witheredblum | sinking down, down

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?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Do you really not get it yet, Vanity?

I get what it looks like when someone's trying to play the villain for someone who for what-EVER fucking reason isn't gonna care.

[That's a no, probably.]

[That would be a no.]

You're nothing to me. You're an insect. I have no secrets. There's nothing I can do to protect anything or anyone anymore. There's nothing to survive. I'm dead. All you can do is try to hurt my feelings.

[Sitting up, she smiles.]

And there is nothing you can do to me that even compares to what I've already been through.

Please, though. Keep insulting me.

Edited 2025-05-11 02:12 (UTC)

...this is a real dark mirror to look into, I can't lie.

[Anthy gives her a cheerful peace sign.]

Good.

[She doesn't really get why Vanity's insistent on comparing them, but whatever. Go on, girl, give us nothing.]

You can sit down here if you want, I can't stop you, but you don't own it.

[Sigh. She fuckin' hates this so much.]

No, no, bad. Not sure for who, but bad. Well, not sure who it's WORSE for-

[Cause holy shit is it bad all around fam. Chris' words from the trial echo in her head.]

Later, probably. Sooner or later Dorothy and Kohaku are gonna pop in.

I assumed this wasn't an us-only situation, yes.

It is not.

[It's been. Just great.]

Point is, even I'm not fuckin' dumb enough to stick around too long around them.

[We'll. We'll see how true this ends up being.]

Hm. Tell me, by "them," are you referring to the girl you murdered to cover up your plans for mass murder? Or the girl you murdered and burned to cover up your plans for mass murder? Or the people who now know you were willing to commit mass murder of the people they love? Which of them are you trying to avoid, exactly?

Oh, NOW who's trying to hurt whose feelings?

I'm really not. I don't care very much about your feelings. I'm just pointing out why others might be extra hostile towards you.

Wow, that was such a mystery, I've been trying to unravel it since I got here. Are you a detective?

Oh, Vanity. Are you really in this much denial?

You're trying to tell me to avoid Dorothy because I killed her, yes? Because it will be unpleasant to be around her. Maybe she'll hurt me. Maybe Kohaku will, too.

Oh.

[She actually snorts a little.]

Hell no. I'm saying I'm not going to stick around because I DON'T LIKE THEM. You can do what you want.

Oh. Even better. Run away, then.

Nah.

[The tone of "I'm not touching you" isn't quite there in her voice, but it sounds like it wants to be.]

Not yet. I want to see them actually show up, at least.

. . . Why?

[like. what's the point.]

Honestly? I'm not sure.

[Vanity frowns a little, tapping her foot against the poolside more thoughtfully.]

Maybe just to make sure they're really dead. Shit, that's morbid.

[She meets Anthy's eyes again.]

Chris didn't show up here for a week after she died, no idea why.

[What a strange and backwards person she is. Almost as confusing as Satsuki, or maybe the same amount in a different direction.]

The rest of you arrived right away? [The concept of time is close to meaningless at this point anyway, but. "Right away" in comparison to what's going on in the living world or whatever.]

[This girl can fit SO MUCH THERAPY- especially because she has had exactly none, as of yet.]

In reasonably close succession, at least. Usagi and Rinne showed up about when I did, but then so did Chris.

[She sighs.]

She had no idea.

[She would try to play 5D chess with the therapist anyway.]

That's. [Fucking weird.] You haven't figured out why?

No one has any idea. I suppose the best person to ask would be the witch, but she wasn't exactly inclined to chat when she showed up.

[dot dot dot]

Oh, the witch showed up, by the way. She wasn't happy about the Ouija board.

[The most obvious conclusion here is that the reason is because Chris didn't die as part of the ritual — she wasn't a sacrifice, she wasn't planned, she didn't provide anything — but Anthy is quite frankly not interested in offering input to Vanity, because Vanity is being very annoying. There's an even chance any offered solution would be mocked and ignored as that it would lead to a productive line of conversation. And she just died of rocks fall, everyone dies, so she's not in the mood.]

I wondered if that was her. What a ridiculous thing for her to be threatened by. [Kind of a mid witch, perhaps.]

Is it? Free exchange of information is one of the most dangerous things possible to an established power imbalance.

(no subject)

rosewitch - 2025-05-20 04:42 (UTC) - Expand