819 Sisterly Scorn

When the banshee shriek of “Cut!” had ruptured every able ear in the vicinity, it was like being picked up by the scruff of the neck and whisked right back into reality.

Suddenly, spotlights were blinking off, boom mics were swiveling and reeling back like lines in a fishing pole, and the once surly, foul-mouthed Elf whose raw distaste alone stole the air from the atmosphere broke into the happiest, relieved-weary smile, whipping her head back so fast one of her ears went crooked.

The only thing – or should I say the only one that seemed to still linger in the realm of fiction was the Elidna starring across from her.

Even with those ridiculously oversized wings like a poor woman’s Icarus, and webbed flippers flopping across the concrete, there was just something intrinsic about Amelia that just gave her this rather.. visceral vibe.

historical

Like she was literally born to play the part.

“Three minute scene of straight dialogue. Single-take panning shot. Riveting performances,” in bigger awe with every one, Leon raised each point with his fingertips. “If there’s only one thing you can say about our movie; it’s definitely well-shot, alright.”

The shaded tyrant himself seemed to be of a similar sentiment – offering praises instead of snarks, wearing a forbidden delighted smile on his face that surely meant the coming of end times.

“Good. That was very good! For a first take especially. Maltrisar, a bit more rasp in your voice, though,” He pointed over at Hayley, who saluted back in turn. “I want to really feel your disgust at having to cooperate with Leonardo. Alright, we’ll just go a few times, get a wide range of golden takes, and – hey, Qredra! Where are you going?! You’re still needed on set! Break hasn’t started yet!”

Qredra, whoever the hell that was, was completely nowhere to be seen. I, however, have spotted a rather funny-looking Amelia in a costume, staring incensed and making a beeline straight toward me.

.....

Neither I nor Ash really liked the harsh glint in her eyes, and immediately Ash subtly strode forward to intercept the potential threat.. a gesture that only further irked the ancient Elidna even more.

“Move, Elf,” Amelia stopped short, muttering darkly. “I only wish to talk to your Master.”

Ash didn’t budge, and I noticed her fists at her sides clenched in a familiar brace.

I stepped around her, saying at once before she could stop me, “I’m sure Amelia knows better than to try anything, Ash. It’s fine,” then I whirled around at the newbie actor, asking once more so there was no doubt, “Just a talk, right?”

“Provided your responses serve you well enough,” she said, slowly striding past us both and even bashing an utterly clueless and bemused Leon on the side in her wake. “Follow me. Alone.”

“Hey! Qredra, I’m talking to you!” a gleam of black shades finally managed to catch up to her, strutting and yelling still with an air of absolute authority. “You are not dismissed! You do not get to decide when to take a break or not – I do! Now, you get yourself back on set, otherwise, I will – !”

Whatever it was he claimed he’d do, unfortunately, no living soul had the chance to hear it. It was like the rest of the words got lodged on the way up his thick, broad neck.

Apparently, the Elidna also possesses the power of Medusa or something – because with just one single look, a glare shot back at him, and Amelia managed to freeze even the deep creases on his angry expression.

“You will be warned once, and once only..” She addressed him, not lifting, not easing her scowl in the slightest. “If you are ever to address me in this way again, you would forever wish your only regret was that you ever spoke at all. I am not here to please you. Am I understood?”

His words were still lodged, his thoughts were still stone – but his sunglasses drooped a little, unveiling the fear and compliance clear in quivering eyes. Appeased, Amelia disappeared into the hallway, unbadgered.

“What was that?” Leon spoke out first in the silence left over. “Okay, definitely can’t be related to Adalia like that, I suppose. Seriously..”

“She’s perfect..” the director said in a falter, falling to his knees and staring down at his trembling palms. “She’s completely and utterly perfect..”

Oh God, am I about to witness the birth of another Tyler over here to worship and praise the very air she breathes?”

“Master, is it truly wise for you to do as she says?” Ash said, tugging the end of my sleeve, her lustrous green eyes in a shimmering ripple of concern. “Especially unaccompanied, I don’t think.. whatever does she even want to do with you? We’ve only just arrived. How could you have possibly upset her to that extent in that time?”

I think I knew how. Hell, I didn’t just know it, I was sure of it, but alas..

“Only one way to find out,” I said, slowly turning my heels after her before glancing back at Ash with assurance. “Look, if you don’t hear back from me in five.. feel free to come to my rescue. I’ll even let you hold me like a princess again if it comes to that.”

Ash parted open her lips to say something again, but what sounded out instead was a completely different person’s cry, echoing gleefully in approach.

“Well! Well! If it isn’t the fairest Elf in all the land! I didn’t know you were a part of this too!” Hayley completely swarmed Ash with her suffocating extroverted energy, and with her hands shaking hers firm, asked with a smile, “Hey, I suppose you’re quite an expert on Elven culture, right? Seeing as how you’re the closest anyone has coming to being one. While I have you, do you mind giving me some tips on my performance? Share a little of your knowledge of what I can do to become a better Elf, maybe? C’mon, it’ll be fun!”

What a way with timing Hayley had. So close and yet so far I’ve come to an interaction with her, but sadly can’t really ignore the vampire’s beckon. Oh well, I’m sure there will be plenty more opportunities for a chat later on.

So, sucking in a breath full of resolve, I promptly left the bizarre scene of a baffled Leon, making sure to sidestep the prostrating creature that used to be the director, and with Hayley’s inquiries fading ever fainter with every step, I found myself turning into an isolated corridor that only seemed to stretch into a nothingness.

“Over here,” Amelia’s tight, constricted sound from a secluded room nearby, and I felt a little tingle, seeing the pitch-black of her eyes peering at me from the darkness within. “I wish not to cause a scene.”

Still undaunted.. I think.. I shuffled myself into the empty room, trying not to let the flashbacks of near death and broken feet scare me into submission. Gotta keep in mind, when it comes to Amelia – she’s mostly bark and fewer bites.

Or so I dearly hope, she was.

“I’m here,” I said, announcing myself in a limp flourish. “And so are you – surprisingly. You’re the last person I’d ever think to be involved in something like this.”

“Mm,” She agreed, her jaw locked in a tight clench. “No thanks to you.”

“Tyler must have some mystical powers I don’t know about if he somehow managed to rope you into this. If you don’t mind saying, what the hell even happened between you and – ?”

“You copulated with my sister.”

Ah, what a perfectly good string of words to penetrate my ears like a diamond drill powered solely by hate and malice.

“Amelia, hey..”

“That night, that Christmas.. you barely know her, mere months in your supervision.. but in your perversion, your debauchery.. did you care? did you ever once considered? No, you ravaged her. Like an animal. Dumb. Despicable.”

“I assume she told you about it?”

“Tell me?” Amelia blinked uncharacteristically fast. “There was no need for her to. The very moment I entered this building, I could smell it, sense it. You. Her. Some here. Some there. Some on the walls. Most on the floors..”

“Alright, I got it – no need with the details,” I said. “Look, it just suddenly happened. We were just watching the fireworks, and suddenly the next moment, Adalia..”

“Do not dare pin this on my sister!” She took a step forward, magnified her voice a little louder. “Do not make the insipid claim that she pounced on you first! Of course she would have done so! Feeling a swarm of emotions she never had! The responsibility befalls on you to ensure that she channels right! And what did you do?”

“So you think we got into it a little too fast?”

“A little? So you were aware of it yourself! And yet – what has become of that judgment? Could you really not have restrained your carnal desires long enough for her sake? To consider that perhaps she should only give herself to the one she can truly love?”

I had so much patience prepped and resolute before coming here, but at the sound of those words, they suddenly all vanished.

“No. Amelia, we are not going through this again. I’m not doing this. I told you, I promised you, I am the one for her.”

“You keep saying that!”

“Because you keep being stubborn about it!”

“Argh!” a flash of white, the glint of fangs, and suddenly I found her the tip of her claws only a hair’s breadth away from the skin of my neck. Amelia clenched her teeth, gaze visibly trembling. “I should castrate you.”

No, thank you.

“Look, as her sister, you’ve every right to want only the best for her, I get it,” I said, unmoving in place. “But sometimes.. you can’t always be the one to provide what truly is best for her at any given moment.”

“And what would you know of it?” She sneered, the corner of her lips curling, baring more of her fangs. “From what presumption do you stand on to dare claim such a thing? As if you’d know.”

“But I do,” I said. “I know..” then answering the furrowing of her brows, I said. “It wasn’t your love that saved her back in the village of Gron, was it?”

Amelia stiffened, and with a twitch, I saw the jagged edges of her fingers slightly sink.

“You know..” She whispered.

“Yeah,” I nodded. “I do.”