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

[disharmonizes]

[Discord barely even looks up. He... should, really. It's just... It's easier, right now, to focus on the book, almost like a shield. Trying not to think of the last time he saw Varian alive -- the last time he saw him dead -- just... hiding, almost, in a way.

Pretend he doesn't care for just a little bit. Like the old days.

The comment, though. It's... well, he can just about guess how Varian could've possibly guessed he'd be here. And he smiles, a little wry.]

You spoke to Antonio.

[alchemistake]

[Discord will at least hear Varian's footsteps as he approaches, closing the gap between them without Discord even having to do anything. Discord seems...nonchalant, about being dead, but why is Varian surprised? He could sit here and theorize all day as to how things went with the living; he's not sure he even wants to know.

All he knows is what Salieri told him, and if Discord is here now...then their plan failed, just like Varian had predicted it might.]

He manipulated you.

[Oh we're just starting with that, okay.]

[disharmonizes]

[Oh, we sure are just going right into it.

Manipulated, huh? That's... He doesn't like to think of it like that. Because it's true. Discord made his own decisions there because what else was there? regardless of Salieri's involvement And who is going to believe that you killed yourself? it was still him.

He just... closes the book, snapping it shut. Actually looking at Varian now. It's a start.]

He went ahead and told you all about his plan, then?

[His. Not ours.

Their plans were so alike, but really, could they have been any different?]

cw: themes of suicide

[alchemistake]

Yeah. I heard all of it.

[Salieri was pretty straight to the point about it, too. He told him about what he saw for that motive, he explained how he felt there were no other options.

I asked Discord to kill me.

Varian doesn't know about how Salieri found Discord prone, attempting to kill himself instead. He probably would have understood that logic even less, considering what they knew about the rules in regards to the way suicides work...or the lack thereof. It wasn't something Varian liked to think about all that much. It doesn't matter either way, not when they still ended up reaching the same, awful conclusion.]

You took a fall for him that you never should have had to.

[But like...he gets it. He does. He can only imagine how things must have been, then...how convincing Salieri probably was. Even to Discord, who knows him better than any of the rest of them...]

Now you're both here. For nothing.

[It's said harshly. Bitterly.]

cw: themes of suicide

[disharmonizes]

[Oh, Varian. Doing things for nothing has been what he's best at his whole time in this game.]

He was rather convincing at the time, I'll give him that, even if I thought it was an extremely stupid plan. But once he'd started I knew there was no talking him out of things.

He would've just done something stupid to himself if I'd left things alone. And I couldn't let that happen.

[He shrugs, leaning back against the wall. Everything's fine here. He's fine with how things went. Fine with dying, fine with being the bad guy, fine with the memory of Salieri's blood spilling everywhere--

It's all fine.]

I know I'm hardly one to talk, but really, he can be so stubborn.

[alchemistake]

[It's honestly difficult for Varian to be able to tell how Discord is feeling. It always has been, he's just...that type of guy. But there's no real need for guesswork, here. He just...knows.

He's not fine.

Varian's standing right in front of Discord now, looking...angry. Frustrated. Sad. Probably all feelings that Discord is trying his damnest right now to pretend don't exist. ]

I mean, you're...you're right. He would have. You probably prevented something a lot worse.

[...]

But I don't know if this was much better.

[BUT...he knows that Discord doesn't need to hear that. There's no real use in what-ifs in this kind of situation.

Varian tugs at the fingers of his gloves, looking pensive.]

The Wizard doesn't intend to follow through with the motives. My dad, he...I remembered...

[He closes his eyes, tight.]

He's free, Discord. He's okay.

I killed Rina for no reason.

[disharmonizes]

Oh, I wasn't exactly hoping for better when I did that. Or when I stepped into that trial. Sometimes, there just aren't good choices.

Only... choices.

[Sometimes you're stuck staring at a catch-22 and realize there's no good way out of it. Certainly not without taking a ridiculous gamble. He'd considered, honestly, if the Wizard had been lying about the motive. But when what was at stake was everyone.. well. He wasn't going to play those odds.]

...You were manipulated, just as we all have been. It's going around, it seems. [There's precious little he can offer for what happened with Rina. It isn't something he can make better.] I'm sorry.

[alchemistake]

[Sometimes, there just aren't good choices.

Only choices.

Discord's apology sits heavy on Varian's shoulders. If anyone deserves to be apologized to, it's Discord, not him.]

I'm sorry too.

[For him, for everyone, for everything...But all of the apologies in the world aren't going to bring the dead back to life, nor are they going to right the wrongs that have been done.

They just have to keep moving forward regardless.]

I hope...things weren't too bad for you, up there.

[disharmonizes]

Oh, people got very upset with me. Not that I blame them, of course. I did kill someone.

[Who cares about the context, the reasoning? He still pushed the knife in, at the end there. That's the part that matters.]

And I really can't complain about my exit.

[alchemistake]

[That's not surprising...he really hopes that-

...]

Your...exit? You mean...?

[Oh, god. Does he even want to hear this?]

[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...

[alchemistake]

[...]

Wait, you made explosives??

[HOLY SHIT??]

[disharmonizes]

Six of them, to be exact! I had been reading chemistry books in the library, the nurse's office had supplies and... Well, not that I could test them first, but it certainly worked alright.

And when else was I going to get a chance to set off an explosion near the Wizard?

[alchemistake]

You- you made bombs with supplies from the nurse's office?!

[All of a sudden, Varian's not as concerned with everything else they were just talking about as he maybe should be.]

And you used them against the- during the-! You have to show me what you did!

[disharmonizes]

I can certainly demonstrate.

...Well, mostly. Not entirely the same, of course, as I was in the blast radius at the time. The chain reaction was quite something!

[Honestly, they're both great at priorities right now.]

[alchemistake]

[Why talk about consequences for your actions when you can talk about explosions?]

I bet. I really hope you caused some damage up there. ...f-for the Wizard, I mean. I hope the others were okay...

[disharmonizes]

Yes, well... hopefully. I couldn't exactly make much of a controlled blast, but I should've been far enough away from... most everyone.

[alchemistake]

[Varian nods, brought back to that trial room, thinking about everyone up there...and it reminds him of something.]

Discord- you remember everything now, don't you?

[disharmonizes]

I do indeed. A solid amount of lost time, all back in place once again.

[alchemistake]

Okay. I wasn't sure I'd get to ever tell you, but...my dad is okay.

[He smiles a little, a sad, bittersweet thing.]

Rapunzel and I were able to free him from the amber after all. The Wizard just made sure that was something I'd forgotten.

[And hey, now he's dead for his efforts.]

But...I still really appreciate your offer to help me.

[disharmonizes]

That's... Well. It is a relief to hear. I'd been worried about that promise.

[It had been an... unfortunate situation, where he knew he couldn't keep that promise and keep everyone safe.]

I'm glad I didn't end up breaking that one, at least.

[Sure, only because the promise is pretty much null and void on account of it being unnecessary, but like. Listen, he's going to take it.]

[alchemistake]

This...probably doesn't help much, but it's starting to get harder and harder to keep promises here.

[Like, he promised Rina he'd love and protect her and lmao look where THAT got him...]

Maybe it's easy for me to say since I've been here for a bit, but...it's really not your fault.