Chapter 122: Finally

The rest of ember months went by pretty smoothly.

Save for the occasional moments where Niall had to head out to sort out a few things on his own, most of the legwork happened to be handled by Paul, hence affording the young man the avenue to spend as much time with his family as he possibly could.

At the same time, it allowed him work on the new song, alongside having some proper downtime from all the hustle and bustle of his career.

Surprisingly though, despite having finished up the lyrics of the song and had already gotten down the tune in his head in late November, Niall never worked on it any further than that.

As a result, no one, not even his parents, and most especially, Camille, knew about it.

To that effect, Niall kept the song to himself, and simply enjoyed the rest of his time with his family--though there was one other song he had worked on that they were well-aware of and had been genuinely stunned by.

In between all these though, he managed to take his parents and Camille sightseeing, and even tried teaching the lady how to ice skate.

His parents however, outright refused the idea, fearing their age wasn’t the most feasible to learn ice-skating. Still, they had enjoyed watching the young couple practice together.

Granted Camille didn’t become a pro though, she was at least able to hold her own and amateurishly glide across the ice after a few days of practice.

Through all these, alongside several other bonding moments they had, Niall made sure to trickle His Gift of Vitality into her with the aid of His Gift of Bestowal.

One thing that his parents did really enjoy though--his father especially--had been golfing.

Though he clearly didn’t take them to The Riviera Country Club for very obvious reasons, he still took them to a pretty well-established one within the region of Silverlake itself.

As for his mother who had a green thumb, to say the least, she on the other hand spent more of her bonding time with her son planting and growing viable plants in the garden.

It also helped that through all of these moments, Camille had found one opportunity or to journal, her sketchbook full of a plethora of inspirations to draw from for her next piece.

Perks of experiencing somewhere different than simply shuttling between home and her art gallery in Nashville.

By the time the third week of December had come around though, all four headed back down to Leiper’s Fork in Nashville.

With Camille’s last session coming in the first week of January, they figured it was for the best that they headed over earlier instead of having to deal with all the rush hour come festive season.

Naturally, that meant Niall celebrated Christmas, and New Year’s Eve with his family yet again, and he also got to see Becca again after not having seen her in quite a while.

Followed by Camille’s last session a couple days later, Niall hung around for the rest of the week to support her and had even extended his stay into the first couple days of the second week of January.

However, with auditions for [A Maddened Wonderland] set to begin at the tail end of that very week, he soon found himself heading back to LA.

Prior to that week though, Vrael Productions had announced on all their social media platforms that they were working on a new blockbuster movie.

Naturally, that got people’s attention, as well as the attention of several press companies in Hollywood.

However, when you essentially made the highest grossing movie of the previous year, it was only natural that extra attention would be paid to you.

That said, what really made people that much more invested, wasn’t just the title of said movie which was quite fascinating in its own right.

Rather, it was the news that it would be directed by a debut director, and most especially, that Niall Parker was the movie’s executive producer.

As one would expect, Hollywood media outlets and fans alike, and even the general public to a certain extent ate the news up, immediately resulting in a buzz of articles, threads and online discussions.

Yet, at the same time, Big Boon Studios announced the sequel to their billion-dollar franchise, [Syndicate: Reckoning], one that drew just as much attention as Vrael Productions’ announcement.

Before long, movie buffs soon began discussing and sharing their thoughts on the announcement of both movies.

Such was the post from one Jeddit thread, the now upvoted post of 3000 upvotes, captioned;

[A Maddened Wonderland] and [Syndicate: Reckoning]

We’re eating good this year, gents!

-

SaltyIrishDog: That we are, OP! Unfortunately, I’m so broke, I doubt I’d ever be able to afford the ticket to go watch any of them in cinemas, haha. Might just have to sail the high seas once more.

FoundMyUndies: I’m cautiously optimistic about [A Maddened Wonderland]. I mean I know Niall’s attached to the project and that gives me some sense of comfort, especially since he’s working with Vrael Productions again, but a debut director? That’s the one thing that has me bothered.

SlayerOfThots: Do we really need a fourth [Syndicate] movie though, ’cause I think a prequel would’ve been a more fitting route to go. I’d gladly go watch it at the cinemas still, especially since the past three movies have delivered, but I thought the story came to a solid conclusion with the third movie. I just hope this isn’t another attempt at a soulless cash grab.

ExtraSpicyLatina: Excuse you, OP! There are ladies in this community too you know! Jokes aside, I’m most excited for [A Maddened Wonderland]. It’s a fresh new IP. Hollywood desperately needs more of these, instead of sequels and prequels and recycling the same old stories and repackaging them every now and then.

└ ChillLatino OP: My bad, sis. But I agree. Hollywood does need more originality.

IGotAntsInMyPants: I’d... rather go watch [Syndicate: Reckoning]. Whenever it comes out in theatres. I mean, it’s a billion-dollar franchise and it has a massive audience. Surely, they wouldn’t want to fuck up their legacy with a mediocre fourth movie, right? I’ll get [A Maddened Wonderland] when it comes out in Blu-ray, though.

-

Within hours of both announcements, it was clear that there was a solid market for both movie, though there was equally a sense of skepticism towards them.

Vrael Productions for opting to have a newbie at the helm of directing perhaps the biggest movie they’d tried producing till date, and Big Boon Studios for pushing for a fourth movie that wasn’t exactly sitting right with their long-term fans given the trilogy was already perfect.

In any case, by the time Niall had finally arrived at LA, it happened to be on the very day the casting auditions were set to happen.

After dropping home for a quick outfit change, he then headed over to HTA.

Having arrived a couple minutes earlier, Mark and Henry were already seated in wait and Niall promptly joined them.

Exchanging a few greetings and pleasantries with them, it didn’t take long before a couple of HTA’s agents, from Victor himself, to Dominic, Marissa and others began taking their seats in the wide auditorium just underground the building.

Afterall, they all had clients they’d proposed to have audition for the roles in the movie... and there was quite a number of roles, though the one that happened to be of most interest, was that of the movie’s main supporting character, Alice. Jr Kingsley, and the movie’s main antagonist, the Knave of Hearts.

A few minutes after that, the auditions finally kicked off.

Niall, given how important it was that he made this movie a resounding success, didn’t even think twice before employing His Gift of Discernment as he wanted the crème of the crop actors.

But even then, he ensured to keep an open mind, knowing fully well that skills weren’t just all it took to decided whether an actor was signed on-board.

Afterall, a modestly skilled but humble actor was way easier to work with than a talented asshole.

In any case, the final stages of the pre-production for [A Maddened Wonderland] had kicked off, just like that.

In the weeks following the rest of the month of January, Niall, Mark and Henry, thoroughly assessed each candidate, with callbacks even slipping into the first week of February.

However, before the end of said week, they had already finalized whom was set to be in the movie.

All that was left now, was for the actors to get used to, and prepare for their time on the set as they’d all being introduced to the wide green room fitted with the now massive LED screens.

Speaking of preparations though, there was one last thing Mark and Niall had decided upon... one that required him to perform that one scene he’d talked about with him and they’d revamped.

Having brought a talented dance choreographer on board, one that Niall had given a solid framework of what he wanted, the man had built upon it, transforming the skills he’d learnt into a smooth, seamless routine that only served to amplify the scene.

Then, when the day finally came for a test run of the scene, not only was Mark stunned to no ends, but so were the extras whom were set to be in the scene as well.

The sort of life Niall had brought to Alistair Hatter in that very moment... it was honestly a perfect encapsulation of the chaotic being he was, one that was solely his own brand of madness.

In any case, with the first-time director being fully on-board with the scene being incorporated, the final bits and pieces of pre-production was finalized.

Then, when the second week of March, 2019, came, [A Maddened Wonderland] had finally entered production.

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07