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

[sweetsynergy]

[Sigh.]

Don't act like anyone would accept it if I did.

[rosewitch]

Oh, boo. Boooooo.

[sweetsynergy]

Am I actually wrong? Even if a "sorry" remotely it, is there anyone here who'd believe it?

[There's not really an "Apology: Mass Homicide" section at the Ghost Hallmark.]

[rosewitch]

Aside from the fact that feeling remorse is not a tool for gaining forgiveness — yes. In this situation? In this setting? Yes. You're just too much of a coward to take the risk.

[sweetsynergy]

I don't give a shit if anyone forgives me or not-

[Not strictly true, but she doesn't expect it.]

-but I'm not going to waste time being performative about my feelings because it's what people think I should do. Words don't mean shit unless you can back them up, and I can't exactly roll back multiple homicides.

[rosewitch]

No, you can't. When you do unconscionable things, you have the choice to do better or stay the same. Rinne is asking you to do better. You're unwilling to even try. There are consequences for inaction.

[sweetsynergy]

Enlighten me as to what "doing better" means when we're literally dead and powerless, please.

[Can't exactly pull a Scrooge when you're stuck being the Marley.]

[rosewitch]

I'm not doing your homework for you, von Aegis-sama.

[sweetsynergy]

Yeah, that's what I thought.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ HER ANGER TRANSLATOR... ]

[rosewitch]

[she's fluent in yandere]

[unfortunately vanity is only fluent in vanity]

[ergine]

Vanity... Have you considered that a good way to show your remorse would be to learn when to keep certain comments to yourself?

[ like damn girl she gets it, she has also been much blunter since she has become a ghost, but sometimes it almost seems like you're doing it on purpose! ]

[sweetsynergy]

I've tried and yet people keep talking to me.

[Some of it's on purpose, some of it is being deeply petty even in death.]

[ergine]

[ which, again: relatable. nevertheless, ]

You're the one choosing how to respond, aren't you?

[sweetsynergy]

Yes, and I'm told lying is much less appreciated when it's not boosting shareholder value.

[ergine]

[ It is at this point that Kohaku—still smiling with perfect politeness—sighs, shrugs, and turns away. ]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ A cruel smile spreads across Rinne's face. ]

Shhh. Now's the time for thinking. Not self-flagellation.

[sweetsynergy]

That's not self-flagellation, that's just stating facts.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Mmm, maybe that was the wrong word... Perhaps, directing the blame onto the rest of us, so you don't have to undergo growth or self-reflection? Am I close?

Aah, my apologies. I'd just told you to stop speaking, and now I'm asking questions. Please forget it.

[sweetsynergy]

[You know what, sure, she'll just roll her eyes a little and fold her arms. This is why she tried just making a big villain speech, but apparently that didn't work either.]