"I'll play whatever you want me to play." Junior said. "I mean, I probably won't do it as well as someone as famous as you, but I'll try really hard to pretend to be the thing or things you want me."

"So, what do you want me to play?"

"I'm not really that famous, Junior." Shawn tried to walk the fine line between modesty and making Junior feel bad for having opinions. "Why don't we play GI Joes?"

"OK." Junior said. "I should be the G.I. Joe that nobody knows though. And you should be Duke." He reasoned, clearly trying to align the status of the G.I. Joe's to the way he perceived the status to be between Shawn and himself.

"Can these G.I. Joe's go in water? Mine don't get ruined if they're in water. Because they're under deep cover." He informed Shawn.

"Oh, I'll be Duke, and you could be Snake-Eyes. He's a secret ninja, so no one outside the Joes knows who he is!""

"OK. Right. I'll be Snake Eyes." Junior agreed. Then he picked Snake Eyes up and fumbled the G.I. Joe, dropping it onto the floor.

"Oh no. I'm so stupid. I dropped it." He announced, grimacing and smacking the side of his head with his left hand. "I'm so stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid."

Shawn was a little concerned at the way Junior was acting, but he doesn't show it. Instead he just shrugged his shoulders. "That's not stupid - everyone drops things sometimes."

"Yeah...hehe." Junior laughed a nervous, fake laugh. "Everyone does stuff like that." He agreed.

Junior picked up the toy again. He danced it around the floor for a few seconds, all the while not lifting his eyes from it as he spoke. "Do you ever, ya' know, meet other actors?" he ventured.

Shawn's got his Duke toy and copies Junior, trying to set him a little at ease. "Sure, all the time. Sometimes it's hard to talk to them if they're famous..." Of course, he hadn't really met all that many famous actors; aside from Kid Knight, he hadn't been in anything big enough to have any famous people whose careers weren't already declining a bit. But he was trying to be more relatable to Junior.

Junior moved the figure around with his left hand, paying minimal attention to it. The face and the head of the figure scraped and against the carpet, but Junior didn't seem to notice. The rest of his body was facing forward at Shawn.

"What's it like when too famous people talk? What do you guys talk about and do?"

"I mean, we mostly had to talk about, like, lines and blocking and stuff. The famous people got their own trailers and stuff, so they didn't talk much outside our scene stuff." Shawn was trying to answer Junior's questions while lightly emphasising he wasn't really all that famous.

Junior seemed to accept that answer. But his hands still lazily moved the Snake Eyes figure with limited interest and effort. It was clear that Shawn's answers were more of the draw. His focus was lacking, and the creativity in his play suffered, failing to suspend Shawn's disbelief and preventing a more immersive dive into the world of pretend.

"When do you do another famous movie?" he asked after a few seconds pause between Shawn's answer.

Shawn was running out of ways to engage with Junior, so in his desperation he turned to honesty. "I don't know - Kid Knight didn't do so great, so it's been a while since my last audition. Hopefully soon, my Mom's looking for another audition."

"Oh no..." Junior lamented. "Your Mom's gonna help." he said reassuringly. Shawn could tell that maybe the idea of an 'audition' could have gone over Junior's head.

"Ummm....can you give me a 'name writing'?" Junior pulled out a piece of paper. It was yellow and crumbled. He folded it flat and presented in front of Shawn, all smiles.

"Oh, uh, sure!" Shawn had never been asked for an autograph before, but he found a pen somewhere and signed Junior's paper. It was a surreal experience.

"Oh boy!" Junior said, holding the paper up to the light. "Thanks! Thanks so much! I'm gonna put on my dresser next to the q-tip box that Mom makes me keep so I can clean out my ears before I go to bed!"

"Thanks! This is great! Wow! The villain from Kid Knight signed my paper! The real villain from Kid Knight!" Junior exclaimed to Shawn, as if he was informing Shawn something amazing that Shawn wasn't aware of.

"Aww, thanks!" Shawn blushed a little, genuinely not used to praise this effusive.

Junior had dropped the G.I. Joe on the floor now. Snake Eyes was face first on the rug, his arms and legs twisted at awkward angles.

"So. What does an actor do when they aren't making movies?" He glanced at Snake Eyes and picked up the G.I. Joe. "And I mean, when you don't, or umm...aren't making ..or um..playing with G.I. Joes."

Shawn shrugged. "School, when it's not the summer. Or I play with my friends - oh, actually, do you want to hang out with us some time? There's a lot of kids in this neighbourhood."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:53, Mon 15 Jan 2018.

"Really?" Junior asked, eyes wide with wonder and hope. Then he clarified why. "You're asking me to do stuff with you guys?"

He wanted to know. Shawn could tell. He wanted to know if it was a ruse, or if Shawn was actually serious about the matter. It was the way he leaned forward. The way his eyes were fixed on Shawn, only deviating for a moment to check if someone else was there. It was the way his hands fell to his sides in disbelief at the invitation.

"Sure, why not?" The way Shawn figured, he had Michael as part of his friend group, so Junior wouldn't be that hard a sell, right?

"Oh boy!" Junior said. "I'm new here! And already I have a best friend." Junior said. Then his hand came up and covered his mouth. "I mean...friend!" He corrected, eyeing Shawn for some sort of sign or approval.

"I think we're going to be great friends!" Shawn gave no sign of noticing Junior's little slip up.

"Yay!" Junior said, and he awkwardly reached over to Shawn to embrace him with a hug, the move made all the more difficult because he was sitting Indian style and had to extend himself a considerable distance.

Shawn took the hug, patting Junior a little awkwardly on the back. It was nice to have a friend who just really seemed to like him, rather than someone he appeased.

OOC: End Thread