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

[samefacesyndrome]

Well, yeah. It's a game so you still have to win... otherwise you can't progress the story.

But if you play the Dark story instead of the Hero story then you get to play this fight as Shadow and beat up Sonic.

[violentenvies]

["Symphony of Hope," Discord says, and Salieri feels his stomach give a funny little lurch, and there's a smile growing on his face that he doesn't even bother to try and contain. He'll reach out to rest a hand on Discord's lower back as that arm leans on his shoulder, glancing up at him, clearly pleased]

We're aligned. [it's an agreement] We should get Madame Leading Player, and the Balladeer, and the others. The sooner we get this plan in motion and try it out, the better.

[disharmonizes]

My, and Starlight thought I would be a bad friendship teacher. This'll show her. [...........priorities but okay, Discord.] See what just a little bit of chaos can add? Look how far we've come already!

Oh, yes, speaking of which...

[And with a flash of light, a spray bottle appears in his hand and he

...sprays water at the SQUIP.]

There! I've been wanting to do that this whole time.

[violentenvies]

[that's...so heckin cute and very abruptly Salieri wants to do everything possible to make sure that Rina's party experience is as perfect as he can manage.]

That sounds like a good idea to me. [he smiles, a little] Do you have any idea of what you might like?

[voicerights]

[ASFHJAGFS





that was water, not soda. It takes a deep breath, and-]

I'm going to finish the basis for cross-dimensional contact with this new data. Why don't you two start your rhythms.

[or at least find somewhere else to thubthump]

[samefacesyndrome]

There should be some... would be weird to have an ice rink and no way to skate on it.

[ But then again the Wizard is a weird guy who makes very little sense.

She also starts looking around for some, leaving his side to wander off in search. ]

[violentenvies]

[alksdhfs that even caught Salieri off guard--and it is an effort not to laugh. He shouldn't laugh. It's not funny.

...

It's a little funny.

He'll manage to tone it down to a smirk though as he reaches out to snatch that spray bottle from Discord]

Come along then, troublemaker. [and he is just going to spray Discord in the face, once, looking smug as anything as he slips out from under Discord's elbow, making for the door] Time to work on our rhythms!

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer grimaces a little. That one is...complicated, yeah. He's kept it largely to himself since coming here, for the sake of group cohesion; even if they're all already dead, the last thing they need is infighting, especially when she seems so willing to help this time. But he also simply hasn't been asked by anyone, and it's not...really a secret, either.]

We - I thought we were friends, back when we first met. I was so dazzled by her. She was the first person I'd ever met who was nice to me, the first one who was like me, but so much stronger and wiser than I was. Maybe that's the real reason she picked me. Whatever she asked of me back then, I would've helped her.

[He strums a few moody, disconnected chords.]

You already know what we did. It took me a lot longer then, to see how terrible it was. I just thought of it as...another show. And then when I did, I thought I could stop it by just talking to her - it ended up being more of a fight, and then she killed me. [Oh - wait, Salieri actually knows a little bit of this already.] That's what my picture was, that first week, the one with my body. Got me with a sniper rifle at pretty close range.

[He makes a "splat" motion next to his head, imitating what Farrah did when he told her about the photo. It seems like a lifetime ago now.]

She brought me back after the rest of the cast left. We argued a little more, and then she wiped my memory so I'd go back to helping her. I got it back later, obviously, and I took over the show from her then. But that was the last time I'd really seen her before I ended up here.

[tellthestory]

Who knows? I mean, there must've been one - but it's gonna be hard to figure it out from here.

[If they don't come back...what else might happen? Even if the show doesn't have a happy ending, it's got to end some way or another.]

I'm sure we won't be...stuck here forever. He won't keep this place running like this forever.

[prophetpriestandking]

Wh -

[Mumble stares.]

Why? How?

[prophetpriestandking]

[He gives a brief look-over of the pool-slash-ice rink. Looks stable enough!]

Yeah! A-and don't worry, I'll catch you.

[Or, y'know, try.]

[prophetpriestandking]

[He shakes his head, careful not to shake off Varian's hand.]

No...usually adult penguins are black, like this. [He gestures to the little bits of adult plumage past his chest] E-everyone lost their baby feathers at graduation, but I - [He smiles, a little bitter sweet.] We had a graduation of our own.

[violentenvies]

[that's something. That's something, but not everything, and Salieri's stomach twists horribly as he comes to his second realization about all this--

Oh...Discord. I've...then there's no way he could--

[violentenvies]

The Wizard, he...he threatened to kill everyone. That was my picture. I didn't see it until there was no time left--and I--it was the only thing I could think of, I just...I had to try and get them out, somehow--

[violentenvies]

[That is...one hell of a story. Salieri frowns]

Perhaps tempestuous was an understatement.

[...and yet--]

And yet, she's here now. One has to wonder how she got from the last time you saw her to here. And what she has been doing, other than perhaps trying to repair certain areas of the universe, perhaps.

[violentenvies]

[...Salieri decides against making a comment about what the road to Hell is paved with.]

I'll...endeavor to do so.

[sorry, Varian, he may be lying right now. Fortunately for him, he's fairly accomplished at that...but he does offer him a small, strained smile]

You've certainly become very wise in the short time we've been apart.

Friday + Investigation

[violentenvies]

[Today, Salieri will start off by getting to some Investigating after breakfast. He's set to explore the general Living Area, so where better to start than the Band Room. He'll do a thorough search of the place, moving instruments and checking in shelves and under the piano and it's bench, and even inside the lid.

After his investigation, Salieri can be found outside with that violin, considering the weather has been mild enough for it. He's somewhere between the Gayseball Field and the Football Field with a blanket spread out under him, and several musical scores all laid out.

He's idly flipping through them, turning the pages with the tip of his bow occasionally, playing a melody here, a harmony here, just...getting to know the music.

A closer inspection will show that all of these scores are Mozart's music.]

[tellthestory]

Ha.

[It's not really anything like a genuine laugh, but it's there nonetheless.]

Yeah. I knew...the last group told me she gave them a ride out of the Opera House, once they got the Wizard out of there. I guess she helped them a little.

[tellthestory]

Discord?

[From what Salieri's been saying, the Balladeer had just assumed he killed himself. Did he not...?]

[violentenvies]

[small victories, he'll take it.

Salieri tilts his head slightly at that, curious]

Once they got the Wizard out of there? [he arches an eyebrow] And...how did they manage that?

[violentenvies]

He--he was going to kill himself, but I said, I convinced him that it should be me--it should be me because if he escaped, if he got his magic back he could return and he could--he could save everyone, he could bring them back--

[tellthestory]

I don't...know, exactly, but it sounded like he just cut his losses and left once the SQUIP decided to chill out? I saw it at Denny's - the one who had been running the game. It seemed...fine.

[Not invested in murdering anyone, at least?]

[violentenvies]

That's...something I suppose.

[he blows out a breath]

...I suppose the question is, can the situation even begin to be repaired, no matter what the cause beforehand? And fixed in a way that won't injure any of the others?

[tellthestory]

...I don't know. It sounds like the Player's been putting some things right...her and Nana. But that's still only two people.

[.....]

I should've been helping.

[violentenvies]

[at that, Salieri leans over a bit, pressing his shoulder up against the Balladeer's, just...trying to be comforting that way, a solid presence]

You didn't know it was happening. You can hardly help out with something you were unaware of.