Mrs. Cloudburst and I ran through the hallways, laughing and stumbling about like drunk idiots. She was a great actress. If I didn’t know better, I would think she was actually enjoying herself. Following her lead, I think I was putting on a pretty good performance.

We were On and Off-Screen throughout our time together in that scene. I tried not to focus on it too much so that I didn’t get too anxious.

“What year is it?” I asked with a laugh. It was an odd question to ask, but I still wasn’t sure. The rooms had electricity, but that was the only piece of technology I could use to narrow things down. I couldn’t use my Walkman with Oblivious Bystander until I knew.

I pretended to swig champagne from a bottle that Mrs. Cloudburst had taken from the ballroom.

Mrs. Cloudburst laughed. “I know, it can be difficult to keep track of, can’t it? You’ll get used to it. It’s 1992. It can be strange how time flies.”

She got quiet momentarily, and I could see that her mind went elsewhere. But only for a moment.

“I’ve never been good with dates,” I said.

“I don’t think you’re doing so bad.”

I couldn’t see her script, but I could see that she had tons of lines that guys wait their whole lives to hear. She made me feel strong, smart, and desirable in a few short scenes.

But I had a job to do.

“Tell me about Cristobal,” I said. She had used his name earlier, and it sounded like he was in charge.

She laughed.

“Quite the enigma, isn’t he?” she asked. “He hasn’t come to Carousel in over a decade. He travels around the world to all of the Society’s other gatherings. They say he leaves a trail of adoring women and angry husbands everywhere he goes.”

She spun around, pulling me down the hallway. All at once, the movement stopped. She put her face close to mine and said quietly, “But that’s not what you want to know, is it?”

“I wasn’t looking for his travel itinerary, if that’s what you mean,” I said. “I just want your opinion of him.”

“I have the highest opinion of him. I owe everything to him. Like many others, I follow him when he moves to a new place. I’ve shipped myself across oceans and continents just to be near him. He’s the most powerful man in the world. I’m sure most members feel the same. Don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said.

“We’re not together in that way,” she said. “If that’s what you were thinking. He holds no flame for me, at least, not recently.”

I got this strange sense that she held one for him.

Perhaps I had pushed too far. Chris had buffed my Moxie with his Just Off a Win trope, which boosted my highest stat. Since my Moxie and Savvy were tied, the buff was divided among them. If I pushed too hard, I might not be able to recover. It’s not like I had any natural talent for negotiating around human emotion.

I decided to change the subject.

“Now, where is this aquarium I keep hearing about?”

Mrs. Cloudburst flashed a smile.

The aquarium was massive. It contained fish of every variety, but they all had one thing in common: they were beautiful and elegant and swam around that tank like dancers.

“Which one is your favorite?” Mrs. Cloudburst asked.

I looked at the fish. There were dozens, maybe hundreds.

“The blue one with the gray,” I said.

She scanned through the aquarium. “Where’s that one?”

“Right there,” I said, pointing to her mask.

She playfully hit my arm.

“R—Mr. Gray Amber?” someone asked from the door to the aquarium room.

I turned to see Kimberly and Antoine. I was relieved to see that I could still tell who they were despite their masks, though something in my mind was fighting me on it. It was as if the magic of the masks was trying to reassert itself.

“Hey, Ms. Swan Song and Mr. Moonrock,” I said. “This is Ms. Cloudburst.”

They looked from me to her and seemed very surprised.

“We were just on our way back to the ballroom,” I said. “Stopped here for a look at the fish.”

Antoine coughed. “We should go. It’s getting about that time.”

I checked the Plot Cycle. It was nearing First Blood.

“Cristobal’s speech!” Mrs. Cloudburst said suddenly. “It’s going to be any minute. We need to go!”

She pulled me toward the door and past Antoine and Kimberly. As she did, Antoine gave me a look that said something like, “What have you been doing with her?”

I shrugged my shoulders as we ran back toward the ballroom.

Back in the ballroom, more guests were there than when I left. There must have been at least a hundred members. It was hard to imagine how there were this many elite rich folks in Carousel, but from what Mrs. Cloudburst had said, it sounded like many followed the group's enigmatic leader around, so many of these might not actually have been from Carousel within the story.

It took us a while to find Grace and Chris. Partially because of the masks they were wearing and also because of how many people there were in that ballroom.

It turned out that we had arrived approximately five minutes before Cristobal was to make an appearance. The crowd was electric. These partygoers were thrilled about the arrival of their leader.

The ballroom didn't have a stage, so I wasn't sure where he was going to show up. It had a strange area in the corner that was closed off by ornate room dividers, but none of the party guests were casting their attention in that direction.

The lights got dark. Smoke started to rise from the center of the room. The party guests quickly backed away from the large circle inscribed into the wood floor. The smoke continued rising until it got so thick that I could not see anything on the other side.

“I love it when he does this!” Mrs. Cloudburst said, giddy with excitement.

As quickly as the smoke rose, it started to fade. The band started to play music announcing the arrival.

Moments later, as the smoke started to settle, a man and a woman could be seen standing in the middle of the ballroom. They hadn't been there before.

Both of them were very striking. The woman was beautiful. The man looked like he was pulled from the cover of a romance novel. He had long, flowing hair and wore his shirt almost completely unbuttoned to expose his chest.

Only the woman wore a mask.

Before me was the man known as Cristobal. The woman he was with was called Mrs. Midnight on the red wallpaper.

Cristobal

in

The Strings Attached

Plot Armor: 60

__________

Tropes

Quick Change

Artist

This villain can change into and out of their disguise without being seen or getting caught.

Non-Combatant

This villain cannot be attacked until it attacks the player or is otherwise identified as hostile. Attacking it will not be effective, nor will it change the story. It will cause the player to go Off-Screen for a time.

Bottomless Bag of Tricks

The villain has so many different in-universe abilities that they can employ new abilities in the Finale without needing to establish them in the narrative.

Fate Worse Than Death

This villain does not want to kill its victims, though, in the end, they will wish it had. Victims are Written-Off instead of killed.

Which One Do I Shoot?

Players will not be able to differentiate the villain from other characters through the mere use of observation, insight tropes, or common sense. However, these, combined with clever plans and an understanding of lore, may suffice.

Additional Tropes not Perceptible