“Let’s take a dinner break. 30 minutes.”, Sebastian shouted to his crew as they wrapped one of the scenes they are filming. As usual, they went to their resting spots and do whatever they want. Sunset went and sat on the stairs in a small mansion. The house is white, and has what people usually expect what a mansion has: A swimming pool, stairs, large rooms. Although those things are of lower quality, the place can still be passed as a rich man’s home. They managed to get this location from a friend of Chazelle’s, who made quite a decent amount as a production designer for some major hit movies and television shows.
Like usual, they got provided meals as promised by the leaflet. Sunset might as well be drooling as she stared down at the lunch packet she got. Today’s meal is fried rice that is mixed with carrots, eggs and bits and pieces of celery, the vegetarian diet which she told Sebastian she is on. With no hesitation, she began digging into the meal. The taste buds of Sunset’s danced with joy as they feel the taste of the ingredients mixed together. While part of it can stem from the fact that ponies are vegetarian, another part of the enjoyment is that this is the only good meal she get everyday, other than just bread or oatmeal.
As she is enjoying her meal, her eyes unwittingly faced towards to Adagio and Aria, who were just sitting at the entrance near the pool. She gave them a cold look. It has been a couple of weeks since she had been briefly abducted by them, and she is still not over it. Luckily, the three of them no longer frequently glance at her like what happened in the first day, and in turn Sunset tried to ignore them as much as possible. So far, there is no conflict between them. Before the two turned around, Sunset went back to eating her meal.
However there is seemingly a pure one inside the group. Sunset drift her eyes to one of the couches in the living room and see Sonata. Yes she joined in with the kidnapping, but it does not seem to faze her when she is in the same room as her victim. She is just happily humming while eating her food, and maintain a friendly cheerful attitude towards everyone including Sunset. The only times when she held back her friendliness towards Sunset is when her sisters are near her, watching her. When they are distracted by something else, that’s when Sonata give Sunset a friendly face, if only for a brief moment. It is like she forgotten the kidnapping even happened.
Sunset then remembered Adagio talked about her sister being ‘special’, then something in her mind clicked in. Is the reason why Sonata did not make a big deal out of the situation because she does not have any social skills? Is it because she is just a blind passenger in the vehicle? Regardless, the fact that Adagio manipulated her own sister to do such things and make her think they are okay filled Sunset with some disgust.
“Hey Mia.”, Sunset jumped up slightly as she heard a sudden voice calling her. Sunset turned back and see Sebastian with a greeting smile holding his own food. “Sorry if I scared you.”, Sunset chuckled at the apology, “There’s nothing to sorry about.”. The filmmaker then sat down next to her. Sunset asked, “Is there something you want to talk about?”. Sebastian replied, “I just want to check up on everybody, especially you. How’s that neck of yours?”. Sunset touched the still healing cut, and feel how much it has theoretically healed.
“It is going fine, at least it does not hurt as much now. And I don’t need a band aid since a few days ago.”, Sunset assured with a smile. Previously when Sebastian asked about the fresh injury, Sunset concocted a story where she accidentally fell down and hit her chin on the corner of a table, and the sharp end pierced her skin. Sebastian then nodded and said, “Okay then.”. The two of them then went back to their meals.
Moments of awkward silence went by for the two of them as eat their meals. “So far I can see you’re doing good, but do you like this work?”, Sebastian asked. Sunset looked up at her meal, then ponder at the question. She grinned before answering, “So far I’m okay with it.”. Sebastian nodded, “Good to hear, so nobody giving you too much trouble?”. Sunset tried her best to hide the contempt in her face. The contempt is not towards anybody in the team, except for Adagio, Aria and Sonata. Forcing a small smile, she said, “No, not really.”.
Both of them have really nothing more to talk about, but Sunset still want to at least talk about something. She then decide to bring up a random question, “Is this your first movie?”. Sebastian chuckled, “If I did not count the short films I made previously, then yes.”. Sebastian asked Sunset, “‘Playing House’, ‘Live By The Sword’, ‘Featherfall’, ever heard of those shorts?”, Sunset shook her head. He then sighed sadly, “Wouldn’t blame you for not hearing those, they are the most popular shorts I made and screened at festivals, but not enough for me to make a breakthrough.”. He looked at his fried rice tentatively, “Been trying to break into the industry for over 5 years, and this film is the biggest project I undertake. If this succeeds, I might too.”.
Sunset look at Sebastian’s face. Despite not vocalizing it, she can tell that he is really nervous about his movie. Despite the friendly demeanour, she can also tell that deep down is also a desperate man. This makes her even more glad that she agreed to take on this job despite it’s ups and downs, and not benefitting herself but also others too. She is helping somebody to achieve their dreams, and she doesn’t care if that person can be considered her friend or just an employer.
However, there is still something else very small that Sunset felt she can do. Extending her hand, she gave a pat on the filmmaker’s back. She said gently, “Hey, I’m sure you will do just fine. This movie feels promising from what I had seen.”. Sebastian smirked at the encouragement.
“You know, it’s kind of odd that you talk with me about this.”. Sebastian then chuckled a bit at that before saying, “I also don’t know why I decided to do that. Maybe because I felt that you are more mature in listening to these things, really need to at least vent out to someone.”. Sunset raised one of her eyebrows, “What about Chazelle? He seems like a cool friend.”. “He’s a decent guy, but he’s not really my friend.”, Sebastian replied simply, “He’s just a random person who saw my short films, and saw my potential for something even greater.”. He continued, “But another reason he hired me is because he is also struggling to crack in this industry. He figured that both of us can work together, and make our first feature length film.”.
“Well you both make a great team.”, Sunset said simply. Sebastian smiled, then said, “Thanks Mia. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I felt more chemistry coming from you.”. Sunset blushed at that claim, which is noticed by Sebastian. Also blushing, the filmmaker waved his hands frantically, “I mean in terms of friendship.”. Sunset sighed in relief, then they both laughed at the awkwardness.
“Friendship.”, the word rang in Sunset’s mind. She is glad that she now knows at least one person considered her as a friend. They then continued and went back their meals.
It is more or less 4:30am, another day of shooting is wrapped. The crew all got debrief, then got their pay and proceed to leave the mansion. They don’t need to work the next day as the next shoot will be in the morning, therefore giving then adequate sleep and rest.
As usual, Sunset go back to her hotel room, but this time she felt unusually sunny. Her walk have slight skips to it as she travel back to her hotel under the midnight sky, and her face plastered with a small smile. She keep thinking of Sebastian’s words, how she considered her his friend.
The keys went inside the doorknob, and the door is pushed open. The familiar smell of freshener seep into not just Sunset’s nostrils, but also the pores in the nostrils. She jumped towards her bed, then landed on the soft mattress on her back. With a sigh, she satisfyingly daydream away her time.
Sunset’s eyes went wide as she hear something growling. It took no more than a second later to realise that she is hungry. With an annoyed expression, she get up from her bed and see what time it is. Judging by the heavy morning sun shining through the blinds, she assume that it is either in the late morning or early afternoon. With that, she decide to prepare something to eat.
As usual, Sunset decide to boil some hot water, then take an oatmeal packet out from the basket. When the water stopped boiling, she lifted the kettle and poured the scalding hot liquid into the mug which she used to contain the dry oatmeal. As she mixed the concoction together, the familiar smell of oatmeal got thicker, and she can smell it. Due to oatmeal being her main breakfast almost every morning, she grew a bit nauseous at the smell. However, this is one of the ways she can think of to minimise her spending habits before finding a stable home.
The bland taste touched Sunset’s tongue as she put the mash into her mouth with the teaspoon. Just the action of swallowing the oatmeal make her tired and sick. She ponder the day in which she can truly have a new life and stable income, and have more variety in her diet. Sure she only lived in this nomadic life for a couple of weeks, but frankly she is getting tired of it.
Sunset then decide to look at the amount of money she had now. Fishing her wallet, she grabbed all of her money from it. She counted the amount she currently had now, does not matter whether those are from the items she pawned a couple of weeks ago or the pay she had. She counted, and she currently had over $9000 and less than $10000 in her savings. This is quite a lot of money, but she still wants to be careful in what she spent those on in order for it to accumulate. However, she also feel the strong urge to buy something nice to eat today.
As she finished going into deep in thought, she made a conclusion. She figured that she is in a very happy mood today, so she might as well treat herself with something nice also. As long as she stayed within the $100 budget she thought of just now, and don’t make this a habit of her’s for now, then it will not make such a big deal. With that, she throw her oatmeal which is still full in the cup into the sink, then take a quick shower before heading out.
As she did some exploration before, she managed to find the eatery that she want to go. “Yogurt Ur Way Café”, the blue words painted and spelled above the entrance door as if the font is written with a quill. While Sunset know it is not recommended to eat cold foods during the start of the day, her mood today just make her crave something sweet and cold foods immediately.
Sunset proceed to push open the door, and stepped inside and see its interior design. The wall’s main colour with blue, although there are varying sizes of cartoonish and realistic drawings pasted on all four sides of the wall. Right in front of Sunset is a counter, and she can see that the paint and drawings end at the edges of counter, the wall within the interior width of the counter only has white on it. What is on the counter is just a simple cashier area with disposable spoons, tissues and straws near it. What is behind the counter is mostly a row of yogurt machines that dispense different flavours, and only a small area is dedicated to the toppings people can choose, all stacked together and with different types of containers for different topping methods, from having sprinkle containers with items like sprinkles, to those that require opening the cap to use the items like regular marshmallows. The rest of the restaurant area is just square tables placed together or circular tables placed individually. The chairs all similar: Wooden, white, cushioning on the sitting area and back rest. Currently she can see only two people at the counter, both males and are wearing buttoned-up collar top with white and blue stripes, and a blue circular hat with a concaved top. The pants are their own personal ones.
Sunset’s eyes lit up at the different confectionaries, and giddily walk to the counter. The cashier, who is looking at his phone, quickly jumped to attention as he saw the customer walking towards him.
“Welcome to Yogurt Ur Way, what can I get you?”, the cashier asked. Sunset look down at the laminated menu that is taped to the counter in front of her. “Give me your 3 flavour combo, strawberry, blueberry and original. Add some sprinkles, marshmallows and peanuts on it. And can I also get your kiwi yogurt drink topped with whipped cream?”. With a smile, the cashier nodded and wrote down the order, “That’ll be $10.95.”. Sunset give him $11, and got back 5 cents, along with a receipt and a small sign that indicates the table number. “Please wait for a moment.”. He gave his colleague the order for him to look, then he nodded. They then proceed to make the individual treats.
Sunset went to a circular table and sit down, then placed the sign on the desk and wait while tapping her fingers. Her eyes then suddenly focused on one of the people in front of her, and she recognised the person. It is Marc, he is sitting behind a circular desk also, with a drink beside him. Since he is currently looking at a laptop, he did not notice that Sunset is looking at her. “Marc?”, the said young man looked up and see who is calling her, and his face is as equally surprised as Sunset’s. “Oh, hi Mia.”, Marc smiled at her.
Despite not shouting, some among the already uncongested amount of customers already stared at both of them with odd looks as the talking is slightly louder than their liking. Feeling the awkwardness, Marc rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. “So, do you want me to stand up or-”, “No don’t, I’ll go there.”. Finishing her reply, Sunset got up from her seat, remove her items from the table, then walk towards Marc’s.
Sunset pulled the second chair near Marc’s table, then proceed to sat down in front of him. Like a gentleman, Marc moved some of his items to the floor to make space for his colleague. Both of them just look at each other awkwardly, waiting for one of them to first speak up. Drumming his fingers, Marc spoke up, “Fancy seeing you here today.”. Sunset shrugged, “Happy to surprise you.”. “So what are you doing here?”, “Just wanting to treat myself with some yogurt.”, Sunset replied. Marc nodded, occasionally glancing back at his laptop before asking, “Your first time being here?”, “Yeah, I figured I will occasionally treat myself since I got some money to spend.”, “Well I’m a regular here, so I can assure you that if you want the best fro-yo in town, you came to the right place.”. Sunset grinned, “Thank you then.”. Not long later, one of the employees came with her order, then take away the number sign. “Enjoy.”, he said simply, and Sunset nodded in appreciation.
For a while there, Sunset and Marc just enjoy each other’s company, and both of them mind their own business. Sunset just daydream and enjoy her food, while Marc is drinking his yogurt drink and working on something with his laptop. Sunset look at him just focusing intently at the laptop, pondering on what he might be working on. She figured she did not want to interfere with the work, but eventually curiosity got the better of her.
Putting down her treat, “Hey Marc?”, Marc looked up and hummed in question. “If you don’t mind, can you tell me what are you working on?”. Grinning, he gladly turn his laptop to the opposite side, allowing Sunset to see what is on the screen. The screen is showing about five windows opened and merged together, they all seem to run different kinds of operations like storage, debugging and even exclusive terms that only the application has such as “Canvas Renderer”. One of the screens show a young Asian like female character with a text box below.
“I’ve been working on this game for quite a while now.”, Marc said proudly to himself. “Right now I’m doing it by myself, but hopefully I can hire more people in the future with the money I’m making.”. Sunset look intrigued by what he is working on, “What kind of game is this?”, “It’s a dating simulator.”. Sunset is surprised at the artistic quality of the images considering it is made by one person. “These are some good drawings from you.”. Marc chuckled at the claim and said honestly, “These assets are just placeholders I downloaded for free from the game engine’s asset store. I’m not really strong in drawing and hopefully I can find an artist in the future, but right now I just need to touch up on the mechanics and stories first.”. Sunset nodded and went back to eating.
“See you tomorrow.”, Marc said courteously as he finished his food, leaving Sunset to continue eating. Sunset nodded and continue with what she is eating. Sunset watched him as he push the door open.
Not long after that, Sunset also finished eating and leave the eatery. She decide to wander around Hollywood as usual when she is bored. At a distance in front of her, she saw Marc again, sitting at a bus stop. A bus then arrives near the bus stop, and Marc stood up, wave Sunset goodbye with his left hand while simultaneously use the other hand to wave for the incoming bus to stop. Sunset also waved goodbye and she walk towards the area. Just like that, Marc hopped into the bus, which passed by Sunset after picking up the passenger.
As Sunset nears the bus stop that Marc was in, something on its seat caught her eye. It is a black A4 spiral notebook, looking like somebody left it here not long ago. Out of curiosity, Sunset decide to open it up and see the contents, partially hoping that she can track down the owner with what is inside. She flipped to the first page, and saw some bullet point notes. “Visual novel game”, “Romance”, “Branching path stories”, these are some of the bullet points on the paper that give Sunset a big clue on who this notebook belongs too. Deciding that she had seen enough to know who this book belongs to, and not to further invade other’s privacy, she closed the book and made her conclusion.
This notebook belong to Marc’s, he left not long ago and the notebook must have slipped out without him noticing. Sunset does not know where he lives, or any of his contact information, so she surely cannot return this book to him now. It is no brainer to her that the best approach now is to keep the book, then return to him the next day at work.
After another day of wandering around, Sunset retreated back into her room, but this time there is something different about her. She is carrying a black backpack, nothing fancy aesthetically but durable and large enough to put items inside. She figured that she need to buy a bag as her supplies will accumulate sooner or later, as well as wanting a decent place to put Marc’s notebook. The point is that she is tired of being restricted to carrying a few of items in her pockets or at hand, so she bought this bag for convenience sake.
Sunset put the backpack on the table, then she lazed back on her bed, taking moments to rest her mind. Slowly, she got up and reach for her backpack again. She fished out something from it, a small book. "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", the book’s title is printed with large words at the front cover, with the author’s name, Harlan Ellison written below the title. Right below the title and author’s name shows a fairly disturbing image of a human head without a mouth, two small and legs and an arm below the head, looking like they belong together. The right ear of the head also shaped like a horn, with small humans standing in it or outside it to support the ear.
When she came into the human world and need to study to adapt, she is disturbed by the great amounts of disturbing things humans managed to create. From fictional ones like a grim view of the future where dictatorship and tyranny is king, to historical events like genocide of millions just because of their beliefs or appearance alone. Sunset had seen things that made feared beings in Equestria seem like childish fillies who throw tantrums because they did not get candy in comparison. However out of the need to adapt, she forced herself to study up the disturbing pop culture, fictional and non-fictional.
At first, she is terrified by the details she read, but slowly she got used to seeing such tragedies depicted or happened. Even more slowly, she found some beauty in these tragedies as it is being used to explore useful and entertaining philosophical themes and depictions, especially if those themes are perfectly conveyed. In fiction, she particularly fell in love with Orwellian themes after reading “Animal Farm”, one of the books by George Orwell, whose stories coined and birth the theme of the same name. She still is shocked by such taboo subjects in the media, but still find them entertaining if they have interesting things to explore.
Sunset decide to open the book to its first page and start to read. For hours on end, she just scroll through every sentence, phrase and word inside, trying to digest what those black letters with little to no formatting is trying to convey. Her face transition from, trepidation, to deep in thought, to shock. These three emotions are the only ones Sunset conveyed throughout the story with no specific order.
With a tense breath, Sunset closed the book after reading the ending. She is not anticipating a happy conclusion, but the ending still struck her. Overall, it was a good read. She then realised she lost track of time, and proceed to look at the sky to get a rough estimate of how much time has passed. Judging by the still light blue sky, she estimated that only no more than a few hours had passed, and it is still in the late afternoon. With an annoyed sigh, she gently threw the book on the desk, then lied back down on the bed. Being a strong and fast reader, Sunset managed to read finish the relatively short story of less than a hundred pages within a day, and since this is the only book she bought, she had nothing else to read now. She mentally reminded herself to next time try and find longer books.
Still feeling bored and not tired, Sunset try to think of what else to do. She then decided to just watch television. Grabbing the remote, she switched on the television. This place has slightly more channels than the previous hotel she went to. Again mindlessly flipping through the channels, she stopped at a kids’ channel. The channel is currently showing a cartoon with animals, like all the other kids’ cartoons she ever heard of. Shrugging, Sunset figured that she will just watch this for the sake of it.
For minutes, Sunset’s eyes just glued to the screen lazily. She admit, this cartoon is quite interesting and has more quality than the other kids’ cartoons she heard of, but it is only time when she got bored again. Looking around the room, her eyes drifted to her backpack on the desk. It was then she remembered that Marc’s notebook is still in there. Out of curiosity, she wanted to know what else is written in it.
“No.”, Sunset mentally scolded herself. She is far from the person she was, she will not just invade other’s personal things for no reason. This is Marc’s journal, he definitely do not want some stranger to look at his things. But despite keep telling herself that she should not look at other’s things, her curiosity took over her. She then figured, she’s not using the information for blackmailing the person, and Marc does not seem to treat Sunset like a stranger, so it probably won’t hurt if she just skim through the contents. Making the decision, Sunset go and fish out the book from the bag, then went back to her bed and started to read it.
As she read through the contents of the book, she is quite impressed with the documentation. There are exact notes on what he want his game to have, simple diagrams to illustrate layouts. She can tell that there is extreme passion written all over the project. Everything was fine, until she flipped to the page where the game’s story is.
The story is about the player’s character in his/her first day of school, and he/she had quite a troubled background, and is just trying to get over her past. There, he/she bumped into a female student, and their meet up became rocky. From then on, the rest of the part is just them reluctantly keep on meeting one another, much like any romance cliches she had. For the next few days in the story, the female student become more affectionate to the player, and in the end they become a couple. She can see that Marc had a good concept in mind. However, there is just something wrong with the story.
It is okay if a story has some cliches and there, but this overall plot she read put way too many. Moreover, those cliches feel forced and cause some ludo narrative dissonances in the characters, mostly towards the female character. She can go from a mean girl, to very cowardly, and to a flirty one, with little to no explanation throughout the story. This happens to other supporting characters as well. Also, the branching paths seemingly made little to no difference to the story. There is no butterfly effect level of change, and only some changes in the dialogue and there. She still likes the story, but the plotting of plots and changes is what drags it down.
She know eventually Marc will release his game to the general public, and they will review it also. While she knows that some people might enjoy this story, she couldn’t help but feel it could be improved, and the game will make it bigger in the industry. Marc make it clear before that he wanted to make it big in the industry and get noticed by companies. But if the game is mediocre at best, the audience range might not be large enough to reach such ambitions. She knows its his first game but still, are there some ways she can help?
Well since she already know what is in the works, she now think of ways she can improve the concept and story. How to make the plots more branched out? How to make the story more sensible? How to make the characters more harmonised with their personalities? After she got some rough ideas, Sunset decide to go out, and buy some writing materials so she can jot down what she thought of.
It is the next day in the early hours of the morning, about an hour before 7am. Sunset arrived at a small restaurant where they got the permission to film. However as they are a small budget team, they can only afford a few hours before they need to go, and they will shoot the other scenes in other locations.
As she arrived there, she noticed that Sebastian and Chazelle are already there prepping for the shooting. Sebastian is the first who saw her and waved at her, and Sunset waved back with a smile.
“Thanks for coming early.”, Sebastian said. Sunset shrugged, “You’re welcome.”. The filmmaker then gestured to the restaurant they are going to be filming in, which is still closed as shown by the closed sign on the other side of the door. “We are now just preparing for the shoots, and waiting for the restaurant to open. I guess you can just wait first.”. Sunset nodded simply, and find a good spot where she can sit. Moments later, Celia came next, followed by Olivia. Then finally, Marc came next, greeting his colleagues with a less than usual smile he would give, not that anybody noticed the change that much.
“Hey guys.”, Marc greeted his colleagues as usual. His current present colleagues greeted back, and went back to do their own things. Sebastian give him the instructions before he went to wait for the restaurant to open as well. It was then that Sunset approached where Marc is sitting at, and tapped him from behind. Marc turned back and asked, “What’s up Mia?”. Sunset grabbed her backpack, and proceed to fish out a notebook from it. Marc’s eyes grew wide as he looked at what she grabbed out. “I believe this is yours.”, Sunset kindly said with a smile as she offer the book back. Without hesitation, Marc ecstatically snatched the notebook from her.
“My journal! But how did you found it?”, Marc proceed to ask Sunset. “You left it at the bus stop where we waved goodbye. It was not hard to deduce it belongs to you.”, Sunset replied. “Thank you Mia.”, Marc said in appreciation, before his expression turned into a pondering one. “Did you read it?”, he asked, causing Sunset to tense up a bit as he asked the question immediately. “Um yeah.”, Sunset replied awkwardly.
“Look, sorry if I invaded your privacy, I’m just curious-,”, Marc waved off Sunset’s frantic apology. “Oh no no, don’t worry Mia. I’m not angry, I just want to know that’s all.”. Sunset then nodded in understanding. “But if can, can you tell me your opinion of my game?”. Sunset then nodded before saying, “Okay then.”. Marc then listened tentatively.
“Well first, I just like to say that your idea looks great.”, Marc let out a proud smile at that. “But it’s just the execution of the story feels kind of wrong.”. Marc frowned at that, “Why is that?”. Sunset then give a constructive criticism of her opinions towards the story, how it has some plot holes, and how most of the story elements feel forced into it. After hearing what she said, Marc look dejected.
“Oh, so you’re saying I should scrap the game.”, Marc said sadly. Sunset then replied, “Oh no there’s no need to. You just need to alter the story that’s all.”. The young man the pinched his nose and said in some frustration, “I’ve been coming up with this story for months. I cannot just start over the story. I can write, but I’m not a good writer.”. Sunset felt bad that she caused someone to feel bad, but she hope what she will do next will cheer him up.
“Well you don’t have to.”, Sunset said proudly. Marc looked up and asked confusingly, “What do you mean?”. Sunset fished out something else from her backpack again, and took out another spiral notebook. But this time, the colour of the book is green. “Here, I rewrote a lot of those story parts. Hope it can help you along the way.”, Sunset said. Marc took the notebook from her, and flip through the pages. He is surprised that she managed to write about more than half of the pages already, and she did it in one day. “You don’t have to use all of them if you don’t want to, these are just my ideas that I think can make your story better.”, Sunset shrugged. With a second smile of appreciation, he looked up and said, “Thanks Mia, this could help me. I’ll read it if I have time.”. Sunset nodded, and went back to her resting spot, just waiting for the shooting to start.
The rest of the shooting for the day has ended in the late afternoon, and the crew all go home again as usual. They exited from a park, where they all ended their shift. As usual, Sunset decide to travel home by foot. At first it was tiring when she did this, but good thing is that her slim physique allowed her to quickly get used to the practise. As she was exiting the entrance, somebody tapped her shoulder lightly from behind. Sunset jumped a bit and turn behind her, and she see Marc again with a smile.
“Hey Mia.”, he greeted cheerfully. Sunset greeted back, “Hey Marc, why are you so happy?”. He showed her the notebook she gave him, “Because of this.”. “You like my story?”, Sunset said with some surprise. Marc looked incredulous at her, like she just asked whether people must eat food to survive. “Like? Like? Mia, your story is one of the best things I’ve ever read!”, he said with some excitement. Sunset is surprised at the reception, “Really, you think so?”. “Of course I think so. Your story fits so well with the current concept I am making! You managed to balance consistency in the stories and characters, and not make it so contrived. Your butterfly effect towards the story is also so well thought out that all of them feel like it could happen! You just helped me shaved off a lot of the time I might need to rewrite!”, Marc said confidently. Sunset felt proud at that.
“Of course I might not use all of your plot points, but this is more than good enough for me to have a starting point.”, Marc said awkwardly. Sunset shrugged, “That’s your call.”. Marc then ponder a bit, then asked Sunset, “I was also wondering something else. Would you like to be my story consultant?”. Sunset then waved her hand dismissively and said with a surprising tone, “Oh no no Marc, I am not really good at video games, I don’t think-,”, “Mia, I don’t need you to help me with my game. I just need your help in writing a good story.”. Sunset is still slightly nervous at that offer, “Umm, I’m not sure if I’m a good person to help.”.
Marc chuckled at the nervousness his friend emits, “The fact that you wrote such a story within a day, and your constructive criticism towards my previous one more than proved to me that you’re a good fit. I really need some good advices from you.”. Sunset thought of it, the fact that Marc had enough faith in her mad her excited at helping, but at the same time she is nervous at the prospect. She can identify a good story based on the amount of reading she did, but she cannot just dull out perfect advices for all writers to use. For her, her opinions are just subjective, and only fixed to certain audiences’ tastes. But seeing Marc’s pleading eyes, Sunset sighed and relented.
“Okay then, if you trust in me so much?”. Marc grinned at the acceptance, and asked, “How much do you want to be paid?”. Sunset waved her hands dismissively, “Oh there’s no need, I’m glad to do pro bono.”. Marc then scratched his head nervously, “I’m not sure, I don’t want to leech off from you.”. Sunset then laughed a bit, “Marc, there’s no leeching here. I’m just helping and giving good advices. It’s not like you hired me officially or anything.”. Marc sighed and said, “Yeah I guess. I do need to save some money for more professional things.”. Sunset nodded and walk away, waving her new friend goodbye.
For the next period of time, Sunset and Marc frequently meet one another at either Yogurt Ur Way Café or during shooting breaks on the filming set so Marc can have her opinion on her story. The process have some ups and downs, but mostly flow smoothly that it does not disrupt too much. To Sunset, the process was a bit tiring, but rewarding as she is helping a friend.
Sunset yawned and stretched her muscles as she arrived to the set on the early morning. As usual, Sebastian greeted her, and she find a place to rest as she waits for the others to arrive. She closed her eyes as she slowly drift into a slumber, hopefully to get at least a few minutes of nap time. Then, she felt someone looming over her, and she opened one of her eyes to see who it is.
Marc was standing there with a smile, holding the journal he had. “Hope I’m not disturbing you.”, he said. Sunset opened both of her eyes and chuckled, “No you’re not. So, what do you need help with?”. Marc then said, “Well, that’s the thing Mia. I’m actually almost done with the story.”. Sunset then smiled, “That’s great.”. Marc nodded, “Yup, and I just want to thank you for the help. And also, can you look at what I had before I do any touch ups?”. Sunset nodded, and Marc sit next to her as they go through what Marc had. It took nearly 20 minutes for Sunset to go through all the new details and plot points Marc added, but eventually everything got settled.
Marc closed his book and stood up, content that he is almost done with the story. “Thanks for helping me for a while.”, “It’s my pleasure.”, Sunset said with a smile. Marc then asked Sunset one more question, “Do you mind if I credit you.”. Sunset’s eyes went wide at the suggestion, then decide to reject dismissively, “Oh no, there’s no need for you to do that.”. “Oh come on Mia, you contributed to this as much as me. I want to let people know who helped me.”, Marc said pleadingly. While Sunset knows Marc is doing this for good intentions, she still wants to lay low for a while, at least until this whole missing person situation for her is over.
Sighing, Sunset replied, “Don’t Marc, just don’t.”. “But-,”, “I like the offer, I really am. But seeking fame and attention is not really what I want to do now. Maybe one day you can say if you want to, but just let me just live normally for now.”. Sighing at the rejection, Marc shrugged, “If you say so I guess, but I insist on paying you some of my money if my game manages to make some.”. Sunset nodded, “Deal.”.
“Guys we will start in a few minutes.”, Sebastian said loud enough for the entire crew to hear. Sunset and Marc stood up from their spots, and Marc decide to be the gentleman he is, gestured for his friend to go first. With a smile, Sunset walk in front first, before the passionate game developer followed her behind.