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]

[ 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?

[themuseabandonsyou]

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.

[comeandfindme]

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

[themuseabandonsyou]

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.

[comeandfindme]

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

[themuseabandonsyou]

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?

[comeandfindme]

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

What? No. No, of course not.

[themuseabandonsyou]

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?

[comeandfindme]

[ 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.

[themuseabandonsyou]

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?

[comeandfindme]

[ 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. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

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

[comeandfindme]

[ 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.

[themuseabandonsyou]

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

[comeandfindme]

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

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

[themuseabandonsyou]

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.

[comeandfindme]

If you believe... I'll try to.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods, smiling at her and pulling his hand away. ]

That's all I can ask.

[ And he'll sit with her quietly, after that, watching the sun go down and the vivid pinks and oranges and blues of the sky, beautiful as it is and fake though it might be. ]