xp_logs | MsN: Itchy & Scratchy

In which another accident slows down the production of the play.

With the men's costumes already taken care of Joe quickly, but quietly, moved toward the women's dressing rooms. There were only a few minutes before the actors would be arriving and he'd already lost enough time to that janitor who'd decided that the back door of the auditorium was a good place to sneak a smoke. Joe added the pest to his list of people to take care of once the play was done. He couldn't believe all of the accidents that happened over the last few weeks hadn't scared anyone off- or hurt anyone enough to have them withdraw from the play. Today, they'd finally get the message. He listened at the door of the women's dressing room for signs of life, then quietly moved in and started wreaking his terrible revenge. With a small, half full, canister of itching powder- ordered off a website several weeks earlier- Joe quickly sprinkled a tiny amount in each costume on the racks.

Suddenly he heard something. Footsteps. Joe tossed the canister into the corner and put himself flush against the wall behind the racks just as the door opened.

Callie pushed open the door, making sure to hold it open for the girl behind her. There was nothing that signaled to her that something was wrong or out of place as she made her way toward the back of the room. She wrinkled her nose at the uncomfortable costume that was waiting for her. "Well at least we'll be through with all of this soon right," she turned and asked Angel.

"I like the costumes but, geez, I'm getting tired of the silly name," Angel sulked. It wasn't even that bad of a stage name but some of the nonXavier's people had taken to calling her 'Moth' - they weren't mean about it, and they thought it quite cute, but still! Moth! "I mean, I totally thought I was going to have a fairy-er name, like Barbarella or something." Angel paused in front of her changing area. "Wait, was that a porn star or a fairy person?"

"It's an old sci-fi movie starring Jane Fonda," Karolina replied, following behind the other girls and heading straight for one of the mirrors to fix her hair. It was frizzing up today for some reason and it drove her crazy. "It's not a porn but it is pretty much just all about sex. It's total camp. Can someone grab my costume for me?" She didn't really expect any of her schoolmates to do it but the regular Salem kids were actually cool most of the time.

Catseye was closest, so she handed Karolina her costume without speaking, lashing her tail. As she held it out, however, she picked up a slight scent. It was the same scent she had smelled in the dressing room the other day. A masculine scent rather than female, though that was all she could figure out about it. She sniffed liberally a few times, holding her nose close to the costume, then sneezed before holding it out again.

Karolina turned away from the mirror, horrified. "Ew!" She reached out gingerly and took the hanger from Catseye, looking at her costume like it was crawling with bugs or something. Even her aura was pulled in tightly against her. She totally wasn't wearing it now. "Maybe I'll skip dressing for rehearsal. Thanks a lot."

Yvette rolled her eyes. "It is only the sneeze," she replied as she pulled on her own costume. There was a slightly odd smell to it, like some kind of talc, but she ignored it. "It is not as if Catseye is having the plague."

Meggan stared in disbelief, momentarily looking down at the costume she was midway finished putting on. "Let's hope we don't get the flu--or laryngitis. We don't need to end up miming our parts...even if I am the bricks of a wall for a little bit." Distractedly, she sniffed the arm of her costume--something was there, but she assumed it was her imagination, shaking her head at what she assumed was paranoia.

"A sneeze," Karolina corrected sharply and rolled her eyes, "Even if she's not sick, it's still unhygienic. And gross." Karolina hung the costume back up and dusted her hands off--they felt like they were covered in something--double gross. "Whatever, I'll make something work for rehearsal, that'll get washed and it's not a big deal." She looked down at her own outfit then tugged off her sweater and overshirt so she was wearing just a sundress. Shoes and leggings went next. A few ribbons swiped from one of the extra costumes dressed up the white cotton and while it wasn't quite fairy queen, it would do in a pinch. Then she scratched her neck.

Across the room, Angel had already wiggled into her costume but was fighting with the fireproof wings that had been made for her. They were a pain to put on, especially when she had an itch down her back. "Argh!" she groaned, putting the wings down in order to scratch her back. Or attempted to. "Can someone - god, I can't reach! Can someone scratch my back, it feels like it's - ha ha - on fire or something!"

Being a quick dresser, it wasn't until Callie had put on all the components of her costume that she felt the burn of the itching powder. The fake corset was not as tight as a real one, but it still pushed the fabric of her dress closer to her skin. "Ow ow ow ow," she groaned as she attempted to pull off clothes, concentrating only on the fact that her skin felt, as Angel had so eloquently put it, like it was on fire. "Who's idea was it to put us in corsets?"

Catseye sniffed at Callie and at Angel as she used her long nails to scratch Angel's back. She sneezed again. "The clothes do not smell right. OffOffOff! Now!" she commanded of her friends. She debated using her claws to rip the garments off Callie, Angel, Meggan, and Karolina, but hesitated. Yvette seemed okay. Karolina and Meggan and Callie weren't screaming in pain. And a lot of work had gone into the costumes. She would only tear them off if she had to. Instead, she turned to Yvette. "Does SharpSkinGirl hurt too? Does anyone else smell funny smell?"

Yvette shook her head. "No. But I do not get the itchy. My skin is too hard, yes?" She frowned. "But there was the strange smell. Like the bathroom powder."

Thanking God that the wings hadn't gone on yet as Angel was in the process of trying to, gently, rip her way out of her clothes. Without actually ripping anything. It was harder in actuality. "Goddamn it," she said, giving in to the strong desire to curse even though she didn't do it that often. From the description, she knew exactly what it was. "It's itching powder! Some joker ... ARGH! Cats is right, clothes off!"

Hearing that, Meggan immediately began throwing off the clothes she had just finished putting on. She didn't want to end up laying on the floor, crying because the itching wouldn't stop. As it was, Meggan was noticing the beginnings of an uncomfortable sensation around one of her arms. "They got it in the sleeves on my shirt! Not a lot, but enough." She rubbed at her arms, knowing that wouldn't help much.

"How did itching powder get in the clothes?" Catseye wondered, trying to help her friends get their costumes off. "Who did it?"

"It's the curse, obviously." Karolina was stripping off her clothes again, pulling her overshirt back on in place of her dress. Her aura flared, hot reds and oranges. Annoyed. "Who cares how it happened? We're cursed, our costumes aren't wearable and we all need to shower which is going to delay rehearsal. Someone tell the guys that we're going to be late."

"Catseye cares," she replied, tail lashing in the air. "Because it's wrong." She continued to help her friends undress, turning to Yvette. "Does SharpSkinGirl want Catseye to go talk to the boys or does SharpSkinGirl want to?"

Yvette bit her lip, glancing at her friends, scratching and uncomfortable. "I will go," she replied. "Please to be helping the others."