Cultural Cannibalism (OPEN)

The interior of the theater was dim and imposing; it's lights long dark, and its high walls, hundreds of seats, and towering stage and catwalks grey with dust and neglect. Jax wandered through the halls of the backstage, a flashlight in hand: her keen eyes scanning every nook and cranny for some relic she could sell. Not much so far: a few playbills and tickets, dusty costume pieces (some fake jewelry), some prop fruits (plastic), and no shortage of bobby pins. She enjoyed the quiet and temperature inside the theater; there weren't many buildings that saw so little visitation. Although that was probably because most things that could be scrapped had already been salvaged and taken. The theater -- once a grand palace of culture and entertainment -- was reduced to a hollow, dessicated skeleton. Bare bones -- and silence. Occasionally a breeze would pass through the tunnel -- Jax wasn't sure where the draft came from, but it sometimes caught her off-guard when it moved a curtain and startled her.

A sound echoed down one of the hallways; Jax immediately froze in her tracks and darted into a nearby dressing room -- there was a broken mirror and a variety of cosmetics, and a prop table with masks and various fake items. She quickly stashed some of the useable makeup in her cleavage, and threw a few of the intact props in her tote bag. Still wary of whatever the noise had been, she crept out into the hall again. Cautiously, she made her way towards the next unchecked dressing room.

One of the candles Chase had lit flicked out, startling him. He sighed and searched around next to him for his lighter. Relighting it, Chase laid it on the floor and laid down on the old lounge. He had come back to this theatre for purely sentimental reasons. He remembered the chaos that happened here about a month ago, and thought perhaps it would be fun to come back here and see if anything had changed. Not much had- it was the same creepy and rundown place. He thought of refurnishing the place and improving it, but that power didn't lay directly in his power, so he figured it'd be best to leave it be for now... but he was sure he could convince somebody to fix it, if he really wanted to.
"I wonder if my brother knows anything..." Chase thought to himself, though the thought left his mind almost as soon as it came there, due to the sound of footsteps approaching. He, being a high-ranking Water, couldn't be seen in such a place! Locking the door to the dressing room he was in, he sat in a wobbly chair and waited for the footsteps to pass.

Jax heard the sound of a door somewhere in the distance; the darkness made it difficult to discern its direction. Rounding a corner, she came to a dressing room -- "Haven't been in this one,", she said to herself -- it was locked. Fidgeting with the knob for a moment to see if the lock was solid, but nothing. "Lucky I found all those damn bobby pins..." she thought, withdrawing one from between her breasts and shaping it carefully with her fingers. Inserting it into the keyhole, she attempted to pick the lock.

Chase cursed to himself as he heard somebody outside the door fidgeting with the lock. He could just try to keep the door closed and hope they're weaker than him, but figured that would prove to them somebody was there, and decided it wasn't worth the risk. Hastily, he took off his shoes to avoid making any sound when he stepped off the chair. Trying to make them look like they belonged there, he quickly looked for somewhere to hide- almost instantly coming up with a great plan. Grabbing rope, he put himself in the dresser, closing the doors to it and tying the knobs together, so if anyone tried to open the dresser, it'd just look like it was stuck together very well from the outside. He prayed this was enough to keep himself undetected.

Jax struggled with the lock -- cursing under her breath, and hitting the door a few times. After several more attempts, she managed to pick the lock, a *click* breaking the tense silence. She quietly opened the door and beamed her flashlight around the room: a chair, a discarded pair of shoes, and another vanity mirror -- though there was less makeup, and it was messily scattered across the tabletop. There was also a dresser beside it; on top of it, there was a remarkably intact music box, with a porcelain statue of a ballerina. "Jackpot," Jax smirked, grabbing the chair and positioning it to stand up and get the music box.

"Eh, they look alright -- might as well," Jax thought, spying the shoes; she stuffed them in her bag. Standing on the chair (though almost falling off when it proved to be rather rickety), she reached up to grab the music box. Carefully as she could, she snatched it and lowered it down onto the vanity: keeping one hand on the dresser to stabilize herself on the weak chair. Her efforts were only partly successful.

Though the music box was now safely on the vanity table, a leg of the chair snapped, sending Jax and the dresser (which she was clinging to) toppling to the ground.

Chase couldn't remember the last time he was so still, and even though he tried to calm himself, his heartbeat was still too loud and fast for him. He didn't even know if he was breathing- he just told himself to keep quiet, keep quiet... the person who entered the room didn't seem to hear or notice him in the dresser, so he assumed he'd be safe... though he started to worry when what seemed to be a female figure (it was very hard to tell, with only a small crack between the doors for him to see anything) climbed unto the chair and leaned on the dressers... he assumed she was reaching for something, since she didn't seem to notice him. He didn't care what it was, he just wanted to leave... Wait, wasn't that the chair fro- "AAGHHH!!!". In an instant, one of the legs of the chair snapped, and both of them were sent toppling to the floor. Chase thought she got out of the way of the dresser for the most part- at least, he hoped, or they'd be a dead body under him, but now the dresser was facedown, making it impossible for him to get out, and unless she's deaf, he imagined she heard his screaming as they fell.

"Shit," Jax exclaimed, a bruise forming on her knee after it had struck the ground. She'd managed to escape being crushed by the dresser -- but wait... Someone was inside! The sound of the person's screaming as it fell had caught her by surprise; but now the room was dark, her flashlight having flicked off when it hit the floor.

"Hello?" she said, her voice rather rigid, feeling around for the flashlight, "Who are you...?"

A few things seemed to have fallen out of her cleavage on the way down: her hand found a tube of lipstick from the last room, and she restored it to its place. She finally found the flashlight -- shaking it for a moment -- by luck, it still worked, and illuminated the fallen dresser.

"Who are you?" Chase shot back, though the sudden movement made him bang his head against the wall of the dresser. Cursing, he tried to open the dresser, but it was hopeless. There was no way he could get out of here without help. He didn't want her to recognize him though, so he took his jack and wrapped it around his head, in a desperate attempt to hide his hair. If he just kept his head down, I doubt there'd be much else for her to notice that would give him away- I mean, after all, he wasn't the only person who wore fancy clothing.

Xander had decided to walk back home the longer way, which meant he would pass by the familiar rundown theater. The boy remembered the last time he was there, wondering if anyone had done anything about the place. As he walked down the side of the street, he looked to his left, he gray gaze holding onto the building. The Four sighed, deciding to take another visit to the once lively, colorful environment.

Once he had walked through those same doors, he felt a shiver go over his body. Ah, this place never changed. He said to himself, running a hand through his curly locks. Xander heard a scream and felt his heart stop. It sounded so familiar..

Immediately the young man ran down the hall, trying to find which room the sound had come from. "H-hello?! A-anyone, here?!" Xander called, freaking out.

"Jax. That's all you need to know." she replied, cautiously attempting to tilt the dresser so that it could open -- away from her, of course.

Suddenly the sound of another voice echoed down the backstage halls, and she panicked. Quickly picking up the items she'd lost, and putting the music box in her bag, she darted out the door, with a passing "Gotta go" thrown over her shoulder to the dresser-guy.

Hoping not to run into anyone else, she made her way to the catwalks and up into the lighting booth above the auditorium; she'd already looted the place, but it was an excellent sort of temporary base in the theater. "I just might set up shop in here," Jax thought to herself, setting down her bag and looking down over the seats and stage to see if she could spot anyone in the dim light.

Chase yelped as she tilted the dresser and freed him. He had not been expecting to meet the floor so suddenly yet again. After coughing up dust, he took the jacket off around his head- only to reason a voice was coming towards them. They sounded familiar, but his head was throbbing too much to make sense of the situation. He didn't know what he was doing- he just got up and walked out of the dressing room, wobbling away from the voice. All he could think was "They can't see me like this. They can't. They can't!" Realizing he said the last words of his thought outloud, he shook his head. What was happening. He was still somewhat in shock.

Xander saw a figure flash out of a nearby room and quickly followed. "H-hey!" The boy called out, noticing the other was trying to get away from him. The Four saw white hair and instantly asked aloud, "C-Chase?"

"Chase is that you? Wait up!"

Jax heard voices below, locking the door to the light booth just to be safe. Moving to the sound and light boards -- with their chaotic array of switches and dials, coated in a layer of dust -- she flicked a few switches. Nothing. Checking the underside, tangled wires and cables were strewn about like spaghetti; though she noted that there seemed to be a backup generator quietly humming (although disconnected from any of the wires). "Bingo," she said, sitting on the floor and attempting to disentangle the mass of cables -- nibbling on a stick of string cheese she'd tucked away while she worked.

It took several moments for Chase to recognize the voice once he heard it. When he finally recognized who it was, he stopped. There was just something... automatic that happened when Xander spoke. Chase assumed that his innocent but brave actions were part of the reason Arcadius originally started to like Xander, and who could blame him? Still, it irritated Chase that Arcadius had something so beautiful, and Chase was yet again left with nothing. The feeling of jealousy somewhat brought Chase out of his dazed personality, but then he realized yet again: his situation wasn't ideal at all. "X-Xander?" Chase asked, before feeling his knees get wobbly, and he fell unto his knees.

The boy's eyes widened and he quickly got down on his knees so he was the same height as the other. "What happened?? A-are you okay?" Xander frantically asked, looking all over the older as well as placing his hand under Chase's chin to look into the Water's eyes.

After fumbling with the cluster of wires, Jax managed to find what seemed to be a master cable that was connected to most of the others. Well, she assumed so. It was bigger than the others -- that meant it was more important, right?

Jax plugged the cord into the generator, hearing a whir of electricity return to the machines around her. "Hell yeah," she said, standing and flicking a switch at random. A row of lights came to life instantly, illuminating the stage beautifully with bright yellow rays. Smirking to herself, and again gazing down to see if she could spot the other people in the building, she experimented with the light boards to see which switches controlled what.

Chase finally became fully aware when Xander sunk to his level. In that same instant, the pain from hitting his head returned. Touching the back of his head very carefully, he realized it had been bleeding, but it seemed to have stopped, leaving his hair on the back on his head soaked in blood. "I'm okay." he said, trying to assure the younger, all around nicer guy nothing was wrong. Still, he winced when he let Xander move his head. He would normally be embarrassed, but under these circumstances, he was lucky to have any dignity left at all. He knew it wouldn't be smart to leave his wound unchecked and it possibly get infected, but he wanted to see where that mysterious person went... then again, last time he followed a "mysterious person" he found himself closer to his brother's husband... which may not be such a bad thing, at least for him.

"Oh my God are you b-bleeding??" Xander squeaked worriedly as his hand went to the back of Chase's head for it to be soaked in blood. "You're n-not okay! We gotta get that checked, Chase!" He said frantically, panicking a bit.

"C-come on, let's get you up and get you some h-help." A quiet whimper could be heard from The Four as he tried to get the older to stand up. "I'll h-help you.." He offered, wrapping an arm around the Water's waist.

The auditorium was well-lit now -- the whole room bright and clear. There were now visible posters still on the walls from old plays that Jax hadn't seen in the dark: she wanted to go down and fetch them. But those people... they didn't seem too dangerous -- she could probably take at least one of them if it came to a fight -- "Better not take any chances right now," she concluded.

As she returned to fiddling with the various boards, one seemed to have faded word "in-erc--" on it, next to a red switch. "Hmm..."

"I-I'm fine!" Chase insisted, trying to stand on his own. He would not be helped by somebody so much more... weak! It hurt his pride to do so, but do to the excessive bleeding he couldn't do much. He at least tried to walk on his own. He didn't want to have to depend on anyone. He tried to distract Xander with other things. "Hey, does it seem lighter up there to you?" Chase asked.

Ooc: Sorry this post is lame, going into a different room because this place is too loud for me to concentrate.

"W-wait what? --Chase stop. You're not going to distract me." The younger growled, softly grabbing the Water's arm. "P-please, Chase. Xander whimpered, looking up at the taller.

Mark was sitting in one of the chairs in the Auditorium, near an aisle, when the lights had been turned on. His eyes had widened and he immediately dropped to the floor under a chair to keep from being seen. Shit, what? Nobody ever is in here. At least that's what Mark had thought. He never really came into the Auditorium before but he was feeling adventurous today and decided to sit here instead of behind a shelf. Mark didn't really know what to do other than hide, but once he had dropped to the ground, his backpack did too, throwing his books out and into the aisle.--

Ooc: The order of posting is-
1. Jax
2. Me
3. Xander
4. Mark

rinse and repeat, so Jax is next.

Jax spotted movement in the auditorium -- "Are those... books?", she thought, examining the seats from afar.

Hoping the red switch did what she thought it did, she flicked it on; there was a shrill electronic hiss. "Hello?" Jax spoke, her voice reverberating out through the auditorium over the loudspeakers that still worked.

Chase looked down at the younger and couldn't help but smirk after seeing the determination on his face. "I'll behave now, since you seem so eager to take care of me." he mused, hoping to get a reaction out of Xander, who technically was his brother-in-law. He finally leaned on the younger, more energetic guy a little bit, but he couldn't shake the feeling it was improper to let him help. "Xander," Chase whispered, hoping in a slightly evil way he could feel Chase's breath against his ear "I wasn't kidding when I said lights are turning on." Pointing, lights could be seen at the end of the hallway.