September Event - Waltz of the Harlequin

[pumpkinhollow]

**Plain text version here.

WALTZ OF THE HARLEQUIN

ACT ONE: MAKE AN ENTRANCE

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: None }

SCENE: Leeds Estate Ballroom, night. Music can be heard from a small string band in the corner. Enter PARTYGOERS, stage right.

The estate is beautifully decorated, as it always is, in vivid blues against dark wood. Flowers made from blue and golden silk adorn the walls and furniture. Candles burn in tasteful centerpieces on the round dining tables. Delicious-looking foods can be seen on the serving tables, ready to be claimed and devoured. A member of DAHLIA’S diligent staff tends an ornate bar near the door and dancers in fine clothes twirl on the dance floor to upbeat string music.

DAHLIA can be seen in the center of the room, wearing a golden gown embroidered with roses and surrounded by her ENTOURAGE, which consists of DAISY, LAIOS, RADAR, and JEFF. All of them wear the colors of House Leeds---- blue and gold. She welcomes the PARTYGOERS warmly.

DAHLIA, going for an appropriate greeting for the person she is speaking to--- a handshake, a hug, a kiss on the cheek.
Welcome. So glad you could make it. You look ravishing. Please help yourself to something to eat, and enjoy your night.

It is a beautiful night. Formal only in appearances, the energy of the Gala is casual and light, if not a bit decadent. All seems well.

ACT TWO: ALL IS REVEALED

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: rotten food, blood, forced body transformation, unreality. }

SCENE: Leeds Estate Ballroom, one hour later. The party is well underway. When the grandfather clock chimes, it sounds strange and distorted.

The sound immediately draws the attention of DAHLIA, who grows concerned. The sour chiming continues. In the center of the ballroom, a plume of sickly yellow smog bursts as if from a smoke bomb, flooding the room and causing PARTYGOERS to stagger and cough. When it fades, the environment has changed.

Enter MENDEL, from the smoke burst.

The decor in the space has changed drastically. Where once the space was deep, cool browns and shades of blue accented with gold, it is now filled with ruddy browns, jaundiced yellows, plummy purples, and searing reds. The bundles of silk flowers are replaced with bouquets of decaying fishing nets, bloody gauze, and rotten fruit which seems to bloom from splitting bruises. Tattered swags in mismatched patterns line the walls, and each PARTYGOER is now in a masquerade mask designed to fit with their outfit.

DAHLIA, lightly panicked.
What are you doing here?

MENDEL, laughing raucously.
Surprise! Oh, I do so hate to cut in, but I simply could not go another year without doing something special for my favorite niece.

He wraps his arms, which look like graying, exposed meat, around DAHLIA.

MENDEL
You see, everyone---- Darling Dahlia here has been lying to you. Her whole life, even! Can you believe it? You see, her father was never Japhet Leeds. The man couldn’t stand her! Jane Leeds was still her mother, oh yes, but her father---

DAHLIA attempts to cut in, but MENDEL grips her tighter, clamping a hand over her mouth as he presents her to the crowd. His claws dig into her arm and her cheek. He continues to snicker as he speaks, and DAHLIA struggles.

MENDEL
Her father is my own baby brother, Prince Aster of the Dark Feast! Isn’t that a funny prank? But I think the joke has overstayed its welcome. It’s time to show your little friends who you really are, isn’t it, princess?

In a swift motion, MENDEL pulls DAHLIA into a twirl, as if dancing, sending her spinning toward the crowd. When it ceases, DAHLIA stands before her gala, changed. Her complexion is blue now, and her hair, raven black. A pair of bat-like wings adorn her back, and a crown of antlers like that of a deer wreath her head.

MENDEL
Ah, no, that’s not quite what I was going for. Let me try again.

With a snap of MENDEL’S fingers, DAHLIA changes again, her body shifting against her will. Her well-kept black locks morph into wiry ashen hair which covers her body. Her face extends into that of a cow-like skull with sharp teeth. Her hands become clawed, and her feet become cloven hooves. Before the crowd now stands THE PINE DEVIL.

MENDEL
There’s our birthday girl!

THE PINE DEVIL (DAHLIA) attempts to lunge at MENDEL, but with another snap of his fingers, his streamers and swags lash out at her like vines and lash her tightly.

MENDEL
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some catching up to do with my darling niece. And you all have a party to enjoy! I leave you in the care of my talented assistants.

He starts to turn away, but then holds up a finger to shake and turns back. Oh, one more thing, I almost forgot. I’ve left all of you some party favors in those masks. Have fun!

MENDEL grabs a bound and helpless DAHLIA and disappears once more in another plume of smoke.

Enter BLANCHE and SEEMINGLY (GLEE MASK), opposite sides of the stage. The pair of them meet eyes, and pantomime tugging on an invisible rope in opposite directions, and suddenly the ballroom expands as if unrolled like a scroll, becoming a sprawling labyrinth of tiny ballrooms, winding corridors, and secret alcoves. The PARTYGOERS are separated from one another. At the same time, the magic in their masks activates, inflicting one of the following curses:

• Leaky Bucket: deprives the party goer of their short-term memory. They know who they are, and why they're here insofar as understanding it's Dahlia's birthday gala, but all new information tends to leave their mind after a few minutes. (Think Dory from Finding Nemo.)
• Amnesiac's Lament: deprives the individual of long-term memory. All new information is retained, but they have no idea who they are or why they're here. How distressing this is can be at the player's discretion. Perhaps they despair at the memory loss and are trying to find a way to escape the ball, perhaps they don't see anything wrong with their lack of context and are just trying to enjoy this weird party.
• False Friend: the opposite of Zone of Truth, those with this affliction will be unable to tell the truth and can ONLY tell lies. Any fact from the most mundane to the most complex can only be lied about. Whether or not the person is cognizant of their new habit is the player's choice.
• The World Revolving: those afflicted suffer frequent bouts of vertigo which makes the space feel as though it is spinning, sometimes very slowly, sometimes very quickly.
• Dirge of Delusion: this particular curse will cause the mask-wearer to struggle to perceive reality correctly. Objects will appear as other objects, people as different people, rooms as some other place, or even the entire ball as somewhere entirely different. These disorienting visions will come and go at times.
• Feeling Funny: the wearers of these masks will find that their emotions are completely out of control, sometimes bursting into fits of laughter, tears, or abrupt paranoia, before going completely numb for a while.

All PARTYGOERS will find their masks incapable of being removed. Those with infernal resistance from NEIL or the HOUSE OF CARDS will find their masks are less impactful, but the resistance is imperfect. However, ALICE DYER and SAMAMA KHALID will find that they have absolutely no effect from the masks at all, due to the BOON OF DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY acquired by ALICE.

The party resumes.

ACT THREE: Dance with the Devil

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: rotten food being eaten, imprisonment, impending violence }

SCENE: a distorted Leeds Estate, time unknown. As the party devolves into chaos, a clandestine meeting is arranged to locate the host.

Somewhere in the distorted estate, ALICE locates JEAN. Once she gets the Golden Wolf Mask in their hands, JEAN will be able to remove their current mask to wear the new one, which has a unique effect---- the ability to see the path of MENDEL through its eyes.

JEAN and ALICE, along with anyone they are able to recruit for help, will find MENDEL and DAHLIA on the second floor, which has transformed into a large theater balcony overlooking the party. DAHLIA is caged, and MENDEL seems to be enjoying the view as he eats half-rotten tomatoes as if they are apples.

MENDEL’S assailants choose how to make their approach. When he is destroyed, the party will end.

GRAND FINALE

{ CONTENT WARNINGS: fire }

SCENE: Leeds Estate ballroom, late night. The stage has returned to its prior state, and we are left to the aftermath.

When MENDEL is at last destroyed, the ballroom is restored to its normal size and coloration, as if the events of the night never occurred. Masks fall away, and DAHLIA stands center stage, looking exactly as her friends and neighbors remember her. However, the memory of what has occurred here tonight cannot be wiped away, as evidenced from all the onlookers around her. Are their expressions concerned? Angry? Fearful? Hurt?

Does it matter?

DAHLIA, quietly.
Get out.

There is a moment of stillness and consideration, before she speaks again, louder.

DAHLIA, shouting.
GET. OUT.

As she speaks the second word, a massive burst of blue flame erupts behind her. Glass breaks. Tables topple. DAHLIA’s hair flutters in the force of the blast. She stands stiffly, unafraid as the hot, raging blue flames consume her ballroom, peeling the wallpaper and cracking the wood. She means to chase everyone out, even if it means bringing the room down upon herself.

When everyone is gone, the flames seem to retreat, as if sucked up into their original blast point. DAHLIA, spent, collapses to her knees in the burnt shell of her own birthday party, and sobs.

Blackout. Curtains fall.

After the event ends, Dahlia will be absent from town and her home only open to close CR until further notice. She will not be answering her sending stone or her phone calls.

Comments

[not_the_last]

A nod, and then a deliberate glance toward the house.

"Is she all right?"

[hadnoright]

Daisy laughs bitterly. "Not really. Her whole life just got turned upside down. And she's exhausted."

It feels, in many ways, like the day after her own rampage, but in reverse. Now it's her standing outside the door, whilst someone she loves holes up inside, tired and expecting the worst.

[not_the_last]

"I meant that more in the sense of hoping that she hasn't done herself any violence."

It really is unnervingly like that morning. Cassandra even feels a little similar, tense and weary together, despite not being nearly as closely tied to the situation.

(She wishes Erin were here. She finds herself thinking of what she might say, what she might do, if she were.)

[hadnoright]

Daisy drags her tongue over her teeth and exhales. "...no. Nothing like that. Fire made a mess. And she feels like shit. But she hasn't hurt herself."

Thank god. Not that she'd have much room to talk, as the woman who's rapid healing has given her some... questionable responses to immense trauma, but— she couldn't bear seeing Dahlia like that.

(She wishes Erin were here, too. She feels like a pale imitation of the pure, stubborn will Erin always had in how to face the world as a monster unveiled, right now.)

[not_the_last]

"That's good." She doesn't say at least out loud, but it's probably audible anyway.

"Is she seeing anyone? I -- that isn't a request." A faint reddish tinge rises across her cheekbones and fades again. "I don't expect her to see me; we aren't close. But is there anyone she'll speak with right now?"

[hadnoright]

"Not so far. Or. Not so far besides me and a couple others who stayed."

Once she's up for it, Daisy's not going to stop anyone Dahlia wants to talk to from talking to her, but thus far no one else has gone past the gates.

[not_the_last]

Cassandra breathes out.

"Feelings in the town are ... mixed, right now. More so than she may be expecting. I don't know whether it would be good to tell her so or not."

[hadnoright]

"Might be. I'll— ask, when she's up." See if she wants to know how things are going back there or not, yet. "Have seen some people come up. Then turn on their tail when they saw me."

[not_the_last]

"Good." She pauses. "Probably. If any kind of ... aggressive confrontation is what they had in mind."

[hadnoright]

"If they wanna try their luck. They're gonna find the Pine Devil isn't the one they should be worried about."

Dahlia is strong, but she's not Hunter strong. She doesn't heal in the blink of an eye, she doesn't go down only to get back up over and over again before you've even killed her. If these townspeople are looking for a monster, Daisy will give them a monster.

Maybe Dahlia's done horrific things she can't take back, but so has Daisy, so have so many of those that Daisy calls her people. She won't deny that, she never has.

But they don't deserve to die for it. That doesn't fix anything. It never has.

[not_the_last]

She nods quietly, unsmiling.

"The Pine Devil," she repeats after a few moments. "I hadn't put that part together, before this. It makes a degree of sense in retrospect."

[hadnoright]

Daisy cocks her head a bit. "What kinda retrospect?"

[not_the_last]

"There was ... a kind of allegation, I suppose you could say, made a couple of months ago. To the effect that Dahlia was the daughter of Jane Leeds and the demon Aster. As we've now heard confirmed. That her parentage might have caused something like this ... hadn't occurred to me to speculate."

[hadnoright]

Daisy's brow furrows. "What? Where the hell did that come up?"

This is the first she's heard of that rumour spreading anywhere in advance of the disaster they just lived through. After being told to keep the secret so tightly under wraps—well, let's she's a little surprised.

[not_the_last]

"Someone invited a number of people to 'see the truth', to come to a particular place in the woods at night. It seemed like a passable risk to gain some information. Those of us who went ... we were drawn into a, a piece of the island's past. We witnessed how the barrier was created, by a cult. And we heard a number of things discussed in the course of it, including that."

Cassandra's gaze flicks past Daisy, toward the manor house, and returns with a look of weariness. "I tried to talk to her about it, the next day. I don't think I broached the subject well."

[hadnoright]

Daisy drags a hand over her face. "There's no real way you could've. Nothing you could've said was gonna make her tell you. She wasn't even supposed to tell me."

[not_the_last]

You knew, then. She closes her mouth on those words unspoken.

"I'd only hoped," she starts instead, and stops. "When you say supposed to..."

[hadnoright]

Daisy sees no point in playing coy about how long she's known. It's all out there now. Why bother.

"Her old man didn't exactly want people knowing."

[not_the_last]

"And he had a hold on her. Or -- still has? Is she observed?"

That's the feeling she got, but she is at least a little aware of how easy it is to find more similarities once one has already spotted some.

[hadnoright]

"Yeah," Daisy sighs. Then, with a shake of her head, "Pretty sure we all are. But it's different for her."

She has little doubt by now that the demons see everything they want to see, especially after her encounter with Eligos, but... Dahlia's the one being told what she can and can't do.

[not_the_last]

Cassandra's gaze strays back toward the house. "Of course." And it doesn't sound like a courtesy agreement; it sounds like she knows.

After a moment, she takes a deep breath. "At any rate."

... and she seems at a loss as to how to continue that sentence.

[hadnoright]

"There's more going on in that head of yours, again."

It's not prying, really. Daisy isn't the type who pries. Call it acknowledgement of whatever kind.

[not_the_last]

"Yes." It's not quite an apology. "I have some idea ... some small idea, I should think ... what this may be like for her. It seems as though that ought to be helpful, and yet."

[hadnoright]

"Harder than it seems. Turning ideas into something." Her tongue drags over her teeth and she makes a 'mm' sound. "Could always write. If you did want to say something."

[not_the_last]

"I may do that. If you think she might read it."

Cassandra's hands close on each other, not wringing but tense.

"In the meantime ... if she should ask you about visitors, will you please tell her that I was here? And asked after her welfare?"