I remember saying in the last chapter that things will be explained more, but I lied to myself and everyone. (I've been getting increasingly slower though) However, I now know for a fact things will pick up in the next chapter now that I have discussed a few roles that the characters will be having. Also, a new character is being introduced as well. Though minor as they may be. This upcoming character will not be the main focus as of yet, but soon.
(Chapter Twenty Two: Casts, Roles, and Ghosts)
Waking up early was mandatory for the days onward. Julia sat in the kitchen on Melody's ship drinking tea, as usual, talking with Gabriele as she waits for Melody and Bonnie.
"That doppelgänger is there? Honestly?" He asked, folding his hands and leaning back against the chair. "And you're sure they're not up to something?"
"No, I'm not sure. That's what worries me." The girl looked at her drink, just another thing to the pile to worry about. "But if Grooves doesn't see a problem with them, then I shouldn't worry too much. I just need to keep my eyes open."
Gabriele nodded, "you could never be too careful in situations like these..." the doctor noticed Julia's grip on her cup was tight, and by how she looked off into it, he could tell she was stressing about the whole situation. "Julia, my darling. If you ever feel any strong emotions... don't bottle it up. It isn't good."
While the stuffed man held out his hand for her, the girl reached back with a nod. While a moment of silence came, Julia took another sip of her warm drink to calm her down. It was also odd not seeing Cooking Cat here, It was obvious she has Lynn to look after now. Taking a glance at the empty spot to where the feline always stationed herself, Julia then looked to her boyfriend. Something seemed off and she couldn't tell what...
Upon realizing, Gabriele was equipped with an object, though not just any object. It was a badge! Pinned just above where his heart would be. A green cross badge, with a golden outline and small background sparkles.
Gabriele caught Julia looking at his new belonging, and chuckled "Ah, yes... you're probably wondering where I was yesterday." He looked at his badge now "I was having a chat with Benjamin, when he suddenly gave me this object. If I recall, they were called badges..."
"The same kind of badges that grant specific abilities..." Julia trailed off looking at it "Melody has bought a few of those. They all seemed made specifically for her."
"Yes, except this one works with me." He pointed out, holding a hand to her. "With this badge, I'm granted the ability to heal minor wounds, such as scraping or the beginning of burns and bruises." There was a golden green glow coming from his palm, looked like gas from dried ice as a few specks flowed down and disappeared. "However, I cannot heal major wounds such as a stabbing or very deep gashes. Or broken bones."
One last thing then came to mind "there is also a time limit to when I can treat wounds..." he held Julia's hand once more "I cannot heal old burns or scars..."
It made sense, while heath pons was stronger for certain things, he was now a minor healing station if needed. Julia smiled that he was given such an ability. Being able to do something besides taking off his frilly tie and causing his miasma ability to activate must make him happy.
Meanwhile, Melody walked out of her room and to the kitchen proud, with a few extra equipments Julia also hadn't seen her wear before. One is a large bow that held her hair together. Bonnie and Her Captain smiled and giggled quickly joking about being bow siblings, But Julia just smiled at the two. Of course, she was slightly confused, but it was about time to head off to the studio to meet up with Grooves and the other actors.
Julia stood up, the two adults embracing each other in goodbye for the day. "If you need anything at all, just give me a call, my dear," Gabriele said to Julia, who nodded with a smile. The doctor then watched as the children along with his girlfriend walked out from the kitchen and out of sight.
The DJ penguin had handed out a few scripts, every person sat somewhere within the studio to read and focus. Some sat with one another if their roles were in groups that interacted with each other, and some, like Julia, had been given a single role. Wondering off, she left the group of people to silently read, she was able to think better without noise to distract her.
While Julia wandered off, she overheard a scene that Melody and Bonnie had; A space traveler and their companion arrive in a spaceship that is disguised as a... briefcase?
"Huh... that idea sounds familiar.." The girl mumbled to herself, remembering a certain space traveler who rode in a blue police box.
"Hey... have you heard of the recent incident that happened down in the storage area?" Two owls passed by, one whispering to their friend as Julia read a part of her script, "I had heard the studio was h-haunted now, but I didn't believe it."
"Poor Nico didn't stand a chance against a falling prop box... hope he gets better soon." The other owl whispered back.
'Haunted?' Julia thought to herself, 'When was the studio haunted?' Adjusting her hat, she decided to read and walk, possibly down to the old storage of the studio. That was a place she never thought she'd see again. Julia entered the elevator and kept her eyes glued to the folded papers in her hands.
"The engineer was spotted by important equipment, tightening a loose bolt apart of what kept the ship powered.." She quietly read out loud, "So, I'm the engineer?" Funny how she couldn't even keep her bike properly up to speed. She'll need to see a mechanic soon now that she thinks about it.
As the elevator slowly made its descent, It shook violently for a moment. The tall girl paid no mind to it, thinking that it was probably turbulence. However, it happened once more... except the elevator shook harder, just like the time realities collided during her ride back to this world. Except she wasn't on a bike she could control, the elevator fell fast through what looked like a different version of the alpine skyline; more specifically, the area within the birdhouse!
As the elevator fell a few feet, Julia could hear her screaming echoing out to the clouds. Just before the elevator fell through the second rift, she made eye contact with a startled boy wearing a cowboy hat. As fast as the event happened she found herself at the storage floor, nearly throwing herself out of the metal moving box once the doors opened.
Heaving heavily, Julia tightly gripped onto the script and herself. When she's prepared to fall from a height, it's not so bad. However, this? This started up something she thought she was over with. Then again anyone would scream in an elevator fall.
"I hate elevators. I hate them. Hate." Julia shakily stood up mumbling, adjusted herself, and attempted to move on.
Melody and Bonnie were excited for this movie that they paid attention to what was written down. It was so much more different them filming live like what the hatted girl and her older sister had done! There was a plot, a story with action, planning. Scenes she couldn't wait to experience, even if they sounded scary!
While the children kept their faces to the scripts, the odd mismatched being strode passed them while the two sat in a lounge-like area reading out a few lines every now again.
Backpedaling, Doppler looked at them with a smile "Oh, if it ain't Dolly's crew. What is it? She's accumulatin a pint-size army or somethin?" The being chucked and Melody frowned at the shapeshifter.
The anomaly of a person looked imposing, but neither of the children was scared of it. Melody had fought Snatcher, and even then he wasn't too scary. "First of all, you don't scare us." The hatted girl pointed out, holding her ground "and second, Julia told us about what you do. Don't you dare try anything that will hurt Grooves or anyone else here."
"Well, such aggression! Look here, Kiddos..." the shapeshifter crouched down, all eyes looking a Melody "I'm not the one you need to be scared of. If anythin, it's Dolly."
"What... what do you mean...?" Melody stammered, glancing at Bonnie of some sort of backup.
"Oh? She didn't tell ya that part? Where she almost smashed me into a pancake without a second thought?" The shapeshifter tilted their head, laughing. "Man, did she tell you anythin about her powers?"
"Of course not! She didn't have to.." Melody remembered the first time Julia had made a barrier, it was against Zephyr to protect Kero "she's got abilities that are unique... and she's doing her best..."
"Well..." Bonnie scratched her head "I'm not going to lie, when we first met, she chased me down with her bike driving on said barriers." She looked over to her captain, "It was.. it was pretty scary at the time."
"That was because you jumped on her head, though..." Melody pointed out.
Doppler watched the children banter about, and decided to make a point "Look, she got mad, right? What I'm tryin ta say is that... Dolly's power sometimes gets out of hand with her anger. Keep an eye out and watch." They pointed out.
What was the shapeshifter trying to prove?
"Gotta hand it to Grooves; When he wants to improve..." Julia looked on at the script, a bit of awe on her eyes "he knows how." Though some parts bothered her along with the script, she'll just have to see how things play out.
In the dark corners of the large storage, just as dark as Julia remembered, she could hear giggling. The noise made her freeze since the room was so big the sound echoed off everything making it hard to pinpoint where it came from. Then singing started, softly bouncing off the walls as Julia kept moving.
"Buttons, Buttons, so very round and colorful..-"
She kept moving, the voice she was trying to follow sounded like it belonged to a child. What were they doing here?
"Buttons, Buttons! In every shape and size!"
Laughter and giggling started and quickly stopped when Julia thought she had made it to the source of the sound. It was eerily quiet, and it sent a shiver down the girl's spine.
"Hello?" Julia called out, looking around "you lost down here, kid?" Without a doubt, Julia knew it sounded like a kid. Unless it was a demonic presence hiding as a child.
Shuffling was heard overhead, above the large storage shelf that held props inboxes. Reacting fast, Julia held up her barrier and watched as the many boxes broke from the impact. The shield holding strong.
"Uh oh-!" Julia heard and saw a spectral tail attempting to get out of sight.
However, the tall girl wasn't about to let that sneak attack go. Julia shot out a single string from her index finger, snagging it and prevented the ghostly being from retreating. If there was anything her strings were strong against, it was small souls without shells.
"Hey! Let go!" The child cried out in panic.
With a firm look, Julia yanked the ghost out from the shelf, looking at what seemed to be a very small dweller. It looked so frail, and skinny, but clearly, it could withhold the force Julia had just applied. Though, not only did she have the shock of seeing a Dweller down here but the fact she could understand it without a binding contract like for Kero.
"First, you need to tell me what you're doing here." Julia looked at the ghost sternly, making the child curl up.
"What am I doing here? I live here!" The child softly yelled at Julia, then stopped to process something "You.. you can understand me..?"
"It would seem so... not sure why, myself." Julia shrugged, keeping a strong hold still.
"Huh, only the dead can talk to the dead.. and living people if they're strong enough.." the child stopped struggling around and got in Julia's face "are you dead too?"
"Last time a checked, no-" Julia eyed the ghost
"So you're actually alive! That's amazing!" The child looks on with awe.
Julia then let go of the ghost, it seemed more interested in talking with her now that she grabbed its attention. "How long have you been down here..?" The girl was curious.
"Awhile... I think." The ghost was unsure, looking around "I've been down here for as long as I can remember, and it's not much."
The ghost has memory loss, that was something Julia could relate to, but it was only natural for the dead to forget some things.
"Do you remember your name..?" Julia asked, taking off her hat and dusting it off.
"I only remember... Button." Was the child's answer "I remembered that because I collected buttons! Still do!" She giggled.
"Well, Button, it's nice to meet you." Julia placed her hat back on her head and looked up at her "My name is Julia."
A conversation had broken out between the two, Julia had found a spot to sit on a dolly with small boxes on it. They played a game where they each had to answered questions, at least to the best of they're capabilities. One question down the line was asked about why Button wad attacking some of the staff when they came down here...
The child's answer was unexpected, "It's because they let that monster eat my friends! The white shiny people that never talk or move..!"
"Manikins?" Julia raised a brow, asking.
It turned out that Button's only friends where a few manikins that sat around collecting dust. When Doppler came by eating said 'friends' probably for being able to move and pose for clothing designers.
It then occurred to Julia that this child never had any real friends. Button has been alone down in the depths of Dead Bird Studios. The lonely child side of the older girl wanted to reach out to this dweller the more she thought about it. Button was just like her.
"Well, if a friend you want, I'll be one..." Julia said looking at the masked dweller, now taking in the design she had on her mask.
It was a navy blue with thick white lines going over each eye hole. Little carved wings on the top half of her mask, and at the very top where three angled spikes. The middle one much bigger than the two sides. To finish off the mask there seem to be light pink circles, like the blush on an old ceramic doll.
"Really!?" The child was ecstatic, flipping which way and that. Stopped to look at Julia's dozed of expression. The Dweller tilted its mask in question.
Then, Julia realized just how long she stayed down here. The others were probably looking for her, it was probably time to go home. Looking over at the Dweller, Julia sighed. "I promise I'll be back, Just.. please try not to hurt anyone while I'm gone okay?"
Button nodded happily, disappearing into the depths of the storage room.
Wondering her way back, Julia found herself staring at the elevator once more. Glaring at the metal death box. No, just to play it safe, "where the hell is the stairs." She muttered to herself.
As some of my fans know from Tumblr, I've been having an artist block and a depression rut... It's been increasingly hard to write and draw, but I managed with this chapter. I apologize if it isn't the best, I feel like it's lack as well. However, I'm going to try my best at the next one, I've been wait so long to write it out...
See you guys in the next chapter.
Fighter33000: Yes, with Moonjumper away, Julia has more time to think about what her dream means and what she'll do about them. It's nothing her father would want her to fret over. though, knowing her, Julia will. Now about Timmy, Boy... It's certainly not the last you'll see of him... Hopefully. Honestly hope I can get him more in the spotlight. Lastly, Grooves' movie- haha... yeah, dangerous.
(Guest): Yup! Hope I can do a good job on this, I appreciate your enthusiasm!
OPFan37: Not much of the world more than treating myself well. With everyone wishing me well, I do feel like I can get over this, but I'm still in a depressed state. I know it will take time.
This Original Arc doesn't have a name yet in fact- can't seem to think of one off the bat, but once I do think of one, that will be the name of the next chapter! To keep this a little short so I don't lose myself, Zephyr and the dreams will be explained real soon. Nothing about Tron- Don't think I ever watched Tron now that I think about it. Now, the next chapter starts filming!