mayorityvote | Your New Life

Another New Life

You wake up to the sound of surf, much, much closer than you've ever heard it unless you moseyed down to Puffin Pier back in the old days. What old days...? Why, the days when you had a body, of course. The memories are probably coming back by now, jumbled along with everything else you lost. What a wake-up call.

But at least the ocean is real, unlike your dubiously fragmented remembrances. This little island out in the middle of nowhere sports a crude sign reading ~~DUCK~~ DAMNED ISLAND that seems like it's really railing against whatever fate you've been left to. There are little seashells and sparkling fragments amongst the sand to the left of your face. If you look further, to the left and right, it seems you're not the only one who's woken up here; it's considerably less cushy than your last wakeup, but maybe that's not a bad thing.

Here, you're free, albeit... kind of incorporeal, as you'll soon find out. The island is covered in pretty little trees that don't quite form a forest, bowed over the really beautiful sandy beach that is way prettier than the one on the mainland. One, slightly rickety treehouse -- bare of anything, because incorporeal ghosts don't need furniture, of course -- peeks out from between the leaves. This is, apparently, your home away from home now.

Finally, there's a small bay-like area on the island that leads you to a strange-looking storm drain, marked with a symbol that's not-quite-an-apple. Stepping in will wash you alllllll the way back up to Puffin Pier, right where the sewers normally let out.

Oh, and once you step onto the mainland? You're now a duck. What kind of quacking afterlife is this.

((OOC: the tldr; about death is here!))

Main Nav Week Two

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[ Bibi blinks. This is so esoteric, it's hard to fit into any of her pre-existing ideas of how to handle this situation. A second personality...? A curse...? It's not much of a stretch after all else that has happened, but it still feels totally out of left field. ]

So you killed me because... you like me?

[ Taking Amy out of the equation for a moment because she is getting the sinking feeling that Amy was collateral to this equation. ]

Yes.

[As contradictory as that is.]

[ 'In times of danger, the body moves on its own. That's what love is.'

Bibi's own words run through her head, unbidden. This is not really the type of situation she had in mind, and it's not even strictly speaking comparable but...

Damn.

If she were corporeal, there'd have been a 'flomp' as she flops down onto her butt on the sand. It's a lot to take in. ]

... why'd you have to go and get Amy involved in it.

[ The heat's gone missing from her words. ]

She was there.

[He doesn’t remember, but he can piece together the logic enough to give her answers.]

…In the way, I’d guess.

[It’s an unsatisfactory response for anyone - and he anticipates that fire to be reignited, for Bibi to finally - finally take it all out on him.

So he leaves it there, waiting.]

[ To be loved so much that someone has no choice but to kill you... For Bibi, who's only reliable source of affection in most of her life was a dead bunny, this is a lot to take in. To be loved like that, just for cooking for someone, for laughing with someone...

She always felt a bit forlorn at Camilla's house, among people to whom the idea of a happy family came so effortlessly. Corpse Flower Farm isn't like that. Everyone is their own kind of broken and frankly, they'd all be hopeless without Bibi anyway.

She'd been happy, too. It had been so much fun. ]

... it'd have been a really good death otherwise. I hope it was thrilling, taking my heart. I know I might have been so excited I might have just burst.

However...

[ However! ]

You did hurt Amy on the way, so as soon as I figure out how to harm a ghost I'm going to put knives through your hands and rip out your fingernails one by one.

[Her response is both what Beelzebub anticipated - and what he didn’t. How could any of it be a good death?

- But then comes Bibi’s threats of violence for hurting Amy, and then there’s something familiar. Expected. Something he knows how to respond to.

Which he does, with a smile.]

I’ll take it. Whatever you want to do.

[He’ll take it all, whatever he can do to pay for what he’s done.]

Good! Not that you'll have much of a choice!

[ She's lost to Satan once, but she's not going to make the same mistakes twice! She knows better than to underestimate his physical strength now! ]

Because really... I wanted to keep living like that, too, so I'm quite displeased that it was all messed up!

[Hearing that Bibi felt the same…hurts, actually. They could’ve been happy, maybe. They could’ve held onto it for a bit longer, at least.

It only twists the knife of regret further in his chest.]

…I’m sorry. I almost broke our house rule, too.

[It’s such a ridiculous thing to bring up, and the least of what he needs to apologise for, but…]

Yeah, that was pretty scummy! If we hadn't made a run for it, you'd have left such a mess!

[ Fortunately(?) Bibi is the exact brand of insane to still care about this even in the wake of everything else.

And it feels kind of good to snap these meaningless complaints at Beelzebub - just mundane enough to feel like it's both honoring the horrible crime committed while also not cutting off their relationship entirely. ]

[It feels - well, not exactly good - but certainly reassuring to be on the receiving end of these complaints.]

Until you figure out how to hurt me, I can stay out of your way. We might be stuck here, but…you don’t have to deal with me.

[ ..... hey, this isn't how this is meant to go. How is it meant to go? Bibi has no idea. ]

No.

[ 'I don't want to see you. When I look at you, I see you snapping Amy's neck and it makes me sick.'

And yet. ]

Absolutely not.

[There's a moment of silence as Beelzebub processes. Did he hear that right?]

...What?

[ Bibi takes a moment to really contemplate where her kneejerk reaction comes from. It's time to think out loud! ]

You did something that hurt me very badly. I've done something like that to my only family before, and he declared me a monster and tossed me away. I don't know if that made him happy - I don't think it did. I hope it didn't.

Someone close to her has also hurt Amy very badly before, and they vanished from her sight forever since then. That hasn't made Amy happy either. Amy's still haunted by their ghost wherever she goes.

[ That's a foundation. Bibi looks out at the sea - it makes it easier to think. His face is distracting. ]

So, what's the point of tossing you away now? I was having fun when we lived together. I don't want to end it like 'and then he killed me and everything associated with it is tainted forever, The End'. We're done when I say I've had enough of you. Not a minute earlier.

[Beelzebub doesn't follow Bibi's gaze, instead taking the opportunity to actually, properly, look at her this time. He's hung his head low for too much of this conversation. And, as she speaks, he has to make sure it's actually her saying them - he can scarcely believe what she's coming out with.

He never did imagine he'd get a second chance.

Despite it all, despite everything he's done, despite what he feels he deserves, a smile begins to grace his lips.]

...You really are forceful. [The way he says it so fondly, it can only be a compliment.] Very well then. Until you've had enough of me.

[ It's probably abnormal how relieved this makes her feel - but then, Bibi's never been normal. Being a freak who doesn't and cannot fit in has served her well enough (?) until now, why feel self-conscious about it now? ]

Good boy!

[ And despite it all, she gives him a genuine smile. She's mad at him. She's, if she's totally honest with herself, a bit scared of him. But she knows now that she has time to sort through that and that is what matters. ]

If Satan tries to kill me again, maybe he'll give me some helpful tips on ghost violence in the process.

[It's funny, to be talking about it so flippantly. But in a way, it's freeing too. Like a great weight has been taken from his shoulders.]

Whatever he tries to do to you, you're welcome to do back tenfold.

[And that's a promise!]

Though, I'd hardly expect him to get the better of you twice.

Yep. I have a good estimate of your body strength now, and I know better than to fully let my guard down.

[ As much as it pains her to admit, she really had been underestimating him - or overestimating herself. Being the best at violence is kind of easy mode when you're in a high school full of gangly teenagers with normal moral inhibitions. ]

Your New Life

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1/2

cw threats of torture

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