It's Curtains Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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itscurtains2021-06-12 12:00 pm
stagemanagers) wrote in itscurtains2021-06-12 12:00 pm
First Trial
[As the investigation ends, you'll hear Hester's voice inviting you to the auditorium. As this happens, the twin doors on either side of the concession stand, across from the gym, will click open. You can enter on either side; both go to the same place.
When you enter the auditorium, it's dark. There's only the small lights along the walkway behind all the seats, just enough to illuminate where you're going. There's a central path between the seats, down towards where you know the stage must be. That's where you must be going, right? As you pass each row of seats, the lights at their ends flick on, marking your procession and slowly making more and more of the room visible. Shortly, you can see your destination: a circle of podiums stationed in the orchestra pit, below the lip of the darkened, curtained stage. They're all identical, labeled with a cast member's name, save for Mumble's, which is draped in black crepe and has a framed monochrome photo of him - Elijah Wood him - on top.
When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. It's time to meet the Wizard.
The mechanical head, with glowing green eyes, is installed above the stage and the still-closed curtain. Even if you were standing on the stage, it'd be well out of reach. It peers down at all of you, its motions fluid, and speaks with a booming, artificial-sounding voice:]
Welcome to your first trial, everyone. I am the Wizard. It's time to determine who was responsible for the murder of Mumble. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and work together - you'll have to show teamwork if you want to leave this room alive.
When you enter the auditorium, it's dark. There's only the small lights along the walkway behind all the seats, just enough to illuminate where you're going. There's a central path between the seats, down towards where you know the stage must be. That's where you must be going, right? As you pass each row of seats, the lights at their ends flick on, marking your procession and slowly making more and more of the room visible. Shortly, you can see your destination: a circle of podiums stationed in the orchestra pit, below the lip of the darkened, curtained stage. They're all identical, labeled with a cast member's name, save for Mumble's, which is draped in black crepe and has a framed monochrome photo of him - Elijah Wood him - on top.
When you reach the podiums, the lights above the stage finally come on. It's time to meet the Wizard.
The mechanical head, with glowing green eyes, is installed above the stage and the still-closed curtain. Even if you were standing on the stage, it'd be well out of reach. It peers down at all of you, its motions fluid, and speaks with a booming, artificial-sounding voice:]
Welcome to your first trial, everyone. I am the Wizard. It's time to determine who was responsible for the murder of Mumble. Feel free to talk amongst yourselves and work together - you'll have to show teamwork if you want to leave this room alive.
...Paved With Good Intentions cw: reference to historical suicide
Finally, she gathers her strength, standing up in Salieri's arms while she stands at her podium as tall and as straight as she can. Even as her eyes still yet look distant and terrified.
Her voice doesn't do much to inspire courage, either, for it trembles, even as she sings.]
Take off this uniform and leave the show
And I'm standing here right now because I have to know
Have I been guilty all this time...? ♪
...
I couldn't sleep last night.
[She looks down at her podium.]
I brought the photo with me, and...I decided to finally look at it. Everyone else had, by that point. What I saw was...three. Three coffins, inside a crypt, with these...cards...beneath each one. One, my husband's. "Kaiser Franz Joseph, 1830-1916. Died of pneumonia". There was mine-"Empress Elisabeth, 1837-1898. Assassinated by anarchist Luigi Lucheni in Geneva, Switzerland.". And then--and...then.
[Her hands come together, as if holding the photo at that moment. She's not, of course.]
"Kronprinz Rudolf. 1858-1889. Killed his mistress, and then...himself. At Mayerling Hunting Lodge, after an argument with his parents."
[Her hands shake.]
"This death, and the resulting political changes in succession, are believed to be among the causes...that helped to lead Europe to a half-century of war and political upheaval."
An argument...with my son...a man I...I've never met...and yet...could it be? Am I really what he said? Was I really what began the doom of the Hapsburgs? And...even of Europe?
[Her hands fell.]
I didn't sleep. I was...tempted. To kill. But I couldn't. In the end...what would the use be? Someone here would lose their lives...and I...and I see people from the future here. That they're here, and telling me such things about what happened...but...they're not angry or sad, it's just...their lives! How could I be selfish to think saving my son from mortal sin would...make things right?
That's not what an empress...no. That's not what I would do. No matter how painful it would be to know how my son died, it's not worth taking another life to change what Death has wrought.
And...when I realized that, I felt...better. Like a weight was off my shoulders. I went to burn the photo with a song in my heart, and...I danced, like I never danced before! I went everywhere...but...
[She falters a bit.]
As I was setting the photo alight... I saw that the freezer door was open. I thought I'd...closed it after I'd gotten my ice cream!...so...I went over, and...made sure it was closed, properly......before I left...with what was left of the burning photo in my hand...
[She stops, for now, closing her eyes as she wipes them.]
I didn't know anyone might have been in there...
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It was an accident. It's all a mistake. There is dread in his stomach, tying into terrible knots as he moves to offer her a handkerchief, unthinkingly, as she wipes her eyes]
It was an accident. Purely. Nothing more. How were you to know? [he's shaky, though, resting a hand on the railing to steady himself as well, and ask--]
Then...what happened after you left?
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It was some time before...I heard a loud bang. It startled me and I ran as fast as I could! I looked through the doors and cabinets and then...
[A sob.]
I opened the freezer...and he was...there, under boxes ans...he wasn't moving. He was alive....but so cold...!
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And...you thought to warm him up. [it's not a difficult conclusion to come to. He would've done the same thing]
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Peregrine wraps her arms around herself. She doesn't want to hear any more of this. ]
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[She starts to lose it again.]
I brought him there...thinking he'd be all right in the morning...!
[Though she is a child of the Alps and their culture, she is also a privileged child. Cold the way Mumble was cold...it simply never happened. Cold, for her, is fixed by sitting by a nice fire, in a warm blanket. A nice cup of cocoa.
It always got better in the morning.]
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--of course. Of course, why would you think otherwise? [his voice trembles slightly, and he clears his throat]
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[She buries her head in her hands.]
It's too much to bear...!
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I'm sorry, Elisabeth. I'm so sorry.
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[There's a choking sound as Elsa tries to speak. It hurts to speak through the lump in her throat.]
It wasn't your fault.... you tried to stop him from dying. That has to mean something!
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[That sits in her gut like a cold stone, rolling back and forth, making her sea-sick.]
So... You moved him to the locker rooms?
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[This is stirring feelings in LSP, and she doesn't like it. She didn't do anything, she's not the bad guy here. But this feels real bad nonetheless.]
...Sorry I kind of accidentally called you a murderer earlier before we knew you did it. This all lumping sucks.
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[ Her tone is shaky and distressed, and her body language is also shaken. But her face barely changes, even in the midst of all this. ]
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But- did he leave on his own? You did not kill Mumble. He was alive when he left, he put on his clothes himself, right?!
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No, you couldn't have..! You were trying to save him!
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The breath is knocked out of him, and tears well in his eyes. His voice is soft and broken, a benediction, a prayer.]
There are moments that the words don't reach,
There is suffering too powerful to name...
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[Elle is crying, her eyes red.]
It was an accident! And you tried to fix it!
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[Wait, what?]
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Elle that still sounds pretty bad.
[Spongebob voice "Well if it's manslaughter-"]
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...I think.