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

art room

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine really does not have her bearings today. She ends up wandering to the new area, and...sincerely not taking in anything. She smells paint, though. That's too strong to ignore. ]

...Art class? [ She peers in, still looking like a damn mess. ]

[fourbutts]

[ Janis waves, across the room and a little too wrapped up in her painting to notice the state of Peregrine just yet. ]

My ancestral home.

[comeandfindme]

[ Like she's moving through molasses, Peregrine trudges into the room proper. Instead of, you know, saying anything productive to continue the conversation, she just sits on a nearby stool. ]

[fourbutts]

[ Janis looks over, and uh. ]

Okay, so you're... not doing good.

[ She looks around for... a solution? Something?? ]

So we can talk about it if you want, that's option one, or... wanna see how fast I can paint Vin Diesel? I don't know why that came to me but it's what came to me.

[comeandfindme]

[ She doesn't even crack a smile. ]

Talking about it won't change anything.

[fourbutts]

That's true of talking about most things.

[ She remembers, at least, from the last time she tried to pull Peregrine Wells out of a hole, that it's not a matter of sitting down and talking about feelings in the same way it is with, say, Damian. But this is her girlfriend, and unequipped though she is, Janis is still going to give comforting her a try. ]

Mind filling me in on what's wrong? Memory stuff?

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine looks very small, sitting there in her cloak. She closes her eyes tightly. ]

I never told you about why I was doing all this. About...what made me want to learn about...surviving and everything.

It's 'cause two years ago, after his senior prom, my brother Jacob got drunk in the woods and never came home.

[fourbutts]

[ Janis swallows, turning her attention from the canvas fully to Peregrine ]

Oh shit. Yeah, that would do it.

[comeandfindme]

I didn't... I couldn't know what to do. No one had any answers for me, about...what to do better, or why it happened. No one except... [ She swallows down a lump in her throat. ] Except the guy who found him. Howl. It— I started...calling him Howl. Mr. Howland was too weird. He lived out there, in the woods, off the grid, and he... I wanted to know everything. And...he taught me. Just about every single day. He...listened to me, he didn't tell me to just...be happy and move on, he let me feel what it was like, to be sad, to be...grieving.

[ While Janis has her eyes on Peregrine, Peregrine herself stares at the floor. ]

He acted...more like a father to me than my own dad.

[fourbutts]

[ And just like that, the slasher comment from weeks ago makes sense. ]

Did... something happen to him? ... With him? [ WAS HE A DICK TO U- ]

[comeandfindme]

He’s dead.

[ Earlier it was raw. Now, it’s— Well, it’s still raw. But it sounds hollow as she feels. ]

…He never came back from leading us out to The Final. My stupid…stupid plan. That’s what I remembered.

[fourbutts]

Oh, shit. I'm sorry, Per.

[ Janis takes a deep breath, turning the information over in her head. She wants to hug her girlfriend, but like. That might be the wrong move? Everyone processes shit differently, and from the sound of what Peregrine just said about her brother, sometimes they don't exactly do it in a healthy way. ]

I'd say that sucks, but like. That goes without saying.

[comeandfindme]

[ She breathes out through her nose in something like a laugh. Mirthless, miserable. ]

Everyone thought he was some…crazy guy living out there. My uncle even tried to…blame him for Jacob’s death. I caused him so much trouble. And now…I got him killed.

[fourbutts]

[ In immediacy, it's hard to argue with that. She knows it probably won't work. But she has to try. Like... a stain, hopefully before it sets in. ]

I mean... and I promise this isn't me trying to go easy on you, I don't do that, but that doesn't sound to me like it's your fault.

[comeandfindme]

Really? You’re gonna tell me even though I got him involved in all this, I pushed my way into his life, it’s not my fault?

[fourbutts]

And he chose to take you out there. He chose to train you. He's an adult, Per. Fuck that, he's a person. People make their own choices.

[comeandfindme]

'Cause I wouldn't leave him alone! [ It's the first time Peregrine's raised her voice today. Not very loud? But still. ] He didn't even— even think we'd go through with it! He thought it was crazy. But I pushed it. I didn't listen— mom, Lexy, everyone— they had to lead a...a fucking search party. And I didn't think— he walked us out, farther than any of us, and if we were having trouble—

I let it happen. I shoulda looked for him. I shoulda listened. You don't get to tell me— I had to have been able to do something.

[fourbutts]

Then he shouldn't have taken you out there, Per!

[ It's times like this it would be better if Janis didn't... have a slight anger management problem. ]

Yeah, you're hurting
Really hurting
But you didn't kill that guy
You made choices
He made choices
You don't choose who lives or dies!

If he was who you say he was, it was his job to make the call not to go. I get that it hurts, and I'm sorry you lost him, but I'm not going to sit here and let you blame yourself for it!

[ Genuinely and truly, she unfortunately likes Peregrine too much. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine stands. The fire's back in her. For better or for worse. ]

So you're saying that's it, it's just another fucking tragedy, nothing I could've done, nothing anyone could've done to prevent it! That the guy who knew how to- to keep himself alive for years— that I didn't have any responsibility?

[fourbutts]

I'm saying it was his job to keep himself alive! I'm not saying you're perfect, or shitty, or anything, I'm just saying you did your goddamn due diligence!

[comeandfindme]

So it's his own fault he died. His own fault he couldn't find his way home in the woods.

[ Anger burns in her. She practically snarls. ]

Is that what you'd say about my brother too?

[fourbutts]

Your brother didn't fucking train for it. This is why people sign waivers, Per! Sometimes you take a risk, and you go somewhere dangerous, and it doesn't pan out! And people die. And it sucks.

[ oh wow now they're both projecting huh ]

[comeandfindme]

I was supposed to be taking the risk, not him!

[ And now she's yelling. Like, fully yelling. ]

I should've known— of course you don't understand, no one ever understands.

[fourbutts]

Oh, what, so I don't understand blaming yourself for someone else dying because they were taking a risk for you? Really? That I haven't, I don't know, stayed up all night sobbing because—

And maybe if I'd been a little bit quicker
Maybe if I jumped out of the way—

[ She can still feel the lurch as the catwalk gave. The rush of almost falling.

"Trials are for when people die." ]

Good to know how you would have voted, Per.

[comeandfindme]

[ All at once, the air rushes out of her. All at once—

She's sitting at her kitchen table, Brett across from her. She's raw, broken, unable to do anything. She's saying whatever comes to mind, she's angry, she's sad, and Brett looks at her, shocked and hurt.

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 lash out, and she'll hurt them— ]

Janis—

[ "That's not what I mean." Say it. ]

You really think that?

[ "I'm sorry." Say it.

She hardens and turns away. ]

I knew talking about it wouldn't help. It never does.

[ And she leaves. She leaves Janis alone. ]