OOC: This event happens before Shawn goes into the Book to get Roger

"Wow. Times must be hard." Dad said to Mom, putting a pancake on Shawn's plate and then pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"The Robinson's have moved out. It seemed just like yesterday that Bob was bragging about having a 'country-club' yard. And now. They're gone." Dad said.

"See that Shawn? That's why you always have to apply yourself. To make sure that you don't end up like that. Get too lazy and you'll get fired. Just like Mr. Robinson did."

Shawn dazedly applied syrup to his pancake. He'd been having bad dreams and hadn't really slept the previous night. Dad's voice snapped him out of his stupor. The Robinsons were gone? Shawn hadn't seen much of them; he'd heard they had a kid his age, but between Shawn's irregular schooling and acting work, he'd never really met them. He supposed he never would, now. "I don't want to be lazy, anyway. It sounds boring." But despite his words, with everything he was dealing with, Shawn wanted nothing more than a day off, or even a night without nightmares. He felt exhausted in his bones.

"Well, if you ask me it serves them right: no good, pretentious nonsense people. At least there moving. Now we won't have to worry about them having more lights than us at Christmas."

"Well, I don't know. I think it will be a bit lonely without having the Robinsons. Something about the neighborhood changing around. We don't even know how long they'll be gone before we get a new neighbor. He kiddo, maybe some kids your age will move in."

Shawn swallowed his bite of pancake before replying. He'd probably gone a little overboard with the the syrup because he'd been distracted. "That might be nice. But even if they don't, I've still got Bobby."

"Yeahhh....about that Bud." Dad said, trailing off and leaving the air slightly more tense.

"We've just been meaning to talk to you about that honey..."

Shawn immediately tensed up, even as he tried to hide it behind a veneer of good natured curiosity. But it was harder this time, harder than deceiving  his parents usually was. "Talk about what?" His voice was bright, but brittle. He was worried he knew what was coming.

"Well...." Mom said.

"Thing is Kiddo, we can't really have Bobby here forever." He said. "But you knew that. And now with Ralph here, things are getting tight. You know, financially. We just can't afford to have too many kids running around. I mean, this ain't the Hilton."

"But don't worry. We've already been working to help Bobby out. We found some great Foster parents for him in Ohio. So, as soon as they come visit, and the paper work is worked out..." Dad said, trailing off again, but his meaning was clear.

Shawn felt like he'd been punched in his gut, and it was only years of practice at locking down his expression that stopped him from tearing up. "But Bobby's like my br-he's my friend! We can't just send him to Ohio."

But deep down Shawn knew they could, and that certainty knocked him right out of denial, skipping anger, and landed him right in bargaining. "What if I got a part in a big movie - like you're always saying, Mom, it just takes one good part to make it big. Then we could afford to keep Bobby, right?"
This message was last edited by the player at 03:31, Sun 08 Jan 2017.

Dad's eyes brightened at the prospect of that kind of financial relief. But Mom's own eyes looked slightly annoyed at some aspect of it.

"Well, I suppose....that would help. But Shawn, you've got to understand that..."

"I tell  you one thing, that would probably solve everything to be honest." Dad interjected. But then he added with another important tone.

"But not at the cost of your grades Kiddo. I can't have you failing out of class, right? Grades first."


Mom said nothing, but her face betrayed the fact that she didn't believe grades were first

"OK, it's a deal!" Shawn tried to lock them in before they could change their minds. He had no idea how he could actually make this happen, but at least he had hope now, right? He just had to dig even deeper than before.

"But Shawn...Robert, please.." Mom insisted, trying to change the deal before Shawn could nail it down.

"Now Ethel," Shawn's Dad shot back. "It's about time we start treating Shawn like the man he's going to be. If he says that he can juggle both work and school I think that's a fine thing, don't you? If we're asking him to do something, he'll be able to prove one way or another. Right son?"

He leaned in towards Shawn.

"No son, its important that you know that we both like Bobby Kiddo. It's just that no one expected him and Ralph and what happened...we also think it would be a fresh start for you after what happened. But if you feel that strongly about it and you think you can both work in school and do well with acting--real well--then I think we can come to that arrangement."

"You do think you can do that, don't you?" Dad said, offering Shawn one last out.

"Well, Ralph is another story. We have to find his parents. I'm not going to go through the terrible threes again." Mom said, a little too candidly.

Shawn nodded. "I know I can do both, and Bobby's my friend. But you're right about Ralph - I don't think Ralph would be happy here." He tried to make it sound like a concession, rather than something he very much hoped would happen.

"He's too young." Mom agreed in a serious tone, speaking more to Dad than Shawn at this point.

"Yes, good, we're all in agreement then. Shawn, what kinds of movies are you interested in then. I mean, I know I don't spend a lot of time at home much. So, tell me, what kind of things are you looking at?"

Shawn scratched his head as he thought about it, breakfast now thoroughly forgotten. "I mean, I like doing horror movies, but those usually aren't very big, right? I'd need to find something like an adventure movie."

"Ethel, see that Shawn does an adventure movie next." Dad decided, stroking his chin.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 11:35, Mon 09 Jan 2017.

Mom laughed nervously. "But dear, adventure movies don't have any of the romance and expression of feelings that a true drama would have. We don't want Shawn to be typecast in a certain set of skills."

"Well, we also don't want him moving from role to role trying to find a financial solution to this and failing. If he doesn't like the role he's doing, he'll end up not doing as well. He's got to land a part that makes a difference money-wise. Not some sissy-drama that sounds good but doesn't do anything. We can't have the boy working towards nothing now can we?"

He leaned in towards Mom.

"Can we?"

"No, of course not, it's just.."

"Then it's settled then." Dad interrupted, picking up his plate and heading towards the sink. "The next movie is an adventure role."

He glanced down at his watch.

"Oh. I gotta go." He grimaced, seeing the time.

Shawn felt a little awkward having set off a disagreement between Mom and Dad, but he was too busy figuring out a plan of attack for his next audition to do much about it. Failure was no longer an option.

Once Dad left, Mom uttered. "Same as always. Leaves me with the plan without any help to do it. Come on Shawn, let's go to your acting coach."

Shawn nodded. "Right Mom." This time, he was really going to give it 110%!

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: Prepping for the Big Audition