### Act 1, Scene 3: Rise but don't shine

- Backdrop: Pokes room, bookshelf / computer
- Props: Pokes Bed
- Special FX:
- Puppets: Poke (Fairlight), Sky (Eis, Xan), Tarrion (Fairlight, Fin), Minion3 (owolf), Minion4 (Zefiro), 6 nameless Bats (CJ, Pan, Tani, Lynard)
- Puppeteers:
- Setting: Pokes room, his bed on the right side, entrance on the left, Poke and Sky are in bed together
- Music:
- PreRec: Poke

##### FINLAY INTRO

"One day, I was stranded at a small railway station in the middle of the night. There was only one other person there, but he didn't speak my language. To pass the time, we somehow tried to have a conversation anyways, mostly by using signs and gestures. He told me that his name was Lee, and tried to describe his home and family. He pointed to a brown tree trunk, saying that's the colour of his wife's eyes. Then he pointed to my red shorts, telling me that's the colour of his car, and so on. When the first train finally arrived in the morning, we exchanged email addresses, and he promised to send me a picture.

I wasn't at all surprised to find that Lee's wife did indeed have brown eyes and Lee's car was indeed red. By the power of language Lee was able to communicate all these colors to me. By using all the different items, we had a color chart that we could both relate to.

For many more years I thought that language makes it possible to accurately describe a colour to someone else. Until the day Lee told me he was colour blind!

Every colour to him was either black, white or a shade of grey. At the time we met, Lee was not aware of it. He thought that the shade of grey he saw my shorts to be was exactly the same shade of grey that I saw them to be. So in reality, I had no idea of the colours that Lee was trying to describe to me that he had in his mind.

We all have our own personal version of reality that we carry around in our heads. Sad isn't it, that I will never know how my wife perceives the dozen red roses I gave her on our wedding anniversary. To her they may be what I would describe as yellow. I wonder what they smelled like to her. When I held her hand, how did it feel to her? I will never know. And still I miss her so much. I wish I could see her just one more time."

##### MAIN DIALOGUE

03 - Bedroom

Poke snores

Poke rolls over and uses her wing as a blanket

Sky wakes up, stretches her wings and yawns

Sky looks at Poke and nudges him

Sky: "Pssst. Hey. Hello? Good Mooooorning!"

Poke starts to wake up and grumbles.

Poke: "hhmmmgmmnmnmn. Gdmrning."

Poke yawns

Poke looks at Sky. 1…2…3…

Poke shrieks and jumps out of bed to the far other corner of the room!

0301 - Bedsprings 1

Poke: "AAAAAAAAH! Holy shit! It's Batman!"

Sky: "Calm down! I'm not batman! I'm not even a man to begin with!"

Poke (confused): "Oh! Yes! I see! You're a girl! In my bed! And it's the morning after! Why the hell are you still here? Did I forget to pay you?"

Sky (indignant): "WHAT?!? No! I'm not that kind of girl!"

Poke: "You're not? Okay, now I'm lost. Who the hell are you?"

Sky: "My name is Sky."

Poke (surprised): "Sky? Wow. That's a surprisingly nice name for a … uh … vampire. My name is Poke."

Sky (imitating poke): "Poke? That's a surprisingly appropriate name for a … uh … Ferret."

Poke: "Very funny! How the hell did I end up with you?"

Sky: "Don't you remember last night? You saved me! In the alley, behind the bar!"

Poke (remembers): "Ah, YES! Of course! The ugly winged guy!"

Sky: "Yes! You were so brave! You said I could stay here at your place. Remember?"

Poke: "Did I? Oh, of course I did!"

Sky: "Uhm, Poke … why are you standing there on the other side of the room?"

Poke: "It's my room! I can stand wherever I want!"

Sky: "Don't tell me you're afraid of me."

Poke: "Hell no! But .. usually … they're gone when I wake up in the morning."

Sky (giggles): "Wait a minute, a tough guy like you is afraid of women?"

Poke: "No that's not true! I'm not afraid!"

short pause

Poke (meekly): "At least not as long as I'm drunk."

Sky laughs

Poke (annoyed): "What's so funny?"

Sky: "Oh, Poke, I'm sorry! I just didn't expect a tough guy like you to suddenly become so shy."

Poke (ashamed): "God, this is so embarassing. Can you please kill me now?"

Sky: "Poke. I didn't mean to hurt you. Please, come back over here. I don't bite. Unless you want me to. You're such a sweet guy."

Poke (embarassed): "I am? Uhm, thanks. I guess."

Sky: "Come on. Don't be afraid. You spent so many hours snoring right next to me, if I wanted to harm you, I would have done it already."

Poke: "Okay!"

Poke walks back to the bed and jumps in

0302 - Bedsprings 2

Poke: "And now?"

Sky: "Tell me a little bit about you."

Poke: "Why would you care about me?"

Sky: "Why not? I like you. I'd like to know a little bit more about you."

Poke: "Normally people aren't particularly interested in who I am. This is the first time someone asks me such a personal question."

Sky: "Well, if you've got a hard time talking about yourself, why don't you tell me something about your family first?"

Poke: "Uh… okay. I've got a brother. His name is Peek. He's not much like me, though. The last time I saw him was at my grandfather's funeral, some ages ago."

Sky: "What about your parents?"

Poke: "Gosub is my father, and Return is my mother. She's a tax advisor. At least she's got a proper job. My father is blind. His main occupation is pitying himself. They never forgave me for moving out to a different state. I've kinda lost contact a few years ago. They stopped caring where I live or what I do."

Sky: "Aha. So what DO you do?"

Poke: "I'm a student."

Sky: "Oh cool, what are you majoring in?"

Poke: "Uhm … eh …"

Sky: "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Poke: "No no, it's alright. When people ask me that, I usually say "psychology". Then people go "Oh, that's interesting!". And then they change the subject as fast as they can. Fucking liars!"

Sky: "But psychology is an interesting subject!"

Poke: "Bullshit. I'll tell you a secret: I'm not a student anymore! I was kicked out of my psychology courses five years ago. It was boring as hell! Everybody thinks I'm still a student though, because I still go to university every day. I work there. As a cook. I love to cook!"

Sky: "Wow! That's amazing. I don't know many men who can cook. My Dad surely can't."

Poke (lauhgs): "Well, if your Dad pays a good salary, I could cook for him!"

Sky (laughs): "Believe me, my Dad is the last person in the world you'd want to work for. Honestly."

Poke: "You seem to know a lot of unpleasant people!"

Sky: "Yeah, I'm not exactly pursued by luck in that regard."

Poke: "By the way, when that guy attacked you in the back alley yesterday, why didn't you simply fly away?"

Sky: "Uhm … well … because …"

Poke: "Because of what?"

Sky sighs

Sky (nimble): "Because I can't fly."

Poke: "What? Why not? Did you break a wing?"

Sky: "No … my wings are fine. It's just that I … I can't. When I was little, I caused an accident. It was pretty bad. Since then I've been afraid of flying. My father hates me because of that. He says I'm a disgrace to the family."

Poke: "Hah! Yeah, I know how it feels to be the family reject. Nobody ever really cared for me. And everyone is always so pre-occupied about me that they don't even want to know more about me. But with you, it's different. I had completely forgotten how good it can feel to have somebody to talk to."

Sky nods

Sky: "And the more you tell me about yourself … the more I find, that I really like you!"

Poke (gulps): "Uh oh!"

Sky: "What is it, Poke? Why are you so afraid?"

Sky reaches out with a wing

Poke: "Nononono, don't touch me!"

Sky: "Why?"

Poke: "Noone has ever touched me like that before!"

Sky: "You mean … like this?"

Sky puts one wing around Poke and pulls him close

Poke draws in a deep breath

Sky: "Really noone?"

Poke (afraid): "Noone who likes me."

Sky softly puts her other wing around Poke.

Sky: "And? Does it feel like something to be afraid of?"

Poke (insecure): "I … I don't know."

Sky: "Then tell me how it feels!"

Poke: "Eh … what? No! I can't! That would sound so cheesy!"

Sky: "No. Not if it's honest. Come on, you can trust me. Tell me how it feels."

Poke: "Okay … *takes a deep breath* I've never felt like this before. Your wings … they are soft like velvet! I feel warm. And safe. Like nothing could hurt me right now."

Sky: "I will never hurt you."

Poke: "This is like a dream."

Sky kisses Poke

Sky (whispers): "Yes. It is."

Sky cuddles close to Poke, caressing him softly

0303 - Electric Sparks

Light flickers

Poke looks up

Poke: "Uh oh!"

0304 - Blackout

Light out

Swap puppets, Poke is now shaken by Tigerseye

A big number of bats fly into the room (while the light is off)

Tarrion, Minion3 and Minion4 come in (while the light is off)

0305 - Poke: "What the fuck is going on here?"

Sky: "Shit! Shitshitshit! Hide under my wings, Poke! Quick!"

0306 - Poke (terrified): "Eh … what?!?"

Sky: "Just DO it, okay? And whatever happens, don't move!"

0304 (cont.) - Tarrion Music

Light back on in RED tint (just like in the kitchen)

Tarrion appears

Tarrion: "Sky! What the hell are you doing here? You were supposed to stay at home!"

Sky: "I am old enough to go wherever I want, and do whatever I want!"

Tarrion: "Not as long as I am your father! What is that? What are you hiding there, under your wings?"

Sky (defiant): "Nothing!"

Tarrion puts his face close to Sky's

Tarrion: "Open your wings! Or I will do it for you!"

Sky sighs

Sky unfolds her wings, revealing Poke

0307 - Poke: "Uh, hi Mr. Wingey-Thingey!"

Tarrion: "I dont't believe it! IT'S YOU! Sky, I told you to never talk to dreamers!"

Sky: "Please, father, don't hurt him!"

0308 - Poke: "Father? This guy is your … father?"

Sky (sighs): "Yes. Poke, meet Lord Tarrion, leader of the northern tribe, appointed by the high council of the world of eternal shadows. My father."

Tarrion: "Poke? What a stupid name. So tell me, Poke: What are you doing in bed with my daugher? I hope you didn't …"

0309 - Poke : "I … I don’t remember … *turns to Sky* Did we?"

Sky: "No, we didn’t!"

Tarrion: "Why should I believe you? I should have the ferret destroyed right away. What he did to me last night is reason enough. You, and you! Kill him!"

Two Minions come up and they start strangling him

0310 - Strangle

Sky: "Noooooo!"

Poke chokes and struggles for a few seconds

Tarrion: "Stop! There’s something wrong here!"

0311 - Release - Poke whimpers

The two Minions retreat

Tarrion steps over to Poke

Tarrion: "Look at me, Ferret! Look at my face!"

Poke looks at Tarrion, trembling in fear

0312 - Poke: "Yes?"

Tarrion screams at him, baring his fangs.

Tarrion: "RHAAAAAAAARRRRR!"

Poke whimpers

0313 - Poke whimpers

Tarrion (to himself): "That is interesting. Usually they wake up when I do this."

Tarrion (to Poke, shouting angrily): "Why don’t you wake up?"

0314 - Poke (crying): "I have no fucking clue what you're talking about!"

Tarrion turns to Sky

Tarrion: "Oh no … You didn’t, did you?"

Sky: "Well … I …"

Tarrion (angry): "Oh crap, you did it! You stole some of MY black ice and poisoned the ferret's soul!"

0315 - Poke: "Poisoned my soul? Black Ice? What the fuck is going on here?"

Tarrion: "Why did you do that?"

Sky (defiant): "I'll tell you why! I did it because, just for once in my lifetime, I wanted to achieve something on my own! I am now the first shadow creature to ever use the dark power of black ice, not you! And there's nothing you can do to reverse it! Just this one time, I'm going to be the famous one, not you!"

Tarrion: "Famous for what? For causing the biggest stink in the age of the emperor? What you did does not change my plans. You just kicked them off a little bit early. So here we go. And YOU …"

Tarrion turns back to Poke

Tarrion: "… will get the honor to be my first victim."

0316 - Poke whimpers

Tarrion turns to his servants

Tarrion: "Servants! We’re going to pick up the others and head back for the capitol. Bind him and make sure he doesn’t get away. And Sky, too."

Minion3 and Minion4 bind Poke and Sky with the net and carry them off

Sky: "No! Leave me alone! You can't do that! HEY! Poke! Don't worry! They can't keep me grounded forever! I'll come to help you!"

Tarrion: "No, Sky. You won't. I'll make sure of that. Believe me. I'll make sure."

Tarrion spreads his wings and flies off

0317 - Tarrion Flies Away

0317 (cont) - Rise & Hit

0304 (STOP) - Tarrion Music

03 (STOP)

Lights out

Close Curtain