now let's skip the tears and start on the whole-

[stagemanagers]

[You remember dying. Maybe the memory is clear and bright and your body still aches from the cause. Maybe it was fast enough that you didn't feel it and don't remember what you went through. But no matter how you went out you're still trapped here.

When you open your eyes it might take you a minute to recognize your surroundings. For the executed, it's your dressing room. For the victims, you startle awake in the place your body was discovered. But no matter where you are nothing is where you remember it. It's like everything has been picked up and moved to the other side of the room. The entire room has been perfectly mirrored from what it used to be and, upon leaving, it seems the rest of the opera house is just the same. If you remember one room being in the east wing, it's now in the west. If it was in the west, it's now in the east.


Welcome back to the Opera House, friends. Even in death you're still in the woods.]


WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3 | WEEK 4 | WEEK 5


[ooc: Welcome to deadland, darlings! It's a perfectly mirrored version of the Opera House and each week, as new people die after new floors have been revealed, the stairwell doors will unlock and allow you to reach them. For example, week 3 victims will unlock floor 2 and so on and so forth. Also, all dead characters will wake up at their actual canon point.

Have fun because we have some fun things planned for you.]

Comments

[expertreese]

Oh. I - I dunno. I never saw the real one, I think. I mean, this one's probably real too, I guess, it's not like we're not real! But the not...ghost building one.

[because ghost buildings exist??? come on evan]

[superbeliever]

...

[Richard stops, for a moment.

Were they real? He was certainly dead, but he'd never been good at metaphysics or philosophy.

But that wasn't something he wanted to think about for too long, honestly.]

Whether you saw the original or not, you're certainly welcome to stay in this one with us.

[He turns around in front of the doors.]

As you can see, there's plenty of room!

[And then he turns back, and in a swift, decisive action he pulls the doors open.]

[expertreese]

I mean I kind of already have been so -

[uh yeah forget that he's just not saying anything, just gonna stand back and let those doors open dramatically!]

[redjoker]

[When the doors open, Richard and Evan get quite the site: Jonny D'Ville, his back to the doors and arms spread for dramatic effect while he speaks to the only other two people (to his knowledge) are in the ghost opera house: Sigyn and Red.]

-keep telling you, Sigyn, the doors aren't going to open! They haven't opened the last forty times we've tried, what makes you think they'll open now?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

I'm just saying, if he isn't anywhere else-

[The doors open and Sigyn gestures towards them in a 'I fucking told you so' motion]

See?

[She pushes past him to approch Richard]

Sorry, we didn't mean for you to wake up alone.

[superbeliever]

[Richard's arms stay extended for a lingering moment after he pushes the doors open, standing there dripping wet and dumbfounded. He never saw Jonny's corpse, just sat through the trial, but he watched Sigyn die and - even if he had been kind of preparing for it ever since he woke up feeling like he'd never died at all - he's not ready to see her come toward him, call out to him.]

Uh- Well, I wasn't quite...

[But then he sees the third of the meeting party, the smallest and quietest so far, and the memory of blood in his veins chills completely. His voice fails him, breaking, barely loud enough to reach Sigyn.]

No. No, God, not her...

[bloodycape]

[If he wasn't in here then he had to be out there-- it was the only place that made sense. And if she existed in this world then he had to be here somewhere. Red was ready to break the door down by any means necessary, if she had to.

But luckily that isn't necessary.

Even so, once she's finally face to face with him again, it's a little more difficult than just thinking about finding him. It's looking at him and remembering that same face when she found him dead in the garden. Remembering that same face as it looked down at her and stabbed her through. Even though she couldn't possibly believe the latter was really him, it's still a jolt to look at him-- to feel so many different feelings at once.]

Y-Your Highness I... I'm so sorry. I--

[You know what. She doesn't have words. All she can do is run to him and hug him tight. Even though she knows "this" isn't living it's... it feels good to see him the way he should be. Not with that evil look on his face or with his eyes glassed over and unseeing.

She's just going to hug tight and not let go.]

[expertreese]

[......................................why is he here for this?

Evan feels very uncomfortable here with all these people who are friends that he doesn't know! He's just gonna! Maybe start to edge away and look for an exit!]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Oh no you don't! Sigyn notices Evan, her eyebrow raise as she hits Jonny's arm to get his attention]

Hey! It's you! [She sounds more surprised than anything]

[expertreese]

Ohhhhhh -

[gonna just. hide behind richard a little? hold on real tight to his tote bag? it looks identical to the ones he had before, except there's just one now.]

- hi?

[redjoker]

What, that's the one who broke into your room? [He looks from Evan to Sigyn.] You want me to kick his ass?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Sigyn sighs] No, Jonny. I just talk to talk to him [The next she addresses to Evan]

No one here is going to kick your ass.

I'm Sigyn, but I think you probably already knew that.

[expertreese]

[X DOUBT]

I'm Evan?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Well, he isn't running, so that's probably a good sign]

Good to actually meet you, Evan. How long have you been here?

[expertreese]

I - I mean, time's kinda weird here. But, uh, maybe a few weeks before you guys got here? I can't, you can't really see living people from here too well, I can barely do it, but Beetlejuice knew when you showed up.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Beetlejuice?

[That's...a name?]

Who's Beetlejuice?

[expertreese]

You...haven't met him yet?

[SUDDENLY, HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S BEING HUNTED. BEETLEJUICE COULD BURST OUT OF ANYWHERE AT ANY TIME WITH A WHOLE INTRO SONG AND HONESTLY BEETLEJUICE IS A LOT.]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Sigyn shakes her head]

Seeing you sneaking out of my room was the first time I'd seen anyone other than Jonny. By the way, What were you doing in there?

[She doesn't sound mad just disappointed confused.]

[bloodycape]

[It's fine we were all strangers once.

Eventually, she'll make sure to greet him as well.]

Hello Mister!

[expertreese]

[uh - well, okay, this is a child. not that evan knows how to socialize with kids either, but you know, it's, it's the principle?]

Hi.

[..........oh crap he should have introduced himself, is it too late now?]

[superbeliever]

[For perhaps the first time he can recall, Richard does not immediately know what to do with a hug. She plows into him nearly hard enough to wind him, if he had "wind" anymore, and he gasps, a little, the weight of her all too real.

This is no trick of his eyes. He failed. Another failure, onto the end of a long, long list of them.

He is too tall to put his chin on her head, but after a second he wraps his arms around her shoulders as tightly as he can.]

I'm so sorry... You shouldn't be here. It's my fault you're here...

[But there's a wicked, selfish part of him, he thinks guiltily, that's happy to see her nonetheless.]

[bloodycape]

[There are many things Red is uncertain of. His responsibility in this is not one of them. She shakes her head from where it's buried in his chest.]

It's not your fault, Your Highness.

[She pulls back, gripping his hands and looking up at him with an unwavering gaze.]

It's my fault. If I hadn't put you in that position in the first place-- then there would have been no second place or third place. I know that now. And... it's alright.

[She doesn't have much of a "home" to go back to. Maybe Jack, Cinderella and the Baker would worry for her but-- they were near strangers. Just... strangers who have been through a great deal together. And that wasn't any different than it was here, was it? So... it was a fitting end to her story.]

[superbeliever]

[When she pulls back and grips his hands he aches, deep in his chest, and knows suddenly the feeling has nothing to do with the pain of his deadly wound.

He purses his lips in a thin smile behind his beard and squeezes her hands with his, bringing them up and together to kiss her knuckles comfortingly before letting their hands fall again.]

It's not alright. But I won't argue with you about it.

[He drops her hands and then pulls her into a side hug, reluctant to let go of her.]

But! Only if you drop it with all the 'Your Highness' stuff, okay? Call me Richard.

[bloodycape]

[That's more than enough for her. Perhaps it isn't "alright", but it's close enough for what they've got right now.]

Good!

[As he kisses her knuckles she giggles. It's like something out of a fairytale. One that is not her own, to be certain. And he's far better than any of the royals she knew of back home. She stays at his side, already feeling safer there. Whatever they were facing now-- she still wasn't alone.

But his request surprises her a bit, as she tilts her head to blink at him curiously.]

...really? Are you certain?

[superbeliever]

Of course!

[He remembers now what his sword means - remembers that he's the One True King, or something like that.

But also, something something transitive property of royalty and all that - he doesn't feel any less kingly, now that he's dead, but he doesn't know that he felt really more kingly before, either.

There is, however, a much simpler reason behind the request.]

All my best friends call me Richard.