AtS 5x14 Smile Time

[astridv]

My contribution for ats_endofdays is a comic. I'll be posting it as a WIP since the story refused to tell itself in two short pages as I'd planned. The script itself is finished, though, and pasted behind the comic page.

Disclaimer? The artwork is mine, characters and universe aren't, no money is being made off this. Thanks to mousehounde and doyle_sb4 for betaing the script and making sure Angel and Spike don't talk with a German accent (which would be really distracting), and to Sabine A. for a most productive brainstorming session.

In the interest of not being strangled by my friends list, I'm cut-tagging the large-size page.



*****

Yet-Untitled Smile Time Comic Script
=============================

Page 1:

EXT. W&H DUSK

cap: Wolfram & Hart. Former bastion of evil in the heart of the City of Angels, the imposing building is now home to a different kind: heroes, champions,...
-----
cap: ...intrepid warriors who banded together to fight...

ANGEL’S OFFICE (extreme wide shot)
-----
cap: ... the good fight.

CLOSING IN ON PUPPET!ANGEL AT HIS DESK DOING PAPERWORK; PEN BREAKS.

ANGEL

Crap!

cap: At least that’s the idea.

-----

SPIKE COMES IN.

SPIKE

Knock knock.
-----
I see you’re in a mood.

ANGEL

My body is made of felt, I have that damned song stuck in my head... today I’ve been called *adorable*.

Twice.

Tell me you found something to kill.
-----
SPIKE

Found a nest of vamps in –

ANGEL GRABS HIS SWORD FROM THE WALL.

ANGEL

Let’s go!
-----

IT’S RAINING. CLOSE-UP ON ANGEL

ANGEL

It’ll take forever to get the water out of my felt.
-----

(zoom back) WE SEE THAT SPIKE AND ANGEL ARE RIDING ON A MOTORCYCLE. THINK ITALY. BACKGROUND: SOME RAINY STREET SCENE. ANGEL IS CLINGING TO SPIKE.

SPIKE

Oh, will you stop bitching for just one second?

If you’d just let me drive one of your precious cars already, we wouldn’t have to take the bike, now would we?

Which reminds me, did you get around to signing for that car I requested?

Being a team member and all...

ANGEL

I feel like a sponge.

Page 2:

(wide angle) THEY STOP OUTSIDE A LARGE BUILDING. (DINGY L.A. BACKSTREET ATMOSPHERE)

SPIKE

Here... fourth floor.
-----
(off panel)
Hey, the rain stopped.

ANGEL WRINGS OUT HIS HAND; LOOKS EVEN GRUMPIER THAN USUAL.
-----
(very large panel) INT. ROOM: GROUP OF VAMPS, PLAYING KITTEN POKER. THE DOOR COMES CRASHING IN. VAMPS STARTLE. A KITTEN LEAPS OFF THE TABLE. ALL VERY DRAMATIC. (SFX: HUGE 'CRASH')
-----
DOOR HANGS IN ITS ANGLES. IN THE FRAME STANDS ANGEL, SPIKE BEHIND HIM.
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CAMERA ON SEVERAL OPEN-MOUTHED VAMPS (PLUS AN OPEN-MOUTHED KITTEN OR TWO)

Page 3:

(The next panels will be narrow and coming in short succession)
VAMP 1 POINTS AT THE PUPPET HERO: Bwahahaha...
VAMP 1 GOES POOF: ...ha-? (SFX: POOF)
VAMP 2 GOES POOF
VAMP 3 GOES POOF
VAMP 4 GOES POOF

-----
VAMP5

Shit!

THE REMAINING THREE VAMPIRES RUN OFF.

-----

(wide angle, large panel) ANGEL IS STANDING, SWORD IN HAND, INMIDST FOUR PILES OF DUST. SOME OF THE DUST IS STILL SETTLING. SPIKE IS CASUALLY LEANING AGAINST A WALL IN THE BACKGROUND, SMIRKING.

SPIKE

Feeling better?
-----
ANGEL

You know, I think I am. We-
-----

SOME VAMP DUST DRIFTS BY HIS FACE; ANGEL SNEEZES HEARTILY. (SFX: AA... ACHOOO!)
-----
NOSE FLIES OUT OF THE WINDOW; DOWN INTO THE STREET; FLOATS INTO STORM DRAIN. (succession of several smaller panels; get a good perspective of the building from the nose’s mid-air viewpoint :o)
-----
ANGEL AND SPIKE LOOK OUT OF THE WINDOW; ANGEL SHOCKED (view from outside below)

SPIKE

It’s not like you to fall apart after a fight...

Page 4:

OUR HEROES CLIMB DOWN A MANHOLE.

SPIKE

So what do you reckon will happen if you change back without it?

ANGEL

Clibe faster!
-----

DIMLY-LIT SEWER TUNNEL; EXTREME FOREGROUND: NOSE JUST FLOATS AROUND A CORNER; IN THE BACKGROUND, VERY SMALL: ANGEL AND SPIKE. SPIKE POINTS IN OUR DIRECTION.

SPIKE
Over there!
-----

(three small panels of) NOSE FLOATING; IN THE LAST ONE IT GETS PICKED UP BY A HAND. (GINGERLY, AS ONE WOULD HOLD A DEAD MOUSE)

Page 5:

VAMP 5 (FROM BEFORE) HOLDS THE NOSE IN FRONT OF HIS FACE.

What’s that?

(off panel)
I thig dis belogs to be.
-----

ANGEL SNATCHES HIS NOSE.

VAMP 5

You again!
-----

(wide panel) ANGEL AND SPIKE EACH SYNCHRONOUSLY STAKE A VAMP ON EITHER SIDE OF THE PANEL; IN THE MIDDLE REMAINING VAMP WATCHES, FREAKING (THEY’RE OBVIOUSLY ALL VERY STUPID FLEDGELINGS).

-----
VAMP 5

How did you even get here?

ANGEL PUTS NOSE BACK ON

Followed my nose.

DUSTS REMAINING VAMP.

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OUTSIDE; THE TWO ARE GETTING BACK ON THE BIKE.

SPIKE

So, you feel like hitting a bar, get something to wash the fledgeling dust down with?

ANGEL

Thanks, I’ve had enough humiliation for one day.
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(final shot: large panel, full width of the page; balloons keep getting smaller as) ANGEL AND SPIKE RIDE OFF INTO THE BACKGROUND.

SPIKE

Humiliation? You’re humiliated? Talk about a grown man driving around with a puppet. How’s that for humiliation? But nooo, it’s always got to be about Angel. Because Angel is always –

ANGEL

Spike...

SPIKE

What?

ANGEL

Not now...

SPIKE

Oh, all right.

So, about my car...

END

I wrecked my brain for a title but didn't come up with anything. Any suggestions?

(cross-posted to ats_endofdays)

Comments

[roseveare.livejournal.com]

That looks amazing! And the script is great, so many funny moments - I can't wait to see the rest.

...today I’ve been called *adorable*.

Twice.

LOL :)

Far as titles go, the only thing that occurs is possibly something to play on the theme of 'smiling'...? (smiling through the rain? still smiling? etc. or possibly a play on 'happy' or some other related term with large buckets of irony)

[astridv.livejournal.com]

...today I’ve been called *adorable*.

Twice.

LOL :)

Hee. Hard to believe but that little exchange took me almost as long as the whole script together. I was _really_ happy when that line came to me.

title... yeah, irony is good, pun too. I'm thinking of something like the thing they do on comedy shows like Frasier or Mash, where the ep title often is a play on words on a common saying. Maybe I should make a list of sayings first... stuff relating to smiling or puppets... or vampires... hmmmmmm.

[lakrids404.livejournal.com]

it's looking adorable.
I do like your vain and grumpy Angel

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Thanks muchly :)
Yeah, Angel sure is vain and grumpy. You just gotta love him...

[rahirah]

Oh, that's just so cuuuuuuuute!

[astridv.livejournal.com]

And I haven't even brought in the kittens yet. ;o)

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Smashin'! & :-)

Can't wait for more.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

My fingers are itching to get started on the next pages, but I shall do the reasonable thing and get some work out of the way first.

A little voice in my head just started insisting that the falling nose deserves a nearly-full page panel all by itself. I'm trying to shut it up.

[shadowscast.livejournal.com]

I think I already commented on your gorgeous art in EndOfDays, but just now I came and read the script, so I had to let you know I'm giggling with delight at the thought of what's to come.

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Hee... I'm so eager to get started on the next pages myself. I don't think I've ever drawn a real fight scene. Plus, kittens. Just gotta get some real life obligations out of the way first.

[whichwitch666.livejournal.com]

Yey, I love it. I want a printed one of my very own!

Puppet Angel - one of the cutest, most hilarious things ever invented, ever.

About the name, though, I was thinking "What's in a Nose"... ;)

[astridv.livejournal.com]

Yey, I love it. I want a printed one of my very own!
Heh. That could be arranged... I mean, once it's finished, in the (hopefully) not too distant future...

re: title: I don't want to mention the nose right in the title and give it all away... I'm looking for something more vague. Something that just hints at it being not quite Angel's day, maybe.