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]

Oh - no, it's fine.

[He leans in the doorway.]

Maybe you and Orpheus should try working together. I know he's been having a little trouble with songwriting, too.

[violentenvies]

I--yes, perhaps. [there's something like dread that lodges itself in his stomach at that suggestion. How could he face Monsieur Orpheus like this? Somewhere, he can hear that same melody drift at the edges of his consciousness, digging in its sharp little fingers and his gaze goes a slightly distant]

Perhaps...I did say that I would help, but...perhaps another time. [and he's bending down to continue picking up papers.]

[tellthestory]

...I know he's been worried about it. He thinks it's his responsibility to write a song good enough to fix the seasons.

[Salieri seems kinda off. But the Balladeer isn't quite sure what he...ought to do about that? Frowning, he bends to start help picking up the papers.]

Are you okay?

[violentenvies]

I'm fine. [The response is immediate, instantaneous. Why wouldn't he be okay???]

[tellthestory]

You sure? You seem a little off. I know we all had weird...memory dream things today.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri pauses at that, quieting, contemplating....before he asks:]

Tell me, Monsieur Balladeer: have you heard of a composer named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

[tellthestory]

Oh...yeah, I have.

[That's the sort of basic knowledge he no doubt possesses!]

[violentenvies]

[ . . . .]

I see. What do you know of him, precisely?

[tellthestory]

[Oh, no. The Balladeer sucks in a breath.]

Uh...he's a classical composer? I'm...sure he probably wrote something famous...

[Having done .2 seconds of research, he would probably recognize at least the opening bit of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik but he is not about to come up with that himself, his musical references are nowhere near this vicinity.]

[violentenvies]

[he'll get a nod for that]

So you've heard of him at least, even if you're not entirely sure of his works.

[...]

And...my name? Did you hear of me, before you came here?

[tellthestory]

...no.

[Okay, he thinks he senses the thrust of this.]

But, you know...I'm not really a great representative.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri huffs at that, almost a small, dry laugh]

And yet, you still know of him.

[tellthestory]

Well, sure, but...

[The Balladeer pauses, his motions faltering a little. It makes him think of Charlie - "I will be REMEMBERED!" The things he'd done for that. For the most part, the Balladeer knows that he isn't really remembered...but then again, his song is in the show. Not just a song about him: his song. That's not nothing.]

There's more important things.

cw: disassociation 1/3

[violentenvies]

[There's more important things.

Salieri goes still for a moment, struck by those words. There's more important things. And yet, what could be more important than--

no, no, the Balladeer is surely right. They are trapped in a school and expected to murder to escape, certainly that's more Fun f▒ important than Fun fa͏̫̠͎̱▓t͇͉

than]

2/3

[violentenvies]

[Fun fact: Most of his music was for▒g͓͞o̳̺̦̱̹̘͢ͅt̡̗̠͙̣t̺▓en after his death.

It's not important, is it? The Balladeer is correct, it's not important, he's not important--forgotten--but that charlatan (sublime, rapturous, disrespectful little--)

c'est le bien qui fait mal

remembered, so that even those that don't know him still know him

quand tu aimes
horrible, mocking, Well, Maestro~?
tout à fait normal, ta haine

while Salieri, who has worked so hard is forgo--]

3/3

[violentenvies]

[Salieri sucks in a breath, coming back to himself half a moment later. He can feel himself pulling back, put on the right face, the right mask--

Less than a blink of an eye, a breath, and his shoulders relax, an easy curl to the corner of his mouth.]

...you are right, of course. There are far more important things right now.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer looks at him for a moment. Was that weird? That seemed...sort of weird.

He can believe that he might have said something wrong easily enough, and even more easily that Salieri might have let it go. Salieri has always been most understanding of all his oddities; he might let something pass rather than calling it out as weird. But he doesn't want to upset people. If he doesn't know what it was, what should he do...?

Maybe it wasn't even him. Salieri's seemed a little off this entire time. Still, he tries to explain himself a little further.]

I mean - sure, now, but...who cares about Mozart? I don't know Mozart. I know you, and you've been a really good friend to me since we've been here. This isn't anything against anyone else - I get it - but you're practically the only person who never made me feel like some kind of alien. You're always taking care of everyone here, all the kids and...and Sissi...and everything.

[Earnestness comes naturally to him. Earnestness about his own emotions? Well, he's never really had the opportunity to try it. He shrugs; hopefully that was normal and cool!]

That's more important than whatever songs Mozart wrote. We care about you.

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.

[tellthestory]

...yeah. Of course.

[He grins, relieved that he seems to have helped!]

I mean it. I don't know what we'd do without you, sometimes. Most everyone around here's pretty young or...inexperienced. [That's for him; even though he's an adult, what life experience does he really have? Salieri and Ben are the most qualified responsible adults around here, for sure.]

[violentenvies]

Ah, yes, well, [he can't help but smile a little, as if embarrassed]

We all here can only do our best in these circumstances.

[tellthestory]

Yeah, that's true.

[But some bests are better than others! But the Balladeer smiles, and turns back to picking up papers.]