The next morning, Mark woke up, and wore his shirt and pants, and his spectacles, with an empty notebook, a stationary pouch containing pencils, sharpeners, erasers, pens, and some whiteners, in a small briefcase, he left for work.
'I like to imagine I'm alone sometimes... apocalypse or maybe a plague? Whatever the case; there would be no one left to act for? To 'create' false emotions for. To create a façade for... It would be... freeing.' Mark smiled as he walked along the busy morning road, with many people walking on the same side-walk as him, going in both directions.
Thankfully, it was not an overcrowded city like Los Angeles, and even if it was, he did not know any of the people, so he could be his normal self around them.
'At least until I reach the office...' Mark frowned at the idea of having to put up a smile again when interacting with people, but did not slow his footsteps, 'The goal is more important than the hurdles along the way,' Mark reasoned in his mind.
…
“Morning Mrs. Butler! How are you?” Mark greeted her at the counter.
“Oh Mark, the same as usual. Are you here for your first day?”
“Yup! Hopefully I do well enough to get the permanent job.”
“Good luck then! Make sure not to be rude to others, it will help in your chances of getting the job.”
“Thank you!” Mark nodded his head to her before flashing a confident smile to Mrs. Butler, the kind he had perfected over his years of faking it.
'It is true then... what they say... Fake it till you make it...'
Random thoughts flashed across Mark's emotion deprived mind as he walked past the receptionist area that was right in front of the door and into the bustling office.
He was used to this kind of office in the small and medium-sized production companies he had worked with early in his career. there were many new faces to the more experienced individuals of the company, causing a lot of confusion on how things worked. If those who were there before were able to maintain control and organise the new employees within a short period of time, then things would return to how peaceful they were before. However, if the new employees organise themselves and found representatives to do so, the older employees would be shunned by the new employees and things would get increasingly more difficult for Mr. Lucas to handle.
“Hey you! Mark was it? You’re the intern for screenwriting right? Quick, go and get 5 coffees for the screenwriting group. We have run out already. Then come to that meeting room there. We have a lot of work to be completed before the rest of the company can begin work."
“Of course,” Mark nodded and turned to leave. Upon leaving he made his way to a good coffee place and bought 6 to-go. This was a place Ralph; the real-estate agent who found him the place to rent, and he had taken an afternoon break while travelling from apartment to apartment trying to find the one that fit Mark's specifications.
'It should be a few more days at most before they realise the need for a coffee machine and a heated pot. It will be far more efficient than having the interns from each department head out every few hours to bring everyone coffee,' thoughts raced across Mark's mind, but he did not care. In fact, he did not mind anything, as everything inconvenient to him was just that, a mere hurdle to be passed inevitably.
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Finally, Mark made his way back to the company. However, the cacophony he had experienced when he first arrived had vanished, and everyone was diligently working. He could not hear any noise from the reception area other than muted whispers and the clicking and scribbling of pens and pencils.
"Mr. Lucas has arrived a few minutes ago. The bunch just shut' emselves right up."
"Makes sense," Mark smiled in acknowledgement before bringing the coffees into the silent office space, and into the meeting room he was instructed to go to. Currently, the only teams with access to a meeting room were the screenwriters as they were in charge of putting Mr. Lucas’ new movie idea into a comprehensive script.
*Knock*
*Knock*
“Come in!” The hoarse voice of the person who had sent Mark on the errand rang clearly as Mark pushed the door open with his only free hand. He silently nodded to the one who was standing, and appeared to be in charge of the screenwriters, before handing out the coffees to everyone while softly greeting them. A total of 5 people including the one who was standing.
Keeping the sixth coffee for himself, he took a seat near the other end of the table, but not right opposite the one in charge, and instead to one side.
“Good, everyone, this is Mark; the new intern for junior screenwriter. Mark, this is the screenwriting team; Bob, Silvia, Dan, Luke, and me, Kraig. I am the senior screenwriter and the one in charge of this new project, everyone else is a junior screenwriter. Anyways, we got work to do now boys… no time to waste.”
“Silvia, please give him a brief about what the project will be about, and what exactly we need to do. Then, have him join us in brain storming the overarching plot. We will use all the help we can get since we don’t have too long to come up with a rough draft.”
“Yes sir!” Silvia, the short-haired brunette who seemed to be only a few years older than Mark brought him out of the meeting room, and explained the project.
‘Star Wars it is... Kraig will be my main focus here as working closely with him will allow my to be promoted from an intern to a full-time employee.'
Mark nodded at everything Silvia said, to portray that he was paying full attention to her words.
'I never quite understood the need for forcing someone to nod to prove they are listening to you? Would it not be more efficient to just ensure what you are saying is indeed that interesting or important to the opposite person before saying it. Else, even with nodding, they are unlikely to remember much from the conversation.'
“Alright, that is it for the list of what Mr. Lucas wants. A science-fiction movie involving a fantasy element which not everyone can make use of. The main character should be one of those who could make use of this power, while the rest of the story should focus on him, with the political plot occurring in the background. We need a united and organised enemy to the main character who will not work in the shadows, while a major space-battle will occur at the end with the main character prevailing.”
“I see, thank you Ms. Silvia.”
“Good, now let’s go. We need to sit in the meeting and help Kraig brainstorm a good plot.”
…
Inside the meeting room, Mark observed as the world gradually took up form.
“So, the space wizards, or as Lucas calls them; the Jedi, will possess incredible power, but they will express intense refrain from meddling in worldly affairs. What we need now, is to find a background for the main character, Luke Skywalker, as Lucas named him," Kraig winked at the other junior scriptwriter named Luke.
Mark just raised his hand in silence, waiting for Kraig to see, and he did, motioning for Mark to speak.
“Considering the currently… improving societal situation… he could be a slave.”
“A slave?” Kraig questioned.
“A slave, rising from the hellhole of a planet he was originally on, to go and save the galaxy with the power of friendship, hope, and sheer will. Or maybe not technically a slave. His parents could be slaves, and he could just have been born on the planet, free, but with no money, unable to leave.”
“We can remove the possibility of a father. We need the Jedi master that comes to bring him in to become his father figure!” Bob added onto Mark’s idea, and the room burst into discussion once again while Kraig watched the scene for a few seconds. He turned around to the whiteboard behind him, and began writing.
‘Luke Skywalker, son to a slave mother, and unknown father. Stuck on ‘Slave Planet’ until Jedi Master brings him out.’
Watching this being written on the whiteboard, everyone stopped their discussion and nodded unanimously. Everyone likes a redemption story, everyone liked rooting for the underdog. Especially if they could connect with the character on a deeper level than just looking at the world through their eyes.