Chapter 940 Setting The Scene
I could see the filming site way off in the distance. Bits and pieces of it anyway, jutting out into view further down the trail. Props, backdrops, and some shuffling figures here and there indicative of quite a substantial gathering.
Unlike Amanda, I was in no particular rush to get to set. I prefer to at least take the time first to relish the last few moments of free will I still have left before I render myself completely subservient to some madman with a vision for the rest of the afternoon.
Luckily, I had company. Hyper, occasionally obnoxious, but welcomed company nonetheless.
"By the by, Big Man, you heard the news yet?"
Tyler whirled his eyes at me like he was wearing big giant googly goggles the way he had them opened so wide. When it came to news, and especially when it comes from Tyler—the two are most often interlinked with each other.
"You mean your big announcement video?" I asked, remembering then all the times I've seen it pop into my feed, and also all the times I immediately swiped to something else instead. "I mean, I saw it… was gonna watch it at some point eventually."
"Fuck that, I'll save you the ad-watch," Tyler said, his smile unbruised and spread from ear to ear. "It's officially official, dude—I'm packing up my base of operations and permanently moving right here in the city."
"Oh," I looked at him blankly. Honestly, I completely forgot he wasn't already living here in the first place. "That's good. Good for you, man."
"Yeah, it's becoming a real pain in the ass to drive the million miles up here whenever I want to. And right now? I don't think I've ever had a better, truer reason to stay now more than ever if you get what I'm saying."
I took another step. More than halfway across, and the set no longer looked like tiny glimpses of bits and pieces here and there.
I could see the crew, a huddled swarm of silent busywork ensuring things were just right. Cameras scattered across the place set in various sorts of odd angles and positions, and cables, thick and many, snaked along the tall grass in the biggest display of a tripping hazard I've ever seen.
Then there, in the heart of all the movie magic, I spotted the Elidna deep in the limelight. Her webbed wings, large and obtrusive, her very presence a cold, uneasy disparity to the warm scene of blue skies and green grass that her smooth, elongated feet sauntered upon almost callously.
Anybody else, and an ominous shiver in the spine would have been a more than understandable reaction. Tyler, on the other hand, could have waltzed off a cliff the way he suddenly turned so blind to everything else around him.
"Is she really that worth it?" I asked, momentarily snapping back to Tyler back to his senses. "I imagine hauling your entire life somewhere else isn't as easy as you make it sound."
He shrugged, kicking and skidding a stray pebble on the path off somewhere into the grass.
"Spent my entire time after getting discharged looking for a new place to stay. Some of my boys ain't too keen on the idea just yet. They crash with me usually and if they do that means they also leave family with the move, so that's a bitch. Gonna have to ditch some video projects. Some things here you can't do like you can from where I come from. And I'm also still paying for the fucking house I move out of for the next six months cause motherfucking leases, am I right?"
"Exactly," I said. "It's a big move. You confident you're not gonna regret this choice?"
When I glanced back at him, Tyler was once again a million worlds away; his unblinking gaze capturing the Elidna's performance with better clarity, better appreciation than any glass lens.
"Don't know," he softly muttered, smiling stupidly, happily. "Don't care."
When we got close enough to the set, that's when Tyler suddenly halted his steps. He stood back like some unknown invisible barrier was keeping him in place, one he didn't dare push his luck upon.
"I'm under a restraining order now," he explained, flailing his arms helplessly. "Only allowed on set to a certain point, any closer and they'll be kicking my ass out. Final warning now. The Director said I get too 'disruptive' or whatever when they start filming Amelia's scenes. Like, can you actually believe the fucker?"
Unsurprisingly, I can.
"Guess I'll see you during lunch, then," I said, throwing a quick wave. "Wish me luck in there."
"Blow them away, Big Man!" He exclaimed, beaming with two thumbs up. "Just remember me in your speech when you're up on stage with that Oscar."
Most of the film crew were much too busy taking takes to pay much attention to me creeping into attendance. I looked around. It felt slightly surreal seeing so many foreign objects scattered around in a place so familiar to you. The set was just barely skirting the large cluster of trees where once upon a time, a certain silent, belligerent little individual used to call home.
I can only imagine the chaos that would have ensued had she still hung around for this long. Then again, there's also the chance that she somehow wriggles her way into the script knowing the way our man in charge operates.
No lines, either.
Lucky her.
"Psst! Chester!"
Hearing the name of my alter-ego being uttered, I searched through the row of heads for the source. I didn't have to look for long, not when your source stood out as well as he did—fluttering locks of wavy gold as striking as the shimmer of his armor cladded all over his sturdy, heroic frame.
Those piercing blue eyes of his beckoned me forward, his charming smile twinkling like stars, and finding no reason not to, I complied.
"About time you got here," Leon whispered as I joined him just off to the side of the unfolding scene. "Amanda's in the trailer getting her costume ready. We're up next after this."
"Right," I said, turning my gaze to the direction of where all the cameras were pointed. "And what's happening now?"
"Where's Ash?"
"Home," I said plainly. "What's happening now?"
"You didn't get the script?"
"I got the script, not the story," I said. "Walk me through it."
"Pretty self-explanatory. After I discover that the portal can only be activated in the presence of someone related to the First Divine, I'll go off in search of Tressa in hopes of convincing her to join me. But before that, we get a scene of Qredrar here up to no good."
I glanced at Amelia's character, in silence, in wait, a calmness on her face pillared by an unfathomable strength she harbored through every step she made. We locked eyes for the briefest moment and in that split-second, I saw her attempt to keep her composure and not sneer at me the way she often does every other instance.
"What kind of no good?" I asked.
"The sabotaging kind," Leon whispered. "After Qredrar's encounter with me back in her domain, the Elidna grew curious about this new world that I come from and my goal to save it. She intends to take the portal herself and witness herself the world the Divines had abandoned hers in favor of. With less than noble intentions, of course."
The more I heard, the more unreal it all felt. This all apparently happened, and at any moment, my Dad was gonna show up and basically watch a reenactment of his own hero's journey. I can't even begin to wrap my head around every layer of weird this all was.
"Qredrar assigned Remelda, Hayley's character, to aid me until the perfect time to enact her plan," Leon continued, the reliable exposition dumper he was. "Right now, Remelda has briefly snuck away from my party to relay what she's learned so far."
And indeed, as if on cue, Hayley announced her presence with the slightest rustle in the bushes, slowly emerging into view with a disdainful glare so unlike the person I know.
They began to recite their lines, each with a level of gravitas and genuinity I hope to God I'll be able to match when the time comes. I watch them bounce off each other—Hayley increasingly growing vexed with the task she's been burdened with, and Amelia calmly yet imposingly putting her in her place… something I'm sure was simply second nature to her.
"By the way," Leon whispered quieter in my ear, shielding his words from a boom mic hovering just above our heads. "I heard from the director. Apparently, we're having special guests today, are we?"
Right. Of course. Only natural that everybody else knows too given the line of work we're in. Shouldn't be too surprised.
"Just for today, I promise," I whispered back. "They insisted."
"Oh no, I'm not complaining. I'm actually quite eager to meet them. You should hear my father go on and on about your dad whenever the topic comes up. I'd like to see him for myself. What's he like?"
I gave Leon a thorough look. Sword on his back, his cape billowing with the slightest breeze. His hair was slicked back too. Just like Dad's was.
"Nothing special," I answered.
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