jinglehells | week 3

WEEK 3

Another week gone and it's still Christmas! Or is it? The paint on the walls is beginning to crack and fade, with especially large chunks in character's bedrooms revealing scratched words like "cantgetoutcantgetout" and "god help me i just want to go home i miss my home i miss my mother i miss" etc. Yikes! The locations page might be updated throughout the week as characters discover more. Seems like now's the perfect time to investigate and hope you'll get closer to finding out what's going on here. There's always more places to look and more things to find!

As a reminder that this week's activity check is now live! And as usual, it's never a bad time to submit threads for regains! Have you been naughty or nice? Naughty children still get presents too, don't worry. And if you'd like to check-in on Thursday night, you always can! You never know what fun you might run into.

So go exploring, find something new and pay no mind to the creepy writing on the walls. We're sure everything will be fine! After all, nothing ever goes wrong on Christmas, right?

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This was not your fault.

[It doesn't matter if Shintaro can look at her or not. She'll remain.]

Even Lena knew that you weren't responsible--why else would she have gone to such lengths?

I...Lena was an incredibly kind, strong person. I don't deserve any forgiveness she may have given me.

She's dead because of me. That's a fact, and I have to live with it.

I hurt everyone that tries to show me kindness. And I'll hurt you too.
I promised to protect her, and I destroyed her instead.

[Tears are forming in the corners of his eyes, and he digs his fingernails into his wrist.]

[And just like that, Lunafreya's hands are there, trying to gently persuade him to release his wrist. Savaging your own self isn't going to help in the slightest, Shintaro!]

There is nothing you could do that would hurt me, Shintaro, but refuse to allow yourself peace. If Lena wanted you to have forgiveness, do you not owe it to her to accept it?

What happened was an accident. Your grief is well-founded, but not because you did anything wrong.

[He slumps down and stops moving his hands as soon as she touches him, and looks up at her finally with tears in his eyes.]

It's not that easy. It's not that easy. It's not...It's not...

It's impossible. I can't live with this, I can't, I thought this time things could be different, I thought...doing right by Lena would be doing right by Ayano, and now they're both gone because of my mistakes. Why are they gone, and I'm still here? Why me? Why do I get to live? I'm worthless.

[His head dips back down as he begins to sob. The despair is so overwhelming. Not only is it a fresh wound, but it reawakens years and years of trauma.]

I'm worthless...

[She's kneeling before him, and as Shintaro begins to cry, her hands cover his, gently trying to lower them to his lap.]

You are far from worthless. You were born for a reason, and you need only decide what your reason is. That is how you will do right by Ayano: by honoring her memory and continuing to walk tall into the future.

We still have a chance to do right by Lena. Do you remember what Kido said? If all of them are truly awaiting us, we owe it to them to figure out the truth of this place and put an end to it.

I don't want you to die too, Luna.

I don't want anyone to die, but I haven't done anything. All I'm good at is watching other people die. It's the only skill I have. I can't ever change anything, it's always the same. Ayano always dies, Haruka dies, Takane dies, I die.

[His voice is continually breaking, and his hands shake in Lunafreya's. It's too much for him. He's reliving everything from the past all over again.]

I don't know what to do.

[Her hands still for a moment when he says he doesn't want her to die.]

Shintaro... you need not worry about me.

[She's already dead, after all. For the first time, her words stick in her throat as Lunafreya tries to speak--she can't promise him that she won't die, not when she already knows she'd sacrifice herself all over again if it meant saving the rest of them from this place. Even when it hurts her heart so badly she wants to scream, even if the tears build and overflow as they had when she thought on Noctis... her duty has always been, first and foremost, to her charge as Oracle. To banish the darkness from their world. And yet the thought of making Shintaro watch another person die...]

You must be brave. These are the most challenging times of all, when all seems lost to darkness and the world full of sadness and terror.

We can start by putting together what we know of this place's history. Perhaps if all of us shared what we know amongst each other...

I want to protect you, but I can't. I know that any day I might wake up, and you'll be gone. Someway, somehow...

You're so selfless, I don't get it. [He lightly starts to take her hands in his own, trembling.]

Of course I need to worry about you. I...need you. We all need you. I don't...

. . .

I don't...want to have to do this without you, but I can't protect you. We'll try to solve the mystery as hard as we can, but we can't guarantee anything. I'm so scared, Luna. I'm so scared, and I'm tired, and I just...I just wanted to protect her so bad.

[And he crumples forward, tears dropping down onto their hands as he squeezes them together.]

I'm sorry...

I'm so sorry...

[He'll lean his head down into her shoulder if he can, expelling all of the guilt and misery in his teardrops.]

I messed up, I messed up again...

[There's no way that she wouldn't guide him into her shoulder, untangling one of her hands from his so that she can cup it to the back of his head. She'll smooth his hair down as he cries, not judging, not hurrying him, but just providing whatever strength she can through her presence and her touch.]

I know you wanted to protect her. She knows you did too. I promise you, they look down upon you now, and you will always be in their hearts--just as you will always be within mine. No matter if you can see me or not, a part of me will always be here. [Her hand shifts from the back of Shintaro's head, dropping down so that she can brush her fingers over his heart.]

I shall try to keep safe. [She says, a day before she'll want to throw the motive into the fireplace.] But if I must, I will do what it takes to protect the others brought here and banish the darkness from this place. It is my sacred duty as Oracle.

week 3

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