Messenger Theatre Company presents Season Two of The Dragoning
Episode Six: Amanda and Willie
(The first few notes of the piano sound nice and theatre-y but then they start to deconstruct, a bit like a music box going awry. Strings come in. Men droning. Are they monks?)
EMILY:
Messenger Theatre Company presents
Season Two of The Dragoning
(lots of voices saying The Dragoning. The beat drops. There are some distorted strings or cries in rhythm.)
EMILY:
Episode Six: Amanda and Willie
(The music sputters out.)
(Sound of a wine bar. Some atmospheric jazz in the background. A wine glass on the table.)
Episode 6
AMANDA
I was delighted to get your call. And also a little bit surprised. You seemed pretty dead set against the idea before. What changed your mind?
Ah. Yes – I suppose it might be possible it would help get Ashley released if we get you guys the right sort of publicity.
No, no, I understand. Just informational. Just investigation. I think that’s very wise. One has to get all the information before one can make any kind of sensible decision. I agree wholeheartedly.
Right. So, yes. I’ve spoken with my bosses. Usually we take on people like yourselves separately. We’d want to take you on with a separate contract for Ashley, even if your interests are exactly the same.
It is a bit tricky with her in custody. If she were in regular prison, it’d be no trouble – we have mechanisms in place to address that – but this is a little stickier because no one knows where she is.
Oh! You do. You’ve been in touch with her, I see. That’s why you’re re-thinking this, I see. You guys are exploring how you might build a career out of this mess. I get it entirely.
Right. So here’s what I think might be a strategy for you guys. We take you on the circuit. We get you talking about what a sweetheart she is, how she never meant to hurt anyone and maybe we get a Free the Dragon campaign going. I mean, - no one’s capturing the dragons in Dragon City, right?
They live free and happy, right?
Okay, most of them. But – yeah. I think if we can somehow set up a sort of competitive thing – and you know Free the Dragon just lends itself so beautifully to a hashtag. I think it would be VERY popular. Well - my hope is that I can negotiate with my agency that if I bring you guys on, with a whole campaign already in place, they’ll let me represent you. That’s good for you because you two would be my only clients so I would give you everything and good for me to start spreading my wings there.
No, it’s just a percentage of whatever you bring in. It’s like a commission on whatever gigs I can find you. It’s not the normal way we do things there but my agency is up for experimenting with this sort of agent/PR model.
Well, you know I’m hungry for the gig. There’s a lot of juice in that and you’d have the benefit of all the support of more experienced agents, who’d be advising me the whole time.
You wouldn’t have to do anything you did not explicitly want to do. There may be things that I would advise you to do that you might find distasteful at first and I may try to talk you into them but it’s always up to you what you are willing to do, what will suit your needs.
Yeah? Well. I’m tickled. Truly. You talk to Ashley.
I’ll talk to my agency and if you can make a deal – let’s do it!
(Wine glasses cheersing)
(Dragon roars)
(Coffee shop sounds)
WILLIE
This is surreal, man. Surreal. Last time I saw you, you were rolling your suitcase out the front door of the hotel and now here we are at the world’s quaintest coffee shop in your native country. I would never have predicted it.
Life is funny that way, isn’t it?
Oh, it’s going pretty well, actually. And thank you again for getting me the hook up on this gig. It’s better than I could have possibly imagined. I mean, I’m still in school.
They’re supportive, actually. I think they recognize what an opportunity this is and also that the rules tend to get shaky when disaster looms.
They might, yeah. I think we all wish we’d been more prepared when The Dragoning hit us. If our experience can help others – that’s a good thing.
And look at you, right at the center of The Dragoning happening here! How did you manage that?
Sure. Yeah. I get it. Better to keep your cards close to your chest in this situation.
Oh. Right. You were traveling with a dragon. You got a thing for dragons? I mean – I saw you after your first dragon attack – you were in rough shape.
But. Ashley. I couldn’t believe when they showed her picture on the news, sweet little Ashley! My friend Ashley! A dragon!
Wait. I’m just putting this together. Was she the dragon who got you that first night?
Right. You don’t want to say. I got it. You didn’t tell me and I don’t know anything.
Man. Now I realize – Ashley…
But if I’m right – and I know you can’t tell me – but if I’m right, you went home with her, she dragoned up and you went out with her again the next night! You got guts, man. Guts.
I mean. I get it. If I’m right. Of course. She’s the sweetest. If she asked me to risk my life, I might do it, too. She’s like that. I get it.
Right. Right. You didn’t know she was a dragon when you got on that plane with her. I understand. There can be no wavering on that point – because you’d be under fire for knowingly bringing a dangerous element in the country.
Right. And you want to make sure you don’t get those conspiracy charges, my man.
Don’t you worry. I’ll keep my little theories to myself. Especially around government types.
Nah, man. They haven’t asked and I haven’t felt the need to give them a list of my friends. But I would love to get a word of support to her if you know how.
Really? They let you visit her?
For real? Wow. Well – just tell her I wish her well. I mean – in whatever safe way there is to do that. It would probably do none of us any good to make the connection obvious to the authorities.
I mean. Ashley. Who would have thought, you know?
But that’s what’s so tricky about this, isn’t it. It’s ALWAYS the ones you least suspect. Always. And yet your brain can’t suspect them – even though by virtue of being the last ones to suspect, they should be suspicious. Sometimes it feels like my brain’s turning inside out.
No. Not even once did I think to suspect her.
Sure – there was a little personality change around the first phase of The Dragoning – but the entire city changed at that point so it surely was not cause for suspicion. My personality changed, too, and I wasn’t turning into a dragon. You know? It’s like, when everything changes, it’s hard to track the change in one solitary person.
Well – she got a little bolder, I’d say. She got less inclined to defer to everybody. I was proud of her, honestly – even when she stopped deferring to me.
Well, she seemed to stop hanging around with some of those egomaniacs at her theatre, too.
Oh god. You don’t think she ate them, do you? Oh lord. I hope not. Although there were some douchebags over there. I’m sure I wouldn’t miss them. But still. Still. I hope that’s not what happened.
No, man, it’s good to talk about this stuff. A lot of the folks over at the Silver Pitcher, they just sort of glossed over it.
Oh, there was a lot of “We just barely survived! We came so close to death and we didn’t even know it” sort of stuff.
But that’s – that’s just like a narrow miss when you drive by a car accident. That’s about the bystanders.
I don’t think anyone wants to, like, actually deal with the contradiction of a real human person that we like and the monster she could become. This must be like being friends with the Incredible Hulk or something. Like – oh, man, like a little bit of pride and a lot of confusion.
I don’t know, man, I was fairly inclined to dismiss the dragons as monsters – but that was before I knew one, you know? Now that it’s Ashley…
I don’t know, man. We’ve been friends ever since she moved to the city. Not close friends, obviously – but bar friends you know. We had a lot of late night heart to hearts over there at the Pitcher. She’s helped me through some heartbreaks.
Yeah, I did. You’re right. Some of these douchebags over there at that theatre…my god. And not just heartbreaks either. I mean – she helped me through this career transition as well. She’s been there for me, you know?
Oh man. I guess I hadn’t really dealt with how I feel about all this before, huh? Sorry. I imagine you might have some complicated feelings about all this, too.
Yes, yes, you do have a rather unusual relationship – that’s the truth. It’d make a good reality show.
You were? Well – great minds, my man. Maybe you should do it.
No way. There’s, like, a strategy for these sorts of things?
Yeah. Free the Dragon. I like that. You gonna do it?
Right. Yeah – that’s definitely a thing you have to discuss. Well, man, if there’s anything I can do to help you guys out, just let me know.
I owe you one after you helped jump start my new career. I mean, never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be getting a government contract before I was even done with school. Never in my wildest dreams.
Yeah, good point. Extraordinary times. Extraordinary circumstances.
I mean – Ashley’s never going to have a normal life again and probably you won’t either. There’s not a lot either of you guys are going to be able to do without people noticing – so you may as well go all the way with it, I’d guess.
Oh, yeah, man. Back home, her face was on everything. Everyone was talking about you guys.
Well – because it’s an international incident now. And it’s triggered all these conversations of shutting down the city’s borders and quarantining women and it’s all quite a hullabaloo right now.
Oh sure – they got a bunch of people to make statements about the both of you. You know – anyone you ever talked to got a call from the press.
Of course they did! The whole staff at the Davina got calls. I mean, I just told them I had no comment but those folks can always find someone to talk.
Sure – yeah. One would prefer to have a choice about what one gets famous for.
Like – right now – you’re famous for getting on a plane – that’s probably not what you were aiming at.
But I mean – you’re not going to be the only people this happens to. The Dragoning is going to take hold all around the world, I’m almost certain of it – and your little moment of fame is bound to pass.
I think it’s going to get complicated and confusing and I’m just guessing – but I don’t think it’s going to be as small potatoes as eating up a couple of douchebags in an airport. There are much more spectacular stories coming. And when that happens – no one’s going to be worried about a guy who just got on a plane with a dragon.
No – I suppose that’s right. This is your moment. If you want it – now’s the time.
Sure, man. I mean – obviously I can’t actually tell the future. I just run the numbers and I pay attention.
That’s it.
You’re right. I’m not supposed to talk about it. But yeah – we’re just using the predictive models I’ve created to compare cities to try and work out what’s going to happen here.
Yeah – where and when is the question.
What do you mean?
Oh wow. Like – you’re saying that dragons have their own numbers?
I mean. That would add an extremely important column in my calculations. But would dragons self-report?
Right. Data is pretty impersonal.
Well – how would I go about getting this impersonal data?
Man. You’ve got your hands in everything, don’t you mean? Amazing.
Well – right now we’re calculating based on the missing and the dead. That doesn’t necessarily have to correlate with how many dragons are in a place. It could be just one extremely pissed off volatile dragon in that place. It’s not a one to one situation.
Right. It could look like a city is overrun with dragons when it’s just one with a real bee in her bonnet. Meanwhile, there could be a place with a whole crew of blissed out happy dragons, we don’t know. This country might be that place.
Anyway – that’s all to say that if you did get some numbers from the local dragons, I would be way ahead of the game.
Thank you, man. I appreciate all your help so far. And just having a familiar face to see is very helpful, too. I’ve never really been away from home like this before. Just traveled around the country a bit to see family really – so I’m experiencing a little culture shock, I think.
It’s nothing serious. I mean everyone here speaks my language so it can’t get too scary but you know – it’s an adjustment.
Yeah, you know. Just the little stuff that you didn’t know was adjustment until it changed. Like – where the sky is, you know?
You think you have a sense of where the sky is and then you look up and see that in this place, it’s somewhere else entirely.
It feels closer? Maybe? Or farther away? I don’t know. It’s just different. I didn’t know that was a thing that could be different. And, like, the rhythm of the place. It’s just, like, a whole different genre of music over here, metaphorically speaking, and I never heard this kind of music before.
I don’t know if I like it or don’t like it – but it’s just like a whole different radio station. A whole vibe, you know?
I mean – you travel a lot. You know what I mean?
Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.
Yeah. You don’t know what you’re taking for granted until it’s different. My brain is kind of turning inside out and it was already turned inside out once with the Dragoning!
Yeah – it would be cool if it was just returning back to normal – but there are apparently many insides of this inside out.
Yeah – like – I guess a brain isn’t like a shirt, where there’s a right way and a wrong way. It’s just, like – a pile of cookie dough and you turn it inside out twice, it’ll be one way but then you turn it outside again and it’s like, a whole new inside out.
Yeah, yeah cookie dough brains.
It’s not like they’re not good brains. It just feels disorienting. Like, all mixed up, you know? I don’t know. It’s going to take me a while to adjust.
Yeah. A fixed point. I like that. It’s good to have some fixed points. Thank you. Yeah. You’re right. You’re sort of a fixed point for me – since I met you back at the hotel at home and then you’re here, too. I guess whenever I travel next, I’ll have to find you there, too.
Yeah. You do that. Give me your itinerary.
Alright, man. Well – thank you. It’s been great to see you and I look forward to hearing any extra info you can track down.
And thanks, Mr. Fixed Point.
No. You’re right. That’s not a nickname that will stick. You take care, Brent. See you soon.
(Dragon Roar)
*
(Dragoning theme credit music begins. Strings. Bells. It’s a little creepy but also fun. Like mischievous creatures sneaking around after midnight.)
EMILY:
The Dragoning is produced by Messenger Theatre Company and written by Emily Rainbow Davis
The Dragoning Theme was composed by Scott Ethier
Sound design by Matt Powell
This episode featured Rhiannon Moushall as Amanda and Julian Rozzell Jr as Willie.
Messenger Theatre Company is a not-for-profit organization and we are entirely reliant on your support.
Thank you in advance for making our next episode possible.
Stay safe out there everyone. And watch out for dragons.
(Music resolves.)