Section 6: "Cinema Builders"

Great job, everyone! That was amazing, especially considering that none of you has ever acted before!

Especially you, Tristan! That last line of yours had my heart absolutely pounding!

Hehe. Any Knight of the Round Table could have done the same. Let's just say that performances of that nature are nothing unusual for us...

Don't flatter him, Mash. Little Strummer Boy here was just shouting the first thing that popped into that birdbrain of his.

The hell were you thinking, saying one of us is the culprit!? Now what're we gonna do if a new character shows up!?

Alas, she speaks the truth...which makes me sad.

I did indeed merely shout the first thing that came to my mind.

Despite your praise, I am still deeply saddened...

Yes, by all means, continue to praise me.

THAT WASN'T PRAISE, DUMBASS!!!

？！

At least we managed to tie everything together.

Hahaha, sorry about that! I just sort of followed my gut without realizing where it was taking me.

Not at all. This has given us a clear path to the story's conclusion! All we need to do now is find this Portrait Painter and bring them to justice.

Hmm, I'm afraid there's still something lacking. We need to turn up the heat, so to speak.

What do you mean?

The mystery has indeed been unveiled, and I agree that this story's plot now has a clear direction.

But the audience still doesn't know who your characters truly are.

Did Lady Murasaki not go over their backgrounds with you?

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Seriously? I've heard of playing it close to the chest, but this is just ridiculous.

Hmm. It's a shame she didn't make a chart or some such with all the characters' histories.

You don't have an audience surrogate either, and there haven't been any monologues reinforcing any of the characters' inner motivations.

If you keep this up, you may as well just be a bunch of marionettes going whichever way the current scene's strings pull you.

You don't mince words, do you...

Which is why for the next scene, we would like you to invent some reason for your characters to go off on their own.

Ooh, I know! Maybe something like...

"I'm not gonna stand around here waiting for the killer to stab me in the back! I'm going back to my room!"

Would that work!?

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That would certainly be one natural reaction. But regrettably, it would also leave little room for further developments!

And extreme fear can neither fight nor fly, but coward-like with trembling terror die.

From what I have seen of your performances thus far, none of you are playing characters sufficiently cowardly to take that route.

For example, what do you think your character would do next, Sir Salieri?

Who cares!?

Graaah! What's going on? What am I doing here!? Mooozaaarrrt!!!

Ahh, ahem! Ahem, ahem! (Side glance)

GraaaaaaAAAHHH!!!

!!!

Gh... Ghh... R-right... I...

I...don't think I have a very firm grasp on Antonio's character...but...

...I think if I were innocent, I would try to foil the culprit's plot in order to further my own goals.

And if I WERE the culprit...

...I'm certain I would only pretend to cooperate with everyone else while I plotted my next move.

Especially since I still haven't accomplished my goal of murdering Gabriela. Either way, simply hiding in my room would not be an option.

What a coincidence, "Uncle." I was just thinking the same thing.

...Please don't ever call me that again when we aren't filming.

I beg to differ! On the stageor set, in this casethere is nothing wrong with staying in the headspace of one's character!

Now I see. Even if we don't know who the culprit is, the most natural thing to do here would be to try and suss one another out without arousing suspicion.

Exactly. That sort of push and pull is what gives a good ensemble story its chemistry.

This is what people usually mean when they say good characters write themselves. Though of course, if you don't write yourselves here, there will be no story at all, really.

Hmm. Unfortunately, given my amnesia, I don't know if I'm capable of coming up with something clever to say.

What if the topic were Lady Mash?

Oh yes, I could gush about her eyes and hair for days on end and still not run out of things to say!

Is something wrong, Master?

...Yeah...

I feel like I heard...some really stupid conversation about that once...

?

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At any rate, I encourage you all to continue getting into your characters' heads...

...for that is the only way we have left to us with which we can properly repair this Singularity!

... ...

There is one thing I still do not understand. Why are you and I pretending to be lowly hunters?

Hmm, good question... If you're the kingdom's former prince, and I'm your attendant...

...what if it were because we're both wanted criminals, with bounties on our heads? That way, we'd have to hunt just to survive while we're on the run.

Hehe. Haha. Hahahahahahahahaha! Me, a fugitive!

What an amusing idea!

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Okay then, what if, as the former prince, you were secretly going around trying to make your country a better place?

They say land outlasts kingdoms, right? Your old nation may be gone, but its people are still living their lives.

You could be here trying to ensure their welfare, and I could be your partner. What do you think of that?

...Hmm.

Hm?

I hope I didn't offen

Not bad!

Hahahaha, traveling my land to make it a better place is a much more amusing idea than being a fugitive!

Very well then, let the filming recommence! Come, García!

You got it!

(...Damn, another dead end.)

(I was hoping she'd at least have left a note or two lying around.)

(Then again, that was probably too much to hope for, seeing as she didn't even have time to write a script.)

(Apparently, she barely had three hours to put something together after Roman asked her to help. Even for a rushed production, that's just absurd.)

I thought I might find you here.

Sherlock Holmes?

You sure work hard for a guy who didn't so much as set foot in the London Singularity.

Oh, this is all quite elementary to me, Mr. Andersen.

Knowing how much you respect Ms. Murasaki's wishes, it was hardly a leap to imagine you would try to find a clue as to what they might have been.

Well, you were right, Mr. Detective. Unfortunately, I've had no luck with that so far.

Maybe it doesn't matter anymore, now that the actors have taken things into their own hands...

...but I still wanted to at least find a hint as to the ending she had in mind.

I see. In other words, you don't want to see Ms. Murasaki's first movie go down in flames, as it were.

Hmph. We're trying to secure more resources for Chaldea here, remember? This isn't all fun and games.

Yes, of course. But I suspect you still have a hypothesis you have yet to divulge, Mr. Andersen.

Earlier, you suggested this story might well conclude in a train wreck of sorts.

That sounds to me as though you already have an idea of where it's going.

...

If you don't mind sharing, I would like to ask you for your opinion as a writer...

...regarding what sort of story you think Ms. Murasaki was trying to tell.

...Damn, I guess I did say that, didn't I. What I meant was, with a cast like that, someone's bound to end up dead by the end.

Though whether that will be a comical or tragic death is still sort of up in the air.

All right, if you want to know what I think, I'll tell you. Just keep in mind that this is strictly my personal opinion.

Writers are always juggling about ten or twenty ideas in their minds, even if they don't always get around to writing all or even most of them.

Well, ten or twenty might be giving some writers too much credit, but in Murasaki's case, I'm pretty sure she had more than her fair share.

Hmm, I see. And you think she used one of these ideas for this movie's script?

Given how urgent and unexpected the request was, it would only make sense that she would use an idea she had already been kicking around.

But there were also a lot of constraints. A limited pool of actors, her lack of experience with writing screenplays, and very little time to film.

I'd guess half of her premise is something she already had floating around her mind, and the other half is stuff she had to come up with to make it work.

Though I do get the impression that she used up all her energy on the setting and cast.

At any rate, I think she knew how she wanted this story to end, but she hadn't yet figured out how to get there.

Hmm. It sounds like you already have a solid grasp on what she had in mind.

I have my theories, but they're all just speculation. That's why I was hoping I could at least find some sort of hint.

Then I suggest we try a different approach.

Oh? Does that mean you have an idea of your own as to where we could find a clue?

As a matter of fact, I've been thinking about that portrait.

That? I thought it was just a portrait of Moriarty and Murasaki that was altered.

Remember how García said he smelled wet paint from it during the last recording?

That struck me as a most unusual thing to say, even for an improvised line.

Wet paint...

That's it! It was Hokusai!

Precisely. Ms. Murasaki must have asked Ms. Hokusai to paint that portrait for use as a prop.

True, an artist as good as Hokusai would probably be able to throw a painting like that together faster than most people could open an image editor.

But I guess there wasn't enough time for the paint to dry before they had to start filming.

Wait. You're not suggesting we send Hokusai over there to be this Portrait Painter, are you?

No, I merely want to talk to her. Though of course, she may not be in a more conversant state than Ms. Murasaki here, given the hours she keeps.

...I've got a bad feeling about this. All right, let's go to that filthy room she calls an atelier.

Man, Toto-sama, I never thought I'd get so much praise just for paintin' a picture of a pretty lady and a handsome guy! This Chaldea place is pretty nice!

There's a lot more to oil paintin' than I realized. Maybe I'll try paintin' another one like that while I'm at it.

Aw crap, I can't. Just standin' in front of the canvas is makin' me dizzy.

Maybe I been workin' myself a little too hard lately.

Say, that's the medicine Murasaki left here. I think she said it'd relieve your exhaustion in a jiffy!

Sounds like just what the doctor ordered!

Hahahaha! We're too late!

Huh? What're you two doin' here? Don't tell me you guys want a portrait makin' ya out to be parent and child too?

The only sort of picture I'd ever ask you to paint would be a cover illustration for one of my children's stories! Oh, right, we don't have time for this crap right now. Hurry it up, Holmes!

I assure you, I have every intention of doing so.

If you don't mind, Ms. Hokusai, there's something I wish to ask you about the portrait you painted recently.

Oh, that? Came out lookin' awful good, didn't it?

Gettin' ta feast my eyes on a handsome guy and beautiful lady like that is one of the very best parts of my work.

Oh yes, your skill was never in question. It is clear for all to see that your work is eminently professional.

However, I was curious if Ms. Murasaki made any unusual requests of you when she commissioned the piece.

For example...were there any parts she asked you to redo?

Somethin' she asked me to redo...?

Now thatcha mention it, she did say that my first draft made 'em look too much like a couple.

So I had to fix that aspect up a lit(Yaaawn) Oh man, I'm gettin' real sleepy all of a sudden...

Hey, don't fall asleep yet! We're still talking to you!

...Dammit, guess that's all we're getting out of her.

Well, there is nothing we can do about it now. Besides, we did learn a few interesting tidbits.

You're really enjoying this, aren't you, Holmes?

Is that how it seems to you?

Haha, I suppose this particular case does make for a nice change of pace.

After all, once I become involved in a case, it is only a matter of time until it is solved, however inscrutable it may appear at first blush.

Hmph. So the fact that you're working on a case that isn't even really a case at this point only makes it that much more interesting for you, huh.

I guess even detectives have their specialties. But, whatever. Let's head back to the Command Room, Holmes.

I'm worried about how things are going on set. There's no way Fujimaru'll be able to handle everything on his own.

Not with a cast of actors whose heads are so far up their asses they haven't seen daylight in years.