Post by The Stranger on Jun 13, 2008 0:59:30 GMT -5
The Mummers Show II: The Mock Duel
(OOC: All PC dialogue in this scenario is used with the permission of their players)
The mummers received a chorus of boos as they walked off the stage. Aldrys and Tosh stood just off-stage, dressed identically in grey shirts and black pants. “What do you think, Aldrys?” They hadn’t had any time to catch up as Aldrys quickly explained what was going to happen and grabbed two props for the two to use. Sticks: one two and a half feet long, one five feet long. That, and a dozen of the confiscated tomatoes that should by all rights be covering the stage by now.
“Sheyn has his work cut out for him.” Aldrys leaned out a bit further, just enough to see where King Rickon and Lady Jeyne sat. The king didn’t look like he was about to have them all executed, so that was a good start. “I don’t know what he has in mind, but he’s probably been in tougher situations than this.”
“That I have, boys,” Sheyn said, suddenly appearing at their shoulders dressed as they were. “Watch carefully. You’re about to see the ultimate act of shoveling horse-shit.” With that, he slowly walked onto the stage, his arms folded behind his back, his head and shoulders slumped as one in deep contemplation.
The boos immediately shot up again, louder. When he reached the center of the stage, Sheyn suddenly turned and looked up, clapping his hands with such force that the sound boomed over the audience. Everything became silent, a faint ringing lingering in the air.
“My lords!” he cried in a booming voice. “My ladies! Noble Knights! Brave Guardsmen! Honorable Kingsguard!” He bowed, one hand at his chest, the other folded back behind his back and in a voice dripping with respect said, “King Rickon and Lady Jeyne.” He stood up, raised his hands to the ceiling, and said in a voice that shook the room, “It is my great pleasure to inform you that the men who just left the stage have been executed!”
Silence. The lords looked back and forth, a low murmur started throughout the room. His voice now refined, like a noble’s voice, he said, “You see, those men were NOT the Thousand Faces! They were cheap imitations to show you what this performance would be like with any other troupe. And now, for your pleasure, I am proud to present for you the REAL Thousand Faces!” He bowed, and left the stage as he had walked onto it.
As he passed Aldrys and Tosh he whispered to them, “I’ll be waiting by the exit. If they get violent, don’t expect me to wait on you.” And indeed he walked straight over to the door leading to the back alleys, sat down by a trio of Guardsmen, and watched them expectantly.
Aldrys and Tosh looked at each other. At thirty-three, Tosh still had a very child-like face despite being nearly a foot taller than Aldrys. He grinned ear-to-ear. “After you.”
Aldrys slung his stick across his shoulders and walked out onto the stage. Slowly, laboriously, as though he bore a great load. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the audience. There were… hundreds, and every eye followed him. But they at least looked interested, they wanted to know what was happening. They’d been knocked out of their comfortable annoyance, and been promised something different from what they were used to. Nobles were so easy.
He reached the other end of the stage, turned, and walked back. As he did, Tosh walked out at a faster pace, whistling a merry tune. They met in the middle of the stage and Tosh walked right into Aldrys, knocking him over. There were a few slight chuckles as Aldrys rolled over himself, eventually crashing into the back-wall of the stage. He shot up immediately, stick in hand. “How dare you, man!” He walked forward, and Tosh turned to him.
“How dare I? How dare I what? How dare I not move out of the way for a man who won’t even look where he’s walking? How dare I not kindly pat you and the shoulder and inform you every time someone is walking towards you? How dare I not wipe your arse every time you shit?” That drew a few more chuckles, but it was still faint.
“You mock me? I won’t allow this! I challenge you to a duel!”
“Then I accept! I will use my sword!” He waved his shorter stick around wildly.
“Sword? What sword? All you have is a stick!”
“It is a sword! The sword that will slay you!”
“If it is a sword, how do you know which end you’re holding? They both look the same! By the Seven, be careful! You may be holding the blade!”
Tosh rolled his eyes. “I know I hold it by the hilt. See? I can squeeze it and nothing happens!” He made a show of raising the blade and squeezing it. A stream of red fluid dribbled from his hand. He dropped the sword and leapt in the air, shrieking, waving his hand, spraying more juice from the tomato he’d snuck into his hand around the stage.
That got a few actual laughs. When Tosh stopped jumping and gave Aldrys a look of pure hatred, it brought a few more laughs. Tosh’s timing was still excellent after all these years. The man knew how to hold an expression or action for just the right amount of time, just enough so that the laughter died down, then did something else to raise it again. Laughter was like that. It had to be built up, nourished. Aldrys started to feel happy. Maybe a tenth of the audience was laughing so far. Soon they’d have them all.
Pointing at the end of the stick covered in juice, with a helpful smile on his face, Aldrys said, “Now you know which end is which.”
Tosh picked it up with his clean hand, grimacing. “Well, what of it? I have my weapon, where’s yours?!”
Aldrys picked up his longer stick and looked at it quizzically. “Well, if you have a sword, I suppose this is a spear. Though I can’t quite tell which end is which…” He twisted the stick around, glancing from end to end. “Here man, help me figure out which side the head is on.”
“Of course.” Tosh walked forward, his bloody hand extended to take a look. Aldrys poked at the hand, and a fresh burst of blood fell from Tosh’s hand, bringing another round of jumping around cursing and a bigger laugh from the audience.
When he’d calmed down, Tosh panted, hunched over, malice burning in his eyes. “Are you QUITE ready yet? I would really love to kill you now.” He raised his sword, pointing it at Aldrys.
“Yes.” Aldrys grabbed his spear with both hands and pointed the now red tip at Tosh.
Tosh screamed a war cry and charged. As he was just beginning to swing the blade down, Aldrys stepped to the side saying, “Wait a moment!” Tosh let his momentum carry him forward and he fell on his face, eliciting more laughter. “We cannot have a duel!”
Tosh stood up. “Why on earth not?!” he said while brushing his front off, which left large red stains on his clothes, which brought appreciative chuckles from those in the audience who noticed.
Still facing away from Tosh, Aldrys said, “We are not nobles! Only nobles may have duels. So even if we did fight and kill each other, we would be criminals for it!”
Tosh looked enraged for a moment, taking a step forward, then stopped, contemplative. “You do have something there. We aren’t nobles. Yet I still,” he took a step forward, “want,” another step, “to,” another, “KILL YOU!” He swung the sword down as fast as he could, bringing shrieks from the audience. They were starting to escape.
Just in time, Aldrys turned around and paced the other way, leaving Tosh on the ground again. “And I you, friend, and I you. After all, we’ve lived next to each other for fifteen years, it’s only natural.” Laughter.
Tosh stood again, wiped himself off again, and smeared more blood on himself again. Many more people laughed this time than the first instance. Repetition could be very useful if done properly. “Well, why can’t we kill each other? If the nobles can have duels, why shouldn’t we? We’ve offended each other, so we have a fight. Isn’t that how it works?”
Aldrys turned and walked over to him, wagging his finger. “Ah, but you forget! We are commoners, so we have no honor! How can we be offended if we have no honor to be impugned?” He put his arm on Tosh’s shoulder, the two facing the audience but looking down. “Now, if there was some way for us to be fighting over honor, it would be fine! But how? How can we fight over honor if we are not nobles?” The two looked down, contemplating. Slowly, at the same moment, they both started to look up, then jumped apart as though startled.
“Of course!” Aldrys said. “There is an entire audience of people with honor here! If we can find two people to let us fight for their honor, then we could get on with our duel already!”
And he could see that the audience was interested. This normally didn’t happen. The audience at a mummers show was often spoken to, perhaps sometimes even mocked, but it was practically unheard of to call upon a noble to contribute to a performance. It was one of Sheyn’s favorite stunt, the Mock Duel was based around this. Involve the audience in the performance, let them feel that their presence actually matters, and the whole thing would become real.
“Very well!” Tosh stepped forward to the edge of the audience and looked out, bending over to peer at the front rows then stretching and craning his neck to stare at the back. “Who should we ask to represent?”
“Oh, a lady of course. That’s the proper way to do it, more romantic. Makes the death and maiming and such easier to skip over in the stories.” Aldrys was pleased to hear a number of lords and knights laughing uproariously. Not everyone was smiling yet, of course, but the majority of the audience was with them now.
“If that is the case, I choose Lady Jeyne!”
“You can’t do that!”
“Yes I can!”
“No you cannot! It’s not fair!”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s to be queen soon! If you chose her, I’d have to kill myself!” A great many laughs.
“Fine!” He scanned the audience again. Aldrys was more than a little pleased to see a few of the ladies waving for attention. “Ah! I have it! I shall fight for the King’s Justice, Aerie Blackwood!” He quickly bowed, and in a meek voice said, “With your permission, of course, your Justice-ness.”
Heads turned and craned to see Aerie, sitting not too far from the king. She looked thoroughly annoyed, but said, “If you must, just get on with it.” Tosh bowed again.
Aldrys looked at Tosh, then looked out at Aerie. He did so again. He began the motion of looking back at Tosh but snapped his head back to where Aerie sat. He made an audible gulping noise and loosened the top few buttons of his high collar. He rubbed his neck while saying, “A… ah, the, uh, the King’s Justice! Good choice, friend, good choice.” That brought a few more laughs and backwards glances at Aerie.
Tosh laughed. “Yes! I would never dare to ask for a favor, but I do have this handkerchief my wife gave me when we first met!” He searched around his coat and pulled out a large red rag. “See? It’s even red!”
Aldrys looked at the audience conspiratorially and spoke from behind a hand, “It was white when his wife gave it to him, but he kept using it to wipe his nose after she beat him.” A peal of laughter came out at that. Tosh tied the rag to the tip of his sword.
“And who are you to judge, when YOU have never known the touch of a woman?”
Aldrys stepped back gasping, outrage on his face. “I have known MANY women! MANY!”
“Oh yes, like who?”
“Your mother.” Another outburst of laughter. Aldrys couldn’t stop now, he needed to get this bit out fast, so he spoke louder, almost shouting. “I first met her ten years ago! A wonderful woman! I met your sister two years ago as well! We don’t see each other often, but we reacquaint ourselves with one other at each meeting quite vigorously, I assure you.” The laughter continued for some time. The two waited, Tosh with a scowl, Aldrys with a grin.
When the laughter subsided, Tosh pointed at the audience and said, “Choose already!”
“Fine, fine. But how to choose among so many? I’ll just have to see if anyone catches my eye.” And surprisingly enough, many of the ladies tried, waving and calling to him.
He scanned the audience, and then leapt back, rubbing his eye as though blinded. “Well! Something has definitely just caught my eye! Lady Aranya Royce! You sparkle like the sun! Surely a woman who shines so radiantly must be an honorable one. Please, may I fight for your honor?” He bowed.
Aranya still wore the diamond, which glittered in the light. When he called out her name, heads turn and excited whispers filled the room. The rivalry, or whatever you wanted to call it, between Aranya and Aerie was well-known. The entire performance just became much more interested for the audience.
Aranya looked bemused and waved her hand, saying, “Why not?”
“Well, friend, you have your sword, I have my spear, and we both have someone’s honor to represent! I believe that now, finally, we may kill each other!”
“I’ve forgotten, why did we want to kill each other?” Laughter
“Something to do with shit and your sister, I think?” A loud burst of laughter.
“Well, whatever the case, have at you!”
The two took turns walking towards one another, waggling their weapons, then retreating as soon as the other started to advance, a fluid motion between the two.
Then, they raised their weapons and charged, meeting and rushing past each other while swinging their weapons. Aldrys collapsed to his knees, dropped his spear, and clapped a hand over his arm, a burst of tomato squirting comically into the air.
He stood on shaking feet, raised his hands to the audience and with a pathetic, hopeless voice said, “I am beaten! He has taken first blood! I have no chance at this rate.”
He turned, agonized with pain, and stumbled to the edge of the stage. “Lady Aranya! My dear lady, please! Give me some word of encouragement!”
Aranya scoffed and said, “Encouragement? What good is a man who can’t win his own battle?”
Aldrys flew back from the edge of the stage as though thrown, rolled on the ground, and crashed into the wall in a sitting position. He slumped, seeming life-less for several long seconds, then raised his head gasping, and brought a hand to his mouth after allowing the audience to see a quivering lip. He could see every little lord and lady, looking so comfortable and happy.
Keeping his hand pressed to his mouth, he stood up. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered the hand and revealed… a smile that stretched across his face. He raised a hand into the air and shouted, “CONTEMPT!”
He stood silent, letting the word ring out through the audience. Everyone was silent, confused over the sudden passion in his voice.
Aldrys stalked to the other side of the stage and raised his hand again. “CONTEMPT!”
He walked to the middle of the stage, stood perfectly still, and softly uttered one final word. “Contempt.”
They had laughed. Now was the time to excite them, to bring their blood to a boil. He grinned. The last illusion of a performance was gone. The stage was a part of reality now. Aldrys stood before them, and it was time to be heard.
Results: Aldrys advances to Expert Acting++
(OOC: All PC dialogue in this scenario is used with the permission of their players)
The mummers received a chorus of boos as they walked off the stage. Aldrys and Tosh stood just off-stage, dressed identically in grey shirts and black pants. “What do you think, Aldrys?” They hadn’t had any time to catch up as Aldrys quickly explained what was going to happen and grabbed two props for the two to use. Sticks: one two and a half feet long, one five feet long. That, and a dozen of the confiscated tomatoes that should by all rights be covering the stage by now.
“Sheyn has his work cut out for him.” Aldrys leaned out a bit further, just enough to see where King Rickon and Lady Jeyne sat. The king didn’t look like he was about to have them all executed, so that was a good start. “I don’t know what he has in mind, but he’s probably been in tougher situations than this.”
“That I have, boys,” Sheyn said, suddenly appearing at their shoulders dressed as they were. “Watch carefully. You’re about to see the ultimate act of shoveling horse-shit.” With that, he slowly walked onto the stage, his arms folded behind his back, his head and shoulders slumped as one in deep contemplation.
The boos immediately shot up again, louder. When he reached the center of the stage, Sheyn suddenly turned and looked up, clapping his hands with such force that the sound boomed over the audience. Everything became silent, a faint ringing lingering in the air.
“My lords!” he cried in a booming voice. “My ladies! Noble Knights! Brave Guardsmen! Honorable Kingsguard!” He bowed, one hand at his chest, the other folded back behind his back and in a voice dripping with respect said, “King Rickon and Lady Jeyne.” He stood up, raised his hands to the ceiling, and said in a voice that shook the room, “It is my great pleasure to inform you that the men who just left the stage have been executed!”
Silence. The lords looked back and forth, a low murmur started throughout the room. His voice now refined, like a noble’s voice, he said, “You see, those men were NOT the Thousand Faces! They were cheap imitations to show you what this performance would be like with any other troupe. And now, for your pleasure, I am proud to present for you the REAL Thousand Faces!” He bowed, and left the stage as he had walked onto it.
As he passed Aldrys and Tosh he whispered to them, “I’ll be waiting by the exit. If they get violent, don’t expect me to wait on you.” And indeed he walked straight over to the door leading to the back alleys, sat down by a trio of Guardsmen, and watched them expectantly.
Aldrys and Tosh looked at each other. At thirty-three, Tosh still had a very child-like face despite being nearly a foot taller than Aldrys. He grinned ear-to-ear. “After you.”
Aldrys slung his stick across his shoulders and walked out onto the stage. Slowly, laboriously, as though he bore a great load. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the audience. There were… hundreds, and every eye followed him. But they at least looked interested, they wanted to know what was happening. They’d been knocked out of their comfortable annoyance, and been promised something different from what they were used to. Nobles were so easy.
He reached the other end of the stage, turned, and walked back. As he did, Tosh walked out at a faster pace, whistling a merry tune. They met in the middle of the stage and Tosh walked right into Aldrys, knocking him over. There were a few slight chuckles as Aldrys rolled over himself, eventually crashing into the back-wall of the stage. He shot up immediately, stick in hand. “How dare you, man!” He walked forward, and Tosh turned to him.
“How dare I? How dare I what? How dare I not move out of the way for a man who won’t even look where he’s walking? How dare I not kindly pat you and the shoulder and inform you every time someone is walking towards you? How dare I not wipe your arse every time you shit?” That drew a few more chuckles, but it was still faint.
“You mock me? I won’t allow this! I challenge you to a duel!”
“Then I accept! I will use my sword!” He waved his shorter stick around wildly.
“Sword? What sword? All you have is a stick!”
“It is a sword! The sword that will slay you!”
“If it is a sword, how do you know which end you’re holding? They both look the same! By the Seven, be careful! You may be holding the blade!”
Tosh rolled his eyes. “I know I hold it by the hilt. See? I can squeeze it and nothing happens!” He made a show of raising the blade and squeezing it. A stream of red fluid dribbled from his hand. He dropped the sword and leapt in the air, shrieking, waving his hand, spraying more juice from the tomato he’d snuck into his hand around the stage.
That got a few actual laughs. When Tosh stopped jumping and gave Aldrys a look of pure hatred, it brought a few more laughs. Tosh’s timing was still excellent after all these years. The man knew how to hold an expression or action for just the right amount of time, just enough so that the laughter died down, then did something else to raise it again. Laughter was like that. It had to be built up, nourished. Aldrys started to feel happy. Maybe a tenth of the audience was laughing so far. Soon they’d have them all.
Pointing at the end of the stick covered in juice, with a helpful smile on his face, Aldrys said, “Now you know which end is which.”
Tosh picked it up with his clean hand, grimacing. “Well, what of it? I have my weapon, where’s yours?!”
Aldrys picked up his longer stick and looked at it quizzically. “Well, if you have a sword, I suppose this is a spear. Though I can’t quite tell which end is which…” He twisted the stick around, glancing from end to end. “Here man, help me figure out which side the head is on.”
“Of course.” Tosh walked forward, his bloody hand extended to take a look. Aldrys poked at the hand, and a fresh burst of blood fell from Tosh’s hand, bringing another round of jumping around cursing and a bigger laugh from the audience.
When he’d calmed down, Tosh panted, hunched over, malice burning in his eyes. “Are you QUITE ready yet? I would really love to kill you now.” He raised his sword, pointing it at Aldrys.
“Yes.” Aldrys grabbed his spear with both hands and pointed the now red tip at Tosh.
Tosh screamed a war cry and charged. As he was just beginning to swing the blade down, Aldrys stepped to the side saying, “Wait a moment!” Tosh let his momentum carry him forward and he fell on his face, eliciting more laughter. “We cannot have a duel!”
Tosh stood up. “Why on earth not?!” he said while brushing his front off, which left large red stains on his clothes, which brought appreciative chuckles from those in the audience who noticed.
Still facing away from Tosh, Aldrys said, “We are not nobles! Only nobles may have duels. So even if we did fight and kill each other, we would be criminals for it!”
Tosh looked enraged for a moment, taking a step forward, then stopped, contemplative. “You do have something there. We aren’t nobles. Yet I still,” he took a step forward, “want,” another step, “to,” another, “KILL YOU!” He swung the sword down as fast as he could, bringing shrieks from the audience. They were starting to escape.
Just in time, Aldrys turned around and paced the other way, leaving Tosh on the ground again. “And I you, friend, and I you. After all, we’ve lived next to each other for fifteen years, it’s only natural.” Laughter.
Tosh stood again, wiped himself off again, and smeared more blood on himself again. Many more people laughed this time than the first instance. Repetition could be very useful if done properly. “Well, why can’t we kill each other? If the nobles can have duels, why shouldn’t we? We’ve offended each other, so we have a fight. Isn’t that how it works?”
Aldrys turned and walked over to him, wagging his finger. “Ah, but you forget! We are commoners, so we have no honor! How can we be offended if we have no honor to be impugned?” He put his arm on Tosh’s shoulder, the two facing the audience but looking down. “Now, if there was some way for us to be fighting over honor, it would be fine! But how? How can we fight over honor if we are not nobles?” The two looked down, contemplating. Slowly, at the same moment, they both started to look up, then jumped apart as though startled.
“Of course!” Aldrys said. “There is an entire audience of people with honor here! If we can find two people to let us fight for their honor, then we could get on with our duel already!”
And he could see that the audience was interested. This normally didn’t happen. The audience at a mummers show was often spoken to, perhaps sometimes even mocked, but it was practically unheard of to call upon a noble to contribute to a performance. It was one of Sheyn’s favorite stunt, the Mock Duel was based around this. Involve the audience in the performance, let them feel that their presence actually matters, and the whole thing would become real.
“Very well!” Tosh stepped forward to the edge of the audience and looked out, bending over to peer at the front rows then stretching and craning his neck to stare at the back. “Who should we ask to represent?”
“Oh, a lady of course. That’s the proper way to do it, more romantic. Makes the death and maiming and such easier to skip over in the stories.” Aldrys was pleased to hear a number of lords and knights laughing uproariously. Not everyone was smiling yet, of course, but the majority of the audience was with them now.
“If that is the case, I choose Lady Jeyne!”
“You can’t do that!”
“Yes I can!”
“No you cannot! It’s not fair!”
“Why not?”
“Because she’s to be queen soon! If you chose her, I’d have to kill myself!” A great many laughs.
“Fine!” He scanned the audience again. Aldrys was more than a little pleased to see a few of the ladies waving for attention. “Ah! I have it! I shall fight for the King’s Justice, Aerie Blackwood!” He quickly bowed, and in a meek voice said, “With your permission, of course, your Justice-ness.”
Heads turned and craned to see Aerie, sitting not too far from the king. She looked thoroughly annoyed, but said, “If you must, just get on with it.” Tosh bowed again.
Aldrys looked at Tosh, then looked out at Aerie. He did so again. He began the motion of looking back at Tosh but snapped his head back to where Aerie sat. He made an audible gulping noise and loosened the top few buttons of his high collar. He rubbed his neck while saying, “A… ah, the, uh, the King’s Justice! Good choice, friend, good choice.” That brought a few more laughs and backwards glances at Aerie.
Tosh laughed. “Yes! I would never dare to ask for a favor, but I do have this handkerchief my wife gave me when we first met!” He searched around his coat and pulled out a large red rag. “See? It’s even red!”
Aldrys looked at the audience conspiratorially and spoke from behind a hand, “It was white when his wife gave it to him, but he kept using it to wipe his nose after she beat him.” A peal of laughter came out at that. Tosh tied the rag to the tip of his sword.
“And who are you to judge, when YOU have never known the touch of a woman?”
Aldrys stepped back gasping, outrage on his face. “I have known MANY women! MANY!”
“Oh yes, like who?”
“Your mother.” Another outburst of laughter. Aldrys couldn’t stop now, he needed to get this bit out fast, so he spoke louder, almost shouting. “I first met her ten years ago! A wonderful woman! I met your sister two years ago as well! We don’t see each other often, but we reacquaint ourselves with one other at each meeting quite vigorously, I assure you.” The laughter continued for some time. The two waited, Tosh with a scowl, Aldrys with a grin.
When the laughter subsided, Tosh pointed at the audience and said, “Choose already!”
“Fine, fine. But how to choose among so many? I’ll just have to see if anyone catches my eye.” And surprisingly enough, many of the ladies tried, waving and calling to him.
He scanned the audience, and then leapt back, rubbing his eye as though blinded. “Well! Something has definitely just caught my eye! Lady Aranya Royce! You sparkle like the sun! Surely a woman who shines so radiantly must be an honorable one. Please, may I fight for your honor?” He bowed.
Aranya still wore the diamond, which glittered in the light. When he called out her name, heads turn and excited whispers filled the room. The rivalry, or whatever you wanted to call it, between Aranya and Aerie was well-known. The entire performance just became much more interested for the audience.
Aranya looked bemused and waved her hand, saying, “Why not?”
“Well, friend, you have your sword, I have my spear, and we both have someone’s honor to represent! I believe that now, finally, we may kill each other!”
“I’ve forgotten, why did we want to kill each other?” Laughter
“Something to do with shit and your sister, I think?” A loud burst of laughter.
“Well, whatever the case, have at you!”
The two took turns walking towards one another, waggling their weapons, then retreating as soon as the other started to advance, a fluid motion between the two.
Then, they raised their weapons and charged, meeting and rushing past each other while swinging their weapons. Aldrys collapsed to his knees, dropped his spear, and clapped a hand over his arm, a burst of tomato squirting comically into the air.
He stood on shaking feet, raised his hands to the audience and with a pathetic, hopeless voice said, “I am beaten! He has taken first blood! I have no chance at this rate.”
He turned, agonized with pain, and stumbled to the edge of the stage. “Lady Aranya! My dear lady, please! Give me some word of encouragement!”
Aranya scoffed and said, “Encouragement? What good is a man who can’t win his own battle?”
Aldrys flew back from the edge of the stage as though thrown, rolled on the ground, and crashed into the wall in a sitting position. He slumped, seeming life-less for several long seconds, then raised his head gasping, and brought a hand to his mouth after allowing the audience to see a quivering lip. He could see every little lord and lady, looking so comfortable and happy.
Keeping his hand pressed to his mouth, he stood up. Slowly, ever so slowly, he lowered the hand and revealed… a smile that stretched across his face. He raised a hand into the air and shouted, “CONTEMPT!”
He stood silent, letting the word ring out through the audience. Everyone was silent, confused over the sudden passion in his voice.
Aldrys stalked to the other side of the stage and raised his hand again. “CONTEMPT!”
He walked to the middle of the stage, stood perfectly still, and softly uttered one final word. “Contempt.”
They had laughed. Now was the time to excite them, to bring their blood to a boil. He grinned. The last illusion of a performance was gone. The stage was a part of reality now. Aldrys stood before them, and it was time to be heard.
Results: Aldrys advances to Expert Acting++