Chapter 6: Roll camera

A/N Part 1 Yeah! The adventure finally continues! Sorry it took SO LONG! I was in Brazil and Uruguay for a month and I had limited access to the Internet. I also had to re-edit a few things in this chapter before I could post this. But I had some time to write, and I managed to write the Christmas special with luvAdventure123. It's still in her profile if you wanna check it out: my OC, Jacq, meets her OC, Ronnie, and they spend the Christmas at Marlinspike Hall. Once again, to luvAdventure123, I had a blast writing this. To the ones who have read the special already, I hoped you enjoyed it. Anyway, I'm back to writing more fan fiction, so here we go!

The group soon arrived back to Jacq's apartment. Jacq had invited her friends to stay for a few minutes, because she had promised to show her apartment to Tintin. As they went up the stairs, Jacq picked out her key from her pocket while holding the cupcakes. "Alright, I'm sorry for the mess, but I'm sure that you'll like my place," she said as she went up the stairs.

Just as she opened the door, she remembered that she hadn't cleaned up her apartment in a while! Although she was a clean person, she didn't have time to think about that. "Oh geesh! Guys, can you wait for about a minute?" She took a quick peek at her apartment before she entered. "Oh boy!" She quickly entered her apartment without allowing them to see the mess she had made. Everywhere was dirty clothes, and papers which she had worked on previous drafts of her scripts. It looked stuffy in there. "Holy guacamole… One second!" she shouted across the door. She left the cupcakes in the kitchen and went to tidy up everything.

All the men could hear was noises of a person walking around the room. After exactly two minutes, she opened the door and said, "Good. Please come in."

They entered to see a small, yet neat apartment. She had recently turned on scented candles. "Oh wow," said Tintin. "What a lovely apartment."

"Thanks," said Jacq. "I'll show you around. But please, just don't open that door over there." She pointed at a small storage closet that looked like it was about to burst.

Snowy thought, "She should put a sign there saying that it's not safe."

After quickly showing her living room and kitchen, they entered her bedroom. There was a single bed with pink sheets, a multi-colored cover and small cushion that looked like she bought it from Morocco. Her closet was on the side of the door which led to her bathroom. She left the door closed, because she didn't allow them to see the mess she had made.

On the other side of the room was a desk and a light-blue typewriter for her to work on. Over the desk was the newspaper about them in their adventure of helping Princess Alexandra. "What an adorable figurine," said the Captain pointing to a small porcelain penguin next to the typewriter. It was about the size of a palm. "Yeah, thanks. I had that figurine a long time ago when my-" Then she stopped herself. She stopped smiling. Something seemed to be disturbing her.

"Las, what's wrong?" asked the Captain.

"No, it's nothing."

Tintin said, "Jacq, I don't mean to offend you, but you've been acting a bit strangely lately. Is there something wrong?"

"I..." Then the phone rang. "I'll get it!" said Jacq, trying to change the subject. She picked up the phone and started talking. Although she had just told him yesterday that she had trouble talking to people, Tintin felt that there was something else she didn't tell him. Was it about the scripts she wrote?

"Yeah. That'd be nice. Hang on. I'll ask them." Jacq held the receiver on her chest and asked the men. "Guys, it's Sally South. She's having a party with a bunch of friends in a hotel to hide from the paparazzi."

"Do you know these people?" asked Tintin.

"Yeah. I worked with them before. Leo, Chris, Nicky, Andy, all of them are great. They're asking whether we'd like to hang out with them right now. It's a few blocks away. We could just wear casual clothes and bring some snacks. Nothing too fancy."

The Captain and Tintin thought about it and they agreed. "Aye," said the Captain, "That'd be fun."

"Sweet. I'll tell her." Jacq held up the phone to tell them. "Sure. We'll be there. Ok then. Bye."

Xxx

They arrived at the hotel around nine-thirty. The hotel was a large building of 12 floors with bright lights, and had a small fountain at the front. Jacq, leaving the tonic water bottles on the floor, was talking to the receptionist while Tintin carried some ginger ale bottles and the Captain carried some beer cans for the guests. "I'm sure these guys will like the drinks we bought them," said the Captain.

"You didn't buy all those for yourself?" asked Tintin mockingly.

"Ha ha. Very funny, Tintin," said the Captain.

Jacq turned around and said, "Top floor." She then whispered, "Sally came in disguise, so nobody knows that she's here." She carried the tonic water and they took the elevator and waited to meet the guys with Sally.

They waited in a fairly big elevator with red walls, golden details and a bright light on the side of the wall. "So, Jacq," asked the Captain, "Did you work with these other people? Are they close friends?"

"Oh, we were dancing for a movie shoot. We needed a bunch of dancers for a movie scene, and they played about half of the tap dancers. They're dancers and they travel a lot. But I don't get to talk to them a lot, because they're always busy for different shows all over the country."

Then the elevator opened, revealing a white door with the number 1201. It opened and they found a young lady with short blonde hair opening the door. "Hi Jacq!"

"Hey! How's it going?" Jacq said hugging her. "Come on, guys. I'll show you to them." she said to Tintin, Haddock and Snowy. The girl grabbed the tonic water off Jacq and they entered the room seeing Sally South, who was wearing a short, blonde wig, with a bunch of beautiful ladies. They all had their hair blonde, with different hairstyles, and all long and skinny legs, except for one girl who had shorter legs and was the youngest of the group. Tintin and Haddock looked at each other in surprise. "Jacq," asked Tintin. "Didn't you say that they were-?"

"So," said Jacq not listening, "I want you to meet the dancers The Tapping Sisters." Each lady lined up in a line to introduce each other and greet Tintin and Haddock. Jacq said, "So this one here is Leonarda. She's the leader of the group."

"Please, call me Leo." She said as she shook their hands.

"Next is Christina."

"Nice to meet you. Call me Chris."

"Then we have Andrea."

"My friends call me Andy."

"This is Nicole."

"Call me Nicky."

"Samantha."

"Call me Sam."

"Wilma."

"Call me Wil."

"Joanne."

"Call me Jo."

"Antonia."

"Call me Toni."

"And then we have-"

"Call me Jim!" said the youngest girl with a high-pitched voice. "Ooo! Are those drinks for us?" They took the drinks away from the men as they passed it on to each other. Then Tintin asked the Captain, "Is it me, or does this company just so happen to hire women whose names turn into male names?"

Snowy said as he was being caressed by the lovely ladies on top of the big bed, "I don't know, but all I can say is I LOVE Hollywood!"

The women had pulled up chairs and couches for them to sit down. They took some drinks and ate some snacks they had ordered from room service. Some of the girls had asked for a cola from the room service, but some got the drinks that the group brought in. Jacq took tonic water and Tintin took a ginger ale. The Captain, feeling a bit guilty, decided to drink ginger ale this time.

The girls talked about how they managed to become famous with the studio. Toni continued, "So they needed to have women for a film shoot where Sally was starring at. Remember Dancing like a Star? It was the story about a woman who wanted to be a star. Simple enough story."

"But they didn't have enough female tap dancers," said Wil who finished drinking her beer. "So they hired us, and we made up part of the choreography. The rest is history. We're traveling all over the country and dancing in a tour."

"That's fantastic," said Tintin.

Jacq said, "They didn't know me at the time, but I was dancing along with them. And then I found out much later when Sally told me."

"Right now we came back to shoot another movie," said Leo who was drinking tonic water. "A musical. But we don't know whether it'll be cancelled because of the threat on the studio."

"I know," said Sally. "I had to keep on escaping from the press. I even wore a wig to hide myself. And that's when I had the idea to invite the girls here for a small party and make it seem like I was part of the group. If anybody wants to, they can sleep over here."

"Ooo!" said Jim with a high-pitched voice. "You're investigating the case, are you?" she asked Jacq, Tintin and Haddock. "Can you tell us what you found out? Is the film studio really in danger? Do you know who's behind this?"

All of the women looked attentively at them. "Um... we did find out something," said Tintin. "But I think it's best we kept it for ourselves." All of the girls whined in disappointment. "Sorry. We're still not 100 per cent certain about anything."

"So is it somethin' else?" asked Sally.

"No, we don't think the studio's being threatened," said Jacq.

"Oh. Because I don't want to be one of the ones who quits their job," said Jim. "Vermont's a special place for all of us. That's where we boosted our careers."

"Quit your... wait, what do you mean by that?" asked Tintin. They hadn't told them that the stunt actors of The Gorilla Movie had quit their jobs.

Leo continued, "Yeah, there have been actors, dancers and other crew members quitting their jobs. They never did explain why, but I think they're scared of the threat that happened yesterday. But just because someone destroyed some movie reels doesn't mean that I'd quit dancing."

"When did they quit their jobs?"

"Oh, I think this afternoon or something," said Sam.

"Yeah. Most of them sent them by letters," said Nicky.

Jacq thought, "So the actors from The Gorilla Movie weren't the only ones." She then asked, "Did any of you ask them what happened? Why they quit?"

"No. Nobody said anythin'," said Sally. "Actually, one of my friends, Jesse, he didn't quit, but one of his friends did. He tried to ask'm somethin', but his friend didn't seem to trust nobody and ran away."

"Crumbs," thought Tintin. "This isn't as easy as I thought. The studio closes at midnight. I still have some time." He stood up and excused himself. "I'm sorry, ladies, but I'm going to have to go."

"What?" the girls said disappointed again.

"I know we said we'd talk to Mr. Bucks the next morning, but I need to ask him a few questions right now."

"Hey," said Jacq. "Don't forget about me, won't you? I'm coming too."

Tintin smiled, "Yes, I remember what you said. Captain, are you coming as well?"

The Captain thought about it. For one thing, he wanted to rest in Hollywood and not be involved in any more crazy adventures since his last one. And now he was in a hotel room surrounded by beautiful women AND the famous Sally South. Tintin saw his sad-puppy expression. "Alright, alright. You can stay." Haddock squealed in happiness. "Snowy seems to enjoy himself too, so he can stay too. Take care, ladies. We'll see you soon."

"Bye!" they all said, and Haddock waved his hand as if he were a happy little girl.

"Bye, Jacq. Bye, Tintin," said Sally.

Tintin and Jacq went inside the elevator and after the doors closed, Jacq said, "Good thing you let the Captain enjoy himself."

"I know. After all, he's in Hollywood."

They waited silently in the elevator. Tintin looked at Jacq. Jacq noticed him and asked with her sweet smile, "Yeah?"

"Oh... I just... Jacq? Have you been fine lately? I... I don't want you to think that I'm assuming..." He coughed. "Are you...?" He didn't want her to think that she was troubled or had a problem. He remembered how sad she looked lately, including today. But he kept hesitating, as he didn't know what was the best way to approach the subject. "Look... if there's any problem... no, I mean... and, I just... If there's anything you want to tell me, then tell me. I'll be there when you need me."

Jacq's eyes widened. Now that she thought about it, she wanted to tell him so many things, but had keeping it all to herself this whole time. "Actually, yeah... I wanted to tell you something important..." Now didn't feel like the right time to tell him anything, but she had an urge deep inside of her. She began to get near him like a magnet slowly pulling her.

"Yes?" He asked with eyes widened. Tintin began to sweat as he stared at her soft face and felt her breathing.

Then the elevator opened. Jacq sighed, "... But I'll tell you later. Now's not the time." She walked out.

He immediately followed. "... Jacq, are you sure? We can talk while we go to the studio."

"No, not right now."

"Is it about the script?"

"Maybe it is. Maybe it isn't. I don't know. I'll ask Mr. Bucks tonight if he finished reading my script. That's probably it." Jacq started to walk faster and faster like she was trying to escape the conversation. She looked annoyed. Tintin now felt a bit guilty that he asked her anything.

They soon arrived at the studio and luckily Mr. Bucks was in his office again. Tintin knocked on his door and asked to come in. "Not now, whoever it is," he said. He started to sound a bit like the Captain. They opened the door and saw his room a bit untidier than usual. Mr. Bucks leaned against the window as he started outside.

"Mr. Bucks?" asked Jacq. He turned around. "Oh, hi kid. Wasn't I supposed to talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. We were, but something came up that we need to ask you. Mr. Bucks, do you know why so many people are quitting their jobs today?"

"No, I don't know! I've been receiving all of these letters, I've been losing people and I can't talk to anyone right now! I've been having to cancel two big films today." He sat down on his desk and leaning his hands on his head. "Everybody's been askin' me all day long! Everybody's been gossipin' here and there! I feel like a buffoon right now!"

Tintin continued, "So there's no one who holds a gudge against you or anyone else?"

"Huh? Oh no, nobody. "If anything, Mr. Maroon might have one."

"Mr. Maroon? What do you mean?" asked Tintin. The two looked at each other briefly.

Mr. Bucks stood up. "You said something about Mr. Maroon before on the phone, so I thought about it. I couldn't think of anyone who might be against him. All I could think about was that he was a gambler before. Or at least spent most of his time in a casino, so most likely gamblin'. Maybe he owes money or somethin'. I don't know. I didn't ask'm." He said drinking a bit more of his whisky. He must have been tipsy by that point. "I don't even know which casino it was. It was a rumor flying around a long time ago." Jacq hadn't heard of any rumor before, as she wasn't the kind who spent much time with other people in the film studio, so she didn't know about it.

Tintin and Jacq gave each other the same look again. Looks like there was some kind of connection with The Gorilla Movie. "But if it's just Mr. Maroon, why attack the entire studio itself?" asked Jacq.

"I don't know, but so far it's our lead," said Tintin. "Thanks, Mr. Bucks."

"Oh, and one last thing before you go. Jacq," he said to her. "I read your script."

"Yeah? You did?" she said anticipating the answer.

"Sure. It stinks!" he said with a bit of a drunken voice. Jacq's smile faded. "Sorry, but I read the whole thing from beginning to end. You did fix up a lot of mistakes here and there compared to your previous scripts, but this one just became BORING. It's a generic crime drama with a lame and repetitive premise, the story is dull, the plot is slow, the characters are atrocious and on top of that," he said holding up the first page of the script and pointing at the title. "You wrote here that it was written by Jacqueline Jones... and a talking-penguin."

Jacq remembered her penguin figurine on her desk. "Oh yeah..." she said in a lower voice. "I was half-asleep when I wrote that."

"I could tell!" he said and he slammed the script on his desk. "Now, if you wanna continue writing, that's fine with me. But seein' the fact that you ain't improvin' too much, and that the studio ain't doin' so well anyway, I don't see the point. Now, if you'll excuse me-" he slammed his head on the papers on his desk and fell asleep.

Tintin looked at Jacq. She had disappointment written all over her face. She left the office in a fast pace. "Jacq!" he said catching up to her. She was faster than he imagined and had to sprint a bit to catch up with her. They were finally outside the building and Jacq was still moving fast. "Jacq, please! I know you're upset, but he was a bit drunk. That wasn't him talking." She stopped walking. Tintin stopped and stood behind her. "Listen, he's upset too, so he just said those things in a bad mood. The Captain acts that way too many times."

Jacq turned around and looked at Tintin. Her eyes started to become wet. "You don't understand... I tried. I really REALLY tried. I've been working so hard and this is still the best I can do." She covered her face in shame and began to cry.

Tintin slowly went to her and hugged her. "There... it's not so bad."

"It is so bad..." She then put her arms around Tintin tightly, like she didn't want him to leave just yet. After about a minute, she was still crying. A few actors and crew members took a glance at them when they walked by. Tintin didn't know how long this would last. "So... do you want me to take you home now? Or do you want to go for an ice cream?" Then he thought, "An ice cream? What am I thinking? She isn't five."

"My parents were right," Jacq said. "This was all for naught." Tintin noticed what she had said. "Your parents? Why would they say that?"

She let go of him and they started to walk towards the exit. "It was a few months ago..." Jacq said. She felt a great pain in her gut as she recalled that memory.

A few months ago...

Jacq heard a knock on the door in her apartment. "That must be mom and dad," she thought in anticipation. "I'm coming!" she said. She opened the door to greet her parents.

After a warm welcome, and offering a coffee to her dad, her mother Diana spoke. "So, Jacq. How did your next script go?"

"Well..." Jacq said as she sat down on her couch. "Not so well. There was some trouble with the story and stuff. The humor especially felt a bit flat, and that's not a good thing for a comedy. BUT I will do better. I'm writing another one. I'm giving westerns a shot." She said with an enthusiastic smile.

Diana and Martin looked at each other. It seemed like they were recalling a previous conversation they had. "Honey," said Diana in a serious tone. "I want to ask you something. Do you feel like you're progressing? Like you're going anywhere?"

"... What do you mean?" she asked.

"We talked to Mr. Bucks earlier as well. He told us you were doing a good job, but that..."

"That what, Mom?" Now Jacq's smile was beginning to fade. This wasn't starting to sound like them at all for some strange reason. Something inside of her told her that.

Martin said to his daughter the most polite way as possible, "We've been thinking about it as well. We thought that you're exhausting yourself a bit too much. You should probably take a break for a while. Maybe with us-"

"That's not what we agreed on, Martin," said Diana in an authoritarian voice. She turned to her daughter. "Jacqueline, do you think you're doing well in this job?"

"What is this about? If you want to know, I... have improved a bit," said Jacq trying to show confidence. "But you know that I need to learn a bit more about film if I want to progress a bit more. I've had experience in creative writing. All I need is a bit of knowledge in the film production."

"I don't see it," said Diana. Jacq felt something breaking inside of her as she heard those words come out of her mother. "... What?" she asked with a broken voice.

"Face it, Jacqueline. You've been here for a few months and you haven't been going anywhere. We thought about it, and as your parents, we believe that you should just give it up."

Jacq stood there in shock. Her parents, the most supportive people in her life, were telling her to give up her dream. "I... Mom... What are you trying to imply? That everything I'm doing is nothing? Pointless? That I'm going nowhere? That my dream is nothing?" Martin tried to stop Jacq from continuing to speak fast. "Jacq, I don't want you to take this the wrong way. You're a talented young girl and we want you to succeed in life. We think it's much better for you to take acting. You said you like acting now, so why not just do that?"

"Dad, I've told you over and over again that I felt like I wanted to do stories on the big screen. My whole life I told you I was meant for that. I wrote stories as a kid that I imagined would become big movies. I love acting too now, but if I'm going to act, I'll act in my own movies first."

Diana started to raise her voice. "Then why did you wait until now for you to get experience? Why didn't you take film lessons before?"

Jacq began to feel more defensive. She never imagined the day when she had to argue with her parents. "I told you! I wasn't confident before! It wasn't until I met Tintin that I felt inspired to go further."

"You think that just because you save a country that'll make you a filmmaker?" Diana sounded like she was mocking her own daughter.

Jacq started to become even more offended and angry. She said with clenched fists, "To me, YES. It's about enough determination and enough passion. That's what you guys told me."

"Well, there's something else. It's called talent."

Those words hit Jacq hard like a rock thrown at her. Jacq started to breathe heavily. Martin saw her daughter hurt. "Jacq," he said, "I don't think your mother said it the most polite way, but she has a point. You have to recognize what you can and can't do. All I want is the best for you."

Jacq stopped breathing heavily and put on the most serious face she has ever had. She stood up and went to the door. "Jacqueline," said her father. Jacq opened the door and begged her parents to leave. "I want you to leave me now."

"Jaqueline Marie Jones. Stop acting like a child," said her mother. Jacq crossed her arms. "Did you hear me the first time? You're acting immature."

"I said get out. Now." Her parents tried to get near her. Jacq turned around and said with a cold voice, "Just LEAVE. Leave me alone. I don't even want to look at you." She didn't hear her parents say anything else. All she heard was a short pause, and her parents walking out and closing the door.

This was her first real argument with her parents. Jacq went to her bedroom and it took her a while for her to let out her emotions. After a few minutes, as she lied down on her bed, she finally burst into tears.

Present...

"I said a horrible thing to them, Tintin. That I didn't want to look at them." They were on the park sitting on a bench and she had finished explaining the whole story. Tintin was listening attentively to Jacq as she leaned on him. The quarter-moon was shining over them and from afar, the park looked like it was almost black. They could see a few people walking across the park, but other than that, the park looked a bit empty.

"But it wasn't your fault you reacted that way," said Tintin rubbing her on the shoulder. "You were angry. They said something that offended you."

"I have never felt so angry and sad in my entire life. Especially with my parents." She looked at Tintin. "But what if I was up in a stupid dream and they were just trying to be realistic? They do these things because they love me. So what if they were right this entire time? What if I have no talent in writing?"

"I don't think so. You said it yesterday, didn't you? That you could write stories before? Maybe there's something missing."

"Like what?"

"Umm… Some inspiration, maybe. I don't know. You might have to figure that out."

Jacq stood up and reflected it. "I guess. I haven't felt like myself a lot lately. Only until you and the others visited me that I really felt happy." Tintin immediately remembered the phone call she had given him a long time ago. He knew the feeling exactly like she did.

"Yeah, I'm glad we came to visit." He said holding her hand. "I'm very happy when I'm with you too. It's alright when I'm with the Captain and Snowy and the Professor, but it's different, because... hang on..." Suddenly, both had realized the exact same thing.

They gasped and said in unison, "THE PROFESSOR!" They had forgotten him in the film studio!

A/N Part 2 Yeah, I forgot about the Professor too! XD

But don't worry. He'll play an important part in the story.

Poor Jacq... Actually, the scene where she says, "I've been working so hard and this is still the best I can do," I'm referencing the episode of The Simpsons "Bart gets an F" where he fails the test after so much hard work and says the exact same thing. That's one of the things that makes Jacq so relatable, in my opinion. The desire to succeed and the sad thought of not progressing. Like you work so hard, and soon you say to yourself "It's no use. No matter how hard I try, I can't do it." Also it kinda reminds me of Kiki's Delivery Service in a way. You gotta watch the movie to know what I mean.

I LOVE the gag in which all the women, including Jacq, have nicknames that sound like male names. In fact, that's the actual reason why I called my OC Jacq. For some strange reason, even though I like feminine names, I like female names that can turn into male names. That includes something like Alex for Alexandra.

And I LOVE tonic water. That's another thing Jacq and I have in common. During the vacations, I've been drinking a lot of tonic water, and in Brazil I've had delicious foods, including lots of juices and fruits. Anyway, looking really forward to write Chapter 7!