EMSiT Productions Presents:
To Stand Alone
by: Una Moonstar and Quicksilver
standard disclaimers
AN: I haven't heard from Una in a while- normally
SHE'D be the one sending out this monstrosity, but...
well, it's a good thing we had this ready for today. 
Dedicated to SMRFF, in all it's SMRFF-y glory!  FB is
a very nice thing!


Chapter Two: You Oughta Be in Pictures

	"A TV series?" she found herself echoing a week
later, wondering exactly what the hell had happened to
her life.

	Every evening she'd been out late, killing monsters.
She'd run into Tuxedo Kamen only once, for which she
had been grateful. They had exchanged chill greetings,
and she'd killed the monster quickly to get out of
there.

	Umino stood in front of her, waving the latest
newsmagazine. She had grown used to appearing on the
front page of the newspapers, but the weekly
periodical was a different story. One of the grainy
shots of her was now plastered all over Japan, and
Umino had informed her of the websites devoted to
Sailor Moon. After the first incident, she'd made a
point to cultivate him for information; if there was
anything worth knowing, he would find it out. "Yes!
Ginga TV has bought the rights to a script based on
Sailor Moon. They're calling it Bishoujo Senshi Sailor
Moon, and the try-outs are open! You should go- you're
blond, and they need a blonde."

	"You're kidding, right?" she asked sceptically. "I
don't know the first thing about acting!"

	"It'd be fun to try," he wheedled.

	She shook her head. "No, I can't," she said firmly. I
have other things that occupy my time, she thought.

	Umino let out a frustrated breath. "Usagi-chan, I
miss Naru-chan too, but you've changed because of
this. I miss the old Usagi. What would it hurt to just
try out? The worst they could do is tell you no. And
maybe, just maybe, you could find a part of you that
you seem to have buried with Naru." His gaze dropped
and he sighed. Usagi just looked at him, shocked. "I
have to be going now, Usagi-chan. Maybe I'll talk to
you later." He turned and walked away, never making
eye contact after his speech.

 	The blonde watched him go, tears nearly building up
at the show of concern. She quickly blinked the threat
away, and smiled slightly. "Thank you for caring,
Umino. It's for people like you that I fight. So that
none of you have to end up like Naru." The grin turned
wry. "Although you have the strangest ideas sometimes.
I mean, me? An actress?"  She shook her head as the
quiet words meant for her ears only trailed off. "The
boy is too much."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

	"Why am I here again?" Usagi asked herself for the
zillionth time as she waited in a large reception area
with about fifteen other girls of varying heights,
builds, and hair colors. The receptionist behind the
desk next to the door never took her eyes off her
computer screen, and Usagi thought she recognized the
woman from one of the youma attacks over the last
couple of nights. "This whole Sailor Moon TV show must
be bothering her if she won't even look at the
candidates for the lead role."

	Her attention was caught by the opening of the door
opposite the one she had entered the room through. A
tall man with wire-rimmed glasses and wearing a dark
grey business suit stepped out holding a clipboard.
"Tsukino Usagi?"

	The petite blonde blinked a few times at the mention
of her name, ignoring the jealous looks she got from
the other girls there. "Yes, that would be me," she
responded.

	The man gave her a distant smile. "If you'd join us,
it's time for your audition." He gestured toward the
room behind him.

	Usagi gulped as she stood, surprised to feel nervous
butterflies in her stomach, and even more shocked to
feel the excitement building with each step she took
to follow. She had thought she was beyond the old
dreams of stardom. 'I guess not,' she thought with a
mental shrug, unknowingly letting her face crease into
a smile as the office door closed behind her.

	A committee of five people sat at a simple table,
facing her. One was a woman, one was a thirty-ish man,
and two others were men in their fifties, wearing
stodgy suits. She blinked in shock as she recognized
the fifth.

	Fujisawa Yuusuke.

	The young heart-throb, currently featured of the
cover of HIP magazine, flashed her a stunning smile.
His blue eyes twinkled and he raked a hand through his
shoulder-length hair. She tried very hard not to
stare, but he was simply one of the most gorgeous men
she'd ever seen.

	The woman noted her distraction. "Hello, Tsukino-san.
I'm Aino Asuka. These are Liang Wen, Justin Brockport,
Sukiyama Tooya, and I'm sure you recognize Fujisawa
Yuusuke." Each person nodded at their name, and she
bowed to them politely.

	"It's nice to meet you," she said, wondering what she
had gotten into.

	"Now, Brockport-san and Liang-san are our producers,
I'm casting director, and Fujisawa-san will be playing
the role of Tuxedo Kamen. Sukiyama-san is our
director. He wants to find some fresh talent for the
role of Sailor Moon. According to your resume, you
only have experience in high school plays, so you
certainly qualify. I'll be honest; we wouldn't have
focused on you so early if you weren't a blonde. You
have the right look; now we need to see your acting
abilities."

	The girl was then handed a short stack of papers.
"Look those over for a few minutes. Then we'll have
you do a run through of the scene with Fujisawa-san.
Will that work?"

	Usagi gulped one more time and nodded, her sapphire
blues dropping to the typed words she held. Her eyes
widened in shock as she read what they actually said.
She took a deep breath to tell them they were all
wrong about who Sailor Moon really was, but stopped
when she realized she should have no knowledge of such
a thing. She bit the inside of her cheek in
frustration.  Finally she said she was ready, and the
popular actor joined her in front of the table. 

	They quickly made their way through the short scene,
and Usagi looked at the older people to see how she
had done. Their expressions were slightly
disapproving, and the little spark that had been
building since her name had been called began to
flicker and fade. "Did... did I do something wrong?"
she asked a bit meekly.

	"Well," the director said thoughtfully, "I think you
portrayed Sailor Moon a bit harshly. She shouldn't be
so... brash."

	The blonde girl blinked. "She was talking to the
youma."

	"Yes, I understand that, but she's not supposed to be
quite that abrasive about it. Sailor Moon is the
soldier of love and justice! She's supposed to be firm
but fun!"

	Usagi raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Firm but fun?
You have *got* to be kidding me! That's not the way
Sailor Moon really is!"

	"Well, we know that, Tsukino-san," Aino Asuka said
with a touch of a condescending tone. "But our writers
needed to make her more... acceptable to the
television audience."

	The girl's jaw dropped. "Acceptable? What's wrong
with the way she is? I don't seem to hear people
complaining about her attitude when she's out there
risking her butt saving their lives!"

	"Tsukino-san, please..." the younger heartthrob
beside her said placatingly.

	"No!" Usagi cried, cutting him off. "This isn't fair!
It isn't right! This hero goes out every night to help
the people of this city, of this *planet* - at high
risk to her own life, mind you - and you feel the need
to mess with her personality? How twisted is that?"

	"Obviously, Tsukino-san, if you truly think that way,
we're going to have to look in another direction for
our Sailor Moon," Liang Wen said coldly, raising an
eyebrow at the girl's outburst.

	Sukiyama made hushing motions. "Wait a second. I
really like how she looks- she looks like my ideal for
Sailor Moon. Tsukino-san, can you read another scene
with Fujisawa-san?"

	Usagi blinked. Hadn't she already blown her chances?
Against her better judgement, she took a second pile
that was handed to her, and started to peruse them.
After a second her eyebrows started to rise. By the
end, they had practically disappeared into her
forehead. "Tuxedo Kamen-sama?" she said incredulously.

	"Sailor Moon has a crush on him."

	"She most certainly does not!" Usagi exclaimed. "All
reports indicate that the two can't stand each other!"

	"Well, she needs a romantic interest, and he's the
natural choice."

	Usagi's brows drew down into a frown. "And what's
this about her being rescued by him? Her powers are
stronger!"

	"Well, he's her Knight, sworn to her service. All
girls would love to be rescued by him. Are you going
to read or not?" Aino wanted to know.

	She nodded reluctantly. "What do I do!" she said,
putting on a panicked expression.

	"Use your Tiara, Sailor Moon!" Fujisawa said

	"Um, ok!" She balanced on her toes and did an
elaborate twirl that practically defied the laws of
gravity before miming throwing it. "Moon.... Tiara....
MAGIC!"

	"Moondusted!" she exclaimed, jumping up and down like
a ditzy cheerleader.

	The adults in the room blinked for a few moments
after Usagi stopped her jumping and allowed her
expression to settle back into the slightly skeptical
look she had started the scene with. "Something tells
me your heart isn't in this, Tsukino-san," Asuka said
quietly.

	"Oh, I don't know," the director said thoughtfully.
"I think she did a fine job. I could work with her."

	"I'm sorry to say I don't agree with you,
Sukiyama-san," Liang said firmly. "Tsukino-san is
allowing her beliefs about the character to taint her
portrayal. I'm not sure we can work around that."

	"I'm afraid I have to agree," Brockport said, the
first words he had spoken since the girl had stepped
into the room. "And we already know that the real
thing is too harsh for our target audience." The look
on his face said he had finished that thought for
Usagi's benefit.

	"I will say the girl has potential," Asuka said
quickly, cutting off the impending argument from the
flustered director. "I think it's a little raw for our
needs at this time though."

	"I'll tell you what's raw," Usagi growled. "My
nerves. I can't believe you people have no integrity
whatsoever. This is not just a fun weekly romp for the
entertainment of the masses. This is *real*, folks.
People are really in danger, and people can die.
People already have. I, for one don't blame Sailor
Moon for being a bit brash with the monsters that
threaten the innocents that get attacked on
practically a nightly basis. Why should they get any
slack? And just because a handsome guy is in the
picture does not mean that he automatically has to be
the love interest of 'our plucky heroine' contrary to
popular opinion. She doesn't even know him!"   She
paused to catch her breath, the others in the room
still silently reeling from her outburst. "You know
what? I don't think I want this role anyway. I guess I
have too much respect for the truth. If you want to
lie to the people, I don't want any part of it. Thanks
anyway." With that, she spun around and walked quickly
out of the room, the door slamming behind her.

	The remaining people just looked at each other.
"Damn," Sukiyama said softly. "That's just the spirit
we needed, and she just got away. I think I'm going to
regret that one for the rest of my career." The rest
of the group just looked at him strangely as he shook
his head and stared at the closed door.

	"Um, if you'll excuse me I need a drink," Fujisawa
said.

	The four adults watched as he left the room. "That's
odd..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

	Usagi practically stomped by the desk, for once
causing the receptionist to look up. "Stupid script!"
she swore.

	The other candidates looked at the fuming blonde in
surprise. "I'm sure you didn't screw up that badly," a
redhead said, obviously trying to reassure her.

	"I hope I did!" she declared. "Senshi of love and
justice, my cute butt! Sailor Moon would chew nails if
she saw what they were doing to her name!"

	The other candidates exchanged looks. "Um... well,"
the red head started again, but was interupted when
the door opened and Fujisawa Yuusuke came in. He gave
them his famous smile, the one that gave him a dimple
in his right cheek, and hurried over to Usagi's side.

	"Tsukino-san, wait a minute!" the young man said
quickly as the blonde reached for the handle of the
door leading outside.

	Usagi paused and turned to face her reading partner.
"Yes, Fugisawa-san? What can I do for you?" she asked
coolly.

	He glanced around at the crowd of gawking girls. "Not
here. Can I speak to you alone?"

	She shrugged. She figured she could take care of
herself if she had to. "I suppose. Where?"

	"Come with me." The attractive man led her down the
hall on the other side of the receptionist's desk to a
small storage room. "You seem to know a lot about
Sailor Moon, Tsukino-san. I was hoping you'd be
willing to tell me about her so I can portray my
character more realistically."

	Usagi blinked in the harsh light of the single
incandescent lightbulb currently swinging slightly
above them. "Um, I wouldn't be the person to ask about
Tuxedo Kamen, Fujisawa-san. He is an enigma even to
me."

	"Well, tell me what you do know. I'm sure it's more
than what I've gotten out of the papers."

	Usagi took a deep breath and just looked at the
anxious young star standing before her. She released
it slowly before responding. "All I can say is that
you need to try to keep a mysterious air around you.
He's nothing if not mysterious. And he obviously
carries a secret. Beyond that, I don't think I can
tell you much. The script," here she rolled her eyes,
"doesn't capture his ego or the rivalry there seems to
be between him and Sailor Moon. But you might want to
keep it in mind."

	Yuusuke just nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Thank you
very much, Tsukino-san. You have given me a lot to
think about, and much to work with. I am in your
debt." He suddenly lifted his gaze and made eye
contact with the young girl in the small space with
him. "And I think Sukiyama-san was right. You would
have made a wonderful Sailor Moon."

	Usagi smiled at the irony. "Uh, thanks. But I really
couldn't have played her the way she was written. It
just wasn't... right."

	Yuusuke nodded, giving her the smile that had girls
all over Japan swooning. "You want to make her human,
and I respect that. But...." he trailed off.

	"But?" she asked, curious in spite of herself.

	"I heard that she wasn't a conventional superhero.
But something in me wants her to be."

	"What?! You want her to run around waiting for the
dashing hero to save her?"  Her good opinion of him
vanished.

	He shook his head vehemently. "That's not what I
meant at all! I meant... well, it'd be nice if she was
one of those people out to do good, rather then one of
those people out as an Avenger."

	Usagi tilted her head, one of her long ponytails
almost touching th floor, not sure she understood him.
"But.... I've heard of others. Ever heard of Batman?"

	"I don't like to think of our world as dark as Gotham
City. I'd like to be able to look at a cute girl like
her and see a superhero, not a vigilante."

	He looked down at the strange sorrowful girl who
barely came up to his chest. Something about her drew
Yuusuke closer, wanting to be embraced by her slender
arms. He was used to girls throwing themselves at him,
but Usagi seemed to have no intention of doing so. It
was fascinating for him.

	"I know this is a touch out of place, but can I have
your phone number?"

	She blinked, her eyelashes fluttering as she tried to
find and answer. "I-"

	A scream cut her off.

	Her muscles all tensed, prepared for action. She
looked at Yuusuke, wondering how she could get rid of
him. "That wasn't part of the audition, was it?" she
asked in a small voice.

	"No! Stay here while I check it out!"

	He took off at a run and she barely refrained from
rolling her eyes. Typical male. Talks like a New Age
guy, but when it comes down to it, there's
testosterone poisoning. 'Me HE-Man, protect Little
Woman.' Sheesh.

	She glanced around quickly to make sure no one was
watching, then waved a hand in front of her broach.
"MOON PRISM POWER, MAKE-UP!"

	The power washed over her like a tidal wave, shaking
her to her core. She reveled briefly in the rush it
gave her, then dashed out into the hall and saw a
small group of people rushing toward her from the
waiting room she had recently been ensconced in.
"Figures," she muttered to herself as she began to run
in that direction.

	She paused briefly as she reached the door, her hand
resting on the knob. "Well, one good thing is going to
come out of this - these TV people will get to know
what the REAL Sailor Moon is like!"

	She threw open the door and gasped at the sight of
all fifteen girls and the receptionist strewn about
the room, obviously drained of energy. She heard
screams and whimpers coming from where she had just
come from her audition and hurried in.

	"I am the Champion of Justice, Sailor Moon! And on
behalf of the Moon, I will punish you!" she declared
proudly, stepping in boldly. "Ewwwwwww.... what IS
that?!" she exclaimed with disgust.  "That" appeared
to be a woman-shaped creature made entirely of slime.
Everywhere she moved, she left behind a mucus trail.

	'Well,' Sailor Moon thought grimly, 'I can see there
won't be any hand to hand fighting with this one.' 
"Okay, slimeball, you've done enough damage to this
place and these people today. I'm not going to let you
do anymore! Moon..." Before she could call on her
deadly weapon, a giant ball of the green goo came
flying toward her. And so help her, all she could
think of was she was going to be slimed by a humongous
loogie.

	The slime turned out to be her savior. She tried to
move to get out of the way, no matter how fruitless
she thought it would be in the long run, when she
stepped in the gunk and landed flat on her back. The
glob missed her by inches and splattered on the wall
behind her. "I meant to do that," she muttered as a
blush crept onto her cheeks.

	"Uh-huh..." Came a semi-welcomed voice.

	"Oh man, not you," she groaned.

	"It's Tuxedo Kamen!" came a third voice.

	She turned her eyes to Tuxedo Kamn's latest fan.
"Yuusuke-san!" she exclaimed in surprise. 

	The young actor was in the corner of the room, pinned
to the wall by a hardening lump of slime. His eyes
were wide with disbelief and.... lust?  Oh, man, she
thought, the guy who just asked for my number, the
heartthrob of thousands of teenyboppers, is gay. 
Won't THAT go down well with his fans?

	Glancing back at the recently arrived masked hero,
Sailor Moon was guessing that his thoughts were on the
same wavelength as hers, and she couldn't help but
giggle slightly. Tuxedo Kamen looked down at her,
confused, which set her off even more. The corners of
his mouth began to follow suit, and soon both of the
heroes of Tokyo were in the throws of a full blown
giggle fit.

	The youma paused in its attacks, offended no one was
paying it any attention. It roared... and no one
noticed. It stomped one squishy foot... and no one
cared. It pounded on the wall for a few minutes... and
no one even flinched. What was a youma to do?

	Finally, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen started to calm
down, and he extended a gloved hand to help her up.
She took it, and with that one maneuver, a wary truce
was born. They gave each other an appraising look and
nodded. "Shall we, Sailor Moon?" the well-dressed hero
asked politely, noticing the ball of slime that was
their opponent sulking in a corner.

	The girl in the skimpy skirt grinned as she notinced
the same thing. "Yes. Yes, we shall." She brought her
hand up the the gem in her tiara. "Moon... Tiara...
Action!"

	As the disc flew toward its target, roses struck each
of the hardened globs of slime that held the
production executives hostage, freeing them. The
pouting monster was reduced to dust, quickly
dispersing into the air.

	She glanced at Tuxedo Kamen. "Did you know that
Yuusuke-san is supposed to play you in the upcoming TV
series?" she asked.

	The masked man seemed taken aback. "Is he really?"

	"Yup! I think you should give him some pointers- you
know, how to throw roses and be obnoxious."  As soon
as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted
them. He stiffened and dropped her hand, braking their
fragile truce.

	Her eyes widened, and her jaw clenched. "I'm..."

	Before she could finish her apology, he spun with a
flourish and began to walk away, his cape cutting her
off more so than his words. "Be more careful next
time, Sailor Moon. Someone may not be there to help
you up." He strode out the outer door and was gone.

	Sailor Moon sighed as she gazed after him. Boy, did
she screw that one up. Hopefully she could at least
say she was sorry the next time they ran into each
other. Something inside her needed that truce,
realizing that man was probably the only other person
in the entire city, possibly the world, who knew what
she was going through. Maybe not the part with Naru,
but the rest...

	She turned to face the other people in the room,
determined to have *something* good come out of this
day. "So," she said wickedly, "where's the script?"

	Her grin caused the others to blanch and point. She
snickered and went to the table they had gestured
toward. "Now let's see," she declared expansively as
she tore the cover page off the thick pad of typed
paper. "You had to make a big thing out of her
klutziness, didn't you? You couldn't let that one
slide, could you? Noooooooo, heaven forbid!" she fumed
after she had finished the first few pages. 

	She slowly made eye contact with each and every one
of them, quickly passing over Yuusuke with a shudder.
His taste in love interests needed serious work-
Tuxedo Kamen, of all people.  "Shall I continue my
critique of your portrayal of me?" She grinned the
same wicked smile as before.

	"Um.... well, you see...." Aino stuttered, the only
one able to keep their wits about them, "we had to
make this suitable for a child."

	Sailor Moon nodded graciously. "Which I understand.
But it's rather rude not to offer me any
royalties...."

	They all paled. "Um, well..."

	"And REALLY! Do I look like the type to go gaga over
a guy?" 

	I used to be, before Naru died.... was the unwelcomed
thought.

	"We really-" began the producer.

	She laughed and shook her head. "It's fine, though I
think it'd be great if you'd donate some of the
profits from the merchandise to charity.... say the
Tokyo Hospital's Children's Fund?"

	"We can do that!" they said eagerly. "In return will
you endorse Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon? In fact, the
lead part is still open..."

	Sailor Moon blinked. "Um, I think I'd rather not
*endorse* it, per se, but you won't hear any public
complaining or anything. And I think I'm a bit busy to
be playing myself twice over."

	The executives all smiled and nodded their heads in
understanding. "Of course, of course. We understand,"
Aino said quickly.

	"That is, of course, as long as you hold up *your*
part of the bargain. I find out you haven't, and all
deals are off." She scowled seriously. "Don't think
I'm above making your lives... difficult."

	She received shocked shakes of the head in agreement.
"Good. Then it's settled. Just... try to give me some
redeeming characteristics, would you? I'm bound to at
the very least hear about this, and I don't want to
die of embarrassment when people expect me to act a
certain way."

	"Of course, Sailor Moon!" Aino said, happy to have
the superhero's okay if not direct endorsement. "We
were planning on that anyway!"

	Usagi just nodded. "Then I guess I'm done here. Have
a good one!" She took off the same way Tuxedo Kamen
had before her. The last thing she heard as she was
shutting the outer door behind her was Yuusuke's:
"Thank you for saving us, Sailor Moon." She smiled as
a warm feeling washed over her. I guess this isn't a
thankless job, after all, she thought as she ran off
into the city.

END PART TWO

=====
"No matter what the bible says, the battle always goes to
the strong. And I am strong. I don't need to prove that to
anyone anymore."
-Excerpt from Sainan no Kekka- Act Seven, Scene VII

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Quicksilver/
http://www.midnightrevolution.org/gundam

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