curtainsdown | 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! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I... I don't really... [ He looks around, frowning. Has the school always been this... red? Maybe Hester just did some late decorating for prom? ]

It's hard to say? The Wizard, he made us all really sick, and a lot of us were hallucinating. I thought I was fine, but then I - [ he swallows, hard. ] I saw Elle fall from the roof, and Maya climbed down after her, and she wasn't making any sense, and she, um.

[ He tugs at his bowtie, suddenly uncomfortable with the pressure at his throat. ]

But I'm fine, now. I'm not even hurt, anywhere, and I didn't see Elle in the courtyard. So it can't have really happened, right?

[ He does... not sound entirely convinced, and looks to Discord almost pleadingly, searching for some reassurance. ]

[That would be a nicer thought. It didn't really happen, the both of them are alive, whatever Orpheus saw didn't...

...He files away Maya's name in there. That's for later. One thing at a time and right now, that means Orpheus. Not everyone can be flippant about dying.]

Come on. [And he'll actually step closer, putting a hand on Orpheus's shoulder, almost gentle.] Not here. Let's sit down first, hm?

[Just gonna... try to lead him to the cafeteria, maybe, if Orpheus will let him.]

[ Orpheus nods, numbly, and lets himself be guided along in silence, taking a seat at one of the tables in the cafeteria and speaking up again in a small voice once he's there. ]

But she wouldn't - we're friends, and she's been so brave looking out for the rest of us this whole time. She wouldn't let something like just being sick make her kill anyone.

[ He's running through his thought process more than anything else, trying to rationalize it away. It doesn't make sense. He trusted Maya - she wouldn't hurt him? Unless... ]

Did she think I'd hurt Elle? Was she... angry at me, for not saving her? Or trying to spare me the execution?

[Discord's just going to magic over a cup of water. He can make tea, in a bit, but this is enough for the moment.

It distracts him from the topic a whole five seconds, before it's unavoidable.]

I don't know. [Just sets that cup down in front of Orpheus.] But it doesn't sound like any of you were in your right minds.

I'm sorry.

[ Under normal circumstances, Orpheus would be quietly delighted by Discord's magic, the ease and grace of it. As it is, though, he barely reacts, just reaching out and clutching at the cup and trying to ground himself with the sensation of cold against his skin. ]

I don't... what happens to us, now? Are we stuck here, forever? Has - has the Wizard, or anyone said anything to you since you got here?

Oh, not a word from him, and thank goodness for that. The less he knows about what's going on here, the better. We're... working on some things.

The important thing for now is that we're here. Not alive, but... here. And that's something.

[He's trying to be as comforting about this as he can. Friendship and all, right?]

[ Orpheus just nods slowly, and tries to force himself to drink some of the water Discord brought for him. ]

That's good. [ he says, distantly. ] But... Eurydice. I might not - I may never see her again. She can't come here, and at home she's - I failed her. After everything, I couldn't do it.

Failed--

[Oh. Hold on there.]

The whole business with the Underworld. That? [That's... not good.] What happened?

Lord Hades - he told us we could go, together. But he gave me - a condition. A test. I wasn't supposed to look back at Eurydice, until we were out of the Underworld, and I -

[ He shakes his head, like he's trying to dislodge something, and his knuckles are white around the glass he's holding, shoulders shaking. ]

It was easy. It should've been easy. But I was so scared she wouldn't be there and I panicked and I looked and I saw her and she disappeared and I'm so stupid, I didn't - it's all my fault.

[ He whips himself up into a bit of a frenzy as he talks, faster and faster and more and more stressed until he's half-wailing. It was so simple. It was so easy. All he had to do was wait. ]

...That doesn't seem like a particularly fair sort of test to begin with.

[Not that Discord can really be throwing stones here. He's definitely done far worse than that to people, for worse reasons, but... It just rubs him the wrong way. Offering hope with such a big caveat.]

You... [He trails off, a moment. Before thinking to himself, what would Antonio do? And then just... sitting down next to Orpheus. After a bit maybe carefully putting an arm around his shoulder. Because what else can he do for this?] Being afraid is only natural. That isn't your fault.

[ Orpheus just leans against him, covering his face with his hands. ]

I would climb to the depths
Of the Underworld to see her, except-
I would sing spring to bloom
But we celebrated victory too soon
I would walk to the end
Of the world and back to find her again
All for her, at any cost
But all of that and still to me, she's lost

It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it over?
It's over, isn't it?
Isn't it?
Isn't it over?
He won, and he took her, and I loved her and she's gone
It's over, and I've died for what I've done

the mark of those who cannot be saved

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