faentasy | GRAVEYARD PT. II

GRAVEYARD

The world is black. And then you blink at your plate.

A portion of your favorite dish greets your eyes, albeit in a form you may never have seen it in before. Encased in a thick, wobbling layer of multi-colored gelatin, the food you know and love now sits suspended in its protein-based enclosure as an eccentric re-imagining of the dish. Furthermore, it only takes a glance to see that the rest of the dining table's spread shares this same theme, as every single dish, sweet or savory, finds itself victim to a jiggling Jell-o jail.

Still, you won't have much time to take this all in before a quiet, high-pitched giggling makes its way to your ears, only crescendoing in volume the longer you sit in this oh-so-familiar dining room. It doesn't take much to find the source of the sound either; unlike the other side, this place is absolutely teeming with fairies to the point where the fluttering of their iridescent wings is clearly audible behind the din of their laughter. As you come to your senses, dozens and dozens of beady eyes watch with their tiny faces stretched out in a wide grin, before speaking in unison.

"Welcome, we can't wait to serve you!"

As the fairies erupt in raucous laughter all around you, at least one more thing is readily apparent: however you met your end, your body is completely whole again. You also have company at the table with you, although whether it's desirable company or not may depend on the circumstances surrounding your death.

In any case, there's nothing stopping anyone from leaving the dining room and roaming freely as usual, and most of the same areas that were available to you on the other side are still present here, albeit with some differences. And though your life may have been stolen from you, it still looks like you have a part in this tale, somehow, someway.

So, will you let your story finish here, or will you write your own ending?

[Welcome to the Graveyard! This is part 2 of the GY post for Weeks 6 and 7. The previous post for Weeks 2-5 is linked above. Please also view the GY doc linked above for a full rundown of the basics. You may also still submit for items and gacha rolls using the GY shop post.]

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I don't know...but when I was touching it, my hand went through and...

[ he gulps. ]

When I moved my hand, it moved with me. It stopped when I got it out but...it's creepy. I've heard of spirits possessing dolls before but...[ he shudders? ]

[ She puts a hand to chin, thinking. ] But if we're going to be disposed of... who's supposed to possess those dolls?

Or was it something already used...?

I wonder if this is their idea of giving us our bodies back, while still keeping our real bodies. If they need our crystallized corpses for energy, then they'll think that this is a good replacement for our bodies.

[ She hmms especially about the button eyes from his other comments. ] But if it's life sized... can they even make them? Or is it something the void-thing made?

From the note that Rika found it seems like this is...Ferry's coworker's workshop...not theirs. But I think we shouldn't assume anything about Ferry anymore.

Coworker...? [ crosses her arms. ] Sounds like you guys were really busy again this time.

I'm saying coworker because I don't know what their relationship is. It doesn't seem like it created Ferry, taking into consideration the note that we found but they definitely had some sort of alliance? Or maybe it was her boss? Hell if I know.

Hmm, they definitely seems to serve the... Thing, but apparently seems to be in a higher position than they've let on.

Yeah, they’re definitely not as innocent as they seem.

[ … ]

How would we confront them, though? Should we, even? Or is it safer to play along with them and wait for the other shoe to drop?

They said something about telling us something on Friday...?

So we have to wait until then?

Gives us a bit more time to plan whatever it is we're doing? And whatever backups depending on what they tell us.

Either way, I believe trying to fight her should be a last resort, especially in the absence of knowing much about her abilities or what she has been doing with the crystals in that cellar of hers (or whatever powers she may have obtained).

What we need is more information.

Right now, we still have one crystal -- that may be enough leverage for negotiations, or at least some way to get more information from Ferry. The more we know about her motivations, the better we may be able to deal with her on equal footing.

There is one thing I am curious about, as well... What reason did she give for needing you all to retrieve the crystals for her, rather than doing it herself?

Edited (what if I didn't use she/they interchangeably in one comment) 2021-07-15 16:10 (UTC)

She seemed pretty surprised when we mentioned the whole corpse-in-crystal thing. It might be a ruse but if it isn’t we could try to guilt trip her or something.

[ he shrugs. ]

The other thing we can do is snoop around the cellar again, but I don’t think we have time…nor do I know if the entrance will even be open again. [ and poor mods… ]

You mentioned the corpses to her... and yet she still sent you to retrieve more. There likely is a ruse there, but there may be room to push the issue either way. Though, I am not the best person for it, so...

[Ferry sure hates him! Haha! Wonder why. ☆]

What was found in the cellar, by the by?

[He has no idea........]

Ah. I have reason to believe that it is indeed B's workshop.

Miss Yuri found a strange ragdoll at the scene of Junko's disappearance -- and Junko has mentioned having seen Morgan there, yes? The ragdoll she brought to us was without eyes and a little beat up, but put together with your information, we can surmise that these dolls can be used on the other side.

According to Miss Yuri also, the mistress of the mirrors had shown her a vision involving this very type of doll, before that.

What did the vision involve?

Should we have destroyed them?

Well, I don't think they're currently connected to us, given that Morgan did not feel the effects from her doll on the other side.

On the other hand, perhaps we should have retrieved one -- putting one of us inside one of those may be able to give us more information. [there's... a long moment of thought here, actually, before:] What I can say is... the body I was using during the game was likely not my original body at all. There was an important mark missing, as well as other key differences. What I don't know is whether my soul was simply placed in a doll body for the duration of the game, or whether there was any way to tell, even after death.

[He feels as though the living would have mentioned it by now if it were that easy to tell. But? Hm. What else can they experiment with in this matter....

That being said why is he so cavalier about potentially having been a button-doll abomination for six weeks. SMDH.]

Edited 2021-07-15 17:18 (UTC)

……………?

[ wait wait wait what. ]

Did you get any confirmation from Hamelin about that? That it’s not your body?

I did not. When I brought it up he evaded the question, and given the state of my original body itself, there were too many other possibilities at the time -- we didn't discover a great deal about the doll bodies on the other side, you see.

I wonder if there is a way to retrieve one of these bodies... Now I would really like to know more.

…

[ his expression darkens just a tad as he hums. ]

We’d have to go back there, but who knows if B might have returned.

[...]

There is one other possibility.

If the dolls are created by B, and if the fairies aside from Ferry have been created by B... Perhaps we should check to see just how different Ferry is from her supposed brethren?

That might be easier. There’s enough of those oversized flies for all of us to take a look at.

[ said calmly with every intention of insulting them. ]

(no subject)

heroicact - 2021-07-15 22:02 (UTC) - Expand

amortristis - 2021-07-15 22:08 (UTC) - Expand

heroicact - 2021-07-15 22:13 (UTC) - Expand

I can at least confirm my body on the other side wasn't my original one, which I knew from the start. It's...easy to tell since I'm normally immunocompromised, to say the least.