[ OPEN? CLOSED? ] as you die, you will understand.

[passio]

WHO: dextera + others! i’m open to anyone but please tell me by PM or at pavaal if they haven’t had at least like, one conversation.

WHAT: dextera forces himself to face all the people he bailed on after dying.

WHERE: the town!

WHEN: forward dated to late june, and probably the 1st and 2nd of july.

WARNINGS: death death death

[ for the first time, dextera wakes up from death to a sky that isn’t red. it’s all as grey as the world around him, and slowly, the memories return to him—the bogeyman, his brother, the feeling of his very soul being taken from his body. then, there’s a long expanse of nothing. now, his consciousness has returned.

he keeps out of the way at first in this sketchy body, staying private, staying safe with a friend he’s sure won’t tell—there are things he’s not ready to talk about, and faces he’s not ready to see. after a few days have passed, though, and his features reform, color returns, and his voice continues to stay just out of reach, he can finally be seen around town again.

he saw the post. he knows guren announced his death. he’s just hoping that no one will ask about it, if they see him. ]

...

[ as ever, he's silent. ]


( i'll be posting closed prompts in the comments for people who want them, otherwise... go HOG WILD. )

Comments

CLOSED TO NOCTIS

[passio]

[ dextera had managed to sneak in undetected, late at night, in order to use his laptop to contact guren—but the next day, there’s no helping it. he needs to show himself to his roommates, even if he couldn’t bring himself to read their responses to guren’s post on the network. noctis had just lost his father, he remembers that, and dextera doesn’t want to put him through the death of another.

however reluctantly it’s occurred to him, he knows that he’s important to some people. noctis will want to know that he’s all right. ]

…

[ so he takes a deep breath, and knocks on the door. ]

[nascere]

[ He's important. He's so important to Noctis in the time that they had shared here -- Noctis has shed more than his share of tears because death is terrible in all its forms, infinitely cruel and Noctis has never quite learned to handle it even if he has been faced with it all his life.

Dex didn't die protecting him, but it doesn't matter. He's his friend and he should have been protected, looked out for, and for the past few days Noctis fights not to think about just how he had gone, the fear he might've felt. The things that he hadn't finished.

Guren, alone in that kitchen with that stone.

Noctis takes comfort from both his companions, buries his face in Ignis' chest, squeezes Prompto a little harder and doesn't look at the empty room that Dex used to be. They were like brothers of a kind, too -- Joshua, Estelle, Dex and him and look what happened.

But then it's late in the night and Noctis is the one who answers the door, having half a mind to get up for a glass of water. When he opens it, expecting either Joshua or Estelle, the sight of Dex standing right there makes him stare in shocked surprise. ]

Uh.

[ Is this a dream? Is he hallucinating? He pinches himself, hard. Time to wake, if it's a dream. Guren said the dead can never come back to life. So is it a joke -- Noctis narrows his eyes, sword shimmering in his hand in a flare of blue. ]

If you're some monster here to fuck with me, I'm not in the mood.

[messianic]

[It's inevitable, really, that he'd start looking for Dextera. Guren said that he was dead, but Akira--Akira had died too, but now he's here, and....Minato, himself, is here, as well. Surely if Minato can have been granted a second life, then Dextera, who was trying to save everyone...

Surely Dextera deserves to come back to life too.

So he comes by on the daily, knocking on the door, greeting Noctis and Joshua who he knows anyway, and... leaving a bit after, when Dextera isn't there. Over and over, he'll keep trying to go their home, and he'll keep trying to knock, hoping that eventually, Dextera will be the one somehow answering that door.]

[passio]

[ and eventually, dextera is.

it’s obvious that something is different, by the way that the door cracks open just enough to see who it is, and abruptly shuts when it’s apparently not who the person inside was expecting. he has bouts of guilt, of embarrassment, that come and go every time he thinks about all the grief he’s caused, and he’s not sure what he can even say to minato that won’t make him sound like a fool. ]

…

[ he’s scared. he doesn’t want minato to be mad at him, even if that’s insane. he doesn’t know that minato could ever be mad at anyone, but… it’s slowly, that he opens the door again. this feels familiar, as it was during the attack of the werewolves, but there’s nothing to be afraid of out there except for dextera’s own self-punishment. ]

7/1

[inheritance]

[After Guren's post to the network, it had felt like a gloom had fallen over the town, everyone shaken by the deaths. Izuku's done his best to be there for Guren the whole time, nagging him to eat and rest when it was necessary, but things still look bleak. Izuku's made a promise to out-stubborn Guren, though. He's not going anywhere, no matter how hard things might get.

When Izuku had passed out on the coach from exhaustion the night before, he hadn't expected that things would've changed so drastically by the time he woke up.]

Morning, Dextera-san. [Izuku greets him sleepily as he trudges into the kitchen the next morning in search of something to munch on. Normally, he's much quicker to wake, but with the week they've had, he's still feeling somewhat groggy after a terrible night's sleep. It takes his brain a second to catch up.]

D-D-Dextera-san??! [He almost trips on his feet in his haste to turn back around.]

[passio]

[ guren had warned him that izuku was sleeping over, but dextera thought he could move quietly enough to avoid running into anyone. he’s mostly succeeded, but eventually, he had to come out of guren’s room in order to retrieve guren something to eat—since there was no way he was going to let guren move for himself. ]

…

[ this is not how he expected any of his reunions go down, and he glances to the door like he’s considering his escape—but he can’t do that to izuku. just because he hasn’t thought about what he wants to say doesn’t mean he can just run.

slowly, awkwardly, he nods. ]

CLOSED TO RYO

[passio]

[ after waking up and figuring out that he was alive and very wrong, the first person he chose to go to was oddly not guren. there’s too much on his mind, and strangely, not enough in his heart. he doesn’t feel right, not at all like himself, and so the only person he can think to see in this time of need is… ryo.

whether it’s rationality or punishment he’s looking for, he can at least trust ryo not to spill it all over town that he’s back.

by the time he makes this decision, he’s still stark white, mostly featureless, but his silhouette is certainly that of dextera’s. he looks like someone cut out his figure from the world itself and left him blank, but he’s not worried about appearing to haunt ryo’s house as a ghost. carefully avoiding signs of anyone else, under the cover of night… he lets himself in. no lock or door is going to stop him from getting in like this.

normally he would knock, but he isn’t feeling normal right now. ]

[apocalypticist]

[ Ryo's at the rickety desk in his room, typing notes on the laptop in front of him when he hears something move outside. He initially assumes it's Kaoru and pays it no mind, but his gut feeling alerts him that it probably didn't come from his roommate. He's naturally inclined to be suspicious (especially now that he knows the forest wildlife doesn't always stay in the forest) and while there's a very thin line between gut feeling and paranoia, he trusts what his inner voice is telling him.

He stands up and grabs the rifle he keeps propped against the wall near his bed before stepping through the door, sweeping his gaze around until he finds the sketchy-looking figure. ]

Leave. [ A warning as he points the barrel of his gun at Dextera's chest. His eyes narrow as he runs his gaze up and down the figure, one eyebrow quirking up when he recognizes the silhouette. What the hell...?

He doesn't lower his weapon, but he does take his finger off the trigger and out of the trigger guard. ]

let me know if this works

[withwisdom]

[ like others she read guren's message, even chastised him for his decisions, but chose to grieve for the dead alone. she gathered whatever colored flowers she could find, and the pickings were scant, but regardless she placed them at the well and came to pray there every day since, for all three of them. there is nothing more that can be done but to keep them in her thoughts, regardless of the short time she knew them.

unlike others she has no idea people can come back to life here. and so when she's walking on her way to the well in the morning to do her prayers, she's shocked to see dextera walking. just ahead of her. it shows in her expression, as though she's looking at a ghost, and her voice calls out to him when she feels the lump in her throat expel. ]

Dextera?

that’s fine!!

[passio]

[ it was bound to happen, of course. he’d tried to make his peace with his most immediate friends, and mostly succeeded, but of course some people don’t know, they haven’t seen, and so dextera freezes when he hears a voice that he knows he hasn’t spoken to since he returned. ]

…

[ maybe if he just… stands still, she’ll go away. ]

[theshowsover]

[Akira saw the post too, belatedly. He supposes he should be happy that there was no such post for him, so not too many people know what happened.

As such, he's not really all that surprised when he sees Dex walking around again. He's living (hah) proof that people don't necessarily stay dead around here, after all.]

Dextera.

[He quickens his step, to try and catch up with him.]

Hey.

[passio]

[ dextera responds just a little better to akira calling out for him than he has to others—maybe it’s because they’re not that close, except for their shared trauma in the forest, but that kind of bonding doesn’t just disappear. he doesn’t run away from akira, in any case, and slows down, only slightly reluctant. ]

…

[ he nods, awkwardly, and to get this out of the way— ]

I’m alive.

i wasnt gonna but here i am

[bittybat]

[There's no need for Damian to watch the chickens fiercely, even with Dextera--gone. Other friends and roommates have it covered. But Damian swings by at least once a day just to see them. To inspect the hutch, the food and water.

Between the length of the month, he's worked on something better than cans. He's built a small wooden trough for the food, and it sits on legs along the side where he put it. They can eat as they please without being able to kick dirt and other things in it when scratching around.

He comes out of the hutch as Dextera comes out of the house. For a second, he pauses, except for the arm that pushes the door back into place. He regards Dextera for a moment or two quietly.]

Hi.

there he is

[passio]

[ dextera doesn’t know why, but for some reason, seeing damian greeting him like that, almost casual, makes him immediately want to run and hide and never come out again. a part of him says that damian reminds him of his brother, and that’s both comforting and terrifying. it’s a little of both, right now. ]

…

[ dextera takes a step back, but he’s not actually retreating. ]

I’m sorry.

[scooptimistic]

[ She's not as close to Dextera as half the town seems to be. But Maya's never been someone to compare relationships. So what if she hasn't known him as long? So what if they haven't been through several hardships and forged a bond of steel?

She'd fallen off a dock and he'd almost drowned and they'd fought a crab, he's definitely a friend, and when she'd heard he'd died... well, who wouldn't have been upset!

So when she sees him around town, she performs a very quick double-take and then-- ]

Dexteeeeraaaaaa!

[ She's... running at him. ]

[passio]

[ dextera has never heard his name being called like that, and a short burst of panic washes over him because it’s getting louder and that’s never a good sign. ]

M—?

[ he is not at all prepared for maya hurtling towards him at top speeds. ]

[whereabout]

[ When he comes back to the house, Joshua's there.

And Joshua, as he tends to do, doesn't make it into a scene. A raise of the eyebrows, a look up and down to make sure there's nothing visibly wrong with Dex, and he's rising to his feet and moving towards him. ]

Welcome back.

[passio]

[ dextera is deeply grateful that joshua isn’t the type to make a scene, though a part of him was anticipating it anyway. he died, after all—but maybe joshua is used to that sort of thing. he doesn’t really know. ]

…I’m sorry.

[ a quick apology, just to make it clear that he didn’t mean for any of this to happen. ]

[dualtone]

[ Fushimi nearly (nearly) drops his coffee cup, when he sees Dextera. It's a near thing, but instead he just sloshes a little out of the side in surprise, and then completely ignores it, not even bothering to try and stop it from soaking into the edge of his sleeve. ]

-- Hey!

[ Fushimi doesn't usually get that involved in the affairs of other people, but he liked Dextera, from the time they spent together, as much as Fushimi ever likes anyone. More importantly, Dextera meant a lot to Guren, and Fushimi was right there watching Guren deal with the after effects of the fight, the loss.

It's really a toss up whether he's more worried about Dextera or Guren, at this juncture, but he feels something like relief that Dextera is -- alive? Back? Healed?

Ugh, that's gross, he doesn't want to be attached enough to people to feel relief. ]

You're --

[ He cuts off when he steps over to Dextera, not quite wanting to say 'not dead' or 'okay'... in his defense, the last time he had to deal with someone coming back from the dead, he cared substantially less about their well being. ]

[passio]

—!

[ dextera jumps slightly, when there’s suddenly the sharp sound of a voice that’s definitely directed toward him. his first instinct is that he’s in trouble, even though no one has gotten mad at him for any reason in a long while now—and most of the reactions he’s faced, since coming back from the dead, have been a surprising sense of relief.

he’s not entirely sure that he’s going to get relief from fushimi, but the surprise is there, at least. surprise that fushimi would bother to say anything, but then, he lives with guren (or at least, lives with yata who lives with guren) and he must have seen the way guren has been dealing with the aftermath of it all.

so, unsure of what else he can do until he knows what emotion fushimi is feeling, he nods. ]

[brightlyshines]

[Estelle was out detangling fishing line and watching the chickens peck about the yard when Dextera comes into view. She's very, very lucky that she doesn't straight out get herself tangled in her project when she sees him, but it's a near thing, chickens skittering out of the way as she stumbles to her feet, dropping her spool of line as she does.]

Dex.... Dextera?

[Her bright red eyes are wide... but she's moving forward the next second. Hello Dex you have one (1) small girl hurtling towards you in a full body tackle. Prepare yourself.]

[passio]

Es—!

[ dextera is prepared, this time. he knows estelle, and he’s not going to let himself be totally bowled over—and besides, he’s happy to see her. of all the people he left behind, he feels like estelle deserves to feel sad about it the absolute least.

he doesn’t want to be the reason she stops smiling, at any time, so he catches her tackle and tries to turn it into a hug.

impressively, he only stumbles a little, but his legs are shaking with the force of the impact. ]

[queenofminiskirts]

[She hadn't stayed at the house with Ryo so much the last little while, opting to spend more time sleeping over with Shiho even though she knew it meant Kyrie going off to stay with Caramia. But that was fine. Just for a little bit...she will apologize for Kyrie another day.

She hadn't cried, though she had wanted to. But there had been other people who needed her and for their sake, she had tried to keep smiling.

But then she spots Dex while she was out and about, moving supplies to a supply depot and she drops everything, the boxes making a heavy thunk on the ground before she launches herself at him the way only a psychokinetic could: with great speed but surprisingly soft impact.]

You idiot! [Was not actually what she meant to say first but there you go. Maybe it's softened by the way she was holding him a bit tighter than necessary.]

[passio]

Ah—!

[ dextera has been called an idiot by angry girls before, and so it doesn’t sting much when she’s also hugging him like this—kaoru, kaoru. he needs to apologize to shiho, too, and it’s incredible how many people he’s realizing might have worried about him while he was gone.

he’s made so many friends, and he doesn’t want to leave any of them ever again. ]

K…

[doublecrowss]

[ For the past days, Akechi had found himself even more lost in his own thoughts than usual, going through the motions of his routine as though on autopilot. In between Akira's death, his alleged return, and the vortex of conflicted feelings he had never been good at dealing with, in the first place, Akechi had trouble in being himself-- or rather, in keeping intact the mask he presented to the world.

In some ways, that might be the most real he has been in years.

Still, deep in musings as he was, he still recognizes that face; it's a face that shouldn't be there, walking and breathing, if Guren's information was to be trusted-- the guy may hide a lot of himself, but Akechi doesn't think he would downright lie about this.

Well. Only one way to find out. ]

Dextera-san? [ He tries, inquiring but gentle. ] You're... here.

[ Not dead. But does that mean he's actually back, or did he just never die at all...? ]

[passio]

[ of all the people he expected to approach him in the days following his return… he didn’t expect akechi. dextera stops, surprised—his posture is cautious, but not entirely defensive.

akechi has been nothing but pleasant to him, after all. he has no reason to doubt the sincerity of this greeting. ]

…

[ he nods. ]

I came back.