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

[alchemistake]

...it's okay.

[Being snapped at like that...of course it stings, a little. But he also feels like, hey, eye for an eye. It's not like he hasn't been doing his share of that today.

He settles down a little more, his hands pressed hard against his knees.]

I just...I know how much it hurts you, is all.

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah blatantly turns the phone so he can watch. She’s paused it, and is pointing at Chess.]

See? Right here. She completely misses me. [She clicks play.... And the tiny phone Farrah falls.]

[alchemistake]

Yeah...I see.

[Well...since he's not going to be able to convince her not to watch, he'll let this happen. He'll even settle to sit beside her more, so they can see it together.

Varian winces, seeing Farrah fall.]

I just...I don't understand why they would laugh. You could have gotten killed.

[Plain and simple. She's lucky she escaped with just a concussion.]

[brokeforgood]

They don’t show any of what happened after. Apparently, the ambulance shows up.

[She pauses the video again, and though it’s mid-shaky cam, you can still see Farrah on the field, Annleigh leaning over her—- Oh, there’s Riley, on the other side of the shot, staring in horror as if she herself had either dropped Farrah, or been the one to fall.

Chess— the one who dropped Farrah, is being escorted off the field by another girl who had been in Farrah’s motive photo on week two.]

Millions of people saw this.

[alchemistake]

[Varian thinks about the villagers crowding around when Quirin had confronted him about the boilers beneath the surface of the town nearly going nuclear. It had felt like the whole world had his eyes on him, in that moment.

He can't imagine how Farrah feels.]

...do you know who put this out there?

[Chess is a big part of the cause of the problem...but what about it being uploaded in the first place?]

[brokeforgood]

No. It’s passed around so much that it’s hard to tell who started it all. [Farrah shrugs.]

People repost it on different places... There are remixes, with different music, with playbacks of the fall and zooms on peoples faces... The whole nine yards. [She tries to sound distant. But she sounds like she’s going to be sick.]

Ugh. I need a drink, watching this.

[alchemistake]

[...this is one thing Varian hates about newer technology. It's too easy to be cruel.

He wishes he could understand why Farrah keeps watching it, if it upsets her and makes her want to turn to a bottle...but it's for the same reason he keeps reaching into his pocket and thumbing the amber hidden in there. It's like watching a car wreck. You just...can't get yourself to look away, no matter how hard you try.]

I don't blame you.

[He's not discouraging her, at least.]

I don't think those people in that video would be laughing if they were in your position. Or if they weren't anonymous.

[He looks down at his gloved hands in his lap.]

People are mean. ...and cowardly.

[brokeforgood]

[She sets the phone down. There’s no use in making him watch it any more— it’ll still be there for her later. Then, she lets out a quiet groan.]

You’d be surprised. Plenty of people continued to laugh about it, to my face. But... Yeah. People are mean. And cowardly. Especially high schoolers.

[alchemistake]

[Maybe...he shouldn't be so surprised by how cruel people can be anymore.

Yet somehow, he still finds himself wanting to think differently.]

They'd better be glad I'm not there to catch them laughing at you, then. I might not be from your time, but I could put together some things that'd scare their pants off.

[brokeforgood]

That might be kind of hard. [A beat. Then. She smiles, and bumps against his shoulder.]

Some of them are wearing skirts.

[alchemistake]

[FARRAH...Varian snorts, rolling his eyes.]

Oh, skirts. My bad.

[He's taking that as a sign that she's feeling a little better though...which is good.

Actually, that...gives him an idea.]

You know...I messed up really bad back home, too. Everyone saw it.

[brokeforgood]

Yeah? [She asks it without judgement, her voice soft, and weirdly sincere, for Farrah at least.]

What'd you do? Fuck up a game of chess? [...Okay, no judgement still, but she is teasing him a little.]

[alchemistake]

Nah. I...almost blew up my village. Accidentally.

[He swears.]

[brokeforgood]

Whoa. [Okay, that's a pretty big fuckup, and actually potentially damaging, unlike Farrah's fuckup, which wasn't even really her fuckup. She's quiet for a few moments.]

Well, at least it was almost. And an accident? That must have been... really rough.

[alchemistake]

Dad...wasn't happy about it.

[Varian sighs, propping his chin up on his knees.]

He was really disappointed. [And boy, does he have issues with that.] Even though I was just trying to help...my enthusiasm could have gotten a lot of people really hurt.

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah leans onto his shoulder, wrapping an arm around him.]

...Yeah. My-- real dad. He was really disappointed in me lately, too. [She chews on her lip for a bit, then squeezes Varian.] He wanted me to just stop... acting up. Stop upsetting my step-sister and step-mom and him, and just be normal.

It's weird. Salieri... has never been disappointed in me. Even when I really, really, really try to make him disappointed in me.

[alchemistake]

[Just be normal...those words being him back to his conversation with Peregrine, when she was encouraging him to be himself. Stressing that there wasn't anything wrong with him.]

Salieri is better than a lot of adults I know. Most of them want us to act a certain way...or, better than they did when they were our age.