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]

I see. Maybe someone from my world will show up... but I don't really need anyone else to let me know I'm gone. I knew the price I was paying.

[dovedive]

Is it something you think you'd regret?

[icanhearscreams]

No.

[The response comes instantly.]

But it's still awful to have to deal with, isn't it? 'Noble' or not, you're still dead.

[dovedive]

A fair point. Even if your cause was for other people, you still don't get to enjoy what comes after. A death is a death whether it was for someone else or not.

[icanhearscreams]

I didn't think I'd have to deal with what came after. The people I left behind, the things I never got to do.

... And I didn't think I'd have to deal with the other stuff that comes from a battle. None of us were trained. None of us were ready.

[dovedive]

Sounds like the world you came from, it really threw a lot your way. Some places just really...

well no one should feel like they have to throw themselves into anything especially unprepared. Maybe this place can be a moment of rest.

[icanhearscreams]

Just really suck? Yeah.

We did. But as for rest, it's hard to even sleep here.

[dovedive]

Really suck. Yeah, that really does sum it up.

And that's something else I can agree with, though I had trouble sleeping back home regardless, it feels harder here. "What do I do? What can I do? What is my purpose?"

Someone told me it's best to try and find something to keep your mind distracted like a hobby or something, but even that feels out of reach.

[icanhearscreams]

I've been trying to spend my time figuring out what sort of rules this place runs on, but it's... not exactly got them written down in a book. Or maybe it does and I just haven't found it.

I mean... my purpose was to die to save my world. Even if it wasn't originally, I made it my purpose. So what do I do now that I'm done with it?

[dovedive]

"Find a new purpose. There's always something around every corner!" Is what an optimistic companion would say probably.

But I haven't really found anything like that yet. I wonder if I'll even be able to.

[icanhearscreams]

I guess it's a matter of time. And it's not like we're running low on it now.

[dovedive]

Unfinished or not, I think this library could really do well with some kind of frustration corner or something. Give us a room to scream and then compose ourselves.

[icanhearscreams]

I'd like somewhere I can throw things, personally.

[dovedive]

That—

actually kind of sounds nice. I wonder... there has to be some kind of empty rooms here, right? Maybe we can make things in that arts and crafts-y room and find one of those empty rooms.

[icanhearscreams]

Like smashing pottery or something like that?

[dovedive]

Mmm, something like that. I found out recently that I could actually remove things from that arts and crafts room. As long as they aren't considered finished at the very least. I hadn't really told anyone because it didn't really seem like that big of a deal at the time.

[icanhearscreams]

I guess in a library of unfinished stories that makes some kind of sense. Though what even counts as 'finished'?

[dovedive]

From the few things I've tried to remove if it had a crack in it or if it was written on but the sentence wasn't finished, it let me remove it, but I haven't tried bigger objects yet.

[icanhearscreams]

I guess that'd work. More experimentation, I guess.