Quiet Theater

> Eleanor

There was not a single emotion etched into Eleanor's face, or into the way she had applauded but she knew as herself, she was quite happy. She surely made a great choice to spend her free day at the theater than anywhere else. She was a little more than pleased with the entire group's performance but what fascinated her more than the acting was the set itself. She shouldn't have been all too amazed, knowing about the background of the city she was in.

And yet there she was, left behind by the rest of the crowd as they all stepped out into the lobby. She was expecting that the backstage crew should be left behind and she was right. A goblin walked onto the stage and Eleanor sat there with wonder. Out of curiosity she stood up, and made her way to the stage, the solid heels of her shoes making soft thumps onto the carpeted floor. Her gaze was focused on the goblin.

Eleanor stopped in front of the stage but she hesitated to speak at first. Should she talk to him? Well, she wanted to ask. It should be alright.

"Excuse me.." she called out; her voice was soft and gentle, as if speaking any louder could cause trouble.

The goblin heard her and turned his attention to look at her. Simply on reflex, Eleanor cast her gaze down to the floor, momentarily forgetting her purpose for calling out to him. Realizing her reaction, she looked back up to him.

"Um, the play was lovely," she began to speak. The softness in her voice made it seem that she was simply very shy. To even add to that was the way her gaze moved about, never completely settled on the person in front of her. "The set management was exceptionally amazing... ah, may I ask who were the ones managing it? I... I wanted to personally congratulate them."

"You did all that?" Eleanor spoke with wonder. It was obvious on her face, the way her eyes glittered with surprise and glee. Eleanor linked her fingers together, casting down her eyes for a moment before looking up with a shy smile.

"The all the more I should congratulate you, sir," she said. "I can say from experience when I was in high school, this was quite exceptional." She hummed thoughtfully, "Could I ask... how long have you been working here..?"

"No need to be so modest. Without the elements, that performance would be incomplete," Eleanor responded. She couldn't argue that the performers were wonderful but she had an eye for detail and the credit for that was to the backstage crew and their performance today was simply wonderful. "First show? You did a very good job. I wouldn't have expected it," she said.

There was a faint smile on Eleanor's face as he turned to ask about her. She nodded witha hum, "I was officially the stage manager for our club, but I had to do some hand-on work because our team was pretty small. Not everyone in the club like being backstage." The glow in her face faded for a moment as she recalled a little from her past.

But she was quick to recover, "I haven't worked with the theater since I graduated high school. It feels so long ago but after seeing a show, it feels like it was just yesterday."