voice + text

[theferryman]

[You feel it before you hear it: an uncanny sensation like you aren't alone, like someone just out of sight has fixed their attention on you.

They're not hiding, though. The Ferryman is simply speaking, directly into all of your minds, as clear as if they were standing right beside you.]

It's starting.

Sorry. Was hoping you'd all have more time to rest before we got going. But when it's time, it's time.

We're going to Cross. Not now, but soon. You'll feel it when the moment gets here. And you need to be ready for what that means, when it does.

It's a dangerous journey. There's still a lot of yourself left to lose, even if it doesn't feel like it now. That's my role here. I can guide you through it. Keep you safe.

There's a cost. You'll have to give something up, a part of your life Before. A face. A feeling. A memory. That's your toll to Cross. You pay it to me, and you won't get it back.

You don't have to pay. But if you're not with me, I can't keep you safe. You'll have to make The Crossing on your own. And if you do, there's a chance you lose a whole lot more than what the toll is asking from you.

There's some time left still. You don't need to decide now. But you do need to decide. You'll find out soon what sort of toll The Crossing is asking for, this time around.

Come find me if you want to talk. I'll be where I always am.

[The connection is tenuous; message delivered, The Ferryman's voice fades from your mind. If you're quick, and you concentrate, you might be able to grab on long enough to ask a question or two more.

Otherwise, all that remains is the object that purports to connect you with the other souls, all tasked with making the same decision. Whether it's a page or a screen, there's a new message for you:]

A toll to be levied for safe passage
from the cavern to ǝɹǝɥʍǝsʅǝ

Hear a voice that causes you pain
words spoken with rage or grief or envy
fueled by hate or love or suffering

offer it to The Ferryman
and let go

---

[ ooc | And we're off! Remember: The Ferryman is (for now!) the only one who can communicate to everyone via voice; the rest of you are stuck with text! The only exception is if characters try to hijack the fading connection to talk with The Ferryman one-on-one; there's a header for those questions here.

Otherwise, consider this a mingle! Chat, threadhop, go nuts. ]

Comments

[solitarynote]

[Oh, that answer left anxiety rolling in his stomach. Sunny had to choose?]

I… don’t like that.

[He didn’t elaborate. Was it the fact they had to give up memories? Was it simply the choice?

Sunny also noticed the fact Nagito hadn’t answered his question. He wasn’t going to ask again - maybe it had been rude of him to ask at all.]

[blindluck]

Having to choose? You'd like it better if they just took something from you?

[An interesting perspective! Nagito can imagine some potential reasons for that.]

Loves Nagito playing all sides while not giving any answers XD

[solitarynote]

Maybe. I don’t know…

[Another noncommittal answer, but still. There was so much to choose from - even the act of choosing itself was causing him anxiety.]

Then… it would be gone. You wouldn’t know.

[It would be so much more convenient that way. To not realize you were missing something. To fall back into those pleasant daydreams, except this time there would be no Truth to be gleaned - because the Core would have been taken, carved away till no trace was left. Leaving only false happiness.]

this isn't a trial but also maybe it's a trial

[blindluck]

I don't think that's a guarantee. If it was something that was part of several other memories, you might notice something missing. Or if someone else you know arrives, they might mention it. Of course, that's true about having to pick, too! It just means that doesn't make choosing or not choosing different on its own.

Just a small Trial XD

[solitarynote]

[See, all of the choices were starting to make Sunny’s stomach twist into knots. Where Nagito might have saw endless possibilities, he saw a sea to drown in.

And to have a memory not be completely erased… what an inefficient system.]

Then all of those would have to go too.

[He wrote without thinking, the small streak of irritation spurring him hands forward. Again.]

[blindluck]

Do you want to lose everything? [He means that as a neutral question, though it may or may not be taken as such.]

CW: brief suicidal ideation

[solitarynote]

[That question is taken about as neutrally as the other ones Sunny asked himself while dreaming. And his answer is just as true.]

I don’t know. I thought maybe… when death actually came… it would be like that. Nothing.

[No more painful memories, no more hiding, just peace. Clearly death had proven him wrong.]

But I don’t deserve that.

[blindluck]

[It's not Nagito's place to say what Sunny does or doesn't deserve, he thinks; Nagito doesn't know him well enough. He's not Hinata-kun, who, in Nagito's opinion, makes handling these kind of things his job. Nagito would call himself the opposite, if anything. He's certainly not Nanami-san.]

That's what I thought would happen, too. But it didn't! So I guess we have to keep going for now, whether we want to or not!

[solitarynote]

[Nagito’s words, once again, leave Sunny speechless. Not that he talked a lot to begin with but… he didn’t expect an answer like that.

So straightforward and yet full of determination all the same.

How did he do it? When confronted with this sort of thing, Sunny tended to just want to run away, or hide, or…]

Right.

Whether we want to or not.

[The reply he typed out was steady, despite his shaking fingers. It was so much easier over the notepad than in real life… the teen probably wouldn’t have answered otherwise. Even if it was just an echo of what the other had said.]