Chapter 17: It's all in the rigging

"Frankly," Tony said shaking his head sadly.

"It's just too early in the year for this! The lighting sucks and all the damn trees are still deciduous for crying out loud!" Muttering to no one in particular, he un-slung two of his cameras onto the small folding table he had set up to one side of the 'Torii, ' Pausing to again eye the surroundings speculatively. "Though I'd wager in a few months this whole valley will just explode with beauty!"

"Luck of the draw, Mr. Pulaski." His arriving companion sighed.

With her silver streaked, once jet-black hair drawn back tightly in a bun Michele Jules presented a striking image of what one would easily term 'a handsome older woman'. Though she could proudly boast having once been runner up for Miss Tokyo, long past for her were the tight dresses and beauty contests. Today it was wearing loose comfortable clothing and she was all was all business. Though, 'officially' the groups make up artist Michele was more a jack or 'Jill' if you prefer of all trades. Smiling pleasantly at the lead photographer's grumbling, she turned again regarding the ancient Shrine.

"Lovely." She sighed. In spite of Tony's 'bitching' the sight was still picturesque. The sordid scene unfolding in front of the old building however was anything but. A short distance away, leaning on the main archway, the crews main 'grip' appeared to be engaged in a bit of sight seeing of her own. "Yuba, dearest?" Michele asked sweetly.

"Yah?" The object of inquiry looked disdainfully over.

"Since you're not doing anything except staring at that nice young man's ass?" She paused, blinking elaborately. "Would you please dig the gold, silver and red reflectors out of Tony's case?"

Yuba started, almost considering giving the old woman 'the finger', before a glance back made her realize Tenchi was now looking straight at her! The slight frown appearing on his face causing hers immediately to heat up. Standing quickly she blinked, swallowed then bowed at the waist to Michele.

"Yes ma'am right away!" She gasped, hurrying over to begin rummaging with gusto while Michele sadly shook her head.

"You other girls might want to find something 'constructive' to do as well?" Michele added coolly, noticing two of the other 'roadies' standing and mooning over Tenchi. "Like setting up the steady cam rig?" She finished with emphasis as Sara and Yoshi favored her with the unkindest of looks before they too started opening cases.

"Damn it!" Tony swore, apparently choosing to ignore all the interplay, glaring down the stairs. "Just one blooming tree!" He griped. "Is that too much to ask?" Cupping hands over his mouth he shouted into the valley.

"Hey! I want to see some cherries popping down there!" He paused, not really expecting anything before turning away, just as below someone actually shouted a faint reply.

"Pervert!"

"There's only so much I can do!" Tony continued, indicated the priest quarters and the current locale of their boss with a single nod. "If he expects me to paint blooms on all these trees in 'PhotoShop' he can just kiss my rosy red..."

"Suppose we lower the camera view two feet." Ben interrupted from a few feet away looking into a digital preview scope pointed at the Shrine. "That would hide most of the bare tree tops behind the building. We can 'chop' the light level too, make it look like we shot the whole thing during twilight." Tony chewed his lip thoughtfully before replying.

"If Wataru goes for it I'm in." He huffed despondently before again falling to quietly shaking his head. "But this is supposed to be a documentary, not a damn Halloween special!"

"What's this thing supposed to do anyway? Tenchi asked a few feet away watching Todd in the midst of unfolding and assembling what resembled an elongated curved ladder more than anything else.

"It's a portable track for a motion control dolly." Todd supplied politely.