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

[wanderlusttitania]

Oh! Yes, of course.

[It's...seriously the least she could do. Oops.

She gives a small curtsey.]

My name is Elisabeth, monsieur.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus smiles, albeit a little distractedly, and takes a shallow bow in return. ]

Elisabeth, [ he repeats, making sure he's got the name right, as it's an unfamiliar one to him. ] Should we look around? I haven't seen anyone who isn't - a student? [ Are they students? Not really, as far as he can tell. ] One of us. But they have to be somewhere, right?

[wanderlusttitania]

I would think so, yes.

[Oh, right-]

There was another girl in the bed beneath me, with short black hair. Very, very short hair. I don't know where she went after, though.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus looks a little confused about why she's bringing this up, but it does remind him of something he's been wondering about. This is a long shot, but - ]

She wasn't also - about this tall? [ He holds up his hand to about chin height on himself. ] Tan skin, wearing a feather in her hair?

[ The last thing he remembers is falling asleep next to Eurydice. That means there's a chance they could have been taken together, right? ]

[wanderlusttitania]

I'm afraid she was actually pale-skinned, like the two of us. She also didn't have anything in her hair.

...

Ah, but...while we're asking, have you seen a man with slicked-back blondish hair? Someone who looks like they belong in a castle, perhaps?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh, okay. [ Orpheus slumps a little bit, disappointed. Maybe Eurydice isn't here after all? ] I haven't seen anyone like that, though, no. Sorry.

Was this woman you saw wearing a uniform like the rest of us, though?

[wanderlusttitania]

[A sigh. Well, maybe she just needs to look harder.

Anyways.]

Yes! Yes, she was.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Oh, okay, [ says Orpheus, frowning thoughtfully. ] Is there a particular reason you're looking for her? Maybe we can look together.

[wanderlusttitania]

Oh...no no, I'm not looking for her! I'm looking for my husband.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Is he the man with blondish hair? Maybe he's in one of the other dorms, and still sleeping or talking to people inside. We could look there. Maybe we'll find my wife, too - she's the one I described to you.

[wanderlusttitania]

Yes! His name is Franz-Josef.

And...your wife. What is her name?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Her name is Eurydice. [ He says, starting to walk off in the direction of the dorms. Most people are still milling around in there, so if they're gonna find their spouses anywhere it'll probably be in one of them? ]

She's wonderful. When we met it was like I'd known her my entire life, and I know she feels the same.

[ He smiles, wistfully, and glances over his shoulder at Elisabeth. ]

What about your husband, though? Tell me about him.

[wanderlusttitania]

Eurydice? That-

[Nope, nope, she already upset this gentleman once, not again!]

-sounds like a lovely name! And...she sounds very lovely too!

[Phew]

Ah, my husband...he's a wonderful man. He cares about his people, and wants to do the best for everyone! And of course, we both love each other very much. We're going to do a lot of things together, I'm sure of it!

[themuseabandonsyou]

Hmm? [ Orpheus glances over at her, frowning a little in confusion. It sounded like she recognized the name? Oh, well. It's probably nothing. ]

She is! She's smart, and clever, and she used to travel all over, so she knows all about all sorts of different people and things.

[ He smiles, wistfully. ]

Your husband sounds like a good man, too! I hope we find them. Maybe they'll have a better idea of what's happening here.

[wanderlusttitania]

I do hope so! Right now I can't make much of it...there's little around here that's recognizable, for one. Like the lights...they're nothing like what we have back home.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods in agreement. ]

Everything seems kind of - not wrong? But strange. The way the building looks, and all the furniture. I think the lights are electric? But they don't look like the ones from back home.

[wanderlusttitania]

Electric?

[Blink blink. Then, a gasp.]

You mean...the lights are powered by electricity?

[themuseabandonsyou]

Probably! It must take a lot to run this whole building.

[ Which he assumes is why Elisabeth is so shocked. ]

We must be somewhere kind of important? Or near a big city. That's the only other time I've seen big buildings lit up like this.

[wanderlusttitania]

My goodness, but not even Vienna has electric lights! How in the world does this place accomplish it when no one else in the world has figured it out...?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ And a pause for Orpheus to think about that. ]

What? I think most cities have at least some electric lights by now. At least in the States?

[ But he's seen pictures of the Eiffel Tower lit up at night, and if Paris has them, why wouldn't the rest of the major European cities? ]

[wanderlusttitania]

...Really?

[Her eyes narrow slightly at this.]

I...I've never heard of such a thing having been achieved by any human, much less a city with electric lights.

[themuseabandonsyou]

What, really?

[ Orpheus frowns, looking perplexed. ]

I think lightbulbs - electric lights - were invented a pretty long time before I was born? But you haven't heard of them? At all?

[wanderlusttitania]

No, I haven't.

[Frown.]

Lightbulbs, you say?

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods. ]

I don't remember who invented them? But they've been around for a while. I think most big cities are replacing their old gas streetlights with electric ones now? Not to mention outfitting buildings with them.

I know they have them in Paris, so it'd be kind of strange if Vienna didn't have them too, right? Is that where you're from? Austria?

[wanderlusttitania]

Yes, that's right...but...no, not even the Schönbrunn has electric lights!

But you do...?