#DO IT FOR A NAIVE YOUNG GIRL FROM CALIFORNIA WITH STARS IN HER EYES AND A PNEUMATIC POWER GAUNTLET ON HER HAND

[media-illiterate]

My brain, 24/7:

[dcjavu]

who   said   that   every   wish   would   be   heard   and   answered   when   wished   on   the   morning   star ?   somebody   thought   of   that   and   someone   believed   it,   look   what   it's   done   so   far.   what's   so   amazing   that   keeps   us   stargazing   and   what   do   we   think   we   might   see ?   someday   we'll   find   it,   the   rainbow   connection,   the   lovers,   the   dreamers   and   me.   all   of   us   under   its   spell,   we   know   that   it's   probably   magic.   have   you   been   half   asleep   and   have   you   heard   voices ?   i've   heard   them   calling   my   name.   is   this   the   sweet   sound   that   calls   the   young   sailors?   the   voice   might   be   one   and   the   same.   i've   heard   it   too   many   times   to   ignore   it,   it's   something   that   i'm   supposed   to   be.   someday   we'll   find   it,   the   rainbow   connection   ——   the   lovers,   the   dreamers   and   me.

╰     *     stats.        ╰     *     pinterest.

there are goldilocks zones all throughout the world; places where the weather and the populace and the scenery are just right. honolulu, hawaii should be one of them —— and yet, it it isn't enough for twenty five - year - old amihan rivera, a new mother of identical twin girls. she says that she's wrung out dry from the expansion of tourism and the occasionally terrible weather and the pollen that affects the younger twin. she'll scrape up any excuse to leave, and her dear, naive, fifty - year - old fiance walter wozniak cannot deny her. although he was born here, that this soil is supposed to be the one bit of earth that's his own, he tells her that they'll go anywhere she wants.

she picks her home state of california. there's a group of people there, living on a commune up north where the snow and vineyards are. they call themselves the family. he doesn't think much of it at first, as he only wants to make his fiance happy, which she is. for the first time in my life, i'm truly content, she tells him, and he tries not to be hurt by it.

their children are well - kept by others in the family. there's rainbow, the eldest, who received her name from her mother that was especially fond of the muppets growing up, and elaine, who inherited her paternal grandmother's middle name. the two couldn't be more different than one another —— elaine, 'lainey', is spunky and outspoken, while rainbow, 'reina', is dotish and out in space, and they've both captured the hearts of their other guardians.

reina, however, being the more subdued twin, realizes before anyone else in her family that this place is not what it seems. while she tends to trod her own path, helping with the babies and tots that toddle around aimlessly, she catches the eyes of the men that lurk around where she often plays. she doesn't like it, but she doesn't know how to explain why.

she finds solace in the children. even if some of them are mere months younger than her, she still acts as their mother hen. when one of her guardians teaches her a new stitch, she turns around and runs so she can teach it to tulip, or meadow, or toad if he's feeling up for it ( he can be grumpy sometimes, at least in response to reina's unfiltered whimsy. ); as she learns how to skip rocks, navigate the surrounding wilderness, and dance, her little ducklings are never too far behind.

when she's thirteen, she finally bleeds. she wakes up with her thighs drenched in red and she cries about it to her mother, who can only soothe her by humming and rubbing her back. then, she lifts reina's gangly body over her shoulder and leaves the house with her.

reina is brought into miss chrissy's living room. miss chrissy is her teacher, and right here on this shag rug is where reina has sat criss-cross applesauce everyday for her lessons since she was three. her mother is there, but she notes the absence of her father. amihan looks different, though. off. more dazed and confused than reina has the habit of being.

they explain to her that she's going to wear this nice starched white dress and pretty flowers in her hair and pledge herself to god and the man he's sent for her. she asks, what does that mean? and they smile wryly and she feels dread pool in her stomach.

on her fourteenth birthday she's to be wed. it's summertime and she's always happiest in this season, but not anymore. she does not want to be married. she does not want to bleed. she wants to be little and sterile forever. they put her in her white dress one day, for practice. it ends right above the knee and she wishes it went down past her ankles, plus it hands awkwardly from her scrawny frame. the flowers they've picked for her are slowly withering. she can feel their lifeless stems prick her head. and, for the first time, she encounters it: the radio speaking to her.

you should run, it whispers between hisses of static. run far away, until you make it back to the ocean. she doesn't know how to respond in the beginning, until she has the idea to simply think. and then what? she asks, and although the radio has no face she can still hear it grinning. jump in.

she hears it non - stop. even when they change the channel, she can hear the voice interrupting the lyrics of the song playing. it only stops when they click it off and undress her. they say that in the morning, she'll be woken up, and by the time she goes to sleep again, she'll be a wife.

except when she's in bed that night, she hardly gets a wink of sleep before her father sweeps into her room and collects her and her sister. he tells them to pack only what they absolutely need, so lainey chooses a small disposable camera she was gifted, and reina picks the kermit the frog plushie she's had since the day she was born.

walter places both of them in an unlicensed jeep, one that he wields beneath nervous and tightly clenched fists as he maneuvers the steering wheel back and forth while navigating the hilly terrain. in the backseat, reina holds lainey's hand when she sniffles, and assures her that it'll be okay —— the radio told her so.

once they're out, they then board a plane that safely escorts them to honolulu. walter enrolls them in school posthaste. lainey is avoidant of others initially, but she slowly melts into the routine of a normal teenage girl. she finds friends, all as full of rage and teen angst as she is. she spends more time out of their nice three - bedroom house than she does visiting walter or reina.

reina, however, is stagnant. she can't seem to befriend anyone, mostly because she feels so... distant. she can't seem to connect with others, and sometimes, she struggles with understanding the world as a whole. life is no longer a warm hazy blanket of sunlight —— it's a blurry kaleidoscope of nonsensical shapes and colors that don't exist.

regardless, she carries on.

no matter what the world looks like around her, she clings to her intelligence, even as she feels it diluting. she does excellent in her classes, and it isn't too soon after she's enrolled that her teachers notice she has an eidetic memory. you're a very wise, clever little girl, miss rainbow, one teacher says. another woman, but she doesn't have the same dead eyes as miss chrissy. you're going to do a lot of good. it's that which kept her tethered to reality, in truth. otherwise she'd have spun out long ago.

it's more difficult to conceal the longer it goes on. she's skittish and paranoid. walter only sees this when lainey points it out. so, one month after the symptoms began, he takes reina to the doctor. they label her as anxious and throw an antihistamine in her face before slamming the door behind them. the pills work, for a time. she experiences a period of dormancy in her unending emotional turmoil; she graduates high school, friendless and lonely but still with a diploma clutches in her hand, she's accepted into columbia university so she can study what she loves: medicine.

it's always been medicine, ever since she first assembled a torniquet out of her bandana and wrapped it around restless twig's little leg, right above the gash that nearly cut the bone. you shouldn't be playing in the river without me to watch you, she told him, soft yet firm. the rocks are wet and slippery. now, bite down on this stick.

college in new york city is unforgiving. reina isn't sure what she thinks of the ever-changing environment, a stark contrast from the serene hawaiian shores she fell in love with. but she perseveres, because lainey visits often from where she attends film school at nyu and most times her twin will invite her to tag along on their adventures throughout the city. it's a good distraction —— particularly from the gnawing sensation she feels expand in her brain with every passing year.

she meets him in an underground chinatown bar. his name is merlin, and he's a little older but in a suitable way, not like her mother and father. he's got gingery hair and light blue eyes and says that he's twenty - nine, tugging at his turtleneck with a nervous smile fitted on his thin lips. when they meet each other's gaze, his smile widens and she wonders why. he then says: i'm sure everyone tells you this, but your eyes...

the next morning, she wakes up in a starched white bed in his east village apartment and she doesn't leave for a whole year.

she and merlin are inseparable. though, it becomes apparent through the passage of time and her sister's sharp wit that he is the one commandeering their relationship. as smitten as she is with him, lainey can see it in reina's blown pupils and the rushes of euphoria and incoherent babbling whenever they're on the phone —— they haven't seen each other in months, merlin insisting that they needed to lead lives separate from the other.

when she finishes school a year ahead of her peers, she accepts an internship position at a teaching hospital in boston. merlin isn't contented, but lainey's somehow convinced her it's for the better she leave anyway. so, she does. she really can't remember a time in her life she hasn't been told what to do, or when she wasn't appeasing others, but she tries to ignore that for now.

her fellow interns are a equally terrified as she is to be doctors. one of them is especially eye - catching, maybe because he wants to be. she flashes him smiles when they see one another during rounds, she talks to him if they're both napping in the on - call rooms. however, she keeps her head down as much as she can otherwise. she seems to think all the sudden that merlin can observe her life through her eyes; like he's in her head. how can she ever be lonely when she has so many voices telling her what to do all the time?

she's in a downwards spiral. with lainey still living in new york and reina stubbornly refusing a guardian, she puts coffee in the water filter, she leaves five candles burning thinking it would cleanse her apartment of the evil she's dredged in from the outside world, and now she can hardly stand the stench of vanilla and fire and burnt coffee and is contemplating jumping from the fire escape. when she hears a knock at the door, she wants to cry, but there's a part of her that wills her to open it. when she does, merlin is there, and all her suspicions, she thinks, have been proven true.

merlin berates her, all while stomping around her apartment and extinguishing the candle flames and throwing the coffee maker against the wall. she grabs her car keys and she flees, even if she's terrified of what awaits her. but it cannot be more frightening than what she's leaving behind. right?

she drives and drives and drives, the radio playing all the while. she weaves back and forth throughout the city until she makes it over the bridge, into pitch black beyond. except she's never driven in this kind of darkness before.

she feels the wheels lose their integrity first, and she senselessly grabs at the gear shift and rapidly switches between modes before the car rolls over —— and the radio keeps playing.

when she reopens her eyes, hours later in a hospital room, she first notices the restraints placed on her wrists. then, a vaguely familiar figure looming over her bedside. as she regains the focus in her vision, they sit beside her.

h-hi. hey. i hope you like these. snowdrops are your favorite, right? he says, and it's the sweetest sound reina's ever heard for reasons she cannot comprehend. oh, it's me, by the way. spencer.

[isabellabfox]

INTRODUCING: ISABELLA BREE FOX.

── There’s a new day dawning in the perilous streets of New York City. Here you’ll find Isabella Fox who is said to resemble Lily Collins, but is a 34 year old Associate & Manager of The Open Book swearing undying fealty to the O’Malley Family. Upon meeting them, they are innocent and sweet. Do not be deceived, they are also distant and naive. After all, you cannot spell family without lies.

BASICS

Name: Isabella Bree Fox.

Face Claim: Lily Collins.

Age: 34.

Birthdate: May 28th, 1987.

Star Sign: Gemini.

Gender: Female.

Pronouns: She/her/hers.

Sexuality: Bisexual.

Mafia Position/Job: Associate to the O’Malley family & Manager of The Open Book.

Birthplace: Dublin, Ireland.

Theme Song: “You Haven’t Seen the Last of Me” - Cher.

Quote: “I've been brought down to my knees and I've been pushed way past the point of breaking, but I can take it”

FAMILY

Father: Liam Fox.

Mother: Brenna Fox.

Siblings: Older brother named Landon Fox.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Hair Color: Brown.

Eye Color: Brown.

Height: 5’5”.

Build: Slim.

PERSONALITY

When people first meet Isabella, they’re drawn to her deep dimples and innocent nature. Her smile is infectious; she’s kind and sweet to almost everyone and extremely helpful. She’s very accepting, loves kids, and is a family girl through and through. Aside from her positive traits, she can be highly distant when triggered and doesn’t do well in large crowds. On the outside, she can seem as friendly as can be, but what she hides from the world is her horrible insecurity and negative self-talk, which makes her self-destructive. All in all, she’s a shy caterpillar who is as sweet as honey and can put on a fake smile at any given moment.

BIOGRAPHY - Trigger warnings: bullying & suicidal thoughts.

CHILDHOOD

Born on a warm day in Dublin, Ireland, Liam and Brenna, her two loving parents, and her 3-year-old brother Landon welcomed Isabella Bree Fox into the world.

Growing up, she spent most of her time in Ireland, but due to her father being originally from England, she traveled there frequently and learned its culture and different ways of living.

Success fan thick through the Fox family as her dad worked as a medical physician and her mother, a fashion model, turned editor to a popular fashion magazine.

Due to the high expectations they held, the clan's daughter stayed true to her shy nature and kept her head in books.

ADOLESCENCE

When Isabella entered her adolescent years, her and her family up and moved to New York City, New York due to her dad accepting a new job as a doctor in a family practice.

She didn’t take the significant changes of atmosphere, culture, and new way of living well and became the hermit of the family.

High school was rough on her as she was a fly on the wall and had difficulty making friends and standing out.

The only time she was happiest was her time spent in the book club as it was a light shining at the end of the tunnel for her.

Focusing hard on schoolwork and being the school’s nerd, she doesn’t bring up that she was extremely bullied.

She got picked on, called horrific names, and was harassed multiple times. 

This developed her to have reoccurring panic attacks and horrible self-confidence.

After graduating from high school, she got a full ride to Stanford University, packed her bags, and moved to California.

The first two years of college went as good as they could, but the last two took a turn for the worst.

ADULTHOOD

Twenty years young and feeling good, Isabella focused on her studies and stayed within her minuscule group of friends.

During a school project, she was paired with people out of her comfort zone and tried to befriend them to the best of her ability.

At the start, they included her in everything, made her feel safe, and believed things were looking up.

As she wasn’t expecting a clue, the group started to bully her, and horrible memories of her teenage trauma ran loops in her mind.

Experiencing the pain and sadness again created suicidal thoughts and they got so bad to the point of her dropping out of college during her final year.

Moving back into her family home in NYC, she pretended like things were back to normal even though they weren’t.

As soon as the suicidal thoughts became too much, her parents hired a therapist and she still sees them to this day.

Reading books made her hopeful and as soon as she was ready to face the world again, many book stores called her name.

Throughout these past years, she worked in multiple book stores in different positions and stayed in check with her mental health.

PRESENT

When Landon introduced Nora to Isabella, she saw the woman as an older sister figure and eventually worked for her at The Open Book.

As she worked as a cashier, she was introduced to the O’Malley family and the rest of the mafia.

At first, she was highly hesitant toward the gang and feared being bullied again, but they brought a sense of calmness to the worried woman and she’s forever grateful.

At the young age of 34, she’s currently an associate to the O’Malley family, the manager of The Open Book, and finding more self-confidence with her improving mental health each and every day.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Friends & enemies she went to high school with

Friends from California

Therapist/people she knows from therapy

Bad influence

Close/good friends

Older & younger brother/sister figures

Roommate(s)

Best friend/her person

OOC INFORMATION

Played by Erin (26/PST/She/her)

[paper-chain-queen]

String Of Fate

Kyo Sohma X FReader

Soulmate Au / Red string that connects you to your soulmate

Words: 1,800+

Well... I enjoy soulmate stuff so I thought I would try and take a whack at it... please forgive me  :p  Also... such an original title, right? XD

.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

You looked down at the red-string wrapped around your pinkie. It felt especially tight today.

Where are you?

"Your staring again.." A voice called out, bringing you out of your thoughts.

"Huh?"

" You're not gonna find them just by staring at it you know." Your friend teased, pushing you playfully, but it almost caused you to fall out of your chair.

"Easy for you to say, you're soul mate just happened to move next door when you were like 5." You pushed right back, you were teasing her, but you were slightly jealous of her luck.

" I was 10!" She corrected you, and then you both burst into giggles, earning small stares from the people in the little cafe.

".... You could always live in our basement." She proposed once you both had quieted down. You had to shake your head; it was nice that she wanted to keep you around, but there was a small part of you that was excited for the new adventure.

It was sad to think that there was a chance you would never see her again. She was a massive part of your life, and now you were moving across the pacific.

You had grown up in a small household with only your parents, no siblings. And they had hardly been around. Growing up in a large, empty house, it was the nanny that you had spent most of your time with, at least she was nice. Father was a busy CEO and Mother... mother was a socialite, known for always stepping out in the most recent designs and appearing at all the most exclusive social events. They weren't soul mates, and they didn't marry out of love. It had been more of a business deal. Mother had wanted to be 'comfortable,' and Father wanted a beautiful wife.

But times had changed, and the business deal had run out.

Mother had refused to stand by anymore while Father had an affair after affair. While you weren't happy about moving, you were slightly impressed that your Mother had finally put her foot down after years of being cheated on. You guessed that after a while, even she got bored with fine jewels.

You had no dreams of fame or riches. You had watched and learned that it didn't lead to happiness.

"You'll be fine. Katie will keep be sure to keep you company." You couldn't help but tease your childhood friend who's face blew up red at the mention of her girlfriend and soul mate. You had seen them together, and while you were happy for her ... it had left you feeling a little lonely and wishing you could find your soul mate already.

All you wanted in this world was to find the one person you were made for.

To love and be loved.

" Hey! Let's go to the park. Maybe the swings are available." She suggested as you left your regular cafe, grabbing her half-finished frappucino from the table.

"Sure, sounds fun." You agreed, feeling nostalgic about the local neighbourhood park you had grown up with, the swings had been where you first met your best friend.

You knew your friend was just trying to make you feel better and have one last good day before you left, but honestly. It all felt so bittersweet. You miss your life, but this was for the best. Your Mother needed to get away and be with her family. It would be for the best, and you did like your grandparents. They were soul mates and very cute together, plus they liked to spoil you.

You and your friend joked around and shared stories while you walked to the park when you had gotten there, the only people some teens were using the basketball court.

Sitting on the swings, swinging back and forth gently, she caught you glancing at your pinkie again.

"Maybe you'll find your soul mate in Japan! Wouldn't that be amazing! So romantic." She again tried to cheer you up, and you gave her a small smile.

" Maybe..." and you looked back down at the small red string on your right pinky. It had always been tight for as long as you could remember, some days it felt like it would rip right off. Where ever they were, they were far away.

" I'll let you know." You played it cool and winked at your friend, but she knew the way you always looked at the string she couldn't see. Waiting. Hoping. She wanted you to find happiness and love just as she had found it with her soul mate.

"I'll miss you." She said as she grabbed your hand and gave it a small squeeze.

"I'll miss you too."

.

.-.-.-.-.-.--.-.-.-.-..

.

The morning sun shined down on Kaibara High school, it was going to be a beautiful day, but an orange-haired teen had a weird feeling his gut, and it had him a bit on edge. Well. More on edge than usual.

Kyo stared out at the window of his homeroom class. Everyone was gossiping about a new transfer student and he couldn't care less.

" A lot of noise over some new kid." He grumbled, annoyed with how loud the class was being.

"Aw Kyon, your no fun. " Uo teased, giving him a cheeky smile.

"Watch it, delinquent!"

He snapped at her, his orange eyes glaring holes into his blonde classmate. She only began to challenge him more, and Tohru had to try and settle them down before the teacher came with the new student.

It was weird for someone to transfer in the middle of second year. A part of Kyo felt bad for the new student as he had transferred in the middle of his first year of high school, and while he would never admit to it. It was scary, especially with all the boy crazy girls at this school.

The door slid open, and the teacher entered holding a clipboard.

"Everyone, take your seats. We have a new student joining us. Please be welcoming. You can come in now." The teacher called, and a few moments later, Kyo felt a small tug from his pinky but watched as the line started to slack.

It was minuscule, but there was a movement from the string. He had been so distracted by the red string wrapped around his pinky that he had missed the new student walking in and introducing herself.

Kyo found himself often glaring at the red string around his pinkie finger. It was just a big joke to him, as if the universe was taunting him. There was 'apparently' supposed to be someone out there for him, someone who he would love and who would love him.

Bullshit.

It was ridiculous. Zodiac members rarely ever had soul mates. It was practically unheard of. It was a shock to the Sohma family when Kyo had asked as a child why he had a tight red string around his finger, and he could never see where it would lead.

When he was first told about it, he was naive and young, excited to meet the person on the other side, but now he knew better. There was no hope for someone like him. He prayed he would never have to meet the person 'the universe' had picked for him. He couldn't imagine what kind of person would want to be with Cat of the Zodiac, the most cursed of his family. Cursed to be an outcast.

Fated to be alone.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

" I'm (L/N) (Y/N), nice to meet you." You smiled at the class and bowed while thanking you're lucky stars that your Mother had been making you practice Japanese intensely since you were a young girl so you could communicate with your grandparents. The class broke out into a sea of comments and questions, you could barely make out what everyone was saying.

"Wah she's so beautiful!"

" She better not look at Prince Yuki."

" Aww! I was hoping we were going to get another hot boy."

" Hey, think she has a boyfriend?"

"Everyone settle down, please." The teacher called out over the noise, but a few people persisted, asking questions.

"Are you a model?"

"Um.. no.. but thank you?" You answered, feeling a little embarrassed as you felt your cheeks warm slightly.

" Where are you from?"

" California."

You were already missing the ocean breeze from your patio and you reminded yourself to google where the closest beach was.

"Hollywood!" A student gushed with excitement.

You laughed and explained that while you didn't live in 'Hollywood,' it was only a few hours away from your old house. With good traffic.

"Do you have any hobbies?"

" I like camping and going on hikes." Your family wasn't much for camping, but your friend's family always let you tag along with them.

Another round of questions came, but the teacher stopped them.

"Go sit next to Sohma Kyo. There's an empty seat beside him." The teacher instructed, and you looked across the classroom to see if you could find 'Kyo.'

There was an empty seat next to a boy with brilliant orange hair and handsome features. You felt your heart skip a beat.

He's so handsome

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Kyo finally looked up, and the new student was walking towards him. The teenager had never seen anyone like her. All the colours seemed brighter, time seemed to slow, but he felt his heart rate speed up. The way her hair flowed behind, the sun shining on her skin, making her glow.

She's... gorgeous...

The new student was taking him in as well, a small, cute blush on her cheeks. Her eyes wandered to his hand, and a little gasp left her parted mouth.

"It's you?" She whispered and his heart felt like it was going to explode. A large smile appeared on her face she lifted her hand to show off the red string around her pinky that only the two connected could see. He didn't want this, anything but this.

No.

He didn't want a soul mate. He couldn't. It wasn't possible. They were never supposed to meet.

It can't be...

The universe really did hate him. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. And he couldn't have her.

She was about to say something, but Kyo was quick to cut her off, standing up in a hurry and taking a step back, making his chair clatter to the ground in his haste.

"NO! Stay the hell away from me!" Kyo screamed at the girl, his words cutting like a knife.

Her eyes widened, and she took a step back, confusion spread from her face, and the other students started calling out at him.

"What is your problem, Kyo?!"

"That's so rude!"

"Poor (L/N)-San."

Kyo looked around at his classmates. They had no idea at what had just happened because they wouldn't be able to see the red string connecting the two, but the girl just stared at him. Her large eyes filled with confusion, which then turned to sadness; he was unable to look away. Fat tears started flowing down her cheeks, and something in Kyo broke.

All he wanted to do was engulf her in a hug. Hold her close. But he couldn't.

Life wasn't fair. At least not to him.

Kyo scoffed at the ground and then went to the window, opening it up and jumping out. Escaping and running away, the red string tightening around his finger like a vice. He left like it could fall off, and he honestly, that would hurt less than the pain in his heart.

It's hopeless.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

[mitsybubbles]

93!!

93. What is the most iconic line of dialogue that they’ve ever said?

Ooh! I’ll do for Arcade n’ Veronica cause I’m drawing a total blank for my ocs lmaoo (it’s hard to choose the most iconic thing they said when you’re the one writing their dialogue rip.. 😔)

Arcade: He has a lot of great lines but I think “Nihil Novi Sub Sole” is the most iconic thing he said just cause of how often people quote that line from him lol.

Veronica: Hmmmm...I think “Well, thanks for taking a chance on a naive young girl from California with stars in her eyes and a pneumatic gauntlet on her hand.”. It perfectly sums up her character and sense of humor.

[holidcy]

i am actually embarrassed to say how long this intro too me to write out ? so im not gonna say it ! it’s not like it took be 3 hours or anything 👀 . and for what ? idk because this intro is a mess . but anyways ... i’m mia , i’m a whole twenty years old which really just feels like a glorified teenager but whatever , we’re not here to talk about that right now . we’re here to talk about my lil baby holly . guys she is literally the sweetest human ever ? but also ? to sensitive for her own good and really the good of those around her ? very happy feet energy coming form this girl . but without further ado , below you can read up on holly & if you wanna plot give this a like . also my discord is 𝖒𝖌𝖐'𝖘 𝖜𝖍𝖔𝖗𝖊#9789 if you wanna plot there or just generally chat !

𝐆𝐄𝐓 𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐓𝐇

full name: holiday elena addams nickname: holly ( she’s basically turned this into her name , not one really calls her holiday ) , holls , elle ( by her parents ) birthday: june 3rd birthplace: chicago , illinois hometown: highland park , illinois ( although the family home was located in highland park her parents would in chicago and holly even attended private school in chicago ) residence: new york city , new york nationality: american ( est. 1999 through birth )  ethnicity: english ( maternal & paternal , 50% ) , polish ( maternal , 25% ) , spanish ( paternal , 25% ) religion: catholicism  orientation: heterflexible ( she claims being straight but in all actually she’s not closed off to anything despite not having much experience outside the opposite gender ) languages spoken: english ( fluent , first language ) , spanish ( fluent , second language ) , polish ( conversation , third language ) , mandarin  ( conversational , fourth language ) . father: leandro oliver addams  ( 49 years old )  was born & raised in chicago , illinois by a politician / businessman & a philanthropist . leandro went on to take a little bit from both of his parents as he is a highly esteemed business tycoon as well as being regarded as one of the most charitable men in the world .  ( relationship:  there has never been a day that has gone by where the two didn’t get along . if there is anyone in this world who gets holly it is her father . truly , daddy’s little girl . the two of them are as thick as thieves . ) mother : susanna renee addams ( nee daniels ) ( 48 years old ) was born & raised in long island , new york . the daughter of a hedge fund investor & a stay at home mother . susanna grew to be an amazing cosmetologist and which the help of her father’s amazing business mind she was able to start up a salon in new york city . she gained the most devoted clientele , loving every second of her work . she took a break for almost a decade before deciding to return to the beauty industry . today she has salons across the globe in chicago , los angeles , toronto , london , and new york city .  ( relationship: susanna often had to play bad cop when it came to parenting and because of this the two butted heads quite often whilst holly was growing up . despite this , her mom is her role model and the two have always had a friendship that underlined their mother - daughter relationship .  ) social class: upper education: attending new york university ( s. 2018 ) she spent her first year of university at usc , she’s majored in creative writing at both universities  career: author ( her book is a coming of age mystery called privilege that she’s recently admitted to writing the full book during a coke binge ) , internet personality , philanthropist , socialite , and student  notoriety: being apart of the prominent addams family , amassing over 32m followers on all social media platforms , publishing a new york times best selling book at the age of seventeen . weight: 120lbs height: 5′5″ hair color: brown ( with blonde highlights ) eye color: brown positive traits: benevolent, high spirited , extroverted , romantic , honest , affectionate , intelligent , friendly , ambitious , passionate , approachable , charming  negative traits: immature , vain , garrulous , critical , sensitive , stubborn , inattentive , naive , sarcastic , obsessive , insecure , impractical , irritable likes: anything strawberry flavored , flowers , driving fast , pink , watching the first snow fall , birthday parties , lips gloss , netflix , sunkissed skin , dogs , peanut butter , agatha christie , redecorating , driving with the windows down , long plane rides , denim jackets , taco bell , orange juice , makeup , sports , female empowerment , online shopping , fresh berries , roller skating , photography , writing , tea dislikes: liars , driving in the snow , coffee , having no siblings , deep water , bad drivers , body shaming , pizza , hateful people , being rushed , cuss words , repetition , disloyalty , being alone ,  horror movies , dentists , silence , cheap perfume , criticism , the unknown , traffic , wine , poptarts ,  small spaces ,  hobbies: reading with a hot cup of tea , video editing in the back of a car , smoking before bed to help fall asleep , going out to eat with her parents , napping , hiding alcohol in her bedroom , painting alternate universe cartoons , attending big soirees , stashing drugs in jewelry boxes , sleepovers with her closest friends , talking the dogs on walks , early morning instagram lives , old disney marathons , scribbling in a notebook while snuggled up in bed  chara inspo: olivia baker ( all american ) , leila faisal ( all american ) , tan france ( queer eye ) , elena gilbert ( the vampire diaries ) , dorothy gale ( wizard of oz ) , lucy pevensie ( chronicles of narnia ) , lara jean ( to all the boys i loved before ) , elle woods ( legally blonde ) , jeffree star , jenny humphrey ( gossip girl ) , cassie howard ( euphoria ) fashion inspo: vsco girls , bella hadid , megan markle , rihanna , selena gomez , perrie edwards , emma watson aesthetics: ghostly sounding music playing as background music to a pen to paper , eyes widened at the chance to do something positive , the annoying beg for approval , infectious energy , a pout so crippling , the swell of regret as you sneak a bottle into your bedroom , tanned skin tousling with silk sheets , big eyes threatening to shed a tear , the zip of a pink mclaren 

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐇𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐘 𝐄𝐑𝐀

holly is the only child to leandro and susanna addams ( the addams family 👀 ) . she was born with not just a silver spoon but the silver spoon . the addams are a prominent american family , that are regarded as one of the leading industrialist during the gilded age . in short her families been billionaire rich for a long time and are known as one of the families to bring wealth to the city of chicago . she was incredibly spoiled growin gup as you would assume but by the grace of her parents teachings she was anything but a brat . she had being filthy rich and being an only child working against her and she still managed to be the most giving and down to earth child . from a young age holly would give her toys to other kids during play dates & ask her parents if she could donate the things she didn’t use anymore to the less fortunate . 

although her father had a busying career as he took over the family company just a year before holly was born , but in spite of that he always made time for his family . luckily her mother had stepped away from her career soon after meeting holly’s father , so she was able to be a stay at home mom and be there for every important moment of holly’s life . by the way , susanna was straight of of a real housewives show only just an overall better person ? they had dinner together as a family every night , threw parties at the house for every big moment in holly’s life . everything from birthdays , graduations , academic honors , to becoming captain of the cheerleading team and everything in between warranted a celebration in the eyes of susanna and leandro . 

she grew up extremely sheltered , mostly because her parents wanted to keep their little girl well their little girl . they didn’t want the world to taint her . she went to church every sunday and even wednesday nights , if she wanted to have a sleepover it was always at the addams household , and her parents met the parent/s of every kid she befriended growing up . 

despite their attempts her parents couldn’t shield her from one thing . getting her heart broken and at sixteen she experience her first bout of heart break . the boy she’d falling head over heels for just stopped talking to her one day , with no rhythm or reason he moved on to another girl with a blink of an eye . she couldn’t understand why ( pst ? it was because she slept with him and that was all he wanted to begin with ) someone could be so cruel an play with someones heart like that . it was her first experience of how the world could really work and in all honesty , holly couldn’t handle it . she got her hands on her parents bar room in the house and would literally drink every night before bed so she could sleep . 

this soon turned into her going to parties , promising her parents "i just want to hang out with my friend , i wont touch any alcohol” and her promise was always kept , she didn’t touch alcohol at these parties instead she smoke weed and on the chance one of her friends had it on them she’d do a line . 

this double life , if you would , didn’t lead to any real issues , at least not while she was in highschool . she still graduated top of her class  and even got accepted into her dream school university of southern california .  it wasn’t until she was a semester deep in usc that she realized she was losing control over her life . maybe it was a mix of her derailing mental state , being separated from her parents , and the los angeles social make up . whatever it was holly wasn’t too far gone to see she needed help . 

instead of going back to school the following semester holly checked herself into rehab . her parents freaked out , unaware their daughter had touched a substance a day in her life . it was a long process and took alot of owning up for her own wrong doings but after a couple months she checked out of rehab and flew out to her parents .

she had decided upon leaving rehab that her best bet directly after getting out would be to surround herself with people who loved her . during her short stint in california her parents had made the temporary move to new york city so that her mom could focus on the salon in the city , so holly transferred to new york university to continue her studies and be around her parents .

she lives under their roof , despite being more than self efficient thanks to her multiple branches of income including her trust fund but she figures there is only so much more time before they leave to go back to chicago that the more time she spends with them the better off she’ll be when they leave the city . speaking of , she doesn’t know her parents will be leaving the city in the next few months . on a positive note they plan on paying the rent in the apartment they live in for her until she finds somewhere she likes better .   

today , holly is a sober ( she smokes weed here and there but it’s not a addictive so it fine 🙄 ) and happy . although due to how sensitive the girl is anything could make her snap , she’s incredibly fragile guys . like capable of having a mental break at any moment but like we ignore it because if we bring it up it’ll happen . wooo . 

not so fun fact ? when she has an off day she’ll literally sit in her room holding either a bottle she had hidden in her walk in closet or stares at the coke she keeps in her jewelry box . she hasn’t used any of it but she tells herself its there as a reminder when really it’s a crutch for if she ever needs it again , she has easy access .

secret time ? she pushed her ex boyfriend of a balcony while she was drunk . this happened before she went to rehab ... perhaps you could say it was what prompted her to realized her crazy ass needed to go to rehab . ummm , it’s not acceptable and she knows this but one thing we all need to know about holly is that holly + substances + being upset = toxic shit that is always the equation and there is never another answer to it . 

𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

a girl squad or just a squad in general really , give my baby her lil group of people please

maybe a fellow chicago native ? who she dated in highscool and you know is the one who dropped her like a hot potato after she slept with him

ex hook ups 

frenemies but more like a blair & lil j circa season 1 situation ? 

someone who just doesn’t like her , but like she does everything she can think of to get them to like her 

an unrequited ting were he’s leading her one so he can sleep with her ?

or maybe someone has a crush on holly but she just doens’t have the heart to tell them she’s not interested so now here she is kissing and OMG YUP NOW SHES SLEEPING W THEM ...

someone she races ? she loves cars especially fast ones

a we hang out and watch/obsess over sports but the whole time i can’t help but think about how hot you are kinda vibe ?

someone who is v bad for her and they know it but she doesn’t care because she like them so much & he likes her too but knows he’ll hurt her ?!

someone who sees that she might be teetering on falling off the wagon ( maybe they were over her place and saw the stash of substances all over her room ), maybe they’re trying to get her to stop smoking weed bc they feel like for her that’s a huge gateway  

smoking buddies where they literally just hot box cars together and munch on taco bell talking about why sound vibrates & shit

someone who she used to party with & be wild with ( could be from chi or nyc because she visited alot as a kid ) and now they feel like she’s a lame bc she’s sober

she’s a good influence on them ? they’re a bad influence on her ? ride or dies ? partners in crime ? only friends when there is a substance involved ? sugar baby vibes ? unlikely friends ? flings ? crush ? friends with benefits ? everytime they are around one another its a fight ? someone she lets crash at her parents place sometimes ? someone she’s backstabbed but like she got tricked into doing it ? anything fluffy , anything angsty ... reall just anything you got , i’ll take ! 

[catalinaroleplay]

Gender & Pronouns: Cis female, she/her

Date of Birth: September 5th, 1995 (24)

Place of Birth: Catalina Island, California

Neighborhood: Avalon

Length of Residency: Native

Occupation: Freelance Writer, Lifestyle Blogger, and College Student

Face Claim: Maia Mitchell

BIOGRAPHY

The birth of their youngest daughter should have been a blessing, a joy, and the source of utter happiness for Evelyn and Arthur Halliwell, but by the time Celia was born, the relationship between the two adults was already too broken to be repaired. Arthur Halliwell was too far gone with only money on his mind and Evelyn seemed to thrive doing nothing but being a wealthy housewife, resorting to any means necessary to keep their family’s name out of the dirt. Having Celia was supposed to repair what had been broken long ago; a child to restore the love they once felt, something to replace the resentment they held for one another. Neither could understand why their plan failed, but neither of them tried to fix it again.

Being the youngest of four and Evelyn’s last shot at getting the daughter of her dreams, Celia turned out to be the poster child for her “mother’s” parenting skills. She hit all her milestones early, which gave Evelyn a reason to beam with pride and show off, and by the time she began to speak, it was clear that Celia was gifted with intelligence well above her parents’ expectations. She was the Halliwell family’s shining star, something Evelyn had longed for after the troubles she had gone through with her other daughter, especially Ava and Cleo. Being so high up on a pedestal Celia Halliwell had always looked at the glass as half full, which wasn’t hard considering she never had to worry about what the future would hold for her. Her entire week was pre-planned by Evelyn, social appointments and lunch-ins were the highest priority. Whenever she wanted to spend a day with a friend it had to be run by her mother. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but Celia believed to be doing right by her mother. 

Despite all the privileges the Halliwell name came with, she had always been naïve to the way things worked outside in the real world and never believed in the notion of wishing ill upon another or of tearing someone down in order to make herself look better – in her eyes, there was enough room at the top for more than one person, even though more than enough people at school were always competing with her in nasty ways. Unlike her sisters, she usually stayed out of trouble, believing the world to be a magical place filled with only kindness and love, Celia certainly trained herself to overlook all the potential malicious traits people came with and focused on the good in people instead. It wasn’t always easy, but being portrayed as a bad person wouldn’t work with the picture that had already been painted of her. 

While being Evelyn’s favorite child had its perks, there were many downsides. Debutant balls, dinner parties, charity events, and other social events turned into Celia’s life as soon as she was old enough to accompany her mom. Sometimes Celia thought Evelyn tried to go to as many events as possible because she feared it could all come to an end and her youngest daughter would start to rebel as well. But why rebel when Celia lived a life with virtually no consequences? She was rarely told no, anything she desired she could have – anything if she just made her mother happy with a couple of events during the social season and listened when she was told to stand up straight and look happy. On the other hand, Celia never felt the need to step out of line or do anything crazy… as long as she looked happy, she could pretend everything was fine. But looking happy and being happy are two completely different things if your name isn’t Evelyn Halliwell. Maternal instinct was something her mother had always lacked and where a mother should have been, doting nannies could be found, so how could she blame Evelyn for not noticing the obvious? 

Instead, Celia chose to blame Arthur. Arthur who, according to Ava, knew how to be a father and had been a fatherly figure even to her other older sisters, but didn’t feel the need to show his youngest daughter the same decency. Celia knew he hadn’t really been interested in yet another daughter, that he’d wished for a boy at the end of the road, that he blamed her for the failing of his marriage. It wasn’t fair to put the blame for something as huge as this on a little girl and yet, Arthur never tried to convince her otherwise. It was comforting to know that one of her parents felt different from the other, but Celia craved her father’s attention, yet her efforts always went unnoticed. As a young child, she tried desperately to get him to look her way, whether that be with good or ill intentions. After all, she was a true people pleaser. It was so easy to please Evelyn, so why was it so impossible with him? Maybe he would see her if she passed the semester with flying colors, make a heartfelt card for father’s day, or by pushing a girl down the stairs and being sent home for two weeks? No. She never got the affection or attention she so desperately wanted from the man whom she admired from afar. Her efforts continued and blossomed into something she did obsessively as she went into high school as she flourished into a graceful, clever young lady. But behind her friendly smile, was an empty girl, who tried to please the two people who brought her into this world, no matter what.  

Celia turned into a shell of her former self. On the outside, her life continued as it had, and people never noticed the difference. On the inside, everything fell apart. Her naivety turned on her, made her see how cruel people could really be, but once the realization hit, Celia had already become a puppet on her mothers’ strings. Her life was already all planned out for her by her mother. First, she’d graduate and catch herself a wealthy young man from a good family, marry him and then move him to Catalina. Being extremely witty and incredibly smart, she excelled in school and soon was accepted to numerous Universities and colleges that were interested in the young woman, but for the first time, Celia had found something she wanted more than the attention she wanted from Arthur. Parties, alcohol and staying out late – even though done in secret, became her kryptonite. During the day, Celia stood straight with a smile at her mothers side and during the night, she drank more than she could handle and danced until her feet hurt. The group of friends she found herself within, quickly showed her how good it could be to be reckless every once in a while. Accepted into Stanford, Celia left feeling truly untouchable and ended up celebrating her first year, she would only do once in her life. Too much alcohol paired with trying drugs for the first time didn’t end too well for the youngest Halliwell. The night ended in a hospital room, unbeknownst to anyone but Evelyn who got the call at four in the morning. In true Lucinda Cabot fashion, Evelyn took a page from her mothers book and did everything in her power to make sure Celia’s misstep wouldn’t see the light of day. While everyone thought the girl was at Stanford, her mother sent her to a rehab facility; once again relying on other people to care for her daughter, instead of showing her the love she needed. However, Celia didn’t only receive treatment for her ‘drug abuse’ (which was ridiculous considering she never took any before that night), but also for the psychological issues that piled up over the years. 

Coming back home during spring break, Celia met the person who’d help her finally break free for good. Devilishly handsome, a true gentleman, with an ambition to go places. Places where Celia actually wanted to be. They met at a beach party on the night of her return and she was instantly smitten. Completely taken by every detail about him and who he was. She wanted more, more of him. The feelings were anything but one-sided and Celia suddenly wanted something for herself. Something more than just to please the people around her. She’d gotten a taste of happiness when he kissed her for the first time and instantly longed for more. Their romance started abruptly, a couple of months spent in Europe on a trip together and Celia felt free for the first time in her life. When it was time to return to California and ‘’go back to Stanford’’, the young girl sent her mother a text, letting her know she would take the year to “live and breathe” Europe. She couldn’t come back just yet. Freedom tasted good and she would enjoy it for as long as she could. Their relationship lasted all through Italy, Spain, Greece, and France before they went their separate ways. Although Celia came back home alone, she came back home whole. It hadn’t been a whole year, but enough time for her to realize that she didn’t want what her mother wanted for her anymore. Their conversation was civil, Evelyn had a flair for dramatics and turned on the waterworks from time to time, but Celia wouldn’t budge anymore. She’d given her mother seventeen years of her happiness; it was her own turn now.

At twenty-four Celia could have accomplished more hadn’t she let Stanford slip through her fingers, but unlike other people she’d gone to school with, she didn’t walk through life like a zombie anymore. Sure, there were many who would prefer a life as a socialite and be happy doing what her mother does day in and day out, but that could never be her. Not again. She isn’t as naive anymore, nor did she only see the good in people anymore, but Celia still believes in the good in people over the bad. While her mother more than praises herself for shaping her youngest daughter into the woman she is today, Celia knows that her remaining faith in humanity was surely not influenced by her parents or a healthy family dynamic.

PERSONALITY

Positive: Optimistic | Independent | Responsible

Negative: Insecure | Naive | Cautious

Celia Halliwell is portrayed by Nessa.

[ofregiums]

silence ! raise the royal standard, for the queen of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth, ISABELA HASLER, has arrived. being twenty-five years old, she is currently on the throne. many around the court call her the siren by virtue of her being ambitious and charismatic, while also being cunning and hot-headed.  ��played by chloe bridges

— THE BASICS

full name: isabela anne hasler nee lopez known in history as: the commoner queen date of birth: november 20th age: twenty-five star sign: scorpio profession: stay at home mom ( modern verse ) / queen of the polish-lithuanian commonwealth  ( canon verse ) loyalty: house hasler, house de trastamara alignment: chaotic neutral mbti: intj spoken languages: spanish ( first ), english ( fluent ), german ( beginner ), polish ( beginner ) mother’s name: eleanor fry ( deceased in both verses ) father’s name: andrés lopez ( deceased in both verses ) siblings, if any: maria lopez ( older ) children: augustus hasler, helena hasler height: 5′5″ hair colour: black. eye colour: dark brown

— CANON VERSE

ambition is the word that follows isabela’s entire existence and it started from the very moment she was brought into this world. a product of a desperately conniving farmer of a father and a naive teacher of a mother, she was born in valencia, spain as a product of an affair. you see, her father was already married with a young child. but once eleanor came into his line of sight, he knew he had to haver her.

eleanor did not live long enough to bear the shame of being an unwed mother for she perished during childbirth. andrés took little isabela and brought her to his wife luisa to be raised alongside her older half-sister maria, who was only four at the time.

from a very early age, andrés suffered from a great rage that he took out on his wife and daughters. it was a bit of a vicious circle, really. maria did all that she could to protect isabela but luisa -- still bitter that she was a product of infidelity -- looked the other way if the rage was directed at the young girl. words, hands. . . it did not matter. it was simply the way he got his point across.

as isabela grew into her own, andrés and luisa began to notice her great beauty and began to scheme how best to utilize it to benefit their own wealth and status. it was beaten into isabela’s head that she would need to make something of herself for the sake of the family if she wanted to be considered useful. growing up, her parents only really noticed her for her looks and how that would benefit their wealth and status. it was beaten into her head that she needed to make something of herself.

maria ran away from home when she was seventeen, leaving a thirteen year old isabela heartbroken and completely alone to their parents’ mercy. the fact that her sister did not think to take her with her is something that the young woman carries with her to this very day. it was the beginning of learning not to trust anyone.

at the age of sixteen, isabela and a few friends snuck away to madrid for the weekend. it was there that she met the duke of galisteo -- handsome, nearly twice her age, incredibly rich, and very very married. the man was absolutely no match for isabela’s charms and took to her instantly. it was an utterly volatile relationship: she always feared the worst from him and he could never offer all himself to her. still, no amount of distance kept the duke away from isabela. it wasn’t before long before he was offering her an opportunity to attend the spanish royal court by his side. of course, isabela said yes. as she packed away for her new adventure, her father gripped his wrist and reminded her of her purpose on this earth.

isabela utterly thrived at the spanish court, making friends as high as the duke of huéscar and foreign princess of spain. darkly seductive and yet charming, she dazzled people after a conversation despite the clear insinuations of why she was there at court. behind those doe eyes and an innocent smile is a serpent. she cannot be trusted by most and people are only shown facades of her. 

tirelessly, isabela tried to wear the duke down to divorce his wife and marry her instead. however, the news that his wife was finally pregnant -- a point of contention between the two -- the duke broke off things with isabela and shattered the heart she never knew she even had.

she no longer had any remote standing at court. but as she was packing up to return to her wretched home, the queen of spain ( the former, not the current ) requested her to be a lady-in-waiting for her. it was a proper title to cover up what she really did for the queen, which was seduce rich and powerful people for information and secrets. it was exactly what she needed to ensure that she would not go home.

everything grew quite chaotic in spain afterwards. first, the crown prince died, causing the princess she considered a friend to flee to her home country with the no-more heir. not so soon afterwards, the king of spain joined his son beyond the grave. suddenly, the queen she worked for was simply an old widow and the next in line -- a woman -- took her place as the spanish monarch. isabela was then assigned to do the same for her as her mother before her.

under the command of the new queen, isabela was sent to bern with the instruction of collecting information of enemy countries. upon her arrival, she met the crown prince anton and was intrigued by him immediately. what started as nothing more than physical began to bloom into authentic feelings. isabela tried with all her might to deny that she was in love with him -- she couldn’t trust again, she couldn’t -- but eventually, she relented to them. after anton’s father was killed in the bern explosions, he proposed to isabela and she readily accepted. this made her not only a wife, but a queen.

her father and step-mother tried to return in isabela’s life, wanting to reap the benefits that she had sown. but no longer living in fear of them, she was a willing participant in having them both executed for “crimes against the queen”. the night after they died was the first night isabela had slept peacefully in all of her nights.

isabela’s reign, so far, is not a smooth one. following in the opinion of their former king, she is not particularly liked by the court or the common people at whole. while the nobles within the castle considered her to be nothing more than a witch that put the king under a spell, the common people found her shameless social climbing to be utterly revolting and hard to connect with. for the most part, isabela tries not to let it get to her but even she has feelings ( no matter how difficult it was to admit ). putting herself under much stress has made her more aloof and made things like having a baby difficult, as made clear by a miscarriage.

she now supports her husband in versailles where the peace talks have resumed after months of rebuilding. recently, she has learned that she is with child once again and while she is normally not one to waste silly time on hope, isabela prays with all of her that this will be a new beginning. for real, this time.

— MODERN VERSE

born in santa fe, isabela was marked by misfortunes from the day she was born. her mother died giving her life – a fact that her father has resented her for from day one. he returned the favor by drinking entirely too much and even going as far to harm the young girl out of anger. 

upon noticing a massive bruise on her arm at the age of nine, isabela’s elementary school counselor alerted the local authorities and she was swiftly taken out of the home and into foster care. she never saw her father again.

unfortunately, foster care proved to be just as bad at times. isabela bounced from home to home. some were okay, others were only in it for the money, and the rest were just as terrible as her father. because of this, she grew up incredibly distrustful and angry towards the world. she isolated herself at school and never had any friends. she didn’t mind it that much and perhaps even preferred it that way.

isabela ran away from home at the age of sixteen and never fucking looked back. after hitchhiking throughout the country, she realized she would need to find a way to keep herself afloat. it was when she found herself in los angeles where she met beau. at first thinking he was an unassuming man with a soft spot of saving her, isabela quickly realized that he wanted to recruit her into his business – a club. with no other options, she accepted.

she began working as a stripper as a way to pay her bills. eventually, she garnered enough popularity with the clients for her mysteriously dark and seductive ways. she was an enigma that no man could put their finger on and yet had such delight in trying. because of that, men would pay thousands a night to see her.

once she was nineteen, a more professional and high-in club offered her a spot in their den. isabela was promised more safety, more money, and more freedom. naturally, she accepted.

beau was not happy. he felt that she owed him her entire career. she obviously didn’t agree. an altercation occurred late one night on the sunset strip when beau waited for isabela’s shift to end and attacked her. the altercation landed isabela in the hospital where it would take her weeks to recover and months for her to heal and get back to work. it was only then that beau considered her free. but at what cost ?

she made a promise to herself that day to stop allowing men like her father, beau, her exes, anyone to treat her like an object. if another man laid his hands on isabela, she’d cut them off.

isabela worked at the club for years, a veteran among a sea of girls who come in and out. since she now has risen through the ranks, she entertains the likes of ceos and the rest of the 1% of california. one night, anton entered the club -- and the rest is history. if anyone would have once told isabela that she would not only fall in love with one of her patrons, but eventually marry and have a child with him too ??? well, she certainly would have laughed in their face.

she quit the job once she officially started dating anton and never once looked back. at times, isabela feels a bit unsure of the completely new life that she is living but she also relished in the feeling of being treated well after so long of the opposite. the only thing that matters to her at this point is her new family and that opinion is unlikely to ever change.

[timeless-hollywood-classics]

Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell, October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American film actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in 1939, and appeared in supporting roles in big-budget films for 20th Century Fox throughout the 1940s. She rose to fame with co-starring roles opposite Tyrone Power in adventure films, and established a main character career after her role in Forever Amber (1947). She won critical acclaim for her work in Unfaithfully Yours (1948) and A Letter to Three Wives (1949).

Darnell was born in Dallas, Texas, as one of four children (excluding her mother's two children from an earlier marriage) to postal clerk Calvin Roy Darnell (1888–1977) and the former Margaret "Pearl" Brown (1892–1966). She was the younger sister of Undeen (b. 1918) and the older sister of Monte Maloya (b. 1929) and Calvin Roy, Jr. (b. 1930). Her parents were not happily married, and she grew up as a shy and reserved girl in a house of domestic turmoil. Starting at an early age, her mother, Pearl, had big plans for Darnell in the entertainment industry. She believed that Linda was her only child with potential as an actress and ignored the rearing of her other children.

According to her siblings, Darnell enjoyed the limelight and shared her mother's dream.[1]:19 Darnell once said: "Mother really shoved me along, spotting me in one contest after another. I had no great talent, and I didn't want to be a movie star particularly. But Mother had always wanted it for herself, and I guess she attained it through me." One elocution teacher recalled: "[Darnell] didn't stand out particularly, except that she was so sweet and considerate. In her theater work, she wasn't outstanding, but her mother was right behind her everywhere she went."

Unlike her husband, Pearl had a notorious reputation in the neighborhood of being "aggressive" or "downright mean". Despite some financial problems, Darnell insisted that she had had a joyful childhood and loving parents. Darnell was a model by the age of 11 and was acting on the stage by the age of 13. She initially started modeling to earn money for the household and performed mostly in beauty contests.

Before leaving school for Hollywood, Darnell was a student at Sunset High School, which she entered in September 1937, majoring in Spanish and art. She did not have a lot in common with her peers and usually spent her time at home as a teen, working under the guidance of her mother. In 1936, she entered the Dallas Little Theater and was cast in the southwestern premiere of Murder in the Cathedral. The same year, she was hired as one of the hostesses at the Texas Centennial Exposition.

In November 1937, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox arrived in Dallas looking for new faces. Encouraged by her mother, Darnell met him, and after a few months he invited her for a screen test in Hollywood. Arriving in California alongside Mary Healy and Dorris Bowdon in February 1938, Darnell initially was rejected by film studios and was sent home because she was declared "too young".

Although originally wanting to become an actress on the stage, Darnell was featured in a Gateway to Hollywood talent search and initially landed a contract at RKO Pictures. There was no certainty, though, and she soon returned to Dallas. When 20th Century-Fox offered her a part, Darnell wanted to accept, but RKO was unwilling to release her. Nevertheless, by age 15 she was signed to a contract at 20th Century-Fox and moved to a small apartment in Hollywood all alone on April 5, 1939. With production beginning in April 1939, she was featured in her first film, Hotel for Women (1939), which had newspapers immediately hailing her as the newest star of Hollywood. Loretta Young was originally assigned to play the role, but she demanded a salary which the studio would not give her. Darryl F. Zanuck instead cast Darnell "because he felt that the name would advertise her beauty and suggest a Latin quality that matched her coloring."

Although only 15 at the time, Darnell posed as a 17-year-old and was listed as 19 years old by the studio. According to columnist Louella O. Parsons, Darnell was "so young, so immature and so naive in her ideas" and was very loyal to her boss, Darryl F. Zanuck. Her true age came out later in 1939, and she became one of the few actresses under the age of 16 to serve as leading ladies in films. While working on Hotel for Women, Darnell was cast alongside Henry Fonda and Claudette Colbert in Drums Along the Mohawk (1939) in June 1939. She was later replaced because the studio felt her role was not important enough. In an interview during production of Hotel for Women, which lasted until June, Darnell admitted that movie making was not what she expected: "I'm learning what really hard work is. At home in Dallas I used to sprawl on the lawn and dream about the nice, easy time the screen stars must be having in Hollywood, but the last two months have taught me quite another story."

Since the beginning of her career at 20th Century-Fox, Darnell had been very positive about her frequent co-star Tyrone Power. In a 1939 interview, she expressed her interest in starring opposite Power in Johnny Apollo (1940). Rationalizing why she was not cast, Darnell said: "It's a man's part and the girl's role is only incidental." Dorothy Lamour was cast, instead. Nevertheless, Darnell had her way, as she was assigned to the female lead opposite Power in the light romantic comedy Day-Time Wife (1939). Although the film received only slightly favorable reviews, Darnell's performance was received positively, with one critic saying: "Despite her apparent youth, [Darnell] turns in an outstanding performance when playing with popular players." Another critic wrote: "little Linda is not only a breath-taking eyeful, but a splendid actress, as well." Life magazine stated that Darnell appeared to be 22 and was "the most physically perfect girl in Hollywood". Following the film's release, she was cast in the drama comedy Star Dust in December 1939. The film was hailed as one of the "most original entertainment ideas in years" and boosted Darnell's popularity, who was nicknamed "Hollywood's loveliest and most exciting star". Variety said: "Miss Darnell displays a wealth of youthful charm and personality that confirms studio efforts to build her to a draw personality." Her studio contract had been revised to allow Darnell to earn $200 a week.

At first, everything was like a fairy tale coming true. I stepped into a fabulous land where, overnight, I was a movie star. In pictures you're built up by everyone. On the set, in the publicity office, wherever you go, everyone says you're wonderful. It gives you a false sense of security. You waltz through a role, and everywhere you hear that you are beautiful and lovely, a natural-born actress. You believe what people around you say.

After appearing in several small films, Darnell was cast in her first big-budget film in May 1940, appearing again opposite Tyrone Power in Brigham Young (1940), which was shot on location in mid 1940 and was regarded as the most expensive film 20th Century Fox had yet produced. Darnell and Power were cast together for the second time owing to the box office success of Day-Time Wife, and they became a highly publicized onscreen couple, which prompted Darryl F. Zanuck to add 18 more romantic scenes to Brigham Young.[13] The film's director, Henry Hathaway, in later life had only slight memories of Darnell but recalled that "a sweeter girl never lived." By June 1940, shortly after completing Brigham Young, Darnell achieved stardom and earned "a weekly salary larger than most bank officials."

In the summer of 1940, Darnell began working on The Mark of Zorro (1940), in which she again co-starred as Power's sweetheart in a role for which Anne Baxter was previously considered. A big-budget adventure film that was raved over by the critics, The Mark of Zorro was a box office sensation and did much to enhance Darnell's star status. Afterwards, she was paired with Henry Fonda for the first time in the western Chad Hanna (1940), her first Technicolor film. The film received only little attention, unlike Darnell's next film, Blood and Sand (1941), which was shot on location in Mexico and in which she was reteamed with Power. It was the first film for which she was widely critically acclaimed. Nevertheless, Darnell later claimed that her downfall began after Blood and Sand. In an interview she said:

People got tired of seeing the sweet young things I was playing and I landed at the bottom of the roller coaster. The change and realization were very subtle. I'd had the fame and money every girl dreams about—and the romance. I'd crammed thirty years into ten, and while it was exciting and I would do it over again, I still know I missed out on my girlhood, the fun, little things that now seem important.

The studio was unable to find Darnell suitable roles. In late 1940, Fox chose her for the main role in Song of the Islands (1942), a Hawaiian musical film which eventually starred Betty Grable. After Blood and Sand, she was set to co-star with Claudette Colbert in Remember the Day (1941), but another actress was eventually cast. Meanwhile, she was considered for the female lead in Swamp Water (1941), but Anne Baxter was later assigned the role. Darnell was disappointed and felt rejected; she later said: "Right under your very nose someone else is brought in for that prize part you wanted so terribly." Months passed by without any work, and in August 1941 she was cast in a supporting role in the musical Rise and Shine (1941). The film was a setback in her career, and she was rejected for a later role because she refused to respond to Darryl F. Zanuck's advances. Instead, she contributed to the war effort, working for the Red Cross and selling war bonds. She was also a regular at the Hollywood Canteen.

In early 1942, Darnell filmed The Loves of Edgar Allan Poe, another film that would not do much to improve her career. Meanwhile, she realized that Darryl F. Zanuck had lost interest in her, and she was overlooked for most film roles that suited her. Instead, she was cast in roles that she loathed, including the musical Orchestra Wives (1942). Zanuck insisted that she take the role, but she was replaced by Ann Rutherford after 12 days of shooting. The press reported that "Linda Darnell and Twentieth Century-Fox aren't on the best of terms at the moment." As a punishment, she was loaned out to another studio for a supporting role in a B movie called City Without Men. According to co-star Rosemary DeCamp, Darnell nevertheless was "very polite", and she was satisfied to work at a studio which did not treat her as a child. In April 1943, she was put on suspension, which meant being replaced in the Technicolor musical film The Gang's All Here (1943). By this time, Darnell had eloped, which caused Zanuck to be even more furious.

In 1943, she was cast, uncredited, as the Virgin Mary in The Song of Bernadette. By late 1943, Darnell was fed up with critics only praising her beauty rather than her acting abilities. Judging her performance in Sweet and Low-Down (1944), in which she co-starred with Lynn Bari, one critic of the Los Angeles Examiner wrote, "Lynn comes off the best because she has more of a chance to shine. Linda just doesn't have enough to do—but looks beautiful doing it." Darnell was reduced to second leads and was overlooked for big-budget productions. Matters changed when she was named one of the four most beautiful women in Hollywood along with Hedy Lamarr, Ingrid Bergman, and Gene Tierney in a 1944 edition of Look. Afterwards, the studio allowed her to be loaned out for the lead in Summer Storm. Portraying a "seductive peasant girl who takes three men to their ruin before she herself is murdered," it was a type of role she had never before played. In a later interview, Darnell commented:

I was told that such a violent change of type might ruin my career, but I insisted on taking the chance. This is one picture on which I am setting much store for the future. For eighteen months I did nothing in pictures. I pleaded for something to do, but nothing happened. The character in the Chekhov film is a wild sort of she-devil, which any actress would go miles to play. She's devil mostly—at times angelic—and perfectly fascinating to interpret. I'm counting on my Russian girl to give me a new start.

Released in 1944, the film provided her a new screen image as a pin-up girl. Shortly after, Darnell was again loaned out to portray a showgirl in The Great John L., the first film to feature her bare legs. Darnell complained that the studio lacked recognition of her, which prodded Zanuck to cast her in Hangover Square (1945), wherein she played a role she personally had chosen. The film became a great success, and with Darnell's triumph assured, she was allowed to abandon her upcoming film, Don Juan Quilligan (1945), which would have been another low point in her career. In January 1945, she was added to the cast of the film noir Fallen Angel (1945), which also included Dana Andrews and Alice Faye. Despite suffering from the "terrifying" director Otto Preminger, Darnell completed the film and was praised by reviewers so widely that there was even talk of an Oscar nomination. Because of her success in Fallen Angel, she was cast opposite Tyrone Power in Captain from Castile in December 1945 on the insistence of Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Although she looked forward to the film project, believing it would be her most important to date, she was later replaced by newcomer Jean Peters owing to scheduling conflicts, a decision she resented.

In 1946, Darnell filmed two pictures simultaneously, the expensively budgeted Anna and the King of Siam and Preminger's Centennial Summer. During the release of the latter, she was on location in Monument Valley for the filming of the classic Western My Darling Clementine (1946), playing a role for which she lost 12 pounds. She was assigned to a negligible role by Zanuck, which displeased the film's director, John Ford, who felt that she was not suitable.

In 1946, Darnell won the starring role in the highly anticipated movie Forever Amber, based on a bestselling historical novel that was denounced as being immoral at that time. The character Amber was so named because of her hair color, and this is the only major film in which Darnell—normally known for her raven hair and somewhat Latin looks—appears as a redhead. It was the most expensive film yet produced by Fox, and publicity at the time compared the novel to Gone with the Wind. Darnell replaced British actress Peggy Cummins in July 1946 at a cost of $350,000. Because $1 million had already been spent on production costs when Darnell was brought in, the pressure was intense to make the film a financial success. Her casting was a result of a campaign for stronger roles. Regardless, she was surprised to find out that she had been cast, because she had been intensively rehearsing for Captain from Castile at the time. Although she had to give up that role and work with Otto Preminger, she was delighted to play the title role and thought she was "the luckiest girl in Hollywood."

The search for the actress to portray Amber, a beauty who uses men to make her fortune in 17th century England, was modeled on the extensive process that led to the casting of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O'Hara. Production demanded a lot from Darnell. She was again put on a diet and was assigned to a voice coach to learn how to speak with an English accent. In addition, she spent hours in fittings for costume changes. Darnell was certain that Forever Amber would be her ticket to stardom, and she told reporters:

My first seven years in Hollywood were a series of discouraging struggles for me. For a while it looked as though the Darnell-versus-Hollywood tussle was going to find Darnell coming out second best. The next seven years aren't going to be the same.

Darnell worked long hours at the studio during filming, and according to her older sister she started loathing Preminger, which did not ease production. This and the heavy dieting resulted in exhaustion and a serious illness in November 1946.[1]:100 Her shooting schedule lasted until March 1947, and she collapsed on the set twice. Forever Amber did not live up to its hype, and although it became a success at the box office, most reviewers agreed that the film was a disappointment. Darnell was disappointed in the film's reception; it did not gain her the recognition for which she longed.

The following year, Darnell portrayed Daphne de Carter in the Preston Sturges' comedy Unfaithfully Yours (1948), also starring Rex Harrison, and was then rushed into production as one of the three wives in the comedy/drama A Letter to Three Wives (1949). Darnell's hard-edged performance in the latter won her unanimous acclaim and the best reviews of her career. Darnell became one of the most in-demand actresses in Hollywood, and she now had the freedom to select her own roles. She longed for the leading role in the controversial film Pinky (1949), but Zanuck feared that her character would be compared to Amber by the audience, and A Letter to Three Wives co-star Jeanne Crain was cast instead.

Darnell had been widely expected to win an Academy Award nomination for A Letter to Three Wives; when this did not happen, her career began to wane. She was cast opposite Richard Widmark and Veronica Lake in Slattery's Hurricane (1949), which she perceived as a step down from the level she had reached with A Letter to Three Wives, though it did well at the box office.

Aside from her co-starring role opposite Richard Widmark, Stephen McNally and Sidney Poitier in the groundbreaking No Way Out (1950), directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, which she later called "the only good picture [she] ever made," her later films were rarely noteworthy, and her appearances were increasingly sporadic. Further hampering Darnell's career was the actress's alcoholism and weight gain. Her next film was a Western, Two Flags West (1950). Due to her allergy to horses, she loathed making Westerns, and in addition to her complaints about her "colorless" role, she disliked her co-stars Joseph Cotten and Cornel Wilde. She was even less enthusiastic about her next film, The 13th Letter (1951), which reunited her with Preminger, and she only took the role because it was an unglamorous one. Shortly after its release, she was put on suspension for refusing a role in the film The Guy Who Came Back (1951) opposite Paul Douglas and Joan Bennett because it felt "too similar." She later consented to take on the glamor role, but she refused to bleach her hair for it.

On March 21, 1951, Darnell signed a new contract with 20th Century Fox that allowed her to become a freelance actress. Her first film outside 20th Century-Fox was The Lady Pays Off for Universal Pictures (1951) after Douglas Sirk requested her for the lead role. She was responsible for putting the film behind schedule because on the fifth day of shooting she learned that Ivan Kahn, the man responsible for her breakthrough, had died. After The Lady Pays Off, Darnell headed the cast of Saturday Island (1952), which was filmed on location in Jamaica in late 1951. There, Darnell fell ill and had to be quarantined for several weeks. Because her contract required her to make one film a year for the studio, she reported to the 20th Century-Fox lot in March 1952 and was cast in the film noir Night Without Sleep (1952). It was the only time that she had to live up to this part of her contract, though, since she was released from it in September 1952, most likely because the competition of television forced studios all over Hollywood to drop actors.

This news initially excited Darnell because it permitted her to focus on her film career in Europe. She soon realized, though, that the ease and protection enjoyed under contract was gone, and she came to resent 20th Century-Fox and Zanuck:

Suppose you'd been earning $4,000 to $5,000 a week for years. Suddenly you were fired and no one would hire you at any figure remotely comparable to your previous salary. I thought in a little while I'd get offers from other studios, but not many came along. The only thing I knew how to do was be a movie star. No one expects to last forever in this business. You know that sooner or later the studio's going to let you go. But who wants to be retired at twenty-nine?

Before traveling to Italy for a two-picture deal with Giuseppe Amato, Darnell was rushed into the production of Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), which—much to Darnell's distress—got far behind schedule. She arrived in Italy in August 1952 and started filming Angels of Darkness (1954) in February of the next year. The second collaboration proved disastrous, and the next film was never released in the United States. Owing to a delay in the middle of production, she was sent back to Hollywood and there accepted an offer from Howard Hughes to star in RKO's 3-D film Second Chance (1953), filmed in Mexico. Afterwards, she flew back to Rome to complete Angels of Darkness, in which she spoke Italian. Upon returning to New York, she was under the misunderstanding that she would portray the title role in Mankiewicz's The Barefoot Contessa (1954), believing that the role could carry her to dramatic heights.[1]:138 Through trade papers, she learned that Ava Gardner assumed the part.

Because of her then-husband, Philip Liebmann (grandson of Charles Liebmann of Rheingold Breweries), Darnell put her career on hiatus. She returned to 20th Century-Fox in August 1955, by which time the studio had entered the television field. Darnell was eager to appear on Ronald W. Reagan's General Electric Theater. In 1958, Darnell appeared in the episode "Kid on a Calico Horse" of NBC's Cimarron City along with a cast of other guest stars, including Edgar Buchanan. That same year, she held the guest-starring title role in "The Dora Gray Story" on NBC's Wagon Train. The character of Dora is an attractive young woman trying to reach San Francisco who has inadvertently joined with a gun runner, played by John Carradine, to reach the west. Robert Horton carries the cast lead in the segment, and Mike Connors appears as Miles Borden, Dora's erstwhile love interest, a corrupt United States Army lieutenant bitter over his meager pay of $54 per month. Dan Blocker, more than a year before Bonanza, also guests in this segment.

In addition to television, Darnell returned to the stage. Her last work as an actress was in a stage production in Atlanta in early 1965. (At the time of her death a few months later, she was preparing to perform in another play.)

Since Darnell was underage when she arrived in Hollywood, she was tutored on the sets. She planned on attending graduation ceremonies at Sunset High School, but she was excluded from them and instead graduated from University High School in 1941. Her work schedules prohibited her from enrolling in a university.

In 1940, during the shooting of Star Dust, Darnell for a short time went out with teen idol Mickey Rooney. Her first love was Jaime Jorba, a Mexican whom she met while still in high school. They met again during production of Blood and Sand, but they drifted apart when Jorba announced he could not marry a girl who was in the public eye. Starting at age 17, Darnell dated her publicity agent, Alan Gordon, whom she allegedly married in a double wedding with Lana Turner and Joseph Stephen Crane on July 17, 1942. The report turned out to be false, and over the years Darnell became known as "filmland's most eligible bachelorette." Up to 1942, she dated Kay Kyser, Eddie Albert, George Montgomery, and Jackie Cooper, among others. At one point, she was set to elope with talent agent Vic Orsatti, only to report later that she was "concentrating on her career."

Although a well-loved figure on the 20th Century-Fox lot among the cast, crew, and lot workers, it was reported that Darnell made only one good friend in Hollywood, actress-singer Ann Miller, whom she met at a Catalina Island benefit. Darnell was very negative about the Hollywood social scene, finding it "nauseating". During her stay in Hollywood, her relationship with her mother, Pearl, worsened, as her mother was an unpopular figure on the lot because of her overbearing and possessive behavior. In 1940, Pearl accused her husband of having an incestuous relationship with Evelyn, one of her children, though he was not Evelyn's biological father. Following an intense fight between her parents in 1942, Darnell left home with her younger sister Monte and never returned. Out of spite, Pearl turned to the press, which gained Darnell some bad publicity.

In 1942, Darnell was plagued with extortion letters from an unknown person threatening her with bodily harm unless $2,000 was paid immediately. The studio asked the FBI to protect the actress, and eventually a 17-year-old high school student was arrested for the crime.

On April 18, 1943, at age 19, Darnell eloped with 42-year-old cameraman Peverell Marley in Las Vegas. Darnell and Marley started seeing each other in 1940, and the press dismissed him as her "devoted friend and escort." Most friends and relatives, including her parents, and 20th Century-Fox disapproved of the marriage, and Darnell was believed to look at Marley more as a father figure than as a romantic interest. Marley was a heavy drinker and introduced Darnell to alcohol in 1944, which eventually led to an addiction and weight problems. Neighbors and acquaintances recalled the drastic change she underwent in this period, becoming hardened and hot- tempered. In 1946, during production of Centennial Summer, she repeatedly met with Howard Hughes. Although she initially disregarded gossip of an affair, she fell in love with the womanizing millionaire and separated from Marley shortly after finishing My Darling Clementine. When Hughes announced that he had no desire to marry her, Darnell returned to her husband and cancelled divorce proceedings. Shortly after the reunion, her health worsened, caused by the tough production of Forever Amber (1947).

Because Darnell and Marley were unable to have children, they adopted a daughter in 1948, Charlotte Mildred "Lola" Marley (born January 5, 1948), the actress's only child. She also planned to adopt a boy within a few years, but nothing ever came of it. In mid 1948, she became romantically involved with Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the director of A Letter to Three Wives, and in July 1948 she filed for divorce. Mankiewicz, however, was unwilling to leave his wife for Darnell, and though the affair continued for six years, she returned to her husband. Though she called him the "great love of her life," Mankiewicz never acknowledged the affair; he only mentioned her to his biographer as a "marvelous girl with very terrifying personal problems." In 1949, Darnell went into psychotherapy for hostile emotions that she had been building since childhood. Darnell's romance with Mankiewicz influenced her personal life. When he left in late 1949 for on-location shooting of All About Eve (1950), Darnell fell into a depression and almost committed suicide. She continued to meet with him occasionally until production of The Barefoot Contessa (1954) started.

On January 25, 1949, Darnell went to court to sue her former business manager, Cy Tanner, for fraud. She testified that he stole $7,250 from her between 1946 and 1947, and Tanner was eventually sent to prison. On July 19, 1950, Darnell reportedly separated from her husband. Marley offered a quiet settlement—without mention of Mankiewicz—for a payment of $125,000. She agreed and lost almost all her money. When she filed for divorce from Marley she accused her husband of cruelty, claiming he was "rude" and "critical" towards Darnell and her family. Following a five-minute hearing, Darnell was granted a divorce and custody of Charlotte, while Marley was to pay $75 a month for child support.

At thirty-two, I can see tell-tale marks in the mirror, but the ravages of time no longer terrify me. I am told that when surface beauty is gone, the real woman emerges. My only regret will be that I could not have begun it earlier - that so many years have been ruined because I was considered beautiful.

— Darnell shortly after her divorce from Liebmann.

In her later life, she dated actor Dick Paxton and had an affair with Italian director Giuseppe Amato. She married brewery heir Philip Liebmann in February 1954. owing to her lack of interest in him physically, it was agreed that the marriage would be a business arrangement: she was to be his wife in name only and in return he would support her financially. After a while, she grew dissatisfied with this loveless marriage and detested her husband for allowing her to lash out at him as well as cheapening her by buying her lavish presents. In response, Darnell resorted to charity work, opening facilities accommodating 30 girls in the neighborhood of Rome in 1955. Liebmann attempted to save the marriage by adopting a baby named Alfreda, but the marriage ended nevertheless on grounds of incompatibility, and Liebmann kept the girl.

Darnell was married to pilot Merle Roy Robertson from 1957 to 1963. In 1957, she started drinking heavily and in November 1958 sank into a depression, but went into rehab, recovering for a while. In 1963, Darnell was granted a divorce from Robertson following an outburst in the courtroom, where she accused her third husband of fathering the baby of a Polish actress. She was promised alimony of $350 monthly until July 15, 1964, and then $250 until September 15, 1967.

Darnell died on April 10, 1965, from burns she received in a house fire in Glenview, Illinois, early the day before. She had been staying at the home of her former secretary and her daughter and had just received notice from her agent of three possible movie contracts. She was trapped on the second floor of the home by heat and smoke, as the fire had started in the living room.

The women urged the young girl to jump from the second-floor window. After her daughter jumped, Darnell's secretary stood on the window ledge, calling for help. She had lost track of Darnell and insisted the firefighters rescue her before she was taken from the window ledge. Darnell was found next to the burning living-room sofa and was transferred to the burn unit at Chicago's Cook County Hospital with burns over 80% of her body.

After her death, a man who said he was Darnell's fiancé identified her body. A coroner's inquest into her death ruled that Darnell's death was accidental and that the fire had begun in or near the living-room sofa and was caused by careless smoking; both adult women were smokers.

Darnell's body was cremated; she had wanted her ashes scattered over a ranch in New Mexico, but because of a dispute with the landowners that was not done. After the remains had been in storage for ten years, her daughter asked that they be interred at the Union Hill Cemetery, Chester County, Pennsylvania, in the family plot of her son-in-law.

[lexis-lexica]

hello hello friends. I’m mina and I am so ready for plotting so hit me up on discord or DM here to plot, or like this post and imma come to you. SORRY FOR THE PARAGRAPHS. I’m just so shitty at listing things. [ BAE SUZY & FEMALE & SHE/HER. ] that, right there, is [ ALEXIS ‘LEXI’ BLYTHE ]. the [ TWENTY-TWO ] year old has been in savannah for [ A YEAR AND A HALF ] and is known for being quite [CHARMING ] - but on bad days, while being very SELF-DESTRUCTIVE ], they seem to walk with their head low while [ I’M A MESS by BEBE REXHA ] plays through their earbuds. ( mina. 23. she/her.est )

Alexis ‘Lexi’ Blythe Age: 22 Birthday: February 27 (Pisces) Orientation: Hetero TW. Abandonment, Adoption, Parental Neglect, Alcoholism, Drug Use O1 ━◞ FAMILY - Adopted by a big-shot politican and his trust-fund socialite wife when she was a baby, Lexi never knew why they had chosen to adopt from Korea. Maybe they had just wanted the picture perfect family even though they couldn’t, or rather her father couldn’t. Maybe they wanted to show how progressive, diverse, and altruistic they were for an old money family. Nevertheless, Lexi remembers being raised by the nanny, watching Disney movies, and only seeing her parents when they needed her to act her part in the long-standing Blythe political legacy of senators and congressmen. Last she had heard of her father, Alexander Duke Blythe was looking to be the next presidential candidate. Her mother runs various charities, painting the perfect First Lady potential. The next big Kennedy and Jackie. Her parents had not been the biggest fan of her acting career, but now that she has actually made it on the big screen, her own fame has indirectly lent to his image positively. Consequently, he has slowly been keeping track of her goings more and more - to her disgust. When she was 18, Lexi found a private investigator to try to find her biological parents. She still has no idea who her father was, but she learned that her mother had been an escort who abandoned Lexi on the steps of a massage parlour in the Gangnam district. O2 ━◞ CAREER - Attention-deprived, and raised in Los Angeles, it only made sense for Lexi to pursue a career to famehood through acting. Broadway, singing, dance and acting classes were part of her busy schedule growing up because an heiress like her needed to be raised in culture and the arts. She had never held a knack for subjects like math or literature, but the dramatic arts came to her naturally.  Instead of going to university, she worked as an extra at 17 before finally catching a break at 19 as a minor character in an intrigue drama. Appealing to the audiences as the ‘sweet and innocent’ trope, she began to take on more movie roles. The nickname going around Hollywood translated into “America’s Angel”. The problem with being forced into a trope was she rarely got roles past the secondary or tertiary characters. Having been a solid B-lister for the past 5 years, Lexi has recently been trying to take on more sensual and provocative roles. Because everyone knows the key to stardom is for everyone to watch you sleep around in theatres. Yet, any time Lexi is shown as anything but a “sweet angel”, her reputation suffers. Her last movie, He Said She Said was a rom-com that crashed and burned, but the newest blockbuster coming out may just be a movie for the charts. O3 ━◞ PERSONALITY - Don’t get her wrong. She cares deeply for her friends. They’re the family she doesn’t feel that she has. Her crew is always surprised she’s not a total diva and is usually just an outgoing and (for the most part) amiable girl. Whether in the way she walks or smiles, she has that graceful superstar formula that draws people in. It’s just her little self-destructive tendencies and obsession for finding love (and also trouble) that gets her into trouble with the people around her. Having an empty family life pushed Lexi to dream of her future family and Prince Charming. When she isn’t thinking of movie scripts and planning how to maintain her relevancy, she is wondering when her life will turn into a rom-com. Sometimes she loses track of reality in her naivete and desperation. Also ridiculously mischievous. Because she grew up constantly conniving as to how she could mess with her parents and get their attention, she often liked to do the opposite of what her dad would instruct her to do, which extrapolated to everyone. Extremely bad at taking instructions and also criticism (so you can expect some diva meltdowns every once in awhile). Breaking the law is lowkey a grey area. Doesn’t blink an eye at things like trespassing. O4 ━◞ SCANDAL - She met one of her father’s colleagues at one of the galas her parents forced her to visit. One of the youngest Senators ever from California. Hitting it off that night, the rest of the year felt like a dream. Young and naive, she was head over heels in love. He swore that he would break up with his wife and that he didn’t love her anymore. As things go, the senator’s wife discovered their affair through a private investigator. Holding the photos over head, she threatened Lexi that she would ruin the Senator’s reputation unless Lexi stayed away from her husband. To tend to her broken heart and avoid blowing up both Lexi’s and the senator’s careers, her agent sent her to Savannah to lay low until things could boil over. O5 ━◞ ALCOHOL USE AND DRUG USE - Since beginning the affair, Lexi turned to alcohol and drugs to deal with the guilt. When she wasn’t working, she was drinking and partying. And when she was partying in upscale LA, she was popping m like no tomorrow with Los Angeles’ partying elite. O6 ━◞ LIKES - Enjoys champagne, cream earl grey tea and anything fruity. Fav coffee is a cappucino with a shot of vanilla. Zombie apocalypse and horror shows/movies/anythings are her guilty passion even though she gets unbelievably scared to the point where she can’t get a good night’s rest. Her secret dream is to star in a zombie film where she gets a really dramatic death. Proud mommy of a little Maltese puppy named Peanut. O7 ━◞ QUIRKS - Messy, not dirty, is what Lexi claims she is. Scatter-brained and disorganized. Constantly late for events. She gives her manager, Anya, a hernia, for not having any order in her life. Lexi also can’t cook for her life but really likes to eat - everything and anything. In fact, for a striving starlet, she really likes fast food like hamburgers and pizza far too much. In response, she is up early doing some sort of physical activity every morning as a semi-guilty ritual. She basically can’t go through the day without exercising because she’s so anxious about her appearance and her extreme love for food. O8 ━◞ WANTED CONNECTIONS - ♕ her ride or die aka in greys anatomy speak, “her person”. The person she’s closest to, etc, like she’d kill somebody for this person ♕ childhood friend ♕ cousins (technically adopted cousins from her adoptive mother’s side) ♕ best female friend aka like a sister/ best male friend aka like a bro ♕ childhood friend ♕ flirtationship ♕ all that love ships/maybe kind of a rebound/maybe more ♕ party crew? ♕ someone who knew her ex or even of the scandal in some way///or or or or someone lexi got really drunk with and accidentally ugly cried to about her being a mistress/ someone who has dirt on her? ♕ an ex that ended badly/ an ex that ended on good terms ♕ someone she has slept around with/is sleeping around with/rebound ♕ one night stand ♕ a fan of her movies/tv shows!? ♕ roommate (she just moved from a big ass mansion to like a house, and it feels empty as fuck, so she prob put out a posting) ♕ early morning workout buddies ♕ someone she has worked with in the industry before like fellow celebs/crew/photographers/filmographers/etc/etc? ♕ anything else hit me up

[livingmybestfictionallife]

Apart, In, and Out

Anon Request: Hiiiiii!! How are you doing?? I’ve been a fan of you for a year now (or so), I love your writing and I would love to make a request if possible? Reader has a hate/love relationship with Sebastian Stan and every time she distance herself from Sebastian, she craves him even more. Kind of inspired by Alicia Key’s song Fallin’. Thank yooou ❤️❤️❤️

A/N: thanks so much for the request :) I’m sorry it took a while to get to, so thanks for being patient as well. ----ALSO, I LOST MY PERMANENT TAG LIST SO IF YOU WERE ON IT, OR IF YOU WANT TO BE TAGGED IN ALL MY WRITINGS, PLEASE MESSAGE ME

Warnings: language

Tags: @bubblyanarocks3 (you were in my recents and I remembered you were on my permanent tags)

There he is again--that cocky little shit, (Y/N) thought as she looked at her television screen. If there was one thing in this world she couldn’t will herself to be tolerate to, it was the sapphire eyed brunette asshole that stared up at her through the screen. She jammed her thumb so hard into the power button on her remote she feared it would never work again, but if it meant she’d never have to see his stupid face again, she was okay with it.

“I was watching that,” her younger brother grumbled and poked his head out from over the couch.

“I don’t care,” she muttered as the twenty year old sprawled across her sofa and groaned.

“I don’t get why you hate the MARVEL movies so much,” he sighed. “We used to read the comics all the time as kids.”

“The movies are fine,” she said under her breath, trying to sound apathetic to the situation.

“Then what’s you’re problem?” he pestered.

“Doesn’t your first class start in an hour?” she turned the conversation around. “I told Mom you’re only allowed to live with me so long as you go to class when you’re supposed to. Does she need to know about the frat party last weekend?”

“No,” he whined, “she’ll make me move back into the dorms.”

“Then get your lazy ass off my couch and go get dressed,” she stated as she began cooking a couple eggs for her brother to eat before leaving. The siblings were born six years apart and ever since the younger entered the world, (Y/N) felt it was her responsibility to make sure he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. Even when he was starting kindergarten and she was in middle school, she didn’t shun him because he was younger. The only thing in her life that she hid from her brother was her first heartbreak, mostly because she thought he would have made fun of her.

When (Y/N) was in college, a movie called The Covenant was being shot on her campus and she naively signed up with a couple of friends to be extras in some of the shots. She didn’t think that anything would happen, maybe they would get a glimpse at one of the actors before being ushered away or having to leave for classes; she certainly didn’t expect for her to fall head over heels for one of the supporting actors. More importantly, she didn’t expect to gain his attention. She was wrong about both of these assumptions. To this day she still gets butterflies every time she thinks about the moment they met. 

(Y/N) was making her way across the commons with a couple of friends. They were late for a class because one they had on the other side of campus was held over. She had seen the guy before in movies and around the set of this movie, but didn’t think too much about it when she saw him running up to her. He had soft, fluffy brown hair and light, enticing eyes that were all too easy to get lost in. “Wait,” he called and started stumbling over names that sounded like hers until she turned and pointed to herself. “Yes,” he said with a smile.

“(Y/N),” she corrected, “and I’m not working as an extra today,” she said hesitantly before pointing toward the humanities building. “I’m late for a class.”

“It’ll only take a second,” he promised once he was a foot away from her. His lips curled into a smile as she looked up at him. “I’m Sebastian,” he started. “When are you free for lunch?”

“I have an hour break between classes after this one,” she admitted questioningly. 

“Would you like to meet up here and come to lunch with me? My treat.” (Y/N) could feel her heart turn into a balloon and float toward her ribcage only to bounce around in her chest cavity.

“Sure,” she smiled and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. After Sebastian said his goodbyes, he ran back to set and she hurried off to catch up with her friends.

(Y/N) hated that she ever agreed to eat lunch with that...that...she sighed as she realized she was out of horrible names to call Sebastian Stan. Of course he wasn’t the first guy to show an interest in her, but throughout high school she only had one boyfriend; in reality, she was just really close with this guy so they tried dating but it wasn’t what either of them thought they wanted so they went back to being friends. She really didn’t even count him as a boyfriend because of how short lived that relationship was. Other than that, the other boys that showed an interest in her were turned down simply because she was too busy to get caught up in a relationship. 

The lunch itself wasn’t that bad. He was kind and funny and seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say. He asked about her studies, why she was a part of the movie, and what her future plans were. In all honesty, (Y/N) should have been smarter than to think this would lead to anything more than what it was. They were roughly the same age--maybe he was about six years older--but this movie would be one of the things that lead him to getting more recognition in his line of work and then he was well on his way to becoming a Hollywood icon. 

(Y/N) and her brother hurriedly ate their breakfasts and left the apartment. He headed toward the bus stop while she made her way to the parking garage and dropped into the driver’s seat of her car. She turned the key in the ignition and heard the car roar to life as the beginning of Alicia Keys’s song ‘Fallin’ came through her speakers. 

Sometimes I love ya, sometimes you make me blue. Sometimes I feel good, and sometimes I feel used.

As the lyrics flowed from the radio into (Y/N)’s ears, she couldn’t help thinking back to the first moment she knew Sebastian Stan was an asshole. Whether or not he was drunk shouldn’t have mattered and yet here she was, thinking about this for the millionth time in her life. After meeting, they spoke frequently through text and phone calls. For years they maintain contact with one another. Each day the conversations would grow more meaningful and innocently intimate. They shared things with one another that they were afraid to tell other people and (Y/N) felt a genuine connection to Sebastian. She felt safe talking to him and confident in her trust of him. Little did she know though that he had been dating Gossip Girl star Leighton Meester on the down low for the last six months of talking to (Y/N). When he told her he was coming back to California between projects, and said that he wanted to see her, (Y/N) was elated. For her, the giddy feelings she had on the day they met had only been growing and growing uncontrollably for that matter. 

The pair met up at a club. By the time (Y/N) arrived, Sebastian had already had quite a few drinks and, being young and stupidly in love with this guy, she laughed it off and started drinking too. Anyways, as the night went on, the combination of the hot room, alcohol, and dancing--believe it or not, sometimes that Footloose town got it right--(Y/N) became needy for him. They went back to her place, which she lived alone in at the time, and...gah, even now she could still feel the sweet taste of liquor on her lips as she thought of Sebastian kissing her. The quivering of her legs as they tightened around his once they had fallen into her bed, the needy scratches they left on one another’s backs and sides, all of it was fresh in her mind. She never expected to lose her virginity to a famous actor but she lay in her bed that night, desperately trying to keep the excitement to herself. She didn’t want him to know it was her first time and, as far as she could tell, he was oblivious to that fact. It wasn’t until the day after he left that she learned what really happened that night.

Tabloids hit the stands and she hadn’t expected to see a grainy photo of her leaving the club with Sebastian hidden deep within one of the magazines she read while waiting for her haircut. Headlines reading  Gossip Girls Stars Secretly Dating and subheadings went something along the lines of Stan’s Dirty Little Secret caught (Y/N)’s attention. She could feel her lips tense and ran out of the salon and dialed Sebastian’s number. Only two rings went by before he answered.

“You’re a real fucking dick!” she yelled through the line.

“(Y/N)?” he asked. He sounded tired but she didn’t care.

“What the hell? You’re in a relationship--correction, you’ve been in a relationship?!” 

“(Y/N) look,” he tried to speak again.

“I’m not some fucking side action you can call up when you and your girlfriend are fighting, asshole!” Sebastian’s line was silent for a moment before (Y/N) could hear a woman’s voice ask what was going on. “You’re a real piece of work, Stan,” she stated and then slammed her phone shut.

What (Y/N) hated more than Sebastian was her inability to understand why she continued to feel tethered to him. It’s like he could walk all over her and she was still hooked. He was a terrible drug to her and no matter how many times she’d OD on him, she always kept using. Time after time, a year or two would go by and the pair would try and reconcile. Sex was just something that came naturally between them and normally afterward, (Y/N) would be left feeling vulnerable and foolish. Whether things fell apart between them because of his work schedule or because of him coming to her with needs, eventually, their relationship consisted of few intimate conversations and more physical intimacy without any real emotion behind it...at least on his part. 

(Y/N) knew she was foolish. Her friends had made it clear, but she knew it before they said anything. She hated that she would jump whenever he asked her to and would give herself up to him so eagerly. When he was away she hated him with every fiber of her being and that hate only fueled more anger, but whenever she thought about how much she hated him, she became even more desperate for his touch. But it wasn’t just the physicality. She remembered their genuine connection and the conversations they used to have. She knew that the guy she fell for was somewhere amidst the dick he was turning into toward her. Maybe part of her hoped that one day he’d realize she would be the only constant in his life. Maybe she just needed him physically. She had finally come to the conclusion that she would never know. 

It was now twelve years after the pair first met. Over those twelve years, there were at least six or seven times where they used one another for their own benefit--more on his part than hers--and every time they were together, it gave her hope that it would be the last time they had to fall apart, yet when they inevitably did fall apart, (Y/N) forced herself to fall out of love with him. At first she convinced herself she was trying to fall out of lust, but when the memories of the good times they had with one another flooded her mind and swirled into her hatred of him, she couldn’t help the confusion that was caused by loving him. 

(Y/N) pulled up to the studio she was expected to be at today. Her career as a creative writer had finally taken off and there was a part of her that finally felt accomplished. She wrote books, plays, and has been a screenwriter for prominent movie producers for a few years now as well. It has been three years since she last saw Sebastian Stan...well, it was three years since she last saw him, that was until last Friday. She thought she was finally over whatever the hell emotions were going through her mind and heart, but when she saw him walk into the screenwriter’s office to ask a question about his script, both he and she were aware of the fact that they were working together and would be forced to be around one another.

Under any other circumstances--for example, never seeing him again in her life--(Y/N) would have been fine and would have gotten over the confusion of hatred and complete admiration for the man she met as a sophomore in college. She thought back begrudgingly to Friday as he knocked on the office door. Thinking it was a co-writer for the film’s script, she instructed him to come in. Once she realized her mistake, it was too late for her to fake a phone call or meeting and kick him out.

“I had a couple questions,” he spoke without bringing his eyes from the papers in his hands. (Y/N) could feel her heart sink and rise at the same time, virtually being torn apart in her chest as she immediately recognized his voice. Her eyes flicked from her computer screen to the man before her and his eyes had found their way to hers. “(Y/N),” he said in surprise. “I didn’t know you were working on this.” He laid his papers on the desk and stared at her, contemplating if giving her a hug was called for in a professional setting.

“Yeah, I haven’t heard from you for a few years,” she said with a smile on her face and a hint of bitterness in her voice. Her attitude was like drinking an unmixed macchiato--sweet at first, but once all the sweetened milk is gone, he was left tasting the bitter espresso her tone voice spat.

“I’m sorry about that,” he said while rubbing the back of his neck. “I’d really like to be able to look past every thing I did as a stupid twenty-something year-old kid and work with you on this project.”

“Why wouldn’t we be able to work professionally?” she questioned. It left him stunned in his tracks and she knew she was putting him a position where he was forced to admit to everything he’d done or seem like an ass. Finally, after twelve she felt like she had the upper hand, that was until the producers came in and ushered Sebastian and (Y/N) to set, leaving them in an air of uneasiness for the rest of the day.

Today was the start of a new week and (Y/N) was in the process of convincing herself to either ignore Sebastian’s existence on any level other than professional, or to get under his skin until he apologizes. She deserved an apology and she’d be damned if she didn’t get it. She had been jerked around by her feelings for him for at least eight of the twelve years she’d known him and she was finally in a position of power...a position to obtain closure.

She had arrived at the studio particularly early in order to organize her work area and make a few changes to the script the director had asked for. She had expected to be alone for the next few hours to get everything done, but she was wrong.

“Hey,” she heard a soft male voice call. Again, the splitting feeling in her heart puled through her chest. 

“Hello Sebastian,” she stated as she refused to take her eyes from the script before her.

“Can we talk?” he asked as he approached her and gently touched her wrist. “I brought your favorite,” he continued, “chai tea latte.” (Y/N) glanced at his direction and saw him set down a to-go coffee cup on the table in front of her. 

“What do you want to talk about?” she asked and swiveled in her chair to face him.

“Can we not do it here?” he asked. “There are cameras.”

“It’s a movie set, Seb, there are going to be cameras,” she retorted.

“I mean security cameras,” he said with a slight attitude before cocking an eyebrow and glancing over his shoulder at him. “Did you call me Seb?”

“I don’t know,” she muttered as she stood from her chair.

“I think you did,” he laughed. “It’s been a while since I heard that from your mouth.”

“What do you want Stan?” (Y/N) snapped as she followed him out of the main studio and into a props room. Slowly, his hand rose from the grasp it had on her wrist and was gently pressed against her cheek. “No,” she stated while slapping his hands from her face and stepping back.

“What the hell was that?” he asked. 

“I’m done doing this, Sebastian,” she stated.

“(Y/N), can you give me a minute?” he asked and desperately grasped at her hands. “Please?” She slipped her hands from his and folded her arms across her chest.

“Do it without touching me,” she spat. She could see his face fall slightly, not for being forbidden from touching her, but because he could see how much he hurt her.

“I’m so incredibly sorry for everything. I shouldn’t have slept with you to get back on a girlfriend, I shouldn’t have taken your friendship and your kindness for granted. I shouldn’t have done most of the things I’d done to you.”

“Are you sorry for having ever slept with me or sorry for being an asshole?” she asked with her eyes narrowed at him.

“I’m sorry for not treating you the way you deserve to be treated. For not loving you the way you deserved to be. This probably means absolutely nothing to you now, but I swear I fell in love with you when we met during The Covenant. It was stupid and I was stupid. I’m not apologizing for a second I’ve spent with you because being with you makes me feel ways I haven’t felt with anyone else. I think I can genuinely say I’ve never loved someone the way that I love you. I thought distancing myself from you would keep me from hurting you--clearly that’s all I’ve done to you: take advantage of you, use you, and hurt you, and if you can find it anywhere in your heart to forgive me, I’d like to start over.” 

Sebastian had jammed his hands into his pockets to keep from grasping at her hands--an impulse he had developed with (Y/N). He couldn’t deny that he had found solace in her all those years ago. Their connection was real and he was emotionally impacted just as much as (Y/N) had been. He didn’t expect to hear a single word of acceptance from her, and she had every right to yell at him for every time she was left feeling unimportant, but they both knew she was kinder than that. 

“Do you still have my number?” she asked. He looked at her with strange curiosity in his eyes as he nodded. “You’re welcome to come to my place for dinner. We can talk more about this then,” she said softly. He nodded and took a step toward her, needing to hold her again, just to make sure this was actually happening and it wasn’t some twisted dream his subconscious made up. When he felt her hands on his back and her breaths as he leaned his head on her shoulder, his heart subsided from it’s violent pounding and he knew he was lucky. As many times as he had hurt her, as many times as they fell apart, as many times as each of them had convinced themselves they had fallen out of love with the other, they managed to fall back into one another’s life and maybe...just maybe they would fall into love again.

[utgleekshq]

Have you seen Blaine Anderson on campus? Rumor has it that the twenty-one year old sophomore from Los Angeles, California was born on June 13th and is currently studying Music Performance in the College of Fine Arts. His friends will tell you that he’s PASSIONATE and GREGARIOUS, but they also say he can be NAIVE and EMOTIONAL, so be careful. His endgame is Seblaine and fortunately for us, his role is CLOSED and unavailable for auditions. 

Blaine had a relatively pleasant childhood. Born to a film producer and part-time actress, extroversion, creativity, and a healthy dose of optimism were characteristics encouraged in him as a child. It quickly became clear to everyone that Blaine’s natural creativity would blossom in the musical arts. He would often be found singing along with his favorite songs and drumming rhythms on whatever surfaces became available to him. When Blaine was nine, his parents bought him his first guitar along with a few lessons and he fell in love with immediately. Playing music, singing, and performing for others became his passion. While he enjoyed it for the act itself, it didn’t hurt that he found performing to be one of the easiest ways to get and keep his parents attention. Blaine’s parents always rewarded a showcase of talent with affection and with his older brother Cooper constantly asking to be taken out on auditions in the hopes of becoming a child star, Blaine sometimes felt overlooked and discarded.

That feeling only became further amplified as Blaine got older and realized that he was different than most of the other boys in his school, including his brother. When Blaine was thirteen, he came out to his parents as gay. While they didn’t do anything crazy like disown on him or even go so far as to outright say they were disappointed, Blaine could feel their disapproval. Things became different almost as soon as the words were right out of his mouth. His mother looked at him with these sad eyes, his father stumbled over words around him, and both stopped trying to hide their obvious favoritism for Cooper. Fortunately though, Blaine had plenty of friends who accepted him, cared for him and didn’t so much as blink when he came out to them. Because he felt so out of place at home, Blaine did everything he could to find a place for himself at school, joining several different clubs and organizations including an all male show choir, student government, and debate.

With his natural talent, Blaine became a star in the show choir even in his sophomore year - to the point where they wanted to center their shows around him - and it gave Blaine a chance to feel wanted and appreciated. And though he knew he had an opportunity to become a star thanks to his parents’ affluence in the world, Blaine knew that even if he didn’t make it - he at least had an outlet to feel like himself. That outlet, though, wound up giving him a chance to get away from his parents so that he could instead focus on himself and the people around him - people that wanted to be around him - as he was offered a scholarship to the University of Texas to take part in their Music Performance major and join their Glee club. It was far away from California, and Texas wasn’t as liberal as his home state, but he figured that maybe the distance would help his relationship with his parents.

And surprisingly, it did. With weekly phone calls and video chats to his family, he felt closer to them despite being miles away, and with Austin being a city that celebrates the arts, Blaine was able to focus his attention on his passion. College work was harder, that was for sure, and while Blaine was unsure why he had to take part in Algebra when his major was Music Performance, he still buckled down and set aside time in his schedule for studying and homework. One thing he hasn’t done though, that he’s definitely wanting, is to find a boyfriend. There have been a few guys that have caught his eye, and a couple that he has a crush on, but when he sees all of the happy couples on campus… he can’t help but be a little envious.

SECRET:

Despite being sixteen, his father allowed Blaine to tag along as they went to a casino for his brother’s twenty-first birthday. While Cooper got sick off of his first couple of martinis, Blaine and his father spent some time together - a bit of a turning point in their relationship - and his father taught him all of the games that were there before allowing him to try his hand at a game or two. From blackjack to craps to roulette, Blaine tried them all and he even helped his father walk out of the casino with more money than they had entered with - and that had Blaine hooked. And after coming to Austin and getting a fake ID, he visits the Manor Downs every other weekend, spending most - if not all - of his weekly allowances to bet on the ponies. And because of Blaine’s optimistic nature, he believes that the next bet is going to be the big one.

CONNECTIONS:

Rachel Berry: One of the things about his high school show choir that was important to him was the fact that they supported each other - and it was something he hoped he’d be able to have in college, a place where everyone was more mature. And thankfully, he found it. The first person he found it from was Rachel Berry, someone with talent coming out of her ears that was obviously destined for greatness, and it wasn’t long before they became fast friends and duet partners. While he knows that some of the other members of the club can find Rachel a bit abrasive, he knows that ultimately, what Rachel does and says came from a good place - and that’s really all that should matter, right?

Sam Evans: Getting a roommate was one of the things that Blaine was actually looking forward to. With his brother being a few years older than him, he didn’t have a brotherly relationship with him and he was looking forward to the opportunity to get close to another guy like that - and when he roomed with Sam? It was like he was hitting the jackpot. Not only was Sam kind and not all the stereotypical jock that he had faced in high school, but he was interested in plenty of the same things as him and it wasn’t long before they were best friends. From weekly trips to the comic store to playing video games to arguing over Iron Man vs. Captain America, Blaine can’t help but enjoy the fact that he has Sam in his life. And while he knows it might not lead anywhere, he can’t help but harbor feelings for Sam… but a boy can dream, right?

Quinn Fabray: Giving back to the community is something that Blaine’s mother had instilled in him from a young age, so being able to do so while he was in Austin was important to him. Whether it was by going to a local soup kitchen or helping out at the local blood drives, Blaine did what he could to offer help and make things a little easier - and it was at one of these functions that he met Quinn. While he had heard about her through Sam up to this point, he hadn’t had the opportunity to hang out with her and he couldn’t help but find himself liking her. Though they may not be the closest of friends, they are able to talk with one another without it being completely awkward - and they even make it a point to let the other know their next volunteering gig so that they can do so together.

Finn Hudson: You would have to be deaf to not hear about quarterback Finn Hudson, especially considering that Sam often griped and complained about him, but it wasn’t until his second semester that he wound up spending time with him. Sharing a class with him, Algebra 102, he found that Finn was struggling and so he offered to help him - it was just in his nature to do so - and after Finn received his first test and realized he was still flunking, he was asked to do Finn’s homework and take his tests for him and when Blaine said no, Finn offered cash. It wasn’t really something that Blaine wanted, really, but the idea of having some more money to use when he went to the race track was all too inviting so he eventually agreed. And for the better part of a year, he and Finn have continued this arrangement and while he feels guilty, having some money to gamble helps to curb that guilt.

Mercedes Jones: Upon joining the glee club, Blaine was met with the phenomenal talent that they possessed and after meeting Rachel, he met Mercedes… And he had to say that she was damn near talented. So talented that he’s unsure why she’s a nursing major and not a music major like himself or Rachel. It’s something he’s asked her before, and while she told him it was just a hobby for her, he can’t help but think she’s lying. After all, he can see the way she lights up when she’s on stage, the way she’s enthusiastic to learn a new song or try a new dance move, and he wonders if there’s more there that she’s not letting on. Still, he’ll play the role of supportive friend and be there if she needs him.

Santana Lopez: In high school, Blaine had been part of a peer-counseling group that had students helping out other students - as sometimes students didn’t want to talk to teachers about what was going on - and it was something that Blaine liked, so when he heard about the online service that allowed students to reach out to their peers for advice? He was quick to take part in it. There is one person he finds himself talking to more and more, and while he doesn’t know who they are, he can tell that they do have a kind soul. With it being anonymous, though, he doesn’t realize that it’s Santana Lopez - the girl that his current roommate, Puck, is often hanging out with or fucking - but he hopes that one day, he can learn their true identity so he can better help them.

Brittany Pierce: It isn’t often that Blaine meets people who share his optimistic view of the world. His tendency to see the good in others and the bright sides of situations was something that annoyed people at times, he knew that. Meeting Brittany in Glee Club, though, it was clear to Blaine that she was someone who shared in a more, perhaps, naive view of the world. He knows that if he has a good idea for a song or something exciting to share, she won’t try to find the bad side of things - she’ll just be happy for him. And, he knows that sometimes people don’t take things she says seriously, something that Blaine tries to stand up for. Sure, she doesn’t always have the answers everyone else expects, but she’s smart.

Noah Puckerman: After rooming with Sam his first year, Blaine had high hopes for his sophomore year and he wound up getting Puck… While Puck isn’t the worst roommate he could have, Blaine doesn’t quite care for his crass behavior but over the past semester, he’s come to learn that Puck isn’t nearly as bad as his bravado leads you to believe. In fact, Puck seems like a generally good dude, one that is talented and doesn’t mind hitting the gym to go a few rounds in a boxing ring with him - and it helped, too, that Puck was on pretty good terms with Sam, too, and didn’t mind playing video games with him when he wasn’t busy. And though he and Puck aren’t as close as Blaine and Sam, and he wishes that he would clean up his side of the dorm more often, he can’t say he regrets being his friend.

Marley Rose: Freshman orientation can be overwhelming for anyone, but for someone that wasn’t from Texas? It was even more so, so finding someone that understood that? It was nice. And it helped that Marley was nice, too. The two were quick to form a friendship, relying on one another as they adjusted to living in Texas and adjusted to college life, and he can safely say she’s one of his best friends. Of course, now he can tell that Sam likes her, and while he wants nothing more than to see them happy, part of him is a little bit jealous and he wonders if their friendship might suffer if something were to happen between the two of them.

[willbvcrs]

“i can’t move on.” // “sorry for the promises i didn’t keep.” // “fuck you, you never cared.” // “i won’t let this be how it ends.” || Sage&Kendall please?

“i can’t move on.” 

Here it was once again. The never ending loop of fights and bickering over the smallest things. Kendall was done with all of it. All she has ever wanted was a loving boyfriend. She knew fights come along with a healthy relationship but what Kendall and Sage had was nowhere near healthy. The toxicity and jealousy in it seemed to be getting the best out of both of them causing them to erupt like volcanoes over the smallest things. 

Kendall wasn’t best at handling this kind of situations. She was damaged already and the constant hurting they did to each other wasn’t exactly the best for Kendall’s already fragile mental health. She’s been dealing with various things during her life - anxiety, depression, suicide thoughts and eating problems as well aligned with alcoholism. These factors damaged her to the point where Kendall thought she and her life are worthless. The only times when she didn’t think so low about herself and she actually had a will to live was during the happy times with Sage. However those never lasted too long before the were back at the beginning. 

Maybe it was in their nature. Just like running away was in Kendall’s nature. That’s all she was capable of when things got too rough. Run away. The little red light in her head started beeping, alarming her about it. Two months. It has been two months since she left to Moscow. After all the time she wasn’t there, it seemed as the safe haven for her. Two months later she came back to California, needless to say it wasn’t the best idea because once she stepped in the house it wasn’t Dom who greeted her but Sage with teary eyes begging her to stay just with the look on his face. “I can’t move on.” There was a long pause before Kendall decided what to say because after trying to move on and trying to convince herself she is over Sage, there he was - standing in front of her making her week in her knees with just one look and one sentence.

Kendall looked away spotting her brother behind her now ex-boyfriend. “I can’t do this again,” she whispered, walking past him only to fall into the familiar arms of her brother who cooed her quietly because he was the only one who knew how much she wants to cry, how much her heart aches and craves Sage. Yet despite that she couldn’t be with the love of her life because like two matches they would burn each other over and over again until there would be nothing more but ashes left at the end.

“sorry for the promises i didn’t keep.”

It was Friday night and Kendall was beyond bored. Staying at home during Friday night was like socially killing herself and she refused to do so. However the only party worth going to was her brother’s friend, Kendall’s ex’s party. The two has been broken up couple months already but the pain was still there. Just the thought of someone else getting to call him theirs made her heart ache. It was like every time she thought of him she lost a piece of her heart.

Despite the love she carried for him and the pain they caused each other she wanted to move on. Kendall wanted to experience love again and she wouldn’t let him stand in her way. She was single, attractive and young so going to the party was obvious despite who’s party it was. Kendall wanted to show Sage that she can’t be bothered with that he’s doing or who is he doing it with even though it was just stupid facade. She refused to be that sad little girl anymore.

It took her some time to convince her brother to agree but eventually she did it, knowing the right buttons to push to get what she wants. So she dressed up the best she could, tight baby blue dress to match her eyes and to underline her innocent look before she headed to the party where as she assumed everyone was already either drunk or high, Sage included. She made her way to the rooftop where she sat, drinking the liquid poured into a red solo cup and she watched the stars.  “Sorry for the promises I didn’t keep,” she heard from next to her making her turn towards the familiar voice. She knew it belonged to Sage. Her reply came in a simple shrug even though she felt tears welling up in her eyes.

“Which one do you mean? The one about not being with anyone else? The one about us being together always and forever? The one about not breaking my heart? There were too many promises to keep up with them. You didn’t seem to keep any of them… you left me broken. Just like Tristan,” Kendall spat the last words at him knowing it will hurt him but in her head that’s what he deserved. He deserved to feel the pain he caused to her. There were countless nights ever since they’ve broken up that she spent crying herself to sleep and overthinking everything she has done wrong because despite her harsh words it was her who caused the break up in her opinion. “Just- leave me alone. Go fuck another girl or guy that will fill the void inside of you. You were right after all, you really don’t know how to love because if you did you would love me just as much as I’ve loved you…”

“fuck you, you never cared.”

“Fuck you, you never cared.” The words hit her like a truck, like she was flooded with a wave of freezing cold tsunami. It left her speechless and heartbroken, angry and made her brain stop working like it shut down her whole system. She couldn’t believe the boy who made her truly fall in love would every say such harsh words to the girl who he claimed was the one for him. Kendall wanted cry, break things, hit him, scream to the void of her body and kill herself all at once when he spoke those words.

In Kendall’s mind she was always, not matter the circumstances, the wrong one and this wasn’t an exception. His words made her soul crumble and her insides fill up with emptiness. She couldn’t remember when was the last time something made her feel the way his words did. Maybe it was the time her parents left her live only with her brother leaving them money to pay the rent for the house when she was fourteen, maybe it was the time Tristan told her she was just warm mouth around him, maybe it was the time her so called best friend and her own brother betrayed her by hooking up. Maybe but she felt like none of those things have hurt her just as much as his words did.

Kendall backed away a little, not sure if her legs will carry her for much longer. “Is that what you think? Do you really think that about me? That I never cared? I was the one, the only one, who stood by your side when everyone was against you. I was the first one to tell you I love you. I was the one who showed you what love means and that you out of all people deserve it the most,” Kendall finally spoke up, her voice cracking as the tears started running down her cheeks.

“I don’t know what you want me to say or do… I gave you my everything! I-I know I’m not good enough for you, okay? But I didn’t deserve this. I did care, hell, even right now when you’re looking at me as I am a complete nothing to you I still care because I love you… but you will never love me the way I love you because I am not worth your real love, am I?” Kendall asked with a sob. She knew the moment Sage steps out of her house she will do something to herself that will send her to hospital once again. That’s for sure if she actually survives the way there. “Go. Please just- just go,” she managed to get out of herself already feeling the temptation of the pills in her nightstand or the bottles of bitter liquid in their fridge.

“i won’t let this be how it ends.”

Always and forever. That’s what Kendall and Sage promised each other. For a while it seemed like reality. They thought they could have it all - the marriage, kids, actual future together. However it all was just a big cloud of lies wrapped around their naive minds and always and forever ended up not that long after it started. They both knew a thing like this, actual break up, is most likely to happen. They were both just stupid kids after all. They expected everything to be like in a fairy tale but the reality had to come and rain on their parade eventually.

Every single time this happened, when they had broken up and after couple weeks or months finally got together again it felt like part of the first love spark was leaving her body. By this time there was nothing inside of Kendall. All the light inside of her heart that has been powering up her whole body was gone. It vanished leaving the brunette with an emptiness in her system instead of love.

A loud knocking on the front door woke her up from her nap making her tip toe to the door and open them only to see Sage standing there, bouquet of red roses in his hand and an apology written all over his face. “I won’t let this be how it ends,” he spoke softly. Kendall couldn’t bear the look at him. She couldn’t handle the fact she is the only reason why this boy, who deserves nothing more than pure love in his life, looks so devastated. The worse thing was he was about to feel even more miserable once Kendall formed her thoughts into words and sentences.

“But this is how it end, Sage,” Kendall finally replied with a sigh, her eyes pinning down at her feet just so she didn’t have to witness the heartbreak in his eyes. “I don’t love you anymore,” she added with her voice steady despite how much it hurt her to say such thing. “I don’t want to be with you anymore because it would mean not only hurting myself but also you. We both knew this day will come. I am just one of the girls that have been in your life now. You’ll get over me and a year from now you will be barely able to remember my name.” She could feel herself tearing up his heart with her own words. White lies to help him find something, someone, better than she was because she was more than sure there was someone who was made for Sage and she wasn’t that person.

[jonfarreporter]

A gem of a movie that misses its mark is “The Miracle” from 1959.

At this time of year with Passover and Easter, seasonal favorites to watch have been the traditional ‘sword and sandal’ movies like ‘Ben Hur’ and ‘The Robe.’

Interestingly when these types of movies were made (which was right after World War II)  in that time there were lots of movies with religious or semi religious themes.

Some historians believe that this was because after World War II people had a sense of gratitude for the end of the war.

In the 40s through the 50s and into the early 60s ‘sword and sandal’ - biblical or religious-themed movies were well received.

Among the most notable are epics like ‘The Ten Commandments,’ ‘The Robe’ and ‘Ben-Hur.’

One movie that debuted in 1959, in which all the elements of a religious or semi-religous epic was utilized was called ‘The Miracle,’ starring Carroll Baker and a then, very-young Roger Moore.

To this reporter, it is a gem of a movie. Yet it is under appreciated because as some film historians and critics point out, it was released just after ‘Ben- Hur.’

While ‘The Miracle’ lends itself to a well produced epic, the movie falls short in its lack of ability to emphasize a clear and well punctuated theme.

This reporter noticed immediately that even with its fine cinematography and wonderful costume and set design, it gets convoluted.  It is extremely sweeping and alludes to a complexity that as I see it should be explained even if just a bit more, to an eager audience. 

The issue here is that it’s main objective or so it seems is to describe the distinction between romantic love and mystical love.

For those who are not Catholic it’s hard to follow. But even those that are Catholic it takes a well-read and devout person, to understand the subtle and yet, complex lines within the story.

Initially it is about the young aspirant to the convent, Teresa. This Teresa of the story is loosely based upon Teresa of Avila. Teresa of Avila was A 16th century mystic in Spain.

While the time frame of the movie is set somewhere within the Napoleonic era it is not really clear which year the events of the movie take place. 

Also, it is not clear exactly which religious order this Teresa is an aspirant to. It seems at first to be Franciscan, because the opening scene is for the blessing of the animals. The nuns are dressed in what appears to be a brown and white habit. But upon closer view, the brown scapular or apron which Carmelites wear  is more mauve than a traditional Franciscan brown or gray habit that a Franciscan would wear. 

Actually it doesn’t matter which order, but a clearer reference does help. Especially when trying to convey the mystical aspects. Each religious order has a mystical tradition. 

The convent is in the fictional valley of Miraflores, somewhere outside of Madrid but the script never says exactly where. From this reporter’s point of view, the story seems real but isn’t.

The audience is being lead into some form of historical fiction, which is okay. But some clarity should have been stated. 

Are the nuns cloistered? Or do they have contact with people? Again, are they Franciscan, or Carmelite? Elements of these traditions are implied. Yet It is never really stated. 

Historically the Franciscans, the Carmelites and the Dominicans played a very vital if not domineering role in the religious culture of Spain. This Spanish culture made its way to the New World. And, then to the United States via the California Missions and the Pacific South West region. 

Parallels between the Teresa in the story and Teresa of Avila in real life are very obvious to see; especially to a Catholic audience. But to an audience not familiar with that it’s hard to follow.

In the opening credits there is mention of a “Divine Mercy.” But the script (which includes dialog between characters, etc) does not state this clearly enough. Nor does it do so through action. 

Carroll Baker who portrays the young aspirant/postulant Teresa does provide youthful emotion conveying a relationship with the spiritual that at times it is charming and convincing. But it then goes over to the melodramatic. 

The scene where she speaks aloud to Blessed Mother Mary depicted in the statue in the church with the tile of “our lady of Miraflores” is tender. With prayerful expressions like “oh Mother Mary the only mother I have known,” the script does convey her affection for the life of the convent and the fact that she was raised by the nuns, having been left at their doorstep. This is sweet. 

And, the fact that as a young woman she is drawn to the romantic and ultimately to the world is also nicely and accurately portrayed. Mother Superior, graciously understands this as she too read Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as a young girl of 17, “under different circumstances, of course.” 

Teresa’s love of music, poetry and literature adds to her humanity amid the convent atmosphere and its dedication to “perfection and the holy rule of the religious order.” 

A gust of wind also seems to have a role in this movie. But it is never really demonstrated clearly as to what it means. When a gust of wind occurs, change happens. 

Is this a symbol of the mystical? The script and the action between characters never says for sure. 

Like ‘Ben-Hur’ and other historical fiction stories, ‘The Miracle’ is based upon a previous film done in the silent film era. And it goes back to even an earlier version upon the stage by Karl Vollmoller, which he seems to have obtained from old European passion play type stories and legends of Medieval times. 

The fact that the outline of this story was done previously long ago, tells why the $3.5 million dollar production is so well-made. Cinematography, the movie is outstanding and the list of actors/actresses to fill a cast of over 91 people is impressive. 

But again, it is this vagueness and sweeping references that misses an important mark in story-telling. 

The tyrant Napoleon has caused British troops to make their way to Spain to push the French and Napoleon’s egocentric forces back in their place. As a battalion of British soldiers stop at the convent to get water, Teresa catches the eye of a young officer, Michael Stuart, played by Roger Moore. 

Baker’s simply beauty and Moore’s dashing charm are delightful to behold. Her distinctive voice and his elegant British accent are easy to listen to and the script adapted/written by Jean Rouverol and Frank Bulter serves them well. Together - Baker and Moore make the ideal couple for any paperback novel romance. 

More than just a stop for water brings them together. He is then wounded in battle with Napoleon’s forces and is back at the convent to be nursed to health by...you guessed it, Teresa. 

Yet, it is that “unseen” mystical element - that is an obstacle to their union. The conflict within Teresa between the romantic love she has for Michael and the mystical love she is believes in, is obvious. 

Her prayers for his safe return to Devon, England his home go with him as she stands firm on the belief in this “mystical” or “Divine” love. 

Yet, when romantic love takes hold, she rushes out to see him one last time in a gust of wind. Only to return to the convent chapel asking Our Lady of Miraflores to “show me a sign!” 

As Teresa prostrates herself on the stone floor of the chapel, asking for guidance a gust of wind stirs the skies to rain and disrobing her nun-like attire, Teresa ventures out into the storm to find Michael at the inn in the village town, waiting for her. 

But as she reaches the town, it is under siege by Napoleon’s men. Searching for Michael amid the chaos, she stumbles into a French soldier with lust on his mind. As he proceeds to have his way with Teresa, a gypsy woman appears. 

She saves Teresa from a terrible outcome in the arms of the brute and brings her to the gypsy camp in the hills above the valley. 

Right from the opening scene when the blessing of the animals takes place at the start of the movie, gypsies are present. They seem to symbolize the outside world and those on the fringes of a tightly-knit society. 

Actor, Walter Slezak is among the principal characters in the gypsy encampment. He provides not only integrity to the plight of the outcasts but a sense of humor and sharp wit. 

Teresa’s determination to find her beloved Michael is dashed when she learns from two of the gypsies that “an English officer was killed.” And, that his fine pocket watch (which Michael had shown to her while recuperating at the convent) was among the loot the gypsies had taken from the dead soldiers. 

Angry, upset and seemingly confused, Teresa denounces her faith, exclaiming “I am not a Christian!” 

Tattered and dusty, Teresa then finds herself between two brothers, rivaling for not only for stolen loot but also their mother’s love. The contrast between the earthy, bombastic, live-flesh and blood gypsy mother and the lofty Blessed Mary in the statue of Our Lady of Miraflores is striking. Especially, when the gypsy mother role is played by Katina Paxinou.

Her performance is electrifying as she is the type of actress who as one might say, “eats up the scenery.” Just her mere presence in the film without any dialog speaks volumes. 

Why she favors Guido over Carlito is not understood. Yet, she knows the naive Teresa is folly for her sons. And Guido wins the affection of a reluctant Teresa as he convinces her to marry him, albeit sort-notice. Her faith no longer as strong she agrees. 

Only, indadvertedly, Carlito’s jealousy brings the French to the gypsy camp to take his brother Guido away. Sadly, in Carlito’s short-sightedness he exposes the entire camp to danger and the vengeful French troops open fire on the people there. 

Guido is killed and Carlito is given a bag of gold as reward for Guido’s whereabouts as a wanted man. This then spurs the gypsy mother to disown her remaining son by shooting him on the spot. 

This distresses Teresa as she runs away from the gypsy camp and luckily finds help in the unlikely but shrewd gypsy Flaco, played by Slezak. Seeing her potential as a money-maker with Teresa’s gift of song and dance, they travel to Madrid. 

There she meets a handsome matador and then a kindly old gentleman-aristocrate who help Teresa and Flaco gain access to the stage as “Miraflores - the Gypsy dancer and singer.” 

What irks me most, is the fact that the script doesn’t really explain or try to illustrate the distinctions this young woman is making on a “spiritual journey” of sorts. 

The matador is killed in the ring while his back is turned from the bull. This is yet another “love” taken from her. But what type of love was it? It wasn’t the love she had for Michael. And, it wasn’t the affectionate passion she had for Guido. So, was it a compassion? Was the matador an orphan of sorts like she was? Was it that that attracted her to him? The script doesn’t say for sure. 

The old aristocrat Casimir is heart-broken when Teresa leaves abruptly with no goodbye. She respected him like a father, but yet, not enough to leave word as to her departure, why? 

To me, Flaco and the gypsy mother are the only characters that speak clearly and plainly about life and are direct with Teresa. Everyone else is subdued or yields to Teresa’s belief (as Michael does) in this “mystical love” or “divine” love or divine mercy the story claims is the theme. 

When the matador Cordoba is about to die, a mysterious wind kicks up, is this fate? Is this part of Our Lady Miraflores’ doing? It is not clear. Here again it is not exactly spelled out what the symbolism of the gust of wind actually means. 

When Michael and Teresa meet up unexpectedly, after Cordoba’s tragic death, their love is immediately and passionately rekindled. It picks up right where it left off. Both are happy. 

But when he tells of his experience being captured in the town while waiting at the inn for her; then escaping imprisonment, Michael mentions something unsettling. The statue of Our Lady of Miraflores is missing and a drought has befallen the valley. 

Right away Teresa’s mood changes, her demeanor which had been full of undying love, now is once again in distress. Why exactly?

What did this life at the convent really mean to her? How can she discern the missing statue is a “sign?” 

Michael is called away as his battalion is off to fight another skirmish with Napoleon’s forces. When the women say goodbye to their soldiers and officers, Teresa exclaims, “I can’t pray for him!” Why? The script is not clear. Yet, someone had to be praying for him as he faced certain danger. 

While on the battlefield, he is exposed to gunfire and cannons, one cannon explodes within inches of him. Yet Michael is unharmed. His helmet gives witness to the intensity of the blast that should have killed him. 

Yes, a miracle. But is this “The Miracle?” And, what about the mysterious disappearance of the statue and the Teresa in full habit as a professed nun that Michael saw when he returned to speak to Mother Superior to ask for Teresa’s hand in marriage? Is that “The Miracle?”

It is not clear. In reading some of the details provided by Wikipedia and other sources, it seems the production had problems. Namely, the film’s director, Irving Rapper. 

He and actress Carroll Baker did not get along. And, according to Baker, as director Rapper was very hard and harsh with Moore, the tempers on the set of the production was bumpy. She admitted to being difficult. But, it seems the director’s frustration must have impacted the finer details of the film. 

It has all the elements of a rich and colorful epic, with a tender romance too, just like in ‘Ben-Hur’ and ‘The Robe’ with Richard Burton and Jean Simmons. 

Yet, as I see it the sweeping and broad liberalities in which this story with its complexities is left to vagueness is not gratifying. At least not by today’s standards. Contemporary audiences would need plausible explanations. 

And, with regards to anything “spiritual or mystical” that too would have to have something tangible and earthy to make an audience suspend its disbelief, even if just for a brief but sweet romance.

Perhaps the missing aspects are expressed in the scenery, which surprisingly were filmed in California and makes the viewer feel as if they are right in old Spain. 

And, most importantly, the missing aspects are expressed in the music. Composer Elmer Bernstein’s magnificent score is a masterpiece. It expresses the fine-line between romance and harsh reality, between earthly love, expressed between a man and a woman and that hard-to-pin-down “mystical love,” that all religions, not just Catholicism speak about. 

“The Miracle” by Warner Brothers (1959) is available on VHS cassette tape and on DVD copy via the VHS release. Check online sources like eBay and others for details. 

Thoughts, reflections and musings by journalist Jonathan Farrell

[daxtcns]

was that TOM HOLLAND i saw at the polihua resort? no, it was just TWENTY ONE year old DAXTON ‘DAX’ REESE. HE is ENGAGED to CHRIS COLFER and have been for FOUR months. i heard they’re HOMOFLEXIBLE and is pretty into HAIR PULLING, DIRTY TALK & ROUGH SEX. i guess we’ll just have to wait and see. 

daxton was the son of two very famous actress, NAOMI REESE who had, for the most part, raised him with a little help from her friends while she herself rose to fame. her mother had him while she was very young and naive. his mother was on a famous television show, GOING DOWN, a show about the lives of recent high school graduates, which she had been herself. she was one of the the FOUR main cast members, and was known to be a bit of a partier off set. this led to a drunken hookup, which left her pregnant and unsure of where to go from there.  

after she broke the news, the cast and crew were happy to help her and since his mother had cut almost all of her ties with her family when she pursued her acting career the cast of GOING DOWN was some of the only family that he knew of.  the show went on for NINE seasons, earning each of the main cast members a ton of money, and setting them for life. 

however, his mother was determined to be known for more than her hit tv show, for which she earned TWO EMMYS and was nominated for FOUR altogether.  a few years after the show had ended, naomi had been starring in an array of movies, which landed her a few awards but her biggest one was when dax was around the age of eleven and his mother had FINALLY won an OSCAR for BEST ACTRESS. after that success, NAOMI REESE became a household name, cementing the family a place in everyone’s brains, and leading the boy to deal with paparazzi almost everywhere he had went back in CALIFORNIA. 

years down the road, daxton had starred in a few things but something still felt like it was MISSING, he wasn’t happy with acting like he had hoped he’d be. he got approached by a modeling agency when he was SEVENTEEN years old, and it was one of the best things that has ever happened to him. he continued to model and he never looked back.

it was through his MODELING CAREER that he met the love of his life, ATTICUS. the two had met at a mixer for influencers when he was eighteen, a few months shy of being nineteen and the two immediately hit it off. well, after the joke that the older male made about searching up images of his mother and doing some not so savory things. dax didn’t think about it too much and by the end of the night, the two were in bed together making an agreement that they work well together, but they don’t want to be TIED DOWN just yet.

that lasted for a while, until they both got a little jealous and decided that they were being idiots, and they kind of were perfect together. they dated for about two more years until they got engaged about two months before his twenty first birthday and the two couldn’t have been HAPPIER.

as far as his personality goes, dax is very HARD WORKING  and ENERGETIC. on the other hand, he can also be a little SECRETIVE after dealing with years of the paparazzi continuing to watch his every move but it doesn’t happen very often. he also has the tendency to be a bit OUTSPOKEN in things he believes in. in  the BEDROOM the brunette takes a very SUBMISSIVE role. he mostly sticks with guys, but on the rare occasion a girl catches his eye and INTRIGUES him.

[trendingnewsb]

15 Uplifting Movies You Can Watch to Beat the Blues

We all get into a slump once in a while. Maybe you were excited about a plan that fell through, or things have been stressful at work. Perhaps you took a risk and met rejection. Whatever the circumstances, you might feel completely unmotivated.

You can either wallow in your gloomy feelings, or you can work to make yourself feel better. I have a few go-to uplifting movies that I watch that always make me feel better.

The next time that you’re feeling down, watch a film from this list. You only need the energy to push “play” and these stories will work their magic on you. By the end of each one, you’ll be ready to leave the pity party and get back to doing the things that matter to you.

1. Sing Street

Sing Street (2016) takes us to Dublin in the 1980s, during a time when music videos are changing the way that people listen to pop music. The teenage protagonist, Conor, deals with a tense family situation and issues at school. He meets a girl and decides to impress her by telling her he’s in a band. The only problem is, he doesn’t have a band, and he doesn’t know much about music.

Conor’s story reminds us that we can make the best of a bad situation. Even though his home life and school were difficult, he boldly reshapes his future. He sets a vision, and he goes for it. Sing Street reminds us that when it comes to life, we can’t control everything, but we’re still in the driver’s seat.

Sing Street will remind you that you can manifest a better reality.

2. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off

Ferris Bueller fakes sick to skip school, but his principal suspects that he’s playing hooky. Ferris, his best friend, and his girlfriend have a wild adventure as they avoid Principal Rooney.

You’ll get a few laughs out of this film, but this classic has a deeper meaning. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986) reminds us that if we don’t stop to enjoy life, it will pass us by.

Be spontaneous, and watch Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

3. Little Miss Sunshine

A dysfunctional family rallies around 7-year-old Olive, who has an opportunity to compete in the Little Miss Sunshine Pageant. They take a road trip from New Mexico to California to reach the pageant, and it seems like everything that can go wrong does go wrong.

Little Miss Sunshine (2006) will make you laugh while it addresses complicated personal issues. In spite of all the troubles that the family has along the way, they are determined to help Olive reach her goals. This film reminds us to hang on to our dreams and support one another, even when the chips are down.

Let Little Miss Sunshine brighten to your day.

4. School of Rock

Dewey Finn is a loser living with former band member, Ned. Dewey is completely broke, and Ned is on the verge of throwing him out because he won’t pay his share of the rent. Dewey poses as Ned and takes a job as a substitute teacher at a stuffy private school. He teaches his students about rock music.

School of Rock (2003) shows us that our passions always have a place in our lives. Dewey loves music more than anything. Even though his band didn’t work out for him in the beginning, his talent and dedication to his craft paved the way for opportunities and adventures he couldn’t have imagined.

Watch School of Rock and rekindle your excitement about your unique talents.

5. The 40-Year-Old Virgin

Andy is a 40-year old nerd who has not lost his virginity. Even though he’s a nice guy, he’s just not had the opportunity to have sex, and as he gets older, being a virgin becomes more embarrassing for him. His friends attempt to help him meet a woman and lose his virginity, but the woman he falls for has other plans.

The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005) is a good reminder that you don’t have to live your life the way that everyone else does. You have to find what’s right for you, and in the end, everything will be okay.

The 40-Year Old Virgin lets you know that there’s nothing wrong with being unconventional.

6. My Neighbour Totoro

Two young girls and their father move into an old home to be closer to the girls’ mother, who is in the hospital. The sisters befriend spirits of the forest, who expose them to a beautiful supernatural world.

The girls have moved to a new home because their mother is in dire straits, but they find comfort and friendship among the spirits of the forest, including Totoro. My Neighbor Totoro (1988) shows us that even in the most challenging situations, there are places to find joy and hope.

Remember that our bonds with others can help us overcome adversity when you watch My Neighbor Totoro.

7. Babe

Farmer Hogget wins the piglet, Babe, at the county fair. Babe befriends the other creatures on Hoggett’s farm and grows especially close to border collie, Fly. Babe learns a special skill set from Fly, which makes him the first pig of his kind.

Babe was destined to be dinner, but his buoyant spirit and willingness to learn enable him to master a new skill. Babe (1995) shows us that it’s okay to be unique. Look for others who are willing to appreciate your dreams and help you grow, and you can achieve the impossible.

March to the beat of your own drum with Babe.

8. The Bucket List

Edward and Carter come from different backgrounds, but they are united by the common diagnosis of terminal cancer. The pair strike up an unlikely friendship as they set out to do all the things on their bucket list while they can.

When you watch The Bucket List (2007), think about what might be holding you back from the next great adventure. Every day above ground is a good day. Be open to trying new things to avoid stagnation.

Live life to the fullest when you watch The Bucket List.

9. Jumanji

Judy and Peter move into an old house with their aunt. They are learning to cope with the death of their mother, when they come upon a mysterious board game in the attic. The game turns their world upside down, and the only way to bring things back to normal is to finish the game.

Jumanji (1995) helps us remember the importance of finishing what we start. While you are unlikely to come upon a supernatural board game, you may be feeling gloomy because you haven’t been able to follow through on something that is important to you.

Play the Jumanji film when you need an adventure to break out of your slump.

10. Amélie

Amélie leads a sheltered life that gives her a naive and sweet perspective on love. After she sees the way that kindness affects others, she dedicates herself to making a positive difference in the world.

Amélie learns that in order to help people and actualize her positive vision for the world, she has to stand up for what she believes in. Her kindness and sense of justice are strengths– not weaknesses. When you’re feeling down, Amélie (2001) can give you a fresh new outlook on the world.

Let Amélie remind you that life is beautiful.

11. Juno

When 16-year-old Juno gets pregnant, she decides to give the baby up for adoption. She meets the child’s prospective parents and strikes up an interesting relationship with them. Meanwhile, she grapples with her feelings about the baby’s father.

Juno (2007) shows us that even when life throws us a curve ball, we can still find a way to make things work. When you’re honest with yourself and commit to doing the right thing, you can find peace and love in challenging times.

Watch Juno to remember that sometimes doing the right thing isn’t always easy, but it’s always worthwhile.

12. The Boss Baby

Tim spent the first seven years of his life as an only child, but all that changed when a baby destined for management at BabyCorp is accidentally placed in his home. The baby takes over Tim’s household. Tim is jealous, but he has to join forces with his baby brother.

Boss Baby (2017) has a star-studded cast of voice actors, and it’s sure to provide some levity on a tough day. Tim has to learn to overcome his dislike for his brother to combat a common enemy. Sometimes emotions can affect your ability to get things done, but if you view a problem objectively you can push forward for the greater good.

Let The Boss Baby remind you that staying focused and working as a team will make you stronger.

13. The Darjeeling Limited

Three brothers struggle to get along as they take a spiritual journey together after the passing of their father. As they make their trip, it becomes clear that they are all grappling with personal problems.

The Darjeeling Limited (2007) is quirky and funny, but it also has a dark side. The brothers learn that they must accept one another’s flaws and work together. This movie will remind you that everyone has a complex inner world that affects how they handle situations. If you’re feeling down because you’ve had a disagreement with someone, it might be worthwhile to think about why they hold a different perspective from you.

See what’s beneath the surface when you watch The Darjeeling Limited.

14. Rocky

When boxing nobody, Rocky Balboa, gets the chance to fight the champion, Apollo Creed, he knows that this is his opportunity to change his life. He must overcome his circumstances to train for his upcoming fight.

Rocky (1976) reminds us of the importance of doggedly pursuing our dreams. Even if it seems like you are facing something that’s nearly impossible to overcome, you don’t stand a chance unless you’re willing to step into the ring.

Watch Rocky when you need to have the eye of the tiger.

15. Step Up

Tyler hangs out with a bad crowd, and he gets caught vandalizing a performing arts school. His punishment consists of doing community service in the place that he vandalized. He gains a new respect for the arts and wants to become a student at the school, but he has to prove his worth first.

Step Up (2006) reminds us that we do not have to be defined by our circumstances. If you’re struggling because you feel like you came from the wrong side of the tracks, know that your dreams are still possible.

Watch Step Up when you need to break the mold.

When you’re feeling down, bust out the popcorn.

If you can’t bring yourself to do anything else, settle in to watch one of these uplifting movies. Each one can illuminate possibilities for you so that you can break out of your funk.

Save this list and refer back to it when you need to feel inspired.

The post 15 Uplifting Movies You Can Watch to Beat the Blues appeared first on Lifehack.

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