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qualquercoisa945 · 5 years ago

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So We Picked Up A Pen And A Microphone

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Title Inspiration- Ex Wives from Six

so for those wondering what the countdown in my bio has been about anyways yeah uhhhhhhhh i am legally allowed to post this today since it’s my birthday and therefor i am legally obligated to self indulge, thank you for your time

tws- none that i can think of, but please tell me if there are any

Even before the show had started, back when all of them were still in rehearsals and the very few voluntary conversations any of them ever had were stilted at best or arguments just barely disguised as passionate discussions at worst, Anne was never the earliest to places. Partially due to not really wanting to wake up at Too Fucking Early O’Clock, partially because she just genuinely wasn’t the most pontual person- very rarely was she not at least a few minutes late to events.

But today was a bit of an exception. Today was the opening of their West End run, and she couldn’t help the slight skip to her step as she walked from the tube station towards the theatre, for once the first one to get going there. Not that she wasn’t familiar with the theatre or the show or any of that- but she would be lying if she said there wasn’t a reason.

During their UK tour, they had one alternate- Regina. She’d go on whenever any of the queens were ill or busy, but only one alternate for six queens was clearly too little- something Anne herself had brought up with the production team, with no action taken. Of course, as anyone with half a brain could’ve guessed, this resulted in multiple shows having to be cancelled and all of them, Regina included, being exhausted by the end of their run.

So once the West End run was announced, so were the changes to the cast- the addition of two alternates and a swing. And she was shocked when she noticed that she recognized them- from the posts Regina had made with her friends.

She’d looked into them- call it paranoia or stalking or what have you, but she’d prefer not to be around people she knew nothing about, especially not people who were going to be acting as herself when she couldn’t. She had their names- the alternates being Skye Jackson and Ally Rodriguez and the swing Gretchen Warren- and the social media that the show’s account had tagged them with.

Gretchen was the second oldest out of the four of them, just 2 years younger than Regina at 22, with dark brown wavy hair and green eyes. She didn’t seem to have much in the way of public stuff- her account had been set to private when she was tagged, and it was only after Anne had gotten permission to follow her that it was set to public. It was mainly personal, with a few pictures of relatively small local productions that never fully took off. This was understandable- she’d graduated just a year ago, and not everyone had a job offer right out of college. Now Skye and Ally were a different story.

Ally was the youngest, having turned 19 in the past November, just two months earlier, with light brown hair and some of the darkest eyes she had ever seen. A lot of the posts were personal, typical teenager stuff like photos of hang outs or posts at parties. Some were more serious- activism or mental health centered stuff that hinted more into stuff Ally seemed to keep closer to her chest. And there were also some tiny school productions of musicals, as well as covers she seemed to mostly do with her friends- some of them being her fellow alternates and swing, and the closest Skye.

Skye had her curious from the moment she’d seen the clips posted of them in rehearsal. At 19, just a few months older than Ally, and with jet black hair with teal tips and purple eyes, she couldn’t help but focus on her as she acted out what she recognized as her own song. A quick browse through her profile and she noticed the girl’s personality was an awful lot like her own- all huge grins and cocky smirks and quickly thought-up quips and arguments. Her posts, along with the videos she posted on the Youtube channel linked in her bio, were a mix of everything- personal stuff, covers, productions, announcements, and other more serious stuff that she seemed to also avoid.

She’d texted all of them as soon as she could, and although she’d gotten along with them fairly well, conversation had died fairly quickly due to the usual early-friendship awkwardness.

That hadn’t been the case for some of her other cast members, however, as she’d heard Cathy talk about Skye as if the two were friends, and Kitty seemed to have gotten along with Ally quite well. There was a part of her that couldn’t help but wonder why no one had managed to connect with Gretchen, but she figured they’d have time for that once performances started and they had more time to be around one another.

And now, she hoped she wouldn’t be stuck to the sidelines as she made her way to the theatre, hoping to be the first to meet the new cast members.

As she turned a corner, she couldn’t help the grin that formed when she saw a familiar head of golden hair a bit farther ahead on the street. “Oi, Regina!”

She gave her a wave when the girl looked up, and the latter gave the barest hint of a smile before Anne made a dash towards her. “So, how’s our superswing?” Anne’s grin only broadened at the soft chuckle Regina gave- it was clear no one could quite avoid the excitement of opening night, stoic as Regina was (or at least tried to).

“Admittedly, I’m pretty excited.” She replied, only confirming Anne’s suspicions. “Plus, I feel like the six of you will like the new girls. Though, Skye and Ally will bring more chaos into it all.”

“Hey now, Aragon and Jane live with me, right?” She replied with a smirk, earning another soft chuckle from the girl as they turned the last corner- the one that lead them into the street of the theatre.

“I believe they do, yes.” She agreed softly. “And I’ve been dealing with those two for a good decade or so now, I can handle them.”

“How bad are they?”

Regina hesitated at that question, physically stopping just a few feet away from the theatre before turning to face her with a smile and a playful light in her eyes that Anne didn’t think she’d ever seen. “Skye is you and Ally is Kath, only those two are childhood friends and Ally has much less self control than Kath has, so they’re much worse than the pair of you.”

Anne stared at her, mouth slightly agape, before chuckling with her trademark confident smirk. “Well then, guess me and Kitty will have to up our game.”

Regina gave a soft chuckle, shaking her head as she walked the last few steps to the theatre, Anne right behind her as she came inside the foyer.

Neither spent much time there- apart from a quick greeting to the ticket booth worker, they both seemed to agree to head to see the dressing rooms as quick as possible.

As soon as they were in the dressing room hall, Anne could hear soft voices from the farthest away dressing room, voices that sounded vaguely familiar even if she couldn’t pin names to them, coupled with musical theatre tunes muffled by the voices.

Before Anne herself could react, Regina chuckled softly and made a quick dash for it, opening the door. Assorted greetings sounded from it, but Anne was too deep into her own thoughts to properly process them, simply following Regina into the dressing room while registering, from the corner of her eye the names of the four girls engraved on the dressing room’s door.

The first thing that caught her eye was a book, left on the counter right of her. On its cover, Anne spotted a portrait of a familiar girl with fiery red hair and dark eyes much like her own. Before she had a chance to reply, however, a voice spoke up.

“Oh, that’s mine.” Anne looked up to meet sharp violet eyes and a wide grin, and immediately she returned it. “Anne Boleyn, right? Nice to finally meet you- in person, I mean.”

“Right back at you.” Anne returned, sitting on one of the vacant chairs before handing the book to Skye. “I see you’ve done your homework.”

That earned a laugh from the girl. “Eh, I’ve always been a Tudor nerd, to be honest-”

“Can confirm.”

Skye turned back to face who Anne was pretty sure was Ally with an amused, playfully annoyed smirk. “Thank you, Ally.” She replied with emphasis on the girl’s name, before turning back to Anne. “But uh, yeah, have been since I was a kid. Elizabeth is the one they focused more in school- well, apart from Henry, but I was never too interested in him- so that’s where I started and it just kinda grew from there.”

Anne nodded with a soft chuckle. “I see, ‘nd I’m guessing it’s safe to assume you were really excited when you got the job.”

“She called me screaming about it.” Anne looked up at the quiet, soft tone, meeting gentle green eyes and a shy, if amused, grin. “So yes, it is safe to assume so.” Gretchen continued, before falling silent.

Anne nodded, but this time it was Ally who spoke up first. “And uh, just before you ask, I’m first cover Cleves and Parr, Regina is first cover Aragon and Seymour, and Skye is first cover Bo- well, you, and Howard.” She couldn’t help but chuckled softly at the girl’s stumble, before nodding.

“Well then, I can’t wait for a chance to see you all perform.” ________________________________________________________________

That chance, it turned out, would come just that Sunday, their last day of the week and a double show day. Though, not for Anne herself, at least not the first show.

Anne seemed to have gotten herself roped into a last minute interview organized by the show’s producers, and so, instead of the first (and only) debut being Ally’s in the evening show as Cathy, and since Gretchen had to call out due to illness, it seemed Skye would get the honor of first debut as Anne.

And quite frankly, Kath couldn’t wait for it.

Even as she got on stage, with the white lights simply showing their silhouettes backlit to the audience, she couldn’t help but shoot Skye a quick glance, looking up and down at the girl’s turquoise outfit, before fixating for just a moment on her hair, a mix of jet black and the near exact same shade as her costume, before averting her gaze when the first beats of the show sounded.

Kath let her mind run on autopilot during the show, up until just a bit after Catherine’s solo.

“Yeah, you know… the one, you’ve been waiting for!”

The audience sounded softly at that line, as if heating up for the proper cheer, and Kath couldn’t help but all but bounce through the choreography as they prepared for what would usually be Anne’s big reveal, but today would be Skye’s.

“Anne Boleyn!”

The end of the intro to the song was met with laughter from the audience at the sight of Skye sat on the steps, in between Maria and Joan, staring at her hand as if she were holding a phone. She let out a soft, slightly confused giggle along with the audience, waiting until they quieted down before speaking.

“Literally what are th-” She looked up, as if only now noticing the audience, and then seemed to shrink into herself the tiniest bit, although her confident smirk betrayed her actual feelings- she was loving this. “Oh. Sorry!”

At that, she all but jumped onto her feet as the first notes of Don’t Lose Ur Head sounded, and the show was on the road.

As they performed, even after the song was over, Kath couldn’t help but analyze the way Skye acted. It was confident, but not cocky- it was self assured, and grounded, as if she didn’t think she was better than all of them, she knew she was better than all of them. And she would be damned if she didn’t show it.

It seemed to work, as Skye’s delivery of Anne’s one liners had the audience all but roaring all the time, and by the end of the show it seemed as if Skye had conquered the hearts of all audience members.

It was almost scary. But at the same time, fitting. She may have not known Skye for long, but even then she could tell she was good at persuading people. She was impressed, if she was being honest.

It was when leaving the stage that the problems started.

One tiny misstep was all it took, and suddenly Kath had nearly fallen, pain shooting up from her ankle and the only thing keeping her from doing so being the tight grip on her arm.

If it weren’t for the fact that she was in really high spirits and the very light feeling of a costume’s fabric brushing against her arm, she would’ve definitely panicked.

As it was, however, she managed to keep herself together just enough to regain her balance, pressing more on her good foot, turning around as soon as the pressure around her arm was released, coming face to face with Skye, who looked both incredibly concerned and incredibly apologetic.

“I’m sorry I held you so tight, I just wanted to make sure you didn’t fall. Are you alright?”

Kath almost nodded. But then she tried to set more pressure on her hurt foot, and a brand new wave of pain shot up, forming tears in the corners of her eyes.

“Okay, that’s a no.” Skye’s awkward half laugh almost made Kath feel just a tiny bit better. “‘S okay! Probably just a twisted ankle, there’s no reason for it to be anything worse. Can I help you to your dressing room?”

After Kath nodded, she leaned just enough against Skye as the latter wrapped an arm around her shoulders, gently helping her up the stairs and to her dressing room.

Once Kath was sitting on the dressing room’s couch with one foot propped up and Skye sat on the opposite arm rest with a few anti inflammatories (“you underestimate how often I twist my ankle, or get hurt in general,” was her response when Kath had asked her why she just had some on them) in one hand and a glass of water in the other, she took off her show shoe as carefully as she could.

“Yeah, that’s definitely twisted.” Skye stated with a calm certainty as Kath stared warily at her swollen up ankle. She looked up when she got handed the meds and glass, taking them without another word before letting her head rest against the back of the couch.

“It just had to happen on a double show day, huh.” She grumbled, just managing a half-smile that earned her a chuckle from Skye.

“Yeah, it sucks ass. But hey, don’t stress! Better for you to get some rest so you can be back as soon as you can.” Skye reminded softly, and Kath couldn’t help a quiet chuckle when Skye leaned in and tapped the tip of her nose with her finger.

They both looked towards the door when they heard it open, and a very concerned looking Anne peeked in through it, clearly winded from what Kath had to assume was running. “Okay, sorry, I literally came running as soon as I heard what happened.”

At Anne’s slightly panicked tone, Skye gave a soft smile, before standing up. “I’ll give you both some time.” ________________________________________________________________

“She likes you.”

Regina’s voice, calm and serene as always, still managed to surprise Skye as she closed the dressing room’s door behind her. “How so?” She retorted as she took her usual seat next to the older girl, raising an eyebrow.

Regina gave a soft chuckle at that. “Kath doesn’t trust people easily. You can hardly blame her, after everything that happened to her, but still. She trusts you, though- she wouldn’t have let you help her otherwise.”

Skye looked down at the counter while shrugging, feeling her cheeks heat up as she blushed and staying quiet for a minute before looking back up, unusually serious. “Well, yeah, but healing also makes it easier for you to trust people again. You know that as well as I do, ‘Gina.”

Regina’s gaze hardened slightly at that, but still Skye didn’t back down, looking back at her while she waited for an answer. “Maybe so,” she finally settled on, “but even so.”

“I got it. I was just trying to make sure she felt comfortable.”

“She wouldn’t have let you stay if she wasn’t. Either that, or the others would’ve come in way earlier. Jane definitely would have, that woman has a sixth sense.” Neither of them could hold back their snickers at that comment, but even so Regina was the first to regain composure, as always. “So I think it’s safe to say you did just fine.”

Skye nodded at that, before reaching forward to grab her “K” choker. “Regardless, I’ve got bigger things to focus on right now.” She let out a soft sigh, a mix of worry and excitement in her voice. “It’s Howard time, I guess.” ________________________________________________________________

“Divorced.”

The audience’s chatter quieted down as Aragon’s booming voice filled the theatre, save for a few soft cheers or muffled squeals, and Ally could barely stay still as she waited for her turn.

“Beheaded.”

The audience full on cheered as her girlfriend’s voice sounded, clear and confident but still so distinctly young and playful.

But she couldn’t stop to analyse just yet- she had a show to do.

“Survived.”

A similar, or perhaps even louder cheer broke after she’d spoke, and Ally couldn’t help but shoot a quick glance towards Skye, both wearing matching, wide grins, that they both were quick to hide as Aragon moved on with the show, and they both followed the choreography they’d rehearsed to the point of knowing one another’s first covers at least semi decently. Not decently enough to actually play them, but semi decently.

She went through most of Ex-Wives focused on the choreography and words, refusing to let herself mess up on the first song of her fucking West End debut- she knew how harshly swings and alternates were judged, and she wasn’t about to risk it. It was midway through the queens’ individual intros, however, where her body began to move on near auto pilot while she did the choreography.

“Funny how we all discuss that but never Henry’s lil’-”

“Prick up your ears, I’m the Katherine who lost her head!”

Ally could barely hear their “beheaded!” over the audience’s cheer when Skye piped up, and even Skye, who Ally was (unfortunately) very aware of how loud Skye was naturally, had to raise her tone to make herself heard over their screams.

“For my promiscuity, outside of wed! Lock up your husbands, lock up your sons, K Howard is here and the fun’s begun!”

“Survived.”

Ally couldn’t help but feel that familiar mix of anxiety and excitement pool at the bottom of her stomach while she stepped forward, facing the audience- and more specifically the front rows, as she was looking slightly downward- as calmly as she could manage.

“Five down, I’m the final wife. I saw him to the end of his life.” Hand on her waist, she looked up to the rest of the stalls, before moving her gaze up to the circle and its slips as she sung. “I’m the survivor, Catherine Parr.” A nod towards the audience as she raised the fist that was previously on her waist, the women behind her doing the same. “I bet you wanna know how we got this far.”

They went about the show without any problems, but it was after the “I have the plague” joke where she could see the audience (for some members literally) lean forward in their seats.

“Okay, okay, okay!” She spoke up, waiting until the four women had quieted before continuing. “You know what, I think it’s time we heard from our next queen, K Howard!”

The audience absolutely roared as Skye stepped forward, and Ally could barely keep a proud grin off her face as Skye did a tiny curtsy.

Then, she had to physically keep herself from jumping when she saw someone move forward from the corner of her eye, calming when she noticed it was Anne. “Babes, who’s that again?”

Skye’s excited grin fell off her face, and even if Ally knew by the gleam in her eyes that it was all an act, she could barely keep herself from going to comfort her.

Ally felt like she was in a daze as the scenes went on- it was only right before All You Wanna Do when she snapped out of it.

“So yeah! I can’t even begin to imagine how I could compete with you all!” Skye paused, letting the audience laugh, before continuing. “Oh wait, like this!”

And thus the song was on. Skye kept the confident yet childlike act up throughout for the first half of the song, quick smirks and winks towards the audience frequent for the first two verses and choruses. It was after the third chorus ended where things started to change.

“So we got married.” With a nervous chuckle and smile, Skye addressed the audience, rocking back and forward just a tiny bit. “Woo!” Her voice was higher pitched than usual, even as she tried to stay calm (or at least tried to act like she was trying to stay calm).

She went through the fourth verse with a soft voice, so unlike what she’d done before. It was near the end, however, after the final “connection”, that it began to change, turning into a near roar as she put her full emotion into the ending chorus.

“The only thing, the only thing, the ONLY thing you wanna do is-” She tsked, then huffed, almost stumbling as she threw her head back. And then the audience blew up.

After that, Ally wasn’t quite sure what happened. If she was being honest with herself, she went on autopilot for most of the rest of the show. It was only near the end of the final song that she actually snapped out of it, when Skye approached her as they neared the last official line of the show and the two did that same dance move from the very first dance break- take her hand, hold it up, curtsy, switch places. Then, they went into position for the end of the show.

“For, five, four, three, two, one more minute!” Maria’s drums roared, and Ally couldn’t keep a slightly tired grin off her face.

“We’re SIX!”

#six the musical #six the musical fanfics #six #six fanfics #writing #anne boleyn #katherine howard #skye ocs #ally ocs #regina ocs #gretchen ocs #if this flops i will cry

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