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

[howtheworldwas]

[ Cassandra seems to not know the mirror, but she knows the vision. That's so, so much worse. Eurydice is quiet for a moment. How does she respond to this? Cassandra has always seemed tough and strong, and Eurydice doesn't know her that well. She probably doesn't want this intrusion. ]

I wouldn't have looked at it, if I knew.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice loves her husband and his very earnest attempts at small talk so so much. ]

Mmm. Magic, I think. It's got to have enough food in there to feed all those lizards. [ hmmm ] ...do you think there's a reason? For all those lizards?

[themuseabandonsyou]

You'll be able to thank him yourself. I don't care what Lord Hades's contract says. He went back on his word, to let Lady Persephone come back to us for as long as she needs to. Who is he to ask anyone else to make promises like that?

[ He gestures to the contract's remaining pages. There's an uncharacteristic anger to his voice, indignant and agitated. ]

I'll find you. And we'll both go home. Together. Not even the gods will stop us.

[comeandfindme]

[ It's a way to distract from her own emotions and usually Peregrine doesn't take that out? But today... ]

Hey, music lasts. You know how to write any?

[themuseabandonsyou]

I've been worrying about - whether all the stuff in the vending machine that doesn't belong to us is from people who were here before us. Since the Wizard and the Balladeer and Maya and Angus all say this has happened before.

[ Though he had his suspicions about that long before the meeting on Tuesday. He frowns, then shrugs. ]

Maybe someone who was here just... really liked lizards? I guess it's good that we've been looking after them, if they might've been somebody's pets.

[howtheworldwas]

He's the Lord of the Underworld. He can do anything he wants, down there.

[ Eurydice's tone is flat, resigned. She wants to believe Orpheus can bring her home, she really does...but he's talking about going up against god.

Eurydice offers a page, in case Orpheus wants to burn one. ]

Just...be careful, when you get there. He's powerful. [ Even though it's not cold, Eurydice shudders a little, at the thought of Orpheus going up against him. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Maybe it's because Eurydice is...strangely practical, like herself. Maybe it's because she's in the woods. Maybe it's because she's just tired.

But instead of saying anything, Peregrine just shakes her head. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine doesn't realize just how much tension she had been carrying until this moment. Her shoulders relax for the first time in days. ]

You have no idea how glad I am to hear that.

[tellthestory]

[He hums doubtfully.]

I'm not sure. Sometimes I feel like I wrote my songs, but I know I didn't really - ow.

[He's pricked himself with the needle! The Balladeer sticks his finger in his mouth instinctually for a moment, then shakes it out and returns to his work. His stitches aren't particularly neat or even, but they're holding everything together for the moment, and that's really all that's required.]

Maybe I shouldn't take up sewing.

[tellthestory]

You know, where he'll maybe send us all home if he ever gets his powers back?

[comeandfindme]

[ Something that's small and seldom heard from her in the last few days slips out: A laugh. ]

Maybe you shouldn't. [ She turns her attention to the skin she's smoking, because if she doesn't it'll probably go up in flames. ] Stick to your songs for now. You're good at that.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer turns to look sidelong at her.]

Do you really think you could? He's got the power to set all of this up - to grant that wish in the first place, hypothetically.

[You know. Hypothetically.]

[mayavericks]

Who can say. But he had the power to bring us all here, right?

[mcfife]

I have to, if I want to keep in good shape.

[He moves into torso stretches.]

I can skip some days once it a while. This isn't one of those times.

...Besides, it just feels good in the morning.

[tellthestory]

Yeah. So maybe he's not that easy to kill, either.

[mayavericks]

We have to try, right?

[tellthestory]

We'd all just end up dead, if it didn't work.

[And by "all", he still does mean Maya. She'd just be the last of them to die at the Wizard's hands.]

If we...do have to kill him - [which he seems a bit uneasy about] - there has to be a safer way.

[mayavericks]

I suppose... back to the drawing board, then?

[tellthestory]

Mmmm.

[Yeah, she's probably right.]

Maybe I could compose something. Even if I didn't do the other ones, at least it means I know a lot about music. It's a bit of pressure, though - trying that for the first time with someone like Salieri around.

[tellthestory]

I guess.

[...that sure was an interesting thing to bring up out of nowhere, though.]

Maybe this sounds selfish. And - obviously I don't want anyone dead. But I think I'd be sorry to never have met anyone here at all.

[Erasing the death that came with it would be one thing, but stopping it from ever happening at all? That's probably the correct solution, if you had that power, but it still feels like some form of loss.]

[mayavericks]

[She swallows a little harder.]

Peregrine said the same. And I... want to agree. But I think, more than anything, I want to see everyone alive.

And if we played our cards right, we would never know what we lost. Most of us, at least.

cw: parental neglect

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cassandra doesn't respond to Eurydice. Not yet. She may as well not even be there, just as the rest of the world has closed itself off from her. Leaving her alone in this space, with the mirror in her hands that told a very specific story, about a very specific little girl and the mother who....

Who didn't love her?

Is that what this is trying to tell her?

As the vision fades, the world returns, and Cassandra looks... heartbroken.]

I... I-I can't believe it. [She stammers.] It... it looked like a happy memory, but...

[comeandfindme]

What? Oh, no, he'd probably help you. [ Ah, something like a smile? ] He's a great teacher. He really seems to like it.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[If Cassandra notices, she makes no mention of it.]

Neither can I. I don't want to think about any benefits that are worth killing someone over.

So it makes perfect sense if the Wizard thinks that no cost is too high.

[mayavericks]

In any case, I look forward to proving him wrong.

[Dammit, Varian.]