'Right! I'm going to pretend yesterday didn't happen, and we'll move onto going through some of the tougher scenes... let's start with scene 3, where Pearlie and Rendolf get supplies from Keralis... we have got the props now.'
'Are there 11 of them?'
'Probably.'
'You mean you didn't count?!'
'I just needed something to fit the song!'
'Well now I'm definitely going to... hmm...' Grian paused. 'I can't stop you. I can't start a resistance. I CAN'T START A RESISTANCE!'
'I'm sorry! But... Keralis, there's a chest of props for you onstage. Ren, Pearl, enter the other side and we'll try to make this less chaotic that before. Cub, Scar, Grian, I have my eye on you three.'
The chaos trio looked between each other, as the scene began.
'Good evening!' Keralis beamed.
'We need supplies for our quest!'
'A map.' Interrupted Pearl. 'And coats. And other supplies.'
As the scene continued normally, Grian turned to Cub and Scar.
'Ok, I have a plan to get back the script.'
'The director's script?'
'Shhh! Yeah, but... call it something else. Any ideas?'
'Doesn't this count as resisting?'
'No, because it's not resisting Joe, it's just neatly getting him out of power.'
'Call it the resistance.'
'The script? Great idea. Now, I have an idea of how to get it... Scar, you stay here and cause chaos.'
'I can do that.'
'Cub, you act sensible, like you're trying to stop Scar from causing chaos. And do everything Joe wants you to... get on his good side.'
'Yeah, sure. So he gives me the resistance.'
'Exactly. And if that fails, we go to good ol' murder. But first we get Joe to set his spawn really far away so he takes ages to get back and one of us gets the resistance when he dies.'
'This is getting very confusing already.'
'Scar, all you have to do is be chaotic... break the stage or something. I have a feeling we're going to be running scene nein after this, so you have a perfect chance to do something stupid and scar-ish... and you have a good chance to stop him.'
'Total chaos.' Cub suddenly suggested. The other two frowned. 'Everyone's getting tired of running scenes constantly... we can play Total Chaos in character. And if Joe puts his script with the rest of his items, one of us will take it. And if he takes it with him, it ends up with the rest of the dropped items and it's ours.'
'And because we can't be in character without our scripts, we all have to bring them with us, so we can shuffle them all up and everyone gets a random script afterwards... Cub, you're a genius.'
'How do we get Joehills to agree to this?'
'It's just plan B, and we can do what he always asks us to do.'
'What?' Grian grinned.
'Improvise.'
'DOC THAT WAS GREAT!' Yelled Joe suddenly. The chaos trio turned around to see scene 7 in action. Doc seemed to be finally learning how to act, and Cleo was actually starting to put in some energy. 'Now, run the fight again, and then we can move onto scene 9.'
So they did, and it actually went alright and looked partially believable. The two 'villains' ran offstage and everyone gave a polite applause.
'Now, Scene 9. Cub, Scar, you're onstage. Doc, Cleo, Bdubs, be ready to enter.'
'Can I do my monologue again?' Cub asked. 'I think it... works alright.'
'Maybe not for this run-through because Doc's getting really confused by everyone making stuff up... just go through exactly what the script says... now, let's begin.'
'My all powerful masters! There is terrible news!' Bdubs ran onstage to say
'What?' Cub replied. Scar acted as if he hadn't heard.
'The... the minions you sent to guard those toys you trapped... they come, defeated, with news of an attack! And that a group of rapscallions have freed them and reversed all your hard work!'
'That's really bad!' Scar improvised
'I'm sorry!' Replied Bdubs.
'Leave our presence immediately!' Repeated Cub. Bdubs ran offstage.
'Scar, it's your line!' Cub tried to prompt.
'I thought I could try it without a script...'
'I'll let you look at mine. Don't worry.'
'Bring in the... perpetuators? Preperators? Cub, why is that circled?'
'Words to help you figure out how to say.' Unsure whether his friend was lying or not, Scar just gave a little. 'Oh.' 'It says perpetrators. As in people who've done wrong.'
'Ohh, thanks! Bring in the perpetrators!'
After a moment, Doc and Cleo realised it was their cue, entering the stage.
'We have sinned, mighty ones.' Cleo began. 'And for that we are very sorry and beg for penance.'
'You were supposed to be our best guards. And now you've failed against a couple of idiots.' Cub stepped threateningly towards them. Scar instantly fell out of character, looking around, waving at Grian...
'There were six of them!' Doc spoke with some kind of energy
'Scar, your line again... would you like to just borrow my script to say your lines? I've already learnt this scene... Joe can we break the have the script, play the role rule for this?'
'Yeah, that would be great.'
'Where did we get up to?' Scar looked over at Cub.
'Doc just said there were six of them... it's the line after that.'
'Oh, ok! You... I have a lot of big words... you will suffer for your sins!' Scar decided to say instead.
'Oh no, please give us your pity.' Cleo replied
'Silence, traitor!' Cub snapped back at Cleo. 'I don't want your apologies or excuses!'
'Yeah!'
'Scar! Say your actual lines!'
'Would it be easier if I said them?' Cub offered,
'No, Scar should be learning them... we have until the end of this week to have scripts onstage ok? We should've all been learning lines anyway, like Cub has been doing... Scar, say your actual line.'
'Fine! For your error you will be sent to the pit of the vexes and murdered according to the laws of our kingdom with the passion of a thousand Scars!'
'No! Don't kill us!'
'Please! We beg for forgiveness!' Added Cleo.
'Bdubs! Take the traitors to the pit!'
Bdubs returned onstage.
'No!'
'Doc, Scar has magical powers that stop you from moving when he holds out his hand in the play. You're going to run forwards and he's going to use them.'
'Ok...'
'You need to actually stop though, so it looks like he does... Ren, would you like to demonstrate?'
'Sure!'
Ren ran across the stage until Scar held out his hand, very excited, and Ren stopped.
'Doc, you have to do exactly what Ren did... ok, let's go.'
So Doc ran forwards, and Scar held out his hand. By some miracle, Doc obeyed Joe's instruction and stopped.
'Now, at the same time, Cleo and Cub do the same thing, but Cleo runs off the other way exactly three steps before... perfect! Let's run that again...'
It didn't take long to finish the scene to some degree of accuracy, and by the time he had, Cub had thought of his master plan.'
'Joe?'
'Yeah?'
'I think it would be good for Scar to get some more practice with his scenes... and I don't remember all the direction you gave him. So... can I borrow your script, just for tonight, and help him learn it?'
Joe paused, and thought for a moment.
'What's going on?' Scar approached.
'I thought we could go over our scenes tonight and I'm wondering if Joe will lend us his script.'
'Cub can be really trustworthy sometimes.' Scar replied, semi-honestly.
'Yeah... it's alright if not. And you can punish me however you want if I'm not serious.'
A pause.
'...fine.'
Joe handed over the script.