Chapter Text
Furina’s bright white ceiling stared down at her. It was a late spring day, but the sweltering heat made it feel more like summer. The buzzing of her phone had finally started to quiet down and the knocks at her door were becoming more and more sparse. She’d heard their heavy front door open and close at some point recently and assumed it meant Focalors had headed off to intern with Neuvillette as usual. She hoped she had. It would just add salt to the wound if her sister ended up ruining her future in an attempt to save Furina from destroying hers.
Of course, any such endeavors would be pointless. A 23 year old drop out wasn’t going anywhere. The best she could do at this point would be to avoid dragging anyone down with her. No matter her struggles, she wasn’t going to rope anyone else into them. God what was she going to do. She was actually so fu-BANG!! Her door crashed in with a violent clamour unbefitting of the offending party, and the shock was enough to finally scare Furina out of her mess of a bed.
“Clorinde?!? When did you get here? And what the hell did you break my door for!”
“Miss Furina, I knocked more than the appropriate amount of times, and felt a little nervous at your lack of an answer,” Clorinde responded, collected as ever.
Shit. I didn’t hear a single noise. God I’m scattered.
“Furinaaaaaaaaa,” Navia’s softer voice echoed from down the hall. It was quickly followed by the warm smell of her signature macarons. She burst through the door with enough energy to rival Clorinde’s kick. “We heard what happened, so we’ve brought food.”
“And support,” Clorinde added, moving to find a spot on the bed. “Remember back in high school when you were always dreaming about directing and creating your own film?”
“How could I forget?” That dream of hers was what had put her on the path towards film school. The school she’d dropped out of. The whole reason she was in this mess.
“Well…there’s no pressure or anything, buttttt,” Clorinde continued, “Navia ended up reaching out to Charlotte, and she said she’d love nothing more than to lend her camera to the cause.”
“She’s off in London finishing up a set of articles, but she’ll be back in early June,” Navia smiled. “That’s plenty of time to start up a script, right? And I’m sure we can find some willing and able actors for you, Director Furina.”
At that, she managed to crack a slight smile. A few hours later, with the fuel of far too much sugar sending her into a slightly manic writing frenzy, she began on her script.
—
“Clorinde, you mentioned having a friend who might have a few connections we could use here, didn’t you? I’d like to get rolling on these first few scenes before I get stuck trying to polish the later parts and we need actors,” Furina called, pulling the girls away from their impressively heated game of cards.
“Of course, I’ll reach out to her,” she responded.
“I’m assuming you’d like to meet everyone in person?” Navia confirmed, leaning over the couch to peer at the chaotic script.
“I would,” Chiori shot a glance at Charlotte. “Even with your superb photography skills I’ll need measurements for my costumes. We’re going largely with a knightly style, yeah?”
“That’s the goal. Chivalrous, brave, and free spirited enough to party but controlled enough to know when to get serious. Oh, and I need a god that truly knows how to lead by example, as all gods should.”
“Oh, our in got back to me,” Clorinde jumped in. “She’s down to meet us at this bar near her work. Some little place called Angel’s Share?”
—
As it turned out, the Angel’s Share wasn’t just some little place: it was a giant bar, and it still didn’t seem to have enough space for the crowds milling out on the street. Drunk patrons wandered all around, letting out loud shouts every time they encountered a friend. Or coworker. Or ex-coworker. Or the ex-friend of an ex-coworker. There was a lot of shouting.
“Goddamn,” Clorinde stepped closer to Furina. “Good thing our girl’s tall.”
“Holy shit,” Navia’s eyes widened at the chaos as she stepped out from the driver's side of the car, moving to Clorinde’s other side. “What the hell does this place look like on a Friday night?”
“Were you in theatres for the early days of Wicked?” Furina joked as Clorinde scanned the bar, looking for a familiar flash of blue. “How’d you even meet this girl anyway?”
“She’s done some ballet performances, and I used to watch her and base some of my moves around her actually. Once I got my studio, I reached out and brought her in to give my students some advice,” Clorinde weaved through the crowd as she spoke, and started to pull the two girls one either side of her forward.
“They just kept in touch after that point. Go out for coffee every once in a while, stuff like that,” Navia took over, as the little group's leader clearly needed to focus. They sure as hell weren't navigating through this place if she didn’t.
A solid hand on the small of her back pushed Furina left, away from the bar where a bright mop of deep blue (green? ugly?) hair was whining to the clearly annoyed bartender. Clorinde seemed to spot their target, pulling them both off to a little table hidden in what appeared to be a quiet corner. Still, the high pitched voice found its way into their ears, only slightly muffled by the deeper tones of the redheaded bartender trying to pull him out.
“Who the fuck was that,” Clorinde questioned. Clearly introductions weren’t the priority here. Which, understandable. Impressively though, the girl Furina hoped (feared?) was Eula actually managed to look offended.
“You just got here and you’re already insulting our most loyal patrons,” her glare freezing the uninitiated in place, “I will have my vengeance for this,” she huffed, shoving out a chair. Clorinde, unfazed as always, took that as an invitation to sit.
“It feels a little unreasonable to expect us to respect those types of buffoons,” Furina shot back, waving towards the notably drunker man being pulled out over the shoulder of a twink-like almost model level guy winking back at the glaring eyes of the bartender.
“For your information, our business only accepts the best,” Eula responded.
“Doesn’t exactly seem like you’re accepting him,” Navia scoffed, “seems more like you can’t get rid of him.”
At this Eula laughed, her icy stare melting.
Thank god, Clorinde would’ve never heard the end of it if we got kicked out in five minutes.
“If anyone's tried, I haven’t heard about it. He’s been here longer than me though so who knows.”
“Really?” Navia asked. “Not that you aren’t a glowing example of youth, but he looks…”
“Like a still soggy chick?” Clorinde offered. “He’s definitely older than he looks, if his ID’s close to real.”
A dark haired man approached the table, balancing a tray of drinks in a way that suggested experience: something he clearly didn’t have when it came to growing a mustache, if the sprinkle of hairs across his lip was his best attempt. A mix of scents reached everyone's noses, and the sweet treat of a drink placed in front of Furina could possibly have made her more confident in this place. Just possibly though.
“This your bribe,” Navia laughed, “Cause I’m bought.”
“Sold?” Clorinde corrected.
“Y’know bought actually makes more sense,” an energetic voice chimed in from behind. “I guess it means you’re selling your…committment, or something like that?”
“Amber, good to see you,” Eula got up for the first time, moving to embrace the warm girl in an even warmer hug. She returned to her seat as Amber got settled, and turned back to the trio. “So, think she can help you out?”
“She’s definitely got the optimistic, outgoing personality, that's for sure,” Furina affirmed. “Think you can handle some simple stunts?”
“And hold a bow without shooting anyone,” Clorinde added. She has quality foresight.
“Absolutley,” Amber laughed. “I’ve been out hunting with my grandfather years ago. Wasn’t exactly recent, but I’ve got the safety basics down if nothing else.”
“Better than me and my axe,” Navia smiled, Clorinde didn’t.
“You wouldn’t believe this thing she’s been swinging around,” she sighed.
“You’d be shocked by what I’ve seen here. Anyway, I'll be pretty free all summer, so just get in touch the second you need me. Oh, and I’ve got some good fan…friend? casts for a few of these other characters if you’re interested.
—
“Oh of course, I would love to be your deaconess,” Barbara said, her soft spoken tone already putting her in character. “Oh, oh, did Amber tell you about my sister? She’d be a perfect knight, she’s so strong. Gosh, you should see how she handles those sinful drunkards.”
—
“Hmm. I guess I could sneak a bit of time off if so many others are already in it,” Jean agreed, though she wasn’t matching the girl's energy or excitement.
“I totally get feeling overwhelmed, Miss Gunnhildr,” Navia said.
“If it helps, you could do some of your actual work on set.”
“And… we might rope in that bank security tester you’ve been hunting,” Furina added, fluttering her lashes.
“Solid offer, that’s very appreciated actually. Oh, are you still looking for your enchanting librarian? I’ve got a woman I can connect you to.”
—
“She really sent us back to the bar, didn’t she,” Furina’s nose wrinkled at the prospect.
“Gotta say, this place isn’t the vibe I had in mind for this role,” Navia dodged a swaying dancer.
“What vibe were you ladies looking for,” a smarmy voice cut through the crowd.
“I doubt these cuties were looking for you. Honestly you’re on a streak of embarrassing yourself here,” a second, melodic voice added.
“Ah. I see we shouldn’t have doubted Jean.” Clorinde extended her hand. “I’m hoping you’re Lisa?”
“You got me. Caught right in the act. What’re you after?” the woman replied.
“Any chance you’ve got any interest in performing your job for a film I’m making?” Furina asked.
“Jean’s involved in this? That's one way to catch my attention,” she laughed. “Call me~” she winked, disappearing back into the crown.
“Someones mysterious,” Clorinde sighed.
“Yeah, you,” Navia added, poking her cheek.
“Any way I could get in on this,” the man interrupted. Clorinde sighed harder, pushing Navia off.
“You know anyone on this list?” Clorinde pushed their running cast list in front of him, and he nodded.
“Work with a few of them, actually. The name's Kaeya, it’s wonderful to meet you ladies.”
“Sadly, I have a role that would be perfect for you. It’s yours—”
“If you get us in contact with anyone fitting any of these characters,” Navia jumped forward, reaching for more connections. Lucky as she was, it worked.
“Wow, you and Clorinde are really coming in clutch today,” Furina whispered, using her tiptoes and the full height of her heels to reach Navia’s ear.
—
“Ugh. Kaeya put you up to this, did he?” The shaking of a drink in his hands overpowered his voice just slightly, but he spoke like he was used to that. “I guess it would be good to get out of this damn bar.”
—
Following Kaeya’s second set of directions, the group had since stumbled out on the curb. Clorinde was griping about her doubt in his character, which hadn’t been eased by their conversation with Diluc. Still, they’d pushed on. That was a mistake.
Furina was hiding behind Clorinde, only given away by the tip of her top hat. Clorinde was in her typical defense stance, and Navia was frozen. Even her mouth was, which was rare. She didn’t typically run out of things to say.
“Wow. Maybe Kaeya was as drunk as this fool here. I mean how do you take ‘God’ and hear ‘drunk’,” Clorinde questioned, recovering first as usual.
“Oho, what do we have here? Did my dear friend Kaeya direct you to me?” the unfortunately familiar face inquired.
“Yes, but I fear he misunderstood our goals,” Navia pulled the group away, ideally back towards where they parked. Not like Furina would know, she’s not carrying the best sense of direction.
“He lead you right where you needed to be, ehe~”
“Just keep walking,” Clorinde instructed. The chaos of this place was starting to become too much for them, especially since Eula’s drinks didn’t seem to be alcoholic.