::As Ronnie Rabbit leaves the stage on the other side, having just finished the Best Author presentation, Gadget trots onstage in a gorgeous lavender dress. She appears somewhat confused at the laughter that accompanies the hapless rabbit's plight, but soldiers on::
GADGET: Hi, everyone! I'm pleased to meet you! My name's Gadget Hackwrench.
::Exaggerated, thoughtful look as she taps her chin::
GADGET: Hmm. What comes next...
::As one, the audience shouts, "What's YOUR name?"::
GADGET: ....noo, that's not it.
::She grins, showing she's playing with the audience::
GADGET: Oh yes! Presenting the award for 'Best Story'!
I don't wanna take up too much time here, especially cause Indy is frantically waving at me, he told me that means we're running over- hi, Indy!
::She waves cheerfully at the long suffering organizer of the awards, presumably signaling her from an unseen location in the Opera House::
GADGET: - but I thought I'd just mention briefly what it was like working on each of these scripts as I read their names.
'Clarice Returns', by Rachel Gloess. Hi, Rachel! Rachel's always great to work with - it really does make a difference having a female director, and there's so few in the field, really. And you get a real range to play - sad, but never totally miserable the whole time. Funny, but you get to do more than just comedy.
Um, not that there's anything wrong with undiluted comedy! I learned that working with Kevin Sharbaugh on 'Space Wars: The Ranger Parody'. Next time, write me a role without a big hairy costume, Kevin, please! Four hours of makeup a day, then hours of shooting under hot lights covered in a huge wig! And I couldn't even get Lahwhinie to do stunt work, she had her own leading role...
'Nothing But a Gadget', by Indy (waves at Indy cheerfully again) and Chris Silva. I designed most of the fx for that, so I made sure all the makeup and prosthetics was more comfortable to wear with no problems! And it was. Mostly. Sort of. Indy wants me to move on before I blurt out the whole story by accident.
'Gadget in Chains', by Loneheart, who believes in job security. Thanks for giving me some breaks this year, Loneheart! When you told me that I was sure you meant I was gonna break a leg for real. Maybe two, three legs. Could have been an ear. Right, Indy, moving on.
'C-G: A Romance', by Ronnie Rabbit, who I
haven't seen around yet tonight.
I hope he made it, I know
And now, the winner is - this is so exciting!
::Gadget produces a letter opener, and deftly slices open the envelope, then pauses::
GADGET: ... of course I only carry an envelope cutter when I want to cut envelopes.
Here's the card, and - oh, golly, the winner's [NAME]!
[acceptance speech]
[as I recall, this is usually the last award of the night, so I'll let you segue Gadget into the Big Finale however seems appropriate]
::Rachel, clad in a formal strapless grass-green satin dress with her auburn hair upswept, makes her way to the podium amid the applause and wipes away a tear of joy before beginning::
Rachel: Wow– thank you to all the Café patrons who made this story a success! I began writing this little fic during some downtime, and I must confess that at first, I even misspelled Clarice’s name.
::CD gasps in horror::
Rachel: But thanks primarily to CD, I stayed on track, fixed many an error, and finally had a finished product to offer the readers of the Rescue Ranger fandom. I sincerely believe that most of this story wrote itself, and the character of Clarice simply took on a life of her own. I honestly never believed that this would win “Best Story,” yet, here I am! I am very much overwhelmed, and most of the thanks needs to go to CD, the Clarice-phile who ultimately inspired “Clarice Returns” with his not-so-secret obsession with the beautiful ‘munk from the classic “Two Chips and a Miss” short. I was worried that many would either object to or not care about the character of Clarice, but she seems to have been offered a warm reception. Thank you, all of you, once again for this tremendous honor!
::Rachel waves to the audience, then descends from the platform to take her seat in the audience::