#also first mention of the Delaney sisters

[spockvarietyhour]

Harry: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I hope so! "Time and Again"

[california-munson]

Fireworks (steddie x ofmc)

A/N: heyyyy! this is my first Stranger Things fanfic ever/the first fic i've written in 11 years! i used to write magcon fanfiction (ew) as a child on wattpad/quotev and have lacked all inspiration to get back into creative writing since attending college (ew again). but! i'm a graduate, the world is going to shit, and i need a form of escapism so...here i am!!! back at it again!!!

this is the product of my delusions that were born out of two very different series; Magnolia Parks and Stranger Things, which I read/rewatched in the same span of time. i'm very new to publishing on tumblr so please, bear with me. i don't know how to format on here to save my life!!! nevertheless, i hope you enjoy, thank you for reading!!

Summary: A Steddie fic with an original female main character. Friends to lovers trope, love triangle, lots of drama. Not sure really where I'm going with the 100% but I'm laying the groundwork here!

CW: abandonment, substance abuse (alcohol and prescription drugs), death of a parent (Eddie’s mother), grief and childhood trauma, neglect, mental health struggles, Child caretaking/parentification, mentions of overdose, drugs, alcohol, classism, infidelity, child abandonment

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Fireworks: A Steddie Fic

Chapter 1

Ruby

I fell in love with Eddie Munson when I was four years old.

It wasn’t hard to do. When the doe-eyed curly haired boy ran up to me introducing himself as my neighbor Steve’s best friend, my long standing crush on Steve Harrington evaporated like a popsicle in the sun. Eddie, with his crooked smile and wild curls, had me all giggles and sparkles. I found every reason to be at the Harringtons after that. 

Steve and I met three years prior, on the day my family moved from the chaotic buzz of New York City to the sleepy suburb of Hawkins, Indiana. It was January 2003, bone-cold, and Steve was outside building a snowman when we pulled up in a pair of enormous moving trucks. He had rosy cheeks and a self-assured grin that didn’t match his missing front tooth. He looked at me and my older sister Delaney and announced, “I’m Steve, king of Hawkins Elementary.”

Laney and I burst into laughter. The kind that makes your stomach hurt. The kind that feels like a promise. From that day on, Steve was mine. My honorary brother. My first real friend. He was also Laney’s age, a full year and a half older than me, but he never made me feel small. Steve and I spent our days outside, playing hide and seek until sunset, climbing trees so high we thought we could touch the clouds, and launching ourselves into piles of snow we’d built beneath our favorite limbs.

In a house full of girls, Steve became the brother I had prayed for during the arrival of my baby sister Stella, who was just eight months old during our arrival to Hawkins. 

Come springtime, I had begged my parents to let me join the boys baseball team along with Steve, but they wouldn’t allow it. Instead, they enrolled Laney and I into ballet, where we met the quiet, kind, and whip-smart Nancy Wheeler. Nancy’s baby brother Mike was the same age as Stella, so we bonded over the trials and tribulations of older sisterhood.

Nancy was born exactly halfway between me and Laney, and fit nicely into our sisterhood. The house felt more complete with her as she played mediator and mentor to both Laney and I. Bonding with Nancy was easy; we were all older sisters, all balancing between wanting to grow up fast and wishing we didn’t have to.

While Laney, Nancy and I were bonding at ballet, Steve was thrown into t-ball, where he met Eddie. Eddie was chaos wrapped in charm. Where Steve was polished and popular, Eddie was rough around the edges, with dirt under his fingernails and scabs he wore like trophies.

Despite their differences, they clicked immediately. The golden boy and the wild card. It made sense in a way only childhood friendships can. A rambunctious child so different from Steve, the opposite boys attracted naturally out of curiosity, and a friendship was born.

It was a few weeks after the baseball season started that Steve invited Eddie home for pizza after practice. And that’s when Eddie Munson met me.

I was playing on the front steps of the Harringtons’ porch, braiding my doll’s hair and waiting for Steve to come home when the two of them came running up the driveway.

Eddie spotted me right away and peeled off from Steve, running up with his hand stretched out like I was someone worth meeting. He made me feel special before he even said a word to me.

“Hi, I’m Eddie, I’m Steve’s best friend,” he said, breathless, hair and dirt sticking to his forehead from practice, eyes lit up like a kid who just won a prize.

I stood, hands on my hips, chin raised. “Actually, I’m Steve’s best friend.”

Eddie blinked at me, then grinned like I’d just said the funniest thing in the world. “Well, we can both be, if you want,” he said, undeterred. “And then maybe we can be best friends too.”

I squinted at him, sizing him up. He had bandages on both knees, the laces on his sneakers were uneven, and his curls stuck out in every direction like they had a mind of their own. He looked like trouble. The fun kind. The kind of boy you’d want to get in trouble with.

“Hmm…okay. I’m Ruby. I live next door,” I said, sticking out my hand like my mother and father had told me to do when meeting new people.

He shook it, grinning ear to ear. “Ruby,” he repeated like it was the most beautiful name he’d ever heard. “I like that name.”

And that’s how my friendship with Eddie began, a small argument over who was Steve Harrington’s best friend, followed by a simple handshake, and Eddie Munson became a permanent fixture in my life. 

Eddie fit in right alongside us, always. Jumping in snow piles until our fingers were numb, climbing trees so high the adults would yell, staying out until the sun dipped below the Hawkins skyline and our parents were calling from porches with flashlights in hand.

Summers were filled with popsicles and scraped knees, and winters were snowball fights, cocoa mustaches, and frozen toes tucked into each other’s sleeping bags during late-night sleepovers in the Harringtons' den.

We became quite the trio. We did everything together…homework, birthday parties, sleepovers. From the outside, we must’ve looked like an odd bunch…Steve, the golden boy with a million-watt smile and hair that somehow always looked perfect. Eddie, the wild child with scraped knees and comic books falling out of his backpack. And me, the girl in the middle, always tagging along and somehow always leading the charge.

They were my partners in crime when we were small, especially when it came to tormenting Laney, Nancy, and their sweet friend Barbara. Eddie, Steve and I loved a good prank. Fake spiders in ballet bags, walkie-talkie ghost stories played through vents, water balloons launched from tree forts. We had the time of our little lives hearing my sister’s scream from another room or down the stairs.

When I started school at Hawkins Elementary, I was nervous. Kindergarten is so daunting when you’re a skinny kid with big glasses. But Steve and Eddie made sure no one messed with me or Laney. They ran a kind of playground justice system. Steve was the good cop, offering stern lectures and well-reasoned logic to any kid dumb enough to push us around. Eddie was the bad cop; brash, bold, and very willing to threaten a punch to the face (though he never actually followed through).

I helped the boys in return with homework…math worksheets, book reports, whatever they needed. I was always the brain of the operation, and they were more than happy to use that to their advantage. I didn’t mind. That’s just how we were. Always there for each other. Through thick and thin.

And boy, things sure did get thick.

By the end of summer 2003, Eddie’s mom Elizabeth suddenly passed away. It was like the sun went out in his world. Eddie’s dad, Al Munson, already teetering on the edge of uselessness, disappeared completely; grief-stricken, irresponsible, maybe just selfish. He left Eddie high and dry.

That’s when Eddie’s Uncle Wayne stepped in. A quiet man with rough hands and tired eyes, but a heart that knew how to love even when it hurt. Eddie moved in with Uncle Wayne to the trailer park. That’s when we met Veronica Ecker, Ronnie for short. 

Ronnie lived in the trailer park Wayne lived in with her grandma. Seemingly the smarter, quieter female version of Eddie, she fit right into the friend group. She was tall, taller than Steve and Eddie, quiet, and sharp as glass. Where I was warmth, she was cool steel.

Ronnie had Steve’s athletic edge and Eddie’s geeky flair, diving headfirst into Dungeons & Dragons with him while also out-running Steve in races through the woods. Ronnie was standoffish with me at first, like she couldn’t quite figure me out, or maybe didn’t trust what she saw. I was the little rich girl, in a princess dress constantly but trying to keep up with the boys. But I knew she cared.

On one particularly unfortunate hike, I stupidly wore plastic Cinderella heels. When I got stuck at the creek, she hoisted me over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and carried me across. She didn’t say a word about it. Just rolled her eyes and muttered, “You’re lucky I’m nice.”

That was Ronnie.

Childhood was filled with memories like that. Fireflies in jars, chalk drawings on sidewalks, blanket forts in basements, endless bike rides through Hawkins with our tires kicking up dust and laughter trailing behind us.

The core was always the same: me, Steve, and Eddie. The three musketeers. We were tethered to one another in a way no one else quite understood. Even when Nancy, Barb, Laney, or Ronnie joined in, it always felt like it came back to us three.

As we got older, things began to shift.

People began to notice Eddie’s last name more than his laugh. The legacy of his father clung to him like smoke. Adults would whisper. Mothers would steer their children away. Steve’s parents, who had once welcomed Eddie into their home like another son, began looking at him differently. 

Eddie was from the ‘wrong side of the tracks’, with a convict, absent father and an overworked uncle who did his absolute best to raise Eddie right. He was trouble. He was the rotten apple. I saw the way Steve’s parents started to look at Eddie.

I heard the whispers between my mother and the other concerned mothers of Hawkins that would stop her in the grocery store or the library to talk about her daughter’s association with ‘that Munson kid’. Steve and I were born into wealth, and that alone made us “promising.” That alone made us “worth saving.” 

But Steve and I didn’t care. We happily rode our bikes to the Munson house when Al came back for brief stretches, and happily rode them to the trailer park to Uncle Wayne’s when he would leave Eddie just as quickly as he had come.

Eddie was our friend. Our person. And we knew what the adults couldn’t see: that Hawkins was better with Eddie Munson in it.

Plus, it wasn’t much later that my own family would crumble and fail.

My parents, Julian and Violetta Rivera, were never meant to be parents. My father Julian was the son of a successful Puerto Rican musician, always enjoying a life of wealth, excess and fame, being handed his role as record producer and songwriter (though regrettably, he is very talented, hence the aforementioned wealth). But a father? Not even close. My mother, Violetta, was an Irish model who’d met him at a club in New York when she was nineteen. Four months after meeting, she was pregnant with Delaney. 

Five months later, they were married in a lavish, last-minute ceremony fueled by Catholic guilt and societal pressure, like a couple of BYU students who live by the ‘ring before spring’ motto. Laney was born, healthy and beautiful, and I followed suit just a year and three days after my sister, in the good year of 1998. 

They never loved each other. Their marriage was a transaction...he had money, she had beauty. And when Laney was born, they tried to make it work. When I followed a year later, they kept trying.

It was my father’s cheating that drove us out of New York City and to Hawkins. My mother’s grandparents had settled here after immigrating from Ireland, and my mother had fond memories of visiting them when she was a kid.

All she wanted was to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and give her girls a good, honest childhood in Midwest suburbia…and physically distance my father from the growing harem of groupies and college girls he had been keeping in his company. 

It was good for a few years…six to be exact. And then one day, Stella, Laney and I came home to a half empty house and our drunk, sobbing mom, telling us dad had left to go back to New York for his 22 year old girlfriend. 

It was devastating. My father’s vanishing act did a number on me and my sisters, but what was worse was watching my mother’s descent into alcoholism and prescription pill addiction. Laney completely checked out, basically moving into the Wheelers, leaving me to care for Stella alone…alone with the help of Eddie.

Eddie was used to chaos. Eddie understood. He knew what it meant to be left behind. He knew the ache of an empty house. He was used to the cops showing up looking for his father, used to making himself breakfast, lunch and dinner, used to the whispers and stares that came with being the spawn of a Munson. He knew the exhaustion of pretending you were fine.

When I called him in tears after having to carry my mom to bed and burning Stella’s grilled cheese, he rode his bike over, taught me how to properly toast the bread on the stove top (low flame, lots of butter, and patience), and told me I was the best big sister ever. And I believed him.

Steve was still there, of course. But his life was changing too. He was getting serious about sports, winning trophies, catching the eye of every girl in school. He was still my best friend, my brother, my constant. I was proud of him.

But something about him was already standing on higher ground. While Eddie and I were on sinking ships, Steve was out of the water, on the sand, enjoying a life of promise and praise. It wasn’t that he wasn’t still my best friend, my neighbor, my brother…it was just different. 

There were moments where I needed Steve and he was there. When we came into the house and found my mother unconscious, a bottle of pills in one hand, a handle of spilled vodka next to her, Steve was the one that called 911. When my mother forgot to pay the electric bill, it was Steve who got his dad to loan her the money until my dad sent us some.

When my sisters and I came home from school to a wad of cash and a note from our mother that said she was going to rehab in Switzerland and would be back ‘when she was up for it’, it was twelve year old Steve who stole his mom’s station wagon to carefully drive us to the grocery store to fill our fridge. 

Steve was always there, standing on land, trying to pull our sinking ship in with a piece of rotting driftwood.

We were kids. And we were doing our best. Clinging to each other, building a family out of the pieces our real ones left behind. And somehow, despite it all, we made it beautiful.

Hawkins may not have been perfect, but it was ours. And the memories…those long summers, late-night sleepovers, secret handshakes, whispered dreams under blanket forts…those were real. We were real.

Me, Steve, and Eddie. Always.

Until we weren’t.

It’s funny, in retrospect. The three of us - me, Steve, and Eddie - were tangled up from the beginning. We were kids playing at friendship, not realizing the foundation we were building would hold so many years of love and loss, laughter and heartbreak.

Because what started as a squabble over who got to be Steve Harrington’s best friend?

Would end with Steve and Eddie’s friendship breaking apart over who got to be the love of my life.

But that came later, much later. 

[kanzakurawrites]

Descendants Character List Part Two: VK's

Once again, a lot of characters so I apologize in advance. This is everyone born before the first Descendants movie. Characters who appear in the movies are not mentioned here.

Anastasia Tremaine & The Baker:

Anthony (Canon) - First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Technically, his father is unknown. Protective over his sister, mother, and Dizzy. 16

Liana (OC) - She's prone to getting sick and has trouble breathing, Anastasia believes she has asthma. 14.

Captain Hook:

Harriet (Canon) - Mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Took the mother role for her siblings and is perpetually tired. 19

Calista Jane "CJ" (Canon) - First seen in Wicked World. A wild card and a pirate at heart. 14.

Claude Frollo:

Cedric Frollo (OC) - Would risk his life for his sister. 19

Claudine Frollo (Canon) - Mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. 17

Clayton:

Warren (OC) - 19

Caleb (OC) - 19. No, he is not twins with Warren.

Wyatt (OC) - 18

Clay (Canon) - 17. First mentioned in the books. Does not get along with his brothers.

Dr. Facilier:

"Freddie" Francesca (Canon) - First seen in Wicked World. I gave her the full name Francesca. 16

Drizella Tremaine:

All OC's excluding Desiree, though it is canon that there are Evil Step-Granddaughters

Delaney - Has no idea who her father is, and is apart of Cedric's crew. 19

Danielle - 17

Devyn - She joined Uma's crew to escape her grandmother. 15.

Desiree - Canonically on Uma's pirate crew. I just gave her parents. Her father is Gaston. 14

Darcy - Was the twin to Diana. She passed away when she was 8 after an illness passed over the Isle.

Diana - Was the younger twin to Darcy, once she realized she was older than her sister. 13

Delilah - 13. Was born a few weeks before Darcy and Diana's first birthday.

Gaston:

Probably had many children running around the Isle. Girls who he hasn't claimed.

Gloria (OC) - Gaston only claimed her as she's one of the oldest children on the Isle. Laurette's daughter. Gloria helped to raise Gil. 19

Gaston Jr. (Canon) - First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Older twin to Gaston the Third. Mother is Claudette. 17

Gaston the Third (Canon) - First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Younger twin to Gaston Jr. Mother is Claudette. 17

Galina (OC) - Another daughter of an Isle woman, but this woman didn't try to get Gaston to claim Galina, and he never did. None of her siblings know of her existence. 15

Ginger (OC) - Her mother is an Isle woman who hoped that giving her a 'G' name would make Gaston claim her. This did not happen, but Giana and Gil found her and have tried to help her survive. 14

Giana (OC) - One of the few who Gaston has claimed, only so she can work in the house. Daughter of Laurette. 14.

Geneva (OC) - Claudette's daughter. She convinced Gaston to claim her. 7

Gabrielle (OC) - Daughter of Paulette. She was born deaf. Gloria took over caring for her after Paulette decided she no longer wanted to care for her. Gil is close with her. 4

Governor Ratcliffe:

James (OC) - 19

"Rick" Richard (Canon) - Mentioned in the books, I gave him the full name Richard. 18

Andrew (OC) - 13

Hades & Persephone:

"Hadie" Hayden (Canon) - Mentioned in Return to the Isle of the Lost. Technically, his canon mother has never been mentioned. 23

Morgana:

(All oc's)

Marina - 19. Her mother resents her, as Marina was her first-born yet looks nothing like her. Marina has two children herself, Saga (F, 3) and Zale (M, 1), and doesn't live with her mother. Instead, she, and Morten moved to the pirate village, with Mar eventually joining them.

Morten - 18. Also doesn't have a good relationship with his mother, but has a stronger call to the sea than he lets on. Has a child, Fisher (M, 1 month).

Morgan - 17. Looks the most like Morgana, all the way to having a greenish hue to her skin and white hair with pale pink. But her mother has put unrealistic pressure on her, and she wants to be free.

Mar - 16. Has a little girl named Neri (9 months)

Maxwell - 14

Marie - 13. Her mother tends to pass the younger four off to her to take care of.

Marnie - 12. She and Marie are nine months apart, and she helps Marie with the younger kids.

Murray - 11

Marko - 11

Marley - 9

Monika - 7

Makael - 4

Muireann - 3

Murchadh - 1

Meltem - 2 months

Mother Gothel:

Ginny Gothel (Canon) - Mentioned in the Isle of the Lost books. Friends with Diego de Vil. Might not actually be Mother Gothel's child. 15

Queen & King of Hearts:

Jacks (OC) - 18.

Scarlett (OC) - I suggest you run. 16

Spade (OC) - 14

Smee:

Sammy Smee (Canon) - Mentioned in the books. 18

The Stabbingtons:

Name: Sideburns and Patchy. All kids are OC's

Sean - Son of Sideburns. 18

Sadie - Daughter of Patchy. 18

Saul - Son of Patchy. 17

Sarah - Daughter of Sideburns. 17

Simon - Son of Sideburns. 15.

Yzma:

Zevon (Canon) - Seen in Wicked World. 17

Yzla (Canon) - Mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. 15.

Others:

Ophelia (OC) - The daughter of Monseuior D'Arque. 17

"Shy" Shyrailym - The daughter of Shan Yu. 17

Jonas (Canon) - One of the pirates in Uma's crew. 17

Big Murph (Canon) - Son of a pirate on Captain Hook's crew. 16

Hendrik (OC) - The son of the hunter from Snow White. 16

Diego de Vil (Canon) - First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Cruella's nephew. Friends with Ginny Gothel. 16.

"Hermie" Hermione Bing (Canon) - Mentioned in the books, I gave her the full name Hermione. Her dream is to escape her father's circus. 16.

Mad Maddy (Canon) - First mentioned in Return to the Isle of the Lost. Madam Mim's granddaughter. 16.

Bonny (Canon) - A pirate in Uma's crew. 15

Gonzo (Canon) - A pirate in Uma's crew. 15

Jade (Canon) - Mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. Daughter of Nasira, and is Jafar's niece. 15

Le Fou Deux (Canon) - Son of Le Fou and mentioned in the books. 15.

Eddie (Canon) - Son of Edgar, mentioned in the books. 14

Raina (OC) - Daughter of Rasputin. She does not have magic like her father, and is friends with Claudine. 14.

Reza (Canon) - First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. He's the son of the former royal astronomer of Agrabah and Carlos' rival. 13

"Harry" Harold (Canon) - Son of Horace, one of Carlos' minions. First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. 13

"Jase" Jason (Canon) - Son of Jasper, one of Carlos' minions. First mentioned in The Isle of the Lost. 13

Mable (OC) - One of Mad Maddy's sisters. 13

Arya (OC) - Daughter of the Hunter from Snow White, and Hendrik's little sister. 11

Hopefully this wasn't too chaotic, but this is also definitely not everyone on the Isle. If you have questions about any of the kids, feel free to ask! And if you have a suggestion for a villain with kids, I'd love to hear it.

[theageofsims]

This is gonna be a shit post, but that's what I do around here.

So there's been 3 deaths. Yes -- 3.

How can this happen? Ya girl don't even know. So much is happening off my watch and to say that I'm not literally out there trying to pick my faves and runner-ups in this legacy would be a damn lie.

For starters -- Delaney. Somebody fucking tell me HOW Delaney even died though. I didn't even think vampires could actually die outside of burning up from the sun (if they aren't immune to it) -- and she was immune to it.

I knew they could die because her aunt passed away randomly about two months ago and I was going to work that into the storyline, but I had to get everyone into a new save (and been struggling making sure everyone is related where relations need to be especially since family trees have been broken).

But I didn't care about her Aunt -- I literally spent an entire like 8 hour game session awhile back when Delaney was still a teenager, to make sure she became a master vampire. Her father Timothy isn't even a master vampire (yet???) and at the rate he's going, he's closer to a damn demon rather than a vampire at this point.

I can't.

I wasn't around like at all for Delaney's childhood and most of her teenage years because I was off with the others.

It's whatever. That's just how I roll. I don't pause the aging of the Sims. They out there living their lives. Shit is gonna happen, but I had plans for Delaney.

I spent like 3 hours one night chatting with a friend about bullshit in-between us coming up with NINE boy and NINE girl names for Delaney and Coleman's unborn children.

They were supposed to have 9 children.

I don't know what happened in the original save, but Delaney was pregnant with 3 girls -- only one baby showed up after a massive glitch during her giving birth. That's why in the storyline it mentions she lost two children. What happened to them? I don't even know. I never ever had that happen.

Then she was supposed to have another set (of triplets). All nine children were supposed to be 3 sets of triplets. Well I made a mistake in MCCC, so she got pregnant with just one child... Another girl, which is Helga.

She was supposed to have 3 sons next. I had their names all picked out and ready to go... And then I find out she passed away. 😒

The game says she died of electrocution, but how? From lightening? They had no appliances or tvs in the house. Whatever the case, I just said she got stabbed in the heart by a vampire slayer because how else are vampire stories and their deaths typically told?

Fuck this game I'm through. 🤣😂🤣

I am so tired of planning shit that never ends up happening, but I also will NOT control these Sims more than I am within this legacy so they can just keep right on fucking with me! 🤣😂🤣

I knew something was going to happen to Delaney. I didn't know what or when, I mean -- she's the youngest sim to have passed away in my legacy, aside from her two daughters that never were meant to be.

I say this because she was constantly eating human food because she couldn't ever satisfy her hunger. She had that one trait -- or one of those food traits. The same as Lani (her mother) and it's like she was constantly in a state of hunger.

And then I made her a guilty drinker because she was supposed to be this like horseback rider at some point in her life so I was like oh she can just plant plama and harvest them -- and be fine.

Well -- ya girl wasn't fine. I don't know how many days she had left because she became an adult, but I'll know when I check in with Dakota (her twin sister).

Sunny, her late Aunt passed away like her first day as an Adult and I was devastated especially since Taro passed like a week before.

But anyway...

Clearly I made Coleman's death happen. I did use the random generator to find out if Timothy should be the one to end him. The random generator said yes and then I said well wait -- should Timothy end him or turn him? And the answer came back to end him so I said ya know what? Ya boy Coleman has GOT TO GO...

And that's what happened.

Now... Listen. What happened to Gavin was NOT supposed to happen to Gavin. I tried so hard to get him to safety.

I don't know what's going on with the fires in the game, but the incense is out there killing Sims. Just facts at this point. 🤷🏽‍♀️

I know I have a mod that fires do not start from fireplaces -- for years now, but I never had such an issue with incense.

I know I've had it happen, but the Sims are able to extinguish themselves or call the fire department. Sulani and Gavin couldn't do either -- and wait, Sulani's ass caught on fire, too! 👀👀👀👀

I was like OMG... I know this is NOT happening to me right now.

Well -- it happened.

But at least Sulani was finally able to extinguish herself.

And wait -- I wrote it that she tried to save him as in she dragged his ass out the house but in game he was OUTSIDE and he still got killed by the flames!

She was inside engulfed in flames and was able to extinguish herself at the last minute, but him? Not a chance. 😒☹️

[alfredstvthoughts]

Public Eye - My Life's My Own (Season 4 Episode 4; 20 August 1969)

CONTENT WARNING: This episode concerns the circumstances surrounding an attempted suicide and this review will mention the topic due to it's plot relevance.

With Helen Mortimer (Pauline Delaney) away to visit her sister who has suffered an accident, Frank Marker (Alfred Burke) has been left in charge of her boarding house while she's away. During this time, Shirley Marlowe (Stephanie Beacham) arrives asking for a room. Though Marker shouldn't be accepting guests in Mortimer's absence (he had forgot to take down the vacancies sign in the window), he lets her stay.

Right away it is clear Shirley is not a usual customer. Not only is she always playing her transistor radio rather loudly, she also asks for a large quantity of coins to make phone calls and goes on to make a number of distressed sounding calls to someone called Chris.

That night, Marker breaks into Shirley's room after receiving no response to his requests to turn her music down to find she has attempted suicide with an overdose of pills. He then desperately attempts to revive her with coffee, smelling salts and a forced walk outside. These intense (and potentially distressing) scenes are handled sensitively and Alfred Burke's intense performance here does an excellent job of expressing Marker's desperation as he frantically tries to revive Shirley. There is also some suspense as Marker and Shirley's walk is observed suspiciously by a police car patrolling below, which with Marker facing a return to prison if he misbehaves leaves us wondering if the police will become suspicious and arrest Marker (particularly as he has already ended up in a police station over his wrongly being accused of the wage theft during Paid in Full).

After that, Marker tries to get to the bottom of why Shirley attempted suicide. It turns out that the Chris she was so desperately phoning the previous day is the wife (Katharine Blake) of Dr. Nourse (Gary Watson), who Shirley had previously been nursing and appears to be in love with her (the twist that Chris is actually the wife and not the husband as one may initially believe is handled well). Shirley had then been thrown out by Dr. Nourse. It's also worth noting that this hint of homosexuality was definitely daring for the time (although not the first time Public Eye had dealt with homosexuality with some of the missing ABC episodes also featuring homosexual characters and the possible suggestion of John Ingleby being gay in The Bromsgrove Venus).

The larger plot surrounding Marker's efforts to make his way in the world once more upon his release from prison is mostly on pause in this episode, with only a few scenes addressing Marker's need for a new job following his dismissal from his building job with Kenrick in the previous episode as well as a suggestion from Hull (John Grieve) that he'll need to find a new place to stay with Mortimer's boarding house about to fill up with holiday season approaching.

Instead, this is a slow-paced, mature and sensitive character drama mostly focusing on the interactions between Marker and Shirley. Alfred Burke gives one of his best ever performances as Marker while Stephanie Beacham portrays Shirley's range of emotions extremely well. Additionally, Gary Watson is suitably unlikeable as the unsympathetic Dr. Nourse (who, having heard Marker's report of Shirley's suicide attempt offers a brutally heartless response during Shirley's next phone call: "Next time, make sure you turn off the radio first"). Katharine Blake is also good as the quieter Chris, who seems dominated by her husband but still wishes to speak with Shirley.

There is no neat and tidy resolution to this episode, with Shirley having left before Mortimer returns near the end of the episode. The scenes where Marker and Mortimer discuss Shirley and Marker's proposed attempt to track her down are beautifully played in an understated way and Chris also makes an appearance at the boarding house, trying to find Shirley herself.

The one flaw with this episode and one that Mortimer brings up during her conversation with Marker near the end is why didn't Marker call an ambulance? Marker's own explanation to Mortimer is extremely weak (it might have been more excusable if he gave a plausible reason like he felt an ambulance would have taken too long to arrive meaning he had to act fast himself to save Shirley) and there is no doubt professional medical help could have saved Shirley faster.

Overall, while My Life's My Own does little to push the overarching plot of the season forward, the fact that it is such a well-written, mature, intelligent and sensitive character tale means that this can be easily forgiven. The writing, performances and drama are all perfectly-tuned, making this episode exceptional stuff.

In 1970, the Armchair Theatre TV play Wednesday's Child was broadcast, effectively serving as a prequel to this episode, depicting the events before Shirley's arrival at Mortimer's boarding house. This is also reviewed here.

[elf--shot]

not doing the big data visualization for the half-year point, but! here we are.

i had a lot more days this year where i had to drive to work, which i think is probably the major reason that this number is down from last year (last year's journal isn’t at hand right now but i believe it was at 87 or so.) at various points during those months i was definitely feeling the not-having-read (and also the lack of exercise -- turns out those walks to & from the transit center are actually good for me.) probably the next six weeks are not going to be great for reading either, considering my impending move & the attendant mental derangement.

the juvenilia were: treasure island (read via gutenberg at work), the hunger games series (read via illegitimate pdf at work), and a poetry anthology i was given as a child that i reread.

books i did not finish were: the first volume of le morte d’arthur (late-middle english uncanny valley writing style) and patti gully’s sisters of heaven: china’s barnstorming aviatrixes: modernity, feminism, and popular imagination in asia and the west (title wrote a check that the book analytically did not cash; surface-level and occasionally just kind of orientalist)

books “read online” were: 5 via illegitimate pdf, 2 via archive.org, 1 via project gutenberg, and 1 via author’s website.

i have not read much fiction so far that i really enjoyed. the last two months the only fiction i have read at all has been several patrick o’brian books and the french translation of moving pictures. i am in fact rapidly nearing the end of the aubreyad -- i believe in the next one they will finally escape the Permanent 1812 time warp. i’m currently reading the books of jacob and am enjoying it, but it moves very slowly.

on the other hand, i read some really good nonfiction. aside from the titles mentioned above, i liked perry anderson’s passages from antiquity to feudalism, samuel delaney’s times square red, times square blue, natalie zemon davis’s the return of martin guerre, viet thanh nguyen’s nothing ever dies, and norman cohn’s the pursuit of the millenium.

as of now, the unread books tally in my journal stands at 33, which may be the lowest it’s been since i started journaling! there is a distinct possibility that by the end of the year i will have moved on to the books i’ve been categorizing as partially read, which are largely assigned reading from college and graduate school or collections i read chapters from for my master’s thesis. on the one hand that’s a lot of books on topics in medieval christianity that i remember liking the parts i read of; on the other hand i doooooon’t want to reread piers plowman very much. but! we shall see.

hopefully in the second half of the year i will also buckle down and start on the chunk of unread books that i’ve been thinking of as the theoryzone. there’s got to be a reading group for some of these.

[witchthewriter]

𝐒𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐲 𝐅𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐫𝐞

Tagged by @yourwinchesterbros​. I’m reverse uno-ing; you have to play too! 

Warnings: swears, soa themes, talks of episodes - so suicide mentions, violence

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒊𝒏 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉

Oh my god, I think I fell in love with Opie. His height, his tattoos, his dedication to his wife...it was all so sexy. I mean I still love him, but I also feel like he didn’t really have a personality... 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒂𝒔 𝑰 𝒅𝒐 𝒏𝒐𝒘:

Chibs; I didn’t think I would love an old Scot so much. His interactions with his daughter still make my heart melt. I wish there was more of them. 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕:

I really don’t like Bobby, he just feels like a seedy old man to me. He didn’t ... do much for the club. And how he treated Cherry... even if it was an act, it was awful. 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒆𝒍𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔:

  I don’t know! Is Nero hated? I really like Nero - he was a stable man who did his best, especially for his son. And what he wanted for his son was beautiful, I hope Jax’s boys have a lovely time growing up on that farm

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒖𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓:

 ... Juice. I hate cowards, and I’m not talking about his suicide attempt, that was; valid? I guess you could say. But he seemed like the weakest link - he kept getting involved with the cops no matter what. Why couldn’t he just go to the club and tell them what was going on in the first place? 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒔𝒎𝒐𝒐𝒄𝒉:

 OPIE !! CHIBS !! TIG !! TARA !! LYLA !! I can’t just choose one person, are you crazy?! I would die if Chibs called me sweetheart in that swoon-worthy Scottish accent though. And Opie’s heIGHT, oh my god - I get weak at the knees just thinkin’ about him. 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰’𝒅 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆:

 Tara mixed with Gemma; knowledge, ambition, brains, fire, ‘don’t fuck with me’ attitiude. I like the thought of being intimidating tbh - but really I’m just a big ol’ softie. 

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑰’𝒅 𝒔𝒍𝒂𝒑:

 There are a LOT; Clay, Bobby, all the villains... Oh god June! All the people involved in stealing Abel and not giving him back. Like how can I just choose one?? Line ‘em up and just do one big slap line.

𝑨 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆:

 I - I don’t actually have a pairing that I love. Jax and Tara ... she had so much to live for and his decisions kept holding her back. She was basically a single mother as well as a doctor, and handled Gemma. 

Opie and Donna felt like they came from two separate worlds and he only showed passion for her when she died. 

And then Opie and Lyla... it didn’t feel right. It didn’t click. 

  Clay and Gemma - well they were perfect for one another, but I don’t ‘love them’ per say. Because of what Clay did to Gemma; it churns my guts. 

𝑨 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒆:

  Chibs & Althea. Chibs never really had any romantic partners throughout the series, and they gave him a COP?! Watching it for the first time... I was EMBARRASSED for Chibs ... And I always skip the episodes when they’re together. 

  I also HATED Jax and Colette; she looked as if she was his mother. And it felt ... Freudian. Like a weird Mummy kink thing. I know it wasn’t a proper relationship but they still hooked up and it felt so odd. 

An additional question that I want to add: 

𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒃𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒔𝒆?

Otto Delaney! Hated, hated, hated him! Made me feel so icky, oh and that guy who wanted revenge for his sister. Oh he made me absolutely furious - his hypocrisy! 

[regalfairytaleacademy]

Headcanons for Valeria Roxia

Valeria is the Crown Princess of Isle of Elements, but currently live in the least known country, Williow of Lamentation, with her guardians.

Her unique magic, "Animal Track", used to follow the opponent's footsteps anywhere with a green light.

Although Valeria is kind-hearted and sophisticated princess, she is a carefree who's naively trust the fairies. Moreover, Valeria has a rebellious spirit inside.

Later as Valeria attended to RFA, she slowly to be a pleasing student with a few responsible as the dorm leader of Paw Pflege. However there reasons some students moving to other dorms that all about her.

Firstly, Valeria prefers to living in dark rooms and collects some historical yet gothic things, as a result of being sheltered for most of her life. She had been staying at the cottage in the forest. One more thing is they have no idea their dorm leader actually has photophobia.

Nevertheless, for didn't have to "scare away" people, Valeria worked hard to train herself to face the front of the light zone. But every time she does, Valeria quickly passes out in the sun and sleeps for days away.

Secondly, her bad habit of skipping dinner to do homework. Valeria used to go to the kitchen to get something to eat after finishing her homework. Sometimes she accidentally turned over things in the kitchen cabinets, causing other students to feel scared in the room, and mistakenly thought that it was a killer or a thief who came to the door.

And third, she always carries a stuffed cat with her wherever she goes at midnight. As the result of afraid of thunderstorms, the only thing can help her relieve is a plushie that her guardians gave her. In her eyes, it is just a cute and friendly doll. However, in the eyes of other people (expect Delphine), it is a thing with an evil curse.

She has an animal companion, Delaney, the ragdoll cat. She always called by her owner, "Furball". Delaney know Valeria's feelings and comforted when Valeria is despairing.

As far as the relationship with the NRC goes, Valeria is definitely with the Diasomnia boys. She visits some mysterious castles at Malleus' request and shares the gargoyles they see. Also likes to chat with boys, though she is very sensitive to loud talking from Sebek.

Valeria is motherly and more care about freshmen students, including Impish Royals.

For the Impish Royals, Valeria might be nice to Silvia because she feels the same way about Silvia. She was the only one who allowed Slivia to sleep on her lap. Likewise, Valeria is the one who knows about Slivia's nightmares, even though she's having more sweet dreams.

She has a younger brother, but never mentions anything about him. It could be that he has done something bad to his family, or may have tried to take the throne from his sister in the first place.

Half fairy, half demon, half human, Valeria can only control her own demonic powers and never use them. As for fairy magic, she felt that it was too difficult to control. Recently, with the help of other dormitory leaders, she has continued to study and train hard. In addition, she has learned how to maintain her spell balance under the guidance of the mentors of the school staff.

In her spare time, Valeria likes to embroider on stuffed toys she makes. She also would like to dress up as characters from her favorite novels with clothes she sews.

[pilots-and-protons]

Just watched “Random Thoughts” (and the accompanying Delta Flyers episode of course), and let me just say, I do not like some of the dialogue chosen for Tom Paris in this episode.

First of all, his interaction with Neelix and the whole “are you trying to depress me” bit because he’s no longer available to go hit up some alien women.

I get that Tom has only recently started dating B’Elanna so it might be strange to not be a “bachelor” anymore, but as soon as he showed interest in B’Elanna at all, we never saw any more of him “being a ladies man”. No mention of Delaney sister double-dates, no trying to get with other women. Hell, the closest we got was Tom being a bit of a third-wheel in “Favorite Son” and honestly he mostly talked to the One Guy on the whole planet. It just seemed unnecessary to be like “oh how sad that he can’t go fuck around anymore” as a means of pointing out that Neelix is trying to put himself into the romance scene again after Kes. It reminds me of the writers once again using Tom to Make A Point rather than having a genuine character interaction. It’s also just stinks of bad Straight White Man writing honestly.

Second, I love Tom’s very gung-ho and slightly rebellious nature in wanting to break B’Elanna out of custody if necessary (after all, he would know more about having his brain engrams scrambled by aliens than anyone because of the Baneans). However his whole “They're a bunch of pacifists. They're no match for us” comment to Chakotay felt way out of line. Like what is he saying, they’re going to go in, phasers blazing? Tom Paris is sometimes rebellious and is obviously very worried about B’Elanna, but I refuse to believe he would just blatantly start attacking a bunch of unarmed, innocent people to get what he wants.

Again, I get the idea that it wouldn’t be hard to break B’Elanna out because these people aren’t exactly the army, but something in the wording just gave Very Bad Vibes. There’s a difference between saying “it wouldn’t be hard to break her out” and “they’re no match for us”. The whole thing just felt very out of character and it bothers me.

[benka79]

I know no one is reading this madness but... I just have to scream about the Tom Paris x Harry Kim subtext...

Timeless

Writers gave us two KimRis parallels...

First... Janeway asking Chakotay to have dinner with her. (With romantic hints all over)

While this was happening, Tom and Harry were close with each other. And Harry ends up gesturing to his best buddy platonic friend. It means. Writers showed us TWO RELATIONSHIPS in the past.

Then... Present... Chakotay had a new love and he was willing to not change the past to stay with this new lover...

Oh man, he changed Janeway for that girl, even when the producers made him stare longingly and sadly at our Captain. (Once when she asked Chakotay to dinner with her and the second time when she was dead and frozen on the bridge).

But... Why Harry hadn't doubts about turning back time??? Okay, we could think GUILT! REGRETS!

But because he mentioned they lost THE PEOPLE THEY LOVED... And he was willing to die for them... And he wouldn't change his mind... And they put that parallel with J/C... I will conclude, yeah, he was doing this because he wouldn't change ANYONE IN HIS FUTURE FOR HIS JUST PLANOTIC BUDDY TOM.

Now, the message Harry o himself to repair his mistake... Is linked to Tom Paris's letter to his father. Or how I like to call it, the letter he wrote for his own growth.

30 Days

Even when we got another rewind in Tom Paris career... From Lieutenant to Ensign, this episode represented again his huge issues with his father but it talked about what's inside Tom.

I'm gonna divide this insights in two parts.

Tom's Fantasy World: Captain Proton

Something that could start like a game, was playing a very important part of Tom inner thoughts.

The whole adventure of Captain Proton resume Tom's fantasies and deeper desires. Because deep inside Tom wants to save the day and be a hero. He needs to proof he is worthy by being a superhero. But mostly, he is always saving the girl in danger. And when I say the girl in danger, I'm talking about Harry. Because Harry represents the imposible love interest he wants to reach. In this episode he arrives to save Harry again but this time from the evil Delaney's twins. But Harry shows him he wanted more time with the evil girls. (Imagine Tom trying to save Harry from women just to show him that he should be his only hero in that story, in his fantasy.)

When they go out from the Holodeck, Paris talks again about the letters... (Because they're trying to fix the letters they got, one of them is Paris's father letter)

PARIS: Any progress on those starcharts?

MEGAN: I'll have them to you by fourteen hundred.

The fact that Paris is bringing back that to us is because again, something very meaningful related to his father will happen. Because this evil letter made his character to go backwards in his behavior. Remember?

But then... Look at this:

PARIS: I think Jenny really likes you.

KIM: Yeah, I know.

PARIS: I thought the feeling was mutual.

KIM: How many times do I have to tell you? I like Megan, but she won't give me the time of day.

PARIS: What is the difference?

KIM: You can't be serious.

PARIS: They're the Delaney sisters, Harry. They're twins.

KIM: Are you kidding? They're nothing alike. Jenny's aggressive and sometimes annoying. But Megan, she's quiet, artistic, and she's got that cute little dimple in her right cheek.

PARIS: Jenny doesn't have the dimple?

KIM: No dimple.

Okay, I will stop here. Pay attention to this because I'm in awe here of the amount of subtext: THIS IS A LOVE TRIANGLE AND IS A BLATANT REPRESENTATION OF B'ELANNA->TOM->HARRY.

Tom tried to show a point to Harry because Delaney's sisters, here representing women, are the same to him BECAUSE HE WANTS TO SHOW HIS FRIEND WOMEN ARE THE SAME. SHOULD HARRY TASTE THE RAINBOW THEN? 😂

And because is a Tom's episode, is Tom centric so... Jenny is B'elanna, because she's aggressive and sometimes annoying. Harry is Tom here, because B'elanna likes him. But Harry/Tom is in love with Megan, because Megan is quiet, artistic, and she's got that cute little dimple in her right cheek. This is screaming HARRY all over even the dimple!!!!

Gif credit @skjc-writes

But the sad thing here is Harry saying IS AN UNREQUITED LOVE. And then Tom adding this...

PARIS: Well, you've done it again, Harry.

KIM: What?

PARIS: Fallen for the unattainable woman. First it was a hologram, then a Borg, and now the wrong twin.

I'm screaming here!!!! Because HARRY IS UNANTTAINABLE TO TOM!!!!!! ARE YOU READING THISS?? Of course no, I'm alone here, but, nevermind. 😂

Deep Inside Tom's Ocean

Another huge symbolism was the ocean planet and how they needed to go deeper to find the truth about the instability of that world.

The Ocean was a symbolic representation of Paris. We had a whole world installed almost in the surface of the waters that was about to fall down. It was an entire society.

When Tom decides to go deeper, they found another contractions that belonged to an older society who had lived there before. But... What was there wasn't the source of their incoming destruction. The new society was the one carving their own graves.

How we could read this related to Paris? Well, as I said, imagine the ocean is Tom. The society and buildings that are next to the surface is the self-destructive personality Tom had created in order to face his failures in trying to fulfill his father's expectations.

The old society buried in the bottom of the ocean is his true self. He's sensitive, and creative, and innocent like a child. But he abandoned that purity to build the surface. Because his true feelings wouldn't be accepted by his father. (This include his bisexuality).

Throughout the whole episode they repeat that the old society in the bottom of the sea IS NOT GUILTY for the incoming destruction. So, Tom's deepest feelings and thoughts and fantasies, what he really is, is not the cause of his self destruction.

The bad people here is the new society, that fake shield Tom had built for years to carry his low self esteem created by his incapability of fulfill his father's expectations. It's a self-destructive personality and is not who he really is.

The bad thing is, Tom is trying to destroy it, but Janeway blocked him. He couldn't... And he is still in his emotional prison.

Finish the Letter.

Tom starts recording a message to his father. It starts as if he was apologizing, but it will end as a compilation of his true desires. He wants to fight for what he feels is worthy. And sometimes you just have to take the risk.

The fact that Harry went to see him and not B'elanna is very meaningful and it shows why is Paris pining for him more than for B'elanna. But it also shows why Paris feels Harry is the unattainable love for him. And it show in the fact that Tom was avoiding Harry's eyes. He felt ashamed. He was ashamed of the man his friend had to see. His rank had been lowered. He was in prison again. Even after confessing behind the mask of a fantastic adventure of a ship that Harry was his NUMBER ONE.

He was feeling again he didn't deserve Harry he didn't deserve to be visited by him. He even let his self destructive personality to show again, but Harry, with eyes full of pain, gives Paris an advice that will close some of his wounds.

Harry is the one waking him up from the nightmare of deception. That's a huge symbolism because even with Harry there, bringing him back to reality, Tom will relate that with the fact that he feels he left down Harry too.

Harry asks Tom to finish his letter. To start healing that huge damage he has inside, the voice of his father yelling at him to do this and that, to be better. To not be what he wanted to be.

Finish the Letter for his father, because it will help him. Even if his father never hear it. Tom did it. He finished the letter. And then in his fantastic world of Captain Proton B'elanna repeats those words to him he really needs to hear from his father: I'm proud of you.

He has a long way to walk through. But it caught my attention that in season 5 we are still stuck in this matter. He should be showing more growth as a character. We are swimming in the same daddy issue and I suspect we will be swimming for a long time too.

I think the writers doesn't know what 'move on' means.

Miscellaneous: Megan and Harry mentioned to Tom the number 14 like something he needed to reach. (The remaining time to know about the letters and to get out from prison) This number represents EQUILIBRIUM and also LOVE. Maybe are those the two things Tom needs to achieve. Mostly, self love and acceptance.

Another interesting fact was the episode in which Seven said Tom got out from the cryogenic bed 4 TIMES. I'm thinking that maybe is related to everytime Tom had been in prison. We are counting three times so far. Let's see 😂.

[guerins]

a little summary of fehr and mo’s insta live

HEAT WAVE RE-WATCH - April 20th (2020)

It took Brendan a minute to figure out how to add Majandra to the live feed.

She was wearing a sickass robe. Said robe was discussed like halfway the feed.

They were both drinking. Brendan: red wine and vodka. Majanda: who knows (I think it was also wine. I don’t remember if she said it, though)

Did they toast each other you ask? They sure did. Glasses clinked the screens; I shit you not

Majandra said she wanted to watch the episode beforehand, to prepare herself.

She did. But only the beginning because she could not get through the first scene due to embarrassment.

On the live feed we saw her embarrassment fist hand. Brendan was also feeling weird about it.

She kept looking away, talking to distract herself.

He said the reason why he kept talking while the scene was on, was so he could distract himself from what was happening on the screen as well.

They discussed Majandra’s sweeping abilities -or lack thereof- and Brendan’s mom being on set while they filmed that make-out scene at the crashdown.

They were dating while they filmed that ep. They were on the early stages of ‘courting’ as Majandra put it, so Brendan’s mom being on set did make her nervous.

Brendan said they should not have been making out on the floor of the diner. He said something along the lines of ‘That place if full of cooking grease!’

He shared a little anecdote about how he was on his trailer one day, someone knocks on his door, he opens and ‘oh, majandra delfino is there’

She went to him to rehearse their first kiss. They barely knew each other. Hated each other (she more than him, apparently). And she went and said she needed to see what he kissed llike to prepare herself for the actual scene. So, they would rehearse the kiss scenes. They would make out on his trailer and then film the scenes. Yes, SCENES. As in, MORE THAN ONE. I repeat, this happened MORE THAN ONCE. Majandra claimed she wanted to know what it would be like, so it’d look/ feel good on screen.

Majandra said she now realizes how unprofessional that was, but at the time she didn’t think it was weird. Brendan, on the other hand, thought it was a weird thing to do and still does. Not that she refused to kiss her back then tho…

The hair was a big topic of discussion.

Majandra kept apologizing about hers.

Although they both praised Brendan’s hair.

Brendan said he still has that red shirt from when they’re making out at the eraser room. He said one of his daughters wears it all the time.

Hey, did you guys know the girl playing Vicky Delaney (Kyle’s date at the soap factory) was actually a 40 year-old woman?! Huh. Go figure.

Majandra saying to Brendan that they are now the age the actress is and they don’t look nearly as good. Brendan agreeing.

Majandra said she loved Liz’s voice. That she loved how Shiri would sound different when she played Liz.

The love they got for Diane (Amy Deluca)!!!! Majandra said she was too young to be playing her mom.

Brendan saying how he can now appreciate the grownups scenes and how cool it was that Bill Sadler (Valenti) got to have that storyline with Diane. How he didn’t care about the adult scenes back then because he was kind of a dick and whenever he saw the scenes with the grown-up actors, he’d ask why those scenes were even necessary.

Majandra agreeging. She said that whenever she watched ‘My so-called life’ she would hate the adults scenes because they were boring in her eyes.

They now realize those scenes were actually very important.

THE LOVE FOR COLIN! ♥

Majandra: He looks like a baby! Look at his clothes.

Brendan: He was great. I love this relationship he had with Liz. Maria was the best friend but he was also there…

Majandra: Yeah, it was like a trio.

Brendan: (or was it Majandra who said this?) He was the third sister.

Majandra: But Maria was number one. [laughs]

They discussed the turtle neck. Or, as Brendan put it, the ball of yarn Majandra was wearing.

This was a good hair day for Brendan btw, just in case you were wondering. He confirmed it.

The Stargazer relationship was talked about. They had nothing but love for those two.

Brendan addresses Katie’s PJs

Brendan: Katie was really great.

Majandra made the observation of what a sweet guy Alex was to be having this kind of dream about Isabel, and not something entirely different.

Brendan: He even got a tuxedo.

Majandra: Look at the boombox. Like ‘Say Anything.’

Once again, back to the clothes. Brendan’s t-shirt in the bathroom when he and Max talk about how ‘it has gotten complicated’ (Brendan actually said that line twice when this scene came on), he said he still has that shirt and he had to fight to let them wear it on the episode. Apparently, everyone was against it, he had to convince them. The t-shirt has some horses on it.

Brendan also stole a bunch of clothes and memorabilia, Majandra was not so lucky. She went to get some of Maria’s clothes only to find out it was all given to some producer’s daughter. So, when the show was over, she parked her car, opened the trunk and got whatever she could in there. Ended up getting the clothes the adult actors wore.

The way Jason looks at Liz when they’re dealing with the ‘mating ritual’. Majandra said ‘look at Jasons eyes! Ahhhhh’

The golden top maria wears at the soap factory? Majandra didn’t remember it. BRENDAN DID.

What Majandra remembers is that at this point in time in real life, they were sort of on the outs. Mimicking fiction. As they usually did. They were on and off during the entire series and funnily enough, when the characters were fighting, so were they irl. She said that she believed there was a scene in this ep she remembers which means they were sort of fighting.

They talked about how it was also difficult filming when they were on a fight irl but Maria and Michael were doing great. Those were hard days filming. They would come to set and everyone would have to figure out and read the vibe to see how they were doing. Lol.

Majandra saying how it was kind of unbelievable that Isabel would go for a guy like Alex. That she was so beautiful, she looked like she could be dating a college guy. Also, she praised that Isabel chose Alex, she gave the good guy a chance instead of going for a different type.

When they got to the ‘maybe we should have never started this’ Majandra confirmed that they were definitely on the outs irl at this point of the series. She again apologizes for her hair.

Brendan says he was worried about the humidity in this scene because of his hair. He was very protective of his hair. He wouldn’t let anyone touch it. Even today he gets nervous when he goes to get a haircut.

They talked about Valenti’s phone when he’s on a date with Amy. Well, it wasn’t Valenti’s phone, it was the restaurant’s phone but they thought it was Valenti’s cellphone and that he carried it around on his pocked or something. They had a good laugh about it because the phone was huge.

They talked about Majandra’s old phone back in the day. Which was both a cellphone and a walkie. (A nokia, I think they said. It was yellow? I don’t remember the color.)

They could not get through the jail scene. Kept saying ‘when is this gonna end? This jail scene is so long.’ Lol

To be fair, they were right.

They praised Alex for standing up to Valenti. Talked about Liz making the index finger signal as she tells Alex about Max, Michael and Isabel.

Brendan mentions Liz’s crazy eyes in this scene and why Michael was clearly right no to trust her.

Brendan: Look at her, she’s telling him the secret. Knew I couldn’t trust her.

Majandra: Yeah, she’s telling everybody.

Brendan: The bars in the jail. Are they real?

Majandra: What if they started to bend?

[laughs]

[more laughs]

Liz’s roof? All fake. The ladder was short. Not that short though.

Brendan: Yeah, Jason wasn’t on his knees climbing up that ladder.

Majandra: Can you imagine if he was though?

[laughs]

Brendan: Is this their first kiss?

Majandra: It is. I think.

Brendan: He even lifts up her shirt a little! That’s ballsy.

END OF EPISODE.

 For the little Q&A

They said they would do the live feed again. Next episode to re-watch would be 285 South (maybe) because that got a lot of votes and they love that episode. Brendan said they should probably do one ep from each season. They talked about B&T. They have a second trailer. They filmed it. (We already knew this. Well…we assumed, but now we know for sure it’s out there.) They are very protective of this new project and getting it done so that’s why they haven’t released the trailer. They are sort of saving it for reasons. They have talked to networks, and continue to work to bring the show to life. There are things they want to keep, easter eggs, like the tobasco bottle, among others, so they are fighting to get those things to stay in the story.

They zoom with Nick and Jason very – and I mean VERY-often. Apparently the four of them are really good friends. They said maybe they could do a live feed with them. And they would also love to have them on B&T, obviously. Actually, they’d love to get as many actors as possible that were on Roswell to join B&T.

They were asked to describe each other in one word. Brendan said the word for Majandra back then wouldn’t be the same as now. They were asked to choose two words to describe each other, one for back then, one for now. Brendan went with ‘Passionate’ and ‘Loyal.’ Majadra said of Brendan he was ‘Blunt’ and now he is ‘LOUD.’ “Crazy, frustrating, agitated, stubborn” were other words to describe each other they used. Majandra said she thought Brendan had a condition, that that was the reason why he talks so loud nowadays. Brendan made sure we all knew that he does not. That’s just the way he talks.

Gags: When Brendan connected for the second video, he had trouble adding Majandra to the live feed (AGAIN) so he grabbed the ipad/tablet/or whatever from where he had it set, to try and work it out. And when Majandra finally appeared on screen, he dropped the ipad/tablet/or whatever to the floor. More specifically to the back of his desk. When he was setting it back on the table, he nearly dropped his glass of wine or flask (?) of vodka. Majandra laughed, he made a panicky funny face.

If I forgot something, I apologize. If remembered something incorrectly (like, who said what) please forgive me, I’m only human. Also, I wrote this down on Monday night after the live feed. Well, it was like, 4 am so… it was actually Tuesday. I was worried if I waited longer, I would forget more details. Anyway, I hope this was helpful somehow. Love you all♥

[summahsunlight]

This Way Became My Journey, Ch. 23

While the computer was running its diagnostic on the alien device, B'Elanna Torres had snuck away to the mess hall to grab a ration pack for lunch. Well maybe she hadn't really snuck away; Captain Janeway had after all given her permission to take a small break. But it sure felt like sneaking away, with Michael breathing down her neck wanting to know every little thing that came up about the device. Snatching a ration pack up she went to join a Bajoran, by the name of Seska, who was sitting at a table in the middle of the room.

"I didn't think Janeway was ever going to let you leave the bridge," Seska drawled with that sly grin of hers as B'Elanna took a seat.

B'Elanna shrugged her shoulders. "I think she felt bad that her kid was watching over everything I did. Anyways I don't have a lot of time. I need to get back up there to finish working on that device that Chakotay brought back from the planetoid."

"If you ask me this is a waste of time," Seska replied, pushing her empty ration pack to the side. "We shouldn't be chasing after any aliens that like to harvest organs. It could end up getting us all killed."

"Neelix could die if we don't track them down," B'Elanna said, slightly shocked by her friend's cold tone.

It was Seska's turn to shrug her tiny shoulders. "The Doctor has kept him alive this long; that's better than most people can say if they had just had their lungs stolen."

"And what if it was Chakotay that had been attacked? Or Harry? Would you feel the same way?"

"Of course. Neelix should be counting his blessings while the rest of us get to the real work of finding dilithium to help the power shortage," Seska answered, her dark eyes studying B'Elanna's face. "You don't actually agree with Janeway's decision to go chasing after these aliens do you?"

B'Elanna averted her eyes. "To tell you the truth, I think it's rather noble."

Seska scoffed. "One noble deed doesn't make up for her selfish decision to strand us here."

The hatred for Janeway that was laced in Seska's voice was not lost on B'Elanna and the young Klingon woman suddenly found that she was not hungry anymore. Pushing the tray away from her, she looked her friend, or someone she had once regarded as a friend, in the eye. "Seska, I know it hasn't been easy the past month, adjusting to life on a Starfleet ship, but believe me when I say that Captain Janeway has the best intentions of this entire crew at heart."

"You didn't think that way a month ago," Seska pointed out.

B'Elanna shook her head. "No, I didn't. But the past few weeks I've worked closely with her and my opinion has changed. If we had used the array to get home, there would have been people back in the Alpha Quadrant who thought her decision to sacrifice the Ocampa selfish. Either way, she couldn't win."

Seska got up from the table angrily. "You're starting to sound like all those delusional Starfleet idiots."

The Chief Engineer watched as the Bajoran left the table and stalked out of the mess hall. B'Elanna wasn't sure why Seska was having the hardest adjustment out of them all. Perhaps she felt like she had been slighted by Janeway when she wasn't given a higher rank, after all, she was Chakotay's former lover. And then there was B'Elanna's promotion to chief engineer. It was never spoken between the two, but B'Elanna knew that Seska was jealous of her friend's promotion and the trust that Janeway put in her. She also knew that Seska wasn't too keen on all time the B'Elanna had taken to hanging out with Harry Kim in the mess hall or for a stroll on the holodeck. But Harry had been the only one nice to her, on the Starfleet side that is, for their first few days, and she was grateful for that.

It wasn't her fault that she was sliding into fit with the crew and Seska was struggling. She just needs to make friends outside of the Maquis, that's all. 

B'Elanna decided that the next time Harry joined her for dinner she was going to ask Seska to join them. She was sure that Harry would be friendly and make an attempt to befriend Seska no matter how unreceptive Seska seemed.

Speaking of Harry, B'Elanna was sure that Janeway had given him a fifteen minute break to eat something as well. Maybe she had missed him when she had first come in the room. Glancing around she soon found that it had been easy to miss him. He was seated at a corner table with Sarah Barrett. B'Elanna instantly felt…jealousy.

She was shocked by this, at first. There was nothing romantically going on between her and Harry so she shouldn't be bothered if there was something between him and the counselor. But then she remembered Elle Platt, back from her Academy days. Elle had the same dark, coffee brown hair as Sarah, same enticing sapphire eyes. B'Elanna had thought Elle had been her friend and had told her about her crush on one of their classmates. They never spoke of it again, until B'Elanna had seen Elle with her crush, cuddling on the lawn one warm afternoon. Elle later told her some story about wanting to keep B'Elanna safe because she only would have been hurt, that her crush never would have dated a half Klingon.

B'Elanna, who had always resented human girls, with their silky locks of hair, and smooth foreheads, had shortly left the Academy after that. So was it this fact that Sarah looked so much like Elle that she was jealous of the time she spent with Harry? And if she ever did want to be more than Harry's friend, how could she compete with the perfection that Sarah was?

She was shocked at this realization. Being more than Harry's friend? He was Starfleet, a nice guy, but still Starfleet. Well what's so wrong with that? They had been through so much together on the Ocampa home world, she had connected with him in a way that she had yet to connect to anyone else on the ship, with maybe the exception of Chakotay. And that's when her emotions switched to jealousy to downright anger.

Sarah could have any man she wanted on this ship, with the bat of her pretty little eyelashes, why was she with Harry? Good, even Tom Paris was eating out of the palm of her hand and she had taken the one guy that B'Elanna actually felt…feelings towards. It figures the one nice guy on this ship— 

"Seat taken?"

B'Elanna glanced up to see Tom Paris. She shook her head. "No."

He sat down and dropped his ration pack tray in front of him. His grayish eyes looked up to see what she was looking at and he frowned.

This peaked her curiosity even more. Was Tom's feelings about Sarah more than just wanting a date? B'Elanna suddenly didn't feel so bad that she was not the only one who was jealous on this ship. "Something wrong with the view?" she teased.

Tom only frowned more as Harry and Sarah got up and left the mess hall together, laughing about something. "No, nothing's wrong with the view."

"If I didn't know you any better Paris, I'd say you were jealous," she continued teasing getting up from the table and going to recycle her tray. It was time to get back to working on the alien device and the diagnostic. She would have to push thoughts of Harry aside until further notice.

However, the thoughts of Harry and Sarah eating lunch together, sharing a laugh, just would not escape her no matter how hard she tried to get her work done. Michael Janeway was still standing over her shoulder, soaking in every last bit of information that the computer was coming up with. If that kept up he could his mother the report and B'Elanna could return to engineering where her real work was.

Mindlessly drumming her fingers on the console she noticed Tuvok raise an eyebrow. "Does that form of activity make the computer scan faster?" the Vulcan questioned her.

"No, but it keeps me occupied while we wait." The doors of the bridge swishing open brought her attention about and Paris strode back onto the bridge, no trace of the frown he had worn in the mess hall. How can he let it go so easily? Oh, that's right, he's a pig. He probably has another love interest lined up behind Sarah and the Delaney sisters.

The computer beeping brought her attention about. "Captain," she called out, getting Janeway's attention. "We've completed our diagnostic on the alien device."

Janeway strode over to join the group, which was an odd mix when you really thought about it; a Vulcan, a five year old human boy, and a half Klingon. "What have you got?"

"It appears to be more than a weapon," B'Elanna reported. "It's also a very sophisticated medical scanner and surgical instrument."

"From what we can tell," Tuvok said, handing the device to Janeway, "it uses a neural resonator to stun the victim while a quantum imaging scanner begins a microcellular analysis of the entire body.

"The amount of information this thing can gather puts a tricorder to shame," B'Elanna continued. "You fire this at someone you learn everything about their anatomy, right down to their DNA sequencing."

Janeway turned the device over in her hands. "So we're dealing with aliens who've developed a technology specifically designed for extracting organs from other beings. The question is…why?" Chakotay demanded her attention and she mindlessly put the device down onto the science console.

"The alien ship has dropped out of warp," the first officer reported. "It's approaching a large asteroid."

The captain went to stand on the command station next to Lieutenant Barrett while Tuvok took his own station. "On screen."

"It's entered the asteroid captain," Paris reported.

"Hold position."

There were very little options that Janeway had at this moment. She could either take the ship into the asteroid if it was wide enough or she could try to flush the aliens out some how. But that could take hours, and Neelix didn't have hours. Even though the Doctor had come up with a solution for the time being, no one really knew how long he could survive using holographic lungs, not to mention that if ship's system ever went down and the emitters went off line, Neelix would die.

"MICHAEL!"

The shear volume of Lieutenant Barrett's voice startled everyone on that bridge and all eyes snapped about looking for the child.

The boy was standing at the door to the ready room and immediately Janeway could see that he had the alien device clutched in his little hands. The captain had moved the baby into the ready room so she could comfortably nap and she had no doubt that her son was about to test the device out on his baby sister. How could I be so careless with something that dangerous around? She hadn't even seen Michael move from his spot near the science station, for that matter, neither had B'Elanna. Michael was terribly clever, a trait that Janeway knew had been inherited from her; he could easily slip away from baby sitters, his mother, etc.

So how had Sarah seen it?

Michael looked sheepishly up at his mother. "I just wanted to see Ava's DNA."

His mother gestured that he give her the device back and he complied.

"Sit there," Janeway instructed, pointing to her chair.

Chakotay cleared his throat while the boy did as he was told. "Uh, Captain, we've determined the asteroid is man made."

Fascinating. What's even more fascinating that Sarah knew Michael had that device; another question for another time, perhaps. 

"I think I've located where the alien ship entered the asteroid, Captain," Paris was saying bringing their attention about to the situation at hand. "There's an open crater on the limb of the asteroid."

"Let's see it," Chakotay ordered and the viewscreen changed from the image of the asteroid to the opening that Paris had found.

Janeway crossed her arms over her chest. "How large is that crater, Mister Paris?"

"Two hundred meters in diameter."

"Captain," Tuvok cautioned. "May I suggest that you consider carefully what you're about to do?"

"How do you know what I'm about to do?" Janeway asked, raising an eyebrow and glancing at Tuvok.

"I could describe you in detail the psychological observations I have made of you over the past four years," Tuvok answered, calmly. "Which lead me to conclude that you are about to take this ship into the asteroid, but suffice it to say, I know you quite well."

"One of these days, I'm going to surprise you Tuvok," she replied, with a wry grin. "But not today."

Janeway moved back into the command station and briefly looked at her counselor. "I've already consider other options. If Neelix has any chance of surviving, we have to act fast. Red Alert. Mister Paris lay in a course. Mister Tuvok maximum shields, phasers at the ready."

The Captain turned about in the command station and looked hotly at Michael, "And you stay right there and don't touch anything."

"Yes ma'am."

Voyager glided into the asteroid while Janeway made her way down the command steps to stand next to Chakotay and behind Paris. Her eyes watched the screen intently as the cavern's walls began to narrow.

"Captain," Paris said. "I'm reducing power to the aft-thrusters only. This passageway is getting a little too narrow for my taste."

"Use your discretion Mister Paris," Janeway replied, turning towards Tuvok. "Any sign of the alien ship, Commander?"

"We're still following the ion trail," Tuvok answered, "but electromagnetic interference is limiting our sensor range. I'm only able to scan five hundred meters a head of us."

Chakotay asked the next question. "Are there any indications we're being scanned or probed Mister Kim."

"Not yet."

"Sick bay to Bridge. May I enlist the services of Counselor Barrett please?"

Janeway glanced up at the lieutenant. Was it her imagination or did the Doctor sound anxious? "Certainly Doctor, she's on her way, Janeway out." For a moment the women made eye contact. "You heard the Doctor, he needs your help, we're just going to have to handle first contact without you."

[theageofsims]

Makoto and his parents, Lani and Timothy. All photos are from their Young Adult stage.

Things like this aren't always possible, but I swear I take enough screencaps (😒😒😒) that sometimes I can put stuff like this together.

I was clearly better at it when Taro was the only generation -- and then his kids. Well, at least Lani and Sunny (more so Lani, really. 😒)

Anyway, he seems to have his father's nose and his eyes (more so eye color. He and his late sister Delaney both had the light blue eyes like Timothy), as well as his red hair (that we could see from birth), but he seems to have his mother's lips.

I have got to figure out what on earth to do with Makoto. I have an idea, but it wasn't my first idea -- but I swear every thing I had planned for his ass he decided he was not gonna do.

And him having a baby with Judith fucking Ward was NOT COOL, Makoto. 😒😂

Also -- I'm not sure where he got the acne/acne scars from. No one in my legacy had them except for Timothy's brother Adrian. At first I thought maybe that's why Makoto developed them as a teenager, but even Sulani developed them as a teenager and she has no relation to Timothy or his brother.

I don't mind their acne/scars or anything either, I was just mentioning it because I thought it was just a teenager phase thing in the game, but clearly it isn't.

[asmolqueen]

Mission Accomplished

@sanderssidescelebrations Pairing: Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit Sanders Prompt: Mistletoe Warnings: sympathetic Deceit and sympathetic Remus, Remy is drunk in the end and so is Remus Summary: Lola and Ramona are gay disasters. Peyton does her best to help them. Operation Logince is in the works. Also it's Christmas time. btw this is a genderbend story- Yes I’m aware this is very late. I’m also working on the others still- Read on AO3

“Peyton, help me.”

“How are you expecting me to help, if I have no idea what you’re talking about?”

“I think I’m in love with Lola?”

Peyton stared at her best friend in disbelief for a moment. “Excuse me, what?”

“Like, I’m so impressed by her? She’s like, seriously smart, and absolutely gorgeous by the way — I can’t make sense of how a person just naturally that pretty? — and like, her way of speaking so articulate? She’s just- I think she might be who I’ve been looking for all this time?”, the brunette girl sighed, almost sounding lovesick.

“Woah there, hold your horses, Ramona, don’t get your hopes too high, you remember what happened the last time you thought a girl was the one?”

“Yeah, kinda weird how Remedee and Delaney are already engaged-”

“Exactly!”

“Well, I don’t think Remedee would be Lola’s type or the other way around, and like I said, the’re engaged, Patty.”

The blonde rolled her eyes and adjusted her glasses. Usually she’d be ecstatic to help her friend in these kinda situation, but she’s been hurt twice in a row and this was a different kind of crush or being in love than Delaney or even Ramona's Ex-Girlfriend.

This was Lola.

Their best friend.

The only reason she had met Virginia.

This was completely different.

She needed proof that this wasn’t going to flop.

“Give me three days.”, Peyton suddenly said, looking back at the girl in front of her. “Then I’ll give you an estimate on if this will work and how long it will take. Sound good?”

Ramona jumped up and hugged the blonde with so much impact, that they almost fell off the coffee table that Peyton had been seated on. “Thank you so much!”

After she got back up, Ramona dusted herself off and smiled sweetly. “I’ll be off then, Rem asked me if I wanted to join her and Dee at Dinner tonight. She claimed that Dee set her up to ask me, but when I said that I was at your place, she looked like a lost puppy, so I had to say yes.”, she chuckled. “So, I’ll text you?”

“See you, Rori!”, Peyton called after her ash she watched her escape through the front door of the apartment. “Virge! I need to talk to you right now!”

Her purple haired roommate and girlfriend stepped out of the room, a black ball of fur on her arm and a grumpy look on her face. “Whaaaat? Pandora and I were trying to take a nap back there, you know?”

“Sorry, Stormcloud, I need you to dig around a bit for me, though.”, She explained got up from the table, heading toward the slightly shorter girl. “You’re adorable, you know? Oh and, Virge, I think you’re okay, too.”

Virginia just stared at her in disbelief. “Who are you and what have you done with my girlfriend? You must’ve finally met Remedee, was she here instead of Ramona and tinted your innocence?”

“Honestly, you’re terrible.”, she deadpanned before kissing the girl on the cheek. “Let’s go cuddle with Pandora and then I’ll explain what’s up?”

“Sounds fantastic.”

After a while of them just lazily petting the furball that Pandora was, Peyton began to speak.

“Ramona is all head over heels for Lola.”

Virginia froze for a moment before jerking her head to the side to look at the blonde. “You’re kidding, right?”

“Why would I be! This is terrible!”

“No, actually, this is fucking perfect!”

Peyton gasped, though it was rather fake, she knew she wasn’t going to be able to change her girlfriends habit of cursing in every situation. Nonetheless, she followed the sound with a rather squeaky “Language!”

“So, why is it perfect?”

“Remember the call that woke us up last night? Lola needed advice. She couldn’t sleep, which is old news, I know, but!”, she paused for dramatic effect. “This wasn’t casual insomnia, Lola and I both know what that feels like and that wasn’t it. Her mind was twisting and turning and no matter what happened, her thoughts drifted to our perfect little princess!”

Peyton squeaked, in excitement this time. “And I have the perfect plan!”, she exclaimed before pulling out her phone and texting her brunette friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open File Mission Name: Operation ‘Logince’ Status: Accepted Code Name: Agent P Agent’s Personal Info: Peyton Elizabeth ‘Ma’ Hart, 23 — In A Relationship Accomplice: No One Miss Prince Would Expect Estimated Success Rate: 78% Estimated Date Of Success: 1st Of January Close File

Permission To Let Miss Peyton E. Hart Take On The Mission And Let Her Do Whatever She Feels Necessary?

[YES.] [NO.] [I HAVE QUESTIONS.]

[I HAVE QUESTIONS.]

Agent P Can Not Answer Any Questions About The Mission. She Did Not Expect Miss Ramona Juliette Prince To Pick This Option, As It Is Unavailable As Of Now.

Do You Accept The Terms and Conditions And Swear To Trust Miss Hart?

[YES] [NO] [*insert curse-word* you.

Yes.]

[*insert curse-word* you.

Yes.]

Thank You For Responding. I Will Now Let You Talk To Miss Hart.

RAMONA I GOT A SOLUTION

I saw, you doofus. I need’a eat with Miss Remedee Kathrina Prince and her girlfriend, miss Delaney Guja for dinner, if you’d excuse me?

Gladly! Say Hi from me!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few weeks after that, the friend group met for their yearly Christmas party, which was more of a calm get together, if you ignored Remedee’s whole behavior, this year it was held at the shared place of Emilie and Ramona.

Peyton and Virginia thought this to be the perfect opportunity to carry out their plan. And they also had a woman on the inside.

Although Emelie wasn’t too keen on just playing with her friends feelings and getting into their relationship, she agreed when the girlfriends explained that both girls had deeply fallen for each other and that they had their reasons to ask for help.

The party was, like every year, set on the night of the 25th. It had been going rather calm, even Remedee was slightly reserved, which had scared Peyton and Ramona a slight bit, but she didn’t mention it, and they had all just exchanged gifts and everyone was being rather cutesy about it.

There were kisses and hugs everywhere, which had Peyton’s heart melting, she loved how they were all just a big family.

After Virginia had slightly hinted at the more-than-friends behavior René and Emelie had toward each other and that they had to find out what that was later, she reminded her girlfriend of their mission. They gave Emelie a small sign that they had talked about before and got to work.

The smallest of the bunch had excused herself to go to the bathroom, her girlfriend had distracted her best friend with some cute photos she had taken of Pandora. And maybe some couple pictures, but Virginia didn’t need to know that.

Emelie had gotten to her part, talking to Lola about the psychology behind dreams, it was a subject she knew the black haired couldn’t resist.

Perfect.

While the plan had been going as it was planned, Remedee and René had sneaked into the kitchen to pop the first bottle of champagne. That would be a problem that the bunch would have to deal with later.

Delaney had to leave earlier, her little sister, Amber, had called, it was something urgent, but she didn’t tell the others why, just that it would be fine and they should continue having fun.

“So basically, our little sunshine is… Actually a sunshine? Or are you just that good at photoshop?”, Ramona had asked, laughing.

Peyton had tried for quite a while to get Ramona in the right position, they needed all of it to be perfect, and had grown frustrated at this point.

How do you make a person move backwards?

As Emelie had noticed that, she gave her friend the tiniest of nods, trying to communicate to her, that she got it.

Because, in comparison to Ramona, Lola didn’t like to be too close to people, so if Emilie moved closer to the black haired, she would subconsciously walk backwards.

That did the job, both unbelievably oblivious girls were now standing back to back, with Peyton and Emilie smiling at each other, hoping the girls wouldn’t notice.

Virginia, who had never went to the bathroom in the first place, had been impatiently waiting on top of the staircase, a huge grin on her face.

“Yo! Teach, Princey!”, she yelled and held her arm out over them.

Peyton held back a squeal while Emilie quietly chuckled.

The mentioned girls were both looking up to see the small arrangement the purple haired was holding.

A mistletoe.

Lola was the first to look down from it and turned to her crush, staring for a bit.

After a while of mentally cursing every single Disney villain she could think of, and that were a lot, Ramona also decided to look away from the mistletoe. Lola was as red as her favorite dress, and the brunette suspected that she’d look the same. “Well, I- I know the rules but if you- I mean we don’t gotta, you know? Like, if you're not wanting to, that’s fine with me- I just-”

While Ramona was trying to form a sentence, Lola considered her chances.

It was a fifty/fifty in her book. Either she would be rejected, or not. She was gonna regret it anyway, but who cared. She would take advantage of that moment.

So Lola did a thing that no one expected, she grabbed the collar of her crushes shirt and pulled her close. “Zip it.”

And then her lips were on Ramona’s.

Virginia almost let the mistletoe fall on top of them in the attempt to keep her composure and took a few pictures short after, the angle possibly not the best, but she knew none of the technically unoccupied girls would be able to move apart from the grins that were getting wider by the second.

As Ramona stood there frozen, thanking whatever deity helped her, Lola grew more and more anxious over her decision. She was about to pull back when the brunette put her arms around her neck and kissed back.

Que a wolf whistle from the general direction of the kitchen.

“Get some, sis!”, was yelled, rather drunkenly.

Both immediately jumped back and Ramona turned to her sister. “Rem!”, she yelled, her voice cracking. “Why?”

“Well, you know?”, Remedee said, still sounding very drunk, getting closer to the bunch with René trailing behind, “Revenge.”

And the way she said it, so serious and sober, had almost scared Ramona, until her twin started laughing and almost falling over.

The brunette girl turned to her best friend. “Peyton?”

“Don’t at me! You granted me permission to do anything!”

“So you decided to make my roommate pull a Brutus on me? How considerate.”

“I asked. And if it weren’t for Virginia I wouldn’t have been able to do it!”

Lola just blinked for a while before clearing her throat. “Excuse me?”

“Riiiiight... So you weren’t in for any of it but I kinda broke my promise?”, Virginia started as she was supporting René and standing with the group.

The black haired raised an eyebrow. “Virginia?”

She sighed and decided to load the literal weight on her shoulders onto Emelie and also finally get rid of the metaphorical one of breaking a promise. “Ramona told Peyton she likes you the day after you so graciously woke me and my cat up because you couldn’t sleep because you’re too gay for this shit. So we talked and figured out we needed to get you two together and well,” the girl looked at her accomplices. “We didn’t think you’d be the one to initiate that. So I’m not sure about these two, but I’m still stunned.”

“So you planned that.”

“Yes.”

“And you all knew about it.”

“Pretty much?”

“And all of you kept shut in front of me?”

“Looks like it.”

Lola nodded. “I’m impressed. That’s literally the first thing ever that you were able to keep from me.”

Peyton’s face lit up. “You’re not mad?”

“Babe, we literally had her and her crush kissing, why would she be mad?”

“Good point.”

Ramona, who was kind of embarrassed at this point, just linked arms with Lola and let her away from the group, so they were sitting on the couch now, talking. Both of them still had the slightest tints of pink on their faces, but both had smiles on their faces.

“Mission accomplished!”, Peyton said, looking back to the others, wanting to hug both her teammates, until she saw how Emilie had to try to keep René away from trying to kiss her.

“You need help there, Em?”, Virginia had asked with a smirk.

“Nope, I’m fine! It’s fine! I’m good.”

And just like that, the team had another mission. Taking care of two drunk disasters who were absolutely horrible.

At least two of them woke up without headaches the next morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Open File Mission Name: Operation ‘Logince’ Status: Accepted Agent: Peyton Elizabeth Hart Accomplices: Virginia Church, Emelie Picani End Of Mission: 25th of December Mission Accomplished Close File

[antiquecompass]

Untamed Winter Fest Day One: Shiver

Wherein Wen Ning has some bad luck and then some good luck. 

(For those wondering who the heck Aidan is, he’s an OC from the LAHL ‘verse and when sleepingmao on twitter floated this pairing idea my way, it immediately took root and here we are now.)

Wen Ning took a deep breath and tried to calm his racing heart as he put his car into park. His hands were still shaking as he switched on his emergency lights. His sister was never going to let him hear the end of this once he called her. She had told him not to drive back to Lan Academy tonight, but the winter break was coming to an end, and he wanted to be home for a few days before diving back into teaching.

He’d lived in New England since he was five years old, but this was the first time he’d ever hit a patch of black ice and gone flying. It was sheer luck that he was able to swerve onto the grassy shoulder next to him rather than into the next lane. 

Of course, most people weren’t out on the road near Lenox at this time of night. 

That turned out to be both a blessing and a curse, when he tried to back up onto the road and heard his tires spinning without gaining any traction.

If Wen Ning was a cursing man, right now would be the time for it. Instead he turned off the car again, slipped out into the cold of the January night, and pulled out the flashlight he kept in the trunk to try and see the damage.

Of course, that’s when the small snow flurry from earlier decided to turn into an actual storm.

His sister was also going to yell at him for not having a proper winter coat or boots or gloves with him. 

He was digging through his trunk, desperate to find anything resembling gloves, when he saw headlights in his peripheral and a Ford Expedition pull up beside him.

“You need some help?” 

Wen Ning froze at that familiar, deep voice. Of all people to find him, like this, out here. Why did it have to be him. Aidan Delaney made him feel tongue-tied and foolish on a good day. And he had to see him right now? Like this? Out here? Really?

“Ning? Is that you?” 

Wen Ning cursed his bad luck as he stepped into the light coming from the Ford’s high beams.

“Hi, Aidan,” he said, resigned to his fate. “I hit some ice.”

“Where the hell is your coat?” Aidan asked. He immediately pulled off his own and wrapped it over Wen Ning’s arms. “And your gloves?”

“I didn’t foresee this happening,” Wen Ning said as he gestured to his car and the one patch of mud his tires had found on a mostly ice-frozen block of grass.

He tried not to be distracted by the spicy smell of Aidan's cologne coming from his coat. 

“No one ever does,” Aidan said with a sigh. “Come on,” he said, tugging Wen Ning towards his truck. “Get in and warm up. There’s hot chocolate there too. Help yourself.”

Aidan opened the door and stuck his head inside. “Hey, you three! Mind your manners! Mr. Wen’s going to sit with you for a bit.”

“Does he have his bow?”

That was Aisling, one of his star archers, and one of the best all-around students in her grade. She favored her privacy and spent a lot of time in the library. He was quite like her when he was younger.

“No--why would he--” Aidan shook his head. “Aisling, he doesn’t have his bow.”

He did, in fact, have his bow, but it didn’t seem like a good time to mention that.

“Can he help with this stupid history essay?”

Finn. Great fencer, great STEM student, lacking in the Liberal Arts.

“It’s not stupid, you are.”

Una. Dancer. The highest grades of them all.

“None of you are stupid and if you don’t watch it, I’ll turn this car right back around and take you all back to Ma’s. You want that?”

Silence from inside the truck.

“That’s what I thought,” Aidan said. His voice and face were kinder as he turned back to Wen Ning. “Up you go,” he said. 

Inside the truck was warm with blaring heat coming from the vents. It made Wen Ning’s fingers sting and tingle as feeling started to come back to them.

“You should drink the hot chocolate,” Aisling said. She pushed a pink, glittery travel mug at him. “We have two whole thermoses full.”

“Thank you, Miss Aisling,” he said.

She grinned at him they way she always did when he called her that. 

“Did you hit a ditch?” Finn asked.

“Duh, of course he did,” Una said.

“I hit a patch of ice,” he corrected her. “And then wound up in a ditch.”

“You’re okay though, right?” Aisling asked.

Wen Ning looked up from his mug to see three pairs of greenish-blue eyes staring at him in concern. 

“I’m fine,” he promised. He gave an exaggerated shiver. “Just a little cold.”

The Delaneys had come to the school last year. Their elder brother, Aidan, left his job working as a firefighter in Boston to work for the Lenox Central Fire and Emergency Department. All three of the kids were on scholarships and while it covered tuition and the like, it hadn’t covered room and board. So Aidan, determined to see his younger siblings achieve their academic dreams, had packed them all up, switched jobs, and moved them to the other side of the Commonwealth. 

It’s something Wen Qing had done for him, that sort of sacrifice for a younger sibling’s sake and future, and it had immediately endeared Aidan to him. Aidan never complained, always full of happiness and encouragement for his younger siblings. He was there for almost every fencing and archery match and dance recital, save the times when work called him away. He was active in their school community as well, and while Wen Ning knew some of his popularity came to how well Aidan filled out everything he wore, and those eyes, and that smile, it was more because he was a genuine and sincere person. He cared. He cared more than a lot of the parents and guardians who sent their students to Lan Academy. 

The door opened and Aidan smiled up at him, snow softly falling around him. Wen Ning forgot to breathe for a second.

“Good news or bad news first?” he asked.

“Good news,” he said. 

“Your car is out of the ditch,” Aidan said.

Wen Ning was confused. “And bad news?”

“The reason you were stuck is because one of your back tires hit something and it’s gone flat. So, get what you need, I’ll give you a ride home.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“You are not driving home in these conditions with that tire and it’ll take hours to get a tow out here in this weather. I would’ve changed the tire with your spare but someone doesn’t have one in their trunk.”

Wen Ning always knew that was going to come back to bite him.

“It’s on my to-do list,” he said.

“We’ll take care of it tomorrow,” Aidan said. “If you have the time.”

“I..” Wen Ning didn’t know what to say, except to accept. He really didn’t know much about car specs and tires. He hadn’t learned that when focused on and training for an Olympic dream. Aidan, on the other hand, came from a family of mechanics. It would be stupid to turn down his expert help. “Thank you,” he said. 

Aidan held his hand out. “Here, let me help you down.” 

Wen Ning wondered, had to wonder, if Aidan was this charming and nice to everyone. He assumed so even if part of him wished it was solely because of him. They’d had moments before, where Wen Ning had hoped there was more to the glances and the smiles. Swore he’d caught Aidan look at his form when he’d sat in on a few archery practices and had felt those eyes lingers on him. But Wen Ning had never been very good at the dating or the flirting or even the talking thing. 

He stumbled on the wet step board of the Expedition and would’ve hit the ground if Aidan hadn’t immediately reacted. He did hit the side of the truck hard, the breath whooshed out of him, with one of Aidan’s hands cradling the back of his head.

“Okay?” Aidan asked, once they both got over the shock. “You’re shaking.”

One of windows rolled down and three pre-teens stared out at them.

“So, can you two just kiss already?” Finn asked.

“We’re kind of hungry,” Una said.

“And you’re both going to get frostbite,” Aisling said. “This is why Mom told you to ask him out before winter break. Last year.”

Aidan closed his eyes and let out a heavy breath. “Jesus Christ,” he muttered. “You three--shut the fuck up and roll the damn window back up. You’re letting the heat out.”

“We’re not the ones flirting on the side of the--”

“Aisling Catherine Delaney.”

“Window’s going up now!”

Wen Ning couldn’t tell if the red tint on Aidan’s cheeks was just from the cold or a blush, but it made his eyes look even greener.

“So,” Aidan said drawing out the word. “That was fucking embarrassing.”

Wen Ning nodded. His feet were still off the ground. Aidan was still holding him up and apparently didn’t even notice. Wen Ning had kept mostly to his Olympic form since he did still compete in national competitions. He knew he wasn’t that light.

“Look--” Aidan said. “I curse like a sailor, I have horrible work hours, and I have to watch after those three ungrateful gremlins who are absolutely going to be eating boiled potatoes for dinner if they don’t close that window.”

The window went all the way back up.

“But I would really like to take you out for lunch or dinner or whatever--whatever you’d like--if you want.”

He did. He did very much want.

“Yes,” Wen Ning said. He cleared his throat and spoke louder. “I’d like that very much.”

“Okay,” Aidan said. He nodded. His eyes drifted to Wen Ning’s lips than back up to his face. “Okay.”

“Aidan?”

“Yeah?” he asked.

“You can kiss me if you want?”

“Fucking a, I do,” Aidan said.

It was a sweet kiss. Warm. And Wen Ning wished it could last longer, but the snow was coming down, his nose was starting to run, and they were on the side of the road.

They stopped as a passing trucker blew their horn at them.

“We should get you home,” Aidan said.

“You need to put me down first,” Wen Ning said. 

“Oh shit!” Aidan said as he lowered him to the ground. “I’m sorry. I just--”

“It’s okay,” Wen Ning said. He didn’t mind. At all. “It’s nice.”

“That’s--” Aidan laughed and stepped to the side. “I’ll remember that.”

**********

“You’re late.”

Wen Qing stared at him through the computer screen, one judgy eyebrow raised. 

“I texted,” he said as he settled down with a cup of warm tea.

“Yes, but you are very late,” she said.

“I’m fine,” he promised. “My car hit a patch of ice, wound up in a ditch, and I have a flat.”

“You had to wait for a tow?” she asked. “Because you never replaced the spare.”

“Yes and no,” he said. “Aidan found me.”

“Aidan,” she said. Her tone implying far too many things.

“Hot firefighter Aidan?” Qingyang asked, leaning over his sister’s shoulder. “Respect, Ning. He’s hot as hell.”

“I am right here,” his sister said, as she stared up at her girlfriend.

“Yeah but, he’s fine,” Qingyang said. “And nice.” She kissed the top of Qing’s head. “Don’t worry, he’s a good guy. An actual good one. Not an asshole.”

“He is,” Wen Ning promised. “And he asked me why I didn’t have a spare replacement tire, or decent winter gloves, or a coat.” He said, appealing to his sister’s sense of priorities.

She narrowed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. “Fine, he sounds like he has some common sense. I’ll allow it.”

“So generous of you,” Qingyang said. She waved at him. “So, did he ask you out?”

Wen Ning nodded, unable to stop the grin on his face.

“Aww, you’re all grown up and getting ready to tap some firefighter ass!” she said.

“Qingyang!” 

Wen Ning put his tea down as he openly laughed at his sister and soon-to-be-sister-in-law. He missed them horribly now that he was so far away, but he loved coaching and teaching, he truly did love his work at Lan Academy. And maybe, just maybe, he was really starting to find his own place--his own home. 

Maybe he could have that soon, what he saw on the other side of the screen.

Tomorrow was the start of something. He hoped, he prayed, it was something good. 

[citizenscreen]

You’ve probably heard that the schedule for the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF) 2019  was published earlier this week. TCMFF is scheduled for April 11-14 and this year’s theme is Follow Your Heart: Love at the Movies. As you can imagine, such a broad theme allows for all sorts of relationships in movies and in that sense the offerings don’t disappoint. There’s something for everyone – from traditional romance to bromance to love in pure evil form. What’s important is that for the 10th consecutive year, classic movie fans will have a love affair with movies in Hollywood.

As has become tradition on this blog I’ve put together my planned schedule for discussion sake. I tried to go a bit beyond my comfort level this year choosing new-to-me fare in more slots than ever before with a dear coming home at the end the festival. This will be my seventh year in Hollywood for this event and the excitement has not waned. There’s simply a lot to look forward to.

Also exciting is the fact that I will be playing a dual role at TCMFF 2019. I’ve mentioned my media credentials to cover TCMFF in the past and that is true again this year. In addition, I will also be one of about 30 Brand Ambassadors. I don’t know many details of this post yet, but follow me on social media and we’ll learn together.

Now to my picks…I hope some of you will chime in with yours. If you’re a blogger and publish a pre-TCMFF post be sure to leave me the link in the comments so I can include it in this post. I enjoy comparing people’s picks and think others do as well. Here we go…

  Thursday, April 11

I’m betting the biggest crowd aside from Grauman’s for the official opening night feature, will be at the Egyptian for Howard Hawks’ enjoyable Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) and its iconic images. Although I adore that movie, which features Marilyn Monroe in standout comedic form, I plan to attend the 35MM screening of Hobart Henley’s Night World (1932), which I’ve never seen. Sara Karloff, daughter of the legendary Boris Karloff, will do the introductory honors alongside writer Susan King. Spending some time at a Karloff speakeasy is simply too good to pass up and it’s a fantastic way to start the festival.

Next I’ll likely meet bunches of people I know at the Egyptian for the Nitrate screening of Irving Reis’ The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer (1947) starring my love Cary Grant, the lovely Myrna Loy, and the popular Shirley Temple. This is the first of several movies featuring Cary Grant this weekend and I plan to stare at him every chance I get. Almost.

  Friday, April 12

Friday morning poses a bit of a dilemma for me. There’s the film noir staple The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) opposite pre-code Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) opposite Judy Garland’s only drama appearance in The Clock (1945) opposite the enjoyable High Society (1956). I decided on Dorothy Arzner’s pre-code featuring Sylvia Sydney, Fredric March and a pre-stardom Cary Grant. How can I go wrong with that combination?

Following that movie I’ll have a bit of time before the Club TCM presentation of The Descendants: Growing Up in Hollywood. This presentation may be as close as I’ll ever get to the idea of “Legacies” I’ve been hoping for, which calls for a panel of children of classic stars. In attendance at The Descendants presentation will be Cary Grant’s daughter, Jennifer. This means I’ll be one degree away from the greatest Hollywood has ever seen.

The next Friday block poses another slight problem. My choice of screening is Garson Kanin’s delightful, My Favorite Wife (1940) at the Egyptian, but skipping Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) is not easy. The reason I’m going to see Cary and Irene Dunne, besides the fact they’re wonderful, is due to the next screening, which will likely be a popular one.

For the 5:30 to 8:00 PM block on Friday I plan to watch the new-to-me Vanity Street (1932) directed by Nick Grinde followed by John Reinhardt’s Open Secret (1948). I think these two films will have long lines because the others screening in the slot are much newer movies. That means die-hard “old” movie lovers have my choices as their choices as well. Robert Wise’s beloved The Sound of Music (1965) is also screening in the slot and that eases my worries a bit.

Next I go to go see Jean Negulesco’s Road House (1948) starring Ida Lupino and Richard Widmark. The other movie I seriously considered in this slot is the premiere restoration of Anthony Mann’s Winchester ’73 (1950). Watching at least one important Western at the festival has become a tradition for me. If I skip Winchester the tradition will be broken, which is tough.

This year I am making it a point to attend at least one midnight screening and it looks like Joselito Rodríguez’s Santo Contra Cerebro Del Mal (1961) is the choice. It’s exciting to watch a movie in Spanish at TCMFF and, although I am familiar with the Santo superhero character, I’ve never seen one of his films. This should be a heck of a lot of fun.

  Saturday, April 13

What hit me immediately upon perusing the Saturday morning line-up is that I might not make it into Grauman’s at all the entire festival. Can you imagine? One of the two golden age films screening at the historic theatre, Fred Zinnemann’s From Here to Eternity (1953) opens the day there, but I am going for science fiction and Rudolph Maté’s When Worlds Collide from 1951. The movie stars John Hoyt, Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, and Peter Hansen. Rush will be in attendance to introduce the film with Dennis Miller. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Barbara Rush on a couple of occasions and she couldn’t be more down to Earth, a truly lovely person who will no doubt offer interesting tidbits about the making of When Worlds Collide. 

From possible world annihilation I will venture into the jungles for the special presentation of the 85-year old Tarzan and His Mate (1984), the only directing outing by legendary art director, Cedric Gibbons. One of the first film courses I ever took was taught by a film historian and author obsessed with the nude swim scene and its artistry. I’ve seen it, of course, several times, but never on a big screen so this one is exciting.

Before you continue down my schedule, know that the rest of Saturday is a web of sacrifices for me. Foregoing a few screenings to ensure entrance in the ones I cannot miss is the order of this day. With that I continue…

Following Tarzan I’ll be visiting with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer in Leo McCarey’s Love Affair (1939) celebrating its 80th anniversary. This will be introduced by Dana Delaney who is a great classics fan in her own right. Although I have no reservation about enjoying this film, which I haven’t seen in quite some time, it would not be my choice if not for the rest of the day’s offerings. For instance, I think I’d enjoy the Tom Mix Double Feature immensely and would attend that if not for Rowland Brown’s Blood Money (1933) hailed as “the ultimate pre-Code film” on the TCMFF page and I’ve never seen it. Blood Money follows in the next slot and if I see Tom Mix I won’t have time to get to it. That’s the deciding factor for me. I’ll also be truly sorry to miss the Hollywood Home Movies presentation at Club TCM yet again.

The worst block of the entire 2019 TCMFF for me as far as decisions go is the Saturday evening offerings after Blood Money. My good friend Laura of Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings mentioned the rarity that will be the screening of George Marshall’s Life Begins at 40 (1935) and she should know as she takes full advantage of the numerous classic screenings available in the Los Angeles area. The problem, my dears, is that if I go to Life Begins at 40 I won’t make it to what I believe will be an unforgettable experience, Mervyn LeRoy’s The Bad Seed (1956) poolside with Patty McCormack in attendance. I’m super excited about this one as I consider McCormack’s portrayal of Rhoda one of the all-time great child performances and an impressionable evil. That said, this decision comes at a great cost because while I’ll be watching this terrific film, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, two stars that mean the world to me, will be Indiscreeting in a nearby theater. This actually hurts to think about, but this will be my first ever screening by the pool at the Roosevelt and I couldn’t look forward to it more.

  Sunday, April 14

Another tough choice opens Sunday with Peter Lorre’s fantastic performance in Karl Freund’s Mad Love (1935) screening opposite George Cukor’s Holiday (1938), but in the end Cary Grant wins as does Diane Baker’s introduction. Touch one though.

My choice for this next block may change depending on the TBA. I’m hoping it’ll be Indiscreet in which case that’s where I’ll be. Barring that happening I may well forego movies and attend two Club TCM presentations in a row, which would be a first: Hollywood Love Stories and The Complicated Legacy of Gone With the Wind are both enticing and likely to be entertaining and informative.

Finally, I arrive at the end of the weekend with the two final screenings. These are no-brainer choices for me. The first is Clarence Brown’s A Woman of Affairs (1928), the third picture to team Greta Garbo and John Gilbert and their final silent film together. Present for the introduction will be Kevin Brownlow and Leonard Maltin. This screening will also be accompanied by a live orchestra performing a score composed and conducted by Carl Davis and it should be spectacular.

Now talk about thrilling. This will be a nitrate presentation of Irving Cummings’ The Dolly Sisters (1945) starring one of my idols, superstar Betty Grable and June Haver as famous vaudeville entertainers, Jenny and Rosie Dolly. This movie strays far from the real story of The Dolly Sisters who were known more for their dark beauty than for their talent, so if you’re looking for biographical drama look elsewhere. However, if enchanting entertainment, the wonderful fluff I adore that’s important enough to get a Carol Burnett parody, if what you’re after then look no further. This one means a lot to me. Remember, Betty Grable was my idea of the biggest star in the world. Oh oh…I may cry during this screening. With John Payne as Grable’s love and character greats S. Z. Sakall and Sig Ruman, The Dolly Sisters screening cannot come soon enough even though it ends my TCMFF 2019.

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There you have my picks and ideas on this year’s festival. It all adds up to 16 movies – a decent number for me – three Club TCM presentations, and numerous new experiences. I hope to run into you in Hollywood, but if not follow me on social media for the latest from TCMFF 2019.

Facebook:  Citizen Screen

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It’s always fun to compare notes with friends so I’m including links to a few other bloggers’ TCMFF picks. I love reading how everyone makes his/her decisions on such things and hope you do too.  If your blog post is not included leave the link in the comments section and I’ll be happy to add it to this list.

Check out the choices of Pre-Code.Com

    My Picks for #TCMFF 2019 You've probably heard that the schedule for the Turner Classic Movies Film Festival (TCMFF) 2019  was published earlier this week.