Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Seeing Stars ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: jasonulloa 
The beginning of Darien's first day at his new job....
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.14.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 648 | Status: Completed
The beginning of Darien's first day at his new job....
Anime/Manga: Sailor Moon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Action / Romance | Type: Alternate Universe | Uploaded On: 04.14.2003 | Pages: 4 | Words: 2.3K | Visits: 648 | Status: Completed
Seeing Stars
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.
Chapter 2
Darien drove back to his apartment with his car radio
blasting full force, in hopes that it would cause him to
forget all about his uneasiness over beginning tomorrow's
shoot. 'Maybe Andrew's right,' he repeatedly thought to
himself. 'Maybe Serena will have forgotten all about the
drink incident by the time I start tomorrow.' But, as he
came closer to home, his doubts and apprehensions began
to haunt him again.
He parked his car in the parking lot of the apartment complex
where he lived. He quickly slipped on a steering wheel lock
and climbed out of the car. During the first month since he
first moved into these apartments, his car had been broken
into and was quickly hot-wired and taken for a 'joyride'.
Luckily, the drunken theives were caught before too much
damage had been done, but since then he decided not to
take any chances with his car being stolen again. He locked
all the doors and headed over to his apartment.
It was a simple studio apartment; one large room, one
bathroom, and the kitchen. The apartment came furnished,
so he didn't have to worry about furniture. The kitchen was
tiny and so was the bathroom. The bedroom wasn't that much
bigger, either. In fact, the bed was the kind that doubled as a
couch to save space. Yeah, there's no place like home.
Darien tiredly tossed the script onto the small round table and
walked into the bathroom, which was also where his closet
was. He changed out of the clothes he was wearing and into a
light T-shirt and shorts. He then left the bathroom and headed
over to the couch/bed, grabbing the script on the way, and sat
down, sprawling out all over the couch. He stared at the script
again, or rather the front page of the script.
"Total Eclipse, huh?" he said to himself and flipped the pages
until he reached the part where his character came in. "So,
my character's name is Jack Terrance. Let's see...." He
skimmed forward a few lines. "Hmm... He's a private detective
who begins to stumble into whatever the evil plot is and ends
up with some valuable info which leads him to become a target.
Cliché sounding, but then again, with Amy Anderson working on
this project, this'll be a new twist on the cliché. As if switching
the gender roles wasn't enough," he added with a grin.
As he read on, the plot began to get more and more interesting.
He was only meant to be a minor supporting actor and Serena
was meant to do most of the final parts alone, but he could see
where, with a little rewriting, his character could be fitted in as a
partner instead of just set off-screen until the ending scenes of
the movie. Despite his apprehension towards working closely with
Serena, he found himself looking forward to playing the role. At
least, most of the first few scenes were by himself.
Darien spent most of the night, reviewing his role and memorizing
his lines. Afterwards, he began to act out his scenes all the way
up to where he first meets Serena's character. He found it was
easy to fall into character, and he could almost imagine that he
was Jack Terrance. After he decided to stop for the night and go
to bed, the last thought that he had before falling asleep was that
he was definitely going to enjoy playing this role.
**************************************
The alarm clock blared at around 5am for at least 2 minutes before
Darien smacked it with his pillow, silencing the stupid thing. For a
few seconds, he forgot why he had set it for so early. He had never
needed to get up this early before....
The movie shoot!
He threw the blanket aside and all but leaped into the shower. A
short time later, he was out, dried, dressed and flew out the door
with his script. He returned one minute later, after having realized
that he had left his car keys on the table, and walked out the door
in furious indignation.
It was around 5:50am when he arrived on the set. He had stopped
briefly for a quick bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant and was
ready to begin his first day of acting. Now, where was he
supposed to go...?
"Excuse me," he called out to the security officer standing at his
gate post from his car and showed him his license for an ID and
his script. "Do you know where they're shooting this movie?"
"Oh, yeah," he replied, nodding after he had checked for Darien's
name on his list of names for authorized entry. "Let me call ahead
to Ms. Anderson, and I'll tell her you're here. Just go straight down
this street here and turn left at the second stop sign. Turn right at
the second stop sign after that and it'll be the first building on your
right. That's building number...," he briefly glanced down at the map
next to him, "...number 46. Don't forget to have the producer give
you a studio ID. I can't let you in next time without it. Have a nice
day."
"Thanks," Darien said and drove onward after the security officer
raised the gate. The trip was a short one and someone was
waiting for him outside when he got there. The man was kind of
geeky-looking, right down to the huge coke-bottle glasses
"You're right on time," the man told him, reaching out to shake
his hand. "That's good; a rare thing in most actors. Well, you're
just starting, so you've got a while to go before you become
arrogant and lazy as well, eh?" The man started to laugh at his
own joke as Darien just shook the man's hand and said nothing.
The guy was just trying to make small talk and doing a horrible
job at it. Since it was his first real acting job, he figured he'd
better find out who to ignore and who to put up with. Hopefully,
this guy could go on his 'ignore' list....
"Anyway, Miss Anderson is waiting for you inside," the man
continued and turned toward the building. "Oh, I forgot to
introduce myself," he said, pausing for a moment, reaching
into his shirt pocket. "I'm the producer for this movie: Melvin
Van Holst. I'm supposed to give you this." Melvin handed
Darien a small ID card with Darien's name on it. "This is a
temporary ID until a photo ID can be made. That's why I
had you come so early. That and Miss Anderson wanted to
talk with you before the rest of the cast arrives."
Darien blinked in surprise. 'So much for being able to ignore
him...' "Oh, okay," he said, pocketing his ID as he followed
Melvin into the building. The producer led him through several
hallways, stairways, and doors until they reached a set of
double doors on the second floor. Melvin gestured for Darien
to proceed him, and followed him in.
"Hello, Mr. Shields," a blue-haired young woman greeted
seriously from the head of a long boardroom table. "Please,
come in and have a seat." She gestured for him to take the
seat to her right. Darien took the proffered seat as Melvin
took the one across from him.
"Thank you for choosing me for this role, Miss Anderson,"
Darien began. "I'm flattered that you...."
"Mr. Shields," Amy cut in, giving him an intent look, "do you
know why Mr. Van Holst and I chose you for this role?"
"Uh...," Darien faltered. "Um... my agent told me that you
thought I looked the part of Jack Terrance. Is there another
reason?"
Amy grinned in amusement. "You think you got the part
because of your looks? If that was it, then I would've chosen
a more experienced actor with similar features." She gave
him a flat look. "There are actors who fit my mental picture
of Jack Terrance better than you."
"I see," Darien said quietly, humbled slightly by Amy's cold
words. "If you don't mind, Miss Anderson, why did you hire
me?"
Amy grinned again, this time her smile took on a friendly tone.
"There are a couple of reasons, Darien," she explained, "your
features being one of them. You see, I heard about the drink
incident you had with Serena Moon...," she laughed softly as
she heard him groan in embarrassment at the reminder,
"...from Melvin, who was a producer of that movie as well."
'I don't remember seeing very much of him at the last set I
worked at,' Darien puzzled to himself. 'I guess that was
because I was only worried about reporting to that one
other producer, Molly... something. What was her last name
again?'
"I saw the whole thing," Melvin added. "I remember feeling
sorry for you for being fired at Serena's demand. It wasn't
your fault. An accident like that could happen to anyone."
"You hired me out of PITY?!?" Darien exclaimed indignantly.
"No, no, no," Melvin replied quickly. "Don't jump to conclusions!
We haven't finished yet. Well, when Miss Blake sent us your
picture per our request for the role of Jack Terrance, I instantly
recognized you from that incident."
"That's when Mr. Van Holst told me about your little... mishap,"
Amy continued. "I asked Miss Blake about your acting history
and learned that you had mostly extra work. No real acting
experience, but from what I've heard from her, your work as
an extra was pretty good."
"At the time we were reviewing the possibilities for the role,
Serena came up to us and complained, for the fifth time,
about the other actors she was working with," Melvin added.
"She said, and I quote, 'The extras could act better than they
can!'." He grinned widely. "What she said stuck in our minds
as we looked at your photo."
Darien couldn't help but grin as well. "So, you found an extra
to play a part opposite to her. But, still," he asked, still puzzled,
"why me?"
"The whole crew is growing tired of Serena Moon's arrogance,"
Amy explained. "Melvin and I decided that we needed to do
something about it. Miss Moon has a contract with us to
complete the entire movie. Until then, we cannot fire her, nor
can she quit, at least, not without serious consequences. So,
we decided that we would have her play opposite an extra, a
nobody; no offense meant, Darien."
"None taken," Darien replied. "But, let me get this straight: you
chose me because I was most likely to piss Serena Moon off
if she was forced to work with me?"
"To be honest, that was only one of the reasons," Amy replied
seriously. "But, you have done good work in the past, and I
believe that, given the chance, some extras could perform just
as good as any movie star, even Serena Moon. I'm giving you
that chance. It would even be a bonus to us if your acting skills
are just as good as Miss Blake says that they are." Amy grinned
again. "That would really show Miss Moon, and I could begin to
rewrite some of the script to include you in more of the movie."
Darien smiled in relief, while silently doing seven different
dances of joy inside. According to what he could understand
from Amy, there was no way that Serena could force them to
fire him if they didn't want to. His role was also going to depend
on his performance. If his acting was up to Amy Anderson's
standards, then his role could be extended and expanded to
encompass a good portion of the movie. That would REALLY
boost his career.
Then again, there was still Serena Moon to deal with. If she
was still upset at him with the drink incident, then she would
probably try to make his life a living hell as long as he was
here.
"Well," Darien said quietly, "as long as Serena can't get me
fired, I'm okay."
"Great," Amy and Melvin said, pleased at his decision. "Now,"
Amy continued, standing up from her seat, which prompted both
guys to stand up as well, "I'll have someone show you around
the set and we'll get started at around 7:30. It was nice to meet
you, Darien. Hopefully, this will work out for all of us."
Darien nodded, wondering how hiring an extra to play opposite
a big star like Serena Moon was going to help Amy and Melvin
with their problems with the high-and-mighty actress. He turned
and left the room, pondering the problem as a young woman
began to escort him around the set. After the short tour, ending
on the set behind all the cameras, near craft services. He hadn't
eaten anything since that small breakfast sandwhich and coffee
this morning and he went to get himself something to eat. At
around 7:15, a blonde woman haughtily walked onto the set,
flipping back her long, almost knee-length hair away from her
shoulders. Upon spotting Darien at craft services, her beautiful,
elegant features took on an angry scowl as she pointed an
accusing finger at him.
"YOU!!!" she screamed fiercely.
"Uh-oh...," Darien muttered apprehensively.
****************************************
To Chapter 3
****************************************
Author's Note: Ah, it's longer this time! ^_^ Anyway, the
inevitable reunion of Darien Shields and Serena Moon
has begun, and Serena is NOT happy to see him. What's
gonna happen between them when she finds out she's
stuck with him? *shrugs* I don't know, I haven't gotten that
far yet. Oh, well... I guess we'll find out soon enough....
Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.
Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.
By Jason Ulloa
Original story by Moonsong
Continued with her permission.
Chapter 2
Darien drove back to his apartment with his car radio
blasting full force, in hopes that it would cause him to
forget all about his uneasiness over beginning tomorrow's
shoot. 'Maybe Andrew's right,' he repeatedly thought to
himself. 'Maybe Serena will have forgotten all about the
drink incident by the time I start tomorrow.' But, as he
came closer to home, his doubts and apprehensions began
to haunt him again.
He parked his car in the parking lot of the apartment complex
where he lived. He quickly slipped on a steering wheel lock
and climbed out of the car. During the first month since he
first moved into these apartments, his car had been broken
into and was quickly hot-wired and taken for a 'joyride'.
Luckily, the drunken theives were caught before too much
damage had been done, but since then he decided not to
take any chances with his car being stolen again. He locked
all the doors and headed over to his apartment.
It was a simple studio apartment; one large room, one
bathroom, and the kitchen. The apartment came furnished,
so he didn't have to worry about furniture. The kitchen was
tiny and so was the bathroom. The bedroom wasn't that much
bigger, either. In fact, the bed was the kind that doubled as a
couch to save space. Yeah, there's no place like home.
Darien tiredly tossed the script onto the small round table and
walked into the bathroom, which was also where his closet
was. He changed out of the clothes he was wearing and into a
light T-shirt and shorts. He then left the bathroom and headed
over to the couch/bed, grabbing the script on the way, and sat
down, sprawling out all over the couch. He stared at the script
again, or rather the front page of the script.
"Total Eclipse, huh?" he said to himself and flipped the pages
until he reached the part where his character came in. "So,
my character's name is Jack Terrance. Let's see...." He
skimmed forward a few lines. "Hmm... He's a private detective
who begins to stumble into whatever the evil plot is and ends
up with some valuable info which leads him to become a target.
Cliché sounding, but then again, with Amy Anderson working on
this project, this'll be a new twist on the cliché. As if switching
the gender roles wasn't enough," he added with a grin.
As he read on, the plot began to get more and more interesting.
He was only meant to be a minor supporting actor and Serena
was meant to do most of the final parts alone, but he could see
where, with a little rewriting, his character could be fitted in as a
partner instead of just set off-screen until the ending scenes of
the movie. Despite his apprehension towards working closely with
Serena, he found himself looking forward to playing the role. At
least, most of the first few scenes were by himself.
Darien spent most of the night, reviewing his role and memorizing
his lines. Afterwards, he began to act out his scenes all the way
up to where he first meets Serena's character. He found it was
easy to fall into character, and he could almost imagine that he
was Jack Terrance. After he decided to stop for the night and go
to bed, the last thought that he had before falling asleep was that
he was definitely going to enjoy playing this role.
**************************************
The alarm clock blared at around 5am for at least 2 minutes before
Darien smacked it with his pillow, silencing the stupid thing. For a
few seconds, he forgot why he had set it for so early. He had never
needed to get up this early before....
The movie shoot!
He threw the blanket aside and all but leaped into the shower. A
short time later, he was out, dried, dressed and flew out the door
with his script. He returned one minute later, after having realized
that he had left his car keys on the table, and walked out the door
in furious indignation.
It was around 5:50am when he arrived on the set. He had stopped
briefly for a quick bite to eat at a fast-food restaurant and was
ready to begin his first day of acting. Now, where was he
supposed to go...?
"Excuse me," he called out to the security officer standing at his
gate post from his car and showed him his license for an ID and
his script. "Do you know where they're shooting this movie?"
"Oh, yeah," he replied, nodding after he had checked for Darien's
name on his list of names for authorized entry. "Let me call ahead
to Ms. Anderson, and I'll tell her you're here. Just go straight down
this street here and turn left at the second stop sign. Turn right at
the second stop sign after that and it'll be the first building on your
right. That's building number...," he briefly glanced down at the map
next to him, "...number 46. Don't forget to have the producer give
you a studio ID. I can't let you in next time without it. Have a nice
day."
"Thanks," Darien said and drove onward after the security officer
raised the gate. The trip was a short one and someone was
waiting for him outside when he got there. The man was kind of
geeky-looking, right down to the huge coke-bottle glasses
"You're right on time," the man told him, reaching out to shake
his hand. "That's good; a rare thing in most actors. Well, you're
just starting, so you've got a while to go before you become
arrogant and lazy as well, eh?" The man started to laugh at his
own joke as Darien just shook the man's hand and said nothing.
The guy was just trying to make small talk and doing a horrible
job at it. Since it was his first real acting job, he figured he'd
better find out who to ignore and who to put up with. Hopefully,
this guy could go on his 'ignore' list....
"Anyway, Miss Anderson is waiting for you inside," the man
continued and turned toward the building. "Oh, I forgot to
introduce myself," he said, pausing for a moment, reaching
into his shirt pocket. "I'm the producer for this movie: Melvin
Van Holst. I'm supposed to give you this." Melvin handed
Darien a small ID card with Darien's name on it. "This is a
temporary ID until a photo ID can be made. That's why I
had you come so early. That and Miss Anderson wanted to
talk with you before the rest of the cast arrives."
Darien blinked in surprise. 'So much for being able to ignore
him...' "Oh, okay," he said, pocketing his ID as he followed
Melvin into the building. The producer led him through several
hallways, stairways, and doors until they reached a set of
double doors on the second floor. Melvin gestured for Darien
to proceed him, and followed him in.
"Hello, Mr. Shields," a blue-haired young woman greeted
seriously from the head of a long boardroom table. "Please,
come in and have a seat." She gestured for him to take the
seat to her right. Darien took the proffered seat as Melvin
took the one across from him.
"Thank you for choosing me for this role, Miss Anderson,"
Darien began. "I'm flattered that you...."
"Mr. Shields," Amy cut in, giving him an intent look, "do you
know why Mr. Van Holst and I chose you for this role?"
"Uh...," Darien faltered. "Um... my agent told me that you
thought I looked the part of Jack Terrance. Is there another
reason?"
Amy grinned in amusement. "You think you got the part
because of your looks? If that was it, then I would've chosen
a more experienced actor with similar features." She gave
him a flat look. "There are actors who fit my mental picture
of Jack Terrance better than you."
"I see," Darien said quietly, humbled slightly by Amy's cold
words. "If you don't mind, Miss Anderson, why did you hire
me?"
Amy grinned again, this time her smile took on a friendly tone.
"There are a couple of reasons, Darien," she explained, "your
features being one of them. You see, I heard about the drink
incident you had with Serena Moon...," she laughed softly as
she heard him groan in embarrassment at the reminder,
"...from Melvin, who was a producer of that movie as well."
'I don't remember seeing very much of him at the last set I
worked at,' Darien puzzled to himself. 'I guess that was
because I was only worried about reporting to that one
other producer, Molly... something. What was her last name
again?'
"I saw the whole thing," Melvin added. "I remember feeling
sorry for you for being fired at Serena's demand. It wasn't
your fault. An accident like that could happen to anyone."
"You hired me out of PITY?!?" Darien exclaimed indignantly.
"No, no, no," Melvin replied quickly. "Don't jump to conclusions!
We haven't finished yet. Well, when Miss Blake sent us your
picture per our request for the role of Jack Terrance, I instantly
recognized you from that incident."
"That's when Mr. Van Holst told me about your little... mishap,"
Amy continued. "I asked Miss Blake about your acting history
and learned that you had mostly extra work. No real acting
experience, but from what I've heard from her, your work as
an extra was pretty good."
"At the time we were reviewing the possibilities for the role,
Serena came up to us and complained, for the fifth time,
about the other actors she was working with," Melvin added.
"She said, and I quote, 'The extras could act better than they
can!'." He grinned widely. "What she said stuck in our minds
as we looked at your photo."
Darien couldn't help but grin as well. "So, you found an extra
to play a part opposite to her. But, still," he asked, still puzzled,
"why me?"
"The whole crew is growing tired of Serena Moon's arrogance,"
Amy explained. "Melvin and I decided that we needed to do
something about it. Miss Moon has a contract with us to
complete the entire movie. Until then, we cannot fire her, nor
can she quit, at least, not without serious consequences. So,
we decided that we would have her play opposite an extra, a
nobody; no offense meant, Darien."
"None taken," Darien replied. "But, let me get this straight: you
chose me because I was most likely to piss Serena Moon off
if she was forced to work with me?"
"To be honest, that was only one of the reasons," Amy replied
seriously. "But, you have done good work in the past, and I
believe that, given the chance, some extras could perform just
as good as any movie star, even Serena Moon. I'm giving you
that chance. It would even be a bonus to us if your acting skills
are just as good as Miss Blake says that they are." Amy grinned
again. "That would really show Miss Moon, and I could begin to
rewrite some of the script to include you in more of the movie."
Darien smiled in relief, while silently doing seven different
dances of joy inside. According to what he could understand
from Amy, there was no way that Serena could force them to
fire him if they didn't want to. His role was also going to depend
on his performance. If his acting was up to Amy Anderson's
standards, then his role could be extended and expanded to
encompass a good portion of the movie. That would REALLY
boost his career.
Then again, there was still Serena Moon to deal with. If she
was still upset at him with the drink incident, then she would
probably try to make his life a living hell as long as he was
here.
"Well," Darien said quietly, "as long as Serena can't get me
fired, I'm okay."
"Great," Amy and Melvin said, pleased at his decision. "Now,"
Amy continued, standing up from her seat, which prompted both
guys to stand up as well, "I'll have someone show you around
the set and we'll get started at around 7:30. It was nice to meet
you, Darien. Hopefully, this will work out for all of us."
Darien nodded, wondering how hiring an extra to play opposite
a big star like Serena Moon was going to help Amy and Melvin
with their problems with the high-and-mighty actress. He turned
and left the room, pondering the problem as a young woman
began to escort him around the set. After the short tour, ending
on the set behind all the cameras, near craft services. He hadn't
eaten anything since that small breakfast sandwhich and coffee
this morning and he went to get himself something to eat. At
around 7:15, a blonde woman haughtily walked onto the set,
flipping back her long, almost knee-length hair away from her
shoulders. Upon spotting Darien at craft services, her beautiful,
elegant features took on an angry scowl as she pointed an
accusing finger at him.
"YOU!!!" she screamed fiercely.
"Uh-oh...," Darien muttered apprehensively.
****************************************
To Chapter 3
****************************************
Author's Note: Ah, it's longer this time! ^_^ Anyway, the
inevitable reunion of Darien Shields and Serena Moon
has begun, and Serena is NOT happy to see him. What's
gonna happen between them when she finds out she's
stuck with him? *shrugs* I don't know, I haven't gotten that
far yet. Oh, well... I guess we'll find out soon enough....
Disclaimer: All original materials belong to their respective
owners. Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and a bunch
of big companies. No copyright infringement is intended. This
story belongs to Moonsong and myself, and I would appreciate
you emailing her or myself for permission before posting it
anywhere else. Thank you.
Prologue Copyright © January 24, 2000 Moonsong.
Other Chapters Copyright © August 12, 2000 Jason Ulloa.
All Rights Reserved.