For Good Ch. 2

The next day, rehearsals started at 11AM, which meant that sound check was at 10:15. The actors looked tired as they stood on stage, except the actress playing Glinda, who was chipper and chatting with the actress for Elphaba. Well, the other actress couldn't be considered chatting; she only listened, nodded, and sipped her coffee slowly. "I know it was a late night yesterday, guys," Brandi began, "But you all worked hard in the choreography session and that's why James said we don't do anymore today." The company of lead actors perked up a little at this. "There's a minor issue with one of the Glinda costumes in the costume shop that James and I have to take care of, so I'm going to give the floor over now to John Watson, our lead sound technician."

There was some applause from the Glinda actress, who immediately stopped when she realized no one else was clapping, too. "Um, right," John cleared his throat as he climbed up onto the stage, "I'm John, and I'm the crew chief for sound, and also in charge of mics for you guys: the leads. This is Jessica," John gestured to his left where Jessica was holding a box of pimple mics, "The assistant crew chief. And Nick and Kelly are back at the sound board. They're in charge of the mics on and above the stage, so you won't see much of them. Now, I know you've all been in theater and done sound checks before, but I'm required to go through the lecture anyway. Mics are expensive, don't mess with them yourself, etc. If you have an issue before, during intermission, or after the show, see me. If you have a problem during the actual show, Jessica will be backstage and willing to help. Please don't try to put on or take off your mics yourself, I will do that for you, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill." John smiled. "Shall we get started?"

The actors just kind of shrugged. "Ladies and gents, the future Tony award winning cast of Wicked! The excitement is in the air." Jessica quipped.

This got a ripple of laugh out of the actors and the atmosphere changed on stage to a more light-hearted, alert one, and John smiled as he pulled out his copy of the cast list. "Ok, we're just going to go in order here. Mic number one goes to Molly Hooper, as Elphaba." The actress with pretty, long brunette hair and a coffee in hand stepped forward to have her pimple mic put on.

"Thank you, John." She said sweetly when it was taped in place.

"No problem, Molly." He switched the mic on. "Mic number two is for," He looked at his sheet, "Mary Morstan, as Glinda."

"It's GAlinda" She said, giggling a little. "I'm just kidding. That's a line of my character's." She stepped to stand in front of him and he began putting her mic on. "I like your accent, where are you from?"

"I was born and raised in London."

"Hey, Sherlock is from London, too!" She turned to look over her shoulder to an actor who was leaning against a prop wheelbarrow and who, upon hearing his name, looked up from his phone with an expression that could only be described as 'what Mary?'

It took John a split second to register that this was the actor that everyone had been talking about the day before, and John knew exactly why. Tall and lean, with dark curls and eyes of an indescribable silver color, Sherlock was definitely something to look at. When the actor looked over and saw John, his expression changed for the briefest moment to one John couldn't read, before he frowned and went back to playing on his phone. John just rolled his eyes and said to Mary, "Please face forward so I can finish. Thanks."

When Mary was done, it was time for mic three. "Sherlock Holmes, as Fiyero." The actor stuffed his phone back into his pocket and went to stand in front of John to be mic-ed.

"What part of London are you from?" Jessica asked, as John set to work placing the device.

Sherlock's voice was a smooth rumble as he said, "I grew up just outside the city, but went to school in central London."

John suddenly became hyper-aware of the fact that Sherlock was watching every move he made. It wasn't a glare, or even an intense stare. He was just passively following John's hands with his eyes. "I need you to stare at a spot on the back wall, please. Thanks." John said casually. He quickly finished up with Sherlock and sent him to stand with the others.

Martha Hudson as Madame Morrible was next, followed by Jim Moriarty as The Wizard, Sally Donovan as Nessarose, Sean Anderson as Boq, and Henry Knight as Doctor Dillamond. When all leads had mics, John headed back to the sound board with a hand-held. "I don't expect you to sing this early in the day, so when I call your name, please just speak the lyrics to 'Happy Birthday' until I tell you to stop. Molly, you're up first." John said, and he began running sound check for the day.

******

The rest of the day was mostly boring. The actors ran lines for scenes as the director, James Maddock, yelled out orders, and since the pit orchestra wouldn't be in for another day, the sound crew didn't have to worry about adjusting mic levels at all. John and Jessica sat back at the sound board watching those on stage rehearse, and occasionally making a few comments here and there to make each other laugh.

Jessica pinched her nose and, mimicking Mary on stage, said, "'It's GAlinda, it's GAlinda.' God, her character is so pretentious."

This set off another round of giggles from the sound board, and John was just about to make a clever comment about something Henry Knight had just said, when a voice behind him made him jump. "It's John, right?"

He turned around and saw Sherlock standing there holding the box part of his microphone. "Yeah, what's wrong?"

Sherlock sighed in a way that said 'this is tedious'. "It fell off. Obviously. Just fix it."

John took the box out of his hands and re-attached it to the back of Sherlock's trousers. "There. It's fixed." Sherlock didn't even say anything. He just took off towards the stage so he wouldn't miss his cue coming up. "That was weird. And awkward."

"Maybe he likes you?"

"I'd be surprised to discover if that man fancies anything, he looks so upset all the time. At least, the times I've seen him today."

"Maybe he has perpetual bitch face syndrome?"

"Perpetual bitch face syndrome?"

"It means he's not angry, it's just his face." Jessica was silent for a second before casually saying, "Do you like him?"

This caused John to laugh out loud. "I've known the man for less than a day, and the interactions we've had have been a little less than pleasant."

"Yeah, but he is pretty cute."

"So? Puppies are cute, too, but if one bites me, I'm not going to be very in love with said puppy."

"Sometimes those puppies just need affection. They can be tamed with a little petting."

"Are we still talking about a human male, here? Because I'm not 'petting' Sherlock Holmes." They both laughed again. "This conversation got out of hand so quickly, Jess. We should probably get back to work."

"You mean inserting comedic genius into a serious musical?"

"Exactly."