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

[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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ This is...more tiring than she realized? And she's only just moving Christine's arms. She can hear them talking, from far away, and Mephisto says her name. ]

What? Oh...! Oh, okay... [ Riley releases Christine from the hug and moves to trace her initials on her other hand. She's already starting to...to think of other things to do. Maybe she can find a way to write a letter? Maybe she can trace something in the grass. Mephisto's coming over to hug Christine, and Riley wonders if she'll be able to feel it--

Aaaand then she blacks out for a good few seconds, stumbling backwards. ]

Oh. Ohhhh, okay. Oka....aaay. Whoa.

[ YEAH... SHE'S DONE...... ]

Whoa there!

[Richard, by virtue of being right there, deftly blocks her from falling, catching her against him.]

Easy does it, there we go. [He checks her face.] No blood? That's good. You did good.

[ That, she appreciates. Her mind flickers for a moment, and she's back in her basement. Her head's pounding, and someone's tying her up with a jump rope, and Cairo... Cairo's right there. Looking more destroyed than she's ever seen her. ]

Cairo? What's going on...? [ She mumbles before she can stop herself. It's just an echo, and as she puts a hand to her head, steadying herself against...Richard, that's who she's here with, in the cemetery, in the Opera House, not her basement, she quickly amends- ] I-I'm okay. I'm okay, just...need to. Sit down.

[His brow furrows in concern. If they weren't both dead he would worry she was falling ill. But she seems to steady as she leans against him, so he puts an arm around her shoulders to help her over to sit on one of the sarcophagi.]

Here, just sit here a moment, catch your breath.

[He glances back over to Christine and Mephisto, his heart breaking at the sight of the young girl crumpling. She was so strong and confident when they first met, seeing her broken like this almost undoes him.

But even if the thought of possessing a teenage girl didn't creep him out just a little, he doesn't want to exhaust himself when he's not sure if Riley will need his help getting back inside.]

Wait here, [he says to Riley, and then stands and goes back over to Christine, looking down at his feet and around for an idea of what to do.]

Aha!

[He stamps at the ground, one foot and then the other, to make a heart shape where they can see it.]

[ She doesn't protest as she sinks to the crypt, letting out a slow sigh. There's...certainly something wrong with Riley. But, she's very keenly aware of that, by now. Riley's sick. But, there's not much they can do here, so she's just going to be a crazy, fucked up ghost, and that's that.

Maybe if she can haunt them nicely, it'll make up for...something.

Right now, she just watches Richard go. Moving Christine's body was...probably her first mistake. She doesn't know what she's doing. Their voices are more distant for her, right now...but she can still hear what they're saying, even when she doesn't focus on it. Maybe it's something to do with this place being a literal graveyard.

The heart on the ground, it makes her smile. ]

You... I think she'll like that.

[The grass is short and well-tended around the graves, and he has to kind of grind his feet a little to leave an impression - frankly it would have been moderately tiring even if he were alive. But he stops to catch his breath, and waits for her to notice.

He grins, invigorated, when she guesses that it's him.]

Oh, good! She remembers me!

[He reaches out with intent, and ruffles her hair.]

[ She smallest of laughs, half-scornful but- half-amused. ]

Of course she remembers you. We didn't...just forget, after all.

[Richard turns to look back at Riley.]

Well, it's just-

[...He's used to people being glad to be rid of him.

But before he can articulate that, Mephisto swipes his hand through Richard's ankle, and Richard lifts his foot.]

-Hey!

[ Now Riley just laughs lightly, a smile slipping onto her face. ]

You felt that?

He went through me!

[Rude.

RUDE! He jumps back out of the heart a split second after Mephisto jumps into his body.]

[ WHOA why....does Riley find that equal parts creepy and cool. ]

What'd it feel like?

[Richard is distracted from scowling at Mephisto by Riley's question. He furrows his brow, thinking about how to describe it.]

It felt like... You know- Eeeuugh! [At the sound effect, he demonstrates a full-body shudder.]

[ She gives the two of them - Mephisto, and Christine - a wistful look as her awareness of the physical world fades. ]

I wanna try it again. As soon as I can.

[Richard, tired but not fatigued, leans against the crypt next to Riley.]

You did good. For your first try.

They were...so excited to see me. Or...to hear from me.

[ She on the other hand is just. Fucking drained. ]

[He smiles at her.]

Well of course they were! They're your friends.

[He gives her a very light nudge with his elbow.]

Come on, let's go inside. Sigyn taught me how to make a real bangin' cup of cocoa. I'll make us some!

[ For the first time, Riley’s not hung up on how they shouldn’t have been so kind to her, or forgiven her so quick, because...well, this is something she can still do, isn’t it?

She can help, or...at least try to.

Almost dizzy with preemptive plans, she somehow finds her footing and nods. ] Yeah. Okay, cocoa sounds...wonderful, right about now.

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

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cw: ableist language

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