The Magic Box, Sunday, July 13

[not_every_mage]

It was Sunday evening. Maybe in other, better cities people were waking up from the naps they took to sleep off Grandma's pot roast dinner after church. Maybe they were riding bikes under streetlights or swinging on suburban porch swings, counting fireflies

Comments

Mingle

[not_every_mage]

Take a seat. Buy a drink. Have a conversation in the low lights. Watch for other interesting guys and dames strolling by.

Re: Mingle

[whateverknight]

Watch how you mingle, though, or you'll be asked to leave. Leon was big, he was mean, and he didn't ask twice.

Re: Mingle

[halfbad]

Staying in his room or the preserve probably would have been the smart thing to do but Nathan couldn't stop himself from being curious. After yesterday, he figured that anyone inside would have a ton of oil in their hair, have incredibly short dresses on, or would be threatening him.

He bypassed the drinks and took a seat, waiting to see what insanity this place produced tonight.

Re: Mingle

[willbethenight]

Wearing a tattered suit, fedora, a pair of dirty sunglasses, and duct tape at all his limbs, Matches Malone certainly looked like a zombie. And he definitely smelled like a zombie. But that thin mustache made it clear that he was all man, undead or not.

He walked up to the bar and ordered, "Brains. Ahem. Braaaaaains. No, BRRAAAAAAAINS," before getting the martini he really wanted.

And then Matches settled in to watch the show. Just another zombie jazz saxophone player and definitely not a local billionaire believed dead.

On the Stage

[not_every_mage]

The Magic Box has the best singers in town. Watch the soloists get up on stage and serenade you.

Singers, tag in here and give as much (or as little) detail as you'd like about songs chosen, performance, who if anyone you're watching for in the crowd.

Rita gets to go last: seniority has its privileges. She still calls herself the star, dammit.

Once singers have tagged, others can ping their threads for reactions.

Immediately Before the Show - Backstage

[angelo_wings]

Just before the curtain went up, Rita called the performers together.

It wasn't a great note to start the show on, but she couldn't bear to leave it until after, either. They deserved to hear.

"There's no way to sweeten this, so I'll make it short," Rita said. " Celia's dead. It's being handled. The back rooms are shut down, effective immediately, for the next week at least. No cops. No talking to cops, no nodding at cops, no giving cops the time of day. I'm gonna say it again: it's being handled. Nobody messes with us and gets away with it. You can't sing tonight, you don't have to. You need a few minutes before you can go on, go ahead and take 'em. We clear?"

(sneaking in some OCD for something that just came up in SP woo! Feel free to react / ask questions / what have you here.)

Re: Immediately Before the Show - Backstage

[iceolatedqueen]

Elsa, normally quiet and with a reputation for being something of an ice princess around here, had gone even more quiet with this news. She and Celia had never been super close. She and Karla were still fairly new around here and Elsa had a tendency to keep her head down and try not to draw attention to herself.

No, she and Celia hadn't exactly been the best of friends, but they'd been friendly enough. And with her being murdered the day of Elsa's sixteenth birthday, the whole thing left a sort of lurching feeling in Elsa's chest that made her feel very much as though she was about to be ill. She'd been afraid for much of her life, of one thing or another. This was one of the first times she was afraid and at the same time uncertain that her sister could get them through this unscathed.

Re: Immediately Before the Show - Backstage

[glacial_queen]

Karla walked up to her sister and took her hand with a gentle squeeze that asked if she'd be okay.

No words, of course. It was a hard lesson they'd learned together. Conceal. Don't feel. Don't let it show.

Otherwise, you gave too many people keys to what made you tick. Showed them all of your wekanesses.

Make one wrong move and everyone will know.

Watching the Show

[not_every_mage]

This thread is for general reactions that aren't specific to any one soloist.

Re: Watching the Show

[icecoldfrost]

For at least part of the show, there was a dame watching from a very nice seat. White suit, legs for miles, cascading white-blonde hair; only the bright red of her lips and the glow of her cigarette giving away her location if you were one of the girls blinded by the footlights.

Emma Frost was a dame to kill for, alright. But this dame had already heard things. Things about dead girls, and knowing things was her business. And lately, business was good.

She'd drink here for a bit before moving on, and see how Angelface was going to react and if he'd bother to close ranks. It was information, and not even the squirrels knew how to sell information like a Frost.

[SP as I go cover at the theater]

Re: Watching the Show

[never_dull]

Well, some legs were nice enough to get Hannibal to stray from his own corner. Even if his interest had less to do with the legs and more with the brain and ears.

Not like that.

"Miss Frost." Hannibal slid a drink her way and smiled. "How delightful to see you."

Re: Watching the Show

[icecoldfrost]

"Hello, Doctor," Emma practically purred as she accepted the drink. "Fancy meeting you here."

If it was a coincidence, she'd quit smoking. The good doctor heard almost as much as she did, and sometimes just as fast. "Is tonight business or pleasure?"

After the Show - On the Floor

[not_every_mage]

The club doesn't close after Rita gives her big finale number; there's still plenty of mingling to be had, and this time the singers are encouraged to wander out into the audience and meet their loyal fans. (Especially rich ones.)

Re: After the Show - On the Floor

[halfbad]

Despite not really knowing why this place was suddenly a club, Nathan had to say that he enjoyed the show. It wasn't something he'd ever seen before even if he didn't know some of the people he'd seen had it in them.

And while he wasn't rich, he did have money in his pockets and he was hanging out after the show since there wasn't much else to do.

Re: After the Show - On the Floor

[blondecanary]

Dinah was back; still looking for Boz (mostly to tell him to run for it), and one other loose end to tie up in a bow.

Re: After the Show - On the Floor

[glacial_queen]

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you," Karla said quietly. She was sitting at a table next to Dinah's, alone, not even facing the other woman. But close, yes, close enough to be heard. "There's a dead girl here. Related, you think?"

After the Show - Backstage

[not_every_mage]

If you're lucky enough to be invited back, or if you're a house employee who needs to put his or her feet up (or, say, take a well-paying customer back here, on orders from the Boss).

Re: After the Show - Backstage

[iceolatedqueen]

Elsa didn't have the heart to mingle with the crowd today. With the news of what had happened to Celia fresh in her mind, she found herself slipping into the dressing room even more swiftly than usual.

She couldn't go out there. She couldn't face the crowd, couldn't look into the faces of people who were simply eyeing her up as potential merchandise. Not tonight.

Re: After the Show - Backstage

[glacial_queen]

"Elsa!" Karla called quietly, following her sister backstage. "Elsa, come here, quickly! I need to talk to you!"

Re: After the Show - Backstage

[iceolatedqueen]

"Talk to me?" Elsa turned before she had a chance to sit, biting her lip, eyes wide. "What's so important, Karla?"

Besides all of the murder and such that seemed to be going on, here.