☆ WELCOME TO HELL, YE POOR SOULS.

[raisingproject]

Magical Girl Raising Project

Graveyard

The last thing you remember is dying. Whether it's by murder or execution, that's was all it. But surprisingly enough, you wake up in the hotel room that you were assigned in, as if you had never died to begin with. However, once you walk right outside, you'll start noticing that while this is the Town A you remember, there are some slight differences that you notice.

The first thing is the fact that while you can see those who are still alive, they simply cannot see you. In fact, they pass through you, as if you were a ghost. And spoilers: you kind of are one, now. The second thing is that sometimes, if you look at a building for too long or too closely, you'll notice that it fizzles a bit, almost glitchy.

But that's completely fine, isn't it? There is, however, one more thing to keep in mind: there are voices of other people, mumuring. Of course, these other people, unlike you, don't have a complete shape; they're just a silhouette of themselves, looking like static.

However: it wouldn't be Town A without an announcement, would it? Of course not. Hence why upon rearriving, there will be a message, typed out:

Welcome to the afterlife, everyone. This is a greeting message to introduce you to how exactly this works. You have the ability to send one message to the living a week, so choose your words wisely. Of course, there are limitations to what you can say! You cannot reveal the mastermind's true identity, even if you know it. You cannot reveal a culprit or a victim, even if you know it.

Also, all messages will be sent to all players during the trials. If there is no trial, the message shall be sent on Saturday. You may investigate as you wish. If you have any questions to ask of me, please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as possible.

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Comments

wednesday

[hawthorned]

[Dahlia opens her eyes, and after a moment of disorientation and confusion, she screams. Fuzzy or not, getting ambushed in the changing room and nearly getting bisected is a memory nobody wants to dwell on. It takes a long moment before feeling like she might throw up passes, but when it does, it's all too clear what she has to do.

She's never been a stranger to the concept of spirits and ghosts - never feared dying because she knew she'd never truly die, and this world is evidently no different. So now that her ties to the physical world have been forcibly severed, there's exactly one thing that she cares about. Predictably that thing is revenge for herself and the rest of Town A can go up in flames for all she cares.

Mind set, she leaves her room at the Inn and goes out to see what she can see in this new hellhole. Pointedly she's no longer bothering with social smiles.]

[raisingproject]

[Someone is waiting for her in the hall. He's tall, short haired and his expression is just as unhappy as hers.]

Hey.

Since you carried my notebook, I thought I'd come see you when you manifested. [He could never call it waking up. That made it sound normal.] We can still make a difference on this side. If you want to.

[hawthorned]

Oh.

[Never burn bridges before you can tell how relevant they are is a belief Dahlia's held onto in life. In death, that doesn't seem nearly as important. There's not much (at least to her knowledge) that can be done to harm a ghost, and what feels like a world of virtually zero consequences is getting to her head. ...and getting your heart ripped out of your body doesn't help soften her mood either, but she's not expecting any sympathy here. The only non-brutal death she's seen here is One's after all. She pauses.]


It's you. [It's not hostile, but it's not exactly friendly either.] Now that I'm here, I don't suppose the rules get in the way of clarity, do they.

[raisingproject]

They don't. What gets in the way is how shoddy our memories are from being drained for so long.

I'm the only one to remember my name and body, that's a recent thing. [He pushes away from the wall, coming over to stand near by but not too close. He hasn't seen any sort of reason to be wary but it never hurts. He vaguely remembers a lot of shouting back when he first died.]

[hawthorned]

[Ah yes, there's always some dumb catch to everything, huh. She almost rolls her eyes at this, but instead she scoffs when she watches him carefully keep himself out of arm's length. Rather pettily, she takes a step closer wearing what can only be described as the world's most passive aggressive smile.]

Well? What kind of a difference are you making?

[raisingproject]

There's a way to end this and bring all of us back. Or so we're being told. [He doesn't pull back when she steps closer. Instead he glances about the inn and motions for her to come with him as he turns, walking towards the doorway.]

The keys can be used in a ritual. We might be bound by some rules but, not as many now. ...Sorry I couldn't just tell all of you everything. I wanted to.

[hawthorned]

[If she were feeling charitable, she'd bite back a few choice words, buuuut....

She'll accompany him out of the inn, however.]

Yes, I'm sure you wanted to do the right thing, you just weren't willing to die for it. How could you be faulted for that? [Poorly veiled sarcasm is poorly veiled.] Who's telling you this and why should that be trusted?

[selfloving]

[It's getting to be like clockwork. The screaming every Friday, Kaine's tantrum earlier this week. Now Dahlia. That's a "woke up dead and about to go off on someone" scream. She'd wanted to hang them all when they betrayed her, still does.

Dahlia's not smiling, and One doesn't blame her. This is outside the game, now. She offers her the same lack of pleasant expression.]

Let's go. You don't want to stay here. Watching them come mill around your room and talk about your death is humiliating.

[hawthorned]

[One actually gets an odd sort of look - something between recognition and surprise. There's nothing to be surprised by, of course. By the time she died, it was obvious the ghosts weren't a trick after all. But still, it's been... a month since she watched One die, and it leaves her speechless for just a few seconds. Nonetheless she finds her words soon enough.]

And just where are you proposing we go, Miss One?

[selfloving]

[Has it been that long? Of course, the time would feel different with her absence...One has been watching them all flounder ever since her death, so maybe that shortens her memory of the time.]

Don't you want to choose? Consider it repayment for "believing in me."

I, at least, felt better after walking some. [And also yelling in Zange's face. That too.]

[hawthorned]

[She has a feeling One is mocking her a little, but she can't say that she cares too much about it right now.]

Oh, I expect I'll feel much better when the person who ambushed me has their skin peeled from their body and no sooner, Miss One.

[....Yeah, she's not even attempting to pretend otherwise.]

Will you tell me what it is you think is beyond the barrier as we walk the park?

[selfloving]

Given they are apparently sustained by a force other than mana--unlike this town--you might get your wish eventually if we want to end this nightmare.

[Dahlia's words, her anger, don't really come as a surprise. Maybe One never knew what type of person she was, alive or dead, but there's no jarring reaction, at least, from her.]

Conveniently, the dead here lose their memories over time. [Her patience with them is often tried, no matter how little of the fault is theirs.] It sounds like there's a book recording a ritual in an area that was recently revealed.

[hawthorned]

Ah, fancy that. Satisfying resolutions can happen here...

[She'll scoff at that after a moment because that sounds too convenient somehow.]

You'll have to explain this in greater detail for me, Miss One. What's known about this outside force?

[She'll hold off on talking about the ritual for now because she's heard from Hinata before and she's honestly still kinda eyerolling at the idea of it.]

[telecosmetic]

[Well, if you wanted to see what was going on with your body, you'd find Eliza there. Mainly because Szayel is there, and she's currently flipping him off, giving him bunny ears, and flapping her hand whenever he speaks. Look, now that there's a mana limit, she has to do something to mess with him and entertain herself.]

[hawthorned]

[Yeah, she'll go look because she'd like to know what the heck is being done to it. She thought she'd feel strange about seeing herself just... dead and glassy eyed, but as (surprise surprise) Miach and Szayel are discussing her. She might've actually felt touched that they're talking about revenge and what not, but it's hard to take anything seriously while Eliza is acting out that way.]

You're persistent, Miss Eliza. [And because she's dead and doesn't give a damn about social etiquette atm, she's blunt.] Is it because he killed you?

[telecosmetic]

[Eliza spins around, looking embarrassed at being discovered. She's not...really surprised to see Dahlia there, though, considering how her body is right there.]

Um...I thought so, until Monday. I'm just doing this now because I don't like picking on Zack and we're running out of mana, so I can't really throw things at him anymore...also Hinata keeps stopping me. [She might pout a bit at that last comment.]

[hawthorned]

[Until Monday... meaning:] .... Kaine.

[That's a look of obvious surprise; for so many weeks she'd been certain it was Szayel.... and for so many weeks she hadn't cared that Szayel might've killed Eliza because Szayel was better company than most. And to think that Kaine had yelled at her for accusing him during the trial and then lectured her over dinner....

Feeling genuinely amused, she dissolves into giggles between words. The pointlessness of the truth only seems to make the fact even funnier.]

For all of his talk....letting One take the fall.....all so he could wish upon a star...

[What a singleminded simpleton.]

[telecosmetic]

...it's not really funny. [Eliza just...stares. This doesn't really seem like the "hysterical laughter" she's heard about.] He...wanted to protect someone back home. And she wasn't his hostage, so maybe it worked...

[She pauses.] I still punched him, though. [Or maybe she just tried to. Who knows, that thread is still in limbo.]

[hawthorned]

Oh, don't mind me, Miss Eliza.... I don't expect you to share my sense of humor.

See? [She'll point at the heart that her corpse is holding onto here.] I can even see how that'd be very funny to my killer, even though...experiencing it was... shall I say, less than pleasant.

[She shakes her head and straightens up though, all giggling now done.]

But if you ask me, he deserves much more than a punch.... and if he has any shred of decency, he'd know that, too.

[theotherother]

...shit.

[He has no idea what else to say when he runs into Dahlia because what does he even say to anyone at this point?]

[hawthorned]

[Ah yes, she was wondering when she'd run into you, Kaine. After her conversation with Eliza, she has a few choice words for him, but actually, that's not where she decides to start.]

Really, Mr Kaine..... is fecal matter what you associate with me? That's downright hurtful.

[theotherother]

No, that's not...

[Given everything he's said this week, he really should just stop talking.]

Sorry.

[hawthorned]

...Are you?

[She'll actually drop the act a bit and look at him with a slightly colder look than usual.]

In retrospect, I suppose the fact that you weren't nearly as angry as you could have rightfully been with me for accusing you during that trial should have raised a red flag. And here I thought you were just too soft for your own good.

[theotherother]

[He's not even going to ask who told her because it's not important.]

You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but...I am sorry. About all of that.

[hawthorned]

[That just gets a deep sigh.]

Truth be told, Mr Kaine.... it'd have been more interesting if you weren't.