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GRAVEYARD.
GR͏∀VE̴Y͞A̵ЯD 13 DECOMMISSIONED
t̀h̡e u͝nḑerbe̸l͞l̵y ̸o͜f th̴è ̡şh̷i͠p.
Crushing pressure is the initial sensation you can recall upon awakening. The stench of fetid, hot steam fills your nose, motes of dust and dirt floating upwards to cling to your skin. Down you are pulled to the cold ground, and all at once you realize you have forgotten to breathe. As you gasp back to life, you are flung onto a pile of scraps and trash, as the enormous machine that spat you out grumbles a little, and then goes silent. You are whole somehow, alive... but at what cost?
Popping out of the grinder, you look yourself over and find that any injuries you may have incurred during your death will be healed. While the scars that remain from the process will serve as a stark reminder, you will be able to get up on your own two feet without issue.
Thin, tapering metal (?) claws unhook from overhead and lower themselves, proceeding to guide you around. Your clothing starts sticking uncomfortably to your skin in the humidity of this strange, new place. Overhead you can hear the tinny humming of flickering lights overhead, arranged in a singular, thin strip and snaking around the serpentine halls. Along exposed pipes, wires, and the walls, a rust-colored substance creeps in web-like patterns, climbing towards the ceiling lights.
The deep grinding and groaning of the ship begin to meld into one low, deep moan from all around. It dips and rises in pitch, and becomes sickening to listen to if you focus on it for too long. Maybe, it's the ship's way of saying Welcome, to the underbelly of the CSS Eudora, home of the decommissioned.
Thin, tapering metal (?) claws unhook from overhead and lower themselves, proceeding to guide you around. Your clothing starts sticking uncomfortably to your skin in the humidity of this strange, new place. Overhead you can hear the tinny humming of flickering lights overhead, arranged in a singular, thin strip and snaking around the serpentine halls. Along exposed pipes, wires, and the walls, a rust-colored substance creeps in web-like patterns, climbing towards the ceiling lights.
The deep grinding and groaning of the ship begin to meld into one low, deep moan from all around. It dips and rises in pitch, and becomes sickening to listen to if you focus on it for too long. Maybe, it's the ship's way of saying Welcome, to the underbelly of the CSS Eudora, home of the decommissioned.
Some things to keep in mind, while amongst the dead:
💀 Mini-events will be posted on WEDNESDAY at 3 PM EST / 12 PM PST and 6 PM EST / 3 PM PST, and are due at the same time they are for the living. Any changes to the schedule will be announced in the graveyard channels.
💀 Weekly effects will still hit you here, in the belly of the ship. Mods will make sure to announce any special changes based on being the graveyard; otherwise, please assume everything is 1:1!
💀 While not perfect, there is a healing factor in place. It is extremely sluggish, uncomfortable, and does not negate the fact that you're injured and likely in pain. If the injury is too severe, you might wind up dying from it if left untreated. Again. If you have a pre-existing condition like an illness that has been exacerbated by factors beyond your control, you will find that for the time being these symptoms are at their most minor.
💀 That said, while double death is possible, you'll find yourself reviving after 4 hours fully healed, but feeling like complete garbage for the rest of the day. Message your mods if you find yourself getting killed while dead, though! There might be a special surprise involved.
💀 Your possessions, minus clothing besides what you're wearing now, can be found in the bunk pods and their storage. Yes, while it might not include clothes, it does include any Omegamart Promotional Items, Scrap purchases, home items, etc that you were in possession of. if you had a lot of things, the cubby might jam or have difficulty closing. Better organize. If you arrive on Saturday during trial, belongings will return at the end of trial.
💀 Communications, while you cannot text via I.R.I.S., you can still send messages through HER-MES. All other functions for I.R.I.S. are available along with direct data transfers. Dead can send private letters to the living! An inbox can be accessed from the family computer at the canteen. If you find it locked, it is because we are updating it.
💀 Living livestream is broadcasted on the TV screen in the canteen!
✔️ Upgraded Quality ✔️ Audio ✔️ Translit Captions that sometimes fuck up ✔️ Dramatic panning ❌ Color
💀 Planet locations are free to use! Upon the Eudora landing planetside, you will find that as you meander through the various parts of the Belly you may run into one of locations of the current planet instead of where you were meaning to go. These locations are indeed still populated, but the people are more like wisps and will not react much to any conversation. Though you can interact with stuff there you cannot take anything with you out of the location "rooms".
💀 Weekly effects will still hit you here, in the belly of the ship. Mods will make sure to announce any special changes based on being the graveyard; otherwise, please assume everything is 1:1!
💀 While not perfect, there is a healing factor in place. It is extremely sluggish, uncomfortable, and does not negate the fact that you're injured and likely in pain. If the injury is too severe, you might wind up dying from it if left untreated. Again. If you have a pre-existing condition like an illness that has been exacerbated by factors beyond your control, you will find that for the time being these symptoms are at their most minor.
💀 That said, while double death is possible, you'll find yourself reviving after 4 hours fully healed, but feeling like complete garbage for the rest of the day. Message your mods if you find yourself getting killed while dead, though! There might be a special surprise involved.
💀 Your possessions, minus clothing besides what you're wearing now, can be found in the bunk pods and their storage. Yes, while it might not include clothes, it does include any Omegamart Promotional Items, Scrap purchases, home items, etc that you were in possession of. if you had a lot of things, the cubby might jam or have difficulty closing. Better organize. If you arrive on Saturday during trial, belongings will return at the end of trial.
💀 Communications, while you cannot text via I.R.I.S., you can still send messages through HER-MES. All other functions for I.R.I.S. are available along with direct data transfers. Dead can send private letters to the living! An inbox can be accessed from the family computer at the canteen. If you find it locked, it is because we are updating it.
💀 Living livestream is broadcasted on the TV screen in the canteen!
✔️ Upgraded Quality ✔️ Audio ✔️ Translit Captions that sometimes fuck up ✔️ Dramatic panning ❌ Color
💀 Planet locations are free to use! Upon the Eudora landing planetside, you will find that as you meander through the various parts of the Belly you may run into one of locations of the current planet instead of where you were meaning to go. These locations are indeed still populated, but the people are more like wisps and will not react much to any conversation. Though you can interact with stuff there you cannot take anything with you out of the location "rooms".
no subject
[No... No, no, no. His stomach churns, and he's transfixed on the face looking back at him. It's almost a different person. Does he know him, that Viktor?
The Academy graduate. Maybe not the face--Jayce will always be the face--but maybe the heralded hands behind Hextech. A man who mever asks for anything with a statue in Zaun, like Vander. A benefactor of the Undercity, the person who helped make it clean, livable, who helped advocate for its independence. Humble, studious. Building marvelous creation after marvelious creation.
Never having to worry about his health, his back, his leg, his organs. Never having to worry about dying. Never having to worry about the desperation of meddling with dark arcane technology.
A woman is his wife, making him a family man. Respectable, comfortable. Not alone.
He takes half a step back from the panel.]
--Don't.
no subject
The way the version of him removes his scrubs, picks up his phone, sees the name 'Eunyoo' on the caller ID, because in this life Eunyoo still speaks to him, still loves him. Their parents are still gone, but it's alright. They've healed from that together, they've moved on together, they're leading normal lives untainted by monsters or diseases together.
Then Eunhyuk at a theater, waiting in the wings, watching as a ballerina takes her final bows and then runs to him offstage, a smile on her face, calling his name.]
...
[he can faintly hear Viktor's voice, but all his attention is focused on this image.]
no subject
They see their ideal self right before them, getting ready to wind down for the night.
For Viktor, his wife playfully chides him to remember to come to bed sometime in the next half hour. He has a big day tomorrow presenting his next invention, which should clear up what's left of the smog in the Undercity. This ideal Viktor smiles at her, somewhat embarrassed to be caught conjuring more innovations in his mind, and makes that promise. He won't be staying up caught up in his thoughts and ideas tonight. She looks at him, eyebrows furrowed in scrutiny, and stays by the doorframe. She decides that if he isn't in bed by the half hour, then she'll join him in staying up. They can share the wonders of science, deep dive into a flurry of new discoveries... She reminds him he doesn't need to be alone, but until then she returns to their bedroom.
For Eunhyuk, he can watch his ideal self and his younger sister return from her recital. Eunyoo kicks off her shoes, rolls off her socks, and her ankles are clear of any bruising that would have ruined her ballet career. Despite that, Eunhyuk kneels down to help her out of her shoes and put them where they should be... She makes some complaints, maybe insults him once, but he can tell she appreciates him. She still loves him. With one more sisterly aggressive yap, she announces she's going to take a shower and that he should play his stupid gacha (she wants him to relax after a long day of work). Eunyoo leaves the scene... Leaving this ideal version of Eunhyuk silently standing there, grateful for this life he has.
Both Eunhyuk and Viktor, far from this idyllic life and person, watch this. They're physically there...
And it would be so easy to replace this ideal person and take their life for their own, wouldn't it? They can do that. It only takes a snap of a neck... Or a bash to the head.
What will they do? ]
no subject
It's tough to watch a better him have a better life. It's tough. Watching a you who is fulfilled, who is happy. Watching a you who isn't terminally ill. A you who has longer to live than a few months, half a year. Maybe less.
A primordial, primal white noise buzzes in the back of his brain. Purple, organic tendrils encroach at the edge of his vision as he stares at the better man he could have been if life wasn't about drawing lucky straws. He blinks rapidly against the urge rising hot through his gut. His hands clench at his sides, one around the crane, and he swallows thickly.
What could Better Viktor do he couldn't? It'd be easy to take that life. It wouldn't even be taking. It's not stealing... to take the life you could have had, the life you should have had. That's his life. That life belongs to him.
He starts lifting the cane. But then he thinks of something else in the haze of the arcane void's tendrils. In the pursuit of great, we failed to do good. He thinks about the hammer Jayce had plopped down near him. A weapon. A weapon, after they had agreed Hextech was for improving lives, not destroying them. That's not him. Taking lives. Jayce can walk that path, if he's so great. But that's not him. He isn't Piltover golden boy.
Slowly, he begins taking more half steps back, away from the terribly perfect life, shaking his head. One, two, three.]
I want to help people. I don't want to...
no subject
It would be very easy. Eunhyuk knows the exact amount of force he would need to kill this version of him. After all, he's already done it once. A single blow to the head -- and then he'd die, like Viktor had. Just to finally have what he desires.
But desire -- it's the noose around his neck, it's the wrong choice that will tilt his already terrible life into something even worse. Desire will warp this idyllic picture laid out in front of him. The ideal version of himself wouldn't have to worry about it, but he would.
...He doesn't know how to be a version of himself who isn't troubled or full of anguish. He'd do a poor job of it, and with that, he'd ruin Eunyoo's life too. The life she finally has, the life she finally deserves.
He clenches his hands, digging the nails deep into his palm, using the pain to try and pull himself out of it.]
no subject
... What will they do now that they are seen and known? ]
no subject
Being Known gives him the same spine-rippling feeling of being hunted by Eunhyuk. Viktor raises the cane, like a defense. No. Maybe like a preparation. The last thing he needs is some Perfect Viktor trying to get rid of the little bit of life he has left.
Leave him alone!
If the other him attacks, he swears he will start swinging.]
no subject
...He wants to know what a better version would call this one. He wants to know if it's anything different from what he thinks of himself now.
So he stands very still, staring him down.]
no subject
"I'm not going to hurt you," Viktor says. "You can put the cane down."
Eunhyuk looks at his other self's shoes, then lifts his gaze. The present Eunhyuk may not look too different, maybe just a little rugged, but he can see how haunted he is. "... You've gone through a lot." ]
no subject
The way those from Piltover stared at him with pity in their eyes, yet never bothered to lift a hand to help. The poor little dirty crippled kid from the Undercity. They could always look away when they were ready. Could go back to Piltover, comfortable, ignorant.
Is that the way he became in this life? Looking down on Zaun with pity, forgetting, pulling the blinds down.
He puts both hands on the length of the cane, like a bat, squeezing it beneath his fingers.]
no subject
All he has is the voice in his head and the blood pounding in his veins, keeping him on his feet.
But he's not interested in talking about what he's going through. He's not important here.]
...Don't let her suffer.
[no matter what, make eunyoo happy]
no subject
But he understands. They have their pride. They know where they came from... And they don't want to forget their struggles. There's still a difference between them. One of them is a dying man, a dead man.
"We've worked hard. I'm sure you... Much harder." He grows quiet as he lets his hands down, but doesn't tear his eyes away from Viktor. "You deserve this life. Are you sure..."
They are one and the same. Of course why wouldn't the ideal Viktor offer to share his years with himself.
The ideal Eunhyuk on the other hand... Those words tell him enough about what Eunhyuk might have went through. Not enough to know what went on in the Green Home, what happened during the quarantine, and how estranged his relationship with Eunyoo became, but what he can glean is that—he can't follow this Eunhyuk's path.
With a nod, they mutually agree that they can't let Eunyoo suffer... There's a silence, a pause, as he tries to find something to say again.
"I made a promise to always come back."
It's his promise to Eunyoo. No, it's their promise from Eunyoo. The ideal Eunhyuk looks at him in the eyes, returning the phrase.
"... Don't let her suffer."
Can Eunhyuk keep that promise? ]
no subject
But he wants it so bad. He wants normalcy. He wants a body that works, he wants to not be sick. He wants to not stand there and let death trample him.
Frustrated tears well up in his eyes, but his teeth are gritted. He grips the cane suddenly, like he might swing it. And then his hands loosen, and the cane tumbles down in front of him to the floor. His arms drop to his sides. There's no room for him here. There is no room for a man who feels.
He'll have to take that part out later.]
Go back to your perfect life, and leave me alone.
no subject
This Eunhyuk never made that promise, this Eunhyuk living an ideal life. Because there was never a moment in this Eunhyuk's life where he would have had to make that promise and lie.
But Eunhyuk had. He'd made that promise just so that Eunyoo could let him go. In doing that, he made her suffer. He's already ruined his chances. He's already made that lie.]
I won't.
[it's so easy to lie again now. to a version of himself who might not even know or be able to tell. and maybe it's not entirely a lie. eunhyuk is gone, and in his absence, he no longer has to make Eunyoo suffer.]
no subject
... The pink haze in the holodeck dissipates and you have returned. It is like nothing ever happened and you had never left. The display screens before you show the eight senior crew on the other side, no longer blank. No longer showing the you from another universe. There are just rats.
However, a data log that contains a video can be found on a nearby surface. Y'all are done!! ]
no subject
Once the haze leaves, Viktor is left tired. Emotionally. He reaches up to rub his eyes with the back of his hand before lifting his head to realize... Right, the holodeck. The photos are back.
!
He twists around to look for Eunhyuk, strangely worried momentarily. Worried for Eunhyuk.... Worried a little for himself, too.]
no subject
Eunhyuk takes a step back, as if waking up from a dream, and then turns his head to meet Viktor's gaze -- the look of worry.
Right, he was here with Viktor all this time. They came together to explore what was happening. He takes a wobbly step away from the panel, and then just. slides down to the floor, folding into a sitting heap. Now it's his turn to hit the holodeck.
...That was a lot. He did not like that at all.]