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

[goldendoll]

... Oh. So that's what it meant. [ cool great first thought to have.

wait.

she kind of looks down at herself, turning her hands over. where the fuck is she. ]

[ergine]

[ Well. Maybe a helpful hint is Kohaku standing over the edge of the pool. ]

Hatsune...?

1/2

[goldendoll]

Kohaku...? [ there's a disoriented blink, and then yeah, she starts to rush to close the gap— ]

2/2

[goldendoll]

[ and then anthy just fucking tackles her. girl help ]

[ergine]

[ oh well. she'll just wait, then. ]

[goldendoll]

[ for what it's worth, as soon as she's free, she does stand up and move towards kohaku, in less of a rush than before. hatsune holds off, looking a little uncertain, one hand loosely grasping her own wrist. ]

... Sorry for breaking that promise so soon. It... seemed worth a try.

[sweetsynergy]

Nice trick. Dunno if it worked exactly how you wanted, but. Impressive. Ow.

[Hey Hatsune, here's Vanity sitting in the bottom of the pool, slumped against the side.]

Definitely shook things up, at least.

[goldendoll]

... Vanity. [ she just. blinks from where she's been tackled. ] I'll... ow, take that, considering...

[sweetsynergy]

Yup, me. Don't worry, I'll get out of your hair as soon as I can move again.

[She shifts a little, wincing.]

The witch hits like a fucking bullet train.

[goldendoll]

You seem like you took it all right.

[ sorry research oomfie the chlorine bomb outweighs that nice day in the library ]

[rosewitch]

[guess what hatsune. you're getting a hug. from the person WORST AT HUGGING IN THE WORLD PROBABLY. GET TACKLED IDIOT]

[goldendoll]

[ and hatsune is just fucking TACKLED jesus christ. it takes her a second to even get her head around who's hugging her the initial thing is such a blur, and she just. did not expect this. ]

Anthy?????

[ like. she will hug back, after a second. but.

when she's knocked over, a folded piece of paper falls out of her hand. ]

[rosewitch]

[SORRY FOR COCKBLOCKING YOUR ROMANTIC REUNION SHE'S JUST ON SOME SHIT RIGHT NOW]

You did it! [She's whispering ferociously instead of yelling for some reason. She doesn't know how to express this emotion. Aaaah?] You broke it. I don't know what's going to happen, but—

[Wait. What's that? Is that the thing from Isabella? She sits back on her heels, thus freeing Hatsune, to peer at it.]

[bellpepperexercise]

...hi.

[Kana doesn't crowd Hatsune the same way that other people probably want to with all the teary romantic reunions she's got lined up.]

You, uh...you guys were pretty cool. Still gave me a heart attack, though, dummy.

[Her voice is soft despite that insult.]

[goldendoll]

[ don't accuse her of having multiple lined up that will just kill her again. ]

Sorry about that. [ she offers a slight, apologetic smile. ] At least a heart attack can't make things worse?

[bellpepperexercise]

Not the point! First you try to see mushroom nightmare ghosts on purpose now this?! You're lucky I already died or you'd kill me.

[Kana huffs.]

But you did break the game and get under the Headmistress' skin. We're probably gonna have to fight back against the Witch soon.

[trustheart]

…You were pretty cool up there.

[ Cue a nervous-looking Chris standing a few feet away. ]

Better than some dumb girl who threw her life away.

[goldendoll]

Only because we got lucky.

[ hatsune lets out a breath. ]

You were watching?

[trustheart]

[ Luck. What does that make her? The exact opposite of that, she guesses. Chris lets out a small sigh. ]

We all were. How’d you get the guidance counselor on your side?

[banishedfromparadise]

[Dorothy lets others be the first to greet Doloris - Hatsune - while she sorts through her feelings on this whole thing.

Finally, when there's a moment, she steps in closer to the other girl. And slaps her hard across the face. She hasn't tried that as a ghost yet, but it seems to work well enough with other ghosts.

And while Hatsune is still reeling from that, Dorothy confusingly pulls her close into a tight, almost protective embrace, clinging to her as if she's something precious Dorothy had lost.

She doesn't have words yet, this'll have to do to sum up her feelings for the moment.]

[goldendoll]

[ you know what? the slap is honestly fair, even if it hurt like hell, and to her mind it could be about any number of things—

then dorothy pulls her that close.

and all hatsune can do is lean her face into the crook of her shoulder, wrapping her arms around her in return. ]

... It's really good to see you.

[banishedfromparadise]

Shut up.

[The words come out in a small voice, with little force or authority behind them. She'd honestly been prepared to scream at Hatsune, but the returned hug and gentle words have taken a bit of the wind out of her anger sails.]

You weren't supposed to be here. Couldn't you have come up with a plan that didn't involve letting yourself be executed? Couldn't Satsuki?

[Rationally, she knows they could only have controlled so much of that situation. Maybe they had only been prepared for the execution, rather than planning for it. But still-!]

cw: dissociation, ableism, institutionalization, unreality

[protomartyr]

[ Dorothy and I don’t take any prescription medications.

There’s something wrong with Lottie. She doesn’t eat, sleeps at odd hours, doesn’t speak, paces the house at night. She needs to be fixed. You need to fix her.

Can you hear me?

Lottie has not been here since partway through the trial. The person who has stopped speaking, who has taken to staring at nothing in the bottom of the pool, isn’t Lottie. She’s a ghost, and ghosts aren’t real.

At one point, the ghost’s empty gaze looks at the newcomer. The ghost doesn’t say anything, though. Why should she? The fact of the matter is, she has no idea if the newcomer is real, either. So the ghost looks away, resuming her watch of nothing. ]

yeah those'll probably continue

[goldendoll]

[ ... well. this is going to be one of the more difficult ones, after that stunt she pulled. ]

... Lottie?

[protomartyr]

[ The ghost named Lottie drags her gaze up to the blonde one. The wrong one. Everything feels heavy. ]

You’re not supposed to be here.