Shawn sat in his bedroom thoroughly exhausted from his endeavors and the hard work that he focused on earlier today. His own legs were tired from standing for hours on the set and even as they rested in the bed, they ached and burned. The muscles in his face were fatigued from endless expressions and his voice was hoarse from reading endless lines, some of which required yelling. But most of all, it was his mind that was tired from the demands of Mom and Mrs. Worthington. (OOC: Feelings the result of Roll in last thread/tired but Mom approves)

Bobby, meanwhile, was talking from the other side of the room in the darkness.

"Do you want to go to bed or do you want to take another crack at the book." He asked. And then there was a bit of silence filled by the sound of a car passing along the street outside, headlights briefly appearing on the wall and then fading again.

"What's it like being a movie star?" Bobby asked suddenly.

Shawn kept his eyes closed for a bit, not so much trying to sleep as giving his brain a rest from visual input for a few minutes. "I'm not a movie star yet. Might not ever be. But being an actor is really really hard work. You're always busy because people need you to do stuff, and you can't complain because they're all busy too. It's fun sometimes though. I like the monster makeup."

He rolled over onto his elbows and levered himself up. He felt stiff and exhausted, but he knew what his answer had to be. He'd promised, and while he'd been dreading it all day, he owed it to Bobby. "No, we should do this tonight. I'm going to be busy tomorrow too, and probably the day after."

The room seemed to warm slightly and Shawn could feel Bobby get out of bed, excited. Perhaps it was the fact that Shawn had agreed to do what he had promised he would do.

"Monster make-up." Bobby repeated in a low voice, feet padding on the floor as he approachd Shawn's bed.

"That sounds fun. Like in the music video Thriller. You know, by Michael Jackson. My mom would always let me watch MTV. And the videos. That was my favorite one. I like the part where the evil voice starts at the beginning. But my Dad only let me watch VH1 because he said it doesn't have as much adult stuff on it."

"Yeah, it's kinda neat to be able to look in the mirror and not recognize yourself. I don't get to do it that often, though." Shawn looked over at the closet. "So...are you ready to do this?"

"I'm ready." Bobby said, and the two both stared for a moment at the closet.

It looked dark and foreboding. The shadows seemed to creep in from the sides of the walls, parts of the room unable to be seen despite the flinty presence of dim light outside cast from the street through the blinds.

Bobby swallowed. "Let's go." he affirmed and he started to make his way to the closet. "This time, I'll try to to take the first shot of..of..whatever it is that we need to do. Whatever April said we need to do to get the Book started."

Shawn hesitantly opened the closet door and swept the pile of clothes aside. Assuming the Book was still there, he picked it up and handed it to Bobby.

Bobby grasped the Book in his hands and Shawn saw a similar look appear on Bobby's face from last night. It was eager, needy and yet haggard and tired. But much like Shawn's own tiredness, it started to fade as the reality of using the Book now became the focus of their endeavor. "OK."

The Book itself did nothing as Bobby leafed through its contents, the pages crackling, smell of old paper like that of a stale leatherbound on the top library shelf.

Bobby closed his eyes and still nothing happened. He watched as Bobby leafed through the Book and...

OOC: Shawn Rolls Wits + Composure

OOC: 22:11, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 1 success using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s. Wits + Composure.

"Eeeeeeh, watch me paste this pathetic palooka with a powerful, paralyzing, perfect, pachydermous, percussion pitch!"

The Book suddenly yelled, transforming into its form quickly. Eyes appearing through the leatherbound cover, tongue swishing out rapidly like a whip. It tried to slap at Shawn's hand but he pulled it away.

The Book's eyes looked at Shawn and Bobby, shifting between the two of them. Then Bobby, fumbling the Book out of his own surprise, dropped it. With a book that heavy, it would have made a loud crashing sound on the floorboards. Instead, it landed with a heavy thud onto the pile of clothing that Bobby had laid out.

"Eh, what's up, doc?"

Shawn took a half step back with surprise, and had to take a moment before his heartbeat came back under control. This was not a great time for surprises! "That's weird - it didn't transform last night."

"Yeah." Bobby said in a cautious voice. "I don't know what happened. I started to think about being a G.I. Joe, maybe that had something to do with..."

"Pizza!" The Book suddenly shouted.


Loud.


Loud enough perhaps to wake both Mom and Dad. The comment itself was also strange. It came out in a demanding voice. The way an adult might scold a child. The Book's dry, leathery toque began to swish about its lips. The tongue formed a sort of hand gesture and then pointed inward towards its mouth like it wanted to be fed.

"Pizza!" It said again.

Shawn didn't have any pizza. They ordered it last week. Mom had said it might be time to cut back, seeing as the family might have to go on a 'budget' for some reason she didn't explain.

Shawn tried to shush the book, lest it wake his parents. "We don't have any pizza." He tried to think of what sort of leftovers they had in the freezer.

"It want's pizza? Why does it want pizza?" Bobby said, looking around the room in vain as if he could find pizza somewhere.

"Pizza!" The Book suddenly shouted.

"Shhhh!" Bobby hushed, putting his finger to his lips at the Book.

He turned to Shawn.

"What do we do? We have to do something, or else it will wake everyone up."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Shawn, Bobby? It was Dad's voice. Quiet it down in there OK? Mom and I are trying to sleep OK?

The floorboards creaked and Dad's footsteps faded away back towards Mom and Dad's room.