CONTENT WARNING - SHORT DESCRIPTIONS OF UNETHICAL HUMAN EXPERIMENTS - CHILD ABUSE - MENTIONS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT
Warning - this fic broaches heavy subjects. If you've finished Twig, this shouldn't faze you. Otherwise, heed the trigger warnings. Also, major spoiler for the entire story of Twig.
Theme: Happens ~10 years after the events of Twig. The Academy is being demolished, press reports on it as a symbol of the new world. Ex-actors from Professor Ferres's show come together and share their perspective. They disagree on how traumatic the experience was.
- Maybe one is nostalgic, remembers the fame and attention; idealizes the plays, doesn't realize how fucked up it was for the others; how much the other ex-actors are bitter and traumatized by that time of their life.
- One fell into a life of crime, depression and/or drugs. Refuses to admit how much it hurt him.
- Body modifications?
Not sure what the punchline is.
Elements:
- Being transformed into fantastical creatures (fairies, talking animals, etc), contrast between the beautiful fiction and the gruesome reality.
- Complicity of artistocrats: people were coming from everywhere for that show, paying top dollar, this is how she financed her projects.
- Controversial: Ferres is very popular, advanced Academy science with ambitious projects, some people had a good image of her.
- There were "promotions", kids were discarded and replaced once they didn't fit the roles anymore. "Recycling"?
- Maybe a "Red Hood" meets her successor?
- New world. The Crown has been toppled (here), child protection laws are stronger, but it feels out of their control, the world is moving and they're being left behind.
- Maybe society has trouble accepting them.
- Have them walk through the "sets", and different parts of the infrastructure that processed them.
Also I wonder what the framing device would be. You have all these adults that were, as kids, kidnapped, enslaved, experimented on, and mind-controlled for a show. What leads them all to come back at the same time to the place of the show to argue about their experience? What do they spend the story doing, besides arguing?
Anyway, I was inspired by a documentary I saw.
It showed the child actors from Wily Wonka and the Chocolate Factory as adults. The documentary had them talk about the shooting, and revisit the sets, etc.
And it was really nostalgic and also a little creepy, because the documentary was kind of idealizing these people, who had mostly moved on from that one movie they shot 20 years ago.
There's probably an abuse metaphor in there. Like when you have a bunch of kids show up at their abusive parents funeral; and the kids argue because, maybe the oldest sister didn't realize the parents were abusive at all, maybe she normalized it, maybe the youngest brother turned bad because of the abuse and refuses to admit it's still hurting him, etc.
TODO - describe Elain's face Note - waiters are human, described as a luxury
Maxence.
Maxence apologizes to Elaine. Says he's been going through therapy (an inovation brought by the Wyvern Lord) Realizes he needs to stop doing apologia
Elaine and the student get together at the end.
did you tell the headmaster to include that line?
talks with Lady Jessica "what an intriguing young woman"
it's an ongoing concern we're making huge projects There are lots of incentives to be tyrants
Maxence.
Maxence apologizes to Elaine. Says he's been going through therapy -> (note, how does therapy work when doctors are the ruling class?) Realizes he needs to stop doing apologia
make Madeline sound more mature
Elaine stared at the reclining lady of Hackthorn, in the distance.
Human workers and giant gorilla-like beasts were buzzing around it, repairing the damage from so long ago, so small she could barely see them as more than small patches of color against the dull brown of the Academy walls.
She'd heard that these days, on construction sites like this, with clones and stitched and other creatures, the ratio of human workers to artificial servants was around one to twelve. Though the line between the two was blurring more with each passing day.
She felt so weird. She'd spent some formative years of her life in that Academy, and yet this was the first time in her life she saw it from the outside.
Thinking about her childhood made her think of bare floors, of the smell of piss and blood, and other stuff like that. Of the sharp pain in her head whenever one of the asshole handlers thought she wasn't training hard enough or saw her forget a line, and triggered the chemical lash. It was hard to reconcile with the beautiful building in the process of being rebuilt on the horizon.
She was still stewing in these thoughts when Maxence Gardner arrived.
His gaze moved through the restaurant's patrons, stopping when he made eye contact with Elaine. He strode towards her table with an even gait, though his confidence seemed to leave him once he reached her.
"Are... are you Elaine?" He chuckled. "Kind of proceeding by elimination here."
About a hundred different answers went through her head. She went with:
"It's me."
"You... ah, you've changed! Would have been really awkward if I'd accosted the wrong person." He chuckled again.
No fucking shit, I've changed. Elaine had spent years building the face she was now wearing. Her original face, her real body, had been carved out of her, with scalpels and drugs, thoroughly enough that scalpels and drugs would never give it back. Ashley had told her from day one: once the Academy got you that bad, the only way out was forward.
So Elaine had traded favors, and whatever cash she could scrap from odd jobs here and there, for one modification after another; erasing every trace of the Academy, replacing it with art from Ashley and her gang, colors they liked and symbols that meant something to them. Straight dark hair to replace the wool, small horns and a face reshaped into striking angles. She wasn't really into the "biblical demon" aesthetic most of the gang liked, but she wanted to look severe. To not have a body designed to look like prey anymore.
Some of her thought process must have shown on her face, because Maxence stopped smiling. He took the chair in front of her, and raised his hand at a nearby waiter.
"Have you picked something?" Maxence asked. "If you've never been here, I have to recommend the mutton stew. It's a delight." His face fell. "Hum, no pun inten-"
"S'fine," she cut him off.
Maxence placed their orders, and Elaine took the occasion to look at him again.
Whereas she and the other kids she'd kept contact with had all gone for a clean slate, Maxence had clearly kept some of the look of the Prince. His hair was black now, not the almost gold-like blonde Ferres had put on him. He'd lost the antlers, but his face still had the deer-like cast it had been carved into. It made him look gracious, and strong at the same time. Anybody who'd seen him in one of Ferres' plays would recognize him immediately.
As the waiter left, Maxence turned back to her, and smiled awkwardly.
"It's crazy how much civilization goes on, huh? Even after the civil war, and the black wood, and everything that happened, we're still here. We can rebuild." He glanced at the Academy in the distance. "We still have people and arts and restaurants like this one."
Almost as if they did it on purpose, Elaine thought.
The mad professors who had arranged for the slaughter of their own people would not suffer living without creature comforts, after all. Rich people needed fancy restaurants, and fancy restaurants needed living waiters and cooks, and so they'd made sure enough waiters and cooks would survive the planned democide, to serve the simulacrum of society that would remain. Factory workers, who could be replaced with stitched, hadn't been so lucky.
Elaine thought about voicing all this and more, but she needed Maxence to listen to her. She bit her tongue and nodded.
"How have you been doing?"
This was not what she wanted the conversation to be about.
"Making ends meet." Struggling "Until recently, I did deliveries." I stole Academy supplies for Ashley's gang. "It's been harder since the red plague." Everyone in the gang is dead. I'm living off charity.
Maxence looked unimpressed. She'd forgotten how good he was at the "piercing stare" thing.
"I'll see if I can help. How's your health?"
Elaine glared at him.
"Fine, I won't sugarcoat it then. I've kept contact with the others." The others. "Marcus told me you have a substance abuse problem."
"I don't see how that's your damned problem. It's my body, and you sure as hell don't get to tell me what I do with it."
Max raised his hands. "Okay. I get it. I get it. But I'm worried about you. And so are the others."
"Oh, are they?" Elaine seethed. "How thoughtful of you to worry about the others. And tell, me, what do the others think of your little professor wannabe charade? Of you betraying everything that happened to them, to us, and fucking exploiting children for a twisted damned charade? You're butchering kids to entertain rich assholes like Ferres did, and you have the nerve to lecture me about my life?"
"I'd hoped we could avoid making a scene", Max sighed. Other patrons were looking at them.
"Well too damn bad! I don't understand how you can live with yourself for even a minute! I mean, what is wrong with you? How could you look at what they did to us, at the torture, the mutilations, the slavery, and go 'Yeah, that's something I want to emulate'? What the hell did they turn your brain into, that you'd think this is a good idea?"
Maxence appeared infuriatingly unruffled.
"It's different.", he replied. "We have the children's consent."
"Oh please. They said the exact same thing. That it wasn't that bad. That we asked for it. They... Do you know how I was kidnapped? Because I actually found out, a few years ago. The Lords and Ladies sent people my way. Your way too, I imagine." Max nodded. "They found the archives for my case."
She panted. Breathe, she remembered.
"A landlord in Radham had cooked up a scheme. He'd find excuses to expropriate families from his buildings, in the dead of winter. To make place for people who needed it, he said. For his friends or refugees from other cities. The families were desperate, and they'd do anything for shelter."
"So a fuckbag professor would ask for their kids. She'd promise to keep them safe. And then she'd sell the kids to a Block, and the landlord would get a cut of the money. That's what happened to me. So go ahead. Tell me how you have consent. I'm all ears!"
"Look, I'm not disputing the professors were terrible people." For the first time in the conversation, Maxence looked pained. "They treated us badly. All of us. They..." he hesitated. "They used me. They were part of a toxic system where the end justified the means, and they didn't particularly care about the means that much."
"You say that like the ends were something worth talking about," Elaine fumed. "Like it was dignified, anything more than garbage. It wasn't."
"I kn-"
"It wasn't. They tortured us, for the sake of having the most important men and women on the continent, grown damned adults, watch idiotic stories about ponies and fairies and little piglets with their spoiled brats."
"I assure you, I didn't miss that part. I was always frustrated with how limited the stories were. The format was restrictive."
And there it is. As the Prince, Max had been one of the only kids to get a speaking part during Ferres' plays. He had enjoyed much of it, the fame, the captive audience. The attention from girls, including some alone time with a very attractive young aristocrat.
For all he claimed to have been abused, it had always been clear he wanted more of it. More fame, longer stories, bigger roles for him. After Ferres had dumped him out to make way for his replacement, he'd kept going, and made a career for himself in theater. At first as an actor, and now as the young director of a troupe. He was well-off enough to have paid for her passage to Hackthorn through the green wasteland - there was no way she could have afforded the trip otherwise.
And he was repeating the cycle all over again, partnering with the Academy to disfigure children for a play, under the patronage of Lord Simon himself.
"So this is why you're doing this? You never got your big elaborate story while Ferres was alive, so now you're taking her place?"
"No," Max gritted his teeth. "That's not why. I want-"
"Isn't it? Because any other reason I can think of makes you look even worse, Max. The black coats did it for money and influence. Because they were power-hungry psychopaths, and enslaving kids like us was one more tool for them to get more power."
"Their motivations were a lot more complicated than you make it-"
"And now you're acting like them, you're making excuses for them, you-"
"I'm not making excuses!" Maxence shouted.
He seemed to notice the stares from the other patrons and waiters, and sat back down.
"Look. I'm not making excuses. What was done to us, it was bad. They had good reasons to do it, and they had selfish reasons. Yes, they did it for money and fame, and because they were the kind of people who would sell their grandmother for a bit of power. And I don't... I can't... I know how monstrous it was. I know that I came out of it broken, not better."
Max drew a breath.
"But I can't turn my back on it. There's so much good that came from these theater performances. The look on little kids' faces when they saw their dreams become reality. The promise of a brighter future. The medical advancements, and, yes, the funding. I have to believe that all that good can still exist. That the abuse was because of them, not because of the art. That the art can still exist without being exploitative."
He really believed it, Elaine saw.
He'd crafted a fantasy as absurd and self-indulgent as any of those Professor Ferres had written in her time, and much like Ferres, he'd gone on to believe in that fantasy so hard that he would rather use children as props than abandon it.
She stood without a word.
"I'd hoped we could at least eat together. Please stay?"
She shook her head and left.
Like many sections of Hackthorn, the practice room had been built with a specific purpose in mind, and designed with an aesthetic that reflected that purpose.
One half of the room was centered around an elevated stage, framed by large curtains. Around the stage were arches leading to adjacent rooms, and even a mechanical elevator to bring heavy materials and experiments from the laboratories above. The stage had mirrors in the back for practice. There was a table with what looked like snacks in the corner.
The other half of the room was empty; but Elaine could still see the marks on the floors where chairs had been. The practice room had also been used as a theater, where performances would be arranged for small-time aristocrats who didn't warrant locking down the main hall in the reclining lady's womb.
Elaine felt the dissonance again. This was definitely the same room: it had the same shape, the same arches and straight lines meant to evoke the pagan temples of old... but a ton of details were wrong. The missing chairs, the snack table. The walls had a different look; they weren't overgrown with carefully placed vines anymore, they didn't have that organic vibe that used to be everywhere in the academy's architecture. Now it looked more like a conventional theater.
On the stage, kids were practicing their roles. From what Elaine could see, it was a prison scene. One of the kids had already been butchered; a girl, with features that looked like a cross between a fawn and a fox; she was playing the part of a princess, who had been locked up for stealing the formula of the evil king's magic weapon. The kid opposite her, playing the dashing hero, here to rescue her, hadn't gone through surgery yet. He was wearing cardboard antlers.
The scene they were rehearsing was a mix of acting and fight choreography, something Elaine was intensely familiar with. In the particular moment they were rehearsing, they were intercepted by guards, and the dashing hero realized that the princess was just as capable as he was.
There were two trainers on stage, amid a myriad of attendants. An old woman in a severe dress, and a white coat doctor, who looked about Elaine's age. The old woman was getting increasingly agitated.
"No! Again, Alexandra, no! You're holding back. You need to put your weight into the strike. It needs to look like the club would have hit Wallace full force if he hadn't dodged. The audience can see that kind of thing, it's what makes the scene convincing."
"Yes, ma'am," Alexandra grumbled. Elaine narrowed her eyes. She was in the back of the room, but the modifications the kid wore were designed to make her face more expressive. Even from a distance, it was clear Alexandra was annoyed.
"It's not enough to say yes, Alexandra. I've already told you a dozen times. You need to put the advice in practice."
"I'm putting it in practice, but-"
"No, you aren't," the teacher interrupted. "If you were, we wouldn't be having that conversation."
"I'm trying not to-"
"No. Alexandra. Listen to me. You need to stop thinking, and act. Don't rationalize it, just go through the motions."
"It's not-"
"Stop talking back!" the teacher said. She had raised her voice a fair bit. The other kids and attendants, who were waiting for the practice to resume, were very pointedly not looking at the pair arguing.
I need a dose. The thought came, unbidden. It was a mistake to come here. She was only confirming what she'd already known. It didn't matter that Maxence said the rules were different, because the people were the same. Even if the teacher didn't have a chemical lash to trigger at a whim.
The white coat stepped in, all sweet smiles. "Alright, let's take it from the top again? Alex, try to focus on your movements, and nothing else. No rationalizing, like Mrs Buckner said. It'll come with practice."
Mrs Buckner, looking damned satisfied with herself, nodded, and went to arrange the other actors. Alexandra, looking dour, nodded at the doctor, and eventually followed.
The scene played out again. The hero knocked out one of the guards (Elaine winced; the hit looked real, and sounded real), Alexandra picked up his club without missing a bit, and began fighting another guard. Her hits did look a little stronger this time around; like she was really trying to bash the other kid's head.
In the middle of the scene, the teacher interrupted again.
"No, no. Alexandra, why aren't you listening to me? Your posture is wrong again, your hips should be aligned with -"
"Don't touch me!"
A chill fell on the stage. The teacher had tried to grab Alexandra, and the kid had slapped her hand away.
After a few seconds, the teacher got a composure again. "Young lady, you will not raise your voice at me!"
"Go to h-"
"And this where I'm declaring a time out!" the doctor jumped in. "Alex, take a snack, and go on a break. Don't come back until you've cooled your head. Everyone else, five minutes break."
This is too much, Elaine realized. She needed a dose, and she didn't have one, and it would have been a terrible idea anyway. Failing that, she needed fresh air.
She left the theater, and headed for a balcony.
"Have you been in Hackthorn before?"
It was the white coat again. It looked liked her break had been extended to the rest of the day.
Elaine glanced back at her, and nodded. She'd been leaning on a balcony built in a rib of the reclining lady, looking at the surrounding city, trying to think about anything other than the pressing need at the back of her mind. Behind her, white coats and students were milling around, adding to the oppressive nature of the place; every time one of them glanced at her, Elaine felt like she was about to be punished.
The young doctor was a distraction, at least.
"You looked like you knew your way around. Are you..." she hesitated. "You don't look like a dignitary, but they let you in the building, and you went to visit the theater. Are you one of the actors? From Ferres' time?"
Elaine glanced back again, and considered lying. No. It wasn't worth the effort.
"I'm one of her victims, yeah. I came back because... I guess I needed to see."
I needed to see what Maxence sold us all out for.
The doctor nodded, softly.
"I hope you don't think too badly of Mrs Buckner. Everyone's stressed with the opening coming soon, and she's not used to working with children."
That doesn't justify anything.
"And you are?"
"Doctor Madeline Powell. Nice to meet you." She gave a radiant smile, and extended a hand for Elaine to shake.
"Elaine. No surname." She shook Madeline's hand. "But what I meant was, you're used to working with children?"
"Oh." Madeline flushed. "Hum. Yeah. I've got two little sisters and a little brother home. Things could get hectic. You learn how to negotiate."
Elaine nodded. The doctor did give off that easygoing vibe.
"So how did you resolve that thing with Buckner and the kid?"
Madeline hesitated. "I haven't resolved it yet. I was still gathering my thoughts when I saw you. I know Alex can get unruly, but she means well. I think I'll have her and Mrs Buckner shake hands and apologize."
Unruly. "You'll make the kid apologize?"
"Yeah. She swore at a teacher. You can't let that kind of behavior go, or other kids will start emulating her. You got to draw boundaries."
This is setting an unacceptable precedent. We need to make an example out of her. Elaine was getting the urge again. This was a mistake. She got up.
"I think I should leave."
"No!" Madeline looked panicked. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."
Elaine paused.
"Look, I know this must have bad associations for you. I know they hurt you. But I don't want... I swear, I'm only trying to do what's best for the kids. Really." Her eyes were wide.
"I believe you," Elaine lied. "But... when they operated on us, the doctors told us it was for our own good too. Some of them even believed it." And for all that you're about to say it's not the same, I remember students like you, too. Students that smiled and said sweet words at us, and then they grabbed scalpels to butcher us. I don't trust smiling doctors.
Madeline nodded. "Yeah, I... I've been thinking about that a lot. Mister Gardner told... he gave me a whole speech, when I joined the team. He said that being good wasn't about intentions, or about the end results of what you did. It was about what you optimized for."
Max said that? Elaine leaned back on the railing. Madeline tucked a hair strand behind her ear.
"He said... that if you were willing to be good, you'd find opportunities to put good in everything you did. But if you didn't care, the good would leak out of everything, because everything else you're optimizing for just pushes it out."
Madeline was looking her in the eyes, with an intensity that was a little intimidating. Elaine slowly nodded.
"The other two students who were joining the project, I don't think they really got what he meant. They nodded, like it made perfect sense, but they dropped out quickly. I'm guessing mister Gardner pushed them out."
She paused.
"And after I looked at the archives, at the theater projects under Ferres... I mean, the archives don't include everything, only the notes the doctors took, but even these were horrifying. The notes say they did most of the procedures without anesthetics because the surgeries were invasive enough that anesthetics would impact the survival rates. In some of their plays the kids died and they moved on like it was nothing. I'm pretty sure one of them was sexually assaulted by a guest and they played a part in that. And the way they treated these kids..." She seemed to remember who she was talking to. "The way they treated you was disgusting and inhumane. I can't overstate how brave you are for coming back here, despite it all." She blushed a little at that.
Elaine slowly nodded. A detached part of her was telling her she should be feeling the urge to escape again, or to cry, but instead she felt... relieved.
Like she'd been asking a question for years, and finally had the answer. She felt lighter.
"And when I talked to mister Gardner about it, he said... He brought it back to the idea that these doctors and students didn't think they were bad people. That they had ambitions, friends, political opinions, family they wanted to do right by, and they just... let the good slide out, because the politics and impressing their friends and family was more important."
Madeline looked her in the eye again, intense.
"The point I took away was that, to be good, you have to work for it. That you can't just say you won't be evil and assume that's enough. That's why I sought you out. If you think we're wrong, I have to listen to you."
Elaine frowned. "I'm not your ethical shield."
Madeline gave a timid smile. "Understood."
She thought.
"I think you shouldn't ask the kid to apologize."
The doctor nodded. "Alright. I disagree. She broke a rule, and I think the rule has merit. She shouldn't get away with that."
"She was provoked by the teacher. And before you go, I'm not saying she was in the right, although she totally was. I'm saying Buckner's behavior was the root cause. Fix the root cause, the problem goes away."
The doctor hesitated. "I have to be fair. They were both in the wrong. If I undercut Mrs Buckner, I'll lose her respect. She already thinks we go too easy on the kids."
"That's not fairness. If you treat them both the same, you're enforcing the status quo. You're saying it's okay that Buckner abused that kid, because she was unruly."
"Maybe." The white coat frowned. "I'm worried you got a poor impression of Mrs Buckner. She's come a long way, and she cared for the children since the beginning."
"Sure. I can buy that. Then she can keep going a long way." Madeline started answering, and Elaine cut her off. "But she'll only do that if you challenge her. If you don't punish kids who speak out against her to keep her in her comfort zone. Because if you do? If you just accept that, oh well, grabbing a kid isn't that bad, tons of parents hit their kids and society accepts it, she isn't that harsh in comparison, you don't want her to think you're a softie? If you accept that? Then you're not doing your part. You're letting good get pushed out because you have more pressing things to worry about."
Madeline looked away, thoughtful. She still had that timid smile.
"Yeah. I... I can't promise I'll let Alex off the hook, but I'll think about what you said. I think you're right."
"That's all I can ask." Elaine smiled. "Honestly, you're more than I expected."
"I... More?"
"Yeah. You're better. You're kind, you're thoughtful, you take responsibility for your actions. I didn't expect that from you. I'm happy to be proven wrong."
"Oh." Madeline blushed. "I think you're great too. You're smart, you took me seriously instead of brushing me off, and you're..." she gestured erratically at her. "You're cool. You stand your ground. I wish I was like that. Probably helps you with the guys."
"Not my thing." Elaine raised an eyebrow. "That's a front you've been struggling on? The guys?"
"Yeah. I... uh, I thought I didn't have time for that, too busy studying, but now that I've graduated... I guess guys aren't really my thing either? I don't know, they can be cool, but sometimes I just don't see the appeal, and even if I did, I'm not..."
She gestured frantically at Elaine again. Elaine mock-grabbed her wrists to make her stop. Madeline was staring at her, a bit wild-eyed, her shoulders tense, getting increasingly flustered.
"I see girls like you, who can look bold, and confident and make it all look easy, and all the boys are at their feet, and I get it, you know, and I wish I was like that sometimes, I mean not a boy but confident and I-"
On impulse, Elaine leaned forward and kissed her.
Madeline stilled.
Her shoulders slowly relaxed.
Then it was like a voltaic shock hit her, and she walked back. If she was blushing before, now she was almost tomato red.
"I didn't-" she stammered, "I mean, that's not what I, I don't- I don't think-"
Shit. I might have fucked up.
Madeline turned and walked away.
"I have to go!"
Elaine stayed on the balcony for a while, trying to make sense of that conversation.
"Lord Simon, Lady Jessica, Professor Garey, Professor Brooks, Doctor Fisher, mister mayor, professors, doctors and students of our Academy, esteemed ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the first public performance of Hackthorn's Youth Theater for Fantastical Stories!"
"You have no doubt read a great many dissertations in the press about the significance of this event, so I'll endeavor not to excessively waste your time pontificating at length. Why, I'll only pontificate as little as strictly necessary."
There were a few polite chuckles in the audience.
"This play is a symbol of everything that has changed. Of the ways the Crown and Academy were destructive to this continent, whereas our Lords and Ladies of Radham help us build something stronger, something kinder. Whereas this theater was before built on lies, slavery and child abuse, it is now built on idealism and cooperation. Whereas the plays of Professor Ferres were fairy tales, idiotic stories of ponies and fairies, to dull the minds of the audience and put a coat of glitter over an ugly truth, our story is political and thoughtful, meant to provoke emotion and deeper consideration."
"Now. I've already proven myself a liar, by taking up too much of your time, so I won't perorate much further. Before I let you enjoy the show, one last reminder."
"This play is the result of hard technical achievements from our esteemed students, and the better part of a year of rehearsing from our very talented actors. Out of respect for their hard work, I ask of you that you do not jeer, cheer or chat amongst yourselves for the duration of the show. Rest assured, there will be intermissions for that purpose. Any heckler, no matter their rank or social status, will be removed from the premises, with the full blessing of Lord Simon and Lady Jessica. You have been warned."
"Now, my Lord and Lady, ladies and gentlemen, enjoy the play!"
Applause broke out as the headmaster left the stage.
The audience broke into applause as the fawn princess gave medals to the heroes and the curtains rolled, and Elaine was left reeling.
Wow.
The headmaster had not been kidding. That play was bold.
An evil empire, destroying entire worlds to cow the others into submission. A rebellion, portrayed as idealistic and daring. Humble commoners from the destroyed worlds, coming together to topple the evil regime.
The parallels were clear.
Elaine glanced at Lord Simon, but there he was, smiling and applauding with the others. Lady Jessica was looking serene as well.
On the stage, children were coming before the curtains, holding hands and bowing together. The applause continued.
As children separated into groups, people started coming on stage. The headmaster, some doctor, Maxence, and others. Parents came to hug their child.
Madeline was on stage, too. They made eye contact, briefly, and Madeline flushed and turned away.
Right.
The teacher, Mrs Buckner, was on the side of the stage. Elaine saw Alexandra, the kid playing the princess, walk towards the teacher. They hugged.
Elaine felt tears well up. She cried, as people around her kept applauding.
Maxence was engrossed in discussion with a group of people when she found him.
By the time she realized one of those people was Lady Jessica of Radham, it was too late.
"Oh, Elaine! So happy you could join us." Max was beaming. Ugh.
"My Lady, I would introduce my friend to you, but I'm guessing from experience you've already picked up more from context details than I could explain in an hour."
A young girl at the Lady's side snorted. Something about her seemed familiar. She had piercing blue eyes, an irreverent look that was at odds with the angelic cast of her face, and flowing locks of silver hair.
"He's not wrong," she drawled.
Lady Jessica shook her head. "It's more memory than context details. Even now, I tend to leave those to my husband." She turned towards Elaine. "Miss Elaine. You were with the Devil's Fangs, if I'm remembering correctly." The other girl chuckled, like she'd heard a bad joke. "You must be adrift now. I hope you're not finding it too difficult to find your place in society."
Elaine's blood froze. For all that the noble's tone was casual, she had just mentioned her criminal past, and had the power to put her to death for it if she wished. This felt like a test of some sort.
"No, my Lady. Maxence here helped me find a job. I can't say I'm not missing my people, but... To be honest, my life is better now. There's a peace in not having to hurt people to get your next meal. I didn't realize I was missing it until I had it." She paused. "My Lady." she added belatedly.
"That's gratifying to hear," Maxence smiled.
"Well, I wouldn't know about the violence and meal part," Lady Jessica said. "Even at the lowest points of my life, I always had a roof over my head and someone I trusted to make sure my basic needs were met." She smiled fondly. "But I'm glad you found some peace."
Elaine hesitated. "You... know me, my Lady?"
"I do. My husband and I have taken something of a responsibility to help all the children who were victimized in the bowels of Hackthorn, and other facilities like it."
The little girl perked up. "She's one of us?"
"Your predecessor, Bonnie."
Elaine and the little girl looked each other up and down. Yeah, the kid did look like a Bo Peep.
"Awkward as the segueway is," Max said, "this does remind me. What did you think of the play, Elaine?"
Elaine sighed. Max had a way with people, he could be incredibly compelling, but at the same time he just couldn't stop himself from putting a foot in his own mouth. She pushed down the annoyance.
"I thought the Prince was hot." Bonnie drawled. Lady Jessica clucked her tongue.
"I'll pass it along," Max replied, not quite deadpan. He was still looking at Elaine.
She tried to gather her thoughts.
"I didn't hate it. It's different from Ferres' plays in every way that counts, and I respect that. I respect that you thought about it and made an effort. I talked to the teachers and doctors and some of the actor kids and even if I'm not happy with the whole thing, I can't deny they know what they've gotten into, and they were ready to give their all for this thing, and they did."
She stopped, and took a breath. She looked at Max again.
"I don't think I'll ever want a part in this. It still feels too close to everything we went through. But... I think I get why you wanted to do it. You wanted to prove that it was possible. That there was a better way, that you could do something beautiful without exploiting the defenseless."
She took another breath.
"I think you succeeded."
There was a pause.
"A ringing endorsement," Lady Jessica said.
Elaine nodded. The Lady didn't feel so threatening now. She felt like she might really be a good person.
"Are you going to eat with us?" Max asked. "I'm sure we could find you a place at the banquet table." Lady Jessica inclined her head in agreement.
"I'm flattered, but I'm afraid I've already made other engagements. I should leave soon, if it's alright with you, my Lady."
"Of course. If you wish to speak to me, my door will always be open. Maxence knows how to contact me."
Elaine said her goodbyes, and took her leave.
She went to a balcony to catch her breath. That conversation had been intense.
Then she left, at a good pace. She couldn't linger too long.
Her dinner date was waiting for her.