Grace (classic_kiss) wrote in plainsite, @ 2018-07-21 09:21:00 |
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Entry tags: | grace calhoun, jj baker |
Who: Grace & JJ
What: Meeting, on-site wardrobe work
When: Morning
Where: Staging Area B
Rating: Low
Closed
Plainsite was some kind of okay. The food was good, the girls were amazing, and… well really, it was nice that Virgil had taken a chance on him. JJ’s first role on the Plainsite lot was, surprise surprise, another crime procedural. This one, he felt like he could actually watch. He was going to get to die, which would be fun for him. There was the promise of fake blood, and pretending to be dead while “forensic investigators” worked around his “body”.
It was, all things considered, a nice way to spend a few days. And it was a great chance to showcase his professionalism when it came to his work. He’d heard the whispers. People were expecting him to diva up the place, demanding this and that and refusing to do as he was told. It’s like, you shove one paparazzo, and this is the reputation you get, he thought. But JJ had zero intention of cutting out of line on set.
Until he went into his meeting with wardrobe.
“Wooooooow,” he said, channeling his inner Joey Tribbiani and smiling winningly at the beautiful woman.
~~~
If a vampire could be tired; she was already tired just having imagined this day. She stood quietly outside of the dressing room waiting for her client after having suit up the rest of the cast that morning. A deep breath of a sigh raised her ample breasts and it was her entire lifesource not to roll her eyes instantaneously at the child. Of course he was only a child. He didn’t know better--or, while he should know better, he clearly didn’t.
Children were exhausting.
Grace adored children. She wished she had had more of her own natural born babies before she had been turned all those years ago in hopes that she might have a longer line of family. If she’d managed to give birth to more babies she might even have a relative alive today, distant as they might be. Alas, fate had not been in her favor.
So this was the child she got to spend time with.
“Good morning,” the redhead said with a tense, small smile that faded as quickly as it appeared. “My name is Grace Calhoun, lead costume supervisor. I will be working with you today as my assistants are out on other sites. You will be working with one of them, tomorrow.” She was all business in her black attire featuring gold jewelry on her earlobes, neck, and fingers. The impressive height of her heels did not seem to stop her from performing as she simply shifted her weight from one foot to the other, waiting for JJ to enter the dressing area.
~~~
“Aw, really? I can’t have you again tomorrow?” he asked, widening his eyes in what he’d been told was one of his cutest expressions. It was the waggling eyebrows that wrecked it.
But he followed her into the dressing area and did as he was told, for the most part. He was only human, and he couldn’t help the doe eyes he threw her way. “You know, uh, I’ve been dressed a bunch of times by a bunch of wardrobe departments, but I don’t remember anyone that looked like you.”
There was so much he could have said and done, but he held himself back, if only for the sake of professionalism. While she was dressing him, he’d do as she said...
But his inner Joey wouldn’t let up. “Hey, uh… how you doin’?” he asked.
~~~
There was hardly a pause to even hear him speak before his request to see her again, and his veiled compliment, was concluded. She held up a hand in a ‘stop’ fashion and her eyes only read disinterest. “You will work with my assistant tomorrow. You will not speak to her in this fashion. You will act like a professional young man in a respectful, professional environment. Your age, popularity, and status has no hold in my dressing room. Is that understood?” Grace demanded to know. She was all business and the aura that radiated from her figure would clearly not tolerate any funny business.
“That said, I am well. Thank you, Mr Tribbiani, for asking.” A slight brow cock in reply. She was not humorless, after all, simply invested into her work.
~~~
At first he felt chastised, her almost cold tone making him feel like a naughty puppy with its tail between its legs. But then her unexpected joke had him grinning again. “Hey, I’m all about being professional,” he said, holding his hands up in mock surrender. “And I’m all about respecting women. But is it a crime to appreciate beauty?”
But if she wanted professional, he’d give her professional. “So what are we thinking? Dark colors, probably? I don’t like turtlenecks, and I don’t like wife-beaters.” He paused for a moment, grimacing. “I don’t even like that name. A shirt named after beating your wife? That’s gross, and I don’t want to wear one. But other than that… tell me what to do, and I’ll do it.”
~~~
Grace rolled her eyes as she swept across the dressing room to a rack set aside with his name on several labels. “Your argument invalidates anything you say. It is not telling someone you respect them but showing it and acting on it that is the respect.” She state sharply with a point in his direction that almost said I’ve got my eye on you, Focker.
“I have not been given design choice, nor will you. The costume designer has already selected your attire. I am here to ensure you wear it appropriately. Fortunately for you there are no turtlenecks or ribbed tanks.” Grace turned away to take his first ensemble off of the rack and bring it over to a hook to the right of his dressing station.
“This is what you will wear for the majority of today’s taping. If all goes well and we do not fall behind, we may change into your next outfit.” As the vampire spoke a small furry head popped up out of her large leather purse sitting on an extra, unused prop table at the back corner of the room. White and orange, big blue cat eyes peered out into the room curiously after having popped open from their nap.
~~~
Whatever. If she didn’t want to play nice, there was no point in pissing her off even more. As much as he liked to play around, he did want this job, and he didn’t want his reputation for working hard and being professional to change. It was bad enough the paparazzi had decided he was a shitty little kid. He didn’t want the people who mattered thinking it too. “Aye-aye,” he said sarcastically, and took the outfit to get changed. It was fairly simple, and didn’t take him long to put on, so he was back out of the dressing station in moments.
“But you should know,” he smirked, “I can see your pussy.” Then he giggled at his own joke.
~~~
When JJ returned to the main area, Grace was holding the long, slender tabby cat in her arms. He purred away loudly, tail curling in and out around her arm as he seemed incredibly content to be cuddled. The vampire even had a smile on her face, which started to fall in disgust at JJ’s commentary.
“This is Tartuffe,” she said by way of response as she put him down on the floor. He mewed and ran off around the room to go play with what appeared to be a pile of cat toys in the far corner. A bell started to ring as he rolled the ball around. Grace moved up to look JJ over, straightening out his shirt before reaching for a blue and grey striped tie.
“They’re doing all of the scenes that take place in the victim’s home today, pre-homicide. The first scene of the day is your introduction. You’ve just come home from school.” A preparatory school, by the looks of the tie and the embroidered logo upon the blazer still hanging at the rack.
~~~
“School, right.” He hadn’t been to school since he was seven, but he could imagine. That was literally his job, to imagine, and make it real. He closed his eyes, making a picture of a prep school teen, and shifted slightly, rolling his shoulders, mentally crawling his way inside the picture. He wasn’t Jack-Jack Baker, the Oops Kid anymore. He was Benjamin Mitchell, prep school student, just home from school.
Taking the tie from Grace, he tied it expertly around his neck and then stood “at ease”, arms behind his back, back straight, for Grace’s approval. “How do I look?” he asked pleasantly, even politely. Benjamin’s smooth politeness was a marked difference from JJ’s playful cheekiness, and he knew it. “Nice cat.”
~~~
The redhead turned to go fetch the blazer while he shifted into his new persona. It suited him and was much more appealing than his normal attitude. Pity she couldn’t tell him to be Benjamin Mitchell forever.
“Very handsome,” Grace said as she took the sport coat off of the hanger and held it up by the collar for him to step into. “Hair and makeup will be in soon. They’re finishing up in the room over. Remember not to eat in costume. You may only drink water, preferably from a tumbler with a straw. At lunch you will need to change out of your costume, or put on this robe here.”
Hanging at the end of the rack was a very bland, black robe that seemed to have a waterproof lining. It was best at preventing spills or splashes but it was also not the most comfortable.
~~~
Shrugging into the blazer, JJ straightened it and grinned at himself in the nearby mirror. “I’ve eaten in this outfit a hundred times,” he said absently, still letting Benjamin speak for him. “I think I mastered the art of not messing my shirt up when I was in third grade.” That was definitely Benjamin—JJ never made it to third grade.
“But if that’s what you want, that’s what I’ll do. Will I see you again? After school?”
~~~
A sly expression crossed Grace’s face as she turned to grab up a few accessories to add to his look. She handed over a very nice smart watch as well as a class ring. Lastly she held out a backpack that looked much heavier than it actually was, stuffed to look full of supplies it only contained two books that he would have to pull out during a scene.
“Provided all goes well, yes.” Grace nodded and motioned to the door. “Makeup will provide touch-ups at the set as your work is minimal.”