Like a Hummingbird

Camilla's first day of filming went incredibly well the previous day. She only had to reshoot two times, this was much better compared to her previous life. Camilla was on cloud nine for the rest of the day and she almost forgot to try out Sebastian's vocalization exercise. But once she returned to her accommodations she was reminded of this exercise. 

Marshmallow I have a question. Can I still use the Skill Books and more specifically their time-warping abilities even if I've completely mastered the book? 

[To answer, yes. Like any other book, you can reread it at any time.]

Camilla smiled happily at this revelation, she was slightly worried that the ability to enter a time-warping space would be locked out until she purchased a new Skill Book. The time-warping abilities of the Skill Book were incredibly useful, as they could increase the amount of time she could practice. 

"Well, then I shouldn't waste any time and start practicing!" Camilla cheered. 

....

When Camilla woke up the next day she felt incredibly woozy and an intense headache pounded away in her brain. Her vision danced with dark spots and she felt as though she was walking through a thick sludge. Camilla assumed that she was just tired after her first day of filming and that this sensation would disappear so she paid it no mind as she went about her daily routine. 

When she walked down towards the lobby to eat breakfast she was disheartened to see that the majority of the food in front of her was incredibly carb-heavy. As an actress maintaining her figure was very incredibly important as such she couldn't eat the majority of the food in front of her. She was also trying to be especially careful as in the past she had a bad relationship with food and would go through periods of stress eating and fasting, something which she hoped to avoid this time around.

She sighed at herself, she would have to be incredibly strict with herself as she had been feasting upon the large amounts of food her mother had provided her, so she was likely on the cusp of a large weight gain. She didn't regret gorging on her mother's food as she hadn't eaten it in about twelve years, but now that she was going to seriously pursue acting she would have to better regulate her diet. She whispered a silent prayer to herself as it would require a lot of strength to fight back against her mother's exquisite food.

As such Camilla only ate a small salad for breakfast. It was hardly filling and Camilla felt incredibly hungry which made it hard for her to avoid eating the hotel's breakfast but her will held on fast and she turned away from the buffet.

But this hunger didn't leave Camilla so easily, throughout the day it pestered her. She found it incredibly difficult for her to concentrate on analyzing the other actors. She often had to pinch the inside of her arm to stay sane. And to make it even worse that feeling of weakness and the black spots in her vision had persisted throughout the day.

Camilla tried her best to ignore it at first but it was quickly becoming clear that something was wrong with her. She tried her best not to draw attention to her miserable state as she didn't want to come across as lazy or hold back filming, she wasn't an extremely important character so she reasoned it would be bad for her to hold back filming, she didn't want to be replaced.

By the time lunch rolled around Camilla was feeling incredibly nauseous. The meal that the staff had passed out looked incredibly unappetizing to her and all she wanted to do was lie down and rest. Camilla bit down hard on the inside of her cheek trying to stop herself from groaning or showing any sign of weakness. Marshmallow's tail wagged nervously as it sadly rubbed its head against hers.

"Hey, are you feeling alright, you don't look too good." The concerned voice of Sebastian chimed in next to her.

Turning around Camilla found that her face was very close to Sebastian and in a panicked squeak, she fell out of the chair she had been sitting in. Sebastian laughed at this before extending his hand out to help her back up to her feet.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to startle you. I just wanted to check in, you're looking a little pale there."

"It's nothing. I feel fine, maybe I'm just a little stressed about filming today. I want to do better than yesterday. I even practiced that vocalization exercise you wrote down in my book yesterday." Camilla spilled so quickly that she almost stumbled on a couple of words.

"Don't worry you'll do just fine, I thought you did quite well for a rookie. You have a lot of potential, so don't stress." Sebastian replied with a gentle smile.

"Thank you—" Camilla attempted to say before she was interrupted by the director calling for the actors for the next scene. Camilla gave Sebastian a polite wave as she ran away toward the set.

As another wave of intense weakness, nausea, and pounding headache washed over her Camilla tried her very best to center herself and get into character. The scene in question would require a lot of concentration, she needed to play the part of a convincing manipulator and her expression would be very important.

The part of the story they were filming was after the main character had formed a small ragtag team of survivors but they had gotten separated after another wave of disasters struck. As such her character was traveling with the female lead, a few other extra characters, and her scene partner a sickly-looking teen. During this scene, another wave hit that caused earth tremors and for parts of the ground to fall away, during this her character was supposed to subtly push the teen into one of the sinkholes before passing out in an attempt to hide her guilt and actions. 

Camilla walked to her marker ready to act when she nearly doubled over from the intense weakness and pain but she managed to hold on. She attempted to stabilize herself by calming down her breathing but that didn't do much so she resolved herself to finish filming as quickly as possible so she could rest. 

"Action!" 

"Be careful as you progress we don't know when the next wave might hit!" Samantha warned as turned back to warn her group. She turned around and her small back and determined gait gave hope and inspired the tired survivors. The group trudged forward slowly until the sickly-looking teen toppled over. Everett scoffed rolling her eyes as she roughly picked up the girl. 

(A/N: Samantha Lawson is the name of the character Erinna plays and Everett Stein is the character that Camilla plays. Gosh I'm so good at remembering to name these characters, hahaha, hopefully, it's not too confusing.) 

"Get up we don't have time to lag here." She grumbled as she looked at her group of weak and slow individuals she gnashed on her thumb in anger. "If you move any slower than for the greater good of the group we might have to leave you behind." Everett hissed into the girl's ear and watched in slight glee as the girl shriveled up at her provocation. 

Everett made sure to quickly change her expression to not give away her more sinister intentions and thoughts. She would survive and she wouldn't let these weaklings and wastes drag her down. 

Things were going well until another wave hit, props fell around as the actors stumbled and wobbled screaming in fear and panic. Noticing that no one was paying attention to her Everett turned cruelly to the teen and pushed her off the ledge. The actress fell off and hit the mat below, the camera would catch her fall but not her landing. 

Everett flopped forward onto her knees in a dramatic fashion screaming and crying pitifully. "No...I can't believe this happened! No, she was just right here, she was right here. I tried to grab her but she just fell. She's gone...she's gone...she's gone!" Everett cried once more as she cried out in fear before she collapsed onto the ground. 

And that was the last thing Camilla remembered before she blacked out. 

....

Camilla's eyes fluttered open groggily her vision slowly clearing up as she blinked slowly. She was pretty convinced that she was no longer on set, as she was no longer seeing the blue sky, and was instead staring at a large fluorescent light above her. Trying to piece together what was going on she pulled herself up slowly to take a better look at her surroundings. 

Looking around it became abundantly clear very quickly that she was in a hospital if the IV drip attached to her arm wasn't a clear giveaway. Camilla was confused she didn't think her collapse merited an entire visit to the emergency room. 

That was when she noticed the extremely distressed form of Marshmallow floating beside her. Upon noticing that she was up Marshmallow flew to her side and aggressively started licking her face and rubbing its furry head against her cheek. 

[Marshmallow is sorry! Marshmallow didn't know that this would happen! Marshmallow didn't mean for this to happen to you!]

Marshmallow calm down! What going on? What did you do? 

Before Marshmallow could answer her questions a nurse entered the room and upon noticing her being fully conscious went to retrieve the doctor.

The doctor arrived shortly and after doing a couple of tests he spoke to Camilla in a stern voice. "I understand you actors have to worry about your figure but going a full week without food is not healthy!" 

"What?" Camilla replied confused. 

"There are other healthier ways to maintain your figure other than starving yourself! This can create a lot of problems for you in the long term!" 

"Um...I did eat during the entirety of last week...I actually...doubled the necessary caloric intake." Camilla mumbled a tad bit embarrassed sharing her eating habits. 

Camilla watched a look of confusion and disbelief flash across the doctor's face. He cleared his throat not believing her statement. "We gave you an IV drip full of the nutrients you had been lacking, you should be able to be released soon. Do remember that your health should come before your acting career." 

And with that, the doctor and nurse left. 

Marshmallow please explain to me what's going on.

[Marshmallow didn't know this so Marshmallow couldn't warn you but this is a consequence of the use of the Skill Books. Marshmallow asked the other older and more experienced systems and they informed Marshmallow of the following. 

The time-warping powers of the Skill Books require a lot of energy on the part of the user and this comes from the energy when the user metabolizes food. Essentially when the user uses a Skill Book their metabolism rate increases dramatically but since they can't consume food in their unconscious state the user must stockpile before the use of the Skill Books. 

The increased metabolism only occurs when using the Skill Books which is why the human doctors didn't find anything wrong.

Please forgive Marshmallow.]

So I'm similar to a hummingbird. Their metabolism rate increases when they fly but lowers when they aren't flying.

Don't worry Marshmallow I don't blame you, you said before that you never had a user that used Skill Books before, I understand that you never learned this before. 

Marshmallow cried pitifully and gave more kitten kisses to Camilla's nose and she returned the gesture by giving him a large kiss on its head. 

So I just need to be careful each time I use a Skill Book so that this doesn't happen again. 

[Right! The other systems said it's best to have a large meal before and after the user uses a Skill Book. Don't worry this time Marshmallow will protect you! Marshmallow will remind you so you don't collapse again!]