#clapperboard: * take two *

[sparrowlucero]

ik you were joking but I would be genuinely interested to hear about the flux cowriting credits strife if you feel like going into detail on it

So I have a big conspiracy theory about season 13 of Doctor Who ("Flux"), namely that there's a lost episode was scripted and even possibly filmed in near entirety, but ended up being cut and cannibalized in post production due to behind the scenes issues, and the fandom has yet to pick up on it.

For anyone who doesn't watch the show: Flux is a miniseries of Doctor Who; a full season was not commissioned because it was produced during Covid. The most important stuff about it for the purposes of this post are:

It's 6 episodes long (¹). The episodes are all directly continuous and could not be shuffled around. (I should clarify here that, no, the showrunner can't simply choose on a whim to make 10 episodes, or only make 4; they had to stick to 6, as that was the amount they were picked up and scheduled for)

The showrunner, Chris Chibnall , wrote every episode apart from episode 4 (Village of the Angels) which he has a co-writing credit on.

(More subjectively but perhaps relevant) The season is largely considered to be kind of a structural mess and (less subjectively) there appears to some abnormal and consistent production issues (²)

So the first thing I need to evidence here is that Chris Chibnall, aforementioned showrunner and writer of the entire season, was late. Like, really late.

Word of mouth gossip had been circulating for a while that there was some sort of on-set problem involving filming having to be paused because he was still finishing scripts: (³)

This would later be confirmed at a Gallifrey One panel (⁴) with Matt Strevens, the executive producer, who suggests that filming stopped to allow Chris Chibnall to finish scripts; he further implies that large swathes of episode 5/Block 2 weren't written until Episode 4/Block 1 (in which Kevin McNally debuts) was filming:

So with that context, let's talk about that Episode 4, "Village of the Angels", the only episode not attributed solely to Chris Chibnall. Co written by Maxine Alderton.

The filming pics reveal an interesting bit of trivia for Village: namely, the clapperboards show that the story was actually filmed as episode 5, not 4:

As the above tweet suggests, this doesn't make much sense. The miniseries is, again, a single continuous plot. It's not like they flipped Village and the current episode 5, Survivors of the Flux; the latter explicitly takes place chronologically after it. And yet, Village having been intended as the penultimate episode 5 is further evidenced by the original trailer for it, in which a character states that the story takes place on the 28th of November. This line is dubbed over in the final episode and subsequent trailers to instead say the 21st:

Why is this line important enough to dub? Because that's meant to line up with the air date of the episode. Episode 4 aired on the 21st and 5 on the 28th. But something happened in post production, and now it's episode 4 on the 21st instead (⁵):

So if none of these episodes were moved around but it does seem like Village was meant to be episode 5, where and what is the original episode 4?

I have a theory.

Flux has a recurring subplot involving two side characters, a married couple (Bel and Vinder) who have been separated by the titular disaster and are traveling the universe to reunite with each other. This story is told through segments sprinkled throughout the episodes. These have a different writing style (including a diary-esque narration only present in these scenes) and an internally consistent visual style that looks somewhat different to the other parts of the season.

Village of the Angels, for instance, is a moody, dark episode set in a village in the 1960s:

However, Bel and Vinder's segments in the episode have a somewhat different look:

On top of this, they never intersect with the episode's A plot (literally or in any clear thematic way), and the majority of these segments piece together into one single scene that seems to have been cut up.

So, what I think is that the bel and vinder scenes across the middle of the season were originally a single full story, an episode 4 that took a breather from the main plot and characters to follow the lives of these two side characters; the differing visual and writing style is due to it originally having been filmed separately and with a somewhat different artistic intent. I believe Chris Chibnall's cowriting credit on Angels exists because these specific scenes are from a script he wrote, but that otherwise the Angel script can be credited solely to Maxine Alderton by normal cowriting standards.

"But wait," you might say, "I thought there were already 6 episodes that are all plot relevant? If no episodes existing right now can be cut, how could this 7th episode exist?"

Remember this tidbit:

The adventures in question comprise a large amount of the next episode (Episode 5: Survivors of the Flux), nearly 20 minutes of a 50ish minute runtime (and frankly, much of the rest of the episode is somewhat fluffy build up that feels like it's taking advantage of an extended runtime). A version without this added plot would, in my opinion, only warrant one final episode rather than two.

I think the showrunner, still scrambling to finish scripts as the episodes were being filmed, and making a snap decision to include a new major subplot (⁶), wrote a finale script so long and with so many plot threads that the only way to keep all this material of was to split it into two episodes, 5 and 6. And because they only could only make 6, he had to get rid of one of the previous 5 episodes - the already scripted and filmed ones - to make room for this new episode 5. A tough order when it's a plot-heavy miniseries... if not for episode 4 being a standalone divergence from the main plot about the lives of two side characters, one that could, in theory, be cut up and dispersed throughout the season without continuity issues for the main story.

(Some notes and clarifications under the cut)

(1) some sources initially reported the episode count as 8; this wasn't inaccurate - the 2022 new years/easter special were part of the episode order. Flux itself was always meant to be 6 episodes long. (2) A few of the production issues include: - episodes filming without a second draft:

- the fx team that had been on the show since 2005 abruptly leaving midseason (because they "didn't feel like part of the team anymore") and returning as soon as the creative team changed, including the head of the studio implying they weren't properly credited (mild vfx body horror warning in link):

- people working on additional projects such as books not receiving clear information on the characters they were assigned to write:

- and likely a director who was put on hold due to a script being rewritten:

Among other things I can't directly cite at the moment, including vfx artists having to do whole episodes solo in crunch time and writers not being told their work was massively overhauled until it aired due to major changes being extremely late in production.

While I don't wish to pontificate too much here and many of these things are pretty normal by themselves, I do think it could paint a picture of a production where an episode well into filming may genuinely be cut on a whim and without consideration for the crew, artists, etc. working on the show. (3) This reddit post comes from a leaker who was known to be consistently accurate. (4) Gallifrey One does not allow filming of panels. I know Kevin's livetweets of panels to be accurate. (5) It's very, very unlikely the entire season was moved back a week, as the premier is a Halloween special that was certainly always intended to air on Oct. 31st. (6) I don't wish to insinuate Chris Chibnall is, throughout his career, an inherently poor showrunner, but I do think that maybe his jump from police procedural - a genre that doesn't involve quite as much concept art, vfx work, marketing, convention panels, set building, episodic storytelling, and keeping in touch with expanded universe producers - to flagship science fiction adventure show may have contributed to some of these issues, especially when he was already in the mindset that things could be changed on a whim (perhaps not such a major issue when it's broadchurch and no new sets need be built)

(source) Basically I don't really think this is "the showrunner's fault" or anything; more that a perfect storm of a showrunner who was habitually late on scripts, used to writing lowkey cop dramas, covid, an entirely serialized season, etc. may have led to these issues

[shankss-magnificent-ass]

Imagine having deep discussions with the Whitebeard pirates

Ace: Have you ever wondered why the world government opposes people so far away from them, doing what we do?

Marco: [mutters] I wish you would just stop saying odd shit.

Whitebeard: well we're breaking the law, obviously.

You: It's a little deeper than that. It's because what many pirates do, is the same thing the world government does.

Marco: We are not similar in any way.

You: no, think about it, what does the world government do? They lay out a bunch of rules and if you don't follow them, they use violence to force most of the world into following them. And if a nation elects not to join the world government, or can't afford to join, they raid and pillage those islands and take their citizens as slaves.

Izou: On the other hand, if a nation does join the world government, they have to pay heavenly tributes, because if they don't, the Marines will raid and pillage your country. But if they pay the heavenly tributes, the marines will protect their nation from outsiders, like pirates and non-world-government-nations.

Whitebeard: However, on top of paying the heavenly tribute, the average person also pays local and national taxes, so it's a heavy burden for some countries.

Marco: Oh my gods, it's like a protection racket, that common thugs run, just on a massive scale.

Whitebeard: and, like many pirates.

You: they don't like pirates, for the same reason they don't like common thugs, because you all are muscling in on their turf.

Thatch: so most governments are just organized, and socially acceptable, thuggery.

You: Not all, look at Alabasta for instance, King Cobra has a lot of social programs for his people. Food programs and affordable housing for the poor. Medical programs that put a doctor in every village and a bunch of other stuff. The people should receive something back from their government besides 'protection'.

Ace: I know a lot of nations that are in the world government have a large lower class that they exploit labor from and bleed them dry with taxes, tolls, and fines. I can never forget what I saw at the Grey Terminal out of the Goa Kingdom's Great Gate.

Thatch: That's because in "normal society" they value wealth, and look down on and take advantage of people who don't have it. Meanwhile, in pirate culture, we value strength and look down on and take advantage of those who are weaker, like how we raid other crew's ships because we can, and they can't stop us.

Izou: [sighs] That's an oversimplification If I ever heard one.

Thatch: [steps into Izou's space bubble.] You got something to say to me?

Izou: I've been to both world-government nations and non-world-government nations, and I can tell you that they value both strength and wealth. It's just different classes value one over the other. The upper and more privileged class values wealth, and daintiness because they can hire the strong. While the less privileged value strength, because it helps them survive, because they don't have money.

Thatch: I know that, did you forget I grew up poor as shit, mister little daimyo's vassal-boy.

Izou: And I was a wandering beggar minstrel before that, also keep Oden's name out of your mouth.

Thatch: how about you fucking make me?

Marco: [hops between the two men and dramatically claps his hands together like a clapperboard.] Aaand scene, that was a brilliant performance, gentlemen.

Ace: it was almost hard to tell that you two are actually friends.

Thatch: [huffs] Alright, I'll take it back, I'm sorry Izou.

Izou: I'm sorry too

You: you all are too fighty.

Ace: bitch, you're the most stab happy out of all of us.

You: I am not

Whitebeard: Just last night, you stabbed Vista's hand with a fork because he kept reaching over your plate.

You: ... I did do that, but only after asking him to stop three times. Which is more than reasonable, he's a grown-ass adult, and he, and his fuck ass mustache, should know basic table etiquette by now.

Ace: and then you stabbed me for no reason, with the same fork!

You: that was for good measure, just in case you got any ideas!

List of Up-and-coming works || Master list || Twitter| Kofi || Patreon

[schoenpepper]

This Love is Skin Tight

Intro: Vil's love has arms and teeth, it latches onto you and never lets go.

Warnings: bad writing, awful grammar, proofread by quillbot, he's kinda nuts ngl, just like i like my men, death idk, yandere, curses and poisons and stuff, like one German word and a couple French but it's from google translate, swear words

A/N: Got overexcited and rushed through my first request. I hope you like it anon whose emoji I can't understand (worm? intestine? noodle? isaw anon what).

Masterlist

The dominoes fall one by one, and it starts with a potionology exam.

One you fail, mind you, but Vil can't think of a more perfect entry point to your life. He's the Pomefiore housewarden after all; he got his position by virtue of his potionology (and poison brewing 💜) skills, so you would obviously come to him for help. He would scold you for failing in the first place, but he would reluctantly agree to tutor you. Alone. Behind locked doors. Well after curfew. He's so generous, really, should you be too scared to traverse campus in the middle of the night on your lonesome, he would even be willing to lend you a room in the dorm (but if it just so happens that the empty rooms are dusty, he's afraid he won't be able to use magic to clean them, and instead, he'll have to lend you his bed). The perfect plan leading to his perfect romance.

"So I got Riddle senpai to teach me!"

What?

His head turns so fast towards your table in the cafeteria that he's sure his neck almost snaps, but he's too preoccupied with your words to care. You chose to have that hot-tempered redhead tutor you rather than him? He's clearly the best option. Sure, Rosehearts is smart, but book smart wouldn't give you the knowledge and ability that his hands-on teaching would give you. You've made a terrible decision; ergo, he must rectify it.

He makes his way over to you in confident strides, making sure to flash you his best side when he calls out to you. "Süßkartoffel, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation from my table. If you're struggling so much at potionology, I could gracefully lend you my time to teach you, even amidst my very busy schedule."

You'll say yes, of course. He's already offered himself to you; what more do you want? He inspects the expression on your face and thinks of how much lovelier it would look once he gained control over your skincare routine.

"Oh, no, thank you, Vil senpai." You reply.

Frowns bring wrinkles, anger brings wrinkles.

Vil has to repeat the sentence over and over again in his mind for him not to break then and there. Maybe you'll agree to his offer if he accidentally drops two cursed sugar cubes into Rosehearts' lemon tea? He can't find it in himself to verbalize the threat when you smile at him so innocently, your eyes sparkling as you spoke. "I wouldn't want to take up your time, I know you barely have enough time for yourself." He fails to reply before the bell rings, and you pat his shoulder twice before skipping away with your merry band of idiots.

He did not spend at least thirty minutes in his room after classes just burying his face into the part of the blazer you'd touched. That would be disgraceful.

The second domino tips over when you visit the Film Research club. He preens like a peacock at your arrival, making sure his beret is snug on his champagne locks and his camel trenchcoat is absolutely flawless—not a speck of dirt on it. He acts undeterred by your presence, crossing one leg over the other as he sits on the folding chair. Lilac eyes glance your way before going back to the set, and he gestures at the staff manning the clapperboard. Vil pretends that he's all too focused on the actors, though he keeps you in his peripheral. Thus, he's halfway to insanity when he notices you're giggling with Ortho by the curtains instead of fawning over his gorgeous figure. How dare you?

You're so annoying.

Why aren't you tripping over yourself for him the way that you should? This is ridiculous!

His hold on the megaphone slips, and the sound of it crashing to the floor stops the actors on the scene. "Apologies." Vil looks at them haughtily. "Your acting was so boring and uninspired that my hand fell asleep."

Ha, see if he doesn't curse that robot child to never be around five feet of you again.

The students scurry back to their original places and restart the scene. Now you're finally looking at him. He straightens his posture to an impeccable standard under your admiring gaze, and even now, he still can't find a way to concentrate on his club activities. No, he wants to drag you over to sit on his lap in the director's chair and have you play with the clapperboard in that adorable fidgety manner you do whenever you're anxious. The scene finishes with audible sighs of relief from the actors.

"Y/N. Come here."

You walk over to him. "Yes, senpai?"

"Did you learn anything from their performance or did you just come here to chatter with Ortho?" Vil's tone comes out perhaps a little more poisonous than he would have liked, but you don't seem to mind it as you chuckle sheepishly. "Sorry, I wasn't watching too closely." You don't sound sorry at all.

"Then don't waste your time here if you're just going to be unproductive." Before he could offer you a chance at being his (permanent) assistant director, you bow at a perfect 45-degree angle. "I'm so sorry, senpai. I'll leave, then. I'm very sorry to disturb you." You walk away faster than he can stop you, and it makes him wonder if perhaps he should just hex your shoes to stay in place every time he's saying something that you so love to conveniently cut off. Would it kill you to let him finish his sentences? The corner of his lip twitches. He takes another deep breath.

He's a little too close to just locking you away in a basement forever.

The last domino falls and shatters his resolve to be a normal person and court you like a normal person would (read: meticulously create a series of coincidences that will have you seeing him in a new light and making you fall for him).

On such a beautiful, brilliant sunny day, he finds storm clouds drawing above his head at the sight he catches in the botanical garden. Leona Kingscholar, of all people, seems so comfortable laying his head down on your lap as you sit against a tree with a book in your hands. At Vil's fuming, Rook drops down next to him (where the fuck did he come from) and gleefully asks a question, plucking the string of his bow. "Permission to hunt the roi des lions, mon roi?" For once, he's glad that his best friend is a freak. The word leaves his lips before he can even think about it.

"Granted."

Whoosh, an arrow flies through the air and pins a corner of Leona's vest to the ground when he makes a move to dodge. "Ah, you were awake!" Rook shouts as he runs over to the beastman with a wide smile. "This should make the hunt more fun."

Leona clicks his tongue and sits up before bolting right across the field.

"Get away, you fucking nutjob!"

"Non, non, this is a permitted hunt!"

Vil watches with a subtle smile playing on the curve of his lips. When he finally turns to you, he finds a numb expression on your pretty face. "My, süßkartoffel, I didn't think that you and that lion were so close." You shrug and close your book. "I was walking when he pulled me down and claimed me as his pillow, so I just went with it."

Sorry, you just went with it?

His smile feels a little too heavy to keep up.

You just went with it? Are you serious? Are you real? What if I knocked you out right now and chained you to my bed? Will you still go along with it, then? What about if I dose your food with love potions?

"I see. Y/N, walk with me." Vil commands, snapping his fingers. You oblige and follow him all the way back to the Pomefiore dormitory in a deadly silent stroll. He opens the door to his room for you and locks it, murmuring a quick curse on the doorknob before turning to face you. "I would like to preface this by saying that this is not the way I wished to confess to you."

"No problem. What would you like to confess?" You have the nerve to beam at him in this situation. Do you even know what he's saying?!

You sit down on the edge of his bed, looking up at him so innocently. So naive and guileless.

He thinks he'd like to ruin you.

He wants to break you down into pieces and rebuild you in a way where you would want him in this monstrous form, all envy and sharp claws unsheathed. He wants to piece you back together with his name in every shard of your being. He wants to engrave you into himself, and by doing so, never be apart ever again. The only thing he does is kneel at your feet.

"Please tell me why you're like this." Vil whispers softly, leaning his head on your knee.

"I'm not sure I follow..."

"I love you." There's relief when he finally gets the words out of his mouth. He should have stopped there. Instead, the rest of his misshapen adoration comes spilling from his lips, confessions of unholy yearning leaving him like a prayer. "Truly, I love you so much that I despise you. I love you like the world loves the sun; I wish to burn in flames to witness your splendor. I love you like the tides love the moon; my heart threatens to engulf shores in watery death should you choose to look away from me. I love you like no one else has ever loved before; they are all embers in comparison to this fiery hearth I've tended for you." He feels your fingers gently running through his hair.

"Senpai..."

"Do you not find me ugly like this? Despicable? A monster comparable to eldritch horrors?" Vil frowns, his eyes teary. He is not a man who weeps, but what he is is an actor of great renown. "My love for you is too intense; it threatens to kill everyone you care for in an attempt to keep you for myself. My love is too eternal; it wishes to isolate you from those dregs of society you call friends; it wishes to devour you in your entirety. My love for you whispers to me with bloodlust, and only your flesh will satisfy it." He takes your hand and kisses your knuckles gently.

"Okay."

"Er, pardon?"

You shrug, patting his head. "If you like me that much, let's be together. So, like, do we kiss now or...?"

Vil stares up at you wide-eyed.

"Kiss?"

"Isn't that what couples do?"

"Pardon? Are we," He blinks. "Are we a couple?"

"I thought you liked me? I like you too. So we're a couple now, right?" You lean down and kiss his lips. You're inexperienced, for sure, only awkwardly fitting your mouths together. Vil thinks he might be insane with the way he chases after your lips, regardless.

[aangelinakii]

ONCE MORE TO SEE YOU.

— lights, camera, action!

summary : when you star in a film with a-lister bruce wayne, you can't help but be starstruck.

note : i was going to make this gn, but i found it difficult to describe the reader in a way that it could go both ways, so the reader will be female described :)

warning : mention of death, but not in detail like at all it's just in passing

when you'd gotten the call-back, nothing could have prepared you for kissing the bruce wayne.

bruce wayne was a-list; no, higher than that, if that were even possible. though, for him, anything was possible. he was not just an actor, he was a star.

and it wasn't like you were unknown, wasn't like you didn't know the role would include a kiss — it was a romance, for goodness' sake! — but part of you felt you shouldn't be here. someone like diana prince, perhaps. she was glamorous. she would fit here.

you weren't born on money, your status was achieved. your place here was deserved. but, beside a man like bruce wayne — status ascribed — you couldn't help but feel small.

yet, despite it all, here you stood before the man, on a set built to resemble an old world war-time train station. films were getting bigger now — bigger and better �� and it felt like the platform you stood upon had been made from real brick, and the fake locomotive behind you could have been mistaken for real as it puffed pale steam.

once more to see you focused on a pair of forbidden lovers in the time of the second world war. in the modern day, films struggled to replicate the feel of older, war-time movies, but this picture would change the game. that, you were sure of.

fidgeting with the fuzzy fabric of your green military jacket, running the lines over in your head, you looked over at the man before you, dressed in an old fashioned military costume also, although missing the jacket. his character, charles, would be going away to the front line, whilst your character, emmeline, would stay in your town to tend to the wounded.

today's schedule, after almost three months, you were filming the final scene.

after a long, unwinding love story, charles and emmeline share their first, and possibly last, kiss before charles catches the express, perhaps to never be seen again.

a makeup brush came to blot at the side of your nose, and someone came to perfect the perch of bruce's military cap on his head. both assistants disappeared just as quickly as they popped up, and the director bellowed.

"camera!" and it signalled to you and bruce that the digital camera positioned beside the two of you, stood opposite each other, was rolling.

another assistant stepped into frame, holding a clapperboard. "final scene. take one." snap!

immediately, your posture straightened, and you felt yourself take on the character of emmeline; a woeful lady, distraught, heartbroken. her one true love, as soon as she has got him, will be going away, possibly losing his life in the process.

"and.. action!"

everything in the studio went silent; not a hum, not a sound. not even the extras milling about far in the background spoke.

forehead creasing softly, you took a shaky breath as you looked on at bruce.

"charles, i..." you muttered, words a whisper past your red lips. an unsure step forward was followed by the soft click of your heel. "are you sure? you could always stay here, tend to the wounded by my side."

even as emmeline spoke those words, she knew charles would not oblige. he had a duty for his country.

his bottom lip trembled slightly, so softly you could miss it if you blinked, and then he shook his head, eyelids creasing as they fell halfway down his eyes.

"you know i can't, emmeline." when bruce spoke, he owned the transatlantic accent of the time; one the two of you had taken various dialect lessons to master, and now you sounded like you would fit right in on the set of casablanca. "my name is in the lists. i am fighting for my country."

bruce took a small step closer.

the words clung to your throat for a moment before pushing them out, eyes piercing up into him beneath upturned brows.

"will i ever see you again, charles?"

that line was supposed to be the killer, one quoted for years on end. it needed to be perfect. you would be lying if you didn't say you'd been practicing it the most; in your trailer, in your bathroom, as you got ready for bed, as you made breakfast. just to find the right tone.

hand a tremor, bruce reached up to pull the hat from his head, and clutch it dearly to his chest. he didn't reply.

your pleading eyes remained on him for a moment longer, lines tugging at the corners of your mouth.

after an agonising moment, you tore them away, stepping back gingerly, hands coming up to brush against the material of your jacket. his jacket.

"oh, i beg your pardon," you hummed hurriedly, moving to peel the military jacket from your shoulders. "i should return this to you. if you aren't in uniform, they'll reprimand you."

but before you could remove it, charles stepped closer once more, and tugged the sleeves back up your shoulders, almost too rushed. "no, no, emmeline, i..." he removed his hands sheepishly, stepping back. "please. keep it. keep me with you, whilst i am no longer here. you will forget me, i'm sure, but a part of you shall always remain here. at home. with you."

as he spoke, your eyes widened with each word, in awe, in shock, in adoration.

jaw quivering, you worked to pull your mouth shut.

"i would never forget you." words barely above a whisper, the mics hidden in your clothes aching to pick it up. you shifted, voice slightly louder, more sincere. "charles, i would never forget you."

bruce edged closer, still clutching his green cap to his chest, eyebrows beginning to softly upturn.

ever so slowly, ever so agonisingly, bruce leaned in, until your lips touched, and you melted into the sweet embrace. beside you, you were acutely aware of the way the camera began to slowly move in towards you.

once the camera had rolled forward to the end of the short track, you and bruce pulled apart, lips still hovering inches away from one another, aching to touch again.

"and cut!"

as if you had never been in such an intimate scene, you and bruce pulled away, the characters of emmeline and charles completely dissipating from your statures.

crew milled about, and bruce looked down at you, taking a water bottle from his assistant.

"you okay?" he hummed, and your heart thumped, still starstruck. no longer were you admiring the poster of him in your childhood bedroom, you were gazing up at the real thing.

a small smile appeared upon your lips, and you nodded, grateful. "yeah, you were great."

"me?" he practically scoffed on his mouthful of water. "after the release, you'll be bigger than me, (name). promise."

[suukee]

ready, set, cope 彡 aot characters

» summary ⋆ actor au scenarios/headcanons.

» content ⋆ overall fluff. various attack on titan characters, focused on erwin smith. might be ooc, this is pretty silly.

» word count ⋆ 515

» my note ⋆ i’m going to post some of the things sitting in my drive to clear some space for assignments. 😢

Thinking about Erwin’s appearances on set despite no longer being in the show for years now. That doesn’t stop him from coming from back time to time. He tries to attend every award ceremony to support his friends and the rest of the crew. The same treatment is often reciprocated when it comes to his award ceremonies.

One time, Zeke posted on his Instagram story regarding the filming season and how it was about to start again. Make-up set, props ready in the background. Other actors were seen sitting around in their uniforms. Erwin was there to give a surprise visit, giving him a side hug with a clapperboard in his right hand.

A month or two after an episode is aired (to avoid spoilers), Connie uploads blooper videos to his YouTube channel. One of the few moments that get really popular is Levi breaking character every few seconds because he can't stop laughing at the ticklish feeling of the bandages over his eyes and lips.

Eren and Jean stream video games on Twitch (scheduled on weekends) and are really great friends outside of the show. They often drag Armin into it, who isn’t great at games, but he tries. What matters to them is having fun regardless of what they do! They get into character once in a while, saying lines or coming up with something silly, and the chat goes insane.

Erwin ends up creating a channel to post vlogs every week or two. He gets active on social media, but he isn’t constantly up to date with trends. He’s a supportive guy though, and he learns the power of emojis the hard way.

Levi doesn’t have social media except for a Twitter account that he never uses (mainly to claim his name so no one else could take it, and there’s no profile picture). His bio is something simple that the kids come up with.

Moblit falls under this category of non-social media users but appears in posts of others.

Levi had no idea people were shipping his character with someone else, but he doesn’t get why. There’s hardly romance in this story aside from Mikasa and Eren, it’s mostly about war.

In a Q&A, he briefly admits that Eruri is cute but thinks Levihan has more chemistry.

During an interview, Connie once accidentally said a minor spoiler and Reiner tried to cover it up by flexing his muscles as a form of distraction. Mikasa laughed the entire time as the two freaked out, and Bertholdt had to tell them, “Be quiet before you guys say something worse!

However, 95% of the time, it’s Eren who spoils almost everything about the show… if it isn’t for Annie covering his mouth and Floch suddenly making weird “ah-ah!” screams to stop him from saying anything else.

Levi had brought duck tape to cover the poor boy’s mouth—if needed, he claimed.

Petra and Oluo were in awe when they heard about AurEtra. She gives her support to Eruri and Aruani, while Oluo thinks love is the last thing to worry about in this tragic journey.

[ginnyluvstimmy]

welcome home (timothée x f.reader)

[ where timothée breaks up and realises you're the only one he actually craves for ]

Hollywood.

It was where you had met.

Between the clapperboard, action! of the director, the hair and make-up sessions which annoyed both of you and the low quality jokes just to kill time.

Luca Guadagnino had personally requested your presence among those pages of the script, and he himself said that he had been admiring your career in the world of Hollywood since time.

You were both Italian, this bonded you and created mutual respect.

The way your Italian accent rolled off your tongue when you spoke to Luca drove Timothée crazy.

Insane.

Maybe the sexiest turn on he could receive.

Just as his delicate, clean, casual French stunned you, you too had figured out how to make him take the bait.

The moments you treasured the most were those behind the scenes. The laughter, his schizophrenic outbursts from the excitement of filming, his unpredictable moves, his pleasant speeches.

The way his curls made him look like a puff, his green/grey eyes where you could get lost in the edges of the foggy jungle, his French cheekbones that mirrored him, in your eyes, like a gentleman from the 1800s, and how his bottom lip was definitely more full and inviting than the one above.

You immediately started hanging out regularly even off camera, without the buzz and movement of filming.

No weeks passed that he confidently proposed to you.

It was no longer a matter of pretending for the production staff, you two weren't in the spotlight and maybe you loved each other even more.

But then came the commitments, the premieres, the collaborations, and suddenly you found yourself with a different plane ticket in your hand every day, and you rarely saw Timothée.

This displeased both of you, especially since he wasn't in a very different situation.

But then the pace slowed down and the world collapsed on you.

Kylie Jenner...

You scrolled through Instagram posts. Kylie.

You read every film article. Kylie.

You checked every interview, questionnaire, news of the day.

Kylie.

Timothée he had left you for her, another.

Without warning, without a reason, without a moment to say goodbye and explain one last time.

You were exhausted, physically and mentally, and the suitcases from your countless business trips were still at the entrance.

Months, months passed...and every time you called your ex-boyfriend he neglected you with 'I'm busy', 'I'll call you back later, ok?', 'it's hard to explain, you wouldn't understand'.

What was there to explain? Did you do something wrong? Did you forget his birthday? The monthly anniversary?

Absolutely not, you weren't the type.

The only relief you felt was listening to the opinions of the fandom and the parazzi: they were much less convinced of this relationship than you already were. It was a sign, it definitely meant something...but every day was torture without his laughter, his cuddles, his French kisses.

It all felt too real.

More months passed, and he didn't show up.

Valentine's Day was approaching and you would have felt a new knot in your stomach gathering in you.

Suddenly, the last person you thought would call, made your cell phone ring.

You picked up, waiting for Timothée to speak first and give you a good explanation.

A very good one, you hoped.

"Hey, Y/n..." His voice cracked and you could tell he was sobbing.

"Listen I...I swear I can explain it all..."

You waited on the other line, you weren't in the mood to answer. If you had done so you would certainly have screamed so loudly that you would have broken his eardrum, throwing that whole situation of the Kardashian in his damn face.

"Can I come to your place...?"

You were about to say a harsh 'no' when you realised he would have shown himself anyway.

You hung up, and the house reverberated with a dull hum.

[ ... ]

He showed at your door with a red rose, red and swollen eyes and his entire figure soaked wet by the heavy rain that was pounding the neighborhood gravel.

You let him in, without saying a word.

He stopped at the carpet in the entrance, as if he suddenly realized that that house was yours and yours alone and he no longer had anything to do with it.

"My manager forced me..." He whispered, but his faint voice died in the air before he could reach you.

"Sorry?"

"I said...my manager forced me. The whole thing of Kylie, it was for...money, you know. I haven't decided on it, my staff has the power. I'm sorry if I didn't warn you, I couldn't...I had to make people believe it was real, you understand me?"

You knew you should have felt immense relief at those words, but they made you even more nervous.

"You're completely out of your mind..."

"But it's true! I'm telling the truth Y/n...she...she never gave me the slightest attention, it was a dirty game, we were both pretending just to live together on the edge of decency! You know I could never leave you from one day to another!!"

You let him stay at the entrance, as if you wanted to see the mat suck him alive.

But Timothée couldn't wait anymore and hugged you tightly, sobbing like a child in the crook of your neck.

His tears ran down your skin, his arms setting a fire in your stomach.

"Je t'aimerai toujours, tu sais..."

"Ti amerò per sempre anch'io, Timothée."

[lichenes]

#1 dad(dy)

based on those tweets/tumblr posts: ⓪ ① ② ③ ④ ⑤ ⑥ ⑦ CW: mentions of smoking, actor au wc: 571 .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚ .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚

The sound of clapperboard was heard as the day of filming began. “Today, due to immense demand, Gabriel Fouché, will be reading your thirst tweets!” Said the director with a bright smile. A part of the contract with the studio recording “Arcane” was to take part in a few interviews, this one was a bit- unusual for him. 

“RIP to Silco, you would’ve loved vaping ‘bandaged heart’, you would’ve been doing crazy smoke tricks on tiktok ‘R. N’.” He chuckled. “What does R, N mean?” Laughs could be heard behind the cameras. Someone answered. “Right now.” Gabriel nodded. 

“Well I did have to learn how to smoke cigars and do tricks with the smoke for the role. I do have to admit I am a habitual cigarette smoker so it was infinitely easier to master the art.” He paused for a moment. “As for the tiktok tricks - I’m a jughead when it comes to technology so unless there would be someone doing all the recording… you aren’t seeing those videos any time soon.” 

“The children yearn for the mines, and my photo underneath it.” He burst out laughing, putting his hand on his mouth. “Ahahah- okay, okay. Yeah they do.” 

“I think about this Silco moment every day, my god he’s so hot here.” Gabriel tilted his head. “Hmm… it seems most fans of Silco find him most attractive when he’s kicking the camera. I wonder why.” He put his hand on his chin in faux thought and then laughed.

“Sorry but older Silco ‘greater-than’ young Silco. I actually have to disagree on that.” He said. “Younger Silco was in one scene and he captured so many hearts, both on set and amongst the viewers, that Older Silco didn’t manage to do with all his screen time. Younger Silco is something special…” 

“Hashtag Zaundads, actually!” Gabriel got closer to the camera and put his hand to his mouth almost as to whisper a secret. “Me and Gerard actually kissed to prepare for the alternate universe episode, to really get into character, you know.” Gasps were heard in the studio. “I’m joking.” He said winking towards the camera.

“Silco’s left eye is missing eyelids so I guess he was sleeping like this every night. Exactly what happened I can attest to that.” He nodded solemnly. “Actually, SIlco just doesn’t sleep ever, that’s how he runs Zaun, he does not let his guard down even for a moment. Poor guy, he needs to relax more.” 

“P, L, S - please, I assume? - Stop posting Silco thirst he looks like my dad, and a comment left under that, is your dad single? I’d love to meet my doppelganger! Send me a message and we shall schedule it.” He said half-joking as an email popped up on the screen. 

“And the final one- okay who the hell was all over my dash two years ago thirsting over Silco, I understand you now. I want his whole wardrobe and he can read the dictionary to me until I fall asleep. I actually have a deal to voice a certain someone in a new project we’ve been working on with the cast so keep your eyes open!” He said. “And as for my wardrobe, I’ve seen some pretty talented people replicating my outfits! So it’s clearly easy to steal Silco’s wardrobe.” 

“Thank you all for watching!!” He exclaimed with his million dollar smile as the cameras stopped rolling.

.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚ .  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚.  * 　　 ✦ . 　⁺ 　 .⁺ 　　 ˚

masterlist

[this-daydream-is-dangerous-13]

Daylight MV by Harry Styles - why was it not the unreleased Two Ghosts MV 2.0? A timeline.

This video, released on July 19, 2023, is jam packed with Blondie and Haylor references. I think it was almost the sister project to the never released Two Ghosts MV…until it wasn’t. And I have an idea as to why.

Don’t believe me that it’s Haylor AF? Go read this amazing summary by @womanexile at whose request I am writing this timeline.

As we know, Harry was filming the video on and around May 10 and 11, 2022, based in articles and pap/drone photos from the time, like this Daily Mail article:

Let’s review the timeline:

April 22, 2022 - Harry performs at Coachella weekend 2 in Indio, CA.

April 26, 2022 - OW is onstage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas when she is served custody papers. H is not there.

But where is H? According to the article - circus training!

Late April/early May - Harry starts training in Kent, England with family-owned Sanctus Circus.

From the article:

“A source told [the publication]: Harry has spent weeks being taught circus skills for this video — he wanted it to be a real spectacle.

'It is probably his most expensive video yet because as well as all the rehearsals, it was a huge set with loads of extras and really extravagant costumes'.

The source revealed to the publication that the singer pushed himself to the limit in order to perform the stunts. Adding: 'It's been a real undertaking and the finished product will prove why he's one of the biggest pop stars in the world.' “

So late April - May 11 - circus stuff. Which is part time and on-and-off, I imagine. Then filming. And this was an UNDERTAKING that would have required a lot of planning.

He even arranged to have live animals, as outlined here in an article with the horse and parrot handlers:

Some take aways:

- he was supposed to the riding *the WHITE horse*. And when that didn’t work, he ensured the white horse remained in the shot.

- they only had a short time to teach him with the animals, but he listened and did exactly what they said.

- the legendary Styles charm extends to grumpy parrots named Poppleguy. “He's a little bit picky and he went straight on Harry Styles' shoulder, the sign of a good vibe," [his owner] said.”

Who can resist this man?!

But he HAS to know that he’ll get questions about the song title, since it shares a name with a song by Blondie. And he gets photographed making this video - articles about it start appearing May 12, 2022.

So what does he do next? Creates a smoke screen! Good thing two of his best friends—Ben Winston and James Corden—run a late night show known for outrageous bits with musicians. And he has a long history of doing crazy things with them, so no one will bat an eye.

He heads off to NYC for Harry’s House promo and ONO, but first — he has a DUPLICATE video to shoot.

And it’s hilarious, watching him shock and delight a quartet of Brooklyn residents and their friends:

And look at the clapperboard to date it:

Bottom right - MAY 17/22.

The next morning, May 18, he is on air with Howard Stern who immediately brings up Blondie (look at H’s usual TS grin!!). And watch him evade:

“You’re reading too much into it…I know you’d like me to tell you ‘you’re spot on’ but…yeah, you’re not.”

But you know who thinks Howard actually is Spot On? Harry’s Mom!!

The Late Late Daylight video airs on May 26/27, 2022 (depending on your time zone). And here is Anne’s IG story when she watches it:

And then - Harry keeps the circus video in his pocket. For FIFTEEN MONTHS. And makes and releases other videos.

There’s background speculation that the still images captured (Birdrry) might be for a Daydreaming or Grapejuice or other video, despite the bird. After all - we already have a Daylight MV!

And then, on July 18th, 2023 at his penultimate HSLOT concert in Lisbon, Harry has the bird image shown on the screen as he finishes singing Daylight.

After the concert, we learn that the video will drop in July 19th at 5pm UK, 12 pm Eastern.

And while the As It Was video promo stated: “It’s just us”, this one proclaims “It’s just a video, just for you.”

Which naturally leads us to this parallel:

And it is followed by the 10-minute 2nd encore piano ballad at the final HSLOT concert on July 22, introduced in Italian by saying “I wrote this for you, just for tonight.”

**My theory - its release is another in a long line of grand gestures designed to remind and assure Blondie of his ongoing, perpetual love and devotion.**

[jjkeremika]

all or (Formula) n(One)

chapter two: Drive to Survive

ch1: Bahrain Grand Prix

Drive to Survive (Season 5, Episode 1); Title: Family Friction

ferrari driver! eren jaeger x engineer/mechanic! mikasa ackerman

Episode description: (2023 Formula One season) Zeke Jaeger runs his first high point-scoring season, but struggles to find a seat for 2024, and tensions are high with his younger brother making his big Formula One debut signed as the youngest ever driver for Scuderia Ferrari with his own personal good luck charm (Mikasa).

tag/disclaimer: written like a series of interviews; modeled like an episode of Drive to Survive; eremika (racer! eren x mechanic! mikasa); friends to lovers

*Eren Jaeger sits down in front of the camera. Holds the clapperboard for the view with a smile. He’s shifting his focus between the producer and the camera*

“What is it again?” he asks, lighthearted and confused, letting the clapperboard drop into his lap.

“Name. Age. Team.”

*Eren holds the clapperboard back up, smiles. Claps the board to initiate the take*

“Eren Jaeger. 19. Currently in F2 Rodin Motorsports. Soon to be Scuderia Ferrari.” His smile overtakes his cheeks. He raises his eyebrows in suggestive excitement.

**camera cuts to Zeke Jaeger, holding his own clapperboard**

“Zeke Jaeger. 29. Mercedes.” Zeke crosses one leg over the other.

“How long have you been driving?”

Zeke crosses his arms, lets himself think. “I started karting when I was about… 10. Been with Mercedes for about two years.”

*preview of old footage from a go-kart competition when the Jaeger brothers were younger. Zeke always in front of Eren*

“Who started it?” the producer asks, which prompts Zeke to roll his eyes playfully and scoff.

“Me,” Zeke answers with a light laugh between, “he just copied me.”

*shows footage of just Eren racing on a rainy track. Cuts to Eren in the interview chair. They asked him the same question they asked Zeke.*

“Let me guess, Zeke said him?” Producer nods offscreen. Eren laughs and claps his hands once. “Classic.” He shakes his head. “He said I started drinking ginger ale and cherry coke because of him too.”

There’s laughter off screen. “Do you disagree?”

Eren shakes his head, shrugs a little. “I mean, he’s probably right. I definitely watched him and decided I wanted to do that too.” Eren winks. “But I’m better than him now, so he has to find a way to cope with that.”

*screen cuts to podiums scenes of Eren Jaeger in Rodin Motorsports, spraying and drinking champagne cheerfully and ecstatically with the other podium winners and his team. Camera pans over to Mikasa Ackerman cheering as Eren picked her up into a large hug to celebrate*

“Do you owe your success to your mechanic?”

Eren’s ears perked up at the referral. “Mikasa?” The producer nods off screen. “Yeah.” Eren nods. “She’s definitely responsible for a lot of my success.” He didn’t bother to hide the smile as he speaks of her. “It’s our success, really.”

*screen shows old video of a younger Eren and Mikasa hunched over a go-kart. Scene cuts to Eren driving the kart around the track. Camera cuts to Eren in the interview seat*

“So.” Eren looks to the producer off-screen expectantly. “How did you two meet?”

He tilts his head back as he’s thinking, lets the smile naturally cover his face at the memories.

“Uh, my brother and i go-karted a lot when we were younger, and her dad built the karts. Eventually she just took over building mine.”

*cutscene to another old video of younger Eren and Mikasa talking around the small kart. Cuts to Mikasa sitting in the interview chair (shows title of Rodin Motorsports lead engineer across the bottom of the screen)*

“I remember when he totaled his kart,” Mikasa speaks, “like, years and years ago. Put it in pieces.” She’s laughing. “My dad was like, ‘yeah, i’m not making you a third one.’”

**Scene shows a pre-teenage Eren in his old go-kart racing uniform, the totaled kart behind him as he walks towards the paddock. Cuts to Eren sitting in the interview chair*

“I’ll never forget it. It was the last race of the karting season. I was going against my brother. My parents were there. I needed a kart. And she just kinda offered to build it.”

*camera cuts to Mikasa sitting in the interview chair.*

Mikasa smiles at the memory, covers it with her palm. “I think it was a pride thing. Like, I had watched my dad do it for years, so now it was my turn. And I was insistent that I was going to make a better kart for Eren than he could.”

*scene shows Eren Jaeger driving around the built go-kart. the MKA on display for the first time.*

*camera cuts to Eren in the interview chair*

“What inspired the signature?” the producer asks, which makes Eren chortle. He points to himself, shrugs like it’s the most obvious answer in the world.

“I asked her to do it.”

*montage of zoomed in MKA signature from the first kart video to the latest Rodin championship car plays. camera cuts to Mikasa in the interview chair*

She rubs her forehead sheepishly. The light pink blush is visible. “It was all Eren’s idea. Still is.”

“When did it start?”

“It was the first kart I made him. I worked all night to finish it so he could race that day. I was so excited to give it to him, I made him come to the track at, like, break of dawn to see it. He asked if I was proud of it, and when I said yes he told me to sign it, because people sign the art they’re proud of.”

*camera shows old footage of the Jaeger brothers karting side by side. Eren’s kart barely pulls ahead into a sustainable lead. cuts to the end of the race, when Eren crossed the finish line in front of Zeke*

“I think that was the first time he beat his brother. He’s had me sign almost every car after that.”

*camera cuts to Eren in the interview chair*

Eren shrugs obviously. “If it’s a race-worthy car, she signs it. That’s how I know it’s good. And every time it’s brought me to a podium, so.”

“Have there been any cars she hasn’t signed?”

Eren nods immediately, chortles slightly. “The ones that crashed.”

*flashes to multiple instances where Jaeger car is barreling into the wall or spinning out*

*camera cuts to Mikasa in the interview chair*

“I don’t sign crap cars,” she answers simply and sharply. “If I don’t think it’ll win, I’m not signing it.”

*camera cuts back to Eren*

“She designs and builds great cars. She signs like almost all of them. That’s how I know it’s a great car. That’s how I know I can push it to the end.”

“Is that why you took her to Rodin with you?”

The question appears to catch him slightly off guard. He inhales, relaxes his shoulders, and exhales a puffy breath.

“Honestly, and maybe it’s because she’s my best friend, or because she’s been handling my cars for years now, but… I find it hard to trust that the car is good if shes not the one to confirm it. I just don’t trust the other mechanics. But I trust her, so.” He shrugs. “I like to have her with me.”

[enchanted-lightning-aes]

Tent Set-Ups Going Wrong

[ID: a green badge of a tent with text that reads ‘Sambucky Summer Camp Bingo, Stuck in a Tent, ESTD. 2023 / finish ID]

Title: Tent Set-Ups Gone Wrong

Square Filled: Stuck in a Tent

A/N: just a light-hearted cracky entry for @sambuckylibrary. where sam tries filming a Cap P.S.A, only for it to go in shambles.^^

Word Count: 873

T.W: None-ish

***

Part of being Captain America was having to maintain one's presence in the media. And while Sam tended to be exhausted from handling press conferences and interviews, he did what he could.

Sure, he couldn't dodge inappropriate or racist questions regarding his position, he knew how to deal with them. He knew how to be composed, not allowing any initial frustration get the best of him. Aware it wouldn't do him any good.

Although, it would be nice to talk back, sometimes. Even Bucky wanted to slam some reporter's head against wall at how he got a question that he disliked. Immensely.

Unfortunately, it also included some certain things that he didn't think of. . .

"You want me to star in those P.S.As?" Sam asked in disbelief.

He had been summoned to a small studio in D.C, where he had to discuss of his schedule. They all decided to meet at Rock Creek Park, where they would be filming. Since summer was approaching, they needed to have commercials featuring Sam, front and center.

"Well, Steve did it and you might as well too," the producer explained, plastering a smile that looked more of a wince. "All part of the job, I guess."

Sam huffed a sigh. "Alright. Let's get this over with."

"Do you have to?" Bucky asked.

"I mean we can do something else," Joaquin added, sounding dismayed.

"Like I said, guys." Sam adjusted his cowl. "We should finish this."

Both Bucky and Joaquin exchanged a glance of chagrin.

They gathered at a small grassy field as the crew prepared the mini set. Just some bundles of wood, tents, and sleeping bags.

The director lifted a megaphone, adjusted in her seat.

"Lights. . . Camera. . . Action!"

Someone slammed the clapperboard and Sam propped his hands on his sides, facing the camera. And while Bucky and Torres stood by his sides, waving.

"So, you wanna learn how to arrange a tent, huh?" Sam asked, flashing his signature megawatt smile. "Well, lemme show you how it's done. With the help of my team, anything is possible!"

The wind howled, moving past him in a heavy current.

"Wow, you sure are pulling this off, Samuel," Bucky whispered wryly.

Repressing any urge to roll his eyes, Sam beckoned Bucky and Joaquin at the tent supplies strewn on the grass.

"First you gotta set it up," Sam said into the camera, sweeping an arm over at them. "Then put your components on the tarp. Connect your tent poles together. Insert those poles into where they ought to be and raise the tent up. Now watch as my good friends, Sergeant Bucky Barnes and Lieutenant Joaquin Torres, take this step by step."

Yeah, Sam had to memorize an entire instruction manual for this. So, if any of them noticed how he sounded automatic, maybe he could change it for another take.

Who knew how long would this go on? He had sternly informed those two to be on their best behavior. Although, that approach didn't work by eighty percent.

Bucky and Joaquin adjusted the tent's equipment, setting up the poles. They started raising the tent up slowly yet diligently. The breeze smacked a flap against Bucky and his fingers trembled upon adjusting the hook.

Whoa, it was such a big tent, he thought, refraining from gaping.

Just as Sam could have peered into the camera, the wind's heavy strength shook the poles. Yanking them off their positions. Bucky froze and flung an arm around, only for the tent to collapse down on him.

"Sam! Sam! Help! I think. . . I'm trapped!" Bucky sounded panicked.

Oh yikes, Sam thought. He tried maintaining his smile.

He should have known even filming a damn P.S.A wouldn't go peacefully. Most things in his line of work didn't.

The director and filming crew chattered in hushed tones containing concern. Joaquin winced, bowing his head while scratching his forehead.

"Okay, Cap to the rescue, everyone!" Sam sprinted towards the fallen tent.

He tried pushing it upwards and Bucky moved, crawling out of it. He scrambled to his feet, pressing his hands against the tent. The wind howled again, growing louder and denser. Streaks of grey scattered within the sky as clouds gathered.

The tent collapsed on both of them, sending them flat against the ground.

Both of them let out a grunt and a yelp, their shoulders budging and nudging. Bucky squeezed his eyes shut and Sam tried kicking the tent.

If the weather was gonna be this concerning, he would have rescheduled the entire damn thing. However, he had to be in this predicament.

Yep. Sam was so not cut out for this shit. He should be a hell lot selective if he had to take up this gig. Ever again. Simple P.S.As filmed in a studio? Doable. Something he could manage, at the very least.

". . . you're going to cut this out of the finished footage, aren't you?" Joaquin asked, sounding hesitant.

"Cut! Cut!" the director yelled, her voice amplified by her megaphone's speakers. "Okay, can. . . Can someone get Cap and his sidekick out of there?"

Bucky sighed. "Maybe if we filmed indoors instead of outdoors, we wouldn't be in this tricky situation."

"Shoulda known this was a bad idea," Sam mumbled, clutching onto the tent's edge.

***

[natedogx15]

Miraculous Descendent Chapter 64: Horror Movie

Previous Chapter

Another day another dollar. A new day a new opportunity. What you do today can improve your tomorrow. There are multiple sayings to reference working hard for your future. And that's exactly what the class is doing with their weekend. Today. Everyone in Miss Bustier's class is helping Nino create a movie for a film contest. Even Chloe showed up because Miss Bustier promised extra credit for everyone who helps, and Chloe is interested in being the lead actress.

Mylène and Kim are hiding behind Miss Bustier's desk with water guns.

"Agent Smith, it's too dangerous! We must evacuate!" Kim urgently shouts as he looks at Mylène

"You're suggesting we run, Officer Jones? After it devoured my family, friends, and even my beloved dog, Sniffles?" Mylène asks with dramatic indignity as she glares at 'Officer Jones' for his supposed cowardice.

She then stops crouching and looks around the classroom angrily while saying.

"I'm going to face it, then I'll-"

However, her words are cut off when she feels someone looming over her. She nervously looks up and sees Ivan wearing a magenta cape with a mask that covers his head. The mask has three painted yellow eyes with red pupils. Two eyes are cut open to make eyeholes for Ivan, leaving only the third eye on the forehead visible. Also attached to the costume are fake dark blue dreadlocks.

Ivan roars at her, and it causes Mylène to let out a scream that everyone in school would have heard if it wasn't for the fact that it was the weekend and the class were the only ones there. Unfortunately, the entire class and Ondine are in the classroom and take the full brunt of Mylène's terror. 

"Cut!" Nino shouts over Mylène's scream as he covers his ears to drown out the sound.

It takes everyone a moment to recover from the scream. When they do, Mylène is hiding under the desk with a look of pure terror and violently shaking.

Ivan winches when he sees her current state.

"Sorry, Mylène." He says with a deeply regretful expression as he takes off the mask.

Nino, however, looks frustrated as he looks at Mylène while the girl nervously lifts herself from under the desk.

"That's our tenth take, Mylène. And this is only the first scene!" Nino shouts this last part for emphasis, causing Mylène to flinch.

"Fourteenth." Alix boredly corrects Nino while holding a clapperboard.

"Come on, you can't blame her for being freaked out when you're using a real monster. I mean, it was a smart choice. It adds a bit of authenticity to the film." Chloe takes this chance to mock Ivan while sitting on one of the back corner desks and filing her nails.

Hearing this causes Ivan and a few others to glare at her angrily.

"Big talk for someone who also got Akumatized!" Alix snaps at her while wearing the jacket Marinette made for her.

The jacket is dark magenta with a black chest. On the right side of the chest is a dark magenta A insignia for Alix. When Marinette first gave it to her, she excitedly hugged the girl while thanking her.

Chloe scoffs at her words and retorts with her usual confidence.

"Please. At least I looked human when Hawkmoth got me. He's the only one here who turned into a massive creature fit for a monster movie. I feel that says something about him." Chloe says in a matter-of-fact tone.

Hearing this causes Ivan to scowl before Nate calls over.

"Ignore her,  Ivan. She's just bitter Mylène got the lead role." Nate says with a smirk while holding the microphone, causing Chloe to scowl at him.

"Why you," Chloe growls at him before Sabrina has enough.

"Knock it off, Chloe. We're trying to get this done and don't need you causing problems." Sabrina snaps at her, causing Chloe to scowl before turning her head while muttering under her breath.

"Yeah, keep acting high and mighty while you can."

Seeing this, Sabrina sighs while Marinette walks over to Mylène and comforts the girl.

"It's okay, Mylène. You're trying your best." She soothes the girl while giving her a bottle of water.

"Sorry. I'll do better in the next take." Mylène nervously promises.

"You're playing a hero from the special forces. You're not supposed to get all freaked out!" Nino reprimands her, getting sick of not getting anywhere with this film.

"I'm sorry." Mylène apologizes again, showing quite a bit of fear while staring at Nino.

It's as if she thinks he'll attack her.

"It's alright, Mylène. It's only me." Ivan tells her with his best attempt at a comforting smile.

"Yeah. The scariest thing here is that poorly designed mask." Nate calls, getting a few chuckles from the room's other occupants.

"Hey. I tried my best in the short amount of time I had." Nino snaps at Nate angrily.

Nate shrugs with a smirk as he looks at Nino with unapologetic eyes.

"Maybe we should swap actresses." Adrien finally speaks up, getting all eyes to look at him and causing him to grow slightly nervous.

"I-I mean, it doesn't seem like Mylène is comfortable doing this, and we've done over ten takes. Maybe it would be best to see how the other girls do." Adrien anxiously explains under the eyes of everyone.

This gets a sarcastic clap from Chloe as she smirks down at everyone.

"Finally, one of you uses your brains. Rich Boy is right. It's clear Little Miss Scaredy Cat obviously can't handle being in the limelight. As such, it's best if she plays her role as a background character." Chloe mocks as she pushes herself off the desk and walks toward the front of the class.

"P-please, l-let me have one more take. J-just give me a moment to sing my happy song." Mylène begs, not wanting to give up her spot since she dreams of being on stage like her dad.

However, Chloe gets in front of her face with an angry expression that terrifies Mylène enough that the girl freezes.

"We've gone over fourteen takes and you can't even get past the first scene. You're done. Maybe work on your bravery next time if you want to be in the movies." Chloe growls with enough ferocity that Mylène runs off to escape from her.

"Chloe!" Marinette, Sabrina, Alya, and Nate snap at her for her actions, but Chloe scoffs at them.

"Please. It's obvious we wouldn't have gotten anywhere with that useless idiot playing the star. I would rather get this done before the film deadline." Chloe uncaringly tells everyone around her while rolling her eyes.

Her uncaring attitude doesn't make anyone else happy but Nino finally sighs in resignation.

"Fine. We'll try recasting." Nino tells her, causing Chloe to smirk while a few classmates look at him in shock.

Ivan is the worst, though. In his rage, he throws the costume to the ground and stomps out of the classroom to find Mylène.

"Ivan?" Adrien calls to the teen worriedly.

"I guess he's going to go after her," Nathaniel says awkwardly as he stares at the door.

"Who cares about Chicken and The Beast? Let's focus on getting this thing done." Chloe snaps at everyone.

After a moment of silence, everyone looks at each other before, one by one, they accept her words. Everyone is getting tired of getting nowhere with the movie. They feel bad for Mylène but few are willing to keep waiting for her to stop being scared. Marinette and Sabrina are the only ones who still don't like this idea.

"Well, if we're choosing a new actress. Any chance I can do this with Ondine?" Kim asks with a grin, not noticing the tension still in the air.

However, his words get a scowl from Chloe and she glares at him.

"Why would we let her take the leading role? She's not even part of our class and shouldn't be here." Chloe says while she turns her gaze to Ondine, causing the girl to grow nervous under her stare.

"It's just, I read a bit of the script. Wouldn't it be awkward to kiss someone when the person I'm dating is in the same room?" Kim asks while nervously scratching the back of his head.

His words surprise Alya since she's the one who wrote the script.

"What are you talking about? I didn't add any kissing." Alya tells him before grabbing the script next to her and skimming through it to see if she can find what Kim is talking about.

That isn't needed, though. The person who changed the script speaks up nervously, like a kid who got caught putting their hand in the cookie jar.

"I added that. I thought it would add to the scene if the last two were lovers." Nino tells Alya with a nervous smile.

His words get a heavy scowl from Alya before the girl screams at him.

"You did what!"

Outside, Ivan is looking for Mylène and sees the girl crying on a bench near the bottom of the stairwell. When he sees her, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a black skull pin, similar to the one he's currently wearing on his shirt, before walking down to her.

"Ummm... are you okay?" Ivan finally asks, unsure what to say to her at this moment.

Mylène jolts up when she hears Ivan's voice and looks at him with a face filled with fear. Seeing this causes Ivan to sigh, having grown used to those looks since he became Stoneheart, especially from Mylène. The girl seems to be the most afraid of those Hawkmoth prayed upon, which is unfortunate for her, seeing as she's in a class of them. It's gotten worse since Chloe and Aurore got re-Akumatized.

"L-look. I just came to check on you and make sure you're alright. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise." Ivan tries to reassure the girl, but her terrified expression inwardly breaks his heart.

His words don't seem to ease Mylène's worries, though. She scoots slightly away from Ivan and continues to stare at him nervously.

"I-if you come back, I promise I'll try to roar quietly." Ivan offers to the girl before holding out his palm and showing the pin to her.

"This is a pin from my favorite band, the Zombie Skull Crushers. Maybe you could keep it as a good luck charm." Ivan offers it to her with a kind smile to show he means no harm.

Mylène stares at it momentarily, unsure if she should take it. However, she decides she doesn't want to anger him and finally takes the pin with a shaky hand. She then puts it in her pocket and gives Ivan her best smile.

"Uh, t-thanks, Ivan. B-but they're right. I c-can't act to save my life and have wasted everyone's time. I should probably go. I-it was a stupid dream, a-anyway." Mylène says as she starts to tear up after remembering her failures and runs into the girls' bathroom to cry.

Seeing this breaks Ivan's heart and causes an unmistakable rage to build within him. This anger doesn't go unnoticed, though. Neither does the mix of sadness, fear and regret that Mylène is feeling.

Within his lair, Hawkmoth senses the two's rising emotions and smiles.

"Ah. Stoneheart. It's good to see you ready to cause more havoc in defense of the one you love. And it seems she also wishes to have the strength to protect herself. I'll grant you two the opportunity to fight together. Perhaps your love for her will let you win this time." Hawkmoth says as he refers to Ivan's feelings.

With that, he holds up his cane and palm, creating two butterflies and sending them after the two students.

While they fly toward the school, Ivan angrily stomps up the stairwell and prepares to confront the person who hurt Mylène's feelings. He slams the classroom door open with enough force to startle everyone and cause all arguments to cease. He then glares at Chloe venemously.

"You made Mylène cry!" Ivan snaps at her.

Despite inwardly growing nervous from his anger, Chloe doesn't back down and scoffs at him.

"Please. As if I care that your princess is crying. I make a lot of people cry." Chloe tells him in an uncaring manner that further angers Ivan.

"What?" He shouts at her and is about to stomp toward her before Kim and Nino act quickly to stop him before a fight breaks out.

"Woah, dude. Easy. We don't need a fight right now." Nino tells him as he tries to calm Ivan down.

"Yeah, man. Take it easy. We don't want you turning into a golem again." Kim tells him in a panic as he tries to keep Ivan from punching Chloe.

However, that was the wrong thing to say, as it seems to have angered Ivan even more than before. Seeing this causes Marinette and Sabrina to help stop Ivan while the others quickly back away from the scene.

"Pretty sure that was the wrong thing to say, Kim," Nate adds as he's backing up.

"I am sick of hearing that from you assholes! I didn't ask to be turned into a stupid monster! But people keep bringing it up like I did and keep being scared of me!" Ivan roars throughout the classroom as he glares at everyone around, causing some to flinch.

"We don't think of you as a monster, Ivan." Marinette desperately tells Ivan, trying to calm the teen down as he's surprisingly strong.

"Yeah. Half of us here have been Akumatized. You're not the only one." Adrien tells Ivan as he finally builds up the courage to help try and stop the teen without his powers.

Ivan doesn't say anything and continues to try and reach for Chloe. It doesn't seem like he can calm down. It's like all his frustration has been building up, only to be released now. He's like a raging bull, ready to plow through anyone.

While everyone worriedly watches the scene, the only one who notices Hawkmoth's butterfly heading toward Ivan is Chloe.

"Akuma!" She fearfully shouts before bolting up the stairs toward the other door.

As she does, the butterfly lands on Ivan's shirt pin, and Hawkmoth's outline appears. Seeing this causes everyone to jump and panic. Some are frozen in fear while others are following after Chloe. Even the five trying to stop Ivan let him go and back away in worry.

"Stoneheart. The one you love is crying while you're being mocked as a monster. So, I once again offer you power. However, this time I'll offer it not for revenge, but the chance to wield it as a knight protecting the princess." Hawkmoth's smooth voice says while offering Ivan the power to protect Mylène.

"I'll take it, Hawkmoth," Ivan says with a glare before smoke envelops him.

Seeing this causes the rest of the students to run for it, including the three known and one unknown Miraculous wielder.

"Everyone out!" Sabrina shouts as she points to the door behind Ivan.

A little later, Mylène hears a rumbling sound while staring in the bathroom mirror, causing her to jump slightly.

"What was that?" She asks in fear before reaching into her pocket for her phone.

When she does, she feels Ivan's pin and pulls it out. Her mind thinks back to when he saved her from Dark Cupid, and she gives it a sad expression. After remembering that, she decides to place it on her headband. She looks back into the mirror and gains a sad expression.

"I wish I could be that brave. I'm scared of even talking to anyone in class." Mylène sighs as she stares into the mirror, quickly noticing the butterfly heading toward her and letting out a scream.

"G-get away!" She shouts in alarm as she rapidly backs away toward a bathroom wall while swinging her phone at the butterfly in a desperate attempt to keep it at bay.

The butterfly isn't afraid, though. It continues to fly toward her and past the phone before landing on her new pin. After it does, Mylène gasps as she can hear Hawkmoth's voice in her head.

"Horrificator. You're someone mocked for living in fear. You dream of stardom but don't have the strength to attain it. I'll give you the strength to make others fear you and crush the competition. Your number one fan is out there helping." Hawkmoth states in a confident tone.

Mylène succumbs to his hypnotic effect and gains a nasty smile.

"Thanks for your support, Hawkmoth." She thanks him before smoke envelops her as well.

Outside, students run for their lives as Stoneheart breaks through the classroom wall and roars throughout the school. The Akuma quickly jumps off the second floor and lands before the school gates, preventing any of the students from leaving. Seeing this, those in the courtyard scatter in different directions to try and find somewhere to hide. As this is happening, the three Miraculous users and Nate are on the second floor and enter different classrooms

"Why does this always happen when we're trying to do something?" Nate groans as he and Marinette duck into a classroom.

"I don't know. But it's getting old." Marinette sighs as Tikki flies out of her earrings.

"I suppose it's time to provide some movie magic." She jokes as she stares at the two humans.

"Really?" Nate can't help but ask for the joke.

"Tikki, spots on," Marinette says as she transforms, the other two doing the same thing in their respective classrooms.

Back in the courtyard, Chloe and Alix dive into the girls' bathroom since it is closest to them. Upon entering, Alix glares at Chloe with a frustrated expression.

"You just had to mock the guy, didn't you?" She snaps at Chloe, causing the other girl to scowl.

"How was I supposed to know he'd go full monster on us?" Chloe snaps back.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because it's already happened a few times. Don't think I don't know how you caused Max and Kim to get Akumatized! And I heard you did the same thing to Rose! When are you going to learn that you can't keep doing this crap!" Alix shouts at her in anger.

"You can't tell me what to do! It's not my fault they can't accept the words of or keep up with someone as exceptional as moi." Chloe says with a smirk as she delicately places a hand on her chest while wearing a confident smirk, causing Alix to resist the urge to smack her across the face.

The two girls are so busy arguing that they don't notice the broken bathroom mirror behind Chloe or the strange sticky purplish-pink substance sticking to it. After a while, Alix pauses her screaming and pushes past Chloe to look at what's covering the mirror, causing the other girl to growl.

"How dare yo-" Chloe is about to scream before freezing as she notices what Alix is heading to.

"What the heck is this stuff?" Alix questions as she's about to use a finger to touch the substance before Chloe stops her.

"Don't touch something when you don't know what it is. You don't know what it could do to you." She tells Alix while putting the girl's arm down.

Alix scowls at the touch but backs down. The two stare at the slime worriedly, not realizing something is creeping up behind them.

"Wait. Hawkmoth can create two Akumas, right? Do you think something else is here besides Stoneheart?" Alix asks worriedly, causing Chloe's eyes to widen as she panics.

Before either of the two can do anything, they suddenly find themselves being grabbed from behind by the same sticky substance, causing them to let out screams that no one can hear over the commotion with Stoneheart.

Speaking of which, the heroes are currently trying to figure out how to beat him.

"Remember! We can't hit him, or he'll just grow and become stronger!" Ladybug shouts to her teammates, not thinking about how they got here so fast due to the current emergency.

"Right." Cat Noir and Canine nod as the three heroes rest on the school roof while staring at Stoneheart.

The Akuma soon takes notice of them and roars at the three.

"Give me your Miraculous!" Stoneheart shouts before charging and jumping up to the three in a surprising feat of agility.

The heroes quickly dive out of the way with Cat Noir and Ladybug on the right and Canine on the left. 

Wanting to try and finish this fast and believing it will work against Stoneheart, Canine activates Command and shouts at the Akuma.

"Surrender!"

The orange-tinted soundwave heads toward Stoneheart and does seem to affect him. Stoneheart puts his hands to his head and loses his balance, causing him to faceplant into the courtyard's asphalt. Luckily, it doesn't seem like that caused him to grow, but it did almost cause him to hurt Kim and Ondine.

"We should get out of here before he sees me," Kim says in a panic as he grabs Ondine's arm and leads her away.

While running, the two see Nate waving toward them in the corner of the second floor. Deciding to follow him, they reclimb the stairs before entering the classroom with him.

When they enter, they see others like Juleka, Rose, Nathaniel, Max, Alya, and Nino already there.

"Why are we hiding in the school when the battle is outside?" Kim asks in a slightly freaked out as he looks out the window to see Stoneheart and the heroes going back at it.

"We figured it would be better to wait here until either the heroes win or lead Ivan out of the school," Nate tells the two with a shrug.

"Yeah. Do you want to try getting out of the school with a giant rock monster in the courtyard that may chase after you?" Alya asks him with a raised eyebrow.

Hearing this causes Kim to shake his head no rapidly while Ondine notices two people missing.

"Where's Chloe and Alix?" She asks worriedly while staring at the door.

Hearing this causes Nate to crack the door open and peek into the hallway while Nino shrugs.

"No idea, dudette."

"Maybe they got out," Rose hopefully suggests while she and Juleka hold each other.

"I hope so," Nathaniel mutters before they see the heroes leading Stoneheart out of the school.

"It looks like we'll be safe to leave soon!" Nate calls from the end of the hallway, having gone out to get a better look.

Hearing this causes the students to sigh in relief.

"We should probably wait here for a few minutes just to be safe," Alya tells the rest of the class, causing a few nods.

The group sits there for a minute before realizing Nate hasn't returned yet. This gets a few raised eyebrows, and Alya heads to the door.

"Hey, Nate! Are you coming back in?" Alya calls into the hall but doesn't get a response back.

She doesn't even see Nate in the hall.

"I think he already left." She tells everyone before she notices something.

"Wait, no. Something's in the hall." Alya tells the group before leaving the room to check it out.

Her words cause others to become curious. Max and Kim are the ones who go out with her to see what's happening. In the hallway, the same purplish-pink slime substance is around a shoe.

"What is this stuff?" Alya disgustedly asks as she looks at the slime while Kim picks up the shoe.

"Isn't this Nate's shoe?" Kim asks as he looks at it.

Max stands next to it and inspects it.

"It looks to be the same design as the ones he wears." He agrees.

Hearing this causes Alya to grow nervous as she looks at the slime. It's not normal to leave a shoe behind if it's safe. Plus, there's something strange about this slime. After a moment of thought, she turns back to the boys and says.

"I think we should get out of here. Something's wrong." She tells the two anxiously, getting worried expressions in return.

She pushes past the two and the three quickly run back to the classroom to tell the others.

"Hey, guys. We should leave. Something is wrong. We found Nate's shoe in the hall with some weird goo." Alya tells everyone in the room as she and Kim stand at the door.

Hearing this causes people to panic before Nino notices something weird.

"Wait. Wasn't Max with you dudes?" He nervously asks, causing Kim to give him a confused look.

"What are you talking about, man? He's right-" Kim says before pausing when he turns his head and sees Max missing.

Further down the hall, Max's glasses lay on the floor with some slime around them.

"Max!" Kim calls worriedly for his friend before rushing down the hall to look for him.

"Kim, wait!" Ondine worriedly shouts as she rushes to the door.

She and Alya are about to chase after the boy before he's suddenly grabbed by a rope of that slime substance and ripped from the second floor with a short scream.

"Kim!" Ondine shouts in alarm before rushing over to where Kim is grabbed and looking around the courtyard for him.

However, she doesn't see him anywhere. All she sees is a small trail of slime.

Hearing her scream, the other classmates start shuffling into the hall, and Alya turns to them worriedly.

"Guys, I think Hawkmoth made another Akuma. And it's after us." Alya reveals fearfully.

I have a lot of chapters written ahead and will be uploading a third time this month.

Next Chapter

[holidayvisa]

22 January 2024 - TLDR: Arnie and I were extras in a New Zealand tv show

Some background - yesterday and two days ago, Arnie had gotten calls and text messages from the casting manager for a film production with details about him being an extra. He needed to be at the set by 11 am today.

Arnie got a call from the casting manager around 9:15 am today asking if Arnie could bring other people to be extras, since he'd mentioned that he knew people on his phone calls with her yesterday/two days ago. Arnie told me about it, and I obviously accepted! So from 9:15 until 10:30 am, Arnie and I were scrambling to clothe me with a suit, slacks, tie and shoes 🤦. Miraculously, Arnie had a button-down shirt, slacks, suit jacket, tie, and shoes in my size! We left the house at 10:30 and walked the 30-minute trek to Henderson.

When we showed up at 11 am, they had us go to "hair and makeup," which was outside in the parking lot in the oppressive heat. Lucky for us, Arnie and I are both so naturally pretty that we didn't get our hair done or makeup done. It was HOT. It was around 30°C. At noon, the costume person told me I was okay to not wear the suit jacket, which I was very happy about, but Arnie had to wear his suit jacket, which he WAS happy about 😎. We had to take COVID tests (no COVID, all good there). Just before 1 pm, we were served breakfast, a tasty breakfast burrito. Then, we were ushered onto the set, indoors in the air con.

We were on set for about an hour as people in the courtroom waiting for their cases to come up later. They had the person with the clapperboard who claps the thing and says, "scene 2 take 3." There were times where the boom camera was just a couple centimeters over my head. It was cool! Then they were done with us for a couple hours. Then we got called back in around 3 pm for another hour. Then at 4 pm, we had lunch. Then more waiting. Then around 6:30 pm, we got called in for the final scene. It was really funny! It was hard to not laugh. At one point, the director came up to us extras and said, "I need less from you all. You're laughing too hard during these scenes. I need less." I thought that was funny too. Then they were done with us for a bit. Around 8 pm, we got called back in for some extras reactions. The director said, "rolling," then asked us to give him just a regular zero, looking around, kinda bored. Then he asked us for a 3/10 that-was-mildly-funny reaction, then a 7/10 that-was-pretty-funny reaction, then a 10/10 that-was-hilarious reaction, then a what-the-heck kinda-confused reaction, then a disgusted-and-offended reaction. Then the director said, "cut!" And we were done. We got to take photos with some of the actors. They fed us some nachos, then at 8:30 pm, they released us. Holy moley - we were there from 11 am until 8:30 pm - almost 10 hours! Arnie and I walked home and walked into our home right at 9 pm.

The show is called Vince, with a main actor named Jono, and in this episode, one of the other actors was Josh. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/spy-jono-and-bens-tv-break-up/UOPUCGEJ4RG4NAD3IOHHWXCWMQ/ https://www.nzonair.govt.nz/news/jonos-back-on-screen-and-so-are-n00bs/

I'm grateful to Arnie for bringing me along to this extra thing. It was a cool thing to do. I've never been an extra before, and it was fun to try. I'm excited to hopefully see this episode someday!

[salty-wench]

After All This Time | Theon x Robb | M | 50s Hollywood AU | ~11.5k

“I want you to say it like you mean it,” Robb tells him, having walked over so he’s not yelling it across the sound stage. “With feeling. Like you can’t imagine being apart from her.”

“Well,” from Theon’s first word, dripping with sarcasm, Robb knows this is not going his way, “at the moment, I can’t imagine moving from this spot at all.”

Patrek openly chortles while Kyra lowers her eyes and tries to keep the smile from her face.

Robb daren’t even look to see how everyone else reacts. He’ll just have to hope no one other than the love triangle and the mute grip with the microphone heard it. Everyone will think he can’t handle a wayward actor. All he can do is give a hard stare.

“Again!” he hollers, turning from where Theon is lifting his eyebrows, challenging him.

He doesn’t bother sitting in his chair this time around as Olyvar holds the clapperboard in front of the camera.

“Scene twenty take forty-two.”

They’ll do this until it’s perfect.

Five years after parting ways in a dramatic fashion, Robb finds himself directing a movie starring his ex.

My @theonficexchange 2022 gift for @agameofstarks - thank you for the wonderful prompts!

Read on AO3

Now with additional optional smutty oneshot to follow chapter 4 (or after the epilogue.

your heart (is the only place that i call home) | E | ~2.8k

After ditching the Oscars after-party, Robb makes up for the praise and congratulations Theon will miss out on.

[modern-day-bard]

Worth The Feeling

Content Warning: 18+ This series contains explicit smut, intimidation, and an age gap relationship. Minors, do not interact.

Chapter 25

If there was any part of me that was hesitant about the new dress, that part had been incinerated as soon as I saw those tabloid photos. And walking up to the party now, I clearly wasn't the only one to have dressed to impress. There were other party-goers dressed in sequins, short dresses, suede suits, heels, heavy makeup, and hair that looked as though it was done professionally. I really did pull out all the stops tonight, too. I smoothed my hair, letting it tumble over my shoulders. I did my best attempt at a smokey eye and made sure my lips were plumped with gloss to match the shimmer of my dress. Courtesy of Mia, I had borrowed a sparkly clutch just large enough to hold my phone and some lip gloss. I even brought out one of my only pairs of heels for the occasion, black and strappy to match the rest of the ensemble. Thankfully, they were much easier to walk in than I remember.

Norwick had chosen the Warwick club for our wrap party. I originally thought that it was purely because of how it sounded to say "Norwick at Warwick," however, walking inside...I think the wordplay was just a bonus. It is hard to know where to look first. Giant crystal chandeliers hang from the ceiling, one placed roughly every ten feet along the rafters. The lights were all dimmed, most of the light coming from small, lavender-colored bulbs somewhere high above, the disco balls near the dance floor reflecting it back out. My attention is torn toward the bar, but quickly then to the wall next to it that had a floor to ceiling photo of a naked model, seemingly looking over the crowded room. Behind the bar, there was another room that looked a bit less crowded. Knowing Dwayne, I assume that would be a good place to start if I want to drop off his gift first.

I round the corner behind the bar, taking in the ambient lighting. This room was less crowded, and the thumping music was a bit more drowned out, making it easier to hear conversation. The spacious room has two fireplaces and a handful of cushioned chairs, complete with some barstools that sat along the second, smaller bar in the corner. Sure enough, I find Dwayne leaning against the bar, chatting with the bartender. His attention turns to me and he waves me over. I give him a quick hug, which I had only ever done at wrap parties before. The stress and stuffiness of the film is over with, and it feels like we can all take a collective sigh of relief.

"Happy wrap party," I say, handing over the black and silver gift bag in my hand. I pause as he opens the gift. I ended up going with an Italian candle and a blank clapperboard.

"I figured you didn't get to enjoy a nice Italian vacation, so you can recreate one during hiatus. Also, I realize that this promotion for me also means a promotion for you. You can fill out the clapperboard for your first film as an assistant director."

Dwayne smiles, smelling the candle. "That was very thoughtful of you, Ava. Let me buy you a drink," He winks, and I realize quickly that it is an open bar.

I laugh. "That would be great," I'm tempted to buy a shot, but I settle for a martini instead. The bartender takes my order and Dwayne continues while my drink is being made.

"It's exciting, this next chapter," He has a far off look in his eye. I hadn't taken a moment before I bought the clapperboard to wonder how long Dwayne had wanted this promotion. How young was he when he first dreamed of working in film, and all the steps it took to get to this moment. "I like working with you kids, don't get me wrong. But I'd like to have a say in the direction, not just the logistics."

I nod, understanding completely. "We'll miss you."

"I'll still be on set," He deadpans.

"Well I should hope! I'm still going to have some questions that only a former Key-PA can answer."

Dwayne smiles again, "Happy to help." My drink arrives on the counter, and I raise my glass to him.

"To the next chapter," I say with a chipper smile. He begrudgingly clinks his scotch glass against mine, and I take an eager sip. "Speaking of, when do you want to meet about the remaining logistics stuff I need to learn?"

Dwayne shrugs, "I'll email you. Enjoy tonight though, Ava. We've all earned it." I take the hint, smiling and raising my glass again as I exit the room, filing out with a few others back into the giant main hall. I take several gulps of my martini, now that I'm out of sight of Dwayne. It's not exactly a gulping sort of drink, so by the time I'm situated near one of the couches in the main room, I get in line for the large bar on the far end to get another drink. After ordering another, double, martini, I pull out my phone to text Lana and Mia. They live on the other side of town, so I knew we wouldn't be car pooling. But the place is already packed to the brim, so they have to be in here somewhere. My finger hovers briefly over Javi's name, but I know better than to text him in public. I'm not sure what my name is in his phone, and it just felt too risky depending on what popped up. He was listed just as "J" in mine, just in case. He had texted me before I left.

Javi: Looking forward to seeing you tonight ;)

I smile to myself, reading it again. A familiar squeal breaks through the music, prompting me to look up and see Mia pushing through the crowd toward me, Lana right behind her, smiling wide. They embrace me tightly, though we had just seen each other hours before. Mia starts jumping up and down, still holding both of us. Clearly they had been here long enough to have a few drinks, and clearly my first martini was already kicking in because I start jumping along with her.

"How did Dwayne like the gift?" Lana asks over the noise.

"He cracked not one, but two whole smiles!" I hold up my fingers. "So I think he loved it."

"Woo!" Lana took a sip of her drink. "We should probably be dancing, and you should probably make a little progress on that." She gestured to my nearly full glass. I didn't bother telling her it was a double as I nod, taking a long swig.

"Attagirl!" Mia grabs my hand, pulling me towards the dance floor on the other end of the room. I glance around for familiar faces, and I see a few that I don't know as well, but for the most part it's hard to recognize anyone. I suppose most of us received plus ones, though I had opted not to bring anyone else. The only one I would want with me was already going to be there. The darkness, drinks, and noise dampen my senses as I stop scanning, choosing to focus my attention on reaching the checkered dance floor. It's crowded, and besides a few of the sound engineers that Lana greets, I can't make out people I know super well.

Mia spins me in a circle, making me laugh. I can tell most people around me are yelling the words to the song emanating from the speakers, so I do the same. Taking a few more sips of my drink, I slowly loosen up. Even though this project has been chaotic and unlike anything I've dealt with before, I'm only thinking about the positives right now. I think about our trip, minus the fainting spell, as well as my promotion, Javi, and how happy I am to have the two friends dancing around me. The more I think, the more my hips start to swing, and I close my eyes for several moments just to drink in how lucky I feel right now.

Lana creates a train of sorts with Mia and me, so that the three of us are dancing in a line. She moves us through the dance floor, even deeper into the club than we already were. I'm rocking back and forth when I see long, tanned legs in a short, long-sleeved pink dress. Emma's beautiful long blonde hair sways back and forth as she moves, and she occasionally speaks to a shorter man next to her. I realize through the flashing lights that he's holding a camera. That must be the guy who took the face paparazzi shots, the same ones I saw this morning at the mall. I turn toward the girls.

"Be back in a minute," I shout over the music.

They just nod, turning to dance with each other as I walk away.

"Ms. Madden!" I say enthusiastically as I approach her.

She smiles brightly when she sees me. "Hi, Anna!" She gives me a brisk hug and I feel a small pang of guilt. I never blamed her or Javi, but she was the face of my distress in a way. But she was always polite. She even remembered the name that she incorrectly called me.

"How are you?" I ask.

"Good, good. I'm glad it all went so well. Though I will be happier when this whole stunt is over with, too. No offense, Glen." She wiggles her hand to the man next to her.

Glen didn't even look up from his camera, he just nodded along.

"Honestly," she leans forward so that she doesn't have to shout so loud, "I just need Javi to finally get here so we can take a few pictures and I can get the hell out of here. I'm leaving for Cabo tonight."

"Cabo! That's exciting."

"Who's going to Cabo?" A familiar, smooth voice says behind me. I turn around coming face to chest with Javi. I look up through my lashes, smirking slightly when his jaw goes slack. His eyes do a quick once-over of my outfit before he clears his throat.

"Me! Once we can get our pictures and get out of here." Emma sings.

Javi places a light hand on my back so he can shift around me to Emma. Just before he lets go, he lets it drop lower for a moment. I hope no one can see my shiver. Having so much of my skin exposed made his calloused hands feel even more thrilling. As Glen says hello to Javi, I don't miss how his eyes scan my body, spending too much time on my legs before holding my gaze without a hint of shame.

"Well, have fun. It was good to see you, Emma."

She smiles at me despite my informal phrasing. I will probably never see her again, so I figure I can get away with calling her by her first name.

"You too, Anna." She moves to put her arm around Javi, as Glen is clearly setting up the shot.

"Mr. Gutierrez," I say, "Good to see you, too."

"Ava," Was all he says, his eyes darkening by the minute.

I turn to walk away, making a show of swing my hips to the music as I do so. Before I'm completely out of earshot, I hear Emma ask him, "Wait, it's Ava?"

When I'm back with my friends, I let go. I move my free hand through my hair, dancing around Lana and Mia in time with the beat. Whenever I get the chance, I peer over toward Javi and Emma's side of the dance floor. Javi has his hands on Emma's hips, holding her from behind as she laughs again and again, though Javi hasn't spoken from what I can see. In fact, he keeps looking at me while Glen takes more photos. Glen even takes out his phone to get some shots that I'm sure they'll say were taken by other party goers. I hold Javi's gaze as I grind my hips in a circle, down my drink at the same time. I turn so my back is to him, looking at him as long as possible. Then I run my hands down my body, bending my knees and moving side to side. I know as I arch my back on the way up that the hem of my dress is just barely covering my behind, and almost all of my back is exposed to him. I smirk to myself, hoping that this silly show of mine is doing its trick.

Lana, Mia, and I dance for a few more songs before we're all out of breath. We leave the dance floor to get more drinks. I'm fanning myself in line when I decide to check my phone.

Javi: I don't want to ruin your fun, but do you think you could meet me for a few minutes? I have a wrap gift for you.

He'd only sent the text about five minutes ago. I look around, but he's nowhere in sight. He must still be on the dance floor.

Me: I think I can arrange that. Where?

It only takes him a few seconds to respond.

Javi: The VIP room. As fast as those heels can take you.

Next Chapter

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Series Masterlist

[professionallydeadinside]

what do you mean no one's ever told you how beautiful you are? you're the most stunning person I've ever seen -> with Jagre and Guy <33

-Tostoa

“What do you mean no one’s ever told you how beautiful you are? You’re the most stunning person I’ve ever seen.”

“Well, uh, I.” Jagre felt his face get red. Somewhere in the audience of the holodeck he heard Libitina stifle a laugh.

“Cut! Lieutenant!”

“I know, I know!” Mirou didn’t even have to finish her sentence before Jagre knew what she was criticizing. They’d tried to practice this scene for thirty minutes and each time Guy got to that line, Jagre seemed to completely shut off. Before, Frevlar used to think Jagre was just forgetting his lines. But after thorough quizzing it was obvious to everyone (besides Guy, that is) that the only thing Jagre was struggling with was getting complimented by Guy.

“You two are supposed to be lovers! You can’t be this embarrassed that your beau is complimenting you!”

“When do we get to my scene?” Libitina complained. “I want to be the jealous husband!”

Mirou brightened up. Jagre could practically see the lightswitch activate in her head.

“Slight change of plans. Libitina and Jagre, switch roles for this run! Libitina is now the lover and Jagre will be the jealous husband.”

“What?” Jagre said incredulously.

“Alright? Start!” Mirou mimicked the sound of a clapperboard and pushed Jagre off stage as the scene restarted with Libitina as the new lover.

“What do you mean no one’s ever told you how beautiful you are? You’re the most stunning person I’ve ever seen.”

“Oh stop it, Archie. You know that’s not true.” Libitina wrapped her arms around Guy’s neck. Jagre seethed at how Guy held onto her waist. He tried to distract himself with the fact his que was coming up soon, right after Guy says a line about running away.

“But it is, and I shall always remind you of it.” Guy leaned in.

Right. The kiss.

The kiss that should’ve been Jagre’s but wasn’t because of how damn flustered Guy made him. The kiss that Jagre had only been daydreaming about for the last week. The kiss that Libitina had no right to take from him.

Jagre bristled and, completely involuntarily, growled so loudly both Guy and Libitina paused and turned to him.

‘Shit.’

“Perfect!” Mirou exclaimed, giving a small standing ovation. Jagre was baffled. He was ready to have to explain his outburst and here Mirou was complimenting him.

“You were a bit early but honestly? I think I like it better like this. One more time through then we can-“

“Crew to the bridge, please. We’ll be getting to Planet 3-2 in five. Thank you.” The captain’s voice cut through and just as quickly, turned back off. Mirou sighed.

“Nevermind. But rehearsal is still on for tomorrow!” She clapped her hands and released the crew to change back into their uniforms. Jagre stopped Guy before he could leave and paused until they were alone.

“Hey, sorry for cutting you off.” Jagre felt his tail flick side to side and hoped Guy didn’t notice.

“It’s okay. You did a good job. Although,” Guy brushed his fingers over some of Jagre’s fur that was still sticking upright, “I’m sad we never got to kiss.”

Ignoring that Jagre let every muscle in his body go rigid, Guy patted him on the shoulder and went to change out of his costume.

It seemed no matter what role Jagre played, he was doomed to be flustered around Guy.

[ollieofthebeholder]

to find promise of peace (and the solace of rest): a TMA fanfic

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] || Also on AO3

Chapter 17: July 2016

Tim followed Martin’s quiet instructions without question. After everything they’d been through in the last few months, but especially tonight, he felt like Martin deserved that.

The car was otherwise silent. Tim found himself glancing at the rearview mirror periodically to check on Jon and Sasha, like they’d somehow disappear from the backseat if he didn’t keep looking. Like it would turn out one or both of them had actually died during the attack, hugs notwithstanding, and that if he didn’t keep watching them they would reach their destination and they’d be gone. It was stupid, and he knew that, but it still made him feel better every time he looked up and saw them still clutching their respective tape recorders and watching the other occupants of the car intently.

At last they pulled up to a house Martin seemed to think was their destination. It didn’t seem like there was anything special about it, but Martin dragged himself up the front walk and beckoned the others to follow. He looked down at the ground for a moment—Tim wasn’t sure why—then shook his head minutely and knocked on the door instead.

Tim didn’t know why he was surprised when the door opened and exposed Melanie King, looking a little annoyed until she saw Martin and the look shifted into one of mingled surprise and worry. She skimmed the other three, then shook her head and stepped back, opening the door wider. “Get in here.”

Martin led them in. As soon as the door closed behind them, Melanie hugged him tightly, then eased back when he gave a small groan of pain. “Come on. Make yourselves comfortable. I just put the kettle on a couple minutes ago.”

Tim trailed after the group until they reached a comfortable living room. Melanie waved at an arrangement of seats before disappearing through another door; Martin followed her, and the sounds of clinking and cabinets opening came to them faintly. Jon sank slowly onto the sofa, looking after Martin, and Sasha perched on the other end of it. Tim, though, had too much restless energy and couldn’t sit still, so he paced around the living room, taking it in.

There were blank spots on the walls and shelves, like someone else had been living there and had taken things with them and nobody had bothered to fill the spaces yet. The books on the shelves were a mix of nonfiction about the paranormal, most of which Tim had read in the last few years, and horror novels, with an unexpected detour into a handful of battered classics and a beautiful but well-loved book of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories. There were a couple of odd knickknacks, a few candles scattered about, a truly gorgeous painting of a sunset over a river, and a row of framed photographs.

Tim drifted over to look at them. At one end was a picture of a little girl, maybe seven or eight, in a purple helmet and elbow- and kneepads, laughing with delight as she tried to balance on a pair of hot pink roller skates, supported by a woman with matching eyes and a slouch hat pulled low over her ears. At the other end was Melanie King, sporting a grin identical to the first picture—save that her front teeth had grown back in—and the woman’s hat as she held up a clapperboard announcing the first take of the first shot of Ghost Hunt UK, surrounded by people he vaguely recognized as being the remainder of the show’s crew.

All of the other pictures had Martin in them, too.

It was like Tim hadn’t believed they really knew each other, let alone were stepsiblings, until he saw it. But no, here was visible, tangible proof. There was a picture of the two of them in formal wear, not more than ten years old, Melanie holding a basket full of rose petals and Martin carefully balancing a white satin pillow in his hands, both looking slightly uncomfortable but delighted nonetheless. Another showed them both astride a camel, Martin’s arms locked around Melanie’s waist and Melanie clinging to the pommel of the saddle in front of her for dear life. A third showed Melanie in what looked like a pastel Victorian-style gown, draped dramatically across the stern of a rowboat with her hand pressed to the back of her forehead, while Martin, wearing a white-and-red striped coat and a flat straw hat that somehow suited him (and certainly suited him better than Melanie’s gown suited her), pulled at the oars and laughed at her. Still another showed the pair of them beaming in triumph as they displayed what closer inspection proved to be acceptance letters into their chosen study programs.

Other pictures, about a dozen in all, also featured a third person. Taller than Melanie but not quite so tall as Martin, fair-skinned and with long hair dyed black—ruddy roots showed in a couple of the photos—he seemed like he would be out of place in his tattered jeans and black leather duster, but he just looked…natural with Melanie and Martin, even in pictures where Martin dressed like a middle-aged man and Melanie dressed like a stolen car. There was a picture of the three of them rollerskating, another of them crouched around a campfire, still another of them in a park of some kind, with Melanie sitting on a sort of perch formed by the other two’s outstretched arms, her own arms looped around their shoulders—they went on and on. In all the pictures, all three of them were smiling and laughing. It was clear they were close.

Tim turned around at the sound of footsteps and saw Melanie and Martin coming back in, Martin with a mug in each hand and Melanie carrying three. She handed one to Sasha, then held one out to Tim, who accepted it automatically, then hesitated before settling down in between Sasha and Jon. Martin sat opposite them on a loveseat; Melanie lit a candle on one shelf, then joined him. For a few moments, none of them spoke.

At last, Melanie set her mug down on the coffee table, rather heavily. “So where do we start? Or do you want me to bugger off?”

“No. No, Martin…implied you know what’s going on. Better than we do, at any rate.” Jon sighed heavily. “I—I have questions, but…we should start with a full picture of what happened tonight. Statements. I guess.”

Sasha held up her tape recorder. “I’ve got this. Elias suggested I turn it on, so we’d have a record, and…well, it at least will tell you what I was up to. Then you can fill in for me.”

“We’ve got this one as well.” Jon slid his own recorder forward. “I rewound it in the car, but…”

“Oh. I didn’t think of that. You play yours first, then.”

Jon pressed PLAY. Tim listened, his heart in his throat, first to Jon’s agonized cries as Martin used a corkscrew to extract a worm, then to his friends’ panic over him. Martin’s confession to Jon caught him off-guard—not because he didn’t know most of it, but because he hadn’t expected Martin to admit it—and he guessed that was part of the reason for the look Melanie threw him. After all, she of all people had to know. He heard himself burst through the wall and lure Jon and Martin into the tunnels, and then he heard the conversation they’d had some time later—he hadn’t realized Jon had turned the recorder back on, and from the look on Jon’s face, neither had he. Mentally, he began ticking off all the questions they still needed answers for.

His breath caught when Martin and Jon emerged into the Archives to be confronted by Jane Prentiss. He wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or annoyed that the recording cut out immediately after that.

There was a split-second of silence before Melanie spoke in a carefully controlled voice. “Is that why you wanted me to meet you for lunch?”

“Well, ‘lunch.’ I didn’t figure we’d want to eat much,” Martin said softly. “But yeah.”

“Desolation?”

“Corruption.”

“Fuck.”

Tim looked back and forth between the two of them. “What are you talking about?”

Melanie rubbed a hand over her face. “My dad was a patient at Ivy Meadows. He…he was still there when it, um, burned down. They told me he died peacefully, but…” She looked at Martin.

“Tell you later,” Martin mumbled.

Sasha looked at the recorder, then at her own. “Well. This is ready.”

The first part of the tape was Jon recording that statement they’d been investigating about what the assistants had privately termed “the homophobic vase”. Melanie frowned at the recorder, then looked up at Martin and mouthed something Tim couldn’t quite catch; whatever it was, Martin simply nodded.

The others were all staring at the recorder, but Tim found himself watching Martin and Melanie. When Jon told Sasha he’d been trying to kill a spider and subsequently damaged the wall, Melanie’s nostrils flared and Martin’s lips pursed; Tim figured them both for spider-lovers. The scowl on Melanie’s face when Elias started talking wasn’t much of a surprise, after Martin’s revelation on the other tape that he’d threatened Jon the day she’d come to make her statement.

Tim was momentarily distracted by Sasha’s monologue about being in Artifact Storage, and he flinched when the other voice spoke. Martin and Melanie both sat bolt upright; when Tim looked up, he saw that Martin had gone pale behind the bandages and Melanie’s eyes were wide.

“Is that…?” she murmured.

“Can’t be,” Martin said, barely moving his lips. He neither looked nor sounded convinced.

They both seemed incredibly affected by what was on the tape, even more than the rest of them—and Tim was plenty affected by Sasha’s scream of fear—but neither spoke another word. Tim’s resolve to watch them faltered when Sasha and her mysterious benefactor ran into Elias, who seemed to believe—or pretended to believe, and Tim had good reason to suspect the latter—that Jon and Martin were both dead and tried to convince Sasha to leave them to be eaten by worms. The smack of fist on flesh was satisfying, although Elias’ roar of pain was disproportionately loud, and then Sasha and the mystery man were on their way. And then there was another spider, which even Tim could tell was stretching the bounds of credibility to call a coincidence, and then the voice spoke in a dark, cryptic tone. “Mother, may I?”

There was a thunk, a hiss, and a click as the recorder shut off, followed by a moment of silence.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d swear…” Melanie finally said.

“Yeah. Me, too.” Martin rubbed a hand over his face. Jon flinched at the rasp of bandage against bandage. “If it was, I might’ve had to kill him for that last bit.”

“Whoever it is, he’s an idiot.”

Jon took a deep, shaky breath. “Who was that?”

It took Tim a second to realize that was directed at Sasha, and evidently it took her a second, too. “You know as much as I do. He appeared out of nowhere when I was in Artifact Storage, stopped me from getting killed by…something, I can’t describe it…gave Elias a black eye, and set off the CO2 system. He had another weird pain spell or seizure or…something before we went down to the Archives and went out to get fresh air.”

“So you have no way of getting a hold of him,” Jon said. “Or any way to…did he just disappear?”

“No. He was still there when I came out.” Sasha hit the rewind button on both recorders. “He was being all…mysterious and creepy, but he said none of you were dead, and he was right about that, at least. He said he’d be back to give you a statement.”

“Did he say when?”

“No, just that it wouldn’t be tonight. Something about keeping promises?” Sasha shrugged. “The way he was talking, though, I think he knew you.”

Jon shook his head slowly. “The voice didn’t sound familiar, I—”

Melanie held out a hand to stop him, her spine stiffening and her head tilting. Tim paused, and then he heard it, too—the sound of the front door shutting with a quiet snick. Someone had just come into the house.

Martin and Melanie both rose to their feet. Tim, looking up at Martin, saw the same expression he’d had on his face when Tim had burst through the wall of the document storage room—afraid, but determined—as he put himself between the door and the rest of them. He brushed his fingers quickly against Melanie’s; she stayed firmly behind him, but raised her voice. “Who’s there?”