It was a regular Sunday evening in South Dakota, a young woman wakes up from a bumpy nap, looking up and scanning out the window adjacent to her as the sound of chatter slowly faded, and the doors on the side of the bus opened. She groggily sits up, swinging her hair back as she stands up, grabbing her luggage and joining her peers in emptying out of the bus as she looks up at the building she had been anticipating her dance with for a long time, and the one where she, and everyone around her would hope to put their names on the map in entertainment.
Her gaze would not break from the massive Theater Elysium, and as the massive place of performance would stand in front of the sky, painted a vivid orange by the setting sun, a starstruck Kimberly Stone would whisper to herself under her breath.
"God, I'm finally here."
A soft hand would quickly drape over her shoulder, and in a contrastingly casual tone, a relatively louder, though generally normal in volume voice would suddenly jump at her. "I thought you'd be more excited, Kim. You were just talking my ear off last night over how big of a trip this was for you while you scrambled to get your bags packed over the phone. We're finally here, and really? Nothing?" Sherry Roberts would question, a slight tone of sarcasm in her voice.
Kim would flinch forward a little bit, tilting her head back toward the source of this sudden contact the moment Sherry had started speaking, though her shock was short lived.
"No, don't get me wrong, I'm excited," Kim would verify, "it's just been a really long day, I wasn't able to sleep until late last night and I think I was only able to sneak… maybe half an hour of sleep in toward the end of it?" She continued, her voice still enthusiastic, though one could imagine she'd be feeling a lot better if not for having done most of her packing late last night.
"Honestly, I'm impressed you were able to get any sleep at all on that shit-brick," another voice interjected, this time a male one. The source was Nick Edwards, sound guy for the production. "I tried to get some sleep in, but god, it felt like the seats on that thing were actively trying to keep me awake with how grainy and uncomfortable they were".
"Man, tell me about it. I think the only reason I was able to get a nap in at all was because I was just that ready to tap out. Hell, I'm still tired. I wish we could just go straight to the hotel for the night, but they only hold tours on weekends and they close for the night in an hour," Kim complained.
"Dude, you've read up so much on this place already, just go back if you're that tired. I promise you, absolutely nothing interesting will happen while you're gone," Sherry insisted, her demeanor significantly more relaxed and laid-back than Kim's.
Kim shook her head defiantly, still clearly not fully awake, "Stephen Anderson's happening, dude's one of the greatest stage directors of all time, and he owns the place, he typically oversees the tours. I gotta meet him, and if he's here tonight, I'm meeting him tonight," she stated, her will staying strong in spite of her current state.
"Well, he'll be here tomorrow, so-" Sherry began, though she never finished, as the groups' eyes were drawn to the man currently exiting the building. He was a remarkably pale, middle-aged man, his head covered by jet black, greasy, slicked back hair. He was dressed in a dark business suit, completed by a crimson necktie. He wore a mild smirk as he made his way out of the theater, before finally speaking out to the group.
"Welcome, welcome!" He would speak out, "I assume you're the thespians who are scheduled to be here for the next few weeks, no?" He asked, a tour guide rushing out of the door behind him as he quickly grabbed the attention of everyone standing in front of the theater, the chatter quieting.
"My name is Damian Holt, I've been an.." the man paused for a split second, "associate of Stephen Anderson's for a long time, and while I'm sure he'd love to have been able to see all of you wonderful stars, he's unfortunately out on business for the next month, so I'll be overseeing the theater for now. I'll not be interfering in your production in any way, however, I'll just be handling whatever paperwork turns up in Stephen's offices, and possibly tend to some work of my own. I'll leave all of you to your craft, I doubt you need me looming over you," he would explain. "Regardless, I understand you have a tour to be getting to, so I'll get out of your hair," he said as he began walking past the group, almost turning the corner when he would be interrupted by a shout.
"Hey! You're just gonna leave me to run this tour on my own? Stephen always comes on these, he loves answering questions, and as an 'associate' of his, shouldn't you at least be able to bring some questions up to him?" The tour guide would suddenly interrogate, her voice fairly high, but still fierce.
Damian paused for a moment, seemingly thinking to himself, before shrugging the idea off. "No, no, I think you should be able to handle this, and I really must be going. Besides, you've done this song and dance plenty of times according to Stephen, Casey. I'm sure you'll do just fine," he would insist, before finally turning the corner and leaving Casey, the tour guide, high and dry.
Kim would watch all of this, completely dumbfounded. She had been planning this trip for months, and meeting Stephen was a highlight she had been looking forward to all day. She had hoped to impress him in the production and gain the endorsement of a major name to start her path into a career in stage performance. Before she could completely process the fact that he wasn't here, she would feel a light bump on her shoulder as Sherry would lean into her ear, whispering to her "Yeah, uh, something tells me I was wrong in my earlier assessment. Turns out Stephen won't be here tomorrow either... or ever until we leave. Then again, it's not like he's here today, so I suppose you still could have gone to bed."
Kim sighs to herself, wishing she would've gone off to bed, now that she knew for sure that absolutely nothing interesting was going to happen tonight.