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

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob blushes, noticeably sheepish from that compliment.]

Aww shucks, it's nothing! I wanted to make sure we kept our energy up if we're gonna go fight the Wizard!

Besides, I thought you guys were tired of my usual boring breakfasts.

[Which, to be fair, had slowly been turning more lazy, especially leading up to Wednesday.

He might have felt guilty about that, too.]

[mcfife]

More illusion magic... [Of course. The Wizard is rather powerful.] How does it go? Did you check the dungeons yet?

Letters

[defyingfrigidity]

[Elsa's been feeling antsy today, for similar reasons as Spongebob. She'd held her breath for what felt like forever, waiting for the next motive, and when none came... well. It's worrying. There's a feeling in the air, one she's not sure if she's imagining or if she's perceptive to it because of the return of all her memories.

It doesn't scare her, though. Everyone's preparing, together, and she has to do her best to help them. So as she's puttering about the school, she spots Spongebob with his letters, and approaches.]

Hey. What are you doing?

kitchen

[mcfife]

[Angus wakes ups late, groggy and hungry and still coming off of that downloaded altered state of mind from yesterday. Bruiser ended up getting him out of bed by begging to be let out. The six lizards scurry around the remains of their vegetables. Despite everything, Angus still has his duties to attend to.

The smell of bananas come to mind, for some strange reasons. Yeah, the lizards deserve a treat today. They have been the only ones in the school who have had a nice time, and they deserve to keep that status. He enters the kitchen to make a beeline for the bowl of fruits to find that yes, there are no bananas left.

To the left is a bowl of batter. Nana, he thinks. And next to that bowl-

Oh. Maya.]

[employeeoftheyear]

Oh, hi, Elsa!

[He looks sheepish as he slides Elsa two letters to her. He awkwardly waits a few minutes for her to read before he speaks up.]

I... I know there’s no way for me to give this to them, but I’m hoping that they’ll feel the intent somehow!

[brokeforgood]

It's great. You should be a--- [She fills her mouth with stuffed french toast, which is good, because it lets her remember he is a frycook chef] mmmmmf---mmm --- [She almost chokes. Swallows. Washes it down with orange juice.]

Best cook in all of Bikini Bottom. And Gershwhatever High-Uni-Schoolity.

[barberic]

[To say that Benjamin feels lighter this week than he has in almost a month would be an understatement. Not in the manic way that he felt the week after Rina and Varian's deaths, either, when he thought the Judge had eluded him and his only recourse was to throw everything he had at the Wizard.

He doesn't do a lot on Sunday aside from go to the meeting and look after his girls. Monday isn't much different, except that his circle of looking after others expands a little. Neither day does he really leave the academy building.

But on Tuesday, that changes. When it isn't his turn to watch over Maya, and he's sure that the living can do without him for the moment, he goes down to the garden.

He has the same basket that he collected flowers in, for Varian and Rina, but this time it isn't filled with flowers. He has a bottle of wine and a refill sleeve of dinky little cups from the teacher's lounge, he has a guitar book, and he has the guitar from the music room that he'd started trying to play weeks ago. When he emerges from the trees and sees the seven mounded graves stretching along one side of the pond, he stops, the full weight of them hitting him.

Two of them he'd dug with his bare hands. Two more he'd helped, in some small way, to fill. And the last three... He doesn't know if others had to fill them, or if they were filled already when the trial was over. But it hurts, somehow, not knowing which one is whose.

He enters the garden softly, reverently, and sets down his things on one of the benches (Antonio's), moving to kneel in front of the center of the three newest graves.]

...I still keep looking for you. Keep expecting to come around a corner and see you standing there, or to hear your voices. I miss you. It's hard to believe you aren't here. Elle, Orpheus, Eurydice... God, you deserved better than this. I'm sorry we couldn't save you, too.

[Orpheus and Elle, he knows, would be thankful that Maya was spared. Eurydice...has more right to be angry than anyone. He understands that anger. But she's a better person than he is.

He prays that she's at peace. He prays that they can still save them all, that their supply of miracles hasn't yet run dry.]

But I think...this is almost over. One way or another, we'll all see each other again soon. And I'm looking forward to that, I truly am. I'm not used to looking forward to anything.

[He sniffles, reaching up and wiping his tears away with a small smile, then he moves to get up, goes back over to his basket and tears open the sleeve of tiny paper cups, holding the stack under his arm as he starts at the end of the row (Elle or Orpheus or Eurydice, he doesn't know) and moving backward through time, over graves that have been progressively more and more flattened by the weather and the settling of earth. Discord. Antonio. Varian and Rina, in their shared grave, where he knows they lie beneath the earth nestled together in their shrouds like a couple of newborn kittens. The Balladeer. The first body they refused to give up to the Wizard, the first time they stood up and said No. These are ours.

Every body gets a little cup of wine, an offering. The other four - even the SQUIP - have one placed on the benches that mark their memory.]

I hope you don't think I'm being stingy with it. We can all share a proper drink when we're together, on that side or this.

[He pours himself a little cup of wine, picks up the guitar (and the book), and moves over to the edge of the pond, where he'd sat and listened to the Balladeer play his last performance to the silence of the woods.]

I'm sorry in advance. Especially to Bal and Orpheus.

[Antonio can suffer.

Benjamin clears his throat and hitches the guitar up onto his right knee, the guitar book open on the stone next to him, and carefully finds his starting chord before he starts to play.]

Drink with me, to days gone by
Sing with me, the songs we knew
Life without you here feels empty and wrong
Yet for you, our friends, we have to be strong
Will you help us see this through?

[He struggles a little to keep playing, between his still-sore left hand and the lack of calluses on the very tips of his fingers, but he gets going again.]

Drink with me, to days gone by
To the dawn that comes anew,
At the shrine of friendship, never say die
Let the wine of friendship never run dry
Here's to us,
And here's to you...

[He quiets the last chord and looks up, then raises his little cup of wine in a toast.]

[brokeforgood]

[After that toast, two of Benji's girls roll up.

It's ya girls, Farrah and Soup.]

This is not the party I had in mind.

[employeeoftheyear]

[His face is practically beet red as he laughs.]

C’mon, you’re just saying that because I’m your brother!

But I’m glad you like it. I don’t know how much time we have left together—- [He pauses, briefly.] I mean, until we get out, so I wanna make sure we savor each moment until we part ways!

[barberic]

[The woods are just as silent as they were before he started playing, so Farrah doesn't manage to catch him by surprise.]

...I felt I owed them a visit.

[mayavericks]

[Hey, Farrah, what the fuck -- ]

Is that -- How are you doing that?

[mayavericks]

[Used to a chaperone as she's become, Maya almost doesn't notice the presence moving through the kitchen. Even when she does, she just assumes it's one of her many guardians. She's far too preoccupied with making sure she doesn't ruin the cake, or anything like that.

Of course, once she's knelt down to pop it in the oven and has risen to her feet once more, she stops short. This -- wasn't who had accompanied her, not by a long shot. All at once she feels a sharp surge of emotion, of the guilt she's carried since Friday.]

McFife-san.

brunch!

[barberic]

[Spongebob doesn't have to go far to find Benjamin; the man is on his way to the cafeteria already when Spongebob pushes the overflowing plate into his hands.

He looks at it like he's never seen quite this much food before, then looks up at Spongebob.]

For me?

[fourbutts]

How does anyone date anyone in small towns? Where do new small town people come from?

[barberic]

[Benjamin tried not to worry when he couldn't find her. But when he steps outside and hears her faintly, in the stillness of the air (the weather is unnerving, heavy and still, like the sky could crack open at any minute), he's nonetheless relieved when he looks down over the football field to see her just enjoying herself.

As he gets closer, trying to sneak into the bleachers without distracting her, he realizes that what she's doing is what she called 'cheer.'

So cheer he does, when she finishes and strikes her pose, standing up and applauding as loud as he can, with an energetic "WHOO!"]

[comeandfindme]

If you're thinkin' outside, they don't. They just don't. People don't move to Whitetail, at least not...normally.

[ Howl was special circumstances. ]

Some people try it. Like...Lexy and JF, it wasn't weird for them. [ She actually smiles kind of sadly. ] Leaving Whitetail made it harder, actually.

[comeandfindme]

[ She shakes her head. ]

That's my next stop. But before I can tell anything concretely, I've gotta develop the photos, which...can take some time. Especially considering I've got most of the building today.

library

[barberic]

[As one of the members of the aforementioned retinue, Benjamin is hanging out with her in the library.

He's not idle, though he's being quiet- he's sitting in one of the plush chairs, scooted forward to the edge of it to make room to balance a guitar from the music room on his knee. On the short table in front of him, he has open one of the beginner guitar books, and he's carefully practicing the finger positions on the frets without strumming.

He pauses whenever he hears Maya hobbling on her crutches, watching her to make sure she doesn't need help, and giving her a smile if she looks his way, before going back to practicing moving his fingers carefully back and forth from chord to chord.]

hallway

[barberic]

[Benjamin was coming down the hallway when he sees Janis painting on the wall, and stops to watch her, approvingly.]

Very colorful. Really brightens up the place.

band room

[barberic]

[Benjamin is finishing up a lap around the academy late in the evening, headed back toward the dorms after making sure that every head is still accounted for.

Until he hears the sound of piano music, coming from the band room, and for a second he thinks- but no.

There's a soft feeling that unfurls in his chest to see Peregrine at the keys of the piano. Not disappointment, because that would require that he'd gotten his hopes up in the first place. But still there's something familiar about it, about finding her here now. The way he'd found Antonio at the very same seat, feverishly composing, the night that Connor was killed.]

You're good at that. [He says softly, when she comes to a rest.]

cw suicide mention

[mcfife]

[Knowing that Elle wanted to die before Maya found doesn't make her death any easier. Maya was the last face she saw before she fell. Someone who interrupted her plans to sacrifice herself, someone who killed a vulnerable woman. Elle was broken, unmoving in his arms as he held her on Friday.

Maya lives. Elle is gone, separated from her fiance. Orpheus, his friend, was taken away from him as well, but in a sick twist of fate, he is with the love of his life. Yet their killer is here, and Angus' last words to Elle was a quick goodnight.

The events of the previous night showed him how cruel it was to see a glimpse of his love and not care. How awful it was to be detached and fine with life. He only saw his body being used by the SQUIP, but living through it is an entirely different matter. A body that wasn't entirely his, going through the motions of a relaxed, "chill" prince.]

Maya.

[He looks away from her and opens the refrigerator. If he can reheat a pre-cooked meal or a bowl of leftovers, he can leave sooner and find someone else to speak to.]

ITS THE FINAL WEED THREAD (before endgame)

[comeandfindme]

[ There was no motive this morning. No sign of Hester. No sign of anything. There's ominous posters hanging around everywhere. Club tomorrow promises to be horrible. They're all some level of anxious, probably.

So. Sometime in the late afternoon, Peregrine strolls into the cafeteria with some pots and pans, like last time, and bangs them. ]

Hey! Hotboxing in the photo dungeons again. Be there.

[ Peregrine Wells has developed one whole coping mechanism that doesn't rely on taking her trauma, immersing herself in it, and screaming internally the whole time. Good for her!

Let's have some fun in the photo dungeons, friends. ]

[mcfife]

[Angus winces over his sandwich and salad. The salad is mostly for the six lizards beside, him. The last time he got high, he was tuned into a three-way conversation and was kind of mind-controlled. It's way too soon for this shit again.]

I'll pass. Someone has to cook for you. [And it gives him something to focus on instead.]

[mayavericks]

[What does she say? What does she say about any of this. No words would ever make this right. If the roles were reversed, if it were Janis or Peregrine that he had killed, only to live on, her fury would know no bounds. For her to continue to live on feels like an insult to Elle's memory and Angus's existence.

Silence would be the better option. She could finish the cake, he could finish his food, and they could both go their separate ways.

But instead --]

She should be the one here. Not me.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine's break comes from her very tired fingers. She'd been practicing and re-practicing. If Benjamin is close enough? He may be able to see if he is just who composed what she's playing. The name's familiar.

Because she's stopped playing, the surprise to which she reacts to him is only marginal. She turns pulling her hands back from the keys. ]

Uh, Mr. Barker! Hi, uh... How long've you been there?