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. ))

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[ Orpheus... actually laughs a little at that - surprised and sad and a little broken. ]

No, I'm not. I'm really not. But - nothing has ever been guaranteed. Not the good or the bad. And I understand expecting the worst, by now, but I - I can't let myself do that. I have to have something to hold onto.

[ For a moment, Peregrine's quiet. ]

I don't...think I can do that anymore. Sorry.

You don't have to apologize. I understand.

[ Sighing a little, he goes quiet, watching the clouds roll by. He worries his lip slightly, debating something with himself, before asking; ]

... You remembered something, didn't you? Something difficult.

I don't wanna talk about it again.

[ That's her instant response. It's...a little bitter. ]

It never helps.

[ Orpheus nods in understanding. ]

If you don't want to, I won't make you. Would you rather have some time to yourself, right now? I can head back inside, if you do. But I'm also here, if you think company would help, at all.

[ That's a relief. She can dodge another argument with someone she cares about. The rest of it, however, seems a little murkier. ]

...I don't know. Everything just seemed...so much easier yesterday.

[ Orpheus is quiet, trying to think of anything he could possibly say that might help. It's hard, when he knows how dire things really are here, and harder still when he doesn't know how they are back where Peregrine's from. ]

I'm sorry. [ Is what he settles on. ] I'm not going to pretend I have an answer for - whatever happened. Or for any of this. But if there's anything you need, just let me know? I'll do what I can.

[ ... ]

I asked Eurydice earlier. Do you think... Do you think the gods, the...Fates, or whatever— do you think they decide if some people are just...gonna lose the ones they love? Do you think that's something...they determine?

That's... a complicated question. Some priests - they'll tell you that everything is already woven into the tapestry the Fates weave. Everyone who ever was and is and will be, and their lives and loves and deaths. That everything happens for a reason, and they have a plan for everybody.

But others say the Fates don't actually foretell anything. They just record it all, and maybe they nudge people in certain directions sometimes, but that's all they do. Make suggestions. And nothing is inevitable, and when something happens it's just because of all the things that lead up to it and sometimes just random chance, and no grand plan or destiny or anything like that.

[ He sighs, leaning back and propping himself up on his elbows as he looks up at the sky. The first stars are just starting to come out, all in the wrong places. ]

But you asked what I think? And I... I think it's the second one. I want to believe we have control over our decisions, even if it means we sometimes make the wrong ones for no reason. The idea that everything is inevitable just scares me too much, even if it gives those wrong decisions meaning.

[ Peregrine's seated there listening. She doesn't look up at the sky, just at her own feet. ]

Then what can I do?

How do I make it stop?

I don't know. I wish I had an answer? I'm, um...

[ He trails off a little, thinking about how to put what he wants to say. ]

I've always been really afraid of losing people too. I'm not good at it. Even when they're just going somewhere far away where I can't see them again, I don't... deal with it well.

[ He looks away again, staring off at the horizon. ]

I guess the only thing to do is... keep loving them, even when they're gone. And learn to love new people as you meet them, and cherish what time you have.

There's never enough. [ Her voice is small. Small and rough. ] I just- I just wish there was ever enough.

There isn't. Sometimes I don't think even forever would be enough. So you just... have to make due with what you have. Tell people how much you value them. Try not to leave anything unsaid.

But I... Eventually I'm just gonna be alone. What good's it all then?

Peregrine. [ Orpheus says it gently, looking back over at her. ] Do you... regret meeting the people you've lost? Would you prefer not to have known them?

[ Her head jerks up and she really looks at Orpheus for the first time. ]

What? No. No, of course not.

Then that's what good it was. Things don't... lose meaning, just because they don't last forever. You remember it, and it was valuable, and it helped make you who you are today. And you might miss what you've lost, and it might hurt more than you feel like you can bear, but - that's because it mattered.

[ Like they told the SQUIP, so many weeks ago. ]

And isn't that better? Loving someone and hurting when they go, than never having had anyone matter to you or never having mattered to anyone at all?

[ Her eyes shine with tears. ]

I don't wanna stop hurting. I don't...wanna let them go. But I just wish— it didn't have to happen in the first place. I don't wanna be all alone, Orpheus.

I know. [ he says, and, hesitantly, reaches out to put a hand on Peregrine's shoulder. ] But you're not alone. You've got Maya, and Janis, and the rest of us. And we're not going anywhere. I know you've lost a people, here and at home, but I promise you, you aren't - cursed, or fated to be alone. Closing yourself off isn't going to solve anything.

You've got suckers luck
Have you given up?
Does it feel like a trial?
Does it trouble your mind the way it troubles mine?
Does it feel like a trial?
Did you fall for the same empty answers again?

[ The mention of Janis gets her to look away, but she doesn't pull away. She can't tell him they had a fight, a big fight, and that she wasn't ready to talk to her again. But the sentiment of it all washes over her. She sniffles slightly, as she tries to swallow the tears down. ]

I'm just so tired. [ That fails, and they fall as she hangs her head. ]

It's okay. [ He pats her on the back, gently. ] You don't have to be anything else, right now.

[ She thinks for a moment of asking him not to leave.

But, she holds that back. Because...in a way, she understands begging them this, it doesn't help. Later, regardless—she'll still wish she did. ]

Please... Please let this all be done. Soon.

I wish I knew for sure, but... I have a good feeling. It's not going to stay this hopeless. Like I said, the wind is changing.

And the coldest night of the coldest year
Comes right before the spring

[ The wind is changing, he says. But...is it changing in a the right direction? ]

I hope you're right, Orpheus. I really do.

We'll work something out. Whatever the Wizard has in store for us this week - it won't be what tears us apart. Not after all this.

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