Ghosty's Precious Things

I... am going to be a little vague with the script itself, because I can't even hope to capture what everyone would actually say.  I'm not sure how much of TAI TV is scripted anyway, & how much is off the cuff, so...  Yeah.  If any of the spoken lines are bad/not funny enough/just not right, feel free to change them.

Same with movements.  I wrote in what I thought would be funny, but you guys are way funnier than me, so feel free to improve & improvise.  :D

As a further disclaimer, I would like it known that I in no way think these personalities reflect who the guys are.  Hence the comedy.  ;)

My idea is this:

Bus-flights of Fancy

It's downtime on the tour bus.  The boys are all hanging out in the front of the bus, in various states of disarray.  William is towards the back, with Mike and Michael.  Sisky and the Butcher are more towards the front.  William is on his computer.  Michael is reading.  Mike is leaning back, perusing a magazine.  The Butcher is drawing.  Sisky is eating a sandwich (this is important).  He says something along the lines of: "Hey, Chizzy. If you could be doing anything right now, what would it be?"

Close-up of Michael's face, and a fade into another scene.  We are "in Michael's head" now.  Show him walking down the street, in a Tough Guy suit (like the ones he and William wore earlier this season, in the Las Vegas Showdown - just no sunglasses).  He's "packing heat", very obviously.  He passes the guys from his band, who all turn and stare after him.  The Butcher says, "Man, that guy is so cool."  The others nod & agree.

We hear a girl - Cassadee - scream, and Michael springs into action, racing around a corner and finding her being pushed around by the guys from Carolina Liar.

Michael immediately starts "shooting", and the guys pull their own guns and "shoot" back as Cassadee ducks down.  Slo-mo shot of Michael shooting and jumping to the side to avoid the return gunfire.  Eventually the guys are all lying on the ground, defeated.  Michael stands up, & brushes off his suit.  Cassadee stands too, and asks him what she can possibly do to thank him (preferably while fluttering her eyelashes in a very exaggerated manner).

He says "Nothing, pretty lady" and gives a very cheesy wink to the camera.

Finally return back to the bus, with a close-up of Michael's face.  Michael shakes himself out of the reverie, and stammers a bit before telling Sisky he would prefer to be swimming.  Sisky turns to William and says, "Bill?"

Close-up of William's face this time.  Pull out to reveal William standing on a stage, in a "toga" (which you can probably fashion a crude one from a sheet).  He spreads his arms and "sings", loud & high, as if he's in an opera.  With all the huge gesturing and overly emotional faces that implies.

**For this part, William could always hit one random high note, or (and this might be funnier; hard to tell) have him pretend to sing while the voice of an actual opera singer could be used over his voice.  I heard he's sick, so that would probably be the best way to go anyway.  He can rest his voice for actual concerts.  ;)**

When the note ends, he gives a bow, and from off stage fake roses are thrown at his feet.  He sweeps some up and waves to the crowd, even blows a few kisses.  "Thank you," he says as the crowd claps harder & harder.  He gets a little teary-eyed as he takes more bows.  Show the guys from Hey Monday as the front of the crowd (the rest of the crowd is shrouded in darkness, so as to give the illusion of more people there), giving him a standing ovation and throwing the roses.

When William blows a kiss in their direction, Elliot (or one of the other guys, if they prefer) "faints", falling backwards.

Back on the bus, another close-up & William rolls his eyes, says he would rather be "Sleeping.  I need to catch up on my beauty sleep."

"We know," Mike says.  William throws a pillow at him.  Mike catches the pillow only after it hits his face.

"What about you, Mikey?" William says.  "What would you rather be doing?"  Close-up of the blissful look on Mike's face...

And then we see the guys all on the bus.  Mike is lying back on the couch, relaxing.  He has a crown on his head, and he's looking very cozy, with lots of pillows around him.  Each of the other boys in his band is shirtless, and on the screen below you can flash the words "this is for the fangirls".

Michael is fanning Mike.  Mike waves at the Butcher and Sisky, who are standing nearby.  "Do it," he commands.  They look at each other-

And begin to do a country dance.  You know, where you hook your arm in your partner's and go around in a circle, then switch arms and do it again.  As they do this, Mike begins to laugh and laugh...

Finally William leans in and says, "More grapes?"  Mike nods, and William begins feeding grapes to him.  Close-up on Mike's smile as he accepts a grape...

Return to the bus, and Mike's happy face.  "Fishing", he says.

Back to Sisky, who turns to the Butcher.  "Yo, Butcher," he says.  "Your turn."  The Butcher looks at him, watches him take a big bite of his sandwich and chew contentedly...  (Close-up of the Butcher's face.)

Then Butcher pictures himself wrestling the sandwich away from a protesting Sisky and holding it high above his head in victory.  Finally he brings it back down and takes a huge bite, grinning as he chews.

Back on the bus he's still smiling, and he says, "Eating".  He stares at Sisky's sandwich and licks his lips.  Sisky watches him with nervous concern.

"What about you, Sisky?" William says.  "What would you rather be doing?"

Close-up of Sisky's face.  Slowly pull back to reveal all the guys sitting where they really are on the bus, doing the same things they were doing before Sisky asked his question.

Back to reality.  Sisky says, "Exactly what I am doing - oh, wait."

Another close-up of Sisky's face.  Pull back to reveal the same set-up, everyone in their same places-

Except this time, the guys from We The Kings are all tied up on the floor of the bus, squirming and trying to get free.  Go to another close-up of Sisky's face as we return to reality.

"I'd be doing what I am doing, but better," he says.

The guys return to their activities.  Show the Butcher drawing a sketch of himself eating a sandwich.

*Sort-of-the-end*

If possible (and since I think my idea might've been a bit short), you could always add on a part where everyone in the other bands on the tour trades off saying "Dedicated to my good friend, Adam T. Siska."  Finish with We The Kings, and Travis saying, "Sucker owes me twenty dollars."

Props:

The sandwich (two, probably, but as alike as they can possibly look) - $20 or less; very less, if you have ingredients on the bus.

The toga - can be fashioned from an ordinary sheet, which I assume you have.  And if it doesn't look perfect, well, it's funnier that way.  :)

Fake roses - $10

Optional opera song - $20 if you need to buy a CD.  $.99 if you have iTunes.  Free if you have anything that would work in your computer already.

Michael's Tough Guy suit - I'm assuming that he's got clothes that'll work, and that nothing has to be bought.  Hopefully.

The guns - $40...  It's been a long, long time since I shopped at Wal-Mart for toys.  Heh.

The crown - $8.

Pillows - I'm assuming you have some.

Fan - $5.

Grapes - $5.

I think I went over by like, $8, but these are only estimates.  hopefully the food you can get easier, because that'll free up a lot of the budget.

I really hope you all like this idea.  It was fun writing it either way.  :)

Hope

By Ghost Helwig

Here I am

Across these lands

And across these hands

I lay down

For I trust myself

Even when

The holes in me

Seep through

So I’m giving up

On giving love

Until one day

I can get by

And hold my own

While all alone

Instead of waiting here

For you

Because it’s wasting time

And I’m wasting mine

No more

Silence

By Ghost Helwig

Silence is

Most beautiful

When it’s not

Your own

And the last thing

You want

Is to be

Left alone

But darkness lives

Between the beats

That violate

The soul

And offers up

Your callousness

To penetrate

The cold

And violence lives

Inside your heart

When you

Get left behind

I’ve got to see

Inside of you

To see your

Aching mind

The reason is

That loneliness

And bitterness

Do divide

So touch my hand

Give it a hold

And you will be

Fine

For silence may be

Gold

But it isn’t

When it’s cold

Pooling Waters

 by Ghost Helwig

Later on he would blame himself, though he was never quite clear on why. But then... He had stayed when Wood repeatedly told him not to. He hadn’t wanted to, but his feet and his heart and his lungs and just everything inside him would not obey.

And so afterwards, it was almost natural to go for the blade.

He could’ve used Johnathan’s knife again, of course, even though he had given it away to keep himself from doing just that, but he hadn’t wanted to go through the trouble necessary to get it back. And he also knew that he was supposed to attempt this while in a tub full of warm water, but he didn’t want to die in an airless bathtub, surrounded on all sides by heartless walls. No, that was not for him. Even as furious with himself as he was, he could not do that.

So this time he tried it while hiding under the dock, hoping that this time he would not be found by family, by people he loved and who loved him in turn. Another reason to forego the bathtub idea, and just cut as deep as the razor could go...

So he did it, and, ironically enough, prayed... He hadn’t bothered with a note this time, hadn’t thought anything through, not with his mind full of Brad’s twisted razorblade futures and his insides full of Wood’s hot, sticky-

So no, he hadn’t thought, not really. Unusual for him, but he was starting to feel less and less like him as time wore on. Soon enough the Ghost he’d once been would be just a shade, a thought behind someone else’s eyes...

So really, he wasn’t killing himself, because he was long since dead and gone.

As his mind swirled lower and lower, darker and darker, he focused on the thought that maybe this time he would truly be breathing his last-

And a vision, not a dream or an imagining or a fantasy planted in him by a madman but a real and true vision, flashed in front of his mind’s eye.

Himself, soaked through with blood. A young man, no older than he, skinny and confused and looking shocked, ill. Another young man, younger but of an older bearing, bigger and more together even in the face of this horror, rushed forward, knelt beside him and searched frantically for his pulse. Having found it, though it was weak and sullied, like he was, like he’d rather die than be, like he was trying to kill himself before fully becoming, the young man ordered the other to call for help, to staunch the flow of his blood by applying pressure with his hands, and he knew it would work, suddenly, he knew that it would all work and he would live-

And that was what finally knocked the vision from him.

As he passed out, he, who never swore, even in his own mind, could not help but feel a soft but emotional “fuck”.

It seemed he could never do anything right. Even die.

Author’s Notes – A snippet from this boy’s (Ghost’s) life, originally posted on my livejournal community for original fiction, Serving The Sword. It hasn't been updated since 2005, but I hope to change that.  Please join if you can!

I wrote this ages & ages ago, so if it sucks, well...  I'm very sorry.

Oh, & one more thing. The characters belong to myself and my sister, darthelwig.  Please respect that.  Thank you.  :)

Anyway, enjoy. Peace, all.