GRAVEKEEPER.

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GRAVEKEEPER

Today, when Jason is in his bedroom, he will receive a message on his typewriter.

Are we interrupting? Well, whatever. Your presence is required at the moment. Hope you aren't afraid of the dark.

Immediately after he finishes reading the message, he will feel compelled to walk into the elevator, inside which a shadowy elevator attendant appears as a guide. Once Jason arrives at the destination, he will find himself standing just beyond the iron fence of the graveyard.

It feels particularly eerie on this fine Tuesday - a low wind whistles through the graveyard, rustling trees no one can see, and the moon is shining high and bright overhead.

Standing tall and proud is Orion, holding a shovel in their hands, the spade of it touching the ground. They don't seem to have much to say, simply glancing from Jason over to their companion. With them is Aquarius, seated on top of a gravestone to be just slightly taller than Orion. They, too, have a shovel in their hands, the spade resting against their shoulder.

"Thanks for coming," Aquarius says in a tone that implies they're aware it wasn't by choice.

Orion reaches into their uniform, and pulls out a sheath of papers, and speaks.

"...You've been tasked with an additional duty. Read the contract between the lines, but - keep in mind that there will be consequences if you choose to disagree."

RULES

1. The Gravekeeper is required to keep maintenance of the graves in the graveyard.
2. On Tuesday, the Gravekeeper will select one participant to remove from the hotel to ensure a proper fit to the open graves available.
2A: The Gravekeeper may occasionally have an additional selection made for them, per the discretion of hotel staff.
3. Interference can only be done through the tools of the Gravekeeper trade. The interlopers will not be aware of your interference.
4. The interlopers will be placed into boxes Thursday evening and dealt with accordingly.
5. On Friday morning, the interlopers will be released from their boxes.
6. The Gravekeeper must make their decision as to their power by Thursday evening.
7. The Gravekeeper is not to disclose that they are performing these duties. Discussing them with anyone other than authorized Hotel Staff, including the interlopers, will be considered breach of contract and will result in the death of ROY HARPER.

N̸A̵V̴I̶G̶A̶T̴I̴O̸N̷.̷

█ LOCATIONS █ STATUSES █ PROFILES █ AUDIENCES
█ REPORTING █ PRIVATE CONVOS █ MURDER

Comments

[unrecked]

[Patpat. He turns around to sit on some empty space of the same stone, putting himself between Aquarius and Orion.]

I mean, I'm not a fan of this place, but haven't I always been in a decent mood? You alright?

[It feels like Aquarius has depression.]

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[what else is new? but that's not today and instead they're sort of staying where they're at and nodding slowly.]

I guess that's true. [jason is usually kind of a brat, so that tracks.] Fine though. Just sorta tired. [but they sit up and roll their shoulders back a little.] Have you put thought into a pick for the week?

[unrecked]

You need to get some better sleep.

[He puts his hands on their back at the shoulders and kneads it a bit, once, mostly since they were rolling them.]

I don't know if there's much thought I can put into them any week. It's like throwing darts and hoping you get a bullseye really. Maybe I'll do Harrow... or Yoo. Or... I don't know. Might do Dimitri.

He did tell me he was afraid one day he'll go too far.

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I don't want to hear that from you. [no bite to it. unsurprisingly, there are knots and tension in their shoulders and while they're a little tense from the touch they allow it anyway.]

Never been good at darts, but I get your point. [...] When did he tell you that? What was the context?

[unrecked]

[Tense baby. Jason won't bother them more, though.]

Sharing is caring week. I saw something from him. Him being in a war, or something. [A small shrug. He folds his fingers together over his thighs.] We were talking about... like... being angry, going too far.

When he was fighting the war, he was kind of... relishing it? He felt proud, I mean. Which is understandable when you're doing army stuff. You never want to think what you're doing is wrong. Then he started to realize... the people on the other side were people, too. They had families, they were sons, and brothers, and wives, things like that. But he said there's still a part of him that enjoys it, and it scares him.

I wonder if the shadows would take advantage of it, is all.

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[thanks jason. aquarius sort of shifts so they're half-sitting and half-laying on the stone they're on though.]

...that is the trouble with anger, yeah. Sometimes you go too far and you can never take those actions back. Power is equally dangerous in the wrong hands. [they sound sort of pensive about it.]

Like always, I can't tell you what to do. You just have to make your best judgment based on what you know about people. You've been observing for a while, haven't you?

[unrecked]

[He kind of just flicks his hands open and up, struggles to figure out how to be optimistic about literally any of this.]

And? There's... who? Sieghart? Clementine? Kaeya or Diluc? Kazunari? Sheila? Probably one or two others we didn't catch. It feels like roulette.

[He reaches up to rub his hands in the nooks of his face, then sweeps them back through his hair with a sigh.]

It's fine.

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[well don't ask them, they're garbage at optimism. it's why they keep their mouth shut, taking a moment to assess their thoughts.]

...it's not an easy job. I think both of us get it if it's less than fine. [both being themselves and orion.] You at least know what happens to them now, so if anything...you can think about that part.

[unrecked]

[Yeah. He does. Wonderful. That just makes his job harder!!]

Why do you think I haven't thrown Cloud or Lup in? [Another sigh, but resigned and quieter this time.] I'll... figure something out. Throw a guess in.

[He is quiet for a long moment, then glaces at them.]

Lup told me something.

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Because you like them too much. [bluntly. but they turn their head to look at him a little closer.] Against my better judgment sometimes...I trust whatever decision you make.

[it's kinda like high praise. but they pause, trying to see where this goes.]

What'd she say?

[unrecked]

[He GRUNTS at the accusation because he has no excuse for it, and he will just be flustered lying about it.

THIS HIGH PRAISE WHEN JASON IS SO STUPID. Blessed.

He looks out across the cemetery into the distance.]

That she had extra duties. She scared me, telling me.

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[to be fair aquarius is kind of stupid too. but they pause and lean their chin on their hand.]

Ah. So what are you thinking now? What all did she actually say? [...] It's probably a little alarming to know someone else is out there.

[unrecked]

Well… I figured there were. We had several on the island, but I just… I guess... I didn’t think it would be her.

Though, when Sheila came back… I had a feeling it may have been the doing of someone from the station. It could be coincidence, but… between Cloud and Sheila…

[He shrugs slightly, then laughs under his breath.]

She’s the one protecting people. Two for Thursday, two for Sunday. Throwing darts like me.

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...funny how it works, right? Being with someone who can save people when all you can do is potentially stop them. [they seem to think about that, a little distracted, a little unsure.]

I'm glad she was able to tell you. It's not an easy burden.

[unrecked]

I know, but—why me? She said she could only tell one person, but… Out of all the people she could have told?

[He rubs his hand back through his hair again.]

I didn’t even have any good advice.

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[they sort of just stare into the void and find this whole conversation very, very familiar and they hate that actually.]

Because she trusts you, dummy. Maybe it's not even about having advice. It's just...you make her comfortable. Even if you don't think you do or should.

[unrecked]

[LMAO AAAAAA very funny. Aquarius suffers in all things. Sorry Jason is a familiar idiot.]

I guess…

[He sounds like he accepts this answer, but also? Is… shy? Sounding kind of shy. Looking kind of boyish and stupid here.]

I thought we couldn’t talk about this…?

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[aquarius: i see myself in this picture and i don't like it.

except then jason does that and they're reminded of another idiot and they hate it, thanks.]

...you never asked before now.

[unrecked]

[Just

turns and gives them a LOOK. It’s not really at them so much as the situation.]

You’ve got to be kidding me. But the rules said!

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[they hum a little at that.]

The rules said, but the Nightman does reward effort. Just like any other job. You earn seniority, you're able to make an addendum. If that's something you're interested in.

[unrecked]

[He frowns a little. It looks like he’s a bit wary of this.]

A little late. […] How am I supposed to get seniority putting people in the dirt? Lup has been lucky enough to save two people, but I haven’t put a single right person in the ground yet.

There’s no way I could for it to matter before the game’s up. So it doesn’t matter, I guess.

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You've been at this for how many weeks? It counts in that regard. And you just said it...that was all luck. Both of you are only working based on luck.

[unrecked]

Yeah, but—

[He shakes his head.]

I still don’t think it matters. I don’t think it benefits anyone for me to tell someone what I do. Not unless they somehow had a way to help me.

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[they watch him for a while.]

...I'm not going to be the one to tell you if you should or shouldn't ask. [softly. they leave it at that for a moment.] But the choice is yours.

[unrecked]

Why do you make this sound like one of those crappy deals? I can ask, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to tell anyone else.

[He glances at them.]

How many people can I tell?

[Very funny if it’s zero.]