Season of Fall, Day 33, 513 AV
The poor actor looked absolutely mortified to have caused Krima so much trouble. Jorin just sighed heavily as he watched the man's face. He clearly needed more acting lessons; his expressions were showing all over his visage. It was quite embarrassing to the Art, really. Jorin had always kept a cool, collected look on stage, even when things go wrong.
Especially when things go wrong. And they always did.
"Look, we have curtain in ten chimes," he told the actor firmly.
"Krima has got this handled, just get the other actors ready. And for Priskil's sake, please don't rip any more of our costumes."While he had been saying this, Krima had snatched the ripped shirt from the pirate's hands and had already examined it. Jorin couldn't really read her expression, and he grimaced internally. The truth was, Rinya spoiled him, in some ways. Their bond was so open, so strong, that he'd never really bothered to learn subtle facial expressions. He'd really need to rectify that; actors needed to know such small cues, if only so that they'd be able to duplicate them on stage.
Krima joked about starting a trend of bare chests, to which Jorin grinned and joked back at her,
"Well, the female members of the audience seem to approve!"He nodded when Krima noted she needed to repair the shirt, and quickly. For their next scene, Jorin and his pirate friend would be discussing their plans to lure the Merchant Captain into a trap. Technically, since the man's identity was now "known", he could walk up there shirtless again. Everything would be perfect, except the scene was supposed to be taking place in
Avanthal. It would shatter suspension of disbelief to have a pair of pirates shirtless in Avanthal. Anyone who'd ever heard of Morwen's beautiful frozen city would know that being shirtless there would not make any sense.
But what else was new? Yet another disaster to fix, another crisis to avert. No production Jorin had ever been in, including the ones with the Thespians, had been without everything single thing falling apart behind the scenes, with props going missing and shirts being torn and someone vomiting in the back because they ate a dozen raw eggs on a dare and now they couldn't keep their lunch down. There was always
something.
"Of course!" Jorin nodded, voice full of confidence he didn't really feel. There were times when Jorin was glad Rinya wasn't there to see him act. He knew their bond would tell her instantly that he was
never confident when he acted like this. In fact, the less confident he was, usually the more he'd puff out his chest and assure everyone he knew what he was doing.
It wasn't so much that he wanted to lie, it was just that, fear and doubt usually led to puttering around, and that never accomplished anything. People
responded to confidence. He just needed to be careful, lest he started to slide into
arrogance. But while Jorin was many things, he was quite sure arrogant wasn't one of them.
Dashing off to the Pit, where the other actors were gathered, Jorin cleared his throat, trying to get the attention of the actors who were milling about the area. The Pit was a small indentation just behind the Amphitheater stage, and it was a common gathering-ground for actors of that venue since it was conveniently located and, well, everyone else did it.
"If I could have everyone's attention..." Jorin began, clearing his throat a bit. The milling stopped slightly, but some of the actors were still talking among themselves. Jorin cleared his throat again, but it didn't seem to help, so he raised his voice a bit.
"Everyone, listen," he repeated, calmly but firmly, his voice carrying across the small space and bouncing back at him. The ones milling around turned to him curiously.
"As you may know, we're up on stage in five," he explained.
"Since a few of our costumes have met... unfortunate consequences, we are going to have to get creative about how this is going to work.""Getting creative" was Jorin-parlance for "improvisation". It was something he'd always been good at, and it had driven poor Eric up the
wall. But it was times like now that it came in handy.
"OK so you know the next scene's in Avanthal," he announced, and silently observed the wave of nods.
"Well, obviously we can't go up there bare-chested. But since our costumes are currently being repaired, we'll need to 'borrow' a few from the third act."It was a dangerous play. The costumes were there, of course, but they weren't quite correct. They were specifically sewn to
look ratty and unkempt, since by that scene Jorin's character, and his crew, was supposed to be pretending to be beggars. He needed a way to disguise the appearance of these costumes.
His eyes fell on the fall jackets some of the actors had brought. It was not unusual for actors to use their own clothing when costumes fell short, but the problem was that the personal clothing of actors rarely matched. Nonetheless he sprang for the haphazard pile of coats, looking for two that at least superficially matched. After around ten chimes he returned triumphantly with two fall jackets that at least were the same color, though one was more a tan brown and the other more a forest-y brown.
"These will have to do," he announced, his green eyes firm to silence the groans from the two individuals he'd swiped the jackets from. Jorin just shrugged internally. The show
must go on. Nodding to the other actors, they all dispersed, the other pirate coming with him to the actor's box. The curtain rose, and they both stepped onto the stage, throwing on the coats to cover the rattiness of the costumes underneath.
"Well, Sorkin, I've followed you from port to port, from city to city, and now we're here in the frozen north, and still I have not seen hide nor hair of our foe," the pirate growled. Jorin just shook his head. He knew, of course, as did every other actor who'd read the script, that the plot had "Gareth" sailing up to Avanthal himself. But of course, Sorkin did not.
"So long as our hearts are stout and our arms strong, we shall meet our foe soon enough," Jorin replied, his face stern and angry as he growled back at the other actor.
"You have been questioning my orders more often as of late. What distresses you, my friend?"The other pirate sighed, drawing in his jacket a bit closer. The action served two purposes; to the audience it would seem he was cold, which made sense since the scene was occurring in snowy Avanthal. But the hem was slipping and the costume underneath was showing, and the action successfully hid it from the prying eyes of the watching audience.
"I have followed you because the food was plentiful and the Mizas flowed. Now the food is gone and the Mizas seem to go with them. Why should I stay, when so many others have gone?"Jorin drew himself up, leaning into the other pirate in a threatening manner, eyes glinting with fury.
"I am still Sorkin! Ghost of the Suvan! Do not forget that. This Gareth may have had a few successes, but I shall win in the end."Throwing his arms out dramatically, Jorin swung his head to the heavens.
"Do you hear that?!" he shouted at the heavens, voice echoing to the back reaches of the Amphitheater.
"I shall have my satisfaction!"
. I'll do better next post, I promise!