Week Three

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, some shit went down! Salieri's scene went off without a hitch, but the good mood didn't last. The first motive was a bit of a doozy, and yet it didn't even have anything to do with the eventual accidental death of Mumble Happyfeet! At least Sissi was already pretty much dating Death anyway, right? She's probably fine, wherever she is.

This week, new menus have been posted in the cafeteria. But, more importantly, it seems that other new information has emerged. Everyone wakes on Sunday with some new memories - or are they old ones? - floating around in their heads. Maybe there was something to your discussions of time travel after all. Maybe there was someting to the Wizard's knowledge of the future.

Regardless, you're still stuck in here. At least there's some new places to explore this week. Maybe you'll find something helpful.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regains and your AC for this week! Hester's office hours and the merch booth also remain available! ))

Comments

[tellthestory]

[He catches that note of wariness, glancing up at the ceiling. It's sort of an obvious thing to do, but this man is not accustomed to subterfuge.]

Yeah. It's all been pretty personalized stuff so far, but if they run out...

[Only so many times you can recycle a threat, right? Especially if - well, "your home will be destroyed" includes so much. The potential loss of friends or family...where do they go from that?]

There'd be a lot of drama in something like that, too.

[tellthestory]

He'd be easier to blame than you are, if people don't like what you're doing.

[He's an adult, after all, and...well, from the sound of things, a grim loner who lives in the woods. The whole thing with gutting and skinning deer does sound pretty off-putting if you aren't used to it; easy to put that on the weird dude. Though it does sound like there's perhaps a bit more to it than that.]

What's the Final?

[comeandfindme]

...And that's why they do things, right? For the drama? 'Cause...it's a show?

[ She feels and sounds so bitter. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ And again, Peregrine hesitates. Just today, she told Maya. And just today, she lost Maya's support. ]

...It's what we've all been training for. It's like...a final test for everything we've learned.

[tellthestory]

Sounds that way.

[The Balladeer winces a little; he never likes when...well. When people treat his whole existence and perception of reality like it's some kind of personal attack. Normally he'd just back off, but...if the Wizard sees it that way, too, it's probably important.]

Did you notice how...happy he seemed, when we all protested what he was doing to Sissi like that? Like that's what he was hoping we'd do.

[comeandfindme]

Huh? I mean... I just thought he sounded happy 'cause he's a sadist.

[ Like, it's not that weird a take, right? ]

[tellthestory]

[That seems...like a pretty clear evasion. Why would people be so worried about some kind of test? If it were just Howl watching them go through all the things he's already taught them, making sure they learned properly, why would Brett even bother asking?

The instinct's there, to pry. He tells stories, and he can't do that if he doesn't know. But he so often feels like he's on thin ice with Peregrine already.]

Oh. And...people don't like that?

[Howl is back on the tape - angry now, talking about something that isn't clear through the recording. Pictures?]

[tellthestory]

He said we were already coming together. Like this whole thing isn't kinda designed to drive people apart.

[It's kinda contradictory? Assuming that's how he meant it.]

[comeandfindme]

They don't think we can do it.

[ What's Howl talking about? He said something about Vietnam... She didn't know he was in a war. ]

...But, they came around recently. I remember. I remember they came around. We showed 'em we weren't just— just playing around in the woods, we were actually learning. So... Yeah. It should work out now.

[comeandfindme]

[ Did he? ...To be honest Peregrine was a little out of it last Friday, so— ]

Well, it's a pretty screwed up way to encourage connections. What, kidnap us and push us to kill each other, but he wants us to bond?

[mayavericks]

A weapon is still a weapon, even if it's dulled. And lucky for you, this blade can be sharpened with time.

Do not sell yourself short, Woods-san. I have no doubt that you will be imperative to our escape in due time.

[mayavericks]

Varian-san, Salieri-sensei, and Farrah-chan.

Only five of us.

[So many faces unaccounted for.]

[mayavericks]

I don't... get online much.

[Maya reads magazines. In 2017! What a boomer.]

I don't think I want to, after this.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

But you did. You're here, and...

[Cassandra ponders where to take this. Eventually, her hand.. moves. It finds Farrah's shoulder.]

And we will get out of here. And you won't have to go back and face Riley alone.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Lemme guess, that giant metal carriage thing.

[Even she knew well enough to leave that thing alone, and look at her now!]

Listen, Varian, I'm not a alchemist, but... you can't just stick your hand in something you don't know about. You don't even have any gloves!

[Aha! Cassandra fishes a roll of fresh bandages out from a drawer, and even some medical gauze. With a bump of her hip, she shuts it and returns to Varian's side.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

I can only imagine.

[Really. That's it.]

It must be pretty special having something like that from your parents. You deserve to have something like that, to always remember them by.

[She's genuine, and means every bit of it. But something in her voice reads it out with a hollowness. Like a void opened in Cassandra's chest.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri goes still at that--relying on you for support--straightening slowly. When he does speak, there’s an edge of bite to it]

How surprising, that the Lord of Chaos would be so invested in keeping order.

[violentenvies]

[There's a knot of anxiety that forms in his stomach at that suggestion. It's a good suggestion, really, and under any other circumstance, he might agree.

However, in this circumstance specifically...]

I...appreciate the offer. [he hesitates a moment] However, I'm afraid that's not possible at this time.

[violentenvies]

[the change in topic gets his attention, and he'll follow it readily] Generally I compose for orchestra, but sometimes for quartets or trios, depending on what instrumentation is needed. Though I will admit, some of the instruments in here are even unknown to me.

As for how it works...[he motions her a little closer to the piano, moving to sit there despite quite a few papers still being scattered on the ground] It is a combination of compiling technical pieces, like a puzzle, while also understanding the emotional flow and movement of such pieces.

1/2

[violentenvies]

[once again, Salieri goes still as the Balladeer starts talking, and he turns slowly to look at him, watching him explain.

Salieri's been complimented before, of course. On his music, mostly, and his performances. Flattered by those both above him (wishing to seem magnanimous,) those on the same level (wanting to seem friendly while preparing to stab him in the back,) and those below him (wishing to curry favor.) At first, most of them seemed earnest, but in time he had come to learn that Court and the musical world that surrounded it were very much a game of words, cleverness, and manipulation. There’s an instinct in him now to look for duplicity in any compliment longer than a word or two, and this is...certainly more than that.

However...it’s not just a compliment, is it? It’s an explanation of emotions, of feelings built on shared experiences, of bridges built and friendships forged a time of duress. He’d had the thought not a few days ago, when speaking to Varian after the trial, that this group of people were the closest he’d felt to others in quite some time and now, as he listens to the Balladeer explain, that emotion comes back to him, a warmth sitting in his chest just under his sternum. It quiets that music in his head, the Balladeer’s words bringing him back to the here, the now.

There are people here that care about him and, more importantly, depend on him. He cannot allow himself to be tied down by these memories; not right now.

He still fears that future: the one where he falls into obscurity while that cretin’s name rises to heights even Salieri can’t imagine. But...for now, he can quiet it. Silence it for a while and focus on those who need him]

2/2

[violentenvies]

I…[what else can he say to this?] …thank you, my friend. That means more to me than I could possibly express.

1/2 cw: mild disassociation, mild auditory hallucinations, non-graphic injury mention(?)

[violentenvies]

[I know the name. Salieri stiffens slightly for a moment, because even Farrah knows of him and it rankles, like a wound left open to fester, painful and itchy. For a moment, he can hear the soft melodic strings that carry the singer's voice higher, floating, sublime--]

2/2

[violentenvies]

[--no. No. Not now, not here. Farrah's sitting right next to him and she's just remembered something absolutely horrible. The last thing this girl needs is to deal with whatever's happening to him as well.

Right. He puts on a mildly sardonic smirk]

Well. I've met the man, as it turns out.

[violentenvies]

That's...[oh, he dislikes this very much] That's terrible. I'm sorry, Mademoiselle Peregrine. [he's mouth twists a bit in disgust] Just when I think the Wizard could not get more depraved, he sinks even lower.

[violentenvies]

It's from his Majesty, Emperor Joseph the II of Austria. [he seems particularly proud of that fact] It was given to me after my first successful Singspiel.