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]

[ There's a hand on her shoulder and Peregrine wraps herself into her blankets more. ]

Go away.

[ It's not one of her fiery shouts or impassioned pleas. She sounds dull and broken. Just the other day, despite everything, she was so hopeful. And yet now, it doesn't feel like she can—should be hopeful, about anything. ]

[employeeoftheyear]

[He puts the mug down on the counter and shakes his head.]

I won't, Per. You're my friend and you've helped me through hard times. I wanna help with yours now.

Do you wanna talk about it?

[comeandfindme]

No.

[ But what if right now, with loved ones around—

She cries harder, shifting under the blankets so she's curled to a little ball. ]

You're just gonna— gonna leave too.

[employeeoftheyear]

[He pauses. Spongebob is painfully aware that every day could be his, or her, last.

Instead he exhales and gives her a look of understanding.]

I might, but that means we gotta treasure every moment together, right? And I promise that if I leave, it won't be my choice.

cw: potential suicide mention

[comeandfindme]

[ "What if he made a choice?"
"What do you mean — to die?"
"Or to leave."
"Like he chose to abandon us?"

Peregrine can't do much more than sob in response to that. The wonder, the question—did she just help him kill himself? Did she help him die or leave, was she not enough? ...Was she not the family he wanted?

She understands. She understands so well now, why Spongebob was so distraught. Under her cocoon of cloak and blankets, she shakes her head. ]

I can't... I can't anymore.

[employeeoftheyear]

I... I know it's hard, Per, but please we gotta try sticking together, right?

[He worries, faintly, if his words are falling on deaf ears but he has to try, at least a little.]

I'll stay with you if you need me to.

[comeandfindme]

[ Her insides feel hollowed out. Like she's a deep, black pit, like she's falling into the abyss. By this point, it's been weeks and weeks since Peregrine last saw Howl. When she thought, innocuously, that she'd make it back out of the woods and see him when she got home. Maybe she'd convince him to come to one of the big celebrations their families were going to throw. Maybe she could get him to come over for a homecooked dinner from her mom. Maybe, just maybe, she could finally start to heal from Jacob and build a new family.

It's just like Jacob. She saw him off and figured he'd be home, passed out on a Sunday in his room, exhausted from a night of heavy partying. But the next morning, his room was empty. No one knew where Jacob was, and Peregrine spent the next several days categorizing everything she knew about him. They had to find him, she knew—but in case they didn't. She forced herself to remember everything from the day before, in case it was the last day she'd ever see her brother.

So now, when she woke up and the metaphorical bedroom's been cold for more than a month, as she desperately claws at the scraps of that memory, faded from the crisp, crystal clarity of a yesterday's recollection. What did he say? Every word, every sigh. What did he do? Every little twitch, every step through the snow. Why can't she engrave it all? Why can't she even get to hold her last moments with him in her heart, forever?

She's stopped bothering to be quiet. Peregrine sobs into her pillow. She curls into a ball. ]

I can't...! [ She trembles under the blankets. ] I ca- can't do this...anymore...