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

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer would like to be nice, but he's having trouble finding an argument for that at present. After a moment, he volunteers:]

Could've been worse. You didn't stab someone else.

[violentenvies]

["You didn't stab someone else."

That hits like a slap, like a stab, and Salieri recoils in on himself, hunching over, fingers going into his hair, clenching tight]

I might as well have.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer sighs and gets up, going over to plop down next to Salieri again. He shouldn't have snapped. It was a stupid thing to do, but he shouldn't have snapped.]

...we've all done stupid things we regret, okay? I - I practically asked to get killed, doing what I did. [...] Come on, that must hurt.

[He reaches out to try and disentangle Salieri's nearest hand from his hair.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri jerks back when the Balladeer tries to disentangle his hand from his hair, stumbling to his feet]

You don't understand, I--! [it's snapped, but at least his hands are out of his hair] I took a chance at dooming them--for nothing!

[tellthestory]

You know I helped run one of these before, right?

[He knows a few things about horrifyingly foolish choices!]

They aren't doomed. They're not gonna be doomed, not by this.

[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--

[tellthestory]

Discord?

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

[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]

Slow down - okay, just slow down.

[Right. He sees how this happened now. It's a basic wish motive mistake.]

He'll be in the dorms. That's where - that's where people wake up. [Who are culprits.]

[violentenvies]

...he didn't need to be here. [Salieri sits down again, abruptly, on the nearest possible space which is probably the stairs]

I...it didn't need to happen this way. He didn't need to--[Salieri stops, swallows, squeezes his eyes shut] But I thought it was the only way.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer's probably still sitting on the steps anyway - he reaches out to clap his hand on Salieri's shoulder.]

You're not the first. This whole thing's set up to...to get people to make dumb decisions in the heat of the moment.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri's shoulders slump as the Balladeer's hand comes down there]

...it worked. [quietly]

[tellthestory]

It happens.

[He squeezes Salieri's shoulder.]

Every time.

[violentenvies]

Every time? [he turns his head to look at the Balladeer] ...there's no breaking that cycle, is there?

[tellthestory]

Individually, yes. The last two games turned out alright in the end. On a larger scale...

[The Balladeer idly rubs Salieri's shoulder, looking past him at nothing.]

I can't see how it fits together. Not sure how it all connects. [It seems like it must, but how?]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri frowns at that]

Are you certain that all of these games connect to each other?

[tellthestory]

I didn't think they were, before. The last one the Wizard ran kinda came out of nowhere for me - I didn't know anything about it until it was already over. But since I've been here, and seen how much he dislikes the both of us...

[...well. Most people here know the current theories surrounding that, and they make the Balladeer feel bad, so he doesn't feel the need to rehash them.]

There must be some connection.