week 1

[stagemanagers]

[Well, all escape attempts have failed thus far. None of you have seen the Phantom since his brief appearance on Sunday, or heard from him at all. It looks like, for the time being, you’re all going to be stuck here.

You're free to continue exploring your surroundings to your hearts' content. The only real restriction on your movements is that the kitchen is closed between the hours of 10 pm and 7 am. Better make sure to grab any midnight snacks you may want ahead of time. Also, remember to label any investigation toplevels!

The Merchandise Booth is now open for business as well! The Phantom hasn't deigned to explain how it works, but...well, some of you will start to find mysterious coins in your rooms, and the Booth's got a place to put coins. You'll figure it out.

Should you wish to engage more with your host, you're welcome to drop letters in the box office slot. There's no set way to converse verbally with him, and he's certainly not guaranteed to respond if you just yell at the walls - but that doesn't necessarily mean he isn't listening. Just something to keep in mind.

Enjoy your first week, everyone.]

Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday | Saturday

(( OOC: This will be the last mod post for this week! Feel free to start submitting regains for any threads that aren't with the Phantom. Remember, song threads mean an extra coin! This is a peace week, so get all that CR while you can! ))

Comments

[isawallflower]

You don't do stretches or anything? [ But, she follows along, jumping jacks is a fine warm-up. ] Flexibility's probably more important in cheerleading than general acting.

[etincelledefierte]

I don’t know why I expected any differently. I at least thought there would be some kind of riddle or something like that, something I could at least puzzle out, but...

[it is all she can do not to crumple the letter into a ball and throw it away, but she manages not to.]

[isawallflower]

Um.

[ Riley feels so much like that crying little girl in the rain. Can't get up and run away, can't do anything about the hurt she feels. Just stuck there. Her gaze remains on the trophy, but at least she's stopped polishing it. ]

...It's nothing to do with here. Besides, like- the fact that it showed up, so. Gotta stay focused on what...matters right now, right?

[ But, trying to sound like all this doesn't matter... It's not right to her. She sure doesn't sound like she believes what she's saying. ]

[isawallflower]

Did he really say nothing else? Anything you can guess at?

[etincelledefierte]

Nothing else, much as I wish there was. It’s frustrating, to put it mildly.

Any ideas I have would apply to more of us from home than just Nana and I.

[likemypicture]

I see— I had wondered if you were perhaps a little shy, as I was as a young woman. I would try and copy what the ladies at court wore, when I arrived. [She smiles fondly, diverting her attention to the options and trying to focus in on solid colors.]

What sort of things are you so passionate about?

[37773972]

The two of you don't have anything in common that the others don't have?

[He's just curious, not suspicious. Nonetheless, he nods slowly.]

Then again, for all we know, it could be completely random.

[mcfife]

We will have to overpower him regardless of our plan. [He finishes cracking those eggs.]

The problem is with weapons. If we had unicorn blades, or laser guns, or even a regular warhammer, we could take him on in combat. At the moment, he is likely to have many hiding places, and running unprepared would not get us anywhere.

...All I could find were brooms.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

Just because we have other things to worry about doesn't mean you can't be upset about this too.

I know we just met, but I'm here for you, Riley.

[isawallflower]

So, we really are stuck.

[ She sighs, but. No, okay. Be positive. ]

Well. We're just going to have to figure it out on our own, then. It was a longshot that he'd give anything useful after all.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

[There is a sizzle as another plop of batter hits the hot pan]

We may be able to craft some makeshift weapons. Between the prop room and the music room I'm sure we can craft something. Even if we can't, there's a lot to be said for brute strength.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

And that's the door we need to pick, got it.

[She surveys the room, moving to the edge of what the light shows.]

Do you think it was the Phantom that put all this down here or someone else?

[isawallflower]

[ Riley raises her chin, as she often does when she needs to look or...feel a little more confident. ]

I am not shy. [ ...Anymore- ] Just focused. That's all. [ ...Does that make her feel better? Sort of. ] ...I don't suppose you'd know what cheerleading is? It's... Well, it's just about my whole life.

[isawallflower]

[ Riley tenses. She's been tense since Sigyn initiated contact, but she tenses more. She turns the trophy, just a hair, so it's a bit easier to read. It's a nice trophy? But the inscription is, well.

GCHS CHEERLEADING, YOU TRIED

Which is probably a little insulting. ]

It's... It's not really a trophy. It's a disaster. [ She doesn't want to explain it all. ] When you put your whole life into everything and just fail completely, it stings a little.

[justmeheere]

Oh, I just mean it's. You know, um. T-the shame is not in not knowing, but in. In not admitting you don't know.

[He probably read that in a fortune cookie once.]

[justmeheere]

Like the flower? I guess I can see, um, how that would be. Calming? I think chamomile is supposed to be, like, calming too.

[The teenage boy part of Jeremy's brain is now saying "put them together for EXTRA calm, which is 100% not how it works, probably.]

[madgiganticfeelings]

[It takes a few minutes before Christine flops back on her bottom, making an exaggerated groaning noise.]

It's locked tight! I can't get in at all... And I bent up my barette...

[Truly a tragedy.]

cw: abandonment issues

[justmeheere]

[Boy. Wait until two weeks from now when he finds out he has actual problems, not just regular teen problems!]

I mean, it's. I dunno, my mom left a while ago and this feels kind of like that? Like, um. [He pauses, not quite sure how to word it.] Like I'm meeting all you guys and then. Then you'll just leave too? Which is. It's stupid, because obviously. Obviously the circumstances are totally different! But I just, you know.

[Feeling weird just makes me sad.]

[madgiganticfeelings]

Hmm... well, there's one character in the play known as The Persian, and really, he just exists to be an unfortunate stereotype... he knows of the Phantom, and must have been friends with him, but he turns on him in the end. And from what is said, I'm pretty sure the Phantom builds everything himself. Apparently in the play, he's the heir of a construction company, so he knows how to build secret passages and hideouts.

[etincelledefierte]

[She thinks about it for a minute, then shakes her head.]

We went through a lot back at home, but nothing stands out as being a reason that Nana and I would have been taken. If anything, I can think of reasons we wouldn’t be.

[etincelledefierte]

Unfortunately. I can think of reasons we wouldn’t have been taken together, but nothing that explains why it was the two of us. I mean, unless something happened that I don’t remember, but I don’t think that’s a possibility.

[madgiganticfeelings]

You're right about that, but really, stretches are good for any physical activity, including acting! Probably should have started with that...

[Oh well! She counts out twenty, and then starts stretching her arms out. She's pretty sure Riley knows enough of this to follow along, at least.]

1/2

[stagemanagers]

[Hey, Sigyn and Angus, do you know the worst thing that can happen when you know the exact number of people who should be reflected in a mirror maze?

When there's a new reflection, shrouded in shadows, standing behind you in over a dozen different mirrors at several different angles.]

2/2

[37773972]

You think this is enough candles?

[He brought one for each of them, also some matches, and also some of those funky candleholders with the rings for holding so none of them have to get wax on their hands!

He's currently sort of. Juggling it all together; it's too awkward to light any of the candles in this situation, less he risk a burn.

He also, however, gives an unhappy look around at all the mirrors]

God, this place is creepy.

[reassuranceandrevolution]

We will leave, eventually. [Sugar coating it won't help anything] But you're going to be leaving as well. No one is getting left behind.

Feeling sad about that, though, is...natural.