the mark of those who cannot be saved

[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, that's no excuse for truancy! Which is to say: you are still in the school.

For those executed, you will wake up in your beds. The dormitories look exactly as they did when you first arrived, without any of the changes or personal effects you and your dormmates might have made. The only real difference is that the little cot in Ambassador isn't there.

For those who were victims, you will wake where your body was discovered. All of your injuries are gone, and you feel fine. It's almost like you're still alive - but you remember what happened to you. It couldn't have just been a dream, could it?

The school looks much as you remember it, save perhaps for a few key differences. For one, there's no groundhog murals anywhere. Where things were green on the other side, like banners or paint, you'll find that here they're blood red.

The doors, for the moment, are still locked. Looks like even death couldn't free you.]

Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5

(( ooc: Welcome to deadland, everyone! It mostly resembles the school here, and new floors will be revealed after new people die. For example, the second area will unlock after the week 3 dead arrive, and so on. Also, all dead characters will wake up at their actual canonpoint, with all lost memories restored. Have fun being dead! ))

Comments

[alchemistake]

[Varian could have just brought Salieri back to Broadhurst, but...he has an idea. And thus, they'll be heading outside.

It's a bit of a walk for Varian to get to what he wants to show Salieri, but he'll likely be able to notice something is very off long before they actually make it to the edge of the field...

It's, well. The corn. And it is not at all like it was before. It's been decimated, most of the area run over and trampled into the ground. The scarecrow is once more ominously missing.

He'll just...let Salieri take that in before he'll explain why he's even showing him this.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri trails after Varian, curious as to where they're going. At the sight of the cornfield he just...stares a moment.]

....ah. That is a change.

[alchemistake]

Yeah, it's...yeah.

[He's going somewhere with this, stay with him.]

Now, would you believe me if I told you Rina did this?

[violentenvies]

[that'll send his eyebrows right to his hairline--and he turns that expression on Varian just

?????]

[samefacesyndrome]

Mm. [ And at that she moves to give him a kiss on the cheek, trying to be reassuring. ] They’re pretty smart. I’m sure they’ll be okay.

[ She looks over at the ice freezing ]

Have you ever been ice skating before? Or swimming?

[alchemistake]

[STAY WITH HIM HE SWEARS HE'S NOT PUNKING YOU]

...when I first woke up here, I went to look for her. Understandably, she didn't want me around her. She was...scared of me.

[He looks over the corn, trying not to focus his gaze too hard in the direction of where he'd run that night.]

But after a couple days...she came to me. She dragged me into the car, and...

[He gestures with a nod of his head.]

This happened. But I didn't bring you here just to show you property damage.

[Varian's shoulders relax a little as he looks over at Salieri out of the corner of his eye.]

I thought Rina would never want anything to do with me ever again. I would have understood if she didn't, even if I never meant to hurt her. But, she...she's too good. She gave me a taste of my own medicine, and after that...we talked, for a long time. We worked it out.

[...]

I guess what I'm trying to tell you is...if Rina could forgive me, then I think the others would forgive you, if we ever get out of here.

They're...good, too. Better than most of us...

[disharmonizes]

Well, I wasn't going to go along with whatever the Wizard had in mind, I mean, how boring would that have been?

[It's Discord. He'd never just go along with anything.]

But it's really quite incredible what you can get done with just a few supplies from the nurse's office. If ever there was a time to try blowing things up...

[violentenvies]

[Salieri is quiet as he listens. He wouldn't think it of Rina, and yet...well, the evidence is there.

"--she's too good." Varian says, and Salieri can almost hear the echo of-- (unlike me)-- another sentiment that might follow. Because he things it, too, of himself. But Varian continues and Salieri listens; he takes in the rest of what he says.]

...I can only hope. [quietly. It's what he has now; only hope. Hope that maybe they could forgive him for this. That those who are better, those who are good, could perhaps... (Best at Being the Worst but still good, still better--)...perhaps. He can't let himself hope too much; he can't have that much expectation of Him, of Them. But perhaps, with time...]

Thank you.

[tellthestory]

What?

[The fear for his friend is still there, but something else is bubbling up in his chest - oh. He's angry.

The Balladeer's been nursing guilt over his own death for weeks. Hindsight is twenty-twenty: he ought to have known that breaking in like that would be dangerous. He should have told more people, he should have said goodbye first, he shouldn't have brought Janis, he shouldn't have gone at all. Though everything happened fast, Janis was the last thing he saw before things went black. That look on her face has been seared into his mind. He felt the sticky warmth of blood on his skin, and how his arm bent wrong when he tried to move. It must have been a terrible thing to see. And then to hear that they'd carried his body away and buried it after? Maybe he meant to help, but his carelessness just put everyone he cared about through an awful ordeal.

And Salieri just went and did all of that on purpose. The Balladeer drops his arms and steps back.]

He wasn't going to actually do that! Not after all of this! You - how could you do that to them?

[voicerights]

[No, it can't. Cooperation is something it's still trying to figure out, alright? Give it some credit. First things first, though-]

First, can you confirm your alterations must be relatively inconsequential? Such as having a bottle of soda?

[violentenvies]

[The Balladeer drops his arms and steps back, and his fury is like a slap to the face.

"He wasn't going to actually do that!"

Salieri stares, almost dumbstruck]

You--what do you mean he wasn't going to do that?

[tellthestory]

That's what I've found. The biggest thing I've been able to do here was making Mumble a penguin - and he was already a penguin to begin with. I doubt I could make myself a penguin, for instance.

[Things like that matter! Outside of here, he might be able to just species-change people on a whim - especially if it were a meme or something - but in here the story integrity's a lot more important.]

1/3

[disharmonizes]

[...It's odd, now. Like the wind has suddenly been taken out of his sails now that the walls are down. Like now that he went and let his feelings into the open, they're having trouble standing up in the face of the reassurances.

You don't know who you are
Until you hate yourself

Antonio sings, so gently, and he can't do much other than look at him. Already wishing he could rewind time just by a couple minutes, so they could forget this, just shove all those emotions back inside where they belong.

Conceal, don't feel, don't feel

But, well, too late for that now.]

2/3

[disharmonizes]

[And maybe that's... not the worst thing. Maybe it's okay here, right now, with Antonio. Maybe...

When the light is running low
And the shadows start to grow
And the places that you know

Seem like fantasy

Cut away the afterglow

There's a light inside your soul

That's still shining in the cold...

Slowly shrinking in the cold...

He looks away a moment, just... staring at a random spot on the floor, do what he can to keep his composure as much as possible.

It's failing him and there's a slight tremble in his shoulders.]

3/3

[disharmonizes]

[He takes a breath, closing his eyes a moment, before he manages to look up again. Feeling a little more... himself, maybe.]

Just do the next right thing
Take a step, step again
It is all that I can to do
The next right thing

[One thing at a time. One step, then another. It's harder, doing that, when you're used to being able to do anything without a shred of effort. Effort takes a lot, as it turns out. Especially here and now. But...

For the record, this can still go your way
For the record, you can keep your cool
All you have to do is stay focused on the present
Remember you're not on your own inside this school

That's the answer. Of course it is and isn't it all so blindingly obvious?

We did what we had to do
Won't forget, can't regret
What I did for love
What I did for love

Je t'aime.

Ti amo.

Ich liebe dich.

I love you.

And he lets out that breath. Stepping away from the wall and moving closer to Antonio, now. Just... moving to stand next to him. Leaning down a bit, so he can lean against him.]

You know you don't have to be right all the time, yes? It's very annoying.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ She's still shaking but... feeling him petting her head calms her done a little and she manages to reign in any tears.

She nods. ]

M-Mm...

[ And then pulls away just enough to look up at him. ]

Did... [ "something bad happen?" but uhhhhh all death is bad huh. So she course corrects herself ] What happened...?

[voicerights]

Of course. There is an...inertia. [For lack of a better word. But. The key is finding just how far that inertia goes.

So, as long as B's willing, it'll ask him a few more questions, ask for a few more demonstrations - some of which are very likely to fail, if only for the SQUIP to receive direct confirmation about the limits of what B can and can't do. It doesn't show frustration at any point, nor approval; only an intense, well...

...curiosity.

This is far beyond the scope of its programming. It wasn't built for this. But. It seems to have taken it upon itself to, at least, try. Which is...a unique experience, for a SQUIP, quite honestly. It's also trying not to think too much about that.]

[tellthestory]

It's a bluff! He's not - if he wanted us all dead, he would've done it the second we all got there!

[The Balladeer might not know the Wizard, or what the man is so angry about, but he thinks he understands how these games work by now. The story would be unsatisfying if everything ended all at once, just like that. It has to continue.

(He also knows that it's probably too much to ask, that anyone break away from the narrative enough to have a week with no deaths. Not after the first week. But for Salieri to sacrifice himself as easily as that!)

He wants a show. You can't have that without a cast.

[violentenvies]

[he's not sure what reaction to expect, really. But Discord goes quiet for a moment, looks away, and Salieri's stomach drops in something like fear. Has he gone too far again. But then he notices the tremble in his shoulders and something in Salieri's chest lurches, tightens, and it's an effort not to step forward, to go to him, to apologize again, and again, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry--

but then Discord starts to sing, quietly, and Salieri stops again, listening, feeling his throat go tight as Discord picks up the same song, the same tune, the same resolve to do the next right thing--]

2/2 whoops

[violentenvies]

[Salieri can't quiet prevent the way it feels like his heart stutters as Discord takes a step, comes closer--...I can only hope.--and leans against him. And it feels like he shouldn't quite dare to breathe; but then, that--and he can't help the small chuckle that stutters out of him, breaking whatever tension remained]

Terribly sorry. If it's any comfort, it's only most of the time. [Salieri finally releases his grip on his own wrist, letting his hands fall to his sides. And maybe kind of just...lets his pinky reach out to touch Discord's, gently]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri continues to just stare at the Balladeer in something like dawning horror. He stumbles back a step, two, before sitting down hard on the edge of the stage]

I didn't--there was no time, and I couldn't let--[his voice is small, strained, as that desperation creeps back in, tightening his chest, that fear--]

sometime after deadday lol

[violentenvies]

[Hi SQUIP, Salieri is in one of the rooms you're searching, maybe it's the band room--but the entrance is enough to make him startle. Salieri's standing at the piano, currently, with the cover down, fingertips just resting on it.

So uhhhhhh hi?]

[disharmonizes]

[Discord blinks, a moment, before just huffing. Taking Salieri's hand fully.]

Only most of the time.

I think in this last situation, I actually get to be right, then, hm? I suppose I'll have to hold that over you for a while.

[tellthestory]

[Outside of his show, the Balladeer has found that he's generally slow to anger. But inside it - he still remembers that heady rush of scorn very well. He was mean to them at times; he'd find their mistakes and flaws and be relentless about them. They deserved it, but...

Salieri sounds so miserable. Guilt almost immediately starts to creep in. He sighs and rubs at his temples, trying to assuage the pounding sensation growing there.]

Well. [He sits down hard on the nearest cafeteria stool.] There's nothing to be done about it now.

[violentenvies]

[Discord takes his hand, and the sense of relief, like a tension long-held, washes over him--and yet he can also hear his heart thudding in his chest as he slides his fingers between Discord's, holding on.

Salieri does sigh at that, though, dramatically, rolling his eyes]

Yes, I suppose you truly must remind me at every instance that you were right this time. [he maybe just...leans his head against Discord's shoulder]