FYOP/Scenario Chamber/A Night at the Opera/0218
You pull Pamina to your side and level your rapier at the imposing priestess, announcing, “I shall return Pamina to her mother!”
The Priestess scoffs, batting aside your blade with her staff. “Pamina shall remain-“
You swing the rapier in an attempt to ward off Sarastra’s advance, but the tip of it catches her abdomen, opening a rent in her copper flesh and the machinery beneath. She stares at the injury in shock, blue current buzzing around the opening in to her mechanical interior. “Paaamiiiinaaaaa,” she drones, taking another step toward you, her staff outstretched. You take Pamina’s hand and rush to the wings, the curtains falling upon the scene.
The stage is plunged into a darkness broken by flickers of electricity from the still droning Sarastra. Something pulls the malfunctioning droid offstage as machinery churns once more, resetting the scene. The lights return to show the forest with a backdrop of a starry sky, the Queen of the Night standing at upon her cloud flanked by an attendant with dark lips and eyes shadowed in mascara.
“Love is restored to my heart, my daughter is found!” she sings, beckoning her daughter forward – though her tone is cold and detached. Pamina races to her, springing on to the cloud and hugging her mother close. They begin to ascend, and Pamina suddenly looks down at you, reaching out as her mother sings, “Never shall you leave my side or share your heart with another.”
The Queen’s attendant echoes her words, clasping her hand to her bosom as the mother and daughter disappear into darkness above you.
“And now,” sings the attendant, daintily approaching on her toes, “You may claim your reward!” She wraps her arms around you, bringing her dark lips to yours when you feel a sudden jolt between you. She stumbles backward, her doll-like face uncertain as her lips begin to shine with light, electricity sparking around her throat. The attendant herself seems surprised by this turn of events, and half-sings in a voice cracking with distortion, “Why do I malfunction…?”