cut to credits

[thethrillof]

(hum your own dirge, if you're the type.)

This is the end. 

No, no, that's not true. The end was a little while ago.

A wound, a sickness, an accident. This is after the end. A ship ride to the afterlife, though it's hard to tell where it could be going. The seas are dark, even when the skies are bright, and it's hard to see too far off the sides and through the portholes.

It could be a beginning, instead, for the positive thinkers, or those who (think they've) wasted their lives. There are many on this boat, after all, be they enjoying the odd-but-comforting air on the top, or trying to relax below-decks. Who knows what bonds might be formed on the way?

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[dustless]

Anyone can find Frisk on the very edge of the ship, staring down into the maybe-abyss.

They're not pleased to be here...or not pleased that they can't figure out a way to get off the ship and get back home, like usual.

[afraidof7]

Six is nearby. Fresh on the boat.

Her death wasn't pretty. Her death wasn't pleasant (as are they all, but being eaten alive is a bad one) though t was quick, to some degree.

This isn't the Maw. Something tells her that she didn't hust fall unconscious and leave.

Well. At least there's someone else here, and not in a cage--naturally, Six, lost and confused, gravitates towards the other children. Here, Frisk. Have a twig of a child look over the railing next to you, visibly shorter than even them.

[dustless]

They haven't been paying attention to anyone else on the ship. Not since they tried to find a captain about an hour ago (and failed completely). They have to get back to Mom already, they can't help other ghosts right now!

They're not expecting to hear someone come up beside them. Even less are they expecting it to be another kid, and they make a face when they turn their head and spot her.

"...Hi."

[afraidof7]

"... hi," she parrots, her voice quiet and a little wispy. She's very young.

... hm. "Do you know where we are?"

[dustless]

"Not sure..." Not a lie. They never thought about what 'after' was supposed to be, but they'd gathered there was either nothing or a bright light you float up into, and this is certainly not those.

...This other kid really is tiny. Concern rears its head before settling again--it's too late to do anything here and now. Maybe they can fix whatever happened later. Once they're not here.

They push themselves back from the rail. "I just died. Did you?"

[afraidof7]

"... I was hoping I didn't," she says.

She grips the poles of the railing in an anger that starts to pool, deep in her stomach. She doesn't want to be dead. She was almost out. She wonders--she's escaped before. Can she find something to float on and go back?

… if she comes back, it'll be in someone's stomach. She doesn't have a choice.

She's used to that.

They might as well share stories, while they're out here. "... how did you...?"

[dustless]

Most people do. Frisk bites back their irritation and just says "Me neither," instead.

(Is there anything to float on? And even if there is, who knows what might happen if you fall off and 'drown'?)

"Dunno. A human." They were in a crowd, they wandered away, and then something hit them in the back of their head to hard and fast they were here when they landed. If it was a bullet, it wasn't a monster one.

"You?"

[afraidof7]

"Eaten," is the simple answer, which leaves several possibilities for anyone to wonder.

It is, unfortunately, the worst possible one. Nothing they can do about that now.

"Didn't think... that 'after' would be like this." Truth be told, she was doubtful there was an "after" at all.

[dustless]

Eaten.

Lemon Bread?

But no, she's been good. The Amalgamates who went back to their families are doing excellently, in fact; in other words, all of them. Pretty petty of Frisk to think that in the first place.

"Sorry." They hum. "Me neither. Looked for the...steering wheel, but couldn't find anything. Can't just go back that way."

[afraidof7]

"That's bad."

Six looks over the sea, over the boat. Wooden, clean, with open sky, it's nothing like the Maw. A refreshing change, if too bright for her liking, but she can't help but be skeptical of the apparently kind-looking boat.

"I'm really mad that I'm dead," she says. "And eaten. I almost got away."

[dustless]

It's kinda weird, talking to another kid. A smaller kid. So many grown-up monsters and humans, even though Monster Kid was around sometimes.

"Me too. Mad. I have stuff to do an' Mom's probably worried."

They shuffle back from the edge. They wanna jump and they shouldn't risk it (yet).

"...Who ate you?"

[afraidof7]

Six doesn't scooch back with them. She's still staring into the water, gripping the rail poles.

"I don't know," she says. "Looked kind of like a person, but I couldn't tell if it was really a person anymore. It was too hungry and wanted to eat everything. There were a lot of ones like that."

Such is the sway of the Maw. Unfortunate.

[dustless]

A chill scrapes up their back.

"A zombie?" Those aren't supposed to be real.

[afraidof7]

"No. They're different. More like... people who have stopped being people, and only care about eating and eating until they're big and swollen and can't walk--" Six gestures with her hands to give an impression of how rotund they are, "--and then eating some more. I got in their way, so they ate me, too."

Go figure.

"What about you? You said it was a human, but that's a lot of things."

[dustless]

Frisk hunches somewhat. Gross.

...And that still sounds like some sort of zombie.

"Sorry," they blurt, more sincerely than before. That's a more vivid picture than they had in their head the first time she said she'd been 'eaten'.

Being mad you're dead is okay, but they wonder if she should even want to go back in the first place. (Frisk probably wouldn't have if they'd met Lemon in the RUINS.)

"Yeah. It wasn't a monster, the ones I know're nice." Their fingers are tangling in the hair in the back of their head. They're completely unaware of that. "I didn't see it."

[afraidof7]

She's mad about it for more than being dead. Spite's a big motivator.

"Nice monsters?" she blurts, before she can consider what she's saying. She almost follows up with I've never heard of that, except, maybe she has. She wonders if the nomes count.

She does, of course, notice the body language, something she's learned to read fairly well in a place where hardly anyone talked. She's pretty sure Frisk's death wasn't an accident.

Chell - Portal

[aperture_monster]

Chell can be found stalking through various parts of the ship, climbing the rigging, exploring the areas below decks, etc.

She has mixed feelings about this whole "dying" thing. On the one hand, turns out there's some sort of afterlife. On the other hand, this means she lost- and it feels sort of like she's just traded in one prison for another.

[gloryindefying]

There's music playing on the deck of the ship.

Edel doesn't need to play her organ or sell her gems anymore, admittedly, but- it's a part of her, what little she is, and if she had a heart she's sure she'd be feeling proud right now.

Six | Little Nightmares

[afraidof7]

Here's an interesting sight: a diminutive, probably malnourished child, in a ratty old yellow raincoat, hiding in the shadows of the stairs that lead to a raised deck. She's crouched in the corner and seems to have no intention of leaving. Dare to approach?