Jack Of Arts

"Oh my. Couldn't you have covered yourself at least? You ruined your nice clothes!" Liboo exclaimed when he saw the muddy shirt that Tayaw is wearing. "Yeah. Sorry about that. I was excited to have Agew here teach me his pottery. And. It's just *didas shirt." Tayaw replied.

"Just because you can afford good clothes, doesn't mean you just can ruin them." Liboo said and he rolled his eyes. "Alright dad. Let me go change, I'll make breakfast." Tayaw said, escaping from the scolding. "Wash your hands properly." Liboo let him go.

Tayaw opted to take a shower, and a few minutes later, he's changed to fresh clothes and started his work in the kitchen. "What time did you two wake up? It's barely 6 in the morning" the now awake Kilat asked when she realized it was still very early. "I went for a jog and came back at 5. Agew here woke up at the same time." Tayaw answered as he assembled the steamer.

"Need help?" Kilat asked seeing Tayaw's unusual use of the steamer. She herself don't use the thing. "No. I'm good." Tayaw said as he pulled out a Tupperware tray from the fridge. "What are you making anyway?" Liboo also asked. "Steamed buns." Tayaw answered. He secretly made them the night before prior to going to sleep. He only need three hours of sleep a night after all and he has to find something to do.

Kilat and Liboo were surprised at this. "The chinese food?" Liboo asked just to be sure. "Yeah." Tayaw answered, understanding the surprise of his parents. Currently, Chinese food is not yet very popular in Nabla, but in the future when the Biongo-Nabla-Gonto Expressway will be done in the future; all kinds of cuisines will start popping up.

"Oh! I saw that on TV!" Agew said, excitedly as he saw the uncooked steamed buns Tayaw laid out on the steamer. Kilat also stood up from her chair and stood beside Tayaw to watch the process. "Ah. We should have gone to a Chinese restaurant in New York!" Tayaw said, almost slapping his forehead. "Chinese food? In New York?" Liboo asked, confused. "Yeah. Remember? Chinatown in Manhattan? There's a lot of good Chinese food there." Tayaw explained. "Perhaps next time son. Let's taste this one first." Kilat said from beside him.

"Mom, Dad, I saw Agew's stuff in his workshop. Aren't they looking good enough to sell? I think someone would buy his pots and vases." Tayaw asked. "That's only the half of the stuff he made. The half is in my car workshop. They're displayed at the display room of the refurbished cars. So, even if no one buys my cars, they might at least buy some wares." Liboo explained. Tayaw found the image of a car display room having pots in them funny.

"Dad, do you have a car you finished? I'll buy it for mom." Tayaw asked. "Hah!" Kilat just scoffed. "There is. I wanted to give your mom one but she refused." Liboo explained. "What would I need a car for? The town and the school are of walking distance. I also need the exercise." Kilat said. Tayaw shrugged at the answer. It made sense. A 30 minute uphill walk and 20 minute downhill walk every day and one gets their daily dose of cardio.

"I think the buns are done. Agew, go wake Payew up." Tayaw said. Agew stood up and briskly walked to Payew's room upstairs, wanting to wake up Payew immediately so he can eat the food he only saw on TV.

A few minutes later, the family is now gathered at the dining table, hot buns in their plates. It might look awkward to others, but the family opted to eat the buns with the knife and fork.

"Payew. How are your grades?" Tayaw asked. "Oh. I'm number 1 in my grade." Payew said proudly. Tayaw looked at Kilat for confirmation, and Kilat nodded. "Cool. Do you want to enroll in a private high school for your senior year in high school? I'm not saying that private schools are better, but these private schools teach good study practices that you might find useful in university." Tayaw asked again. This made the family, except for Agew, to freeze their forks and knives. Kilat and Liboo especially, waited in anticipation for Payew's answer.

"I… I don't know. The schools are far." Payew answered. Tayaw nodded. The public high school he went to, the closest to their home is about 3.5 kilometers away and on top of a mountain. The nearest private high school is even farther, it is located halfway between Ouigab and Okuba at Jebung Township 65 kilometers away.

"How about that fancy high school at Jebung? My workshop is near there. I can bring you there every day." Liboo suggested, going along Tayaw's idea. "That's still more than an hour drive from here." Kilat shook her head. "Unless of course…" Tayaw started, treading lightly. "He goes there to board?" Tayaw finished his suggestion. Contrary to his expectations, Payew's eyes, for a split second glinted at his suggestion. 'This kid.' Tayaw chuckled internally.

"Hmm. Oh. That high school in Jebung is indeed a boarding high school." Kilat said. "Well. It depends on you, Payew. We want the best for you, but if you can't bear to stay away from home, we have no problem either." Liboo said.

"I'll do it." Payew resolutely said.

---

"I'm off. You guys take care." Tayaw bid farewell to his family.

After the breakfast, Tayaw packed his bags and three of Payew's vases and stuffed them to the backseat of his truck. He only stayed for two days in Okuba this time as he found that his family is very busy with their own thing. Kilat is busy with preparing teaching plans, quizzes, and tests for her students. Liboo is busy studying some structures of cars he is not familiar with. Payew is busy studying to get grades good enough to enter a private school. Agew is busy learning to play with stoneware clay and porcelain clay.

On his drive to Ouigab, Tayaw decided to give Chala a phone call. It's currently 8 am in Teungeb, which means it's 3 pm in New York where they parted.

*Ring**Ring**Ring** "Hello?" Chala answered. "Hey Chala, how's it going there?" Tayaw greeted. /Oh it's cool. Hey. Did you receive the DVD I sent you? A TV show in Nashville made an episode about you./ Chala said. "I did but I haven't got the time to watch it. I want to talk about something else though." Tayaw said.

/What is it?/ Chala asked, slightly nervous. Tayaw does not always get to the point. "I've heard that movie people from LA are looking for me. I found out that their people have personally come to Teungeb to find me." Tayaw said.

/Really? Oh shit. I haven't checked my e-mail in a long while. I switched my e-mail because it was spammed with messages from Nashville people./ Chala said. Tayaw remembered that it was Chala's business e-mail address that he gave to the folks of Strawberry Front.

"Ah. Okay. Please check your e-mail and find those e-mails from the movie studios." Tayaw said. /Alright. Wait. Let me go back to my hotel first./ Chala said and hung up.

Thirty minutes later, Tayaw's phone rung again. Before Tayaw could talk, Chala blurted out his report. /Here! Tayaw! There's a lot of movie studios interested in 'The Halfling'!/ "So it's true. Which ones are the ones you're familiar with?" Tayaw asked. /There's an e-mail from Wagner Bros. Another one is from Atlas Pictures. There's also one from Summit Studios./ Chala said.

"Alright. 4 months is enough for a vacation right?" Tayaw said. /Yeah. Sorry about that. I'll talk to them./ Chala said. "Alright. Don't negotiate yet. Just get their initial offers. Once you've gathered their offers, get back to me. If the thing I'm working on works out, I'll come with to negotiate. It's not just about the movie rights this time." Tayaw said.

/Understood. Let me settle my... affairs first. I'll call you./ Chala said and hung up.

Unlike before, Tayaw is not planning on selling his movie rights immediately. If in case he gets at least a nomination at Sorrento Film Festival, he will gain a bargaining chip to negotiate. He will even prefer it if he will be the one doing the planning and directing of the movie version of 'The Halfling'.

It will cost a lot to make the movie realistic so he also has to study about how advanced the graphics and special effects of his world's film industry. From what he can figure, the 'green screen' from his 'film maker skills' vocabulary exist in his world; he will use it for the background and scene setting of the movie.

When it comes to the more fantastical elements like the creatures and magic, it's a lot more difficult. "If I'm not wrong. There's something called motion capture." Motion capture however, is more commonly used in games in his world. The games in his world are mostly sports, martial arts, or real life simulators.

What gave Tayaw the idea of using motion capture is because the characters in his world's games all have exaggerated physical creatures like overly large heads or muscles. If game developers can make realistic hulking game characters, then they can also make realistic Orcs or Ghouls or walking trees.

The game characters also have some special effects when doing their special moves. So if game developers can do those in games, then they can make magic real in the movie.

"I don't want to risk my money doing all of that yet. Let's see in the future." Tayaw shook his head at the humongous task of making 'The Halfling' into not only a movie, but a revolutionary one.