Stacey heaved a huge sigh of relief when she managed to get to the toilet, empty her bladder and return all without mishap. Sure, she was still off balance and lightheaded, but she was feeling much better. Certainly much better than the day before. She could walk, run and sit without too much assistant.
But then a drunk person can't always tell when they're drunk. She had a feeling that despite not drinking, she was drunk. Especially with all the looks people were giving her.
By the time she got to the auditorium hall, there wasn't enough time to rehearse. Only enough time for her to do a mic test. The crew had to start preparing for the actual filming.
"What are you performing?" Landen asked her, while his brother, Last Prose, looked over his shoulder at his clipboard.
"Performing…?" Stacey looked to Last Prose for help.
Last Prose shrugged.
"You didn't tell me," he said. "When I asked, you said you were too busy preparing for exams and would think about it later."
"So I didn't prepare anything?"
"You don't remember?" Landen asked her with eyebrows raised. "You didn't prepare anything? That doesn't sound like you. You had something prepared for the ranking challenge yesterday, although you forgot it."
"Blank. My mind's still blank," Stacey hit her head and cried. "I don't know if I had something for the elimination round or not."
"Don't stress," Last Prose said, putting his hands on her head to protect it from her fists. "Calm down. It's ok. You'll think of something. You always do. Just like last night."
"You need to remember," Landen shook his head with pity, "that you have to participate in all the elimination rounds whether or not you pass the ranking competition. You need to make sure you're always prepared or if you mess up with something during an impromptu performance, you'll have to deal with the consequences. A performance made up on the spot won't be perfect all the time. You need to give yourself some leeway."
"Yes, thank you," Stacey gritted her teeth. "I know."
"It's good to see you feeling much better today anyway," Landen told her. "Go get some rest and plan your performance. You've still got an hour before we get started. We'll prepare a piano and microphone for you again like yesterday."
"Maybe you can do something about expressing your emotions. What you've been feeling like," Last Prose suggested, walking Stacey out of the auditorium. "Find something that's in your same frame of mind. That should be something relatively easy for you to access and turn into a performance."
Last Prose led a frustrated Stacey away to eat. But by the time a plate of food was placed in front of her, she had withdrawn deep into her thoughts and he couldn't seem to wake her from her reverie. She had stopped and frozen with a piece of fruit halfway to her mouth. Thieren came to take over caring for her when Last Prose was struggling, leading her back into the sickbay, where he fed her patiently.
"Open your mouth. Mm. Now chew thoroughly. Don't stop. Keep chewing," he prompted her.
When this method of feeding her didn't work, he chewed the food himself and passed it to her from mouth to mouth. She didn't seem to even notice. Her eyes were still frozen wide open and blinking but not seeing anything. It appeared she was lost deep in her thoughts. Completely lost. It reminded him of a meerkat sentry that might have fallen asleep with its eyes open.
"Here's another one. Open up. Swallow," Thieren grinned to himself at her quiet obedience that allowed him to take advantage of her in this way. He hadn't expected her to end up thinking so deep and hard that she wouldn't even know what was happening around her and just do what he said in a perfunctory manner. She was so cute.
No, wait. He changed his mind. She wasn't cute like this. The lack of reaction was unsettling. In fact, it was eerie. And worrisome. Would she wake up out of this state in time for her performance?
Kissing and taking advantage of her body in this way wasn't much fun without her trying to escape or making a fuss. Thieren frowned. No matter what he did, her body didn't react in any way. Almost as if she wasn't there. He called Dr Jin to come and examine her.
"I think she's just still tired," Dr Jin said. "It'd be best if we could give her some time off, unfortunately the nature of this program doesn't allow for that. She's fine. Just lost in thought, I believe. Deep in thought. Brain waves seem to indicate that she's in a light sleep and dreaming."
"She's sleepwalking. Daydreaming then," Thieren twitched his nose.
Dr Jin gave an awkward laugh.
"Is there a way to wake her up from this in time for the performance?" Thieren asked.
"Nothing that I would recommend. Whatever I give is more likely to harm her with side effects," Dr Jin scratched his head. "Perhaps she really just is preparing for her performance. Internally preparing."
"I'll have her performance moved to the last slot then," Thieren rubbed his cheek. "Just in case."
The elimination competition began and Stacey still hadn't woken from her reverie. Her roommates and the mentors looked at her blank expression with concern. Last Prose and many of the crew members sweated and worried for her on her behalf. When it was her turn to perform, Thieren, under the cover of the dark while the stage crew were getting everything ready, carried her on stage to the piano.
"We don't know what new wonder Impromptu Stacey will bring us today," announced Telea. "Because she has been unwell since yesterday and has spent much of today recuperating, she wasn't able to make it to rehearsal this morning. Similar to the ranking competition, she's still having a memory blank and can't remember what she had planned to perform. She hasn't even been told what number she has ranked as yesterday. From what I've heard, while she's feeling a bit better today, she's been lost in her own world for quite some time now. So none of us or the crew know what she's going to do. Stacey, wake up. It's time to give us your performance."
The stage lights blinked and a spotlight fell on Stacey once again. The triangle chimed.