Week Six

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, in It's Curtains, the weather changed, and with it your fortune in Dads. Discord took Salieri out - or perhaps Salieri took Discord out - and left the survivors with that much less impulse control. Nonetheless, a visit from a new friend might have provided a little bit of much-needed hope?

On Sunday morning, you'll find that the other side of the second floor has opened up - as well as the actual intended path to reach the roof garden. You can finally stop climbing up that rope every time you want to have a picnic or secret lover's rendezvous!

Outside, the weather seems to have calmed down. It's sunny again, with rather a lot of clouds. Though it's warm, the atmosphere seems very...still.]


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]

[ Gone. Gone, they're all gone, they're all going to leave her—

An arm wraps around her. Just the one. She'd helped set the other. It's grounding, and it makes the world stop spinning for a moment.

It keeps her upright, despite how she trembles.

Peregrine very greedily grabs at that one arm. She's taller than Spongebob, so this is kind of weird—but she doesn't stop it, nevertheless. She just sobs, raw and open. ]

Don't go. Please- don't- don't leave me again.

[fourbutts]

[ Janis puts an arm around Peregrine's shoulders, eager to offer her any warmth she can spare. She even pulls her own jacket a little tighter, playing into the illusion as best she can. She's sweating now, a little, but it hardly bothers her. ]

I bet they're not about to leave you.

[mayavericks]

I do not believe that is the case, Janis. We have all been through so much together, and --

[She draws in a breath.]

Before Connor died, I told her she would be responsible for the demise of her friends. And... after all of that, and everything that followed... She still chose to be with me.

You haven't made near the mistakes I have.

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob cries along with her. His broken arm is yelling at him in pain but he doesn't care, he has more important things to worry about.

This was his family. Maybe all the family he has left. He needs to be there for them.

He gently rubs her back in a soothing movement, like ones his mother gave him when he came home from school crying as a kid. He hoped it provided a similar reassuring gesture that it did for him all those years ago.]

I promise. I promise I won't let you down ever again, or leave you.

[fourbutts]

[ That takes Janis by surprise for a moment, and she looks over at Maya. ]

Well... damn. Look at us, being all imperfect.

[comeandfindme]

You don't know that. [ ... ] I didn't think...Howl would...

[ Oh, she's gonna start crying again. Even though she leans into the comforting touch. It's all so heavy, so much. ]

[fourbutts]

[ She wants to say something, but Janis bites her tongue. It's not what Peregrine needs to hear right now. Instead, she just holds her tighter. ]

I know. I'm sorry.

[comeandfindme]

You can't! You can't, please—!

[ She's so angry, still, so mad—but she cries and nods, wailing like a little kid. She's tried so hard to push herself these last two years. To grow up, to be self-sufficient, because—

Because in the end no one can really come and find you, when you're somewhere left for dead.

But...that's not true, is it? Not really? Lexy found her.

...They'd found Spongebob and Farrah, before it was too late.

So. Maybe, for right now, for a little bit, she can let herself be a kid, hugging tight to one of her friends who made a mistake—but who she loves anyway. ]

[comeandfindme]

I keep seeing him.

[ She whispers it softly. It's softer than Peregrine usually is. It makes her sound younger than she is. ]

Why couldn't...he have just been happy with us? We could've... We could've...helped each other. We could've...found relief.

In a clearing,
In a clearing,
In a...break from the trees...
In...the arms of...someone...

In a...clearing,
In...a clearing,
You can feel...a little touch...

[ But, Peregrine can't continue whatever she's getting at. Because, in Janis's arms, she passes out. ]

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah starts off munching apple slices while she listens to him. You’d think the whole dead and rotting talk might be a little off putting for a meal, but she doesn’t seem to mind. But when he mentions losing his wife— and then his daughter, she stops. And when he brings up his own death, Farrah outright drops the slice she’d been munching on onto the floor.

She doesn’t go get it. Let Ruddiger have some floor apple as a treat later, he deserves it.

She pushes herself out of her blanket nest, tensing just slightly at the mention of her father, because she still misses him so badly, and she was so close to seeing him again, so close to being by his side once more. At what cost, though?

Benj’s right here, right in front of her. She can’t just ignore that. She can’t just forget about him, this poor man who has lost everything, even himself, yet still loved her. She’s a foolish girl, for letting her loss cloud that. And he still loves her, despite all the foolishness.

She doesn’t know how to convey all of this. Doesn’t, and can’t convey the love and loss in her heart all at once. But she can press herself against him like the lost child that she is, desperate for love and safety.]

I promise.

1/3

[fourbutts]

[ Janis holds Peregrine as well as she can while she wears herself out against her shoulder. She thinks, as she does pass out, that she's almost thankful she won't have to respond. How is she supposed to respond to that without feeling terrible about the imitation?

She sits there for a few long moments, supporting Peregrine's dead weight as best she can, before she shifts and picks her up. She's weakened by sickness, sure, but she has the physique of a broadway actress. She can carry Peregrine Wells well enough. ]

[mayavericks]

Who would ever believe it.

[She'll give Janis's hands a little squeeze.]

She will come around. I have to believe as much.

2/3

[fourbutts]

[ As she carries Peregrine Wells back to the school - across the football field, past the treeline - Janis feels herself return to the table one last time. Brett - that was his name, she finally remembers, though if Peregrine gave her any physical description beyond that she couldn't say - looks at her with his colorless eyes from his featureless face. The microphone is still recording, somehow she can tell.

"And what if you can't save her?" ]

See, that's the thing. I don't have to.

[ "Oh? Then who will?" ]

3/3

[fourbutts]

I'm gonna help Per save herself.

[ Even as she says it, laying her girlfriend (probably? still??) down into her bed, she's not sure how she's going to. But it's not just her job, is it? That's the nice thing about having so many people she loves, who love her in return.

She moves some hair off Peregrine's forehead. ]

The darker the night,
The brighter you shine

Plastic don't shine
Glitter don't shine
Rhinestones don't shine the way you do
You are so real, you are so rare
I see you there
I see you...

[ After a moment of hesitation, Janis pulls off her jacket and lays it gently atop Peregrine. Then, still humming lightly, she leaves Rodgers Dorm. ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[On the opposite side of the coin, Cass couldn't point to the exact moment she knew her feelings for Elsa were what they are. Some point, early on. They had talked. They had danced. They shared secrets and gave each other comfort in the difficult times.

She knew what her feelings were. But she couldn't just commit to them, no. What if she was rejected? What if it only lead to hurting her and Elsa? The thought of was almost enough to scare her away forever, but... Never let it be said that Cassandra had never committed herself to anything.]

...Okay. I am too. I mean- You. I mean I like you.

[Just don't look at her, please. She doesn't want to be seen or acknowledged, if Elsa was red, she was aflame. Nothing left to do but bury her face in Elsa's hair to hide herself. The stance they were practicing now completely forgotten and shifted into a hug.]

I am SO bad at this.

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah tugs the blankets around her and Sonic tighter at the mention of those that they’ve lost.

There’s something so earnest about Orpheus that it’s almost painful. Almost Annleigh-like. He’s not a replacement for her, either, but it does make her want to do better for him than she did for her sister.]

I just miss them so much. Dad. And Varian, and Rina, and the Balladeer… everyone.

I don’t want everyone else to have to miss me. But this stupid—- Hester’s stupid fucking thing—- I keep hearing them. They keep singing to me.

[stagemanagers]

[The rabbit watches, full of caution and prey instinct. It's certainly curious about this stranger but wondering why he's here in the woods. As far as it knows no one comes to the woods.

As it listens to his song it starts to creep forward slowly, little hops all the way up until it comes to his feet- and flops on it's side, ears perked and nose still twitching.

A question: how good of a look did Orpheus get at the fake rabbit Peregrine found in the woods and brought to the meeting a few weeks ago?]

[employeeoftheyear]

[They stand like this, for awhile. Spongebob doesn't have much to say, for once. He's just a scared and hurt kid and he knows Per is scared and hurt too. And sometimes all you can do is be there for each other.

How selfish must he have been, to forget that his motto in life is that it doesn't matter how bad things are as long as you have friends.

Even if the friends leave, you still have their memories, their laughter, the times where you had so much fun that you forgot the situation you're in.

Eventually, Spongebob breaks the hug, a little, and looks Peregrine straight in the eyes.]

... I'm sorry, Per, I think I lied to you.

I'm glad I didn't die in that car crash.

[mcfife]

[The Wizard really does take objects familiar to them, doesn't he? First Red's cape, now Benjamin's landlady's pies, what else?]

I doubt he would use the same meat as the one she uses. Whatever he's got here, it's good. [He recalls the taste of the pie from long ago. Not the best he's eaten, but it was serviceable.] At least I don't recall getting sick back then.

cw: suicide talk

[brokeforgood]

Yeah, I’m not gonna lie, Spongebob. I didn’t expect it to take that long. Or for you to buckle me in like that.

But… I guess I’m here because you did. So. Thanks.

cw: suicide talk

[employeeoftheyear]

Oh, [He laughs, awkwardly.] I guess I did, didn't I? That wine made my brain so cloudy that I forgot I did that. I think maybe through it all I wanted to make sure you were okay.

...Maybe we're here because it's fate's way of us that it wasn't our time to go yet.

[He's quiet, thoughtful, before he says a lingering thought out loud.]

Like our dads wanted us to keep living.

[brokeforgood]

Uh, yeah. That was the point. [She tones down her usual sarcasm for him, though, trying not to come off as too harsh, and gently elbowing him.]

I don’t think they ever wanted us dead.

It doesn’t change the fact that Dad didn’t trust me, though. Or that he lied. I wanted to be with him again—- to feel safe, and loved, and like myself again. But I think I also wanted to chew him out, a little.

[barberic]

[He doesn't expect her to crawl into his lap again, but he welcomes her, burying his face in her hair. Holding her, she can feel the way he's trembling, trying to stay strong as she presses herself against him, so little and lost, burning hot from her fever and the blankets.

He rocks back and forth once, to settle her in better, smoothing her hair where the blanket hood has caused it to frizz out of her braids. He presses a gentle kiss to the bandage on her forehead.]

Lost in the darkness,
Silence surrounds you.
Once there was morning,
Now endless night.

I will find the answer.
I'll never desert you-
I promise you this-
Till the day that I... [His singing softens, cuts out.] ...die.

cw suicide discussion

[employeeoftheyear]

[He laughs, a little more genuine this time.]

Would you believe me if I told you that I was unsure about that for awhile there?

[Spongebob sits back up, and wraps his good arm around her.]

Me too. I wanted to be with them more than anything else. I wanted to ask him if he really did love me. And I was so... so scared of dying alone.

[He exhales.]

I guess I turned out to be a big ol' hypocrite, huh?

[employeeoftheyear]

A little bit.

[He shows LSP his broken arm.]

I'm just glad Farrah wasn't hurt nearly as bad as I was. I don't think I could have forgave myself.