curtainsdown | the mark of those who cannot be saved

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act 3

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! ))

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Yes-!

[...wait, shit.]

I mean- no- I mean-

[Deep breaths. In, out. Eye's forward, just to make sure they're not about to careen into the school.]

I thought w-we were just going on the ro-road!!

[ At that she

Finally slows down. ]

Okay.

I’ll consider that even then.

[ And at a perfectly slow and gentle speed she turns and starts to make her way back out of the corn. ]

[...even?

Varian blinks, sitting up a bit straighter now as Rina drives much more carefully out of the corn. He still feels a little like he's about to die again, but now that they're no longer speeding he thinks he can start to calm down...so long as Rina doesn't decide to whip back around for extra points.

Where's Rina's wild ride taking them now?]

[ As she comes back out she leans out the window and looks at the SQUIP and the others.

…oh there’s more people here now she didn’t even notice while she was driving. O-Oops. ]

Okay, I got that out of my system.

…Varian and I are going to try driving down the road now. At normal speed. We’ll be fine, I have a handle on it now and promise to drive safely.

Of course! You did a wonderful job, by the way! That speed was quite unbelievable, and the way you smashed into the corn field-I'm pretty sure you were going as fast as a horse, maybe even faster!

[She seems quite happy, though she's also holding the scarecrow.]

Oh, I should probably put this somewhere...

You could use more practice.

[But it nods]

Tell us what you find.

Oh yes! Perhaps you can even give me a few pointers when I take the wheel.

And yes-if you find anything, please, let us know!

Edited 2021-06-29 00:14 (UTC)

Please make sure your seatbelts are all on!

[The Balladeer still seems deeply frazzled!]

Um - I don't know, make sure there's gas? [He also doesn't know much about driving safety!]

[ She gives B a thumbs up and moves to show her seat belt a bit better. ]

Will do! And don’t worry, I’m sure Varian and I could push it back.

[ You are both Baby and you specifically weigh nothing Rina— ]

...just walk back if something happens. I can get the car myself.

Okay.

[ She nods. That works for her!

She moves to get the car going again and. Has another false start with an abrupt start. ]

Awawawa…

[ But then she’s back to moving again, at a normal speed like she said, only taking her hands off the wheel to wave out the window as they go down the mystery road. ]

[Waves goodbye to the kids! Surely they're gonna have a super fun and normal one out there!]

[So she has definitely been watching all this happen from the excellent vantage point of lounging on top of the footfall goalpost with a glass of wine, very much with the vibe of-

]

[Varian sinks into his seat a little, looking out the window at the other (understandably concerned...well, B is concerned) adults as they putter their way out of the corn. The road isn't too far from where they come out, so it shouldn't be hard for Rina to just wheel them up onto it.

Varian hasn't said anything else yet. He's sort of just...waiting, because he has a feeling Rina's taking him away for a reason.]

[ Rina’s quiet for a long time because honestly? She really is trying to concentrate and drive well now. And for someone who only started today she’s doing pretty okay? It’s hard to mess up a straight(?) road with no other cars on it and she’s gotten a feel for it now.

Once the school is a good distance away though she finally speaks again. ]

…Did I go a bit too far back there?

It....wasssss, uhhh.

[Varian clears his throat, adjusting the seatbelt around himself now that it isn't threatening to cut the circulation off to his brain.]

I mean...the SQUIP did give you some pretty good points, if that's what you were after.

[But that's more of a lighthearted take as he leans his head back with a loud exhale.]

And if you wanted to scare me...it worked.

[......]

...but somehow, I don't really feel like we're all that even yet.

[Sure, Rina spooked him and instilled much of the same wild, confused feelings he must have given her that night...but he at least has an explanation for it.

Rina didn't.]

[ Her eyes soften for a moment, still on the road ahead but there’s a teensy bit of remorse in them now. Just a bit. ]

…I suppose we’re not. Not yet anyway.

…But. I feel better.

[ She glances in the back mirror, checking how far they’ve gone from the school now, and catching a bit of the trashed cornfield in the distance. ]

When I first saw the corn and the scarecrow all I felt was fear and anxiety. I felt like I might die again if I went near it. It… was a lot like how I felt when I first saw you again.

[ She looks back to the road ahead. ]

But I didn’t want to keep being like that. Being in constant fear of things. So when I saw the car, I thought that might help.

…And it did. I don’t feel scared of the corn anymore. Or the scarecrow. And more importantly… I don’t feel scared of you.

So I apologize for scaring you but… I think I needed that.

[...ouch. That...hurts. She felt like she might die again, seeing him...

It hurts. Dead or alive, it makes him feel like she reached in and pulled his heart from his chest, yet it's not a feeling that's undeserved either. He can't say he wouldn't have felt the same, if put in her position...having to spend your last moments alive scared and confused?

He ruined her life. And now...neither of them will ever have the chance to live theirs. It's just over, now.

It's a relief, hearing that she's not scared of him anymore, just as much that she isn't afraid of everything else associated with her death. But still...things are still open-ended here. He has to make this right, even if it means Rina won't look at him the same ever again.]

...Rina, I- ...I need to tell you what happened. What I remembered, and...why I was so upset that night.

[ At that she just nods. ]

You do.

[ and now that they’re at a distance where she feels comfortable enough to talk about this without anyone else around she brings the car to a slow stop, turning it off in the middle of the road before turning to properly face him.

No distractions for this. She’s hearing everything from him. ]

That’s why I brought you out here. So you can tell me. And I expect everything.

[ It’s the only way anything is going to be made right. ]

[Varian looks ahead as the car suddenly comes to a stop in the middle of the road, the engine cut so that they're both sitting there in silence. Rina is looking his way now, facing him directly with her full attention.

With another exhale, Varian unbuckles his seatbelt so he can face her more easily too.]

I...yeah.

Rina...I'm different than you think I am. And I'm...different than what I thought I remembered. Things are okay now, but...that doesn't change the fact that I did some really bad things.

[He'll start from the top, then.

He tells Rina everything, unsure exactly how long they sit there with him telling her the story of how he got to where he is now. He'd already told her about the black rocks- these strange entities that suddenly showed up out of nowhere and overwhelmed not just his village, but the rest of Corona along with it. He explains how things were getting worse and worse by the day, and that even though his father knew that they were in danger, he refused to bring it directly to the king. "I can handle it," he insisted, because he felt that these rocks- a connection to the moonstone, the opposite of the sundrop- were far too dangerous for those who didn't understand what they were to be involved in.

That's where Varian screwed up. He refused to stop investigating on his own, experimenting on the rocks to try to get a reaction. It was one fateful day when he accidentally overturned one of his solutions onto the rocks during an argument with his father that it backfired, creating an amber that grew uncontrollably, swallowing up everything in its path...including his father, who had rescued him at the last second. Varian had gone to the kingdom for help, only to be turned away by the Princess due to a blizzard.

When he came back, his father was completely entombed. It sent Varian into an anguish-fueled rage, completely hell-bent on enacting revenge on those who had wronged him and saving his father by whatever means necessary.

He tricked Rapunzel into helping him steal the Sundrop flower from her father's vault. And when that hadn't worked...he took it further. He led an assault on the kingdom, kidnapped the queen...threatened her life to get Rapunzel to come to him. He tried to use the magic in her hair to rescue his father, but that failed too. He was captured and taken to prison, the first motive he received...and he spent a year in the castle dungeon.

During his time there, he joined up with the Separatists of Saporia, a group of individuals seeking nothing more than to see the kingdom destroyed. He'd had a lot of time in prison to ruminate over his actions, and he knew that he couldn't do anything to make up for them. In a final act of desperation, he felt that the only way he could return to his normal life would be by wiping the memories of everyone in the kingdom, giving himself a fresh slate to start over with.

He was betrayed. The Saporians threw him in the dungeon with a previously captured Rapunzel, planning on igniting the gas Varian created to blow the entire kingdom apart. It was only thanks to Rapunzel's kind heart in forgiving Varian, as well as Eugene and Lance, that they were able to escape and circumvent disaster before it struck. Rapunzel in the end rescued his father using the moonstone's power- an incantation that destroys instead of heals. The kingdom mistrusted Varian for a very long time after that, seeing him as someone to be afraid of...which Rina probably knew all too well.

He skips a few parts, story that isn't his to tell. But he ends it off where he wishes he could have begun.]

...things turned out okay, in the end. My dad...he's alive, and I was able to find common ground with the people of Corona again. Rapunzel...she made me the kingdom's Royal Engineer. Everything I thought had happened was in my past...so everything I did to you, it- it was for nothing.

But that doesn't excuse the fact I did it to you to begin with. I understand if you feel differently about me now, and...and I'm not going to ask you to stay my friend if you don't want to. I'm just...

[He hangs his head, brushing a hand through his bangs.]

I wish I could take it all back, you know? You should be out there...living. I can deal with paying for what I've done. I've been trying to make up for it ever since the day I saw my dad stuck there...alone.

I'm sorry I took that away from you, Rina.

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Thread locked from here!

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1/2

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SPOILERS FOR...UH. BASICALLY ALL OF TANGLED

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