MORITURI TE SALUTANT!! [S!4] ROUND 3- OPHIDIAN JADE!

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Spoilermeanwhile: immediately beforehand

Nameless awoke in a room, uncharacteristically empty by Il Maledictan standards. All the walls were draped with black materials. There was a table upon which there was a small neatly folded pile of black robes and a semi circle of folding chairs. She was sat in one of them, the two Borgata family goons who had pursued her were sat to her left, bickering in whispered broken italian. Sitting opposite her was a figure in a black robe with a white mask with a mouth cut into an exaggerated frown.

“Okay, let's get this over with.” she said. “We are the stagehands, the silent protectors of Il Maledicta. It is our sworn duty to keep safe the players who reside within this glorious theatre’s walls and to facilitate the plays that they have devoted themselves to. Since you three have seen the world beyond the walls for yourselves you have a choice you must now make. You can choose to become one of us and work that one day we can return everyone to that world beyond or you can choose to be die to ensure that our players immersion can never be threatened etc etc...” Her tone remained flat and uninterested throughout and Nameless was unsure whether this was intentional; a counterpoint to the drama of Il Maledicta or whether this masked figure just did not have the enthusiasm right now. “Honestly though this is all kind of irrelevant now. The Play’s underway, our job is more or less done, and meanwhile I’m down here because you three couldn’t wait like half an hour you just had to get out of the theater right now.” She sighed. “Just pick initiation and let's get this over with. It’s not gonna make any difference in ten minutes anyway.”

The two Borgata thugs looked as though they were barely following this. Maybe it was the idea of breaking character, maybe it was the empty bored pragmaticism this stagehand was taking in this sacred duty. “You really think you can convince a Borgata to turn his back on his back on la familia?” The one with the drawn on moustache asked. The stagehand shook her head despondently.

Nameless rifled through her satchel until she found her notebook and pen. ‘inisheashun w/e’ she wrote and passed it over to the stagehand. She glanced at the notebook, rolled her eyes and passed it back.

“Don’t think you’re getting bonus points for going voiceless. Most of us only do that ‘on stage’ so to speak.” The stagehand said. “Okay so initiate, from this day forth (for the next ten, fifteen minutes tops) you no longer have a name. You are a nameless stagehand, voiceless, operating from the shadows to ensure the smooth operation of the theater and the plays that run in it.” Nameless laughed silently to herself. “There’s a robe and a mask for you on the table, you can go into the next room to change if you want-” Nameless was already stripping off “or not I guess. Once these buffoons have made their mind up I’ll impart with you the secret history of Il Maledicta, the ultimate goal for which we strive and why.”

Nameless paused, scrawled a note in her notebook and handed it over. It read ‘no thanks’. The stagehand chuckled at this. “Suit yourself then.” She glanced over at the thugs. “You boys gonna do the smart thing or am I gonna have to kill you incredibly pointlessly?” The mafiosos laughed uproariously at this, the hilarity of this statement enough to distract them from Nameless’ temporary nudity.

She pulled on the cloak and mask (hers was the smiling counterpart to the stagehand’s tragedy mask), took back her notebook and wrote ‘how 2 get 2 main stage’. The stagehand related a set of directions to bring her straight to the main stage through the backstage, and all before the thugs fits of laughter had fully subsided.

“As if some foglio resistente ragazza is going to be able to overpower us!” The drawn on moustache goon said wiping away a tear of mirth. Meanwhile Nameless was stuffing her old clothes into her now bulging satchel. She gave the stagehand an appreciative nod, a minimal effort wave goodbye and headed for the exit.

In the corridor outside she heard a couple of gunshots and a very abrupt end to the mafiosos laughter. She shrugged and hurried towards the main stage.