RESEARCH ( barry berkman.. ) ✔

o22. how to ho..

Villainizing innocence and purity is the trick up any writer's sleeve in truly freaking out an audience. The concept behind what should be a comforting though before a good, safe rest being corrupted and twisted into the nightmare of a lifetime is what has made and unmade many parts of history. Take a funny circus clown plenty of generations idolized and adored, take the priest in the confession room, a confidant of trust, or perhaps the icon of all children, Santa Claus, the dream come true, but instead of kindness, give them rage and darkness and all which makes humans so vile.

That would be a monster.

"Hoo. Ho... Ho?" Barry scrunched his face in an unsure gaze down at the papers in his hands. Both him and Adelaide were sitting up against the pillows on his neat, tall bed, as confused with the first run through the script as anyone presented with the idea of a Santa Claus taking Nightmare Before Christmas seriously and taking revenge, then proceeding to accidentally scare the shit out of children and families whose gifts are given with bits of the crime.

"I take it all back," Adelaide lifted her blank stare from the pages, "Gene understood absolutely nothing from my little square metaphor and I think I am on the verge of wanting to punch an old man."

"Come on...," Barry mused a shy whisper to her. He let the papers down in his lap and squeezed the arm he had around Adelaide, appreciative of her passionate care for him, but not supporting her sudden defensiveness in times of peace. "It's a great role with a worrying amount of lines."

"Oh no," Adelaide immediately placed a hand on his chest and turned around. Her knees drew in and she pulled them under herself, kneeling so besides Barry. "I love that you are finally getting a big role at the theater and trust me, until Halloween, considering how good of an actor you are when determined, you'll know this piece by heart." She touched the script in his lap to exemplify, "I'm just pissed that it has to be a violent role again. You have potential for more variety and I'm a little disappointed Mr. Cousineau hasn't realized that yet."

"Would you have liked if I played Mrs. Claus instead?" Barry voiced his joke slowly, allowing the corners to fade upwards, curved into an amusing smile. It felt impeccably perfect at last; he has played violent roles on the stage before and this was hardly as impactful as having to strangle Sally back when they were still together. Knowing he had Adelaide's support and care made it even easier so to picture himself playing and not letting acting take a toll on him too much.

Adelaide caught up on his joke in record time and grinned beautifully shameless, "Would you be wearing a skirt then?"

"I am pretty sure it would be a dress," Barry continued, earning Adelaide's laugh. It took her out into leaning into his arm again, but he still did not exceed to that level of acknowledging the humor. As long as he was able to keep this perfect moment going without worries, he was glad words were on his side. 

Adelaide has picked up the script again, reading the notes on casts scribbled on the first page by Mr. Cousineau. "Sally is playing Mrs. Claus?"

"Yeah," Barry answered normally, absolutely oblivious to the drowning of Addie's good mood. She had a bad feeling she couldn't shake as fast as Barry changed the topic from the obvious question to another easy to answer one. "Did I say that one-liner well at the end?"

"Oh, honey, no," Adelaide let herself drift into a grimace, shaking her head. "We have to work on those ho's. Should we go from the top again?" she handed the script back to Barry, but her mind continued to be darkened by an absolutely ridiculous worry.

"The abused becoming the abuser was true for you," Adelaide found herself remembering the moment her lips whispered those spiteful, venomous words into Sally's ear at the beach. Oh, her hands ached that night for more than just words to be thrown and the trip to the rage room has helped her kick out of her brain how hard she wished there was a way for her to properly make the blonde actress pay for her meanness.