May 30th 2022
Chapter 150
Our Participation in Filming
Lucas remembered worrying about letting them all roam freely, thinking they'd get lost or hurt if he didn't keep them all in physical contact, or in some mode of transport. When they'd been babies, the stroller had made sense, but the more they'd grown, and then once they started to walk… Eventually, they'd evolved into the wagon, which they still used often, mostly because the girls enjoyed it. But more and more, the triplets just liked to be able to follow along with their father and their big sister, whoever was there with them that day. So, not unlike now, someone would be left to pull or push the empty wagon, as Lucas did that day, while Marianne, Lucy, Remy, and Kacey walked and ran along. If any of the triplets looked like they had designs on splitting off, there was nothing to worry about. Sheriff Annie would never let them get far, and they'd soon be back on track.
They were in for a special treat that day. Oh, it wasn't like they'd never gotten to be at the ranch while their grandmother's series was in production, never got to meet the cast, the crew… But they had never before gotten to go and watch while actual scenes were being filmed, and that was going to happen today. Both Lucas and Maya, upon receiving this invitation, had clearly had the same thought, the same concern. Their girls were wonderful, all of them, but again this was one of those situations where they couldn't be certain of how they would behave, if they could be expected to keep quiet. They weren't about to go out there and scold them for being overstimulated by what they saw.
Then again, the production had to know to expect something like that with their guests that day. Whether they'd all met Katy's granddaughters in person or not, most if not all of them in front of and behind the cameras had at one time or another seen the videos that Maya would record and send to her mother, showing the four little girls in the midst of watching the show. It was on a regular basis too cute to bear, so the videos would naturally be a big hit to those who had created these episodes, and for that the girls had been invited to come and watch. How would they react to that, everyone wondered… Would they understand what they were seeing, the triplets especially?
"Da! Da!" Remy stopped walking all at once before turning and scrambling excitedly toward Lucas, reaching both her arms up with eager hands seeking his hand. He gave it over with a smirk and allowed the small blonde to direct him and his eyes to find what she'd seen. It turned out to be, unsurprisingly here, a horse, but then it wasn't just any horse, it was her favorite one from the show, and they knew that because whenever she'd show up on screen, Remy would express her excitement, loudly and clearly
This was the horse that Stevie's character rode, named Arizona in real life and in the show, Ari for short, and this Remy could definitely say, as she did now, repeatedly, loud enough for this to be the moment when several in the vicinity realized that they had arrived… including the horse. Arizona raised her head at the sound of her name. She was behind a fence at the moment, but she came and stood as close to it as she could and looked just agitated enough to suggest she wished to get nearer. She kept on standing there as Lucas and the girls approached. They had to hand it to Remy, maybe she did understand the rules very well. As soon as she could be considered near enough to do so and not a moment before, she sped up the rest of the way and came to a stop in front of the fence.
"Ari!" Remy declared with a giddy squeal, and the horse showed her own version of giddiness.
"Yeah, you like her a lot, huh?" Lucas chuckled as he came up and lifted the small girl, the better to allow her to make contact. It might have been the greatest single moment of her young life so far. Of course, this made it so that taking Remy away from here involved some amount of crying and complaining, but thankfully there was plenty around them for her to be shown, and she would perk up again before long. This was infinitely aided once Remy and her sisters spotted the one that they'd been most eager to see.
"Nana!" Kacey squealed, so loud that they might have heard her clear across the ranch. Katy jogged over to meet them even as her little granddaughters sped in her direction.
They came to crowd around her, and even with all of them talking all at once, creating something so worthy of the word cacophony, Katy looked thrilled. She could not have asked for anything more than this. She was clearly all dressed and made up to film a scene, but that didn't stop her crouching and taking a knee in the grass, the better not to get knocked on to her back by the eager pack trying to hug her.
In moments like these, Lucas knew both he and Maya would feel this way, feel some awareness in them of how each of their parents had their own relationships with their granddaughters. There would be similarities across the board, but then to each there would be something that was all theirs. With Katy, for instance, Lucas would see the way she would interact with the girls, especially in moments like these, where the little ones would all be in a pack.
He would look at his mother-in-law and see this feeling bloom in her, like she remembered 'what had been' when surrounded with 'what was now,' in the present. There had been times in her life where she could never have imagined all this, and she cherished the fact that she now had it. She would never take it for granted.
Once they had been united to Nana Katy, their day 'on set' officially kicked off. This meant meeting a lot of people, and Lucas almost had to laugh as he took pictures and a few videos, the better to show Maya when they got home. Here were all these people, some of them big names even before they'd become involved with the series, and they were the ones acting almost starstruck at the sight of the Friar sisters.
Some of them tried to see if the girls would recognize them from their characters, and they were amused to see that they must have, to some degree. At this point, it was more likely that they assumed they were their characters - as much as Katy, Stevie, and Tilly must have been themselves and nothing else, because that's how they knew them. They knew that for sure when Lucy spotted the 'mean guy' and immediately started to cry, grasping on to her father's leg.
He was a total sweetheart in real life, and the reaction from the tiny girl was at once as endearing to him as it demanded that he set the record straight. His 'rehabilitation' in Lucy's mind took some time, though by the time they'd leave that day she would have 'forgiven' him his offenses. The next time they'd watch a new episode and see him, the triplets would all cheer when they saw him, though when he'd do something mean, Lucy would scold the screen, because her new friend was better than that. It would become one of the production's favorite videos.
After they'd gone and met people here and there, it had been time for the day's filming to begin, so Lucas took the girls aside to where they had been told to go and they watched. Marianne knew how this worked, she'd seen it before, but the triplets had to be told what to do, and on the whole they did very well. Lucas suspected they were simply much too fascinated to really make too much disruptive noise. It was a lot like when they watched the show, only out in the open, which was a lot for them to process.
Marianne was fascinated by everything she saw, which was no wonder with how many times she had asked to come and watch her grandmother at work, and how many times she'd actually gotten her wish granted. As she sat next to him, with Kacey in her lap and locked secure between her arms, Lucas was reminded of a day up at the theater. He saw her, not much bigger than her little sisters were now and just... standing to attention, almost literally, as they'd watched the Stage Ready kids at work. They'd joked then that the bug had bit her, the stage bug, and he saw it here again, as she got this chance at a glimpse into the production world.
It was a big day for this episode, as Tilly's character was going to have an accident while riding one of the horses. Lucas found himself navigating several thoughts at once. He thought of Maya, and how he was being handed a spoiler of sorts, which he'd need to keep from her. She was hooked on the series, it was her thing, especially since going on leave.
He also saw everything that went into preparing for this scene, including the presence of a stunt double, and the team on hand for the horse... Part of him wanted to take the girls away, the triplets for sure, so they wouldn't be traumatized at the thought of Tilly or the horse being hurt, but then Marianne would want to stay - she understood stunts - and he wanted to stay, too, in case something went wrong for the horse.
He was saved by Stevie Brett, who seemed to catch his dilemma. She wasn't in this scene, just looking on, so she got the triplets in their wagon and took them along for a ride, much to Lucas' appreciation. This left him with Marianne, who came and sat in his lap now that she could.
"She doesn't really look like her," Marianne commented as they watched the double mount the horse.
"Yeah, but you won't be able to tell on the screen," Lucas reasoned. She didn't seem convinced. "You're going to check when it airs, aren't you?" he guessed, and she firmly nodded. "Okay, but don't blow the surprise for your mom, yeah?" he chuckled before kissing the top of her head.
"I promise," Marianne nodded. "She's going to be so surprised, like this..." she giggled before giving a muffled but not inaccurate impression of Maya when something big happened in an episode. Now he was the one who had to work hard not to be too loud during filming.
"That was really good, give me five," he held up his hand and she gave the requested high five. They carried on watching, her legs dangling eagerly - innocently kicking him in the legs as they went - but then falling still when the big stunt happened. Even if they both knew it wasn't real, that horse and woman were fine, it was very startling to see. As soon as they were allowed, Marianne wanted to go and see for herself.
"That was amazing!" she declared, and Lucas agreed, all the while granting himself a fatherly concern that this wouldn't give his daughter any career ideas...
TO BE CONTINUED
See you tomorrow! - mooners
