A Monodrama for Carolyn August - Chapter 86

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 86.
“Detail, you say?”
When Aiden asked for clarification, Caroline hesitated for a moment.
‘What did three-in-the-morning Aiden mean by that?’
“Well, it might not show up explicitly in the play, but has Aiden created personal interpretations of the characters through research and reflection—details that are yours alone?”
Oh, clever.
Without realizing it, Caroline had posed her second question. This time, her meaning seemed to land—Aiden nodded.
“Ah, yes, that sort of thing. It’s quite common among actors. Some believe there’s love between characters who appear to hate each other on the surface, or they add their own motivations to round out a character who seems incomplete on the page, allowing them to inhabit the role more fully. That sort of thing.”
Aiden fell into thought, tapping his chin with his fingertips.
“Yes, I have done that. Most notably with Friedman—I wanted to emphasize the childhood love lingering in an adult’s heart, so I added to my interpretation that after Regina left, he dreamed of her almost every night. That’s why he becomes more fragile when he meets her, and why his movements grow more frantic and ungainly.”
Caroline looked down at the paper and pen that had somehow appeared before her and nodded.
There was no strict need to write it down, but it seemed worth remembering. The details he layered onto his characters proved most useful not when the roles were delivering scripted lines, but when they moved freely.
“Are there others besides Friedman?”
She wanted to hear about the rest, but Aiden was not so easily forthcoming.
“All of them have something, except James. When I first played James, I was too young to feel the need to add my own interpretations. And since I’ve grown a year older with each performance, I could bring a different sensibility to the role each time.”
“Ah…”
So Ephros and Will each had their own details too.
She’d already burned through three questions. The details of those two would have to wait.
“I’m curious about the other characters’ details, and even more layers to Friedman. Would you tell me next time?”
“Of course.”
The two of them finished the conversation there and devoted themselves to eating.
In the time remaining before Tea Time, Caroline’s task was to fill the paint containers. She climbed first to the Third Floor, to Will’s Room, because she remembered the palette from the last mission when she’d painted the mannequin.
Without hesitation, she entered the room and opened the right drawer of the vanity.
“!”
There was the palette with ten colors that Caroline remembered. Only now, the paint that had been liquid then—wet enough to brush onto surfaces—had shriveled completely into tiny, fingernail-sized clumps.
‘Is it unusable?’
Caroline stared quietly at the lumps, now dull and barely clinging to the palette itself.
‘Maybe if I mix it with water…’
But that was a miscalculation.
Following what Aiden had done yesterday, she separated the Brass Paint Container, filled it with water, broke off a piece of the dried lump, and stirred it in. But they refused to combine.
All she got was very faintly tinted water.
Caroline tilted her head in confusion, fitted the container back on, and tried pulling the trigger as a test.
[!]
[Refill required. Cannot use.]
A notification greeted her—this wasn’t going to work.
“As I thought…”
Caroline shook her head and emptied the Brass Paint Container down the bathroom sink. She tried several more colors after that, but it was no use.
‘Will I have to ask three-in-the-morning Aiden about this?’
Where would she even get more paint?
Then it occurred to Caroline to check Will’s Preparation Room on the Second Floor. She descended the stairs and stepped inside—only to find an unexpected scene waiting for her.
“?”
It seemed today’s Tea Time would be held here.
Until now it had taken place mostly at the Lakeside, but today it appeared they meant to discuss cocktails on the set of .
Arrayed before her were the usual tools—a mixing vessel that bartenders use to combine liquids and ice, a tiny jigger shaped like an hourglass for measuring spirits, a long stirrer with a spoon at its spiral-twisted end, and an assortment of textured glassware.
There was also a muddler for crushing and straining fruit, tongs, and an Ice Container.
“Ah, Caroline. Come, sit here.”
Hearing her footsteps, Aiden turned and regarded her. He was dressed in black shirt and trousers—looking every inch a proper bartender.
The room’s light depended on a single lamp casting a warm amber glow. It felt just like stepping into an upscale bar as a guest.
‘Not that I’ve ever been to a cocktail bar like this.’
Mostly she’d just had a beer or two with Anna, here and there.
As Caroline moved awkwardly toward the chair, Aiden gracefully slid it beneath her. This was the same seat where she’d once sat sipping Will’s cocktail, but today it was Aiden beside her, not Will.
“Today’s Tea Time will be spent discussing . Have you ever visited there, Caroline?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’d know this space is modeled after Will’s personal preparation room.”
“I was surprised to see even the perches and cage for Caitlin and Abel. You really put a lot of care into it.”
Aiden’s expression shifted to something slightly exaggerated—surprised. As he polished a glass with linen, his shrug fell somewhere between Will’s manner and his usual self.
“How impressive, Caroline. To remember even the parrot and cat, given they don’t have much screen time. Quite right. We’ve recreated everything identically. Though I will say, we’ve invested even more effort in certain details here than we did on the actual set.”
Aiden gestured toward the many items arranged on the long table.
“Is this for cocktails?”
“Exactly. As you know, within the work Will serves as both host and entertainer. When he’s invited to parties as a host, he often finds himself making cocktails.”
“I understand that there’s only one scene where they actually make a drink on stage. Did you really prepare all these things and practice just for that one moment?”
Aiden nodded, and Caroline clicked her tongue once more.
The man who practiced flying kites because there was a scene involving machines, who learned the motions because there was a fake boating scene, and who actually rowed on the real lake—he had moved beyond being merely impressive to something almost wondrous.
“Strictly speaking, it wasn’t simply because I wanted to perform well on stage. Of course, I did practice to appear skillful, but as I was learning the role, I became interested in other cocktails too. So I took that opportunity to begin studying cocktails themselves.”
“You had time for that?”
“I did it in secret.”
Aiden whispered the words, his eyes widening slightly.
It seemed that even under his mother’s strict oversight, he had made efforts to pursue what he wanted to do. Knowing that he had found such breathing room, Caroline felt a little more at ease.
“And… you asked me about the details of the roles earlier, didn’t you?”
!
Caroline startled and nodded.
She was beginning to notice that Aiden was remembering their conversations with her now. But until recently, his memory had extended only to the fact that a particular conversation had happened. After talking with her, he hadn’t connected all the moments to form a continuous memory.
Yet today, he recalled the conversation from breakfast just this morning.
“In fact, there’s a setting I added on my own while reading the script—one that doesn’t appear explicitly in the play. Perhaps it’s something I could only think of by identifying myself with Will.”
“What is it?”
“I believed that in the play, Will enjoyed making cocktails. If he were to leave his life as a clown, I thought he must have harbored some dream of living while doing that. In truth, after Jane, who tried to cover for Will’s crimes, and Will himself fled, I believe he lives his life working as a bartender.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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