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]

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

[37773972]

[He doesn't have anything left in him to fight. Not her, not anyone else. He goes silent, then, aside from the shuddering breaths he's taking as he desperately tries to, once more, regain control.

Good job, Sigyn. You broke him.

...sometimes things need to be broken, though, in order to be fixed properly.]

the next...morning?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

["Yesterday" was a lot, both mentally and 'physically'. She'd ended up falling asleep in Stephen's bed, snoozing until the weariness of the trial room haunt finally left. It wasn't on purpose, but she didn't want to leave him. He'd had the others to look after him, yet somehow had ended up being alone anyways.

She stretches and rolls onto her back, doing her best to at least keep a hand on Stephen.]

Sorry, didn't mean to pass out.

[37773972]

[Unsurprisingly? Stephen's also on the bed. Kind of half-curled on his side, facing away from her, stirring slightly when she does]

Mmhm?...s'fine.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She sits up, rubbing her head. Is that a haunt hangover or just her imagination?]

I know you probably don't feel like it, but you should leave the room eventually. We don't need to eat, but it would probably make you feel better.

[37773972]

[He almost says something about Nana cooking breakfast- but that just causes a sharp pain in his chest. Ah...

...right.]

...I'll take your word for it. [As in, he's starting to get up]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Scooting to the edge of the bed she stands, stretching again.]

We can go check out the fourth floor as well, if you'd like. We should be able to access it now that you're here.

[She would suggest haunting lessons, but maybe that can wait for a bit]

[37773972]

...sure. There's a few things up there. [He was never one for ice skating, though.]

...Sigyn? Is it- going to be like this, from now on? [He seems to realize he's being vague, but-] Just...living?

[While being dead?]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[She looks back at him, a sad smile on her face]

Yeah. There's only so much we can do to help the living. Between haunts we just have to...pass the time.

[Whatever 'time' means here, anyways]

[37773972]

[wonderful]

...I told Christine I'd haunt a punching bag, first.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[Chuckle]

We don't really inhabit the things we haunt, more like puppet them?

I can beat you up for her though.

[She wasn't going to punch a man clearly in the middle of a meltdown, and she does understand to a degree.

But he was still stupid, and she's still not happy about that]

[37773972]

[Heh]

Can we at least get something useful out of it, other than the fact I deserve it?...I had Riley help me work out, and then...Santana, later.

[let him have a grown woman as a coach now, please, as opposed to a teenager. or just kick his ass, that works too]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

You want to spar?

[She shrugs]

I'm not great at fighting, but we can try.

[37773972]

I'm probably worse. I figure you might be able to teach me how to punch, though?

[reassuranceandrevolution]

I can do that. Let's check out the 4th floor first, I want to see what we were missing last week!

[37773972]

I'll show you around- just let me get changed. [There's...still a need for basic hygiene, right...]

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[eeeehh?]

I'll meet you in the hallway.

[She steps out of the room and over to her own. As far as she can tell they don't strictly need to change clothes or bathe; but much like eating and sleeping it makes things feel slightly more normal.]