#IT'S THEATRE THEY'RE ACTING JUST PLAY PRETEND

[sins-of-the-sea]

//Not quite yet ready to work on things but listen-

Listen-

Cell Block Tango but with female muses.

I know I voiceclaimed Abena with Deidre Goodwin (June's actress) before and I still stand by it, but her story and vocal range is also very Velma Kelly so fuckit, someone else can be June. And now I am picturing the love interests of my own muses taking on other roles.

It's okay, you can shoot Phi in the head for popping gum or Rashid having six wives or have Gio walk into your kitchen knife ten times, they won't mind, they fucking love this shit in theatre.

[alivish]

Tsukasa 5th Event Predictions/Wishlist

So, with Mafuyu's 5th event it marks the 85th character focus event, which means we are 3 away from the 88th which we all know is Tsukasa's number. Even though that's probably 2 to 3 months away, I decided that I have sone predictions and I want to ramble. These are my predictions but it's also kind of a wishlist, so take these predictions with a grain of salt.

1. Story

Firstly, what will the events story be?

Most of Tsukasa's stories have been about his struggles as an actor.

On the Stage of Dazzling Light had Tsukasa play a character that was the complete opposite of him.

Towards the Phoenix at the Sky's Edge had Tsukasa struggle to play Rio and face his inferiority.

A Story Where You Are the Star had Tsukasa play what amounts to a background character as if they were a real person.

3/4 of his events revolve around his capability as an actor. I could see this trend continuing, possibly with film or television acting because Rui's 4th event did explore the film industry.

But that would make 4/5 of Tsukasa's event about his capability as an actor and while that is what his 5th event is probably going to be about I want something a bit different.

Wonderlands x Showtime disbandment Tsukasa POV.

Project Sekai has been kind of dancing around WxS disbandment, they've made Rui and Emu events about it, but they've never had the characters talk about when it's going to happen. I want Tsukasa's 5th event to be when they finally confront it and talk about disbanding.

The only issue with this is that I think it might be a bit too early for this cause they might want to stretch it out for a bit longer, but on the other hand their third years and world link has happened so this might be the perfect time to start the disbandment arc.

In this theoretical event, someone could tell Tsukasa that in order to achieve his goal of stardom WxS is going to have to disband or he gets an offer to join an actual theatre troupe once he graduates but there's no guarantee that WxS will be with them. The important thing is something or someone is going to force Tsukasa to think about leaving WxS.

And he thinks about it, WxS is trying so hard to stick together, they've even become freelance to extend their time together, but at what point does staying together stop them from achieving their dreams?

Tsukasa, Nene, and Rui have to leave WxS, insisting on staying together is going to limit their prospects as actor and director.

He doesn't talk to WxS cause Tsukasa doesn't really talk about his problems, they're probably preparing for a show of some sort and Tsukasa realizes how much he doesn't want WxS to disband.

At some point he'll go to the Wonderland SEKAI alone and talk to the virtual singers and then he'll finally admit that he has to leave WxS.

This time unlike in other WxS disbandment events Tsukasa will actually talk to WxS about it and say he's leaving, probably like once he graduates or something.

He tells them he doesn't want it to end either, but it's best for all of them to achieve their dreams. He says that they all know that the day will come when it'll all end and instead of fearing it and pretending that it won't come, they should enjoy every moment of it that's left and move forward with a smile on their face.

It ties in really well to a line in Fillament Fever, "There's no more fear for the unforseeable tomorrow."

Plus it'll lead to Nene and Rui's events very well, with Rui dealing with the fact that WxS will have to actually come to an end instead of being able to just push it off and Nene having to deal with that while also dealing with the fact that Tsukasa seems to be moving much faster than she is.

Again, this might be too early for them to actually talk about disbanding, but this is also a wishlist for a reason.

2. Cards

I want a lim Tsukasa focus and I do think there's a possibility that it'll happen.

June will have Colorfes so it'll be a mixed lim.

July has L/n World Link, the 86th character focus, and a mixed lim.

August has the Virtual Singer World Link, the 87th character focus, and the 88th character focus.

The only character focus lim we've had this year was An back in April, so getting another one on August isn't too out there.

However July and August are just guesses, for all I know they could make the 87th character focus a lim on July or have another mixed lim on August. It's all just speculation.

But I'll be talking about this as if we're getting a lim set.

Firstly, I want this sets theme to be the end of the world, because it marks the beginning of the end.

Something like an overgown city would be nice, one that's been abandoned to the point that nature has reclaimed it.

4 Stars: Tsukasa, Emu, Rui

3 Star: Nene

2 Star: Virtual Singer

Tsukasa has 6 lim hairstyles, while Emu and Rui only have 5. Minori has 7 so it's certainly possible.

Well anyway I those 3 as the 4 star is because it's Tsukasa's event and Emu and Rui have had events dealing with WxS breaking up while Nene has not.

I'm just going to describe the 4 star cards vaguely just to get the idea out there.

Rui's trained card would have an expression similar to the one in his 3rd focus event but more emotional is the best way I could describe it. He'd look more hesistant, conflicted, and generally unhappy at the end of the world, but also with a hint of longing for a time long gone.

Emu would have a wistful smile, she's accepted what's happened but she also yearns for the past.

Tsukasa would look content, he has a look of acceptance on his face that the world has ended. The best way I can describe it is that he's found a reason to smile at the end of the world.

Also I imagine this cardset will take place at night, so it'll be mostly dark except for like some sort of fire lighting them up.

3. Producer

So I'm a pretty casual vocaloid fan, I know all the popular producer but not that much of the less mainstream ones. But here are 3 producers that I think could be asked to make Tsukasa 5th commision.

1. Hachi

This isn't going to happen. I do not think that the PJSK team could get Kenshi Yonezu, Japan's most popular singer, to commision a song for them and if they did it'd probably be an anniversary song or a VBS commision, but a man can dream and I think Hachi could make a banger Tsukasa commision.

2. Wotaku

Wotaku is definitely going to make a commision song at some point, it's just a matter of when and for who. Most likely N25 or VBS, but since this theoretical event is WxS disbandment and the card set is based on the end of the world I feel like it could fit. Also Wotaku makes some pretty jazzy songs and as of recent Tsukasa's commisions have been leaning that way.

3. KANON69

PJSK GIVE ME A KANON69 COMMISION ALREADY!

I like KANON69 and they're popular enough and have been around long enough to be offered to make a commision song, so I want it to happen. KANON69's jazz is immaculate and is a perfect fit for WxS, they can make both whimsical songs and songs with a somewhat sinister undertone, they can do both in one song. Anyway KANON69 is an amazing producer and I could be wrong about everything here, but if KANON69 is commision for Tsukasa's 5th event I will be happy.

[herbgroom]

stupid AUs I came up with

everything is a convoluted romcom plot

cw for burakhovsky

- everything starts with isidor thinking, hey my son is in that special age where he's supposed to get married and give me grandkids

- oh right he likes boys

- well I still want him settled down

- so isidor starts flipping through science and medicine magazines, treating them like a tinder gallery basically, looking for palpable bachelors

- he finds one, he looks a bit quirky with his funny coat and his obsession with death, but hey, no one is perfect

- he starts corresponding with this guy, pretending he's oh so interested in his Grand Thanatology Project

- The Plan Begins

- he offhandendly mentions that he knows an immortal dude, who so happens to live in his town, how convenient!

- in the meantime he sends a letter to artemy telling him that he needs to come back Right Fucking Now

- isidor goes to his most trusted collaborator, mark immortell, a big fan of big and convoluted things

- he tells him that they need to stage a huge catastrophic event so those two idiots are brought together by the nefarious circumstances and fall in love or something

- mark is Ecstatic

- he rounds up every woman, man and child in town

- the townsfolk are also fans of big scale performances (it's a town of theatre kids, basically)

- only the children need a bit of convincing, but he bribes them with a sack of nuts

- grief and his gang of bandits are really an unhinged group of improv actors

- clara also is a super enthusiastic theatre person who's a bit too into method acting

- so the two Victims arrive in town, and the play begins

- everyone has roles to play, georgiy for example, has to pretend he has an identical twin who was murdered just before the arrival of this so called bachelor of medicine, oh no! what a tragic coincidence!

- isidor also "disappears," but he's really helping mark from the backstage

- some guys are actually instructed to rough up artemy a little, for "realism's sake" (mark's words) but they leave fake weapons around for the healers to find and "use" (each person in town carries a patch of fake blood so the two feel good about killing them)

- time for the Big Plot Event

- mark and isidor instruct the people to pump up dust and ashes up their chimneys to simulate the plague, put red paint on the buildings, so on

- some people have to play the role of the infected, hey not everyone can have the big roles

- through the placebo effect and gaslighting, the Victims really believe there's a Plague Going On

- and lo and behold they meet

- oh daniil is dropping the two hands line

- oh he's already in love

- hm

- what now

- "the show must go on!" mark cries, he's not stepping down from the biggest and most beautiful project he's ever put on stage

- so they double down on the plague thing

- mark even calls over aglaya, an ex understudy of his, who then also calls block, who used to be in a production of Six Characters In Search Of An Author with her back in the capital. they pretend to be the big baddies from the government or something

- the twelfth day comes to an end and the Victims both think they've got a solution to the plague

- they're invited to the cathedral

- surprise!! it's a wedding!!

- daniil strangles isidor

- the end

[pynkhues]

The reunion scene really just packs such an overwhelming punch. It's just such deep, visceral emotion. And it's not just, oh they're crying--I'm sure we've all seen scenes with actors crying a lot where you're left cold. So it's the writing and the acting just getting to such a raw nerve kind of place. I could go on about all the little moments I love, and I REALLY want to read your longer thoughts on the scene, but Sam's voice breaking like that on "Did you hurt yourself" lanced through me so intensely the first time I heard it, and it gets me every time. For someone with such a deep voice (both Sam and Lestat lol), to be so overwhelmed with emotion that he loses control of his voice completely....just, wow.

I am SO so so so excited to read your reunion fic, you have no idea. :)

It's everything to me, anon!! It really is just so loaded with emotion, but I also think what makes it so cathartic and resonant is that it really feels like the culmination of these two seasons, both in the sense of Louis' arc, but in the connection these two characters have. It's so, so affecting, and I promise, I'll finish my big post on it soon, haha.

And thank you!! I am hoping to post my reunion fic today (although I'm also out for half the day to have lunch with friends and see a Q&A screening of Memoir of a Snail which I am very excited about), but have the opening scene (and maybe a little bit of the scene that follows ;-):

-

It had been a gloomy fall for London in 1958 when Louis and Armand had gone to see the play.

The decision itself had marked a - - transition for them. After all, Louis hadn’t found himself inside a playhouse since he’d burnt the Théâtre des Vampires and all those who tread her boards to the ground, lucky, perhaps, in that he’d never felt a real inclination for the stage, although he knew Armand still held the artform close with something akin to fondness. In fact, Armand had made a point in those years of regularly attending the West End during their stays at their Chealsea apartment, Broadway the summers they’d spend in their Manhattan townhouse, keeping careful track of productions across both professional and amateur venues. The spectacle of his former career turned specter as he haunted the stages, documenting in the little pocketbook he’d carry with him his thoughts and observations, collecting playbills and programmes, newspaper clippings and ticket stubs with the care of an archivist, documenting a landscape dominated by new musicals and post-war dramas, and by the rise and fall of flush-faced stars.

For a time, Armand had tried to keep this from him. Had been sensitive to the events of Paris and inclined to, publicly at least, make Louis’ interests his own. He’d read the books Louis was reading, attend the gallery showings Louis was attending, travel to the sweating, flyover, working towns Louis would and pretend to see the potential in them that Louis did, and Louis had been amused in part, but bored in almost every other. The feeling of speaking to his own echo dulling his senses as the years wore on to the point that it had almost been a relief, that night in ’56, when Armand let slip that he’d been moved by a new musical – The King and I, at Broadway’s St. James Theatre.

They’d fought, of course. Bitterly and fretfully and Louis can admit cruelly, but it had felt good to fight. Felt like the lick of a flame to a snowed-in life, a heat to thaw the ice of his frigid, shiftless mood, and his temper had risen with his voice as Armand used words like patient and over and almost a decade before they settled it in bed. A rough hand and an open mouth and Armand had played penance like the worst actor in his old revue.

Still, a seal had been broken, and Armand had taken to mentioning his attendance at the Winter Garden Theatre and The Stoll – Kismet and The Water Gipsies and hammy dramas that would last only the blink of a season – and soon Louis was deaf to it again. Found the hurt and irritation didn’t spike for long, but rather blunted through its repetition, which perhaps had been Armand’s intent all along, because one night, he left out the paper on an advertisement for Peter Brook’s The Tempest, set to premiere at Theatre Royal on Drury Lane.

And Louis couldn’t say why he said yes, why he agreed to accompany Armand that night. If it was to shock him or to acknowledge his patience or stir another fight, if it was even to try and set the events of Paris behind him, but he’d quiffed his hair and donned his Roman suit, and settled into the fine red velvet seats of the Theatre Royal with the hope of being moved in any direction at all.

And it had, is the thing. Moved him. Just not in the way he’d expected, nor in the hours, because as the lights had dimmed, the sound had started. A loud rumble of thunder and sudden slope of rain, the theater shaking with the affect of a storm, the sort that avoided London’s dreary isle as it set sail for a newer world, and oh, how the actors had tumbled onto the minimally laid stage. One, two, then several more, rolling around the boards as if on a ship, battling the elements as they tried to secure the hatches, and in the moment of it, Louis wasn’t in his seat in the London theater at all.

No, suddenly, with the wail of weather and the shuddering curtains around the stage, Louis was nine-years-old again and home in Louisiana, chasing after his daddy as he boarded up doors and windows. Louis was fifteen, wind cutting at his cheeks as he hauled a babbling Paul in from what he promised wasn’t any sort of rapture, twenty-four between Jonah’s trembling adolescent legs, down in the liquor cellar beneath the colored hotel off Bourbon Street, thirty-three in flesh, thirty-eight in years, exasperated, hammering nails into plywood and spitting fury at Lestat, who danced through the house like a hurricane all his own, feeding off the weather outside, and - - oh, it hadn’t been fury at all. Not when Lestat had his hands on his, pulling him close, the bright sparking look in his eyes catching in Louis’ own, and Lestat was new to this, new to hurricanes, but it wasn’t dread or terror in his eyes, but enchantment and so much fuckin’ love, and the way he’d said it. Louis, this wild, wonderful city of yours, she’d have us hear her tonight! as he pulled him in for the dance, it - -

Fuck.

And it’s that, is the thing. That that has Louis scrambling up in his seat, yanking at his tie, shoving past the legs of pestered patrons, desperate, suddenly, for the still, the quiet, the drizzly tepidness of London air.

He bursts out the aisle and beelines for the exit, flinging open the theater doors, struggling to catch a breath he doesn’t need to take. He rounds Drury Lane, tries to let the bustle of the people, the honk of car horns, the autumnal chill chew him up and spit him back out into this moment. Stick him steady here in this spot, and he doesn’t even realize he’s crouched on the sidewalk, head in hands, until he feels the weight of Armand’s touch on his shoulder, fingers clutching in a pale offer of comfort.

“Too soon, perhaps,” Armand says gently, and Louis shakes his head, holds onto the thread of Armand’s voice, tries to will it into an anchor.

“No, it’s not the theater, it’s the show,” he wets his lips, takes a breath. “It reminded me of the hurricanes, that’s all. Back home. A lot of memories tied up in all of that.”

Armand’s hand curls a little tighter around Louis’ shoulder, and for a moment, Louis thinks that it’s working. That maybe Armand’s presence here, now, is enough to steady him. To ground him here on the street, among the puddles and the passerbys, that the feeling of being very far from home yawning awake in his chest is nothing that can’t be put back to sleep with a walk, a drink, a fuck in the dewy grass of the park he sometimes picks up in. At that, he feels Armand shift above him, the thought heard, perhaps, and Louis raises a hand to cup the back of Armand’s in an approximation of a comfort returned. Armand could be the fuck in the dewy grass. If he wanted to be.

“We could go there together,” Armand says, and Louis’ surprised Armand would suggest it – he typically prefers their bed – only that’s not what he means at all. “To your New Orleans. It would be good, perhaps, to revisit the places of your mortal life, the places you worked, the - - ”

“Should we revisit your old whorehouses too?” Louis bites, offense at even the suggestion struck like a match in an instant. Above him, Armand’s jaw clicks shut, and the wet breath of regret snuffs out the flame of Louis’ temper almost as fast as it had been lit. He shakes his head, pushing out of his crouch to stand.

He looks over, takes in Armand’s blank expression, his amber eyes carefully guarded, and frowns apologetically.

“I’m sorry,” he says, softening his voice, even if the thought of Armand in New Orleans has his toes curling in his brogues. “I didn’t mean that. You’re just - - you’re not to go there, you hear me? Don’t know how she’d treat you.”

It’s a cool look that Armand returns to him, tilting his head to the side, inquiring, dark curls slicked back like he’d often wear them in Paris, and Louis finds himself carefully drawing up those early memories – of his father, and Jonah, and Paul, of juddering windows and roaring grey skies and Grace’s little hand in his and - -

“You’re thinking of him,” Armand tells him coldly, seeing through Louis’ ruse, and Louis stares back at him.

A blink and it all slips to nothing but him as he falls on top of Lestat in his coffin, the creamy silk lining offsetting the pink flush on Lestat’s cheeks, the roof above them shuddering, walls shaking, glass shattering somewhere downstairs, but then - - Lestat’s mouth. Open, warm, wet beneath his, fangs sharp as Louis slides his tongue beneath them to lick his way inside.

His pulse, now, a jackhammer in his chest.

“I’m thinking about the hurricanes back home,” Louis tells Armand, frank. “That’s all.”

*

It’s like a matryoshka doll, Louis thinks now, memories inside of memories, the past a rope that can never be unknotted, and it shouldn’t matter, not now, not when the floor is juddering beneath them, the walls cracking, the lights flickering, because this is not their house on Rue Royale, steady and sandbagged and half-boarded up, and Lestat’s not dancing down hallways, he’s trembling in his arms, and it doesn’t take all that history to know this place isn’t going to hold.

“We gotta get out of here,” Louis yells, pushing a little at Lestat’s waist to give them a degree of separation. Just enough distance to breathe again, but Lestat’s not looking at him, head still dropped, hair a limp, yet still-golden veil around his face, and Louis has to resist the urge to shake him to get him to see what’s happening around them. Instead, he just says: “Lestat.”

[alpineshift]

Oooh Nico/Jack bullet fic prompt: 29. “Don’t lie to me. I was there.”  Make it angsty maybe? PLEASE

Thanks! 💕

🫡 on it boss

29. “Don’t lie to me. I was there.” 

The silence inside the dark tower room is stifling.

Nico's standing by the window at the back of the room, hands tucked into his pockets. Jack knows he's hiding his clenched fists. He lounges against the corner of that enormous desk, feigning nonchalance. His gut churns.

"Are you just gonna stand there and brood all evening, or did you call me here for a reason?"

Nico turns, and his face is cold as marble. Oh, Jack has pissed him off. That was the goal, but, fuck, it's still scary to see Nico Hischier's wrath fixed on him.

"You're too smart to play dumb, Jack. You know what this is about. Explain to me what I saw at the national theatre that night, and tell me why I had to find out through the grapevine that you're talking business with the New York factions."

Hook. Line. "I talked to a lot of people that night. It's a social, Hischier, you're supposed to mingle. I don't know who you think I was chatting with, but--"

"Don't lie to me. I was there." Jack's jaw clacks shut, and he watches Nico walk slowly around the desk, stopping an arm's length away. Jack's heart hammers in his chest. What would he do? "Maybe it's my fault for never stating it outright, but the implications of us together meant your loyalty to the Jersey faction. Is that not the case?"

Us together. What a loaded sentence. Jack pretends to check his nails, all while keeping an eye out on Nico beside him, just in case he decides to swing. "You know, NY did just scoop up all that sweet, unchartered territory in the Eastern Conference. It would be silly of me to not show an interest, no? They're the kings of the jungle right now."

Sinker. It's the right words to say to push Nico's buttons. The sting of losing out on everything east of their boundary line is still fresh, and if he wants to incite Nico's hatred, Jack's gotta push him to his limits.

That being said, the words work a little too well.

"Get out," Nico says, so softly, so cruelly, it feels like falling asleep on top of a nail-stuffed goose-feather pillow. Jack's heart falls into the pits of his stomach, then drops out and rolls across the floor into the dark. "Get out, Hughes, and don't you ever darken my fucking doorstep again. If you do, you won't leave a second time."

Jack doesn't need to be told twice.

His boys are waiting a block away like he'd told them to, slouching against the car outside in spite of the drizzly, misty rain. They snap to attention when Jack appears around the corner. "Get in. We're leaving tonight."

"What, that's it?" Cole sputters. "What the fuck happened upstairs? I was expecting you to come down with blood all over you or something. And if not that, you breaking and spilling your guts to him."

Jack scowls and throws himself in the driver's seat. "My plan worked, like I said it would."

"He brought it?" Trevor asks, skeptical.

"He brought some version of it," Jack shrugs, through what feels like a mouthful of glass. "He's mad enough at me right now that he's not going to question us leaving, so let's go. We're burning daylight, and we have a rat to smoke out with our neighbours across the river."

"I don't get it," Cole mutters as they drive off, so quietly Jack almost misses it. "Guy's basically in love with you and he's just letting you go like this? He's either bluffing or you're too good at acting, Jacky."

Trevor gives him a sharp side-eye, but Jack ignores him.

He won't think about that. Not right now. Not when he's got to do this for Nico.

[bluejay-writes]

MysticTober 2024 - Day 16: Look a this Photograph

Rating: G Prompt: Zen/OC & Theatre WordCount: 1720 Summary: Autumn finally makes it back to Korea to watch her childhood best friend act her favorite role. But will Zen even remember her? Author's Notes: (Yes, it is a day late. You caught me.) I've been sitting on this concept awhile. It's also a callback to Day 6's fic "I knew him", honestly they're probably the same timeline. I'm a huge fan of these idiots. I'll probably write more about them later.

“Zen! Two minutes to curtain.”

The actor smiled, placed a kiss on his fingers and then touched the faded photo tucked into his dressing room mirror. It was his pre-show ritual, sending his love to his best friend before he took to the stage to become someone else entirely.  He hadn’t seen her since grade school, when her family moved overseas. Hell, he hadn’t heard from her even, they didn’t have cell phones back then, and even if he had… there was no way her parents would have allowed her to stay in touch. They disapproved of their friendship from the very first day. Even after her parents divorced, her father had been even more adamant that they not associate with each other.

In hindsight, Zen knew that he’d been in love with her. Puppy love. Ten-year-old love. But that didn’t make it less, in his eyes. Knowing her had helped him feel his way through so many roles.  This role had been her favorite character in any play - he’d heard the soliloquies so many times from her on the playground, while she was trying to put on an old english accent and just sounded pretend posh instead. He hadn’t cared, then, happy to play along with whatever scene she’d bring up, even if it meant playing Ophelia to her Hamlet.

He’d auditioned for Hamlet every single time there was a show. It was his very first audition, and it may have taken years, but he finally landed the starring role.  She’d never know, but that was fine. This role is for her.

Autumn fidgeted in her seat.  Thanks to her contact with one of the Directors at C&R, she’d managed to reserve a seat in one of the boxes, the perfect view of the stage. Rested on her lap was a bouquet of flowers she’d picked out especially, knowing just how sensitive to scents that Hyun had been when they were young. Beautiful, but not overwhelming.  Coming to this show had been a risk, but one that she couldn’t avoid.  Her father had been adamant that she not come back to Seoul after they’d moved, but he would never explain why.  If she tried telling him that she was going to come out for one of Zen’s shows, he would alternate between getting angry and simply scheduling something that she couldn’t weasel her way out of over top of it.  Now that she was a grown woman, however, there was nothing he could do to stop her.  Sure, he’d protested her going “overseas” by herself, but he couldn’t really argue when she had a full itinerary planned out, most of which was business contact work with a few “leisure times” planned, like this one.

She took a deep breath, wondering if the other seat in the small box would fill - and after a few moments her curiosity was rewarded by the Director himself coming in and settling next to her. “Good evening, Miss Jones.” He raised a single eyebrow at the flowers, but did not immediately ask about them. “I couldn’t reserve simply half the box, and I’d hate to see the ticket go to waste.”

“Good evening to you as well, Mr. Han.” Autumn smiled.  “Ah, so that is why you asked if I was bringing a second person?” She hadn’t considered that he might need to reserve the entire box. Ah well, being a fan of the theatre wasn’t something that she’d be looked down on for, here at least.

“Indeed.” He said with a small smile. “I am pleased you did not have a companion tonight, as I had been hoping to make time to see this particular show again.”

“Again?” Autumn was surprised. Hamlet wasn’t that popular, despite being Shakespeare, that someone of his caliber would make time to see it twice in a single run.

“One of my personal friends is a cast member.  I find the serious tone of the Shakespeare work suits their fine acting abilities better than the romances and modern dramas they’ve been cast in of late due to their looks. Dare I suggest you might also be here to see a specific performer?” He gestured to the flowers on her lap and she smiled, knowing he’d bring them up at his earliest opportunity.

“Yes, a friend I haven’t seen since I was a child. My business finally brought me here while he was performing.”

The lights dimmed, and Mr. Han smiled and gestured to the stage. “Enjoy, Miss Jones. I know I will.”

Intermission rolled around, and Zen emptied his water bottle, his mind spinning.  He’d managed a glance up at the boxes, like he usually did during that scene. He liked to know when his friends were going to surprise him at the stage door, but today was different.  He could tell immediately that Jumin had reserved his usual box, but the person with him had bright bright red hair.  Seven had never come with Jumin to a play, and the only other person he knew with hair that particular shade of red lived halfway around the world.  He supposed it was possible that Jumin was on a blind date with someone unfortunately fortunate enough to have that particular shade of red hair, or that he’d gotten Seven to attend by letting him wear one of his girly cosplays, but… Ugh. It was getting to his head. Why did he look at the boxes again? Oh right. Not being surprised by the RFA. At least there wasn’t a mop of blonde up there. Yoosung liked to surprise him by tackling him with a hug. The paparazzi loved to speculate about their relationship. At least Jaehee managed to talk him out of it when she was there. For his reputation. But then he got double hugs at the next meeting, so at least he wasn’t hurting the boy’s feelings too badly.

.

Autumn looked to her box-mate when the lights came up for intermission. Before she could say anything, he spoke. “You’re here for Zen.”

She felt her cheeks go pink, and cursed her pale, freckled skin. “I am.”  There was no point in denying it, the man could follow her to the stage door and get the answer that way if he wanted to.

“I didn’t know Zen kept in touch with any of his childhood friends.”

Autumn considered for a moment and then came to the only conclusion that made sense with the information that she had.

“Zen’s your personal friend then, Mr. Han?”

He smiled, and nodded. “Call me Jumin, if you would. I don’t feel a need to be formal in a social outing.”

She laughed at that. “Very progressive of you. You may call me Autumn, if you’d like.  Just don’t think that’ll distract me from the fact that you know Zen. How is he doing? Thriving, I hope.”

“Hm.” Jumin said, a soft thoughtful sound, more a placeholder than anything else. Autumn didn’t expect him to tell her much of anything, she was a stranger who only claimed to be a childhood friend, after all. “I would say he’s doing well, but he doesn’t say a lot about himself, for as much as he talks about himself.”

Autumn smiled sadly. So he still had that mask on after all this time?  She’d seen it around their parents when they were younger, but he’d at least been able to be his joyful, free self around her back then.

“Sounds like Zen.” She said quietly, as the lights once again dimmed for the play to resume.

Zen was exhausted. It had been a great show, closing night, and he just knew there would be a mob at the stage door tonight.  He was half tempted to pull Jumin into a paparazzi-breaking kiss just to get himself out of having to deal with all of the people.  But he respected his friend far too much to endanger his reputation just to get out of one night of handshakes and autographs.  Maybe he’d be up for a late dinner, or… no, he was probably here with a date. He couldn’t rely on Jumin to get out of this one.  He slipped his trademark coat on, and then tucked his lucky photo back in his pocket. Time to face the music.

.

Autumn bounced on her toes.  Next to her, Jumin chuckled. “You’re nervous. Don’t be. He’ll be here. He knows better than to run off on nights I’m here.”

Autumn gave Jumin a look.  This may not have been only the second time he saw Hamlet.  Did he just have that box reserved for the whole season? The whole show run?  She would likely never know, as it would be wildly impolite to ask.  They hung back, letting the fans who’d come out get their time with Zen before they monopolized his attention.

Eventually, the crowds had thinned out, and they stepped up to where Zen was casually leaning against a railing, waiting for Jumin with an eyebrow raised. “Jumin Han.” He greeted, when they were close enough. Autumn might have been hiding behind the flowers a bit. She was so nervous, even though Jumin told her she didn’t need to be. She hadn’t seen Hyun in a decade. She was terrified that he wouldn’t want to see her again, or wouldn’t recognize her after so long.

“Zen. Miss Jones here has some flowers for you.”  Not “My companion” or “business associate” even, he was carefully not laying any claim, Autumn noticed. Interesting.

Autumn held out the flowers, revealing her face as she did so. There was nowhere left to hide.

Zen took a preparatory breath before taking the flowers, and even then he noticed they were surprisingly not fragrant.  Had Jumin helped her choose, or… Wait a damn minute.

“Autumn Jones as I live and breathe.” Zen said, tearing up.  He handed the flowers blindly to Jumin, and then was wrapping his arms around her in the tightest hug known to mankind, lifting her off of her feet and spinning her around.

“Been awhile, Hyun.” She said, her voice hoarse from tears, but also full of laughter.  Why did she think he wouldn’t recognize her?  She shut her eyes against the oncoming tears just in time, as they were bombarded with hundreds of flashes from paparazzi cameras.

Gossip Weekly: Zen dating? It’s more likely than you think. People: Revealed: Jumin’s Fiance A! News: Mystery Woman to break up Zen/Jumin? Fans cry out “Get your claws off our Zenjumin!” The Daily: Love Triangle Woes: Will the mystery woman choose Zen’s fame, or Jumin Han’s money? The Herald: Who is the mystery woman? The Times: Mystery woman unmasked; Who is Autumn Jones? Business Weekly: Autumn Jones back in Korea? What does this mean for C&R? SK Money: Possible merger between C&R and Jones Financial has stock traders worried.

[allykakamatsu]

Part 2 of my brain being unhinged.

As I said last time, this is the basic lore run down for my KH X GI au because I have a problem.

Basics: Like I said last time, the basic run down is that Sora ended up in Teyvat instead of Quadratum, so now Riku and Kairi are going there to try find him, however the power that sent them there also dragged a good few of the others along for the ride. What I didn't mention last time is that Teyvat is like Quadratum in the sense that is very difficult to get into, so as an 'entry fee' to get in they're not allowed to leave until 'peace has been restored', aka until the plot is over.

Visions: The interesting part, I know the whole group is Descenders and realistically couldn't get a Vision, but it's my au so I'm gonna twist the rules and say for a reason the gang isn't aware of they can get them. Everyone can still use their regular powers though, and a good few characters won't even have a Vision by the time the main team catches up with them. Because of this, Vision's don't have to match the characters associated element and are instead given based on a trait they show when they unlock their ambition, for example Elrena is going to have an Anemo Vision alongside her usual lightning powers. I'm mostly basing my decisions off of this post as it gives a good case for a unifying trait of all the elements.

Keyblades: Every nation is going to be treated as it's own world basically, so after completing the Archon Quest every Keyblade wielder who was present get's a new Keyblade to play around with. Part of this was for rule of cool, the other was because drawing Destiny's Embrace made it very clear I had to get people more options so I don't have to murder my hand drawing some of these things. Also, not gonna say who or when yet, but certain Genshin characters are gonna get Keyblades as well, some intentionally, a lot by accident-

Princesses of Heart: Like I said, every nation is gonna be treated like it's own world, so every nation is gonna have one of Teyvat's Seven Princesses of Heart, though in this case Princess is more of a gender neutral term as a girl, guy or anything in between can be one of the Princesses.

Is the main plot gonna have any changes: Not gonna spoil what specifically is gonna change, but the KH gang being in the plot is gonna spawn a lot of changes, some out of necessity so the KH crew don't steamroll the plot, other things I changed because I think they would be neat, and some changes were purely because the plot desperately needed some ironing out in areas (spoilers but not really, Inazuma is gonna be changed the most-)

Characters: Gonna have some character focused posts later but for now I’ll just go over the basics of where everyone starts out.

Riku and Kairi start in Mondstat, with Ienzo also being along for the ride.

Naminé is assisting Albedo up in Dragonspine

Lea/Axel is working for Beidou so she can get him and Roxas to Inazuma, meanwhile Roxas is more or less just Vibing with the Liyue kids.

Isa is working for Yae at the Shrine to help him and Xion, meanwhile Xion herself is pretending to just be a helpful random girl but is actually with the resistance.

Repliku is vibing in the Saberuz theatre with Nilou cause he as nothing else to do, and Vanitas is making questionable life choices yet again (he’ll get better I swear-)

Sora um… he’s complicated, but let’s just say he isn’t tied to any one nation and he’s having a not great time-

Laurium and Elrena are both members of Spina di Rosula, however the former is also the part time tea party planner to Furina and the latter spends her free time helping the twins with their act.

There’s still more but I wanna leave them a surprise so I’ll get back to them later.

That's about everything I can thing of for now, I'll be posting more art and tidbit's about this au soon, so hope you all enjoy, and here's some concept art just so this post doesn't look too boring.

[penroseparticle]

Penrose Song of the Day Day 42: Queen Mab from Bare

Do you like Musicals? Do you enjoy feelings? You might not be alone! Theatre kids are ravenously waiting in the wings (heh) to discuss their favorite version of a cast recording or what shows they've seen live.

I don't want you to read this one, sorry. This one was just for me.

There are countless, countless musicals out there. Some you've heard of, some you know from pop culture. You will form opinions that no one agrees with, and care about things no one else does. Here are a few opinions with no source whatsoever, haha what are you talking about: Les Mis sucks, Company rules, and Bare is probably the most personal, important musical- so much so that talking about it to other people is not to be done. Because what if they're mean about it.

If you have never heard of Bare, a quick breakdown: Two catholic school boys are in love. One of them dies of a drug overdose. You are welcome to eyeroll right now, it's ok. When you're 18, things need to be very very direct, you see. Because you're a dumb idiot. Many people are tired of Christian nonsense as well. I am keeping this one, though. Sorry.

Is Bare good? Yes, ultimately. It does have some... shall we say, products of its time. It doesn't pretend it's not a musical but it's from that similar school to like, Spring Awakening, you know? It's tackling tough issues! There are guitar riffs!!!

What it is most successful at is that it's a musical ABOUT a musical being put on. The kiddos are doing a rendition of Romeo and Juliet (barf), and the framing story has some successful (and some slightly more opaque) parallels between characters. But the way the Shakespeare parts are sung. Something in there feels. Transformative? Inventive? It's not how it sounds spoken- hearing a Shakespeare play put on with love and care is an experience, let yourself have one as a treat- but rather it did a much more interesting reformatting into a musical theatre framework. Auditions is a great showcase of the work done by Jon and Damon. That was almost today's song. It's frenetic. It's got a strong backing drumline. It's got competition for the roles, people cutting over each other, it feels cutthroat somehow. Differing delivery styles, beautiful layering. Intercuts of comedy and drama. The little bit at the end where Diane Lee gets cast because her dad has a camcorder... so true to high school drama. Chefs Kiss.

It's a great early first act song- sets up the tensions between Peter and his Mom, Jason and Peter, Jason and Matt, Nadia and Ivy. It introduces the drugs. It has clever background vocals which sort of give away major plot points, which you think are just. The plot of Romeo and Juliet.

But it's Queen Mab today.

The soundtrack is... challenging. God I feel like I'm apologizing for liking it. Sorry mom! I'm bad at being proud anymore. I like it. I love it. I don't want to change a bit of it. I want other people to like it and love it, warts and all. I don't think you hear me. See me.

How resonant the whole musical is, especially with teens and young adults, can be explicated by how the characters don't feel authentically seen. Built in a lab for a youth's consumption. It's a pity that Bare never got a Broadway run (It probably doesn't deserve it- it's good not great. It was off-Broadway though!).

Queen Mab is when we finally see someone the clearest we ever have. It's the middle of the play, and they're up on stage. In front of god, their parents, the priest, the church, their friends, everyone- Jason, the main character and love interest, dies.

Something is wrong. discordant. Sinister. The song starts with a few signs things aren't right, a stutter step to the wrong line in the play- a whole back and forth cut over. A beat while the other character picks up the slack. Then the song ends with a dance scene where, well. He doesn't make it. The song is a little kind, actually. In bed asleep where they do dream things true. Said like a votive to the night. There is a peace in this song, somehow. Things are foregone, the death is all but guaranteed. He will die. But finally, finally he is at peace in this song, something Jason has never been the entire rest of the musical. Going through the motions, but nakedly. Openly. No longer trying to hide it. Waiting out one last struggle.

Interesting bit of theatre, putting the Queen Mab speech at the end of the musical. See, Mercutio relates Queen Mab visiting Romeo in his dreams as sort of a longwinded tirade, starting innocently enough, talking about dreaming about getting what you want, etc. But slowly, it gets darker and more sinister. Dreams leading to unfullfilment. Dreams of voilence. Ultimately Queen Mab like all fairies is vindictive and cruel, in his telling. It's a bit chilling and out of nowhere really. Perhaps a warning? But see, Romeo is dreaming and optimistic and thinks things will go well, and he's being cautioned by Mercutio that dreams are just dreams. They lie sometimes. Something ironic about the warning against dreams being the scene where Jason gives up on his dreams and. Dies. Something strange about an Act 1 foreshadowing being the punctuation of the Act 3 climax. Something tragic about the skeptic in the scene, Mercutio, being played by Peter, the one dreaming of being out and open and proud, and the one originally to speak "Dream things true" is the one who has given up on dreaming and is preparing for death.

I remember when I was younger and people thought that Bare, the title track, the track preceding this song, was a cute love song. Tragic, but romantic. Bare is a suicide note. Bare is Jason saying goodbye. And Peter doesn't know that. Jason is already gone by then and no one can tell.

There's something really interesting about how this song fits into the musical. And it's why it's my favorite song on the soundtrack.

Anyways, you could be dead right now. By, say, oh, I don't know. Perhaps a drug overdose.

Go listen to something you love.

[hermanunworthy]

To Be or Not To Be?

"With heads showing Hermie's face, the thespian could pretend that those decisions were genuine, while the drama mask for tails could excuse their more obviously villainous behavior. Little did their new 'friends' know that they were both just acts. Thank the theatre gods for this perfect role."

Five times Two-Face is forced to follow his coin's decision, and one time Herman makes one of their own.

10.3k words, oakworthy, 5+1 things, hermie pov, pining, set during ep17-20

prologue | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | +1

also on ao3!

5.

It doesn't take long for Herman to get tired of staying in the Catbus. Especially when they're being forced to stay in there alone while the main characters continue their story without them. Being forced to play a superhero, despite their track record. Shameful.

Oracle watches from above as The Main Characters plus The Goth's Stepdad create a sphere of darkness around themselves. She can hear over the walkie-talkie that they're all planning to hold hands. God. At least she won't have to look at that. Or their godawful outfits.

The dark orb begins to shuffle forward into the camp, at Oracle's direction. A "trust exercise", they called it. What a joke. How wrong they are to trust a villain like Herman.

Hang on. Maybe this position isn't so bad after all. Oracle does have complete control over these characters' every movements right now. If she were to hand the reigns over to Two-Face for a second...

Two-Face picks up his coin from the dashboard with a shit-eating grin. Finally, he has the chance to get back at The Main Characters for all the shit they've put him through! And if they try to blame him later on, Hermie will simply innocently say that Two-Face made them do it and everything will be just great.

He flips his coin. Tails.

Sweet success! Two-Face quickly navigates the quickest way to get The Main Characters into some good old-fashioned trouble. He spots a Black Parade flutist sleeping on the floor. Perfect opportunity to rile things up.

"Now walk forward five steps," Two-Face instructs. He can feel something inside of him fluttering giddily at the prospect of scamming those who have wronged him.

A gravelly voice yells out "What the fuck?" from the cheap speaker but it's immediately cut off, and Two-Face blinks in confusion at the suddenly silent walkie-talkie, then down at the scene below. It's near impossible to tell what's going on in the darkness of the spell. Where's the fun of that?

He smacks the walkie-talkie a couple times. "Hello?" he tests. No response. Stupid dollar store shit. Of course The Jock wouldn't think to buy some more effective tech. He squints down, trying to pick apart any movement from within the blackness. "What's going on down there?"

Several seconds of seemingly nothing pass by, and Two-Face can feel a darkness swelling in his own gut. "What the fuck? What the fuck." Not only was this not entertaining at all, but Two-Face really wishes he couldn't hear his own conscience screaming over the silence of the Catbus.

"I-I'm sorry!" Herman blurts out, startling themself out of character. They shake the walkie-talkie even more, but nothing happens. "Guys! What's happening?"

They can only imagine what could be going on in that darkness right now. From how they remember the characters' blocking before the spell was cast, Normal should've been the closest to where the flutist was sleeping. If they were all being attacked, Normal would be the one most likely to get hit first. The thought causes a sinking feeling in Herman's stomach.

"This is revenge," Two-Face tries to tell himself. They purposefully left him in danger before, so why wouldn't they deserve a little payback? He doesn't care if his mark gets hurt, it's all part of the long con anyways.

And then, the black orb simply moves on, leaving that same flutist behind, sleeping as they were before.

Herman chucks the walkie-talkie onto the ground. What a terrible performance. They had their chance to pull off a wonderful scam, and they blew it. And to make matters worse, they couldn't even manage to stay in character for it.

With the walkie-talkie now broken and abandoned on the floor, Herman watches solemnly as the story continues on, completely without them now. Even after the Darkness spell wears off and Herman can see them all again, none of them seem to be trying to connect to them anymore, or even look their way at all. It's like they totally forgot that the thespian was a part of their operation. As always.

It's a new pain for Herman, like fresh burn scars, getting to see what it really looks like when they aren't around. They act as though their "friend" Hermie has never existed in the first place. Any foolish hope that they may have had previously that at least Normal would mourn their presence dissipated in that moment. Not even stupid fucking Normal seemed to question their absence.

It's not until a particularly awkward-looking scene between The Goth and The Goth's Stepdad where The Nerd acknowledges Herman's existence. He snaps his gaze back toward the Catbus, as if he is only just now realizing that there's someone in it, and he starts making wild and confusing hand gestures that Herman believes are supposed to be him trying to communicate with them.

Oracle nods in response as though she understands everything, but Herman, baffled by this idiotic fake sign language, is just internally rejoicing from receiving their dose of one-on-one attention for the day.

If only it felt like enough.

[miniimapp]

Random 4*TOWN Headcanons

Gen ;; Fluff + Crack - Headcanons

Warnings ;; nah

Proofread + Edited ;; no

Auth. Note ;; WELCOME TO DAY 8 OF THE 4*TOWN CHRISTMAS COUNTDOWN !!

Am tired and this is p low effort and last minute, sorry, better stuff will be coming today is just not my day lmao

Enjoy !! <3

✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈«

Tae Young, Jesse and Robaire were classically trained instrumentalists when they were kids. Tae Young was violin, Jesse was flute and Robaire was piano. T plays ukulele don't ask me why he just does and also the kalimba. Z can play the harmonica. Jesse also plays the guitar

Z learnt the harmonica from his grandad - they had a really close relationship before he died.

Jesse cycled through a lot of different instruments trying to find the one for him (clarinet, trumpet, drums, piano, violin, double bass) before landing on flute and then later on guitar as well

There are some really odd demo tracks and some completely unreleased songs that just go ham with any instrument that they felt like throwing in

They're utter chaos

Truly just a wall of noise at some points

Fun noise,, but still noise

I feel like they have a theatre thing,, all of them

Just like random improv games or,,

Suddenly acting out a famous scene in a very melodramatic way or,,

Randomly bursting out in songs from musicals and somehow knowing the full choreography for them..

Jesse is the one who starts their musical outburst 8 times out of 10

Sometimes though he'll start singing and the others will start to join in,, realise they have ko fucking clue what he's singing and then just listen to him solo like the king he is

T will 100% just start garbling rubbish if he doesn't know the words,, improv king over here

Seriously,, this man can go on with a bit for eons if he feels like it

He'll stay completely in character and be going string while the others are creasing and have no idea wtf to say

Mans lives for it

Oh your singing ?? Tae is adding a harmony onto that for you <3

Somehow he manage to find a harmony for everything and he finds it FUCKING IMMEDIATELY

Does make Robaire a lil jealous with his harmony abilities sometimes

Sometimes though Tae will just go from some ethereal harmony into a goblin voice while still singing the harmony

He's a great impressionist tbh

His voice can go deeper than most people expect,, its a lil uncomfy and he just doesn't like how he sounds so it doesn't happen often

When it does though, Tae is using it for evil

I'm talking demonic noises in the corner while the light are out

Z is the one who somehow knows all th dance moves to every musical ever

Mans starts teaching it to the others too as if they're not complete disasters

My guy has too much faith in these numpties

Z is also really fucking sneaky

So Jesse will be wiping the counter and all of a sudden there's something blowing on his neck

Dramatic ass jumps like 3 feet in the air and shrieks so loud

Z loves jump scaring all of the other members when he can

Also because this is a struggle for me and I need someone to relate to.. caffeine of any kind makes Z so incredibly tired

Like,, half a cup with half him out for 6 hours straight, wake up for dinner because Jesse went to get him and then straight back to sleep

Mans gets over 24 hours of sleep that day

Problem is Z is an energy drink fanatic

And zap the energy right of him

SO

The boys somehow manage to find him caffeine free energy drinks and he's never been more thankful istg

Z just wants to pretend he isn't about o pass out when he's supposed to be wired to high heaven

What's the point of having a drink that's really bad for if you don't even get the short-lived fun effects ??

Robaire loves to flaunt his coffee in Z's face all of the fucking time

Z doesn't even like coffee but it's the principle of the thing

Anways

Robaire would be having his main character moment as they're all jamming out

Singing into Jesse's hairbrush in front the mirror type vibes

Z gets so fed up with it so quickly

Ro doesn't care though

He's having his moment

It's his time to shine

And shine he will

Definitely broke something once trying to climb up onto the kitchen table in a feat of dramatics

Probably a vase Jesse made

Jesse was p upset about it tbh

So the others took it,, glued it back together and then decorated one of the broken pieces each

Now it's the statement piece

And it's glorious

Really wish to bask in it's shine tbh

[anonymousmothman]

I had another weird dream surrounding star trek (this time with jackie chan and thundercat???)

So basically I won this thing (idk if it was a giveaway or something) to hang out with thundercat. We were walking around chicago and he kept talking about being a werewolf and that was weird cuz . You know... cat is in his name. But then he turned into a werewolf and tried to hunt me.

Then I went to this star trek convention but for some reason star trek was real? And I got to talk to worf and ezri they were really nice. Some other stuff happened but I legitimately remember none of it. I then was watching a jackie chan movie with the ferengi (basically all the guys from the magnificent ferengi episode) and suddenly got transported back in time to when rush hour got released. I was sitting in the audience just minding my buisness then Quark started to film the movie cuz yay piracy! But he was horrible at hiding his camera and everybody kept staring at him because they knew. His camera didn't have a zoom feature so Brunt gave him this can you were supposed to put in place of the lens and it'd act as a zoom for you. But then, of course, everyone was like 'wtf are they doing with a can' so Quark gave the empty one to me and I had to pretend like it was Tuna I was eating. I was really bad at it. Then, at the end of the movie, a cardassian was playing with his baby (throwing her up in the air and stuff) and a founder took it from him while he was doing that then dangled it over the side of the railing (idk the seats in the theatre were high) and said "a sacrifice to the founders..." but then everyone started booing them and throwing popcorn at them so they gave the baby back.

After that, I went to this weird renaissance fair mixed with comic con thing (still in the past atp). A dude dressed up as an ensign knocked down this stand of books and I helped him to pick it up. Then, I wanted to buy one, so I was looking through them and eliminating options and was gonna buy something on dinosaurs? Idk it was weird it looked like a dork diaries book though. But another one caught my eye and it had medieval paintings on the front despite the fact it was a book about mesopotamian chemistry. So I went to buy it, but I got tied up in (honestly I forgot what happened) so had to leave it for the time being. When I came back though, a lot of people were bidding and arguing over who should get it. The only way you could buy it was by messaging the shop owner on discord so I tried to text them but I kept misspelling 'shop' as 'Schofield' so none of the messages would go through (there was a bot that prevented you from sending a message unless it had the word shop). I don't think I was ever able to get it, or maybe I was, also sort of forgot this part....

Then it cut to my backyard where Picard was stuck in my garage. He kept asking to be let out but when I let him out there were two animals on leashes in there. One was Porthos so I let him off, but another was those klingon dogs.. I forgot what they're called. Picard kept telling me to let that one off it's leash and I said "but its your pet :(" and he said hed pay me 30 coins so I did it. Then I finally let Picard out of my garage and it cut yet again to another scene.

I was on ds9 laying down to go to bed when Damar and Keevan entered and Damar was like "you weren't at Quarks" and I said "I had a really long day today man..." so they layed down with me and we cuddled YAYYYY but then I woke up BOOOOO

[notasimpleslater]

If you're asking me, here's how I think it went down (as always, not trying to stir shit up, I just can't help but get the feeling that this is all what happened with the evidence we're seeing): Ethan and Lily have been together for ten years, he never got to have those wild twenties experiences of having a girl every night like lots of guys do. Maybe he didn't want that, but even if he didn't social pressure from other men/media can be enough to make someone think about it. (1)

(2) Cut to his mid-twenties, they're engaged and he is quite literally the toast of New York and the theatre scene in general, with basically the entire city handing him awards and attention left and right (not to mention a heavy flock of fangirls telling him how hot and amazing he is). Then all of a sudden the Tonys disappoint, Spongebob closes, and he marries Lily. (3) He sees some marginal success in the following years, moves to LA (obviously we don't know but I feel he may have wanted to try his hand at the acting scene there), and does some more shows, all the while having this gaggle of fans hyping him up and being seen as this perfect, wholesome wonderful guy who can do no wrong, with his partner of a decade by his side and an impressive reputation both in the industry and in the court of public opinion. (4) Ariana and Cynthia were cast in Wicked in mid-2021, so I have to assume that he was at least having auditions for the role by then He moves back East, does a movie and Assassins and a few other things, and by the end of 2021 his wife is pregnant. I noticed him doing a lot of traveling in spring/summer of 21, so I feel like perhaps they planned to try for a baby at the end of that year and were 'sowing their oats' as it were, and maybe that made Ethan realize some stuff about himself by the - (5) - time Lily was pregnant. It's not clear when he was actually GIVEN the role of Boq, but we know that he and his family were certainly in London by November of 22, so he'd probably met Ariana by then. She's unhappy in her marriage, has a thing for taken guys, sees the only straight guy she'll be regularly interacting with (helps that he's desperately in love with her in the musical), and decides she wants him. "I want it, I got it" indeed. (6) Like I said, Ethan didn't get to do the whole single guy dating thing in his twenties like most due, especially considering he said he had feelings for Lily since high school, so he missed out on feeling that rush of getting that kind of attraction (personally I think they had a fling, not a relationship, but it doesn't much matter). Ariana starts showering attention on him while playing the 'nice girl', meeting Lily and Ezra and all the while pretending to be friendly and professional. (7) clearly we don't know when or how it happened, but I can imagine that going from relative obscurity to having affection showered on you from one of the biggest sex symbols from the 21st century would be enough to scramble any man's brain. IMO he got a little too big for his britches and is trying to relive being 21 and having a 'fling', since he never got to experience that at the appropriate time. (8) Either way, it sucks, and if there was cheating they're both terrible people. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.🙏🏽

Alright there's a lot to unpack here, so let's do it.

The fact that you mentioned that he seemed to have never had a wild early 20's experience is interesting because we really don't know anything about his dating life prior to Lilly. If i'm doing the math right based on his interviews and such, him and Lilly started dating when he was 19/20 years old, so I wonder if he even dated a lot in high school or early college years?

(This is just me bing nitpicky, but if you're talking about when they moved to LA in the middle of covid, I think he said in a couple of interviews that the move to LA was for Lilly's job?? )

It's also interesting that you mentioned all the traveling they did in the summer of 2021 because during Ethan's Edge of the World press tour he mentioned a couple of times that they were in the process of moving, and then during his Broadway Buskers concert that fall he says they moved 3 times in 2 years?? I don't know why they were moving so much, but I just remember in his video interviews he was in a different location every time dfgbdfg!

Back to the current situation, I agree with you that if anything, him and Ariana may have had a fling instead of an actual relationship because I just don't realistically see any relationship between them lasting. I've seen a few people on twitter say that they think Ethan is Ariana's type, but like??? I feel like they only thing they have in common is that they're both theater kids 😂. Their lives couldn't be anymore different.

But like you said, this really is a sucky situation.

[chessandpolitics]

Our Town by Thornton Wilder

Published: 1938

Synopsis: Our Town is a three-act play presenting the lives of the residents of the fictional town of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire. Spanning 1901 to 1913, a selection of the everyday joys, sorrows, and idle times between are shared with the audience by a meta-theatrical narrator, the Stage Manager, who provides additional commentary on the town and its people throughout the play.

Despite its frame of a small, early 1900s New Hampshire town, Our Town maintains a timelessness that spurs its relevance still today. While the idea of the "great American play" is a bit overused, I still find Wilder's play to be one of the classics of the American repertoire.

This is far from my first encounter with Our Town. I saw a high school production in late elementary school, and more recently directed a scene for a college assignment my sophomore year. I, of course, didn't really get the show when I first saw it. I was young and not familiar with theatre, I'm sure I was bored by the end of it.

Coming back to it in college, though, I was more ready for it. Emilee and George are just out of high school when they get married — I was on my second year out of high school, and had just enough life experience to understand it, and to feel some parts of the play much deeper. I'm sure coming back to it in a few decades, my feelings will change evermore.

It's easy to call it a boring play. It's about the lives of some small-town people, there's no building plot or conflict, and it sort of just... ends, with no real resolution.

But Our Town is about the people. It's sentimental. It asks for maturity, patience, and for the ability to find meaning in the little moments. In this case, it's the little moments that illustrate the underlying themes of the show. When you look at something so big, sometimes the only way to make it feel real is to pare it down to an ordinary day, or a passing comment, or a reflection on a memory.

In Act 1, the Stage Manager mentions they're building a bank in the town, and putting some documents with the cornerstone to be dug up in a thousand years or so. Newspapers, Shakespeare plays, a Bible — and a copy of this play, to let whoever finds it know how life was lived. We know hardly anything about the everyday lives of ordinary people of some of the greatest empires. With this sentiment, the mundane gains greater value. Maybe in the future, they'll like to know what a normal day was like all the way back in 1901.

It would be hard to talk about this play without bringing up Act 3 — set in the graveyard, with a cast of ghosts. Wilder doesn't paint an idyllic picture of an afterlife. The ghosts are remnants of the people they once were, they don't feel or love as they did in life. It's an unhappy end to the play. Emily has left behind a husband and two children, and learned the painful way that she can't dwell on the life she lived. The curtain is literally drawn in front of her husband, George, mourning at her grave. But, even as the show ends, the Stage Manager's final words remind us: the world around us continues to move forward.

Some plays, in their portrayal of old-fashioned, small-town American life, feel like a nostalgia-bait, asking us to think wistfully for times and ways of life gone by. But Our Town is neither a glorification nor vilification of the lives and times it portrays - it simply is. It's the story of lives lived, good and bad, happy and tragic. It doesn't pretend to know the best way of living. The decisions characters make - not to attend college, to get married, to leave, to stay, to speak up, to look away - are not postured as the "best" decisions those people could have made. But they're the ones that were made, and the if-thens and maybe-whats don't matter so much to the residents of Grover's Corners. Just the lives they lived.

...

Emily: Oh, earth, you're too wonderful for anybody to realize you. [ She looks toward the stage manager and asks abruptly, through her tears: ] Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it?— every, every minute?

Stage Manager: No. [Pause.] The saints and poets, maybe—they do some.

Emily: I'm ready to go back.

— Our Town, Act III

[vermilionstarlight]

Op, you're correct to an extent but there's a degree of nuance being left out here. Roleplay and fiction in general CAN be materially harmful (be it through a ttrpg, or kink roleplay, or a theatre show).

But it doesn't have to be. It can and should be treated with respect for the harm that it can cause. Like with any kink, research should be done on the kink! Responsible kinksters already know this applies for personally dangerous kinks (choking, blood play), but too many people often ignore the more insidiously dangerous kinks. Acknowledgement of the harm it can cause, and effort to prevent that harm, is important.

If you're actually roleplaying kink with another person, for example, it would be best to go into it being aware of the harm you can accidentally cause with it. Before you even propose the kink to your partner, be aware of any trauma that they or their loved ones may have experienced that could hurt them. Don't be afraid to communicate your desires (PLEASE always communicate your desires and expectations and wants and needs), but do so delicately and with care if the situation calls for it. Listen to your partner and be prepared for a no. If you end up doing it, have safe words or establish specific topics that can't be gone over (e.g. "we can do incest play but don't pretend to be a father, it upsets me).

If you're writing a story, crafting a TTRPG campaign, or creating some other work of fiction for literary purposes, then you also have responsibility. Research the effects this trauma has on people, maybe even from blog posts or somesuch from actual victims. Read up on psychological studies, and remain aware that despite how narratively satisfying or useful it can be, this is still a horrific act when done to someone, and needs to be treated with respect. Additionally, tag your fucking work, at least on regards to heavily triggering shit like that.

If you're writing a story on such subjects for jack off reasons, then you aren't necessarily going to be portraying the realistic effects of such horrible things (unless the awful aftermath is specifically your thing, in which case good for u). Instead, your primary responsibilities as a porn/erotica artist regarding shit like rape or incest (at least in my opinion) is to Tag Your Shit Properly, and to add a disclaimer to each instance of art. Be it in an author's note, or a pinned comment, or the front page of a fic, just saying that this is all fiction and should stay that way, and that the acts described are not and never will be acceptable to do in real life. That's all you really can do, at that point you must put trust in the reader or viewer to have the barest sliver of moral fiber, and that's not the artist's responsibility.

Oh, one last thing I almost forgot. You really kinda do have to accept people like that? You don't have to be their friends or hang out with them, but you have to accept them on a more fundamental level. Not treat them like they're inherently vile and disgusting monsters. But you have to educate them and encourage them to be informed and responsible. Because do you know what happens when you demonize all the REAL freaks? The incest-shippers, and AO3 zoophiles, and rape-fetishists, and no-contact pedos? They get pushed away.

And because they are demonized and reviled and disgusted, eventually they tend towards the most common places that accept them. Little enclaves of ACTUAL monstrousness, formed by the people that weren't just harmless and kept it to responsibly produced fiction. These little enclaves were formed by the people that believe their desires are correct and should be acted upon, and the world is suppressing their natural inclinations.

So, all of these kinksters and fic-writers are pushed away, and like humans do they will often latch on to the only community they know of that doesn't despise them. And as we all know from TV Diversity, being around people will slowly make you more accepting of them. Kind of hard for a human to keep on insisting to themselves that this guy online has horrible beliefs and is a bad person when he's your friend Gator that plays his guitar really well in discord calls in the evenings and sings along with everybody and constantly sends new gardening shit he found in general chat. It's kind of hard to keep in mind how horrible his beliefs are when you don't feel like anyone or anywhere else would accept you for who you are.

This is the same story that plays in so many other places, including the right wing. It is isolation, then radicalization. Except, for the right, they intentionally pull people in, and try to get them as radicalized as possible. Like a fishing rod, or a whirlpool.

But here? They're not being pulled in, they're being PUSHED in. And the solution is not to push them away harder until they all fuck off and out of your sight. The solution isn't to kill or imprison them (though this stems from my position as an anti-death-penalty and restorative-justice leftie). The solution is to talk to them and inform them and give them an alternative to spiraling into monstrousness. Show them that they don't have to be a monster.

For any given individual? You have no personal obligation to educate or enlighten such people. But you do have a responsibility to be kind and courteous on a basic level. To not immediately demonize them for thoughts in their head, to tell them that as long as they don't hurt people and be responsible then they're still people and still deserving of acceptance.

I do wanna clarify, I'm not accusing you of anything, op. I don't know you or what your beliefs are or whatever. I'm more using your post as a springboard for being informative to people. Please don't think I'm attacking you or blaming you for radicalizing people or whatever. You're a stranger on the internet and I know next to nothing about you. I love you forever, as do I all humans on this bitch earth, have a good day <33

i seriously cant do it with this website anymore. like you people will have full on academic discussions on why dungeons and dragons as written has imperialist and colonial themes baked in but you cant understand why incest porn hurts real people? like if tabletop role playing games can perpetuate harmful narratives and stereotypes why does that not apply to erotic role play? whats the goddamn difference?

listen here's the fuckin deal. rape play and incest play and age play and race play* and whatever the fuck else i forgot is materially harmful because it reinforces negative sentiments towards survivors of different kinds of sexual violence (*and fetishizes/dehumanizes Black people). it trivializes it, it increases the stigma and makes it harder to talk about. thats fuckin why.

and the worst part? you fuckers are on here talking about how "oh so incest is suddenly too far for the cannibalism website?" Yes. it is. (and thats a real actual post i read from another real actual human being) sometimes things are taboo for a reason, not because catholics think its bad or whatever.

look, its stupid and malicious to make callout posts for people's harmless kinks, but the problem is, *you* dropped the harmless part. yeah trans women are punished for being sexual in any way, but you have to understand, 99% of these women arent doing anything wrong.

but now, people are just saying "we have to accept everyone no matter how gross or weird their kinks are!" and youre not talking about the trans women who get harassed over like. vore or petplay or actual harmless shit, no its always some shit like "oh well they think we're all freaks anyway, who cares how taboo it is?" it doesnt matter what other people think or dont think about us, that doesnt mean your actions suddenly dont have consequences.

and you know what? even kinks that are fine in a vacuum can still be harmful because thats the nature of fuckin. being alive and interacting with others. like my stuffing kink's all fine and good but id be lying if i said it didnt do harm sometimes. people sometimes push fatphobic bullshit with it and i gotta push back against that shit or else im part of the problem. you understand what im saying?

like you want to dress it up like youre trying to help trans women, but youre not! youre throwing us under the motherfucking bus just so you dont have to accept that youre into some fucked up shit that hurts other real people. youd rather insinuate that actually all us transfems ARE pedos and we should just accept it! BITCH WHAT? that belief about trans women gets us fucking murdered every single goddamn day, and instead of fighting it, you want to use us as a shield? fuck you.

[whimsicalwhespir]

My ROTTMNT Headcanons:

_________________________________

Mikey:

-Slaps bandaids and stickers on everyone when they're sad! Also does the same for himself

-I love how everyone agrees Mikey can cook but I'd like to think he's memorized everyone's favorite meals and makes them on special occasions! He also totally teaches Casey how to cook so the poor boy can have a healthy and productive hobby to seperate his apocalypse life from this one

-Absolutely 100% is the most connected to his mystic abilities. He was the first to unlock them and overall shows a more deep seeded understanding of how they work. Draxum is also silently fascinated by him

-Follow up to the previous hc, after the Krang, Mikey totally trains every night to use his powers and the first thing he does is levitating a piece of pizza into his mouth

-Therapizes every single person in his family, they act all dramatic about it and poke fun at Mikey but they really do apprecate it

-Hides in his shell whenever he's sad and since it's super obvious, his family catches on quickly and can comfort him

-Has like 800 stuffed animals

-His art covers like 70% of the lair because Splinter and the boys keep hanging it up proudly and asking Mikey to make murals of them. Same thing applies to April and Draxum pretends to hate every drawing but in reality he has a special room dedicated to Mikey's art in his apartment

-Is the most empathetic of the group and knows exactly how to calm everyone down on bad days or nights

-Legally cannot say fuck (but Donnie is trying to influence him)

-Has scars on his arms from opening the portal and paints over them, turning them into art (ex: lines turn to vines with flowers or tree branches or little snakes or whatever), whenever he's down

-Painted a huge mural for his gram-gram in the lair

-Sobs hysterically at sad animated movies and shows (*handshake*)

-Calls Draxum mom and/or secondary dad

Leo:

-Sings obnoxiously loud in the shower

-Watches telanovelas late at night and gets really really into them

-Regularly practices sleight of hand and uses it in battle (once went to Hypnopottamus for lessons and neither ever talked about it again but Hypno is secretly proud of Leo's progress)

-Is a hardcore theatre geek with knowledge of plays and musicals that could rival Donnie's knowledge of other topics

-Tries to make people laugh any time he can, even if it's at his own expense

-If he could get a pet, it would be a bird so he could teach it phrases like "Dee is a nerd" and then follow Donnie around all day

-Has a bunch of nightmares about the Krang debacle and checks on everyone after he wakes up just to make sure they're okay. (Sometimes he runs into Raph and they both silently check on everyone together)

-Refuses to tell Donatello that he's his favorite brother because Leo knows it'll just go to Donnie's head

-Used to hate his face marks but his brothers kept telling him how cool they were and nowadays they regret it because all of that just fed his ego (they secretly don't really regret it)

-Couldn't sing if his life depended on it

-Is SUPER good at lying but uses it for good more than anything (ex: when they were younger, he once noticed Donnie not sleeping for a few days so he pretended to have a nightmare and asked Dee to come sleep with him to scare away the monsters. Donnie was our like a light in less than 5 minutes)

-Will do the most insane dares just for the honor

-Regularly goes to Hueso for advice

Donnie:

-Has somehow memorized every digit of pi and literally nobody understands how

-Listens to rain noises when going to sleep. Cannot stand the rain in person (it gets his tech wet)

-Is fantastic at making digital music and makes songs inspired by people and events in his life. He's also not great at singing but wow this man can rap

-Shouts "the floor is lava" at random intervals to see his brothers scramble

-Is the only family members with a driver's license

-Records EVERYTHING and due to this, he puts together people's compliments about him into a playlist and listens to them to either build his ego or just make himself feel better after a rough day

-^^^ Alternatively, he sometimes listens to people's insults as well. And oh boy, don'tcha know he also has the most traumatizing points in his life recorded too! We love listening to Leo sacrificing himself to the Krang over and over again

-Has organized the dishes in alphabetical order

-Really likes anime

-Keeps every gift ever given to him and organizes them neatly in his closet

-Really wants to exchange notes with Baxter Stockboy

-Has named all of his inventions and kisses them goodnight

-Experiences some side effects from controlling the Krang ship, such as tech being influenced by his emotions

-Takes and teaches dance lessons in secret (he uses a disguise)

-Is the best medic in the family and heals people's injuries after battles with assistance from Mikey who slaps bandaids on everyone

-Comes up with super elaborate comebacks to insults in his head after arguments but they all fall apart within 2 seconds of talking and it just devolves into calling people dumbdumbs

-Has an automated lab like Reagan Ridley from Inside Job (also unrelated, but they would totally be friends if they met)

-Uses humor to cope just like Leo

Raph:

-Is the only turtle brother who can genuinely sing

-Has stuffed animal play dates with Mikey's stuffed animals (they both try to keep it a secret and thinks nobody knows but EVERYONE knows and finds it hilarious)

-Collects coupons

-Has snacks stashed around the lair for snackmergencies

-Is the first one his brothers go to for comfort

-Carries his brothers at least 20% of the day

-Loves animals with all his heart but all of them hate him so Donnie made him a robo kitten when they were kids

-Volunteers to feed Repo Mantis' cat on weekends

-Cleans when he's stressed out

-Has eaten a whole watermelon in one bite, rind and all

-Constantly posts on social media but every picture is horrible quality

-Makes his brothers do team building exercises at least once every week during training

-Like Donnie, he also has side effects from the Krang attack but they instead take form in more psychological ways. He constantly questions if his thoughts are his own and if what he remembers sre nightmares or reality. He sometimes hears a voice in his mind but isn't sure if it's just an intrusive thought or something more

-Used to punch a specific spot on his wall whenever he got really excited because he can't keep his energy in so Donnie made him a special punching bag

-Loves watching Mikey cook and helping when he can

_________________________________

LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANNA HEAR MORE HC'S ABOUT THESE GUYS OR OTHER CHARACTERS LIKE APRIL, DRAXUM, CASEY, ETC!!! I HAVE M A N Y.

[noir-renard]

Okay so stop me if you've heard this one before, but I'm really happy to see the long-overdue recognition Goncharov is getting now (just in time for the 50th year anniversary too!)

BUT! Something I haven't seen anyone talking about is the 1987 stage adaptation of Goncharov, which is really too bad because it is ICONIC.

Like, okay, it's been a few years since I took American Theater History, but Goncharov was doing things no one else was doing. It did things no one has done since. This was a transformative adaptation to the point where it deserves to be recognized as its own thing.

I don't think I can possibly encapsulate everything this play is and accomplished so I'll focus on a few things, but I recommend looking up Taylor & Francis Contemporary Theatre Review for some articles on Goncharov (the play).

So, first of all, they had A Different Actor play Goncharov in Every Scene (*almost every scene, we'll come back to that). That in itself is absolutely buckwild, like this should have been a relatively inexpensive play to produce (small cast, minimal set, small stage, etc etc) but there were at least twenty four Goncharovs, possibly more. No one actually knows how many actors played Goncharov during its full run because they kept rotating the cast, but some estimates number in the hundreds; but there were never more than 24 during each performance. InSaNe, right?

But it doesn't stop there. See, the various Gonchs didn't wait backstage for their scenes, oh no. They sat in the audience. Pretending to be the audience, but was it really pretend? I really wish I could have been a fly on the wall for opening night. You arrive, you're excited to see this timeless film classic on stage (Theater purists will tell you stage theater is always better). The opening scene happens (you know the one lol), and you think, okay, this is fine, they're playing this by the book.

AND THEN THE GUY SITTING NEXT TO YOU WHO CAME WITH HIS WIFE STANDS UP AND WALKS UP TO THE STAGE, TAKES GONCHAROV'S HAT, COAT, AND TIE, DOES THE COSTUME CHANGE ON STAGE, AND STARTS THE NEXT SCENE!!

(and then the opening scene actor comes and sits down next to you, taking Gonch II's place, awkwardly squeezing past in the tiny seats to sit, asking you if he missed anything while he was in the bathroom??)

So you're confused, but the play is still going so you try to focus. Andrey is acting like everything is the same. Goncharov II makes a phone call to Ice Pick Joe, and he doesn't say he's ordering a hit, but you've seen the movie, you know what's up (this will be important later stay with me).

So there's another scene change, and sure enough, someone else gets up from the audience, walks to the stage, does the costume change, continues the play as if everything is normal and fine.

And this happens 23 times.

Now, you might think this is a novelty and that even if no one who watched the play talked about it to anyone who hadn't seen it, if you went back for a repeat viewing you'd know what to expect. But get this: they changed the order of the actors every night. And where they sat. And how they were dressed when they were part of the audience. So. Even if you knew it was going to happen, there was no way to predict exactly how it would happen!

Okay, so, I need to talk about the costume change on stage bit. Like, sure, kind of neat, but we all know there's a repeated motif in the film of Goncharov trying to fix his tie (symbolic of the "noose of time" tightening around his neck) but he never gets it quite right until Andrey fixes it for him.

And they did this in the play, too, but with a twist. See, up until the Andrey Ties The Knot Scene (lol subtle much), the Gonch who was leaving the stage would put the hat, coat, and tie on the new Gonch. So of course it wasn't quite right, all of these actors were built really differently! (Incredible costume design credit has to go to Nana Hastings here, like I don't know how she made the Sisterhood of the Traveling Goncharov work on stage but by god did she make it work)

Okay ajsjsjsb I keep getting sidetracked. Anyway. When Andrey fixes the tie and coat for the Goncharov on stage, this is, in fact, the final "actor" change. There are further scene changes, but now there's no one getting up from the audience anymore. And if you've seen the film, then it dawns on you: the Goncharov on stage is the one Andrey is gonna kill. Notably, the play reordered things a bit so the Katya Betrays Goncharov scene already happened before Andrey Ties the Knot, and the Gonch she tried to kill was a different Actor (yeah yeah symbolism of who you can show your truest self to we've all seen it).

So, back to the Andrey Ties the Knot scene (it's really important can I live). You might remember the argument that happens at the beginning of this scene in the movie. Well, in the play, the argument happens closer to the end. So if you know what's coming, the tension is building and building, and then the iconic line: Goncharov yells "how can you claim to understand me? To know what I want? To promise to give it to me? You don't even know who I am! I don't even know who I am!" Which, chills. But you see, at this moment, all the Goncharov Actors who've returned to sitting in the audience all stand up and yell the final line of this monologue with the Goncharov on stage. SO WILD. can you even imagine what that was like? You're so engrossed in the drama that you've forgotten the woman sitting next to you was on stage during scene 3. And now she's standing up and yelling! What's going to happen next??

Well. You know the line. Andrey sighs fondly, walks up to Goncharov, and says "I know you." And fixes Goncharov's tie.

And then it's intermission.

You're getting a snack in the lobby, and it's 1987 so you don't have access to a phone to tell your Goncharov Discord Server what you just witnessed. And what's going to happen next?? You still have half the play! (Or ⅓, at least!) But all that's really left is the betrayal scene. How are they going to stretch it out? You can't wait to see.

Intermission ends, you go back to your seat. It opens with Katya and Sofia. Ah, you think, so they've gone with the 'faked her death' interpretation. But then you notice the clock—which is front and center on the stage at all times during the play—has been set back. Is this a memory, then? A dream?

The question is never answered, but then Ice Pick Joe comes on stage and physically changes the hands himself. You see him get a phone call. You remember this—from the other end of the line. Goncharov is calling a hit. Ice Pick Joes accepts the hit. Hangs up. Walks to the clock. Moves it forward an hour, and leaves the stage. Another Katya scene, but she's changed into summer clothes. An actor you've never seen is on stage with her—this is her father, before he died. A death she feels responsible for.

The scene ends, Ice Pick Joe again. Same deal—a phone call from Gonch. He accepts the hit, and moves the clock forward. The next scene is an Andrey and Katya scene. There's so much subtext, it's hard to follow. Are they flirting? Plotting? Do they hate each other?

Ice Pick Joe again.

Now, at this point you start to notice something. There are fewer people in the audience than there should be (it was a small Blackbox theatre that got torn down in 1993, so I couldn't find any good photos, but it was small enough that you'd notice people missing).

You then realize that the ones going missing are the actors who played Goncharov. And then you see a pattern: every time Ice Pick Joe takes a call, an actor disappears. What does it mean?

This is never actually given meaningful resolution in the play, by the way, and the director refused to elaborate. What does it mean to you? Is all he'd say on the matter, but no one knew that while they were watching. Anyway I had to mention it because it's one of the wilder things this play did.

So there's all these out of time scenes staggered with Ice Pick Joe (until he dies RIP), and we "catch up". It's the final betrayal. Andrey is going to kill Goncharov, and everyone knows it, including Goncharov. "I never thought it would end like this." "You never were good at imagining happy endings," says Andrey. (I know you mouthed the lines don't lie no one can resist)

Andrey pulls the trigger, lights out—

When the lights come back up (RED LIGHTS) there's no body onstage, just the Goncharov costume. Andrey picks up the tie, the hat, the coat. He puts them all on. And he walks off stage.

AND THATS THE END OF THE PLAY. We don't see Goncharov actually die. We have no idea what happens to him. (When I tell you people have argued about this for decades, I mean it.)

The house lights turn up, you look around and see how empty the theater is. How many of the audience members were actors? You don't actually know. There is no curtain call. You walk out into the lobby in a daze, and all the actors are there, chatting. "Wild play, huh? I'm not sure I quite understood it, to be honest," they tell you. None of them break character. They are committed to the bit.

One of them tells you he enjoyed your performance. You think it might be Scorsese himself, though possibly it's Matteo JWHJ0715 in the flesh. Or maybe it was just another theater go-er trying to sound smart. Who knows?? Not you.

And that's Goncharov (1987), off Broadway in a nutshell.

It unfortunately only ran for a year because as it turns out, the theater owner had actual ties to the real mob and had to flee the country, and no one knew legally whether the play could run or if the theater counted as evidence—but that's another story.

The cast and crew of the play refused to move to a different theatre, though whether that was out of loyalty or fear, who can say?