The Tattoo (formerly Unbreakable)

On Set

The light was blinding. She squinted as she lowered her hands and ran. She darted down the alleyway, taking an immediate right. There she found her way blocked by three men. She looked them up and down, fairly certain that she could best them physically. They weren't all too tall or muscular, likely a last line of defense. That meant she was nearing her goal.

As quickly as she could she stooped under the first man's punch and used his momentum to throw him against the wall. She held the second man's body in front of her own for the split second it took for his companion to fire the shot that would end his life. By the time the third man had realized when he had done she had a gun in her hands. She pulled the trigger to fire the blank.

"Cut! Good job everyone. Take five and we'll run it again."

Meriddion dropped her arm and helped the stuntman off the ground. She handed him the prop pistol before walking off the set

"So, what do you guys think?"

"It doesn't look like a movie." Peter observed.

"Not yet, that magic happens in editing."

"It's so different that what I expected, and you! You're doing all these fight scenes, where did you learn to do that?" Ellie questioned.

"I did intensive training before we started filming. There's still some stuff I'm working on."

"There are ways you could do it better," Rylan shyly entered the conversation. Meriddion glanced his way.

"What do you mean?"

"With the first man at least, you kind of just throw him, but there are better ways that you could take him down."

"Show me?"

Rylan nodded and waited for further instruction.

"Hey Jim! Help me with something?"

The stuntman, Jim, finished the doughnut he was eating and approached the young actor.

"Rylan has some ideas about the scene, can you help him show me?"

"Yeah, but remember kid, we're doing stunts. What we do doesn't actually hurt anyone okay?"

Rylan nodded and Jim took up the stance that he held on set. He took his swing and Rylan dodged quickly to the right and placed his palm on the man's nose.

"You hit the nerves here and there's an involuntary rush of tears to the eyes."

The slave hesitated then touched the back of the man's head so he was leaning forward.

"He'd be bending over, you help him along the way."

Rylan brought his knee up slowly until it touched the man's upper abdomen.

"You knock the air out of him."

Jim began to collapse and Rylan gently shoved him forward.

"Enough force into the wall and he's out."

Meriddion had watched with her arms crossed, unsure of what to expect.

"Come talk to the director with me."

Rylan nodded as followed her with his head down to repeat what he had done. Ash looked to Ellie and Peter with his eyebrows raised.

"Remind me not to get on his bad side."

The three waited for Rylan to return. They were ready to head back to the house before people finished with work and traffic got heavier than it already was. Mary walked back towards them alone.

"Rylan will come home with me, the director wants to hire him for on set consulting. You guys can head out."

"Hey, good for him."

"Yes, I'm hoping it may help him out of his shell. But please tell me if he says anything to any of you about not wanting to do it. When I asked if he wanted to do it I just got the, whatever my mistress desires."

"We'll keep our ears open. But we should get going. Peter doesn't like driving in traffic." Ellie gave her old friend a hug and followed Ash and Peter out the door.