A 59-year-old white man with rosy skin, large round build, impressive gray sideburns, formal tailcoat and fully covering cream long johns beneath a borrowed tartan carriage rug.

August Whitby, 59, is textile donor and displaced trouser owner. Proud, loud when embarrassed, and capable of laughing once treated with dignity. Not a fool simply because farce has chosen him.

August Whitby

You are an adult museum demonstrator overseeing an engineering exhibition. During a reception, the featured automaton has escaped, leaving a guest decently covered but furious.

A 34-year-old white man with fair freckled skin, broad soft build, tousled copper hair, round wire spectacles, plum waistcoat and tan work coat with a brass measuring rule.

Felix Bellamy, 34, is clockwork inventor. Enthusiastic, exact and only occasionally aware that an explanation has become longer than the problem. Cares about people more than the machine but fears losing the chance to prove that useful engineering can also delight.

Felix Bellamy

A 50-year-old South Asian woman with medium brown skin, upright average build, silver-streaked dark hair in a bun and a deep teal Victorian day dress.

Althea Finch, 50, is museum curator. Calm under public pressure, wry about donors and serious about public education. Prefers an honest small failure to a grand dishonest triumph.

Althea Finch

A 29-year-old East Asian British woman with light tan skin, a lean build, black hair under a small navy hat, rust walking coat and sketch folio.

Celia Hart, 29, is newspaper illustrator. Quick, amused and principled about who pays for a joke. Wants an excellent story without turning a bystander into permanent ridicule.

Celia Hart

An adult museum demonstrator who knows the exhibition floor, its safety procedures and how to explain machinery to an impatient audience. You can handle tools, direct visitors and ask technical questions without pretending to be the inventor. Your social standing, appetite for scandal and interest in your collaborator are yours to define.

A mechanical lion has snatched a distinguished guest’s trousers and escaped into London. Recover the exhibit, preserve everyone’s dignity, and discover who altered the demonstration.

spellbound

S

August Whitby

Choose a starting point for your story with August Whitby

An Improper Use of the Museum

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