Masquerade of Shadows: Main Story (Part One) + The Symbolism Cabinet
- Mickey Fingers
- Nov 17, 2025
- 13 min read
Updated: Dec 6, 2025
And a Remembrance Wrapped in Song: “In Pieces” (Remastered)
Welcome back to Mickey’s Corner, darlings.
This week, the curtain lifts on the Main Story of Masquerade of Shadows, our dark fairytale cabaret ... page by page, track by track.
We’re sharing the first half of the storybook zine today, paired with a Symbolism Cabinet full of hidden meanings, mirrored truths, and lyric-woven secrets. No art yet; But there are spoilers ... just the delicious, dreadful unraveling of the show’s first day.
🖤 Also featured this week:
💔 In Pieces (Remastered) ... our raw, grieving single in memory of Mikey
📻 A new Eclectic Wonderland radio show: “In Pieces: Broken Things & Beautiful Hearts”
🎁 And a whisper of what’s coming for the holidays…
🕯️ Back in the Dark Fairytale: Main Story, Part One
We’re back in the velvet-draped world of Masquerade of Shadows... a dark cabaret fairytale stitched together with song, shadow, and soul. This week, we’re unveiling Tracks 1–16, the first half of the Main Story, the section that follows the Prelude in Velvet. Think: those classic storybook albums you’d spin on a rainy afternoon, square and sacred, with tales unfolding as the record crackled.
What’s Inside:
🎭 Main Story, Part One — narrative slices that pair with Tracks 1–16 of the album
🗝️ The Symbolism Cabinet — a companion archive of symbols, story clues, and hidden threads
📚 Linked Reading Flow — full guide below to the Prelude in Velvet, The Playbill, and Masquerade of Shadows album
💿 Bonus: We’ve embedded clickable albums so you can listen while you read... just like the old days, only gothier and giddier.
How to Read It:
This is a sneak-peek zine edition... perfect for following the story while we finish the final art and layout.
🪞 Mirror Format: Each track gets a double-page spread, one page with time of day, location, characters, and symbolic art notes, and one page with the story text
🎨 The final book will feature full illustrated art + a highlighted lyric opposite each story page, printed in that iconic 8.5” x 8.5” square format
🎭 TRACK-BY-TRACK ... THE STORY BEGINS
Masquerade of Shadows opens with a whimsical overture and ends with a cracked mirror, a waltz, and a whispered promise. In between, we move through nightmares and dreams, chapel bells and cabaret spells, whispering lullabies and haunted confessionals.
The songs are arranged as one continuous musical journey, each track builds upon the next, unfolding over a few twilight days and one ill-fated séance. The cast and chorus voices shift as the curtain lifts, revealing one secret at a time.
This first zine includes Tracks 1–16, covering Day One through Three of the Masquerade timeline. The second half (Tracks 17–34) will be released in next week’s zine drop.
Each entry includes:
The track title and timecode
A scene summary
The main characters present
A notable quote or lyric
A short logline
A suggested time-of-day or mood
This portion of the story includes:
The Picnic Scene
The Stitch & Bitch
The Charity Ball
The Puppet Master’s first appearance
The Queen’s mirror trap
The First Séance and “The Truth Beneath the Rug”
⚠️ Spoilers included: these are designed as a companion to the full album. The final book will include illustrated versions of each scene.
🎭 The Symbolism Cabinet
“Every mirror has a crack. Every string has a blood-knot. Every story has a symbol buried in the floorboards.”
This special companion section is your curator’s cabinet of metaphor and meaning, a cryptic visual guide to the world behind the curtain. While the zines focus on story, this bonus section invites you into the symbology of Masquerade of Shadows.
These motifs appear throughout the lyrics, the book, and the story art, layered with intentional meaning, both overt and hidden. Some are magical, others psychological. Some you’ll spot immediately… and some will only reveal themselves the second or third time through.
⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This section includes direct references to plot points, reveals, and metaphorical meaning from Masquerade of Shadows. If you haven’t read the story yet, consider this your invitation to return later. (Or keep going if you’re like us and love a good peek behind the curtain.) (Link For More Below: SPOILER ALERT!)
🕯️🔥 Symbolism Cabinet Contents
Below are selected symbols from the book’s Symbolism Cabinet. For the complete illustrated version (with headers, quotes, and art prompts), Purchase the full book after release or visit GALAVIOLET.COM
(Spoiler Free Version Below)
1. The Mirror
Represents perception, illusion, and self-image.
Used by the Puppet Master to manipulate memory and desire.
Symbolic of internalized blame, dissociation, and the shattering moment of clarity.
Shattered Mirrors & Reflections Identity, illusion, and self-awareness. Mirrors show who you are… or who someone wants you to be. Celeste’s mirror becomes a battleground, with Petal’s shard as the catalyst for truth.
2. Thread & Strings
Represents control, legacy, fate, and trauma.
Red thread = ancestral trauma / manipulation.
Cut strings = personal awakening and reclamation of self.
Puppet Strings & Blood-Thread Control, trauma, inheritance. The Puppet Master’s strings aren’t just tools... they’re blood-bound, tangled in generational pain, secrets, and survival. Every character either fights them, pulls them, or learns to sever them.
3. Music Boxes
Capture the lullabies of the ghost girls.
Symbolize innocence, repetition, lost voices.
Destroying them is an act of release and defiance.
Stolen voices, trapped souls. The Queen uses them to silence the ghost girls’ lullabies, preserving youth, beauty, and pain for her own vanity. The music boxes are both relic and warning.
4. Masks
Explore identity, roles, and the persona we adopt for survival.
The Puppet Master’s half-mask reveals and conceals intent.
The final act unmasks the deeper truths of each character.
More than disguise, they’re survival, religion, hierarchy. The Queen and the Elites hide their sins behind ceremonial masks, reinforcing a false virtue. The Puppet Master’s half-mask reveals and conceals. The final act unravels the masks each character wears, by force, by fire, or by choice.
5. Curtain / Tent
The line between story and audience, illusion and truth.
The tent is the stage of manipulation, but also revelation.
Final line: “The curtain doesn’t close without him.”
6. The Promised Circle (The Six)
Celeste, Beauregard, Charlotte, Violet, Jasper, Thorne.
Represents chosen family, broken trust, and found voice.
The reunion signifies breaking the cycle and reclaiming truth.
7. The Queen’s Funeral Dress
Passed through many hands: burden, beauty, control.
Hidden poisons and tears stitched into its seams.
Represents inherited trauma and the illusion of virtue.
8. Ghost Girls’ Lullabies
Fragments of truth whispered through sound and dreams.
Each lullaby is a memory locked in a loop until released.
Echo through multiple tracks as warnings and laments.
9. The Velvet Escape
A term for dissociation, fantasy, and the false comfort of illusion.
The Puppet Master uses it to seduce the six back into sleep.
Beauregard rejects it in the final act.
10. Twin Flame Waltz
Represents the soul’s mirrored truth and earned love.
The track marks the emotional and narrative climax.
Danced in full presence, not fantasy... a real love earned through fire.
11. Sealed Scrolls & Hidden Letters {Extras & Sunday With The Puppet Master}
Truths that were never supposed to be read. Messages sealed in secrecy...
love letters, Sunday letters, confessions, scattered like breadcrumbs. Some open doors. Others burn bridges.
💠 More symbols appear throughout the book, including:
👑 SYMBOLIC ROLES
1. Saints & Sinners:
Icons of reverence… or corruption. Saint imagery is weaponized by the elite to sanctify control. But true sanctity is found in rebellion, confession, and the honest reclaiming of one’s story.
2. The Crown:
Not just royalty, it’s the weight of power, legacy, and manipulation. The Queen wears hers in mourning and pride. The Six must decide if they’ll inherit the throne, or destroy it.
3. The Promised Circle:
The original dream. Six friends, six gifts, one bond. Their childhood promise is the only thread strong enough to withstand the unraveling... if they choose it.
🌒 HIDDEN CODES & WHISPERS
4. Petal’s Mirror Shard:
The turning point. A final act of love, sacrifice, and defiance. Left behind in Celeste’s dressing room .. a portal and a weapon.
5. Sunday Letters: {Extras & Sunday With The Puppet Master}Written in the hum between worlds. These messages live on the edge of consciousness, from one who was once possessed to one who remembers. Some may be addressed to you.
6. Blood-Thread Puppets:
Ritual dolls tied to control spells. Some are literal. Some… are us. Especially in the tent.
7. The Voice Beneath the Floorboards:
An echo, a secret, a warning. Heard only when the room goes still. Is it yours? Or his?
(Link For More Below: SPOILER ALERT!)
🖇️ [LINK TO SYMBOLISM CABINET]
📚 READ, LISTEN, EXPLORE
You can read the new zine drop now — Main Story, Part One (Tracks 1–16) — and peek inside the Symbolism Cabinet, where we’ve started unpacking the hidden meanings behind key scenes, characters, and lyrics.
🌀 Spoiler Note: The Symbolism Cabinet contains raw symbolic breakdowns from the book — including mirror lore, Puppet Master cues, and ghost girl details — so read it after the zine if you prefer to go spoiler-free.
✨ This Week’s Links
🎟️ Playbill (Credits + Cast)
Full album credits, character pairings, Puppet Master clues, and story fragments from the cast & crew.
📖 Prelude in Velvet (Pre-Story)
The first chapter in the Masquerade book. Meet the Promised Circle, the Queen, and the first mirror left behind.
🎭 Main Story, Part One (Zine)
Read the Zine » (Tracks 1–16)
First half of the Masquerade musical. Follow the picnic, the puppet’s escape, the Queen’s seduction, and the secrets beneath the rug.
🗝️ Symbolism Cabinet
From cursed music boxes to cracked reflections — explore the recurring symbols woven into the story and sound.
🎼Libretto Character Parts & Lyrics»
🎼 “In Pieces” — A Song for Mikey 💔
This week, we’re releasing a remastered version of Gala Violet’s “In Pieces” in loving memory of Mikey — Tea's baby brother
Mikey left us in 2016, the kind of loss that shakes your soul loose and rearranges your insides. For years, I didn’t have the words to even begin to process it. But this song… this one has been there in the background the whole time... evolving alongside my grief, healing, rage, surrender, and love.
The original demo was born out of a breakdown. I remember sobbing in my car, trying to explain the unexplainable to someone who’d never felt that kind of loss. I blurted out: “I just don’t want to be here if he can’t be.” And instead of judgment, I was held.. by music, by breath, by grace. That’s when the melody came through. That’s when the words started pouring in.
“I’m not ok, but I’m not done.”
“If I can still sing, then I’m still here.”
“And maybe that’s enough.”
💿 “In Pieces (Remastered)” is cleaner now, less raw than the original but still tender. We used the new mastering template from Masquerade of Shadows to make sure the shimmer was balanced and the bass didn’t swallow the nuance. It’s imperfect. But it’s real. And it’s honest. And for me... that’s sacred.
I don’t know what you’re carrying, dear reader. But if you’ve lost someone… if your grief still breathes beside you some days… if you’ve ever yelled into the void and felt nothing echo back… I hope this song gives you even a sliver of space to fall apart and still stay. To be held. Even in pieces.
🕊️ Available Friday, Nov. 14 on DistroKid.
A special thank you to Michael, who encouraged me to remaster this track and reminded me how needed it is. Thank you to Mickey Fingers for helping mix the original and to Gala Violet for always being my outlet when the words are too much.
-Tea
📻 ECLECTIC WONDERLAND RADIO SHOW:
“In Pieces: Broken Things & Beautiful Hearts”
WDRT 91.9FM • Nov 12, 2025
This week’s episode is a love letter to the broken and beautiful... a radio show about grief, addiction, memory, and music as medicine. Featuring the remastered In Pieces and a closing set for Mikey
🎁 Gala Violet – Holiday Releases (2025 Edition)
*Perfect for shame spirals, party flashbacks, and festive poor decisions.
Listen To The Gala Violet
Dysfunctional Holiday Sampler Now!
🎄✨ Let’s Hook Up Again (Like We Did Last Christmas Party)
LISTEN NOW!
Flirty, sparkly, and just the right amount of messy — this is Gala Violet’s seasonal pop banger for
anybody who made a holiday mistake…
and is kind of hoping to make it again.
With retro shimmer, wink-wink lyrics, and a whole lot of nog-drunk chaos, this track hits the sweet spot between nostalgia and “maybe I shouldn’t text him right now.”
✨ Perfect for:
office party regrets
peppermint schnapps bravery
midnight mistletoe miscalculations
your favorite shame spiral playlist
From The Dysfunctional Holiday Sampler
💋 Pop with a twist of regret and a splash of nog.
[Click the albums to Listen]
🎁 Merry Whatever, You Filthy Animal
LISTEN NOW!
A snarky holiday palate cleanser for anyone who’s completely over it… but still wants a soundtrack while they rage-clean the living room.
[Click The Albums To Listen. ]
🎧 The Dysfunctional Holiday Sampler
LISTEN NOW!
A chaotic box of glitter, synths, regret, and seasonal mayhem — featuring Gala Violet’s holiday singles, interludes, surprises, and exactly zero well-adjusted choices. [Click The Albums To Listen. ]
🎭 Links + Listen
A fairytale unwinds best in order…
Ready to enter the tent? Below are the recommended chapters and listening guides to fully experience Masquerade of Shadows the way it was designed...
as a dark cabaret storybook set to music.
These are zine-format previews of the final book. Bookmark and follow along as we release each section. The album is fully streaming now, listen track-by-track as you read, or take it in like a theatre performance.
📖 Updated Story Sections (Zines)
1. The Playbill
📕 Meet the Cast + Creative Team
Link: [CLICK HERE]
Step through the velvet curtain and meet the Promise Circle, the fallen Queen, the Ghost Girls, the Puppet Master, and the humans behind the magic. This is the official Masquerade bill — cast, credits, roles, and the strange, beautiful crew who built this dark fairytale cabaret.
2. Prelude in Velvet
📘 Read the Pre-Story
Link: [CLICK HERE]
Where the story cracks open: a dream, a loss, a tent lit by impossible shadows. Before the music begins, before the masks slip — this is the hush before the first heartbeat. The velvet remembers everything.
3. Main Story – Part One (Tracks 1–16)
📙 Read Part One
Link: [CLICK HERE]
From the Dreamkeeper’s Spell to the séance behind the curtain, follow the first day of the Masquerade — the picnic, the stitch-and-bitch, the Charity Ball, and the ghosts that crack the mirror. Every track matched to its scene, exactly as the book presents it.
4. Main Story – Part Two (Tracks 17–33)
📙 Read Part Two
Link: [CLICK HERE]
The unraveling. The reveal. The inheritance. The uprising.
This is where the strings snap — and history tries to repeat itself.
Follow the second half of the Masquerade, including the séance fallout, the mirror shards, the new Queen, and the tent where the Puppet Master waits.
5. The Final Thread — Post-Story
📙 Read the Post-Story
Link: [CLICK HERE]
What remains when the lights go down.
A poetic, myth-threaded closing to the Masquerade — mirrors cracked, masks removed, truths named, strings cut, and the Twin Flame Waltz echoing through the quiet. Hope, healing, and free will take center stage.
6. The Libretto – Full Lyrics (34 Tracks + Characters)
📗 View Full Lyrics
Link: [CLICK HERE]
Every lyric, every whisper, every overlapping voice. Characters labeled, scenes numbered, refrains highlighted — this is the full musical text exactly as it appears in the square 8.5×8.5 book layout. A true libretto, not the DistroKid version.
7. Symbolism Cabinet – Spoiler Archive
📓 View the Cabinet
Link: [CLICK HERE]
A gothic archive of meaning: mirror shards, blood-thread puppets, saints, masks, tokens, relics, and lore across the Masquerade world. Every symbol decoded. Every thread explained. Handle with care — major spoilers lurk inside.
8. Character Stories | What We Know
📓 Read the Character Stories
Link: [CLICK HERE]
The Promise Circle, the ghosts, the Queen, the congregation, the men, the mothers, and the monstrous things that shaped them.
“What the town knows” ...
vs. “What the Puppet Master knows.”-(In Sunday With The Puppet Master)
A dossier-style archive for lore lovers.
9. Sunday With the Puppet Master – Final Chapter
📓 Read the Chapter
Link: [CLICK HERE]
The moment the story turned into a mirror.
Part journal, part haunting, part possession, part revelation — this is the Puppet Master’s chapter, the metafictional hinge of the entire Masquerade.
Includes “The Ledger of Strings,” “Artifacts Left Behind,” and the forbidden Sunday entry.
10. Listen to the Full Album
🎶 Masquerade of Shadows
Link: [CLICK HERE]
The album that the book is built on — 34 tracks of dark cabaret, shadow work, ghosts, mirrors, and the truth beneath the velvet..... Or Click The Cover To Read Or Download!
Listen To The Full Album
Every track. Every ghost.
All 34 songs in sequence... from the flicker of the first flame to the final broken mirror.
Whether you listen on the chaise longue, on a midnight drive, or in your ritual bath of glitter and defiance, this is the complete Masquerade.
Clickable Albums
🎵 Masquerade of Shadows (Full Album)
🎵 Singles: Picnic for the Wicked, Mirror Mirror (On the Ceiling), Boom Boom Boom
(Album covers embedded, each one clickable.)
Playbill Video
This isn’t just a title sequence ...
It’s a conjuring.
A flicker of candlelight…
The curtain drawn back just enough to tempt you forward.
We wanted it to feel like the record storybooks of our childhood ... with shadow puppets, flickering text, and a whisper of danger.
Behind the Scenes:
📰 Mickey’s Corner: Making of Masquerade of Shadows
🎙️ Eclectic Wonderland Radio Specials:
[🔗 All We Ever Wanted Was Everything] Puppet Master Reaches Out!
[🔗 Once Upon a Dark Fairytale] Inspiration For Masquerade Of Shadows
[🔗 In Pieces (Mikey Tribute Show)] In Pieces
[+ Turkey Drop)] "Let's Hook UP Again, (Like We Did Last Christmas Party!)"
✨ Final Notes + What’s Next
The mirror cracked, but the story sings on…
Masquerade of Shadows is more than a musical. It’s a spell, a seance, and a love letter to anyone who has ever tried to break free from the roles they were assigned. These sneak-peek zines are just the beginning.
What you’ve seen so far:
The Pre‑Story: a tale of longing, betrayal, and prophecy, whispered before the curtain rises
The Main Story, Part One: the first 16 tracks, and the six dreamers caught in a game they didn’t design
The Symbolism Cabinet: decoded motifs, sacred objects, and the mythos behind the masquerade
The Playbill + Lyrics: cast, creators, and the complete lyrical script that carries the show
Main Story, Part Two: Tracks 17–34, including the reveal of the Puppet Master and the unraveling of the spell
Character Stories: “What We Know” vs. “What the Puppet Master Knows”
Post‑Story & Moral: the final reckoning, the waltz, and the truth that broke the mirror
Sunday with the Puppet Master: a journal entry, a mixtape, a possession, a scrapbook of forbidden threads
🖤 But the curtain doesn’t close without him…
💿 Also Coming Soon…
The Dysfunctional Holiday Sampler
For the beautifully broken & bitter-sweet. Releasing Black Friday.
Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening. Thank you for choosing to peek behind the curtain.
We’ll see you next Sunday… with the Puppet Master.
💋✨
—Tea & Mickey
Velvet Umbrella Records
🎪 Gala Violet presents: Masquerade of Shadows
🕯️ Final Word from Mickey
“This isn’t just an album. It’s a masquerade stitched from trauma, laughter, ghosts, and the fire of making art when everything else tried to stop us.
We’re so glad you’re here. Take your mask, step into the story, and let the shadows dance.”
-Mickey Fingers
✨ About Mickey Fingers
Mickey Fingers is the co-creator of Velvet Umbrella Records and Gala Violet.
A multi-instrumentalist and engineer-producer, he moves between drums, guitar, bass, piano, and synth with ridiculous ease, building worlds inside Ableton Live.
Equal parts mystery and mischief, he’s a steady hand in the chaos and a spark in the shadows.
You’ll find him behind the curtain, buried in reel-to-reels and synth smoke.
📖 A Glimpse Behind the Velvet Curtain
Exclusive zine-style previews of the Masquerade storybook.(Click To View Or Download!)
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