Qrow Branwen is a bad luck charm (scareqrow) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-07-01 07:53:00 |
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Natasha had said something about concern of the arts and theatre being infiltrated by… well, Marguerite wasn’t quite sure the specifics. What she did know was that it wasn’t government and it wasn’t that sort of information that she needed to find. Then again, from what it sounded like, this was more rumor or paranoia and less solid information gathering.
Not exactly the sort of information Marguerite was used to getting or had any real idea on how to get it. Give her a role, let her use her skills to find specific information? Sure, that she was familiar with. Acting on nothing more than a hunch? That was a bit trickier.
Still, she was told to meet up with someone named Qrow about trying to get information and so the meeting had been set so they could meet and figure things out. At least that seemed to be the plan.
Natasha had sent Qrow on info gathering missions before, that wasn’t anything new. At least this time she hadn’t sent him out of the county. With the recent revelation regarding Dreams and networks and “other lives and other worlds”, he was loathed to leave the county and his nieces for any stretch of time.
He did wish he had a little more going into this with, though. He’d been givin a name of a contact he was supposed to be meeting, a time and a location. He was further told that something may have infiltrated the arts and theater in the county, but what that something was remained a mystery. Qrow wasn’t sure if even Natasha knew exactly what it was. He got the idea that was what he and this Marguerite person was supposed to be looking into tonight. He’d gone into missions with less, but it didn’t make him feel any better about it.
The meeting was supposed to happen in a bar across the street from one of the theaters. Ahh, Nat knew him so well. He got there a little early. He wanted to check the place out, see where it was in relationship to the theater. The fact that he could do so while drinking a couple of drinks while he waited all the better.
Finishing up with rehearsal for the night (mostly focused on dance which given the show made sense and it had been a while since she’d been in such a dance intensive show), Marguerite sent a message to Percy to let him know she’d be back late and then headed to the bar across the theater. Well, who didn’t want a drink after spending hours working on choreography? So what if it was also trying to put together some sort of plan to see if there had been some form of infiltration of the theatre and arts community in the area? Two birds, one stone and all of that.
Having changed back into regular clothing, dance clothes in her bag, Marguerite entered the bar and scanned for the man she was supposed to be meeting. She had a description (though really, smells of alcohol while meeting in a bar? Really not that helpful) as well as natural instinct, so there was that. First things first was walking to the bar to get a drink. She was familiar enough with the bar because of the location and so she nodded in familiarity to the bartender on duty and made some small talk before getting her drink.
Well, there was someone who seemed to match the description Natasha had given to her. Well, off to meet this Qrow person and see what they could piece together a plan of action or just get an idea of what they were trying to figure out in the first place.
“This seat taken?”
Qrow looked up from his glass to see a slender attractive red-head standing next to him. Eyes narrowed a bit. She seemed to fit the description Nat had given him. That and the fact that there were plenty of other seats around for the woman to help herself to lead Qrow to believe this was who he was meeting. At least Nat had thrown him a bone and given him someone pretty to look at while he worked.
“It’s all yours,” he said with a motion to the stool next to him. “Help yourself.” He waited until she was seated and he’d taken another sip of his drink before turning reddish brown eyes back towards her. “Marguerite, right?”
As she sat down, Marguerite placed her drink on the table and nodded at the question. Well, that was a relief that she had indeed managed to pick out the correct person she was supposed to be meeting with. If not, she would made it work but it was just easier if she didn’t have to. Instead she nodded that yes, she was Marguerite.
“And it’s Qrow, yes?”
Unique spelling but she had a feeling on the pronunciation. All in all, she seemed relaxed despite the circumstances for why they were meeting up. Of course she was concerned about a potential threat trying to infiltrate her community, but that was something that would be dealt with as they figured it out.
Qrow nodded. “That’s me,” he said. He finished off his drink and set his glass down, tapping the bar top for a refill. It was hard to mispronounce his name, but Qrow had heard a few interesting attempts throughout his life. He sometimes wondered why his parents had decided to go with a “Q” instead of a “C”. It wasn’t as if he was named for a particular person, he was named for the bird after all. Regardless, Marguerite at least had gotten it right. “Nice to meet you.”
His glass was refilled and he picked it up. “I have no idea what exactly Nat expects us to find. Have you been hearing any strange whisperings behind the curtain that would be of any interest?”
“Likewise.”
Taking a sip of her own drink, Marguerite paused as Qrow said he had no idea on what they were expected to find as well. Okay. She could work with this. Though she had been making sure to pay attention to any of the gossip, but no major shake ups had happened.
“Nothing. I mean, the easiest way to get new people involved is through auditions and being a cast or crew… the directors, stage managers, producers? They tend to stay the same no matter the production and I haven’t heard anything about anyone taking a new job or a new director showing up.”
It wouldn’t be entirely difficult to find out, she was friends with many of the casting directors. Still, there hadn’t been any talk of it, when normally that sort of thing would catch her attention.
“Mm,” Qrow nodded thoughtfully before taking a deep drink from his glass. He didn’t know much about the theater community, even less about the art community, but they all tended to be a tightly woven crowd as far as he knew. Disruptions, even minor ones, tended to send out cascading ripples that reached even those on the fringe. It was a tough community to crack in to unless someone knew someone else. Wasn’t that how the expression went? It isn’t what you know, but who?
“Have you heard of anyone getting special attention?” He asked, tapping a finger against the side of his glass. “Someone who's basically come out of nowhere but is suddenly getting a lot of interesting and strange attention? Like parts or jobs they aren’t qualified for?”
Marguerite found the question amusing, mostly because she had a feeling that some people made comments like that about her when she returned for Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 by some in the cast who might have started in the community after she had left Orange County for Broadway only for her to show up a month before performances and slip into a role.
Still it was something to consider.
“I would say that qualified is a subjective word in regards to acting and what it is any casting director is looking for. I haven’t heard anything specific, then again until the concerns were mentioned I hadn’t been paying all that much attention to gossip.”
Qrow nodded and took another pull from his glass. He had figured that may have been her answer. He usually kept an ear out for anything unusual going on at the university, but it was a university, filled with students who were experiencing adulthood and life away from home and rules of their parents for the first time. Weird things happened all the time. But there were weird things and then there were weird things. And then there were the really weird things. None of which had anything to do with what Natasha was wanting to find. At least not yet.
Qrow set his mostly drank glass down and leaned his chin against his hand as he looked at Marguerite carefully. “Be honest with me, do you really think something has gotten on the inside of the theater community here?”
Even without paying mind to the gossip, weird things being mentioned that were cause for concern would have caught Marguerite’s attention even if she wasn’t listening for it. Then again, she had a feeling that dreaming about the French Revolution, where people were denounced for inconsequential matters and living in that time and atmosphere also played a role in that. She was a bit more adept at picking up things that had merit versus jealousy fueled gossip.
As Qrow posed the question, the actress sighed.
“At this exact moment? No. Nothing I have heard would point to that. I won’t say it could never happen. After all, what better way to try and spread a message subtly than through the arts?” Just subtle direction choices, what shows were put on or pieces were created… it certainly wouldn’t be the first time that the stage or movies or television or arts were used for propaganda purposes. “But right here, right now? I don’t think anything like that has happened.”
The concern Natasha had could end up useful later and Marguerite knew that she would be making sure to listen for things in case that concern became reality. But currently? Currently she had a feeling it was more paranoia than actuality.
The question of whether or not either of them would even know that this invisible enemy of Natasha’s had somehow infiltrated the arts in order to send out it’s own clandestine and nasty messages was in of itself concerning.
But Natasha chose her informants carefully. The ones Qrow’d had met in the past during various “errands” all had talents and certain observation skills that easily made them invaluable and the same was likely true for the attractive actress sitting beside him now. And she had a very good point. Just because something untoward hadn’t gotten into the ranks right now didn’t mean that it wouldn’t later on.
“Then I guess we’ll just need to keep an eye on things,” he said. He picked up his glass again and emptied the contents in one gulp. If Margurite kept an eye out from the inside, then Qrow would do the same from the outside. Pay attention to theatergoers who seemed a little too interested in what was being performed, or the nuances of certain props, scenery changes, directing cues. And, of course, be a contact point for Marguerite, should she need it. “I guess this means I’ll be needing to buy a couple of season passes,” he went on as he set his glass down. Oh, twist his arm why don’t you? He’d have to be careful about which seat he chose, close enough to see, but not too close to ruin anything.
“What’s being worked on now?” He asked.
“Precisely.” It wasn’t like Marguerite was going to be lax just because there was nothing in the works at that very moment. No. There was enough going on already that she wouldn’t be surprised if this mysterious group decided to infiltrate the theatre scene as it reached a number of people, of all ages.
“Well, I’m currently in a production of Bandstand, though we don’t go into performances until August, then I know one of the ballets is doing Romeo and Juliet. I did auditions recently for Next to Normal as well as Newsies so they are also in the rehearsal stage right now.” Pulling out her phone, Marguerite pulled up the list of different shows she’d either auditioned for or knew someone in throughout the county.
“As for those in production? There’s Annie, Much Ado About Nothing, Merchant of Venice, Into the Woods, Hairspray, Evil Dead: The Musical, The Twilight Zone, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Fiddler on the Roof, The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, and The Wizard of Oz.”
Qrow raised a brow. Really. Someone had turned Evil Dead into a musical. He kind of wanted to watch that just for the novelty of it.
He craned his neck to peer around at her phone to see which houses were doing which productions. If he were going to check out each showing, that was going to burn a hole in his pocket really fast. Then again, there were other ways to get into a theater to see a show. Ways that even granted him access to the backstage areas and dressing rooms. Less than legal ways, maybe, but hey, Qrow was no stranger to illegal doings. Part of the reason why he had this gig.
“Evil Dead, huh?” He leaned back and picked up his glass, frowning when he found it empty. He lifted a hand to get the bartender's attention. “Alright, I can check those out if you keep your ear to the ground about the shows that haven’t started their runs yet.”
He fell silent as the bartender refilled his glass. Once they had privacy again, he looked back at the actress. “Course it’d help if we knew what exactly it is we’re looking for. Has the bosslady given you any indication about what has her hackles all on edge?”
At least there were often deals that could be found online, especially for smaller local theatres, tickets for as low as $5 depending. But it was an expensive enterprise to try and need to see if there was any crossover between theatergoers, and then figuring out if they were just people who truly just enjoyed seeing shows or if there was some underlying reason.
“I can easily do that.” She was familiar with and spoke to many involved in the casts and crews as it was. And those she didn’t know personally? She knew others who did. As Qrow went silent, Marguerite smiled in thanks to the bartender who refilled their drinks and then shrugged at the question.
“No, nothing.” She supposed it wasn’t that shocking. With people freaking out about Shakespeare and productions of Julius Caesar because god forbid theatre get political (and ignoring the entire premise of the show), concerns that those with shady desires might try to do what they claimed Shakespeare in the Park was doing. “Could be stories in the news making her concerned, could be general concern brought on by this sort of work, but whatever it was, I was given nothing that would point to what exactly.”
Too much conjecture which, yes was part of information gathering. Raw intelligence which then needed to be verified. Still, some sort of angle or direction would have been nice.