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]

Did you think it was going to be something else?

[ There's absolutely zero backsass to the question - Orpheus is genuinely curious. He looks at the door they came from, then at the others lining the hall. Thinking for a moment, he walks over to one and opens it just a sliver, enough to peek inside, before closing it again. ]

There's more people sleeping in there. It looks the same as where we woke up.

[comeandfindme]

I...don't know. [ She shrugs, sounding a little defensive. ] I never really imagined what the place would look like if I just woke up somewhere, kidnapped.

[ She shuffles over, to try and get a look too. ]

...How many people are even here?!

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus will step aside and let her look, cracking open the next door to look inside. ]

It looks like about the same number of beds in every room?

[ And he goes to check the fourth door. Yep! Same there, too. ]

That's around twenty people? I wonder what we're all here for.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine just quietly mouths what the hell as she peers after him. ]

...Nothing good, that's for sure.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Probably not.

[ Orpheus's frown grows deeper, and he fidgets with the collar of his shirt anxiously. ]

Maybe if we look around the rest of the building, we'll find something. Someone who can tell us where this is. Besides, um. Being a school.

[comeandfindme]

I still don't trust anyone who'd be working here... But it wouldn't hurt to take a look. Any information's valuable, after all.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus nods, then turns to head off down the hallway, passing through a set of double doors and finding another hallway, this one with a pair of doors labeled Choir Room and Band Room on the right. ]

Oh. Do you think this is a music school?

[ That would be - well, no, it's still bad that he's been kidnapped and he should be worried about all of this, he knows that, but he does sound a little intrigued underneath the wariness. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ A pause as Peregrine considers this. ]

...No. 'Cause if it were just a music school, those rooms'd be more carefully labeled, right? Like, Choir Room A or Brass Room instead of Band Room.

[ She pushes open the Band Room door, to confirm. Bunches of instruments, of all varieties. ]

See?

[themuseabandonsyou]

That makes sense. I've never really been in a school like this before? All the ones I went to just had one classroom. [ And that was pretty much the entire building, except maybe a closet or something. He peers over Peregrine's shoulder at the band room, and makes an impressed sort of 'huh' noise. ]

They do have a lot of instruments, though. They must be well-funded.

oh rip my html

[comeandfindme]

Really...? And I thought I lived out in the sticks. [ Peregrine moves on, not taking much interest in the music rooms. ]

Could be. ...Kinda figured whoever was doing this'd have a lot of resources to begin with. Considering...I don't remember how I could've gotten here.

html is hard party all night

[themuseabandonsyou]

The town I was born in and that I live in now isn't big enough to have a schoolhouse. I had to go somewhere else the few years I went to school.

[ He follows the hallway along, turning right rather than going straight on a whim. This hallway has bathrooms, lockers, and... a concession stand? Weird. ]

I don't know how anyone could've moved all these people in their sleep without them knowing, unless they were one of the gods. And even then, that's a lot of work.

[ Mister Hermes is literally the god of travel, and Orpheus is pretty sure he's never seen him move this many people at once. ]

[comeandfindme]

[ Frankly, Peregrine didn't think there were places like that anymore, but— well, Howl always says to expect the unexpected, not count anything out.

And then he says possibly the most unexpected thing, and Peregrine's face scrunches up with a frown. ]

"The gods?"

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus doesn't quite notice Peregrine's tone, and is too distracted looking around the hallway to see her expression, so he just keeps talking. ]

Or one of them, at least. They don't work together much, anymore. [ For Reasons that Mister Hermes refuses to talk about. ] I guess maybe Lady Athena could have done it? If we're supposed to be here to learn something. But this doesn't really seem like something she'd do, unless there was a really good reason for it. She's either much subtler or much, much more straightforward.

[comeandfindme]

[ And he just keeps talking, while she's taking all this in. ]

Whoa- whoa, whoa, whoa hold on there— what in the world are you talking about? Those are just myths.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ That draws Orpheus up short, and he slows to a stop, looking back at Peregrine. ]

What are just myths? [ he asks, brows furrowed slightly and blinking in confusion. ]

[comeandfindme]

The gods.

[ As if it were obvious. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ what ]

No they're not? [ how do you not think the gods are real, that's like not believing in the postman ] Oh. Is this a joke? I don't get it.

[comeandfindme]

That's my line— c'mon, I know you're named Orpheus, but this seriously isn't funny.

[themuseabandonsyou]

What? What does my name have to do with this?

[ He shakes his head, frowning. ]

Who else do you think is keeping the world in harmony?

[comeandfindme]

[ She does not have time for this, so she just ignores his question, the one in response to her question. ]

People. People keep the world going, there's no- [ She presses her hands to her face, taking a deep breath. ] I don't even believe in the Christian God, we are not getting into this.

[themuseabandonsyou]

Well, yes, but. Things bigger than people. The wind and the seasons and the sun and the tides. They don't just work on their own.

[ Orpheus's frown only deepens at that next comment. ]

Who's the Christian god? I've never heard of them? Not by that epithet, at least.

[comeandfindme]

Yes, they do. They work, through- science and...weather and all that. No one controls them!

[ She is pointedly once again, ignoring a question, not getting into theology because it's too big a headache for her. If she has to listen to another person try and console her, to tell her Jacob's in a good place, she'll scream. ]

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ This is getting really strange, and Orpheus can't quite get his head around it. No they aren't, yes they are, no it doesn't, yes it does. There's some kind of fundamental misunderstanding happening here, but he doesn't know how to get around it. ]

I see Lady Persephone every year, and spring doesn't come until she shows up, because she's the one who brings it. It's her domain. If she didn't come back, it would always be winter. Same with Lord Apollo carrying the sun, and Lord Poseidon and his court with the tides. Scientists study how the gods do it, but they know who's - well, doing it.

[comeandfindme]

[ Peregrine holds up a hand. ]

Stop. Just, stop, okay? I don't know if you're high or what, but there are no gods. There's no one making the world turn. It just does.

[themuseabandonsyou]

[ Orpheus just frowns harder at that, opening his mouth to argue further before shaking his head. This line of conversation doesn't seem like it's helping anyone. ]

Okay. [ he says, flatly, and turns around to keep on walking down the hallway. ]