The Artists live (a little bit longer)

Chapter 9

    Morning. Sage wakes up first and goes to shower. Alton joins her in the shower, standing behind her and kissing her cheek. She turned to him. Sage: "I have a fixed idea for today, but I've been thinking about it for a long time, so it's not completely spontaneous. Actually, by tomorrow when we have the work on song, I have a few things I want to finish. Are you coming with me?" Alton: "Let's go. From the look on your face, I'd say it must something completely crazy."

     The next day they agreed to meet at ten, they were working on the final details of the composition, so everyone had to be there. Alton and Sage arrive leaving the others surprised by the change - Sage added a nose piercing to her eyebrow piercing and partially dyed her hair red, Alton got an eyebrow piercing. The real surprise, though, was when they took off their jackets - Alton was wearing a tank top, while Sage wore a one-sleeve, sleeveless top on the left side, with fresh tattoos on the upper part of Alton's right arm and Sage's left arm.

   Reydan (when they sat down): "Are those real tattoos?! Wow, a lot of changes in one day!" Hale: "You didn't talk about getting a tattoo before. Compliments on the new hair color, Sage, I didn't expect the rest (laughs)." Shade: "Awesome! I've always wanted tattoos too, but I'm afraid of needles, they're so great!" Alton: "Yesterday Sage wanted to go and get a tattoo, I liked it so I did too. She added another piercing and I put one, and only she dyed her hair. (laughs)" Hale: "Uh, that's a bit of a sudden decision, but they turned out great. Just keep an eye on them for a few days while they heal, (shows his skull tattoo) if you need any advice - I have personal experience. (smiles)" Sage: "I'm surprised you never did more than that one - you didn't want more or was there a problem?" Hale: "There was no problem, I didn't want to overdo it - one shows up more than if I had done the whole arm, I didn't have need for that." Alton: "That's actually good advice, less is more. I wouldn't do more either." Sage: "Same, it happens that it's hard to stop after one, so in the end there are too many. (gets up) Now that we've surprised you, let's finish the song. (puts on jacket) We've reached the last chorus, we haven't figured out how to do that part yet." Reydan: "Then let's go to our instruments, we'll try something until we figure it out."

    On the day of the video recording, they brought the song to the director and said that they would shoot the video they had agreed on for this song. Director (listens to the song): "Wow, you can do this too?! This is definitely closer to the theme of the video and... (concentrates on listening)...aha, aha... Ugh, what a thing you've done here, I'm going to start listening to more metal because of you! (song ends) It's good, I can work with this, it tickled my fancy. Are you ready too? (everyone nodded) Excellent! Let's make a video that will be talked about!"

    Reydan, while they were setting up the scenography, sat on the side and drank a few glasses of cognac. Shade (approaches): "Hey, you can't be drunk, we're shooting a video!" Reydan (waving his hand): "Don't worry, I'm not drunk, I just relaxed my body a little bit. (shows the extras) They're there for my scene, so I relaxed a bit so that we could shoot more easily." Shade (looks at them): "It has nothing to do with them, it has to do with Olivia, right? You're trying to forget about her when you're filming with other girls, aren't you?" Reydan: "Maybe... (finishes drink)... but it's important that it works. (goes to his set)"

     Scene 1 - Reydan:

   Reydan enters a large room where the other extras wear only masks and different types of fetish clothes that reveal more than cover (due to censorship, the extras' complete nudity was abandoned), three girls approach him and touch him on the legs, torso and arms, then strip down to the waist and lead him towards the other extras who simulated a swinger party. Around Reydan there are several other girls in revealing clothes who were kissing and touching him on the body, but also each other, Reydan knew that this kind of scene in front of his eyes before Olivia would have brought him to a state of ecstasy, but now he was almost indifferent. He pretended to enjoy himself, trying to bring back the feeling of the old days, but all he managed to do was act professional and shoot those scenes the way they were meant to be.