(no subject)
So last Thursday Lena talked Kyle and me into going to another Sleep No More. I was pretty over the whole thing, I'll admit, because the last show I did was the pre-Mayfair show, which was hella crowded and filled with the most obnoxious audience members, and I vowed I would never again do a show on a party night. And I held true to that for Inferno, this year's Halloween party, where we did not do the show beforehand. But then the dinner/party itself turned out to be super disappointing. Long story short, I was feeling a little cheated out of my hard-earned ducats and a lot disillusioned with the whole affair.
Maybe this was the right attitude for going in for a show, though. I had zero plan, nothing that I'd been craving doing. Kyle had never been. It seemed pretty blank slate. We had drinks (they had drinks) at the Heath first for happy hour, Mr. Lindsay's list, etc.
Okay. So I got off at three or four, can't remember which, and decided to head to the ballroom, which is always a safe bet, you can see who everyone is. Noooo one downstairs audience-wise, and that was when I made the executive decision to follow Danvers, whom I adore, and get the 1:1. I am not a 1:1 hunter like some other people are, I will not push people out of the way normally, I do not plot out where they are going to happen and show up at the right moment. I believe that it should happen naturally and that it should be a rewarded effort sometimes for following through a maybe-not-super-exciting cycle (see also: the Tailor). Etc. The majority of this particular show experience goes against that whole theory, but I'll get to that.
In any case, I followed Danvers and Lady Macduff out of the ballroom, then got to watch Danvers clean, and as I was the ONLY person there, she pulled me in for the 1:1. She turned off the lights, and we listened to the sounds of the sea, then she wrapped a veil around me and forced me to drink a glass of milk. Which I love, because she keeps trying to give, or not give, Lady Macduff poisoned milk, and it's like, what are you trying to say, Mrs. D? You want me to die?
After she kicked me out, my memories are a little vague, because the problem with a looping show is that sometimes I can't remember what happened when. It fits that this is the point where I went upstairs, grabbed some candy from Paisley Sweets (the set is all decorated for the holidays, so they had chocolate bells, which I took a bunch, put them in my pocket, then fucking forgot about and one of them melted all over my dayquil on the bus), and then ended up at the orgy with Lena. It was a small orgy crowd, so I figured I'd try again for the Hecate 1:1, since the way these things end up going, you get several in a night or none at all. I'm so glad Lena got to witness me finally, finally getting to go into Hecate's room, because I've wanted it for so long and never get picked. I think she has the two, the one is one thing and the other is a mission?, and this one was the mission. So I wasn't in there very long, and I didn't get the chance to look at her rooms, which are larger than I thought, and way cool. She took off my mask and caressed my face, and then gave me a note to give to the Porter and asked if I could be trusted. Then she put my mask back on and kissed it and sent me off into the world. I remembered that Tom said he got this mission once, but had a hell of a time figuring out who the Porter is. But I know who the Porter is, and I read enough blogs about how you kind of have to wait for a lull in his routine to give it to him, so I decided to just go now and do this.
I ended up sticking with the Porter for what had to have been at least half a cycle, waiting for an appropriate lull. I accidentally got the 1:1, when he fell over and I helped him up. I didn't realize that was where/when it took place, so that was a pleasant bonus. He took me into his not-secret room (he has done scenes in it unlocked for the audience), took off my mask, sat me down, then proceeded to put on lipstick and the worst wig I've ever seen in my life, which he had me brush, and then we slow danced for a bit, and he whispered a thank you into my ear. I'm trying to figure out how this fits into his story, which a lot of the time seems to revolve largely around his doomed not-romance with Boy Witch. Does he desire being a woman? Does he see Boy Witch flirting with Sexy and think that's what he needs to do/be to entice him? Also there's a theory that the Porter is the only one who knows they're in a loop. Which is really interesting and I love, because his is the saddest character and of course he'd half to be, knowing every single time that it's not going to work out, but still clinging to the hope that it does. And that brings a really interesting idea to the overall narrative of the show, not that it's just a structural format, but that it might actually be a plot point. But I digress. He gave me a ring, and I figured now was a good a time as any, and handed him Hecate's note, and he handed me another note (folded into a boat) (boat note), and told me to give it back to her. Well, FUCK, bro, I am just made of free time, now, aren't I?
Because I spent so much time in the McKittrick with him, I had no idea where I was in the cycle, or where on earth I was supposed to find Hecate without going to the orgy again, so I wandered back to Gallow Green, and I realized the Tailor was all alone, doing his shitty tailoring with no one to watch him. And then oops, I ended up following him the rest of the show. Sorry, Hecate.
I usually end up losing the Tailor at some point during the show, probably around the orgy, so this time I ended up following him to it and watching him watch the orgy, which I hadn't seen and is really great, it's full of distress and prayer. This was about the time where the girl in the striped dress showed up, and I had been with the Tailor for at least twenty minutes at this point, and she kept trying to edge me out. This was the kind of behavior I'm talking about, the "oh this is where the one-on-one is, I'ma get it, screw you person who's here for the narrative" (I AM here for Fulton narrative, that guy is ten pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag, and I love it), so I decided to edge HER out, because fuck you, lady, this isn't your Easter egg basket. I wasn't stealing anything from anyone because I had been the only one there until she showed up and tried to steal from ME. Shit. So I held my ground and refused to let her step in front of me at any point, and eventually she gave up and slunk off, probably to go off and steal someone else's 1:1. BUT ANYWAY, I stuck with my boy Fulton through all of his moping, through the Taxidermist fucking trashing his shop (really badly; the drawer was broken and Fulton could not fix it again and I think he broke character once when he threw the broken thing in a rage - I feel you, bro), and Agnes being Agnes, and at one point he goes to the speakeasy to take a drink, and as he's about to leave, completely alone (minus audience members, obvs), he guiltily takes money out of his wallet at the last minute and leaves it behind. It was a really nice touch that I loved - that he thinks for a minute maybe of giving up and joining the hordes of the damned or what have you, but in the end, his conscience wins out or something. Great little touch that I'd never seen and I loved (for what it's worth, he was the same Tailor as I had the last time I had the 1:1, whose name I can't remember and can't be assed to look up at the moment).
Then finally a series of fucking identical dark-haired boys in white shirts and black suspenders are fighting in the speakeasy, and he watches, then turns and pulls me off into the funeral home and bars the door. I love this, because it is such a great tapestry of his character overall. First he checks me for Hecate's marks and the whatnot (on the face, neck, and hands - extra hilarious because this time I had a big and clean lipstick print from the lady in red herself right on my mask front and center from running errands for her. But no noticeable bruises, I must be morally clean!), and he is in turns: pleased by my purity, wants to protect me, is vaguely attracted to me?, is conflicted by all of this, is nuts. Stop putting taxidermied birds in people coffins. STOP CARRYING AROUND RODENT SKELETONS. He checks me over for marks, dances around, gets some ash on me, climbs into the ceiling, protects me with a charm (this time: a heart with a sword in it - I am still wearing it a week later because I am a nerd), puts my mask back on, takes me into the other room, presses me against the wall, prays and is most assuredly muttering things about supple kisses and subtle caresses and the whatnot. Fulton is delightfully insane.
But it's the third cycle and I don't know if you knew this, but if you get the 1:1 in the third cycle, you get the walkdown. I did not know this! So imagine my joy when he takes my hand rather than shoving me into the hall, and we head down the lonely main avenue of Gallow Green (everyone else has been cleared downstairs, for the most part), stopping briefly to kneel on the ground and examine random things on the sidewalk. ARE WE SOLVING CRIMES? AM I SOLVING CRIMES WITH MY NEW BEST FRIEND THE TAILOR? Not an exaggeration, I had the BIGGEST IDIOTIC GRIN on my face the whole time; good thing I'm wearing a mask. New Best Friend Fulton and I head down to the balcony to watch the final banquet, then he leans in my ear and whispers if I want to get closer. Heck yes I do! Actually, I've never been super close. He takes me downstairs and when I say close I mean he takes me to the front damn row, then he and a few other cast members back us audience members up a little bit, presumably to leave space for the hanging. But after he's done that, he goes back and stands behind me, and stays there for the entire time, rubbing my shoulders (!) up until the part where the lights go out, then he was fucking GONE like a phantom in the night. (Is the shoulder rubbing supposed to happen? You're so weird, Fulton.)
UGHHHHH so many feels. But then when we were back in the Manderley, at one point Maximilian is doing his Max-y-ness business, and he calls out a lady in the front row for no discernable reason, at which point I lean in to Lena and Kyle and was like, that bitch tried to snuff me out, at which point they BOTH go ME TOO, because apparently that is what she was doing all night. But all that aside, it was an amazing show, probably my best yet. Huzzah!
Maybe this was the right attitude for going in for a show, though. I had zero plan, nothing that I'd been craving doing. Kyle had never been. It seemed pretty blank slate. We had drinks (they had drinks) at the Heath first for happy hour, Mr. Lindsay's list, etc.
Okay. So I got off at three or four, can't remember which, and decided to head to the ballroom, which is always a safe bet, you can see who everyone is. Noooo one downstairs audience-wise, and that was when I made the executive decision to follow Danvers, whom I adore, and get the 1:1. I am not a 1:1 hunter like some other people are, I will not push people out of the way normally, I do not plot out where they are going to happen and show up at the right moment. I believe that it should happen naturally and that it should be a rewarded effort sometimes for following through a maybe-not-super-exciting cycle (see also: the Tailor). Etc. The majority of this particular show experience goes against that whole theory, but I'll get to that.
In any case, I followed Danvers and Lady Macduff out of the ballroom, then got to watch Danvers clean, and as I was the ONLY person there, she pulled me in for the 1:1. She turned off the lights, and we listened to the sounds of the sea, then she wrapped a veil around me and forced me to drink a glass of milk. Which I love, because she keeps trying to give, or not give, Lady Macduff poisoned milk, and it's like, what are you trying to say, Mrs. D? You want me to die?
After she kicked me out, my memories are a little vague, because the problem with a looping show is that sometimes I can't remember what happened when. It fits that this is the point where I went upstairs, grabbed some candy from Paisley Sweets (the set is all decorated for the holidays, so they had chocolate bells, which I took a bunch, put them in my pocket, then fucking forgot about and one of them melted all over my dayquil on the bus), and then ended up at the orgy with Lena. It was a small orgy crowd, so I figured I'd try again for the Hecate 1:1, since the way these things end up going, you get several in a night or none at all. I'm so glad Lena got to witness me finally, finally getting to go into Hecate's room, because I've wanted it for so long and never get picked. I think she has the two, the one is one thing and the other is a mission?, and this one was the mission. So I wasn't in there very long, and I didn't get the chance to look at her rooms, which are larger than I thought, and way cool. She took off my mask and caressed my face, and then gave me a note to give to the Porter and asked if I could be trusted. Then she put my mask back on and kissed it and sent me off into the world. I remembered that Tom said he got this mission once, but had a hell of a time figuring out who the Porter is. But I know who the Porter is, and I read enough blogs about how you kind of have to wait for a lull in his routine to give it to him, so I decided to just go now and do this.
I ended up sticking with the Porter for what had to have been at least half a cycle, waiting for an appropriate lull. I accidentally got the 1:1, when he fell over and I helped him up. I didn't realize that was where/when it took place, so that was a pleasant bonus. He took me into his not-secret room (he has done scenes in it unlocked for the audience), took off my mask, sat me down, then proceeded to put on lipstick and the worst wig I've ever seen in my life, which he had me brush, and then we slow danced for a bit, and he whispered a thank you into my ear. I'm trying to figure out how this fits into his story, which a lot of the time seems to revolve largely around his doomed not-romance with Boy Witch. Does he desire being a woman? Does he see Boy Witch flirting with Sexy and think that's what he needs to do/be to entice him? Also there's a theory that the Porter is the only one who knows they're in a loop. Which is really interesting and I love, because his is the saddest character and of course he'd half to be, knowing every single time that it's not going to work out, but still clinging to the hope that it does. And that brings a really interesting idea to the overall narrative of the show, not that it's just a structural format, but that it might actually be a plot point. But I digress. He gave me a ring, and I figured now was a good a time as any, and handed him Hecate's note, and he handed me another note (folded into a boat) (boat note), and told me to give it back to her. Well, FUCK, bro, I am just made of free time, now, aren't I?
Because I spent so much time in the McKittrick with him, I had no idea where I was in the cycle, or where on earth I was supposed to find Hecate without going to the orgy again, so I wandered back to Gallow Green, and I realized the Tailor was all alone, doing his shitty tailoring with no one to watch him. And then oops, I ended up following him the rest of the show. Sorry, Hecate.
I usually end up losing the Tailor at some point during the show, probably around the orgy, so this time I ended up following him to it and watching him watch the orgy, which I hadn't seen and is really great, it's full of distress and prayer. This was about the time where the girl in the striped dress showed up, and I had been with the Tailor for at least twenty minutes at this point, and she kept trying to edge me out. This was the kind of behavior I'm talking about, the "oh this is where the one-on-one is, I'ma get it, screw you person who's here for the narrative" (I AM here for Fulton narrative, that guy is ten pounds of crazy in a five-pound bag, and I love it), so I decided to edge HER out, because fuck you, lady, this isn't your Easter egg basket. I wasn't stealing anything from anyone because I had been the only one there until she showed up and tried to steal from ME. Shit. So I held my ground and refused to let her step in front of me at any point, and eventually she gave up and slunk off, probably to go off and steal someone else's 1:1. BUT ANYWAY, I stuck with my boy Fulton through all of his moping, through the Taxidermist fucking trashing his shop (really badly; the drawer was broken and Fulton could not fix it again and I think he broke character once when he threw the broken thing in a rage - I feel you, bro), and Agnes being Agnes, and at one point he goes to the speakeasy to take a drink, and as he's about to leave, completely alone (minus audience members, obvs), he guiltily takes money out of his wallet at the last minute and leaves it behind. It was a really nice touch that I loved - that he thinks for a minute maybe of giving up and joining the hordes of the damned or what have you, but in the end, his conscience wins out or something. Great little touch that I'd never seen and I loved (for what it's worth, he was the same Tailor as I had the last time I had the 1:1, whose name I can't remember and can't be assed to look up at the moment).
Then finally a series of fucking identical dark-haired boys in white shirts and black suspenders are fighting in the speakeasy, and he watches, then turns and pulls me off into the funeral home and bars the door. I love this, because it is such a great tapestry of his character overall. First he checks me for Hecate's marks and the whatnot (on the face, neck, and hands - extra hilarious because this time I had a big and clean lipstick print from the lady in red herself right on my mask front and center from running errands for her. But no noticeable bruises, I must be morally clean!), and he is in turns: pleased by my purity, wants to protect me, is vaguely attracted to me?, is conflicted by all of this, is nuts. Stop putting taxidermied birds in people coffins. STOP CARRYING AROUND RODENT SKELETONS. He checks me over for marks, dances around, gets some ash on me, climbs into the ceiling, protects me with a charm (this time: a heart with a sword in it - I am still wearing it a week later because I am a nerd), puts my mask back on, takes me into the other room, presses me against the wall, prays and is most assuredly muttering things about supple kisses and subtle caresses and the whatnot. Fulton is delightfully insane.
But it's the third cycle and I don't know if you knew this, but if you get the 1:1 in the third cycle, you get the walkdown. I did not know this! So imagine my joy when he takes my hand rather than shoving me into the hall, and we head down the lonely main avenue of Gallow Green (everyone else has been cleared downstairs, for the most part), stopping briefly to kneel on the ground and examine random things on the sidewalk. ARE WE SOLVING CRIMES? AM I SOLVING CRIMES WITH MY NEW BEST FRIEND THE TAILOR? Not an exaggeration, I had the BIGGEST IDIOTIC GRIN on my face the whole time; good thing I'm wearing a mask. New Best Friend Fulton and I head down to the balcony to watch the final banquet, then he leans in my ear and whispers if I want to get closer. Heck yes I do! Actually, I've never been super close. He takes me downstairs and when I say close I mean he takes me to the front damn row, then he and a few other cast members back us audience members up a little bit, presumably to leave space for the hanging. But after he's done that, he goes back and stands behind me, and stays there for the entire time, rubbing my shoulders (!) up until the part where the lights go out, then he was fucking GONE like a phantom in the night. (Is the shoulder rubbing supposed to happen? You're so weird, Fulton.)
UGHHHHH so many feels. But then when we were back in the Manderley, at one point Maximilian is doing his Max-y-ness business, and he calls out a lady in the front row for no discernable reason, at which point I lean in to Lena and Kyle and was like, that bitch tried to snuff me out, at which point they BOTH go ME TOO, because apparently that is what she was doing all night. But all that aside, it was an amazing show, probably my best yet. Huzzah!