Of Damsels & Dragons by Nona Mae King
~*~
knock knock knock
Amy opened the door with a smile that faded into a surprised blink. “M-Ms. Heron!”
Ms. Vanessa Heron smiled a genuine greeting as she gracefully motioned to Mark beside her. “I’m afraid I begged and whined until Mark promised to bring me. I missed our meeting that first day on-set and just had to set it right.”
Amy shook her head. “No, no. It’s fine! Come in. Please.”
Vanessa passed with an air of both refined sophistication and welcoming interest. Her long, dark brunette hair was simply braided, and beneath her long London Fog coat she was dressed in a pair of casual black slacks and a silk blouse of dark blue. To Amy’s delight and surprise, Vanessa Heron seemed as normal as any other person Amy had met.
Mark sent Amy a boyishly guilty smile that clearly said ‘sorry’. Amy waved it away with an expression of ‘don’t worry about it.’ “Can I offer you something? Coffee? Tea? Water?”
Vanessa faced Amy and started slipping out of her coat. Mark made his way over to help, and Amy found the entire scene adorably amusing. “Do you have decaffeinated tea?”
“Better. I have herbal. Would you like some?”
“Yes. That would be wonderful.” Vanessa sat delicately on the couch, still examining the furnishings and the decor as Mark sat close beside her. “Oh Amy, I love your apartment. It feels so much as a home should.”
Mark jerked a quick motion over his shoulder. “And check out her library. You’d love it. She’s got everything you and Garret read.”
“Oh how wonderful,” Vanessa said with smiling eyes. She focused her attention back on Amy, who busily prepared the teapot to put it on the stove. “I understand from Mark that you and Garret have begun rehearsals?”
Amy smirked, but didn’t turn. “Yes, but he’s got a meeting this evening, so we’ll have to postpone until tomorrow.”
“Great. I think we need to work on the ‘Cloud’s Sin’ scene. I can’t remember which scene number it is.”
Vanessa laughed, and the sound was musical and genuine. “Mark, you can’t occupy all of Amy’s time. I have scenes to rehearse with her as well.”
Amy smiled wide as she moved to lean on the bar counter. “There’s only three more days until shooting starts. I don’t think I have enough time to rehearse with everyone.”
“Which majorly sucks because Shepherd’s filming your scenes first. He probably wants to get you out of his hair.”
“Mark,” Vanessa chided. “That wasn’t necessary.”
“It’s the truth, though.”
Amy arched an eyebrow. “Why? What did I do to Mr. Shepherd?”
Vanessa looked from Mark to Amy. Her expression was muted regret. “You weren’t his first choice for Aeris.”
“First choice? She wasn’t even close!”
Vanessa sent an attractive scowl to Mark beside her. “Mark Frasier,” she scolded, “what have I told you about tactless phrases like that?”
Mark ignored the scold as he held her gaze. “It’s the truth, and Amy knows it already.”
“That is beside the point,” Vanessa pressed.
“It’s alright,” Amy said.
Vanessa looked back over to Amy with an apologetic smile. “It’s hardly that, but thank you. I find his tendency to blurt truths his greatest attraction most of the time.”
“Hey. ‘He’ is in the room,” Mark protested half-heartedly.
Vanessa reached over to rest a hand on Mark’s knee as she looked over at him. “Yes, dear,” she said in a clearly patronizing tone.
“Hey now. None of that. You promised.”
Vanessa laughed with a tilting back of her head. Amy smirked. The woman knew exactly what to do to look beautiful. “I’m sorry, Mark.”
Mark moved aside her braid to give her back some gentle rubs. “We’ll have words later,” he told her with a meaningful look.
Vanessa chuckled before looking back over at Amy, who had set herself to work at preparing Vanessa’s tea. “I would love to participate in the readings and rehearsals today, Amy. If you don’t mind.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” Amy said as she brought out the tea cup and saucer. She set it on the coaster in front of Vanessa. “I’d love to have you join us. You don’t care, Mark, do you?”
Mark shook his head. “Nope. I just wish she’d have brought her costume.”
Vanessa frowned as she slapped Mark somewhat firmly on the arm. “Mark!”
Mark and Amy laughed.
“For heaven’s sake,” Vanessa complained with fists on hips. “To be ridiculed by you of all people, Mark. You know they cast me as Tifa just to spite me.”
Amy sat on the couch beside Vanessa. “Don’t believe that, Vanessa. Tifa is a wonderfully complex character, and I think you’re the only one who can draw that out onto the screen.”
Vanessa changed her gaze to Amy. “She is complex, that I don’t deny, but a bartender? Why couldn’t they have written her as an innkeeper or an armorer? Instead, I must traipse around in a too-short skirt with a padded bra – that is simply ridiculous in size – and do my best to be taken seriously.” Vanessa sighed deeply as she lowered her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.
Mark gently rubbed her back. “Sorry, Nessie,” he said. His tone clearly conveyed he felt like a jerk.
“Vanessa, it won’t be that horrible,” Amy consoled.
Vanessa sighed again as she lowered her hand. “Yes, I know, but to think the casting might be a plot to sabotage my career... It breaks my heart.”
“Your fans won’t let that happen,” Mark assured her.
“Mr. Harrison won’t either,” Amy added.
Vanessa looked over at Amy with a patient smile. “Amy, Garret is the one who suggested me for this role.”
Amy blinked as shock grabbed her by the throat. “What?”
“Garret and I were intimately involved at one time, he’s quite the charmer you know.” Vanessa raised her hands in a helpless gesture. “I’m afraid I didn’t handle the break-up very well, as in I didn’t word it correctly. I’m sure he went away hurt and insulted. This is his revenge.”
Amy shook her head. “B-But... But I’m sure he wouldn’t do something like that. He wants this movie to be a success as much as the director does. After all, it’s his reputation on the line.”
Vanessa nodded. “I’m not saying that casting me as Tifa will jeopardize the success of the movie. If anything, my name will attract a certain amount of attention from critics. However, in casting me as Tifa, he is assured of attention while slurring my reputation with an unspoken criticism to my personal character.”
“And why do you think he wanted me as Cloud, Amy?” Mark put in. “Cloud’s a puppet controlled by the villain. He doesn’t have a clue about it, either. He’s just a soldier who hurts the people he loves because he’s doing what he’s been designed to do: follow orders.” Mark scoffed. “Garret’s made it painfully obvious he thinks I’m just a robot doing what I have to do to get the money and the attention I want.”
Amy shook her head again, eyes wide. “I don’t... I can’t believe that. He cast the people he knew would do the best in the role. There wasn’t a subversive motive.”
Vanessa smiled. “You’re welcome to give him the shadow of the doubt, Amy. After all, even the invincible Garret Harrison needs that every once and a while. However, I know him too well.”
Amy lowered her gaze to her clenched hands as her mind reeled, her heart nearly drowning under the wave of negative information. I can’t... I can’t believe it. I won’t. Amy shook her head yet again, and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. Amy stood to her feet just as Vanessa leaned forward to say “Are you all right? You look pale.”
“If you’ll excuse me,” Amy whispered. “I need to take a second.”
Mark and Vanessa exchanged a curious expression. “Did you need for us to leave?” Vanessa asked gently.
“N-No. It’ll only take a minute. I-I just need to be alo
Amy went to her room, closing the door softly behind her before turning on her stereo - Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman already cued and ready - and lying back on her bed. She stared at the ceiling of her room with an arm over her forehead, blinking as thought after tenacious thought attacked her view of Garret.
Amy’s throat tightened, squeezing in on itself until she thought it would choke her. Then she closed her eyes and softly cried.
It only took Amy a couple of minutes to cry out her frustration and her initial feelings of shock and disbelief. Then her feelings for Garret and her obsession with seeing the best in people took firm hold of the information and shoved it in the corner for a later conversation with him. Once done, she exited the room, assured the two she felt better, and promptly led the them into rehearsal of shared scenes.
Rehearsal went smoothly, with only a few changes in the wording here and there, and the trio’s chemistry jumped off the page. Vanessa did an awesome job portraying jealousy of Aeris’ obvious attraction to Cloud, and Mark did a spectacular job being ‘concerned’ for both of them. To say the least, Vanessa, Mark, and Amy all had fun.
Then Vanessa reminded Mark of an appointment, Mark bowed out of dinner that evening, and Amy wished them a pleasant good-bye while accepting their promise to return the next day for more rehearsal. Amy leaned against the closed door with a deep breath. Renee would be furious that dinner with Mark Frasier had been cancelled, but Amy wasn’t in the mood. I’ll just have to make it up to her later.
A backstage pass would be the only ticket.
As expected, about the time Garret and Amy would normally begin their rehearsal, Garret called.
“Hello,” Amy greeted, and she could hear the reserved tone in her voice. After all, she didn’t want to start crying over the phone.
“As always, I have arrived too early and have forgotten my PDA.”
Amy reluctantly smiled. “I’m sorry.”
Silence. “Amy, there is no song in your voice,” Garret observed.
Amy traced the pattern of her flannel loungers on her knee, sitting as she was tailor-style on the couch. “Nope.”
“What has happened?” he asked carefully.
Amy cleared her throat. “I would really rather not talk about it over the phone. Not this.”
Silence. “The meeting may go quite late.”
“I know,” she said as she nodded. “Can you stop by afterward anyway? I’ll nap on the couch, that way I’ll hear your knock and you won’t wake Renee.”
“Amy…”
“I don’t want to talk about this over the phone. It’s too impersonal.” And Amy’s voice caught in her throat.
Garret released a long breath. “What have I done?” he asked, his voice colored by dread.
Amy shook her head and closed her eyes. “Please, Garret. Just come by later. You deserve that.”
Silence. “Very well.”
“Thank you, Garret,” she whispered.
Silence. Deep breath. “Did rehearsal go well with Mark?”
Amy reluctantly smiled. “It did. He brought Vanessa, so we were able to rehearse the scenes we share. It was a lot of fun. Vanessa is such a wonderful actress.”
“Yes, she is. I am relieved Vanessa accepted the role. I had begun to believe Tifa’s complex character would be doomed to a stereotype of her outward appearance. No one seemed to understand her inner workings.”
Amy blinked, her smile fading. “Yes,” she said slowly, “the death of her mother and father really hit her hard, didn’t it?”
“As did her unrealized attraction and connection to Cloud Strife. So many of those whom auditioned could not see her true nature. They did not understand her history and how that would so completely affect her present.” Garret chuckled. “I do apologize for going on. The role of Tifa caused me no end of frustration. I truly believed I would need to cast Nicole Kidman until I remembered Vanessa’s contract was soon to end. Thanks be to God Vanessa accepted the role. I greatly feared she wouldn’t, due to Tifa’s occupation and unfortunate choice of wardrobe.”
Amy laughed. “I remember. Wasn’t she taking up those issues with the head of wardrobe that first day at the studio?”
Silence. “Yes,” Garret said slowly. Silence. “Amy, there is a bit more song in your tone than before. Should I take that as a sign a bit of your troubled spirit has left?”
Amy closed her eyes with a slight nod and a small, hesitant smile. “A bit. Talking to you has a tendency of doing that.”
Deep breath. “I am glad. You worried me.”
“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Can you still come by? I won’t keep you out too late. I promise.”
“Of course I will come, Amy.” Silence. “Max is here. I had best go.”
“Thanks for calling, Garret. I needed it.”
Silence. “Amy, there are many things I have done which have pelted my conscience to no end. Please do not judge me too harshly by them.”
Amy wiped a tear away. “Garret, you know I give everyone as many chances as possible,” she said softly. Amy sniffed. “I wouldn’t give you any less.”
Garret chuckled. “Then my soul is safe-- Ah. I have just received the evil eye from Max. Until this evening, sweet muse.”
Amy’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Until this evening, poet mine.”
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