PC: HANAKO 💀

[resumed]

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[resumed]

Depends on what your definition of early is. We've already been here for almost five weeks. [ but he nudges the puff a little so that it can crawl out of his hood, shifting to sit on his shoulder and look at hanako more closely. chirrup-purr. hello ghost child. ]

I can only imagine. [ he knows how his own nightmares are, so he wonders what hanako's dreams are like. ] You look better at least, so that's something. And you're probably back to having your original powers and everything again, aren't you?

[hanaban]

[ Nico like this store should've been open MONTHS AGO ]

Huh?

[ His original...?

He pats a hand to his chest, but nothing happens. Gives a little hop off the ground but gravity says nope, you're still coming down. Reaches over to poke Nico on the arm to see if they're still both definitely solid. ]

[resumed]

[ ah. he pauses, and there's a little huff. ]

Ah, sorry. I meant what you had when we first arrived rather than the weird swapping we all went through.

[hanaban]

Ugh. Way to get my hopes up, kid.

[ he wants to not be this anymore!! ]

[resumed]

Dude, how do you think I feel? I've been asking the leaders for weeks to help me figure it out and I've got nothing and the disappointment of a lack of Halloween decor.

[ ... ]

...it's not just about the decor. I had plans for this place.

[hanaban]

The building itself?

[ He looks up at the empty husk of a building. At least it's not on fire anymore, but iirc any sparce decorations that were inside got burnt to ashes. It's basically a step backwards, at this point. ]

[resumed]

Maybe. It just feels like a better place to try and connect with them than in my dorm room or something.

[ sometimes you just want to keep trying to access powers you don't have yet. ]

[hanaban]

[ He has no idea what Nico's talking about but he supports him ]

Lots of stuff you can buy separately, though. Like candles and spiders, black paint to repaint your dorm building, and you've got your ghosts, too!

[resumed]

[ actually ori do you want a specific murder memory or do you want something more thematic based on whatever is going on. ]

Okay, first of all, repainting my entire dorm sounds like way more work than I want to put into this. And secondly...I don't have my ghosts yet. That's what I'm working on.

[hanaban]

[ either way! whichever would be more fun ]

Aw, don't say that! You have me!

[ ...who's not a ghost right now, but, technically, ]

[resumed]

[ okay. well. that does actually make him laugh. also nods and goes to fix up the mem for linking. ]

You are one of the few people who seems to understand certain things. I'll give you that.

[hanaban]

Ghosty things, or...?

[ bc honest to god, he's been very "I don't know anything about anything" hanging out with all these people here. he never really did get out much, stuck in school for so many years ]

[resumed]

Among other things, yeah. [ but he doesn't entirely get to explain before hanako gets to deal with whatever is going on here. ]

[hanaban]

[ "Happy Flush" is such a slap in the face. Even as the memory finishes and disappears, Hanako rushes forward, trying to grab the screen to keep it there, wanting to see more of it. ]

What- What happened next?! Nico!

[resumed]

[ yeah i forgot about that, anyway. well. nico's just sort of staring blankly like he's been suckerpunched, a hand coming up to briefly touch a few newly faded scars on his cheek. but he takes a deep breath when he registers that hanako is talking to him. ]

...I summoned her again a few times after that. But she chose to be reborn before I could pull her out of the underworld. However, when I went to find her, I found Hazel instead. She's my other sister who I brought back from Asphodel.

[ so he wasn't lying when he said he did bring somebody back from the dead. he just didn't specifically bring the person he was originally looking for back. ]

[hanaban]

Chose...?

[ But why? Why not go back to the people you love? the life that you had? Does the past mean that little? ]

Why didn't your sister want to go home with you?

[resumed]

[ the way this is still just kind of a suckerpunch because bro he's been wondering this for years. ]

...where we're from, when heroes die, they get the chance to go to Elysium. I think I told you about it before. It's a place where those who've been judged as good people can go and spend their afterlife in peace or choose to try again. For people like us, if you die three times and make it to Elysium three times, you're given the opportunity to go to the Isles of the Blest. Which is like the ultimate paradise. There's no pain and no suffering and only good things.

I think...Bianca wanted me to try and move on, and she knew she couldn't come back with me. Or, rather, that she wasn't supposed to. I've been making peace with it.

[hanaban]

[ Paradise? only good things? Hanako can't help but pull a disgusted face at the thought. ]

She could have, though. You were right there, giving her that chance. How can it be paradise if you're not there with her?

[resumed]

...I don't know. [ this is entering territory now that he doesn't want to think too hard about. he'd made peace with bianca's passing recently, but this place really wants to push his buttons in a few ways. ] I guess she didn't want me exchanging a soul for a soul. And I know Minos' method was wrong, but I would have figured out something else.

...but even before that she wanted to leave. She chose to join the Hunters and leave me behind at camp.

[hanaban]

[ What's wrong with exchanging a soul for a soul? with sacrificing a complete stranger to save the one you love? it perhaps speaks to Hanako's immaturity, his selfishness, that this line of thinking is just and right and that Nico should've been able to go through with it. ]

Why?

[ That's not fair. this is so unfair. he's so upset on Nico's behalf, even if Nico's already made peace with it ]

[resumed]

[ he knows better now that he's older, but this was pretty much exactly the same line of questioning he went through when he was 11 and vulnerable and wanted his sister back at all costs.

but just because he's made peace doesn't mean he doesn't miss her still. ]

...why to which? [ he says quietly, because "why" is such a large and encompassing question. ]

[hanaban]

Why... to all of it. I don't understand. Family is supposed to stay together no matter what, aren't they? She was important to you. So important, you went through so much to get her back. She has to have known that! So why... why would she leave...?

[ Nico wanted her back! She had to have wanted to go back! There is literally zero reason why Nico shouldn't throw somebody else under the bus to save his sister. ]

[resumed]

[ AGAIN. THESE ARE ALL VERY GREAT QUESTIONS. ]

Usually judgment is final. That's all there is to it. Bianca made her choice, and there was nothing I or anyone else could do about it. No matter how many times I went back to look for her...she was already gone.

It was different with Hazel. I knew she didn't belong in Asphodel. And with the Doors of Death not functioning, it was easy to slip her out without my father's notice. And he never reclaimed her. She's very much alive again and living in New Rome.

[ and he'd never really dream of comparing the two...anymore. ]

[hanaban]

[ "Usually" But not always. It's those non-zero chances that Hanako has to look for. ]

Are the Doors of Death something that can be broken again?

[ he WILL fuck up the netherworld to save a soul if he needed to ]

[resumed]

I would prefer that they're not because it means every single monster I've ever killed would come back way too easily. [ dry. ] ...but I believe there are other ways all the same.