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

WEEK FOUR

[facultwist]

[ Welcome Lottie, Mafuyu, and Chris. ]

It Mafuyu

[formerbanchou]

[She's just going to lay here for a bit, processing the horrors.]

cw: gore mention

[protomartyr]

[ As soon as Lottie sees the other girl, she heads over to where Mafuyu is laying and takes a seat beside her. She's completely unlike the last time Mafuyu saw her: this Lottie is calm, and there's no blood leaking out of her skull or anywhere else.

She offers Mafuyu a tight little smile. It's not a happy expression, but at least Lottie doesn't seem mad. ]

Hi, Mafuyu.

[formerbanchou]

[Mafuyu sits up quickly once she sees Lottie. Even with the lack of aggression, Mafuyu is taking this seriously.]

I am so, so sorry about what happened. I didn't mean to knock you into the altar.

[protomartyr]

It's okay.

[ Lottie says, earnestly. ]

The - [ wilderness chose, she nearly says, before remembering how badly bringing up the wilderness in front of Mafuyu went last time. ]

It's just the rules of the game. Not your fault that we're sacrifices.

everything eats and is eaten; time is fed

[protomartyr]

[ When Lottie starts falling, it feels like she's come full circle. Some part of her always knew she wasn't going to end up where Laura Lee went. That doesn't mean Lottie doesn't hang onto a small sliver of hope nonetheless, calling out a name as soon as she opens her eyes. ]

Laura Lee?

[ As soon as she sees the fluorescents, her heart sinks. Wherever Lottie is, she knows Laura Lee isn't here. And that's fair. How dare she expect that, after she gave everything to the wilderness, it would give her anything in return? It doesn't give. It's just hungry.

Eventually, she heads over to the pool, sitting cross-legged beside it and running her fingers through the water. Or, at least, trying to. Once in a while, if she focuses, she can feel flickers of something cool and wet, but for the most part, her hand just passes right through. ]

[thatsplato]

[Misty puts her hands on Lottie’s faces over her eyes, careful to keep them solid.]

Try again!

[protomartyr]

[ JESUS FUCKING CHRIST, MISTY ]

Misty. [ Lottie pulls away. ] You've been here this whole time?

[thatsplato]

Not the whole time.

[She settles down next to Lottie, crossing her legs.]

I don’t think anyone’s been here before me since the 80s.

[protomartyr]

[ Lottie takes a moment to survey her new afterlife. Sure is decrepit out here, so what Misty is saying makes some sense. Still: ]

Is that just a guess? Or do you know something about this place?

[ Misty loves playing detective, after all. Maybe she's actually uncovered something useful. ]

[thatsplato]

You think I’d tell you without evidence? [Misty sounds scoffs.]

I cleaned out the locker room. You wouldn’t believe the amount of contraband and garbage I had to clear out.

[protomartyr]

Of course not.

[ Okay, so Misty's been busy. Lottie nods, somewhat impressed. ]

You've been able to touch things? How?

Event Leadup

[facultwist]

[ As the weekend moves onwards, through Sunday and Monday the water of the pool slowly begins to darken and bubble. When you look into the water, you could swear you see eyes looking back at you, dozens of them, but they blink away when you try to focus. ]

EVENT

[facultwist]

[ By Tuesday, the water in the pool is foul. Which makes it doubly upsetting when it starts to move, collecting in a giant arm covered in rippling rows of opening and closing eyes that rises up and steadies itself on the side of the pool, raising up a female humanoid head likewise made of water that screeches in a voice made up of the notes of a piano.

Uh oh. ]

[protomartyr]

[ Something is going to happen soon. Lottie can feel it - or rather, smell it. That stench is a terrible omen.

It still doesn't prepare her for what happens next, though. Lottie yelps and scrambles backwards, keeping her eye on the apparition the entire time. ]

What are you? [ And then, to anyone nearby: ] Are you seeing this?

[ Lottie isn't sure which is worse: that this is real, or that it's not real. ]

[facultwist]

[ Hundreds of eyes swivel to look at Lottie as this... whatever it is, tries to pull itself out of the pool. It groans, and the groan is an unfamiliar song.

The apparition reaches towards Lottie. ]

[protomartyr]

[ For a moment, Lottie freezes.

Then she decides: fuck it. She is a prophet of the wilderness. She is god's favorite sacrificial lamb. She is already dead, and will never see Laura Lee again. What does she have to lose?

Lottie reaches back. ]

[thatsplato]

[and Misty? Misty who never believed in the wilderness, who believed that Lottie saw something, but Misty, Misty's far beyond that---

Misty's screaming!]

[facultwist]

[ When Lottie touches the hand - the hand that is clearly a little confused at the reciprocation, the scene lurches and shifts.

It is 2004. You do not know this by means of a calendar, but rather by the music in the background of the scene. The pool is clear of water and covered in... anti-George W Bush graffiti, mostly. You can't see the pool floor from where you're standing. All around it stand a bunch of teenage girls in hooded cloaks, chanting something in Latin. It's probably Latin. They definitely think it's Latin. ]

Would you like to have a picnic with Mari?

[al_fresco]

[ Once she's done with the whole Being A Screaming Collection Of Eyes And Dirty Chlorinated Water thing, Mari is properly available to be talked with! ]

Being a ghost didn't really get rid of my bad knee, so... I'm going to hang out down here for a while before I try climbing out. But I'll answer any questions or anything that I can! Or we can just talk, I like talking.

I'm Mari, by the way. I've been watching you guys a little.

[thatsplato]

[Misty had been all smiles until now, ready to offer to help, but then she mentions she's been watching them. Misty's smile falls off her face.]

Why? And for how long?

[al_fresco]

Nothing weird! Just, you know... I can only go between here and Rosenblum Hall when I'm... all of what you just saw, and it's been so long since I died and became like that, so... When the other ghost isn't keeping me out, I've been kind of stuck going on instinct.

[thatsplato]

[Misty’s expression shifts, into somewhat of a smile. This? She can work with this.

She lowers herself into the pool, to get closer to Mari. People like when you’re close to them! She even moves like she’s going to put a hand on Mari’s shoulder. Then stops, because, right, whole ghost thing.]

It’s okay. You can tell me. What other ghost?

[al_fresco]

Oh, the... one working with the Interim Headmistress, or whatever she calls herself.

[thatsplato]

Isabella? She's ghastly, but--