#(seriously how did she do it? how did she get *dorothy* down so well? i'm in AWE)

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

Sometimes I remember the fact that Stanley Zbornak spent 38 years lying to, cheating on, and being a horrible husband to this:

Personally if this woman even looked at me I would kiss the very ground she walked on

[dracocheesecake]

I'm tired of holding in my cringe here it is:

Redimus' New Family Headcanons:

Mate is a mountain Dorcean named Doshika.

Twin daughters named Besteen and Dorcy (Eva suggested this one- yes it's supposed to be "Dorcean"+ "Dorothy". She didn't think Redimus would use it. ).

Besteen, despite her namesake, is almost nothing like her late uncle. She is quiet (for the most part), reserved, well-behaved- save for one point: she's an absolute cuddlebug.

Seriously this child cannot handle being put down. If her father gets tired of holding her all of the time then she'll go up and paw at someone else's leg, whining and begging until they hold her. If they won't pick her up she'll cling to their leg or just climb on up herself. Good luck getting rid of her when she sinks her tiny little claws in.

If someone sits down she'll scramble to be the first to sit in their lap.

Obviously as she got bigger these tendencies started to get more difficult to continue, so now she just gives crushing bear hugs instead.

Her first word was actually "up". Couldn't get her to say anything else for awhile.

Dorcy is much more energetic. When she was little she had a tendency to nibble on the toes of people's sneakboots and steal socks to play tug of war with her sister (Hailey and Van Turner were primary victims when they were around, but she wouldn't hesitate to take Eva's socks).

Dorcy is really fond of rides on her father's glider. Besteen likes it, too, but not as much as Dorcy does.

She was the first to learn how to drive a glider, and when she was older she actually "borrowed" it for a joy ride across Lake Concors and through Solas. She was grounded for three months- if you ask her, it was worth it.

Both sisters have actually always gotten along with one another. They don't really fight often.

Redimus doesn't play favorites between them. He doesn't want them to end up the way he and Besteel did.

Shortly after they were born something shifted in Redimus' brain. Basically he had them for a minute and immediately knew he would kill everyone in Lacus if anything happened to them, and then himself; and he would never be anything like his sire.

Dorcy was the first to make her first kill. She was only a few months old, and while sitting on a pier with her father and sister, watching the fish, she dived right in and caught one, swallowing it whole.

Both sisters will almost immediately fall asleep if they hear the sound of a strumil. Even as adults, hearing strumil music has a nostalgic, near-hypnotic effect on them, since Redimus always played his to put them to sleep.

Dorcy is more artistically inclined. She learned how to paint from Zoozi.

Almost every single wall in Redimus' home has many of Dorcy's "early works". Redimus let her use the walls as a canvas.

Dorcy wants to join the Royal Beamguide crew like her father did. Besteen doesn't know what she wants to do yet, but she seems to have an interest in Solas' museum and rebuilt education district.

Usually female Dorceans leave their father to live with their mother at the age of 15- but because they inherited Redimus' "delicate constitution" (as Doshika puts it), they cannot survive the harsh conditions their mother lives in, and so they still live with Redimus.

When they were still little chubby puff balls that could barely move on their own, the Gens liked to dress them up in silly costumes. Dorcy hated it and always tried to crawl away or claw the costumes off, but Besteen never minded it; when she's older Besteen still has a thing for cosmetics, usually nail polish or eyeliner (as much as she can stand the strong smell)- to her father's dismay.

Redimus tells them about their uncle. He doesn't talk often of their grandsire, though, only answering their questions about him in short, terse, to the point responses.

[miserymermaid]

Well, it's been a great journey...

(This writeup is very late to the party because I've been busy, sorry!)

As of the end of November 2023, SINoALICE has been shut down. Looking back it's wild how fond I had grown for the game in the 3 years I played Global.

The story was very edgy and outrageous at points but I discovered characters who I latched onto and found their motivations interesting. The biggest one (obviously) being The Little Mermaid; her desire to revive her author to make her story even sadder because she believed the tragedy is what made the story beautiful was an interesting character twist. Like, she's not wrong! The story of The Little Mermaid wouldn't be what it is without the tragic ending (well...it would be a Disney movie I guess 🙄). And her constant desire to find delight/beauty in the tragic could be played for both laughs and seriousness. Every time a new class of hers was released on a banner I grinded for it like crazy, and I ended up with a collection of cute Mermaid outfits that I was really proud of!

My second favorite character was Dorothy, a cheery mad scientist with no regards for boundaries or ethics. Whenever Dorothy was added to a story event, you knew you were in for a good time. I really liked her design as well; she had the most outrageous outfits! If I was ever going to cosplay a character from SINoALICE it would probably be her. And of course many of the other characters worked their charm on me and it was fun every time we got to see a new combination of characters interact with each other.

Any time there was a collab event I really enjoyed myself, even if I had no familiarity with many of the IPs being collabed with. I particularly have fond memories of the 'Fishing Star World Tour' collab because of how hard I grinded in order to obtain the eye-popping fishing pole nightmares that were available as raids...I got both of them AND enough to max limit break them! I also couldn't get away without mentioning 'An End to Summer Dreams', the clam-fishing event that introduced the beloved Lammy; it was one of the first medal events that I participated in after I joined and it felt really fun to be part of the Lammy zeitgeist.

And of course, I can't go without shouting out my amazing guild, JellicleCats...what a fun gang to be a part of. We never aimed to be super colo competitive but we did our best, had some really nice victories, and the slimiest losses! Everyone in the guild was so good-natured, making jokes and swapping strategy advice. At the very end I worked my way up to being the top-ranked vanguard of the group and #4 ranked overall; I'm so happy I could work hard and do well by my teammates!

I am not one to play a lot of gachas in general, SINoALICE was definitely my first foray into playing a gacha fairly seriously, but I don't think I could've asked for a better experience. I was a F2P player and proud that I never once felt coerced into making a purchase. Some people may deride me for being proud of that fact, that it means I never gave the game my support, but I believe that a healthy gacha atmosphere crucially depends on making space for people who wish to be F2P without suffering gameplay-wise for it. I supported SINoALICE with my passion, with logging in every day to see what new twist the game would bring, with making good friends.

SINoALICE took up a lot of my time and I won't say I'm a tiny bit glad to be free of the obligation of constantly being on my phone, but I definitely will miss it. Thank you to all the developers who worked on the game to make this bonkers story come true, and thank you to everyone who played and who I ever got a chance to meet throughout the game!

[allthemusic]

Week ending: 28 May 1953

Another three-song week - I am being spoiled! No familiar faces here, either. I think this might have been coronation week, so let's see if we're in a party mood...

I'm Walking Behind You - Eddie Fisher and Sally Sweetland (peaked at No. 1)

I can definitively confirm that with this song, at least, we are not in a party mood. It's slow and very soupy. Oh well.

Actually, this goes in the same category as All the Time and Everywhere, I think. Sleepy, creepy and very much of its era. But we'll get to the lyrics later.

First, the voice. Eddie Fisher, but also Sally Sweetland, singing at a pitch that probably drives dogs mad. Seriously, this is the highest pitch we've had yet, and it's unpleasant. Sally Sweetland also basically just seems to sing this bit - not sure why she gets a full credit, unless it's just that everyone was particularly unnerved by the pitch? There's something ghostly about it.

The situation is initially melodramatic but not that creepy; Eddie is apparently walking behind his love at her wedding, and sings about how he's going to hear her making her vows to another man. Sad, but not that weird, except for how Eddie's masochistically listening into the wedding. But hey, maybe they parted amicably, or maybe he knows both parties, who am I to judge. There's lots of reasons he might be there.

Things do, admittedly, take a turn for the worse in the next line: "Though you may forget me / You're still on my mind". Okay, so he's still hung up on this person, possibly unhealthily so? Not too weird, but it gives "Look over your shoulder / I'm walking behind" some serious stalker vibes.

And then Eddie loses any sympathy I had for him in one weird line: "Maybe I'll kiss again / With a love that's new / But I shall wish again / I was kissing you." Gross! You're basically comparing any future loves with your old one.

And then we end on the actual worst line: "I want you to know / That if things go wrong, dear / And fate is unkind / Look over your shoulder / I'm walking behind". Which, in the kindest interpretation, is him being incredibly untactful on this poor woman's wedding day and positioning himself as some sort of "nice guy" alternative to when her new love inevitably cheats. Gross.

And then there's the sinister "shame if anything happened" serial killer undertones. To be honest, this was my initial read on the song, and I still think it's quite convincing. This would be an incredible song to have as backing to a horror film, actually.

Amazingly, this is a cover of a version by one Dorothy Squires, and the song was semi-autobiographical? It was written by a former partner of hers upon learning that she was now with Roger Moore (yes, of James Bond fame) and for some reason she still did a version of it? Wild - if I were her, I wouldn't touch this one with a twelve-foot pole!

Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me - Muriel Smith (3)

Unlike the last song, this song is both not creepy and actually quite sexy. I didn't know Muriel Smith at all when I hit play, but she's got a very unusual voice - lots of very emphatic "oooh" sounds, quite trained, but deep and it hits the emotional peaks of the song hard.

And this is a very emotional song, dripping in dramatic strings from the intro to the harp glissando at the end. It gets quite at points, where the backing drops out completely, and then it swells towards the end, at Muriel declares her love boldly and proudly.

The song itself feels quite "easy listening", but the lyrics are some of the raunchiest we've had yet. I mean, even the opening: "Hold me, hold me / And never let me go until you've told me, told me / What I want to know and then just hold me, hold me / Make me tell you I'm in love with you". Quite the challenge.

They then go on a walk down a shadowy lane where there are other lovers hidden, too (?) which sounds quite disreputable, but who am I to judge...

She then sings about how people told her to be sensible and not fall too hard for her lover: "But they never stood in the dark with you, love / When you take me in your arms / And drive me slowly out of my mind". And the drum build up on that last line adds just enough intensity to really sell that last line.

And, finally, if you hadn't got just how bad Muriel has the hots, the little sigh after the final "never let me go" is a dead giveaway. Oof.

This feels like an aquired taste, to be honest. The drama of it, and Muriel Smith's voice isn't my favourite thing ever, but I am living for the drama and the pure horniness of it all, all wrapped up in quite an elegant package.

Terry's Theme from Limelight - Frank Chacksfield (2)

I started this track very excited, because Frank Chacksfield brought us the lunacy that was Little Red Monkey. I was keen to see what this maverick of electronic music might have for us next. I was on the edge of my metaphorical seat. I eagerly searched it up. And then... this happened.

It's not bad. It's quite pleasant, all things considered. It's a sweeping piece of orchestral film music. But it's no Little Red Monkey. It's generically pleasing at best, and bland at worst.

There's something very classical about it, like it's based on something well-known, but I can't quite work out what. Or perhaps it's just become well known in and of itself, like the sort of thing they play on Classic FM? I can hum a whole snatch of the thing it reminds me of, but I can't match that with a composer, which is really annoying.

Either way, it's a cover of a song that did originally have lyrics, and lyrics sung by none other than Charlie Chaplin, in the song Limelight, and as ever when there's a song from a film, I'm going to have to look up the film and decide if I'd go to see it.

So, Limelight (1952). A film set in 1914 wherein a washed up literal clown stops a failed dancer from committing suicide and helps her get her career underway again. She falls for him, even as he continues to fail at being a clown, but he thinks she'd be better with another character, leaves her to become a street performer, is persuaded to give it another go and then dies of a heart attack (?!). This is billed as a comedy-drama, but I'm not seeing much comedy here, to be honest. I'd still possibly go see it, it sounds like an emotional rollercoaster.

Actually, that makes this song actually work. It's sad, but in an understated way, and has some real emotional swings, and knowing the story that goes with it actually does sell me on it a bit more.

Only a bit, though. I want more claviolines, damnit!

So, a field of three, all very different, all weird versions of various early 1950s trends we have seen so far. First Eddie with a particularly creepy take on the earnest and soupy "I'll love you forever" ballad, then Muriel with a particularly raunchy, but still perfectly-enunciated sentimental easy-listening standard, then a slightly overwrought bit of instrumental film scoring from Frank. Of them all, Eddie amused me most, I have to say, but not for the right reasons. So:

Favourite song of the buch: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me

[let-it-raines]

fic prompt for captain swan! "my flight was delayed so i'm sitting it the airport scrolling through tinder and the man behind me goes "ouch hard no for that one?" and i turn around only to see the man i swiped no on right behind me!" thanks :)))

She hates airports.

They’re basically like forcing everyone into a large (and yet somehow very small) room where germs are passed around, people are pissed, people are tired, and only a small amount are there to actually go on vacation where life is fun. Most everyone is there for work or to visit family, and really, what’s so fun about that?

Okay, so maybe she’s on her way to visit her parents in Chicago, and she’s not exactly happy to have woken up at four in the morning for her seven o’clock flight when it ended up getting cancelled because the weather in Boston and Chicago both seriously suck in February. Seriously. Snow is pretty and all, but she’s tired and wants to be sitting in her parents’ living room eating the breakfast casserole she knows that her mom is making for her right now.

And she’s stuck at Logan standing in the longest line in the world for overpriced coffee.

She doesn’t even really want coffee. She wants hot chocolate, but she really needs the caffeine.

She needs a lot of caffeine.

Sighing, she pulls her phone out of her pocket, figuring that she can at least use the free Wifi and pass the time by scrolling through the internet. And she does, making her way through all of Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Hell, she even goes through Facebook. She doesn’t even know when she last used Facebook.

It had to have been at least a year ago when Ruby and Dorothy got married, and she wanted to see all of the pictures Ruby had tagged her in. But that had definitely been the last time. She should probably just delete the account.

The line moves at a slow pace, and she’s convinced she’s never going to get her coffee, so as a last resort, she opens up Tinder, which is also something she hasn’t used in awhile, probably not since she was trying to find a date to Elsa’s wedding in June.

Why in the world are all of her friends getting married? What is she doing with her life? Woah, Emma, don’t go down that road. She’s fine. Everything is fine, and her mom totally isn’t going to hound her about why she’s not dating anyone while she’s eating the cold breakfast casserole that she’s missing right now.

Her mom is definitely going to hound her on it, especially because her cousin who is younger than her just announced that she was pregnant when they were all eating Christmas dinner. She could practically feel her mom screaming “baby, baby, baby oh” all Justin Bieber style.

Her mom is not as good of a singer as Justin Bieber…not that she would ever admit that…out loud. She’s twenty-seven years old, single, childless, and she can jam out to Justin Bieber and the Jonas Brothers if she wants to while she’s driving down the road late at night following a guy for one of her cases.

She’s a consummate professional. Always.

It takes forever to go through the profiles, a bunch of sleazy guys who pose shirtless in their pictures and write some of the dumbest captions in the world, and while she may not have always had the best taste in guys, she’s not about to go on a date with Matt from Boston who is looking for a “hot girl with an ass that won’t quit.” Her ass won’t quit, but her ass has standards. And it goes on and on like that, every single guy she sees just kind of looking like a douche, so she’s constantly swiping left simply because she can.

“Ouch,” someone groans behind her, right in her ear really, “so it’s a hard no on him, huh?”

She turns around, about ready to chew this dude out for looking over her shoulder, and it’s exactly when she sees familiar blue eyes and dark hair of the guy she just swiped left on.

Well, shit.

She’ll just walk to Chicago. Screw the snow. She’ll walk and then move there so she never has to run into this guy again.

Seriously, what are the odds? She needs someone super smart and good with statistics to figure out what exactly the odds are of having the guy you just rejected on Tinder standing right behind you in line at a Starbucks in Logan International. She’s also kind of regretting swiping left because, well, he’s hot, especially in person. His profile wasn’t bad, it was actually pretty good from the glimpse she got of it, but she was kind of on a roll of rejecting guys. It felt…powerful almost, and the more she thinks about that, the more she realizes that she really is tired if she thinks silently rejecting on guys is making her feel powerful.

But Matt from Boston totally deserved it.

“Seriously,” she whines when she looks up at him and the way his lips are stretched into an actual smirk. A smirk. In real life. And not on a Disney character. It’s insane. He’s smirking at her, his thick brows moving across his forehead, and she’s still considering just not going to visit her parents for their thirtieth anniversary party. “So I’m guessing you saw that.”

“I did just see you reject me without really even reading my profile,” he laughs, his British accent coming out stronger than it did when he first spoke. She didn’t even realize he had an accent at first. “I mean, come on, love. My profile is pretty good.”

“Obviously not if I just swiped it away like nothing.”

“Ah,” he sighs, crossing his arms over his chest and adjusting the backpack on his shoulders while his lips press together into a straight line, “well, maybe. Or maybe you were simply rejecting every man in Boston all while waiting in this ridiculous line. You were going pretty fast.”

“And you were invading my privacy.”

He shrugs, almost like he doesn’t have a care in the world while she feels irritation prick up over her skin. “I don’t mean to point out the obvious – ”

“Which is exactly what you’re about to do.”

“Aye,” he laughs, his eyes crinkling at the sides, and oh no, she will not find that attractive, “I am. I really didn’t mean to pry, but I’m a wee bit taller than you, and the way you’ve been holding your phone is directly in my eyeline while I watch the television playing. And imagine my surprise when a beautiful woman rejected me without even giving me a chance. I wasn’t planning on getting rejected this morning.”

“I’m guessing you don’t get rejected a lot.”

“It has something to do with my devilishly handsome good looks.”

“Oh my God,” she groans, rolling her eyes while he moves his eyebrows again. Why does he keep moving his eyebrows? “That is so conceited.”

“Or confident.”

“Conceited.”

He shrugs. “Whatever you say. So why the rejection of men on this fine Thursday morning?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“I would. That’s why I’m asking.”

“Flight’s delayed, I’m bored, and I really want coffee.”

“The same could be said for me, but I do feel like I would give your profile a chance.”

“Guess you’ll never know now.”

“Perhaps.” He smiles down at her before he uncrosses his arms and sticks his hand out. Oh wow. He’s really about to introduce himself to her. Maybe the guy really does have confidence. “Killian Jones.”“Emma Swan,” she says warily, taking his hand in hers and shaking it up and down three times. She definitely doesn’t notice how warm his hand is. Nope. “It’s nice to reject you.”

“It’s nice to be rejected.”

She and Killian talk as they move through the rest of the line. It’s awkward and stilted sometimes, but he’s a pretty persistent guy. And obviously he does not feel embarrassment because he powers through it all and chats away about his job at an engineering firm and then asks her far more questions than necessary about what it’s like to be a private investigator. He seems genuinely interested, and that may be the first time that has happened…ever. But he’s a nice guy, funny at least from what she can tell, and when she finally gets to the front of the line, she pays for his coffee.

She’s not really sure why she does it. Maybe it’s some kind of apology for rejecting him, even if she doesn’t need to apologize for that, and maybe she just figures there’s no harm in being nice. Plus, he drinks black coffee, so it’s not like it was expensive.

She was really scared he was going to order something complicated for a minute there. He seems like the type of guy who would do that.

He also seems like the kind of guy who would part ways after he got his coffee and leave her be, but he asks her if she wants to find somewhere to sit. She does, so she follows him until they manage to find a spot on the floor next to the windows, settling down on the ground and completely ignoring how disgusting this has to be.

It just has to be.

She’s sure of it.

Killian’s apparently flying to New York for a conference, something he’s not at all looking forward to, and his flight has been delayed until at least one. So really, he’s going to miss the entire first day of it, and a part of her feels like maybe the man is happy to be stranded in an airport.

She’s kind of happy to be stranded in an airport.

Yeah, this has got to be like that movie where the girl gets trapped in a romantic comedy? She doesn’t meet men in airports who are charming and funny, especially men who also use Tinder. She really can’t say anything. She uses it too. Maybe he was simply looking for a wedding date. Maybe he was looking for a hook up. She can’t blame him there either. Sometimes you just need to scratch the itch.

She does have a bit of a hard time believing that he has trouble finding someone to scratch the itch with, but hey, maybe he doesn’t always have a great first line like calling her out for rejecting him.

She wonders if people still even use pick up lines. She also wonders if they’ve ever worked. If someone walked up to her and said “Do you believe in love at first sight or should I walk by again?” she’d definitely have to hold herself back from slapping someone or tossing a drink.

She swears she’s not a violent person.

Maybe just a little.

“So tell me, Swan,” Killian begins, fiddling his fingers over his thighs and the suit pants that are stretched with the muscles, “you’re from Boston, correct?”

“That would be correct.”

He smiles, all of his white teeth on display, and she wonders what dentist he goes to. “And I assume that you’re single from your use of dating apps.”

“You’re a very smart man, Jones.”

“Oh, well that’s never been a doubt.”

“Stop,” she groans, reaching over and knocking her shoulder into his while she laughs.

“Never,” he promises, twisting a ring around on his thumb. It’s weirdly hot, especially since she knows it’s not a wedding ring. This conversation would have stopped before it started two hours ago because they have definitely been flirting, and she’s not going to flirt with a married man. It’s been awhile since she’s flirted with someone outside of work, but she knows how these things go. “So you’re from Boston and you’re single. It’s a funny coincidence because those two things happen to be true about me as well.”

“I’m glad we finally found something we have in common.”

“Aye, me too, even though we both have fantastic taste in comedic television.”

“That’s true,” she laughs, her lips stretching into a smile while her entire body buzzes with energy. She knows where this is going, and she likes it, which only surprises her a little.

“So I was thinking, maybe when we get back from our trips, you might like to go out to dinner with me.”

She hums, tilting her head back against the glass while Killian scratches behind his ear. “I think that might be a good idea. But I should warn you that you’ve already been rejected once, so I would suggest that you be on your best behavior. Or your worst. It kind of depends on how you want the night to go.”

“I’ll have to think on it. I do so fancy you when you’re irritated with me for peeping over your shoulder.”

“You’re a weird guy.”

“Who you’re going on a date with.”

“That I am.”

And it’s one date, then two, then three. And it goes on and on and on as she and Killian travel across all of Boston going to restaurants, museums, and baseball games. Eventually the fun dates slow down. They don’t stop, but they’re replaced by takeout at home, by a run down at the river on Saturday mornings, or by a cup of coffee in the morning before work when she’s staying at his apartment working on a case while he’s rushing off to do whatever it is he does as a civil engineer. She’s not entirely sure, simply because she doesn’t understand the mathematics of it, but she doesn’t really care as long as he’s happy doing it.

She loves him. She loves him a lot, actually, and it constantly surprises her how happy she is getting to have someone by her side who laughs with her and yells with her and who will let her eat all of the junk food in his apartment without complaining.

Okay, so he complains a little bit, but it’s really only when she eats his Doritos. It’s his favorite American snack, and he’s very protective over the cool ranch flavor. Anything else she can have.

She thinks it’s kind of weird, but then one day he’s at work while she’s at home doing research, and she really wants the chips. It takes some maneuvering, some climbing on cabinets because he put them on the shelf she can’t reach, and then she’s grabbing the unopened bag while making sure she doesn’t fall backwards and bust her ass. She doesn’t when she gets the chips, but she almost does when she spies a small green velvet box tucked into the corner. She knows what it is, wants to open it so damn bad that she almost does, but she restrains herself. She knows Killian, knows that he probably put a lot of effort into the ring and into his plan for proposing (holy shit, he’s going to propose), so she puts the Doritos back and pretends that she never saw it.

The weeks pass, and for awhile, she forgets about the ring even though something in the back of her mind is nagging at her, a little doubt trying to freak her out about why he hasn’t asked yet. But she does forget, doesn’t focus on it constantly, and they go about their lives.

It’s only when they’re at Logan again, two tickets in her wallet for them to fly to Chicago to visit her parents so Killian can meet them, that she realizes what he’s going to do. He somehow manages to get them in nearly the exact same spot on the floor as that first day, their thighs pressed together this time with no distance between them, and he hands her a diamond ring and whispers in her ear.

“I know that you swiped left on me the last time we were here, but I’d really like it if you put this ring on your left ring finger. Forever, preferably.”

Needless to say, she deletes the app.

[the-eclectic-wonderer]

another anecdote she gave "I'm first and foremost, very candidly and obviously, a Bea Arthur fan. I was a fan of hers from the theater in New York. I took her very seriously as an actress and I was aware of her performances outside of television, and I was- I was just an acolyte. I just thought she was wonderful, and because she was a dark, tall, beautiful-- and an intelligent, forceful woman who really broke down just every ceiling in the world - there was nobody like her in show business who wasn't the butt of the joke. instead she MADE the jokes and the big moments. as a woman who wasn't considered traditionally attractive or traditionally feminine, to get that kind of respect and admiration and attention it - it made it possible for you to possibly believe that there could be a place for you in the business when she broke down doors. So I was always interested in what she was doing." she read for a daughter part but told her friend "this is totally generic, I can't do these lines. this isn't Bea" and he said "just do it like Bea would" so she went in and did it like Bea and they called her next day and said they were writing something special for her. "I worked very hard on studying her and internalizing her as much I could." "I wanted it very badly, because you know when you're a fan of somebody and you just-- it meant so much to me because I was such a fan of hers. That I got to be in her presence. I got to sit next to her when we were getting out makeup done and talk to her about her career."

Anon I could just about kiss you honestly. This is a goldmine.

I'm so far removed from traditional beauty standards that the idea Bea could be considered unattractive is so foreign to me, even in Golden Girls. I see her like Lynnie describes here -- tall, dark, beautiful, intelligent, forceful; I can't help but admire her!! But Lynnie's absolutely right -- I get to see her in that way because she herself broke all the ceilings that stood before her. It's easy to say that she was a legend, but anecdotes like this really make you appreciate just how revolutionary she was, how much she changed the game. We're truly lucky to live in a time and place where we get to admire her work!!

And Lynnie is incredible too -- the fact that she read the lines and immediately clocked them as something that wouldn't fit Bea? And then she read them as Bea anyway? And she did it so well that they rewrote the part of young!Dorothy specifically for her?? Honestly, let me give a special shout-out to Dorothy as a character because she's just so awesome she was especially written for two incredible actresses -- but apart from that, wow. The sheer talent! The love and diligence she put in this part! I'm in awe!!

I am so happy she got to work with Bea and interact with her. She sounds like she has a true (and very relatable!!) devotion for her and I really don't think they could have picked anyone better for the part of young!Dorothy. What a champ.