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]

[ Riley's doing something a little differently, as of late. She still isn't wearing a knife inside her jacket?

But, she's put one on a utility belt that she's wearing! See, this is much better. It's out in the open. ...Like the Phantom!

I'll give you one guess as to what she does when she sees him all out and walking around, and it absolutely involves pulling a knife out and charging with ghostly intent! ]

[inside_yourmind]

[Riley experiences the noted effects as she gets closer - the overwhelming feeling of being watched, the difficulty moving. As she gets almost within reach, she can see a flash of something in front of her, around the Phantom. It's difficult to tell exactly what it is -

- and then she's blown backwards. Not hard enough to knock her off her feet, probably, but hard enough to get her away.

The Phantom, for the record, reacts to exactly none of this.]

[isawallflower]

[ The static in her own head keeps her from acknowledging that, the feeling of being watched. From acknowledging that she's literally forcing herself through the air. But the flash? That she can't ignore.

With a squeak, Riley stumbles back, dropping the knife as she does. ]

What...? What was that? I couldn't even...

[inside_yourmind]

[Whatever it was, you can't see it anymore.]

[isawallflower]

[ Well... Fine. With an overwhelming sense of frustration, Riley picks up a rock. ]

Hey!

[ And throws it, with ghostly intent! ]

[inside_yourmind]

[The ghostly rock thrown with ghostly intent sails directly through the Phantom, to no apparent response!

Well, maybe not none. A few seconds later, he shifts, frowns, and starts to remove the glove from his right hand.]

[isawallflower]

[ UGH not even a rock? The...whatever it was didn't come up this time, so maybe throwing something is the way to go? But what...

......Maybe her knife? Riley looks at it in contemplation before groaning and stomping her foot. What's he do with that glove, anything? ]

[inside_yourmind]

[When he's removed the glove, he stow it in a pocket, before reaching deep into his cloak.

There, from an inner pocket, he pulls out just an actual smartphone! Holding it in his gloved hand, he looks at the screen, types briefly on it with his ungloved index finger, and puts it away again.]

[isawallflower]

[ ......So. The Phantom has a smartphone? Does he look, like. Practiced on it? Kinda weird for the opera ghost to have a smartphone? Riley almost goes to grab it before remembering, right, uh. That weird force-field. ]

[inside_yourmind]

[He seemed like he knew how to text, at least? Regardless, he's putting it away now and putting his glove back on, so it seems he likes doing the gloves-and-phone dance about as much as the rest of us.]

[isawallflower]

[ You know... Are there any sticks lying around the cemetery or garden or anything? Riley's going to try and find a stick to poke him with. ]

[inside_yourmind]

[.....yeah sure there's sticks]

[isawallflower]

[ EXCELLENT can the stick get through the force-field? She's going to find the longest one she can, because she is absolutely five years old today. ]

[inside_yourmind]

[The stick just fully pulls out of her hands and goes sailing off over the wall. The Phantom still does not seem to notice this.]

[isawallflower]

[ Quietly seething. Riley growls and just- ]

Ohhhhh, come on!! Who's protecting this fucking monster?! I'm a ghost, I should be able to at least mildly irritate!

[inside_yourmind]

[YOUNG LADY WE DO NOT HIT PEOPLE WITH STICKS!]

[isawallflower]

[ WE DON'T STAB PEOPLE WITH KNIVES EITHER BUT RILEY'S ALREADY BROKEN THAT RULE NOW HASN'T SHE? ]

Why're you even out here?! Asking about- pretending you- [ She bites back a shriek of a groan. The one time she actually wants to hear what the Phantom has to say and she can't communicate with him! Of course!

Guess she can't get close enough to try and possess him either, huh? ]

[inside_yourmind]

[You absolutely may not!

Gee, if only there were some means of communicating with him!]

[isawallflower]

[ well she's tried all manner of violent communication idk what else works


Okay. No. Fine. Riley's going to take a moment, breathe, and try tracing something out in the dirt, like Claudine: ]

GO AWAY

[ nailed it? ]

[inside_yourmind]

[It takes him a moment to notice that there's a second message thread happening now, but he does take note!]

Ah - no.

[isawallflower]

[ Claudine certainly is having a more productive conversation. ]

Why are you here?

[inside_yourmind]

I am curious about this...phenomenon.

[isawallflower]

Trying to get rid of us?

[inside_yourmind]

[He just...sort of shrugs.]

I don't even know what it is. Even if I were concerned, I hardly see how I would go about affecting something I do not understand.

[isawallflower]

Isn't this supposed to be your opera house?
Weren't you supposed to be a ghost?
Or was that something else only in the story?