{ SCHOOL PLAY } THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE XMAS - FINISHED!

[Zoobey]

THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS REVISED: THE SCHOOL PLAY

It looks like, finally, the big night has arrived! ALL NON CAST STUDENTS are welcome to sit in and watch the play! But of course, there are some basic ground rules for audience members, which you should probably get acquainted with.

(( GENERAL RULES:

- If your student is not a cast member they are free to RP at ANY TIME, during the play. You can rp them doing anything, whispering to their friends or making snide remarks, yelling out to the cast members, but please do not interrupt the actual play or get up from their seat.
- If your student IS A CAST MEMBER, they know what to do! All cast member posts, when they are saying their line will be posted in loud ACTION posts. All spectators can watch on and comment in between the action posts as they wish.
- CAST MEMBERS will take turns saying and playing out their role! Please OOCly be patient, as not everyone has the same schedule!
- At the VERY END OF THE PLAY there will be a surprise for EVERYONE!

General Posting rules:

- If you are a SPECTATOR and want to make a post, please post in the TOP OF YOUR POST "SPECTATOR POST"
- IF you are a ACTOR and you are saying your line or doing your action, please post on the TOP OF YOUR POST "(PLAY ROLE NAME HERE'S) POST. Actors sadly have to wait their turn for their roles and cannot post otherwise! ))

 

[Zoobey]

Shhh, walk to your seats quietly!

A gnome ushers you to your seat, gesturing for you to remain quiet. A strange sort of hush sweeps across the audience; some students hold their breath in excitement - or boredom - as the curtains unfold.

Oh how cute! The stage is decorated just like the Halloween Town Hall! There are even large neon presents littered everywhere!

But where is the cast? Will they make an appearance soon?  

[Zoobey]

GM Post:


Actors? Check. All props, costuming and lights crew courtesy of the gnomes? Check. And audience? Yes, there indeed was one.

Booze and lots of it? Check.

The secretary - the perpetrator of the 'modified school play' waved to a gnome in the back stage. The gnome waved back. Giving his usual disgruntled expression, he trudged onto the stage, into the back, there was some sort of strange crash noise, and suddenly, the stage flipped over to Moonlight Hill. It was probably time for the first two actors to make their appearance.

((OOC: All audience members at this point are assumed to be already seated. You can comment at any time, otherwise we'll assume your student was fascinated with the school play, really. ))  

[demon_pachabel]

ACTOR: JACK'S POST

Shehk had really needed alcohol or something if she was going to do this. Not even sixteen years dead and she was already thinking the stuff was fine and dandy! That wasn't a good sign. Maybe she should have hit Israel up or some. Then again, after the whole thing with colorful deer and exploding ceilings and stupid yellow scouts..... maybe everybody who had gone behind that magical door needed alcohol.

....
......
Sometimes she wondered if life was meant to be that exciting. Like being cast for a part in a school play that she'd really not even been trying for. Was this Karma for making fun of Arel with her audition? It had to be, because rehersals had been a b***h, and she was still pretty sure she didn't even know all of her lines.

That and 'Sally' kept trying to find a way to insert a make-out scene into the whole thing. It was a mess, really.

However, the stage was set, and she had to start it off. Her hair was pulled back, entirely out of her face. Even her bands were pinned out of the way and she'd made a point to at -least- give herself a deathly pa-...She was already sickly pale. So really, it was the darkened eyes she'd done.

Beyond that, she hadn't really tried too hard to turn into Jack.

Nor did she sound very enthusiastic as she walked out onto the stage with Nukpana and began to sing..
.... and not really all that in-key.

"Where is this land, this strange place of Joy?" There was visible balking. She hated that place.

"Where is Christmas?
Where is the now?"

She hoped it was burning.

"Where are lights the and music, this feeling every year.
I wonder now, if Sandy Claws is near... "

If he is, I'm going to kick him between the legs. That ********>  

[Nio Love]

SPECTATOR POST

The darkened auditorium had looked strangely spooky to Riley as she awaited the start of the play. She knew that the pitch black had been meant for effect, but she could see everything clear as day, cast in a soft steely blue hue. She wished she couldn't. Some of the students had taken advantage of the darkness to do lewd, unsavory things like pick their noses or put gum in someone's hair. She was sure someone was making out in the back. She made sure not to turn and look back there any further.

Her eyes glowed in the darkness, and she kept them half cast once she noticed someone two rows down openly staring at her. She was sure he didn't think she could see him, until her eyes rested coldly on him long enough to indicate that she knew exactly what he was looking at.

Thankfully, the play started without much wait. She pressed her hand gently against Israfel's elbow when she noticed the curtain was parting in the darkness, but shut her eyes quickly when the lights blared on. After a moment of readjusting, she blinked her eyes back open to watch the show.

She hadn't really looked at the cast list very well. She knew who was in the play, but she obviously hadn't paid enough attention to their roles. She gave a quick glance at Shehk, followed by a glance to the playbill, only to look back up at Shehk again.

Israfel. She whispered into his mind - not that she needed to whisper anyway, no one but he could hear her, but it seemed appropriate - Shehk and Nukpana.. they're playing the wrong roles. Aren't they?

Surely this wasn't on purpose.  

[kuropeco]

[ SPECTATOR POST ]

"Jack" was off key. A lot.

"I wonder now, if Sandy Claws is near..."

Ren winced. Why did I come here, again? Probably because he'd been bored, tired, and hungry and had, on his way home from the school cafeteria, dragged himself into the theater. Yawning, curling up in one of the seats with his feet up on the one in front of him, had the perfect spot for an evening nap, dark, cool, and quiet.

That is, until the curtains had opened, the lights had flashed, and Ren had been rudely awakened by the off-key warblings of a very pathetic looking Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

At least, he thought that's what it was. He had only half been paying attention. But at least he had recognized the character, even though the girl playing her (him?) looked totally and completely unenthusiastic by what she was doing, the expression on her pale face barely visible. Ren gave a rather loud yawn, stifling it with his hand.

What, no refreshments?  

[S a l l y S h e e p]

SPECTATOR POST

Legs crossed in a ghoulish fashion with her swords placed in her lap, Colette relaxed in her seat and watched the stage in anticipation. She had wanted to bring Dasher along, but Colette considered the distraction his glowing nose would cause and instead left him in her dorm. She had stacked most of her pillows into a small cave before heading out though, and she hoped that would entertain him for the time she was gone. She'd have to find a treat of some sort to make it up to him.

As she is usually precise with where she sits, the Reaper had made sure to grab a seat of the front row and, if not in the center, as close to the center as she deemed possible. Her seating goal was very easy as well since she didn't plan to sit by anyone specific, nor cared who she ended up next to. She in fact didn't take notice to who was sitting next to her at all. Colette wanted to make sure she could see everything, but most importantly be able to hear since she knew Barth was performing. That was the only reason she had decided to attend anyway, plus the fact she didn't actually have anything better to do. She really needed to find some actual hobbies.

Though some student she'd never seen before was already on stage singing, Colette couldn't help but stare at the presents and candy canes littered around the front of the stage in decoration. They did a good job of reminded her of the recent train ride to Christmas Town and all the very not-so-scary things she had encountered. Those sickeningly Joyous things. And the candy canes did a good job of reminded her of one severely hated incident. She uttered a single word in her mind before rolling her eyes and trying to focus on what was being sung on stage. "JingleBerry."

However, the unenthusiastic ghoul on stage wasn't entertaining enough to catch Colette's full attention and she let her eyes wander around the auditorium. The Reaper was hoping she would see someone she knew, though it would prove pointless if they were far away. How much longer would it be until Barth was up? She started to wonder if maybe she should have stayed in her dorm.  

[Rii_Hon]

.:: SPECTATOR POST::.

It had been a bit of a shame that he hadn't gotten chosen as jack, but Amrita had made it in as the Mayor, so that made up for some of it. Play night found him right in a seat where he could watch everything without having to turn his head too much. Crossing his booted ankles a bit, his head tilted as he watched it start up. He still didn't quite get why they had switched the genders on the two leads. If it was for comedic effect, he didn't quite understand. But it seemed disappointing how... lackluster Shehk was acting right then. Had she not wanted to be in the play? If so, the ghoul should have just said no, instead of causing suffering to the audience with the off key singing.

A slight head shake was given as he leaned back into his seat more and watched it, hoping it wouldn't get worse. Yes, this was a school and not a professional play, but honestly, at least try! Hopefully, Amrita wasn't a mess of nerves or anything and would be able to perform well. Also, he could wait to see if her in an outfit much different than that horrible outfit she insisted on wearing everyday.  

[Roxy_roxanna2]

[Spectator Post]

Sin was still a bit sulky that there had been no role for Sandy Claws, but she still intended to enjoy the play and the efforts of the cast. She tried to gave Shehk a supportive smile and not cringe when she noticed her off key singing. She was her captain after all and Fearleaders supported one another, right? Of course...so even if Shehk didn't see her she had to try not to cover her ears. She glanced around at the other students wondering what their take on the play was.
 

[AnimeChickie]

[Spectator]


Even though Alcyone didn't get the part of Shock, she still had a fun time auditioning and she was happy that she got to watch the play. Settling into her seat, she looked around and noticed a lot of familiar faces in the seats around her. Looking up at Shenk and Nuk as they walked on stage, Alcyone tilted her head curiously. The school couple playing the story's couple. Interesting.  

[AyeAvast]

SPECTATOR POST!!

"Let us not speak of that awful one." Belladonna spoke up next to Collette, leaning over slightly and speaking in a lowered voice so she could show respect for the players onstage as well as still converse with her fellow Reaper Ghoul. "He wasn't a bit fun." The witch added with a pout before putting away her skellyphone. She had been distracted the entire time with texting Alwine, who was mysteriously not here though she had said she would be! But the play was starting now and it would be dreadfully rude to text the entire time and she was sure Alwine would make it if she could!

"Did you audition for the play?" Belladonna asked after quickly assessing that Shek was going to make out with Nuk by the end of the play (and if NOT, she would... Do something dreadful. Like eat animals or get on stage and show everyone the intricacies of her hoop skirt. Dreadful.) "I auditioned for Jack too, but apparently they were looking for something........ Different." Which was fine with the witch. It just meant she got to socialize some more and that was one of her favorite pastimes!  

[S a l l y S h e e p]

SPECTATOR POST

Nearly startled at the familiar voice, Colette looked over and noticed the ghoul sitting next to her. It was Belladonna, how had she not noticed? Though it was probably her own doing by being so distracted, she actually didn't mind the fellow Reaper sitting there. It was better to be around someone she knew anyway, Colette just hoped the ghoul wouldn't get too excited during the play and cause attention to their seats. She was just here to listen to Barth's performance and definitely didn't want to fall into some embarrassing situation.

At the rendering of Belladonna's words, Colette was a little embarrassed someone could hear her murmur about JingleBerry, but was comforted that it was at least the fellow Reaper. Belladonna would know what Colette was mentioning more than any stranger who could have overheard and thought her weird. She quietly whispered to the ghoul, "Yeah," in complete agreement. She would have said more about the accursed ninja, but it was definitely not the appropriate time or place. Nothing she was going to say was appropriate at all actually.

When Belladonna had said, "Different," Colette look at the stage and took a look at the cast currently up. It certainly was different, the main character's genders being switched definitely made the story feel strange to Colette, but the ghoul up there didn't even look like she wanted to perform. A lack of effort was sensed in her performance, of course, and she shrugged and whispered, "It certainly is different. It doesn't even look like she wants to do this." A feeling that the student playing Jack in fact couldn't instead of didn't want to flew through her mind, but why would they put a bad performer up there in the first place? It was rude to assume so anyway, so she would make sure to keep that thought to herself.

"And I auditioned for Sally," she rolled her eyes, "but they gave it the boil," a hint of annoyance could clearly be found in her whisper. The Reaper certainly didn't want to get in front of everyone and perform, but she respected the mandatory auditions and tried her best anyway. She drew on her darn face and cut up a pair of legwarmers for that audition. Choosing some boil instead only felt insulting.  

[x_Nata_x]

ACTOR: SALLY'S POST

As anyone could have guessed, Nuk didn't look particularly perturbed as the play was beginning to start, elbowing and snickering at a few of the other cast members despite how the audience could probably hear the commotion. He wasn't taking it seriously at all, in fact, which the judges should have seriously thought about when they'd given him the role of Sally. In fact, had it not been for Shehk (and Amrita, actually,) he wouldn't have shown up to any of the practices at all. He'd only really tried out because Sally's part had been perfect for his feelings for Shehk, who was ironically trying out for Jack. The skinwalker wouldn't have even known he'd gotten the part if someone hadn't told him. He'd just figured that the judges would have been smart enough NOT to cast him.

Apparently not.

Swallowing one last snicker, Nuk grabbed Shehk's hand tightly as they walked onto the stage, making sure they were halfway across so that she couldn't protest. That alone had made him grin, glowing eyes flashing a bit in amusement. In the glow of the spotlight, it was clear he at least had tried to dress up like the character he was playing, although the biceps stretching the sleeves of his costume made the entire supposed-to-be-a-girl thing a little jarring. At least his skin was covered in makeup and fake stitches, so the skinwalker looked remarkably quite undead. (He hadn't let Jack B do it, thank god. Last time he'd done that he'd ended up purple.) He'd even taken off his pelt, although he'd left the crow feathers in just in case.

He was also wearing a dress.

Oh. God. As if anyone needed to see that.

The first couple lines of the play went well enough. He listened quietly as Shehk recited her lines, did a little playing with his hair that looked like it was more supposed to be in jest than an actually attempt at Sally, but at least he hadn't done something horrible yet. He even waited until Shehk was completely done with her lines before he started his own... if only because he didn't actually... remember any of them. It was ok though. He had an ace of his sleeve. It was the way he 'studied' for all his written exams. Turning his arm over, he 'discretely' glanced at the lines he'd written on his arm in black ink, the writing mostly blending in with his tattoos. Unfortunately for him, the makeup had smeared most of the words, making it nearly impossible to read anything beyond a few garbled sections.

For a second he just stared, looking like he was seriously contemplating cursing in front of the whole student body, but the expression faded, and his devious, I-solemnly-swear-I-am-up-to-no-good smirk curled the corners of his lips. Reaching out to clasp Shehk's hands in his own, he held them to his chest, trying to look dramatic.

Improv, go.

"Jack, Christmas sucks shiny ornament balls,
It's us that are meant to be,"

Anyone who hadn't seen that coming was either blind or in serious need of lessons in observation. It was very lucky that the cast had, in fact, practiced a little a few nights before -- the only reason he'd even moderately gotten the gist of what he was supposed to say. And despite the ... off... words, his voice was actually quite good, which may or may not have saved him a little. Still, in the good few seconds that followed it was obvious Nuk hadn't really thought about what he was going to say AFTER that. Improv only got you so far. Squinting his eyes as if trying to remember, the skinwalker rolled his head a little back and forth for a few seconds, letting their hands drop momentarily.

"uh... ... somethingsomethingsomething see,
now shut up and kiss me."

Yeah. Nuk had botched the lines. Amrita could have told anyone that that was going to happen. But hey, at least they were KINDA similar to the original ones. Or at least close enough that a little tweeking could probably set the play back on track.

For now.

Somehow he could see another months worth of detention in his future, with the possibility of a punch to the face. And he didn't even need Sally's prophetic powers for that one.  

[demon_pachabel]

ACTOR: JACK'S POST

Aroo?

Yeah, the cast probably would have been able to pull off that whole bit better if Shehk hadn't just completely balked at what Nukpana was doing, giving him this look akin to what the hell is going on, her tail prickling along the spine and her ears turning back and away from her co 'star' of sorts. Oh good jacking christ, this play was already off to a bad start.

It had been ever since casting. Shehk was tonedeaf (despite the fact that Pach isn't as much, thus the voice clip sounded better, d'oh!), Nukpana was a manly boy in a dress trying to get into her pants (or whatever it was he was trying to do) and the whole thing was a disaster just waiting to boil over and burn to the stove.

But the pause of 'Oh my Jacking Jack Jack. What the hell were those lines?' (though this was just a look of shock on her face, rather than a spoken line)

She then proceeded to clobber Nuk right in the teeth. Well.. 'clobber'. Her wimpy girl arms weren't really all to effective. That on top of the, probably best emoted line rom the Pricolici, was probably a disaster waiting to happen.

"NOW ISN'T THE TIME FOR THAT, NUK-SALLY!" She caught herself and coughed, before she turned away and stroked her chin thoughtfully, as though the previous act had NOT just happened. "We must make Christmas happen."

Whyyyyyyy?  

[Dragain]

[SPECTATOR POST]

While the trip to Christmas Town had shattered many a childhood fantasy in regards to the 'land of snow, presents and Sandy Claws', the school play of 'Nightmare before Christmas' was something she could not miss. She had initially been rather disappointed with the results of the school play - or rather, the fact that she had not been chosen for the role of Sally as it had been taken by a boil instead. However, Lizzy was excited that three ghouls she considered as her good friends had made it in... Two of them as the same character too! While he couldn't sing, it seems like Christof and his partner also got in. She also felt oddly happy for G - you can't not feel happy for him, she decided, it was impossible.

Despite her excitement at seeing students she knew on stage, however, she still managed to take way too long to prepare an outfit, fix her hair and head out, five stalks of nightshade in hand. By the time she was hastily seated, the play had already begun, although it was still at its initial stages.

Still, she could already see that the play was wrong on so many levels. Off-key singing female-Jack? Well, that was actually fine... But with a rude, pushy male-Sally who looked way too desperate for a kiss? AND THAT DRESS. THAT DRESS ON HIS MUSCLE-PACKED BODY. Her grip on the flowers in her hand tightened as she continued to watch the play, albeit twitching a little, still determined to sit it through; it'll all be better once someone hardworking like Amrita and Tess gets on the stage... Probably.

She was so absorbed with how wrong the play was, that she failed to see the familiar faces in the audience - the play was just so, so wrong. It might end up with the shattering of yet another childhood fantasy.