[https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1600/1*Atw0tdXYuDt3LvzMfkpKbA.jpeg]
As Valentina fell, she began cursing the system in her mind. What the hell happened to graceful body movement huh? Every movement is filled with poise and grace. What part of this was graceful? Now she was about to faceplant on the floor.
[The graceful movement effect cannot do anything about the host's inherent clumsiness. Please note that you’re falling gracefully and with poise.]
The system replied, and Valentina swore the tone sounded smug.
Valentina felt like she was going to square up and beat the system to death! Who cares if they both die, as long as she could get at least one hit in she would be fine.
[In the future, the host can draw a skill to allow the host to walk as naturally in heels as the host does in other shoes.]
The system quickly added as if it could sense Valentina's thoughts.
As she fell, she quickly held both hands out to break her fall so she wouldn’t destroy her face, but it wasn’t needed. Before she realized it, a figure had appeared in front of her and held her by the waist with one arm. She was quickly steadied before the person released her.
When she looked up, she saw that it was Rio, the other member of the Fallen Angels. He glanced at her briefly and said, “Walk slower next time.” Then walked away.
“Thank you.” Valentina belatedly said as she organized herself and followed behind him.
“But I could have caught myself.” The last bit was grumbled to herself quietly, but Rio turned and gave her a look and said, “You shouldn’t have tripped then.” before looking away.
Oops. Guess he had good hearing. Fighting the urge to roll her eyes at his back, Valentina collected herself. This was her employer. She needed to be professional and not snarky.
When they both got back to the group, everyone gave Valentina a once over before Sarah said, “Valentina, both you and Yuri look good, so let’s get started. We’ll first do scenes with just Yuri and Valentina. You’ll both be doing some clips of you just being friends with each other and hanging out. After we get the clips, the CGI team will go in and add wings and background details to you both. Rio and Shawn will be doing the same as well before they come to join you on set for the scenes of friendship between angels and demons. After the first half of filming today, we will review the footage and decide on the remaining scenes. If you understand everyone go take your places.”
If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Valentina and Yuri both walked to a different filming setup and Valentina could feel Yuri glaring at her from the side.
She glanced at the girl and asked simply, “What?”
“Don’t you think that I know what you're doing?” Yuri asked angrily, “You're all dolled up now so when you saw Rio you threw yourself at him didn’t you? You have no shame! What a shameless woman! You should at least complete a job well before taking those types of actions!”
Valentina looked at Yuri as if she was a mad person. What does she mean, throw herself at him? She simply tripped okay! If she wanted to throw herself at a man, she would at least make sure he was right next to her, and she wouldn’t be in danger of smashing her face into the floor. And she would make sure not to do it in front of the whole cast and director.
Valentina quickly shook her head and continued walking. There was no need to humor conspiracy theorists. If you engaged with them, your brain cells would reduce to their level.
But she didn’t know that her not speaking basically confirmed the fact in Yuri’s mind. When Yuri had first gotten the role, she was so excited. She and her friend Emily planned on snagging the role together so they could further their careers and build a relationship with the Fallen Angels. They had pressured their agencies to push for them to be able to audition for it.
Both Yuri and Emily were very confident in their beauty and skills, and they thought there was a possibility that the band members especially Rio would fall in love with them. Unfortunately, Emily hadn’t been able to audition on time and someone else got the role through a backdoor recommendation.
Yuri completely looked down on people who didn’t work hard and used the easy route. She assumed it was some actress who used her connections or dirty means to snag the role. She was hoping the actress was rude and overbearing so she could oppress that actress with her beauty and experience so that she would understand the difference between people who worked hard and those who took the easy route.
But when she met Valentina she was completely shocked. Not only was Valentina beautiful, but she was also quiet, reserved, and completely professional. She had paid attention to everything the director had said and hadn’t been rude to anyone yet. Yuri thought that maybe she had judged her too soon.
She didn’t mind people having impure motives as long as they had the skill to back it up. Although she took the back door, it seemed she knew her place and was going to be a hard worker.
When Valentina came out in full costume, Yuri was shocked. Valentina had transformed from a frail beauty to an angelic, ethereal being. She was very confident in her own looks, but Valentina had something that attracted her even though she was also a girl.
She had almost changed her mind when she saw that Valentina ‘tripped’ and angled her body strategically towards Rio. There was nobody on this earth who could “accidentally fall” that elegantly.
Of course, since Rio was a gentleman, he had saved her from falling but Yuri's anger was ignited again. Of course, she was here because she wanted to form a relationship with Rio! Seeing her rival in love, Yuri was fired up and ready to prove that she was the better actress.
When they got into their places, as they started filming, Yuri was determined to give Valentina the cold shoulder and make her look bad so she would get in trouble with the director. But as they continued interacting with each other behind the camera lens; drinking tea, picking flowers, and pretend sword fighting, Yuri felt her guard loosening. It felt as if she was chatting with her close friend.
Valentina felt tired already. They had started filming her scenes with Yuri and she had to act out friendship with a girl who didn’t like her. Seeing Yuri's pouting face, she decided she would act out the best big sister role possible. No matter what kind of face Yuri pulled, she ignored it with a smile and continued what she was doing. She poured tea for her. She braided her hair. She made her a flower crown. She was just running through ideas and trying anything to tease out one smile from her.
At some point, she grabbed her hand and started dancing with her until she tripped again, and Yuri started laughing. Stupid heels!