Week Four

[stagemanagers]

[Last week, Gershwin High School Academy University saw its very first intentional murder! What a milestone! And right after Spongebob's No Murder party, too - that doesn't seem like it bodes very well for anybody's future.

You all wake up this morning with yet another new memory returned to you. You'll also find that the school's external doors have now unlocked. Congratulations! You're free! Unfortunately, you also seem to be entirely in the middle of nowhere. So maybe it's more of a symbolic victory.

Still, you should look around and do some investigation! Maybe you'll find a fun surprise.]

Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

(( Be sure to submit your memory regains and your AC for this week! Hester's office hours and the merch booth also remain available! ))

Comments

[tellthestory]

[ - until the Balladeer strides through the doors and, for the first time in over a month, onto a stage proper. He stops almost immediately, turning about in place so that he can grin up at the curtains, both familiar and not.]

Oh my god, we did it! I knew we could -

[Oh, oh, he's maybe getting a little too excited! The Balladeer raises a hand, freezes for a moment, and goes on in a whisper when nothing happens.]

Let's just be quiet. I really doubt the Wizard actually lives back here or anything, but you never know.

[fourbutts]

[ Janis looks around. She looks back for a moment, biting her lip. She told Maya and Per... well, she told them she was going to go investigate with The Balladeer, you know, narrator stuff, but this is. Hm.

But they're never going to get out of here if they don't try. ]

... Right. I'll be like a fucking mouse.

[tellthestory]

We'll just lock up when we leave. Like nothing even happened.

[He'd felt like he should do something. He hasn't so much as seen one of these carvings people are discussing, but...well, it's like he said at the meeting. Maybe between him and Janis together, they could get to places they shouldn't. That's helpful, right? He really, really wants to be helpful.]

Let's just look around a little. Don't go too far.

[They're buddies, after all! Where would you like to look?]

[fourbutts]

Right. Don't want to get v- eaten by the giant robot head.

[ It's almost to herself, but she still almost says something more cursed than this situation deserves.

Well first off, they're backstage! What kind of stuff is there, back here? ]

[stagemanagers]

[So the backstage! You've both been backstage before, in somewhat different respects, but most backstage areas look roughly the same.

This one might be a slight exception. There are a few things back here: a long wooden work table, a half-full costume rack, a metal ladder and assorted body parts.

Where would you like to begin?]

[fourbutts]

[ Hey what the fuck do you mean assorted body parts? I'm so sorry but that's getting looked at first!!! ]

[stagemanagers]

[As it happens, there's a ghostly white disembodied hand sitting by Janis's foot! There's also what looks like a leg in a corner and maybe a whole arm resting on the edge of the work table. There's no blood or gore on the slightly dusty concrete floor though.

Weird!]

[tellthestory]

Okay, what the hell.

[He's here for color commentary and Narrator Mentorship!]

[fourbutts]

I hate it, thanks, Mister Wizard!

[ She's gonna just... pick up the hand and hope it doesn't turn into Thing or something. Time for the question only blackout drunks and Hannibal Lector get to ask: Is that flesh? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Nope! It is cold hard plastic. Well done, Janis, you found some spare mannequin parts.]

[fourbutts]

[ That makes it like. Not better, it's not better, this still blows, but the Trauma meter at the corner of her survival horror game HUD doesn't spike as hard.


Also she tucks the hand away in a pocket. Anyway, what's up with the costumes? ]

[tellthestory]

I feel like I should say that this isn't a normal theatre thing.

[He's just gonna wander over and pick up that leg!]

[fourbutts]

In normal theatre's defense, neither is murder.

[stagemanagers]

[It sure is a plastic leg, B. Somewhere there's a hobbling mannequin cursing your name if it had a mouth.]

[stagemanagers]

[On the costume rack there are several pieces on hangers, all with small paper tags attached. As far as the costumes themselves go, there's a pretty wide range of fancy to casual for how few of them there are!

Most notably between the red hoodie and the Venetian coattails and mask.]

[fourbutts]

[ ... And these wouldn't happen to seem to be the same two as the executions, would they? At least plausibly? And uh... how are the pockets? ]

[stagemanagers]

[They sure look like it!

And pockets in the hoodie are some nice deep hoodie pockets. Pockets in the Venetian coat are less impressive but damn, that's a sexy coat.]

[fourbutts]

[ Nothing in them, I assume?

... Are there any outfits here that she would recognize from home, or are they all executions 1 and 2 chic? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Nope, they are all empty.

And nope, nothing obviously familiar! There are no literal Plastics lurking around, probably.]

[fourbutts]

[ Interesting! Alright, then... she'll move on to the work table. Any projects left out? ]

[stagemanagers]

[Funny that...there certainly are.

On the table there's a little desk lamp and three sort-of half-boxes. It's hard to really get a good look at what they are in the dark.]

[tellthestory]

[The Balladeer takes the hanger with the blue hoodie from last week off the rack and holds it up to himself.]

...oh, look at me, I'm Billy Harris.

[fourbutts]

Who's Billy Harris?

[tellthestory]

He goes by Doctor Horrible?

[fourbutts]

... On purpose?