Valerie's alarm went off at 6:00 with its usual beeping noise. Val's eyes opened to see the face of her lover up close and personal. She smiled at the face looking back at her.
"Rise and shine, sleepy head. We have a date with a movie set."
"Am I going with you, Mistress?"
"Yes, I don't want to have to face Barry on my own. We'll pick up something for breakfast on the way."
They showered together, sharing a few moments of intimacy as a promise of things to come. Half an hour later, they were out the door and on the road for Francine's old place. Valerie found that her nerves were on edge, the return to the site of the attack affecting her more than she had anticipated.
They pulled into a driveway that was overflowing with vehicles of all types. A fence had been erected and a security guard was at the gate. Valerie showed her pass and was waved towards some free space for parking. Even at a distance, it was plain that much renovation had been, and was still being done, to the house. Scaffolding was visible on all sides and scores of people were milling about, the vast majority of whom seemed to have a lot of things they were trying to do.
"Have you ever been on a movie set before, Sally?"
"No, Mistress, I've never had the pleasure."
"It's not as much of a pleasure as you might think. While we're here, I want you to call me Val. Mr. Gaskin is already hostile enough towards us without rubbing his face in the idea of slavery."
"Are you sure that's the best way to handle him?"
"No, not really, it's just the best I can think of right now. They'll put me in jail if I tie him up and whip him."
Sally chuckled at the thought of her friend whipping someone against their will.
Valerie continued. "There will be an awful lot of activity going on, with all the noise, distraction and bother that goes with it. Today is supposed to be merely rehearsals, but there will still be calls for quiet. The fastest way to be kicked off the set is to make noise during a scene. There will also be some horse play. Don't be surprised if some of it is directed at us. That will be a good thing. It means that the crew accepts us as part of the team."
"I understand. Sort of like initiating new people into a club."
"Exactly. By the way, we're probably late. Movies can start shooting as early as 4 AM unless they need the natural light. They can also go very late, especially when night scenes are needed. Let's get going."
They couple locked the car and walked towards the house. Once she was here, Valerie found that the place looked so different, on the outside at least, that her nervousness was subsiding. As they approached, they could see that some of the work going on was literally adding new rooms to the house. Since she had only worked with TV ads before, she had never seen this done, but had heard of it. With a location that they owned in a non-movie city, the producers had chosen to build all or most of the needed sets on site. She was sure that these new additions would be such locations as her offices at Bradford and Gashune, the dining hall at the Crystal Match, and her own former apartment.
"Valerie, Sally, over here!" a voice called out.
Val and Sally looked towards it and saw half of Samson waving at them. They waved back and moved towards her. Her partner became visible as they neared and soon the four were next to each other.
"You two are going to have to get used to movie time. They've been rehearsing on and off for two hours now." The smile on the man's face let them know that the criticism was not serious.
Val asked, "Have they started with any of the BDSM scenes?"
"No, I think Barry is putting those off until the construction is done. They will have the actors naked, after all."
"Yes, I can see that. Tell me, Samson, did you hear about Barry's and my, disagreement, earlier?"
They pair looked at each other. It was obvious that they were uncomfortable. Caroline broke the uncomfortable silence. "Barry has let everyone know his side. I've worked with Barry several times before, and he can be a vindictive little shit. Why don't you tell us what really happened."
"There's not much to tell. Mr. Gaskin was rude from the get go. He made it clear that he found D/s to be an evil perversion and that he had every intention of making a cautionary tale. He claimed he was going to have me barred from the set. Then he called Milton and made up a cock and bull story about me trying to take directorial control of the movie. I'm not sure where things stand right now. Milton made it clear that the two of us are to cooperate with each other."
Thomas made a, "Hmm," sound. "That's what we were afraid of. I don't suppose either of you follow the tabloids?" Both women shook their heads. "Four years ago, Barry's third wife divorced him. That's not a big story, especially out of Hollywood. What made it big was that she left him for a lesbian lover who was also a dominatrix."
"Oh my!" replied Sally.
"Oh my, indeed," Caroline sneered. "The irony is that I don't think the wife was into BDSM. The other woman was a professional dominatrix, works out of one of those houses, you know, like Lady Heather from CSI."
Sally rolled her eyes. "I know the type. They are part of the scene, but not really. Most are in it for the money, being paid by men who can't or won't take the time to find a real partner. That's where most of the stereotyping comes from."
"Exactly," added Thomas. "Since Barry's on his fifth wife now, I'm certain there was no love lost, but it had to be a hit to the old male ego to have the woman you were sleeping with dump you for a 'strong' woman."
Val snorted. "So that's what this is all about; jealousy?"
Sampson nodded their heads in unison. Thomas added, "Yes, that's it. The good news is that everyone of importance on the set knows that. Please, try to take his hostility with a grain of salt."
"I'll try, though he doesn't make it easy."
"He never makes anything easy. That's part of what makes him such a good director. In the movies, easy is cheesy." Caroline chuckled with everyone else at her little joke.
At the house, Val and Sally found they had been assigned an official assistant, though "gopher" was a more accurate term. Mitch Wallace was a cinema major from UCLA doing an internship over the summer. In exchange for being the virtual slave of whomever they pawned him off on, he had full access to the set. He seemed very enthusiastic. He was also very knowledgeable about the production and the set.
Mitch gave the ladies a tour of the house, including the unfinished additions, explaining what each room would be used for in the picture. Several times, his rapid fire travelogue was interrupted by the harsh cry of, "Quiet on the set!" Amazingly, every sound stopped cold within fifteen seconds of the cry and its accompanying bell. Anywhere from five to ten minutes would pass before another bell would go off and the cacophony around them would resume.
Valerie asked Mitch a question that had been puzzling her. "Mitch, isn't it unusual for a movie to have so much time devoted to simple rehearsals? I thought that they would just rehearse each scene several times, the director telling everyone how things were to go, and then shoot enough times to get a perfect shot."
"You're right. However, the construction work is behind schedule, so Mr. Gaskin is trying to save time by rehearsing in toto, hoping to make up the time by being able to shoot scenes without rehearsals later."
"Mitch, are you keeping us away from the action on purpose?" Sally asked, after the tour had gone on for an hour.
Mitch looked pleased and sheepish at the same time, something both women wondered how he pulled off. "Yes, ma'am. Mr. Gaskin told me to keep you away from 'his actors'."
Val gave the college student a stern look. She could see that he was not happy with what he had been ordered to do. Valerie recalled an intern or two at Bradford and Gashune who were far more perceptive than most gave them credit for. She wondered just how good this kid was. "In that case, Mr. Wallace, I'm going to have to be an ass and demand that you take us to where the rehearsals are going on."
"I was hoping you might do that," he muttered under his breath. Louder, he said, with a heavy sigh, "If you'll come this way, then?"
Mitch led them through the house. The trip ended out back. The back of the house had been redone to look like the parking lot of a motel. While it looked nothing like the place she had rescued Francine from, Val knew that was the purpose for the scene. They arrived just as another call for quiet rang out.
"Okay, Tasha, remember, your best friend just called to say she was attacked and you don't know how badly. You're in a hurry, but, because of the wounds on your back, unable to risk being pulled over by the police." The actress, standing beside a BMW, nodded her head and climbed into the car. "Action!"
Tasha drove the car swiftly to the parking space in front of the only working door on the back of the house. As the engine was dying, she had leapt out of the car, a gym bag in hand, and ran to the door where she knocked.
A voice from the other side called out, "Who is it?"
"Francine, It's me, Valerie."
The door opened and Tasha slipped into the darkened room. Barry made a circling motion with his hand and the all clear bell sounded. "That was great! Now, let's set up for the exit. Valerie and Francine will come out of the motel room, get into the car and drive off. Francine's feet are a mess, so Valerie will have to practically carry her."
Barry moved towards the two actresses to talk with them in more detail. Stan and Melanie saw Valerie and Sally and walked over to see them. The two actors looked relaxed and seemed to be having a good time.
"Sally, Valerie, I'm glad you could make it," Stan called out with more volume than was needed. Both women could see Barry's head turn their way for a short while. "What do you think of your first visit to a movie set?"
"It's not what I expected," Sally answered. "It's so busy."
"That's a common response," Melanie replied. "Most people have no idea how busy a set can be. Even when the construction work is done, this place will look like a beehive, with little worker drones scurrying about making the rest of us look like geniuses." The relaxed smile on her face gave lie to the idea that she actually thought of the crew as drones.
