Out of Milliways: a set visit

[the_antiangst]

Santa Fe's quite warm this time of year, but it's a drier heat than what Angel remembers from New York. In any case, it certainly looks the part for Holy Wood.
"Okay, a movie set really shouldn't be that hard to find, especially out here. And once we get there, I doubt we'll have any problems."

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[lvpd_sidle]

"Mark told me where it was, approximately." Sara pulls down her sunglasses and glances at a set of directions.

"We should go down this street and cross at the next block."

[the_antiangst]

"All right then."
They set off, and carry on similarly for a while.
"...Mark's not gonna know what hit him, is he?"

[lvpd_sidle]

"Probably not, no."

Beat.

"Neither will your boyfriend."

[the_antiangst]

"By now, I think he's got the general idea, really. All he'll want to do is make sure no one's dead this time."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Point." They cross at the indicated intersection and Sara glances at the directions again. "Okay--I think the building is just ahead."

[the_antiangst]

"Well, there's a lot of outdoor stuff on this one... but that's definitely part of the set, if the sign over the door's any clue."
Note to Mark: Labeling the set Blown Away won't exactly discourage people who have read the book.

[bohemian-mark.livejournal.com]

In front of the building is a young guy, wearing what looks like half of a costume, leaning back in a chair, blocking their entrance to the building, while reading a script. He looks bored.

[lvpd_sidle]

Sara decides to go the congenial route. Who knows? It might actually look.

"Hi."

[the_antiangst]

Angel just grins, and doesn't say anything for the moment.

[rent-a-characte.livejournal.com]

"Can I help...." The boy looks up from the book, which he summarily drops. "Holy crap, you look -exactly- like Angel. Has anyone told you that?" He gapes for a moment, then calls out, to someone behind him. "Yo, Adam! Come here! There's someone here who's a dead ringer for Angel."

Adam breaks off a conversation with a couple people and strides over. "George, what have I told you about... holy shit. Angel? What are you doing here? And Sara, it's lovely to see you." He facepalms. "This is going to be an interesting day."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Hi, Adam." Sara grins, very amused by his antics. "Angel and I were in the neighborhood and thought we'd drop by the set. If, that's all right, of course."

She can be demurely cute when she wants to be.

[the_antiangst]

"Giving myself a birthday present, more or less." With a little help from Sara, and Milliways.
And then, Angel grins. "Just tell Mark his thousand elephants have arrived. I think that'll catch his attention."
Especially since Mark scripted things to keep the actual elephants off-camera.

[rent-a-characte.livejournal.com]

"... thousand elephants? But there aren't a thousand elephants anywhere in the..."

"Shut up, George, and keep learning your lines." Adam sighs. "Right this way, you two. I'm sure that Mark will be more than happy to see you."

Adam leads Angel and Sara through the chaos that is Moving Pictures' back set. Some people are sitting on chairs with scripts, others are in makeupchairs, and to one side, a couple people are being pasted into Troll costumes.

"We're working on one of the scenes in Dibbler's office. Mark's explaning a staging bit to the cast. Might want to hang back for a few minutes before we barrel in, as much as he'll love to see you."

The actual set is seen in front of the group, two cameras set up on rolling tripods, another in someone's hands. Mark, in baseball hat, and holding a clipboard, is intricately explaining something to Dibbler and Victor. An ugly dog keeps yapping at his feet while he talks.

[lvpd_sidle]

Sara glances up and around thoughtfully, committing the layout of the set to memory.

"Somehow I don't think most people picture this kind of thing when they think of the glamour of movies."

[the_antiangst]

"Knowing Mark, this isn't the world's most typical set anyway. But the point stands."
Angel eyes the ugly dog for a moment, and adds, "I see Gaspode resurfaced."

[bohemian-mark.livejournal.com]

"Alright, guys. Lights, picture box, action!" Mark steps back out of the line of the cameras, watching the scene unfold... until the dog decides to lift its leg and mark his territory on Dibbler's shoe.

"Cut, cut." Mark facepalms. "Right, guys. Uh, how about we take five, and can someone who knows anything about dogs talk to that stupid thing? That's the fourth time it's done that." For his part, Dibbler is swearing rather profusely.

"Heyo, Mark!" Adam calls across the set, taking a few steps toward him. "Your thousand elephants have arrived!"

"I didn't order a thousand elephants, Adam." Mark turns, and drops his clipboard, just staring. "... what the..."

[lvpd_sidle]

"Surprise?"

[the_antiangst]

Angel's damn near beaming.
"What she said."

[bohemian-mark.livejournal.com]

Adam facepalms. "And there goes the rest of filming for the morning." He calls out to the cast and crew. "Hey, guys, due to the random influx of our beloved director's girlfriend and best friend, I think we're done for the morning. Go get some lunch and ice cream." He pauses with a smirk. "On Mark." He pauses. "And be back by one."

Mark's still flailing, then glomps Angel, and kisses Sara. "Things weren't going right anyway. We could use more of a break."

[lvpd_sidle]

"By one? Gee, that doesn't give us much time," Sara snarks back at Adam, grinning at the sight of him turning red and fleeing.

"Yeah. Um, I had another wishing ring that..that Barry had left. I gave it to Angel so he can come here every now and then."

[the_antiangst]

Angel shrugs. "Figured it'd last, so I decided to save it for my birthday. And then it so happened you were gonna be in the area..."

[bohemian-mark.livejournal.com]

"Oh shit. I forgot your birthday." Mark facepalms. "I am so sorry, Angel. I have not had my brains on lately. We all need to go out to lunch or something. Or lunch and dinner. And someone needs to smack me so I actually keep things straight. Blame the filming. Really."

[the_antiangst]

"I won't turn down lunch, but seriously, honey. Don't worry about it. You've been busy, and I wanted to surprise you with this bit anyway, so I wasn't exactly going to tell you I already had a plan."

[lvpd_sidle]

"What Angel said. We've had this in the works since late June," Sara says gently, giving Mark another kiss.

"But yeah, let's go to lunch since everyone else has taken off."

[bohemian-mark.livejournal.com]

Mark takes Sara's hand and grins. More than grins, really, it's more of a beam. "Well, let's go to the restauraunt. The catering on set sucks."

Mark leads Sara and Angel, through the set, waving at a gaping George as they leave, then through part of the town, pointing out a few things along the way, to a fairly busy street corner, where a line of people reaches around the corner and down the street. He smirks. "There are days that I love being able to pull rank." He holds open the door for Angel and Sara, and just grins at the hostess. "Hey, Jennifer. There anything open, or almost open?"

Jennifer just gapes. "Of course, Mark." She grabs menus and leads them to an out-of-the-way table generally held for people from set, or just... anyone.

The restaurant itself is decorated with various things in honour of the year of Connections. Over the bar is a pair of drumsticks, set in front of two Oscars.