~+Next Day: Morning: Studio 7+~

Edd stood at the entrance gates to the studio looking at it from top to bottom. He hadn't thought about how intimidating this place would be since he works for a big company. His workplace is overly competitive so the intimidation level Edd's exposed to has become very normal in a sense to him.

The studio before him felt very welcoming in fact instead of intimidating. Just like when he visited the Blue Company's main building for a simple pass of papers he had to deliver.

The brunet guesses that this must be the difference in qualities of work environments that have them rivaling at the top.

"Edd!" Matt exclaims as he walks up to the gates. Also, hanging across is his body is a big supply kit.

Edd turns around and greets his ginger-haired friend with a smile. "Matt! It's been forever since I last saw you."

Matt and Edd hug it out even if Matt could only use one of his arms. The other one holding the top of the black-boxed case containing his special effects makeup and normal makeup. "Have you been waiting long?"

"No, I just got here," Edd tells his friend truthfully.

Matt leads Edd to the entrance to go inside. There they get checked in by security and have their bags checked thoroughly. Once everything is deemed alright they're let into the studio.

"Wow, they're really thorough with security," Edd comments after seeing the guards check Matt's makeup. One of them was checking to make sure each container held what it is intended and not mixed with something suspicious.

Matt nods in agreement. He used to be unsure about the detailed checked but understood it's for the safety of the actors and the staff. "The company sponsoring them is really good friends with the police. In turn, the police officers also assist and protect the staff and actors always coming here."

They turn around the hall's corner to a large room filled with multiple sets for the show. Staff employees taking things in and out of the room as the directors were making sure everything was getting into the proper place.

"Whoa..." Edd breaths out amazed as if he just stepped into a different realm of reality.

"Ah! Matt!" Someone calls the ginger artist.

Both men look at the young teen coming towards them. None other than the leading female herself with a greeting smile.

"Tika, good morning. When did you get here?" Matt asks setting his free hand on his hip.

"A bit before you did." Her silver eyes trail to the brunet standing next to him. "Who is this?"

"This is Edd, he's a good friend of mine since elementary school. He works as a receptionist at the Red Company." Matt explains patting Edd's shoulder. "Edd this is Tika, I've worked with her before for one of her older projects when she first started out."

Edd nods to her with a smile to confirm his friend's info. "Nice to meet you Tika."

Tika took a few seconds to make sure she heard Matt right. Then smiling at Edd she says, "It's good to meet you. My agency is actually sponsored by the company you work for company. So it's good to know I can talk to you if I ever come by the main building."

"I look forward to your visit." Edd chuckles. "I'm always at the front desk if you visit."

Tika looks back to Matt when he taps her shoulder. "Since you're here why don't you get into your costume. I'll set up my stuff and you can come over when you're done so I can do your makeup." He suggests to the young teen.

The girl nods in agreement and gets too it after waving the two men goodbye.

Unlike all the other people who come to the main building of the Red Company, Edd would be looking forward to her visit. It's more refreshing than dealing with older people.

"Excuse me," A young male voice says behind the two.

Both turn around to face a teenage Tord, except with a lighter shade of silver coloring his irises. His style dressed a bit more casual-formal than Tord back then.

"You must be Matt Harvest." The young-looking Tord said as he holds his hand out to the tall ginger. "I'm Torm Thompson. I heard you'll be my main makeup artist along with Tika. It's nice to meet you." The teen said politely.

"N-Nice to meet you!" Matt says with a short stutter since this is his first time meeting Tom's kid in person. He knew his friend has one more but he doesn't seem to be here. "Um, this is my friend Edd who's here as a guest to watch. We're actually old friends of your Dad." Matt tells him after shaking his hand.

His eyes seem to widen at the mention of his dad. "Old friends of my Dad? Hmm..." he hums trying to remember something. When he recalled what he was trying to find he snaps his fingers. "Oh, I think I remember seeing some photos of you in his room with your friend here. You two wore a purple and green hoodie, right?"

Edd sighs remembering the good times growing up with his friends. He was actually the one who got the hoodies for them when they grew up as a gift. "Yeah, I still wear mine as you can see."

Torm titles his head a little to the side holding his chin. "If you two wait awhile, my Dad and brother will be here soon. He just went to go park the car so he should be coming in soon."

"Alright, thanks for telling us. It's actually why I'm here too. I haven't kept in touch with him in a long time so I was hoping to see him today." Edd goes up to Torm and pats him on the back.

Torm seemed like a respectable teen so far. He just hopes if he ever meets Tord that their meeting will be like this. Then again, he never knows how he'll react since this kid was raised by Tom.

"It's nice to do that. Dad hasn't really gotten out of the house other than work. My brother, Tomi, and I think it would be a good change of pace."

"Torm! It's time to get into costume!" Julie calls by the entrance of the room.

"I guess that's my cue. I'll see you two later." Torm waves and leaves to follow after his manager to his room to get dressed.

Matt and Edd head to the makeup area where some of the other makeup artists are already set up. Matt sets his stuff down and unpacks, testing some of his make up while Edd takes a seat on an extra stool he managed to find by the desk.

Tika comes back wearing a school uniform. A simple grey skirt above the knees, black flats, while ankles socks, white dress shirt, a navy blue tie, and a sleeveless grey vest with a goldcrest of the school stationed on the left of her chest.

She sat down on the stool just as Matt finished testing the makeup. He asked her the simple questions to make sure he doesn't use any makeup that would cause outbreaks or allergic reactions.

Edd, meanwhile, looks around quietly from his seat. The staff of the studio is just about ready to start filming while some side actors were getting their make up done or add in some special effects if they were playing a demon.

He spotted Torm walking back over to them, followed by a young-looking Tom clinging to his arm. It almost made him sputter about thinking about his two friends back to the days they were dating.

Torm wore a fancy get-up similar to that of a bartender. The color of the dress shirt a wine-red, vest, pants, and shoes colored black or dark grey. Tied around under his shirt color is a string tie and covering his hands are leather black gloves. Instead of his usual silver eyes, he wore red colored contacts for his character.

As for the Tom look-alike, he wore his character's clothes. They resembled clothes of a belly dancer or that of a gypsie. His fabric a light shade of blue one would find swaddling around a baby. Unlike his brother, his character showed a bit more skin which is why the symbol is okay being near the collar bone. His shoes are simple black slip-on. Some jewelry decorated him like cuff bracelets on his wrist and a choker necklace around his neck.

"I'm back for makeup," Torm said as he makes it up to them. Beside him, the Tom look-alike giggles before letting go of Torm. The teen goes to Tika looking at her quite fascinated so far. "Tomi, let the man do his work." He says seeing Matt get flustered at the sight of his brother.

"Sorry, sir!" The teen, Tomi, apologizes, even if he is quite cheery. "I'm Tomi, Torm's younger brother by a year."

"Nice to meet you too, Tomi," Matt says with a gentle smile. "If you'll excuse me. I need to get Tika and Torm's make up done before their scenes. I can help with your make up as well if I finish early."

Tomi nods happily before bouncing over to Edd who looks at him in surprise by the cheerful and energetic personality of his friends' son. Even if he looks like Tom, he sure has quite the opposite personality. 'Maybe he kinda gets it from Tord?' He thinks to himself but it's kinda unlikely.

"Who are you?" The brunet teen asks curiously.

"I'm Edd, it's nice to meet you." The teen seemed to brighten up at the warm smile Edd gave him. "You must be Tom's second kid."

"You know Papa?" Tomi couldn't hide his smile. He liked meeting new people who were friends with his dad the best. They were always so nice and warm.

Edd nods and pulls out his phone to show him an old photo of them during their college days. However, he completely forgot that this one photo had his other friend on there as well.

"Who's that?" Tomi asks pointing to the man next to his papa. The guy in the photo looked similar to his brother but with a normal shade of silver grey in his eyes. He even had a happy smile while pulling his papa close by the shoulders.

"Hm?" Edd, confused, turned his phone around to show he had chosen the old photo with the four of them. He had meant to press on the photo with just him, Matt, and Tom next to this one.

"Uhh... This is an old friend of ours. But he's always super busy with work and his fiancée." Edd tries to brush off the topic quickly. He mostly hopes the teen won't ask for a name either, thankfully Tomi doesn't ask.

Tomi loses focus on the photo when he hears his name being called by none other than Tom. Edd takes the moment to hide the photo on his phone by putting it back in his pocket. His best friend comes over to them with a surprised look on his face while both men smile giddily at the sight of him.

"Surprised?" Edd says shrugging his shoulders with a grin.

Tom chuckles lightly while his son, Tomi, comes over to him to hug him around his torso. "A very unexpected surprise. Man, I haven't seen you guys in forever," He said while patting the top of the teen's head.

Matt hums as he finishes the last of Tika's make up for her scene. "I mean it looks like you've been busy." His blue eyes looking back and forth to the two brothers.

"Yeah..." Tom says rubbing the back of his neck. "Did he explain it, or do I have too?"

Edd looks at him before coughing awkwardly behind his fist. "Kinda demanded it from him when we saw the trailer for this show."

Matt let Torm take a seat who listened carefully. "Edd filled me in on what happened later. I didn't think he would be stupid to even do that." The ginger shakes his head as he pulls out a different brush to use to put light makeup on Torm. "That explains why you dropped out sophomore year of college."

Tom sighs almost tiredly. His dark eyes looking at his friends. "It's my responsibility to look after them. He lost all his rights the moment he left us."

Dropping out of college wasn't planned, but what could he do. He had kids to take care of in need of full attention and loving care from at least one of their parents. Along the way, he didn't care anymore and was able to find a supporting job as a bartender in the dead of night while his kids slept soundly. His side job in the mornings is being the regular cashier at a local market near the house to make extra cash.

Those are the only jobs his kids know about.

He rather not tell them he makes extra cash being a part-time stripper at a different bar. He only went if they really needed another stripper or needed extra cash. This money usually goes in savings for Torm and Tomi's gifts throughout the year.

Torm figures out that Matt was finished his make up the moment he put his brush away and crossed his arms. He was about to get up when Matt stopped him.

"Hold on Torm, I need to add one more thing for your character." Matt went to his box and pulls out some special effects makeup. He took a thinner brush and started adding the design along the side of the teen's. neck.

He used black colored makeup to draw up a little music sign: repeat. Matt made sure it dries quickly since that's to his choice of the makeup brand. Then added a little thing to make it stay for the duration of the day.

"What is it?" Torm asks.

Tomi goes over to look with Tika by his side, "It's that repeat sign at the end of a music line!"

Matt smiles at them before explaining. "Apparently the director thought it would be great if the Royal Family had symbols somewhere on their body. Like a royal birthmark so to say." The director had texted him about the idea and he suggested it would be a good idea to add to the characters. A way to differentiate them from normal demons. "For this generation in the show, it's music symbols. Tomi will have a cut time symbol drawn to the opposite side of his neck from Torm but lower near the collar bone." He pulls out his mini-tablet and shows them the designs while Edd and Tom continue to catch up.

"It's cute," Tomi says happily holding the tablet with his character's symbol.

Torm switches places with his brother to get his make up and symbol done.

"By the way, nice costume," Edd comments finally realizing his friend is wearing his character outfit.

Tom wore black slacks with leather black shoes. His top is a blue dress shirt, with a transparent black, veil shawl covering it with sparkles to give it a glittering trail that gave him a majestic appearance. He wore it like a cape almost. Around his neck is a black choker with a teardrop-shaped jewel hanging in the middle.

"Thanks? It's not really my style but I am supposed to be playing the Queen of the Underworld." He pinches the fabrics of his veil shawl with a soft look in his eyes. "I'm supposed to play a mysterious ruler loved by his kingdom. Apparently, I was already born royalty, the king was married in."

"Oh, what a twist. Geeze Tom, spoiler alert!" Edd playfully shoved him and they both laugh.

"Torm and Tika to the set please!" The director calls loudly with his megaphone.

The two actors left while Tomi switches with his papa so the man can get his make up done.

Edd comes with Tomi to the set where Torm and Tika are going to their scene. The camera focuses on the green set with some furniture set up for use.

"Final touch up! Before we start!" The co-director calls out.

Tom and Matt finally joined them. Edd noticed how the symbol Tom got was the Bass Clef on the nape of his neck when he stands just a little before him.

"Alright Torm, Tika. We'll be doing Storm and Tanya's scene talking about today's schedule and how it will play out." Director George claps his hands together. "Let's have another great filming session!"

He takes a seat as the lights where they're sitting dims dark.

"Action!"