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Entry tags:
#030066
It’s Dextera.
I hope everyone has recovered from the town’s most recent mystery. I had intended to make this post earlier, but I think all of us were distracted. It’s confusing, and I’m sorry if it’s hard to read as well.
My brother - Sinistra, #610B0B - and I went into the forest to try to recover the rest of the items I’d found with Guren. We were able to get the pocketwatch, but it’s broken. If anyone knows how to fix it, I would appreciate your instructions.
It does something as it is, though. It’s strange. When I hold it, it feels like nothing exists. It feels like none of us exist. It’s scary. I don’t know how else to describe it. The town feels like an illusion, and all of us even less than that. Those of you that have just arrived still feel “real,” but the people I’ve known for a long time are barely here. I'm barely here.
There are some other people who don’t feel as if they exist at all. We haven’t figured out that criteria yet. I don’t know why or how it’s like this. I’m sorry. I don’t know if the watch works for anyone but my brother and I, but I don’t want anyone else to touch it. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m sorry, again, but my brother or I will answer any questions you have.
I hope everyone has recovered from the town’s most recent mystery. I had intended to make this post earlier, but I think all of us were distracted. It’s confusing, and I’m sorry if it’s hard to read as well.
My brother - Sinistra, #610B0B - and I went into the forest to try to recover the rest of the items I’d found with Guren. We were able to get the pocketwatch, but it’s broken. If anyone knows how to fix it, I would appreciate your instructions.
It does something as it is, though. It’s strange. When I hold it, it feels like nothing exists. It feels like none of us exist. It’s scary. I don’t know how else to describe it. The town feels like an illusion, and all of us even less than that. Those of you that have just arrived still feel “real,” but the people I’ve known for a long time are barely here. I'm barely here.
There are some other people who don’t feel as if they exist at all. We haven’t figured out that criteria yet. I don’t know why or how it’s like this. I’m sorry. I don’t know if the watch works for anyone but my brother and I, but I don’t want anyone else to touch it. I don’t think it’s a good idea. I’m sorry, again, but my brother or I will answer any questions you have.
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he just pours the boiling water over the leaves, and even if he knows this isn’t how it works, a part of him sort of expects them to dissolve. when they don’t, he winces, and by the time he’s trying to figure out how best to get the leaves out of the hot water, lupin knocks. ]
Ah…
[ he’s just going to leave that, and so he looks a little flustered when he answers the door. ]
Lupin.
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Of course, the tea isn't really on his mind when he comes to the door - and it vanishes even farther from the forefront when he hears a most unexpected noise upon said door's opening: Dextera's voice. His eyes widen in shock. ]
-- Dex? You can talk?
[ his voice is so little...! ]
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Ah…? Heh…
[ almost sheepish, he touches his throat and nods. ]
I wished for it.
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Well, that's great! It's nice to have some good news, for once - it's good to finally be able to hear you, too. I have to say, you don't sound like I'd imagine you would.
[ yet the voice matches his personality, if not his appearance. Lupin idly tosses the satchel in his other hand once before holding that out to Dextera, as well. ]
Here. I brought some treats for your lady friend. I'm determined to earn her favor yet.
[ it's some seeds and dried berries... for Leliel, naturally. ]
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She’ll love it.
[ lupin gets a shy smile from dextera for his efforts, as his posture eases in response to lupin’s easy, comforting presence. ]
Here, um… come in.
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[ he tips his hat to Dextera before taking it off and tucking it under his arm as he steps into the house. ]
You're looking better than I was expecting. I'm glad - that post had me pretty worried about you.
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[ dextera exhales, some of his brightness fading a little as he remembers why lupin is over in the first place. ]
I think I’m used to it. That feeling. It just surprised me… for others.
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[ immediately, Lupin's eyes go to Dextera's clothing, looking for a pocket with a suspicious lump or a chain or something like that. He'd gotten the feeling from that early response that Dextera wasn't actually going to put it down... ]
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[ more worrying, then, is the fact that it isn’t lingering, that he doesn’t have the watch on his person right now. ]
It’s something from my world. That sensation… you don’t need to worry about me.
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A bit late for that, isn't it? [ a small smile. He worries about Dex a fair amount, actually. Almost every other time he runs into him. He's like Minato in the way he seems ready to give up anything and everything if someone just gives him a good enough reason - and unlike Minato, he doesn't give an impression of being steady and well-grounded enough to endure it. In a way, it's not surprising that Dextera always feels like he's fading. ] Your world or not, don't go fading away on us. You'll have the whole town crying.
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[ for everything that happens to them in this town, his friends are here. even if his voice goes away again, even if he does some day become truly intangible, he isn’t trying to disappear.
(the pocket watch, for what it’s worth, is sitting on the table next to his laptop.) ]
So don’t cry.
[ it’s probably a turn of phrase, since he can’t really imagine lupin of all people shedding tears, but that just might be his bias. ]
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[ Arsène Lupin might. Still, that's neither here nor there; he nods his head towards the watch on the table. ]
Is that it?
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It looks like something from your time. [ pause. no offense? he doesn’t dwell on it, though. ] But that’s all I know.
[ it’s polished and bronze, but otherwise very clearly aged—there used to be something engraved on it, though it’s long since been erased. of course, as dextera mentioned, it isn’t ticking either. ]
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Unfortunately, I don't think I can give you any hints about it, even if I'm a fellow antique. It looks perfectly harmless.
[ but it's clearly not. There's something ominous about a broken watch giving visions of death (or perhaps just nonexistence.) Lupin's eyes go back to Dextera's. ]
... I do want to hear the names. I'll not spread them around - but I want to try and understand what this means with you.
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There’s me and my big brother. Vriska… Minato. John. Akira.
[ truthfully, he hasn’t been looking for people with the pocketwatch on him. with the exception of sinistra and akira, they’re all blue, because blue is easiest for him to get to. (akira lives with guren. his brother is obvious.) he pauses, rubbing his wrist.
there are theories, of course there are, but none of them seem quite right. ]
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[ that one, he wasn't expecting - his brow furrows a little. But after a moment, his eyes widen, and he makes a connection. ]
Wait. Vriska is dead. Akira's died, as well, here in town... and so have you, as I recall. [ ... ] ... I can't speak for your brother, nor Minato and John, but I hardly know the latter.
[ but Minato... he suddenly feels a dreadful sinking feeling in his stomach. It's too early to assume anything, but if he tries to connect the dots, remembering past conversations... ]
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[ dextera opens his mouth, then closes it again. it’s true. all of those people are dead or have died—minato included, whether lupin realizes it or not. it’s not dextera’s secret to give away, however, and his shoulders are suddenly a little tense with the realization that he may have revealed something ominous.
if the watch picks up on death, then the fact that it expresses it through steadily chipping away at existence is a scary thought. ]
My brother is dead. But that…
[ he seems uncomfortable now. ]
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it all makes sense. The worries flood Lupin's head, and his expression darkens, a crease forming between his brows. But he forces himself to put them aside. For now. He knows he won't be able to escape this until he confronts Minato about it directly. ]
-- that means we should avoid getting killed. Whatever's keeping us here weakens when we die. Maybe.
[ there's a terseness to his tone that suggests he's distracted, but he does his best to focus. ]
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so dextera assumes, anyway, and so he doesn’t want to push the issue. ]
…yes.
[ he says, slowly. he’s distracted, too. ]
If that’s what it is… I think death is tied to our existence here. The people around me lost memories of me when I died.
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It shouldn't exactly be a surprise... That's the normal state of things. It's the coming back that's abnormal. [ a beat. ] They lost memories?
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[ a tense nod. ]
Guren and Ryo did… at least. I haven’t talked to anyone else about it, but I…
[ he looks at the watch on the table, frowning—thoughtfully, more than in fear or concern this time. it’s a theory he hasn’t yet had the time to form concretely, but lupin seems as good a person as any to talk to about it. ]
If someone died enough in this place, would they be completely forgotten?
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[ so they can avoid death a few times, but it only takes them closer to even worse fate. To be forgotten sounds even more horrible than dying to Lupin. ]
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Dying is never easy. It seems worse here.
[ for a moment, he clenches his fists, and then loosens them again. ]
…there are a lot of things we don’t know.