the thmgau rewrite

Dress Rehearsal

"Your Lordship! Your Grace! Your eminence! L-Let's not be hasty!"

It was Wednesday, & the first official performance of Beauty & The Beast was tomorrow. In order to prepare, a dress rehearsal was in place. Most performances do dress rehearsals, just to make sure everyone's got their lines memorized & all that.

Most of the group sat backstage, watching the performance & waiting for their cues. Natalie, Leslie, & the actor for Cogsworth were onstage currently. Natalie stormed over to Leslie's "room" onstage.

"I thought I told you to come down to dinner!"
"I'm not hungry!"
"I am the master of this castle, & I'm telling you to come down to dinner!"

"Y'know, I didn't think it at first, but Natalie really does fit the role of The Beast pretty well." Cherry whispered.
"Really?"
"Yea."
"Care to elaborate?"
"No."

The group continued watching what was happening onstage.

"Master, that may not be the best way to win the girl's affections.."
"Please, attempt to be a lady."
"Deep breaths, master.."

"I'll give them one last chance." Natalie huffed, turning toward Leslie. "Would you be so kind as to join me for dinner?"

The actor for Cogsworth glared at Natalie.

"..Please."
"No, thank you."
"FINE! Then starve!"
"Master, please-"
"If they don't eat with me, they don't eat at all!"

Natalie stormed offstage, where the group was. As the rehearsal continued, she leaned against the wall & sighed.

"This is the most I've raised my voice, like, ever. Kind of starting to hurt my throat."
"Is that so? You'd think that encounter with The Au-"
"Shh!" Cherry shushed Kalani.
"Oh, yea. Gotta keep my mouth shut about the thing."
"The magic th-"
"SHUSH!"
"Cherry!" Allie snapped her fingers. "Quiet down!"
"Oops. Sorry."

The group continued to watch for their cues. They were coming up pretty soon, as the hit musical number Be Our Guest was about to start. They had to put on cutlery costumes & do some dances on stage as the ensemble.

"If there is anything we can do to make your stay more comfortable, anything, ANYTHING at all-" the actor for Cogsworth spoke.
"I am a little hungry."
"Except that."
"Cogsworth!"

Everyone backstage quickly got into their cutlery outfits.

"Not the most embarrassing thing I've worn."
"I kinda like this spoon costume. Can I keep this after the show's over, Allie?"
"Sure. Go nuts."
"Sick."

The group quickly took a glance onstage.

"Of course, of course... but what is dinner without a little music?!"
"Music?"

It was almost time to get on stage. The group readied themselves.

-

"Alright! Does everybody remember the plan?"

Once again, it was nighttime at the puppet shop, & Alph was not there, leaving the puppets to roam & scheme. All of the puppets stood in a line in the main room of the shop, while Sotry stood in front of them.

"Of course, Sotry!" the other 4 puppets said, in unison.

"Allama," Sotry pointed at the yellow puppet. "What time must we be at the theater?"
"8 o'clock!"
"Correct. & Wyndo," he pointed at the gray puppet. "What will we do when we arrive?"
"We enter the theater & if we spot one of the poster-destroyers, we approach them."
"Correct! So the plan is ready then. Now, we-"

"Excuse me for just a moment," Canul spoke up. "but isn't it risky to do something like this in public?"

Sotry froze, staring at Canul.

"Well, if you have any better ideas, I'd like to hear them."

Canul fell silent.

"That's what I thought. Now, let's return to the back room & prepare for tomorrow."

-

Dress rehearsal was over now, & the group was headed back to the apartment building. They were all in Nora's van. Nora sat in the front, driving, with Kalani in the passenger seat. Juniper, Cherry, & Leslie sat in the back.

"Y'know, I've been thinking.."
"Yea?"
"If those little red things above each poster are cameras, do you think they've been recording what we say too?"
"God, I hope not. That's a huge invasion of privacy."
"I don't think this puppet guy cares about privacy if he's trying to become president of the fucking world."

Juniper froze, remembering an encounter ze had with Allie just about a week ago, right in front of one of the posters.

"Are you & the others prepared for the performance next week?"
"Yup! In the university theater, right?"
"You got it! See ya there!"

"Uh, guys? I... think we might be in trouble."
"Huh? How?"
"Well-"

Nora's car skidded to a halt.

"Why're we stoppin'?"
"Another poster's out there. On that tree." Nora pointed toward a tree up ahead, which did indeed have a poster on it.
"I'll go get it!" Leslie gave a thumbs up, unbuckling its seatbelt & exiting the car.

As Leslie approached the tree, Cherry turned around in their seat to look at Juniper. "What were you saying?"
"Yea, uh, when I was tearing down the posters last week, Allie caught me in the halls while I was tearing one down, & we may have accidentally revealed when & where the performance was happening."
"What?"
"Well, none of us knew they were cameras, so it's not your fault."
"We're still in trouble though."
"Oh yeah, totally. That puppet guy totally knows we've been tearing down its posters."

The door opened up, & Leslie entered the car again. The poster was in their hands, ripped in half.

"I got it!"
"Nice."
"Anyways, we probably shouldn't worry about tomorrow," Kalani said. "Whatever happens, we'll take care of it."
"Yeah!"