Act 3, Scene 1: Breaking the Chains

RATS Setup

TECH PREROLL

LX 0099 - Work Light OFF (Static Playbacks)

LX 3100 - STANDBY for GO:

Check Levels
Unmute Desk

Eisfuchs: ON
Tani: ON
Lynard: ON

Curry: OFF

DIALOG

Curtain - open

AMB-3101 - Rusty Machine Room

SND-3101 - Rusty iron door opens and closes

Scoobie bounces in from [7], carrying the backpack to [5,2nd]

Marconi comes in from [7], carrying Honeyberry who can't walk on her own.

Honeyberry shivers.

Marconi groans, and drops Honeyberry on the pillow fort in [5,2nd] as careful as possible

Marconi (breathing heavily): "Phew!"

Honeyberry sniffsniffs the air and feels around the mattress and the cushions with her hands

Honeyberry: "What kind of place is this? It smells like a machine room. But it FEELS more like ... a pillow fort?"

Marconi (chuckles): "Yes. And yes! It's been my secret hiding place since I was a little boy. One of the auxiliary steam pipes branches off from here, and that keeps the room well above freezing temperature. And for the days I want to make it really cozy, I've got a special trick up my sleeve. Wait for it."

Lynard: OFF

Marconi rummages around in the dark

Marconi produces a human artifact that looks suspiciously like a car battery, but with a "radioactive" symbol on it

Marconi produces a hefty screw wrench and puts it across the poles of the atomic car battery

SND-3102 - Britzel & Hum % Crackle

The screw wrench lights up bright orange. Tadaaa. Marconi made a camp fire without fire

Light up the "warm" corner of the room with a bit of orangy-red-warm-light. Maybe some yellow light coming directly from behind the battery and some red ambient light to the general area.

Honeyberry: "Woah! That's a short circuit if I've ever smelled one!"

Marconi: "It's like a little [EMOJI_AIRQUOTES] campfire [EMOJI_AIRQUOTES] that you can turn on and off! Now lets open that jacket so the heat gets to you quicker."

Honeyberry: "Yeah."

Add a bit of Scoobie-improv here to last until Scoobie has something to do later

Marconi helps Honeyberry opening the front of her jacket_Honeyberry

Marconi: "Good, and now let's see if we can revive your paws."

Honeyberry holds up first one hind paw, then the other

Marconi rubs her hind paws with a paw

Marconi: "Can you feel this?"

Honeyberry: "A little bit."

Marconi: "Good!"

Marconi takes one of her hind paws, and gently massages her toes

Honeyberry winces bravely as the feeling returns to her paws

Marconi: "Is everything alright?"

Honeyberry: "It feels like I've stepped into a colony of Firecrawlers!"

Marconi (chuckles): "That's a good sign! It means your paws are coming back to life!"

Honeyberry winces, and wiggles her feet. It tickles!

Marconi lets go of her feet, and gets a thermos bottle from his backpack

Marconi hands the thermos bottle to Honeyberry

Marconi: "Here. Have some tea. It'll help warm you up."

Honeyberry takes a sip from the thermos bottle and aaaaaaaahs as the warm liquid goes down her throat

Marconi: "There. All you have to do now is relax, and thaw."

Honeyberry takes another deep breath, and drinks another sip of tea from the thermos bottle

Honeyberry: "*sigh*"

Marconi: "Hmm?"

Honeyberry: "Oh, never mind."

Marconi: "What is it?"

Honeyberry: "You wouldn't understand."

Marconi: "Try me."

Honeyberry: "I really ... I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm really glad you came, but ..."

Honeyberry struggles to find the rights word for moment

Marconi just looks at her, not knowing what to expect

Marconi: "But ... what?"

Honeyberry breathes nervously, like she's handling a lot of conflicting feelings right now.

Honeyberry: "Nothing. It's nothing. Just a lot of ... baggage."

Marconi: "Do you want to talk about it?"

Honeyberry: "It's ... complicated. You know, when people find out you're blind ... they immediately lower their expectations. As a really young kitten I had this little soap box cart. I literally rode it to death. Down the side of the house there was a nice steep slope so you could get some speed going and you had to take a right hand turn at just the right moment. If you turned too soon you'd smash your head into the side of the house and if you didn't turn fast enough, you'd get catapulted into a rosebush. And people were like, 'oh, the poor blind kid needs help', and I was, wheee leave me alone, this is fun!"

Marconi (laughs): "And that's exactly what I love about you!"

Honeyberry: "Is it love, or pity?"

Marconi: "Honey. Not for a second did it matter to me that you're blind. Sneaking through the ductwork with you was probably the most fun I've had in years, and it blew my mind how little it mattered that you can't see. And if you hadn't brought it up now, I certainly wouldn't have. You. Are. Amazing."

Marconi instinctively hugs Honeyberry

Honeyberry does not want to be hugged right now, and struggles

Honeyberry: "No, please ... I'm not ready for this ..."

Marconi lets go, feeling both guilty (for violating consent) and disappointed (for being rejected)

Marconi (embarrassed): "Oh alright! I'm sorry! I just ... *sigh* never mind."

rough instructions, to be refined with the actual players

Marconi moves a bit away from Honeyberry, looking at the floor

Honeyberry looks at the floor, too

Marconi sighs

Honeyberry sighs

Honeyberry, Marconi Awkward pause

Marconi looks at Honeyberry

Marconi coughs (Softly)

Honeyberry turns her head towards him

Honeyberry: "Hmmm?"

Marconi: "Mmh."

Marconi immediately looks down

Marconi looks back at Honeyberry

Marconi looks down again

Marconi looks at Honeyberry again

Marconi waves a paw in front of Honeyberry's eyes as if he wanted to test if she's really blind

Honeyberry shows no reaction, then catches a scent, and moves her head around, sniffing in all kinds of directions

Marconi sighs and looks down again

Honeyberry yawns

Honeyberry casually moves a bit closer to Marconi

Marconi tilts his body away form her a bit

Honeyberry moves a bit closer even

Marconi tilts his body away a bit more, ending up in a pretty awkward position

Honeyberry holds up a hind paw

Marconi looks at her foot

Honeyberry taps on her hind paw

Marconi looks at Honeyberry

Honeyberry points at her foot

Marconi touches her foot with a paw, looking back and forth between the foot and her face, waiting for some kind of okay

Marconi: "Uhmmm?"

Honeyberry nods

Honeyberry: "Hmm-Hmm!"

Marconi rubs her paws carefully

Honeyberry purrs softly

Honeyberry leans against Marconi

Marconi massages her paw for a moment

Marconi licks her paw

Honeyberry suddenly curls up against Marconi's chest

Marconi cradles her with his arms

Honeyberry lets out a deep sigh

Marconi rocks her back and forth a bit like a baby

Lynard: ON

Eisfuchs: OFF
Tani: OFF

Scoobie has discovered a comically large egg that is just too big to fit into her mouth, and rolls it into the scene.

roll egg from [1] to [4]

Scoobie is proud!

Scoobie is hungry!

Scoobie researches the egg all over with her little grabbies

Scoobie attempts to fit the egg into her mouth.

Scoobie: "Aaaaaaa ... grrrgggk ... kgkrkkrgkrg ... hrgnnnn ..."

Scoobie grumpfs.

Scoobie tries again more vigorously!

Scoobie fails again more vigorously.

Scoobie gives the egg a kick.

RATS-1 - Kick-Crack

Scoobie jumps up and down

Scoobie: "Auf ... au ... au ..."

Scoobie grrrrrrs

Scoobie finds a wrench and bangs on the Egg with it

use wrench on egg

RATS-2 - Döng döng döng döng

Scoobie finds a big hammer and bangs on the Egg with it

use big hammer on egg

RATS-3 - Bang Bang Bang Bang

Scoobie finds a pneumatic hammer and bangs on the egg with it

use pneumatic hammer on egg

Scoobie is shaking

RATS-4 - RATTATTAATTAATTAA

Scoobie: "BLBLBLBLBLLBLBLBLLBLBLBL"

use Scoobie on pneumatic hammer towards [1]

Scoobie rides the pneumatic hammer like an out of control Pogo stick, until she disappears off stage in [1]

SND-3103B KA-RÖMPEL

The egg is unaffected

Lizard (a red striped basement one) appears from [1], searching for its egg.

Lizard finds the egg, takes it, and runs off from where it came, hissing at Marconi and Honeyberry on its way out.

Scoobie comes back in with a dynamite rod

Scoobie sees with horror that the egg is gone!

Scoobie runs a bit to the left, a bit to the right, sniffing around, looking for the egg. But it's gone.

Scoobie sighs, and sits down on her little bum.

Eisfuchs: ON
Tani: ON

Lynard: OFF

Honeyberry: "What did I just miss?"

Marconi: "Uhm ... I'm not really sure myself."

Honeyberry: "This place is really nice. It's good to have a space where you can simply be yourself and do whatever you want."

Marconi: "Oh yes. Our community is like a [EMOJI_AIRQUOTES] big family [EMOJI_AIRQUOTES]. A big, incredibly nosy family. Got the wrong book on your shelf? That's a problem. Spent a night with the wrong person? All hell breaks loose."

Honeyberry: "And they never found you here?"

Marconi: "Nope. The entire building is inside the forbidden zone ... except for this one room."

Honeyberry: "Do you know what's inside?"

Marconi: "No, but before the power went out, you could still hear steam hiss through the pipes."

Honeyberry: "Oh! The power's out?

Marconi: "Yes. There was an explosion and everything went dark."

Honeyberry: "Blackwood! For him, your people are nothing but an obstacle between him and the artifacts he wants for his museum. He even offered me a share of the loot. But when I told him where to stick it, he turned on me. He forced me to record a message taking responsibility for the sabotage. And next thing I know, I was lying outside in a snow drift."

Marconi: "They're after me as well. If Hawking gets me, he's probably gonna bite my head off. I'm afraid we're on our own."

Honeyberry: "Not quite. There's still the crew that stayed behind on our ship!"

Marconi: "Yeah, but what are the chances we can make it there?"

Honeyberry: "Zero. But guess what station their radio is tuned in to day and night?"

Marconi: "The Signal!"

Honeyberry: "Exactly. If we could take control of the transmitter for just a moment, there's a very good chance someone on the Stormbreaker will notice! We just have to find it."

Marconi: "And I can't even go to the room next door without getting the crap shocked out of me."

Honeyberry: "Then let's fix that first. Stand up, please."

Marconi (insecure): "Uh-huh."

Marconi stands up

Honeyberry stands up

Honeyberry reaches out for Marconi, and guides him to the middle of the room in front of her

Honeyberry begins to take off Marconi's clothes (really just his jacket) to get full access to his harness_Marconi

Marconi turns around, as if to object

Honeyberry: "Just trust me, okay?"

Marconi: "Okay ..."

Honeyberry gets rid of Marconi's jacket so the harness_Marconi is fully visible

Honeyberry takes Marconi by the shoulders and slowly pushes him towards the imaginary door at [1]

The harness_Marconi changes from green to yellow, then the first alarm begins to sound

SND-3103 - Alarm 1

Marconi: "Hey ... careful ..."

Honeyberry: "It's gotta have some kind of electrodes, and I need to feel out where they are."

Honeyberry pulls Marconi close to her, and puts her paws lewdly all over his chest from behind

Marconi: "Eehhh... eh ...eh ... Feel ... them ... out?"

Honeyberry: "Don't worry. I equals V over R."

Marconi: "Eh ... what?"

Honeyberry: "It means if you shock two people at once, it'll only hurt half as bad. Hold your breath."

The harness_Marconi changes from yellow to red

SND-3104 - Alarm 3

Marconi, Honeyberry Both of them take a deep breath, and hold it

Honeyberry pushes Marconi forward another step, triggering the geo-fencing alarm

SND-3105 - KA BRATZ

The harness_Marconi flashes white

Honeyberry and Marconi begin to twitch, trying to hold themselves together as good as they can, gritting their teeth

Honeyberry makes a step back, pulling Marconi out of the forbidden zone again

Honeyberry and Marconi start breathing again

Honeyberry (almost cheerful): "Woo-hoo! That thing is SPICY!"

Honeyberry shakes off the tingling aftereffects from her paws

Marconi turns around, leaning into Honeyberry

Marconi: "Please tell me we don't have to do that again ..."

Honeyberry: "Nope. This is so obvious I can't believe you haven't figured this out on your own yet. Do you have anything metallic, like a piece of wire?"

Marconi: "Let me check my magic backpack ..."

Marconi walks to his backpack and rummages around

Marconi finds a roll of solder wire and brings it back to Honeyberry

Marconi: "Here, this is what I use for brazing water pipes!"

Honeyberry feels it with her paws

Honeyberry: "Perfect!"

Honeyberry puts Marconi between her and the audience, and fiddles around on his back

Honeyberry: "And done!"

Honeyberry puts her paws on Marconi's shoulders

Honeyberry pushes Marconi forward towards the forbidden zone

SND-3106 - Alarm 1

The harness_Marconi starts flashing yellow

SND-3107 - Alarm 3

The harness_Marconi starts flashing red

Marconi closes his eyes, tensing up in anticipation of the shock ...

The harness_Marconi changes its color to green and the alarm stops

SND-3108 - Failure Sound
SND-3107 - STOP

Honeyberry stops

Marconi opens his eyes

Marconi giggles

Marconi: "It worked! It freaking worked!"

Honeyberry: "Of course it did! Now, which way to the radio tower?"

Marconi: "THROUGH THE FORBIDDEN DOOOOOOR!"

Marconi storms off to [1]

SND-3109 - Door Opens

Honeyberry: "Hey, wait! I'm gonna run into stuff if you leave me behind like that!"

Lynard: ON
Curry: ON

Eisfuchs: OFF
Tani: OFF

Honeyberry walks after Marconi to [1], trying to avoid obstacles in her path by scanning it with her stick

Scoobie looks back and forth between the stuff they left behind and the two fleeing friends

Scoobie: "Eeeeek! Meek! Gneeeb!"

Scoobie grabs the backpack with her teeth, slowly dragging it over towards the exit [1]

Hawking enters from [7] when Scoobie made it barely half way

Hawking: "Hey ... HEY! Honeyberry! Marconi! Stop! You can't go there! COME BACK! THAT'S AN ORDER!"

Scoobie plays dead in a most dramatic fashion

Hawking sighs

Hawking looks left and right, and sees the backpack

Hawking opens the backpack, and inspects the contents

Hawking: "Okay, what exactly are you two up to ..."

Scoobie jumps to life, and bites Hawking in the nose

SND-3110 - Apple Crunch

Hawking: "AAAAAAAAARGH!"

Scoobie takes the backpack and RUNS, exiting the stage at [1]

Hawking: "You little rodent ..."

Hawking runs after Scoobie, but is stopped dead in his tracks as his harness_Hawking sounds the alarm.

switch harness_Hawking to red

Hawking just stands there, breathing furiously, shaking a fist at the fleeing party

Hawking can't decide what to do

Hawking slumps and walks back, defeated

Hawking hesitates

Hawking looks back over his shoulder

Hawking looks down, pondering

Hawking turns around

Hawking takes a deep breath, collecting all his courage

Hawking takes a remote control from his pocket

Hawking (to himself): "May the Ghosts of the Great White have mercy on my soul."

Hawking presses a button on the remote control

SND-3111 - Beep Boop / The harness switches off

switch off harness_Hawking

Hawking slowly, but determined, walks towards [1]

Hawking exits at [1]

SND-3112 - Door Closes
SND-3102 - FADE
AMB-3101 - FADE

Lights out

Curtain - close