the theatre

[productions]

the theatre



You awaken in a darkened theatre.

In front of you is an enormous cinema screen. On it plays everything that's currently happening in the mansion, accompanied by appropriate sound effects and background instrumentals when fitting. The seat you're sitting on is large and plush, and while there's many of them, there's enough room in the theatre for you to fully recline the seat into a comfortable bed if you wish. Under each seat is a sleeping mask and noise-cancelling headphones, in case you'd like to take a break from watching the show.

Follow the stairs up and you'll reach what should be the projection room. There are no projectors in here, however; it is simply a large and well-lit room above the main seating area, and a good place to hang out with your fellow eliminated contestants if shouting at each other across the aisles proves too much to handle.

If you leave the theatre through the door in the back, you'll find yourself in a hall. On one end is a concession stand. It's stocked with standard movie snacks - popcorn, candy and the like - but if you're feeling the urge for something else, you'll be able to find it stocked somewhere in the back. On the other end is a table with thirty wrapped bags and a placard reading 'A star for our stars! Please accept these lovely giftbags as a token of appreciation for your hard work, sponsored by [illegible smudge]'. Each bag has a tag bearing the name of someone in the mansion; you will only be able to open the bag with your name on it. As soon as you open it, any memories that have been taken from you, including those of the other people in the mansion that you may have forgotten, will be returned in their entirety. Within the bag are also objects from your home that you may want for your stay here, though you will find no weapons.

There are no other doors in the hall save for the one leading back into the theatre room. There are also no windows; it is impossible to tell where you are and what is going on in the outside world. Any attempts to break out will fail. So in the meantime, why not sit back and enjoy the show?

Oh, and one more thing. At midnight following each execution, once all those who've died that week have woken up, a video will begin to play on screen.

Comments

[balzams]

[Latvia had been a lot more restless than usual today, pacing up and down the aisles, occasionally knocking or kicking at the walls as if he expected them to be hollow and muttering odd sentences to himself in his native tongue. Thankfully for anyone irritated by his behavior, he settles down somewhat in the afternoon.

After all that fuss Latvia can be found holed away in the projector room with several single-serving tubs of ice-cream and a bottle of Riga Black Balsam. He wasn't happy, having to spend his birthday so far away from home but there's nothing he can really do about it. It didn't help his loneliness, or the tension he felt watching everyone else still in the game. Never the less he does his best to ignore the showing today. If anyone has a few moments to spare, he wouldn't mind the company. There's enough ice-cream and balsams to share]

[motheringnation]

[Ukraine will sit down next to him. ]

We'll have a better celebration for you and Poland when we get back.

[Birthday's here are pretty bad.]

[balzams]

[As nice of a gesture as it is, it doesn't make him feel that much better]

It's not even the celebration... It just feels weird to spend it by myself. People are probably wondering where I am.

[Still, he hands her a tub of ice-cream]

Do you want balsam on that?

[motheringnation]

I'm sure they're all worried.

[She's...really hoping...somehow brother hasn't noticed they're gone yet because um....that might make things awkward for some people.]

I'd love some.

[balzams]

[He pours some over the top for her before adding a dash more to his own cup. By the looks of things it's starting to become more balsam than ice-cream]

Mm... I haven't missed them this much for a long time now.

[souredsweet]

[even though Kaoru is usually relatively content to stay in one area, Latvia's absence is enough to draw him up to the projector room, curious and somewhat bored.]

—Celebrating a little early?

[balzams]

If anything I'm celebrating late! I should have been home yesterday so I could spend today with everyone...

...Do you want any ice-cream?

[souredsweet]

Ah, I thought you might have been celebrating the fast-approaching end to this game. [what with the incentives this week and all... BUT HEY more food sure, why not. it's not like they have anything better to do here than eat.]

I would not mind trying some. What are you celebrating, then?

[balzams]

Today is my independence day, when I was first officially recognised as Latvia. So in a way it's also my birthday, even though I was around before then.

Do you want balsam on that or not? It goes surprisingly well.

[souredsweet]

You and Sonia both, hm? We have been here a while... [like two months GOD IT FEELS LIKE FOREVER. his expression sours briefly, but then he's distracted by the bottle of balsam.]

...If you suggest it, all right.

[balzams]

[He pours a little into the cup and hands it over. Like the name suggests the liquid is completely black, a little bitter but not unpleasant]

Miss Nevermind as well? Do you mean her birthday or the independence day for her country?

[souredsweet]

[he looks at it suspiciously... but he will definitely try a bite, and winds up pleasantly surprised with the contrast.]

It is not a bad flavor... [and then:] Ah, her birthday, I believe. She said something about the calendars being wrong here but celebrated it anyway.

[balzams]

Really? The calendars seemed fine to me.

[Maybe the months were different in her world? That was the only conclusion he could come to. The nation of Novoselic did not exist where he came from and if she truly was a princess and not just pretending it was the only conclusion he could come to]

Seems like a number of people have had their birthdays here. It's kind of a difficult environment to celebrate in though.

[souredsweet]

They were unfamiliar to me as well, but... [1860s in japan!!]

Still, the celebrations haven't stopped even with things as they are. It is almost commendable in a way. A little pointless, but commendable.

[balzams]

I suppose people cling onto whatever bit of happiness they can find.

[It's kind of depressing but Latvia knows first hand how difficult it is to deal in a seemingly hopeless situation. It really is essential]

Well, it's not like anyone was pregnant so they have to have some kind of death birth juxtaposition. It's such a common theme after all...

[notyetlost]

[Poland was going to claim the projection room as his own personal space, but as long as Latvia's brought ice cream he supposes he doesn't have to kick him out.]

You look bummed.

[Then again Latvia always looks moderately bummed, but.]

[balzams]

[Latvia doesn't even ask, he just gives him a cup of ice-cream and balsam]

You would be too stuck in a place like this on your birthday.

But I guess you know that feeling, huh...

[notyetlost]

[Poland takes it, sucking on the spoon. Being away from his people on his independence day really did suck.]

At least you get like, the benefit of keeping food down.

[balzams]

Hardly seems like a benefit...

And Lithuania baked a cake for you! That's better than mass produced ice-cream.

But yeah, sorry you had to spend your independence day like that. It didn't look like you enjoyed it at all.

[notyetlost]

Yeah, I like really enjoyed that whole one bite I managed to eat. [At that, Poland shoves an almost comedically large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth.]

I think it's like moderately better on this side. I mean you wouldn't have even remembered getting independent if you'd stayed in the house.

[balzams]

I guess that's true...

On the other hand I wouldn't have a birthday to celebrate so I wouldn't have felt like I missed anything.

[He absentmindedly scrapes the ice-cream from the side of the tub, but he doesn't make any effort to eat it]

But knowing my luck I probably would have been murdered a few days lat-

[Oh... Yeah let's not go down that road]

Either way it sucks...

[notyetlost]

You'd of just been upset later on for missing it all together then. [Or at least that's how Poland would have felt.]

I dunno you lasted longer than I figured you would what with you drinking out of random bottles and offering to be a 'human' poison detector.

[balzams]

...

[Latvia just lowers his head, scraping at the bottom of the carton with a plastic spatula. He'd lasted longer than he though he would too, completely convinced that he'd be murdered within the first few weeks but...]

You know, for a while there I really did want to die. I felt so useless, and the way I acted was such an embarrassment to my people. I was created by them, right? So I though that if I was gone they'd create someone more suitable, someone they could actually be proud of. But then when it finally happened... I was so scared, I wanted to be a better person, I wanted to help but in the end it didn't mean a thing. I just felt betrayed by everyone who had managed to become stronger from the hard times they'd gone through while I just cried and cried...

Heh, but I guess it doesn't matter now anyway. I just hope no one from home was watching. I still want to be better for them but it's only now I realise how much they twisted my sense of self. Honestly, out of all the memories they could have taken...

[notyetlost]

[Latvia.]

You're not... a total embarrassment, chill out.

Besides you're not the only one that got all mentally warped thanks to the memory loss. So. Don't worry about it.

[balzams]

...Thanks.

[From Poland that actually means a lot]

Still, I mean it was on TV... I wish I could have done something cool.

It's strange, I know we're not human but sometimes I forget how human we actually are.