Do you hear the people sing? Because they're all pissed off

[inforapenny]

[There is no announcement at noon on Tuesday. The hour itself, in fact, seems to hang in grave remembrance of a friend no longer with them. B's absence is still heavy in their group every time that they look at the graffiti'd box office.

But they can't be silent forever. They won't be silent forever.

There's few enough of them left that Billy can find each of them individually, slipping a sheet of paper into their hand.]

MEET IN THE FIRST FLOOR WOMEN'S ROOM, 2 PM.

(Men's room light is still out. Sorry.)

Comments

[trettende]

[ Yeah, that sure was a thing.......... ]

Kind of hard to miss. What happened? Was it a crew member again?

[inforapenny]

Yeah. Winslow and I caught one. We got to, uh. "Interview" him a little bit, but then a couple of his cohorts came and rescued him.

That was the gunshot. And also- also why there's no light in the men's room.

[trettende]

They shot the light? Why?

[ I mean, last time they shot a person so that's good news? Ish?

Hans isn't even gonna ask about the air quotes, he'd have done the same thing. Good job, Billy. ]

Did you learn anything useful from him?

[inforapenny]

I guess so that the breaking glass and darkness would cover their escape. We didn't actually hurt him, despite his whining to the contrary.

Yeah. We learned that he was part of the show that came before this one. They called him The Producer, but according to the photos that Anna found his name is Max.

[trettende]

[ He shrugs. He would've been okay with hurting him but ok. ]

So he survived to the end of the last show? Was it a show like this one? With the murders and trials and everything?

[inforapenny]

I mean, if he's part of the stage crew, I'm pretty sure he didn't die.

[Ask a stupid question, Hans.]

I think I saw some like crime scene-style photos in the ones that Anna found, so my guess is that yeah, it was the same kind of show.

[trettende]

People have been brought back to life before. Seymour remembers dying, for instance.

[ Stupid questions aren't so stupid when you have stage magic, Billy! ]

So do you think they'll ask us if we want to join at the end of this? What exactly do they gain from joining, anyway?

[pennyless]

Even if that is true- [How can somebody remember dying, ffs] they don't seem too excited to bring back our friends--

........

[o shit.]

[trettende]

[ Ask him, not Hans-- ]

Exactly. Maybe they could bring them back?

[pennyless]

But if that's the case-

[Shouldn't we take it, too?]

Why even bother with the whole show in the first place? What's the point of such high stakes when you can just- flip a switch and take it all back?

[trettende]

Well, if we go by the theory that the cast members are haunting the opera, perhaps... there's more to it than that? I don't know.

[ Unless... ]

Maybe we have to earn it somehow. Flipping that switch only works if we work for it?

[inforapenny]

What if the previous cast members are still trying to earn it?

What if- what if their show got boring, so Management offered them new roles?

[trettende]

That... that certainly sounds like the kind of thing the Management would do. They're always insistent on having everyone play their roles.

Do you think they'll offer us the same deal, if we don't have an "exciting" ending?

[inforapenny]

I, uh. I'd guess that we're probably past the point of not being "exciting" enough.