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

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She sighs, shifting to sit next to Riley against the broken mirror. Her arm moves over Riley's shoulder]

I'm not going to lie. What you did was wrong and I...I'm disappointed. Even if you'd gotten away with it, even if the Phantom had somehow upheld his end of the bargain, it wouldn't have made things any better.

But I'm not the one you have to answer to for that.

[She gives Riley's shoulder a squeeze]

I'm still here for you, though.

cw: parental neglect, riley's mental state

[isawallflower]

[ No matter how many times this happens, Riley can't get used to it. Her mom was just as bad as her dad, growing up. The both of them trading her off, thinking the other was considering their daughter when really no, neither one had called a babysitter and it was time for seven-year-old Riley to cook herself pasta.

That's just how it went. For as long as she could remember, so much that she'd come to understand it as normal. But. She's being scolded, and comforted, at the same time. It makes it hard to focus, but. It grounds her, at the same time. ]

I know. I...I think I know. I keep...not knowing, but- I know most of the time? [ That doesn't make sense. Riley keeps saying things that don't make sense, lately, and she's aware of it but she can't do anything about it. ] ...I... I really didn't want to hurt anyone. I just...couldn't think of any other way.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

People do crazy things when they're backed into a corner.

[Riley has more going on than Sigyn knows, but she's willing to wait for Riley to tell her.]

You should know, Claudine and Spinel are also here. I haven't seen them yet, but it seems like everyone who dies in the Opera House wake up here.

[isawallflower]

[ Sigyn says crazy and a wry, bitter smile crawls onto Riley's face--before she hears the rest, and that dies. ]

What? No. N-no, they're here? Oh no. Ohhhhhkay, I guess I live- die in here now!

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She gives her another squeeze]

I'll be here to support you, but you're going to need to talk to them eventually.

[isawallflower]

[ She brings her hands up to her face, like she wants to claw her skin off, but she. Doesn't, so that's probably a good sign. ]

They shouldn't have to see me.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

And they might not want to. Or they might. We won't know until we ask them.

[isawallflower]

[ Mumbled, through her hands: ] Do we have to?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

We do.

[Sigyn reaches up and gently pulls Riley's hair out of the disheveled ponytail]

We

[isawallflower]

[ Okay this is completely new territory. The gentle hands on her hair cause her to peek her face out. There's something uncomfortable there, but, she manages to- ]

I, um. I didn't- [ ... ] I didn't get. A lot of...adults offering to...listen? Or- or anything so, I, uh. At the- ...before you... Before all this, I wanted to...to thank you, but I didn't, um. Really...know how.

[ Riley's been having an emotional overload for like four weeks, it's a miracle she stammered that out. ]

So- thank...thank you. For that. And this.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

I'm sorry it took getting trapped in a murder theater for your to find supportive adults.

[Gently she works out the tangles in Riley's hair with her fingers.]

Do you want me to go find Claudine and Spinel and talk to them first?

[isawallflower]

[ She remembers Cairo straightening her hair after a particularly bad attack, telling her it’d be okay, and that’s the closest Riley can think of, to a moment like this, but—

For several reasons, it’s not really comparable. So, she sits there quietly for a few seconds, drowning in selfish shame. ]

C-can um. Can you...stay here for a bit, first? Just a little longer?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Of course. We'll stay here as long as you need.

[After working the tangles out Sigyn uses the hair tie to put Riley's hair back up in the high ponytail she seems to like.]

So, anything interesting happen in the Opera House since Red and Richard left? [Other than the obvious murder thing. Trying to actually not talk about that part]

[isawallflower]

[ Well. She shifts a bit, to make it easier for Sigyn to adjust her hair. She thinks, at least? But the question prompts a harsh laugh that she immediately swallows back down. ]

Besides me? What didn't happen? Christine [ (the walls distantly echo but Riley is not dealing with that right now) ] almost got herself executed trying to shut down Jeremy's SQUIP, Jeremy actually shut it down and could've faced the same fate, Nana got possessed or something probably by a stupid demon whose name I refuse to say and then she and Christine found the Phantom's lair and almost got drowned! And to top off the list of things that almost gave me a heart attack, Dr. Browning and Mephisto got themselves very hurt while trying to learn chemistry, and Santana and I spent part of Thursday night picking glass out of them!

[ ..... ]

You asked.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Sigyn pauses, Riley's hair still in her hand, the hair tie in the other]

I'm gone for two weeks and everyone looses their minds. Okay, lets start from the top: What the hell is a SQUIP?

[isawallflower]

Oh, yay! You weren't briefed! [ Riley figures her whole world's been turned on its head so she might as well let some of the sarcasm and bitterness she usually keeps locked up out. ] A SQUIP is- remember at my first really really disastrous meeting when Jeremy saw Mountain Dew and had a panic attack? It's because of that! Sometimes, life sucks so much that you take a stupid little tic-tac that's got a supercomputer in it. That supercomputer plants itself in your brain and tells you how to handle things! And shuts off your optic nerves if it thinks something or someone's upsetting you! And takes total control of your body when you get distressed! And refuses to let you share information with your friends that'd maybe get it shut down! Oh, and it made a deal with the Phantom to pass information, to keep Jeremy safe, things like that.

[ This whole rant is complete with Riley throwing her hands up and doing little gestures. ]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

That certainly explains a lot about his behavior at the trials. [Including the change in this last one]

Now, you say Nana was possessed? Did the spirit involved have a name that starts with a 'B'?

[Listen, she doesn't want to say it either. Now is not the time for that guy to show up.]

[isawallflower]

He...took losing you hard, so--

[ Record scratch. ]

H- hold on, you. You know of- of the- Beej? [ She hates using Jeremy's stupid nickname for him, but. It's the only thing that comes to mind. ]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She tries not to grimace, he's helping them, after all! He's just so, so annoying.]

He's here, says he's a demon. He was trying to teach us how to posses people in order to contact the living. Richard actually pulled it off at the trial.

[isawallflower]

Jeremy summoned him last week! When- at one of my meetings! ...And then he showed up, when we were trying to talk to you!!

[ Oh my god Beetlejuice knew them??? HE TALKED TO SIGYN AND DIDN'T TELL THEM???? WHAT A DICK! ]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

He showed up right after Richard and Red got here.

[Wait.]

Jonny and I heard something the night before Richard's trial. It was like some of you were talking, but far off. What were you doing?

[isawallflower]

Right after? Oh my- he didn't tell us! He didn't- you- you...heard us?

[ Riley looks shocked. ]

We...all went out to the cemetery. All us kids. Mephisto- oh no, did someone tell you about Mephisto? Don't- don't worry, he's fine, he didn't- [ ...Riley remembers something, something that barely catches on her mind. ] He...tried to...catch me.

[ He did, right? She didn't just imagine seeing that? Because she wanted it- Focus, Riley. Focus. ] Um. A-anyway. He saw us sneaking off and followed, to make sure we didn't...do something stupid. We were trying to use a Ouija. We didn't get anything but that jerk.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[They'll circle back around to Mephisto here in a moment. She has QUESTIONS]

Not sure what a Ouija is, but whatever you guys did almost worked. We got maybe every other word? But We're pretty sure you couldn't hear us.

[Suddenly she stills]

He didn't hurt any of you, did he? [She doesn't care what kind of power he has, she will meet Beetlejuice in the pit]

[isawallflower]

We couldn't. [ Slowly shaking her head, still dragging herself from that memory. ] And...really he just scared us a bit. [ Scared her. ] And possessed Jeremy a bit. And said some...weird, stupid things. And...knew my name.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Saying weird, stupid things seems to be a theme with him.

[She relaxes a bit.]

Red did tell me a little about Mephisto, but she didn't say a lot. Just that he lied because he thought we wouldn't trust him? [She sounds confused by that. Congrats, Riley, you're the lucky person who gets to explain demons to her.]