Theatrical Tenderness

 

Synopsis: We jump forward a decade into Mobius' future, where the royal family puts on a production of the Mobian play Aramus and Phesbea (their equivalent to Romeo and Juliet). This version of the story is not a tragedy, as the title characters remain alive.

 

 

‘Come what may, come what may

I’m gonna love you until my dying day.’—From Moulin Rouge

 

 

Chapter 1— Learning About the Story

 

                The hedgehoglets were no longer little prickles but adolescents.   Some were older than others based on when they had come into the world during delivery, and oftentimes Dashiel loved to boast about this.   The others would roll their eyes and shake their heads at his braggadocio.  

                ‘I was going through the archives, and I found this old tome of plays.  They’re written in a tongue that’s indecipherable.’, Dashiel said, blowing dust off the musty book’s cover.   That caused the whole group around him to cough.    None of them knew about the ancient book but it was a miracle that it had survived for so many eons without crumbling into dust.    

                All of the teens knew that their dad was out practicing some martial arts against Shadow and Silver, honing his fine-tuned movements.   He and the others had become so fluid in their movements that it looked more like ballet than karate.    Amy and her companions were sparring against dummies in the field.   Rouge was running a gamut obstacle course; Blaze was blasting targets using her magic.   Each adult hadn’t lost a step in their training.    

                When the adolescents saw their dad taking a break, they approached him with the unusual book that had ‘William Shakespeare’ embossed upon its spine. 

                ‘Dad, could you tell me a bit about this ?   We’ve all heard about it, but it doesn’t seem familiar at all.   We figured you’d know more.’, Amethystia said, inquisitively.     Although she had been deemed ‘runty’ early on, she had shot up quite a bit with a massive growth spurt and towered over some of her sisters.   Oddly, she was one of the middle hoglets and didn’t mind some of her siblings looking up to her for a change.   

                ‘That’s a book from Earth written by a man known as the Bard.   Most scholars, the Stratfordians, concur that Shakespeare did write his plays.’, Sonic began.

                ‘While others disagree, leaning on the conspiracy that either a nobleman was responsible, or even a noblewoman penned them.’, Amy chimed in.   

                ‘It’s Shakespeare !   I couldn’t help but add my ten cents !’, Amy chuckled after seeing the response of her children’s laughter. 

                ‘Tell us about it, please !’, one of the younger hoglets begged.   With that starry look in their eyes, the young ones realized their cuteness made resistance to their request futile, so without further dalliance, Sonic sat them all down at his favorite reading spot under the tree that had been planted outside Crystal Castle as its future resting place to read to them.       

                'Well, the story is about two teenage lovers from two families caught in a blood feud. They have been fighting for so long that they don't even know why they're fighting anymore. It gets so bad that the city's own king/prince gets involved, but he seems to be a bit spineless. A nobleman named Count Paris wants to marry Juliet, but at first her dad demurs, telling him to wait until she is a bit older, meanwhile her mom and caretaker try to convince her to at least give Paris a chance at the party that's going on that night.', Sonic explained. 

                As Sonic continued to explain the tragedy to them, some of them were brought to tears.

                ‘So, they commit suicide at the end ?   How terrible.’, one of the teens surmised.  

                ‘The viewer is lead to their own conclusions, whether it is a bittersweet romantic ending for the couple or that the Capulets or Montagues never learned to overcome their hatred for each other after their youngest members useless deaths.’, Amy stated.   Even now, going back to the story evoked emotions in her but she quickly blinked those tears away.  

                ‘In a way, it is still horrifically romantic.’, one of the younger hoglets agreed, though all had their own opinions.   

 

Chapter 2—Aramus and Phesbea

                There was a lot of debating going on about Romeo and Juliet until Dashiel produced his own solution.   There was another hedgehog girl in the community that he liked quite a bit.   It hadn’t been a mystery since he had authored poems to her and wrote songs when he wasn’t training with his siblings.   He tried to keep this secret, but siblings tended to be curious and already knew about his crush on this other hedgehog, who was very adorable, sweet, kind, and rambunctious in her own right.  

                ‘Don’t we have our own version of this play, only different ?’, another elder hoglet questioned.    Sonia was certain that they did, and the title came to her immediately.

                ‘It’s titled Aramus and Phesbea.   Bill Shakesquill wrote it.  I’m surprised you didn’t study this in high school.’, Sonia said, realizing that some of the archives had been destroyed long before the hoglets had been born in a free Mobius without Robotnik’s influence.   There were copies of Shakesquill’s plays and sonnets and fortunately, many of them were stored in the library’s cloud, where nothing, not even society collapsing around them, could destroy their existence.     

                Dashiel mentioned he wanted to put on a play, and he wanted to be in it.   He wanted to flex his acting range and show off a bit to the girl he had liked since his time attending public school.   It didn’t matter to Sonic or the others that she was common, because after all, Rose had been common, too.  Royalty didn’t necessarily come from heredity; it came from within.    

                ‘You do know that this sort of production will take a lot of work.   We can make it modern, but I would prefer we keep it accurate.’, Sonic said.    With a jubilant whoop, the adolescents began to do research into what constituted a play, since they had never put one on before.    Sonic and the adults helped, supporting their children’s project, inquisitive how the production would turn out once everything had been put in place.  

 

 

Chapter 3—Set Ups and Try Outs

                The play would be using smoke machines and a rotating mechanism in the middle for more ‘dramatic’ scenes, like the sword fighting scene, a commonality between the Earth tragedy and the Mobian variant.   

                All the art and props had been hand crafted, and even the costumes were period accurate.  Of course, everything had a more ‘steampunk’ look, given that in Mobius, inventions during this time had run on steam power rather than the crystals they had mined currently.   

                With the stage set, props laid out and costumes made, it was time for open casting to begin.   Roles would be given to anyone who was chosen, so it was anyone’s guess who would take upon the roles of the titular characters.    

                Dashiel was hoping to get the part of Count Ephemus, the wealthy nobleman who wanted to marry Phesbea.   There was a braggy ermine named Gino who was destined to play Aramus, who would ultimately win Phesbea’s love, but the two would have a chance to get a smooch from Phesbea herself.  A lot of hormonal teenagers wanted both parts, seeing how attractive this punky iridescent hedgehog was.    Her name was Iridena, and she went by ‘Dena’ as an appellation.     Like Dashiel, she played the guitar, but instead of playing bass, she played lead, and both were stupendous singers.    

            ‘I’m a little anxious.   Everyone out there seems a bit eager on lip locking.’, she said, her iridescent quills seeming to glow in the stage light.    Dashiel could tell she was blushing a bit.   

            ‘It’s just a play, Dena.   It’s all in good fun.   Plus, I couldn’t think of another way to ask you.’, Dashiel began.    Iridena looked a bit surprised that Dashiel had trouble in expressing himself, but she found it quite endearing.   

            ‘You put this whole thing on so you could ask me out on a date ?’, she said, trying not to laugh aloud.   None of the other boys had even come close to arriving at such innovative measures, let alone even utter two syllables to get her to notice them.    

            ‘Yes.   I was remembering something from class.   I knew you liked this play.   I never really studied it so I’m immersing myself in it now.   This Shakesquill guy was actually pretty rad.’, Dashiel said.  

            ‘I hope you get the part.  I’m a little apprehensive.   It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this.’, Iridena confessed.    Dashiel gathered his nerve and gently patted her hand, reassuringly.

            ‘You’re gonna knock ‘em dead, Dena !’, he said, encouragingly.    

            It had been tough to judge who would be assigned to play which role, for everyone read their lines very convincingly.    Ultimately, Dashiel was assigned to star as Ephemus and Iridena was Phesbea.   The boastful ermine easily secured the role of the romantic interest, Aramus.    He wasn’t from Dashiel’s school and Iridena didn’t recognize him, but it was obvious that he had his heart set on impressing Dena as well.   

            ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, Dash, but when it comes to competition, it’s easy to see that I’m a born and bred winner.   Eventually Dena will fall for me, and your little house of cards will tumble.’, Gino said with a derisive laugh and sneer.    He had seemed decent, but now Dashiel wasn’t so certain that Gino’s intentions were good.      Iridena hadn’t heard or seen the rivalry between the two adolescents, so the exchange had been missed, even by the chosen crew.     Dashiel had heard of drama, but this was absolutely ridiculous.   

 

Chapter 4—Rehearsals and Opening Night

            It came down to disciplining Gino and reinforcing boundaries.   Whenever they had their kissing scene, Gino always had to take it too far, and force Dena into a French kiss.    Dashiel, who typically wasn’t the type to throw hands, pummeled Gino onto the floor and pinned him there.

            ‘The script doesn’t call for that !   It’s not right to force yourself on her.   Besides, I don’t know if you haven’t gotten the memo, but she doesn’t like you !’, Dashiel shouted.     Because of his gross misconduct, Gino had been barred from the play as well as the production.    He took it in stride, although it hurt his ego.    He had to learn boundaries eventually, even if it was through the school of hard knocks.     The understudy, a gentle Zebra named Zeke, happily took over the part, and did an even more upstanding and surreal performance than Gino ever could have.     As for Dena, she thanked Dashiel for his bravery and selflessness.   

            ‘Usually, I’m the one fighting my own battles.’, she said, as he and the crew were taking a snack break between scenes.    She sweetly kissed him on the cheek, and he found himself blushing.

            ‘What was that for ?’, he asked, clearly surprised he had been kissed by an unbelievably beautiful young woman that he had only known for about half a month now.    They had only spent time together on and off set, talking about their lives, their likes, dislikes, and holding hands every so often when they walked together.   Even under the stars, she preferred his tender arms around her, and she would often remark how safe it made her feel.    He hadn’t put it together, but this crush was actually full-fledged love and it felt remarkable.

            Soon after all the rehearsing had been completed, it had come time for Aramus and Phesbea to be performed.  Although the actors and actresses knew their parts forwards and backwards, tension was so tactile that panic had seized them.    Iridena had remembered a trick that Dashiel had taught her. 

            ‘It’s not anything we haven’t done.  So, it’s a massive audience.  Just picture them in their underwear, and it’s no big deal.’, she said, wryly.    Zeke started laughing, having that image secured in his mind’s eye.

            ‘I feel like my mind’s eye is going to need a heavy wash of bleach after our 3-night performance.’, he admitted.    

Sonic, who was cast in the role of Lord Capeti, walked forward.

'You two all set ?', he asked. 

‘Yeah, dad.  I was born ready.’, Dashiel said, with a sly grin.   Iridena couldn’t help but chuckle but wasn’t surprised that he had been motivating everyone else and keeping morale high.   

 

The whole arena was packed with Mobians, humans and anthropomorph alike.    This was a play that was significant to Mobius’ history, because unlike the Earth version of the play, this had been a historical event that happened during Mobius’ Medieval era.    It was a time right before the Renaissance ushering in innovative ideas and ways of thought, as well as steam tech.    It was a prosperous time, which reflected well on the brilliant age they were living in now.   

 

Each thespian delivered their lines perfectly.   Each cue was met, each song struck a chord among the theatre goers, who more than received their money’s worth for a spectacular show.   Zeke, who had never been the lead in anything, found his role challenging but enjoyable.   

‘To think, we have two more nights of this.   I’m typically ready for anything, but I am wiped out.’, Zeke admitted.   Everyone in the cast was about ready to plotz, but the siblings decided to treat the cast and crew to a little-known spot that Tails had found close to the auditorium.   

           

            The hot springs were a favorite relaxation point for passersby and Tails had only found it by accident when he was walking on his break.   He had been running sound, effects, lighting, and cues for the other techs working alongside him.     The springs had been a much-needed respite for all the hard-working, dedicated cast and crew.     

 

 

 

Chapter 5—A Crowd Favorite, Held Over for a Penultimate Performance

 

            Everyone had found Aramus and Phesbea astronomically good.   The money that had been raised would be going to causes that the royals supported.    There were some roads in Mobius in desperate need of repair, but most people took the rails to transport themselves from point A to point B.   Roads were still in use, but crystal-powered cars were emission free, so the air in Mobius was pure.  

            ‘I was thinking about Gino.   That we banned him.   I felt pretty bad about that.’, Frankie, a ferret, said guiltily.     Gino wasn’t necessarily a bad kid, but he did act more privileged than everyone else there.    His parents had secured a role for him by sweet talking the directors, but ultimately, this hadn’t worked in Gino’s favor.   

            ‘It is true that Clementine fell ill before our production was held over.’, another actress, a demure wombat named Elaine pointed out.   Iridena wasn’t sure if having Gino step in for Clementine the orangutan was such a great plan, but from what others had heard, the young ermine had reflected on his actions and felt wrong about what he had done.   Like a good sport, he wanted to apologize and make things right.   

           

            Gino was brought back to fill in Clementine’s vacant spot, and much to everyone’s surprise, he nailed the part incredibly well.    He had played the part of the abbot who was integral to the crux of the plot.    

            Clementine, though she had been stricken by flu, had been able to enjoy the final performance and she applauded and cheered when the cast and crew took their final bow.

            ‘I was horrible back then.   I know better now.  I was acting like a brat.’, Gino confessed.   He knew he wasn’t better or worse than anyone else there, he had come to shine on stage and entertain the masses.    Since he had enjoyed the thrill of acting so much, he decided he was going to be a traveling performer.  

            ‘If you ever need entertainment, you know where to catch me.’, he said, as Clementine tossed him some roses.    Gino fluoresced, not expecting that kind of adulation or gift from her, because, if he wanted to be honest with himself, Clementine was actually quite cute, and he had been crushing on her for a while since the show started.   He just hadn’t paid much attention to her because he had been thinking about an unrelated part of his body versus his heart.    Lust had gotten the better of him, but it wasn’t a mistake he would make again.  

 

 

Chapter 6—So, This Iridena, What Makes Her Special to You ?

           

            A long soak in the hot springs felt heavenly after all the props, backdrops and lights had been disassembled.   Everyone was paid for their time and sent on their merry way back to whatever parts of Mobius they had come from.    It was much more fun than the balls that Sonic had thrown, at least in Dashiel’s opinion, but the outcome was always the same.    Money that had been donated through others went to helping those in need, rebuilding damaged infrastructure and keeping the archives up and running.   It was producing such plays as Aramus and Phesbea that reminded them why the archives were priceless.     They reminded the Mobians that history should be preserved and that conflicts could be overcome with love.    

           

            ‘I noticed you and this Iridena girl have been getting close.’, Sonic began.    Dashiel rolled his eyes as was typical for teenagers his age to do. 

            ‘You don’t approve, do you ?’, he asked, thinking that was what Sonic would say next.  

            ‘No, not at all.   I do approve of her.   She seems really cool, actually.   It reminds me of when I first met Amy.    I was around your age.’, Sonic said, with a wistful, nostalgic look.

            ‘Ugh, if you’re gonna tell me another ‘how I met mom’ story, I’m gonna hurl.’, Dashiel stated in disgust, pretending as if he were gagging.    

            ‘Trust me, I won’t.   I know you get embarrassed about stuff like that, but just know there will be a time that if she is indeed the lady you choose to spend your life together with, there will come a time when she has to adjust to the duties of royalty.’, Sonic reminded him.   

            ‘When it comes to that, I think we’ll both be ready, but just let us be ourselves for now.’, Dashiel retorted.     Responsibilities were one thing, but living and enjoying life were far more important to Dashiel in his growth as Mobius’ next king.    

 

 

Chapter 7—Off to Camp

            Dashiel had felt freer than he had ever been during those short weeks with the cast and crew.   He did have a lot of entertainment at home but reading a flyer on an upcoming ‘wilderness retreat’, he figured he could attend it and savor some more relaxation before school began again.    Much to his surprise, Iridena was heading to the same camp so he would get to know her more.   

                ‘That play really got me thinking, Sonic.’, Amy started, as she noticed Dashiel asleep at night after packing up his bags for the airbus tomorrow to Camp Rochelle.   Rochelle was a hip, fun place for all Mobians to go, but it was a place where anyone could learn leadership, a new skill or trade or find their true passion in life.     Someday, Dashiel would come to wield the main medallion and it would interact differently with him than it did with Sonic.    How that would come to be undetermined, but the other medallions would go to Amethystia and the brash, bold Maverick.     

                ‘What’s been going through that beautiful brain of yours, Aims ?’, Sonic questioned, nuzzling his nose with hers.    Looking at their eldest all splayed out on his bed, completely exhausted, they covered him up, not rousing him at all.    

                ‘We should do something for the theatrically inclined.   We spoke of this for years.   Sure, we have plenty of avenues for the musically gifted, but we need a theatre company.   We haven’t had one since before Robotnik and the Rebellion.’, Amy said.   So much else had happened after peace and prosperity came to Mobius that other projects had been lost by the wayside.   Yet, they hadn’t been completely forgotten.    They only need a slight jostling, a bit of a dusting, and a sure sign of interest from the public.   Like the old musty tome from before, it was time that theatre was brought back to the Mobians.     Besides, the building of the new playhouse would be such a great method of making new friends and seeing what kind of talent surrounded them.   

 

 

Chapter 8—The Play’s the Thing

 

                After putting together, a preliminary itinerary of how the ‘Play’s the Thing’ playhouse would be erected, all the exquisite architects, lumber workers, carpenters, plumbers and electricians, the playhouse was being built with tender care, tremendous artisanship, and plenty of possibilities of old plays and new as well as original works performed there.     A whole new draw for the community outside the castle and a place where all kinds of creative folks could come to express themselves.    

 

Meanwhile Dashiel was making friends at Camp Rochelle and helping a very shy armadillo named Tex learn how to shoot a bow and arrow.    Oddly, Tex had a great eye and Dashiel wanted to hire him as the Castle’s next sharpshooter.   

                ‘You’ll never be too far from home.   Think about it, Tex, the Castle could use your ability.’, he said, convincingly.    Tex gave him the first genuine smile he had since he had come to the camp during the campers’ ice breaker hour and assigning of their cabins.

                Dashiel looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes as the evening rains fell and thought about his siblings and family, wondering what they were doing.    They could only communicate through mail, but he knew everyone back at the castle was up to something.    He knew he would discover just what it was as soon as he came home.  

 

Epilogue

 

When Dash got home, his mother and father were waiting for him outside the palace gates.    He sped up to them and hugged them, wondering what all the clamor was about.   

                ‘While you were away, we were stricken by our creative muse.’, Amy started.    They led him beyond the castle, down and incline and up a stately hill that showcased The Play’s the Thing. 

                ‘We just recently opened it.   Since Aramus and Phesbea it has been quite the talk of the town.’, Sonic said.    Everyone that had put their backs into the work was rewarded handsomely and their passion definitely shone through the craftsmanship and design of the playhouse.    Not only was it a playhouse, but it was a place where all sorts of artisans and creative types could come and do something memorable and meaningful.   

 

                The other hoglets were elated to see Dash back and wanted to know what he had done at Rochelle.    All the while Amy and Sonic couldn’t help reflecting on how he, Amythestia and Maverick would have the medallions some day and that the kingdom would be theirs to rule.    The three of them were already turning out to be incredible leaders and role models.  Plus, the music they played was even more impressive than Sonic’s, even if he didn’t want to admit to it.   

                ‘We have quite an incredible family, Amy Rose.’, Sonic said, as he brought Amy close to him for a kiss.    She smiled radiantly and smooched him deeply in response, looking into his eyes deeply.

                ‘Yes, and I cannot wait to see what they will become.’ 

 

To be Continued…