Let's make a film or sue Royal Mail, it's almost the same... [Mingle]

[ourearth]

Date: 21st-28th of October
Characters: Open!
Note: Like all welcome mingles, this is a SoL free-for-all mingle meant to get new characters involved by centering around something relevant to them. Without further ado, please welcome Nel, Mary Ann and Feste!

---

I.

Pinewood Studios is looking for extras for some seafront scenes of a 19th century drama they're going to film in front of the white cliffs. The drama's working title is "The Major from India" and they've expressly put out a casting call for people of all ages and all ethnicities.

A few students from the local uni get to participate behind the scenes this time. Three lucky film students have scored internships that will let them experience the proccess of film making under the aspect of how to deal with extras, from casting to employing and placing them in the film (how do I make an extra NOT look at the camera or main character all the time?) to cutting to everything else. They will, of course, also have the opportunity to look into other areas of the making of this film, but the work with the extras is what they're supposed to focus on.

The casting takes place in the Mossgate outpost of Pinewood Studios.


II.

In Moss Manor (the village), the rumour mill is going wild. News have made it to the village that the local post office is going to be shut down, and the villagers won't have it. It's not like it is a big one! Two employees, neither of whom works full hours, and it's located in the village store so it doesn't even need its own house! Surely there is no economic sense in shutting it down!

And most certainly it's just unfair, targeting the villages despite all that talk to strengthen them - nobody is talking about Tarwich or Mossgate losing their post office!

In short, Moss Manor is in an uproar, and quick action is taken. Residents go from door to door with a petition to not shut down the post office, asking for people to sign. Posters are made and hung outside the church, in the pub, at the railway station, at the entrances of the village, and in the village store. And on the 27th, a very well attended protest is being organised outside the village shop, which just so happens to block the main road, causing diversions. And thus the protest affects quite a lot of non-Moss-Manor-residents, as that is the main road leading away from the coast into Kent and London. A few people have made protest signs, the pub has put up a little food stand outside its door selling hot dogs, burgers and drinks, and various speeches are given. First comes local MP Mary Saunders, talking about how unjust the treatment of villages by large national organisations is, then Reverend Pat Marsh who in essence asks people to remain calm and write angry letters instead of doing anything more drastic, then the captain of the local adult men's football team, who accuses the post of trying to kill small villages, and then the microphone can be taken up by anyone who feels like they have anything of substance to add to the things that have already been said.

But the angry valiant people of Moss Manor don't just speak up in their own village. With mayor Gary Russell's support, little info stands pop up on the Mossgate High Street and the Tarwich Community Centre. The aim is to inform everyone of the unfair closure plans, gather more signatures for the petitions, and try to get people from Mossgate and Tarwich to come to the protest on Saturday. Nobody does anything in Folkton. For one, the Moss Manor residents doubt that help will come that way; for two, the rumour mill will be faster in spreading the news around Folkton than any poster or stand ever could be.

Comments

[fairfeste]

I

Feste is absolutely thrilled and also not entirely sure how they got selected? Not that there's a good reason for them not to have been selected, they had been trying for this specifically for a while, but it's still unexpected. They don't even care that they're probably going to spend a good portion of their time running for coffee or other little tasks. It's still going to be fun.

Right now they're helping manage anyone trying out to be an extra, darting between moving people into the actual casting call and checking up anyone who's hanging around and waiting, always with a bright smile on their face. "Doin' alright?"

wildcard

Between school and the internship, they're now spending a lot of time in Mossgate, mostly heading back to Moss Manor just to flop (dramatically, as is their tendency) face down into their bed and allow cats to use them as a cushion. But they are around in both Moss Manor and Mossgate, either running errands or just plopped down somewhere with a sketchbook, drawing something that's caught their eye.

[ooc: Have another idea for running into them? Hit me up?]

I!

[iamnotgod]

"Just here for emotional support, really," comes Walter's reply. He's in the 'hanging around and waiting' category, naturally.

"A friend of mine is auditioning, is all."

[fairfeste]

"Oh, ok!" Feste smiles at him. "That's nice of your. Has your friend already gone in?" Honestly they're having a little bit of trouble keeping track of who has done what but they're pretty sure it'll work itself out???

[iamnotgod]

"Yes, actually," Walter answers, shifting a little in the chair he'd found.

"They mentioned something about callbacks? Though," he adds, "I think they were just messing with me; I'm not sure they do that for extras..."

He shakes his head. "What about you? Are you here for casting, or just to help out?"

[catted]

"Once you're done with expiring on your bed, can you come down and set the table? Jan is coming home in half an hour with the rest of your siblings and-" Mary Ann, carrying a large basket of laundry, pokes her head through the door to check on her eldest.

[fairfeste]

"I can't, Bells won't move," Feste replies, voice muffled by their pillow. The black cat currently settled on their back meows at Mary Ann.

[catted]

She has to grin. "Well, that's a predicament all right.

Bells will move in roughly fifteen minutes. when it's dinner time. Just come down and set the table then?"

[vernal_miss]

Coming across her eldest sibling while they are focused on their sketchbook, Nel alters her intended destination to veer to them instead. She stays quiet as she approaches, moving to stand behind and beside where she can lean to peek only for a second at the page to see the subject matter of the sketch. Patiently, she waits until Feste has lifted their tool away from the page to speak up and ask, “Can I watch?”

[fairfeste]

Feste looks up, smiling brightly when they see her. "Sure!" They'll scoot over a little, giving her room to sit next to them.

[vernal_miss]

Hopefully that considerate scootch to give her room doesn’t skew the perspective. Smile returned, she’s quick to come around and take a seat right next to her sibling on the side opposite their dominant hand. Best to stay out of the way of that drawing arm so as not to restrict movement as she reaches to rest her hand against that nearest arm.

“Are you going to color it?”

I

[spaghettimonster]

There more people for the casting call - even though it's extras - than he's seen at auditions for Mossgate Theatre. Makes sense, with a proper film they can get all their friends and neighbors to watch, waiting for their scene, and shout and point at the screen when they finally appear. This crowd's reminding him of some of his less-successful ventures back at university, back in America, and trying not to let it show is an extra effort in all this.

So he beams back at the approaching intern as best he can, nodding as they walk along the line to check on people. "Alright! Just, you know, excited. Haven't been involved in film, before."

[fairfeste]

That doesn't really surprise Feste; most people here haven't been involved in film. But somehow Russell's phrasing peaks their curiosity. "Have you been involved in other stuff before?" They're not quite sure if theater experience would be a benefit or not here; they think it would be, as long as they don't get... too into it.

[iamnotgod]

I

Despite what it looks like, Walter's not actually here to audition - a somewhat-nervous friend had simply asked him to come as support. (Internally, he still suspects it's because said friend just wanted him to be considered for a role, since willingly going in front of cameras is Not His Thing.)

So he sits off to the side, equipped with coffee and laptop, trying not to be overwhelmed by the sights, sounds, and scents around him.

II

Oh, he knows about the post office situation, but apart from signing the petition once it gets to Mossgate he's not certain what he should be doing to help.

Someone could probably rope him into a social media campaign about it, or talk him into going to the protest Saturday, though!

I

[catted]

Mary Ann isn't here to audition, either. She's here to drop by in her noon break, being... okay, to be honest, being a bit of an annoying meddling mum who wants to know if her kid is doing all right and how they're doing with their internship.

She can't spot Feste when she gets to the right area and won't ask for them, so she decides to wait for a bit and looks around. If there's someone else around that she knows she should probably at least say hi...

And indeed, there is. She wanders over towards Walter. "Hello Walter. Trying out for a role?"

Re: I

[iamnotgod]

Ah, mums. If Walter's own wasn't busy in London, then she'd probably have come to visit long before the Numbers business got started.

Walter shakes his head, smiling.

"Nope, though I suspect my friend was trying to nominate me for one. They're the one auditioning, but they haven't come back yet.

"What about you, Marja?"

The urge to refer to her by her title is quickly suppressed; this has nothing to do with her work, after all.

II

[catted]

Mary Ann takes part in the protests, and can be found at the little stand on the High Street one afternoon. She might not have many hours to spare, but she has a few, and she really doesn't approve of the village that she has raised her children in and would like to grow old in losing yet another sign of being alive. Sure, the buses run into town, but there's still a difference between being able to reach a post office and it being within easy reach... No. She doesn't like this development, not on behalf of herself, not on behalf of her neighbours, and not on behalf of her children.

So she can be found one afternoon at the High Street, her youngest children tasked with not wandering off too far, and telling people just why they should sign the petitions to not close down the post office, and also show up at the protest on Saturday.

Anyone who stops at the stand will be greeted with a gesture towards the petition lists. "They're planning on shutting down the post office in Moss Manor, which will take a vital part of accessible life away from it and make things harder especially on our children and older residents. And it'll turn the village even further from being a place to live, which these days really we should work again.

The more people speak up against it, and even just by signing our petition, the more of a chance we have that they'll reconsider."

And then, of course, she'll be there on Saturday, nibbling on a burger and listening to the speeches. And hoping that nobody collapses or otherwise requires first aid. Too many people around know that she's a doctor, she definitely would be the one people would turn to for help, and she just wants to be here to protest...

[scarsolderthanyou]

It might help keep people from bothering her that her grumpy old American father is sitting next to her while she eats, arms resting on the back of the park bench she's sitting at, one of them basically around her shoulders. "I'm getting tired of having to protest things," he comments. "Can't they just leave well enough alone?"

Not that he cares a whole lot, he's here for her, not himself.

[catted]

"You'd think so. But apparently not." She crosses her arms and leans back, eyeing the crowd critically as she tries to do a head count. You can't trust official numbers on things like these.

"They like to leave the things alone that they shouldn't and change the things that work just fine..." And she's not going to get into wider politics here. Or even what the government has planned for her employer. But seriously. "I guess that's just a tale as old as time that'll continue indeterminably."

[vernal_miss]

II
A
For those few afternoon hours her mum can spare to sit out on High Street, Nel is there with her and keeping an eye on her only younger sibling. Those individuals that cross the street to avoid the stand instead have to face a pair of cute children, one of whom has a mess of long, wavy red hair barely contained in a ponytail and a clipboard ready for signatures. Standing up on a bench to make up for her stunted stature, she speaks to passersby while her sibling is in charge of handing out stickers for those that sign the paper while seated next to her. Nel had raided her own sticker collection to help, and anyone that signs has their choice of quite an array of adornments to wear on their shirt for the day as a mark of their support. She even brought the sparkly stickers! Who can say no to sparkly unicorns?

Holding up a pen tipped with dyed feathers and wiggling it beside her own face, she’ll call out to anyone that comes close enough to hear her, “Hallo! I bet you’re probably very busy, but if you could spare a few seconds to sign, you’ll save everyone in Moss Manor a lot of time! They’re talking about closing our post, and we want them to know how much we appreciate having their service close by instead of needing the bus to send a letter or a bill. Oh, and if you sign, you can have one of these stickers! They’re all very lovely.”

Nel is content to stay on the bench and request this simple action, but anyone that makes a real show of trying to ignore them might very well be tailed after.

B
By the time the protest on Saturday has started into the speeches, Nel is a little bored with the whole affair. She understands how important it is, and had plenty of fun helping make up the posters that went up on the streets to draw attention to the issue. So while she has the opportunity to look at other people paying attention elsewhere, she’ll take advantage of the time and pull out her sketchbook. Making life sketches of people on the go is still too hard for her, but trying to sketch people lingering in a crowd is manageable.

Anyone attending the protest might spot the redhead seated nearby looking at them or another person intently for several seconds before her hand moves on the paper in her lap to mark lines. The longer she’s allowed to work, the further she gets along in the sketch.

A! Doodle buddies may have to happen another time.

[iamnotgod]

Walter's not exactly in a hurry (though one can see tenseness in his muscles if they look closely), but he recognizes that voice - and while he doesn't need stickers...

"Ah, sure!"

He'll take the pen upon offering.

"How long have you been out here today?"

There will be many future opportunities

[vernal_miss]

Gaze fixing to the kind stranger willing to sign, Nel beams as she offers the pen out along with the clipboard, “Thank you!” Not aware of the fact the man isn’t interested in stickers, her younger sibling is attentively waiting for the chance to offer choices from the pages of the book.

“Not that long. I want to get a whole page, or maybe two!” she answers with enthusiasm, the first page already half full when he goes to add his signature.

B

[scarsolderthanyou]

Her grandpa's a little bored by all this, himself, but for different reasons. He comes to drop himself next to her wherever she's sitting for now to look over her shoulder at the artwork. "Having fun?" he asks.

[vernal_miss]

Perched sitting up on a half stone wall, Nel peels her eyes from the page to look up as he settles next to her, and seeing her grandfather immediately brings out a warm smile. She tilts the sketchbook so he can see the figures taking shape, most only outlined in rough poses with one starting to look human. Her skill is below that of Feste, but she’s making an effort to catch up with them.

“Mmhmm! Most people don’t stay put this long out here. What about you?”

A

[runs]

Lilo just happens to walk on the side of the street that Nel is on, and stops when she spots the two children on the bench.

Not because she wants to sign, but because she's spotted stickers being handed out, and also this looks interesting.

So she meanders over and eyes the smaller sibling's offerings with interest as someone picks their sticker. And then she adresses Nel when the person is done, because really, there is such a thing as talking to sensibly aged people over small children.

Or adults.

"Can anyone sign?"

[vernal_miss]

To be fair, those are some incredible stickers.

Waving cheerfully to the adult that received a sticker for signing as they walk off, she calls out after them, “Thank you!” one last time to reinforce the appreciation that everyone could have if they merely took a minute to help.

When a girl around her age speaks up, she looks down to her from where she stands, and considers it, “I signed it, so I think as long as you live around here, then yeah!” Rather than simply handing down the clipboard and pen, Nel takes the time to drop down to sit with her legs crossing on the bench where they can comfortably talk before she offers the pair to her for a signature.