It was always wonderful to spend time with someone who was just as passionate about their artistic craft as Wendy. Though he took on a different medium, Tommy seemed to be serious about his filmmaking, much like she was about her writing, and the two had formed a friendship centered around running ideas by each other. Knowing that they could spend as long at a table as they wanted while Peter and Jane were working, Wendy had invited him to Flo’s, her laptop and handwritten notes open while he had a computer and camera equipment Wendy was too terrified to spill on. “You know, why haven’t we thought about working together?” she asked, breaking the silence of their focus. “I don’t know if you’ve made any dramas, but I could take a stab at script-writing,” Wendy suggested, giving him a raised brow. “Could be fun, rather than just previewing each other’s work.”

"Oh, my goodness, be careful, will you?" she shouted across the rooftop, watching anxiously as Tommy decided to walk across the pipe a few inches off the pavement. She'd seen the other boys do it all the time, but only once had someone slipped and twisted their ankle, and it was enough for Wendy to worry any time someone decided to do the same. She held out her hand as he took a step, offering it to lean on in case he needed her. "You know, I need friends who are perfectly content with not needing an adrenaline rush every now and then," she said jokingly, shifting her gaze between his face and his feet. "Did your friends wind up coming, too? I thought I saw one of them, the awfully tall one. And the girl you're seeing, too, or did she have work?" Wendy asked, recalling that the redhead he'd been on a few dates with had a demanding schedule. @filmedbypickles

“Does it? Which one?” she asked, turning to him. New Salem was very picturesque, more so in the daylight than in the nighttime of the party they’d been at. The outside of the town hall did seem like something that would be in a movie, the way it looked like it could’ve been around when Animania had been founded centuries ago. Wendy wasn’t entirely well-versed in films, though, not when she had someone as knowledgeable as Tommy with her. She didn’t even want to attempt to make a reference in fear that she would be entirely wrong and embarrass herself. “It would photograph wonderfully, I think. Imagine getting married in there and then taking photos out here. It’s so romantic, don’t you think?” Wendy looked back to him, then at the building once again, the one she’d once been trapped in. 

@directorpickles

Coming back to New Salem was a little unnerving, considering that they’d hardly been able to leave the last time they’d been there. The idea was not Wendy’s, but Tommy had stuck to his promise of coming back one day to film, and she didn’t want to say no. Despite having gone on a date with one of his good friends that ended in a kiss, she still had a soft spot for the filmmaker, one that she’d developed long before meeting Phil. There was nothing wrong with being friends with him, right? That’s all this was: two friends on a research trip. “Maybe. let’s not go back to the town hall?” she suggested as they stepped foot into the center of New Salem, a pad in her hand and a camera in Tommy’s. “Maybe we could check out the places on Main Street, or the library? I’m always partial to the archives, but that’s just me.” It was a little nerdy, wanting to spend the day researching among books, but if anyone would get it, it was him. “Or, wherever you think looks good to get some shots for whatever you’re making. There’s really no direction on which way this story’s going, if I’m being honest,” she admitted with a laugh.

The last thing Wendy wanted to think about at the Halloween party was work, but this was her first time in New Salem, and she should probably get some information for the paper on the new town and its residents. She was trying to keep it informal this time around, only taking notes on her phone as she waited in line for a drink. Too focused on typing as much as she could about the town hall and what offerings the event had so far, Wendy didn’t even see the familiar face approach her and tap on her shoulder. Startled, she dropped her phone to the ground with a “Oh!”, quickly bending down to pick it up and meet Tommy’s eye. “Oh, my goodness, I didn’t even realize it was you,” she admitted with an embarrassed laugh. “Want to join me in line? Sneak in while people are too focused on me making a fool of myself and dropping my phone.”