...BUT TOMORROW IS JUST A DREAM AWAY

[worldofcolor]

[After such a long day, everyone must sleep. Whether it is because of the trial, or...something else, everyone will eventually find themselves with an overwhelming urge - no, need to sleep. There, someone is waiting for them.

Everyone will find themselves together in a room. It's...sleep-like, of course, but something about it feels real. There are eight rolling chairs set up, and another at the front of the room. But besides that, there are two important things to take note of. The first is that, everywhere, everyone seems to be depicted in...grayscale. It's a little weird, but nothing that odd.

The second is the pictures that line the wall, black-and-white sketches of so many familiar and unfamiliar characters. An Arabian thief, a curious girl in a blue dress, a ferocious dragon. All strikingly drawn and depicted in pencil. The walls seem practically lined with them.

Something interrupts your train of thought. A smoker's cough.

Man is in the Forest.]

My goal is to get you all out of here as soon as possible.

[A fatherly voice rings out, from seemingly everywhere at once.]

I'd like to discuss options with you all.

Comments

[sixfingeredstan]

[All he wants is to sleep. Maybe, just maybe, if he goes to bed, he'll wake up tomorrow and this will all have been a nightmare. Maybe he'll wake up and Fiddleford will be right there next to him, the familiar slow, even breathing that Ford has grown so used to by now a sign that he's still well and alive. He wants to think that, but he doesn't. Not really. So instead, he collapses into that far-too-empty bed to sleep what he hopes will be the deep, dreamless sleep of someone who's had a day of loss and grief and despair.

But he can't even have that. Instead, he finds himself in this room, surrounded by drawings that would be a lot more fascinating were he in a better state of mind. He looks around, and then up to the source of that voice.]

It's you again.

[worldofcolor]

Did you enjoy the prime rib?

[sixfingeredstan]

I've had better. I'd rather have my husband back, truth be told. Tell us our options.

[worldofcolor]

...They make the best prime rib I've ev-

[there's that cough again.]

Yes. Well. I believe that your escape has to be something that you folks have to do on your own. But, I might be able to influence things enough to...kickstart your exit.

[sixfingeredstan]

[Ford's brow furrows.]

Well, I'm sure we'd be very grateful, but how, exactly?

[worldofcolor]

I'm thinking I might have just enough power to get you all backstage.

Not exactly the most pleasant of ways to get out, considering the amount of opposition you'll likely face. I could make it happen midweek when your...host isn't around.

[amadeusrockette]

Backstage? [Her brow furrows.] Do you mean to say this is not -

[real.]

[worldofcolor]

It's very real.

Backstage meaning...the areas you can't get to. Where your host sleeps.

[chainbroke]

By opposition, you mean... a lot of bad guys? Or the spirits?

[worldofcolor]

...

[There's an uncomfortable pause before he speaks again.]

...The spirits are gone.

[kindaruledatit]

We know.

[Or....]

Well, I uh, kind of figured... when we stopped hearing from them.

[worldofcolor]

...Gone as in.

Gone.

[chainbroke]

Gone... completely?

All of them?

[worldofcolor]

That's my hunch.

[aboyandhiscar]

. . .they don't exist anymore.

They're really dead? That's why there wasn't anything in the attic to attack us.

[worldofcolor]

There are a lot of creatures that would love to get a handful on 999 easy-access souls. Considering the circumstances, I wouldn't be surprised if this was the case.

[defyingfrigidity]

[Wait... what? Now this is new to her...]

"Backstage"? Is this just... some sort of show for whoever it is behind our kidnapping?

[amadeusrockette]

Ah. [She doesn't seem too upset, but.] And what do we do once we're there?

[worldofcolor]

You fight back.

[amadeusrockette]

. . . I'm no good for that, though. I don't - I can't even do magic.

[sixfingeredstan]

Backstage? I'm sorry, what—do you mean behind that awful rotating stage they use for executions, or...?

[worldofcolor]

Maybe not backstage so much as "employees only-area."

[sixfingeredstan]

I see. Well, then, if we can get back there...is there a way we could punch a hole in the fabric of this dimension? Get ourselves to the Underworld that way?

[worldofcolor]

...It'd be a stretch, but we could possibly make that happen.

I'd prefer not to take you all into the Underworld straight away, however. There's no telling what Hades could do to you all with his strength - but consider this the first step towards that.

[sixfingeredstan]

That's simply the way I'm accustomed to doing things. But if you think there's a better way...if you think it's better to take it step by step, then we ought to take that into consideration.