Welcome to Gaia! ::

(Sarias is auditioning for the role of Jack)

“Heh, amateurs.” Sarias mumbled, her stitches twisting slightly as she smiled deeply to herself. “They actually want to bring attention to this place by running a show? How very, very sad…well, I shouldn’t be mean, they obviously need help” Pulling herself up from her seat way back in the auditorium, she slowly made her way down the long aisle watching students dressed up in ridiculous hand made outfits perform pathetic auditions, one of her own kind prancing about the stage like a dog of all things, although there wasn’t much acting involved in that one. Her hips sashayed as her tendrils licked at the seats either side, any student sat watching would feel a cold wisp wrap briefly round their necks and then disappear as her form went past.

Gathering her nerves (there were quite a few people in this place!) she walked up the steps and was happirly greeted with a blinding light. Her nerves steadied instantaneously as the spotlight shone onto the stage leaving the audience in darkness. At least she wouldn’t have to see their gawking faces.

“My name is Sarias Blacksling” she purred at the invisible judges, not really sure where to look but giving a “I didn’t really need to say my name, you know me already” look just in case. She knew she had to ooze confidence to win their vote, some other students may miss out the confidence part, but not her.

"I will be auditioning for the role of Jack Skeleton, I feel its hide time for a female role to take on this lead, - and not have the cop-out of a hermaphrodite like last year” The last part was barely audible but still she was unsure if someone heard or not. Who cares, she will blow that last thought right out of their minds.

Walking towards the back of the stage she gave the off hand help a detectable nod as they hit the prepared music for this role. Cooly she thought herself into character, this too wasn't difficult, Jack skeleton, the best in Halloween Town? She will give him a run for his gold pumpkin seeds.

As soon as the music started she twisted on her heels to face the concealed audience, a look of bewilderment and excitement across her features as she open her hands palm out wards to the crowd, arching them in front and across her face as she began to move across the stage, bent over slightly as if creeping, unsure of her surroundings.

"♫ What's this? What's this?
There's colour everywhere! ♪"

She twirled across the stage acting out the song, sprinkling imaginary snow and catching them in her palms.

" ♬ What's this?
There's white things in the air♩"

Her smoke tendrils fanned out out across the stage grabbing at 'carefully place' baubles and Christmas toys and reacting to them in mock surprise as she brought them closer.

" ♪ What's this?
I can't believe my eyes
I must be dreaming
Wake up, Jack, this isn't fair! ♬ "

Spinning with her arms outstretched to the sides, the twirl of her wisps flashing with the colours of the items they had wrapped around, they gathered closer to her until she was a blur of sparkles.

" ♫ What's this!?♩"

Stopping suddenly on the last note she forced herself up on her tendrils, pushing her form off the stage until just one large tail of smoke held her up as the other fainter wisps held onto the Christmas gifts and fanned out from her. The illusion was that of a Christmas tree, Sarias the rather large fairy at the top as her tendrils worked down in steps each grasping a toy or tinsel.

She waited a moment for the image to reach everyone then slowly let her self down, smiling smugly to herself. Sure she messed up the arpeggio on the second verse, but she had nailed it none the less. That's what winners did after all.

She supposed this wasn't the worst idea she'd ever had.

Riley carried her burlap bag costume hung loosely over one arm. She wasn't about to wear the Jack forsaken thing while other people were doing their auditions. It was itchy and ridiculous, and it wiggled in odd places. Perhaps the costume itself could go up there without her, and perform the piece itself. There had been nothing but bugs and foul intent inside of Oogie Boogie himself, hadn't it? Alas, she'd gone through too much trouble to let the costume somehow discover a life of it's own and steal her glory, now.

There was a pause, and she heard her name called. So it was time. She glided out of her chair and up the aisle with a quiet shuffling that occurred mostly from the burlap bag, then took the steps at a cautious pace. Once she'd finally managed to enter center stage, she dropped her bag and turned to the judges in the audience.

If anyone watching her entrance had wondered exactly how she planned on auditioning for a singing role with no mouth, their questions were at that moment answered as a smooth, silken voice stole into their thoughts. All at once.

Hello, the voice said, My name is Riley. I am a student here at the Academy who will be auditioning for the role of Oogie Boogie today. One hopes you will enjoy my performance.

With introductions out of the way, she took a step to the left, directly into the bag she had dropped beside her, and bent down in quite the ladylike fashion. It didn't seem probable that someone with this penchant for grace would make a good Oogie Boogie, but as she pulled the burlap over her body, and slipped her arms in, the lithe illithid body disappeared. In it's place was a writhing, formless brown body, that wriggled in certain small spots every so often. It was quite groteque, to be honest.

Riley only pulled the bag up to just below her eyes; it seemed her pointed head and suddenly writhing tentacles would be free to add to the spectacle of her performance this evening. There was an area of burlap just below her eyes that seemed folded, almost creviced like a smiling mouth (like a sock puppet's mouth), but it remained immobile as Riley secured her costume. Junko's additions would make sure the costume didn't slip off while she performed, and assured adequate stability. She topped the ensemble with a loosely attached hat.

Four of Riley's hair tentacles slunk down under the folds of cloth on either side of her head, and seemed to disappear.

In Riley's fingerless burlap hand, there was a large pair of dice. Skulls had been etched crudely onto their sides, indicating numbers. This prop had been the least of her concerns.

A beat of silence passed while she seemed to collect herself, and perhaps give the judges a moment to process her appearance. It was then that something similar to a thump could be heard. Silence, then another thump. A rhythmic pulse, coming from backstage. Someone was hitting.. something.. slowly enough to give her a beat. It was all she needed.

The fold of cloth curved upward, clearly moving itself into the position of a menacing, devious smile. Burlap parted, showing that the mouth was truly nothing more than a deep fold in the cloth, but thanks to the tentacles that controlled it, it moved in perfect, creepy timing with the powerful voice that echoed through the minds of everyone in the auditorium.

Well. Well. Well. Each word was pronounced with a bellow, and punctuated with a dramatic pause. What have we HERE? Riley was doing her best to maintain a lower octave than what her normal 'speaking' voice would be.. which wasn't that hard, being it was easy to make thoughts sound the way you want them to - that, and other reasons that allowed her to maintain a surprisingly accurate male voice.

She pointed her burlap-covered hand at the gnome in the center of the judge table, while her body shifted sharply to one side. She chuckled deeply. Sandy Claws, huh? Her arms wrapped around herself, shivering and holding on while she spoke the next line; Oh, I'm REALLY scared.

So YOU'RE the one everybody's talking about? The formless figure glided stage right, arms folding to her chest in disbelief. When it stopped, her head lurched back to glare at the gnomes with distaste, and the tentacles on her head came to life - swaying left to right to the beat of her drippingly sarcastic laughter. Ha. Ha.

Sometimes, it felt really good to be bad.

This was one of those times.

The next few lines were sung in a flurry of motion, bounding liquidly across the stage with arms swaying to the beat. Her voice, booming through their thoughts, was punctuated by soft whispers, a caress of sound following each normal phrase.

You're joking. you're joking YOU'RE JOKING. so funny I can't believe my eyes. they deceive me You're joking me, you gotta be. gotta be This CAN'T be the right guy!

Her bounce stopped and she froze in place, holding her arms up to indicate choking.

He's ancient. so ancient He's UGLY! so fat I don't know which is worse.

With a quick turn to the audience, she held one arm up, and reached over with another. There was a loose thread there, and she idly tugged it as she sang, letting the seams loose.

I might just split a seam now, And as she did so, live spiders skittered quickly out of the seam, desperate to be free of the prison they'd been captured in for hours - and Riley's last line was sung with a throbbing, low, threatening voice.

If I don't die die laughing, first.

Spiders scuttled all across the stage, in every direction. Some may even head for the gnome judges, but it was assured there would be spiders found in nooks and crannies of the audition hall for years to come.

The low beat of thumping that had mysteriously come from the background suddenly stopped, and Riley's arms dropped to her sides. Audition over, it seemed. She looked none the worse for wear.

The mouth stopped moving, and her tentacles reappeared - she unfastened the hooks that held the costume up, and it flopped lifelessly to the ground. Dozens more small spiders crawled desperately out from the wreckage.

Thank you for your time, Riley's normal, gentle voice emitted to the judges as she picked up an edge of the burlap and dragged the costume off behind her.

Sorry about the spiders.

((Junko will be auditioning for the part of Sally!))

((Alcie will be trying out for the part of Shock.))

When she had heard that there was going to be a Nightmare Before Christmas play, Alcie nearly jumped out of her seat. Like every other young scareling, she was introduced to it at a young age and became enraptured with the entire thing. Even though she's grown up a bit, her love for this story has not changed. It had taken her awhile to decide on a role to try out for but she finally decided on Shock. The little rambunctious, feisty, intelligent scareling of the trouble making trio. It sounded just like herself.

As she stood at the back of the stage awaiting her turn, Alcie felt the jitters creep up on her and she was feeling a little worried that she was going to forget the lines. Oh boy... She wasn't afraid of public speaking or anything but she held high expectations for her and expected nothing less than perfect. Alcie had been studying these lines and practicing her singing every moment she could but who knew what could happen once those lights hit her.

Taking a deep breath, Alcie gathered up her confidence and stepped out onto the stage. She had requested the use of a large cage as her prop to be honest, Alcie had an idea of what she wanted to do but she really hadn't practiced it too much... Improvisation was better wasn't it? Her costume choice was obvious considering Shock's outfit was very clear. She had tried her best to replicate Shock's dress but she had a rather difficult time (thus accounting for the patchwork feel of the dress). It had taken her awhile (mostly because sewing wasn't her forte) to create the dress and the witch's hat but Alcie was very happy with the end product.

With a smile on her face, Alcie introduced herself, "I'm Alcyone and I'll be auditioning for the role of Shock." Closing her eyes just for a second, Alcyone tried to channel Shock's character and it was time to perform!

The lights dimmed and during that time, Alcie went inside the cage that was out on the stage. The lights turned back on and focused on her. Her voice was rather eerie and creepy as her voice echoed throughout the auditorium. "Kidnap the Sandy Claws, lock him up real tight." She pressed her face between the bars of the cage and tightly held onto the bars as she sang the first line. Even though her singing was only average she felt a surge of confidence and Alcyone continued on with the song.

"Throw away the key and then" Pulling a key from her pocket, Alcie tossed it to the other side of the stage nonchalantly and kept a mischievous smirk on her face. "Turn off all the lights". As she sang this line, the lines abruptly shut off and there was an ear piercing scream. After a few seconds, the lights slowly turned back on and Alcie had moved outside of the cage and stood in the middle of the stage with her hands on her hips.

Alcie's voice continued singing but more of in a story telling tone now, "First, we're going to set some bait," For this part, Alcie had prepared a plate of chocolate chip cookies. That's what Santa Claus was supposed to like right? She pulled the plate from behind the cage and placed it inside and grinned at the audience as she set the plate on the floor.

The water demon exited the cage and she addressed the audience, "Inside a nasty trap and wait,". She glanced at the trap and then began singing again, "When he comes a-sniffing we will,"

As she sang, Alcie moved over towards the cage and grabbed the rope attached to the door. "Snap the trap and close the gate!" Alcie began cackling wildly and she gave the rope a hard tug and the cage door came slamming down to a close.

Her song came to an end and Alcie smiled widely at her audience. "Thank you for your time." Bowing quickly, the water demon slipped behind the curtain. Her heart had been pounding so fast but she loved the adrenaline rush! Even if she didn't get the part, the audition had been enormous amounts of fun for her.

((Rain is trying for Sally))

Rain was great at playing -- and beating things -- with her guitar but she wasn't sure she would be any good at singing. Still, this was an awesome opportunity for all the students. Heck, this was a tradition that had been going on for a very long time! Of all the characters, she felt she related to Sally most so that's what she was auditioning for.

She set up her amp, plugged her guitar in and stepped out onto the stage. She wasn't even sure if she could bring a musical instrument but she was rather attached to the guitar. Besides, it would feel weird to sing without any music whatsoever.

There was one thing she didn't like about Sally. She felt that Sally lacked the anger that her hardship and disappointments should have caused. It needed more emotion and that's exactly what she was going to bring to the table. She started playing the tune on her guitar, giving the song a heavy metal twist.

"I SENSE THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WIND
THAT FEELS LIKE TRAGEDY'S AT HAND
AND THOUGH I'D LIKE TO STAND BY HIM
CAN'T SHAKE THIS FEELING THAT I HAVE

AGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
CAN'T SHAKE THIS FEELING THAT I HAVE

THE WORST IS JUST AROUND THE BEND
AND DOES HE NOTICE MY FEELINGS FOR HIM?
AND WILL HE SEE HOW MUCH HE MEANS TO ME?
I THINK IT'S NOT TO BE

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I THINK IT'S NOT TO

BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE"

Screaming sure felt good!

((LW is going to audition for the part of Lock))


She was hesitant to be here, auditioning. The she-wolf wasn't used to making herself stand out like so. It was bad business for someone that was a prankster at heart. But word had reached the she-wolf's ears about a play that was to happen (and rumor had it that it was 'mandatory'). And not just any play. It was the Nightmare Before Xmas play. There was just no questions needed to be asked after that. The play itself was a good enough excuse for anyone to audition for it! That in no way made it any easier to get up on the stage and actually audition.

It had been a little difficult for LW to choose which part she wanted to try out for, but come on! How could you say no to dressing up as a devil and showing that inner deviant? Lock had her name all over it. And she didn't even need to find a tail for a costume! Little devil horns could be attached to a headband and put on. And finding a red outfit shouldn't be too difficult for the she-wolf, right?

As it was, she was able to put together some sort of devil outfit just in time for the auditions. And she'd done a little homework and rehearsed the song that she would have to sing if she wanted to get the part. Of course, the she-wolf wasn't one hundred percent sure if she really wanted the part. But she could try and see what happened! Those violet eyes peeked out to look around and watch the person before her. It did nothing to help qualm her fears of getting up on stage though.

Breathing deeply and curling her tail about her feet, the she-wolf shuffled onto the stage as the previous student exited. Oh man! It was even worse actually being up there in the spotlight! Staffers were going to know her face well now. Oh Jack damnit. Ah well. Looked like there was no turning back at this point. Besides, after watching other students LW had realized this couldn't be any worse than when she danced! The she-wolf loved dancing and didn't care who in all of Halloween saw her dancing. So, keeping that in mind, she announced herself.

"Names Little-Wolfe and I'm tryin' for the part of Lock."

Now announced, she had to go through with it all. The she-wolf jumped back and landed in a crouch, tail curled up and animated in a mischievous way. Her eyes flashed and a sly grin formed.

"I've got something, listen now," she cupped a hand to her ear and gestured for her 'audience' to listen now.

"This one is real good, you'll see" LW grinned and leaped up and stood tall, gaze sweeping over all that watched her.

"We'll send a present to his door"

"Upon there'll be a note to read" the she-wolf mimed wrapping a present with a devious glint to her eyes and shuffled along the stage like she was leaving it at a door. Then she held her hand out like a sheet of paper and wrote along her palm with an invisible pen.

"Now, in the box we'll wait and hide" LW pounced towards where she'd left her invisible present at the door and crouched down like she was hiding.

"Until his curiosity entices him to look inside" this time when she jumped from the 'box' she acted as if she was nabbing something. She stood, frozen in a pose that suggested having grabbed a person, before straightening. LW bowed, mumbling a "thanks" to her watchers and promptly scampered off the stage for the next student to take her place.

Shehk had been disappointed. She -had- been aiming to try out for the part of Zero, but once she'd realized the school was going to prevent her from climbing up on stage in canine form as a dog with a sheet over her head, she'd had to go to plan-B.

She was already there, pinstripes were commonplace for her and..
...

well.. why should she let this opportunity die off? However, it was just the look on Arel's face that got to her...

and the fact she didn't know the words at all.. well.. she'd work around that. Somehow.

However, once she got up on stage and opened her mouth, it seemed things were going to be normal enough.

They weren't.

And honestly, Shehk didn't care. Once she was done, she took a quick bow for her audacity, before she BOOKED IT to the back of the auditorium. Good grief, where had she gotten rubbed-on to be so...well.. -rebellious-?