Week Four

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, Gershwin High School Academy University saw its very first intentional murder! What a milestone! And right after Spongebob's No Murder party, too - that doesn't seem like it bodes very well for anybody's future.

You all wake up this morning with yet another new memory returned to you. You'll also find that the school's external doors have now unlocked. Congratulations! You're free! Unfortunately, you also seem to be entirely in the middle of nowhere. So maybe it's more of a symbolic victory.

Still, you should look around and do some investigation! Maybe you'll find a fun surprise.]

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

[stagemanagers]

Am I responsible for people breaking in?

1/2

[violentenvies]

Well, they are certainly a specialty there. [dryly]

2/2

[violentenvies]

[his expression does soften again]

However..you already are a good daughter. And I have no doubt you will continue to be so.

[mayavericks]

[Well that sure is a fucked up thing to say. This is where, if she had a sword, she might shove it through his glowing eye. Luckily for all of us, Maya does not. She also has more important things to deal with.]

Janis!

[She goes to pull her into an embrace. Allowed or not, she'll still look over Janis's shoulder and glare at the Wizard.]

You will pay for this. All of this.

[violentenvies]

[That is more than enough to jolt him out of the shock he'd been stuck in, and he immediately turns, already reaching for her]

Farrah--Farrah, don't look--

[comeandfindme]

You fucking bastard— He was more of a person than you could ever be!

[ An eye kept closely on Janis and Maya. She doesn’t stray far from them. ]

[barberic]

[Benjamin jolts, at the hand on his arm and at Farrah's wail.

It's all he needs- He twists toward them and reaches out, wordlessly and abruptly pulling both of them into a hug to block their view.]

[fourbutts]

[ Janis wants to manage anger in response, tries so hard to, but... all she really manages is crying into Maya's shoulder once she's off of the bubble. ]

Fuck.

[ ... the Wizard? This? Probably. ]

[alchemistake]

[Once again, a crowd has formed.

Varian for once isn’t far. Not so far that he can’t hear people starting to shout. The telltale building thrum of anguish that signals that something terrible has happened. It’s so early, so early-

He staggers into view some distance behind everyone else, not quite close enough to be in the action, but close enough that he can see the wreckage. He can see B’s body, this time. The splintered wood. The blood that almost seems like it could be fake in its sickly brightness. And he can hear the booming voice of the Wizard when he says there will be no trial.

Only people have trials.

Varian turns and runs out, as fast and as hard as his legs can carry him.]

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah feels like she’s going to fall, too. Salieri’s told her not to look, but it’s much too late.

But then, they’re both there. It’s painfully reminiscent of how Salieri and the Balladeer had comforted her just days ago, and her heart aches in agony. But she does not fall. Instead, she clings to them both, desperate and fearful. And against Benji’s solid frame, she screams again.]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice stands, still beside Orpheus: ]

Don’t you dare talk like that. We can’t — we can’t just leave him here. What are you gonna do with him?

[ Eurydice can’t imagine it’s anything good, or respectful. ]

[violentenvies]

[it's horrible, horrible--and for a moment, Salieri can do nothing but press his face to Benjamin's shoulder, shuddering, clutching at him--keeping an arm around Farrah and just...holding her as well as she screams. He feels as fragile as glass, one moment away from shattering, the image of the Balladeer's corpse seeming seared into the backs of his eyelids--

He's gone, he's gone, that's his friend--]

[sugarlumps]

[Given LSP's usual attitude about essentially everything, it might be a little surprising that Wednesday morning finds her in the weight room, pumping iron.]

[It's possibly more than you'd expect someone with her hands-off approach to be able to manage, but here she is.]

[In a too-sparkly, garishly purple workout outfit that looks like it came from somewhere in the eighties, so this isn't totally out of the ordinary.]

Rrng- gonna- beat that stupid wizard- SO GOOD- protect- nng-

[And, uh. That does seem to wipe her out pretty thoroughly. Because later in the day she's stretched out on a towel on the football field attempting to enjoy any kind of available sunshine.]

[Definitely not for the baby animals, ignore that piglet she's snuggling.]

Don't worry, I promise we'll turn you into bacon last.

[Later still, having exhausted the relaxation available via petting zoo, she's seeking out Elle with an armful of- mostly stage makeup and supplies from the costume shop honestly.]

Elle! Okay, so I had the best lumping idea and I need help with it, and you're like the most fashion-minded person here besides me.

[stagemanagers]

The same as the others. Just leave him.

[stagemanagers]

You have no idea what he's done.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Ordinarily, Eurydice would do what she’s always thought of as the smart thing. She’d turn away and leave, not making trouble with people powerful enough to do real damage.

But now? She’s got nothing left to lose. She stands her ground. ]

I won’t. Not until you tell me.

[comeandfindme]

And I don't care!

[ No one deserves to be forgotten.
No one deserves— ]

I know what you've done! And I know I wish you were the one dead, not him!

[defyingfrigidity]

[She can't answer that. The pessimist in her, which hasn't gone away even after three good years of being able to live her life again, understands that. She knows that good feelings can't just... destroy negativity, and that there's always the risk of this happening. But god, she has to try and keep her head up, at least for him. If poor Spongebob breaks...]

But it's thanks to you, and some of the others, that we're more determined than ever to not let a murder happen again. That's helping with something.

[defyingfrigidity]

I'm fine, I'm fine!

[She laughs. It was just... a shock, that's all!]

He was just... startled. I doubt anyone could blame him, what with tumbling out of that machine like that.

[mcfife]

Oh, of course. I don't want to take you away from your training. [It's cooler to have a princess with powerful abilities than to have a princess who could not complete her learning. If she wants to be a princess, of course. And if the court is fine with her. And if she likes it in Fife.]

I'll have to introduce you to my friends, and take you on a ride around the kingdom. I could ask Ralathor for a flying submarine ride, unless you're fine with clinging onto a jetpack.

cw: dissociation

[barberic]

[Benjamin is steady as a stone, his arms tight around them as they cling to him, their faces pressed to his chest. He can feel Farrah's screams muffled in his shirt, her breath soaking through the fabric, desperate and animalistic, and Antonio shaking against him, and he can't-

Farrah's screams sound like they're happening on another planet, for all that blood rushes in his ears, Benjamin's gaze fixed, unfocused, on a point out the theater doors. The Balladeer is gone. Benjamin avoided finding either of the other two bodies, so this is the first he's seen outside of the executions, and there was so much of it, dripping off of the wood, he's acutely aware of his own throbbing through his veins, and he can see himself holding them, like this is happening to someone else, like he might wake up and hear the Balladeer's gentle breathing from the bed next to his, where he should have been-

But he can't fall apart. Not when Antonio and Farrah need him to be steady.]

[whatyouwant]

No!

[Elle grabs his shoulders and pulls him into a hug.]

This isn't your fault, it's no one's fault but that stupid wizard.

[sugarlumps]

Wooow, not lumping cool. Like less cool than usual and that's saying something.

[Yeah she's here, she followed the screaming and also her bodyguard buddy, this isn't super late don't question it.]

[tellthestory]

Wow. That's a lot. I knew you wanted to make one for everybody, but I hadn't really realized.

[He hadn't really been able to reckon with the scope of the project until he saw more of it laid out.]

Do you...I don't know, need any help?

[mcfife]

He was a person, you wicked man! [He steps away from the teenager group to get a better look up at The Wizard.] What gives you the right to say that his life had no worth?!