Triple Point

Chapter 42: False Alarms

A loud thud snapped Camilla's mind back to the present, and she quickly glanced towards the bathroom to see if Elsie had caught her zoning out. Thankfully, she could still hear the actress clunking noisily around the bathroom, cursing every time she accidentally knocked something off the counter.

"Is everything alright in there, ma'am?" Camilla asked with a dramatic air of professionalism.

"Yes, Officer, everything's fantastic," Elsie replied, playing along. "It's just gravity out to get me again."

"Hm." Camilla found herself idling with the pages of the script again, and she realized that she was actually looking forward to what kind of performance Elsie had in store today, in Camilla's hometown. "What are you shooting today?"

"We'll be shooting all the scenes from the end of the movie for the next week," Elsie called out from the bathroom. "The movie started off in LA when Sam, that's my character, gets targeted by mysterious, super-powered attackers. She and Chance, that's Mack, end up traveling around the world to track them down and protect the world and all that good stuff. Some drama happens at the end, but eventually Sam and Chance have this happily ever after in San Francisco."

Camilla was surprised at how well the story mimicked their current reality, except she doubted there would be a happy ending outside of the movies. 

Almost fifteen minutes later, Camilla, Elsie, and Mack, each of them decently caffeinated, were en route to the set, purposefully trailing behind Perez, Pala, and the rest of the cast by about three minutes and on an alternate route.

The first location was the Palace of Fine Arts, a structure reminiscent of ancient Rome with an artistic garden and pond in front of it. During their transit, Mack placed it upon himself to explain the significance of the scene, thanks to his newfound energy from the coffee Camilla gave him.

In the movie, Mack's character mysteriously disappears at the end of their last battle, and Elsie's character settles down on her own, knowing that one day he'll return. Camilla thought it sounded a little ridiculous, but she didn't voice her opinion out loud especially given how passionate Mack sounded about it.

"It's a little cheesy, yeah, but it's so symbolic," he assured. "Everything points to how important the past is for the present, and for the future. Like, at this point in the movie, Chance has become a part of Sam's past, but he was important to who she is now, and he'll eventually become part of her future. And the set: the architecture of ancient Rome built two or three millennia after its time shows the beauty of the past, even today. It's amazing."

"Keep this up, Mack," Elsie interjected. "And next time, Camilla won't get you coffee ever again."

The rest of the ride was peacefully silent.

Camilla had been to the Palace once in middle school for a field trip, before she was accepted into the Academy. At the time, she hadn't known much about photography yet, but she still tried her best to capture the scenery with her phone as if it would help her remember the beauty of it all.

The Palace was just how she remembered it, except the staggering amount of tourists were replaced by the film crew. Scattered throughout the set was the rest of her squad, and as soon as she signaled her arrival, she took her position at the edge of the crew, giving Elsie and Mack a small wave before she left. Mack wasn't actually needed for the first few shots at this location, but it was easier to just assume that he wouldn't be available for the entire day rather than trying to plan around his fluid filming schedule.

After they got some shots of Elsie simply walking through the garden area for over an hour, then around the pillars of the pergola for another hour, they moved to the covered rotunda, the focal point of the Palace.