:-o
Feb 27, 2014 20:14:02 GMT -8
Post by Kristi is prescribed skeletons on Feb 27, 2014 20:14:02 GMT -8
Chapter One
The Invitation
The vampyre stood in the middle of the room as blood dripped from the walls and the bright grey lights flashed in and out. The camera closed in on his sly fang filled smile. He moved in closer to Violet, her eyes wide and glassy. Her face contorted with terror as death incarnate approached, and she screamed ...
and screamed ...
and screamed ...
and SCREAMED!
Lychgate, a student film directed by August Hayes, neared its culmination on the largest wall of Bunnington Academy of Distinguished Arts’s gallery space. It was the final wrap party in the film’s run and the attendance was meager. Only crew members showed up for this last hoorah. August stood together with Cameron Bogart, Lychgate’s technician, and Courtney Humberbee, the promoter, near a cheap folding table that offered bad wine, little clear plastic cups, and evil looking hors d’oeuvres.
“I still think it's really amazing to have worked on something this good, even with the rough edges,” Said Cameron to the other two.
“Aw, shucks! Thanks guys. ‘Couldn't have done it without my team,” August beams. “What do ya mean, ‘rough edges’?” he asks after a brief pause.
“Nothing. Er... Nothing.”
“It's perfect August. You're great,” Courtney adds flatly.
“Heh… Well, at least nobody laughed, right? Not many people ‘got’ Go. This one looks like a ripper.” August took a long gulp of wine and hoped the place wouldn’t look so empty soon.
On the other side of the table were set designer Tristan ‘Jason’ Buton, a tall, blue haired boy that had been most occupied with the free booze, and Lychgate’s leading lady Babette Delaurier, a young woman with a look straight from the golden age of cinema. She too had her attention focused on her cup of wine and swirled it with an elegant air. "Oh," she breathed reverentially and stared up at her face projected large on the wall, “Yes. This is the best part ...”
“The end is always the best part,” replies Ru Knight, Lychgate’s method acting “vampyre”. He spoke in the same languid, breathy voice that he used while filming. He was the vampire- his skin was colored with white makeup that made him nearly the same shade as his black-and-white counterpart, his hair was dyed black, and his mannerisms were fluid and mysterious.
The vampire’s hands make spiders across the screen as their shadows reach for the screaming girl, his face so placid, he could be asking for a kiss instead of his darker motivations swirling like a cloud in heavy movement around him. The fog (artificial) added atmosphere and disguised the fringes of the set surrounding him.
As this scene played Jason and Cameron went out for a cigarette.
His face inclines- as if to kiss her cheek- and a slithering hand touches the other side of her neck delicately as she screams, comforting, asking her not to weep.
A dash of blood appears on the wall behind them (symbolic?) after a flash of sharp leonine teeth.
And then the blended shadows of the two are one, bound together in the darkness.
Eli, the Kastanian- Glennish concept artist with pop star looks, notices how similar this scene was to one of his original sketches, “Ah, this is one of my favorite parts. So dream-like. Speaking of the film, though, where's our other leading lady? Has anyone seen her? Usually, I'm pretty good about tracking everyone down...”
The camera pans to the film’s second heroine, Rose, her hands mirroring the vampire’s like a puppet and unaware of her sister's frail nakedness. Her mouth opens and words pour out as she struggles to regain control. Blood drips down her body and the camera follows it down unashamedly.
“S-stop… Please. Take… me... instead...”
Trileon ‘Leo’ Muningham, the tall punk makeup artist and daughter to Lychgate’s funder, arrived late and helped herself to the wine. She sipped her drink occasionally, though was otherwise engrossed in the film. “Now her eyes look too pale! That is going to fucking bug me for the entire night...” She was shortly followed by the film’s duo editor and bug supplier/handler Jun ‘Trevor’ Kato, who was a smallish, young Kohonese man. He had previously been more interested in sitting alone in the hall reading a hefty book on insect molecular genetics.
“She's not here?” August asks Eli, his face sinking. “She wouldn't sta- I mean leave us hanging, right?”
“I-I don't really know. I can't even remember the last time I saw her. I hope she's alright. Anyways, I'm sure it's nothing serious. ‘Lots of reasons to be late.”
“That is weird that she isn't here,” Says Courtney. “Oh, hi Trevor!”
Indeed, Chloë Blue, Lychgate’s “Rose”, said she'd come to this one in a text message to Babette, but hasn't arrived yet. In fact, she hadn't been to the last party or any showings since the film debuted a week ago.
Babette peeled her eyes from the wall screen and looked at August, Eli, and Trevor, in turn. It was a slow, penetrating kind of stare, “Our ‘Talulah’ will be here. I’m sure ... Trevor. Did you bring a little friend?” She wiggled her fingers like twitching spider legs.
“They couldn't make it,” Trevor replied with good nature even though he got sick of people asking him to bring his “little friends”. Courtney gave a small chuckle.
Trileon approaches the gathering group, half-full glass in hand, “Talulah wasn't here at the last party, or the one before that. It’s safe to assume she isn't showing up tonight either.”
“Hey, Trileon. I have to admit, that's a fair point,” Eli replied. “I didn't realize she'd missed that many. So... maybe we should call her? Does anyone have her number? We should at least check up on her and make sure she's okay.”
"No, I think Chloë was at the opening night wrap party...” Courtney chimes in, “I think. But she left early. You're right that she missed the last one, though. And it's more important for her to be here than anyone else, if any promotional opportunities come up.”
Meanwhile a rather drunk Jason smoked lying on the hood of his car, shooting the breeze with Cameron in the parking lot. Cameron puts his cigarette out on the pavement, “Movie’s gotta be to the part with the naked ladies by now, right? Wanna go back in?"
Jason gets a mischievous look and burns out his cigarette by smashing it against the hood of his car, "Then let’s hurry our asses back into that damn building."
Blood dripped ominously from the ceiling and small beetles crawled around in the corners of the room. The camera pans to a large drip as it goes sliding down a framed portrait of the two sisters smiling, candle light reflects off from the glass, and a large spider winds slowly down in front taking the camera with it. Showing the two girls now laying across each other on a dirty wooden floor, arms splayed tastefully across their naked bodies.
“Who’s naked and where are they?” Somebody half shouted, half slurred from the stairs leading to the gallery. Jason had returned and was not at all in control of his faculties. Cameron was following behind him a little sheepishly. Babette pursed her lips and Trileon nearly choked on a sip of wine, “Fucking drunk idiot,” she says, amused, "Someone get this cotton-candy-headed fool a cup of coffee before he falls on his ass." Cameron laughs quietly, “Um, sorry folks! Uh, he meant on the screen.”
A close up of the vampire’s eyes, brows furrowed. He gently picks up the spider and is shown sitting languidly on an ornate chair in front of the two women. He plays with it, treating it with loving care. A close up of the spider crawling about his fingers. The camera pans around showing the spider in the foreground and the two girls in the background.
(The footage of Ru handling the wild spider that made it to the final cut was the single successful filming attempt out of fifteen where she did not run off his hands willy-nilly. Even then it still wasn’t exact to August’s vision. However, Trevor wouldn't let them continue to aggravate the poor thing by that point.)
Brent Harrisley, the grip came in on the end of Jason’s outburst. “Hey, who started the party without this guy?” Brent announces himself rather boisterously. Jason dropped into a nearby chair, staring at the screen. “Oh, hey! Holy shit, man. The film looks great! And I'm not just saying that because there’s naked women on the screen!”
The party was winding down from its already crawling pace. As the film ended and started playing from the beginning Eli sent Chloë a text after August suggested calling would seem too needy, Brent was told off for making an off color joke, and August continued to fret about Chloë’s loyalty to the project.
As people were close to calling it, the sound of shoes clacked on hard floors, and down the stairs. A small figure peered into the room. "Wow, it's hard to see in here,” Chloë said as she squinted in. She was wearing very dark shades. “Oh my god, look at everyone,” she added in a hushed tone. A man dressed in black stepped in behind Chloë, putting a hand on her back.
“Don't tell me it's the stupid names our parents gave us? That's wack,” Shouts Rose. “Such spirit,” the vampyre replies, pleased. His long fingers trace the lines of Rose’s face leaving a bloody trail. A smile plays on his lips.
“Oh, my gosh. This part is so embarrassing!” Chloë says to her darkly dressed companion. “It isn't embarrassing, Chloë, it’s art-" Brent began to say but his words caught in his throat at the sight of the stranger.
Part of the cast considered the tall bloke while others greeted Chloë warmly.
“Look who's here!” August said with a broad smile.
“We've been worried about you. How are you doing?” Eli waved.
Trileon eyed the strange man suspiciously, and then gave Chloë a single pat on the shoulder with a smile, as if to say "Nice to see you prove me wrong," as she awkwardly shuffled around the pair. “I'm gonna go have a smoke.”
“Hi, guys,” Chloë greets the crowd, “Yeah, sorry I haven't been around. I had… stuff. So you should meet my friend! This is Wilhelm.”
“Good afternoon.” Wilhelm spoke with an inscrutable accent.
“It’s really good timing ‘cause I have amazing news. You guys should come to another party tonight.”
“Yes, I would like to invite you. I am a big fan of ‘zis film, I’ve seen it on the opening night. I ‘haff told some potential investors about you, and they'd like to meet you as well.”
“It's darn good to see you, Chloë, and to meet a man with such fine tastes.” August offered Wilhelm his hand with gusto, “I’m August Hayes, the director. It’s an honor. I’d reckon we’d love to as soon as we wrap up here. Help yourself to food and wine.”
Wilhelm accepted his handshake with a leather gloved hand, “I am pleased to meet you August, I wonder before who ‘zis director is, and how I shall meet him.”
“Why did you assume it was a man?” Chloë frowned.
“I think only a man makes a film like this...”
It’s artistic nudity, though,” August defends. “Our whole crew is very talented. Trevor here is a bonafide genius with bugs, knows how they work and everything! Leo’s a makeup whiz...”
“...And I’m supposed to make them look good for the camera,” Trileon finishes for him, reappearing in the gallery smelling of smoke. She casually extends her hand to Wilhelm, “Trileon. Call me Leo. My father is the man who paid for almost everything.”
“Hello, Wilhelm. I’m the movie’s promoter,” Courtney was next in line to schmooze, “I think it’s safe to say we are all going to come tonight.”
“Wonderful,” Wilhelm flashed a smile that glinted in the light.
“It’s gonna be great! Wilhelm’s family is totally loaded!”
“Chloë, that is not very polite.”
“Yeah, yeah. We should get going, huh? It's at this rich guy’s house on the waterfront-”
“August! I’m really sorry for the late arrival.” A bespectacled young man ran in, interrupting Chloë. It was Lychgate’s composer Quinn McCreedy. His somewhat flushed face sank with the realization that he had blundered into the middle of a conversation. As he looked around the room he noticed his friends’ expressions varied from uncertain to excited. He snuck himself in and joined Babette. “How has the reception for Lychgate been?” He asked her.
Babette shrugged, “Empty. Nobody to appreciate the movie. Honestly, this party has been dull. But things are looking up. We've been invited to a bigger event by a mystery man.”
“S’not a dull party. My movie’s playing...” August mumbled under his breath.
“If everyone is here now, shall we?” Wilhelm interjects.
“I sent you guys the address. Make sure everyone comes, okay?”
The two pale figures stepped out of the dark building and into the afternoon sun. Chloë wobbled on her heels, and Wilhelm had to steady her as they walked to a shiny black sedan.
The Invitation
The vampyre stood in the middle of the room as blood dripped from the walls and the bright grey lights flashed in and out. The camera closed in on his sly fang filled smile. He moved in closer to Violet, her eyes wide and glassy. Her face contorted with terror as death incarnate approached, and she screamed ...
and screamed ...
and screamed ...
and SCREAMED!
Lychgate, a student film directed by August Hayes, neared its culmination on the largest wall of Bunnington Academy of Distinguished Arts’s gallery space. It was the final wrap party in the film’s run and the attendance was meager. Only crew members showed up for this last hoorah. August stood together with Cameron Bogart, Lychgate’s technician, and Courtney Humberbee, the promoter, near a cheap folding table that offered bad wine, little clear plastic cups, and evil looking hors d’oeuvres.
“I still think it's really amazing to have worked on something this good, even with the rough edges,” Said Cameron to the other two.
“Aw, shucks! Thanks guys. ‘Couldn't have done it without my team,” August beams. “What do ya mean, ‘rough edges’?” he asks after a brief pause.
“Nothing. Er... Nothing.”
“It's perfect August. You're great,” Courtney adds flatly.
“Heh… Well, at least nobody laughed, right? Not many people ‘got’ Go. This one looks like a ripper.” August took a long gulp of wine and hoped the place wouldn’t look so empty soon.
On the other side of the table were set designer Tristan ‘Jason’ Buton, a tall, blue haired boy that had been most occupied with the free booze, and Lychgate’s leading lady Babette Delaurier, a young woman with a look straight from the golden age of cinema. She too had her attention focused on her cup of wine and swirled it with an elegant air. "Oh," she breathed reverentially and stared up at her face projected large on the wall, “Yes. This is the best part ...”
“The end is always the best part,” replies Ru Knight, Lychgate’s method acting “vampyre”. He spoke in the same languid, breathy voice that he used while filming. He was the vampire- his skin was colored with white makeup that made him nearly the same shade as his black-and-white counterpart, his hair was dyed black, and his mannerisms were fluid and mysterious.
The vampire’s hands make spiders across the screen as their shadows reach for the screaming girl, his face so placid, he could be asking for a kiss instead of his darker motivations swirling like a cloud in heavy movement around him. The fog (artificial) added atmosphere and disguised the fringes of the set surrounding him.
As this scene played Jason and Cameron went out for a cigarette.
His face inclines- as if to kiss her cheek- and a slithering hand touches the other side of her neck delicately as she screams, comforting, asking her not to weep.
A dash of blood appears on the wall behind them (symbolic?) after a flash of sharp leonine teeth.
And then the blended shadows of the two are one, bound together in the darkness.
Eli, the Kastanian- Glennish concept artist with pop star looks, notices how similar this scene was to one of his original sketches, “Ah, this is one of my favorite parts. So dream-like. Speaking of the film, though, where's our other leading lady? Has anyone seen her? Usually, I'm pretty good about tracking everyone down...”
The camera pans to the film’s second heroine, Rose, her hands mirroring the vampire’s like a puppet and unaware of her sister's frail nakedness. Her mouth opens and words pour out as she struggles to regain control. Blood drips down her body and the camera follows it down unashamedly.
“S-stop… Please. Take… me... instead...”
Trileon ‘Leo’ Muningham, the tall punk makeup artist and daughter to Lychgate’s funder, arrived late and helped herself to the wine. She sipped her drink occasionally, though was otherwise engrossed in the film. “Now her eyes look too pale! That is going to fucking bug me for the entire night...” She was shortly followed by the film’s duo editor and bug supplier/handler Jun ‘Trevor’ Kato, who was a smallish, young Kohonese man. He had previously been more interested in sitting alone in the hall reading a hefty book on insect molecular genetics.
“She's not here?” August asks Eli, his face sinking. “She wouldn't sta- I mean leave us hanging, right?”
“I-I don't really know. I can't even remember the last time I saw her. I hope she's alright. Anyways, I'm sure it's nothing serious. ‘Lots of reasons to be late.”
“That is weird that she isn't here,” Says Courtney. “Oh, hi Trevor!”
Indeed, Chloë Blue, Lychgate’s “Rose”, said she'd come to this one in a text message to Babette, but hasn't arrived yet. In fact, she hadn't been to the last party or any showings since the film debuted a week ago.
Babette peeled her eyes from the wall screen and looked at August, Eli, and Trevor, in turn. It was a slow, penetrating kind of stare, “Our ‘Talulah’ will be here. I’m sure ... Trevor. Did you bring a little friend?” She wiggled her fingers like twitching spider legs.
“They couldn't make it,” Trevor replied with good nature even though he got sick of people asking him to bring his “little friends”. Courtney gave a small chuckle.
Trileon approaches the gathering group, half-full glass in hand, “Talulah wasn't here at the last party, or the one before that. It’s safe to assume she isn't showing up tonight either.”
“Hey, Trileon. I have to admit, that's a fair point,” Eli replied. “I didn't realize she'd missed that many. So... maybe we should call her? Does anyone have her number? We should at least check up on her and make sure she's okay.”
"No, I think Chloë was at the opening night wrap party...” Courtney chimes in, “I think. But she left early. You're right that she missed the last one, though. And it's more important for her to be here than anyone else, if any promotional opportunities come up.”
Meanwhile a rather drunk Jason smoked lying on the hood of his car, shooting the breeze with Cameron in the parking lot. Cameron puts his cigarette out on the pavement, “Movie’s gotta be to the part with the naked ladies by now, right? Wanna go back in?"
Jason gets a mischievous look and burns out his cigarette by smashing it against the hood of his car, "Then let’s hurry our asses back into that damn building."
Blood dripped ominously from the ceiling and small beetles crawled around in the corners of the room. The camera pans to a large drip as it goes sliding down a framed portrait of the two sisters smiling, candle light reflects off from the glass, and a large spider winds slowly down in front taking the camera with it. Showing the two girls now laying across each other on a dirty wooden floor, arms splayed tastefully across their naked bodies.
“Who’s naked and where are they?” Somebody half shouted, half slurred from the stairs leading to the gallery. Jason had returned and was not at all in control of his faculties. Cameron was following behind him a little sheepishly. Babette pursed her lips and Trileon nearly choked on a sip of wine, “Fucking drunk idiot,” she says, amused, "Someone get this cotton-candy-headed fool a cup of coffee before he falls on his ass." Cameron laughs quietly, “Um, sorry folks! Uh, he meant on the screen.”
A close up of the vampire’s eyes, brows furrowed. He gently picks up the spider and is shown sitting languidly on an ornate chair in front of the two women. He plays with it, treating it with loving care. A close up of the spider crawling about his fingers. The camera pans around showing the spider in the foreground and the two girls in the background.
(The footage of Ru handling the wild spider that made it to the final cut was the single successful filming attempt out of fifteen where she did not run off his hands willy-nilly. Even then it still wasn’t exact to August’s vision. However, Trevor wouldn't let them continue to aggravate the poor thing by that point.)
Brent Harrisley, the grip came in on the end of Jason’s outburst. “Hey, who started the party without this guy?” Brent announces himself rather boisterously. Jason dropped into a nearby chair, staring at the screen. “Oh, hey! Holy shit, man. The film looks great! And I'm not just saying that because there’s naked women on the screen!”
The party was winding down from its already crawling pace. As the film ended and started playing from the beginning Eli sent Chloë a text after August suggested calling would seem too needy, Brent was told off for making an off color joke, and August continued to fret about Chloë’s loyalty to the project.
As people were close to calling it, the sound of shoes clacked on hard floors, and down the stairs. A small figure peered into the room. "Wow, it's hard to see in here,” Chloë said as she squinted in. She was wearing very dark shades. “Oh my god, look at everyone,” she added in a hushed tone. A man dressed in black stepped in behind Chloë, putting a hand on her back.
“Don't tell me it's the stupid names our parents gave us? That's wack,” Shouts Rose. “Such spirit,” the vampyre replies, pleased. His long fingers trace the lines of Rose’s face leaving a bloody trail. A smile plays on his lips.
“Oh, my gosh. This part is so embarrassing!” Chloë says to her darkly dressed companion. “It isn't embarrassing, Chloë, it’s art-" Brent began to say but his words caught in his throat at the sight of the stranger.
Part of the cast considered the tall bloke while others greeted Chloë warmly.
“Look who's here!” August said with a broad smile.
“We've been worried about you. How are you doing?” Eli waved.
Trileon eyed the strange man suspiciously, and then gave Chloë a single pat on the shoulder with a smile, as if to say "Nice to see you prove me wrong," as she awkwardly shuffled around the pair. “I'm gonna go have a smoke.”
“Hi, guys,” Chloë greets the crowd, “Yeah, sorry I haven't been around. I had… stuff. So you should meet my friend! This is Wilhelm.”
“Good afternoon.” Wilhelm spoke with an inscrutable accent.
“It’s really good timing ‘cause I have amazing news. You guys should come to another party tonight.”
“Yes, I would like to invite you. I am a big fan of ‘zis film, I’ve seen it on the opening night. I ‘haff told some potential investors about you, and they'd like to meet you as well.”
“It's darn good to see you, Chloë, and to meet a man with such fine tastes.” August offered Wilhelm his hand with gusto, “I’m August Hayes, the director. It’s an honor. I’d reckon we’d love to as soon as we wrap up here. Help yourself to food and wine.”
Wilhelm accepted his handshake with a leather gloved hand, “I am pleased to meet you August, I wonder before who ‘zis director is, and how I shall meet him.”
“Why did you assume it was a man?” Chloë frowned.
“I think only a man makes a film like this...”
It’s artistic nudity, though,” August defends. “Our whole crew is very talented. Trevor here is a bonafide genius with bugs, knows how they work and everything! Leo’s a makeup whiz...”
“...And I’m supposed to make them look good for the camera,” Trileon finishes for him, reappearing in the gallery smelling of smoke. She casually extends her hand to Wilhelm, “Trileon. Call me Leo. My father is the man who paid for almost everything.”
“Hello, Wilhelm. I’m the movie’s promoter,” Courtney was next in line to schmooze, “I think it’s safe to say we are all going to come tonight.”
“Wonderful,” Wilhelm flashed a smile that glinted in the light.
“It’s gonna be great! Wilhelm’s family is totally loaded!”
“Chloë, that is not very polite.”
“Yeah, yeah. We should get going, huh? It's at this rich guy’s house on the waterfront-”
“August! I’m really sorry for the late arrival.” A bespectacled young man ran in, interrupting Chloë. It was Lychgate’s composer Quinn McCreedy. His somewhat flushed face sank with the realization that he had blundered into the middle of a conversation. As he looked around the room he noticed his friends’ expressions varied from uncertain to excited. He snuck himself in and joined Babette. “How has the reception for Lychgate been?” He asked her.
Babette shrugged, “Empty. Nobody to appreciate the movie. Honestly, this party has been dull. But things are looking up. We've been invited to a bigger event by a mystery man.”
“S’not a dull party. My movie’s playing...” August mumbled under his breath.
“If everyone is here now, shall we?” Wilhelm interjects.
“I sent you guys the address. Make sure everyone comes, okay?”
The two pale figures stepped out of the dark building and into the afternoon sun. Chloë wobbled on her heels, and Wilhelm had to steady her as they walked to a shiny black sedan.