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

2/2

[stagemanagers]

[ - but before it can come anywhere remotely near Hester, a bright flash of green light strikes down from above and hits the knife, making it vanish instantly.

Simultaneously, the entire building shakes - just for a second or two. It's as if someone, somewhere, is angry. That was your warning.]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer is as surprised by all of this as anyone, reaching out a hand to steady himself when the floor shakes. But as it draws to a close, he straightens and looks up at - nothing, apparently.]

"The entire building shakes - just for a second or two. It's as if someone, somewhere, is angry. That was your warning."

[He says it like he's quoting something, then blinks and returns his attention to the others.]

Sounds serious. I wouldn't do that again.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus stumbles, torn between watching the spot where the knife disappeared and giving Lumpy Space Princess a horrified look, but then the Balladeer speaks up and - narrates the earthquake? ]

What? [ he asks, looking back and forth between him and LSP with a look of incredibly confused dismay. ]

[tellthestory]

Oh, that's...that's what happened.

[He still seems a little oddly abstracted.]

But I can't hear the rest of it.

[voicerights]

[ALSO INTERESTING]

Explain.

[tellthestory]

[He's already sort of explained at Maya's prompting, but at this, he clarifies:]

I'm a narrative device, mostly. I narrate.

[feudalladyshandmaid]

Yeah, we know that's what happened. We were here, too.

[Still, that's... bad. That knife is just Gone.]

Looks like a direct attack isn't going to work.

[mayavericks]

Perhaps you ought to tell the others some of what you told me.

[tellthestory]

Hm? [Sorry, he's still sort of trying to channel narration that isn't there, it really should be there...] Oh, I'm not a real person.

[mayavericks]

He's a Narrator. [Which means...]

Are you narrating right now?

[tellthestory]

Not anymore. I got a little bit of it, there...

[He rubs at his eyes. That was actually kinda weird.]

I think that just proves I shouldn't be here. Not my show.

[violentenvies]

[after that statement, followed up by Maya's clarification, Salieri is more confused about legitimately everything than ever before. However...]

The Narrator? And what, exactly, does that imply? [he studies him for a moment] After all, a narrator needs a story to narrate, does he not?

[samefacesyndrome]

W... Warning?

[ That's the most alarmed Rina has sounded all day. If she was feeling uh, shaken before she's even more so now (heh) ]

[tellthestory]

That's what it said.

[samefacesyndrome]

[ Simply, and to the point: ]

What?

[ That's what WHAT said B??? ]

[sugarlumps]

That was no warning, that was attempted regicide you weirdo!

[tellthestory]

No, it said "warning" pretty clearly. In bold and everything.

[.....]

Are you a...queen, or something?

[sugarlumps]

I am a lumping princess, how dare you!

[voicerights]

Interesting.

[Just gonna say that out loud with no other commentary, thanks.]

[wanderlusttitania]

[Uh. UH.

Far be it for her to be happy with this woman who is her jailer basically, but on the other hand, dick move LSP, and now the jailor looks utterly terrified and the building just shook. So.

Immediately Sissi has her skirts up and is trying to make her way towards Hester, holding her hand out.]

Are you all right-!

[tailor_made]

[There's nothing blocking the stairs so Sissi is able to climb them without any obstacles. When she gets there Hester is still on the ground, wide-eyed and a little shaken but whether it's from the knife that was just chucked at her or the whole building shaking it up for debate.]

What-? [She looks up at the older women, surprised that any of them would even get close to her, let alone help her.] I'm- yeah, I'm okay. It just scared me.

[Hester takes the offered hand to climb back to her feet and Sissi, being the most up close and personal of anyone so far, will notice that Hester is wearing well-done but heavy make-up on her face. Could be important, could be nothing but worth noting.]

[wanderlusttitania]

[Hmmm. It does seem odd to the empress, at least considering the...uh, several implications her time usually gave to women wearing very heavy make-up. Still, Elisabeth will not comment, but she will remember this.

In the meantime, Sissi helps bring Hester up with a grunt, given how she is noodle.]

I don't like this at all...but that was foolish.

[side-eyeing over at LSP]

[tailor_made]

I said- [She swallows a little and smoothes her dress.] I said it would be a bad idea to tempt rule 4. Now you know why.

Re: 2/2

[mcfife]

[Angus runs up to the knife and looks up the ceiling as if he'll see a floating wizard up there.

Hey, maybe this is how he introduces himself.]

[sugarlumps]

[Yeah, she's physically coming after Hester as the lightning cracks down out of the air; the shaking is enough to send her falling flat as she attempts to clamber up onto the stage.]

Oh glob, I'm dead! I'M ACTUALLY DEAD, AAUGH-!