Re-Evolution: Episode 1: The Shadow Over New Salem

Theater class was a ring of fiberglass chairs set up under a spotlight on the stage of the auditorium, behind the heavy red curtain. Morgan was there, as well as Kitty, Dorian, a girl with an eyepatch, a nervous looking boy with short, curly black hair and a soft face, and a few other students.

The teacher for the class was a whip-thin man with brushed back black hair, greying at the temples, and coal black eyes. He was wearing a red vest, and he had an old, upside down silk hat in his hands.

Kitty sat with her hands on her lap, grinning broadly as she kept her eyes on the teacher, while Morgan sat with bemused yet restrained excitement.

She leaned on her hand, grinning at the distinctive teacher in anticipation of the coming lesson...after all, theater was always a favorite class of hers.

The athletic girl in the eyepatch however didn't look very excited to be there. She leaned on her hand , her grey eye half closed and a small frown on her freckled face. She hadn't even taken off the heavy leather jacket, even under the sweltering stagelight.

Dorian looked a little listless in his seat, leaning on his knees, and tapping his booted feet, but he looked up curiously when their teacher started to introduce himself.

"Good Afternoon, class, I'm Mr. Zazlowski, and I'll be your portal into the world of theatre for this year," the man purred.

The girl in the eyepatch glanced up and gave the teacher a half wave. "Hey."

Kitty nodded, a wide smile on her face, "Oh I just can't wait, Mr. Zazlowski!"

Morgan smiled as well, though taking care to hide her fangs as she leaned upon her hand. "This ought to be a blast."

"I'm pleased that you're all so enthusiastic!" he declared. "I hope you'll be excited for what I have planned for the year-- a plan I'll reveal to you after our first warm up exercise."

He handed the hat to Morgan. "If you'd be so good as to pick a number out of my hat, and then pass it to the person on your right."

Morgan raised her eyebrow, but reached into the hat and pulled out a number before passing it along. The hat traveled around the circle with each of the students taking a number, as Morgan unfolded a little slip of paper with the number '3' written on it.

Once it had gone around the full circle Mr. Zazlowski took the now- empty hat back from Dorian who offered it to him with a flourish, and he put it on top of his head. 

"Excellent! Now please pair up with the person who has the same number you do. I'll be handing out a short scene for each of you to rehearse with your partner for the next 15 minutes, and then you'll be performing them in front of the class."

Morgan held up her slip of paper. "Well I'm # 3, so whichever poor bas-- ah, poor soul's got the same number had better step forward now." she purred "or forever hold your peace."

Kitty excitedly glanced at her own number; "oooh, I hope I get to team up with Kurt again!"

Mukuro simply turned her number around with an apathetic shrug of her shoulders.

The curly haired boy looked at his paper, and gave Kitty an apologetic smile, before standing. "Sorry, Kitty, it looks like I'm going to have to disappoint you this time." He showed the 3 on his paper, and shuffled over toward Morgan while the others figured out their configurations.

Kitty sighed, pouting a little bit as she leaned back into her chair. "Awww...well.."

She watched as the eyepatched girl walked towards the girl with glasses, planting her foot on the chair next to her and leaning in with a thin smile "Looks like it's you and me, specs."

That left Kitty glancing at the last available possibility. "...Oh..."

Dorian turned his number around and showed it off like a letter-card on Wheel of Fortune and he was Vanna White.

Kitty pursed her lips, and stomped over to slip into the chair next to him.

Morgan, meanwhile, glanced over at the boy next to her in curiosity. "Kurt, huh?"

The curly haired kid nodded, and gave her an awkward wave and a smile. "Kurt. Kurt Wagner. Nice to meet you."

Kurt had a strong, but not incomprehensibly thick, German accent, and pronounced his last name with a *vah* sound at the beginning.

Morgan flashed him a thin smile, before purring, "Nice to meet you, Kurt. I'm Morgan Connelly. I just moved into town this weekend."

"It's a pleasure," he said, bobbing his head politely. "Ah, looks like we'll be partners. Hope you don't mind..."

"Not at all." Morgan leaned on her hand. "As long as you give it your all, I think we'll do just fine together."

"Give it my all, huh?" He rubbed the back of his head. Morgan was getting the idea that he seemed like a pretty shy and soft spoken kid, which wasn’t ideal. "I'm afraid I'm not sure I have much of a stage presence, but I'll do my best."

"No?" Morgan purred, flicking the inverted cross on her necklace between her fingers idly. "Maybe I can help with that."

Kurt's glance flicked down to her jewelry and his smile grew even more apologetic, even a little uncomfortable. "Ah.... maybe... we can give it a try anyway."

Mr. Zazlowski came to them as he was handing out scripts, and offered them each a paper. "Getting to know your new brother and sister in the stage?"

"Sure are, Mr. Zaz." Morgan nodded, taking care not to let her hair fall out of place as she took the paper from him. "I'm hoping to help Kurt here get some confidence on the stage."

The teacher elbowed Morgan's arm in a friendly and gregarious way. "That's the spirit, Ms. Connelly. With enough confidence you can take on the world."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for the *world*," Kurt admitted timidly.

"And why not, when it's there for the taking?" She put her hand to her chest. "after all, in the words of the bard.... all the world's a stage."

Zazlowski clapped and pointed. "That's the attitude I want to see! Now, you two, get rehearsing! Your public awaits!"

000

The first pair up to present their scene was the eyepatch girl and the glasses girl, whose names Morgan learned were Mukuro, and Darcy respectively. They, like the rest of the class it seemed,  had been given the classic Romeo and Juliet balcony scene to work with.

Mukuro stood upon the stage, having finally discarded the leather jacket. Her arms, strong with firm muscle and lightly tanned skin, were bathed in the stage lights as she held one hand up and said in an apathetic monotone.

"Romeo. Romeo. Where are you at, Romeo."

Darcy, with her arms crossed, looked just as bored to be there when she answered.

The scene wasn't exactly a hit.

"Well, the two of you definitely need to work on your energy, ladies," Zazlowski said as they finished their read. "But we've got all year for that. Kurt, Morgan. You're up next."

Mukuro shrugged, before snatching her jacket off the stage and slinging it over her shoulder as she slunk back to her seat.

Morgan hopped up, and grabbed Kurt's hand. Practically dragging him onto the stage, she stood before the crowd.

A moment passed with her pale skin bathed in the light of the stage, before she turned to Kurt with an expression of aching longing. Her fingers curled over her chest as she began to recite in a passionate voice.

"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? that which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself."

Kurt seemed a little intimidated by the intensity of her passion, but he tried to put some of it into his wobbling answer. "I take thee at thy word; call me but love...."

He stumbled and hesitated.

In the audience, Darcy snorted and grinned at Mukuro. "Call me butt-love, eh, eh?"

Mukuro, stern faced for most of the class, actually cracked a smile and smothered a snicker with her hand.

Kitty grimaced and pressed her hand to her face with a quiet, "oh Kurt...."

Morgan stared at her scene partner, waving her hand "but love....come on Kurt, Don't choke on stage..."

Kurt tried to restart the line several times, but his shoulders sunk. "Oh man, I think i need the theatrical version of the Heimlich maneuver..."

Morgan sighed, her hand dropping before she turned to the crowd. 

"Alas , Romeo, sweet Romeo had had too much to drink at the grand gala. With his words muddled by drink, and his words of love dead in his throat.He did not win the heart of the Lady Capulet that night. No bodies lay in the streets of fair Verona, as the tragedy need not come to pass."

Mr. Zazlowski chuckled. "Improv will be later in the year, but good start."

The two of them quickly left the presentation area, and when they took their seats, Kurt smiled at Morgan nervously. "Sorry, I really blew it for you, I know."

Morgan winked at him, flipping the cross between her fingers again. "Don't worry about it. I've got all year to turn you into a thespian."

He chuckled nervously and looked at the ground. "Right, well, I guess I'm clay in your hands...."

"Mm hmm." Morgan said with an amused smile. "you're in good hands, too. I've been doing theater for a few years now, on top of cheer squad."

Morgan looked up with a grin to watch Dorian and Kitty hop onto the stage..

Kitty glanced at Dorian nervously before they began their scene. "Okay, are you ready, Dorian? Just like we practiced."

He waved dismissively, and they ran through it. Aside from Dorian's Star Trek tier overacting, their scene went off without a hitch. The only one to have done so, so far. 

"Bravo, I see we have some chemistry here," Zazlowski declared, congratulating the pair.. "And now; if you're ready, I can tell you about our big project."

Kitty flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, grinning as she hopped back into her seat "I'm ready!"

Morgan crossed her legs with a nod "me too, Mr. Zaz."

Mukuro just shrugged. "Whatever."

He tented his fingers and grinned broadly. "We'll be presenting a full play to the entire school. The Crucible."

000

As Morgan ducked out of theatre class, she heard a pair of booted footsteps hurrying to catch up behind her before she disappeared down the hall.

"Hey."

Waving to her as she turned to look was the red haired kid, Dorian, from theater class. 

Morgan slowed, a smirk crossing her face as she let him catch up to her. 

"Hey there, Captain Kidd."

Dorian gave a flourishing little bow as he caught up, and smiled broadly at her. "I wanted to compliment you on your performance in class-- and in the face of such adversity, too."

Morgan flipped her hair over her shoulder, grinning widely...for a moment forgetting to hide her fangs. "Why thank you-- Dorian, was it?

"Dorian indeed, and Morgan, I believe? You have a charming smile," he winked, grinning at her a bit slyly..

Morgan's smile took a downtick as it returned to hiding her teeth, but she nodded her head at the compliment. 

"That's me. Morgan Connelly. It was hard going with Kurt, but I'll make an actor of him yet. You were pretty good yourself. Kinda wish I lucked out with you as my partner instead, we'd make one hell of a team."

He sighed dramatically at the suggestion. "It is a bit of a shame we didn't get partnered, especially with Kitty and I on the outs. Maybe Mr. Zazlowski will shake things up next time, hmm?"

She shrugged her bag onto her shoulder as it started to slip. "We can hope so. Kurt seems like a nice kid, just, you know. Not a lotta stage presence at the moment. Like he's not comfortable in his own skin up there. "She glanced at him "You and little miss prep know one another, huh?"

"Aye, and your adorable yet retiring scene partner as well," he agreed. "We all used to live together-- technically I suppose we still do."

"Huh. Really?" Morgan cocked her head with surprise at the idea. She walked alongside him, the chains from her skirt jingling with each step. "Must be pretty awkward to be on the outs with her then."

"Quite, unfortunately." He sighed again, straightening his jacket as they walked together. "I've been steering well clear of that lot for the sake of my own mental health."

"Good for you . That's what I tried to do when things got sour for me back home, too. Hopefully you have somewhere to stay, you know, since it sounds like you aren't really...staying there anymore?"

"Haven't had to sleep outside yet," he promised, smiling wanly. "If I were to come close, I suppose I'd have to weigh going back versus the all-night lecture."

Morgan grimaced at the thought. "Fuck, I'm no stranger to the 'all night lecture'. Depending on who it's from, I'd say maybe a night of camping might be the better option."

"A girl after my own heart.” He pressed his hand to his chest.

Morgan mimed the gesture, her fingers delicately placed above her breast. "Kindred spirits, once towns away, now trapped within the same walls of public education. Alas!” She broke off the overly dramatic speech and continued. "Well. You seem like a cool guy. If it ever comes down to it, I can try to convince my brother to let you crash on the couch for a night." 

She paused, and her eyes flicked to the side; "probably won't *agree* to it, but I can try."

"Alas indeed, but you're very kind. I take it your brother isn't as delightfully free spirited as yourself?"

"Somehow, despite being twins I inherited all the fun in the family. Greg's got a stick so far up his ass he's practically a scarecrow." She snorted derisively, thinking of her brother’s stiff demeanor. "I love him to death, but he...we don't see eye to eye on things anymore."

Dorian put a hand on her shoulder and nodded gravely. "Growing apart from friends and family, it seems we both understand that all too well."

Morgan nodded back, sighing softly. "Yeah. Seems like we're both all too familiar with that kind of hurt." She frowned "it'd be one thing if he understood. But he doesn't. He's too wrapped up in his obsession with appearances, and who he wants us to be."

Dorian's expression darkened. "You don't say. Now that's an attitude shared by far too many people. Keeping up appearances for a fantasy instead of letting people see who you really are."

Morgan's eyes narrowed as she glared down the hall with a hum of agreement. "People in our old town were all too obsessed with appearances. Greg especially." She grit her teeth. " 'Morgan, don't ruin this for me. I just want things to be *nooormal* for once. You can't go around looking like some kind of punk, here, wear this sweater and spend time with *respectable people*' " she mocked in a slightly deeper voice.

Dorian groaned. "Now where have I heard that kind of boring drivel before. Ah, right," he shook his head. "What a pity your brother ascribes to it-- If you ever need a sympathetic ear, however, I'm sure you can find me around."

"I'd be delighted, Dorian." She lightly punched his shoulder. "Same goes for you, huh? You have something on your mind, why not come to me? I could use the friend and company, given how new this place is."

"It would truly be my pleasure, Ms. Morgan. Free-thinkers like us ought to stick together."