31 Plays in 31 Days, #27 - "Taking Risks"
Aug. 27th, 2018 08:40 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
breakinglight11Finding myself posting Frost scenes I really didn't want to spoil here. So I'm kind of chopping them down a bit, so that they still have a mostly-complete arc, but don't necessarily continue into the most dramatic part of the scene. It makes them all less powerful, but I'm trying not to totally give them away before even the first reading. Especially since they're going to go through an editing process, and will be much stronger and better executed then.
Day #27 - "Taking Risks"
From Mrs. Frost
By Phoebe Roberts
MARY STONE, apprentice society avenger, mid twenties
ARTHUR SWANN, her policeman beau, late twenties
(The bell rings in the Hawking parlor. MARY enters to open the door to ARTHUR.)
MARY:
Arthur! There you are! You’ll have to be quick. Have you got something?
ARTHUR:
No. No, I’m sorry, Mary. I haven’t got anything. This Mrs. Frost— she’s spotless. I dug through every record I could get my hands on, and the only mention of her was as a client of some solicitor whose premises saw a break in last week.
MARY:
A break in at her solicitor’s? What for?
ARTHUR:
That’s it, we don’t know. They couldn’t even find anything stolen. I’m so sorry, Mary.
MARY:
You did your best, Arthur.
ARTHUR:
Now, are you sure you don’t want me to start a proper investigation for Mr. Hawking?
MARY:
Not this time— there won’t be any arrest to make. We’ve got to finish this another way.
ARTHUR:
Then I’ll help some other way. I feel right rotten that they took him right in front of me and I couldn’t stop it.
MARY:
He was my responsibility. And I let him down. He could die there, Arthur.
ARTHUR:
I know.
MARY:
It’s always been dangerous, but I never thought… it never felt so close before. And Nathaniel— he’s supposed to talk, not fight. I thought he was the safest of all of us. But now he could die, because I couldn’t save him.
ARTHUR:
We can still find him, Mary, it’s not too late. There has to be something more I can do. I’ve got eyes on the operations now—
MARY:
No.
ARTHUR:
I— I know you’re not supposed to tell me things— but with Mr. Hawking’s life on the line—
MARY:
No, Arthur! Don’t you see I’m in trouble enough?
ARTHUR:
This is not your fault.
MARY:
I lied to my mistress, Arthur. The person who taught me everything I know, and trusted me with all her secrets. With Nathaniel taken, and Madam so angry… I feel so alone. And now you working as a spy in the gangs…
ARTHUR:
They told me not to tell anyone. I thought— I thought you’d understand.
MARY:
Of course, it isn’t that! But what happened to Nathaniel… it could happen to you too. If she catches you working for us.
ARTHUR:
We’re all of us taking risks, Mary.
MARY:
That’s so. But I can’t lose anyone else.
ARTHUR:
Here, now— no one’s lost. Not Mr. Hawking, and not Mrs. Hawking to you. You’ve been through too much together. You’ll come through this, and I’ll do whatever I can to see you do it.
Day #27 - "Taking Risks"
From Mrs. Frost
By Phoebe Roberts
MARY STONE, apprentice society avenger, mid twenties
ARTHUR SWANN, her policeman beau, late twenties
(The bell rings in the Hawking parlor. MARY enters to open the door to ARTHUR.)
MARY:
Arthur! There you are! You’ll have to be quick. Have you got something?
ARTHUR:
No. No, I’m sorry, Mary. I haven’t got anything. This Mrs. Frost— she’s spotless. I dug through every record I could get my hands on, and the only mention of her was as a client of some solicitor whose premises saw a break in last week.
MARY:
A break in at her solicitor’s? What for?
ARTHUR:
That’s it, we don’t know. They couldn’t even find anything stolen. I’m so sorry, Mary.
MARY:
You did your best, Arthur.
ARTHUR:
Now, are you sure you don’t want me to start a proper investigation for Mr. Hawking?
MARY:
Not this time— there won’t be any arrest to make. We’ve got to finish this another way.
ARTHUR:
Then I’ll help some other way. I feel right rotten that they took him right in front of me and I couldn’t stop it.
MARY:
He was my responsibility. And I let him down. He could die there, Arthur.
ARTHUR:
I know.
MARY:
It’s always been dangerous, but I never thought… it never felt so close before. And Nathaniel— he’s supposed to talk, not fight. I thought he was the safest of all of us. But now he could die, because I couldn’t save him.
ARTHUR:
We can still find him, Mary, it’s not too late. There has to be something more I can do. I’ve got eyes on the operations now—
MARY:
No.
ARTHUR:
I— I know you’re not supposed to tell me things— but with Mr. Hawking’s life on the line—
MARY:
No, Arthur! Don’t you see I’m in trouble enough?
ARTHUR:
This is not your fault.
MARY:
I lied to my mistress, Arthur. The person who taught me everything I know, and trusted me with all her secrets. With Nathaniel taken, and Madam so angry… I feel so alone. And now you working as a spy in the gangs…
ARTHUR:
They told me not to tell anyone. I thought— I thought you’d understand.
MARY:
Of course, it isn’t that! But what happened to Nathaniel… it could happen to you too. If she catches you working for us.
ARTHUR:
We’re all of us taking risks, Mary.
MARY:
That’s so. But I can’t lose anyone else.
ARTHUR:
Here, now— no one’s lost. Not Mr. Hawking, and not Mrs. Hawking to you. You’ve been through too much together. You’ll come through this, and I’ll do whatever I can to see you do it.
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