PR3ST1G - "Memory"
Amanda Nordstrom
((Performance Review - Highlight Reel Black Box, Deck 17, USPS Show Runner ))
PR3ST1G made commentary, but limited it. Carefully, she considered her words before speaking, and for some points, elected not to say a word. Doing so could actually affect her own judgement which was fast approaching. Carefully, she watched as M217BS’s reels displayed upon the screen. Truthfully, it was a madness of chaos, something that didn’t make sense, and the ending was not only a twist, but a stupid one. Not only that, Paws was, just in general, an inane character, and the acting mediocre. Plus, there was nothing to distract from it . Nothing looked good, in her mind, and she was quite curious what the results would be. If she had her choice, it wouldn’t be high.
PR1M4 D0NN4: …Did anyone else need subtitles for the show? ::look between them then to the audience:: Not only did the leading lady have a very distinct accent but I couldn’t understand the dog for the life of me.
B345T: The green-topped one and the one on all fours…Impossible to understand. They also look completely different from the other two Earthlings. ::beat:: Is this a forensic show? Or a monster movie? Pick one, man!
PR3ST1G: There was too much going on and too many deviations. It was unfocused and needed a tighter narrative.
PR3ST1G kept her input succinct and, for the most part, neutral as she could. However, M217BS didn’t even broach her feedback but focused on something else entirely.
M217BS: It was only because of me that we had all those willing actors in the first place!
PR1M4 D0NN4: Willing might be overstating it. ::Brow raised:: Mine kept trying to escape!
B345T: Agree, mine were far from willing.
Ugh, the three were just going back and forth, voices niggling and piggling at the auditory hairs, a veritable chafing of the statocysts that made her cringe inwardly. Outwardly, she kept her calm and her cool. Her time was coming, and she was preparing herself for the results.
3X3CUT1V3: Your final defense M217BS.
M217BS: I can’t be expected to be a recruitment officer, director, and actor trainer for all of you. Maybe if you had made appropriate stitches in time…
3X3CUT1V3 wasn't swayed or amused. In fact, 3X3CUT1V3 was never amused - or rarely, anyway. A previous facial expression upon the mask he wore might have indicated it, but PR3ST1G put little stock in that. It wasn’t his real face.
3X3CUT1V3: Audience, it is time to score the director.
PR1M4 D0NN4: T-that’s it?
B345T gave a slow, dismissive shrug, uncaring about PR1M4 D0NN4’s concern. The directors did not dictate time, not when they were under review. He accepted that, as had PR3ST1G. They had no other choice.
B345T: Maybe stop trying to get your tentacles in everything, M217BS.
PR3ST1G: At this point, there is no worth arguing.
PR3ST1G glanced at the other directors. She’d undergone reviews before, and somehow managed to survive. Would she that time? It was yet to be seen.
3X3CUT1V3: Some know when to accept what is to come and do not struggle.
Some of them. PR3ST1G was one, and she inclined her head ever so slightly in agreement.
M217BS: Response
With that, it was time to reveal the score, and with a chime, it flashed on the display. M217BS received a disapproval rating of 30%, far lower than PR3ST1G expected. Idly, she wondered how big a sample of the current population was taken for that number. From one side of her, PR3ST1G felt rather than heard a sound. It was low, an undertow to their words, and her eyes flicked over to B345T who, she knew, was not happy at all.
3X3CUT1V3: M217BS, the audience has decided. ::the human face twisted into a toothy grin that looked unnatural on the humanoid’s face:: As has N37W02K, for your dedication.
At that point, PR3ST1G expected the lights to go through their little dance, but instead, they simply flashed upon PR1M4 D0NN4, completely skipping the theatrics. That did surprise her, but PR3ST1G didn’t complain.
3X3CUT1V3: PR1M4 D0NN4, it is almost an offense to show the audience the animation disaster your team put out. Reused stock footage for previous shows, a cast you could not control…
PR1M4 D0NN4: I was carrying that show, the reused assets were not on the orders, someone cut corners on my crew while I was constructing the narrative, costumes, and correcting the errors that were emerging. Someone one staff had no idea what they were doing-
PR3ST1G wasn’t sure she’d give PR1M4 D0NN4 enough credit to agree that she had carried the show. The most she would say was the woman had tried. Then, as the reel played on, she realised that PR1M4 D0NN4 hadn’t been lying. Someone had sought out to do whatever she could to prevent success.
PR1M4 D0NN4: Who is that!? I-I was sabotaged!!
There was a human girl. Or humanish. PR3ST1G had trouble distinguishing them - they all looked so similar! However, as she went through the various backdrops, she threw paint all over them before yelling -
Ekko: Balus kren!!!
And with that, her intentions were finalised and she hurried off. It seemed PR1M4 D0NN4 spoke the truth - but sometimes, even the truth wasn’t helpful.
3X3CUT1V3: At the time that you chose to enter your show and collude with the officers inside, who clearly, played you. Their ally was sabotaging you the entire time and your crew incompetent to stop the intrusion.
There it was, the blame lade. Because no matter how hard they worked, the directors would always receive blame, even when they weren’t at fault. For the first time in a long time, PR3ST1G felt sympathy for someone. She’d suffered her own casualties at the hands of others in her past - and now PR1MA D0NNA had experienced the same. Not that she herself hadn’t been the originator of some sabotage herself in the past. Maybe she was getting soft. B345T, however, had no heart.
B345T: Ha! That’s great! ::breath:: Oh man…you suck.
Then again, she might have done the same not that long ago. Yes, she was definitely getting soft.
PR3ST1G: Like recognises like.
M217BS: Response
PR1M4 D0NN4: I entered my show to save it from my lazy crew, not to undermine N37W02k… ::She looks at them fighting her bonds to use her hands to speak:: I felt a rush I hadn’t felt in ages, what if the audience could participate in their choice of stories! The rush of being with all these different species and engaging as one of them… to any of our shows! Thousands of hours they could not only watch but experience!!
PR!1M4 D0NN4 words caught PR3ST1G’s attention like nothing else anyone had said since their arrival. Her eyes snapped to the younger female’s attention, tentacles undulating with interest at the syllables uttered from her beak. Yes. Yes! That was it exactly! That was how it had been once, long ago, long before any one in that room had hatched, long before their brains developed the ability to store memories. None of them remembered, but PR3ST1G did. She remembered.
PR3ST1G: What you say has worth, PR1MA D0NN4. For the first time in what seemed like a lifetime, someone understood.
M217BS: Response
B345T: Was this like your first show, D0NN4? ::beat:: It’s not that hard to make them act their parts.
That was a lie. Considering the dungpit of a production B345T had managed, their words were merely because they had done so poorly and wanted so desperately not to be at the bottom of the trenches. Oh, if they only knew.
PR3ST1G: Do not pretend their willingness to act was because of any success on your part.
M217BS/PR1M4 D0NN4/3X3CUT1V3: Response
B345T: I struggled with actors…but never to this extent. ::pause:: And I didn’t let anyone into my stage area. That’s rule one! ::beat:: Well. Rule two…Rule one is don’t lose the PADD. ::The stolen PADD briefly re-entered its mental complaint index, then was dismissed again for efficiency:: Still…Kudos for the raw feed though.
B345T tried to make it sound like they were merely offering constructive criticism, but it was blind to its own inadequacies. Either that, or it was very well of them and didn’t want others to know it. PR3ST1G scoffed, and elected to ignore B345T. With PR3ST1G’s words, PR3ST1G attached her attention to the other female in the group. Of them, she had made the same connection PR3ST1G once had, the same connection so many had once upon a time.
That had been long ago.
PR3ST1G: It was that way once, you know.
She spoke softly, her words more for PR1M4 D0NN4 more than anyone. Within them trembled a memory, a shadow of what once had been, but no longer could be.
PR3ST1G: Once we told our own stories, and we took part in them. Those were the glorious days of our civilisation.
B345T/3X3CUT1V3/M217BS/PR1M4 D0NN4: Response
Her eyes swept from PR1M4 to the other directors, then fell upon 3X3CUT1V3. They were all on a stage, but they didn’t realise they were participating in a story. None of them realised it, none of their eyes were open to see what had been and what could be - save for PR1M4, and even she only had an inkling, nor did she realise that what she spoke was merely a shadow from the past.
PR3ST1G: None of you are old enough to remember those days, when we were a part of it all, not just observers.
B345T/3X3CUT1V3/M217BS/PR1M4 D0NN4: Response
PR3ST1G was old. Far older than most realised. Although her frame looked hale and healthy, she knew her time was coming to an end. Yet, she held herself with poise, her shoulders back, her head high, her tentacles glistening, her eyes luminous. Age didn’t define her, and she never would let it. Around her, society had shifted and changed. Those of her generation had died out long ago, leaving one her and one other. It was that thought which came to the forefront of her mind, that thought which spurred her to turn and face 3X3CUT1V3, her tentacles lifted and unwavering.
PR3ST1G: Once upon a time, our kind graced the stage. We weren’t just dictating the stories, we were living them. You are all too young to remember, but I do. And N37W02K does. We are the last, we two, of our generation. Once, he shone as bright as the brightest star. Ask your master, 3X3CU71V3. Ask if he remembers. Time has taken much from him, but surely it hasn’t taken that.
B345T/3X3CUT1V3/M217BS/PR1M4 D0NN4: Response
-- PR3STIG Director M239008AD0
