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Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [Interlude] How Every Blockbuster Gets Started... [FIN]


Toby Lupin

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"Hmmm....do you think I could play a rakish White Rabit?" He held up his arms, the light in the room glinted off the opalescence of his skin. He gave Cyndi a crooked grin. "Is our White Rabbit allowed to be rakish?"

A thought made him blink. "Actually, I think I might be better suited as the Cheshire Cat, at least for personality and total irreputability - is that a word? Perhaps Darion could be our White Rabbit? I know he's been in some films, but mostly as a martial artist. And eye candy."

As if to prove is 'irreputability', he scooped up Darrik an deposited the black-clad tease on his lap, wrapping arms around his waist and nipping at the sensitive skin of his neck. He grinned at Cyndi from over Darrik's shoulder. "What do you think?"

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“It’ll work,” she said. “But Darion? I dunno. I’m not that impressed with his character work. He’s mostly good at exerting force of personality and – as you say – kicking ass. He works in Hong Kong movies because there’s a very particular kind of acting they do, and he happens to be good at it. Plus he tends to play a limited range of characters, and I don’t know if there’s any version of the white rabbit or interpretation thereof that would fit him. That does branch us into a more serious matter, though.”

In the background, Snow and Prudence settled down a little and went back to their seats. Prudence was starting to ripple and bulge at the edges, but had not begun to fully change yet.

“What’s up?” Darrik asked.

“Well, I’m still not quite seeing it. We’ve got roles, actors, plus a basic idea of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking glass being a Teras metaphor. We don’t have the beginnings of a script. Whatever message I want to put forward as the director is emergent from whatever is given to me in the script. So who is going to be our writer?”

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Darrik nodded, working in his head on what options there were. Snow and Prudence were actors, not writers, he was still new enough that it wasn't recommended giving HIM the job. Puck was too busy for the extent of script-writing. This was an interesting question. "Well, I would suggest asking Chang, but that's a little too quick for my liking. You know," he mused, "since this is a potential Mad Lab project... I'm not as familiar with everyone in the Anavasi. How many writers have we got there? We really should shop around to the wider faction for others who could and would work in this."

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Puck nodded, "That's a great idea. We could reach out to the Anavasi in general for set designers, choreographers, writers, more actors, all of that. Really get into this as a group project. Perhaps set up a private OpPage for those interested to pitch ideas and put themselves forward for whatever position?"

"And if we're going to do this with that level of commitment and seriousness, then we should have auditions." He glanced around the room, "When it's just our own idea for a small production, assigning roles is fine. If we're going to make this an official Mad Lab production, then that's a level of formality that includes auditions, even if we restrict the audition pool to Anavasi members."

He gave them all a Cheshire grin, "Agreed?"

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The Alchemist gave Puck a raised eyebrow. “You think you were going to get away without an audition? Please. Professional here,” she said, pointing at her own chest. “And over there, sort of.”

It was hard to think of Snow as a professional anything, and these days people often forgot about the old Prudence, the one who was all starlet up until Chang got her claws into her and unleashed the monster inside.

“I assumed this was Mad Lab from the get go,” she said, lacing her arms through the back of her chair and stretching them out. She snaked them around her own waist and then made a figure eight up the front of her body before cupping her chin with both hands. It always felt great doing that. Her skin turned warm and rubbery. It made her feel distinctly naughty.

“You have to understand there’s always the risk of too many fingers in the pie. I don’t do big studio effects productions. They’re gaudy and the performances end up getting lost in special effects and quantum hoo-doo. A lot of the other Anavasi lean that way. Don’t worry, I’ll draw up a short list. I know who I work with and who I don’t. Puck, I’d like you to hit up Chang for set design. I don’t want writers plural. That’s always a recipe for disaster. We’ll be waiting on a script late next year if you do that, or it’ll turn into a quantum-powered screaming match and we can do without that drama. Honestly, if you can persuade Chang to try writing for a change I’d be happy with her as the writer as well. She is the one who created the Anavasi whether she likes to admit it or not. I can’t think of anyone better to put her thoughts on Teras into this script. I’m completely open on choreographers and other actors, though.”

Puck and Darrik both nodded. They were brilliant in their ways, but this was her territory and they were happy to let her lead if she wanted to. And she damn well would. A director needed to.

“You still like the OpNet idea?” Puck said.

“Sure, it’s as good a way to reach out and touch people as any. Once we’ve got ourselves a full crew we can set up the first official Anavasi Commune. We’ve got plans for Communes in different parts of the world, so might as well make the set of our movie the groundwork for the first one.”

The Commune system was one of Snow’s ideas. Once the artists agreed to work on a project, they would need somewhere to hang out in a group and bounce ideas off each other not to mention do the actual productive work. It would also be a neat way to parcel out Mad Lab funding for the projects once they had their slush fund set up.

“Are we auditioning?” Prudence asked. Her chest was three times as wide as the rest of her body now, heaving and warped as her tentacles writhed under the surface. Her voice was distorted, throaty, and unnaturally deep.

The Alchemist smiled at her. “Do you want in the movie?”

“Sure. I can do butch lesbian Mad Hatter any time.”

“Then you’re in,” she said. “I do love a quick audition.”

Darrik frowned. “Isn’t that cheating?”

“Best thing about being a director, darling,” The Alchemist said, “it’s a total dictatorship. I can play favourites as much as I want.”

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