A Little Scottish Courage
30
October 1999
Chapter
1
“Cut. That’s it folks.”
Finally the day was over and they could all go home. Most of the crew had worked six days straight without a break, sometimes working well into the night to finish the shooting.
“Don’t forget, everyone, tomorrow is a day off for cast and crew so enjoy yourselves but please come back in one piece on Monday,” one of the production ladies called out for everyone to hear.
“Also, if anyone’s interested,” Dom yelled out as he climbed on to a chair, “there’s a birthday party down at Brava for our illustrious leader, Mr Jackson, so if you want to come along we will be having a few drinks.”
“And then we may have a few more,” chimed in Billy, “and then maybe some more.”
“That is a definite possibility, so if you want to come along it would be great,” Dominic finished with a smile as he jumped off the chair.
“That sounds like fun,” Carrie said to Tess as they packed up their makeup kits before taking them back to the trailer. “Are we going to go?”
“Yeah, of course,” Tess answered with a grin, “could do with some fun, couldn’t we?”
“Great, we’ll go home and get gussied up before we go over.”
Carrie picked up their kits and bags and headed off as Tess grabbed the chairs.
“Hey, Tess,” from behind her she heard Orlando call out. She turned to see him striding towards her still in full costume with bow in hand, his arrows and knives still encasing his back.
“Are you going to come to the party tonight, it should be fun?” he asked as he started to pick at the end of the bow which she was sure he should not be doing.
“Yeah, Carrie and I were just talking about going, we’re just going to go home first to get cleaned up.”
“Oh that’s great,” he said with a big smile, “well, I’ll see you there then.”
“Sure, OK, I’ll see you.”
Orlando turned and walked off as wardrobe people came to collect him and started to divest him of his weaponry & costume. Tess turned around and grabbed the chairs as she took off to the makeup trailer. She caught up to Carrie who had waited for her only a short distance away.
“Oh, Tess, he has got it soooo bad for you,” she sang as she gave her a cheeky grin.
“Shut up, he’ll hear you.”
“It’s true but, right?”
“Leave him alone, he’s sweet. He’s just being friendly.”
“I wish Brad Pitt would be that friendly with me. I would let him know the feeling was mutual and jump him.”
“You’re a sad woman, plus you had your chance to jump Brad three years ago and you didn’t. You need to get yourself laid; otherwise you’re going to start chatting up an orc.”
“Have you seen some of those orcs out of costume? YUM.” Carrie fanned her face.
“Plus you’ve been hanging around Mel too long,” Tess laughed as they continued back to the trailer.
When they were informed last Friday that the new Aragorn was to be played by Viggo Mortenson, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, thankful that the filming could continue without having to work around the missing King. The bonus had been when they were also informed that an extra make up artist, Mel Porter, would also be joining them to look after Viggo’s makeup as well as help out on other makeup as needed.
As the cast had lunch on Sunday with Viggo, the makeup crew had organised to do the same with Mel and it did not take Carrie and Tess long to realise that she was just as crazy as they were. Mel had also taken an instant liking to the girls, discovering their sense of humour and playful behaviour was the perfect foil for her dry, brash and somewhat shameless wit. By the end of lunch the three of them had become firm friends and they continued to swap stories and talk about their lives late into the evening.
When Viggo strolled into makeup for the first time on Monday morning he saw that his old friend had settled in well with the two Australian girls. They had worked together on many projects and their friendship had grown over the years. When they needed help, either professionally or just someone to talk to they knew there was someone at the other end of the phone. To see Mel laughing was all he needed to know that he had done the right thing on asking her to come to New Zealand to work.
Over the next week as Viggo quickly settled into the role, amazing everyone with his commitment and dedication to making the role of Aragorn his alone, he and Mel began to see the interaction between Tess and Orlando. When Viggo mentioned it to Orlando he denied there was anything happening and he had to go to Elijah to get the truth. When he spoke to Mel about it she told him a similar story regarding Tess and her reluctance to admit her feelings for Orlando although they were plain to see. When she asked Carrie she found out that this had been going on since the first day they met.
“Well, maybe you and I should look into hurrying this along, what do you think?” Viggo asked quietly as Mel touched up his makeup on the Saturday morning after their first week on set.
“Vig, you old romantic, you.” Mel answered with a twinkle in her eye. “But I agree, I think they would make a lovely couple. Too bloody good looking but you can’t put an ugly with a pretty. That’s why you and I would’ve never worked, butt face.”
“Hag,” Viggo laughed as he started to walk away. “Think about it; let me now if you come up with any ideas for them.”
“The best idea is to watch for the right moment and give them a shove,” Mel told him quickly before he was out of range. Viggo nodded in agreement as she shook her head and smiled as she thought of ways to get those two together.
----ooooOOOOoooo----
Tess and Carrie dropped off their kits and the chairs to the makeup trailer and met up with Kim and Lisa before they returned to the flat to prepare for the night. After two hours the four of them had been transformed from jeans and T-shirt crew girls to four stunning ladies ready to party.
“Carrie, how does this look together?” Tess asked as she came out of their room after straightening her hair and finishing her makeup. Carrie looked over to see her friend who was not only as beautiful as always but tonight was looking exceptionally stunning. She knew that Tess never dressed to please or attract men; she just wore what she liked and felt good in. Tonight she had chosen her black suede mini and the matching jacket which she teamed with a deep burgundy red silk and black lace singlet top, black stockings and lace-up calf boots.
“WOW, talk about hot,” Carrie responded as she fluffed her hair in the bathroom mirror. “Honey, if you don’t walk out of there tonight with that elf attached to your hip there is something wrong with the world.”
“Would you stop picking on Orlando, he’s not interested in me in that way,” Tess demanded as she checked out what Carrie was wearing for the evening. The short black sexy number she had decided on was teamed perfectly with a pair of lacy stockings and stiletto heels. All the black set off her spiky cherry red hair and the dark red jacket she picked up to take with her. “By the way you look gorgeous too.”
Ten minutes later the four girls were already to go and went downstairs to wait for the taxi they had called to take them to the club, allowing them a moment of relaxation during filming.