thecrossinglogs | THE CROSSING #2

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THE CROSSING #2

It's that time again.

For more detail on the particulars of the event, be sure to refer to our info and planning post!

always keep moving

— CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON

The Desert is sprawling. If you've ever gotten turned around in the rolling dunes, it may have once felt endless. But in the weeks and days before the descent of The Crossing, something appears on the horizon: first a dark smudge of storm clouds, not unlike the others that have rolled through before, then growing — wider, darker, and more threatening.

You feel it, too. For some of you the feeling is new; for others it's a reminder of a trial you've been through before. It's a weight in your body, a solidity of your self, a vulnerability to whatever is approaching.

The storm overtakes the oasis. As the first drops of rain begin to fall, The Ferryman speaks in your mind.

It's time. Those who are prepared to pay the toll are instructed to gather on the bank of The River. As for the rest of you... we hope you have a plan.

taking refuge

— THE RIVER OF MUD

The storm hits hard and fast. Even as you gather around The Ferryman, the rain grows from spitting droplets to a desert monsoon. The Ferryman's protection only goes so far: even if you're promised safety from danger, you'll still have to cope with the cold, the wind, and the water.

As before, The Lantern's Light grows dark. As before, The Ferryman gathers memories one by one, consolidated into a mote of light in their palm that becomes the new center point for the growing temporary bubble of safety. But this time— what it was too dark to notice in the Cavern before— you realize that The Ferryman themselves is changing, too. Their form fades as the light in their hands grows, becoming as fuzzy and insubstantial as mist... not unlike the wraiths, outside of The Crossing.

The sparkling white salt flat before you begins to melt and grow murky, exposing the sticky, grasping mud beneath. The Ferryman glides out over the roiling muck of The River, and so do you, your steps as light as if there were still a crust of salt to separate you from the mud before.

You must keep moving, though. Linger too long, and you'll start to sink... and the mud might not let go, this time.

— A HAVEN FROM THE WANTS AND ILLS OF LIFE

The journey is arduous, and the storm is unrelenting. The Ferryman, unfamiliar as they might be in this form, leads confidently through the blur of lightning, wind, and rain. As before, the mote of light created from your memories follows in their footsteps, illuminating the path to follow along the wide expanse of The River.

Even with The Ferryman's protection, it is exhausting work. It's as mentally taxing as it is physically draining. As such, when the path forward begins to shudder and shift, it may come as a reprieve. The wall of wind and rain finally breaks, the Desert around you replaced by... somewhere else. A place you may recognize, or may not.

Whatever stress or fear you may have been feeling from your journey wanes, replaced by feelings of calm, peace, or joy. If the place you are in is unfamiliar, the feelings are muted, as if they don't quite belong to you... but surely this is better than returning to the monsoon? Perhaps you can rest a while. Play a game, recover in shelter, or take a meditative walk through a maze. What's a few minutes, anyway? Time hardly means anything anymore.

Just don't forget: if you linger too long in any one place, the mud of The River will start to suck you down. It's best to stay alert— and to keep an eye on those traveling with you, as well.

storm chasers

— SWEPT AWAY

The Desert isn't designed to weather a storm like this one. Beyond the pounding rain and cracking lightning, those of you who have decided to travel without The Ferryman must also navigate the environment itself. Flash floods sweep through lower-lying places in the dunes, where the sand isn't able to absorb water quickly enough. Creatures that may have been docile before are now panicked, and might impede your progress, or even lash out themselves.

And, of course, there are the wraiths.

They're easier to spot this time around, across the rolling dunes. It's easier to make out just how much they've changed as well: the claws, the teeth, the exaggerated proportions... and the unmistakable pain and fury in every movement, in every shriek and wail.

You are vulnerable to any and all injury during this time, whether from the wraiths, the wildlife, or the elements. As long as you follow your gut, you'll know where to go — but we hope you have a strategy, all the same.

— AN EYE IN THE STORM

At least in the Cavern, you had cover. Nooks and crannies, branching tunnels, rocky outcroppings... But out here, beneath the wide-open sky of the Desert, there's very little in terms of shelter. The odd plateau, or cave entrance, or inexplicable feature might grant you some reprieve, but there's always more sand to cross in-between.

On occasion, however, you may spot a strange sort of wraith watching you at a distance. Some of you may even recognize it: an eerie, dissembling creature that some have dubbed the Smart Wraith. Its form, like the others, has solidified into something grotesque and painful, as if its body has been plucked like clay by a particularly spiteful child. Unlike the others, though, it does not attack, or even approach. It simply watches, as it always have.

If you have the presence of mind to notice, however, you may find that there are occasional reprieves from wraith attacks, especially across longer stretches of dunes. They're brief, but often crucially timed (such as when someone is significantly injured, or when a flood has just rolled through), and always correspond to a moment when The Wraith can be found watching from some far-flung vantage point.

It's odd, certainly. But do you have the luxury of looking a gift horse in the mouth?

stormbreak

— CLEARING SKIES

Eventually, the storm calms. Your body lightens. The atmosphere realigns.

The Crossing ends.

The thick, sucking mud of The River has become shallow and waterlogged. It's easy to wade through now, if a touch... unpleasant. Fibrous plants and reeds line the sloped banks, inexplicably dotted with bright orange flowers. Light is low, though the sky has cleared, as if wherever you are now lingers in perpetual dusk.

If you were traveling with The Ferryman, the mirages that dogged your journey finally fade and stay gone. If you were traveling on your own, any wounds you sustained heal rapidly on their own. As before, the healing is natural, but on fast-forward, and thus may not always resolve perfectly.

For both groups, memories bleed away from you - perhaps literally, perhaps not. Anything you found in the Desert, unless given to you by The Ferryman, is gone from your pockets.

When you look again, The Ferryman appears just the same as they were before The Crossing began. Let's take a break, they say. It's been a long journey.

It certainly has.

Image credits: 1, 2 + OMORI'S STORY, and stock imagery unless otherwise noted

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Maybe not having a new, permanent shirt is part of your personal growth! [Why would it be part of Kel's personal growth...]

Teaches me how to be adaptable, I guess! And that I do look good in any color. Even pink.

[See? He can try to find the good side of anything.]

What about you? What would.... what would be your personal character arc? If we're talking in videogame terms and all?

Oh, I'm one of the extras. That kind of character doesn't get an arc. If we're lucky, we can be used by someone who does, though! [Trying to get something happy out of Nagito when he's talking about himself is extremely difficult, unfortunately. Not that Nagito seems bothered by his own self-assessment.]

What? No no, buddy, no... everyone is main cast in here. You, me, Makoto- all on the same level. How many people do you know get to have a rich afterlife adventure?

[he may sounds casual about it, but he's not stupid- there's no fun to really be had in their journey, no matter how he puts it.]

Maybe, out there, there are people reading of our adventures in another world. I'm Mari and Sunny's sidekick, for example... and you can be the one searching for the lost luck?

You're Mari-san and Sunny-kun's sidekick? But I thought we were all main characters. [He's teasing. It's easier than continuing to talk about his luck, which is much more complicated.]

Well. No one says sidekicks can't be protagonists too! And I will definitely fight anyone trying to tell me I should not be the comic relief character of a group. As one of them would say: nyuk nyuk!

Just because I choose to be their sidekick it doesn't mind I'm not a protagonist too, mind you. We all are.

[He gets it. And he's doing his best to offer distractions to anyone here.]

I'm very relieved knowing we have the role of comic relief covered! It's very reassuring that so many people are willing to work together here. [At least some of what Nagito said may be earnest. Probably not the comic relief part.]

Right? Right? Oh, man, I gotta learn how to make people laugh in here. It's been so depressing lately I think my job will get much harder.

[A pause. What he's not saying is he's willing to work wth anyone as long as the two siblings aren't endangered by them. For how heavy his heart is, kel could turn on anyone threatening them and he's not sure of what to make of this awareness.]

Heh. It's nice to be a solid team, isn't it?

[Nagito hums thoughtfully.] It's interesting. Is it this easy to get people to work together in your world? It never seemed very easy in mine. Even when I wasn't the one trying to do it, I mean.

[Since obviously it wouldn't go well when he tried to do it. But actually, nobody's called him a lame nerd for supporting teamwork here or anything.]

[He offered Nagito a wide, wide smile]

Of course not! I mean, not al the time. But it's good when it happens, isn't it? And people with a common goal do tend to make things work, usually- now, do I know what our goal is right now? Probably not. But we're still a team.

[teamwork is dreamwork buddy. Kel raises one hand up in front of Nagito, waiting patiently for a high five.]

And yeah, sometimes it's hard to make things work but I feel like it's worth it.

[Nagito blinks confusedly at Kel's hand for a few moments before he realizes what Kel wants.]

Oh! Um-- [Nagito gives him a very tentative, uncertain high five. He's not used to high fives, forgive him.]

[Oh, man, that was ALMOST worse than Sunny's high five. almost. Still, Kel was adamant in pushing everyone's confidence up so...]

Aw, yeah, that's the spirit. Man, I tend to forget this is what normal high fives are like, me and my friends back home... we tend to e rough. 'Let's see who slaps harder' kind of rough.

Sports people, you know? Anyway... to teamwork. And to finding out a common goal too. Your world seems... harsh, sometimes, but I'm glad you still seem to be a good person, you know?

You'd probably like Nidai-kun--one of my old classmates back home. He high fived me once and knocked me over! [Maybe that's too rough...] But really, I'm not a good person. Naegi-sama's a good person. Once he shows up again you really do have to meet him properly.

[If he shows up again. But Nagito doesn't really want to consider that, at least out loud.]

Maybe? I do like sporty people a lot- because I am one, duh. But I think it's the norm, at least between my friends. The 'joke' is trying to hit you as hard as possible, normal people don't do that. They do it like you.

[And there it is again. The self deprecating talks. God, Kelwishes everyone would just stop with them right now- and yes, perhaps he's the first one to do the same and think very lowly of hiself, he's an hypocrite, but it still annoys him so much.

He's... angry when he speaks next, this despite the big smile on his face.]

Of course, don't worry. I look forward meeting your boyfriend once we're done with this mess. [it's a bite,it's unwarranted, but Kel has only so much patience for self depreating talks and Nagito is already hitting the quota of the month.... has it even been a month? He doesn't know. Still, he allows a moment to pass before talking again.] jokes aside, stop talking yourself down, buddy. You've been nothing but a good person so... honestly? Stop.

[Please?]

Oh, Naegi-sama can do much better than-- [Nagito pauses; Kel literally just asked him not to talk himself down. Which is ridiculous to ask of someone like him, but Kel did ask, so...] Well. You should meet him regardless.

[When Nagito begins his sentence? Kel just... squints in his direction. It's probably ridicolous: they're both wet, sinking into mud, but Kel is NOT letting that one movie scene with the horse sinking down the swamp-like thing repeat itself here.

Someone he can't think of would have more tact, he may even approach Nagito after this all because he knows snapping at someone is hardly the best thing to do and it won't help making the mood any better but.

Okay. Okay... smile, Kel, smile.]

I will. I love making new friends. And I'm sure he's waiting for us. Sooo... step after step? Who do you think will have the best memory location in here? I hope that whatever happens, someone ends up giving us a boat.

Naegi-sama enjoys making friends too! [If he doesn't talk about himself, he can't put himself down.] I admit, I'm very curious as to what you, Mari-san, and Sunny-kun decided on between yourselves. But I'm guessing you didn't pick anywhere with boats?

Making friends is fun!

[He's keeping his eyes on you, man. You're not off the hook and all that stuff. Anway, he's not talking about what Mari and Sunny are giving up, he just knows he's going to hold onto it so very dearly so he can remember it for them- every small detail, every small bit. It was part of his life, after all, he's got bigger chances to remember.

If he forgets Hobbeez? It's fine. He can handle losing himself a bit more. But he must keep things for them.]

Well. I chose my favorite shop. It's a place called Hobbeez- definitely no big boats there, sorry, just games and fun shit. It's full of nice memories- some even with Sunny! We used to meet at night and go there, because what's better than reading comics with your bro under the stars? Very appropriate considering we loved Captain spaceboy and it was all about Space. Oh, and Pedro- I'm not giving up my memories of Pedro- he knew how to always make me smile! One of the better adults in my life!

[He was not going to lose him, right? Just the place.]

He always had cookies for us. Or pizza from the adjacent building. And he pretended not to notice when we just stopped after hours to read comics- and when I had problems with my homeworks? He actually heelped me! Or, well, he allowed me to sit at one of the tables and kept talking with me about what I was doing, it may seem stupid but it helped a lot!

[Before Pedro? Kel somehow managed to repeat a year, that's how he ended in Sunny and Basil's class- his parents kept telling him to get on the level of... someone? But Kel always struggled to focus or read wthout pictures.]

Oh! And he ws Mexican too! So we got to talk about that place a lot and have snacks and foods from there too! I'm third gen american immigrant so, you know... not a lot of firsthand experience. So... yeah. Hobbeez was home away from home.

[See? Got to share a lot without talking about the other two too much.]

What about you, man?

Oh, Sunny-kun found one of those comics when we'd both first arrived and were searching together. [Now he will be able to see their origin point. Or at least their purchase origin.] What a hopeful place to spend time in!

As for me, it's my living room. Ah, not just in general--it's from when I was very little. The last day I spent with my parents at home. I'm not sure if I'll be able to remember my living room as a whole or not after this.

Heh. A shame I didn't get to read it. But, yeah. Me and Sun were and still are big fans of Spaceboy. [His cheeks redden just a little. It's a children's comic, after all, but Kel still adores it deeply. Call it a mix of nostalgia and the teen being still on the more childish side in terms of personal tastes.] I should have tried to die holding an issue or two under my shirt, maybe they would have arrived here with me as part of my 'clothes'.

[There's a pause, then.]

I... makes sense. If you want you can tell me about it? I want to remember all I can for Sunny and Mari, I can do the same for you?

I wrote a description of it down, don't worry! [Nagito came prepared to this Crossing, as much as anyone can.] If we arrived with what we had on us when we died, I'd be in a hospital gown. [It occurs to Nagito that it could instead have to do with how their body was prepared, though. But imagining someone putting his jacket in the casket with him, doing anything except get rid of his body immediately--it's very difficult for him to imagine he deserves anything like that. (Anyway, how would they even get him to a crematorium?)]

You said you fell, right? What were you doing? [Kel hadn't wanted to talk about it over the network, but they're not talking publicly now.]

One thing is words on paper. The other is having people remembering the feelings you shown about a place. At least, that's my opinion. This is why I hoped we could all share, but I can see people aren't as keen as me in that.

[There's a pause, there, and Kel glances away, nodding.]

Sunny too. I think we appear in part how we're perceived, because he was wearing those clothes before being taken to the hospital. And I doubt it's what we've been put to wear in our graves- Mari was buried in a beautiful white dress and she's not wearing it now. [A small shrug. In his and Sunny's case, it was probably impossible to even have a proper funeral? At best they were going to be scrapped off the ground and put in jars or something.

There's a shift in Kel's posture, even if he still allows Nagito to lean against him, the simple idea of leaving anyone behind in any situation is no longer there- still, there are things he doesn't quite feel like sharing. It's already enough to have Frida know how it happened. He could at least share the same things he told Mari.]

I was on the roof of the Hospital where Sunny was taken for the eye... incident. The stupid hospital left a whole piece of the rails just... broken? Empty? I didn't see it for long enough to proper register it, but the next things I knew I was free falling.

Kind of a stupid death, when you think about it, but... no one can truly win against gravity, I guess.

[Nagito notes immediately that Kel is explaining it as if there was no particular reason he was on the roof and no particular reason for him to fall off. When you're visiting a badly injured friend in the hospital, you don't decide to take a detour to the roof and get so close to the edge you fall off just for fun. Or maybe some people do, but Kel isn't the type.

Should he be thinking about what Kel is saying like this? This isn't a class trial. Makoto already chastised him once for bringing up murders--to Kel, now that he thinks about it. Maybe it's bad for his recovery process. But Makoto isn't here right now.

Nothing pointed. Nothing mean. Just a question aimed in the direction of the omission.]

You really shouldn't have gone up to the roof at all, you know? You found out how dangerous it can be firsthand.

['And let Sunny on his own?' is the first sentence that pops in his head. As if Kel could have even entertained the thought of ignoring the other who was walking around like a ghost lost in hallucinations or something. But that's not something he dares to bring up, it's not anyone should know- even home everyone probably believes he and Sunny jumped together for whatever reason. God, who'd ever..

Kel pushes a smile on his face, grinning and using his free hand to go and attempt to ruffle the other's hair. A distraction? Certainly.]

A bit too late for that, wouldn't you agree? And, hey, not my fault Sunny was somehow placed on the top floor of that place, it kind of... happened.

[He doesn't talk about how he and the others took turns to be around Basil and Sunny as long as they could during their hospital time. Hell, as far as Kel knows, no one spoke about Basil so far and he's content leaving things like that since his heart still cannot process how he feels about the other after... everything.]

But, yeah, I agree that we don't come exactly as we die, otherwise I'd be a walking pancake. It's okay, though, I... I don't like to be dead, who does, but at least I can be here for Mari and Sunny, right?

Man, it's a miracle I wasn't sent straight to hell hell, my ma' kept saying I was going to head there because I always forgot to lower the toilet seat after going to the bathroom.

[That's not true, but shh... he's trying to change the topic. At least, unlike Sunny, Kel does talk. At least a bit.]

[So Sunny was there. It hardly needed confirmation, really, but receiving it is still satisfying. And between Kel and Sunny, Nagito knows which one he'd say is more likely to intentionally jump of a roof.

But that doesn't exactly match with how Sunny reacted when Nagito asked--rudely, admittedly--how he'd died. He doesn't think either is lying. A difference, then, like the one between himself and Makoto. But more subtle, clearly. Sunny is missing an eye regardless. It seems to be a matter of how far after that point either is. Sunny's explanation wasn't exactly a coherent narrative, but he'd reached for his eye.

Nagito can see the scenes like a blurry shadow play. He could make it sharper if he wanted. He could, but nobody likes when he does that. And he's wretched and useless and that shouldn't matter, but sometimes he gets tired of it. And so many people here insist on being relentlessly kind to him. Instead, his tone lilts toward teasing.]

Ah, you should really be more courteous. I bet Hanako-kun would haunt you for something like that! But you're right, if you all have to be dead regardless, it's good you can all be together. What would Mari-san and Sunny-kun do without their guard dog?

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tw: blood, death and suicide talk

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