( DEPARTURE )

[abhoth]

SURVIVORS: 42 At 6:00 PM on the dot, everyone who has died during the ritual will awaken in their respective beds. Whole and unscathed, it would be far too easy to say that everything has been nothing but a fever dream. But the truth, as always, is far different from what the heart yearns for. For the first time in five weeks, night falls over the City of Yuggoth. The sun no longer hangs over your heads, its presence dark and oppressing. Instead, a soft, blue light shines down from the sky. It's not quite the moon, no. The Unclean's avatar is still visible in the sky, after all. But it's comforting. It's the promise of new beginnings, of newly forged bonds, and pacts that neither heaven nor hell are capable of tearing down. Does this singular moment in time make everything they've been through worth it? No, probably not. But this is the end. Their journey is over. Now it's time for forty-one (41) individuals to choose their destination, while one (1) is left behind. The unmarked room between the Kitchen (still wrecked — thanks, Tsurugi) and Laundry room is now open. Faceless men will be giving away baseball caps, pens, keychains and all the splendor of Yuggoth, as well as glossy photos taken throughout the ritual... for most, it will be a photo of their dead body and the manner in which they died. Yikes. A toy machine has also been left here, with a sign that reads TELEGRAM FUND: DEPOSIT YOUR CLUE TOKENS SO EVERYONE CAN CONTACT THEIR FRIENDS. THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE ANDERSEN, SO DON'T ASK. - ABIGAIL. Manning the Curio Shop won't be the only duties the faceless men have been relegated to, however. They'll be hunting down everyone but the new facilitator in order to give them a bus ticket. The destination and time of departure will be blank upon initially receiving it, but as soon as one thinks of where they want to go? Both fields will be filled in, and will be adjusted accordingly if anyone has a last minute change of heart. It seems like, in the end, it's up to the residents to decide whether to return home or to catch a ride with one of their new friends. Starting from 6:00 AM on Tuesday morning (a fact only discernible thanks to the Grandfather clocks, as the sun refuses to rise again), double decker buses will roll by the motel to pick residents up. There will be several buses, each one remaining at the entrance for fifteen minutes and the next one arriving after an hour long interval. Bus tickets will refuse to change after the first bus has arrived, so try not to be too indecisive lest you wish to remain in this realm or strike a deal with the Unclean. On the bright side, there are at least two to four days before everyone has returned home. May as well get those final goodbyes over with, right? It's a wrap, everyone! Thank you for the wild ride, and don't forget to check out the Love Meme and TL;CR Meme. You can use this post to thread out those last goodbyes. ( quick navigation ) ic rulebook | locations | statuses | room assignments private conversations | ic profiles | graveyard | full navigation

Comments

[disinterested]

Really? By the Unclean's standards, he probably did rather well, what with all his kills. In comparison, I was pretty lazy.

[Though he can't say he regrets his relatively few kills. It makes it easier to feel as though there's still hope for him—that he can go back home and face his father properly.]

[disinterested]

I'll be nice and say no.

[wristbands]

[at least this time she is not going to hug him out of nowhere, but she will come up to him in the shop with a picture of her death in keychain form. it very clearly depicts jay stabbing her, the photo captured right as the light leaves her eyes. she holds it up to him with an... almost nostalgic look on her face.]

You really took the "fast and clean" thing I said to heart, huh?

judges

[disinterested]

[Wow, he didn't ask you to get all poetic, Andersen.]

Well, give or take a few exceptions, whether or not anyone here agrees is irrelevant to me.

But I would hope that you enjoy it, seeing as how you're the one who insisted on it.

[Consider it an entreaty.]

[disinterested]

[Girge doesn't entirely know what to do with Andersen's happiness, but.]

You almost didn't. I considered dying during that trial partly out of spite.

[He pauses, and then, his tone a tad softer:]

... But thank you.

[For, well. Convincing him to live.]

[ninjay]

Maybe she'll usurp the throne one day and will be in charge.

[ he's not sure if that's better or worse than the unclean being the boss. ]

[ninjay]

[ CHIE WHY ARE YOU KEEPING IT ]

It didn't really seem like the mood for tortuously slow. I may have upset someone.

[ it's a joke. ]

[disinterested]

[Andersen's reaction is precisely why Girge procrastinated on this.]

... You know, I considered making a request to the Unclean—if I were to die again, to be brought to whatever ritual you were overseeing.

But I thought that might be... unpleasant for the both of us.

[Still, for all of Girge's bitterness, the idea of seeing Andersen again was... appealing?

In the end, this is a part of what it means to want to live, he supposes.]

[disinterested]

That sounds both highly entertaining and mildly horrifying.

[disinterested]

[Girge doesn't see any happiness for himself either. At the next end of his life, he doesn't think he'll want to return to a ritual to kill.]

Oh, it was tempting to ignore you. Like I said, though... only an idiot makes the same mistake twice.

[He'd refused to speak to his father; even refused to deliver a final message through Loggin. It'd seemed the right choice before, when he accepted that their relationship was beyond salvaging, but...

Well. As uncomfortable as this discussion is, Girge knows that this is the last chance he and Andersen will ever have.]

Really? Even though you couldn't get rid of me fast enough that one night you were drunk as hell?

[ninjay]

Hm, no, I think that's pretty fine. It hasn't caused me any problems so far.

[ that's a goddamn lie. ]

[ninjay]

I kind of want to know how that would turn out.

[ a mess, is what it would be. ]

... Granted I wouldn't want to actually be back here to see it.

[18x0]

[Her smile fades a little at his comment, but she doesn't respond to it, instead continuing her story.]

Later that year, my brother and I were kidnapped along with sixteen other children. The people behind our capture were a company called Cradle Pharmaceuticals. They performed a number of experiments on our ability to tap into the morphogenetic field - something that might more commonly be called "telepathy" or "being psychic."

The most significant of the experiments was the Nonary Game. We were split into two groups and put in two different locations - group Q in a building in Nevada, group A onboard a sinking ship. We were given nine hours to make our way through a series of puzzle rooms and complete the game before the ship sunk. Group Q were to solve the puzzles in their game and then use the morphogenetic field to transmit the answers to their siblings in group A in order to save them. The game was personally overseen by the Cradle CEO himself, Gentarou Hongou.

Thanks to the help of a police detective who'd infiltrated the ship, we almost managed to escape in time... but I was captured by Hongou. He forced me into an incinerator, where I had to solve a particular puzzle before being burned to death. I don't know if he wanted to see me use the field, or if he just wanted to watch me die. He was enough of a monster for either to be possible.

[She swallows and closes her eyes. Remembering this is bad enough on a good day, but after yesterday it hurts even more.]

The morphogenetic field extends across all time, to every possible future and past. I... have the unique ability to see and experience those possible worlds. In a countless number of them, I burned. But in this one, I was saved. Nine years in my future, Junpei was also standing in an incinerator, looking at the same puzzle as I was. Thanks to our strong emotional connection, he was able to transmit the answer to me.

[wristbands]

[SHE NEVER SAID SHE WAS KEEPING IT but also. she got a relatively tame death? like if she was kaiba or aloy she would never be taking it.]

Yeah, me.

[...half joke, half serious.]

[ninjay]

Eh.

[ HE SHRUGS ]

[wristbands]

Wh—rude!

[disinterested]

You were more entertaining when alive and not drunk.