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

[ergine]

[ Maybe she shouldn't be surprised. Well, no one really expects to wake up after a stoning, she supposes.

Still, the particulars of her surroundings are interesting. Tonelessly, she hums in thought, and to no one in particular, she asks: ]

Is there something special about the pool...?

[ That ghost—Mari—drowned there, but... ]

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie watches Kohaku up above, from the side of the pool. Her expression is neutral, but cold. ]

You and I are here. Doloris is not.

[ Yeah, Lottie is a little upset. ]

[ergine]

[ Immediately, Kohaku lips curve in a little smile. ]

Of course not. She shouldn't be, should she?

[protomartyr]

She shouldn't be. And she won't.

[ Said with the weight of prophecy Lottie now knows is not real. ]

No thanks to you. You were supposed to stay with her.

[ergine]

...Lottie...

[ Oh, that's a rare thing: a retort that causes Kohaku's perfect, doll-like smile to crumple. ]

Do you think that isn't what I wanted?

[rosewitch]

It seems so. I'm not the one to ask, though.

[Sitting on the edge of the pool, she regards Kohaku quietly for a moment. They didn't have the chance to talk or anything. Not really. But also, there's not much to say. Hm.]

. . . Waking up in water is in poor taste in this case, isn't it?

[ergine]

I don't know. I guess it's not as jarring as it could be, like this.

[rosewitch]

That's fair. It's comparatively pretty warm, at least.

[And disgusting.]

[She weighs her words before continuing. There's something like How are you doing? but not the same that she wants to ask. Something less inane.]

Were you expecting that? The change when we didn't do what it wanted. [How helpless the Interim Headmistress was.]

[ergine]

[ Kohaku hums, toneless. ]

Well... It isn't as though we could have survived out there like that. We would have frozen before we had the chance to starve. [ Theoretically, there was a way across the ice—but every game before has felt rigged, so to Kohaku, that had been little more than a choice to die now or to die later. ] Still, I wonder what would have happened if there hadn't been any interference. Would everyone have been forced to sit and watch for hours? Days?

[ She's just kind of thinking out-loud here, though. So far as a more concrete answer goes, she does finally offer: ]

I guess what I actually expected was for the ice to just collapse. The stoning... It felt almost petulant, don't you think?

[banishedfromparadise]

[Having figured out where she is, Dorothy is shocked to see a familiar face that, for all she knows, shouldn't be.]

Kohaku?! What are you doing here?!

[Oh no...]

[ergine]

...No, Dorothy—first thing's first. What on earth were you doing, leaving our room last night?!

[banishedfromparadise]

[Dorothy gasps and sputters a little, eyes widening in something akin to panic. Don't just... speak to her like that where others can hear, Kohaku!]

I was worried about you! I couldn't just... let it happen again...

[ergine]

Precisely. It's dangerous to go out at night after Miss Interim Headmistress has made her threat for the week—so, there's only one reason I would have done so myself.

[ That is: to kill. ]

[sweetsynergy]

Heyya.

[SURPRISE BITCH]

[Vanity's perched on the edge of the pool, looking- markedly less gleeful to see Kohaku here than some probably expect.]

There's- maybe a fifty percent chance Rinne is going to see if you can die twice, do with that information what you want.

[ergine]

[ Well, good, because she doesn't find her actions comparable with Vanity's at all? She never intended to sacrifice everyone else for her survival, for one thing. ]

Well, I suppose I can't really begrudge her that.

[ She does in fact sound extremely neutral about this. ]

[sweetsynergy]

[how the fuck are you back to this even when you're dead, are you really doing this just to annoy her-]

Oh, real generous of you.

[ergine]

[ Kohaku had seemed prepared to largely blow Vanity off, but... At that, her eyes lock onto her with what instead is an almost-unnerving level of focus. ]

What else am I meant to say, Vanity? Should I go run and hide?

[trustheart]

Kohaku.

[ Chris is waiting there to greet her as well. ]

So, you had someone who you wanted to do right by too. At least yours was still alive, I guess.

[ergine]

Ahaha, [ she forces one of her laughs ] well... I'm not sure it's really the same thing.

[ Partially on account of Hisui still being alive. But the situation is... a little different than merely wanting to do right by someone, as well. ]

[trustheart]

You’re probably right.

[ A beat. ]

What did you mean about not wanting to let something happen again, though? And don’t tell me it doesn’t matter anymore. That doesn’t fly in ghost therapy land.

[ergine]

Hm... Really? You're a bit young to be an accredited therapist, Chris.

[ And also her ass is NOT talking to Chris about this, specifically. There's a reason she burned that notebook. ]

[bellpepperexercise]

[Sometime after the chaos, Kana can't help but ask.]

Kohaku...

[The question dies in her throat. She's not sure what to actually say now.]

[ergine]

...Hello, Kana.

[ Most anything she could say now feels like it would be in poor taste. So, instead, she asks: ]

Is there something you would like to say to me?

[bellpepperexercise]

...it was for Hisui, right? That's why you...

[Kana can understand that. She wants to understand how deeply afraid Kohaku must have been for her sister.

But she's still dead. Kohaku still decided to kill her.]

Why me? Did I...did I do something wrong?

[ergine]

Of course not. You were just convenient.

[ Is that better or worse for Kana to hear? Well, Kohaku supposes that doesn't really matter; comfort isn't what she is trying to provide. ]

For what it is worth, [ which may of course be nothing ] I tried to make it comfortable for you.