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

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ For a moment, all Orpheus does is stare. He hasn't been hit as hard with the hallucinations as the others for the most part, so he isn't expecting this, isn't braced for it. He blinks, shaking his head, and looks up again, but Varian is still there when he does, and after enough time passes to probably be really uncomfortable, he speaks up. ]

... Varian? Is that - are you really there?

[alchemistake]

[Fortunately(?), this time it's not a hallucination. That much is plain when Varian actually approaches Orpheus, his hands raised like he wants to do something but can't think of what...

Before he finally just gives up the ghost and throws his arms around the man, hugging him as tightly as he can muster without hurting him.]

Orpheus, it- it's me, I-

[He shakes his head, his heart pounding frantically between his ears.]

You're....y-you're not supposed to be...

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ The hug is a surprise, but he welcomes it, figuring Varian probably needs it after - after what? After whatever. He stoops down a bit to make it a less awkward experience, patting the boy's back. ]

But - how? We - Benjamin and Eurydice and I, we buried you. Did - [ and he remembers himself, and lowers his voice carefully. ] did Nana figure something out?

[alchemistake]

[...Varian had been smiling. It was a sad smile, but one nonetheless, because he's happy to see Orpheus on one hand, yet struggling to fathom just what could have happened to cause him to wind up here.

But then he says that, and Varian's smile falters.]

You...w-wait. What?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Um. Like the Balladeer. Hester gave us back your, um. Your body, after the execution. I'm sorry. Should we not have?

[ Is there a custom he would've preferred? The traditional thing back home for Orpheus is cremation, he knows, but given what resources they had on hand here he really didn't think that would've been a good thing to try. ]

[alchemistake]

I-

[Varian blinks a few times, because all of a sudden he's been assaulted with the mental image of his body being buried and it's just...A Lot.]

No- no, it's okay! That...that's what I would've...

[Wa....nted...]

Sorry. I guess I just wasn't...expecting to hear about that. Or that you guys would have even...been able to.

[...it's touching, in a grim sort of way.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

No, it's, um. It's okay. Sorry for bringing it up. I know it's kind of...

[ He trails off, looking away. ]

I wasn't there to hear how it happened, but I think Miss Hester pulled some strings for us. We, um... They miss you a lot, back there. Farrah especially. She's been taking care of Ruddiger for you.

[ Forrrrr a given value of 'taking care of', but you know. ]