Chapter 164: Compromises
....
Of course, it wouldn't be real filming if everything just worked the way it was supposed to.
Regal called out. "Cut!"
Heads turned.
A few crew members froze mid-movement.
Someone near the playback monitor tilted their head, unsure if it was a joke or just one of his usual reflexive snaps.
Regal lowered his hand, exhaled through his nose, then gestured vaguely toward the frame. "What are the owls even looking at?"
He stepped away from the monitor, ducking past a C-stand, as he moved toward the line of perches at the edge of the set.
A few owls were blinking slowly in the diffused light, feathers puffed from the cool breeze of the stage fans.
One of them was still shifting in place, head swiveling in slow, unnatural arcs, not at the actor, or at the prop house, but dead behind the camera.
Regal crouched beside it, gently extending a hand, palm open.
The owl didn't flinch but its amber eyes darted sideways.