DEADLAND

[petoskeymods]

[Some time after your character dies, they will wake up in their bunk in camp. But something is wrong here, so very wrong.

Venture outside, and you will see that you're still in camp, but it's trapped in a foggy twilight. Time doesn't seem to pass, and it's quiet. Too quiet. No animals, no breeze, nothing.

The only sign of anything living is in the trees, where dozens and dozens of ghostly figures roam. Sometimes they might come into camp, but you'll probably have to go out to meet them if you want to talk to them. They all seem to be watching camp, but are shy and might flicker away if they're approached.

Finally, in the chapel in the lodge, there is a shadowy figure. It looks like a preteen, perhaps? Maybe 11 or 12 or so. But that's about all you can get from it at a glance.

But you're here now, and there are things to do. Where will you start?]

Comments

[finalguard]

You already have a world to care for. You can't do all of this at once.

[particlebarrier]

[Lance goes quiet for a moment, brow furrowed.]

I know. I know -- I don't want to stay here either, ok?

But it doesn't feel right to just leave without doing anything to really stop these SCP guys when we know they're yanking people out of their worlds and making them do all kinds of terrible things. They already dragged Shiro into this, then they got me. Who the heck is to say that next it's not going to be Marco or Luis o-or Veronica or my mom or--

[He cuts himself off trying to dial back some of his emotions.]

How am I supposed to leave this place with some peace of mind without destroying this damn printer thing they have? That's all I'm saying.

[finalguard]

[ Caring about so many people must be exhausting is the first thing Boa thinks, involuntarily. It had been hard enough with how few people Boa has grown to love here at camp, having this many to be concerned with... Boa doesn't know how Lance does it.

But then again, he doesn't need to know. What he needs to know is what caring for Lance feels like, because that is the one person in this equation who is one of his. ]

That's one thing, joining those guys and risking your life on their schemes while you try and wait for your chance is another.

[ There's a brief pause. ]

I've done it before, I worked for someone who would have let me die and who let dozens of children just like me die. I did it because I stood something to gain, I thought, but maybe it was because... because I thought I had nothing to lose.

Even I wouldn't do it again. So why on earth are you thinking of it? You, you've got your family, your team, your giant robot!

[particlebarrier]

[That gets Lance to stare in dumbfounded silence. They haven't really talked much about Boa's past involvement with criminal organizations and between all of his flailing about Shortsuru, that'd been easy to gloss over and forget again. But the whiplash is effective. It gets Lance to shut up and properly attempt to process this through his other feelings about what he ought to do, how he ought to behave, and think about what others would want from him.

Just what the heck would his mom say about all this if she knew what he was contemplating? What about the rest of his family, blood or spiritual? He bites his lip and looks down at the ground.]

...it's not that I don't have anything to lose. It's just that there are some things that are worth risking your life or even dying for.

[But he looks back up to meet Boa's accusing look head on.]

If staying meant that I could disrupt their ability to bring people here as a guaranteed thing, that'd be an easy trade off to make. But these guys have been at this for a long time and they haven't been stopped by anyone on the inside yet. [Not by Shiro, not by Red.]

I guess it's nothing but arrogance to think I could do it.

[finalguard]

Exactly.

[ Maybe a kinder person would correct the self-deprecating assumption that Lance is making here, but Boa doesn't. Even if he himself has lived through trials he had thought impossible to survive in his old evil organization, he just doesn't want to encourage Lance to go down this path with any sentiments of hope. ]

You're a hero in your universe. That's where you're really needed, if you're already going to be protecting something no matter what.