So that's how it all went
Me and friend went to the RSC merch shop. We were looking around, I was wondering whether to buy a poster of the play.
So we were standing right next to merch of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and my friend was pointing at the black and white silk tie, saying something like "I bet he wears it during the play"
And at that moment I look away and for a second my eyes land on a face of a person standing like a metre or two away from us. And I usually try to avoid eye contact as much as possible, so I turned back to my friend
I recognised the fucking nose.
I instantly looked back and it was fucking him. Looking at his own merch.
I'm not sure whether he wanted to just take a quick look at it and leave or he left because he saw that he got recognised (I'm sure "OH MY GOD IT'S MARK GATISS" was literally written on my face), but anyway, he started heading towards the exit
I look at my friend, gesture to follow me and just run outside
Mark was going down the stairs, so I just came closer and said "sorry" (can't remember if I called him by the last name, maybe he looked back almost immediately)
And you know what he said??? He jokingly was like "I was just looking at the terrible merch" oh my god, I can't remember if I just laughed or said something like "it's not terrible!.."
So he stopped and I could fucking feel how panic was rising inside me
So now I've gotta tell you the plan I had when meeting him. My friend @fancy-pansy who is, well, an artist, had painted Gabriel Book. And few weeks before a play I offered them to print that painting and give it to Mark. I thought my friend would politely refuse, cuz I was half joking but that fucker accepted my offer.
AND because my artist friend is insane, they wrote a message they wanted to put on the back of the copy of a painting. And they wrote it in such a way that it's fucking impossible to guess whether it's even in English or not. They did it on purpose. I guess all artist are like that. Here's the message btw (if you're able to read it, I applaud you)
(that's their self portrait btw...)
So here I am, putting my backpack down in front of Mark to take the cope of the painting out. I apologised for being a bit shaken up and he assured me "it's okay"
And because at that second I was fighting myself to not forget basic English, I forgot what I planned to say about the painting, so I said something like about that my friend drew this, they couldn't come, but they wanted me to give it to Mark
So I gave the copy of the painting to him
He said "It's nice" with a smile and added something, either mentioned someone's a name or some title, I didn't really catch it
By the way his voice was SO DEEP I wouldn't instantly recognise it if I didn't know it was him
The thing is. It was the first time ever that I was so SO stressed and shocked
So he asked me, if I want to take a photo, I said YES OF COURSE
I also was like "oh my god you're SO tall"...
When I pulled my phone out and turned the camera on, it was almost impossible to see us on the screen because of how hard my hands were shaking (but my phone still was able to take a photo, so yay). Here it is:
And he was so nice. He offered to take a photo himself I almost died
He said to take the painting and he took my phone
(thus is literally the moment we switched phone and painting.....)
And let me tell you. He took one normal photo:
and then he lowered the camera down. Just like those dads who are 50+ years old do. He was like "O, that's a nice tower!" and I couldn't do anything but smile
When he took the photo, I almost forgot to give the painting back to him 😂
I think I thanked him again and he was ready to go, but asked me whether I'll come tonight, I said YES. (btw, our seats are literally in the front row I will fucking scream)
And then I finally went to my friend. We saw him walking on the street I think he went to some restaurant. But anyway. After that the only thing I wanted to do is just lay down. My life was complete.
Now almost 2 hours passed after that but I'm still shaking like it happened a minute ago