Thank you, God, for everything.
DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Doctor Who. He he he, Rory and Amy with the 11th Doctor . . . they just . . . they make me happy, and that is why I try not to think about The Angels Take Manhattan very much. Thanks for reading! God bless you!
"'Act?' Act in what?" the man who had been yelling said, clearly confused.
"The paper, sir," the Doctor said, undeterred, nodding toward the object in his hand, and the man looked at the physic paper and instantly nodded, making the Doctor nod with a mischievous gleam in his eye and pocket the paper.
"You're here for the 'Mixed Culture' show. The - oh, yes, Jemson told me he was sending over new people who did well in the auditions. Sorry about that canceled appointment I missed," the man said.
"Absolutely no problem," the Doctor said cheerfully. He tilted his head and said, "Though, I think - me and my colleagues - " - Rory and Amy instantly nodded, each knowing that it was the right thing to do - "your name got lost in translation. What was it again?"
"James Peering," the man said, nodding. He grinned and said, "Director of Mixed Culture."
"Ah, yes, absolutely fabulous. We can't wait; we've been terribly excited about being in it," the Doctor said.
Rory instantly nodding, saying, "Oh, yeah. Totally."
"Oh, yes, haven't been this excited for anything compared to this," Amy said, nodding, instantly going with the Doctor's story.
"Yes, right; when do we begin?" Rory asked.
"Wait a minute here," the director said, and he turned back into his trailer, out of sight, leaving the sounds of him banging around to tell the three friends he was looking for something.
"Oh my gosh, we're actually going to be in a telly show!" Amy said. She jumped up and down slightly, saying, "I get to be a celebrity."
"It's the least you can be, traveling through space and time with the Doctor," Rory pointed out.
"Yeah, it's not like I've become a president or queen yet," Amy said. She looked thoughtful at the idea, though, and said, "Maybe I should become a president."
"Oh, I feel sorry for that country already," the Doctor whispered to himself, and he winced slightly when he turned to see that Amy was giving him a glaring look. "I mean, of course," he quickly added, "they'd have a bossy and strict leader, a fantastic one."
"Yeah, who doesn't take that sort of talk about her from anyone," Amy said, and she smirked and gently smashed her fist against his skull, ruffling his long hair even more than usual, making it totally silly.
Rory smiled and the director popped up, holding three groups of paper, each collected with staples and a black clasp on top of them, keeping them together. He handed one to each of the three, all looking interested, and said, "Here's a copy for each of you of the script for the first episode, 'The Diva and the Geek.' Each of your lines are highlighted with different colored markers." He let out a breath, and looked excited. "Thanks, I gotta go. I'll get Simon to call for you when it's time to shoot the meeting scene," and he raced past them into the chaos of Hollywood.
Amy and Rory watched him leave before turning back to their scripts, Amy saying, "Well, that was quick."
"I'm the GEEK?!" the Doctor said, scowling, looking up from the script to the confused faces of the Ponds. "Why am I the Geek? Do I look like the Geek?" He looked at his clothes, from his suspenders and bow tie to his tweed shirt. "I am the absolute OPPOSITE of a geek!"
"Doctor, no you're not," Rory said, shaking his head.
"Doctor, give you a pocket protector and big 90s' glasses and you're the epitome of geekiness," Amy said. She tilted her head and said, imitating the Doctor, "'Oh, look, my screwdriver has caught the outer spherical temperance of a galaxian field that's filled with timey-'"
"'Wimey,'" said Rory.
"'-stuff'," Amy said, and she gave the Doctor a look, making him quietly smile.
"Got me down pat, have you, Ponds?" he said, smirking, almost looking very paternally proud. It reminded him when Rose was able to properly say, "Raxacoricofallapatorius."
"A bit," Amy said, shrugging.
"Well, at least I'm not portraying the Diva," the Doctor said, still smirking.
Rory instantly looked at his script and laughed, saying, "Oh my gosh, it's like this role is Amy!"
Amy gave him a look and said, looking at the script, her eyebrows drawing together, "Oh my gosh, you're right. What did he do, do a full body scan on us and then transfer our personalities onto a script?"
She looked to the Doctor, who shrugged, saying to her, "Could be possible."
"Yeah, 'cause this sounds exactly like me," Rory said, examining his script. "And I'm playing a Roman." He looked to Amy and the Doctor and said, "That's just strange."
"At least we don't have go through wardrobe," Amy said. She spun around, saying, "I so called it on getting dressed up for Hollywood."
"We're probably going to have to go through makeup. I'm going to need it; I think I'm going through a nine-hundred-and-nine-year-old phase. I'm getting a zit, right here," the Doctor said, and he leaned forward toward Rory, making him back up.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, Doctor," Rory said. "I don't need to see it; I'm sure it's not deadly or whatever."
"Where is the makeup department?" Amy said, looking around the passing carts, interested.
"There's only one way to find it," the Doctor said, descending the steps to the trailer onto the pavement.
"Asking someone? Who?" Rory asked, looking around the shouting people and the people on cellphones with megaphones.
"Oh, well, I was thinking about walking around and exploring, poking our noses (especially your long one, have you noticed that you have a long nose, Rory?)" - Rory threw him a not amused look - "oh, you did, well, into places where we shouldn't, but that way might work too," the Doctor said.
"Let's go find us a makeup department then," Amy said, and the three of them started out into the Hollywood studio traffic once more, and, well, not TOO surprisingly, nobody gave them any weird looks for wearing a bow tie and a Roman Centurion outfit. It was perfectly normal around there. "Maybe they can finally make you a ginger. You're always saying, 'I wonder if next time I'll have ginger hair.' What does that even mean, Doctor?" Amy said curiously.
The Doctor took a deep breath and not wanting to talk and explain the horrors and tiny perks that never appear of regeneration, just said jokingly, "Maybe I will do that, Amy. Not the color of your hair, though. That'd be weird."
"MY hair is weird?" Amy said. She reached out and ruffled his hair, saying, "Have you seen yours lately?"
"Yes, matter of fact, I have," the Doctor said. He swatted her hand away and said, messing his hair back into a mess, "Still not ginger, though."
The two of them continued with their friendly, teasing banter as they walked about, and none of the three noticed the blonde woman who had just been fired by James Peering. She was still in the studio, and looking around from behind a set prop of a large sprawling rainbow, looking around to see if anybody noticed her. She had been on the other side of the studio, near the trailers, when she and James had gotten into a fight, so hopefully nobody knew of her being fired over here.
Even so, as she applied a bit more lipstick to her full lips and puckered them, she slipped a hand into her purse and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, setting them on the bridge of her nose, just in case. She hurried out from behind the rainbow and headed to Studio E, where they were setting up a meeting scene in the Diva's apartment in Mixed Culture.
Camille Burnett hurried past the cameramen with their giant cameras and wires rolling on rails all around, the men with their megaphones, and a set from wardrobe rushing to 'Driven,' bearing a series of swords and shields. She nearly bumped into one of her fellow actors for 'Mixed Culture,' quickly slipping behind a wall. He was dressed up in a stereotypical alien outfit, dressed to nines as an alien leader. His real name was Levi, and the two of them had a relatively good relationship from the past couple of days of them reading their scripts and getting fitted for their outfits.
She had thought that he hadn't seen her, but of course he turned and saw her.
"Camille, why're you hiding behind the wall? Aren't you needed in wardrobe? They need you as the Diva, you know," Levi said, holding his alien helmet in his hands. He had long black hair and an earring in his ear and looked almost concerned.
"Oh, don't worry about it, Levi," Camile said cheerfully. "Just head on - I need to get to the set real quick."
"Okay, don't be late, though," Levi said, and he hurried away.
Camille smirked and let out a breath, glad he took the bait. She quickly entered the building and found the studio. She sneaked inside, and nobody noticed her as they set up the cameras and lights up ahead.
She moved past them onto the set, knowing that if anyone recognized her they'd just think she was early for the scene. Nobody around here knew it yet that she was fired.
The set was of a California condo setting with a view of a beautiful beach. The beaches around Hollywood weren't what they used to look like a hundred years ago; now they were covered in trash and most of them were closed down with men heading in with special filters to get the toxins out of the water. Camille had actually never been to one of those beaches; she had a private one specially recreated in her backyard.
She moved amongst the furniture. She remembered from the script that Diva and Alien were going to have an argument in the kitchen, and so that was where she headed. Kneeling beside the sink, she pulled out of her purse a large grenade looking thing. She stuck it in a shelf in a vase to hide it, stood up, looking composed, and hurried out of that set, hurrying to get to the other studios without anyone noticing her.
"Oh, I like it here," Amy said, nodding enthusiastically as the Doctor, she and Rory walked into the makeup room, which was a room with a ton of set up mirrors and slots for individuals with salon chairs. All along the wall was a set of wigs and lotions, creams, dyes, and makeup.
"Smells a bit," Rory pointed out, looking to Amy.
"Beauty comes at a cost," Amy said dismissively. "Don't you remember in those old TV shows where women used to put that green cream on their faces at night? You actually think they liked that?"
"I'm fairly certain they didn't," Rory said.
A woman came up to them, wearing a clean cut blonde wig and deeply colored eyes. "Hello. I am Jasmine. And you are?"
"Oh, hello, Jasmine, charmed," the Doctor said, offering her his hand. "I'm the Doctor. Amy, Rory," he nodded to the married couple.
"Pleasure," Jasmine said as one of her fellow makeup artists came hurrying up to her.
"Jasmine, where's Camille? She's got a scene in ten minutes and I've got to set the wig on her," the woman said quickly.
"She should be here in a couple of minutes, Jev," Jasmine said. "They're doing a scene with her, and they can't do it without the Diva."
Amy cocked her head and waved her hand around, saying, "Um, hello."
"Yes?" Jasmine said.
"I'm the Diva, for Mixed Culture," Amy said.
The Doctor and Rory nodded, Rory saying, "Yeah, she just got the part."
Jasmine and Jev both looked incredulously calm. After a moment, Jasmine said, "You don't understand. We have a Diva, and that's Camille."
"Then why did the director, James Peering, hand me this script for me to look over?" Amy said, cocking her head and holding up her script, wearing a sassy expression.
The Doctor nodded and said, holding up his script, "Yes, and I'm the 'Geek,' don't know why, though. Just sort of, well, happened." He waved his hands and laughed, making Jasmine and Jev look even more unamused.
"I'm going to go find James," Jev said, walking past them, her high heels clicking on her way out.
"In the meantime, MAKEUP!" Amy said, clapping her hands excitedly.
Jasmine approached the three and looked, scrutinizing, from face to face. On Amy's, she said, "Hmmm, just a bit more lipstick. It'll do wonders." On the Doctor, "Your hair needs to be brushed." Rory. "Your nose-"
"You're not touching the nose," Rory said quickly, taking a step back.
"Yeah, don't touch the Nose," the Doctor said quickly.
Jasmine pursed her lips. "I see. C'mon along, Doctor," and she grabbed the Doctor's wrist and hurried him to a cubicle, leaving him saying, "Hey, what are you doing? Ouch, my wrist, that hurts, you know - you've got amazing strength-"
He was shoved into a swivel chair, and Jasmine let go of him and went to get a hairbrush. The Doctor spun around twice, saying, "Oh, this is fun! Oh, I like this."
Jasmine stopped his swivel chair in front of the mirror, and the Doctor straightened, gave her a look about her stopping his spinning, and said, "Now, let me use the brush-"
"I know how to brush hair, Doctor. It's my job," Jasmine said indignantly.
"You don't understand, I've got this style, very complicated, there's folding and waves and I've got this goo for it from the planet of the Hair-Mongers - OW!" he said, as the brush was taken through his hair, which was a bit tangled with Amy's ruffling. "Now THAT hurts!"
"Oh, calm down," Jasmine said, and her wire brush ran through his hair and molded it, leaving it swiftly swept off to the side in a silky wave. She humphed and put the brush on the table in front of the mirror, and looked into the mirror with the Doctor, saying, "Did I ruin it?"
The Doctor used both of his hands to touch up and touch his hair, tilting his head and shrugging. "Could have been better. Will do, though."
Jasmine rolled her eyes and they both turned when they heard a man, presumably Simon, wearing a headset, saying, "All actors and actresses for Mixed Culture head to studio E, now, come on, let's move, people!"
Amy turned her head from where she was getting lipstick applied and said, "That's us!"
"Let's go," Rory said, hurrying to the Doctor.
"Yes, let's," the Doctor said. The two of them headed to the door, and the Doctor said quietly, making Rory lean his ear to him, "Privately, I'm glad to be rid of that Jasmine."
Rory nodded and Amy came up to them. She cocked her head, her sunglasses reflecting the lights above them, and said slyly, "C'mon, my boys. Let's go be movie stars."
"TV show stars," Rory pointed out.
"Whatever works for you," Amy said, and she draped her arms around her boys and the three of them headed out into the hall to find Studio E.
Thanks for reading! God bless you!