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

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus, being the chronically early riser that he is, wakes up in Rodgers Dorm a little before most of the rest. Despite everything he manages to remain relatively calm and not wake everyone else up despite the sense of mounting dread and confusion - why is he fully dressed? Where did these clothes come from? Where is he? He's probably not supposed to be here, wherever 'here' is, and he has the vague sense that bothering the people who probably are would just lead to trouble for everybody, so he stays quiet.

Getting out of bed, he manages to miss the trunk labeled with his name as he makes a beeline for the window, pulling back the curtain just enough to peer outside at what turns out to be a view of an unfamiliar brick building. He stares out at it for a long moment, trying to figure out if he has any idea of where this could be, until he hears the rustling of other people starting to wake up behind him. Still worried about the fact that he clearly doesn't belong here, he considers running off, but he hesitates long enough for someone to notice him and then it's too late.

Waving to them awkwardly, he says, ] Hello? Um, do you know where we are?

[ Later, in the hallway outside the cafeteria, Orpheus stops to read the rules of what's turned out to be the school that they've all found themselves in and, like everyone else, proceeds to get very hung up on rule five. He frowns, squinting at it and worrying his lip as he fidgets with the collar of his shirt. ]

Excuse me? [ He'll say to whoever happens to pass by, pointing at the sign. ] Um, am I reading this right? Rule five. What does it say?

[ Because he can't have that right, can he? He guesses it makes sense that trying to kill someone would be against school rules, but that's a really weird way to phrase it and it doesn't sound like that's what it's saying at all, actually. And why bring it up like this? ]

Rules

[whatyouwant]

[Elle hadn't actually noticed the rules until then. She stops and squints at them.]

Um, that for sure says we get out if we kill someone and..."avoid detection"? What, like get away with it?

[themuseabandonsyou]

I guess so? [ Okay, so he hasn't forgotten how to read, that's reassuring, but also this woman seems to be having the same problem with what's going on here that he does. ] But that's - that doesn't make sense. Why would they think any of us would kill anybody?

[ Never mind the question of if they 'avoided detection', how would the school know they did it to kick them out? ]

[whatyouwant]

Maybe it's some kind of prank?

[She shrugs, and fixes him with a smile and sticks out her hand.]

I'm Elle, by the way. Elle Woods!

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus takes one last sidelong glance at the sign before shrugging as well and giving Elle his full attention. It's... probably fine? No one's going to kill anyone here, so why worry about it? He shakes her hand and smiles, still looking pretty concerned but trying to shake it off. ]

I'm Orpheus. It's nice to meet you!

Hallway

[defyingfrigidity]

[There's a young woman nearby, also examining the list. Elsa's not really all that good at sniffing out all the little secret nooks and crannies of any given place - that's really up to her (endearing) troublemaker of a sister. So she'd instead turned her focus to what's easier to process; the "yearbooks", the... the signs.

If it was possible for her to get any paler than she is now, her face would be just ash now.]

Maybe... maybe that's someone's cruel idea of a joke?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus thinks about that for a moment, before shaking his head. He's not dismissing the idea so much as he just can't get his mind around it. ]

I don't understand how someone would think it was funny? [ He knows he misses things like that a lot, but it seems like this woman doesn't get the joke either. Which is sort of reassuring, but not really. He stares at the sign for a moment longer before turning his attention to her more fully. ]

Do you know what's happening here? [ He asks, hopefully. She looks about as confused at she is, but maybe she has some insight into things. ]

[defyingfrigidity]

I don't either. There are few things that should be off-limits in terms of joking, and death is one of them.

[She can't ever imagine joking about what happened to Anna, either when they were children or after her disaster of a coronation. If it was Anna doing the joking, that might be one thing. Coping through humor is... a thing, she's found. But something like this? Absolutely not.]

I'm as in the dark as you are. The last thing I remember was falling asleep in my own room, and the next... I was here. I don't even remember being taken.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods in agreement, glancing back at the sign. There's a time and place for jokes, and this really doesn't seem to be one of them. ]

Oh. It seems like it's the same for everyone I've talked to here? I thought maybe one of the gods might have done it, but this doesn't seem like any of them.

[ Normally when they want to do something to or for someone, they take a much more direct approach than just putting them somewhere else without explaining why or what's going on. ]

Hallway

[wanderlusttitania]

That-

[Well, she had seen it on the walls, but...she tried to ignore it. Tried.

But, someone else has now acknowledged it, and she swallowed slowly.]

...`Any student may end the their time in the school by killing another student and escaping detection.` But I'm sure it's just-you know, a cruel prank!

[Is it though?]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Is it?? Orpheus looks skeptical, despite his usual optimism. ]

Maybe? [ he says, trying to sound hopeful but wavering pretty hard. This whole situation is too strange, and as much as he'd like to think it's all just a very bizarre joke, he feels like he doesn't understand enough to start making assumptions. ] It says there's faculty here, too. If we can find someone who works here, they can probably explain it?

[wanderlusttitania]

I agree...there must surely be some mistake. Maybe this is all an accident...

[It has to be. It can't be anything else.]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods, frowning thoughtfully as he looks around. He's never been in a school like this before - all of his formal education (of which there wasn't much) took place in tiny schoolhouses in middle of nowhere towns. But there has to be - an office, or something? Somewhere where the teachers gather? ]

We should look around? [ he says, starting to walk off before remembering his manners and stopping. ] Oh! I'm Orpheus, by the way. It's nice to meet you.

[ He holds out a hand to her for a handshake. ]

rodgers dorm

[comeandfindme]

[ An older guy... Peregrine's gaze is inquisitive in a demanding way. ]

No. [ That solves that! No, er... ] That's what I'm trying to figure out.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That's a pretty intense gaze she's got there, and Orpheus subtly tries to make himself smaller under it, in addition to the way he slumps his shoulders a bit with disappointment at the answer. ]

Oh. Did you just wake up here too? Because I don't remember being here before at all.

[comeandfindme]

Yeah.

[ Another simple, one-word answer. With belated follow-up. ]

Don't remember this place, these clothes... Nothing. Before this, I was home.

Rules

[tellthestory]

[Oh, thank god - someone asking him to do his regular job! Sort of! The Balladeer immediately zips over to proclaim, as if he's speaking to be heard by people other than just Orpheus:]

"Any student may end the their time in the school by killing another student and escaping detection."

[He's narrating!]

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh. That's what I thought. [ He doesn't sound happy about it! He glances at the man questioningly for a moment before looking back to the sign, frowning. ] But, what does it mean? Why would they be worried about any of us killing anyone else?

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer winces. Good narration over!]

I'm sorry, I don't really know anything about what's happening right now. I'd guess it's related to getting out of here, though, plus any other motives they throw in.

Rules

[sugarlumps]

[Oh hey, 'nother cute guy. Asking about something really boring, but still. This kidnapping's like five out of ten so far.]

Ugh, looks like a bunch of boring nerd stuff. Why's it matter?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Oh, this woman is very purple. Orpheus has never seen someone dressed quite like her before, and that does effectively distract him from things for a moment, getting him to actually look at her instead of just continuing to squint at the sign. ]

It just says if one of us kills another student and doesn't get caught, we have to leave the school. But that's really strange, isn't it? That they think they have to tell us that, and that the consequences aren't worse?

[ Murder is usually much more heavily frowned upon in most societies he's just saying. ]

What's a nerd?

[sugarlumps]

Ugh, gross, this is some kind of baby school where they think they have to tell us obvious stuff, that's dumb.

[This is the worst kidnapping ever.]

Oh, honey, a nerd's someone who's really into a lot of dumb booky sciencey stuff, it's boring.

[brokeforgood]

[Seriously-- Farrah has no intentions on reading the rules. She just wants to go on with her day, and get whatever this is over with. And now this big ol' dork is asking her to read stuff.]

What? You can't read? [It's said in a slightly bitchier tone than intended, and she almost feels a little guilty. What if the poor dude can't read?

Whatever. She glances up at the rules, then snorts.]

Oh. Wow. Super cutting edge with the psychological torture, aren't we?

Don't worry about it.

[themuseabandonsyou]

I can read, [ Orpheus protests, though he sounds more kind of put out than offended or anything. He's kind of used to people acting like he's slow. ] It just - it doesn't make sense. Why is it phrased like that?

[ Like they'll let them leave if they commit a murder, rather than them being forced to leave (presumably to go to prison)? That has to be wrong, doesn't it? ]

[brokeforgood]

My bet? It's a psychological experiment on behavioral impact to see if the temptation of--- [Oh. Wow. She cuts herself off because that's so fucking lame of her. She shakes her entire body, like she's somehow loosening up, and when she speaks again, even her tone is looser, and she twirls her braid with one finger.]

It's fake. Obvs.