The Boards, Saturday

[furnaceface]

Jono wasn't hiding, damn it. Jono was sitting in his office at the Boards and he was working, reading over Dracula's notes on who he thought would do best in what roles so that he could get the casting list posted in time for the first rehearsal. He'd even gone so far as to post a sign on his office door at the school that morning, complete with a map of town directing people to the Boards in case anyone desperately needed to talk to him as a teacher of their children.

And, if he didn't seem too terribly professional in his office today, alternating between writing down notes about each role and the person he thought might best fill it, and picking up his guitar to play Ziggy Stardust because of reasons he'd care not to discuss that had nothing to do with fanboying a certain visitor to the island this weekend...

Well, he was working. This was what working was.

Shut up.

[Open Boards!]

Comments

[sovereignbowie.livejournal.com]

"Jiving us that we were voodoo," sang an amused voice from the back of the theater. "The kids were just crass."

David turned to Sheila with a laugh. "Seems like we're expected."

[furnaceface]

And Jono had been playing so well, too.

Look, when you're playing Ziggy Stardust and then Ziggy Stardust shows up and starts singing Ziggy-bloody-Stardust, would you really be blamed for missing a chord, stopping, and staring with your mouth agape?

Could you?

Really?

Because that was what Jono was doing, because David Bowie was in his theatre and he was probably going to recover any moment, really. Honest.

"Bloody Hell..."

[sovereignbowie.livejournal.com]

"Don't stop on my account," said David, thoroughly enjoying the guy's discomfort. What? He was living royalty, and so he enjoyed being feted. "So this is your friend, then?"

Sheila hadn't mentioned the fellow being quite so blue. It seemed gauche to comment on it.

[dr-manly-voice.livejournal.com]

"David, this is Jono," she gestured. "Jono, David. I guess you can rule out him being tone deaf if he's playing the guitar."

That had been one of David's theories, about how Sheila ended up in a musical.

The other was less polite.

[furnaceface]

Less polite, but probably somewhat closer to the truth.

"...Hello," Jono replied, a little lamely, looking between Sheila and David-naffing-Bowie. "It's... good to meet you?"

It was. It was bloody fantastic. Also, Jonothon was never going to clean that patch of carpet where Bowie was standing. Ever. And he could pull it together any time now, really. He'd been friends with Hannah Montana and had practically gone on the road with Sugar Kane, he was not the sort to stand around starstruck like a screaming fangirl at a Bieber concert.

Except that this was David Bowie, your argument was invalid.

"Er, welcome to the Boards," he added. "Can I get you anything?"

That's right, Jono. Play it cool.

[sovereignbowie.livejournal.com]

"Sheila said you were casting a musical," David said. "I was curious as to your process. I didn't expect to be personally serenaded."

Not that he was complaining. At all.

[dr-manly-voice.livejournal.com]

"I get to play a prostitute," Sheila announced. "Or at least that was the impression I was given. The cast list isn't out yet."

She wasn't complaining. She'd take whatever. But her considerable assets lent themselves nicely to that role, in her opinion.

Nobody make the obvious joke.

[furnaceface]

"We're aiming to have it out by tomorrow, but it looks like you will, in fact, get to play one of the prostitutes," Jono replied, looking between Bowie and Sheila and his guitar and just wondering if perhaps they could install trapdoors in the building so that in situations like these he could make a quick escape before making a complete ass of himself. "I'm going to need to talk our final decisions over with Dracula, of course..."

There was a role for one of the ladies that didn't involve too much in the way of singing. Jono was honestly hoping to hide the more tone-deaf performers in the chorus.

[sovereignbowie.livejournal.com]

"Of course," said David Bowie. Who else would you discuss casting decisions with? "I can't think of anyone more suited to the role."

That earned him a very dark look from Sheila, which only seemed to amuse him more.

"When's the play?"

[whenshewasnice]

Natalie was going to develop a schedule and a roster of people to call when she needed to ground herself and get in touch with the world outside Haiti and politics. But for now, it was still pretty random.

Hi, Jono. You were getting a call.

[furnaceface]

Really, Jono appreciated the excuse to put down his casting list and just not think about the weekend, at the moment. Doubly so, if it meant talking to Natalie.

"Hello?"

[whenshewasnice]

"Bonjour, Port-au-Prince calling," she greeted him, curling up in one corner of her couch while Mr. Moxy climbed into her lap. "By which I mean hi, it's Natalie."

[furnaceface]

"Natalie!" Jono's voice was warm, if a little rougher than it ought to have been. He'd recovered a fair bit from the witchblood in Yllestad, but he wasn't quite better yet.

If he was, he would be running back off to Glacia to continue fighting in the war, after all.

"How're you doing, luv? Is Haiti treating you well?"

[whenshewasnice]

"It's keeping me busy." That seemed to be the main thing that came to mind, when she was being honest. "Apartment's great, the work is challenging, living in the future is occasionally overwhelming but I'm getting by."

[furnaceface]

"None of that sounds particularly awful," Jono offered, because keeping busy and challenged was sort of what made him tick. "It sounds like a liveable sort of future, at least. Better than some of the ones I've seen."

Like the future that was run completely by Big Brother-esque Iron Mans? Iron Men?

Whatever?

"It sounds like you're doing well for yourself, at least."

[whenshewasnice]

"I'm in a position where I speak and dignitaries who are decades and decades older than me actually pay attention," Natalie shared. "And I'm pretty good at it."

She was doing fine. She was lonely, sometimes, but mostly she didn't have the time to dwell on that too long. It was probably for the best.

"How's Fandom? Has the pollen abated yet?"

Yeah, she knew about that.

[furnaceface]

"I never doubted you would be," Jono replied with a fond smile. "You're one of the most capable students I've had, really."

High praise, considering some of his students.

"The pollen finally left off this morning, though it was still floating about yesterday when the Parents' Weekend visitors arrived. Made for one hell of an interesting radio broadcast to read this morning."

Xavier flirting with Kitty. Jono was never going to be able to scrub that image from his brain.

[sharp_as_knives]

In his continued tradition of feeding his friends people to his friends people he considered his friends, Hannibal packed up some decent British food and come down to The Boards to see how Jono was doing.

He knocked lightly on the office door and held up his bag. "Lunch?"

[furnaceface]

Jono glanced up from his casting list at the knock on the door, and couldn't help but smile a little.

"You know, you're going to spoil me at this rate, Doctor," he noted, gesturing for him to take a seat. "Make yourself comfortable?"

[sharp_as_knives]

"Thank you." He sat and started unpacking. "I consider myself spoiled watching my food be so enjoyed. How is the casting going?"

[furnaceface]

"We're still a few roles shy of a complete cast," Jono admitted, frowning a little at the page of notes in front of him. "I think we might be able to double up a few roles without the show being too jarring to watch. If I didn't think there would be a half-dozen people on standby to beat some sense into me, I'd consider going up onto the stage myself in a few of the bit parts, just to take the pressure off the rest of the cast."

[sharp_as_knives]

"Because of your throat, or is your acting that bad?" Hannibal asked, raising an eyebrow as he set out the dishes.

[furnaceface]

Jono snorted a little at that, but he cracked a little smile all the same.

"I'm supposed to be resting and healing," he replied. "I never was all that good at the first, and the second is slow going. I'd like to think that I'm at least passable as an actor, though there aren't many roles out there that I'm really... built for."

Being huge and blue and all. Yes, there were days when he missed being a skinny beanpole on fire.

[sharp_as_knives]

Not that there were many roles that called for skinny beanpoles on fire, either.

"Waiting can be frustrating," Hannibal agreed. "Though so long as you're not straining yourself," he gestured vaguely toward the stage, "I don't see many roles for pink ponies, either."

He dished out the meat, and set potatoes - probably a bit more gourmet than usual - next to it. "My apologies for the lack, but I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to mash peas." He had his limits to what he'd voluntarily cook.

Okay, so they were different from most folks', but he had them!

[furnaceface]

"One of these days, I'll find somebody that'll serve mushy peas along with the rest of my meal," Jono replied in a mock-lament, though he cut it a moment later with a smile. "I'm really not in a position to nitpick. This looks fantastic. I'd probably be the end of myself, trying to put together a meal like this."

True story.

"Pinkie can at least sing," he added. "Not for the first time in my life, I'm in a position where I'm not actually capable of doing that much. For a lad who made spending money and earned free drinks by playing and singing in London pubs, it's a touch disheartening."

It had been devastating, once. Now it was mostly just the way things were.