itscurtains | Week Six

Entry tags:

act 3,
week 6

Week Six

[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. ))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ The hopeful glow of all the good news Orpheus has received recently has yet to wear off on Monday. He wakes early, per usual, in Longacre before going through his morning routine. Shower in the boys' locker room, breakfast in the cafeteria. He's got more coins from whatever mysterious benefactor keeps handing them out, so in the hopes of not having to use them for anything else, he heads to the machine and starts loading them in.

Seventy six more trombones come out, which he's narrowly able to sidestep, along with another Death Note - now that Hester's said they have no real power, he's a little less anxious about it, but he still sets it aside with the intent to take it outside and burn it later. He also gets one of those strange blue plush toys of some unidentifiable creature, an entire French flag, and a bunch of other garbage, when at last something clunks in the machine, apparently getting stuck inside. Frowning in confusion, Orpheus kneels next to it and slides his hand into the slot, fishing around until he's able to get a grip on the object lodged inside. He pulls it free, and -

Finally, after all these years; Orpheus, son of Calliope has a gun

He drops it immediately with a yelp and it skitters across the floor, under one of the tables.

Anyway, after that debacle and after he sorts all of his garbage into the appropriate rooms for storage, he'll head outside to the woods to burn the Death Note, sitting down cross-legged next to the fire and humming softly to himself. If anyone happens across him while he's doing that, he'll wave them over cheerfully and gesture to the ground beside him. ]

Hi! Sorry if the smoke worried you, I just got another one of those cursed notebooks out of the machine.

[ He beams, figuring that's explanation enough. When the fire's burned down, he'll make his way up to the art room with a book he found in the library. Gathering a stack of paper in various shades of red and pink, he carefully cuts them into squares before folding each one into a delicate paper flower. Over the course of the day he develops quite the collection of them, covering the table where he's sitting as he tries out a few different styles but mostly sticks to the roughly carnation-looking ones, which look more and more practiced with each one he does. He hums to himself quietly as he works, gradually surrounding himself with flowers. ]

[Benjamin is drawn to the cafeteria by the now-unmistakable clatter of seventy six more goddamn trombones (he's never encountered it himself, thank God, but he's familiar with the tales, by now.

Unfortunately, as he comes closer to check on Orpheus, his nose catches a familiar smell that turns his stomach and immediately causes him to break out in a cold sweat.]

What is that... Did you get a pie from that machine?

[ Orpheus looks up, setting the meat pie on one of the cafeteria tables along with the chocolate one. ]

Yes? Do you - [ want it, is what he's going to ask, but then he notices the look on Benjamin's face. ] Do you feel all right? You don't look well.

[Benjamin takes a breath and holds it, swallowing the excess of saliva that's flushed his mouth.

When he speaks, his voice has a gravel to it.]

I'm fine, lad.

[He comes closer, staring down at the meat pie with an unreadable expression.]

May I?

Oh, sure. I was just going to put it in the kitchen.

[ He already ate his breakfast and didn't especially feel like helping himself to what came out of the vending machine today. He still looks a little concerned, but if Benjamin wants the pie then who is he to stop him? ]

[Benjamin nods. Picks it up, and then dumps it in the nearest trash can.]

It isn't fit to eat.

[Explanation??? no. But he seems to relax a little once the meat pie is out of sight.]

Oh. [ Yeah okay. Orpheus just watches him do that with a look of confusion and mild concern. ] How did you know? It seemed alright to me.

It's--

[How... does he explain this. Without confessing to being an accessory to cannibalism.]

Well, it's a little suspicious, isn't it? How it's always hot like it's right out of the oven. Makes you wonder where the meat's coming from.

I guess? I just assumed it was like how one of the pies comes out of there on fire sometimes.

[ Orpheus gives the chocolate strawberry pie a skeptical look, because fortunately for Benjamin he's very easily influenced. ]

I guess you're also not supposed to eat food that lizards have touched, and there are a lot of lizards in there... [ he says, frowning thoughtfully. ]

[That makes him pause and give Orpheus a queer look.]

Wait, what? I hadn't heard that about lizards before.

I think it's because they can carry diseases that are mild for them, but can make humans really sick? I think my mom told me that. Maybe she was just trying to get me to stop bringing lizards into the house, though.

[The ridiculousness actually gets a small snort laugh out of him.]

Could go either way, but I don't know. Not many lizards in London. At least, outside of the zoo.

[ Orpheus isn't totally sure why that's funny, but he's glad to see Benjamin lighten up a bit, and smiles back at him. ]

I live out in the desert, so there's a lot of them around if you know where to look. I used to go out and practice singing for them all he time when I was really little, and sometimes they'd follow me home if I did well enough.

[Oh. Oh, hey. That... looks familiar. Watching Orpheus fold the paper into intricate little shapes makes a harsh pang lance through Elsa's chest; she'd watched Discord do something similar last week, at the ofrenda. He'd used magic, and she'd tried her best to fold along, but... she couldn't quite get it right.]

Hey...

[She's always careful to announce herself now, after so many weeks trapped in this place and surrounded by death. With how many accidents they've had, they can't be too careful now.]

Can I help?

[ The first couple (dozen) attempts Orpheus made were pretty clumsy, and sit in their own corner of the table looking lopsided and creased, but he's gotten better at it as he's practiced. He looks up as Elsa walks in and smiles, raising a hand in a brief wave. ]

Sure! [ he says, pulling out the chair next to him for her. ] I just found a book on how to make these in the library, and I thought it looked like what Spongebob and... and Discord, had been doing. So I thought I'd make some, for around the school. And for Eurydice.

[ He nods to a small stack of red "carnations" specifically. ]

The library... of course. I didn't even think to look there.

Elsa laughs as she pulls up a chair next to Orpheus, plucking one of the little squares of paper off the stack and setting it out in front of her.]

Could you show me how to do it? I promise I'm a fast learner.

Of course. Which ones do you want to learn first? This book has roses, lilies, and lotuses, and these ones are supposed to be marigolds, but I think they look kind of like carnations? So I've been making a bunch of those, since I think they're Eurydice's favorite.

Trying to woo your love with paper flowers?

[She tries to sound teasing about it, but honestly, it's charming. Orpheus has been such an utter sweetheart, even after everything they've been through, and the things he does still manage to warm Elsa's heart.]

Well, if you're working hard on those... then perhaps I'll go with lilies.

[ Orpheus nods, smiling earnestly. ]

The first time I met her, I offered her a paper flower. Not as nice as any of these, but - when I sang to her, it turned into a real one. It was the first time I'd ever managed to do something like that. So I want to see if I can do it again, for her. To celebrate something good that we remembered.

[ What she remembered, technically, but he trusts her. ]

Anyway, lilies are pretty easy? They look complicated, but it's just a lot of folding things in half. Here, like this.

[ He picks up a pale pink sheet of paper and carefully goes through the steps in the book, slowly, turning so Elsa can see what he's doing more clearly. ]

[Lucky for Orpheus, Elsa's a fast learner. It's not a perfectly folded flower, and is a little lopsided in a couple of spots, but as he works the paper, she manages to get all the folds right.

She stares down at the flower, seemingly... contemplating something.]

How do you do that so easily? [The paper or-] Not- not the origami. But... doing things like that for Eurydice. The way you talk about it, you make it seem so... natural for you to do.

Hmm?

[ Orpheus looks up at her, brows furrowed slightly in confusion. He considers her question, before answering. ]

I've... never really thought about it? I just - want to see her smile, so I do things that I think will make her happy. I don't know if there's any more to it than that. Why? Is there... something you're thinking about doing for someone?

[ He doesn't want to needle, unlike some of the others, but he can't deny he's a little curious. ]

[Orpheus's lack of desire to needle, honestly, means it's easier to open up to him about things. He's so calm, so accepting... she doesn't feel like she's being judged with him, or like she's some form of entertainment. It's just... nice.]

I don't know... I've never really been in love before, and the only experience i know of is from books. You make it seem so easy, but...

[She fiddles more with the paper lily in her hands, trying to straighten out the lumpy parts in the flower.]

I... I want to make Cass happy. But I think too much every time I wonder what I could do for her.

[ Overthinking things is not a problem Orpheus has ever had in his life, what's that like. In all seriousness, though, he smiles at her when she finishes speaking. ]

Well, you'd probably know what she likes better than I do? [ he says, thoughtfully. ] But I'm sure she'd like whatever you try to do for her, just because it's you doing it. That counts for a lot, all by itself.

[The rational part of Elsa's brain understands that. Cass doesn't expect anything from her, and that's honestly one reason why she's fallen for her so quickly. Elsa just has to be Elsa around Cass, and never had to try to make her happy or make her smile of comfort her. It's... easy, being around Cass.

But still, she worries. This is unknown territory for her.]

But she deserves... so much. She deserves the very best, after being hurt so badly in the past. But the problem is that I don't know what the very best is.

[ Orpheus just beams at her, laughing a little. Not cruelly or mockingly, but just a bubbling up of the sheer joy of seeing someone else in love. ]

I know the feeling. Wanting to promise someone everything you can give and more, because you know that's what they deserve. [ Golden rings, a banquet table, a bed of feathers. Fair skies and kind roads. ] But sometimes it's good to do small things, too. Little, everyday gifts and acts of kindness mean a lot, especially to people who maybe aren't so used to them.

Week Six

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MEAT PIE

oh god

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Art Room

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