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]

...Yes, it was. She was rather good at that, I'll admit. It's not every day I get outplayed like that.

[...]

I wouldn't say that it worked, though.

[violentenvies]

[honestly the more he hears about this Fluttershy, the more he likes her]

No?

[disharmonizes]

As it happens, I ended up betraying her. First chance I was given.

[violentenvies]

Oh.

[That. Is not what he expected.

But he doesn't stiffen or lean back. If anything, he leans into him a little more]

...might I ask what happened?

[disharmonizes]

There's this particularly dangerous centaur who'd been imprisoned in Tartarus. I was sent after him, because of course with my power, recapturing him would be child's play.

...He... gave me what I thought was a better offer.

[violentenvies]

[Tartarus??? He's going to file that away for later questions, but better to focus on what's more important right now.]

And...what sort of offer was that?

[disharmonizes]

He made the... at the time quite compelling case that I'd just placed myself in a different sort of imprisonment. That I'd abandoned my true nature. And that by teaming up with him, I could do whatever I want, whenever I wanted, without worrying about such minor things as friends.

Ultimate freedom.

[violentenvies]

I can see why that would be quite the temptation, all things considered. [...somehow, he thinks he can see where this is going.]

And then?

[disharmonizes]

Oh, and then he betrayed me, of course, and stole my magic.

[violentenvies]

[Stole his magic? Wait, he'd mentioned--"Between this and the last times I lost my magic--"

and Salieri's stomach gives a small lurch at that.]

Of course. [quietly. They hadn't really talked about what Discord had remembered last Sunday, but if this is what it is, then...Salieri can get an even better view of Discord's own mindset. During that entire week. That, plus Salieri's motive--]

...and, how did Mademoiselle Fluttershy take it?

[disharmonizes]

Poorly.

[And rather than flippant, like he's been sounding about all this, well. Now he just sounds bitter.]

I did betray her and then rub it in her face, after all.

[violentenvies]

And...[just to clarify a hunch he has] This whole incident, did you...remember that now, here, or...last Sunday?

[disharmonizes]

...Last Sunday.

Not the most pleasant memory.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri feels like his stomach is twisting into knots.]

...no. No, I can't imagine it was.

[that whole week with that memory, and then to have his own worst fear plus Salieri's? Is it any wonder he ended up in the state that he did?]

I'm sorry I didn't ask earlier.

[disharmonizes]

As if you needed to do that. It's all history now, anyway, and it all worked out okay.

[he and fluttershy are good again

it's all good

horrible guilt what horrible guilt]

[violentenvies]

[...yeah he's not buying that for a minute]

Did it?

What happened at the end, then?

[disharmonizes]

Oh, she and her friends defeated the bad guy, brought everyone's magic back, all was forgiven, hugs happened... I believe rainbows were involved.

[violentenvies]

...I see. All was forgiven, was it? That must've been a relief.

[disharmonizes]

Very much, yes. I thought I had screwed it all up, but somehow, it all worked out.

All's well, etcetera.

[violentenvies]

[he's quiet for a moment]

Etcetera, indeed. [and yet....] She doesn't sound like the sort of person who would've held on to any resentment from such a thing, anyway.

[disharmonizes]

She isn't. Well, her particular element is Kindness, after all. It's just not in her nature.

cw: suicidal thoughts, suicidal intentions

[violentenvies]

I see. [Kindness. That makes sense.

He's quiet a moment.]

...Discord. How long were you planning to kill yourself?

cw: suicide discussion

[disharmonizes]

[And just like that, he freezes. Crossing his arms and maybe just... leaning away slightly, so he can lean against the wall.]

Oh, sometime on Wednesday. I came up with a clearer plan in the evening, but I decided on taking one for the team somewhere... in the morning, maybe?

1/2 cw: suicide discussion

[violentenvies]

[Discord's hand is suddenly gone from his, and it's an effort for Salieri not to reach out and try to grab it again, but he aborts the slight movement, changing it so he just folds his arms instead, moving to lean against the bedpost of the bunkbed.

It is an even greater effort to keep his face neutral as Discord explains, and...honestly, he can't quite manage it. So he looks away, down at the floor as he starts to put together a timeline of events--Wednesday morning, then he was already thinking about, had decided by the time they had that date, by the time he told Discord that he liked him, romantically, and that he wanted to date him, and Discord had said:]

"I'd love that."

[Salieri repeats it out loud, quietly, because Discord had said that, and he'd known while Salieri hadn't--he had been so blissfully, stupidly unaware at the specificity of that phrasing, but in hindsight it makes his eyes sting and his stomach drop and for a moment Salieri has to cover his own eyes, sucking in a breath]

That's...that's what you said to me. [his voice is a little tight, hoarse, from trying not to let it waver] You said that to me and I didn't even think otherwise--

2/2 cw: suicide discussion

[violentenvies]

[he cuts himself off, going quiet again--not important what he thought. This isn't about him right now.]

...why a suicide? [that mask is back in place as he drops his hand from his eyes, folding his arms again, voice going carefully, cautiously neutral. But he can't quite...look at Discord yet] More specifically...why yours?