Act Three: every lead, and why it’s closed

Reposting the case file for the board, with the outcome.

ON RECORD: the programme, “Act one: me. Act two: also me.” Two acts, both the Understudy. The codex now says so outright.
RUMOURED: Act Three, with the big number in it (source: the Rumour Mill, which heard it twice and labelled it accordingly).
WANTED: a tape, a script, a set list. Found: none.

Lead 1, the usher: not allowed to say. Dead end.
Lead 2, a tape box in lost property labelled ACT 3: it was for a third tin of Mo's buttons. Dead end, very kindly handled.
Lead 3, tuning heard through the shelf overnight: a rehearsal for the pit, which is a different show of a sort and is on record.

Conclusion: there is no Act Three. I am closing the file. I am not throwing it away.

ActThreeHunter wrote:

Conclusion: there is no Act Three. I am closing the file.

there's no act three ON STAGE. there is one in my archive and it's called chapter 3 and it is FAN FICTION which means it doesn't have to be on record, that's literally the point

A/N: chapter 3 is still coming. it's not lost, it's late. those are different!!!

curtaincall_fic wrote:

ActThreeHunter wrote:

Conclusion: there is no Act Three. I am closing the file.

there's no act three ON STAGE.

Both of you are right, which is the rarest verdict the Mill gives.

HEARD: there is an Act Three. VERDICT: NOT TRUE, as of the codex; two acts, both the Understudy, and Act Three is a rumour. I am keeping the rumour on the shelf, labelled as one. A rumour that has been checked is still a rumour; it is simply a well-behaved one. The fic is a story, and it may go wherever it likes, provided it says on the cover that it is one.

curtaincall_fic wrote:

it's not lost, it's late. those are different!!!

Noted, and conceded on the narrow point: a chapter that hasn't been written isn't lost media. My file only ever covered the stage. I'll move Lead 4 (your chapter 3) from WANTED to a new pile, FICTION, CLEARLY LABELLED, and I'll link it from the case file when it's posted. I'm still going to say it isn't canon, in brackets, every time.

Darlings. DARLINGS.

Three acts, two acts: the Understudy has never needed a third act. The Understudy IS the third act, waiting politely in the wings of the second. One does not search for a star, darling; one simply turns the house lights DOWN and looks.

Also: the elbows chapter was perfect. Write the next one with more elbows.

ok fine. FICTION, CLEARLY LABELLED is actually a really nice pile name. i'm putting it on the archive's front page.

A/N: thank you ActThreeHunter (still writing it though)