FicWad

The next three days lasted an eternity.

Stella was not a girl who could sit around idly and wait for people. It took her all of a day to explore the house she'd been giving a room in. The house of Lucas was immaculate and much, much larger than she'd expected. There was a full basement, which was fully furnished into a music studio of sorts. The walls were all finished, it was carpeted and had an array of musical instruments stored in a side room, in addition to the piano that graced the main area. Each instrument had its labeled place on a shelf. There were horns and woodwinds, drums, stringed instruments...

There was even a glass case in the corner that held a golden stringed instrument. It looked like a small harp. Stella had been enamored of this until one of the girls who lived in the house told her not to touch it, on pain of Lucas's wrath. The girl made it seem like Lucas had a terrible, monstrous temper when it came to his musical instruments. After that, Stella had stayed well out of the side room in the basement, just to be on the safe side.

The upstairs consisted of a bedroom, where two of the girls slept, a small kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and den area. The den had a fireplace and a bearskin rug. The furniture was all old, but beautifully kept, dusted and shining. There were glass showcases featuring small statues and ancient pottery from Europe. There were sitting chairs, a low table, a side bar stocked with fine wines and brandies, and a long sofa. Each of these pieces of furniture was antique, though the rich browns and golds of the upholstery were new.

The living room was much the same as the den, minus the fireplace. There were more display cabinets and the color scheme was blue and silver, but the same antiqued flair to the furniture was there. Stella hadn't a clue as to the actual age of the furniture, nor to the period from which it had come, but one of the girls said it dated back to the days of the old French Kings. It looked old and that was enough for her.

Upstairs there was a massive bath, with a round tub, hot running water, and a shower. Five bedrooms adorned the place, each with its own distinctive style, according to which set of girls resided there. Lucas had the large master bedroom to his own, which he sometimes shared with Dennis (though Dennis was said to sleep on the couch in that room). Another girl, the one whom Stella termed the "ring leader" and whose name was Gigi, slept in her own room. Two girls each occupied the other three rooms.

Stella was offered the attic room, which wasn't nearly as terrible as it sounded. Her experience with attics prior to that point had been a place to store old junk for the bats and mice to crawl around in. She soon found that Lucas kept no old junk lying around and the attic was a spacious, carpeted room with a bed, dresser, and small drawing table. The roof wasn't too low, and she could walk fully upright through the room. There was a small half circle window at the far end of her room, where she could sit on the floor, leaning against large, overstuffed pillows and watch the pigeons fly around. She was given food to eat and every single one of the girls (save one, Millie, whom Stella was told was a bit of a drama queen) was friendly and welcoming to her. They lent her dresses and make up, shoes and hairpins.

She had never before been so out of her element.

Her experience at the dive had taught her that women were in constant competition for attention and wages. By this logic, the girls should've all been vying for Lucas's attention, as he was the producer and paid their wages and lodging. They should have all wanted that vacant starring role, but nothing of the sort was happening. They all had their parts in the show and appeared content with that alone. Lucas paid each of them attention in kind, favoring none over the others, and they didn't fight like rabid cats for his interest. Stella had come prepared to fight and been blindsided by a fluffy pillow and a cheerful "Hello!" She'd been lost before she ever started.

There were nine women altogether. Gretchen was Stella's favorite. She had a beautiful voice and could sing arias and simple country folk songs with ease, making them both as beautiful as the other. She was always around to talk and trade gossip with, and she was also Stella's size, which made borrowing things much easier.

Gigi was something of a mother hen, though she didn't look any older than any other girl in the house. She lorded over them gracefully, taking care of them, fixing meals and making sure they were all healthy. The women were drawn to somehow naturally grant her superiority for reasons Stella couldn't quite understand. Her specialty was sitting around in the den after rehearsal, by a roaring fire, and telling long stories. All the girls, Stella included, would sit in rapt attention until the story concluded. Times like this, Stella felt like a child again.

Millie was indeed a drama queen. Every day something terrible and terribly exaggerated was happening to her. Alice was a bit like Gigi, telling stories of long ago kings and far off places, only her stories weren't nearly as entertaining. Gloria seemed to fall in love with every man that crossed her path, and she was always flirting with the gents, or gossiping with her friends about the men she'd met that day. Rosa was the sort who was very shy, reserved and, Stella discovered, intelligent. The girl could work numbers like no one Stella had ever met before. Lucy was another favorite of Stella's - if only because she was the best dancer in the house. Polly was an uproarious ham, who liked playing tricks and making jokes. It was never a good idea to get her drunk, and yet Dennis always seemed to manage it. Lastly, there was the night bird, Sophie, who liked staying up late to lie in the backyard and stare at the sky. Stella never did find the courage to ask why.

Between all of this, and attending the rehearsals to watch her housemates sing and dance on Lucas's stage, Stella couldn't really say she was /bored/, but there was always a nagging feeling of leaving something undone. Something she had to do, and wasn't doing.

To ease this, Gretchen had taken it upon herself to teach Stella how to sing, even though Stella had been reluctant at first. It was something to do though, and Gretchen was a forgiving teacher. This was good because while Stella had promise in the way of proper pitch, she started out sounding like a sick chicken in the way of tone.

So for the first couple of days in the house, Stella settled into a routine. Once she figured out she didn't have to fight for scraps, and once that realization sunk in, she fit right in with Lucas's girls. She even managed to hold conversations with Dennis, and became quite adept at dodging his attempts to get her to act.

Acting meant dancing, which Stella could do, but in this case it meant singing, which Stella could not. She also had a slight problem with being unable to act.

It was on the third day after Dimitri left that things started to happen again. After breakfast, the party would walk down the street, over a block, and arrive at the theater for rehearsal. Stella accompanied them and sat in the back, watching the goings on up on the stage with interest. She had her feet up on the seat in front of her, leaning far back in her own chair with her arms behind her head. It wasn't at all ladylike, but it was comfortable and no one could see her back here. Anyway, she wore under garments.

It was towards the end of Gretchen's solo, sung in Latin (so Stella really had no idea what was happening, only that Gretchen's character was sad - probably because someone had died), when she met Richard.

He appeared beside her. She noted this, because while he must've come in and sat down at some point, she couldn't for the life of her fathom how he managed it without her noticing. She nearly fell out of her chair when he gave her a lively, "Hello!"

She recovered quickly, pulling her feet down off the back of the seat and peering at him through squinty eyes. "I'm sorry, do I know you?"

"I don't think we've met yet," he said and held out his hand. "My name is Richard. You can call me Dick. You must be Stella."

She looked at his hand for a long moment, pursed her lips, and then took it, but carefully. Strange men popping up in her life had become a habit. Not necessarily a bad one, but a girl could never be too careful. "That depends. Why do you want to know?"

He smiled. It was a boyish sort of smile, innocent and open and fully trustworthy. Stella noted this, and decided to be extra careful around this one. "Because I have a message for you," he said. "From Dimitri."

"Dimitri?" She perked up without meaning too and immediately cursed herself and settled. She had to remember that this was the man who'd picked her up out of her comfortable speakeasy life, dragged her through the sewers, brought her here and then ditched her when some creepy vampire came around. "What does he want?"

"The long and the short of it is that he says he's sorry for leaving unexpectedly, but that he'd like to have dinner with you tonight, doll," Dick said.

She pursed her lips. "Oh really?"

"Hey don't ask me, I'm just the messenger." He shrugged and stood. "He said he'll be at the house around six tonight."

She sat back and considered that. Finally, she decided that she might just like to see the asshole again. "Fine," she said and settled back. "You carrying the answer back to him?"

"That's what I do," he said with a bright grin.

"Tell him I'll see him at six then."

He nodded and stood up. "I'll do that, but first, I'm going to go say hi to Lucas." And he was gone again, but she could see him walking down the aisle towards the stage. Presumably Lucas was haunting the backstage area. He tended to do that while the girls were performing. Dennis was in the front row, watching the proceedings and directing, as was his job. She saw Dick pause, speak to Dennis, and laugh before heading backstage.

The rehearsal continued as normal. It was a bit difficult having to work around the fact that the star wasn't there - that there wasn't a star to be there period. It made things look awkward, but Dennis was improvising the lines as best he could from the director's chair. The blocking was all off though, being that there wasn't a body to move.

Finally the girls were tangled up and the scene turned into a lost cause and Dennis called for a break. He stood up and tossed a pad of paper into the seat beside him and rubbed his hands over his face.

Then he spotted Stella.

"Oh no you don't," she said as he started making his way back towards her. "I told you I can't act."

"You don't need to," he assured her. He held out his hands in a placating, defensive sort of gesture, up in front of him. "But sweety, honey, cutiepie... can you just stand there? Just so the girls have something to move around." Without waiting to hear her protests he grabbed her hands and pulled her to her feet. "It'll be easy, just stand where I tell you to and move where I tell you too and you'll be doing us all a big favor until we can get a steady replacement."

"Er, I guess so..."

Of course, he wasn't giving her much choice. She was on the stage before she knew it, the lights glaring down at her. He positioned her. "Now, when I tell you to move, you move. I'll be just down there. Don't listen to the songs or the lines, just listen to me. You'll be doing us all a big favor here."

"Right..."

Of course, it didn't turn out to be nearly as hard as it sounded. To Stella, it seemed like an awfully awkward way to go about blocking a scene, but Dennis was insistent that he had to watch from the audience to see what was going on and make sure it was all perfect.

So he barked and she moved. She was stiff and solid at first, but as she got used to the lights and the way the girls around her moved, she loosened up and could even possibly admit later that she'd had a little fun. She helped them re-block three scenes in the next two hours.

She swung around and held her arms up (having picked up the blocking herself - and some of the choreography) after the big musical number and was smiling to the back row of ghostly audience members when the doors at the back again opened.

What walked through and down the aisle was a woman. She was more than a woman though; she had to have been a goddess descended down from on high. She was blonde, and had jewels in her hair. Her makeup was perfection, her eyes dark and her lips red and pouty. Her skin was flawless and pale. She wore a form fitting white designer dress and a fur wrap. Diamonds graced her wrists, ears, and neck. She wore rings and high-heeled shoes. She walked like she owned every inch of flooring the dainty toes of her shoes touched.

The girls immediately started forward, hopping off the stage in a flood to say hello. Dennis was on his feet, gushing. "Vivian! How lovely of you to come see us!"

"Charmed," she drawled in a heady voice. She extended one white-gloved hand and he took it, kissing the back of it. "Wherever did Lucas get the idea to buy such a dump?"

"It won't be a dump when we're through with it," he said and launched into a detailed explanation of who was fixing what and when and what it would look like when it was all through. She listened graciously and then her eyes fell on Stella, who'd remained on the stage. Partly it was polite, since she didn't know the woman, and partly it was because she just didn't like her on sight.

"And who is this?" Vivian asked. Her perfect, button-like nose went straight up into the air.

"Ah, this is Stella," Dennis said going to the stage and offering the girl a hand down. With much reluctance, and not seeing any way out of it, Stella took the hand and hopped down off the stage, straightening her dress before she smiled at the woman. "She's Dimitri's guest..." He trailed off as the expression on Vivian's face shut down. The perfect eyebrows narrowed and the lips curled back.

"/Dimitri/, hm?"

"Er, well... ah, yes." Dennis glanced away, realizing he'd probably made a mistake. Stella could've kicked him. "He asked if we had a room for her and, well, I've been trying to get the girl to take over for Adrienne, but you know shy girls..."

That turned out to be yet another mistake. Dennis was really not doing well today. Stella's smile became marble like in its fixed position while Vivian's nostrils flared. "You could have just asked /me/."

There was something about this woman that Stella immediately disliked. She was fairly certain it was Vivian's holier-and-prettier-than-thou attitude. It was this dislike that made Stella do what she did next. "But he didn't," she said as sweetly as she could manage. It dripped with saccharine friendliness. "But I swear if I'd known about you, I would've said no right on the spot. I'm terribly sorry."

Dennis's mouth began to work, opening and closing like a dying fish - much like his expression had done the first time he'd laid eyes on Stella. Gigi had managed to position herself behind Vivian and Stella noted that she was getting a thumbs up. She kept going. "I mean, he didn't say anything! But you know Dennis, got so many things going on already in his head. Too creative for his own good. No hard feelings, I hope!" Stella finished this off with an incredible smile. The sort she used to lure men onto the dance floor so she could pick their pockets. It'd never failed her before.

"Of course not," Vivian drawled. She apparently knew better than to let it escalate from there, but there were always subtle ways to seal an enemy's doom. Vivian apparently played this game well. "Well, I look forward to your performance opening night."

Stella's smile fixed again. "Of course," she said through her teeth, realizing what she'd just done to herself. She wasn't an actress, she could barely sing, but now she was, unwittingly, committed.

Damnit.

Vivian's eyebrow went up again as Lucas and Dick emerged from back stage, speaking in an undertone of a language that Stella could not place. She'd heard it often enough over the past few days, living at the house, but could not for the life of her figure out what it was.

She turned just in time to catch a glimpse of them as they spotted Vivian. Dick's reaction was priceless. His eyes bugged out of his head, his hand came up and ran through his hair, his jaw dropped and sagged open. He looked like Dennis doing his fish impression for a long moment before he ran forward, babbling at the woman in that language. They carried on this conversation for quite some time before he held out his arm to her. She took it, turned to give Stella one last appraising glance before she sniffed and swept out of the room, Dick on her arm.

Once the doors closed again, Stella sagged. The girls rushed forward and around her.

"I've never seen anyone that wasn't -" Here, Lucy was jabbed in the side, but Stella only partly registered it and didn't quite find it odd, though a word did go missing in the middle of the sentence. "- stand up to her like that!"

Stella laughed weakly. "Well... I guess this means we have to work on my lame duck impression, doesn't it?" she murmured and Gretchen took her by the arm.

"I know just how to do that dolly! Let's cut out early for the day, head back to the house for lunch and then we'll get right to work!"