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

cw: alcohol

[howtheworldwas]

[ In the early afternoon, Eurydice will stop by the vending machine to cash out her coins. Everything seems pretty standard, until she drops in her last coin, and a few sheets of paper slip out.

She recognizes them immediately.

You can find her, shellshocked and standing in a pile of junk, holding those papers. For a long time, she's just staring at them, hands shaking a little, and she won't notice you approach.

Eventually, she'll take them over to a table in the corner of the cafeteria, spreading them all out and marking them up with a pencil. She reads the contract over and over again. She reads the fine print. She circles text, she makes notes, she tries to look for any possible loopholes, but the terms are absolute: she belongs to Hades now, and her service is indefinite. She cannot quit, nor leave.

In the evening (before whatever the heck is happening in that ominous toplevel!), you might notice a small plume of smoke coming from the woods. Should you choose to approach it, you'll find Eurydice sitting in front of a bonfire, burning one page of the contract at a time. Every so often, she'll take a swig from the formerly-empty Mountain Dew bottle. She's mixed Persephone's wine, the green elixir absinthe, and the last of the Mountain Dew. It tastes just as bad as it sounds. Eurydice does not seem to care. ]

Woods | cw: alcohol

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus sits next to Eurydice in the woods, hugging his knees to his chest and watching the fire, his own deeply unfortunate misery cocktail sitting in a wine bottle next to him. He's silent, uncharacteristically sullen and withdrawn, as he tries to think things over. What can he do about this? What can either of them do? In the face of a contract written by a god?

He takes a pull of his mostly-absinthe concoction and grimaces. ]

Maybe we could get Mister Hermes and Lady Persephone to help. [ he says, slowly. ] They like you. There has to be something they can say to Lord Hades.

[ But, would they? Would they try to subvert the natural order for her? For them? He doesn't know. ]

[howtheworldwas]

They can't like me that much. We only just met.

[ Eurydice keeps staring at the fire. She tears a sheet in half, and tosses it in. ]

If the could do something about it, then why haven't they before? There are other workers down there. Same thing happened to them that happened to me. [ They got too cold, too hungry, ran out of options. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus shakes his head a little. ] No, Mister Hermes liked you a lot, I could tell. He kept trying to warn me that you were in trouble, and he seemed really upset when, um...

[ He trails off a little bit, staring into the flames. ]

And he told me how to follow you, without having to... go the same way. I was almost there, when I woke up on Sunday. [ At that, he takes a deep breath and looks over at her. ] I don't know about the other workers? But he was willing to break the rules for you. For us.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice's first instinct is to just dismiss that as a indication of the fact that Hermes cares for Orpheus, not for her. But there's a part of her that's honored, in a sad sort of way. She's prayed to him before, of course -- pretty much everyone on the road has -- but she never really thought he'd listen, much less care.

It makes her decision feel all the more foolish, now. Orpheus loved her, and apparently even Hermes cared, and she still thought everything was hopeless. She still chose to go. ]

...then can you thank him for me? If -- if I don't make it back.

[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.

[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. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

I know.

[ Orpheus takes the page and glances over it, before wrinkling his nose at it and tossing it into the fire. ]

I know gods don't... see things the same way we do. Play by the same rules we do. I've known that my whole life. Mom and Mister Hermes told me the stories, the good ones and the bad ones. But. Something has to be able to make them see that they can't treat us like this.

[ What was it Mumble kept saying, about the Wizard? ]

If we just... appeal to their better nature. [ He says it quietly, like he's not entirely sure of the idea himself. But it's all he has. ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice thinks about that for a while, as she watches Orpheus burn the page. Can that be done? Does Lord Hades have a better nature? ]

I think...part of him thinks he's doing something good, by giving us a job. He'll call us, um. His children? Sometimes? [ Even though they're anything but. Saying that out loud, in front of Orpheus, makes her feel a little ill. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh. [ Again, Orpheus pulls a face at that. ] I... guess I can see that? People don't usually do things just to make other people miserable.

[ Usually. He takes a deep breath and sighs. ]

And I guess it would've been easier to believe it was an offer worth taking, if he genuinely thought that himself.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Oh people absolutely do that, but Eurydice does not have it in her to correct Orpheus right now. Instead, she takes another drink from the bottle.

Then Orpheus talks about believing Hades, and even though she knows he doesn't mean it like that, Eurydice can't help but feel like a complete idiot. She went so long being careful, critical, and untrusting of people, and when it mattered most, when it could have prevented all of this, she just...believed him. She didn't consider any ulterior motives, didn't think about the cost. ]

'You won't feel a thing,' he said
'When you go down'

[ She stops there, the rest of the words caught in her throat.

Quieter: ]

When he offers you the deal, it's like...like he almost understands. [ firmer, with some edge to it: ] But he doesn't really. He doesn't understand anything at all.

[themuseabandonsyou]

At least if he thinks it's a mercy, taking people in like that - there's a chance he could be convinced that it's not. We could make him understand. What it is he's taking away from people.

[ Life. Hope. Love. It would be hard, of course, gods are notoriously stubborn, but Orpheus sees a chance at something there, and is already thinking about how best to use it. ]

[howtheworldwas]

Yeah. If he's willing to listen. [ Eurydice's thinking about it too, and although she's less optimistic...maybe there's a chance. ] Maybe you were right about Lady Persephone. She might be able to understand.

Woods

[violentenvies]

[Well that certainly gets his attention. He'll go investigate out of curiosity...only to find Eurydice there, burning some papers. Salieri's eyebrows hike up towards his hairline, surprised]

...Eurydice?

[howtheworldwas]

Hey, Antonio.

[ Eurydice keeps staring into the bonfire, but she does hold up the Mountain Dew bottle. ]

You want something to drink? Tastes like shit, but it works.

[violentenvies]

...well, far be it from me to turn my nose up at such an offer. [he'll take that from her, moving to sit down as well before he dares to take a sip of it. He immediately winces, pulling it away from his mouth and sputtering a bit]

I see you were not joking about the flavor. [he'll hand that back to her, then]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice chuckles a little and takes the bottle back. ]

Told you so. You just need to get used to it. I've had worse on the road -- at least this wasn't made in a bathtub. [ Usually, when Eurydice talks about her life before the school, she's tense and guarded. Now, she sounds almost nostalgic. ]

[violentenvies]

[...huh. He's going to note that difference, glancing at her sidelong]

...a bathtub. Truly?

[howtheworldwas]

Mmm-hmm. Cheaper that way. I knew a guy who used to sell it. Did pretty well for himself.

[ gods, she hasn't thought about him in years. she tends not to dwell on the places she's been after she leaves them. ]

It's honestly not that much different than what you did with the mead, except. You know. Worse.

[violentenvies]

I suppose when you must make do...

[he trails off]

Would you like me to make more of it?

[howtheworldwas]

[ oh, boy, "making do" would be Eurydice's middle name, if she had one.

she shrugs. ]

I mean...you can if you want? [ finally, she'll turn to look him in the eyes, her expression deadly serious. ] But you know, you do a lot for us. You have to take care of yourself, too.

[ otherwise, he'll get too tired. and when that happens, he might make bad decisions. Eurydice would know. ]

[violentenvies]

[somewhere, someone is laughing in Investigation Bad Decisions.

Salieri, however, can't help but look a little startled as she looks at him and says that--and then immediately looks guilty, glancing away. No one's really exactly brought it up yet, and he hasn't seen fit to mention that he hasn't been sleeping very well since Sunday. Insofar, he's fairly certain the only one who knows is Discord, but that's mostly due them sharing a similar issue.

He has been feeling tired. He's been feeling exhausted actually, but has his makeup to thank for keeping him looking mostly the same. Fortunately, he already wore heavy eyeliner when he got here, and that has been his saving grace.

That, and putting his focus into the people around him. It's been keeping him going in a lot of ways, and has kept his mind off of, well...everything. It's odd; he would never call himself a selfless person. Living in Court taught him to be selfish and to watch his own back first and foremost. But here...in such a short amount of time, all of that's completely changed. He cares for everyone here. Even people he would normally find annoying, naive or not worth his time he's come to care for, deeply. It's dangerous to do so in a place like this; a place where death seems to keep happening around them, despite their every attempt to prevent it.

And yet, he's far too deep in now to stop.

So to that pointed statement he...doesn't have a reply]

[howtheworldwas]

[ The silence is all the reply she needs. Eurydice briefly looks down at the remaining contract pages, before looking up at the fire.

She's quiet too, for a while. ]

I can still smell the fire
Though I know it's long died out
The smoke still hangs in my hair
And on some quiet evenings it burns my eyes

Antonio, play your violin
We will manage somehow

[violentenvies]

[Salieri listens as Eurydice sings, and it curls in his chest melancholy but determined.

And after a moment he leans over, gently pressing their shoulders together, a grounding point of contact, voice quiet as he sings in return]

And it's a long way forward, but trust in me
I'll give them shelter like you've done for me
And I know you’re not alone, I’ll keep watching over us
Until it’s done
It’s done…

[howtheworldwas]