Alexander was taken aback by Rhianwen's outburst. A sheepish smile pulled to his lips, one that said so sorry and but of course and even a little bit of an impressed see what I mean? "You are quite correct, but I fear you misinterpret me," it seemed to be a quirk of his to speak more formally when speaking to someone new, or when he was uncomfortable. "I personally do not believe in such a stereotype, although in my time in theatre, I have seen many more gay men than I have seen straight. I was merely attempting to convey the fact that my own sexual preference had been brought into question before, due to my theatrical proclivities." The amused twinkle in his eye returned. "I believe love has little to do with someone else's gender, and only has to do with who they are as individuals."

The young man nodded to her. "But you are correct that it was a terribly biased statement. I beg your pardon for any offense I may have caused." He bowed his head to Rhia, eyes lowered in apology.

Rhianwen blinked, looking down at her shoes as she sat down, legs tucked under with ankles crossed under the chair. "I-I'm sorry. I was a bit harsh. It's ok, I just took it wrong. But still, I've seen los of straight males in theatre. And you are right...love isn't based on gender." she murmured softly, her voice quiet and meek once more, the fire still in her eyes, but it wasn't as noticeable.

Pretty soon, the professor cleared her throat and whacked a chair with a rubber chicken to gather the attention of the students and begin the class.

Spreading his hands, Alexander would have replied to reassure her that she was in the right, but the "Clucker of Doom" (as Prof Radclif was wont to call the rubber chicken) landed with a smack on the chair. Soon the class was wrapped up in a series of improv exercises that even Alexander became a part of, laughing hysterically at some of the ridiculous antics that the others devised.

((Pardon the briefness of the reply, I was going to leave the contents of the class up to you.))

((no worries! By the way, improv games are awesome! Hard, but great practice and fun.))

Several moments later, in a good old fashioned " Whose Line is it Anyway?" styled game, the class all put ideas and scenes onto paper slips and fed them to a weathered black top hat. When Rhianwen was put on stage with another student, the girl smiled at the prompt: 'favorite folk or fairy tales.'

Soon, Rhianwen stopped, each person making it even more fun by playing multiple parts. With an outstretched hand, she thrust her finger out in a menacing point, her back straight, head held high, and her face fierce and commanding. "You wench! You stole my best knight! Had I known Tamlin would be taken from me, I'd have turned hi eyes to wood and hi heart to stone!"

The red haired female loved the folktale of Janet and Tamlin, and as she chose to imitate the fairy queen who had captured the man, she was fierce, authorative, regal, and frightening. It was true; one would be convinced she was a completely different person or an evil twin unless you saw the change yourself.

Alexander watched the scene unfold with a large smile on his face, one of pure enjoyment and delight. The tall, regal, fire-haired Queen of the Fae before him was strong and beautiful, and he was chilled by the vindictive tones, the shaking anger and the handsome rage that the girl could draw up from somewhere deep from the very toes of her soul.

It was lucky for her that he was well-versed in all kinds of fairy tales that had long since passed out of popularity. He knew this story as the Fawn of the Forest, with the greedy Forest Queen taking a man for her own, until he fell in love with a maiden of the village and was to have a child with her. Escaping her superstitious village and his selfish Queen-mother, the pair was separated by a Dastard, who took the woman away and would have killed her had not the ghosts of his own children come back to stop him. The pair, however, died together in the Annan Water, together forever.

Struck by the inspiration, he joined her on stage, adopting a sly, conniving pose, shoulders hunched, hands twisted together, and face contorted into the wickedest, most lecherous grin he could muster. "My lady," his voice was oily and unctuous as he stood at Rhia's elbow, looking smaller and crueller than one might thing possible for the tall and kindly-faced youth. "I will be glad to take the girl from your realm, if you will but part the Annan Waters."

Rhianwen smiled, but made sure to quickly cover it with a smirk. So Alexander knew his tales did he? She almost laughed, for she was impressed, but knew she still held the crown for most well-versed in folk tales. He had made a very good guess, but she recognized his tale as a far different one than the one she told. No matter, she would play along. Her tale was of the earl's daughter Janet and the elfen knight Tam Lin, who was captured as a mortal.

((will finish post once I research the other story. in the meantime, if you've never heard/red it, this is the story i was referring to:

Tatterhood and other tales: stories ... - Google Books ))

((I will edit this post after you look up the other story. It's actually an entire album of music (The Hazards of Love) by my favorite artists, The Decemberists. This is a rather good interpretation of the lyrics, and the absence of lyrics.))

Nodding at the hunched figure of the Rake, the queen pointed her finger in the direction of the lovers. "Go now then, and take with you the girl. Rape and kill her if that is your wish, so long as she ne'er again comes between my son and I, for I am the one who has given him everything. His life is owed to me!"
malicious delight in the Rake appeared in those teal eyes as he offered the solution to her dillema. The obsessively controling queen of the fairy folk was not to be denied.

With a wicked cackle, Alexander strutted across the stage, grabbing the girl playing Janet/Margaret by the wrist and dragging her to one corner of the stage, with her kicking and protesting all the way. It was then that the adorable young man from earlier stepped on stage, as Tam Lin/William. Instead of engaging the Faery Queen of the Woods, he ran to save his love from the cackling and smarming Alexander, who fell off the stage (laughingly) as the Tam Lin/William and Janet/Margaret hurried back to Rhianwen.

The scene continued to unfold as the original Janet and Tam Lin tale, and when it was over, the students burst into applause. Alexander reclined in a row by himself, also clapping and grinning from ear to ear. He'd had but a minor role, and yet he'd enjoyed the stage time with Rhianwen.

"Alexander, you must come on stage and do another game with Rhianwen!" Professor Radclif called. "You two have such chemistry onstage!" She gushed at him. Chuckling and even blushing faintly at the praise, the tall and lanky TA stood and stretched, walking with a crisp step back onstage to take Rhia's hand.

Bowing over her fingers, he brushed his lips across the back of her hand so lightly that it was difficult to feel whether or not he actually had. "I would be honored," he smiled, bemused. "But what will we do?"

As the redhead was about to leave the stage after playing two minor roles, she heard the comment of her professor. Before she could assess or avoid the situation, Rhianwen found herself the center of attention somehow, with Alexander barely brushing his lips over the back of her hand that he now held prisoner. While she was able to keep from stammering on stage, her voice was quiet once more and the rosey red glow began to bloom across her fair cheeks once more.

"The honor was mine....as for more excersizes, well...." she trailed off, deep in thought.

A few suggestions were hollered from the relaxed, good natured class of students. Among the shouts and the clamour of voices, the two on stage and the professor could make out requests of "human puppets," "questions only" "party quirks" "song titles" and "props"

Alexander listened thoughtfully as they were given suggestions. "Questions?" He grinned at Rhia, good-naturedly. He wanted to see more of her powerful stage presence, evident even when she wasn't playing the commanding and cruel Fae Queen. Gently, the tall TA released her hand and stood straight, glancing back at Professor Radclif, who nodded eagerly.

She remembered how good the young man was at this game. He'd always take a moment before replying, but sometimes it was as though he'd had an entire script memorized. He asked leading questions with few questionable answers, and know just what to say.

So, it made him a bit cocky. Clearly Prof. Radclif wanted to see him put into his place. She knew that Rhianwen and Alexander made a lively pair onstage. It would be entertaining to all.

Grinning from ear to ear, Alexander turned back to Rhianwen and adopted a petulant expression, folding his arms across his chest and stalking to one end of the stage. "Why aren't we going to?" He threw out the first question, setting the scene. It was almost fun to watch him change from himself to this whining, pettish creature.

Rhianwen nodded at this suggestion. Had they chosen to go with 'human puppets/props' or something, she might be a bit nervous, despite being on the stage she felt at ease on. Taking her stance as Alexander pouted and slouched, Rhianwen almost chuckled as he reminded her of a stubborn, petulant child. Having a younger brother of her own, she was quite familiar with being a big sister and dealing with an annoyed male.

"Why can't you listen the first time I tell you things? How come you cannot accept 'no' as an answer?" hands on her hips, Rhianwen admonished Alexander with a wag of her finger, shaking her head in dissaproval.

Curling his upper lip in an expression of disgust, Alexander snorted unattractively and sat down on one of the plastic chairs that was onstage, straddling it backwards and folding his arms atop the back of it. His lanky frame spread out around the tiny chair, and he lowered his chin to his arms, glaring at her. "Why are you always such a big stick in the mud?" He retorted like an irascible teenager.

He did "surly" very well, although the amusement in his eyes could not be hidden. Sitting up some, he leaned his cheek on his knuckles and made a hideous face at Rhia. "Blehh. Where did you put it, anyway?" He didn't give her a chance to answer the first question, changing tack quickly to throw her off-balance and hopefully mess up her next question.

Alexander could be sneaky when he wanted to. Part of improv was to throw curveballs, although it was better to help the other person onstage rather than treat it like it was a competition. But, really, was there any harm in being playful? He liked the way her eyes sparked when confronted. It made him grin (internally, at least) to be the one making her hackles raise a l little.

Really, she was fun to tease. It was such a fascinating change from the shy, stammering, and constantly apologizing Rhianwen, into this fearless, bold young woman. Secretly, he hoped that he could bring this out from her more often and perhaps make the young woman as outgoing in the rest of the world as she was onstage. He remembered being like her, years back, and it struck a tender chord in his heart.

Although momentary distracted, the flame-haired female inwardly grinned at the challenge. His eyes and the surpressed twitch of his would be smilinglips gave away his plan to her. Rhianwen liked a challenge, and she was determined to win this match. Two could play his game. Seconds after her partner spoke, the freshman was ready.

"Why do you make it so easy?" she combated first, crossing her arms over her chest before letting her lips curve into a slightly smug, taunting expression. "And why would I tell you that? Shouldn't you know I won't tell you where I hid it?" the smile turning into a scowl, Rhianwen came up with her own curveball, leaning forward and pointing an accusing finger. " Why don't you stop stealing my stuff if you want to keep yours? Don't you know I notice?"

Before he could reply, Rhianwen came back, one more question in her artillery for him. "Why do you love to irritate me so?"

"But why did you hide it in the first place?!" His tone had turned exasperated. He stood up quickly, shoving the chair away from him with force. It clattered across the stage as he strode towards Rhia, face darkening. He towered over her, shoving his finger into her face.

"Why are you like this!? What made you turn into this...?" He snarled, face contorted angrily. He was getting into his stride now, using large and somewhat unexpected stage-sized emotion to throw her off. It helped that his physical presence onstage could be quite threatening. For all that he was thin and lanky, he was dizzyingly tall as well, dark of hair and eye, with a pleasant face that could twist into more horrifying expressions with only a thought.

With a derisive snort, he turned on his heel and stalked away from Rhianwen again, pacing up and down the stage and occasionally sending her dour looks over his shoulder. He still had no clear idea what they were arguing about yet, but that wasn't really the point of the game.

After a terse moment, he looked over his shoulder again, changing the mood of the scene entirely with a soft look and an even softer murmur. "Don't you love me anymore?"

Despite knowing this was a game, and despite her strong stage presence, the young redhead almost faltered and flinched at the towering, scowling form of the handsome TA. Standing her ground, the female glared back with blue-green eyes, a mix of sea and sky, before pursing her lips. Arms folded across her chest as an exhasperated sigh could be heard, Rhianwen shook her head slowly.

"Do you really need to ask me such questions? Can't you tell? Don't you see how you started all this? Do you not understand why I do these things?" her alto voice was soft, calm, and somewhat sorrowful as a pained expression crossed her features, a slight plea for him to understand her words, her feelings. Turning her back to him, the girl walked 4 paces away from the taller, angered male who was obviously growing frustrated with her.

"How could I not love you brother? How come you cannot see that I only wish you well? Why do you mistake my protection and my love for cruelty and anger?" Turning her head ever so slightly, Rhianwen gave Alexander a hopeful, desperate look, waiting for things to work out, to mend themselves.

However, there was but 5 minutes left of class, and she wanted to win this game before then. She had to keep him guessing, force Alexander into a corner where he'd be rendered speechless.

Alexander seemed to deflate as she spoke, his body language relaxing into a sorrowful sort of pose, shoulders slumped, knees soft. His arms opened some, fingers spread and hands palm-out. He seemed to be pleading with her as well, his expression almost a perfect mirror to hers. "Why do you call me 'brother'?" He asked quietly, sadly. "Why can you only love me like I am but a brother?" Tears had sprung into his eyes, unbidden.

He stepped fowards towards her. "Do you not understand the power of my own emotions? Can't you see how this is tearing me apart inside?" He'd closed the gap between them now, touching her arm gently, then grabbing her, holding her close. He stage-whispered into her hair, cradling her close. "Do you see it now?"

Dammit! He was winning!

Rhianwen felt her eyes grow wide in stunned surprise, uncertainty and disbelief written across her features, blaringly obvious as a neon sign. The male before her begged for her acceptance, her understanding. She thought she understood, she thought she knew what was best. Tears prickled in her eyes as well, threatening to cascade down her pale cheeks.

As he stepped forward, she watched Alexander with mild confusion and trepidation, only to barely refrain from squeeking as he held her to his strong, taller form. Parting her lips, she prepared to try and come back with a clever response.

Rhianwen never got the chance to combat him, she never got a chance to reply. The bell rang, signaling that class ended just that moment, leaving him the victor. Impossible! She prided herself on always one- upping her opponent in these games!