Week Two

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, no murder happened! Instead, a lot of students started work on Salieri's school play, which sounds pretty cool even though it's gonna be short, several people destroyed Bigfoot and got a few mysterious clues, and Orpheus started a fire in the kitchen! All in all, not a bad first week!

Though some people might have gone to talk to Hester, she hasn't made any more public announcements. There's some new papers posted up around the cafeteria, but it looks like it's just your upcoming lunch schedule. Seems like nothing's driving you towards Rule Five except, perhaps, all of the kidnapping and how criminally boring some of you are finding the school. Maybe the Balladeer is right, and you really can just wait this out? Only time will tell!]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( No new locations this week, since y'all haven't paid in blood! Hester's office hours are still open, as are regains! Make sure to complete your first activity check by Tuesday! ))

Comments

[tellthestory]

[In the morning before the motive, the Balladeer can be found in the kitchen! He's partaken of breakfast courtesy of Spongebob, of course, but nonetheless he's still here, leaning on the counter and attempting to feed various bits of cut-up fruit to his lizard.

He's also singing quietly to himself:]

- he'll say to me, "I see who you truly are,
A guy on whom I can rely."
And that's how we'll begin, the lizard and I.

[Is he just taking the piss, or.

Anyway, after the motive goes out, the general mood is pretty starkly different. The Balladeer is sitting in the hallway immediately outside the cafeteria, with his back up against the brick wall separating the two areas. He's pale, and sort of looks like he might be shaking a little. He's just...gonna sit here for a little bit. That's all. He should really be checking to see how everyone else is doing - they're the proper characters, after all. But he'll be no good to them in this state. Just...just give him a second.]

hallway

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah's recovered enough to escape Dad's Salieri's watchful eye-- and she does feel slightly better. But the image still weighs heavily on her, and she's still Farrah, the girl with no tact. So when she sees the Balladeer sitting there, looking like she had not too long ago, she leans against the wall beside him, looking down at him.]

What's up? Did your envelope look like a bad slasher film inside, too?

[tellthestory]

Uh...

[He blinks up at her for a moment, processing that.]

Um...yeah, I guess. Is that...do those involve...

[He makes a sort of splattering gesture with his free hand. The photo's still clutched in the other one, though by now he's definitely crumpled it to the point that the image itself isn't really visible.]

[brokeforgood]

Blood splatter? [She asks, her voice unphased, her expression probably not correct for this situation. She drops onto the floor beside, him, less than gracefully, and with a loud 'oomph']

Yeah. Tons.

[tellthestory]

Then yeah.

[The Balladeer sits in silence with her for a moment, before the rest of what she said finally processes.]

Wait, "too"?

[brokeforgood]

[In potentially the greatest lack of tact she has ever shown, Farrah gives the Balladeer double finger guns.]

Twiiiiiiins!

[tellthestory]

[He just sort of gapes at her for a second.]

Oh, Farrah, no! What - ["What happened" is sort of a stupid question on a lot of levels] - wh - I'm sorry, that's...that's awful.

Morning

[mcfife]

[Angus has a slice of jam and toast in his hand when he catches the Balladeer by the counter, singing to no one in particular. Upon approaching the Narration Wizard, he sees that there is a recipient of that song.]

You also have one?

[tellthestory]

Yeah! Got him late yesterday - or her, I don't know.

[He has no clue how to determine this!]

You got one, too? I only knew Varian had one before.

[mcfife]

No, no animals at all.

[The lizard looks happy with its apple.]

Have you given it a name?

[tellthestory]

No, I haven't thought of one!

[Though he's thought about giving it one at all.]

I think I'm finding that I'm not too used to being creative.

[mcfife]

If you were an actor, I would be concerned, but even I struggle to bestow names onto beings. Epithets are a different matter.

[Looking down at the lizard.]

Lizard! Steed of the Narrator!

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer laughs.]

What, is he gonna grow up into a dragon?

Hallway

[violentenvies]

[Salieri and Farrah have parted ways, so it's a bit later that he steps out of the cafeteria--immediately spotting the Balladeer in the hallway. He frowns a little, in concern, moving to make his way over to him]

Monsieur Balladeer?

[tellthestory]

Um - uh, yeah, what?

[He looks up, blinking rapidly for a moment. It's clear that he's kinda out of it; it looks like he didn't even notice Salieri approaching until he said something.]

[violentenvies]

Are you alright, my friend? [obviously not, but the question needs to be asked none the less]

[tellthestory]

...no. Not - not really.

[The Balladeer frowns and turns to squint back towards the cafeteria. He's not one to outright lie. But he's also not really one to center himself.]

I know other people had it - worse, probably, though.

[violentenvies]

[that's hard to say, really, and very much not the point]

...I'm sorry. [because what else is there to say] Would you...care for some tea? Or warm mead?

[tellthestory]

Um...sure, I guess?

[Having basically never had anyone offer him comfort before, he's not exactly sure what might do the trick. But either one of those is...not sitting here freaking out, so.]

hallway

[comeandfindme]

[ The Balladeer is still kinda weird to Peregrine. She's really tried to wrap her head around all this. She has. But it's...there's a strange disconnect.

Still. He listened to her. And in some ways, he really does remind her of Brett.

So, when she sees him, she can't help but stop. ]

Uh... Hey. [ No. Be better than that, c'mon, Per— ] Hey. [ She kneels. ] You okay?

[tellthestory]

Um...no, not...really.

[He takes a moment to blink and focus on her. In some ways, he can't help but feel embarrassed, like he's being a little bit dramatic. He's not the focus of things; he never really was. What happens to him is less important than what happens to the characters. So, if part of the story is the narrator dying, then...maybe that's just how it goes?

But still. He'd thought if he walked out, he could just sit with it for a little while. Even before, he could do that much.]

This...is going to sound dumb. But I've never...seen a dead body before. [His free hand curls absently into his hair.] Not like that. It's always off-stage, or the lights cut -

[And that's not helpful, he knows that.]

[comeandfindme]

[ A startled expression crosses Peregrine's face. She draws back for a moment, mouth opening and closing. ]

They... Yours showed a dead body?

[tellthestory]

Mmm-hmm.

[He hesitates, not really sure he should even add anything more than that, but before he can make a decision it just sort of comes rushing out:]

It - I think it was me, it looked like one of my shirts, but the...head...

[comeandfindme]

Stop.

[ Peregrine, likewise, speaks without thinking, holding out both her hands, palms facing him. ]

That- that's not...gonna help anybody to think about, okay? Not me...and 'specially not you. [ She tries to wet her very dry mouth. ] ...Did it have...any other context?

[tellthestory]

[He clams up immediately. Yeah, maybe....that was too much.]

No. I mean, it was...on a stage, but there wasn't anything else there.

[And the stage itself feels unremarkable to him. Like, of course he would be.]