"I think that went well." Mom said, once she was back in the car, pulling out of the driveway. It was night time now, and there was a large half moon in the open, night sky.

"Let's get a video at the video store, before we go home!" She announced, in a tone suggesting that the idea would be a big treat that both of them could watch and enjoy.

Shawn felt tired, but also glowing with a sense of accomplishment at having done really well. "Sure, we can pick out a video, then meet Dad for ice cream!"

"Dad?" Mom barked out with incredulous surprise.

Shawn was knocked a little off-balance by his Mom's reaction. "Yeah? When you picked me up, you said we'd be going for ice cream with Dad afterwards?"

Mom paused before turning her head to Shawn, the car now fully backed out of the driveway. She put her foot on the peddle and it lurched forward, sputtering before heading down the road.

Mom took out a cigarette and lit it, the smoke from the match filling the air and slightly burning Shawn's lungs. She exhaled a plume of smoke that filled the car's interior with the acrid smell of burning nicotine. This was unusual, as Mom hadn't always smoked. Maybe Shawn saw her do it once in his life. At a party when talking to the 'Aunts', sisters of Shawn's Mom.

"I didn't say that." Mom said to Shawn. "I said we would go out for ice cream and I would take you from Dad's house." She emphasized.

"Your father is a mean man. And an abusive person. He's a liar and a loser. He can't keep a job. He can't support his family. A man is supposed to be all of the things that your father isn't." Mom fumed, each poisonous word coming out like a sharp knife relentlessly stabbing the concept of Dad.

"You won't be living with him anymore.  You're going to live with me. I have an apartment. You'll be safe from him there. And you can focus on your dream of being a movie star." She explained to Shawn.

"And we can have ice cream every night." She added, justifying the concept laid out to Shawn by adding a layer of candy on top.

Shawn had felt certain that Mom had said Dad would be coming along, but he couldn't just contradict her to her face. He forced himself to sound calm, as if all that was perfectly normal. "That sounds nice. Oh, but what school? And all my stuff?"

OOC: Shawn Rolls Wits + Subterfuge + Subterfuge Hiding Emotions Specialty + Striking Looks with the following results

0 Successes: Mom sees right through Shawn's act and reacts with anger

1-2 Successes: Shawn can't tell if Mom knows that he is trying to sound calm and normal

3+ Successes: Mom believes Shawn thinks that everything is perfectly normal

OOC: 19:42, Today: Shawn rolled 1 success using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling on 9 or more with rolls of 2,4,3,8,3,3,3,1.  Wits + Subterfuge + Subterfuge Hiding Emotions Specialty + Striking Looks.

"I didn't." Mom repeated to Shawn. "I didn't say that." She said again

"Anyway, you'll be living with me from now on. Away from you father."

"Sorry, I must've misremembered." Shawn tried to sound confused and uncertain, like he was just a kid who mixed things up all the time.

A few minutes later and the car was pulling into a dark looking neighborhood with apartment high rises all around. Halloween decorations reminded new comers and residents alike that the day for trick or treating was coming soon. Hanging skeletons decorated the awnings of and corners of nearby buildings and a large, fake purple witch was stationed at the edge of the parking lot that Mom pulled into.

The apartment building looked rather ratty and worn, as if it had seen its better days in the late 50s.

"OK. We're at your new home. Oh, this is going to be so exciting to live together!" Mom rejoiced

Shawn looked around, feeling a bit reassured that people were still celebrating Halloween, at least. It felt normal, somehow. "Oh, I'm going to need a Halloween costume, right?"

Mom seemed taken aback by the question. "I....." she stammered. "I hadn't thought of that." She finished, somewhat lamely.

She opened up the driver's side door, getting out of the car and then opening up Shawn's door so he could get out. The night air came flooding in. It was cool and smelled of someone burning an early autumn chimney nearby.

"Do you want pizza or should we order Chinese food?" She asked.

"That's okay, we can probably find something at the Dollar General, right?" Shawn tried to sound reassuring, he didn't want his Mom to get any more worried or upset. "Either sounds good - maybe pizza?"

Mom didn't say anything about Dollar General. Instead Mom led Shawn from the parking lot to the stairwell of the high rise. The two got on an old elevator, the light flicking and harsh florescent bearing down on them.

Then it was out onto an old carpeted hallway, smelling of must like old people. Mom fidgeted with her keys "its not much." Mom said to Shawn. "But at least you won't be living with so many distractions." She said, putting the keys in the lock.

"It's okay, I don't need much." Shawn tried to sound confident and self-sufficient, even as he thought about his bed back home and all of his friends.

"You won't have to worry about seeing all of your non-movie start friends." Mom said, driving the point home as she swung open the door to the apartment, the strong smell of cigarette smoke greeting Shawn, stale and dry.

"I really loved how you performed today." Mom said to Shawn, referring to the new commercial and throwing her jacket on the couch.

Shawn very carefully kept the sadness at the though of losing all of his non-movie star friends from his face (it wasn’t like he had any movie star friends anyway). Likewise when he noticed the smell of stale cigarettes. “I think they really liked us!” He looked around for a place to hang his jacket.

After Shawn hung up his jacket, he sat down at the kitchen table. A single roach made his way across the kitchen floor as mom finished ordering pizza, hanging up the harvest gold phone on the wall and then sitting down at the table.

"That was a great line! Great line!" Mom exclaimed, still overjoyed by Shawn's performance during the commercial shoot. "And just think, it's going to be broadcast during Halloween night!" She exclaimed.

Shawn thought about the finishing line of the commercial which was about Halloween candy.

OOC: Shawn Chooses one of the following as the final lines.

1) "I Know You Are But What Am I?"

2) "I Feel a Need for Speed!!"

3) "Ha! I Kill Me!"

4) Player Shawn picks his own line

Shawn remembered delivering his final line "I know you are, but what am I?" It had actually been a bit tricky to get right - it was there to remind the viewer that even though he'd said a bunch of commercial lines, he was still a kid who liked candy. But at the same time, he couldn't sound too bratty, or people wouldn't like the commercial. Still, he'd managed to get it done, and he felt a sort of exhausted pride in that.

"That's right!!" Mom said. Then she leaned forward for emphasis. "Shawn, I know that this is hard. I know that you're moving away from home. But believe me, it's the best thing for you. You have to have a future and there's no future there for you in our old house. You probably have friends at school and you'll be able to see them because you'll still go to the school you're going to. But with the end of one thing a new thing will happen. And in this case,  you're new movie star career will be....more starry than before. So it's just a little bit of an adjustment, ok?"

Shawn felt a little reassured that he would still be going to school and hopefully see his friends. "I'll do my best!" It was usually a pretty safe thing to say.

Mom seemed satisfied with that answer.
She switched tone, now no longer forecasting Shawns future. “I love you Shawn. I’m doing all of this for you. So that way you can be famous. And that way you can be a movie star. And live your dream where everyone loves you and your whole life will be safe and secure forever. People won’t look at you like you’re some nobody. Everyone who sees you will love you for being famous. And they will never judge you ever again.”

Shawn didn't relax just because his Mom seemed happy with his answer - he knew he couldn't make a misstep, lest she be disappointed. "That sounds really good, but I wanna make you proud too."