15 F/X Guy

Although it was a beautiful summer's day, Keyboard Warrior 00880 did not see the sun today. For days he had not seen any sun other than that shining on his computer screen, where the Keyboard Warrior spent almost every moment of his vacation.

At last, he was free from school and the nagging of the old people who spent their days at work anyway. At last he was free to give himself completely to the world he loved.

The Internet was a wonderful place where you could meet even more wonderful people without leaving your home. Through social media, through forums, you could meet people who shared the same interests, and that was great. The Keyboard Warrior 00880 had no idea that there are so many people in the world like him, ready to sacrifice anything for the idol he loves and willing to do anything to harm the one he doesn't like.

There were many ways, so many that it exceeded the imagination of the Keyboard Warrior 00880. The most remarkable thing, however, was that you could make money on it.

It wasn't even personal, the hate he put in his comments on famous people's profiles and topics devoted to them. It was an easy job. The Keyboard Warrior 00880 had never heard of many of these idols, because what did he care about the stars of Korea, Japan, Thailand, India or China? He cared about only one person and this person was here in Poland, not yet famous enough, but deserving the greatest recognition and popularity.

One day the experience, contacts and money gained now will be useful to help his loved one get to the top. The Keyboard Warrior 00880 has already prepared everything - offensive posts, articles and photo montages. He also collected dirt on anyone who could threaten the popularity of his idol. In the meantime, of course, he studied diligently and made money by hating everyone on commission.

But the Keyboard Warrior 00880 also had his own private mission, which he did not forget even for a moment.

Currently, his and his friends' target was Rafał Brylski, on whom the Keyboard Warrior 00880 joyfully picked up dirt.

***

Among the people on the set, Radosz did not see Professor Urbański and asked one of the employees about him. It turned out that Urbański had finished shooting on this set and he only had scenes in the studio that he would start shooting next week.

The conversation Damian wanted to have with the professor was important, but not so much that he desperately wanted to meet him, so Radosz decided that he would have no problem with it on another day. As Urbański was out of reach, Damian started looking around for Mońka.

In this case, it was much easier for him. The special effects specialist and chief stuntman was overseeing the winding up of the gear as if he were about to get off set.

“Is it over for today?” Damian asked coming up to Mońka.

The stuntman looked back and Radosz decided that the guy had a face that could as well be on the screen as the face of an actor. Maybe even more. Mońka had a bit austere, but attractive, noble features and a strong, alert, dominant gaze. This is exactly what the toughest of cinema should look like. Damian carefully recorded this remark, hoping that soon he would start production in which he would actually be able to show Mońka's face.

"Yes," the stuntman admitted, looking at Radosz carefully, but without suspicion or fear. “We didn't have much work today anyway. Would you like to talk about yesterday's incident?”

“Is that so obvious?” Damian asked.

Mońka smiled crookedly, a bit like Han Solo, but not entirely.

“I'm just gonna mop up that cable.”

Mońka meant a coil of black, thick cable, which he had hung over his shoulder. The scroll looked really heavy. The stuntman took him back to his trailer, gave a few commands to his subordinates and returned to Radosz.

"Let's go into the shadows," he suggested.

Damian didn't mind.

They walked a little aside, to the wall of some old warehouse or factory building begging for demolition. Mońka asked if he could smoke. Damian didn't like cigarette smoke, but he tolerated it. He agreed without any problems.

“I saw the recordings from yesterday” Radosz got straight to the point. “Is it normal for an actor to enter the potentially dangerous action area so early? The cameras were not ready yet.”

“It depends” Tobiasz Mońka calmly blew out cigarette smoke. “Usually it takes longer to prepare an actor than a stunt, so we have to start earlier. The actor moves less confidently, for that we all have to be extra focused. Sometimes a pinned actor waits quite a long time, but there are no specific rules for that.”

It sounded logical. It is difficult to predict whether any preparations will take five or fifteen minutes. Using experienced stuntmen it was probably easier to calculate this time, but when working with amateurs you always had to include some element of unpredictability.

“And yesterday?”

Mońka sniffed, although he did not have a cold at all.

"I'd like to say everything was perfect," he said, "but it wasn't. If it were perfect, the boy wouldn't end up in the hospital.

“Anyone made a mistake?” asked Radosz. He really wanted to know Monka's opinion, who made an impression on him as a professional and quite honest guy.

“Honestly? I have no idea,” the special effects specialist confessed, blowing a puff of smoke. “I probably should know, but... Yesterday the director and I went through the footage of the accident, almost frame by frame. At first I was convinced that I had made a mistake, that I should stay with the actor longer. But shit, everything was really ok. I checked the harness twice and left it there not to hide in the shadows, but to make sure everything was okay on the crane operator's side.”

Mońka rubbed his nose, although he did not have a cold. He shook his head.

“Maybe I should actually go back to Brylski instead of waiting these few minutes for the shooting to begin,” he continued, “but probably no one noticed that so much time had passed. So I don't know damn if I did something wrong, but I do know that now I'm gonna be better at supervising actors in these kinds of scenes.”

His statement was marked by the sincerity of a man who, despite his efforts, was unable to find answers to certain questions. Tobiasz Mońka was someone who certainly takes his work and the people around him seriously. Damian wondered if he could get any more information out of him.

“What do you think about Brylski?” He asked.

“I?” The stuntman was surprised.

“Yes. You have experience with many actors, on many sets. If you were to compare them... Brylski, I mean. Does he stand out clearly from the rest? You know, I was the one who insisted on him in this show and I wonder if I made the right choice...?”

“Brylski is ok” Mońka replied in an ordinary tone. He sipped his cigarette again. “What happened yesterday was not his fault. The boy does his best, and from the stuntman's point of view, I'm not having any trouble with him. He learns quickly, he remembers about safety regulations, he is very devoted, courageous and obedient. Yesterday… it was because of the sun. Nobody noticed in time that something was happening to him, and I was the closest to him...”

It almost sounded like a confession. Damian was pleased that at least one person felt responsible to some extent for yesterday's incident.

But is the person who really should feel responsible, actually felt this way?