Dark Receiver

[DeathsKnight]

He took a sip of his coffee,

"If it was up to me, I'd let them stew a bit longer. Give them time to realize it was not what you wanted. Perhaps try to text the more level headed of the two, which will most probably be your mother, seeing what I saw about your father."

He smiled at her,

"And you can stay as long as you want, indefinitely sounds quite good to me, I do enjoy the company."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"If it was up to me, I'd let them stew a bit longer. Give them time to realize it was not what you wanted. Perhaps try to text the more level headed of the two, which will most probably be your mother, seeing what I saw about your father."

She returned his smile as she sipped her coffee. As ever his advice was good and she would follow it.

"And you can stay as long as you want, indefinitely sounds quite good to me, I do enjoy the company."

She giggled.

"Indefinitely is a long time and ... I wouldn't want to outstay my welcome ... "

She said half teasingly.

"I'd love to stay here on the condition that you tell me if you ever change your mind ... "

She pushed her cleared plate aside with a smile.

"What time are we heading into the theatre?"

She asked wondering if she had time for a quick shower.

"If you wanted to head off first, I could follow after..?"

She suggested with a faint blush wondering if he would want to keep it secret that Juliet was staying at his place.

 

[DeathsKnight]

He nodded,

"You will be the first to know."

He picked up their plates and paused at her question, he glanced at the wall clock,

"Twenty minutes...I do think you must experience another ride on the bike since you are toying with the idea to get one..."

He smiled and paused, he turned back to Claire,

"How would you react if I told you that you can get your parents' home after they have left for Devon? Just out of curiosity."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Twenty minutes...I do think you must experience another ride on the bike since you are toying with the idea to get one..."

She laughed. She had almost forgotten that in all the recent drama.

"OK ... mind if I grab a quick shower?"

She asked standing and helping to clear the last items.

"How would you react if I told you that you can get your parents' home after they have left for Devon? Just out of curiosity."

She halted uncertainly.

"... get the home?"

She echoed not sure what he meant.

"It's their home, to dispose of as they please, they've made that clear."

She shrugged.

"And now I've left, so, why would I want to go back there especially after they've left ... it would be ... weird ... I thought you were encouraging me to make a new start?"

She asked not sure where he was going with this.

 

[DeathsKnight]

He smiled,

"Like I said, just curiousity. Finish up that shower, I'll wait."

He finished with the dishes and slipped into his leather jacket and got the bike and extra helmet ready as he waited for Claire. He sat on the bike, it was more like leaning against the bike than actually sitting, he had his hands in his pockets and his mind wasn't that far away, actually his mind was with a young woman getting ready after a shower to go to work along with him. He smiled, the thought of somebody going along with him and who actually seemed to have the same love for theater was a very nice thought.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Like I said, just curiousity. Finish up that shower, I'll wait."

She headed to her room and grabbed up some clothes to change into as she headed to the bathroom. Fortunately she had packed a bath towel and hand towel, but she realised that this, amongst other things, were things she would have to buy for herself now that she had left home. A quick shower later and with the jeans and tshirt on, she grabbed a jacket and put a handbag cross body style over the top of it so that she was ready to go on the bike. Just before she left, she put her signed contract on the coffee table in the front room so that she would not forget to give it to Glen later.

"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting..."

She greeted him taking the helmet.

"I left my signed contract in the front room. I figured that was best ...?"

She checked before joining Glen on the bike and heading off to the theatre.

 

[DeathsKnight]

"No not at all and I believe that we can talk it over this evening."

He slipped on his helmet, started the bike, then slipped it off the stand and with Claire securely holding on to him, they drove off. The early route was quiet so he opened up the bike, feeling her arms tighten onto him and how she leaned with him into the turns. It had been a while since anybody rode with him and he found that he enjoyed that Claire was with him more than anything else.

Opening shop was always the same tedium, opening what doors and windows needed to be opened, deactivating the alarm and switching on the stage and backstage lights. Luckily the cast was a healthy eating group and there was basically nothing to clear up, so he placed out the refuse bags as it was collection day. When he finished he found Claire and grinned,

"And that is what your illustrious producer does when he gets here, that and of course making sure the urn has enough water to heat up for you thirsty lot."

He chuckled and leaned against a table, crossing his arms,

"So Claire, any part in particular you wish to work on today?"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

The ride to the theatre was amazing! She felt safe riding behind Glen and thrilled to the speed as he accelerated through the near empty streets. She had met him early at the theatre before, but never seen his morning routine which involved unlocking the theatre and opening everything up, not least of which was putting on the urn for the copious cups of tea and coffee the cast got through each day!

"And that is what your illustrious producer does when he gets here..."

He commented good naturedly when all preparations had finally been made.

"Not all glamour then"

Claire commented with a laugh, though in fact she loved how down-to-earth he was and respected him highly as a producer.

"So Claire, any part in particular you wish to work on today?"

She gave the unexpected question serious consideration.

"Well, "

She began uncertainly.

"We seem to have done a lot of the 'angst' scenes and the balcony scene onwards, but ... I suppose I don't feel I've done that first mother/nurse/Juliet scene too often and of course there's the scene where she meets Romeo."

He hadn't dismissed her idea, so she continued tentatively.

"We've read through that, but I'm not really sure how that will act out, although I expect that's probably a later stage, more of a context and physical direction will influence how that plays out I think ... "

She had seen many productions of Romeo and Juliet and of course there were the famous films of the play and all staged the 1st meeting differently.

"How modern are you making our production by the way?"

She questioned as an after-thought.

 

[DeathsKnight]

He nodded as she talked, of course he wanted to get the sadness down first, so that the loss was much more pronounced, but of course it would feel like they did not focus on the start of the piece.

"Good, we can work on that then."

He grinned,

"Of course it will be another dress rehearsal today, so you better fit in that dress."

He teased her, then he shrugged,

"The contract is to keep this production original, I tweaked your dress a bit and from what I saw, I really like what I see, so I think when I get the time and resources I would like to hit up the more modern idea."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Good, we can work on that then."

They exchanged a smile and she felt pleased that he had genuinely wanted her opinion.

"Of course it will be another dress rehearsal today, so you better fit in that dress."

Her eyes lit up at the prospect.

"So do I get to wear my party dress?"

She asked and then listened to him explaining about hitting up the modernity of the production.

"Well, I'm game. Like any good actress, I'll demurely do as my producer directs..."

She answered impishly giggling with him as Elron entered the room.

 

[DeathsKnight]

He chuckled along with her and turned when Elron came in,

"Ah Mr Kramer, seems like the new place is haunted if you're up this early."

Elron pulled a face and came over to them,

"Well if you must know, I'm up this early because a certain lady needed a lift home to get ready for work."

Glen chuckled again and playfully punched Elron's shoulder,

"You old hound."

Elron held up his hands in surrender,

"It's not what you think, really it's not."

Elron got saved a ribbing from Glen as the catering staff arrived and strangely enough just behind them a few of the cast members came dribbling in.

"Well what an early day for everybody, we are going to have so much fun working very hard today."

Glen gave a mysterious smile at Elron's groan and went to meet the staff as he usually did.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Ah Mr Kramer, seems like the new place is haunted if you're up this early."

She watched the banter between the two friends.

"Well if you must know, I'm up this early because a certain lady needed a lift home to get ready for work."

So, Elron had a lady friend! Perhaps it was the need for privacy which had prompted him to find his own place so quickly, but at least Glen's teasing of Elron saved her blushes for Elron could not know yet that she had stopped and was staying with Glen now.

"Well what an early day for everybody, we are going to have so much fun working very hard today."

She saw everyone give a mock groan, though in truth no one really objected to Glen being a hard task master! She stood aside and watched Glen as he went to greet everyone, choosing to occupy herself with pouring a coffee. She definitely did not need anything further to eat after Glen's breakfast fare or she would not fit into her costumes.

 

[DeathsKnight]

"All right everybody, I want you to get your costumes and get ready, we will work today with props, with sets and of course with lighting. Since mr Paris will be here by tomorrow I will stand in for his scenes, but like you know by now, it doesn't matter where I am, out there or here on the stage, I will be watching. I want you to read less, so expect a long week if you don't know your lines by now."

He clapped his hands and the stage hands headed to get the sets ready as the rest of the cast headed to get their costumes and to dress, Glen took a seat and waited for them to get ready so that they could start.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire had no issues with acting without a script. She rarely needed to refer to the lines at all now and was sure that she wouldn't need to, though it would help to make notes during the party scene once Glen had instructed them how they were to play it out. She caught Elron's eye and grinned before heading off to slip into her first simple costume which was to be used only for the short scene between her, the nurse and Lady Capulet.

She knew that Glen was playing Paris for the day, and blushed at the way he had joked with her about playing opposite her in another guise. But she was too busy to dwell on her and Glen as she joined the others back on the stage and awaited Glen's instructions knowing that she had time to slip into the stalls and watch them opening fight scene which she knew had been carefully choreographed before the action introduced Romeo for the first time and then later in the Act, Juliet in which was to be an excellent scene for Abigail as the nurse ...

 

[DeathsKnight]

When everybody was ready Glen joined them on set and stood off to one side as they started. Things flowed quite smoothly, he only commented on the acting a few times, letting them do the scene again until he was satisfied that it had enough feeling. He really grilled his former fencing students, they seemed to have gotten lax in the time had them under his care and it showed by the way they handled their prop weapons.

All in all it was much slower progress this time, but Glen wanted to bring home the fact that they were rehearsing and not just spouting out lines. Of course it wasn't all bad, by the time they broke for a quick breakfast they have reached the third scene. He drank coffee along with the cast members, cracking a joke here and there, then it was back to the stage. By the time they had finished Act one, it was almost time to head home. He called everybody together and clapped hands for them,

"Good work everybody, although I do not expect perfection this early, you can be assured that this was just a taste of how hard I will drive you to attain perfection and bring Mr Scaredweapon's work to this stage. At least if you do a good job I can give you a one percent raise."

This drew a slight chuckle,

"OK guys and gals, gals and guys, get a good night's rest, tomorrow more of the same."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

The first act was a heavy act for Elron. Although he wasn’t in the opening scene, the first act was all about establishing his character before he and Juliet met. Claire had just one scene in which to portray her ‘before’ character, aside from a short dialogue between Paris and Lord Capulet where the proposed marriage of Juliet was discussed and which she watched Glen read in. True to his word, Glen ran Claire’s scene through several times which was necessary because initially she found it difficult to unpack everything that she had rehearsed before and become the carefree girl Juliet had been before that great romance. Finally she managed to attain something akin to the contrast that Glen wanted her to portray which meant that they had only gotten that far before lunch.

The afternoon focused upon the Capulet party, the first part of it very much upon the Benvolio/Mercuito/Romeo trio and the challenging Queen Mab speech. Claire was impressed with their Mercutio, but she sympathised with the demands that trying to deliver that long speech, largely without reference to the text put upon him. And then it was the party scene. Glen seemed to give them free reign on their acting on the first act through and then he stepped in to suggest and then direct, though of course there were still many details to work out as the scene required almost the entire cast to be on stage at once. Currently the 1st meeting between the two of them was played far to stage right, whilst the action of the scene continued to their left. She was briefly reminded of her first meeting as she read Phoebe and the discovery of Elron sat so close to where she had been rehearsing aloud. Despite the scale of that scene they seemed to capture some of that hidden intimacy and moved naturally into the first kiss. Only after the fourth run through did Glen seem satisfied, for that day at least.

"Good work everybody, although I do not expect perfection this early, you can be assured that this was just a taste of how hard I will drive you to attain perfection and bring Mr Scaredweapon's work to this stage. At least if you do a good job I can give you a one percent raise.
OK guys and gals, gals and guys, get a good night's rest, tomorrow more of the same."

It was nice to end on a high for once. It made a great change from being thrown around by angry parents or committing suicide. Somehow she hadn’t really fully appreciated the comparative up-beat nature of that first Act before. Whether then did that act again the following day or went onto Act two was of course up to Glen. Having been dismissed, the cast made their way back stage to get out of costumes, return props to their places and make ready to go home …

 

[DeathsKnight]

Glen stood at the door, greeting everybody as they left, giving encouraging words, offering advice, givimg a hug and praise where he felt it was needed. Elron for once didn't hang around as usual and Glen gave him a grin as he left,

"Remember to save some for the marriage."

Elron chuckled,

"I have a DVD and book collection to sort out, see you tomorrow."

Glen looked after his best friend with a smile and collected his things, closing up and switching off as he made his way back to the doors,

"Ah fair Juliet, my heart leaps at the sight of you and my mind drops it's shackles and soar along with the birds."

He smiled,

"Pizza is on the menu, you up for people or should we order?"

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

Claire hung back without trying to make it too obvious. She wasn't sure if Elron knew she had moved in with Glen, but by the look of it Glen was too busy teasing Elron, for Elron to do the same in return, so she supposed Glen had probably not filled him in yet.

"Ah fair Juliet, my heart leaps at the sight of you and my mind drops it's shackles and soar along with the birds."

She chuckled as Glen came over to her and admired how relaxed and self possessed he always seemed.

"Pizza is on the menu, you up for people or should we order?"

She shrugged.

"I'm up for either ..."

She told him happily.

"I have to keep my landlord happy, so up to you ..."

She responded.

 

[DeathsKnight]

He smiled at her,

"Mr Luziano always badgers me to bring a pretty lady with me to his restaurant. Italian it is."

He activated the alarm and closed the doors behind them, locking them and then headed for his bike.

"I wonder what Elron will say about the step-up of schedule, I can hear him already: "Oh really? You just wait for me to turn my back so that you can have Claire all to your own""

He mimicked Elron's habit of adjusting his glasses as he imitated the voice, he grinned and handed Claire her helmet.

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Mr Luziano always badgers me to bring a pretty lady with me to his restaurant. Italian it is."

Claire blushed at the compliment.

"Friend of yours then?"

She took the helmet as they stood by Glen's bike and laughed at his impression of Elron.

"I wonder what Elron will say about the step-up of schedule, I can hear him already: "Oh really? You just wait for me to turn my back so that you can have Claire all to your own""

She had wondered about Elron's reaction herself and not for the first time, she found she envied them having such a close friendship. The two seemed to so compliment each other and that was not least due to a constant exchange of teasing.

"But Elron's obviously seeing someone at the moment ... ?"

She dared to pry.

"Sounded like he has a stepped up schedule all his own ... "

 

[DeathsKnight]

"Well he says it's a friend, I haven't met her so I really can't say if they are just friends."

He waited for her to settle in behind him and drove off, he stopped outside the rather poshy restaurant and flicked open the visor of his helmet,

"Don't worry, he is a very good family friend, no need for cocktail dresses and tuxedos to eat a nice Italian meal."

He got off and slipped off his helmet and pushed his hair into a semblance of order,

"Perhaps next time we can make it a date."

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Well he says it's a friend, I haven't met her so I really can't say if they are just friends."

She chuckled. A friend he gets up early to take to work sounded like a pretty good friend to Claire, but she didn't comment. She loved riding on the bike with Glen and things seemed so comfortable between them still that she was almost disappointed when they arrived at a very fancy looking restaurant.

"Don't worry, he is a very good family friend, no need for cocktail dresses and tuxedos to eat a nice Italian meal."

Even so, Claire thought they were someone underdressed, but at least they were both sporting the same 'dress code' so she didn't feel quite so self conscious.

"Perhaps next time we can make it a date."

He suggested casually, but drawing a smile from Claire at the distinction he was making between this meal with friends and a possible future plan.

"I'd like that ... "

She told him shyly, her pulses racing at the prospect of a possible development of what had so far developed into a 'close friendship' she realised. And it was as a friend that she assumed she was to be introduced to a wider circle of his friends ...

"You sure this is ok?"

She asked referring to not only their appearance, but to the fact that they seemed to be gate-crashing what must be a popular venue ...

 

[DeathsKnight]

He turned to look at her,

"Yes you look great..."

He paused,

"Oh you meant coming here? Oh I'm very sure, best pizza in the city, if you never had it, you will soon love it."

He smiled, offering her his arm and led the way to the wood and glass doors

 

[DeliciousMaiden]

"Yes you look great..."

She smiled at the unexpected compliment.

"Oh you meant coming here? Oh I'm very sure, best pizza in the city, if you never had it, you will soon love it."

She chuckled and took the arm he offered her entering into the restaurant, which though it was obviously successful and popular, had a definitely traditional feel about it and a rustic 'family' atmosphere.

" ... great place ..."

She murmured looking round in admiration.

" ... you sure do have interesting friends ... "

 

[DeathsKnight]

He smiled and patted her hand with his other hand,

"I've been around for the past few years, I've met quite a few people from other lines through the theater."

The owner himself bustled out of his office to meet them,

"Ah Glen! Finally you bring a lady...and a very pretty one at that! Come come I have just the spot for you two."

He led them into a reserved space and seated them into a cozy corner,

"Thank you Mr Luziano..."

He held up his hands,

"Come come Glen, I have told you to call me Angelo."

Glen smiled,

"Sorry I just can't help it. Can we have your Chef's Choice pizza?"

"Of course, and I know just the wine."

He bustled off and Glen smiled at Claire,

"His wife was in a play, he met her trough me."