Chapter 131: A True Showman

What everyone assumed would’ve been an easy fix, ended up taking the entirety of the day to find a workaround for.

Getting Alistair’s long tailcoat to theatrically flay in sync with every spin Niall executed had proven to be far more of a hassle than was expected.

Afterall, how exactly were they to make it seem natural and unexaggerated without some form of CGI at play.

However, midway through their discussions, Mary-Beth gave a suggestion that they ended up going with.

Coins.

If they took two coins and individually dropped it into the pointed ends of the tailcoat, there would be some weight to it, enough to give it a level of substantial movement that would give him what he wanted.

At this point though, several of the Niall’s colleagues and the crew members involved in the movie’s production had wondered if there would be any notable differences in how the scene was perceived.

In their eyes, Niall’s performance was already perfect enough and they really couldn’t get behind why they needed to go to such lengths for a simple request.

Yet, when they did eventually get around to doing it, the stitches on the coat neat without leaving a single trace of the outfit being altered, Niall executed a single spin and voila! It worked in spades.

But most of all, everyone could finally see what was bothering the lead actor.

Whereas the coat looked rather floppy and stiff in his previous spins, it now flayed theatrically enough to look natural without being exaggerated, hence improving the scene by leaps and bounds.

To that effect…

–

You’ve been kidnapped,

You’ve been nabbed by–

This damn Chesire Cat!

A surge of bright purple-light rippled through the tavern as the mischievous feline was flash-banged at point blank.

Immediately after, a wave of darkness swallowed the entirety of the room, the only source of light in the room being the Chesire Cat’s enormous, yellow eyes.

Suddenly, the rhythmic snap of fingers echoed in the darkness, as did a low, continuous whistle that stretched on for far too long, a palpable eeriness gripping the tavern.

Chesire’s eyes narrowed, its discomfort clear and crystal.

Clearly, Alistair was giving him a taste of his own medicine and mimicking his actions… only he was dialing his up to eleven.

Then his whisper came;

Alice, are you okay?

Are you okay, Alice?

Chesire immediately responded, clearly nervous and not finding any of this fun;

“If this is payback for the glade, I think you’ve made your point, young Hat!”

Yet, the whisper came again, this time closer as some of the previously knocked out Knaves began to stir awake;

Alice, are you okay?

Are you okay, Alice?

“She’s safe, Hat!” Chesire’s head snapped to his left and right in quick succession.

For a moment, the wary feline heard nothing, the Knaves slowly staggering to their feet and gaining full consciousness.

Then, one last time…

So, Alice are you okay?!

Are you okay, Alice?!

…Alistair’s voice returned, charged with a sense of energetic relief as light bloomed back into the tavern in a burst of Chaos Magic and the beat dropped once more.

The spotlight landed on the young Hat who adjusted his crooked hat as the Knaves charged at him one last time, a subtle grin on his lips!

Tapping a foot onto the ground, several Joker cards blooming into existence, each one latched onto them like glue before they reached him.

Like puppets on a string, Alistair took them all dancing as they mirrored his movements, their legs unwillingly moving to the beat as he slid into their center.

Executing a revolving moonwalk, he halted on rhythm and shuffled forwards, extending his arms and flexing his shoulders as he dusted off the imaginary dirt.

Then;

Alice, are you okay?!

Would you tell me, that you’re okay?!

I said I’d show you around,

Take you off, on a wondrous tour, Alice!

Now a crimson hand is reaching,

Sapping wonder from everything, Alice!

And Wonderland is bleaching,

Time’s a-ticking, Alice!

Chesire’s control over his Illusion Magic returned as the hue of Chaos Magic enveloping him dissipated.

Knowing fully well what it meant, the cat gave Alistair exactly what she wanted, a hidden trapdoor in the ceiling revealing itself and Alice whom was trapped in a cage of yarn that slowly descended.

A card flew up into the air, swishing about the cage and slicing it into ribbons.

Another card appeared beneath an already shrieking Alice, catching and cushioning her fall as it scurried her out, shattering a window in the process as Alistair continued his performance;

Get going, Alice!

Get going, right now!

I’m right behind you!

Stylishly flicking back his coat, Alistair flicked his hat lightly and pointed forwards.

Then he began a heel spin that revolved once, twice, thrice and continued on and on until the Knaves he’d been puppeteering turned completely dizzy.

The moment they all began spiraling and slumping from the wooziness, he killed his own momentum effortlessly, the song’s melody ending with it.

Removing his crooked top hat, he theatrically gestured to the Chesire Cat with it afterwards, his form executing a smooth bow.

The feline visibly flinched from the act, Alistair winking and flashing him a wicked grin.

Then he put on his top hat, adjusted it slightly, and promptly darted out the door.

“Cut!”

–

“That, was fantastic! A-plus!” Marks’s excitement was palpable as his voice rippled through the entirety of the expansive green room.

In tandem, everyone on set exploded into a round of ecstatic applause, whistles and amazed cheers all of them thoroughly entertained by the young star’s performance.

Even though the scene was over, most of them were still feeling the excited chills running down their spines as goosebumps trailed across their skins.

This was the third time they’d seen Niall perform the scene and yet, it had never gotten boring, not for one moment.

Considering the hassle they’d also had to go through to get to this point, it was very well worth it.

This was largely as a result of the fact that every time they did revisit said scene, it happened to have one more improvement from the previous take.

At first, it had just been a whimsically choreographed action-dance scene.

Then it had evolved into something that would put most modern musicals to shame with the addition of the lyrics.

Only for Niall to add one more tidbit that gave it a theatrical flair of its own, fitting for the sort of story they were trying to tell…

As if him learning card tricks just to make Alistair’s use of it feel natural instead of clunky wasn’t enough.

As if him using his heartbeat for the intro of [Damn Chesire Cat] hadn’t been enough of a peculiar tidbit.

The young star, to all of them, was literally the epitome of a true showman, if they’d ever seen one.

In any case…

Alongside the other extras in the scene, Niall basked in the limelight, all of them currently offering the entire crew a theatrical bow as the applauds continued to get louder.

Mary-Beth especially, couldn’t help but don a light, natural smile as she clapped alongside everyone else.

Considering how little of a passion she had for acting, today happened to be the first time she actually found some part of herself, deeply invested in how a scene turned out.

Especially since it was her suggestion that saved the day… if ‘saving the day’ could be what it was called. Nonetheless, it made her genuinely glad.

At the same time, she found herself looking forward to the next scenes they were yet to film.

As for Niall, there was that familiar, tingly sensation that washed over him. Yet again, he could intuitively feel that his skills had improved.

…

…

…

Having arrived home about an hour later, Niall was currently studying the icons hovering above his palm.

The dance icon, specifically, had now morphed into a half-gold, half-platinum frame.

As for his microphone icon and film slate icon, Niall could intuitively feel that they were very close to pushing into a solid platinum frame compared to their current half-gold, half-platinum frames.

‘Should be able to push my acting skills into the next grade before the end of filming,’ the young star thought to himself.

‘As for singing…’ he pondered, his expression thoughtful.

‘It’d probably take me a couple more songs to make… two or three, give or take,’ he mused.

No sooner had that thought landed, though, than Niall began considering something.

With his music career being an independent affair, it had been completely easy for him to make multiple singles without having to worry about making an album, as opposed to having a record label, which would’ve been breathing down his neck by now.

It was also why, though he had a fair number of songs he’d put out, most of them were tailored towards the soundtracks he’d made for his movies.

[Damn Chesire Cat] had also fallen into that very same category.

Nonetheless, Niall didn’t intend to make an album. That, in its own right, would be too much of a hassle, given he never intended to tailor his career towards music.

Acting was, and would always be, his major focus.

That said,

‘Well, I guess I can work towards making an EP, at least.’ he casually decided, a thin smile touching his lips.