Round 4 graveyard

[foundationmods]

[When your character dies, however that may be, they will feel themselves floating. For a moment or two they will linger at the site of their death, hovering just above everyone, watching.

Then they will feel a pull and they will get tugged all the way to the studio, through a wall, through the hall, through a door.

The place they end up in looks to be a backstage area. There is an area for storing supplies, a coat rack full of empty prinny costumes, a lounge area, and a place to rest. All of these areas are marked by a green border between the described rooms and the doors that go elsewhere. You will see prinnies come and go, hurrying around as they do their work for the day. But within those borders, some of the prinnies will take off their suits, revealing the human souls within. Men, women, old, young, there is a large mix. They are all very dead, though, and seem used to being dead.

And among all of the dead is one living girl, one who seems to be running the show behind the set. She can be found giving instructions to prinnies and telling them where to put things, but she will always take time to give everyone who arrives the same warning:]

Hi there! I'm Marona, and this is the backstage area. There's a lot to do yet, so if you could help us out I would really appreciate it.

All the areas with the green on the floor are safe to be in as ghosts. Your souls won't get pulled away as long as you stay in the safe areas. If you want to go outside of there, though, you have to put on a prinny suit. And if you do that, you have to follow the rules of the prinnies: no killing anyone, follow the orders you're given by the living, and try not to blow up too much.

If you have any questions, I'll be here! But you can come and go as you like. Just don't give Mr. Dazai too much trouble, okay?

Comments

???

[foundationmods]

[Well uh. That sure happened.

Everyone was luckily backstage, and Marona managed to get into a safe spot before the explosion went off. No double-death is on the table at the moment.

The stage area is absolutely trashed now, though. The set's destroyed, the roof caved in, and all the power has gone out.

Two new ghosts should be there with you, but where is Dazai? Hm. Investigating might be a good idea.]

[arraignments]

[ He isn't... in the right mind for this, but he sure can shut his emotions down to make himself in the right mind.

So, he'll be kind of blankly making his way to the mess... ]

[scarsnstripes]

[Atsushi has been dead for maybe two minutes, but since when has any sort of personal horror stopped him from helping???

He's following after Goro, concern clear on his face.

You better be alive, damn it!]

[merirut]

[Sandalphon joins the 'screaming internally' squad but you know, conceal don't feel and all that. So, for now he'll tag along to see the destroyed stage because what is dealing with emotions anyways.]

[foundationmods]

[Psh, dealing with emotions.

Yeah there's basically a huge goddamn mess on the stage now. Luckily it's still daytime, so the sunlight streaming in through the hole in the roof offers plenty of light. Not that there's much to see, because there's mostly broken wood, wires, and concrete there.

And, um. Well. Atsushi's body is still up there somewhere, keep an eye out for that.

That sure is a lot of blood up there too.]

[scarsnstripes]

[You know what's creepy? Seeing his own dead body. That is definitely creepy!.

But he's. He's going to ignore that right now, looking around the rubble and trying to spot any sign of Doezai. Is all that blood from Atsushi's body, or... is it--]

[arraignments]

[ Oh, good.

Blood. Body........

He will join in inspecting the blood. ]

[foundationmods]

[It's way too much blood to be just from one person. It's definitely a combination of Atsushi's and Dazai's.

There's a lot of rubble, though, and they'll be able to hear coughing coming from underneath some of it.

By the way, are they just in ghost form right now, or in prinny bodies?]

[merirut]

[HE SEES YOU LURKING THERE ALCOR but for now let him just ignore dealing with things and just play hide and go seek with a bunch of body parts. So let him manifest his wings and fly up there so he examine those body parts and blood closer. He's still a ghost btw!]

[scarsnstripes]

[Atsushi is too worried to grab a prinny body right now, so--]

I think I hear him...!!

[foundationmods]

[That's definitely a moving hand over there by that big pile of rubble!

Luckily both prinnies and ghosts can move objects, so if they try they can get him uncovered.]

[scarsnstripes]

[Atsushi is absolutely going to try to do so! He'll even try to use his ability, though whether that works or not he doesn't know. It's just instinct at this point.]

He's under here! I see his hand!

[arraignments]

[ HE IS MOVING ON UP, THEN.

Time to help dig!!! ]

[merirut]

[Okay fine he'll hold off on finding body parts and help dig... kind of. He's definitely not as enthusiastic as the other two though.]

[guileturncoat]

[Luckily in ghost form they can use their powers, so Atsushi will get tiger's strength.

With the full efforts of some and half-efforts of others, they will be able to dig Dazai out of the rubble. He's in rough shape, bleeding from several open cuts and wounds, but he is alive for the moment.]

Wh...huh?

[And kind of stunned, too. Given how injured he is and how much blood he's lost, that's to be expected.]

[scarsnstripes]

[There's visible relief on Atsushi's face as they pry away the rubble, and he's kneeling next to him, reaching out-- which... he doesn't know if it'll do anything at all.]

Can anyone here do first aid? Heal him? Anything?!

[arraignments]

[ He nods. ]

I don't... know how much good it will do, but...

[ D-DIA TIME... ]

[merirut]

[Just going to watch here because Dazai's nullification thing. If it works, it works but he's not holding out hope for it.]

1/2

[guileturncoat]

[Yeah uh. It's not working. Nullification's still on and Dazai is kind of woozy and not thinking to shut it off.

He also can't see any of you guys, so he's just laying on the floor staring up at the broken ceiling.]

Huh. Coulda sworn someone was... here...

[It may sound like he's going to sleep, but in reality he's fading out of consciousness entirely. Before too long, he lets his last breath out with a long sigh.

'Dazai Osamu' is dead.]

2/2

[foundationmods]

[But just as he takes his last breath, the room goes dark, and a clock can be seen in the distance. It makes no sound beyond the ticking as it flashes back and forth between 'HEROIC' and 'JUST' at a slow, slow pace.]

[arraignments]

[ ????????????????? what

Just... staring for now... ]

[merirut]

[Well, this seems ominous... he's not really sure what this clock is here for but either way he doesn't like it. He pays no mind to Dazai's corpse, looking over at the others instead.]

Stand back, just in case.

[scarsnstripes]

Kai--!!

[It's a slip up, one he would be afraid to make if he were alive and audible to anyone else.

But right now he doesn't care. His heart is thudding in his chest with panic, and then--

...The ticking of a clock, slow and steady.]

....What...?

[foundationmods]

[It goes back and forth, back and forth. The swinging continues for quite a while, as if the clock is indecisive. And as it goes back and forth, everyone nearby will see two distinct scenes flash in the window of the clock.

It reaches the 'Just' side, and they see Dazai's cruel face as he guns Atsushi down in cold blood.

It reaches the 'Heroic' side, and they see Dazai reaching out, flinging everyone back to the safety of the house while he himself is left behind to deal with Alcor.

Back and forth. Back and forth.

Finally, after what feels like an age of this ticking, the clock slows to a stop with the needle falling right on the line in between 'Heroic' and 'Just'. Then, it lets out a loud gong and starts to glow, and Dazai suddenly draws in a sharp, life-giving Breath.

The Heir rises once more.]

[visionem]

[ All of this isn't too new to Alcor, especially the floating bit. He takes a second or two to blink and look around, then smiles in spite of everything he's just done. ]

...oh, that was an interesting experience.