Sensitive

Patreon reward for alexander-the-amazing! They asked for a continuation of their Valkos Acting AU (which was previously in this fic in chapter 37).

Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

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														Chapter 41. Sensitive

The studio was bustling with activity today as it always seemed to be.

There were people scurrying around the area where the cameras were filming the current scenes, which took place inside an apartment-styled setting.

The two main actresses in Roman Torchwick's film was the young couple Pyrrha Nikos and Nora Valkyrie.

After the two girls had met during auditions, they'd become rather close.

The very day they'd made one another's acquaintance, they'd gone out for lunch together and had gotten to know each other on a more personal level. The days following that had been full of filming and performance for the two of them and everyone else involved in the current filmmaking.

The schedules consisted of early mornings and late nights, and it was no doubt exhausting work for all parties involved, whether they be directors, actors, cameramen, prop specialists, or any other profession.

But Pyrrha and Nora had discovered a surefire way to find enjoyment, even with their tight schedules.

The two girls had become very close over the days of filming, not only because the characters they were playing in the film were romantically involved, but also too because they were becoming quite close off-stage as well.

When they weren't in the center of the stage putting on their respective acting personas, the two girls were together as often as possible.

Even in the early-morning hours before they started acting when they were sitting in the chairs waiting for the makeup artists to work their magics, Pyrrha and Nora always tried to be near one another. They'd chat whenever they could, either about the parts they'd be acting out today, ones they'd acted out yesterday, or just about their personal lives.

Over the weeks, they'd eventually gotten close enough to decide they wanted to date, therefore making their roles as lovers in the film that much more believable.

Roman had congratulated the two and encouraged them to bring the emotions from their real relationship into their acting of the fabricated one. Ever since that change had been established, he'd called their performance, "Stellar!" and "Incredible!" He'd even gone so far as to re-shoot scenes that had already been done just so his actresses could add their newfound raw emotions into the scenes.

Because of his redoing of various scenes, Neo, the head camerawoman, had reminded him with several swift flicks of her fingers that they were on a rather tight schedule to get everything finished.

Therefore, today they needed to hurry things along.

Pyrrha and Nora came into the studio that morning having been briefed on what they would be filming today.

"The death scene!" Nora said ominously. She and Pyrrha had just finished having their makeup done and were now waiting beside the stage to be called on to begin. Nora clapped her hands together and rubbed them as she bumped her hip against Pyrrha's. "Think you'll be able to handle it? Dying, I mean."

Pyrrha smiled and shrugged a little.

"I'm not quite sure. This will be my first time acting out a death scene where it's my character dying."

"Really?"

"Yes. I'm not sure how good I'll be or how believable I can make it, but I'll do my best! Just know I might be a little rusty on the first shot or two."

"You? Rusty? In acting? Naaaah!" Nora waved her hand dismissively. "This'll be my first time doing a scene like this, too. I've had my characters die plenty of times before, and I've also done ones where my character's friends or family members have died. But this'll be my first time doing it when it's my lover! So it'll be a first for both of us!"

"That's exciting!" Pyrrha clutched her hands together and gave a little bounce.

Nora grinned up at her. She always found it incredibly adorable whenever Pyrrha got really excited about something.

A moment later, Neo glanced over to catch their gazes and waved them over. Before going, Pyrrha and Nora shared a small, swift kiss.

"Good luck! Let's do our best!"

"Yeah! We're gonna nail it!"

Everyone gathered around Roman as he began explaining the next scene. Only Pyrrha and Nora would be on-stage for the extent of it, so he mainly spoke to the two of them.

"Now, I wanna see some of that raw emotion again," he was saying. "Gimme that passion, that desperation. Nora! The love of your life is dying in your arms and there's nothing you can do about it, not a damn thing! Show me how hopeless that feels! And Pyrrha, you're bleeding out. There's a bullet in your heart and there's so much blood gushing out of your mouth you can't even tell her you love her one last time! Ya can't even say goodbye! Show me that pain! I wanna feel it! Got it, gals?"

"Yeeessir!"

"Absolutely!"

"Great!" he clapped. "Now let's get a move on! Special effects all ready? Then let's go! Everyone get going!"

The people scattered to get to their respective positions to take the shot.

Pyrrha and Nora walked to the center of the apartment-styled set. Pyrrha sat herself down on the white carpeted floor, which would contrast the deep red of the blood and make it look all the more excruciating. Nora knelt beside her girlfriend and waited for the makeup artists to do the finishing touches.

They poured fake blood all over Pyrrha's clothes and torso, then gave her a small pill to bite on once the camera started rolling. Once bitten, the pill would leak fake liquid blood – an edible mixture of various fruit juices.

Nora was splattered with a bit of the fake blood as well, and once they were given eye drops, the two girls were left alone on-stage. With everything ready, Roman shouted.

"Annnnd action!"

Nora dove right into it. She clutched Pyrrha in her arms, already feeling how she was shaking and spasming. Nora just acted like she would've if Pyrrha had been sick with a fever and she was trying to comfort her.

"Lia..." She made sure her voice was cracked and quivering, as terrified and desperate as she could possibly sound. "L-Lia... Lia, c-can you hear me?" She sobbed, feeling the drops running down her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Pyrrha was coughing up blood in her arms. It started out harshly, loud, convulsive coughs that shot through her entire body. There wasn't a single flaw in her performance. Even the way the blood was dripping seemed to be just perfect.

Pyrrha's eyelashes fluttered weakly as she looked up into Nora's eyes. She gasped over and over again, deep, painful breaths that made her chest heave.

"Ja... mie..." Her voice was thick and weak. Her technique was to swallow a bit of the juice as she spoke to make her voice gurgle and sound all the more horrifying.

Nora winced, and for a second, she actually believed Pyrrha was in pain. The flinch, however, only added to her character's distressed expression in the scene. She gave a sob as she stumbled over her next line.

"Y-You're... gonna be okay... D-Don't worry. I-I-"

Right on cue, Pyrrha spasmed in her arms, coughing a mouthful of blood all over Nora's shirt. She kept coughing, each sound more convincing than the last. Nora started to string together all the shouts and screams as she curled over her girlfriend's body.

"L-Lia! Please! You'll be okay... I promise..."

And with her words, Pyrrha went limp.

Nora felt a real sense of dread shoot through her. She was honestly wondering now if this was an act or not. Pyrrha was so convincing, Nora was beginning to think she might've choked on some of the juice and actually be in danger.

When she looked down again, Pyrrha's eyes were closed, and her weight was limp and lifeless in Nora's arms. Nora then realized that the warm tears running down her face weren't just eye drops.

Just then, Roman gave another shout.

"Cut! Fantastic work, ladies!"

As the other people on staff started to chatter and comment on the performance, Nora gently shook Pyrrha in her arms.

"Pyrrha? You okay?"

Thankfully, her girlfriend reopened her eyes and was smiling up at her within seconds.

"Yes! I'm fine! How was it?"

Nora let out a long sigh of relief.

"Suuuuuper amazing, as expected!" she replied, trying to be encouraging despite her own discomfort.

/But Mr. Torchwick liked it, so we can probably move on now-/

"Excellent work!" He called out to them. "I could really feel it, y'know what I'm sayin'? Let's just do it a few more times. I wanna make sure I get the perfect shot here."

"Huh?" Nora's shoulders slumped a little. "Again?"

She knew this was all acting and that she and Pyrrha were portraying characters in a film, but Nora was finding it a little difficult to put herself in that scenario where Pyrrha was in such horrible pain and she herself was unable to help.

But she also didn't want to bring that up for fear she might sound unprofessional, or like she was being too soft or not trying hard enough.

So they redid the take several more times. Nora assumed she'd get used to Pyrrha 'dying' the more they went through it.

But every time Pyrrha jolted and started coughing up blood, Nora winced and couldn't stop her chest from hurting.

But the worst part was always the end of the scene, when Pyrrha went limp in her arms and stopped breathing altogether. That was when Nora started crying for real.

She prayed every time would be the last. It just hurt her to think of Pyrrha being in pain like this...

Somewhere around the fifth redo, Pyrrha noticed the change in Nora's reaction. More specifically, she noticed Nora wasn't just acting anymore. She could tell the tears were real.

In that instant, Pyrrha threw away all means of professionalism and stopped right in the middle of the scene as she called out to her.

"Nora? Are you all right?" She sat up in the girl's lap and cupped her cheeks fretfully.

Roman quickly called cut and asked what the issue was. Pyrrha only had eyes for her girlfriend right now. She tilted Nora's head up so she could look her in the eyes. Sure enough, she saw only real tears in them, along with genuine distress.

"S-Sorry..." Nora hiccuped. "Let's keep going."

"Certainly not!" Pyrrha gasped. "Mr. Torchwick? May we have a brief break? Some water, please?"

The man nodded right away and sent someone to fetch refreshments.

Pyrrha wiped her hand over her mouth to clear away the blood. "Nora? It's okay. You should have said something. I'm so sorry. Don't be upset..." She wrapped her arms around Nora and hugged her softly, rubbing her back as the girl hiccuped into her shoulder.

"Pyrrha..."

"It's all right. I'm here."

A moment later, they were each brought a bottle of water. Pyrrha encouraged Nora to have a few sips. She helped her hold the bottle to her lips and murmured encouragement to her.

"There. Everything's fine, see?"

Nora sighed and capped the bottle, then wiped her eyes.

"Yeah... Sorry, everyone. Sorry, Mr. Torchwick."

"Don't be!" he said back. "You ever need a break, you let us know, kiddo. I get where you're comin' from. Pyrrha's got some real skill, doesn't she? She sure as hell had me convinced, too! Ya both did! Take a minute."

The girls accepted the offered spare moment with gratitude. They used it to hug and reassure themselves and one another.

Pyrrha cooed softly, kissing her girlfriend's tearstained cheek to soothe her. She held her tightly and tried to calm her down.

Nora just tried to focus on her. She listened to Pyrrha's sweet voice and found solace in it. She could feel her breathing, and even the beat of her heart against her collar. Nora let out a long sigh and squeezed Pyrrha in return.

They pulled away a moment later. Pyrrha ran her fingers through Nora's hair briefly and smiled.

"Are you feeling better?"

Nora nodded.

"Yeah. I just got caught up in your acting. You're so good!"

"You flatter me!" Pyrrha giggled, then leaned in to kiss her. "If you need to take a break again, let me know right away."

"Kay."

Nora straightened up and once again apologized to everyone, then announced she was ready to keep going. Now that she was reassured, Nora could focus on acting out the scene a bit better, especially since she knew for sure Pyrrha was all right.

Roman had them redo the scene half a dozen more times before he was finally satisfied.

"Cut! This is it girls, this is the one! Don't gemme wrong, each take was flawless! I just wanna make sure the most flawless take is what's going on the big screen. All right, you two go get cleaned up, half-hour break! Go shower and get some lunch! Next scene..."

As he began reading off the scenario for other actors to play out, Nora and Pyrrha stood up. They were both covered in fake blood, and their clothes and hair were ruffled. Pyrrha took Nora by the hand and led her off-stage.

"Look at us! We're a mess!"

"Ugh yeah! You bled all over me, Pyrr-ha!"

"Shall we shower?"

"Yes, puh-leez! Then let's go for lunch!"

"That sounds like a grand idea!"

They paused before they'd need to go their separate ways to their trailers.

Relieved that the hardest part was over, they kissed one more time, then hurried off to get ready for their lunch date.

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A/N: Yeah, I don't really have any experience in acting or the special affects and stuff so I'm not actually sure how accurate any of this is about the fake blood and stuff. And they probably wouldn't do such a messy scene first thing in the day, they'd probably save it for the last thing to do so the actors could shower at the end of filming. But! Anyway, hope it was all right despite that!

I also really like Nice Guy Roman and Super Sensitive Nora~