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]

[If there's one thing that can still bring Benjamin running, it's a scream for help.

He runs into the theater and skids to a stop, when he sees the broken pile of wood and plastic, slicked with red, too bright, too shiny, too wet-

He gasps, ragged and soft, his hands shaking, something inside him fraying with a near tangible snap.]

I'll remember it forever...

[violentenvies]

[The screaming, as well, has brought Salieri close behind, slowing to a stop next to Benjamin.]

Benjamin, what--

[That's when he notices where the Balladeer is laying. Salieri's seen several bodies, now, thanks to this school, but this...this is the most gruesome sight he's seen so far. He immediately feels sick to his stomach, unthinkingly reaching out to steady himself with a hand on Benjamin's arm, voice faint in his throat as he pales in horror]

--no.

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah’s quick to follow—- even if she knows what this kind of ruckus normally means.

She regrets it almost immediately.

Farrah knows what it’s like to fall. Everything slows down in those moments. You see your life. And when you hit the ground—-

Farrah doesn’t scream this time. She wails. ]

[violentenvies]

[That is more than enough to jolt him out of the shock he'd been stuck in, and he immediately turns, already reaching for her]

Farrah--Farrah, don't look--

[barberic]

[Benjamin jolts, at the hand on his arm and at Farrah's wail.

It's all he needs- He twists toward them and reaches out, wordlessly and abruptly pulling both of them into a hug to block their view.]

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah feels like she’s going to fall, too. Salieri’s told her not to look, but it’s much too late.

But then, they’re both there. It’s painfully reminiscent of how Salieri and the Balladeer had comforted her just days ago, and her heart aches in agony. But she does not fall. Instead, she clings to them both, desperate and fearful. And against Benji’s solid frame, she screams again.]

[violentenvies]

[it's horrible, horrible--and for a moment, Salieri can do nothing but press his face to Benjamin's shoulder, shuddering, clutching at him--keeping an arm around Farrah and just...holding her as well as she screams. He feels as fragile as glass, one moment away from shattering, the image of the Balladeer's corpse seeming seared into the backs of his eyelids--

He's gone, he's gone, that's his friend--]

cw: dissociation

[barberic]

[Benjamin is steady as a stone, his arms tight around them as they cling to him, their faces pressed to his chest. He can feel Farrah's screams muffled in his shirt, her breath soaking through the fabric, desperate and animalistic, and Antonio shaking against him, and he can't-

Farrah's screams sound like they're happening on another planet, for all that blood rushes in his ears, Benjamin's gaze fixed, unfocused, on a point out the theater doors. The Balladeer is gone. Benjamin avoided finding either of the other two bodies, so this is the first he's seen outside of the executions, and there was so much of it, dripping off of the wood, he's acutely aware of his own throbbing through his veins, and he can see himself holding them, like this is happening to someone else, like he might wake up and hear the Balladeer's gentle breathing from the bed next to his, where he should have been-

But he can't fall apart. Not when Antonio and Farrah need him to be steady.]

Re: cw: dissociation

[brokeforgood]

[ After she’s screamed out everything she has against Benjamin, Farrah tries to pull herself together. Her eyes sting, her throats raw and scratchy, and she’s acutely aware of the mess she’s made. But she can’t let go. Not yet. Not with the way Salieri trembles, or the way that Benji is terribly still.

She tilts her head away from him, just so, so that she can breathe. She can’t even bring herself to sing for the Balladeer, not with her throat like this, but she can whisper.]

He was a person too.

1/2 cw: disassociation

[violentenvies]

[For a long moment there, Benjamin is a solid rock to cling to, steady as he tries to make sense of the Balladeer being gone, of the sight of him laid out like that.

But then Farrah pulls back, slightly, and says that--and he can feel the hairline fractures in him expand, threatening to cause him to break and shatter entirely.

He can't do that though. He cannot. There are other people he cares about here who need help, other children--he can't think about this now. So Salieri takes a shaky breath and takes all those pieces of himself that are barely holding together and tucks them away, pulls back. It's easy, after all; this is a practiced mask that he puts on, calm and steady, drawn away from any messy emotions.]

2/2

[violentenvies]

[Salieri pulls back slightly from Benjamin, just enough so he can speak but not enough to leave the embrace fully]

He was. [his voice is a bit hoarse, and he clears his throat--before he's shifting in Benjamin's hold so he can turn his focus to Farrah]

Farrah, I need to ask a favor of you.

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah tilts her head up, looking at him with damp, wide eyes. She’s willing to do anything for him right now. So she nods.]

Yeah?

[violentenvies]

[he reaches over to frame her face in his hands again, thumb brushing away some of the tears on her cheeks] I need you to turn around and walk out, and check on Varian and Rina and make sure they're alright. Don't look back. Can you do that for me?

[brokeforgood]

[She hesitates. She doesn’t want to leave them. But she also has the uncontrollable desire to listen to Salieri, and make him happy by being a good girl.

She takes a steadying breath, then—- nods. She releases them both, squeezing Salieri’s hand, and giving him an oddly determined sort of look.]

I love you.

[And then she looks to Benji—- reaches for his hand, to squeeze it too, and look directly at him.]

I love you. [And then she turns swiftly on her heel, to go find where Varian and Rina are. Salieri’s right, and they probably need her. She can be a good girl, and listen, and to straight for them.

But before she leaves, she does pause in the doorway. She doesn’t look at the rubble. But she does look back, at Salieri.]

[barberic]

[Benjamin is with it enough to notice when Farrah and Antonio recover, slowly. He keeps his arms around them for as long as he can, but eventually lets them go, ignoring the way it leaves him feeling cold and empty and lost.

When Farrah takes his hand, tells him she loves him, his breath hitches, and his expression crumples. Before she pulls away from him he squeezes her hand, brings it up to his lips and kisses her knuckles.

I love you too.]

[violentenvies]

[Despite himself, Salieri feels his throat go tight when Farrah tells him she loves him, and then further when she says it to Benjamin. His fingers curl in the back of Benjamin's shirt where he's still holding on to him]

I love you, too. [it's hoarse, and he presses himself against Benjamin's side as Farrah leaves, watching her go, using the other man as a grounding presence to keep from going after her, from following and making sure she won't disappear.

Salieri swallows, and as she looks back in the doorway, he can't help but feel a painful throb of fond exasperation--of course she looked back. It's Farrah. He meets her gaze and manages a small smile, despite the way his heart squeezes in his chest]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Wow, that was a very touching and heartfelt moment! But the Balladeer's body is still here, and the Wizard still sucks, so after Farrah leaves, Eurydice is just going to butt in and whisper: ]

We need to get him out of here. Now.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri turns, glancing at Eurydice at that--she's right, of course. And he sniffs, once, wiping at his cheeks with the cuff of his sleeve, before he nods]

Just tell us what to do.

[howtheworldwas]

[ in the quiet, tense tones of someone trying very hard to keep it together. ]

We need to move the body to a place where we can prepare it. Then, we get it outside.

[ it looks like Mister Barker is already stepping up to help. ]

[barberic]

[Benjamin is looking in the direction Farrah went, so Eurydice manages to sneak up on him.

But he looks at her, and then back at the body lying on the stage.

He'd told the Balladeer that he had a real chance to change things this time. Not as a narrator, but as one of them. And where had that gotten him?]

...I can carry him.

[I think it's going to be okay. Besides, who'd go after you?]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ By now Orpheus has gotten most of the debris cleared away, except... the shards of wood that the Balladeer is impaled on. He's not sure if he should try to remove those, but he'll stand aside and let Mister Barker step in. ]

I can get a cloth from the prop room to wrap him in [ he says, voice hollow and distant as he absently tries to wipe the blood from his hands, staining his white jacket. ] It won't be a proper shroud, but it's something.

[barberic]

[Benjamin approaches Orpheus with the slow purpose of a pallbearer.

He doesn't say much, but he nods at the idea of getting something to shroud him with. When Orpheus steps aside, Benjamin drops down to one knee next to the Balladeer's body.

His throat is tight, heart seized up in his chest.]

We'll take care of you, my friend. You can rest now.

[He closes the Balladeer's sightless, staring eyes, and then looks closer at the fatal debris piercing his body, as he arranges the body carefully in a way to make it easier to lift.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri moves to Benjamin's side for a moment, pale as he looks down at the Balladeer]

...how can I help? [his voice is strained, but there]

[barberic]

[Benjamin looks up at Antonio, and then rises to his feet.]

Can you get his feet? I want to move him off of the wreckage, then we can shroud him when Orpheus comes back.

[He moves to the heaviest part of the Balladeer (and the part that will require the most effort, if the fatal pieces of wreckage don't just come up with the body), his shoulders, and crouches down to find a grip under the dead man's armpits.]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri swallows, but nods, shrugging out of his jacket taken from the costume shop and tossing it aside on the stage so he has better movement, going around towards where the Balladeer's feet are and bending down to wrap his hands around the man's ankles so he can hopefully help lift him--detach, detach, don't think about it too hard--]