A/N: The character's names are Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman, but they aren't the Ewan and Nicole – they are NOT movie stars. They are just regular people. I made it this way for a reason, so just think of them still appearing the same, but as normal people.
A LIFE DREAMT AWAYChristian as Narrator: Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months and then - one not-so-very-special day, I went to my typewriter, I sat down, and I wrote our story. A story about a time. A story about a place. A story about the people. But above all things a story about love. A love that will live forvever. The End.
Singing: The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love in return......
As the giant, red velvet curtain drew to a close and the conductor tucked out of sight, the screen suddenly went blank. Ewan felt his body tingle as he slipped out of that blissful dreamy state and back into reality. For a moment, he forgot where he was. His eyes slowly opened and he dazedly looked around the room. The blue glow of the television set blinded his eyes, as they had been closed for quite a long time. He was seated comfortably on a large, leather couch. The digital clock resting on the coffee table read 11:34 PM. He was in a living room – no, it was his living room. As the effects of the movie were starting to wear off, things began to become clear.
For a split second after, he had still believed he was Christian, back in 1900. That always happened after he interacted in a movie – it took him a moment to realize he was still Ewan McGregor in his apartment in Chicago, currently January 6th, 2108. He laughed in spite of himself and tiredly rubbed his eyes.
Next to him, his friend Nicole was still interacting with the movie, tears spilling down her cheeks. Ewan and Nicole had become friends 4 years ago, when Ewan first met Nicole at his friend's Christmas party. Nicole was dating his friend at the time so Ewan had the chance to get to know her on many occasions. They realized they had a lot in common, especially an interest in interacting with movies.
In the meantime, Ewan began to develop feelings for Nicole. He tried to ignore them, as she was dating his friend, but he couldn't shake them off. Not only was she beautiful, but she had the most amazing personality also. Ewan began to date someone else to try to get his mind off her. Ironically, a few weeks later, his friend broke up with Nicole.
Ewan remembered the night that Nicole had been dumped, she had come knocking on his door just as he and his girlfriend we about to sit down to dinner. Ewan opened the door to see a shaken, miserable-looking Nicole; her mascara running from crying.
"H-he . . . broke up with me!" she wailed, collapsing into his shoulder. Ewan wrapped his arms around her comfortingly. "I j-just needed someone . . . to t-talk to," she stammered, trying to stifle a cry. He wanted to invite her in and talk about it with her, but he already had his girlfriend over.
"God, Nicole. I am so sorry about all of this, but I have company over . . . " he said. Her expression became even more miserable. She bit her lip to hold back from another outburst.
"Oh . . . I understand. Sorry for intruding," she nodded her head understandingly. Ewan felt terrible sending her away at a time like this. His heart began to break as she sorrowfully turned around and began to leave.
"Wait . . . " he called after her, defeated. He knew he shouldn't do this, but he felt obligated as a friend. "I'm sure I can reschedule the dinner . . . She'll understand." Well, she didn't exactly understand. In fact, she dumped him that very night. So, Ewan and Nicole, both just being dumped, spent the night lamenting together, and at the same time bonding. Ewan remembered how sweet Nicole had been, apologizing over and over, offering to call his girlfriend and explain – but, he refused. He knew she wasn't his type anyway.
Now that Nicole wasn't dating anyone, Ewan began the long debate within himself. If he was going to ask her out, how long should he wait? He also considered that it might be a little uncomfortable because his friend dated her. Then there was the fact that she might not even like him that way, and he didn't want to lose her as a friend.
Ewan always thought things through a little too thoroughly when it came to love. He would never just let things happen, everything was supposed to be a well-devised plan. And so it ended up creating a complicating relationship between them, and Ewan and Nicole just remained friends.
Nicole didn't seem to want to leave the interaction of the movie. Ewan gently shook her shoulder. "C'mon, Nic. The movie's over now," he whispered. Nicole was always one to get lost in a movie.
She groaned and her eyes reluctantly fluttered open. She gazed up at him longingly, her eyes still damp with tears.
"Christian…" she breathed in a very "Sparkling Diamond" tone of voice. Ewan chuckled as she was obviously still in Satine's character. It always wore off rather quickly, but sometimes Ewan liked to have a little fun with her while he still could.
"Yes, my darling, my love – I'm here!" he proclaimed dramatically, trying to stop himself from laughing. Nicole's brow furrowed and she appeared somewhat confused.
"Oh," Nicole answered absentmindedly. She closed her eyes again as she struggled to wake up. Sometimes it took a while to come back, especially if you enjoyed the movie. It was like waking from a long, very real dream.
While he waited for Nicole to return back to consciousness, Ewan sat forward and reached around to his back to unplug himself from the PIP (Personal Interactive Player). The PIP was a wonderful little gadget that no home in America was without. Small, with up to 6 available ports to allow connection, and a place to insert the movie on a microchip, PIPs were specially designed some 20 years ago to not only play movies, but to allow people to interact with them.
To interact, a person must first have a bioport (a place to connect with the PIP) surgically installed into their bodies. Advanced technology allowed for the PIP to tap into a person's nervous system, controlling much of the body's functions, and especially the brain.
After some time, most movies were adapted to be able to interact with on a PIP, especially classics. Interacting became a major pastime, and for some, a way of life. Once a person is connected and the play button is pushed, they slip into a dream-like state, lost in an entirely different world. A character is selected beforehand and once the movie starts, they transform into that character. They think everything the character thinks and they feel everything that character feels. They are someone else for the next 2 hours. It's a completely different life - and perhaps that is why interaction is so alluring.
Ewan traced his finger down to the base of his spine and moved his hand a little toward the left. He was met with the warm touch of the flesh-like plug that was inserted into his bioport. With a gentle tug, the plug came loose out of his back and that warm feeling you always felt while interacting with a movie faded away.
Suddenly a sleepy, more regular Nicole-sounding voice scolded him, "Ewan, I hate when you do that . . . "
"Do what?" Ewan asked innocently. Nicole weakly smacked him with a pillow in response. "Hey!" Ewan laughed, snatching away the pillow.
Nicole grunted with dissatisfaction as she came back to her normal state. "Oh my," she sighed. "That was so beautiful. I loved that movie."
"Yeah, it was pretty good," Ewan agreed casually. "But I hate when you make me rent these sappy movies," he admitted, recalling the time she had forced him into playing Jack in the classic, "Titanic."
Nicole lifted her head lazily and punched his arm softly. "It was a good movie – shut up!" she laughed. " . . . And I could sing!" Nicole smiled gleefully, remembering quite clearly how beautiful her voice had sounded. "How wonderful life is, now you're in the world," she sang, not quite being able to reach the lower notes.
Ewan jokingly twisted his face to appear repulsed. "Guess it only works for you in the movies, Nic. Sorry!" She shot him a stern, yet playful look and crossed her arms.
"Well, let's hear you try to sing like that in real life!" she dared, a smile dancing across her face. Ewan, always willing to take on a challenge, stood up on the seat of the couch without hesitation and lifted his arms with enthusiasm, mocking Christian on top of the Elephant.
"Love lifts us up where we belong!" he sang loudly, with a concentrated look on his face. Nicole began to giggle madly, clapping unenthusiastically.
"You're an idiot, you know that Ewan?" she teased him. Ewan grinned and bowed sarcastically.
He stepped off the couch and headed into the kitchen. "You know, you looked so different with all that make-up and the red hair," Ewan remarked, remembering the qualities the PIP had given her. While interacting with movies, the PIP would transfer only some of the real actor or actress's physical traits to you, especially if they were significant. But, for the most part, people look the same way in an interaction as they do in real life.
Nicole ran her fingers through her blonde curls and giggled. "I actually liked the red hair. It made me look more exotic," she reflected.
"Want a drink?" Ewan shouted from the kitchen.
"Yeah, could I have some milk?" Nicole asked. She heard a loud laugh come from around the corner.
"Milk, huh? Don't be too dangerous now, Nic."
Nicole ignored this comment and continued her train of thoughts. "Maybe I should become a red head," she suggested.
"I like your hair the way it is." Ewan handed her the glass of milk. "Besides, the red hair looked really weird on you," he kidded with her, sitting down.
"Well you looked pretty strange yourself, with that long hair," she giggled as she patted Ewan's normally shorter, spiky hair. "But, I guess Satine liked it – she was totally in love with you . . . er, Christian, that is. You wouldn't believe it, Ewan. Her character wanted him so bad."
"Same thing with Christian! He was mad for her. I've never interacted with a character that felt that strong before. He really loved her, you don't know how depressed I was feeling at the end."
"I guess that's the downside to interaction. It can really take you on extreme highs and lows, make you feel whatever it's designed to make you feel," Nicole stated, sipping the milk slowly.
"Yeah, I've made some pretty bad interaction choices before. Now, I would never interact with a character unless I knew what I was getting into first."
"Oh, I totally agree. Some people actually like the weird characters, though. I would be afraid to interact with a murderer in a movie. Can you imagine – actually thinking that killing someone would make sense? I think they should make characters like those illegal to interact with. It's sick," Nicole voiced.
"Once they do that, they'll just find reasons to ban movie interaction completely. They're getting strict enough on interaction as it is, with all the moral issues involved."
"God, I hope they don't do that. I live for interaction. It's just so wonderful to get away from reality and play a different role in life for a few hours."
"It really is amazing. Almost makes you wish you were the character, sometimes . . . " Ewan's sentence trailed off. There was a short pause between them. "Nic . . . " Ewan hesistated.
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever . . . been in love like that? Like Christian and Satine were?" Ewan stared at the credits as they rolled monotonously below the screen.
"Well - a lot of interaction has to with how you're feeling too, you know. Feelings toward other interactive players can have some affect on the degree of emotion felt . . . Sometimes I think that some of the love is . . . already there." Nicole admitted, wishing the second she said it that she hadn't. She knew couldn't go there with Ewan – she didn't want to complicate their friendship.
Before Ewan could respond to this, the PIP interrupted the silence and began to make a buzzing sound. Their attention was drawn to the television screen.
"It's waiting for you to disconnect." Ewan informed her, indicating that she remove the plug from her bioport. Nicole avoided his eyes.
"I know . . . "
"You don't want to interact with it again, do you?" Ewan glanced back up at her. As mushy as the movie had been, he wouldn't mind falling in love, kissing her, singing with her again. Sometimes he really felt the only way he could ever be with Nicole was while interacting. After all, it was just a movie.
"You'd do that for me?" Nicole smiled, though she ached to just come right out and tell him how she really felt.
"Just for you, Nic." Ewan gazed affectionately at her, plugging his bioport back in. He reached for the remote and clicked the "replay" button. They laid back comfortably and closed their eyes, waiting. The music began, and they felt themselves slipping back into the world of the Moulin Rouge, where they would soon be together again with no doubts or uncertainties. Everything just was.
A/N: Strange, I know. But please review for me - it would be greatly appreciated!! :o)
Alright, here's an explanation: My idea was that it was kinda supposed to be that when YOU are watching the actual movie Moulin Rouge (yes, you, in your room with your DVD), you're watching "Ewan" and "Nicole" play the parts, but they're not the real stars, they were just interacting with it. This fic was just kind of the ending that you didn't see. I hope it wasn't too confusing.
DISCLAIMER: Here's my long speech so I don't get sued. First off, I know we are not supposed to write fics about real people, but this doesn't really have anything to do with the real Ewan and Nicole. I just used their names. Next, this fic was based on the movie eXistenZ. I don't own anything from the Moulin Rouge or from eXistenZ. It's probably obvious what was used from Moulin Rouge, but from eXistenZ, the concept of becoming part of a game was theirs, but I changed it to becoming part of a movie. Also, the term "bioport" doesn't belong to me.