petoskeymods | DEADLAND

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deadland

DEADLAND

[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?]

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[ After he's talked things out with Usagi, you can find Boa sitting outside of Cabin 3, staring at the ghostly camp with an absent-minded look in his eyes. He wishes he had Bahamut with him to hold on to, but there's nothing.

Well, that was what being stoned to death had felt like. He doesn't feel any of it now, but the phantom pain is there. As if the heart-ache of hearing Richie ban him from their group. As is the feeling of Mitsuru's arms too tightly around him.

All of that happened, undeniably, but Boa is still there. For all his fear of death, he knows for certain now that it wasn't the end. He still exists, there's still things he can do.

Approach....?

Later he can be found staring at the list at the chapel, processing all the new information gained. If you pass by, he'll stop you. ]

Where is Sol now?

He's gone for now, but some of the ghosts are certain he'll return soon, he's scared.

[Lillith answers as she starts to sit down, glancing away]

...Sorry.

[ Hey Lillith... Hearing your voice now after that song is... a chilling experience, but Boa is not a scaredy cat and he can face it. He looks at her and shakes his head. ]

It wasn't your choice to do, was it?

It... wasn't. None of us, Ren too.

[She's trying not to shake]

We can see everything - and feel a bit of what they feel, but it takes effort to even speak.

[ Looking at Lillith now is also strange... He'd only known her for a week before she died and since then her zombie has been all he associated with her. Making food, being kind but totally off the mark... ]

I... I figured as much. I was going to die either way, whether it'd be the moose, the cats, Red... It's okay.

[You better bet that Kon is approaching.

By tackle-hugging him.]

W--what---

[ This takes Boa so by surprise, he just sort of threatens to topple over entirely.

Ichigo...? No, no, it can't be, but... Kon?! Didn't they... destroy him...? ]

[Yep, it's Kon. And he's hugging Boa tightly.]

I'm sorry! I tried to stop it, but I couldn't!

[ That's too tight, Kon!! Boa struggles a little so he can break free enough to speak more, but he's not seriously fighting Kon off or anything. ]

Nevermind that, your soul... you're still here?

[Lance hasn't quit looking for Sol, even if previous searches haven't actually been successful. Naturally as he passes through camp grounds, he sees Boa settled outside C3 looking lost. Ordinarily approaching Boa would have been a relatively simple, almost thoughtless matter, but after the execution he's no longer so sure.

Either way, he does approach Boa with a somber kind of expression.]

Hey, Mowgli.

[ Boa looks up at Lance and he feels.. he's not sure. A shift in the void that's in his heart maybe. ]

Friends or not, that nickname still sucks.

[ Complaining isn't actually his main priority here, but it seems right to.. set a tone? It's easier to say than "you helped hold me down as I was killed bit by bit, but it's okay" for sure. ]

[It gets a wry smile out of Lance -- something he's been doing a whole lot more of late compared to his usual carefree grins. He heads over to the steps of C3, not sitting down besides Boa yet, but still closer.]

You know what they say about old habits being hard to kill.

[It's a half attempt at a joke, but his heart's clearly not in it at the moment.]

[ 'Hard to kill'... it's clearly an idiom, but Boa flashes through every stone hit on his body anyway and shudders a little. Being easier to kill wouldn't have been half bad that moment.

Other than an extended pause, he refuses to let Lance see any of those feelings though. ]

Guess so.

How's things? Now that you're here.

[He sees that shudder and regrets the comment instantly.]

Sorry, I.. [He breathes out. This isn't about him at all or his uncertainty on how to feel about what Boa did, or what he unwillingly did to Boa. If Boa still considers them friends, then that's how he ought to act.

So after a moment, he gives up on elaborating on what all he started apologizing for and just flops down besides Boa and gives his hair a ruffling.]

It sucks. Not gonna lie about that. [A beat.] I know you didn't want to be here either.

[ ... why do people always go straight for his hair? He really ought to grow taller so maybe everyone will be less tempted. But it's hard to grow taller when you're dead and you'll probably stay dead forever and ever and ever.

Boa doesn't have any energy to fend that ruffling off. ]

Who would? It's... I just have to deal with it now. Make the best out of it for the others... even if they don't think I will.

[ Richie sure wouldn't believe him even if he got his zombie body to say he's helping them... ]

[Well as long as Boa isn't telling him to knock it off, he's getting ruffled as it's oddly comforting to do it. Reminds Lance of playing around with his siblings. Mercifully he does stop when boa brings up the fall out. It'd been difficult to miss that at the trial.]

They felt betrayed, Boa. It's scary to think you know someone only to find out that you don't know them as well as you think you do. [A beat.] You still want them to forgive you though, huh.

They won't.

[ There is bitter certainty in his voice. It's not that he doesn't understand why they felt betrayed. They thought he could be something that he's not and in the end they were all lying to themselves about that. It was inevitable, maybe. ]

But that doesn't mean I'll let anything happen to them.

[ He doesn't have that kind of power and he knows it, but yet... ]

They might with time.

[He looks up towards the sky which is as always foggy and gloomy here.]

Usually it's forgiving yourself that takes the longest. It's good that you're not focusing on that.

I killed someone. I killed their friend. Usagi may have forgiven me because she's like that [ a total fool ] but they... they won't.

[ They're better people than he is, in the common definition of 'good'. Boa has started to think that's not a bad thing about them. ]

... you're still mad at yourself.

Usagi forgave you, huh.

[There's another wry smile at that; it sounds just like her to do. In some ways that makes it easier, in others ways it doesn't. It strips away all rights he feels he had to be pissed off on her behalf, pissed off that she had her goddamn head sawed off because this kid felt he had to choke her to death to live.

On the other hand, he knows he doesn't have much room for taking the moral high ground on the issue and what happened to Boa -- what he did to Boa because Red made him do it, is still so fresh in his mind that guilt drains so much of the color out of his own feelings. He sighs, leaning forward and resting his chin on his knees.]

Usagi was my friend too, you know. I'm still talking to you.

[The last comment just goes untouched.]

She apologized to me. That's... that's what she did when she woke up. She apologized to me for scaring me.

[ Boa's been doing pretty well in the 'staying calm' department, but his voice raises significantly at that last portion. He's still SO bewildered by Usagi that it borders on despair. ]

She shouldn't be forgiving me either. I chose to kill her. That's just... what I did.

[ pause. ]

And you don't need to talk to me if you don't forgive me either.

[Lance looks over at him wearily. Boa's tone keeps rising into borderline hysterics and in any other context, this might have been funny. Kid throwing a tantrum about being accepted and forgiven by his murder victim. But in his current mood, Lance doesn't see comedy; he sees a brat who needs to be told to be quiet.

Without warning, Lance moves to put Boa in a headlock. He;s getting a noogie.]

Shut up, Mowgli.

Hey--!!

[ Talk about mixed messages?! Telling him to shut up and grabbing him like this seem to suggest anger, but then there's the nickname and Lance told him nicknames are for friends... though to be fair, Lance sure had been using it before they made something like friends. In this context it still feels significant. ]

What are you doing?

[ Boa is struggling to get free! Do you let him go? ]

[The noogie comes to a stop, but he still has Boa in that headlock for now.]

Teaching.

[Plain and simple.]

Look. For someone who's all like :don't forgive me" or whatever, you sure seem to want it a lot anyway.

[But he does let go after that.]

[ That makes Boa's protest die in his mouth and he goes silent for a bit. Lance has hit a nail right on the head that Boa didn't even want to admit existed in the first place. But after that trial... how could he not think about it? In the end, it's why he died. Because he couldn't stand the thought of two people hating him any more than they were already bound to hate him. ]

... it was nice. Being friends with them. I was always told that friends make you weak and I guess I'm dead to prove that point. But it was nice.

I just don't want to wish for anything unrealistic.

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