oo7 » baby you can leave your hat on [ location ::: the palais garnier ]

[behindfirelight]

Today on this the glorious fifteenth of April, Taxon has been in business for a full year- and so a celebration is in order, or so apparently think the hamster overlords in charge of tweaking their citizens.

The Palais Garnier is a beautiful place thus far mostly neglected by everyone who isn't its very lovely current owner, and that is a

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[ OPENING ACT! ]

[justaddmarbles]

The drum roll begins quietly, but soon builds to a crescendo. In its wake a bouncy, lilting tune begins and a narrow spotlight beam stabs the darkness of the stage. A hand appears in the beam, pale and elegant, forefinger beckoning as if to entice the audience closer. Gradually the spotlight widens to reveal a figure dressed in combat boots and a long black raincoat, lips stained brilliant red, eyelids smudged dark, hair styled in a multitude of perfect corkscrews. And bisecting his scalp is...a zipper.

Oh dear gods it's Glitch. And by the massive grin on his face he is thrilled to be there, so thrilled in fact that he may. Just. Start singing. Also dancing.

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!
Fremde, étranger, stranger.
Glüklich zu sehen, je suis enchanté,
Happy to see you! Bleibe, reste, stay.
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome
Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret!

Chorus completed, he took a commanding stance to address the audience. "Meine damen und herren, mesdames et messieurs, ladies..." He trailed off, leered, and arched an eyebrow before finishing "-and gentlemen! Guden abend, bon soir, good evening! Wie geht's? Comment ca va? Do you feel good? Ja, I bet you do! Ich bin euer confrécier; je suis votre compere... I am you host!"

He launched into the chorus' refrain again, gradually unbuttoning and then shrugging out of his coat as he did so. Beneath he wore a pair of rather tight knee-length trousers and what was sure to be the men's fashion highlight of the season: a harness made of suspenders which hugged in all the INCREDIBLY WRONG right places. At least there was a bow tie to keep it classy.

"Leave your troubles outside," he cajoled the crowd. "So, Taxon's disappointing, hmm? Forget it! We have no troubles here. Here, life is beautiful! The girls are beautiful! And, as you will soon have absolutely no doubt, the boys are beautiful!"

Glitch was joined in stage by a cadre of scantily clad Extras, both men and women, and then came...a dance number of highly questionable taste. This concluded with a rousing, triumphant rendition of the chorus, and the master of ceremonies held aloft by two of the backup dancers. He was still smiling that unnervingly wicked smile when the let him down to take his bows.

"Thank you! Meine damen und herren, mesdames et messieurs, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Palais Garnier! Now you must stay glued to your seats for the main performance. I promise you, you will be getting an eyeful!"

With a final wink, the stage lights went down.

[tothelightshown]

DG was going mad.

That was the only explanation for what was happening. She’d taken her imprisonment - not to mention the giant hamsters - in her stride, but this was a step too far.

She hadn’t intended to head to the theatre - she hadn’t intended to leave the Northern Island at all, actually - but she’d found herself crossing the city and taking her seat before she could protest. When the music began and Glitch stepped out on to the stage, she knew that world had been temporarily emptied of sense and reason.

For a moment, DG buried her face in her hands, torn between embarrassment, incredulity and amusement. It was impossible to look away for long. She watched the show unfold with a sort of horrified - how many people were in the theatre, anyway? - fascination, trying to guess what he was talking about and what would happen next.

[justaddmarbles]

[ooc: I am going to be trolling all over this post, I do not even care. Is threadjacking cool, Emma?]

And then, amazingly, things got worse. Not terribly long after the stage was cleared, a familiar form dropped into the conveniently vacant seat beside DG.

"Hallo, liebling," Glitch announced with a grin and draped an arm around her shoulders. Thankfully he'd retrieved the coat. "Enjoying the show?"

[tothelightshown]

DG gave Glitch a sharp look when he sat down beside her, somehow managing to convey dry amusement and understandable disbelief with one pointed glance. This was getting stranger by the moment. Soon, she’d wake up in the Northern Island and make an executive decision not to share whatever this dream was supposed to be with Glitch.

“I prefer shows I choose to go to,” she said, debating - and deciding against, for now - wriggling away from his arm. Then: “Liebling?”

OOC: Threadjacking is cool ^_^

[justaddmarbles]

"It means-" His expression fell, and he blinked. "Huh. Weird, I knew it a second ago." He shrugged, and the smile returned with a little hesitance. "I I don't know why I'm here either, just...wandered in."

Which meant that this event had all the hallmarks of alien interference. At least this one was kinda fun.

[tothelightshown]

The hesitant smile encouraged DG to smile properly. There was no mistaking it. Despite the make up and the outfit - the latter of which she was very carefully not thinking about - Glitch was Glitch again.

"You wandered on to the stage, to," she pointed out, "Do you remember what you did?"

[justaddmarbles]

He nodded, the ringlets of his hair bouncing, and regarded the stage with a bemused expression. "Yeah, b-but it was like one of those dreams, where you have to put on a show? Only better 'cuz I didn't forget any words or trip over my feet."

Yes, these are his priorities.

[tothelightshown]

"My dreams are usually about the O.Z or about turning up late for work," DG noted, reaching over to tug affectionately at one of his ringlets. "I'm still waiting to wake up from this one."

For the first time since he'd sat down, DG turned slightly in her seat in order to survey what she could currently see of Glitch's outfit.

"Did the hamsters pick the costume?"

Because DG has priorities as well.

[justaddmarbles]

Glitch grinned and ducked his head. "Well, we might be having the same dream then. I I'll let you know how it goes."

Or maybe the hamsters were giving them a break, an absurd icebreaker, to make up for the past week. If so then he'd appreciate it for what it was, no matter how ridiculous. Speaking of hamsters...

"Ah, probably," he confessed and shifted back a bit in his seat. The next chance he got he was ditching the suspenders and hatching a nice, normal black and red striped shirt. Meanwhile. "M-maybe it fits with their idea of pathos."

Or something.

[tothelightshown]

"Good," she said with a smile, then: "I'm still trying to guess what the main performance is going to be."

(The fact that Glitch had been able to wander into the audience suggested that he had already made his contribution to the evening's entertainment. Which was a relief. Depending on the nature of the dance routine, she might have had to pin him to his seat.)

'Absurd' was certainly the right word for it, and, even more strangely, it fitted in with what the hamsters had said on the tablet. They had attempted to explain that they were helping their prisoners, and this evening was, if nothing else, entertaining.

"Or their sense of humour?"

[justaddmarbles]

Glitch shook his head. "No idea. I sorta remember more costumes but they were more..." He glanced down and shook his head. "Conservative than this. Uniforms and hats." Otherside cop outfits were nothing like the tin men uniforms in Central, so it didn't quite translate properly for him. "We'll find out soon."

And how.

"Twisted sense of humor. Really, who wanted to see that?"

[tothelightshown]

"No suspenders?" she asked mischievously, partly because she was genuinely curious and partly because it was impossible to pass up the chance to tease him. Glitch didn't seem particularly traumatised - just understandably confused - by the ordeal. The word 'uniform' didn't do much to alleviate her curiosity.

"All the people who made their way into the theatre by themselves?" she pointed out.

[justaddmarbles]

"None that I remember," he remarked, and accepted the teasing with a grin. If you can't laugh at yourself and all that.

The latter remark made him look around the audience, where he spotted a few familiar faces among the Extras. "Huh. Not sure if I should take it as a compliment or not."

[tothelightshown]

"Take it as a compliment, Glitch." She was probably lucky he'd come to see her, instead of busying himself with his adoring public or remaining backstage with his dancers.

Speaking of which ...

"So who picked the dance routine?"

(There was a good chance that she would never, ever let him live this down.)

[justaddmarbles]

(Honestly he wouldn't expect anything less.)

"I dunno," he replied with a shrug. "I just sort of knew it. And the lyrics, so I guess that's the hamsters pulling strings again."

Which really, really ought to bother him more than it did, but even before the headcasing he'd valued his pride more than his dignity. So long as he could still hold his head high he'd be fine.

"I'd have put together something more tasteful. And acrobatic." With 100% less groping.

[tothelightshown]

"Acrobatic?" she repeated, giving him a quizzical look and wondering if the powers in Taxon would ever allow a tasteful dance routine on their stage. Probably not, since it would be considerably less entertaining. "In those boots?"