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

[comeandfindme]

An upperclassman! [ Wait. ] Okay, now I'm the upperclassman— one of my brother's friends told me. Back when I just got to high school. There was a movie that was talking about it and my mom wouldn't tell me, so I asked Bobby, 'cause he was over hanging out with Jacob, and I figured if anyone would know it'd be Bobby.

[violentenvies]

Bobby is an expert in hotboxing? [this is turning into a whole saga]

[comeandfindme]

Yeah! I mean, he's the only expert a fourteen-year-old would be able to ask. There aren't like, a lot of places to get drugs in Whitetail? But he knows the hookups. That's what he'd always brag about. Really I think he just learned about it on the internet or from an upperclassmen before he was the upperclassman. But when you're a kid all the older ones seem like authorities on stuff.

[ apologies, salieri, even if she doesn't engage in it a lot, peregrine is still 100% minesotta born and grown and has the everyone-knows-everyone gossipy nature entrenched in her ]

[violentenvies]

[oh no, listen, it's adorable]

Of course. So this Bobby was your authority, at the time, then? I can imagine why you'd trust his word on it, then.

[comeandfindme]

Mmhm!! Well, usually, it was Jacob, but like, kids my age weren't s'pposed to be doing drugs like this, sooo Jacob really didn't wanna tell me. If it was something like that, I'd go to Bobby.

[violentenvies]

I can't imagine why Jacob wouldn't want to tell you. [teasing] How fortunate you had another font of information, then.

[comeandfindme]

It's 'cause he was waaaaay too protective. [ But. She sounds incredibly fond. Peregrine can't even pretend. It's obvious, her brother was everything to her. ] ...What were we talking about again?

[violentenvies]

Hotboxing? [he thinks??? he's not sure at this point tbh but for once he's actually not that fussed about it] Or Bobby. Or Jacob.

[Salieri hums a bit] He sounds good. Jacob.

[comeandfindme]

...He was the best. [ There's something almost sobering about the way she says that. ] He...never laughed. Always super serious face. I could never get him to laugh. Still tried.

[violentenvies]

I'm sure he enjoyed that very much.

[comeandfindme]

I... [ Peregrine always tries to make herself look and seem older than she is. But right now, she seems much younger than her eighteen years. ] He was never like other big brothers. They would, like...be all embarrassed? But never Jacob. He always asked my opinion on...everything. He asked if I wanted to...come along to dinner before his hockey games. He'd give me rides everywhere. He let me talk about...whatever I wanted. And...and even though he'd never laugh, even though he was always so serious... He could send me and my mom into just...attacks of laughter. He wouldn't even know what he was saying was funny.

[ Just a kid, happily chatting about her older brother. ]

He was...my whole world.

[violentenvies]

[Salieri listens, quietly, smiling a little because he just...likes hearing about this.]

I can understand why. He sounds like a remarkable young man, and a wonderful brother.

[comeandfindme]

He was the best brother.

[ The smile on her face falls a little. ]

I miss him every day.

[violentenvies]

[Per :(

Salieri shifts, leaning his shoulder against hers a little, gently]

I can imagine. It's difficult when those we care about leave us.

I'm glad you were able to have the time with him that you did.

[comeandfindme]

There's...so much more I wanted to do with him, though. He never... He never even got to graduate.

[ There's always a deep sense of tragedy, when someone dies young. They're all incredibly familiar with it here, aren't they?

In turn, she leans her head on Salieri's shoulder. It's the sort of emotional and physical intimacy that she's always sort of held herself back from, with most of the adults. ]

[violentenvies]

[Salieri tilts his head to the side, leaning his head on top of hers.]

...is he why you're so knowledgeable and self-sufficient when it comes to first-aid and survival?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine doesn't answer for a moment. ]

If...Jacob knew this stuff, he wouldn't've died. If the town thought to teach us about it...about the dangers just outside our door, then... I'd still have my brother.

[ Yes. That's a complete yes. ]

...The guy who taught me...he's the one who found Jacob's body. He's one of like...the only people who really understood.

[violentenvies]

I'm sure he'd be very proud of his student.

After all, without your expertise, we wouldn't have been able to ensure that everyone here was prepared for any kind of emergency.

[comeandfindme]

[ A shy little smile crosses her face. ]

I'm...nowhere near an expert...

[violentenvies]

No, but you know far more about that sort of thing and how to be prepared for any kind of situation than anyone here.

That's nothing to scoff at, Peregrine.

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

...What you know's...only as good as what you do with it. Right?

[violentenvies]

[Salieri considers that, humming, tilting his head a bit in thought]

...not necessarily. Sometimes knowledge is good to have, even if you never use it. Sometimes you hope never to have to use it, in your case. But that doesn't devalue its worth.

[comeandfindme]

What if you do something bad with it?

...What if it hurts people you love?