Trespassing?

Verity paced outside the Magnolia Theatre. Previously she had been going for a run around Magnolia but as soon as she passed by the theatre, her feet wanted to stop so she did. It was perfect timing on her behalf because as soon as she did, she heard a loud bang which of course, immediately raised her curiosity. She had proceeded to go to the doors but try as she might, she couldn't open the doors as they were locked. She came to the conclusion that it was currently closed. Another bang sounded. Vera looked up. She was really tempted to sneak inside. It would be easy enough. The fact she couldn't open the wooden doors didn't mean it wasn't. For one, there was the open window near the side of the theater. Vera started to head in that direction but stopped mid walk. What if some rehearsal for a show was going on? It wasn't particularly moral to watch the pre-show. People usually paid to see them. However, she could argue because it only was a rehearsal, there was no harm in seeing the performers do their thing. Besides, even if someone caught her out she could just say she heard suspicious noises from the inside. It was true. But still, it didn't hurt to check for anyone around her. She scanned her eyes around the building and saw nothing. Time to go in then.

Vera walked casually up to the window and looked up. It was looked easy enough to climb up even without the tree situated right next to it. And so the girl climbed until she was at the window where she pulled herself over into her position where she was sitting on the ledge. She stopped for a moment to reassess her situation, her heart pumping a little faster. Just in case, she looked back down over her shoulder and still saw nothing. Then, she looked over on the other side. Why she hadn't thought about how she would get down befell her. She shook her head. There must be some way. There always was.

She thought about her options. She could jump down and risk breaking her leg, she could swing on the electrical wires like a monkey although it wasn't wise or she could take out her dagger from under her coat and stick it in the wall and make a foot hold. For some reason, she didn't think any of her options were viable. The thought occurred to her that it was hotter up on the ledge than it was on the ground. The heat radiating from her face was an indicator of that. So, in order to cool her face off, she tied up her hair in a temporary pony tail while she considered her options up on the window ledge.

‘Bored.’ That was the one thought going through Kensie’s head that moment. Okay, it was one of two thoughts. It was bored, and she was hot. She wasn’t sweating too much yet, but she was definitely uncomfortable and thirsty. Even if she didn’t have sleeves or even straps on her favorite dress, it was black, and that was enough to attract the entirety of the Summer Sun’s wrath. Unfortunately for the fourteen year old Fairy Tail wizard, she had no money. Okay, she had money. It counted up to about enough money for a stick of gum, and her parents hadn’t given her a thing this week after she’d blown the money originally.

Kensie’s copper-toned eyes flashed around the place in search of both a good place for shade, and an opportunity to find someone who might pay for a drink for her. She doubted she’d find anyone though. Not just anyone bought her things, and she wasn’t a flirt. She barely even had romantic thoughts in her head.

That was when she spotted someone she recognized climbing the theater building nearby. Verity Lohlepher. She was that older blond girl from Fairy Tail as well. She would obviously recognize Kensie as well if she saw her, but she hadn’t yet. After all, Kensie was the only one on the street who had the perception to notice a girl climbing a building. Intrigued, she scurried over to Verity’s location. Verity didn’t seem to notice her as the blond girl tied her hair up in a ponytail. It looked even hotter up there… “Are you on a job or something?” Kensie asked from below, loud enough to be heard but not exactly shouting. Her arms rested behind the back of her head on her bow-adorned shoulder-length black hair. “Cause I’m pretty sure the theater would normally frown on you climbing their pretty building~” she taunted with a playful grin.

Verity nearly fell off the ledge as a voice from down below reached her ears. "Are you on a job or something? Luckily, she managed to keep her balance by gripping the edges of the window with both hands. Greeaaat. So she actually wasn't as unnoticed as she had originally thought she was. She closed her eyes and took a breath. Now what? Well first she could decipher the culprit. The voice floated back up to her again and Verity's eyes twitched. Of course. She could recognise that voice anywhere. She sighed in annoyance. At least it wasn't some random who would report her. But then who else would ask why she was climbing a building.

The blonde swiveled her head around to look at the grinning figure of Kensie Barnett. She thought about what she was going to say. She could either bluff or tell the truth. She pondered for a few seconds before finally replying to the girl.

"Well no, I'm not on a job. I just heard bangs coming from the inside of the building so I wanted to investigate. And I'm sure the theatre won't mind if they don't notice." she said, shrugging her shoulders.

In situations like these she often found it better to be honest. Not that she ever wasn't honest. Verity remained sitting awkwardly on the window ledge while she tried to think of what she should do next. She thought it might be a little rude if she ignored the 14 year old so decided to ask her what she was doing.

"What are you doing?" she asked in friendly enough tone.

After she asked the question, she darted a look behind her shoulder to see if she could make out anything new in the theatre. Nope, it was still too dark.

Kensie had her hands on her hips, her dress and hair billowing slightly in the wind as she looked up at Verity. The two weren’t friends despite being guildmates, and while they would potentially help one another if they needed to like any good pair of Fairy Tail members, Kensie had probably annoyed Verity in the past with her antics, which would explain her reaction to Kensie’s appearance. Honestly, Kensie had probably annoyed just about everyone in Fairy Tail at one point or another. She was always up to something, and just about everyone at Fairy Tail had figured that out. Maybe her reputation preceded her.  Either way, Verity was being nice enough at the moment, so Kensie hadn’t caught onto Verity’s mental reaction.

“A noise, huh?” she asked with a grin, looking deceptively innocent as she stared up at Verity. “Are you trying to sneak a peak at next month’s plaaay?” she asked in a teasing tone. Kensie looked around at the building, wondering at first how Verity had managed to get up. She saw a way she could, though, and took it, hoping no one walked too near. Even if they didn’t have a problem with the fourteen year old climbing a building, dresses weren’t optimal clothing for climbing things. Finally, she arrived on the same part of the roof as Verity, hanging on and panting a bit. “Because… whatever you’re up to, I want to come too,” she informed the blond as she tried to catch her breath. She was already up the building, after all, and until she’d spotted her guild mate. She smoothed her dress with her free hand. “I’m bored anyway. Also, it's really hot up here."

Oh no. Kensie was up to something. Verity could just tell with that grin on her face. Maybe it would have been more beneficial to be flat out mean to the 14 year old. At Kensie's tease, she looked up and blushed slightly. "Of course not!" she said defensively. For the record, she was telling the truth. Even if she did not seem like it at all. She watched with a horrified expression as the girl begun to climb her way up to the same position as her. She was right. She had been up to something. Verity scooted to the side as Kensie reached her little ledge, panting and not even pulling herself up on the ledge yet. Ha. She hadn't been exhausted at all (Well that is as far as she was concerned). She noted that it was kind of funny to watch someone struggle and couldn't hide the mocking smile that crept on her face as the girl tried to catch her breath.

"Oh dear, if someone wants to come, they might want to be able to breathe properly first!" she said, poking her tongue out at the girl, clinging to the roof with one hand as she shifted her feet to a more comfortable position. "And I have to say, that dress is just wonderfully handy piece of clothing if you know what I mean. So convenient and practical." She continued to taunt playfully. Maybe it wasn't that bad for someone to join her on her expedition. It wasn't like she intended to be alone anyways. People interrupting her alone time was the worst. She shuddered at that thought and pulled her hand away from the roof to sit on the ledge with her. "Also, if you're hot, you might want to consider not wearing black clothes. Black absorbs heat. I've experimented with that before." she smirked at the girl and turned to look at the sun rising higher in the sky. "Look, it's-," Vera shifted slightly. Big mistake. She felt herself slipping backwards. Very soon, she felt a rush of air as she stupidly fell back into the theatre. Screw strategies on how to get down. She forced herself to not scream, instead yelling "That was intentional," as she landed gracefully on the floor akin to an elephant smashing into a building.

Kensie thought it sounded like Verity was lying when she sounded so defensive, but ignored it as she shimmed up the building like a little adorable monkey. She had just caught her breath, commenting on the heat when Verity piped up to mock her about being out of breath. Without missing a beat, she also threw out a quip about Kensie’s favorite dress.

“I just climbed a building!” she insisted to Verity, making a frowny face. Kensie could be rather expressive. “And I always wear dresses! *I* want to look cute,” she informed Verity, emphasizing herself looking cute as if to say that Verity was not. She still looked more like a kid than an adult, though she didn’t look exactly like she was a kid either. She was starting to grow up a bit, more physically than mentally, judging by her general behavior. In a few years, though, she might be a rather pretty young woman.

Verity apparently wasn’t listening though, or if she was, she was ignoring Kensie’s comment for now at least. She told Kensie that she shouldn’t wear black, though Kensie always wore black. She knew it was warmer to wear black. she just liked the color a lot more than she probably should. She wasn’t a fan of bright colors at all. She even liked her raven black hair more than any other hair color.

“I know! I can wear what I-“ she started at the same time Verity started her own sentence. That was when Verity took a tumble. She managed to yell that she had done this on purpose even as she crashed into the ground below. Kensie yelped in surprise at first, reaching out to try and grab her but being too slow from her position. Kensie climbed into the open window, looking down. She could tell Verity wasn’t hurt too bad, at least. “Wow, I can see why you’re the one who’s allowed to do dangerous stuff,” she told Verity sarcastically as she was enveloped in a purple fire.

When it disappeared a moment later, she was sporting a pointy imp tail that poked out from under her dress, tiny almost cute horns, and a set of wings that would be too small to help her fly. Her eyes had changed too, now a crimson red. She hopped down more gracefully than she could have without the aid of magic, using her small wings and her new agility to make a couple of quick hops and land next to the blond, the fire enveloping her again as she lost the traits she had just gained. She held out a hand to help Verity up. She was smaller and weaker than Verity, so if she took her hand, she put forward a leg and leaned back to brace herself. “Well, we’re in here now,” she commented, looking around as the dust from the fall settled. She was pretty sure there was no one practicing anything in here right now, since it was quiet compared to when a play was going on.

Verity landed with impact on the ground. Ouch. She stared at the dark ceiling as she went through a mental checklist about her current condition. Bruised? Definitely. Hurt pride? Maybe. Broken bones? Thankfully no. The girl groaned as she placed her right hand on her forehead. Well at least she wasn't horribly injured. She pushed herself up with her left hand behind her back and moved her legs into a kneeling position. She then peered up to the window where faint light was filtering through. She saw Kensie envelop herself in some kind of fire before hearing the girl's voice drifted down to her ears much to her chagrin.

"Yes, yes, whatever," she sighed

She stayed on the floor, watching as the younger girl adopted some kind of form similar to a takeover mage's before letting herself get pulled off the ground. She murmured in agreement as the girl stated the obvious and looked around at their surroundings. They were currently in the backstage area. Empty boxes were strewn all over the place and it was evident that costumes had been hastily chucked on the rack, no doubt from actors trying to meet the demands of their director as quickly as possible. There was nothing suspicious unless she counted the slight wreak she had created on her way down. The only thing that was strange, yet still not worthy of suspicion was the fact she had heard several noises coming from the building when there appeared to be no rehearsal going on.

"As you can probably tell, there's obviously no play rehearsal going on so that defeats me entering to see the season's play." she told the girl with her before walking towards the door that led to the stage.

To her surprise she heard faint sounds of someone singing opera. Well, singing was a relative term. They sounded more like they were squawking like a strangled chicken. She turned back to face Kensie.

"Do you hear that?" Without waiting to hear her answer, she turned around again and placed her eye through the crack between the door and the wall in an attempt to try and see what was happening.

To her frustration, she found she couldn’t see anything but stayed at her post nonetheless. She turned her head to find a place where she could maybe watch was happening better. At that exact moment the person singing, now distinct as a tenor voice tried to screech out the b flat above middle c, way above his vocal range. Vera winced but found an air vent that looked big enough for her and a big dog to fit through the second later. Perfect.

“I’m going to go up that,” she told Kensie, pointing towards the vent before sending her brain into operation get-into-that-air-vent mode.

Kensie had, of course, heard the same squawking as Verity as they calmed down from the excitement of the older girl crashing through the open window. The smaller girl followed her to the door as Verity peaked through the crack. Kensie, however, couldn’t see what was going on at all with Verity in the way. “Your giant head is in the way!” she exclaimed in a loud whisper, climbing onto a crate stashed next to the door. She leaned on Verity to try to get a peek through the door as well. Like Verity, however, she didn’t see a thing, which was rather annoying.

She let out a frustrated growl just before Verity informed her that she was climbing up into an air vent. “Aren’t you too big?” she asked as she stared up at the vent. Kensie wasn’t all that concerned with houw that sounded. Verity was, in fact, a bigger person than Kensie, who was a light and small fourteen year old. She wanted quite badly to see what was going on as well though, and would follow right after her as best she could. “Just don’t get us caught!” she reminded Verity in yet another loud whisper as the blond started her ascent to the vent. Kensie straightened out her dress again, following behind her.

Verity shot a glare behind her back at the girl. Big head? She was offended. However, she managed to keep her cool. She took this as a sign of personal development. Internally she was quite pleased at herself. Usually by now she would have gone crazy. She ignored the girl for the rest of the time at the door trying to avoid grabbing her by the ear and berating her for being so loud. For god's sake. Ask her to move quietly and she would. Make a racket for the sake of independence? Not so inclined. Nonetheless, she moved the give the other girl more space to see.

After she proposed her idea to climb the vent, it didn't take long for her to gain the urge to kill Kensie again. This time, she wasn't so cool.

"Do you have a brain? Cause I'm not so sure you do. Obviously I can otherwise I wouldn't bother suggesting it," she hissed more in annoyance rather than retaliation. She wasn't sure if the other girl had heard her or not but it didn't matter.

She really could have gone with another route in being insulted but in all honesty, looks weren't in any way close to being her weak point and she knew it so she didn't particularly care that to most people, they'd think they were being called fat by a small fourteen year old.

By the time she was safely in the air vent, she began to feel a hint of panic. She hated enclosed spaces and generally avoided them. Okay so maybe she was dumber that she thought she was. At least it wasn't that small. There was plenty of room to stretch half of her arms out beside her and above her head. She'd been in worse right? Ahahaha. That was her internal laughter. She wondered about how she was going to get out. Her breath quickened. Oh why did she have to go and act impulsively yet again? She was almost tempted to get out of that air vent before she heard her companion's voice saying don't get caught.

Her eyebrow twitched, all fear forgotten. "I won't get caught of course!" she whispered loudly behind her shoulder before clamping her mouth over. She didn't want the sound to echo.

She moved forward, ignoring her increasing heart beat and gave enough space for the girl to enter. She wasn't sure whether to be grateful of having the girl around or not. Her presence was forcing her to continue forwards despite her fear because she didn't want to be humiliated. On the other hand, it was her fear and if she was on her own she could have gotten out and found another route. Verity shook her head out of their thoughts. No point regretting now. She gritted her teeth.

"Let's get this over and done with," she muttered to herself, not intending for the other girl to hear her. And so, not looking behind, she continued onwards until she reached the sound of dreadful opera resonating loudly and awfully. By now, the singer had obviously decided their chances of becoming a soprano was impossible due to the fact that males whose voice's had broken, are physically unable to go as high as a female. Unfortunately, the singer then decided they had more of a shot at singing bass. Fail on their behalf. It was like listening to a dying toad's last wish. No doubt they were singing with their chin down. Tsk tsk. That was bad for the voice or so she read in a book.

“Of course I have a brain! That’s why I asked!” Kensie called back in a loud whisper as Verity climbed up into the ventilation. Her companion insisted that she wasn’t going to get caught, continuing her climb into the large metal cave. Kensie couldn’t help but wonder why these things needed to be so big. Maybe it was for cleaning or something? At any rate, it wasn’t important. Kensie chuckled as Verity clamped a hand over her mouth, far less concerned by the noise, but still being rather quiet.

“The way that man is squawking they’ll never hear us,” she insisted as she physically pushed Verity to climb just a little bit faster. She climbed close behind Verity, staring at the metal ‘floor’ as they crawled. The vent was wide, but nowhere near tall enough. She couldn’t get out of the crawling position, and after about a minute her poor bare knees were cold and sore from crawling on the hard metal.

Fortunately, the pair were just about over the room with the ‘show’ in it by now, and Kensie wanted very badly to see who was starring in this torture device they called a song. She shoved her way into Verity, trying to get past. “I want to see! Out of the way!” she whispered, squeezing in beside Verity to where she could see out of the spot where the air pushed its way into the room.

Okay. Verity admitted she was more than a little offended by Kensie's latest comment. That girl had no mouth filter or brain despite her protest. Unfortunately, that sounded more than a little familiar. Well at least she was in the process of developing more of a brain. Apparently brains were fully developed at 25 years old. Kensie was 14 so her brain obviously had a long stretch to go before it gained some sense. She couldn't say much about having a mouth filter though. Still, she kept quiet due to the fact that she still didn't want to risk getting caught.

As the blonde stopped over the room with the man singing. She leaned down to look through the air vent when she was rudely shoved aside by Kensie. She let out a noise of protest but clamped her mouth shut. Despite the fact the man was singing wicked opera, she didn't wish to have him look up because he heard them making noises. It was only when she was squished against the wall did the terror of being trapped really catch up to her. In attempt to get more space, she accidentally shoved the younger girl hard against the vent...which promptly broke causing the man underneath to scream 'beautiful' soprano in shock.

Verity didn't notice what she had done, only relieved to have the extra room to breathe. When she recovered and realised she had shoved Kensie, did she look apologetically in her supposed direction, feeling a pang of guilt. She was about to say sorry - but lo and behold, she saw a broken air vent. Verity scooted away from the bits and stuck her hand in her mouth. Oops. She hoped Kensie was alright.

Kensie was just a bit surprised to find herself suddenly sprawled out in the room below where she’d been hiding. She was dazed when she hit the ground, but then she shook her head and realized she was gazing at the man she’d been making fun of for his horrible voice. “Uh… hi?” she stated with one of those ‘I’m in trouble now, aren’t I?’ chuckles. She scratched her nose before hopping to her feet and brushing down her dress that (once again) had proven to be a bad choice for adventuring up buildings and into air ducts.

Kensie was about to apologize when the air vent creaked again, this time with the sound of Verity scooting away more loudly than she’d realized. Kensie promptly looked at the people in the room, then the vent, then back to them before pointing a finger up at the air vent. “It was her idea. I’m young and impressionable and wanted to be cool but now I know sneaking around air vents isn’t cool and I’ve learned a life lesson. I should go home and think on this,” she decided quickly, turning to leave just before she felt a hand grip her shoulder. She yelped, turning back around slowly. Of course it wouldn’t be that easy…

Once Vera was in the clear she looked down through the air vent to watch the exchange happening below. She mentally sent Kensie an apology and hoped she heard it. On the ground there was the man who was singing looking very grim and serious. With him there was another man and three women, all didn't look very impressed with Kensie's appearance. Despite their grave situation, she couldn't help but laugh at the girl. However no noise came out and instead she nearly choked on her hand which was still in her mouth. Her happy disposition changed in an instant when Kensie suddenly switched her act and said she was young and impressionable. Ahahahaha. Yeah. Young and impressionable. Learnt a life lesson. Very believable. She saw the people on the ground look up. Vera's breath hitched. They appeared to be staring right at her. The woman shook her head.

"I think the girl's delusional," she said the the man next to her "I see nothing, the noise was probably a rat or something,"

Verity bit her lip to prevent herself from laughing. Of course. It was much too dark to see anything. She went back to viewing the ground. It appeared that man formerly singing opera had grabbed Kensie's shoulder. Oh dear. He looked smoking mad.

"How dare you interrupt my audition! It was going perfectly til you came in!" he said in a very shrill, and very angry voice.

It turned out the other people found it funny. The woman on the left laughed. "Oh darling, I'm kind of grateful for the interlude! My ears were suffering," she said, a twinkle in her eyes as she gazed kindly at the fourteen year old before clasping a hand on her other shoulder.

The other man turned an icy glare on the opera man. "You should know, we producers do try and look for talent," he said tartly before looking away to who knew where.

The woman on the right sighed. "In any case Desiree, it might be best to take your client away." she told the woman who hadn't saw her. She didn't look happy but dragged the now sobbing man away anyways. The woman on the right again sighed and turned her gaze onto Kensie. "Now please be a dear and get out too,"

Verity didn't know what she was going to do if Kensie went without her. She barely survived going through the air vent once. She gathered that they had been holding an audition. It was due to her thoughts that she nearly missed what the other lady said.

"Lily no! She's so cute! I know! I have an idea! We're casting roles for our new play right? And what's one of the roles? A small girl!" she said, eyeing Kensie with delight. "I think she's perfect for it. Let's say she has a go in auditioning!" she declared before bending her knees to face Kensie on eye level. "Can you sing? Can you act?"

Immediately after the man looked sharply down at the woman. "Looks are not what is important for roles Isobelle." He then turned to face Kensie. "But obviously you wanted this role Isobelle here has been talking about since you've been spying. Now audition," he said, his voice as cold as ice.

The woman known as Isobelle laughed and clapped her hands in delight, facing Kensie. "Don't be shy dear!" she said. The other woman known as Lily simply sighed and looked away. "I hope you know what you're doing," she muttered.

Verity wanted to die of laughter. This was just too funny. She wondered what Kensie would do and stayed silently and motionlessly in the air vent, intent on watching how the show below would play out.

Kensie hadn't known what to say once the people at the play started arguing over what she should do. Normally, she was talkative, but right now her gut told her to just shut up for the moment. To her surprise, it seemed to pay off; they wanted her to audition? She’d followed Verity into an air vent she  shouldn’t have gone in after climbing a roof she shouldn’t have been on and she was getting rewarded for it? So much for life lessons!

Forgetting all about Verity for the moment, a wide, childlike grin of excitement spread across Kensie’s face as they asked her to audition and whether she could act or sing. Of course she could act! It was how she got people to do what she asked, right? And singing… well she’d been told she had a very pretty voice by  a few older people in the past…

Kensie cleared her throat, looking around the room, a mix of excitement and nervousness on her face. Then, she inhaled and exhaled, bowing her head and closing her eyes as she clasped her hands in front of her lap and began to sing one of the songs she knew. Her voice was cute when she spoke, which she always took advantage of when she could. But when she sang… well, it was lovely, to say the least. A bit unrefined and out of practice in a couple of areas (though that might have been her nerves), but she had a voice that could act and sing.

After a few minutes the song was over, and Kensie dropped her head again before her eyes fluttered open and she looked around again, a blush growing across her cheeks as she realized she’d only ever sang for her mom and daddy and sissy. “D-did I do okay?" This part wasn’t acting. Kensie had actually melted into an excited little girl at the thought of getting to be in a play watched by all of Magnolia. She adored getting attention, after all. That much was obvious to anyone who spent ten minutes with her.

Her jaw dropped. Verity was honestly surprised that Kensie could sing and for that matter, sing well. She continued to look on from above to see the people's reactions. To answer the girl's question The man gave a nod of approval, pulling out a notepad and scribbling some notes down. Isobelle merely grinned in delight and gave the fourteen year old girl a thumbs up. Only the other woman remained neutral. She held out her hand and the man gave her the notepad. For a few seconds she was quiet before she spoke again.

"You did just fine dear," she said in her quiet voice. Verity could sense a but coming. "However," Okay no but, "There is a slight problem. The character you would play should you get in is very rough and loud. She should have a strong voice. Your voice, while pretty as I'm sure you know, is not perfectly ideal,"

At the woman's words, Isobelle's smile begun to fade. "But-" The man silenced her with a hand and whispered something in her ear that Verity couldn't make out. Whatever it was, it managed to make Isobelle turn curious. Lily, the other woman watched this exchange before moving on. "The girl herself looks like a very cute and sweet girl but in reality she's not. Your voice when singing does not bring that out. However, I do have another character in mind for you. I'll tell you later but come with me first. My name's Lily by the way,"

Lily gestured to some doorway that Vera couldn't see. This annoyed her. It was so interesting. She decided to move over the air vent so she could see the other side of the room. A strangled gasp came from the woman below. "Did you see that?"

Verity froze on the spot. That was a worse mistake. The man below looked up. "I think...there's something in the air vent!" It was Isobelle who gasped and Isobelle who was speaking then. Lily turned around and looked up and promptly sighed. She turned back around to face Kensie. "Who is that? I assume you know the person in the air vent," she said, her expression not impressed.

Kensie gasped when she heard Verity move again. She’d nearly forgotten about the woman responsible for her impromptu audition. She was actually kind of thankful… or at least she thought she was. Where were they going? Were they still going? Had Verity screwed up her interview thing? She was going to be mad if so. “…. I told you…” Kensie answered quietly, assuming her cute demeanor in the hope they wouldn’t blame her and make her leave. “She pushed me out…“ Kensie sounded very slightly whiney, but more apologetic than anything else. She really wanted to see where this play thing was going. She wanted to get to act in front of an audience. Though she kind of wished she could be in the lead…

“She’s not too bad though. I kind of followed her in. I’m sorry for spying.” Mostly she was sorry because she was starting to enjoy herself. She didn’t mind being told her voice wasn’t gruff. It just meant she was cute, right? “Anyways, don’t be mad at her okay? She’s just scared of getting in trouble too.” Kensie didn’t know if she liked Verity or not, truthfully, but she was a guild mate and she wouldn’t just throw her to the wolves like Verity had, in her opinion. Not that it had turned out badly. She wasn't mad at her... though she would be if she ruined this new turn of events.

“Anyway, where were we going? Do we still get to talk?” the ebon-haired girl asked hopefully, practically bouncing up onto her toes as she tried to convince them to let her keep going on with this random accidental audition.

Lily had her eyebrow raised at Kensie. "You can act, I'll give you that," she said, the corner of mouth slightly quirked up. She then turned to look up at the air vent. "As for you-," she begun but before she could finish, Verity sighed and maneuvered herself so that her head popped out of the vent. "I am not scared of getting into trouble Kensie!" she stated proudly. She looked at their upside down forms and took in her surroundings. She hadn't saw it before but they were in the costume room. She could see the glittery dresses, dirty rags and casual wear lined up in neat boxes in the surroundings of the room. She didn't care about the weird looks she was getting from the cast people. Judging from the fact she was getting dizzy from hanging upside down for so long, she lifted her head back into the vent and hopped neatly out again, landing with grace. She had been practicing her balance and it paid off to not land on her face. She then walked to a lone crate and sat on it.

All the while Isobelle and the man were staring at her exchanging hushed whispers and pointing towards the notebook the man was holding in his hands. In the meantime, Lily had returned to Kensie. "Well come on then, follow me," she said and casually strolled to the next room across which was the dressing room. She gestured to ones propped up next to the cupboard. "These are the costumes which Fred has kindly made for the play. Fred is the man in the other room. It's open to alterations. the play we're putting on is more or less a musical. I created it. Isobelle is Fred's sister and the other woman in the room. She...well she says she's in charge of the music but I haven't seen her do anything yet to be honest," she said before taking a seat and the dressing table. "So now, I have a question for you. Think of it as...an interview of sorts...What's your opinion of cross dressing?"

Verity didn't hear any of the other conversation going on in the other room but instead stayed on the crate thinking what she should do know. For one thing, she hadn't gotten into trouble (which was a relief) and she didn't think Kensie would chew her ear off judging from the fact she had still gotten to do whatever she was going to do. In fact, she was so deep in thought that she didn't notice Isobelle and Fred reach the conclusion of their whispering. "I think we should bring her in," said the woman to which the man nodded before turning around to face Verity. "Come with us," he said curtly before turning around on foot and walking towards the dressing room in which Kensie and Lily had disappeared into. Verity on the other hand was more confused as to what was happening. "What?" she asked but received no answer as she was brought to the dressing room by Isobelle.

When they entered, she could see Lily turn her head in confusion. "What's going on?" she asked.

(OOC: Just so you know, feel free to decide what Isobelle and Fred were talking about and play all three of them. I'm kinda making it up on the spot so anything goes. Just that Fred is cold, Issy is friendly and Lily is laid-back. They're all open minded people)

Having successfully ignored Verity’s annoying rebuke at her trying to keep the other girl out of trouble, Kensie blinked in confusion at Lily’s question about her opinion on cross-dressing. Why, if there was ever a girl who had no desire to dress like a boy it was Kensie. She adored dresses and hated wearing pants, even shorts. It could even be hard to convince the fourteen year old to wear a skirt at times. It was probably not too inaccurate to say that no one at Fairy Tail aside from her sister had ever seen her out of one of her black, semi-short dresses. “Um,” she started, seeming unsure what Lily wanted from her, “You want me to pretend I’m a boy?” she asked, finding it weird that she didn’t qualify for a girl. “Cause… I don’t think I look like a boy… or sound like one…” she held out her dress like one would while curtsying as if to make the point. The dress was relatively tight, so it wasn’t like it left any question about her gender, even if guys did wear dresses.

Meanwhile, the remaining playwrights seemed to be scrutinizing Verity rather hard even as they walked into the dressing room. Fred was scrutinizing especially hard, not seeming to care whether it made Verity uncomfortable. As they entered, Lily asked what was going on, which prompted Fred to raise an eyebrow and cross his arms. “What do you think?” he asked Issy without explaining. Issy only raised an eyebrow before her face lit up. “You mean? Oh! You’re right! She’s the spitting image!” she said in a singsong voice all of a sudden.

Kensie, who still very much wanted to know what was going on on her end, only sat at the dressing table, trying to behave. She was watching everything through the mirror though as the three adults seemed to be having some sort of psychic conversation.

Lily’s own eyes widened after a moment as she caught on. “Oh! You’re right!” She stepped away from Kensie as if she were preparing to address an audience. The audience was two people semi-captive in a dressing room at this point. “You, my dear, are the spitting image of the sister of Roland Houser, the main character of our little play.” She told Verity with a nod. “The question is… can you act as well as little Kensie here?” Apparently she could tell Kensie was putting on a show to seem more adorable and stay out of trouble at first.

Fred piped up again, seeming to lighten up slightly. “We’re still very early on in the auditions, but perhaps you two misbehaving is a godsend. It certainly proves you’re brave, if nothing else. And a star must be brave enough to stand up before an audience! Besides... you did break our ventelation... it seems a good way to make up for it. *If* you're good enough.”

Kensie couldn't stay quiet anymore, needing to know what Lily had been talking about. "What about cross dressing?" she asked again.

(Ima let you stay in charge of Lily as far as what she has in mind for Kensie so it stays a bit surprising.)

Verity stared in confusion at the three adults...staring at each other? She tried to reach Kensie's eyes to ask her what on earth was going on but failed. She became even more confused when Lily stepped away as if she was addressing some audience and declared she was some spitting image of some...'Rohan Mouse'?

"What?" she asked

Fred rolled his eyes irritably at her but it was Lily who intercepted. "I know this might be a bit hard to take in but please listen dear, we don't have all day. I said you are the spitting image of the main character's, Roland Houser's that is, sister. I then asked whether you can act as well as Kensie," she said, a hint of a sigh in her voice. Verity looked to Kensie to see how the girl was reacting. She was just watching.

"Uhh..." she stuttered. Verity knew she couldn't act. The fact was she never tried acting before in her life so it was safe to assume she would be terrible at it. As for singing...well she didn't. Just because she knew about how to sing in theory didn't mean she could in practice. But before she could she say anything Fred said that their crash landing in the audition could have been a godsend to which she snorted only to be silenced by a glare from Isobelle. Wait. A glare from Isobelle. She didn't think the woman had to capacity to be angry. Well she guessed Isobelle wasn't angry, her glare was more like saying, 'listen to my bro!' and 'don't laugh!'. She did smile a second later anyways.

After Fred had finally finished whatever he was talking about, Verity was about to say that no, she couldn't act when Kensie asked about...cross dressing. She raised her eyebrow. So that was what Ms Lily the Script Writer was interviewing her 14 year old companion about. Okay. She'd take that.

At her question, Lily turned around to face Kensie and a lilting laughter exited her throat. "Dear, you don't have to be impatient. All in good time. And no I don't want you to pretend you're a boy. I know you don't look like one, much less sound like one. I just need your opinion of cross dressing! I can't tell you anything else other wise it might ruin the surprise!" she said.

The two other adults exchanged a knowing smile and Verity looked on confused. "Why does she need an opinion of cross dressing?" she asked, directing the question to Isobelle and Fred.

Fred looked to the side which Issy took to be her que to answer. "As Lily said, it's a surprise. I'll give you a hint though. I assume she said something before about altering costumes done by Fred. That's your hint," she whispered, her brown eyes sparkling.

Vera didn't see how it was much of a hint but kept quiet and decided to wait for Kensie's answer.

Kensie just sat there, blinking as the adults talked to each other, to Verity, and to her when she piped up again. She still looked and sounded a bit confused, though her legs started kicking in the air on her stool shed sat on as she considered the question like it might make or break her part in the play. She flipped her hair off of her neck as she perked up again, though it quickly settled back down exactly where it was. “It’s okay I guess,” she said with a shrug. “Boys being in girl’s clothes is odd though, but girls being in boy’s clothes is fine. If they like that sort of thing.” She shrugged. It was a one-sided opinion, but considering a lot of girls wore jeans and other ‘boy-like’ clothing, the only real difference was how baggy it was, right?

Kensie cast a glance at her companion, looking confused as her right hand idly scratched the shoulder her pink Fairy Tail tattoo was on. Her face was asking if Verity thought she’d answered right. She was obviously very concerned on whether or not she would get the chance to be in the spotlight, and she’d shifted from the know-it-all little annoying girl to a nervous and almost cute form of childish fretting – and this wasn’t even an act. This was just Kensie being a nervous fourteen year old girl in a way people rarely saw her. "Er... unless it was for a play? Then if there was a reason?" she piped up after a short pause, as if adding on something she thought might help them approve of her opinion more.

(Wasn't sure where to go with the NPC's and wanted to see what was going on in your head, so I left them to you again :P)

Verity watched Lily's reaction carefully as Kensie said her response. The pink haired woman appeared to repressing a smile. At least the fourteen year old didn't seem to be in danger of getting thrown out. The girl herself though seemed to have more doubts as she transitioned from annoying brat to somewhat tolerable human being, fidgeting and what not. She gave her a smile and a nod when the girl asked for confirmation whether she had answer alright. She thought it was good. Obviously Issy had. Even Fred managed to break into a smile from his usual grim expression. Vera didn't think her added comment after that was needed to endear the trio to Kensie but it served no harm either. Lily simply shook her head and gave a smile.

"Interesting thoughts darling, I'll keep it in mind. And also you should know, you were always going to be inside so don't fret," she said, indicating there would be no more say on the matter before gesturing to Issy to take charge.

Vera was confused at this. So for some reason, she asked Kensie her opinion of cross dressing only to not tell her why she was wondering. She thought back to the hint Issy had gave her. She looked at Fred who moved across the room to talk to Lily. Maybe they were planning on altering the script? She was about to ask when Issy waved them onto the stage.

"I'm going to let Fred and Lily talk. In the meantime, you might want to know your roles. First things first, you need to know how Lily, Fred and I work. We like input in our script. We want our actors to give their ideas. We're all adaptable so please, tell us your honest opinion. So far, we have a rough draft and these are the characters we want you to be playing. Kensie, you will be playing KC, you can decide her name. She is a ghost who can't remember anything. She's pretty mischievous and bright but also schizophrenic. You over there," she said gesturing to Verity. "You will be playing Roland's sister, Cat. She's open to interpretation. You'll see what I mean later,"

Vera stared dumbfounded at Isobelle. They ran things differently that was for sure. She shook her head. "I've been trying to say this a while but I can't act. Never tried. And also, my names Verity," she said. However she was ignored by the woman who shoved two scripts into Kensie's and Vera's hands. "Now off you go and practice. Be warned though, it's susceptible to change. I need to go discuss with Fred and Lily," After she did so, Issy disappeared again leaving Kensie and Vera together on the stage.

(OOC: My head is filled with nothing after this point. To clear it up (because you might want to know and Lily's not about to say this very soon :P), the cross dressing thing is because Kensie's character's dad is a cross dressing ghost. Also, for what the play's actually about, you can decide since you made up the main character :P (you don't actually have to make up the whole thing, that's too much to ask, but knowing what he does would be nice *nods*))

Kensie wasn’t told why they cared about cross-dressing, but apparently this KC was a ghost with memory loss. She was pretty sure she could be an adorable ghost. Were ghosts ever supposed to be adorable? Oh well. It was open to interpretation, right? Kensie made a mental note to rename the ghost, thinking that Amelia was a much better name than KC. That sounded like some boy’s nickname. Oh, right. The ghost was mischievous and bright. Kensie was mischievous and bright. That would be easy! The schizophrenic thing…. Well she would have to remind herself what that was. She could probably do that too.

Meanwhile, Verity was protesting her own part. “Don’t you want to be a star?” she asked Verity, honestly confused that someone would be against being in such an awesome sounding play. “You’d probably do alright. I mean… good enough anyway. That is… look you should try. Please?” she begged, wanting someone she knew to be involved with her. It would make everything that much cooler. It didn’t even matter that the pair spent most of their time bickering at the moment. They were guild mates, and having Fairy Tail friends in the play was an exciting thought.

(I plan to come up with more to actually help soon. As of writing this I’m rather tired though, and figured at least this way you wouldn’t have to wait.)

Verity considered Kensie's question. In all honesty she didn't care for stardom. Sure, it was a great opportunity but only if she was trying to become a musical theatre actress. Her goals were surprisingly not involved with the arts at all. Her goals were her sister's goals. Come to think of it she didn't have goals of her own. Not really anyways. From Kensie's expression she could tell that Kensie definitely wanted to be in this play and couldn't understand why she didn't want to.

"No, not particularly," she said finally.

It was nice of the girl to think that she'd do alright. Obviously Isobelle thought so or else she wouldn't have been chucked to the lions den despite her protests. She laughed at the thought that Kensie said she was good enough anyway. A smirk crept onto her face but she kept it hidden. She bet the girl didn't want to do the play by herself. With that thought in mind she concocted a suitable response.

"I guess it wouldn't be that bad. I mean you are begging and I don't think I'd be cruel enough to leave my fellow guild mate to go fend for herself from all those scary actors and actresses that will soon join the show," she said nonchalantly, flipping the front cover of the script called 'A Day In The Life Of'. She couldn't say the title struck her as particularly interesting but she guessed it wouldn't kill her to give it a shot. Besides, she did like trying new things. "Now let's see what this is about shall we?"

Kensie was honestly confused as to how someone wouldn’t want the opportunity of a lifetime. She could be a good mage and a star, right? Kensie was certainly willing to try! The fourteen year old spent the next minute or so looking at Verity like she was crazy – until Verity started talking about how Kensie was begging. “A-am not!” Kensie lied defensively. “I just think even you should have a chance to do something awesome,” she continued. It was probably obvious she was lying. She couldn’t bring herself to try hard enough right now. She was too busy flipping through her new script. As Verity suggested they do. It was… weird. But totally awesome in a way an excited fourteen year old who wanted to be a star would find it.

As disagreeable as she could be, Kensie looked up to most of her guild mates, even the ones she found annoying. She was one of the youngest, after all. If not *the* youngest official guild member. She had a desire to hang around and impress everyone in her guild, and even Verity was no exception. Kensie’s eyes widened in a couple of places as she continued to read., but as she read the end page she frowned. “Wait… I’m supposed to die? Like…. Ghost die? They can do that?” she asked, confused.

Verity suppressed a laugh. Despite the younger girl's protest she could tell she had been begging. "Don't deny it. It's not bad to want someone you know around," she sighed playfully "But anyways, flattered that you think even I should have a chance to do something like this," she continued in a more normal tone, a smirk still firmly planted on her face.

As she was flipping through her script the thought that Roland Houser was a complete weirdo kept popping into her head. It wasn't a bad script but she didn't she would go see the play if it was being advertised. For one, the character she was supposed to play, some Cat or other was also crazy. She wasn't sure whether she should be pleased that her acting talent was so prominent as to make her a major character without audition or angered that they thought she could act as a crazy exorcist on sight. She didn't think she acted like a crazy exorcist in real life. She heard Kensie asked how could ghosts die which caused the other girl to sigh noisily.

"Well, ghosts can die. But it also depends on what you're talking about. Like actual disappearing or actual death? Because my character is an exorcist. Does she kill you?" she said in a matter of fact tone.

She glanced over Kensie's shoulder to see which page she was up to and read it. Okay. Even she had to admit it was slightly strange. The ghost did get exorcised...but she also died? That was confusing. She flipped to the next page to see what happened. It didn't make much of a difference. If anything, it just increased her confusion. She was glad she didn't have to play that role.