GRAVEYARD

[cartesio]

The other side...?

Have you started feeling at home in Cartesio yet? The town has offered you every hospitality that its citizens could think of. They love every corner of this town and they want you to feel the same. Have you accepted Cartesio into your heart yet?

Then it should be comforting to wake in your hotel room. A ceiling you have gotten used to, the warmth of a blanket surrounding you, your own breathing... and silence. All-encompassing silence.
It perseveres when you leave your room, it perseveres when you leave the hotel... Cartesio is quiet because there is nobody in Cartesio who could be making noise. It's a ghost town.

There is only you now, you think. And then, just as you've given up, a noise comes to your ears. A voice, unmistakably. It's time to follow it.

As of Week 5 you may see random objects and buildings of any size flicker. For milli-seconds they seem to glow on and off, blur around the edges, even distort a little. It only happens for a moment at a time, but it happens fairly often.

Welcome to the Cartesio Graveyard. Your character has woken up in a version of the town that is devoid of citizens, but there do seem to be a few people around. Time to explore the mysteries of the other side. For a more thorough OOC guide, we have compiled an FAQ.

Links

Graveyard FAQ
Living Community

Comments

[icariot]

[The muscles in his back tense from frustration and Hawks grits his teeth before speaking] There was much more happening back home I haven’t told anyone, that’s what. Maybe Dabi has suspicions, but guesses only get you so far.

[kingbomber]

[ Bakugou feels a string of confusion amongst the anger, and for a moment it even shows on his face, before the anger comes back. What is all this bullshit all of a sudden? What is he saying? Now he's wondering what the hell is Hawks' aim. ]

So that's why you decided it'd be a great idea to team up with a villain and kill some innocent people on top of other reasons filled to the brim with complete and utter bullshit. Fucking amazing! Way to prove how stupid you can be.

[ ... ]

And I don't know what the hell you're getting at here, but what's the fucking point if you're just beating around the bush, huh?! Unlike you, I'm not the type of person who thinks of shitty mastermind plots or betraying people just because I fucking can.

[icariot]

You think I’ve had a choice in joining these messes? I haven’t made my own choices since I was a kid, easily half your age. I saved some people from a car accident and the Hero Commission said I have to be a hero, so here I am. [This is getting very personal now, so Hawks will take his chances with that rock and approach. His voice also gets quieter, but no less intense. This would have been better in an enclosed place, but quiet will have to work.] I made further mistakes when I paid attention ta your class at USJ. Then I couldn’t make it ta Kamino ta help save you, so the Commission said I should make use of myself. Someone ta walk into the lion’s den, and convince ‘em a bird wants a pride instead of a flock.

[A deep breath. He’s trying to be plain here Bakugou, without being too unfront. He’s been dodging the truth for so long it’s hard to suddenly spill it all.] I was never going ta come outta this as the number two hero. Either I was exposed and offed by the League, or I get enough information ta the Pros and still go down as a turncoat to ‘em and society. Even before the mess this place is, I’ve been doomed.

[He’s not going to say it quite yet, but the escalating him and Dabi got into personally didn’t help his inner conflicts. He fell hard, and it’s hard to remain detached and heroically let yourself be sacrificed when there’s something that’s so entangled with your heart.]

[kingbomber]

[ That story except in more detail now; he remembered hearing the townspeople talking about it and then before he knew it, he was blowing shit up. His stomach turns when Kamino is brought up, enough to keep him quiet and as he listens to what Hawks is saying he grits his teeth. A traitorous thought emerged within him; if he hadn't been so weak and gotten captured...All Might and Hawks wouldn't be -

No, he can't think like that. He'll save it for later...or try to. ]

So, you're saying you were forced to be a traitor.

...Not that it'll magically excuse everything you did. You still went and decided to kill people yourself, no ome fucking FORCED you to do that! That wasn't anyone's choice but your own, got it?!

[ Somehow this does change things somewhat, though. He'd assumed Hawks had been a traitor for his own gain. Part of him still didn't want to believe him, but it didn't make sense for him to lie. He would never say he's feeling any semblance of relief, either. Because mostly he's still pissed off. ]

...I only don't get why you think the Commmission wouldn't keep you from taking the fall if you did your job. If they were going to force you, wouldn't they at least fucking bother to keep your ass from being revealed like that?

[icariot]

[Hawks will have some words when Bakugou tries to say it was totally because of Kamino— Hawks had been in deep already before that, there was just no return once Kamino happened.

Hawks feels his own anger cool slightly, He can work better with the topics shifting more. Still not the best, but he feels like he’s over the first hurdle. And less likely to get concussed by a rock.]

I was forced into being a double agent. The traitor part depends on who you ask. As for Wayne... no hard feelings towards him, I just... I couldn’t leave the Sergeant’s threat hanging. One life on my conscious seemed like a ...manageable sacrifice. Especially with all the ghost nonsense going around. [tiredly, Hawks rubs his hand over his face, a bitter chuckle leaking out] Geez, I sound just like them, don’t I...?

[Working to compose himself again, Hawks rolls his shoulder to try and loosen the tension there, and to cover for his wings mantling defensively.] How much do you know of politics, kid? Because the answer to that question boils down to politics and covering their asses.

[kingbomber]

[ Bakugou actually releases a breath, and for the most part his body's still tensed up, but it's evidently not like it was at the beginning of the confrontation. He feels kind of like sitting down now, but he's decided he still has an image to uphold (nothing as grand as Hawks', mind you, but more or less his pride rearing it's head again) especially while they're talking serious matters. ]

It was still one hell of a dumbass decision. Even knowing ghosts exist or not - shit's tenuous in this place as it is. I thought at worst you'd actually just wait for someone else to do it, and then you'd half-ass the patrol that work or something. [ ... ] And who's 'them', huh?

[ Suffice to say he really didn't expect Hawks to kill anyone unless it was an issue of self-defense. As for politics, Bakugou never had much interest or patience in that, and honestly he's not afraid to admit it. He never considered it important, but apparently these people add to the pieces of shit of society, so now he actually needs to pay attention. ]

I know jack shit about stupid ass crap like politics. But I'd like to see them try to cover their asses when everything's too busy exploding in their faces. They can't just have their fucking cake and eat it without consequences.

[icariot]

I know it's 'dumb,' that doesn't change that I'm human and can make bad decisions that look like the best one at the time. [Newsflash Bakugou, feelings are dumb, and just because they are proheroes doesn't mean they're safe from their clutches.] Surely you of all people can't have expected me to be passive with a threat like the Sergeant gave.

[A pained expression flashes across Hawks' face before he settles it as well as he can into a neutral look.] "Them" is the Hero Commission. That's exactly what they want-- if the League is taken out through my work, I'm going to have to act pretty damn villainous. And they wouldn't want whatever actions I take to be considered sanctioned by them, since that would open a lot of problems for them over their previous and future choices.

[Hawks pauses, gathering his thoughts for how he's going to continue. He scuffs one foot on the ground and gives a bitter chuckle before picking up his explanation again.]

I was already investigating the League on my own, right after USJ. If they can't denounce me as a villain or sympathetic to them in the case of things going wrong, they're gonna to say I acted alone, unsanctioned, and let the public have at me. No one could say otherwise too, considering even Endeavor only knows I did it on my own.

[kingbomber]

Tch...! Still, shouldn't you know better than anyone else other than give into a villain's demands, damnit! You wouldn't be dead if you'd just fucking ignored him!

[ He knew Proheroes could make stupid decisions, but this kind didn't occur to him at all, and it's utterly frustrating to him - it's frustrating because he can see normal people doing this. But not someone like Hawks.

Is it because he put him on a pedestal? Bakugou brings his hand up and at the last minute turns to toss the rock angrily across the pond. Look at that, 22 skips! ]

As far as I'm considered they can go ahead and all go fuck themselves. If they decided to set it up like that and forced you to act as their double-agent they should be prepared to face the fucking consequences.

[icariot]

I'm as human as you are. I'm not infallible, by any definition of the word. And I still could have been dead, considering I doubt he would want a prohero around as long as I have been, let alone when whatever comes at the end of the month entails.

[He hasn't forgotten there was a weird two-month deadline. It should be coming up soon...

Hey! No more threats of getting hit with the rock! That's a bright spot of the day.]

If you want to be a pro, kid, you're going to have to learn to play at politics or manage to change the system. One of those is a helluva lot harder than the other.

[Hawks is slowly edging into just being tired at this point. There's no good way to justify the Commission's actions, especially considering Hawks doesn't like them either.]

[kingbomber]

'At the end of the month' people who don't have a medal stay here, and people who do get out. That's what he's aiming for, at least.

[ Bakugou hasn't forgotten what the other man said about it. For...most people, anyway.

It seems clearing some things up seems to have mostly thawed things through, even if him being upset now is mostly about Hawks getting himself dead. ]

I know you're human, but it doesn't mean you're not...you know what I fucking mean! Whatever. He wouldn't have tried to kill you off unless you broke a rule or something.

[ He's having such a hard time with this, and honestly he's tired himself, even if he'd die before admitting to that. He'll just blame Dabi for this and call it a day. If that ass wasn't here, Hawks would be alive. To that last bit, he is undeniably sulking by now, evident by his answer (which he knows isn't the right one but the imagery is satisfying) here: ]

Or I could just need to slam an explosion into every single one of their faces and call it a fucking day, saving a lot of trouble in the long run.