Week Five

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, you had your very first minor body pileup! Granted, the Balladeer's death was entirely unrelated to anything, but at least he died as he lived - getting completely fucked up in some kind of carnival-themed hellscape. Only two days later, another terrible accident took Rina and Varian both from you. It's just been one of those weeks, huh? At least you got to add both of their corpses to your weird growing collection!

Again, you'll wake up this morning with another new snippet of memory. You'll also find that the stairs in the lobby are no longer blocked. You can only access one part of the second floor, but it seems like there's some neat stuff up there!

Outside, a few things seem to have changed. For one, the weather has turned - it'll be overcast this week, with periodic rain and even scattered thunderstorms. For another, the bushes around that rock out by the football field have bloomed. That's nice.

Get to it, friends! I'm sure everything will be fine this week!]


Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regain and your AC for this week! As always, Hester's office hours and the merch booth remain available. ))

Comments

[mcfife]

[Angus wakes up in the Broadhurst dorm again, with Elle in his arms. For all the exploration he's done yesterday, he's not made progress with figuring out the secrets of the Wizard. His latest memory has not answered any questions, but he feels like that it should be enough for form a theory for their next meeting. He presses a kiss against Elle's cheek before sneaking off into the hall.

But first, a stop to the kitchen to prepare some sandwiches and chop up fruit for the lizards. They've got a new friend in the form of a bead lizard, an idol that watches over the followers of the Almighty Angus, but it cannot offer them sustenance. They'll have to wait, since Angus is making...a lot of sandwiches. One person cannot eat all of this. Eventually, he'll stop and ask:] How do you bake?

[After a quick stop at the Ambassador dorm, he spends hours in the costume room writing names on a thin piece of plywood from the scene shop and pinning strings everywhere. There's two lists of names: Riley, Jeremy, Claudine, Nana on one end and Farrah, SQUIP, Maya on the other. Below that there's Red -> cloak. You've got Phantom + Wizard = fictional disguises??, little crossed-out scribbles in marker with old and revised theories, and yarn connecting names and theories, places in the school.

Below all that, "Tad Cooper?" is circled.]

Frankly, none of this makes any sense.

[In the evening, Angus preps his backpack with the sandwiches, a blanket, water, a bottle of wine, and other food he's prepared, then runs to the courtyard-]

What's the weather? Think it will rain this evening? [Getting a negative answer, he looks for Elle.]

[brokeforgood]

[When Farrah finds Angus in the costume room, she's trying to... be more like herself again. She may have been wedged between Salieri and Discord last night, but they had all been in Broadhurst last night. So, when she sees him-- without Elle, especially, she begins to sing.]

Angus and Elle,
Sitting in a tree
K-I-S-S----

[She realizes what's up with the board mid-song, and stops.]

If you want to make that more realistic, you can sever that string with a knife.

[mcfife]

[Angus's marker comes to a halt in the middle of Wizard's goal]

And what of it?

[They're open about it now, stop making it weird! It's a shame that no matter where they sleep, someone's going be watching them cuddle.

Anyway, there's another topic he can change this one to.] Scissors would work better. The string's too loose to be cut quickly by a blade.

[brokeforgood]

I'm a cheerleader, Angus! It's my job to sing and spell things.

-I-N-G! [She does a little flourish, like she's got a pretend pompom.]

The knife's more accurate.

[mcfife]

[Shhhhhhh let's focus on the board.]

Okay, I will bring a knife if we have to cut anything at the meeting. [Which he hopes they won't.] But first I want to figure out what's the connection between this game and the one I was trapped in. There are too many links for it to be a coincidence.

[He attaches yarn from one R2 name to its corresponding R3 name. The fact that there are more than 2 connections is grave cause for alarm.]

It's like he's aware of what happened, despite Hester's answer.

[brokeforgood]

Angus, you are clearly missing my bad joke here. It's because Riley cut me, with a knife. It's funny, except not.

[mcfife]

[He turns around and stares.]

It's not funny at all, Farrah. I can't do that to you.

[He imagines that stabbing jokes aren't great when you have been stabbed. He doesn't know, he doesn't even remember that time he was stabbed.]

[whatyouwant]

[Not so fast! Just because Elle hasn't been back to the dance studio for her morning yoga doesn't mean she doesn't wake up at nearly the same time every morning. She catches his arm just before he gets up and rolls over to curl around him.]

Where you going? [To be fair it's mumbled. Conscious doesn't really mean, you know, awake.]

[mcfife]

[Ah, he has been captured by a mighty lawyer and forced back into bed, ensnared by her grasp as Farrah finds teasing fuel for later in the day.]

Kitchen. [That's not a lie. They have to eat.] The lizards need their breakfast.

[A finger curls a strand of Elle's hair thoughtfully as his mind wanders off into the mysterious realms of their plight and his recent memories.]

[whatyouwant]

[Elle cracks her eyes open and gives a small, sleepy smile.]

Five more minutes?

[mcfife]

[His conspiracy theory board will have to wait.]

Just five. I want to get something ready for our next meeting.

[whatyouwant]

Hm? Did you remember something else?

[mcfife]

Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I'm sure that this round of murders is related to the last one I was in. [He wraps an arm around her and gives her a squeeze.] I know why The Wizard made all of those comments about the SQUIP. His Jeremy was with me as well, and we destroyed his version of the robotic AI.

Costume Room

[mayavericks]

[Maya's only come in here to grab a spare outfit for today's workout. She spares Angus only a quick nod at first. However, the strings catch her eye, and she stops dead when she sees the names.]

Have you remembered something?

[mcfife]

[He's got everyone's name down, from the school and from the opera house, seeking more links between the two.]

The Jeremy from the opera house is the same Jeremy the SQUIP served. At this point, it can't be a coincidence. [He steps back and looks at the entire board.] Which means that there has to be more connections on here.

[He step in to write "mysterious etchings", "mannequins", and "Abraham Lincoln".]

[mayavericks]

[She peers over the list, reading off names. Riley Williams and the connection to Farrah is a startling one. The man named Mephisto sounded like someone who would have no friends. Sigyn sounds like a brave and beautiful woman.

Her eyes continue down the list for sometime. She studies the names of Nana, Claudine, and herself for an extra moment.]

What purpose would continuing the cycle serve?

[mcfife]

The Wizard says he wishes to fix something. The Phantom made no mention of his intentions, but if they are part of the same group, he may be trying to clean up The Phantom's mistake.

[He attaches a blue string between "Wizard's goal" and "The Phantom".]

And if he is no true wizard, then he must work for an actual one, much like how I accused The Phantom of having the magic to take us away.

[mayavericks]

It's a worthwhile train of thought.

[A beat.]

Have you made any steps in uncovering the circumstances of your... motive?

costume room

[fourbutts]

[ well damn, that's not the sort of thing she's gonna just ignore- ]

Who's Tad Cooper?

[mcfife]

A dragon.

[Yeah that doesn’t explain anything.]

He’s a baby dragon that belongs to the king that was kidnapped with me.

Broadhurst

[violentenvies]

[good morning, Angus, Salieri is very awake and kind of just laying in his own bed, staring at the ceiling with his own companions. He turns his head to look at Angus gets out of bed, before arching an amused eyebrow]

If I'd have known you two were moving in earlier, I would have offered to help you move your things. [this, whispered, but loud enough to get his attention in the quiet dorm]

[mcfife]

[Angus holds a finger to his lips and checks on Elle - yes, still resting.]

There's hardly room in the other rooms. Besides, I'm not planning on moving here forever.

[It's simply...temporary.]

[violentenvies]

[it's fine, it's fine, he's whispering]

Oh? [eyebrow arch] Any particular reason?

[mcfife]

[Eyeing Discord, eyeing Farrah.]

We haven't decided which place to stay yet. [There's so few private areas.] We're in different dorms, after all.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri is ignoring that eyeing, and instead just looks mildly amused]

Indeed. I can understand the dilemma. [DRYLY]