curtainsdown | the mark of those who cannot be saved

[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! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The Balladeer is still lying onstage, now with an arm draped over his eyes. Nonetheless, he calls out as the SQUIP pokes its head in:]

Hey, SQUIP.

...greetings, Balladeer.

[how did you know it was there ಠ_ಠ actually just gonna approach now to get a better look]

Who else was involved? [Assumption; someone killed him. Seems legit, right?]

Janis was there, but I think she was safe. She was off of it before it fell.

[That's not what it was asking, even, but that's what B is thinking about.]

Either it was an accident, or the Wizard broke the catwalk. You can run the odds on that one.

Unfortunately, [and it curls its lip] my current data on the Wizard is unreliable. My calculations regarding his involvement would follow.

That's fine, I didn't really mean it.

[He's not one to run around giving orders to robots! The Balladeer starts to climb to his feet, wincing as he moves. There's no real injuries left, he knows that, but the echo of that pain seems terribly fresh.]

That guy keeps some weird stuff backstage. He makes these little scale models of all the executions - I mean, I guess that would be normal for a play set, but this is just...

[You know, a one-off set for the purpose of gruesome death!]

-as though it was putting on a puppet show? [It frowns] I am revisiting the theory that the Wizard is something along the lines of yourself. Perhaps it is part of his power.

[It doesn't quite have the words for what that something is, but. It's trying!!!]

Yeah, probably. The Player ran one of these things herself - two of them - and it was set up the same way. Living people on one side, dead ones on the other.

[oh. it did NOT know that]

What was her goal?

[I mean she did tell you guys that like, immediately]

To put on a good show. And have it end the way she wanted. She likes big dramatic endings, lots of...firey death.

[OK BUT BALLADEER IS ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW and it didn't exactly understand??? but having it confirmed...it frowns]

A show for whom?

Oh, you know, the audience?

[He knows you don't know, but he doesn't know how to explain it!]

[Right. That...weird. Topic of discussion. The SQUIP doesn't seem alarmed by the 'revelation' - or confused - just...neutral expression.]

Then if a poor show is had - it will close?

[...but it will try and seize a metaphor like truth, because that's all it has at the moment]

That's pretty unlikely, at this point. But if people hadn't liked it back then, I doubt any of us would be here now.

[So. Whether that's a good thing or not is up for debate!]

So you believe the Wizard is after the same goal?

Oh, I don't know. Maybe in part. Even if you want something else...if you know you're being watched, you probably want to put on a good performance.

[honestly it can't even argue with that. it may or may not have a bit of showmanship programmed in to its root, ok.]

This still gets us no closer to understanding what is going on and what can be done.

[...if it even wants to act in the first place. but without another purpose...]

No. But we're dead, now. That part of the story belongs to the rest of them.

[And it narrows its eyes, a bit of - something - creeping out]

I wasn't aware humans had their own programs.

[...is it trying to insult? Because it sure sounds like some mockery]

I always did say I wasn't much like the others, didn't I?

[That's...with what he remembers now, it's a somewhat more distant philosophy. But still, he knows what he is.]

She and I both - we were made with a purpose.

To entertain? To put on a show?

At least my purpose was productive. [even if. it ended Badly.]

Weren't you trying to make a high schooler popular?

I was improving his life. [again, a flash of something, but the bitterness is more clear this time]

.......and how'd that go.

[Look, he knows people get their memories back here. You seem like you've got something of an updated perspective.]

[The SQUIP...

...actually looks uncomfortable, tightening its jaw. And after a moment, it turns away]

...he confirmed that humans are irrational beings.

I mean, yeah. That's true.

[...........]

I'm sorry you had to die like that. We all were. I mean, we were all pissed, but no one should have to die like that.

(no subject)

voicerights - 2021-06-27 04:36 (UTC) - Expand

tellthestory - 2021-06-27 04:40 (UTC) - Expand

voicerights - 2021-06-27 04:41 (UTC) - Expand