itscurtains | Week Four

Entry tags:

act 3,
week 4

Week Four

[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! ))

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[Benjamin is with it enough to notice when Farrah and Antonio recover, slowly. He keeps his arms around them for as long as he can, but eventually lets them go, ignoring the way it leaves him feeling cold and empty and lost.

When Farrah takes his hand, tells him she loves him, his breath hitches, and his expression crumples. Before she pulls away from him he squeezes her hand, brings it up to his lips and kisses her knuckles.

I love you too.]

[Despite himself, Salieri feels his throat go tight when Farrah tells him she loves him, and then further when she says it to Benjamin. His fingers curl in the back of Benjamin's shirt where he's still holding on to him]

I love you, too. [it's hoarse, and he presses himself against Benjamin's side as Farrah leaves, watching her go, using the other man as a grounding presence to keep from going after her, from following and making sure she won't disappear.

Salieri swallows, and as she looks back in the doorway, he can't help but feel a painful throb of fond exasperation--of course she looked back. It's Farrah. He meets her gaze and manages a small smile, despite the way his heart squeezes in his chest]

[ Wow, that was a very touching and heartfelt moment! But the Balladeer's body is still here, and the Wizard still sucks, so after Farrah leaves, Eurydice is just going to butt in and whisper: ]

We need to get him out of here. Now.

[Salieri turns, glancing at Eurydice at that--she's right, of course. And he sniffs, once, wiping at his cheeks with the cuff of his sleeve, before he nods]

Just tell us what to do.

[ in the quiet, tense tones of someone trying very hard to keep it together. ]

We need to move the body to a place where we can prepare it. Then, we get it outside.

[ it looks like Mister Barker is already stepping up to help. ]

[Benjamin is looking in the direction Farrah went, so Eurydice manages to sneak up on him.

But he looks at her, and then back at the body lying on the stage.

He'd told the Balladeer that he had a real chance to change things this time. Not as a narrator, but as one of them. And where had that gotten him?]

...I can carry him.

[I think it's going to be okay. Besides, who'd go after you?]

[ By now Orpheus has gotten most of the debris cleared away, except... the shards of wood that the Balladeer is impaled on. He's not sure if he should try to remove those, but he'll stand aside and let Mister Barker step in. ]

I can get a cloth from the prop room to wrap him in [ he says, voice hollow and distant as he absently tries to wipe the blood from his hands, staining his white jacket. ] It won't be a proper shroud, but it's something.

[Benjamin approaches Orpheus with the slow purpose of a pallbearer.

He doesn't say much, but he nods at the idea of getting something to shroud him with. When Orpheus steps aside, Benjamin drops down to one knee next to the Balladeer's body.

His throat is tight, heart seized up in his chest.]

We'll take care of you, my friend. You can rest now.

[He closes the Balladeer's sightless, staring eyes, and then looks closer at the fatal debris piercing his body, as he arranges the body carefully in a way to make it easier to lift.]

[Salieri moves to Benjamin's side for a moment, pale as he looks down at the Balladeer]

...how can I help? [his voice is strained, but there]

[Benjamin looks up at Antonio, and then rises to his feet.]

Can you get his feet? I want to move him off of the wreckage, then we can shroud him when Orpheus comes back.

[He moves to the heaviest part of the Balladeer (and the part that will require the most effort, if the fatal pieces of wreckage don't just come up with the body), his shoulders, and crouches down to find a grip under the dead man's armpits.]

[Salieri swallows, but nods, shrugging out of his jacket taken from the costume shop and tossing it aside on the stage so he has better movement, going around towards where the Balladeer's feet are and bending down to wrap his hands around the man's ankles so he can hopefully help lift him--detach, detach, don't think about it too hard--]

Edited 2021-06-25 01:43 (UTC)

On the count of three. Ready, [Benjamin's jaw tenses, as he feels the wet, sticky fabric beneath his fingers, the leaden weight and unnatural coldness of the freshly dead. They need to move him quickly so that they can pose him before he becomes too rigid. He needs to keep thinking about it one step at a time, focus on what needs to be done, not on who it's being done to-]

Three...

Two...

One- hup! [With a grunt of effort, he puts his weight into lifting the Balladeer's body, feeling every inch of resistance as splintered wood and twisted metal peel free from the wounds both visible and hidden. His expression doesn't change from the grim determination, even as he feels rivulets of newly-freed blood run down over the backs of his hands.]

[Salieri will lift as well, then. He's not used to this sort of manual labor by any means, but Benjamin is doing most of the heavy lifting, so he manages it, face pale but set in grim determination, having to step a bit into the wreckage to get better support on the Balladeer's legs, knowing he's stepping into blood and feeling it wet on his hands and smearing on the white dress shirt--]

[Benjamin steps in closer, over pieces of the wreckage as well, hoisting his hold up high enough to be able to clear what wreckage was too heavy for Orpheus to move.

When they've both got their grip secure, Benjamin meets Antonio's eyes and nods, then inclines his head to the side, before he starts to shuffle sideways out of the wreckage.]

[Salieri nods once, and follows Benjamin's direction, grip as tight as he can muster on the Balladeer's legs as he awkwardly moves sideways to get him clear. His arms are starting to shake slightly, but whether that's horror trying to escape or exhaustion is anyone's guess. Either way, eh's still managing to hold steady.]

[Once they're out on the flat of the stage, Benjamin notices how Antonio's arms are trembling.]

...Put him down here.

[He says, his voice gruff and low, and then starts doing so.]

We need to wait for Orpheus to come back with a shroud, unless we want to drip- [His chest tightens like a vise. He looks down at the Balladeer's face, at the blood already starting to pool underneath him from the now-opened wounds, and it's a good thing that he's already mostly set him down, because his own hands (stained, bloody, wet and sticky) start shaking.

Somewhere, someone makes a soft, pained, grief-stricken sound, like a wounded animal.

It takes him a second before he realizes, the sound is coming from him.]

[Salieri lowers him as well, slowly, and he's shaking even after he sets him down and he's not sure why, staring down at the Balladeer on the floor as he can feel his vision swimming before his eyes, wet--but at that noise, his head jerks up, looking over at Benjamin.

His heart squeezes hard in his chest as he's already moving around the Balladeer's body to reach out and take Benjamin's hands, clasping them in his own, wondering distantly if this is what it feels like to break apart entirely]

[ Orpheus comes back with a bolt of emerald green cloth from the costume room, half-running back in. ]

Mister Barker, Maestro Salieri - are you - [ He starts to ask if they're okay, but... it's pretty obvious that they aren't. No one is, right now, Orpheus among them especially as he sees the Balladeer's pale and lifeless body on the ground, his wounds all the more apparent now that he's been moved. Slowly, Orpheus puts the cloth down on the ground and moves around to stand next to them, putting a hand on Salieri's shoulder and looking Benjamin in the eyes. ]

It's - Eurydice and I can handle this. Preparing him, if you two need to step away.

[The sound breaks off in a whimper when Antonio takes his hands, forces him to look down at their joined hands instead of at the body of their friend lying at their feet. Every part of him cries out for gentle touch, but all he can feel is the wet, sticky blood cooling and drying on his skin.

He grips onto Antonio's hands, squeezes tight for a brief second, then looks up, meeting Orpheus' eyes as the boy comes over to them. Orpheus' offer is a gentle one, and Benjamin nods, shakily and then a little stronger.]

That's- that's fine, lad. Thank you.

[ Eurydice hovers near Salieri as the two men move the body, ready to intervene if necessary. They make it, though, and Eurydice would be proud of them if the situation weren't so terrible. Between the body itself and Antonio and Mister Barker's reactions, the whole scene is very, very difficult to look at. So Eurydice does what she does best: she shoves her feelings of grief and fear and despair into a tiny little box, in the name of making it through one more day. (It mostly works.)

She'll kneel down next to the body and then look up at the three men. ]

Thank you. And -- um -- sorry.

[ She'll start preparing the body as best she can -- wiping down blood with her coat, positioning him so he looks a little more comfortable. Her hands shake, and she seems to be blinking more than usual, but it's fine. She's fine. This is for the Balladeer, and everyone else who deserved a proper death, but didn't get one. ]

[Salieri nods, a little numbly,] Yes, thank you. [it's a bit faint, but he's taking a slight step back to give them more room to work, focusing instead on just...staying on his feet, doing his best to not think about the blood staining both his and Benjamin's hands and clothes]

[ Meanwhile, Orpheus rolls out the cloth, waiting for Eurydice to finish her work before draping it over what's left of the Balladeer. He could've laid the coins over his eyes first, the pouch full of them weighing heavy in his pocket, but if they're taking him elsewhere, if they're going to lay him to rest like he deserves, Orpheus will do it then. ]

Where are we taking him? The woods? Do you think we can make it?

The garden.

[He's stepped aside as well, to give them more room to work, but unless Antonio let go first, he's still holding onto his hand.]

...He sat out there often. I think he'd like to r- [his voice chokes off for a second, and he draws a sharp, shaky breath.] He'd like to rest there.

[ Eurydice doesn't look up from her work as she says: ]

There's the cart. [ From Mumble's case, but she doesn't want to say that. ] Otherwise, we carry him. I can help.

[ She owes the others that much, at least. (It's only right that the dead carry the dead.)

Once the body is cleaned up enough to move, Eurydice will finally stand. Her jacket is pretty much gone at this point, and there's blood all over her shirt and arms, but she doesn't seem to care -- or rather, she isn't quite present enough to care. ]

[boy that's a mood. Salieri, for his part, isn't about to let go of Benjamin's hand just yet. He nods, though, to Eurydice]

However we need to move him, we'll do it. [his voice sounds hollow, but with a thread of determination in there]

cw: dissociation, trauma

themuseabandonsyou - 2021-06-26 00:13 (UTC) - Expand

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barberic - 2021-06-28 03:39 (UTC) - Expand

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