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

[wanderlusttitania]

Thank you, monsieur Balladeer!

[Ok, good. Good good. She quickly tunes it-]

All right! I'm ready!

[violentenvies]

Thank you, my friend! [there's a smile, brief and grateful, before he's turning his attention to Sissi.]

Start by picking up the melody, if you will. Play along with the SQUIP and repeat that theme--once it's connected, we're going to draw it out of that repetition with a variation.

[wanderlusttitania]

[She nods.]

All right, I think I can do that easily enough.

[And so she does. Given how many times poor SQUIP has repeated it at this point, she's at least got that part down by ear.

Собой остаться дольше...]

[violentenvies]

[Sissi picks up the theme in repetition, and Salieri turns his attention back to the assembled players. He can feel it, now, almost, as the zither joins the other instruments and the singing. Another string, reaching out, weaving into the melody--it's like a cascade of colors in front of his eyes, pale and translucent, and it is the strangest thing he's ever experienced, like he's in the eye of storm, conducting it's every movement.

And he turns his attention to the SQUIP, at the energy flowing out from it, the stuck melody, harmonies aching to expand but not knowing where to go--]

SQUIP! [it's called out, to get it's attention] SQUIP, listen to Madame Elisabeth! She's playing for you--with you--[his baton curls through the air, catching on rhythms and notes and directing them]--hear her!

4/code injection

[voicerights]

Calling, calling now, in the depth of longing! [Up. Up. Down. Down.]
Собой остаться дольше... [Left. Right. A.]

[Even after what amounts to an end statement from the Leading Player, the SQUIP continues. The music may only be in its head, or it may be on an entirely different level, still audible to the rest. It doesn't know at this point, it's simply running on a simple logic;

if connection = null
goto next;

But can you really simplify that kind of thing? ˙ʎɹoǝɥʇ ɐ ǝpᴉsuᴉ ʇᴉɟ ʇouuɐɔ ʇᴉ
Can you really break it down in to that kind of command?
The logic was sound; if anyone could execute it, it was the SQUIP.
In addition, minimal damage would be created if it failed, or if an error occurred.
Has occurred.]

Calling, calling now, spirits rise and falling…! [Up. Up. Down. Down.]
Собой остаться дольше...[Left. Right. A.]

[But- even if it doesn't seem quite back quite yet, the motion is changing. Flowing just a bit differently, for those paying attention, its fingers ceasing that erratic dance. (Just what kind of 'keyboard' was it working with, anyway?) And in the next cycle, it's turned to face Elizabeth.

It's listening.]

[violentenvies]

[the SQUIP turns to face Sissi, and as it starts to listen, Salieri could almost swear he can see the connection form between the two of them, fragile and tentative but there, the music winding and spinning, reaching out--]

--another repetition, Madame Elisabeth, and then...[Salieri half closes his eyes, focusing on his hearing now, listening to the music, how it ebs and flows, finding just the right spot to gently push--] --a simple variation, if you would; where it leads up to the final cadence of the second line, where it falls instead make it rise--when the SQUIP follows, then you can move onto the next variation with more complexity and guide it--

[wanderlusttitania]

[She nods, her fingers and pick beginning to pluck at the notes.

Calling, calling now, spirits rise and falling…

She begins the chorus again, but this time, where the cadence would fall, she makes it rise.

A small change, here. But it is a change.]

5/B̶͝҉Ŗ́E̢͝Ą̢̀͏̵K̴̛͘͘͠

[voicerights]

[Music is a fickle thing. You can write it, you can plan it, but there's an ephemeral quality to such. It changes. It alters. Like most things, one supposes. Why bother creating it in the first place? If you can't predict it with proper order, but if chaos has no form- where is the sense? Where is the meaning?

i hear a voice calling my name
˙ʇɹɐǝɥ ɐ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ uosɐǝɹ ɐ pǝʇɐǝɹɔ s,ʇᴉ

And at the stubborn insistence of the humans, the SQUIP's sound changes just a bit further.]

Calling, calling out! For the place of knowing! [Up. Up. Down. Down.]
There's more than what can be linked... [Left. Right. Arms move towards its chest, as if pained.]

Calling, calling! Never will I look away! [Up. Up. Down. Down.]
From what life has left for me... [Left foot shifts, with the right following. It moves towards Sissi, beside her, behind her.
Arms don't quite surround her, but there's a sense of her, briefly, being a centering force as its hands take position inches from her upper arms.]

Yearning, yearning! For what's left of loving! [Left arm up. Right arm up. Left arm down. Right arm down.]
Собой остаться дольше... [Left hand at her shoulder. Right hand at her shoulder. Then arms pull back, as does the rest of it...

...and from there, it's as if a set of strings have been cut. It abruptly drops to both knees, but the posture it's assumed is not one of a discarded marionette. It's not a heap of lifeless flesh.

The SQUIP's eyes are open. Its back is tall, straight.

Serene.

And in a voice that echoes, as if multiple voices were speaking it at once;]

Synchronization complete. Please standby.

[wanderlusttitania]

[For a moment, when he falls, Elisabeth is terrified that something has gone wrong. That her music had done something wrong, or-

Then he speaks. It's...hard to describe hearing the strange cacophony of voices come from SQUIP. Surreal is the best way to describe it. Unearthly. Eldritch, even.

She freezes, watching him. Not daring to touch, not yet, in case doing so would break his connection.]

[whatyouwant]

[Elle moves forward slowly, gently placing a hand on Elilzabeth's arm.]

Is it okay?

[wanderlusttitania]

I think so, but...whatever he is...synchronizing with? I don't think disturbing him would be a good idea right now.

[disharmonizes]

[Discord pauses. Sloooooooowly putting down a can of paint.]

So... I shouldn't use this yet.

[whatyouwant]

[Just a LOOK.]

[disharmonizes]

...Fine, fine. Later.

[wanderlusttitania]

No, you shouldn't.

[disharmonizes]

Ugh, fine, I'll wait until... whenever it's done with this.

Assuming it isn't just broken.

[violentenvies]

[The music changes direction, guided by Sissi's variation, and the SQUIP moves, it's movements shifting with the change in melody, and Salieri's breath catches in his chest with hope, with something like desperation, and the notes flow through them, all of them, connecting...connecting...

"Synchronization complete."

The SQUIP falls to its knees. And for a moment, there's a lurching fear in Salieri's stomach that they failed, they failed--

as the music suddenly stops on it's final cadence. The connection is secured, the task accomplished, and the song ends. Suddenly, there is no longer music, he can no longer see it, the notes and the rhythms and the connections, and he isn't prepared for it, for the sudden rush of absence.

It leaves him feeling lightheaded, weak, as the current reality comes crashing back down on him, and Salieri sways, arms starting to fall as the room spins. He stumbles back a step, starting to fall]

[disharmonizes]

[There's just a moment where Discord doesn't realize what's happening, until suddenly gravity happens and Antonio is falling. And just like that, he moves, being there as quick as he can.

Moving to catch him.]

Antonio--

[He's got you.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri isn't quite aware that he's falling, until he's caught. Until there are arms around him and he clutches at them through the pounding in his head and the vertigo. He's breathing, hard, one hand curled in Discord's sleeve, the other holding onto that baton in a death grip.

He's just going to lean into that solid presence that feels safe, rings home--and Salieri turns his face into Discord's collar, eyes closing as he just...hangs on and tries to ground himself]

[disharmonizes]

[He's just... going to hold on. Using that contact to ground himself, too, maybe, gently guiding Salieri down. Trying to stay here and now and not think about--

And rain...will make the flowers...

--he holds on tighter.]

There, now. First time altering reality, that's a big moment for any mortal.

You did so well.

[violentenvies]

[Those arms tighten around him, and it helps--he's fine, he's secure, and Salieri breathes out, curling into that closeness a little more.

It takes a moment for him to come up with a reply, but...]

Flatterer. [it's quiet, a little strained, but there]

[disharmonizes]

[The immediate relief just hearing him talking is almost overwhelming.]

Only once in a blue moon. Better appreciate it while you can.

[violentenvies]

[that'll pull a chuckle out of him. Salieri's head is still pounding and his limbs feel heavy but...he's here.]

Consider me appreciating. [his eyes are still closed though as his brain works on making sense of the colors that still flicker in and out, the occasional note that still lingers.]

[disharmonizes]

[That's fine, Salieri can just... take a break. And Discord will hold him, as long as he needs.]

[violentenvies]

[Great he'll just...rest his head against Discord's collar for a long moment.

Until, of course, he tastes something coppery--and he's jerking a bit, startled, pulling away slightly as he lifts a hand to his face, finally opening his eyes. Salieri winces a bit at the intensity of the light, looking down at his hand as he pulls it away from his nose--and it takes a moment to register that it's blood.]

Ah, my handkerchief--