Slowly getting back into writing, sorry for the, what I think, short chapter but everything will be explained more in the next chapter. Here starts the original arc! I'll be writing it a bit differently than the normal mission way, It'll be scenes as if the movie were a story so that more thought will go into it!
(Chapter Twenty One: Onset once again)
Julia smiled to herself, letting one last letter fly off and hoping that it will make its destination somehow. Unlike the last letter, this one was heading onwards with a more emotional topic straight to her cousins. If Julia was able to let them know she was alright for the most part, then, of course, she was going to say something.
Though, she did exclude the parts that were rather... undesirable to read, like getting beat up, almost drowning in frozen waters. That kind of thing. Julia also kept Gabriele and her being together a secret. That was another thing she didn't want to explain to them either.
Once the taller girl slid down the slide, only then did she realize how late it was planetside. Though the night didn't stop Julia from overhearing a quick conversation, well, the end of one. A rift had open up and she couldn't quite see who was leaving.
MoonJumper stood there, a stern face in thought. He was worried about something, but then he noticed his daughter looking at him. "Ah! Julia, have you sent your cousins the letter?"
"Yeah.. but what was that? Are you okay?" Julia approached her father, worry on her face.
"A boy.. with a unique ability wanted to have a chat; He said his name was Tie." He then smiled at her, "He also said, 'thank you for the letter'. I am happy that you're making more friends, my dear." He held Julia's head noticing just how tall she had gotten. He missed those days when she was smaller. However, he's glad Julia had grown up to be a wonderful person despite the endeavors she had faced.
"What!?" Julia smiled happily, holding onto his hand that was perched on her head, "You were able to talk to him!? Call me next time!"
The man laughed softly at her, but then remembered the conversation which got him thinking. "Julia, you'll be alright on your own for a while, yes?" Should he help? Despite that other MoonJumper being responsible for a dilemma that he understood.. it makes him feel responsible. He will always see the monstrous part of him, there no mistake about that. It's something he has learned to acknowledge...
But he's not heartless. At most, he tries not to be anymore.
"Give me your word, you'll be okay while I'm gone." He said to her, and Julia looked at him. She could tell this was something he needed to do.
"I'll be okay." Julia smiled at him. "I'll see you when you get back."
"Of course." He kissed her forehead and vanished. Leaving her to her own space.
Now that she and Gabriele were together, they had taken temporary stay up at the attic while they and Melody continued to plan out the house in Subcon. A while back, MoonJumper had already taken apart a few things to make it a little easier to build around the broken treehouse for later construction.
As Julia waited for the elevator up, she couldn't help but think... that this was happening. Her place to call home, an actual home with her child, and her boyfriend. A loving family. Maybe also her dad who'll watch her like a hawk from time to time.
She chuckled to herself as the lift had taken her up.
The attic had this odd feeling to her, like the windows that let the sunlight in felt that of a church as if some holy entity was watching over her. Julia couldn't tell if it was a good being or not. The tall girl plopped onto her ramshackle bedding that mostly consisted of pillows from Melody's room. It's no mattress, but at least she could sleep on them.
She had no idea where Gabriele was or Kero, but she did feel the swift kick of the metaphorical sandman hitting her. Julia was out like a light, and her dreams played out like they always did. Darkness. At least, she thought it did. Her world was dim but surprisingly had shape and colors. Colors! Julia couldn't believe it! Her world was a vast field of emerald green grass fills with her favorite flowers of golden marigolds. Even when the world was still a little dark it was breathtaking, she could almost cry.
Things were looking up...
Until the quick flashes that she had witnessed from the Arctic Cruise came back to remind her of its odd meanings. Desert tower, locked box, and a new one; A man with a sun insignia on his clothing.
Julia woke with a start, surprisingly refreshed, and with the knowledge that she slept soundly through the night without realizing it. Though as weird as that might sound, those flashes felt like something or someone was calling out to her this time.
She rubbed her head and took one last look around before she stood up. Gabriele still wasn't here... where was he? Making her way over to the lift she could hear yet another conversation, one that sounded more.. heated.
"I cannot believe you ditched me behind! Maybe I wanted to come along for the mission as well!" A new voice rang out over the large screen on the wall that Bonnie and Melody stood in front of. "Instead, you leave me here with all the paperwork! That you need to do!"
"Hey, what can I say! It's good practice for you since you'll be the new CEO someday, Timmy!" Bonnie just shrugged him off, sticking her tongue out at him.
"It's still your paperwork!" He slammed down on the desk on his side of the video, "Even so, I hate paperwork as much as my grandfather!" As Timmy explained this, his anger towards Bonnie was cut short as he looked over to the side.
Julia was watching the whole half of the conversation as she hopped off the lift, 'so that's Timmy?' She wondered to herself.
"Is that?" The boy with black hair and light blue markings pointed out making the two girls look behind them.
Melody smiled, waving a hand for the taller girl to move over, and as Julia did the boy on the screen, Timmy smiled with amazement. "If you're guessing if this is Julia, then you're right!" Melody smiled.
"And for the record, I wasn't dead!" The taller girl chimed in, right as the boy was about to ask a question that she felt she already had answered a few times over.
Nodding, Timmy held a thoughtful face "Right, right..." then he scratched his neck and tilted his hat up a bit. "It's a pleasure to finally see the face behind the story; Melody spoke very highly of you!" He noticed Julia's bashful expression and added in "you even grabbed the CEO's attention, and he's never interested in many things."
Julia didn't know this herself, but it was a big deal to some extent. "I have so many questions to ask you, but it would see my time is up for now." Timmy looked over at something the group couldn't see, and waved "there's a lot of paperwork that needs to be done, thanks to someone sneaking off!" He glared one last time at Bonnie before tipping his hat at Melody and Julia in which Julia tipped back.
Finally, the conversation was over, and Melody looked over to Julia with an excited face. Julia raised a brow at the girl in question and waited for her to start talking as to why she was excited.
"So! Julia!" She started, looking at the tall girl with a splitting grin "I called DJ before I went to sleep last night." She explained to her "and I'm happy to announce that he is looking for some actors for his new movie genre!"
"New movie genre? But he always makes space-related movies..." Julia tilted her head.
"He's... wanting to try and experiment with what he has since a few movies back hadn't... gotten any positives yet." Melody did her best to explain.
"I see... well, what kind of genre then?" Julia asked as she got ready to head down, Bonnie and Melody followed her.
"Sci-fi/Horror." Was what the hatted girl said.
It had been so long since Julia had set foot in the studio, she was half expecting the two directors throwing words like the first time she and Melody came here. It seemed like a lifetime ago now. Though, this time they weren't looking for Timepieces that would cause an uproar.
before they even started walking Juli wanted to know why the kid wanted to help so much with her money situation "So, are you doing this to help me, or do you just want to be in a movie again?" Julia asked, looking down at the child right before they approached the front desk.
the child thought for a while but not too long "Hmm, a little of both." Melody swayed her hand side to side as she smiled at her.
Once at the desk, the bird immediately recognized the hatted child, she hadn't changed a bit. However, the taller girl was what got him confused for a moment before the desk bird remembered the familiar Fedora atop her head and nearly choked on the warm drink he was drinking.
Julia smiled at him and waved, "Good to see you too!" And leaned on the desk "We're here to see Grooves, got news saying he was making a new movie?"
The front desk bird was trying to recover from the shock but just pointed for them to carry on. The three girls heard him smack his chest to remove the liquid that might have gone down the wrong way. Julia smiled to herself, seeing people's reactions never get old, and never does walking down the halls of Dead Bird Studios. Despite Julia having history here within the walls.
The nostalgia was hitting her as each light cast their shadow which way and that, the echoing of their steps throughout the building and then finally the different sets with busy birds walking and getting ready for movie shooting. You could already hear the Conductor working on his side, while the DJ penguin himself was gathering his stuff to the larger set on the moon.
Turning around he noticed Melody, the new girl Bonnie, who he hadn't been introduced to yet, and a sight for sore eyes, Julia. He had heard from the Conductor that his older diva was alive and well, it was another thing to finally see her in person again. She looks roughed up as usual, but he was happy to see Julia was okay.
"Darling, darling! Come and hug this old penguin already!" He sashayed over with open flippers, as Julia couldn't help but smile at him. The two smaller girls smiled as they watched the two older adults attempt to embrace due to size differences, then shortly after, the DJ gave Melody a 'welcome back' hug as well. "My Divas are back and ready for action! and what's this? A new friend I see? My, my! Aren't you just the cutest!"
Bonnie was taken aback by the sudden compliment, she bashfully smiled as she rubbed her neck.
Julia chuckled at Bonnie's reaction, it was also nice to see that DJ Grooves hasn't changed a bit. The taller girl leaned her head to the side "Grooves, are you making a Horror based movie? Because if so, you're going to make my day."
The DJ chuckled "Indeed I am darling, I was thinking I could shake things up a bit!" He turned to look at her "Never know, new things can bring a crowd. Come, come! Meet some of the new actors I've hired!"
Before the DJ walked away to gather some more equipment, the three girls were led into a waiting room where a few other actors sat around. Most of them were Penguins, a few Owls, this was obvious; they weren't expecting to see two people out of everyone they could have thought of, however.
"Hey, Dolly! Long time no see!" The voice echoed around and Julia groaned out in frustration. It was Doppler, the shapeshifter.
"What in the magical hellhole are you doing here?" Julia slipped a curse out, she didn't like this thing.
"See ya still have a temper." The multiple voices chuckled out "As to what I'm doin here, I work here. Full time!" The beings' eyes all smugly smiled at her, making Julia glare at them "I get to eat any old prop and turn myself into a fresh new one! I can even transform into a body double for some serious shoots!"
"You're a stunt double?" Julia folded her arms, questioning them "and your not killing people?"
"Nope! This gig is way more fun, Dolly!" Coming from a person who likes to mess with people, that says a lot, or probably very little.
"Uh.. you know this.. rabbit person?" Melody couldn't take her eyes off the Doppelgänger.
"Do I know them? They tried to body snatch me while back!" Julia growled out, sure she was happy to know that Doppler wasn't on the train anymore more, but she certainly wasn't expecting this. Nor did she think about working with this being. Julia hopes that this change of heart is not some sort of trick, she could already feel that rage she was keeping down creeping back up just looking at him.
Melody and Bonnie were slightly on guard after what Julia said, but Doppler raised his odd limbs in a way to say 'cool down' "promise I ain't here to cause harm, I'm serious about this. I'm actually enjoyin myself for once." He then pointed the far chair, "ask him if you don't believe me."
In the back, the soft pattering of legs kicking could be heard, quietly waiting to be noticed was a familiar crow.
Who wasn't supposed to be here but snuck in looking for forks? Somehow, Guy was mistaken for a normal crow actor and was given the position of a background character. He smiled up at Julia when she noticed him.
"Ah! You're alive!" Julia smiled, hurrying over to him as Guy stood up humming at her happily. It was the first time Guy with many Forks was happy to embrace someone.
After all the actors were introduced to one another, they all got familiar with the new set that was located on the moon. It was a large prop made spaceship that one would see in a normal sci-fi film. Large and oddly shaped. The movie, as Julia had confirmed was a Sci-fi/Horror, and the name was called 'Body Swapper from the Stars'. The lead monster role was of course Doppler.
DJ Grooves hadn't given out all the info as of yet, but tomorrow was going to give out all the information they needed. Then after that, they'll shoot the first scene of the movie. Julia, Melody, and Bonnie were still unclear what their role was going to be but they hopped it was good.
Being on the moon again was strange, just as it was the first time as Julia explored the large fake spaceship. Looking out at the stars, she seemed to faze in and out of mental reality as she thought about a few things as per usual. If MoonJumper was okay, how her pal Tie was doing, how this new movie will go. And about the visions.
She thought that box in her mind looked familiar, and now that she looked back at it, it seemed to be the same one Zephyr was locked in. Was he the one calling her? It couldn't be possible though, because the man was out cold, he couldn't put himself back together, let alone make a noise.
So what was it's deal? And who was the man with the sun symbol on their cloak?
"Spacin out, Dolly? Be careful doin that around me, old habits die hard and all that." The voices brought her back from her mind as she turned around fast.
"I wasn't spacing out, and if I didn't hate you, I'd laughed at the pun." She pointed out, giving Doppler a look.
"You can never catch a break it seems, well, if you plan on being here... keep your mind down to earth!" He noted, walking away.
"The earth? Why can't my mind be over the moon?" She called back in response, getting a distent laugh out from being. that's another person who likes bad jokes, to be shes hates him. Julia should at the most attempt to cooperate for now... she saw how DJ was excited to start this new idea of his and she doesn't want to upset him with one of her outbursts. Honestly, having an outburst near people seems like a dangerous thing, and she'll have to get ahold of herself.
"Keep it together, Julia..." She whispered to herself. "Keep it together."
God. This was going to be a very strange experience. She hopes this doesn't involve any harm to anyone. If anything she chose to remember about the studio, it was that these movie shoots never ended up dull.
And thus, the start of something new.
OPFan37: It's always nice to read your reviews! I'm happy I was able to help you get back into things, even more, that I'm able to make a difference and help you and a few others expand their own ideas. It's always hard to express myself with words alone and I feel like it's not enough, But I want you and everyone to know how happy it makes me. Feel free to use my version of MoonJumper for a while if you want, He'll be absent either way for the most part. Keep doing what you love.
TimeBlade(Guest): Indeed! Fork guy Lives! and he'll be wondering the back sets looking for Forks!