Season of Fall, Day 63, 513 AV
The scene was interrupted by another actor running up, seemingly out of breath, announcing the arrival of the Alahean forces two days early. The commander did not act surprised, although the soldiers beneath him certainly did, and a controlled murmur rippled through them. This was not what they had planned, they growled, and the tension on the stage was beginning to rise. The commander drew himself up to full height and glared down at the men, daring them to disobey the orders from their king himself. For king and country. The soldiers of the Suvan were nothing if not loyal. The men backed down.
Jorin's character had been silent throughout this, but when it came time for him to speak, he was somewhat distracted. The grumbling amongst the men meant that the men were also milling about which mean Jorin could take the opportunity to sneak a peek back at his beautiful mate... who was being
touched by that little petching understudy! Jorin couldn't help the hot flames of jealousy rise in his chest seeing the boy
kiss her hand, before trying to wrap his arms around her after whispering in her ear. Who the
petch did that little shyke think he was?! Even Rhys, as far as Jorin figured, didn't try that sort of thing
immediately, and at least that man had the somewhat excuse of being Rinya's work-mate. This kid...
The worst thing was, he couldn't display this jealousy on-stage. Fortunately, the next scene required a bit of anger. Good. Anger he could do. Anger he could
definitely do.
"So we're just supposed to walk into a trap?!" Jorin asked hotly, his face red and brow furrowed, and one could practically see the dark raincloud over his head. The hot jealousy still raged in his heart, and he could feel Rinya's own discomfort and upset roiling inside with his own. He felt better knowing that she had unequivocally rejected that little shyke's advances, but still...! What was most annoying was, Jorin was fairly certain that fresh-faced young man was the one who replaced
him when he had been injured in the hospital. Who said Lhex didn't have a sense of humor?
The commander seemed taken aback at Jorin's outburst, calmly explaining that orders were orders, and that obeying them was the most important thing for a soldier of the Suvan army.
"More important than tactics? More important than doing the intelligent thing? More important than winning?!" Jorin pressed, his teeth gritted as he continued to think about that stupid kid wrapping his arms around
his mate. It wasn't that he didn't trust Rinya implicitly. He did. In fact, even if he hadn't seen it he was absolutely certain she'd reject the kid as firmly and completely as possible, just like he'd reject any and all advances from anyone who wasn't Rinya. But the fact that the kid would
dare put his hands on her, and like
that, after knowing Rinya for all of two chimes...
Jorin almost missed the commander's speech about how orders were life, and that yes, they
were more important than those things, because only those in command could truly see the big picture, and those who tried to rise above their station only got hammered back down. A standard response from someone of that era, apparently, if any of the other plays set during the Valterrian was any indication. The army of the Suvan empire was very regimented, from all accounts.
"An order is pointless if it fails to achieve the goals it was given to accomplish," Jorin concluded. He did in fact agree with this sentiment, but the lead actor's character didn't. Now turning his full fury to Jorin, the actor stuck a finger into Jorin's chest and demanded that he hand over his weapon for insubordination. There was a moment of heavy tension as Jorin stared right back defiantly at his "commander", both actors using the utmost of their skill to portray a tense moment. Then, without a word, Jorin drew his wooden sword, and hurled it to the ground, before stomping off-stage, his frustration and fury only partially acted.
Oh how Jorin would love to go looking for that understudy and give him a piece of his mind. That kid only had a job because he'd begged the Amphitheater much like Jorin had begged the Thespians. In some sense one could say Jorin had given the kid a chance; he could have just as easily argued against hiring on another understudy. After all, as the man who balanced the books around the place, Jorin had the de-facto authority to claim they simply didn't have the seasonal funds to take on any new hires, and the vast majority of the Amphitheater employees would simply take his word for it. And
that was how the ungrateful little petcher repaid him?
But unfortunately, Jorin was onstage for the next scene as well. He had all of twenty-five chimes, enough for a short scene between the captain and the other soldiers, before he had to be back onstage. Striding to the actor's box, Jorin wanted to just
be with Rinya again. Because the emotions roiling in his gut served him well, ironically, for the scene he just did, but wouldn't for the scene he was going to do.
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The young understudy stumbled back a bit when Rinya struck him in the stomach with her elbow. In his youthful exuberance, he simply assumed that she did that by accident through exaggerated motion. Gods knew, they exaggerated motion enough in their art so he just assumed that was what she was doing, still under the assumption that she was a fellow understudy. To her apology and assertion that she didn't like to be touched, the young man simply grinned his easy grin at her and winked. He was sure he could change her mind about that. And she said she could learn those signals later... he could teach her then.
But then the girl said something surprising. She was into... girls? Well, he'd heard about that, but in Riverfall it was quite rare and actually considered
selfish. The Akalak frowned upon women who cut themselves off from being Nakivaks in that fashion. And many such women lay with an Akalak regardless, simply to avoid the stigma. If this girl was into other girls, perhaps she'd be willing to lay with
him, just to prove that she was not to be a burden to the city? Of course, him not being an Akalak could prove a problem with that plan, but one problem at a time.
"Well, nobody's perfect," the boy grinned.
"Just because you're more into girls doesn't mean you can't be into guys, right?" he smirked, leaning in a bit.
"Alright, next scene's in twenty, we might need to-" Jorin froze as he arrived at the actor's box, in time to see the young understudy leaning over Rinya, one arm against the wall behind her. When the understudy caught a glimpse of Jorin, his eyes narrowed slightly. What the petch was an
actor doing here? They were usually far too high-and-mighty to hang around with the understudy, even if Jorin was one of the more personable ones.
Glancing down at Rinya, he grinned. He'd seen Jorin glance over at the girl once or twice during the performance. At the time, the understudy assumed the actor was simply looking to
him for further stage direction. But perhaps the pretty little thing had caught Jorin's eye too. Well too bad. He saw her first.
Taking a bold move, the understudy decided to push off the wall and wrap the arm around Rinya's waist, drawing her close to him as he grinned at Jorin and gave him a little wave.
"Well hello there, Jorin!" he called out in a friendly manner, making sure his voice wasn't so loud that it could be heard on stage.
"Was there something you needed with my girl?" And as the understudy said the word "my", he gave Rinya's waist a little squeeze.
