“Not in the slightest.”
“Okay, maybe you can help me talk through something. That little look… and then I was exploring some things yesterday… it’s like, Melinoë wants it to seem like she’s over this, above it, not bothered by Electra, but actually she’s like…obsessed. Everything’s about Electra, about getting under her skin, about this like… hm… not praise, but…recognition.Sorry, did that make any sense?”
My spine stiffens. I don’t like that explanation; I don’t like it one bit. Melinoë’s not obsessed with Electra. She doesn’t need or want Electra’s recognition or approval. Melinoëisover it, above it.
The thought resonates with another:
I’m over it, above it.
Fuck. Haley just read me for filth.
I put more of my own emotions into Melinoë than I realized, and Haley’s right; I clearly feel like I have something to prove to Christine.
At my pause, Haley waves a hand. “Sorry, it was just my weird rambling.”
“No, it—” I soften my tone. “It makes sense. You’re really insightful. I hadn’t thought about it that way before, but you’re onto something.”
If I spend the rest of filming taking potshots at Christine, I’m no better than she is. I shouldn’t take her behavior personally. It’s not like I could actually convince her to change; why would I even think I could? The best thing I can do is relax, enjoy myself, and try to have some fun while I’m in fucking gorgeous New Zealand shooting the kind of movie I would have been obsessed with as a kid.
“Really?” Haley continues. “Okay, well… So I was thinking about something for today, when Melinoë is with the furies…”
We spend the next hour of makeup, hair, and wardrobe talking through Melinoë’s character. Haley really is insightful and easy to riff with.
Sharon and Keysha chime in as well, offering the logic that has gone into their decisions so far. We all bounce off each other, and a couple tweaks are made to Haley’s makeup, leaning into the emotional beats she’s going to hit today.
It’s electric. Exciting. It feels less like a feature film set and more like backstage at theatre camp, where we chattered in a rush of hushed voices about how to search new corners of our souls for the performance. Our own little world, creating a thing together that only we could create, that could only happen in this singular moment.
I ride that high through a morning of filming. Haley blossoms, finding a subtlety and force for Melinoë that leaves Lana thumping her palm against her chair in satisfaction. Wetrade off seamlessly, shot-by-shot, co-creating this intense-yet-grounded, sensitive-yet-steel-skinned villain for all the world to fall in love with.
Haley and I sit next to each other at lunch, and we’ve already racked up enough inside jokes that we might as well have been childhood friends.
“You’ve never had steak and ale pie?” she asks, incredulous, stuffing an apple slice into her mouth.
“I have not, but that sounds pretty good.”
“Oh, it is. I’m fixing this. But it’s got to be my gran’s; hers is the absolute best.”
“Is this you inviting me to London?”
“Yeah, duh. We’re, like, family now. Is it weird if I say I’ve always wanted a big brother?”
“Yeah, it’s weird,” I say with a smile.
She snorts and nearly spits out her iced coffee. “Oh my god, that’s exactly what a big brother would say.” Haley grabs an orange peel off her plate and tosses it at my head.
I laugh as I bat it away. “No, but seriously, you remind me of my sister. I think she’s about your age? Graduates college next year.”
Haley nods. “Yeah, I’m twenty-three, so that’s about right. Were you two at each other’s throats growing up?”
“More like joined at the hip. I was always pretty protective. But I guess that changed when I moved to LA.”
“Oh, that’s sad. When’d you move?”
“After I graduated from college. My parents wanted me to stay with them in the Midwest. Safer there, that whole thing.” I leave out the part where my mom’s an omega and married a beta she fell for in a middle-of-nowhere omega haven. And the part where she never forgave me for leaving.
“Oh, overprotective?”
“Yeah, that’s an understatement.”
