Catch-All for Shess

[specialdog]

stuff here later

Comments

Week 1 | Post Death

[specialdog]

[ Akane left the announcement to head back to her own home pretty quickly. It's not exactly fun being around so many miserable people, and she'd rather cope with things alone.

... But she doesn't seem upset at having a visitor. When Shess knocks on her door, she answers quickly. Even though she's taken off the tights she usually wears and is barefoot, she still opts to step outside rather than invite him in? Rude. So rude. ]

... Hi.

[ ... good start. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[it's fine. smh, akane.]

Hello. How are you doing, Akane?

[specialdog]

... Fine. I wasn't friends with any of them.

[ That's a bit callous?? But still, she seems more visibly upset than she had for the other deaths. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[it's a bit callous by human standards, yes.]

You said something about a game to Lune. May I ask what you meant?

[specialdog]

... The four of us were stuck in an escape room. We had to do puzzles and figure stupid stuff out.

[ She realizes, after a moment, that she should clarify which 'four of us.' ]

Nana, me, North, and Four.

But we did it, so we should have been fine.

[nonbelligerent]

Lune did mention that some people made progress in clearing the corruption in the area.

How did you get stuck?

[specialdog]

[ Akane is usually a better actress than this? She looks uncomfortable at the memory of it and pulls her shoulders in like she wants to make herself smaller. ]

We just--suddenly opened our eyes, locked up in another place.

[nonbelligerent]

I see. That must've been frightening.

[specialdog]

It was fine.

[ it was not fine. ]

[nonbelligerent]

[hm.]

May I ask you something, Akane?

[specialdog]

Sure.

[nonbelligerent]

If you thought that you had cleansed the corruption, was there a reason not to say anything? It doesn't seem it was ever announced.

[specialdog]

[ Akane relaxes a bit, and laughs lightly. Phew! That's not a scary question at all! ]

I'm not great with public speaking.

[ but, more seriously: ]

It came after us twice, and never as a person. I didn't think we had done anything permanent.

[nonbelligerent]

It? You mean the darkness?

[specialdog]

Yeah.

[nonbelligerent]

What form did it take, if you don't mind me asking? Are you all right?

[specialdog]

... It was just darkness. In objects, at first, then the rooms.

[ And she goes quiet. Hesitating.

Then: ]

And--hands. Covering my eyes.

[nonbelligerent]

[uh]

That sounds highly unpleasant.

[specialdog]

[ Her shoulders hunch inward. She... Hated it, a lot, and spent basically the entire time in the puzzle afterwards just recovering from that one thing.

But she tries to laugh it off. ]

It was pretty annoying...!

[nonbelligerent]

[...]

What about the puzzles? What were they like?

[specialdog]

Basic escape room stuff. Hidden keys... Pressing buttons in the right order to shut off an alarm. Magnets and electric fish...

[ that doesn't sound basic?? but would shess know either way ]

Cassette tapes and players. Word scrambles.

That type of thing.

[nonbelligerent]

[he doesn't know what an escape room is, no]

How bizarre. I don't see what any of that has to do with darkness.

[specialdog]

[ Darkness... Darkness...

Huh. ]

The only thing I can think of... There was a recording. That cassette tape said... "Revenge isn't the only purpose of darkness. There's another reason. To save someone." Or something like that.

But I think that was just a joke about switching vision and being in dark rooms or something.

[nonbelligerent]

[er.]

I'm not sure I see the joke.

[specialdog]

Mm, well, we had to tell each other what to do, and some of us were in the dark and some of us weren't, so... I don't know?

Like, the ones in the dark had to guide the ones who weren't, since we were seeing through them? So we were saving them...?