Chapter 4:
I trudged into my dressing room, Laura's smile seeming to blind my tired brain.
'How'd it go?' she beamed, gently leading me to a chair to do my make-up. She examined my tired face and went to the sink, splashing me playfully awake. I blocked the water with my hands and yawned.
'Great, really great. We went to this amazing place for dinner.'
'oooh, what celebrities were there?' I yawned again and tilted my face as she pulled my hair out of my messy bun.
'None. It was a...' my mind ticked as I tried to remember what he'd called it. 'Artist...um…Artist Den. The floors and the walls are covered in beautiful artwork and the steak sandwiches are to die for.' She rolled her eyes, as they were fixed on my hair, transforming it.
'That's sooo lame.'
'If you could have seen it...'
'You're too easy to impress.'
I cringed as she pulled at my hair, turning my head to get the pins within the folds of golden brown.
'Did he kiss you?' she asked, forming words around the pins in her mouth.
'No.' I smiled, 'he's better than that.' Her eyes doubled in size in the mirror.
'Some things, I don't understand about you girl.' she said, shaking her head. 'How long did you stay up?'
'A little after midnight.'
'That explains why you're going to fall asleep on set.'
'Are not!'
'Are too.' She turned the chair around and started the process of "painted doll." She always scoffed that I called her 'work of art' that.
-OoO-
'Tell me a secret.' Black Crescent whispered, her eyes widening innocently. 'Tell me something that will make my heart race.' At the back of my mind, one hundred and three things whirled.
'What is there to tell a dark heart that will not understand joy?' She glared at me, to the non-existent audience and back.
'You are trapped by your own goodness, blinded by your own light.' She fumed from her tower.
'What is it you want from me? A secret you would not understand, love you could not hold within your heart?'
'You do despise me,' she laughed, 'of all your talk of love; you cannot bring yourself to love what I am.' My eyes flashed, anger rising to the surface of my feelings.
'I love the girl to whom the darkness has clung.' I growled, 'I care for the girl whose heart was made of flesh, not stone.' My eyes suddenly filled with tears, spilling down my cheeks. A dirty track followed the drops, dripping down my chin.
'I will not cease my love, nor will I hold back compassion,' I said in a clear voice despite my tears. 'The darkness wins my tears.'
'However?' she mocked,
'However, after the darkness comes the dawn.' I lifted my chin, the lights illuminating my tears like trophies on my skin. I found Simon's eyes and stared at him for a moment, sharing with him real and fake emotions alike before leaving the tower.
I climbed down the stairs, lifting the skirts in front of my legs so I wouldn't trip. My feet slid on the satin and despite my precaution I tripped, rolling down the rest of the stairs. I gasped as my back hit the wooden steps, arms protecting my head.
'Janna!' Simon's voice echoed in my ears as I landed on my back on the bottom stair, dazed. I was too frightened I would rip something if I moved, so I just stared up at him, with my skirts in crazy patterns and folds.
'Are you alright?' he asked, staring at me. Tigan walked closer, peering at me with a cold glance.
'It seems she is.' she said, leaning closer and pulling the hazard skirts down to my legs. She looked at me, distaste on her face.
'You can't do that in the performance.' she sniffed, 'you will make me look ridiculous, especially with the thumps.' My fuzzy mind picked up her words as selfish, yet I couldn't think with the two of them staring down at me, and me up at them.
'Um... could-could you get Laura? I need her to help me stand up.' I looked at Simon, lifting a hand to wave in front of his unblinking eyes.
'Simon?' He jerked and nodded, strutting off towards the dressing rooms.
'What's wrong with him?' Tigan asked me, watching him descend the stairs in leaps. 'You fell and he pretty much dropped everything he was doing and sprinted here when we heard the second bump. Then, he just stared at you.'
'I don't really know.'
'Something you want to tell me?' she asked, eye brows rising. 'Fraternising with the director are we?'
I felt a blush rising on my cheeks. 'No.'
'Your cheeks say otherwise.'
I glared at her, 'It's complicated.'
A smile crept up on her face, half sincere; 'When is it not my dear?'
Laura appeared and exclaimed over me, checking for bruises and finding none.
'The material saved me from it.' I told her carefully. After she was reassured I was fine, she almost cried over the dress, finding a small rip on the petticoat. It took ten minutes of calming her hysteria before she sadly helped me to my feet and led me back to our dressing room, in her eyes the dread of ironing all the cloth straight.
She closed the door after me and a sudden gleeful shine projected from her eyes.
'He was totally distraught when he came here! He gave me the impression you had died!' She laughed, banging her fists on the table.
'Who?' She rolled her eyes at my obvious denial.
'Simon! If I hadn't been so worried I would have laughed at him. What have you done to him?' I sighed and took the dress and all the layers off.
'Tigan scared me.' I said, directing her off that track, 'She was so cold and calculating, not to mention selfish.'
'That's what she's always like. Welcome to the light my dear.'
'But… but never to me!' She sat on the dressing table and gave me a sad smile.
'What happens if someone becomes their character?' I asked, 'What-what if I can't talk to her anymore or-or...'
'Stop freaking out. She dyed her hair, sure, but she's always been selfish and annoying and bossy.' At my horrified face she reached out and held my hand.
'This darkness is not of your soul. It comes from a part of humanity that belongs not to you.' I whispered.
'I know that bit! It's the bit where you're begging her to see sense!'
I nodded, hanging the dress and its bits on hooks.
'She says to me, "what do you know? You of silver heart. I live in the darkness, and I revel in its beauty." What if I can't get Tigan back?' Laura sighed and looked at the rumpled dress.
'I don't care what happens to her, she can go swim in a fountain naked for all I care.'
I laughed, the sound like a surprised dog bark. I imagined Tigan dancing around in the clear water of a fountain with not a scrap of cloth on her.
'But it's not her I'm worried about.' Laura murmured. I put my arms around her shoulders and held her, touched by her concern. After a while I let her go and went to the door.
'I'm going to find out Simon, see his Director notes and ask what we're doing next.' I said, slipping on a pair of trackys and a shirt.
'Go talk to Si-mon,' she smiled, making kissing noises. I poked out my tongue as I left the room.
-oOo-
'Yes, yes we'll go from Act 1 page 24 in... 30 minutes.' He said distractedly, flipping through the script. I watched him for a moment then leaned closer to the script, reading his notes.
Move the lights to the left.
Less polish on solders helmet → too bright for the audience
Backstage girl wearing red headband → get rid of it.
Within the margin, scribbled poems ran down the page.
Theloveofherfromsilversglint
thelovesheseeksanew
theblacknessgivingbrightnesstint
victoryforherheartnow Due
Thedove,thedove
fromheavenabove
ifonlyshedidknow
Hersmile,hersmile
stayhereawhile
Ipraymylovedoshow
I marvelled at his talent, his spidery handwriting the same as the men from the 1900's. He looked up and smiled, knowing I had read his writing. He passed me his pen and flipped to the back of the book, a yellow-white page staring up at us.
HowIgazeupatthemoon
andwishwithallmymight,
forherhearttoreturntome soon
darknesschangedtolight
My handwriting looked clunky in comparison, but I was happy with it.
'Not bad,' Simon smiled, 'go get ready. We've been delayed already.' I left him alone and made my way down the stairs. Tigan walked closer and clutched my shirt with fingers that shimmered with black nail polish.
'Don't wreck this for me. I have found what I want, don't screw it up!' she said harshly. I pulled her hand away from my body and stepped back.
'Careful Janna, my Dove.' she said sweetly, 'Don't want to fall again do we?' I glanced at her cold eyes.
'What's happened to you? Where's -where's Tigan?'
She flourished a hand up her body with an elegant shrug. 'She has...evolved.'
'It's just a play Tigan, just a performance, just a-a job.' She laughed, smoothing her hands down her black dress.
'You could say my characterisation is complete. Besides, everything that happens to Black Crescent happens to me, because I'm her creator.'
'Simon's her creator.' I replied desperately, 'Black Crescent is the bad-guy Tigan. The bad-guy.'
She shrugged again, an annoying roll of her shoulders.
'Go get dressed my Dove, you have work to do.' She shoved me out of her way, either ignoring or oblivious to my shock. I crashed through my dressing-room door and landed in my chair.
'Laura, can I get into character now?' She looked up from her ironing board and went to the wardrobe.
'Yea, we'll do this fast.'
'Good,' I smiled, pushing down my pain and shock about Tigan. I had a plan.
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