Lights. Camera. Action.

Or, in this case, lights. Music. Act one, scene one.

Enter from stage left, recite your line, walk here, hold this prop. Talk amiably. Talk stubbornly. Talk intelligently. Raise voice. Lower voice. Next line. Exit right.

Scene two.

The stage lights are hot on Alanna's face, and she's sweating under her big detective overcoat. Her hairline's wet under her fedora. Damn, it is so hot.

Lilith smiles at her from behind stage left, giving her a big thumbs up. Lilith plays the sister of the murder victim in the play, the overdramatic and esteemed Lady Fischer. The sister who may or may not also be the murderer.

It's nice that the two of them finally got lead roles. When they saw the cast list, the two both broke out in happy screams.

Honestly, Alanna couldn't believe it. She's never gotten a lead before. Only minor roles and ensemble—and she was lucky to receive those.

But now? She's at dress rehearsal, at 7 p.m., going through the entire play.

And it's amazing.

Alanna always gets a little thrill whenever she's onstage—whether she's playing a small role or not. A little flutter of the heart, a flick of the stomach, a nostalgic, inexplicable joy.

She's so glad she's here. And she can't wait for the others to see the play in its full glory.

She can't wait.

—————————✌︎—————————

"Okay, is everyone except Alanna and Lilith here?" Roshan says, leaning on the picnic table. Faun's wearing a cable-knit sweater with a white collared shirt underneath for the warm weather. Damien hates the way it fits faun so well. Or maybe he just wishes he could pull that kind of outfit off.

They'll just stick to rumpled, oversize shirts.

Damien finally snaps out of his distractedness to bite out a remark: "Hey, why do Alanna and Lilith get a free pass out of these meetings and I don't?"

Roshan smiled with a knife-like sharpness. "Aw, I thought you liked these meetings?"

"Not anymore," Damien mumbled as Roshan said, "They're at play rehearsal. They're exempt. Just like if any of you had lives and therefore mandatory practices or work, you would be exempt as well."

"Someone's in a mood today," Damien mutters, sitting across from Roshan at the picnic table as the others crowd around, sitting as well.

"Okay! So, today, let's discuss our individual strengths and weaknesses to figure out which role for the prank would fit each of us best. Meg, why don't you start..."

Damien tuned everyone out, closing his eyes and releasing a sigh.

—————————✌︎—————————

"Damien!"

They startle awake, hastily blinking in the bright afternoon light. He rubs his face. "What...?"

Roshan's face is barely visible through Damien's post-nap vision, but faun's face is stern. They can almost feel the heat of faun's angry gaze.

"It's your turn, Damien."

"For?"

"Telling us your strengths and weaknesses."

Damien smirks lazily, resting a hand under his chin. "Strengths: handsome, striking, charming, quick-witted, handsome—"

"Okay, that's enough," Roshan says. "Now tell us your weaknesses." There's a dark glitter in fauns eyes.

"Uhh, weaknesses, hmm, maybe too handsome? It could be a valid distraction."

"Damien, don't fuck with us," Meg says. I know it's stupid—" Roshan sent her a quick glare, "—but everyone else actually said a weakness. We're out here baring our souls, yet you're...doing that. Say something honest, for once in your life."

Damien sighs dramatically, but there's something about the way Meg said their funny little speech that bothered them. Should he win the trust of these people by actually saying something honest? Or should they simply refuse?

Damien's a douchebag. He knows that. They're an egotistical, awful, prideful douchebag.

Maybe the others already know that. They probably do. Damien's not one to be kind.

But if he actually said that fact out loud, wouldn't that mean it's true? And they know it? That he chooses to be awful?

"I'm too handsome. That's all you're getting."

Damien stands and walks away.

They ignore the feeling of eyes staring into their back.

—————————✌︎—————————

Pelo was having one of those days. One of those days were all you want to do is go home and sleep or paint or watch a movie, but instead he's stuck at school doing math.

Math is an abomination to this world. It might be better if the teacher would stop talking so Pelo could at least pretend to do his work but actually doodle in the margins, but Mr. Folkner is strict and will call Pelo out as soon as he dips his head.

In short, math sucks.

Pelo lets his mind wander, finally thinking about his current painting. He loves painting, of course, but he just can't figure this one out. He has a pretty clear image in his head, but his hands can't figure out how to make it work. How to make it happen. How to make it come to life.

"Mr. Dixon, what's the first step to solve this equation?" Mr. Folkner's voice cuts through the thick fabric of Pelo's daydream.

"Uhh," Pelo looks at the board, then glances at his notes. "Uh, combine like terms?"

"It's true that you combine like terms at the beginning of every equation, yes. But in this one, you would distribute the three to everything inside the parenthesis," Mr. Folkner says in his booming voice.

That was teacher talk for "No, you're wrong and you're stupid," and Pelo knew it.

Oh, why can't he just go home and watch a movie? It would be so much simpler than this.

After class, Pelo felt a buzz from his phone. He sighs, thinking it's probably just from his parents or something, but he's surprised to find that Orion texted him.

orion

Hey, I'm having a few friends over to my house this friday to watch that new batman movie, wanna come??

Pelo doesn't really like superhero movies. He's more of an art-documentary, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice type of guy.

But maybe it'll be good for him to get out more. Spend some time with friends. Spend some time with Orion.

pelo

sure

—raven speaks!

(1.2k)

heyyy i'm sorry this took so long lol. frankly, school has been taking up most of my free time and any actually free time i get is spent stareing blankly at a screen while i procrastinate work and question my life choices.

i wrote most of this during french ii class while we're watching a movie that i have no interest in so yeah. i'm still in that class if you're wondering. this is where all my free time comes from.

i also had a dream where my crush had wp and lowkey i'm glad that's not true

ok byee love you