The Boards, Tuesday, All Day

[furnaceface]

Jono came down the stairs into the Boards proper today to realize, with some note of relief, that Troy had managed to repair most of the damage done to the new carpet by the children over the weekend. Good. Though it didn't leave much for him to do, really, besides wiping two-day-old pizza sauce from the walls.

He frowned thoughtfully, and then decided to leave a few voicemail messages for the three girls who had come in to audition over the weekend. And from there, he'd...

He would... Er...

Maybe he'd keep himself busy by cleaning the mess that Troy and Seifer had made of the costume racks over the weekend, too. Chicken suits and pirate-knights. Ah, children.

[Open!]

Comments

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

In bounced one of those very same girls, looking only slightly less enthused than she had been the day before.

Very slightly.

But this time, she had two iced peppermint white chocolate mocha lattes. See, it was a change for the better.

"Hi!"

[furnaceface]

Jono looked up at the bouncing girl, bearing an armload full of... well... yellow chicken costume that he'd been en route to the storage closet with.

"Miley! You know callbacks are for tomorrow, right? Though I certainly appreciate your enthusiasm, luv."

Because clearly that was the only reason why people would be visiting, bearing two lattes. They could both be for her! It was entirely possible!

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"I know that!" Actually, no, she hadn't. "But I wanted to say hi! Here." She held out one of the lattes to him.

"Ooh, yellow chicken costumes. What are those for?"

[furnaceface]

"Er, thank you." Jono only seemed taken aback for a moment before he recovered and freed up one hand to accept the drink. Random acts of kindness aimed in his direction were something that he was going to have to get his head around all over again.

... Unless, of course, it was a bribe.

"You know, I only wish I knew what these costumes had been used for in the past. For a theatre that's mostly only done Shakespeare in the past, you wouldn't normally expect to find an entire flock of chickens in the back, would you?" But, well, this was Fandom. So he didn't sound all that surprised, either. "Troy found this one on Sunday near the end of the auditions, and proceeded to spend the rest of the day running around in it. It looks like a tornado whipped through the costume racks at the moment, I was just trying to straighten them out some."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Need some help?" she offered. "I'm totally good at sorting clothes."

You sort of had to be, when you had a closet that looked like this (http://i51.tinypic.com/2ezrdqr.png).

[furnaceface]

Dear god, that closet was obscene.

"Well, I probably don't need it," Jono replied, "but I wouldn't turn down the offer. Mostly I'm just diving in there in order to keep busy."

Because being stagnant led to thinking, and thinking led to guilt, and guilt led to panic, and it was messy all around, really. He'd sooner sort chicken suits than have some sort of emotional breakdown in the sound booth with the door locked behind him.

"So... what is this, exactly?" He nodded at the drink in his hand. "Do I get a hint, or do I have to taste it and find out?"

His knees would probably give out if he got a mouthful of sweetness and peppermint that he hadn't been anticipating.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

"Iced white chocolate peppermint mocha!" she reported brightly. "I didn't know what you liked, so I just got my fave. There's something for everyone!"

Except people who hated chocolate. Or who had mint allergies like her totally bitter mun.

"And I'll totally help. I don't have anywhere to be today."

[furnaceface]

"I think it's safe to say I've never had one of these before," Jono shared, peering at the cup again before shrugging and taking an experimental sip.

Oh, he was going to have to take this one slowly. It was rich, and the peppermint seemed to want to punch him in the mouth somewhat, but not in a bad way. And the white chocolate played along with it well and... and... It was a wonder that he didn't need to sit down, really.

"I appreciate the company, actually," he added, after a few deep breaths taken just to make sure he kept his composure. "Having all th'children running around on the weekend really just served to highlight how empty this building is, today. I hadn't really noticed, before."

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Oh, Jono. Huge mistake. Now you would have a Miley stopping by to visit you every week. Did you want that? No. Nobody wanted that.

"That's lame," she evaluated with a little pout. "You should have company! Receptionists! Water cooler buddies!"

She had no idea how jobs worked, no.

[[and now I run to class and will be slow!]]

[furnaceface]

"Er, I think I am the receptionist, for all intents and purposes," Jono shared, raising an eyebrow slightly as he nudged the costume closet door open with his foot. "This is a theatre, luv. In a small town, on an island. We haven't even gotten into rehearsals yet, and it's not exactly an office building."

Thank goodness. He'd go utterly mad, if it was one.

[Curses, education!]

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

She peeked her head into the costume closet, evaluated the mess, and then yanked it right back out again.

"Well, that's not fair to you," she decided. "How are you supposed to have fun working here?"

Fun. Work. Two concepts that only went together if you were secretly a pop star. Or very, very lucky.

[furnaceface]

"Presumably by making the performers do ridiculous things on stage that they might not, otherwise. How do you feel about performing the entire Showcase in a chicken suit, Miley?"

He was, of course, joking. Probably.

[its-theclimb.livejournal.com]

Miley thought about that. "You know, I have a fitted one at home..."

Of. Course. She. Did.

[momslilassassin]

If Ben had to be down here to try out like his evil teachers were making him, he should at least say hi to Jono before he had to fling himself off a cliff in a fit of overdramatic post-tryout humiliation, right?

That's what he was telling himself, anyway.

"Hello?" he called out.

[furnaceface]

Another familiar voice. At least this time, Jono didn't have to run laps around the building in order to turn down the music. He hadn't even really thought to turn on Pearl Jam today. Really, all he needed to do was deposit an armload of costume accessories on the floor, lift the collar of his coat over the bottom of his face (self-consciousness was nothing new for him, granted), and take a deep breath before stepping out to greet Ben.

"Hey, mate," he said, offering him a nod that bordered on awkward as he walked into the lobby area. "It's been a while."

Which mostly was intended to mean, 'I have been kind of hiding since coming back. Sorry about that.'

[momslilassassin]

"A little," Ben agreed with an easy smile. "I'm supposed to be demonstrating my talents or something for class--just wanted to be sure you didn't already have a animal balloon artist lined up."

Ben knew nothing about making balloon animals. At all.

[furnaceface]

"Considering how the three people who have auditioned so far were all five-year-old girls, I think it's safe to say that we've got a place for you, mate. Hell, aside from Miley, I'm not entirely certain if any of them are going to want to participate in the showcase." He tilted his head slightly, giving Ben an appraising glance.

It almost wasn't fair, how much everybody had stayed the same while he was gone.

"For class, hm? Did some sadistic teacher get it in their head to make their students get up in front of an audience?"

[momslilassassin]

"Two of them, yeah," Ben said. "We have to explain our cultural heritage for a winter holiday or something?"

[furnaceface]

"Something like that," Jono agreed. "Winter traditions in general, really, since we understand that not everybody necessarily has a winter holiday. Hell, some people might not even have winter."

He hadn't really met any such people, to his knowledge, yet. But that was beside the point.

"But we'll be auditioning for bloody near anything. Song, dance, acting, poetry reading, storytelling. I imagine we'll even accept mime, if we can guarantee that Deadpool won't be waiting in the audience with a loaded gun on show night."

Some things just had to come with disclaimers like that.

[momslilassassin]

"Well, mime," Ben offered with a little shrug.

And that's when it dawned on him.

"You're talking."

Ahh, the observational prowess of the Jedi.

[furnaceface]

Oh, that Ben. Nothing ever got past him!

"I am," Jono agreed, a little awkwardly. "I hear mouths are useful for that."

He was also blue, and he could have poited that one out, but he was going to wait to see how long it took for Ben to notice, lord love him.

[momslilassassin]

"Really radical reconstructive surgery?" Ben guessed.

He didn't want to mention the blue thing. Because maybe Jono hadn't noticed! Or thought it looked really good!

[furnaceface]

Jono was not that crazy! He knew he looked utterly ridiculous!

"Unsolicited transfusion of blood from a self-proclaimed mutant god, courtesy of his insane, kidnapping cult following," Jono clarified. And clearly, he sounded thrilled about it.

[momslilassassin]

Ben winced. "So no. Sorry."

[furnaceface]

Jonothon winced a little, too. And then shrugged and shook his head a little.

"The reconstructive surgery came earlier," he offered, a little more quietly. "Along with a device that was implanted in my chest to regulate my powers. But the whole thing ended up exploding on me," in him, "right about the same time I lost my powers. This came after that."

It had been a very eventful... week. Year. Weekyear.