Cordelia Chase sat squinting under the power of the bright lights that shone in her face. She was naked, her wrists fastened above and behind her head to the brass bed frame with a silk tie. A tiny trickle of sweat made its way down the small of her back and she shifted uncomfortably.
She was beginning to get a headache. Damn it.
She grimaced as Gwen, the make-up artist, fussed around her, trying to combat the sheen of perspiration that was beginning to form on her tanned skin, smoothing pointlessly at her eyebrows, dabbing more concealer on the birthmark on her cheek.
Cordelia flicked her head slightly to indicate her annoyance and the woman nodded and retreated.
Cordy had always said: "Don't cover that up - that's why my fans love me. Because I have flaws. They can relate to that."
Stephan, the director on this shoot, had said to her, "Angel, darling, your fans love you because you have perfect tits, you do cumshots and you take it up the ass."
Bitch. She so did not take it up the ass...
- anymore.
"Could someone untie me, please?" she asked plaintively. "If we're not going to shoot for a while I don't see why I should sit here losing the circulation in my hands."
Jon, the camera techie, extricated himself from behind one of the DV cameras and closed it up with a snap. He nodded at Steph, but spoke to Cordelia. "It's OK, love, I've fixed the synch on this one, we're ready to go now."
Stephan barked an order and the crew who had been sitting talking on packing cases dotted around the converted warehouse space that was their studio began scurrying around. Bunny, Cordy's co-star in the little production they were (snerk) mounting, approached the small bedroom set, shedding her gown and draping it over a canvas chair at the perimeter that had "Girl Parts" stencilled on the back.
Cordelia sighed. It was all the fault of fucking DVD. Everyone wanted multiple angles nowadays. Which meant more lights, more cameras, more time hanging around when they broke down. It's not like it was worth going over her lines during the downtime, there were only so many ways you could say "oh yes - yes - fuck me harder!".
Bunny was a pretty enough girl, blonde, small breasted with a nice ass. Which was good, really, because her ass was mostly what the camera would be looking at in this shot. She sat down on the bed and pinched her nipples back to hardness with a bored look on her face, then turned and wordlessly did the same for Cordy. She climbed on the bed and settled down with her head between Cordelia's legs, looked up and mouthed, "do I have a hair between my teeth?". Cordy studied her as she grinned a death's head grin, and shook her head. "OK, thanks."
Gwen, who doubled as continuity, was standing nearby looking at some polaroids & frowning slightly. She came across and arranged Cordy's hair just so, gave her breasts a quick wipe, then stepped back and smiled a small satisfied smile. It was good to see such job satisfaction in the industry, Cordy thought facetiously.
"OK, quiet on set people, this is the last shot of the day, let's get it over with..." various crew members intoned the usual pre-take litany and at last they were rolling.
"Action!" called Steph. "OK, that's good. Angel, could you try to look a little less bored, there's a dear - thanks. Bunny, could you get your ass higher in the air - that's great... more moans please."
"Oh!"
"Jon, camera 2 wants to be tighter on her face - I want to see her ecstasy! And I want to hear it too, Ange." Cordy hated it when he called her Ange. She was Angel, damn it. She wouldn't work with Steph again. He was a prick. Still -
"Oh! Oh yes!" God, she could do this in her sleep.
"That's it - arch your back a bit more, push those tits out - more moans - louder."
She did as she was told. Well, they are perfect, she thought. May as well use 'em to the full.
Her headache was getting worse, all of a sudden - much worse. And with it came an aura that she knew... and dreaded.
Oh God.
Not here. Not now. She tried to get her hands to her head but her bonds prevented her.
"Oh! NnnnnnnnnnGodohGodohGod! NNNNNNNNGGG!" Cordy thrashed about as much as she could, which was not much at all. She squeezed her eyes shut against the glare of the lights, the usual jumble of disconnected images dancing before her mind's eye as she bucked and moaned from the blinding pain in her head. Bunny was holding on to her legs to avoid getting her head crushed, but nobody seemed to notice there was anything amiss.
"Yes - that's it! Good. Good! Now bring it down. Gently now... I love it! Great! Cut! Good work, people. OK, let's strike this set and get ready for Monday's schedule..."
The grotesque inner freakshow subsided, Cordy arched her back once more, and collapsed against the cold brass at her back, too weak to do anything other than loll there. Bunny got down off the bed and untied Cordelia's arms, which flopped down by her sides.
"Hey girl, are you OK?" she asked, concerned.
Cordelia feebly raised a hand and brushed the other girl's fringe out of her eyes, smiling weakly.
"Yeah... I'm OK. That was just... intense."
"Well, if you're sure... Jeez, you're shivering." Bunny ventured out of the semicircle of lights, just as they started to go out, and retrieved Cordy's robe, helping her into it.
"Thanks... I'll be OK in a minute."
"It was great working with you today. It was seeing your work that made me want to do this..." Cordy started to tune her out. Bunny really was a sweet kid, but she did tend to babble. But her next words cut through the haze of Cordy's muddled, post-vision mind: "You know, whatever they're paying you, it ain't enough."
"Girl, you don't know the half of it."