🏨 emet

[highestheim]

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week 0: sunday

[highestheim]

[ given emet's size, it's probably not very often that someone can accidentally run into him. yet that's exactly what hope is doing, maybe an hour after execution. he stumbles a little, and cranes his neck up to meet emet's eyes; he's currently holding something to the side of his head, wrapped in a towel. ]

Ah—sorry. I, uh... didn't see you there.

[ktiseos]

-well. That is a new one, I will give you that.

[his brow furrows a bit, though, as he glances down to hope.]

It still troubles you?

[highestheim]

I believe it's a residual effect. [ beat ] I've never experienced this much pain before.

[ there was. a lot going on ]

[ktiseos]

Even now that he has...?

[that's-- troubling.]

With any luck, it shall fade in time.

[highestheim]

[ he nods ]

Obviously, it's not as strong as it was before he passed. But it's sort of a feeling that...sticks with you. [ beat ] It's a little hard to explain—something I can't quite find the right words for.

[ktiseos]

An unexplained phenomenon. Unsurprising, for a place like this.

[highestheim]

You're a researcher too, right? You probably know better than most how frustrating it is to not be able to describe something in a way that others can understand.

[ktiseos]

So I do. 'Tis a galling thing-- though it does occasionally give rise to new vocabulary, when necessary.

[highestheim]

I'm not sure what to call the feeling of experiencing death secondhand.

week 3: tuesday

[highestheim]

[ despite how willing he usually is to chat with anyone he bumps into while roaming the hotel and its outside setting of the week, hope is giving most people a wide berth this week, knowing what the current effect is... not so much to deter others from viewing his memories, but rather to respectfully sidestep other people's trauma.

nevertheless, when he sees emet walking by on the wiwaldi campus, he raises a hand in greeting. he's not rude. :( ]

I take it you haven't been to school in a long time?

[ ...he's trying to joke... ]

[ktiseos]

Not in some time, no-- and certainly no facility such as this. I've never seen the like.

[his tone is

faintly judgmental, honestly. what school needs a lazy river, this is for ACADEMIA not LAZINESS. go relax at home.]

[highestheim]

[ honestly? mood. he agrees. ]

Most other institutes of learning that you're familiar with probably didn't have murder written into their curriculums.

[ktiseos]

They certainly did not. I take it that was a function of this one, given everything else?

[highestheim]

[ flatly: ] Of course. I admit, I don't remember all the details, but ours was a more strategic game in nature. Only those who died had access to areas such as the administrative building, where they were able to manipulate all of our report cards to allow us to "graduate" from the academy.

[ ... ]

When I say it all out loud like that, it does sound kind of ridiculous.

[ktiseos]

It certainly does. I cannot imagine-

[whatever else he has to say about the school, it's interrupted!

thank god you know the lore so i can just give you this cutscene which by default includes the lore.

the memory ends after emet-selch storms out of the meeting, hythlodaeus on his heels, and in the wake of it--

he's quiet, a hand over his face.]

[highestheim]

. . .

[ you know. hope would normally be a little more sympathetic to emet's bewilderment, but given that time travel is his Special Interest, well. sorry my dude, he is going full academic mode once the vision finishes. ]

So that visitor of yours claimed to be from the future of your world, sent back in time to try and find a way to avert its destruction... interesting.

[ktiseos]

To avert its destruction in their future. But for the future they claim to hail from to exist--

The world will be destroyed in my time, first.

week 6: wednesday

[highestheim]

[ people are stuck in the mausoleum? don't know em. maybe hope and emet are taking a break from saving and being saved, because sometimes shenanigans are tiring, especially when you're dead.

somewhere outside, most likely, hope approaches the ancient, head slightly canted in a way that favors his good eye. ]

Emet-Selch? Do you have a moment?

[ktiseos]

I do, yes.

[he's in the garden! he likes to vibe out here... it's the most peaceful place, he thinks.]

What did you need?

[highestheim]

Well... for one, I've been asked to deliver a message.

Lup says hi.

[ did you know flurry literally sent this letter a minute after i posted the starter ]

[ktiseos]

-she does?

[he seems a bit surprised by this, blinking a couple of times, before he exhales.]

....well. She could have said as much herself.

[highestheim]

She said she hasn't had the courage to send you a letter.

[ ... ]

You don't need to tell me anything about what might have brought this about, of course. I just thought it was my due diligence to pass it on.

[ktiseos]

I would assume from Mollymauk murdering me. I told her I knew they would not be pursuing him...

[a slight shake of his head, as he plucks a couple of flowers.]

I've sent her information regardless, at the least.

[highestheim]

[ there's a noticeable hesitance in hope's voice when he next speaks, like he's trying to be careful about what he says. ]

I know we didn't get to know each other all too well before my death, so I'm sorry if this comes off as intrusive or insensitive, but... is everything all right? Other than our current state of being, of course, but it seems to me that you've been distracted by something a little more than just that as of late.

[ktiseos]

I am fine.

[it's such a reflexive thing, at this point.]

...at least, there is naught to be done of it. Not that I have found thus far.