Shawn nods seriously, game face on. "I'm ready to do whatever it takes." He always tried hard at acting school (because Mom would notice if he was slacking off), but this time his heart well and truly was in it.

"Alright." Mrs. Worthington said "I think we'll start working on the instinct of acting. Remember, the best acting is instinctive. It's not intellectual, it's not mechanical, it's instinctive. Use what you know. Don't worry about what you don't know. Use what you know." She said again with more feeling. "Don't worry about what you don't know."

OOC: Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Expression + Striking Looks +1 (Ego Boost from last roll compliment:

0 Successes: Total failure. Mrs. Worthington drops Shawn as a student and Mom begins to question Shawn's ability to act.

1-4 Successes: Shawn does enough to enter himself into consideration for one of the movies, and Mrs. Worthington submits his name to the casting director

5-7 Successes: Shawn is guaranteed to get a part in one of the movies

8+ Successes: Shawn is guaranteed get a part in both movies

Shawn took a breath, and improvised a story about taking a surprise pop quiz on the first day of school. He changed the names, and at the end he realised integrity was more important than getting an A and decided not to cheat. It was a pretty cliche ending, but he delivered it with as much charisma as he could muster.

OOC: 21:42, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 2 successes using 13d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 4,5,9,4,6,6,5,5,9,5,4,3,2.  Manipulation + Expression + Striking Looks + 1 + WP.

"That's not so bad." Mrs. Worthington said, agreeing to submit Shawn's name into contention for the part.

Then, she switched the subject now that the lesson was over. It appeared, that now was the 'lecturing' time. Shawn had seen that before. How adults tended to move from one area to the next in the conversation with little warning.

"Your Mom tells me that you're going to get straight A's in school and work just as hard at your career." Mrs. Worthington said, disapprovingly.

"Look Shawn." She said, getting ready for the lecture. "I'm all for your plans to do well in school, but I've seen a lot of kids work in show business. I still teach some of them and help them get movie parts. You really can't do both. You've got some talent, there's not doubt about that. I would hate to see it wasted on school, that's all. Or worse, you trying to do both, and not end up doing either well."

Shawn nodded attentively. He just had to get good grades for a little bit - if he got good parts and started bringing in money for his family, he had a feeling the grades might be allowed to slide for a bit anyway. "I understand, Mrs. Worthington."

With the lesson over, Shawn headed towards the hall. As he opened the door, he immediately saw Sally sitting in the same chair that she was sitting in last time.

"Hey Shawn." She said, beckoning him over.

"Sorry about Eric. We're still friends right? I mean, he really isn't my boyfriend like he said." She spat out all at once, as if it was planned to say that.

Shawn automatically smiled when he saw Sally, then remembered himself and looked around for Eric. He shrugged at Sally's comment. "It's okay, I was just surprised. As long as you still want to be friends, we're still friends."

"Yes." Sally said. "I do."

"I mean. I still really want to be friends." she stammered. "I mean. Eric and I held hands once, but that was it. I just...didn't want you to think that I was a jerk like he was...is." she said, almost as if she was thinking that Shawn cared about the situation. Or that Shawn's feelings about the subject had already played out in her mind in some kind of rumination.

"Are you still here for lessons? I know you said you were looking for a part. Any luck?"

"I didn't think you were a jerk." Shawn of all people was not in a position to judge someone for acting different around specific people. Whatever she was up to with Eric, Shawn wished her luck. "Mrs. Worthington said she's going to put my name in for a big part soon. It's just an audition, but I think I can do it if I try hard enough..."

"I think you'll be able to do it. You're a much better actor than I am." She confessed.

"Honestly Shawn, I really don't even want to work that much anymore."  She said again.

"Did you know that my Mom is now making me practice at night too. She's got an acting tutor for me to practice at night. After such a long day like that, you'd think I'd want fall asleep. But I can't." She said, and Shawn caught a look of worry on her face.

"I think all of this stress is giving me nightmares. I keep having the same nightmare over and over again."

She paused, as if weighing things out, trying to decided to go further, venture forth and tell Shawn about the dream.

"In my bad dream, Eric is there. But his name isn't Eric. I don't know what it is. But I know it's him." She laughed nervously, as if acknowledging that that would only make sense in a dream.

"In the nightmare, Eric is taking things. He takes this kid named Ralph---I don't even know a kid named Ralph. He takes Ralph and he kidnaps him and puts him Somewhere dark.. And Ralph is real young in the dream. And Eric also takes other things. He takes Ralph's blanket. And he takes all of...these things that belong to other people. He's a stealer. But the worst part is, is that he doesn't lie about it or sneak around or anything. That's how I know it actually is Eric. Because he's up front about how he's going to take things and keep them."

"And in the dream I know he's going to take something. He's going to take something that everyone needs and its going to make other people upset and angry because some people could die. Even Ralph could die."

"What do you think all that means?"

Shawn wasn't sure where Sally was going with this until she mentioned Ralph, and suddenly she had his full attention. "This Ralph kid, I don't suppose he looks like..." Shawn describes Ralph in as much detail as he could muster.

"Ummm...Iiii...dunno." Sally said shaking her head. "It's all really not clear."

She started to get up, looking down at the ground, embarrassed. "I...shouldn't have said anything. I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you with all of my problems. I'm sure you have a lot going on in your life, with your family."

"It's fine, you're not bothering me." Shawn backed off the topic, worried he'd come across as a little overeager about Sally's dreams. "But yeah, you're right, things are kinda weird with my family right now. It's...complicated, but let's just say it's really important I get a big part soon."

Out of the corner of his eye, Shawn saw that his Mom had the receiver end of a harvest gold rotary phone pressed against her ear, the base resting on the front counter of the office building's reception desk. The look on her face was one of shock and dismay. His Mom was saying something about 'right away.' As if Shawn's Mom was hearing about news that need to be acted upon. Bad news.

"Do you um...ever dream about..." Sally hesitated. "Clowns?" She asked, not noticing what was happening at the counter.

There wasn't much that could've pulled Shawn's attention away from his clearly worried Mom. But yep, clowns was definitely on that list. He gave Sally a slightly worried look. "...Sometimes."

"I.." Sally said. Shawn's Mom was getting more frantic on the phone, asking all sorts of questions. Rapid fire, her hand covering her mouth. It was bad news alright.

"I don't mean the funny kind. I mean...the bad kind. Like Killer Clowns From Outer Space." Sally explained.

"So did I..." Shawn was getting increasingly distracted by his Mom on the phone. What was happening? Did something happen to his Dad? Or Bobby?

"What do you mean?" Sally asked, shocked. Her back was facing Shawn's distraught Mom, so she didn't see the rapid fire questions, the expression on Shawn's Mom's face or the way Shawn's Mom was writing things down.

Sally kept talking, firing off her own questions now that she realized she wasn't alone. She wanted details. Lots of details. She wanted to feel like she wasn't, in fact, alone.

Shawn didn't really have the ability to go into detail without sounding crazy, so he answered Sally's first few questions vaguely. And before she could ask more pointed questions, he stopped her. "Hang on, I think something's going on with Mom. I need to talk to her." He starts heading towards her.

"Oh, Ok." Sally nodded contritely. She waited patiently, but Shawn could tell she was a little taken aback.

Mom hung up the phone.

"Shawn. It's Gramps." Mom advised, using the cute term that they had used for Shawn's grandfather on his Dad's side. "I think he's.....sick. We have to go visit him. I'm not sure if you should come or not." Mom said, as if she was weighing whether or not Shawn seeing Gramps in an sickly state might upset him.

'Gramps' was someone Shawn had never spent much time with.

Yet somehow, a card and a gift would come each year on Shawn's birthday. It always seemed to have the right gift that Shawn would have wanted, no matter what age Shawn was. As he grew older it just became assumed that Mom or Dad was letting Gramps know what to set. In fact, over the last five years or so, Shawn had the distinct impression that Gramps was less and less accessible. There was a family rumor that Gramps might be getting old and crazy. Everyone knew that one time during his life a long, long time ago, Gramps was a patient at an old Asylum.

Shawn's eyes widened, and he felt a little upset. He hadn't met Gramps much, but he was still family. "What happened to him? Is he going to be okay?"

"He'll be fine Shawn. He'll be just fine." Mom promised, holding Shawn's shoulders and looking him in the eye.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Wits + Subterfuge + (Modifiers/Specialties/Merits)

OOC: 17:46, Today: Shawn Cramer rolled 4 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more ((9(+10,10,5),10(+4),7,6,7)).


I included the 9-again from Professional Training - if Shawn hasn't unlocked that yet, it's 2 successes.

OOC: Good, I was hoping you would add that.

Shawn Joins Thread:

Shawn: Gramps Has Got A Story to Tell...