Post by Grisha on Aug 6, 2021 20:40:38 GMT -8
It was early in the morning—a little too early for the giant Saiyan. Grisha and Tobias were sitting in fabric and wood folding chairs waiting for direction from the director. It had been Grisha’s first time being in a commercial, and it was Tobias’s first-time making thousands. Grisha’s head was resting back against the wall. His eyes were closed and a strand of drool was hanging from the corner of his mouth as he quietly snored. Tobias was having trouble sitting still in his seat as he watched the studio crew move about setting up the lights and cameras.
If Cabin hadn’t wandered off, then we would have made more! he thought.
One of the support staff approached them and bowed in greeting. “Good Morning. Would you two be interested in some coffee?”
Tobias nodded with a smile. “Yes, ma’am, but not him. He’s not allowed to have any.”
The staffer looked at Grisha and giggled, “Too bad. He looks like he could use some.”
Tobias looked up at Grisha and the large snot bubble that was inflating and deflating above his face. A sweat bead rolled down his face. “He’s not a morning person.”
“Oh; should we have scheduled this for a later time?”
“NO!”
The staffer jumped and Grisha’s snot bubble loudly popped. His eyes snapped open covered in red veins. Tobias blushed and laughed sheepishly, “I mean, no. This is perfect.”
The sooner I get that zeni in my hands, then we’re out of here!
The staffer nodded. “Okay; I’ll be back in a moment.”
Grisha slurped the long strand of drool back into his mouth, causing Tobias to shudder in disturbance. He watched the giant’s eyes slowly roll back into his head, and in seconds, he was asleep again.
“If you and Cabin hadn’t eaten all of that food last night, then you might have more energy,” Tobias grumbled.
The director finally strode over to Tobias and Grisha. He rested his fists against his hips and frowned at the sleeping giant. “Is there a reason why he’s sleeping? Do we need to do this at a different time?”
Tobias slapped a hand against Grisha’s shoulder and shook him. “Not at all Sir! He’s just not a morning person. He’s awake. He was just taking a light nap! Ha, ha, ha!”
Grisha’s lips parted as he bared his teeth angrily. “Grisha crush Old Man skull!” He suddenly turned to Tobias in a threatening and cranky manner and snarled, “GRISHA SLEEP!”
Tobias recoiled from the giant while the director clapped. “That’s exactly the attitude we need! I love it! Here!”
Grisha glanced over at the director and suddenly caught a green, pink, and white can that read Muscle Fuel. Tobias was given a can and he turned it around in his hand. They didn’t have cans in Kousetsu. It felt heavy as though there was something inside it.
“What’s this?” Tobias asked.
“Muscle Fuel! You volunteered to do a Muscle Fuel commercial and you haven’t ever heard of our brand?”
Both Tobias and Grisha were giving the director a blank stare. The director sighed. “It’s an energy drink for athletes. We have many flavors. That one is our watermelon flavor Melanol!”
Energy drink… Tobias narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “It’s…not like coffee, is it?”
He heard the hiss and crack of Grisha opening the can and tensed when he watched him chug down the drink. “Will you stop drinking and eating things without knowing what they are?”
Grisha smiled and crushed the can into a disc in his hand. “MMM! Taste good!”
“That’s what I like to hear! You’re going to be perfect for this commercial!” the director cheered.
Tobias was frowning at all the mysterious ingredients on the back. He didn’t understand any of the words and he believed himself to be an educated man. He was certain if Mr. Flurry hadn’t been being an old man and sleeping away at the hotel, then he would know what all the words were. Tobias set the drink aside and asked, “All right…Mr….”
“My name is Stefan Spatzleburg. I’m the director for this commercial.”
“All right Mr. Spatzle…what’s first?”
Stefan grinned. “A photoshoot!”
Tobias looked over at Grisha. “This one is simple Grisha. You do whatever Mr. Spatzle says and everyone else will do all the work. Understand?”
“Understand,” Grisha repeated.
The director waved for the giant to follow him. Grisha had already been wearing the Muscle Fuel T-shirt. The blond man eyed how it fit him snuggly. It made his muscles look large and defined, which was what they wanted. If male athletes saw Grisha, then they hoped they would buy some Muscle Fuel T-shirts as well. The sweatpants were loose and seemed comfortable. They didn’t grasp his legs, but gave him room. Tobias was still glancing at the drink before he stood and followed after the two. He watched as the director ushered Grisha over to the makeup artist. He followed Stefan over to his chair and watched how female athletes were gathering with their…deep swooping collars, short workout shorts, and some were even wearing bikinis. Coming from a village where everyone was hidden beneath thick layers to keep warm, Tobias clapped a hand over his face as his cheeks lit up.
He turned to Stefan and asked, “Wh-what are they doing here?”
Stefan looked up at Tobias and blinked. “They’re fitness models. They’re part of the photoshoot.’
Tobias’s face paled. If Lena saw Grisha around girls like that…heck, if Grisha saw girls dressed like that. He remembered the boat incident. He didn’t trust him to behave one bit. “Uh, could he do it without the fitness models?” Tobias asked.
The director reached into his pants pocket and removed a wad of zeni bills. He tapped the stack of zeni bills against Tobias’s cheek. The older man’s eyes suddenly became distant as he focused on the feel of the wad of cash colliding with his flesh. The smell of brand-new, crisp bills was intoxicating. “Who’s the director?” Stefan asked.
“You are,” Tobias replied in a drone-like voice.
Stefan flashed his pearly, perfect whites in a grin. “That’s right.”
He placed the cash in Tobias’s hands and the older man stepped back into the shadows. He started flipping through the bills greedily counting them.
“No more stinky stuff!” Grisha growled. The makeup smelled strong, and his nose didn’t like it. The makeup artist was hiding behind her chair after experiencing Grisha’s tantrum.
Stefan raised a bull horn to his mouth and called, “All right. No more makeup. Grisha, come on over here.”
The giant walked over, grumbling and halted in his tracks when he saw all the fitness models. His grey eyes shrank to dots and his mouth fell open. His eyes targeted everything. Chest; bottom; and they had muscles…He had never seen women who appeared so strong. The Saiyan was frozen in shock and his cheeks were glowing.
“Now; now Grisha, don’t be shy. They won’t bite,” Stefan giggled.
The fitness models winked and blew kisses. They beckoned him over and Grisha looked over at Tobias who was huddled like Gollum, running his thumb across the zeni bills as though obsessed with the sound. The giant approached him and nervously said, “Uh…many girls…”
“It’s all right Grisha. You’re just taking some pictures with them that’s all. I doubt you’ll get famous any way so you don’t have to worry about Lena seeing them,” Tobias replied.
Grisha glanced back over to the girls who were playing with an inflated beach ball. He made an uncomfortable face and swallowed the lump that had developed in his throat.
“Go on,” Tobias said, shooing him away with the wave of his hand.
Grisha closed his eyes and sighed. Why was he doing this again? He slowly approached the models.
“Oh! He’s shy. How cute!” one exclaimed.
“Come on over here big boy. I want you to stand next to me.”
“No me!”
“Why is a big man like you so nervous? I’m sure you’ve seen girls before.”
Grisha’s face became even redder. “Many pretty girls.”
The fitness models squealed in excitement and flattery at his comment. The director fanned. “All right; calm down. Let’s get this photoshoot over and done with so I can do my commercial.”
The photoshoot had seemed scary at first, but once they got started, it had actually seemed fun. Grisha got to drink more of the energy drink with the models; play beachball; pose; carry them; flex; and wear sunglasses in some shots. By the end of it, he had received a few slips of paper with strange symbols scribbled all over them. The models had told him to call them. Grisha scratched his head. He hadn’t even known their names. How was he supposed to call them? He just stuffed the slips of paper into his pocket as the stage transformed. Props, backdrops, and other stage effects were moved about and repositioned. Grisha was drinking another can of Muscle Fuel. He didn’t know how many he had drank during the photoshoot, but he was addicted to the stuff. It made his heart race, and it made him feel like he had endless energy.
Stefan approached the giant whose tail was whipping about frantically behind him. His eyes were wide and alert and the veins on his arms were prominent. “All right Grisha. Tobias told me that you’re not much of a reader and that memorizing lines would be too difficult for you. Don’t worry; because I like you so much, we got a narrator. All you have to do is when John says ‘Try Muscle Fuel the energy drink that gives you more…’ you’re going to shout ‘Power’ as loud as you can, all right? Can you do that?”
“YES!” Grisha shouted. Stefan was startled by his energetic response. He blinked for a minute before giving him two thumbs up.
“I love your energy!”
Stefan marched back over to his director chair and plopped down into it. The makeup artist had been creeping up behind Grisha with the makeup applicator on a wand. She tried not to get too close to his thrashing tail when she quickly clapped the fluffy applicator against his face. Grisha recoiled, frantically fanning the white plume from his face. He sneezed and snarled angrily in aggravation.
“Look at him! He’s so fired up!” Stefan exclaimed. He brought the bull horn to his mouth. “Okay! Places people. 3, 2, 1…ACTION!”
Are you tired of having a flabby body? Do you want to feel energetic? Try Muscle Fuel! An energy drink for people who need GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY! With all the new flavors: Choctane, Vaniloleum! It’s like adding flavor to AN ELECTRIC STORM! Sound the alarm! You’re about to be UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC! What’s that? You want strawberry? How about BRAWNBERRY! Made with lightning! REAL LIGHTNING! SPORTS! You’ll be good at them! It’s an energy drink for men! MENERGY! These aren’t your dad’s puns! They’re energy puns! TURBOPUNS! SCIENCE; ENERGY; SCIENCE; ENERGY! Electrolytes! Powerlytes! Turbolyes! More lytes than YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR! Power running! Power lifting! Power sleeping! Power dating! Power eating! Power laughing! Try Muscle Fuel the energy drink that gives you more…
Grisha’s hands clenched into large fists. His face hardened as his eyes filled with an energetic light. His tail stiffened behind him as he reared back his head and bellowed, “POOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEER~!”
The entire studio shook. Ceiling and studio light bulbs exploded. Studio lighting umbrellas fell over. The entire studio fell into silence. Tobias immediately stood and raced over to the set to see Stefan sitting frozen in his chair with his mouth agape. He saw that the man’s shocked eyes were staring at Grisha. Tobias saw all the damage and dropped to his knees before the director, “I am so sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen. Uh…”
He didn’t want to say that they would pay for it. He had just acquired some cash and he didn’t plan on spending it on repair fees. Damn it Grisha! Why did he always have to break everything!?
“I…I loved it,” Stefan finally breathed.
Tobias blinked. “What?”
“I have never been shaken down to my soul in my entire life. This is the energy Muscle Fuel has needed all along. I LOVED IT! I FREAKIN’ LOVED IT! CUT! THAT’S A WRAP PEOPLE! GREAT JOB!”
Everyone on the set applauded, while Tobias remained on his knees in disbelief.
WC: 2,070
If Cabin hadn’t wandered off, then we would have made more! he thought.
One of the support staff approached them and bowed in greeting. “Good Morning. Would you two be interested in some coffee?”
Tobias nodded with a smile. “Yes, ma’am, but not him. He’s not allowed to have any.”
The staffer looked at Grisha and giggled, “Too bad. He looks like he could use some.”
Tobias looked up at Grisha and the large snot bubble that was inflating and deflating above his face. A sweat bead rolled down his face. “He’s not a morning person.”
“Oh; should we have scheduled this for a later time?”
“NO!”
The staffer jumped and Grisha’s snot bubble loudly popped. His eyes snapped open covered in red veins. Tobias blushed and laughed sheepishly, “I mean, no. This is perfect.”
The sooner I get that zeni in my hands, then we’re out of here!
The staffer nodded. “Okay; I’ll be back in a moment.”
Grisha slurped the long strand of drool back into his mouth, causing Tobias to shudder in disturbance. He watched the giant’s eyes slowly roll back into his head, and in seconds, he was asleep again.
“If you and Cabin hadn’t eaten all of that food last night, then you might have more energy,” Tobias grumbled.
The director finally strode over to Tobias and Grisha. He rested his fists against his hips and frowned at the sleeping giant. “Is there a reason why he’s sleeping? Do we need to do this at a different time?”
Tobias slapped a hand against Grisha’s shoulder and shook him. “Not at all Sir! He’s just not a morning person. He’s awake. He was just taking a light nap! Ha, ha, ha!”
Grisha’s lips parted as he bared his teeth angrily. “Grisha crush Old Man skull!” He suddenly turned to Tobias in a threatening and cranky manner and snarled, “GRISHA SLEEP!”
Tobias recoiled from the giant while the director clapped. “That’s exactly the attitude we need! I love it! Here!”
Grisha glanced over at the director and suddenly caught a green, pink, and white can that read Muscle Fuel. Tobias was given a can and he turned it around in his hand. They didn’t have cans in Kousetsu. It felt heavy as though there was something inside it.
“What’s this?” Tobias asked.
“Muscle Fuel! You volunteered to do a Muscle Fuel commercial and you haven’t ever heard of our brand?”
Both Tobias and Grisha were giving the director a blank stare. The director sighed. “It’s an energy drink for athletes. We have many flavors. That one is our watermelon flavor Melanol!”
Energy drink… Tobias narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “It’s…not like coffee, is it?”
He heard the hiss and crack of Grisha opening the can and tensed when he watched him chug down the drink. “Will you stop drinking and eating things without knowing what they are?”
Grisha smiled and crushed the can into a disc in his hand. “MMM! Taste good!”
“That’s what I like to hear! You’re going to be perfect for this commercial!” the director cheered.
Tobias was frowning at all the mysterious ingredients on the back. He didn’t understand any of the words and he believed himself to be an educated man. He was certain if Mr. Flurry hadn’t been being an old man and sleeping away at the hotel, then he would know what all the words were. Tobias set the drink aside and asked, “All right…Mr….”
“My name is Stefan Spatzleburg. I’m the director for this commercial.”
“All right Mr. Spatzle…what’s first?”
Stefan grinned. “A photoshoot!”
Tobias looked over at Grisha. “This one is simple Grisha. You do whatever Mr. Spatzle says and everyone else will do all the work. Understand?”
“Understand,” Grisha repeated.
The director waved for the giant to follow him. Grisha had already been wearing the Muscle Fuel T-shirt. The blond man eyed how it fit him snuggly. It made his muscles look large and defined, which was what they wanted. If male athletes saw Grisha, then they hoped they would buy some Muscle Fuel T-shirts as well. The sweatpants were loose and seemed comfortable. They didn’t grasp his legs, but gave him room. Tobias was still glancing at the drink before he stood and followed after the two. He watched as the director ushered Grisha over to the makeup artist. He followed Stefan over to his chair and watched how female athletes were gathering with their…deep swooping collars, short workout shorts, and some were even wearing bikinis. Coming from a village where everyone was hidden beneath thick layers to keep warm, Tobias clapped a hand over his face as his cheeks lit up.
He turned to Stefan and asked, “Wh-what are they doing here?”
Stefan looked up at Tobias and blinked. “They’re fitness models. They’re part of the photoshoot.’
Tobias’s face paled. If Lena saw Grisha around girls like that…heck, if Grisha saw girls dressed like that. He remembered the boat incident. He didn’t trust him to behave one bit. “Uh, could he do it without the fitness models?” Tobias asked.
The director reached into his pants pocket and removed a wad of zeni bills. He tapped the stack of zeni bills against Tobias’s cheek. The older man’s eyes suddenly became distant as he focused on the feel of the wad of cash colliding with his flesh. The smell of brand-new, crisp bills was intoxicating. “Who’s the director?” Stefan asked.
“You are,” Tobias replied in a drone-like voice.
Stefan flashed his pearly, perfect whites in a grin. “That’s right.”
He placed the cash in Tobias’s hands and the older man stepped back into the shadows. He started flipping through the bills greedily counting them.
“No more stinky stuff!” Grisha growled. The makeup smelled strong, and his nose didn’t like it. The makeup artist was hiding behind her chair after experiencing Grisha’s tantrum.
Stefan raised a bull horn to his mouth and called, “All right. No more makeup. Grisha, come on over here.”
The giant walked over, grumbling and halted in his tracks when he saw all the fitness models. His grey eyes shrank to dots and his mouth fell open. His eyes targeted everything. Chest; bottom; and they had muscles…He had never seen women who appeared so strong. The Saiyan was frozen in shock and his cheeks were glowing.
“Now; now Grisha, don’t be shy. They won’t bite,” Stefan giggled.
The fitness models winked and blew kisses. They beckoned him over and Grisha looked over at Tobias who was huddled like Gollum, running his thumb across the zeni bills as though obsessed with the sound. The giant approached him and nervously said, “Uh…many girls…”
“It’s all right Grisha. You’re just taking some pictures with them that’s all. I doubt you’ll get famous any way so you don’t have to worry about Lena seeing them,” Tobias replied.
Grisha glanced back over to the girls who were playing with an inflated beach ball. He made an uncomfortable face and swallowed the lump that had developed in his throat.
“Go on,” Tobias said, shooing him away with the wave of his hand.
Grisha closed his eyes and sighed. Why was he doing this again? He slowly approached the models.
“Oh! He’s shy. How cute!” one exclaimed.
“Come on over here big boy. I want you to stand next to me.”
“No me!”
“Why is a big man like you so nervous? I’m sure you’ve seen girls before.”
Grisha’s face became even redder. “Many pretty girls.”
The fitness models squealed in excitement and flattery at his comment. The director fanned. “All right; calm down. Let’s get this photoshoot over and done with so I can do my commercial.”
The photoshoot had seemed scary at first, but once they got started, it had actually seemed fun. Grisha got to drink more of the energy drink with the models; play beachball; pose; carry them; flex; and wear sunglasses in some shots. By the end of it, he had received a few slips of paper with strange symbols scribbled all over them. The models had told him to call them. Grisha scratched his head. He hadn’t even known their names. How was he supposed to call them? He just stuffed the slips of paper into his pocket as the stage transformed. Props, backdrops, and other stage effects were moved about and repositioned. Grisha was drinking another can of Muscle Fuel. He didn’t know how many he had drank during the photoshoot, but he was addicted to the stuff. It made his heart race, and it made him feel like he had endless energy.
Stefan approached the giant whose tail was whipping about frantically behind him. His eyes were wide and alert and the veins on his arms were prominent. “All right Grisha. Tobias told me that you’re not much of a reader and that memorizing lines would be too difficult for you. Don’t worry; because I like you so much, we got a narrator. All you have to do is when John says ‘Try Muscle Fuel the energy drink that gives you more…’ you’re going to shout ‘Power’ as loud as you can, all right? Can you do that?”
“YES!” Grisha shouted. Stefan was startled by his energetic response. He blinked for a minute before giving him two thumbs up.
“I love your energy!”
Stefan marched back over to his director chair and plopped down into it. The makeup artist had been creeping up behind Grisha with the makeup applicator on a wand. She tried not to get too close to his thrashing tail when she quickly clapped the fluffy applicator against his face. Grisha recoiled, frantically fanning the white plume from his face. He sneezed and snarled angrily in aggravation.
“Look at him! He’s so fired up!” Stefan exclaimed. He brought the bull horn to his mouth. “Okay! Places people. 3, 2, 1…ACTION!”
Are you tired of having a flabby body? Do you want to feel energetic? Try Muscle Fuel! An energy drink for people who need GRATUITOUS AMOUNTS OF ENERGY! With all the new flavors: Choctane, Vaniloleum! It’s like adding flavor to AN ELECTRIC STORM! Sound the alarm! You’re about to be UNCOMFORTABLY ENERGETIC! What’s that? You want strawberry? How about BRAWNBERRY! Made with lightning! REAL LIGHTNING! SPORTS! You’ll be good at them! It’s an energy drink for men! MENERGY! These aren’t your dad’s puns! They’re energy puns! TURBOPUNS! SCIENCE; ENERGY; SCIENCE; ENERGY! Electrolytes! Powerlytes! Turbolyes! More lytes than YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR! Power running! Power lifting! Power sleeping! Power dating! Power eating! Power laughing! Try Muscle Fuel the energy drink that gives you more…
Grisha’s hands clenched into large fists. His face hardened as his eyes filled with an energetic light. His tail stiffened behind him as he reared back his head and bellowed, “POOOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEEER~!”
The entire studio shook. Ceiling and studio light bulbs exploded. Studio lighting umbrellas fell over. The entire studio fell into silence. Tobias immediately stood and raced over to the set to see Stefan sitting frozen in his chair with his mouth agape. He saw that the man’s shocked eyes were staring at Grisha. Tobias saw all the damage and dropped to his knees before the director, “I am so sorry. I didn’t know this was going to happen. Uh…”
He didn’t want to say that they would pay for it. He had just acquired some cash and he didn’t plan on spending it on repair fees. Damn it Grisha! Why did he always have to break everything!?
“I…I loved it,” Stefan finally breathed.
Tobias blinked. “What?”
“I have never been shaken down to my soul in my entire life. This is the energy Muscle Fuel has needed all along. I LOVED IT! I FREAKIN’ LOVED IT! CUT! THAT’S A WRAP PEOPLE! GREAT JOB!”
Everyone on the set applauded, while Tobias remained on his knees in disbelief.
WC: 2,070