[center][b][h1][color=fff200]Robert/Claudia[/color][/h1][/b][/center]
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[color=fff200]"Yes, yes, I understand. I'll read some of the source material before the audition for added value. Yes, of course. Thank you, have a good night."[/color]

Robert ended the call with his manager as he leaned back into his chair.

An audition for a TV adaptation of a superhero comic book. It was nowhere near the most popular IP, but the franchise, in general, was pretty big, and thus, his manager was very enthused at the opportunity. Robert...didn't particularly care, if he were to be honest.

Nothing was wrong with the superhero genre, he kinda of liked it actually, but as far as movies went...well, it was entertaining, and thus as a piece of entertainment it did its job. Robert was not about to turn his nose down and went all 'what is this lowbrow garbage?'. It was more that as an actor, the way they went about writing the characters was not exactly his cup of tea. Rather than having a deep dive into the character in the source material and then constructing a live-action version that embodied what the character was supposed to be, only surface-level materials were used, with the personality of the character written more to just be the actor's personality or rather the actor's public persona.

In this case, some glamorous bad boy. Which explained why he was invited to the audition. That was the public persona he used. It was still a role, so he didn't mind as much at first, but after being typecast into these sorts of roles so much, it started to become boring as most roles felt the same. There were, of course, movies that were more...artistic in nature, but in the current status quo, they were either low-budget amateur films or big budget directed by big-shot directors who could afford to just shoot artistic movies based on their vision rather than chase trends.

Unfortunately for Robert, he was in the awkward position of not being low profile enough that his agency would allow him to star in a low-budget amateur production, but also not well known enough for these big-shot directors to consider for their artistic films.

Robert sighed. He supposed since he was the one who made the decision to give up on theatre to do movies, he didn't really get to complain since he did it knowing what it would entail. He certainly couldn't complain about the pay, especially compared to when he was doing theatre.

At least he still has ToE to get his acting fix. He thought as he picked up the VR equipment.

He put on the equipment while booting up the game program, along with some 3rd party voice change programs. It was a quasi-legal, in-the-gray-zone common program used by many players for various reasons...some for more nefarious purposes than others. For Robert, it was really nothing more than a program he needed to do what he wanted to do. He might be an actor and was even able to manipulate his voice, but there was a biological limit to what he could do. It was regrettable, but it was what it was. It was not as if he was out to lead anyone or to trick people.

After sending a message to his guild's group chat to see if anyone was free to farm some monsters, Robert closed his eyes as he started to get into character. The character of Claudia, whom he had created for the game. A scion of the Count's noble household descended from an angel before being forced to make a pact with an old god to save her people from an ancient dragon.

She was a woman of contradictions, caught between the purity of her celestial origins and the corruption of her dark pact. The actor let out a slow breath, his expression softening slightly as she imagined Claudia’s inner turmoil. To serve the old god was to betray her principles, to stand alongside monsters she once would have fought against. Yet, to refuse was to bring devastation upon her home, to see her people suffer the dragon's wrath.

His posture straightened, shoulders squared as he imagined the dignified countenance of a Countess who held the power to command the power of the heavens. Robert closed his eyes, imagining the sensation of divine energy coursing through him, filling him with a warmth that was both comforting and overwhelming. But this power, this gift, had not been enough to protect Claudia's people from the wrath of the Ancient Dragon. His expression darkened as he recalled the desperate pact Claudia had made with the old god Xal'Zagoth. He whispered the name to herself, feeling the weight of it on her tongue, a name that carried the stench of ancient evil and forgotten horrors. Claudia had entered the service of Xal'Zagoth, and in doing so, she had been thrust into the Ebon Covenant, a cabal of dangerous and malicious figures. The actor pictured the faces of his new companions—twisted, powerful, and untrustworthy. Yet, Claudia alone walked among them with the poise of a noble, the light of her celestial heritage now dimmed by the shadow of her unholy contract.

Finally, the actor opened his eyes, ready to step into the world of ToE as Claudia Solaria von Galatriel, to become the Countess who walked the line between light and dark, noble and damned, for the sake of a land that might never know the true cost of their salvation.

Taking a glance at the guild chat of Ebon Covenant Guild. It appeared that none of the members were free tonight.

Robert sighed, as he pushed back the persona of Claudia into the back of his mind. With no guildmates, that meant that full RP was not in the card tonight, meaning, that he should not 'fully become Claudia' but rather more of a character whose personality was based on Claudia but was still, ultimately, a player of ToE and not an actual denizens of it.

He supposed he might as well log in to the guild hall in Shebar and look for anyone who also planned to go to the same dungeon as he was. Since the material was only dropped by the boss, farming the material she was looking for required a party.

He activated the virtual dive system, and soon after, Robert found himself standing inside the guild hall in Shebar, in the form of his avatar, Claudia.

He hadn't been able to log in for a while due to a hectic shoot, so he looked forward to see if anything interesting had happened in his absence.