itscurtains | Week Three

[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! ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Orpheus pales, eyes going wide. ]

Oh, um. You too?

[ That's... not reassuring, given his own dreams, but he can put that aside for now. He steps over to kneel next to her bed so as not to be standing over her awkwardly. ]

You don't have to tell me about it if you don't want. But I'm here. Do you need anything? I can probably get you a mug of cocoa or tea or something.

]"Too"? Did they all have nightmares about home? That... can't be a coincidence, can it?]

Cocoa, yes... something warm. I think that would help.

[Another shaky breath, and she rubs her hands nervously against her sheet-covered legs.]

I think I just need something to settle my nerves, that's all.

[ Orpheus nods. ] I'll be right back.

[ And he'll leave the room, returning a few minutes later with two mugs of hot cocoa. He hands one to Elsa and sits down on his own bed which for convenience we'll assume is near hers. ]

Here, take this.

[It takes a few moments for Elsa to speak again, as she focuses on the hot chocolate. The warmth as she sips it is comforting, spreading from her chest to her fingertips, but it doesn't undo that tight knot of anxiety in her gut. So she waits, waiting for it to settle... and then she takes another long breath, in through her nose and out through her mouth.]

Did you... have nightmares of what happened at the trial?

[That's all she can really attribute those vivid dreams to. Some sort of reaction to the stress of what they'd seen. Finding Mumble dead, Peregrine breaking down over the idea of freezing to death... that's what caused what she saw, right...?]

[ Orpheus is respectfully quiet while she thinks things over, sipping his own hot chocolate and watching her carefully. It looks like it's helping a little, but not as much as he might've hoped.

He considers her question for a moment before answering, shaking his head. ]

I had a nightmare, but it was - less the trial, more, um. What the photographs showed us. Or what might lead up to them.

[Oh no...]

Is it okay if I ask... what exactly did you dream about?

[ Orpheus glances at the door, looking anxious and unsure. He hadn't shared what was in his photograph, but... He guesses there's no real point in hiding things. ]

Winter. I dreamed about winter coming, much too early, in a year when spring had already come too late. [ He doesn't look at Elsa as he says this, staring down at his hands. ] I'd been trying to - stop that, to put the seasons right again. But I didn't do it fast enough. And there wasn't time to gather enough supplies to last through the season, so...

[ He trails off, hands shaking around the mug he's holding. ]

[Winter. Of course it would be winter. Something... something about Mumble's death and how they'd all despaired so much over it must have triggered this. But why? What exactly is going on?]

Are you- were you and Eurydice okay...?

I don't know. [ he says, hollow and a little broken-sounding. ] It - the dream ended, just as it was getting really bad.

[ After they'd been living hand to mouth for weeks, after Eurydice ventured into the snow in the hopes of finding something that hadn't been completely picked clean. ]

But that's all it was. A dream. [ He doesn't sound sure of that, but it's something to cling to. ]

Yeah... a dream...

[She wants to believe that. She really does. But she doesn't look all that convinced.]

... I had a dream about the cold too. A... a very bad one.

Oh. [ Orpheus looks up at that, trying to get his focus back on the present. ] Do you... want to talk about it? It's okay if you don't, but. I'm here.

Honestly, I'm not sure what I can talk about, exactly. It was... a lot.

[It's not like talking about her past, where there's so much shame and regret associated with it. There are feelings surrounding this dream, feelings that seem familiar the more she thinks about it, but there's enough of a disconnect that she doesn't immediately consider locking down when thinking about talking about it.]

I was in a... a cavern. Cold, and dark. There were images all around me... people made of snow. They were acting out... things from the past, I think? [Her grandfather, standing over the weaponless leader of some sort?] As I was watching what was going on, it started getting colder, and colder... until even I felt it. My hands were turning blue, covered in frost, but I had to keep watching, to find out the truth of what I was seeing...

[It was important. So important. But why? What had her grandfather done to the... the Northuldra?]

But I stayed down in the dark for too long. I used the last of my strength to send a message to my sister, and then I.... I froze.

[Just as Anna had....]

Oh. [ Orpheus can't quite make sense of it either, but it sounds important. ] Well, you're here now, so you can't have, um. Died, in that cavern? If it was something real, and not just a dream.

I... I'm not too sure about that.

[She thinks of Anna, three years ago out on the cold, frozen fjord...]

It's... it's possible to return from death. Almost unheard of, of course, but I've... seen it happen before. But even so, the possibility that I died...

[Maybe. Maybe this is some kind of afterlife? Maybe she was brought here from after death???]

What? You've seen someone come back from the dead?

[ Orpheus looks beyond shocked at that, eyes wide, sitting up straighter so suddenly that he almost spills his cocoa. He shakes his head. ]

Sorry I don't - mean to change the subject. But. Really?

[Elsa's surprised at the sudden outburst, but... realizes it makes sense. She knows the myth behind Orpheus, after all; the lengths he went through to dive into the underworld while still alive, trying to convince Hades to part with one of the souls down there... all out of love for Eurydice.]

It's... kind of complicated, but yes. Once before. My... my sister. [Her face twists in pain. Even if she's able to put the guilt of cursing Anna aside, nothing will ever compare to the heart-rending pain of seeing Anna frozen solid, caught in one last desperate attempt to protect Elsa...] She'd been... hurt. A curse took her. But even after death, the curse was able to be lifted, and she returned no worse for the wear.

[There's so much she's not telling him, but... she's not ready to talk about that in depth. Not yet.]

I see. [ says Orpheus, sounding - not disappointed, exactly, but thoughtful. If it was a death by magic, and undoing the magic that caused it was what brought her back - that's different, than someone dying out in a winter storm. But it's still someone coming back. A mercy he'd thought unimaginable.

He smiles at Elsa, and he still looks weary and haunted, but it's genuine. ]

I'm glad you were able to get her back. And I'm sure if she could be saved, she'd find a way to save you too.

[ Don't think he doesn't notice that use of passive voice, though. There's something she's not telling him, and distracted as he is even he can notice that much. But it doesn't feel like something he should pry into, so he doesn't. ]

Week Three

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