#mavofficial

Her comment is oft echoed by others outside of his circle. The questionable and unrelenting press. They are a colorful assortment of characters. His most positive opinion on them at best. At worst the views them all as money hungry little leeches ready to suck the blood of their latest conquest. Gossip and paparazzi go hand in hand. That is their lifeblood. 

While his assistant may say a similar phrase to what they publish in their tabloids, Corvus is aware she speaks it with a truth. The truth they are not aware of. She may wonder about him. It comes with the territory no matter how long they have worked together. 

“You wonder why I ordered white instead of red wine?” Purposely passing off the joke dryly, he picked up his glass for a sip. 

Maya Tran knew when he was being coy. It’s a bit more terrifying than usual though. No one knows exactly where he’s going with most of it. Lucky for her she is used to his mood. “Oh heaven forbid. I was about to call you a pod person.” She shook her head, giving him a light roll of her eyes. “No, I wonder why you choose to sit down in an outside patio dining room knowing there is paparazzi around. When you hate them.” 

“I despise only the gutter rats after their next wheel of cheese. You should know this by now.” Some publicity is better than none. He will admit there is a particular showing to be made when feeding them a new product. In this case the promotion of film which is an art in and of itself. He is aware where he chose to sit. Just as he is aware he is not the hot topic of his luncheon. His eyes had been following the young man since he appeared. “If your eye was as keen on your surroundings outside of work as they are when we are dealing with audition stages you would realize. There is more interest from my vantage point.” 

Maya turned her head. Following his gaze, she had to crane around her chair a bit to face the same direction. Sure enough he’s right again. “Isn’t that Aiden Vance. The Disney star?” 

“Hm, yes. I have been curious.” 

“Curious? About him?” Maya turned back to face her boss. “You’ve heard some of those things they have been publishing about him I hope.” While she hardly cares what media says she has to have Corvus’ back on decisions. She is not so sure he should be curious about someone who has heat on them. Whenever he says ‘curious’ he means he’s wanting to meet. Meet means he wants to see what he might do with the person in question. This time it’s the Disney kid. 

The man set his glass down. He pursed his lips. “You should know I do not take media’s word on anything. Rumors are the source of all tabloid’s earnings. They fatten their wallets on the misery of others. Whether the stories surrounding Mr. Vance are credible or not is for me to assess by character alone. I only care about his talent. Child stars are not the same as all others. They are pushed into a situation they cannot control at such a young age. Most often their parents take that power and use it to gain ahead themselves. What matters is how he wishes his career to be now. Ask him here.” 

Maya sighed. Giving a nod to his point, she rose from her chair. She picked up her glass for a quick swig of alcohol. The second she started walking over there is when she knew Corvus had this set up on purpose. As much as he hates the paps he knows how to utilize. “Excuse me. Mr. Vance? Hi,” she put on a smile easily. “I hate to disturb you here but my name is Maya Tran. Personal assistant to Corvus DeVille of Scarlet Pictures? If you are able to offer a moment of your time he is interested in speaking with you. Just over there.” She pointed to her boss sitting across the patio. Nobody can miss him in that full on black suit. She will give him that. 

For years Aiden was taught to minimize any outward displays of surprise when he had public fan interactions. Big reactions often encouraged weirder behavior from bigger fans. During his golden years at Disney, he had gotten it down to an art, even for the strangest of interactions. Yet, this one led with a question that haunted the young actor. Aiden froze in his spot, needing to take a moment to process the question thrown at him. Ah. He was talking about a movie. Relief washed over Aiden and he gave Rishi a delighted smile, holding out his hand for a handshake. “It’s always a pleasure to meeting a fan, Rishi. I’m guessing that you’ve seen Middletown Mania?” …Surely that’s what he was talking about, right? The psychological thriller’s themes fixated a great deal on identity and belonging. He raised an eyebrow, curious to see what film this fan was referring to.

“Middletown Mania! Yes, that’s exactly it!” Of course, before approaching the celebrity, they made sure to carefully study his films. After all, it would be foolish to approach as a ‘fan’ that new nothing about Aiden’s work. 

While the rebuttal was harsh and the language was far from professional, the sender still backed up their claims with mostly credible sources and even presented a different perspective on the issue.

Bonus: How would her response change if the sender appears to have a personal connection to the issue and access to information that isn’t publicly available?

Oooh that's an interesting one! Thank you for that ;3c

Eloise is very open to criticism, but, she also know when her work is the best that it can be. Something she had to learn to be proud of before she went freelance. Because of that, though, she's very protective of her own opinion. She wants her own views to be heard, so she would feel defensive to the person at first. Depending on what sources they offer, there is a chance she would look past the less than professional approach to see if it was worth looking into. Make sure she has all of the right information before printing anything else. If she finds something she said was actually in error, she would correct it. Shes not too proud to admit something was wrong. She just wouldn't publicly or directly respond to the anonymous criticism. Because fighting people online is really not a good look for a journalist.

Bonus: now this is where things get interesting. The stories Eloise tends to cover are crimes so the op-eds are usually something along those lines as well. Some opinion she has on a case or some circulating conspiracy. It's EASY to think these sorts of articles will attract people criticizing and especially ones close enough. Getting into trouble is what she does best.

Confusion washed into Aiden’s worn expression. He had painted Beau as antagonistic in his head - he couldn’t recall the last time someone who he didn’t get along with treated him with so much respect. It was an odd comfort to be receiving but he took it.

For a good while Aiden just kept his gaze on Beau, occasionally resting his eyes for a few moments before reopening them. He felt like shit, as if each molecule in his body had done a triathlon. Who knew that surviving could be such a punishment? Aiden looked up at the hospital ceiling and then finally chose to speak.

“…Thank you for being here…” he kept it at that for now. He had a million questions. Did any of his friends or family know? Did the media know? Had Beau talked to the doctors about what happened? And that’s was just the surface of his thoughts.

But for now, Aiden was okay with just taking quiet reassurance in Beau’s presence. The parental tone was comforting to Aiden even if it was expressing disappointment. He felt safe enough to allow himself to be genuine - which was a feat, even if it was assisted by Aiden’s entire body screaming for a break. Performing would be too much right now.

In a situation like this, it was important to stay calm and he knew that well. He could only let out a sigh of relief when Aiden also remained calm - he was expecting anger, especially considering their last encounter. Briefly, he thought back to how he so crassly told Aiden’s acquaintance about the pills he saw... But he pushed the thought out of his head. This was no time to wonder if this was his fault. 

“It’s nothing, really. Sylvester asked me to keep an eye on you, he had some business to attend to.” His tone wasn’t harsh nor judgmental, more casual than anything. Despite that, worry seeped into his chest... and after a moment, he decided to express that, keeping the same calm and even tone. 

“That doesn’t mean I’m not concerned, though.”

@mavofficial​ said:

indulge + reverse.   find  my  muse  drinking  to  cope .

𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃  &  𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄

❛   indulge .   find  my  muse  drinking  to  cope .

“I don’t know where he is. He was supposed to be on set.”

Supposed to be is a rather concerning response. Even if it comes from Maya, who he trusts beyond a shadow of a doubt to give him the proper information. Corvus had been mildly annoyed. Actors do have a tendency to be slightly late at times. There is a difference between marginal compared to wasting his time. This is wasting his time. Perhaps he was wrong about Aiden Vance. The young star seemed to hold so much potential. He took a chance on that. Offering him something that would catapult him past his days as a child star, a face of Disney and into the mainstream of serious. 

There is also the fact he is a child star. Not all end up fulfilling their dreams. In fact most succumb to demons and their life is not all roses. When Corvus leaves, ignoring the concerns of his assistant to knock on Vance’s dressing studio door, the producer is met with days of wine and roses. A far cry from the film of the same name. A rather disappointing outlook.