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

[alchemistake]

[Rina wanted to back out...that doesn't surprise him, so he's glad to hear that her friends were able to help her like that. Ten girls all working together to make this idol group what it is...it's kindof ironic that someone so shy as Rina ended up with so many friends, he thinks.]

Well, if I ever get to meet these friends of yours, I'll have to thank them for helping you out so much.

And compliment them on their singing of course, because wow.

1/?

[samefacesyndrome]

[ "Since when could it have been?
My ideal self seems to be closing by
Yet your wish being the first is fine for me
I am really fine with this. It should be that way... but why?" ]

I'd really like it if you could meet them. I don't know how it could happen but... they're all really precious to me, heehee. When we're together it's like we make a beautiful rainbow.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Though maybe it's best she doesn't think too much about the future. What would happen when they got out of here? Could they even stay together?

"My dearest
I can't push myself into your heart
But if you were to indulge me, just a little
Then hold me within your arms
The real me, who is weak until I fall apart" ]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Instead of thinking on it too much she turns her attention back to the song. ]

Um... this one is Karin-senpai. She's...

[samefacesyndrome]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ How........... do you even explain Karin..........

........ ]

done

[samefacesyndrome]

[ In a completely dead pan voice: ]

She's super hot.

[ RINA... ]

[alchemistake]

[R I N A]

H-h-

[Varian would have choked if he weren't just sitting there doing nothing, good lord.]

I mean...she- definitely sounds like it...

1/2

[samefacesyndrome]

[ LISTEN MAN THAT'S JUST HER CHARACTER. THE HOT ONE. ]

Mm. She's one of our oldest members of the club and a model... lots of girls like her.

[ Hence why Rina doesn't feel unsure about letting Varian hear her: she's hot but also like. Older and out of most people's league. And gay.

They've lingered on this one too long though so she presses skip and... the next one makes her pause. ]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ "If we don't talk, we'll always be strangers
If we don't talk, we'd be wasting a great chance
Tell me more about yourself
Tell me the food you like and tell me your type" ]

......

[ "I love it when you're laughing
And I don't mind you when you're mad
But if I had to choose, a smile is better
So I'll try joking around next to you" ]

...That's Ai-san.

[ You know. The same Ai-san she mentioned was her only friend until she started getting memories back. ]

[alchemistake]

[....oh.

Varian's smile fades just a little as he leans forward, his arms folded over his knees.]

Ai...

[...]

She sounds exactly like how I imagined she might, somehow.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Rina just nods at that, quietly listening for a little while.

"I'll always, always stay near you, ok?
Never, never let go of me (together!)
Wherever we are, GO!"

It hurts. It hurts more than she thought this would. It just hammers in how long it's been since she's seen her best friend. ]

...She's the complete opposite of me, you know.

[ "That's right, You & I, it's always You & I
Together You & I, are quite dangerous You & I" ]

She makes friends with people so easily, it's like breathing for her. Everyone at school loves her.

[ "In other words, that's love, love, love
Everyone is my friend, my friend, my friend" ]

When she first started talking to me I was kind of scared because she's a year older... but she knew that. She knew right away without my face telling her that I was scared. It caught me really off guard.

[ "Because I love you, I'll always stand by you
I need you quite a lot, so why don't you stand by me" ]

She... always knows. She always knows exactly what I'm feeling, and I don't know how she does it. Sometimes it's like she knows me better than I do.

[ "Say!! Love, love, love
Come on!! Friendship, friendship, friendship
My BFF's!" ]

......I miss her.

[alchemistake]

[...]

I honestly...didn't know a whole lot about friendship, before. I didn't have any friends.

[He looks sidelong at her.]

I had Cass, Rapunzel, and Eugene, but...I didn't know anybody my age. But...if I've learned anything being here, it's that sometimes you meet people who are just...meant to be in your life.

[He puts his hands together, idly twiddling his thumbs.]

Even if you seem like complete opposites, you just click somehow. And Ai...she sounds like a really important friend just like that.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ After a while it gets too painful to listen to Ai sing about what sounds like their own friendship and she presses skip to a different one. She's not even paying attention to it as she just... moves so she's leaning against Varian's side. She nods. ]

Mm... she... really is.

[ "Is this your first time coming here?
I will explain things nice and brief
But before that I will have
to ask for your name!"

She sniffles a little and then tries to wipe her eyes with her sleeves. ]

...Sorry, I don't- [ sniff ] mean to cry... and I don't think that... you're not important to me either. You and everyone else here...

[alchemistake]

[OH NO RINA...

Varian doesn't mind her leaning against him at all, and in fact encourages it. Especially when she starts to cry.]

No...it's okay. I mean...these are friends you've known a lot longer. You miss them.

[Especially Ai, he imagines. It must hurt, to make such good friends only to be taken from them...forced into this place with absolutely no one. At least Varian knew someone here, and even more still in Elsa.]

[samefacesyndrome]

[ “In a story all about sleeping
Don't leave your dreams as just dreams
That's the kind of place
We've come to make here”

She wipes her eyes a few more times. ]

I… I really do hope you can meet them. I know Ai-san would… Ai-san would really like you.

[ Ai likes everyone after all. ]

[alchemistake]

[Assuming she doesn't shy away from it, Varian will carefully put his arm around her.]

Hold on to that, Rina. Don't ever stop thinking that you'll get to see them again, okay? Even...even if I don't get to meet them...you will. I know you will.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ She doesn't shy away. If anything it makes her snuggle up closer.

"The things that you're not able to say
The things you think can't be helped
Everything like that you should forget it, don't hesitate" ]

...But...

[ A part of her still doesn't want to think about this but... ]

Would seeing them again... also mean never seeing you or the others again...?

[alchemistake]

...I don't know. I can't say for sure that it wouldn't...but I can't say it would, either.

[It's a little fucked up, how they've been here so long that it's an actual concern, not seeing one another again.

Varian knows that he'd have second thoughts about going anywhere if it meant leaving Rina behind, at this point.]

To be honest, I've tried not to think too hard about it.