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

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks up with a start. She's usually always vigilant, usually always watching. You'd think in the woods she'd be even more so.

And yet, she's just reading and re-reading the letter in silence, so when Varian finds the garden, when he speaks up, she doesn't have her characteristic attentive air. She actually looks surprised, for a moment. ]

Yeah. ...They...have to be, right?

[alchemistake]

[Poor Peregrine. This isn't at all how Varian knows her to be. He can't exactly blame her of course, considering the events of the past weekend, but...it's still hard to see her like this.

He stays put where he is on the other bench, tapping his fingers against his knees as he tries to think of what to say.]

Yeah.

[Eloquent...]

They're...really nice, at least.

[Well made, he means. He's not sure Peregrine needs to hear his thoughts on how they don't really feel all that respectful to him right now.]

And in this garden, too...it's a good place for something like it.

[comeandfindme]

It is...

[ She runs her fingers over the letter as she glances back down at it. ]

...It'd be better if it wasn't all the way out here, but... I don't really expect them to have our best interests in mind.

[ It isn't bitter or cutting like usual. It's like the fire inside her is out. ]

[alchemistake]

[It makes him wish it were bitter or cutting. Otherwise it's just...

He's worried, for her. And he doesn't know what he can do to help. Being there for her, maybe...but that can only help so much.]

We could always move them, if we wanted. Nothing stopping us.

[comeandfindme]

[ She looks down. ]

We'd need to pull them up with something. Like a crowbar. [ ... ] They still feel...a little hollow, don't they? Like...a little tacky. That they'd give us something like this.

[ Pressing her fingers to the scratched out section of Connor's letter. ]

[alchemistake]

No, yeah...I agree. I was thinking the same thing.

[He just wasn't sure quite how to say that.]

It doesn't feel...as meaningful, as it could be.

[comeandfindme]

Probably 'cause it's the Wizard's fault we're here in the first place.

[alchemistake]

...yeah. Exactly.

[Varian runs his gloved hand carefully along the smooth wood of Mumble's bench.]

It's cruel. Just like giving us the ability to go outside...as if he's just trying to show us from every angle how we can't actually escape.

[Not with their lives, anyway.]

[comeandfindme]

[ To go outside, he says... ]

...The woods are messed up. Like— they aren't right. There's no sign of weathering or dead branches— it's like someone just...popped them down. Any animals I found are fake.

[alchemistake]

Wait, what?

[That actually is startling enough as a revelation to get him to sit up a bit straighter.]

Fake animals, weird trees...why?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine just shakes her head. ]

To freak us out? I don't know, I'm still trying to figure it out. Maybe it's to keep us disoriented, or... [ She shrugs helplessly. ]

[alchemistake]

[Yeah...that would make sense. It's a lot of trouble to go through, though.]

....what else do you think might not be real?

[comeandfindme]

I think...it's possible this whole place was just...made for us. Like it never really existed before the Wizard had need for it.

[ Which is possibly the scariest thing she's said out loud so far. ]

[alchemistake]

[Yeah that's, uh.

Varian doesn't even try to hide the shock in his expression.]

This...it could be an illusion. Put together with magic, somehow...

[Sure, it SEEMS all very real...until it's not.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Though she's the one who suggested it, Peregrine doesn't look too secure in her guess. ]

Maybe— maybe not completely an illusion, I don't know. It all feels solid, and real, but... If he could bring us here, turn a penguin into a human— what else could he do?

[alchemistake]

Well...he could have the resources to build a fake place for us to live in, that's for sure. In that case, it doesn't even have to be magic. As long as it's far enough and looks convincing enough for us not to get too suspicious...

[But uh, too late there.]

[comeandfindme]

...I don't really know if he cares about it not being suspicious. Like...if so...why not mess around with the trees when we weren't allowed outside? Why not...put more effort into the woods?

[ Considering it's her Whole Thing, like. ]

[alchemistake]

I don't know. I guess if he didn't want us to find out it wasn't real, he would have tried harder...

[And Peregrine has enough smarts about the woods to be able to find that shit like, immediately.]

The weird thing is...I'm not sure this garden is like that. It feels real, doesn't it?

[The plants, the tree...it's not like those out there in the woods, he thinks.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine hesitates. Does it? She hasn't really noticed, she's been too—

Well. Too all of this. ]

It... It feels different, that's for sure. If it wasn't...out in the middle of all this, it... I don't know. Sorry, I'm not— I'm not really feeling myself, right now.

[alchemistake]

It's okay. You don't have to apologize.

[Trust him, he gets it. AND HE'LL GET IT EVEN MORE IN A COUPLE DAYS FROM THIS THREAD I GUESS HAHA................]

I...hope you've been holding up okay.

[comeandfindme]

[ threads that retroactively become A LOT WORSE: THIS ONE!!!

Peregrine doesn't say anything for a long moment. ]

I'm... [ Cold. Alone. Helpless. She did this, she's going to die, they're all going to die— ] ...Not really. But...there's not really much I can do.

[alchemistake]

[ : ) ]

...I'm sorry.

[It feels...lame to say, and not helpful at all, but he wanted to anyway.]

Do you...want to be alone, or?

[He doesn't want to intrude, especially if she was specifically seeking solace right now.]

[comeandfindme]

No.

[ Instantly. Arms wrapped around herself. If Varian looks closely enough, he may be able to tell she's shaking— no. No, she's shivering. ]

No, I really...really don't.

[alchemistake]

[Well, that answers the question of what he's going to do next, then.]

...okay. Honestly...neither do I.

[It's a bold-faced lie, one of many he's going to tell this week.

He wants nothing more than to be alone.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Too in her own head to see beyond that, Peregrine accepts it.

So she'll just sit there, then. ]

...Thank you.