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event } take me down to paradise city (part one)
WHO: All passengers signed up to skate on over to Xanadu.
WHAT: Ya (fake) dead. Enjoy your (fake) afterlife!
WHERE: Anywhere in the city!
WHEN: First week of the event (Feb. 20-27).
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! Please don’t get yourself killed right away but if you can’t resist please make sure to fill out the death page.
You return to consciousness bathed in pleasantly glowing light and find yourself seated in a comfortable chair in the center of an arena. There’s soft, dreamy pop music playing quietly, and you feel calm, entirely at peace despite your strange surroundings. You feel no reason to stir from your chair or investigate what’s happening - probably because you’ve been drugged into a docile state. Don’t worry, it’ll wear off eventually. For now, you feel content to sit and wait for what happens next.
While you wait, if you look around, you’ll see the stadium seats are packed with people, their chatter a quiet hum behind the music. There is a raised platform in front of you where three people of ambiguous gender dressed in regal robes are seated in high-backed chairs, and above them, some kind of hovering screen displays a generic welcome message in stark lettering. You’ll also discover that you are one of several people seated in the center of the arena. Again, you may wonder where you are and why you’re here, since you don’t remember arriving, but you do not feel any initiative to find the answers to those questions. All will be answered in time.
A triumphant fanfare sounds, and the arena goes quiet, still except for the person on the platform seated in the middle, who stands and steps forward. They give a hearty welcome to the crowd gathered, and an extra special welcome to the small group on the ground, then introduce themself and the other two as the City Council, a group appointed to ensure everything here is kept in smooth running order. This city, they explain, is called Xanadu, and it is a place of perfect bliss that is home to only the most exemplary individuals who have moved to the next stage of their existence - in other words, the afterlife. Yes, you are all dead, but you have been given a place in paradise for the rest of eternity. Isn’t that nice?
The crowd in the stadium breaks into a wave of thunderous applause, soon quieted by the Council member speaking with a wave of their hand. They continue, explaining that you’ll be shown to your new homes and introduced to your soulmates, a partner who has been determined as perfectly compatible with each individual’s essence. A small group of volunteers has gathered at the base of the podium, ready to guide each pair to their new home as they’re called forward, one by one:
Julia Bellamy and Lady
Near and Matt
Mammon and Alex Reagan
Juuzou Suzuya and Kankri Vantas
Murmur and Jonathan Sims
Congratulations, and again, welcome to Xanadu!
Volunteers lead each pair of soulmates to one of the small, pastel-colored houses situated in a cul-de-sac in one of the nearby neighborhoods. Furnishings and the shag carpeting inside are plain and beige, but the volunteer-guide explains that they can be personalized to the inhabitants’ liking by making requests from the magic closet. These closets will instantly produce clothing and whatever other items you’d like. Likewise, whatever foods you most desire will be found in the fridge or cooking in the oven whenever you ask for it. Both the closets and the kitchens run on technology that is new to Xanadu, and some of the kinks still need to be worked out, so requested items may not be exactly as you asked for. But hey, you’re in paradise! You’ll be fine.
The guide goes on to explain that there isn’t much in the way of technology to be found anywhere in the city - no phones, no computers, and none of the stresses that come as part of the package, and requests for such items from the closets will encounter errors. This is all for the common good, of course. But who needs electronic devices when you have a beautiful city to explore? The city itself is massive, designed in a glitzy late 70s-early 80s roller disco aesthetic, enclosed in a shimmering golden dome, full of glittering skyscrapers and lush public gardens. Soft rock music floats through the air via hidden speakers to set the mood. The weather here is always pleasantly perfect early summer, and the atmosphere is pristine - not a single trace of smog or other pollution. That’s because there are no manufacturing plants or vehicles to be found anywhere in the city. Modes of transportation in Xanadu are pedal bicycles, your own two feet, and roller skates. Strap on a pair and roll around the neighborhoods, or to cover longer distances, head down to an electric rail station, where you will strap in and be pulled along to your destination on your skates at high speed.
By the time the orientation is over and the guide has departed, leaving you to get to know your soulmate and settle in to the comforts of eternal paradise, that drug you’d been given will have worn off. So, newlydeads, what will you do next?
WHAT: Ya (fake) dead. Enjoy your (fake) afterlife!
WHERE: Anywhere in the city!
WHEN: First week of the event (Feb. 20-27).
WARNINGS: Add these to your comment subject lines as needed! Please don’t get yourself killed right away but if you can’t resist please make sure to fill out the death page.
You return to consciousness bathed in pleasantly glowing light and find yourself seated in a comfortable chair in the center of an arena. There’s soft, dreamy pop music playing quietly, and you feel calm, entirely at peace despite your strange surroundings. You feel no reason to stir from your chair or investigate what’s happening - probably because you’ve been drugged into a docile state. Don’t worry, it’ll wear off eventually. For now, you feel content to sit and wait for what happens next.
While you wait, if you look around, you’ll see the stadium seats are packed with people, their chatter a quiet hum behind the music. There is a raised platform in front of you where three people of ambiguous gender dressed in regal robes are seated in high-backed chairs, and above them, some kind of hovering screen displays a generic welcome message in stark lettering. You’ll also discover that you are one of several people seated in the center of the arena. Again, you may wonder where you are and why you’re here, since you don’t remember arriving, but you do not feel any initiative to find the answers to those questions. All will be answered in time.
A triumphant fanfare sounds, and the arena goes quiet, still except for the person on the platform seated in the middle, who stands and steps forward. They give a hearty welcome to the crowd gathered, and an extra special welcome to the small group on the ground, then introduce themself and the other two as the City Council, a group appointed to ensure everything here is kept in smooth running order. This city, they explain, is called Xanadu, and it is a place of perfect bliss that is home to only the most exemplary individuals who have moved to the next stage of their existence - in other words, the afterlife. Yes, you are all dead, but you have been given a place in paradise for the rest of eternity. Isn’t that nice?
The crowd in the stadium breaks into a wave of thunderous applause, soon quieted by the Council member speaking with a wave of their hand. They continue, explaining that you’ll be shown to your new homes and introduced to your soulmates, a partner who has been determined as perfectly compatible with each individual’s essence. A small group of volunteers has gathered at the base of the podium, ready to guide each pair to their new home as they’re called forward, one by one:
Near and Matt
Mammon and Alex Reagan
Juuzou Suzuya and Kankri Vantas
Murmur and Jonathan Sims
Congratulations, and again, welcome to Xanadu!
Volunteers lead each pair of soulmates to one of the small, pastel-colored houses situated in a cul-de-sac in one of the nearby neighborhoods. Furnishings and the shag carpeting inside are plain and beige, but the volunteer-guide explains that they can be personalized to the inhabitants’ liking by making requests from the magic closet. These closets will instantly produce clothing and whatever other items you’d like. Likewise, whatever foods you most desire will be found in the fridge or cooking in the oven whenever you ask for it. Both the closets and the kitchens run on technology that is new to Xanadu, and some of the kinks still need to be worked out, so requested items may not be exactly as you asked for. But hey, you’re in paradise! You’ll be fine.
The guide goes on to explain that there isn’t much in the way of technology to be found anywhere in the city - no phones, no computers, and none of the stresses that come as part of the package, and requests for such items from the closets will encounter errors. This is all for the common good, of course. But who needs electronic devices when you have a beautiful city to explore? The city itself is massive, designed in a glitzy late 70s-early 80s roller disco aesthetic, enclosed in a shimmering golden dome, full of glittering skyscrapers and lush public gardens. Soft rock music floats through the air via hidden speakers to set the mood. The weather here is always pleasantly perfect early summer, and the atmosphere is pristine - not a single trace of smog or other pollution. That’s because there are no manufacturing plants or vehicles to be found anywhere in the city. Modes of transportation in Xanadu are pedal bicycles, your own two feet, and roller skates. Strap on a pair and roll around the neighborhoods, or to cover longer distances, head down to an electric rail station, where you will strap in and be pulled along to your destination on your skates at high speed.
By the time the orientation is over and the guide has departed, leaving you to get to know your soulmate and settle in to the comforts of eternal paradise, that drug you’d been given will have worn off. So, newlydeads, what will you do next?
no subject
None of it felt good and Matt just nodded his head in reply. There wasn't anything that he wanted more than to tell him he was being an idiot but Mello's feelings were paramount. Paramount and he was throwing his words at him. If it wasn't for the words thrown at him, he might have honestly given in.
"...Because selfish bitches don't make my decisions for me. I make my own decisions." He opened his mouth to say something else and stood up instead, drawing a deep sigh in and letting it out slowly. Setting some of the glass aside, Matt's eyes looked on at broken items, feeling their state all too well. "I know how I've felt about you and about your mission to beat Near since I was a kid, Mello. What I've never been able to figure out is how you felt since all you've ever done is chase Near. I've always been there, but it was always him you saw-- see."
no subject
Does that answer his question, then? Does he have stronger feelings for Matt, or is he stricken with another layer of guilt for treating his friend so poorly? Mello is afraid to admit it, even to himself, but he thinks it's both.
Slowly, he stands up and sets the pile of shards in his hand on top of the cabinet. Cleanup can wait; resolving this tension between them is more important. Matt is more important, and Mello turns to him wearing a sincere expression of sorrowful remorse. How has he been so blind, so stupid, for so many years?
"I see you, Matt." Better now than ever before, and Mello silently vows to never take Matt for granted again. He can do better - he can be better, and after everything Matt's done for him, Mello owes him at least that much - more, if he's honest with himself about it. He may not be able to ever truly make things right between them, but he won't stop trying.
There isn't much Mello will apologize for; he believes that even his worst actions have been justified in the name of reaching his goals, but he genuinely regrets how he's behaved with Matt. He effortlessly closes the distance between them so he can study his friend's face for a moment, searching for an answer he already knows. Mello isn't typically at a loss for words, but in this moment, he doesn't trust that any words he could summon up to explain his feelings wouldn't only do harm.
So he keeps it simple: "I'm sorry." And he leans in to show (not tell) Matt how he feels about him with a gentle kiss pressed to his lips.
no subject
Hearing Mello say the words 'I see you' made his heart sink again. It wasn't about actually being seen or profiled. What he wanted was Mello to see them and with Mello's track record of sitting on the fence with them even in their older age before they both apparently fucking died and ended up in fake heaven with Near... No, that was the emotional part of him, the parts that Near was so much better at handling than him. The part that Mello was better at utilizing than him. Comparatively, he was normal in that aspect even if he was anything but emotionally stable ultimately.
Mello's steps were something he anticipated. He could calculate things that people were going to do as easily as the other two above him. 'Above' him. The looking at his face, the way he paused and the way he studied Matt. The quiet apology only broke his heart all the more. He couldn't even tell him what he was sorry for and yet when Mello leaned forward, Matt's body followed suit. It was second nature to want to hold the other successor, to let the tilt of his head meet a soft kiss in against the blonds lips in return.
The gentle press was turned to a little more languid for him and the more that he held the small kiss, the more Matt felt the shattered pieces of glass on the floor have more stability than his heart at that moment. There were less pieces from the broken cabinet even as he held Mello close. The warm of his body up against his chest did nothing to heal the pain he felt as he pulled away from Mello.
"...I know you are, Mello. In my heart of hearts I know you are." Finally, he replied and leaned his forehead against Mello's, eyes closed behind his goggles. Knowing fixed nothing. "But for..." Matt's eyes opened and lay directly in gaze with Mello's. This was the hardest thing he ever had to say. He had Mello right there, held warmly in his arms and content in said hold. However, the doubt remained and he knew it might have remained for Mello, too.
Matt wasn't ever big on tears or crying himself, he gave it up long before Wammy's, but he felt the strong urge as he kissed Mello one last time on the bridge of his nose. Ever careful of his scar, the linger of his lips left at the same time as he was slipping his arms away, at the same time as he made his uncertain legs take a small pivot to the side. Everything in his body screamed not to let go of Mello in that moment and his hands were forced into the compartment of his pockets. If he hadn't forced his hands in their prison, he didn't know if he would have the strength to be continuing what he had to say. The last time his voice had broken was many years back in his teenage years, but the obviously broken up inner war he was going through was evident in the way he spoke. He just wanted Mello. "But for my sake, you..." Matt swallowed hard, his eyes turned downward. Maybe that would help with the next words. "You need to figure out how you feel. Not how I want you feel. Maybe when you know, then I won't have room for doubting you're more than just sincerely sorry."