Work Text:
PAGE ONE
1.1
Wide panel. Looking up at a starry night. A shooting star trails across.
GG (OP): Are you lonely?
NAJSA (OP): What makes you think I’m lonely?
1.2
We’re on the roof of a building. We look down at Giangioff (GG) and Najsa, both sat in deck chairs, holding bottles of beer, looking up at the sky. Her katana rests on her chair.
GG: I mean, this is the fourth time this week you’ve dragged me up here to look at stars.
GG: I literally have no idea what i’m looking at.
NAJSA: Sometimes I’m alone, but that doesn’t mean I’m lonely.
NAJSA: And you’re not supposed to look AT something, just look.
GG: They’re suns.
GG: Dying suns.
NAJSA: We don’t have to focus on that.
1.3
Eye level, two shot, GG drinks his beer, his eyes glancing in her direction. The building is quite tall, and the background is filled with neon skyscrapers
NAJSA: Did you dream anything nice last night?
1.4
Angle on GG, he wipes his mouth with the back of his hand.
GG: Can you please just ask me a normal question for once in your life, I’m begging you.
1.5
Reverse on Najsa, looking at GG in the foreground, a little melancholic.
1.6
Same shot at 1.4, he looks straight ahead, as if trying to ignore her look.
GG: *sigh* Fine!
GG: I dreamt that it was Sunday.
GG: It was Sunday… and that meant it was going to be the end of the world.
PAGE TWO
2.1
We’re slightly behind her, she looks directly at GG, slightly surprised.
2.2
Same shot, she looks ahead. We can’t see most of her face.
NAJSA: I had that dream too.
GG: Freaky shit, huh?
2.3
Wide panel from behind, both of them sitting in silence, looking wherever. GG drinks his beer again.
2.4
Same shot, he looks over at her, she looks at him, shocked.
GG: By the way I finally got a lead on Ni-
NAJSA (interrupting him): You what?!?!
NAJSA: You couldn’t have told me earlier?!?
PAGE THREE
3.1
Close up on a mouth, a payphone next to it. We’re in a phone booth. This is NICK, he’s 28, thin, and has slightly long hair.
NICK: I’m counting on you.
3.2
Angle on the phone being rested back on the handle.
3.3
We’re now on an open subway platform, like those ones in NYC. Medium shot of Nick leaving the phone booth, side view. He’s wearing a long grey coat. He looks away from us. Movement lines of his head turning away.
3.4
Same shot, now looking towards us (movement lines). He’s noticed something, but he’s not surprised.
NICK: Oh.
NICK: Hello Najsa.
3.5
Wide panel of the subway platform, as if it was his POV. Najsa stands, unsheathing her katana. Next to her, GG awkwardly stands with his arms folded and a faux-tough look. Her expression is determined.
NAJSA: Hello Nick. We need to talk.
PAGE FOUR
4.1
Head-on close up of Nick, head tilted forward, gritting his teeth, trying to contain his anger.
NICK: You know there was once a time for talking…
4.2
Pull out to a medium shot. He straightens his arms down, his long jacket falling off to reveal a black turtleneck. A black strip across his chest which belongs to a sheath on his back.
NICK: But we’re beyond that now.
4.3
From behind Nick, we see the modern leather sheath, out of which sticks the handle of his own, smaller katana, which he’s holding now.
4.4
In front of him, he pulls the sword out in a swift motion.
NICK: Still want to talk?
4.5
Wide panel. Close on Najsa, GG just behind her, now dropping the act and backing off, hands up.
NAJSA: Stand back.
GG: I uh, yeah, that was the plan.
PAGE FIVE
SPLASH PAGE. Profile shot of Nick and Najsa, posing with their swords at each other, ready to fight, like it’s a fighting game. We see them as if we’re on the opposite platform, a viewer eavesdropping on an incredibly intimate moment. The fluorescent lights above them have turned purple, pink lights from light posts spilling in from the sides. This page is stillness, the eternal moment before the inevitability of the fight. In the background, tall skyscrapers mind their own business. The captions can either go down the middle between the two, or below them.
CAPTION: “Hey, it’s Nick. I can’t come to the phone right now but leave a message after the beep, and i’ll get back to you. I promise!” *beep*
CAPTION: “Nick. It’s Najsa.”
CAPTION: “I know leaving this message is dumb, and pointless. I’m only leaving it because i’m praying - yes, fucking praying - that maybe you’ll come back home one last time, maybe because you forgot something like you always do, or, whatever, and you’ll check your voicemail one last time.”
CAPTION: “I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you like I should have been. I’ve been a bad friend.”
CAPTION: “But running away won’t make this better, or easier for you. Certainly not for you.”
CAPTION: “You have every right to feel what you’re feeling, just…”
CAPTION: “Please come back. I miss you.”
CAPTION: “I miss you so fucking much.”