Wherefore art thou Romeo? (Jaythen)

[Artemis Andreou]

Artemis didn't have much time on her hands lately. She was either at Hammel working as the new receptionist or she was at home with her family, taking care of Abigail. So a night out on the town, albeit alone, was a rare thing for Artemis.

She had chosen for her night out that she would go to the theater, not the movie theater, but the actually Globe Theater. There was a production of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet showing and being the hopeless romantic that Artemis was, she would never pass up the chance to watch the two star crossed lovers.

Sitting in her seat Artemis dressed in a beautiful navy blue mini dress for the night, she was at the theater after all, she wanted to look fancy for the night. When the show started Artemis never let her eyes leave the stage once. The show was breath taking, the actress who played Juliet was absolutely beautiful and elegant, just how Artemis imagined. But it was the actor who played Romeo that caught her attention. She could feel her heart skip a beat every time the actor looked out into the audience. It was like the handsome brunette man was performing, talking to her. Artemis had to stop herself many times from swooning right off of her chair when the man spoke his lines.

When the show ended Artemis was one of the few standing and applauding loudly. She was never one to hide her excitement, and was always the one to be the most excited about everything. So when everyone started to disperse Artemis found her way over to the side of the stage to congratulate the actors.

Still clapping excitedly Artemis smiled and congratulated Juliet only to be given a dirty look, and a rude thank you. With a shrug Artemis continued to congratulate the actors as they came out of the change rooms. That's when she noticed the actor who had played Romeo come out of the change room, and once again Artemis' heart skipped a beat. She didn't know if it was because of how attractive the man was, or because she had seen him only acting as Romeo that her vision was a bit skewed.

"O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a Capulet."

Artemis called out to the actor with a large grin on her face, as she giggled in excitement. "I'm sorry that was so lame!" She giggled again. "I just wanted to let you know that I thought the show was amazing. You had me forgetting that you were an actor and not really Romeo." She blushed.

[Jaythen McKay]

Jaythen was more than happy to be in one of the many plays he found interesting. It was better than stay home and twiddling your thumbs. And by twiddling thumbs he means playing video games. He had beaten all the ones he owned, twice. Being an actor wasn’t a high paying job, and living at home wasn’t admirable, but at least he had plenty of time to rehearse when he had to, and it was his favourite thing to do. Yes, even more than the video games.

He was glad to be doing what he loved anyways. Dating that high school girl had been quite the adventure. Not really one he wanted to repeat but not one he wanted to try again. At least he knew what he didn’t want. It wasn’t like Aphro wasn’t beautiful, she just wasn’t... what was the word. She didn’t seem to need him. And well, if there was no point in dating him, then there was no point in sticking around was there?

He didn’t expect to be cast as Romeo, but the theatre owner insisted. “You can be him just perfectly!” He told JT. He wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but he had to agree. Who else could play a part better than a doppelganger? Jaythen used his powers to literally become Romeo tonight, the one from this particular play. Long hair, a knight’s get up. He even appeared a little younger just for the part. The only part that was original JT was his brown hair and eyes.

There were many women in the crowd who seemed to be eyeing him, and he was feeding off of this to excel his performance. Most of the ladies were old mind you, but still, he didn’t mind being admired and mentally cheered on. He spoke his lines with passion and meaning, and Juliet seemed to be falling for him. He winked at her so the audience wouldn’t see and his fellow actor smirked. It was all in good fun after all. That’s why he loved acting.

Once the play was over, Jaythen stood at the end of the line beside Juliet to shake the patrons’ hands. They complimented him and he smiled and said thank you. Other than being on stage, this was his favorite part about performing. He was smiling so much it hurt, and he wouldn’t change a thing. Not even the fact that he was sweating from the stage lights, and his makeup was seriously running down his cheekbones.

He went to the back to clean up, change into his normal clothes, forgetting to put on his own face. JT shut the door behind him and was faced with a woman reciting lines from the play to him. He smirked. He ran a hand over his face, laughing to himself. “You often pick up men this way?” He asked, an eyebrow raised. Swooning cougars he had expected, but this? “Well, I’m a doppelganger, just a sec,” he said, raising a hand. Over the next few seconds, Jaythen morphed back into himself. His cheekbones rose and his body lengthened a bit. He was much older than fifteen after all. The voice of his boss popped into his head: be nice to the paying customers who don’t have to see the play at all. He approached her then. “I’m glad you enjoyed the play. Are you a fan of Shakespeare?” He asked. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to, he was just wiped. He hoped not to come off forced.

[Artemis Andreou]

Artemis smiled happily and watched as the doppelganger returned to his normal self. Normally this would freak some people out, but being a non-powered person who lived with metas and worked with metas, Artemis was desensitized. When the man commented if this was the way she usually picked men up, an eyebrow raised on Artemis' face. Did he think she was trying to hit on him? She couldn't help but giggle as she waited for the man to finish changing his appearance.

"I'm sorry you thought I was hitting on you, but that was most definitely not the case," Artemis smiled, and looked the new man's appearance over. Much better than the small fifteen year old boy he was pretending to be, much more age appropriate for herself she thought with a mental giggle. "I just loved the performance, and felt I needed to compliment your acting skill." She said with a shrug, and wanted to turn away.

She didn't like how he had assumed, and spoken a bit rudely to her. Artemis didn't like negative people very much, and usually tried to avoid them with all her might, but when the doppelganger spoke Artemis' attention was brought back and away from her escape plan.

"I'm a fan of Romeo and Juliet." She said with a smile, and shrugged, "And it was my night out. So I figured why not!" Artemis giggled and smiled, "Are you fan of Shakespeare?" She threw the question right back to the man. "Or was it just for the money?" Artemis asked her head perking a bit to the side in question. She didn't mean to sound rude in any way, but she could hear the almost 'forced' manner of the doppelganger's speech and she could tell he wasn't the friendliest type of person. "Or the attention? Or do you love to act?" The man had wanted to know why she was there, and Artemis was just as curious as to why he was there too.

[Jaythen McKay]

Jaythen smiled coyly, “If you were hitting on me, I wouldn’t have minded, honestly,” he said, raising his hand as though in solemn oath. He nodded a couple times. “Well thank you for the compliment, it always gives me a boost to keep going.” He thought about the performance he would have to repeat tomorrow night, and felt suddenly exhausted. What he really needed right now, was a bath and a bed. Not at the same time though. That wouldn’t help with the exhaustion part at all.

“You plan your nights out? Do you work night shifts or something?” He asked, blinking a couple times as she asked him the exact same question. “Trying to keep me on my toes? Well alright, there’s nothing I can’t handle after a good performance and a great compliment,” he grinned and suddenly morphed into the man himself, long hair, and strange little triangle beard and everything. “Have you seen the movie ‘Anonymous’? Interesting take on Shakespeare, you might enjoy it. And yes, I’m a fan.” He morphed back into himself and took another bow. He was an entertainer at heart.

Jaythen laughed. “No money to be found here, we usually break out even by the time people buy tickets and we pay off what he used for costumes and decor.” He wasn’t trying to be rude, just explain the give and take of theatre. You were never in it for the money. “Jaythen McKay was born to act I say!” He spoke exuberantly for the fun of it. “Thank you for speaking me tonight miss...?”