once more with feeling [act 3]

[stagemanagers]

You awake in an unfamiliar bed.

It’s comfortable enough, sure, but it’s certainly not yours. The room, too, is unfamiliar, especially in such heavy darkness. There seems to have been a great effort put into making it a livable space, with fuzzy rugs laid over linoleum, beds arranged as best to fit (and one bunk bed per dorm, rip whoever has the bottom bunk), and a single desk. You've also got individually labelled trunks; if you look inside yours, you'll find a yearbook with mostly blank pages, as well as a few with some interesting information. But even with all these changes it’s clear this room started it’s life as a classroom, every window hidden behind heavy dark green curtains.

To add to the strangeness of it all, your clothes have been swapped for some kind of uniform. It, though fitting your body perfectly, might feel a bit odd to some of you, as the body you have isn’t quite the same as it was before you mysteriously fell unconscious. The other important thing to note is the people in the other beds around you, all wearing the same color-coded uniform.

The hallway outside the dorms is narrow but well-lit, with fresh white walls and some scattered posters advertising some kind of midweek club meeting. The hallway goes on until, for the more contemporary of you, the pieces start to fall together as to your location: a school. Once you leave your rooms you’re free to wander as you wish but pinned up on a corkboard just outside the cafeteria there’s framed information that you might find helpful. If you explore further into the other rooms, in fact, you'll see there's an identical copy outside all of them.

In the lobby there are linoleum floors and fluorescent lighting, and a pair of glass doors that appear to lead outside. You can see out of both of them that the sun is shining brightly and there’s definitely more to see in the distance but the glass is unbreakable; you can't get out that way right now. A rolling metal sheet blocks off the hallway to the west. For the moment, both doors leading outside are locked.

It looks like you’re stuck. But hey - at least you aren’t alone.

Comments

[disharmonizes]

[Listen, it's not like it's the first time he's taken a nap and woken up in a different form in a different dimension. He's had some w-i-l-d nights, alright? But it's usually somewhere a little more entertaining.

So, in the Ambassador Dorm, this totally normal man is just going to roll right out of bed, straight onto the floor. And then maybe just drag a hand over his face and actually just feel that for a second.] Hmmm, well, not that this isn't delightfully random, but-- [and he's just going to snap his fingers now and.

...absolutely nothing happens. Well, no, actually, there is a brief flash of light. Like someone clicked a lamp on and off very quickly. Discord squints. Snaps again. And a few more times for good measure. Sorry whoever else is sleeping here, that's gonna be hella obnoxious with the light. But other than that, nothing continues to happen.]

...Well, that's not right.

[He can be found not too long after, out of the dorm. In... the hall right outside the dorms. He's on the floor, flopped over dramatically.]

Okay, that's enough walking for this century! Ugh.

[How do people deal without being able to just float around and turn off gravity when they feel like it?

But when he picks himself up he'll keep wandering. Just sort of randomly opening doors, if you simply want to catch him doing that, but he finally settles over in the cafeteria where he's just sort of getting a bunch of sodas from the vending machine and, oh he's mixing them all together into one cup. of course he is.]

Cafeteria

[employeeoftheyear]

[You know despite all of what's going on, this place looks really fun! And you know what's also fun? Whatever the fuck this stranger is doing with the sodas.]

I can't believe I never thought of mixing every soda together! Does it taste good?

[disharmonizes]

Good's rather subjective. But it's certainly a lot of taste! Perfect for a refined palate like mine.

[Don't mind him, he's just going to down some like he's doing shots.]

And it should certainly wake me up. One would hope, anyway, with how much sugar's in here.

[employeeoftheyear]

Well I do like sugar.

[He hesitates a tiny bit.]

Can I try some?

[disharmonizes]

[Discord gives Spongebob a quick look over.

...This is either going to be underwhelming or absolutely hilarious. He'll roll those dice, sure.]

Well, you look like someone who can handle their sugar! Please, by all means.

[Here you go bud.]

[employeeoftheyear]

Thanks!

[Spongebob grabs the glass and takes a sip.

In an instant his eyes budge out of his skull and he starts vibrating uncontrollably. He's practically a blur with all this vibrating.]

Th-this is g-g-great! C-can I-I-I have some m-more?

girls lockers - possible cw for sexism played for stupidity im so sorry everyone

[voicerights]

[Wow, barging in to certain places can be rude, Discord. Such as when you randomly peek in to the girls locker and find another human already there, looking up as you enter before frowning]

You are not a female. You should leave.

[disharmonizes]

What? [Wait, what sort of room is--] Oh.

Well! Rather presumptuous from just a single glance. [Look who's rude!] Ugh, they really should make these signs a little clearer.

[So human-centric!]

[voicerights]

Minimalism can be prized in human culture. The simplicity leads them to believe they have saved effort, expense, or a variety of other superfluous traits.

[Guess who's figured out you're not from that human culture, at the very least]

[disharmonizes]

I'm all too familiar with minimalism. Absolutely dreadful! I mean, would it kill them to liven things up a little?

[Does he need to do everything? Gosh. Time to take a good long look at the little locker room signs.]

I don't suppose you have a pen? Some crayons, perhaps?

mods please

[voicerights]

[Why would it have...and the odds of there being anything in these lockers are so minimal that it is not worth the effort to chec- actually, recalculating. Women's locker room.

It opens the nearest locker. Any gel pens?]

hall

[comeandfindme]

[ ...Seriously? This guy's that lazy? The outburst draws her attention from the window she's trying to peer out of, and Peregrine raises a judgmental eyebrow. ]

You just gonna be a lump in the middle of the floor then?

[disharmonizes]

Oh, don't even mention the word or the purple one will start her screaming back up.

[His poor ears are still ringing.]

Besides, I'm more stretched than lumpy right now. [He spreads out a little more, for emphasis.] What of it?

[comeandfindme]

[ Her nose wrinkles as she mouths purple one? with some amount of confusion. She's yet to meet LSP but she will understand, eventually... ]

I mean, unless you're the jerk specializing in kidnapping, isn't there something a little more productive you could be doing right now? Like helping us find a way outta here instead of lying on the floor?

[disharmonizes]

Kidnapping really isn't my style. So boring.

[Where's the style? The pizzazz? Honestly.]

I'm sure all of you can handle all the heavy lifting, you seem to be enjoying the process. But I simply cannot work under these conditions!

[comeandfindme]

No way. [ Instantly, immediately, arms crossed. ] I'm not pulling the weight of some lazy guy who can't even walk a bit without complaining. You'd never make it on your own, you know that?

Cafeteria

[violentenvies]

[All he wanted was to refill his tea. That's it. That's all.

Instead, he's confronted with an extremely tall, gangly gentleman who is...creating some kind of strange concoction on the table?

Normally, Salieri would just ignore All That and leave this man to his devices, especially considering the current state of things. Unfortunately, he happens to be directly in his path to where the tea and hot water kettle reside, therefore leaving Salieri with no choice but to interact.

He clears his throat a bit, straightening]

Pardon me, monsieur. May I pass?

[disharmonizes]

[Oh, what's that? Politeness? Gross.

Discord will just raise an eyebrow, maybe just looking haughty for a second, as if he can keep that up for long.]

I don't know, may you? [a beat.] Is that the right way to do that? Oh, shows I'm not a teacher, I suppose!

Anyway, it should be pretty obvious that I'm busy!

[violentenvies]

[that...is not the response Salieri expected. His lips press together, at that, eyes narrowing]

I can see that. However, I am simply asking you to move aside for a moment so that I may access the tea. [he can feel a thread of annoyance creeping into his tone. Normally, this would not happen so quickly, but it has already been an incredibly trying day, and this time it comes quickly.]

[disharmonizes]

Tea? Well, why didn't you say so. I think there's some tea in here. Iced or otherwise. Maybe.

Who can keep track?

[Just holding out his, ah. con...coction...]

Generosity isn't really my usual virtue, but since you're so in need...

[violentenvies]

[it takes all of Salieri's willpower not to lean back away from the thing that's thrust into his face, but the gathering annoyance helps]

I deeply doubt there is anything resembling tea in there. [because wtf is iced tea??? but boy a bit more of that irritation is starting to steep into his tone]

I think I would much rather simply get my own. [and he is, god help him, actually moving to try and move past Discord to the tea kettle]

Hall

[samefacesyndrome]

[ She sees the flopped over guy complaining loudly and watches for a few seconds before coming closer. ]

...Are you okay?

[disharmonizes]

[Okay is relative. He's perishing over here.]

Hardly! I am beset by the worst of the laws of physics.

Gravity.

[Said with all the drama of talking about one's worst nemesis.]

[samefacesyndrome]

Gravity?

[ ? o !

Uh oh, she is about to take this

extremely seriously ]

You fell?!

[disharmonizes]

Technically, yes, at all times now. More of a pull, I suppose.

It's truly dreadful! How do you all stand it?