[Plot] Wearing the Face That She Keeps in a Jar by the Door

[Samantha McManus]

Wouldn't allow her to be here and spoil the image, would they? Time for a detour," she muses as she makes her way to one of the closed-off sections.

[Narrator]

Both of the closed off sections were 'locked', though both padlocks could be easily removed with a sharp tug. It's technically breaking and entering, which is specifically prohibited by the ticket granting admission.

But then, Sam hadn't bothered to purchase a ticket, had she?

Each padlock was engraved with an inscription. On the left, in fancy script, was "There Are No Gay People in Symkaria". On the right, in equally fancy script, was "A Mask of Gold Hides All Deformities."

[Samantha McManus]

Sam feels a bit guilty probing this deep, but she takes a gamble on which exhibit the princess is hiding her inner self in, and goes with the one she has experience with.

That being liking ladies, of course.

[Narrator]

It doesn't take a heck of a lot of effort to break into the room, but it does take some effort, pulling down the lock with some force. Enough to make it feel like, yes, it is a bit of an invasion of privacy; something Katarina has locked away a little bit, even if it wasn't that inaccessible.

It was another room to the museum, and probably not one suitable for a general admission crowd, seeing as how anyone brave enough to enter the room would be immediately greeted by a very large painting of Katarina and multiple Jezii, in a position Sam wasn't entirely sure was physically possible.

Casting one's eyes away from that at a moment, the rest of the room was explicit, yes, but not pornographic. Mind you, this was definitely the Horny Room of the museum, and there was more than a fair amount of displays and objects explicating ideas and fantasies that a clearly inexperienced young woman had -- X-rated ideas from a G-level life -- but it wasn't all questionable anatomy and unidentifiable toys. There were more passages from books, steamy scenes underlined and highlights. Clips from movies, from television shows, from the news, from music that had obviously had had some sort of a subconscious impact on the young Katarina -- Mulan, Jasmine from Aladdin, the Hex Girls from Scooby Doo, Storm, the songs "Torn" and "Wannabe". There were pictures of real people in Symkarian uniforms -- presumably, people Katarina had known growing up, or who had caught her eye and stuck in her mind for reasons that weren't entirely clear.

And there was a growing section of more mundane moments -- the receipt from Jez and Katarina going to a diner, several failed attempts at making some Symkarian goulash, a slightly older-model video game console, a golden egg. Signs that, hey, this wasn't just hormones going crazy in here (though, yes, the hormones, they be going crazy).

Just like in the main wings, all of these exhibits had notes attached to them as well, explaining what they were. But unlike those professionally-typed notes, dispassionately explaining moments both triumphant and embarrassing to the masses, these were handwritten. In a practiced, steady hand, mind you, but not professionally typed. And they were much harsher -- attacking Katarina, calling her promiscuous, and unclean, and a freak; slurs in both English and Symkarian, underlined and highlighted. Unnatural; immoral; a shame to her family and her country. "The corruption of the decadent west," when it came to the media. Any and all of this, proof positive, if it needed to be stated, that Katarina was unfit to sit on a throne.

Near the back, a woman in a docent's uniform was setting up the latest exhibit; a small diorama of Katarina and multiple Jezii dancing at the Mutant Festival. It wasn't Katarina, though there was some resemblance there, as she carefully arranged the figures into their proper positions.

[Samantha McManus]

"You there," Sam calls out, still accompanied by her Jezulacrum.

"Is all of this criticism really necessary in this exhibit?"

[Narrator]

The docent started some -- apparently, this wing didn't get many visitors. That may have something to do with the lock on the door, come to think of it.

<"Erm, yes, hello.

The museum feels it's important to place these images in their proper context. So that patrons can understand the potential impact of them, and take the proper lesson from them.">

[Samantha McManus]

"Well isn't that a little bit presumptuous? To tell the patrons how to interpret art?"

[Narrator]

<"Well, the alternative would be to not display them at all. This is a compromise reached by the curator, to allow these to be potentially viewed by the unsuspecting public. We do not wish antisocial or untraditional values to potentially impact Symkaria during such a trying time in its history; there must be proper precautions in place.

Then again, you are not from Symkaria, no? You sought this out particularly?">

[Samantha McManus]

"This isn't the only exhibit I've seen these criticisms placed on, though these are certainly the harshest."

[Narrator]

<"These are the most...objectionable. To some, at least.">

[Samantha McManus]

"I assume you're deferring to the curator here, aye?"

[Narrator]

<"I would like to keep my job, yes,"> the woman laughed.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well then, where might the curator be found today?"

[Narrator]

<"While the museum is open, she is on display in the main ballroom,"> the woman nodded. <"Meeting with her after hours would be difficult, and require an appointment.">

[Samantha McManus]

"I think I see a conflict of interests here. She's an exhibit as well?"

[Narrator]

<"She's the reason the museum even exists. Without her, all would crumble; she must do everything she can to keep it running.

But if you think that there's a conflict of interests, you could always report it to the curator,"> she added, with a little smirk.

[Samantha McManus]

"Yes, I do think we've some things to discuss," she says as she makes her way out of the exhibit and back into the crush of people

[Katarina Karkov]

It gets progressively harder to push her way forward as she gets to the front of the crowd, but this is a mindscape, and Sam is in her element; her general Presence and Persona is enough to carve a path -- maybe not Moses parting the Red Sea over here, but at the very least Main Character Walking Against The Crowd During The Opening Theme Song levels of navigation.

In the center of the ballroom, in a glass case, behind a velvet rope, was Katarina, in full golden form. She was standing contrapposto, most of her weight on one foot, shoulders and arms twisted off axis, a cloth in Symkarian colors draped over her to preserve some form of modesty. She looked out and over the crowd, a smile on her face that didn't reach her eyes, as people walked around to view her from all angles, taking photographs, sketching, and whispering to themselves. A strict schedule off to one side listed a series of poses, and what times she would adopt them throughout the day.

[Samantha McManus]

As Sam approaches, she has the Jezulacrum subdivide, several times. She spaces them out to form a cordon around the area.

"I'm sorry folks, this exhibit is closed for maintenance."

[Katarina Karkov]

There was some grumbling at that, for sure, but an Air of Authority was enough to send the masses headed back towards the doors and into the rest of the museum; it wasn't unheard of for things to close and reopen in the museum anyway.

Katarina looked down at Sam, dropping the smile and looking vaguely nonplussed. "Neat trick, that."

[Samantha McManus]

"Figured you could use a break."

"You've got issues, your highness."

[Katarina Karkov]

"Then my people have issues. My country has issues. I am but the vessel through which those issues are displayed."

[Samantha McManus]

"And really, I'm not here to psychoanalyze you. I'm here to make sure you're not panicking as Mister Ciseleur rebuilds that royal face."

"So what's your favorite dream, your highness?"

[Katarina Karkov]

"I..." she trailed off some. "I wouldn't know where to begin. My dreams are not...

It is better. When I am awake," she said, after a moment.

[Samantha McManus]

"Well you're not going to be, for awhile. I'd say pick one you like."

[Katarina Karkov]

"Then, perhaps...nothingness. Can you do that? Just...off, like a switch?

When I am alone, my dreams are...not comforts to me."

[Samantha McManus]

"What if I left you some company?" She gestures to the Jezii.

[Katarina Karkov]

Katarina bit her lower lip.

"If people saw them here with me, there would be trouble."

[Samantha McManus]

"I don't know if you noticed, but traveling with them got me quite a few places here."

[Katarina Karkov]

"Yes, well, you are not me. You do not have eyes on you, all the time, everywhere."

[Samantha McManus]

"If you don't want them, you don't want them," she shrugs.

[Will Stanton]

"I can not always have what I want, I am afraid."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well that's it, isn't it? All of this? You do get to have it how you like it."

"Which means you brought all of this in from outside. Makes me a bit sad to think about it."

[Katarina Karkov]

"I can not expect you to understand. When you are born into my position, your life is not just your own. The price of being a symbol is that you are not in control of defining that symbol. Heavy is the head that wears the crown."

[Samantha McManus]

"Yes, I'm sure I don't know anything about being a symbol, or deciding what that symbol means," she smirks.

[Katarina Karkov]

"And have you claimed your kingdom? And are you staving off threats to your throne? Or are you trying to live with one foot in each world?"

Katarina rose to her full height -- still not overly impressive, as the girl was short, but there was a stiffness and well-practiced sense of authority that came with it, as she wrapped her Symkarian-colored cloak around her.

"You may be a Phantom Queen. But I am a Princess, wrought in flesh and blood. I live for my people, and my people for me. Without them, I am nothing. Without me, they are lost."

[Samantha McManus]

"So be a light, your highness. Show them the way."

[Katarina Karkov]

"That only works when there are not others looking to replace you. There is a reason I am behind glass, after all."

[Samantha McManus]

"Because you think you're fragile."

[Katarina Karkov]

"Because there are those who would love to tear me down, and have the means to do so."