stay do just that.