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

[themuseabandonsyou]

I think for me it's less about raw power and more about... insight? And helping the others. The Muses - the goddesses of the arts that my mom leads - they're mostly around to inspire people to greater heights than they could've reached on their own. And I think that's what I can do, here.

[ He thinks back on the rehearsal, trying to imagine what he would've done differently, what he could've done to assist. Jump in and improvise when the others start to falter, provide backing for them when they fade. Rally them together, like he did back in Hadestown. ]

I'll do anything and everything that needs to be done, of course. But I think that'll be where my strengths lie? Either way, I'll do my best.

[voicerights]

[He thinks. Thinks. Not enough. And the SQUIP arches its brow at him. While that sounds like some impressive parentage - Orpheus certainly shows no sign of lying - that's not the root issue here. Instead...]

Do you remember what I asked you, before? After Elizabeth had been executed.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus has to take a second to remember - it feels like a lifetime ago, that first solemn gathering after a trial and execution. But he does remember, eventually. ]

You asked if I'd fight for what I believed in. If I'd die for it. And I said I would.

[ He glances over at Eurydice, presumably somewhere nearby because like anything could drag them too far apart after what they've just been through. ]

I don't think I would, anymore. Die. I'd rather live. Dying is... easy. Living is harder. But there are things that make it worth it.

[ Sighing, he shakes his head. ]

Not that I'm sure we can die, again? But I will fight, with all my heart. I promise.

[voicerights]

[A tug of lips. But this time, without any sort of cunning, without any sense of that the SQUIP is going to exploit this information. Instead-]

I was going to say. Live for this - and her. [A tilt of its head towards Eurydice] I cannot guarantee results, but everything in my core programming is telling me that this is leading us towards the most optimal outcome. 'Instinct', as you humans call it.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Good. It feels right to me, too? If this is a story - a play - it would be more satisfying narratively, if we didn't fade into irrelevance as soon as we're gone. There must be some reason we're still here, still able to - change, and grow.

[ And he gives the SQUIP a little smile at that, because there doesn't seem to be a better example of that than it. Learning and growing, expanding and knowing and straining and bonds in its code. ]

There's, um. What is it called? Conservation of detail. In any type of storytelling but especially playwriting, you can't include much stuff about things that aren't relevant to what you're trying to say, either in terms of the plot of thematically. If we're here, and doing things, we're characters, right? Which means something we do here will matter. Maybe the Wizard had us slated to be a tragic reminder of what the living had lost, or maybe he didn't expect us to stay at all. But what makes the most sense to me is if we give them what they need when they need it most.

[ And he looks - more hopeful than he has since he's gotten here, thinking about it, eyes alight through the despair. ]

We'll give them something to hold on to
When they think their time is up
We'll give them just the songs they want to
Hear when they're out of luck

[voicerights]

With that logic, every life in the story of reality is important. Not that I would not agree, but humans tend to search for more. For some means of being- special. [Without realizing they already are. They're part of an incredibly complex piece - and yet, there's those like Connor, who will find themselves at the edge of removing themselves from that piece.

Frankly, Connor didn't need melatonin. He needed serotonin, among others. And still does.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh, true. About everyone being important in reality, but not everyone realizing that. I mostly meant in terms of - this place, where the Wizard and the narrators have so much power, and there's... an audience? Where things do work like a story, because someone wants them to, and not like life back home, where things happen that don't have to do with anything all the time, and sometimes it's for no real reason other than the whims of the Fates.

[ Says, uh, the Greek mythological figure, but he can't read this so it's fine. If he thought about it for a second he might boggle over the implications of Elisabeth telling him he is a story to her some more right now, but as it is he hasn't put two and two together. ]

Here, though? I think we do have something special. The Wizard and Miss Hester said we were all picked to be here, by someone who wasn't him, right? And I think that means we can surprise him. By the sounds of it, the rest of us might've done it already, back on the other side.

[ By... saving Maya. Of all people. But that's fine, he's fine, he's not mad, he's the least mad anyone has ever been. It's fine. ]

[voicerights]

[It makes a thoughtful sound]

You would be surprised at how things happen- but. I will concede this place appears to have some...structure. A different one, at least, than what I am familiar. I find it more difficult to predict possible futures here, than I was before - and I don't know if it's because of my altered condition. Before, [and it looks down at its hand, slowly flexing its fingers] I could calculate probable timelines, effortlessly select the optimal, and - human error aside - navigate with ease.

This place...[It shakes its head]...I did not have 'hope' before. Or 'faith'. [Or trust. Or any number of other things.] And when I heard that Maya was the one to kill you, Elle, and Eurydice, I will admit that these things...faltered.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ what ]

You can... see the future, back where you come from? Or, um, what might be, if the right steps are taken. Like an Oracle?

[ Orpheus seems duly impressed. It's a shame the SQUIP can't do it as well here. That would make things a lot easier. Or, maybe not. Oracular advice tended to backfire as often as not, at least in the stories.

At the mention of Maya, he nods, frowning. ]

I still don't understand why she did it, or how she got out of - [ He cuts himself off, shaking his head. ] We'll see her again. And I'll be able to ask her myself.

[voicerights]

I see possible futures. Much as you would predict how something would fall, and try to catch it in time. My pattern recognition and prediction is far beyond any human's.

[Matter of fact, thanks! But. A nod]

She has a lot of explaining to do.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh, that makes sense. [ Again, inasmuch as anything does here. He can sort of follow the logic of it, even if he boggles a little over the implications. ]

She does. I'm... I wouldn't have been happy if she'd died? She was my friend. But she'll answer for this. [ His expression is grim as he says it. ] She doesn't get to walk out of this when Elle and Eurydice don't. They deserve to live as much as her. And I don't know if we can do that much, with our songs? But if it's at all possible, I'll make it happen.

[voicerights]

[...]

If you must doubt, I would not recommend you doubt it possible how much we can do. From my experience, it was...[And it struggles for words, as much as it seems to go distant for a while]...infinite. But in that...there are infinite possibilities.

I cannot doubt something will happen. But what, exactly, that is...we are putting intent in to this, but there comes a point where things simply go out of our control.

[...and it's starting to accept such. That there are things that are not within its grasp to calculate and understand.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods, not quite understanding all of that, but getting close enough. ]

Right. I need to have faith. However it turns out, it'll be worth it. We'll see it through to the end.