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

post-meeting

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice's first thought, when she sees Antonio outside, is why would anyone ever drag a mattress out here when the ground is perfectly fine. At least he's comfortable.

She'll sit down on the ground beside him, following his gaze to the middle distance and looking at it, confused. ]

Do you...see something?

[ maybe this is how operation a.s.s. is supposed to go, she's not sure ]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri startles a bit at that, attention jerking towards Eurydice, blinking like he's coming out of a daydream]

Ah, Eurydice--I beg your pardon?

[he may not have exactly caught that]

[howtheworldwas]

[ hm! concerning! ]

It looked like you were looking at something. [ she gestures at the empty space in front of them. ] Around here.

[ squints. ]

Do you have a fever? That wouldn't be great, not getting those is probably one of the few good things about being dead.

[violentenvies]

Oh. Ah, no, I don't. I'm fine, really. I was just...[how does he describe this]

...distracted. [moving to close that score, now]

[howtheworldwas]

[ what the fuck kind of answer is that ]

By...the music?

[violentenvies]

Yes. By the music. [he's not...lying????]

I'm, ah, just trying to make sure I'm ready for whatever comes next.

1/2

[howtheworldwas]

[ eurydice opens her mouth, about to say that that's not a real explanation


remembers how orpheus literally got distracted for an entire winter writing music and that's when she died


closes mouth. why are musicians like this she'd really like to know ]

2/2

[howtheworldwas]

You really think it's going to work, then?

[violentenvies]

[at that, he'll give her his full attention]

I do. After the dress rehearsal...I feel more confident than ever about it.

[howtheworldwas]

Yeah, I mean, dead people don't usually get nosebleeds? So I guess that's. A good sign. [ thank you eurydice, local being dead expert, that's really helpful ] But you've got a plan, right? In case it ends up being more taxing than a nosebleed and maybe passing out for a while.

[violentenvies]

I do. I'm hoping to build up something of an endurance to such a thing over the week. I'm going to practice with the Balladeer in short intervals so that I'm better prepared for the experience going forward.

[howtheworldwas]

[ ok but how do you practice reality-bending and furthermore how do you get good at it within a week??

that's. probably not for her to know. she'll just offer up the obligatory: ]

...okay. Just be careful, and let me know if there's anything I can do to make it safer, yeah?

[violentenvies]

[hhhh

his expression softens a bit at that]

I shall, I promise.

[he's quiet for a moment, hesitating, and then--]

Admittedly it was...one of the strangest things I've ever experienced. And I'm not entirely sure if having more people will make the strain of it better or worse.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice smiles a little at that, like a quiet thank you. ]

I can only imagine. [ a beat, thinking. ] Do you...feel all of us, when you're conducting?

[violentenvies]

I could feel everyone who was involved in the song. It was like...[he pauses, frowning, trying to find the words to describe it] ...it was both seeing and feeling and hearing the music. But not just the music, the people involved. The connections that were present through everyone performing together, working together to create that music. And they were connected to each other but connected to me, too. [Salieri lifts a hand, placing it over his heart, his chest, where he remembers the feeling of those strings, those connections, anchoring within him and reaching out to the other performers] And then, on top of that, or with that, I could not just hear the music, but as the song progressed, I could almost...see it? [his attention's gone a bit unfocused]

The way it moved in the air, how it ripped, moved, fluid yet structured, free yet tethered, and how each performer moved the song forward, and I, the conductor, to keep them together...[he trails off a bit, humming the tune quietly--Mana du vortes, mana du vortes, aeria gloris, aeria gloris--and for a moment he can see the remembered notes flickering briefly in his vision, faint and almost completely transparent, the music moving through the air like water, like wind--]

[howtheworldwas]

[ That...sounds like a lot. Eurydice isn't really a music person, not in the way she considers Orpheus or Antonio to be, and when she sees him go unfocused like that, all she can think about is Orpheus during their first winter, lost in his song because he so badly wanted to help.

She left him like that, and all it did was hurt both of them. She's not going to make the same mistake again. ]

Antonio. [ she'll say, quiet but firm, and then wait for him to come back to earth before continuing: ] In that case, as players, we'll have to...support each other, I guess. [ she thinks about being on the line, about raising up their voices as one. can I change my fate? ] Keep each other together, so you don't have to do all of it.

[ She thinks she might be able to help with that. She hopes. She still doesn't think of herself as a musician, not really, but maybe she can provide...a beat. Some rhythm. The sound of a pickaxe ringing, steady, keeping time. ]

[violentenvies]

["Antonio." His name, quiet but steady, anchoring, enough to bring his focus back with a jolt, and he's turning his gaze back on Eurydice, blinking once as if coming out of a daze. He listens, quietly, and he thinks about those connections, that thin thread that had tied Sissi and the SQUIP together, both fragile yet strong enough to hold, to help--and he swallows a bit, nodding once]

...thank you. I'll rely on you all, then.