The Masks We Wear

In the Moment

Everything was a go... no detail had been left unexamined; no thoughts left unvoiced. In front of Asa Samuels was a shut pair of metal sliding doors, and behind them two voices could be heard conversing. Wait for it, he told himself, his ears listening from the small, cold room he was standing in, listening for the right moment to barge in and take control. In this world he was in, there were too many instances of the job not getting done, and that's why he was here... to get closer to the two targets his employers had designated.

Approach was everything, if he didn't set the right tone then the same thing was just going to happen again. But he'd been in this situation many times before, he knew exactly how to handle it. His breath steamed against the fabric covering his mouth, a facial bandana used to hide his full appearance from any eyes that were unfortunate enough to come into contact with him. Asa's eyes darted to the ceiling, studying the frost that crawled across the metal surface. How much longer? Had he missed the moment?

No, he hadn't. Asa looked ahead again as he heard an exclamation. That was it, his moment was here.

Right as he stepped forward, the doors quickly slid open to make way for his entrance, the two men on the other side quickly growing silent as the one they would refer to as 'the Mercenary,' strode into the room. "Any intel?" Asa questioned, allowing some rasp to lace his words. He walked between them, pausing once he'd passed them to give a side glance to one of the men. "I should clarify... useful... info."

The venom dripping from his emphasis prompted a slight jump from the taller man whom he was eyeing. It was always funny to Asa... how every entrance of his seemed tailored to provoke intimidation. The frigid temperatures, the flickering keypads on the walls, the dim lights... all of them lent a morbid feeling.

"W-we... we found them." The man responded, as Asa began to slowly walk forward again, his eyes trained on a small monitor on the opposite side of the room. "Really?" He snickered, reaching the monitor. Asa wiped away some frost that had started to gather on the glass, looking over his shoulder again. "Then let's go get them. We wouldn't want to keep your leader waiting, correct?" His blunt response made the men look at each other, as he'd expected. None of this was surprising to Asa.

Their momentary silence was broken as Asa turned to face them, rolling his shoulders back to dial up his menacing appearance. "The footage was g-given to us anonymously. We don't know who... who sent it, or where- ""You don't know where because you don't know what we're looking for." He interrupted, turning back to the monitor again. "Sir...? We know what-who- we are looking for. The targets- "

"I asked for a location." Asa growled, his fists clenching at his sides. "We know who the targets are. Why concentrate on what they look like when we can concentrate on the surroundings?"

He turned a dial to the left of the monitor, the one controlling the zoom in/out function of the monitor. It was truly unbelievable how much this organization needed their hands held in order to accomplish anything. Luckily for them, he existed.

The two men nervously stepped closer, their eyes flicking from the monitor, to each other, back to Asa. "Run a cross-check on the buildings in this photo. Surely an organization with your reach will find footage of this environment. Or..." He rolled his head on his neck, hearing a few bones pop. "...or are you only pretending to be as strong as you say you are?" Asa's words hung in the air, his eyes focusing on the monitor. A monitor with a green screen underneath the glass.

"Cut!! That's a wrap, great job everyone!" Dave's voice brought Asa back to reality, and he breathed out, pulling the bandana down from his face as he looked back at the director, quickly slipping his freezing hands into his jacket pockets.

"You sure I can't get a costume change?" Asa joked, stepping over to Dave as the crew began to pack up their cameras. "Pretty chilly for just two layers." The director chuckled, nodding in agreement. "You're not wrong. Unfortunately, you're playing a pretty icy guy, right Asa?" Dave reminded him, and Asa could only shrug in agreement. "You're not wrong... I've never really heard of a friendly mercenary."

Dave started folding his chair, gathering his sheets of script as everyone began clearing out. "You can't look bulky in any of these, Beckett Callbrooks is a fast, calculated, and determined character." He explained further, beginning to gesture with his hands. "Intangible emotions are definitely a big part of a role like this... but so are appearances. The viewers need to get a clear image in their heads, and seeing someone dress light while visiting a bunker in an artic region is going to let them know they're dealing with someone dangerous."

Asa couldn't help but smile at Dave's passion. No one on the cast could say that they didn't like Dave, he approached his job as helping and advising them rather than controlling them. All that information, the precision of what he asked for... all of it was to better them, not just to put out a great product.

"So that, Asa, is why I advise eating a bowl of soup if we ever need you in this setting again." Dave grinned, prompting a laugh from the young actor. "I'll keep that in mind, thanks Dave."

Asa began to make his way out of the film set, which had built in a room where Dave could have high control over the temperature, a unique room in the studio. Hopefully the director's zeal wouldn't prompt him to light a set on fire one of these days.

He stepped out into the main hall, wading through the masses of assistants that were making their way to the next scene, to help with costume design, and all the other various aspects that went into filmmaking. For now, Asa just wanted to go back to his trailer and decompress. Sure, being a scene that focused on him was fun in the moment, but before and after, it just made him... sheepish. Slightly awkward about being the center of attention.

But that's what came with the job. Well, that, and having to watch Caroline kiss Caleb for what felt like every other minute.

Asa sighed a little. They never really warned him to not catch feelings in this industry... of course, he hadn't intended on it, but that's just how things played out.

Caleb and Caroline weren't actually a couple in real life, of course. Just onscreen. But that didn't hurt Asa just a little bit inside whenever they would all gather and watch their newest episode come out, admiring all the work they'd put in together. It wasn't even that he was really jealous of Caleb, just... it was pretty complicated. Upset, but not at a person. Hurt, but not because of what others had. More so of what he didn't have.

Dwelling on it too much would get Asa antsy, as he started fiddling with his hair just a bit. Normally he preferred to have it cut a lot cleaner, but Dave had insisted he grow it out to add to the menacing look of Beckett the Mercenary. So for now, Asa was going to have neck-length strands of brown getting in his eyes from time to time.

As he made his way further through the studio, he tried to take his mind off of the 'predicament'. He was being selfish. Ungrateful. How many people got to do stuff this cool for a living?

How many people get a chance to meet someone like Caroline and can't really take advantage of it? Asa thought to himself, his hands sliding further into his pockets. The answer to both of his questions was, not very many.