Dori's Audition

[x-wolfcub.livejournal.com]

Nick tries to calm down a nervous Dori after her attempt at an audition.



Doreen wasn’t sure what had possessed her to try this in the first place. She wasn’t sure how long she had been standing on the stage with the script in hand, deafening silence ringing in her overly sensitive ears. But it had been long enough. She opened her mouth a few times and no sound came out. All she could think about was at some point there’d be a lot of people in the audience staring at her.

It was right then she decided she couldn’t take it. She dropped the script and took off backstage, leaving Monkey Joe onstage with the dropped copy of the script. Nononono no!

Already done with his audition, Nicholas Gleason was walking around backstage, still worried about how it had gone, but excited none the less that Xavier's would actually be doing a play this year. But unfortunately his distraction had clouded his senses, as he barely got his eyes up to a level position when he was nearly bowled over by the charging Doreen. "Whoa! Whoa!" He held up his hands in an attempt to stop her. "What happened? Is something on fire?"

“No,” Doreen managed, “I… I just can’t do it. I can’t do it,” she stammered.

Nick's eyes were wide with confusion. It was true that he wasn't that great at reading people, but he was pretty sure that the confusions was justified in this situation. "Hold up just a bit. You can't do what now?"

“I…” Doreen tried to think of a way she could put into words what just happened. “…Sort of blew the audition. I guess. Maybe.”

Totally and completely, in fact.

Nick took a step back. "First audition?" He remembered how anxious he used to be when he first started doing theater productions. "They can get a little rough." He pointed with his hand back towards one of the chairs set up for some of the productions crew. "You wanna sit and talk about it."

“I… don’t know. I don’t like people staring at me,” she said, inching towards the chair. Her tail was fluffed up now, a few times it’s normal size, “I can’t do anything like this.”


Sticking his hands in his pockets, Nick followed behind the girl, not wanting to push her or to make her any more upset. "I know it can be a little... unsettling. But are your nerves starting to calm down?" He had to push himself backwards to avoid her tail as he still tried to wrap his head around the situation.

Her heart was still racing in her chest. Doreen couldn’t understand people who found this pleasant. “…I don’t know,” Doreen admitted, “I didn’t really like it at all.”

Nick swung his leg around one of the chair and lowered himself down, deciding that this was better than being submitted to a face full of fur every few steps. "I know what you mean. Back when I started, I really hated all of this stuff. The people staring at me was the worst."

“People stare at me anyway. I don’t want them staring at me on stage too,” she said, looking down at the floor.

Nick let a small smirk pull up the corners of his mouth. "I know what you mean." He scooted the chair a few inches closer to Dori, hoping to at least give her comfort in his closeness. "But I found that doing the theatre thing has helped me getting used to people looking at me."

“Yeah, well, that’s great. But I don’t want any more people staring at me,” Doreen admitted, “It’s not as bad I guess when there’s not a spot light on you.”

"Well not all of the things force a spotlight on you ya know?" The boy flashed a warm smile in her direction. "There's plenty of ways you can be 'part of the show' without dancing around in front of everyone."

“Like what?” Doreen asked, she assumed most of the stage work was going to be done by adults, and her own reaction had shown her just how well she handled the stage life.

Nick shrugged for for a second as he pushed a huge clump of hair away from his face. "Well when I first started off, I was a member of the run crew. You do stuff like make sure the actors have their props, everything looks ok during the show, stuff like that. Plus then you'd be able to hang out with all of us backstage during the show." He winked slight at the girl, hoping that she was calming down.

“I thought the adults were going to be doing that sort of stuff,” Doreen said, sitting down, her tail wrapping around her.


Smirking, Nick continued on. "Not necessarily. I did it when I was younger than you are, and I'm sure that Professor Sefton would be more than welcoming to have you on the set."

“If… you’re sure, I mean, I don’t want to be a bother,” Doreen said. She paused when Monkey Joe ran up to her, clicking and squeaking excitedly, “What? What do you mean you think you got a part?!”

Nick couldn't help but laugh. "Well that settles it. How could you crush Monkey Joe's dreams of his big debut on stage?"

“But he can’t even read!” Doreen returned and then looked down at Monkey Joe who started to protest, “What? You can’t! Oh well, if I don’t he’ll come down on his own anyway.”

A smile on his face and leaning back, Nick went on a different route. "Well I'm sure all of us would love for you to be here. We need your help."

“Need my help with what?” Doreen asked, confused.

"Making sure this show goes up without a hitch, and making sure our newest spot light hog stays in line." The boy gave a quick nod down towards Monkey Joe.

“Okay, I mean, if you really think I could do a good job,” Doreen said, picking up Monkey Joe.

"I don't think anyone could do it better." Nick said with a nod as he rose up to his feet. "Would you like me to go talk to the production people with you?"

“Sure,” Doreen said, putting her friend on her shoulder.

"Happy to have you on board," Nick said as he took his place next to the girl. "Now let's go find those producers."