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a-day-in-the-afterlife · 4 years

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14th Department Outdoor Survival Competition: Mane

This has been in my head for 1344657856 years, so I’m going to post it on Tumblr, even though I had planned to write it in prose and post it on AO3 and link it here (which I will do, eventually!).

The basic premise is that the Manager takes the entire 14th Department on a camping trip and challenges them to survive on their own in the wilderness for a week. Whichever team wins (survives the best???) will get some kind of prize involving patrol/cleaning/farm-care exemption!

I think we all know which team will win (... Noctu literally has the most survival-obsessed characters in Aitachi and Kirr), but it’s fun to see all the shenanigans of all the other teams, too!

First we start with Mane!

Ell

Tries his best, really, but as per the usual, makes so many mistakes.

When trying to put up the tent made from some kind of tarp that Ghilley procured from somewhere, he cheerfully hammers all the stakes and his teammates fingers into the ground on accident.

Does not know how they are going to survive for a week in a random tarp, but sneezingly assures Ghilley that they most certainly will succeed.

Attempted to fish for food in a nearby stream! Caught three itty-bitty minnows and will not be attempting that again as he fell into the water more than once.

So, he was right and the tarp Ghilley found did not last them more than a day due to heavy rainfall and wind, but he kind of liked sleeping under the stars and staring up into the heavenly hosts until Ghilley and Licht constructed a mini lodge of sorts.

(He could do without Licht’s snoring and on more than one occasion went for a walk in the middle of the night to “clear his mind, achoo!”)

Was congratulated by his team for realizing that the stream that he (and some of the others) fished in was indeed freshwater and they didn’t have to scope out any other source.

Jamie

The rest of the Morning Team sent him out to hunt, since in typical Disney Princess style, animals flock to him, but after spending four hours in the forest, he came back with nothing, because “why in the world would y’all think that I’d wanna hurt any of those cute lil’ critters!”

Mane forgot to tie up their food and put in a tree in case a hungry bear came along—which it did—but everything turned out all right, because Jamie apparently is a bear-whisperer and gently coaxed it to find food elsewhere and not disturb them.

Tried to plant some fruit seeds that they had leftover (since they couldn’t hunt under Jamie’s orders and had to survive on fruit and fish—the latter of which he was not happy about, but conceded to, anyway), and Ell didn’t have the heart to tell him that there’s (hopefully) no way that they’d still be there when they sprouted.

Is the only one on the team that is able to discern which plants are edible and which ones are not, which is great, because Licht almost ate a bough of poison ivy.

When cooking the team’s fish, he managed to make a nice salad to go along with it with all the greenery he’d picked from the forest.

Discovered an immense talent for comparing the clouds in the sky to various foodstuffs and the Manager.

Licht

Ghilley told him to scout the forest for edible plants, and he obeyed with great alacrity, valiantly coming home with several branches of poisonous plants and berries. “But darling~they look too pretty to be poisonous!”

Went fishing with Ell and caught a decent-sized fish. He was incredibly distraught when he watched Ghilley descale it, for it looked ugly after losing its glamorous silver scale coat.

Tried to fight the bear that tried to steal the Morning Team’s food and ended up fighting Jamie, who wouldn’t let him lay a finger on it, instead. (Jamie is weirdly strong and left him lying in the ground; Ghilley had to peel him off the grass.)

He and Jamie reconciled when he let Jamie sleep in the best place in the tent, which he had previously declared for himself.

Ghilley and him together built an amazing (read: really, really, really mediocre) log cabin when their tarp tent gave out and they decided that they needed new housing in case another storm blew past. It was four feet by three feet and could barely hold the four of them.

Thought he looked very handsome picking berries and longed for the Manager to watch him doing so.

Flirted with a twisted tree, thinking it was a curvaceous girl.

Ghilley

Do not ask him where he got the tarp the team had originally used as a tent, because he will just smile and say, “Ufufufu, that is for me to know, and for you to find out.”

Would’ve made a great stealth hunter in the woods, but Jamie refused to let him kill a single animal.

Was kind of disheartened by the failure of his tent, so he worked extra hard with Licht to build a sturdier lodge for Mane.

Very attached to his team and in general, worked his ass off to make things somewhat easier for them, even though no one noticed or realized.

Wondered why the hell Licht was picking berries so provocatively.

Watered Jamie’s plants diligently.

Went fishing with Ell too and actually caught several fish. It turns out he’s extremely good at sneaking up on aquatic creatures, too!

Used up half the water in the stream when washing his hair.

Was going to go sneak up on the other teams and see how they were faring, but Jamie and Ell reminded him constantly that that was strictly against the rules.

Encouraged the rest of the team to go cloud-watching with him. Found out that all the clouds for some reason looked like clouds.

I’m going to forget to update this with all the other parts, so please take a look at my masterlist for the other teams’ posts!

#afterl!fe #after l!fe #afterl!fe ell #after l!fe ell #afterl!fe jamie #after l!fe jamie #afterl!fe licht #after l!fe licht #afterl!fe ghilley #after l!fe ghilley #afterlife #afterlife nhn #after life #after life nhn

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a-day-in-the-afterlife · 4 years

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Hello since we had post abozt how bois would survive in wildness how about how they would be like going on field trip with Manager (preferably all of them like group) thanks

This is such a cute idea, anon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, this ended up being super long, I apologize! I kinda got into it, heheh!

Also, I know you asked for them all to be in a group, but I hope you don’t mind that when organizing this, I did separate them into their respective teams (just so it wouldn’t look cluttered and I’d have an order in which to write). They still interact with Soul Reapers from other teams, though! (or at least, I tried to make them to!)

The 14th Department Goes to the Aquarium

Mane

So, Ell finds the jellies absolutely ethereal. He’s lived up in the Celestial Realm his whole life and the otherworldly calmness that they exude almost remind him of home. He and Jamie spend an hour at the jelly exhibit, and Ell is so enraptured by the sight of them that his clumsy self bonks into the aquarium glass four or five times—on separate occasions—when he steps too close. After he is sufficiently amazed by the jellies, he goes to hang out with his father Youssef and the Manager, who together haunt the aquarium café, sipping on caramel lattes and watching over the other Soul Reapers.

Like Ell, Jamie loves the jellies. Something about their soft and translucent form makes him feel incredibly peaceful. He could’ve spent hours taking in their mesmerizing beauty, but soon moves exhibits in order to take in all the “wonderful lil’ critters” the aquarium has to offer. He is particularly interested in the beluga whales because “Bless my heart! Don’t they have the friendliest face you ever did see?” Overall, he enjoys the museum trip because animals of all kinds amuse him, and the low burbling of the water in the tanks is so soothing.

Ghilley is highly intrigued by the octopuses—with their extensive abilities to camouflage and maneuver their bodies, they’re even better at sneaking up on people than him! He read on the sign next to the octopus tank that the animals are so intelligent that they can solve problems, predict, remember, dismantle things, and even do puzzles, which is one of his favorite hobbies! Licht teases him by saying that Ghilley himself must be one of the ancestors of the octopus, since he is so old, and they are so similar. Ghilley allows the tease with an “Ufufufu,” but secretly vows to cover his boyfriend’s roommate’s bed in Legos as revenge.

He initially doesn’t have that much enthusiasm for going on this field trip (“Who’s going to admire my beauty in an aquarium? What, the fish? We should go somewhere with more people, darling!”), so Licht stalwartly shadows Ghilley in the octopus exhibit, commenting that he wished he himself was an octopus, since being able to change one’s “outfit color” based on one’s surroundings just sounded so tantalizing! Bored after standing in one exhibit for so long, Licht wanders into the amphibian section of the aquarium, where he stands, enrapt at the gorgeous colors of the (poisonous) frogs, for a whole hour, before calling over the Manager (who takes a “break” from her “coffee break”) to ogle at the animals with him—her close proximity and warm scent causes him to rethink his stance on the engagement of aquariums.

Die

Theo finds himself in a conundrum: he wants to spend time with Junee and the Manager, but he also desperately yearns to discuss the aquarium cleaning regimen with the staff. With how long he expects the latter conversation to last, he’s not sure he’ll have time to do both activities in the eleven hours that the 14th Department intends to stay at the aquarium! He almost takes up Cyrille, who professes to have discovered the secret to cloning, on his offers of allowing Theo to be in “two places at once,” but decides that on his day off, he might as well just get some info on what kind of industry-standard and nonabrasive detergents the staff uses to clean the aquarium, for he can spend time with Junee any other day. However, seven hours into the discussion with the staff, Theo feels a prick of conscience and spends the rest of the day gallivanting about the aquarium with June and Day.

Slightly disheartened by the fact that Theo initially chooses to spend what looks like the entire day with the aquarium staff, June is rescued from squeezing out a few manly tears by Day, who encourages him to do as he does and see how many times he could visit all the exhibits before the day is done. June likes the idea—only a true man could see all the animals in the aquarium more than once in a given day—and the pair cause a general ruckus as they speed through the various exhibits, staring at the animals in awe for no more than two minutes before rushing to the next tank. He feels especial pity for the turtles: if only he had thought to bring extra running shoes for them to feel the joys of speed as he did!

Louis, with a clothespin over his nose to block the stench, spends much of the day in the penguin exhibit. He can be heard announcing “Thou art a very dapper bird, although not as fine as me!” to every penguin who is willing to hear his blathering. He is most appreciative of their debonair coat of black and white and is even more intrigued when a trainer tells him that there is a breed of penguin called “Emperor.” A fellow royal, just like him! Upon the Manager’s request that he spend his time admiring the other animals as well (the penguin trainers were having trouble hiding their laughter at the pompous prince, and she wanted to give them a break), Louis bothers Verine and Ethan at the sea star habitat, and the sickly Soul Reaper wonders if life is worth living at all if this is how it’s to be spent (listening to the prince). Louis connects to the sea stars deeply because he, too, is a star!

Like many occasions when he has to interact with the other Soul Reapers, this field trip is a special brand of hell for Ethan. He stays with Verine by the sea star tank for some time, before his roommate, Louis, prances in and begins all manner of comparisons toward himself and the sea stars. Ethan, after listening to Louis for seventeen minutes, has to relieve himself of the prince and begins quietly examining the exhibits en route out of the main part of the aquarium and into the adjoining café and gift shop area. He spots Ell, Youssef, and the Manager there, and as he finds those three not entirely unpalatable in terms of disposition—Manager, especially—he joins them, although he scoffs at the trio’s preference for coffee over tea.

Hesperide

Sian is one of the few people in the entire 14th Department that visits the aquarium like a normal person. He and Noah throw out the terrible maps that they bought from Mori and peruse the exhibits at their own leisure, admiring the animals, and spending more time at the exhibits that strike their fancy. Sian personally finds the seahorses to be some of the most entertaining aquatic creatures in the whole aquarium; there are so many different designs they can take! As he and Noah stroll among the tanks, he can’t help but wonder if they’ll catch a glimpse of the Manager (he doesn’t know that she’s retired early from visiting the exhibits to drink coffee). Of course, he’s not going to say that—“Y—yo, don’t take that the wrong way! It’s not l—like I’m interested in hanging out with the Manager or anything!” No one believes him, though.

Enthralled with the idea of a more educational field trip, Cyrille is on Cloud Nine. He forgoes any interaction with his fellow Soul Reapers, preferring to study the various informational signs on the tanks, check the cleanliness and ethicalness of all the habitats, and interrogate the workers in the aquarium as to how they are maintaining all the animals and their tanks. He is satisfied in knowing that the aquarium takes care of all their wildlife properly and makes sure that their animals are comfortable and are in habitats as close as to the ones they would have been living in in nature. Although Manager tries to coax him from his awkward questions, he’s far too interested to take notice, but he ends up having the most fun of all the Soul Reapers during this field trip, when all his queries are satisfied.

Kati fights with Aitachi the entire bus ride to the aquarium and spends much of the time inside the building screaming obscenities like “Noctu and Noah are stupid!” from the top of his lungs. He is thoroughly shut up when Manager advises him to vent his feelings to the corals, which he does, and becomes much more relaxed. He had plans to follow Noah and bully him the entire time (he just wants some attention from his roommate, poor thing), but after seeing that Noah and Sian are too busy being mature by actually enjoying the aquarium, he thinks better of it, and instead, stations himself at the sea otter exhibit. They are so cute—although, not as cute as him! There, he finds Aitachi, who is also charmed with a childlike passion by the otters, and immediately threatens to bite him. He is rescued from being obliterated by the much-more experienced warrior by Noah, who “coincidentally” decided he wanted to drop by the sea otter exhibit.

As mentioned earlier, Noah enjoys the aquarium with Sian, perhaps in the way that it’s supposed to be enjoyed. He likes taking it easy, not wanting to cherry-pick any exhibits to see, but instead, choosing to admire the interesting ones as they came along. After seeing most of the aquarium together, he and Sian part ways, Sian deciding to go find the Manager (he finds Quincy instead), and Noah, feeling that Kati probably had gotten himself into trouble by now, decides to go look for the younger Evening Team member. He texts the Manager to see if she knows where Kati is (she says he’s in the sea otter exhibit) and goes to find him. He is just in time to see Aitachi and him ready to begin dueling, and delivers Kati from getting clobbered by the young Atiyah warrior and insists that it was an “accident” that he happened to bump into the pair. Noah forces Kati to apologize to Aitachi, and even though it was done in a most begrudging manner, the pair do not have any more quarrels (in that day).

Noctu

Despite Nine’s frequent wishes to be alone, he has long since realized that in public places where they have never been before, the three other members of Noctu will follow him around like orphaned children. As he’s pretty sure that the trio would get themselves into trouble otherwise—and on accident, of course—he’s contented himself to live with it. He and the rest of Noctu traverse the aquarium in a group and mostly juggle their party between the freshwater and saltwater fish exhibits. They do visit the rest of the aquarium, though, and Nine is overcome with panic when Aitachi is found missing from the group for all of twelve minutes. He is most excited when him and the rest of Noctu sign up to watch a video presentation on sharks (which do not have a live exhibit at the aquarium), but he mostly zones out during it and enjoys the silence of his own mind. Because they finish perusing the aquarium much earlier than anticipated, Kirr, Aitachi, and him retire to the aquarium café with Youssef, Ell, Ethan, and the Manager.

Day has been counting the days for this field trip the moment he heard it announced, and his excitement is rewarded with a great day at the aquarium. He loves this opportunity to “play” with Nine-Nine and the rest of his teammates and see all the pretty fishies! Day likes the freshwater and saltwater fish a lot—the clownfish amuse him to no end, but he is even more enamored when the group visits the dolphin exhibit. They remind him of himself—playful and smart! Day, who has no grasp on the concept of money, throws away his ticket to the shark presentation that he had already paid for, and decides that he’d rather still explore the museum further instead of sitting around to watch a video (he can’t sit still for very long). He finds June sadly, but earnestly, wandering about the exhibits by his lonesome, and instantly invents a way for them to hang out and see the entirety of the aquarium together by ways of running around it like a lunatic and see all the exhibits as fast and as many times as possible. It’s great fun and brightens June up considerably!

Having lived high up in the mountains all his life, Kirr is astonished by the sheer amount of aquatic life present in the aquarium. He has a terrible habit of calling every organism around them “a fish,” whether it be a spindly lobster or an entire coral reef. Kirr does not fear when Aitachi becomes lost, knowing the young warrior can take care of himself just fine, but he still looks for him and successfully tracks him down in the sea otter exhibit. Kirr is the first one to agree when Nine suggests that the group sign up to watch a video presentation on sharks, especially when he sees the poster promoting the video call sharks “the hunters of the sea.” The informative presentation teaches him nothing new about hunting, but he appreciates it nonetheless. Him, Aitachi, and Nine retire to the aquarium’s café after strolling about the entirety of the exhibits and are delighted to find Ell, Youssef, and the Manager enjoying coffee together. He himself is significantly less excited upon seeing his opponent, Ethan, there, as well, nursing a cup of what appears to be hot leaf juice.

Warrior Aitachi does not know what to expect upon entering the “aquarium” place that Miss Manager insists that the 14th Department tour. He is, however, sufficiently pleased when he realizes that it is a place to view many fish, even if it is merely a fruitless pastime. Nevertheless, he is enthralled with childlike vivacity at all the exhibits that he and the rest of Noctu visit and loves the sheer amount of color present in the watery tanks. He is not entirely distraught when he become separated from the rest of Noctu, for he can definitely take care of himself! Aitachi is wise enough to stay at the exhibit where he last was with the Night Team—the sea otter habitat—so his team can find him more easily. There, he watches the cute antics of the otters and is content until Licht and Ghilley, who were coming back from the aquarium bathrooms, have the audacity to compare his “cuteness” with the otters’! It puts him in a bad mood, and it is even worsened when that intrepid Kati comes from out of nowhere and bites him. He would’ve had no qualms at honorably cutting down the Evening Team member, but alas, Kati is rescued by Noah. After receiving an apology from Kati, Aitachi is reunited with Noctu and they head to their scheduled shark presentation before seeing the rest of the museum, and heading back to the aquarium café with the Manager.

Diluculo

If it isn’t already obvious, Youssef prefers to spend his time in the aquarium in its café, for he has seen many aquariums in his youth and would prefer to spend this trip to the museum watching over the other Soul Reapers. Since the café is elevated enough so one can look down from its ledge over the entire aquarium, he is joined by the Manager, so she, too, can survey what is happening among the rest of the members of the 14th Department. Youssef immediately orders for the Manager and himself two caramel lattes and they sip and chat and watch over the Soul Reapers like mother hens. Their small party of two grows as the day passes, and by the end of the field trip, it comprises he, the Manager, Ell, Ethan, Kirr, Aitachi, and Nine. Even though he appreciated the alone time with the Manager, none of the other Soul Reapers are unwelcome and only heighten his enjoyment of the trip.

Mori sees the aquarium field trip as an excellent business opportunity. He already sold several copies of a map of the aquarium (complete with animal facts pulled from Otherworldipedia) he had made prior to the trip to Noah and Sian. They sold for a hefty price and even if he had made no other profit that day, Mori would have still been satisfied, even though Quincy had called his maps fit for nothing but to be used as toilet paper and that was only if the world had run out of its supply of one-ply. Nevertheless, he stations himself outside the aquarium entrance and sells twenty-four copies of his map pamphlet before aquarium security ask him to not charge money for what they were already giving away for free inside. Mori is unabashed, however, and makes his way to the aquarium gift shop, where he sells many mass-produced, underwater-themed trinkets that he bought from a bulk party store online. He happens to make a killing, before the aquarium security, once again and less politely this time, ask him to buzz off.

Criticism is his strong suit, so Quincy wanders about by himself making rude remarks on all the fish and other underwater life. He only does this, however, to hide how bored and lonely he is, especially since his roommate, Verine, had decided to be boring and spend his entire afternoon embroiled in the sea stars. Despite this annoyance with Verine, Quincy still texts him hourly reminders in typical Quincy fashion (read: rudely) to take his medicine. He is infinitely satisfied when he finds Sian, who is a kindred spirit in criticism, and together they stroll about the aquarium, judging the creatures inside the tanks as if they weren’t completely and utterly entranced by their beauty. Quincy particularly likes the birds of prey exhibit (although he wonders why the aquarium, which focuses on underwater life, has one), for he has to admit contentment in watching the little moles and mice get absolutely massacred by the owls and hawks in the enclosure.

Verine doesn’t enjoy the museum one bit: it’s cold, it’s stuffy, and there’s too many people (which means more dust in the air). He has to content himself with his pills and tissues in the least popular exhibit with the sea stars (coincidentally, corals are significantly less interesting to watch than sea stars, but considering they have much more of a media presence with the “save the coral reefs movement,” more people tend to frequent their exhibit). He is secretly flattered with Quincy’s constant reminders to take his medicine, because it shows he cares, in his own denigrating way. He is not, however, amused by Louis’ frequent inquirings after his health, for they all follow a split-second look of pity, just as the prince begins one of his long ramblings about his own beauty, and how Verine should, instead of “focusing on his deformities,” look to the handsomeness that was the prince. He much preferred the awkward silence he had been sharing with Ethan before the prince’s arrival!

#afterl!fe #after l!fe #afterl!fe nhn #after l!fe nhn #afterlife #after life #afterlife nhn #after life nhn

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