[ 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

[dualtone]

[ Fushimi nods, but it's an automatic gesture to indicate that he understands more than anything else. That sounds... as horrifying as anything else this place could come up with, and he wonders, with a tight clench of his stomach, if any of them are even real. Are they who they think they are, or are they just -- sketched out copies in some sort of fairy tale come to life?

Coming back from the dead shouldn't happen so easily, and Fushimi has mixed feelings about it, but --

Well, even if nothing is real, it still feels real enough that he's relieved death is just a nasty debuff for awhile. ]

...If it's only temporary, that's surprisingly generous. Be careful that there aren't any...

[ Nastier debuffs lurking behind the corner? It isn't like they can lose experience. ]

Well, just -- let us know if you have any other problems.

[ It's like an offer of help!! ]

[passio]

[ dextera understands what he means, at any rate. he hasn’t run into anything especially bad, since his body properly reformed, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t psychological effects—not to mention the color changes, that seem to happen around the same time on a cycle. if kindness restores color, then dying will surely bleed it out.

he just hopes that the tulips in the front of his house are unharmed. ]

Fushimi.

[ and the name fushimi has been given in dextera’s sign language is as thus: the symbol for an “F,” then held to his lips to match the sign for “coffee.” it feels appropriate. ]

Thank you. For worrying.

[dualtone]

...Is that the kind of thing you thank someone for?

[ Isn't worrying a bad thing, that should be avoided at all costs? Fushimi can't say he really understands feelings, or friendship, or anything like that -- but it's not like Dextera would lie about it, so instead it just comes around to the same fact: he's being thanked for something, and he has no idea how to deal with it.

What is positive reinforcement, who came up with that. It sounds terrible. ]

You're welcome, I guess.

[ And then, because Fushimi can't handle being too soft for more than like, forty-five seconds at once -- ]

Just don't be stupid and let it happen again.

[passio]

Ah—

[ dextera doesn’t know. is it the kind of thing to thank someone for? it doesn’t feel right to blame him for worrying, anyway, since dextera’s the one at fault for dying, and he doesn’t want it to go unacknowledged either. he’s floundering, until fushimi reluctantly extends a you’re welcome and forces the conversation to move on.

dextera exhales. ]

I won’t. I promise.

[dualtone]

Good. [ If nothing else, Fushimi doesn't want to see Guren like that again. Even ignoring the blood that wound up all over his room and the sight of being able to see the walls through Guren's torso, like, Guren being that sad isn't something Fushimi wants to deal with if he doesn't have to. ]

...I should get going.

[ He only wanted to make sure that it was really Dextera, that he was okay, that he wasn't some sort of horrible zombie creature. He really wouldn't put it past this place to bring zombies out, especially after the werewolf thing. ]

If you come over sometime, Misaki'll cook for you.

[passio]

[ dextera is honestly grateful for it. even without that final comment, he knew that this was all fushimi trying to be kind—and hearing him voluntell yata to cook for dextera is also a form of kindness. he’s never seen them interact, actually, but he knows they’re close.

he should be a better friendship teacher… though it seems like fushimi is doing just fine. ]

…

[ he smiles, soft and filled with honest gratitude. ]

Thank you. I will.