"Thus it stands:
Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd
That, till the father rid his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home;
And therefore has he closely mew'd her up,
Because she will not be annoy'd with suitors."

Victoria Hartford sat in the audience of the Axiom Theater. The front row gave a wonderful view of the actors trying desperately to remember their lines.

"Ah, Traino, what a cruel father's he! But art thou not advis'd he took some care to-uh, to?"

"Hold!"

"To, um, um..."

"I said hold!! What does hold mean? It means that you stop what you're doing and you listen to the director! That is what it means!" Easton Brockett, 26-year-old genius director, stalked down the stairs to the stage. "Now, script! What is Lucentio's line?"

Victoria checked the script. "It's 'But art thou not advis'd he took some care to get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?'."

Easton shook his head. "We are two months from opening the show. We need to step up our game."

The doors burst open. Antonia, stunt-girl extreme, took a running start and flipped over two rows of seats. "East, you worry too much." She said, landing a few feet away from him.

Sebastian and Elaine followed her in, but without the flips.

East looked frustrated. "Guys, this is a private rehearsal."

"We came to help." Sebastian said quietly.

"Okay. Okay. Okay." East ran his fingers through his hair, making it look even messier than usual. "Actors, take a twenty. I need to talk with the team."

"Translation?" An actor in a purple shirt whispered to Victoria.

"It means you have a twenty-minute break, and that he has to talk with us. We're 'the team'. See, we can all act, but we all have special skills. East is a really great director. Antonia, that girl who made that flashy entrance, is our stunt coordinator. She makes sure that no one gets hurt. Sebastian, the really tall guy, is our fight coordinator. He and Antonia stage the fights. Elaine, the girl with the blonde hair, is our makeup artist. You haven't met them yet, but Grace and Beth are on the costume crew. And then Mark is the playwright. He writes all of our original plays. And then there are lots of other people who help out."

"Okay, thanks." He said, looking relieved.
He gestured to East. "Is he always this... stressed?"

Victoria thought for a minute. "No. But this project is a really big deal to him. It's not every day you get to direct a Shakespeare show."

She got up and walked over to East. "Anything I can do to help?"

"Can you make some posters? Flashy letters, maybe a red background? You've got a good eye for color, Ria. Just make sure it looks nice." East smiled faintly at Victoria.

"Okay. I'll be back in a little while." Victoria hurried out the door.

The actor in the purple shirt sidled up to East. "Is that her?"

East looked up from his notes. "Who, Ria? Yeah, that's her. The Princess of Protecting Society. But be nice to her. It's not her fault she's the heir to a mercenary company. And do not tell her I said that. She thinks it's a security company. Like everyone else who's not in the government."

Elaine laughed. "Stress has made you sassy."

The actor frowned. "She didn't recognize me."

"Matthew, chill. It's been five years. It's okay that she doesn't remember you." Sebastian spoke up.

Mark came striding in. Tall, confident, and intimidating, he was every bit the spooky playwright. "We need to talk."

East was undaunted. "So talk. Whatever you need to say, spit it out and be done with it."

"No. Without Ria and your Taming of the Shrew cast. Veritas only."

"Veritas?" Matthew asked.

"Yeah. I forgot. It's your induction." Sebastian put in.

"It is?" Matthew asked.

Antonia tossed her arm around his shoulder. "You're finally in! Good for you!"

"Alright everyone. Antonia, Elaine, Sebastian, spread the word. East, take Ria home. Matthew, come with me. Veritas meeting in one hour."

Things were about to get a lot more interesting.
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