I have 3 chapters left to finish reworking...and a section I've already done that is as lumpy as hell. I'm still just over 63,000 words but found another spot that was repeating info already noted.
So I'm going to be lazy and post the bit where Casey and Adam have arrived at Lando's house for the after-premier party.
______________________
(Casey) led him into a room that was as tall as it was wide. Hundreds of lantern lights covered the ceiling and a hundred people danced, all in exotic masks of gold and chrome and white plastic, drinking neon-colored liquids through straws that lit up, and vaping on neon-outlined cigarette pipes. A DJ worked his turntables by a wall of a window that looked out on a yard and pool that were landscaped to within an inch of reality. All relatively normal, to Adam, except for one thing.
There was no music.
Barely even the noise of shuffling feet. Instead, it was spooky quiet as the dancers texted on their phones and read each others' phones and laughed at each others' phones and argued via each others' phones and blew fake smoke into the air and lit up their straws as they sipped. It was so bizarre, Adam had to check his chin to make sure his mouth was shut.
Someone slipped up behind him to place an elegant mask over his face and hook it behind his ears ... and music pounded into his brain, sharp and thumping, vibrating to the very tips of his well-pedicured toes. He jerked it off to find ear-buds built in to the ear-rests and a girl who couldn't have been legal age casting him a bewildered look.
"You hear the music with these," she said.
"Why?" popped out of him.
"Beverly Hills noise ordinance," she said, smiling sweetly as she wandered away.
"Dear God, Casey, is this how -- ?" But she had vanished, and he felt the weight of her purse in his coat pocket. "Casey?" She was not to be seen. "I'm bloody Gunga Din, to her," he muttered.
Then a woman of indeterminate age in near nothing couture oozed up to ask, "Did you say you were somebody?"
"What do you mean?" was all he could think of as a response.
"I hear you're somebody," her voice like a whisper trying to sound loud.
"Isn't everyone?" Adam replied.
She shook her head. "If you're not somebody, today, you're nobody, unless you were somebody, yesterday, or might be, tomorrow."
Adam blinked. "I ... I don't know who I could be but me. Today."
"Isn't that just like your type?" And she oozed away.
He backed to the window to watch the silent dancing increase in frenzy and --
Incense appeared before him. Sharp. Smoky. A woman dressed in flowing Indian robes with multitudinous beads dripping around her neck, hair frizzed into half a halo and held by headbands, she positioned the stick straight up to roll between her fingers. She nearly caught his nose with it.
"Careful," he said, bumping the back of his head against the glass.
The Earth Mother spun about and swirled the incense smoke around him. "Your aura needs serious cleansing," she said.
He coughed and tried to wave the smoke away. "I think Orisi did quite enough of that, thank you."
She gasped and grasped Adam's hands to look closer at the mandalas. "What exquisite work," she whispered, awe-struck. "The depth and lacy intricacy ... and so fresh ... "
Adam took his hands back and held them behind him as he said, "Julie did them."
The Earth Mother pressed closer to Adam, her eyes bright with joy and fire, the scent of cinnamon wafting about her. "Julie? There is a Julie Marshe-Croton who's renown for her henna designs. And she's English. Like you." She threw her hands up in front of his face, showing him elegant henna works on their backs, lacing around her fingers and coloring her nails. "My daughter did these. She worships Julie Marshe-Croton. And you say she's here? In Los Angeles?"
"I ... uh, yes, I ... I suppose -- "
"She is! Look at how the incense curls around your nose!"
Adam looked. It was!
So I'm going to be lazy and post the bit where Casey and Adam have arrived at Lando's house for the after-premier party.
______________________
(Casey) led him into a room that was as tall as it was wide. Hundreds of lantern lights covered the ceiling and a hundred people danced, all in exotic masks of gold and chrome and white plastic, drinking neon-colored liquids through straws that lit up, and vaping on neon-outlined cigarette pipes. A DJ worked his turntables by a wall of a window that looked out on a yard and pool that were landscaped to within an inch of reality. All relatively normal, to Adam, except for one thing.
There was no music.
Barely even the noise of shuffling feet. Instead, it was spooky quiet as the dancers texted on their phones and read each others' phones and laughed at each others' phones and argued via each others' phones and blew fake smoke into the air and lit up their straws as they sipped. It was so bizarre, Adam had to check his chin to make sure his mouth was shut.
Someone slipped up behind him to place an elegant mask over his face and hook it behind his ears ... and music pounded into his brain, sharp and thumping, vibrating to the very tips of his well-pedicured toes. He jerked it off to find ear-buds built in to the ear-rests and a girl who couldn't have been legal age casting him a bewildered look.
"You hear the music with these," she said.
"Why?" popped out of him.
"Beverly Hills noise ordinance," she said, smiling sweetly as she wandered away.
"Dear God, Casey, is this how -- ?" But she had vanished, and he felt the weight of her purse in his coat pocket. "Casey?" She was not to be seen. "I'm bloody Gunga Din, to her," he muttered.
Then a woman of indeterminate age in near nothing couture oozed up to ask, "Did you say you were somebody?"
"What do you mean?" was all he could think of as a response.
"I hear you're somebody," her voice like a whisper trying to sound loud.
"Isn't everyone?" Adam replied.
She shook her head. "If you're not somebody, today, you're nobody, unless you were somebody, yesterday, or might be, tomorrow."
Adam blinked. "I ... I don't know who I could be but me. Today."
"Isn't that just like your type?" And she oozed away.
He backed to the window to watch the silent dancing increase in frenzy and --
Incense appeared before him. Sharp. Smoky. A woman dressed in flowing Indian robes with multitudinous beads dripping around her neck, hair frizzed into half a halo and held by headbands, she positioned the stick straight up to roll between her fingers. She nearly caught his nose with it.
"Careful," he said, bumping the back of his head against the glass.
The Earth Mother spun about and swirled the incense smoke around him. "Your aura needs serious cleansing," she said.
He coughed and tried to wave the smoke away. "I think Orisi did quite enough of that, thank you."
She gasped and grasped Adam's hands to look closer at the mandalas. "What exquisite work," she whispered, awe-struck. "The depth and lacy intricacy ... and so fresh ... "
Adam took his hands back and held them behind him as he said, "Julie did them."
The Earth Mother pressed closer to Adam, her eyes bright with joy and fire, the scent of cinnamon wafting about her. "Julie? There is a Julie Marshe-Croton who's renown for her henna designs. And she's English. Like you." She threw her hands up in front of his face, showing him elegant henna works on their backs, lacing around her fingers and coloring her nails. "My daughter did these. She worships Julie Marshe-Croton. And you say she's here? In Los Angeles?"
"I ... uh, yes, I ... I suppose -- "
"She is! Look at how the incense curls around your nose!"
Adam looked. It was!
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