Welcome to Gaia! ::

The moment Yukon put his hands on her shoulders, Sparrow knew he had seen through her halfhearted attempt to pass off the responsibility. Still, she held her expression, fighting not to give away the flood of emotions tumbling through her. She wasn’t sure what was worse, that he saw through her immediately, or that she was secretly glad he was refusing. He paused, thinking through something. She held her breath with a small tremble, although she didn’t know what for.

”But I have to,” she interjected, half a beg, half hoping he would say no again. ”I agreed with Chadwick that I’d not…do….”

Yukon declared himself her advisor, calling upon the power of...some kind of potato, it must have been, (he couldn’t really be the duke of York, could he?) to establish himself as such. She couldn’t help but smile a little, even though there was pressure building up behind her eyes now, tears just behind her eyelids. ”No, that’s okay, I’ll just ask Billie or--or Pietro,” she tried interrupting and tried brushing off, but Yukon was leaving no room for misunderstanding that he wanted her to take this responsibility, not just appoint someone else.

Yukon pulled her into a hug. ”Don’t let anyone else, especially some dumb boy, change what you’re passionate about.”

Sparrow burst into tears. She sobbed none-so-quietly, no doubt drenching the older boy’s shirt. ”Chadwick’s not dumb!” she protested shrilly as a matter of instinct, ”He’s thoughtful and always looking out for me and knows me better than I do myself and always getting me little things and Chadwick’s my soulmate and my one and only true love and--” Sparrow continued, spilling her thoughts in barely comprehensible gobbledygook and drowned in sobs. She let the defenses die out, feeling a terrible pang in her chest, like she was betraying Chadwick. She didn’t have to be the director of Drama Club. She guessed, aas she had convinced herself over the summer, that she didn’t even have to be in Drama Club to be a successful actress. After all, love trumped all. Love always won, and Chadwick was her true-love, her soulmate, her first and only.

...Right?

There were so many conversations with Wren, with Aria, with Big Sis Aspen, that made her question what true love and happily ever after was. But this wasn’t about love, this was about whether she could really still keep the Drama Club leadership when she had agreed she would not. But Yukon, and maybe even Finley by his contemplation, had seen what she was desperately trying not to acknowledge: Even when she was convincing herself over the summer, she was backstage at the local theatre. She never really believed she could leave the Drama Club, and really, standing here--hearing the room humming with songs yet to be sung, seeing the lights of future productions coming-- this was the place she had to stay, to make her name and take the claim offered.

Chadwick would understand. Because love always won.

Finally Sparrow stopped bawling. She wiped the rest of the tears on her sleeve and got her breathing and the hiccups that had started sometime mid-stutter and mid under control. ”Okay. You...you’re right. I do want this. I’ve been training to be an actress since I was five, and I boasted to Jack I’d put on four productions that would blow his mind and have the Hobgoblin Theatre throwing offers at me.”. She took a long, deep breath, steady this time. ”Thank you. Chadwick will understand. Because love always wins.”

She took another breath, stepped back a stepp, and stretched her arms up and on her tippy toes. When she relaxed, arms swinging, ”Okay! I accept your appointment as Hand of the Director. Now all we need is our cast to arrive!”

Sparrow tried smiling again, looking over to Finley with as best a reassuring experience as she could. She was captain now! She had to act like it! ”I hope I didn’t scare you off, Finley! I promise I’ll only cry in-scene from now on.”

For the first time since they were back at school Dunce wasn’t following Sparrow protectively. Instead, Hecate Eponine Saffron Terra Ivanka Ariel (aka “Hestia”), Sparrow’s boreal owl, was perched inconspicuously on a corner chair. Sparrow had been in the Drama club room all morning, preparing activities and half-heartedly working on a study-scene for History. When it neared time for the club to meet, she set the forms out and sat on the edge of a seat, willing for anything--anyone, to distract her from the numbness of grief.

Sparrow was going to flourish. She had to. She had to do better-- to live better. She had to be okay. For Aria’s sake. Or at least, she had to pretend she was okay, because she had to pay more attention. Sure Sparrow could mimic anyone’s mannerisms and voice patterns after a bit of close observation, but she had to know what was going on in their lives as well. She would ask questions. She would listen, not only for their linguistic idiosyncrasies or their hobbies and dreams, but…for their fears...or something.

Sparrow pushed herself off the seat when someone entered: “Good afternoon!” She went through the usual polite greetings, but eventually started a conversation with a curious: ”What kind of roles do you like to play? What kind of character have you never played or are afraid of playing?”