It's Curtains Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stagemanagers) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
itscurtains2021-07-17 06:57 pm
stagemanagers) wrote in itscurtains2021-07-17 06:57 pm
don't stop believing
[It's a pleasant afternoon in the garden. Maybe not emotionally, but physically - isn't it nice when you get to have class outside?
As your voices rise, singing defiance in unison out for the Wizard, there's no immediate response; at least, nothing that clearly is a response. But there's something. Amidst the sound of your song, it may be hard to hear at first; Janis will likely be the first to notice, but eventually everyone is able to hear. It sounds as though other voices are rising along with yours.
There's something on the air - no music, or at least no instrumentals, just a disembodied sort of lyrical chant. You don't recognize any of the voices. They aren't singing the same song as you all are. Maybe they can't; they sound long long ago, and far far away now. Still - despite everything - the trees around you move lightly in a sudden soft breeze. It feels as though you have invoked something, old and entirely beyond your knowledge.
But first. Haven't you forgotten something?
It's Wednesday.
Welcome to this week's school club!]
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[There is no grand entrance. One moment, there is no one there. The next, a man is standing on top of the water in the center of the reflecting pond. He's dressed in white pants and an off-white shirt over a white...unfinished jacket? Oh, no - that's a vest. Despite everything, all the yelling and shouting, his expression seems almost unnaturally calm - or maybe just detached? But then -
Will smiles, just a little bit.]
There is something so pure, how you see the world.
As if music could be our reprieve...
[Mmmm. But no.]
I used to have faith
In love or in grace,
But there's just one way out,
There's no room for doubt, or...
...belief.
[The song dies before his voice does. After long enough, a few things can change.]
I'm right here. I always have been. Now let's end this.
[It goes on, and on, and on, and on and on and on and on and - ]
(( OOC: Believe me, I understand the impulse, but any attempt to physically charge William right now will meet with the same kind of barrier keeping Nana out. You cannot enter the pond. ))
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Stop singing that right now! You don't get to!
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I agree.
[And, despite that lovely OOC warning, he...charges the barrier with a razor extended.
Shocker - he hits it full speed.]
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cw: implications of suicide already god damn
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Angus grips the Gloryhammer.] Oh, you don't believe how long I have awaited this day.
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Wow, you really were a hack the whole time, huh?
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Cassandra rattles against the barrier, driving her fist into it for good measure, but no dice.]
Oh, of course you'd pull some shit like this.
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He's just kinda disappointed that it's just some guy. No theatrics, no evil laughing about his plan.
Just some guy.]
Why did you do this? Why did you think that making us suffer like this would ever be worth it?
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She whips off the backpack-- the one that only has special stuff in it? That she told Peregrine she got rid of all of her rations from?
She pulls out and cracks open a can of strawberita.]
It was a dude in white pants all along.
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But then she remembers Hans. Hans had seemed so normal, so kind. But he turned out to be a monster through and through, and that's all she needs to remember to steel herself again.]
You're not going to win.
CATHERD
Don't you think there's people I want to save, too? If I could rewrite stories - change people's fates? I don't want to see people die! But I can't, I can't, I know what happens when you do that -
I cannot let anyone interfere
With that vast eternity.
[Janis can hear, again, the chaos of repetitive songs, discordant strings and brass and odd vocals overlaid on top of each other, fracturing back in on themselves. It's far too much, and far too long. Probably like, at least a few centuries, unskippable, if it were allowed to go on.
As it happens, she and Nana both will be able to see, as if it's opening up in front of them, a glimpse of something greater. What once might have been orderly has been thrown into disarray. Worlds are twisting around each other or back on themselves; others have stopped dead in their tracks, or are beginning to fracture entirely. This is the multiverse. This is wrong.
It's not stable in its current state, either. Nana is familiar with smaller fragments, off-shoots of this problem; that's what she and the Leading Player have been working to fix, after all. But those were only symptoms of a greater issue. It's real, and it is spreading. Any more changes are only likely to make it worse. And while you're currently tucked away from this, it's hard to say where you could even go to be truly safe. Some worlds haven't been touched yet, but the ripple effects are spreading and magnifying with each uncontrolled change. It's likely that nowhere, not even this place, would remain safe forever.
Heartbreaking - the worst person you know is actually pretty accurate in his assessment here. Things are bad, and they're going to get worse if something isn't done. Honestly? A hard reset would probably technically work.
Unfortunately, you can't ignore the slow collapse of the multiverse. You do all live in it. This needs to be addressed.]
Change brings about tragedy...
[Will takes a deep breath, and seems to visibly pull himself back together; the music and the visions both cease abruptly. You learn to conceal a lot of things, living in a time loop as long as he has. After all, you can't just let people know, or...]
Okay. Okay. Okay. Here's what we can do.
Agree to let me, and I'll bring back your dead. You can have some time to...to talk to them, first. I know that...
[He never said goodbye to anyone, before.]
Or you can just go. I'm not going to stop you. Find somewhere you think will be safe for a while, if you can.
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Well. She doesn't know the song. But she knows it. She pulls away from Hester, hand lingering against her cheek, and forces herself to look to Nana.]
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[Yeah, she. She is not a narrator, she can't see the impending doom.]
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And everyone gets to go back home. [Except for her. And Connor. And anyone else who doesn't have a home to go back to--
It's a raw deal. But part of it does feel hopeful, even if she's scared right now. It means she'd get to see them, one last time.]
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He's not wrong. That the- that the multiverse is being fucked up, anyway.
[ She shakes her head. ]
But if you reset it... if you reset everything, everyone... you're just buying time. Until the next time someone wants to have a story out of their own universe. You're just... addressing a symptom.
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But
But...]
Change brings about hope too, Will. It brings love and togetherness! If... if nothing ever changed you would never meet great new people or learn new things. I would have never learned that Mr. Krabs might have been using me or how I have people who love me throughout the universe!
That’s why I know there’s gotta be another solution than the ones you gave us! There is so much love in this universe that I know we can band together and make it a better place!
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This... It's really this bad...?
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We broke free of the SQUIP last year, false wizard. Who's to say that your plan won't fail every time? How many times do you think you'll do this until you're satisfied?!
[He is a prince. A prince protects his people and ensures that they live in peace. To agree to leave would mean leaving another group of people to die. Passing on the role of the victim to a stranger. What kind of person would he be to accept such an offer?]
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The world as it should be won't save anyone. There's only the world as it is.]
You know, I was young once too.
Sang a song of hope like you.
Then it all got left behind,
turned back one too many times...
Show me this other way, if it really exists.
Sing a song for me.
Make it whole, make it right.
Make it so we don't need to fight.
Sing for an old man.
[The truth is, no one can solve this alone. Perhaps it's time to call for help.]
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She has no reason to believe what she saw that night was anything more than a hallucination. It doesn't logically make sense. But she feels it. She's not alone, and that doesn't mean just here. There are people out there looking for them. There are people missing them that love them.
You don't have to do this alone. You don't. You sometimes just—
You need someone to come and find you.
Peregrine wordlessly raises the flare gun in the air.
And she fires it. ]
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MASS RESOLUTION: CONNECT
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you can feel a little touch of the sun
This isn't just her story; it belongs to all of you, each individual free now to form their own narrative. You've started already, choosing to begin your new stories with an act of mercy. Vengeance would have been justified - but mercy is all the more powerful when it is the least deserved. Isn't that what true mercy is? It's a good way to begin a story. Things like that may find their way back to you, in time.
But the truth of the matter is, that time isn't now. This is not a trade of lives; you did not need the Wizard - Will - to live. This is something you already earned, something you built yourselves over the course of seven weeks. Even after the song of the dead has ended, that power still lingers; you feel the bonds between you almost as if they're tangible: a crackle of electricity, the warm glow of the sun. Some of these are strung like live wires between those of you visibly present in the garden. Others lead elsewhere.
This is only for a moment. For most people, power like this cannot last. But, while it lasts, you can take hold of those bonds.
Right now, with loved ones around, you don't need anyone else to bring the dead back for you.]
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We buried most of our friends, didn't we?
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Um... so, uh. Hey, everyone, I think... I think it's up to us to bring them back, so. Everyone focus, okay? This stuff only works if we believe.
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2/2
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[1/?]
[2/?]
[3/4]
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2/3
3/3
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it's empty in the valley of your heart
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so strap your bones right to the seat- [1/2]
You’re all still lost in the woods. Trying to venture out of the garden will just lead first to more woods and then, after a few minutes, back into the garden no matter which direction you head. Dead reckoning isn’t going to do you much good but at least you are not alone. No one is alone.
BEEP BEEP
The honking sounds like it’s coming from everywhere around you. It echoes through the trees, quickly followed by the roar of an engine as a school bus busts through the tree line, swinging hard to the right so the doors are conveniently parallel with the lines of the pond. Behind it you can see a clear view of sky and the school grounds behind it. The massive vehicle, decked out in black and white stripes as opposed to the traditional yellow, has miraculously stopped on a dime.
The sliding doors swing open, revealing the driver-]
2/2
CRUISING ON DOWN MAIN STREET
YOU'RE RELAXING FEELING GOOD-
[He looks out at the survivors and grins.]
What is up, my fellow kids? A little crime robot told me you guys were lookin' to go on a field trip outta here.
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