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

[comeandfindme]

[ ...Oh.

Oh, yeah.

Of course Eurydice would be this happy. After what she's been able to figure out...

Peregrine kneels next to her. ]

...It is. I didn't know when I'd get to feel the sun again.

[howtheworldwas]

Me neither.

[ Eurydice is going to savor all she can. ]

It's like spring. I haven't seen one of these in...years, probably. I can't remember the last one.

[comeandfindme]

I think it is spring. Or...Summer. ...Winters are freezing in Minnesota, but...the summers are hot. Humid.

[ Still— ]

Still. Don't...go running off into it, okay?

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice smiles, still grateful but also a little sad, a little lost. ] I'll try not to. I just...I want to be out here, as much as I can.

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

Do you...mind if I sit with you?

[howtheworldwas]

Not at all.

[ Eurydice has been on her knees for kind of a long time, so she transitions to her back, once again looking up at the sky. She'll pat the ground beside her. ]

Come sit.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine settles herself on the grass, though the strange nervous energy around her doesn't go away. ]

How long's it been? Since you've...seen a day like this?

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice is quiet for a depressingly long time, as she tries to remember. ]

Oh, I don't know. Not since I was really young. I barely remember them anymore, honestly. Kind of hard to imagine this comes every year for some of you people.

[comeandfindme]

It's supposed to be like that for everyone...

[ Every year, winter comes around again. Cold. So very— ]

What...happened? Like...to get them like that?

[howtheworldwas]

I'm not really sure. Orpheus and Mister Hermes say it's something about Lord Hades and Lady Persephone, how he keeps her in the Underworld for too long, but... [ she trails off, thinking about Hadestown for a moment before rallying herself ] ...I don't know if it really matters, in the end. That's just how the world is.

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

You don't think they...have a hand in what happens? Orpheus said...they're what control the world. [ After a moment— ] We don't have that, where I'm from. No gods, no...anything like that, but... I would've thought you two'd think the same.

[howtheworldwas]

I mean, probably. But even if they did, there's nothing I can do about it. Gods are... [ Eurydice lapses into silence, thinking about the gods she knows. Hermes, Persephone. Hades. ]

...they're bigger than I am, I guess.

[comeandfindme]

Bigger...and uncontrollable.

[ ... ]

Like nature.

[howtheworldwas]

...yeah.

[ Exactly like that. Eurydice looks over to Peregrine, finally noticing some of that tension. ]

Are you...okay?

[comeandfindme]

[ Maybe it's because Eurydice is...strangely practical, like herself. Maybe it's because she's in the woods. Maybe it's because she's just tired.

But instead of saying anything, Peregrine just shakes her head. ]

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice figured as much. ]

Do you want to talk about it?

[ Her voice is quiet, unassuming. It's not pressure either way. ]

[comeandfindme]

I, um... [ She blinks back tears, all of a sudden. ] I think I really... I might've died? And- and gotten...my- my friends, too...

[howtheworldwas]

[ Oh, no. Eurydice wishes it was anything but this. Even though Eurydice isn't that much older, there's the feeling that she's too young to die. Too young to know what that feels like. ]

Was it the cold?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine chokes out: ] I'm so stupid. I'm so, so stupid.

[howtheworldwas]

[ Peregrine sounds so much like Eurydice did a few days ago. It's my fault. I chose to go. But Peregrine can't be right, so maybe she wasn't either?

Much to think about. ]

No. No, I don't think so. If you went out there -- that was a mistake, but it doesn't mean you're stupid. People make mistakes all the time, when things get hard.

[comeandfindme]

But I’ve been making this mistake for months! I was stupid! I put them in- in danger…! My- my mom’s gonna lose— two kids, to the woods…!

[howtheworldwas]

[ Eurydice frowns. Something doesn't add up. ]

But...weren't people supposed to look out for you? Like your mom, or Howl?

[comeandfindme]

That’s… I wanted…to get myself lost. To learn everything I could about- about surviving and then…prove that I could get home.

[ She shakes. This is so very different from how she described The Final to Maya a week before. ]

My mom… I convinced her by scaring a stupid bear away from the New Year’s Party, and I- I made it safer, we had rations. We had…gear, coats, some food— But it- it was a freak storm. I couldn’t- find my way back, and…and it was so cold. It was so…so cold…!

[ The moment she caught up with Woodsley, she stopped showing that she was scared. She has a feeling, now, that he was doing the same thing. Neither of them wanted the other to know just what a horrible time the other had. ]