~General Narration: Jasmine~

    She sat at her usual place today, hair and makeup being tended to by professionals, mainly Angela but with the occasional addition of one of her little helpers. She didn’t pay much attention to anything, instead losing herself in thought, when she faintly heard her name in conversation.

???: "Aaaand work with, EEE! JASMINE BROOKES!!!"

She turned her head to the source of the noise, easily pinpointing the colorful trio now as MYT. She smiled lightly, despite the aching pain in her chest; it was good to see them when they were so energetic. And today was their first day. She hoped they’d been rehearsing like they were supposed to.

Jasmine: “Did I hear my name?”

Tanisha looked up; yup. Yistina had gotten them noticed with her noise once again..

Tanisha: "Way to go, Yisty."

She mumbled.

Meggy looked and saw the brunette walk their way. Yistina squealed again.

Yistina: "How does my hair look?!!"

Meggy looked at the usual, messy pair of buns she had it in.

Meggy: "It looks fine Yisty."

Jasmine smiled, removing her sunglasses, knowing that by now the puffiness of her bad night had expired itself by now.

Jasmine: "Did you girls talk to Angela and go over the paperwork? We can't start until you do."

Meggy nodded.

Meggy: "She dropped by last night and went over it."

Yistina: "Yeah. Hehehe, Meggy fell asleep half-way!"

Meggy: "Yisty!"

She squeaked, blushing in embarrassment.

Jasmine just waved it off.

Jasmine: "I understand. The contract itself is long, and with the . . . unique add-on, it gets a bit tedious. You do understand what you can and can't do, though, right?"

They all nodded. Meggy blinked. Maybe that was the part she'd fallen asleep at. Oh well . . . Tanisha would let her know if she did something wrong. Jasmine looked a bit suspicious, but led them back to the set, currently styled for a nightclub scene. Tanisha walked with Meggy, voice low.

Tanisha: "We can't mention anything unusual that we see on set regarding Jasmine. Totally off-limits unless we're still on set and supervised."

Meggy nodded.

Meggy: "Okay . . ."

She just blinked. Unusual? Thoughts of some strange disorder crossed her mind. Oh well, as long as her memory spells didn't trigger, they could all get along nicely.

Jasmine: "Daniel!"

She waved to the man wearing a canary-yellow suit and black shirt.

Jasmine: "I've found them! Are we going to have them rehearse for an hour or so to see how they do?"

Daniel: "Oh no, Darling! They're going to get on stage, once they've been outfitted and had their makeup done, of course, and they're going to go over a few musical numbers, and then we'll get to the first meeting scene, mkay?"

His voice was projectile and strong, but carried an almost musical-like humor.

The girls looked at each other. They'd all agreed that they'd do 'Rock God' by Selena Gomez since it took all three to sing it. Plus it suited the atmosphere of the place and scene.

Jasmine: "Sure."

"Okay!!" Meggy and Yistina agreed. Tanisha nodded, not much else to say. Daniel called out over the people bustling on set.

Daniel: "Make sure all my extras are ready within the hour!"

Jasmine shook her head humoredly. It was always amusing to see such direct orders from such a colorful man.

Jasmine: "Come on, girls, Angeline will take care of you."

She walked past the set towards where the make-up area was set up to the blonde woman standing there.

Jasmine: "Hey, Angeline. The girls need to get ready and I trust them in your hands more than the woman Daniel picked up the other day."

    Jasmine was talking about an up-and-coming makeup artist Daniel had found, and had wanted to give her a shot. Jasmine still trusted her usual worker more than anything.

    But that wasn’t what was on Angel’s mind. Angeline. She’d said Angeline. Her memory was suffering a slip, much like a vertebrae slipping from it’s place in the spine. It could be put back, sure, but it wasn’t the same. Things were changing in Jasmine’s mind. Her processor was searching for Angel’s real name, testing things out with small differences. And it was debatable whether or not this signified a major switch in her processor coming to the brink.

    Angel remembered the letter sitting in her purse. And how much it would turn Jasmine’s world upside down before sending it into a tailspin.

    But ever the professional, Angel gave nothing away.

Angela: "Oh of course,  Sugar! They'll be ready in a heartbeat. Just send Kara and Milly to help me out, would you?"

Jasmine nodded, gesturing for the girls to go with Angela as she sought out the assistants.

Jasmine: "You're in the best of hands."

    She said with a smile before walking away.

Meggy: "Bet we are!"

Meggy said, following along. She squinted at Angela and something in her mind flickered. Before she could react . . .

'BOMBSHELL! I'LL KILL YOU!'

'You all fell into my trap...!'

'MOOOOOMY!!!'

She was down, clutching her head.

Yistina: "MEGGY!"

Yistina shrieked, seeing how fast her friend dropped. Tanisha rushed to her side, kneeling down.

Tanisha: "Meggy, you okay?!"

Angela looked back and saw them, biting her lip for a moment before her eyes glowed, temporarily closing off the UP and any unpleasant memories from Meggy's mind for the time being. She didn’t want too much coming together at once. She didn’t want anything dangerous to be revealed too soon.

Meggy touched the side of her head. Owch. She'd hit it harder than she thought. A nice knot was forming underneath her dark hair.

Meggy: "I-I'll be fine . . . just . . . another spell . . . but. . .  I can't remember anything this time . . ."

She shook her head, apologizing to Angela.

Meggy: "I'm sorry about that.”

Angela: "It's no problem, Hon, as long as you still feel you can work today. We'll have our standby EMT check you over while we work on wardrobe."

She shrugged nonchalantly.

Meggy: "No it's fine! Just a bump on my head. Other than a bit of wounded pride, I'll be perfectly fine."

Yistina:"Yeah she gets those a lot. Funny though, she didn't get them as often. But ever since we got here and she started to say that-."

Meggy covered Yistina's mouth.

Meggy: "Heh, Yisty. Private info!"

Yistina mumbled some sort of agreement and Meggy drew her hand away. Angela rolled her eyes with a smile.

Angela: "If you insist, but I'll warn you now, that you will have a mandatory check-up before you leave today. Job injury type of thing, you know?"

Meggy: "Uh . . . I-I'm positive I'm fine . . ."

She stammered.Angela looked at her crookedly, fairly sure she knew what Meggy was so nervous about, but just then, two girls, one with bright pink hair and the other pale blue, came up to them.

"Oh Angiiee!" The pink one called.

"We're heeree!" The other finished.

Angela shook her head with a broad smile. "Girls, these are our twin makeup artists: Milly and Kara."

She gestured to the one with pink hair and then the one with blue in turn.

Meggy smiled.

Meggy: "Hey."

Yistina: "Hi-hi!"

She chirped. Tanisha waved, smiling.

Angela: "These girls are my personal assistants. Jasmine trusts you with me, and I trust you with them."

She explained. The twins couldn't stop smiling. They usually couldn’t.

Milly: "All right, girlies, we're gonna make you fabulous!"

Milly exclaimed, pink hair bouncing.

Kara: "Definitely!"

Yistina: "YAY!!"

Meggy: "Okay."

Meggy said, other things on her mind than makeovers. Tanisha grinned, but when she saw Meggy's distraught face, her happiness dimmed.

Tanisha: "You okay?"

She murmured.

Meggy: "Just . . . Thinking."

She said softly, eyes darting around. Yisty was beaming, eagerly anticipating the makeover.

Once the three were finished, the trio of girls looked to be three years older than their current age. The clothes worked the same way. Yisty was taking frantic pictures of herself for her mother to see. Meggy, now dressed in a dark plum tank top and glittery black jeans and wedge sandals, sighed.

Meggy: "Yisty, take it easy! We have like several more scenes to do!"

Yistina: "I know! But first day is always special!!!"

The trio headed onto the set, Meggy standing with Yistina on her right and Tanisha on her left. Extras were huddled together, acting out the part as ordinary people, business men/women, and a few friends out on the town all talking and having a drink. Meggy waited for the cue to begin. Daniel called out the scene, take one, action, etc. Jasmine sat in the fake audience, looking distraught by design. Her hair and makeup looked neglected and frazzled, her face drawn into grief.

And today, not all of it was faked. She had plenty of grief after the last couple of nights. Everything just . . . hurt. And now she could let it out, and no one would be the wiser.

The girls began to move to the beat, adding some finger snapping as Meggy took up the first chorus. "Preacher man walked into the club and he said, he said, hey girl can't you walk and not stray?"

Yistina sang the next part. "Father I'm torn and I'm selling my soul to the, rhythm, the beat and the base!"

"Cause I can't confess my rock and roll ways!" Meggy sang as Tanisha and Yistina added a, 'woo-woo-woo!' in the background.

"Cause I'm so possessed, with the music, the music, he plays!" They sang together and began to go into a few actions as they sang the chorus. "I can't stop my feet from dancing to the sound of his drums! Oh no! I fell in love with my rock god! I can't keep my arms from swinging to his sweet melody! You see, I fell, in love, with my rock, rock god!"

The camera crew made their way around, doing their best to stay out of each other's shot, getting close-ups, mid-shots, etc., of MYT, the extras and Jasmine's various reactions, which weren't much. She mostly looked zombie-fied.

After they finished, Meggy, who'd memorized her lines to a tee, walked off the stage and over to the stool where Jasmine was sitting. "Gimme a coke T."

The man gave her a 'coke', which she sipped. As memorized she eyed Jasmine before speaking.

Meggy: "You new here?"

She spoke with a voice much older than herself.

Jasmine: "Heh. Wish I was, kid. Dumb business trips take me here all the time.”

She eyed the small shot glass in her hand, filled with amber liquid. She mumbled under her breath.

Jasmine: "Dumb city ruined my life."

Meggy: "Tell me something I don't know."

Meggy kept her eyes fixed forwards.

Meggy: ". . . . You got something on your mind?"

Tanisha and Yistina were sitting a table away, acting as if they were having a conversation.

Jasmine laughed harshly. She knew nothing of this.

Jasmine: "I highly doubt it, Kid! You lose your three-year-old daughter and husband to a tornado? Were the last sounds you heard from them your daughter's screams?!"

She stared at Meggy critically, eyes brimming with tears. And they weren’t just ones she’d been scripted to have. Today, the tears came with too much ease to be fake.

Meggy blinked.

Meggy: "Oh . . ."

She turned back to her drink.

Meggy: ". . . . Sorry."

She ran her finger around the rim of her drink.

Jasmine sighed, hands roughing her hair, a small, silvery glint visible for a split second.

Jasmine: "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have burst like that."

Meggy: "No it's fine . . . just . . . yeah . . .  happy family. Club thing is for some extra cash."

She looked at Jasmine, grass-green eyes flickering.

Jasmine sighed, wiping away a lone tear.

Jasmine: "Well you're good. Keep after your dreams, kid."

Meggy: "Funny thing, dreams . . . How they seem so real."

    And there it was. The slight change of script. But they were doing so well in the scene so far. Jasmine nodded slowly, keeping herself from reacting strongly to the change.

Meggy quickly reasserted herself and continued with the script.

Meggy: ". . . . Y'know something? My mom used to say that whenever life gives you lemons, make lemonade. In other words; when your life kind of . . . goes all wonky, you should try and find something new to do with it."

Jasmine half-smiled, her face pained.

Jasmine: "Already did. Doesn't feel any better. Not yet . . ."

    Suddenly, her emotions dominated her mind, her heart . . . or rather, the piece that occupied the center of her chest, and the rest of the scene was a blur. Everything suddenly felt very . . . heavy . . .

    The next thing she knew, the scene was over, Meggy was receiving praise from Yistina and Tanisha and things were beginning to be cleaned up on set.

Jasmine stood up quietly, walking over to Daniel and passing him with a small nod. He nodded back to her. As she walked out, she heard Daniel call out in his usual projectile voice, as she left the building.

Daniel: "All right, girls! We'll do a couple more takes in a bit! Take a break and get something to eat!"

    Jasmine made her way out to the trailer Daniel always kept for her, the door closing behind her with a quiet, squeaky ‘thud’. She opened the door to her trailer, stepping inside and sitting down, burying her face in her hands, the sobs coming quickly.

    She didn’t even know why she was crying . . . but the realization came in a flood of emotions and images. Those tiny robotic bodies, their tiny, precious heartbeats that had been cut off too soon . . . the immediate, vivid pain that had come with . . . the blade so close to her wrist . . . the days that followed, with no privacy and so much pain . . . and just wanting to escape it so desperately . . . wishing it had all been a dream.

    And the mech. The large mech who’d shared her pain and watched her with such indecisiveness. And how she’d wanted him here now, to comfort her and tell her it was all just a bad dream.

    And that was when Angela came in. Jasmine hadn’t even noticed until the door closed behind the blonde woman. With a sigh, her delicate hand reached into her purse, pulling out a blue envelope and handing it to the auburn-haired woman.

Angela: “I’ve been told to give this to you, Sugar, but I can’t guarantee anything. You may or may not experience some . . . adverse . . . effects.”

    Dark eyebrows stitched together quizzically. What could be so adverse about a letter?

    Angela sighed again.

Angela: “Just trust me, Sugar . . .”

    Jasmine nodded lightly, taking the envelope carefully, opening it with shaky hands.

    Something about this letter . . . it already felt bittersweet.