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

[barberic]

[Benjamin's swing connects, leaving an indent in the door. He lets the attacking end of the beam drop to the floor, and wipes sweat from his forehead, slightly winded.]

Testing what the best method would be, to try and get past that locked door. Don't think I'll be using this.

[He leans it back up against a pile of similar beams.]

[barberic]

Then let's do it. I can manage him on my own. At least, long enough to get out of this room. Then we can readjust, or get the cart.

[He doesn't wait for permission, reluctantly letting go of Antonio's hand (with an apologetic look) and stepping forward to heft the Balladeer's body into his arms bridal style.

The tall frame and dead weight is awkward to handle, but Benjamin is strong and determined, and like he said that will get them through the doors, at least.]

Guide me down the stairs.

[barberic]

[Benjamin's whole body aches, with how badly he wants to hold his girls. He thinks of the last time he saw them, fifteen years ago, a few weeks ago, both and neither at the same time, when Beadle Bamford pulled them apart and told the guard he was a dangerous one.

He can't hold Lucy now. Johanna might not remember him, might have grown up calling another man 'Father.'

He reaches out and puts a hand on Eurydice's back, his throat tight, rubbing tight, comforting circles.]

...I'm sorry.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice frowns. Something doesn't add up. ]

But...weren't people supposed to look out for you? Like your mom, or Howl?

[samefacesyndrome]

[ She was peering over the board, watching for his reaction… and when she sees the look in his eyes hers light up as well. ]

You’re welcome! I’m just glad you like it! Rina-chan Board says… “all smiles!”

I wish I could have made you an actual bento though— ah, that’s a kind of boxed lunch from back home. A lot of girls make them for um—-

[ their boyfriends ]

P-People they like… so I uh…

B-But this is close enough for now!

[comeandfindme]

That’s… I wanted…to get myself lost. To learn everything I could about- about surviving and then…prove that I could get home.

[ She shakes. This is so very different from how she described The Final to Maya a week before. ]

My mom… I convinced her by scaring a stupid bear away from the New Year’s Party, and I- I made it safer, we had rations. We had…gear, coats, some food— But it- it was a freak storm. I couldn’t- find my way back, and…and it was so cold. It was so…so cold…!

[ The moment she caught up with Woodsley, she stopped showing that she was scared. She has a feeling, now, that he was doing the same thing. Neither of them wanted the other to know just what a horrible time the other had. ]

[alchemistake]

Bento, huh...?

[People they like, huh...HMMM...

Varian puts the apple back for now, mostly because he actually wants to try one of those onigiri first. It's almost too cute to eat...]

What are these?

[He knows what rice is obviously, but being a farm boy who tends to eat meals made almost entirely from the kind of produce they work with, he's never actually had a chance to eat many dishes with it before.]

[barberic]

[Benjamin gave up on being stealthy a long time ago, when he outgrew his peers. That he gives so few fucks about it now because he's running very low on fucks about anything, is secondary.

Still, he comes closer, taking a seat on the edge of the pond and just listening.]

[samefacesyndrome]

Ah— they’re onigiri. Though I think some westerners call them rice balls?

[ or jelly donuts— ]

They’re… well, balls of sticky rice, usually with something in the middle. I put tuna in these ones since I was already using some… They're actually a lot like sandwiches in that they're really simple and meant to be eaten with your hands.

[ Theres also uh. One that was made with spicy tuna because she felt like being a shit. ]

[brokeforgood]

That might be kind of hard. [A beat. Then. She smiles, and bumps against his shoulder.]

Some of them are wearing skirts.

[tellthestory]

True. I'll just be a - well, I guess my script describes me as a folk singer...

[Which makes it weird, now? But that doesn't necessarily include composition, does it? Maybe??]

Singer-songwriter. That's a thing, right?

[barberic]

No matter how hard I hit it, I couldn't so much as leave a scratch.

That's something learned in its own way, I suppose.

[comeandfindme]

It's really a thing.

[alchemistake]

Oni...giri.

[Oh, god, he pronounces it so stupidly probably. It's up to Rina as to whether or not she finds that annoying or endearing though as he takes a bite. It's mostly rice to start since the tuna is more in the middle, but it's tasty enough on its own, he's realizing. Like eating bread...but obviously much different.]

Oh hey- that's really good!

[tellthestory]

There you go, then! Not that I really need a job - but it's a neat hobby!

[comeandfindme]

It's good to have hobbies. Likes, dislikes... Things you do besides...like, one thing.

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer sighs and leans his head back to rest against the bark of the tree. Sunlight's filtering down through the leaves, so utterly unlike anything he's known back home.]

Maybe. I know...I'd probably say the same thing, if we switched places. But...

[He swallows. This isn't really something he's said out loud to anyone else. He skirted the topic, with Maya, but she'd clearly remembered something terrible, and Benjamin remembered something worse, and how could he talk about his own feelings with all of that happening around him? Now, though, the garden is peaceful. Peregrine only came to hear him play, not for any horrible reason.]

The only reason I got away from there was because I went to the new show, the one like this. I did it because I thought I could keep people alive - but I couldn't. I think I was the wrong person for the job. Maybe if I just...accepted, the first time, that'd I couldn't do it....she'dve found someone else, and nobody would've died.

1/?

[samefacesyndrome]

[ IT’S OKAY she is very understanding!! She does not mind if he says it wrong and appreciates the trying! ]

Really? You like it? Yay!

[ She’s going to grab one herself and put the board down to start eating it. ]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ ……… ]

[tellthestory]

Like music?

[He asks it wryly, but like - that is sort of his one thing.]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ …………………………! ]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ frick ]

Done

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Her face stayed exactly the same during all of that but she very hastily grabs the board to hide behind again before whimpering a little. ]

Awawawawa…

[ That… was the spicy one all right. ]

[alchemistake]

[That sure was a very sad sounding awawawa...

Varian pauses mid second-bite, holding it up to his mouth but not managing to follow through since he was distracted by...that...]

...Are you okay?

[comeandfindme]

...Your show? The new one, you— ...what happened?

[ She listened for Connor. She'll listen again. ]