a simple question; (cw: death/dying discussion)

[icanhearscreams]

[An unsigned note appears on the bulletin board, written in extremely neat handwriting. There's a few smudges on it from erased lines, as if the author wrote it over and over again.]

Is anyone else here dead?

[Just five words. No signature. He'll see how this turns out.]

Comments

[icanhearscreams]

Rough way to go. ... No way out of that one?

[birdchasingecho]

I was a little busy at the time to really see if there was anyone to save me. In hindsight, I'm not even sure if the perpetrator wanted to kill me. But whether I will have survived or not is not in my power to see.

[icanhearscreams]

So there's some kind of statistical possibility, at least.

But realizing you're shutting down... it's terrifying, isn't it?

[birdchasingecho]

There's always a possibility, at least back home. Revenants are a known quantity, there. But... Yeah.

[icanhearscreams]

Not where I'm from. The dead stay dead.

And knowing that, going to that nothingness... it made me feel small. Helpless, as much as I hate to admit it.

[birdchasingecho]

Even back home, it's rare. I can count on one hand the cases I know of.

[icanhearscreams]

There's nothing I can do, though. Even if time at home is really paused, I'm just going... nowhere once this place is done with us.

What does someone do in that kind of situation? There's really nothing you can do.

[birdchasingecho]

Who says you have to leave?

[icanhearscreams]

I mean I assume this place will have no use for us at some point...

[birdchasingecho]

[There's a long moment.]

[Then, in haphazard, hiragana script, as if by a slightly unpracticed hand, using kanji pretty rarely:]

i have long been considered [useless]
a burden
a [demon](maou)-- mistakes
if we are to be [discarded]
let us do so on our [terms]

[unsigned, but... it's not the same hand.]

[... is it?]

[icanhearscreams]

[He's not sure, but he doesn't know enough. Always things he doesn't know here...]

Do you really know what it's like to be discarded? Unwanted?

I don't know if you do. Or if you do, it's not the same.

[birdchasingecho]

meet me and find out
i'm in the stacks

[The note, at last, is signed: ゆりたらし, "lily eater"]

[icanhearscreams]

[... He should be afraid. But he's in too much of a Mood to be afraid at the moment.]

[Instead he heads into the stacks, just sort of wandering blindly to try to find... someone. Anyone.]

[birdchasingecho]

[Somewhere, out in the stacks, once he's decently lost... A deep shadow forms around one of the cases, and slowly emerges from it, neither liquid nor quite solid, and raises itself to form...]

[Well. It almost looks like Mei.]

[But it's wearing taisho-style clothing, and its eyes are all wrong, a deep, ruby red.]

So. You're the discarded one?

[She smiles, and the teeth... are not human. The mouth isn't quite stretching right, either. It's like she's seen a human smile, but doesn't have the things underneath it to make it go correctly.]

[She glides, or perhaps oozes, closer.]

Strange. you look human enough. Have you been practicing?

[icanhearscreams]

[He takes a breath, trying to calm himself. He can punch something if he needs to - but the smile is... distressing.]

[Rather than run away though, he just seems to straighten up and stare at her.]

It's 'cause I am human. You don't have to be... whatever you are... to be unwanted.

[birdchasingecho]

[She laughs.]

To be wanted only needs one, you know~

[She paces around.]

Well, I'll admit, you're not my taste, either, but that's no reason we can't be good friends.

[She pauses, glances down the aisle.]

Let's meet some other time. Soon.

[icanhearscreams]

To be unwanted only needs one as well.

[He's a teenager, let him sulk!]

But you're not my type either. Too weird.

[Jun waves her off dismissively to cover for how scared he actually is.]

Whatever. I'll be around. Is that all you called me out for?

[birdchasingecho]

[There's a moment where she seems to see right through him, even though that's clearly impossible...]

[Then, she laughs, rich and alto and sonorous, and her eyes gleam.]

Maybe we're more alike than you think, then!

[She seems to find this thought incredibly amusing.]

[icanhearscreams]

... Maybe.

[He's still kind of girl-averse, but she might not be wrong.]

You couldn't have called me out here just to see if I'm 'human' or whatever. What else is it that you want?

[birdchasingecho]

I could, but you'd think it a waste, you mean.

[She's still smiling, though it takes a more intentionally nasty cant.]

But you're right, I want some help, one unwanted thing to another. It wouldn't be without trade, though you seem...

[she cants her head the other way, slightly unnaturally.]

Uninterested.

I'll ask someone else.

[icanhearscreams]

Fine. Just don't... be weird about it? You're being weird.

[What the fuck.]

[birdchasingecho]

Ohh, fiiiine. Spoilsport.

[All at once she takes a position more akin to an annoyed actress having to stop her favorite bit.]

You don't want to be discarded. Neither do I. It's against my nature to bind the unwilling. I figure if the Librarian even wants to discard us, which, you know, jury's still out on that-- if we learn enough about the Library and get enough people on our side, we can at least attempt to make a deal.

I also want to have a little more control over my Sis, but... Well.

[icanhearscreams]

You want to get some leverage. I mean, I don't object to that. Information is power, after all.

[The 'control over her sister' thing is... confusing, so he'll put it away for now.]

We'll have to see what sort of information we can even get. Maybe something in one of these 'stories'?

[birdchasingecho]

[She smiles.]

Just so. So, listen. If I don't show up in the next Story-- if you don't spot me-- I probably didn't get in.

Take some time to try and find me, okay?

And if I'm not there, and nothing's really changed, contact me, and we'll see about smuggling me in next time~

How's that sound?

[icanhearscreams]

... What's your name?

[He's suspicious, but he has nothing else to really go on.]