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 Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 4:44 pm
It had been a good afternoon for the drama club, all things considered. The new play was settled on, following the Arthurian trend that seemed to be growing around them. Everything was Camelot now and that's what the students wanted to do. How could she deny that? There was plenty to work with with that set of legends.
But the students were gone and there were fresh ideas in mind as she gathered up props and put them away, singing softly to herself as she did. She wasn't going to go into a full on performance. She'd been on stage enough to be able to curb that impulse but something about a stage, a spotlight, and a curtain begged for some sort of artistry. And, music was life to the drama teacher.
Somewhere in the middle of her rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" she stopped actually cleaning up and just let herself feel the song, letting her voice soar into the vaulted ceiling of the auditorium. It rose and echoed, filling the room with rich music in a way that might lead someone hearing it to expect a full orchestra playing to accompany her.
Alright, so maybe she couldn't control that impulse after all.
Not that it mattered. She assumed she was alone and if she wasn't certainly nothing drew her attention enough to disprove her theory. She was often like this, caught in her own little world absorbed into whatever story she was telling or thing she was performing. Music was as enriching to the spirit as it was to enhancing life, drawing the beauty of everything around it. It had the power to soothe, transform, calm or inspire. That sort of power was worth respecting and she did.
Besides, she could spare a few minutes for something beautiful, couldn't she? The song was not her creation, she was simply it's conduit.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:05 pm
Somewhere around the second-to-last verse, Iouri had wandered in pushing a cart of borrowed props. He was reluctant to interrupt Kyndall - after all, she was having such a good time - but when she concluded her song, he began to clap sincerely. Although they were merely acquaintances, he knew enough about her to know she was phenomenally talented. Crystal Academy didn't hire just any overqualified table waiter to teach drama, after all!
He pushed the cart further into the auditorium. "I, ah, came to return these!" he called. A lab coat, a feathered fan, costumes, bits of fake machinery... he'd taken them out of the Crystal Academy store room for the murder mystery game and was now somewhat belatedly putting them back.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything," he added, bringing the cart to a halt at the base of the stage. Looking around the auditorium, he became aware that it was clear a class had just left. "Were you... ah... you don't have a class coming, do you? I was hoping to speak with you for a while."
He was bursting at the seams with ideas for a halloween show, and it was better to start early than to let the occasion sneak up on him!
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 7:49 pm
She hadn't expected anyone to be there, much less to start clapping. She blushed profusely. Not because she thought she didn't deserve it but because she was surprised by him. And, honestly, she'd been expecting the props back a while before then.
"Thank you, Mr. Spekter, on both counts." She came to the edge of the stage and dropped down gracefully to sit on the edge with her legs dangling over. Her large violet eyes considered him a moment. "You're in luck, though. The drama club just left and I have nothing else to do this afternoon. I am all yours to speak with as you please."
The prop closet could wait. Talking to Iouri sounded much more interesting. She hadn't had much of a chance to get to know him. They'd only met once when he came to borrow the props in the first place. The idea that he wanted to speak with her (he struck her as being somewhat shy) both puzzled and delighted Kyndall. And, of course, she was curious.
"How can I help you?"
She slid off the stage and dropped down to the floor with a soft landing. She rifled through the cart, silently taking stock while he was given an opportunity to speak. Everything seemed to be in order. He'd have to sign these things back in on the clipboard, of course, but that was no big deal in the grand scheme of things. Plenty of time for that later.
Not that she was much for protocol, anyway.
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Posted: Thu Aug 25, 2011 9:03 pm
"I'm sorry that these are so late," Iouri murmured bashfully as she sorted through the basket. He'd meant to bring them back sooner, he really had, but work had a tendency to take over his life. In fact, this was his first afternoon out of the museum in weeks. "They were a tremendous help, the evening was a huge success."
"I was thinking." He idly began to fold a coat in the bin. "I would like to do another interactive theater piece for Halloween." The idea had been germinating for months, ever since he'd found the Tesla coils. They looked like something right off the set of Frankenstein - who wouldn't be inspired? "I was wondering if you would help us achieve something a bit more... polished?"
He gave her a hopeful look. Theater was hardly Iouri's area of expertise, and while the murder mystery game had come together well enough, it had been a learning experience all the way through. Perhaps with someone who was much more of a natural-born thespian than he was helping, Iouri might learn some useful tips for future productions.
"I was thinking perhaps a haunted house, maybe with vestiges of Frankenstein?" he added.
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Posted: Mon Aug 29, 2011 11:37 pm
"It's quite alright. As it happens our next play is Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table so these props weren't needed." She smiled up at him. "I'm pleased that they helped!"
She frowned at his request though. Interactive theatre? Like, improv? His previous project was a murder mystery. He probably meant something else like that..but Frankenstein? Run of the mill haunted houses weren't really her area of expertise. Like a classic theatre snob she barely considered them to be legitimate chances for performance. Still, it was loosely in the realm of art and he had come to her for help. She owed it to him to try.
"What era of Frankenstein do you want? Boris Karloff? The newer incarnations?"
There were so many styles to choose from. The earlier incarnations were limited by technology but at the same time they were also darker, more intense. It left more the the imagination. The later incarnations had better visuals but the plot wasn't always as well written or the characterization as deep.
Of course, once she accepted the assignment her mind started turning a mile a minute, churning out ideas for it. She had visions in her mind already. She saw sets, designs, decorations. She saw everything in her minds eye and would likely be drawing later on tonight to send him things to look at.
"There has to be something else to supplement, I think. What sets were you hoping to create?"
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Posted: Tue Aug 30, 2011 6:05 pm
"Well, I have some Tesla coils," explained Iouri, figuring those were going to be pretty central to anything he did. "Big ones, like in the classic film. Actually, I was thinking of doing something a bit dark, sort of gothic - the main draw for our evening events is a more grown-up audience." Adults were, after all, the ones who ran corporations and wrote endowment checks.
"But perhaps not a straightforward Frankenstein story?" Of course this would wind up having some murder mystery aspects. He wanted there to be a tangible storyline for guests to grasp at as they explored the setup, even if it didn't end with them reconvening at the end of the night to point fingers at the murderer.
"Or!" exclaimed Iouri, having a thought. "I would really like to incorporate that time period. Make it sort of gritty... steampunk? Is that it?" Really, he wanted to make it engrossing. Less terrifying and more intriguing. An experience, not cheap thrills.
"I'm sorry," he said, trying to organized the cart a little bit out of awkwardness. "I'm only just starting to get a grasp on this, myself. I should have outlined it more before asking you!"
He felt so... tiny... under Kyndall's questioning looks. She was the expert on this, and Iouri hardly knew about theater at all! He was merely dabbling where she made her living, playing around where she'd done years of training! Who was he to kid himself that he could do anything other than flounder about making halfway-decent pieces of amateur performance art?
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2011 12:54 pm
"So...the Boris Karloff version, I suppose."
The laboratory sets would be easy enough with his Tesla coils for a central feature. If they were good to hide behind it might be nice to surprise people walking by. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, slave to her muse when it struck. She ignored the cart for now, hunting for a piece of paper or ten while he spoke. She paused when he mentioned steampunk.
Steampunk Boris Karloff?
It could be done, she supposed. Switch steel to copper, more protruding knobs and buttons. They could probably rape and old typewriter for this or outfit an old typeset keyboard and spray paint it. The goggles as fashion would certainly work for Dr. Frankenstein, heavy leather lab coat instead of linen. She found paper and a pencil and hopped up on stage, scattering the paper to the side and sketching her ideas furiously, jotting notes alongside the margins.
"Think nothing of it. That's why I'm here. I think I have a few ideas."
Few here meaning more than she could possibly commit to paper at the moment but she was heroically trying to with all her might. Her green hair fell forward, shading her face and the look of concentration on her features. Each time one sheet was full of half formed sketches and scribbled notes she tossed it aside for another piece.
Part of her would likely have felt bad for taking over if she stopped to think about it. She wasn't thinking about it so she was safe and, after all, that was why he asked for her help, right?
"I'm afraid you sparked my muse, Mr. Spekter."
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 12:13 pm
Iouri chuckled at her enthusiasm, glad to have spoken some seemingly magical words. It seemed silly now that he'd been nervous to run this idea past Kyndall. Surely it was a bit out there and he was by no means a theater professional, but he should have known better than to think she might laugh in his face. "Oh, I'm glad," he smiled shyly, then went back to awkwardly trying to arrange the costumes in the cart.
"I guess... you didn't get a chance to come to the planetarium opening, did you?" asked Iouri, setting aside a feather boa and craning his neck to peer at the sketches Kyndall was working on. He wasn't sure if he'd seen her there, but then, he'd been a bit pre-occupied. Between board members and making sure his actors were all where they were supposed to be and keeping things under control and being an actor himself - which necessitated trying to keep out of sight for the entirety of the game, because he was supposed to be dead - Iouri hadn't gotten much opportunity to mix and mingle with the general public.
"I could get you some passes, if you'd like?" It was the least he could do, well, that and find room in the event budget to reimburse her for her help. It wasn't like they actually needed new carpet on the second floor this year, right? He'd have to go argue that one with the directors - spot repairs were far more practical than re-flooring an entire exhibit hall... "For you and your... family? Or a friend?"
He wasn't actually sure of much on that front... his eyes flitted momentarily from the paper she was sketching on to her hands, looking for a ring.
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:16 pm
"No. I didn't manage to make the planetarium opening. I'm so sorry. Harmony decided to pull one of her...stunts."
She wasn't sure if she'd mentioned a family to him before or not. If she hadn't he knew that she had a daughter now. Most people were surprised to hear she was a mother of such an old daughter. Most people did the approximate math in their heads, figured out how young she was when she had her, and they always looked at her differently after that. Especially since, to this day, she’d never been married. Ah, well, if that was the case so be it.
She caught him looking and assumed he wanted the sketches she was working on. She handed them to him, grabbing a handful for his amusement. One detailed an apron for Dr. Frankenstein and the other detailed ideas for the paneling and laboratory setups. Easy enough to mock up even on a modest budget. She eventually realized she hadn’t answered his question and paused in her work.
“Oh, yes, I’d love to see the planetarium. It’s just me and Harmony, though, and that really isn’t her idea of a good time. Besides, she often works in the evenings.”
It seemed her momentum was slowing. She was taking more time per picture – fleshing out the details. She’d be happy to explain any of her concepts to him if he asked but, honestly, she wasn’t the work with your hands set building type. That he’d have to go elsewhere for. She was simply the concept girl.
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 1:30 pm
If Iouri had been unsure of Kyndall's familial status before, now he was really confused. In a matter of seconds he swung between thinking that the drama teacher was the single mother of a badly behaved toddler, to potentially the lesbian lover of some night-shift science-hater named Harmony. Which, to be quite honest, he hadn't predicted but then Iouri didn't presume to be an expert at spotting lesbians.
He focused on the sketches, trying to hid his growing confusion. "Those are wonderful," he cooed. It was just the aesthetic he'd been aiming for! Make the evening victorian fancy-dress and it was sure to be a hit. "Do you have any costume pieces in this style in storage?" the curator added, starting to mentally tackle the logistics of it, "Or will I need to start looking straightaway?"
He was a bit of a perfectionist, after all - Halloween was months from now but Iouri wanted to be prepared. You couldn't deliver a lackluster haunted house to the people of Destiny City - not after the legendary display at the main branch library last year. Although Iouri would never say so out loud, this was a bit of a competition to him.
"I'll hold two passes, anyways," he assured her, the conversation looping back around. "For you and your... Lover?" It would be really embarrassing to have guessed wrong, but Iouri had done the math and wasn't exactly sure how Kyndall could have a daughter who worked evenings - surely she wasn't old enough! They were contemporaries! So, all things considered, he felt pretty secure in his assumption.
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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2011 2:19 pm
"Lover?"
Her head immediately shot up, looking at him with a perplexed look on her face. She immediately thought of Tony but no such luck there before she realized he meant Harmony and blushed a furious shade of red. Of course he had the wrong idea. She was horrible at explaining things. She just assumed everyone knew. She didn't want to laugh and make him feel bad about his assumption.
"Oh, dear. No. Harmony is my daughter. My teenaged daughter. She'll be seventeen in December."
She didn't want to add that she didn't actually have a lover to speak of, not even anyone she was currently dating much to her embarrassment. Her romances all seemed to be woefully one sided. Especially her current romantic inkling and its tragic air already. Perhaps it was time she like someone actually emotionally and physically available for a change.
Ah, well, she digressed.
She waited for understanding to dawn on him and for his expression to change like all the others. This was, perhaps, why she didn't date. It was hard to go through this explanation time and again as well as the one reciting why she hadn't been married yet in her thirty four years of life. It wasn't pleasant.
"I'm not actually seeing anyone right now."
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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2011 6:51 pm
Open mouth, insert foot. Much to his own chagrin, Iouri turned a shade of red rivaled only by marinara sauce and borscht. "I'm sorry!" he stammered, clenching and unclenching his suddenly-sweaty hands from around the edge of the cart. "I just, I assumed, and you know what they say about assuming, it makes an a** out of you and me - mostly me-"
Oh. Well. He felt like such a complete idiot now. Best to make as good a recovery as he could and follow it up with a speedy retreat, right? He'd taken care of what he'd come for and started a new project - what more was there to do. Iouri was certain that Ms. Rosen was a busy women and undoubtedly wanted him out of her hair, especially if he was going to make embarrassing social gaffs like mistaking the pretty and single drama teacher for a taken lesbian.
So yes, it was definitely time to scout out the escape routes.
"Your daughter," he nodded, steadying himself. "Yes. I will leave passes at the front desk for you and your daughter. Or a friend, if she does not wish to attend."
Iouri practically had to pry his fingers off the cart. "Thank you for your help," he said, overwhelmingly sheepish. "I believe I will... quit bothering you now?"
He believed that the phrase was running on fumes, and it was what this conversation was doing.
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Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2011 7:09 pm
"You know...you're cute when you blush." she commented, pausing in her work to rest her elbow against her leg and watch him in his quick shock and upset. Really very cute. Not that she was the least bit offended. She'd been assumed to be and called worse before in her life with regard to Harmony. For some reason she enjoyed making people blush. Though she had no actual hand in this occurrence she enjoyed it nonetheless.
"Well, I don't think she'll be coming with me. Maybe I could ask Tony to come along with me. Goodness knows he could stand to have a little fun."
She continued to smile at him, swinging her legs over the side of the stage like an anxious teenager. She didn't know about Iouri's feelings about the man or even if Tony would consent to go with her. He was honestly her only adult friend. Note to self - have more adult friends.
When he excused himself she shook her head. He was like a hapless kitten in the rain with nothing left to do but sit there and lament its surroundings. She wondered if she honestly put off a lesbian vibe. Not that she had much of a gaydar considering she couldn't even tell whether or not her daughter was same sex oriented.
"It's no bother but if you're that embarrassed, please do go. I'll come find you when there's something concrete to show you. And perhaps I'll see you during my trip to the planetarium?"
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Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2011 8:48 am
"Yes, yes," nodded Iouri, walking slowly backwards in what was about to evolved into a hasty retreat. "Please have them buzz me from the front desk when you come by, I would be happy to show you around the museum." Great, another chance to embarrass himself.
"Really," he assured her, hands flapping awkwardly in front of him. "It's no rush - Halloween's not for two months." And really, he wouldn't begin panicking about this until October - so why should she? Especially since he was just asking her to do some sketches. It wasn't like she had to do any of the real administrative stuff like he did.
"I'm sorry for the misunderstanding," he added, hanging his head. Really, it had been silly of him. And how awkward! She wasn't really - no, now that he really thought about it, it was a silly conclusion... Kyndall didn't have any lesbian vibes, no. And maybe if Iouri weren't so obtuse he might have suspected she was flirting with him.
"I'll just be going now," he emphasized. "Thank you for your help."
Time to exit, stage left. Or auditorium rear, as it were.
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