1803/B-Point: Dead Chat

B-Point: Dead Chat
Date of Scene:	15 July 2024
Location:	The Outside
Synopsis:	While the living fight Super Beryl, three spirits meet: Keaka, Erika, and Jadeite. Keaka's boss-slash-teacher, the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, who is also a peculiar incarnation of Death appears, and there is a discussion on their varying attitudes towards death.
Cast of Characters:	Keaka Hoshiko, Erika Shimizu, Jadeite

---

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    The Ghost wanders. It's not sure how much time has passed, or where it is, exactly. There is just the wandering. The journey. To... somewhere. Sometimes it looks around, and sees a field, or a forest, or a cityscape, but it's not important. There was... something important... A reason that there is the going, and not just... nothing.

    After far too long, or maybe no time at all, she remembers.

    She fought and tried and struggled for so long.

    She fought and tried and struggled for so long, and doesn't it matter?

    She fought and tried and struggled for so long, and shouldn't it matter?

    Though dead her wishing heart burns. Like an ember, or a candle, or a tiny, distant star, surrounded by darkness, not enough to illuminate, but a pinprick in the endless black, crying out against all that is wrong in the world, and in so doing there is something that is crying out, and it is--

    Keaka sees the other spirits, approaches them. Here in the... wherever this is.

    It's probably dark, or dull and grey, or reflecting the catacombs so many died in. They no longer exist, and so they are not in a place; Although for all intents and purposes that call for it to be a place it is, for all intents and purposes that call for it to have an appearance it does;

    Given how many of the spirits' thoughts are on the world they just left behind, and their friends still fighting the monster, Beryl, and their expectation that they be invisible intangible spirits watching, it often functions how they expect; with the intent to watch, their surroundings a view into the material world and the ongoing battle that they generally can't interact with.

    But if, say, you're a pirate and so you must have a crew and ship, it's here, when you want it.

    If, say, you are the sort of person who would be sipping and sharing tea, then that is here too.

    When she sees someone else, Keaka seems like she's going to say something a few times before finally asking: "Are... we dead?"

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "Aye. Aye, we're dead." Comes a reply not too far off.
    Erika Shimizu, also known as the Dread Pirate Mahou, Jolly Roger is here. Her hands are folded behind her back as she approaches.
    "First time?" She asks flashing a lopsided grin like she were waiting for the hangman to pull the lever.
    But it doesn't come. They're already dead after all.
    "I sailed into a wall of lava. How about you, lass?" She asks point blank, setting her hands on her hips. "Didn't even get to keep me hat." She says, taking a seat. She's not much of one for tea, but somehow. For some reason...
    She has a bottle of cola.

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite is dead.

Jadeite has been dead before. Jadeite will be dead again. Jadeite has a spike of ice sticking out of his head like a terrible unicorn cosplay, and red blood trickles down his perfect, pale face.

"It's a pity about your hat," he says, but he remains standing. There are large castle stones under his feet, and one stone wall next to him, and he has a real sword on him along with his ice sword, memory doubled from this life and the last.

"I'm sure we'll do better when we go back. I'm sure it won't be long."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    "What do you mean first ti--" Keaka starts to say, then pauses as she actually considers the question. "...It's complicated."

    How about you, lass?

    Keaka turns and looks at the giant Beryl, seen in the distance as if through foggy glass. Her eyes water as she speaks. "...I stood up to her. I finally stood up against impossible odds, after a life of knowing that if you stand up to the boss, that's it." She makes a horizontal chopping/sweeping motion with her arm. "No more heroing, or no more being a criminal vigilante, no more mattering. No... only the hope of it. She never really got to truly matter."

    She glares into the distance, then turns to the other ghosts here. "After everything. She tried, and she tried, and she spent her whole life and for what?! She sacrificed everything she was! To be allowed to matter, she would cut out any part of herself but the desire to do good, even me, and she died! And I'm all that's left! The world has to pay!"

    The ghost stamps her foot and clenches her feet, and takes a breath. "No. It's not about revenge. I don't want anyone to suffer. I don't want anyone to suffer like she did, ever again! She spent her whole life. I spent my whole life. For nothing?! For not a single change?!" She waves a hand towards the distance where, for a moment, as if through a dim, foggy glass, titanic Beryl can be seen towering over the heroes fighting her. "The world ends or is saved and our lives don't even make a difference?! I can't accept that! That's why I came back here in the first place!"

    Eventually Jadeite's words get through her head and she whirls on him. "What do you mean, go back?!"

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    To the first question, Erika offers that smarmy little grin. But then she glances over at Jadeite. THAT is a man who has seen death more than once. Though the currently hatless pirate motions at her forehead as she looks at him.
    "Ye've got a bit of red on you, lad." She points out.
    But then she looks back to Keaka. Then to the giant Beryl while Keaka stamps and fumes.
    "Spent yer life for nothin'?" The pirate asks quietly.
    "And what makes ye so sure about that?"

Jadeite has posed:
"You mattered," Jadeite says,nodding to Keaka. "The snowflake does not see the avalanche. Many of us have tried to stop Beryl, and failed - but that still stopped her, or slowed her down. I didn't even get to see her this time, but I was able to save my friends first. That was worth it."

At Erika's words, he slowly reaches up, touching the icicle. "Ah. I'm sure Miss Hinoiri would get a kick out of this when we get back. It's fine. This is not the silliest way I've died."

His smile is serene. He looks older than a teenager, despite the baby fat that lingers on his face.

"Well," and he looks to Keaka and Erika, "given that last time, we all reincarnated, I presume that either we'll reincarnate again for the next fight against Beryl, or Serenity and Endymion will find a way to fix things."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    "Most snowflakes aren't in an avalanche." She retorts.

    "All this time I wondered what the big heroes had that I didn't. What even the big villains had that I didn't. I thought they had power." A piece of the wall behind her projects the faces of the heroes in their ongoing fight, and Beryl. They determined, she vengeful. As if Keaka's words are the voiceover while the clip show is 'on screen' somewhere. "If I could just get enough power, collect Lost Logia and understand them, come up with a way to cheat even death... Then I could do what they did. But it was never enough."

    She turns, coat whirling dramatically. "Some people said I had it backwards. Sometimes I wondered if they were right." The 'display', such as it is, shows faces that mean nothing to anyone else. "That no amount of power could make up, for... for I don't know what exactly. Determination, conviction, just trying really hard and risking it all without being safe and sure... They survived, again and again, against impossible odds."

    "Well I finally did it." The bit of the wall shows disjointed, half-second clips of her fighting Beryl in the Obsidian building. Big magic attacks. Keaka left crumpled and dying.

    She puts her hands on her hips. "I gotta say, for a moment there, it felt amazing." She smiles. "I've never been more alive." And then the smile turns to a frown. "And then she almost killed me. And then she finished the job."

    She throws up her hands. "WELL! That's THAT hypothesis tested, I guess! It turns out I really don't have whatever it is that they have! I finally did what they do and ended up here," she whirls and waves an arm at the distant fight, "Unlike those her--" She pauses, and sort of deflates. "Oh. I guess not all heroes can pull it off, either."

    As for reincarnation... "What about those of us who aren't from Earth?"

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    'The snowflake does not see the avalanche'.
    The way Jadeite puts it is almost so poetically beautiful that Jolly Roger reaches up to doff her hat to the Heavenly King. ... Before she realizes she does not have her hat.
    Dammit.
    But then she sighs and glances upwards.
    "Tell me. How many people have ye saved from a youma attack? How many times did ye fight bloody knuckle against the odds? The fact that ye made it this far? That's an accomplishment." She points out before sipping her cola.
    It's not the big things ye do in life that matter, lass. They're few and far between. It's the little stuff that all adds up. If it weren't fer me, some kid would be cryin' right now because their mother ate it in a youma attack. Ten times over. Maybe more."
    "I barely stood up to the head honcho, I just sailed me ship into the lava so others could get at her. Heh! Went out in a blaze o' glory sure, but I knew I wouldn't be walking away from that one."
    She pauses though.
    "Likely you'll probably reincarnate too, anyway. Maybe. I donno. But there's always hope, right?"

Jadeite has posed:
"No, they're not, but everyone's out to kill Beryl now, aren't they? Don't downplay what your efforts have done," Jadeite says to Keaka, and he finally sits with the two other mahouas the clip show plays.

"Personally, having power without ideals or drive went poorly for me. I spiraled, lost, until I found an anchor. I lost a lot of my power, but I have some idea of what I want to do with it now; I think I'm more effective like that."

He watches her fight - magic flying, attacks going -

"I don't know if it helps, but I've had ultimate power and died twice already. It's never too late to refocus your efforts," Jadeite advises. "Besides, it's like Miss Erika says - just because you failed to kill Beryl doesn't mean your efforts were for naught. You've saved people, haven't you? That mattered."

He looks over to Erika and Keaka again. "Well, she did get everyone who wasn't from Earth to reincarnate last time, I can confirm that. None of us were ON Earth when we died, and we still were reborn there. I don't think that returning is out of the question for either of you."

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka looks to Erika. "...I dunno. Me personally? Not much. I guess I... kept my original safe, when I was a part of her. Safe but never happy. Then I helped her find herself. And beat up a bunch of monsters. She... helped a lot of people, here and there. But she always had to be what other people wanted. So that they'd let her help people."

    She turns and looks at Beryl. "I knew I might not be walking away from that one... but I didn't really feel it, until it was happening."

    There's always hope, right? Returning isn't out of the question.

    A man coughs.

    And when the others pay attention to and look for the source of the sound, there he is, standing behind Keaka, although it's not clear if he just appeared or was there the whole time just... unnoticed. Beautiful and wicked, with eyes of night and falling stars. To a human eye he looks, perhaps, twenty- or thirty-something. Tall and pale, with long dark hair and dressed in a fancy black uniform, with a sword sheathed at his side. The uniform has a cape and silvery trim, epaulettes and toggle closures down the front, that sort of thing, like a band uniform or a fancy old military uniform; but there is no way to mistake this for the former.

                        He, Death, First of the Riders,                        
                           He, the Lord of Death's Dominion,                      
                         The Headmaster of the Bleak Academy.                      

    His expression as he looks at the spirits, and they he, is... what each expects. Stern and cold, or solemnly sympathetic, or maybe even welcoming.

    Keaka freezes, and then slowly starts to turn around, staring up at him. At some point, the vague undefined clothes under her signature coat and scarf have resolved into a black school uniform. "Headmaster?" she speaks, eyes wide, confused. "I... I..." She looks away, and then back at him. "I've failed, haven't I?"

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    "'Not much'." Erika muses. "But you did *something*. And that's all that matters." She says gently, resting a hand on Keaka's shoulder. "Ye helped someone. And they in turn likely went on to help someone else."
    Erika Shimizu. The Dread Pirate Mahou, Jolly Roger, has but one important question for Keaka Hoshiko in this moment...
    "When do you think someone dies? When they're shot through the heart by a pistol's bullet? When they're stabbed in the head by a shard of ice?" She asks looking to Jadeite briefly. "... When they sail into a wall of lava?"
    She's silent for a beat. Before she speaks again, "Nay..."
    "It's when they're forgotten." She points out.
    "And as long as ye did yer best. She won't forget ye. Our friends all fightin' right now? They won't forget ye."
    Someone coughs.
    Slowly Erika turns to face him. To face Death.
    And Erika Shimizu smiles.
    "And here I thought I'd go out spittin' in yer face. But nah. I shant be doin' that, old pal." She says greeting him as though he were an old friend instead of railing against her fate.
    "I ain't sayin' I don't have regrets. I feel bad. Hina'll need to find another extrovert to adopt her and love her but... I'm sure she'll remember me."

Jadeite has posed:
"I don't really understand what you mean by original, but - you saved her. Even if she wasn't happy, she was alive, and you helped her save other people. Living in agony is better than the peace of death, trust me," Jadeite reassures Keaka.

"Erika's right. We die when our impact leaves this world. And you saved people. that's enough - "

And then. Ah. It is Death. It is a teacher. It is -

His vision doubles and merges, and the man in black looks bored and disappointed. Like he expected to see Jadeite here despite his hopes otherwise.

"....YOu know this man?"

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    Keaka knows this one. "It's when they're forgotten." She says at the same time, although she doesn't sound like she thinks she'll be remembered well. Then:

    The Headmaster of the Bleak Academy is perceived by three people at once. "Let us see." he answers Keaka cryptically. Erika addresses him. "Regrets. Your friend. You must let go. To be remembered is... perpendicular, to the issue."

    He states, a bit as if lecturing in class to a bunch of teenagers, "The dead may be remembered, or they may not. They may be remembered kindly, or cruelly, deserved or not. But the ones doing the remembering are the living. The dead care not how they are remembered, for they are dead. That is when someone dies, girl. When they let go. When they lay down their burdens and stop, for their journey is ended."

    He turns back to Keaka, expectantly, as if asking a question on a test. "Have you? Young Anode,"--he says it 'a-no-day'--"are you giving up, then?"

    She clenches her fists again. "No! Of course not! I'll fight tooth and nail to my last breath! Er... well, after it, if I'm able!"

    He nods, slowly. "You are still here. Your trials are not yet done, until you are. Perhaps that bright mind of yours will come up with something."

    While she puzzles over that, he turns to Jadeite. "She is a student of mine. From time to time, someone from creation comes to my school seeking answers. I do not turn them away; I educate them and help them to see. I am the Headmaster of the Bleak Academy."

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Slowly, Erika reaches up to adjust her hat.
    Dammit she still doesn't have her hat.
    "Alright, now listen here." She says, waggling a finger.
    "There ain't no perpendicularity here. I may be dead, but I left a legacy. There won't be a single mahou that doesn't know the Dread Pirate Jolly Roger sailed into lava fer the others when they beat that witch."
    "Kind or cruel, don't matter none to me, I'll be remembered and that's what matters *to me*. The journey may be up... But that don't mean others can't look back on it or walk my footsteps until they find their own path."

Jadeite has posed:
"Oh. I guess I'm not letting go then," Jadeite says to the man's lecture.

He's been lectured plenty of times. As a young noble, as a future bodyguard, as a young heir, as Obsideon's tool - he has been clay to be molded, and despite the bored look on the man's face, there's something satisfying about throwing that clay back at him. Metaphorically.

"Honorable headmaster," Jadeite says, and his beautiful face is twisted up, somewhere between the madman who died on the moon and the boy utterly convinced of his rebirth, "what do you seek to teach us? Will you lead us to the valleys of death? Or are you here simply as a warning to us foolish souls?"

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    He, Death, First of the Riders, He, the Lord of Death's Dominion, The Headmaster of the Bleak Academy actually sighs and holds a hand to his face after Jolly Roger restates what's important to her.

    Jadeite has a different approach. He just might be a breath of fresh air after the countless times He Death etc The Headmaster has had to argue with headstrong heroes. A cordial and direct approach seems to earn a response in kind... or what the Headmaster considers kind, at least:

    "You are not my students. The only lesson I have for you two is as I told the young lady: Life ends. Not today, but in the full eventuality of time, everything ends. And then you must let go."

    "'The valley of death'... If you will not follow, how could I lead you?"

    Keaka, considering this, pipes up: "What about me, then? You're not here to collect me, and you're not mad at me for offering power to a hero? ...Earnestly, I mean, not as temptation. I was never really that sort."

    The Headmaster remains dispassionate. "Do you think unmaking this world something you accomplish in secret? Its people must know the meaninglessness of struggling against you, and understand that this world is done, and with it, they. And with the unfortunate..." he waves a hand vaguely, "'veil', of sorts, around this world, they cannot understand... Nor will our traditional weapons against Reality work."

    He looks at her a bit like a scientist looking at a rat, curious what the rat will do but uncaring towards its fate. "You have chosen an interesting target, Anode. I attacked it once before, and it did not..." He frowns as if discussing a world refusing to end is some distasteful matter. "...take."

Erika Shimizu has posed:
    Of course Jolly Roger is going to restate what's important to her. It's important to her, and now in the moment of her death?
    That's all that matters. But then she shakes her head.
    "I'm done. I understand that and I recognize that. Others'll carry on, as they always have. And that's what's important."
    Another swig of her cola bottle and she tosses it, prompting it to shatter at her feet. "So iffin' it's all the same to ye, I'm as good and ready to go now as I'll ever be."

Jadeite has posed:
Jadeite smiles bitterly. "I'm staying. I have to stay until the end. I will walk into the valley of death with my friends, or not at all."

Erika can go. Keaka can struggle with all of her power. But Jadeite wants to live. Needs to live. Has to live. He will cling to life with all the power that remains in him. He supports his allies, he will help, but in the end, he is entirely selfish. He will refuse death until he can be reunited with those he loves once more.

Keaka Hoshiko has posed:
    "I look forward to seeing what you'll do." The Headmaster continues, to Keaka. ...Does he mean seeing how she destroys Earth or seeing her finally give up? She looks... a bit concerned as the enormity of her task and that someone cares to see it done sinks in.

    Jadeite gets a sort of "Mmh." grunt of acknowledgement. Death isn't here to fight him, today.

    He looks actually surprised at Erika saying she's ready to go. "Really?" he asks, a bit uncertainly. "Very well..." He holds out his hand to her--

    At the same time, Keaka asks, "Wait. Aren't-- is anyone coming to help?! There's the whole school, isn't there?!"

    And, unless Erika is in a *rush* to follow Death, none of them really get the chance, as just then, the light of the silver crystal washes over everything, a great silver glow approaching like a tsunami. With alacrity and a thunderous *CRACK!*, the Headmaster tears a hole in the world--After-world? Un-world? wherever this is--and steps through just before the wave of pure energy washes over them all.