Shad was getting the hang of this, and, though he noticed the swaying, he figured it was just her being 'involved' in the music. A new and much younger guy than the fat man came in, but he was also a tener, and this made it seem good again. Clasic storyline, but it had its twists. Like, that the father seemed to not be King, but rather, just a man, and there was no mother figure sofar. And the girl was in love with the bad guy, and the good guy was in love with her... Nasty love triangles...

A little girl, looking no more than five or six years old, stood outside of the Opera House. She shivered in the cold night, her hands were in the pockets of the jacket she wore. She was small, around 3 feet... maybe less. Her wide brown eyes were full of fear as if she had lost someone or something. Her hair was a dirty blond, all in messy curls, barely reaching her shoulders. The one odd thing about this girl (other then the fact she's outside in the night time without a parent) is the swaying motion her head was making, never stopping and in a constant rhythm.

The street lamps shone brightly that night, no moon was in the sky. The street the entrance of the building was on was not busy at all, apparently people had other things to do. The building was a sort of a mockery between greek architecture,modern art and... something else... Nonetheless it was still an impressive building, from the outside at least. The little girl stood on the sidewalk just beside the stairs to the entrance.

She stood there alone. Her eyes followed every stranger as they walked past, watching them, pleading with them, but no one stopped. She looked like she was on the verge of tears. She shuffled her feet and looked down. Her breath was a white wisp on the crisp air. She hoped someone would stopped by soon...

Shad was walking home from another unsuccessful day of locating work, and from a really bad mess he left in the bad end of town. A girl asked him if he was lost, he said no a bit too unfriendly and she seemed to have a panic attack. Then again, he didn't care. The had practically called him a child. The fifteen year old was in a grumpy mood, and, thanks to the God of Revelry, had his new shock of hormones hit every few hours, which he hated and loathed with a passion. He was walking up the street, arms crossed under what seemed like a dress... Technically it was a cloak, old fasioned and made of leather, that had a single split in the front and tied just above his shoulders. Like a blanket tied at the corners, more fitted to the human shape. He wore this to conceal wings and a kestrel tail. Aside from his wings and lycanthrope abilities, he was a normal teenage boy, hormones and all.

He was fuming over his thoughts when he reached the Bella Canto opera house,and practically knocked himself into a small child. A very young girl. He figured this only because she was so much smaller than him, and he was no Shaq. He stood a mere four foot eleven inches high, and this wasn't something that would change with a blast of hormones. He knew it wouldn't change because of prior doctors visits. They would feel his wrist, of all places, and feel for spaces. If they found them, then he could still grow. If they didn't, he wouldn't. Simple as that, and they found no spaces. Anyway, feeling like a giant and towering over a little girl, he excussed himself for the run in, but couldn't help to mimic the previous convo that he had been fuming about. It was unintentional.

"Oooops, sorry. Ummm... Are you... Looking for someone?"

He changed the other womans words from, "Are you lost to looking for someone. Just seemed more polite and less derating.

The little girl looked up and grinned. "Yes." She said shyly. She looked so happy that someone had finally stopped for her, poor little Pan. "Can you help me?" She asked giving Shad the sad puppy face.

Shad smiled, and nodded. Sure he could help, and she did give the puppy dog face. That was something that could swing anyone if done right, and little girls were the masters of it.

"Sure, what do you need?"

He kept his smile, and glanced around, assuming she lost a parent or something.

The little girl laughed and took her hands out of her pocket to clap them. Her finger nails were a sterling silver. "Oh, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed as she came closer and clinged to a part of the cloak since she couldn't find a hand to clasp. She gave it a soft tug and looked up at the tall person.

"They won't let me in." She said pointing to the Opera House. "Said I needed someone older to come with me. Will you come with me?" She looked up hopefully.

Shad gave a true smile. Little kids were always cute, and this one in particular. He noted her nails, and figured she was awfully young to be a beauty queen, with the makeup and the nail painting. They seemed flawless in their coat of paint, but what really got him was the fact that the undersides seemed the same color. Like little sheets of metal. They could be those glue on things girls wear. That solved that.

He frowned at her next question of will he take her in. He wouldn't mind going to see a show, whatever might it be tonight, but he knew that he had no money, and if it cost a dime he couldn't get in. Well, not a dime... He felt around in his jean pocket and let his fingers run over the bills. He folded them in different shapes so he would know how much he had. Right now, two one dollar bills and a few coins was all that he had.

Eyes quickly search the desk for a cost sign. Maybe it was free...? Maybe the girl knew.

"Sure, I'd love to take you in, but I have one question. Does it cost anything to get in?"

She giggled, "I have a season pass." She brought up her hand and made a peace sign and pointed to it with her other hand just in case Shad didn't see. "For two. You can get in for free with me." She smiled and tugged on Shad's robe towards the entrance of the giant building.

Shad rolled his eyes, smiling the whole while. She was the little kid and totally in charge. He felt like the person that needed to be supported by an adult, and this 'adult' tugging on his cloak was bringing him to the theater. And as for the tugging on the cloak, it was too risky. He slipped an arm out from under it and let her grab hold of that. If she had, say, tripped down a stair and ripped the cloak from him, he would be caught for the freak show right then and their. Well, he could have morphed into a kestrel and flown off. Then again...

He walked past the person standing at the front and smiled. Uh oh... He might not be the best 'adult' to drag to a movie. He didn't exactly look too old either. He smiled at the guard, and followed the girls lead.

She gave the hand a test squeeze before latching on perminantly. She walked forward, staring at the ground. "I hope you don't mind but mommy says I'm not aloud to be at a movie show, so we're going to a Opera." She looked up at him questioningly. "Do you want to know what an Opera is? Daddy told me, I know lots about it."
She guided him to a stage entrance, the sign read 'The Marriage of Figaro', Underneath was something in Italian, possibly saying the same thing. "He says there's only two people in the world, the people like opera and the people who don't. Which one are you?"

Shad felt the test squeeze, and almost yanked his hand back. The tips of her nails were COLD. He really wanted to look them over in more depth, but right now he was too busy being dragged in. He looked where she was looking, and read the sign. Yes, the italian said the same thing as the title above. He could speak a bit of Italian and a bit of spanish, but his favorite thing to speak was Swahili. Anyway, he responded to her question a bit confused.

"'Course I know what an opera is. Kind of like musicals... Normally in a different language, more for the singing and less for the acting. And I guess I like them... There is nothing wrong with them."

The little girl smiled, openly pleased with the answer she was given. They came to a sharply dressed man who was taking people's tickets, he gave the pair a sniff of distaste. The little girl pulled her hand away from Shad's grasp and put it into her pocket. She dug deep into it, the pocket seemed to be full of junk, she brought out a single ticket and handed it to the man. "For two, please." Showing the man with her fingers. The man took the ticket and looked at it, surprise was writen all over his face, he eyed the girl suspiciously.

Without any protest the man pointed to the stairs. "All the way up, second balcony to the left." He gave the ticket back to the girl. "Thank you." She said taking Shad's hand again. Giving him an 'after you' kind of look.

Shad didn't like the look of distaste the man was giving them. He mentally looked himself over, and realized it might be the attire. Most the people that went to Operas were dressed in gowns and have tuxes or other nice clothes on. Shad was in his 'street clothes', and only clothes. So what?! Least were coming to see it...

Shad smirked quietly while the man looked over the ticket, and just about laughed at his suprise. He was about to withdraw his hand into his cloak shield again when it was grabbed by the girl. He looked at her, and she seemed to be telling him to lead her away. He gave one last false smile to the 'bouncer' and led the girl up the stairs.

The actual place itself was amazing. Architecture that let the sound bounce around it and die softly, not with the pain of a note echoing in the air. He nodded, impressed with todays world. The stage wasn't all that far away. As a matter of fact, these might be considered good seats, the ones in this second balconey to the left and all the way up. Best seats Shad had ever had in an opera.

"I am guessing you come here often... You like music?"

The little girl jumped onto her seat, sitting in the untradition crossed legged fashion that most children seemed to prefer. "Uh huh." She responded. "My daddy says I'm gonna be a Prima Donna. He says a Prima Donna is the most important person in an opera." She puffs out her chest in pride. She seems to realize something. "I'm Pan, what's your name?"

The boy took his seat next to the girl, realizing she crossed her legs indian style. Then again, she was small enough to do that, and didn't have a tail and wings that he couldn't crunch or it would be painful. Normally he would have take the last seat and let his tail through the back of it, but the girl stated earlier she liked operas. And she wanted to be a Prima Dona. You could see it in her eyes.

He tackled the chair in the only way he could. Plaster the tail to the back of his legs and gently sit on it, spread his wings a bit so he couldn't crush the flight feathers, and sit. It worked, and thank God... He wasn't in the mood to preen himself tonight.

"My name is Shad. Nice to meet you, Pan."

The little girl looked at Shad. "Shad sounds an awful lot like sad. Are you sad? Maybe we shouldn't watch an opera they can be sad too. I don't want you to be sad." She looked at Shad with childish concern in her eyes. She looked so willing to make her guest as comfortable as possible. The string instruments were warming up in the background, a collage of chromatic scales and dissonance.

Shad smiled, and gave a small laugh. He hadn't annunciated, and she had gotten confused on his name.

"No, no, I am not sad! I am Shad! Like that under a tree. Shade! And I am definatly not sad. We can definatly watch the opera, and I promise I won't cry."

Shad smiled and looked out to the stage. He watched a bit of the orchestra warming up 'under' the stage. He smiled wider when he saw they had flutes and ocaranias and piccilos. He was a fan of woodwinds of a high pitch. Something to do with him being a bird, he supposed.

"Oh, Shade I like that better but it still sounds pretty sad. My daddy says that the flowers in the shade don't get smiled upon by the sun." She said she coddled close to Shad as the overture began. "That's the beginning song, it tells the whole story without words. I can never get it, but I'll try extra specially hard this time." She stared at the orchestra in wonder.

Shad knew his name was a bit... Depressing to say the least. His father named him, overriding his mothers initial pick of names. His mom wanted Kit, to keep the 'K' tradition of naming kids in the family alive, but Dad didn't want anything to do with that. He said the kid was HIS kid, not hers, and promptly took Shad. He named him in the car, and his birth certificate stated none of his name info till a few years later. This was a bad time in his fathers life, so Shadows and Shade seemed to come to mind. Shad promptly forgot his middle name, it being something next to aweful.

He quietly smiled and watched the girl. She was very into Operas, and quite a 'cute' character, cute in a childish way. He looked back to the orchestra, and smiled. Shows always started out good.

Pan pointed to the orchestra. "Look, that's a tuba. Daddy says that they don't put too many brass instaments in the group cause they're too loud. See they only have one. It's for solos only, the bass string guys don't like it when the tuba plays with them, they're greedy." The little girl continued to stared into the orchestra, sharing her little tidbits of trivial knowledge from dad.

Shad nodded, and noted this for further information. It was quite useful to have someone to learn from. Shad had been schooled fast, so he knew all the textbook stuff, but very little about random events in life. Such as orchestras.

"Why do they have so many violinists? And violas and Cellos? Strings in general?"

Now he was curious. They didn't seem to be softer than anything else, but then again, there was close to twently of them, so they could be loud on account of a group playing.

Pan looked at Shad as if he had grown an extra head. "Because they're so quiet, silly." She giggled. The overture finished to massive applance. Pan clapped as loudly as she could.

Shad giggled, and shook his head, rolling his eyes with a smile. What had he been thinking... He turned to watch her break into applause and followed suit. She certainly loved the music here. He couldn't help but notice her nails again. Something seemed different.

Shad focused his attention back on the stage, where a few people had entered, spoke a few words, then burst into song. His italian was not very good, at all, but he did catch a few words. Again, not enough to make sense, but at least he understood some of it.

Pan watched the singers in absolute amazement. There was only one problem with this certain opera, no fat lady, there was a fat man but that didn't count. The singers were all in good shape concidering (except for that one guy) the stereotypes operas seem to generate.

Pan was mesmorized, but then she remembered that she had brought a guest. "Do you know what the best thing about the opera?" She whispered, she didn't wait for an answer. "Nobody talks, they only sing. My daddy says that's much better than a musical where everyone breaks into song after speaking. He says that's dumb."

Shad was also intrigued by the singers, though not nearly as much as Pan. Yes, it was pretty, and yes, it was quite nice to be here, but he knew nothing of what they were talking about, and this just frustrated him. He would have liked to know what was going on and since there were so few words he understood, it was quite impossible. This let him distract his attention to other opera-goers. The person next to him was blind, and sadly, he probally had more of idea what was going on on the stage below than Shad. At Pans words, Shad turned back to her, and nodded. True, but he still liked musicals.

"I like musicals too. Guess I am just a bit less refined... Maybe I need a plot as well as a few songs. And they are normally in languages I understand..."

He chuckled quietly, and turned to watch the stage again. The people had hardly moved.

Pan smiled. "Plot? I don't know what that is but you don't need to understand the language to know whats going on. Just watch the singers closing... The good guys have the higher voices and the really evil ones have low voices. My dad says you just have to follow the emotions." She said reasuringly, offering for Shad to try it...

Shad nodded, and looked back to the play. Th lady had a really high voice... Did that make her really good? The man had a low voice compared to the one Shad had, but then again, Shad had a higher voice to begin with. He wasn't quite sure what 'follow the emotions' ment, but the music seemed happy and bouncy, so Shad gave a good guess that this was supposed to be a happy scene. Maybe the two people on stage were in love.

"Do YOU know what is going on? The girl seems like a good person, and the large man seems good to... Maybe they are married? No... He looks much too old. Father, perhaps? And the music is bouncy and fast paced... Good scene?"

"Yes, now you're getting it." The little girl would have jumped for joy if she wasn't sitting down. "Keep going you're doing great." There was more applied to that last sentence, maybe a bit of magic. The request was certainly compelling... The little girl closed her eyes and listened to the music. Her head swayed slowly to and fro.

Shad was one to strive on encouragement and to be complimented. He was a lime light seeker at heart, though he wouldn't openly show or ask for attention. This made him smile, and turn back to the play with a bit more enthusiasm than he had thought he would have for the opera.

"The music has changed, and now it is all evil-like... And that guy there is way deep in voice, but I am guessing the black clothes would have given off bad otherwise. Anyway... I am getting a prince-demanding-fair-ladys-hand-in-marrige theme."

"Yes, yes..." Pan said as she weaved her hands to the music, swaying ever so slightly. She was trying to send the vibe of the opera over to Shad, trying to make him see clearer. Often there were times it didn't work, but sometimes it did...

Pan's motions slow and the opera took a different. A plot against the good guys was being formed by the main bad guy. Pan opened her eyes and she frowned, the atmosphere clearly getting to her. There was anger in her eyes, a clear reflection of what was going on stage. She again tried to send the vibe over to Shad, it seemed to be working...

Shad wasn't understanding how he seemed to know what was going on, but he did. He couldn't help but wonder if he might have some sort of phycic power or something... No, you are just a bird boy with some odd thing no one else can do... He sighed, but then the plot twisted are the bad were going against the good. He didn't feel he should say anything to Pan about what he thought, for she was still swaying and enjoying the music. He listened to the music mount, and he knew there was going to be some sort of fight... Knew.

((OOC: Oh, if you actually saw or know about The Marriage of Figaro... Anything I say will be incorrect... Never saw it.))

There were a few fights in the opera but it wasn't a main theme. There was disception, a plan against the main character. Poison of some sort... But the plan was turned around and the woman both men loved drinks the poison. She sings a sad song as the poison slowly eats away at her. Tears fall down Pan's cheek and she sniffles.

((OOC: Nope, never saw it, which is why I wasn't posting very much about what was in it for fear that you might have seen it and been all, NO! THAT NEVER HAPPENED! Hee!))

Shad felt the emotions of the opera seep into him, and he couldn't help but feel his eyes grow damp with tears. He batted them back, not letting himself cry in public. He looked to Pan, who had visible tears running down her cheeks. Shad looked back that the opera, where the woman who had been singing was now fake gasping for air, toppling over, and the curtains closing. Saddening ending... Shad watched some people stand and start to clap, others seated, but still clapping. He followed suit, and looked to Pan to see if she was alright.

Pan stood up and started clapping as hard as she could. It was a great opera, Pan smiled even though tears still streaked down her cheeks. She said words like bellisimo, encore and bravo but it didn't seem like she truely knew what they ment.

Shad finished clapping from his seat, and watched as people started leaving the opera house. The noise was fantastically loud, making Shad realize just how many people were there. He smiled, and stood himself, fealing a dull ache at the base of his tail. Hi had been sitting on it too long, and it was sore. Oh well, the show had been worth it. He smiled down at Pan, and looked to the door.

"Thank you very much for allowing me to escort you to the Opera. It was very good... Shall we leave?"

The blind man behind him was getting up, and would soon come crashing into Shad, or whaking him with his stick, and whichever came first, it wouldn't be pleasant.

Pan looked up at her guest and offered him her hand. A childish way of saying 'lead on'. She put her other hand to her mouth, idly sucking on her index finger (like so many children are opt to do when they're lost. Her head swayed slowly to and fro, eye libs drooped showing how tired she was. She looked at the blind man in wonder but didn't offer a comment.

Shad took her hand and lead her down the stairs. Swarms of people buzzed around, some speaking different languages, some just talking to fast to have the English they were speaking be recognized as English. A little boy ahead of them was whining about how he wanted to see a movie, not an opera, and the parents were ignoring his pathetic comments, discussing the show. Shad smiled. Everyone seemed to like it.

The cold air of the street chilled him as he lead the girl out the front of the opera house. Most people continued flocking their way to the garage down below. Some walked on. Shad looked down at the girl, and let go of her hand.

"How are you getting home? And why are you out here with no parents?"

Pan looked at Shad and withdrew her hand. She didn't seem to have heard the question. Instead she shuffled it into her pocket and pulled out something, the season's pass. "This is for you." She said. That was all she said.

Shad blinked quietly, and looked down at the pass. He didn't want to take it; he couldn't pay for it. Then again, she offered it... He shook his head, and smiled.

"I can't take this... It belongs to you, and I can't pay you for it..."

He knew he should just take it and hush himself. Then again, he wasn't sure about her parents thoughts on him taking their season pass. He did take it from her hand, and sighed.

"Your parents will be disappointed..."