most people would be happy not to be dead.

[jinzhong]

Characters: Jackie Ma and YOU!
Date: June 13
Location: Welcome Center
Situation: Jackie's not taking being brought back to life well, and it all catches up with him at the Welcome Center.
Warnings/Rating: Mention (detailed) of torture and violent death; linked image of video-game corpse; flashbacks; post-traumatic stress.

It takes until Jackie's been brought to the Welcome Center for the numbness of shock to wear off, and for everything to filter back in far too quickly.

He's not alive. He can't be alive. Tong had put his damn machete in his gut, he'd felt it, he'd felt himself bleed out and the rest of him had come spilling out too.

But his stomach is hale and unwounded, and the only remnants of his torture are the scalpel cuts on his chest and the few fingers and toes that had been broken now seemed to be in the process of healing.

And, of course, the clothes that are soaked nearly head to toe in his blood.

And Jackie can't handle it.

And this place? Fuck, it's too normal, it looks like a goddamned hotel lounge, like some swanky tourist center up in Central, not...whatever the fuck this place is. Some bullshit backwater of hell.

He sinks to the floor in a crouch, cradling his left hand with its two broken fingers, and tries desperately to calm himself down.

It's not working.

"I'm dead, I can't be here, I'm dead," he can be heard muttering to himself, half-sobbing. His voice is scaling up in panic and getting noticeably louder.

Comments

before his mod-mission

[peacefullywreathed]

After Solomon's own initial arrival at the welcome centre, he had very little desire to return there. It certainly wasn't intended on his part. It was just somewhat impossible to miss the sudden well of death arising from nearby. It was recent. Recent and indescribably violent, and without consciously intending so, Solomon turned to follow it.

He stepped into the welcome centre with the expression of someone focussing on something not quite there, and something that wasn't particularly nice to boot. His gaze snapped right to Jackie, and he didn't know it, but a few of the nearest shadows bled toward him as if drawn.

"That would have been painful," he said. It was a statement, because Solomon could sense just how painful it was. More acutely than he should have. It at once sent chills down his spine and made him want to step closer.

... He stayed where he was, the lightest shadows around him bleeding at the edges.

[jinzhong]

"Huh?" Jackie looked up. And...what the hell was happening. There was a guy staring at him - staring at him, like he knew him or something, and Jackie knew for a fact he'd never seen this guy in his life.

"Uh, yeah, well, you should see the other guy," he said with absolutely hollow bravado. He hadn't even been able to lay a finger on Liu Shen Tong; not like that would have been easy, zip-tied to the chair as he'd been before they'd strung him up. He hoped Wei had managed to escape the trap he'd been the unwitting live bait, then dead bait, for. He hoped that Wei had been able to avenge him if he couldn't save him. If anyone could do it, Jackie would have put his money on Wei.

Even if the only money of any value he had now was the strange juulan in his pocket.

And...what the hell was going on with those shadows?!

[peacefullywreathed]

"The other guy murdered you," Solomon said absently. "I doubt he's anything but having trouble with his dry-cleaning." He could almost see visions of what had happened, like a residual half-there image. Or possibly just a hallucination. He'd never seen that effect before.

He'd never been so close to someone newly dead without an item--not since he was too untrained to tell the difference. It was fascinating and viscerally horrifying at once, and it took far too long for Solomon to look away.

The first thing he saw was the shadows creeping toward him, and sighed, and flicked at them, and they all dissolved into their proper placed. "I do hope someone's already explained your position here."

He didn't particularly want to be the one obliged to do so.

[jinzhong]

Jackie immediately clammed up and looked at this new guy with unconcealed suspicion. "How do you know that?" he asked, sounding about as wary as he looked. He really didn't like the way this guy was staring at him. He felt like he was under a microscope.

Then the guy sighed as though exasperated, flicked his fingers, and the shadows started acting normally again. "What was that?" Jackie demanded. "What did you do?"

He frowned mulishly. "And yeah. Already got the whole rundown of this whole diulan place. Sounds like bullshit to me."

[peacefullywreathed]

"Oh, good." Solomon sat on one of the benches, calmly sweeping his coat back. "Do excuse me; your appearance in this state was somewhat unexpected. My name is Solomon Wreath. I'm a Necromancer."

The man didn't seem to be familiar with magic, let alone transdimensional theory, so Solomon kept his voice bland. Necromancy had a reputation, and Solomon wasn't expecting to avoid the fallout, but it was mildly amusing to see the reaction from those who had no idea it was even possible.

Especially when his conversation companion somehow believed it was all some prank.

[jinzhong]

Jackie squinted at this Solomon guy. "You're a what?" Yeah, he didn't go in for all of that D&D bullshit. He couldn't pick a necromancer out of a police lineup (not that he would, anyway; he didn't help cops).

"Jackie Ma," he said by way of introduction. "I'm..." a sworn brother of the Sun On Yee didn't seem right, anymore, especially since he'd been trying to leave that life behind when he was killed. The thought nearly made him laugh bitterly. He'd gotten out of it, one way or the other. "...nobody, I guess." He frowned. It hurt. It hurt to admit that. Without the Sun On Yee? Without Jiu Mei? Without Wei? He was just another lowlife punk, no job, no prospects, and no future.

[peacefullywreathed]

Ah. Someone who hadn't heard much about magic, whether it was real or not. Solomon smiled, and it was that sort of charming but faintly amused and predatory smile. "I draw power from death," he explained calmly. "I can see yours."

A pity-party. Nothing of which Solomon wanted a part. He just shrugged. "Everyone is no one, where death is concerned."

[jinzhong]

Jackie laughed bitterly. "Not a pretty sight, huh?" Of course some pok gai would come up to him who could see how he died. Why the fuck not? He should charge goddamn admission.

Oh, puh-lease, Solomon. Kindly go back to dressing in black and listening to the Cure. "Nice."

[peacefullywreathed]

"I've seen worse," Solomon answered matter-of-factly. Not many, but a few. "He looked like an enforcer, so I'd hazard you were either a witness or a member of a rival gang." He favoured Jackie with an innocent smile. "I hope you're used to people telling you this is your chance to make something of yourself. Fairly optimistic lot, around here."

Solomon didn't say much, if anything, on the network--particularly given their security was compromised. But there did seem to be a good percentage of heroic Foreigners, and they did tend to be either optimistic or sarcastic, or both.

[jinzhong]

Worse? Jackie didn't want to know how it could be worse. "So wait, you can see all of it? Like...everything? All the shit they did to me?"

He shrugged. He'd heard much of the same sort of talk from that Teng lady down in the station. "Yeah, I've heard all that before. Used to tuning it out, you know." But that had been before his association with the Water Street Boys had been enough to put a machete in his gut.

[peacefullywreathed]

"It was very recent," Solomon said with a shrug. There was still a degree of clarity to which Solomon was unused. Being able to see enough to know the cuts and the pain, yes. He could have guessed circumstances from that. But to see the killer, even so vaguely? That was new. He could see that with the rest of the deaths around the city--most likely they were too old.

"Then you ought to be fine." Solomon rose, absently brushing down his clothes. He wasn't a member of the welcome-wagon, after all, and now he knew from where the death had come. A gangbanger wasn't high on his list of people to find interesting.

He smile down at the man, a deprecating smile bordering on innocent. "If you should happen to die again here, rest easy in the knowledge that it's equally impermanent."

[jinzhong]

Recent? Yeah, within hours recent. That made Jackie feel distinctly uncomfortable. He didn't think he liked the idea of any random fool with death magic being able to get the damn home video of his execution. At least the guy didn't seem too interested in him anymore.

"Yeah, well, I'll try not to," he muttered, not looking up at Solomon.

[peacefullywreathed]

"Most of us do," Solomon said dryly, "and yet you'll be surprised at how many people here actually have." He strolled toward the doors and then paused, and glanced over his shoulder, mischief gleaming in his eyes. "But if you see a skeleton, do feel free to mock him for his lack of talent at life."

And he strolled out the doors.

[jinzhong]

There's like, about twenty things wrong with that, Solomon. Mocking a skeleton for failing at life? That's just cruel.

...wait, a skeleton?

"What do you mean, a skeleton?" Jackie called after him, but he was already gone.

Maybe he was in hell.

Figures.