No more poison killin my emotion I will not be frozen

[afterlifer]

WHO: EVERYONE
WHAT: Interactions
WHEN: August 28 – September 1
WHERE: Anywhere and everywhere in this afterlife
WARNINGS: Cussing
SUMMARY: INTERACTION LOG you know the drill.

28th: Today seems as though it’s a normal day, right? Wake up, take a shower, walk outside to head to class and… the NPCs aren’t moving. Stopped mid-step they’re completely frozen all over the school grounds. Some may be in class already and frozen at their desks, others might’ve been frozen as they were walking to or around the school. Maybe you were outside just inside to see them come to a sudden halt. After an hour, they’ll return to normal and continue on as though nothing happened.

29th: The school festival is a month away and it’s time to start planning for it! Classes will get a free period to plan for it today and clubs will need to get together and talk about setting up special activities for the students if they want to participate. GET HYPED.

30th: Do you hear that? Outside of your dorm—in the hallway! It sounds like pitter patter of little feet running up and down the halls… a bunch of them too, and there’s even some little barks here and there. Open your door and SUDDENLY LITTLE SHIBA INU AND GOLDEN RETRIEVER PUPPIES RUNNING ALL ABOUT. Don’t deny them love, they’re ever so playful and fluffy.

31st: It’s so close to your day off—but the teachers decided they’re going to end this week with a math test. Ew, right? Hope you studied or this is going to suck.

1st: Even in the afterlife your uniform and clothes get a bit dirty from time to time, and it’d be pretty gross if you didn’t wash your underwear so go on, wash your clothes! Or… don’t. The washer’s broken—actually waters starting to spill out of it!!! Now you’re standing in a puddle, oops.

As always, remember there are basketball, kendo, drama and baseball clubs now so practices can be set up whenever you want! And if you want to do something outside of what we've provided, feel free to do so.

Comments

[tenminutes]

You can regenerate too, you know. If you got eaten alive by the Master of the River you'd be fine once you went out the other end. Maybe a little smelly.

But the "going south" I was talking about has more to do with the environment's reaction to certain uh.. circumstances. If someone here happens to experience love and that love turns to emotional pain, there's a large chance that person can get stuck here. If they get stuck, the NPCs lose shape and turn into giant shadows that if they so much as grab your hand and you can't destroy it before they get you, they'll swallow you up and you can say goodbye to your memories, your personality.. and you'll become just like the NPCs.

[ Yuri smiles and holds out her hand for a shake. ] Yuri. That or Yurippe's fine, whichever you prefer. Yuri's my actual name, Yurippe's a dumb nickname someone made up but it grew on me.

[deviantlyhates]

Yurippe, then! Mm, I've heard about that, ah, healing aspect we've gained ourselves as well. But-- this 'Master of the River'? That's something I wasn't briefed about. That, and I haven't learned much about those shadows other than the losing one's memory risk to them. My peer-- Levi-- he's not the most apt at giving oral reports.

[ Grabbing that hand and giving it a firm shake....! ] So-- whatever else you can tell me would help much! The information you've given so far has been more than enlightening...!

[tenminutes]

Nice to meet you Hange. The Master of the River is basically just.. well, a giant fish. A human being doesn't even stand as tall as its eye as far as I can tell. It usually doesn't attack unless you catch it on a fishing line, but you might see it under the surface from time to time. I know Levi, he's offered to help train some of the newer members of the Afterlife Battlefront in combat. [ In exchange for her teaching him how to use atomic restructuring, of course. ]

I've got a voice recording explaining mostly everything I know on the network if you want a straight briefing as of last month. Otherwise, I can answer any questions that you've got.

[deviantlyhates]

--Now that something I'd definitely want to look into, too! [ And she smiles at the mention of Levi actually applying himself. It's a good thing! ] The Afterlife Battlefront? Now, if the NPCs here are not hostile as far as I could tell, what would knowing combat help with? Aside from those shadows, I mean. Of course, I'd help where I can as well if it's for a good cause.

[ She nods. ] Mm. Well, you're already answering a bunch of questions I have-- but such a report would be helpful to have on hand, too.

[tenminutes]

Supposedly it's pretty tasty if you can eat it. He can regenerate too. My guess is that fish is like us, except a fish. And really big. [ Yuri didn't actually eat any, she was too busy getting knifed. ] Mostly just the shadows, since at least minor self-defense is important to get yourself out of situations like that and guns are pretty effective but not every human who comes here is exactly friendly to start off with either.

[ Yuri's got to figure out how to explain this in the right way for a second, so there's a brief pause. After all, some people don't see things the way she does. Most people don't see getting stabbed in the chest or shot at as something so easily forgivable, especially the newer people here. ]

The one thing we all have in common is that our lives were pretty crappy. They weren't fair and for the most part, none of us had much control over what happened even if we spent a lot of time grasping for it. Some people come from worlds of horror where they don't even feel safe sleeping in their own homes at night and they go into self-defense mode when they're dumped in a strange place, possibly not even having memories of dying or sometimes worse if they do. If my people can't at least protect yourself long enough to get to me so I can figure out how to deal with the situation, then it's my failure as the leader. The people who freak out like that aren't necessarily bad people either and some have even joined the SSS, but sometimes they can be dangerous until everyone comes to an agreement. Especially if they aren't found by someone right away and think they're alone and abandoned because they landed here in a place where humans don't normally go.

[ She nods. ] It's just under my name if you look it up when you get to a computer on the network.

[deviantlyhates]

'Pretty crappy'. Mm, I can see that. And I've always vouched for the idea that almost everyone should learn basic self-defense, or at least have the opportunity to do so.

If you know all of this and are a leader of some organization here, I take it you've been here a while?

[tenminutes]

I'd feel a little better about it if they did at least.

I'm not sure if I should be proud to say it or not, but I've been here the longest out of all of the current dead residents. Well, all but one but he's not exactly identifiable yet and willingly chose to give up himself, so I don't know that he counts.

[deviantlyhates]

How many are in this group?

It's possible to stay here for a very long time then. In all of your time here, has it always remained the same setting, or have any changes been made? Are we expected to go about this school life passively or to, ah, 'disappear' any time soon?

[tenminutes]

10 right now, with a few individuals teetering on the edge of joining. [ She's got some persuading to do. ] There used to be upwards of 60, but there was a situation. Most of the original members have willingly accepted their lives. There are only 3 of the originals here now, all three of which have already met the requirements and are a little confused about how it's even possible that we're here.

That's where the danger comes in if you don't want to disappear. It's your choice, but there are two ways to go about disappearing: Live life normally for long enough until you feel satisfied with having lived like a normal person. Which means if you do things normally, you'll disappear. The other is to find peace and accept whatever happened to you. This world is designed to be a place to move on from, but I won't stop anyone from wanting to stay either. I didn't stay here for so long because I was trying to get out, after all.

1/2

[deviantlyhates]

Sooo..... if I'm processing this correctly-- Mm. I'd say it's fairly safe to say that this environment, although peaceful, is far from 'normal' for those of my world. Ergo we may not be at risk for disappearing in that way. I'm not too familiar with the concepts of the afterlife; again, most from my world have only been introduced to a religion within the past five years--

[deviantlyhates]

---But if this place is available to us after death, even if only temporarily, making the most of it [ abusing it ] isn't entirely unappealing...! There must be other things to do here besides going about a school life or combat, yes?

[tenminutes]

You can do whatever you want pretty much. What were you thinking of?

[deviantlyhates]

I have two topics of interest, but one seems more plausible to look into than the other. One are these NPC beings. The other is the shadows.

[tenminutes]

The NPCs I'd say go for it. The shadows are a bit more tricky just because they're dangerous, they can swallow you up, and touching them has the same result. The only way to deal with them is to scatter them with a weapon. Gunshots, swords, anything works. You scatter them and they'll leave for a bit, but they'll come back eventually. From personal experience, getting swarmed and swallowed by a lot at once isn't fun either so don't ever go against them alone.

[deviantlyhates]

Mmm, I'll settle with them in the meantime, then.

But the shadows-- no one has ever captured or taken a sample of one?

[tenminutes]

That'd be pretty hard, since they're not solid. As NPCs they are, but once they're shadows they can move pretty much any way they want like big dangerous blobs. When I say swallow, I don't mean with a mouth. I guess "engulf" would be more like it.

[deviantlyhates]

What about scattering them with attacks, like you mentioned before? If one portion is small enough, would that be able to engulf an entire person? Or could it be contained in something?

[tenminutes]

[ Yuri sighs. She'd really like it if they could figure out more about them too but.. ]

They physically disappear when you scatter their bodies. It's kind of like they're both solid and gas at the same time. I think the only way to do that would probably be to get a bit directly from them and leave it roaming around, which would be dangerous.

[ And Yuri's not going to leave one hanging around if they can't even identify it as separate from the others and it could potentially harm someone. ]

[deviantlyhates]

You're not willing to take a risk to find out more about them?

[tenminutes]

I am, but I'm not going to risk other people. It isn't like you just get out of this place when they get you. You're stuck. You can't die, you can't be reborn, you can't think or feel like anything's real and unless someone saves you before it's too late, even if you realize it they'll just try to wipe you again if you find some way to reject it within yourself. It's hard to reject it too because what you see and experience is just... life, but without who you are. It's almost like a paradise but it's not real. And the people here, who still are, can talk to the husk of your body that's left but you don't remember the people you care about.

[ Yuri looks up at the sky for a moment, her hand on her arm, but it's only for a second. Actually doing that was.. well, it was something that helped her face everything, but it wasn't something that she could ever accept as a possibility. Not for herself or for anyone else. Her eyes turned back to Hange, resolute. There's a little smile on her face. It's been a while since she's accepted things, but because of it she knows what it is she's going to do no matter what. ]

Finding out more about them would be great, useful, but I'd put protecting the people here above that any day.