dictated;

[rightchoices]

[ To be honest, Lee could not possibly be happier that this event decided to skip him over. Regardless, though, something has been on his mind- ]

Got a question for those of you who aren't attached to an infant right now. [ His tone is still slightly stilted; he's used to lecturing classrooms full of students, but addressing a magical book? Still a little weird. ] What, exactly, happens when you die here? I've heard things, and I'm not exactly looking to find out firsthand- but it still seems like something I should know.

Comments

Dictated

[i_got_this]

[Never mind that she has two infants attached to her, South just recently came back from the dead so this is a very fresh, personal subject for her.]

Usually it's two weeks of interminable hell but I guess mine was only one week? Anyway it's awful and the worst part about it is knowing full well what happened to send you there.

Dictated

[rightchoices]

[ He'd apologize if he knew how fresh this topic was for her- for now, he's strictly research-minded. ]

Two weeks? -- were you aware of it?

Dictated

[i_got_this]

One week for me, and -- [Well, tricky. She'd been somewhat distantly aware, but then she'd gone home, and that had been disaster.]

Yeah, kind of. I mean, it was more like sensations? Not like, I was a ghost or anything, and I can't remember the whole time, but ... pain and sensations, yeah.

[Forgetting, of course, that she'd lied to Zelos and told him she'd felt nothing.]

Dictated

[rightchoices]

Then I'm sorry.

[ His tone is soft but sincere, firm. ]

No one should have to go through any of that.

Dictated forever

[i_got_this]

Yeah, thanks. It wasn't pleasant. Shit like that doesn't happen often so usually you don't have to worry about it.

[rightchoices]

Yeah. Usually it's more like- babies?

[willrememberthat]

[Is probably sitting nearby.

Staring at Lee.

WHY ARE YOU ASKING THAT, MAN...]

Lee...

[rightchoices]

[ And he gives her a look, eyebrows lifted. ]

I'm just curious, Clem. Trying to figure out how this world works.

[willrememberthat]

That's a really sad question.

[She frowns, fiddling with a belt loop on her jeans.]

They come back, though. Not like walkers.

[rightchoices]

But like people.

[ He hesitates for a moment, then shuts the journal entirely, looking to her. ]

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you.

[willrememberthat]

Like people. I don't know if they're different, but they don't try to eat us.

[She's been curious about that. They don't turn into walkers, but something has to be different, right?]

It's okay. I... just don't like thinking about it. That's all.

[rightchoices]

[ There isn't a delicate way to ask this, and there isn't a way to help him fully mask the concern on his face when he glances at her again. ]

Never happened to you, has it?

Dictated forever

[mal_addict]

From what I understand, people are...well, they're dead for two weeks, then the castle brings them back. Exactly what happens to them during that time, I couldn't hazard a guess.

[rightchoices]

Huh. Not really sure how I feel about that. Guess I should count it a blessing.

[mal_addict]

They do come back human or...whatever other species they were when they died. So you can sleep partially easy at night. I've been here for a while now and never seen them come back...well undead.

It's still a little discomforting though, how it can just bring people back like that.

[rightchoices]

It wants us alive. [ It's said vaguely, but distinctly. ] The castle, I mean, for whatever purpose that might be. Huh.

[ A pause, but only a brief one, and then he addresses the journal more directly. ]

Sorry if this made you uncomfortable.

[mal_addict]

Of couse. To eat our delicious souls-slash-emotions.

Not at all, I never raised from the dead. It doesn't bother me one bit.

[rightchoices]

Heh. Can't imagine my soul is especially tasty- there've got to be other motives at work there.

[silentrunning]

[Chell scribbles back.]

I've heard that you stay gone for two weeks but then the castle brings you back but steals something else from you. Don't know how true that is.

[rightchoices]

[ If she's writing, he'll do the same in kind. ]

It takes something else? First I've heard of that.

written

[bravelittlegirl]

[The handwriting is fairly neat, but it definitely belongs to a kid.]

You don't stay dead.

written

[rightchoices]

[ Childish handwriting. That definitely pangs him uncomfortably. ]

That's what I thought. Is it the castle that brings us back?

[bravelittlegirl]

I don't know. It's magic, so maybe.

[she debates on telling him this next part... since lol hopefully she's figured it out by this point.]

I don't think it does it for free.

[rightchoices]

You think it takes something else.

[ That's what he's figured by now, too. ]

Not that nice of it, huh?

[bravelittlegirl]

[It's a moment before she responds. She has to think about that.]

Depends. It hurts to forget, but dying hurts, too.

And anyway, I want to live. Even if I forget every single reason I have for doing it, I still want to live.