Here's the first (shorter than I'd wished) chapter of my new story! This story won't have any OC's, and is an AshXJohnny pairing story, with the main focus on Johnny and Ash, but also goes along with the other characters too (with no other pairings). So without any more chat, enjoy chapter one of "Home Sweet Home"!
Life had been a rollercoaster of a ride.
It had been a good 4 months since the big performance, and the grand "re"-opening of the New Moon theatre had been an old media topic for a few months now. Things settled slowly, but it seemed now the whole crew were back to reality, from the dream that was the events of the encore of the old Moon theatre.
It stood tall and proud, an old concept, but still a popular attraction of the main road it watched over. The black, starless sky soon met the thatched wood roof of the rebuilt modern entertainment hub, yet still the roof was adorned with a ginormous roman style clock, two bright gold plated hands both pointing to X. Animals of all shapes and sizes strolled the pavement, cars only just whisks of light speeding past the theatre. The three water stacks illuminated the scene in front of it, contributing to all the blinding lights of the street, stretching out of sight. Things wouldn't have this busy, if it wasn't for the weekly Saturday night activity spike. And a certain fuzzy grey koala adored it.
Buster Moon, showman and presenter 'extraordinaire', leaned out of the open window of his theatre office, enjoying the sight of the nightlife below. "Ah, this fresh coat of paint looks great on you" Buster let out a chuckle. Rubbing the slick white window frame surface, his furry paws gliding over it smoothly with ease, he became lost in his daze, the colourful lights in the black background gave him a moment to recollect his thoughts over the past many interesting months. 'Interesting' was a truly an understatement.
His great (completely original, never-done-before) idea, a singing competition, turned out in a way no single animal could have forethought. "Who wants to see another one of those" the sheep's response was quick and off-putting, but the koala knew for sure he knew what would draw in the audience. Mrs. Crawly, one of his oldest friends somehow still his oldest (and only) assistant, managed to screw up, and she screwed up bad. After all that auditioning, and his 'chosen few' lined up, they struggled to live the performs dream. Somehow, he'd then landed a visit from the diva herself, Noodleman, it was the biggest promise he'd ever had. And the squid lit stage, it was an architectural wonder! If only it had seen at least even 1 whole event. It was his fault in the end for the flood, and collapse of the theatre. His theatre, the theatre his loving dad struggled to buy for him. Now all he had left of it was the single bucket that his dad could have filled with his sweat and tears from the years of work, and memorabilia shot of the opening of the very building the years of work paid for.
Buster came back from his trip down memory lane, with a small thoughtful frown and swivelled in his chair from the window, facing the wall. It was pretty empty, save for two pictures and a bucket hanging from a nail. The first was a panoramic shot, showing the opening of the first Moon theatre. Below it, was framed the second, a similar shot with the theatre family, all gathered around the tape that had been freshly cut, re-starting the legacy of the predecessor. Under the two wide pictures, was the bucket that started it all. The bucket. It meant so much to Buster. It was in all fairness the piece that started it all. The koala swivelled back around, resuming his thought train that travelled through his past.
Buster was worthless, he had nothing. He lay flat on the airbed, pitying himself, when all of a sudden, there was a knock. with "Come on, Moon, you can't just hide out in your buddy's pool house" a certain recently heartbroken porcupine's voice rang out. That's what he had intended on doing at the time. He then shut them off, and was soon re-interrupted by an elephant this time. "This is my lot for life, that I'm not the guy that my dad wanted me to be, not by a million miles!" He shouted at the elephant, sending her away. He knew he still had to get a living some how.
So what else could he do? "What are you doing?" "The only other job I know." He was washing cars, just like his dad. Where was the progress through generations? Moon was a forgotten name. He had a use for the bucket once again. Soon they picked up the pace, and were on the clock for 3 hours, until Buster heard a voice, one he could sense was familiar, but one he definitely hadn't heard before. After climbing the ruins, he saw it, and as he watched in awe, he knew what he had to do now. "Do you think you could sing like that in front of a real audience?" "I don't know, but I want to try." It was the only response he needed.
Soon, the theatre crew had lined up, ready to enter the makeshift stage. This was the encore, the final hoorah. And suffice to say, it wasn't the final(e) after all.
It was a blur after that, the performance, the cheering, and Nana. Buster was no longer on the Moon, he was over it. Then, the rebuilding of the theatre. It was a dream come true for Buster. The theatre was even more an architectural wonder than the stage. And the theatre crew were so close, they were practically a family. And things were getting back to normal.
Meena, the elephant with the heavenly voice, that truly ended the concert, was now just ordinary Meena. Sure, she came to rehearse every once or so, and she managed to fit in at least 2 evenings every week, but she was still only in high school at 14. Previously, a schoolgirl with a hidden voice, was now quite open and confident, and the most popular girl in her school. Hell, maybe even the whole town! A couple months ago, Buster managed to get her for a Memorial Day concert, her voice was perfect for the message that was being sent, and there were many tears that day in the theatre.
Then there was Rosita, the pig that could fly, at least on stage. Yet, as Buster saw for the first time when he had been raided by them on stage, she had 25 young of her own. They were quite young too, 25 8-year-old piglets, no wonder she was always late or arrived to the theatre flustered. But somehow, she managed to find the "fire und desire" Gunter, her dazzling partner, had told her about. Yet, unfortunately since the show, she'd been very dormant, only appearing once every week, complaining about Norman not being home and saying his 'work from home' days were difficult to stretch to make ends meet.
Mike, how was he doing? Sure, he only just made it alive last time, and it seems he's in his right mind now. Mike managed to payback the Russian mob bears, but still owing the bank a large sum from his loan. He and his girlfriend Nancy had settled down, yet were still trying to live the high life. Going to clubs, partying, playing cards, and the such. Although whether Mike had learned his lesson was unknown, but it seemed he stayed out of trouble. He kept his sports convertible though, "I ain't lettin' this one up, I'll just pay the bank for it" he would justify.
Who was left? Johnny, what was he doing? In all fairness, Buster had no idea. Johnny was still reminiscing his Dad's prison sentence. It was a long one at that too, Buster knew that much from the press, an article on page 20 of the newspaper Buster read. Sure, the gorilla had visited the theatre, even if it was only 3 times since, but it was for certain Johnny was struggling to make enough to live. He was working at the garage where he lived, but it just about paid for his well-being. But being the gentle soul he was, he informed Buster about his situation, and Buster comforted him, telling him about his own life story.
And Ash of course. Like Johnny, Buster had no clue of what she'd been up to, where she was, what she was doing, except for the last time she came to the theatre to rehearse by herself, about 1 and a half months ago. She just walked in, without a word, to the rehearsal room, played some songs Buster had never heard before, then walked straight out after a few hours. Buster wanted to catch up, but she left without him noticing. In fact, she walked in without him noticing too, possibly though the backstage door, since the doorman hadn't recollected her presence.
And for himself? Buster saw there was no time better than now. After he'd scrapped his old shows, he replaced them with real spectacles, "These are things people want to watch!" he'd exclaim to Eddie. More surprisingly, the patron Nana was actually interested in funding them! "Rosie takes a bow?" More like "Les Miserables" or "West Side Story!" Both of which the Koala wanted to try, but as he saw the difficulties the crew were having with their own lives, he couldn't even tell them about his plans.
Speaking of plans...
Furry little legs pushed the rolling leather office chair away from the dark window, back toward the polished wood desk. With a furrowed brow, deep in thought and slightly worried, Buster pulled up the lid of his black brushed aluminium Razer notebook, now visible glowing green accents as it turned on. Yet being the smallest laptop he could find of 12 inches, it still dwarfed him. He was quite small for even for his own species.
Loading the mail application, he re-opened the email that topped his favourites, Subject: "Hey, we have an opportunity for your theatre!" Followed up with viewed: 34 times in small text under it. As he glanced over the contents once more, his eyes became glassy, his focus now clearly lost in the screen, as he thought hard. There were so many commitments, but the theatre family just hadn't been as close as they were just before the performance and the re-opening of the Moon theatre. This was just what they needed, but Buster was asking a lot, a lot indeed. This was stretching it far, really far. Buster mumbled to himself, not really concentrating. He never talked to himself, but...
"I really hope it all works out..."
I hope it was good, like I said, shorter than I'd like, but a toe-dip into the pool, to see if you guys like it. Please Rate and Review! Any kind of criticism is the best kind of review you could give me (what you think will/want to happen, if you liked the chapter, what could be done to improve, etc.). I love to read all the reviews no matter what you say! Until next chapter though, Peace! ;)