Day 9 of 31 Stories - Next Big Thing

I've always loved seeing how movies interpret books, and how they change things/get them "wrong" in the interpretation. Naturally, I needed to play with that. Enjoy day 9 - Next Big Thing.

The conference room was in the process of getting set up when all hell broke loose. Again.

This was my first time getting to actually be involved with the movie tie-ins, and I was extremely excited to get to meet everyone and see how things would go. We all knew that a new movie was coming out shortly, and with each new preview, a little more about the movie was being made public. The series had been around for decades, encompassing five core books written by the original creators and at least a dozen more books that were part of an expanded world, written after the original series and focusing on different parts of the lore that hadn't been explored in the original books. The Powers that Be that owned the rights to all of the series had decided that those expanded world books were part of the official story as well, which meant there had been a lot to incorporate, and that had been...well, it had been a nightmare, to hear my predecessor tell it. He had been more than happy to hand over the role of Lorekeeper to me after my apprenticeship, particularly since that happened to be when a new movie was announced. He'd muttered something about "over my dead body," chugged half a bottle of champagne at his retirement party, and stopped answering phone calls or emails almost immediately. I don't know that we ever even got a forwarding address - his apartment had been empty by the next day. I admit, it wasn't a great sign, but I promised myself that I was up to the challenge!

It was a strange position to be in, being an author in Prime who had a job in the Library, but I had worked in small ways in the world of the Lore, the series for which I was now Lorekeeper, for decades. I had contributed my bit to the unofficial expanded world of Lore, helping to keep the fan communities thriving in the years between books or movies, and some of the producers had even said that my ideas had been fun. Not that that ever turned into anything real, like a credit or money or anything, but it still gave me the warm fuzzy feeling of being appreciated. When I found the job posting for official Lorekeeper, well, I don't think I'd waited an hour before putting my name into the ring with an impassioned cover letter and links to my fandom sites. I'd still been astonished to get a positive response right away, and even more so when I learned that I would be keeping the Lore plot lines from the inside out, as it were, but I certainly wasn't going to complain.

This was supposed to be my first big meeting, getting all of the principals together and going over what we knew from the new movie. By virtue of my new position, I had actually gotten an official copy of the script for the movie that was due to come out in a month (Prime-time), and so I'd drawn up detailed explanations of how the new movie incorporated the storylines from both the main series and the expanded world. Obviously there had been some cuts, some things shifted around, just like anything else, but it was truthfully a lot more faithful to the written canon that I had anticipated.

Unfortunately, there had been one big change that leaked before our meeting, which is where all hell broke loose. Lydia stormed into the meeting room, followed by Lysander, her crow familiar, who swooped over her head in a graceful arc. Behind them came crow-Lydia and human-Lysander from one of the expanded world novels. None of them looked pleased with anyone around them, but especially, they looked displeased with me. I put my hands up in a gesture meant to be placating, but was more likely to help me protect my face should any of the crows decided to go for my eyes. "Can I help you?"

"Help?" Human-Lydia spat, while crow-Lysander cawed overhead and swooped around to land on her shoulder. Just behind them, human-Lysander and crow-Lydia took a mirrored stance. "There's nothing you can do to 'help,' you obsequious little non-fic, unless you can tell me why they are still here." She stabbed a finger at her mirror-self, who also looked peeved. Human-Lysander at least seemed to have it in for human-Lydia more than for me, but it didn't look like it would take much to push the scales back over to me.

"There's no need for name-calling, thank you, Lydia, and you know that Lysander-" Crow-Lysander cut me off with an annoyed caw, and I sighed and adjusted my speech. "That human-Lysander and his familiar are both accepted parts of the Lore. You both were called to this meeting for good reason, which I will get into once we actually start the meeting." I put my hands down, deliberately trying not to look like I was terrified of the razor-sharp beaks in front of me, and focused on the human eyes glaring at me instead. "You'll just have to wait with everyone else."

"I. Don't. Wait." Lydia's voice came out like a rumble of thunder, and the lights in the room flickered just a touch as she bore down on me. I really hated dealing with a character who was canonically described as seven feet tall and looming - it meant there was no wiggle room with regards to just how much taller than I am she is, and she uses her looming capabilities to great effect. "You will tell me now, non-fic, or I will beat the words out of you with my bare hands."

"No call for that, Liddy," came a jovial voice from the doorway. As both Lydias and Lysanders turned away from me, I allowed myself a brief moment of internal relief before putting my brave front back on. "If you beat her up now, then she can't tell everyone about how I'm saving the day this time."

Horatio strode in, his sword somehow shining audibly on his hip as he confidently walked over to the corner where Lydia and Lysander had trapped me. "M'lady," he said smoothly, reaching around them and taking my hand. "I believe you have a quest for us?"

"Thank you, Horatio. Not a quest, exactly, but there are some thing that we need to go over..." I trailed off as I saw the rest of the characters come into the room, and I looked at the clock on the wall. Surprisingly, everyone was actually on time for a change. I sighed in resignation. "All right, everyone take your seats, and we'll get started."

It took a few more minutes for everyone to find chairs that put them an appropriate distance away from their mortal enemies and nearer to their dear friends, as usual, and some maneuvering was required to get staffs out of the way, but finally everyone sat down and looked at me expectantly. I swallowed around the lump in my throat and put on my best smile.

"Welcome, everyone! Thank you for coming. I know we're all excited to hear about the newest movie in the world of Lore, and so I'll try to be brief and to the point. The newest movie is not going to focus on the storyline of any particular book from the core series - the studios have decided that audiences no longer need to see how Horatio first becomes the greatest hero in the realm, as that story has been told on film several times now." Horatio looked a bit deflated, but not for long - his ego wouldn't allow him to stay down for very long. The rest of the characters, on the other hand, suddenly perked up. If Horatio wasn't going to be the focus of the story, then who was?

I gulped down some water and continued. "In fact, the studios have decided to take a new approach, refocusing their energies on one of the characters who hasn't had as much time in the spotlight. Gwendolyn? Where are you, sweetheart?" Everyone looked around the table, bewildered, until a small woman's hand raised shakily. She was sitting as far from the front of the table as she could, trying to hide from everyone's attention, and now it was all coming down on her head. I smiled and waved her up to the front, knowing deep down that I was probably going to destroy the young woman's life with this news. Still, as a fan of the world, I could not WAIT.

Gwendolyn stumbled up to the front, eyes downcast and hands twisted into the apron hanging loosely from her waist. A chorus of murmurs followed her, and I watched the faces of the crowd as the penny dropped. I had never been so thankful to see that big, brash smile from Horatio as I had been at that moment, but he looked as excited as a child when he realized where this was going.

"Gwendolyn, honey, we're so glad you're here," I said, doing my best to avoid the false cheer that adults use with young people all too frequently. "In the summer, people are going to learn that there's a lot more about you, and a lot of things that are very special about you, than they ever knew." I ducked my head down, trying to catch her eye and get a better sense of what this would mean to her.

I didn't need to wait for long. She stopped twisting her hands in her apron and slowly, so slowly, lifted her eyes to meet mine. I could have sworn her eyes had been a dishwater gray-brown before, but now I could see they were a rich, dark brown with flecks of silver. I could see her face filling out in detail as the script of the new movie made its way into her essence, and with a gasp, she stood straight for the first time. She was beautiful, strong and powerful, all the things that young women would love to see on screen and in themselves. "Me?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"You," I responded, my eyes filling with tears. "It's time."

She turned to the rest of the room, and even Lydia and Lysander bowed their heads before her. It was time for a new hero in the world of Lore, and the world had chosen her.