Rubina just gives Guardok a quick pat on the shoulder as he reveals how much he misses his family and the circus life. "I know it's not the same, but I hope our performances here make up for a bit of it," she whispers.  The director's assistant comes around to all the actors backstage, urging everyone to make their final preparations. Rubina hurries over to double check her costume and make-up and is soon ready to go.  Quentillius reappears as well, seemingly focused on the next act. Stagehands scurry about to get back into position, then for a moment, everything behind the scenes comes to a stop. All is ready waiting for the curtain to rise. 

In the audience, Cadoras seems a bit relieved when Mei offers him some of her assortment of snacks. True to form, he samples a little of just about everything, sometimes mixing things together. The others have all settled into place, waiting. 

And finally, the curtain rises on the second half.  Rubina and Quentillius are on stage first, as the pair's characters struggle with the issues they face.  Soon, Guardok is back into a scene where he again provides some moments of comedy to break up the bleak mood.  More and more it seems the villain is in control, even starting to make a wedge between Rubina's character and Quentillius' character.  However, Guardok's character seems to always be there, seeing what others do not.  

(Guardok can make a roll again, with Advantage, for whatever skill he thinks most appropriate to his efforts in the play.)  

Mae ate a piece of her turkish delight as the show started again, before she caught sight of Larine offering the piece of chocolate. She picked up the piece and replaced it with a piece of turkish delight, giving Larine a warm smile and leaned against her slightly, eating the piece of chocolate slowly and...obviously.

In the second half, Guardok still maintains the comical edge to his performance, but tries to give an extra bit of authenticity to his portrayal as well.

Deception: (With advantage and +1d4 bonus from playactor's guild): (13, 2)+5+2=20

The play continues, with Rubina doing a fantastic job and Quentillius seeming a bit flat. Guardok keeps up his comedic timing but really pulls off his portrayal of his character. By the end even his friends might forget that he is not really this new character. Not quite as obvious to the audience, there are a couple of spots where Quentillius misses a cue or flubs a line. In the first instance, Guardok manages to cover with a bit of humor, so it seems almost as though it were intended. In the second, Rubina is able to subtly get things on track. 

As the play moves towards its end, it becomes clear to the audience what the villian is up to in undermining the others work.  Guardok's character manages to unravel what is happening. And Rubina and Quentillius' characters foil the plot.  While it had seemed that the bad guy had driven a wedge between them, it turns out it was a ruse.  The ending reveals that the pair had remained faithful to each other throughout.  It had all been part of the plan to fool the villian. 

As the play closes and the curtain falls, it was clear that the entire cast and crew had done a great job. All the technical details went perfect - lights and scene changes, and costume changes. And while Quentillius made it through, Rubina and Guardok really stood out for their performances. 

As soon as the curtain drops, Guardok turns to Rubina and Quentillius and whispers, "That...was...amazing!". He is almost hopping from foot to foot he is so excited having finally broken out of character.

Once backstage, he continues, "I really felt in the zone. I think I fed off your performances. You were both brilliant". He genuinely didn't think the problems Quentillius had were an issue, possibly due to his background in the circus where it didn't matter so much, and often made for the best entertainment.

Malvyn would start clapping as the curtains closes, even standing up to clap for the brilliant performance, a wide smile on him, not even thinking about his animosity towards one of the actors. He would keep clapping among the last to do so, being in no hurry to leave. It would be easy to write something quite positive about this for the Star which makes him a bit relieved too. It would have felt quite awkward to write something less flattering about it when Guardok was in the play, now he turned out to almost steal the show from the main male part, a fact that didn't make the purple-skinned tiefling less enthusiastic about writing his review.

Mae stands with the audience at the end and claps appreciatively, happy to see her floormate do well, and also the others more or less so. Being a performer herself she knows how easily things can get mixed up, go awry, and all that so it doesn't phase her much to see them still working things out. She still had some candies leftover by the time they were done and turned to Larine to offer some more if she wanted, and see what she thought of the performance.

Quentillius gives a bit of a gruff response to Guardok. "Not the best performance. But you certainly did justice to the role Guardok."  He turns as though to go, catching sight of Rubina. "And you as well."  He storms off, clearly not quite as enthusiastic.  The rest of the cast though is all excited, with congratulations being given to various cast members, but most particularly to Guardok and Rubina. 

Rubina looks over to the genasi with a grin. "Guess grumpy is not as thrilled?"  She finally lets out the laugh she was suppressing. "His performance was really just fine. A few rough moments, but it all went great!" She pats Guardok on the shoulder. "You were great!"  

Aurora stands at Malvyn's side, applauding just as he is. She leans over to whisper to him. "It was really good. Quite the story and quite the crew tonight." 

Larine leapt to her feet at the end, applauding the actors. "That was fun," she tells Mae.  She had been freely sharing her chocolate with Mae, and taking a couple pieces of the turkish delight. "Your floormate seemed like a different person there! And everyone did such a nice job." She sways over to bump lightly into the aasimar. "It was a fun evening." 

Cadoras looked to Mei first once the play ended, intending to see her reaction.  Nonetheless, he was quickly on his feet and ready to cheer.  Though again his eyes shifted to Mei to see what she would do.  He held back on anything too boisterous for the moment, simply clapping in appreciation. 

Guardok also watches Quentillius walk off, seeing he was not entirely pleased with his performance. "He's a perfectionist I guess. I bet he will be better tomorrow, I am sure. And I think he is softening too, he at least told us we did well before leaving".

He blushes a little at her compliment, his greyish skin turning little purple. "I would suggest we celebrate, but we have two more shows to do and we wouldn't want to jinx it!", he says. "Circus folk are superstitious enough", he adds with a chuckle.

"What are you practicing tonight, the play or the show band performance? I am happy to help with either if I can".

"Yes, really entertaining, it's a pity that not more people got to see this." Malvyn whispers back as he keeps applauding with a wide smile.

Mae smiled back at Larine when she bumped into her, blushing faintly. "I agree, and I'm glad you came. We should head out and maybe meet up with everyone so we can congratulate Guardok." She waited to move out with the others, keeping Larine next to her.

Mei too hops up from her seat to applaud the actors, delighted for Guardok’s performance while also worried for how Quentillius was handling his own.

Having sent the sketchbook and pencil flying from her lap in a rush to join the applause, once it ends, Mei drops to the floor in search. Her cheeks blaze red, worried for what page it might’ve landed open on. 

Once recovered, she gladly heads out with the others to where they might meet with the actors, chattering all the while about the performance, especially aspects of the love story and Guardok’s funniest lines.

Rubina nods when Guardok mentions celebrating. "Yes, we've got more nights. We'll all do something once we're done I"m sure!"  She considers his question for a moment, "I can probably afford to relax a little bit tonight," she says. "I don't think there is much more to rehearse for this play. And I can practice a bit with my flute tomorrow."  She gives Guardok a smile, suddenly changing the subject. "You really did a great job Guardok. You really have never acted before? I suppose we should get the stage make-up off, get out of these costumes, and head out to find our friends at some point." 

"Well, perhaps more people will see it once they read your article in the Strixhaven Star," Aurora tells Malvyn. "We should really see if we can find our friends and congratulate them. I wonder how we do that. Hmm."  She starts to look around a bit, grinning as she notices Mei fumbling for her sketch book. 

Cadoras had jumped up and applauded as Mei did.  When she starts looking for her lost items, he quickly leans down onto the floor to help look for them and pick them up for her. He manages to find the pencil while the sketchbook ended closer to Mei.  It didn't however prevent him from seeing some of the random pages nearer to the start of the book that it had opened up to. "Wow Mei, those are really good pictures!  Let me see those closer."  

Larine grabs Mae's hand when she mentions going. "Yea, I'm ready to get out of here. Let's go." Assuming Mae is willing, she somewhat pulls her along towards the exit. 

The purple-skinned tiefling nods, trying to recall if he saw some sort of actors' entrance where they could go to wait up for Guardok and Rubina, then he too notices Mei and Cadoras on the floor. "We'll be outside waiting so you can have some privacy for...whatever you're doing down there." He says with a small teasing grin. Then he too catches eye of the drawings, making a mental note of asking Mei to use some of them for the piece in the Star, would probably get more people to see the play. He then leads Aurora outside to where he thinks Guardok and Rubina would exit the theatre.

"Not like this, I have performed. Perhaps that helped with the nerves", Guardok replies.

When Rubina mentions the costumes, he chuckles, "I hadn't realised, yes let's get changed and head out. I am eager to hear what the others thought about it".

With that he heads off to his changing area, cleaning off whatever makeup he is wearing and carefully removing his costume, hanging it neatly ready for tomorrow. Once done, he hurries outside, still full of adrenaline from the show. He will keep an eye out for Rubina, but assumes she might take a little longer to get changed.

Mae blushed a little more as Larine's hand met hers, then led her out of the theater and around to meet up with the others. "Well did everyone have a good time?"

Aurora walks with Malvyn outside. "I'm sure Mei and Cadoras were just looking for something. You know she's easily embarrassed Mal!" she says playfully. "Now, I think maybe around this way there should be a door from backstage."  She nudges him in that direction. 

Mae and Larine end up with Aurora and Malvyn. As she realizes they are looking for the stage door, Larine pipes up. "Oh. No, it's the other way. I should know - this is where I work!  Ticket taker extraordinaire!" she adds with a laugh. "I'll be back here tomorrow." 

The group heads in the direction Larine indicated, as Aurora responded to Mae's question. "I thought it was a wonderful performance. Very well done."  It doesn't take long to reach the door, where you see a group of around 10 others that also seem to be waiting.  

"Ok, meet you in a few moments," Rubina calls to Guardok as she heads to her dressing area.  

Once finished up, the genasi notices Quentillius heading out.  He passes through the door and is quickly gone.  Just a moment later you see Rubina coming. "There you are. Alright, let's get going."  She joins Guardok in heading out. 

The group outside sees Quentillius slip through the door a short time after they arrive. He seems intent on moving quickly by, but a handful call out to him, congratulating him.  One particular blonde girl comes up to him, putting an arm about him and planting a kiss on his cheek. "Oh Quentillius! You were so wonderufl!"  He replies in a much quieter voice. "It was fine. But let's just go."  He hurries off with the girl close at his side. 

Cadoras and Mei finally catch up to the others, just as Quentillius is headed away. They had just managed to catch his encounter with the blonde from a distance as they approached.  When Quentillius goes so does the small group that had been cheering him. Cadoras says, "Well, have we arrived too late? Seems folks are leaving!" 

"So are you saying that I've made someone else uncomfortable by teasing them? I wonder who I possibly could gotten that from?" The purple-skinned tiefling responds to the raven-haired performer beside him. "But you are right of course, I will henceforth save the teasing for someone more deserving." He adds with a teasing smile. "I'm sure Cadoras wasn't the least embarrassed over that burlesque performance you invited Mei to do with you." 

"Yes, Guardok and Rubina in particular were great." Malvyn chimes in, nodding in agreement with Aurora as she answers Mae. 

As he sees Quentillius leave quickly he almost pities the man, almost. Perhaps this would turn him just a little bit more humble and he would stop being quite so obnoxious. But the moronic group cheering him on might well convince him he should stay just the way he is...

"No, haven't seen Guardok and Rubina yet, they should be along soon though I'd expect." He responds to Cadoras, checking up on him and Mei, hoping they were okay in spite of his comments earlier.