Chapter 171: 171
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December 22, 2012 – Saturday, 7 am – Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab
In Tayaw's office, all lights are off and the only light source is coming from Tayaw's laptop screen. Tayaw is currently watching his latest edit for the first movie of Gonzalo's film trilogy.
[[[Screen shows a mid-angle shot of two trench coat-clad men, one skinny, the other with a large frame, standing in front of Giovanni, the sound of crickets and the breeze in the background.
"You can only blame your mother for this." The skinny man says, through an over the shoulder shot.
"Is there really no way out of this?" Giovanni asks, also shown through an over the shoulder shot.
"Sorry, kid. I like you, but it's over." The large man replies, also shown through an over the shoulder shot.
"It's my last night anyways, so I want the truth. My mother, was it also you two?" Giovanni asks, through an over the shoulder shot between the two men.
"It wasn't us. But you're right. You deserve the truth, after all you've done for us." The large man is heard saying.
"It was the family. It was Don Orsini who ordered it." The skinny man is also heard but not shown, the shot still staying on Giovanni.
The screen then switches to a close-up shot of Giovanni's face, for a reaction shot. After wearing a face of realization and hurt, Giovanni then shakes his head. The camera zooms out a bit, pans quickly down to show Giovanni twitch his left sleeve before a small pistol falls to his palms.
Then, a quick and drastic zoom out to show an over the shoulder shot of Giovanni, from behind the two men's perspective, raising his gun towards the direction of the two men. The camera angle changes to a mid-angle shot to show Giovanni *POP* *POP* shoot the two men right on their heads.
The two men *Plop* *Plop* then fall to the ground, disappearing from the screen. The mid-angle quickly switches to a wide-angle shot with weeds obstructing some of the view, to show Giovanni step towards the bodies of the two men and *POP* *POP* shoots them again for certainty.
The screen shifts to a high-angle shot view of the two bodies with Giovanni standing over them, while the sounds, except for the crickets, fades.]]]
[[[… Screen shows Giovanni in poorly lit room, only a weak incandescent bulb, and the candle on Giovanni's table being the sources of light, a sombre cello music subtly playing in the background.
The middle angle shot shows Giovanni leaning down on the table, writing something. The frame then switches to a close-up shot of table to show Giovanni's pen writing down on a piece of paper, and beside the piece of paper is a newspaper that shows a headline reading 'The Japs attack! 1500 Dead in Pearl Harbor!'
The frame once again shifts to a mid to close-angle shot of Giovanni facing the camera. Giovanni's voice then enters, reciting what he is writing.
"Dear friends. Antonio Orsini, my biological father has decided to betray my trust and tried to take my life. I am hoping that he will not come after you too…"
While the voice of Giovanni is narrating, the screen switches to the next day. Giovanni, with but a rucksack on his back, is seen walking to a huge ship on the docks, his head low, his face covered by his lowered hat.
"My friends, I am leaving New York to a place Antonio would not even think I will go."
While Giovanni's narration continues, Giovanni stops walking in front of something. The shot switches to an over the shoulder angle, from Giovanni's perspective, showing a poster of a mustached man, wearing a general's hat, pointing at whoever is looking. There is also a print on the poster saying 'Your Country Needs You.'
"One day, when I'm ready, or if I am even alive then, I will come back for you."
Giovanni's narration continues as the shot switches to a wide-angle shot of Giovanni's entire back figure, walking to what now is apparently, a military ship, with soldiers in uniform at the entrance ushering people in.
Giovanni then joins and blends in and disappears among the stream of crowd that are also heading towards the ship. The screen fades to black.
"Until then… farewell." Giovanni's narration concludes. Orchestral music starts playing dramatically as the credits roll.]
"Phew.... Alright. One more time." Tayaw pumps himself up as he replays his final edit for one last time, in 4x speed this time.
While the film is playing the parts he is already satisfied with, he takes out a ceramic jar and a thin sheet of paper from a nearby drawer. He takes out ground leaves from the ceramic jar and lays them out on the thin sheet of paper. Shortly after, he rolls it and lights it up like a cigarette. He takes a drag of the calming smoke and focuses on the screen once again.
Unlike the most common use of 'grass', Tayaw is using a CBD based strain which does not make one 'high'. It has relaxation and anxiety reducing effects that he needs very much. With his enhanced senses and mind, the stress he is experiencing is multiplied compared to what it could have been if he was still a normal human who is experiencing stress with normal brain and senses. Three months of non-stop working with minimum sleep, which would have been impossible for a normal human, also adds to his burn-out.
So having suffered enough from the discomfort, he finally resorts to the 'grass' to loosen his shoulders and neck muscles, reducing his anxiety. He could have resorted to the tablet forms of CBD, but the ritual of smoking gives him an additional feeling of relaxation.
(Author's Warning: smoking anything is harmful to health. Even weed can burn lung tissues. Also, people under age 25, due to some part of the brain not having reached its full maturation, have ten times higher risks to being addicted to nicotine, alcohol, and other recreational substances.)
In addition to the relaxing effect, the 'grass' drowning out his anxiety also allows Tayaw to focus a bit better. And focus is exactly what Tayaw needs in the final steps of editing.
"PHe." The quick replay of the film finally ends and Tayaw sighs in relief. While there are kinks he found which he found would require re-shooting or even re-writing to fix, Tayaw figures that the average viewer would fail to spot them anyway. The effort to fix them is also very high compared to the small improvements it will give.
"That's the best I can do, I guess." Tayaw says as he presses something in his laptop. The laptop then heats up as it burns the final cut of the film into a digital reel.
After finishing another stick of cannabis, Tayaw slacks down on his chair. He pulls a lever from under the chair and it transforms into a reclining chair, allowing for a full-body support for him to lie down on. He closes his eyes as he feels his body relax even further now that he no longer has to worry about the first film.
"I'll see you later when I wake up." Tayaw tells his computer.
Before he can fall asleep however, *ZZMMMMMMMMM* Tayaw is hit with an odd feeling. He feels as if his body is being electrocuted, only not painful and not deadly, but energizing instead. Tayaw basks in the feeling until it faded. Unlike his state before, he now feels like he just woke up from a good long sleep.
"I guess it's good enough movie for you, huh?" Tayaw smiles as he asks something or someone that will never answer.
"Thanks, nice to know."
The enhancement he just received is much greater than any enhancement he had from his songs. One 'third - level enhancement' he received from one of his best original songs is but a fraction of what he just received after finishing the movie.
"Note to self: fourth level enhancement exists. I wonder how many days I can stay up now without sleep." Tayaw says as he sits back up again. His fatigue now gone, he does not want to waste time any further and opens the footages he shot for the second film to start early editing.
As to why he is anxious to continue working, it is simply because he no longer has works in active sale. 'September Ninth' is already off the theaters both in Teungeb and internationally by the end of October.
The sales of 'The Halfling' and has also reached saturation long ago and only sold two hundred thousand copies worldwide in the month of November. Pirated electronic and physical copies also helped in contributing to the drop of sales in both 'The Halfling' and 'Grimm's Fairy Tales.'
To prevent the same piracy that will inevitably happen to 'September Ninth', Black Deer Pictures is now working double time to release the official DVD copies of it.
A few minutes later, *BANG BANG BANG* Tayaw is interrupted from his work by an aggressive knocking on his office door. After opening the door, Tayaw is confused at who he saw.
"Zwaro. What are you doing here?" Tayaw asks the man.
Zwaro, is the leader of the group of Landopil Syndicate men he hired to flush out Kingbo's gang back in Nacotu Village.
"Come in. Come in." Tayaw gestures.
"Thanks." Zwaro says and enters.
"First off. Updates. After we've driven out Kingbo's gang out of Nabla. I heard they're now making rackets in Salgo Province. At least they're less… intense without Kingbo, who you crippled, by the way." Zwaro says.
"Okay. I kinda figured that much. But haven't you left Nacotu last October already?" Tayaw asks.
"Yeah. But I'm actually here to pass a message to you. My boss from high up says that someone from Coniglio called in, I'm not sure." Zwaro says as he scratches his head like he is confused.
"Oh? What's up? Coniglio's men could have just called me." Tayaw asks, confused too.
"They said that you're offline and that your American number is unreachable." Zwaro says.
"Oh…" Tayaw nods in realization.
Since he started editing a week ago, he practically locked himself up either inside his cabin in Nasiri Hill, or his office by his film studio's warehouses, editing, composing, and designing sound.
"So, what's the message?" Tayaw asks.
"I don't know if this means anything. But they told me to tell you that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down. You are welcome to visit the location before it closes for good.'" Zwaro says in confusion.
"That's it?" Tayaw says, almost dumbfounded at the 'message'.
"That's it. They asked me to relay it word for word." Zwaro shrugs.
"I see." Tayaw says as he recalls the message once more.
"Hey. I didn't know you are involved in fast food too. I thought y…" Zwaro's voice fades in Tayaw's attention as Tayaw is finally starting to figure out the message.
De Bacco, is an Italian fast-food chain restaurant started by Sylvio Coniglio in the late 90s in New York. He named it after Gonzalo's original birth surname. East Hamptons, being a neighborhood where some of the richest in New York live, will always be a good place for a De Bacco Restaurant branch to conduct business.
Thinking about this, Tayaw figures that it makes no sense for a branch in a rich neighborhood to shut down. Aside from that, Tayaw never even knew that the fast-food chain has a branch in such a place with wealthy residents, so it makes no sense that the message is just about a closing branch.
His second realization however, is giving Tayaw a sinking feeling in his stomach. The only 'De Bacco' he knows in East Hamptons is Gonzalo, as Gonzalo lives in the East Hamptons. This makes Tayaw suspect that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down' in the message likely means that Gonzalo probably is dying, but not dead yet.
Whoever sent him the message, through Zwaro, is saying that they are also permitting Tayaw to visit the dying Gonzalo assuming from the part where they said 'You are welcome to visit the location before it shuts down for good.'
"Hey man. You alright?" Tayaw is pulled out from his musings by Zwaro's question.
Zwaro noticed from Tayaw's face that Tayaw is not taking the message very well, at all.
"What? Oh. I'm good." Tayaw says, erasing any signs of emotion.
"Wow. That restaurant might mean a lot to you huh." Zwaro says.
"Yeah. I have some good memories with that restaurant." Tayaw says.
"Oh. Okay. Anyways. That's all. I'm gonna go. You seem to be very busy and I am too. It was nice seeing you." Zwaro then excuses himself.
"Yeah. Nice to see you too." Tayaw says, but distracted. Seeing Tayaw's state, Zwaro just shakes his head and leaves the office.
Tayaw after being left alone, "F*ck." can only whisper as he packs things in a hurry.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WAIT! DON'T SCROLL DOWN YET! I HAVE A QUICK SURVEY. I just realized, I'm not getting a lot comments, and I have no problem with that. I'm just curious at the reader activity in my novel.
So, To the readers who have read chapters 168 to this current one, in the past two or three days days, please leave an 'AYE' to the comment section. Thanks guys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
December 22, 2012 – Saturday, 7 am – Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab
In Tayaw's office, all lights are off and the only light source is coming from Tayaw's laptop screen. Tayaw is currently watching his latest edit for the first movie of Gonzalo's film trilogy.
[[[Screen shows a mid-angle shot of two trench coat-clad men, one skinny, the other with a large frame, standing in front of Giovanni, the sound of crickets and the breeze in the background.
"You can only blame your mother for this." The skinny man says, through an over the shoulder shot.
"Is there really no way out of this?" Giovanni asks, also shown through an over the shoulder shot.
"Sorry, kid. I like you, but it's over." The large man replies, also shown through an over the shoulder shot.
"It's my last night anyways, so I want the truth. My mother, was it also you two?" Giovanni asks, through an over the shoulder shot between the two men.
"It wasn't us. But you're right. You deserve the truth, after all you've done for us." The large man is heard saying.
"It was the family. It was Don Orsini who ordered it." The skinny man is also heard but not shown, the shot still staying on Giovanni.
The screen then switches to a close-up shot of Giovanni's face, for a reaction shot. After wearing a face of realization and hurt, Giovanni then shakes his head. The camera zooms out a bit, pans quickly down to show Giovanni twitch his left sleeve before a small pistol falls to his palms.
Then, a quick and drastic zoom out to show an over the shoulder shot of Giovanni, from behind the two men's perspective, raising his gun towards the direction of the two men. The camera angle changes to a mid-angle shot to show Giovanni *POP* *POP* shoot the two men right on their heads.
The two men *Plop* *Plop* then fall to the ground, disappearing from the screen. The mid-angle quickly switches to a wide-angle shot with weeds obstructing some of the view, to show Giovanni step towards the bodies of the two men and *POP* *POP* shoots them again for certainty.
The screen shifts to a high-angle shot view of the two bodies with Giovanni standing over them, while the sounds, except for the crickets, fades.]]]
[[[… Screen shows Giovanni in poorly lit room, only a weak incandescent bulb, and the candle on Giovanni's table being the sources of light, a sombre cello music subtly playing in the background.
The middle angle shot shows Giovanni leaning down on the table, writing something. The frame then switches to a close-up shot of table to show Giovanni's pen writing down on a piece of paper, and beside the piece of paper is a newspaper that shows a headline reading 'The Japs attack! 1500 Dead in Pearl Harbor!'
The frame once again shifts to a mid to close-angle shot of Giovanni facing the camera. Giovanni's voice then enters, reciting what he is writing.
"Dear friends. Antonio Orsini, my biological father has decided to betray my trust and tried to take my life. I am hoping that he will not come after you too…"
While the voice of Giovanni is narrating, the screen switches to the next day. Giovanni, with but a rucksack on his back, is seen walking to a huge ship on the docks, his head low, his face covered by his lowered hat.
"My friends, I am leaving New York to a place Antonio would not even think I will go."
While Giovanni's narration continues, Giovanni stops walking in front of something. The shot switches to an over the shoulder angle, from Giovanni's perspective, showing a poster of a mustached man, wearing a general's hat, pointing at whoever is looking. There is also a print on the poster saying 'Your Country Needs You.'
"One day, when I'm ready, or if I am even alive then, I will come back for you."
Giovanni's narration continues as the shot switches to a wide-angle shot of Giovanni's entire back figure, walking to what now is apparently, a military ship, with soldiers in uniform at the entrance ushering people in.
Giovanni then joins and blends in and disappears among the stream of crowd that are also heading towards the ship. The screen fades to black.
"Until then… farewell." Giovanni's narration concludes. Orchestral music starts playing dramatically as the credits roll.]
"Phew.... Alright. One more time." Tayaw pumps himself up as he replays his final edit for one last time, in 4x speed this time.
While the film is playing the parts he is already satisfied with, he takes out a ceramic jar and a thin sheet of paper from a nearby drawer. He takes out ground leaves from the ceramic jar and lays them out on the thin sheet of paper. Shortly after, he rolls it and lights it up like a cigarette. He takes a drag of the calming smoke and focuses on the screen once again.
Unlike the most common use of 'grass', Tayaw is using a CBD based strain which does not make one 'high'. It has relaxation and anxiety reducing effects that he needs very much. With his enhanced senses and mind, the stress he is experiencing is multiplied compared to what it could have been if he was still a normal human who is experiencing stress with normal brain and senses. Three months of non-stop working with minimum sleep, which would have been impossible for a normal human, also adds to his burn-out.
So having suffered enough from the discomfort, he finally resorts to the 'grass' to loosen his shoulders and neck muscles, reducing his anxiety. He could have resorted to the tablet forms of CBD, but the ritual of smoking gives him an additional feeling of relaxation.
(Author's Warning: smoking anything is harmful to health. Even weed can burn lung tissues. Also, people under age 25, due to some part of the brain not having reached its full maturation, have ten times higher risks to being addicted to nicotine, alcohol, and other recreational substances.)
In addition to the relaxing effect, the 'grass' drowning out his anxiety also allows Tayaw to focus a bit better. And focus is exactly what Tayaw needs in the final steps of editing.
"PHe." The quick replay of the film finally ends and Tayaw sighs in relief. While there are kinks he found which he found would require re-shooting or even re-writing to fix, Tayaw figures that the average viewer would fail to spot them anyway. The effort to fix them is also very high compared to the small improvements it will give.
"That's the best I can do, I guess." Tayaw says as he presses something in his laptop. The laptop then heats up as it burns the final cut of the film into a digital reel.
After finishing another stick of cannabis, Tayaw slacks down on his chair. He pulls a lever from under the chair and it transforms into a reclining chair, allowing for a full-body support for him to lie down on. He closes his eyes as he feels his body relax even further now that he no longer has to worry about the first film.
"I'll see you later when I wake up." Tayaw tells his computer.
Before he can fall asleep however, *ZZMMMMMMMMM* Tayaw is hit with an odd feeling. He feels as if his body is being electrocuted, only not painful and not deadly, but energizing instead. Tayaw basks in the feeling until it faded. Unlike his state before, he now feels like he just woke up from a good long sleep.
"I guess it's good enough movie for you, huh?" Tayaw smiles as he asks something or someone that will never answer.
"Thanks, nice to know."
The enhancement he just received is much greater than any enhancement he had from his songs. One 'third - level enhancement' he received from one of his best original songs is but a fraction of what he just received after finishing the movie.
"Note to self: fourth level enhancement exists. I wonder how many days I can stay up now without sleep." Tayaw says as he sits back up again. His fatigue now gone, he does not want to waste time any further and opens the footages he shot for the second film to start early editing.
As to why he is anxious to continue working, it is simply because he no longer has works in active sale. 'September Ninth' is already off the theaters both in Teungeb and internationally by the end of October.
The sales of 'The Halfling' and has also reached saturation long ago and only sold two hundred thousand copies worldwide in the month of November. Pirated electronic and physical copies also helped in contributing to the drop of sales in both 'The Halfling' and 'Grimm's Fairy Tales.'
To prevent the same piracy that will inevitably happen to 'September Ninth', Black Deer Pictures is now working double time to release the official DVD copies of it.
A few minutes later, *BANG BANG BANG* Tayaw is interrupted from his work by an aggressive knocking on his office door. After opening the door, Tayaw is confused at who he saw.
"Zwaro. What are you doing here?" Tayaw asks the man.
Zwaro, is the leader of the group of Landopil Syndicate men he hired to flush out Kingbo's gang back in Nacotu Village.
"Come in. Come in." Tayaw gestures.
"Thanks." Zwaro says and enters.
"First off. Updates. After we've driven out Kingbo's gang out of Nabla. I heard they're now making rackets in Salgo Province. At least they're less… intense without Kingbo, who you crippled, by the way." Zwaro says.
"Okay. I kinda figured that much. But haven't you left Nacotu last October already?" Tayaw asks.
"Yeah. But I'm actually here to pass a message to you. My boss from high up says that someone from Coniglio called in, I'm not sure." Zwaro says as he scratches his head like he is confused.
"Oh? What's up? Coniglio's men could have just called me." Tayaw asks, confused too.
"They said that you're offline and that your American number is unreachable." Zwaro says.
"Oh…" Tayaw nods in realization.
Since he started editing a week ago, he practically locked himself up either inside his cabin in Nasiri Hill, or his office by his film studio's warehouses, editing, composing, and designing sound.
"So, what's the message?" Tayaw asks.
"I don't know if this means anything. But they told me to tell you that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down. You are welcome to visit the location before it closes for good.'" Zwaro says in confusion.
"That's it?" Tayaw says, almost dumbfounded at the 'message'.
"That's it. They asked me to relay it word for word." Zwaro shrugs.
"I see." Tayaw says as he recalls the message once more.
"Hey. I didn't know you are involved in fast food too. I thought y…" Zwaro's voice fades in Tayaw's attention as Tayaw is finally starting to figure out the message.
De Bacco, is an Italian fast-food chain restaurant started by Sylvio Coniglio in the late 90s in New York. He named it after Gonzalo's original birth surname. East Hamptons, being a neighborhood where some of the richest in New York live, will always be a good place for a De Bacco Restaurant branch to conduct business.
Thinking about this, Tayaw figures that it makes no sense for a branch in a rich neighborhood to shut down. Aside from that, Tayaw never even knew that the fast-food chain has a branch in such a place with wealthy residents, so it makes no sense that the message is just about a closing branch.
His second realization however, is giving Tayaw a sinking feeling in his stomach. The only 'De Bacco' he knows in East Hamptons is Gonzalo, as Gonzalo lives in the East Hamptons. This makes Tayaw suspect that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down' in the message likely means that Gonzalo probably is dying, but not dead yet.
Whoever sent him the message, through Zwaro, is saying that they are also permitting Tayaw to visit the dying Gonzalo assuming from the part where they said 'You are welcome to visit the location before it shuts down for good.'
"Hey man. You alright?" Tayaw is pulled out from his musings by Zwaro's question.
Zwaro noticed from Tayaw's face that Tayaw is not taking the message very well, at all.
"What? Oh. I'm good." Tayaw says, erasing any signs of emotion.
"Wow. That restaurant might mean a lot to you huh." Zwaro says.
"Yeah. I have some good memories with that restaurant." Tayaw says.
"Oh. Okay. Anyways. That's all. I'm gonna go. You seem to be very busy and I am too. It was nice seeing you." Zwaro then excuses himself.
"Yeah. Nice to see you too." Tayaw says, but distracted. Seeing Tayaw's state, Zwaro just shakes his head and leaves the office.
Tayaw after being left alone, "F*ck." can only whisper as he packs things in a hurry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WAIT! DON'T SCROLL DOWN YET! I HAVE A QUICK SURVEY. I just realized, I'm not getting a lot comments, and I have no problem with that. I'm just curious at the reader activity in my novel.
So, To the readers who have read chapters 168 to this current one, in the past two or three days days, please leave an 'AYE' to the comment section. Thanks guys.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
December 22, 2012 Saturday, 7 am Half Basin Studios, South Ouigab In Tayaw's office, all lights are off and the only light source is coming from Tayaw's laptop screen. Tayaw is currently watching his latest edit for the first movie of Gonzalo's film trilogy. Screen shows a mid-angle shot of two trench coat-clad men, one skinny, the other with a large frame, standing in front of Giovanni, the sound of crickets and the breeze in the background. "You can only blame your mother for this." The skinny man says, through an over the shoulder shot. "Is there really no way out of this?" Giovanni asks, also shown through an over the shoulder shot. "Sorry, kid. I like you, but it's over." The large man replies, also shown through an over the shoulder shot. "It's my last night anyways, so I want the truth. My mother, was it also you two?" Giovanni asks, through an over the shoulder shot between the two men. "It wasn't us. But you're right. You deserve the truth, after all you've done for us." The large man is heard saying. "It was the family. It was Don Orsini who ordered it." The skinny man is also heard but not shown, the shot still staying on Giovanni. The screen then switches to a close-up shot of Giovanni's face, for a reaction shot. After wearing a face of realization and hurt, Giovanni then shakes his head. The camera zooms out a bit, pans quickly down to show Giovanni twitch his left sleeve before a small pistol falls to his palms. Then, a quick and drastic zoom out to show an over the shoulder shot of Giovanni, from behind the two men's perspective, raising his gun towards the direction of the two men. The camera angle changes to a mid-angle shot to show Giovanni *POP* *POP* shoot the two men right on their heads. The two men *Plop* *Plop* then fall to the ground, disappearing from the screen. The mid-angle quickly switches to a wide-angle shot with weeds obstructing some of the view, to show Giovanni step towards the bodies of the two men and *POP* *POP* shoots them again for certainty. The screen shifts to a high-angle shot view of the two bodies with Giovanni standing over them, while the sounds, except for the crickets, fades. Screen shows Giovanni in poorly lit room, only a weak incandescent bulb, and the candle on Giovanni's table being the sources of light, a sombre cello music subtly playing in the background. The middle angle shot shows Giovanni leaning down on the table, writing something. The frame then switches to a close-up shot of table to show Giovanni's pen writing down on a piece of paper, and beside the piece of paper is a newspaper that shows a headline reading 'The Japs attack! 1500 Dead in Pearl Harbor!' The frame once again shifts to a mid to close-angle shot of Giovanni facing the camera. Giovanni's voice then enters, reciting what he is writing. "Dear friends. Antonio Orsini, my biological father has decided to betray my trust and tried to take my life. I am hoping that he will not come after you too" While the voice of Giovanni is narrating, the screen switches to the next day. Giovanni, with but a rucksack on his back, is seen walking to a huge ship on the docks, his head low, his face covered by his lowered hat. "My friends, I am leaving New York to a place Antonio would not even think I will go." While Giovanni's narration continues, Giovanni stops walking in front of something. The shot switches to an over the shoulder angle, from Giovanni's perspective, showing a poster of a mustached man, wearing a general's hat, pointing at whoever is looking. There is also a print on the poster saying 'Your Country Needs You.' "One day, when I'm ready, or if I am even alive then, I will come back for you." Giovanni's narration continues as the shot switches to a wide-angle shot of Giovanni's entire back figure, walking to what now is apparently, a military ship, with soldiers in uniform at the entrance ushering people in. Giovanni then joins and blends in and disappears among the stream of crowd that are also heading towards the ship. The screen fades to black. "Until then farewell." Giovanni's narration concludes. Orchestral music starts playing dramatically as the credits roll. "Phew.... Alright. One more time." Tayaw pumps himself up as he replays his final edit for one last time, in 4x speed this time. While the film is playing the parts he is already satisfied with, he takes out a ceramic jar and a thin sheet of paper from a nearby drawer. He takes out ground leaves from the ceramic jar and lays them out on the thin sheet of paper. Shortly after, he rolls it and lights it up like a cigarette. He takes a drag of the calming smoke and focuses on the screen once again. Unlike the most common use of 'grass', Tayaw is using a CBD based strain which does not make one 'high'. It has relaxation and anxiety reducing effects that he needs very much. With his enhanced senses and mind, the stress he is experiencing is multiplied compared to what it could have been if he was still a normal human who is experiencing stress with normal brain and senses. Three months of non-stop working with minimum sleep, which would have been impossible for a normal human, also adds to his burn-out. So having suffered enough from the discomfort, he finally resorts to the 'grass' to loosen his shoulders and neck muscles, reducing his anxiety. He could have resorted to the tablet forms of CBD, but the ritual of smoking gives him an additional feeling of relaxation. Author's Warning: smoking anything is harmful to health. Even weed can burn lung tissues. Also, people under age 25, due to some part of the brain not having reached its full maturation, have ten times higher risks to being addicted to nicotine, alcohol, and other recreational substances. In addition to the relaxing effect, the 'grass' drowning out his anxiety also allows Tayaw to focus a bit better. And focus is exactly what Tayaw needs in the final steps of editing. "PHe." The quick replay of the film finally ends and Tayaw sighs in relief. While there are kinks he found which he found would require re-shooting or even re-writing to fix, Tayaw figures that the average viewer would fail to spot them anyway. The effort to fix them is also very high compared to the small improvements it will give. "That's the best I can do, I guess." Tayaw says as he presses something in his laptop. The laptop then heats up as it burns the final cut of the film into a digital reel. After finishing another stick of cannabis, Tayaw slacks down on his chair. He pulls a lever from under the chair and it transforms into a reclining chair, allowing for a full-body support for him to lie down on. He closes his eyes as he feels his body relax even further now that he no longer has to worry about the first film. "I'll see you later when I wake up." Tayaw tells his computer. Before he can fall asleep however, *ZZMMMMMMMMM* Tayaw is hit with an odd feeling. He feels as if his body is being electrocuted, only not painful and not deadly, but energizing instead. Tayaw basks in the feeling until it faded. Unlike his state before, he now feels like he just woke up from a good long sleep. "I guess it's good enough movie for you, huh?" Tayaw smiles as he asks something or someone that will never answer. "Thanks, nice to know." The enhancement he just received is much greater than any enhancement he had from his songs. One 'third - level enhancement' he received from one of his best original songs is but a fraction of what he just received after finishing the movie. "Note to self: fourth level enhancement exists. I wonder how many days I can stay up now without sleep." Tayaw says as he sits back up again. His fatigue now gone, he does not want to waste time any further and opens the footages he shot for the second film to start early editing. As to why he is anxious to continue working, it is simply because he no longer has works in active sale. 'September Ninth' is already off the theaters both in Teungeb and internationally by the end of October. The sales of 'The Halfling' and has also reached saturation long ago and only sold two hundred thousand copies worldwide in the month of November. Pirated electronic and physical copies also helped in contributing to the drop of sales in both 'The Halfling' and 'Grimm's Fairy Tales.' To prevent the same piracy that will inevitably happen to 'September Ninth', Black Deer Pictures is now working double time to release the official DVD copies of it. A few minutes later, *BANG BANG BANG* Tayaw is interrupted from his work by an aggressive knocking on his office door. After opening the door, Tayaw is confused at who he saw. "Zwaro. What are you doing here?" Tayaw asks the man. Zwaro, is the leader of the group of Landopil Syndicate men he hired to flush out Kingbo's gang back in Nacotu Village. "Come in. Come in." Tayaw gestures. "Thanks." Zwaro says and enters. "First off. Updates. After we've driven out Kingbo's gang out of Nabla. I heard they're now making rackets in Salgo Province. At least they're less intense without Kingbo, who you crippled, by the way." Zwaro says. "Okay. I kinda figured that much. But haven't you left Nacotu last October already?" Tayaw asks. "Yeah. But I'm actually here to pass a message to you. My boss from high up says that someone from Coniglio called in, I'm not sure." Zwaro says as he scratches his head like he is confused. "Oh? What's up? Coniglio's men could have just called me." Tayaw asks, confused too. "They said that you're offline and that your American number is unreachable." Zwaro says. "Oh" Tayaw nods in realization. Since he started editing a week ago, he practically locked himself up either inside his cabin in Nasiri Hill, or his office by his film studio's warehouses, editing, composing, and designing sound. "So, what's the message?" Tayaw asks. "I don't know if this means anything. But they told me to tell you that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down. You are welcome to visit the location before it closes for good.'" Zwaro says in confusion. "That's it?" Tayaw says, almost dumbfounded at the 'message'. "That's it. They asked me to relay it word for word." Zwaro shrugs. "I see." Tayaw says as he recalls the message once more. "Hey. I didn't know you are involved in fast food too. I thought y" Zwaro's voice fades in Tayaw's attention as Tayaw is finally starting to figure out the message. De Bacco, is an Italian fast-food chain restaurant started by Sylvio Coniglio in the late 90s in New York. He named it after Gonzalo's original birth surname. East Hamptons, being a neighborhood where some of the richest in New York live, will always be a good place for a De Bacco Restaurant branch to conduct business. Thinking about this, Tayaw figures that it makes no sense for a branch in a rich neighborhood to shut down. Aside from that, Tayaw never even knew that the fast-food chain has a branch in such a place with wealthy residents, so it makes no sense that the message is just about a closing branch. His second realization however, is giving Tayaw a sinking feeling in his stomach. The only 'De Bacco' he knows in East Hamptons is Gonzalo, as Gonzalo lives in the East Hamptons. This makes Tayaw suspect that 'The De Bacco in East Hamptons is shutting down' in the message likely means that Gonzalo probably is dying, but not dead yet. Whoever sent him the message, through Zwaro, is saying that they are also permitting Tayaw to visit the dying Gonzalo assuming from the part where they said 'You are welcome to visit the location before it shuts down for good.' "Hey man. You alright?" Tayaw is pulled out from his musings by Zwaro's question. Zwaro noticed from Tayaw's face that Tayaw is not taking the message very well, at all. "What? Oh. I'm good." Tayaw says, erasing any signs of emotion. "Wow. That restaurant might mean a lot to you huh." Zwaro says. "Yeah. I have some good memories with that restaurant." Tayaw says. "Oh. Okay. Anyways. That's all. I'm gonna go. You seem to be very busy and I am too. It was nice seeing you." Zwaro then excuses himself. "Yeah. Nice to see you too." Tayaw says, but distracted. Seeing Tayaw's state, Zwaro just shakes his head and leaves the office. Tayaw after being left alone, "F*ck." can only whisper as he packs things in a hurry. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WAIT! DON'T SCROLL DOWN YET! I HAVE A QUICK SURVEY. I just realized, I'm not getting a lot comments, and I have no problem with that. I'm just curious at the reader activity in my novel. So, To the readers who have read chapters 168 to this current one, in the past two or three days days, please leave an 'AYE' to the comment section. Thanks guys. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
