BRADLEY, YOU'RE DIVORCED BTW

[malewife]

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W0 : MONDAY

[malewife]

[ We got door 6...!

You open a door and find yourself at a funeral service of the type you would expect to see in the world you came from. There are shadowy figures that look like the silhouettes of people who care about you, both from your world and from your previous game. They are mourning in whichever way is most natural to them, their mannerisms just the way you remember. You can't hear them speak, but you feel their grief. When the ceremony comes to an end, you realize they are mourning you. Upon making that realization you find yourself back in the hall, disoriented and with a deep sense of loss. Only four minutes have passed.

We can start with Bradley's funeral? Joonghyuk looks around to see if he recognizes anyone here, the silhouettes, then looks down at himself to see he's wearing whatever is natural for wizards to wear for funerals.

Bradley may get the feeling of paranoia. ]

Looks like we're caught in something.

[battling]

[The vibe is unsettled.

Bradley knows those figures, Nero, Mitile, Chloe, Mandricardo, the other Sage's Wizards that care about him even a little bit. Of course, there's a lot of them missing. They keep their distances, they keep their walls. The sage himself is there, crying. Mitile and Chloe, sobbing, and Nero's shadow just seems stiff. The Nero figure looks like he's just barely holding back from screaming.

The outfits are almost robe-like.]

Figures. Startin' with the mind games early.

[malewife]

They think this can weaken us.

[ They come from murdergames where people died and came back? But also, he watches all these people he doesn't recognize mourn how they do aside from Nero. He doesn't look directly at him, only from the corner of his eye.

Frowns... ]

This is how they do funerals for wizards?

[battling]

We don't really do funerals. [Usually they barely even have community. Why would they have something like that?]

Wizards become mana stones when we die. There's nothing left of us once somebody eats it. [He says it as a matter of fact, because that's all it is to him. Whatever they're showing, it isn't real.]

[malewife]

[ If I played someone else they'd think that's weird, but Joonghyuk is like... Well. I guess vore is your wizard lore. ]

Wizards don't, but... [ He looks to the people grieving again. ] It seems you mourn all the same.

Is this what you want?

[battling]

[ Their endless wizard vore. Their wizard gacha.

He looks at the figures. Those who've died can't enforce their will. What he wants won't really matter once he's fully dead.

This living version of him? He's watching Nero and Mitile with a frown. ]

Not for them.

[malewife]

Don’t get into too much trouble or danger if you want something different.

[ Is there anything we want to see in this wizard death festival before the transition change. ]

[battling]

[His gaze settles on Nero and he says nothing.

There's nothin interesting for wizards, it's just people being sad.]

[malewife]

[ Joonghyuk opens his mouth, about to say it’s over, but then it washes away to a dystopia… Modern city in ruins, a makeshift funeral—old-fashioned burial.

Around are people that are not in the guest book. They all stay silent, try to keep stoic, but the three children… As hard as they want to be strong, a girl with light brown hair starts tearing up, but the boy tells her to stay strong.

The young girl with black pigtails yells at his grave, words muffled and silent. Eventually fellow adults talk to each other. They can’t hear anything, but they can feel the grief turning into desperation. They’re scheming. Planning. There’s hope in their sorrow… They’re going to try to bring him back, somehow, some way.

Emotion shared seeing this is despair. ]

[battling]

[ This looks more like what a human funeral would look like. He watches the figures before glancing at Joonghyuk.

There's a blip of forced calm on Bradley's end. ]

[malewife]

[ This is where a normal and sane person would say something uplifting, nice, or contemplative. ]

They're fools.

[battling]

For mourning?

Ain't that normal?

[malewife]

They're the type of people who would go to the ends of the universe to bring back what's gone back.

[ Foolish. ]

[battling]

Can they?

[ The dead don't just come back. Unless it's in one of these things. ]

[malewife]

They shouldn't.

[ That isn't a yes or a no. ]

They would devote their entire lives and beyond to find a way.

[battling]

[That's not a real answer.

But this is what mourning looks like for some people.]

'n how likely is it t' happen?

[malewife]

I've seen the consequences of a similar worldline.

[ aka it has happened before. ]

I hope your companions aren't similar.

[battling]

Can't resurrect the dead. The most ya can do is tie a ghost to yourself.

[malewife]

... That sounds lonely.

[battling]

It is what it is.

[It's lonely.]

[malewife]

Would you consider something like that for yourself?

[battling]

I'd hate if somebody did that to me.

[malewife]

But would you do that?

[battling]

I get why Snow did it.

[ He knows loss, he knows what it is to lose people. All his siblings he lost in his first century of life. ]

I wouldn't.

[malewife]

[ He goes quiet... Damn. He learned more about Bradley than he thought he would. There's a sprinkle of understanding. ]

I don't like this hotel already.

[ And they get kicked out into the hallway. ]