“Let’s stop there.”

Nikole, up almost atop the actor’s head, turns to him with a look that asks, “Was that, OK?” Charlie nods.

“Who wants to start?” The mediator asks.

Nikole, who was played by Scarlett, had no make-up, and was in a baggy sweatshirt and jeans, as she sat in a chair, not saying a word, staring at a piece of paper in her lap, replied “I’m not going to read this out loud.”

“Why is that?”

“I don’t like what I wrote.”

She and her husband Charlie, who was being played by Mark Hamill, were in an upstate apartment office. They were sitting adjacent to each other, in front of a mediator who tried to help them through their problems in their marriage.

“As we mediate your separation and eventual divorce, things can become quite contentious, so I like to begin with a note of positivity. For the people, I work with to remember why they got married in the first place. And so, that as you come apart, you’re reminded that this is a person you had a great feeling for and maybe still do in many ways—” The mediator, who was a small actor that Ian had liked, when he gave the audition for Mark Hamill’s role, tried to explain.

“I’ll read mine. I like what I wrote.” Charlie interrupts him, as he holds up his phone.

“For it to work, you both have to read—” He says again, and this causes Nikole to huff in frustration, as she folded her paper and replied, “I am not going to.”

Taken aback by the rebuttal, the mediator tries to say something, but Charlie cuts in “She always says I can’t write. But I think mine is pretty good.”

“Nikole, maybe you’ll change your mind once you hear Charlie’s.” The mediator suggests as he picks on the lifeline.

“I don’t want to hear Charlie’s” Nikole insists as she looks at her husband.

“We promised to listen.” Charlie points out.

“That’s right, that’s the very first step in this process.” The mediator comments again, and this angers Nikole, as the frustration of her marriage story piles up and she furiously stands up.

“Well, I think I’ll go if you two are just going to sit around and suck each other’s dicks!”

“CUT! Great shot Scarlett!” Ian’s voice sounds throughout the set, as he indicates that the scene had been taken perfectly.

It had been a few weeks since the shooting for his art project, Marriage Story, had started and Ian and the rest of the crew were already through a lot of the scenes of the movie. He truly had lucked out into finding magnificent talent for this film, and that made his work significantly much easier.

“Shooting simple, yet powerful scenes like this is cathartic. It got me out of the funk I had, after the dream I had this morning.” Ian comments, as he checks the scene on Raelynn’s camera.

“Oh, and what kind of dreams does this century’s latest, potentially the greatest, scriptwriter and director have on his mornings?” Raelynn asks as she rewinds the footage, to mark out the time stamps of the moments that will need touch-ups in the editing phase. “Is this fine?”

“Yeah, we don’t need to retake. Send it to the team. And as a matter of fact, I usually have very pleasant dreams.” Ian answers as he chats with his cinematographer, as he waives away the actors for a five-minute recess.

“Oh, and what happened in today’s dream then?” Raelynn asks as she sits across from Ian, leaning towards him with a teasing smirk.

“Well, this morning, I was the captain of a space ship, called the Milano. I lead a motley crew of traumatized war veterans, that were looking for a way to make a living in the galaxy,” Ian responded.

Raelynn tilts her head and asks “That sounds pleasant enough, you were the captain of a friggin spaceship!”

“Well, yeah. But the problem was, I was dumb enough to play with magical space rock, that I found the section of space forbidden by space cops. That rock happened to release a monster, that wanted to take over the galaxy. So, I had to act like a real leader, and take my crew through some pretty dangerous stuff. I remember very vividly that we battled a dragon that was at least the size of the empire state building.” Ian explains.

Raelynn chuckles, and shakes her head “Wow, what I wouldn’t give to get dreams like that. Mine generally feature a white void and a boatload of cotton candy. You should think about making that into a movie. Though, now that you think about it, as a child, I did dream of Space. But it was about a Naked Thunder God, and his space goats. It wouldn’t make for a good movie, trust me.”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be a bad premise. Would make for a good porno though…” Ian offers.

“It would, wouldn’t it?” Raelynn laughed and shook her head. She stared at Ian for a couple of seconds, as he busied himself with the footage on the screen again, a smile still lingering on his face. She bit the corner of her lip and tried to say “Hey, Ia-“

“Sir, there is a Mr. Mason on the line, he says he needs to speak to you about Resident Evil.” Ian’s assistant unwittingly interrupts Raelynn from voicing out her thoughts.

“Oh, I will be right there. You were saying something, Rae?” Ian asks, as he gets up from his seat.

Raelynn shakes her head as she hides her disappointment and says “Oh, it’s nothing. Just a stupid thought about Space Goats, and dragons. Nothing important.”

“Oh, well then, if you’ll excuse me.”

“Oh, don’t let me hold you.” She replies easily, and she watches him smile and take his leave, expertly masking her disappointment.

“That was seriously agonizing to watch,” Niko comments, as he takes the seat Ian had just vacated.

“Hey, what do you know?” Raelynn rebuts, a little annoyed.

“Hey, I came in peace,” Niko says as he raises his hands in the universal sign of surrender, “You really should tell him,”

“I want to, but then I am also afraid, commitment isn’t something he or I are ready for. He’s got this company, and the movies he is making. And I have my own …… stuff to do!” Her reply peters off at the end.

“What stuff, if I may be so bold as to inquire?” Niko prods teasingly.

Raelynn huffs and replies “You may not inquire.”

Niko raises an unimpressed eyebrow at his friend and deadpans.

Rolls her eyes and sighs and replies unconvincingly “I-I, I like action sports. I’ve done all kinds of action sports, including Scuba Diving, SkyDiving, and Mountaineering. I’ve even explored the Amazon rainforest. I have hobbies!”

Niko deadpans yet again at his friend and replies “And all those action sports you are talking about, you did them with Ian. Heck all of them were for ‘Avatar’s research trip’, which by the way I still believe was Ian finding a way to empty money out of Goofy’s pocket if that man was Gay I would’ve made my move. Anyway, this is not about him. You need to go out, take a break, or something. Try a hobby, I hear Go-Kart racing is cool if action sports are really what you’re into. Point is, you need to either tell Ian how you feel, and get it done with, or you need to take a break and find out who you are.”

Raelynn sighed, as she looked at her friend, and replied “I-I guess, …. I guess you’re right, I’ll take a break from, from what exactly?”

“Must I tell you everything?” Niko shakes his head, as he gets up from his seat, seeing that Ian had returned from his call, and was going to rebegin shooting. “You, Raelynn, need to find an answer to that yourself.”