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

investigation

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[So, this week has been... Something! But Cassandra seems emboldened, following yesterday's motive announcement. So! Time to push everything waaaay down, and meet the new day with confidence!

Morning comes around and, true to Cassandra's word, she's off to the gym bright and early for some investigating. She doesn't expect much; they've all spent more than enough time in here, but it might be worth a look... starting with a peek under those collapsible bleachers.

Later on, around lunch, Cassandra's absent from lunch. A quick search will discover that she moved into the weight room for - what else? - a one-woman workout routine. She can found here making use of everything, either on her back, lifting a barbell, or testing her leg strength with the weight-lifting equipment. It's just a cycle, from one thing to the other, all with the same determined fervor.

Because sometimes you just need to put all of your energy and focus into working as much as possible, and then you'll have nothing to spare for other things you need to think about.

Like motives! Who cares about those, right?

But make no mistake, Cassandra does come to the animal husbandry club. At least... physically. Mentally, she might be far away from here, but physically, the dark-haired woman is on her back in the grass.

Cassandra is de- No, not dead. Just tired. And a couple of baby chickens have settled on top of her chest, peeping at her inquisitively.]

Animal Husbandry

[sugarlumps]

Those birds are gonna poop on you if you leave them there.

[helping]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

My whole life's already been pooped on as it is. What's another mess I have to deal with?

[But she will try and shoo the chicks off of her. They seem awfully comfortable where they are.]

[sugarlumps]

...Okay but this would literal poop and that'd be gross.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

...Ugh, you're right.

Do you want a turn with these little guys?

Club

[defyingfrigidity]

[Elsa's been worried all week. She really... doesn't want to let Cass out of her sight, not after that moment in the woods. It's not that she's suspicious, or that she thinks something might happen... she just doesn't like seeing the other woman like this. It makes something in her chest twist, and that alone is a lot to process.

Cass has been doing such a good job of looking out for them. Now it's time for someone to look out for Cass. Even if that just means sitting in the grass beside her, gently nudging at one of the chicks.]

Be careful. If you let them sit there for too long, you might have to change your clothes.

[... It's not really a good joke or even a good icebreaker. But she has to get Cass talking somehow.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Ah, Elsa is there. She's speaking to Cassandra, attempting to draw a conversation out of the woman laying on the ground. And why wouldn't she be? She's got to hear about Cassandra's problems.

She could just stay out of it, and leave Cassandra to her own devices. But she's sitting right there, beside her... close enough for Cassandra to see out of her periphery. Close enough to play with the little chicks, who peep-peep excitedly at the gentle nudging. If only she was as exited.]

...Ugh, you're right. [Terrible icebreaker or not, Cass pushes herself up onto her elbows. The baby chickens slide and tumble down into her arm, no worse for wear.] I was kind of hoping this club would be more... calming, I guess.

[defyingfrigidity]

[How could she stay out of it??? Cass is her friend, someone who's been making her feel things she never felt before. She's one of the most important people to Elsa in this prison, so there's no way she can stay out of it.

That, and she'd seen Cass's suffering earlier in the week. She'd held on to her as Cass admitted to her newly acquired memories and her betrayal of her friends. It's a heavy thing to be dealing with, and even if they hadn't partnered up to watch each others' backs, Elsa can't just leave someone to suffer with that alone. She understands that pain all too well, and she can't let anyone else go through it.

She isn't going to make Cass talk. Not about all of that, at least. she just... wants to keep her from completely withdrawing.]

Has it been calming?

[She gently nudges the chicks in Cass's arm again, making sure they're not piling on top of each other and settling safely in their new position.]

It looks like you were a little at ease there, letting these little ones relax with you.

Gym

[stagemanagers]

[The bleachers move easily enough; they're pretty well-oiled. There doesn't seem to be much underneath there, though.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Efficient and well-kept! She appreciates that.

But it only makes sense that there's nothing to find out here. They've all been in here long enough. Time to move on and check out the storage closet.]

[stagemanagers]

[You open the storage closet, and a couple of basketballs roll out. Inside the closet itself, it's dark - but you can see a large figure slumped against the back wall.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[OH GOD OH FUCK

Sword out. Let's investigate!!]

[stagemanagers]

[The figure is bulky and strangely proportioned, with a huge bulbous head and enormous staring eyes. As she comes closer, and her eyes adjust, Cass can see a huge mouth with buck teeth, frozen in an unnerving grin...

It's a Gershwin Groundhogs mascot suit.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[...

Cassandra reels an arm back and punches it.]

[stagemanagers]

[Why would you do this?! The Gershwin Groundhog loves you!]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Because she has a lot of unexamined anger issues stemming from her childhood and being trapped in this school.

Also she hates this face

Does it react at all?]

[stagemanagers]

[Nope! It loves you!]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[This is awful. She hates this.



So, it is a costume, right? Now that Cassandra's taken out some of her frustrations, she's going to try and look for any zippers, or whether the head can come off or not.]

[stagemanagers]

[There's a zipper in the back! Independently of that, the head does come off. There's no one inside right now!]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[That's better than finding a body! If there's nothing else to be found inside the suit, she'll leave it and its head to their own devices. And she's off to do the usual scan on the closet, checking behind containers and under mats for more of those weird carvings.]

[stagemanagers]

[There doesn't seem to be anything of the sort in here. Looks like there's some plastic containers that seem a little out-of-place, though.]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Oh??? Containers you say?? Let's have a look at what's in these containers then, shall we?]

[stagemanagers]

[It's paint! Looks like a sort of wood varnish-y paint?]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

...Huh.

[She is by no means a woodsmith. But do the containers look like they've been used?]

[stagemanagers]

[Yep, they aren't all full!]