The Leading Player (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
guardianofsplendor) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
itscurtains2016-11-28 02:42 pm
guardianofsplendor) wrote in itscurtains2016-11-28 02:42 pm
CURTAIN CALL
[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?]
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?]
no subject
[A pause, glancing out at everyone else.]
You remember when I told you that before this, I'd never had this many people care about me? It's still... I mean, it's really... It's weird to say, but I feel like they changed me. Like, there's more than I saw before. So... I want more than I had.
[She smiles, turning her attention from the rest of them back to D-ne. Something new starts to play.]
An awkward girl with her music
Keeping to herself
Friday nights alone with the records on her shelf
A student reading Hemingway and Twain
The only thing she's got is her brain
I've been that girl who fades away
Just hating what I've got
Stuck in what I am and everything I'm not
I've only seen this tiny world I'm in
Where I can only be where I've been
See a world, beautiful and strange
Spinning off somewhere, saying "Meet me there!"
Look, look, how fast it runs away
Singing, "Follow close and reach for me",
See that you've got so much more for to be
Before it's over...
Before it's over
I want to write another song
But one that's free of pain
Won't dream how things can change
But only see what's in my way
I can't go back to what I was before
Now that I can see so much more
See a world, beautiful and strange
On a one way track and it won't come back
Look, look, how fast it runs away
Singing "Follow close and reach for me"
See that you've got so much more to be
Before it's over
I only ever dreamed a world was waiting
Somehow, something awful made that world appear
And part of me might even
Be happy that it happened
Happy that I came
Happy that I'm here
I can see a world, beautiful and strange
Can you see it too?
It's so close, don't let it get away
There's so much to do
Before it's over...
no subject
Only once she's sure Natalie's done does she step forward and very quietly remark:]
I think, really, that sounds like a beautiful idea. And I think it's one I'd like to try too...after a refreshing round of boredom.
no subject
[Deep breath. Singing is hard, feelings are hard.]
What does yours look like? The world you would want, I mean.
no subject
[And yet, she sounds...excited? It feels strange, the melody that starts, new and different, but D-ne likes it.]
Whatever it is, I'm ready.
I've been standing in the heart of the slaughter,
'Long as I can remember, never really knowing why.
I wish I could be much more than fodder,
But I come back to the slaughter, no matter how hard I try.
Every turn I take, every trail I track,
Every path I make, every road leads back,
To where I don't know, where I hope to go, where I long to be!
See the line where the stage meets the crowd? It calls me!
And no one knows, just where it goes!
If the world in the back of my mind won't confine me,
So soon I'll know, if I go there's just no telling how far I'll go!
I know everybody in my story, stuck unhappy in my story,
Everything is by design.
I know everybody in my story had a role in my story,
But I don't have to roll with mine.
I don't have to hide, I can become strong,
I'll be satisfied not to play along,
And the voice inside sings a different song!
Is that wrong of me?
See the light as it shines on the crowd? It's blinding!
But no one knows, what way to go!
And at last see it's calling out so loud, it will find me!
And let me know, what's beyond that line, I can cross that line...!
See the line where the stage meets the crowd? It calls me!
And no one knows, just where it goes!
If the world in the back of my mind won't confine me,
So soon I'll know, how far I'll go!
no subject
...I bet you'll find something pretty great.
no subject
You too. You deserve to.
no subject
[A pause, closing her eyes for a fraction of a second and biting her lip.]
Yeah, I think - I do. We both do.
[Look at where we are, look at where we started...]