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]

Right?

[She switched to rubbing slow circles into her back]

Oh, I found Loki. She was alive. Well, obviously not after the crash, but we... we got to spend some time together before that.

[37773972]

...she's not here, is she?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

No. [Sad. She misses her.]

I expect she's in the actual afterlife. You know, I think you two would probably get along.

[37773972]

[He seems to relax imperceptibly at that. Then it's just...memories? Maybe like how they all remembered things over time...]

...she'd probably punch me. [A beat] You can, too. I feel like just- letting everyone line up and take turns.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Na, she's not the punching type. She'd rather debate you into submission.

[She squeezes just a little bit]

We can do that later. I think you're beating up yourself enough for now.

[37773972]

[No. He isn't. But he doesn't argue, just swallows.]

...what else can I tell you. The Wizard- I don't remember much about what he looked like. Just that he was...so fucking happy, before I told him where I wanted to go. He wouldn't get specific as to what he'd done it for, just...that it was about power.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Did he say what he wanted the power for? Or just that he wants power?

[Yeah, she's not letting you go anytime soon]

[37773972]

[Not pulling away anytime soon! Or looking at her. Just...trying to use this to ground himself further.]

He wouldn't go in to it. The thing is, Sigyn, what...got me the most? Is how normal he seemed. Except when I pushed him. And when I did, he just said it was important and that I wouldn't understand- that I didn't deserve to know.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Not every evil person looks the part, it's the normal ones that can be the worst.

They're pretty much all dicks who think they're smarter than everyone else, though.

[37773972]

[He manages a little laugh at that]

Definitely got that feeling from him. Especially when...I let him think I 'just' wanted to clean up. [Any amusement fades] I thought...better he hates me, thinks I'm sick, than realizes everything else.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Well, if we get a chance meet him, we'll beat him into the ground.

[37773972]

Little hard to do when we're dead.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

I trust our living friends to get him to us one way or another.

[37773972]

...can't say I wouldn't love to possess him. But...I'm guessing you've tried to find him?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

We've tried, but we can't do much exploring here. Seems like we only get rooms people here remember. We didn't get to go outside until Red and Richard showed up.

[37773972]

I wish I knew why we were here in the first place. I have to think it's a side effect of whatever the Wizard's doing- but I fully expected to be somewhere else.

[Y'know. Burning.]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

If it's the Wizard's doing, he isn't telling the Phantom about it.

It could be the theater itself, some sort of side effect of the power used to bring us here.

[37773972]

The Wizard...

[He thinks]

...this is first time doing it. I don't know where he got the idea from. But apparently...I'm the only one who's ever won.

[whup here comes the self-loathing again]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Pretty sure winners aren't executed.

[37773972]

I wasn't. I just...took another chance. [And lost.]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

And you didn't have to. Should you have played it safe? Cut your losses and just went back to the beginning with the information you had? Maybe. Or maybe the Wizard would have done new things to fuck with us you didn't know about.

[She scoots back just enough so she can properly look at him. A gentle hand comes to his chin to guide his head up to look at her as well]

I'm not going to tell you you're a good person, very few of us are. But you are not a monster.

[37773972]

I think- he already did some things to fuck with it. I didn't leave the bottle out, or knock the trash over. I cleaned up, I...

[...he trails off, staring up at her. And...Sigyn, that hurts him. Right in the soul, it hurts him. He can't look at her, he closes his eyes, and if you thought he was fully composed-]

I can not stand
Who I am, I'm this man
With this blood on my hands
In this blood I am damned
So watch my heart burn
As it burns in the fire
I'll scatter the ashes
No need for the choir

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She won't force him to look at here any longer, the hand that was holding his chin moves to comb through his hair]

My dear friend
Be not afraid
Though your mind makes monsters of your fears
And your failures to hands
We've all failed, understand
And I am here tonight

[37773972]

Just let me burn
It's what I deserve

[It's soft, weak; a protest against the comfort she's offering. As much as he desperately craves it- he doesn't fucking deserve it. He turns away from her, but- doesn't pull away. But he's shaking again, choking through new tears]

Oh, God, I've tried - am I lost in Your eyes?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She keeps singing. Does he deserve forgiveness? Maybe, maybe not. But she doesn't care. The others can give what they will, her forgiveness is hers alone to give.

And, even though she's still mad, she chooses to give it.]

And right now it's hard
You're tired and your scarred
Those things cause the darkness to swell
Though it feels far too late
To change our fate
I promise that all will be well
In the morning