thecrossinglogs | Wind In the Desert Just Sounds Like Music

Wind In the Desert Just Sounds Like Music

WHO: Sunny and You! (This happens right after the therapy meet, but it’s OTA. If you weren’t attending the meeting, you can still see Sunny running off ^^)
WHAT: Sunny got upset and ran off. Now he’s lost in the Desert. Help?
WHERE: The Desert (and Dunes. Really he might end up at one of the inserted locations too, TBD)
WHEN: Post-Therapy Meet, Pre-Second Crossing
WARNINGS Most likely signs of PTSD and anxiety. Will update in Subject as needed :)

Sunny didn’t know where he was. He remembered getting upset, running off… but he didn’t recognize any of the surroundings nearby. He wasn’t in the Oasis… and, because he had spent all of his time in said safe haven before now, that fact filled him with dread…

He needed to find his way back. But… that meant finding everyone else, which would probably lead to more questions. Questions that he didn’t want to answer. Questions that caused his stomach to cramp and his breath to come short all over again.

Maybe it was better to stay here…

[OOC: OK! Here’s the search log for Sunny! I’ll be making several prompts below, and whoever ends up finding Sunny will be left to random draw to keep it fair ^^ But feel free to mingle, join the search with someone else, etc. Any of the locations added by us are fair game to explore too!]

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[OOC notes: reply to this if you want to be included in the random draw to find Sunny!]

Hanako stays in the Oasis. He had no need to join the search - it seemed like enough people were doing so, and it would be best to remain here in case anyone decided to come back in the middle of the search - but he does take notice if someone seems to be searching here.

”Ah, the kid seems like he hasn’t come back yet. I’d wager he’s somewhere else.”

[Nagito is not particularly familiar with telling people his plans before he does them. He sees Sunny run out of the therapy session--and really, it's kind of a surprise it took this long before someone did that--but he also sees people go after him. It's better if other people deal with it; they'd be better at it, surely.

But then it turns out Sunny didn't just run off to go hide in one of the shelters or something, he left the oasis entirely. And Nagito can walk around the desert, if nothing else.

He tracks the footprints as far as he can, which isn't very far--the sand shifts pretty quickly. It gives him a general direction, but that's all. Then he uses his usual method for these sorts of things: he just picks a direction and starts walking. By himself. Into the desert.

It'll work out in the end, probably.]

At the Oasis

[Celehar had done his best not to make his absence from Mari's gathering obvious, but he had avoided it. He had considered the invitation, very solemnly - and he imagines that the camaraderie that the younger members of the group could find among themselves would be helpful.

And yet, when he had contemplated standing, making his way to the hut that had been designated for it, the strength seemed absent from his limbs. It's a phenomena he remembers mostly from his days at the Untheileneise Court, the black mud of a mood that made dragging his eyes open a near-impossible task, some mornings.

He's settled himself against one of the building walls on the far side of the little settlement, taking advantage of what reprieve the shade can offer, settling his spirit and gathering his nerve by working through one of the devotions, when a sudden flurry of activity nearby catches his attention. He lifts his head, finally leveraging himself upright, to catch the passerby.]

Is aught amiss?

In the Desert

[Celehar starts his efforts by looking for the wraiths.

It's equal parts habit and practicality. Habit, to seek answers from the dead, even if his and Sunny's efforts to speak to the wraiths hadn't borne fruit - and practicality, in the habit of the faded figures to drift towards any and everyone who spent time beyond the Ferryman's light. Celehar has even collected a sentinel or two of his own, on this journey.

But if he has, it stands to reason that the same has happened with Sunny - and a collection of wraiths is a touch easier to spot against the dunes than a single young boy, especially as Celehar's efforts bring him further out into the sands than he's been before. The next time he crests a dune, he draws to a halt, staring at the canyons that start to develop ahead, dropping down into a ravine.]

(1) 💀 OASIS: QUESTIONS

[The skeleton didn't attend the therapy meeting. Why would he? He's doing great!

...Admittedly, he could have gone in a therapy-giving way. Aiding as an inspirational and motivational speaker... It comes so easily to him, giving the insights sure to illuminate the paths to greatness and self-confidence to all!

But, well. He'd only recently been pulled from the river, and of the humans he's spoken with, most have been at least a little alarmed by the sight of him. While it could surely only be beneficial to them for him to join in eventually, helping them both with encouraging words and as an exposure therapy to help them be less alarmed by appearances... Well, that could wait!! At least until they'd gotten a good first session under their belts, establishing a groundwork for how they were doing therapy, and all.

Maybe that had been a little bit of a mistake. First one person went charging out of the dunes like they were being chased by the River's tendency to make people relive their deaths... and then a number of other people started trickling out into the desert as well? The skeleton approaches one of them with the first, most obvious question:]

Hey, did someone start a scavenger hunt, without telling the rest of us?? What's going on?

(2) 💀 DUNES: SEARCHING

[...Maybe it had been a little bit of a mistake, and not just in the sense of missing out on invitations to games and/or investigations. Seems like someone had gotten very upset and run off without telling anyone where they were going. Which, in itself, seemed fine. The light the Ferryman was sharing was visible from a distance - one could wait until night to follow it back. If therapy had made anyone realize they needed to lay in the sand for a while, or take a long walk to scream in relative privacy... he wasn't going to judge.

But. If it was someone who was very upset, and had forgotten their phone - or notebook, or whatever - in their running? Well, they might have accidentally gone even further than the light's visibility. And while the wraiths were passive now... They wouldn't be forever.

So the skeleton's joining in the search, cresting the taller dunes of sand with the confidence of someone light-weight enough not to slide down the sand as easily as some.]

[Sunny hadn’t meant to run away. In the moment, his brain hadn’t been working, and all he could think to do was ‘get out’…

But now… Sunny found himself lost in the desert. He could maybe find his way back - the teen had helped several others do the same, so he had some tricks that were viable - but… the thought of returning was even scarier.

He had ruined Mari’s therapy session. He had run off without telling anyone where he was going. He hadn’t stopped when they had called out to him. Everyone was probably furious, and the thought of going back and facing that…

It was too much.

So Sunny wandered, a one person party in an unknown desert, until his legs felt like they might give out. In front of him was the giant skeleton that Nagito had stumbled upon… maybe he could just… stay here…?

Unbeknownst to him, a certain skeleton’s well-meaning and productive efforts with the search party were about to come to fruition…]

[Mari had tried her best to avoid completely rushing out after her brother... after all maybe he just needed some time? But the longer she waited the more impatient and worried she became... so she gathered what supplies she could find- water, a blanket, Sunny's Captain Spaceboy edition that he had left in their room- really anything that she could find that was easy to carry and she thought might be of use to help calm her brother down...]

Don't worry... you'll find him... you have to...

[Her nerves were beginning to fray. Here her little Sunshine was out in the desert all alone... upset, afraid, and most likely lost...]

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