Aberrant: 2011 - On the Set of Strangle

[z-Kara]

November 8, 2009, 5:03 a.m.

Kara leaned against the back of the camera operator's chair, resting her elbows on his arm rest and her chin on his shoulder. The young Asian-American mix was having a hard time sitting still, as he had a porn star cape. Kara for her part, was enjoying his squirming; she'd entertained idle thoughts of sleeping with the young man, but she had been too worn out to give it more than a thought. "There," she said suddenly, pointing at the screen they were watching.

"Crap," Kevin sighed, rubbing his face. "That's something on the lens. I'm so sorry, Kara. Do we need to put that on the reshoot list?"

"I don't know," Kara said, glancing at the clock. Five a.m. is not the time to make these decisions. Shooting would start in three hours, and she needed to hit makeup and costuming yet. Thank goodness her charaction, Gina, was pretty down to earth, preferring simple clothes over a more complex wardobe. "Yeah, put it on there, note why, and I'll ask the editor to take a peek and see if he can work around it. Man, that scene was awesome as we got it."

"I should have caught it in the dailies. Hell, I should have caught it when it happened," Kevin said, shifting his baseball cap slightly. "I take full responsiblity."

"Mistakes happen," Kara said, straightening up and stretching. Kevin watched her not-so-subtly, and Kara hid a smile. "Just catch it next time."

"Sure," he said, nodding quickly.

"Awesome," Kara grinned and ducked out of the make-shift office, heading across the warehouse she'd rented. Makeup and Costuming were in the same corner of the building, for convenience's sake. As she walked, she dodged the early-morning crews loading the equipment to take to that day's location; had this been a "real" film company, they might have an attached soundstage. But instead, they had to drag all the things they'd need to that day's location.

Dexter fell into step next to her, stumbling sleepily past the workmen. "Kara, just to confirm, we'll be at the house at lunch, right?"

Kara fumbled out her PDA and checked the schedule. "Looks like it," she agreed. "What're you getting us today?"

"I think-" A yawn cut him off, and her assistant shook himself as he tried to wake up. "I was going to get Greek caterers. People seem to like the salad and pita-bread sandwiches we got last time."

"Sounds fine," Kara said, nodding at him. "Dinner?"

"Schedule says we'll be wrapping at six."

"Really?" Kara said, checking again. "So it is. We'll be quitting at a decent hour today. Well, call Porcao and reserve a table for tonight. I want to take the other novas out for a nice dinner. Catch up with each of them and find out if they're interested."

"Sure," Dexter said. "Anything else?"

"Not that I can think of," Kara said with a smile. "Get a nap. You look bushed."

"Right," he grinned before walking off, intently studying his schedule - probably to plan for a nap.

With a smile, Kara slipped into the makeup room.

[Mech]

Connor sat in the chair in the makeup room allowing the staff to apply power to his skin to keep him from shining in the lights. It was a similar thing as to when he was playing Akira and not the Superior.

He looked at himself in the mirror while the people worked, wondering if he was avoiding the stereotype enough. His character Michael Guitierrez was a beat cop of Hispanic descent and Connor had gone back to old pictures from when he and his family had gone to Mexico for a fishing expedition. Their guide Nicholas had been invaluable to them the entire time, and it was from him that Connor was drawing both the look and the attitude for his character.

His skin was much darker than normal simulating a lifetime spent in the South Florida sun, and his hair was a slick silky black. He had the beginnings of a black mustache and was otherwise cleanshaven. He had hard doe-brown eyes and a thin smile. He wore the uniform of the Miami police department, the uniform of a beat cop.

Under his breath he muttered "Just what sort of man are you Michael Guitierrez?" as he went over the script he'd committed to memory in his mind.

[Adrenaline]

It was early. Too early to be on some set of a movie. John looked around, at the bright-eyed safety crews and stunt coordinators, with eyes half closed. Unlike them, caffeine did little to shake off the haze of sleep. For John, only an infusion of adrenaline would do the job. From what he could understand, nothing would be done until mid morning. After an hour on the set, it was only 6 AM.

Yawning, John rose from the chair he was sitting in and looked for the breaksfast table. His stomach clawed at the inside of his ribcage. The movie hands walking by with bagels and plates of food told him that it was near.

"Excuse me". John asked a young man carrying a plate of food in one hand, and a spool of wire in the other. "Do you know where the food is located."

Doing his best to not stare at John's obvious 'peculiarities', the stage-hand tried his best to accomodate. He pointed towards a large trailer parked by a large building. "It is inside that trailer. If you will excuse me, but I have to install this wire." The man ran off towards a trailer on the other side of the lot.

"What was that about?" John muttered to himself. He walked quickly to the meal trailer through the brisk morning air.

There was a ton of food. Obviously Kara had planned on Nova level appetites. It was fine with John, because for the last month, he had fasted. His home town of Monterey was trying to feed a legion of refugees, and the last thing he wanted to do was eat it all. Now, there were no constraints. His munchies were extreme.

After gorging himself with enough food for twenty, John went back to find his contacts on the set. Hopefully, Bellator would know more. Even better if Kara was around. Unfortunately, John doubted that she would be at the stunt location; at least not yet. They were probably inside on a soundstage.

More people milled around the stunt set. They reminded John of ants. Each person seemed to have their designated function, and all were busy. Also there, were several paramedics. They looked bored beyond belief, in their ambulance, as they looked to be fighting off sleep. John smiled. He knew how they felt. Supposedly, for both actors and stunt personell, you sat around most of the day... at least that is what Kara had told him.

[z-Kara]

Kara paused when she saw a familiar face across the building. Yawning, she waved at Longball and then grabbed a girl's arm. The girl was almost upset, until she saw who had grabbed her. "Yes, Ms... Bath?" she stammered.

"See the bald guy over there?"

"The... nova?" the girl squeaked.

"Yeah," Kara confirmed. "Tell him that if he wants to chat, I have to be in the makeup room for a bit but he can sit in there if he wants something to do."

"Ok," the girl said, trotting off.

Smiling, Kara entered the room, looking at the other occupant. "So are you a real extra, or is this Connor?"

[Mech]

"Connor drew himself up to his full height and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you Kara." Connor smiled. "You saw through personna. I guess it isn't as good as i thought. You're right it's me, Connor."

[z-Kara]

Kara giggled as she sank into a chair and let them put the apron over her. "No, sugar, I've been asking all the extras that," she said, eyes twinkling. "This is the first time I've caught you already shifted, is all."

Her smiled became gentler as she asked, "Are you ready for the other scene today? Nervous at all?"

[Mech]

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous, but yeah I'm good to go."

He shrugs. "It's nothing against you or anything, I've just always had a thing about public affection. And to be honest it doesn't get more public than a movie that's gonna be a blockbuster."

He smiles. "I'm just doin my best to have fun and not let you or anyone else down."

[Adrenaline]

As John wandered listlessly around the movie lot, he notced a young woman approach. "Come with me, please. Kara's trailer is this way." John gave her a relieved grin and headed over to a large trailer.

Inside he saw Kara, who was fitted with an apron and having makeup put on. In addition to the makeup and hair personnel was a man, who talked with Kara like they knew eachother. He was hJohn had never met him, and was not familiar with the 'who's who' in acting. Although he was obviously a nova, and could be there in a similar capacity to John.

"Kara!" He gave her a big smile. "It has been almost a year since I last saw you. How have you been?" John saw an empty chair near the man and moved to sit.

He noticed the man staring at him. "Hi, I'm John Laveragne (pronounced Laverran). Some people call me Longball. It's nice to meet you." He held out a hand that sparkled visibly with static electricity for the man to shake.

[Mech]

Connor took the proffered hand and gave it a good firm shake. "We've never met face to face before, but we've talked on the boards. I'm Connor Fontenot, or "Mech" as my nova hand;e. It's a pleasure to meet you in person. Damn shame Gabe's baseball game never happened, that woulda been one really fun day."

[Pele Kahu Ahi]

Pele was really bored, Miami was sligthly like Hawaii, but it had less tropical feeling and more latin feeling, it was a different kind of vibe and it was taking some time for Pele to adapt.

The set in the early morning was very quiet, but it would take about 15 minutes before it was bustling, better to go sleep under some teachie's heaven or hiding among the ligthing/sound equipment, he needs the sleep and they will just blast him through walls anyway.

[Adrenaline]

"It is good to finally meet you Conner" John sat down next to him. "It is a shame about the game, I was looking foreward to it."

"Not to be presumptuous, but is Fontenot, a French name?"

[Mech]

"Yes it is, I come from one of the oldest Cajun families."

He chuckles. "And definitely one of the most widely spread."

[Adrenaline]

"Cajun, huh?" John grinned, "My grandparents came to the US in the 1930's from the town of Arnot, in France. They and my parents insisted I learn French, unfortunately, I never picked it up. As a Cajun, you still speak it..right?"."

[Mech]

Connor looked a bit ashamed. "Actually no, I don't. Down home our schools strictly forbid speaking of any language of English outside our language classes. By the time I entered my senior year I could remember only rudimentary French and what Latin I learned as a freshman. Currently the only language I speak other than English is Japanese."

"I am studying to learn more languages, simply because knowing multiple languages can only help me as an actor, though right now I'm studying mostly Chinese and Spanish. The Show's ratings are rising higher and higher and we're only a little past the halfway mark. I don't think everyone expected the rampage scene to go like that. It left me totally drained each time we shot it."

He smiles. "Still it feels great to live the dream, though I hafta admit, I love flying just as much."

[Adrenaline]

"Your'e on a show right now?" Surprise crossed John's face. "I don't watch much televison...except as of late. I have been watching news of the LA quake..when I can get it." John felt embarassed, because Connor spoke as if John should have know about it. Maybe he should have and just forgot. It had been a difficult month.

[Mech]

"Yeah, It's the new Live action gundam show airing simultaneously here and over in Japan. It's the first of its kind. The first season was alot of fun, though I dunno if the second will go as well. Without Lina it's probably not going to go as smoothely."

[z-Kara]

"Hi, John," Kara managed now that the makeup guy wasn't doing things to her lips. She'd managed a wave earlier, but that was all. "How are you?"

Normally further pleasantries would be the order of the day, but Kara had been listening, and now she was concerned. "Lina's still gone?" she asked, realizing that she hadn't seen or heard from the girl in a while. "Oh, man. That's rough. What are you guys going to do?"

[Mech]

"Well technically she has until December first to show up. If she isn't there then, Director Tomino cas already worked how we will proceed. Due to the NDA I have with Bandai I can't say exactly how it will happen, but it is an interesting twist. Whenever Lina shows up her part will be waiting for her. Especially considering how the polls are going. She plays the second most popular character in the show and the 4th in overall popularity on Japanese television."

[Adrenaline]

"I am doing well. Though, I am mentally fatigued from having to deal with all the refugees coming from Southern California." John gave her a curious look. "When you were doing your porn, was it out of Burbank, Ca?"

John turned to Mech. "Japanese Gundam show. I'm still not sure what that is?"

[z-Kara]

"It's...," Kara's voice trailed off for a moment. "I've seen it," she said, as if confirming that to everyone, including herself. "I'm just still not sure... what. But Connor plays robots very convincingly, and the special effects are extremely impressive."

[Mech]

"It's not a show for everyone's tastes, though with time I hope it becomes that way. While I cannot use the same techniques for effects her that I do in the show, I'll do the best I can."

He chuckles. "So whadaya say we get this started?"