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

SUNDAY

[stagemanagers]

MONDAY

[stagemanagers]

TUESDAY

[stagemanagers]

WEDNESDAY

[stagemanagers]

[It's Wednesday! Welcome to this week's school club!


The Foreign Language Club is meeting in the library at 3 pm! Anyone who shows up at that time will find that the entire room is decked out in the flags of a few dozen different countries! Attractions here include:

- Treats from all over! The food quality is better than what’s in the kitchen and much more multi-cultural than you’ll find on the weekly menu. Know a culture? There’s a snack from it here.
- Books! There are so many books laid out and propped up, all at varying learning levels from beginner to fluent.
- A pinata! It’s awfully cute but looking at it you feel like there’s something else you should be doing and this owl knows that particular sin. Better smash it and get that candy!

Also, seeing as this is the foreign language club it does come with a special little quirk: upon entering the club room, if your mother tongue isn’t English, you will default to only being able to speak in your native language. Do you only know English? Congratulations! You’ve automatically learned a random new language and can only speak in that. Have fun!]

THURSDAY

[stagemanagers]

[Around breakfast time on Thursday, the power starts flickering again. This isn't super unusual, it's been happening on and off all week.

However about an hour after breakfast concludes the sky splits open and the downpour starts, complete with booming rumbles of thunder and flashes of lightning across the massive windows. The storm is running all of fifteen minutes when the power goes out completely and doesn't come back on. Within ten minutes of the power going out someone (probably Hester) has laid out a few dozen candles, matches and extra maglite flashlights on one of the tables in the cafeteria. With these, you might notice another small change in the decor around here.

The blackout will last through the day and into the night.]

[mayavericks]

[A desk, directly across from Hikari.

Two young women, Claudine and Karen, standing nearby.

"There is a need to adjust the program. On this day we will hold a special, two-on-two performance. You will be performing a Revue Duet."

“Two-on-two?”

“You mean a tag match?”

The desk drawer opens, revealing a box. Maya lifts it, finds two star buttons there.

"Now, Tendo Maya-san. Which stage girl will you choose?"

Without a second thought, she throws the button to Claudine and --

The music stops, then reverses. Claudine, Karen, Hikari, and all of their props disappear. The thrown button spirals out of control, knocked from orbit by a single katana strike. Maya hears her own voice cry out.

“So this is your true ability. What made you change?”

The jacket on Maya’s shoulder hits the floor. Somewhere in the distance, the button finally lands. It clinks through the broken seats in the crowd, settling in some place unknown.

“Is it dazzling?”

Though the Maya of memory knows who she’s speaking to, the Maya watching this all play out feels -- lost. She knows the voice, but through the light, she can’t quite make it out.

“What?”

“It’s dazzling to me.”

The curtain starts to fall. Maya’s curtain, her final act --

“What made you -- “ Maya finally turns. Through the light she can see pigtails, a physique anyone could envy.

“I can’t reach,” the beautiful voice interrupts.

“Go this far?!” The Maya of memory finally finishes turning around. Just as the curtain falls, she watches the woman place the tip of her sword against the ground.

“Position Zero.”

And perhaps it should have been over there. But the music reverses, time distorts, and once again Maya is crying out once more as the blade swings against her shoulder. The button flys into the distance. The cord around her shoulder falls, then the jacket and finally the curtain.

Five times,

then ten times.

Maya loses track after the fifteenth.

Numbers lose their meaning. All she understands is her loss, again and again, repeating in an endless, unchanging infinity.

Eventually, she either reaches the end, or her unconscious brain has mercy on her. Either way, Maya wakes with a start. She’s tangled in a mess of blankets in the Nurse’s Office, dripping with a cold sweat. Her head pounds, and she’s at least abruptly grateful that she’s chosen this place to sleep. She can at least fumble around and find some painkillers before she goes about her day.

Not that either helps much. The ache might go away, but Maya’s head still swims. She does her rounds quietly, though she specifically keeps an eye out for Discord and Salieri. Someone better have her sword, dammit.

Her rounds do take her to the newer locations, namely the pool. It feels like it’s been ages since she’s swam but… she changes her clothes into a modest one-piece suit, not unlike her leotard, and jumps in. It doesn’t do much but… she can pretend, right?

Toward the evening, Maya settles down in the garden. She can feel the presence of Rina and Varian’s benches but… at least she has something to distract her. In particular, the photograph of the cast that she’d recovered some weeks prior.

She thumbs over the picture of Nana. Over pigtails and a physique anyone could envy.]

What have you done?

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob is almost positive he's dead when he wakes up.

He last remembers the trembling, falling off the cliff, Sandy desperately to pull him up but he just kept falling. He saw the horror on Sandy's face, he knew he was done for and that there was nothing either of them could do to stop this

He takes a moment to process this, and he's not scared, or especially sad.

He almost feels a moment of clarity, like suddenly everything's been explained.

Spongebob quietly gets up and notices the second floor has been unlocked. He makes a beeline for the pool, getting changed into blue swim trunks and gently sits on the edge of the pool, dipping his toes into the cool water. Notably he does not actually go into the pool.

Later on he can be found in the parking lot, sitting in the car Varian repaired. He looks scared stiff but he doesn't want to leave.

He needs to do this for Varian.]

[fourbutts]

[ "No, it's fine! Really fine! Go be fine!"

"And I want my pink shirt."

Janis wakes up in the Nurse's Office in a... testy mood. To say the least. She's honestly kind of glad Maya left earlier because the first thing she does after getting dressed again is kick over a trash can and then, immediately, yell in pain because that was metal and she was barefoot.

Hope that doesn't sound bad to anyone!

Still kind of fuming, she moves on to explore the new area! And she can be found... grumpily swimming some really angry laps at the pool? Fun fact if you haven't seen her without her usual baggy clothes on, but Janis is in way better physical shape than one would expect!

Then she heads to the photo studio, mostly to look at the uh. Photo dungeons. ]

Did... did we really just get three locked rooms? Are you fucking kidding me?

[ At least there's been the pretense of rooms that aren't for murder to this point!! ]

Pool

[mayavericks]

[Maya's midway through her laps when she realizes that she isn't alone. She completes the set she's on first, then heads over to the side. She hooks her arms over the edge, staring up at Spongebob almost curiously.]

You must be relieved to finally have a body of water around, hm?

Pool

[mayavericks]

[Maybe it's a testament to her own solemn mood that Maya doesn't enjoy this unfettered glimpse at Janis's form. Truly tragic, almost more than the fact that at first, Maya doesn't seem to notice her at all. She's perched at the side of the pool, deep in thought for now.

Deep in thought until she stands up at least. Then, she becomes abruptly aware of the woman in swimming back and forth in front of her, and...]

Janis?

Pool

[mcfife]

[Angus wanders into the pool room, and surprise, it's someplace actually decent. Before he can consider whether to go for a swim or not, he notices that the sponge-man has been sitting there for several minutes.]

Is it cold?

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob seems a little confused about the comment at first, before it clicks.]

Huh... oh right! Yeah, I really missed having a pool or a beach around here!

[He looks at the water, slightly nervous.]

[mayavericks]

A pool or a -- [She blinks. Maybe she just has water in her ears.]

You're from the ocean, aren't you?

[fourbutts]

[ It's probably a testament to Janis's anger-driven tunnel vision that she managed to swim this much without noticing Maya is there. But when she hears Maya, she sort of. Does the swimming equivalent of screeching to a halt, which because this is water involves more flailing, but.

Okay, time to push down some feelings - What if she lea- Push! Down the feelings! ]

Oh, uh... hey, Maya.

[mayavericks]

[Well that... isn't a good sign, now is it? Not that anything in this godforsaken place has been a good sign but... Really.]

Bad night?

[employeeoftheyear]

A little. But I've dealt with worse water!

[Is still very much not going into the pool.]

[employeeoftheyear]

[He smiles at her.]

Of course I am!

[mayavericks]

So you should be... used to water, right?

[And also not need concepts such as pools or beaches? Hello?]

[employeeoftheyear]

Oh, I-I have a confession to make actually.

[He fidgets and looks around to make sure they're alone.]

I can't swim.

[mayavericks]

You can't --

What?

[employeeoftheyear]

[He hides his face in his hands.]

I know, it's embarrassing! I try but I always get so anxious when I'm in the water. I'm really scared of drowning.

[mayavericks]

[O...kay. Okay, this is happening. She's had a hell of a night, her head still hurts and the sea sponge can't swim.

Okay!]

... Do you want to learn? If you know how to swim and practice water safety, you don't have to worry nearly as much about -- that.

cw forced outing mention

[fourbutts]

[ Well, she's not in the business of lying to Maya, so. ]

Oh, you know. Got stabbed in the fucking back again. [ A beat, and because this is her gf and she doesn't want to like. Unduly scare her. ] Not literally. I've never been stabbed, I don't think. But I got fucking Regina'd again! At least I can't get fucking outed to the whole school twice, but... I thought Cady was cool. I thought we were friends.

[mcfife]

[Angus crouches to stick a hand in the water and - yes, it's much warmer than the lochs of the plaguelands far north of Fife.]

It's because it's not ocean water, is it?

[mayavericks]

Oh.

[Really, it takes her a moment to process all of that. Has she heard the name Cady before? And really, does it matter if she has? Janis is clearly devastated by whatever it is that Cady has done.

... Maybe she can relate. Not that she particularly wants to think about that particular memory. No, she would rather slip into the pool and paddle over to Janis. It's a bit harder to offer comfort, seeing as how she still needs to tread water but... She does brush her hand over Janis's arm as best as she can.]

Perhaps we should talk elsewhere? You can tell me more about what happened.