itscurtains | Week One

Entry tags:

act 3,
week 1

Week One

[Yesterday, everyone woke up in a strange place and realized that they'd been kidnapped, and also that everyone else around them may or may not be kinnies? Wow, what a weird escalation of kin drama! Given what some people have seen of Spongebob's freaky arm thing, though, maybe it's not that at all?

Your Assistant Director, Hester, showed off her stuff and immediately had her life threatened by Lumpy Space Princess, who got her life threatened right back. Maybe you should keep that in mind if you decide to pay Hester any more visits! She won't be making another public appearance this week, but as promised, she'll be available for visits and consultation in the Principal's Office during business hours.

If you don't want to chat with Hester, there's always the school to explore! Some of you might also be receiving mysterious coins next to your bedside this week - those must be useful for something, right? There's lots to do, and you all seem like a group who can make your own fun, so enjoy your first week of school!]

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

(( OOC: This will be the last mod post for this week! Feel free to start submitting regains for any threads that aren't with Hester. Remember, song threads mean an extra coin! This is a peace week, so get all that CR while you can! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Yeah. Maybe that's part of why I'm not really supposed to be places like this...doing normal person stuff. I'm supposed to be...not in the background, but not exactly the focus either, you know? Like, all my songs are about someone else - I don't say or do much that's just mine.

[The fact that he's doing so much here is...well, he sees why Hester and her Wizard friend didn't want him around. This is gonna come out really weird and meta. But they didn't care enough to get rid of him, and he's not feeling quite generous enough to just sit in his cot and not cause problems.]

[ Peregrine presses her lips together, before making a sort of confession. ]

I...kinda know someone like that. But, it's like...it's his job. He was making a podcast about...some stuff that happened in town. So...things seemed to, like, happen around him, I guess. But not to him. He's still got a history and all that, but— that's what I think of, when you start talking about all this.

[ She doesn't know that the closest thing she has to a "best friend" is a narrator, right now. She doesn't know that Brett's her narrator. But she still feels...something. Something weird. ]

[shut up yes I do adore Brett]

...oh, yeah?

[The Balladeer tilts his head thoughtfully. That sounds like something in the same family, yeah. It's almost funny to hear that Peregrine has someone like that, when she was so firm about not believing him earlier. Maybe she just doesn't want to see the similarities. After all, she knows this guy. It sounds like she might even like him. He's just...a regular person, someone she knows, with a life and a name and a history like anybody else. A person just like her. A tiny bit removed, maybe, but not so far that he can't be reached.

The Balladeer smiles, a little too late to be entirely natural.]

Well, everyone's a little different. No two stories - lives - are the same, right? I don't even know that I'm entirely typical, as far as these things go. How many shows do you know where the narrator acknowledges the audience? Or that the whole thing's a story?

[ In this school we love and appreciate Brett Ryback ]

I mean, it happens in movies. That's kind of Fight Club... Blazing Saddles... Isn't that Deadpool's whole thing?

[ Almost hastily: ] Not like- I mean, I'm not in a story, or anything like that. I just... It reminded me of him.

I...have no idea who Deadpool is.

[Doesn't seem like he's clocking a lot of these movie references, tbh]

Yeah - yeah, sure. [Of COURSE you aren't in a story, let's go with that.] Interesting, though. Are you two friends?

Don't know Deadpool? Jeez...

[ Somehow, this seems to be the most shocking thing. Okay, he's a person who sprang full-formed from a story, but he doesn't know Deadpool?

Whatever. Not important. ] We're- yeah, I guess. It's... It's kinda weird, like— I just kinda thought of him as a reporter at first but...he's cool. Like, actually listens to me. He's...probably the person I trust most, right now.

[ Brett hasn't spilled his guts to her mom and ruined everything she's been working for, after all! ]

Oh.

[Is it...sad, that the person she trusts most is someone who's sort of reporting on - if not outright narrating for - her? Maybe it is. But the Balladeer doesn't really want it to be. If it is, then it'd be downright tragic for anyone who was his friend, and he...wouldn't mind having some of those.]

It's nice that you have someone like that. [.....] What are you up to that he's...making a podcast about?

[he doesn't actually know what a podcast is does he]

[ It's sad. It's very sad. But that's her reality, isn't it? She's alone. She's been alone since Jacob died. She just didn't realize it until now. ]

Well— he isn't...really reporting on just me, exactly...? [ She bites her lip. The Balladeer seems to have that same quality to him, where she wants to...talk. But still... ]

...I live somewhere surrounded by the wilderness. I'm trying to learn how to...survive on my own, if I ever have to venture out into it. Brett was in town and...he heard about me, training out in the woods, and...he said it interested him.

That does sound interesting.

[There's a story in that. More to it, he suspects, but he's not...in a place where he needs to dig, necessarily.]

What does that entail? I've never - I mean, look at me, I've never even been in the woods. [Obviously.]

...Well... [ She hesitates a second.

Then, she just launches into it. ] You gotta learn how to find your way, without any tools. No phone, no GPS, no maps. And you gotta learn how to find food. Hunting's great, but you can't always count on it. Especially if it's just you alone. You're gonna go crawling around after squirrels? No. Deer are great, but for just one person, with no way to keep it fresh— no way. Stay away from those. Anyway, your goal's finding your way out. Using the landmarks you've seen to guide you back, with dead reckoning.

[A good portion of this flies directly over the Balladeer's head. Not in the typical way, where he simply doesn't recognize what's being referenced; of course he knows what hunting and maps are. But applying them in any practical way to his own life? Gosh, never.

But he listens. It's what he does.]

Getting where you need to go by knowing where you've been. That makes sense. [Largely metaphorically on his end but come on, like it's not for you too.] Not that I'm saying I'd be any good for it. Definitely not any of the other parts. Sounds like some really useful skills, though, living in a place like that, it's cool they teach you.

[ And then, Peregrine lets out a harsh, bitter laugh, her almost eager expression fading instantly. ]

Oh, no, don't misunderstand. The town doesn't teach anything. The adults of Whitetail could care less if all of us got lost and had to fend for ourselves. They're more about keeping us all on short leashes and coddling us, 'cause that's so much better than actually learning from their mistakes.

[Oh - oh, he's said something wrong. The Balladeer's good humor fades pretty quickly as well.]

I'm sure they're trying to keep you safe. But...I don't know. People like to pretend that bad things won't happen, so there's no point taking precautions. You have to think about all the stuff that could go wrong before you can prepare for it. But it does always go wrong at some point.

[So...well, he's sure that's a particularly ungenerous take, but she's also probably got the right of it.]

That's exactly it! [ Peregrine's very good at something in particular, and that's latching onto what she agrees with and running with it. ] But they don't care, in all their hemming and hawing all they're doing is sheltering us, making it more dangerous when something happens. And then what do they do? They say it's a tragedy, it's awful, and then they tell you to just pick up your life, and move on!!

[ ...Hm. She's yelling a bit. She takes a breath and rolls he shoulders, looking away. ]

I'm never gonna be like that. I'm gonna be self-sufficient. I'm gonna encourage everyone I know to be too.

[The Balladeer folds his arms, brow furrowing.]

If you've got people around to lean on, you should lean on them. I mean...sometimes you have to be self-sufficient. I only made a friend pretty recently, before that it was just me and...

[Well, Peregrine doesn't really care about all that stuff. Why tell a story no one wants to hear? It wasn't exactly the same anyway - except for one terrifying moment, he never exactly felt like it was about survival. Just...getting through it.]

It's just not good to isolate yourself. People aren't meant to be alone.

[ All wrapped up in herself, she doesn't take notice of the Balladeer's hesitance, of him almost opening up. Instead, she just spits out bitterness. ]

I had someone to depend on. And I thought I had others to lean on. But now...

[ She shakes her head. And music, softer than the Balladeer might've expected from her, starts to sound around them. ]

The mud on the bottom of my boots.
The holes in my sweater,
The knots in my hair.
There's a feeling that echoes,
When you leave the woods.
It follows you the whole way home.

The blood on the bottom of my lip.
The scrapes on our elbows,
The bruises we share.
There's an easy surrender,
When they're by your side,
A comfort that they'll come to know,
What you know, but they don't, no they don't...

So I'll do it
Alone, alone, alone,
I'll be fine without them.
Mm...

Alone, alone, alone!
I can't think about them,
Mmm....

[ Throughout, she looks over power-tools and lumber in the scene room. Not at the Balladeer, not making eye contact. ]

[The Balladeer remains where he is, quietly listening to Peregrine's song even as she begins to walk away from him. It's natural to fade into the background when someone else starts singing. If they're going to tell their own story, then he's not necessary. He steps back into the shadows, away from the spotlight, and he waits until the scene calls for him again.

That's how it always was before. But this time, during the lull, he opens his mouth to sing - not for her, and not even really to her, but just because...he is.]

The space in the background of the scene,
The shadows of the curtains,
The smoke in the air.
There's a silence that echoes, when no one's around...
A place where hope would never grow.
That was right, that was truth, that was home.

[ And like that, he's responding. He's...echoing feelings, and yet, she listens and she frowns. Like it's not something she likes to hear from other people. ]

Is it better
Alone, alone, alone?
Still it hurts, without them.

Alone, alone, alone,
I still think about it.

[He does. He hadn't meant to get this caught up in the song - hadn't meant to join at all, really. But he does. Even though things got better, and the Player came and saved him...even that didn't really feel the same as he feels here, sometimes, when he's with his new friends. Which isn't going to last, of course. No one really wants to be here.]

[ The music has her fully. The motif isn't one she's familiar with...but it feels right. It feels like hers. ]

No, no, no,
You want to believe that the fight will be fair,
That someone will come, or that someone will care,
But that's not the truth and I've got to prepare.

[That's...but he's not alone anymore. Is he? The Player came and got him, and even now he's here with these people. Even if the Balladeer often feels strange and alien among them. Even if he knows he's not really the same as them, as kind as a few people have been about it.]

I've got one job in life, and this time I'm prepared
If they need my help, maybe I could be there
I could be there...

[But he sounds anxious, uncertain. Because he's not there. And even so, will anyone be there for him?]

[ Everyone here is...relatively nice. Even the ones that aren't, exactly—but if she can't trust people she's known her whole life, just about, what hope does she have with them? ]

Do I do it
Alone, alone, alone?
Should I go and doubt them?

[ All of a sudden...it's not just about back at Whitetail. It's here. The people around her. Including the Balladeer, who has her attention again. ]

Alone, alone, alone!
Am I fine without them?
Mm...

[ ...Are they fine without her? ]

[The Balladeer, at least, seems much more visibly worried than he did when he walked into the shop. That must have all been lingering under the surface already, for a song to drag it out like that...but he hadn't been thinking about any of it before.

The song sounds like it's ending. He lets the music fade, idly running his fingers over the top of a table saw, pretending that he's looking at it.]

Sometimes you're just alone. But I wouldn't go looking for it. Lots of good folks around here.

[It is, ever so slightly, an exclusion of himself; a step back. That comes more naturally than being a part of the group.]

[ Oh... Oh, they're finished, huh? Peregrine sort of comes back to herself, hearing what the Balladeer's saying but taking a few moments to process it.

She wets her dry lips. ]

...Means I have to be able to count on 'em. That's...something I'm not really...

[He pauses for a moment, still turned towards the tools.]

I know we've all only known each other for a little bit. But we're all in the same boat, here.

Week One

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