THE MOCK WEEK

[grimgrinningghosts]

[You find yourself waking in a large dressing room, incredibly spacious, but in intense disarray. The bed is comfortable enough, and each room seems to be equipped with a working bathroom and shower, so it's at least livable. But aesthetically, the place has hit the floor.

The horrifying clock mounted on the wall reads 9 am. After enough searching, you'll find a large tourist-y map of the studio on one of the dressers. An ominous note attached to the map with a paperclip reads "12PM WAITING AREA". It's not like you have any choice in the matter, seeing as there doesn't seem to be any way out.

Upon exiting the dressing room, you note a crooked star attached to the door bearing your name. There are 24 others like this, bearing names that you may or may not recognize. A quick tour around the studio reveals it to be in a similar state of disrepair, but something doesn't sit...right with you. Though the place is certainly creepy, you get strange vibes as you explore the building. As you move about the dust-filled halls of the abandoned building, you may spot movement out of the corner of your eye, or hear strange noises from behind you. It's nothing to be worried about, though...right?

At the very least, you'll find some comfort. The projection room and attached theater still seem to be in working order, though you'll have to manually grab one of the reels off the wall and start the thing yourself. In addition, the waiting area and lounge are both filled with reading materials, and the later features a large stage and a microphone. The commissary seems to replenish itself with food whenever you take your eyes off of it, ensuring that we won't be going hungry anytime soon. There are also cabinets full of ingredients and a small kitchen should you not trust whatever your benefactor is placing out for you.

Fortunately for them, the smaller individuals amongst your party won't find a great deal of difficulty moving around. Though their beds remain oversized, there seem to be appropriately-sized staircases and escalators placed about in appropriate spots, so as to make their lives easier. After all, they can't just keep relying on the others to get up to the cabinets and such, can they?

While you're waiting to find out what the deal here is, you might as well come out and socialize.]

(ooc: Welcome to the Foolish Mortals Mock Week! Please follow us on Plurk at foolishmortals for updates, and if you're so inclined, please feel free to join your Discord-inept head moderator as he struggles to set up a Discord chat up for everyone.)

Comments

pretend i was earlier ok

[pinkflip]

[This is...super not the airport, that's immediately obvious. Kimberly thinks, when she's first blinking awake, that she drifted off during the drive, and she's immediately regretful. The last chance she's going to have to talk with Tommy in-person for likely months and she wastes it?

But, no, this does not feel like the rough leather of his jeep, it's too soft and fluffy. At first she wonders if that was a dream, or--

Alright, no wow, Kimberly gags, and wrinkles her nose, and just groans all at once.]

Seriously?! [She asks. The sky. Nothing- the inevitable people watching her and cackling.] I'm retired, you lunar losers! Urgh!

[...So she spends a little time raging and gently kicking the wall, and then looks around for anyone she recognizes, wandering down the hallways. There's no communicator so she kind of has to...resort to regular methods.] Tommy? Aisha, Billy? ...Kat? Guys, you here? [And completely judging the state of this place. For the record.

There is no time to get distracted by the room filled with costumes, or the karaoke machine, or...the creepy noises and things that seem to be following her, somewhere around the projection room she spins about at one of the noises and balls up her fists, dropping into a practiced martial arts position. Looks like she's seriously going to kick something's ass, even if that something is you! ...Sorry, she'll snap out of it once she realizes there's no threat.]

[exclamationpoint]

Whoa! [pls don't hurt him miss pink ranger] I was just checking out this room, sorry.

[pinkflip]

Oh!! [Well, those fists go down immediately, it's just a boy!] No no, I'm sorry, I thought you were a spooky-thing!

[exclamationpoint]

Nothing spooky about me! [He's just a regular-ass highschooler with the ability to warp reality.] I'm Troy.

[He holds out his hand for her to shake.]

[pinkflip]

[She's a polite girl (mostly) so she shakes his hand and flashes a sheepish smile.] Kimberly, hi. Don't suppose you've got any idea where we are?

[exclamationpoint]

It's some kind of soundset. [Soundstage, soundset, whatever. He's not a word guy.] We got cast in something, but there's no details.

[pinkflip]

I don't think they call it casting when it's against your will. Most people just say "kidnapping."

[exclamationpoint]

It happens all the time where I'm from. [Sometimes his classmates get recast over the summer! Perfectly normal.] People get recast into other things all the time, it's not a big deal.

[pinkflip]

Oookay, that sounds like a mega problem. Kidnapping is the definition of a big deal.

projection room

[grimgrinningghosts]

[Huh. Looks like one of the film reels fell off one of the larger labeled shelves.]

[pinkflip]

[...Oh. Oh, it was just that, that's all. Kim remains suspicious but shifts from a fighting position to an investigating one. ...She's also just going to-]

Hello?

[grimgrinningghosts]

[There doesn't seem to be a response to that.]

[pinkflip]

...Talkin' to yourself, Kimberly. Awesome.

[Her hands fiddle and fidget in front of her stomach, and she walks over to the film reel. Is it labeled?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

['The Little Mermaid'.]

[pinkflip]

[...Avoiding fourthwalling here she doesn't recognize it a bit but

instead of putting it back like a good girl, Kimberly's going to set it up in the projector. Might take her a good minute to figure out just how to do that, since she's never worked one before, but it can't be too difficult. What is on this oh-so-mysterious reel?]

[grimgrinningghosts]

[ ...Whatever the hell this is.]

[pinkflip]

[They've got only so much time before whatever's supposed to happen at 12, so Kim's not going to watch the whole thing, especially since she has no idea how long it is.

But she's a little disappointed, she kind of hoped there'd be something more telling. A villain's secret plans! Something like that. A fairy tale's alright, though. She does like fairy tales.]

[kindaruledatit]

Whoa, whoa, whoa! [Flinching back, hands up.]

Geeze, chill out, okay? I'm just trying to look around.

[pinkflip]

[She gasps and, just like that, goes soft. The battle pose, the glare, it all melts away and she walks over, her own hands up to show she means no harm.]

Oh gosh, I'm sorry! I was just- a little startled, I was afraid you were something creepy!

[kindaruledatit]

Nah, if I was creepy, I'd probably have way more limbs and eyes and junk. [She watches too many old movies.]

I'm Wendy, and do you have some crazy kung-fu moves or what?

1/2

[pinkflip]

If you did I'd'a kicked you right in the face. [...Little smirk. She can't help it, it reminds her of Eye Guy and Robogoat and all those weirdo monsters.]

2/2

[pinkflip]

[She extends her hand for a shake.] Kimberly. I'm actually a gymnast, but a bunch of my friends practice martial arts, so I picked up a bit, here and there.

[kindaruledatit]

Dude. [She chuckles and takes Kimberly's hand for a shake. Congrats, you got what Troy didn't.] I'm Wendy. I'm, uh... I do lumberjack stuff sometimes, plus I work at a souvenir shack.

So that's pretty cool.

[pinkflip]

[Dude? Reminds her of Alpha trying to speak teenager. Kimberly can't help but smile.] Long as you enjoy what you do and you do what you love!

[But her smile fades, since...] Though I don't know how much it'll help if we can't find the freaks to fight.

[kindaruledatit]

[Wendy's a Cool Kid, so does that make Alpha actually cool? Important questions.]

Well, it's fun I guess. [But thank you for the PSA Kim, Wendy smiles back.]

What do you mean? Freaks like just normal people, or freaks like...?