itscurtains | once more with feeling [act 3]

You awake in an unfamiliar bed.

It’s comfortable enough, sure, but it’s certainly not yours. The room, too, is unfamiliar, especially in such heavy darkness. There seems to have been a great effort put into making it a livable space, with fuzzy rugs laid over linoleum, beds arranged as best to fit (and one bunk bed per dorm, rip whoever has the bottom bunk), and a single desk. You've also got individually labelled trunks; if you look inside yours, you'll find a yearbook with mostly blank pages, as well as a few with some interesting information. But even with all these changes it’s clear this room started it’s life as a classroom, every window hidden behind heavy dark green curtains.

To add to the strangeness of it all, your clothes have been swapped for some kind of uniform. It, though fitting your body perfectly, might feel a bit odd to some of you, as the body you have isn’t quite the same as it was before you mysteriously fell unconscious. The other important thing to note is the people in the other beds around you, all wearing the same color-coded uniform.

The hallway outside the dorms is narrow but well-lit, with fresh white walls and some scattered posters advertising some kind of midweek club meeting. The hallway goes on until, for the more contemporary of you, the pieces start to fall together as to your location: a school. Once you leave your rooms you’re free to wander as you wish but pinned up on a corkboard just outside the cafeteria there’s framed information that you might find helpful. If you explore further into the other rooms, in fact, you'll see there's an identical copy outside all of them.

In the lobby there are linoleum floors and fluorescent lighting, and a pair of glass doors that appear to lead outside. You can see out of both of them that the sun is shining brightly and there’s definitely more to see in the distance but the glass is unbreakable; you can't get out that way right now. A rolling metal sheet blocks off the hallway to the west. For the moment, both doors leading outside are locked.

It looks like you’re stuck. But hey - at least you aren’t alone.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Oh, this already doesn't bode well.]

I don't remember agreeing to go to any schools.

Nobody agrees to go to school. School is just something that happens to you.

Uhh, sure. But I already got my schooling. I'm good.

[Cassandra scans the woman, head to foot. Interesting attire, hard to tell if there's any weaponry on her, and did she mention a wizard?]

So, if you could - oh, I don't know - open the doors for me? So I could get back to my friends...?

Not yet. That's not scheduled for another few weeks! And it's very important to keep a tight schedule in things like this.

A few... You can't just keep us in here! Living in this school!

Okay, new question, I'm already in school, and it's not this one, so can you stop bullshitting us for a second, Hester?

I haven't said a word that isn't true, Peregrine. But don't be so sure about what you think you know. Things can change fast.

You sure haven't been very forthcoming either. Don't mince words, you kidnapped us.

The majority of you were specially picked to be here. [Hester, stop being pedantic.] But fine, we'll just shorten it to kidnapping.

The facts are still the same: you're here, you're expected to live together and even if I did throw open the doors and let you outside you wouldn't get far. Even you, Miss Survivalist in Training.

Specifically kidnapped, what a big clarification.

[ She can be a bitch right back, Hester!! ]

Why don't you open them now and let me try? You scared I'll get away?

I just don't see the point of you wasting your time going in circles on the grounds on your first day. You wouldn't even have a snowstorm to keep you busy.

[ In a flash, Peregrine starts toward Hester, fists clenched. There's no prize for guessing what she plans on doing. ]

You fucking bitch!!

[Other than her few questions or pointed nudgings, Maya's stayed quiet and off to the side. That changes the second Peregrine moves. She moves forward in a handful of steps, sliding in front of Peregrine and placing one hand over her fist. The other folds behind her back in an attempt to dip her downward.

You know. Like dancing.]

You heard what The Balladeer said. We've already used our single strike.

(no subject)

comeandfindme - 2021-05-31 03:39 (UTC) - Expand

mayavericks - 2021-05-31 03:42 (UTC) - Expand

samefacesyndrome - 2021-05-31 03:54 (UTC) - Expand

comeandfindme - 2021-05-31 03:58 (UTC) - Expand

mayavericks - 2021-05-31 04:01 (UTC) - Expand

comeandfindme - 2021-05-31 04:18 (UTC) - Expand

[There's that word again.

Spongebob isn't going to physically stop her (yet) but he really doesn't like where this is going.]

We can settle this without resorting to violence; let's just talk it out!

comeandfindme - 2021-05-31 03:41 (UTC) - Expand

employeeoftheyear - 2021-05-31 03:44 (UTC) - Expand

[ oooooooh no THAT’S NOT GOOD...

Orrin her place behind her and entirely on reflex Rina reaches out and grabs the hem of Peregrine’s uniform jacket/shirt. ]

Don’t—!!

[ Damn she even raised her voice, wow. ]

Edited 2021-05-31 03:39 (UTC)

comeandfindme - 2021-05-31 03:42 (UTC) - Expand

samefacesyndrome - 2021-05-31 03:52 (UTC) - Expand

[Hester yelps in surprise when Peregrine lunges at her, her eyes going wide. She glances quickly around the cafeteria, expecting a not-so-warning before Maya steps in, and relaxes a fraction when nothing seemingly happens. Her gaze falls back to Peregrine and immediately she understands what she did wrong.]

Oh- oh no, I didn't mean- [She quickly stops herself before she shoves her foot in her mouth again and simply watches as Peregrine storms out.]

That's not true! I've proudly been going to boating school for the past five years!

You've been learning how to sail for five years?

Not sailing; boating.

[He looks a little sheepish.]

I'm good at the oral test, at least.

[...Alright, she knows royal guard protocol front to back, and has been training with them since she was six. But.]

Sailing, boating; what's the difference?