Forum Thread

Death was simple. Quiet. Just a short fizzling out, as the flame of whatever poor soul was unfortunate enough to be caught was snuffed.

Knight knew this. He had killed enough to known that nto all death was blood and gore. Sometimes, it was nothing more than a gasp, a breath leaving the lungs of a person, another person he cared about. It was silly. He shouldn't care He shouldn't. He didn't even know this woman.

Did he?

BUt as she crumpled to the ground, he stared down, unsure of what to do. And the name clawed its way out of his throat.

"Vivi?"

He slowly knelt, hand reaching out, but pausing just before touching her.

His heartrate quickened for a moment.

Then quieted.

And his fist foudn itself in the teeth of the poor soldier.

As he brought his fists down with enough force to shatter his knuckles, shattering bone as he drove it downwards over and over again, he thought. He thought hard, he thought about why he was here, what he was doing here.

who she was.

And as he stood up, brain matter staining his hands, he lurched over to her. he stood over her wordlessly for a long moment. A silver of green was crushed between his finegrtips. And even as searing pain arced through his chest, he slowly lifted her up, making sure not to yank the blade out and cause more damage.

"Shit, shit, shit, where do I go...?"

He murmured to himself, glancing around as well as he could.

"Vivi... not again... Come on..."

---

Persephone O'Couna
---

In her dreams, Persephone was always ten years old. It was a simple fact of nature. No matter how old she grew, the time she felt most like her true self was sixteen years ago. As true as the sky was blue, and as irrefutable as the knowledge that her dad seriously sucked at this parenting thing. Back when she'd known her place in the world.

It didn't matter what moment she was reliving. Whether that be that moment under the tree where the one person who mattered turned to face her and said that someday the world would end, the day she pressed her hands to the gaping wound in her dad's chest and heard his last words gurgled through a hole in his throat, or even that first day on the streets- when she'd looked into a crowd and realised no one was looking back at her.

She would always be ten years old. Always be the age she was when she met-

Wake up, Vivi!

Persephone started from where she was sitting on the grass, braiding the long blonde hair in front of her. The person gave an impatient swish of their head.

Come on Percy. I could've done this twice as fast!

'Yeah,' she said. 'You could. I'm sorry, I need to practice. I will practice, I promise.'

At that, the person paused. For a second, there was a figure kneeling in front of her, begging for forgiveness, then somebody else walked into the room and all was nightmares and storms.

Then it was back to the peaceful field. A daisy was being squashed under her ankle, and she gently maneuvered onto her heels, easing off the stem. Off in the distance, the trickling of the creek sang in tune with the croaking of the summer's frogs and the buzzing of distant grasshoppers.

Is something wrong?

'I'm not sure... I made a friend, I think. Or something like that.'

She took a chance glance at the sky, and the braids slipped through her fingers. The explosion of colours danced behind her eyes, the powerful light of the sun seemed to absorb right into her and bounce around her skull; a pounding sensation in her forehead.

The clouds began to splinter. They formed the cracks and veins in the heavens above. She watched as the mirror of this moment started to shatter, starting from the bright blue sky. The frogs and the grasshoppers went next. Then the creek became a rushing roar in her ears, the sensation of daisies by her feet gone.

She was underwater. And somebody was holding her down.

Vivi... please.

And then all was silent.

---

A ratty old couch in the back of a tea shop was the best he could do. It was the best he could do, he swore. He wanted to do more, wanted to help, but he was a ghost. Non existent. No home, no place to stay but the goddamned dumpster, and no name.

So all he could do was show up at the back entrance of the old woman's tea shop, and beg for entry.

As he laid her down onto the couch, the old woman frowned at him, sighing.

"Knight-san. This is highly unusual, I must say."

"I'm sorry, Kyoko. Okay? I'm sorry. I just- I don't have anywhere else to go. And you- you were a medic. You used to be. Please. help me. I can't- Please. I don't know what to do."

"Who is she?"

A momentary pause.

He stared at the old lady, and he let out a shaking sigh.

"I- I don't know. Her name... her name is O'Couna. I- I just..."

He stared down at her.

"I can't lose her again."

---

Persephone O'Couna
---

Persephone was adrift. The world drifted in and out, but she was on an ocean, staring up at the endless blue sky. Currents tugged her up and down, bringing her below, then releasing her and allowing her to float up like a bubble. She didn't need to breathe like this, just watch.

See her future laid out before her eyes.

The Knight wasn't there. She saw no possibility of him. He was a blip in the timeline. Somebody who wasn't supposed to be there, but had happened upon her anyway.

Normally, she'd say mistakes should be corrected.

But lying here, staring up at the blue sky, she felt a strange sense of peace settle over her. Like a weighted blanket, or river water in your lungs, it drew her down, down. Into a state of ennui, not caring about things like vengeance or people who knew too much.

Just peace. Just love. Just death.

Persephone liked it here. She wondered how long she could stay.

---

TH e process was simple, because the old lady was straightforward in her methods. Knight applied pressure around the wound, as the old lady, a powerful mystic in her own right, gathered the materials she needed for the only thing that had kept him alive for years- tea.

"A pinch of ginger."

He pressed a little harder, trying to stem the blood.

"Rosemary."

He closed his eyes for a moment.

"and Chamomile."

He opened them, to find the old woman standing in front of hims, smiling gently.

"You can let go. I'll take it from here. Get some sleep, Jack."

"That's not my name."

A pause. She shook her head.

"Go to sleep."

"I can't leave her."

"Then sleep there, boy. Let me do my work, will you?"

She sighed, and he moved back. He watched quietly, as the old lady yanked the blad eout, quickly dressing the wound, before gently pouring the cup of tea into Persephone's mouth.

---

Ayame silently slunk out of the room, the extraversion from Einstein Miyako honestly creeping her out. She silently slipped out of the doorframe before running back to the dorm to cuddle with the cats. Too much social activity for the day.

i kept her as a npc pa are you proud :3

Hari's mouth dropped into an unfortunately imperfect O, her brain barely processing everything. So there were ghosts, then there were neighbours?? But apparently, they were supposed to be ghosts or some other kind of supernatural figures? And this concerningly excited Miyako-being somehow found a way to them following some kind of ghost superstition-theory? But how did she even get in here?

"What...?" she muttered, shaking her head in disbelief. Not only did this Miyako person ask what her pay was, she also found pleasure in having some kind of ghostly view of everything?

"How... did you get in here?"

---

Terrian Abel
---

He shrugged and said, "through the window," jerking his thumb in its general direction. "I know, I'm confused too." Honestly though, he was stifling a giggle. Miyako was slightly hilarious when she wasn't being inflicted on him. Slightly. Very slightly.

"You got it!" Miyako made finger guns. "Snuck right past this guy aaaannnd-"

"Scribbled all over the floors," he finished, gesturing to the atrocities Miyako had committed with permanent marker. "And burnt our lease."

"Oy, it wasn't scribbling. Those were runes! Carefully etched ones! They took time!"

---

Hari gaped, still shocked. The entire situation perplexed her, throwing her mind into a whole new dimension of twists and turns. Honestly, it would have been rather amusing, had she not been the one thrown into this situation.

"So... property damage and vandalism done under the name of some experiment?" Hari questioned, head slightly tilting to the side as she tried to decode everything.

There were permanent marker stains scribbled onto the floor like a child's drawing during leisure time, combined with burn marks in random splotches over the place.

Honestly, it was quite a sight to see. And to be honest, had Hari not been occupied worrying over whether they would be docked of any possible future pay because some stranger had broken in to do some ritual to summon ghosts...?

---

“I suppose we walk until we find light? Lumiere’s a lantern now, anyways. Can’t be hard to find, surely. And we should probably make sure the rest of the Lightchasers are safe. We don’t need Lumiere murdering you because im the only one getting rescued”

RuoDie suggested, peering around the pitch black space. Lumiere couldn’t be close, or she’d have seen the faint glow of his lantern at least.

“We should hurry. He’s not supposed to be using his powers so….extensively.” RuoDie states, already planning her Captain’s recovery meals

“Yeah, okay. He’s probably in the center, considering it’s his power… and as for other people, we’ll grab them along when we pass them.”

Shuto motions at the blurry blob of light within the murky darkness, barely visible if not for the slight contrast between black and yellow light.

He made his way towards it, fast and brisk, his ability would wear off soon so every second was vital. Lumiere, anyone else, then carriage. Simple.

---