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

MONDAY

[stagemanagers]

cw: scars, dissociation

[barberic]

[Benjamin is far steadier on his feet today than he was yesterday, although just looking at him makes it clear that he's far from back to normal. He's miles away, but also troubled at the same time.

In the morning, he goes to the Boys' Bathroom, going through the motions of taking care of his basic needs and splashing water on his face. But then he catches his reflection in the mirror and spends an agonizingly long time scrutinizing it, the wrinkles and the stubble that's started to come in along his jaw and down his cheeks from four weeks without a razor.

Then with shaking hands, he takes off his shirt (a first, since he's hardly even undressed in front of his roommates), turning and trying to look over his shoulder to see his back in the mirror. Anyone walking in will see the copious thick, white scars that crisscross his back.

After what he finds in the bathroom he seems even more distant. He goes outside, where one might be forgiven for being a little worried about him wandering off into the woods by himself. But he can be found at the garden, sitting on Sissi's memorial bench, his elbows propped on his knees and his head hanging down.

He comes back inside when it starts to get dark, going to the vending machine and putting in some coins that he found. The first eight items are nothing exciting, and he's about to just kind of sad-roomba them in the most logical spots to leave them for others, when he finds one more coin at the bottom of his pocket. He puts it in, because he may as well.

A small, silver locket falls down into the receptacle. He takes it out, and as he turns it over in his hands, they begin to shake. He drops to his knees, clutching the locket to his chest, all of the emotion that he hasn't shown all day flooding out of him in great, wretched sobs.]

garden

[howtheworldwas]

[ Lately, Eurydice has been trying to spend as much time as she can outside. It helps her feel less boxed in.

She knows Mister Barker has been distant these past couple of days, but she doesn't have the full picture. Seeing him like this, with his head held low...it saddens her, in a way she didn't anticipate.

She'll sit nearby, but not too close, on Connor's bench. He gave her the gentle luxury of space, once. She can do the same for him. ]

I'm sorry.

[ It's not much, but it is heartfelt. ]

Boys' Bathroom

[themuseabandonsyou]

Mister Barker?

[ Orpheus's voice is high and distressed as he walks in, taken aback by the sight of all the scars. He'd known something had happened to Mister Barker on Sunday, but this? These wounds looked old and vicious. He hurries over, not reaching out to touch him but hovering awkwardly in concern. ]

Are you - what happened?

Vending Machine

[violentenvies]

[Salieri hears the sobs just as he steps out of the Cafeteria--and it's enough to turn his head in that direction in immediate concern, taking off down the hallway towards the sound.

His stomach feels like it plummets to his feet when he realizes who it is, and as Salieri slows to a stop next to Benjamin, he drops down next to him, already reaching out to put a hand on his shoulder or an arm around him--]

Benjamin? Benjamin, what's wrong--?

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob wakes up after the sleepover bright and early, as normal. He almost immediately heads back to the Rodgers Dorm to get his clothes for the day when he sees all the coins next to his bed.

...He's been a little inconsistent on making breakfast for everyone, which he admittedly feels pretty guilty about, but it doesn't take that long to use the concession stand. Right?

Spongebob as usual, likes most of his stuff, he is painfully easy to please, after all. But when the maid dress pops out he seems really annoyed, much more annoyed than usual.]

Ugh, was this stupid thing really in there this whole time? Is the Wizard trying to send a message?

[This is maybe the first thing Spongebob's been really tempted to toss something out

But eventually, a snail pops out. Spongebob is stunned.]

G... Gary?

["Gary" meows, and Spongebob instantly starts crying and hugging the snail.]

Oh Gary I thought I would never see you again! How long have you been hanging out in there? I bet you're hungry after all this time! There's no snail food here so how about some homemade breakfast?

[Gary meows again and climbs on top of his shoulder.]

Alright, one order of pancakes for Gary coming up!

[Spongebob goes to the kitchen to make breakfast for everyone and Gary. He looks like this is the happiest he's been since before the first murder, cheerfully babbling to Gary while he flips an absurd amount of pancakes.

After breakfast, he's spending most of his day in the garden, cuddling his pet snail while enjoying the outside air.

For once, he feels content.]

Garden

[alchemistake]

[As much of Spongebob's "home movies" as Varian did manage to watch during his no-murder party, Gary isn't someone he actually got to see. Not in the flesh from what he saw, anyway...but he has heard of Gary. Spongebob told him about his beloved pet snail a while back, and Varian assured him that wherever he was, he was probably okay.

Well, now he can hardly believe his eyes. He's...relieved to know he was right, but he thought Gary was like. Tiny? An actual garden snail, like the ones you'd have in a terrarium?? He didn't find the notion of keeping him fed too odd since everything needs to eat but now he...thinks he might understand that a bit more.

Either way, Varian of course is going to approach once he realizes what he's looking at, getting down on both knees in front of the pair.]

Is...that Gary?!

snail on a skateboard

[feudalladyshandmaid]

What.

[Here Cassandra is, trying to make her way through the day without too much of a fuss. And here's Spongebob at the concession stand with... what appears to be a giant snail on a wheeled plank of wood. She'd watched some of the 'Home movies' Spongebob had aired for the rest of the group at his party, but not enough that she'd ever caught a glimpse of his lovable pet.

So. This is new.]

And... that's a big snail.

kitchen

[tellthestory]

Oh - Spongebob. You're making breakfast?

[After you were so down yesterday, he just sort of figured you wouldn't? Which is fine! But so's this! The Balladeer gets about two seconds of normalcy as he walks into the kitchen, and then he sees Gary.]

What is that.

Snail Time

[defyingfrigidity]

[Well that is. Most certainly one of the most bizarre things to come out of that machine. Out of all the live animals she's seen scampering out, that's.... hm.]

Did that... snail just meow?

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah had fallen asleep in her own space, in a pile full of stuffed animals. When she bolts up in the middle of the night from a nightmare, she looks around the room, assessing her options.

Salieri’s too boney. Discord’s too boney, and she doesn’t want to wake up graffiti’d on her face. The Balladeer’s too—- jesus christ, why were all the guys here so skinny? In the end, both the safest and the comfiest option is wriggling into Varian and Rina’s personal space, which is where she can be found on Monday morning.

After she wiggles out of that pile, she can be found fluttering around the entire school, acting with a purpose. Her favorite place so far is the football field, where she can be found soaking up the sun while sprawled in the turf, or occasionally doing handstands or cartwheels.

She can also be found in the cornfield. She’s jumping out at people through the corn.]

Boo!!!

Football Field

[stagemanagers]

[So. Farrah!

While you're spending so much time on the football field, you're almost certain to notice the large patch of disturbed earth just outside the entrance to it! That's probably fine, right?]

cornfield

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It's unfortunate that you've done this, Farrah.

Because, Cassandra was just trying to investigate the corn, and now she's flinching back at the should. Her hand reflexively flies to the sword at her side. It gets nearly halfway out of its sheath before she realizes.]

Farrah? What are you doing?!

football field

[tailor_made]

[At some point before Farrah becomes a feral graverobber, Hester has decided to take a little break from her office hours to get some fresh air! She all but skips up the path to the football field, her arms full of green and white pom-poms that match the cheerleading uniform she's changed into.]

Farrah~! Are you doing anything right now?

Investigating here Mods!

[alchemistake]

[It's Monday, and Varian seems to be in notably brighter spirits than he was on Sunday. He's had it reaffirmed to him, time and time again, that the things he thinks might be set in stone...simply aren't. He has the power to change his own destiny. His memories may not paint the whole picture of what's happened. Believing it all at face value would be harmful not only to himself, but to those the memories affect.

He just needs to push forward and focus on today. Right now. The things he can do with his own two hands. He's thankful to have people he can talk to that remind him of that- Rina, Salieri, Farrah, Maya, Elsa, and so many others. The sleepover from last night reminded him of that.

The first thing he'll do today is Investigate. He's not woods savvy like Peregrine, so instead of going there, he's going to look around the garden in particular. What's up with this space, exactly? It's an open little area with a tree, rocks set up around it, benches and the pool of water, but is that really all there is to see? He's going to take a stroll and find out.

Later on, he'll be found in the Hallway making his way back from the boy's bathroom. He looks kindof frustrated, and it's easy to see why- some of the clothes he put together are just...fucking destroyed with grease stains. He's never worked with a car before, and he got himself...so dirty fixing it...and now that he's realized huh, I kindof like this outfit, he's trying to clean it up and it's not working. So he'll hail anyone passing by, a bundle of semi-wet clothes in his arms.]

Do you know how I can get grease out of something? I didn't realize it'd gotten so bad but I guess my apron didn't really catch everything.

[And usually he doesn't care, but...look. He has a girlfriend now. He wants to look...nice...

Later on, Varian can be found at the Gayseball Field. After some rummaging around he's discovered the baseball equipment, and he's got a baseball in hand. It's kindo hard to play by yourself, but there he is throwing the ball up high and catching it as it comes down.

You might even be right there in time to watch as the ball comes down, he misses catching it, and it clocks him right in the eye, his hands coming up to slowly grip his face as he just.

Slowly bends over with an elongated sound of pain, please don't perceive his dumbass]

Oooowww.

Investigation!

[stagemanagers]

[Well, one of the first things you might notice is that...there's no poisonous plants here. All of this stuff is safe for humans! Maybe that's normal for a regular person's garden, but for a murdergame...?]

Garden time

[samefacesyndrome]

[ After Varian's had some time to investigate, he might hear Rina coming up the path, a prop picnic basket in both of her hands. When she gets to the garden and sees him already there though she stops in her tracks. ]

Ah--

[ ...... ]

You're already there...

[ shit she meant to get here earlier to set up. ]

[disharmonizes]

[After the sleepover, Discord wakes up and... well, really he wakes up as it's going. And he doesn't really sleep much, after. So for a while he's in the lounge, getting acquainted with the coffee machine. He's making... a lot of coffee. Like, a bunch. And dumping in a lot of sugar. Honestly a potentially dangerous amount of sugar. Geez, buddy.

Once he forces a bunch of caffeine into his body, he eventually makes his way into the garden. Not that he's particularly impressed by it. He rolls his eyes, leaning against the tree.]

Well, isn't this all nice and scenic.

[Though he pauses a little after, when he actually looks at those benches and, oh, that's. Fun. And maybe he's just going to leave right after, because this is not feeling so great.

And, well, eventually it's time to mess with the vending machine again, get rid of some of these coins. He'll put his latest cat plushie on his shoulder, where it'll stay balanced. As some of that tea he gets floats around him and sings. Idly tossing that amber chunk up and down as he examines his latest gains.]

benches

[comeandfindme]

Hollow, isn't it?

[ Peregrine says this, but she's sitting on one of those benches right now.

garden

[violentenvies]

[Salieri, leaning on the other side of the tree which has been just thick enough to hide him and who has been here reading a book the whole time, pipes up. Hi, Discord.]

I certainly thought so.

lounge

[stagemanagers]

[Wow, Discord! That's a lot of coffee! You're probably gonna have to dip in the coffee reserves in the upper cabinets for that!]

[defyingfrigidity]

[So the sleepover last night was great! Honestly. The "afterparties" in the wake of each trial these past few weeks have helped fight off the spiraling despair, but this? This was just... fun. It was nice to be able to forget things for a while, and to really bond more with everyone. Even as the party dragged on into the late hours of the night, Elsa stayed up with everyone.

When she wakes up the next morning, she's still in Broadhurst dorm, snuggled up in a nest of blankets and pillows... and not alone. Drowsy and still mostly asleep, Elsa mumbles incoherently and moves closer to the person she'd fallen asleep leaning against - Cassandra.]


Mmmmnnn... is it morning already...?


[... Well. That was certainly a way to wake up. After all of that is over with, Elsa heads to the vending machine. Honestly, she's had a lot more fun watching others approach this thing; she's never been a very materialistic person, so she really has no fierce desire to find something from home come through. Still... she's curious, so she'll feed a few coins in...

And then immediately jump back as something clearly on fire shoots out of the machine past her.]

Whoa-!

[She's about to run off to find some water - her magic too weak to put out even a small fire like that - when she notices something... familiar about the flames. That purple-pink glow, the way the spark darts this way and that... it's almost like...]

Hey, h-hold on, little guy! It's me!

[The little fireball stops in its tracks at the sound of Elsa's voice, and as the flames settle into a stationary burn, anyone watching will see that it's not some sort of living fireball... but what seems to be a blue-skinned salamander. The little lizard lets out a confused squeak, head twitching this way and that, before it pads over to Elsa. The queen kneels down down, holding her hand out low and smiling as the strange creature sniffs her fingers.]

You've been trapped here too, huh? I'm sorry, that must have been pretty scary...

Broadhurst

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Hmm... Mmmm.

[Somehow, despite their position, Cassandra was sleeping... pretty soundly. Maybe it was the nest of blankets and pillows, or maybe it could have something to do with the woman cuddled into the crook of her shoulder. Truly, it's a mystery.

But just as Elsa stirs from her slumber, so does the other woman. Just a little noise at first, like she wants to fight it and stay comfortable. Then, in her half-sleeping state...]

Mmmmorning? Five more minutes, Crowley...

[brokeforgood]

Oh my gosh. Look at that cute little guy. [Farrah’s here for her daily diet coke. She coos softly at the little lizard.]

It’s pretty messed up that living things are in there.

vending machine

[comeandfindme]

[ A cute little lizard? …Who is literally on fire?!

Peregrine is passing by or meaning to when the flames start spurting out, and naturally that draws her attention, she’s ready to— actually she has literally nothing that would help with sudden arson so honestly be pretty useless, but then Elsa calms the fire to reveal the cute lizard.

Well. First thing’s first: ]

Is- was that lizard on fire?