Week 7

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, on It's Curtains...boy, that sure was a year-long week, huh?

But despite it all, you've gotten through it with less death than there might have been. Spongebob and Farrah both survived their ill-conceived plan; Maya, with the intervention of Janis and Hester, survived her triple murder. Since the failed execution, there has been no sign of the Wizard or of Hester. It seems like you may have gotten away with that cleanly!

When you wake up on Sunday, you remember everything. All the gaps, the missing pieces, entire chunks of time from back home - they're back and neatly fitted where they should be in your heads. Elle, Orpheus, and Eurydice have also been given graves alongside the others in the garden. These ones were filled in for you; after all, you were all pretty occupied over the weekend.

Other than that...it seems like some unusual posters have been put up around the school. Sounds like something's going to happen this week. You'd better prepare.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday

(( As per usual, endgame will ICly take place on Wednesday, so get those last threads in! As this is the last week, all characters should be at their true canonpoint memory-wise. Feel free to continue submitting regains and...well, you can certainly try to visit Hester. No AC this week, but be sure to check in for endgame! ))

Comments

[comeandfindme]

Mmmhm!! [ Clipped and angry, as she rips the letter in half, slow and loud. ] I got one of these today for the first time and decided you know what? It's time to get rid of these.

[ She pats the other letters sitting next to her. ]

No more...fake letters or anything like that about Connor's life from some creep who clearly like— this sounds like he was stalking Connor's...sister, or something, right? I can't be the only one who hears that.

[fourbutts]

[ Same here. But after a while, something about Maya on her mind draws a song out. ]

I had always been looking at you
I felt as if I had left my loneliness behind
Even the moon is smiling at me tonight
Please look this way
Oh, fly me to the star

[comeandfindme]

[ What Janis sings, Peregrine's never heard it before. And yet, it feels familiar. She gives her a half-smile. ]

Unable to convey my feelings to you
I imagine all sorts of lives
And act them all out to draw your attention
Oh, fly me to the star.

[ Clumsily, she squeezes Janis's hand. ]

Our heartbeats pile...

[mcfife]

Never?

[A child of the woods- no, she talks a lot about the winter.]
Then I am honored to have given you the first. It is no royal medal, but take it as a token of my respect.

[fourbutts]

...upon each other.

[ An image comes to mind, suddenly, of the two of them falling together. But not in a panicked way, in a romantic way? ]

Sometimes I become afraid
Because it seems you will leave me behind
I want your glittering eyes to reflect
No one but me
Oh, fly me to the star

[comeandfindme]

[ She has no filter right now, at all, so: ]

Oh, you woulda lived even if I hadn't splinted it, you know. ...Probably. I mean, like, you wouldn't've been able to move it. And it might've gotten infected. So maybe.....

[ She purses her lips. ]

You were...trying to have a real genuine moment here and I ruined it...huh...?

[comeandfindme]

Oh, bird that signals the break of dawn,
Please stop the clock in this moment
Shooting star that gently goes through the morning, please fall down here
Oh, fly me to the star...

[ She wonders where this song's coming from. It's not quite as specialized, as some of the others...but it still feels so personal. ]

Please take me along,

[fourbutts]

... Oh, fly me to the star

[ Janis then, freed of the fear of wasting weed by the weed itself, moves to cuddle up close to Peregrine and just. Closes her eyes. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine snorts as she pulls away, just in time for Spongebob to see the bitter frown on her face. ]

Yeah, that fucker doesn't get to pull the sympathy card on us after all this, screw his life, screw his plans. A lot of us have lost family, we're not kidnapping a bunch of people and forcing them to kill each other.

[comeandfindme]

[ Smash Mouth was right. The years start coming and they don't stop coming, but in this case, years is code for trombones. ]

Here- against the wall! Against the wall, they can't hit there.

[comeandfindme]

[ Angus... Angus, do you think Peregrine just lives in the woods...? Oh. This scans.

Peregrine appears delighted with the flower crown, and she reaches out to take it, but then she stops short. ]

I...do not trust my ability, right now...not to roll over onto it.

[comeandfindme]

[ Before, Peregrine had never really had any hang-ups about sleeping alone. She never feared it as a kid, because she knew if she had a nightmare or needed something, Jacob was there, right down the hall. Even when Dad left them. Even when Mom was working night shifts.

Then...he was gone. And everything got harder, darker, more lonely. Peregrine started applying the same philosophy she did for everything else to even sleeping—you push through all of the pain, all of the uncertainty, you press down on it until it's completely numb, and only then can you feel safe, or— or however close to safe you can let yourself feel.

Ever since waking up in Gershwin, though... Something's been different. Even before she wanted to acknowledge it, falling asleep in a room full of other people, it started to make things...easier. She didn't have to force herself as much. She didn't have to wonder—am I safe? If something happens...who will find me?

The closer she got to everyone, she realized the answer:

There's a whole collection of people who love her, right here. A whole bunch of them ready to support her, to hold her, to laugh with her. It's the same thing she had to realize, back home.

Peregrine may be a good student, but sometimes...she's a very slow learner.

So, as Janis snuggles up to her, she doesn't think twice. In a dreamy haze of weed and smoke and love, she pulls Janis against her as they lay under the mismatched stars. Despite being out in the open, no shelter, no logic—

As the two of them fall asleep, Peregrine's never felt safer. ]

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Oh? Well... happy birthday, in advance, I mean.

[Nods to the cake.] Should we celebrate? Or, do you want to have your cake and eat it too?

[brokeforgood]

[Soup’s soft, like a normal rabbit, and her little nose twitches as Per reaches for her.]

Yeah. Just like a normal rabbit. I promised Orpheus I’d take good care of her. So…

[mcfife]

[A chuckle-hum. Yeah, no flower crown is going to survive a room of giggle teenagers and a grown man.]

Then I will hold onto it until tomorrow. There's a few left I have yet to hand out. [Though...he pulls out another crown, this one with a few lillies weaved into it.] I would like it if you gave this one to Maya, today or tomorrow, you decide.

[He's not going to single her out, she's on their team, but...it's best that they avoid each other until many wounds have been healed.]

[barberic]

I don't think there was ever a way you could have prepared for all that happened last week.

[Yes, Peregrine, even you.]

But I worry we've been over-reliant on you; put too much on your shoulders. Especially...with the utter disappointment that most of us adults have turned out to be.

[Really, everyone but Angus, tbh, though some couldn't help it. Some by dying (or trying to - Spongebob), others, himself included, by not being able to do more to protect everyone.]

[barberic]

...You're right. Where else would she be?

[He isn't strong enough to overcome the absolute force of nature of that level of optimism.

Especially not after he's seen how low Spongebob can go when he's lost all hope.]

[mcfife]

[He pulls Peregrine across the floor towards one of the few empty spaces and stands there, watching the hallway fill with trombones, crashing against the wall, the doors. Thankfully, the lizard in his pocket has not been traumatized by this.]

...Of all the spells and hexes a wizard could cast, I still don't understand why this was ever created.

[barberic]

[He nods at Angus' decisive statement. That's the feeling he's had too, building all week. Whether there's a motive today, he thinks will decide for sure. But Nana had told them these things only last about seven weeks, total, and if she's right, that deadline is soon.]

For mine?

[He seems surprised that he gets one. But as he looks around at the flowers, he pauses when he sees a lush ground-covering plant with small little blue and white flowers.

He gets down on his knees next to Angus, and picks one of the little flowers with a pinch of his fingernails, turning it by its thin little stem in his fingers.]

...

[mcfife]

[Angus sets the basket on the ground and kneels beside Benjamin. He can't recognize most flowers by sight, though he trusts the opinions of his friends over that old book.]

What are these?

[barberic]

...Periwinkles, I think.

[He inhales slowly.]

Lucy kept a garden in her uncle's house, where we met. She grew roses, lilies, ivy... Everything. But she loved these the most - they were so small and delicate, everybody always paid more attention to the bigger, more eye-catching flowers that everyone knows.

That was my Lucy... [His voice catches, as tears well in his eyes.] Always with a soft spot, for little things that everyone else forgot.

[comeandfindme]

...So, you're gonna take good care of her.

[ Peregrine runs a gentle hand over Soup's head. ]

There's no doubt about that.

[comeandfindme]

[ Covered in lilies... If only Peregrine knew more about Japanese, because that would send her into a gigglefit. Still, she smiles at the sight of it. ]

Ohhh... Oh it's so pretty. [ She nods! ] Uh. I'll grab it...after I'm not...weed.

[comeandfindme]

[ Though she knows he's right, she doesn't like it. Peregrine frowns lightly, placing fingers on the keys but not pressing down. ]

...Before, I would've said that's like being back in Whitetail. [ From white key to black key and back again, she caresses them gently. ] But that's... It's not fair. To you guys, or to them. [ She lets out a heavy, heavy sigh. ] You're right, no one can be...fully prepared. You guys didn't put anything on me. I...put most of it on myself.

[ Because what else was she to do? Sit and watch again? Still... ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine's quietly counting how many trombones are coming out. She frowns. ]

'Cause he's a troll. Probably.