The Green Room (Open)

[Malistra]

*A standard green room from a theater or television studio. There are a couple of overstuffed modern looking couches along the bright green walls, with a coffee table set before them. Magazines are fanned neatly along the top of the table, with some coasters to set drinks on.

Along another wall is a kitchenette, stocked with a fridge, coffeemaker and an ever present buffet of finger foods, fruit and veggies. There are sodas, juices and water in the fridge.

The Green Room is a place for performers to rest and relax in between appearances on stage. All are welcome to come in, sit a spell and take off the character while waiting for their next entrance on the galactic stage.*


The door to the room swung open as two short brunette women entered, one in her mid-thirties while the other looked like a teenager. The older woman immediately headed to the fridge, grabbing a bottle of water before she looked over to the young girl and motioned for one of the couches.

"You can get something to drink or you can sit down and wait. I don't know how long we might be here."

Kiera looked over at her writer before she plopped down on a couch, her hands in her pouch to grab her datapad. Her voice carried a tinge of boredom in that way that teenagers so often sounded.

"What is this place anyway?"

Mal looked over to Kiera, the bottle of water paused halfway to her parted lips as she tried to think of a good way to describe where they were. Mal had been in theater for years and was used to the vernacular of performance but Kiera was just a figment and a newborn one at that.

She began to speak slowly, still trying to think of what to say.

"This is called a green room. Traditionally, this is where actors or performers chill after being on or prepare for their upcoming entrance onstage. You, however are here to wait until you are cleared to go in."

Kiera looked up from the pad with a scornful look as Mal sighed and rolled her eyes. She crossed the room, smoothed out her slacks before she sat down next to her creation.

"Hey, it ain't my rule, sweetcheeks. We want to make sure we're ready for this."

Kiera guffawed as the pad drooped in her hands.

"I'm not ready for this. Don't I get a say?"

Mal took the pad from the girl, handing her the bottle instead. She spoke in a calm manner as she entered something into the pad. Kiera tried to see what was being typed out of the corner of her eyes while she drank deeply of the water.

"Sadly no, dearest. Sorry. Part of your fear is the anxiety I wrote into you. You've been sheltered and you're about to find yourself in the big wide universe all on your lonesome. I can't guarantee what will happen to you, but I promise you won't be alone. And, if you manage to hang on long enough, you might turn into this."

Mal handed the pad back over to Kiera as her eyes grew wide in shock.

"No freaking way! But, but...she's so brutal."

Kiera paused in her thoughts a moment before she looked over at Mal.

"How?"

Mal shrugged as she gave Kiera a half smile.

"I don't know yet. But I have to tell you, you haven't even begun to know what horror is. There are some truly awful things that will happen to you that will make your mom's funeral look like a walk in the park. You just have to remember there is a reason for everything that happens."

"I don't want anything else bad!"

Kiera's voice rose in fear, but Mal placed her hand on Kiera's thigh.

"No one wants bad stuff, but it's how we handle it that define us. This is your path to walk. It will take you some great places."

Kiera looked into Mal's eyes, the same color as her own with a deep, desperate need for comfort.

"Can't I be a Jedi then?"

Mal chuckled, smoothing Kiera's hair out of her eyes.

"Yeah but that means that you don't get to be bitter, you don't get revenge on your dad and you love and forgive Krayden for everything."

Kiera snorted in disgust as Mal took the water back.

"Kriff that. I'll take the Sith."

Mal couldn't hold back her laughter as she looked over towards the door, a smile plastered on her face.

"That's my girl."

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

“Yeah, see ya Josh. Nah, no need to turn the lights on…know the way by heart by now.”

Heading through the quiet backstage passages, she only chuckles softly at the grumblings of the…much larger…man behind her. With all his gear strapped on it was no wonder he was having trouble moving through the narrow paths littered with props and scenery. A soft *pop* and another bit of background appeared beside them out of thin air as someone (one of the muns, obviously) brought it into being for whatever their current purpose was. The swift movement of weight and gear behind her earned another chuckle as she paused and turned around, arms folded across her chest.

“Chill out, okay Kable? You get used to it after a while. It’ll be happening to you soon enough.”

”Gorram kid…sh-t. You want me ta ‘chill’ gimme my gorram life back.”

“No can do, partner, sorry.” Continuing on her way, she sighed a little. Sometimes she felt like she was too hard on her people, but…”It’s for your personal development…and a good story.” The growl from behind her hardly caused any worry. He knew the rules, knew how things worked...this wasn’t his first outing, after all, it was just his first outing into the forum proper.

”Why the hell did you drag me out here anyway? I’ve got better things to do.”

With a twist of a knob, she opened the door to the green room a crack before suddenly recalling something she had meant to do last night. “Crap! I knew I forgot something! I was supposed to add another language to your inventory!” Opening the door the rest of the way she waved at the slightly older (what was 5 years, anyway?) Malistra and the decade younger Kiera.

”Gezus, mun…another one?”

“You’ll like this one.”

”Like hell I will.”

With a snap the door shut behind him and he looked at the other two in there with them. With a huff he shifted his SM82 across his back and folded his arms, to glare at his mun again. All she could do was roll her eyes at him and sigh heavily, pulling her hair down and then back into a ponytail again. “Cripes, Kable…could you take a moment to not be rude and at least say hello or something? And yes you will.” She smirked a bit and propped herself against a counter. “Yeah, it’s called ‘cursing’, you’re fluent in it, and have knowledge of ‘cursing’ in a number of languages.”

Turning to look at the other two, she smiled a bit apologetically at them as Kable worked his way through the small room. He was sweeping the area for god only knew what kind of danger and ignoring the others completely. Typical, really…if a bit sad and annoying. “Sheesh, what a pain. Sorry about him he’s…anti-everything. Especially anti-social.” Finally he seemed appeased and stopped near a wall, turning to look over at them once again from dusky-green eyes as one hand rubbed across the fuzz that covered his head before tugging up the black material he used to cover his right forearm.

”Kable, and that’s about all you need to know about me.” Looking over to his mun, she smirked back. If he thought that was a good enough introduction for her to get off his back about it…well, he was wrong.

[Malistra]

Malistra smiled at the two people who entered the room, her eyes lingering over the one known as Kable a moment, her mind thinking that he seemed to be an equal smattering of Cmdr. Demarus and Capt. Nitt. He was clearly a character, carrying weapons and dressed as though he was about to be rousted out to a operation in a jungle planet somewhere.

Mal rose from the couch, pushing her glasses up on her nose, a black shirt over a pair of grey slacks, with black patten leather Nine West pumps on. She offered her hand in greeting to the entering woman, her lilting alto voice crisp and articulate.

"Hi, I'm Mal. I'm new to these parts but not to the galaxy if you catch my meaning. That brooding bundle of angst over there is Kiera."

Kiera huffed audibly at Mal's statement before she looked over at Kable and raised an eyebrow at him with a disgusted defiance. She pulled herself up to her feet and bowed in respect to the new woman, who never mentioned her name, and then to Kable.

"Yup, brooding angst, that's me."

Stepping over to the finger foods, she grabbed a couple of berries and stuck them in her mouth before she questioned the new woman again.

"So what's the deal with this place? You writers just get to come and throw us in the middle of whatever you want to, like some freakishly detached gods or something?"

Mal's color drained as she yelled at the mouthy teenager. She knew that Kiera would have to be stubborn, outspoken and bitter to be able to make it through the things she had in store for her, but it had not occurred to her that Kiera would be that way sitting in an OOC lounge like this.

With a sheepish grin, Mal turned to Kiera and with a stern voice, corrected her.

"This is a place for writers and their creations, and we're new Kiera. Be respectful because so help me, child, your bio hasn't been approved yet and I can give you a limp and a stutter with just a few simple key strokes."

A touch of anger flashed through Mal's eyes before it vanished and Mal turned her attention back to the new woman. Kiera walked back over to the couch, sticking her tongue out at Mal behind her turned back before she plopped back down, grumbling.

"You could have at least made me pretty..."

Mal ignored the petulant child, instead her eyes took in a moment of Kable before she cleared her throat and smiled at the new woman.

"Sorry about that, now where were we? What did you say your name was?"

[Talau the Ever-Lurking]

There wasn’t much to the mun, really…’hippy’ likely would have been a good adjective. Jeans, earthy colored top of light material, long brown hair, no makeup…apparently she could be ‘pretty’ (if she lost a little weight) but at the moment she would likely seem rather plain. Not that she cared. Taking the offered hand, she shook it and smirked, amused by thoughts of trying some random hand jive just to see what sort of reaction it got.

She promptly ignored those thoughts, but it had golden-green eye dancing anyway.

Laughing a little, she nodded back to Keira. Sad part was, the girl was right…spot on right. It only made her chuckle more, while Kable (sour as ever) huffed a bit and scowled, pulling off his rifle and setting the barrel of it against the floor while he propped himself against a wall. “Well, Mal, she’s right. That’s pretty much what it boils down to for most of us. Lord knows my people know that all too well.”

”You should hear some of her thoughts…I’d say more of a frelling devil than a god.”

Despite the attitude, a sort of impish mirth bubbled up from her, a few chuckles following. “Talau, Tal for short…but—“

A head popped around the corner of the door as it opened, the woman there peeking through at them with a look of curiosity on her face, and eye a mixture of browns, greens and tan. ”Was I called?”

Kable gave a long suffering sigh as his mun facepalmed and shook her head. “No…we weren’t talking about you, Tal…go back to your thread. Get…shoo!” With a slight shrug the other woman slipped herself out of the partially open door and shut it behind her. “Like I was saying: but, I have a character by that name…so typically they refer to me as Tal-mun, or just Mun. And by ‘they’ I mean the characters I interact with most often. Feel free to call me Tal, though.”

”Yeah, just be careful with this one…she’s got a tendency to have her other characters appear randomly.” He looked none too pleased by that prospect. It was bad enough he was here to begin with, but the idea of having more of that insane lot running around…well, like she’d said, he was anti-everything, especially anti-social. For a moment he was quiet, taking in the two other women before huffing slightly. ”And you better watch yourself, girl. Most mun’s…especially mine and her cohorts…aren’t above trying to make others lives hell on the boards. Save yourself some trouble and just don’t talk.”

The glare his mun shot him was readily ignored. He planned on taking his own advice, though, and keeping his trap shut. No point in talking here anyway. More he said the more likely it was he was gonna be dragged into something he didn’t want…he just wasn’t sure what, yet.