HtH99 – Ablam’s Spring Cleaning
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Ablam and Eclair clean up the first floor. They find some old props in boxes.
"Thanks for helping out with the cleaning, Ablam."
There is a muffled grunt from behind the tall pile of boxes carried in Ablam's hands, before she sets it down with a large thump next to the stairs. Dusting off her fingerless gloves, the girl looks upon the urban warzone that the first floor has been transformed into with her red, cat-like eyes.
Cardboard boxes filled half the first floor hallway, having been excavated from the rooms adjacent to "The Echoes' Chamber", our newly built drawing room. While the other girls have gone out into Bitsborough to hang up posters for Opening Day, Eclair and Ablam have stayed behind to clean up the rooms on the first floor.
"Who knew there was so much... stuff!" Holding both sides of her head, Eclair dusts off her own jacket, pushing up her glasses with the other hand.
In the name of tidiness and cleanliness, Eclair had decided to clear out the rooms adjacent to the drawing room, only to find that the very first room they ran into was filled to the brim with cardboard boxes, some stacking as high as the ceiling. Little wonder nobody used that room; it was being used as a temporary storeroom!
There are even posters for older shows from another era of the theatre house, since the Starfallow Troupe feature prominently on this one. One of the seniors who have left the house, Anno, is dressed like a fortune teller, spreading her arms in the center of this poster, while another senior who graduated the house, Henrietta, is in the corner, throwing her arms up in the air in Anno's direction, being the good hypewoman she is!
Eclair puts the framed image down by a tall stack of wooden boxes. She had been here for some time, but seeing all these old memories surface gave her a small appreciation for how weighty this theatre house actually is. She is not the first generation of actresses and dramaturg who will pass through these halls.
Hopefully, she will not be the last as well.
Looking from the old poster, to the ball room masks, scrolls, and teacups stored here, she lets out a tiny sigh.
These were all precious memories, true, but what were they all doing on the first floor! It felt like they should be moved to the backstage, and judging from the dust that has already gathered on some of these cardboard boxes, nobody would mind if we did!
"We can definitely move the stuff that isn't ours into the backstage area," Eclair starts sealing up boxes of old props with tape. Some of these boxes are so old that they have started to leak corners of heavy books from the side. "As for the rest, we can discard what we don't need... Ablam?"
Eclair stops mid-sentence.
Ablam is kneeling on the floor, having opening up one of those unmarked containers, and from within, she brings out... a sharp, black one-piece suit. The back of the uniform is adorned with an impractical cape with velvet lining, more decorative than practical.
"Ah, Eclair! This was the first costume that was ever made for me!"
All of Ablam's initial tiredness seems to have faded away when she holds up the costume by its shoulders for Eclair to see. There is a bit of pride, a bit of remembrance, and perhaps a tiny bit of joy on Ablam's face as she rubs the old costume near to her.
"Really, Ablam? I have never seen you wear this outfit before..."
"This is an outfit that goes way back, back when I was cast as a 'spy vtuber'!"
She fits the costume against her shoulders shaking her body a little, reliving a past lifetime of high speed car chases, thrilling escapes, and wondrous ballroom dances. Quietly, almost whisper-like to herself,
"I still like it, but just a little now."
This was the first time that Eclair had ever heard of this. Eclair knows that Ablam has a strange liking for secrets and subterfuge, but she has never seen Ablam put on this costume before. This costume seems fit for one with a darker, more worldly persona. What adventures did Ablam go on with this outfit? What dastardly plots did she foil?
Alas, all this were a mystery to Eclair, for she met Ablam as Ablam is now; the sometimes sardonic, but inwardly earnest girl that she is.
To Eclair, the outfit looked one size too small for Ablam now, though she imagines that Ablam would still fit quite snugly inside it.
"Do you... want to wear it again?"
Ablam pauses, looking at the costume with longing eyes.
But, the girl smiles, and folds the costume back up.
"No, Eclair, this was a part of my 'old self'."
Ablam stands up, and gently puts the neatly folded costume back in the box. She tears off a long piece of tape, sealing the box up. She shakes her head, "This was a nice trip into the past, but the current me is not the same as the old me."
This was one of the earliest attempts Ablam made at crafting her vtubing persona.
It was an incomplete, imperfect attempt.
But it was honest, genuine, and spoke to the root of who Ablam actually is.
By now, however, a long time had passed.
So too did the things that Ablam wanted.
Just as Ablam looked like she was about to take the box outside into the trash, Eclair stops her.
"Hang on a second Ablam, we might be clearing out things, but we don't have to just throw away everything!" Eclair pulls out a pen and sharpie, "Some things... we can keep in the backstage as a memento. Proof we were here at all."
Scribbling lightly, Eclair pens the words "OLD PROPS - Do Not Discard" on a piece of paper.
She sticks it to the front of the box Ablam is carrying, and directs Ablam inwards, towards the backstage, before lifting up a smaller box herself.
"The backstage is going to be filled with a whole bunch of 'useless' things like this."
"Let it be, we have the space, and that's a future-dramaturg problem!" Eclair giggles, heading down the hallway alongside her companion.
"Eclair, has anyone ever told you, you have a strange way with words?"
Off to the side, a labeled box is placed gently atop the others, touched lightly by the glow of the ajar backstage door.
Some memories no longer belonged center stage. But they still belonged to the house.
We are trying something different! This is a simul-posting at the same time as the Scribblehub release! Go check out the entire series at this link!
