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Tweak says, "I don't like you. Leave!"

Bellum Anon (bellum_anon) wrote in bellumlogs,
@ 2010-05-18 10:00:00

Entry tags:

beauty, christine daaé, phantom of the opera, scheherazade

Group G: Scherezade, Beauty, Phantom, Christine

The plaque on the wall says:

In the Beauty's mind there is a play
From the greatest Bard of his day,
And with her to direct Phantom and his lady,
The queen of tales shall see
A scene of two star-crossed lovers,
Horrible though one may be.
A word of warning for those present here:
Not a drop of real blood shall this play house see,
Or the house will become a prison
For the offender, whoever he (or she) shall be.

A replica of The Globe Theatre, down to the last board and peg.

Any of the scenes between Romeo and his Juliet may be recited, but they must be performed verbatim as per Ella's memory. If Ella's memory is wrong, recitation according to what she or the audience member recalls works just as well. Only Bran and Lotte may be on the stage. A back door will open when the scene is complete.

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withinastory
2010-05-19 12:08 am UTC (link)

"Yes, I'm new," Sherri said, very quietly. What was happening on stage was much more interesting - as it should be, really - but she'd have felt rude, not answering. Even if it did all turn out to be a dream.

The best thing to do, she decided, was to take it all seriously, for the moment. If it turned out to be a dream or... something in the water... it wouldn't hurt anything to have played along.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 12:33 am UTC (link)

Ella heard the accusation that the Phantom had lied, even from where she stood. She crossed her arms, and she stood close to Sherri, and she called out to the man on the stage (and to the woman beside him).

"Does he lie about other things as well? Such as attacking innocent women?" she asked, hardly brave, but determined to face this man if he was her attacker, regardless of the building's intentions in putting her there.

The vines rose higher, and they were at the level of the stage now. She didn't read the plaque - she didn't care about any of those things.

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 12:52 am UTC (link)

Bran kept backing up until his back hit the stage wall, feeling more and more like a cornered animal. He turned so his back was facing the pit and tried to find some kind of opening, his fingers trailing down the useless wood. "Why?" He turned towards Lotte, not bothering to cover his scars. "Why?" His laughter was mirthless, even desperate, as he forced himself to meet her eyes. "I couldn't tell you the truth. You were afraid, and there were flyers all over the place, like Erik was a terrorist or something. He's just a man and you all talk about him like... like he's a monster; worse than Dracula." Bran shook his head. "Would you have looked at me the same, if you knew? Would you have kept my identity a secret? Not that it matters now," he added, casting a furious glance at the plaque.

When Ella spoke, Bran felt his hackles rise, but he managed to keep from snapping back at her. No one was innocent; didn't she realize that by now? "I don't attack innocent women. I've never attacked anyone - you don't know anything about me, so what gives you the right to fling accusations like that?" In his mind he wasn't lying - what he did, he did for a reason. There was a purpose to all of it. He didn't kill or torture for pleasure or for thrills - he did it to leave impressions, to teach lessons, to give people what they deserved. Bran had taken enough of that over the years, so why not start giving it back?

He turned back to Lotte, considering her whispered question. "No one," he said finally, his voice too low for the other two to hear. "I'm no one, but the first thing anyone ever called me was Bran, if that's what you mean." What was the point of hiding it anymore?

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 01:24 am UTC (link)

She stopped moving when his back turned, waiting as he spoke. There was something horrible about his laughter - familiar, though she couldn't remember how or when she'd heard it before. A sinking feeling took over her stomach and she had to dig her fingernails into her palms to stop them from shaking. The problem was he was right - even when he turned back towards her, she shuddered slightly, from the combination of guilt and the look on his face. She'd messed up - it was her fault, again. "I just wanted everyone to be safe," she said, her voice just above a whisper. "You too."

Her eyes darted to the plaque reading it for the first time. It didn't make much sense to her, other than the slight irritation that she wasn't the Phantom's Lady and they weren't star-crossed lovers. Ella was Beauty and they couldn't hurt each other. Everything else was a blur.

She looked back to him, biting her lip before saying a bit louder and a bit more firmly. "And I wasn't terrified of you." At least, not in the same way. Wariness was more accurate. She took a step forward, as he and Ella faced off but then turned around, setting her chin. Her eyes fell on the vines, before her eyes met Ella's. "Leave him alone, Ella. It wasn't him and you have to stop. Can't you see what you're doing?" Her voice cracked on her, but she looked to the other woman - the one she didn't know. "I'm sorry." Because she didn't know what else to say.

"I think you need to come up here and read this - both of you." She bit her lip once more before turning back to him. She had to fight to keep eye-contact, but she stepped forward again - close enough to touch him, but she didn't. "Nobody is no one," she paused. "Bran." It fit him, she thought. Better than Trevor did.

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withinastory
2010-05-19 01:37 am UTC (link)

Sherri smiled at the woman on the stage, trying to look as friendly and harmless as possible. There was enough tension that she didn't want to risk jumping in, saying the wrong thing, and causing some sort of explosion. She walked closer to the stage, looking behind her to make sure the other woman - Ella? - was following, as well. She did not want to go up alone.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 02:02 am UTC (link)

Ella came close enough to read the plaque, though the circle of vines kept her and Sherri safe. She belatedly realized she hadn't introduced herself to the unfamiliar woman, and she gave her an apologetic little smile. "I'm Ella," she said, before reading the plaque.

The distance made it take longer than it should have, and the distraction of the man on the stage didn't help matters. The Phantom. She'd known it. She had no proof the man that had attacked her was the Phantom, but Lotte's extreme measures of protection, of denial had made her focus on him above anyone else. Also, she was certain he was guarding his face, and it made her think that was why her assailant had worn a hood.

The voice, however, was different - but not different enough for Ella to discount him.

"The Queen of Tales?" she asked, turning to Sherri, and then looking back at the stage with distrust. "The building wishes us to do a play, I believe."

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 03:18 am UTC (link)

Bran just shook his head, not trusting himself to speak yet. He hadn't felt this helpless since he was a child, and he couldn't believe that everything had collapsed around him in a matter of minutes. He was so used to having control, to planning and preparing in steps, and now he'd been completely thrown and couldn't even have time to pull himself back together. "But you are now, aren't you?" He didn't even expect an answer - it was just one of those statements disguised as questions.

He just looked at the unfamiliar woman, feeling nothing but apathy as his gaze slid to Ella. For someone who seemed so clever on the forums, she really didn't understand, did she? She thought he was like some kind of wild animal who would attack her right here and now. But he'd taught her a lesson and even though she hadn't done everything he asked, Bran had a feeling that it had gotten through to her, that she would always remember it. That was enough for him. Besides, now that he knew Lotte was friends or whatnot with this Ella, he realized that doing anything else would only make things worse.

The last thing he wanted to do was a play, but he also wanted to get out. "Shakespeare," he muttered, having an idea of which one from the 'star-crossed lovers' bit. The word wasn't really directed at anyone, particularly since he'd gone back to keeping the scarred side of his face from being seen by the others.

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 03:30 am UTC (link)

There was a pause, as she looked at him - the face, the look in his eyes, the fact that he lied about so much couldn't escape her. She bit her lip once more, before slowly shaking her head. It was the barest of lies - she didn't think he'd hurt her, he let her go after all. That couldn't have been a lie - there was no way to lie about that. Her lie was simply for her fear for everyone else – and for how he’d react next.

Lotte turned away as the others approached. There was a relief in not being the only ones on the stage - she'd always felt better when in a crowd. She offered a shaky smile to the other woman and tried not to frown at Ella. "Can you stop the vines?" she asked, carefully. She remained with Bran on the other side and she didn't like how there was even more of a wall between them. Lotte turned back to the other woman asking, "Do you mind telling your name? You might have, er, guessed that that's Ella and I'm Lotte-" She glanced back at Bran, waiting to see if he would introduce himself as Bran or Trevor or someone else. She didn't know anymore.

She moved a bit closer to the plaque when Ella said they had to do a play. She hadn't gotten that the first time, but reading it over filled her with horror. There'd been a production of Romeo and Juliet when she was in high school and she'd read it in class - and of course, she knew Gounod. For half a second she wished it was singing instead, before she protested. "Why us?" She looked at Bran and then to Ella. "We're not Romeo and Juliet. We're not. It's nothing like that, no matter what Webber says."

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withinastory
2010-05-19 03:49 am UTC (link)

Ah, so there was the people thinking they were characters from stories part. Sherri sort of wanted to ask about it, but it really didn't seem like the time. She read the plaque over again. Queen of tales was a pretty dramatic way to say she liked to tell stories, but it pretty obviously meant her. At least she only had to watch, it seemed.

"I'm Sherri." She smiled at Lotte again, hoping that it would, though likely not relax her, at least not add to her obvious tension. "At least it picked the one Shakespeare play that everyone is likely to know, right? If it had been, say..." Shrugging, she picked the play she really only knew by name, "Measure for Measure, I'm sure we'd have really been struggling."

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 04:22 am UTC (link)

Ella, who had been thinking over Romeo and Juliet as everyone spoke, couldn't bring herself to suggest the love scene, the balcony, the one scene in the movie where the hero and the heroine have their perfect moment. It would encourage Lotte, she was sure, and regardless of whether or not the Phantom attacked her, she knew his tale, knew he was dangerous in that form, knew Lotte was too trusting by far - after all, did her recent actions not display this for all to see?

"I agree that the Phantom is not Romeo," she said, tilting her chin defiantly and refusing to look away from the man on the stage as she said it. "I believe the scene is mine to choose then?"

She paused. "The death scene, then, I command."

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 04:40 am UTC (link)

Bran didn't want to introduce himself as Trevor, just in case there was even the slimmest of chances that he could somehow get out of this without having to worry about being hunted down and killed. Not that it really mattered, since Lotte was clearly uncomfortable around him and would probably avoid him as best she could once this was over. Keeping his face turned carefully away, he glanced at the woman called Sherri. "I'm Bran." He doubted anyone was really going to bother reporting him to some kind of law enforcement, since he was living in the building under a false name - even though he didn't have an actual identity to begin with.

As if he really needed to be reminded that Erik and Christine were the furthest thing from Romeo and Juliet. He felt a surge of defensive anger, but it only strengthened his belief that no one would or ever could understand. Of course they made Erik out to be the villain - it was easier that way. Bran refused to look away from Ella's stare, hating her more with each second.

"No," he said quietly, his voice full of scorn. "Erik is most certainly not Romeo. His biggest problem, after all, was falling in love with a girl from a rival family. How tragic." He didn't want them to pity Erik, but goddamn it, he wasn't an inhuman monster.

The death scene... he hadn't read Romeo and Juliet in years, and he'd hated it when he had; but he didn't care. Whatever it took to get them out of here, he would do it. "Fine. The death scene it is."

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 04:49 am UTC (link)

Though Lotte wanted to take comfort in the obvious fact that Sherri was nice and didn't seem too perturbed by the tension in the room, she couldn't. From either side of Ella's thorny vines came bitterness and when Bran mentioned Erik, she shut her eyes and winced. It wasn't fair on either end - Erik's or Bran's.

Regardless, even if he agreed to that scene she didn't. Lotte shook her head, backing up towards Bran. "No - I can't." She couldn't open her eyes, even if she was facing Ella and Sherri. "I can't do the death scene, I can't have his death be my fault again. Even if it's a play, I can't. You don't understand - I can't." Her hands curled up at her sides, the nails biting into her skin. "I'm sorry, I can't. Anything else? Isn't there another scene that's better?"

Ella should have understood, because she knew about the voices. But then again, Ella didn't seem to understand anything lately. "Can't you remember something else? Please?"

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withinastory
2010-05-19 05:07 am UTC (link)

The death scene did seem a little harsh to Sherri, but she wasn't about to take a side when she had no idea what exactly was going on. She nodded to Bran and smiled at him, as well, but in a friendly-but-not-too-friendly way she'd practiced while caught up in her father's church politics.

Somehow, she didn't think the fact that the scene was short would make Lotte feel better. She wasn't sure that Ella would be swayed with any alternative suggestions, either, so she thought very hard on the scene, trying to remember anything about it that might make it unsuitable. Of course, Romeo and Juliet hadn't exactly been her favorite reading assignment, any of the times she'd had to read it.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 05:19 am UTC (link)

Ella listened to Lotte, her eyes went sharp and intelligent. "You aren't Christine, Lotte," she clarified. The other woman was making it sound like she thought she was the singer in the opera house, and that worried Ella more than anything she'd done yet. "You're Lotte, and you live in Bellum Letale," she said slowly, as if it needed to sink in. "And the Phantom isn't here, as it isn't the full moon. Right now, we're us and none of us have died at the hands of anyone at all."

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 05:37 am UTC (link)

Bran completely ignored Ella, because she was talking to Lotte like she was either a child or insane and he didn't like it; but losing his temper was not something he could allow. Instead he turned towards her, not making any move to touch her, but not backing away either.

"Lotte," he said firmly (but not unkindly), "It's just words. For some reason we're stuck here and to get out the building or whatever it is wants us to recite a few lines. It doesn't mean anything. Neither of us are actually dying, and you're not causing anyone's death. You never have. This has nothing to do with Erik and Christine. They're characters from a book; separate people with separate lives." He'd lied to her and decieved her, but despite how similar he felt to Erik, they weren't the same. Lotte couldn't keep thinking she was at fault for the death of a man who had been doomed from the start - just like he was.

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 05:46 am UTC (link)

Her eyes remained squeezed shut as Ella criticized her. It wasn't that - she wasn't dumb and she knew who she was. But what Ella didn't seem to realize was what it meant to hear things from before and how every time she heard Erik's voice in her head, there was the suffocating feeling of it being her fault. Her lips pressed together as she restrained herself from bringing up the voices - she couldn't do that in front of Sherri and Bran, they didn't need to know she was crazy.

And then Bran spoke. She took a deep breath because if he said it - and he had Erik, then she couldn't protest. There was no excuse other than confessing she was insane and she didn't want that. Her eyes opened and she looked at him for a long moment, before finally letting her head fall.

"Fine." She didn't look up, adding in a near whisper. "Let's get it over with."

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withinastory
2010-05-19 05:55 am UTC (link)

Sherri stepped back, wishing that she'd said something, anything, to keep Lotte from having to do something she so obviously hated. It was too late to do anything, even if she'd been able to think of a solid, inarguable reason why the death scene wouldn't work. Instead, she'd just have to watch and not say anything. At least she was good at that.

Hands clenched into loose fists at her sides, she fixed her eyes on the two on the stage.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 06:02 am UTC (link)

Ella watched everything that happened, and she gave up. It was as simple as that. Lotte wasn't going to listen, and neither was the man who was the Phantom. No matter what she said, she was going to be the bad guy in this scene of star-crossed lovers, and she found she simply did not have the energy for it.

And, admittedly, the death scene request had been childish, if well-intentioned. She didn't think Lotte, who already thought she was Christine, needed any encouragement on that front. But she couldn't save someone who didn't want to be saved, not when she couldn't even save herself.

"Do the balcony scene," she said, sitting down on the rushes and patting the ground beside her for Sherri to join her.

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 06:29 am UTC (link)

Bran knew Lotte didn't want to do the death scene, and if he hadn't wanted to leave so badly then he would have challenged Ella's choice until she agreed to change it. As it was, however, he didn't feel like being drawn into an argument with one of the most annoying people he'd ever met; especially not one he'd tortured in the past. He preferred to interact with her as little as possible, and if they never spoke again he would consider it a bonus.

When Ella changed her mind, however, he couldn't help but look at her with a hint of surprise. She seemed like the stubborn sort, not easily deterred from something once she'd decided on it. Well, whatever the reason, he wouldn't argue. It'd be nice if she could make up her mind, though.

He glanced at Lotte, trying to gauge her reaction. "Are you alright with the balcony scene?"

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 01:43 pm UTC (link)

She'd resigned herself to the death scene when Ella changed her mind, but Lotte's face lit up. It didn't hit her what the balcony scene was and entailed - it was just more important that it wasn't the death scene. "Thank you," she said, offering a tentative smile. Maybe Ella did understand.

It didn't hit her until Bran asked her if she was alright with it and she blinked. Acting, she told herself. It's just acting a scene- "It's better than the death scene," Lotte said, before reaching for his hand. It was done unthinkingly - she didn't want to be in the middle of the stage alone, where she didn't know where the trap doors were. At least, he should be able to hold on if she fell through.

"Do you think we just have to say the words or do we need to...act more of it out?" Lotte called down to the other women. She stopped center stage, looking for a place that had seemed the least likely to have a trapdoor beneath it.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 01:56 pm UTC (link)

Ella, who was sitting beside Sherri on the ground now, actually audibly sighed at Lotte's obvious pleasure. She tried to hold her tongue, she really did, but she was too much of a lecturer at heart to manage it, and she knew Lotte wasn't bad, just overly trusting and, it seemed, exceptionally young. "I know you think I'm being cruel, Lotte, but I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't tell you that I'm worried about what you've gotten yourself into," she said, giving Bran a quick, cursory glance, her gaze dropping to their joined hands. "What do we know about you, sir?" she asked Bran, as she felt certain he would slink back to whatever shadow's he'd come from once this was done.

"It mentions directing, so..." her voice trailed off, and she pointed to the stairs leading up to the makeshift balcony (which had materialized on the stage as she spoke). It was a rickety, wooden affair, true to the time and hardly stable looking.

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lemortvivant
2010-05-19 05:56 pm UTC (link)

Bran hadn't read the play in years, and he could barely remember any of it, but if he'd had to choose then the balcony scene would definitely come before acting out a double suicide. As uncomfortable as it might have been for Lotte, since they were hardly star-crossed lovers, he didn't allow himself to overthink it. After this was a haze of complications and emptiness, so if he could pretend for even a moment that he was someone entirely different, he would seize the opportunity with both hands.

He didn't flinch when she took his hand, he looked down at their joined hands with a mixture of confusion and surprise. Wasn't she afraid of him now? Why was she touching him?

Ella's question almost slipped by unheard, but he caught it at the last moment and turned to her with a blank expression. "About as much as I know about you." He didn't like being made to feel like some kind of dangerous animal, and he wasn't about to let Ella forget that he couldn't trust them any more than they could trust him. "It's very clear that you don't trust me, and I don't expect you to. But I don't have any reason to trust you either." Bran didn't owe her anything, certainly not a life story. There it was again, that annoying sense of self-righteousness that had annoyed him from the start. Maybe she hadn't learned anything after all.

When the balcony appeared he glanced at Lotte, gently slipping his hand free from hers. Once they got this over with, he wasn't sure if she'd ever see him willingly again, and he was far too cynical to hope.

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still_lotte
2010-05-19 06:10 pm UTC (link)

Lotte's lips pressed together as she looked to Ella. Her mind immediately went back to when she'd gone down to her apartment and Ella had warned her that the story wasn't a romance and it was a horror story. Slowly, Lotte shook her head and let her hand fall away from Bran's. "I know. But it's not like that. Not now, we're in Bellum like you said." She looked up at the stage and shook her head. "Or we were - I don't know. It's different."

She didn't say anything else to Bran, only offering him a tight smile before moving to the steps and climbing up. She moved slowly, hand on the railing. Heights had never been a problem for her - up had always been a good direction to go. Once at the top, Lotte peered down and gave a little wave. It wasn't so bad up high - better than being on the stage below. "I'm ready whenever you all are."

She leaned against the balcony's rail carefully, trying to remember what she did of Romeo and Juliet. It was just acting, right? It shouldn't be a hard role, she just had to be instantaneously in love with ...Bran. Her expression tightened, but from where was it was hard to see. She rested her head on her hand, her elbow on the rail, trying to tell herself that this would be fine.

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withinastory
2010-05-19 06:17 pm UTC (link)

The change in scene was a relief even to Sherri. It was a more familiar scene, anyway, one that she remembered fairly well herself. She craned her neck to look up at Lotte, then back down to Bran. Lotte made a fairly convincing Juliet, she thought, and in spite of the situation she was almost looking forward to seeing the two of them perform a scene.

Though she doubted it would be needed, she glanced over at Ella and offered, "If you have a problem remembering any of it, I can try to help. I think that would be okay, as long as I said it to you and you were the one to do the directing, right?" The loophole was pretty clear, at least.

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bookshelved
2010-05-19 06:46 pm UTC (link)

Ella was grateful for the presence of the woman beside her. She was too tied up in watching Bran, listening to Bran, trying to find anything that would absolve him of her attack (for Lotte's sake). She nodded at Sherri. "I think that would work," she said. She liked the Bard's sonnets more than his plays.

"Romeo enters," she said and she nodded toward the makeshift balcony. "What light through yonder window breaks," she began, hoping little prompting would be required.

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lemortvivant, 2010-05-19 10:41 pm UTC

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withinastory, 2010-05-19 10:50 pm UTC

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bookshelved, 2010-05-19 11:03 pm UTC

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lemortvivant, 2010-05-19 11:24 pm UTC

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withinastory, 2010-05-19 11:38 pm UTC

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