"Just let me get my key..." Seahawke could be heard saying from the other end of the doorway before he began making a series of hard grunts in tune to loud thumps against the door, "Umf! Umf! Umf! Here it comes! Huzzah!"
The sound of two blocks of wood falling on the floor preceded the double doors being violently kicked open, revealing Seahawke holding a small axe over his shoulder.
"Here we are!" Seahawke boasted, casually tossing the axe onto the floor, "Sooo... What do you think?"
Following behind Seahawke, Double Trouble could tell the Salineas Opera House had seen better days. Dust and debris littered the stage, most of the seats had been pulled up from their mountings, the only illumination came from a single beam of light that shined down from a prominent hole in the ceiling and the faint odor of mildew permeated the dark room. Double Trouble breathed in the toxic fumes and closed their eyes, letting a single tear drop from their face. Reading their expression, Seahawke placed a comforting hand on their shoulder.
"I know it's not much to look at right now," Seahawke admitted, "But I'm sure with a little bit of elbow grease and a 'can-do' attitude we can- Oof!"
Seahawke was interrupted when the chameleon turned around and wrapped their arms around him, natural instinct made him return the hug and pat them softly on the back.
"It's perfect!" Double Trouble exclaimed, "I can sleep in the dressing rooms, set up my things on stage, get a secretary to work in the box office. It'll be wonderful! Thank you so much for doing this!"
"Yes... well..." Seahawke stuttered, "It's really Princess Mermista you should be thanking. Which reminds me... there's something she wanted me to tell you about how to pay her back. There's some work she wanted you to do here for free."
"Oh, don't worry," Double Trouble said, "Her therapy and your acting lessons are going to be officially pro bono while I'm staying here. But I might need some time to shore up some cash to actually start paying rent. Most of my regular clients were in Brightmoon."
"Oh, no, it's not for us," Seahawke said, "I don't know if you know this, but Princesses tend to be exceptionally wealthy. No, she's wondering if you could spend your talents helping some of the poorer citizens here who might not be over everything that happened during the war."
"I see," Double Trouble says, "So Mermista wants me to start a support group for old vets with PTSD or something? That seems uncharacteristically caring for her."
"She's mostly worried about how the integration is going on between the old horde soldiers coming here for work and the survivors from Hordak's attack," Seahawke explained, "Opening old wounds and all that."
"Yeah, I can see how that can make things kinda dicey," Double Trouble said, "Still, I'm proud of her for wanting to do right by her kingdom."
"Yesss, I don't know if I should be saying this..." Seahawke groaned, "She's trying not to show it, but that whole attempt on her life thing really spooked her. I guess it spooked all of us, to tell you the truth. That's why she's become so obsessed lately trying to find out who did it and why. Honestly, who could do such a thing?"
"I mean, the princesses spent their whole lives fighting the Horde," Double Trouble explained, "Then they sort of became the Horde themselves. It's not unnatural for people to feel somewhat betrayed by that."
"But after everything they did to help people," Seahawke gasped, "The people they rescued, the lives they saved. How could all that goodwill just be callously cast aside?"
"I think you might be overestimate how much the Princess Alliance had a personal impact on everyone's day to day lives," Double Trouble theorized, "For most people, it was just a war that destroyed their homes and killed their friends and family. It didn't really matter what side did what."
"If only there was a way to show everyone how it was from our perspective," Seahawke said, climbing up onto the stage to start clearing off the dusty debris, "Some kind of way to give a message out to a large number of people at once, to tell my sweet Mermista's side of the story. Maybe in a way that involves singing and dancing so that can be entertaining in a way that sticks in people's hearts and minds. But as far as I can tell, no such method exists."
Seahawke posed dramatically in the beam of light shining on the stage, stroking his chin in thought.
"Seahawke..." Double Trouble groaned, "Did you want me to help you produce a musical play about She-Ra and the Princesses of Power?"
"A musical?" Seahawke muttered, "Why, what a splendid idea! I wish I had thought of it..."
"Alright..." sighed Double Trouble, pulling out an audio recorder, "But if we're going to do this, we're going to need to step up your acting lessons so you know what your getting into. I can get started right now if you want. Are you ready to begin?"
"Always!" shouted Seahawke as he pointed dramatically at the ceiling.
~*~
DT's notes
Seahawke, Lesson 2
-Had an unexpected session with Seahawke today
-Feels the Princesses have been getting the short end of the stick in terms of public relations.
-Side note for Mermista: Discuss her own Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in our next session, whenever that is.
-I'm going to have to go through all my previous notes to get a script together
-Went over stage positioning, makeup and the challenges of performing onstage for an audience.
-We're going to need sets, costumes, a composer, a lyricist, auditions for actors who can sing and dance,
-Seahawke seems very motivated today, we went through a lot of things and he seems to be catching on quickly.
-I actually feel really excited about this new project, I hope it lasts.
