Rise To Stardom - Chapter 116

Chapter 116: Put On A Show
{The Curator – Tenth Season | 5th April 2020 | Act 1 | Scene 5 | Take 1}

“New physiology. Can’t really say what this new body likes though?”

“Mustard? Ketchup? Or bread?”

“Ooh! I know! Coffee, sounds, brilliant!” a mix of excitement and curiosity, graced the Curator’s features.

“What do you think?” he posed a curious question towards Kiera who kept staring at him, the fright previously present on her face, morphing in one of puzzling confusion.

Everyone else in the restaurant, shared a similar expression, only to be taken aback by the weirdo’s next few actions;

“Livers! I’ve got new livers!” The Curator suddenly clutched the lower part of his abdomen with a slightly confused expression of his own.

“Totally forgot about that! Not fully human. One takes longer to stabilize!” he muttered to himself as he took a few steps past the lady to lean on a stool by the counter while complaining;

“I don’t like the color.”

“Of your livers?” Kiera’s mouth had already questioned in befuddlement.

“Yeah.” the weirdo nodded slightly in affirmation, properly settling on the stool with a similarly puzzled expression.

“B-But, that’s impossible.” she replied as she slowly turned around, her confusion only increasing by the second.

For some reason too, the lady felt a weird sense of Déjà vu, one which was slightly obvious on her features as the confused expression on her face was mixed with a hint of mild curiosity…

At this point, the other people present in the restaurant, felt most of the shock wash away due to the engaging? conversation that the two were having.

Yet, their expressions were just as similar to Kiera’s for a completely different reason.

Who the hell was this weirdo and where the heck did he fall from?

Better still, how in incarnation was he still alive and mostly unfazed by the destructive incident?!

“Hybrid physiology young lady. I doubt you’d understand.” the weirdo waved off the waitress’s concern with a mild gesture of his hand.

That single statement of his however, took both Kiera and everyone else through another bout of puzzling confusion.

“You’re one to talk, you’re younger than her!” Mrs. Choi, soon stepped forward as she snapped out of her confusion and countered, her expression more pissed than anything else.

“You blew a hole through my roof!” she spat in pure anger, her frankly large kitchen knife, pointing towards the hole in the roof.

It was one she had latched onto the moment she heard the sound of something crashing into her restaurant.

This gesture of hers however, instantly caused the alien to angle his gaze upwards towards the hole and downwards, towards where the rubble was.

“I did, didn’t I? Oops.” he had a genuinely apologetic expression on his face as he said that, one which immediately morphed into something else in an instant;

“Wait a minute!” he jumped off the stool, walking past Mrs. Choi to stare at Kiera for a brief moment.

“I look younger than you?” he asked in curiosity, his face uncomfortably close and mere inches away from her as he pointed to himself.

“Um, y-yeah…” Kiera replied, still unable to wrap her head around the young man’s spontaneous actions and the puzzling sense of Déjà vu she was experiencing.

“Hmmm…” The Curator frowned in disapproval, only for him to watch from his peripheral vision as Mason, whom had finally recovered, moved close to him, with the intent to push him aside.

Yet, just as he felt like he was about to be Kiera’s knight in shining armor, a certain invisible wave of energy, cascaded into the entirety of the restaurant, one that was only noticeable by The Curator.

Instantly, Mason froze, almost as if suspended in temporal stasis.

Kiera and Mrs. Choi, weren’t an exception either, as they, along with everyone else in the store, stayed still, frozen in time like inanimate statues.

At the exact same time, something akin to tiny wisps of energy began to emanate from their beings.

Seeing this, not particularly shocked that an incident like this would present itself the moment he was back on earth, The Curator, stepped backwards from the lady, his expression, unperturbed.

Moving towards the frozen Mason, The Curator, apologized while retrieving something from the bloke’s pocket;

“Apologies in advance for the bill, big guy.”

Tracking the frequency and signal of the invisible wave of energy and dialing a certain hotline a few seconds after, The Curator soon spoke once the other end picked up without even giving them a chance to speak;

“Oi! Do you know how much work I’ve put into this planet? And you were just gonna, vacuum all the biological energy out of it?! What?! While I’m around at that too?!” he stated with an irked tone, although a hint of disbelief was also present in it.

“You lot. Get to my coordinates, now!” he authoratively commanded just after, his gaze serious.

“All right. Time, to put on a show.” the time traveler instantly cut the phone call and casually tossed it onto the chair Mason and his friends had been sitting on before his arrival.

Looking around the restaurant, The Curator’s gaze, soon settled on a spoon, rolled in a napkin on a used tray Kiera was yet to clean up.

Picking up the spoon, his expression casual as he did so, the alien, walked out of the store with a light hum.

“Cut. Print. Check The Gate.”

– – –

‘Wasn’t part of the script but, the hum was a nice touch.’ Tiana inwardly commended after having given the order to end the scene.

Checking the cameras, ensuring everything was shot the way it was supposed to be shot, the director soon spoke as everyone on set, dispersed to get prepared for the next scene.

“Everyone, take two. Two hours that is.”

Hearing Tiana say that, everyone on set felt grateful, some sighs of relief even audible.

Although, to a certain extent, they knew it was because the crew had to prepare to film the next scene which was going to be CGI heavy and mostly outdoors, they were grateful nevertheless.

Undisturbed by the glee in the eyes of most people on set, save for the cinematographers and the prop crew who had their work cut out for them, Tiana soon stepped outside with them, her steps casual.

She did need to monitor them after all and ensure they did all the necessary.

Considering how hard the woman was on herself, way more than she even was on her actors, especially with how she also held herself to a higher standard, Tiana didn’t even feel the need to have an assistant director.

As a result, all of the extra duties most directors would have delegated to their assistant, became something that she ended up doing herself.

“The hum was a nice touch.” Jasmine whom had also stepped out a few seconds their Director did, said to Kyle as she walked up to him.

“Was it?” Kyle replied with a slight tilt of his head, a surprisingly smug expression on his features.

“That it was.” the lady replied, her eyebrows slightly arched upwards in surprise as she thought to herself;

‘Who knew? Kyle Kestis, can indeed, act smug.’

The tune that The Curator had hummed, just before he left the restaurant, wasn’t even part of the script in anyway.

Rather, it was the tune of the score that was usually played when The Curator was about to do something really cool… or crazy.

That exactly, was why Kyle was noticeably proud of what he had done.

Because the next scene, just after this, one which they would be shooting in two hours’ time, The Curator, was in fact, going to do something really crazy yet cool.

* * *

Interpretation.

How would an actor, interpret, The Curator?

Considering his ability to undergo Metamorphosis, the alien could be interpreted in many ways with each incarnation.

Although, to an extent, some common shared values and eccentricity, always remained with each rendition.

Still, the job of interpreting the titular time traveler, was usually left up to said actor.

Usually.

However, in Kyle’s case, Jon, Tiana and Barry, after conversing a few days regarding his audition, made a pretty interesting decision.

As a result, the Dreamland Executive, called the young man up a few days after and made a request of him.

In summary, Jon had asked of Kyle, to ditch some of the sophistication and mystery in his own interpretation and focus, on being more, chaotic.

Sure he would be allowed to showcase some of that sophistication and mystery in another way from time to time but, for the most part, all three wanted him to focus on being a bit of a mad man.

Kyle, as at then, had been curious as to why there was a certain change of sorts, one which he had politely voiced his curiosity by asking the reasoning behind so.

In response to that, Jon had responded to his question by lengthily explaining;

“If, The Curator was a young man, how would he behave?”

“Because, as old as he is, I think there’s definitely some part of him that wants to be young again.”

“To a certain extent, I think he’d be a bit hyperactive.”

“Experiencing and enjoying that feeling of being youthful once again… physically, at least…”

“So, unless there’s some reason for him to be all sagely, I think, in typical Curator fashion, he’d want to hide behind this new façade of his…”

“A new façade of being a young, crazy, mad man of sorts who seems to know, every blessed thing in the universe…”

“But for you, as the actor, that’s absolutely perfect.”

“You get to lean heavily into being very expressive like you were planning.”

“Really flex your acting skills.”

“Yet, in those moments where you’re required to act sophisticated…”

“Act mysterious…”

“Act like an old soul, trapped inside a young man’s body…”

“Or even possibly, shed off the perceived persona the audience has of you and become that terrifying being whom every, blessed being in the galaxy is terrified of, you’ll perfectly, sell those scenes to the audience…”

“That’s what we’re after by asking you to shift your acting into being more, chaotic.”

“So, let the audience perceive you as the youngest version of The Curator, Kyle.”

“Sell that illusion to them.”

“And then, pull the rug from underneath their feet.”

“Remind them, Kyle.”

“The Curator, never gets any younger.”

“Only older. Smarter. And wiser.”

“Let that realization sink in, that at the end of the day, you, are, the oldest version of, The Curator. Just with a deceiving, youthful, brand new façade.”

* * *

Having discussed with Tiana if he could be allowed to go a bit off-script with the next scene they were about to shoot, despite even knowing that it was a CGI heavy scene that had a lot of work put into it, Kyle was surprised to hear the director, give him the go-ahead.

However, she had also told him that she would only allow him this chance once, because, if for some reason or the other, he didn’t make the scene better than what she was expecting, it was game over for him.

Simply put, she wouldn’t allow him to go off-script again till they were done shooting all the episodes for the tenth season.

So, with a quite a lot of pressure on him to give the scene his best shot, despite also wanting to sprinkle quite a bit of what he thought would make the scene even better, Kyle, for the first time since he had started acting as The Curator, quietly muttered to himself;

“Deep Dive.”