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

You... really wanted to kill me.

[But she didn't, and Angus did it himself. No one's ever wanted to hurt her before.

It's odd, she's wanted to hurt other people. Lots of them. An entire planet. Was that why she couldn't blame Riley? Could she even be mad?]

Oh, hey. Hey, Riley...

[Her hands move on their own, finding Riley's shoulders as she starts to sing.]

Oh hey
I had a night, you had a day
You've done a bunch of stupid things
I've done a billion stupid things
But that's okay
There was a point where I couldn't deal
With everything, but this is real
And now you're here so I can feel
You're sorry, and in pain...

[The corners of her lips, tired from the revelation, turn up regardless.]

It's alright, it's okay
It's alright, it's okay
You're not a monster, just a human
And you made a few mistakes
It's alright, it's okay
It's alright, you're okay
You're not gruesome, just human
And you made a few mistakes
It's alright

[ This is...vastly different from what Spinel sang before. The gentle song that lead into Riley's cruel deception. It pulls her attention, away from her healing fingers, so she can really, truly look at the person she's been running from.

It's been a night, that's true. But, somehow it looks like it's been so much longer for Spinel. What's...she really been through? Riley's vision blurs. Kneeling on scraped up legs in the garden, a beautifully awful reversal, she can barely believe what she's hearing.

When it's impossible to say anything, the only thing to do is...sing. ]

Goddamn-
I've thrown a brick right through the window,
And then ignored the signals!
I was high and drunk on ego,
Can't see straight!
So I just feel my way around and,
I am touching, I am grabbing-
Everything I can't be havin',
I am broken down in shame...

[Spinel is looking vastly different, and not just in appearance; she carries herself a bit differently, more... tenderly. Less sure of her actions than the happy-go-lucky Gem she'd known for several weeks.

Sometimes singing it out is the only way. She learned that pretty handily.]

It's alright, it's okay
It's alright, it's okay
You're not a demon, there's a reason
You behaved in that way
It's alright, it's okay
It's alright, it's okay
And I believe, yes I believe
That you will see a better day

[ What...happened to her? Is this normal? Did Riley do this? She brings her arms up around herself, in a self-hug. ]

It's alright...?
It's okay?
It's alright?

[ She closes her eyes slowly, in a painful admission. ]

I don't wanna know who I am,
'Cause heaven only knows what I find.
I don't wanna know I'm not capable of any way to thrive.
I don't wanna see what's inside.
I think that I would rather be blind!
I don't wanna know I'm not capable—I'm capable?

You're alright

[Spinel sinks down, hands still on Riley's shoulders before she gently goes in for a hug. It's no fun hugging just yourself, you know.]

You're okay
You're alright, you're okay
You're not a monster, you're a human
And you've made a few mistakes
You're alright, you're okay
You're alright, you're okay
You're not gruesome, just human
And you made a few...

[ Riley feels rather than sees Spinel hug her and for a moment, everything within her goes blank. Mephisto. Dr. Browning. Nana. Jeremy, Santana, Christine-- each and every acceptance has been a knife in her heart, as strong as Cairo's rejection.

How?

How is it that whatever she wants (do you really not want this?), the opposite happens? Whatever could...overwhelm her the most. Is this what Dr. Browning meant, when he said she forfeited her choice to what she deserved? When she...

Riley chokes out a sob. ]

It's alright, it's okay, it's alright, it's okay.
I'm not a demon, there's a reason,
I behaved in that way.
It's alright, it's okay, it's alright, it's okay...!

[ Does she sound like she believes it? No. Not fully. But she leans into the hug, awkwardly trying to unwrap her own arms to return it. She's not fully convinced this is even happening. ]

And I believe - yes, I believe, that you will see a better day
It's alright!
It's okay!
It's alright!
And I believe - yes, I believe, that you will see a better day

[How can she believe this? Even now? That things would get better for all of them, when they were literally where no Gem had gone before. Maybe it was just a feeling. Maybe she believed in Steven.

Whatever the case, she's happy to be hugged back.]

It's alright.

[ Broken on the ground, Riley cries. She's afraid once she lets go of Spinel, it'll all be over and the reassurance will be gone—but at the same time she's afraid it won't. She doesn't know if she can handle either one, so in the end she can't let go, or really handle anything. ]

...'m sorry. [ All her perfectly practiced enunciation falls away. And she just...mumbles. ] Th- thank you.

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

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