Summary:While on the set of a new movie, Miles and Mary Jane witness the birth of a villain.. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It's a production day! While there were some things that Miles could go out and play 'significant other' for Mary Jane in town, he managed to convince someone that he has some expertise in the armor that Mary Jane would be wearing as Joan of Arc and was allowed to help her dress into the metal plating - not as much as other knights would wear, she is going to get some CGI help with that.
The location is outside of Blenheim, one of the picturesque towns that is standing in for France. As he helps tighten a couple of straps at her sides, Miles glances up at the redhead and flashes her a quick smile. "Well, I'd follow you into battle." he teases playfully as others work on her hair to get pilat braid just right. "Like a medevial Iron Woman." There's a wink at her.
Pausing for a moment, he considers. "Something's missing, though.." he muses.
The day was long.
It takes a particular finesse to apply dirt, bruises and makeup where appropriate. The reason as to why they were out in NZ was because of this particular battle scenes, the rest will be filmed in New York at the comfort of the rest of the actors and directors. Most of the people were family men and women, and New York had everything they could want.
Suiting up was easy with the help of Miles, Mary keeping a straight face on, a slight glare at the floor as she tries to remember her few lines, the moods, etc. The fight with Morlun helped, bringing out that little anger that she needed in preparation.
Miles' words bring her out of that focus, and she puts on a slightly sad smile. "I wish." She states, and she truly meant it. "I'd like to be.. at least." A hero. And brave.
"Think about all your Watsons, MJ." Miles responds, giving her side a little pat once the armor is in place. "How you let them know you were okay. That you stood up to someone that was.." he pauses, and bites on his lip. "You tried to save me, MJ. You probably did." he admits quietly. He has no illusions, if MJ had run that night? He'd probably had died to buy her the time she needed to flee.
"People look up to you. You do great." then he snaps his fingers. "I know what's missing!" Stepping back, he pats down his pockets, and finally shoves his hand into one, finding what he was looking for. He glances at his hand, frowns and then shrugs. It'll have to do. "I remember some silly movie about knights when I was a kid, with Heath Ledger. You're supposed to give a favor to the knight that you favor or have feelings for. I don't have a scarf or whatever, but.." holding out his hand, he has a New Zeland dollar coin with Queen Elizabeth on one side and a Kiwi on the other on a pendant. "Will you accept my favor, Lady Mary Jane?" he asks her teasingly.
Mary Jane doesn't flinch. Her lips purse as she looks down at her armored hands, fingers curling into a fist to test the joints of the metals that were placed there. She looks up towards Miles, finally flashing a little bit of a smile.
"I think.. I probably would have died to save you." She -could- have!
She inhales, her shoulders lifting and falling with relief, her eyes lighting up as she watches him fumble and fuss, until he pulls out a pendant that actually makes her finally crack a joyful smile! Just totally ruined her resolve right there! "Oh.. oh.." She stands, stumbling a little bit, clasping her hands together in front of her chest. It was cute enough for a few of the staff to take a pictures of that scene!
"Of course I will, Sir Miles Morales!"
Laughing, Miles gives Mary Jane a little nudge. "You're supposed to be all resolute!" But his smile is fond as he moves to slip the pendant around her neck and clasps the chain behind her neck - which also allows him to loop his arms around her. "You're totally going to have to hide it in your scenes, though." When she mentions that she would have died for him.. his lips curl into a momentary frown.
"We don't have to die for each other, Mary Jane. I'd much rather live with and for you." he responds sincerely, leaning into Mary Jane for an affectionate kiss before the clearing of the throat and the director coming over interrupts it before it goes to far. "We're behind schedule, Mary Jane! You can make out with him later! Not on my time!"
"How can I be?!" Mary exclaims! It was like a bickering old couple! Her tone was indignant but happy, and quiets when he puts the necklace around her neck. "Oh, it'll be hidden. If they see it, I'll just have to take a pay cut and CGI it out." She toys with it briefly, then tucks it beneath her top inside of her armor.
"I know I know.." She says to Miles, leaning up to the kiss and accepting, yet remaining in that position once the director appears and makes a comment. Yes, MJ was puckered, one eye crooked open at Mr. Ritchie, until he breaks and smirks.
"Ok ok! I'm ready!" Game face on. Happiness drained. It was truly a sight to see the mood grow dark within that instant. "Miles, I need my sword."
True fact. Joan never fought in battle, but she will in this movie!
The scene is to be pretty straight-forward, part history, part fantasy. It's the breaking of the siege of Port Saint-Loup, where Joan supposedly pulled the miracle of turning the wind in the port to cause the ships to be able to sail away and be saved. There is fire and explosions around, all under the careful control of the pyrotechnics expert they had hired, John Allerdyce.
As the actors are set and the scene begins, Mary Jane is set upon a horse, carrying a banner - she is to approach the edge of the water, an explosion would go off, and her braid would come undone. In that moment, while her eyes are closed and her hair is blowing in one direction, the wind will rise and shift- turning to her favor, and the shift of her hair would pull that effect off.
The horse is well-trained, trotting up to the designated mark under Mary Jane's guidance, and the director yells. "Action!"
It was trying. Mary Jane looked wiser, a bit worn, weary. A little bit older. But her youthful determination remained. She does a few trots of her horse, taking in the breath before the sound of action was heard.
"YAH!" She hollars, her heels kicking the horse upon her side to draw her into a run, stopping at the edges of the waters, the horse whinnying and kicking up, while.. unexpected, played the part.
It wasn't silent on the set, orders were being shot off which probably took away the effect from Miles, but as they cued up the explosion, it went off, and cued the wind.. that went as well. Mary Jane played the part as she meant to, the confident and determined look remained as she opens her eyes to stare into the distance, hand gripping the sword.
As he sites and watches the scene unfold, and the actors and all, Miles is for a moment remorseful, he probably could have pulled off a part as an extra. But this was MJ's moment, and he wasn't going to try to muck it up anymore than he already has - for now, he's more than happy to watch his girlfriend work while he sips on his water, his eyes following her to the beach as she reaches for the sword to draw it, and the winds start to turn…
!!!!
Miles suddenly sits straight up, sensing danger. His eyes go wide, scanning around, trying to find the source of it - but he's only a few moments too late as a large explosion goes off a few feet from MJ's mark. It's larger than what was planned, pushing up a plume of smoke, dirt, sand and water. It's hard enough to threaten to knock Mary Jane off of her horse as it spooks from the closeness and loudness of the explosion, which seems to be catching everyone off guard.
Except for the one person that planned it. John Allyrce smiles in delight. Now they'll notice him. A controlled explosion. So close. So controlled. It'll be amazing! Now he'll be taken seriously.
Mary, embroiled in her scene, didn't notice how close the blast was until it was a little bit too late. The horse spooks, rising up high upon it's hind legs as Mary leans forward to grasp the reigns tight. The sword was held at an awkward angle, but dropped, just in time for the horse to buck hard, knocking her off and onto the ground.
It became a scene of pandemonium; crews rush towards Mary Jane as she lays near motionless upon the ground, trainers begin to chase after and corral the horse, while others scramble towards the blast sight with fire extinguishers just in case it spreads.
"Cut!" Which was clear. "Call an ambulance!" Which was also clear. Mary Jane, dazed.. tries her best to sit upright, but one of the crew-men holds her at bay. "Just stay still, are you hurt?!"
Miles is out of his seat as quick as a flash, moving once 'Cut!' is yelled to try to get to MJ's side, even as the medics on set are already starting to check on her. Between the muffled words and the questions, the director is yelling. "Allerdyce!" he calls out, looking for the man responsible.
Allerdyce comes running over. "Did you see?! Oh, it was bloody brilliant, it was! Bwoosh!" he grins jovially as he did the best job ever.
"You nearly killed her!" the director yells back.
John looks over at MJ and smirks. "Ah, the sheila is in armor, she can handle it!" comes the cheeky response, and a smirk. Then a glance to Miles. "Ain't like she won't be comforted anyway."
Miles curls his hands into fists, as he looks towards Allerdyce, and he can feel his blood boiling - but no, he can't. As much as he wants to.
"MJ?" Miles tries to hop a little to get a look at Mary Jane as she's assisted, but staying back as not to interfere - his mother and father are both in public safety, he's well-trained on what not to do in situations like this. And that's to interfere.
Dazed and confused, Mary Jane sits up as the medical professionals attempt to help her. She couldn't hear, or didn't realize that this was all done on purpose. Which shown upon her face, the look of confusion as she watches Allerdyce, then looks to Miles, clearly.. very fearful.
"Miles?" She asks, her bottom lip trembling, letting the people move her as they would to peel her armor off. On first glance, her ribs were bruised but nothing cracked. Her side hurts, along with a small bump on her head. As they flash the lights in her eyes to see she's a bit focused and responsive, they move aside to let Miles' through if he wished.
"What did I do wrong?" Was the only thing she could ask.
"You didn't do anything wrong." Miles moves quickly to be at MJ's side, kneeling down to be next to her. "Someone got stupid overzealous with the explosions." His hand moves to find hers, a wince as he notices the bruising, but scoots back to remain in visual range as more medical hands move to help the woman.
"She's just a little shaken!" Allerdyce is protesting. "Not my fault she couldn't handle her horse or herself! I know plenty of shelias that would be better for it anyway! One that can take anything thrown at her, tough as nails she is. You got a weak girl for a strong role! She just couldn't handle it!"
"I don't care what you think she can handle, Allerdyce! You're supposed to follow directions. You're fired!" the director is furious, screaming at the blonde man now.
"FIRED? For doing an amazing job! You're crazy! Come on, it was great!"
"Get off my set!"
"Just because she…"
"I'm calling security!"
"You cost me my job!" Allerdyce fumes at Mary Jane, looking at her threateningly. "You know the problem with stuck up snots like you that become stars? They burn out /so fast/." he promises, glaring at her and Miles, before back to Ritchie. "They ALL BURN OUT!" And with that, he's running away from the set.
Probably not the last time they will see him.
As he watches Allerdyce leave, the ambulance is pulling up to unload the paramedics to come tend to MJ. "I'm sorry.." he whispers. Because he didn't react. Because he felt it the split second before it happened. And he didn't react.
After all, Mary would be fine. Her second movie, her very first set mishap, it was understood as to why she was shaken up. Even though Miles stated that she did nothing wrong, she still felt the blame. She still felt the need to hold onto Miles while other parts of her body were checked for injuries.
"We need to get her back to the trailer." One paramedic says. Clearly her injuries weren't as bad enough for her to warrant a hospital visit.
"Bring all the portables, we'll get a chest X done to see if there are any damage.."
The paramedics tries to haul her to her feet, but the look of shock was prevalent. "I'm sorry!" She cries out to Allerdyce, even if he didn't warrant an apology. That was just her. "Miles.. tell him I'm sorry. Tell them I'll do better next time.."
Alerdyce isn't having any of it. He storms off, swearing revenge on the weak little girl that cost him his job. "MJ, it was his fault. Not yours." Miles is worried in his tone, but as they say they are going to take her to the trailer he's going to have a moment of relief - because they aren't in a hurry to rush her to the hospital, it means she's mostly well.
"I'm staying with you, we'll get you back to the trailer and checked out. I'll see if I can find him later." Well. Not him. His other self will be out looking later, though.
When they move to help her to her feet, though Miles could easily lift the woman he's letting the others handle it. Just to be safe. "Need to concentrate on getting you back up and going. You have a movie to finish."