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

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus arrives with his guitar on his back, preparing to sit in the garden and play with the Balladeer again as best he can with the veil of mortality between them. He's... not surprised to find Benjamin here, or by the state he's in. He knew he and Antonio had become very close friends in their time here, and he hangs back for a moment at the edge of the garden, debating coming closer before deciding to announce his presence so as not to catch Benjamin by surprise. ]

On your feet
Do not let sadness bind you
All your grief
For those you've left behind you
Gods around us,
Looking on in mercy
Forgive our friends their trespasses and honor them their stories

[barberic]

[Benjamin doesn't acknowledge Orpheus' approach, as such.

But the trembling in his shoulders gives way to full on, heart-wracking sobs. For all he's lost and all he'll never see again, for his friends here, buried beneath the earth.

And for the rest of them still alive, that he is the one left behind, when better men have died.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That's more or less the reaction Orpheus was expecting, honestly. Not every problem can be fixed with just a song alone, he knows that, and he'll cautiously walk up next to where Benjamin kneels in the dirt and takes a knee next to him. ]

We've lost... a lot of friends. [ he says, not specifying whether he means here or back home, because both are true and he gets the feeling whatever Benjamin remembered this morning was... not pleasant. Fresh as the grief of losing Antonio is, it doesn't quite account for all this. ] Do you want to start burying them? Or do you want to spend some more time with them, like this?

cw: slight self-harm

[barberic]

[Benjamin takes a few deep, shaky breaths to try and choke back the tidal wave of grief he's drowning under. He clenches his hands into fists, the burn of the cut on his palm a welcome ache.

His voice is a deep, rough wreck.]

I don't... I don't know if I can do it, this time.

[His strong back is bent, bowed, broken under the weight of his pain and regret.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus frowns a little, watching him. ] Be careful. With your hand, I mean. You're still healing.

[ He reaches out, placing a gentle hand over Benjamin's. ]

And that's okay. The rest of us can handle it, this time. You've already done so much. For them. For all of us. Please remember that, okay?

[barberic]

...What good did it do? They're still dead.

[Not...just the graves at their feet.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

What good did it do? [ Orpheus echoes, and he thinks for a moment - not for lack of an answer, but trying to figure out how best to put it into words. ]

Well, I'm still here. And so are Farrah, and Spongebob. And Eurydice, and Janis, Peregrine, Maya, Prince Angus, Elle, Cassandra, Elsa, and the Princess. We're still here. And I'm... grateful for that. It's not enough, I know. It's not what we promised each other. But it's - worth something. And if we give into despair entirely, then what good was any of it?

[barberic]

[Benjamin is quiet for a long moment, but he slowly pulls himself more upright. Still kneeling, still bowed, but not low on the ground like before.]

...You remind me of a boy I knew. A friend of mine. Anthony, his name was. Is. A good man. A sailor. Young and optimistic, like you.

[Probably his son-in-law, by now.]

In a way, he reminded me of a younger version of myself. When I still had the world laid out in front of me. When I still believed in things like hope and justice.

[themuseabandonsyou]

They're hard things to believe in, in a place like this.

[ Orpheus admits. Especially here, specifically, staring down into Antonio and Discord's graves. But he looks up, looks at Benjamin, expression one of determination. ]

I can't let go, though. No matter how much happens here. What else do we have, but hope, and each other? What will happen, if we just give in?

[ Like Antonio did. Like Discord was going to. ]

cw: suicidal mention

[barberic]

...We end up like they did.

[Benjamin will say the quiet part loud. Metaphorically speaking. His voice is still very low.]

Like I did. Back home.

cw: suicide discussion

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus just nods, slowly, patting Benjamin's hand. ]

I'm sorry. [ he says, quietly. He doesn't know the full details of how much Benjamin has lost, but he knows enough to know that it's... a lot. Enough to make any man consider his options. ] I can't let that happen here, though. Not to any more of us. We all need to look out for each other, now more than ever. Be strong for each other. Can you... do that? If not for me, then for Farrah, and Spongebob.

[ The most sensitive remaining among them, the ones who need support the most after all of this. ]

cw: suicide discussion

[barberic]

[He... can't bring himself to tell Orpheus. Not about Lucy. What happened to her, what he did to her. The first day, they'd bonded over how much they loved their wives. But Orpheus still had Eurydice here, with him, alive - no matter how dire their memories were.

While Lucy was pulled further and further away from Benjamin, more and more unreachable with every passing week.

But at the mention of Farrah, his grief both sharpens and eases.]

...I got what I wanted. What I deserved. And yet I was the one brought back, to relive my mistakes, my crimes, my grief, while I've had to sit helpless watching all of you - people I've come to care for like family - die, week after week.

They deserve better than something like me. I'm afraid all I can do is hurt them.

[themuseabandonsyou]

I don't think that's true. [ says Orpheus, quietly. ] I don't know what you did, back home, to make you think you deserved to die, or any of what happened to you. But here you've been nothing but a protector and a friend to us. And I think that - who you've chosen to be, here and now? - counts for a lot.

I know it hurts, and I know it's hard, and I won't tell you to stop grieving or anything like that. But we're like family to you, you said? And what kind of family would we be, if we turned you away now of all times?