Say Again, With Feeling. [Stella]

[Darryl Bond]

School. Work.

He liked it. He needed it, actually. He was glad during the day, when all he had to worry about was keeping his students from getting excessively snippy with each other and himself, as opposed to spending the good part of the afternoon and night alone and brooding. However, he didn't it when he had to go all teacher on his students, because he liked the relationships he has developed with them thus far, and having to discipline them taints that. Though, he swore if Zac said, 'that's gay' one more time...

Anyway, he was happy today because this new student of his, Stella something-or-other was that shiny type of new and the sort that came with a shell and a shy attitude, needs a bit of work on Darryl's part before she can insert easily into his regular day classes without having to stop the others' progress to catch her up. Though it wasn't like Drama really had much of a curriculum.

He did, however, have to go over the basics, and see if she had the snuff for some on-stage voice projections, or if she could help with the set building, or had a knack for the sound-board. She could be goofy and loud in class all day, but that would mean little once she got on stage and couldn't throw her voice passed the third row. He didn't worry about any of that though, this little session of theirs would test the water, to see where she was, exactly, and to see if she even wanted to do it, because it wasn't the student herself who set up the class, it was the girl's guardian. Darryl shuffled the pages on his desk--a short script he had thrown together to work as an exercise as well as the few pages he had given out over the semester that were even remotely important.

He set the newly straightened stack of papers back onto his desk, and inside the blue folder he was going to hand it to her in and flipped it closed. He relaxed back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head, the epitome of relaxation. Today he was dressed, as his students often called him a pirate when he wore it, in a white button up, black slacks, and with a dark red fedora on his head. The style of his shirt was a bit fluffier and poofier than the average, everyday button up which was where the 'pirate' came from. It also didn't help that his voice often times carried a slur with it, thanks to his Southern heritage (though thank the lord he didn't have a twang). He glanced at the clock, and decided the student would be here any moment, so he lowered his feet from the desk and stood, he put his back to the room and started to clean the white board, as to just bide his time.

(Huzzah, written quickly and crazily. Hope ya like it)

[Stella Pinyin]

Sometimes, her uncles over protectiveness was a blessing. Like right now. Stella had been overjoyed at the chance to study drama, but the thought of standing up in front of people... god, it made her want to blush just thinking about it! But private classes? That, she could do... maybe. Hopefully. It had taken Stella a bit longer than usual to get dressed that day, because while it was easy enough to fade into the background in science or maths, this was different. Someone would be focusing on just her. And was it her, or was she looking even whiter than usual? Still, there was only so much you could do about your skin colour, so Stella had compromised by wearing a pale blue dress that didn't make her lily white skin and hair stand out like a bright colour would. Her hair was in a neat braid down her back, and she'd brought the large print copy of Romeo and Juliet her uncle had given her when she was 12 in a bag slung across her back. It was her favourite; for a girl who'd never been hugged by a boy, she hopelessly romantic.

The school was, to Stella, a laberyinth. The neon lights constantly blurred out her vision and she still relied heavily on her white can in getting from one class room to the next. Luckily, another student had been happy to show her the way, and she found the room relatively quickly. Much better than her first maths class... it had been hard to tell what was worse; being 15 minutes late, or the way the teacher had stopped telling her off after they had seen the white stick in her hand. But this would be different.

Please let this be different.

She opened the door slowly and stepped in, closing it behind her. With her feet neatly together and her hands clasped (as one still gripped her white lifeline) she bowed her head shallowly. "Hello. I'm Stella Pinyin. Thank you so much for agreeing to these classes, Mr Bond." Her teacher's name had been on her timetable. The connection to the 007 books she had read had made her giggle in private, but the girl would sooner die then make fun of the name to his face.

[Darryl Bond]

The discreet eee! of the door yawning open caused the guy to stop humming to himself and turn to see who opened it. The girl that stood in the doorway matched the description from the guy on the phone, the tappy-walking stick included. Darryl wasn't worried about that little thing in her hand, if anything, not being able to see is an advantage. Darryl was in a play with someone that was completely blind before, and the woman did a splendid job, even if someone moved a table and didn't tell her and she walked right into it--she came back from it like a rock star and it was wonderful. So, he wasn't taken aback by Stella at all (albeit she was a bit bright).

"Great to meet you," he said a bit on the extravagant side--he was known for it--and while he stowed the marker on the little ledge (he had been drawing a tree, which he hastily wiped out of existence) and he walked over to her to hold his hand out for proper introductions. "Ms. Pinyin, or would you mind terribly if I called you Stella? I would ask that you call me Darryl in such an event--no need for only one of us to be formal--or both at all. So let's go with that." Darryl was a bit on the excited side. Getting a new student was like discovering a room in grandma's house that you had previously no knowledge about. Darryl was a little kid and was ready to start exploring.

"And I can hardly turn away a willing and eager individual, Lord knows this class is hardly large enough to go with a full cast. Let's sit down shall we? 'Tis far too formal, this standing is." He said with a wide hand gesture towards the student desks. Of course for their session, he'd sit next to her. It would be far too weird for even Darryl to sit at his desk and teach to his class of one. He did, however, retrieve the blue folder from his desk before he took a seat next to Stella. Gosh he didn't remember these things being so tiny.

"So, how ya liking Hammel? Are you finding your way around?" Note, that wasn't him commenting on her sight handicap. Darryl still sometimes got turned around in this maze of hallways, stairwells, and different buildings. "I'd like to just get to know you first, if you don't mind. I teach my classes with a relax, and sorta friendly environment, and we got a few weeks of that to make up for. So." Darryl folded his hands on top of the desk and turned his attention towards Stella. This was a subtle test; how did she fare being put on the spot?

[Stella Pinyin]

The room was a little dimmer than the hallway. Stella blinked twice as her eyes adjusted, happy to have to filter that bit less light. Still, she had to squint to make sure she could shake his hand in return. Did every adult here feel the need to do this? Her fingers practically glowed in contrast to the dark tan of his own. His speech left her a little confused (he had a very around the corner way of talking) but she got the gist. "Oh yes, Stella is fine, Mr B- I mean, ah, Darryl." She said hesitantly, a little confused. Odd; teachers were in a position of respect, yet a colloquial term? Still, she would do as asked. Besides, this way she was much less likely to smile at the name without noticing.

Sliding behind her desk, Stella was a little perplexed when instead of sitting at teacher's desk, as expected, the man sat beside her. Interesting... Was he really going to forgo all her preconceived ideas about educational facilities? But he was showing the kindness she had come to understand all the facility had (she had not yet met Willow it would seem), and so after a small pause, had no problem with answering him. "It's very big, I still get lost sometimes," she answered honestly. "And I fell in the fish pond on my first night here so I was, ah, apprehensive about any more problems that may come up from trying to navigate," remembering that night made the girl blush, and she fiddled with her necklace absentmindedly. "But, ah, I've met some very nice and some," she struggled with a polite adjective to describe Zac, "Some very enthusiastic people." She looked up with wide violet eyes. "It's unlike anything I've ever seen, really."

[Darryl Bond]

He could see his exuberance took her by surprise--if just a little bit. It was something he had come to understand would happen. People didn't usually run at the same speed or frequency as he did--and if more people did, well they'd all be in trouble. He would remind himself to slow down, in the future. She didn't seem too keen on the idea of forgoing the teacher/student formalities and Darryl could understand if that was a bit weird, but he couldn't really teach as the other teachers did because they had to actually 'teach'. Darryl knew the students that took his class were more likely to be looking for an easy 'A'. If he taught with just as stiff a hand as the other adults, well then he'd get no where.

Yes, the school was indeed big. Darryl was pretty sure there weren't that many students, yet it seemed that all the rooms in the school were used for something at least to the best of his knowledge. Who knew, there might be an entire deserted hallway somewhere, just collecting webs. Anyway, he nodded his head a bit to Stella's words though her unfortunate fall in the pond brought a chuckle to him. "Ah, yes. It's good they exchanged the piranha for Koi then, isn't it?" Darryl chuckled before he waved his hand as his joke. "I'm kidding. That silly thing is just randomly smacked on the grounds, its a wonder more people don't fall into it," Darryl confided in her with a wave of his hand. He was one to talk with his hands. If he got too excited, he would have to stand up and walk around.

"Well, it's good you are meeting people," Darryl admitted, with some semblance to the teacher he was. "No doubt you've met one or two of your drama classmates; it seems my troupe are the popular ones--or infamous, varying on who you talk to." Yes, he did like his class, but some of them still tended to grate. "So, would this be your first Drama class? And what sort of thing got you interested in the art?" Darryl asked, wondering if she was just looking for an easy A as well, though something told him different about her. She didn't seem the type to slack with school work.

[Stella Pinyin]

It was the impossibility of Piranas in such a cold environment as Vermont that made Stella giggle, but it was her way of appreciating the joke just the same. "In my defence," she said, mentally in complete agreement about the rather idiotic placement of the pond, "It was night. I most likely woke up the poor Koi." Stella was a human night light; no eyelid-less fish stood a chance against that. "but, um, the head researcher, Dimitri," Stella blushed a little, quickly covering her cheeks with her hands, "He fished me out." Stella willed her cheeks to stop burning. It had been happening whenever she started thinking about the red headed genius. He had, after all, rescued her and carried her to his office. What chance did poor Stella's heart have against an attack like that?

"Ah, the only student I've really only talked to Zac," Stella admitted. "And Evan. Do they do drama?" She could imagine Zac doing such a course. Having a lot of people looking at him would no doubt suit him very well. And she could not imagine Zac being popular.... maybe Evan? He was so nice. "Ah, my uncle taught me about Shakespeare, and about Williams and Beckett and Brecht, and some others," Stella listed from memory, a slight frown of concentration above her eyes. "And we read parts of them out loud, sometimes."

It was hard for Stella to describe exactly why she loved plays. Words describing depths of feelings she had never had, but could hope to understand, characters that loved and lived and died and made you care about them... "I love the language. I mean, how the words can evoke such strong feelings, even if we haven't felt that ourselves,". That felt almost adequate... "I mean, I've lived with my uncle all my life, so for me, reading plays and books was how I really learnt about human emotions."

That sounded vaguely pathetic in her head.

[Darryl Bond]

"Good job on his part." Darryl nodded his head, though he was slightly surprised. They had a head of research? When did that happen? Was the guy some weird cackling scientist, or something more realistic? Considering her blushing cheeks, it was the latter. He grinned a little but didn't call it into light, no need embarrassing her. Not on the first day, anyway.

"Ah. Zac," those two words spoke volumes. They certainly had a love-hate relationship. Zac loved to annoy the hell out of Darryl, and he hated it. But there was just something about him that refused to let Zac get on his nerves, completely. He reminded him too much of his teen-aged self. "He does, indeed, take Drama. I'm not too sure who Evan is--he isn't one of mine." Darryl didn't really wander the halls to meet students that weren't in his class, though that would probably change when he started to advertise the audition try-outs for the school play at the end of the year. He was looking forward to it and dreading it all at the same time.

He liked her description and explanation, it told him that she was really passionate about it, and also had the vocabulary to explain it. Darryl was only ever able to just say he really loved the Arts. "Well, Stella, you are in a high school full of teenagers, emotions like that are an inevitability. And here Drama class, we are gonna mold that and use it positively," Darryl said with a soft clap of his hands, now to the technical stuff.

"Are you aware of the proper stage directions? Up Left stage, down right, center, etc," he pointed off in different directions as he spoke, "the house, and all that? Would you also be handy at a sound board? And have you played with paper mache?" Their budget for a stage wasn't what Darryl would smile at, but he was confident, that when the time came, they could put up something spectacular, especially since Zac was so ready to flaunt his bottomless wallet. Not that Darryl would ever condone exploiting a student. If the kid volunteered...that's something different.

[Stella Pinyin]

Maybe there was some truth in Darryl's words, Stella had really had little experience yet. Except for feeling uncomfortable when Zach was flirting with her maybe. Or feeling sweetly awkward when Damitri was carrying her... Not exactly on par with Juliet though, was it? Still, it was true. Teenagers were capable of extreme emotions, both good and bad. And most defiantly romance.

"I know about stage directions," Stella said slowly, nodding. They were very necessary for the true understanding of the deeper meanings and messages within a play, at least Stella and her uncle felt so. As for a sound board? Suddenly the slight bit of confidence Stella and felt at being able to answer Darryl's questions in an adequate way drained away like water down a pipe. "I've never, ah, used a pipe, or paper, um, what was that last word?" Stella asked, unable to get her mouth around it. "I'm sorry. I've never really, um, outside my house, I've never really done any drama or the other things..."

(ooc: argh short post is short)

[Darryl Bond]

Experiencing was a part of life, learning and fixing were something that was a bit different. Darryl was a prime example of the 'never learning' sort. Though that side of him would stay out of his classroom. He didn't make mistakes in this room. Well, okay, he made the normal sorts of mistakes like writing on the white board with a sharpie, and calling out the wrong name and pointing to the wrong person, or things like not remembering to take up the homework (because he never assigned it.)

"Splendid! Good." Darryl stroked his chin in thought, he was glad he didn't have to go over that part, because it was rather boring. He grinned a little when she didn't get what paper mache, apparently she wasn't one for arts and crafts. "Paper mache, it is the art of sticking newspaper to things and then painting over it. It's flour and water mixed together, 's good fun! I don't think anyone in the class has actually used it, so I'll set aside a day where we take over the art room, and ah...practice." Darryl didn't have a problem with thinking out loud, as he found that the people usually listening in had better insight than he did.

"An' don't worry about not having experience, or things like that! Lots of people come here from under rocks--I did!" He chuckled at that, his hands splayed out around him. He then straightened back up in the chair (god this seat was uncomfortable), "I am gonna assume you know all the technical terms--not that it's a problem if you don't--like monologue, aside, dialogue, script, prompt book, play, etc?" He asked with a tilt of his head, he was pretty sure she knew them, since it seemed she was well versed in the classics.

[Stella Pinyin]

Slowly, Stella returned Darryl’s smile with one of her own. It was not the reaction she expected; her uncle was always so disappointed in her when she didn’t know the answer to a question. After all he had done bringing her into his home, it had always felt horrible to know she was not living up to his expectations. And what paper mache was did sound like fun! Even if she was still not sure what exactly it’s purpose was.... ‘making things’ seemed so vague... It sounded messy. Fun messy. Also, like it could be some sort of food.

White hands smoothed over pale blue wool as Stella listened obediently. Still, she was beginning to understand that Darryl Bond was not a teacher who demanded the utmost respect from his students. He was talking more like he was... well, not a friend, but something in between. And what was even better was that she could still answer his questions without having to fear that he would be unhappy if she was wrong.

“Yes, I know the terminology,” Stella said promptly, nodding her white head. ”How they are used in so far as the understanding of the play, I mean. A speech to another character, compared to a speech to the audience, a soliloquy which is similar to an aside. Ah, the rest are relatively self explanatory.” Stella propped an arm on the desk before her, scratching her head slightly. ”How exactly do we go about the study of a play?”

[Darryl Bond]

Darryl knew very well that the students at Hammel came from every walk of life. He couldn't expect every single one of his students to know the same things as another student. The amount of kids that knew what paper mache was or how to do it was actually disappointing. Not only was it extremely fun, to Darryl, but it also helped the creative mind express himself. Elaine, his surrogate mother, had made sure that while Darryl was in a Hammel art class, that he never did a project on a piece of lined notebook paper; especially when Darryl was tasked to make something. He'd once made a pinata in the shape of a fish, thanks to paper mache.

When she confirmed his suspicions about knowing the terms, he clapped. "Splendid! That saves us quite a bit of time, and I will be honest and say I never enjoyed teaching that in the first place. If I wanted to have to teach kids words, I'da became an English Teacher," Darryl confided with a small roll of his eyes. He re-situated himself in the tiny seat, which he really didn't remember it being this uncomfortable. "If this were a more of a theory class, we would actually study plays. However, we have been looking at more modern plays as apposed to the classics like Shakespeare, though we did do a bit of studying of the Globe Theatre." He paused to sift through the stakes of papers in the folder to produce the one on such a topic, he held it out for her. It was just a basic description of what the Globe Theatre was, the seating (and standing) arrangement, how much it had cost at the time, and when it unfortunately burned down and was rebuilt.

"Now, however, we are working on memorization. Just this last week I split the class up into groups were they were to write their own five minute plays and act them out in the auditorium, with minimal props, two monologues, and at least twenty lines of dialogue. I won't require you to make that up, since you'd need a group to do it. However, this week I have assigned everyone to pick out a monologue of one character, whether it be something classic like Antony's Caesar one, or something silly in a recent movie. It has to be at least a minute long and this coming Friday everyone will be reciting it in front of the classroom.

"Other than that, all I can say is that we are starting to focus on things that will help us when we put on a play at the end of the semester--its the Final Exam," Darryl explained to her slowly (slowly for Darryl, anyway) and clearly about basically what they've been doing.

[Stella Pinyin]

Stella took the handout, making a mental note to get it photocopied and blown up in size so she could read it properly. Still, she knew the basics. Then she heard about... the practical side.

It had all been going so well too.

There was nothing wrong with theory, there was absolutely nothing wrong with theory! It was slowly dawning on Stella that this class was not at all as she imagined. That became even more obvious when Darryl had mentioned writing a play and acting it out in front of the class! It seemed Stella had missed that particular guillotine, but just as she was getting her breath back, the next blade dropped. A monologue to perform... in front of the class? She would have to stand up, in front of people, and start ordering fiery footed steeps to gallop apace? "Ah, Mr B-, I mean, Darryl," the now terrified girl squeaked out, "I had thought, I mean... That is to say...It just sounds a bit..."

Like the seventh circle of hell...

With a nervous twitch, Stella gripped her pendant. "Ah, I've never really, I mean, not in front of people,". The reasoning behind the girl's need for private lessons was no doubt becoming more obvious. An excellent grasp on the theory of classical theatre was excellent if you wished to be an academic or a tour guide at the Globe, but it was not really the tools you needed to survivetake a high school drama class. Her perviously composed expression had morphed into a look of pure horror; giving people even more of a reason to stare? Why would she ever want to do that?

[Darryl Bond]

He saw the transition from a happy teenager into a frightened...frightened person. He wondered exactly where something went wrong, when it sorta dawned on him before she had said anything. She had been expecting a different sort of Drama Class. Well Darryl was sad to see she wasn't as enthusiastic about joining his group than he first though, but well, that's what the private lessons were for, right?

When she finally did remember her voice (and squeak too) He sighed and reached out a hand and patted her shoulder. "Now my dear there isn't anything to worry about! No one is going to make fun of you. We only hear constructive criticism in this class, and that comes from me." He just couldn't sit still any longer, he sidled out of his seat and moved to the front of the class, he adjusted his hat on his head so it was a bit crooked and forward. "Standing up here is no more scary then standing in front of your mirror, I'll have you know. You truly are your worst critic. Thinking too much is most of the problem. You just gotta stand up here and...." He spread his hands out around him and then shrugged his shoulders.

"Any noodle can memorize a line, but it takes a stronger noodle to be able to stand up here and recite it. That being said, anyone can do it. You just have to do it. When I was in my first drama class, I was worried the older kids would just boo me out of the room. But you know what, I didn't receive my first 'boo' until I was in college." Darryl chuckled at the not so fond memory before he continued, "I'm not going to just throw you into the lot and expect you to be as free and used to the others in the classroom as they have become used to each other, no, no no. How about today we just work on letting go of that inhibition? Would you join me up here, please?" Darryl gestured next to him with a small nod of his head in that direction as well.

He was up, he was excited, and he was going to get her over her fear. It may not be today, and probably not tomorrow, but one day soon. He'd have her raising her hand to join in the exercises faster than his other students.

[Stella Pinyin]

Standing in front of a mirror was not exactly a fun experience when you looked like a living snow sculpture. Still, Stella thought she understood at least what was being hinted at. Still, it was something out of her worst nightmare to stand in front of anybody. Apart from reciting latin and english verbs in front of her uncle, Stella would never have dreamed of presenting anything to anyone. Still, she nodded in acknowledgement with a slightly worried frown. She did not want to stand up there, she wanted to listen to and discuss Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams, but dropping out of class was not an option. Darryl was willing to help her and she would do her best, even if she felt, if she wasn't already so pale, she'd have blanched into oblivion.

Why exactly Darryl was talking about? Pasta was unable to recite anything... There was a misunderstanding, clearly. But Stella was too embarrassed to draw attention to the gab in her understanding of english colloquialisms. "Ah, alright," Stella carefully pushed back her chair and weaved through the desks to reach the front of the room. Her nervousness was even more obvious as she stood next to the somewhat flamboyant and enthusiastic teacher. Her eyes, unable to focus normally, were flitting from side to side in agitation, and there wasn't even anyone in the class yet! This would be a challenge... for both of them.

[Darryl Bond]

"Public speaking is a thing everyone needs. You'll never know when you'll need it, and it helps with other aspects of your life as well. I'm not one to lecture about it, but if the need arises, I'll probably get back to it in the future. Anyway, public speaking happens to be something that this class more or less requires. It really isn't as hard as you think, Stella. Some tricks I use when I get nervous would be looking at the back wall, instead of in the eyes of those in front of me. Another trick would be to imagine all of them were in so deep of a sleep they can't hear you." Darryl walked about the room and often used hand movements as he spoke, to portray he was speaking to a room-full instead of just herself.

Once she got up and joined him, he grinned over at her for a moment. "I want you to say the first thing that comes to your mind. Just ramble. Tell me anything. What are you thinking? Feeling? Just tell the class." Darryl gestured wildly to the corners of the room and then moved quickly through the rows of desks to the back, where he sat on a lone stool. He usually took this seat in the back when someone was up front and presenting.