"A Swing and Miss Doesn't Mean it's Game Over"

[mayavericks]

[Well… All of that sure happened. And while Maya is visibly shaken Sissi's literal dance with death, she’d meant what she’d said to the others -- she would protect them. At that moment, it meant voting and making the “right” decision. Now, though? It means ensuring that no one feels alone, and that everyone has a good meal in them.

She’s not Nana Daiba, however, she certainly can’t do this alone. But she does have the resourcefulness and authoritative disposition to to recruit allies. Discord is sure to be… mostly unbothered by everything that’s happened, and Spongebob will likely be eager to help. She approaches both men: one is asked nicely; The other is grabbed by the collar and dragged from whatever hole he’s locked himself in. Sorry Discord.

For Maya's part, several potato dishes are prepared (can you tell someone has a bias). And while she doesn’t have the resources to make baumkuchen, Maya does manage to produce a cake, as well as… muffins? They’re not… quite how she remembers Nana making them, but she can at least recall how hearty the food had felt, and how it had restored her energy on long days.

It’s a pleasant memory, even if it does make her a touch melancholy.

Nevertheless, the food is laid out in the kitchen, as are a number of pies that Maya has uncovered. She even tucks a few bottles of wine in a corner for the adults that might like it. This is in addition to the mead apparently brought by Salieri. Look she’s not a fan of having alcohol but… she can’t tell the adults no.

But hey, courtesy of Benjamin, there is even some cocoa. It doesn’t start off spiked but… you know. Thanks to Spongebob there are, well… Angry Patties? It’s fine. Even Discord managed to contribute some pies and tea, as well as being bossed around to do the grunt work in the kitchen. There’s also that inexplicable pizza? Huh, that’s weird.

Eventually the group goes around extending invitations to the dorms, knocking on doors and explaining what’s been set up. No one will be forced to go, just… strongly encouraged. Maya herself will even duck into the principal’s office and, if she’s there, invite Hester.

She seemed just as upset as the rest of them.]

Comments

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer, for his part, seems adrift.

He's watched executions before. He's sung at them before. Frankly, the fact that it was a performance didn't even strike him as unusual. It's simply the whole principle of the matter. There's a huge difference between Charlie prancing up to the gallows again, and Sissi going to her death for something she didn't even intend. Mumble...Mumble was so sweet and innocent, but he wouldn't have wanted that for his killer. Not if it was just an accident.

When he arrives at the party, he's carrying a guitar in a case. That's just...what he does, what he's always done. Of course he'd go straight for it at a time like this. Now that he has it, though, he isn't sure what to do. Should he...sing? Would people like that?

He's not sure, and he's afraid to misstep. So instead, he stations himself in the kitchen for a while, brewing cup after cup of tea to put with the other refreshments. Salieri did that for him a few days ago when he was upset, and it made him feel better. Maybe it'll be good.

When that's done, he makes an effort to seek people out and talk to them. He wallflowered at the last party, but now it seems like everyone's sort of wallflowering. And if he's really, really not playing a role, he can just start conversations like that. Maybe someone ought to.

Later in the evening, though, he takes the guitar from whatever corner he left it in and goes to the gym. People work out there during the morning, but it's often empty at other times, and sitting on the very top of the bleachers always makes him feel a little better. He'll sit there and play for a while. It's the opening music from Salieri's scene earlier this week. Just his half of it, now. He never did get those zither lessons from Sissi.

The gym doors are shut, but the acoustics in that room mean it's plenty audible from outside.]

late evening

[brokeforgood]

[Hey, B, have you ever been heckled from ... What the hell, where is Farrah's voice coming from?]


Uggggghhhhh, what the fuccccckkkk [... She's under the bleachers. Her voice is coming from under the bleachers.]

[tellthestory]

Farrah?

[He stops playing pretty much immediately, but...where is she? He looks around for a moment, then down. Then he crouches down and sort of peers through the gap between two of the bleachers.]

What are you doing under there?

[brokeforgood]

[She groans, peering up at him from under her hand-- then starting to army crawl out from under the bleachers.]

Not sleeping, with thaaaaat racket.

[tellthestory]

You shouldn't be sleeping down there anyway! It's uncomfortable and there's probably like, roaches.

[He starts to shrug off the guitar strap so he can set it aside and bound on down to the ground to meet her.]

You wanna go to bed? Like, real bed?

[brokeforgood]

Roaches? [That gets her moving-- unfortunately, it gets her moving up and she bangs her head.]

Fuck! Ow!

[tellthestory]

Shit! Are you okay?

[He'll jump the rest of the stairs and hurry over to check on her.]

gym

[comeandfindme]

[ It's after he's been here awhile that Peregrine returns. She's already worked out after the trial—but she can't cool down. Can't get her energy out. So she returns to the gym to do another set of runs. Usually, this is her place at night.

That's why she's surprised to hear music playing. Why she's surprised to see the Balladeer. If she wasn't the kind of person she is, she'd consider for a second leaving him, to have his time to mope, to look for another place to run.

But she feels the drive to just do as she wants—and what she wants is work herself until she feels like she can actually sleep without seeing Mumble's face, Jacob's face. So she pushes the doors open, and they echo into the gym. ]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer's got the control not to jerk his hand and strike anything discordant, but he's still visibly surprised by the sudden entrance. He stops playing.]

Uh - hey, did you want the room?

[It's...sort of late, isn't it?]

[comeandfindme]

[ She's pulling her hair back in a ponytail as she approaches the bleachers. ]

No. I mean, eventually. In a bit.

[tellthestory]

Sure, okay.

[He can start to pack it in. There's no reason he can't play guitar somewhere else, if he wants to keep going. He knows that Peregrine's in here a lot, but he's never really come this late; he sort of thought she mostly worked out in the mornings.]

You're...doing more running?

[comeandfindme]

[ She nods, starting to stretch. ]

Didn't get through everything I wanted earlier. ...Figured it'd help clear my head, after... you know?

[tellthestory]

Not really. Never had any reason to work out.

[He says it with a somewhat self-deprecating smile; the real reason is more that he never would have had the opportunity even had he wanted to. What, was he gonna run laps in the background of Sam's monologue? Hilarious as that would have been? So he's just never thought about it.]

But it's good that it helps you.

gym

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It's late into the evening, and Cassandra is restless. The trial, and everything following it, should have knocked her clean off her feet, and yet she finds herself unable to bring herself to a halt. Her heart and mind were neck and neck in a race to parts unknown, searching for answers along the way, all while fretting over who may be next for the gallows.

She understood why the king stopped executing prisoners once his lost daughter returned. They made her sick then, and they still do now.

This frantic energy has taken Cassandra all the way to the gym, where she goes to... pace, it seems. But when she opens the door, she steps into a wall of acoustic music. The song wafts through the air, drawing her towards the bleachers.

...It would be rude to interrupt, wouldn't it?]

[tellthestory]

[Maybe, maybe not. But the Balladeer's pretty quick to notice his new audience. His fingers slow on the strings, though he doesn't quite stop playing yet.]

Hey. You're out and about late.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

I'm used to being up late. Have to stay on my toes at all times, you know?

[In between driving the caravan, taking care of Rapunzel, and standing lookout on their nights sleeping in the wilderness... The crackle of the campfire, distant snores from friends across from her, the night sky overhead.... she missed it.]

How about you?

[tellthestory]

I don't think I've ever really had a normal sleep schedule.

[Although he's been approaching one here! Until now, he guesses.]

I don't...want to just lie awake in bed. Figured I might as well keep a little busy.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Where I'm from, it pays to be a light sleeper.

[being quick to action is the difference between a good night's sleep and an ambush.]

...Yeah. I guess if I went to bed, I'd be staring up at a empty bunk now.

[tellthestory]

...oh. I'm sorry.

[He hadn't realized; he's never even really gone into Longacre.]

gym

[violentenvies]

[Salieri is just passing down the hallway when he stops--and immediately recognizes the tune floating out from the gym.

Something feels tight in his throat, and he's unthinkingly and immediately moving to push the door open. He stops short in the doorway when he realizes who it is, staring for a moment, as if he almost expected someone else to be there as well as the Balladeer.

...but she isn't. And she will never be there again.]

...ah. Monsieur Balladeer. [his voice is a little faint]

[tellthestory]

Oh. [He stops immediately. If it were anyone else, the Balladeer could at least believe that maybe they didn't recognize the song, the context. But Salieri knows.] Hi, uh - sorry. I thought everyone had gone to bed.

[violentenvies]

[the question is enough to jolt him out of whatever headspace he's gone into, temporarily]

Ah, no, I was speaking to Mademoiselle Maya... [he trails off, and looks at the Balladeer, and then at the guitar, and then back at the Balladeer]

May I...that is, would you mind if I joined you?

[tellthestory]

No, of course not.

[He gestures to the bleachers; come on, join him wherever. He's seated at the very top, sort of in the middle, because he likes to be tall.]

I was just...well. You know. [It's not really that mysterious why he was playing that particular song, probably.]

[violentenvies]

Yes, I...I know.[Salieri pauses for a moment, contemplating, with a small frown]...one moment, please.

[and with that, he's going to step out of the gym and walk quickly to the Band Room. There he'll retrieve a violin, and bring it back to the gym, moving to join the Balladeer on the bleachers]

It's no zither, however...it's the best I can do, I'm afraid.

[tellthestory]

Oh...

[Yes. He sees.]

You wanna play it together?