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.]

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[Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday]

Comments

[catliketread]

[AND SO WE HANDWAVED A GAME OF CHESS in which Billy won because seriously.]

You're very talented at this! I was expecting you to be good, but I hadn't anticipated you would be this good!

[He sounds really pleased with it though, so there's that.]

[allicareabout]

It's all about reading people, my friend - something I've made sure to be good at, my career depends on it.

[catliketread]

Am I that easy to read? [YES] Still, it is an impressive skill!

[allicareabout]

Don't take it too personally - almost everyone is.

[...Billy, please.]

But consider it appreciated, either way.

[catliketread]

What sort of tells are there that you read?

[It's definitely not the sort of thing the Pirate King has ever bothered with but. Who knows. Maybe it'd be useful to pick up!]

[allicareabout]

...Well, you're a little obvious in general. Whatever you're thinking is usually all over your face, and you're really excitable. To put it gently.

Don't get me wrong, it's a nice trait to have. Openness like that's not a common thing, the world would probably be a better place if we were all a little more genuine with each other.

[Probably. But then he'd be out a job, and that would just be terrible.]

Otherwise? It's mostly just paying attention to what people do with themselves. What they're doing with their hands, the things they say, the things they almost say but don't. The way they're dressed, the way they look at people. But then, I make a living off of telling people how to present themselves.

[catliketread]

[Huh, is he really that open...???]

There certainly is much more to it than I would have thought. But that's why you're the expert and I am not! Have tells like that been useful during...

[the trials.]

Ah, never mind. Have you learned anything about the Billydeer through that?

[allicareabout]

...I try very hard to not talk to that guy, actually.

[For...several reasons.]

I've only spoken to him once, after this past weekend.

[catliketread]

Oh, really? What did you talk to him about?

[allicareabout]

That entire little show with Gabe and Hime at the end of the trial.

[catliketread]

Ah. Right. That.

[That.]

What did he have to say about it— Well, conversations are kept private, so if you don't wish to tell me I won't press. I could always ask him myself.

[Judging from his tone, he doesn't really want to.]

[allicareabout]

...I wanted to know how accurate all that was. With regards how the guy was acting.

He said that it was "dramatic license" - Gabe wasn't being anywhere near that over-the-top in killing the kid.

[catliketread]

...Perhaps it's silly, but I am very glad to hear that. I didn't think he was - not that I spoke with him or anything, but simply because I wanted to believe that none of us were that cruel. For his sister's sake as well.

Still, the fact that it was displayed like that...

[Well, it doesn't sit well with him.]

Dramatic licence or not, that was disrespectful at the very least.

[allicareabout]

...Hey. It's not silly, trust me.

[And that much does seem to be entirely genuine.]

Even if you didn't know him, that sort of thing shouldn't have been dragged out in front of his sister like that. And even if he was a terrible person, a line's got to be drawn somewhere.

Say what you want about using the likenesses of the dead in the executions - I'm already pretty aware that my opinion on it isn't other people's opinion on it, and I'll leave it at that - that particular thing shouldn't have been done like that.

[catliketread]

...I imagine this one was worse than the others - or more played-up, at least - simply because there wasn't anyone for us to rally against and vote for in person. They had to put on some sort of show, did they not? Without a person to blame for everything, they had to make something up. I don't agree with it at all, but that is the only way it would make sense to me. It's still cruel and terrible, especially to poor Natalie.

[allicareabout]

[That...

That makes sense, in its own way? It's not really something he would have thought about quite like that, mostly because what the hell is having a functional emotional range that doesn't get shut off when it starts getting inconvenient, but. Huh.]

Either way. I told the Balladeer that that wasn't really appreciated. At least not with his sister in the audience.

[catliketread]

She absolutely did not need to see that. That poor girl...

[He shakes his head. But!!]

I do appreciate that you mentioned as much to him! I should have said something as well, but... Well, I wasn't feeling up to talking to him about any of that.

[It's different when it's the guy employed by the people keeping you captive!]

[allicareabout]

I told her what he told me about her brother. So at least she didn't have to keep thinking about that.

[...Look, he's Lawful Evil as fuck but he's got standards, okay.]

Don't mention it, though. I don't like talking to him, but if a line's crossed like that, I'm going to say something.

[catliketread]

...I'm very pleased to hear that. I'm sure she knew her brother wasn't like that, but...

[Well, it sounded like things were Complicated and it's not like he knows much about either of them.]

I sincerely hope they don't do anything of the sort again, but if it would make for a good show, then they probably will.