curtainsdown | the mark of those who cannot be saved

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act 3

the mark of those who cannot be saved

[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! ))

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[ That voice is - familiar. He feels at once like he hasn't heard it in a lifetime and like he heard it just yesterday, but neither is really accurate, is it? It's been just over a month since he watched her go to that stage, even if it's haunted his nightmares in turns ever since. ]

Elisabeth?

[ His eyes are wide and uncomprehending. She's... here? It's not some trick of his mind? ]

By God-!

[She goes to grab his shoulders. If she is successful, well. Her tight grip certainly feels real.]

...Please tell me you are here because you found a way to come to us alive!

[After all, if anyone can, it's Orpheus. But...

but.

Even so, deep down, Elisabeth gets the feeling she's not going to like the answer he gives her.]

[ Orpheus just blinks owlishly at her in confusion, not moving away from her touch and raising a hand to her wrists to steady her. ]

I - what? [ Okay, one thing at a time. He shakes his head, trying to process what's going on. First thing's first; Elisabeth, you're here? How?

...

We are dead.

[It's best to just...get that out of the way.]

Given everything, given what I know of you, I hoped-

[She swallows.]

I hoped you'd have come here alive.

Edited 2021-07-11 21:43 (UTC)

Oh. [ Orpheus is just... going to lean heavily against the wall, at that, bringing up a hand to run through his hair. ] It wasn't - it really happened? Elle, and Maya -

[ He cuts himself off, unsure of how to finish the thought. Elle will be here already, then? And Maya will follow after soon, if things to anything like they have for the past several weeks. He sinks slowly down to the floor, legs going out from under him. ]

I'm sorry. I'm sorry, we tried to reach you all however we could, but - [ He shakes his head and says, in a small voice, ] There was no one to tell me which way to go, this time.

[...oh. Of course. Quietly, she goes down to her knees.]

As did we. We've been trying to reach you since we've arrived.

[Elle, and Maya. She swallows.]

So then...you are really dead...

I... I guess so. But, it doesn't make any sense? Maya, she - she wouldn't -

[ And Eurydice, watching him from the roof, watching him from the cave, and he turned to see her and she disappeared into the darkness of his fading vision, the darkness of the Underworld -

He chokes, again, his breath going ragged as he shakes his head, tears springing to his eyes. ]

Eurydice. She was watching, and I - I have to tell her it's okay, I have to tell her I'm sorry.

Maya? Mademoiselle Maya-?

[She's not liking this. She's not liking this at all. Elle, and Maya, he had said. But-focus.]

Right, of course. We're going to try to do that, with the project. But you can ask SQUIP and Antonio about it once you're a little more acclimated to being here.

[She'll offer her hand to him, at this.]

[ Orpheus barely hears what Elisabeth has to say, unfortunately. A project. Antonio and the SQUIP. He'll think of it later, ask more questions then, but now, he clutches at his head and curls in on himself, shoulders shaking. ]

I didn't - we were so close, we did it, but I couldn't - couldn't stop from doing the one thing they told me not to do. [ His voice grows more frantic and strained as he speaks, interrupted by hiccuping sobs. ] Why did I do that? Why didn't I just wait?

[ He can't bring himself to realize that this probably doesn't make much sense without context. He has no idea that Elisabeth may well have exactly enough context to piece it together despite that. ]

[Well, then. Elisabeth has a sneaking suspicion this isn't about how he died.]

...Mademoiselle Eurydice?

Edited 2021-07-12 02:21 (UTC)

[ Orpheus nods, miserably. ]

She's dead. She's dead back home and it's all my fault and - and now I'm dead here and she had to watch and I'm never going to see her again.

...No. I don't believe that.

We will find a way to reunite you two. We are looking for a way to undo what the Wizard's been doing to us-to everyone. If we can do that, we may still be able to bring you both together.

Can you trust that, no matter what, we won't stop trying?

[ Another day, he might've felt reassured by that. Another day, he might recognize the importance of Elisabeth trying to drag him out of his misery, and give her something back for her efforts, some kind of positive reaction, even if he had to fake it. But now he can't. There's nothing left in him. ]

You shouldn't bother. Not for me. I don't deserve her. I never did.

[ All he ever did was doom her twice, over things that would've been so easy for him to do differently, too self absorbed and distractable and cowardly to be the person she needed. ]

I'll... I'll try to help the rest of you. But I can't. I can't do this anymore.

[She sighs, at this.]

Monsieur...

[She goes to clasp the man's hands, if he allows it.]

Please listen. I know you're angry with yourself. I know you think that what happened is all your fault, and that all you will have left is the regret of having fallen in love.

But...when I first arrived here, I had decided. Whether I am damned or not because of what I did, I will help find a way to get everyone out of this limbo. Whether it's back to life, or to a real afterlife...everyone deserves that freedom.

I know that life is a wonderful thing
Somewhere there's love and perpetual spring
I know life is a wonderful thing
Sing

You will one day be together again
Though you can not see her
Sing
She is somewhere in the world...

Edited 2021-07-12 22:07 (UTC)

[ She's somewhere in the world. That gets his attention. Orpheus finally looks up from the ball he's curled into, not resisting when Elisabeth takes his hand. ]

R-right. If Farrah can live, after dying at home - maybe she can too.

[ He takes a shuddering breath. ]

And she can find s-someone who won't keep letting her down.

[A soft, sad smile. She can imagine Franz, telling her he loved her, even after everything. That love can solve everything, and that she should come hom, come back to his bed. That they can be as they had been in those halcyon days before their marriage, or during the formation of the dual monarchy.

But...some things couldn't be as they were. Time doesn't heal every wound, and some gulfs are too wide to bridge. She could be his friend. Anything more would simply break both of their hearts. She suspected Franz knew this as well; he visited Madame Schratt far more often, after that, in those final years she lived.

Still. Orpheus certainly didn't let his Elisabeth down quite in the same way that she and Franz had let each other down. They still have a chance.]

I can certainly commiserate with the sentiment. Though I'd say you should let mademoiselle Eurydice tell you what she thinks, before you let her go. Even boats in the night...

[always coming close
but always passing one another]

...might find a port to call home.

[ Orpheus nods, slowly. ]

I don't know how she could forgive me after all of this. She's gone to the Underworld twice, all because of me. But... I'd still like to say 'goodbye', and 'I'm sorry'. I didn't get to. When I died or either time that she did.

[ Drying his eyes on the heel of his hand, he looks over at Elisabeth more seriously. Time to stop being so self-centered. ]

And I don't... think you're damned, for what happened. You don't deserve to be stuck here. So I'll do whatever I can to help. For you, and for the others.

[ His characteristic hopefulness is notably absent, replaced with a quiet hollowness. But he does mean it, even if he doesn't feel like he can place faith in much of anything anymore. ]

They're all here, then?

Yes. They are.

[She smiles.]

And we are working on a way to save everyone.

[ Swallowing, Orpheus nods. ]

Right. What's the plan? Is it... safe to tell me here? The Wizard isn't still listening here, is he?

It's safe, so far as we can tell, yes.

[She nods quietly.]

As I said, I think it's best that SQUIP and Antonio explain it to you. I can bring you to them as soon as you're ready.

Okay. That's good. I think I still need a moment, but. Thank you.

[ He curls in on himself a bit, hugging his arms to himself. ]

How are the others? I... I know I can go see them for myself, when I'm ready. But. Are they okay, being here?

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the mark of those who cannot be saved

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