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

[barberic]

That sounds... like an unhappy girl.

[He holds her tighter. Sure, it's not what a girl her age would do in his time, but he's not sure it's not what one might be inclined to do.

He sniffles back the last of his tears.]

Not a bad one. Not wicked.

Did anyone ask you if you wanted to be on the "cheer team?"

[brokeforgood]

[She lets go of his hand-- only briefly, to move and dig through her bag, abandoned on the floor by the bed-- and hand him one of the handkerchiefs she's kept. Despite having admitted she has no idea how the washing machine works, she's kept these meticulously cleaned and folded, like she's been scrubbing them herself in the sink.

It gives her time to think it over.]

Mmm-- I don't think so, originally. Annleigh was already on the team, and it made sense for us to be in the same after-school activities, especially once Clark started driving her everywhere. But I did like it. Even... Even after--

[barberic]

[While she's relinquished his hand, he takes the handkerchief and scrubs it over his cheeks, then swipes his nose with it, letting it fall to the bed next to them.]

...Even after?

[brokeforgood]

[Farrah shifts again, reaching back to her bag, and retrieving the glittery phone in there.] It’s easier to show you. Here. [She holds up the tiny screen for him, and pushes the play button.

The video starts off pretty typically. It’s filmed from the stands, full of chattering teenagers. On the field, there’s a gathering of girls—- it’s a little hard to see at first, but as it zooms in, there are some familiar faces from Farrah’s motive photo. And there’s a slightly younger Farrah, hair up in a ponytail with a large bow. Things seem to be going pretty routinely—- but things go bad quickly. When some of the girls, Farrah included, are tossed into the air, the girl below Farrah missteps. And while the other girls in the air are caught, Farrah falls and lands in an awful heap—- and chaos descends. The girls on the field are screaming, but the crowd is roaring with laughter. Someone’s screaming “Oh my God, Farrah—-“, but you can barely hear it below the roar, and there’s so much panicked action on the field. Only Farrah doesn’t move—- though one of the girls does bend over her and seem to be pretty panicked.

And then the video starts again. She clicks pause.]

… Even after three million people saw that.

[barberic]

[Benjamin shifts as needed to accommodate her as she wiggles and reaches into her bag again, looking over her shoulder at the little device she produces.

He doesn't have time to marvel at the wonders of video - or color photography - before she gets thrown up in the air, too high. Cuddled close as they are, it's easy to feel him tense up and hold his breath even before she hits the ground. But when he hears the crowd start laughing, his blood pressure spikes, an almost tangible rise in temperature.

His bloodlust is extinguished, but for a moment it threatens to rise again, a high, tremulous violin note that vibrates, and then disappears.]

You could have been killed. And they all laughed?

[brokeforgood]

[She feels him tense beside her, and wishes she still tensed before the fall. Wishes that her own fall still evoked some kind of emotion in her, other than shame. She drops the phone, abandons it, and she presses her cheek back against his chest. His rage is almost it's own kind of safety.]

It was only minor injuries. A concussion and I sprained my wrist, but-- [She extends her arm and flops her wrist around as if to show him how well it healed.] I can do cartwheels and handstands again.

But yeah. They all laughed. And when I went back to school, everyone acted like I was the one who screwed up! Kids falling down in the halls. And then-- it wasn't just at school. It was-- everywhere. At the mall, online--

Janis saw it. Connor saw it online too, but... he didn't watch. [She has to pull back her hand now, done showing its full range of motion, to wipe the tear away that has escaped.]

But I still wanted to cheer. I was good at it, even if no one else wanted me on the team anymore.

[barberic]

[Minor injuries, she says, but nonetheless he saw her lying there unmoving, the video cut off before she got up- How could anyone look at that and not be horrified? How could anyone watch her fall like that, lie there like a shattered porcelain doll, and laugh?

When she leans against him, he wraps both arms around her like a precious, fragile thing.]

That isn't right.

[The world, unfortunately, is not a fair one. Not in his time, and evidently not in hers.]

My God, you were flying through the air. What did they expect you to do? Land on all fours like a cat? Pull out an umbrella and float to the ground?

[brokeforgood]

She was supposed to catch me. [Farrah sniffles, like that can make the tears go.] A-and I landed a lot worse than I should have, I didn’t — I hit my head, when I fell. [She had thought she was over this, but when he pulls her in, she feels like a small child, and she wants so desperately to feel safe and protected again. It’s easier to cry.]

I was better than most of those girls. But after that, I was a joke. No matter what.

[barberic]

[When she says she hit her head, he brings the hand on her shoulder up to cup her head protectively, as if he can shield her from the landing even now.]

Could you not change teams? Was there no adult to put a stop to the laughing?

[But of course there wasn't. Or if there was, they were incompetent.

He hugs the poor, crying girl close, presses her head to his lips.]

No one here thinks you're a joke. I certainly don't.

[brokeforgood]

What other team would want me after that? The Tigers didn’t even want me, and they were the worst team ever. Seriously. [Between his comfort, and thinking of how shitty the Tigers were, she’s slowly regaining herself.]

I was in the stands
Rooting against our team
When I saw the Tigers cheer for the first time
Screaming for their team
Every move off routine
I looked around, do these people see what I see?
These Tiger girls were sub-human girls
And when they tried to fly, I knew
That I would find a way to be up there one day
'Cause in that moment,
I finally knew what I was born to do

I thought— between Annleigh and I, that we could really help the team. Instead, I fucked up. I fucked up so bad that I was the biggest joke on a team of jokes, which is probably why Riley—-

[Fuck Riley.]

Thanks for not thinking I’m a joke. Or a bad girl.

[barberic]

[Riley.

He doesn't think a healthy girl would kill a classmate. Not over something that seems like it should be completely inconsequential. Will it really matter, in a year? Two?

No, he's not angry with Riley. But Farrah is more than allowed to be, whether or not her being alive now was also Riley's doing.]

I could never. [He squeezes her tight in a hug.] And they're all fools, for not being able to see how special you are.