#accidentally hit continue instead of exit lmao

[catgirlkirigiri]

I'm so good at video games

[galaxy-lilies]

Can we hear about mermay dream team au? I'd like to think Karl and Quackity are there too, Quackity is a flying fish merman and Karl, maybe a parrot fish for the colors? Idk, I'm not very versed with fish's.

Dream is a glowsquid mer, Sapnap is a shark mer, and George is a selkie. This can be interpreted as romantic Dream Team or just platonic Dream Team

When Dream was a kid he was being attacked by some Drowned. When he was positive he was calamari, a gray ball came hurling at the Drowned. He didn’t bother to see who his savior was and swam out of there. 

He hid in a cave for a while then he heard something swimming near the mouth of the cave. He cautiously peeked his head out and-

“BOO!!”

Dream yelped, accidentally releasing a cloud of glowing ink. 

There was some coughing and gagging before Dream heard the same person go, “Geez at least give somebody a warning!” He turned and was met with the toothy grin of Sapnap and the head of a beheaded Drowned. 

“That’s not exactly how you thank somebody who just saved you,” Sapnap continued to grouch, waving away any remaining ink.

Dream paused. “Wait...you saved me?” 

Sapnap placed the head down. “Well duh. I couldn’t exactly ignore you. You’re literally a walking beacon.” Dream felt his cheeks flush. “I am not!” he said indignantly. The shark mer gave him a look. 

“Dude your skin and tentacles are literally glowing, you just hit me with a glowing cloud of glittery sparkly ink. I’m pretty sure that has to account for some type of beacon.” Dream relented and sighed. He was about to open his mouth when Sapnap cut him off. “And since you’re such an easy target I’ll be your protector!” Dream looked at Sapnap confused. “We literally just met??? I don’t even know your name!”

Sapnap swam up into dream’s face. “Sapnap’s the name, and so what? I don’t have much to do and you seem like a cool guy!” Dream swam back a little.

 “Don’t you have like a pod or something to return to? Why are you bothering someone who is practically prey to you?” Sapnap’s demeanor fell a little. “I um. I don’t have a pod anymore...”

That’s when Dream noticed the scars across Sapnap’s arm and tail.

 “...Poachers?” Sapnap only gave a small nod. “It was a while ago now. I don’t want to think about it too much.”

And that’s how Dream found himself a new friend and pod member. They learned a lot about each other whether they liked it or not. Dream learned that Sapnap can almost kill someone if he smells blood and Sapnap learned that Dream could regenerate his tentacles.

Dream also learned that Sapnap’s teeth were sharp and his face didn’t particularly like that. 

It was an accident. 

Dream had run into some sharp rocks and Sapnap couldn’t swim away fast enough before his instincts took over and he bit a good chunk of Dream’s face.

Dream had swam away, blindly hiding in a cove. He was clutching his face and he tried his best to stop the bleeding. He was alone and scared for 3 days before Sapnap followed the blood trail to Dream. The bleeding had subsided at that point and the salt water helped with disinfecting a little. Dream froze when he saw Sapnap but dropped his guard a little when he saw how remorseful Sapnap looked. Instead of saying anything, Sapnap presented him with a crudely made mask, a smiley face carved in the middle.

“For your face if you want. It might help the healing process if you stuff some kelp under.” Dream silently took it and tried it on. “How does it look?” he asks quietly, his voice slightly muffled behind the material. He saw Sapnap’s face scrunch a little. “A bit funny.” Dream huffed, slightly amused. Sapnap gave him a crooked grin before it fell flat again. He looked nervous. 

“Look, I understand if you don’t want me to stick around. If you want to go find another pod or something-“ 

There was the unsaid sentence. “Don’t leave me please.” It was a silent plea.

Dream swam forward and wrapped Sapnap in a hug. 

And so it was just the two of them for a long time. They’re around their late teens when they come upon the bay where George lived. George is a selkie and a surfer. The thing is George doesn’t know about his selkie heritage. He felt a calling to the sea, but he didn’t know why. He also didn’t know why he could withstand colder temperatures or why he could hold his breath much longer than his peers.

He headed out to surf, decided to exit a little out of the mouth of the bay, closer to the ocean. He was making his way out when he saw a fin poke out of the water. It was a shark fin.

And it was rapidly approaching him. 

He was like “nope nope nope not today satan-“ but he was too far out to get to shore fast enough.

He was full on panicking now. He glanced at the water again and swore he saw a flash of green-blue beneath the surface. That was the last thing on his mind though. He managed to get himself to stand on the board in a desperate attempt to get the high ground but it was too late. The board was flipped over and he was submerged underwater. He flailed a little bit, his classic goggles not on his persons. He could only make out the blurry image of a shark like figure and...a glowing squid? George made a mad swim to the surface and he managed to grab his surfboard to prop him up. He was looking around wildly when he heard someone else surface with him. 

“Hiya there!”George whipped his head around to meet the toothy grin of Sapnap. He let out a (high pitched) yell and somewhat scrambled back. 

“So I noticed that you’re in our- uh my territory and that’s not a good thing because I don’t really like to eat human-like creatures but that’s besides the point so if you would kindly get out of here-“ “Sapnap what the hell are you doing???”Dream had surfaced at that point. Sapnap threw up his arms. “What! I’m being honest with him! Besides any sea creature would know not to tread into shark territory.” Dream let out a groan. “Sapnap you realized that we just revealed ourselves to a human?? Don’t you think he’s gonna report us or something?”

“I’m right here you know!” George said albeit a bit shaky. Essentially the three talk a little and then George takes his leave. And that’s when the two realized “Wait. How did a human understand the language of the sea?” (For plot sake sea creatures can understand other sea creatures but humans cannot understand sea creatures). 

So George gets back to his home, a house that was given to him by his grandparents after they died. He’s trying to process what happened that night but doesn’t think about it. He goes to sleep and he dreams of a chest that looked oddly familiar. George eventually visits Dream and Sapnap often and they get to know each other well. 

The three of them smartly try to see how long George could hold his breath. He nearly drowns trying to figure it out lol (turned out it was 15 minutes). 

George continues to dream of the locked chest and since he became in contact with other sea creatures the call of the sea was stronger than ever. He finds the chest in the attic and when he touched it he heard the sound of a lock unlock. Inside was the family selkie skin. It was locked with magic in order to prevent humans from stealing it. It was a full moon when George found it. He was almost in a trance as he put it on and walked out to the shore. Five days had passed and Sapnap and Dream haven’t seen George. Sapnap swam around Dream, anxious. 

“Do you think he’s ok?” Dream hummed. “I don’t know. He hasn’t left us like this for so long.” Dream eventually proposes to explore the sunken ship a little bit over and Sapnap agrees. It’s there they find a lone seal. The seal looked scared and lost, not to mention this ocean was no place for a seal. That’s when recognition dawned on Sapnap’s face. “GEORGE????”The seal chirped, nodding and swimming around. Dream turned to Sapnap, his face in somewhat of an incredulous expression. “How-??”

“Idk he smelled like George.”

Dream sighed. “Of course.”

The two escort George back to shore where they see the other transform back. “Jesus fucking Christ thank goodness you found me. Do you know how much it sucks being stuck in a seal skin???” And from there the three learn a little more about George and his selkie powers. 

Oh and George somehow having an incredible sense of balance and he managed to surf with Sapnap in his arms lmao. The shark mer was screaming the whole time

[beanst0ck]

my friend wanted the tsukishima version of this so i had to do it 🥴

pairing: tsukishima x reader

word count: 1438

cross posted on my wattpad

Kissing His Best Friend [[Tiktok Challenge]]

- the gentle wind ruffled the trees and bushes surrounding the high school of crows

- while the air outside seemed cool and fresh, the air inside the gym was hot and stuffy

- the boy’s volleyball team was practicing extra hard especially two certain first years

- halfway during practice the third years got called out of the gym by a teacher to discuss something about their grades, leaving the rest of the team to either continue practicing or take a break

- hinata and kageyama continued to practice hard while tsukki grabbed a water bottle and sat against a wall, waiting for the rest of the team to return

- out of the corner of his eye he spotted nishinoya and tanaka trying to do tiktok dances in sync and failing miserably

- tsukki knew about a lot of tiktok trends and dances thanks to his energetic teammates, but he didn’t spend most of his day mindlessly scrolling through the app

- he had things to do, like studying and watching his dinosaur documentaries, so he didn’t have time to waste doing silly tiktok trends

- snapping out of his thoughts he noticed he was in the camera’s frame and grimaced, trying to scoot away but his upperclassmen immediately noticed

- “tsukishima!! join us!!”

- “no.”

- nishinoya and tanaka pouted at their teammate’s salty behavior, but immediately brightened up noticing a certain someone walk through the gym doors

- “(y/n)!!”

- they ran past tsukki and opened their arms in hopes that they’d be able to trap you in the ultimate bear hug

- sadly for them, you dodged them just in time, leaving them to face plant onto the floor

- you slowly walked away from them and upon noticing your best friend you jogged over to him

- “tsukki!!”

- nishinoya and tanaka sniffled while patting each other’s back, knowing they’ll never be able to have you because your heart belonged to the salt shaker

- tsukishima greeted you and asked you why you were still at school even though school had already ended a few hours ago

- “the teachers wanted me to drop off papers to the captains of all the teams we have, all i need is daichi and i should be free to go!”

- “daichi isn’t here.”

- he had to hold back his laugh once he saw your reaction to the captain’s absence

- “i did not just walk across campus for daichi to not be here.”

- “hate to break it to you, but you did.”

- “tsukki! you’re supposed to be nice to me!! >:(“

- you smacked his arm and this time tsukishima couldn’t hold back a chuckle at your childish attitude

- nishinoya and tanaka’s ears perked at the sound of tsukishima’s chuckle

- they literally looked at each other like ‘ 👀 ‘

- yamaguchi, being the literal angel that he is, offers to show you where daichi is so you could deliver the packet of papers to him

- you literally go “really?🥺”

- tsukki definitely didn’t get salty, no sir he didn’t

- except that maybe he did-

- nishinoya and tanaka decide to set their unspoken plan into motion and cough to get the attention of the group

- “you know what tsukishima? why don’t you go with yamaguchi?”

- “but it’s not my job to deliver-“

- “dont disrespect your upperclassmen!! besides, (y/n)’s feet must be sore from walking around the whole day!”

- tsukki sighs, knowing that arguing with the two of them is literally impossible

- so he embarks on a mini adventure with yamaguchi to deliver some papers to daichi

- just when you’re about to tell nishinoya and tanaka that they didn’t have to do that and you were perfectly capable of delivering those papers yourself they turn to you with one of the biggest smiles you’ve ever seen

- “(y/n)! we have a plan!”

- “...ok?”

- so there you stood as nishinoya and tanaka explained their ‘ perfect plan ‘ on how you would get to kiss tsukishima

- “you’re the only one that tsukishima can tolerate enough to do this!!“

- “...you’re just using me for tiktok views aren’t you?”

- “...”

- “*sigh*”

- nonetheless you agreed because,,, who would pass up the opportunity to kiss tsukishima? exactly no one

- and if you said you would,,, no you wouldn’t stop lying to yourself

- if anything went wrong and your friendship nearly gets ruined you could blame it on nishinoya and tanaka

- so they start setting up the area

- tanaka tells hinata and kageyama to practice on the other side of the court, just incase one of kageyama’s sets goes astray and ends up hitting someone

- nishinoya and tanaka set up the phone and begin recording, not knowing when tsukishima would walk through the doors

- “what if he doesn’t catch me-“

- “don’t be so negative (y/n)!”

- you had many many doubts about this plan

- but you went along with it because you got an excuse to kiss tsukishima

- soon you heard footsteps from outside the window and signaled tanaka and nishinoya

- they gave you a thumbs up, wishing you luck and hoping that their plan wouldn’t fail because if it did you would most likely stop talking to them

- as soon as the doors opened yamaguchi and tsukishima stepped inside, now was your moment!

- “tsukki! catch me!!”

- tsukishima turned his head to the sound of your voice, his mind not registering the words you said when he saw you quickly running towards him

- when you jumped he instinctively held out his arms and caught you, almost stumbling backwards from the force

- your legs were wrapped around his waist and your hands were on his shoulders as you let out excited giggles, happy that he actually caught you

- “idiot, why’d you do that? what if i didn’t catch yo-“

- without thinking you grabbed his head and smashed your lips against his

- tsukishima, still not processing that you jumped for him to catch you, also could not process that you were kissing him

- taking his lack of response as a ‘im not kissing you back’ you slowly pulled your lips away but didn’t get the chance to as tsukishima placed his hand behind your head to kiss you back

- mind you, tsukishima was still carrying you, just with one arm bc he’s strong 🥴

- nishinoya and tanaka were hyping you up with tears in their eyes from sadness or happiness is up to you to decide

- yamaguchi was secretly recording because he wanted to have his own video proof that he was there to witness the moment

- even hinata and kageyama got distracted mid set-

- oh no

- o h n o

- hinata and kageyama got distracted mid set

- hinata was so focused on the scene that his hand unconsciously followed his eyes and he accidentally sent the ball flying towards the two of you

- just as the two of you pulled away from the kiss tsukki noticed the ball flying towards the two of you and turned his body around so it wouldn’t hit you

- instead of the ball hitting your head it ended up hitting his

- the gym remained quiet as tsukishima rubbed the back of his head in an attempt to soothe the pain of the spike

- hinata was absolutely distraught, knowing he was about to suffer the wrath of the angry salt shaker

- “tsukki!! are you ok??”

- you were quick to gently grab his head and rub the back of it, occasionally rubbing your hands through his hair in an attempt to distract him from the pain

- suddenly all the pain tsukishima felt was gone lMAO-

- tsukishima nodded and exited the gym with you

- he set you down outside and told you to wait while he went to go get his things

- all hinata got was a bonk on the head?? which was?? shocking??

- hinata mentally thanked you for soothing the salty monster’s wrath

- once tsukishima returned back to you he squatted down in front of you and you looked at him like ‘🤨’

- “what are you doing?”

- “don’t your feet hurt? hurry and hop on before i change my mind.”

- oh boY

- you were so quick to jump onto his back for a piggyback ride

- on the way home you asked tsukishima if he liked you and he literally sCOFFED

- “we kissed and you still doubt my feelings for you? do you need another one to clear your head?”

- i mean... you didn’t say no to that

- the next day nishinoya and tanaka show you the video they took

- people were fawning over how fast tsukishima was to turn his body so you wouldn’t get hurt

- tsukishima acted like he didn’t like the attention but this little shit was eating it up

- if you wanted to do more tiktoks with him involving kissing he was not going to deny you

haikyuu mlist

[cinnaminsvga]

the walls have ears | Taehyung

→ summary: in hindsight, taehyung probably shouldn’t have told the paintings about his debilitating crush on you after he had (unknowingly) drunk some magically spiked pumpkin juice. after all, paintings don’t really have all that much going on, except getting excited over the occasional gossip or two. and well... news always travels fast when there’s magic involved.

{based on a prompt by @/alloftheprompts: “Character A tells a painting about their crush on Character B. The portrait spills their secret.”}

→ genre: hogwarts!au, fluff, humor → words: 5.6K → a/n: this is for the lovely @merriblazi who donated a couple ko-fis to fund my grocery bills lmao thank you so much!! also, i’m still accepting ko-fi comms until the end of august, so if you’d like something like this as well, feel free to drop a few ko-fis down my drain!! i’d love to write you all something!! (new banner was made by @jincherie​ ty girl ily)

The paintings at Hogwarts are all in high spirits today.

Taehyung notices this when he exits the Gryffindor common room, immediately being greeted by the Fat Lady’s cackles of excitement. He jumps up in surprise at her ear-splitting squeals, nearly knocking over a poor first-year student behind him. He shouts out an apology at the kid, but she has already scuttled off, spooked by the loud portrait. Honestly, Taehyung isn’t any better himself, turning back around to stare wide-eyed as the Fat Lady continues to point and giggle at him with her mouth stretched into a smirk.

Taehyung hazards a greeting. “Um, good morning?”

“Good morning indeed,” she singsongs, procuring a fan out of the many folds of her dress (from where exactly she had it stored, he tries not to think too deeply about). “Mister Kim, I’m sure you had quite an interesting evening the day before, did you not?”

Taehyung freezes immediately, his blood running cold at her words. Being a known prankster and rapscallion, Taehyung has grown to learn the importance of running at the first sign of trouble, despite how cowardly that might seem for a Gryffindor. The best way to continue having the pleasure of wreaking havoc is to choose your battles wisely, which is just a nice way of saying that he needs to scram before the authorities can catch him. He had learned all of this from the best, seeing as how his best friend happens to be a Slytherin.

He tries to think of what he had done the other night, but he comes up blank. He remembers being busy the entire afternoon trying to ask you on a date for the fourteenth time this month,  only to no avail (as always). While others had already been deterred by intimidation alone, Taehyung remains hopeful that he will get the guts to talk to you eventually. After all, his mommy says he’s a handsome and charming boy who can sweep any girl off their feet, and his mommy has never lied to him before.

At least, that’s what he’s been telling himself these past few years of silently pining over you, but he digresses.

“I… I had an interesting evening?” Taehyung repeats quizzically, becoming more bewildered by the second. Due to the Fat Lady’s commotion, it seems to have caused a stir among the rest of the paintings, all of the nearby portraits peering over their frames to catch a good look at him. Taehyung can even see some of the more lethargic portraits waking up long enough to direct attentive gazes at him.

“Why of course!” The Fat Lady positively screams, clasping her hands together with a loud clap. “The castle is abuzz with excitement over your daring confession last night! Why, I could hardly contain my excitement for when you would awaken.” She flicks away her fan over her shoulder, accidentally hitting her neighboring portrait in the face. She scarely blinks at her neighbor’s barks of irritation.

Oh, jeez. It’s the crotchety portrait that everyone disliked. This isn’t good; no one could ever get the old fart to shut up once you got him going, and Taehyung knows better than anyone else how easy it is to get a rise out of him. After all, it was his favorite pastime.

“Watch where you flap those arms of yours, woman!” He shouts, bulbous features turning purple in mere seconds. The Scholar, or as Taehyung likes to call the Squalor, takes one of his many books from his desk, ready to hurl back at her.

Before he can even think of pulling back his shoulder, a stampede of finely dressed ladies comes rushing in out of nowhere, quickly subduing them by sheer number alone. There is a loud squabble as the ladies all corner him like a murder of multi-colored crows. At a closer glance, Taehyung recognizes them from one of the large paintings near the entrance to the Great Hall.

That was floors away. How had they rushed over so quickly? And for what reason?

“Oh hush, you simpering nerd!” One of the ladies snaps, grabbing the Fat Lady’s fallen fan and slapping the man in the face once more. The scholar sputters, at a loss for words for once in his life. Taehyung thanks the ladies internally, having always wanted to disfigure the bastard’s face ever since he called his yellow sunglasses unfashionable. What the hell did someone who died during the plague know anything about fashion?

“We came as soon as we heard, Lady Fat! Now, where is the boy that everyone’s been gossiping about – oh, my word!” Taehyung assumes it is the leader of the pack who gasps in surprise, her well-manicured finger outstretched as she waggles it at him. He can tell she’s the leader by the ostentatious crown on her head, complete with glittering jewels that he could scarcely tell the names of.

The Fat Lady moves to the side, allowing the women to enter her space until almost the entirety of her canvas was filled with nothing but powdered wigs and poofy skirts. Taehyung can hardly see her crown of vines with how many people were surrounding her.

Her voice sounds muffled when she replies, “For the hundredth time, my name is the Fat Lady, not Lady Fat. And yes Martha, it is him! His name is Taehyung, the one I’m certain who had spoken to Raphael the other night.”

Wait. Taehyung’s mouth drops, taken aback. This is certainly news to him! When had he spoken to Raphael? Who the hell was Raphael, even? Why did everyone seem to know more about his nightly activities than he did?

He doesn’t get to ask, however, as the ladies immediately begin to bombard him with a barrage of comments ranging from excitement to disappointment, no holds barred.

“Oh, it’s the cute Gryffindor boy with the long eyelashes! They would make a lovely couple indeed! I wonder if Raphael has already passed the message to her–”

“He’s the one? Surely not! I was hoping it was the cat-eyed boy with black hair instead. Wouldn’t he be a better match for her?”

“You must be crazy, Marie! This boy is clearly meant for her. My mother was a seer, and I can tell from a mile away that those two are meant to be soulmates–”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Taehyung cries out, anxious from all the chatter coming from all directions at once. He can feel the panic bubbling up, his chest rising and falling rapidly. He doesn’t even know where to start with all this! “Can everyone shut up for a second!”

Miraculously, all the portraits clam up at his request, still gazing upon him like he holds all the secrets to the world. Which, much to everyone’s disappointment, he does not.

The sudden disquiet unnerves him slightly, causing him to stutter in his speech. He swallows thickly, voice meek. “I-I… I’m a bit confused about all this. Can someone explain what everyone’s talking about? I just wanted to head down and get some breakfast.”

It feels like a hundred painted faces are staring back at him, and when Taehyung casts a furtive glance behind him, he sees that even the paintings from two staircases up are watching with rapt attention. Why was everyone so interested in him, all of a sudden? Not even his infamous dungbomb toilet prank got him this much notoriety. When he turns back to face the ladies, they all seem to be just as shocked as he is.

Lady Martha steps forward until she is almost taking up the entirety of the canvas, squinting at him dubiously. Her previously excited demeanor has soured greatly at his words. She tilts her head towards him, unimpressed. “Well? Are you not the boy with the crush on Lady Y/N? Have we sprinted across the entire castle just to find that the culprit of last night’s latest gossip had all been just another prank?”

“N-no, I – Wait. Did you just say–” Taehyung stops in the middle of his sentence to gape back at her, his ears feeling hot as his blood quickly races up to his face. “Did you just say ‘the boy with the crush on Y/N?’” He hisses the last part in a strangled whisper, snapping his head side to side to make sure no one else had heard. He is relieved to find that the only other people nearby do not seem to have heard their exchange, but he still waves his hands frantically to get all the portraits to lower their volume.

She raises her eyebrow at him, hip cocked to the side. “Yes? Had I misspoken? Had Raphael been lying to all of us once again?” She scoffs in exasperation, though it does not seem to be aimed at him. The rest of the ladies seem annoyed at this Raphael as well. “That’s just like him, too! We shouldn’t have trusted him again. That angel never did know how to shut his trap.”

The ladies make muted harrumphs of discontent, noses upturned in the air. Taehyung watches as a few of them begin to make their way back to their own canvas, but he needs to ask them one last thing before they leave. While he doesn’t remember ever speaking to a painting named Raphael, he still does not know how he had found about his crush on you in the first place.

He doesn’t know what he would do if you were to ever find out, even if it was just a rumor for now. This is not how he imagined he would finally tell you about his feelings; everything feels like a nightmare. He can already feel the apples of his tanned cheeks beginning to burn in embarrassment. 

“Hold on, did you say an angel named Raphael said all of that stuff?” Taehyung asks hesitantly, sweat building up on the back of his neck. He can vaguely remember a fresco of some angels near the kitchens, but he isn’t quite sure. He never goes there unless he wants to snag some treats from the house elves, but he has started relying on Seokjin to do the food hauls for him these days. Never mind the fact that he had already gotten caught in the act thrice by you – ever the attentive prefect.

Oh, how he hated how much he loved you, despite the stick up your ass. That being said, no one was supposed to even know that he liked you, much less the entire painting population of Hogwarts. Not even Jimin knew, and that was saying something! How did this Raphael fellow find out when he had kept this secret deep inside his heart since the first day he had laid his eyes on you? How had he figured him out, unless Taehyung had been the one to tell him–

“Yes, the archangel Raphael near the kitchens.” Lady Martha nods, her sneer disfiguring her delicate features. “He said that a drunken boy with long lashes and dark brown hair had confessed his undying feelings for the rigid Lady Y/N the other night. Oh, how excited we were to hear the news!” Martha holds a hand to her chest, sighing dramatically. The remaining ladies chorus their sighs as well, one of them even fainting from grief.

The Fat Lady cranes her neck upwards, trying her best to speak above the fallen, wailing ladies. “Yes, quite. What a shame! When I heard from Lady Martha, who had heard from Lord Michael, who had heard from Sire Nicholas, who had heard from Professor Bang–”

“Wait, Professor Bang?” Taehyung mutters in disbelief, scarcely heard over the racket.

“–who had heard from Archangel Raphael that a boy with long eyelashes had been going on and on about his crush on a female prefect, I just knew it had to be you! Then, the Ladies of Commère discovered that the prefect was Miss Y/N, well… It was like a dream come true! We had all been hoping for her to find her prince sooner or later.”

“Her prince? What for?” Taehyung is kind of afraid to dive deeper into this mess, though he is too curious to let it slide. It isn’t like you’re short on suitors, despite how intimidating and uptight you are. It is part of the reason why he’s too shy to approach you in the first place, with how large his competition pool is.

“Well… She had been complaining to me during her nightly rounds about how lonely she has been feeling, ever since her best friend had started dating that oaf with a quaffle for a brain,” Lady Martha tuts, shaking her head pityingly.

Taehyung is familiar with that “oaf,” otherwise known as the captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team. He admits that Jungkook isn’t the brightest boy, but he is a wickedly good player. Plus, Taehyung thinks he’s funny, especially after that incident when he had tried to snort pumpkin juice on a dare and consequently sprayed the entire wall with a myriad of fluids. (You had deducted points out of your own house for that, much to everyone else’s chagrin.)

Lady Martha continues, “She may seem like an independent woman, but I suppose all of us tend to get lonely during the night. And all the paintings love a good romance every once in a while, so we couldn’t help ourselves from jumping the gun a bit…”

Taehyung feels the dread begin to pile up like bricks in the pit of his stomach, reminding him of the time when he had eaten too much cauldron cakes in one go. He needs to go see Raphael as soon as possible and get to the bottom of this. He doesn’t remember speaking to him at all, which is what makes Taehyung the antsiest. Now that he thinks about it, he doesn’t quite remember what he did after dinner last night.

Somehow between now and then, he had managed to go to bed despite not knowing how or when. Taehyung had woken up this morning with a minor throbbing in the back of his head, but it was nothing to write home about.

At least that was what he thought. He was starting to second guess everything now.

He bows to the paintings, belatedly feeling a little odd for showing respect to inanimate objects. Regardless, the ladies appear to be delighted by his involuntary action, all of them cooing at his manners and wishing him a good breakfast as he scampers off towards the Great Hall.

When he arrives, the tables are still largely empty with how early he had risen, a rare occurrence in Taehyung’s everyday life. He doesn’t think he’s ever arrived to breakfast this early, but he blames the small headache from earlier that prematurely roused him from his slumber. Strange, he thinks as he trudges to his usual place, waiting for the rest of his friends and housemates to arrive. Everything about today has been nothing but a fever dream come to life.

As he spoons a large portion of porridge and fried sausages onto his plate (still piping hot and crisp, which is another weird and new prospect to Taehyung since the food was always a bit mushy by the time he turns up for breakfast), he replays the conversation with the Ladies of Commère.

Other than Raphael, there appear to be no other leads as to who might have found out about his secret admiration for you. The Fat Lady describes a boy with long lashes and brown hair to be the one who had conversed with him, which definitely seems to indicate it was Taehyung himself who had snitched.

An utterly preposterous thought. There is no way that he would ever admit that to some random passerby, certainly not while sober.  

Taehyung pauses, spoon midway towards his open mouth. Bits of porridge drip over his lap as the sudden terrorizing thought flits through his mind. Had he been sober last night?

The ladies said the boy had been drunk when he had confessed. Taehyung didn’t drink alcohol, averse to the bitter taste. So how could he have..?

Taehyung rubs his temples frantically, his heart beating out of his chest as he tries again to remember what he had done right after dinner the previous evening. No matter how hard he racked his brain for information, he comes up blank every time.

Even if he had been drunk, do people really lose all their memories from just a sip or two? The only way he could have gotten drunk is if he had consumed it unknowingly, meaning someone must have spiked his food the other night. But who could have done such a thing?

The loud thud of a body barrelling right into the table forces Taehyung out of his reverie, nearly dislodging his head off his neck in the process. He yelps in surprise, before glaring at the new smiley intruder beside him.

The Slytherin grins cherubically, having the audacity to wink salaciously at him. “Good morning, Taehyungie! Surprised to see you up so early,” Jimin says, seating himself on the Gryffindor bench like he belongs there. With how often he visits his table, it’s easy for people to mistake him as his housemate. Even you and the rest of the prefects have stopped trying to get him to leave after their fifth year.

Taehyung groans. “It’s been a rough morning.”

“I can tell. You aren’t even eating any of the bacon,” Jimin whistles in surprise, casually heaping his own (stolen) plate. He gives Taehyung a proper once-over. “You feeling alright? You look kind of pale.”

“It’s…” Taehyung wavers, not sure what to reveal. He still doesn’t feel comfortable telling Jimin about his crush, but he thinks that if the entire population of Hogwarts might soon find out anyway, then his best friend might as well find out from the source himself. But first…

“Did you spike my dinner last night?”

“What?” Jimin laughs, but stops when he notices Taehyung’s serious expression. “Oh. You’re serious. Did you eat something funny yesterday?”

“I don’t remember eating anything weird except for the lamb chops and chicken and mashed potatoes and…” Taehyung trails off, realizing how much he eats during a meal. He looks down at his already half-devoured plate of what was once ten whole sausages before sighing dejectedly.

“It could have been anything, huh?” Jimin hums, rubbing his chin. “That’s weird though, because I don’t think I ate anything weird yesterday, and we ate pretty much the same stuff.”

“That’s the thing! I only realized my food might have been spiked this morning,” Taehyung grumbles. He pauses for a second, steeling himself before he spills his guts all over the shiny mahogany dining table. He breathes deeply, causing Jimin to watch him curiously from his right. Well, it’s now or never.

“What made you realize?” Jimin asks.

“You see, funny story…” Taehyung says, not at all amused by the tale he was about to tell. “This morning, I was assaulted by the Fat Lady and the Ladies of Commère. You know, the hoity-toity ladies near the entrance of the Great Hall? Anyway, they said something that made me rethink my entire existence and that maybe my memories aren’t as reliable as I thought.”

“What the hell are you even saying?” Jimin huffs, wagging his fork in his face. “Stop beating around the bush and say what you wanna say! What does this have to do with spiked food?”

“Basically… The ladies said I told one of the portraits about my crush on this certain someone, but the thing is, I would NEVER tell anyone about my crush on that someone, so the only way they could have known about my crush on that someone is if I had told them, but the thing is, I–”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Jimin interrupts Taehyung’s rambling, barely trying to suppress his giggles as he appraises his panicking friend. “You told a portrait about your crush on Y/N? When did this happen?”

Taehyung makes a startled sound, practically screeching in horror at Jimin’s nonchalant declaration. He had said it in a way like it was a simple truth, like how the sky is blue and how feet are sexy.

“You knew?!”

“Dude, everyone knows.” Jimin hums, nodding his head sagely. He snags one of the sausages off of Taehyung’s plate, even though he could have gotten a fresh one from the many other platters instead. He chews as he says, “Well admittedly, I’ve always known. Everyone else only just found out this morning as we entered the Great Hall. The hoity-toity ladies at the entrance were telling anyone who’d listen.”

“The ladies were–?” Taehyung stammers, mouth moving too quickly for his brain to catch up. “But I told them it wasn’t me!”

“Well, too late for that now,” Jimin shrugs, taking another one of Taehyung’s sausages. At this point, he was only doing it to make Taehyung’s day worse. “Apparently, Raphael the Archangel swore that it was you who had confessed about your crush on Y/N, and angels don’t just go around swearing, you know? Not that I know anything about Muggle religion, but also–”

“Oh Merlin, I think I’m going to be sick,” Taehyung says, slamming his head into his plate with the remaining three sausages. Jimin whines, lamenting the fate of his fallen riches.

“My sausages!”

“My love life!” Taehyung cries out, lifting his head and letting the greasy remains of his breakfast drip down his forehead.

Jimin is the first to recover from their respective meltdowns, using a finger to wipe some of the oil from his friend’s face and licking it with relish. “Damn, I love sausages. So, as I was saying… Why did you go and tell that portrait about your crush? Is that why you think you got spiked last night?”

Taehyung chokes out a sob, signaling his agreement.

“Oh shit, what if someone slipped Veritaserum in your pumpkin juice? But who?” Jimin wonders aloud, but it’s hard to narrow it down to just about anyone. Taehyung is pretty likable even amongst the most prickly students, so it will be difficult to pinpoint anyone who might have some personal vendetta against him. Then again, there are a couple of pranksters who come to mind…

“It doesn’t even matter who did it at this point. Y/N is going to come through those doors any moment and she’s just gonna know that I’m a fucking loser who spills his deepest infatuations to some random painting that I don’t even remember speaking to!”

“That is pretty lame,” Jimin says, not the least bit sympathetic. In his honest opinion, he feels like he should be thankful to whoever spiked his friend’s drink last night. Pining never did look good on Taehyung, despite all his natural handsomeness. If he had to catch him staring at you with that lovestruck look again, Jimin might as well have snitched sooner or later.

“Do you think I have time to go stop them from announcing to the world that I’m a loser with a huge boner for Y/N?” Taehyung is already rising to his feet, wiping the remaining grease from his skin as best as he can. He only smears it around some more, giving himself a blinding sheen. Somehow, he makes it work.

Jimin looks to his watch. “She usually comes in around five minutes before 8 AM, so maybe you’ll have some time before–”

He has spoken too soon. Lo and behold, you enter the hall with loud, purposeful strides, the entirety of your neck to your forehead flushed an endearing shade of red. You look absolutely mortified. Taehyung can say that he’s feeling the same, if not worse.

You pass by Taehyung in a blur, your gaze twitching towards him for a slight second before you are back to walking straight ahead with your head bowed slightly. Your best friend and Jungkook enter the hall soon after, both of whom were giggling raucously in your wake. The three of you slide into your usual seats a few spaces away from him, your eyes trained so fiercely onto your eggs that Taehyung is afraid that they might burst into flames.

Jimin looks from you to Taehyung, a smirk on his face. “You think she heard?”

The day continues onwards, filled with lots of staring and whispering. Taehyung can’t go from class to class without at least one person slapping him on the back in solidarity or others glaring at him out of contempt and jealousy. Either way, Taehyung isn’t sure whether he likes this type of attention or not.

Being hooted and cursed at for pulling off a fantastic joke? That, he could live with. Being the center of an ongoing cheesy romantic drama? This type of situation is a new world entirely.

The entire day is a whirlwind as he goes from class to class, not even getting to sneak off once to go and search for the ever elusive Raphael. Every time he tries to even look the other direction, his professors seem to be a step ahead of him, snapping at him to stay focused. Judging by the knowing smirks on their lips, they must have heard about the news as well, except they must be under the impression that he was trying to get away and search for you.

Oh, how wrong they are. He doesn’t even know what he would say if he saw you right now.

Luckily (or unluckily) for him, he doesn’t see you that often for the remainder of the day, except for one occasion when he passes you on the way to Potions. You aren’t with your best friend for once, but your eyes are still trained to the floor like they were this morning. Your usual pristine posture is gone, replaced by this timid girl who jumps up in surprise at the slightest bit of chatter. You don’t even scold a second-year for loosening his tie, and that honestly worried Taehyung more than anything else.

Were you embarrassed by him? He isn’t all that surprised that his affections were left unreciprocated – he’s long since accepted that his feelings will always remain one-sided. After all, with how often you like to reprimand him, you must only think of him as some loser seeking attention. In fact, he only ever plans his pranks so that you might be the one to catch him, like some misbehaving child who longs for the love of his absent parents.

Not that he thinks you’re like a mom to him, but then again… You’d be a great mom, but only if he gets to be the dad.

Wow. That went waaaay out of bounds than he was originally going for, but he digresses.

Still, he is a little hurt being ignored by you. Could he at least hope for a proper rejection? Just so he doesn’t have to keep having to speculating his whole life and wondering about what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. Oh, how he loathes what-ifs and what-could-have-beens. They are worse than losing an entire femur, in his opinion (and yes, he has lost a femur once. Luckily, they found it in the women’s bathroom, for some reason.)

He can’t blame you entirely though, since it must be hard on your part as well. He doesn’t ever remember seeing you this flustered in, well… Ever.

The afternoon winds down and classes end as quickly as they come. Dinner arrives once more, and Taehyung has more presence of mind to check what he eats before they even touch his lips. For safety reasons, he feeds his portions to Jimin first, just so if he gets spiked with truth serum again, at least the two of them could be idiots together.

He allows Jimin to lead most of the conversation, still not really feeling like everything’s fine despite his friend’s best attempts at lightening the mood. He did just get his heartbroken for the first time, after all. He’s surprised he hasn’t started bawling his eyes out in front of the entire school yet.

Just a few more minutes and I can cry all I want in the safety of my bedroom, Taehyung thinks to himself, feeling even shittier about how excited he is to spend the entire evening soaking his pillow with tears. It’s fine. He’ll be fine.

He is in the process of feeding a spoonful of peas into Jimin’s open mouth when he feels a soft tap on his shoulder, breaking him from his trance. He is in the process of telling the person that he’s not in the mood, but the words die in his throat the moment he turns and discovers the identity of the sudden visitor.

It’s you.

It’s you, with your hands wringing the edges of your sweater and the most endearingly rosy tint on your soft cheeks. He feels his heart start pounding automatically, just as it always has whenever he’s near you. He thinks the whole school has stopped talking with how silent the Great Hall has become, everyone itching to try and listen to your exchange.

Perhaps you had anticipated this type of scenario and didn’t want anyone to overhear, which is why you have already prepared a note beforehand, inked with your signature neat scrawl. You slip the small piece of parchment into his palm, folding his fingers over it gently. You bow your head awkwardly, reminding Taehyung of his similar gesture from earlier. You scurry away back to your seat, hands cupping your cheeks to cool yourself down.

Taehyung can’t see himself right now, but he thinks he might be even redder than you are, if that is even possible. Jimin, like the nosey bastard that he is, rips the note out of his hand and reads it before he can even process the last five minutes, guffawing loudly at what he finds.

“Guess you got a date later at the Astronomy Tower,” he says, shaking Taehyung’s hand in mock congratulations.

Well, at least he’ll have the stars to look at when he inevitably gets his heart crushed for real this time.

He doesn’t get his heart crushed. At least, not immediately. In fact, he thinks he might be on cloud nine right now as he sees you waiting for him, a small smile on your lips.

“Taehyung, I… really didn’t expect this from you. At all.” You start speaking the moment you hear him reach the top of the stairs, still slightly out of breath from the climb up. He rushes over to you immediately, letting the breeze cool his sweaty face.

“You didn’t… expect it?”

“Well, I mean! You’re always so…” You trail off, your mouth doing this weird thing where you look like you don’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“A fucking little bastard?” Taehyung laughs when he sees you start to backtrack, stammering all the while.

“N-no! Well, you sorta are… But in the cutest way… possible?” You say the last part like a question, almost helplessly. You wave your hands wildly, adorable despite being frustrated. “I mean! It’s like! I scold you, but it’s my job, you know? But it’s not because I want to do it? Do you get what I mean? Ugh, I’m so awkward I hate this!”

“You think… I’m cute?” Taehyung lets himself smile a little, and it seems to make you even more flustered.

“Have you not seen yourself? Of course you are! I can’t believe that you even have a crush on me–” You stop yourself, slapping a hand to your mouth in horror. “I-I… I know it’s just a rumor and everything, and I don’t want to assume there’s any basis because oh my Merlin I’m never the type to listen to gossip and I don’t want you to think that I’m sort of–”

“What if it isn’t a rumor, though?” Taehyung has never felt this emboldened in his life, toeing the line of danger so closely that he can feel the electricity rush through his veins.

On the otherhand, you look completely baffled, as if the thought never crossed your mind before this moment. “What do you mean? Are you saying that…”

“That I like you, for real? Maybe I am,” Taehyung says, feeling cheekier the more he talks. It might just be the night sky or the wind against his cheeks, or maybe it’s the way your eyes are reflecting the stars like a mirror, but he feels like there is magic in the air. It’s cheesy, it’s cliché, but it’s everything he imagined it would be like.

He’s spent many daydreams thinking about this, and he isn’t going to let his fear pull him under. Not now, not when he can feel the string pulling the two of you together tighten with every second.

“If the rumors were true, what would you say?” Taehyung whispers, lacing his fingers through yours. Your hands shake imperceptibly, but your stare is as stagnant as the affection he feels for you. What he has always felt for you.

When you respond, Taehyung swears the whole world could hear his heart fluttering for you.  

.

.

.

Somewhere in the Slytherin dungeons, Jimin is smiling to himself in the comfort of his own bed, turning in early for the night. It truly had been a good investment to secretly start dating a seventh-year potions prodigy over the summer. What is even better is that the Potions professor never did remember to lock his Veritaserum ingredients with nothing more than a simple deadbolt.

He snuggles himself deeper into his pillow, snickering softly. Good job, Yoongi. 

All is fucking well. 

[anais-mitchell]

Philip Tour 12/29/18 Evening, Ft. Lauderdale

This show was so incredible. We were seated in the very back row of orchestra left, but the Broward theater really isn’t that big so we had a good view. Not really close enough to see faces but still decent. I’ll put this under a read more because it will probably get long!

Angelica Tour Review

Alexander Hamilton: Very good! It’s been said to death but the choreography is just so cool. I’ve heard criticisms of Nik for looking proud when saying “I’m the damn fool that shot him” but either he toned it down or I was too far away to see clearly.

Aaron Burr, Sir: Nik and Joseph just are such a good Burr and Hamilton together. I’m not sure if this is always the case but they were chatting while the squad introductions were going on rather than watching. Nik looked very offended by “what’ll you fall for?”

My Shot: LOVED Joseph here. He had so much energy and you could really feel that he was inspiring the guys and was so excited to finally share all his ideas and goals. Nik was very funny in his little bit, but Fergie had me CRACKING UP with his coat flourish; he like put his leg up on the table on pointe and it was ridiculously funny. King definitely showed Laurens’s shit stirring angry nature with the rise up bit, and Joseph had such a great buildup from Hamilton’s quiet self doubt to being emboldened by his ideals and new friends.

The Story of Tonight: This really revived the Lams shipper in me not gonna lie it was Gay. At one point they were like staring into each others eyes and Lafayette and Mulligan had to physically pull them apart and Kyle was like “eyes over here” with his fingers, definitely calling them out for checking each other out lol. They also were very touchy-feely walking off together. Anyways their voices were excellent and you could feel the camaraderie very well.

The Schuyler Sisters: YESS so much fun. Nyla was sufficiently sassy and Jen definitely reminded me of Solea with her excitedness and expressiveness. Her voice is just so clear and pretty I’m in love? Ta’Rea was also so over it with Burr and really went for it on her bit.

Farmer Refuted: Joseph is so tiny and angry it made me laugh. At “my dog speaks more eloquently than thee” King and Fergie (I think? Two of the Sons of Liberty) like got on each other’s back and mimicked dogs humping or something it was sooo funny. Also this confirms my theory that Eliza is definitely in character watching Alexander in the wings, she looked so entertained and giggled a little when she was pulled away by Angelica.

You’ll Be Back: Jon Patrick Walker is a pretty funny king.

Right Hand Man: This number is genuinely really underrated the ensemble choreography is so fucking cool. Marcus definitely commands the stage as Washington and really conveyed his frustration. Joseph and Marcus played off each other very well, Hamilton was definitely very inspired and reverential of Washington. Nik was all ruffled after being sent off by Washington.

A Winter’s Ball: Nik was super pissed at the beginning and very “wtf how does this guy do it,” which was kinda his attitude towards Hamilton the whole show. Laurens and Hamilton were also hanging off each other a ton at the start of this number.

Helpless: Okay so this was a definite highlight of the show!! Jen freaking killed it I was so so impressed. She had such a huge crush it was adorable, she was basically gushing to the audience and Angelica. She looked genuinely shocked when Hamilton looked back at her and like she had butterflies as he was walking over. Nyla did a super cute “look I have your letter!” dance on “one week later..” and both Joseph and Jen had the cutest victory dances. But ugh Hamilton’s bit KILLED me Eliza was so excited to spend her life with this dork and he cupped her face on “but I’ll never forget my mother’s face that was real..” Their Hamliza just had no concept of personal space they were so close together and intimate. Her riffs were also 10/10 I can’t stress enough how pretty her voice is. He was cupping her face again after the wedding kiss and they just looked so in love and happy my heart could not take it their chemistry was insane.

Satisfied: Lmao King played Laurens as so drunk for the intro. Ta’Rea did a very good job, her conflict between her feelings for Hamilton and love for Eliza was expressed well. Her bridge was really sad and she almost sounded on the verge of tears, she also had some very good riffs on the end. I thought she was good but didn’t really do much to make it her own. I wish I had more to say but it was a pretty standard Satisfied imo.

The Story of Tonight- Reprise: Silly and fun all around for the first bit. Joseph and Nik genuinely seemed to be friends in this song, Nik’s “to be sure” was pretty heartfelt. Fergie twerked on Nik which was as perfect as it sounds.

Wait For It: I was surprised by how much I liked this. It was an interesting paradox between how Burr was singing about self restraint and waiting for it but was also really letting himself go and be taken by his passion. I wasn’t totally sold on his Burr at first but I thought this was so strong, there was a definite moment at the end where he kind realized how he had let his passion overtake him and straightened his jacket and settled back into his calm, collected demeanor. This is a super hard song to pull of convincingly and I was impressed.

Stay Alive: Quality all around. Marcus and Joseph continued to play off each other very well and Joseph seemed so pissed that he couldn’t fight Lee.

Ten Duel Commandments: Oh my god Burr was SO OVER IT it was really funny. He directed “you have him turn around so he can have deniability” straight to the doctor as in “dude, turn the fuck around!”

Meet Me Inside: I’m pretty sure Joseph accidentally said “Joe, we won!” instead of “Go, we won!” for some reason lol. He was very petulant with Washington and his “call me son one more time!” was so pissed.

That Would Be Enough: Heart eyes heart eyes heart eyes. Joseph was so full of wonder and amazement when her first saw Eliza’s pregnancy. Like I said, no concept of personal space between these two and it was perfect. I feel like Jen’s Eliza was less begging him to stay and more confident that he would; kinda as if she was just reminding him of their love which made “I’m not afraid, I know who I married” more poignant. They were extremely soft as the lights went down with him touching her belly and kissing her hand.

Guns and Ships: I hate talking negative because it really was a great show but this was a letdown. Kyle’s French accent is poor and when you combine that with how deep and thick his voice is the quick paced rapping was just not working for anyone in my party, especially after seeing Chris Lee in Atlanta. The Hamliza goodbye was very sweet and sad though. Jen was not happy for him to be leaving.

History Has Its Eyes on You: Marcus really brought it, you could tell he was haunted by his past and that Joseph really understood the gravity of what he was saying. These are also some of my favorite ensemble harmonies of the show.

Yorktown: Seriously fuck Florida audiences for the dead silence after “Immigrants, we get the job done.” It was so awkward. But this number is always incredible and this was no exception, Joseph fully inhabited Hamilton’s emotions and drive to win. Fergie’s rap was so energetic and perfect. While Marcus didn’t hit “not yet” as powerfully as Carvens, it was still very good.

What Comes Next?: The stamping on “I’m so blue” is always funny.

Dear Theodosia: Lovely. They sang together very well and were super optimistic and proud.

Laurens Interlude: Again the Lams was really emphasized. Joseph knew by “it’s from his father” and you could just see his grief. The look between them was very emotional, as was “I have so much work to do.”

Non-Stop: This song is totally driven by the Hamilton-Burr interactions and Joseph and Nik did it excellently. You really started to see Joseph’s ambition and confidence increase throughout the song and Nik continued his “wtf” reaction to everything Joseph did. Also, my new favorite moment in the show with both Nicholas Christopher and Nik Walker is “he’s just non-stop”; while Christopher was like fake smiling through gritted teeth, Walker was just so exasperated and basically saying to the audience “the fuck is he on about?” Both equally hilarious. You could definitely see Eliza starting to lose some faith in Hamilton at “would that be enough?” and she was super pissed in “Alexander” and “isn’t this enough?” They all really set up the Act 2 conflicts well in this song.

What’d I Miss?: Right away I preferred Kyle’s Jefferson to his Lafayette, although it still wasn’t anywhere near Chris Lee’s (but few are to be fair.) My dad thought he was late on some of his lines but I didn’t pick up on it. I don’t remember that many details but he was funny.

Cabinet Battle #1: Kyle was shamelessly high fiving and shaking hands with all the ensemble members before it started lol. His mic drop to Fergie got a lot of laughs. Joseph went really hard on his verse especially the slavery bit, and when he went after Madison he started having a coughing fit and Jefferson was slamming on his back to get it out which was hilarious. Their exit off the stage was so silly and funny too. Also Joseph is so much shorter than Kyle it is ridiculous. Bonus note, watching Burr’s reactions to the argument in the left balcony is almost as entertaining as the argument itself.

Take A Break: ELIZA LOVES PHILIP SO MUCH MY HEART COULDN’T TAKE IT. Her beatboxing was so “proud mama” and King had an adorable Philip rap. I really liked Ta’Rea and Joseph’s delivery of “my dearest, Angelica.” Jen’s Eliza was SO EXCITED to see her sister!! And the end just broke my heart because throughout the whole song Eliza seemed so confident that he would come with them and she was really sad when he didn’t. Jen’s journey as Eliza really had to do a lot with her gradual loss of faith in her husband and it was super heartbreaking.

Say No to This: Nyla played a very sympathetic Maria, you definitely got the vibe that she was being pimped out and wasn’t lying about “beating me, cheating me, mistreating me.” Joseph was so angry at her but eventually gave in and had some pretty intense “yes” moans lmao. Nyla slayed the high note too. 

The Room Where it Happens: By this point you could tell Joseph’s confidence was at a point where he really felt Burr was beneath him and somehow Burr was so confused as to how this had happened. Nik really put on a show in this number and his big revelation moment was electrifying. (Side not, I never understand why this moment gets laughs??) He tore up the stage towards the end and really hammered home the shift in Burr’s character. I said this was the highlight of my Atlanta show by far, and while it wasn’t the same level here, it still was amazing.

Schuyler Defeated: Nik was super self satisfied here and all “who’s better than who NOW hmm?”

Cabinet Battle #2: Good all around. I thought Joseph was really funny.

Washington on Your Side: The way Burr came out was so freaking funny, he had this goofy smile on and was doing this stupid little dance like “ooh yes lets bond over hating Hamilton.” They were all very intent on taking him down and conniving.

One Last Time: Y’ALL THIS WAS EXCELLENTT. I loved the way Joseph played off of Marcus but this number was all Marcus. He was so ready to rest while also trying to secure his legacy and his voice was incredible in the end. 

I Know Him: Definitely the funniest King song of the night. His “WHAT” and “I KNOW HIM!!!” were hilarious.

The Adams Administration: BURR WAS DANCING WITH THE KING AT THE BEGINNING IN SUCH A SILLY PETTY WAY IT WAS SO GOOD. Joseph was just straight up pissed at Adams and his whole attitude was very “fuck it.”

We Know: Yeah Joseph panicked a lot and was very defensive. I think he was also really shocked that Burr had allied with Jefferson and Madison. Eliza and Philip in the balcony was a sad touch.

Hurricane: Ugh incredible. The lighting and choreography of this number >>>>. Joseph still seemed overly confident that he was making the right decision and he totally delivered on the intense emotions. 

The Reynolds Pamphlet: As soon as the bass dropped you could see Eliza pull out a paper in the balcony and walk off. All the different reactions were super well done. Philip looked so upset and he first ran off after “his own house? Damn,” but at the mention of “our children” he turned back and had this heartbroken look and then ran off again. Jefferson and the king were having the time of their lives lol, and Washington looked very disappointed. Ta’Rea barely even let him touch her before she pulled away. She was so angry and sad at the same time. There was an interesting touch I’d never seen before where Joseph tried to put his hands like around her waist after “God, I hope you’re satisfied” and she shoved him away.

Burn: I feel like people get so caught up in Eliza’s anger that they forget how sad this song really is. She started off just devastated and totally at rock bottom, in utter disbelief with all her faith in her husband gone. Her “you, you, you” was just totally heart wrenching and then she had that moment of clarity where her emotions totally shifted to anger. Her burn notes weren’t as strong as they could have been but she totally made up with the emotion. The best part was the ending though, she was so icy on “I hope that you burn,” but then you saw her anger melt away and she was just left with that total sadness again. Jen was so so so good and I’m in love with her voice.

Blow Us All Away: Philip definitely inherited his unearned confidence from his father. Joseph seemed like he didn’t take it seriously enough and kinda just trusted it would all blow over. At the duel itself, King played Philip as more confident than nervous.

Stay Alive- Reprise: UGHH everyone brought it so hard here. Joseph was so utterly panicked and upset running into the doctor, the doctor was basically holding him back and he just sprinted to Philip. King very much played Philip as actively dying, he was sobbing and choking out words which I like so much more than “Philip is brave and pushing through it!!” because the kid is DYING he should be upset and terrified that this happened. Jen was in so much shock but she went for it so hard with the scream my heart shattered. You could see Joseph’s world just crash down around him as Eliza ripped her hand away and he realized all he’d lost.

It’s Quiet Uptown: @picquery did a much better job explaining Joseph in this song than I ever could, but he was really good. I wish I had been closer to see his faces better, but you could just see that his whole world and self concept had been completely demolished. This is where Joseph’s emphasis on Hamilton’s confidence up until this point and Jen’s emphasis of Eliza’s decreasing faith in Hamilton intersected beautifully. Hamilton really realized how wrong he had been in everything and how he really didn’t deserve Eliza but wanted her so badly. Watching Jen’s attempt to hold onto her anger but slowly letting it fade away as she fell back in love with Hamilton was so emotional. When she took his hand, they just stared at each other for so long; Joseph was just reveling in her forgiveness that he knew he didn’t deserve and Jen was just allowing herself to feel his love again. This is where their total lack of personal space came back and they were just so close together, they didn’t break eye contact until they left the stage and it was just transcendent.

The Election of 1800: God what a transition lol. Nik played it as if he was disappointed that Hamilton wasn’t initially warm to him rather than jumping right in with the cheesiness. Still, he looked very confident that Hamilton would endorse him and vice versa for Jefferson. Joseph was definitely itching to get back into politics which was very frustrating to see after It’s Quiet Uptown. I thought the ending between Jefferson and Burr was very funny, probably my fave Kyle moment of the show.

Your Obedient Servant: Nik was so shocked at the results of the election; it was almost like he had shown dominance or something over Hamilton in Act 2 and that would make Hamilton respect him when the opposite was true. He was very angry while Hamilton was more self righteous and unapologetic.

Best of Wives, Best of Women: Cute :((

The World Was Wide Enough: You could definitely feel that Nik didn’t want it to come to this but was gritting his teeth and doing it. Joseph’s monologue was definitely my favorite part of his performance, the choreography mirroring My Shot is so poignant and he conveyed this whole feeling of he had finally matured and realized what mattered and just wanted more time with Eliza. “Eliza, my love..” made me cry. Still my favorite moment in the whole show. Nik’s regret was super powerful.

Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story: Jen carried this so well. Her Eliza was so strong and desperate to preserve Hamilton’s legacy while also making the world a better place. “The orphanage” hit me so hard, the fact that Eliza lost her child and then helped raise hundreds more... Jen expressed this fully. Her reunion with Hamilton pulled on the heartstrings and she had the perfect gasp at the end.

Joseph Morales as Alexander Hamilton: We been knew he’s the best of the best and he was such a joy to see live. He brings so much energy and determination to Hamilton but isn’t afraid to show the uglier sides of him. Like I said, his Hamilton’s arc is really about the rise and fall of confidence and realizing what truly matters; his wife and family. He had amazing chemistry with everyone with whom he interacted but especially Jen, Nik, Marcus, and King. His singing and rapping is impeccable as well and so emotive. I was actually really surprised that my dad wasn’t as much of a fan as he was of Edred.

Jen Sese as Eliza Hamilton: Soo it’s no secret that I adore Shoba Narayan and she was the cast member I was most excited to see, so my heart did drop a little when I saw she was out. But let me say Jen Sese stole my heart!! She gave a near perfect performance as Eliza. Just for starters, she has this beautiful crystal clear almost soprano voice that just soars through the theater. I feel like she would be a killer Natasha or Cosette. I was so impressed by her Act 1 that I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to pull off the emotion of Act 2 but she absolutely did. Her Eliza’s journey was all about faith in both her husband and herself and she sold everything Eliza felt perfectly. She was the perfect Eliza to Joseph’s Hamilton, so grounded and supportive while also being firm and powerful. Her Eliza reminded me of both Solea and Shoba in the best ways. I could absolutely see her taking over this role or even either other sister after departures. I can’t say enough good things about her honestly.

Nik Walker as Aaron Burr: I was surprised by how much I liked him? Almost everyone I’ve heard review him had negative opinions but I thought his Burr was so different and engaging. Something about his Wait For It worked sooo well for me. His humor also worked for me and I loved his revelation moment in Room. I think his Burr was all about being respected and proving himself to carry on his parents’ legacy; it was very sad to see him fail to do so.

Ta’Rea Campbell as Angelica Schuyler: She did everything a good Angelica needs to do. Her bridge in Satisfied and her Reynolds Pamphlet were definitely two highlights of the show, and she had some killer riffs. I do wish she had done a bit more to make the role her own but she definitely played Angelica well.

Marcus Choi as George Washington: He gave a really excellent performance. His interactions with Joseph’s Hamilton were so good and his One Last Time almost brought me to tears, audios definitely do not do him justice because he is so much better live. He’s definitely secured his place as one of my favorite Washingtons.

Kyle Scatliffe as Lafayette/Jefferson: I don’t know if it was the fact that I saw Chris Lee (inarguably the best Laf/Jeff) in Atlanta or what, but his performance sadly did not do much for me. His French accent was Bad and he definitely lacked the rapping abilities to pull off Guns and Ships. I did like his Jefferson a bit more, he was sufficiently funny and had some really great moments such as the end of Election of 1800, but he was just not one of the highlights of the night. I think he’s much more suited to a role like Enjolras that’s more singing heavy, and he definitely had charisma as Lafayette but somehow he just feels miscast.

Fergie L. Phillipe as Mulligan/Madison: His Mulligan was perfection. He had the big booming voice of Oak but totally added some of his own flourishes and gave all the energy. I also thought his Madison was excellent and played really well off of Kyle’s Jefferson.

King David Jones as Laurens/Philip: I have really, really enjoyed what I’ve heard of Elijah’s L/P, so when I saw he was out I kinda resigned myself to a mediocre L/P performance as I have yet to see a really good L/P cover. Boy was I wrong!! King was so surprisingly good!!! His Laurens was definitely shit stirring, angry, reckless, and ready to lay down his life for what he believed in. He and Joseph were VERY strong in the Lams department which is something I definitely missed in Atlanta. Like they definitely fucked after Story of Tonight lol. I also enjoyed his Philip a lot. He oozed swagger and confidence in Blow Us All Away but his Stay Alive Reprise was SO heartbreaking because he was full on sobbing and could barely get words out. You really got the feeling of how much pain he was in and how scared he was of dying which a lot of L/P’s fail to deliver on. One of the biggest surprises of the show for me personally.

Nyla Sostre as Peggy/Maria: This is honestly a thankless role, but she did all she could with it. Her Peggy was super sassy in Schuyler Sisters and excited for Eliza in Helpless/Satisfied, and like I said, she played a very sympathetic Maria with a killer voice. She looked so betrayed and upset when reading the Reynolds Pamphlet.

And that’s that! All in all I am glad I saw the cast I did, they told the story perfectly. I didn’t stagedoor because I actually could not find it, I asked like three different ushers and they all gave me different directions and we were all so exhausted by then that we just went home. I’d be happy to answer any other questions about the show or specific actors!

[resourceanime]

Hi! Do you know of any posts/resources on how to make a gif edit w smooth camera zooms? I want to make edits w character stills that zoom in or out but I have no idea how to make it look good :')

Hello!! I apologize for the delayed response;; Technically there are two ways to do this (one extremely tedious) but I’m going to show you the easiest and fastest way! 

TUTORIAL: CREATING CAMERA ZOOM GIFS

Difficulty: Easy - MediumNotes: some basic Photoshop knowledge is required (generally you should be comfortable with playing around with frames/layers and using the convert to timeline option)

As I mentioned, there are technically two ways to do this. You can either:

a) Zoom in frame by frame manually with little difference in each frame OR

b) Zoom in using the Timeline option to animate it 

For this tutorial, I’m going to show the Timeline Animation only, just because it’s a whole lot easier and less time-consuming in that sense. 

NOTE: So this was my first time doing camera zooms through animation (otherwise I have done them manually tweaking each frame and what not). I....seriously hope this is alright.....this is the smoothest way I think that isn’t super tedious but if there’s a very specific way you want it done, I only know the manual way otherwise;; I apologize greatly I’m still learning this stuff myself *cries*

1. Open your character stills. Do not open the whole psd (with layers and colourings and all that). Open your final result (which should be one single layer). 

2. In your Timeline on the bottom, click “Create Frame Animation” so you can see the frames in your tray. Then, click the “Convert to Video Timeline” (the tiles right below your first frame)

Now, your screen should look like this:

3. I would suggest to drag the Timeline Tray up a bit more because we will be playing around with it for the rest of the tutorial. You can do so with this on the bottom near the scrollbar:

So, on the right is what we’ll call the “Layers Tray” which has your layer’s name and original image, and on the left you will also find your layer’s name, so we will call this the “Timeline Tray” for simplicity. Once you have selected your layer in the Layers Tray, go to your layer in the Timeline Tray and click the drop down menu beside the name. The drop down menu will show you three options but don’t worry about them. The main purpose of showing the menu is so you can see the layer animation space (underneath the purple shown below).

Furthermore, you should also be aware of the Indicator (the red line with the blue tab on your timeline. 

Dragging it across the timeline will show you any changes you’ve made to the animation. This will be important later on. 

4. You will see in your Timeline Tray the purple layer that has an arrow on the right side. Click the arrow. You will see the following menu pop up:

In the drop down list, select “Pan & Zoom” and then click anywhere outside the box. You have now created a zooming and panning keyframe animation, which is indicated by the new red space below the purple layer. 

5. Just to explain things a little bit, a keyframe in this case is basically an animation. The red diamond you see at the start indicates when the animation will begin, and the second red diamond indicates when the animation should stop. Try playing your gif here and see how Photoshop has animated it automatically! 

Now, let’s say you wanted the animation to end at the half-way point, you would drag the second red diamond to the middle and that would be considered the end. Test it out by doing so and pressing play, you will find that it will end at that point. Likewise, same is true for the first red diamond. 

This is the very basis of how to create smooth panning. I do want to further show how you can manipulate zooming and panning manually so if you’re interested, keep reading!

6. Let’s say in my case, I wanted to zoom and pan towards Kindaichi bc he looks so damn pure that I have to. Although Photoshop can zoom and pan by itself more or less, I want to zoom in further and pan in further. 

To do this, I will drag the Indicator (the red line with the blue tab) all the way to the second red diamond (so that it looks like it’s cut in half). Remember, the second red diamond shows the end of the animation. Here, we will dictate the zooming. 

7. Make sure the second red diamond is selected and then hit ctrl + T to enter into Transformation mode. Now, you will have to basically size the image so that it is zoomed in and in the correct position you want the character to be in. So, I basically adjusted the size to something a lot bigger and then dragged the image over a bit to the right so I can show Kindaichi’s face. Once you’re done, click the checkmark to exit Transformation mode. 

8. If you replay your gif now, you will see that it has changed so that the animation for the zooms end at the size you specified in the previous step. 

9. Make sure to set your Frame Rates so that it doesn’t move either too slow or too fast. You can do this by clicking on the little bars on the right side of your time line:

Play around to a Frame Rate you like best!! Also, in the same menu, you will find the option to “Loop Playback” - this will make the gif continuous instead of it stopping after the first zoom. 

10. As an additional note, you will notice that zooming in renders your image to be blurry because you’re essentially making the image bigger. I recommend that you create a large image size and use that to create the animation, and then after saving it, open it again and fit it onto the tumblr canvas size of your choice. That way you can lessen the blur a bit! 

11. I personally had a lot of issues trying to save this through render video so what I ended up doing was File >> Save for Web >> and then saving it as a gif. However, if you’re like me, you’ll find out that the size of the animation was freaking huge! So, to counter that I saved it as a gif anyway and opened up the gif in a new tab. This time it opened with frames and layers as such:

Here, I basically re-sized the canvas and deleted LOTS of useless frames and layers, as well as adjusted the frame delays. This toned down my gif size quite a bit. 

And here is the final result:

Again, I apologize if this isn’t what you were looking for.....I honestly found out how to do this accidentally (lmao when I was fucking around with photoshop for another tutorial I was like “ohhh what does this motion thing to do” and BAM this is what I found out). Hopefully this is alright! If you have any issues, please feel free to message me and I will do my best to help. As mentioned earlier I’m still learning about timeline animation myself so this was my first time doing it like this. Let me know if you have any questions/concerns!