[Open] The Limelight

Riley had waited near the back of the Auditorium after their audition. Watching, appreciation, and learning from those who came before and after the darklings show.
Their own performance had been adequate in the darkling's eyes. It had felt like an average night at one of the clubs. The wisp had hoped for more, but a stage of that size had thrown the Moth for a loop.

Penciled mustache, hair slicked back and eye brilliant lavender eye shadow were the lasting remains of the performance of Lady Jack-Off audition. Riley made their way down towards the stage where Apolo and Archie had just gathered.

"Quite the show all around I'd say. Any favorites of yours, Archie?" The darkling asked their fellow spring courtier as they got closer. Before raising a hand in greeting to him and Apollo.

Apollo chuckled, absently picking at a fang with the nail of his pinky. "Holding auditions here is a bit of a flex, but we'll see," he mused. They were trying to drum up exclusivity while still leaking enough information to get the niche industry talking. A performer here and there would chatter about it to a powerful fan or friend over drinks and cocaine, and next thing they know they would start touring and pulling the numbers. The value of art was always subjective. Maybe the Fairest knew a little too much about it.

The sun-kissed elf had not performed himself, skulking around in the background as he managed media. Whether he had his own talent was up in the air, though Oren had seen his fancy acrobatics at the Summer party.

He nodded along with Archie's chatter. "That singer of yours is going to be eaten alive. Watch out for her," he said with an empathetic tone. She wasn't rockstar, but sounded well enough for gigs. The looks were enough to be tugged in a different direction with lavish promises; the early surgery bills and wide eyes reeked of desperation. He knew by now that having Archie as an agent wasn't a godly shield against the realities of the entertainment industry, but the guy wasn't going to let her get shuffled off to a hotel room with a bored gangster.

"That was a fun one, different," he offered to Riley. He respected that the dancer held onto their brand, though Drag wasn't going to land them any role. However, attracting attention from other potential witnesses and word of mouth already had the Moth's media receive an uptick of subscribers and questions.

Once the eager Adonis brought his energy over, Apollo finally put away the phone. "Most of the troupe thinks you're an addict or schizophrenic, but that's in right now," he laughed. "You did great, though-" he ticked his head to the side, unsure how to broach it. He was hoping the Elemental would have clued in by now, on his own. "With our situation, it's usually better to focus on dance or chorus. Being center stage gets your name in the paper and on the internet. We don't get invaded here, but Huntsmen can still...fuck with us."

Since getting recruited by an Entitlement of ruthless bounty hunters, the Fairest felt like he was becoming a bit of a buzzkill. His delivery was reluctant at best — rattling off a rhetoric like beaten soldier.

“You think I don’t understand flex’s, sir? Have you seen my wardrobe?”

Bazinga.

“Riley, a pleasure as always, finally going to swing by my office so we can take some of this hustle and bustle out of your schedule. We can make great things happen, you and I, not to mention there is that wonderful discount I give to members of the community when it comes to my cut.”

It was always worth a shot in the dark to see if you hit a bullseye.


And you know what...He may sound less crazy than usual this time at least!

“Oh, don’t worry about that shiksa, she is in her car crying after that. Thought she did horribly. Stage isn’t her thing, but she wanted to chase the dream you know? In the end I couldn’t be happier, this flex really put the nails in the coffin that come voices are better left to studios.”

He shrugged despite sounding somewhat callous about the whole thing.

“But, it's better to break these things to them early than let them waste away, move to New York to make it on Broadway and end up as some Waitress in a janky chinese food place on Christmas day. But there is some promising young faces that aren’t going to get picked up probably ripe for the picking for someone who can show them the way!”

Things carried on par for the course, Oren’s performance was critiqued in its own way.

“Listen to the man, he has a point. Besides all the real magic happens in the background, fairy godmother style.”

He produced a card from his inside jacket pocket and offered it across to Oren with this info and of course:

Have
  A.
Hart ❤

“If you ever need someone to help with that…”

He waved his open palmed hand at the man as if casting spell

“Talent, hit me up, we’ll have lunch, know a great soup and sandwich spot"

At Oren waxing poetic, he snorted. "Humble, too." Done with sitting still for more than a minute, the Fairest moved to fiddle with the stage set-up, idly twirling the microphone as he listened to Riley.  He was clearly familiar with the equipment. "What have you been up to, anyway? I heard you swore vassalage...?" The cat eyes focused for a moment on the Elemental, missing gossip with his harried schedule. Maybe the flashy Darkling would contribute.

At Archie's comment on the stage not being for the girl, but letting her come to the conclusion herself in a safer environment, Apollo nodded with a sardonic smirk. Agents usually grated on him, but the Spring was likeable with all his disarming self-deprecation to mask the Unicorn preening. The man loved positive attention and tended to crumple to peer pressure; given the testing Apollo had witnessed with the other Emeralds targeting the newbie.

“Riley, the only thing that is my thing is diet Doctor Pepper, everyone can agree its awful and I still always make sure I have a few bottles on hand because it is oh so fantastic to have a glass of the fizz at the end of the day. Beyond that I try to keep an open mind in case because who knows if it's an opportunity knocking, right?”

He added a small laugh, turning to Oren who took his card, and offered quite the expressive tone. If Archie was a man of assumptions he would be assuming that this man was more the flame than the moth. He simply nodded and smiled back.

“I’ll call that a deal, look forward to having a sit down.”

He wasn’t going to push the matter, but if he was lying, then Archie could only hope the wyrd would handle the dispensation of misfortune regarding the flouncing of even a petty promise. Maybe a stubbed toe, plenty of karma for the Spring.

“So, must have been a discount on theatre’s for you to be able to get this place just to putz around for auditions, hmm?”

The Fairest shrugged, "If you're waffling I could give you a rundown of your options sometimes," he offered while dropping the subject. Archie's statement is met with a faraway look as he stares at the empty seats, brow pinching as Riley adds to the consideration,

"Oh, my show? No I just...know people; from when I did the whole performing thing." Apollo seemed to mull it over, "Did I just let myself get swindled into stage management? The bastard."

He then glided to park next to the Bright One, leaving the Elemental to be lonely with mystery.

"Right? With the new guy- heard he bailed on LA, actually, but Hermia won't talk on it. Which absolutely says something." He leaves out the fight about Mabon, grinning sheepishly.