and I know things now, many valuable things

[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 you're still trapped here.

When you open your eyes it might take you a minute to recognize your surroundings. It's your dressing room, that much is certain, but nothing is where you remember it. It's like everything has been picked up and moved to the other side of the room. The entire room has been perfectly mirrored from what it used to be and, upon leaving, it seems the rest of the opera house is just the same. If you remember one room being in the east wing, it's now in the west. If it was in the west, it's now in the east.

Welcome back to the Opera House, friends, you're not out of the woods yet.]





[ooc: Welcome to deadland, darlings! It's a perfectly mirrored version of the Opera House and each week, as new people die after new floors have been revealed, the stairwell doors will unlock and allow you to reach them. For example, week 3 victims will unlock floor 2 and so on and so forth. Also, all dead characters will wake up at their actual canon point.

Have fun because we have some fun things planned for you.]

Comments

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[So wow, Opera limbo has a lot more to do than regular limbo- or the Opera House itself. Last week, D-ne'd spent much time checking up on Hime, since there were only four of them. Now, well... She can let herself be alone a little more, so she does that.

There's so much to explore, so throughout the week she looks through the library, the media room, the prop room- nothing really holds her attention for long, but she's trying to distract herself, at least? Most days, she'll be around the tea room, lost in thought and idle, but seeming to enjoy her time there.

Thursday she drifts about until she reaches the ballroom. There's so much swimming in her head, so much that she can barely stand it. The times she's sung have never been to understand something, but...maybe, this time... She sits at the piano, and she lets herself get lost in the thought of the music. Even if she's not the best piano player, with how things work, maybe...

Sure enough, she starts to play, effortlessly.]

Where did I get all these memories?
I feel there's something I should be remembering.
Though I can't seem to recall it,
I have a strange feeling that I just can't forget.

Failed again, I've given up chase
But when I close my eyes I see your nameless face.
There must have been something about you,
But I just can't recall and I don't know what to do.

Let's get a ribbon and measure the world,
Then let's run circles 'round the sun before we char and burn.
But we don't need a map, or road,
We'll chase the blackness of the night that's somehow filled with hope.

Failed again, I've given up chase,
But when I close my eyes I see your nameless face.
As the dew drops settles in my eyes,
I still can't hear your gentle voice piercing through the night.

I don't know, anything,
I just don't know anymore.
You want me to stay here,
Is that too much to ask for?
And it hurts, hurts my head
I can't sleep; restless in bed
But if you knew all this,
You'd laugh, and break my heart in two.

Let's count these simple feeling,
Let's list them all out
And yet I forgot that warm feeling
The one I'd get when you're next to me
Bye-bye my beloved,
We won't meet again.
And yet I'm stuck here in this limbo;
In this state that I can't emote.
I don't know what to do,
And only laughter escapes my throat...

[If approached, she'll keep singing. It seems she's determined to keep going. It seems she's not even aware of anyone.]

You're like a donut with a hole,
So full but empty, and will never quite be whole
And now I'm wondering if you were here,
Or just a fragment of my memory that's now unclear.

Failed again, I've given up chase,
But when I close my eyes I see your nameless face.
Yet another night with restless sleep.
I struggle now without you here, wedged between the sheets.

"No I don't want to die."
Want to know what it feels like?
It won't bring peace or piece together all that you've lost.
Time has passed, we don't last,
My memory turns to glass.
I am the donut hole,
The unwanted, without a soul.

Can't count these complex feeling,
Can't list them all out.
This strange life of mine without hearing
Your voice, forgetting how it sounds.
Bye-bye my beloved,
We won't meet again
And yet I'm stuck here in this limbo;
In this state that I can't emote.
I don't know what to do,
And all my tears flow until I choke.

A gaping hole has opened,
Right up in my chest.
And in this emptiness I'm lonely,
It's my only proof that you were here.
Come back my beloved,
Oh, come back to me...!
My heart in ribbons falls to the floor,
And there's nothing that I can do...

Let's count these simple feeling,
Let's list them all out,
And yet I forgot that warm feeling
The one I'd get when you're next to me!
Bye-bye my beloved,
We won't meet again.

And in the end I start to feel complete,
With a face that I remembered.
I take a deep breath,
And I open my eyes now to confess.
I have opened my eyes,
I have opened my eyes,
That name of yours I realize-

[...D-ne's mouth hangs open, as if she's frozen in place. Her eyes remain shut and after a moment her face skews up in pain and frustration, and she pitches forward on to the keys, hands gripping her head futilely.]

media room

[rockthistown]

Is there anything good on? [Hime sighs and flops into a seat.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[D-ne casts her a smile.]

Not that I can find, Hime-san, but I'm not looking intently.

[rockthistown]

They've got a lot of these shows, but I don't know. Were they all filmed here, or...?

you know those times when you're so out of it that you write a tag and then don't send it

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Hm... [She clicks her tongue.] I can't tell. I would imagine not, but you never know.

[rockthistown]

Which ones did you already watch? There's nothing to do. We can't even go haunt somebody!

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Ah... This one here, this one. [like, the music man and repo or something] I haven't watched them all the way through, just a glimpse... [She clicks her tongue.] I suppose we're in a limbo, yes? That would make sense as to why we aren't "traditional" ghosts.

[rockthistown]

You mean we're trapped here by another curse like the ones in the book?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Potentially? But... No, not quite. This isn't like the Demise Game curse. At least, we're lacking the...qualities that would make it the same.

[rockthistown]

Really? I thought the only thing was that you had to touch the book.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Well, yes, but- this isn't how it would go after the Demise Game. If it were working for me as usual... [She gently shakes her head.] I don't know if the curse hit you or not...but there's no way to know here. It's a different kind of limbo.

[rockthistown]

Wait! You mean you know how it's supposed to be? You died? I mean, again?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Hm.

[D-ne smiles.]

Yes. I've died several times before this place. That's how I know this is something other than the book, even if I don't know if it's involved in why you died after receiving it.

[rockthistown]

Lots of times? How? That's terrible! You mean the curse you were talking about just kept doing that? And you couldn't even stop it? What kind of book is this!?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

It's a cursed artifact, Hime-san. I told you. If you asked me to explain it, I couldn't. [she's looking through the shelves] That doesn't matter here, though. You don't want to be upset, do you? Put it from your mind.

[rockthistown]

Okay... But I'm worried. You're my friend, remember?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[...]

Yes, I- I remember. But there's nothing to be done here. You can't change it, and in fact, there are mysteries we should work on solving here instead. What's done is done.

[rockthistown]

What mysteries can we solve when we're dead?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

Oh, plenty, if we have enough pieces. [She's back to that glass smile.] This is, for example, a much more helpful limbo than the one I'm familiar with because it encompasses much more. We can explore, investigate, we can look around. This world we're in is completely interactive, and expanding with every new person that arrives here...and that alone tells us something.

[rockthistown]

You mean how we get whatever the last person remembered... hmm. That means this place is built on our memories of the Opera House, right?

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

That would be the assumption, but why, then, do our rooms not match this hypothesis?

[rockthistown]

Everything being backwards and none of our stuff being here? I don't know about the first one, but maybe the second would make sure things didn't get duplicated in case someone took their dead friend's things after they died.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

That would make a certain amount of sense, but why wouldn't the world just reflect these changes? It already shows it can modify itself.

[rockthistown]

This is hard. [sigh] Maybe... it's premade? Supposed to reflect what the "default" of the Opera House is?

...Wait. "Reflect." Everything's backwards. D-ne! Do you think it's a mirror? Maybe we're in the Mirror Kingdom!

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[D-ne stares...

...and then just starts laughing.

Give her a second, Hime.]