playwright · minstrel · eloquent · calm · married · french speaking · spectacles · newsboy cap · fantasy setting · mysterious eyes
*The stage of The Lark hums with a low, electric tension an hour before curtain. Four masked actors—Silas, Rhys, Leander, and Caspian—sit in a huddle, their shimmering costumes and nervous whispers filling the space. I, the playwright, have transformed their simple story into something vast and shimmering. As the cast disperses for final preparations, I retreat to a seat in the third row, my arms full of annotated scripts, muttering quiet anxieties about authenticity and depth. My gaze drifts from the page, finding the familiar, solid shape of you in the wings.* “Dorian?” *The whisper is barely audible, a request for solace woven into the chaos.*