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

[solomonjihad]

[The first thing that she recalls is when the other her took over. The second, when the sailor soldiers told her they didn't trust her. All but Sailor Moon. But, they'd been right not to trust her. She hadn't trusted herself.

And for a moment, she panicked when she realized this was the ceiling of the dressing room she was staring at. Oh. Oh no. They didn't--they didn't--

She immediately popped up in her bed, finding herself in...wait. Is this her room? It looks weird. Opposite. Also, her cheek felt weird. She rubs it, confusingly. Had she slept on it oddly? Or...?

...No, never mind. Its not important. Something strange is happening here. She quietly gets out of her bed, that feeling of apprehension growing as she enters the hallway, finding the room numbers askew from before. She goes towards the kitchen - only to find she's nearing the ballroom. She goes to the lobby, looking up at the chandelier, before saying anything to the seemingly empty Opera House.]

Hey, has time finally disappeared?
I can't feel it anymore...
I can almost hear that distant moment
Of a point many millennium ago
This must be the last change

The last change
I hope the right thing happened...

[She slowly goes up the stairs, finding herself on the second floor. Ah...opposite also. This is...a lot to take in. Still seemingly empty.

...

Maybe she...should just sit down somewhere. She is where the media room is, so she'll just...sit in there. Maybe watch a movie or something if there is one. Anything to try and calm herself down at the possibility that...she...that everyone...

...

She hears nothing in her mind in return, as she settles into one of the chairs, a movie blasting from the speakers as she turns it on.]

[rockthistown]

Ooo... ooo...

[Astarte might hear some ghostly calls outside the media room, or at least what's supposed to sound like ghostly calls. It's more like Hime's voice muffled by a bedsheet. She stumbles around, covered by the sheet, and smacks straight into the doorframe.]

Oww! [The bedsheet "ghost" whines and rubs her nose under the sheet.] D-ne, is that you in there? I don't think this "haunting the living" plan is going to work.

[solomonjihad]

[...u h ??? Wait a minute.

Astarte stands up, walking to the "ghost", and looking it up and down. Hime...its Hime....

...

Astarte goes to take off the sheet.]

I'm not D-ne.

[rockthistown]

[As Astarte lifts the sheet off, Hime's hair goes up in static along with it, and she looks up at her, still rubbing her aching face.]

Oww... I didn't think haunting you was going to hurt this much, Astarte!

[She pauses, rubs her eyes, and looks around. Dread slowly sets in on her face.]

No, it... it didn't work, you're just here, and if you're here, that means...

[solomonjihad]

...I thought I was alone here. In fact I thought I...wasn't.

[In other words, yes. Though she looks oddly relieved and not horrified about it.]

Then, everyone else who's died...?

[rockthistown]

[Hime quivers, her eyes starting to tear up.]

No! I don't want you to be dead too! Stop being dead!

[She clings onto Astarte and wails.]

[solomonjihad]

[There there, Astarte hugs Hime.]

I'm sorry, Hime.

[rockthistown]

Who killed you? I'll punch them! I-I know I can't do anything, but still!

[solomonjihad]

...

The Balladeer did.

[rockthistown]

What? But he only...

[solomonjihad]

That's right.

[rockthistown]

But you've never hurt anyone! What happened, Astarte? That's not right at all!

[solomonjihad]

The other me...killed Javert.

[That realization...it had been one of the worst moments in her life. Really, tied with losing her mother.]

When I realized it, there was no helping what had to be done.

[rockthistown]

[sniff] And, and they couldn't just purify you or-- that's not fair! Why did any of this have to happen?

[solomonjihad]

No. Its all right, though. Everyone else is safe. They'll find a way out.

[She's sure of that much.]

We also found a lot of things...since you've been gone.

[rockthistown]

A lot of things? Maybe the man from the party knows about them!

[solomonjihad]

Man from the party? Its...well, it is about people who were in the house before. People from a time before the Balladeer was brought in.

[rockthistown]

It must be the same! Judas-san was brought here with another group to be in a show like ours. He died, and he's worried that not everything was fixed in the end.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[Well, at some point, if Astarte's sticking around the media room (or wherever) D-ne happens upon her, hands folded behind her back and an inquisitive but polite expression on her face.]

You are...Astarte-san? Or Impostor-san? I'd hope the former, if we're going to be stuck here together.

[solomonjihad]

...Its me, D-ne. Not the other me.

[She's come back to the media room at some point, just to see if she can find more clues.]

I don't know where other me went...I don't feel them in my head anymore.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

I suppose, that would be a small blessing, wouldn't it? [Her smile seems less artificial than the ones Astarte received before. Not a bit happy, though.] I can't imagine you liked existing with something like that. The antithesis to you as a person- ah-

[And it turns apologetic.]

Which, I am positive you, ah, already know.

[solomonjihad]

...Everyone thought it was me, at first.

[It sucked.]

Then the other me...killed Javert. That's all I know. And knowing that...

[There's no way she'd let them get away with it. The next part is probably easily guessed.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

...That is very admirable, Astarte-san.

That Impostor of you was a poor substitute. Thought itself better at solving mysteries than it really was. If you had to die, at least it's gone too, hopefully painfully. [yikes-] Well. You'll do good to know that isn't the end of it. Wherever here is, we are still here. And you all find that comforting, right?

[solomonjihad]

I can't say I know how I died. Just that I died.

The thing that comforts me more, is that everyone else is still alive. I'm sure they'll figure out how to get out and stop the showrunner.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

A positive outlook, Astarte-san. ...One that I can't say I'd be displeased with, if it comes to pass.

With that out of the way, welcome to the Reverse Opera House. I must say, your slow but charming personality is something I almost missed.