CURTAIN CALL

[guardianofsplendor]

[Once all is said and done, the Leading Player turns her attention back to everyone else. She claps her hands once and the lights turn off and on in quick succession in an attempt to gain back everyone’s attention.]

Ladies! Gentlemen! Cast, crew, and audience alike! Under the usual genre conventions this would be where I would demand you vote to choose your fate, to stay with my troupe or have one of you sacrifice yourselves to the flames and bring this game to an end. However, you’ve all already made your votes clear and due to executive demand we’re obligated to present you with the ending you’ve earned by stealing my crew and forming a united front. You’re all real cute, with your private Plurks. [Wow, bitter much, LP?]

So enjoy your happy, sappy ending. I’m sure Denny’s will love having you. [She snaps her fingers and the fires in the pit finally extinguish.] Show’s over. Fastrada, get the others. Lewis, take the curtains, get the ghost lights, clean up the house. Berthe, take down the page since someone would rather go be a hermit handing out seeds to children than help me with CSS. And turn off the email notifications, I don’t even want to look at this!

[The remaining stagehands, those who didn’t respond to the cast’s attempts at friendship, look at each other and split off, posture a little downtrodden as they slink into the wings or the house. One of them starts to gather up the ghostlights from the side of the stage; another begins stripping the curtains.

The Player herself hops down from her platform, landing easily. For a moment, she stands looking down into the pit, posture tense. One hand rests on her hip; the other hangs at her side, still holding Hans’s winter coat.]

Charlemagne, get the throne.

[Still up there, the Balladeer sidesteps the stagehand as he comes to take the chair, and cautiously begins to make his way down the stairs. The Player pays him no mind; she takes a breath, straightens, and steps around the pit towards the apron.]

And as for all of you - [It’s not clear who she’s addressing now but it’s not the characters.] - we hope you’ve enjoyed your time with us, as participants or even simply as spectators. Hopefully you’ll join us the next time around. Unfortunately, I don’t think I will be. [She snaps her fingers and seemingly out of nowhere a hat and cane appear. The coat doesn’t fit the aesthetic, but she slings it over her shoulder nonetheless. The stagehands moving the platform away and taking down the lighting rigs part before her as she turns and strides upstage.]

I’m erasing myself from the narrative
Let future murdergame casts wonder
Where the Player went to
When she left the stage

Go turn your new page,
And I’ll watch this burn...

[She pauses before the last curtain, letting the orchestra continue the song without her for a few phrases.]

I forfeit my rights to all this. Whatever you took from my office, just give it to him. [She jerks her head towards the Balladeer.]

Let him have the memory
Of when this was ours…

...the world seemed to burn...

[Without looking back, she parts the curtain, steps through, and is gone. The remaining stagehands filter out a few moments later, leaving a bare stage and a quiet theatre behind them.

But, of course, there's still a little more magic to do, isn't there?]

Comments

[rockthistown]

I want everyone to find their happiness in the end, Hans-san.

[trettende]

Then, thank you, I suppose. Considering everything, I expected most people to be angry with me.

[ What do when people are nice to you?? ]

[rockthistown]

I'm still mad, but you did what you could and you changed. So I think you're getting better, and like I said, I know a lot of people who used to be bad. I made some big mistakes in the past, too.

[trettende]

It's still hard to believe for me sometimes...

Thanks again, Hime. [ He smiles. ]

Oh, and I don't know if anyone told you, but we had our Halloween party after all. Astarte baked a cake and the Balladeer brought pumpkins for everyone to carve.

[rockthistown]

That's great! I threw a Halloween party for everyone up there, too. That's where we met Judas-san!

[trettende]

Oh, I'm glad to hear that! I was really devastated when Hook destroyed your cake in the trial... did you get to bake everyone another one?

[rockthistown]

He did what? Did he just eat it all himself?

[trettende]

Worse than that. I hear he took his hook to it and... destroyed it. He wanted to check if someone had hidden a murder weapon inside or something?

[rockthistown]

Why would there be a weapon in a cake!?

[trettende]

My thoughts exactly. People weren't sure if you'd left the cake as some sort of message or what.

It's such a shame, it was a delicious cake.

[rockthistown]

Left it as a message? But I put a note on it! Maybe I kind of erased some of the scrap paper I was using for my diary and just wrote "for Hans's Halloween party and nobody dying" on that because I ran out of paper, but still.

[trettende]

I know, right? The instructions were perfectly clear!

[ He's still mad. rip that delicious cake. ]

I guess they thought it could have been faked or something. It was just such a waste...

[rockthistown]

Is it weird to say I'm glad you didn't get the chance to eat the next one I made? Because you'd have had to be dead like us, and... I should stop.

[trettende]

Hey, you're back now, it's alright.

[ Children... deserve to be happy, even if Hans never got to be as a child. ]

Against all odds, everything worked out in the end.

quotations=English

[rockthistown]

[smile] You're right. Now everyone has what they wanted. Like my friend says all the time: happy "happiness!" I think that's kind of redundant, but still.

[trettende]

Um, yes I think I understand.

[ He only kind of just realized maybe everyone wasn't speaking Danish... ]

Some of us even got better than we ever expected.