Arc II, Chapter 57: Carlyle

Arc II, Chapter 57: Carlyle

Player Stats:

Player

Plot Armor

Mettle

Moxie

Hustle

Savvy

Grit

Riley

27/2

3

7

6

7

4

Antoine

25

7

4

5

2

7

Kimberly

23

3

9

5

1

5

Dina

21

3

3

5

3

7New novel chapters are published at novelhall.com

Bobby

22

3

7

5

3

4

Isaac

16

2

4

3

3

4

Cassie

17

2

7

4

3

1

Player Tropes:

Riley Lawrence is the Film Buff.

Trope Limit: 9

"Trope Master" grants him the ability to perceive enemy tropes, but at the cost of sacrificing half of his Plot Armor.

As an "Oblivious Bystander," Riley remains untargeted by enemies as he convincingly acts oblivious to their presence.

"Escape Artist" buffs his Hustle to help enact plausible escape plans.

"The Insert Shot" makes allies aware of an object the player chooses. The object will be shown to the audience and its use will be buffed in the Finale.

Directors Monitor allows him to watch the rest of the storyline after his demise via Deathwatch.

Flashback Revelation allows him to communicate with allies from Deathwatch through flashbacks to his past dialogue.

Casting Director gives him a summary of his teams roles in the storyline.

"My Grandmother Had the Gift" A background trope that gives Rileys character some ambiguous connection to The Gift through his heritage.

Cutaway Death sends him Off-Screen before the moment of his characters implied demise and allows him to exist behind the scenes Written Off if he survives the encounter.

Dead Man Walking buffs his Grit substantially after his death becomes inevitable, potentially stretching out his last moments.

He did not equip Cinema Seer, Coming To A Theater Near You, "I Don't Like It Here...,"Out Like a Light, "Location Scout,"The Wrong Reel, Raised by Television, What Doesnt Kill Them Makes Them Angry, or Method to the Madness.

Kimberly Madison is the Eye Candy.

Trope Limit: 8.

"Convenient Backstory" allows her to believably change her backstory to assist with the current task, buffing the relevant stat.

He opened the screenplay up and spread it out on the little table between us. I read the front quickly. Untitled by Elliot something. December, 1983.

Carlyle smoked his pipe calmly. He was around the same age Jedediah had been when he died. They looked alike, though Carlyle had a vigor that Jed did not.

He began to do a mix of reading the script aloud and commenting on it.

Our heroine exposes her breasts, her honor almost contained within frame. She turns to the mirror and gazes at herself. She is looking for imperfections but finds none. Okay, whatever. Im sure that was a useful direction for casting. Dialogue with mother, basic filler setting up the character. Theres a dance of some kind, it doesnt matter.

He skimmed through the scene until he found the right page.

Here it is, he said. While heroine is modeling her tight sweater for the mirror, the camera pans to a face in the window. The face belongs to a mask and the mask belongs to the killer.

After he was done reading, he looked up at me. What is this? Shes changing clothes in a room with the blinds open. Okay, fine that is not without precedent. This script implies nudity or near nudity which is worse because its cowardly. But this is not tasteful in the least bit. We are meant to cheer for this young woman. Why do we spend two and half pages discussing how full her breasts are?

It was an eighties script. Carlyle must not have kept up with the times. Artless nudity of that era was a different animal from the stuff from decades prior.

I think the goal, I said, Is to have the viewer distracted by her assets so that when the face appears, the scare is more effective. Also, every fifteen-year-old and his buddies are going to get their older brothers to buy a ticket for them when they hear there is nudity in it.

Its disgraceful, he said. Nudity in horror is meant to heighten the sense of vulnerability. Juxtaposing nude characters with clothed ones is supposed to suggest moral turpitude versus innocence. Its shorthand. The stuff in this scene, this is pornography. She is a strong-willed character who fights to the very end to survive. This scene confuses the message and makes our heroine out to be some sort of meat for sale at the butcher. I wont have it.

It was a strange mix of values, but nothing I hadnt seen expressed in countless horror films. Innocent characters never engage in sex or rock and roll. They never change clothes alone in their rooms, either, apparently.

You want her to remain clothed, I said.

I dont want our audience focused on that aspect of her, but the problem is bigger than that, he said. The killer is supposed to be this out of control psych ward patient or something.

Thats actually a misdirect I think, I said. The script didnt reveal who the killer was exactly in the part I had read, but it ham-fistedly suggested it was an escaped mental patient. I thought it was the psychiatrist framing the mental ward patient based on some subtle clues, but I hadnt read enough to be sure.

Whatever he is, Carlyle said. He looks like a pervert. The audience will feel like a pervert. Is that what we want?

Off-Screen. That was an odd place to go Off-Screen, but I supposed getting lectured by an old school film producer was not the most titillating stuff for the audience. I did my best to look like I was being scolded.

No, I said.

Baron tells me you were dead set on this scene being shot the way it was written, he said.

I shook my head. Sometime Baron uses other peoples names to share his opinions as a shield.

Carlyle looked at me funny.

That remark was a mistake. I didnt know Baron. Normally, a player could improvise a line like that and Carousel would go along with it, but Carlyle was likely not connected to the script. He couldnt adapt to my improvisation.

I sat as he looked at me and waited to see if my statement about the mysterious Baron was acceptable.

It didnt take too long.

Carlyle started to laugh. I laughed with him.

Baron has been my intermediary for years. I suppose he couldnt have maintained the post unless he knew how to shift blame.

He laughed again.

You know when I was a decade older than you, I wrote the script for the original Prognosis Terror. This was before it was an anthology. Did you know that?

I shook my head.

I put my heart and soul into that script. A mad doctor, killing, butchering, turning his patients into animal-human hybrids. It was complete garbage, but everyone told me it was wonderful. Everyone, except my father.

He leaned back as far as the metal chair would let him and his eyes drifted up to the ceiling as he thought back. He took the script and chopped it down, combined it with three other shorts about medical horror and that is what made it into theaters. I didnt even get a credit for it. He told me, Its my name that sells the movie, son. Mine.

He started to laugh. I suppose you imagine that that is exactly what Im doing to you?

I didnt write the script, I said.

Thats true, he said. But still. I know I am stepping on your toes. I dont do it because I deem you incapable. I watched your directorial debut, you know. Subject of Inquiry, wasnt it? About the Mercers.

Oh, I said, slightly caught off guard. Yes.

Not bad. Science Fiction is not something the studio does a lot of. You played a role in the film too, didnt you? I didnt realize that until I got a look at you in person.

I laughed nervously. I died in the second act, I said.

Yes, he said. Torn apart by an invisible monster. Youll have to tell me how you made it look so real.

I smiled. It felt real too.

He laughed and picked up the script in his hands and handed it to me. What would you fix about this scene?

I took the page and opened it up to the marked section and read it quickly. It was a simple, clich scene from a slasher. Nothing fancy. Carlyles summary had been accurate.

Well, I said. We dont want to reveal the killer this early into the film, but we need his presence felt. We could do the shot from his point of view.

Carlyle seemed interested. Expand on that.

We move the camera around the outside of house from where the killers eyes would be. We see him checking doors, making sure the neighbors lights are off, checking the woodshed. I said. We show he is being meticulous and careful. Then, he sees the light flick on in the main characters room. She is changing but we dont see anything. We see her step up to the window in each outfit, her umm, breast covered each time so she can look in the mirror. We hear her conversation with her mom on the phone. The killer is in a safe spot to hide, or so we think. He tries to move, she hears something. She looks out the window. Shes alert. The audience knows she wont die easy.

Shes alert, Carlyle repeated. She looks confident, clever.

She could even say something like, Let me give the phone back to dad. I said.

But shes alone in the house, Carlyle said.

The killer doesnt know that, I said. He cant risk it. He leaves out of an abundance of caution, which helps foreshadow that the killer isnt a mental patient but is actually, I flipped to the pages around the place I felt the reveal would be in the finale, The psychiatrist, like I said. That also explains why he doesnt attack her that night. Theres no explanation for why he moves to his next target in the current script. He just does.

Carlyle laughed. I like it. The killers point of view for the camera Weve done that before, of course. Useful technique if done correctly.

I nodded. You can use it to tell the audience information about the killer. How they move, what they focus on, how big they are. That sort of thing.

If the killer was extraordinarily tall, that would be intimidating, he said.

Or very small can be scary too, I said.

Who would be afraid of a short slasher? Carlyle asked playfully.

I shrugged my shoulders. Maybe its a childs doll possessed by a voodoo serial killer, I dont know. Could be effective.

Carlyle laughed. Well have to do one like that. Sounds like an absolute ball.

On-Screen.

The phone started to ring. I almost ignored it out of habit from our strange phone at the hotel.

Carlyle wasnt the sort of man to answer his own phone and we appeared to be the only two people in the studio.

I got up and found a phone on the wall next to a door that lead to some offices.

Hello? I said.

Bensen Geist for Carlyle Geist, the other voice said. It was a woman, likely Bensens secretary.

Ill put him on, I said.

Carlyle heard what I said, so he was up out of his chair in a moment to come take the phone.

Who is it?

Your son. Bensen, I said.

Carlyle rolled his eyes and took the phone. Yes, Im here.

I could hear a voice on the other end but I didnt know what it said.

Son, Carlyle said sternly. I am working at the studio.

Some more talking.

You wanted to be CEO, youre CEO. Why are you still calling me?

The person on the other side spoke again. This time, Carlyle looked alarmed.

I see, he said. Ill take care of it.

He hung up the phone.

I am the only person in this family that can handle an emergency, arent I? he said under his breath. He turned to me. Riley, it had occurred to me that my driver is away doing errands. Could you drive me up the road?

I nodded my head.

Thanks, he said. Theres been a break in at one of the factories.