Chapter Text
“LIGHTS” someone from the wings said, they passed the message down as if he couldn’t hear. This was the first rehearsal where he actually worked with. The actors. Dun dun dunnnnnn, okay, it was simple, he flipped a switch and led a light over to the main stage.
the actors went out and he turned on their mic’s for this specific song. Just a practise run.
The main villain entered, a kid in his year that he didn’t quite know by name, but he knew that he was obssessed with this production. He wore the mask for it all. The. Time.
Everyone knew him as Clown, and apart from the teachers everyone called him by his role. Especially because he wasn’t the type people quite knew. He was a theatre kid with no theatrics. On stage? Different, he acted, he floated, he prowled and schemed, on stage, he was confident, he spoke into the mic delicately but with an edge. And he was good. No one could argue it, he had better timing than most of the cast, he moved and sung at the same time with clarity, and all the same his character moved and shifted while his voice didn’t waiver at all.
Clown didn’t talk much outside of the role. He took criticism and adapted it. But , he was made for the role in Branzy’s opinion at least.
He bumped up another kid’s mic mid sentence, a slow adjustment and made a mental note that they were quiet and their mic would need to be set up. He got a nod from the teacher.
There was another kid with him, one of his best friends, Cube who was also in the same year, and the same tutor class. He was taking a break at the moment though.
Clown started singing. He dimmed the main lights and set a spotlight on the masked actor.
The the next person came on scene, and he switched their mic on, her voice wavered, her line was messed up and he called it up at her when she asked for a line cue. It may have been his favourite character, so he sort of already knew their lines.
The fun part was they could be played by anyone, as with many people in this play, gender didn’t quite matter and many characters didn’t have assigned genders. The character he wanted to play was one of two siblings, Ivory and Branzy, (His parent’s had been theatre kids, haha, so funny, him and his sister Branzy and Ivory.) but in the play, only the name, and the word brother or sister was changed. It was normally decided which of the two it was at the start so people knew what to sing. He would have loved to be the real Branzy in the theatre number if he liked to perform infront of people.
But he didn’t.
So this version of the play had an Ivory, a girl who didn’t need her older brother until she got kidnapped and started to regret her words, and then was forced to be an engineer for the main villain..
Clown gets better because he gets a loyal engineer.
Later it’s revealed that she was offered to betray him, but declined and that leads into the next arc where they have a circus.
The end of that part has them escape after an explosion, and going out of the way, allowing for the main characters to prevail.
The ending for ‘Branzy’ was the same, he Escaped with Clown after blowing stuff up.
quite entertaining.
Cube had come back so he got up, stepping away from the expensive tech they used and taking a drink before returning.
He sung along to ‘Ivory’s’ part. About an octave lower as the in character Branzy would.
the song they were doing (while all the other actors had their break) was called ‘indentured’ and then they’d be doing the reprise later on in the rehearsal.
The two actors circled eachother on stage, they had a dividing wall which was set in the middle for this part, it had a door between that the actors could cross and one plate holding everything up which some actors used for quick changes and getting off stage.
They ran through the choreography. (They’d only been singing it up till now)
”Clown, in this part you need to dip Ivory down while you sing the line, make sure to hold the note while she sings back, you may need to figure out an angle so she can sing, you good holding her up?”
”Should be,”
He placed his hand on her back and she tensed visibly but seemed okay, if otherwise scowling. Scowling at Clown.
They practised the dip then when they lifted up again the next movement. They had to go between the walls, they switched, not as fast the should have, but for the first real atteampt it was pretty good. They were meant to hang between the door frame, going in between as if in chase, then ending up with a line about breaking through the wall to kiss.
The curtains were meant to close, which they didn’t but Clown and Ivory’s actors moved almost in sync to wheel off the wall.
It was lighter than it looked.
”perfect, can you do that while singing?”
”Yep,”
“Tech? We need you guys to start the backing track,”
Branzy nodded and let cube start the music as he watched.
Ivory’s actor seemed to be in total and constant discomfort.
The actual Ivory (his sister in the year above him who had technically left already but came back to play her role) decided to come up, he adjusted a single mic, bumping Clown up a little more and turned to talk to his sister.
”sup,”
”Hi Branzy, do you know when we’re getting picked up?”
”I think dad said he’d be a little late, traffic or something, and mom’s not gonna walk down here unless you wanna walk back,”
She sighed and dragged a hand down her face, “I do not want to walk-“
”Can’t you drive?”
”Me and what car Branzy?”
”true point,” he stuck his tongue out before hearing the teachers call places for the next song. His sister was actually in it this time, as ensemble. So she ran off.
Branzy watched as the others left the stage, Clown had only three costume changes in the whole thing, and they were pretty minor. He had a mask swap that left him with a half broken mask, his eye poking out as he stared back at the rest of the characters. The other was one he didn’t get to see yet, it was a costume change for a single scene with Ivory. Then changing back.
A few characters walked up to talk to him and cube.
Parrot’s actor and Vitalasy’s walked up, no one in this place hated anyone (well-) so no matter how anyone’s characters interacted the place was pretty chill out of the practises.
”BRANZY.”
”Hello Vitalasy,” he called all the actors by who they played.
”come here,”
”Cube can I-?”
”Yea, this song’s easy.” The other replied and shoo’d him away.
”Look, I know you didn’t hear it, but uh, Clown and Ivory had an arguement.”
Branzy stopped. Parrot’s tone was that of gossip, his sister had just passed through had she-?
”The actress said she wants to leave, like fully quit out, and we only have a month, she said she hates the role and these stupid actors. Especially Clown, she called him a selfish prick.”
Not his sister.
”She what.” He said intrigued now, pressing the two for details.
“Apparently she said they were dating and he wasn’t doing anything but focusing on the stupid play,”
”Personally I think she only joined for him.”
”So is she actually quitting?” Branzy pressed.
Parrot and Vitalasy exchanged glances and pulled him out the side to go to the wings. And then behind them.
The actress was shouting at a music teacher, “I DON’T CARE ANY MORE, I CAN’T DEAL WITH THIS STUPID PRICK, HE’S SO-“
”You can leave now.” The teacher said simply. The girl stayed silent, stunned by what the teacher has said, “If you’re so dead set on hating the actor for Clown pierce, your personal life should not push into our performance. If you hate it here so much, then you could quit.”
”But you need me, you should be needing me, and the stupid character. You can’t go on without her.”
”We can go on without you,” Zam’s actor heckled before he went on stage. Almost all the actors had heard that, and because their mic had been on, the staff in the front aswell.
The girl stormed out.
The vibe of the rehearsal was bad from then on. His sister went to comfort her (after her part), to try and talk her into calming down; Ivory was good at that. But the girl wasn’t having it.
the rehearsal ended and everyone waited to get picked up. People who were walking left, a few people hung behind.
Clown was sticking behind, no more mask, barely still in his outfit. His hair stuck down to his face, a few strands hanging loose from the pony tail he kept it in.
He was talking to Leo.
”Look, I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. If she’s quit we need someone else, another person who could be Branzy or ivory.” (Branzy cringed at the fact that his name was used so often in this production, it was bad luck that it was this play) ”we don’t have long.. I don’t know how this is gonna go, we have all the songs but mine done perfectly. And even if she comes back, I made her uncomfortable, what the hell am I gonna do? The point of the play is that my character is meant to be in love with the engineer, so that they can be used against him. She’s framing me for all this stuff,”
”aand?” Leo pressed for more drama, more details. Of course the people in the drama departments were dramatic.
”And what? Let her talk. I just don’t know how the production will go, I don’t care about what she says. But we need someone in the role”
”We all thought you were dating her,” Cube said.
Clown started sputtering as he tried to form a response. He looked down at himself and put his arm up to put some space between himself and the others , “Absolutely not,” jeez, what did the guy have with that girl?
Branzy stepped away from them, deciding not to snoop. He collected his things and waited outside, his sister sat at a table talking with one of her own friends, a kid who had been helping around and was in her year, pyro was his name.
He sat at a table and opened his phone, people said goodbye and he watched them all leave, then from the corner of his eye he saw Clown talking to a teacher. Then he went and sat down a few tables away, they were all empty so it wasn’t hard to find a free one.
The teacher came up and in a quiet voice, “I know it’s a lot to ask but-“
”Yes,” he said, smiling, “I know the lyrics, I’ll be playing Branzy right?”
The teacher looked relieved and thanked him.
Then Clown came up, the only times they’d talked was when Branzy had told him about the changes he was doing and what the light was gonna do (as a warning so as not to blind the actors)
But now, he was coming over, he looked interesting, maybe a little nervous.
”Hello, you’re uh, Branzy right?”
”Yea, thats my real name and who I’m playing, convenient right?” He said as he stretched. Actually, he was kind of excited for the next rehearsal, okay it was tomorrow but still. He didn’t share any lessons with Clown so it would be interesting to talk to him a little.
Clown hummed in response, “So you know all the choreography right? And the lines?”
”Yea, I can’t wait for that, I have to see if I can sing clearly when I get dipped,”
something shone in Clown’s eyes. He’d been so worried that Branzy would be uncomfortable with touch, that he’d be insane over it like the girl, but no, he took it as a question, as a challenge of ability.
”wanna test it now?”
Branzy’s smiled and nodded. He took Clown’s hand; an offer to help him up and started dragging him back over to the stage, he stopped a few seconds, pressing play about thirty seconds from the end of the song, twenty seconds to get to stage once Clown realised and get to position. A flash of recognition entered Clown’s face and he ran up to the stage, Branzy ran on the side beside Clown. They met at the top and started singing, Branzy started singing with the breath left in his throat.
Clown started his part, holding the note as he found where to place his hand and dipped Branzy backwards.
The song ended and bled into silence as they stayed in that position.
”Not bad,” Clown said not letting him up.
Branzy grinned up at him and stuck his tongue out, “It’s not like I’m going to be running onto a stage in the real thing,”
”We’re hanging on door frames and moving though,”
“Have some faith Clownpierce!” He half teased before he was almost dropped. Almost. That was probably deserved.
”I have faith,” he said, pulling Branzy back up and laughing under his breath. “I’m sure whatever you do, this’ll work out Branzycraft,” he purred the name, not Branzy’s real last name, but the characters one. It sent a shiver down Branzy’s spine as he got into character.
Branzy went to turn the laptop off (which had been his job anyway, he would have forgotten if he hadn’t done this) He heard Ivory calling him, “Dad’s here with the car, I’ll meet you outside,”
Branzy scooped his bag up from the side line and stopped to find Clown before he left. “I’ll see you in tomorrows rehearsal then Clownpierce. Hope you’re ready to use your scythe, take some heads off, take a hostage,” he said, the way he said his name, the way he joked the last parts, that wasn’t his character, more akin to Clown, but none the less it scared him, someone in such a way so excited in the way he was. So willing for the danger and the acting.
They smiled at each other and Branzy booked it with his bag left open and half over his shoulder.
Clown noticed that he’d lost his copy of the lines. They weren’t the ones the school had given them it seemed, they were custom printed, covered in stickers and tiny annotations in barely discernible handwriting and a thousand crossed out words, tone indicators and notes. They feel right from Branzy’s bag.
That was fine, he could give them back to Branzy tommorrow.
He started his walk to the town, with nothing better to do until he got picked up, he sat on a bench and hummed out his lines. Branzy- the real one- had a striking resemblance to what they needed for the character, it was insane they hadn’t begged him to do this role. And he seemed good, not bad was an understatement, the lines sounded like he’d sung them a million times, and with the state of the lines, maybe they had been sung over a million times.
He checked the dates in the bottom left of the page, some identifier left on all of them, and yes, it had been about four years since this print, and who knew if this was his first one, Branzy clearly liked the musical.
Ivory tapped his shoulder in the car ride home, “look at you go getting the main role you were named after, Mom would be proud.”