sevenvirtues | (no subject)

You awaken to blackness. Frightening, although familiar--this is the same terrible thing you narrowly avoided during your first trip into Lebensbaum. The pain of your death is still real, echoes of the wounds you suffered appearing on your skin. Inspecting your surroundings will tell you that you've woken up inside of the cooled, empty bonfire pit....and the town as it was is nowhere to be seen.

The sky is a whirlwind of blank, dark void. What previously acted as roadblocks on either side of the town seems to have moved upward, blocking out most of the sun's light. The street is barren, filled with piles of broken concrete, shattered glass, and smoking craters where many of the buildings used to be. Old bloodstains dot the pavement, mixing in with overturned cars and crumbling brick walls. Lebensbaum is a dead town, in more ways than one.

Except for the hotel. It stands, as dusty and abandoned as it ever was, but no worse for the wear. Scorch marks can be seen on the ground around it in a clear border, as though it had a barrier protecting it from whatever destroyed the village. If you venture inside, everything is in its place, as though the outside wasn't completely obliterated.

The living can be seen walking around, going about their daily lives, and if you concentrate, you can even see the buildings as they once were--in working order, clean, and in one piece.

As of Monday on Week 10, however, there is a door, seemingly pasted into the middle of the street. As the days tick by, the doors will increase in number, one for each victim.

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[ Yes, let's ignore how he's going to be bodyslammed-- ]

[ Alisha hesitates, then crouches down in front of him, offering her hand. ]

... I'm sorry. I didn't want you to end up here at all. [ It's not very pleasant and she has to babysit reckless idiots and suicidal Chosens who try to kiss dragons, it's terrible. ]

[ Break hesitates, but he ends up taking her hand to help himself up after all. He definitely still has his eye covered, though, so that might be a bit odd. ]

What? You're not the one that should be apologizing, Miss Alisha~.

[ It definitely sounds like he's forcing cheer into his tone there, and he seems to catch that too. He laughs tiredly, then shrugs as his voice shifts back to more serious. ]

It was inevitable, if I'm honest. Don't worry too much about it.

How could I not? I-inevitable or not, it's not as though I wished for you to suffer...

[ Break had suffered enough, hadn't they? Hadn't they all, in their own way, suffered more than they deserved? But she won't mention that, instead taking a closer, concerned glance at his eye. ]

... Does your eye hurt?

[ That's the sort of sentiment that absolutely humbles Break, and there's definitely a solid moment where he's not sure how to respond. He'd like to deny it, since that's his reflexive reaction, but he knows at least that this isn't the right thing to do. But simply accepting a kind sentiment like that, well— He's glad to have something else to focus on as she continues, to say the least.

Break draws his hand away from his eye slowly, though he's still squinting as he adjusts to the light. He laughs, though it's definitely soft and tired. ]

It does, but it'll go away.

[ This part he has more difficulty with, actually. Getting something like this back definitely doesn't feel like something he deserves at all, but at least there's no one to thank for that. ]

I can see. [ After a pause, he adds lightly: ] Or, I should say, I will be able to in a bit~. Goodness, I'd forgotten how bright things were.

[ Alisha blinks, momentarily disconcerted at this revelation-- until she thinks about it, and well. He is dead (sort of), so maybe that's some sort of minor concession. ]

There are, ah... darker areas of the town, if you need to let your eye adjust for a bit.

It's fine, it's fine~.

[ He waves her off with a playful tone in his voice, albeit weakly. He's still pretty tired, so he'll have to regain some energy before he's resuming that clownish act. Though after a few moments, he ends up ducking his head lightly, and it's almost bowing his head to her a bit. It's a bit bashful, oddly, but that's because as his vision clarifies, this is definitely odd. The resemblance is a bit startling. ]

...Thank you, though.

[ Break seems like he isn't sure what to say, but he breathes out a sound that's somewhere between a sigh and a laugh before he looks back to her. ]

For keeping these idiots in line, and for helping out on this side.

[ If only she'd had a big brother Break as a tiny ojousama and not a hottie betraying teacher, things might have been a little better for her. Ah, well. ]

You really don't need to thank me. I did what I could, of course, but ultimately, it wasn't much...