As Shawn rode in the car with Mom, the radio buzzed a commercial advertising the availability of Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine at a 'Toys R' Us near you.'

Mom was talking on and on about how happy she was to finally see Shawn. Shawn could see that the right side of Mom's face looked slightly....

No other way to put it: droopy. It was as if her eyelid on one side drooped. There was a yellowish bruise around her face like she had been struck there at some point, the force of the blow just now healing.

As the radio explained the multiple flavors of the Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine, Mom turned the car onto highway leading out of the city.

"Do you remember that movie Director?" Mom asked Shawn

Shawn noticed the slight bruising on his Mom's face, but didn't dare even glance at it for more than a second. He was afraid of what might happen if she noticed him noticing.

"You mean Mr. Bronstein?" It had been a while since he'd been in a movie, but he'd spent several weeks listening to Mr. Bronstein's directions, so even with everything going on in his life, he still remembered the man's name.

"Yes!" Mom said, clearly happy that Shawn remembered. "We're going to a try out right now. To an audition!" Mom announced with glee.

"And then ice cream later." She said, as an after thought.

Shawn was a little surprised that his Dad had agreed to letting him do more acting, but he didn't want to show his Mom any reluctance. "That's amazing - do you know what the movie's about?" Usually he had time to prepare for an audition, or at least knew what the casting people were expecting. He felt a little nervous about meeting everyone's expectations.

"It's a movie about a Puppet!" Mom announced, downshifting from the movie reference, and clearly focusing more on the road. The car accelerated faster, Mom eager to get where they were going.

That brought Shawn up short. A movie being about puppets didn't sound like a coincidence, considering what was going on in his life, though he wasn't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing. "Oh, like Pinnochio?" He glanced at the road, wondering if he could tell if they were driving towards the studios where Mr. Bronstein had worked before.

"Yes!" Shawn's Mom said. The car turned again, this time on an exit ramp that Shawn didn't recognize and into what appeared to be a somewhat affluent neighborhood.

The car passed a series of small shops and restaurants, a hairdresser’s, a supermarket and a pharmacy. Each house was large and spacious with a terracotta roof. Any kid would have seen that the homes here were something special. Something exclusive.

Within the neighborhood and down the street was a very large home that sat on hill. Mom pulled the car up to black iron gate and rolled down the window using the hand wind on the interior of the driver's door. She leaned her head out of the window and spoke into a speaker system.

"Mrs. Kramer here to see Director Goldberg." She said.

Shawn didn't see any sets or studios, but a fancy place like this definitely looked like where a big shot director might live. He looked at the house with wonderment, only somewhat noticing that his Mom hadn't used Mr. Bronstein's name. Maybe there were two directors?

"OK." Mom said, turning the engine off. "You know I love you Shawn." She said. "And I'll love you even more if you do a good job today. Everything depends on you. You're dream of becoming a star starts today. I know that in the past things haven't worked out as well as you wanted. But its really important not to think about those things or bring them up at all. Those mistakes are in the past so its better not to talk about them."

"Tonight, with this audition, its time to move on. Move past all of these things."

"You need to be at your best. You need to really impress this Director. Sometimes we need to act and say things that aren't true." She explained, without giving any other explanation by what that last part meant.

Shawn was feeling a little bit nervous and under pressure with the way his Mom was talking. Still, he didn't let that show, instead giving her a resolute nod. "Well sure - it's acting. It's all made up, right?"

Mom seemed to accept this answer. "Let's go. He's expecting you." Mom said.

And she said those words in a way that seemed to mean 'don't mess this up.' Mom rarely talked like that. In that tone she sounded more like the way she might talk to Dad when she wanted him to get a job and he wasn't employed.

Then she opened up the driver's door and headed towards the house.

It had been a while since Shawn had done an audition, but it was like riding a bicycle. Hopefully. He straightened his posture, coached his expression into his winningest smile, and then got out of the car and headed towards the door with his Mom.

The door opened, just as Mom had finished giving it two wraps. A heavy-set man with an open shirt with dark chest hair pouring out of it, opened the door.

"Hello? Who'da'heck'is'dis?" he asked in what sounded like a very thick New York accent.

Mom gave Shawn a nudge as if she wanted him to answer the man.

Shawn was ready to put his best foot forward, and something as common as meeting a New Yorker in LA certainly wasn't going to put him off. He gave the man his winningest smile. "Hello, I'm Shawn Cramer. I'm here for the audition?"

Shawn was invited inside the Director welcoming him in. The house smelled like cigar smoke, and indeed the director was holding a cigar in his hands.

"Yuz' want somethin' ta' drink?" Director Goldberg asked as they entered the house. There were two spiral staircases one on each side leading up to a grand terrace on the second floor, then white marble floors festooned with painting of leopards and other African wild life adorning the walls. For all the opulence of the house the Director seemed anything but refined.

"Ya' look a little runty." He observed, referring to Shawn. "Kinda small for ya' age ain't ya' kid?"

"I don't need anything to drink, but thank you!" Shawn made extra sure not to seem at all put off by the incredibly strong cigar smell in the house, instead looking around in a way that gave off the impression he was super impressed by everything he saw. Fortunately, the other question was one that he'd learned how to answer from listening to casting people at other auditions. So he beamed like he had just received a compliment rather than a slightly backhanded insult. "I am a little, yeah. But it means I can play younger if you need me to!"

The director made the comment, but he summarily ignored everything that Shawn just said. He winked at Shawn. Then he started talking to Shawn's Mom.

"Look, I'll get right to da' point on 'dis one: Excuse my French lady, but I ain't gonna fuck around because we got fucked big time. BIG TIME. We got less 'den 50K comin' true on 'dis movie. 50K! So, we lost fundin'. We lost actors. We ain't got editors. Honestly, 'tings aren't lookin' good. Not at all."

"So we're gonna cut 'dis down from a movie. To a just a pilot. Hell it might even be commercial. Shit if I didn't bring in my best boy from Brooklyn, we'd have to shut da' whole thing down."

Then he looked at Shawn. He got down on his haunches and looked at Shawn.

"You can do product placement, right kid?"

Shawn wasn't sure what the wink signified - hopefully it was a good sign. And when he knelt down a bit, Shawn tried to match the director's energy by being a little brash (but not too much). "I can handle anything you put in front of me." He tried to project confidence, and just a tiny hint of swagger.

"Let's get stah-ted"

OCC: Shawn Rolls Presence + Expression + Striking Looks + Professional Training (Actor) + Specialty (Acting)

Shawn knew he was under a lot of pressure from his Mom to get things absolutely perfect, so he puts his heart and soul into the audition.

OOC: 08:28, Today: Shawn rolled 6 successes using 11d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 7,1,5,8,6,4,3,10(+6),10(+8),10(+3),9(+6).  Presence + Expression + Striking Looks + Specialty (Acting) + WP.

OOC: Shawn Joins Thread

Shawn: Surprise! Surprise!