Archive of Our Own ^beta

You initially hadn't cared when your pediatrician had told your mother that the mark on your face would not go away. You actually thought it was pretty cool, and had voiced your opinion over your mother's wail of despair. Further inspection of your body revealed another discolored patch on your upper arm , circling downward. It was like a stripe. A tiger stripe.

"Mama, I'm a tiger now!", you had smiled to her, baring your teeth in a grin.

"Your skin! My poor baby's skin!", she was already starting to sob. You hadn't cared then. You didn't care even when she bawled on the car ride home, despairing in Spanish about how ugly it was. You just figured that if what the doctor said was true, and the stripes continued to grow over time, she would soon agree that you looked pretty cool. You spent the next several days jumping from couch cushions, practicing your pouncing, landing on all fours, and would give a roar. Your room became your jungle, the lamps became trees, their lights became the sunbeams filtering to the jungle floor, the underside of your bed became your cave, your stuffed animals your prey. You would crawl on all fours and climb up the side of your chair when it came time for dinner. You were going to be a proud tiger.

Your mother would have none of it. Her internet search history was soon clogged with searches to cure your stripes. Whatever cures were offered were not affordable, and whatever home remedies she tried on your didn't work. You would whine, scratch, and complain when she made you consume different extracts, oils, strange 'natural' concoctions, or something she would purchase from the pharmacy.

Eventually, she resorted to just using makeup, finding a tone that matched your darks, and would smear it all over your stripes until they were nowhere to be seen, and you looked like what you had been like a year before. You thought it was boring. But you weren't allowed to wash the makeup off during school, or she would ground you, taking away TV privileges or dessert after dinner. Eventually, you got used to it, and accepted you could be a tiger when you took a bath in the evening, and sank under the water.

Soon, you were putting the makeup on without being told, and you didn't exactly know why.

And you really didn't care.

You were eighteen when you left home, with no intent of returning. Your mom was an overbearing witch, you had money, some of which you stole from her purse, no guilt, and you knew a chick who could offer you a place to crash until you came up with something else.

Ever since you were 15, you'd been going to the gym regularly, honoring your membership, and working out for an hour every morning, not to mention a jog before dinner. Your muscles were pretty impressive, and you'd crack jokes to your girl about how you gave them nicknames like 'Big Momma' and 'Anal Thrasher'.

Speaking of her, you didn't see her around anymore. Granted, it was your fault, but it wasn't really anything you were guilty about.

Still, you did think about her now and then. You remembered how she always wore those dopey sundresses. How her dark hair was wet most everyday from swimming. How she never seemed to go anywhere else besides her house and the city pool a block away. Or wherever you dragged her to, like a bar or something, insisting she needed to cut loose.

You never really expected things to go like they did. You always kind of figured she'd let you stay at her place until you got tired of it and left. But after two years of living there and paying rent every other deadline with the money you took from your mom, you left. Or more like, she kicked you out.

Your relationship with her was weird. It was like 'friends with benefits' but even then, you two weren't really friends. More like roommates who would cohabit the same space, and occasionally fuck. And damn was that fun. You would get complaints about the bed squeaking, about the noise factor, everything. Plus the marks you left on each other would be there for days, it was a riot. She never complained.

Every so often, the marks you left on her became more of bruises, less of hickeys, and once in a while, a black eye graced her face. And more and more beer bottles would fill the wastebasket on your side of the room

The night before she kicked you out, you had a fight with her. You don't remember over what, money probably, since you were being lazy about paying for utilities. Shouting turned to exchanged blows, predictably, but things got freaky when you shoved her, and somehow she cut her head on the bathtub faucet, and then blood started getting everywhere, she started screaming, and you had to rush her to the hospital. Before any nurses or police could even ask her what had happened, she had warned you to get the fuck out of her apartment.

For once, you weren't going to argue. You didn't want to risk her pressing charges, and going to jail.

Finding a new place to live wasn't too hard, apartments were plentiful in that part of town.

It was just finding a place you could keep.

You never really wanted to admit that you were running out of money. You didn't really buy much, you got a lot of free meals at the gym, and you could go fine without using the heat in your apartment.

But then again, maybe it was the booze you'd been buying regularly over the past year. You ended up looking at all the bottles you'd collected, and did the math on how much you had spent; too much. And you had a feeling that it wasn't going to stop.

You wanted to punch yourself for trying to save what was left of your money, but ending up spending almost all of what was left on makeup.

The job listings in the paper were what you saved for when you got desperate. And damn, you were desperate.

You ignored food service, you didn't want to pay money for the food handler's card required. The athletic jobs wouldn't hire a woman, even one as ripped and strong as you, and even if they did, they were too far away even for public transportation. You couldn't do sitting jobs, you couldn't risk screwing things up, and you were allergic to most animals, which sucked.

You grimaced at the ad from the local community theater, listing for a stage hand. You weren't a big fan of theater as a kid, having only been in the Christmas pageant at your family's church, playing a sheep. But the job was offering decent pay, $15 an hour, and $20 an hour for production nights. And it was only two blocks from your place, and four blocks from the gym, so you wouldn't have to take the bus, and you could go straight to work from the gym in the mornings.

Praying that you wouldn't have to adopt any hokey theater lingo, or some sort of fakey and flirty personality to get the job, you dialed the number, and tensed up as you heard the dial tone.

"Beach City Community Theater?", a serious voice answered a few seconds later.

"Uh...yeah...I'm calling about your want ad. Is this Peri?", you had asked.

"Yes, I'm Peri," the other answered, tone not changing, "Do you have any experience in theater whatsoever?"

"No," you had muttered, "Other than a church thing when I was like, five."

An uninterested hum was given in reply, "Good thing this job doesn't involve acting, I suppose. Are you capable of listening to direction, and understanding cues?"

"Uh...I guess?", you muttered, "You tell me to take something somewhere, I'll do it."

"Mhm...are you capable of lifting things over 100 pounds?"

"I can benchpress 250," you had boasted coolly, "Hardly a challenge."

"...I suppose you'll do then."

Before you could tell Peri your ideal schedule, she plainly told you to show up to work on Monday morning, 9 AM sharp.

The gym opened at 8:30 AM.

Fuck.

You already were starting to hate this Peri chick for making you cut your gym time. You hadn't even broken a sweat when it was time to leave for work. You swore the minute you had the chance to talk to Peri, you'd make it pretty damn clear that you were not going to compromise gym time for her precious little theater.

Peri didn't give you the chance to talk. The minute you met her, the petite woman was already giving you instructions on where to go and what to do. All the terms that flowed out of her mouth made very little sense to you, and you stared at her like she was speaking gibberish.

She didn't look too imposing, if anything, she looked pretty nerdy, with her short blonde hair in a green bandana and large green glasses tight on her nose. She had to stand on her toes to get up in your face, and she looked you in the eyes, unimpressed, and gave a thoughtful hum. She turned her head, and barked out "AMETHYST," and tapped her foot at hyperspeed while waiting for whoever it was she had called out for.

'Amethyst' turned out to be a stout chubby chick in a tank and track pants, hair bleached so much it looked almost white. Shoving half a donut in her mouth, she glanced up to Peri, "Yeah?"

"Can you give our new stagehand a decent orientation? We're trying to keep things orderly here," she singsonged with irritation, gripping onto her clipboard.

"Whatev," she had snorted, and glanced to you, immediately grinning, "HEY, I know you! I see you at the gym all the time!"

"Wait, what? You go to the gym?", you had asked incredulously, finding it hard to believe someone who scarfed on donuts and looked like she did would set foot in a gym.

"Uh, yeah," she snorted, "Kick boxing classes!", and flipped her hair out of her face, and handed you a hairtie, "I'm Amethyst. Buds call me Amy though. You?"

"Jasper," you muttered, pulling your hair back in a ponytail.

"I'm calling you Jaz," she snickered.

"Jasper," you corrected, not wanting her to nickname you anything, or try and get cute with you.

"Aight, Jaz," she smiled, and turned her head before you could even correct her again. She motioned for you to follow her, "So I guess I'm gonna show you the ropes of this theater, and the rest of our crew," and led you down a hallway, "This is the main hallway we use for the tech crew, and the actors use it if we have a show going on and they have to switch between stage left and right", and then yanked open a door "This leads up to the catwalk, where we have all the lights and stuff, and there's a storage room up above there for old stuff, and you'll see the stage soon enough. It's a big stage," and then opened another door, "Basement. More storage crap."

She half-heartedly pointed out more rooms and doors and directions to go, "Most of the time, Peri is gonna be OCD and tell us where every single little thing is supposed to go, and it's just a matter of knowing where those things are. After a few weeks, you'll know where stuff goes, trust me," she winked, and led you back down the main hallway, "We're not doing any production work for a couple of weeks, so it's mostly getting stuff cleared on the stage for student classes here, and shit like that. And Peri likes to make us busy by working on set pieces months in advance or clearing crap in the basement. But unless Peri is telling us to do something...we're pretty chill here."

That was a bit of a relief to hear, that you wouldn't have to bust your ass doing shit every second of the day at this place. Maybe that mean you could make a run for the gym or bar now and then.

Amethyst ended up showing you the break room, where you met two other stagehands wearing t-shirts and jeans, a short blonde chick, who immediately smiled at seeing you, a tall ginger chick who looked like she hated everyone in the room.

"S'up dorks, this is Jaz, she's our new stagehand. Jaz, this is Sadie and Lorelei."

"Hi," you had responded coolly, not attempting to sound cheerful, when you frankly were not.

"So nice to meet you Jaz!", Sadie had smiled, offering her hand out to shake. You took it like it was a dead fish, and shook with minimal effort.

Lorelei hid her face partially behind her long red hair, let out a low grunt, and a surly hello, and hearing her voice so deep for a woman, you blurted out, "Holy fuck, your voice is like a dude."

The other immediately began to sputter in embarrassment and curse you out, and you knew you said something fucked up. Not intending to apologize, but moreso correct your error, you began to speak up, "Uh...oops."

"Oh gosh," Sadie had flushed red, looking between you, and your cursing friend, "um...well, Lorelei is-"

"I got that", you interrupted her, "Uh...my mistake, Lorelei."

Lorelei muttered something under her breath, and Amethyst had laughed and told you she would forgive you probably later that afternoon. "She just started on hormone therapy a year ago, so she's a bitch in the mornings!", she cackled.

"Amy, I swear to god, I will fucking kill you" the other had snapped, and reached out her hands to try and swat her, only to get pulled back by Sadie, who was laughing softly, and hugging her back to calm down. Sadie then cleared the tension by chirping, "We've been needing a new stagehand! We've got really huge stage flats that we couldn't get rid of during strike of the last production we had. They were really heavy, and nobody would help us lift them."

"Not even Peri?"

"Peri's an ass," Amethyst had snorted, "She 'supervises' the tech stuff, but we do all the hard work."

"She does some work in the costume shop with me sometimes," Sadie had shrugged, "I do most of the work in there though with Lorelei when we're not working as stagehands. She'll draw out designs, and I'll sew them up!"

"I help!", Amethyst singsonged, puffing her chest out with pride.

"Emotional support doesn't count," Sadie laughed, "And even then, I don't think you coming in and eating my lunch is emotional support."

"And eating my lunch too," Lorelei added with an eye roll, having pulled Sadie onto her lap, resting her chin on the blonde's hair.

"Hey, I can't help it if you guys pack good stuff," Amethyst had laughed, and then looked up at you, "So, like, I guess we'll hang here until Peri or someone else comes by to make us do something."

"So if they don't ever call for us...we could be doing nothing, and get paid for it?", you theorized.

"Pretty much," she shrugged.

You were starting to like this job.

Unfortunately three minutes after deciding you would start liking this job, Peri poked her head in the doorway, giving an unamused look as she glanced at you, and then Amethyst, and spoke, "Amethyst, you showed our new stagehand the ropes?"

"Oh yeah, totally," she smiled, lying through her teeth. Sure she showed you basic things, but she had yet to show you how to handle stage equipment, and how not to die or get other stagehands killed.

"Hm. Alright. Then I guess you all won't have trouble helping Ms. Garnet put away those stage flats that have been collecting dust?"

"We really have to do that now?", Amethyst groaned.

"Yes we have to do that now," Peri nodded energetically, looking a little more than annoyed, then snapped her fingers, "Time is valuable, let's not waste it," and headed out of the room.

Giving a huff, the stagehand stood up, "Aight, lay-dees," she spoke dramatically, "We have to move our asses out to the stage. Jaz, you just listen to what I say, and nobody will die."

"...people die on this job?"

"Well, yeah! I mean, you've seen the catwalk, right? And all those sandbags? You gotta have a good understanding of tech lingo if you wanna stay alive here."

"We'll never forget Kyle," Sadie spoke softly, and Lorelei wiped away a tear.

"Oh jeez," you groaned, following the three out of the break room, and out to the main stage. Peri was standing in front of the first row of seats, already directing you to lift certain sections of the flat, and then which direction to carry the hulking piece off the stage. It involved lots of lifting, tilting, setting down, picking up again, redirecting, and shuffling out, but soon, the flat was safe in storage. It took fifteen minutes to do that one piece, and you let out an audible groan as you walked back to the set to see four more flats were left to carry out.

"Any issues Ms. Jasper?", Peri asked, raising an eyebrow.

"None at all," you'd insisted through gritted teeth, finding she was already starting to get on your nerves. You didn't even know if she was your actual boss or just some bitch who liked to make herself in charge.

An hour later, the stage was clear, and you were all using spongemops to clean the dust off the floor. Peri had left, so you then decided to ask Amethyst if she was the boss.

"Oh nah. Peri's just stage manager. Our boss is Garnet. She's also lead choreographer for our shows. You'll see her later," and the stagehand leaped past you as she skid her mop along the floor, making a big wet swipe on it. Sadie had kicked off her shoes, and was rushing across the stage barefoot to cover more ground, her feet leaving wet prints on the ground. She swished past you, "I like cleaning the stage, I feel like one of those kids in those Japanese movies!"

You made a face that you hoped made it clear that you were not a fan of cleaning, and walked over to the other side of the stage, leaving stripes on the stage that seemed uncannily similar to the ones you bore on your skin, hidden under makeup.

Lorelei was haphazardly rushing past everyone, trying to make as big of streaks as she could with her mop, which was sopping wet. She ended up slipping and crashing into Sadie, and both burst into giggles, faces red as they looked at each other. And then you were pretty sure Sadie gave Lorelei a kiss.

Ew. PDA was gross.

"They got a thing for each other?", you asked Amethyst as you cleaned in her area of the stage.

"Yeah, they've been together since like, high school," she laughed, "Steven thinks they're married."

"Steven?", you asked, hearing the new name.

"Oh my godkid," she laughed, "He comes around to the theater a lot, you'll meet him. He's a good kid," she smiled, "You like ukulele?"

"I don't really like music," you had grumbled, dunking your mop in the bucket.

"Well you'll learn to like it. Steven plays that thing all the time, he's a lil' ham," she cackled, dunking her own mop with a splash, getting water on your face. It was only a small amount, but you immediately began to swat at it, not wanting your makeup to run.

"Sorry," she laughed, "You ok there?"

"I'm FINE", you had growled, and seeing there was no run of the concealer, sighed, and continued to clean.

You really didn't know why you used makeup anymore. You used to be proud of your stripes.

Maybe you fell to the belief that tigers were dangerous, and should be kept away from normal people.

Which was something that you were not.

By the end of the day, you had theorized that Amethyst liked you, Sadie liked you, Peri didn't care for you (feeling was mutual), and Lorelei still probably hated you. Not a bad start to the job, you concluded as you walked to the gym, deciding that if you wanted any work out time at all, it would have to be in the evening.

When you pulled your gym bag out of your locker to grab your clothes, you heard that raspy voice that was trailing you all day call out, "Jaz!", and you groaned. You turned around, seeing Amethyst shamelessly walking around in a towel, hair sopping wet, "So you working out tonight too?"

"I have no choice. This new job fucked up my workout schedule for the morning," you had grumbled, grabbing your sports bra and shorts out of the bag, and glared at her, wanting your privacy. She simply covered her eyes, still standing in place. Sighing, you started to change, "So how much do you benchpress?"

"Me? Eh, I don't do that stuff. I do more of the aerobic stuff. Like I said, I do kick boxing and stuff. And wrestling.", she grinned.

You glanced back to her as you slipped on your sports bra, "Wrestling, eh? You go to the underground circuit?"

"Tch, I RULE that circuit," she grinned, "The girls and I go out there on Friday nights."

"Really," you spoke, sounding uninterested.

"Yeah! You should totally come with us sometime."

"Wrestling is fake. I don't see the point in it," you had spoken, trying to sound like you were too busy for it. In actuality, you spent your Friday nights at home, getting drunk or sleeping in.

"You could come for the drama part of it, I mean, hey you're a stagehand," she laughed.

"I'm not into theater. I only took the job because I'm desperate," you snapped at her, and she glanced at you, then the floor, then you.

She then just gave a shrug, "Eh. Whatever you say. Theater grows on you."

Things were quiet until you shoved your bag back in your locker, and you walked towards whatever bench was empty, and began to load weights. You looked up to see Amethyst watching you, wearing her street clothes.

"...do you need something?", you asked with irritation, wanting this chick to go home.

"Nah. Just wanna see you bench," she shrugged.

"I don't do it in front of an audience," you grumbled, "You're gonna make me nervous."

"Oh come on. I'll be quiet, I promise!", she smiled.

"Ugh. Fine. Just-...keep your mouth shut...and stand over there," you had pointed to the chair ten feet away.

Once you started lifting, you had no trouble. When you got to 250 though, you heard the chick laugh, "Wow", and you got distracted, nearly dropping the bar. Grunting as you lifted it, you snapped at her, "I TOLD YOU TO BE QUIET."

"Ok, ok, jeez," she snorted, sitting in the chair, glancing away, "Keep lifting, I won't say anything."

"Thank you," you breathed, and successfully lifted the weights, soon placing the bar back on the rest, and got up, stretching. The sweat was starting to make your makeup run, and you felt a sudden pang of anxiety that you couldn't explain.

"Uh, you aight?", Amethyst had asked, seeing your distressed face, but you dismissed it immediately.

"I need to shower," you had muttered, and left her in the workout area with no other response.

You stood in the shower stall, staring at the makeup that ran down the drain, and felt a sense of freedom as you watched it clean away from your skin.

Your job really didn't get much more enjoyable that week. You tolerated Peri's bitching during the day, would listen to your coworkers' conversations in the break room, and every so often, did a job that required muscle.

Amethyst seemed to get more attached to you, and you were pretty apathetic to the whole thing. You did your best not to get irritated, you needed this job for at least a month if you wanted to break rent. Sadie was still nice to you, and greeted you in the mornings, and would chat with you on your lunch break. Lorelei ignored you, and only talked to Sadie or Amethyst. You almost felt bad calling out her voice on your first day, but then again, Amethyst did say she was pretty bitchy with those hormone treatments.

On the first day of your second week, a tall dark skinned woman with an impressive afro was sat in the break room, talking with Amethyst. She glanced towards you, and took off her shades, speaking with a mature voice, "You must be Jasper."

"...yeah," you spoke with a shrug, fixing your wild hair into a ponytail so it was out of your face, "You another stagehand?"

"I am your boss. Garnet," she spoke without changing tone, and stood up. She was just as tall as you, which made you feel a little unsettled, seeing someone who wasn't looking up at you.

When she offered you her hand, you shook it once, and she spoke again, "We're pleased to meet you. Welcome to our theater."

"Uh...thanks," you muttered, taking a seat at the table, "So what are we needed for today?"

"You will be working with Peri on starting up shop of our next production. We have a set design we are testing, and she will need the stagehands' assistance in having placemarkers set up to predict where things might go."

"Is she going to be lifting anything?", you asked, wondering if Peri was going to do work besides boss them around.

"That isn't her job. She's in charge of managing you. She'll do a good job of it," Garnet had assured, and stood from the table, taking a coffee cup with her, and headed out, "I will see to the progress later today. Best of luck," she spoke, voice soft and serious as she left.

After several seconds of silence, Sadie spoke up, "Well, that was Garnet. Hope she didn't spook you too much."

"Why. Was I supposed to?", you asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well...yeah," she laughed, "Garnet's the scariest person here...well, besides you."

"Wait, when did you all decide I was scary?", you asked.

"Well, yesterday, when you nearly sent that prop flying, and when you jumped from the stairs and made that huge noise, " she began to list, teasing playfully.

"Oh. Egh," you muttered.

"Hey, it's cool though," Amethyst chimed in, "I'm the chill one, Sadie's the adorable one,"

"Aww" the stagehand blushed.

"...Lorelei's the crabby one."

"I resent that," the other muttered.

"And you're the scary one!", she laughed, "It's like a super hero team."

You gave an eye roll, and reached for an apple.

"I wouldn't eat those, those were sitting there all week," Sadie had warned, and you put the fruit down.

"...you guys really need to renovate this room. It's a dump," you criticized.

"Yeah, don't remind us," Lorelei muttered, "We've barely had time to clean it."

"File a complaint to Garnet or something," you muttered, "Maybe then you can do something about it."

"Meh, we've done that before," Amethyst had mumbled, and was about to say another word when someone called her name out, and she groaned, "Oh jeez, here comes the prima donna."

You were about to question what she was talking about when a slender woman walked in, carrying a sports bag with ballet slippers on top of them, and she spoke up, "Amethyst, I've been looking for you, I wanted to show you the script for- oh...hello, who is this?"

"Pearl, this is Jaz-"

"Jasper," you corrected.

"Jaz. The new stagehand. She's gonna help with the next production."

"Oh, well the more help the merrier I suppose," she spoke calmly, and offered a hand out, smiling, "Hello Jasper. I am Pearl. I am a house performer at this theater."

You took her tiny hand in your big one, and shook, "Hi."

"Are you finding yourself at home now?"

"Not really," you spoke gruffly.

"Oh dear. Well, Amethyst will certainly try harder, won't she?", Pearl smiled to the stagehand, who gave an annoyed look. Brushing her strawberry blonde hair out of her face, she balanced on her toes, "Well, I should go talk to Peridot about script revisions. I will speak with you all a little later," and she walked out of the break room, humming softly.

When Pearl was gone, Amethyst slammed her face onto the table, "Guhhh, I hate when she gets all snooty like that. She's such a dramatic."

"She didn't seem too bad to me," you admitted. Then again, you knew people who were more annoying and more snooty than that. Pearl just seemed...polite to a fault.

"Pearl and I are tight," Lorelei spoke with pride, "She's my model for the costumes."

"A very good one," Sadie added, smiling, "We use her for all the fittings."

"Suck ups," sneered Amethyst, which made the other two laugh.

"You don't like her, huh?", you glanced at her.

"Naw, it's just a thing for me to complain about her. We're like sisters, y'know?", she sighed, "She's one of Steven's godmothers."

"Two weeks, and I still haven't met this kid you're going on about," you muttered.

"You will soon enough," she shrugged.

Before the conversation could continue further, Peri (or as Pearl called her, Peridot) was calling for her stagehands, and you all sauntered out.

It only took about thirty minutes before her constant commandeering started to get on your nerves, and you had muttered under your breath that things might go smoother if she actually helped set things up.

She seemed to have caught onto your comment as she asked aloud, "What was that, Jasper?"

"You wanna help us move this onto the set?", you asked, crossing your arms.

"You are all more than capable of this, I am making sure things turn out as they should."

"They'll turn out as they should if you put the clipboard down and help us over here!"

"Your group is perfectly capable of-"

"Lorelei over there is struggling to push that weight over to the marker," you pointed out, "You should help her move it."

"Hey, I'm fine!", Lorelei insisted.

"Jasper, I don't need you to tell me how to do my job."

"Your job is to help get this set together, so actually help!"

"Don't you dare-", she began walking over to you to start an argument.

"Here!" you grabbed her arms, "Grab the piece like th-"

-POP-

You and Peri both stared in utter shock as you held onto her prosthetic arm which had detached from her body. She gave a shriek, and ripped it out of your arms, stomping off the stage.

Holy fuck.

Sadie had sheepishly suggested you all take a five minute break.

You were fired.

You were 100% convinced you were fired.

You were going to be fired before you even got a paycheck.

You could hear Donald Trump echoing from hell 'You're Fired'.

Right as Sadie suggested a break, you fled from the stage in the opposite direction of Peri, and straight to the ladies' room, feeling your face break out in a sweat. You hated when this happened. Whenever you started to sweat, the makeup would itch. And then you'd try to scratch it off before it melted down your face.

You clawed at paper towels, and began to rub them across your face until it felt raw. Adding water to them didn't change the effect.

You saw makeup removal wipes by the sink faucet, and praised whatever deity lay in this realm, and began to scrub your face with them. You looked in the mirror, and seeing most of the makeup gone off your face, which still itched like all hell, you decided you would escape to the locker room where your makeup tin was, make sure nobody was in there, and reapply it. And then you'd get your pink slip from Garnet.

As you turned to leave, you panicked as you saw Lorelei staring at you from the corner of the room, expression blank.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, I-"

"For future reference, if you're gonna pull shit like that, at least know ahead of time that both limbs are real."

"Jesus fucking Christ, will you get out of here, I just want to-"

"Holy hell, you scratched your face raw, there's-"

"I didn't make that, I've always had that!", you screeched.

"I'm not talking about the stripe, I'm talking about the raw spots all over!", she sighed with exasperation.

"Wait, what?"

"Heck, didn't they ever tell you not to use paper towels to scrub off makeup like that? You'll make your skin break out! Use makeup wipes!", she sputtered, and handed you a bottle of lotion, "If your face is itching from all of that makeup by the way, use that."

"I-"

"Trust me, I wear breast forms 3/4 of the day and they make my chest itch like hell. This lotion is a gift from the goddesses. Or more specifically, Steven's mom."

"Uh..."

"Why do you wear so much makeup anyway?", Lorelei asked, walking over to the mirror, and fixing the gauges on her ears.

"You didn't fucking notice this stripe on my face?"

"Yeah? And?"

"This thing sticks out like a sore thumb! I have it all over!"

"So?"

"So it's something people notice!"

"Jaz, I'm a lady with a man's voice and a dick. People notice that shit all the time with me. 90% of the time, they don't really care," she huffed, brushing out her hair and fixing it back in a ponytail, "You're fine if you don't wear that stuff, trust me."

All you did was give a grunt, figuring she wasn't going to get it.

Lorelei spoke up again, still looking in the mirror, "I was a tattoo artist before I worked at the theater. Those patches and stripes you have are art, ok? But you didn't have to have someone paint it on for you."

You bit the inside of your cheek, "Well, I still don't want to go out in public with them."

"Fine. Your choice. At least pick a better makeup, will you? That stuff you have must give you the worst skin rashes."

"Thanks for the offer, but I'm good. I need to clean out my locker anyway."

"For fuck's sake, you're not gonna get fired.", she rolled her eyes.

"I yanked the stage manager's fake arm off!"

"I've done worse, Sadie's done worse, Amy's nearly burned the damn place down, and she hasn't been fired. Peri will probably just be Mega Bitch to you for a few weeks, and then get over it. Chill."

You watched the other fix her makeup, and mumbled, "Thanks."

"Just don't try to knock off my boobs, ok?"

"I'm not promising that."

After your conversation with Lorelei, you decided the stagehand didn't hate you, and one less person had you on their hit list.

Peri absolutely avoided talking to you for the rest of the week, and when Garnet approached you about the incident, she only let you off with a warning, and then went back to what she was doing.

A mini chorus of angels sang 'Alleluia' in your head, realizing you would be able to eat this month.

At the beginning of the third week of work, Garnet and Peri had you all come into the 'tech shop' of the theater. Your project that week would be to work on props and ideas for costumes for the production (which you finally had learned was Beauty and the Beast, after multiple attempts to ask others). Sadie immediately started to get to work over by a sewing machine in the corner, and Lorelei was elbow deep in design patterns, scribbling away.

You were working with a circular saw when Garnet warned you to be extremely careful with that specific one. When you asked why, she glanced over at Peri, who clutched at her prosthetic arm with a look of embarrassment.

That explained a lot.

Before you could even turn on the saw, Amethyst had chucked safety goggles at your face, "You don't want wood chips in your eye!"

"I'll be fine," you had insisted, putting the goggles down, but once the blade hit the wood and cause sawdust to fly, you reconsidered. It was a bit irritating though, even with your hair pulled back, it was still getting in your face.

After blowing your bangs out of your face for the fifth time, you felt something touching your face, and looked up to see Amethyst slipping bobby pins in your hair, "We steal these from the dressing rooms all the time. They never miss them."

Feeling relieved your hair was no longer in your eyes, you thanked her gruffly and got back to work, cutting the beams for scaffolding, watching for the measurement marks, and kept the scraps just in case. Garnet made it clear to you nothing was going to be wasted during this production.

After two hours of working, your hands were dry with sawdust, and your hair was sprinkled with it. Sadie began to gather all of her sewing work in her arms, and struggled to see over the mass of cloth.

"C-could somebody gimme a hand here?", she spoke up hopefully, "I can't see where I'm going."

Since you were closest to the door, you let Sadie know where she was about to step, warning her of the extension cord, the saw, the screwdriver, the glue that Lorelei spilled an hour before, and finally the doorknob.

When she thanked you and blindly walked down a hallway, you decided to follow, figuring Sadie was too nice to wind up with a broken leg. You pointed out landmarks in the hall, warning her of upcoming cords, a ramp, and soon, a staircase. Once she reached the staircase, she had glanced at you, silently asking for your help, and without a word, you took half of the heap of clothes, carrying it up the stairs with her.

"Thanks, I could barely see over this thing."

"How many costumes worth are these?"

"Eight,' she smiled.

"You made these all from scratch in two hours?"

She shrugged, "They're just base patterns, it's not anything costume worthy."

"Still that's fucking fast," you had mumbled, amazed you hadn't once noticed the pace she had been working at.

"I've been making clothes for years. I would make my own dresses in high school, and I would work on the costumes for those plays," she smiled, and at the top of the stairs, reached out and opened the door to the 'official' costume shop, "I couldn't act a lick, so they recruited me for all the costume work."

You had only given a hum of understanding in response. You couldn't really compare to that. You had no idea how to work a sewing machine like her, you couldn't draw or design like Lorelei, you didn't have the theater skills like Amethyst, all you had was the muscle.

"Hey could you give me a hand and help me get these set up on the mannequins for later, when Lorelei and I work on them?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah," you muttered, and plopped the pile of cloth on the table, taking the sewn pieces, and awkwardly putting them on the foam mannequins.

"So what got you into theater?", Sadie suddenly asked you, smiling as she worked away.

"Nothing. I just needed the money," you had responded bluntly, "This was the only job that would let me break rent."

The stagehand nodded in understanding, "I used to work at a bakery in high school with Lorelei, but when it closed down, I had a hard time finding a job. Lorelei got a job at a tattoo parlor, but I was still looking for work. I ended up walking into this theater, and well, voila," she smiled, "Been working here for the last seven or so years, love it to bits."

"So when did your uh...girlfriend start working here?"

"Three years ago," she sighed, "She needed a new job once she quit the tattoo parlor"

"Did salary suck?"

"No," Sadie sighed, "Her boss kind of freaked out when she told them she wasn't going by 'Lars' anymore, and she quit."

"Eh. That blows," you muttered, then dared to say, "I guess she was your 'boyfriend' for a while then, how'd that go? I mean like, her...uh...coming out?"

"It was fine," the other had smiled sheepishly, "I mean, I always kind of knew that she was a little different. And yeah, it was a lot to adjust to, but I'm just happy she's happy."

You gave a shrug, and adjusted a dress so it was even at the shoulders on the mannequin, "So what are these costumes going to end up being anyways?"

"Well," Sadie began with a smile, "In Beauty and the Beast, all the household objects are alive, so I'm trying to make feather duster dresses. I'm gonna try to sew some feathers in to all of these skirts, and see how they turn out! You've seen Beauty and the Beast, right?"

"Uh...maybe?", you muttered, not having watched many cartoons or movies as a kid.

"Well, we're trying to do a design that makes the feathers really stand out, so when those feather dusters start dancing, they look like they could come from the movie!"

Before you could answer, Sadie pulled out a huge binder of designs and magazine clippings, "But our big project is the Beast's costume. We're gonna have our friend Ronaldo, the Beast, come in at the end of the week so we can figure out how his costume is going to look. We're probably going to use a mask, some fake fur...oh! Teeth! Can't forget teeth!", she began to ramble, almost seeming to have forgotten you were there.

"Uh...do you still need me?", you asked.

"Oh! Sorry," she laughed, "I got distracted," and put the book away, "I'll worry about this later," and finished putting the clothes on mannequins, "Thanks for your help, Jaz!", and scurried out of the room, figuring you'd follow right behind.

You had looked in the mirror, and stared at your face for several seconds. Grabbing a nearby makeup wipe, you scrubbed your face with it, presenting the stripe to the world. You felt cleaner.

Maybe Sadie could get some inspiration for the beast from it.

You ended up meeting Steven the following week. He greeted you with a grin, offering a hand out as he shook your hand, and immediately asked you if you were an actress. When you told him no, he spoke dreamily that you belonged in Hollywood.

You certainly hoped it wasn't because of the mark on your face.

Steven's mother, Rose, was probably the tallest woman you'd ever met in your life. She was at least six inches taller than you, and you felt really weird being smaller than someone for once. And you'd be embarrassed if you admitted that you found her gorgeous. She looked like she could be one of those models.

Everyone else seemed to like her a lot, as when Peri announced Rose and her husband had arrived, they all seemed to light up. Garnet had explained to you that Rose and her husband, Greg, were in charge of teaching the musical numbers and directing them, while Garnet handled the dancing.

Steven chattered with you non stop that morning, and you were surprised you didn't get extremely bugged by it. You were convinced the air in the theater was drugged, as of this last week, you hadn't snapped at anyone once, and you didn't feel angry half of the time. Strange.

You were heading towards the gym on your lunch break when you heard noise from the dance room, several minutes after the chorus actors had already finished up. You peeked in, and saw Sadie and Steven watching Lorelei dance, in a half finished dress, while Rose played a piece from the production.

"Uh...what am I missing here?", you asked, and everyone stopped and looked up. Rose smiled, "We're experimenting here!"

Sadie then explained, "I'm trying to figure out how the dress is going to move when Pearl dances. Since Pearl isn't here, I'm having Lorelei dance, since, well, they have almost all the same measurements."

"We should call Ronaldo, and make him dance with Lori," Amethyst had cackled when she walked in, cracking open a can of soda.

"Oh god, don't even," Lorelei grumbled, stamping over to the bench in the to sit and grab a water bottle from Steven.

"He's coming by this afternoon for costuming, maybe we should make you help him practice the ballroom scene," Sadie teased her girlfriend.

"I will be dead before I dance with Ronnie," the designer gagged.

"Oh come on, you two are buddieeees," Steven laughed, nudging her ribs.

"And exes, Steven. It's tasteless as heck," she groaned, "And I can only tolerate hearing about his conspiracy theories for so much in a day."

"Wait, he's your ex?", you snorted.

"Long story, not telling it," she rolled her eyes.

"Can I tell it?" Steven smiled, which made everyone, even yourself, laugh, and Lorelei immediately said no. Regardless, Steven piped up, "They're bffs, and Ronaldo liked her in high school."

"If your mom wasn't in here, I'd strangle you Steven," Lorelei grumbled, reaching both her limbs around the boy, who yelped and tried to escape, but was caught in the hug of death.

You noticed Rose laugh, and you asked her if they normally roughhoused like this. She smiled, "We're all like family here. It's all in good fun."

Soon, Steven escaped Lorelei's arms, and the other got up to dance for Sadie's observations again when a booming voice dramatically echoed down the hall, and Amethyst cackled, "Hey here comes Ronnie!"

"Jesus flipping Christ," muttered Lorelei as she stood by Rose's piano, making an unamused face as a chubby man walked in wearing mismatched clothes and sandals, wild blonde hair in his face.

"Am I too early?"

Before Lorelei could snarkily answer 'YES', Rose had shaken her head, and smiled, "Not at all, Ronaldo. We're actually practicing some dancing right now, if you'd like to join."

He nodded, and smiled as he glanced over, "Is that Belle's dress? Are you going to be my Belle?"

Sadie laughed, "We're just trying to figure out design quirks for when Pearl dances. Their measurements are basically the same, so I'm using her as our guinea pig until Pearl comes in."

"Aw too bad, I would have liked you as my Belle," Ronaldo gently teased Lorelei, who made a face, and ruffled the dress a little, checking the seams.

You were almost in disbelief that this dude, who looked like he attended D&D meetings and had 'internet girlfriends' was a top-tier actor at this theater. But maybe that's what made him so good, that nobody expected the talent.

"Is Peri in today?", Ronaldo asked Rose, "I have to give her back her X-Files DVDs."

"She's out today," Steven spoke up, "She's meeting with a new frieeeend."

"New girlfriend?", Ronaldo laughed, "Let's hope she can keep this one."

"Does she go through lots of girlfriends or something?", you asked, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah. Not to be mean about it, but let's just say...Peri's love life is a weekly experience. She hasn't gotten past a first date with anyone," Sadie admitted, blushing, "She's just kind of different."

"And by different, we mean a stick in the mud, or a bi-"

Rose slammed the piano keys with a 'THONK', interrupting Lorelei, and scolded, "You shouldn't speak so cruelly about her, I'm sure she'll find someone who's a good match very soon."

"Well, regardless, I have to return these to her, so I should go see if her office is unlocked," Ronaldo had muttered, cheeks flushed, and strolled out, but not before playfully swatting Lorelei on the head.

While Ronaldo's ex screeched at him, you realized you hadn't actually ever seen the stage manager's office.

You followed the actor to Peri's door, and saw him open the door, lean in the doorway to put the DVDs on the desk, and walked out, shutting the door. Once he'd left, you quietly walked over, and went inside.

It wasn't all that impressive, just a normal looking office with a desk, computer, chair, files stacked almost obsessively neat, and a few trinkets of sci-fi memorabilia along the front of the desk. It all just confirmed your suspicions that Peri was a complete and hopeless nerd.

While you looked along a shelf of framed photos, most from past productions the theater put on, you noticed a few were close ups of a familiar looking woman in different roles. After several seconds, you recognized her as Peri, several years younger. You never really figured she was the acting type. Maybe the stress of the job, losing an arm, and then some made her into the tight end she was. Or maybe she was just horrible at acting. You probably wouldn't ever know, and you wouldn't ever ask.

You had the opportunity when Peri abruptly asked you, from her doorway, what in the world you were doing in her office, and you jolted, having no response. She gave an unamused look, and strolled over to her desk, turning on her computer, and immediately got to work, ignoring you. You watched her until she finally looked up at you, and frowned, "Yes?"

"So...uh...how was your date?"

She immediately turned red and looked ready to ask how on earth you knew about that, but stopped herself, then spoke, "It went well. Very well."

"Really."

"Yes. Really. We had a good time."

"So you're going to have a second date?"

She looked up from her computer again, and stared you right in the eye, face redder, "Yes. We're going out for coffee on Friday."

"Congratulations," you chuckled, which seemed to make her angrier. And for some reason, you found it really funny.

"So what's she like?", you asked, "What made you hit it off so great?"

"She's quite interesting. Has quite the life story to tell," she muttered, trying to focus on her work, "She's dealt with brutal people all her life. Said she'd probably have been able to relate to our production."

"A beauty and a beast?", you snickered, "Wow, she must be really dramatic."

"I don't see what you'd find so funny about it. She's had a very hard life, and she's stayed strong for it," she glared at you, "Maybe if you met her, you'd be interested in what she has to say."

"Yeah, alright, get your girl a job here, and I'm sure we'll be the best of friends," you smiled, folding your arms.

"Granted, I'm not sure if she'd want a job here. Lapis is not too fond of theater."

Lapis.

That name made multiple chills go down your spine, and you repeated the name.

"Yes, that's her name."

A noise died in your throat, and you felt your stomach knot.

"Anything else I can help you with, Jasper?", Peri then asked.

"...Don't hire Lapis," you spoke blankly, and turned, trying to hold back the building anxiety, and left the office, not even hearing Peri's following question.

You speedwalked for the breakroom, rushing past Amethyst, who seemed to immediately notice something was off with you, and caught you by the arm, "Ey, what's going on? You seem freaked."

"Amy, let go of my arm!", you snapped, and yanked it away from her, the makeup having reactivated from the sweat on your arms, and it wiped onto her hand.

"Jaz, are you- hey, what's this...?"

"It's nothing!", you insisted, and tried to walk past her.

"Are you wearing makeup on your arms? Woah, what's up with your skin, dude? It's all-"

"THEY'RE STRIPES," you shouted at her, and got in her face, "Leave me alone!"

"Why are you so freaked, it's just-"

"Amy, SHUT UP!", you snapped, and she backed away a few inches as you glared at her. You wanted to come up with another reply, but all your mind was telling you was to get out of there. You should consider it lucky, you managed to strike speechless someone who wouldn't shut up for three seconds of the day.

You ran out of the building, past the gym, past your apartment, even past your old place at Lapis'. You ran far and you ran fast. You could feel blood pounding in your ears, your chest burning with exertion, the rest of the makeup melting off with sweat, and from your face; tears.

You were blind to anyone you ran past, and your thoughts were anything but logical. You felt more like an animal than a human at this point, and all you wanted to do was run like one.

You were a beast. You told yourself this weeks ago. You thought you could go past it now, but Lapis told you, through Peri, that you couldn't escape who you were.

Any good human wouldn't have tiger stripes like you.

When you woke up, you had a throbbing headache, and your throat burned like it did after any other night at the bar. You looked around to see you were in a new place, on an unfamiliar couch, under an unfamiliar blanket. Your vision was hazy but you were able to make out Amethyst's blurry figure, and heard her mutter, "Woah, hey, I think she's waking up."

"You poor thing, you must have the worst headache," a kind voice spoke up. Rose.

You gave a groan, and tried to sit up, but Amethyst gently pushed you back down, "Take it easy, Jaz."

"Wh-...", you slurred, "What happened?"

"We went out looking for you after you ran off," Sadie spoke up from behind the couch, holding a steaming mug of tea, "We ended up finding you at a bar last night...er...in the middle of a fight."

"You won," Amethyst then added, but then spoke softly, "But man, you were fuckin' smashed. You were a pretty big mess, so we took Lorelei's car and drove you here to Roses' place."

"You puked in my back seat, you're paying to have it cleaned," Lorelei snapped, wearing a towel wrapped around her body, and one around her hair, fresh out of the shower.

A groan came out of your throat, and though it was one of hungover agony, it came out sounding like a sob, and the grumpy stagehand immediately panicked, "Woah, hey, don't start crying, Jaz! I was just messing with you, you don't have to pay for the car I'll-"

"Oh my god would you all stop talking," you whined, "My head is killing me."

"Take some aspirin, dear," Rose soothed you gently, petting your hair like a mother would. At least, an ideal mother.

You took whatever she gave you, even the tea (which was something you hated like the plague), and lay useless under the blanket, "Guys, I have to go to work."

"You're not going anywhere, you're staying here," Amethyst insisted, flopping in a chair.

"I left my stuff at the theater though, my wallet, my bag, my-", you froze, "FUCK. My makeup."

"You're fine, Jaz," the stagehand insisted, "Besides,you don't need to hide your stripes from us."

"I was telling her that weeks ago," Lorelei huffed, folding her arms.

"You don't get it," you groaned, "I call those things my tiger stripes."

"Really? Cool," Amethyst grinned.

"Not cool. I call them that because they make me look like a damn animal."

"Naw, they just look like a really rad tattoo," she smiled.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what kind of person I was. None of you would."

Everyone went pin quiet.

"What do you mean by that? Is there something about you we don't know?", Sadie asked softly.

"A lot of things," you had grumbled, "You'll hate me."

"...try us," Lorelei dared.

And so you did.

You kept your gaze on the couch pillows as you recounted all of your deeds, your relationship with Lapis; the bruises, the beer, the blood; your failed anger management course, the appointments your mother forced you into with a dermatologist, the appointments with the psychologist you liked but couldn't afford and couldn't continue, the stealing, the lying, the thieving. Everything.

You immediately expected someone, any one of them to start yelling at you.

They didn't.

Amethyst spoke up first, voice low, "Woah...that's fucked up."

"...yeah," you mumbled.

"You're brave to come forward with this," Rose spoke softly, gently petting your head. You found you weren't getting annoyed by her doing that again.

"You guys aren't mad?"

"No. Well, I mean, we're not exactly proud of hearing this stuff you did, and frankly, a lot of that stuff is...really wrong...but you know it was wrong...and you're trying to do better, right?", Sadie smiled hopefully, looking really unsettled by the whole thing.

"I guess so," you mumbled, rubbing your head, "I'm just trying to get on with my life...you're not going to tell Peri about me and Lapis, right?"

"We won't," Amethyst nodded, "If you're lucky, Lapis won't have the chance to get into that with her if they don't get past a second date."

"Whatever," you mumbled, and tried to sit up again, "I just...guh...I don't want to talk about her anymore. She has her own life, and I'm supposed to have my own."

"Alright," Amethyst shrugged, and glanced to Rose, "Should we make breakfast? Or is Greg gonna make those egg waffle things like last week?"

"Greg's at the theater with Steven," Rose smiled, standing up, "You can help me cook. Sadie and Lorelei can help too if they don't want to head to the theater just yet."

"Sure thing," Sadie smiled, getting up from her seat, stretching out her legs, and walked into the kitchen behind Rose and Amethyst.

It took you a second, in your hungover state, to notice Lorelei was still in her seat, having taken the towel off her damp hair, glancing at you. When everyone seemed to be out of earshot, she spoke up, "Before I was in the theater, and before I was...well...me...I did some really fucked up things...said some pretty fucked up things too."

"Really."

"For a while, I lost all my friends, because of what I said and did. I even hurt Sadie too...", she whispered, sounding guilty, "I didn't own up to it, or really try to move on. I just...stayed in this rut while trying to pretend nothing happened. Everything got worse."

"What did you do?", you glanced at her as she picked at a hangnail.

"I ended up talking about it. With Rose. She's basically my second mom. I came clean to her about everything I said and did. I felt a lot better when I told her about it..."

"What did you do after that?"

"Well...I ended up apologizing to the people I hurt. Most of them forgave me. I was more relieved Sadie did...I really loved her, I still do," she mumbled, "After I came out with all that bad stuff, I ended up finding out the good stuff about me. I ended up coming to terms with the fact that I was happy as I am now, and not with who I was. Rose helped me with some of that," she admitted, "I've still got a ways to go before I really feel OK...but I feel good, y'know?...and that's not hormones talking...at least I don't think it is..."

"Well thanks for the tell-all book, but what am I supposed to get from this?", you had snapped at her.

She rolled her eyes, "For Pete's sake, now that you've come forward, you can move on with your life, and try to be a better person. Yeah, a lot of the stuff you did is messed up, but it's not too late for you to try and be a good person now. I mean, you're kind of already doing that at the theater now."

"I don't think it's me," you groaned, "I think it's whatever is drugging up the vents in that place. Everyone seems too damn cheery."

Lorelei snickered, "Whatever. Ok, well, I should go help Rose cook, because I know better than anyone that neither Sadie or Amy can cook to save their lives. Amy can burn water, she's a mystery of the world."

Even in your hungover state, even while thinking over everyone's words of encouragement or acceptance, feeling a sense of worry about your future, it was the best breakfast you'd eaten in years.

Rose allowed you to stay in her house while she went to work, so you could nurse off the rest of your hangover. Lorelei and Sadie left with her, and Amethyst told them she would catch up with them, and sat on the couch opposite from you.

"So..."

"Uh..."

Amy looked at the floor.

"Sorry I yelled at you yesterday."

"Hey, it's no biggie. Garnet's yelling is scarier. Rose's yelling is even scarier than that."

"Rose yells? When?"

"Well, last year, Steven was playing in the road, and-"

"Ah."

"Anyway...I think I know what we can do so we can help you feel a little better about the theater and stuff..."

"What's that?"

"You wanna do a super special project for the showww?"

"Like?"

"Something big and awesome?"

"Like what?"

"A chandelier!"

"A chandelier..."

"Uh, yeah! For the big fancy ballroom dance scene in the show!"

"Where does the chandelier come in to play?", you grumbled.

Amethyst stared at you, her mouth agape, "You haven't seen Beauty and the Beast!" She almost sounded indignant.

"I don't watch cartoons."

"This is freakin' sacrilegious!", she huffed, and got up, turning on Roses' TV, and set up the VCR, grabbing age old videotapes, "Jaz, get comfy."

"Wh-"

"You are watching Beauty and the Beast with me, and you are going to LIKE IT," she insisted, shoving the cassette in the machine, and watched it load.

"Amy, I'm a grown ass woman, I don't-"

"Shut the fuck up, it's starting!", she hissed as the title card played.

About halfway in, she was sat right on your lap, watching with complete awe as the ballroom scene began, and when the chandelier came into view, she began to tug frantically on the collar of your top. You swatted your hand as you paid attention to the scene, watching the characters dance on screen while the teapot sang.

When the scene was over, Amethyst looked up at you, "We have to make that chandelier, and we have to make it as cool as the one on the screen. Just the two of us."

"I have literally no skill in building things."

"Uh, you're a big fuckin' liar, because I saw you help with those props last week."

"Those were small. Chandeliers are enormous."

"Think of it as a bunch of small things then, and it'll seem easy," Amethyst shrugged, and continued to watch the movie in awe. She would tug your arm at the parts she deemed 'the best', and cackled softly when the villain fell to his death, and gave a small squeak of sadness when the Beast died, and giggled like a dork when he was revived. Once the credits started rolling, she looked up at you, "What did you think?"

"It was a film alright," you shrugged, not having a definitive opinion of it.

"Uh, it was fucking awesome, am I right?", she grinned.

"Sure, whatever," you shrugged again, and rubbed your forehead, "Grab me another aspirin, my head is killing me."

When she returned with the aspirin, she had also brought along a hairbrush, and without even asking, began to work with your hair. You groaned, and asked her what the hell she was doing. "Uh, styling you up, duh. I didn't become a beauty school dropout so I could do my own hair."

"Why'd you drop out?"

"I got into the theater, and I liked that more," she shrugged as she worked away at your wild, tangled dark hair. She swatted at a tangle, "You ever thought of bleaching your hair?"

"Uh, no, because the minute a Latina chick does that, people think she's easy," you snorted.

"Oh fuck those people. Ignore those thoughts, and think about it, eh? You'd look stylish as hell."

"I don't care about style."

"It will make your stripes look like art."

"Will you shut up about them?"

"Hey, I call it as I see it. I'm a master of hair," she shrugged, "Who'dya think did Rose's hair or Lorelei's?"

"Someone who actually finished beauty school?", you smirked smugly.

She swatted you with the brush, telling you to shut up when you laughed, then spoke up, "Well, I'm offering a free deal this one time for you. After that, I'll charge you~", she singsonged, finishing up with the brush, and handed you a mirror, letting you look at your hair. It was wild, but now it looked deliberately so, like it was more under control.

"...How long does bleach last again?"

When you walked into work the next morning, Sadie's jaw dropped, "Woah, Jaz, your hair looks great! Did Amy do that for you?"

"Uh...thanks...and yes," you mumbled.

"Damn, Amy really went all out on you," Lorelei laughed as she poured herself a fifth cup of coffee, "You look pretty awesome, though."

"...thank you?", you muttered, still a little weirded out by the whole thing. You had almost freaked out when you looked in your mirror that morning, and saw the bright bleached hair instead of your dark curls, and you didn't know if you liked it or regretted it.

Peri walked past the break room, did a double take at your hair, mouthed out something in confusion, and then walked away, still looking frazzled.

You decided you liked this new hair.

The next weeks turned into two months, and soon, the production was only about a week away. You had to admit, you found the whole process of preparing everything for it was a good time killer. You got into the routine of moving props from stage left to stage right when instructed, and calling out responses when calls were made to warn stagehands of lowering lights, sandbags, and the like.

You helped Sadie figure out the costume for the beast, offering to be her model when Ronaldo wasn't there, since his measurements were fairly similar to yours, and you didn't want to see the blonde when she was stressed (Lorelei warned you that you really didn't want to see Sadie when she was stressed).

Speaking of Lorelei, the designer had been in a better mood as of late (Amy figured it was her hormones balancing out finally), and she always seemed busy at work helping Sadie with the costumes, or watching the cast, specifically Pearl and Ronaldo, rehearse. Once or twice a week, you caught her and Sadie doing PDA, which still grossed you out, but not as much as it did before.

The costumes the two made were looking amazing. Sadie's feather dresses were fantastic, the dress for Pearl, the one Lorelei had been modeling and dancing in, came out beautifully, and it worked perfectly with the movement of the dancing, and the Beast costume turned out, in your words, 'absolutely fucking bad-ass'. Ronaldo didn't look like a nerd in it, he actually looked fucking scary and cool, and the makeup on during the first dress rehearsal made it even cooler.

You and Peri managed to keep out of each other's hair, and you were kind of relieved that the stage manager never came to you with any news about Lapis, or anything that Lapis might have said to her regarding you. The less that was said, the better.

Steven was actually the coolest fucking kid you'd hung out with ever, and soon you were as happy as everyone else whenever he came by with Rose and Greg who were pretty damn awesome too. One time, he tried to take a selfie with you, and he was so short, he sat on your shoulder. Your smile came out weird, and you weren't wearing any makeup, but he seemed to adore the selfie, and insisted he make it his phone's wallpaper.

You found yourself hanging out with Amethyst more often, and not just at theater. You two would go out after theater to the bar on Fridays, or hang at her apartment, and initially work on the chandelier project, but then get distracted after a while, and watch movies, or practice sparring with each other. Surprisingly she was pretty good, and managed to (almost) kick your ass a few times.

Sometimes when you headed home, you felt a sense that you didn't really want to go home, that you wanted to spend more time with her, to see her, to talk with her. Just to be with her. It was something you hadn't felt in a long time. But you didn't want to force any of that gross mush on her, and you figured she didn't think much of the same way, probably seeing you as a buddy like she saw the other theater-goers. Maybe it was something you could shake off later.

The chandelier you two were working on was almost done, finishing touches were left, and you were almost in disbelief that it was something you had made. Pearl had walked by it while you were painting it with the gold paint, and had said it was one of the most beautiful set pieces she'd set eyes on, and even Peri seemed impressed. Amethyst had covered more work than you did, granted, but she insisted that the things like the grooves in the wood, the curves and patterns, were all you. She ended up ordering glass ornaments and beads to hang from it, and once they were hung on, you both agreed it was ready to go. Hanging it up on the set and testing its movement and lights were a big hassle, you stayed up with Amethyst and Peedee, head of the lights and Ronaldo's brother, until 1:30 in the morning, trying to get it to work right. You both ended up crashing in the break room, sleeping in there for the night. Sadie nearly tripped over you.

The Friday night before opening weekend, Amethyst announced spontaneously it was 'Ladies' Night', forcing you all into dresses (and at your insistence, a blouse and pants) from the costume storage, and dragged you along in the passenger seat of her car. Sadie and Lorelei piled in the back, and she ended up whisking you away to a fancy-as-hell club. She insisted she was buying, and you almost wanted to feel bad taking up that offer. You really didn't want to end up a wreck on Rose's couch again, so you stuck to one beer and ordered food, because one thing that was as good as beer was good expensive food.

It was the first time in your life you saw Amethyst drink something besides the soda from the fridge at the theater, and you were surprised at how well she could hold her liquor.

You were surprised at how your two other friends could not. Lorelei was a complete lightweight, and was a giggly mess after two cocktails, cuddling against everyone and everything in sight. Sadie was horrifying. After who-knows-how-many shots of vodka, an aura of violent death seemed to float around her. While she and Lorelei were drunkenly attempting to dance with each other, a man attempted to grope Lorelei's breast, not knowing it was fake, and Sadie nearly murdered him with a chair, a bottle of shimmery liqueur, and a dish of salted nuts. That fight was the most beautiful thing you swore you had ever witnessed, and if it hadn't ended with Sadie almost getting arrested, you would have called it an experience of heaven.

While you and Amy guarded over your two drunk friends, you noticed a familiar someone sitting in a seat, alone, looking nervous.

"Holy shit, what's Peri doing here?", Amethyst snickered, "Is she here on a date?"

"Oh jeez, please tell me she's not, I don't want to see Lapis here," you grumbled, wanting to hide under the table just then.

"Don't hide just yet. She looks like she's here on her own right now," Amethyst whispered, and watched the other fiddle with her hands while she sat at her table.

Thirty minutes of watching, and nobody showed up. Peri looked disappointed, and stared at her watch, sighing.

"Woah, I think she got stood up," your companion muttered, "Suuucks to be her."

You almost wanted to feel bad for her. Almost.

Ten minutes more of nothing eventful happening, and suddenly a stranger walked over, sauntering towards Peri's table. She glanced up, looking confused as this dude who frankly looked like your grade-A sleazeball began to chat it up with her, and she looked incredibly unamused, ignoring him. When he continued to press her for attention, she looked less unamused, and more downright uncomfortable.

Something felt really off here.

When the creep still wouldn't back off from Peri after another minute, you glanced to Amethyst, who already seemed to notice the situation, and muttered, "Let's get that creep away from her," and called out, "Hey, Peri!"

Your stage manager perked up in surprise at hearing her name, and saw her four co-workers. Amethyst was waving, you were staring right at her, Sadie had her face on the table but was halfheartedly waving, and was using her other hand to make Lorelei wave, the redhead giggling and being completely useless.

"Hey! Hiii! Peri! We've been waiting for you, like forever, come on over!", Amethyst cheered, acting like she was old friends with her.

Peri looked completely confused at your groups' actions , but seemed to immediately get it, and wanting herself out of this creepy situation, spoke up, "Yes! Excuse me, I almost forgot!", and hurried over to your table, sitting between you and Amethyst. The creep tried to follow her over, and make his slimy self acquainted with you all, but a growl from Sadie was enough to scare him off.

Looking incredibly embarrassed, Peri looked at her hands, and spoke up, "Er...thank you."

"No prob. Wasn't like we were going to let that guy actually try to get with you. We know you have standards," Amethyst snickered.

"Right," she muttered, and continued staring a hole into the the table.

"So what are you even doing here?", you asked her.

She flushed with embarrassment, "I was waiting for my...erm...friend, but she never showed up."

"Oh. That's rough," you muttered.

She didn't respond, just looking embarrassed and uncomfortable. "I thank you all again, very much I-"

"We know," Amethyst shrugged, and finished her drink, "Well, we're all about ready to head out. Do you need a ride?"

Peri flushed red, "...I...yes."

She ended up sat between Lorelei and Sadie, who warned her with a death glare to not lay a hand on her girlfriend. She had no intention of doing so, keeping all her limbs tight together as Amethyst started out on the road.

You almost got into an accident, a dude pulled his car out in front of Amethyst's car when she was making a turn, and both cars screeched on their breaks. Amethyst immediately began to curse, "HEY YOU! FUCK YOU! NO, FUCK YOU!", and began to shout a trail of profanities in Spanish. Grinning, knowing exactly what she was saying, you joined in, shouting at the top of your lungs. Lorelei joined in Mandarin, cursing gleefully, and Sadie tried to get out of the car and kill the driver, but Peri held her back while Sadie cursed worse than any sailor on the planet, and you could see in Peri's eyes the horror and wondering of how you four could be her coworkers.

You ended up being the last person Amethyst dropped off, and before you left, you couldn't remember exactly what happened, but you felt your lips connect with something, most definitely her face, if not her lips, and you remember running up to your apartment, feeling embarrassed and hoping you'd forget it on opening night.

Opening night turned out to be a huge success. The set turned out great, the costumes were great, and the chandelier tested fantastic beforehand. That morning, before you did a tech run, you tried to awkwardly address the issue from the night before, but Amethyst immediately told you it was no big deal, that alcohol made you do weird things, and you were still cool. You were so relieved.

The show ran great that night, nobody missed a cue, and your crew of four stagehands became five when Steven decided to help you all move things in-between scenes, and between acts. Flowers were sent backstage for the cast, and Rose gave you all a small bundle of wrapped flowers that she must have picked from her own garden. While you and Amethyst cleaned up the lobby, you heard a few remaining audience members speak excitably about the show, and you both grinned and gave each other a thumbs up when you heard them compliment the chandelier. Your chandelier.

The following performances during that month were successful as well. Occasionally there was a mistake, such as a missed cue, or a late entrance or even a tech hiccup. But nothing overly major.

The closing night was a whole other story.

First, your chandelier wouldn't turn on at all during it's first act. You were pissed, so was Amethyst, and you both vowed heads would roll if it didn't work during the final number of the show.

Three actors forgot their cues.

Ronaldo nearly lost one of his claws. It needed glue in-between scenes.

But the worst incident was with poor Pearl.

Somehow, water had spilled on stage during one of the acts, and in the final number before the intermission, Pearl had slipped on it during the final dance move, just as the curtain dropped. When she seemed unable to get up, Garnet knew something was wrong, and went to check on her.

"I think I broke it," Pearl winced, grasping her left ankle. She tried to get up again, but grimaced in pain, and sat back down. Garnet examined it, and let out a low breath.

"Not broken. Sprained," she sighed, "You don't have any dancing until the final number. But I don't think you can even walk."

Pearl sighed, "Oh dear...well the show needs to go on. Call the alternate?"

Peri groaned as the alternate's cell phone went to voice mail again, "Chloe's not picking up."

"We're going to need to improvise," Garnet spoke, "If we need Ronaldo to carry Pearl for the rest of the show, we can."

You were watching the tension rise, when Amethyst nudged your side, and whispered, "Lorelei."

"What?"

"Lorelei can wear the dress. Tell Garnet."

"Oh...uh...jeez...hey! Garnet!"

"Yes Jasper?"

You froze, looking between her, Peri, Pearl, and the non-attentive Lorelei.

"...Lorelei can be the alternate!"

They all looked at you, and Sadie immediately beamed, looking at her girlfriend, "That's right! You fit the dress. You know the cues! You can fake dancing for the last number well enough"

"I don't sound a damn thing like Pearl though!"

"We'll have Pearl read her lines back here, you just lipsync and act it out! Like 'Singin' in the Rain'!", Sadie assured, rubbing her shoulder.

Lorelei immediately shook her head, looking flustered, "No way...! I ain't kissin' Ronaldo, and too many people out there know me, my gauges will show, I don't want to-"

You cut her off, "Hey, you spent three months bitching to me about not wearing make-up on my stripes, so do me the favor and go be the pretty princess lady on the stage, aight?"

The other flushed bright red, muttering under her breath, and sighed, "Fine...Pearl, give me the dress."

Pearl squealed with joy that the show was not ruined because of her, and hugged the other tightly until she couldn't breathe. Twenty minutes later, the dress and makeup were on, and Sadie altered the Belle wig so the designer's piercings wouldn't show, and the show started up again after Peri apologized to the audience for the extended intermission. There was obvious murmur when people noticed Belle's actress had changed, but you didn't think it was anything too uproarious.

You all watched as Pearl spoke through the mic, and Lorelei acted out the scenes as best she could. Peri murmured off her mic that she was glad everyone had been paying attention to rehearsals in their spare time.

At the scene where Belle was supposed to cry over the Beasts' corpse, you all tried not to die of laughter and keep it together backstage as you saw Lorelei was not shaking with fake sobs, but secretly with silent laughter at the thought of Ronaldo's fake death. Peri looked ready to yell at her, but kept it together as well. You all officially died when you saw her kiss her ex, making a face of disgust that was shielded from the audience by the costumes.

You and Amethyst both silently praised the heavens when the chandelier glittered brightly during the final scene, and you all roared in cheer and applause with the audience. During the curtain call, Ronaldo helped Pearl out so she could receive her applause, but she immediately beckoned for Lorelei, who awkwardly shuffled onto the stage, and was met with wild applause, shocking her thoroughly. Pearl gave her a tight one armed hug, and they all did a cast bow, gesturing to the tech crew, the orchestra pit, and then a final bow before dispersing.

When you all met backstage, you all lost it, cheering, and hollering, and you remember lots of hugging. You received and gave hugs, and you felt really good about it. You nearly crushed Sadie in a hug while she was crying excitably, having fallen in love with the show, and was sad to see it ending. Once Lorelei was out of the costume, you hugged her tightly, and lifted her off the floor, which made her screech in shock, and she squirmed, stuttering out a thank you. Sadie immediately began to kiss her face and tell her she was so proud of her. Pearl did the same, and both cried a little, this role must have meant a lot to the both of them. Ronaldo congratulated her for being a good kisser, and she tried to jump on him, and kill him, but failed epically, and you all died more of laughter.

Amethyst ran at you from the corner of the room, hugging you tight, "WE DID IT, HOLY FUCK."

"HOLY FUCK."

You both kept repeating 'holy fuck' for what seemed like an eternity, until suddenly, she shut you up with a kiss.

Holy fuck.

Nothing more was said about it, but you both smiled widely, and she hugged you tightly in one arm, and you did the same.

You all went out to greet the audience once more, to thank them for coming, the cast offered autographs, etc. Things did get a little tense when one lady congratulated Pearl and Lorelei on their performances, and Lorelei spoke, which shocked the woman. The audience member immediately grabbed her children, and left, ranting she wouldn't let her family see such a shameful display of immorality ever again. Lorelei was laughing it off, "She brings her kids to a show glorifying bestiality, and she loses her shit over a trans chick in a dress," and you were all cracking up.

Once the lobby was clear and the cast members were out of costume, you all got to work on strike, which took at least four hours. Greg pulled out all the musical theater CDs he owned, and soon most everyone was singing along to them as they worked. Sure, you didn't know any of the words, so you just did what you normally did when you didn't know words to songs; you hummed.

You were wheeling away a section of the chandelier when you were met face to face with someone you didn't want to see. You stiffened up, and were about to continue to the storage room when Lapis spoke up, "I finally saw the show tonight. Peri told me you made that big chandelier."

"...Uh...yeah."

"It was beautiful," she spoke softly, "You did a nice job on it."

"Well I...guess it was kind of worth it to build...Amy helped me though."

"Oh...hm."

"Look, uh, Lapis, I-"

"You don't have to apologize, because I'm not going to forgive you."

"Oh. Heh."

"But I am wondering, this Amy...if you're friends with her, or like what we were...you promise me you'll treat her better than you treated me, you got that?", she spoke, voice dead serious.

"...aight. Nice talking to you Lapis. Glad you enjoyed the show."

"...I still do not like theater."

"Good for you."

Lapis left without another word, and even though that whole conversation had been nothing but tension, it felt like a huge weight was off your shoulders now.

Like you both were going to let each other live your lives.

At the production dinner that following evening, Garnet had raised a toast to everyone involved, for making it a success. She specifically thanked Greg and Rose for their work, as well as you and the other stagehands. Receiving applause for your accomplishments felt absolutely great, as did the way Amethyst squeezed your hand with her stupidly cute smile.

Lorelei and Sadie immediately stood up while everyone was starting to eat, and Lorelei said she had something to announce, but when everyone looked over, expecting it to be something involving Sadie, she smiled and spoke deadpanned, "I'm getting actual boobs this summer. Congrats to me," and everyone cracked up, cheering and clapping, as she continued, "This wouldn't have been possible without this job, and I'd like to thank all you schmucks for it."

"Aww, we're schmucks," Amethyst snickered affectionately, and squeezed your hand again, rubbing her thumb on it in a particularly deliberate pattern.

During the party, you had realized she had been running her thumb along the stripe on your hand, it was something she deliberately noticed.

It wasn't something that you couldn't care about anymore. But it was once again something you could be proud of. You thanked Amethyst for helping you realize that weeks later, when you two were sitting up in the catwalk, under the skylight she discovered.

You couldn't help but smile when she told you that you shouldn't have hidden such amazing trophies as they were in the first place.

Amazing trophies; your truer than tattoo Tiger Stripes.