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Arian Laith // Eternal Sailor Athene

A second bout of of irritated grumbling drew Arian's attention away from the stage as those next to him stood up.

Another latecomer it seemed - just as he himself had been.

It was too dark to really focus on the figure making his way down the row, but Arian gave him a small but sympathetic smile as the man slipped past him and into the last remaining empty seat next to him.

"It's o.." he started, keeping his voice deliberately quiet as the show had started and he didn't want to draw any irritated 'shushes' his way from those seated around him, but then his voice tailed off as the rest of the other's words caught up to him.

Miss?

The smile faded away and was replaced by a slight frown, which was most likely missed on the other given how dark the theatre was, although the small but annoyed sigh of his own that Arian wasn't able to quite bite back may not have been as he shifted away from the man seated next to him and once again turned his attention back to the stage.

Wicked wasn't a show that he was familiar with, but he soon found himself engrossed in the show as it started to tell the tale of Elphaba which was apparently the name of the wicked witch of the west in the Wizard of Oz, it soon clear that there was a lot more to the tale than had been shown in the Judy Garland film.

Ashley Williams // Captain Reinerite

Even during the well dressed man's speech, it seemed that there had been one or mayhaps two stragglers out there that had yet to take their seats.

Personally Ashley couldn't see the point in spending money on something, only to then turn up late, but it wasn't something that really concerned her or was worth her attention and so she paid it no mind as she turned her attention to the play.

She was familiar with the story of Wicked, having read the book, although this was her first time seeing it on stage–

And whilst it was one those things that she had meant to try and see it back whilst she was in London because the show had received very good reviews somehow Ashley had never quite managed to find the time - at least until now.

A quiet 'excuse me' had her shifting attention away from the stage and at the man who it seemed had been making his way down the row and had now reached her, Ashley hiding the flash of irritation as she joined the others in standing up to allow him to continue to make his way down the row.

She turned her attention back to the stage, finding it hard initially to pay attention as a part of her knew that she would have to repeat the whole rigmarole all over again when he returned from wherever he had drifted off to–

But the acting was good and she finally managed it, only to have her attention broken once again as the man finally returned with a can of some sort to hand.

It was dark enough that he probably missed the cool, but irritated glance that she sent his way as Ashley once again stood to allow him to pass, a part of her hoping that the rest of those in the row would be considerate enough to at least wait for the interval before making anymore drinks run–

Or if not then at least have the sense to have bought a ticket for a seat at the end of the row by the aisle.

The play was...mildly interesting. It wasn't that he felt for the wicked witch, he sort of did, but it was more he wanted to smack some of the other characters...or kill them. Glinda wasn't so nice, at least not in his opinion. he'd never really liked that character in the movie anyway. Now he wondered if she hadn't led Dorothy off to kill the 'wicked witch' who really wasn't so wicked after all. Was Glinda, among others, really the bad one in this story? So far it did seem like it.

he did wonder, idly, if the witch had in fact never been evil or done anything bad. perhaps she was painted as such, and was instead only trying to protect others who needed it? Although that didn't account for her sending her flying monkeys to attack Dorothy...why send them to attack someone, and potentially get hurt, if you cared about them? That was the part he didn't get...and that made her still bad. It was a shame he was going to ruin this play for everyone...himself included.

He'd just have to purchase the book he supposed, and read it. It would, perhaps, be worth it and interesting. Maybe he'd even visit the cities small theater district and catch a show of it, one which wouldn't be interrupted, maybe that would be better than the book? Though wasn't it always the book which was better than the movie...so perhaps both...just to fill in any blanks which one might leave. It sounded like an idea; and a way to spend some time.

Richard Bell

Richard looked over at Ignacio at the question, having been looking all over at what he could see of the inside of the theater from their seats. He actually hadn't ever been to The Autumn, not normally being the play-going type, so it had been with a little bit of surprise that he'd accepted the invite from Ignacio. Usually, he couldn't bring himself to sit through an entire play. Richard didn't watch many movies for much the same reason, unless he had a book or something with him. He had to admit, however, that Ignacio wasn't the only one craving something nice and normal compared to the complete opposite that their lives--or, at least, Richard's--had taken over the past week or so.

He supposed Ignacio's life had been the complete opposite for a considerable amount of time...

Ignacio's decision to sit so far back--there had been closer open seats when they arrived--was initially a bit odd to Richard, and he almost questioned it. But when he had turned his head to look at him, he had seen the way Ignacio looked at the end of the row, and Richard was able to follow his gaze from there to one of the nearby exits. Ignacio was choosing seating based on how close to the exit it was.

Of course.

"Hm? Oh, yeah." He smiled gently, resting one of his hands on top of Ignacio's and just as gently rubbing the skin of Ignacio's wrist with his thumb. What he was going to say next was cut off by the announcements and the curtains parting and, knowing it would be rude to keep talking, Richard settled back in his seat to watch. He knew of Wicked, certainly. But he hadn't ever seen or read The Wizard of Oz outside of high school English class, and so he went into the play with very few expectations of how the story would go, though he did at least know Wicked was apparently a retelling of sorts. A perspective shift, or something.

As the play went on, that was confirmed for Richard. It was a pretty good story line, he supposed, an interesting take on the "accept who you are" motif.

Ignacio Araya || Transcendent Eternal Sailor Encke

"Good," hummed Ignacio, closing his eyes for a moment despite the upcoming announcements when he felt his Arra's hand over his. He couldn't help the gentle sigh, the way his shoulders relaxed further, the way he leaned into Richard despite the small seat barrier between them. This was a good idea. This was nice, even. He knew Richard wasn't a big play guy, but the fact that he had agreed to come and they were sitting close, watching a last performance, felt right.

It felt much better than having to explain for a third time how exactly starseeds were the center of this whole mess.

Ignacio knew the play Wicked well. It was a popular one, from Broadway all the way down to high school theatre, and in consequence, the play was all-too-familiar. He wasn't overly concerned about the story line. It could have been any play that night, really, though the familiarity of Wicked helped him focus less on the words and more on the feelings. He was familiar with the local theatre community on a rather deep level, and watching them pour their hearts out into this performance was, on some level, painful to watch. He knew why they were doing it. The Autumn, which they performed in, which perhaps they grew up in, was going to be torn down, rather than renovated, rather than declared a historical landmark or something and allowed to live.

It was sad.

He might have squeezed Richard's hand a little at points, biting down on his lip after a particularly emotional song. It felt like celebration. It felt like grieving.

When the first act was coming to a close, Ignacio let out a sigh, straightening himself out and attempting to look less sad than he felt. It wasn't particularly succeeding, though looking into his love's eyes brought a smile edging back onto his lips. "Are you enjoying the story so far? Wicked's a popular play, honestly," laughed Ignacio, before turning towards the exit.

"Say, you wanna get some snacks or something? I kinda got the munchies." Ignacio offered his hand to Richard once more.

Tom Wolf // General Arsenopyrite

Tom jerked his head back up, trying to keep his eyes open while listening to the play. Wicked wasn't a bad play at all, but he had seen it before, and with the new semester and the fact that he had now started graduate school, along with all of his other duties, well, he hadn't been getting too much sleep. He had tried to make it up here and there, but he had had to sacrifice his experiments more and more just to get six hours of sleep a night, even on the weekends.

Which is why when Benitoite had told him about this event that the General had been planning, Arseno had immediately agreed to do it, if only to catch up a bit on the work that he was missing out on doing in the Negaverse.

And so now he was standing around, having been assigned as an "usher" for the duration that the play was going on, and he had almost nodded off several times already. He only hoped that adrenaline would give him the push he needed to be able to actually contribute to this plan of Beni's, though time would only tell. All he knew though was the he had to do something...

He barely paid attention to the play, and periodically looked at his watch in hopes that time would somehow go a bit faster, if only for a moment. Unfortunately, he knew the play already, and knew at what part the intermission would happen, but still, he could hope that the laws of physics would break just a bit for him, right?



Erich Jäger // Lt. Geocronite
Erich had tried to look intimidating. Back straight, tall as he could be, giving a "don't try to mess with me" face, etc. but he wasn't sure if it was working. Or even if it had been needed. He had been recruited to do this little... event by another General that he had never heard of, and he had been nagged a bit more by his closer superiors that he had needed to do more for the Negaverse and so... here he was. Though he really wasn't enjoying it. He wasn't one for musical theater, and the Wizard of Oz stuff had never interested him.

So he was mostly bored, waiting for when he could finally power up. He had mostly been recruited to make sure that any civilians and... other powered people wouldn't be able to make it out, and he knew that something awful was about to go down, and he hated it. But he had been forced to participate. He only hoped that he could ignore most of what was happening then, because he didn't want to be a part of any of this.

But... if he could help a bit in some way... he shook his head. No, those thoughts weren't helpful. The Negaverse was evil, and he needed to find some possible way out of it. Out of all of this.