[Tuesday, October 28th. 3 PM] [It's been a good couple of days for the team, at least in terms of press coverage. The papers and TV news were filled with video and images of the group struggling to save the residents of the Sherwood after the damage cause by La Gigante. There isn't even any uproar about her injuries; to the contrary, even the head of the NYACLU was quoted as saying "Whatever, screw that giant crazy lady in the bathing suit."] [Several images have particularly dominated in the press... Abby tending to the wounded; Redcoat swinging out of the building, holding the three injured girls; a picture of Jacky, silohetted by the bright light of her machine as it switches on...] [Horus, filmed from a neighboring rooftop, straining to keep the building upright; Christian, being nuzzled by the two bear cubs; and the Eternal Warrior, standing in the midst of the fallen building, looking mildly confused due to not being buried under said building.] [Wild Bill and Ugg's press conference had broken up when Ugg was called away to stop an attack by Axe Effect goons and Disco Ninjas nearby, but if that was intended to buy some good press, it's been swept away by what the team accomplished.] [The effect has even been felt in the polls, as Wild Bill, who had been surging into the lead in the three-way race, has dropped back into a virtual dead heat with the other candidates in the latest poll, and has been forced to tone down his rhetoric slamming our heroes.] [No rest for the weary, though, as our heroes meet up atop a large rock on the outskirts of Central Park, waiting to meet up with another hero. It's cold, it's rainy, it's pretty damn miserable in fact, but there's work to be done.] [Session Start] * TheRedcoat hates being on a rock. She hates being in the rain. She's ambivalent about being in Central Park. On a rock. In the rain. It keeps trying to put out her damn cigarette. And stupiding her lighter. * TheRedcoat , perforce, is there. And smoking. Angrily. * Christian is pacing as much as possible up here, arms folded. He's not trying to smoke because that'd just be stupid in the rain. But he doesn't look too pleased with all the waiting. * Abby is floating just off the ground, looking slightly up off into the distance. She doesn't seem to be paying much attention to anything, and hasn't been pretty much from the start. * Jacqueline is pretty well protected from the rain by the slender, chrome mechanical robot man holding an umbrella over her. Also it will probably end up offering to share this protection with The Redcoat by dint of moving close to her at some point; it's a big enough umbrella. * Horus is there and glowing a soft gold. She's wet but not cold, as she's radiating heat - the rain keeps turning into steam when it gets too close to her. But she doesn't seem to mind horribly. Maybe this sauna treatment is how she maintains her figure. [The reason you're here is to meet up with the Grifter, a street-level hero who has a pretty low public profile but has been around for nearly two decades, most notably working amongst the city's homeless population. Sister Admin explained that he was one of Scales of Justice's most reliable sources of on-the-ground intel, and that he's called in "with something we needed to see."] * TheRedcoat blinks at Jackie's offer, then grins a decent-sized grin and gladly accepts the protection, not neglecting to thank her benefactor. Now she's only somewhat cross and not angry and hateful! Yet. * Horus glances at Christian. "You're gonna wear a hole into the rock." If I wanted to wear a hole in it, it'd be a lot easier than just walkin' across it. Didn't say ya *wanted* to. * Christian hmmphs and plunks down. "God this is lame. Ain't there better places ta meet up?" * Horus shrugs helplessly as Christian gets water all over his pants. * Christian can spin dry them later! [And speak of the devil, there he is. He's dressed vaguely like an old-school noir detective, with a trenchcoat, three-piece suit, and fedora, albeit with a bandanna covering most of his face. He looks... off, though. His clothes aren't dirty, but they're worn as hell, with what look like years worth of rips and tears and stains. He himself moves with purpose, but stiffly and with a bit of a limp.] * TheRedcoat raises an eyebrow on her mostly cloth-masked face under her fedora above her trenchcoat as she spots this... character. [He waves for you to follow him into the woods. "This way. Should see this. Definitely need to see."] [His voice is somewhat gravely and strained, with a bit of a croak, like it doesn't get used much.] * Christian shrugs and hops off the rock, squeezing a bit of the water out of his soggy clothes. * Abby finally moves noticably, swivels her head to look towards the man a moment, then exhales upwards and murmurs, "Ain't I gotten enough of the mystery solving set?" as she floats in that direction. Nah, we gotta collect all 10. Then we can turn 'em in for the fuckin' super prize. * Horus makes a vague "huh" sound, but she jumps off the rock; her wings fade into existence very briefly as she floats to the ground, then wink quietly away. * Jacqueline and her robot follow along as she cheerfully says, "Now, now, we're /only/ following a man with a broken psyche into the woods; cheer up." * TheRedcoat guesses this is the dude. She guesses. Whatever. She jumps down and trudges along with everyone else! * Abby looks over at Christian a moment, then shakes her head. "Wasn't referrin' to anyone you know." * Christian looks at Abby confused, then shrugs. [He slows to allow you all to catch up to him, glancing back at Jacky, then leads you through the woods deeper into the park, a couple of steps ahead of the group. "Work the homeless. Nobody notices them. But they see things. Know me, tell me things."] * Christian then ignores the bait from Jackie and listens to Grif. That's cool of 'em. Mn. ["Homeless are a barometer. A rough constant. Some come, some leave, business as usual. More gone that usual, something is going on." A pause. "Controller needs servants. Mage needs sacrifices. Science-type needs test subjects. Homeless go missing faster than usual, something's up."] * Horus frowns. Very much frowns. He's not /wrong/. But? * Christian turns to Jackie. Nm. [He glances back at Jacky. "Never stooped to that. So I hear."] But he's not wrong; the homeless are the Wal-Mart of the minion and experimentation world. I would never lower myself to Wal-Mart. Yeah, high class all the way. * Christian says that straight and continues following Grifter. [He doesn't wait for Jacky to acknowledge him before continuing. "Homeless disappearing lately. Faster than usual. Much. Trying to pin down. Thought this was clue... isn't. Something else."] Thought *what* was a clue? * Abby replies, lowly, "Give him time. He's workin' through it." * Horus nods. ["Just ahead. Homeless found. Found others like before, last few weeks, but after few days. Bodies in bad shape. Thought it was related to homeless disappearing. Isn't. These are fresh. Can see what happened. Very wrong."] Mm. [After walking through the trees for another minute or so, you come to the edge of a large drainage ditch. At the opening to the pipe about thirty yards away, you see two bodies.] * Christian quiets at that and just keeps his eyes peeled. [As you get closer, you see that one is on it's stomach. It doesn't look like it's been there long... the clothes are torn and bloody, but in decent shape, and what skin you can see hasn't gone grey. The other body...] [The other body has been mutilated beyond recognition. All the flesh is gone off the front of the body, and the torso is completely empty.] Nn. * Horus looks ill; she turns her attention away. * Abby 's eyes widen a touch, and then she shakes her head and grips her staff tightly as she floats nearer. "One and a half people per meal?" she says, incredibly dryly. [Grifter hangs back at the top of the ditch. "Very wrong."] * Jacqueline 's eyes turn between both corpses a few times before she utters a soft sound of distaste and murmurs, "Wasteful. Sad." * Christian stares at that for a moment and juts his hands into his pocket, looking away slightly. "Fuck. You weren't kiddin'." ... Yeah. * TheRedcoat just wrinkles her nose. Or what is probably her nose, under the cloth. * Horus steals another look. "That's... uh. They're wearin' pretty nice clothes. For homeless, I mean." It is like a werewolf surgeon who attacks banker's sons. * Abby says, from closer, "Odd way to put it, Red." * TheRedcoat taps her chin. "Well, surgeon or butcher. In my country, it is not always so different as here." [Grifter nods. "Sharp. First thing I noticed. Not homeless. Makes this something different. Makes the others something different too. If found five now, how many not found?"] * TheRedcoat tilts her head, then squats down, taking a closer examination. Her mask seems to be doing a good job of covering whatever smells, etc might be lurking. * Horus tears her attention away from the corpses and to Grifter. "Where've you been findin' them?" * TheRedcoat gets closer before she does that. Sacrifice to Mammon, perhaps. ...time of death, sometime around last night. ....huh. So they were found out here, right? Not moved? * TheRedcoat puts on a glove over one of her gloves, and pokes at the ripped corpse a little curiously, before freezing in place. ["Hiding places. Parks, river, the like." He nods. "No blood trail. Lots of blood. Killed here, left here. Off trail, should not have been found for days, if at all."] * TheRedcoat 's eyes widen, and she hisses in a sharp breath. "...not surgeon. Not butcher. *Musician.*" * TheRedcoat straightens up sharply, frowning. "The Organist." * Abby looks down at the bodies for a few moments, then says, "I don't... think this is as simple as that, Red." Who you talkin' about? True. He doesn't eat his materials. [Actually, both bodies are gutted. The other one just wasn't visible from far away.] * Abby closes her eyes. "The chewing, it's... the Cannibal Composer, I guess, is his most well known name. Anterior Devourak." It's... consistent with the old stories. Two-hundred years of stories. Been around that long, eh? * Abby nods slowly. "Yeah." * Christian sighs. "Please just tell me that that's just because this guy's been around for that long and not that this mantle gets passed down from generation to fuckin' generation. One psycho's enough. A psycho family tree is a whole other picture." * Abby keeps her eyes closed, murmuring, "Just one dead man two hundred years your senior," before she shifts her staff's position and arcs it around her in a circle slowly. /We/ have /our/ legacies; it only stands to reason... * Christian rubs his head. "So he's a *de*composer. Lovely." * TheRedcoat fails to suppress a snerk. "Good one, there." * Abby finishes her arc, hand gripping tightly on the staff as she reopens her eyes. "And a third person... watching." * Horus sighs and rubs at the back of her neck. "Who? Our luck, it'd be fuckin' Head Master. Throwin' a fuckin' party." It's been a great week. Why the hell not? Without taking the heads? [Grifter looks over at Redcoat. "Cannibal I understand. What does Organist want?"] Organs. To build a perfect organ. [Grifter pauses, then mimes playing a piano. "Organ?"] Something about only human parts can create pitches that are perfect to human ear. * Abby floats up above the ditch, looking down a moment. Da. I stomped him, hmm, three years ago? It seems I did not stomp enough. [He shakes his head and mutters. "People say I'm crazy... will put word out. Hear anything, let you know."] Yeah. Sounds like... a plan. [He nods, then moves stiffly over to Jacky. "Lexy... give regards."] * TheRedcoat shrugs. The impression of nonchalantness...could be better. * Jacqueline briskly combs her fingers through her hair as she says, "Of course; perhaps you'll manage to find your way to a session, at some point, too." [He shakes his head. "No point. Talk doesn't help. Drugs mess with powers. Can't do job."] * Jacqueline shrugs a shoulder with all of the care that she can muster and replies, "Well; hopefully, the next time I see you, you'll not be proclaiming the end of the world in the middle of a street somewhere." [Grifter turns and wanders off deeper into the woods. "Advantage of being among homeless... nobody notices."] [You spend some more time examining the area, but don't find anything notable, and eventually call in the cops, who take over. Sister Admin contacts you all to meet back at base, and gives you all a chance to dry off before you find yourselves in the meeting room.] [Solaris is there as well; EW is out on patrols.] * Horus walks in, dry and wearing new clothes - same general style, though, as usual - and gold. Her hair's even mostly in order! She nods to Solaris before having a seat. [Sister Admin speaks up as you all find your seats. "We've got hot intel. Reliable source tells me that Master Magus has been in talks with a group of villains, trying to bring them into the fold. Negotiations are all but done, but the group is waiting to pull off one last job before they officially join. Which gives us a chance to interdict, hopefully before they get their teleport-my-ass-outta-custody spells."] * Abby has just been floating at the table the entire time, letting her hair hang down behind her. She's got her legs crossed, staff laying on them, and her eyes are closed. * TheRedcoat doesn't look like a wet cat. [Solaris speaks up. "Group is alternately known as the Defenders of the Great White Way and Final Curtain. Loose organization of theater-buff villains who've taken it upon themselves to defend Broadway from lousy shows by shutting them down on their opening nights."] * Christian looks notably dryer as he props his legs up at the table. He raises an eyebrow at Solaris's statement. "Oh you've *got* to be kidding me..." * Abby 's face twitches. And they are...racists, too? ["Two ringleaders, five or six others who come and go as they're available. Usually operate in groups of four or five." Solaris shugs. "It gets worse, trust me. But they've got a real hard-on for this, and it makes them predictable."] * Horus rolls her eyes. [Sister Admin snickers. "Yeah, they don't use that first name much anymore. People misinterpreted, and several of the city's black heroes kicked the crap outta them."] No, the question is why is *Magus* wasting his time with these asshats? Other than his acting is probably just as fuckin' bad?" No fuckin' shit, Sister Admin. Oh. What do they do, to count as villains and not just vandals? [Solaris shakes her head. "They're... off. But a few of them are fairly powerful, and have been around for a while. They'd be useful assets to Master Magus." She turns to Redcoat. "They do the usual villain things. This is just something they do for fun."] * TheRedcoat blinks. And blinks again. Then she blinks. Got any info on individual members? Powers, weaknesses, whatever. [SA starts typing away. "Was about to get to that. Peripheral members come and go, so it's hard to say, but the two ringleaders are constants."] [A picture comes up on screen of a blue woman with gills and webbed hands/feet, wearing a red sequined dress and holding a trident in one hand and a microphone in the other. "Formerly Atlantis' greatest singer, was exiled after an attempted coup. Has sonic powers via her voice, trident shoots electricity." The name on screen reads 'Ethel Merman'.] ["The nominal leader, bankroll and brains of the outfit. Has shown a weakness to heat in the past, like most Atlanteans, but recent reports have her more resistant than usual to it. Proceed with caution."] [Another picture comes up on screen. This one is of a huge polar bear, standing up on its hind legs. It's wearing tight leather pants and suspenders, a bowler hat, and dark eyeshadow, and holding it's paws out in front of it, digits extended. "Fosse Bear. Strong, tough, a fucking polar bear. Smart, though."] * Christian sighs. "What the fuck *is* it with the bears? Jesus Christ." * Jacqueline pinches the bridge of her nose after looking at Fosse Bear and mutters, "If /only/ global warming could do something /helpful/ for us." * Horus puts her chin on her hand as she looks from one picture to the other. * Abby 's eyes snap open and her teeth clench a moment, then the eyes refix on the screen. She then sighs and lowers her feet to the ground. "When and where are we going?" * TheRedcoat siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighs, propping her cheek up with her hand. [Solaris speaks up. "Those are the only two we can guarantee will be there. Show opens on Thursday, so we want you to go there, check it out, set up what you need to set up."] What's the show? [Sister Admin looks back at Horus. "... I'm really sorry." A poster comes on screen with a handsome, pale, shirtless man with fangs leaning over a dark haired girl. The poster reads "TWILIGHT: THE MUSICAL! A Sexy, Sparkly Romp Through The Pacific Northwest!"] * TheRedcoat straightens up, frowning. "Wait. We are *all* doing this?" * Horus sighs. Heavily. "What in the fuck." Pause. "On that whole 'racist' thing, why ain't there more black vampires? Seriously." I do understand we don't want him to have more allies. But we try to save Broadway show while people are being eaten and gutted in the woods? *Really*? How "heroic." [Solaris looks over at Redcoat. "We don't have any leads on that. This is something we can do right now to keep Master Magus from getting stronger than he already is."] Of course we have no leads, we aren't looking, so how can there be leads? /Vampires/ are already a stand-in for minorities and outsiders of all stripes; they are plenty 'black' in and of themselves. * Jacqueline glances sidelong at Horus. "Besides; have we forgotten Blackula?" ... Yeah, more or less on purpose too. Thanks. * Abby glances to Horus and has a faint smile a moment, but then it slips away and she says, "I'll be looking." Guess I'll have to fly a little lower from now on. ["Grifter is on it. Several other heroes are too. So are the cops. They can do that, but they can't do this."] ["Our resources are limited, and right now, you all are best used stopping these people before they can join up with Master Magus."] * TheRedcoat snorts a little at Solaris, but looks less discomfited as Abby speaks up. "Oh. Well. Fine, then." Yeah, that's also kinda what he wants, isn't it? For some unknown fuckin' reason, he wants us in the limelight. Look, it ain't like we can't spend time lookin' for stuff on our own time anyway, right? * Christian sighs. "Guess we're doin' Broadway then." * Abby lets out a quiet sigh. "We gonna be outfitted with holography again?" [Solaris shrugs. "We don't know what his ultimate plan is, but right now, we have a chance to keep the odds against us from getting worse." Solaris nods at Abby. "Definitely. Low profile. Lt. Stone has been in contact with the director, and as far as he knows you're undercover setting up a sting for these people."] * Horus shakes her head ["Figure out what you want your disguises to look like and head over."] [So!] [You guys use the holothingees to disguise yourselves as !superheroes, and head over to the theater. Yup, that sure is a marquee on Broadway for TWILIGHT: THE MUSICAL. God help us all.] [You drop Lt. Stone's name as you get to the theater, and you're ushered into the main auditorium to meet with the director. On stage, actors mill about as the tech crew makes last-minute adjustments to the lights, sound system and set.] [The director is informed that you're here, and rushes back to you, a haggard looking man trailing behind him. The director is tall, thin and bald, in his mid-40s with a soul patch. "Thank goodness you're here. This is a disaster! Those hooligans are trying to ruin my masterpiece!"] * Abby has disguised herself as a taller blonde woman with brown eyes and a narrow face, and who is wearing grey slacks and a white blouse. She smiles slightly at him and says, "That's why we're here." She sounds genuine! Good job her. * Christian disguised himself as...well he probably deferred to someone else that distinctly wasn't Jackie in order to give him a disguise since he's not creative with this kind of stuff and doesn't really want to be a cop in the first place. He agrees with the second sentence, but the third has unfortunate misinformation tied to it such as "ruin" and "masterpiece". * TheRedcoat isn't with these fancy !cop guys. * Jacqueline has disguised herself as a moderately tall, icily beautiful black-haired man. Between about five pounds of holographic body glitter and a slight modulation of the device to create a very subtle glow, she should hopefully fit in about as well as /anyone/ who would go to a musical in costume. ["They've been saying terrible things about my show... 'an abomination'... 'a disgrace'... 'what Bush did to America, he's doing to Broadway'... they don't understand! Twilight's a nice little book, but it'd never work on stage as it. All those soulful looks and steamy looks and longing looks... too small! You gotta play BIG on Broadway! Play to the back of the balcony!"] * TheRedcoat is standing off to the side and disguised as a gangly, awkward kid in his late teens, with a shock of anemic blond hair, protuberant brown eyes complete with vacant stare, and a mouth that isn't fully closed. He's dressed in stagehand black and is standing off to the side. * Abby nods slightly and replies to him with, "Well... obviously, yes. There is a place for subtlty, though..." ["So I've sexed it up. Made it spicy. Saucy, even! It'll be a blast. It's gonna knock the socks off all those little tween girls and their soccer moms!" He pauses. "But they're threatening to kill me and my leads and destroy my sets... you have to stop them!"] * Horus is a plain, somewhat bookish caucasian woman: average height, with dark braided hair and glasses. And she knows enough about supervillains to know that this guy rants just like one, so she says the appropriate leading statement: "We're here to stop them, yeah." * Abby adds, after Horus, "Is that all the specifics they've given?" * TheRedcoat wanders off to do something, uhh...vaguely stagehandy. * TheRedcoat tries to listen in on other stagehandy types first to get the lay of the land before making herself obvious. * Christian folds his arms, looking more like a bouncer than a cop. He's got a bald head, and an earring and looks pretty well muscled in an uncomfortable looking suit. He just stands there, looking bruiserish. * TheRedcoat starts by circling around behind the group, so as not to look so awkward/obvious. ["Just that they're going to hit us on opening night. Our insurance doesn't cover supervillain attacks! I'll be ruined!"] * Abby nods slightly. "Are you sure they didn't say anything... 'as the curtain goes up' or... anything that would help?" How shameful, running /anything/ in this city without insurance. ["Just 'before the final curtain drops.'" He looks at the lot of you. "... okay, I'm not an idiot. I can tell you're skeptical about my show. Well sit your tuchas' down for a minute, 'cause I'm gonna show you that this show's worth saving." He rushes off. "Scene 22, people! Chop chop! Full sets, full runthrough!"] * Abby starts to say, "That ain't necess..." and then she trails off and shakes her head, with a rueful smile. "Directors." [The haggard looking man looks up at the lot of you. "... I'm so sorry."] * TheRedcoat goes off to help with stagehanding things for scene 22! * Horus shrugs helplessly and... er, has a seat. [The man, who introduces himself as an assistant director, explains that you're going to be seeing a scene from late in the first act, as Bella confides in her saucy gay friend, Pete, about her doubts about dating a vampire.] * Christian hmmphs and unfolds his arms, ignoring the play and inspecting around the set. [There's a scramble of actors and stagehands on stage, and as the lights dim you see the actress playing Bella (in t-shirt and jeans) pacing back and forth in what must be her living room, her saucy gay friend Pete (wearing a vest, tie and fedora over a button-down shirt and jeans) sitting on the couch.] * Abby also has a seat next to Horus. Seats are good. She does smile weakly and say quietly, "I'm not so sure about this. Sexing up a... teenage romance novel..." [There's bit of dialogue as Bella moans about how dreamy Edward is, but that she's not sure she should push things further because he's actually a vampire. Pete initially doesn't believe her, but is quickly convinced, and starts to give Bella some advice...] Personally, I'm all for it; it's rather a satire on the unnatural strangeness of the source material. [Pete moves behind the couch as strings and woodwinds begin playing a light tune, leaning over and pulling Bella to sit down. o/~ Attraction to a vampire is likely to confuse / Forget lectures and sermons, you need advice that you can use! / So sit down, my dear Bella, and I'll tell you what to do / If you find yourself enamoured... with Nosferatuuuuuuuu! o/~] [ o/~ It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / It's not necrophilia if he's up and about! It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / And if he's not quite dead, he can still make you shout... o/~] [Pete hops up on the back of the couch, sitting with his feet dangling next to Bella. o/~ It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / It's not necrophilia if he shakes that behind! / It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / And if he's not quite dead he can still bump'n grind... o/~] [Springing up with a flourish, Pete clears the couch and lands in front of Bella, urging her to get up. o/~ You can tell when they're dead by the warmth that they lack / But I'll bet that that boy is still hot in the sack! / He's not quite alive but he's not in the ground! / Go in for a penny, he'll come in for a pound! o/~] [Bella, starting to get into it, is dragged to her feet, as Pete puts an arms around her shoulder and grins wickedly. o/~ It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / It's not necrophilia if his life doesn't cease / It's not necrophilia if he's not quite dead / And if he's not quite dead, why let him rest in peace... o/~] [Suddenly, the orchestra strikes up a brassy, burlesque tune, and Pete tosses away his hat and starts high-kicking to the beat. o/~ 'Cause... if... it's... not necrophelia than there's no need to hurl! / And if it's not necrophilia why not give 'em a whirl! If it's not necrophilia you should go for it... GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL! o/~] [The music cuts out, and Pete pantomimes whispering to Bella. o/~ 'cause if he's not quite dead he can make your toes curl. Shaaaaaaaaa... o/~] Session Time: Wed Feb 10 00:00:00 2010 [The lights come back on, and the director claps wildly. "Bravo! Bravo!" He waves for the assistant director to attend to you folks, then rushes backstage.] * Christian waits till he goes backstage. Then waits a few moments more. "So. Yeah. Why are we doing this again?" [The assistant director shakes his head. "I'm never going to work again..."] * Abby looks on in actual growing horror as the song goes, and whispers to Horus, "This is... very wrong." * Horus whispers back, "More or less wrong than earlier today?" [The haggard man shakes his head, and turns to the four of you in the seats. "Moriarrty is too busy with his... masterpiece to help you out, so I'll be your point of contact. Anything you need, let me know." He pauses. "There is something he didn't mention."] * Christian waits for the exposition fairy to finish, because interrupting him would be impolite. * Abby 's face tightens and she replies, "Less." A moment, then, "But, ah, still bad." * Horus looks to the man, eager to ignore whatever's going onstage. "What's that?" ["Our stars..." He pffts. "... and I use that term loosely. We've got a girl from American Idol and some guy from that Disney musical series... anyway, we've been keeping this quiet, but when the threats started, they ran for the hills. Those were our understudies, but they told me this morning that they're dropping out too. They don't want to die for this piece of crap."] ["No leads, no show, no sting. Which means..." He looks the four of you over. "... that cop said you had some sort of special disguises that could make you look like anyone?"] * Christian looks him over. Then over. "Oh no. Fuck no." ["Can any of you sing, by any chance?"] * Abby 's eyes grow wider and wider. {"Or dance? Or act, maybe? Acting would be nice."] * Abby manages to say, weakly, "If... if you don't have the people, they won't show up to stop it." * TheRedcoat 's eyes widen as she catches the bit where Stone decided to skip around tossing bouquets of secret information out to everyone and his assistant director, but luckily it fits with her slack-jawed behavior so no one probably notices. * Horus looks at him blankly, then says flatly, "No. I'm bad at anything like that." It... wouldn't be... recorded, would it? [He nods at 'Abby'. "Exactly. And no, I don't think we want a supervillain attack in the middle of our official video."] Don't look at me. I'm not getting in this mess. 'Sides, I'm just the muscle. [The man shrugs. "We need someone. Two someones. We can fake the singing, simplify the dancing a bit... nobody's expecting those two twits to be able to act worth a damn... if you can memorize lines and hold down your lunch, you can do it."] * Abby nods slowly. Then she stands up and says, nervously, "I, ah, can't sing like a man, but--" she cuts herself off, then says brusquely, "I can handle it." [The man nods. "Okay, so we've got a Bella. We still need a male lead."] * Horus glances at Abby, vaguely worried, then turns to Christian. "Hey, didn't you know a girl who wanted in on Broadway or something?" * Christian looks at Horus for a moment. "I... oh fuck, you can't mean..." * Horus raises an eyebrow. "These are desperate times." She's plenty desperate alright. Yup. * Christian sighs. "What. I don't wanna talk to her." He looks over at the assistant director. "Hey. Got someone you might be able to text. Just say you heard they wanted to be on Broadway from an anonymous source." Ain't gonna be your 'guy' but we can improvise. [The man blinks, then looks over at 'Abby'. "So you're our Edward, then?"] * Abby looks back at him, groans quietly, then says, "That would... almost be better, in ways." ["Okay." He pauses. "I should've stayed in the Marines."] * Abby mutters, "Yeah. You die quicker." * Horus gives Abby a slight nod, because it's so, so true. ["Okay, gimme the girl's number. Can she learn lines?" He turns back to 'Abby'. "Can you learn lines?"] * Abby smirks and says, "Hell yes I can learn lines." * Christian shrugs. "She said she wanted to be in Broadway." This is a start, ain't it? ["Of sorts."] * Christian writes down Hose Bitch's phone number and hands it to the assistant director. He does use her actual name, fortunately. [He takes the number. "We'll get her over here ASAP." He hands Abby a script. "You've got two days. I'll introduce you to the understudy so you know what he looks like, if you want to look like him."] * Abby looks over at Horus, and then looks down at the script, and then at her again, making a small motion with her hand. * Christian walks over to Horus and whispers out of the corner of his mouth. "Man, you're *evil* when you want to be." He pauses for a moment. "I like it." * Horus smirks at Christian, briefly, before glancing at Abby. She reaches over and takes the script. "Lemme get that for you." I, uh, could-- * Abby smiles weakly and nods, before looking at the guy. "Don't worry... I'll be fine." * TheRedcoat , during all of this, is doing what the other stagehands are doing, though lagging back a little as s/he does to foster the "slow" impression. It also helps her to get a better look at the theater's layout, set construction, and equipment setup. ["We'll do all-day rehearsals tomorrow, get you as ready as we can. Can you dance?"] * Abby lets out a little sigh. "All-day?" * Abby then shakes her head. "Yeah, I can dance enough." [He stands up. "Take the night to look over the script. I recommend scotch while you do, but anything similarly strong will suffice. Be here 6 AM tomorrow and we'll start runthroughs."] [He grins slightly. "And welcome to Broadway."] [Session End]