thecrossinglogs | SKELETAL SALUTATIONS

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SKELETAL SALUTATIONS | OTA

WHO: ~~Papyrus~~ the Skeleton and You! - (OTA)
WHAT: Catch-all of misc skeleton prompts!
WHERE: Network, Oasis, Riverbank, other?
WHEN: post-river rescue, pre-second Crossing
WARNINGS toll discussion, fears re: memory loss, possible discussion of death - will edit to add more if relevant

(1) 💀 NETWORK:un: CoolSkeleton95

SO, ABOUT THAT 'ENVISION' MESSAGE...
I GUESS YOU CAN'T REMEMBER,
BUT REALLY, HOW MUCH MEMORY DO THESE TOLLS COST???
A MOMENT OR A LIFETIME ARE VERY DIFFERENT AMOUNTS.

[He's a little alarmed by the sheer quantity of memory that could potentially be uprooted, here. Losing his own name before coming to was unpleasant, for all the Ferryman said it shouldn't have happened. But if he was involved in choosing to forget that, he certainly doesn't remember it! So, taking agency in choosing what to lose this time... it's different.]

(2) 💀 OASIS: INTRODUCTIONS & NAMES

[His first while after rescue from the river, the skeleton spent a lot of time loitering along the Riverbank and wandering the (nearby) dunes. Between his utter disinterest in claiming a bed to feign sleep, the lack of his own belongings to gather in a room to use anyway? The restless energy of the ever-changing sky and the newness of his death, let alone the awkwardness of introducing himself to more alarmed humans? There just wasn't much need to hang out in the Oasis right away.

But with a few chance encounters and network conversations reminding him that this next 'Crossing' is only a few weeks away - less time than since he left the underground! - he starts hanging out in the Oasis more. Watching the life in and around the water, grinning brightly at people who cross his path - no matter how alarmed they might be.

And if they respond to his varied greetings by approaching and making conversation, well, sooner or later he'll remember to reach in his scarf/capelet to pull out a crumpled paper with a list of rules and suggestions about names so far!]

(3) 💀 RIVERBANK:

[For all he's been reassured that the Ferryman knows when people are starting to emerge from the river, and that they'll even intervene if no one else is around... He's still finding himself patrolling along the riverbank fairly regularly. It's a little bit like being a sentry, without the human-catching or puzzle-maintenance elements. On the lookout, solely to try to help people. And that feels some kind of rewarding!

...It might be moreso if he were actually finding signs of additional people emerging, on any of his passes along the salt-crusted mud. And he doesn't actually want to want people to die, especially not any familiar people, for all he's still homesick and wondering how they're all doing, wondering...]

...Why did they kill me?

[It's meant as a question to himself, but he's not one for really lowering his voice, and sound can carry in these open spaces.]

(W) 💀 WILDCARD

[Got another prompt in mind? Feel free to poke me in the discord, by pm here, or plurk at

swirlingflight to get the gist figured out!

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[Need is riding the bony horselike animal she's managed to tame as much as she can while she still can, since she doesn't believe she'll get to take Thistle when they go, and if they could it wouldn't be happy without its herd.

She sees the skeleton in the dunes from a good distance, a small pale figure, and stares for a while, remembering that written conversation from some time back - it's hard to think of it in terms of days, given how inconsistent those are. Then she gives a deep, heartfelt sigh and gets her not-horse to approach.

...The dracolisk likes to eat bones so probably she shouldn't get off or let it loose to roam.]

[At the time Need approaches, the pale figure of the skeleton has gotten even smaller thanks to crouching down and digging with his hands. This particular dune-wandering is a private scavenger hunt, and it had looked like something of interest might be in this particular dune. Maybe to some people it is - to him, it looks like he's uncovered another rock.]

Ugh. Maybe one of these times will be a map leading to a location, instead of just... Oh! Hello!

[He straightens, taking in the sight of her approach, and squints.]

To... both... of you?

[He's trying to do the mannerly thing, but this time he's thrown off his routine from being genuinely unsure how many people to address here. Sure, he's seen plenty of human media - and a few MTT-Brand productions of varying effects quality - featuring humans (or relatively bipedal people) riding atop other beings with more limbs or treads on the ground. Humans on horseback, motorcycle-back, and the like, as well as options like rodents atop larger animals - like humans.

So, he recognizes what this could be. But this could be two people, one of whom is hitching a ride, or it could be one person with multiple heads and limbs. Monsters are varied in shapes.]

[Need has made a halter for the dracolisk's head, though it doesn't have a bit. The beast only sort of goes where she wants it, which is one part stubbornness, one part incomplete training, and one part not being as sensitive to touch as a horse. She's folded up a good rectangle of fabric to sit on to soften its angular back, not wanting to go to the kind of effort it takes to figure out a real saddle.

Of course, monsters in the underground are weird enough that even that might not be a giveaway.]

And you too. What are you doing?

[she hasn't realized the dilemma and might not be helpful even if she did. Thistle does not make a sound, but lowers its head to stare intently at a Big Treat.]

[It's not a clear giveaway or a clear answer, just a few extra indications that this is probably a talkative rider and a not-so-talkative mount situation. The halter could be a fashion statement - dog collars sometimes are.

Either way, he gives the lower head a wary look. He's met enough bone-covetous dogs in his life to have a shiver run down his spine about that intent stare.]

Oh, digging. Looking for treasures, or knick-knacks, or books. Whatever might be around in these sands...

[His ever-present gloves mean that the sand hasn't gotten up in between his bones, and he can wipe them together to get the salty grains off fairly easily.]

I guess anything could be out here. You've seen the dragon skull and vertebrae? Either it changes, or there's actually a lot of them out here.

[is it strange to bring this up to a skeleton. Surely not. It has to know about the existence of non-animated bones.

the Tatooine Krayt dragon bones are sometimes modest, sometimes looming monuments with eye sockets that can be climbed inside of, and all kinds of points in between. Since Need has elected to spend most of her time away from the Oasis, ignoring the barely-visible presence of wraiths, she's seen it many times.]

Edited 2025-04-14 04:29 (UTC)

[Oh, he knows about non-animated bones. In those weeks on the surface, there were multiple times trying out human cuisine, including a certain smartass encouraging him to try spare ribs one time. He's even seen at least one of the anatomical models of a dead human's bones that a bird might nickname him over.

But there's still shock in his face and voice, jaw hanging open as he takes in her words.]

A dragon skull?! How? Wouldn't it have dissolved to...

[Realization starts to dawn, and he covers his mouth.]

Wait. Oh my god. A dragon, but not a monster. More like a human, or an animal? Leaving... a real dead body behind?

[Need raises her eyebrows. The dracolith fidgets a little and addresses an itch on its foreleg by raising it and nibbling with its prominent teeth.]

Your 'monsters' are that distinct from humans and animals, eh? No, this one seems more like the monsters I know. Those, there's some differences but we all bleed and die, and some parts of our bodies take longer to break down than others.

[Because monsters in Velgarth are humans or animals or a mixture of both, altered. Some do seem to decay rapidly when killed, she knows. Cold-drake bones in particular become quite fragile within a few weeks, as the rest of the corpse becomes soupy, because they rely so heavily on innate magic to reach their massive sizes. They are still water and carbon.]

Maybe yours are more like demons. Dissolve to nothing, is that it?

[She hates demons but says this quite calmly. A demonlike element does not have to mean like the demons adjacent to Velgarth after all. She'll withhold judgement.]

['Demon' is a word that, like 'monster', can be a tense and threatening thing in a fearful human's mouth. He's come across it in various human literature, a couple times from the most startled humans on the surface... Not to mention that, like dragons, it's a word that some monsters describe themselves as being.

But her calm response doesn't come across like those uses, and with those teeth reminding him of the second head's presence, he's distracted enough to answer without all the evasiveness Nagito had encouraged him to take.]

Huh? No, not nothing. Maybe mostly nothing, but... There's usually enough left for a funeral.

[It might be topical but not a light-hearted topic, and he's a little unhappy thinking of it. Funerals, of course, depend a little on whether the loved ones find the dust to do it properly. Easily enough with the fallen down who die on their death beds, but murder victims? It's... a little more symbolic for them.]

Huh. So, you've some non-material-plane substance, but not much.

[she is imagining a thick sludge, probably mostly left over from the digestive tract. Probably reeking, too. Need's largely lost the ability to feel disgust so it's just interesting.

also that'd mean a murderous human was covered in poop.

Need considers. The malleability of the eye sockets is unsettling but clearly has meaning, and even aside from that expressiveness the skull isn't really proportioned like she'd expect, lacking some details and adding others. She's a lot more familiar with skulls still wreathed in flesh, of course.]

...You looked like this when you were alive, didn't you?

[He nods a distracted confirmation to her first guess, a little too preoccupied by thoughts of his own hypothetical funeral to properly answer. Had they found him? What might they have settled his dust on, anyway...?

(Unhappy as the thoughts might be, he is at least blissfully unaware of the digestive system-related track her thoughts have taken. His ability to feel disgust is entirely intact, not at all changed by the loss of his name.)

It's a welcome surprise to be pulled fully from his thoughts when her next guess is so to the point and accurate.]

Yes, I did! Down to wearing this very outfit that day... Did you deduce it just from the mention of a funeral? Incredible!

[Need adjusts her seat. She's thinking more in terms of this is not an animated set of remains, and was primed for the concept by that bizarre half-conversation over her notebook.]

Lucky guess. It seems to be how all of us showed up.

[Apparently she's just going to have to think of this as a person. So be it.]

What's your name?

[So all the others are attired as they were in life... Good thing nobody had been bathing separately from their clothing. Though he guesses they could just mud bath their way to the Ferryman to ask for something.

But that train of thought isn't nearly powerful enough to hold up to one of the big frustrations that's been on his mind since that first conversations out of the mud.]

My name...

[One of the big frustrations, but one he's gotten used to being frustrated by, and even making some degree of joke out of. His smile is awkward, but it stays up.]

It is, a little something of a work in progress! A passion project. A collaborative effort. Not yet up to being traded back in forth in the mannerly way, I fear.

[Need's aware of the comedic exchange where one person is florid and verbose and the other is completely blunt and cuts through to the meaning. Well. Sometimes you have to play a role.]

Meaning you forgot it.

[She lets that rest for a moment before taking mercy.]

Me too. It was missing for a long time, then I found it again, but when I came out of the River it was gone again. I hadn't been using it, so it's not a big problem, but it's irritating.

[It's less that the comment rests than that he gasps in response, shocked and appalled by the abruptness of it, all but clutching at a pearl necklace. By the time he's recovering enough to retort, she's already begun speaking again - and his expression shifts more to gaping.]

You... lost it twice??

[Of all the things to have in common with someone here, let alone to be one-upped in... It's one he never anticipated. But in the moment, he's triumphant with agreement.]

Yeah - yeah!! It's irritating! It's baffling! I heard people misplaced memories, swimming up... But that seems like more than just one memory??

[Frieda's response comes in cursive handwriting and without a username attached.]

The toll for the Crossing isn't strictly measured in time. The first toll we paid was the memory of a voice that caused us pain. I can't remember my own, but I remember the others', and from what I can tell, the memories lost encompassed the entire painful event, whether it was just one argument or a longer ordeal. Next, we will have to offer up a memory of a place of comfort and safety.
- Frieda

I HEARD SOME OF THAT...
THE COMFORT AND SAFETY, AND THE VARYING TIMENESS OF THE TOLLS.

BUT HOW EXTENSIVE IS THAT FORGETFULNESS?
DO THEY REMEMBER ANYTHING ELSE ABOUT THE PERSON BEHIND THE VOICE...?

[Losing the sound of someone's voice, well, that's just something that happens over enough time or distance or overwhelm by other experiences. Forgetting the person entirely... That's the kind of thing he's fretting over. How could he choose a source of comfort or safety to entirely forget?]

It depends - mostly, I think, on whether that painful event was the only memory (or the most lasting impression) they had of that person. Someone who had a bad experience with a stranger would forget the person along with the event, but someone who had a bad experience with a family member or long-term friend would only forget the event but remember their other memories of the person.

[That's her best guess, based on her observations.]

HMMM... THAT DOES STAND TO REASON.
THE MORE YOU KNOW A PERSON, THE MORE OTHER MEMORIES THERE WOULD BE OF THEM...
AND IT DOESN'T EVEN HAVE TO BE THE MOST COMFORTING MOMENT.

THANKS! I CAN'T SAY I'M A FAN OF THIS MEMORY STUFF,
BUT THAT DOESN'T SOUND SO BAD.

[If he ever hears that Kel has forgotten both of his siblings, the skeleton is going to wobble off in search of privacy for a panic attack. Good thing that the guesswork here can't take into account all the secrets that the traumatized teenagers are keeping from each other and everyone else!!]

Opinions are quite divided. Based on the Ferryman acting as if we aren't here for the first time, but rather returned, I imagine that our souls are being made into blank slates to perhaps be reborn - but this is unconfirmed speculation. In a way, it is a mercy that we lose ourselves so gradually... but then, an abrupt end would have been a mercy in its own way.

[Surely, there are souls in the group who find this far more tormenting - and it isn't easy for her either, but getting to experience this time together means a lot to her.]

BLANK
SLATES?

[There's something hard to pin down but horribly familiar about the notion of his memories being wound back until he's some previous state of himself again, ready for someone else to remake him. Forgetting not just events, not just other people, not even the decisions he's been making... Forgetting himself?

The gnawing absence of his own name in his memory has never stood out his thoughts as badly as right now.]

WHAT A, REMARKABLE SPECULATION.
WHERE DID THEY COME UP WITH THAT IDEA?

To clarify, it is MY theory - based on the Ferryman telling me that it was nice to see me AGAIN, welcoming me BACK here. If this is the place where our souls were born without memories, then I can see the logic in removing from us the memories of a life that has come to an end.

[She may not like it, but how else is she supposed to make sense of the Ferryman's words?]

I... SEE.
THOSE ARE CURIOUS AND, CONCERNING WORD CHOICES.
I DON'T THINK THEY SAID ANYTHING LIKE THAT TO ME...

[Admittedly, his conversation with the Ferryman had focused mostly on the topic of names rather than welcomes, so if they did say something like that, it's since slipped his mind. Hopefully just in the non-eidetic memory sense, rather than off roaming with his name.]

BUT I DIDN'T KNOW MY SOUL COULD STICK AROUND FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
THIS AFTERLIFE THING IS FULL OF SURPRISES!!

It certainly is. I don't know what I expected, but getting to meet people from other worlds and eras is beyond my wildest dreams.

[That, frankly, is worth undergoing this slow, gradual, harrowing loss of herself: She's not alone, nor in the company of the people of the Walls whom she withheld the truth of their world from - that would really have crushed her with guilt.]

I -DO- APPRECIATE CONTINUING TO EXIST IN SOME MANNER!

[There's a pause, as he starts to type another message about 'the world not being ready to lose the great--', only for his thumb to hesitate over the keys uncertainly. Not even trying to not think about it and just work off (metaphorical) muscle memory calls anything back... He shakes his head, and the whole matter off with it.]

WHAT'S THE COOLEST THING YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT ANOTHER WORLD SO FAR??

Need's world has magic! In my world, magic only exists in stories - dragons, too, which exist in the flesh in Soo Won's world! And Kel, Mari and Sunny's world has comic books!

[Clearly, those things are all on the same level!]

INCREDIBLE!!!
DESPITE ALL THE DIFFERENCES, EACH OF THEIR WORLDS HAS THINGS LIKE MINE!

[...Okay, so, they are all on the same level by at least one metric, for sure! But, the dragons he's thinking of are not exactly on the same scale as the ones in Soo Won's world.]

MAYBE THAT'S ANOTHER OF THE SECRET RIDDLES AS TO WHY WE'RE ALL AWAKE TOGETHER.
THE QUEST TO DISCOVER WHAT WE ALL HAVE IN COMMON...

Really, your world has all these things? That's amazing!

[As for his next message... well, does she have a surprise for him: A definitive answer.]

I've wondered about our commonalities too - I think all of us have. When I asked the Ferryman, the answer was that we're here together because we're attached to our lives more than most souls are. I wouldn't have thought that about myself, but I have no cause to doubt the Ferryman.

[What a mix of moods in this conversation. He doesn't know what his face is doing, but fortunately texting - or writing - means he doesn't need to worry about his face.]

YES TO ALL THOSE THINGS!
IT HAD ITS PROBLEMS, TOO, OF COURSE...

[As he assumes all worlds do. Nobody here seems to have lived a long, happy, comfortable life... Or, well, nobody here.]

DID THEY REALLY SAY THAT?
MORE ATTACHED TO OUR LIVES...
I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT, MOST PEOPLE ARE.
AND ONLY SOME SMALL NUMBER ARE READY TO JUST, LET GO OF EVERYTHING.

[Frieda doesn't know whether she should feel comforted or disillusioned to have it reconfirmed that there's no such thing as a paradise. Her ancestor's dream was impossible from the start, wasn't it? The Walls were never a perfect place - far from it.]

I thought myself part of that small number, but apparently not.

[Granted, she doesn't know how she died anymore... her last memories are of being with her family. What happened? Did she fall down the stairs? Did somebody assassinate her? But no, that can't be - nobody knew that hers was the true royal family. She shakes her head at herself. She shouldn't dwell on this.]

Regardless of how we feel about it, that seems to be what we share in common.

[Alas, the underground wasn't a paradise. Overshadowed by the literal stone and their captivity, with the added pervasive sadness that came of pinning all their hopes on war and murder... The surface hadn't been either, but it had the opportunities that came with freedom from those things, and still had most if not all of the good things of the underground. He wishes that time had lasted longer...

Well, if everyone here is a victim of murder, assassination, sudden illness, or - choosing to fall down, as her first comment slightly implies - he doesn't want to bring it up. Better to question the whole situation for a minute.]

HMM...
MAYBE THEY'RE FIBBING, AS A MOTIVATIONAL SENTIMENT.
AND ACTUALLY MOST PEOPLE TRAVEL IN GROUPS EVENTUALLY.

[Frieda reads that twice, but ends up in mild disagreement - on both counts.]

I suppose I can see how it might bond us together to believe that we share something in common, but I think the Ferryman really meant it. I wouldn't be surprised if some of us - myself included - misjudged ourselves.

[Leave it to her to put more stock in the Ferryman's words than her own feelings...]

And while it may hold true for your world that most people end up traveling in groups, I'm from a place where people stay in one place their whole lives.

[In fairness, they can't leave the Walls! But even if they could, she's not convinced that travel would become a widespread phenomenon.]

I DON'T KNOW...

[It's an incomplete thought, but a true one in itself, too. He doesn't know what he thinks of The Ferryman yet, or the reality they've all persisted through death into. Whether to accept everything they say as truth unvarnished, or whether to search for riddles meant to puzzle them until enlightenment strikes... He just doesn't know yet!

So, instead, he continues onto the part he does know, and can speak a little more confidently about.]

I DIDN'T HAVE ANY EXPECTATIONS OF TRAVELING IN MY DEATH, GROUP OR SOLO.
AND IN MY LIFE...
THAT MIGHT BE ANOTHER NOT SO DIFFERENT THING!
MOST PEOPLE STAYED PRETTY MUCH IN ONE PLACE, FOR PRETTY MUCH ALL THEIR LIVES.

[Up until a pretty significant change, a couple months before his death.]

[In the end, they all don't know for sure - the Ferryman's true intentions, the purpose of their journey, and all the other things they're wondering about.]

If people in your home were also sedentary, why did you conclude that travel is inevitable?

[Do uprootings regularly occur where he's from, or..?]

OH, WE WEREN'T SEDENTARY BY CHOICE.
THERE WAS A MAGIC BARRIER.

[You know, a magic barrier. One of those. Things that just happen sometimes, in worlds with magic. There were downsides, like he said.]

BUT I WAS THINKING OF THE TRAVEL HERE! WITH THIS CROSSINGS BUSINESS
IMAGINE THE FERRYMAN, ESCORTING ONE PERSON AT A TIME...
ALL THE QUESTIONS AND PESTERING AND BOREDOM.
BETTER TO TAKE PEOPLE IN A GROUP, TO ENTERTAIN AND ENRICH EACH OTHER!

[After all, if it was just one person, spending all their time talking at and getting frustrated with the Ferryman's tendency towards cryptic and mysterious comments? Nobody would be happy with that, eventually.]

[So his people were caged, just like hers.]

I agree with you - being together is enriching.

[If only she could tell her siblings that she met a friendly skeleton monster! But they probably wouldn't believe her.]

YEAH, IT IS!!

MAYBE INSTEAD OF LOOKING FOR THINGS IN COMMON,
WE SHOULD BE ENJOYING ALL OUR DIFFERENCES INSTEAD.

[This is at least half-joking - it's easier to appreciate differences when there's also similarities connecting them, after all. But it's another facet to the puzzle of why them, together for him to mull over in those spans of time between his own turns at pestering people.]

[Rather than sending a full response back to express her agreement, Frieda sends a small, simple drawing of a heart - she's seen some of the electric devices users doing that!]

♡

YEAH, EXACTLY!!

۵

[Well, it's the best he can do with the text feature of the phone, unless he wants to select a spade (not exactly accurate) or start exploring text symbol art again.]

[Soo Won stayed busy preparing for the next crossing, trying to map the stars, taking careful trips out into the desert, anything to keep his mind occupied. Yet he still found time to visit the riverbank occasionally. He wasn't sure why he kept coming here. Simply curiosity at who will arrive next, or maybe it was due to a deeper loneliness, one he refused to acknowledge.

Surprisingly enough a skeleton didn't seem that strange in the realm of death. It was more curious how everyone here still looked alive really and the Skeleton immediately piqued his interest. His words shook him more than his deathly appearance. He hadn't given his death much thought since he arrived here. It was inevitable and he knew exactly why he was killed. It was a strange thing to get fixated on, now of all times when there was no point on dwelling on it. He pushed the thought aside and approached the Skeleton with a gentle smile.]

I'm afraid I can't give you an answer, but I'm willing to listen if you wish to talk.

[The skeleton startles at the sound of a nearby unexpected voice, head swiveling to take in the sight of - he can pretty safely assume at this point - another human. Whoops. His jaw and cheekbones shift just enough to give the impression of a sheepish smile back.]

Oh, uh... Sorry, I didn't mean to pressure you for an answer! That was a question... to the wind, I guess. Since the somebody I was really asking isn't here. And I hope they won't be here for a while...

[He does, sincerely, mostly mean that he hopes they live a long and happy life. One with no further murdering! A little reflection on their choices and decisions to do better, even! Though there is a sliver of also not entirely wanting to talk with them again just yet, if he's being honest with himself...]

...I need to workshop that question to be a little gentler. Just coming right out the gate asking why like that... That's just too confrontational. Not welcoming or sympathetic at all.

[Soo Won blinked in surprise at The skeleton's response.]

You would welcome your killer?

[There was no judgement in his tone, merely curiosity. People's motives could be complicated but still, sympathy for your killer was an intriguing response. It said a lot about the Skeleton's character that he could put aside his own pain and consider his killer's situation and it drew him in. Was he close to his killer?]

Oh, well... I'm sure they've come to regret it by now. Focusing on a single bad moment, when we'd been friends so many more moments before that...? What a terrible reunion that would be!

[There's a little bravado to his tone to cover traces of unease, but he's mostly sincere. He hopes they regret it, anyway. Not in the sense of feeling bad about themselves, exactly, but in the sense of changing their (already abruptly changed) ways to the better. Both so that they're not in a terrible frame of mind, and... so the rest of his friends didn't fall to a similar fate as him.]

And besides. Even if they haven't, just yet... It's not as if they can do another murder at me. No sense rubbing their nose in their bad behavior, when it's a behavior that will already be curbed once we meet again.

[...If they meet, again. He doesn't really know how long this process of Crossings will go on, much less what comes after it...]

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SKELETAL SALUTATIONS | OTA

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3 (cw: akatsuki no yona spoilers with a slight AU for his death)

ongoing from 2009? quite a few chapters, but the next time I'm in the mood for a manga binge...

I can highly recommend it, it's great! lmk if you would like me to be careful with spoilers

Should be fine, ty!