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]

[ The morning is alright, somehow. Not...alright, but it could be worse. Peregrine's out near the woods with just...just a lot of bins filled with water and— yep. Deer skins. They're all in varying stages of tanning. She has the pure white one — stain gone — folded on a box as she picks through the wilderness. ]

No... No, not this either... Why do all the trees have to be so weird...?

[ The day, naturally, gets worse. The motive is...bad. The motive is always bad. Everything's always bad, of course—

But this is bad in a new way. She hates it.

After the meeting, she stops by the library, where she can be found looking through How-To books on...crafting? Jewelry making? Leatherwork? Huh.

That's what she does for most of the day, fluttering between the library and her previous work place before the motive. She's sitting out there with a bunch of close-pins and a little fire she's built, and a hole she's dug into the ground with a shovel. She's quietly working with some rope from her deer-skinning kit, some rope and some rather large sticks she's managed to find. Without a word, she whittles them down and starts tying them together, so they look— like a little teepee. Or she could be gluing the edges of her deerskin together. There's a lot of things Peregrine could be doing in this process, because she's got a lot of deer skins to tan and smoke.

Maybe join her?

She'll take a single break, for a vending machine haul. Hilarious that she finally has a pet, and now two more deer skins. Well, just that much more work to do, right?

It's around dinner that she actually goes to Broadhurst dorm, trying to pick a time when...well, when most people would probably be out. She'd seen it, during the sleepover, a kind of...it's not a shrine. She thinks she heard Connor say something about an ofrenda. That's something she doesn't have much of a baseline for but...she understands the basic idea.

She kneels by it, and for a few minutes she's just quiet. Then— ]

So...this might be totally stupid, but— I don't know. Apparently there's nature spirits and magic and Spongebob, so. Maybe ghosts are real too. I didn't...bring anything? I'm still— I'm working on it, I've never...made gifts for people, before. [ Very quickly: ] I— I'm...real sorry, Connor. ...I wasn't...there for you, and— I'm sorry. And I'm sorry, if— if you can hear this, I gotta... I gotta confess something.

[ She swallows down a lump in her throat. ]

I just... I think... I think I really screwed up. Before all this. I think...all this time I thought I was doing something...big and important but... I think I was just...really selfish? And it... [ She rubs her eyes real quick, as her sight starts to blur. She starts again, softer. ] I found your letter. And I did everything you said, but... I might've...already let you down. Before we even met.

[ i'd like if life went on for you. ]

I let...a lot of people down. [ Her throat's so dry. Like she's choking on sawdust. ] And I just wish—

[ She breaks off, remembering this morning, biting down into her lower lip so, so tightly. ]

...I wanted to talk to you about it. I'm scared. I'm really...really scared.

[ And she stays there. Just kneeling in front of this little alter. ]

Broadhurst

[alchemistake]

[Varian happens to be passing by when Peregrine is already talking. He can hear her voice, soft through the wall, and ends up stopping just shy out in the hallway. He can't quite hear what she's saying...which is a relief, because the last thing he wants is to be evesdropping on something so personal. He knows exactly where she is without looking in through the door, so he'll wait until her voice goes silent before he tries to enter.

Without saying anything, he'll move to kneel beside Peregrine, looking up at the alter. It's been added to, since it was first built...little objects representing the person who had the idea for it in the first place.]

This ofrenda...it was Connor's idea.

[He starts, quietly.]

He said that it would help guide the others to their spirit home.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine tenses and turns, not bothering to wipe her face. ]

Varian— shit, I thought everyone was... Sorry, I can clear out.

[alchemistake]

N-no...it's okay. You don't have to.

[He shakes his head, still looking at the alter in front of them.]

...I've been wondering if this is the best place for this.

[The alter, he means.]

It's not so easy for others to visit, being in one of the dorms. I want everyone to be able to come to it, if they want to.

[comeandfindme]

[ Honestly... She really doesn't want to leave, so his reassurance is welcome. ]

I've been wanting to visit since the sleepover. I saw it, and, well...it's kinda obvious, what it is. It's just... It is a little awkward, knowing I could run into you, or Salieri...or Maya...

[ That's a can of worms she does not want to open right now. ]

[alchemistake]

I understand.

[It's like...in a room, after all. And of course they'd be concerned for her.]

...do you want to help me move it, Peregrine? We can put it out in the lobby.

[It's a two person job anyway, since the table has a bunch of trinkets on it now left behind for each of those that have passed.]

[comeandfindme]

...Yeah. Yeah, I'd really like that.

[ It means instead of barging in here to cry, she can go to the lobby instead. Win-win?

She starts clearing the trinkets carefully. ]

You said... This was Connor's idea?

[alchemistake]

[Good...having something to do helps, as much as getting this out where everyone can be able to see it does.

Varian pushes himself up to his feet so he can help, picking up what little things can fit safely into his pockets. There's a penguin statue he built with Connor's help as well which will have to be carried.]

Yeah. He...um. He found me in here, when I was trying to come up with a blueprint for a memorial of some kind....for Mumble and Sissi.

[He was....on the floor, crying, it was a time.]

That's when he told me about Ofrendas. We decided to build it together, after that.

[comeandfindme]

[ She looks over the whole statue... She'll grab that. They can take the actual altar itself after. ]

Ofrendas? ...That's...a Mexican thing. [ Connor was, far as she knows, whiter than she is, how does he—

Oh, wait. ] ...Oh. He probably... He probably knew about it from his friend. His real friend, not...whoever the fuck tried to pretend to know him.

[alchemistake]

His friend...

[Varian hadn't delved too deep into that conversation during the trial since it wasn't his place, but he'd heard Peregrine mention them. They must have been someone very important to Connor, in that case.]

Yeah...it sounded like it was really important, so I knew I wanted to make it right. And I still want it to be right...

[He picks up a few more things until the table is cleared off.]

...I don't really know if I believed in anything before...like an afterlife, I mean. But what he said about how Ofrenda's act as guides for spirits...I dunno. It sounded a lot more hopeful than just nothing at all.

[comeandfindme]

I never believed. [ She says that quietly, as she holds the penguin statue close to herself. ] I just... I don't know, it always sounded so... so not real? Like, why didn't we know for sure or not, or...

[ Peregrine shakes her head. ]

I don't know. I think it was easier to believe that when people died...that was it. That there was nothing, but...

I keep thinking, if he believed it, maybe... Maybe he's still here somehow.

[ It sounds stupid. At least it does to her. But. Still. ]

[alchemistake]

[Varian isn't so sure if believing things just end makes it easier, but he supposes that depends on the individual. What you find comforting, and all that.

He thinks now he likes to believe they're out there, somewhere. Somewhere peaceful and free of the torment they had to endure while they were still alive.]

I think he is.

[He says quietly, nodding with his head for Peregrine to follow him out so they can bring the trinkets into the lobby first. They'll bring the table after and get everything set up once all of the pieces are in place.]

His spirit was too strong not to be.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine has to swallow down a lump that's slow forming in her throat so she can respond, as if she's confessing a secret: ]

He said he'd haunt me. [ And then, clarifying: ] Not...in a creepy way, just like... He said he'd watch over me if he...became a ghost. In his letter.

deer skins......

[tellthestory]

Oh, is this the...smoking...thing?

[For his part, the Balladeer didn't seem too moved by the motive. He's still a little subdued, but...he'll be okay. What could he even wish for, that wouldn't undo a piece of him?]

[comeandfindme]

[ She's keeping just. The closest eye on all this, but! A small wave. ]

Yep. First subject, right here.

[ It looks like she's been soaking some other ones, so. It won't be the only one she smokes today! ]

[tellthestory]

Wow. That's a lot. I knew you wanted to make one for everybody, but I hadn't really realized.

[He hadn't really been able to reckon with the scope of the project until he saw more of it laid out.]

Do you...I don't know, need any help?

[comeandfindme]

[ After double-checking on her smoldering charcoal, she spares the Balladeer a little apologetic almost-smile. ]

It's mostly a lot of hurry up and wait... 'Cause I'm doing it like this, I can't really smoke more than one skin at a time, but... Well, the skins themselves are mostly soaking.

[ A moment. ]

If you could clothespin the edges of that one together, though? [ She points out the only dry, treated skin, folded on a box she'd dragged out as a makeshift table. ] I gotta do that and then— do you know how to sew? It doesn't even need to be good, it's temporary. See, you take an old skirt and you sew it onto the hide like this? [ She references the current smoking hide, which has one of the skirts from the costume shop roughly sewn in. ] You do that so if something starts to smolder a bit, it's not the skin, you're not charring the skin, it's the skirt, and it helps funnel the smoke, too, it's a really smart way to make sure you're getting the best out of the experience—

[ Ah... She's rambling a bit again. When she's not talking about keeping herself alive in the woods, it seems she's still just as enthusiastic as last week, even though some of that spark and fire inside of her has really dimmed for some reason. ]

[tellthestory]

Sure.

[He goes to pin the thing as directed! Luckily, he's not particularly squeamish about the skins when they aren't, like, actively bloody still.]

I don't really know how to sew, but if it's just temporary. [He shrugs! He's sure it'll be fine, he can manage that much.] You really like doing this stuff, don't you?

[comeandfindme]

[ He asks that, and Peregrine pauses for a moment, with a sort of frown. ]

It’s…familiar. I spent the better part of two years learning all this stuff and… I don’t know. This one I feel like I actually could be good at.

[tellthestory]

You think you'd do it as a hobby? Even if things weren't...like this?

[This may not be a wilderness survival situation, but it sure is a survival situation!]

I think it's neat to be able to make something. You could give them as gifts!

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

It's...maybe. I'm kinda set on doing them practically right now. I mean— I was gonna make something for someone, but—

[ Then we can match, huh? ]

...It'd be a waste of leather now. I should just use it for the cloaks.

[tellthestory]

Sure, now. But maybe some other time.

[It's nice to imagine her just doing this for fun, somewhere safe where she could take all the time she needed. The Balladeer finishes pinning the skin up, and then moves to take the skirt and a needle and thread.]

It is cool to make something that lasts, though. All I've got is my music. I should learn to sew for real or something...

[comeandfindme]

[ It's a way to distract from her own emotions and usually Peregrine doesn't take that out? But today... ]

Hey, music lasts. You know how to write any?

[tellthestory]

[He hums doubtfully.]

I'm not sure. Sometimes I feel like I wrote my songs, but I know I didn't really - ow.

[He's pricked himself with the needle! The Balladeer sticks his finger in his mouth instinctually for a moment, then shakes it out and returns to his work. His stitches aren't particularly neat or even, but they're holding everything together for the moment, and that's really all that's required.]

Maybe I shouldn't take up sewing.

[comeandfindme]

[ Something that's small and seldom heard from her in the last few days slips out: A laugh. ]

Maybe you shouldn't. [ She turns her attention to the skin she's smoking, because if she doesn't it'll probably go up in flames. ] Stick to your songs for now. You're good at that.