thecrossinglogs | and if you fall

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and if you fall

WHO: Need and: the first prompt and general wildcard interaction is OTA. The second prompt is closed to her and Allynbee, Bakugo, and Yusuke. It doesn't have to be a megathread but if you want one that's cool.
WHAT: First prompt: Need meanders around and makes a weapon that throws rocks good and tests it on a wall. Second prompt: returning to the River to see what's there to be found. I'm happy with either prose or brackets!
WHERE: Cavern of course! First prompt is in the city or wherever within the lantern's light you'd like your character encountering Need. Second prompt is overlooking the River.
WHEN: Between the intro log and the first Crossing. I'm leaning after the Ferryman's announcement but if you want a thread set before then I'm game.
WARNINGS Not sure. General discussion of the lethality of slung stones is a possibility, and the unpleasantness of being submerged in the River.

check the cupboard for your daddy's gun
Need is quite tall, heavyset, and the oldest-looking person present, with a seamed and scarred face and a wary, watchful aspect. Having spent a long afterlife in service, she feels at loose ends here and is often in motion, walking slow circuits and checking to see if anything has changed, or unpicking bits of fabric so she can find uses for it as string.

One of the first things she does is put together a sling. It doesn't look like much, just a length of braided twine. She takes it up into the higher reaches of the subterranean city to try and test it, with a series of rounded stones for ammunition. The crack of the sling, or of the stone hitting, carries in the quiet as she refines her aim.

"Fired clay bullets are better," she says conversationally, not looking directly at whoever she's speaking to. Crack! Need pulls the now-trailing end of the sling up, wrapping it loosely around her fingers. "Cast lead is best. But if I'm wishing for things that aren't here, first I want a sword."

it's a long way down to the bottom of the river
It's hard to get much out of the Ferryman. Knowing how often she's been cryptic to the living, Need has set her jaw and not tried to wheedle out an answer. The little that she has picked up has been the intimation that she can glean something by returning to the River.

Maybe the other three have also spoken to them, or followed someone headed this way, or meandered here on their own. Regardless, Need looks out across the broad expanse of dark water and exhales slowly.

"It's better than the ocean," she complains, a 'but' clear in her tone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"The stupid salty ocean is better than a shitty death river," Katsuki huffs, as though it is very important to detail that he hates the ocean as well! Still, he's wriggling out of his shirt, struggling a bit since only one of his hands is capable of actually gripping the fabric of his shirt. He has to pull his left arm out and then use it to free his right.

"Alright, anyone wanna take a dip with me? Maybe we can find what the hell the Ferryjerk is up to."

Edited 2024-12-23 03:54 (UTC)

"'Ferryjerk'? I'm sure you can do better than that," Need chides. "Put some thought into it."

She doesn't distrust the Ferryman as he so clearly does and thinks they're legit, but Need's spent a long afterlife checking herself from telling people how to think. The living have to make their own choices... he's not living, but Need finds the same impulse applies. Anyway, an authority who can't tolerate some disrespect isn't worth much in her opinion.

Need disagrees on what's worse, though she expects it's in part because she remembers having feared the ocean. Fear is one of those emotions that's become blunted for her. Despite that, she's reluctant to get back in the water.

"Yeah, I'll take the ocean over this any day."

Allynbee watches Bakugo and his marked refusal to ask for assistance with his disrobing. The fact that he still seems injured is worrying, but that's a late conversation, if ever. Instead, she approaches the water's edge, dressed simply in her armor's undersuit to avoid extra bulk.

"Solid idea," she begins, casting the teen a curious look. "I can't imagine you have oxygen dep training. You sure you want to go in?"

Even having now experienced it thrice, she doesn't like the idea of struggling for air a forth time. But it's better than letting the kid do it alone (or at all, but something tells her that he's not going to be dissuaded easily.)

While this discussion has been happening, Yusuke has struck out to wade shin-deep into the water. He stops there, hands on his hips, waiting... for something that doesn't seem to be coming, at least not yet, and not quickly.

"'Least the ocean's warm half the time." He glances back at them, and, seeing Bakugo, seems to realize that he shouldn't like... jump in fully clothed. His jeans are already wet, half-heartedly rolled up to his knees, but he yanks his shirt over his head and hurls it back in the direction of the rocky shore.

Swimming with jeans on is kind of insane, but, y'know. How much more dead can he get?

"Ain't that bad. All it takes is some guts." He takes a big, bracing breath, half to prepare against the breath-stealing effect of cold water, and half just to hype himself up. "Ready when you guys are."

Noticing that Yusuke has beaten him to the river, Katsuki picks up the pace with getting his shirt over his head and throws it down onto the rocky shore before wading into the river. There's a massive scar taking up half his chest that wasn't there before and yet... he doesn't feel the need to examine it. Like his ruined arm, having the scar from the blow that killed him just seems right.

"Guts are only gonna get us so far. We need to use our damn brains too. Look-" Katsuki gestures with his good hand downstream to where the river vanishes into the darkness. "The river's got a current. If we're looking for actual stuff, it should get pushed to closer to shore on the outer curves."

A practical and reasonable approach. He promptly succumbs to his impulsive nature and throws it out the window. "So ext-you guys who don't wanna get wet can do that but I'm going in." And so he makes to dive into the flow of the river.

"I don't have to breathe," Need says blandly, wondering if any of the other three have picked up on that kind of thing yet. They are all disconnected from the biological processes of living, and if a representation of those continues, it's not out of necessity. The problem with the river is how much it hurts to be fully submerged.

She's not going to stop Katsuki. He's injured but not to a level that stops him from this, it seems. The boys seem to have the impulsive rushing-ahead part covered, so she's free to follow at a more cautious distance and start with the shallows. She glances at Allynbee, wondering where she fits on the sliding scale of recklessness.

Allybee casts Need a look, already a little exhausted by the teens looking to rush in. She nearly barks an order for them to stop, going so far as to take a breath. She's not their commander. Hell, is she even a soldier anymore? The thought makes her shoulders slump a little.

Head turning towards Need, but eyes still on the two boys Allynbee addresses the older woman.

"I'll keep an eye out for them if you want to search here."

Yusuke only rolls his eyes. Everybody's always gotta have a damn plan, even when they barely know what they're after in the first place, and when it's got them doing the same thing either way.

There's no stopping the siren call of teenage boy competitiveness, though. He can't very well stand around bitching and moaning when Katsuki's already making for deeper water. He flaps one hand back at Need and Allynbee on the shore.

"We'll take care of the hard part. Shout if you find anything, yeah?"

And off he goes, too.

"Yeah, yeah, don't break a hip or nothin'."

Old people.

Things have gone from rather grim exploration to a little bit exciting because there's competition. Katsuki can feel himself getting that familiar warm feeling underneath his skin from the fire that drives him to push harder and go beyond limits.

"And you-" He cocks his head back at Yusuke, unable to keep a his lips from turning up into a grin. "Try not to drown in the current. That would be pretty damn embarrassing."

Need doesn't have a parting remark for the boys as they plunge ahead. As expressive as they are, if they find trouble they can't handle they'll make it obvious. Children! She literally can't remember if (when) she ever had that kind of energy.

She notes Allenby tense and sag as the younger woman starts to say something and then changes her mind. Interesting! Who is this, she wonders as she steps into the shallows. "All right. I don't know what we're looking for, just that we're not finding it high and dry. Are you coming in? If you're not all the way under, it's not painful."

Just cold. That's a more familiar sensation to her than any other, really.

[Having observed Need's sling tests, Frieda chimes in at her musings.]

What makes you think you'll need a weapon? The only thing here besides us are the wraiths.

[Surely, those can't be physically harmed anymore.]

The only things so far.

[Need picks up a pair of stones, rolling them in her palm so they click together as she looks them over.]

Change can happen very quickly sometimes. And anyway, a sling isn't only a weapon.

What else would you use it for?

[She can imagine a few scenarios - to get an item stuck in a tree down, or perhaps to lodge a rope attached to a rock somewhere hard to access -, but she wonders what else Need may be thinking of. After a moment of hesitation, she adds:]

The Ferryman might be able to give you a sword.

[After all, the light-keeper has been able to provide some other things to the souls gathered here at their request.]

Get the angle right and you can skip a rock across water a lot farther than if you throw it by hand, for one.

[She's being flippant. Need does have tool-type applications in mind similar to those Frieda's thought of, but she's not as forthcoming in general as she could be.]

They might. I've been keeping a little distance, though.

[Frieda tends to overlook other's sarcasm or flippancy, be it because she wants to keep the peace so badly or because she's still trying to lead by example (not that she's in any leadership position, now).]

Shall I ask on your behalf?

[She has no problem speaking with the Ferryman, and doesn't have the impression that they'll owe the presumed deity anything for favours granted. In the back of her mind, her ancestor's vow of non-agression is nagging her - will she not be guilty of violence by proxy if she facilitates the weapon procurement? -, but since said vow is no longer hard-wired into her mind, she can't deny that there'd be some comfort in a capable person having some means of protecting the rest of them. Nonetheless, she can't help but add:]

I'm sure the Ferryman would have told us if we needed to arm ourselves against any physical threats.

[Need notes this. Serious child, isn't she? She wonders if she just doesn't know how to respond or it's something else.]

It's kind of you, but nah. When I asked about weapons they said... those won't help right now, but might when we Cross. I think they meant for those who aren't choosing something to forget.

[Idly, Need tosses one of the stones up and catches it on its way down. She seems unbothered by the topic.]

[Oh, that alarms Frieda. So there will be tangible threats waiting for those who'll try to 'cross' on their own! Given Need's calm disposition, she doesn't hold back with her question:]

What will you do? I want to pay the toll, but... the things the Ferryman and the others said have me worried about how to choose the right payment.

[She knows that the other woman can't make the choice for her, but she feels so troubled by the matter than any opinion she might use as guidance is welcome.]

[Need gives a little nod to indicate I heard you, give me a second and casts around for somewhere to sit. There's a half wall that will do, and she lowers herself with a long exhale. There we go, looking more casual and not looming over this poor girl. She tilts her head in invitation. If Frieda wants to sit too, well and good.]

I might change my mind at the last moment, when I know more. But for now, I'm inclined to pay the toll.

[The thought of getting to help someone think their own way through things is such a relief. Need is a steady person, but that doesn't mean she's taking this quite as in stride as she wants to seem. She hasn't been in this kind of position of uncertainty and very little power in a very long time.]

What's got you so worried?

[She does sit down next to her, grateful for the opportunity. Much as she craves distraction, the Crossing will inevitably draw closer, and eventually, she'll have to pay her toll. As she starts explaining, her expression already scrunches up with stress.]

I have... many memories that I'd love to give away, if I'm honest. But the Ferryman told me that we'll have to face those memories, and come to terms with them. I don't know how much of that I can do at once, all the more if...

[She starts wringing her hands in her lap.]

If others might be subjected to them, too. I feel like that's unlikely - our memories, our past, those are personal things, right? But since the possibility came up at the meeting, I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And then there's the matter of... of whether we deserve it, to let go of those things - things we regret, failures, sins.

[By now, she's visibly distressed. It was mainly Nagito who put those possibilities on her radar, and with a chipper smile, and she's been worrying and wavering ever since.]

[Need makes a pretense of coiling the cords of her sling to put on her belt, as if that takes particular focus, as she listens.]

I can see how that's upsetting.

[In the literal sense, she can see it on her. Most of Need's own emotions have long been shallow. She hasn't felt that kind of fearful, guilty anxiety since... since. It feels far away to her. But it's real to this poor child and that's what's important.]

We don't know how important this memory of a 'voice that causes you pain' has to be. They're not exactly forthcoming, are they.

[She almost smiles. Need has been in the business of sharing memories - her own, other peoples' - for quite a while and is probably a little too cavalier with it, honestly. It's so useful, though, to just show someone.]

Are you afraid of someone learning private things about you, or being hurt by your memories? Or is it something else?

[She'll circle around to 'deserve' later, this kid's clearly got a lot going on here.]

[She nods once - the Ferryman really doesn't give them many details, providing cryptic answers more often than not -, and then again, in response to Need's question. Her voice sounds all choked up when she answers.]

Both of those things.

[Already, she has to wipe tears away. Good grief... she really doesn't have a good handle on things at all, does she? She's tried to be calm and practical - to help make a map of the area, to learn as much about the nature of the Crossing as possible, even to accept the possibility that her toll might become a trial for the group to learn from -, but for everything to potentially be exposed... she's sure she'd be ostracised, and since she has nobody who loves her here with her, the thought is terrifying, much as she may deserve it.]

I'm not a good person. I've done... terrible things.

[In tears already! Need doesn't remember that there's a thing an embodied person does for another embodied person at a moment like this, not immediately. She feels... distance, and a benevolent sort of interest. The sense she'd use to touch someone else's emotions so she can feel them herself is blind here.]

I've not met many people who haven't, at some point.

[Need's not going to weigh in one way or another on the 'good person' point, certainly not at this time. She doesn't have the tools she'd normally use to evaluate that sort of thing, the ability to look into someone's past and examine their heart, and to cross-reference this with other people's inner lives.

Regardless, in her canon it's apparently not possible for someone who feels remorse or cares about another person to do something irredeemable, even if a lot of people die.]

I don't think you'd be the only one laid bare, if it comes to that. No one will be happy about it - you would be in company. Still, it would be wretched to be surrounded by people who knew what you'd forgotten.

[She nods, trying go regain her composure.]

Yes, that last part... that's a terrible prospect. I don't know what to do anymore. It'd be a relief to give a fundamental memory away, but with such potential consequences, I feel like I ought to choose something less... harmful.

[Need's neutral attitude helps her formulate her thoughts, and as with the Ferryman, the lack of judgement relieves her. But it's easy for her fellow souls to forgive her now, when they haven't yet seen the titans conquering the world for the Eldian Empire, the terror and pain they spread, and the way her family upheld the great deceit of their memory-addled people after their ancestor put an end to the oppression and led them all into exile. There are so many small, individual sins that make up the vile tapestry of the royal family's history, a single one would surely be enough to turn the tide against her.]

[Need isn't as warm and openly compassionate as the Ferryman, but she also doesn't have their knowing aspect. She considers.]

Well. I have an inkling that there will be more than one of these Crossings. We will know more once it's happened, and be better prepared for the next one. [Though as she said earlier, change can happen very quickly.] Maybe you can start with something only mildly mortifying, not a terrible secret.

You could even write it down, first, if only as a plain statement. 'I let my twin die in my place', that kind of thing. [...That's a strange hypothetical. Need doesn't remember if she had siblings at all.] I might do that. Try and get a sense for how much is lost and how thoroughly.

[oh yep she's recalled now. It might be a bit late, this poor kid's getting herself under better control, but whatever. Need reaches into an apron pocket and finds a square of linen with a rough square-knot pattern embroidered in the corner, something she'd picked up while making the cord, and offers it.]

[Talking to Need isn't wholly dissimilar from talking to Celehar - the only other soul here she parses as an authority of sorts, albeit in his case it's due to his profession rather than his lived experience -, Frieda finds. Neither of them excudes a magnitude of warmth, but each seems principled and willing to share their thoughts no matter the topic. Not being rebuffed already provides solace to her.

Again, she nods along, having arrived at much of the same conclusion but still grappling with it. What a relief would it be to forget everything - the truth of her world and her people's history? Part of her is almost angry at Nagito for bringing up all these disquieting possibilities, but he's not wrong, especially about the aspect of deserving to forget. She takes the offered handkerchief and dabs at her eyes with it]

I'll think about that.

[Writing her options down, that is - but ultimately, she'll likely refrain, too scared that someone might see her notes, even if she finds writing utensils other than her "magical" book.]

I don't have a twin, though. My siblings are all younger than me.

[She knows that it was only a hypothetical example (though it is an interesting choice...), but talking about her family, one of the few things she doesn't want to forget about, is calming, and be it as brief a mention. If she's going to lose herself over the course of the Crossings to come, she'd like the others to know that she was a sister and that she loved her parents and siblings.]

An eldest. I see.

[Probably expected to take responsibility early, Need wagers. Hm. Is responsibility what weighs on this girl so? She'll have to think about it. It's annoying not being able to just examine hearts and minds, but in all honesty she rarely probes deeply anyway. It's more enjoyable to take things as they come.

Well, the topic seems to put her more at ease. Probably better not to ask if they've outlived her.]

Is your family particularly large?

[Frieda's case is a strange one insofar as she wasn't pressured to take on the responsibility of inheriting the Founding Titan and all its knowledge and power - she volunteered for it, hoping she'd be able to overcome whatever seemed to possess her uncle and grandfather after their respective succession and render them inactive. Of course, she was an overly idealistic child.]

Fairly large - enough so to always be lively, in any case. I have four siblings.

[The fifth one, the illegitimate one, she has forgotten.]

My brothers are seventeen and fourteen, my sisters twelve and ten.

[She really hopes that they and their parents managed to run away. She hopes for that so much.]

How about you? Do you have any siblings?

[A twin, perhaps?]

Are they rambunctious, or more well-behaved?

[There's a slight suggestion that Need prefers children to be 'rambunctious'.]

Me? I don't remember. It was a long time ago.

[Very long. There's just a slight wistfulness to the admission. It had bothered her once, but it doesn't now. Given how people - Celehar, primarily, but Yusuke to a lesser extent - have reacted to hearing a bit about what she turned herself into, Need figures it's probably better not to share too readily. Besides, it seems like boasting.]

I was part of a religious order, late in life, where we all addressed one another as Sister. So they might count.

A little bit of both! But on the whole, they're good children and good siblings.

[Her brothers would take offense to being called "children", she knows that, but it's what they are! As for Need, Frieda's own cultural context makes her assume that she was a nun.]

Did you consider your order sisters as your siblings?

I'm glad.

['Nun' is not at all far off, though if called that Need would insist she'd been a lay Sister instead, not bound by vows in the same way.]

Hm. More or less. We had a certain focus on developing and training skills and talents and it was expected for most girls to only stay for a few years and then go back out in the world, so many of them I barely knew.

[Need remembers most of them vaguely. She does have a smear of faces, several names - Vyush and Preta, Alles, Peoi, Hesri, a few more if she stops to dig for them - and a scattering of details, a sense of presence. It's all so far gone that it's threadbare, more of it like a story she's heard and recalls than anything else. She's very far from who she'd been.]

A few were closer to being daughters, of a sort.

[That kind of order is a foreign concept to Frieda, but it sounds interesting and, in a way, more beneficial to both the sisters and the people than a traditional cloister.]

That sounds nice. I'm sure they were happy to be with you.

[Having an older, more experienced person to turn to is worth so much, all the more so in the absence of family. She remembers her uncle, who was so wise and kind... if only she'd been able to understand him before she inherited his knowledge, but that was impossible by nature of the Founding Titan.]

What sort of skills were you all taught?

[Talking about Need's life is a soothing distraction, and she appreciates being humoured, though she'd understand if Need wanted to get back to her practice in due time.]

Hah. Of course they were happy I was there, I brought in a lot of money for them! I was a lay Sister. My main role was making swords to sell, and I was good at it.

[It had been a good life, she remembers that much. In the last few years she had been weakening, growing tired more easily, taking the healers' advice to conserve what was left, and that had been frustrating sometimes. But it was the peaceful decline she hadn't asked for, had never deserved.]

What skills did we teach, rather. I came to the Sisterhood later in life. We'd teach fighting or magic to some girls, otherwise it was mainly trades. And I say "girls" but plenty of them were adults.

[Frieda is visibly surprised to hear that Need served as a swordsmith. While her homeland sees more equality between the sexes than many others at a comparable development level, primarily due to women's natural aptitude to the three-dimensional manevouring gear the military uses, female smiths are still a rarity.

She wants to explain that she figured they had to be taught the order's skills first before being sent out to serve the people with them, but Need's mention of magic trips her up.]

There's magic in your world? Real magic?

[She was sure that even across worlds, it only existed in storybooks!]

What kind of magic?

Sunny could hear the crack of the sling and the splintering of rocks from his room’s window (it wasn’t really his room - just one he had decided to stay in for now. It gave him some measure of not feeling like something would come for him from random angles). And not that he knew what the source of the noise was, just that it caused him to jolt every time he heard it.

But… it didn’t sound like it was getting closer, and upon looking out the window and confirming someone wasn’t coming for him, Sunny… somehow found it in himself to leave the room and search out the source.

New Quest? What’s That Sound?!

Thankfully it wasn’t too far from the building, though the slight incline of the hill had his limbs shaking in exertion. The teen hid partly behind a slab of stone, peeking out from behind it, and noticing Need’s practice.

He was stuck between being frightened and thinking Need looked like a really brave pirate leader (for whatever reason).

When she somehow addressed him without even turning around, Sunny’s eye widened and he froze, very much a deer in headlights.

Need was just the sort of person to keep an ear out, always, for surprises. Sunny wasn't making a whole lot of sound, but in the pauses between the noise of her sling and stones she heard unsteady footsteps up the path and the rasp of fabric against rock. She'd decided that whoever this was probably wasn't about to ambush her, and even if they were, alerting them that she knew they were there would throw them.

No response, and though she strained her ears, Need didn't pick up on any sound of movement. Either the mystery person was holding still or they'd suddenly become more careful. She decided not to turn just yet, even if her skin prickled with the anticipation of sudden violence. Need knew better than to trust that impulse.

"A bow and arrows wouldn't be a bad thing to have on hand, either, but they're finicky things and the idea of having to repair every arrow, or make new ones... no, thank you. Really the most practical thing would be a good knife," she said conversationally. "More in the line of a tool."

Luckily for Need, Sunny wasn’t really in any shape to ambush anyone - especially someone with weapons. He knew better than that. And… not that he would choose to ambush her anyway. Sunny might enjoy fictional battles in his dreams, but those were different.

The teen listened as she continued talking, leaning a bit further out from behind the rock. It… relaxed him somewhat, that her voice was such a strong but calming note, that she hadn’t turned her gaze on him, yet… she knew he was there. (Either that, or she was talking to herself. Sunny didn’t judge.)

At the mention of a knife… he perked up. Gaze alighting with recognition, hand closing around empty air. A knife… he knew that. Knew his way around one in his dreams (and in reality, though not quite as well). The thought made his heartbeat pound, his nerves set on end… such a contradicting thing, to miss it and yet not want to feel his grasp around the object again.

As he (unknowingly) took another step towards need, his shoe hit some of the spare rocks (smaller ones, not good for throwing), scattering them.

She does tend to speak calmly and with great confidence, even if it's not, necessarily, always earned. Need keeps her more volatile aspects tucked carefully away. It's better to seem able to take anything in stride, surface irritation aside.

Now, finally, she glances over sharply. Skinny, one-eyed kid, low threat physically, she doesn't have her Empathy but doesn't need it to pick up on the anxiety. She starts to wrap the cords of the sling around one hand, a mild indication of not being about to use said sling.

"I'm not about to bite," she says, a wry touch to her voice. Need's got the kind of features that suggest a strong personality, but not one without kindness. "You got an opinion on weapons?"

He notes that in her voice - that inner layer that suggests there’s something more than just surface level words. He chances a step or two closer, gaze on the makeshift sling.

An opinion on weapons…? That was such a nuanced topic for Sunny, in more ways than one. Still, he took as deep a breath as he could, rallying his out of practice vocal cords.

“K-knives… are s-sharp…” That… was true, but also caused a flush of embarrassment to redden the tips of his ears. Of course knives were (unless they were dull, but they still made better weapons than most other blunt objects).

Need waits for a couple of seconds. Seems like he's done.

...Hm. She doesn't think he's simple. Need swallows her habitual irritation - she likes when people can handle her being snippy and believes that teasing and being poked at, from either or both parties, is good for people. It's not mandatory, though. She'll just be charitable and chalk the hesitation and rather inane statement up to factors currently unknown, trauma probable, and be patient.

"And they can be sharpened if they're dull," she says in a conversational tone, as if that hadn't been a distinct pause. "Time, a whetstone, and some effort can do marvels. But if you want a throwing knife you don't want it to have too many sharp edges. Safer for the thrower, and they'll do the job fine even if they're not all that sharp."

Where most people would have rushed along with the conversation, the woman in front of him pauses, making sure he’s said his piece. Sunny… appreciated that. The flow of conversation - that back and forth canter that others seemed so tuned into - was an art that had always alluded him.

Something in the way his gaze widens as he listens to her hints at understanding. Confirmed by a few nods, more sure than his past hesitance. While Sunny himself didn’t throw knives, it made sense.

“You… know a lot…” He blinked several times, opening his mouth to say more, but is stopped by his own cough. His throat was dry, drier still despite the fact they didn’t need to drink here, and the rocks had only kicked up more dust than he was used to.

Need glances about. Is there somewhere she can sit down without just lowering herself to the ground entirely? She doesn't feel the weary ache of a body that craves rest, but she's aware that this simulacrum of how she'd looked in life is taller and more imposing than the average here. Not as imposing as she would've looked in her youth, she's vaguely aware that she'd had a lot more muscle then, but it seems these people run to the skinny side.

Hm. Coughing, huh. Had this kid had a lung issue? It might explain a few things. Need puts that possibility on the mental slate. Either way she suspects she's the only one who's been dead for long enough to internalize that body-things like breath and heartbeat are maintained out of habit, not necessity. The one way she's ahead here, she supposes.

"You all right?" It's more a checking-in question than one with real worry to it, and she follows it up with another question. "What do you want to be called, boy?"

He nods again - not necessarily to reassure her either. More so he could avoid further questions - ones he may or may not have the answers (or the breath) to explain.

She was asking for his name. Right. “Sunny… um…” He trailed off. A poor introduction. Should he… ask for her name? Was that how this worked? It had been so long since Sunny himself had held a conversation on his own; normally Kel, or one of his friends in Headspace, took the lead. He couldn’t have that sort of relief here.

"Sunny, huh?" She's probably not going to use it as much as she should. It's still good to confirm. "Call me Need." It's not her name, but she's not going to get into the matter of her forgetting that.

Deciding on a low wall, Need takes a seat on it with a sigh and stretches her long legs out before her. There we go, that's a more relaxed affect that lowers her apparent threat profile a few degrees. Some more conversation, almost one sided as it is, will enhance the effect. Get a good impression solidified, hopefully, as a ground for the future.

(She doesn't think she always calculated so much, but something has to take the place of emotionality and intuition.)

"If I know a lot, it's because I'm quite a lot older than I look," she says, and shakes her head. "And if I'm not mistaken I'm the oldest-looking here. Rotten luck. Though I suppose it's always possible there are ancients-who-look-young about." Need clicks her tongue at the concept.

“Need…” He repeated the name, hoping he could commit it to memory (and, that maybe, she wouldn’t become a boss in his dreams… next time he felt comfortable enough to dream. She seemed nice).

Sunny sits down on one of the larger rocks nearby, not quite too far from her, but also not close. Proximity was something he was still adverse to for mostly everyone, so it wasn’t anything to do with her. Still… he hoped she wouldn’t take offense.

Need’s own posture and attempts were helping to relax him, except… a cold sweat broke out across his back. He fidgeted a little in place. Sunny was… awful at telling age. If she asked him to guess, he wouldn’t be able to answer for fear of somehow offending her. He also… didn’t know about this ‘ancients-who-looked-young’ thing… did that mean they were young at heart?

Reality was so complicated. Death was too, apparently. So Sunny simply nodded half-heartedly, hoping that would give her permission to continue, or assuage any sort of uncomfortableness he might cause…

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

and if you fall

The River.

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I lost track of things sorry

Check the Cupboard for Your Daddy's Gun

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Check the Cupboard! (Somehow I missed this!)

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