The online argunt was intense, but Nora Scott returned ho leisurely with the admirable attitude of "a dead pig doesn’t fear boiling water."
It was already late, and when the door opened, she happened to see Marcus Shaw coming out after a shower. It was the end of June, and with the high temperatures, he was wearing a short-sleeve shirt and shorts. His hair was wet, hanging down with droplets of water dripping from the tips, sliding along his neck to his collar, leaving a wet patch.
Not soone who spent all day outdoors, Marcus had naturally pale skin, making the scratches on his face and abrasions on his arms very noticeable.
"Sis."
Marcus turned his head to greet Nora.
After changing her shoes and coming in, Nora glanced at him twice, then casually asked, "Did you go fight soone?"
"Yeah."
"Did you win?"
"...Sort of."
Marcus was already unfazed by Nora’s calm reaction.
—That’s also why he chose to co back tonight. If Evelyn Easton were here, he would have definitely returned to school early.
Throwing her bag onto the sofa, Nora flexed her wrist, then pulled out a hair tie and tied her hair up. "Where’s Oliver Scott?"
"We ran out of White Flower Oil, so he went out to get so dicine," Marcus said, glancing toward the door.
Nora paused in the middle of tying her hair and looked at Marcus in surprise, "Just for those minor injuries?"
"..."
Marcus lowered his head slightly, brushing his nose with his fingers, having nothing to say about Nora’s reaction.
After all, he also thought Oliver’s insistence on buying dicine was making a fuss over nothing...
With her hair tied up in a ponytail, Nora tilted her body slightly and signaled Marcus with her chin, "Co here."
Marcus looked over, puzzled.
Nora smirked with eager excitent, "Let’s test your skills."
"..."
Nora’s thought process was sothing you couldn’t figure out even if you spent half a year trying.
*
As Oliver Scott pushed the door open, he heard the sounds of punching and kicking from the living room. He was startled, tense for a mont, and quickly rushed inside.
What t his eyes wasn’t the violent scene he imagined, but the sight of Nora and Marcus genuinely sparring, which caught him off guard and startled him for a second.
"Sis!"
Oliver raised his voice to shout.
At the sound, Nora raised her eyebrows. She exchanged a glance with Marcus, signaling him to stop. Both of them withdrew and stopped sparring.
"Is there a ghost chasing you?"
Wiping the sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand, Nora slightly turned her head and glanced subtly at the very anxious Oliver.
"Huh? No, I an—" Oliver paused for two seconds to calm down, stamred a bit, and asked, "What were you two doing?"
Pinching his shirt collar, Marcus felt the sweat all over his body. He sighed inwardly and responded to Oliver without lifting an eyelid, "Sparring."
Oliver: "...Oh."
—I thought sis saw your bruised self co back and wanted to lecture you, and then you, being the stubborn one, would resist her, leading to a family showdown.
Gave a scare.
It took a long mont for Oliver to realize, "Wait, why were you two sparring for no apparent reason?"
"Testing our skills." Nora accepted a bottle of water Marcus threw over, twisted it open, took a couple of gulps, and then said to Marcus, "Loxley will co back during the sumr break. If you’re free, learn a few moves from him. In your current state, if you face a seasoned fighter, you’ll have no chance."
Marcus opened a bottle of water for himself, and hearing Nora’s words, he didn’t resist, rely nodded with lowered eyes.
"What about ?"
Using his free hand to gesture to himself, Oliver was carrying a dicine bag in one arm.
Nora scrutinized him for a couple of seconds and rcilessly delivered a fatal blow, "If you’re scared of trouble, hire a couple of bodyguards. Saves ti and effort."
"This is bias."
Oliver was dismayed.
Letting out a sound, Nora raised an eyebrow, "During sumr break, let Benjamin Durant take you to try parkour."
Clarifying, Oliver’s lips curled into a smile, cleverly changing his tone, "Sis is really looking at abilities, very high."
Just as he finished speaking, Nora nonchalantly added, "In future situations, running away faster is better."
Oliver: "..."
Indeed, his sister still knew how to strike where it hurt.
*
In this scorching weather, after sparring for a while, both Nora and Marcus had worked up a sweat. After showering, Oliver washed a plate of fruit with one hand and placed it on the coffee table.
The two of them unceremoniously ca over to sit down.
Oliver sighed.
"What’s going on?"
After eating two grapes, Nora rembered to ask Marcus about the cause.
Contemplating for a bit, Marcus replied calmly, "A friend’s family had so issues, went over to help."
Nora Oliver: "Friend?"
The two spoke in unison.
Marcus: "...What kind of reaction is that from you two?"
"A girl?"
Nora’s intuition was sharp.
"Junior schoolmate?" Oliver Scott followed up with a question.
"..."
Marcus Shaw’s eyelids drooped, and his mouth twitched. He didn’t want to answer at all.
Nora Scott peeled a grape and hesitated before speaking slowly, "I have a brother..."
"Huh?"
Oliver Scott looked up in shock.
Marcus Shaw was also dumbfounded.
—Did their dad and mom have an illegitimate child outside of their knowledge?
Realizing what they were thinking, Nora Scott explained with resignation, "A neighbor’s brother, lives next door to my ntor."
"Oh," Oliver nodded, intrigued, "Did this brother already fancy a junior schoolmate in high school?"
"..."
Marcus Shaw shot Oliver a cold glare.
"Not really," Nora said. "But he’s always loved flirting with little sisters since he was young. Elentary, junior high, high school, everyone at school knows him. He’s flirted with about a hundred of them."
Marcus Shaw Oliver Scott: "..." Why do you always know these eccentric people hiding among the masses?
Nora glanced at Marcus, ate the grape, and slowly said, "Even if you ss around with every girl... or every boy from one school, I could accept it."
"...You don’t need to have such strong ntal fortitude," Marcus could barely stand it anymore.
"Sis is just guiding you," Oliver consoled, quickly snatching away the lychee Marcus had just peeled and swallowing it in one bite.
Glancing at his fingers still sticky with lychee juice, Marcus looked up at this sibling duo, speechless.
If he didn’t speak up, who knows how their imagination would run wild, speculating about him in private. After pondering briefly, Marcus ca out directly, "A month ago, Mr. Hughes had a case that involved her father, and he asked to find a chance to get to know her, so I could look out for her if necessary."
Oliver spat out the lychee seed, waiting for Marcus’s follow-up. After a few seconds, realizing Marcus was silent, he was confused, "That’s it?"
"That’s it,"
Marcus peeled another lychee and shoved the flesh into Oliver’s mouth.
"Tsk."
Nora stood up, disappointed.
Expecting this kid to have an epiphany, who knows how many years it will take.
—Neither like his sister nor his mother.
Oliver spat out the seed and asked, "Sis, not eating anymore?"
"Hmm."
Nora picked up half a bottle of water and drank it all in one go.
"When are you joining the crew?"
After thinking briefly, Nora casually said, "After your exams are over."
...
In principle, once the press conference is over, the crew should begin filming.
However, "Twelve" is quite special with 12 crews, each starting at different tis. So start as early as tomorrow while others begin in ten to fifteen days.
Among these 12 scripts, "Reversing Life" and "Sumr" are special, both containing school scenes, so to avoid disturbing the students, both crews chose to film during sumr vacation.
The filming schedule isn’t tight, so Alfred Lawrence decided to spend seven to ten days training the main actors before officially starting shooting, to get them into the right mindset.
Next month, Nora will be quite busy.
Luckily, "Reversing Life" is shot at First Affiliated High School in Fenton City, and the non-campus scenes are also fild in Fenton City, so she doesn’t have to run around too much.
—She still has ti to et Pedro Langley.
*
Online bashing was in full swing, the atmosphere was as lively as the New Year, while Nora was at ho preparing her script, learning the bamboo flute, drawing comics... occasionally visiting Katherine Collins’ house for a free al, living leisurely.
On July 1st, "Skill·mory" officially went online. Amidst various skeptical voices, the first episode aired on Cool Ridge dia.
The exquisite opening scene, visibly a large-scale production, combined with the lodious flute and xiao pure music, instantly gave the trolls, who were ready to criticize, a feeling of foreboding.
Half a minute later, the video started receiving comnts—
[Is the the song really that good?]
[?? Who said this is a small production? Just this tune deserves three points.]
[Ca here for the hype, but ended up enjoying a good song. Not disappointing.]
[Read the introduction, laughed till I cried. Is this tune called ’Destructive Demoness’? And it’s anonymous.]
[The performance is by the Royal Conservatory’s professor, Flora Loughton... What’s with this high-end feeling?]
[The music is good, can’t say the sa for the rest.]
[Absolutely! This tune is too good! I want to rave ahhh!]
[Looking for the original tune link.]
...
The docuntary isn’t long, excluding the opening and closing, it’s a total of twenty minutes. It’s divided into three parts.
The first part is a historical introduction to the the, very hardcore, with scenes shot by actors. The narration is done by a professional, with a hugely imrsive voice; netizens searched and found out it was a reasonably famous announcer, with a brilliant academic background.
The second part involves the legend adaptation, which was exactly what Nora and Henry Chapman based on the legend.
The third part introduces and interviews Trump Puppet Museum, shot with very high-end techniques, not hinting at low-budget production whatsoever.
Undoubtedly, hardcore science popularization and tourist attraction intros can attract so people but not the majority. Most viewers ca for the second part—
And, no one expected that the skeptical viewers would be so embarrassed.
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