Not one for waiting, Monday will explore the theatre before heading to Thesing's chamber, maybe before if he's not there.
"Oh my, Thesing, you weren't bluffing, she is quite a treat." Monday happily purrs on seeing the other woman.
Having been sequestered back into her consciousness, Tuesday concurs.
The woman laying in Thesing's bed wearing just a sheet smiles provacatively. Singy, Who's your friend? Thesing looks Monday up and down and says, Someone to join us? He leaves the question hanging out there.
"A friend to him and hopefully a friend to you." Monday coos back to the woman with equally provocative smile. "And I was just about to ask you the same thing, Singy." Monday tosses back at the actor while emphasizing that particular pet name.
Thesing shows up at the theater smug. When he sees Monday, he gives her a bow and blows an air kiss her way.
Calsenica waves enthusiastically at Mera when she sees her and rushes up to give her a hug.
Delour looks confused at all this while Millech just harrumphs and continues with his duties.
Robahl watches all this tapping his foot on the floor. Well if we are all done with pleasantries, let us get to work! This is the last day before our public dress rehearsal and I expect you all to be perfect! Let's begin!
Monday gives Thesing an exaggerated curtsy along with a "Singy..."
Apparently his talent has worn off onto her.
Mera hugs Calsenica and whispers a few lines which causes them both to fall into laughter. Obviously an inside joke or story told to which they our both only privy to the punchline. Mera winks a goodbye and heads off to prepare for the day. When she catches a blown kiss from Thesing to Monday she stops in her tracks, frozen.
No, it couldn't be.
She looks between Monday and Thesing a few times, but shakes it off. Clearly he's simply just dreaming.
As she walks up to Monday she whispers, "Productive evening I presume?"
She approaches her work as she does every other day and without much effort glides through the process of performing without even trying too hard.
"Yeah, I meant to do some snooping but Thesing brought along a fine litte treat and she, uh, distracted me." Monday whispers back.
Tal returns blissfully unaware iof the previous nights activities by most of the group. Arriving promptly he prepares for another sour day of practice until he hears Robahl mention that this was the last practice before rhe public dress rehearsal. That idea cheered him up immensely as this show was almost over.
perform
The idea was too good to be true though and Tal found himself not concentrating on his lines or performance. Instaed he was found daydreaming constantly of spending some time with Lily during the day and not being shouted at aor accosted by actors who had nothing better to do than perform fo rhte nobles benefit. While some of the people behind the scenes here were hard working and honest Tal was done with the theater and all of the other actors that made up the cast.
Naberius wakes up with a terrible hangover. As a result, his performance is less than stellar.
Whenever they have the time, he gathers the others and tells them about the fruits of Vasco's labour: the flamboyantly dressed man and his destination, the 'private' boarding house.
While Naberius describes the flamboyantly dressed man, Mera begins begins to frown. "Tell me, did he have a pipe that smells of something between opium and that rotten pesh? And these colors, golds and crimsons I bet, hmmm?"
With an affirmation she lets her head hang and takes a deep breath. "That sound remarkably like my wonderful and dear Seoghal to me. What could he possibly be meeting Thesing for." As usual, she speaks Thesing's name as if it's a bad taste in her mouth.
"SeOgHaL?" a low raspy growl escapes from the Phantom's lips as his form shifts and seems to strain against his costume.
He's not here. Please, calm down. Please, stay calm. Please... Monday worryingly looks back and forth between her brother and Mera quickly.
Naberius takes an involuntary step away from Tuesday, stifling a shudder. As much as he tried, he could not force himself to be completely at ease around the phantom.
"And who is this Seoghal?" he asks. "Should I know of him?"
"He. HuRt. MeRa." the phantom continued to growl though gritted teeth.
To that Monday doesn't even bother to assuage her brother's anger, instead getting a focused look on her face as his anger fed back into her.
Mera moves her hand to her forehead rubs her temple with her right hand and motions dismissively with her left in the air above her head. "He's ... He's." She struggles to find the correct word and ends up say, "He's not important. Truly. I don't understand why he would be meeting with Thesing though. I knew that snake was up to no good."
She reaches over and puts a gentle hand on Tuesday's back and smiles up at him, "I'm fine, thank you."
Looking at Monday she asks curiously, "It appears you did some undercover reconnaissance last night. What did you discover?"
"That he surrounds himself with women that are far better performers than himself. And that his pet name is Singy. He denied everything regarding the meeting however." Monday nonchalantly says.
At Mera's touch the phantom's ire seems to recede somewhat. Giving here a look he then closes his eyes and begins breathing in and out in order to reign in his thoughts.
Naberius frowns upon hearing about Monday's 'undercover' work, but says nothing.
Mera's smile broadens as Tuesday returns to himself once more. For some reason she doesn't quite understand, he doesn't spook her in the least. Not like he's a tiefling or anything! Those filthy-
Mera clears her throat and turns back to Monday and mouths Singy? She shakes her head and responds, "Right. Well whatever is going on he's obviously up to no good."
Monday rolls her eyes as well as mouthing back a yep. "And whatever it is, it involves Calsenica, which has me worried for her. She's sweet, and naive as a child." Monday adds on.
Seeing that familiar frown on the Diabolist, Monday will calmly step over to the man and whisper up into his ear.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Naberius looks very awkward discussing private matters in public, albeit quietly. He leans down towards Monday and whispers something back.
Eyes widening slightly Monday reaches a hand up to cup one side of Naberius' face while she kisses the other.
Mera waits for the exchange to happen between Naberius and Monday, not wanting to intrude on their private moment. When the time is right she says with a completely straight face, "You know, you may have some competition from Calesnica. My cousin over here pratically had her eating out of her hand!"
"Oh? " Monday replies with a wry smile while gently nudging the wizard in the ribs. "Competition for or from? Regardless, competition's a good thing, I guess I'll have to step up my game."
The conjurer goes from shyly smiling and touching his cheek, to shock at Mera's sudden betrayal.
"What? No!" he sputters. "I was not trying to... you were the one who..."
Cut short by Monday, he instead chooses to affect a look of dignified outrage. At least he tries to.
Monday can't help but giggle as the Diabolist pouts. "Don't worry Nabe, maybe we can invite Calsenica along some time and see how competitive we can get?"
With that twist, Mera spins on her heels away from them to find Tal to see what he's up to.
Tal, focused on not trying to screw up any more than he was already barely even noticed when Mera, Monday and Naberius were talking amongst themselves. Arriving late to the party Tal is in time to see Naberius and Monday enjoying some public affection. Catching as well some of the comments Tal shakes his head and goes back to practicing his lines and pretending that a spot on the wall is Thesing or Robahl's head and tries hitting it with the whip. Spying Mera coming over Tal stops his attempts at forgetting the dreary day. How are those 2 holding up? It seems like they are doing just fine as long as they have each other to be with.
Giving her an even look Tal asks with sincerity in his voice but also makes it plain that he is not leading her on. How are you holding up knowing that the dress rehearsal is tomorrow and this is going to be for real come a few days?
Mera looks over her shoulder at the pair before turning back to Tal. "Those two are just fine. Quite the odd couple, wouldn't you say? Or..." She trails off thinking, "Are they truly a couple with Tuesday in the mix? I wonder how that works."
She scrunches up her face and shakes it off before changing the subject with a wave of her hand, "Anyway. I'm fine, none of this bothers me. I can't shake the feeling that despite what we've gone through here something completely disastrous is going to occur. Sabotage or backstabbery or, who knows. I don't know why the though is lingering so."
At the end of rehearsals, Robahl's face is a bright crimson. He takes a few breaths and says in a barley controlled voice, Mera, Delour, Thesing and Calsenica well done. I will see you tomorrow. The rest...
He paces the floor silently muttering to himself. You can barely hear him say 'Why me' over and over again. Finally he turns to you all and says, That was some of the worst acting I have ever seen in my life! People, don't you know we have a public dress rehearsal tomorrow? Do you not realize that the audience will be vicious? I hate to see what they will do to you tomorrow if you perform as vomit-inducing shamble of a performance as you did today? If it wasn't so late I would fire the lot of you and replace you! Luckily there are others that will save this show and it won't be the second coming of earthfall!
Tal just shakes his head but whether it is from his own embarrassment of his performance or the tirade of Robahl it is had to tell. Yes Robahl, we understand. WE were horrible today but chalk it up to nerves before a live audience. Don't worry though. We will give them what they want and the bloodshed to go with it. After all that is the purpose of this entire play is it not.
After that Tal drags his feet along to the blacksmith to get the rapier for Mera so she can use it for the play the next day.
The old smith greets Tal with a look of pride and anxiousness. It took me all day, but here it is! He leads Tal over to his workbench where the outline of a sword can be seen under a long piece of fabric. With a flourish the aged smith pulls the fabric away and a beautiful sword is revealed. The smith picks it up and reverently offers it to Tal for his approval. After a few minutes he smiles, Well? What do you think?
With the dress rehearsal scheduled at 4:00, Robahl asks that you arrive at the theater at 2:00 the latest. You find him and Millech busily inspecting props and scenery for the last time. About 3:30 you hear the crowd start filling up the theater. As the 4:00 hour approaches, the crowd becomes more boisterous.
Bring on the entertainment!
When is this thing going to start?
Does anyone have any rotten fruit? I want to be ready!
These are just some of the things you hear being shouted along with many guffaws.
Delour spends the time sitting in front of her dressing mirror silently muttering her lines.
Calsenica is trying to look brave, but the terror on her face is obvious.
Thesing keeps himself occupied by preening in front of his mirror.
At 3:55 Robahl knocks on the dressing room door and enters. Five minutes to curtains everyone. He looks at all of you and says, Do your job. Ignore the rabble. If they throw something, take it and move on. Anything less than them actually starting a fire is not cause to stop the performance. In a flash he is gone, preparing to introduce the play. As you make your way to the stage behind the curtain. You hear wild applause as Robahl steps past the curtain onto the stage. The bright stage lights momentarily blind you as Robahl exits and then the stage is dark again as the curtain falls back into place.
In a booming voice you hear Robahl bellow, Ladies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages! You are in for a treat! For the first time in a long time you will be witnessing a dress rehearsal of the infamous, terrifying, indescribable, notorious play,
The crowd erupts in applause and whistles, as Robahl again returns behind the curtain. Again the flash of spotlights blind you as he enters. As the crowd dies down and you can see again in the dimly light backstage, you see Robahl nod to Millech and the curtain is raised!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
At the tail end of Act 1 Mera catches sight of Seoghal sitting in the front row and almost loses all of her composure. She notices he looks quite displeased and for the next few acts she is unable to focus, relying completing on her natural talent to pull her through the rest of the performance.
After Act 1 Mera informs both Monday and Tuesday that Seoghal is sitting in the front row and looks quite unhappy. Not only does it pull Mera off her game but it completely derails Monday and Tuesday for the next two acts as well. After Act 3 Mera pulls them both aside and tells them that they need to focus more on the performance at hand or they won't likely even make it through the end to worry about him.
While she never cared about the play to begin with any performance she might have attempted was completely thrown off by the amount of vehemence currently being flooded into her thoughts from the ether.
At least before the day is over Mera will one less problem to worry available about.
Tal takes the sword reverently holding it carefully as to not cut himself or the master smith. Holding it in his hand Tal can feel the delicate balance between the length of the blade, the hilt and the pommel. Just enough weight to allow some thrust but light enough to be able to flick back and forth to parry incoming blows. This is a fantastic blade and quite beautiful as well.. Looking at the grip Tal sees the intricate designs and 'Infernal' writing added in gold. Smiling Tal claps the man on the back. This is better than I could have expected. Truly you are a gift to smiths everywhere. I am going to be sorry to see you leave in a couple of months. It will be impossible to replace such detail as you provide. My thanks again.
Arriving at the Theater a bit early Tal finds Mera as soon as she arrives to oresent her the weapon. Would your do me the favor of using this blade during the performance. You will find that it is perfectly balanced for thrusting and parrying incoming blows. I had it crafted especially for this performance. You will notice the intricate designs in the grip and the hilt. I am hoping that should we meet with resounding succes that everyone will remember this design and ask for more of them to be made.
Perform 1st
Perform 2nd
Perform etc
Perform
Perform
Perform
Perform
Dazzled as the lights shine through the curtains Tal is slow to respond but manages to perform a stellar performance during the second third and fourth acts. His performance was such that it seemed to complement Mera quite well. After that however things were not as impressive.
Hearing the clamour of the unwashed masses, Naberius makes sure to protect himself from getting pelted with putrescent projectiles.
The wizard manages to hold himself together for most of the rehearsal, though once more the Trial of Pleasure proves to be his greatest challenge. After a strong start, it takes him the better part of the play to recover from having to sing bawdy songs in front of a crowd.
Calsenica, weather it is nerves or the distraction of the unruly crowd struggles. At the sight of her obvious distress, several of the audience members make obscene comments to her and about her. Other than that, the crowd claps and whistles appreciatively as the curtain falls at the end of the act.
Monday, distracted, now becomes the object of the crowd’s jeers. Thesing seems to have the crowd eating out of his hands and his performance is interrupted several times by applause.
The crowd is so swept up in the trial of pleasure that they sit with rapt attention.
You see several of the audience on the edge of their seats while you perform the trial by ‘The Belly of the Beast’. At the end of the act, the crowd erupts in applause.
Again Monday’s less than stellar performance causes the usual round of lewd comments. Several pieces of rotten fruit are hurled in her direction.
She is easily able to dodge the fruit from the clumsy throws.
In this act, the crowd’s derision is directed at Tal. Instead of the male members of the audience jeering, it is now the female audience members. Their comments are so lewd, Tal is glad Lilly is not in the audience. While the male members of the audience may not be jeering, they do try to pelt Tal with rotten fruit.
Using his warrior’s training, Tal has no problem avoiding the squishy missiles.
Angry that their fruit projectiles have yet to hit a target, the crowd concentrates their aim on Monday as she again falters.
With a slight smile, Monday dodges the fruit further angering the audience as this is their last chance to use the fruit.
Despite the commotion, the crowd is still enamored with the play and as Mera delivers the line,’ We shall see who is judged!’ Thunderous applause is heard throughout the theater. It takes several moments for the audience to quiet down before the act can continue!
As the final curtain falls, the audience wildly cheers and whistles. As you take your final bows, Thesing and Delour receive a louder applause than the other cast mates. Delour is barely able to contain a smile as the applause for Calsenica is significantly less than hers. As Mera steps on the stage, however, the audience erupts wildly in applause. The commotion is so great that it can be heard even outside the theater. The audience gives a standing ovation as several roses land at her feet.
The seat occupied by Seoghal, however, is empty!
Naberius takes his bows, and then gracefully steps away from the limelight to applaude Mera alongside the audience.
Tal takes the opportunity as soon as it is possible to escape off the stage and into the back away from the harsh lights and the audience up front. At least the performance went better then practice the day before. As for the rest, they seemed to do quite well for themselves. Perhaps this will pan out well tomorrow better than he expected. He will be happy to collect his bet from Thesing at this rate.
Tal looks for Robahl to see if there are any last minute instructions before he sees how the rest are doing and fie there is any plans to meet early before heading to the theater.
Mera certianly does the complete opposite of Tal. She soaks up every moment, every whistle, every chat of her name and takes it all in. She admires the roses being tossed on stage and puts both hands to her lips and kisses them before pushing them out to the crowd. She waves to her fans and with a flourish twirls on the stage before taking another bow.
She had been avoiding looking in Seoghal's direction for the latter half, focusing instead on her work. She lets her gaze move to his seat and takes note of his absence, swallowing hard.
She stays on the stage as long as possible, breathing in the applause and enjoying every ounce of the attention.
Staying on stage with Mera and Naberius but off to the side with the Diabolist so that their Diva could have her rightfully earned bliss the twins nonetheless look about to wherever Seoghal could have vanished to.
As you make your way to the theater, it seems that on every corner there is someone wearing a brightly painted board advertising the night’s performance. Some of the board wearers are quite animated and inventive adding parts to the play that just don’t exist. Some just keep nipping at bottles they are holding behind the boards.
When you arrive at the theater, it seems like everyone in Westcrown is here. There is already a line of people waiting to get through the doors. Starving musicians and pickpockets both eagerly apply their trades.
Inside, the theater is a flurry of activity. Stagehands are running back and forth all under the watchful eye of Millech. When Millech sees Naberius, he gives him a wink and whispers, I got ye back! Robahl is also running back and forth, but when he sees all of you, he does what he rarely does and smiles. Ah! My intrepid performers! We have a full house tonight! Remember your lines and break a leg! In a flash he is gone. You each get into your costumes and make-up which is a now familiar routine. Just like the night before, Robahl knocks on the door. Five minutes to curtains! Like the night before, you take your places on the darkened stage. Robahl winks as he passes through the curtains onto the stage. In a booming voice he says,
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the premiere event at this wondrous new theater! Let me begin by extending my humblest thanks to the Church for providing the—how shall I say?—punch in tonight’s spectacle. And also my sincere gratitude and thanks to our illustrious and benevolent lordmayor, Aberian Arvanxi.
The crowd wildly cheers as you imagine the Lord-Mayor rising out of his seat in his personal box and waving to the audience. As a hush spreads, you hear the opening notes of the orchestra as Delour steps from behind the curtain and onto the stage. She sings her opening number and thunderous applause is heard when she is finished. She exits stage-left and then the curtain rises.
Act 1: Condemnation
Order in the Tribunal. The Court of His Honor Paraduke Montigny Haanderthan, Black Tongue of Asmodeus, Magistrate Maleficarum, now holds session. All rise.
Be seated, members of the Court. Today this court seeks truth, or at least shadows thereof, from one Larazod Rilsane, honored veteran of the Shadestar War, member of a once gloried house, of recent fallen in Asmodeus’s regard. The accused stands on several counts of failed conspiracy, evidenced thereof by the industrious interrogations of the court’s own Seeker, Drovalid Vorclune, administered with his usual diligence and severity. In these interviews Vorclune gathered from notable sources, only a few of whom survived their conversations with the lash, that Larazod of the Rilsane held audience with undesirables—the topic of their whispered covenant the activities of none other than myself. A most serious affair. Service to Asmodeus’s ever-darkening glory is never without risk of menace, betrayal, and threat of doom. My family and I have long suffered the bumbling attempts of assassins who would tear at our dark lord’s visage as casually as they befoul their mothers’ beds.
What they lack in cunning they bolster with sheer desperation, evidenced by consorting with all manner of Aroden-suckling knaves, and aged wiz-worms who trust in mystic secrets over the Dark One’s love.
You hereby stand accused, Larazod, along with your illseeming compatriots, of conspiracy to undertake grievous harm to the institution of this tribunal, namely myself, Paraduke Montigny Haanderthan. How answer thee these charges, Larazod of House Rilsane? Be thou maligned by a scandal-brewer’s wagging tongue, or dost thou cleave to my comings and goings as a bloat fly to a fresh cadaver? Speak! And know that lies are my closest friends. They’ll betray you before I. Speak the truth or do worse than die!