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[apolla]

Beginning Setting

October
Current Year
Just before Fall Showcase
Theater Room

 

[Andei]

nico | ベイリー仁琥
_____________________________​

Not for the first time that afternoon, Nico resisted the urge to claw the sides of his face in frustration. Instead, he opted to drum his fingers to the tune of ‘This Is Halloween’ on the lid of the piano he was currently sitting at, all while gazing somewhat forlornly at the meeting plan on his laptop screen. The meeting plan on which they had been stuck at item number two for a good part of the past hour.

‘They’ were the members of the Corkwood University Glee Club, a collegiate vocal group with a long-standing history in the competition scene, which he’d been part of since freshman year. ‘Item number two’ was what they were going to sing as the group number for the upcoming Fall Showcase.

The Fall Showcase was the glee club’s first official performance of the year and it was a chance for them to show off their new lineup of members. Not only was it in many ways the club’s first outing as a group, but it was their shot at making a good first impression on the school faculty so they could secure more funds and support. Those competitions and tours didn’t pay for themselves, after all. All their friends and professors would be there, and he imagined there might even be a couple of people from rival choirs - whether it was to scope out the competition ahead of time or just to enjoy a good gig.

And it was barely a week away. They hadn’t even decided the first song.

Nico lifted his chin off the top of the piano and addressed the room with not a small hint of pleading in his voice, ‘Guys, we really need to be moving on soon. We’ve spent way too much time on this as it is.’

Glancing at the time on the laptop screen, he said, ‘I propose we come to a decision on the group number in the next five - maybe ten - minutes, or we pick titles out of a hat. We haven’t even started discussing solos for the showcase yet. And we all know they’re going to take ages,’ he added pointedly.

He raised one hand in the air. ‘All in favour say aye? Also, hard pass on anything from Rocky Horror. That has been done to death.’

 

[apolla]

Aurora Reed

Location: edge of the stage

Outfit: Click!

Mood: shy ideas

Mentions: Hoski ( Kitsune2202 ) (and everyone else, pretty much)

Interactions: Nico ( Andei )

Aurora leaned forward on the stage, looking around at the faces surrounding her. This was her second year of the glee club, and things hadn't changed much. Hoski pretty much ran the club, her older brother never seeming to quite manage to outshine her. Maybe this was his year. He currently sat at the piano, drumming his fingers to a tune that made her smile.

Although it might not look like it, she loved Halloween. Spooky times were her favorite, and her little brothers, too. Thinking of him made her sad, but she didn't show it. Instead, she just leg her legs dangle off the edge of the stage, listening as the others talked and planned out the showcase. It was less than a week away, after all.

With how shy Aurora was, it was a wonder she'd joined glee club at all. Her audition to join hadn't gone that well, either. She vividly remembered getting so struck with stage fright and blinded by the lights that she fell off the stage. But they'd seen something in her anyway-- what, exactly, she wasn't sure-- and she'd been accepted.

Not that she wasn't happy. She was! And she wasn't a freshman anymore, which was great. She actually did have friends through glee club, and she was happy. She just wished that, for once, she could get on stage and belt out lyrics like Hoski, or Nico, or anyone. Anyone who wasn't Aurora Reed.

They'd been trying to figure out the first song for the showcase for ages now. Nothing Rocky Horror, apparently. Rori turned to face the others, sitting cross-legged now on the edge of the very same stage she'd fallen off of a year before. "Why not start off with 'This is Halloween'?" She asked, looking directly at Nico, her voice soft. "As a first song, I mean."

coded by weldherwings.

 

[EddieTeddie]

♔ Charlie ♔​

Cheer practice had taken all the energy Charlie had in her body. Apparently their last performance had been “thrash, useless, catastrophical,” (in the words of her coach). Their practices had become five times more intense, and being the head girl made Charlie the target of never being good enough. Her body was never straight enough, her jumps never smooth enough and her smile never bright enough.

It wasn’t something new, her coach was practically a milder clone of her father. Still the intensity of practice had her whole body shaking by the end. When they were finally let out of cheer, Charlie barely had a couple of minutes before her beloved glee club started.

Glee club, the thorn in Charlie’s side that everyone but herself seemed to think was a good idea. Apparently just doing cheer and the bare minimum of classes was not enough, especially considering her below average grades; she had to contribute more to the school, so why not join a club with nerds singing show tunes and dancing poorly choreographed dances? Her dad had agreed, it was a good way to show more of her talents, to get more coverage. And that settled it, she was stuck in a club she hated, with her ex (not really an ex, but it had been something) and there was nothing she could do.

Having come right from practice, she decided to use the meeting to stretch out. While the others discussed, again, what song would be their group number. Charlie paced the stage, stopping every five seconds for a new exercise to stretch her body. To her it didn’t matter if they did Rocky Horror or This is halloween. She would do her job in whatever number they put on, perform her best and be over with it.

To her great joy she was also trying out for one of the solo numbers, not because she wanted to, but because her dad had told her to. He had decided the song, he had hired vocal trainers, he was the boss.

"Can't we just pick a fuckings song? Go on a random Spotify playlist, press shuffle and take the first song that comes up or pick it from a hat. Just something," Charlie's outburst was spat at the others as she sat on the ground, with her legs out forming a V and her upper body stretching along her left leg.

"Some of us actually have better things to do," She added, though she had no grand plans for the rest of the day. It was just her patience that couldn't handle the indecisiveness. And it was only for so long everyday that she managed to avoid looking at Zephyr.

 

[Winona]

Zeph

Glee wasn't something that Zeph had ever expected himself to enjoy but here he was, sitting on the floor of the theater stage. Zeph was sprawled out with his legs stretching out in front of him, his elbows propping his upper body from the floor as he listened and waited for the people who knew what they were doing to decide on the songs.

Zeph was not that guy. He didn't understand what made a good song choice and, to be honest, he barely understood the whole show process. And yet here he was, sitting on the stage floor, for no other reason than he needed the scholarship offered through this stupid club. Turns out his whole football scholarship no longer covered quite everything and there was no way Zeph could ask his dad for money to help with college. Soo... singing and dancing. Yep. Fun times.

At least he kind of knew how to dance. His high school girlfriend had been super into dance, and her mother had actually been a dance instructor, so they had actually taught him a few things over the bit of time that they dated. Sure, it hadn't been anything fantastic, but it had been some decent background and with his time in the club, Zephyr had actually gotten pretty good at it.

He hopped to his feet when Charlie started bitching about the choice of music and how it would be so much easier to just shuffle on Spotify. Perhaps true, but obviously not for the musical nerds that currently made up the rest of the glee club. They freaking lived and breathed these performances, as odd as it might sound to him.

"C'mon, Char," he said to the cheerleader as he started walking towards the piano. "Lighten up a bit. Searching on Spotify is just lazy." Zeph shot her a little grin before he arrived at the piano, which he leaned against, his arms crossed on top of the piano.

"I like Aurora's idea," Zeph said. "'This is Halloween' is good. Plus we could do like a Nightmare Before Christmas theme or something, you know? Jack and Sally and all that shit. Everyone loves them. We'd totally win with that."

Andei apolla EddieTeddie​

 

[.empathogen.]

jarrod.

"This is Halloween?" Jarrod sighed as he pulled his hair into a messy ponytail behind his ears. They'd been there for nearly two hours and he'd kept his mouth shut for too long. Now, this song he knew. He'd gone through an emo phase that he'd sorta stayed in for a while. This was his shit...though Jarrod would have rathered sing Sally's Song. He decided, then and there, that he was gonna cut the bullshit that everyone else was satisfied to participate in.

He stepped away from the group, winking at Auroura and gently brushing past Z. He cleared his throat and stepped into the spotlight that hung over their heads. And when he opened his mouth next it was to the tune he had perfectly paced out in his mind.

"Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween"

See, Jarrod was the loner of the group. He didn't really hang out with the rest of the group--though he secretly wished he could. Instead, he preferred to practice his craft. And it showed. His voice was gritty yet smooth and powerful. It was like an angel in a rock-band. What he lacked in social skills he made up for in spontaneous boldness. Which led him to the moment he was in now. He turned around and looked at the faces of his club-mates. A sheepish look crossed his face(which, is it a sin to be as handsome as he was and so much of a shut-in?).

"Maybe I could lead the solo," he asked in a shy tone, "And you guys could follow with the chorus?"

 

[Kitsune2202]

Hoshiko B.
​

Hoshi stared out at her peers knowing the irritating had to be evident on her face. She understood wanting the perfect number, something that compliment them all and show them all in the best light due to how important the fall showcase was...but there was a limit. She stood beside the piano Nico was sitting at trying to convince the others to narrow down the song choices in the most diplomatic way possible, but there was a reason the phrase nice guys finish last. In this case they'd never cross the finish line let alone last. She was about ready to rip her hair out when Aurora quietly suggest 'This is Halloween' Of course! That was the tune Nico had been taping to a moment ago. He was a genius and she was quite inattentive to pick up on that.

Just before she could toss in her agreement Charlie spoke up, which was mildly surprising since it hadn't felt like she was participating or cared at all up to this point about what was happening at the meeting, but rather using it as a yoga session. "Excuse me, but no." She replied back quickly and firmly, "We are not going to hinge one of the most important performances of the semester on a random spotify probably crappily made playlist, and we are not to going to act like we aren't adults capable of coming to a rational conclusion on our own by picking a name out of a hat because that is still leaving this decision up to chance. We are going to take pride in this, every step of the way, no half-assing." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair stepping forward to look at everyone, then turned to look at Aurora. "This is Halloween huh?"

She took a moment to think it over lightly tapping her finger against her cheek as others piped up their comments agreeing with the idea. It certain fit the theme, and had plenty of parts with a variety of ranges that would allow everyone to have at least a brief moment to shine which is part of the point of this number as well. Showing how well they worked and sounded together, but still able to show off unique voices. The different combinations would also come in handy because it would almost sound like different mini duets and trios. It also opened the door for people to pick related solo acts which would nicely tie together the acts and keep the this main act relevant and most importantly memorable in the minds of their audience. While Hoshi originally didn't want to join this Glee club because she was more interested in musical theater not just singing, with some light dancing thrown in. However Nico had made a good enough case to her mentioning the perks, the history, the growing recognition and of course the fact he had already joined and so she should too. They were of course always a team. So since this wasn't her first choice she was going to make it the best one on campus. The added bonus of a few people she kinda liked being around being there was nice, and it was convenient that a few of them actually lived on the same dorm-room floor as her.

"This is Halloween is a good pick. There are enough parts and range for everyone to have a moment, but the bulk of the song is a variety of chorus parts which makes it a perfect group number. Good choice Aurora. Plus it seems most of us agree that we like it." Just then out of the blue Jarrod decided to preform a small piece of it in front of them. She was always startled when he did such things just because it seemed so out of character...then again maybe it was in character to be sporadically out of it? She wasn't quite sure, but either way it was a surprise. Pleasant luckily because he actually did have talent and his voice went well with the actual sound of the original songs singer. Once he was done she offered him a smile and a nod, "That was very good and I don't see why not, but like anything parts will be auditioned for. I think however that seals the deal on what our group number will be. we could take it to a vote, but honestly I'd rather move on like everyone else." She turned to Nico flashing him a bright smile since she was proud it was the tune he'd been playing. She wished he'd just offered it up sooner, but this worked too.

She turned her attention back to everyone else after looking at the agenda, "Next order of business is solo auditions. Who all will be auditioning for one this year, and I hope you already have a song in mind, because you've had all summer to think about it. If you don't have one in mind just stick to the group song so we don't waste time. After we can talk about duets and trio's if anyone was interested in that as well, then outfits if there is still time." She spoke her voice was very professional perhaps because she did view this as prep for her future and carer. She was clear and wanted to be effective. She always naturally had a way with commanding a room or drawing attention to herself, so she might as well use it. Playing too nice in the start of the meeting had made this drag on too long already. She was ready to get down to business picking all this stuff so they could get to practicing to be ready for the showcase already.

 

[0k_mang0]

matteo

mention: Hoshi Kitsune2202 , Jarrod .empathogen.​

Matt knew he would be late.

He could feel it even from his old digital wristwatch that he rarely checked, quietly making his way down the side aisle. At least the group still looked like they were still discussing some plans. Matt entered the theater room just as Jarrod had finished singing the last couple of verses, and then Nico’s sister, Hoshiko, took charge of the discussion by the time he got on stage.

He greeted with a nod at the two band members who already set up near the back of the stage. He was just part of the small backing band for the club, and like the rest of the members of said band, he stayed mute most of the time and just played the guitar and nothing much else beyond that.

After setting down his own acoustic guitar case aside, Matt opened the second guitar case that he also brought and began quietly tuning the electric guitar, which was one of the reasons for his tardiness. The electric guitar wasn’t his. He was sent a text message at the last minute to retrieve it for the band for today’s glee club meeting. The music department of Corkwood University allowed students to borrow one of the extra variety of instruments in their storage for a certain amount of time. Matt was one of those students and he was grateful that the school didn’t charge him unless it’s for a late return fee. He just wished the previous borrower hadn’t taken so long to return the guitar today, as well as screwing up the guitar's standard tuning—what were they trying to do, play Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir"? Yeesh.

 

[Astarte]

the new girl

❛ We can never flee the misery that is within us. ❜

Being new sucks. When people don't recognize you in a specific area in the community they stare at you like you have two heads, and of course there was no exception for Astrid Rowan Day. She had been at the University for only a couple of hours, after having just moved into her dorm, and she was lucky to not have to introduce herself to her roommates.

At the present moment the stylishly tasteful girl was examining the university's map with a brochure of the school's latest activities. Astrid wanted to be involved in something that would distract her from the real reason why she was here; though she hadn't truly minded working a part time job, or two, while making just about five hundred biweekly to live. However, she had an agreement to uphold with her mother, to her family, so there was no backing out now.

After having allowed the bustling life on campus to steer her in several directions, from the soccer field, to the tennis courts, the visual arts building, and computer labs; the new girl had eventually found herself staring at a white board with large decorated letters reading: AUDITIONS!

Music notes were scattered about creatively with a sheet of paper to inform on lookers where to go if they were interested in joining the club. Of course, she had heard about one of the musical programs that were coming up, the rumor of auditions, and the fact that there was a known club that gave away specific scholarships, but she had never heard the name of this extracurricular before. It's entire existence was something that interested her, but also left her feeling a bit uneasy because she herself wasn't sure if she was ready to commit to something as complex as music. On her first day no less.

Eventually, the doughy chestnut eyed prep found herself standing behind this door with the sound of people bustling behind its metal hinges. With a strong push, her soft raven curls bounced as her head poked into the theater. Immediately she looked around while the sound of a dispute came from up ahead. There was a handsome group of people talking amongst themselves about choosing a number and Astrid did her best to not draw attention to herself as her hands brushed the soft cushions of the folded seats that led her to the center. The acoustics were amazing, the stage was beautiful, and the curtains reminded her of her childlike self. When she once had big dreams to become someone she no longer was.

For a short while she had absently minded until she wounded up near the light and the sound of singing caused her to look at the group up close for the first time. The melody was beautiful, short as it was, and the song that was sung had ultimately tugged at her lips as she bit back a smile. It was a good choice given the season anyways.

"Why not pick that?" She whispered to no one in particular. The urge to sing was already gnawing at her as she backed away from the stage and listened to the classical song of 'This is Halloween'.

She wasn't there to audition, but the least she could do was watch, right?

As time past a gorgeous girl began to speak, her tone clipped with authority while she was addressed an accumulated audience at the stage about auditions. "Next order of business is solo auditions. Who all will be auditioning for one this year, and I hope you already have a song in mind, because you've had all summer to think about it. If you don't have one in mind just stick to the group song so we don't waste time. After we can talk about duets and trio's if anyone was interested in that as well, then outfits if there is still time."

Should I do it? Should I audition? Astrid's indecisiveness was already causing her skin to crawl while she watched the lot of them congregate. No, she thought, this isn't happening. I'm not going to move. I'm just here to watch… this is fine. Yeah. I'm scoping them out to see if this is worth it. Totally not going to rush into anything.

astrid rowan day

coded by weldherwings.

 

[Andei]

nico | ベイリー仁琥
_____________________________​

"Why not start off with 'This is Halloween'?"

It only took the span of a single impressed blink for Nico to appreciate how someone had managed to recognise the tune from just a toneless tapping of his fingers. They either had a really sharp ear or had recently binge-watched some of that classic Tim Burton cinema goodness (many thanks to the gift that was Disney Plus). It took another blink to not be taken aback that it was Aurora who’d spoken up - he could only remember four occasions in the past semester when she’d spoken to him directly, including that one time she’d sort of squeaked when he told her off for putting an open soda can on the piano.

Nico was about to affirm her choice when he was cut off by Charlie’s incisive remark. He turned his head wearily to face the cheerleader. If Aurora had few words to say, here was one whose words could be a little fewer. Her expression matched the venomous disregard that dripped from her outburst as she stretched out against one of her legs on the floor so that her body formed a wide ‘V’. In his mind, he calmly and very deliberately splattered the word ‘Voldemort’ on the stage floor in imaginary ketchup, using Charlie as the ‘V’. Petty, but it was enough to ensure he was smiling by the time he opened his mouth to speak up-

"Excuse me, but no."

If anyone had been looking closely, really closely so that their only attention had been on spotting the changes in Nico’s expression, they might have noticed just the briefest tightening of the jaw, the tiniest furrowing of the brow, the most fleeting scrunch of the nose as Star unknowingly cut him off. Even as Zeph interceded between Charlie and Star (and pretty much everyone else), Nico was wearing his normal, relaxed - if not slightly stressed - half-smile, arms comfortably resting on top of the piano.

‘Great, awesome guys, loving this progress,’ Nico said, both thumbs held high. ‘So if there aren’t any other su… uhh… suggestions…?’ he paused and trailed off as Jarrod broke off from the discussion and winked at him as he went to stand centre-stage.

Did he just wink at me? Did I… miss a joke? If I did, I don’t think I got it. Was there a joke? Was he- oh. Nope, he was winking at her. Welp, that was weird and embarrassing. I’m glad that all happened in my head. Oh no, wait, he’s singing. Did I miss a memo or something?

As Jarrod concluded his unexpected verse and suggested that he take the solo, there was a silent intake of breath on Nico’s part that was somewhere between apprehension and irritation - apprehension that Star was going to tear him a new one for being so presumptuous, and irritation for that same presumptuousness that he could take solo just like that when his sister, the Hoshiko Bailey, was in literally the same room. So it was with similarly mixed feelings of relief and surprise that he watched Star smile and calmly remind him of the audition process. Nevertheless, he responded to her beaming face with a smile of his own.

“Next order of business is solo auditions.”

Aaaand she takes charge again.

Nico spotted someone approaching the stage as Hoshiko spoke, and his tired smile widened into a full grin as he recognised him as his friend Matt. He mouthed ‘What’s up?’ then tapped his watch as he passed, shaking his head in mock disappointment. As he did so, he noticed that someone else had entered the theatre room, and caught sight of a pair of big chestnut eyes watching from nearby. She had the type of face that he felt he ought to recognise from somewhere but just couldn’t quite place it, like a recurring character from that childhood animated series that got cancelled after its third season. She wasn’t sitting down, but she wasn’t coming any closer, which made it very difficult for Nico to figure out what her deal was.

But first things first.

‘Cool, let’s do the usual,’ he said as he ripped a sheet of lined paper from his notebook. ‘Run through all the proposed numbers, a verse and a chorus only. If it comes down to deciding between two for one slot, then we’ll hear the whole song. Give the chords and whatnot to the band and let them know what key you want it so they can sound awesome. You hear that, Matteo? You’ve got to sound awesome! You think you can handle that?’

He gave Matt a quick, friendly-but-totally-unapologetic thumbs up before continuing, ‘So write down what song we’re thinking about on here’ - he slid the sheet onto the stage along with a slightly cracked ballpoint pen - ‘whether it’s a solo or a duet or whatever, get all your sheet music in order then let’s get this thing rolling. Clock’s a-ticking.’

Assured that he’d bought himself at least a few minutes of order from the usual chaos, he turned around to approach the girl standing at the edge of attention. ‘Yo - can I help you?’

 

[apolla]

Aurora Reed

Location: edge of the stage

Outfit: Click!

Mood: shy ideas

Mentions: Hoshi ( Kitsune2202 ); Nico ( Andei ); Charlie ( EddieTeddie ); Zeph ( Winona ); Jarrod ( .empathogen. ); Matt ( 0k_mang0 );

Interactions: Astrid ( Astarte )

For someone who rarely spoke up, her idea seemed to be well received. Well, for the most part. She'd recognized the tune Nico was drumming with his fingertips almost instantly; Nightmare Before Christmas was one of her favorite movies. Charlie didn't seem to like the idea, but did she ever like an idea? Thankfully, Zeph stood up for Rori's idea, even calling Charlie's spotify idea lazy.

Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling, Rori looked away from the pair quickly. Her attention was quickly drawn to Jarrod as he stood, sending a wink in her direction that turned her face redder than if she were to perform even a snippet of a song like he did just now. But still, she couldn't help but be mesmerized by how he just gave no fucks.

Hoshi spoke up as well, and Rori smiled at the girl, glad that she of all people liked her idea. Her blush deepened, but thankfully, people stopped talking to her and they moved onto solo acts. As much as she wanted to apply for one, she knew she would never get it. Hell, she'd probably just fall off the stage again. Fuck.

With a soft sigh, she glanced back down at her feet. Nico was talking about the solos and duets, but at the end, he asked if he could help someone. For a frightened moment, Rori thought he was talking to her, but when she looked up she saw the beautiful brunette standing by the door. Rori lifted her hand to give her a small wave, though said nothing, just glanced behind her at the others to see what they thought of the newcomer.

coded by weldherwings.

 

[0k_mang0]

matteo

Matteo responded to Nico’s thumbs up by pressing his lips together in a sort of quiet, awkward smile. He wouldn’t be in this music club if he couldn’t handle it. Actually, he was kind of dragged into it against his will, more or less, but at least he had something to do after his classes.

While tuning his electric guitar, Matteo had noticed a new girl entering the theater room earlier, but he didn’t want to say anything earlier, for the sake of not interrupting the club meeting. The newcomer looked like she wanted to try joining in but was hesitant about it. Matt hoped Nico wouldn’t try anything to scare or annoy away a possibly potential new club member, especially if they might need more vocals for the “This Is Halloween” song and for the fall showcase in general. Well, he hoped Charlie didn’t scare the new girl away. She always looked like someone who could do that without much effort.

“Yeah, so… if you have your audition songs ready, let us know how you want the music arrangement to be so we can rehearse them with you,” Matt reminded the group. Gotta make sure they knew that the band couldn’t just magically know what to play like something out of a fictional TV show or something.

After fixing the guitar tuning, Matteo strummed the C, D, and G chords once to test the sound—yep, sounded all right now. Then he picked up the paper and pen that Nico took out before confronting the stranger and approached one of the members who almost looked startled for a moment for some reason. Aurora, that was the name he remembered. He noticed how quiet she was in the club most of the time, and he’d only been in the club for less than two months so far. She seemed quieter than Matt himself or maybe even Jarrod.

“You okay? You look a little tensed up,” he said, holding out the pen and paper to her.

mention Aurora apolla , Jarrod .empathogen. , Nico Andei , Astrid Astarte , Charlie EddieTeddie ​

 

[EddieTeddie]

♔ Charlie ♔​

It was obvious that the others weren’t big fans of Charlie’s suggestions. But then again she wasn’t a big fan of being there, so it was fair. And ‘lighten up a bit’? Yeah right. It wasn’t like she was gloomy and doomy by intention, it was just how she was. The days were tiring enough, and putting on a bright smile and pleasing everyone around her seemed like a waste of time. Why pretend like she was someone she was not?

Charlie rolled her eyes at Zeph’s comment, but didn’t say anything. She rolled her eyes even more when James? Jonah? Jarrick? Whatever his name was, started singing. He had a good voice, she wouldn’t deny that, but what’s up with people’s need to show off? (not that she was one to talk, with her short, skin-tight outfits)

Then came Hoshiko. Charlie didn’t dislike Hoshiko, she was pretty, talented and worked hard. But she was called Star. Which was a big pointy arrow on someone who thought they were better than everyone else. Charlie preferred her older brother Nico, just as talented, but with half the ego.

And who the fuck elected her as the leader? Charlie certainly hadn’t.

A part of her wanted to say a snarky comment, something like “Yes boss” or “yes mom,” but she knew that these people were way too sensitive and it would lead to yet another discussion. Which would make this meeting even longer. And Charlie just wanted to go home and take a nap before her evening dinner with her dear dear parents.

With a single push, she lifted herself up from the floor. She took quick steps over to where Nico had just ripped out a piece of paper. Charlie wrote down the necessary information before putting the pen and paper down again, only for one of the band geeks to pick it up again and give it to… whatever her name was.
Charlie noticed that some had turned their attention to something in the audience, she followed their attention to some unknown girl.

While the rest took a more careful approach to the person who had just walked in to their meeting, Charlie did not. “What do you want? This is a private meeting, so if you don’t have any important business, please leave” At least she didn’t curse at her.

 

[Winona]

Zeph

This meeting seemed to be starting off as a mess -- not that he would expect much else from this group, but it was still frustrating nonetheless. These silly debates over like... the choice of music, and people breaking into random song like Jarrod just had just left Zeph rolling his eyes and questioning his decision to be here. But Zeph just had to repeat to himself and remind himself why he was here: for the scholarship. Dancing like a clown so he could graduate.

He remained by the piano, watching as everyone discussed when Hoshiko came up and took over the meeting. It wasn't much of a surprise, Zeph had to admit, and his attention was focused on her. She was their undisputed leader, after all, and at least she seemed to have some kind of idea of how to actually run this meeting.

Attention was turned back to Nico, but only for a moment before some girl came out of what felt like nowhere and everyone's attention happened to shift to her -- Zeph's included.

Their conversation about the setlist seemed to fall away by the arrival of this new girl at the door. Zeph was just as interested as everyone else... okay, maybe not as interested. More curious than anything and he would've totally just ignored her, or probably not even noticed her lurking in the shadows... but the rest of the group kind of made that hard to do.

Everybody seemed to have the asking her questions down part, so Zeph decided to not give her another barrage of questions. Instead, he just stood, leaned against the piano, and watched this new girl and waited to see what she had to say.

Until a thought struck him.

"Wait, what if she's a spy for the competition?"

Andei apolla EddieTeddie Astarte 0k_mang0 Kitsune2202 .empathogen.​

 

[Kitsune2202]

Hoshiko B.

Tags: Winona apolla EddieTeddie Astarte 0k_mang0 .empathogen.​

It might've been the part of her that loved to be the center of attention, or perhaps the part of her that needed to have control over any situation. As someone who believed themselves to be the master of her own fate she needed a sense of logic and control alongside her creative outlets. They shined the best that way and now that the meeting seemed to actually be moving along she felt a sense of ease rest inside her. A proud smirk curled onto her lips as no one questioned her leadership and allowed her to continue on. Despite being only a sophomore and in the club for a year she was practically the president if there was such a position.

Nico's help in moving things along by putting out the sign up paper and reminding everyone what goes on it was nice. She only wished it was more of an official sign up form rather then a regular piece of paper ripped out of a journal. However they really didn't have time to be picky and create one right now. They were on a tight sepulchral with an immovable deadline fast approaching. She as always appreciated his help and guidance...but she does wish for more, or better from time to time. A cursed thought that always spins in her head thanks to her mother. She reminds herself and shakes the thought away though because there was no one better than her brother.

She noticed the new girl of course. Hoshi knew every single member so an oddball was bound to take notice. She was going to address it a bit more privately like she assumed Nico was going to go do, but being that they are the Bailey siblings enough eyes were on him that soon this new girl drew the attention of quite a few of the members. She sighed running her hand through her hair. Just when things were moving forward another distraction. If she was a new member fine people can say hello for a moment and welcome her, but if not she needed to leave and stop taking up their time.

"I hate to be rude but Charlie and Zeph are right. If you aren't here to audition as a member you need to leave. No spectators or previews." She says blatantly staring at her from on the stage. Agreeing with Charlie didn't happen too often but when it did that meant it was serious. "The rest of you." She snapped her attention to the rest of the Glee members, "We're gonna take a five minuet break for everyone to sign up who wants to, and the band to set up. Also write down any duets and small group or trio numbers you all had in mind. I want to get the audition process over TODAY. We only have a week to prep. We will save talk of outfits and performance order tomorrow, but be ready to start singing your piece or pieces in five minuets. We don't have time to waste with any more distractions."

With that she walked towards Matteo and Aurora. She simply took the paper and pen from him. Not entirely rudely, but she didn't like the fact he'd taken it away when there was plenty of people who needed to sign it who were ready to sign it in favor of trying to convince Aurora to consider it. She wrote down the necessary information and gave it back to him before walking away without a word to either of them. She knew nothing she would say would probably come out nice, so better to hold her tongue for the time being. She supposed it was a nice gesture of him to encourage Aurora to audition but if the girl had stage fright or something keeping her from being able to sign up on a piece of paper on her own, the stage wouldn't suit her.

She instead made her way back to the piano and sat waiting out the five minuets by playing a short melody of "Come little children" from Hocus Pocus hoping that people would hurry up signing the paper and this new girl would decide quickly to either audition or leave. If she didn't go towards the paper by the end of the five minuets she'd have someone escort her out. She didn't think of it as being rude, but simply this is a important event, and they couldn't let anything leak ahead of time or like Zeph pointed out get to their competitors this year. Especially if it's not them in a good light like right now being this behind for the showcase. It's not a good look.

 

[Astarte]

Astrid rowan day

❛ We can never flee the misery that is within us. ❜

"Yo, can I help you?" It wasn't as though she was pulled out of some sort of trance when she looked up at the guy who addressed her, but she definitely had appreciated the question. Personally, Astrid needed to know where the schedules were posted on campus pertaining to the café, or if the campus was a little bit more modern had fast food joints on campus in the café area. Missing the chance to ask this earlier, she started to answer the dude's question with: "Yes, actually, i'm sorry for interr–" but maybe she was being too polite or something? Was her voice too soft? Was she not vocal enough to be heard because shortly after tall, dark, and handsome questioned her, some girl with these 'too-good-to-be-here' facial expressions exuded this energy that sorta screamed bitch.

Although, Astrid can easily read between the lines, the first impressions weren't off to a good start. Even if she swore someone waved at her, the speculation that she was some sort of spy, and the fact that she was being told to audition or leave, left her not wanting to waste a second further in their vicinity.

"Right, I don't want to join this high school drama club," though it was intended to be a whisper, she didn't care too much if anyone heard her as she pressed on, turning her head and approaching dark, tall, and handsome while doing her best to tune everyone else out.

"I'm new, and I was actually hoping to get an informative tour of the campus," with a flick of her long dark hair, Astrid stared up at him with her dark eyes and naturally long lashes inviting him towards her with a gaze that wasn't intended to be flirtatious, as she continued, "and I don't want you to feel pressured. I see that you're obviously busy with," she turned and looked at the bitch that addressed her with formal hostility before continuing, "rehearsal. I can put my headphones in and tune the rest of you out, stay completely out of the way in the process. I can assure you – I don't sing. Today's my first day, so what do you say … ? I'm sorry, what did you say your name was? I'm Astrid."

Attempting to charm him with a smile, her arm rested on the stage as she waited for his response. Honestly speaking, Astrid was hoping that she could stay because she didn't know where else to go, and it felt like her stomach was doing flips while she noticed her blood sugar was a bit low. The girl absolutely needed someone reliable to show her the way to the nearest vending machine or café in the process, but if that didn't happen then who's to say she wouldn't lurk around outside of the theater until someone leaves?

They don't own the place, so she could do as she pleased.

Winona apolla EddieTeddie 0k_mang0 .empathogen. Andei

coded by weldherwings.

 

[.empathogen.]

jarrod.

Whoever the new girl was, she had a rude presence and an even rudder mouth on her. There was something about her stance that really didn't sit right with him. She was barking pretty loud but had no bite to it.

"Anywayyyy..." He yawned, trying to shift the topic anywhere but where it was. He walked over to the piano, where the audition clipboard usually was and pulled a pen almost out of nowhere. And here came the easy part: solo song picks. He neatly scrawled his name out in the bubbly letters--that highly contradicted his other traits--underneath the "solos" line.

Right beside it, he wrote his song choice out: "Drive" by Incubus. It had an indie rock feel with some ranges he liked to embellish on every time he sang it. There was a video on youtube where he drunkenly sang the first few verses before throwing up but none of the other tone-heads were ever gonna find it...EVER. He held out the clipboard, tapping the toe of his fairly new Osiris kicks in a 3/4 rythym.

"Are you guys gonna sign up or what?" He asked, the tapping getting slightly more aggressive, "It's too early in the day to play chicken."

 

[apolla]

Aurora Reed

Location: edge of the stage

Outfit: Click!

Mood: shy ideas

Mentions: Hoshi ( Kitsune2202 ); Nico ( Andei ); Charlie ( EddieTeddie ); Zeph ( Winona ); Jarrod ( .empathogen. ); Matt ( 0k_mang0 ); Astrid ( Astarte )

Interactions: most of them

Aurora was too busy focusing on the newcomer to realize that Matteo had grabbed the sign up sheet and was making his way towards her. She heard his voice before she sensed his presence, and the suddenness of it caused her to jump slightly. “You okay? You look a little tensed up,” She turned her head to face him, finding the sign in sheet first and then lifting her gaze to his. She'd never done a solo before, not because she didn't want to, but because... well, she was the quiet one. The shy girl, the girl who never made waves.

Speaking up about their opening song, in fact, had been the first big suggestion she'd given all year. And to her surprise, it'd been warmly received, and that had made her smile. But signing up for a solo? That was... no. She couldn't. Could she? No. Then why was her hand reaching out for the sheet? She took it from him and stared down at it, hearing Charlie's voice in the background as she snapped at the new girl.

Rori looked up just as Zeph spoke, asking if she was a spy for the competition. Rori's eyes sought out the other girl again, a small yet amused smile tugging at her lips. It was an absurd notion, wasn't it? Handing the paper back to Matteo without signing it, Rori pushed herself to her feet and glanced over at Hoshi, her words towards the stranger curt and unwelcoming. After that, she made her way to the piano. Rori recognized the tune of Come Little Children and hummed along quietly.

And then the new girl made her way to the stage, her eyes on Nico. Rori let her humming trail off, her eyebrows lifting slightly at the girls words. A quiet settled over the room for a few moments, until Jarrod spoke, effectively breaking it by asking if anyone else was going to sign up. Rori looked around at the others in the group, and then decided something in her mind. "I could maybe do a duet with someone."

coded by weldherwings.

 

[Andei]

nico | ベイリー仁琥
_____________________________​

Nico had assumed that the club members, being at least nominally functioning adults of an arguably well-functioning society, would be sufficiently engaged by the simple task of writing their name and desires on a piece of paper to spare him two minutes of order.

But of course, when you assume, you only serve to make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.

Let alone two minutes, it was barely two seconds before the unfamiliar-but-familiar-but-pretty-much-unfamiliar girl’s attempted reply was cut short by a far-too-familiar voice and its characteristically brutal sharpness.

“What do you want?” Charlie interrupted with all the subtlety of a cocked shotgun. “This is a private meeting, so if you don’t have any important business, please leave.”

For the second time in the past ten minutes, Nico turned towards the cheerleader stood behind him, and thanks to his years of stage experience and dramatic expertise with non-verbal communication, he was able to relay through his facial expression alone something along the lines of, ‘are you deliberately trying to make bubbles out of this poor girl, you sea-witch’ (or, depending on how you read his furrowed eyebrows, it could also be read as ‘did you forget to poo before your dumb cheerleading rehearsal’).

But that didn’t stop Mr. Right-Cross from following up Charlie’s left jab.

"Wait, what if she's a spy for the competition?" Zeph opined (remarkably loudly) from the piano.

Nico’s face dropped into a look of dumbfounded disbelief at what had just come out of this guy’s mouth. He had always believed in Zeph to not be a stupid guy, regardless of how much the athlete made out that he didn’t care either way, but Nico had to wonder whether he did have his moments when he just didn’t take that extra second to think before he spoke. He was not a stupid guy, but surely he knew there were very few ways in which that remark could have been taken well.

He opened his mouth to try and placate the rising tension when the all-too-recognisable voice of his sister came loud, clear and noticeably on edge from the stage: "I hate to be rude but Charlie and Zeph are right.”

You’re agreeing with Charlie? Did you also sign away your soul to her in exchange for a mermaid tail on weekends?!

“If you aren't here to audition as a member you need to leave. No spectators or previews."

Aaaand that’s the big left hook. Nico did a mental sigh as he carefully avoided catching the new girl’s gaze, not a little embarrassed at the way the club was coming across.

Star continued, "The rest of you. We're gonna take a five minute break for everyone to sign up who wants to, and the band to set up. Also write down any duets and small group or trio numbers...”

In spite of the awkward mess she’d left in her wake, he had to hand it to her - the manner in which Star was able to take charge of a situation despite being among the youngest in the club was a testament to the level of respect she commanded. Being her brother, he’d had a front-row seat to similar episodes his whole life, but even now it never failed to impress - as she walked purposefully towards the piano, it was like the space trembled beneath her feet as if cowering in the shadows thrown by the footsteps of the giant that was Hoshiko Bailey.

‘Matt, just leave me blank for now,’ he called out to his friend just before Star took the paper from him.

"Right, I don't want to join this high school drama club."

Eh? Nico’s attention was suddenly wrenched back to the newcomer, his mind having not quite caught up with his senses as he registered what she’d just said in a voice just above a whisper. Then suddenly, it was like she had stepped right up into his vision (Why are her eyes so big, those eyelashes are literally taking over her face, he thought) as she said to him at a slightly more audible volume, "I'm new, and I was actually hoping to get an informative tour of the campus, and I don't want you to feel pressured. I see that you're obviously busy with… rehearsal,” she added with a pointed look over to the side. Nico deliberately didn’t follow her gaze as he didn’t really want to know whether it was aimed at Charlie, Zeph or Star. Contrary to his association with the dramatic arts, Nico Bailey wanted zero association with any manner of real-life drama. It was just that it seemed to find him one way or another - maybe he was just living in denial of the fact that this particular club came with its own take on ‘dysfunctional’ as part of the package.

“I can put my headphones in and tune the rest of you out, stay completely out of the way in the process,” the girl continued. “I can assure you – I don't sing. Today's my first day, so what do you say … ? I'm sorry, what did you say your name was? I'm Astrid."

‘Oh, uhh… for sure. Welcome to Corkwood, Astrid,’ Nico stumbled slightly, trying to figure out how to best navigate Astrid’s clearly bruised feelings and his club commitments (which admittedly felt like were burning down around him by the second). ‘I’m Nico - junior, majoring in music. Nice to meet you, buddy. And um... yeah, sorry for the weird reaction from the guys, it’s like just before competition season and we’re behind on our prep so things are a bit tense. They’re usually not prickly at all… well, I mean, they’re not as prickl-‘

"Are you guys gonna sign up or what?” came Jarrod’s voice from beside the piano, dripping impatience. “It's too early in the day to play chicken."

Nico fiercely resisted the almost involuntary urge to bury his face in his hands. If I ever get an Oscar for something, it should be for not showing on my face how done I am with this moment right now, he thought painfully.

Covering his internal agony with a quick, easy smile he counted four beats in his head. On eight, I’ll be a welcoming, unfazed, respectable upperclassman who is totally on top of this nonsense. Okay. Five, six, seven, eight-

‘What I mean to say is, if you came wanting to audition, I’m all for it and we’ll back you all the way,’ Nico said reassuringly. ‘If you really don’t sing or you don’t want to get up on stage, that’s fine too. But… uhh well, I mean, it’s not like… I think having someone watching an audition when they’re not involved in the process might be a teeny bit inappropri- hey, you feeling okay?’

His apologetic expression shifted to one of concern as he noticed the way she was resting her arm on the stage, and maybe he was seeing things or perhaps it was just the light, but her face appeared a little pale and her lips looked like they were trembling ever so slightly. Even if it was all in his head, better to look silly than risk a medical situation. Then they’d really never get round to auditioning. In an innocuous a voice as he could manage so as to not draw attention, he asked her, ‘You feeling under the weather? Do you need to sit down?’

He glanced up and scanned the room briefly before settling on Aurora. Hoping to catch her gaze, he tilted his head slightly, motioning to her to come over. On record, Aurora had the demonstrated conversation capacity of a rabbit, but she was a nice girl and she would take care of Astrid if she really did feel ill.

Star is not gonna take well to any further distractions, especially from Astrid. Ah man... this much drama and we haven’t even done any singing yet.

Nico paused as he remembered a certain blond-haired student who had taken to the stage earlier that afternoon. Darn it, Jarrod! Your singing summoned drama to this room - this is totally and illogically your fault!

 

[0k_mang0]

matteo

Matteo couldn’t help but roll his eyes as the other members gave a rather unnecessary cold welcoming to the stranger.

“No wonder why no one wants to join this club,” he muttered under his breath, putting the audition sign-in paper on a table nearby—he scribbled Nico’s name with a blank underline next to it for his friend to fill it out later. Aurora was okay in his book, and so was Nico in some way, but the rest didn’t seem to have the greatest people skills. How else would it explain why the club had only 6 members? (Not including Matty and the band.) He had heard whispers throughout this school. Usually, he tried not to mind rumors, but my goodness, they were acting low-key paranoid towards one girl who had barely been here for five minutes. The cynicism in his generation was persistent.

Matteo heard the new girl, who later said her name was Astrid, describe the group as a high school drama club, and he snorted a light chuckle. She wasn’t wrong, this club was like a high school drama club, if it didn’t have any teacher supervision. Sometimes the drama itself was like one, too.

“Let her stick around, Nico. Maybe she’ll find a reason to change her mind later,” Matteo suggested. Just as he started striding back to the band instruments, he glanced back at Aurora when he heard her mention trying a duet.

“If you need any help with a duet, I'm free," he said. Matt wasn't sure why he said that out loud to her. He didn't want her to feel pressured to do anything, but he knew Aurora needed some kind of nudge to encourage her. "Or I can just help you figure out which song you want to play, if you really want a duet or not... you're choice. I always got a lot of free ideas."

TAGS: apolla , Andei , Astarte
LOCATION: theater, going upstage

 

[EddieTeddie]

​

- location.
the auditorium
- interactions.
everyone?
- mood.
Restless
- outfit.
x

Charlie was expecting everyone to disagree with her, as always, but was surprised to hear Zeph come with an equally aggressive statement towards the lost puppy. She agreed, but then again everyone was competition in her world. If the stranger hadn’t come to audition and compete against them for one of the spots, she was after something else.

Even more surprisingly, Hoshiko agreed with her, and she admitted it herself. Charlie raised a brow as glanced over at the only person with a bigger ego than herself in the room. The stranger, Astrid, introduced herself as a new student. While Charlie had her doubts, she always did, she decided not to say more. At the mention of her not wanting to join their little disaster club, Charlie wanted nothing more than to express how much she agreed. She didn’t want to be there, she wanted to be anywhere else, on the court, on the dancefloor, or just catching a break. A couple times she even thought that having dinner with her parents would be better, but that was rare.

Though she said nothing, she had noticed Nico’s clear disdain for her, it was very subtle but she had a lot of experience in reading other’s less pleasant feelings about her. Most people in the club felt the same.

It didn’t matter. People could like her or hate her, as long as they didn’t get in her way. Charlie had no intention nor any need to make friends. Everyone was competition, friends were for unambitious fools who were tricked by idle words of approval.

Once again Hoshiko took control of the meeting and led it forwards. At cheer it was Charlie’s job, ordering around 20 something girls that wanted nothing more than pulling her down from her spot and taking it for themselves. Though she wasn’t necessarily fond of the self appointed leader, she was grateful that things seemed to move along, even if only slightly.

Charlie paced the stage for a good minute before she pulled out her hand held mirror and checked herself. The short shower she had managed before running to the auditorium had smeared out the concealer she had blended under her eyes to cover dark circles. She let out a deep sigh, and from her bag she found the only thing that could hide the soul consuming exhaustion that made every night restless. With practiced precision she covered the dark circles and put on a soft pink lipstick. She still felt naked, uncomfortable, with too many of her imperfections on display.

When about 5 minutes had passed, she pulled out her phone and found the lyrics to her song. “I put a spell on you,” by Annie Lennox, with the instructions to the band to speed it up a tiny bit. She had practiced the actual song quite a bit, but had yet to make a decent choreography to it. The last week and the cheer performance had forced her to focus only on the actual song. She looked forward to making the dance though, as she always did. Dance was her pastime, her hobby, while cheer was her chore, her life.

As she waited for their little break to end, Charlie found herself growing restless, she normally always was. Without her noticing, her finger had twisted it’s way into her hair and was twirling it around.

“If everyone has written down their songs, can we start?” It took all she had to not have her usual tone, the one that was always annoyed and spiteful.

♔ Charlie McKenzie ♔

coded by incandescent

 

[Winona]

fillerfillerfillfillerfillerfillerlerfilelifr 7:45 AM fillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfilr

Zephyr

INTERACTIONS

Everyone

MENTIONS

N/A

TAGS

Pfft

For the most part, Zephyr was content when everyone kind of started doing their own thing and started talking to one another. It was easy enough of an opportunity for him to kind of step to the side and let whatever might happen happen. When it came to actually putting in a fair amount of work, Zeph tended to...

Not.

It wasn't that he was lazy -- far from it, actually -- it was just that when it came to picking out a set of songs to do or... anything else for the club, really, Zeph's mind would kind of blank. He didn't know what songs went with what, nor did he really care too much to sit around and try to put thought into it.

So he moved off to the side of the stage to relax and wait. Eventually, he knew someone would call them all back together and then his break and momentary lapse of not having to do anything would be cut short. But for now, he took to sitting back down at the edge of the stage, and pulled his phone out to just... distract himself.

Give himself something to do before one of the people that usually spoke up and demanded authority spoke up.

And as luck would have it, Zeph didn't even have to wait that long until someone did. Just not quite the person he was expecting -- instead of it being Nico or Hoshiko, it was Charlie. Which, okay, wasn't actually that big of a surprise. She was kind of loud, kind of demanding, and kind of impatient so he wasn't super surprised when she tried to call everyone back together.

He pushed himself back to his feet, dropping his phone back into his pocket as he did so, and started to approach the middle of the stage again -- but for now, and per usual, he didn't say anything.

Zeph was just here to dance or sing whenever they asked him to. But aside from that? He didn't speak much.

code by ditto (head empty go bonk)​

 

[apolla]

Aurora Reed

Location: by the piano

Outfit: Click!

Mood: shy ideas

Mentions: Hoshi ( Kitsune2202 ); Nico ( Andei ); Charlie ( EddieTeddie ); Zeph ( Winona ); Jarrod ( .empathogen. ); Matt ( 0k_mang0 ); Astrid ( Astarte )

Interactions: most of them

She didn't know what made her say it. Aurora had never done a solo, not even a duet with anyone in the almost two years she'd been in the club. Maybe it was the fact that her first big suggestion ever was warmly received, or maybe it was a random streak of boldness, but the words were out there. For a moment, she thought maybe no one heard, and she could go back to being the shy and quiet girl. No one had said anything, or made any sign to note that she'd said anything, so she started breathing a sigh of relief.

And then Matteo turned his head in her direction, and she knew he'd heard. Her lips parted to respond when he said he could help, but for a moment nothing came out. And then, she squeaked out an "okay", glancing at the others, as if worried someone else had heard and would have something to say. She glanced down at the piano, but looked back up when she heard Nico ask the new girl if she needed to sit down. She caught his gaze as he nodded for her to come closer, and she glanced over at Matteo quickly.

"I'm down." She told him in her second streak of boldness. Smiling shyly, she returned her attention to Nico and then to Astrid as she moved closer to the edge of the stage. Dropping her legs over the side, she sat on the edge again, purposefully not looking down at the ground. "Are you okay?" She asked the girl, her voice soft but genuine.

Charlie distracted Aurora for a moment, asking if they could get started. Feeling the familiar excitement bubbling up in her gut, she returned her attention to Astrid. "Stick around for a bit. Sit if you need to." She leaned closer to whisper, "I promise, they don't bite. Their bark is worse." She grinned, and then pushed herself back up, turning around to face the rest of them. "Let's start, then."

coded by weldherwings.