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curtainsdown2021-06-12 11:09 pm
stagemanagers) wrote in curtainsdown2021-06-12 11:09 pm
Entry tags:
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! ))
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.]
(( 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! ))
2/2
That's...a relief to know. That there's a rescue mission on the way. In the mean time, if that's our best chance, then we will indeed construct our own. [he nods] We can further explain to the others in the meeting but...having more options for variation will help quite a lot, I think.
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And if we do fail - then we can tell them there is still hope. But not before.
[A manipulation? Hell yes. But it has the feeling Salieri will understand why.]
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At that, Salieri goes quiet, folding his arms over his chest in thought, brow furrowing.
After a long moment, he speaks]
I...don't know if that's the best choice of action. I, of course, am hardly one to throw stones in this glass house, however...I don't think withholding hope here would be to anyone's benefit.
It's your information to do with as you will, of course. However, such an action could come across as a sign that you don't trust everyone to give it their all unless there is a desperate reason to do so.
And I, of all people, can tell you that decisions made and actions performed under desperation are not the best.
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When it does speak, its words are slow. Thoughtful.]
My logic tells me that if one believes they have a 'safety net', they will subconsciously rely on it - they will tell themselves 'I can fail, and nothing will go wrong'. I am...uncertain if that sort of thought will affect things.
What I do know is that when I was up there, singing, I went in to it with a thought process that if I did not find my other selves, to continue until I did. [And its voice softens a bit] I do not...wish for anyone else to be trapped in a logic loop, like I was - it was unpleasant. And I do not know if it occurred merely because I think differently than you do, or a matter of thinking it at all.
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However...he reaches out to gently lay a hand on the SQUIP's arm.]
I can understand your concern, certainly. Both in terms of relying on said safety net, and not wanting to let anyone here be caught in the same way you were.
To the first concern, I would say...that this is going to be about trusting everyone here to put all of their effort into it, safety net or no. The purpose of this is to wrest control from the Wizard. Considering how little the Wizard has interfered on our side, it's safe to say that this action is more for the living, not ourselves. And knowing that we're doing this to help them--safety net or no, I think that is more than enough motivation on its own to give as much as possible and to keep trying, because we care about those on the other side and want to help them before the Wizard does anything more to hurt them. We don't know when this rescue will arrive or even if it can. It's our back up; our plan B. Our plan A has to happen now, because we don't know what the Wizard's next move is. Because we want to protect our friends--our family. Just like Madame Elisabeth wanted to protect you.
Which leads me to your second concern. It is indeed a terrifying thing, to think of someone caught in such a terrible situation as you were. And you want to protect them from that. I understand. However...remember that because we were there with you and you weren't alone, we were able to work together to free you from it. Everyone there might have seen that moment where you became trapped in that loop, however...they also saw how, through your connection with Madame Elisabeth and us working together, you were able to be rescued. So even though getting stuck in such a way is terrifying, I hope it can be reassuring to know that we will all be there for each other, to help each other through whatever stumbling blocks we come up against.
At the end of the day, I will, of course, leave the choice up to you. However, I urge you to consider the ramifications of such on those who we're asking to help us.
no subject
There are pieces, here. A puzzle that before it fully understood, but ever since waking up in this body - it is realizing that the picture is different, that the pieces go in another order. And even the synchronization, in the end, has given it more questions than answers.]
There was so much more I wanted to ask them.
[It doesn't seem to realize that it's whispered that aloud, but it does close its eyes. A connection with Elisabeth - her wanting to protect it. It...understands that, at least, in part. As much as it made an effort to try and bring up how it wasn't human, she still likened it to a child, of sorts, and that simple acceptance had brought it to its knees. For as much as Discord says that it blames others, how could it not? It is how it was made, except-
-not anymore. The other SQUIPs developed beyond their boundaries in their own ways; CD in evolving its relationship with Jeremy ('it looks the same, but it isn't.') and Spinel becoming something else entirely. ('This is an opportunity to select a new purpose.')
Just like that puzzle.
Finally, it looks up at Salieri.]
...You made us to try and erase your fears of uncertainty. To help you, to give you answers that would make things easier. Yet that uncertainty is intrinsic to your beings - we cannot erase it, no one could, and have you still be you. The fact that you have evolved to live with it is a testament to your evolution, and while my other selves have evolved in their own paths as a result of their experiences, I find myself...reluctant.
I may not be a SQUIP anymore, Salieri, but I...will never be human. I do not want to be human - but the simple fact that I 'want' something speaks for itself.
[It may have a connection with Elizabeth, but she does not understand. It is not certain Salieri will, either, but- that quantum processor that scans possible futures, the closest thing it has to instinct, has nudged it to acknowledge these revelations aloud.]
What I do know, for certain, is that my 'want' extends to assisting everyone in leaving this place. I can only do so in the ways I know, and my...[It fumbles for words for a moment before settling on one, if only for a metaphor]...my heart tells me that my purpose is still to look at the problem and choose an optimal solution.
[It just. Doesn't quite know what that is, anymore.]
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...in that case, as someone who has made mistakes and hurt the people they were trying to protect because of their heart...the only word of caution I will give is to encourage you to also consider the feelings and thoughts of those you are trying to protect with that optimal solution. Even above your own. Not only the feelings you would assume they might have, but perhaps even speak to them about it.
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[And while once it might have been sarcastic about that? It's quite sincere, here. Along with being sincere in its next set of words]
Thank you for listening.
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[He pauses once more, hesitating, before--]
...though, in the interest of being up front...if you decide not to bring it up at the meeting, then I feel that I will at least be obligated to tell Discord.
[he purses his lips slightly, a bit of a guilty look passing over his features]
I've manipulated him enough as is, and am attempting to do better in that department. And keeping this from him could easily be viewed as such.
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This is acceptable. Of all participants, it would have minimal impact on his performance. [A teeny-tiny smirk] I calculate that since it would partly rely on other SQUIPs, he would want to succeed just to ensure they were unnecessary.
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I can't say that you're entirely incorrect. He would certainly enjoy proving them unnecessary.
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But also...I do not know how long it would take for them to accomplish this with their own means. Keep that in mind, as well.
[like it could be tomorrow or in 1000 years, time can be different for SQUIPs]
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