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

[stagemanagers]

[On the underside of the table, pretty far back and close to the wall, theres a word carved into the wood:

help

And then again, several inches away:

hElp

And once more, right in front of where she's crouched:

HELP ]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer, meanwhile, is still examining the weird dioramas! He turns to frown at Janis when she crouches down suddenly.]

Janis? You got something?

[fourbutts]

[ SHE HATES THIS, THANKS ]

Uh... more carvings.

[ she runs a finger along the words, kind of hating that she can't narrator something sharp out of her- wait.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls the screwdriver she brought in case anything had to be, well, unscrewed.

WE'LL FIND YOU

It's not deep, but... it'll have to do.

She tucks the screwdriver away, lips thin. ]

We should take a quick look at the stage first, then... up the ladder, I guess.

[tellthestory]

[He ducks down for a moment to look underneath the table himself.]

Oh...I hadn't seen any of these before. [Frowning, he runs his fingers lightly over the nearest "help".] I hope we can help them. It looks like they were scared, whoever they are.

[But so far, it doesn't seem like anyone's been able to do anything with these directly, so. He stands.]

Sounds like a plan.

[fourbutts]

No one deserves to be stuck in this shithole.

[ If they find a body... well, it'll be like the other bodies, won't it?

she hates this.

Anyway, Janis moves over to look out at the stage - how's it looking? Any scenery set up? Marks on the ground with tape? Trap doors or revolving portions? A giraffe??? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Thankfully no giraffe! Not unless you count the massive stuffed animal just vibing near the ghost light.

It looks like the execution set from Saturday hasn't been broken down yet. The carnival is still up, the dunk tank dead center. The only difference seems to be that the liquid inside has been removed, leaving only an empty tank. This close though you can see some the edges of yellow tape on the ground peaking out from under the little booth set-up, defining the general shape of them.]

[tellthestory]

No one deserves to be forgotten.
No one deserves to fade away.

[The song comes to his lips absently, something Peregrine sang to him, as he follows after Janis. Right past her, in fact - the Balladeer walks towards the dunking booth and stands there in front of it, looking at the target. It's like a shooting game. It could just as easily be one. Shoot! Win!]

No one should come and go,
and have no one know he was ever even here...

[fourbutts]

[ Janis sets a hand on his arm. ]

You good?

[tellthestory]

[He jerks in surprise, but turns to her.]

...yeah. Yeah, sorry...I'm here.

[He passes a hand over his face for a second. Maybe he should...]

My show was set up like a carnival. "Shoot the prez, win a prize!" Seeing it before, and then being here with it...

[fourbutts]

[ She nods, swallows. ]

Right... just remember, this isn't our stage.

[tellthestory]

Right...

[He gives the booth another glace, then steps away a little bit, downstage. Not too far, not out of reach - they're sticking together. But maybe he doesn't need to be looking at all this stuff himself.]

[fourbutts]

Maybe if we're lucky, we'll figure out whose it is.

[ She would love to know what bitch is out here making weird little execution dioramas and such!

Anyway, back to looking. ]

[fourbutts]

[ Okay, stage tape. She's familiar. ... She would take the giant stuffed animal but she gets the feeling this is one carnival prize Maya wouldn't be impressed to have won for her.

How are the vibes coming off the stage? Anything feeling... Off? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Dear Janis, there sure are vibes.

The vibes aren't...on full display, so to speak. It's more like they're baked in, just a part of the auditorium itself and almost entirely unnoticeable if you're not Looking for it.

Everything is tinged with a gauzy veil of fear (and whose fear is up for debate) but under that there's a strong sense of purpose and stability, a driving need to keep moving forward no matter what happens. There's something else to it though. Around the edges, it sort of feels like...something is fraying. Like the unfinished edge of a woven blanket, the threads holding that stability together are coming apart.]

[fourbutts]

[ Okay, that's... interesting. Janis takes a breath to center herself, and then... looks over the scene. Is there anything on the stage in particular with interesting vibes or just... being out here and looking weird? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Nothing in particular but if she moves closer to the front, toward center stage the feelings she was picking up before do shift.

There's a sense of love. Just devoted adoration and respect. Janis will feel it filling her whole chest to the point of near overwhelming. But after a few moments it stars to turn. There's a sinking sense of repetition, of that feeling of love slowly souring and compounding because you're stuck you're trapped you're stuck. You hate this place. You love this place.

It was beautiful but now
It's sour
Yes it's all
Gone sour]

[fourbutts]

[ Janis's hand moves up to her mouth, then she staggers back. ]

Feel the storm every night
Hope it passes by...

[ She looks at the Balladeer. ]

Time to go up.

[ And, screwing her courage to the sticking place, Janis heads for the ladder. ]

[tellthestory]

Janis?

[And now he's the one stepping forward to reach out for her. He wasn't standing center-stage, and he'd closed himself off to the entire carnival - he doesn't know what she felt.]

Are you okay?

[fourbutts]

It's... something's fucked up here.

[ The loop of the-
The loop of the- ]

But we need to find out what.

[tellthestory]

[He looks at her, then back over the carnival set. Maybe, if just for a moment he...]

I don't know why I'm frightened.
I know my way around here...

[.....]

Okay. Right. Let's check up there, then we can go. [He moves quickly over to the ladder, the better to get away from here. It's thin and metal. Looks sturdy enough, but...] Go in front of me. If you fall, I'll catch you.

[fourbutts]

Yeah, okay.

[ She gives him a quick hug, just... to settle her nerves, then it's back to being brave.

And... up the ladder she goes. Does she make it to the top? ]

[stagemanagers]

[She does.

The ladder is surprisingly sturdy and when she reaches the top she'll find herself on a raised catwalk. It's dark up here but not so dark she won't be able make out Hester's mechanical bubble and a lower back view of The Wizard's robot head.]

[fourbutts]

[ Alright, well... the bubble is probably closer, so she'll look there first. Did she leave anything in it, either physical or. Vibes? Also does it look properly machine-operated and run, like is there a real lift mechanism or is is Magic. ]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer accepts the hug gratefully, squeezing her tight for a second before letting her go. Once she's up, he ascends behind her.

The catwalk's teeeechnically wide enough that he might be able to scoot around her, but he doesn't really feel comfortable doing that, so. He'll just hang out and check out the bubble too!]

[stagemanagers]

[It doesn't look like Hester's left anything behind physically other than a little glitter on the seat. If Janis looks up she'll see that it looks like the bubble is on a real lift mechanism! There's no controls in sight though.

As for the vibes...there's a faint sense of familial fondness attached to it and a general desire to keep the one who spends the most time on it safe. The faintness of it feels more like it's the result of a lack of time spent here than a lack of the actual feelings.]