faderift | player plot: we'll put on a show (part 1?)

WHO: Everyone (EVERYONE)
WHAT: interviews for the dramatic rendition of Riftwatch’s glorious tale
WHEN: late Wintermarch/early Guardian
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: A follow-up to this post. (big ups to Cass & Lana for helping me come up with questions)

On one auspicious day, in the very early morning, the first ferry brings to Riftwatch four tablet-and-charcoal bearing scribes in the unmistakably gaudy finery marking them as employees of Val Royeaux’s foremost playwright, André L’Euilled Ouebbre. They set about their task at once, leaving no stone unturned and no member of Riftwatch un-interviewed, even if this means following them into the baths, standing outside the lavatory, shouting at an office door, or trotting up many flights of stairs.

They can, of course, be forcibly removed under the right circumstances, but the repercussions of doing this may be undesirable. Who can say.

[While filling out the following questionnaire, please place an asterisk beside any answers on which you would like to elaborate further, in which case you will be assigned a scribe to tag out the resulting conversation.

In the subject line, you can either select one of the following or say ‘random’ to be assigned someone via RNG:

Jean Evain, a middle-aged Orlesian who carries snacks with him to entice his subjects to stop and chat longer; however, they will find that these snacks are way too spicy,

Eileen Marrow, a serious and hard-boiled war reporter who seems rather incongruously matched with this set, but is nonetheless here to get the facts at any cost,

Thibault Gérin, a straight-faced young fellow who takes copious notes in magnificent penmanship, who listens with rapt intent but somehow seems incapable of taking away the correct message,

and

Louis Boucher, a fast-talking and bright-eyed man with an avid interest in his subjects and a talent for twisting their words into whatever he finds more interesting in the moment.

All data will be taken into account, and there will be a follow-up post/announcement/plot sometime in the future after the play is written and the PR reckoning is at hand.

And now, without further ado, the questionnaire (please answer as though your character is being interviewed in person):

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Somehow, Thibault cornered Gannicus. Possibly by offering him wine.]

1. How long have you been with Riftwatch? Near to twenty-five years.

2. What is the most dramatic thing that has ever happened to Riftwatch? Dramatic? I should not claim watching General Muckety-muck's cock get trapped in the body of dead pig as dramatic, but the entertainment lasted hours.

3. What is Riftwatch's greatest triumph? Letting you lot through, truly.

4. What should be the play’s genre? Death. Or wine. Women?

5. If you had to pick a protagonist, or main character, from Riftwatch’s ranks, who would it be? (You can nominate yourself, or someone who isn’t here anymore.) Why? Has anyone spoken plain to you of anyone? Write on the whorehouse in Lowtown, the cunt is fine and the people more interesting than the lot here.

Benedict.

6. Who is the villain? Also Benedict.

7. How about comic relief? I thought this was tragedy; but I know little of drama. Benedict.

8. Any other notable characters among the people you know or have known? There is a woman who you should find, and comment on quality of braid. Her name, I believe, is Abby.

9. Have there been any great romances in Riftwatch? Did I not speak of general and dead pig?

10. Great tragedies? I have heard pig was bereft of general's cock.

11. If an actor should portray you in the production, what is most important for them to get right? [He holds up his flagon of wine. No. Wait. He holds up his sword. Weighs it against the wine. Lifts an eyebrow.]

12. If one person in Riftwatch were to have a cameo in the play who should it be? The severed hand of all who were so cursed to be anchored here.

13. Do you have any great song ideas? I am no songbird. To hear me sing would scorch hair from head.

14. How do you think the story should end? Death to all assembled. Should I demonstrate?

15. Any other comments? You care more for curve of letters than for quality of words, from what I see.

[ The scribe, for his part, is absolutely fascinated; the slight young man watches Gannicus as one might watch a beast showing off its natural strength and grace— with a sort of reverent wonder. ]

And the death at the end, should it be glorious?

What manner of death would satisfy, otherwise?

[Frankly, Gannicus doesn’t think it would be a play he would watch if it wasn’t glorious.]

All Watch.

[ Thibault seems genuinely taken with the idea, perhaps already seeing the stage. Softly but audibly, mostly to himself as he writes: ]

Of course. Of course it must be.

[ Looking up again— ]

Then when you spoke of the genre of the play; death, wine, women... a heroic—!

[ Thibault focus you're meant to be a scribe. Soft throat clear. ]

Er... what do these things mean, to you?

What do they mean to me?

[He leans back a little, his eyebrows rising up his forehead, and he laughs.]

How does that matter?

[ Surprise at that, as if the idea that Gannicus' thoughts on the matter could be immaterial had never occurred to him. Delicate fingers spread expressively, somehow without dropping the quill. ]

To tell such a story, one that ends in death for all, and not have it be received as tragedy... we must teach those who come to the playhouse how to understand in a new way. To understand the way you do.

[He scowls a little, but it’s clear it’s in thought and not in disapproval. The truth is he’s never been to a playhouse, and the most entertainment he’s witnessed is bawdy dancing or hushed storytelling.]

Should not a tragedy also contain the potential for glory?

[Gannicus is no storyteller, but:]

Should not the most meager and forgotten have opportunity to know lives matter even when all that contained could be small, and fleeting?

player plot: we'll put on a show (part 1?)

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