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

[comeandfindme]

[ It's probably the best thing she can do. It means Peregrine can just go into recounting mode. ]

It's cramped right now, yeah? So, right to give room for two people. Up to keep the- the bell-shape, the bell's important, so it doesn't collapse. I'll work on- on packing it, getting it firm.

[ She hesitates a second— ]

This- this is prob'ly how Eric did it. He said...d'ya hear? He found a big snow drift like this.

1/2

[fourbutts]

[ The man across the table doesn't speak, not really - he doesn't have a face, in the way that happens when you've never really met someone. She doesn't know what he sounds like, either, his words simply having been spoken when he talks.

"Why her?" ]

... What?

[ "Why Peregrine? You already had Maya." ]

That's not...

"Pain is good," she thinks,
"Hurt is real.
"To live is to feel every ache that you feel."

[ Janis snorts lightly. ]

And I wanted to sit
In the dark with her
In the dark with her
To prop up that blanket of soothing despair
In the dark with her
In the dark with her
So someone could help bear the weight of the sadness out there

2/2

[fourbutts]

[ Janis nods, trying her best to picture a snowbank, to see the shining crystals of the kind of snow they get in the Midwest proper - there's not much to be said about the dirty, slushy snows in Chicago, after all. No one has to huddle for warmth under them, desperate against the cold. ]

Yeah? No kidding.

[ She even tries her best to put on a little bit of a Minnesota accent, hoping to sell it. Her hands move, over to the right, hoping she's digging at the snow correctly, to expand the space. To give Peregrine room to breathe. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ For a moment, she tenses. Like maybe the illusion (the hallucination) is broken. But then she presses against the air, packing in something only she can see. She doesn't look at Janis. ]

I...said I coulda found my way back too. But... I don't know anymore. I- I think I...needed you to-

To come and find me. [ ... ] You saved me. You saved...me and Woodsley.

1/2

[fourbutts]

What can I say? I'm good at finding you.

[ Janis chokes down a noise at the realization that whoever Lexy is, "slightly flirty" probably isn't a tone she would take. Not that she knows anything more of Peregrine's friends than she learned days ago, when they fought over the memory of Howl, whose presence looms like a shadow over this entire conversation. ]

A whole blizzard out here and I still managed.

2/2

[fourbutts]

She thinks she has to push through the pain
Push hard through the pain 'til it breaks
And she embraces the sorrow
Holds it close for protection

[ Janis swallows hard, wondering briefly if the microphone will pick it up. ]

A girl who I wished I could save

[ "Could you?" ]

Could I what?

[ "Could you have saved her?" ]

[comeandfindme]

[ It's been...a long time. She's aware that she hasn't seen Lexy in a month and a half. Aware that before that, they weren't speaking for months. She's aware, so she either doesn't notice or doesn't care about the strange inflection in "Lexy's" voice.

(Like with Howl, she's hearing what she wants to hear. What she wants to believe.) ]

A whole blizzard... How... I almost can't believe you made it. [ ... ] How'd you find the school?

[ Well. She's aware of a little, it seems. ]

1/2

[fourbutts]

... We're not at that part yet.

[ "Why do you think you're here with me? And she isn't?" ]

I... I...

"Pain is good," she thinks

[ "I know." ]

Hurt is real.
Oh, but I want to feel all of her I can feel
I want to sit
In the dark with her!
In the dark with her...
Be there to catch the tears she's never cried
In the dark with her!
In the dark with her...
If no one and nothing can break through the darkness, I'll try.

2/2

[fourbutts]

[ It's a hard cut to go from crying in soliloquy to smiling, trying to be the person she knows Peregrine wants to see right now. She can almost feel the air go colder around her. Maybe that means this is working, she thinks. She hopes. ]

Well, you know. You trek out far enough and it's hard not to see buildings like that.

cw: suicide talk

[comeandfindme]

...We can't get out. We've tried. I never thought...someone else could get in. Everyone keeps...dying, and...and it's weighing on us.

[ She's doing that thing. That thing where she just talks. Just talks, and talks, and talks. ]

Two of them tried to...to kill themselves yesterday? ...I yelled at one of them. I wasn't...very nice. He probably hates me. [ She's not going to tell "Lexy" it's Spongebob Squarepants. She doesn't need that. ] But I... I can't...do it anymore. I can't—

...I love these people. I can't- keep losing them, so- so if you...if you remember how you got here, Lexy, can- can you...get us out?

[ In contrast to the conversation "Lexy"— Janis and Peregrine had on Sunday, she's not hollow or dull. Not screaming. She's just whimpering under the bleachers, crying. The tears feel so hot against her cheeks, which are cold to her, feel like ice to her, despite her raging fever. It's like she's freezing and on fire at the same time. ]

1/2

[fourbutts]

[ Lexy or Janis or whoever she is to Peregrine right now, she can tell that some comfort is needed. Whatever she can give. She can apologize for not telling her later, but for now she just wants to give Peregrine something. Anything. A glimmer of hope to keep her moving.

A way to let the pain pass, instead of trying to push through. She sets a hand on Peregrine's shoulder. ]

I'll find a way.

[ It's not a lie, if she can figure out a way to overthrow the Wizard. And she knows it's selfish, but... ]

They mean a lot to you, huh?

2/2

[fourbutts]

There is something so pure in how she sees the world
Like in darkness she'll find a reprieve
Like if she sees the light she's giving up the fight
And I fucked this up, time to be a grown-up and believe

[ "Believe in what, Janis?" ]

I believe!
In the light!
In the light...
Bound in a blanket of her own despair
In the light with her
In the light with her
No one and nothing can break through!
No one and nothing can break through the darkness in there
No there's no one can break through...!

[ There's a long pause. The man across the table doesn't say anything. He just watches. ]

If I can't break through, I'm going to pull her out.

[ "Is that going to be enough?" ]

It's going to have to be. I'm the one who pushed her in, after all.

[comeandfindme]

[ Oblivious to Janis's soliloquy, Peregrine just nods. She leans against the other girl. ]

I... I woulda kept making the same mistakes I made when...when I pushed you away, if I didn't have them. I love them...and they love me.

[ She shivers. In the dirt, in the snow, wherever she is. ]

I'm scared...that'll doom them. I can't be alone again, Lexy.

[fourbutts]

[ Janis puts an arm around Peregrine's shoulders, eager to offer her any warmth she can spare. She even pulls her own jacket a little tighter, playing into the illusion as best she can. She's sweating now, a little, but it hardly bothers her. ]

I bet they're not about to leave you.

[comeandfindme]

You don't know that. [ ... ] I didn't think...Howl would...

[ Oh, she's gonna start crying again. Even though she leans into the comforting touch. It's all so heavy, so much. ]

[fourbutts]

[ She wants to say something, but Janis bites her tongue. It's not what Peregrine needs to hear right now. Instead, she just holds her tighter. ]

I know. I'm sorry.

[comeandfindme]

I keep seeing him.

[ She whispers it softly. It's softer than Peregrine usually is. It makes her sound younger than she is. ]

Why couldn't...he have just been happy with us? We could've... We could've...helped each other. We could've...found relief.

In a clearing,
In a clearing,
In a...break from the trees...
In...the arms of...someone...

In a...clearing,
In...a clearing,
You can feel...a little touch...

[ But, Peregrine can't continue whatever she's getting at. Because, in Janis's arms, she passes out. ]

1/3

[fourbutts]

[ Janis holds Peregrine as well as she can while she wears herself out against her shoulder. She thinks, as she does pass out, that she's almost thankful she won't have to respond. How is she supposed to respond to that without feeling terrible about the imitation?

She sits there for a few long moments, supporting Peregrine's dead weight as best she can, before she shifts and picks her up. She's weakened by sickness, sure, but she has the physique of a broadway actress. She can carry Peregrine Wells well enough. ]

2/3

[fourbutts]

[ As she carries Peregrine Wells back to the school - across the football field, past the treeline - Janis feels herself return to the table one last time. Brett - that was his name, she finally remembers, though if Peregrine gave her any physical description beyond that she couldn't say - looks at her with his colorless eyes from his featureless face. The microphone is still recording, somehow she can tell.

"And what if you can't save her?" ]

See, that's the thing. I don't have to.

[ "Oh? Then who will?" ]

3/3

[fourbutts]

I'm gonna help Per save herself.

[ Even as she says it, laying her girlfriend (probably? still??) down into her bed, she's not sure how she's going to. But it's not just her job, is it? That's the nice thing about having so many people she loves, who love her in return.

She moves some hair off Peregrine's forehead. ]

The darker the night,
The brighter you shine

Plastic don't shine
Glitter don't shine
Rhinestones don't shine the way you do
You are so real, you are so rare
I see you there
I see you...

[ After a moment of hesitation, Janis pulls off her jacket and lays it gently atop Peregrine. Then, still humming lightly, she leaves Rodgers Dorm. ]