SCHOOL FESTIVAL

[afterlifer]

WHO: Everyone!
WHAT: School Festival / Arriving in the Afterlife!
WHEN: 9/30/2012. Morning through evening.
WHERE: All around! Mostly at the school, since it is a school festival!
WARNINGS: Potential violence, but since everyone's already dead it's not like it matters, BUT FOR THE MOST PART HUNKY DORY PG! So PG+V? That works.
SUMMARY: A school festival! Details here!

No matter where it is you woke up, if it's near buildings the sounds of merriment are all around. The shouts of people rooting for the winner of a game, students trying to pull in attention for their booths, adults laughing as they trip over themselves during a sport or someone screaming at the haunted house...

It's then that you realize you're at some kind of festival, everyone's invited, and no one seems to be bothering with money.

Then the realization that you're not even in your clothes. What the hell is this outfit? A school uniform? A janitor? A store clerk? Waitress?

No, no, the bigger question is deinitely "What the hell is going on and where am I?" With nothing but forest and mountains visible in the distance, it's kind of--

POP POP!

..Are those fireworks?

If your character isn't at one of the events and are elsewhere in the town/forest/school/dorms/exploring the buildings/wherever, feel free to just comment with their own thread at the bottom.

Comments

[thneed]

[ He couldn't find a good place to hide yet.

This would do for now until people cleared out enough and went home. More people watched the play than this and left. Does nobody like music anymore? Some part of him is disappointed but it's better there's less people around him. He doesn't belong here.

Once-ler's all the way in the back, in the corner. Slouched far down his seat with his knees pulled in front of him, curled in as small of a ball as he could curl into. Trying to be out of sight out of mind. The fact that it's easy to breathe here is making it difficult to because he's panicking. The music helps.

Kind of. Not really. He'll shush anyone that interrupts it though. ]

[fortepian]

[Frederic would prefer to be in the back too. There really are not a lot of people left, are there? He's rather unsure of this music, though. Clearly not played by professionals or someone who has mastered their instrument. It's a little grating if he's honest.

Still they were all beginners and so when he sees the Once-ler, he will only politely nod. Frederic doesn't want to interrupt.]

[thneed]

[ He takes his eyes off the stage and stares at Frederic like he was some sort of ghost. (Do they count as ghosts here? That a whole other process of thought that gets dismissed.) He was trying to be invisible here. Why is this guy nodding at him.

Does he know who he is? Is this going to be a problem? He sinks into his seat a little more, which is oh so awkward with how tall he is. He has to wrap his arms around his knees to stay balanced and not slip off the chair like that.

Still staring. Yup. This is going to be the best first impression ever on this nodding guy. ]

[fortepian]

[That's an odd reaction. The nod had only been out of politeness' sake. Nothing more. While Frederic usually would go about his business and ignore the strange person, this is a different world. A different place. The reaction seemed so out of place.

Frederic won't do anything until the piece has ended. It's only then that he stands up, offers a smile, and speaks:]

Excuse me, sir, do you need assistance? You look unwell.

[thneed]

[ Once-ler looks back and forth as if there was someone else Frederic could have been talking to. No. It's him. Of course it's him. Nobody else is here.

Who does this guy think he is smiling at him? He doesn't get smiles. He's getting a scowl in reply to a smile. ]

Yeah, I bet I do. I don't need assistance.

[fortepian]

[That is just rude. Frederic was attempting to be polite and with treatment like this that just goes away.]

Being in such a situation is scary in the beginning. Enjoy the show.

[And he does walk back to his own seat. If that's how he will act then Frederic won't make any big show of trying to help. This isn't his own dream and if this is some place after death, Frederic doesn't know the rules. He won't help someone if this is how it goes. Not that he's even sure he can help.]

[thneed]

[ It's better to be rude and get the guy to leave him alone. Why would he even think to talk to him? Did he actually want to help? This guy is better of helping someone else if he's serious about it. He can't be helped. It's over. ]

Thanks.

[ It's a mutter. Captain Obvious. Of course it's scary. Once you've figured out why you're there it's terrifying. ]

[tenminutes]

[ Okay well, Yuri has no idea if she can actually play or not. But it is truly her soul mission to screw around during the entire performance so after a quick trip to the music room to find a real instrument, Yuri headed to the lights room. Which meant that suddenly mid-concert, all the lights went out.

While everyone was trying to figure out what the hell happened, Yuri was busy setting up a bass guitar to an amp. She didn't know if she could actually play but by the time he lights were back on, she had it ready.

SO ONCE-LER, ENJOY THE SHOW WHILE SHE JUST HAS SOME FUN ON THE BASS GUITAR OKAY ]

[thneed]

[ HEY HEY. I can't enjoy this. What happened to his sad violin music? He was really into that. It was reflecting well on his inner turmoil and current panic attack. He straightens up a little in his seat, looking up at the stage in surprise.

While he can respect her enthusiasm with that (It's enjoyable really. When was the last time he saw someone have a blast with a musical instrument?
Oh right. Never. It was always him playing. And even that he hasn't done in a while...)

She can't even play so it's irritating. He kind of wants to boo her but he's having flashbacks to tomatoes. ]

You're holding it wrong!

[tenminutes]

[ Hmmm~ That's an interesting response! Target located! Something like this was always an easy way to get peoples' attention. So she stops playing and looks right at him, pointing to him. ]

Get up here and show me then!

[thneed]

[ And there he went drawing attention to himself. Attention he doesn't want. He sinks back down, making it hard to spot him amongst the seats if it wasn't for the fact that he was waving a hand up at her. ]

Just stop playing! You interrupted my show with your hardly-amateur performance!

[tenminutes]

100% amateur, not an ounce of practice. But it called out someone like you. [ And there are teachers rushing over now so she jumps off of the stage and runs toward him. Totally gonna grab his hand and run, she doesn't care if he's a grumpass punkass. ] Come on!

[thneed]

What? [ Why is she running towards him? He doesn't even have enough time to properly get up. ]

Hey wait-! [ He almost faceplants into the floor and gets dragged. ALMOST. He didn't. Thank Seuss for that. He does slip once and got up before it stopped her running off or anything though. It's hard to run with someone when they're yanking you out of an awkward sitting position (and are also like an entire foot shorter than you) ] What the heck are you doing?

[tenminutes]

Grabbing you and running because I want to talk to you but I don't want the teachers to bust me and steal this bass I stole from the music room! Obviously. [ She gives him about half a second to recover after that at least, glancing at him because wow you look.. older than she's used to for non-NPCs. Huh.

Well, she'll deal with that later. Back to running. ]

[thneed]

What if I don't want to talk to you and - why did you steal that? You can't even play. [ He straightens himself out enough to not have to lean over when she pulls him along. Once-ler is giving her such an annoyed look and let out an exasperated sigh when she went back to running.

He could have pulled himself back. He knows he could. He could just yank his hand free from this girl and go off somewhere else. But he's not. Someone wants to talk to him and grabbed his hand. So he'll just go along and see. ...Begrudgingly. Pretending he has no choice in the matter. ]

[tenminutes]

[ Once they're outside, she pulls him behind the building so that the teachers go running off straight because obviously that's the only direction they could go!!

And Yuri finally turns to him and answers. ]

One, it seemed like fun. Two, it got the attention of someone who wasn't an NPC. Three? It caught the attention of someone in the audience who was both a real person and an adult. Which is weird.

[thneed]

[ He lets out a breath and looks around, pausing for a second to poke at ... a vine or something on the side of the building before looking at her oddly ]

How is that weird? The entire situation is weird. And Of course, I'm a real person. I didn't even realize that was an issue.

[ beat ]

What's an NPC? A member of the Nuisance People Control?

[tenminutes]

Non-player character. It basically means fake people. Most of those people you were sitting with weren't actually humans. It's weird because I"ve never seen any dead adults here before, only young people.

[ Old. ]

[thneed]

Fake people. No kidding.

[ Shortie. ]

So wait. Never? Wow. Ha! Okay. I didn't even do that right. [ claps hands together ] Congratulations on your painful death, Mister Once-ler! Unfortunately, our adult afterlife is all filled up so you have to sit at the kiddy table.

[tenminutes]

The adults don't get an afterlife, they just have to deal with whatever it was they did and get reincarnated accordingly. So if you were a crappy person, your soul ends up as a sea snail!

[ Lanky. ]

[thneed]

No? Maybe I'm not old enough to qualify as an adult. Or more likely, I don't deserve to be a snail so- [ tiny shrug ] Here I am. Yay me.

[ Midget ]

[tenminutes]

You do look kind of scrawny, but you're definitely older than you should be. If you don't want to be a snail, then don't go around doing things normally like participating in school activities. Do you have a key to a dorm room or are they making you stay outside? Check your pockets.

[ Tree killer. ]

[thneed]

The last thing I want to be doing is participating. I just want to be left alone. [ A sigh. He empties his pockets. Just the key to the apartment that is not a dorm. ] Whatever that's too.

[ Vase breaker. ]

[tenminutes]

I spent most of my life alone and I'm sick of it, so you'll just have to deal with it. What's your name? [ While she examines this key. Really, what the fuck is this for? She's never seen anything like it.

Lorax's reject. ]

[thneed]

It's better if I'm alone. What do you care what my name is? [ plus he already said it. if she wasn't listening that's her fault. He's looking at the key then taking the bass she stole, idly tuning it ] So where's that go? You're the expert on being dead, I'm guessing.

[ Life's reject ]