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

[comeandfindme]

[ It's cold. Oh— oh, god, it's so, so cold—


Peregrine wakes up shivering. Quite unlike her, early riser that she is, she stays in bed in Rodger's Dorm for quite some time, wrapping herself up in her blankets. She's not sleeping, nor is she peaceful; her eyes are open wide, staring. She'd fallen asleep with her red cloak around her, and she pulls it closer now.

When she finally does rise, her morning routine is...different. Instead of going to get a bite to eat, going to workout, she heads for Broadhurst. She doesn't know what brought about the thought, that maybe he might have actually left something. But she has to see, nevertheless.

She swallows down her fear as she kneels at Connor's trunk, before opening it, and—

Oh.

Peregrine stays there for awhile. She just quietly reads the letter and holds it very close. She'll be there for awhile.

After that, she has some people to find, doesn't she? So she sets off looking for a few people. Her first priority is Orpheus, for the record.

Once she has...most of that squared away, well— apparently the doors are open?

Peregrine stands at the edge of the woods for a long time. If she wasn't the kind of person she is—

Doesn't she almost seem afraid?

Eventually, she does venture out to investigate, slowly, taking note of any milestones or anything that could lead her back. She's looking for animals, looking for paths, looking for anything. She isn't getting too far from the school just yet, not without finding ways to get back, like particularly notable trees or bushes, any rocks— Peregrine is not going to get herself lost, not again—

When she eventually comes across the garden, finds the benches, she just sits at the one engraved with Connor's name. She withdraws the letter again from her pocket and reads it. There's no deer hide liner in her cloak, but still, she draws it close around her. Maybe Connor was wrong; maybe it's warm enough after all. ]

Garden

[alchemistake]

[Varian hadn't even noticed the garden when he first came across the woods. The outside itself was overwhelming in a good way and a lot to absorb, so it probably makes sense it took him a little bit. So with Ruddiger out getting to spend some quality time with the trees, Varian goes for a walk alone.

He isn't expecting to find somebody already there when he arrives, with the benches lining the area. He can see from a distance that they have plaques on them...and he doesn't have to get too much closer to realize what they are.

Something about their existence feels hollow. He's not sure if it reads as much as an honorable tribute to those who had died than a mocking reminder that they're no longer here. They would still be here if it weren't for this place.

Varian eventually moves over to quietly take a seat on Mumble's bench, nearby but not like...right next to Peregrine or anything, since he doesn't want to intrude on her space.]

These are...new.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks up with a start. She's usually always vigilant, usually always watching. You'd think in the woods she'd be even more so.

And yet, she's just reading and re-reading the letter in silence, so when Varian finds the garden, when he speaks up, she doesn't have her characteristic attentive air. She actually looks surprised, for a moment. ]

Yeah. ...They...have to be, right?

[alchemistake]

[Poor Peregrine. This isn't at all how Varian knows her to be. He can't exactly blame her of course, considering the events of the past weekend, but...it's still hard to see her like this.

He stays put where he is on the other bench, tapping his fingers against his knees as he tries to think of what to say.]

Yeah.

[Eloquent...]

They're...really nice, at least.

[Well made, he means. He's not sure Peregrine needs to hear his thoughts on how they don't really feel all that respectful to him right now.]

And in this garden, too...it's a good place for something like it.

[comeandfindme]

It is...

[ She runs her fingers over the letter as she glances back down at it. ]

...It'd be better if it wasn't all the way out here, but... I don't really expect them to have our best interests in mind.

[ It isn't bitter or cutting like usual. It's like the fire inside her is out. ]

[alchemistake]

[It makes him wish it were bitter or cutting. Otherwise it's just...

He's worried, for her. And he doesn't know what he can do to help. Being there for her, maybe...but that can only help so much.]

We could always move them, if we wanted. Nothing stopping us.

[comeandfindme]

[ She looks down. ]

We'd need to pull them up with something. Like a crowbar. [ ... ] They still feel...a little hollow, don't they? Like...a little tacky. That they'd give us something like this.

[ Pressing her fingers to the scratched out section of Connor's letter. ]

hello, it's me

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus isn't too hard to find. He's in the kitchen, taking inventory, later in the day than he usually does it and seeming more than a little distracted as he tries to work some things out in his head. He doesn't notice right away when Peregrine walks in, busy staring blankly at the back of a can of mushroom soup. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ ...Taking inventory. Right. She— she was going to do that. Should do that. Everything just seems a little...difficult right now— ]

Orpheus?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ There's a delay between Peregrine calling his name and Orpheus actually looking up, long enough that she'd be forgiven for worrying he hadn't heard her. But he does, blinking blearily at her. ]

Oh, hi, Peregrine. Did you need something?

[comeandfindme]

[ With how he looks, she almost regrets this. Is this the wrong thing to do right now? ]

Uh... Well, I just... I have something for you.

[ A pouch jangles in her hand as she turns it over. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ He does come back into focus a little bit as she talks to him, at least, looking at the pouch with curiosity. ]

What's this? [ he asks, reaching out for it. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ She places it in his palm. ]

It's...from Connor. His coins. He said... He left them to you.

INVESTIGATION

[stagemanagers]

[For one, you're gonna need that dead reckoning; there's no paths out here. There's little sign that any other humans have been out here at all. It's very quiet.

Which is odd, perhaps, because if Peregrine looks up, she can see the shapes of birds perched in some of the tree branches.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Oh, she is looking everywhere! The utter lack of human presence is...disturbing, to say the least. It makes her feel like it's just them and nature.

Peregrine is a little bit uncomfortable with nature, right now.

Does she also, uh...hear the birds? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Sure can't!

They don't seem to be moving around much, either.]

[comeandfindme]

[ ...Will they move if she keeps watching them? Will they move if she tries knocking on the trees? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Sure won't!]

[comeandfindme]

[ Okay. Good to know! That sparks another question. Is there a breeze? Like...wind, or anything? ]

Garden

[mayavericks]

[Maya feels incredibly guilty, going to Peregrine with all of this after everything that's happened. Especially when she's sitting on Connor's bench. But of all the people she knows, she can relate to Peregrine the most. So of all of them, maybe she can put Maya's mind at ease.

So that's why she approaches Peregrine, quiet as can be and pale in the face.]

Peregrine. I need to speak with you.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine’s running a finger over Connor’s name, when Maya finds her. Even she thinks it’s honestly a little pathetic. The moment she hears another voice, however, she looks up and drops her hand quickly. ]

Maya? What… [ That look. That look on Maya specifically? ] What’s going on? What’s wrong?

[mayavericks]

[At first she's quiet. She sits roughly upon the bench, silent as she tries to figure out where to begin and where to end. Her arms wrap around herself, both the sun in the sky and the weight of her clothing not enough to ease the chill in her bones.]

This whole thing has happened before, Peregrine. [Her voice is small, distant even.] Angus was there, as were two of my friends. Hester-san said everyone got out safely, but...

She told me -- [The words catch in her throat.] No one knows where one of my friends went. Daiba Nana, our Banana... They don't know where she is.

[comeandfindme]

[ Her eyes widen. ]

Before? [ Her own voice is quick, slightly panicked. ] And everyone— [ Did no one die? Did—

Peregrine's mind races. ] What do you mean, no one knows where she is? What- like— if the Wizard can't find her, isn't that good?

[mayavericks]

I don't know. Angus showed me a photo, one of the motive photos. He was dead. Someone that -- looked like Claudine, that had her sword, but wasn't her did it. But he's here so --

[Maya hasn't been this on edge in ages. Her heart pounds in her ears.]

Hester-san told me that Claudine went home. But Nana -- Nana didn't. And you're right. If the Wizard cannot find her, then...

[Maya swallows hard.]

Something is wrong.

[comeandfindme]

[ But Angus is alive. But Angus is here— did the Wizard do that? Is that how they leave? Because the Wizard gets tired of them, revives them, sends them on their way?

Is she going to go back to—

Peregrine feels her whole body go numb. She feels herself freeze up. She forces herself not to think about it— because that's not- what to focus on right now. ]

What else did she say? I need to- we need to tell everyone this, we need to...make a plan.