Lights, Camera, Action
Title: Lights, Camera, Action
Genre: Gen
Word count: 767
Element Flash Prompt: A really stupid movie
My thanks to Sparky955 for the beta and Kittenmommy for a head scratcher of a prompt.
Steel stood in the middle of the empty street and looked first to his left and then his right. “Sapphire, where are we?”
“I’m not sure, Steel.” Her eyes glowed blue and her blank expression then clouded with confusion. “Nor are They.”
“That’s preposterous.” Steel started to walk. “They know everything.”
“This isn’t the first abandoned town we’ve been in before.” Sapphire took a deep breath. The morning air was already dry and hot. She shifted her clothes to something a bit cooler. It didn’t suit her and she tried another, judging her looks in a dusty window for a mirror.
“If you are quite done with your fashion parade, I may have found something.” Steel was standing in the open door of a building. It looked like an old fashioned drug store.
She smiled at him and moved gracefully to his side and peeked in. “There’s… there’s nothing here.” She touched the wood. “This is recent, no more than ten years old. Yet it looks as if it were at least eighty years old.”
“Exactly. It’s just the front of the building.” Steel stepped in and gestured to either side. “The rest of the buildings are the same. Why would anyone create just the fronts of buildings?”
“It’s as if it were a movie set.”
“A what?”
“A movie, Steel, surely you know what they are.”
“I do, but a set? A false town? Why lure us here?”
“A false lead? Like the gas station and diner?” Sapphire crossed her arms and shuddered. That memory was still too fresh to sit comfortably with her.
“Was the thought being trapped for all of eternity with me that much of a horror, Sapphire?” Steel asked, but there was a trace of humor in his voice.
“Not really. But not being able to leave that building and its ghastly color scheme was.” She smiled and touched his arm, squeezing it gently.
They returned to the street and only then did they notice the overgrowth of weeds and the tangled garbage trapped in them.
“Thoughts?” Sapphire asked, kicking at dust with her boots.
“Why would Time bring us to an abandoned movie set?” Steel started to walk and as he rounded the corner, he paused. “Look at this.” The set changed from a western town to a city street.
“Perhaps it because here several times converge. Not only to you have the obvious setting but then you are bringing actors and actresses, not to mention the people who support them. Then you add the trappings, costumes and the like, again all different time periods.” Sapphire took a deep breath. “It’s almost as if you can smell the time here.”
“Again, why us?”
“Perhaps Time wants us in the starring role of a movie, like Ben Hur or Gone with the Wind.”
“In our case, it would more likely be closer to Plan Nine from Outer Space.”
Sapphire laughed, “Steel, you never cease to amaze me. That was surely a very stupid movie.”
“And yet, it best describes our present.” Steel touched a store front. “All mirrors and smoke, making people feel that they can believe in us. That we can make everything right somehow.”
“Is that what we do?”
“These days, I’m not so certain. Ever since that diner, I am certain of very few things.”
Sapphire came up behind him and rested her head against his back. “Even me?” Her arms encircled his waist.
“You are my one constant, Sapphire. You are the reason I’m still here and not sanctioned to some dark corner of the universe.” For a long moment, they stood as one, the sun creeping closer to the western horizon. He covered her arms with his own and tilted his head back. “I am tired, Sapphire. I am weary of fighting a never-ending war.”
“Perhaps a rest…?”
“I fear it is more than that. I was designed for this job, it has been my sole purpose for longer than I can remember.”
“You’re a soldier, Steel. Even the best soldier needs a rest from battle now and again.” She kissed his back. “Perhaps that is why we were sent here. To rest, to be away from the war if only for a short time.”
He turned in her embrace and tilted her head up to kiss her softly. “Then who better to rest with.” He took a deep breath and pulled away, offering her a hand. “Come, let us playing starring roles in this very stupid movie, then.” He smiled and kissed her hand. “Perhaps I shall ever get the girl.”
“Perhaps.”
>
Genre: Gen
Word count: 767
Element Flash Prompt: A really stupid movie
My thanks to Sparky955 for the beta and Kittenmommy for a head scratcher of a prompt.
Steel stood in the middle of the empty street and looked first to his left and then his right. “Sapphire, where are we?”
“I’m not sure, Steel.” Her eyes glowed blue and her blank expression then clouded with confusion. “Nor are They.”
“That’s preposterous.” Steel started to walk. “They know everything.”
“This isn’t the first abandoned town we’ve been in before.” Sapphire took a deep breath. The morning air was already dry and hot. She shifted her clothes to something a bit cooler. It didn’t suit her and she tried another, judging her looks in a dusty window for a mirror.
“If you are quite done with your fashion parade, I may have found something.” Steel was standing in the open door of a building. It looked like an old fashioned drug store.
She smiled at him and moved gracefully to his side and peeked in. “There’s… there’s nothing here.” She touched the wood. “This is recent, no more than ten years old. Yet it looks as if it were at least eighty years old.”
“Exactly. It’s just the front of the building.” Steel stepped in and gestured to either side. “The rest of the buildings are the same. Why would anyone create just the fronts of buildings?”
“It’s as if it were a movie set.”
“A what?”
“A movie, Steel, surely you know what they are.”
“I do, but a set? A false town? Why lure us here?”
“A false lead? Like the gas station and diner?” Sapphire crossed her arms and shuddered. That memory was still too fresh to sit comfortably with her.
“Was the thought being trapped for all of eternity with me that much of a horror, Sapphire?” Steel asked, but there was a trace of humor in his voice.
“Not really. But not being able to leave that building and its ghastly color scheme was.” She smiled and touched his arm, squeezing it gently.
They returned to the street and only then did they notice the overgrowth of weeds and the tangled garbage trapped in them.
“Thoughts?” Sapphire asked, kicking at dust with her boots.
“Why would Time bring us to an abandoned movie set?” Steel started to walk and as he rounded the corner, he paused. “Look at this.” The set changed from a western town to a city street.
“Perhaps it because here several times converge. Not only to you have the obvious setting but then you are bringing actors and actresses, not to mention the people who support them. Then you add the trappings, costumes and the like, again all different time periods.” Sapphire took a deep breath. “It’s almost as if you can smell the time here.”
“Again, why us?”
“Perhaps Time wants us in the starring role of a movie, like Ben Hur or Gone with the Wind.”
“In our case, it would more likely be closer to Plan Nine from Outer Space.”
Sapphire laughed, “Steel, you never cease to amaze me. That was surely a very stupid movie.”
“And yet, it best describes our present.” Steel touched a store front. “All mirrors and smoke, making people feel that they can believe in us. That we can make everything right somehow.”
“Is that what we do?”
“These days, I’m not so certain. Ever since that diner, I am certain of very few things.”
Sapphire came up behind him and rested her head against his back. “Even me?” Her arms encircled his waist.
“You are my one constant, Sapphire. You are the reason I’m still here and not sanctioned to some dark corner of the universe.” For a long moment, they stood as one, the sun creeping closer to the western horizon. He covered her arms with his own and tilted his head back. “I am tired, Sapphire. I am weary of fighting a never-ending war.”
“Perhaps a rest…?”
“I fear it is more than that. I was designed for this job, it has been my sole purpose for longer than I can remember.”
“You’re a soldier, Steel. Even the best soldier needs a rest from battle now and again.” She kissed his back. “Perhaps that is why we were sent here. To rest, to be away from the war if only for a short time.”
He turned in her embrace and tilted her head up to kiss her softly. “Then who better to rest with.” He took a deep breath and pulled away, offering her a hand. “Come, let us playing starring roles in this very stupid movie, then.” He smiled and kissed her hand. “Perhaps I shall ever get the girl.”
“Perhaps.”
>