Chapter Text
The curtain opened, and the stage shifted too. What once was a simple black stage now looked like a tank of water with no lid. Waves splashed against the giant wooden ship that sat a little to the left of the center. The outline of a larger ship was positioned behind and to the back of the wooden ship, and the audience could also see the bow of another ship peeking out behind the curtains in the foreground. The ships moved up and down, replicating the ocean waves. On the giant wooden ship, you can see people moving about.
Leona stood at the front of the ship, gazing out over the water as the music started. Water hit his face from the spray the ship created cutting through waves.
“ Six hundred men, six hundred under my command~ with only one foal in mind, ” He began.
“(Make it back alive to our homeland.) ”
Leona turned to look at them, “ Six hundred men, six hundred miles of open see.”
He looked back over his shoulder out into the water, “ But the problem’s not the distance-”
“ (It’s what lied in between.)”
Leona jumps onto the railing, grabbing a rop for stability, “ and Ithica’s Waiting, Ithaca’s waiting~ My kingdom is waiting (the kingdom is waiting) Penelope’s waiting for me!”
Leona leans out over the water, holding the rope with one hand and pointing forward with the other, “ So full speed ahead… Full speed ahead!”
Ruggie approached Leona, looking at him amused, “ Captain .”
Leona got back on the railing and turned to Ruggie as the ensemble sang, “ (Eurylochus!)”
Ruggie continued, “ Six hundred men- six hundred men with big mouths to feed-”
He sighed, “ and we’ve run out of supplies to eat.”
“(Curse the war, our food store’s depleted!)”
Leona dropped back to the deck and looked at ruggie seriously as he continued, “ Six hundred men (Six hundred men) Six hundred reasons to take what we can.”
Ruggie met leona’s eyes, “ So captain, what’s the plan? ”
The crew leaned in to listen to leona, “ Captain what’s the plan. ”
Leona paused for a second, before he looked up, eyes locking onto the image of a pair of birds that seemed to be flying ahead. He pointed up towards them, “ watch where the birds fly (watch where the birds fly)!”
Leona turned back to his crew, “ they will lead us to land (They will lead us to land).”
He clapped ruggie’s shoulder, “there, we’ll hunt for food my second in command. ”
Leona called to the rest of the crew, “ Now full speed ahead, full speed ahead! ”
The crew set to work, climbing the ropes, stearing the wheels, rowing the boat, “ ( We're up, we're off, and away we go. We're up, we're off, and away we go. We're up, we're off, and away we go!) ”
Ruggie and leona looked out over the water at the bow when silver came up behind them, calling out “ Captain !”
“ Polites ,” Leona turns to acknowledge him.
“ Look !” Silver leans over the railing and points outwards. the outline of an island is set against the stage’s back wall, which is painted like the horizon.
“There in the distance, i see an island, i see a light that faintly glows. ” Silver turns back to Leona and Ruggie.
“Maybe there’s people lighting a fire, maybe they’ll share some food, who knows?”
Leona steps forward to get a closer look, squinting his eyes, “ Something feels off here, i see fire but there’s no smoke.”
Ruggie slams his fist into his open palm, “ I say we strike first, we don’t have time to waste-”
He steps closer to Leona, “ so let’s raid the place and-”
Leona looks back at him, “ no .”
Leona looks towards Silver, “ Polites, gear up, you and i’ll go ahead.”
Silver grinned and started to run to get supplies, “ you and i’ll go ahead! ”
Leona looks back at ruggie, grabbing his shoulders, “ we should try to find a way no one ends up dead.”
Ruggie sweeps his arms, “ we don’t know what’s ahead !”
Silver returns and hands Leona a pack and his sword.
“ Give me ‘till sunrise, and if we don’t return,” Leona sings as he puts on his gear.
He looks back up at ruggie, “ then six hundred men can male this whole place burn.”
Ruggie sighs but nods.
“ Now fullspeed ahead!” Leona orders his crew, “ (Full speed ahead, full speed ahead!) ”
The wooden ships seem to move forward, now in the center of the stage as the water splashes, “ (We’re up, we’re off, and away we go! We’re up, we’re off, and away we go! Full ahead ( We’re up, we’re off, and away we go!) We’re up, we’re off, and away we go!)”
The wooden ships move back towards the left side of the stage, as if they’re breaking, and the edge of an island moves in from the right side of stage, showing a beach. The ships drop anchor.
“Full speed ahead!”
The crew lowered a small boat onto the water, which silver and leona got onto. It looked like the small boat was moving forward, but in actuality, the ships were going backwards, and the island was moving towards the middle of the stage.
“Alright, we need to be careful. I have no idea which island this is, so i don’t know if they’re friend or foe.” Leona said as he rowed the boat.
Silver hummed.
“Polites?” leona asked, “Polites!”
“I heard you, i heard you. But we shouldn’t assume their hostile from the start, Ody. if we do, we’ll never have a friendly encounter.”
“... just follow my lead.” leona said as the small boat hit the shore.
“Of course!” silver grinned as he jumped out the boat and pulled it onto land. When both men were situated on land, the island moved even more towards the left, taking up the entire stage, as they walked. Leona gripped his sword tensly, as silver trailed behind him. Leona paused as he heard a sound.
“You can relax my friend,” Silver put a hand on Leona’s shoulder.
“I can tell you’re getting nervous, so do yourself a service,” Silver moved closer.
“And try to relax my friend ,” silver looked leona in the eyes.
“I’m fine, polites, ” Leona shrugged him off.
“Think of all that we have been through, ” silver moved to stand in front of him, meeting him face to face, “ we’ll survive what we get into .”
Silver turned to the rest of the island, and walked forward, “ I know that you’re tired of the war and bloodshed. Tell me, is this how we’re supposed to live?”
Silver gestured to leona’s sword, “look at how you grip your sword, enough said. Why should we take when we could give?”
He turned back to the lion, “you can show a person that you trust them when you stop and lower your guard. Here we have a chance for some adjustment, give it a try, it’s not that hard! I’m telling you-”
Silver turns to his left, facing both the audience and rest of the island. He throws his hand open, “this life is amazing when you greet it with open arms!”
He walks around the set, “whatever we face, we’ll be fine is we’re leading from the heart.”
And he crouaches down to see a plant closer, “no matter the place, we can light up the world, he’s how to start:”
Silver turns to face leona again, “greet the world with open arms. Greet the world with open arms.”
Tiny creatures, figments created by magic, jump out from crevices all over the island, “ Welcome !”
Leona, who had lowered his guard, immediately drew his sword up again and pulled silver behind him, “ Stay back!”
The creatures, previously cheerful, all jerked back a little and made themselves smaller.
“Stay back, stay back, ” they murmured to each other.
Silver gently grabbed leona’s shoulders, leaned forward to meet his eyes, “my friend, greet the world with open arms.”
Leona clenched his teeth, “ we’re only here for food.”
The tiny creatures looked at each other, “ food .”
Leona frowned and stepped forward, his sword raising, “six hundred friends are waiting for us to show our faces.”
The creatures and continued to speak to each other, “ food ?”
Leona waved his sword, “stay back, i’m warning you!”
“Food, (num num num). ”
“If we don’t get back safely, my men will turn this place into blazes-”
“Here you go!” Leona was interrupted as the creatures presented them with lotus pods.
Both leona and silver stood dumbfounded for a second before silver grinned.
“ See !” he asked leona, walking past him and kneeling down to the creatures, “ this life is amazing when you geet it with open arms.”
He stood back up with a few of the creatures in his arms, turning back to the lion, “ whatever we face, we’’ be fine if we’re leading from the heart.”
He turned away, walking further on the island, nuzzling the creatures in his arms, “no matter the place, we can light up the world, here’s how to start-”
He puts them back on the ground and looks up at the audience, “Greet the world with open arms, greet the world with open arms!”
Leona, who, while silver was singing, was anazlysing the pods, cracking them open, frowned, “ my friend, i wish that i could say that i agree-”
He holds up the pods for silver and the audience to see, “ but look at the way this fruit is glowing and filled with glowing seed. It took me a while to notice just what kind of fruit they eat.”
He crushes the pod in his hand, “ it’s a lotus, it controls you mind and never lets you free. ”
He tosses the remains away and walks closer to silver, who looks like he wanted to protest, “ that’s what we’d get with open arms…”
Silver whirled around and looked back down at the creatures, “ lotus eaters!”
He kneels down to meet them at their level and gestures to leona, “ i’s like to show my friend that kindness is brave. Could you tell me where there’s other food to eat?”
One of the creatures raises it’s hand and exclaimed, “ a cave! ”
The one next to it mutters, “ scary cave .”
Silver ignores the second creature and grins triumphantly to leona, “ a cave!”
Back to the creatures, “ you’re saying there’s a cave where we could feast? And where do we sail to find this food-filled cave?”
“ East !” the creatures called.
“That way! ” one of them, sitting on a taller rock, said, pointing to the right of the stage.
Silver clutches his hands to his chest and gives a heart felt, “ thank you !”
“ Welcome ,” all the lotus eaters reply.
Silver walks back to leona, who’s been watching all of this in disbelief.
“ This life is amazing when you greet it with open arms, ” he starts, gently touching leona, “ i see in your face, there is so much guilt inside your arms.”
Silver left arm sweeps over the room, “ so why not replace it and light up the world? Here’s how to start-”
Silver holds his arms wide, “ greet the world with open arms, greet the world with open arms. ”
Leona lets the sword fall and falls into silver, almost clinging onto him, “ greet the world with open arms…”
Silver hugs back and lowers them to the ground. He strokes leona’s hair, “ you can relax my friend… ”
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In the audience sat a group from rsa. All from royal or rich families, given the pricetag to watch the musical on opening night.
“That should have been you.” one of them muttered to neige as deuce came on stage. Neige shook them off.
“Well obviously i couldn’t have been up there. This is an nrc musical! I’m rsa.”
“But still. I’m sure they could’ve made an exception. They were probably to scared that you’d outshine vil.”
“Pete, cut it out! It’s not such a big deal.”
“Well, the fans are certainly gonna have fun with this…” pete sat back in his chair.
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“Awwww, they’re adorable!” Prince rielle all but squealed as the lotus eaters came on stage.
“.... someone’s absolutely going to cash in on that and make some merch. I can see it now.” Prince Archer snorts.
----back during production-----
Azul: and make sure that the lotus eaters and winions are as cute as possible! We can make a fortune selling them during intermission and after the play!
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Vil had, of course, told his father eric about his new role in Epic, and Eric had made sure to get tickets for the first show. He knew how important it was for vil, seeing as this was the first time he played a major role that wasn’t the villain and was an opportunity for him to broaden his opportunities. If Eric wasn’t as professional as he was, he would have brought light sticks and cheered everytime his adorable son was on stage. Though he did narrow his eyes at leona and vil’s on stage interaction.
“Looks like i have a potential son in law to terrify,” he muttered darkly. While others might be fooled, he could easily tell that their affection wasn’t entirely staged. A few seats away Falena had a similar line of thought. Saree noticed and wanted to smack her forehead. Leave it to falena to play the role of an overprotective older brother when his younger brother is acting in a play. She gave a small prayer for vil. Cheka was oblivious to his parent’s dilemma, but even he could recognize that the chemistry vil and leona exhibited wasnt entirely fake. Unlike Eric and Falena though, he was very excited.
Many audience members were captivated by the performance, especially at the quality for what amounts to a school play.
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Yuu, watching the audience’s reaction from behind the curtain: oh you poor fools, this is gonna get so much worse! Ahahahahahaha!
Grim: … you ok there yuu?
Yuu: i’m peachy keen!
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Yuu, directing the actors: and now you hug!
Leona: oh no. i don;t do hugs.
Yuu: i will set 20 alarms at different stages throughout the day if you don’t cooperate. Now hug!
Leona: yes ma’am!
Silver: *grins*
Leona: not a word
Ruggie, holding a camera: don’t worry, i have pictures.
Leona: *explodes and tries to get out of silver’s grip as ruggie runs away*
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Malleus, Azul, and Idia, trying to make the lotus eater creatures: *surrounded by many failed attempts* it’s not what it looks like!
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Idia, looking at the list of things yuu wants made for the musical: you want how much???!
Yuu: i think at this point, you (and many others) owe me, right?
Idia: yes, but-
Yuu: also, i bribed ortho to take down your wifi untill this is all complete. For the entire dorm. You lot may be introverts, but that doens’t mean you can’t work!
Idia: *gulp* yes ma’am!