Circa City of Fallen Angels
"Come in," said the cool voice and Alec turned the doorknob and stepped into the director's office.
"Oh, look who decided to grace us with his presence! My favourite student!" Professor O'Connell said half-sarcastically, and Alec winced.
"Professor, I know I've missed rehearsals and I've come to apologize for-" Alec began.
"Fray, you're here on a scholarship and you're throwing it away as if it means nothing," she cut him off promptly. "It is completely unacceptable for you to vanish for weeks at a time without any explanations whatsoever when you have a lead role in the annual Tennessee Williams play. 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' is not a joke, and as a member of the LGBT community I expected you to take it more seriously. Miss White tells me that you've been dealing with... family issues, but when you need a leave of absence you talk to me directly. You have thirty seconds to explain your behaviour."
Alec opened his mouth and then shut it.
"Well? Nothing to say for yourself?" she snapped.
"I would tell you, but you'll never believe me," Alec said.
"Fray, I'm beginning to question your dedication to the craft. I took a chance on you when I cast you as Tom last year, and it paid off. You're one of the youngest students I've ever put in a lead role. I'd hoped you wouldn't let your success get to your head, but clearly, it has. There's no place for slackers in my productions, you know that." She looked so disappointed in him it made him feel like he was an inch tall.
Alec hung his head. He liked Professor O'Connell, she'd seen something in him that he hadn't been able to see in himself, and now he'd disappointed her by allowing himself to be swept up into the Shadow World and forget that his real place was here at university, in the mundane world. And what was he supposed to say? 'Hey, Teach, nice to see you again, I'm sorry I blew off both you and my dream of pursuing acting to save the world, but it couldn't be avoided because a millennia-old angel hijacked my body.'?
"I'm giving you one last chance." O'Connell said, "Talk, or I'm giving the part of Brick to someone else. I'm sure Miss White, as fond as she is of you, would not be so devastated at the loss of her current onstage husband that she emulates your behaviour and disappears for a week or two."
And the dam burst, Alec's eyes meeting his teacher's. "I found out that I was kidnapped when I was a baby by a crazed serial killer. You remember my mom, Jocelyn? I just found out that she rescued me from the kidnapper's house when it burned to the ground and brought me up as her own. My birth parents are influential, bigoted sociopaths that have three more children, one of whom was murdered by the same serial killer that kidnapped me. My birth parents want to fight my mom for custody of me so that they can cure me of my sinful ways because I happen to be gay. I'm lucky I turned eighteen last week. That way my homophobic father can't drag me off to the middle of nowhere as he threatened and lock me up until I'm straight. Additionally, the serial killer that kidnapped me came back to wreak havoc because he has a grudge against my birth family and put my mom into a coma."
O'Connell's eyebrow twitched. "Is this some kind of joke?"
"No, Ma'am. I am completely serious. You asked me for the truth, the truth is that I was in the FBI's witness protection for a major part of my absence until the serial killer was apprehended. I couldn't come here and talk to you, obviously, and the feds didn't give me access to a phone."
Professor O'Connell looked like she was at a loss for words. "You're lucky you're one of my most talented students or I'd have you thrown out of the production before you could blink. Might I ask what happened to the serial killer?"
"He's... dead. One of the feds got him. I can't give you any more details."
"Dear Lord. And what about your mother?"
"She's awake, now." Alec said, "And she'll be okay."
"Thank God. Stay out of trouble, at least until after opening night. Am I clear?"
"Yes, Professor O'Connell,' Alec replied meekly.
"Get out of my office and onto the stage, Fray."
Alec stood up and opened the door.
"And Alec?" Professor O'Connell said, "I'm glad you're alright. With your talent, you're going places, kid. But things like this, they're the skeletons in your closet that take away your chances of becoming a success. There are thousands of kids just as talented as you in this city waiting for their big break. What makes you so special? Dedication, Alec, dedication and hard work. You want to be a serious stage actor, you have to put in the effort."
"CLARISSA ADELE FRAY!" Alec thundered in fury once everyone else had left the auditorium. Professor O'Connell had given him her signature disapproving look as she walked out, the disapproving look that said, 'Why is there family drama in my auditorium?'
"ALEXANDER CECIL FRAY." Clary thundered back, slightly less loudly.
Alec glared at her.
"What?" she asked innocently. "I thought we were randomly yelling out each other's full names," she said.
"Cecil? Your middle name is Cecil?" Adrienne chortled, wiping her face with a towel as she joined them.
Alec turned his glare on her. "Sure, Rachel - "
"Woah, hakuna your tatas, Fray the elder, I was just kidding," she said defensively, holding up her towel in surrender. "There's no need to break out the F.R.I.E.N.D.S. jokes."
Clary frowned. "Wait, your middle name's from F.R.I.E.N.D.S? I thought you're half-Ind-"
"My middle name isn't from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., Picasso, I was born in '87. The TV show came out in '94. My mum was a New Yorker, you know," Adrienne reminded.
"Picasso?" Jace asked.
Adrienne smirked. "It's what I call Alec's precious baby sister."
"I didn't know your mom was from New York," Clary said sulkily, pointedly ignoring the baby comment.
"Alec, you didn't tell her? This is where my parents met and fell in love. There's this long story about family drama and forbidden romance in there, but anyway, Picasso, what brings you and tall, blond and adorable to rehearsals?" she asked.
"Adorable?" Jace, who stood at least ten inches taller than Adrienne, was stunned.
"You're about the same age as my younger brother," Adrienne said. "Same height, too. What are you, sixteen?"
"Good guess," Alec congratulated her.
"Aren't you a bit young to have so many tattoos?" she asked Jace. She turned to Alec, "You know, if Aryan came home like this my step-mum would have grounded him until he got married and moved out."
Alec bit back the burst of laughter threatening to give away the fact that Adrienne knew exactly why Jace had 'tattoos'. "Why would your brother need to get married to move out?" he finally forced out.
"Bro, I told you how things are done back home. You live with your parents until they die unless, you know, you leave the country to go to university. Or you get married to someone your parents don't like, then you definitely need to get a place of your own," she said, zoning out. Then she made a face as if she'd smelled something bad. "And the wife always goes and lives with her husband, so if Aryan marries a girl my dear mother actually likes, he might end up staying with our parents forever. Sucker. No wait, Dad will probably buy a house for him and his new wife to live in."
"Like he did for you, Rachel Green?"
"Screw you, Fray, if I'm anyone from F.R.I.E.N.D.S., I'm Phoebe." Adrienne declared. "And lay off the girl with her own apartment! I'm getting an education here, not sitting on my ass and spending daddy's money. I doubt my step-mum would approve of my dad paying for a house for me and my wife, even if Marcy and I ever tie the knot. Gay people aren't allowed to exist in my country, remember?"
Clary inquired, "Just how rich are you?"
Adrienne flushed, suddenly very embarrassed. "Dad's into real estate back home," she stammered in a spectacular failure of a non-answer. "Moving on, Picasso, what brings you and blondie here in the middle of rehearsal? I think our esteemed director was going to pop a vein. Your brother, too. One of these days he's going to defenestrate someone."
"What's 'defenestrate'?" Jace asked.
Alec gave Adrienne a significant look, sighed and said, "Defenestration is the act of throwing something out of a window."
"I love that word," Adrienne said blissfully, and floated away from them to go backstage.
"Is she drunk?" Jace asked.
Alec sighed again, "Nah, just Adrienne. And exhausted. We all are, it's been a long day. Speaking of long days, what the hell are you doing at my rehearsal? Again?! Opening night is in less than a week. Are you trying to get me thrown out?"
"Pfft, Alec, your teachers love you." Clary scoffed. "They think you're god's gift to theatre."
Alec sighed. "What's up?"
"It's Simon," Clary said.
Alec's back straightened. All traces of weariness in his face vanished. "Tell me everything."
"You're JOKING." Adrienne did not look amused. "Tell me you're joking, Fray."
"I'm not." Alec said, looking contrite.
Adrienne folded her arms. "Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND? No. Absolutely not. I will NOT allow a vampire into my home to be my fucking roommate."
"Please?" he pleaded.
She glared. "Alec, stop breaking out the puppy dog eyes. You know how I feel about the puppy dog eyes. The answer is no. My girlfriend is a werewolf. The second Simon sets foot in my apartment, he'll know."
"So what?" Alec asked.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'SO WHAT"?" she shouted. "Do you know how many people know about Marcy and I? As in, Marcy the werewolf dating Adrienne the thespian?"
"That rhymes," he interjected weakly.
Adrienne shot him a glare. "Four," she snapped, "Marcy, you, me and the warlock you're seeing. Nobody else knows that I know about the Shadow World or that I have the sight, either, and people can't know that."
"Please?" Alec pleaded. "Just until we figure out something else. I promise, it won't take long. A couple of nights, tops. His mother threw him out of the house, and he can't stay in the Institute. Magnus is at the Spiral Labyrinth, so he can't put him up, either, and there just isn't place at Luke's for all of us. Look, I wouldn't be asking if you didn't have the spare bedroom. And I promise he'll behave. And he'll keep his mouth shut about you, I promise."
Adrienne sighed. "Five conditions, and if he doesn't agree with all of them, he stays out. One: no blood. I don't want to open my fridge at six AM to get out a carton of milk and find bags of O+ instead. Two: if he tries anything, he's dead. That includes drinking my blood. Three: he is NOT allowed into my bedroom. Four: he will not bring anyone else into my house without permission. And five: he can't tell anyone a thing about anything he sees, smells, hears, tastes or touches in my house."
"Might I mention that he's got the Mark of Cain?" Alec asked weakly.
She gave him a puzzled look, "The Mark of what, now? Never mind, it doesn't matter. Bring Count Dracula over after dinner. His dinner and mine, if you don't mind. I'll have the guest bedroom ready by then," she said.
"He's indestructible," Alec informed her.
"I beg your pardon?" she inquired in a tone of voice that sent alarms blaring in Alec's head.
"Simon is indestructible. And harm inflicted upon him will be reflected seven-fold on the one who tries to harm him," Alec continued quietly. "That's what the Mark of Cain does."
"Alexander Cecil Fray," she said icily, "It may not have occurred to you by now, but I just so happen to be human. Are you actively trying to get me killed? I can assure you that if you wanted a different co-star for opening night next week you should have said so much earlier."
"Damn it, Adrienne, this isn't a joke! Simon's a kid, okay? He's the same freaking age as Jace, as your brother -"
"Don't bring my brother into this, you prick-" she snarled.
"I'm not trying to!" Alec cried and then his voice softened. "Jesus Christ, Adri, do you think Simon wanted to be a vampire? To be shunned by other vampires and for his mother to throw him out of his own home? He didn't ask for any of this! I've known him since he was six-years-old, he's a good guy and I swear to you on my life that he won't hurt you in any way. Do you trust me?"
She folded her arms almost indignantly. "That's not fair. I don't trust anyone, Alec, I told you that when we became friends."
"Yeah, sure, friends." Alec said in sardonic amusement. "What about when we became best friends? Because that's what you are to me, Adri. You're my best friend. There's no one I trust more than you. You're literally the only one not completely caught up in the bloody shadow world who knows about all the crap I have to deal with and still sticks around."
"I stick around because you're one of the best people I know. I didn't expect you to try and emotionally manipulate me into putting myself in danger!" Adrienne snapped.
Alec's mouth fell open.
Her eyes widened. "No, I didn't mean that," she gasped, "I'm sorry, Alec, oh my god, son of a - I didn't mean that." She shook her head vigorously and then smiled placidly. "Of course I trust you. Simon can stay with me."
Alec squinted at her. "You sure?"
"Of course," her smile widened.
"You're the best, Adrienne," he said finally.
She laughed, and at least that was a real laugh, humour finding its' way into her face. "You would think that. Believe me, you're going to be the one facing Marcy's wrath when she finds out about this."
Here's a chapter about Alec the Actor and Adrienne the Thespian.
So, I don't know how much you guys like Adrienne or want her in the story. Honestly, I've got an entire backstory for her that ties into the Shadow World and I want to include it but I'd really want to know what you guys would like to see. Let me know in the reviews, I can't, for the life of me, figure out the poll or voting thing other people keep talking about on this website.
Also, cookies for the person who figures out the significance of Alec's middle name in the SNAF verse (Or, bonus votes about the Adrienne issue, since I can't technically send you biscuits over the internet).
Cheers!
A.S
(Post Script -
Constructive criticism,
Why do you give me none?
Or perhaps leave a good review
Come on, come along, just one!)