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mysterious-content · 8 months

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Mysterious - The Plot (As of Oct ‘23)

You know Quinn? We all know Quinn. Quinn’s a dick. Quinn’s the kid who knows everything, He’s been on holiday everywhere. His mum bought him the book before anyone else even knew it had even been published. Actually, his mum was probably the publisher. Quinn was always going to win at everything. He had the famous mum who ran the local radio station, and the tennis court in his garden and the private tutors and…

He’s the chino wearing, debating society leading, awfully polite kid who always assumes he’s inevitably going to be the hero.

Which is why, when he turns up at a grotty launderette, desperately seeking asylum with the people his mum’’s radio says, on a daily basis, are the worst, well, everyone has something of a problem. To be fair, Quinn’s problems started when he was little.

A man called Professor Furbish said he understood Quinn better than the other adults ever could, and that he should go away with him. Quinn went away with him, it was just that he didn't like it, and he asked to go home, and Professor Furbish would not let him.

Quinn got away in the end, but, ever since, he’d had to hide a part of himself.

Professor Furbish, a traveling puppeteer, had built his career by tricking children like Quinn: children who could do things a bit differently to other children. Furbish, who was not a person who could do anything particularly well himself, was in the habit of taking children who could do things a bit differently to be his assistants, so they could make his shows that little bit more impressive.

The reason Furbish could get away with this, was because being different wasn't ok. This kind of “being different” was called Mysteriousness. Some people are just born Mysterious. No-one knows why.

A long time ago, before Quinn was born, there was a greedy government, and people were getting poorer. The greedy government knew that people who get poorer, get angrier, and they wanted to find someone for the people to be angry with that wasn’t them. Finding a small and already persecuted minority to blame the people’s troubles on is the oldest trick in the greedy government playbook. Mysterious people were the obvious choice.

A little while ago, when Quinn was about eight, the maid was off sick, and Quinn had to take his family's washing to the laundry. He was really sure, as he was about to push the door open, that he saw Miss Montgomery, the old lady who worked there, making her dress change colour. So he rushed up to her and showed her that he could make his jeans turn into shorts and back again. He thought this was pretty cool, but she looked really upset and she told him never to tell anyone else, ever again, that he could do that. Grownups, it seems, love to get you to keep secrets.

A little while ago, while Quinn was in primary school, Professor Furbish’s puppet show came to town, and Quinn’s school got to go.

Lots of kids went. Lots of kids, and Miss Montgomery, the old lady from the launderette.

She’d heard the jingle on the radio advert for the puppet show, and it had reminded her of something. No other adults bothered. Puppets were for kids. It was nice to have an afternoon off lessons - but Furbish’s show was really lame. At the end of it, he asked the audience of kids if anyone could do any tricks that were more interesting. Quinn learned that day that he was not the only Mysterious kid in the school. There was also Loritz, and Hester.

He also learned that day that a room with visibly Mysterious children in it leads to the police being called, families split up, lives ruined. He also learned for sure that day that Miss Montgomery was Mysterious. Miss Montgomery had decided long ago - on another occasion when the police were called, when families were about to be split up, and lives ruined - that the only way to keep Mysterious kids safe was to hide them away. She corralled Loritz and Hester - and Ethel, Furbish’s Mysterious assistant - created a diversion, and swept all three away to the safe house she had made behind her launderette.

She had wanted to take Quinn. But Furbish had told Quinn that he was special, and valued, and Quinn chose feeling valued and special over feeling safe, and went with Furbish, not with Miss Montgomery.

And this was maybe not one of Quinn’s best ideas. Furbish wanted to get Quinn to keep secrets.

And while Quinn was away, Quinn’s Mum’’s radio station kept running stories about how those poor children had died in a terrorist attack by Mysterious fake puppeteer. Quinn escaped and got back to the town, to the jubilation of all - only to find that his Mum had broadcast a rather different story to what really happened. Every day he had to walk past the public statue to the heroic dead children who died fighting the evils of Mysteriousness, which his Mum paid for. Every year, he had to speak about the evils of Mysteriousness, at a memorial service that his Mum organised.

Quinn’s mum never talked to Quinn about it, but Quinn knew his mum expected Quinn to keep secrets.

And now Quinn is 16, and he has been keeping secrets for so long, he’s almost forgotten what’s a secret and what’s the truth.

Until Furbish comes back to town.

Having exhausted his long-running magician con, Furbish decided to settle down, pick a new disguise and a new name for his old razzle-dazzle act, and run for Mayor, as Fredbish.

His choice of town is no accident. Furbish / Fredbish never forgot anyone who had crossed him. And he never missed a chance to make a buck.

Completely taken in by Fredbish’s disguise, and his campaign, Quinn’s Mum had invited his preferred Mayoral candidate to dinner: it was the duty of the respectable Press to clearly endorse their choice of election winner, how else would the people of the town work out which way to vote? Fredbish had mentioned to Quinn’s Mum that he was looking for a local lad to assist him with his campaign, and Quinn’s Mum had had a quiet word: Quinn was always the kid who won everything, because he was so clever and so nice, and it was starting to be embarrassing for him and to cause resentments with the local kids, so, instead of going through the hassle of interview candidates and the pain of disappointing everyone else, wouldn’t it be best to just offer Quinn the opportunity? Fredbish had very readily agreed. Fredbish’s readiness to accommodate the needs of the Press made Quinn’s mum even surer that Fredbish was the right candidate for the job.

So when Quinn comes down to dinner, yes he is older now, and yes the man he knew as Professor Furbish is in a sensible suit, and he has a sensible name, but they both recognise exactly who the other one is.

Terrified that Furbish will reveal his secret, Quinn runs away.

It’s been right under his nose all these years, in his hometown. The local launderette. Where, behind the washing machines, the tragic martyred children in the Memorial, and some other children like them, are very definitely, absolutely, resolutely not-dead.

They’ve been there all the time, in the rooms behind the shop front where old, unremarkable Miss Montgomery takes in the town’s smalls and irons their trousers. The old, unremarkable Miss Montgomery, who, after interrogating Quinn and believing him to be who he says he is - “no more of this Miss Montgomery, it’s aging, please call me Gloria, darling” - transforms her overalls into a couture gown: casting glamours is her magic power, just like Quinn’s The kids living with her have arrived in all sorts of ways. Posy, the youngest, was left on her steps one night as a baby - no note, no identification. Squid, who has been there the longest, just turned up one night, aged eight, because their parents had chucked them out and the Launderette looked warm. They have had little contact with the outside world for all these years. But they do have a radio, so they do hear what has been said about them.

It takes a while for any of them to see Quinn as anything other than a dick. The golden boy conservative poster-child for the hatred of Mysteriousness. What was he doing here? What were they doing, protecting him?

But slowly, most of them start to accept him. Loritz and Posy like everyone, so that’s easy. Quinn enjoys Loritz’ funny voices and manages not to be grossed out by Posy’s blood everywhere, it’s all good.Actually, Squid’s pretty chill with most people too, they just might not get around to saying so. Ethel never likes anyone. And Hester… well… Hester is the one of the group that follows the news on the radio most closely so knows in greatest detail the destructive lies Quinn has been telling. On top of that, Quinn is a ruling class, straight, cis male, perfect A student… Hester was always going to hate him. Hating people like Quinn is part of who Hester is. Unsurprisingly, they start to fancy the arse off him. To their great surprise, he fancies them back. But the thing is, they are both also kinda into Ethel…

This is not the only romantic tension in the launderette. Squid has spent the last year unable to think about anything but Loritz. The only person in the launderette who has not noticed this … is Loritz.

The radio is a constant reminder of Fredbish and his campaign. Fredbish repeats, over and over, acts of disturbance and terrorism that historic Mysterious resistance movements have done in response to historic curbs on their freedoms. He speaks regularly of Clara Mendez, the Bloody Midwife, responsible for the mass murder of a ward of children - Gloria always snaps the radio off when she hears this, with the excuse that it’s not good to focus on bad things. Quinn tells the other children what Fredbish / Furbish is like of course, Ethel knows this only too well. Turns out Gloria does too - when he was in a previous guise, Furley of Furley’s Fashions, he exploited her in a similar way. But, Gloria keeps telling everyone in no uncertain terms, it is imperative we do not not to try to engage with Fredbish, or get involved in what is going on in the outside world any way. There is nothing at all wrong with being Mysterious, she keeps reassuring them, your Mysteriousness can only be used to affect yourself - but desperate and angry people can do wrong. Best leave it all alone. Live apart. Her agitated tone is very unusual for her, and her wards notice it.

Gloria has always been clear that they are building a community outside the town: the only way for Mysterious people to live safely is for them to live separately. They are teenagers, she is 93 - she has seen many waves of anti-Mysterious action in her life, and trying to resist it actively has never ended well.

As far as any teenagers like the people in charge of them, her wards do love and respect her. But they don’t really understand - partly because she doesn't really want to have to explain a load of painful stuff.

A news flash. Candidate Fredbish is calling the disappearance of Quinn an act of kidnapping: the only possible explanation for the disappearance of the town’s beloved son must be that he has been taken hostage by Mysterious terrorists. He, Fredbish, is supporting Quinn’s distraught mother, but it is time for the town to take the law into their own hands. An angry mob can be heard in the background.

Quinn is horrified: has he endangered the very people who have kept him safe? Gloria urges everyone to be calm, and quiet - no-one knows where they are, they need to do what they have always done, keep their heads down till everything starts to get calmer.

And, funnily enough, the radio starts to get calmer, the news flash has been replaced by bland music. Unbeknownst to the residents of the launderette, Quinn’s Mum has cut the broadcast. Far from being comforted by Fredbish, she is horrified by his rabble-rousing, and distraught that she trusted him.

But, as the launderette residents start to breathe and decide, yes, Gloria has a point, it’s best to stay quiet and watchful and not run headlong into a situation like this… they start to hear the mob, not on the radio this time, but on the street.

Quinn makes a decision - this is his mess, and he alone needs to fix it. And he bolts.

Gloria knows this is devastating for the other kids - she is devastated too - but she urges them not to follow him. And they agree.

Which is why it’s a slight surprise to Hester, when, heavily disguised, on a bus into town to help Quinn, they realise that some other people on the bus are familiar behind their disguises… All the launderette kids have snuck out, alone, to go and help Quinn.

They realise Gloria is going to go bananas.

Loritz agrees to go back - his Mysteriousness is being able to make his voice sound like anyone else’s, so with luck he can keep her thinking they are all there, for a while. But he falters - he doest like the idea of lying to Gloria. Ethel calmly tells him that if he doesn't do it, she’ll cut him in his sleep. Loritz decides he’d rather do it. Squid offers to keep him company. Back they go to the Launderette.

No-one's been on the town for a while, but it’s not how they remember it. The radio broadcasts from speakers all around the public space, and it is full of pro-Fredbish, anti-Mysterious propaganda. There is a heavy police presence.

The radio announces a talk show: Quinn, recently returned from his Mysterious ordeal, will talk live to Fredbish about what happened to him and how, for a second time, he has escape the clutches of Mysterious abusers.

The group freezes. Has Quinn turned on them? Or is this part of his plan? Whichever, they know he will be at the radio station, so there is where they go.

Unbeknownst to them, the radio station is now under the control of Fredbish and his thugs. Quinn’s Mum - Felicity - is effectively under house arrest, forced to support Fredbish’s campaign under threat of exposing her Mysterious son.

Despite the odds, Hester, Ethel and Posy bust into the radio station using a stunning combination of their powers - which Fredbish witnesses. Inspired by their presence, Quinn, live on air, confronts Fredbish - this, he tells the people of the town, is in fact Professor Furbish, the man who kidnapped and abused him long ago! Fredbish remains calm. He explains that of course he knew Quinn would say that - that people like Quinn were why he stood before them as a candidate. And yes, he had tried, way back, to take Quinn out of the town - but he did it in the town’s best interests. Mysteriousness had not been eliminated from society - far from it. Even those in power were Mysterious - especially those in power were Mysterious. How d’ya think Quinn’s Mum got her job? Anything to do with the way her son is…. Mysterious???

Tolerating a son like that is not something a decent parent would do. Only an overprivileged person like Quinn’s Mum would do that. Tolerance of Mysterious people is a luxury belief.

Meanwhile, at the Launderette, Gloria knows something’s up. Loritz keeps making excuses but he’s a bad liar. Squid can barely speak at all. Loritz is pointedly trying to listen to the radio while trying not to look like he is. And then he hears something that makes him openly turn the radio up, regardless of whether Gloria can hear.

Fredbish continues… actually he is very glad Quinn is here tonight, because it helps prove the necessity of the main manifesto point he is here to reveal: finally, under his leadership, Mysterious people were going to be the workers, for a change, not the people who stole the bread from honest working families. The Fredbish Corporation would round up Mysterious people and put them in labour camps, where their power would be harnessed for the greater good of decent people.

Because look! These people cannot be trusted! Fredbish does a big reveal: you know those two kids you’ve mourned all these years - look, one of them’s here, Hester Hamilton, they are alive, they have just been laughing at you all this time! He says he has met Hester’s parents, who have given him the name and the dates of the Mysterious Rehabillitation Camp they sent Hester to - look, these are the kind of moral, upstanding, hardworking parents we want to see more of, not wealthy fake liberals like Quinn’s mum. And look! Also Ethel, who he tried to give an honest job to, but she tricked him. And, who’s this sweet little girl? Posy likes everyone, so Posy tells him her name.

Fredbish continues, it's fine to put Mysterious people in labour camps, it’s not like they have feelings like real people. Fredbish beckons forward “little Posy”. The thing is, he explains, its the cute ones you really need to worry about - she looks sweet and you want to be sympathetic to her. But she just busted into my studio by tearing off her own hand and using it to unlock the studio door. He explains to listeners, he will now demonstrate: asks two of his “assistants” / thugs to come forward and take little Posy’s hands. It’s OK Posy. They are just holding hands with you.

Loritz, Squid and Gloria are terrified. Loritz asks, that man does realise that your Mysteriousness only works on yourself…? Gloria has no such assurance to offer. Posy screams as Fredbish directs the thugs to rip her arms off. Posy screams some more and then she dies. There is shouting - Quinn and the other shouting at Fredbish, Fredbish blaming his assistants - and then the broadcast is cut and goes to the bland music.

Loritz, Squid and Gloria are silent. We all know Quinn. Quinn’s a dick. Quinn thinks he’s the sort of person to be the hero, and drive the story. But when Quinn drives the story, he doesn’t end up the hero - he ends up killing someone he loves.

Gloria isn't the sort of person to be the hero. She hides.

Is it better to hide and stay safe, or take action and risk terrible consequences?

Is there another way?

Quinn and the others return, broken, to the Launderette, fully expecting Gloria to blame him. Instead, she tells them she blames herself for failing to prepare them for the outside world, and thinking they could stay in a separatist community forever.

She explains the reasons behind her actions. Throughout the show, we have seen Gloria writing letters to an unnamed loved one.

Now, she explains. Many years ago, Gloria’s lover, Dr Clara Mendez, was a promising surgeon and also the leader of a Mysterious rights group. Removed from her post during a Mysterious crackdown, Clara committed an act of terrorism that resulted in the deaths of children on a hospital ward, and earned her the notorious title “The Bloody Midwife”. She was imprisoned for life. Gloria writes to her every week, but has not got a response. As Hester knows, the things they can do to Mysterious people in institutions are very, very bad. Gloria doesnt even know if Clara is Clara, anymore. In Gloria’s experience, living in a world that only sees you as a monster will eventually turn you into one. The launderette was her way of giving her wards a different, better life.

Now, though, the townspeople know there is a group of Mysterous young people hiding out somewhere, and it’s only a matter of time until they find the launderette. Now, though, the townspeople have heard Fredbish kill a child live on air. Gloria decides the time is right to go and meet Furbish on her own terms: she decides to run against him as the first ever openly Mysterious candidate.

This sparks a genuine debate among the town. A child is dead, concentration camps are … a Lot, a few closeted Mysterious people are getting a little sweaty, a few other people are wondering, if magic people can be treated this way, who is next? For a moment, it seems like Gloria could win, and everything could be different.

Actually, she loses.

But not by a huge margin. In running for mayor, though, Gloria has emboldened the secretly Mysterious townspeople (of whom there are more than Quinn would ever have expected) to come out of hiding. They start turning up at the launderette - first five, then ten, then fifty. And, as Gloria points out, she never actually wanted to win - who wants to be a politician at 93? But she’s paved the way for Hester to run next year. Gloria was right - there is safety in community and concealment. But the kids were right, too. They can’t change attitudes from inside the launderette. They have to be outside, finding each other, building communities. The next years won’t be easy - there are no happy endings - but they have started to make a change.

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mysterious-content · 8 months

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MYSTERIOUS: THE CHARACTERS

THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Quinn (16, male)

Has been expected to be the perfect ruling class boy. The perfect grades. The perfect manners. The perfect ironed chinos. Perfectly hiding the inconvenient truth that he has been born Mysterious.

He can’t bear it.

Felicity Burrell (40s, female)

Quinn Radio is the most important and influential news outlet in the town. Felicity is its founder and Chief Executive, she built the company from the ground up, and she is very proud of it. She takes her journalistic responsibilities very seriously - after all, it’s her job to tell the people of the town who to vote for in elections.

She has a tough, businesslike exterior. Many respect her, but she has few friends. Given how the political tide is once again turning against Mysterious people, and brewing hatred against Mysterious people sells advertising space and keeps her business afloat, it’s really difficult that she knows that her son is secretly Mysterious. She really does love him very much.

Professor Furbish [also known as Furley and Fredbish] (late 40s, male)

Professor Furbish - who is definitely not Mysterious - has been known by many names, but he plays one game: manipulation for personal gain. In a previous life, as Furley, he ran a clothing line; at the time our kids first met him, he was a puppeteer. On his own, he would be terrible at both these things, but he has built his career by blackmailing Mysterious people to be his assistants and make his tricks that little bit more impressive. Having exhausted his long-running magician con, he has decided to settle down, reinvent himself as Fredbish and reprise the old razzle-dazzle act by running for mayor.

Gloria Montgomery (early 90s, female)

Gloria used to be a promising dress designer. She’s also had a series of other adventures. As a young woman she was part of a pro-Mysterious movement, which grew violent as Mysterious oppression grew. She was imprisoned during a previous time when Mysteriousness was made illegal; she had a short sentence but her girlfriend Clara, a terrorist with many deaths to her name, was imprisoned for life. Gloria misses her terribly.

At some point in her eventful life she was persuaded by Furbish - then living under the alias Furley, fashion entrepreneur - to collaborate on a couture line, which resulted, as it always does with him, in blackmail and entrapment. She knows very well how dangerous this man is.

As an old woman, she moved to a small town and set up a launderette, which was a front for a safe house for Mysterious children. They bring her great entertainment - but her Mysteriousness is manipulating fabrics, and she’s really annoyed she’s not got anywhere to go out and show off her frocks.

The Radio

Is it merely Felicity’s mouthpiece? Or does it have a life of its own…? Certainly it has a voice of its own, and regularly sings us the news, interviews, and other stuff about the town.

GLORIA’S WARDS

Hester (16, non binary)

Hester loves dressing up as pirates and adventurers. They love going on imaginary adventures and building stories. They are good at it, too – all the kids love it when Hester tells them stories. But, as one of the eldest, they are looked to as Gloria’s deputy, and they hate it - it's boring being the leader when all you want to do is make believe.

They are also slightly set apart from the other kids because they had been sent to a Mysterious Rehabilitation Programme by their parents, and now they can’t maifest whatever their Mysteriousness is. They don’t even want to talk about it. They are the only character in the show who can address the audience directly.

Loritz (15, male)

Loritz is the most enthusiastic person imaginable - he’s a boingy boingy ball of ADHD fizz and joy.

He loves everyone; but he doesnt always notice them.

He can imitate them, though - his Mysteriousness is that he can perfectly mimic sounds.

Ethel (17, female)

Ethel floats in a place slightly outside the group. She also floats - that’s her Mysteriousness, and also why she usually wears a heavy belt made of the keys and coins people have left in their pockets when they have taken clothes into the Launderette.

She’s not above picking their pockets, too.

She spent some time in a penitentiary for teenagers, and some time as Furbish’s assistant - which she reckoned was a lot worse, although the uniform was better. Nowadays, she can often be found up a tree or on a high shelf, smoking Reds and cleaning her nails with a hunting knife: she has learned to rely on a weaponised, grubby sexiness that keeps most people at an attentive distance.

Squid (15, nonbinary)

Squid is still figuring themself out. They have a lot of feelings, including a huge crush on Loritz, who, half the time, doesn’t seem to know they exist. Squid wears baggy black clothes, partly to look like an emo, partly to hide the eight tentacles they’re super embarrassed about.

Posy (11, female)

Posy is tiny and pretty. She was left at the launderette as a baby - unlike the others, she has no memory of any other life. Mostly she’ fine with this but she does wonder who her parents were and if they will ever look for her. While she’s usually very happy reading a book, she’d also really like everyone to be her friend. Unfortunately, one of her favourite ways to try to make friends is to show people how she can rip off and reattach her body parts at will, which means the sweet pink and white sticky-outy dresses she loves to wear are usually covered in her own blood, gristle and other goo, which scares most people away.

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