holeful | VLAD CATCH ALL

[ Vlad, in his heinous graveyard outfit, is standing to the side of the bench, watching coolly with his arms crossed. ]

And why, exactly, is that?

Edited 2021-03-02 02:43 (UTC)

[Fukuda sighs.]

It's just reminding us what we can't have.

All the more reason to use it as motivation to get it back.

[He finally looks over at Vlad, then.]

Get what back? We died.

And?

[Stares at him for a long moment.]

I don't understand.

[ sighs ]

Well, we're still here, aren't we? Conscious and in our own bodies, even if not alive. Although this version of the afterlife is far more lifelike than what I'm used to...

I'm sure there's a way back there somehow, and at that point, what will it matter if we died or not?

And even if not, this seems to be the best form of entertainment we're going to get here.

... I suppose. I think you're making a lot of assumptions, though...

[Looking back at the images.]

Just because we're not ghosts doesn't mean we're any more capable of coming back to life.

Who said anything about coming back to life? As long as we make it back to the realm of the living, actually being alive doesn't matter.

And if there's a way into this place, there must be a way out as well.

[Fukuda is quiet for a long moment. When he says it like that, Vlad does make some amount of sense. But something about it feels wrong, so he takes a minute to try and figure out what exactly it is.]

Do you know the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, Mr Vlad?

[ He does, but he wants to see where Fukuda is going with this. ]

Enlighten me.

Well... Most of the story isn't really relevant.
[If this were any other week he would tell the whole thing anyway because he is a big nerd who does that sort of thing.]

But basically, Orpheus manages to enter the Underworld and get permission to take his wife Eurydice back to the world of the living only by his incredible skill. Then, when he fails to fulfill the requirements of his deal and looks back at Eurydice before she's left the Underworld, she fades into nothing.

My point is, it's not a simple task to enter or leave the Underworld when you aren't meant to. And a failed attempt may cost what little you still have.

That's myth. A cautionary tale meant to deter people from exploring beyond our realm.

But as someone who's built a portal to the so-called Underworld and has made frequent trips back and forth from it? As long as you know what you're doing, it's child's play.

[Fukuda's quiet for a long time as he thinks vaguely about how probably there's a world where it's NOT just a myth. Sloth is Hypnos after all.]

I'd say I'd leave such a solution to you, but after last week I'm not sure if I should trust your judgement.

What, just because I killed Steven?

Well, I turned out to be right, didn't I? That I needed to take preemptive action or I'd be killed?

...

What do you mean "or"?
[YOU WEREN'T RIGHT AT ALL? YOU ARE DEAD RIGHT NOW?]

...well, yes, I died anyway, but I was right in that people were going to kill me one way or another--either killing me or voting me out.

At least I managed to do something first, instead of just succumbing pathetically to people's misplaced ire.

Rather than that, didn't you just make it not misplaced at all? Didn't you just prove them right?

[Bold words for a serial killer???]

I'd much rather die for some real action I took, than for nothing at all.

If all people want to see is a villain, then anything I do will make me one.

[Normally he'd think that's a really negative way to think but it's depression week, so. He just frowns.]

I don't know if people thought you were a villain so much as they thought you were annoying?

If I'm "annoying" enough to be put to death, then there isn't really a difference, is there?

... I think maybe you're overreacting, Mr. Vlad.

Am I, Fukuda? When all the others consider voting me to be executed merely because they find me annoying? When I was murdered for, presumably, the very same?

I'm not the one who made it into a life or death issue.

I mean, people voted for me because they didn't like me, too. And I'm not agonizing over it.

[SIR YOUR HOLE DRILLING?]

You're right, I suppose there's no use in belaboring the point further when we're both already dead.

But I am still going to make my way back. I've connected the living and the afterlife together before, I'm certain I can do it again.

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