[Introduction] We will meet before God...

[chromaggia_diva]

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[notuptomygenes]

Shilo is just walking past when she's startled by the door to the ballroom opening, she hasn't seen it used much and didn't expect anyone to be in there. When she sees who it is, she just stops and stares, her eyes widen in horror and her hand covers her mouth in shock at the sight of all the blood. "Mag," she whispers, taking a small step forward.

She'd looked much the same when she'd first found herself at the hotel, and she's known other people who'd been dead, but it's still a shock.

[chromaggia_diva]

Mag pauses on the threshold of the ballroom and one hand goes to her heart. Unless something happened to Shilo, this place might be something different than the afterlife she had hoped and prayed lay on the other side of the veil of iron that hemmed in her life.

"Shilo?" she asks. "What is this place?"

[notuptomygenes]

"It's...really weird," she says, taking another couple steps toward Mag. "And no one really knows anything else about it. And...oh my god are you okay? I saw you fall, and you're covered in blood, and..."

[chromaggia_diva]

"Yes, you didn't need to see that, but I suppose it's true, that freedom isn't free and a high price has to be paid to gain it back," she says, sadly. Then a soft smile shows through the sorrow. "But it seems fate chose to give me a second chance at life, and give us -- you and I -- a second chance as well. The pain is gone and I'm healed, somehow."

[blindbomber]

Did someone say heaven?

Icarus can be found, as usual, in the kitchen if she happens to wander by. He's rolling out dough for pie crust, to go with the ice cream he's made (hint: it's in the freezer. Thanks Armand!). There's a bowl of fresh rasberries nearby as well and he's humming softly to himself.

[chromaggia_diva]

It's some time later when Mag ventures into the kitchen, now cleaned up and changed into a gypsy-like red gown that reminds her of a concert costume she'd worn for a gothic-fairy tale-themed show. And for a moment, she wonders if she really might be in heaven, since there's a young man who looks like an angel puttering around.

That's when she spies the bowl of raspberries and pauses to study them for a moment: she barely remembers the smell and feel and taste of real raspberries, and the last time she'd had them, they'd been genetically grown in a vat. Nothing like the real thing.

"Hello, I hope I wasn't disturbing you," she says, looking from the bowl to the bird-boy.

[blindbomber]

Icarus tilts his head towards her before turning around to pick up the pie tin and put the crust in. "Nope, you're fine. I don't think I know you though... Are you new?"

There's been a lot of new folk here as of late.

[chromaggia_diva]

"Yes, I seem to have fallen into this place," she says, noticing he shares some of the same habits she's had for so long, and feeling a kind of kinship. "I'm Magdalen DeFoe, though I've gone by the stage name Blind Mag for so long it's become somewhat of a real name."

[eyeofjustice]

This is possibly the closest place to heaven that Misa can get and it's not a bad one. However, the blonde that is dressed in something that looks like a punk porcelain doll is gasping in wonder of the beautiful woman that looks like a dark bird.

"Hello miss, are you new here?"

[chromaggia_diva]

Mag has been walking the hallways of the Mansion, getting a feel for it, and at times, running her fingertips over the arm of a chair, or along the molding of the wainscotting: old habits die hard, including her habit of "reading" a room or a person's face with her hands as well as her eyes, even after she was given her sight. But she pauses and turns to Misa with a warm smile. The girl's garments make her think of some of the outfits Marni had helped her put together when they were younger. "Yes, I only just arrived here, and I'm still reading this place," she says. "I'm Magdalen DeFoe, though I've gone by the stage-name Blind Mag."

[eyeofjustice]

She looks at her with some confusion. "But you're not blind..."

[chromaggia_diva]

"It's a long and sad story, the stuff that operas and tragic dramas are made of," she says, thoughtfully, her oddly shaded blue eyes turning misty. "I was born blind, but I had surgery to cure that so that I could follow my dream, of singing opera. A wealthy man agreed to pay for the procedure, but it came at a high price: I had to become his mistress, and I could only sing for certain opera companies. He, my patron, had a say in the kind of music I performed and the concert venues. I went along with it for almost twenty years, but it started to weigh on my heart and soul. I took matters into my own hands to escape... and that's when I found myself here."

She can't quite tell her the details of her strange world, but the story is timeless.

[vial_o_zydrate]

At one point (or another) perhaps No-Longer-Blind Mag will come across someone who knows her, knows enough of her and of her story, if not intimately.

Someone who had guessed that blood would sear her stage.

Someone whose memories of her death are much fresher than Shilo's.

GraveRobber will just -- raise his quite difficult-to-surprise eyebrows. And then he will pale.

"Fuck," he says, probably loudly enough to catch Mag's attention.

You don't see the walking dead every day.

And if you want any other of mine, just let me know - as you know, I'll be slow, but I don't mind punting one or two more of your choice. &hearts

[chromaggia_diva]

She can't help smiling at his ...astute observation. "My mind put it in words colored with a different palette, but I'm just as surprised to find myself here," she says, with a hint of gentle amusement. She's always found GraveRobber amusing, even though she knows more about him through hearsay than from personal contact. "What is this place? I have a feeling you've scouted out as much as you can about it."

I don't think Sugar has met any of my peeps, so perhaps I could have a taste of her...? :: laughs::

[vial_o_zydrate]

GraveRobber catches himself fast enough - even if he's still infinitely weirded out.

"A very aptly called strangeness called the Mansion," he replies, and gives Mag a crazy bow. "Does Shilo know you're here?"

Of course he doesn't care. Of course. He's just asking idly. It's happenstance that Shilo's welfare is the first thing that popped in GraveRobber's mind. Pure happenstance.

[chromaggia_diva]

"Yes, she was the first face I saw when I found myself here," she says, smiling sadly. "She didn't need to see me in that state, after she saw my death, the way I died...

"You care about that little girl." she notes, her smile becoming almost impish.

[knightscholar]

Lia is taking a walk. She's dressed in her brother's clothes, but with her hair spread across her back. She's thinking about Maximilien, and that makes her smile, but a little sadly. She isn't paying much attention to her surroundings, but she'll notice another beautiful woman and stop for a chat.

"Are you new, mademoiselle?"

[chromaggia_diva]

It's late afternoon when Mag ventures out onto the porch and into the gardens to take a walk, carrying a red and black parasol to shade herself from the sun. Seeing Lia, she smiles with a sweetly sad warmth. "Yes, I seem to have just fallen into this world from another. I'm Magdalen DeFoe, but I went by the stage-name Blind Mag."

[knightscholar]

Lia starts to curtsy, remembers she's in trousers and bows instead. "I'm Lia de Beaumont." Mag's smile catches her attention. "Do you miss your old world?" She just seizes onto the most obvious explanation.

[chromaggia_diva]

That half-curtsy makes he smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Madame Lia." A thoughtful look crosses her face. "I did, but now that I'm more settled, I think I've closed the door behind me," she says. "There was nothing left there for me to hold onto there, except perhaps one girl who had to find her way. But hers was the first face I gazed upon when I arrived here."