School

School

Burlesque Venue & Recording Studio

Location:	Hollywood, Redmond, Seattle
Lifestyle:	Squatter - Low
Biases:	None
Notables:	xxx

The venue called "School" used to be the Hollywood Schoolhouse, an old 19th century schoolhouse that has seen life as a school house, a community center, and eventually a rental hall for weddings and the like.

Layout

The edges of the School property are bounded by sunken-in plascrete pilings, providing barriers for cars and other larger vehicles trying to ram the building proper (though motorcycles are still capable of getting through). It has a fair-sized parking log on its eastern side, and the northern face, behind the club proper, has a large plot of what used to be a carefully sculpted garden, which has grown into a riotous tangle of weeds, thornvines and toxic-ground growth. There used to be a large back deck, but it has long since rotted away, with only bits of rotting wood sticking up out of the ground and protruding off the back of the house remain of it. The back door that once led to the deck has been locked.

First Floor

• Entry: The entrance is up a short flight of stairs, to a front porch area, with someone at the door taking cover. The entryway itself has a small bar with quick drinks - already mixed and poured, for quick pay-grab-drink on the way in. It is also a mingling area somewhat away from the action of the main hall.
• Main Hall: The main club area. It has tables along the walls, with lots of empty space used for spectating during performances or dancing the rest of the night. A large stage dominates the back wall, beside a locked door that used to lead out onto the former back deck.
• Bar: Sequestered off storage space and bar area. It is usually quite busy at night.
• Gallery: A place to chill and/or keep an eye out, the club usually stations at least one person here to keep an eye out for trouble. It is also used as a dark corner for patrons to make out or have small conversations. Furnished with several chairs.
• Lounge: A large lounge, with (scavenged) comfortable mismatched furnishings. A locked door along its east wall leads to a stairwell with a storage closet and the stairs that lead up to the second floor.

Second Floor

• Attic: The large space above the main hall below is dangerous. Though it has to be navigated occasionally to hang lights and other equipment, the attic is largely off-limits due to the danger of falling through the floor and into the main hall below, thanks to all the rotting wood.
• Bedrooms: A series of six bedrooms, quite spaciously designed, from the days when the rooms could be rented by clients. Each has its own bathroom.
  • 1: Aka
  • 2: Tantrum
  • 3: Finesse
  • 4: Taig
  • 5: x
  • 6: Temper
• Lounge: A comfortable space with a refrigerator technically for the use of clients of the recording studio when they are at work recording, but frequently used as a defacto living room space for those who live here.
• Tech Booth: Booth filled with technical equipment used to record and mix music.
• Recording Space: Acoustically precise and soundproofed space for recording artists at work.

Employees

Burlesque Venue
	Rielle Samarkand Hostess (-/2) Rielle brings a very notable sense of "Barrens chic" to her demeanor, making her an excellent hostess and first point of contact for customers and visitors. She is likable and learns the names of clientele quite quickly, and the staff who work for her directly like her.
	Seruva Performer (-/1) Given Seruva's background work in a Touristville strip club, she sometimes has to be guided in "scaling it back a bit," as it were. Still, she is an excellent dancer, and avidly studying the entertainment tradition of burlesque. Seruva lives in one of the squats nearby, along with Amy Cranston.
	Winter Performer (-/1) Avant garde and genderqueer, Winter specializes in gender illusions - not merely in costuming, but in on-stage effects to shift from one expression to the other in front of everyone's eyes. They are an outcast from one of the Drag Houses of Touristville, for reasons they will not discuss.
	Minotaur Security (-/2) Strong and silent, with nearly the size to be mistaken for a troll, Minotaur is an avid reader of mythology and folklore. He's long since learned to use his size and fierce demeanor to his advantage.
	Zathias Amsel Security (-/2) Zathias is the more charismatic and talkative of the current security staff. He tends to work the door, keeping an eye on those who enter for trouble.
Recording Studio
	Jaime Avery Talent Scout (-/2) Though he's done most of his work for Hollywood Simsense Entertainment over the years, Jaime also works freelance, finding performers for music venues and the like. He's become excited by the prospect of making his bones with a real recording label, and seems to be enthusiastically hunting for the next Maria Mercurial, whom he's sure will come out of the Barrens.
	Frasier Turner Musician/Sound Tech (-/1) A Barrens rat that grew up as part of the Brain Eaters, Frasier got out of the gang when he started doing grunt work for the various clubs and venues in Touristville. Since being discovered by Tantrum, he's working hard to try and make himself indispensable to School. He'll also occasionally fill in as a DJ on slow nights on the club side.
	Amy Cranston Hospitality (-/1) Pleasant-natured and affable, Amy wants to learn everything she can about the recording industry. She is woefully under-educated, however, having had the benefit only of a Barrens education with the Hill Clan. Fortunately, Temper and Tantrum vouched for her, and she is happy to help out with hospitality for the studio in exchange for lessons.

Contacts

Burlesque Venue
	Hunter Powell Smuggler (2/3) A smuggler and long-haul rigger, Hunter Powell is School's source of its rare real-alcohol top-shelf brands, smuggled across the NAN border into Redmond. He's very clearly fallen in love with the very concept and execution of burlesque, and has sworn to "never go back to no titty bar."
	Platinum Party Promoter (2/1) A protegee of the legendary promoter HiFonix, Platinum has made a good name for herself around Touristville, and has begun looking at other venues. Her plan is simple: if her parties can be responsible for the success of a real Barrens nightclub, she'll have taken another step upward in establishing her own legend.
	Detective Hadley Stevens Lone Star Detective (3/1) Well-connected at the Star, Hadley has deliberately passed over offers to promote him higher in Lone Star's hierarchy. He works the streets like damned few others do, and likes his job just fine. He's technically investigating the Crash 2.0 bombing of the Long Star Hollywood Outpost, but considering that he thought the project was a shit idea and he actually knows who did it, he's mostly racking up the overtime on the case as an excuse to spend more time in Redmond...and in School in particular.
Recording Studio
	Leola Tempest Musician (1/1) The first artist who recorded a moderate hit at the School studios, Leola found her way to the establishment through Temper and the Storming Skies Society. She is a Barrens rat with a mind for her art as well as a desire to help the people of the district. She is at the forefront of the rising genre of Totem Rock, and dedicates all her performances to Thunderbird.
	Hype Music Journalist & Personality (2/1) Though not altogether famous, Hype has a not-insignificant following as a music journalist and a Matrix personality for those interested in club music. Hype records music review and interview vlogs for several music-based Matrix sites, and also hosts his own blog where many of Seattle's up-and-coming musicians vie to try and get him to play their single. He's fascinated (and maybe a little in love) with Leola Tempest, and is watching the studio carefully to see if anyone else comes out of it.
	Monica Jacobson Media Attorney (1/2) A media attorney, it is through Monica's offices that the studio operates as anything vaguely resembling a legal entity. Her work is good, though she's relatively new in media law practice.