It's a sad song - It's a sad tale

[musacal]

[ WELL THAT... HAPPENED, HUH. YO WHAT THE FUCK DISCORD THAT'S BALLER.

Good thing the Wizard's probably going to be occupied with THAT for a while longer because it looks like this long ass, nogood day isn't quite over yet as there's still one more incoming curve ball. In contrast to the smell of smoke from the auditorium there seems to be a... sweet, banana-y baked good smell coming from the cafeteria? But who could have been baking while you were all at the trial--

If you go in there or even just pass by at all, you'll find on one of the tables there's a plate with several warm and fresh banana muffins. Underneath the plate, just sticking out enough so that you can see a corner peeking out, is a folded up note:


You are not alone. I'm here to help.
I'll be waiting for everyone in the
girl's washroom on the first floor.

Come and find me.
-a friend

At the bottom of the note is a small, hand drawn banana. The handwriting and muffins might look familiar to two of you.

...soooooooo you up for a meeting after all that shit? ]

Comments

[musacal]

[ She nods. ]

Mmhm. They were all there. Before I left I asked if they wanted me to record this for them. For you.

[ But then she pauses, looking down. ]

Though... this was taken a few days ago so...

[ So you know. The dads aren't here. ]

I'm... sorry.

[stagemanagers]

[The video continues on, this time focusing on a shorter shape, this one with green-lensed goggles and a familiar streak of blue in their hair. There's an awkward pause before they speak:]

Oh! Right, right, uh...it's Varian. There's not a whole lot of time, so...

I'm still here. I'm listening. And... [The audio cuts out a little but this is what you get with bootleg quality.]

Mon père. Ma sœur...I love you.

[defyingfrigidity]

That's still two times too many.

[Dozens of others, killed and executed and traumatized... god. How can they stop this?]

How do you fix things like that?

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah doesn't say anything. But against the wall, with Benji, she can be heard whimpering.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus snaps almost fully from the haze that's been surrounding him since this morning at that, looking pretty much the most excited he's been since he got here, barring his repeated reunions with Eurydice. ]

You know Mister Hermes? Is he - how is he doing?

[ Orpheus has never really seen Hermes be anything but kind of melancholy at worst, but that doesn't mean he can't still worry about him. He's his favorite uncle! The only one he's ever met but also just on the whole a really good uncle! ]

Oh! You're - the one who was here, one of the previous times this happened! And you all got out, even the people who died? I - wow. I can't believe you're really here. Maya must've been so happy to see you're safe.

[comeandfindme]

[ So.

It's sobering, to realize what she's saying, because Varian's message comes next and, even without knowing French, she can put things together. ]

...That idiot. [ Peregrine shakes her head. ] It's not- it's not...your fault.

[barberic]

[Benjamin uncrosses his arms to put an arm around her and pull her close to his side, but there's a tension to his body that implies he's | | this close to telling Nana to shut off the tape.]

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob has been silent most of the meeting, barely reacting to any of this news while he sits in the corner of the room.

When he hears the familiar voice, a small sob escapes his throat as he speaks to himself.]

... I’m sorry, Varian.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Is that right?

[Truth be told, all this talk of bosses and scoping things out is rubbing oddly on Cass. A friend from another world, arriving out of nowhere? Talking about things nobody else could know?]

Yeah, we did try to contact the dead. We don't know what cut us off, only that the dead seemed scared, and a huge storm was suddenly whipped up in our faces.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine will let anyone else who wants to see, but— Well, she sure is holding the phone protectively. It hurts. It hurts, so much, but—

A message from the dead. Their faces, their voices. It’s something she’s so strongly dreamed of. Something she didn’t think possible. ]

[stagemanagers]

[Next up is someone standing very straight and next to them a much tinier someone with shoulder-length dark hair. As soon as it starts to speak it's obvious to be that Keanu Reeves-looking motherfucker.]

The Wizard is an expert manipulator, even by my standards. And at this point, I would like to be proved further wrong in order to stop whatever he has used us for. Do not underestimate him for a second.

Even so...

If it was up to you, and you
You know that you would lose
If it was up to you, I know

[And it may or may not be resting a hand on Sissi's shoulder.]

You'd always choose...to continue.

[mayavericks]

[Just sort of... Looking back and forth this entire time.]

[defyingfrigidity]

[God. It's... it's so good hearing Varian's voice, not completely taken over by hurt and despair. It makes something in that hollowness in Elsa's chest spark again.]

Varian...

[mcfife]

[Angus does not peel his eyes away from that hand as keep waits and watches for signs of the SQUIP's emotions. He has to be proven wrong. He has to keep more people from dying. For the dead, for the living.]

Empress Sissi, please look after him.

[musacal]

[ Nana keeps her head down and the rattling persists persists for a while before she takes a deep breath and steadies herself. ]

...I told the others - the ones on the other side - I told them this already so there's no harm in saying it again but...

I've... for a long time I didn't have a family. I was always alone. I didn't even have friends until I went to high school... when I met Maya-chan and the others. All I had ever wanted was to matter to someone, for someone to actually care about me, and I finally had that with our friend group - our little school family.

I did... something stupid. Very, very stupid, in order to keep myself from losing that family. In order to keep experiencing the performance we put on together. This... may sound crazy but I had found a way to turn back time and I did it over and over and over again, until I convinced myself that I was doing something good by forcing the same year to repeat endlessly. One of our other friends put a stop to it for good and I saw the error of what I'd done but... I'm sure you're all intimately familiar with the fact we don't quite remember things right when we wake up in places like these. Like many of you, the loss of memories left me in a very vulnerable place.

At the beginning of the game I tried to reach out to our host - who at the time was pretending to be the Phantom of the Opera. I believe you all have a host as well... Hester, right? He was similar to her in that you could contact him, though only through letters. I wrote him one about my situation, scared that I was going to lose the only thing I ever had, even left him baked goods, and the reply I got back... it wasn't just the Phantom who responded.

[ She closes her eyes, the words on the paper still as vivid in her mind as the first time she read them. ]

"Things like that really shouldn't last forever. Don't you think it'll be better to see new things here?"

[ She reopens her eyes. ]

From there it was a back and forth. I would leave my baking for the Phantom and the one who actually took them was the Wizard. Sometimes my correspondence was from one and others times it was actually from the other. On my birthday I received a cupcake and a note - with my memories as they were it was the first time I could remember anyone doing that for me. Another time it was magically appearing hot chocolate and a note telling me to "keep moving forward" when most of us had already died. The Phantom at one point confirmed to me that the Wizard seemed to "genuinely care for me" but that even in spite of that he would "not spare my life" if things came to that.

...At one point one of us met him. And he said the Wizard claimed to have always wanted to be a father. And so I... for a moment I... there was a foolish moment where I thought if I could meet him I could talk sense to him and make him stop this.

"He is a sentimental man"
And I had always wanted to be... a daughter
That's why because of who I am
I projected onto him the image of... a father

[ But then she shakes her head, her earrings jostling about. ]

But he abandoned the Phantom, someone who also thought he cared for it, and was already long gone by the end of things. I exchanged a few text messages with him but... he seemed like a colder person than I had initially thought.

[ The sword rattling starts again. ]

...He manipulated our host. He's most likely manipulating yours. And I have... come to terms with the fact that he was also probably manipulating me.

[mayavericks]

[Maya puts a hand over her mouth. It's all she can do to keep the shuddering little sigh from escaping her.]

[mcfife]

And she now fights The Wizard, who copied her old tactics.

[A formerly evil person now fighting someone taking on her mantle...]

Nana. A question.

Were Maya, Farrah, the SQUIP and I brought here in revenge for escaping The Wizard's clutches previously?

[She and LP have to know. Everyone up there must; they remember more of what's happened.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Taking advantage of the lonely and vulnerable. Manipulating them…caring, supposedly, but not enough to let them live. ]

That bastard… This can’t— he can’t keep doing this.

[mayavericks]

[Maya is silent for a long moment. It... isn't so surprising, really. Considering her memory, and with the help of Janis, she had put the pieces together. Nana had turned back time, again and again.]

I feared he had taken you. Especially after I remembered what you had done, the way you had turned back time, again and again. With all his talk of wanting to go back himself I... feared the worst.

It doesn't surprise me that he would use your situation to this degree. Nor does it surprise me that he would use Hester, either. We have to find a way through.

[She breathes in.]

And... in the meanwhile, I have a birthday party to plan.

[fourbutts]

... what a trash-humping, slime-coated, small-dick son of a bitch.

[ she said, in the tone of voice she has only ever used for Regina George ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[It's hard to say how Cassandra feels about this beyond deep sadness. to hear his voice again is so nice, but knowing what's happened...]

Varian...

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Cassandra... gets it. To some degree, more than she possibly knows, she gets it. To be wanted, but misused and tossed aside by someone who doesn't really care about you...]

"Things like that really shouldn't last forever. Don't you think it'll be better to see new things here?"

Huh. Sure sounds like someone wants this to keep going as long as possible.

[musacal]

[ She shakes her head. ]

I wondered the same but... Boss said they don't control the cast lists. Or at least she couldn't, but she's pretty positive the Wizard can't either.

[ ... ]

Wait, how is Farrah-san...?

[ You, Maya and the SQUIP she gets but she has not put two and two together here yet. ]

[musacal]

[ Nana snaps out of her sword rattling daze when Maya mentions birthday party and gets very red. ]

O-Oh no, you don't have to do that Maya-chan! I remember the birthday you and the others did for me last year now!

[mayavericks]

Daiba Nana. [Maya's voice goes very stern.]

You do not get one birthday party in your entire life. You are meant to be celebrated every year. And so we will.