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

[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.