He hummed as he decided what to do.
First, he brought Intelligence up, finally surpassing a hundred, curious whether it would give him any kind of additional insight.
It did.
[Intelligence Perk unlocked]
[Choose One!]
[Speed Reader: Process written information three times faster without losing comprehension.]
[Research Efficiency: Find relevant information in vast databases, libraries, or the internet intuitively.]
[Accelerated Learning: Master new skills at double the speed through an intuitive grasp of underlying principles.
Languages, instruments, and complex systems feel more natural to learn.]
He sighed as he read them.
All three of them were useful.
He was tempted to go with Speed reader, allowing him to read even faster, but one thing stopped him.
He had already realized that increasing Intelligence was making him read faster.
Technically, it allowed him to learn faster than well, but he was pulling too many skills from his pocket.
Having the ability to develop connected competencies would make it less suspicious.
He picked accelerated learning.
As for Mia, he decided a new skill was better than just five more points.
A reasonable gamble, he decided.
[Intermediate Choreography]
[Uncommon Skill: You are a proficient choreographer capable of creating effective but simple movements and dances, or directing the implementation of complex movements prepared by others, good enough to direct high-quality amateur musical and dance shows.]
He hummed.
It was surprisingly useful, not just to give him another shared topic with Mia, but from a practical standpoint, it sat between Photography and Cinematography, which would hasten his learning speed.
Especially with Accelerated Learning to help him plug the gaps faster.
Curious, he set his camera and lights, stood at the center, and tested a few simple movements, his understanding rising as the Choreographer skill allowed him to develop his dancing with surprising fluidity.
It was fun.
His mood got even better when he got another achievement out of nowhere.
[Achievement complete.
Indirectly trigger Mia and Charlie’s breakup.
Challenge: Medium]
[+5 Charisma
1 Random Silver Skill
1 Random Silver Reward]
He hummed, surprised by the reward source, but went with the skill.
[Intermediate Mixology]
[Uncommon Skill: You are a proficient bartender and mixologist.
You know classic cocktail recipes, understand flavor profiles and how spirits interact, and can craft balanced drinks with confidence.
You’re competent enough to work as a bartender at upscale establishments.]
Another convenient skill, he decided, more than happy to get quality-of-life assistance.
Making his own drinks was much better than paying overpriced; not to mention it was a good conversation starter.
He decided to interrupt his studying, and instead walked to the nearest decent-sized supermarket, purchasing both the alcohol and ingredients, glad that Pesadana compact enough that he could do it by walking.
Though, his return was interrupted by the insistent buzzing of his phone.
He reached, only to find a message from Penny, asking him whether he was available for the proper headshots he promised, though some of the words made his eyes bleed.
A quick back and forth, and she promised to come in an hour.
He chuckled at her ease in asking for favors, especially since he knew that from the show he wasn’t the only one that Penny was comfortable asking for big favors the moment she met, meaning it wasn’t about the rather explosive night they had shared.
Poor Leonard had been convinced that trying to get her TV from her monstrous ex.
If that entitlement came from someone else, he would have found it offputting, but Penny had multiple advantages.
One was his ‘extra’ knowledge.
He knew that, while Penny was quick to ask for favors, she was just as willing to put the time for people that need help, be it old friends with boundary issues, or strange nerds with unusual problems.
Then, there was the more understandable pretty privilege, not to mention her status as his TV crush.
Combined, he felt more than happy to help Penny.
“You don’t have to end the call; I’m walking back home,” he said.
“We can talk.
Tell me exactly what kind of auditions you have so we can shoot a few themed ones as well.”
He walked as they chatted, his smile large.
Even ignoring all extracurriculars, Penny was fun to talk to, especially when she started gossiping.
Dodging her questions about Bernadette’s funny walk, for example, had been rather entertaining.
Bragging about his bedroom achievements was crass, but playfully implying them was different.
Unfortunately, his ‘extra’ knowledge meant he was just as happy to mess with Leonard, especially when he saw him at the entrance of the apartment, sliding near the bushes the moment he saw Ethan.
Leonard was understandably insecure about his relationship, but Ethan simply didn’t care.
Which was why as he approached the entrance, he spoke a touch louder than necessary.
“I’m at the building, Penny,” he said loudly.
“Just drop by my place in about fifty minutes, and don’t forget to bring a change of clothes.
We don’t want to make a mess,” he said with a chuckle.
“Jerk,” Penny responded with a laugh, and they ended the call.
[Achievement complete.
Make Leonard concerned about being cheated on.
Challenge: Easy]
[+2 Intelligence
1 Random Bronze Skill
1 Random Bronze Reward]
He was truly too easy; he decided, even as he picked the skill option.
[Novice Chess]
[Common Skill: You have a limited competency in chess, sufficient for friendly games.]
He processed the information, then shrugged.
It wasn’t as useful as he expected.
Maybe he could use it for a bet or something in the future.
He hummed as he returned, cleaned the house and changed the sheets, glad that he had a large pack so he didn’t need to wash them immediately.
Then, he turned his attention to the mixology stuff he had purchased.
He washed what needed to be washed, and created a small shelf in the kitchen island, ready to be leveraged.
Then, Penny sent one last text, asking whether it was alright for Leonard to come with her.
From the increased but not perfect grammar, he guessed Penny was the one that wrote it, but Leonard was looking over her shoulder.
He replied positively, checked his house one last time, and then played a few blitz chess games online while waiting for them.
He performed better than he expected … but he found it boring.
Nothing like the excitement of creating something new, or playing a song.
Then, there was a knock on the door, and Penny arrived, carrying a small bag filled with clothes in one hand, a bottle of tequila in the other.
“Welcome,” he said as he led her inside, and hugged her.
“Leonard is not here?”
“No, Sheldon has a last-minute roommate emergency.
He’ll arrive soon,” she said.
“Sorry about him.
He insisted,” she said, her tone suggesting she wasn’t very happy about it.
He just nodded, not really caring about defending Leonard.
She raised her tequila bottle, then looked at the spread.
“I thought I brought a little liquid to keep things moving, but you seem prepared.
They were not here the last time I visited, right?”
“Nope.
I’m still settling in,” he said.
Because if it’s the job, I can teach you,” she offered.
“Thanks for the offer, but it’s for fun,” he replied.
“I already started to earn much better from playing in the street now that I can find spots with rich tourists.
Not to mention, I don’t look like a zombie due to exhaustion anymore,” he added, slipping an excuse to why he looked significantly better than the last time she saw him.
She looked at him, then blushed.
“Well, you have a point,” she said.
“What do we have planned?” he asked.
“Well, I have three auditions.
Two for TV roles, only one speaking.
And the third one is an indie romance movie.”
“Do you have the scripts?” he asked.
She nodded and sent three PDF’s, two TV roles only describing her role, and a third one, a full script for the romance movie.
He browsed the first two quickly; already deciding that she wouldn’t get it.
Both roles described girl next door types, and required the girl to be less beautiful.
It could be handled by makeup, but he doubted the production would go for the effort.
The romance movie was trickier.
The first thing he caught was that the script was steamy, but that was easy to dismiss, especially since there were no explicit sex scenes, but a lot of implied nudity.
After all, a lot of low-budget movies relied on the buzz of titillation to sell.
What caught his attention was the quality of the script.
It was nice, clean, and polished … too good for an indie project that would be auditioning actresses with no credit for the central role.
He quickly searched several phrases from the script, only to find it was a barely edited one from an obscure nineties movie.
“Well, bad news,” he said as he quickly shared the details about the indie movie.
“You think it’s not a real one?” she asked.
“But I need it.”
“It’s your call, but if I were you, I wouldn’t go there without at least one male friend escorting, ideally the scary kind,” he said.
“Especially since the audition address is a bit too far away.
You know the industry.”
She sighed.
“I do.
It’s probably another one that wants to turn it into a porn shoot.”
He smirked at her, and she blushed, remembering that they had indeed shot a little home movie.
“Shut up,” she said, slapping his arm playfully.
“I said nothing,” he said, his smirk widening.
“Then it means one less outfit,” she said.
“Let’s do them.
We can put a general idea about your clothes and makeup,” he added.
“I know how to look pretty,” she said with a wink.
He chuckled.
“That, you have no problem with.
The problem is that you need to look less radiant for those auditions,” he said, his Adept Acting also giving him some idea about the audition process.
“You’re too pretty to just be a random side character without overshadowing the usual actresses.”
She paused.
“Wait, that’s a thing?” she said.
“Can’t makeup just fix it.”
“They can, but casting directors want to minimize their time, so ties go to the others.”
Her eyes widened.
“Is that why I can’t get a job?” He thought about keeping it there, but then he decided to push it a bit.
He deliberately paused.
“You have something to say, spill it,” she said.
“I can give you the honest answer, or the nice one,” he said.
“Which one do you prefer?”
“I’m not going to like the honest one, am I?” she asked.
“Probably, but I don’t want to speak and ruin your impression.
Let’s move to the center, and I’ll record you while you play all three roles.
Act like I’m the casting director.”
She took the impromptu stage, and ran through all three roles.
He nodded.
She was better than he had expected.
She had memorized her lines, delivered them smoothly, and, from a high-level perspective, the general vibe of the character wasn’t too far off.
He gestured her to approach, and they quickly watched all three videos.
She frowned.
“From a technical perspective, your audition is not wrong.
You are following every direction perfectly.”
“Isn’t it what we’re supposed to do?”
“True.
The issue is the gaps in the descriptions.
You don’t address those gaps, and characters act like Penny, smile like Penny, and walk like Penny.”
“But, they are just side characters.
Do I really need that much effort?”
“You do, because you’re missing the real opportunity.
We already know that you won’t get the side character role.
You’re assuming that an audition is only for the role you’re going for.
The TV casting directors are searching for new characters every week, and if you can impress them, truly impress them, they’ll remember you.”
“That easy?” she said.
“Not easy.
Just simple,” he said.
“I’m not saying that every audition will come up with a bigger role, but even if one in twenty resulted in a good role, it’ll be enough.
How many auditions do you go to every month?”
“Easily twenty in a slow month,” she said.
“There has been months I went to a hundred of them.
But, if it’s that easy, why didn’t my agent mention it?”
“Probably because he has fifty clients he’s trying to juggle,” he said.
“He doesn’t need to spend hours with you perfecting your pitch.
If one of his clients is successful, it’s enough.”
She frowned.
“Fine, you gave me something to think about,” she said.
“I’m happy to help you workshop the characters, especially if you give me a heads up.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” he said.
Normally, even with the TV crush, he would have been reluctant to it, as it represented a serious time commitment.
But, without her help, he wouldn’t have received that much Attractiveness bonus, which had been key to seducing Haley, who then gave him even more Attractiveness, creating a nice little snowball effect.
Without that chain, he might have missed some incredible opportunities.
She earned his help.
And, it wasn’t like spending time with her was a chore.
He nodded, and she hugged him.
It was too heartfelt to be sexy.
He hugged her back.
“Sorry, it was intense.
It’s just that no one really believes that I can actually succeed.
Even Leonard dismisses it whenever it’s about acting, like it’s a passing fancy, and not the career I sank every single day of my adult life.
I act like I don’t catch his subtle sarcasm, but it hurts.”
He nodded, realizing that it was worse than he had realized.
After all, on the screen, he only saw some scenes, and he always assumed that Leonard, desperate to get Penny’s attention, would do his best to support her dream.
Apparently, he was willing to learn about football from Sheldon to impress Penny and her friends, but supporting her dreams was where Leonard drew the line… Weird priorities.
“Anyway, let’s start with the headshots,” he said.
“These are the neutral ones, so we can deal with them first,” he said, then checked her outfit.
A simple spagetti-strap blouse, and jeans.
Perfect for a standard professional headshot, as they needed to show the candidate without too much embellisment.
However, they still needed to carry a certain dynamism.
She moved to the center, and he started working.
When his skill was merely Novice level, it was a challenge, as it required a difficult balance.
A headshot required to embellish the target without looking like it was trying too hard, which required a lot of subtle posing and lighting tricks.
There was a reason ordinary photographers charged about two hundred dollars while experts easily charged around two thousand, sometimes even higher.
Before they could finish, there was a knock on the door.
“Must be Leonard,” she said as she walked there and opened the door, revealing Leonard, wearing a Green Lantern t-shirt.
A bad choice, because the color washed him out.
He watched as Leonard tried to kiss Penny, who turned just enough to let him kiss her on the cheek.
Perception allowed him to catch the details, which suggested that they were yet to sleep together.
Interesting.
It looked like his intervention had changed their relationship development already.
Good riddance.
Ethan might have been more sympathetic toward Leonard if he changed, but even in the last season of the show, he was still the same insecure person when it came to his relationship with Penny.
It was not a good relationship for either of them.
“So, how’s it going, Leonard?” Ethan asked.
“Anything exciting in the lab?”
“Not really, mostly shooting lasers,” he replied, somehow with a condescending edge.
Ethan hid his sigh.
“Sounds fun,” he said with a cheerful tone.
“Do you want a drink?” he asked.
“Sure, maybe an old-fashioned,” he asked.
“I can do it, or I can surprise you with something interesting,” he added.
“I’m rather decent with the decanter,” he said.
“Sure, surprise us,” Penny said.
“We need a break in any case.”
While they watched, he prepared two drinks, deliberately showing off by juggling the shakers.
He first prepared Penny one.
“Perfect for your tongue,” he said, his words deliberately chosen to make Leonard even more jealous, yet innocent enough that Penny wouldn’t even register.
Guessing her taste was even easier.
She didn’t have the most complicated tastes.
Sweet with a gentle undertone of alcohol would hit her perfectly.
“Wow, it’s good,” she said.
While she tested, he whipped a Brandy Alexander for Leonard, a cocktail famous for hiding its punch.
“How about it?” he asked as Leonard tasted it.
“Too strong, just right?”
“No, it’s too sweet.
I can handle something stronger,” Leonard declared as he shook his head, trying to sound manly.
“Sure, my bad,” he responded with a casual smile, and whipped another one, much heavier, while Leonard finished the first one like juice.
Then, he took a sip from the second one.
He coughed once.
“Much better,” he said.
“Be careful and drink slowly,” he warned.
“It’s heavy…” he said, then glanced up and down subtly to implicate Leonard’s height, which stabbed his pride once more, timed to avoid Penny’s notice.
In response, Leonard ignored his recommendation, and took a large sip.
He then shared a glance with Penny, who shrugged.
She might have caught his subtle play another time, but not when she was still focused on the big favor he had promised her.
“So, what is the topic?
One of the roles?” Leonard asked, even as Penny returned to the set.
“No, we’re still doing the headshots, for auditioning.
It’ll help with getting better roles,” she said.
To his credit, Leonard didn’t say anything stupid.
But, that was limited credit, because while he didn’t say anything, he did look at the back of his head with barely disguised fury, like he was trying to melt his head.
Ethan took more photos, making light jokes and mixing in innocent compliments, mostly calling Penny variations of beautiful, which was rather standard during a shook.
Leonard didn’t react it well.
His posture switched between territorial and defensive, unable to settle on one choice.
“So you’re just …
hanging out.
In his apartment.
Alone.
Taking photos,” he said, a slight slurring in his tone to show the alcohol was already working in his system.
“Can we take five?” Penny asked.
“Sure, I need to visit the bathroom,” he said, and he went to the bathroom.
However, Perception meant that he could still hear them.
“Yes, Leonard.
That’s what a photo shoot is.
Two people, a camera, and lights.
It’s not a conspiracy.”
“I didn’t say it was a conspiracy.”
“Your face is saying it.”
“My face is just … this is my face.”
“Your face is doing the thing it does when you think something is happening that isn’t happening.”
“What thing?”
“The jealous thing.”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Leonard.”
“I’m not jealous.
I’m just concerned.
I mean, he’s clearly trying to seduce you by being nice!”
That made Penny growl.
“And, that’s your move, isn’t it—” she started, but she was interrupted by Leonard gasping before he dashed to the bedroom, and toward there, the bathroom.
He closed both doors, and turned on the music to make sure Leonard’s voice didn’t reach them.
Effectively leaving him alone with a furious Penny.