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

[isawallflower]

[ Oh, it's not just Richard. As the doors aren't locked, Riley's going to just. ....Quite literally slam it open, if necessary. ]

Jeremy!!

[justmeheere]

He's going nuclear because he's adjusting to being alone in his head. He'll calm down in a minute.

[Look at this cute little robot! Look at it and how incongruous it is with the way it's talking like the SQUIP.]

[superbeliever]

Wait, who the f*** are you?

...Doesn't matter.

[He goes over to Jeremy and sits on the bed next to him, putting a friendly arm around his shoulders.]

Hey, Jer-bear... Come on, kid, you're alright.

[isawallflower]

[ Riley puts two and two together, turns to the cute little toy, grabs it out of the air, and throws it right at the huge creepy wall-mirror! ]

No one wants to talk to you right now, you stupid tic tac!!

[ Hi, Jeremy. Riley's given into her anger. ]

1/2

[itsfromjapan]

[Ah, there the SQUIP go. It bounces off the mirror harmlessly and hovers there.]

You should really work on your anger issues, Riley.

[justmeheere]

Hey, don't. You can't talk shit about my sister!

[That gets him to snap out of his panic because fun fact: he has been hearing the SQUIP make garbage off-hand comments like that about everyone for Literally Weeks.]

I mean. I mean Riley! Who I am not related to! In any way!

[superbeliever]

[Richard sits back at Jeremy's outburst.]

...Huh. Well, alright then.

Glad to have you with us, Jeremy! I mean, not glad that you're here, obviously, like this, but. You know. Still.

[isawallflower]

[ Riley has a few things she wants to say to the SQUIP, and she is quite ready to tell it just how she wants to work out her anger issues. But.

But, then, there's that, and she kind of stops in place. And, her eyes sting again, and-- ]

Jeremy, you do NOT get to m-make me cry again...!!

[ And she launches herself at him in a tight, whimpering hug. ]

[justmeheere]

[Oh, okay. He's just being hugged? So he's gonna. Hug back? Is that what people do? He doesn't know.]

Well isn't that charming. A family reunion.

You know they can hear you now, right? [A beat.] Anyway, uh. Hi. I should probably. I'm gonna need to. Apologize to Shilo? And uh. Learn. Learn ghost stuff? I'm. There's. Can I get a, uh. Teal deer?

[superbeliever]

Hey, stuff it, tin can.

[Richard, who had obligingly withdrawn his arm when Riley tackled Jeremy, chooses not to rise from his seat regardless. His expression changes from irritation at the flying robot to confusion at Jeremy.]

Well, no, no deer here, teal or otherwise. ...God, I could die for some venison right now-

Er, figure of speech.

[isawallflower]

[ Into Jeremy's shoulder, as she's. Just fighting back tears: ] It's an expression- Jeremy he doesn't know memes, he's like medieval!

[ ...Yeah, she's not letting go. He smells like sweaty boy and she doesn't care one bit. ]

H-he wants a summaryyyyy!

[justmeheere]

[Thanks, Joe Iconis, for canonically making Jeremy a smelly teenage boy.]

Memes are, like. A coping mechanism, okay? [A lot of things happened!] I'm. I'm still getting used to the. The whole being dead thing.

[Do Beetlejuice lyrics references summon the Beej. Guess we'll find out!]

[superbeliever]

Oh, a summary. Well, that I can do. Let's see, well, we're in some kind of purgatory here, just us and Bee-man.

Oh, and Evan, too! He's a little shy, but I'm sure you'll get along once you get to know each other!

But, um... Bee-man taught us how to see the living, and interact with them. And then I taught Riley! So I can give you the basics, too, if there's someone you want to apologize to.

[Oh, maybe that last part was. A little pointed.]

[justmeheere]

Oh, no I'm not. I can't apologize to her. If I apologize to her she'll just forgive me, pretend like nothing happened, and it'll suck. I literally - I can't handle that.

[It's the worst! Let her finally get better taste and stop fixating on him, honestly!]

[isawallflower]

She's...really forgiving. Isn't she?

[ Very quietly, Riley pulls back just a little. She won't look up to meet either Jeremy or Richard's eyes, but-- ]

...J- Jeremy, did you... What happened? How'd it get...turned on again?

[superbeliever]

[He has things to say about forgiveness and suchlike, but Riley asked a question so he can wait for Jeremy to answer her first.

Also, at Riley's stammering tone, he reaches out and rubs her back a little, comfortingly.]

[justmeheere]

Pav, uh. Pavlov's dog. [That's a true Jeremy Heere non-sequitur.] The SQUIP made a deal with the Phantom. It gets deactivated, then the Phantom slips me Mountain Dew later and it gets reactivated.

[isawallflower]

[ Yeah she has no idea what that first part means so thanks for the clarification- ]

What? That- no! How long were you even- ohhh, that asshole, I should've tried to push him!!

[ But a moment later she's back to soft, comforting gestures, brushing a hand over his hair and trying to get a look in his eyes. ]

...At least...it's out here. [ Even if they're dead. Even as she's pointedly ignoring it. ]

[itsfromjapan]

A point of clarification: Jeremy was unaware I had been reactivated. The Mountain Dew was mixed into his morning water.

[The SQUIP is explaining what "Pavlov's dog" has to do with the rest of what Jeremy said: literally Jeremy drank it unthinkingly. You know how gross water tastes after you've brushed your teeth? Yeah, he didn't really notice that it tasted extra gross.]