Behind the Lens (the owl house au)

Ch. 5 ~ Table Reading pt. 2

They all found their designated seats for the table reading, and as Luz settled into her chair, she felt a mixture of excitement and nervous anticipation. The room buzzed with creative energy, and the air seemed to crackle with anticipation.

Luz glanced around, noticing her fellow cast members taking their seats, scripts in hand. She exchanged smiles and nods with Gus, who sat 3 seats down across from her, still radiating enthusiasm. The room fell into a momentary hush as everyone settled down, waiting for the official start of the table reading.

Dana, the director, stood at the front of the room, a script in hand. Her presence commanded attention, and when she began to speak, the room fell into a focused silence. "Welcome, everyone, to the table reading of 'The Owl House.' Today marks the beginning of our journey together, and I'm thrilled to have such a talented and dedicated cast."

"I couldn't have asked for a better cast and crew to be working with each one of you is special and that is why you were chosen to be here now I and Alex apologize for taking so long to start this project up but soon after we chose our cast we decided we wanted the characters to be a part of you so we rewrote the characters using your names and we tried to mirror some of the personality we saw in the audition room. 

As Dana spoke, Luz felt a surge of pride. The weight of being the main character became more tangible, but it was accompanied by a sense of readiness. She flipped open her script, her eyes scanning the familiar lines that would soon bring her character to life.

The reading commenced, and the room transformed into a symphony of voices, each actor infusing their lines with personality and emotion. As the characters came to life, Luz marveled at the talent surrounding her. She was taken aback listening to her fellow co-stars she wondered if she could ever be as good as them.

Eda lowered her voice as if trying to only talk to Luz. "Today you'll deliver packages and sell potions to that town over there, Bonesborough. You'll have to be careful; I have rivals everywhere who'd love to take my business down, and you along with it. You wanted a dangerous magical quest? Sister, you've got one."

Luz stared fascinatingly at her, the way she delivered her lines, how her eyebrows scrunched when she was warning Luz – everything was seamless, as if she truly was her character."Luz," she whispered, "Your lines," she said. Luz woke up; she had accidentally gotten lost in her own mind again. "I won't let you down, Miss Eda," Luz reassured. "I'm sure," she said, looking towards Luz.

Luz worried she had done something wrong as Eda narrowed her eyes at Luz, analyzing her. "Remember, never befriend a man in sandals and always measure twice, cut once." Is she judging me? Oh no, focus Luz. You need to stop getting distracted. You're the leading character; you need to try harder than everyone else, and you're falling behind. Luz once again looked dumbfounded when her lines had come up again. The cast had begun turning their heads at the fifteen-year-old girl. "Uh..."

The room fell silent. Luz felt their eyes on her, judging her. She knew she shouldn't have accepted this part. Her role was always going to be the background characters; she wasn't made for this. Dana was regretting casting her, and she was going to be replaced.

Suddenly, Alex began cackling, his body betraying him as he tried to hold in his laughter. "Sorry, sorry. It's just this is the exact kind of thing I love about Luz. I think her adlib is a better fit than her original line."

"I agree. It brings the character more to life," Dana concurred, scribbling out the original line to add Luz's adlib.

Eventually, everyone else joined in on his laughter, finding it contagious. Luz felt a lot better, realizing making mistakes was okay and that people enjoyed it."Good luck," Eda redirected her attention to Alex. "I hate to interrupt your power nap, but you have to go with her."