Rise To Stardom - Chapter 115

Chapter 115: What’s on The Menu?
There was a hefty stack of scripts in Kyle’s hands as he walked through the door.

Navigating through the busy restaurant, the young man soon spotted a curious Jasmine whose eyes were already questioning him from afar with a mix of puzzled amusement.

Walking over to her, respectful apologies given to everyone he bumped into, the young man finally got to the sexy actress who was currently dressed in a stained, greasy outfit of a waitress.

“Compensating.” Kyle simply responded, his tone casual and a light grin on his face as he sat down next to her on a separate, rotating stool by the counter.

“For what?” Jasmine asked, the inquisitive expression never leaving her face.

Both were currently situated in a corner of a crowded restaurant in Chinatown, NYC, one where cameras were still being set up here and there for some of the scenes in the first episode they needed to shoot.

There was even a green screen being applied to the roofing and a corner of the restaurant in the back, one that Tiana was currently inspecting.

That said, this same scene, was also the first scene in which Kiera Snow, Jasmine’s character would be introduced to the audience.

“The future episodes.” Kyle casually replied again, placing the stack of scripts on the counter, his eyes already reading through the first page of the fifth episode at an alarming speed.

Considering they were nowhere near close to shooting the second episode, much less the third or the fourth for that matter, the fact that the young man was already on the fifth script, baffled Jasmine.

This was especially because they were only giving all the other scripts just yesterday evening over an encrypted e-mail to print out themselves.

Even she who prided herself on always preparing far ahead, was only halfway through the second script.

“What, are you, really Sapphire?” she soon laid her curiosity bare, her head tilting in even more befuddled amusement.

To that question, Kyle instead, took a brief pause from the script he was reading, twirled a bit on the stool and then replied with a playful grin;

“Haven’t you heard? I’m The Curator.”

A small, hearty chuckle, escaped Jasmine’s mouth the moment she heard his response.

Just before she could respond to his witty reply though, another voice entered the fray.

“Do you want a bottle of sparkling water, Jasmine?” one of the female caterers on set, asked the actress.

“No. Not at all. Thank you.” Jasmine politely declined.

“Kyle. How about you?” the caterer then signaled to Kyle who replied in the affirmative;

“Yeah. Thank you very much.” he received the bottle of water with a polite smile.

“Kyle. Jasmine. Mrs. Wong. We begin in five.” Tiana soon called out casually from the crowded corner of the room, her voice surprisingly calm, instead of being blunt.

“Alright.” both actors responded with thumbs up, along with an old Asian-looking, elderly Chinese woman, who was going to be involved in the scene too.

Added to that, the scenes were going to be split into two parts as Tiana felt it would work better for her directing style of three takes for CGI and one take for a more normal scene.

That way, the actors could put more effort into the more normal scene just after without slacking off due to having more takes.

That said, considering the disciplined work ethic that Kyle had shown Tiana in just the past few days of shooting though, she didn’t have any issues being less blunt as she had realized that young actor, just like the popular actress beside him, did exceptionally well when it came down to shooting his scenes.

She hadn’t even had a single hiccup while filming with the young man, one which only made her happy as the days on set went by, although her poker face had no intentions of revealing it.

Also, although Kyle didn’t realize it, he was basically causing the more experienced actors and the extras on set to put in the extra work to not feel inferior to him, especially since he already seemed to have gotten on Tiana’s good side despite the fact, that he had only started acting two years ago.

This was something even they struggled with as impressing Tiana, was pretty much a herculean task that required unwavering consistency in the great performances an actor or an actress put out.

“The rest of you. Be ready.” Tiana called out almost immediately after in the same cool manner, signaling to the extras who were going to be in the scene, all of whom responded in the affirmative.

The Director, was the only major higher-up present on set today.

Jon and Barry, had other important things they needed to attend to regarding the other episodes they needed to shoot.

Jon was revising a script that Christina, along with many other screenwriters had written in the comfort of his home while Barry, was at a popular University in NYC, ensuring that the location was available for use.

* * *

Having jumped off the destroyed spaceship in the void, falling for what seemed to be just a few minutes, The Curator, soon escaped, his eyes staring at the gigantic, camouflaging bubble which he and the destroyed space ship had been encased in.

A Simulacra, is what it was called.

It was, by far one of the most advanced, virtual simulation the Kalis had ever built.

Yet, it paled immensely in comparison to that which The Curator had built, hundreds of years back.

A cheap imitation is basically what The Curator would call it. Hence the reason for his ‘Nice try though.’ comment.

Due to the limitations they had, the Kalis, a race of cyborg, apathetic, cybernetic alien creatures made of flexible tungsten, couldn’t exactly replicate a perfect void as they still needed to keep tabs on their prisoner, even from far away to know exactly when he escaped.

That act of theirs, was easily evident for the time traveler due to the single twinkling star he had seen a few moments after he had revived himself.

It was also the reason he had been mocking them.

Sure enough, a typical human or even an alien for that matter would never see something so far away naturally but, in The Curator’s case, he was capable of some really superhuman things, a few hours, just after his metamorphosis.

Enhanced strength. Superhuman perception. Rapid healing. Extreme pain tolerance. You name it.

So, even though the Kalis knew that he would eventually figure out that he was trapped, the race of cybernetic aliens, hoped to have slowed down his realization enough to undertake a pretty diabolical plan of theirs from the shadows.

Yet, as the scene where The Curator escaped was being broadcasted to their General through the feed they had installed inside the Simulacra, one which was also the third scene of the first episode of the tenth season, with the Curator falling towards the surface of the earth being the second, the being, informed their Emperor of the time traveler’s escape.

However, switching over to the fourth scene, one which had The Curator, falling downwards from Earth’s sky, his raggedy clothes fluttering as he did, he landed, right bang in the kitchen of a small-time restaurant.

– – –

{The Curator – Tenth Season | 5th April 2020 | Act 1 | Scene 4 | Take 1}

“Table 9. Two cheeseburgers, a bucket of spicy chicken, french fries and four glasses of iced tea.”

Drumming her fingers on the counter, her hair messy and her waitress outfit stained from working the entire night shift, Kiera waited for the tray of ordered junk food to be passed over.

Although she should’ve gotten off the morning shift, her co-workers were being quite the irredeemable jerks as they were nowhere in sight, causing her to work overtime.

Frankly, if not for her boss agreeing to pay for those overtime hours, she would’ve bolted but, since it did pay and she was slowly saving up to attend college, she didn’t mind the extra hassle.

Also, to a certain extent, Kiera had a soft spot for her boss.

“Order up.” Mrs. Choi, the boss, head chef and the owner of said restaurant who was operating in the kitchen, called out, one which Kiera swiftly responded to by replying gratefully as she picked up the tray.

“Thanks Mrs. Choi.”

“Oh you. Don’t worry though dear. Troy’s gonna hear from me when he comes around!” she spat out in annoyance while grumbling underneath in Mandarin, one that was still audible enough for her to hear.

“(Stressing such a diligent, young lady. That no good, piece of shit’s gonna get what’s coming to him…)”

Mildly smiling as she left the counter, Kiera walked over to the table and placed the tray before the customers.

“Here’s your order.” she politely stated.

Yet, already expecting it, she watched as one of the male customers at the table, Mason, a filthy rich second-generation bloke whom had been trying to woo her since the day she began working at the restaurant, grabbed her arm tightly.

“You mailed it back to me?” he asked with a legitimately confused yet annoyed expression, plastered on his features.

Even his other friends whom were at the table, all of whom were more curious than anything else, waited for the obviously tired yet sexy waitress to respond.

“Mailed what?” Kiera’s reply on the other hand, caught them off-guard, especially because her expression was one of confusion, just like Mason’s.

Mason was also evidently taken aback by this but he soon grasped her arm harshly while stating;

“The diamond necklace, Kiera. Don’t play games with me.”

“What games? What diamond necklace?” Kiera questioned instead, a puzzling expression on her features as she stared at the man who kept pestering her.

Sure her arm was aching her… a whole lot even but, feigning ignorance for her, was one of the best ways to escape an uncomfortable scenario in her books.

It was a honed skill she had lived with all her life and for the most part, it had gotten her through quite a lot of bullshit over the years.

Hearing the door of the restaurant opening, Mason quickly loosened his grip on the waitress’s arm.

Not fully sure if the lady before him was just playing hard to get or feigning ignorance, Mason soon spoke, his tone, audible enough for only the lady to hear;

“Playing hard to get eh? Guess I’ll just have to try harder…” he gazed at the lady with a possessive expression, one that made Kiera very uncomfortable.

Yet, her expression remained unperturbed as she began to walk away from the table to receive the next order from the batch of new customers whom had just walked in.

However, Kiera hadn’t even taken a single step when suddenly, the roof of the restaurant was blown off, an object, crashing right through it and onto the next set of chairs and tables, just after that of Mason’s and his friends!

Seeing this unexpected occurrence occur, everyone in the restaurant was evidently shocked yet terrified of what could’ve caused such a destructive phenomenon.

So they all, stood still, fearful of what the object was.

Even the chefs in the back whom had rushed out the moment they heard the crashing sound, along with the new customers whom had just walked in, stood still in place, afraid to take even a single step.

Yet, all of them, flinched a bit when there was some sort of movement underneath all the dust, debris and rubble.

However, in an unexpected turn of horrific events, a single hand, jutted out of the rubble like a zombie, causing some of Mason’s buddies and even Mason himself to let out a frightened shout.

Kiera on the other hand, sucked in a frightened breath, sweat beads, forming on her head and the hair on the skin of her arm, rising up in fear.

That fear however, didn’t even last long when in the next moment after, the rest of the object, pushed itself out of the rubble while speaking;

“First… few hours of metamorphosis. Very capable… of doing some extremely… dangerous stuff without dying… again.”

“What if it was actually… the… void? No. No. Rubbish. They aren’t… that advanced.”

“Besides, I’m okay. At least… I hope I’m okay.”

Coughing in between his words, having a monologue with himself while dusting his raggedy suit, not yet aware of where he was, the realization soon dawned on the alien a few seconds later.

“Oh hello.” he said to everyone who was still shaken by the entire occurrence with a casual expression.

“Is this by chance, a restaurant? It looks like one, doesn’t it?” he asked with a curious expression while surveying his surroundings, after which he then stated with a small clap, his eyes expectant;

“I’m starving and I’d like to eat. What’s on the menu?”

“Cut. Print. Check The Gate.”