The Afterlife, Hell
Oct. 10th, 2025 07:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
apologizeswithpieThe brochures had appeared in the inboxes of the leaders of all the realms of the afterlife. Flyers for Fandom University, and Fandom Island. Another universe reaching out it seemed. And if they hadn't so recently had to repel an invasion from an aggressive and desperate universe, hackles may not have been raised quite so much.
An emergency meeting had been called. Lucifer, God, Zeus, Odin, Osiris, even Cthulhu had been in attendance or had representatives sent (to name just a few). The pictures were pretty, the literature compelling. Fandom sounded like quite the place.
But could it be trusted?
It was decided to cautiously accept the implied invitation, and then discussions had begun of just who should go check the place out.
“I have a terrible idea.” Beleth, Prince of Hell and general of it's legions had said.
* * * *
“Just because it was my terrible idea doesn't make it any less terrible of an idea!” Bel exclaimed.
“Oh, I'm aware.” Gregorith said from his desk.
Being the master of level nine was a big, dirty, and important job. But since these days it was mostly paperwork for him, it wasn't too much trouble for him to delegate. He just hoped no one he was particularly interested in died while he was away.
Besides, he was about due for his mandatory vacation.
“Have you thought this through? Like really thought this through?”
Greg hit send on the final memo and sat back in his chair. “I have thought this through. I'm currently thinking it through and will continue to think this through.”
“I should have volunteered myself.” Beleth growled.
“Absolutely the fuck not!”
That brought Bel up short, who had been pacing Greg's office.
Gregorith sighed, collecting himself. “We almost lost you, not too long ago you may recall. I am very aware that this could be a trap, or...something else bad. You are not expendable. You have a family you owe a lot of quality time to.”
“You have a family too Greg.”
“Yeah I realized right after I said it that it was kinda melodramatic. Still true though.”
There were plenty of denizens that could do this. But Bel had mentioned Gregorith's name at just the right time, and he had agreed. That was possibly the part Beleth hadn't counted on.
* * * *
“I know I said you needed to get out more,” Angel said, “But I meant out of Hell, not out of the universe!”
Greg scowled as he packed.
“Look if people don't stop trying to talk me out of this you run the risk of succeeding and then we're back to square one. Not that the concern doesn't give me warm fuzzies, but I am scared and I think some encouragement would do me some good, yeah?”
Angel huffed. “You are good enough, you are smart enough, and you know just where to stab someone to do the most damage. Just...if it comes to that, run away after stabbing please?”
* * * *
“Laptop?” Sharkie asked, going down the checklist.
“Laptop.” Greg pointed to the bag containing his computer stuff.
“Clothes?”
“Clothes.”
“Toiletries?”
“Toiletries.” He was confident he hadn't forgotten anything on that score. He was very organized.
“Extra weapons?”
“Always.”
“Wallet?”
“Oh...” He searched his pockets. “Yeah, wallet.”
Sharkie gave him a narrow eyed look. “You're heading into the wild, my guy. Gotta have the proper supplies. You got the cheat sheet from mom about how money works?”
“Yeah. Not sure why the coins' value isn't always proportional to their size, but yeah.”
Sharkie shrugged. “Me neither. Might be easiest to use the card. Emotional support shark?”
He pulled a small stuffed shark from his jacket pocket. “Check.”
* * * *
Not every denizen of the afterlife even knew of this hall's existence, much less where it was. Portals to other universes, and the Non-human afterlives of this universe were to be found here. It was here that the doorway to Fandom had appeared.
Because of this, only Lucifer had been able to personally send him off.
“We've arranged for your lodging,” he said, handing Greg a folder containing all the info they had, and a key to said lodging, “But I'm afraid that's as far as we were able to go ahead of time.”
"Well that's part of my job right? Figure out what's up with the place."
"Yes about that, you may need to secure employment. Miss Lily says that might not be as easy. She says the place looks enough like the Mortal World that it...well you've heard the stories."
"Once again with people trying to talk me out of this."
"No, no, just making sure you're properly emotionally prepared is all. Right..." Lucifer was not his father, but he nevertheless looked like one sending his kid off to college. "Now one last thing, repeat after me, I'm brave."
Greg smiled slightly. "I'm brave."
"I'm strong."
"I'm strong."
"And I'm beautiful."
"And I'm beautiful."
"That's right, now, best not procrastinate any longer."
And with that, Gregorith stepped through the portal.
I've made a horrible mistake.
OOC: And new guy on the island!! All the stuff in hell is of course NFB, but his arrival is certainly okay. And what the heck, post is open if anyone wants to be the first to welcome the scowley guy carrying just enough luggage to look a little awkward as well.
An emergency meeting had been called. Lucifer, God, Zeus, Odin, Osiris, even Cthulhu had been in attendance or had representatives sent (to name just a few). The pictures were pretty, the literature compelling. Fandom sounded like quite the place.
But could it be trusted?
It was decided to cautiously accept the implied invitation, and then discussions had begun of just who should go check the place out.
“I have a terrible idea.” Beleth, Prince of Hell and general of it's legions had said.
* * * *
“Just because it was my terrible idea doesn't make it any less terrible of an idea!” Bel exclaimed.
“Oh, I'm aware.” Gregorith said from his desk.
Being the master of level nine was a big, dirty, and important job. But since these days it was mostly paperwork for him, it wasn't too much trouble for him to delegate. He just hoped no one he was particularly interested in died while he was away.
Besides, he was about due for his mandatory vacation.
“Have you thought this through? Like really thought this through?”
Greg hit send on the final memo and sat back in his chair. “I have thought this through. I'm currently thinking it through and will continue to think this through.”
“I should have volunteered myself.” Beleth growled.
“Absolutely the fuck not!”
That brought Bel up short, who had been pacing Greg's office.
Gregorith sighed, collecting himself. “We almost lost you, not too long ago you may recall. I am very aware that this could be a trap, or...something else bad. You are not expendable. You have a family you owe a lot of quality time to.”
“You have a family too Greg.”
“Yeah I realized right after I said it that it was kinda melodramatic. Still true though.”
There were plenty of denizens that could do this. But Bel had mentioned Gregorith's name at just the right time, and he had agreed. That was possibly the part Beleth hadn't counted on.
* * * *
“I know I said you needed to get out more,” Angel said, “But I meant out of Hell, not out of the universe!”
Greg scowled as he packed.
“Look if people don't stop trying to talk me out of this you run the risk of succeeding and then we're back to square one. Not that the concern doesn't give me warm fuzzies, but I am scared and I think some encouragement would do me some good, yeah?”
Angel huffed. “You are good enough, you are smart enough, and you know just where to stab someone to do the most damage. Just...if it comes to that, run away after stabbing please?”
* * * *
“Laptop?” Sharkie asked, going down the checklist.
“Laptop.” Greg pointed to the bag containing his computer stuff.
“Clothes?”
“Clothes.”
“Toiletries?”
“Toiletries.” He was confident he hadn't forgotten anything on that score. He was very organized.
“Extra weapons?”
“Always.”
“Wallet?”
“Oh...” He searched his pockets. “Yeah, wallet.”
Sharkie gave him a narrow eyed look. “You're heading into the wild, my guy. Gotta have the proper supplies. You got the cheat sheet from mom about how money works?”
“Yeah. Not sure why the coins' value isn't always proportional to their size, but yeah.”
Sharkie shrugged. “Me neither. Might be easiest to use the card. Emotional support shark?”
He pulled a small stuffed shark from his jacket pocket. “Check.”
* * * *
Not every denizen of the afterlife even knew of this hall's existence, much less where it was. Portals to other universes, and the Non-human afterlives of this universe were to be found here. It was here that the doorway to Fandom had appeared.
Because of this, only Lucifer had been able to personally send him off.
“We've arranged for your lodging,” he said, handing Greg a folder containing all the info they had, and a key to said lodging, “But I'm afraid that's as far as we were able to go ahead of time.”
"Well that's part of my job right? Figure out what's up with the place."
"Yes about that, you may need to secure employment. Miss Lily says that might not be as easy. She says the place looks enough like the Mortal World that it...well you've heard the stories."
"Once again with people trying to talk me out of this."
"No, no, just making sure you're properly emotionally prepared is all. Right..." Lucifer was not his father, but he nevertheless looked like one sending his kid off to college. "Now one last thing, repeat after me, I'm brave."
Greg smiled slightly. "I'm brave."
"I'm strong."
"I'm strong."
"And I'm beautiful."
"And I'm beautiful."
"That's right, now, best not procrastinate any longer."
And with that, Gregorith stepped through the portal.
I've made a horrible mistake.
OOC: And new guy on the island!! All the stuff in hell is of course NFB, but his arrival is certainly okay. And what the heck, post is open if anyone wants to be the first to welcome the scowley guy carrying just enough luggage to look a little awkward as well.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 11:58 am (UTC)But this indicated to him that Remy was A) human, and since he still hadn't realized the true nature of this place, B) dead. Wouldn't be polite to pry into those details though.
His mind raced through a dozen possible responses. A snarky comment about the concept of normal, condolences for having people be afraid of him, but none of them seemed quite right.
"I can see where specialized education could come in handy." he finally settled on. "I'm sorry about the fear though."
Greg could sort of relate, but that also seemed like they might be too early in their acquaintanceship to get into.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 08:00 pm (UTC)“Is what it is, homme. We take care of our own.” Remy shrugged. “So you’re a demon, then?”
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 08:11 pm (UTC)Greg sometimes wondered if the whole "personal growth" aspect of hell was scarier for some souls than eternal punishment would be.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 08:43 pm (UTC)Yes. It surely was.
“We’ve got some of you back home,” Remy said. “You’re too tall or I might have mistaken you for Azazel.”
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 09:21 pm (UTC)mun noticed the resemblance as wellDid he know an Azazel? The name rang a bell. He'd have to ask Bel when he called home.
"Was it the horns?"
Greg was actually a few inches shorter than most afterlife denizens that he knew.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 10:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 11:07 pm (UTC)"Well, the short...ish version is that the Afterlife realms in my universe started getting flyers about the school, and the island. I volunteered to come check the place out and act as a representative of sorts."
He decided to leave out the part where one of his qualifications for this mission was that they trusted he'd be able to handle himself (stab and run) if it turned out to be a trap.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 11:24 pm (UTC)“Oh, oui?” Remy asked, finally startled. “So this is First Contact?”
no subject
Date: 2025-10-11 11:32 pm (UTC)"Yeah you could say that. We've had sporadic contact with other universes in the past, but the initial communication never came in the form of an advertisement before."
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 12:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 12:18 am (UTC)"Oh this is much nicer than the street name let on."
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 12:44 am (UTC)“Fandom likes her irony,” Remy guessed. “It is nice, isn’t it?”
He rubbed his chin, then shook his head.
“Non, Midnight would miss the cats.”
And he’d lose out on the free cat care.
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 12:50 am (UTC)The thought of multiple little apex predators in one place was...he couldn't decide if it was scary or not. As long as one didn't piss them off he supposed.
"Remy thank you for the assistance." Greg said, and after a moment thought to add "And the welcome."
Was this how Leviathan felt, trying to navigate social situations?
no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-10-12 01:06 am (UTC)"I will, and..." he pointed to #1 Derelict Walk "You know where to find me if need be."