{Location: Movie set #316}(Cole's POV)

Morro stands above us in his decked out ghost costume and make-up and looks bored out of his mind as he has a chock hold on a green screen dummy.  "What you do now is give me the crystal or say goodbye to your little green friend."  

The set around us is a fake version of the first spinjutsu master's tomb and it really, really, really, doesn't look authentic.

I glance at my hand to read my line, it's kinda hard to read through the thick makeup due to the fact I was a ghost in this seance we're reacting, "No. We will never," dang it, my hand smudged the ink. I squint to read it as Jay rolls his eyes, "Give you the kragal, no, Crystal."

That was cringy. I mentally kick myself as Kai holds the fake realm crystal up. Kai's probably the best actor among us...unless Willow has better improve skills I'm unaware of. Kai grins as the special effectx change the crystal from blue to red, "You want it, Morro, go get it."  He throws it offset.

Clank! CLink! The crystal rolls to a stop then I look up at Morro.

Then it finally hits him that his cue has long past. He tosses the green dummy posing as Lloyd aside, "No," more deadpan, "The crystal. What have you done?"

This is just so cringy. So cringy.

Dareth jumps out of his director's chair and holds a boom mic to his mouth, "CUT!"  He storms past us and up the hidden staircase to the platform Morro's on, he raises the boom mic again, "WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT? THE WAS THE WORST ACTING I'VE SEEN!"

Morro sidesteps and rubs his ears. Unfortanly he steps off the edge of the platform and he falls about 5 feet. His hand shoots up and he gives a thumbs up, "I'm ok."  He gets up, half covered in furry winter coats for another movie, "Who hides props behind a set? That makes no sense."

Dareth presses the on the button again, "Wait a second, after that trainwreck of a performance you don't get to have an opinion."  He sighs as he facepalms, "Back in your places everyone, take number 27!"

Zane moans, "Dareth, perhaps we should take a break. We just come back from a major battle and we have been trying at this all morning."

Jay nods as my stomach growls, "Please. Why are we doing this again?"

I fold my arms as my eyes are drawn to the chocolate cake that is on the snake table, "And without Lloyd for that matter. I mean look at that thing? It looks nothing like him."

Dareth throws his arms up, "Fine. Whatever. You five go cool off. And where is my 10:30 donut people?"  He sets out looking for the donut box.

Kai snickers as he moves to where Morro is. His snickers soon turn into full-blown chuckling as he holds up the missing donut box, "Safely hidden from the sugar craving ninja."

He opens the box as Jay jumps over the cardboard ice, "Dibs on the rainbow sprinkles."

I follow Zane at a more refined speed as Morro pulls off the fake fur coat. Donuts are nowhere near as good as cake but I gladly take a chocolate frosting one, "Ok, who else feels like this script is just ridiculous?"

Kai raises his free hand as Zane takes a white frosted donut and start nibbling at it, "Totally. I mean Morro's entrance doesn't make any sense. In the last scene, I left him trapped in ice so from that time until when he shows up isn't long enough for him to break free."

"Hey, remember me," Morro points to himself, which makes me have to look at his ridiculous ghost make up, "The guy who actually did that incredible escape."

Jay licks his fingers, "Ok, smart guy, how did you get out?"

Morro smirks while raising an eyebrow, "You guys didn't take away the sword of sanctuary. Once I pulled it back in I used Lloyd's spinjutzu to spin a hole."

I hum, "Nah. Doesn't sound believable."  I grab a donut and hand it to him

He takes it, rolls his eyes then crosses his arms, "Whatever. Are we done here yet?"

Zane looks at his internal watch, "This is the only scene we have for today. Almost every other scene does not involve Morro."

Morro sighs in relief, "So the only thing standing between me and my freedom is my terrible, terrible acting."

"Based on the rehearsal and the last 27 takes, we might be here forever then," Jay jokes but he sounds totally serious, "Hey mabey one of the girls can swing by and grab us lunch."

Jay, you and your darn motor mouth. I glance over at Morro, whose face is somewhere between mad and offended. I slowly step on Jay's toes as I chew my donut, "Well we all have areas we can improve on. Say these donuts are great, right, Morro?"  Yikes. My improve is about as bad as my acting.

Morro doesn't look impressed. He puts his donut back in the box, "I'm not hungry."  He walks off the set.

I push the rest of my donut in my mouth as I take my foot off of Jay's feet. Jay rubs his foot as Kai and Zane glare at him, "Hey, what was that for?"

Zane takes the donut box away from Kai, "Jay, you have to start thinking before you speak."

"I was, this is taking forever. It's always something. And I was just pointing that out."  Jay puts his hands on his hips.

Zane hides the donut box as Kai looks ready to start another argument. Kai folds his arms, "How many times do we have to say it, Jay? You can't just say the first thing that comes to mind."

I don't have the energy for another fight......and that chocolate cake has been tempting my taste buds. I sneck away as they start at it.  I grab a plate, the cutting knife and get ready to dive in when I hear small sniffles around the corner. I check behind me and spot Morro taking slow deep breaths while trying to calm down. Let's see, cake or checking on teammate. Cake or my friend.

Cake or my friend.

I know what I have to do. I leave my cake slices on the corner of the table and head straight to Morro. He has a tissue box under him and he looks like he's eating his lip. I lean next to the mirror, "You shouldn't listen to Jay too much, he's got a nasty habit of having next to no filter."

Morro looks away, "Thanks but I'd like to be alone right now."

"And I'd rather be eating that delicious cake. But that isn't happening."  I watch him as he digs his nails into his palm, "It's not at all what Jay said was it?"

Morro doesn't respond as he grabs a tissue and slowly brings it to his face.

"Come on," Mabey I should have brought over Zane, I'm not the best when it comes to dealing with difficult feelings, "You're on the team that I lead. I need to know that all my..."Trump card time, I debate whether or not reach out and touch him, "Friends are ok."

Morro stands up straighter, "We're friends?"

"Yeah. I mean you haven't tried killing me and that is an incredibly good start."

Morro turns around, the makeup under his eyes looks a little wet, "I've tried before."  He leans against the vanity mirror counter and holds himself very tight.

"Oh, so that's why you're upset."  That does make scenes. If someone made me replay the biggest mistake of my life over and over again I'd be pretty moody too.  "Do you...umm...do you want to talk about it?"

Morro looks down like his feet are super interesting all of a sudden, "No."

"You know we won't be able to leave here which means you'll be that much longer from hanging out with Katara," I can't help the wide smirk that crosses my face.

Morro has a flash of a smile that disappears as he looks at me, "I sucked. Honestly, how can you guys stand me? I mean I had some control when I was a ghost and a lot of my decisions were very very bad. And now I'm here, pretending to be something I once was."  His frown deepens as he won't look me in the eye.

Ok, that's a lot to deal with at once. Think Cole. Don't freeze up.  "So lemme get this straight, you're afraid that acting in the villain role will make you go backward instead of forwards. Does that about sum it up?"

He nods slowly.

"Ok. But you do know you have nothing to worry about, right?"  I'll have to wrap this up quick. I spot Dareth coming back. He's combing his hair so I mabey have 2 more minutes, "You're on a team now. Our team no less. And we never let one of our own lose their way if we can help it."

A small smile pull up at the corners of his mouth, "Ninja always have each other's backs."

"Exactly," I stand up and point with my thumb to the set, "You think you're ready to try this again?"

He follows my lead, "I'll give it a shot."

"Great," I lead the way as Kai, Zane and Jay have resolved their argument, "One more thing, just pretend like Dareth stole something from you."

"Ooook?"  Morro looks lost again as he heads over to the platform, "Why?"

"Well, he is the one putting you through this. Just pretend you're saying your lines to him and don't forget to be menacing."  I hold still as the make up girl touch up my ghosty look.

Morro holds still as someone does his make up.  

The girl lets me go and I stand next to my brothers as the crew resets up the entire seance. Zane taps my side, "What did you say to him? He seems much calmer now."

I check my lines written on my forearm, getting the first 2 in my head, "Just a little encouragement. I think he'll act much better now."

Kai holds his hand out as the props guy hands him the fake realm crystal, "Yeah sure. You just bet on that."

"You know what, I will. How much is on the table?"

Kai hums, "I've got five dollars and a yogurt punchcard."

"All right, I've got 3 dollars, a pack of gum and a free trial on Netflix."  I have a feeling that Kai is overconfident on this one, "Deal?"

"Deal," Kai shakes my hand.

Dareth likes his lips, "Places people. Hey, pre-cut cake."  I turn around and see him eat the cake I had cut earlier. Dareth sits back in his chair as he eats, "My gosh this is good. And action."

The props guy grabs the green dummy and tosses him up to Morro. I can feel the camera start recording. I can imagine hoe Morro's feeling, having to deliver the first line is a lot of pressuer.

Morro holds the green dummy in a chock hold as he takes a deep breath, "WHAT," much better. His voice has a new depth to it and it actually takes me back to when this actually happened, "you DO now is give ME the crystal or say GOODBYE to your little green friend!"

I try to hide my smirk as I have won the bet between me and Kai. It's my turn, "No. We will never give you the crystal."

Kai opens and closes his mouth like a fish, "Um...line?"

Me, Jay and Zane snicker not too quietly at that.

"CUT!"  Dareth cleans his mouth from the chocolate cake, "Morro, that WAS FANTASTIC! But we have to do another take just to be sure."

I look at Kai, "I'll take my winnings at the yogurt shop across the street thank you very much."