Chapter Text
Cordelia hummed as she poured her coffee. Today was going to be a good day. Her new project, Houses, Hopes, and Hearts, would be finally casting the last main role. She’d been keeping an ear out for people auditioning, but that didn’t mean she had any idea who would end up with it.
They wouldn’t start filming for another two weeks. She’d been ready to start for almost two months now, but she had been the first major role cast. Honestly, she had suspicions that they were building a cast around her (at the risk of sounding egotistical, she was a huge name in the acting sphere right now. Her last few movies had all been box-office hits, and she’d even been nominated for a number of awards. She’d yet to win, unfortunately, but the nomination was enough to prove she was good at what she did). It wouldn’t be surprising if they were trying to cast people who would mesh well with her personality and style of work.
She kind of wished that Cherche, one of her best friends, had auditioned for the role even if it wasn’t her style of movie by any means. Cherche was an action actor, and Cordelia did dramas. Sure, this drama had some action, but nothing like what Cherche did. Cordelia had honestly always dreamed of doing a movie with her, but their schedules never aligned (plus, a lot of Cherche’s movies were really not to Cordelia’s taste, as pretentious as that sounded).
She didn’t expect to get news until the afternoon. Despite that, Cordelia kept checking her phone every five minutes for updates. It was a bad habit she’d always had. Impatience. She tried her best, and she tried to let things play out slowly, but it wasn’t her strength. She’d rather things be done quickly than having to waste time waiting for things.
She took a sip of coffee and put her phone down. She really had to do something else, or she’d just waste her day checking her phone constantly.
Cordelia ended up on the treadmill for an hour. She was trying to run out her anxiety, which only sort of worked. It’s not that she doubted their ability to cast. Gaius Barlow and Chrom Lowell were both well cast in their roles, and most of the minor roles seemed to fit as well. It was just that it was the second biggest role, besides Cordelia’s.
She was Byleth, the mysterious new professor at an officer’s academy in Medieval Europe. Gaius was Claude, one of the students and the head of the Golden Deer. Chrom was Dimitri, who was the head of the Blue Lions. The last major role, and arguably the most important, was Edelgard, the head of the Black Eagles and catalyst of the plot. Cordelia might be the technical main character, but whoever played Edelgard would be the most important role.
Which is why Cordelia was nervous about it. If they cast someone who wasn’t suited for it, the movie wouldn’t succeed. She needed someone she could work with and that had enough experience in drama movies to make it work. She did not want someone with no experience. That would be the worst possible scenario. It didn’t matter if they were a good actor, to Cordelia, she needed that experience to be able to make this work with them.
She’d worked with her fair share of bad actors. Of course, she would prefer an amazing actor, but a good actor would suffice just as well. Cordelia just needed someone that she respected enough to work alongside. Again, call her pretentious, but Cordelia had a certain standard for her work. She needed to work with someone who understood and respected the work. Someone who actually wanted to produce art over the actors that were good but just liked the money at the end of the day. She’d argue they were way more pretentious than her, but the media always seemed to disagree (maybe because most of them were the men that everyone lusted after for whatever reason).
Her phone lit up, and she tried not to grab at it frantically. It was a text from Virion, finally. She typed in the passcode and pulled it up, an excited smile on her face.
Virion 11:38 a.m.
Sumia Ryder
“What?” Cordelia whispered, staring at the two words in front of her. “That’s…”
This could not be happening right now. There was no way. Virion wouldn’t, right? He wouldn’t… but he did. Sumia Ryder was not a serious actress. She was a child star that had never done anything significant. Her acting chops were that of someone who didn’t care for the art. Someone who didn’t put in the work to make her work feel serious and meaningful.
These were going to be the worst few months of her career.
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Sumia was not having a good morning. She had been so nervous that she’d woken up at 5 a.m. and not been able to fall back asleep. Then she’d left her coffee pot on too long and started to burn it, so she was left with really shitty coffee (she was not enjoying it, but she was also not going to waste it).
It did not bode well for the casting news. She had run herself to the ground trying to get this role. Multiple auditions and callbacks, going over the auditions in her head every night. Figuring out the perfect characterization and trying to get it to stick in her head. Sumia felt like she needed this role.
She’d started acting as a kid and ended up leading her own show as a teen. It had been a kids show on a kids' network, but it gave her some recognition. She had made quite a bit of money, too—if her mother hadn’t spent most of it (which, Sumia could never bring herself to hate her for it. Sumia’s father was a piece of shit that dipped before she was born. They’d had money struggles up until Sumia got a lucky break. She could never hate her mother for not knowing how to act with the sudden influx of money).
That didn’t stop people from just thinking of her as a kid actor who didn’t have real acting chops. Sumia was trying to prove herself still, especially because the tabloids still treated her almost like a kid sometimes. She was 27, she was not a kid, she could act, and she was sick and tired of people treating her like she was.
So, she needed this role. It was a huge movie. The director, Virion, was incredible at his work, even if he could be difficult to work with. Cordelia Griffin was maybe the biggest name in Hollywood right now, and the script was phenomenal. If Sumia could land this role, she would no longer have that ‘Disney’ reputation that she loathed so much.
She wasn’t super confident she’d get it. In fact, she’d convinced herself that she wouldn’t get it. A bad flower fortune from the night before left her reeling (and left flower petals all over her room, which she still had to clean up). She wanted the role, but she had a sinking feeling it wasn’t going to be her. They’d probably go with someone with more experience and had worked with Cordelia before.
Sumia sighed. She was exhausted. It was just past 11, and she just wanted to fall back asleep. But she needed to know if she landed the role. She needed to know if she had a job, or if she had to cut her losses and find something else (she didn’t want to find something else. She’d fallen in love with this script, with the characters… not to mention if she acted alongside Cordelia freakin’ Griffin, she’d have recognition. She might be able to land more roles. Better roles. This was her breakthrough).
Her phone buzzed from across the room, and her head spun to stare at it.
“That’s it,” she muttered to herself. “My future.”
Sumia didn’t want to get up. She didn’t want to grab her phone and read the message. She didn’t want to know, and yet, she did. She needed to know what she had to do next. Was it preparing for the role, or starting her agent on finding another big role she could land?
She forced herself to put down her third cup of coffee and walk over, picking it up from the coffee table. With a deep breath, she turned it over and opened the message.
Virion 11:35
Congratulations. We’ll see you for filming next week.
“Holy shit!” Sumia grinned, tossing her hands up. “Holy shit, I—I did it!”
She threw her head back and laughed. She got the role. She was going to be Edelgard von Hresvelg in maybe the biggest movie of the year. Sumia was finally, finally going to have the recognition and reputation that she wanted. Goodbye child star, hello professional actor.
These were going to be the best few months of her life.