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

[defyingfrigidity]

[Ah, so that's why... that actually gets a smile back on Elsa's face. She doesn't rip the photo, not yet, but her thumb runs along the image of Anna, and the light in Elsa's eyes softens.]

... Thank you, Farrah. Really. I... [Her grip tightens on the photo, ever so slightly.] I needed to see her smiling again. After those pictures the first week.

[The smile is quick to fade again, but she just looks... sad, now. Not angry or frustrated.]

I saw her, in mine. But I couldn't deal with what I saw, so I burned it.

[comeandfindme]

...Okay, yes, like music.

[samefacesyndrome]

I… um…

[ @)&;!,!:?:?:)/$/&?&)& ]

I tried to play a little prank… and make one of them spicy as a surprise…

But I… ate the spicy one…

[alchemistake]

H-huh?

[OH

OH NO RINA...

Varian is going to reach quickly for one of the drinks she brought then to hand her- water, because soda is literally the worst thing when you're eating something spicy, even he's learned that much from his near constant consumption of it.]

Oh, I- I'm sorry! It's not too spicy, is it?

[tellthestory]

[He chuckles.]

Well, maybe I'll take up woodworking or something on the side. Plenty of tools around for that, if I can avoid lopping my hand off.

[tellthestory]

...one of the girls came to me asking about the motive. It was the same one as this week, actually - a wish. I didn't even know why the Player wanted to do that, offer them a reward. She said it was for dramatic reasons...

[Kinda made his job a lot harder, but. He hadn't felt like it was his place to complain, no more than he's sure he can complain about his original show's direction now.]

I knew why she was asking me. I told her everything I knew - what would happen if she did, how she'd risk everyone's lives, how she'd probably end up dying for it herself. I said everything I could think of, to convince her not to act. I got angry. [But now, in the retelling, his voice is just hollow.] It didn't matter. She stabbed a man a couple nights later. Went down for it. I remember thinking - I tried my best, but you can only do so much when you're not - when you're like me. But now, here, I don't...know.

[He's a part of this story. If he'd been there on any of those nights, he could have freed Mumble, or protected Connor. Could he have stepped out of his role and done the same for Valjean? Or was the problem that he stepped out of his role to begin with?]

And now I realize - I was written to have my words fall on deaf ears, and to get shoved aside. Maybe that's a part of my nature. If I stayed in my place, and someone else were there, maybe they both would have lived.

[comeandfindme]

...I used to do photography. That can be pretty fun.

[comeandfindme]

[ Her mouth falls open. He was made to do all this? Deliver those, talk to them? ...Like Hester?

Instantly, Peregrine shakes her head. ]

No, if you told her everything... If she knew what it'd do, and she still... Bal, that was on her. It's— there's no way that's how it's always supposed to go, with you.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ She will gladly take that thank you. ]

N-No, it’s not too bad. I only used a little bit…

[ That’s a lie she did use more than a little but it’s weak ass shit. It’s just a bit hot thankfully. Not whatever the fuck that Cass and Raps scene was ]

It’s my fault for trying to be sneaky.

[mayavericks]

It is... No worse than anything else I have borne over my life.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri will tilt his head back up to look through the trees]

It certainly is quite lovely, that's true. And I won't deny that I enjoy being outside and breathing some fresh air.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri nods in agreement to that]

I understand.

[...]

Would you tell me about her?

[violentenvies]

At this early in the morning?

[violentenvies]

[Ah...Mumble. He was avoiding mentioning that]

Ah...yes, I suppose we did.

[violentenvies]

Very well. Fair is fair, I suppose. [he'll reach out to pick up the teapot and pour them each a cup, handing Maya hers and doctoring his own cup with milk and probably more sugar than is healthy, before picking up that sandwich and taking a bite.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri listens as Orpheus plays. Before, when he'd played for Salieri, that alone had been one of the most sublime musical experiences of his life.

Now? That seems almost dull in comparison to the way that Orpheus spins the melody on his true instrument. The "lyre" seems to sing beneath his fingers, the dance a whirlwind of notes, lifting joyfully into the air in a way that has Salieri unthinkingly tapping his toe to the beat and smiling widely, as something like joy and elation seem to expand in his chest, conjured up by the jaunty melody.

By the end, as the music slows, he can still feel that energy thrumming through him, though it's less ecstatic and more a contemplative happiness. And as Orpheus finishes and looks up at him, he can't help but burst into appaluse]

Bravo! [he's beaming] Bravo, my friend, that was--that was amazing!

[violentenvies]

[Salieri pauses at that, briefly, considering before he sets the pie down on the countertop and moves to get some of that herbal tea] I am...uncertain, truth be told. My own memories are still so fractured and dissonant, with such a time gap in between...I can't help but think that, perhaps, it'll depend more on whenever the last part of our missing memories are. I don't know what else I'm missing, after all. Or what else might come.

[violentenvies]

I'm certain they will. You have quite a talent for this beadwork, as well.

[violentenvies]

...you...know of him, then? [he doesn't look at Angus, still staring down at that score, clutching it tightly]

[violentenvies]

[He'll find a seat for her, then, easing her down into it before moving to sit next to her]

There, now. Would you like a cup of tea?

[violentenvies]

[Salieri hears the quiet 'klunk' of the locket hitting the table and looks over from where he's preparing the tea and sees Benjamin hunched over there, his shoulders shaking, and feels something painful twist in his chest.

He comes back as quickly as he can with that tea, setting it gently on the table before sliding into the seat next to his friend, reaching out to put an arm around as much of his shoulders as he can]

Benjamin... [gently, to get his attention]

[mcfife]

No. [He can only guess from this script.] I've seen it in the yearbook and in the library. I almost forgot about him until I saw his name during my research.

[barberic]

[Benjamin flinches like he's been struck, when Antonio puts an arm around him, but doesn't jerk away.

The breath he holds shudders out of him, and he leans slightly toward the touch, but doesn't speak.]

[comeandfindme]

[ She listens, like usual, and she takes all that in, as she stares at the plates in her hands. ]

Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. If it’s all jumbled and…longterm. How do you think we’ll know…when the last ones come?

[brokeforgood]

... Yeah. I know how that goes. [Farrah pauses, and pulls another photo, carefully folded, out of her back pocket. Everyone saw this one, during the very first trial. It's that awful photo, of Farrah's murder-- though Farrah's made her own edits to this one. The red-haired girl has had her face completely scratched out of the photo. She covers her own corpse with her thumb, so it's less grotesque to look at.]

This is my step-sister, Annleigh. [She points to one of the girls in the image.] It's a fucking awful picture of her. She and Clark have been together forever, and he's-- like me-- [dead.] -- anyway, she's screaming pretty hard.

But it's all I have.