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

[howtheworldwas]

[ For the first time, Eurydice doesn't register someone approaching. She's not on alert anymore -- what good did that ever do her? She's died three times. Instead, she keeps crying, and Antonio might hear her whisper no, no, no under her breath, over and over.

Then she hears Antonio's voice. She doesn't really track what he's saying, but she knows the sound. Parses it as safe. She looks up, her eyes red and wet, and shakes her head.

They've lost. After six weeks of building up hope, they've lost.

It's another beat before she registers the hand, but once she does, she leans forward a little in a quiet gesture of permission, of please. ]

[violentenvies]

[Eurydice looks up at him with eyes shining, wet, and there's that shake of her head and suddenly he knows. He knows. Just as he had remembered the rest of his story when he woke up here, surely, then, she's remembered hers. Then...

There's a sharp pain in his chest at that, and he sucks in a breath--but she's leaning a little towards him and that's all the permission he needs to move the rest of the way over to her on the floor and wrap his arms around her, to pull her against him and hold her, shield her from the ending of her story, the story he's heard told a thousand times in song, in poetry, that he himself had studied.

He'd known from the moment he met Orpheus, from the moment he had seen their faces in the Yearbook, and yet, the more he had gotten to know them, had grown to love them, somewhere in a tiny little corner of his heart he had hoped--

---yet, here they are. Here they both are and she's not in her dorm and he knows what that means. He can't even begin to imagine who would do this; what happened. But now is not the time to ask yet. Now is the time to hold Eurydice close and rest his hand in her hair and gently rock her a little, try to comfort her as he sings, quietly:]

When the light is running low
And the shadows start to grow
And the places that you know
Seem like fantasy...

Don't forget
I'm with you in the dark

[howtheworldwas]

[ This Eurydice is a far cry from the steady, even shoulder to lean upon. Antonio holds her, and she crumples a little. She looks smaller and younger like this, no longer trying to present herself as anything else. She'll pick up the pieces eventually -- she has to, they're going to put her back on the line whether she likes it or not -- but right now, she can let herself feel the loss. It's not like she has much of a choice.

Antonio helps, though. She lets the song, the warmth, the gentle movement wash over her, and eventually, her wracking sobs give way to something quieter. She's no longer shaking, no longer pleading. She manages a rough, choked: ]

You're here.

[violentenvies]

I'm here. [it's a quiet confirmation. she's so small in his arms like this; so fragile in comparison to how solid she'd always seemed. Now, if he holds her too tight, she might shatter. But...he holds her close anyway. Trusts that if she does shatter, that he'll be able to hold all the pieces of her and help her put them back together if she needs it.

He's here. And--]

So're you.

[howtheworldwas]

[ She's here. Not there -- not on the line, or in the cold, or the dark, or the too-bright and too-hot. Eurydice isn't sure where here is -- this is the costume room, but also it's not? It must be some kind of Underworld, if she's dead and Antonio is also dead. Hopefully, it's a kinder one. ]

Yeah. Yeah. [ She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath. ] You're gonna stay?

[violentenvies]

[there's something that pangs hard in his chest when she asks that--guilt, a twisting of the knife, and Salieri closes his eyes and holds her close]

Yes.

This time, I'll stay.

[howtheworldwas]

[ She nods, still keeping herself pressed close. ]

I believe you.

[ She made his mistake, once. Now, she never wants to make it again. She's guessing Antonio also feels that way. ]

[violentenvies]

I won't let you down. [the "this time" goes unsaid. it doesn't need to be said, after all.

After a moment of quiet, he comes out with:]

...apologies ahead of time for any glitter.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Okay, that's weird enough that Eurydice finally looks up. Even though her eyes are still glassy and she doesn't look great, she's still giving him a critical look that's much more like the Eurydice he knows. ]

Any what?

[violentenvies]

Glitter. [he lifts a hand to pull two or three flecks of green glitter out of his hair, with a slight wrinkle of his nose, showing it to her]

Discord put a bunch of glitter in the bombs he and Varian set off, and then magicked some of it on top of me. [dryly, because of course Discord did.]

The stuff gets everywhere and is impossible to get out.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice also wrinkles her nose and just. Wipes the weird shiny stuff off his hands. (It's now on her prom dress.)

That honestly sounds pretty stupid, but that means... ]

So Discord and Varian -- they're here? That video was real?

[violentenvies]

They're here, yes.

[...but also]

Video? [he thinks that might be that thing Farrah explained to him once???]

[howtheworldwas]

[ oh Eurydice should not be the person who explains this to you but it kind of helps her take her mind off of Everything, so she'll try. ]

Yeah, it's like a really tiny movie? Except this big. [ she demonstrates with her fingers. and since they're not super common in her world: ] A movie is like a picture except it moves, and sometimes there's noise. You can see them in these big houses. I've snuck into a few, and they can be pretty fun, especially when people leave their food lying around.

[ but the point is: ] It said all the dead people are here. Is that...true?

[violentenvies]

Yes, that's true. We're all here.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice was doing a little better before, but now she goes very, very still. ]

Oh. Oh, Orpheus. [ she looks back up at Antonio, eyes wide. Her tone is almost...apologetic. ] I -- I don't think he knows I'm here.

[violentenvies]

[Orpheus, Eurydice says, and Salieri feels his stomach drop. His lips press together, concern immediately crossing his face.]

You...he's here, as well? [mmm hate the implications of that. wonderful. But also:]

We should find him, then.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Ordinarily, Eurydice would already be running out the door. Instead, she drops her arms, no longer clinging to Antonio but not...getting up, either. She looks down. ]

I had to watch. [ Eurydice's voice starts to shake, and it feels like she's going to fall apart again, but she won't, she can't, not while Orpheus is here -- ] Maya killed him and -- and I was too far away to do anything -- and -- and --

[ Eurydice looks back up and this time her voice is smaller, tighter, almost ashamed -- like she's asking for him to understand. ] She took everything. And I was so angry.

[violentenvies]

[That...that explanation hits him like a physical blow, the air suddenly stilling in his lungs. Salieri tenses, mind racing for a moment because Maya?

Maya killed Orpheus and Eurydice saw it?

There's something cold that's sliding down his spine, pooling in his stomach, baffled because if Maya was a culprit, she would've been in Broadhurst with them this morning, but she wasn't--

Salieri swallows, sucks in another breath because Eurydice's still talking, looking up at him and she's here right now, not Maya--

And he leans in to hug her again]

Of course. It's--it's alright, Eurydice, you--

[....]

...I would've done the same thing.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice takes that hug, holding onto Antonio until she feels a little sturdier again, a little steadier. Then, she'll pull away, nodding and wiping her eyes. ]

I know. I remember. [ She tries to smile, tries for a bit of humor, but it falls flat. She's...not there yet.

But then she's thinking about Varian's trial, about holding Antonio back because he had a daughter, and she realizes -- ]

Peregrine. Oh, I'm so sorry --

[violentenvies]

[that humor may've fallen flat, but he can't help but huff out a small chuckle at that, moving to pull out a handkerchief to offer to her as she wipes her eyes.

He pauses, however, as she brings up Peregrine, and anxiety clenches again in his stomach]

Peregrine? What about her--is she alright?

[howtheworldwas]

She -- [ oh, gods, how could Eurydice have been so selfish? So stupid? ] -- I told her I wouldn't leave. And now I've gone and done that.

[violentenvies]

[...ah.]

I...think in your case, she'll understand that it wasn't intentional.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice kind of doubts it, especially because the degree to which it was or wasn't intentional is kind of...up in the air, but she'll nod anyway. No point in arguing, what's done is done. ]

I hope so.

[ But speaking of things that may or may not have been intentional: ]

You apologized to Discord, right?

[violentenvies]

[it takes a bit of effort not to wince, but he manages it]

...many times. [quietly] I have one for you, as well, whenever you're ready for it.

[howtheworldwas]

Good. [ she's quiet as well, knows that it isn't really good, but it's the best they've got. ]

Maybe...later. It's, um. Been a long few hours, and I still have to get used to dying, again. [ third time's the charm? ] Just...you know what you did, right? And you're not going to do it again?

[ that's all she really cares about. ]