Day 31 was a free day. So I went meta.
Ending
Vlad stumbled into the green room and collapsed onto a less than comfortable chair. He was done, finished, didn't have to do this ever again.
They all were.
"We're done," he said almost reverently.
Lancer looked up from his book. Jazz, Sam, Tucker, Youngblood, and Dani looked up from their board game. Dash's hands slowed as he pet Cujo, ignoring the annoyed bark from the ghost dog. Jack glanced up from his invention then went back to work.
"I, Technus, demand a bigger part!"
"Shut up," the Box Ghost scolded. "We don't want to be here for any longer than we have to. I, the Box Ghost, have been kept from my precious boxes for far too long!"
"At least you had a part," Dani snapped. "I got a casting call and then never even got to say a line."
"Preaching to the choir," Sam said. "My day was completely ignored. I got alt-themed!"
Vlad ignored the bickering and pulled a cigar from his jacket. He lit it as he pulled out more scripts. The rest of these losers might be free but he wasn't, he was still booked for a time travel piece, another stint with the Ghostbusters, and where was Daniel? "Anybody seen Daniel?" he asked.
"Since when do you smoke?" Maddie wondered.
"Since The Hero's Villain. I find I rather like it."
Lancer took the cigar from Vlad's lips and took a long pull on it before handing it back. He ignored the look of pure annoyance he got from the silver-haired man. "Cubans are overrated," he said.
"So's bourbon," Vlad snapped. He gave a 'you-can't-touch-me' grin to the bald man before going back to his scripts.
"You take that back," Lancer growled.
"Or what, you're gonna sic your girlfriend on me?"
The door opened and a rakshasa with yellow eyes and an askew top hat walked in. "Settle down, people," she said. "Now then, I want to thank you all for coming. Shooting's finally over so now we can print this thing and call it a day. Not everybody can go home now, though. Lancer, I want you and Ember backstage, I've got some ideas I want to go over with the two of you. Danny's over with Tangi, she's going to be working with him for awhile. Vlad, I need you onstage in five, we're going to be going over the core flare notes."
"I have some ideas about that, actually," Vlad said.
"Great, I'd love to hear them. Jack, don't go too far. I can't finish these pacman stories without you."
"Yeah, but, Maddie has issues with them," Jack said, pointing to his wife.
The rakshasa sighed. "You two work them out, then," she said. "It's just that we've had that college pacman porn, you remember what I'm talking about, the drunken one? It's been half-finished for months and it's not going anywhere until you get your act in gear."
"Okay," Jack said, dragging his foot around sheepishly.
"And you," she said, turning back to Vlad. "I need you to stop acting sane for five minutes so I can get some multiple personalities out of you. I've got three bits going where we need to see Ge Rouge and you're being too stable."
Vlad blew a mouthful of cigar smoke at her before grumbling and shuffling his scripts. "Don't know why I put up with this," he muttered. "Been drowned, shocked, stabbed, bound, gagged, and exposed to who knows how many different tentacly creatures..."
The rakshasa ignored him. "Any questions?" she asked.
"Yeah, can I get a speaking part next time?" Dani asked. "Vlad's cat got more screen time than me."
"Vlad's cat is easier for me to stomach," the rakshasa said. "You're just... not evil enough." She turned and left.
Dani pouted.
"Trust me, my dear, you don't want her attentions," Vlad said. He grabbed his stack of scripts and followed the rakshasa, not noticing as one fell out of his arms.
Dani snatched the script and took it to the corner of the green room. People started packing their things as they made to leave while she let curiosity take over. She began to read.
Epilogue...
Dani closed the script. The green room was empty as she slid away from it, staring at it as though it was going to bite her. Maybe she didn't want to work with this author after all.