Harm and Harmony

-Chapter 105-

Day: 133

Days Left: 5347

Lives Saved: 0

The nobles leisurely made their way into the theatre room, snatching drinks and hors d'oeuvres from servants' plates. They gathered in their seats and waited, watching recaps whilst the Director of Sector 39, Henry Best, set up the lastest broadcast footage.

Viscount Collingwood made his usual loud and brash entrance, making sure his presence was known. For this fashion competition, the theme was 'birds', and the viscount went above and beyond to win and end Duchess Vipond's current winning streak. Choosing what he deemed to be the most powerful bird throughout legend, the phoenix, Collingwood was adorned with a cape of fiery red and orange feathers that seemed to spark when caught in the light. Of course, if magic had been allowed, he could have made the feathers actually be aflame but still took pride with what he had achieved within the restrictions.

"Well?" Viscount Collingwood turned around, showing off the cape to Henry. "Do you believe I have a chance of winning this time, Best?"

"I'm afraid it is too early to say, Your Grace," replied Henry, faking a look of awe at the garment. "Only Baron Sinclair has arrived thus far."

The viscount snorted, seeing the Baron already seated and idly stirring his drink with a cocktail stick. He sat down next to his friend and eyed his entry to the competition- just a black tuxedo, a rather fine and high-quality one, but plain nonetheless.

"It's a penguin suit," explained Baron Sinclair, who received an unamused glare from the viscount.

Collingwood and the others had discussed Sinclair's lack of effort in their competition, considering whether he should be kicked out, but they all decided to keep him in. Despite his indolence, Sinclair still paid his share and occasionally made some entertaining comments. Besides, it meant that Collingwood would never be in last place.

Countess Mottershead and Duchess Vipond eventually arrived and sat beside Sinclair and Collingwood. Mottershead held her head up high, drawing attention to her gown's medici collar, a collar that stood upright and expanded to double the size of her head and was made of peacock feathers. 

Competing against it was Vipond's flamboyant pink pouf dress. She explained her inspiration behind her outfit, telling the story of how she had a pet flamingo as a child. It had tragically died because she believed that it only ate pink food and kept on giving it candyfloss, pomegranates, shrimp, and glasses of rosé. This strategy would have given her the win with any other opponents, unfortunately, once she had finished the anecdote, Countess Mottershead and Baron Sinclair immediately declared Viscount Collingwood the winner.

As Henry Best continued to wait for the broadcast's airing time, a familiar face appeared by his side.

"Rare to see you at these," said Henry to Antonette Bancroft. "It's not mandatory for you to attend, unlike me."

Bancroft, the Head of the North-East Portal shrugged. "I was curious about the results of the new video recording technology."

"I already sent you the footage."

"I meant the audience's response to it." She motioned to the nobility who were chatting away, waiting. "It was quite expensive, so I heard. I wanted to know if it was worth the investment."

Henry nodded. "We'll be able to get more footage now."

Recently, there had been technological and magical advances that allowed them to record footage using the masks. All of the newly made masks had been fitted with it. Now the audience could see through the eyes of a prisoner. It meant that finally, they'd be able to film inside of buildings and other places that were difficult to shoot. However, it was still in beta testing, and the audio quality was rather poor.

Eventually, the broadcast began, the new technology proving to be a success and excited the audience greatly. Henry, however, could barely watch it himself. Even though he had to watch multiple times while editing, seeing his second-cousin Corinna being strangled would forever haunt his mind. It was made even more disturbing by the fact that it was in the first-person view with the new technology, which Jessica's puppet mask, being new, was outfitted with. It made him feel as if he was the one choking her. The audience, however, loved it, marvelling at the new perspective.

Once the broadcast was finished, any requested scenes or repeats were put on as the nobles discussed what they should make bets on. Everyone was still buzzing, apart from Duke Hartell who was blubbering and blowing his nose on his handkerchief. Baron Sinclair half-heartedly patted him on the back along with the occasional sympathetic 'there there'.

"I just can't understand why!" Duke Hartell cried. "They just need to talk to each other, and everything will be fine! Why can't she just tell Harmony what had happened? She'll understand. They can work out a compromise!" He forced a hopeful smile then burst into more sobbing. "Now Harmony will escape before either of them can say how they truly feel!"

Meanwhile, Countess Mottershead was already bragging about her design of Jessica's puppet mask.

"Originally, I wanted to be able to control her, just like a puppet, but it was not allowed," explained the countess. "However, they did allow me to on rare occasions control what she said, only words and phrases that she had spoken before otherwise that would be far too difficult. That line she said to Corinna Warren... 'You did this to me'". 

Mottershead paused, basking in the anticipation from her captivated audience. 

"That was me," she laughed, receiving a round of applause.

All the while, Henry Best listened, his hand clenching tighter as Mottershead continued to laugh at how powerless his dear second-cousin was against her design.

"Here," said Bancroft, returning to Henry and handing him a glass of champagne. "I suppose we should congratulate ourselves..." She stopped, noticing Henry's expression. She sighed. "You know you could transfer to another sector? You might have to wait for a while until a position opens up but..."

Henry Best remained silent, pretending to focus on the tablet before him.

"If you can't handle seeing her like that perhaps it would be best." She smirked at the unintentional pun. "If you keep on putting her in a sympathetic light they'll notice and think you're biased. You'll get transferred anyway, maybe even demoted."

Henry silently nodded.

"You did good on this broadcast, but I think you perhaps need to be a bit more objective, more distanced." She chuckled slightly. "It's like you're starting to see them as humans-"

"Aren't they?"

Bancroft stared back at him. "Why do you think they're down there, Best? They don't deserve to be called humans."

"Not all of them..." mumbled Henry.

"Perhaps..." Bancroft bit her lip. "Just... don't go around saying that in front of anyone else or you'll lose your job."

"Yeah..." Henry forced a weak smile and raised his glass. "To not losing our jobs."

"To not losing our jobs," said Bancroft, clinking her glass with his.