peckenpaugh | THE UPPER LEVELS

up into the balconies

you climb The breathing boughs of that nightmare tree crowd into the upper balconies of the ruined auditorium. You have to duck and bend to get by them in places, sometimes through spaces that seem to grow smaller as you press through. These branches are warm to the touch, some of them uncomfortably so, pulsing with something that isn't quite life.

You've climbed these stairs more than once in your time here; to take your place after your sorting, to watch new students find their House, or perhaps just for an assembly. This building always seemed so sturdy, so safe. It was a place to go for shows, for celebrations, and hell, to just get out of class. Now, the floorboards creek precariously, split and splintering where vines have crept through. Benches are broken, overturned and tossed aside to make room for the auditorium's new king: the malignant maple. Up here, the glowing blue seeds hanging from branches are close enough to pluck. Those that have ripened litter the floor and railings, filling the balconies with an eerie blue twinkle.

The air is muggy, clogged by falling ash. It stinks of coal and sulfer. But you keep moving, anyway. Keep opening portals and pushing on. Just a little bit higher, and then maybe you'll be able to plunge into the depths.

and you fight By now there's a plan, and with it, a slowly growing brigade of people, of beings, of bugs, who are gathering to push back against inevitability.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yeah yeah, Des is better than me. My memories would have a lot of food so they'd be great, but they're none of your business," Patrice says to Presley, almost scolding. Once he's at the bench, he reaches down to pick up the paper bag and look inside at the grey baked goods within.

"...seems weird to not tell him, doesn't it?" he asks after a moment, a little more sober as he looks up and back at Uriah. "Can't be his mom. She wasn't really around, I'm pretty sure."

Presley has no desire to speculate about absent parental figures. He doesn't really want to touch this memory either, which seems terribly precious and personal to Des, but alternative is being trapped here (Desmond being trapped here), and, well. Luckily Patrice and Uriah have no such reservations.

Presley crosses his arms and looks back and forth between his roommates: Uriah at the entrance of the bakery with the woman, Patrice at the bench with Des. "Does it matter? I for one would want no one to speak to me about anything they saw in my memories."

On the tip of Patrice's tongue is the simple thought 'man, we've all got some shit, don't we?', but he manages to stop himself from voicing it. He can imagine for a good chunk of his roommates what depressing memories could be exposed, and it settles in the pit of his stomach as he looks around again. Might as well feel that uncomfortable feeling. He pulls a pastry out of the bag and takes a bite of it, finding it soft and warm and unreasonably delicious, maybe overly so because of Des's memory of it.

"I mean, someone's going to talk about what happened once it's all over, so everyone's going to find out we were in their memories. Probably better to know what exactly people saw instead of like... making up worst case scenarios."

He sighs.

"Also, we're not looking for this pastry. But it's really good."

"Of course you can't make this easy for us," Presley sighs, but there's an odd note of fondness in his voice as he looks at the tiny Desmond. "We'd better not have to find this key she was talking about..." He finally forces himself to start exploring the memory, and ends up near Uriah, but his attention is more on the flowers than the woman.

Presley also touches the flower pot, and wonders what colour they'd been if they weren't seeing this through Des' eyes. "You can be the one to relay the message to Savage, then." He pauses, not looking at Patrice. "You're... better with words."

The flower pot does move under Presley's fingertips. It isn't stuck in place.

With a murmured "excuse me" (and feeling slightly foolish for it), Presley moves the flower pot out from under the woman's hand, so he can take a better look at it.

Edited 2020-06-05 15:51 (UTC)

Beneath the flower pot, Presley finds a key.

The woman does not outwardly acknowledge Presley's politeness, being frozen as she is, but she probably would appreciate it if she knew, nonetheless.

"He and I have just learned how to talk around each other, is all. But yeah, I'll let him know." Patrice looks down at Des, and then over to his two roommates, and after a long bout of indecision decides to sit next to the small boy.

"I'll save you guys a pastry each. Anything useful over there, yet?" he inquires, just as Presley is moving aside the flower pot.

"No, thank you. I don't need that much sugar in my diet." Presley frowns when he sees the key. Not exactly safe for your business, but there's something about the gesture—making sure your place is always available to a young boy with seemingly no one else—

No. Not his business. Presley picks up the key, and shows it to the others.

The key glows in Presley's hand, sparkling as he shows it off to his friends. With the linchpin found, the scene comes to life once more, all subtle movement at first.

Desmond's fingers stay curled together in his lap once the woman apparates away, managing to hold still for only a few moments before they're eagerly pulling at the top of the paper bag - wrapping around a pastry and shoveling it into his mouth fast enough to puff out his cheeks.

One leg swings as he chews, powdered sugar smearing onto his chin. And then footsteps. A seed of hope stretches out roots in his heart and grows leaves right up into his mouth - until a man turns the corner, tugging his collar up about his throat as he walks past the bench, past the door - and the whole thing withers, curls back up to sit heavy in his gut.

It'll be fine. His momma always comes back. She'll be the next person turning the corner if he can just wait.

[MEMORY COMPLETE! You have found the linchpin. You may continue to thread in this scene or exit. Use the key on the door to open a portal back to Peckenpaugh's auditorium.]

"It's memory sugar," Patrice argues, and he's about to say something else but Presley has the key, and things are moving again. He watches Des, who sits next to him, obviously without knowing it, and his brows draw in. This whole thing sucks. He abandons his strange duplicate of the paper bag and gets to his feet.

"Let's get out of here."

There isn't an obvious glowing exit, but Presley can guess what he's expected to do. He moves to the bakery door, and puts the key into the lock. Presley looks over his shoulder to Patrice and Uriah, and seems to hesitate a moment before finally saying, "We can worry about the rest of it later. For now, let's just find them."

He turns the key, and pushes the door open.

Patrice, Presley and Uriah completed the memory "Just Wait"!

Upon emerging from the memory out into the auditorium, the portal snapped shut behind them.

At the base of the tree, Desmond Savage was freed! Elsewhere in the auditorium, coal, a magimagicicada was freed!

Patrice, Presley and Uriah each received 5 Tokens for participating in this memory.

They received an additional 3 Tokens for finding the linchpin before the cap!

You can check your token totals in Pouch's shop here, and maybe see if there's anything worth grabbing while you're there!

THE UPPER LEVELS

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait - LINCHPIN FOUND & CAPPED!

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait

MEMORY: Just Wait - COMPLETE & TOKENS!