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

[tellthestory]

Ugggggh.

[Sorry still flat on his face]

What the hell was that.

[violentenvies]

[alkdshfs that's enough to make Salieri chuckle]

I believe that was a success, as hard won as it was.

How are you feeling?

[tellthestory]

[Muffled:]

Like garbage. This doesn't usually happen.

[violentenvies]

[shit, man, relatable]

Yes, I, too, do not usually feel like death warmed over after conducting a piece.

[dryly--but he's moving to retrieve a plate from the table, before turning and offering it out to him. It looks like there are a few pancakes left on the plate]

Here--have some pancakes. It'll help.

[tellthestory]

Oh, god -

[That gets him somewhat revived; he sits up and immediately starts digging into the pancakes with far more fervor than usual.]

I've traveled between worlds a ton before. 'S different bringing other people into the process like that, I guess, but I don't usually feel it - oh, did Discord make these? [His first thought was "Spongebob", but of all the dead people here, Discord's the most likely to put this much shit in pancakes.]

[violentenvies]

He did indeed. He was rather insistent about me staying in bed, at least until the meeting. [there's a bit of softness in his expression that gives way to amusement]

Watch your step, by the way, whenever you decide to get up. [he motions vaguely at the literal waist-high stacks of books that fill up the room lmao]

[tellthestory]

Did it get you too?

[The Balladeer's plainly horrified at the idea. It hadn't occurred to him before - he and the Player were the ones really expending power there - but Salieri and the SQUIP had been...conduits, in a sense. It must've been even worse for them.]

Maybe you should cool it on the research a little, too...

[violentenvies]

It got all of us involved. [he closes his book] Very dramatic, noses bleeding and everything. [a little dryly, before he sobers]

It was...an interesting experience. Unexpected. Like nothing I'd ever experienced before. [he presses his lips together, quiet for a moment]

Forgive me for disagreeing, but I feel I should practice more. Not to the same strenuous extent, of course--in small doses with ample time for rest, but I feel I could perhaps shoulder the group performance better if I build up an endurance.

[tellthestory]

Kinda has to be dramatic.

[Something like that - it could have just made them all...he's not sure, really tired or something? Best to have something that would shock and alarm the audience. Readable from the back of the house.

As for the rest...the Balladeer frowns, pausing for a moment in shoveling pancake into his face. The logic's sound, he'll give it that. That doesn't mean he has to like it.]

It's not all on you to shoulder.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri's quiet for a moment, at that] ...no, and I don't want to shoulder it all myself. I fully believe that the strain of this was split between us, hence why we all suffered similar effects.

[he huffs a little] Which means with more people, it'll be easier. Nevertheless...my job as a conductor is to keep everyone together, and to direct the song. I have to be prepared to take on a little more than some of the others.

[tellthestory]

Is it? I'd never really worked with a conductor before - I always played on stage.

[Not down in the pit; you can't really keep an eye on a conductor if you're part of the action, anyhow.]

I kinda feel like I should be the one taking most of it on, but if even the Player was hit bad...boy, there's no way I could. Guess we'll all just have to share.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri can't help but chuckle a bit as the Balladeer says that he should be taking it--not mocking in anyway, just like recognizing like]

Indeed. We'll all have to let go of that need to shoulder the burden, then, and trust each other to be able to stand, together, and shoulder what they need to. [his expression goes soft as he says it, even if there's a bit of resigned irony there. It'll be a task, but certainly one he is up to.]