sinking down, down

[facultwist]

Death is a drop into a blackness that swallows you. You feel the movement of not air but shadow across your face as you plummet, and there is no bottom. No crash.

If there is another side, you do not reach it.

It is neither the light of heaven or the fires of hell that greets you when you wake. And wake you do, to the buzz and flicker of old fluorescent lights.

You are laid out beside a full-size competitive swimming pool, half-filled with stagnant water. The doors out are blocked off by locked doors covered in caution tape. The locker rooms are long since emptied, paint peeling from the humidity. The only signs of habitation are a few pieces of scattered graffiti.

Welcome to your new home. There's no sunlight, no indication of time passing. Just you and each other and your thoughts. the stagnant water bubbles a little occasionally, but there's nothing in it.

Before long you'll realize that you no longer need to eat or drink. You might notice your hand go through something if you don't focus. You're a ghost now. What's that they say about unfinished business?

Comments

cw lite suicidal ideation but it's a bit too late for that huh

[rosewitch]

[Anthy dies. And then, unfortunately, Anthy wakes up. Sits up. Looks around.]

[Sighs.]

Well. This is disappointing.

[What does it take for a bitch to properly die around here?]

[After looking around for a moment, she lies back down. At least for a little while. Maybe if she refuses to participate, this will stop being a thing.]

[bellpepperexercise]

Anthy, get out of the pool!

[Kana, while she's still oblivious to the fact that both of them are dead, is extremely concerned that Anthy's reaction is to lie right back down in the water.]

[rosewitch]

Ugh. Why? I'm—

[And she doesn't say dead simply because after a few exhausted seconds, she recognizes the voice. Probably not super tactful. (Chris.)]

Oh. Arima-san. [. . .] Wait, you're here too? [Is this disgusting pool not hell?]

[bellpepperexercise]

Yeah. I don't know why...

Who's been throwing girls in the pool?

[rosewitch]

[This is . . . not something she's emotionally prepared for, to be honest.]

[Anthy looks at the ceiling. Then at the water. Then at the wall. Then back at Kana.]

What's the last thing you remember?

[bellpepperexercise]

Um...I had some tea in the lounge while I was reading that book of Rinne's, then I started feeling really tired. I think Kohaku brought me somewhere else to lie down, then uh...nothing.

Oh.

Oh no.

[Something happened to her. To both of them.]

Are, uh...are yours any clearer?

[protomartyr]

[ At some point, Lottie takes a seat beside Anthy's still body. It's kind of difficult for her to be mad at Anthy right now, given that Lottie is good and pissed at Misty. ]

Good morning, Anthy.

[rosewitch]

[Thanks for taking that heat, Misty! Reliable of you.]

[That said, Anthy definitely sits up real fuckin' fast on seeing Lottie. Hello? Ma'am??]

The letter. That was me.

[. . . I did say it was her first priority.]

[protomartyr]

[ ...Oh. That's not what Lottie expects at all. Her perfectly pleasant shell cracks, and she blinks a couple of time in open confusion. ]

...Which one?

[ Lottie got two letters that week. It was honestly kind of a lot. ]

[rosewitch]

The one with the shadow girl.

[She is talking fast, man.]

I was trying to apologize. It was stupid and the wrong way to do it. I should have said it directly. I didn't know how, but now I do.

I'm sorry for accusing you! I wasn't being rational. [. . .] And I'm sorry you died, but not because I did anything it. That apology is unrelated to my culpability. [inhALES,,]

cw: internalized ableism

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie's expression softens. This time, when she smiles, it's fragile, but it's also real. ]

It's all right. I probably deserved it. [ She's just like they all said she was. Lottie knows that now. ]

I'm sorry you died, too. I put the note in my ritual because I thought I might summon the ghost of the person who wrote it. I guesss I got my wish.

[trustheart]

…Get out of the pool, Anthy.

[ The voice of the very much dead Chris comes from the girl sitting at the edge of the pool, arms crossed. ]

The dead can’t rest here, and that goes for you same as it does the rest of us.

[rosewitch]

Five minutes.

[she's not even looking at Chris, that's so rude]

[trustheart]

…Alright, but if you stay in there longer Vanity’s gonna find you and bother you.

[rosewitch]

[HORRIFICALLY PROPHETIC]

[Anthy cracks one eye open and looks at Chris.]

. . . why.

[trustheart]

Because she has nothing better to do.

So you might as well talk to me and learn what we’re dealing with.

cw: gendered insult

[sweetsynergy]

You're in my spot, bitch.

[She's sitting on the edge of the pool, legs swinging slightly as she looks down.]

I'm not gonna pretend I can be any kind of superior about the murder thing, but I have dibs on using that part of the pool to be one with the scum and garbage.

[rosewitch]

[anthy]

[AUDIBLY groans at the sound of vanity's voice]

This afterlife keeps getting worse. Go away.

[sweetsynergy]

Would that I could Himeya, but the laws of the afterlife apparently say we're stuck with each other.

[She starts tapping her heel back on the side of the pool, just out of rhythm enough to be irritating. Little sister mode has activated.]

Besides, I know I'm also not in a position to really judge about the whole hurting Hawke thing? But I'm gonna anyway. She already had enough knives stuck in her already and you piled one on for what turned out to be even less reason than I did.

1/2

[rosewitch]

[Her eyes snap the fuck open. There's a flash of rage.]

2/2

[rosewitch]

[And then she closes them again and laughs.]

You're so funny. You're really serious.

cw: suicide baiting, sort of?

[sweetsynergy]

I am. If all you really wanted was to fulfill the motive without hurting anyone else? There's no rule that says a culprit and victim have to be different people.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ Rinne approaches Anthy...sometime after she's had her big weepy reunion with Kana. It's not like anything's that far, in the haunted pool and locker room. ]

Anthy-san. [ She bows a little. ] I'd like to apologize. I... I mistakenly assumed you were at fault for...Kana-chan.

[ It just kind of feels right you know, to apologize for the amount of absolute murderous rage she'd been directing Anthy's way. ]

[rosewitch]

[Oh, that's what she felt earlier! Not dissociation, just murderous rage from beyond the void.]

[It's hard to be angry with Rinne, though. It really is, when it's so good to see her face. Her whole face. Anthy offers her a tired smile.]

It's all right. Almost everyone did. It was just logical.

It's good to see you, Rinne. But I'm sorry you had to see what happened to her.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ ...Rinne still has no idea what happened to her after death. Whoops! Fun things to keep in mind.

She shuffles a little. ]

We...only heard. After the fact. The trial...we followed you there. It was...

[ ...Yeah, it still wasn't good. ]

I'm sorry that witch forced your hand.

[ Both of you. But she can't say that yet. ]