#also winona is pretty close to how I imagine her to look like

[kald-dal-write]

Most Maureen coded gif out there ngl

[noahschnappinfs]

I think Winnona and Noah's parents are friends irl She went on a cruise with them when Noah and Chloe's mum was pregnant with them

yes here’s the video of noah talking about that a few years ago. it’s lovely to know that many many years later, noah and winona are pretty close in their real life and she’s looking after him in the industry and advising him.

i also have to say that it’s crazy how destiny works, everybody seems to be connected in some way or another. imagine not even being born while your parents were hanging out with winona and many years later, you are cast to play her son in a show that ended up being the biggest netflix show in the world.

kudos to the st casting team because they did such a great job, baby noah looked so much like winona so clearly they were always meant to be tv mother and son.

[storiesforallfandoms]

drunk mistakes ~ johnny depp

word count: 1576

request?: yes!

“If you write for Johnny Depp, can I request one where he and the reader have known each other for a while and he's madly in love with her but he's too shy to ask her out, afraid she would never like him because she's younger. Then one day at a party she gets drunk and kisses him, and the next morning she doesn't exactly remember it and he's hurt because the kiss made his feelings way stronger. After some days of Johnny being down, she talks with him and he finally confesses <3″

description: when she wakes up in her best friend’s bed and barley remembers the night before, their friendship is strained until she gets him to confess a secret he’s been keeping for years

pairing: teen!johnny depp x female!reader

warnings: swearing, underaged drinking, smoking

masterlist (one, two)

I groaned as the light hit my face, causing my head to pound as if it had been filled with nails. I felt like garbage. Why did I drink so much? Why did my friends let me drink so much?

I rolled over so my back was to the window, only to find a body in bed next to me. Despite the throbbing pain in my head, I yelped in shock and sat up quickly. That’s when I realized I wasn’t in my room and felt panic rising within me. What had I done last night? Or I guess who had I done?

My reaction woke the person sleeping next to me and I breathed out a sigh of relief when I realized it was my best friend, Johnny, and we were in his bedroom - luckily, both fully clothed.

“Sorry,” I sighed. “Forgot where I was for a second.”

“That would require you to remember getting here,” Johnny teased. “You were pretty drunk when I brought you here.”

He had a point. The last thing I remembered from the night before was arriving at my friend’s house for a part and immediately having a drink shoved in my hand. I didn’t even remember seeing Johnny at the party.

I laid back down and groaned again at the pain in my head. Johnny chuckled and got up to get me water and an Aspirin. I noticed my phone on the bedside table next to me and cringed at the thought of how many angry texts I likely had from my parents. I was pleasantly shocked to see the only text on my lock screen was from my mom, and it read, “Okay honey, text us in the morning.”

When Johnny returned, I turned my phone to face him. “Did you text my parents for me? There’s no way they’d be this calm if I texted them in my drunken state.”

Johnny chuckled in response. “You really don’t remember that?”

I shook my head. “I don’t remember anything from last night.”

His joking smile slowly fell. He passed me the glass of water and Aspirin and turned away from me. His voice was flat as he said, “You asked me to text them for you so they wouldn’t know you were drunk. I told them you stayed at Winona’s for the night.”

I swallowed the pill with a giant mouthful of cold water, which felt like heaven in my dry mouth.

“Why did I come here?” I asked. “I usually do stay at Winona’s when she throws a party.”

“You insisted on coming over. You crashed in my bed and...”

He trailed off. He still wouldn’t face me and I was starting to feel concerned. I got up and approached him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He pulled away from me, immediately heading towards his bedroom door again.

“I forgot there was...something my parents asked me to do. You can let yourself out, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Johnny, wait - ”

He closed the door on me before I could say anything else.

~~~~~~

Johnny ignored me the next day. He didn’t sit with us at lunch, and the one class he and I had together he skipped. I tried to text and call, I even went over to his house but his parents told me he wasn’t home.

This went on for a week. No one would tell me why. They kept claiming they didn't know what was happening, but I could tell when I was being lied to, especially by my friends.

Winona was my best friend, and it was her party I went to the day before Johnny stopped talking to me. She had to know the answers, and I knew she’d tell me eventually.

“I don’t know what happened,” she insisted. “We were all drunk, we were all doing stupid stuff.”

“We always stick together at parties, you had to have witnessed whatever I did to make Johnny mad.”

Winona looked at me and started to walk away. I weaved through the crowded school hallway to catch up with her. I took hold of her arm to stop her from walking and turned her to face me. “Winona, please. He’s my best friend, my other best friend. He hasn’t spoken to me in a week. Whatever I did, I need to fix it.”

She sighed before taking my arm and dragging me towards the girls bathroom. She checked the stalls to see if anyoone else was there before finally turning to face me again.

“You kissed Johnny.”

“What?!”

“Shh!” she said, glancing at the door behind me. “You were really drunk, and Johnny was kind of tipsy. Being the caring friend he is, he was trying to get you to drink water so you wouldn’t get too hungover. You told him you loved him and...and you kissed him. He was smart enough to stop you because he didn’t want to take advantage of you, but you were stuck to him all night after that. You even insisted on staying the night at his place instead of at mine, which is why you woke up there the next morning.”

I leaned against the bathroom sink, trying to digest the whole situation. I was trying to remember, but it was like someone had taken my memories of that night.

“I-I don’t understand, is he mad at me for that?” I asked. “He didn’t seem mad when we woke up.”

“He’s not mad, he’s...hurt.” I opened my mouth to respond, but she stopped me before I could. “Look...I didn’t tell you this but...Johnny has feelings for you. He has for a while and...he told Tim that that kiss intensified the feelings. When he realized you couldn’t even remember that night he felt hurt. He really hoped...”

She trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish her sentence. I knew what Johnny had hoped, and now I felt hurt knowing I had hurt him.

“Tell Mrs. Smith I went home sick,” I told Winona as I headed for the bathroom door.

“Where are you going?” she asked.

“To find Johnny.”

~~~~~~

He came crawling under the bleachers moments after I had settled myself there. I had a cigarette lit between my fingers and had taken a small puff when he arrived.

“(Y/N), what are you doing here?” he asked.

“You’re my best friend, Johnny, I always knew this is where you went,” I told him. “I never came to talk because I figured you didn’t want to, but I think it’s time we discuss the issue of Winona’s party.”

He seemed hesitant at first, but when I offered him a puff from the cigarette he decided to settle next to me and accepted the cigarette.

“So, Winona told you?” he asked.

“After a lot of interrogation, yes,” I said. “Why wouldn’t you tell me, though? Or why wouldn’t any of our friends say anything?”

“I asked them not to,” he said. “I...I didn’t want our friendship to be ruined.”

“But you stopped talking to me for a week. Not even a warning or anything. I didn’t even remember what happened until I made Winona tell me. I thought you were mad with me.”

“I figured it was best that you didn’t remember.”

“Shouldn’t that be my decision to make?”

He didn’t respond. Instead, he took another puff of the cigarette. I waited for him to blow the smoke out of his mouth before I asked, “Why didn’t you tell me you had feelings for me?”

He coughed in surprise, his eyes widening as he looked at me. “Winona told you that?”

“I promised I wouldn’t say.”

I took the cigarette back and held it between my fingers, wanting to take away Johnny’s only ability to waste time in his explanation.

“I told you, I didn’t want to ruin our friendship,” he said. “You’re my best friend and we run in the same friend group, I can’t imagine ruining that whole dynamic because of some stupid feelings I have for you.”

“I wouldn’t call them stupid,” I said. “And maybe if you had told me, I would’ve told you sooner that I also have feelings for you.”

He shook his head, which I raised an eyebrow at in response.

“There’s no way,” he said. “You...you just said I’m your best friend.”

“And shouldn’t your significant other be your best friend?” I countered. “Johnny, I’ve had a crush on you since grade school. I thought it was just because I thought you were really cute, and then when we became friends I figured that’s all we were meant to be. But those feelings have always been there, I guess the same as they’ve been there for you.”

He was speechless, which made me giggle. I shuffled closer to him, so close that our shoulders were touching. I took one last puff from the still burning cigarette and put it out in the grass next to me. I rested my head on his shoulder and he placed his arm around mine.

“What do we do with this information now?” I asked.

“What do you want to do with it?” he responded.

“Well, we could go on a date.”

Johnny hummed as if he were thinking before saying, “What do you say we ditch the rest of the day and go to the diner instead?”

I smiled up at him and said, “Okay, I’d love that.”

[ri-ahhh]

for the win

After dealing with a lifetime of insecurities, Winnie Walker finally gets the courage to pursue her dreams, with a few bumps along the way. But that confidence may not carry over when it comes to a certain hazel-eyed football player who’s had her attention for much too long.

A/N: this was a random inspo that hit me out of nowhere a while ago and I was gonna make it an epic oneshot, but I think I’ll just break it into parts instead. So, hence, this is part one. Hopefully you like it enough for it to be even worth posting more.

warnings: none yet, other than this is def gonna be as cheesy as you think it is

***

Winnie Walker has always considered herself an enigma. Not in that annoying, ‘I’m so cute and quirky’ type of way, but rather in the way that made her someone who never quite fit into one defined space. The kind perfected by years of self doubt, an emotionally distant mother, and the random ebb and flow of confidences and insecurities that always helps her remember that she is, in fact, perfectly un-extraordinary: her face is too round, but she’s always been called pretty; her personality is dry enough that she finds it challenging making female friends, but she fits in well with the boys; and she has a penchant for being the last one to talk about anything she might be feeling until she puts a pen to paper and speaks through the mouths of others.

Sports and writing were her main passions, but it still took until her senior year of high school to decide that she wanted to be a sports journalist. Not just a journalist, though -- more than anything, she dreamed of stepping out into the light as a broadcaster. Shy by nature but an athlete at heart, it once again put her in that enigmatic grey space where she wasn’t sure what the hell she was thinking.

But it’s what her heart was calling for her to do. For the first time in her life, Winnie Walker felt sure about something despite everyone’s doubts -- including her own. She grew up an athlete, and some of her fondest memories as a child were caught between either being in her dad’s man cave with all of his friends, cheering on their team of choice for whatever sport was on, discussing heatedly what plays should or shouldn’t have taken place. Or, on the volleyball court. 

The full ride offer from USC that was presented but never came to fruition because of a devastating knee injury in one of her last club tournaments haunted Winnie in the months leading up to her high school graduation. 

Her mother, Dahlia, was not-so-secretly thrilled. A stage mother through and through, she had always supported her daughter as she made headway in her sport as a star player, but it was an open point of contention that Winnie planned to follow her passion for it all the way to college. She wanted her middle daughter to attend the local university, get a nice marketing degree, and settle into a high rise in downtown Dallas, where she could point at during brunch with her friends and brag about the pretty penny her kid made with her perfectly nice degree she attained in her perfectly nice hometown. 

That’s not Winnie, though, and everyone except Dahlia knew it. No one was all too surprised that she still wanted to escape to California (again, except her mother), even if they were slightly shocked about her decision for a major. The reactions from her friends and sisters and dad had her even more excited as she scanned the email of her academic acceptance into USC. It finally gave her the courage to spill the beans to her mother as well.

Dahlia Walker very much scoffed in the face of her quiet, introverted, hopeful daughter sitting across the kitchen island while she scrubbed at the dishes from dinner.

“Winona, sweetie, you refused to even speak at your sister’s wedding as the maid of honor, and you want to be on TV? With all those... men?”

Winnie cringed a little bit and rolled her eyes at the slightly far-off look on her mother’s face as she no doubt started imagining the sweaty athletes the reporters would stand next to post-game.

“You don’t think I could do it?” she asked flatly, flicking a chip of her nail polish off her finger so it flew across the otherwise spotless granite — her mom hated when she did that. 

Dahlia’s hands picked up their pace again in the suds, slowed down by whatever middle-aged fantasy was going on in her mind. She shook her head, the highlights in her perfectly styled blonde bob shifting under the recessed lights.

“The girls who do that are just so bouncy. Friendly. They curl their hair.”

Winnie bit her lip. She didn’t know if she should laugh or cry. Her body felt deflated. “I knew I could count on you to be supportive.”

“Oh honey, I’m just trying to be realistic with you,” her mother said dismissively. Like she didn’t realize the pang her words caused to spread in Winnie’s chest; it should have been be all-too familiar by then, but the sting was never weakened with age or predictability. “And California? Are you really ready to be so far from home? You hardly ever even leave your room.”

It had taken everything in Winnie to hold back the open scoff she longed to throw at her mother; instead, she just stood up and left the kitchen, along with any childish hope that Dahlia might ever make an effort to really know her middle daughter.

Because anyone that knew Winona Elle Walker could predict just how much she would thrive in California. In the persistent sunshine that never quite reached the peak of being too hot for very long, unlike the nearly six months of 90 and 100-plus degree days of summer she knew so well in Texas. Within close proximity to a beach that didn’t have swamp-colored water washing ashore.

In a place well over a thousand miles away from Dahlia.

And that’s exactly how Winnie found herself in LA: thriving. She made friends easily, enjoyed life on the USC campus while she studied the exact major she had set out for the first day she sat down in her first class -- Navigating News in the Digital Age class -- and it was a relatively cheap flight home if she ever missed it too much. Winnie started feeling less like an enigma, and more like someone whose quirks were becoming more of a benefit to her success than she could have ever imagined.

Now, as a woman in her senior year, nearly 22 and set to graduate in only a few months time, she’s finally up for the most coveted position in her major: being the prime time student reporter at the biggest sporting events of the school’s entire athletic program — the Trojan football games. Reporting at football games was a job always reserved for seniors, and she had been driving her roommate — and best friend in California — Naomi crazy all summer prepping for the spot’s audition.

“Winnie, babe, you know the plays backwards and forwards. You’ve understood more about the rules of football since you were a kid than I’ll ever know as a grown woman. You have all the key players’ and coaches’ names and numbers memorized. You couldn’t be any more prepared,” she smiles, good-natured irritation clear in her eyes and behind the blinding smile that shone from her mocha-colored skin.

It softens some when Winnie stood from the couch, and Naomi reaches over and slaps her retreating ass just hard enough to make Winnie yelp and giggle. “Not to mention those squats are paying off big time, bitch. You’re gonna kill it.”

Winnie rolls her eyes and continues to make her way to the kitchen to refill her wine glass. “The camera won’t see my ass, but thanks.”

Naomi winks. “No. But Grayson Dolan might.”

Grayson Dolan — the walk-on that had stunned everyone when he was thrown into a game his freshman year after two of the starting tight ends had become injured on two consecutive plays. Now a senior himself, he’s led the team ever since in receiving yards, receptions, and TD’s, and is a clear prospect for the NFL in the coming months.

He also happens to be the player Winnie had drunkenly admitted she had a crush on during a girls night last year, and her friends have yet to let her live it down. She had felt ridiculous saying she had a crush as a 21 year-old, but that’s really all it was; he was hot, an extremely talented player, and she barely knew him beyond that one time he had spilled a drink on her at a frat party, and the rather interesting reputation that followed him around campus. There was nothing more to it.

Even if her attraction to him hasn’t died down in the passing time.

Winnie only blushes and pours herself a little extra, blaming the Maison No. 9 when Naomi throws her head back with a cackle and calls out the matching pink in her cheeks.

The morning of her audition, a mere two weeks into her fall semester, Winnie has butterflies fluttering madly in the pit of her belly. Her truer nature of being somewhat shy and timid in these situations has never left, always flaring up in moments of self-doubt and unpredictability. Undoubtedly, however, this audition deserves all the nerves; it’s a clear stepping stone into network broadcasting, and would almost guarantee her a spot as an intern at FOX Sports next semester.

She stares at herself in the mirror for a moment, silently urging herself to get her shit together, and takes a deep breath before eyeing Naomi’s curling iron plugged in by the sink adjacent to her own.

Winnie hasn’t curled her hair once in the nearly four years she’d been in LA. Not for nights out, or auditions, or even a date. A brief moment of madness overtakes her as she stands there staring at the metal device, her hand starting to reach out as words that should be long forgotten ring loud and clear in her head. For a second, the pale beige paint of her apartment bathroom turns the light blue and grey color scheme of her childhood one. Her mom had ‘surprised’ her with the the renovation one year when she decided to redecorate the house while Winnie was at volleyball camp, insisting she had chosen Winnie’s favorite colors, when in reality it simply matched the rest of the monotone suburban house that Winnie secretly couldn’t stand. It was boring, and typical, and...stuck, despite its relative newness.

With that, the fog clears as quickly as it had come, and she sets her jaw determinedly. She hasn’t let Dahlia psych her out for this long; she isn’t about to let now be the first time since she’s been out here on her own.

And maybe Naomi was right. Maybe she’d catch a certain tight end’s eye with a tight end of her own, after all.

The nausea suddenly returns as she shakes her head and reaches for her straightener instead, flicking it on before sectioning off her hair.

“No wonder you’re so fucking single, Win.”

[glass-trash-bab]

I’m also gonna make a post about my ego ocs because I have many

Nix (They/them, queer)- Marvins older sibling and basically parent for the first part of his life. They’re a very skilled magic user and they own a library with a bunch of hidden secret rooms behind bookshelfs and a spooky attic because they like that aesthetic. They love studying history and the origins of things, like certain spells and words and civilisations.

Cyrus (He/him, heterosexual)- Nix and Marvins abusive and garbage father. He’s always been a dick to people and is generally one of those quiet, judgemental rich people that no one ever sees. He doesn’t spend a lot of time with his family, he never saw the value of quality time. Even after his wife died, he didn’t take on any of the responsibilities of a father, just leaving them to take care of themselves. He mostly wanted to see Nix succeed in academics and in magic, so he just sent them off to a rich people magic boarding school and never really talked to them after that. He never wanted to see Marvin when he was a kid, and whenever he did, Marvin would be punished. He gave them both a lot of issues.

Thorben (He/him, heterosexual)- Jackie’s dad! Thorben is this tiny, scruffy, puppy dog of a man with lightning powers. He’s always been really close to Jackie, especially when he was little, and does everything he can to be a good dad for him. He got Jackie his first grappling hook and taught him how to use it and taught him everything he knows about combat. Jackie has always seen him as someone he can go to if he needs help or support. He was always happy to be there for Jackie and to work along side him as heros.

Winona (She/her, heterosexual)- Jackie’s mom! She’s a cool, pretty down to earth part-time hero. She also has water powers and cool cloud hair. She’s usually the person Jackie goes to when he needs advice about stuff and when he’s generally not feeling good mentally. She’s a lot less fast paced than her husband and can usually keep both Thorben and Jackie grounded. She spends a lot of time with Marvin for the few years he lives with them, since Thorben and Jackie would be out doing hero stuff most of the day, and really helped him process his trauma and helped him learn to cope and grow from it. She retires as a hero after Thorbens death and opens a flower shop. Taking care of things is her way of coping.

Noelle (She/her, bi)- Jackie’s aunt and Winona’s sister! Jackie doesn’t get to see her a lot, she travels a lot and lives in a different country, but Jackie is always happy to see her. She had a real bad bitch vibe and Jackie has always looked up to her. She’s also trans, so when Jackie came out, she immediately dropped everything to help him anyway she could. I don’t have a lot for her yet.

Steven (He/him, questioning)- Jackie’s “Arch Nemesis.” Steven is a dude with ice powers Jackie met when he was a kid. Jackie found him trying to steal some kids bracelet and Steven went on this whole big villain monologue and Jackie just threw a rock at him and Steven swore vengeance. Stevens family is part of a well known villain organization thing and he really tries to do dastardly things to impress his family, but he’s never really been into it. As both Steven and Jackie get older and they see each other more and more, they become really good friends. They get a bit of a routine going. Steven traps Jackie, they banter, Steven does something bad, more banter, Jackie escapes, stops the bad thing, they get into a fight, fight banter, Jackie wins and then he leaves. It’s all pretty light hearted. Sometimes Stevens family will get involved and they put Jackie in a situation where he could actually get hurt, so he messes something up on purpose so Jackie can escape. He always visits Jackie whenever he lands himself in the hospital and I like to imagine he makes cute little ice sculptures in his free time.

Badger- Jackie’s cat! Jackie found him in a dumpster when he landed in it and was like “:0 new kitty.” Badger is a really loud cat and it bothers Marvin the most because he actually knows what Badger is saying. And Badger knows Marvin can understand him and is constantly like “HUMAN. TELL FATHER THERE IS NO MORE FOOD IN THE FOOD BOWL.” And Marvin will have to be like “You just ate, you have to wait till dinner for him to refill it.” And then Badger will scream for 30 minutes.

Frances, or Fran (She/her, lesbian)- Fran was Jameson’s manager and long time friend. She’s from New York in the early 20th century and she’s got a real thick Boston accent. She found Jamie when she went on a trip to Britain one year and saw him doing some fun street performances. She took Jamie in and moved him to America and also taught him sign language so he could actually communicate with her. Jamie lives with Fran and her girlfriend June for a while and Fran gets Jamie a few different rolls for movies, mostly for small side characters and the comic relief. Some director really likes Jamesons comedy and he hires him for a series of movies and it’s pretty cool. So Jamie gets all famous from these movies and is able to live in his own apartment but still spends most of his time with Fran and June. They’re like the first two real friends Jameson has ever had. Fran likes to see Jamie as a younger brother to her and really likes seeing him as an actor and as a person as time goes on. She’s really proud of him. Eventually, some dudes find out that her nearly life long roommate is actually her girlfriend and they’re forced to move to keep themselves safe. Jamie pays for they’re new place across the country and they stay in touch via letters.

June (She/her, lesbian)- June is Frans girlfriend and Jamie’s best friend. She’s from the south and moved to New York in her early 20s, where she met Fran and they fell head over heels for each other. She’s really excitable and bubbly and loves to show Jamie new things that she loves. Like she really likes sewing and making her own clothes, so she teaches Jamie all about different kinds of fabrics and threads and which stitch to use for what, all of that fun stuff. She’s a very open person and isn’t afraid to tell people what she feels, especially Fran. If there’s a problem between her and Fran, June is going to make them tackle it head on and fix it. Fran thinks that’s beautiful. After they move, June likes to draw little doodles on her letters to Jamie and sends him sweets.

Min (She/her, lesbian)- Stacys best friend and girlfriend! Min is a pretty reserved and anxious person. She met Stacy when they were in middle school before Min transitioned. They became friends really fast and Min moved away at the end of the school year. She moved back post- transition when she was a junior in high school and Stacy was the only one who recognized her. She didn’t say anything about her being trans and just asked her if she wanted to be in a band she was starting. It was really cute and they had matching emo bangs. Min moved again to California after a few years and that sucks but it’s doesn’t because Stacy also moves there! Not with her, but still. It’s cool for a few years, but Stacy calls Min one night and asks if she and her kids can stay at her house for a while. She says yes and Stacy and her kids move in while Stacy and Chase get divorced. It’s really hard on Stacy and Min is there the whole time. Min and Stacy live together for like three years before they started dating and it’s really nice. Min is super cuddly and loves her strong gf and gets all blushy whenever Stacy does something romantic for her. She also gets along with the kids super well and they like to call her Minmom.

Kyle (He/him, gay)- Chase’s older brother! Their parents were never really around when he and his siblings were kids so Kyle took it upon himself to take care of them and move out as soon as he can. He spends most of his teenage years working and savings up money so he can get them an apartment. So they move into an apartment when Chase is like 7. I don’t have a lot for Kyle right now other than he also has depression, since it runs in Chase’s family. I don’t know, I haven’t thought about him enough.

Delilah,or De (She/her, ace)- Chase’s older sister! She’s around 2 years younger than Kyle. She’s a little bit closer to Chase than Kyle is, since she can spend more time with him and Chase usually goes to her if he has a problem. De is pretty blunt when she talks to people and doesn’t like sugarcoating things. Chase finds comfort in that sometimes. She also started working when she was a teenager. She’s probably a therapist idk.

Stacys parents- I’m gonna lump these two together because I don’t have a lot for them right now. Stacys parents got divorced before she was born and had shared custody over her. Her mom was an alcoholic and didn’t really take care of Stacy. Her mom was always really angry at everything and sometimes wouldn’t even bother to pick Stacy up from school. When Stacy was around 8, her mom got really mad at her for something and nearly killed her that night. Her mom got arrested for child abuse and attempted murder and her dad got full custody. Stacy still has really bad ptsd from living with her mom and her dad tries to help her anyway he can. Her dad was always really sweet and caring. He got her into therapy and taught her how to play bass and cool stuff like that. He helps Stacy move and he thinks Chase and Min are cool.

Rowan (She/her, heterosexual)- Robbie’s Fiance! Rowan’s pretty cool, I don’t have a lot for her yet. She met Robbie when they were teenagers while she was working at her grandmother’s bakery. Robbie applied for a job there and they became coworkers. They got along and they became friends! After a few years, she asked Robbie out and he said yes. They’re all cool for a few years and Rowan owns the bakery now any her and Robbie still work together and then Robbie proposes to her. They do a lot of cute things together. Robbie hyperfixates on frogs, and they like to make little frosting frogs together to put on froggy cakes. They have a little vacation cabin on the outskirts of town by a lake that they go to when they’re stressed and need to get away. They like staying out late to look at the stars and they like staying up all night trying to make the perfect buttercream frosting. About a month before their wedding, they get pretty overwhelmed with orders and Robbie suggests they go to their cabin. It’s winter by then and Rowan doesn’t think it’s a good idea, but Robbie convinces her to go for a week. They’re there for a few days and Robbie gets really sick. Rowan goes out for a bit to get him some medicine and some ingredients to make him something, but when she gets he’s gone. There’s footprints in the snow and cracks in the ice on the lake and no sign of Robbie. Rowan is in denial for weeks. It takes her a long time to accept that Robbie is gone. They were almost a month away from their wedding.

Jesus, all of that took me 4 hours to write in one sitting. I doubt any of this is all that coherent, but here’s all my ego ocs! For now, at least!

[1863-project]

I’m at the end of my first-ever Omega Ruby run, and I’ve honestly had a great time getting to know Hoenn. I just have to evolve some Pokemon and catch the Regis and Deoxys before I move along (I’m waiting to trade with folks to finish the Dex properly, but I can do that at any point), but I think it’s worth doing a retrospective on the characters and Pokemon I met along the way.

As a region, Hoenn is unique in that it has a LOT of water routes. You spend a large portion of the second half of the game traveling via Surf. The Azumarill in my party, Pikablue, ended the game knowing Waterfall, Surf, and Dive (it also carries Play Rough), and it was one of the most crucial members of my party for transport purposes.

When I won the Hoenn League, the team May (named ‘Hatshepsut’ in my playthrough because we love cool historical figures in this house) had with her was her evolved starter, a Blaziken named Cluck You, along with Pikablue the Azumarill, Pangaea the Groudon, Charles II the Shiftry, Friendo the Latios, and the team anchor, Bastet the overleveled Skitty. I beat Steven because Bastet dodged a Zen Headbutt from Metagross and gave me the time I needed to revive both Blaziken and Groudon in the back, and their fire moves handled the rest. Bastet went on to become the first party member to reach level 100, way ahead of everyone else. She was absolutely incredible and I love her. Her final moveset: Heal Bell (surprisingly useful, especially in Doubles), Thunder, Ice Beam, and Play Rough. She’s a Dragon Slayer.

As soon as I got my hands on the Eon Flute I started running around to check every Mirage location that came up in the hopes that it would be a Mirage Cave. I knew that was where Tynamo was, and I needed Eelektross to complete the Submas team I was building (the other nine members are in SwSh at the moment; Eelektross will hopefully someday join them). On November 30th, my persistence paid off, and I went and caught three Tynamos so I could have the entire evolutionary line in my National Dex in Pokemon HOME. As it turns out, Eelektross still hasn’t been added to HOME because Third Rail has become a vital member of my party in postgame and I love him and he loves me. (I’m just Emmet, really.) The Eon Flute is also really nice in that using it allows you to literally fly in real time over the entire region, and I prefer doing that to using Fly because it’s just so aesthetically nice. Friendo just swoops down and picks me up, and we have a nice time exploring together. It’s especially pretty at night when everything is all lit up. It’s a lovely little feature exclusive to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and it’s so great.

Character-wise, Hoenn has produced some notables. Magma and Aqua are two of the most beloved villain teams in the entire franchise, and the reboots gave them so much more personality and gave the leaders and admins some excellent updated designs. (Years ago, when the remakes were first released, my dash was filled to the brim with Hardenshipping.) I had OR, so I had Magma to contend with, and one of the single most entertaining things in the entire game is Maxie’s losing animation. It’s perfect, it suits his character so well, and it’s just really funny. Also, shout-out to the Team Magma grunt that I met in the Extremely Obvious Hideout who told me how proud he was of kicking his soda habit whilst standing next to the vending machines. I love that guy. In terms of reformation, Magma and Aqua come around very easily when they realize that they’ve had a very bad idea - they ultimately were well-intentioned but made a really horrible mistake and set out to set things right (with the player’s help, of course). It ultimately makes both teams very likeable.

In terms of other characters, not every Gym Leader from Hoenn is a complete standout, but a few are very, very popular. Flannery is a perfect time capsule of 2003 fashion and I love that so much, and I don’t think I need to say much about Wallace. He’s just Wallace. He’s so freaking entertaining. Steven is also a very popular Champion, and he plays a pretty big role in the plot, so you see a lot of him throughout the game. (He and Wallace are also a very popular ship, with Originshipping - named for the Cave of Origin which Wallace has to grant you access to - actually being referenced in Pokemon Masters on, of all days, Valentine’s Day. Make of this what you will, but I’m here for it.) The Gym Leaders all received redesigns as well, with a lot of them benefiting greatly from it - I like Roxanne’s new school uniform so much better than her old one, for example, and once again, Wallace outshines everyone with an ensemble that would go wonderfully at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. I wish we got to know the Gym Leaders a bit more as people, because they don’t get to stand out as characters as much. Galar actually did this very well by allowing us a lot of interactions with the Leaders outside the Gyms and as teammates and rivals in the Galarian Star Tournament. A big part of the reason Wallace is so popular as a Gym Leader here is that you see him outside the Gym multiple times and can even compete with him in Contests. You get to know him as a person more and not just as the eighth Gym Leader, and it makes him a much more interesting character.

In short, here’s how the League stacks up for me:

Roxanne: Benefited massively from her character redesign, which gives her a lot more personality. Would like to see her and Steven interact since they’re apparently friends, which I imagine revolves around going out and licking rocks together or whatever geologists do with their geologist friends.

Brawly: He still isn’t very distinct. He’s a surfer who trains Fighting-types, which is a bit of a subversion since you’d expect Water-types from someone like that, but nothing about him really pops for me.

Wattson: Gives off Grandpa Vibes. Wattson actually gets a lot of expository development via his work on New Mauville and Sea Mauville, where you find out he halted the projects to protect the Pokemon ecosystems in both locations. A lot of employees were angry about this and he was even investigated briefly for stopping the projects, even being called a traitor to the company (which appeared to overwork its employees and prevent them from unionizing), but it was apparently evidently clear that he did things out of environmental concerns, and the employees were able to find work on other projects elsewhere. This actually slots nicely into the themes of the game involving environmentalism and how to ensure the livelihoods of people and nature both.

Flannery: Time capsule from 2003! I was, of course, around in 2003 (I turned 14), and Flannery was at the peak of fashion back then. Flares were in, and I miss that trend so much. For that alone, she’s one of my favorite Gym Leaders in this generation, but I also appreciate that she’s shown trying to find her footing and figure out who she is instead of pretending to be someone else. There’s a certain performative aspect to being a Gym Leader, but it needs to come naturally from them and be an extension of their own personality, not be artificial. I would, however, love to know who her grandfather is. It’s still never been confirmed. (As a side note, a lot of people headcanon her to be Kabu’s niece, since he’s from Hoenn, which is cute.)

Norman: A Dad. More specifically, the player character’s dad. There’s really nothing that stands out about him except for that damn Slaking, which gives a lot of people trouble. I did, however, appreciate the conversation he had with Wally’s father as Wally and the player character departed together, because I’m actually pretty close to my own father (who I’m very similar to in many aspects). I’m 31 years old and I still get emotional every time my parents tell me they’re proud of me. Notably, Norman is the only player character father we have ever seen in Pokemon, though, which is odd.

Winona: In-game, she doesn’t feel like she has much of a personality, although she goes off on aesthetics pretty well. It just weirds me out that that’s her hair coming out from under the helmet and not wings attached to it. She could have been really cool but she gets the short end of the development stick.

Tate and Liza: The two of them intentionally playing up the ‘weird twins’ angle by completing each other’s sentences actually comes across really cutely because they’re kids. You can also run into them in the Lilycove Department Store being children and buying toys, a good reminder that they’re still very young and evidently very skilled for their ages. Battle-wise, my Azumarill knew Surf by this point so I ended things quickly because I’m into Doubles as it is and like using spread moves when I can.

Wallace: I’ve discussed him a lot above, so I don’t need to say much else, but he really is the most notable Gym Leader in the region, and not just because he’s the last one you face. He has a lot of personality and development, you meet him outside the Gym several times, his niece Lisia is also out and about in the game and the family resemblance is notable, and you find an old magazine in Sea Mauville featuring a woman on the cover who looks like Lisia - likely Wallace’s older sister, Lisia’s mother. The entire family gets more development than a lot of the other Gym Leaders in this region.

Sidney: The first member of the Elite Four you face...I’d actually like to know more about him. He seems like an interesting person, and I personally enjoy Dark-types myself so I always appreciate seeing Dark-type users not being portrayed as evil. His upbeat nature is nice, and it’s a pleasant surprise to run into him at the Battle Resort, even if he was only there to track down Steven.

Phoebe: I love how much her appearance contrasts with her Pokemon typing. She’s a Ghost-type trainer and you’d never guess that from her outfit! Her grandmother is the old woman on Mt. Pyre, which is why Phoebe has an affinity for Ghost-Types, and I’d love to see more interactions involving them together. You can run into Phoebe on Mt. Pyre after you beat the League and talk to her briefly - she was likely visiting her grandmother - but sadly she doesn’t get much development outside of that.

Glacia: An Ice-type trainer who we learn next to nothing about. Glacia is mentioned outside of the context of the Elite Four by an NPC in the Mauville Food Court who says she was slurping down ramen so intensely that she broke a sweat, but that’s all we know about her aside from that she’s originally from a different region, and she tells us that herself. Not very memorable.

Drake: Yet another Dragon trainer late in the game, and not one of the more notable ones. Lance and Clair are remembered for being cousins and for being the first Dragon trainers you really come across in the series, and later Dragon-type trainers like Iris (who becomes Champion of Unova in B2W2) and Raihan are carried by their personalities and distinct looks. Drake is just an old sea captain with Dragon-types, and he doesn’t really jump out at me much either.

Steven: A major player in the plot - one of the most active Champions we’ve had in the franchise - and a perpetually popular character. I never minded running into Steven out and about in Hoenn, even if it meant I’d have to listen to an infodump about rocks, and his Champion battle was actually fairly difficult for the team I brought in despite having two team members with Fire-type attacks to handle the Steel. As I mentioned above, it was my Skitty that made the decisive dodge to allow me to bring in the team member I needed to deliver the final blow, meaning this is now the second time in my life I’ve beaten the Champion with an unevolved house cat. (Rick Pratt the Purrloin is a vital member of my beloved Young Ones Galar Championship Team.) Overall, Steven’s a very likeable Champion, and I did enjoy the little detail of the rocks on display in his home - he has them labeled so you can see where he found them, and they’re from every region featured in the games up to that point.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire also have the Delta Episode, which features Rayquaza (which you’re forced to catch) and a character named Zinnia, who isn’t in RSE at all and is new to ORAS. Besides being named after my favorite flower, Zinnia’s personality is actually very interesting because although she comes across as cheery it’s clear she feels the weight of a massive responsibility and that the cheeriness is covering a lot of pain. Her Whismur named Aster is evidently named after someone important to her who is no longer around, and it’s never revealed in-game who the original Aster was. Whoever Aster was, though, Zinnia misses her deeply. In a 2015 interview, Ohmori Shigeru stated that the original Aster was the person who held the position of Lorekeeper before Zinnia, but we don’t know anything more than that - a shame, really, because that makes for some interesting backstory.

Overall, I had a lovely time in Hoenn, and I’ll be moving on to Kalos in the next few weeks once I finish up this Dex business first. I just wish I got to get to know so many of the characters I’ve met a little better, but I adore the team I put together and I’m super proud of them and all they’ve accomplished.

[toucheholland23]

Giggles and Gunshots

Winona(oc)x Gage fic

When sole asked if Winona wanted to go with them and nick to Nuka World she was too curious to say no. She heard about the place and only dreamed she could’ve been there when the park was still up and running, but seeing it now was fairly close.

Gage watched as the trio arrived at the transit center and laughed. A vault dweller, an old synth and some curly haired chick? They wouldn’t last a sec on the gauntlet, but what the hell, he needed to get rid of Coulter.

The detective was smart enough to not buy Harley’s bullshit but they decided to come anyways. He had to admit, they had balls.

They crossed the gauntlet using their abilities to disarm every trap, destroy every turret and kill anyone who threatened their life. Surely a dynamic trio.

The vaultie was the force, the detective the brains and the chick had the agility.

A good team.

When they arrived at the arena, the first one to look down at him and Coulter was the curly haired gal. The overboss catcalled her, making the other two turn their heads and send him a deep glare.

As for him, he thought she was pretty.

She had a fine body, and she was tall, like, REALLY tall. Not that it was a bad thing, on the contrary, he liked big women.

But she seemed like the person who was too nice for her own good, so that made her weak.

He told them that they should use the squirt gun and use their number advantage to place Coulter in a disadvantaged position.

They had a good plan. The curly haired girl distracted Coulter, dodging his attacks skillfully while the detective fired the squirt gun at him, leaving the vault dweller to fire at him with their laser machine gun.

They managed to take him down, proclaiming the vault dweller, as they were the one who took coulter down, the new overboss. Unfortunately one of Coulter’s hit made the chick stumble, making her fall, hitting her head hard against the floor. She was out cold.

As soon as they won the detective rushed to the gal and the vaultie picked her up, since they were stronger.

Gage led them quickly to the market, making their way though the place searching for Mackenzie.

When Winona finally opened her eyes, still feeling a bit disoriented and dizzy, it was a relief to everyone, mostly for the detective.

They spent the day telling her how the things on the park worked, the places Gage showed them and what responsibilities Sole had now that they were the overboss.

Sole considered passing the title to Winona, since she was a clever and ruthless woman. If someone could humanize the raiders, it was her. But she had a lot to loose, she had a child to take care of and having a bullseye on her back wasn’t exactly on her wish list.

Gage’s eyes widened at the mention of her being a mother. She was so young! He totally wouldn’t have expected that. The guy that got her pregged sure was a lucky bastard for getting a woman like that, he was almost jealous.

The trio stayed for almost a week in the park, they managed to take back the galactic zone in just two days and had a successful meeting with the gangs.

The gangs had their favorites of course. The pack absolutely LOVED Winona, mostly Mason witch gave her a suggestive look from time to time

They liked her for her ruthlessness and they surely didn’t want to be given orders by a minuteman or a synth.

Unfortunately, the vaultie had things to attend to in the commonwealth and something about a guy, Eddie something.

Of course Gage could’ve handled the park on his own, after all he’s done it a lot of times as right hand man, but Winona insisted on staying. He was confused. Didn’t she have a kid? Shouldn’t she be taking care of him right now? Fortunately she calmed his toughs, assuring him the kid was in the care of one of her close friends who also happened to be the mayor of goodneighbor.

So that’s how it went, the robot and the vaultie left, leaving Winona as the one in charge with Gage helping her with what he could as her second in command.

Winona always had a little stroll around the market every morning, greeting the raiders, merchants and slaves that she encountered along the way, much to Gage’s disliking. But overall she was a good leader, handled everything well, she always tries to satisfy everyone even if it means to do things she doesn’t really like and all, but made her position clear if anyone disrespected her.

Gage kept finding it weird that she always kept up a cheery demeanor everywhere she went or that she smiled sweetly at everyone and her politeness. He suspected that it was just a shell, that she would probably turn on them and pull up a cynical and horrifying bloodthirst all of a sudden, but he never knew.

Winona decided to keep clearing parks so she thought Safari Adventure was a great place to start, after all, how hard could it be? Gage obviously accompanied her, wouldn’t want the gal to get killed.

When they first arrived at the park they saw this dude fighting a weird kind of deathclaw. Gage wanted to just leave them be and watch how this turned up, but Winona obviously thought otherwise and, well, if boss says so then it’s done.

After they helped the guy kill the creature he started rambling about more of them attacking him and his family. This man talked funny but they made no comment on it.

Okay. What the hell.

So it turned out this guy was raised by gorillas.

That explains a lot.

But whatever, the three of them headed to the place Cito said the things emerged from and of course the found another one of those bitches.

Winona was lucky that Gage grabbed her in time, saving her of the claws of that thing as the other guy took it down.

The girl squirmed and giggled at the man’s touch, she was ticklish. The adorable chuckles of the gal made Gage feel funny on his gut for a sec before he brushed it off and released her.

They went into a weird place with glass panels covering holes on the wall that they later learned were a place where pre- war reptiles, like snakes and iguanas were kept so that the people could see them. Gage made a comment on how he kinda liked the idea of little not-so-mutated deathclaws as pets, witch made Winona giggle.

Passing the reptile’s section they found an old lab that turned out to be where those creatures, that they now learned were called “gatorclaws” were made.

So they shut down the machine and cleared out the rest of the park, going up the treehouse and placing the pack’s flag up the flagpole.

The woman took a minute to appreciate the view of the park from there, It was dawn so the sun going down really made the scenery look even more beautiful. As she looked at the horizon with a calmed look in her eyes, Gage caught himself staring at the beauty before him.

She was truly a work of art herself, better yet with the orange sunlight coating her tan skin and chestnut hair and making her ocean eyes shine in a beautiful way that made his cheeks grow a shade of pink

He was mesmerized by this woman, blinded by her beauty, hypnotized by her laugh, and he hated it. He hated how his face grew hotter and his stomach felt weird because of her. And the worst was that she probably had a husband waiting for her at home with their child.

But then again.

Why had she decided to stay?

He was still confused by that, so he couldn’t stop himself from asking her.

“Isn’t your child and husband waiting for you at home? Why have you decided to stay, boss?”

Her face seemed to darken at the question, looking at the side for a second before turning her head to meet his eyes. “I, um... i only have my son” , she responded with melancholy.

Shit, he fucked up.

Of course, that’s why she left her child with a friend, why she always felt uncomfortable by romantic advances on her. The guy wasn’t there. “Oh, shit sorry i-“

“Don’t bother. He isn’t dead, he abandoned me” ,she interrupted him, her look darkening even more. Perfect, he fucked up even more.

Gage was suddenly infuriated. How could that son of a bitch abandon his woman, pregnant with HIS child! To fend for herself!? The ‘wealth was dangerous and even tough he knew Winona was a tough girl, she was all alone.

He couldn’t imagine the hell she’d been though.

“Oh boss. Im sorry i brought it up, im an idiot” The woman looked at him and smiled sideways, taking ahold of his hand.

“It’s okay, i guess i needed to tell someone eventually...” she sniffled and kept on talking, “after some time, i had the luck of finding my cousin, Laura, and she led me to Goodneighbor.”

“She told me that there i could get proper medical attention and that i could have my baby safely. I was three months pregnant at the time by the way.” She chuckled dryly making the man furrow his brows.

“So there i met Nick and John. They helped me a lot though my pregnancy and while giving birth.” She smiled at the memory of the men she held so close to her heart. “When i first held Alexander in my arms, i knew i had to toughen up, I couldn’t keep crying myself to sleep because of that man. I had to do it for him”.

“But even so, the pain never truly goes away. Everyday he reminds me more of him and i just-“ tears started falling from her eyes like a waterfall. Gage froze, he wasn’t good at comforting people.

Despite his awkwardness and showing his pride aside, he wrapped his arms around her.

Winona was taken aback by the man’s actions, but then she started crying harder, hugging him back as she fell to the floor.

He never let go of her.

He knew what it was like to be betrayed by the ones you thought you could trust, to be backstabbed and then thrown away like garbage. She didn’t deserve that.

She was probably the kindest person he’s ever met and yet there was an asshole out there that just threw her out like if she was a broken ragdoll.

That piece of shit surely earned himself a place in Porter’s list

Still he held her as she cried in his shoulder, holding her as if she were made of glass, that started cracking with her every sob.

After a few minutes, her crying died down and she lifted her head from his shoulder, looking at him with puffy and red eyes.

He couldn’t stop the hand that separated itself from her back and wiped away a stray tear from the corner of her eye, making her giggle wholeheartedly.

The man let a small chuckle leave his mouth before he stared at her again, this time tough, she was staring right back at him.

Subconsciously they both started to get closer and closer before Winona got them out of their transe by yawning.

“You wouldn’t happen to be tired, right boss?” He said with a grin and raising his brow at her.

The woman was about to respond but was again interrupted by her yawning. Gage sighed, as he shook his head in a mocking way.

“There’s a sleeping sack over there, you take a rest and i’ll keep guard” he said graving her hand and leading her there to lay down.

As he was about to leave, Winona grabbed his arm, catching his attention. “Hey Gage?...” she said, tiredness clear on her voice. The man hummed at her in question.

“Thanks...”

And then she fell into the arms of tiredness, falling asleep.

[sidekickhq]

can you please suggest mw parents?

i’m going to include wanted connections we have for specific parents underneath the cut, but others that i think are REALLY wanted by all are : bruce wayne, sigyn, anna marie, daken akihiro, clark kent, steve trevor, remy lebeau, donna troy, scott lang, wanda maximoff, matthew murdock, warren worthington ii, raven darkholme, hank mccoy, stephen strange, leonard snart, mary jane watson, pietro maximoff, wanda maximoff, cecelia reyes, kitty pryde, natasha romanoff, melinda may, cindy moon, namor, jean paul beaubier, peter quill, phil coulson, mick rory, maria hill !

ALYSSA BEAUBIER, our HAYLEY WILLIAMS fc is looking for a MOM/JEANNE-MARIE BEAUBIER connection who looks like UTP, who is 46. you DON’T have to contact (they’d have a lot to talk about as Alyssa ran off with no contact at age 17 so 9 years ago. Alyssa has a share of mom problems mostly stemming from feeling like she fucked up being the one normal thing in his mom’s life by being a mutant. )

DANIEL FOSTER-THORSON, our TARJEI SANDVIK MOE fc is looking for a MOTHER (JANE FOSTER) connection who looks like NATALIE PORTMAN, KEIRA KNIGHTLY, UTP, who is 40+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying at danielthorson. ( so i don’t want to get too carried away with details but you’re more than welcome to contact me with any questions you might have! Essentially jane raised daniel (and any siblings he might’ve had) by herself, and initially she tried to keep him sheltered from his father and everything that could come with being a part of his world. But when Daniel was five, this changed- and Thor and everyone else became a part of his life. Apart from this Daniel absolutely adores his mother, she’s his favorite person in the world. Not to mention Thor would love to see her around! )

HUGO STARK, our JOSHUA CASTILLE fc is looking for a MOTHER / PEPPER POTTS connection who looks like UTP who is 50+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( give the stark kids their mum !! 

NAOMI DANE-SUMMERS, our NAOMI SCOTT fc is looking for a MARCOS DÍAZ / FATHER / “STEPFATHER” connection who looks like ANY RELEVANT FC who is 45+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( Good Dad™ Marcos Díaz, naomi thinks the world of him !!! 

QUINTEN ISLEY-QUINZEL, our MATTHEW DADDARIO fc is looking for a MOTHER / PAMELA ISLEY connection who looks like BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, JESSICA CHASTAIN, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS / UTP who is 40′s-50′s+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( tw for death: pam was a big part in quin’s resurrection – her & necromancer brought quin back to life after he died during the attack on the school last year. due to pam’s heavy influence, he ended up with very similar powers to pam and they share a deep connection now because of it. he’s always been really close to her but this only brought them closer. )

QUINTEN ISLEY-QUINZEL, our MATTHEW DADDARIO fc is looking for a MOTHER / HARLEY QUINN connection who looks like MICHELLE PFEIFFER, JAMIE CLAYTON, CHARLIZE THERON, KRISTEN BELL / UTP who is 40′s/50′s+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( quin is… such a mamma’s boy, honestly. he loves both of his moms SO MUCH and while he’s always been more similar to pam, he’s still super close to harley. give quin his moms! ) 

TRIXIE ESPINOZA, our CHRISTIAN SERRATOS fc is looking for her FATHERS / DAN ESPINOZA & LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR who look like JAY HERNANDEZ, ALFONSO HERRERA, GABRIEL LUNA, ANY MEXICAN FC ( DAN ) / DIEGO LUNA, RICKY WHITTLE, TOM ELLIS, ANY FC ( LUCIFER ) who are 40+ ( DAN ) & 1000+ ( LUCIFER ) YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( healthy coparents, unite !! chloe and dan are two of lapd’s best and brightest, and trix loves her parents so much - but she ALSO loves her stepfather, lucifer, and he’s 100% on the same level in her mind as her birth parents. )

TRIXIE ESPINOZA, our CHRISTIAN SERRATOS fc is looking for her MOTHER / CHLOE DECKER who looks like LAUREN GERMAN, VERA FARMIGA, WINONA RYDER, SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, AMY ACKER, PLAYERS CHOICE who is  40+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( if u have seen lucifer, then u already have a pretty good idea of trixie’s dynamic with her mom! her dad is great and all, but… chloe was the one who was REALLY there for her, ya know? i kinda had it hced that chloe is now with lucifer cause that’s how the show was heading to and i didn’t imagine anyone snagging anymore lucifer chars, but i’m! definitely open to changing that! just gimme her mom pls! )

WILLIAM WADE WILSON, our BRANDON FLYNN fc is looking for a FATHER (WADE WILSON)  connection who looks like RYAN REYNOLDS, UTP+ who is AGE you ( DON’T ) have to contact prior to applying at ( willicmwilson ). ( look, i just want a wade. I’m also willing to make you gif icons of Ryan as Wade if you’d like, just shoot me a message!)

WILLIAM WADE WILSON, our BRANDON FLYNN fc is looking for a MOTHER (VANESSA CARLYSLE )  connection who looks like JENNIFER GARNER, HILARY SWANK, UTP+ who is AGE  you ( DON’T ) have to contact prior to applying at ( WILLICMWILSON). (honestly i’m just looking for will’s family- i’m not going to dictate what you have to do. But feel free to contact me if you have any questions before applying! )

WINIFRED BANNER-ROSS, our SOPHIE TURNER fc is looking for a FATHER / BRUCE BANNER connection who looks like MARK RUFFALO, UTP who is 45+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( winnie and bruce spent a fair chunk of her childhood – ages 8 to 14 – in laga, east timor, to move away from general ross and help give timorese people access healthcare, farming, and education )

DEVYN XAVIER-LEHNSHERR, our COURTNEY EATON fc is looking for a BIRTH MOTHER connection who looks like PLAYER’S CHOICE who is 45+YEARS OLD. you CAN contact prior to applying at queenofillusionsx. (Devyn’s birth mom is a closeted mutant who was scared of having a child in case they grew to be one. When Dev was born with lilac eyes, there was no mistaking what she was, so her parents gave her up. Now she is at Paragon to make amends, but it is the one topic she gets angry at so she won’t be happy.)

NADIA KYLE, our ANA DE ARMAS fc is looking for her MOTHER / SELINA KYLE who looks like MELISSA FUMERO, JOANNA GARCIA / ANY CUBAN FC who is OLD ENOUGH. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( it may be a little cliche, all considered - but there’s a reason that nadia has become the person that she is today, and that reason… is selina. the love she has for her mother, and the idolization that she’s always felt towards her, is unmatched. nadia’s upbringing was unique in that it wasn’t just isolated to selina & ted. rather, it was a combined effort of selina, ted, holly, eiko - and everyone had a huge role, but no one really ever outshone her mother. she’s always wanted to emulate her, because in nadia’s eyes, there’s no one better - and while she’s made mistakes in coming down this road, and while she’s done things that even selina probably can’t be proud of… it’s all been in hopes of both… being half the woman that her mother is, and being someone that selina is proud of. )

NADIA KYLE, our ANA DE ARMAS fc is looking for her FATHER / TED GRANT who looks like NESTOR CARBONELL, ALBERTO GUERRA, JORDI VILASUSO / ANY CUBAN FC who is OLD ENOUGH. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( nadia has… a complicated relationship with her father, so to speak - and she always sort of has. he never really approved of the antics she got up to, when she was younger - and i don’t think it would be outlandish to imagine him at one point trying to have her diagnosed with the kleptomania she obviously exhibited, thinking that it might help her. he trained her, he loved her, and she learned from him and loved him too - but they argued a lot, and went very long stretches of time without communicating whatsoever. in fact, they went years without talking in her early twenties - ted not approving of how far she had fallen, and nadia unwilling to change. having a stellar relationship with her stand up father fits with the image she’s cultivated for herself and as so, nadia has spent time in more recent years trying to make amends and whatnot, but while she and her mother will always work on a similar wavelength and understand each other, as so ; ted sees her in a different light, and wants… better for her, really, than what she’s making of herself. )

[paceypeternathanslawyer]

Tim Ives Interview With Collider

(Collider) You’ve been with Stranger Things from the beginning, having shot the first two episodes. I was curious how the show was first pitched to you, and what those initial conversations were like with the Duffer Brothers about what the show would look like.

TIM IVES: Well, so first I got the outline in this little packet that they sent out. It was beautifully made, a little booklet on the films that they loved, and a lot of those references. We looked at reference films like E.T., Stand By Me, Close Encounters, and when we got together, we talked about them some more and I talked about certain lighting styles that say Allen Daviau did in E.T. for Steven Spielberg, that really contributed to that movie’s feeling and ambience. And some of those techniques I think aren’t really—if I lit something like that today on a modern show, it wouldn’t really be appropriate, but we really wanted the show to feel like it was made back then. At least in the first season we really wanted that. So we looked at a bunch of references, and I did everything I could in my power to use the techniques and what was popular, in lighting, by some of my cinematic heroes back then.

(Collider) I’m sure that was a pretty fun challenge for you then, to emulate some of these classic films.

IVES: It was a gift. It’s a gift to be able to do that, especially from my early heroes. It was my first real movie-going decade, as well. I guess it’s mostly Spielberg, including Indiana Jones as well, Temple of Doom and the first one, especially.

(Collider) Season 2 feels a bit more colorful, a little more dynamic, and certainly darker. So what did you guys discuss in terms of making Stranger Things 2 visually distinct from the first season? Were there different films that you were looking at?

IVES: It did progress. We talked about filmmakers like James Cameron and John Carpenter and it was gonna be a pretty dark season for poor little Will. But we did want more color. The guys always said that they wanted the series to be fun. When I first read it I was like, “What’s fun about a kid being kidnapped?” But the reality is, there was a great story there, obviously, and there’s a little bit of safety in the way we did it, so that it’s more geared toward families than it is towards people who just want to get the bejeezus scared out of them.

(Collider) You shared DP duties with two other cinematographers this season. So I was curious, how does that collaboration process work in terms of ensuring that the aesthetic is consistent across the board?

IVES: So the first season, I was going to be shooting all of them, and the Duffers were gonna direct all of them as well. So when they got a little behind on writing, we had Shawn Levy come in and direct episodes three and four. And I needed to keep prepping for five and six, so I called Todd Campbell, who had just been doing the first season of Mr. Robot, which I did the pilot for. I met him in Austin at the premiere of Mr. Robot at South by Southwest, and I like Todd a lot. He was an up and coming, great cinematographer, and I felt like he did such a great job on Mr. Robot, taking what I did in the pilot and moving it forward, that it just seemed like it would be a good fit if he were available and he was, luckily for us. So he came in and filled in on Seasons 1 and 2, in that same slot, which opened up our ability for the Duffers and I to really prep and get some of the other episodes done. We also had David Franco in Season 2. He did episode seven, which was sort of a bottle episode with Eleven. He was hired by the Duffers, and that episode was meant to be, as far as I believe they were concerned, a bottle episode, one that didn’t really have to have the full aesthetic of Stranger Things. They were out of town in a different environment, and so there was that. But that’s where we were at, for the first two seasons.

(Collider) In Season 2, you got to shoot two episodes with Andrew Stanton, who I’m a big fan of. I was curious what it was like working with him as a director.

IVES: Andrew is the greatest guy in the world. He is also really devoted, selfless, and he was a pleasure to work with. I think for scheduling reasons it didn’t work out that he came back this year, but ever since we started with him, we’ve remained very friendly. We both love literally the same music from a bunch of different decades. It’s uncanny how similar our tastes are. I don’t feel there’s a week that’s gone by since I filmed a year ago with him that we haven’t texted some new song, or tried to get together for breakfast, or to do something. It was a great collaboration. The Duffers were super happy with what came for episodes five and six from last year, and just to work with somebody who has done such incredible work for Pixar was pretty mind-blowing for me.

(Collider) You also shot I think the best set piece that the show has ever done, which is the Snow Ball. That was just the cherry on top of a really great season. What was it like shooting that and how did you go about planning out that aesthetic?

IVES: Really good question. There were big decisions to be made, and there were some thoughts of going very slick with it, and doing something really cool. And even though I haven’t really embraced the Stand By Me aesthetic too much in the show, it felt like that was the one point where we needed to simplify it, and not hit it over the head with too slick a thing. So we designed it with Jess Royal and Chris Trujillo, to incorporate Christmas lights into the set. And really the idea was, in 1985, if you were in charge of throwing the Snow Ball, how would you decorate it? What would you do? What would you use? So, that was the mantra for it. We also looked at a bunch of John Hughes movies too, who continues to be an influence for us. But it was really fun, because I really wanted to simplify it. We actually rigged a huge disco ball in the ceiling, off camera, and had a bunch of lights built on a truss around it, that gave us the twinkly look all the way around it. And then I actually thought it would be fun, at one moment, to have snowflakes fall, as a magical moment, not thinking that maybe it might look a little bit like the flocking we use when we’re in the Upside Down.  So we did one take, and we were getting ready to do some snow. And the one take was so amazing, and the kids were so amazing, that I ran over to the Duffers and we both shook our heads and were like, “We don’t need any snow.” It was very funny, because we were just trying to add something to it, and then at the last second we were like, the performances are so good, so rock solid. Gaten Matarazzo, as Dustin, your heart just falls for the kid. So he killed it, and so did Natalia, and all the kids did. It was so fun to shoot. It was hard, because we were up against the clock with all these kids, as we usually are, and that last shot we got of that, the big crane shot coming out, we see the Snow Ball Dance banner, we thought we weren’t gonna make it. We had 45 seconds left and we moved that crane over to the back super fast, and we just said, “Go, go, go.” The ADs were freaking out, and we were like, “Just do it, we gotta get the shot! It doesn’t work, it doesn’t work.” And it wound up, that one take, working beautifully. It’s the last take inside the Snow Ball before it goes outside. But I’m proud that we got that one.

(Collider) It’s a great shot, and I just love that sequence so much. One of the things that you do so well with the show is playing with light sources, specifically the Christmas lights, and then you had the light above Will in the shed in Season 2. I was wondering if you could talk about integrating these actual light sources into the frame, in Stranger Things, and how big of a role they play into the visual aesthetic there.

IVES: Well I’m a big fan of lighting with practicals anyway. You walk into someone’s home, or any interior place, there’s always gonna be a light source, whether it’s artificial or whether it’s a big window light that comes in. You need to at least suggest that there is something lighting this house, that’s either natural or artificial. I not only like to see lights in the shot, but I like them to actually have some use, and work in the set. As far as the shed in Season 2 goes, it was an interrogation scene, and I also like pushing—when we used to shoot film, I liked pushing film to the extremes, and I don’t mind doing it on the digital cinema as well. So those lights that you see, in the interrogation of Will, those are the same lights we used on reverses. I cleaned them up a little bit so it looked a little bit nicer on their skin, with some diffusion. But there was just a little bounce in the ceiling and that. I wanted it to be super hot, because he’s supposed to be under the lights. And it actually served us very well, because what I did when we were looking back at Clay and Winona, and that light is hitting Will, and it’s pointed right at the camera, Will is there, Noah Schnapp is the actor, he’s actually got a little piece of white fabric on his shirt, off camera, that’s bouncing back into Winona’s face, to light her. So literally the light is bouncing off the actor, and I think he just kept his eyes closed or we may have given him sunglasses or something But I think a lot of the aesthetics that I tend to like tend to be simple. If I can do it with one light or so, I try to, or at least try to make it feel like it’s not a lot of too complicated sources

(Collider) I think you just wrapped the first block of Stranger Things 3, and I know you can’t say anything specific about it, but I was wondering if you could tease aesthetically what fans can expect, this season? I know the Duffers like to look at them as sequels, so I imagine things will change up a bit this year.

IVES: Yeah. They do change up, there’s some new cast members that have been published as well, and we just finished up the first two episodes. I think the show is more fun and more thrilling than it’s ever been, right off the bat. It’s super, super fun, and funny, and scary at the same time, which is probably my favorite combination of things. So, I know the Duffers want to surprise the fans, and give them things that they didn’t expect and such. But I can say the production design as well has been remarkable. So it’s super exciting. We’ve had more fun than we’ve ever had in the last two months making the first block. And everybody that’s been part of Stranger Things in the production process agree that it’s gonna translate well to the episodes. So, we couldn’t be having more fun, and working harder, and really having a blast with the season. It feels really fresh and fun.

(Collider) Were there any specific films you guys talked about influencing Season 3?

IVES: We’re not gonna change our look so drastically that the show looks like a different show. I think that it just is evolving. I’m as proud as I’ve ever been of the show as far as my contributions to it, but no, I think we’re still taking about that James Cameron thing, and that John Carpenter thing, and moving it forward. And really, we found our own thing now, and we always laughed at it when we reference ourselves, as just, “Oh, who do we think we are?” But we’re having fun, and if it feels right, we do it.

(Collider) Has filming during the spring and summer months changed the look and feel of it at all?

IVES: We have more green trees (laughs)

(Collider) That’s fair.

IVES: We have a lot more green trees, and the weather is less cooperative. But as far as the look of it goes, no. We’re uncompromising with that, so we’re not gonna be affected by anything, except what we want it to look like.

[citizenscreen]

During last year’s Christmas break, which happened to be just days after the What a Character! Blogathon, I settled in to watch episodes of The Gertrude Berg Show and found myself laughing aloud. A lot. The Berg Show, which was originally titled Mrs. G Goes to College, is about a widow who goes to college after her children are grown. The situation comedy, which only lasted from 1961 to 1962, also featured the goings on in the building where Sarah Green lives. Green (aka Mrs. G), played by the talented Gertrude Berg, has daily exchanges with Cedric Hardwicke who plays Professor Crayton, another tenant in the building, and landlady Winona Maxfield played by Mary Wickes. By the end of the first episode of The Gertrude Berg Show, I’d decided who my actor of choice would be for this year’s What a Character! Blogathon.

Mary Wickes was born Mary Isabella Wickenhauser in St. Louis, Missouri on June 13, 1910. Mary was the only child of doting parents, Frank and Isabella Wickenhauser. Her upbringing was one of homespun values in a well-to-do household. Mary described her parents as civic-minded people who loved people, which resulted in Mary’s interests outside of acting. She remained close to her parents always.

On April 12, 1988, Mary Wickes returned to her alma mater, Washington University in St. Louis to deliver a speech in honor of a close friend and former dean. In the speech Mary talked about the importance of her “bedrock values” and about her career. “I am very proud of my profession, ” she said, “I am proud of the tradition and I can’t imagine doing anything but being an actress.”

If you can tell anything from watching Mary Wickes’ work it’s that she enjoyed doing it. That enjoyment coupled with her talent made her one of Hollywood’s most accomplished character actors. Interestingly, her story is not one of those where the entertainer dreamed of entertaining from an early age. Wickes recalled in the Washington U. speech that her parents loved the theater and that she was taken to see shows since she was very young. Mary went on to say that her reaction to watching shows was rather strange, “If anything was terribly funny, or just wonderful – the leading lady wore beautiful evening clothes and the scene just went so beautifully – I would cry.” Clearly, she was moved, but it still never occurred to her that she would become an actor at that early age. Her interests were varied. She majored in Political Science and joined every club imaginable including the debate team, which she enjoyed immensely. It wasn’t until her junior year that acting became a possibility when one of her professors suggested she go to an open audition at a local theater. Mary auditioned and got the part and at the end of the production, the director asked Mary to join his summer theater troupe to see how she would stack up opposite professional actors. He also suggested she might want to change her name because Mary Isabella Wickenhauser would not likely fit on a marquee. The task of figuring out what she wanted her stage name to be proved one of the few she would ever fail at. She simply couldn’t think of one. But when the publicity materials for her first play had to be printed Wickenhauser received a wire that read, “Your name will be Mary Wickes for the season.” And it stayed that way forever.

Mary’s expressive face served her well and entertained millions

Mary Wickes went on to appear in over 200 productions in summer stock and regional theater. Her love of the stage lasted her entire career and she would travel to New York between movies for decades. Through the years she dazzled audiences in revivals of “The Wizard of Oz” wherein she played Miss Gulch/The Wicked Witch of the West, “Damn Yankees,” “Arsenic and Old Lace,” and “Oklahoma!” – all of which I would have killed to see.

While we’ve come to recognize Mary Wickes simply by the types of characters she played in movies and television, her stage credits demonstrate quite the acting range. She was prone to playing comedic roles that demanded more than the occasional deadpan delivery she excelled at. Orson Welles thought so too as he recruited her to be part of his famed The Mercury Theatre and cast her in his production of “Too Much Johnson” in 1938. A few years ago footage previously thought lost was discovered of this production to include prologues. I would love to get a look at that too.

Howard Smith, Mary Wickes, Orson Welles, Virginia Nicolson, William Herz, Erskine Sanford, Eustace Wyatt and Joseph Cotten outside the Stony Creek Theatre during the two-week run of the Mercury Theatre stage production of Too Much Johnson (August 16–29, 1938)

Mary’s entrance onto The Great White Way was as smooth as her start as an actor. Wickes was in New York for less than a week in 1934 when she secured a part as understudy to Margaret Hamilton in “The Farmer Takes a Wife” starring Henry Fonda. As Steve Taravella explains in his fantastic 2016 biography, Mary Wickes: I Know I’ve Seen That Face Before, “The Farmer Takes a Wife” tried out in Philadelphia where Mary was asked to go on for Margaret Hamilton for the first matinée. That usually happens only once in…pretty much never. It was most certainly a sign as the Variety critic happened to attend that very performance and opined that Mary Wickes was “more than okay.”

Among her other notable Broadway shows are Philip Barry’s “Spring Dance” and Kaufman and Edna Ferber‘s “Stage Door,” the first of five Kaufman plays in which she originated parts and her first Broadway hit. Kaufman later called her his favorite comedienne. Mary Wickes adored working with George S. Kaufman and would forge a life-long friendship with the Kaufman family.

Mary’s signature stage role was in the original Broadway production of the Moss Hart-George S. Kaufman comedy, “The Man Who Came to Dinner” in 1939. She played the nurse, Miss Preen in hilarious fashion opposite the show’s star, Monty Woolley. She and Woolley reprised their roles in William Keighley’s film version in 1942. In 1972, Mary played Miss Preen again in a TV version directed by Buzz Kulik. Orson Welles played Sheridan Whiteside (the Woolley role) in that production.

Miss Preen cemented one of Mary signature character roles

Mary Wickes, Orson Welles, Lee Remick, Edward Andrews. Don Knotts in the 1970 TV version of The Man Who Came to Dinner

Wickes and Woolley in the 1942 movie version of The Man Who Came to Dinner

Steve Taravella dedicates an entire chapter of his Wickes biography to Miss Preen, also known as “Miss Bedpan.” He explains how the success of the show, which ran for more than 700  performances, facilitated Broadway connections that helped Mary her entire career. And of course Miss Preen also cemented one of her signature character roles – the scene-stealing nurse. The movie version of The Man Who Came to Dinner was as successful as the play and it resulted in Mary becoming a favorite of directors, co-stars and audiences. And all because of a relatively small part opposite major screen gravitas also known as Bette Davis with whom Mary made three pictures. Given the popularity of Miss Preen it’s no wonder Mary Wickes was asked to bring other nurses to life on screen with the most popular example in our circles being nurse Dora Pickford in Irving Rapper’s Now, Voyager (1942). Mary’s depiction of Dora is particularly important because she provides the only comic relief in an otherwise very serious movie. Anyone familiar with Now, Voyager has probably recognized that making people smile playing opposite Gladys Cooper‘s Mrs. Vale could not have been an easy task.

Imagine being tasked with cheering this place up!

If one is to describe Mary Wickes’ overall specialty it was playing the prim, sarcastic woman who looked down her nose at those who failed to meet her standards. Her characters were either professional women like secretaries (and nurses) or smart-alecky commoners, which brings me to yet another of her staples – the housekeeper. The movies that come to mind where she plays a domestic are Roy Del Ruth’s On Moonlight Bay (1951) and its sequel, David Butler’s By the Light of the Silvery Moon (1953). These delightful family musicals feature Leon Ames, Rosemary De Camp, Billy Gray and Doris Day who make up the Winfield family and Mary Wickes as their maid, Stella. Gordon MacRae also stars in both as William Sherman who falls in love with Doris’ Marjorie. You must take a look at the trailer for By the Light of the Silvery Moon because it features Mary as Stella breaking the fourth wall to explain the movie’s plot. These movies are as sweet as candy and I absolutely love the cast, but it’s Wickes I look most forward to even though her friend George S. Kaufman had written her from New York urging her to return to do stage work. Of On Moonlight Bay Mr. Kaufman said, “you’re too good for that sort of thing.” That’s probably true, but it’s what we have of Mary Wickes and if Kaufman doesn’t mind I will celebrate it by mentioning one of my favorite lines in either movie, which comes early in On Moonlight Bay. Stella is complaining to Mr. Winfield that the kitchen is too big and it tires her out so in pure Wickes style she says, “I’m bein’ paid to be a cook, not a cross-country runner!”

The Winfield’s maid, Stella always has something to complain about

I think of Mary Wickes’ movie career as made up of many special moments as is the case with many of our favorite character actors. After all these actors didn’t star in their own movies. And like the best of ’em Mary had a lot stored in her talent cannon. For instance, her physical prowess was unique. She said a lot with her eyes, used her hands beautifully to emphasize eccentricity and her lanky frame allowed for more than a few memorable slapstick moments on film. It was her timing, however, that made her a standout like Eve Arden, Thelma Ritter and a few other top-notch actors of the supporting kind. If you want to check out a few of Mary Wickes’ other movies, you might try Edward Cline’s fun put-on-a-show Private Buckaroo (1942) or Erle C. Kenton’s Who Done It? (1942) with Abbott and Costello. Then there’s Michael Curtiz’s White Christmas (1954) in which she plays housekeeper Emma, one of her most enduring roles. She portrayed another Emma in George Cukor’s The Actress (1953) and you might also like her portrayal of “Pick-a-little lady” in Morton DaCosta’s The Music Man (1962). And…and…there are simply too many.

Abbott and Costello meet Mary Wickes in Who Done It?

If none of those make you slap happy you can also enjoy another of Mary’s famous on-screen depictions – the nun – in Ida Lupino’s The Trouble with Angels (1966) and its sequel, James Neilson’s Where Angels Go Trouble Follows! (1968), both starring Rosalind Russell. I assure you Mary’s religious types are as fun as her nurses and maids. Three decades after the movies with Russell in which she played Sister Clarissa Mary enjoyed a career resurgence as Sister Mary Lazarus in the hugely popular Sister Act (1992) and its sequel, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). By that point Wicks was in the seventh decade of her career and her timing was still on target.

As Sister Clarissa

As Sister Mary Lazarus

The more mature Mary Wickes also portrayed the cranky old relative role to perfection. She did so in Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge (1990), which broke a dry spell for the veteran actor who hadn’t been offered feature parts for quite some time. Mary’s work on television never ceased, but movie parts were few and far between after her appearance in the Angels movies. It’s nice to know that the 1990s were good to her. Following Edge and the Sister Act movies she played Aunt March in Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women (1994). Her final movie performance was as the voice of the gargoyle Laverne in the Disney animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) and her final performance on television was as the voice of Grandma in the animated series Life with Louie.

I’ve left the discussion of Mary Wickes’ career on television for last because it’s how I first met her. Also, it brings this full circle since I began this Wickes journey with a mention of The Gertrude Berg Show, which is highly recommended. Mary received her only award nomination for Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress for her work in that show. She didn’t win the award, but she makes me laugh like all heck and so she has my heart. Her reactions and comebacks are priceless at every turn.

Mary made her acting television debut as Mary Poppins in a 1949 episode of the anthology series, Studio One in Hollywood. Yes, she was the original Poppins anywhere at any time!

As Mary Poppins

From then on Wickes’ TV roles never stopped. She was a regular on such notables as Make Room for Daddy, Zorro, Julia, The Jimmy Stewart Show, Doc and Father Dowling Mysteries. She also had a recurring role on Dennis the Menace, which I’ve been watching lately and in which Mary Wickes is a hoot. Mary plays Miss Esther Cathcart, a single woman out to get a man at all costs. Miss Cathcart often uses Dennis in her schemes to hilarious effect. So far my favorite moments on the show are when Miss Cathhart sings, which she does to impress, but which results in broken mirrors, barking dogs and the like. If you have an extra moment be sure to check out Miss Cathcart’s rendition of “Love’s Old Sweet Song.” She really had such ease with comedy and clearly did anything asked of her with aplomb.

As a guest Mary Wickes appeared in every type of show imaginable from variety to mystery to everything in between. I can only mention a few standouts. When Gloria Swanson kicked off her The Gloria Swanson Hour she asked Mary Wickes to be her very first guest. Mary also guested on two episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents in 1956, the first of which, “The Baby Sitter,” directed by Robert Stevens is quite special. The episode stars Thelma Ritter as a baby sitter who gets involved in a murder. I wouldn’t say the story here is particularly noteworthy, but watching two of the premier character actors of the last century together is a thrill for film geeks like me, not to mention appropriate for this blogathon event. It’s Ritter and Wickes for crissakes.

Ritter and Wickes in “The Baby Sitter” Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode

One of my favorite of Mary Wickes’ TV guest spots was her small but hilarious part as the second murder victim’s landlady in Columbo “Suitable for Framing.” Her exchange with the Lt. alone is worth several admission prices. In this episode Wickes’ talent for playing characters that danced to their own beat so they easily carry on their own conversations despite who else might have been talking to them is in full bloom. If that sentence didn’t make sense, then good. This picture says it all…

Peter Falk with Mary Wickes in “Suitable for Framing”

I have to stop talking about Ms. Wickes at some point so it might as well be with a mention of Mary and Lucy. As most of you probably know Lucille Ball and Mary Wickes were close friends. Among Mary’s effects at Washington University are several letters from Lucy and Lucie Arnaz refers to Mary as family. I get a bit of the chills thinking about the two legendary comediennes laughing together behind the scenes, telling each other secrets and comforting each other as friends do.

Lucy and Mary were also frequent co-stars. Everyone remembers the classic first season episode of I Love Lucy, “The Ballet” with Mary playing the part of a ballet teacher, Madame Lamond. The episode begins in familiar fashion – Ricky is working on a show and needs a ballet dancer and Lucy tries to convince him she is a ballet dancer. In order to hone her skills Lucy goes to see Madame Lamond, the French premiere ballerina who is staging Ricky’s number. Lucy also tells Madame Lamond that she’s experienced. You know how well that turns out. But the important thing are the laughs and there are plenty of them here thanks to Lucy’s hijinks and Mary’s unforgettable reactions and her affected French accent.

“The Ballet” with Lucy and Mary doing what they did best

Mary only appeared in that one episode of I Love Lucy, but she appeared regularly in both of Lucille’s subsequent shows, The Lucy Show and Here’s Lucy. Wickes made a total of seventeen appearances on both shows always as different characters. You’ll be happy to know that a few were nurses, a few were maids, a few were nuns and one was named Mrs. Wickenhauser.

Mary Wickes knew that she excelled at comedy, which she called “very serious business.” And she loved what she did, which makes her story a particularly happy one. There were times when the going was a bit tougher than other times, but she worked most of her career because her talent was recognized as indispensable. When Mary gave her speech at Washington University she was 77 years old and ended the speech by paraphrasing St. Augustine in charming and endearing fashion. She said, “He said, ‘give me chastity and continence, O Lord, but not yet.’ And me – ‘I want rest, retirement, and quiet, O Lord, but not yet. And maybe never.”’

Mary Wickes, What a Character!

◊

The great Ms. Wickes is my choice for this year’s What a Character! Blogathon, which I am co-hosting with pals Kelly Pratt and Paula Guthat. Be sure to visit all three days of entries.

Day 1 at Outspoken & Freckled

Day 2 at Once Upon a Screen

Day 3 at Paula’s Cinema Club (still to come)

  For more about the incomparable Mary Wickes visit:

Mary Wickes: Her Life and Legacy at Washington University in St. Louis

Mary Wickes: I Know I’ve Seen That Face Before by Steve Taravella

It’s important that you are aware of how seriously I take research on this blog. As part of my ceaseless efforts I tweeted Whoopi Goldberg and asked about her experience working with Mary Wickes in the Sister Act movies. Ms. Goldberg never responded, but that’s the kind of dedication I’m talking about.

  Mary Wickes, WHAT A CHARACTER! During last year’s Christmas break, which happened to be just days after the What a Character! Blogathon, I settled in to watch episodes of T…

[kald-dal-write]

what does Maureen’s and Cass’ voices sound like?

Imagine both their voices as pretty light.

Cass having a bit of a rasp when he talks and it becoming more prominent over the years.

Also because Winona Ryder is pretty close to how I imagine Maureen to look like I could imagine her voice sounding similar as well

[janeykath318]

The Trials Of Being A Bodyguard 9

[bewaretheundead91]

Reagan X Audrey Jensen 

Part 9: Probably Never

A/N: This update was getting too long so I’m posting it in chunks. I hope you enjoy!

Find Parts 1-8 here along with other Audrey Jensen fics

Reagan got into her car and tossed her bag into the passenger seat. She grabs her phone and opens up a text message to Audrey. She recalled the awkward exchange of numbers between the two in the hallway prior to class ending that day, something rushed and flustered between both girls too similar to the interaction you would see between two people who had crushes on each other. Reagan had rushed out of class to get to the theater on time and Audrey had sprinted after grabbing her arm gently to stop her. “So are we still on for tonight?” Audrey says looking down and running a hand through her dark short strands, the fringe in the front started to stick up. She looks up at Reagan and bites down on her bottom lip and closes her eyes almost afraid of the answer. Was she embarrassed? “I’ll order a pizza. I even rented the Dracula movie, the one with Winona Ryder in it.” “Yeah I’m still on I guess,” Reagan says looking away feeling heat sprinkling across her cheeks because of how flustered Audrey was coming off. “What time? I have to get to the theater and after that I’m free.” “Umm how about 7?” Audrey asks looking down at her phone, an escape from making eye contact again. “What’s your number? I’ll text you the address.” “Here,” Reagan grabs Audrey’s phone brushing her finger tips against Audrey’s hand and the short hair girl started rocking on her feet. “Let me just type it in.” Reagan gives the phone back and quickly starts to walk off. “Jensen, I’ll text you when I’m leaving so you’re not like I don’t know naked when I arrive at your place or whatever.” Reagan says a little too loudly. Eyes were already on her. As if the video leaked didn’t make it look like they were together enough. “Um okay…” Audrey furrows her brows. She holds back a snarky remark that was forming out of embarrassment.

“I mean…” Reagan practically face palms and runs off. “I know what you mean.” Audrey shouts shaking her head. Reagan instantly sends Audrey a text to give the girl her number. Back in the car Reagan turns the key in the ignition and sits there for a second staring at a text to Audrey, on my way, it simply said. She was waiting for a text back. A loud ping erupted the silence and Audrey had responded, okay cool. Reagan programs the  address to Audrey’s house and places the phone on the passenger seat. Quickly she pulls out of the driveway and makes her way over to Audrey’s. Once the GPS program marked a house for the destination Reagan slowed down until she was in front of the driveway. The house wasn’t an old castle she had imagined in her head, not even an old brick house either, but a nice contemporary house. It looks normal, Reagan thought to herself as she pulls into the driveway. Audrey’s old red car was parked in front of a closed garage. Reagan parks her car and examines the house, lights were on down stairs. Reagan grabs her backpack and get out of her car and walka to the front door. Slowly she approaches the door and presses the door bell button. Loud running foot steps were heard coming and instantly the door was ripped open. There stood Audrey wearing a pair of black joggers and a muscle tank top with a backwards hat. Reagan swallows hard without knowing the reason. Her mouth was feeling dry and her eyes kept scanning/ “Hold on a second Noah, Reagan is here,” Audrey says dropping her phone from her ear. Reagan kept staring at the tank top and the red sports bra that was peeking through on the sides. “Are you going to come in Reagan?” “Yeah, sure,” Reagan nods her head and steps through the door. “I didn’t know comfy clothes would be appropriate, I would have worn sweats or something.” “Sorry I honestly didn’t even think about it,” Audrey holds the phone to her ear.  Reagan was embarrassed now, she had thought about what to wear tonight, but it was obvious that Audrey hadn’t taken the effort. “I’ve got to go Noah. And no it’s not a you know what, I can’t with you. Bye. And I wont call you later.” “Is he okay?” Reagan asks stepping further into the house. “Noah.” “Oh yeah he’s fine. Just a bit jealous that you are hanging out with me, he usually likes to take up all of my free time,” Audrey says placing the phone into her pocket. “So welcome to my home.” “It’s um…” Reagan looks around looking confused. “Nice?” “Is everything okay?” Audrey asks crossing her arms. “Is it not what you expected?” “Not really,” Reagan looks around catching glimpses of a pretty normal looking home, house plants, paintings on the wall, photos of Audrey sporting long hair from when she was younger standing by an older woman, even the usual wall colors. Reagan walks up to one to get a better look. Must have been her mother. She presses a finger to Audrey’s face in the picture. “I’d just  assume you would have always had short hair…like it never grew.” “Funny,” Audrey makes a face and sticks out her tongue. She quickly steps in front of the photos and Reagan pops her head back at how close they were standing near each other. “So you’ve seen what I look like when I was younger, so what…long hair wasn’t my thing.” “It’s just you were such a cute kid, what happened?” Reagan laughs. “Again funny.” Audrey rolled her eyes. “Well Jensen where do you keep the dark, leaky dungeon and skeletons? What about the coffins? Thought you would have your own personal thunder and lightening,” Reagan says stepping away from the wall of photos. “Must be a secret passage way somewhere.” “The rest is a secret, but the rusty chains are kept in my room back this way,” Audrey points her head toward a direction and starts to walk off. Reagan follows behind slowly feeling a bit strange going to Audrey room. “Along with the machetes and carving knives for torture.” “You sure you want me to see your room, I might see something you don’t want me to see.” “My life is already pretty out in the open Reagan, what else could you tell or show?” Audrey pushes the door open squinting her eyes. “You can put your stuff in here, I just need to get the movie out of my backpack and then we can order a pizza.” “I guess…” Reagan enters the room to see two large windows leading outside completely open to the public. The walls were purple, a color she hadn’t expected and her comforter was black something she had also expected. String lights hung along the walls accompanied by old photos of Emma, Noah, and a few horror movie posters. “This is not what I expected, I mean I expected the horror movie posters, but it’s so clean.” “So when can I see your room?” Audrey says turning around and shoots Reagan a smirk. “I want to see the room that Nina might potentially haunt.” “Probably never,” Reagan says dropping her bag to the ground and shrugging. “You’ll have to get through my brother first and even after that, there is a special password that only a few people know. Like Emma, Brook and my brother. But once you do, oh boy the stuff in there is cool, like really cool.” “Let me guess that password also unlocks the chastity belt that your brother has set up.” Audrey says pulling the movie out of her bag. “He doesn’t know everything that goes on in my life,” Reagan says with raised brows. “And I like to keep it that way. He’s protective, but easily distracted. Emma does a good enough job with that. And it’s none of your business Jensen who I let in my room.” “Oh you’re right,” Audrey walks over toward the door with the DVD in hand. “I’m not interested in the type of bros you date.” “Bros?” Reagan asks laughing. “When was the last time you saw me dating a bro around campus Jensen? You would know because you stare all the time.” “I don’t stare… I’ll go order a pizza and put the movie in.” Audrey walks out of the room and Reagan follows looking at the hat she was wearing. “Jensen, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you wearing a hat like that before.” Reagan snatches it off of Audrey’s head and places it on hers. “I think it might look better on me than you, I mean you look cute in it, but I’m sure I rock it.” “Hey,” Audrey turns around to see Reagan wearing the hat. She jumps backwards trying to grab the hat and Reagan takes a step back hitting the wall. “Give it back Reagan!” “If you want it take it,” Reagan shrugs and steps forward and stops. “It looks okay on you.” Audrey says looking at the girl, everything looked good on Reagan even that hat. Audrey takes another step forward and snatches it off Reagan’s head. Reagan was being playful, something Audrey wasn’t really used to, when they had gone to the secret spot the girl hand’t even been that comfortable. “What is with you?” “You think there is something wrong with me Jensen?” Reagan asks pulling her phone out to text her brother. “What are you doing?” Audrey asks. “Texting my brother that I am here.” Reagan says. “Of course you are.” Audrey says walking over to the DVD player that was below a pretty large TV. “I’m doing it because of what happened to me Audrey,” Reagan went defensive and Audrey snapped her head toward the girl. She didn’t like being called Audrey. “I wouldn’t if I hadn’t been attacked.” “Okay, I’m sorry and that’s understandable. Nothing is going to happen here, not when i’m here.” Audrey glares as she pushes play for the DVD. Reagan thought Audrey was weird, even in her home setting she was odd, their interaction was odd. What was going on between the two. “So we can start the movie while the pizza is on the way, what kind do you like? I was also thinking we could do a compare and contrast of the movie and book for the paper portion too,” Audrey walks to the couch which was a long pillow covered piece of furniture that sat right in front of the tv. “You can sit down if you want to.” “Oh sorry.” Reagan awkwardly sits down on the couch and watches as Audrey ordered the pizza. “I just want to order a large pizza please, just want it to have cheese.” Reagan listens to the girl in front of her talking on the phone watching as she shifts her weight from one side to another. The girl on the couch looks around the room she was sitting in glancing up at the tall ceiling and back down to the house plants that rested on a large bookshelf. There was a large fireplace with ceramic figures on it. Audrey walks over to the couch and plops herself on it, she grabs the remote and presses play. “Should we take notes?” Audrey asks Reagan who had gone quiet. “I don’t know.” “What’s wrong with you all of sudden, you’re acting weird,” Audrey says. “You were all playful one second and now you seem…Are you feeling uncomfortable around me because I’m…” “No!” Reagan holds her hands up and waves them. “It’s nothing to do with that, I guess I’m just a bit awkward.” “You were never that awkward to begin with, we are just hanging out and watching a movie,” Audrey says as the movie begins. She turns her head to Reagan. “Does Emma know you’re here?” “I think so, she’s hanging out with Will tonight they wanted me to go with them.” Reagan nods her head and looks at the screen. Thirty minutes into the movie Audrey turns to Reagan who was fixated on the screen smiling, watching as Mina was interacting with the Dracula. Audrey was curious about Reagan’s fascination with vampires, was it the fangs or the hyper sexualization of the creatures. Were vampire fangs a kink of her’s. “So is this the type of vampire you’re into?” Audrey asks quietly. “Dudes with long hair and circle shades.” “No actually.” Reagan responds. “What kind then?” Audrey asks leaning back acting chill. “The kind with fangs and a dangerous smirk, the ones who have lived for a while and have seen the world,” Reagan says. “You know the cliche vamp. Someone young and not old.” “Okay…” Audrey says trailing off thinking to herself, she didn’t say guys specifically. Was Reagan into girls? The thought had never really slipped her mind about Reagan possibly being into girls, but she was so comfortable being around Audrey like it was nothing. She had started noticing Reagan looking at her differently from time to time, but didn’t think too much of it. “I think the idea of being bitten is sort of hot,” Reagan says without being embarrassed. She turns to her side to rest against the couch. “I mean think about it…I mean it’s dangerous and…fangs.” Audrey thought about it and pressed her body to the couch feeling hot all of the sudden and too embarrassed to look at Reagan. The act of being bitten. The image of Reagan being a vampire pops into her head. Black jeans, docs, long loose hair, black t-shirt, and leather jacket. Then the fangs. Then her dancing. It was too much. “I guess people have their own kinks.” Audrey said out loud without realizing it. “Excuse me Jensen?” Reagan says leaning over to look at the girl beside her. “Kinks?” “I didn’t mean to say that out loud and I’m not saying it in a bad way, people are sexually aroused by different things,” Audrey says squeezing her eyes shut, the words just kept spilling out of her mouth and then dancing vampire Reagan popped back into her head. “I’m sorry, but I mean I’m going on a hunch here that biting is a turn on for you and I’m learning way too much about you right now…” “Jensen shut up!” Reagan growled trying to focus on the movie. She grabs a pillow on the couch and chucks it at Audrey. “I mean you seriously…” “Rachel wasn’t into that sort of thing,” Audrey interrupted Reagan stumbling on her words dodging the pillow. “We never got the chance to explore…we just…and then she died…we kissed…” “Okay and now I’ve learned more than I wanted to know about you Jensen. And you're just okay we telling me this.” Reagan covered her face and Audrey squeezed he eyes shut. Suddenly the door bell rings. “Saved by the bell!” Audrey jumps off the couch and runs to get the door. “Just in time!” Audrey brings the pizza into the living room and instantly Reagan perks up from her spot on the couch. She grabs a slice and takes a large bite. Audrey watches secretly happy that the girl beside her wasn’t acting embarrassed anymore or angry. “It’s good and I love pizza.” Reagan says noticing that a pair of blue eyes were staring at her. She didn’t want to say something rude. “Yeah,” Audrey nods and smiles before taking a bite herself. She turns to look back at the movie. “Eat as much as you want.” Both of the girls had their share of pizza and It had been a long day at school for both of them. Reagan with theater issues and Audrey with recording a segment that was supposed to on the morning school news. Reagan found her eyes getting heavy and the couch becoming a bit too comfortable. Audrey grabbed a pillow and curled up against a throw blanket. Both fell asleep. Reagan began to dream. She had just walked out of the bathroom after washing her hands in the theater that Audrey worked at. In the background was the loud dialogue of Dracula showing in on one of the screens. Specifically Mina’s voice narrating as she writes a letter to Jonathan. Reagan walks down the dark empty hallway making her way back to the theater room where Dracula was showing. Her eyes perk up to seeing no other than Audrey Jensen creeping up ahead wearing her work uniform and an unusual smirk. “Oh great.” She mutters beneath her breath trying to come up with some way of showing she was busy. “Walking down the hallway all alone?” Audrey says holding up the flashlight she had in hand. She flashes it toward the walking girl. “So what of it?” Reagan asks. “Isn’t it just so great that you chose of all books to read for our project to be Dracula?” Audrey says  closing in making the walking girl halt. “Why?” Reagan asks taking step back towards the bathroom. “Because you knew what I am.” Audrey smiles walking toward Reagan until she is backed against the wall. Two sharp fang like teeth were exposed. “Wait what?” Reagan asks pressing herself against the cold wall of the theater. She looks around the hallway for other customers. It was empty. “Nice fakes Jensen.” “Fakes?” Audrey cocks her head to the side, she leans in and whispers.“What fakes?” “You’re really funny Audrey, I know you’re weird and want to try to scare me, but fangs don’t scare me, remember I like vampires.” Reagan starts the shake her head and laugh. “I know,” Audrey slams her hands against the wall on both sides of Reagan and the girl’s laugher ceases. She looks down at the girl who was now furrowing her brows together deeply, her eyes glance down at Reagan’s mouth next. “I’m aware that you are not frightened by my fangs, that makes it perfect.” “What?” Reagan presses a hand against Audrey slightly shoving her away. “I know you want me to bite you,” Audrey whispers. “I know you want me…” Reagan freezes and swallows hard, there was something fluttering in her stomach. She takes deep breath. “Stop joking with me Audrey, I know you got the fake fangs for the movie showing.” “Want to find out if I’m joking?” Audrey presses up against Reagan slamming her up against the wall. One hand goes to her waist and the other to the hair draped over her shoulders, pulling it back exposing the side of her neck. Reagan gasps collapsing against the wall only to feel Audrey’s grip on her side got tighter. The short hair girl leans in and presses her face into the crook of Reagan’s neck and breaths in. She trail her nose up until it’s just below her ear. “You smell so good.” “Audrey,” Reagan’s words were a whisper, but she wasn’t trying to fight Audrey’s affectionate touches. “Audrey.” “hmmm?” Audrey’s mouth opens against Reagan’s throat and she can feel her hot breath against her skin. Reagan is jolted out of her sleep to the sound of a loud banging at the front door of the Jensen house. She jumps up to see the living room was dark except for the little bit of light from the rolling credits on the tv screen. The movie was over and she had slept through it. It wasn’t like she hadn’t seen the movie a handful of times already as it is. Her eyes fling to the couch that Audrey was asleep on. The dream she just had popped in her head, it was so much like an over hyped supernatural drama, much like the shows on tv and popular young adult books. She shivers, why was she dreaming of Audrey anyway? Another bang at the door. Reagan grabs Audrey by the shoulders and shakes her until a frown appears on her face. Her eyes open to glare up at Reagan making her shoot her head back to create some distance. “There is someone at your door,” Reagan says and another loud bangs interrupts her. “Did you order another pizza or something, I can pay this time.” “No, I didn’t I’ve been asleep,” Audrey says jumping up. “It’s weird no one knocks on my door. Noah usually texts.”

[bigmouthbadsleeper]

Movies In My Mind

I’ve always had a very vivid imagination. As a child it served me well because I was rarely bored, and as a teenager it got me through some pretty lonely times. As an adult it pretty much just annoys me. I get these thoughts in my head sometimes, these little scenarios that come out of nowhere. I don’t know how or when I started doing this, but at this point, I’ve thought of them so many times that they play out like movies in my mind. These thoughts can happen anytime- while I’m working out, driving, cleaning, working, etc.- and though I know that I have control over them, they can still cause me to have a panic attack. I realize that giving power to these scenarios is a waste of my time, but my mind often lacks reason and logic. I’ll be minding my own business, shampooing my hair, or doing some other routine task, and one of these scenarios will pop into my head and my heart will start to race and I’ll start breathing heavy. I have to remind myself that nothing has even happened, I’m still in the shower, washing my hair, and not falling down a flight of stairs exposing my holey underwear (I don’t even own holey underwear). I’ve complied a list of the most common scenarios that I torture myself with on a regular basis. You might be wondering, why is she sharing this with the world? I guess it’s because I think it’s kind of funny, and I’m hoping someone else will find it funny, too. Also, I figure I can’t be the only one who does this. Maybe someone else out there can relate, and we can bond over the ridiculousness of our brains.

Tripping, falling, and exposing my underwear. Okay, so this has actually kind of happened to me once. I was walking down the hall at church, in between classes, and I saw a friend I hadn’t seen in a while. I headed towards her to say hello, and somehow my skirt fell off! I didn’t even notice it was happening until the skirt was at my ankles, restricting my steps. I still cringe every time I think about it. I mean how do you even recover from that?? Full disclosure: I was wearing Spanx. I don’t know if that makes it better or worse, but I’m inclined to say it’s worse.

Letting go of my steering wheel on a curved road. Would I ever do this? No. But what freaks me out is that I COULD IF I WANTED TO. Doesn’t it ever make you rethink things when you realize how in control of your own destiny you are? I’ll be driving and the thought will come to me and I will start to wonder things like, “Where would my car go?”, or “How long would it be before my car stopped moving? Would it just stop, or would it stop because it crashes into a wall?” Oh yeah, I’m driving right now. Better pay attention. Yikes.

Falling off of the treadmill/elliptical. If I were the star of my own television show, there’d be a scene where I fall off of my treadmill at least five times per season. “But wouldn’t that get old?” you might ask? No, it would not. Falling is always top comedy. Falling while on a fast-paced, moving belt just makes it that much funnier. This has only come close to happening one time when I had a tangled up earbud fiasco. I got a little too cocky and tried to untangle the rat’s nest while I was running. I managed to get my footing and stop myself from falling, but it was a close call, guys. So close that I’m starting to sweat right now just thinking about it.

Losing a tooth. Not like losing a tooth when I was a kid and they were bb teeth that were meant to be lost. Like losing a fully grown, high school graduate, adult tooth. This is probably my biggest fear. It started when I was young, probably because I saw an episode of Jerry Springer or some other daytime talk show and there was a person sans teeth on there, which of course led me to freak out about the state of my own bicuspids. What would I do if my tooth got knocked out?? Once I read that if it happens, you should put the tooth in milk to preserve it, which is why I always carry a packet of milk with me. JK I don’t, but I really have thought about it because that’s how scared I am of this happening to me. Seriously you guys, HOW WOULD I RECOVER FROM THAT? I am pretty positive I couldn’t rock the missing teeth look. And this is coming from a girl who used to wear sweat pants with the name JOE JONAS emblazened on the legs out in public. In her twenties. On the regular.

Walking into the men’s room on accident. I’m going to be really honest here, the men’s room is a complete mystery to me. I have no idea what goes on in there. I caught a glimpse of one once and there were toilets on the ground- ON THE GROUND I SAY!! That seems risky to me. Usually this paranoia hits me after I’ve finished running on the elliptical at the gym and I’ve still got my headphones on and I’m all disoriented and sweaty. I mean, the boy and girl restrooms are right next to each other, I could easily meander into the wrong side! Most of the restrooms I see are marked with an “M” or a “W” which is practically the same letter even! Whose idea was that?? I think this fear might be rooted in the fact that when I was in high school, I had a job as a janitor basically, cleaning a medical office. I thought no one was left in the office so I was just carrying on like I owned the place, and stormed right into the bathroom with my cleaning supplies in my hands and I walked in on a guy going pee! I really did this! And guess what he did?? This image still haunts me to this day. He kept peeing, turned his head around, gave me a little nod, and calmly said, “Sup?” A part of me died in the bathroom that day, my friends. I can’t talk about it anymore because I am getting shortness of breath just remembering the harrowing details.

Ripping up money. Now this is one I would definitely never do, obviously!! But one day I was playing with a hundred dollar bill (because that’s what hundredaires like myself do in their free time) and I thought about how easily I could rip it into pieces and I would be $100 less rich. How weird is that? Money is just paper?? Is that really the best system for our currency? I could be $100 less rich with one tear. Ugh. That scares me worse than the Chucky movies, if I’m being honest.

Sending the wrong text to the wrong person. This one plagues me on a daily basis, because I am an avid texter, and I text multiple people throughout the day. I’m married now, but when I was single I used to make myself sick worrying about sending a text ABOUT the guy I like and the details of our non-relationship TO the guy I like, instead of to my friend. What if my boss gets the text I meant to send to my mom where I vent about my job? Or worse, what if someone (anyone) gets the text I meant to send to my mom about how I really need to have a poo but can’t go in the toilets at work? I know what you’re thinking, I shouldn’t be texting these things to people. You’re wrong. These are exactly the types of things I should be texting to people. You may also be curious as to why I text my mom about my bowel movement issues. Don’t worry. A healthy poo text is normal every once in a while.

Cutting off a chunk of my hair with craft scissors. Let me preface this one by saying that I am in a constant state of growing my hair out. I am forever wanting long hair and lacking the patience it takes to get it. All of the work I’ve been putting into having long hair would be for nothing with one snip. Sometimes I think about that scene in Sixteen Candles where Caroline gets her hair stuck in a locked door at Jake Ryan’s house and her friends get her out by cutting off the backside of her hair with scissors they found laying around the house! That scene chills. Me. To. The. Bone.

Divorce. I honestly don’t know why this terrifies me so much but I think it’s because I find it so terribly, horribly sad. I once read a statistic that said 50% of marriages end in divorce and right there on the spot I started to feel tightness in my chest. I think the very thought of something that was once so happy and full of love disolving and falling apart scares me. It leads to lots of invasive and paranoid thoughts about love. How do you ever really know if someone is right for you? How do you know that someone won’t fall out of love with you, or hurt you, etc. You know, the usual sad cocktail. It’s just like universal smart woman June Carter Cash said, “It burns, burns, burns.” Being with my husband has really helped me calm down about broken love in relation to myself, but I still worry a great deal about all the other relationships out there. It doesn’t matter if I know them personally or not. I still haven’t fully processed Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s divorce, and I can make myself depressed just by thinking about Johnny Depp and Winona Ryder’s breakup, and they were never even married! I have so many feelings, my friends. So many.

Good news, these irrational fears actually have a clinical name! They’re called “intrusive thoughts”, and according to the internet (v reliable source for information), four out of five people experience intrusive thoughts on a regular basis. An intrusive thought is described as “an unwelcome involuntary thought, image, or unpleasant idea that may become an obsession, is upsetting or distressing, and can feel difficult to manage or eliminate.” If that aint me, right? I don’t know if it’s more comforting to have a name for what I’m experiencing, or if it makes me feel more insane. It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one going through this, though. It makes me feel better to know that I’m not alone, and that there are others who can relate to me. That’s what life is all about, I think; connecting with others by sharing our experiences with them. Kinda makes all the difficult stuff we go through seem special, doesn’t it?

[jones573]

New Year’s Party Set Up

umm pretty much whatever the fuck you want. guests, activities, foods, if you like it it shall be there.

Here’s my thoughts:

Personnel

like all excessive events, there is a veritable army of folks to keep it running smoothly. Security are wearing those black tux tee-shirts with white print of ‘security’ on the back. Waitstaff and all other help are wearing white tee-shirts with ‘staff’ across the back in black with a screen printed black tie, bowtie, or bow/tie with suspenders on the front. Annabelle thinks these uniforms are fucking delightful, Maria thinks they’re atrocious, and so they reappear year after year 

unlike the staff at the New Year’s Eve party, those at the New Year’s Day party are largely unaware of the supernatural or the nature of the family employing them. This excludes Janet (annabelle’s personal assistant and a human), the top security staff (annabelle’s cousins, a mix of born and bitten vampires) and some various others. idk how many really- more than a tenth but less than a fifth?

Silver Stars

upon checking into the party, each guest receives a nametag and a personalized list of what they might be interested in (particular activities Annabelle thinks they might enjoy, people they may want to speak with, food suggestions based on their dietary needs, what have you). Nametags all have a star in the bottom corner. if a star is outlined in black, that means the guest is underage and will not be served alcohol, though the interior color of the star is largely random. BUT

anyone who is ‘supernaturally’ aware gets a silver star (this applies to staff as well). this grants the guest access into the upstairs of the house (it is roped off and guarded, generally), will mean they can get ‘specialized’ food items, and other such privileges. blood, for instance, is not offered to the general public, but if a vampire were to go the bar, tap their nametag and ask to see the selection, the bartender (regardless of their own status) would present the vampire with a closed menu that the vampire could peruse. the vampire would then ask for ‘number five’ and the staff member would retrieve that for them from the cooler Annabelle has already prepared. the vampire would be sure to close the menu before returning it to the mundane bartender, who is being paid enough that he or she does not really care about the weird things rich people do. (annabelle does try to have at least one silver star staff person at each ‘zone’ of the party, tho, and usually silver star guests would interact with them)

assumedly, annabelle would explain this all to these specific guests and alert them of any changes that may have been made from last year, like unfortunately if you would like a raw steak you will have to get that from the house kitchen (which deno would be able to get into by showing the security guard his nametag)

some humans dislike nametags as everyone should know who they are, but alas, they will then not be served alcohol. so. they put up with it.

transport

as previously alluded to, annabelle does offer plane tickets to guests to get them in and out of town. she also rents out the local hotel and car service - guests may check into the hotel as early as 8 am on New Years Day, and the rooms are booked until 8 am on Jan 3. towncars with staff drivers perform regular runs between the hotel and the Yates plantation to discourage drunk driving, and though guests are welcome to drive their own vehicles to the party, they will not receive their keys back until security determines them safe to drive. otherwise, a towncar will return them to the hotel and a valet will drive their car back for them, or they will driven back in the morning to pick it up. annabelle is all about safety yall

layout

assumedly, the Yates plantation was at one point at least 500 acres or so and perhaps still is, but most of it is farmland that annabelle pays other people to manage or has since sold of, so. i imagine ‘party’ activities are only really happening in maybe a 5 to 10 acre area that is more residential (has buildings, lawns are mowed, flowering tree, etc)

also im all about historical accuracy BUT a significant portion of the original mansion and other buildings did burn down after the civil war (actually NOT annabelle, i think, but who knows) and renovation of the property only began in the 1950′s when annabelle and matt decided to start trying to have children and some of that was redone anyways in the year before Alex’s birth. 

assuming the main house faces south, one would drive north on a very long driveway for some time before coming in view of the house- long circular drive, huge ass trees lining it, etc. towncars use the circle drive, everyone else pulls off into the lot on the right before reaching the house. on the lawn between the lot and the house’s main entrance is the check in table

on the back right hand side of the house is the separated kitchen, annabelle has converted it to industrial kitchen and office space for her various pursuits. family and silver guests would have access to this.

behind the main house is a patio/deck and garden combination that is almost excessive even by annabelle’s standards , and beyond that is the pool, which is drained and fenced off

on the eastern lawn (right of the house and kitchen and bit more northern) is the largest bar, and a more traditional bar set up with a smaller dance floor, karoke, what have you. maybe some dance dance revolution and arcade games off to one side?

north and west of that area (but more east than the pool?) is a silent auction that runs most of the night. items might include any number of things, as they are amassed by Annabelle and donated by guests or friends. So like, a piece or two by matt or even a commission from him might be on there. Super classy kitchen stuff from Annabelle’s line of products, or subscriptions to her magazines. A grand piano. A breakfast date with Justice Sotomayor. Random historical artifacts. Who the hell knows. Whatever you want to be there, it is. All guests can vote on which charities they wish the proceeds to go to, and which charities they’d like to see included next year  

on the western lawn (north of the house but maybe not as north as the karoeke bar area) is what used to be the carriage house. it is open on two sides so that a large L shaped dance floor goes through it if that makes sense- some people can dance inside or make requests of the dj, but the elevated platform itself spills out into the night air. the space between the two exposed floors is filled with chairs and tables and even some couch and benches, as well as towers of cubbies to put your shoes or things in. the ends of the dance floors parallel to the walls of the carriage house have tables of drinks and refreshments, as well as a bar each. the third side of the sticking out floors have tables and tables of food lined up, and chairs and tables to sit and eat at arc between these two ends so that the carriage house is completely encircled by festivities.

south of the carriage house and the main house is an art display, set up in zig-zagging aisles. Matt does the curation to highlight new and upcoming artists that he thinks are promising and deserve exposure, as well as old favorites of his that he has ‘on loan’ from museums. (matt owns a shit ton of art that he has given to galleries over the years in exchange for anonymity and if the possibility that he could maybe ‘borrow’ back a piece or two on occasion.) there are usually a few of his own pieces as well, though he thinks that is stupid and self-promoting and he tries to change the piece information to list the creator as ‘unknown’ or ‘anonymous’ late enough in the game where Annabelle won’t notice or wont have time to change it back) there is also a bar and food over here as well, though not nearly the selection, and Matt is known to hover near guests who are examining a Monet and eating SLOPPILY RIGHT NEXT TO IT DEAR GOD

hmmm what else is there

okay well obviously the main house- guests are allowed on the main floor, and generally the people in the house are more of the snooty-rich variety than the buy-gold-leaf-glitter-because-i-can variety, and they have minimal interest in mingling with the masses and enjoying themselves. so they stay in the soundproofed house and eat and drink things off serving trays and pride themselves on their good taste and breeding. if they are really feeling wild they might play cards (and resent that they are not allowed to smoke indoors) or ask the girl on the harp if she could switch to the piano a bit so they can really let their hair down. you know

there’s also random places across the massive lawn- another garden maybe, or a large table with a stack of boardgames and smaller tables about it (probably several of those ‘stations’). i imagine one can get sparklers somewhere and perhaps other small explosives, but they are not allowed inside house, the auction or art gallery.  maybe those are located north of the carriage house? somewhere alex is hoping bram and winona will not find

pretty much there is ample food and drink anywhere you go, but food central is at the carriage house and booze central is at the formal bar area. it’s night but everything is lit up with strings of twinkling lights, and there are a lot of ‘paths’ laid across the lawn, but they are largely ignored except for by staff wheeling food trolleys about. tablecloths and other decor are bright, solid colors and lanterns hang off of the flowering trees and are embedded throughout the garden areas. annabelle is an exuberant but tasteful decorator and she knows her audience- this party is mostly for enjoyment and has a wide range of guests, so things look ‘fun’ but not cheap. dishes are not disposable but napkins are, and guests can either leave their dishes at their tables or deposit them in the large rolling trays marked for such a purpose 

other things on the property but not accessible or easily in sight would be the stables and current ‘carriage house’/garage, perhaps some barns or farming related buildings, and the remains of the slaves quarters- those with good eyes may see some in the thick woods to the left when they heading up the drive , perhaps a quarter mile from the house

activities

hmm so obviously all the locations described above have various activities that might go with them, but im sure there are others. there are some ‘games’ that are usually played as well. for instance, there are often food tables (usually the ones not at food central) that have a theme to be guessed, and guests can submit their ideas. the submission box says how many tables there are this year and may give hints on possible themes and a guest might guess ‘table 77- foods eaten in disney movies. table 52- foods of french aristocracy circa 1650′ or whatever. there is also a game of trying to trip the hostess up by greeting her with your nametag turned over and seeing if she remembers who you are- annabelle says this is fair as she insists she knows everyone she invites and is introduced to, but has outlawed the participation of those under 10 due to their rapid aging (twins and multiples are fair game). idk there can pretty much be whatever

other (?)

lalala i dont know

[sidekickhq]

most wanted parents?

i’m going to include wanted connections we have for specific parents underneath the cut, but others that i think are REALLY wanted by all are : bruce wayne, sigyn, anna marie, daken akihiro, clark kent, barbara gordon, steve trevor, remy lebeau, donna troy, scott lang, wanda maximoff, matthew murdock, warren worthington ii, raven darkholme, hank mccoy, stephen strange, leonard snart, mary jane watson, pietro maximoff, wanda maximoff, cecelia reyes, kitty pryde, natasha romanoff, melinda may, cindy moon, namor, jean paul beaubier, peter quill, phil coulson, mick rory, maria hill !

AERONWY GWYNN, our VAJEN VAN DEN BOSCH fc is looking for a MOM / MEGAN GWYNN connection who looks like NATALIE DORMER / ANY RELEVANT FC who is 40+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( aeron + megan are really important ! when aeron was around 8ish their dad “ disappeared “ so their mom is so important to them. megan was also the one to send aeron to a hospital for post partum depression and psychosis. )

ALYSSA BEAUBIER, our HAYLEY WILLIAMS fc is looking for a MOM/JEANNE-MARIE BEAUBIER connection who looks like UTP, who is 46. you DON’T have to contact (they’d have a lot to talk about as Alyssa ran off with no contact at age 17 so 9 years ago. Alyssa has a share of mom problems mostly stemming from feeling like she fucked up being the one normal thing in his mom’s life by being a mutant. )

DANIEL FOSTER-THORSON, our TARJEI SANDVIK MOE fc is looking for a MOTHER (JANE FOSTER) connection who looks like NATALIE PORTMAN, KEIRA KNIGHTLY, UTP, who is 40+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying at danielthorson. ( so i don’t want to get too carried away with details but you’re more than welcome to contact me with any questions you might have! Essentially jane raised daniel (and any siblings he might’ve had) by herself, and initially she tried to keep him sheltered from his father and everything that could come with being a part of his world. But when Daniel was five, this changed- and Thor and everyone else became a part of his life. Apart from this Daniel absolutely adores his mother, she’s his favorite person in the world. Not to mention Thor would love to see her around! )

HUGO STARK, our JOSHUA CASTILLE fc is looking for a MOTHER / PEPPER POTTS connection who looks like UTP who is 50+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( give the stark kids their mum !! )

MAGGIE THANOSDOTTIR, our ZOEY DEUTCH fc is looking for a MOM / HELA connection who looks like CATE BLANCHETT, UTP who is 1000 + YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying at BBY-THANOS. ( maggie’s relationship with her mom is complicated, she lived/ grew up with thanos and by the time she was older didn’t feel she had a strong connection with her mother and is also a lil scared of her. lots to be left up for discussion though! )

NAOMI DANE-SUMMERS, our NAOMI SCOTT fc is looking for a MARCOS DÍAZ / FATHER / “STEPFATHER” connection who looks like ANY RELEVANT FC who is 45+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( Good Dad™ Marcos Díaz, naomi thinks the world of him !!! )

NORA LANCE-QUEEN, our JOSEFINE FRIDA PETTERSEN fc is looking for her MOTHER / DINAH LAUREL LANCE who looks like ( SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS, ADRIANNA PALICKI, DIANE KRUGER, MICHELLE PFEIFFER / ANY FC ) who is  MOM YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( nora is embarking on a new char arc that’s basically.. going to lead into her becoming a vigilante, smth she never rly wanted before now, and def like.. laying groundwork for her to Someday, whenever dinah steps down, mayhaps taking on the black canary mantle. she loves her dad, but she STANS her mom, so..pls )

NORA LANCE-QUEEN, our JOSEFINE FRIDA PETTERSEN fc is looking for her  FATHER / OLIVER QUEEN who looks like NIKOLAJ COSTER WALDAU, CHARLIE HUNNAM, MATT CZURCHY, RYAN GOSLING / ANY FC  who is DAD YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( oliver queen may have his - many - faults, but nora was honestly… always sort of a daddy’s girl, and that’s an unfortunate trait she may never rly lose. pls bring green arrow dad. i can’t offer much, but i can give u all the angst u could want. )

QUINTEN ISLEY-QUINZEL, our MATTHEW DADDARIO fc is looking for a MOTHER / PAMELA ISLEY connection who looks like BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD, JESSICA CHASTAIN, CHRISTINA HENDRICKS / UTP who is 40′s-50′s+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( tw for death: pam was a big part in quin’s resurrection – her & necromancer brought quin back to life after he died during the attack on the school last year. due to pam’s heavy influence, he ended up with very similar powers to pam and they share a deep connection now because of it. he’s always been really close to her but this only brought them closer. )

QUINTEN ISLEY-QUINZEL, our MATTHEW DADDARIO fc is looking for a MOTHER / HARLEY QUINN connection who looks like MICHELLE PFEIFFER, JAMIE CLAYTON, CHARLIZE THERON, KRISTEN BELL / UTP who is 40′s/50′s+ you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( quin is… such a mamma’s boy, honestly. he loves both of his moms SO MUCH and while he’s always been more similar to pam, he’s still super close to harley. give quin his moms! ) 

TRIXIE ESPINOZA, our CHRISTIAN SERRATOS fc is looking for her FATHERS / DAN ESPINOZA & LUCIFER MORNINGSTAR who look like JAY HERNANDEZ, ALFONSO HERRERA, GABRIEL LUNA, ANY MEXICAN FC ( DAN ) / DIEGO LUNA, RICKY WHITTLE, TOM ELLIS, ANY FC ( LUCIFER ) who are 40+ ( DAN ) & 1000+ ( LUCIFER ) YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( healthy coparents, unite !! chloe and dan are two of lapd’s best and brightest, and trix loves her parents so much - but she ALSO loves her stepfather, lucifer, and he’s 100% on the same level in her mind as her birth parents. )

TRIXIE ESPINOZA, our CHRISTIAN SERRATOS fc is looking for her MOTHER / CHLOE DECKER who looks like LAUREN GERMAN, VERA FARMIGA, WINONA RYDER, SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, AMY ACKER, PLAYERS CHOICE who is  40+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( if u have seen lucifer, then u already have a pretty good idea of trixie’s dynamic with her mom! her dad is great and all, but… chloe was the one who was REALLY there for her, ya know? i kinda had it hced that chloe is now with lucifer cause that’s how the show was heading to and i didn’t imagine anyone snagging anymore lucifer chars, but i’m! definitely open to changing that! just gimme her mom pls! )

WILLIAM WADE WILSON, our BRANDON FLYNN fc is looking for a FATHER (WADE WILSON)  connection who looks like RYAN REYNOLDS, UTP+ who is AGE you ( DON’T ) have to contact prior to applying at ( willicmwilson ). ( look, i just want a wade. I’m also willing to make you gif icons of Ryan as Wade if you’d like, just shoot me a message!)

WILLIAM WADE WILSON, our BRANDON FLYNN fc is looking for a MOTHER (VANESSA CARLYSLE )  connection who looks like JENNIFER GARNER, HILARY SWANK, UTP+ who is AGE  you ( DON’T ) have to contact prior to applying at ( WILLICMWILSON). (honestly i’m just looking for will’s family- i’m not going to dictate what you have to do. But feel free to contact me if you have any questions before applying! )

WINIFRED BANNER-ROSS, our SOPHIE TURNER fc is looking for a FATHER / BRUCE BANNER connection who looks like MARK RUFFALO, UTP who is 45+ YEARS OLD. you DON’T have to contact prior to applying. ( winnie and bruce spent a fair chunk of her childhood – ages 8 to 14 – in laga, east timor, to move away from general ross and help give timorese people access healthcare, farming, and education )