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To a performer, there’s nothing quite like opening night of a show. Especially an opening night for a specific carnival theater troupe titled “Wonderlands x Showtime.”
For the next weekend, the troupe will be performing Beauty and the Beast, alongside a few other theater troupes within Phoenix Wonderland at another theater. The colorful quartet had worked very hard on their respective roles, and wanted to make sure the show was a success more than usual, since they would be working with way more performers than usual to fill up the musical’s large cast size.
The benefit of performing with more people is the fact that a larger cast requires more space. Larger space included a larger backstage area. This particular facility included several different dressing rooms; enough to offer a private dressing and makeup room for each collaborating troupe.
Nene entered the makeup room of the new venue and could only stare in awe: lightbulbs surrounded a medium-sized room with a table wrapping around the perimeter, mirrors placed above it. This was a very interesting experience for Nene, especially given that the dressing rooms back at the Wonder Stage were… to put it kindly, quaint. They didn’t mind, of course, but it was notably more convenient to prepare at home and head to the amusement park about two hours before showtime as opposed to trying to completely style the girls’ hair and makeup backstage.
The makeup space stood out to Nene, but what caught her attention more was a certain pink-haired performer sitting in the corner, on top of a countertop. Wearing a plush headband and casually doing her makeup.
To most people, this would seem totally normal. Sometimes it’s easier to do makeup when you’re closer to the lights, and plenty of people work like this. But something about this scene before her made Nene’s blood run a little cold.
Emu was essentially completely still.
And quiet.
Typically, the troupe’s dance captain was always moving; it's one of her defining traits that helps you see or hear her coming from a mile away. Always humming a tune, doing a little dance, bouncing up and down on her toes or any sort of stimulating motion to ease her mind that seemed to always run at a thousand miles an hour. But no movement other than what was necessary was seen from Emu.
Nene’s thoughts couldn’t help but race with concern. “She’s never this still. Something must be wrong. This can only mean one of two things; she’s upset or she’s mad. If she’s upset, she’ll usually either perk back up and say everything’s fine- or maybe I’ll get lucky, and she’ll actually talk about what’s bothering her? Come to think of it, I’ve never seen her mad. Is she mad at me? Don’t jump to conclusions, Nene. Just check on her. Ask if she’s okay.”
“Emu? Are you alright?”
But Emu Otori did not answer.
Not a flicker of attention sent her way. Emu kept staring at her face, and Nene saw in the mirror’s reflection the blank stare she wore.
Nene’s heart dropped.
She was still standing in the doorway, but she felt paralyzed by fear. Was she okay? Was Emu mad at her? Did Nene do something? How can she fix this before the show? There were about three hours before the curtains would rise and their show would begin… what was she supposed to do?
Shaking the anxiety out of her limbs, she called out again.
“Um… Emu? Did I do something?”
Silence.
Nene started to get frustrated. “If somethings wrong, she can’t just ignore me like this.” she thought. “Especially now! It’s much too immature, she knows that!”
Quickly she walked over to the shorter girl perched on the countertop and stood behind her, hoping to finally get her to look her in the eyes.
“Emu!”
“UWAHHH!!”
Emu screamed so suddenly and loudly that even Nene had to jump back.
“Oh, hi Nene! What’s the matter?”
“What’s the m- I asked you first, and you ignored me! Are you okay? What's wrong? Did I do something?”
Emu’s face scrunched in confusion, before the realization hit her like a train. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a gasp.
“Ohh!!! No no no, I wasn’t ignoring you! I just didn’t hear you! I have earbuds in, see?”
She carefully lifted the side of her headband to reveal a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones in her ears. Or, ear, as Nene notices one sitting on the countertop that she must’ve just taken out. The leading lady felt blush rise to her face, realizing the absurdity of the situation.
She definitely, totally overreacted.
“Oh.”
Nene sighed in relief as she sat down in a chair next to the dancer’s corner perch, while Emu took her left earbud out and places it in the case, putting her right one in and adjusting the settings so she can still hear her dear friend.
“Still, that doesn’t explain why you were just staring at your face blankly for a good amount of time. What was that about?”
Emu smiles at Nene for the first time that evening, then points to her eyes with her index fingers.
“I’m working on my eye makeup. The eyeshadow is totally fine, but the eyeliner feels all... wonky-donky, and I can’t figure out how to fix it! So i’m trying to figure out what’s not right!”
“Let me see. Relax your face.”
Emu’s smile dropped as she shared Nene straight in the face, to which the latter sighs loudly.
“…Emu.”
“Yeah?”
“That is the most perfect fucking eyeliner I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Emu’s eyes widened with glee, sparks almost becoming visible in the sea of pink. She quickly darted her head back to the mirror, and a frown settled on her face.
“Then what am I missing…?”
Nene paused her own preparations to inspect Emu's face again, before flicking her mascara tube lying on the countertop closer to her.
“Mascara. And false lashes.”
“OH! That’s it, thank you Nene!!!”
Emu smiled and gratefully took the mascara while Nene tied her hair out of the way and started applying her foundation. After a few seconds, the pinkette piped up again.
“You do your foundation first?”
“Yeah… don’t you?”
“Nope! Eyes always first for me!”
“Really? Why?”
“My big sister taught me to do my makeup and said she always does foundation after to catch all the fallout pigment. And her makeup always looks so pretty and wonderhoy! So I copied her style.”
Nene simply smiled and nodded her head. “Ah.”
Emu smiled back and the pair returned to focusing on their mirrors respectively. They had what seemed like plenty of time, but there was still so much to do. The two girls still had their makeup and hair to style, and after they would prepare their spaces in the dressing room, make sure their costumes and props (along with Robo-Nene) were ready, warm up their voices and bodies, Rui even said he had some notes for the troupe from their previous rehearsal… so for the girls, there was hardly any time to waste!
“Rui and Tsukasa are so lucky… we have so much more to do than them!” Emu complained suddenly, closing up her mascara and starting her foundation.
“Right?! I mean, their call time is way later than ours. They won’t even get here until an hour and a half before we open, and yet here we are at 4pm, with a show starting at 7..”
A notification sound suddenly rung from Nene’s phone. Her attention snapped over to it instantly. She quickly flipped it over and turned the phone on, only to see-
“Speak of the devil, a text from Rui. He just got here.” stated Nene, impolitely cutting off her narrator.
Emu giggled a little to herself. “That just leaves Princess Tsukasa.”
Nene can’t help but snort a little at the comment. “Princess. That’s so accurate. And ironic too, since he calls you the princess and me the ‘diva.’”
“I don’t mind it, but I still don’t know why he says that! You usually play the super pretty princesses, I’m just the silly characters or the kids most of the time.”
“...does that bother you?” asked Nene, picking up on a strange tone at the end of the girl’s sentence.
Emu paused for a second, beauty blender still pressed to her face, before she continued blending in her concealer. “Nope! I used to be unhappy with it when I was little, but now I know my cast type.”
Nene didn't exactly like the direction this conversation was taking. She felt like Emu was selling herself short, even if she didn't realize it outright. She might not see anything wrong with fitting into a cast type, but Nene…
“How about we switch roles for the next show?”
Emu whipped her head to face the sage-haired girl, surprise making itself known on her face.
“What?! Why?? Do you not want to be the princess anymore?? You’re so so super good at it!”
“Calm down, I don’t mind playing any role I’m given. I just think it might be a good exercise for us. It’ll make us more versatile actors in the future, able to play any role for any job we come across.”
Nene’s eyes seemed to light up with a bit of passion, but it was albeit difficult to notice. Meanwhile, Emu’s expression shifted from concern to a soft, melancholic smile.
“Oh… the future huh?”
She turned back to the mirror and began moving her makeup around, organizing the case, clearly looking for something to do with her hands.
“Okay, let’s talk to Rui about it after tonight! Maybe we could get Tsukasa to try Rui’s cast type too!”
“I don’t know if I want to see him play a villain… but we have similar goals, so he probably should try it if I am.”
“He kind of already is playing a villain, though! Gaston’s the villain of this show right?”
“True, but he’s hardly a threatening one…”
The two giggled at the comment before falling back into comfortable silence; Nene moving to apply her eyeshadow, and Emu working on the facial details of blush, contour, and highlighter. The two were about halfway through their respective routines. Emu seemed to have perked back up to her usual hyperactive self; still not moving as much as usual, but now humming a little tune while she worked. Nene assumed this is because she has a harder time with her eye makeup than anything else and just needs to focus. “Would’ve been a nice heads up,” she thought, “to know she goes radio silent while working on her eyes.”
Time passed rather unremarkably, until the time hits around 5pm. Two hours before showtime.
Two hours before showtime, and Nene was clearly struggling.
Emu, being the jack of all trades she was, finished her stage makeup and was just preparing to apply her setting powder when she heard a frustrated grumble come from her fellow performer.
“Nene?”
“Emu, what are your secrets? How do you get your eyeliner to look so clean??” she snapped rather abruptly.
Despite being taken aback for a moment, Emu smiled a little bashfully as a reaction to this compliment of her skills. “Lots of practice. Lots. I mean it. I literally spent 5 hours straight practicing in one sitting.”
“…how???”
Her expression suddenly became very serious as she looked Nene straight in the eyes. “My eyes have never been the same again since that day.”
Nene paused uncomfortably, before Emu hopped up and stood next to Nene, still seated in the chair. “Long story short, I know how to treat chemical burns now! Hey, do you want me to do it for you?”
“I should be able to do it myself…”
“…pleeeease can I do your eyeliner Nene???”
“Fine.”
“HOORAY!!”
Nene smiles exhaustedly as her scene partner jumped up and down with joy.
“Okay, hop up on the counter!”
“What???”
“Just do it! It’s easier for me when you’re at my eye level! You're lower than me right now!”
Nene hesitantly did as she was told and seated herself atop the counter, facing away from the mirror. Emu picked up Nene’s eyeliner pen and shook it a little to get the ink flowing. Then, she rested her elbows just above Nene’s knees and leaned in close.
“E-Emu…?”
“Oh! Sorry, is this okay?”
“Y-Yeah, but a warning might’ve been nice…”
Emu smiled apologetically and lifted the eyeliner pen, sending a non-verbal request for Nene to close her eyes. She did as she’s silently requested, but not without picking up on the sound of her own heartbeat, that seemed notably louder than usual. Nene prayed silently that the quickened beat of her heart wouldn’t mess up Emu’s magical eyeliner process.
The new makeup artist’s positioning changed, moving one hand from Nene’s leg to propping herself up next to her, backing the singer into a corner. Nene did not protest this. In fact, she didn't move at all. She did notice her anxiety spiking for... unexplainable reasons.
“Irregular heartbeat… am I having a heart attack? Is this a stroke? My face feels warm, is it heat stroke or something? I can’t be having a medical emergency right before a show, I’m playing Belle in two hours and don’t have an understudy! I wonder if Sakurako could take over if needed, or Emu… no, then who would play Chip?”
Nene recognizes her panicked pattern of thinking, and pauses to remind herself to breathe. This is when she notices Emu’s breathing, very slightly falling onto her and tickling her neck.
“Her breathing is… very slow. She must be really focused. Hah, why am I thinking about that? She can breathe however she wants to, it’s not like I care about my friend’s breathing patterns… okay Nene, stop. You need to calm down. Besides, Emu doesn’t make me nervous anymore like she used to, so I clearly don’t feel this way because of her… that would be silly! And I am the least silly member of WonderShow… right???”
“...”
“I’m starting to think I’m more ‘silly’ than I say that I am. This is ridiculous… Emu Otori is making me feel flustered.”
“All done! What do you think?”
Abruptly snapping her out of her thought train, Nene blinked her eyes open to see her own face looking back at her through a round, pink hand mirror. She tilted her head to look at the work done on her face, and decided that Emu must have some sort of magic in her. It was perfect.
“How the hell do you do this so easily, Emu?”
“The chemical burns were worth it… ah! I’m not saying to practice so much you burn your eyes like I did, just-!”
Nene giggled at her nonsensical rambling. “I know, I know. Thank you, Emu.”
“You’re welcome!” she replied simply, setting her own makeup with powder. Relatively successfully, if you ignore the powder that got in her mouth. She spit it out and scrunched up her face.
Nene added the finishing touches to her own makeup as Emu packed up her bag and began to skip towards the door.
“Oh, Nene! One more thing I forgot to tell you!” the dance captain shouted from the doorway.
Nene turned her way and raised an eyebrow in questioning.
“I know you already are pretty, but I’ve never really told you this… you’re just really, super, duper gorgeous up close!”
Leaving no time for reaction, Emu dashed away.
…
Oh, what’s this? Nene has short circuited. Standing there in the makeup room alone, blush consuming her face and ears, Nene seemed to function a bit like her robotic counterpart when complimented… and was now going through a shut down.
She just stood there for an unknown amount of time, trying to calm her own heartbeat, before footsteps come into the room, and a voice snaps her back to reality
“Nene, just a heads up that we’re starting our warmups in 10 minutes.”
“Thank you, ten… wait a second! Rui!”
The director peeked his head back into the room as Nene rushed towards him, her face expressing a bit of worry.
“You usually give a 15 minute warning,” the princess questioned the alchemist. “Why the shorter notice? Did something go wrong?”
Rui eyed the girl mischievously, contemplating his next course of action, before simply responding…
“Oh, no no, nothing’s wrong. I just delayed my announcement…”
He wandered closer to (the safety of) the door, ready to turn tail and run at any second.
“...cause, you seemed a little bit busy with our troupe’s pink-haired princess. Who am I to interrupt a blossoming romantic moment?”
Blush consumes Nene’s face once more, reverting her back to a near state of total shutdown.
“W-Wait! It wasn’t like that!!!”
“See you in ten~!”
“RUI!!”