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

[mayavericks]

Only a few moments ago. I had a question for you, but...

[Maya reaches out a hand, trying to twine their fingers together.]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine doesn't pull away, but...her hand hangs limp. ]

What question?

[mayavericks]

Janis and I have received enough of her jackets and my buttons to make something special for us all to wear. I was hoping you might have a suggestion as to what we could wear of yours.

[comeandfindme]

What?

[ When Peregrine looks up at her, Maya'll be able to see her face streaked with tears, hours old by now. ]

I don't...

[mayavericks]

Peregrine?

[Forget whatever she was asking. Maya shifts closer, taking both hands into hers now.]

What's going on?

[comeandfindme]

[ Still, hers are limp. ]

I... I remembered...

[ The lack of energy in her— it's like when Connor died, but worse.

So, so much worse. ]

[mayavericks]

[Maya doesn't like any of this. She drops Peregrine's hand, in favor of wrapping an arm around her waist. She wraps herself around the woman, trying to give her some kind of warmth, some kind of assurance.]

What did you remember?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine doesn't pull away. She doesn't do much of anything. For a moment, she doesn't respond, either. But, then, she very quietly answers: ]

How many.

[ How many people she's lost to the woods. ]

[mayavericks]

How many what?

[She has a horrible feeling but... she doesn't want to assume. Maybe she doesn't want to believe. She keeps squeezing Peregrine all the tighter.]

[comeandfindme]

The lessons learned inside the woods
Will cost you something dear...

[ She repeats it quietly. With no accompanying melody. ]

It wasn't any of us who didn't make it back. It was my...my teach... [ ... ] It was Howl. The closest thing I have...to a father.

[mayavericks]

Peregrine.

[Maya shifts all the more, so that it's not just one arm around her waist, but both. She crushes Peregrine to her, not just to offer warmth now, but reassurance. She isn't as alone as she might think. She isn't lost in the woods somehow.]

I'm so sorry.

[comeandfindme]

[ A part of you must stay behind,
Forever in the woods...

Fully wrapped in Maya's embrace, Peregrine trembles. It's a response, at least. It's something. ]

I'm a curse. H- he was fine...until he met me.

[mayavericks]

You're not a curse, Peregrine.

[Maya threads her fingers into Peregrine's hair. She reminds herself of the warmth of the other woman.]

I am still standing, aren't I? And Janis as well. If you were cursed then we would not still be here.

[comeandfindme]

For now. It's only... It's gonna keep happening. I loved Jacob, and he's gone. I... I loved Connor...and Bal, and Rina and Varian— and Discord and Salieri— I loved Howl, and he's gone!

[ Ah. Here we are. Now she's returning Maya's embrace, holding onto her with a sharp, pained cry. ]

I'm just going to be alone. You're all— it's just gonna take you from me!

[mayavericks]

He's not. Peregrine, he won't. I swear it to you.

[She leans back, not far enough to break the embrace entirely, but enough that she can get a hand on Peregrine's face and force her to meet Maya's gaze. There's a steely resolve there, determination mixed with sheer brilliance. If nothing else, Maya means this. She will not be going anywhere, not by choice.]

I love you. You and Janis, and... Claudine, back home. I will not forsake any of you for anything. And I will not let the Wizard take me from you, or you from me.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine’s crying. She was so determined when they met with Nana, so invigorated despite all the tragedy. But something about this, this latest memory, this latest loss—it’s crumbling all her resolve and hope to sand. ]

I can’t… I believe—but… I can’t! I can’t, it just hurts more…if I let myself!!

[mayavericks]

Pushing people away will only hurt you all the more. And it will hurt the ones you love, as well. I know that is not what you want, Peregrine.

[She coaxes her fingers through Peregrine's hair, willing her breathing to not tremble. She doesn't need to get emotional in response -- it wouldn't help.]

[comeandfindme]

But— I didn't even know. I didn't— I let myself be happy...and I didn't even know he was gone.

[ To Peregrine, this makes sense. It's a connected statement. ]

How— how could I have...? It's just gonna keep hurting. It's just gonna keep happening.

[mayavericks]

How could you have known? He concealed it from you -- the Wizard did. Likely to leave you in a state just like this.

This is exactly what he wants to see.

[comeandfindme]

I’m so tired. I can’t… I can’t take it again. I can’t…

[ She leans her head on Maya’s shoulder. ]

It never meant anything. It just got him killed.

[mayavericks]

At the end of the day, it does mean something. You learned. Even if it was a horrible lesson and painful to bear, you still learned. And... if nothing else, you know how important the people you have left are.

[comeandfindme]

[ Softly, she shakes her head. Because it's going to happen again. And again. And again. She tries to step back, out of Maya's embrace. ]

What if there's nothing more to us
We're just carbon-based
We're just pixie dust?
What if life is a magic trick
Some quick sleight of hand just to make us think?
What if consciousness can't expand
And we fool ourselves with absurd demands?
What if there is no point at all;
We just grow up to fade away?

Will we be alright, left alone tonight?
Will we be alright, left alone tonight?
Will we get lost slowly drifting through these dead end lonesome heights?
Will we be alright, left alone tonight?

[mayavericks]

[Maya hates it. She hates what she's hearing, and she hates that she can feel Peregrine drifting away even as the words come out. Her own grip tightens, clutching onto her partner's arms tighter. If she just keeps hold, Peregrine won't drift away. She'd made the mistake of not keeping a tighter hold of Discord, of Salieri, of Varian and Rina, and Mumble before them. She can't do that today. She can't do it anymore.

Peregrine had called her the best of them. The steadying force. That makes his her responsibility.]


It started unexpectedly
Before I knew it, you changed my fate.
I awoke
The moment our voices joined together
Although you have started moving backward, I will not let you go alone.

Our hope will come.

The promise we planted together
Is in full bloom, guided by the stars
I will not lose anymore, I will not give up
I will reach out towards you
You will not run away, You will not cry as we head toward our promised place
I've been with you all this time
Once again, the bonds of the stars that bring us together can bring about a miracle

[comeandfindme]

[ She's been through this before. She knows what she'll do. She'll push those closest to her into doing things they don't want to. She'll insist she's doing it for the right reasons, even when all she's doing is being selfish. She'll lash out, and she'll hurt them, and she'll blindly wander down the wrong path until her mistakes get someone else killed.

She can't handle it again. Not another time. That's why Peregrine tries to run. That's why she tries to retreat, to withdraw from yet another person who loves her.

But Maya won't let her. ]

When you're used to alone,
When you're used to assuming that
No one else knows what you know—

[ One of her shaking hands cups Maya's cheek. ]

Someone's love feels impossibly good.
Someone's love feels like home.

[ Peregrine can't do this again. But she can't be alone, either. ]

[mayavericks]

[Maya has seen what it looks like when love is separated by now. She's seen the despair that Karen had fallen into. Perhaps, for that reason, Maya should fear only for herself, fear what would come to all of her passions if she gives in to this loss. But that isn't what drives her forward. It's the idea of Peregrine being alone, of bearing that weight of loss by herself, that pushes Maya onto this stage.]

I am
There　
By your side
Beyond these trees you and I will find our starlight.