don't stop believing

[stagemanagers]

[Streetlights, reveals] | [Vision Statements] | [Mass Resolution: CONNECT] | [A little touch of the sun (Revival)] | [They do this bullshit like 8 times a week (Rescue)]


[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!]

Comments

[mcfife]

And if we leave like that, what will you do next? Will you find a new group of people and try to sacrifice them? Will you keep on doing the same thing over and over again?

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?]

[stopbelieving]

Until I can fix the multiverse, or until it finally collapses on us all. You're not safe, Angus. There's nowhere you can go that's going to be safe from this. You can't just ignore the problem - one way or another, it's coming.

[mcfife]

So don't do it alone! Why do you think only you have the power to stop such an evil from consuming all of reality? A powerful wizard can do a lot, but that doesn't mean you can do everything!

[He points at Will with the Gloryhammer.] I couldn't save Fife on my own. I needed the help of my friends, my allies, and the people willing to fight for their freedom. None of us could have gone through weeks of death without one another to rely on. No single person was responsible for escaping the opera house. No single person uncovered your secrets alone.

...So why tell us to kill each other instead of doing something else to address this crisis?!

[stopbelieving]

What else is there? I don't have the power to fix it without this. No one does - even if they would be so willing to help. They had hundreds of years to do something, and they never did.

[mcfife]

Hundreds...?

[That's a lot of loops that man went through. That's a lot of times he's seen them die. That's a lot of time to find help, considering he has the power to look into the fabric of fate.]

Why not seek the other narration wizards? Who are you to say that you know exactly what to do?

[stopbelieving]

[Sweetheart I don't know how to tell you that this round is not a time loop]

Why would I "seek out" the people who did all this in the first place? Did you rely on that evil wizard of yours to save Fife?

[sugarlumps]

Okay, like I was saying earlier, the Ice King's a sad wad of a creepy loser but sometimes you really need a cold drink.

[These things are absolutely equivalent, she is not accepting criticism at this time.]

Chill your drink, you incel.

[She's glad to have her lumps back, but not enough to stop insulting him.]

[mcfife]

[He's trying his best.]

The Leading Player isn't an evil wizard. She doesn't want to become a god or kill everyone. She's changed. Everyone has changed. Mephisto is a friend instead of simply a demon. Mr. Barker isn't a killer anymore. Even the SQUIP-

[He tilts his head. The one behind round 2, not the one that came with Jeremy. Or this one.]

He's learning to change, too. Steven believed that anyone can change. Zargothrax never made that effort.

So what do you think? That the Leader Player wouldn't care if she knew what was happening? That she is an unchanging character in the story of life?

[comeandfindme]

...That's what you don't get, Will. You've been stuck in this...unchanging thing for so long that you don't understand anymore.

[ Peregrine glances at the group of them. ]

I've heard it said,
That people come into our lives
For a reason.
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return.
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true,
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you.

[ She's not talking to Will, fuck no. She's talking to Angus. Maya, Janis, Farrah— to everyone not standing physically with them right now. To Hester. ]

[tailor_made]

[Hester's breath catches in her throat when Peregrine's eyes fall on her. Peregrine who's been struggling and cracking but who's helped keep people grounded- Hester included. Peregrine who'd hated her from day 1 and then gently walked her through her fragmented memories today.

Peregrine who she helped teach to dance at prom and whose hand she'd really like to be holding right now.]

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But
Because I knew you
I have been changed for good

[comeandfindme]

[ What happens to Hester, if he does this? She keeps thinking that. She knows what happens to Farrah, to Connor, Eurydice, Benjamin—but what happens to Hester?

How can this man claim to care about her, when... ]

It well may be,
That he will wipe away our days,
And this lifetime.
So let me say if we may part,
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you.
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart.
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend.

[ She's still standing with Farrah. But her eyes beckon Hester closer. There's so much empty space in this garden, but she hopes— please let them hear her. ]

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood.
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you.

[brokeforgood]

Oh my god are they about to make out again—-

[tailor_made]

[Hester isn't blameless in all this. She'd been a participant, a co-conspirator in their pain even if she has realized her error. Even if her head is currently swirling with how much of a choice she really did have from the beginning, she has a responsibility to them, for this.

She starts walking toward Peregrine.]

And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine will not leave Farrah, even if she's mocking her right now. Still, she holds out her free hand to Hester. ]

But then, I guess
We know there's blame to share—

[tailor_made]

[Hester takes her hand without a second thought and grips it tight.]

And none of it seems to matter anymore-

[comeandfindme]

Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun—

[ She's singing what Hester had before, but that's okay. That's the point. Learning each other's songs. Letting them change you. Letting yourself grow. ]

[tailor_made]

[Growth and connection.]

Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind of the sea-

[comeandfindme]

Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through—

[tailor_made]

Like a seed dropped by a bird
In the wood-

[comeandfindme]

—the wood!

[ She squeezes Hester's hand. They're surrounded by the woods...but Peregrine doesn't feel afraid anymore. ]

Who can say
If I've been changed for the better?

[feudalladyshandmaid]

[There's a deep trembling in Cassandra. The young woman is worried. She's furious at the news that trickles out of the mastermind and all of their friends. Even worse, she's looking at herself, and starting to realize just how small she is in the grand scheme of things.]

So, that's just it? Either we let you do what you want to try, or we just... give up. Accept defeat and let the universe fold into itself?

[defyingfrigidity]

But we can't give up. There has to be some other way.

[There's always some other way. Elsa doesn't understand all this talk about multiverses and time loops, but if this is a story in the way the Wizard and Janis are talking about it, then there has to be a good way out. That's just how stories work.]

He's only giving us two choices, but... there's always a third, right? They just don't want us to see it.

[brokeforgood]

The next right thing.

[defyingfrigidity]

break it down to this next breath, this next step
This next choice is one that we can make...

[The path is laid out for them. They just have to keep moving.]

Even if we can't see it yet, it's there, somewhere. If this... multiverse scenario means that there are countless worlds where things changed in countless ways, then there has to be one where all of us, living and dead, make it out alive, together.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

...So I'll walk through this night
Stumbling blindly toward the light
And do... the next right thing.

[That grounds her. She's here. Now. They can do something for as long as they're alive.]

There's always a chance. There's got to be a way to make things right.