week 4

[stagemanagers]

WEEK 4
[Another week has passed in the opera house and things are looking grim as ever. With Gabe and Hime gone, the performers are down to 16 of them.

On Monday, the opera house is still heavily decorated with a few new additions. There are more cottony cobwebs, a few small ghosts hanging from the ceiling made of cheesecloth, even more pumpkins here and there. A few more candy bowls have been set out in places like the dining room and a few others and only a few of them are only filled with candy corn. In the dressing rooms the stars on Gabe and Hime's doors have fallen off, leaving behind a patch of star-shaped wood slightly lighter than the rest of the doors on Hime's and a different star underneath on Gabe's.

Like the previous week, the door on in the second floor lobby is unlocked and a new floor is ready to be explored. Have a good week, everyone.]

.


[Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday]

Comments

[robitussin]

[After she wakes up, it's hard to convince herself to leave her room. A sizable part of her wants to stay there the entire day, away from everyone. She knows she can't - someone will note her absence if she does that, she thinks. She's never been good at knowing how to react to people being concerned for her, and she doesn't want to cause any more than she already has. As such, she does force herself out of the bed eventually, but even after she leaves her room, she won't be found anywhere until the early afternoon.

For the latter half of the day, she can be found in the library, curled up in an armchair with a few books at her side and one held in her hands - a copy of To Kill a Mockingbird. Compared to how she was acting towards the end of the trial, now she at least seems much calmer. She's humming a tune, but she falls silent as soon as anyone enters, turning her attention back to the book in her hands. She doesn't look up at anyone or address them unless they approach her, and then:]

Yeah? What's up?

library!

[sunshineprincess]

[If there is one person Anna can talk to, it's Natalie. Though when she sees Natalie reading and hearing her hum... she hesitates. She feels almost guilty to want to tell her friend(?) about this. So how about something else... Something not Hans related.]

H-Hey. So... they've got a bakery here! Have you been in there?

[robitussin]

[She shakes her head, setting the book down for the moment.]

No. I saw that door was unlocked now, but I haven't really looked around yet. Is there food there?

[sunshineprincess]

Yeah, but it's all frozen and you have to make it yourself. But! I did figure out how to use the oven!

[She smells like burnt cookies, but that was only one batch.]

[robitussin]

Seems like that was an adventure. At least you didn't burn the place down.

[sunshineprincess]

I don't even know if I could burn this place down.

[Not that she'd try.] Do you want anything?

[robitussin]

If anyone could do it, it would probably be you.

[Somehow, that sounds like a compliment?

She thinks about Anna's question, and then shakes her head.]

Nope. Not really hungry, but thanks.

[sunshineprincess]

Thanks?

[Is that a good thing or bad thing?

She nods with a small smile.]

Well, when you are, I'll be dropping the things I made off into the kitchen!

[robitussin]

Cool.

[She hesitates for a moment, but...]

Look, I know you're trying to make sure I'm okay, so I'll make it a little easier. I'm fine.

[solomonjihad]

[Its Astarte standing there, head down, a plate of cake in one hand, and a cup of tea in another.]

...Hi. Ah...

[How does one do this without just saying "sorry" three dozen times?]

I'm--

[NO.]

...holding cake and tea.

[Nailed it]

[robitussin]

...Yes, you are. That is factually accurate.

[This is awkward.]

[solomonjihad]

...

Would you like it?

[Offers.]

[robitussin]

Not really hungry.

[a slight pause]

Look, I know what you're trying to do, but I'm fine. Seriously.

[solomonjihad]

...All right.

...

[Crud what does she do with these she isn't hungry or thirsty!!]

...Ah, I'll...leave these here if...you'r, you know, later...

[Just put this all on this table over here, yeeeeeah]

[robitussin]

Sure.

[She hesitates for a second.]

Hey, Astarte?

[solomonjihad]

[She looks up at this.]

Yes?

[robitussin]

Uh, just... Sorry. For yelling at you like that earlier.

[allicareabout]

[Billy isn't moving to join her, per se; it's more that he's hovering in the general vicinity of the nearby shelves, and he doesn't say anything to her until the silence has gone on long enough that it seems he's going to be the one to break it, either by way of approaching or saying something himself.

He'll do the former eventually; when he speaks it's entirely straightforward in tone. Just business, nothing sentimental attached.]

I spoke to the Balladeer about your brother. He called that entire display on stage "dramatic license" - he wasn't anywhere near that over-the-top evil when he was carrying that whole thing out.

[...]

You've still got my condolences. I just wanted to let you know that at least one of us let him know that wasn't appreciated, any of that.

[robitussin]

[She stays silent for a few moments. She appreciates him making the effort to tell her, at any rate, even if she doesn't say it.]

I mean, it was a dick move on his part no matter how you slice it.

[She should never have stood up for him, she thinks. A pause, a swallow.]

But, thanks.

[allicareabout]

I'm always here for helping people out. And that wasn't sitting right with me, either - I don't usually talk to that guy, but this weekend warranted an exception.

["Helping people out" just also consists of making sure everyone doesn't die, even if that means being an absolute dick to people during the trials. And usually he's paid for it, but these are kind of extenuating circumstances and he can always figure stuff out later.]

[robitussin]

...Like I said, thanks, but I don't really need any help. I'm fine.

[Clearly.]

[allicareabout]

I know you are. And I figure you've had enough of people trying to insist that you're not, so I'm not going to join in the chorus, there.

Hopefully it's slightly less annoying if I just ask you what you're reading.

[robitussin]

Oh... Uh, yeah. It's To Kill a Mockingbird. You ever heard of it? You'd probably like it, it's about a lawyer.

[allicareabout]

Never heard of it.

[...Granted, he kind of predates the novel by almost 40 years.]

Maybe I'll give it a look when you're done with it; there are a few legal drama things in here, but nothing that's caught my eye yet.

[robitussin]

It's pretty famous where I'm from. Most schools make you read it at least once.

Not a fan of any other kind of books?