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]

[ 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.

[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.

[musacal]

My thoughts exactly.

I'm stopping him. No matter what this time. It ends for good.

[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.

[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.

[musacal]

[ fklhgjdflkhjfdlk ]

A-At least wait until we're all out of this!

We have other things to worry about a-and um... he can't see me at all when I'm in that mascot suit, it's completely invisible to him! But if he sees you trying to throw a birthday party for a bunch of thin air next week he might get suspicious...!

[mayavericks]

The moment we're out of here, then.

[But, she stops --]

I.. received one of those through the vending machine. Do you think it applies to all Mascot Suits?

[musacal]

I... I'm not sure actually? I don't think it would though. I think Boss might has used some kind of magic on this one, like she did to summon me.

[ She's learned to stop questioning whatever LP tells her to do and how it even works ]

[mayavericks]

Damn.

[Oh well. The head will still obscure things from cameras as it is, right?]

Where have you been sleeping, anyway?

[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]

[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]

[ That gets a bitter laugh out of Nana. You get her Cass. What the fuck is up with this guy. ]

You're telling me.

...How long have you guys been here by the way? Boss didn't have long to give me those kinds of details, and I get the feeling she was banished to the other side BEFORE things actually got started.

[barberic]

Five weeks now, going into six.

[He seems...affected, by her openness about struggling to find a place where she belongs, about feeling unloved, about projecting fatherhood onto a man who threw away the title.]

I'm sorry, that you had to go through this experience as well.

How many weeks were you trapped by him?

[musacal]

About seven. We only had five trials, if you exclude our final confrontation with the Phantom.

[ She thinks on it for a moment, chewing on the inside of her cheek. ]

My understanding that this is... the average timeline for these kinds of things. A week of peace. Five weeks of death. And then a final climax. Though there are exceptions.

[ Casting a sidelong 4th wall breaking glance at DRRP R2 ]

...I'm sorry. If I could have come sooner I... please believe I would have. In a heartbeat.

[barberic]

... [He glances at Maya again, then back at Nana, and finally his expression softens into a small smile.]

I believe you, Miss Daiba. Because you're a friend of Maya's. She's been one of--

No, she's been the most reliable person here. I'm grateful to count anyone she considers her friend as one of our allies.

[But, he's also noticed the way she's been rattling her sword when she's upset.]

...Were you, perhaps, listening in on our last meeting, my dear?

[mayavericks]

[Across the way, Maya glances toward him. It doesn't last, but... for a brief moment, she looks stricken.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine’s been quiet; a lot of this affects her friends, affects the rest of them. To her knowledge…there’s no one she knew who’s been through this before. But at that, she takes Maya’s hand and squeezes it. ]

He’s right, you know.

[musacal]

[ She smiles warmly, touched to have this trust but also very proud to hear her friend praised so highly. ]

I have no doubt she's been. She's like that for our whole class as well.

[ At the mention of the meeting though her face gets red. ]

Ah... haha, yes that was me. I was trying to scope out the washrooms to see if they were still safe and overheard the meeting and w-well...

[ She tries to... stay her sword hand. ]

I seem to have picked up a few bad habits over this past year.

[barberic]

[He raises the hand that's not the one around Farrah, to show he's harmless.]

No harm done. That's one mystery solved, at least.

I'm sorry if we frightened you by giving chase, we were just being cautious.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

They have it down to a science huh...

[Something roils and turns over in Cassandra's stomach. An uncomfortable feeling.

She doesn't want to be suspicious of this girl, who seemed to be going so far out of her way to help them... but she's been burned before. She still doesn't fully trust it, but her expression is... slightly softer.]

If we're nearing the climax, shouldn't we try to stop this before that happens?

[musacal]

That's what I'd like to try to do if possible but...

I have a feeling he's not going to make that easy. But I'll do everything I can!

[feudalladyshandmaid]

It would be nice if something was easy for once, but hey, we haven't been that lucky so far.

We've lost around half of our group and we're nowhere closer to beating this.

[employeeoftheyear]

...

This guy really does think making people pointlessly suffer will help him out in the end, huh.

[musacal]

[ She averts her eyes. ]

He sure does.

That's why I'm going to put a stop to it. No matter what.