Safe Word:Heresy - Luna Fourtaps

SAFE WORD: HERESY
(Industrial electro-swing / blackened cabaret metal. Upright bass, filthy brass, pipe organ, double-kick drums, carnival piano. Female lead amused, dangerous, increasingly exasperated. Choir sounds far too serious about everything.)
(Intro: church organ, whispered choir, one ridiculous triangle ding)
They said the ritual was forbidden.
I asked by whom.
They said,
“Everyone.”
(pause)
That is not a jurisdiction.
(brass crash)
Try again.
(Verse 1: crooked swing)
You brought the candles, brought the chains, brought thirteen monks with matching names, a parchment screaming DO NOT READ,
so naturally...
I checked the deed.
You said the circle binds the soul.
Whose soul?
Mine.
No.
Your soul?
Also no.
Then what exactly is the goal?
(spoken)
Oh.
Atmosphere.
Carry on.
(Pre-Chorus: guitars enter)
Say “eternal.”
Define duration.
Say “submission.”
Name the scope.
Say “you must.”
(fourth beat drops out)
Nope.
(Chorus: huge swing-metal explosion)
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Stop the rite, reopen the gate!
Your apocalypse can bloody well wait!
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Drop the knife, check the clause!
Being dramatic isn't probable cause!
Bring me temptation! Bring me disgrace! Bring me a demon in ceremonial lace!
I'll dance in the fire, I'll laugh in the dark,
but nobody brands me without asking first.
(Post-Chorus: clown choir)
HER-E-SY!
(kazoo answers the choir)
(Verse 2: heavier, fast piano)
The High Priest shouted,
“BARD, OBEY!”
I said,
“That's fascinating. On what authority?”
He waved a scroll.
I read it twice.
Expired Thursday.
Very nice.
The demon coughed.
The choir stared.
I asked the demon,
“Were you prepared?”
He said,
“Honestly? They summoned me during dinner.”
(music stops)
Unacceptable.
(brass honk)
We ordered takeout.
(Pre-Chorus: increasingly manic)
Consent of mortal?
Present.
Consent infernal?
Pending.
Exit route?
Two doors.
Excellent.
Continue the offending.
(Chorus)
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Stop the rite, reopen the gate!
Your apocalypse can bloody well wait!
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Break the chant, check the claim!
“Ancient tradition” isn't somebody's name!
Bring me your thunder! Your sacrilege sweet! I'll put proper boundaries under the beat!
I'll kneel if I want to. I'll rise when I please.
And your sacred commandment can get off its knees.
(Bridge: suddenly intimate, strings only)
There are games where I surrender.
There are rooms where I obey.
There are hands I might invite to take the choices I can safely give away.
But borrowed power isn't ownership.
A role is not a crown.
And if I say the word we chose,
everything
goes
down.
(silence)
Heresy.
(everything cuts instantly)
(Spoken, completely calm)
See?
That's how consent works.
(Breakdown: industrial stomp)
NO MEANS STOP.
YES MEANS YES.
MAYBE MEANS YOU DO NOT FUCKING GUESS.
ROLE IS ROLE.
PLAY IS PLAY.
POWER BORROWED GOES AWAY.
(choir)
AMEN.
(Luna)
Don't encourage me.
(Final Verse: fast electro-swing, laughing brass)
So paint the sigils, lock the moon, wake something ancient after noon, wear leather robes and speak in tongues, terrify the neighbors' sons.
Make it wicked. Make it strange. Let the orchestra derange.
I am not afraid of darkness.
I am afraid of unexamined claims.
(Final Chorus: full orchestra + industrial wall)
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Let the whole cathedral shake!
We can dance at the boundary without making it break!
SAFE WORD: HERESY!
Every monster gets a say!
Every angel signs the paperwork before we start to play!
Call me corrupted! Call me profane! Call me the woman who cross-examined Hell in the rain!
I'll take your forbidden, your beautiful spark...
But permission comes with me
when I walk in the dark.
(Outro: crooked piano, four taps)
One.
Ask.
Two.
Hear.
Three.
Enter.
(long silence)
Four.
Leave.
(softly)
And if anybody objects...
(brass inhale)
Heresy.