Chapter Text
Amanda awoke to the sound of her blaring alarm, the jingling tune getting turned off after a few misclicks. She ran a hand through her hair, groaning at the dream that invaded her space. Visions of familiar hazel eyes and brown hair remained at the forefront of her mind. The imaginary touch and feel of her lips, nothing but a distant memory that wasn’t even of this time.
It’s been a while since she's dreamt of that. Not that she minded dreaming of her past life, it just always seemed so much more present when she did. It was like a constant story that never strayed in plot nor details that lived in her mind since she was barely a teenager.
It was something that Amanda at first was convinced was just her imagination, until everything became so much more real. The fact she got into acting made how she viewed her past life easier. It was like a play, one that Amanda wrote and once lived, and one that was viewed just for her.
Valerie Christ, in her past life. A knight who trained since she was a child and slowly climbed up the ranks. She was a commanding officer for newer recruits, and trained each of them. She was always serious at work, sometimes considered high strung, but she was a serious fighter nonetheless.
Then there was Maya Cameron. Amanda’s only weakness in her past life. Someone who was her underling that Valerie couldn’t help but play favorites with. It was something that was natural between them. A friendship where roles and hierarchy didn’t exist and it was just the two of them. Then as short moments off the field grew, so did the feelings between them.
Interrupting her train of thought, she heard her second alarm go off five minutes later. Amanda forced herself up, sitting at the side of her bed as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes. She unplugged her phone from the charger, reading the reminders displayed on her lock screen. She glossed over the general reminders, her eyes widening slightly as she read the last one.
‘New temporary cast members coming.’
There were five in total if Amanda were to recall correctly. Three coming in the day before, with the other two coming in the morning for their first shoot. Amanda hadn’t exactly formally met any of them yet, only seeing them in passing when they got a tour of the office. Coincidentally enough, Amanda’s first shoot of the day was with the two new temporary cast members. A dead table talks video also featuring Noah and Ian.
She got ready for work, the morning turning into a quick blur until she arrived at the Smosh building. Her first stop was the kitchen to get herself a cup of coffee. On her way out she grabbed a water bottle, and put it in her purse. She already knew she’d need it after the shoot if she stuck to her Babe Ruth voice throughout. She had managed to crash into one of the new temporary cast members on her way to costumes. Matt Fox was his name if she recalled correctly. She picked up her Babe Ruth costume, deciding to change into it early, even though the shoot didn’t start for another half hour.
Amanda walked out of the changing room in her costume, only missing the wig, as she held onto the hat. She made her way through the art department section, filled with wigs, needing assistance in finishing her costume. She glanced behind her momentarily, seeing the other new recruit. Amanda could only see the back of her head, with one of her arms already covered in red body paint. She shook off and ignored the feeling that she seemed familiar for a second.
All she could do was focus on her job, letting one of the crew help her put on the wig cap for the short black wig. Then she noticed the new recruit again, the sound of her voice familiar. She didn’t know how, nor why, assuming she met her in passing at some store. The name was at the tip of her tongue, trying to remember what Ian had told her a few days ago about the new recruits.
It was fine. She’d learn her name eventually, and she’d connect the dots on why she seemed so familiar. All she could do was go towards the set, momentarily checking her phone as she received a notification.
“Hey, you got here early,” Ian said, as Amanda arrived on set. He sat to the right of the center of the table, with Matt to the left.
Amanda looked up from her phone acknowledging Matt and Ian. It has been quite a bit since she had a shoot with him. “Yeah,” she replied. “I didn’t have much to do in the morning. Most of my busy work is in the afternoon.”
He nodded, his eyes glancing over to the crew. “Have you properly met the new cast members yet?”
“I’ve met Matt.” She waved at him offering a smile. “I haven’t properly met the other one yet,” she paused, once again drawing a blank on her name. She had heard the names of all the new recruits once during a meeting and after that it was a blur. Smosh’s management was a bit hectic at the moment, especially after the sudden addition of five new temporary cast members in a short time span.
“Her name is Angela. She’s probably still stuck in makeup.” Ian said. “They’re painting her red to play a demon.”
“Oh, that’s what that was,” she murmured. A comfortable silence followed as the three waited for Noah and Angela to get to set. Noah came soon after, with the four waiting for Angela to be done in makeup.
“Sorry, I’m late!” A voice said as soon as the doors opened. She scrambled her way past a few cameras, making her way towards the empty chair. “I was stuck in makeup.”
Amanda looked up from her phone, her eyes widening as she saw her costar’s face. She let out a shaky breath, as she felt her heart beating against her chest.
Maya.
Even with the ridiculous attire and red body paint it was glaringly obvious. The same face shape, the same hair color, her eyes still hazel. She could remember once, in a past lifetime, getting lost in those eyes. She couldn’t help but get lost in a memory as Angela introduced herself.
-
Valerie Christ looked at the new recruits from afar. She watched as their practice wooden swords clashed against each other, a few stumbling to maintain their balance. Her eyes trained over to one of the few female recruits. Maya was her name if Valerie remembered correctly. Her brown hair was tied up in a small ponytail, her bottom lip sucked in between her teeth as she blocked against her opponent.
She was struggling against him, stumbling over her two feet as she was forced to take a step back. Maya’s eyes trained up to meet her opponent’s gaze, immediately going back into a fighting position.
Oh. She got back into it rather quickly. Typically it’d take soldiers, especially new recruits, a moment to prepare themselves. Valerie watched as Maya was pushed back again, being forced down to one knee after her opponent struck her hard.
"Stop!" Valerie said, as she approached the two. The soldiers instantly straightened themselves. She turned towards Maya's opponent, Zack, if she recalled. "You, go practice your sword strikes.”
She turned towards Maya with a smile that came off more as a smirk. "You'll be going against me." She watched as Maya visibly gulped and nodded her head.
Valerie got one of the practice swords off the ground, getting herself into position. "I will allow you to have the first strike. Hit me."
Maya ran forward, quick on her feet, as she slashed her wooden sword towards her opponent. Valerie dodged the attack, with a side step, dodging another by stepping back. Maya’s gaze hardened as she tried again and again to hit her.
“You need to be a lot faster with your strikes,” Valerie noted. “It’s easy to dodge if I already know where you’ll hit.”
Maya grunted, the sound coming off more as a groan as she ran forward. Her arms pulled back and as fast as she could, she aimed towards Valerie’s shoulder.
A quick movement of her wooden sword blocked the attack. “Nice try,” Valerie said.
Their eyes met, with their swords still right against each other. With steely eyes Maya spoke, “I swear, one day, you won’t be able to dodge my attack.”
Valerie smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”
-
She had been running on autopilot for a moment, not even entirely sure what she said when she introduced herself to Angela. Amanda pushed aside the memory, getting out of her chair with the rest of the cast, so Noah could film the intro. When one of the crew handed her a bat-, probably the stage manager, she barely even acknowledged it.
It was completely new to her, the shocking sight making it harder than usual to get back into character. For a moment it felt like she was floating, sinking deeper into the depths of her mind as she grappled with two lives. The present was pulling at her feet, bringing her back to the moment. The past life, a vision of Maya Cameron so clear in her mind, was making her hesitate. Something that she had never done before when it came to acting. Angela had just entered her life and she had already thrown her so far in for a loop.
There was just no way.
Bits and pieces of parts she did remember of her past life flashed through her mind. Memories that she remembered from that time in a scattered time frame came barreling through in what was seconds.
There was so much to who Maya was to her- to Valerie, that made it all so much harder to even fathom. Let alone consider. All she knew was that first impressions, no matter how strong it may be, were too early to make a call on.
There was no way Angela was Maya Cameron.
She just couldn’t be.
It all just seemed so crazy and coincidental to her. How in the world could one of the new recruits for Smosh, be somebody from her past life? The chances of that, given the world’s population, and the existence of past lives within itself seemed small. Close to impossible. After all, maybe Angela just happened to look like her. Doppelgängers did exist and she didn’t even know her new coworker yet to make an actual guess.
Plus, it felt weird and incredibly foreign to her. She had never met someone that had such a resemblance to someone from her past life. Sure, there were people with similar traits, but never that close of a resemblance that Angela had. Then to top it all off, it had to be Maya Cameron. Before, she could distance herself from her past life. After all, that wasn’t the life she was living now. Better to focus on the present than the life she already lived so long ago. Now though, because of Angela, her past life already seemed so much closer.
All Amanda knew was that she needed to compartmentalize this confusion, and focus on her work. As well as separate Angela from Maya. She didn’t want to get to know her, and approach her, just because of past memories of Maya Cameron. She wanted to get to know Angela, because she’s her coworker and for who she is right now. Especially, if Angela had no connection to her love in a past life. It wouldn’t be fair to her, if Amanda only talked to her because of something she may not even have relation to.
-
Filming continued on as expected, and Angela was making one hell of a first impression. She was quite literally just killing it. She had put on a squeaky and high-pitched voice, the sudden and drastic difference compared to Ian’s character made Amanda stifle a laugh. She seemed so in tune with her character, and rolled off well with each person’s banter. Without even needing to shoot with her again Amanda just knew, with a feeling in her gut, that Angela would be a great addition to the cast.
Another laugh was suppressed by Amanda as she continued the conversation, staying in character throughout. There was a moment, blink and you’ll miss it kind, that Amanda noticed as she met Angela’s gaze. After she stifled a light chuckle, the sound of the crew’s laugh in the background, Angela’s eyes had a shine to them. Yet, her crazed and manic grin was maintained for the sake of her character.
The cameras continued shooting, the director, Jeremy, calling out cut for a quick direction change for Matt. Ian turned towards Angela. “Good job on capturing your character,” he said. “You definitely already have it down.”
Before Angela could reply, Amanda continued off of him. “Yeah, you’re killing it,” she said. “I mean you’re just going in, and committing.” She continued on, her voice cracking due to the intense voice change from Babe Ruth.
Angela’s eyes widened, a genuine smile pulling at her lips. “Thank you!” She paused, “I had enough time to think about my character during makeup.” She chuckled, her voice wavering slightly as she spoke.
It wasn’t long before the video continued on, light pleasantries exchanged for moments when the director called cut. Most of them being exchanged between Amanda and Angela.
Actually shooting a video, and actively playing a character made it easier. She could ignore the memories of her past life that would creep up everytime she meets Angela’s gaze. It was weird. When the cameras cut she knew full well all she'd see was Maya Cameron. Yet, since they were acting, she'd have a moment of peace. Where the line she drew from her past life and current life remained. She wanted it to stay that way. Even if a part of her knew it would be infinitely harder with Angela as her coworker.
-
“You'll probably have to take a shower after work to get all of that red paint off of you,” Amanda said, now out of costume, as she crossed paths with Angela. The latter was sitting in front of a makeup chair, looking at her face in the mirror. She pushed up skin from her eyebrows, the red body paint a lot more visible on her eyelid.
Angela turned towards her, looking up to meet her gaze. Amanda ignored the shiver that ran up her spine as she saw her face. “Yeah, I definitely will have to.” She said softly, extending out her right arm to look at it, before doing the same with her left. “Somehow more of it's off on my arms.” The attempt at speaking normally was met by an abrupt cough after her voice cracked. She turned towards Amanda looking at her almost embarrassingly.
“I’m not surprised your throat is stressed after doing that voice for a while.”
“I’m used to doing all kinds of voices,” she paused to cough, as if there was something stuck in her throat. “How’s your throat? You were doing a voice too.”
“A bit strained but I should be fine,” she shrugged. She looked in her bag, spotting the unopened water bottle that she grabbed from the kitchen before the shoot. “Here,” she said, offering it to her.
“Are you sure?” Angela asked, hesitantly.
“Yeah, I’ll just get another from the kitchen. Don’t worry about it,”
She paused, before taking it. “Thank you.”
Then, as Angela looked up at her and smiled Amanda faltered. For a second, it was like her vision was hazy and all she could see was Maya. The room and various costumes around them fading into the background, as if she was being pulled in. She clenched her hand around her bag, grounding herself to the present. As Amanda excused herself, and walked out of the room, she couldn’t help but let out a shaky breath. It was definitely a good thing she didn’t have another shoot with Angela for a while.