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]

[ Eurydice knows that voice, but even so, she's not prepared to see the Balladeer upright and breathing, looking alive. She knows he isn't -- gods, she knows that much too well -- but it's enough of a relief to get her to quiet down, a little. ]

Balladeer, you're -- you're okay.

[ She's glad to see him. Hopefully, what she and Benjamin and the other did wound up doing some good. It'd be a nice change. ]

[tellthestory]

Yeah, I'm - I'm fine.

[You know, considering the circumstances? He comes in and kneels down in front of her, within arm's reach, carefully setting his instrument down on the ground. He's not reaching out to touch her just yet - he's perennially unsure of himself when it comes to initiating contact.]

What happened?

[howtheworldwas]

[ Ordinarily, Eurydice isn't one to initiate contact, either. It's always been safer to hold herself at a distance.

But a lot has happened over the past few weeks, the past few hours -- and besides, she's moved the Balladeer's body. If she can do that, she can do this: reach out and, if he accepts the touch, pull the Balladeer into a quick, desperate hug. ]

Maya, she -- she killed Orpheus. And I had to watch, but I was too far away to do anything about it -- [ Eurydice looks down at her hands. In a smaller, choked voice: ]

I wanted it to be me. I didn't want it to be the Wizard.

[tellthestory]

[Yeah - yeah, he'll hug her, close and tight. She can feel his heartbeat.]

Maya? Why?

[It isn't as though the Balladeer...had never considered that possibility. They had a somewhat disturbing conversation, a few days before his death. But he thought talking it out had done some good, and when she didn't act that week, he'd thought it would be alright after all. They wouldn't recycle the wish motive.

But then, you could get at that same goal in a lot of ways.]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Bitterly: ] I don't know.

[ Her hands curl into fists and she lets them, tense for a few moments before sighing. ] We were sick all week, but that's not a reason at all. And it didn't have to be him. It could have been me, or -- or --

[ no one. it would have been better if she hadn't killed at all, obviously. ]

[tellthestory]

Oh - a sickness motive? Was it one of those hallucination ones?

[He says like that's just a Thing that happens.]

[howtheworldwas]

[ ordinarily that would freak Eurydice out more, but she's a little bit preoccupied by pretty much everything else. ]

I -- yeah, I suppose. I mean, I heard the three women, but I didn't kill anyone over it.

[tellthestory]

That one usually comes out if they don't think anyone's gonna kill on purpose anymore. It's basically cheating.

[The Balladeer just sort of assumes she was hallucinating - that's happened to more non-violent people in the past! But he's got the sense to not make these excuses like, immediately to Eurydice's face.]