CARNIVAL OF ANGELS SCRIPT EXCERPT
[Overcome by the trials of purgatory, selfless SUBIRA has faded out into a shade, a figment of her former self that repeats a single phrase over and over. TRIS, the player character, and VICTOR, the fire-spinner, have just discovered this.]
TRIS: Yeah, this is, uh… this is how I found her.
TRIS: She was doing fine not even ten minutes ago.
VICTOR: That’s how it happens. Out of nowhere.
VICTOR: You let your guard down for a second, and–
VICTOR: BAM!
VICTOR: –someone you know is gone.
VICTOR: No different here from anywhere else.
SUBIRA: I’ve got to get back out there. I can hear them screaming for me.
TRIS: Do you know what she means?
VICTOR: Yeah, Subira had these… dreams.
VICTOR: She dreamed about people who were lost in the wastes.
VICTOR: That’s how she found you.
VICTOR: …and Elissa, and honestly half of the troupe.
MAGIC DREAMS?
TRIS: Wait… you’re saying Subira had magic dreams?
VICTOR: Yeah. Most everyone in the troupe’s got something a little inexplicable about them.
VICTOR: And it always turns out for the worst.
CONVENIENT
TRIS: That’s… convenient.
VICTOR: No, it was a damned curse.
VICTOR: You met Subira. Every time someone needed her help, she’d head out there.
VICTOR: The dreams tormented her.
VICTOR: Everyone in the troupe has something like that. Something that clings to them and hurts them.
AND YOU?
TRIS: Did she find you, too?
VICTOR: No, the Carnival picked me up at one of their stands.
VICTOR: I was eager to join. Figured it was the best way to deal with my own conditions.
TRIS: …
VICTOR: You can ask.
TRIS: ‘Conditions?’
VICTOR: Everyone in the troupe’s got something a little wrong with them.
VICTOR: For Subira it’s the dreams, but we’ve all got something to carry.
NARRATION: [Victor chews hard on the match between his teeth.]
SAMUEL’S ARM
TRIS: …like that thing on Samuel’s arm?
TRIS: The horrible metal crank thing?
VICTOR: Yup. That’s his burden.
VICTOR: They usually aren’t that obvious, though.
VICTOR: Subira’s dreams… they seem like a good thing. Like they’d help people.
VICTOR: But I’m certain that without them, she’d be here to explain all this to you, instead of me.
WHAT’S YOURS?
TRIS: What’s yours, then?
TRIS: …if that’s not too…
VICTOR: Dude, just ask. If I don’t want to answer, I won’t.
VICTOR: But yeah. I’m numb.
VICTOR: I can’t feel physical pain.
TRIS: That… doesn’t sound so bad.
VICTOR: That’s what you think, right?
VICTOR: But it always seems good at the start. Like Subira’s dreams.
VICTOR: I’m the fire-spinner, man. I’m the daredevil.
VICTOR: And what’s the point of any of that if there’s no risk?
VICTOR: The rush is gone.
EVEN ME?
TRIS: Even me?
VICTOR: I can’t put my finger on what it is, yet, but yeah.
VICTOR: If you stick around with us, something bad will settle on you.
VICTOR: …sooner or later.
TRIS: Nah. I’m basically invincible.
VICTOR: …
VICTOR: …you realize you’ve died already, right?
TRIS: I’m kidding.
TRIS: With my luck, this burden I’ll carry or whatever…
TRIS: …It’ll probably be, like…
TRIS: …uh…
TRIS: Eternal wet socks or something?.
VICTOR: That would be the literal worst.
SUBIRA: I’ve got to get back out there.
TRIS: …
TRIS: Does every shade say something depressing?
TRIS: Or is it ever, like, ‘This has been the best birthday ever!’
VICTOR: Heh. I don’t think that’s how it works.
TRIS: …yeah.
VICTOR: But can you imagine? ‘What lovely weather today, old chap!”
TRIS: ‘Who’s a good boy? Who’s a goooooood boy?’
VICTOR: ‘Oh, Penelope! Kiss me again!’
SUBIRA: I can hear them screaming for me.
VICTOR: …
TRIS: I should go.
VICTOR: No… it’s fine.
VICTOR: Subira won’t mind either way.