one thing's universal, life's no dress rehearsal

[stagemanagers]

[Prom night! The greatest night of your young lives if you watch any Western high school media from the past 60 years. The looks, the music, the copious amounts of fancy snacks, the sore feet from dancing heels and then spending the rest of the night in bare feet- it’s all part of the bigger package.

The courtyard and the roof have both been decked out in a special way for tonight, despite no one really seeing Hester or anyone/anything else decorating. There are round tables set-up in both places, covered in yellow-gold tablecloths. Some of them have platters of snacks laid out on them, one has a large punch bowl that never seems to empty no matter how many drinks are taken from it.

On the roof there’s an extra table with pencils, small slips of paper, a box wrapped in gold wrapping paper and a notecard labeled Song Requests. Just write a song, pop it in the box and within a few minutes it starts playing! Weird, there doesn’t seem to be a sound system anywhere...

Red paper lanterns have been strung around the outline of the roof and between stakes in the courtyard, granting soft romantic light for a night to remember. Put on your best costume shop formal wear, get ready to lose your shoes after an hour and sneak in liquor even though most of you are of age.

After all…tonight belongs to you.]

Comments

[comeandfindme]

[ ... ]

I— she... she lead the...rescue party. To find me and the others. We weren't— really speaking for awhile there? My fault. But, I guess- ...I guess I just...really missed my best friend.

[fourbutts]

Well, then I'm... glad I could be there for you. Even if I wasn't me. To you.

[brokeforgood]

Oh my god, Janis!

[Farrah buries her face into her hands.]

Maya’s hot!

1/3

[fourbutts]

[brokeforgood]

[She thinks of yesterday morning. Of Salieri’s voice, singing to her.]

...Yeah. I get that. [She groans.]

Holy shit, Per, you had the right idea of it, just keeping your normal clothes on. Unzip my back, just a little, I can’t fucking breathe in this thing.

2/3

[fourbutts]

3/3

[fourbutts]

She's so fucking hot.

[comeandfindme]

I don't mean- [ ohhhhhh she's fucking this up— ] Oh, jeez. Okay can I just—

You...took me back to the dorms...didn't you?

dance

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine just. Looks down at her dirty boots. ]

Uhh... You sure these are...made for a dance floor?

[fourbutts]

I mean... I couldn't just leave you out there in a blizzard, you know? Brett would never forgive me.

[ What a weirdly specific name to bring up haha ]

[comeandfindme]

[ A smile flickers across her face, just briefly, and she moves to do just that. ]

It wasn't really a conscious choice, exactly... I sorta rolled outta bed and ran here.

[comeandfindme]

It wasn't...actually a blizzard, I figured that out- [ Wait. ] ...Brett? ...Wait, was I more out of it than I thought, did I think you were—?

[brokeforgood]

You’re doomed, Janis. I’ll probably be okay after tonight, when she stops wearing that. But you’re doomed forever.

[fourbutts]

Oh no, I was hallucinating... a whole different narrative structure, apparently my hallucinations get real freaking conceptual.

[ She shakes her head. ]

No Brett actually involved.

[fourbutts]

I'm going to marry her and have her babies. It's over for me.

[comeandfindme]

[ She looks...confused, honestly. But— ]

Gotcha. Narrator thing.

[ ...so- ]

So, uh. I just- ...thanks? For— [ ... ] ...Finding me.

[fourbutts]

Yeah, uh... [ She scratches at the back of her neck. ] Any time.

[brokeforgood]

Don’t forget me when you do. Farrah is a very good baby name.

[comeandfindme]

[ Say it.

Say— ]

I'm sorry. [ It leaves her in a rush. ] When I was— I didn't mean, I wasn't- I wasn't thinking. If he'd tried to- to make us vote then, I-

There's no way in hell I would've let him take you. I should've told you. Right away.

[fourbutts]

[ She exhales. ]

And I'm sorry for... all the other shit I said. It's possible I shouldn't have gotten that heated.

[mayavericks]

[Maya's smile is polite. It doesn't seem polite to say something about how she knew she looked good. He was only trying to be nice -- she could manage the same.]

You're too kind, oniisan. [A beat.] We could dance together, if you wanted?

ukelele!!

[comeandfindme]

[ In her normal clothes, because someone got a bit of a late start to the prom, Peregrine takes a somewhat awkward seat by Spongebob. She catches sight of his nails and feels her heart squeeze, but she tries her best to push it down. ]

I wish I could hear you play. Live music, might...sound pretty good right now.

[fourbutts]

Sure. You can be the godmother.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That Farrah has appointed herself to the time-honored prom tradition of breaking up amorous couples duty is entirely lost on Orpheus, who's pretty much just glad to see her in a better mood. than yesterday. Opening the cabinet again, he takes one of the plastic bags and hands it to Farrah. If she looks inside, which feels like sort of an inevitability, she'll find a truly unreasonable number of red paper carnations. ]

Can you help me bring these down to the courtyard? I'm going to decorate it with them, as a surprise for Eurydice.

[comeandfindme]

It's...possible we both shouldn't have gotten that heated.