She went back into the bar and didn’t look at him again.
Santa Monica, California
Three days later
It was shocking how quicklyAJ’s life could be collapsed into a suitcase. With just six emails, she had taken leave fromTurn It or Return Itand found a subletter for her room in Brooklyn.
She, Dave, and Toni had arrived at Em Tyner’s lavish Spanish-style palazzo that morning. They had been promptly turned away from the main house, down a steep stone staircase to the guest terrace, a quadrangle of rooms built off a grove of fig trees with buttressed roots.
This was where AJ would be living for the duration of their shoot.
Each room came equipped with a sliding glass door, a king-size bed, and a copy of the bible, Em Tyner’s one-hundred-six-page treatise on the world of their show.
Too tired to nap, AJ nestled into the base of a shady fig tree and began to read.
Their show’s setup was similar toAstronauticals—the adventures of a space whale and her ragtag crew. But while each episode would have its own arc (to be instigated by the producers), there would also be an overarching story centered around Noah’s character, Rho.
According to Em’s notes, Rho was a crown prince who had traveledback in time in pursuit of a girl, Alara, who was the single greatest threat to his kingdom.
He knew she was part of their crew. The catch? He didn’t know who she was.
Neither, for that matter, did the cast. The bible just saidAlara TBA, timing TBD.
AJ heard a glass door slide open and looked up to see Toni striding toward her, bible in hand.
“Sharpen your elbows,” she said, nodding to the entry open in AJ’s lap. “It’s going to be a fuckingbloodbathuntil the producers pick Alara. Ala-ra.A-lara. However you say it.”
Toni sprawled out beside AJ and popped a Diet Coke. She had been cast as the first mate, Zora, to Xiaobo’s Captain Quentin, but that didn’t necessarily equate to screen time. Docudramas filmed first, then shaped the story after. The first mate might be featured heavily or not at all, depending on how the shoot evolved.
Being Alara, however, would guarantee Toni a place in the show’s main arc and a lead role in a network drama. AJ wanted it for her friend almost as much as Toni wanted it for herself.
“You’ve got this,” she said firmly.
“Do I?” Toni’s eyes gleamed gold in the California sun. “I’m twenty-seven years old—”
“Okay,Charlotte Lucas,” AJ teased, hoping to prevent a doom spiral.
Too late. “That is OLD for Hollywood,” she said. “Plus,I know jack all aboutAstronauticals.”
“Not a prerequisite for playing Alara,” AJ pointed out.
Toni’s eyes narrowed. “And what aboutAnjalee?”
A product of the Disney machine, Anjalee was a multiplatinum pop star whose house-flavored bop “Jay Jay” was the undisputed anthem of 2007. She was also the most famous carryover from Em Tyner’s original prequel cast and the clear front-runner for Alara.
AJ chewed her cheek. “You never know,” she said. “Isn’t her character a robot?”
“Half robot,” said Toni in agitation. “Fuck.I’ve been onso manyauditions, Age. People decide you’re wrong for a role so fucking fast. You have no idea how lucky you are to be a writer.”
“Hey,” said AJ, putting a hand on Toni’s shoulder. “You already got the part. And when they see how great you are as Zora, they’ll want you for Alara too.”
Toni sighed, then shot AJ a crooked smile. “And what about you, MissMousy and Unassuming?”
AJ snorted. Most of the characters in the show had been given multipage backstories within Em Tyner’s bible. AJ’s character, Ana Tar, had a single paragraph:
ANA TAR, 17, mousy and unassuming—Ana was raised on crater whale Gilamede by her grandfather; it’s the only life she’s ever known. Ana’s only distinctive features are the red circular markings on the inside of her wrists. She was born with telepathy, but using it causes her chronic pain.
That was it. Her character was the sick waif, a literal nobody—someone whose constant presence would be unremarkable and unobtrusive. The perfect profile for a plant.
