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

MONDAY

[stagemanagers]

[mayavericks]

[Come Monday, Maya and her retinue can be found in the library. She goes through whatever cookbooks she can find in the non-fiction section, until finally she pulls away something that piques her interest. She hobbles over to a table to thumb through and.

Eventually rips a page out? Become ungovernable indeed.

Later, she'll be shuffling about in the kitchen, making some sort of cake? The cake has bananas too, so maybe it isn't too much of a surprise who she's making it for. She doesn't think it too suspicious, though. She'd been making banana treats since before Nana had arrived. It's just comfort. And who can blame her, on this day.

Toward the evening, Maya takes her cake to the locker room though. The same one she put her mattress in before, in fact! That part's a little weird. But hey, there's cake and a single candle (not a birthday candle, just a regular candle), so... maybe let's celebrate a birthday.]

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.]

[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.

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.]

[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.

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.]

[mayavericks]

[Maya starts to settle down with her current cookbook but... stops short when she hears the first few chords. Instead, she stands up and begins dragging her chair along with her. It's slow going considering her current injuries but... Eventually she's able to tuck herself by his side. Not in the way of his efforts but still close enough to reach out if need be.]

Are you trying to learn a particular song?

[barberic]

[He was trying not to actually make contact with the keys so as not to make much noise, but in practicing the strumming sometimes his thumb skirted over the strings.

When he sees her start dragging her chair over, he half-stands and reaches out to take the arm of it, taking most of the effort off of her. When she's able to tuck herself back in at his side, he settles back in as well.]

Oh, I don't think so. I'm just trying to memorize where my fingers go, and how to move them back and forth.

[mayavericks]

[She nods a few times, watching his hands curiously. After a moment she glances around almost warily.]

Would you like a secret? [She waits for only a moment.] I think you know how to play better than I do.

[She's well aware that he hasn't started playing yet, too.]

locker room

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[As a metaphorical storm brews on the horizon, it pays to take in any figurative changes in the group's surroundings with an investigative eye. Case in point: why does the locker room smell like cake?

Cass hasn't been idle for days - she's moving. Preparing; sword sharpened and poised at her side. Her original goal was to do a few laps in the gym, maybe practice a flip or two to stay sharp.

Instead, she's poking her head into the locker room, nose in the air-]

Maya? [Wh-] Is... that a cake?

[mayavericks]

[Maya glances up from where she's settled. She at least has the cake as far from the ground as possible. She knows it's probably super gross to eat cake in a locker room, but what can you do in a place like this!]

Yes? [She tilts her head.] A birthday cake, even.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

...Oh.

Uh. Happy birthday?

[Listen, what's a little locker room cake among friends?]

[mayavericks]

[Okay, now she's laughing.]

It is Nana's birthday. Mine isn't for -- [She blinks.] Oh. I suppose it isn't long from now, either!

[brokeforgood]

[Feeling extra motivated after the meeting on Sunday, Farrah's hit the football field on Monday morning.

She's wearing something she found with Varian's things-- you know, she should probably question why he had a cheerleading uniform, but the thing she's more hung up on is that they were the same size. Whatever. Things to dwell about later. She's got the Gershwin Groundhogs uniform on, and can be found out there on the field, rah-rah-rahing to her heart's content.]

It's the best we'll get
Take a chance and make it through here
Get in the clear
Get in the clear
And say that life's not fair
Oh I've so been there
So get in gear
Shut up and cheer!

[After that, she, Soup, and Ruddiger can all be found on the floor of the cafeteria, where she's taking turns feeding them, and herself, a giant bowl of celery. She's got one of the bulk jars of peanut butter, too. She's invincible.]

[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!"]

groundhogs

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[Off to the side of the field, Farrah's accumulated a small audience. One woman; human. Another woman; a horse. And an owl. A neat little trio, originally out here for the sake of a mid-morning ride and some fresh air.

Instead, they're watching Farrah cheer her little heart out and - well, it's infectious, okay?]

Yeah! [A round of applause as it comes to an end.] Woo! Bring that optimism!

[stagemanagers]

[Ah yes, the football field. Remember that "body" you and Maya dug up, Farrah? Good times, good times.

A question: how close are you to that spot?]

[brokeforgood]

[well she definitely drifted past it, you time traveling fuckers]

[stagemanagers]

[Wonderful, you beautiful boundary-pushing moth.

At the base of the rock, even at just a glance, it looks like someone has ripped up some of the grass and dirt.]

[brokeforgood]

[Yeah, that's definitely weird. Weird enough to risk getting dirt on the cheer uniform, even.

She crouches down in the dirt, to take a better look-- to try and gauge if maybe an animal did this, or maybe a person? Were they trying to get to something?]

[comeandfindme]

[ Orpheus's letters yesterday and Elle's before make Peregrine start thinking. She stops by Longacre, to look carefully through her trunk. When nothing comes of it, she starts to actually think. To get smart.

That leads her almost immediately to the girl's locker room on the first floor. It doesn't take long for her to find what she's looking for.

For awhile, she just sits against the lockers quietly letting herself cry.

Then she gets it together. For much of the day she'll be in the gym, dividing up Eurydice's stash as instructed. Peregrine works diligently; this is what she wanted, so this is what she'll give.

After all this, she stops briefly in the kitchen to brew some tea before bringing it to Hester's empty office. She sets down a pot of it. ]

What the hell... Anything's worth a try.

[ She sits there for awhile, drinking herbal tea, contemplating. ]

Gym

[employeeoftheyear]

[Spongebob wasn’t sure what he was expecting when he looked into the gym but Peregrine sorting cans was not one of them.

But that doesn’t stop him as he goes in and picks one up out of curiosity.]

Hey Per! Is this some neat Minnesotan work out?

[comeandfindme]

[ Glancing up briefly from where she's sorting, Peregrine holds out a hand. ]

Hold on! Put that one down, that's for Angus, not for you.

[employeeoftheyear]

[That shocks Spongebob that he almost drops the can, and takes a few seconds to scramble to grab it before gently placing it back on the ground.]

I'm sorry! But what does Angus need all these cans for?