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

[runs]

"Oh, I know America! That's where the Transmutators films and Ben and Jerry's are from!" Not a bad place, quite obviously, if they produce nice ice cream like that. "...A minster?" What?

[vernal_miss]

This other girl has good taste, "Yeah! They make strong cars there too," which she knows about thanks to her other grandfather. She means muscle cars of course.

At the apparent confusion, she shakes her head, "A minister. It's like a preacher or a pastor. He's really easy going though, not strict at all. He tells silly jokes all the time."

[runs]

"Oh." Understanding dawns. "...One of my families went to church. Sometimes it was cool, but sometimes it was very boring.

Do you go to his church then?" Will they realise that Kitty knows said grandpa? Who knows.

[vernal_miss]

"I got to go one time, but my Mums take us to a church near our house in Moss Manor. It's okay cause we don't go every week," she says with a shrug. Sitting still so long is difficult for her even at ten, but she does her best to make her family happy even when her attention wanders during sermons.

[runs]

She nods. That doesn't sound too bad.

"I sometimes go to the church on [whatever street Sky's congregation gathers] because they have comfortable chairs and there's sometimes cake afterwards." It's a 50/50 chance, but that's enough for her to feel like it's worth it on a cold and rainy day.

[vernal_miss]

The name of the street triggers a sense of recognition. In the same way she knows where her mums work, she knows where he works in case of emergencies.

"I think that's where my Skypa's church is," she states before adding clarification, "My grandfather I mean. His nickname is Sky, and he joked about being Skypa and it stuck."

[runs]

"I mean Sky." Huh. So that's Nel's grandpa?

"He never has any tasty cookies. But he's still nice enough." Just. Why would you try to make cookies healthy. WHY.

[vernal_miss]

“Oh..!” She exclaims softly in surprise at the connection. At the comment regarding the matter of cookies, she smiles with sympathy, “He is very nice, but good cookies would make him sick.” Nel feels bad eating anything with sugar when visiting him for that reason.

“So did your one family go to his church? Or did you go with someone else?” Nel knows other children at school that have two families after their parents divorced.

[runs]

"I didn't go with anyone, it was just cold and raining and they had cake." And thus a little girl wandered into the obviously semi-public place and asked if the cake was free. And then found a warm corner to eat some cake and be out of the rain. "I later found out that they don't always have cake, but they're always more comfortable and warmer than most other churches I know."

[vernal_miss]

"You went all the way there by yourself?" Nel is genuinely perplexed. Attending school on her own is one thing since she has teachers to keep an eye on all the children, but aside from running small errands, she doesn't go somewhere by herself if it takes more than a few minutes. Especially any place new.

"Your family wasn't cross about it?"

[runs]

"Not at all." They thought that she was at her grandmother's, but her grandmother's was taking an extended nap and then had a podologist appointment.

"I wasn't getting in trouble or anything, after all."

[vernal_miss]

"Huh. That's neat. I guess I should ask if I can try going out on my own somewhere," because if this other girl is old enough, then certainly she should qualify.

"Maybe next time you go to my grandfather's church, you can tell him you know me now. My name's Nel."

[runs]

"I'll tell him." She grins, and then jumps to the ground. "And if I see you again I'll come and say hi."

[vernal_miss]

Smiling as Kitty makes the agreement to relay their meeting to her Skypa, she smiles far more with the promise of seeing her again, “Please do! And thanks again for your help.”

Nel waves to her new acquaintance as she heads off, then returns to requesting signatures from the passersby.