No Backward Glances

[stagemanagers]

Today is the day of the promised grand finale. And, strangely, nothing about the Opera seems especially different this morning. The theatre doors remain locked. There's no smell of blood in the air, no trashed rooms, and no dead bodies to find. In the lobbies, the crystal chandeliers are still in their places, not swung about by any mysterious force.

But there's little things. It may take a while to notice, but the lock on one of the doors in the second floor lobby - the one leading to Boxes 5 through 8 - is missing. Should anyone try it, it opens easily and without a sound.

Meanwhile, down on the first floor, the graffiti on the box office walls has once again been cleaned up. In the process, it seems, the box office door was left slightly ajar.



(( As a reminder, these are your teams. Group A gets the second floor, which will involve the area indicated in red, and Group B gets the first floor, with the areas in blue here and down the left to here. Good luck, everyone! ))

Comments

[stagemanagers]

[The box office appears to have been completely cleaned out. The Balladeer's instruments are gone, as is everything that was on his desk. Should you check the drawers, you'll find that those are empty too.

But the shelves are still here, Billy, so you should still be good.]

[onthebusagain]

...Wow, it's super spooky all cleared out like this, isn't it? [That's right, Heather's here too, peering into the box office behind them. ]

[trettende]

Yeah, he had so much stuff...

[ I mean, Hans is pretty sure the Merchandise Booth gave him a ukulele cause of this, but yeah. ]

It's like they tried to get rid of any sign that he was here.

[onthebusagain]

They totally tried. [How awful. What could they even gain from that?]

But we'll never forget.

[trettende]

That's right, we won't.

[ Fuck the Management tbqh ]

They can't just write him off because he was our Narrator. He was way more than that.

[pennyless]

[Well this is fucking rude.

Since there's nothing of interest in the room anymore, Billy's going to beeline right for the shelves and open that hidden door.

Is the hallway still the same?]

[stagemanagers]

[It is! You've got the staff bathrooms to the right, the stairwell (which isn't going to lead anywhere new), that one door that was previously locked, and the door to the left with the keypad.]

[pennyless]

[Billy turns to look at the others from the entrance to the hallway.]

A couple of you guys check that other door. I'm going to get this keypad open.

[We don't have time to mourn right now. Conceal don't feel, guys.]

[aflatouttahell]

[Well guess who just made her way in here alrighty then let's do this]

Other door. Right.

[TIME TO OPEN THAT DOOR!!]

[stagemanagers]

[This time, that other door is unlocked.

It opens onto a small bedroom, very plain and undecorated - bare walls, no personal items visible. The only furniture is the bed, a desk with a trash can next to it, and a wardrobe.]

[aflatouttahell]

Well, better get searching in here.

[TIME TO RIFLE THROUGH A DESK!!! Everyone's favorite investigatory activity.]

[stagemanagers]

[There's an empty bowl and spoon sitting on top of the desk, as well as a lamp. But strangely, rifling through the drawers only reveals a few pencils.

Looks like this room may have been cleaned out too.]

[aflatouttahell]

Desk's empty.

[Well, if it was cleaned out... the only place they ever miss in stories or what have you is under the bed, right? Right? Regardless, she's gonna check there next.]

[stagemanagers]

[The bed itself looks slept in, as if no one bothered to make it last time they were here.

But there's nothing beneath it.]

[onthebusagain]

[Heather will search the wardrobe. Any questionably fashion choices in here?]

[stagemanagers]

[Depends on your opinions. How do you feel about flannel?]

[onthebusagain]

[Did someone's dad live here???

Anything behind the clothes?]

[stagemanagers]

[There's also jeans, and some white undershirts.

But if you go through all of the clothes, there's a very different outfit stuffed in the back. The mask and hat are not present, but the rest is pretty memorable.]

[trettende]

Wonder whose room this was...

[ Hans will follow Jezebel into the other room, checking the trash first because if someone was trying to get rid of something, that'd be the place, right? ]

[stagemanagers]

[The trash is full of balled-up sheets of paper.]

[trettende]

[ Time to unroll those pieces of paper and see if there's anything legible in them. What's the verdict, boss? ]

[stagemanagers]

[It's handwritten sheet music.

All of them seem to be variations on the same song, at least, but none look finished. That's probably why they're in the trash.]

[pennyless]

[Meanwhile, Billy's going to kneel down in front of the door with the keypad, and rifle through the heavier of his two bags, putting his gloves on, pulling his goggles down over his eyes and pulling out...

A homemade blow torch.

There's a click and a hiss of igniting flame, and then a blade of flame licks out of the end of the nozzle. Sparks fly and the hiss turns to a metallic agonized scream when the flame makes contact with the door to the side of the lock.]

[stagemanagers]

[Well geez Billy

The screaming continues as the locking mechanism within the door starts to melt. This may take a little while, but it'll definitely work.]

[pennyless]

[He calls it Chekov's Blow Torch.

Once he gets all the way through, he's going to go all the way around the keypad, and then reach up with his safety glove and just.

Wiggle that free and set it aside.

He clicks the blowtorch off and tries the door.]