itscurtains | Week Three

Entry tags:

act 3,
week 3

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! ))

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[He smiles just to see her smile, but pretty quickly turns it down towards the table.]

Oh, the survival training. Yeah, he sounds like he knows that stuff.

[From the things he's said, obviously, but even without that - just his voice, the way he speaks. Something about that guy, even as he's carrying on about philosophy and Marcus Aurelius, makes him sound like he knows what he's talking about. The Balladeer normally hates references to ancient Rome, too.]

Brett was trying to ask him about himself, at the start. Didn't really get anywhere.

Not surprised, there. He's always so...closed off, 'bout things that happened 'fore he got to Whitetail. Unless it's something he learned, like— like a harvesting technique or something... All I know's we're all he's got. Me and the others, learning from him.

[ Why agree to The Final? Brett asks that on the tape. Her soft expression freezes. That's...something she wants to know, too. ]

He... He's the only one...who doesn't...coddle us.

[The question doesn't mean anything to the Balladeer, but he catches Peregrine's reaction. It draws his attention back to the tape as well. Some people might even call what you're doing with these kids inappropriate.

Eyebrows arched, he looks to Peregrine for her reaction. Is this about the survival training? It sounds like it is; making them skin and gut animals, leaving them alone in the woods. From where the Balladeer sits, the notion that someone could make Peregrine do things like that seems laughable. But, though he isn't sure if Brett himself believes that, clearly some people did.]

[ It seems Peregrine's not too keen on this idea either, because she scowls. ]

He didn't make us do anything. [ She wants to quickly but quietly correct that; quietly, because she wants to hear what he has to say.

To teach somebody how to prepare themselves, to tell them the truth about the world? She nods. That's what he's doing. Not anything inappropriate. ]

...I came to him. I wanted to know what he knew. I wanted to get to know him, after Jacob.

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?

[ 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.

[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?]

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.

Maybe this was from before that.

[It sounds like...maybe the Final's something that could be dangerous. If they weren't prepared. But the Balladeer's seen Peregrine working so hard on all her deerskin projects, planning for what might happen, and they're not even in the woods. She seems prepared to him.

(Not that he knows anything about her friends. But it must be the same, right? She wouldn't let them go out if they weren't.)]

I'm sure they were just worried about you. If they didn't know how hard you'd been working - I mean, anyone can see how seriously you take that stuff.

[ Of course Peregrine's prepared. ...Of course her friends are prepared. They're going to be as prepared as she is. Just as ready— ]

...I know when this is from. It's— I remember Brett saying he was gonna go interview Howl. But- still, they should've... After everything that's already happened... They should've known I wasn't just messing around. I wouldn't just mess around.

...yeah. Yeah, they probably should've.

[If her brother died in the woods, why would she go out there just...for fun?]

Maybe they were just scared. Because of what happened.

[ It's almost childishly that she grumbles: ]

Well— they didn't lose a brother.

...I'm sure they all cared about him.

[He'd bring up her parents, but like, he actually knows nothing about the rest of her family, and experience with Farrah has taught him that apparently those are just garbage sometimes!]

They cared about him enough to have meaningless vigils and talk about how special he was only to have things go right back to normal a week later.

[ Her voice drips with bitterness. ]

They cared about him— about all of us enough to let us live in the shadow of something that could kill us and not teach us a single thing to help ourselves.

...yeah. I don't understand that.

[Granted, his understanding of the entire situation is pretty limited, but...surely kids will go into the forest at some point? Surely you should teach them about the risks? He always hated how long it took them to really try protecting the President, even when they kept on getting shot - but god, at least he wasn't an actual child.]

I guess they can care without...caring very well. But that doesn't really help anyone.

Yeah. They don't—

[ Her name was Gerda. We met in Cairo.

Peregrine goes silent again. She listens, even though she probably shouldn't. In a soft, breath voice, she murmurs: ]

He's...never told me about any of this before.

[The sound of a song beginning snaps the Balladeer's attention back to the tape pretty quickly. There's no hesitation on his part. It's a story; it's meant to be listened to. Still, he's quiet too, waiting for a lull in the lyrics - I felt eager and wanted, rapt and unguarded and free - before saying quietly:]

It sounds like a painful story.

[This is only a tape. It can't capture voices from the distant past, people who were dead and gone decades before the recording happened. But the Balladeer being what he is, perhaps he has a vague sense of it nonetheless.

Hold still, I see you - don't move -

But if so, he keeps it to himself.]

I...never knew... He always... He's always been so alone. Mom says...it took her years to realize...he was even there, when he moved in. I never thought he'd...

[ It's silly now, thinking about it. He'd had a whole life before her. Of course he would have other important people in his life, other loves. It's presumptuous to think of it like that, that Howl would love her, a girl he's known for less than two years. But still...

Still.

She listens. As it all falls apart, she listens, perhaps to the reason he's so determined. The reason he's so...giving to them. ]

[This time, the Balladeer remains quiet until the end of the song. He sits with his hands folded, expression serious. It's a sad tale - it's a tragedy.

But he's watching Peregrine, too.]

......he must have known people would hear. That you would. It wasn't a secret recording. Maybe he was...finally ready to talk about it, a little.

...You think so? [ The interview ends shortly after that, leaving them truly in silence. Peregrine nibbles at her bottom lip very idly. ] Do you think...me and my friends, do you think we somehow...helped him? Maybe helped him open up a little?

If he was that alone for all that time, I think you must have.

[The Balladeer reaches over to turn the machine off.]

After all of that...I guess I understand why he might've wanted to be alone. But I don't think anyone can be alone forever. Especially not when you see there's people who could understand.

[For all that he doesn't really know Howl, he doesn't feel like that's much of a reach. It was only after Brett shared his past that Howl started to bend a little. Sure, he was upset about the townsfolk, too, but...a private person like that, would he tell that whole story just to make a point? He could have just as easily ended the interview.]

[ That she did something for him. ...That, despite Jacob's death, something— anything came out of it.

It's a warm feeling. A very warm feeling. ]

Yeah. ...Yeah, I think I agree.

[ Despite what she'd said before, she thinks she might actually believe that. ]

Can I, uh... Can I have this? Just— you know. To hear their voices again sometime.

Oh - of course. I'm sure they'd have wanted you to have it.

[He's sure it's here for her.]

[ Oh-so-gently, she gathers up the digital recorder, as if it's a precious treasure. ]

Thanks. ...Gotta get this back to Brett, anyway. I don't think he's gonna like one of his tapes going missing.

Ha, yeah, I doubt it. That was...

[Important? It seems important. But then, he really doesn't know what the podcast is about.]

Well, I'm sure he'd want it back.

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comeandfindme - 2021-06-22 05:39 (UTC) - Expand

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