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spine-buster · 4 years ago

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The President Wears Prada (William Nylander) | Chapter 15

TW: mentions of sexual harassment

December 30th, 2019

Aberdeen Bloom was ready for 2020.

She had to get through a game against Minnesota first, but she was excited nonetheless. And she checked the weather in Winnipeg and saw that it was -20°C, but she tried to remain excited. Even if she was going to freeze her ass off.

As she climbed the stairs up to the charter plane behind Brendan, she took one look back at the tarmac, at the sun setting behind them. She was going to miss Toronto. This would be the first time ever that she’d spend the new year outside of the city, outside of the country. She figured Minnesota was the closest thing she could get to Canada – everybody always said how alike they were – but it, of course, wasn’t the same. Kasha and Siena were going to a party hosted by Masani, and most of Aberdeen’s friends would be there too. Except her. Because she’d be at a hotel in Minnesota, ringing in the new year alone.

Aberdeen would at least be able to FaceTime them. Hopefully.

When she put her carry-on in the overhead compartment, she looked down the plane to see William finishing doing the same and taking off his jacket. He looked over at her. Subconsciously, she raised her hand to fix her hair. He saw the ring on her finger flash in the poor airplane light. He looked away to bite his lip and smile. It was his go-to reaction when he saw it on her finger in New Jersey the first time – he’d actually walked away when he saw it because it was too much for him to bear. When he saw it again, back in Toronto on Saturday against the Rangers, he’d had the same reaction. Now, at least, he wasn’t as bashful about it. He didn’t turn red and have to walk away.

But none of that mattered now. She was too sullen and too sad to have it really get to her like it usually would. For the first time since she started working for Brendan, she desperately didn’t want to go anywhere. She wanted to stay in Toronto. She wanted to go to Masani’s house party. She wanted to drink cocktails with Siena and Kasha, and she wanted to drink champagne at midnight surrounded by all her friends. She wanted to go to her parents’ house on New Year’s Day and hug them and hug Camden.

But she couldn’t.

“Is this your first time out of the city for New Year’s?” Brendan asked, interrupting her thoughts as he put his bag in the overhead compartment.

“Yeah,” she nodded her head, her attention completely away from William now, who she knew was probably still looking at her, or at least in her general direction.

“First time you won’t see your family?”

She nodded again. “I’m trying not to think about it.”

“Hmph…” Brendan nodded knowingly. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

Aberdeen slipped into her seat on the plane. She watched Brendan slip into his own seat in front of her before he took out his iPad. Through the crack between the seats, she saw him open Netflix. She knew that meant she wouldn’t be bothered, so she stuck her headphones in her ears and settled in.

When the plane took off, she had to close her window. If she didn’t, she knew she’d cry, unable to say goodbye to the city she wished she could celebrate in.

***

December 31st, 2019

Aberdeen was lucky that it was an early game. It meant she could go back into her hotel room and FaceTime Siena and Kasha while they were at the party and pretend she was there too.

The team had gotten in late last night and immediately checked into the hotel and went to bed. After a quick morning skate and hanging out at the arena, Aberdeen was running something for Brendan as she walked inside the locker room. By this point, the team was comfortable with her presence, and no-one batted an eye. Even she was comfortable – a complete turnaround from her first day when she basically slammed herself into a door twice because she saw them in tight workout gear. They could be topless now and she wouldn’t even notice. What had her life become?

When she finished speaking to Dave Hakstol on behalf of Brendan, she was ready to leave. That was, until—

“You,” Jason said sternly as he marched towards her from across the room. “You get over here now,” he grabbed her arm and led her out of the room, into a part of the hallway where he could speak to her without anyone interrupting.

“What’s this about?” Aberdeen asked.

“What’s this I hear about Ethan Baker?” Jason asked.

She froze in her spot. She didn’t expect to have to deal with this now. “Oh. That.”

“Aberdeen, what the fuck?” he asked, his tone as serious as she’d ever heard it. “William and Pierre told us after morning skate that he was fired for sexually harassing you before Christmas. Pierre could barely speak he was still so angry.”

“He was fired for sexually harassing me,” she confirmed.

“What the fuck happened?”

“He uh…he felt me up in the staff kitchen before Christmas. Pierre walked in on the tail end of it. Thankfully.”

“He what?!” Jason was absolutely livid. Aberdeen had never seen him this angry. He wasn’t punching walls (Jason didn’t punch walls), but she could tell the anger was boiling within him. “What do you mean he felt you up?”

“Do I really have to go into detail?” she asked, uncomfortable with revealing anything more. “He’s gone now, that’s all that matters.”

“And Pierre and William tell us he was making you uncomfortable for a while?” Jason continued. At that point, Aberdeen couldn’t look him in the eye anymore. She knew William would tell them about the assault, but she didn’t know he’d tell them absolutely everything. She didn’t want to have to tell Jason – old, wise, sensible Jason – what she told William on Christmas. She knew he’d be so disappointed in her, and the absolute last thing she wanted in the world was for Jason Spezza to be disappointed in her. “Aberdeen, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Jason…”

“Aberdeen.”

“I didn’t…listen, I just didn’t think it was worth the trouble. I knew at the beginning he was just hazing me or whatever because I was the new girl. But the more inappropriate it got, the more I just…I don’t know, I didn’t think I was worth the hassle—”

“William said he called you a piggy one day,” Jason said. “How is that not worth the hassle?” Aberdeen stayed silent. At her silence, Jason became even more frustrated. “Aberdeen, you need to know how valued you are as a member of the team.”

“I’m not a Leaf, Jason.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he was stern. “The whole locker room is ready to find him and rip out his throat. How could you even think that we wouldn’t have done anything if you came to one of us?”

“I did,” she whispered, immediately regretting it.

“What?”

“I said I did,” she said louder. She took a deep breath. “William found me one day trying to move hockey bags by myself because Ethan said I needed to do it. He told Mike about it, but Mike decided not to pursue it any further or take it to Brendan.”

Jason looked like a mix between being unable to believe the words that were coming out of her mouth and looking like he was ready to blow a gasket. “Why am I not surprised?” he mumbled through gritted teeth.

Aberdeen shrugged. After what came out about Mike after he got fired, she wasn’t exactly surprised either. And after what he did to Jason on the season opener, she really wasn’t surprised. He probably thought she deserved it for all she knew, being the rookie and all. “It’s over now, Jason. I want to put it past me. And I appreciate you coming up to me – seriously, thank you – but I think you can understand why I don’t want to do talk about it anymore.”

As she moved to turn away from him, she felt him grab her elbow gently one last time. “Just…listen to me. Before you go,” he said. “If anybody, ever, in any capacity, makes you feel uncomfortable whatsoever, you tell one of us.”

“I will,” she smiled, turning again to walk away.

“Even if it is one of us.”

Aberdeen stopped. She looked over her shoulder and back at him, seeing him standing in his Leafs hoodie and staring directly at her. There was conviction in his voice. Principle. Morality. She knew he was dead serious.

She nodded her head.

***

Catering had prepared a rosé pasta, some chicken, fresh vegetables, and a hearty soup for the team to consume before the game. Aberdeen took a large bowl of the cream of broccoli soup and brought it to her table, where she sat alone. Only some of the team had filtered in so far – it was mostly the equipment and coaching staff. She ate her soup in peace while she scrolled through her phone.

That was, until—

“Hey,” she heard Morgan’s voice. When she looked up, he was already setting his plate of food down on the table at the seat right beside her. From behind him, John Tavares appeared, setting his plate down beside Morgan’s.

“Hi guys,” she smiled. It would have looked like a slight ambush, but Morgan and John had to be the nicest guys in the league. Morgan was practically her Uber driver, for heaven’s sake. “How are you?”

“We’re fine,” John answered politely.

“What about you?” Morgan asked.

The inflex in his tone was telling. “I’m fine…”

“Listen,” John just got right into it. There was no point of beating around the bush. “William and Pierre told us what happened—”

“You’re not sticking to the script, John,” Morgan grumbled.

“Your script was horrible, Morgan.”

“We agreed on the script.”

“We didn’t agree on anything.”

“Because you insist on the script being written by William fucking Shakespeare—"

Aberdeen couldn’t help but snort. Besides being the nicest guys in the league, the other thing she could count on them for was making her laugh. “Guys – it’s fine – Jason already spoke to me about it too—”

“Noooo no no, we’re not letting you off that easy,” Morgan shook his head. “He’s the captain and I’m one of the alternates. We have to get to the bottom of this.”

Aberdeen gave the boys a look, waiting for them to proceed. She wondered how deep they would go with their grilling. She wondered if they’d get as mad as Jason did, even if more people, teammates included, were filing into the dining room now. “I’m not here to pry, Aberdeen. I don’t want to know the details because I’m sure you don’t want to relive them,” John said. “I just…more than anything, I just want to know why you didn’t say anything. Like, why you didn’t approach me, or Morgan, or any of the other guys about how uncomfortable he made you.”

Aberdeen sighed. She knew she’d have to go through the same things she told Jason. “I just didn’t think that it was worth the big hassle. I knew at the beginning he was just hazing me or whatever because I was the newbie. As it got worse, I just…didn’t want to make a big deal. I know that sounds horrible. Believe me.”

“You should have made it a big deal,” Morgan said.

“I know. I know that now,” Aberdeen nodded her head. “And…uh, for what it’s worth, William sort of caught him once, so to speak, and he tried to talk to Mike about it, but Mike didn’t take it any further.”

“Babcock?” John asked.

“The one and only.”

Morgan and John shot each other a knowing look. It’s as if everyone knew – that they held out hope he would have done the right thing, but knowing he ultimately wouldn’t. It was Morgan that looked at Aberdeen first. “Did anyone ever tell you what happened to Bee?” he asked.

Aberdeen shook her head. She had no clue where this was leading to. “No…”

Morgan took a deep breath. “Bee grew up with an alcoholic mother,” he began, setting the tone of the conversation with those words. “She fought to have herself legally emancipated from her at sixteen, and she never saw her after that. At the end of January – near All Star Weekend, actually – it’ll be a year since Bee’s mom passed away. Bee grew up in rooming houses, homeless shelters, all that.”

“Wow,” Aberdeen was legitimately shocked at what Morgan was telling her. “I didn’t know any of that.”

“When we started dating, she started to get these messages accusing me of being her sugar daddy and all that. Trapping me. Just really stupid stuff,” Morgan recounted. “But as time went on, the messages started becoming worse. They started targeting her weight. They started targeting her personality, her character. Why we were together. After…” he paused, collecting his emotions, “after Zach’s wedding last summer, and a video was posted to Snapchat of her and Freddie and Tyler Ennis having fun, someone had the audacity to call her the team cum bucket. It got to her, a lot. A lot. But Bee always stayed silent about it. She took this stance of having a dignified silence.”

From beside him, John nodded his head. “Then one day, Bee, Aryne, and Bee’s best friend Angie were having dinner when a group of girls that knew Kappy’s ex approached them. It…” John paused, having to collect his emotions as well as he retold the story. He shook his head. “They somehow learned that Bee’s mom had died due to her alcoholism, and brought it up as a point of gossip. It wrecked Bee. Just completely…” he looked over to Morgan, who was shaking his head. He still didn’t like thinking about it. “Lawyers almost got involved, social media managers…Bee had to make a super private Instagram account. She even came out with a statement on the public one she has now about the whole thing.”

Aberdeen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Holy shit,” was all she could say. She felt horrible knowing that Bee had gone through something so terrible. She’d always been nothing but an absolute sweetheart to Aberdeen whenever she and Morgan drove her home and whenever Aberdeen saw her at Scotiabank Arena. To think that a group of girls had done that to her was appalling. “I’m—I’m really sorry that happened to you guys,” she told Morgan.

“John offered to get lawyers involved. Good lawyers. And I’d do anything for Bee, so you know I was ready to burn the entire city down,” Morgan said. Aberdeen knew. She could tell just by the way he looked at her when they were in the car together driving her home that Morgan would move entire oceans for Bee.

“When Bee and I talked about it on the phone, I told her that one of the risks of being quiet is that other people can fill your silence, and you can’t let them fill your silence,” John explained. “And that’s what I’m going to tell you too, Aberdeen. The risk of being quiet is that other people can fill your silence. Don’t let them fill your silence.”

The words hit Aberdeen like a ton of bricks. She knew exactly what John meant. She could no longer stay silent about things and be “just” Brendan’s executive assistant, the girl in the shadows willing to do anything for her boss but not willing to speak up about things. She had to be better. She had to be stronger, fiercer. She had to use her voice. “Thanks, guys.”

“And if anyone ever makes you feel uncomfortable, you come tell one of us and we’ll take care of it,” Morgan affirmed.

Aberdeen nodded her head. “I will.”

***

The Leafs won 4-1, thankfully ending the decade on a good note. William scored. Not that she cared. The game even ended at 7:30, which meant after media, everybody was on the bus to get back to the hotel by 8:15. The guys didn’t mess around – they wanted out of the arena quick. She was sure that a lot of them were going to do what she was planning on doing: FaceTiming friends and family back home. She knew for a fact that a lot of the girls were at a party together. And she knew for a fact the party Masani was throwing was already happening because of the time difference. She couldn’t wait to bundle up in her room and call Siena.

That was, until—

“Alright, you all get one hour to get all shiny and new before the bus leaves again,” Brendan announced. He looked down at Aberdeen. “Including you,” he added, before walking off the bus.

She furrowed her brows. “What’s going on?”

“My boy Boeser recommended Murray’s Steakhouse for a New Year’s team dinner,” Auston said as he stood up from his seat, just across the aisle and two seats down from her seat at the front of the bus. “Best steaks in the city. So get a move on.”

She couldn’t believe it. Brendan hadn’t told her about a thing. He didn’t even tell her to pack an extra outfit. So now she was going to be stuck wearing work clothes to the best steakhouse in the city on New Years surrounded by the Maple Leafs. She was going to kill him.

So she showered. And she did her hair. And she put on some makeup. And she tried to put together an outfit. And when she went back down to the lobby to see almost everyone already waiting and ready to go, she beelined towards Jason who was looking down at his phone. “Did you know about the dinner?” she asked, scaring him slightly.

“We had a hunch,” he shrugged his shoulders. “Why? You didn’t?”

“No.”

“I thought you would have made all the arrangements. I mean, no offence.”

“None taken,” she said, looking around briefly. She saw Kasperi exit the elevator, followed by William. She looked away quickly, focusing her attention back to Jason. “What are Jen and the girls up to tonight?”

“Are you asking me because you genuinely care or because you want to take your mind off Willy?” Jason smirked, who had followed her line of sight.

“Shut up, Jason.”

“Hey,” Kasperi’s voice interrupted their little chat as he and William showed up beside them. Aberdeen smiled politely at them but Jason still had a cheeky grin on his face. “You guys ready for some tomahawk steaks?”

“I prefer filets,” Aberdeen said.

“Hmm,” Kasper smirked. “Like Willy.”

Aberdeen sneered at Kasperi, but William’s grew a bit of a smirk. “How do I look, Aberdeen?”

She shook her head. “You look like you should have had the starring role in Mamma Mia.”

Jason and Kasperi snorted. Kasperi even took out his phone to write down the insult in his notes – he’d been keeping a record of all of them since the beginning. William smiled too, shaking his head slightly. “Well, it does have Abba in it,” he commented.

“Exactly what Swedes are known for.”

“Not Ikea or our hockey players?”

“Definitely Ikea, not your hockey players.”

“Ouch, Aberdeen,” William brought his hand up to his heart, pretending to be heartbroken. Kappy rolled his eyes at William.

Before she could respond, Brendan’s boisterous voice could be heard getting off of the elevator. He was with Sheldon, who looked equally as happy as Brendan to be going out. She wondered why others weren’t as pouty as she was about all of this – all she wanted to do, still, was FaceTime with Siena and her friends and pretend she was back in Toronto. That was, until, she remembered that the team was their family too, almost as much as their real family. These guys were on the road almost as often as they were home, and that although they had families at home, or wives, or girlfriends, their teammates were as much family as their actual family. And somehow, someway, she had become a factor in that ‘family’ – she was a member, she was a willing participant, she was a constant presence in their life with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

More than anything, she was very lucky. She needed to remember that. Despite being away from her family in friends, she was still a very lucky girl.

At the restaurant, they got led to a private room with a few TVs and everything done up with banners, streamers, and party hats and favours. There were two long tables, and Brendan commandeered one of them, sitting at the head, while John commandeered the other, sitting at the head as well. She shuffled in with everyone else, looking down at her phone to see if Siena or Kasha had texted, and before she knew it, she was sandwiched in between Jason and Morgan, will William opposite her space at the table, sandwiched between Kasperi and Pierre Engvall.

She probably shouldn’t be here. She should probably be at Brendan’s table, with Sheldon and the coaching staff and the equipment guys and— “I think I should go to the other ta—”

“Sit,” Jason instructed her, calmly but firmly. “You need to stop being so nervous all the time. Brendan doesn’t care where you sit.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Positive. Especially if you’re sitting next to me.”

Aberdeen acquiesced. He was probably lying, but he would be the one to deal with it later if he was and Brendan had a problem with it. She settled in, looking down at the menu and ordering a filet with a lobster tail and a side of mashed potatoes and asparagus. If she was going to be here, she was going to go all out.

The dinner was nice. Brendan and John gave short but sweet speeches as everyone got their meals, and the conversation that followed was lively, fun, and animated. William seemed to be on his best behaviour, but throughout the dinner she could feel his leg brush up against hers under the table. She’d shoot him a look every time; he’d just make eyes with her and smile. A lot of the guys were reflecting on the year, some even on the entire decade – where they had been at the beginning versus where they are now – and it made Aberdeen think about her year and her decade too. At the beginning, she was in elementary school; at the end, she was working for the Toronto Maple Leafs. In between, she’d had a horde of stupid crushes, a couple of ex-boyfriends, listened to good music, gotten her licence, gotten published, moved out, cried about bad grades, cried about good grades, graduated, and got her first real ‘big girl’ job. She had a lot to be proud of. She had a lot left to do, but still a lot to still be proud of.

When dinner was over and the guys were just shooting the shit at the table or around the room, Aberdeen took the opportunity to go to a quiet hallway outside of the party room so she could call Siena. It was 10:30 in Minneapolis, which meant it was 11:30 in Toronto, and Aberdeen wanted to talk to her before midnight, before all the champagne, and before Siena got too drunk.

The first call didn’t go through. The second call dropped. Aberdeen got nervous. What if the lines were already too busy? What if she wouldn’t be able to speak to Siena? The fear began to kick in. She moved down the hallway, closer to a window, hoping it would help. The third call dropped again, and so did the fourth. Aberdeen could feel her chest tightening. She tried one more time. She was about to give up hope and cry for the rest of the night. But then the screen changed, and it froze for a second. And then —

“Aberdeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!” Siena cooed happily into the phone, finally appearing on the screen with a giant smile on her face. “How are you? Where are you guys tonight?”

“I’m fine. We’re at some steakhouse in Minneapolis. How’s the party?” she asked.

“It’s soooo good. See for yourself!” she exclaimed, flipping the phone towards everyone at the party. Siena screamed that it was Aberdeen and all her friends came rushing to the screen – Kasha and Evan were waving and blowing kisses, Masani was clinking her glass towards the screen, and so many of her other friends were waving and screaming sentiments like ‘Wish you were here!’ It made Aberdeen emotional to say the least. It was where she wanted to be more than anything. When that was all done with, Siena focused the screen back on herself. “One of Masani’s friends is a bartender and he’s been making us drinks all night. He made this killer punch too. Everybody’s here. Everybody. It’s so fun.”

Aberdeen could feel her cheeks flush. “I wish I was there,” she said, trying not to make her voice crack. “I wish I was there so bad.”

“You’re spending New Year’s Eve with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Aberdeen. It can’t be that bad,” Siena quipped.

“It’s not. It’s not bad at all,” Aberdeen said. Her voice ended up cracking – so much for trying to hide her emotion. She knew she probably sounded ungrateful at this point, but she didn’t really care. She’d been bottling it up all day, and she needed to let it out. “It’s great being with them. It is. But I just…I just wish I was spending it at home with you and everyone else.”

Siena could hear the emotion apparent in Aberdeen’s voice. Aberdeen watched as Siena walked down a hallway and locked herself in a washroom so she could hear her better and really get to the bottom of things. “Aberdeen, talk to me,” she said as she sat on the toilet. “What’s wrong? What’s going on?”

“I just…I miss home. I miss Toronto. I miss mom and dad,” Aberdeen admitted. “I miss being with them and I miss them roasting me all the time, and I miss dad asking us to text him when we get to the party, and I miss mom telling us to call her if we need a ride back home, and I miss…I miss everything about not being home and not celebrating at home.”

“But we’ve spent New Year’s with friends since university…”

Aberdeen shook her head, the stray tears finally falling down her cheek slowly. “I know, but I was always…home. In Toronto. I’d come home and mom and dad would still be up and I’d get to hug them, and the next morning I’d get to hug Cam, and I can’t do that. I’m in a different country. It just feels weird and I don’t like it. I’m not trying to sound ungrateful. I’m just saying I don’t like it.”

“Aberdeen…” Siena sympathized with her sister. “It’ll be okay.”

“Will it, though?”

“Yes it will,” Siena affirmed. “It’s only one New Year’s. You’ll be able to see mom and dad when you get home, and I promise you it’ll be okay. They’re going to give you those really long hugs that you like so much. And this – Aberdeen, it’s one house party with friends that you’re missing, but it’s not like this one is the last one we’re ever going to go to. We’re going to have plenty more together. I’ll have to hold your hair back as you puke in a toilet a few more times, I’m sure of it.”

Aberdeen couldn’t help but smile slightly, wiping away the tears. Siena did have to hold her hair back before, and she was sure she’d make her sister do it again. She was such a mess. If it wasn’t evident by the situation she found herself in with William, that definitely helped proved the case. “I love you, Siena,” Aberdeen said, meaning every word. She told her sister often, but she meant it every time she said it. “I love you and I miss you.”

“I love you too, Aberdeen,” Siena smiled. “When you get back from Winnipeg, we’ll spend all the time in the world together until I have to go back to Ottawa. Get back to your party, okay? I’m sure William is looking for you anyway.”

“Shut up,” Aberdeen shook her head, but she couldn’t help the smile that crept onto her face. “I love you. I miss you. Happy New Year.”

“I love you too. Happy New Year, Aberdeen. All your wildest wishes are going to come true.”

Aberdeen waited until Siena hung up before she locked her screen. She slid down the wall and sat on the floor, her knees up against her chest as she shoved her phone between her legs. She needed free hands to wipe the tears on her cheeks away. She took a few deep breaths, trying to compose herself, fiddling with the rings she wore as she thought about everything. Was she being a big baby? Yes. Did she care? No. She missed her family. She even missed her annoying little brother. People always told her holidays would be the worst, and they were right.

She looked down at her hands. The ring William gave her stared back at her as she fiddled with it, its golden hue shining in the minimal lighting. She took a deep breath.

“There you are.”

She looked up. Of course, William was creeping through the door and the other end of the hallway. He closed the door behind him and began walking towards her. She didn’t know how long she’d been missing for, and she didn’t really care. “What are you doing in here?” he asked as he got closer. When he got close enough, even in the minimal lighting, he could see her ever-so-slightly red eyes. “Are you crying?” he asked worriedly.

“I was,” she admitted. There was no point in hiding it.

“Why, minskatt?”

She shook her head slightly. “I just miss my family. Being away from them on New Year’s is harder than I thought and I’m just handling it horribly. Like a big baby, really.”

“You’re allowed to handle it like a big baby,” William shrugged his shoulders. “I cried the first time I had to spend a holiday away from my family, too. We’ve all done it.”

“Does it get any better? Easier?” she asked.

He didn’t want to lie to her; the last thing he wanted to do was lie to her, but he didn’t want to make her cry, either. “…No,” he was honest. “It doesn’t get better, but it gets easier. You learn how to deal with it.”

“Good to know,” she nodded absent-mindedly before pushing herself up to stand on her feet.

When she faced him, he reached out and grabbed her hand, the one with his gifted ring on it. She didn’t flinch away. He hated seeing her so emotional. “What can I do to make you feel better?” he asked. He’d walk to Mars if he needed to.

She shrugged her shoulders. “Nothing. It’s fine.”

“You want me to sing and dance along to Abba?” he asked. It made her smirk. “You wanna kick a soccer ball into Kappy’s face?” he asked. It made her smile with her teeth. “You want me to go to Costco and get you a hot dog?” he asked. It made her snort.

“You’re the worst, Will,” she mumbled through her smile. She rubbed her thumb along the back of his hand briefly before pulling her hand away.

“You want me to kiss you?”

She didn’t respond. But the smile on her face didn’t fade. He only saw the look in her eyes, the look of temptation, of regret, of wanting, of needing, of resisting, of refusing, all in one. The door opened again on the other side, Kasperi popped his head through. “Don’t you guys want to watch BTS perform in Times Square?” he asked. “Get back in here. Actually, Aberdeen, you should probably come first. Willy can stay in here until the ball drops.”

When she rejoined the party, the antics of all the guys kept her spirits up and almost, almost made her forget about crying and missing home. There was dessert, someone suggested a game of pin the tail on the donkey (which was impossible), and there was, of course, what was on TV. When it was nearing only five minutes until the New Year, the champagne was poured and everybody started huddling close to the biggest TV. Pierre handed her a champagne flute. Jason wrapped his arm around her shoulders.

William wrapped his arm around her waist.

When the clock struck midnight, Aberdeen watched as Brendan kissed the bald head of one of the equipment guys. After downing the champagne flutes, everyone began hugging one another, wishing each other a Happy New Year.

William’s arm was still wrapped around her waist when he looked down at her. “Happy New Year, minskatt,” he smiled down at her, a flicker of love in his eye.

“Happy New Year, Willy.”

***

Alone in her hotel room, Aberdeen had washed off her makeup and repacked her clothes into her suitcase, ready to leave tomorrow for Winnipeg. She was in her pajamas when she heard her phone buzz from the side table, where it lay charging.

im coming minskatt. open ur door

The lightest knock followed. She opened her door and William slipped in. At this point, she wasn’t even angry. She wasn’t worried. She wasn’t…anything. She had accepted that William Nylander was going to show up at her hotel room in the middle of the night more than once. It was a fact of her life now. “What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I’m here to give you your New Year’s kiss.”

Before Aberdeen could say anything, William took a step towards her, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her. It was soft, not too overpowering or greedy, and reminded Aberdeen of how she kissed him in her bedroom on Christmas. She didn’t pull away. She let him kiss her and she liked it. She liked it more than anything in the world.

When he pulled away, it was only slightly; only enough to look her in the eyes to make sure what he did was okay. When she pulled him back in, he got his answer. And as Aberdeen deepened the kiss, and as William wrapped his arms around her waist and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, they both knew it was wrong, so wrong, but that it felt right, so right.

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boysnudist87 · 3 years ago

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Steamy best Asian bare back 5 min Tavares

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wheel-of-fish · 4 years ago

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By the Numbers: Ben Crawford, Ali Ewoldt, Jay Armstrong Johnson

By the Numbers: The Ben Crawford/Ali Ewoldt/Jay Armstrong Johnson Stream, August 22, 2020

[long-awaited submission from Aldebaran; I’m putting it behind a cut]

Oh my gosh, an epic stream deserves an epically long and epically late By the Numbers! Come with me back in time, all the way back to two weeks ago, which in pandemic days is a month and a half. Before we were treated to Giant Ivan and Tiny Tamara in Moscow, there was The Swagger, The Disney Princess and The Bot…

This was a fantastically fun boot to watch as part of a group of enthusiastic Saturday Streamers! Plusses included an earlier-in-his-run Ben “The Swagger” Crawford as the Phantom, with the spotlight on his booming baritone voice, and Ali “Paris’s Sweetheart” Ewoldt as an enchanting Christine. And—Jay Armstrong Johnson (we’re pretty sure) as Raoul. Or some semblance of Raoul. Something was up with Raoul in this performance and the consensus was there may have been robotics involved. I won’t say more here; the streamers have it covered below and a fantastic set of memes by Onthevirg/faunaproductions caught tons more great moments. Very very nice filming job by a master who clearly knew the show well and anticipated major moments and character moves in a smooth manner. Not a bot though. As far as we know. And featuring an AIAOY– let’s just say that has to be seen to be believed.

Some stats on the stats: An asterisk * indicates a recurring category. All numbers are accurate except where they are not. I was tempted last week to resort to making crap up for this recap, but resisted the temptation. I will occasionally add in a missing letter or two. If a person’s train of thought is split up, I will ignore intervening commentary and put that thought back on track. Occasionally, by design or by mischance, a comment or two will be moved slightly out of original chronological order. Or wildly out of chronological order to cater to a theme. Or a whim. Only when it’s funny. There is also no clean way to say the word “organ” which pops up a lot in this stream. (See what I mean? It can’t be done.)

*Suggested names for this boot: The Animatronic Boot, The Better Than Cooper Boot, The It’s Alive! Boot, Robot Roll Call Boot (Okay, nobody suggested these. It was me. I suggested these)

*Statistician’s Favorite Boot Name: mechanical hands down, The RaoulBot Boot

*Wow, we like to talk about Phantoms: It has become clear to me that we like to talk about everybody. And everything. Phantoms, Christines, Raouls, Mandalorians. Here are most of the people mentioned in the stream. There is no context. Just like a real stream!!!

John Riddle (9), Gina Beck (8), Ramin (6), Rob Houchen (2), Ethan (1), Eiji (1), Uwe (3), Jordan Craig (2), Sierra (1), Steve Barton (3), David Shannon (2), Norm (14), Earl (1), Cooper (2), Darua (4), Thiago (11), Rachel Barrell (1), Meghan Picerno (2), Cherik (19), Pedro Pascal (1), B*rbour (7), Eva Tavares (4), Ted Keegan (5), Maree Johnson (2), Quentin Oliver Lee (1), Jeremy Hays (1), Ben Jacoby (3), Andrew Keenan Bolger (1), Greg Mills (1), Michael Maliakel (1), KKA (8), Jordan Donica (1), Kyle Barisch (8), Andrew Ragone (3), Paul Stanley/Stankey (3), Hannah Gadsby (2)

Residual Stolle Thirst: Residual Stolle Thirst from the stream a week prior to this one, plus Mr. Stolle’s appearance as Passarino AND the Conductor in this boot resulted in >32 mentions. There may or may not have been comparisons between his Raoul and this boot’s Raoul. I certainly wouldn’t put it past us.

Epithets for Ben Crawford: Ubiquitous mentions of Crawdaddy and The Swagger. More personalized and clearly personal epithets: Big Ben—ktarinajones, BENBENBENBEN—whereisthepersian, OH HELLO VOICE—butdreamsofbeauty, my horny bastard and I love him—ktarinajones

Epithets: reader’s choice as to which Phantom(s) the following apply to (no one in this stream): Fuckface McGee–therosenpants Sir Scruffsalot—snows Voldemort—Benny-Lynne Traschcan–therosentpants

Antici_____pation:

I can’t wait for jay I honestly thought they’d slapped a human face on a robot and called it a day—angedelamusique

Let’s all just have fun trying to spy hints of actual emotion in Jay’s Raoul—GlassPrism

Oh there will be memes. Ben Crawford is a walking meme and there will be a robot on stage—ktarinajones

Oh boy, here we go—GlassPrism

We love a trainwreck:

I love this stream crowd because you all show up for trainwrecks just as enthusiastically as you do for good actors—wheel-of–fish

We love a trainwreck!—butdreamsofbeauty

we’re ready—angelofthelake

trainwrecks are v satisfying—christinegrrl

We’re here with roses, we’re here with rotten fruit, we’re versatile! A good tirefire is a marshmallow roast–snows

Debut of RaoulBot: Before the show even began, JAJ’s Raoul had a name:

RaoulBot—ktarinajones at 20:01:33 (historic occasions get timestamps!)

wait they can’t moisten the raoul if he’s a robot, can they?—butdreamsofbeauty

they can oil him—ktarinajones

oil the raoul, perfect—butdreamsofbeauty

He has a silicone exterior—Benny-Lynne

wd-40—wheel-of-fish

How do we know he is waterproof? Let’s see if he sparks when he hits the Raoul Hole—Aldebaran

Earliest Meme Generation: Our intrepid memester Virg had material for a meme within 8 minutes 27 seconds of the start of the stream.

Love is in the Air: There was a lot of love in this stream

Ali Love: >32

Laird Love: 28

Carlotta Love: 20

Filmer Love: 5

Extreme John Riddle love: 2

when there’s video of John Riddle the filmer can have a kidney if they want—ktarinajones, seconded by christinegrrl

And then there was Jay:

Oh he did a head nod. Well done.—Bozzleboz

At least Jay doesn’t shoot a policeman—PureAnon

Several head turns in succession there. Getting ambitious.–Bozzleboz

Illumination!: Auction Raoul set the tone for the evening to come, and the chandelier seized the moment to shine.

OMG, his jaw moves just like a real person….or a nutcracker—Aldebaran

His batteries are running down. Maybe they will wire him for the new electricity.—Aldebaran

Robot Raoul is using all the electricity—Aldebaran

That chandelier isn’t rising—Ladyrock18

It’s not rising because they have to unhook the cables that power Raoulbot—DocTy

The chandelier shows more emotions than Jay as Raoul—Maze-zen

Erik made a Raouldoll to add to his collection?—Benny-Lynne

The chandelier shows the full range of human emotions. That is why it was cast.—haunted-hideaway

The chandelier is more expressive than this Raoul—Carole

The chandelier can actually sing in morse code—DocTy

Meanwhile backstage Raoulbot is recharging in his alcove—Aldebaran

If you listen closely you can hear diesel generators in the background recharging the batteries—DocTy

C’mon guys, he’s solar powered—ktarinajones

is that why he stops working in the dark during AIAOY–christinegrrl

Statistician Aldebaran wonders if she will be able to handle viewing Cherik:

Oh I finally finished the 90’s miniseries! I have thoughts!—Abberina

Abberina do you have thoughts other than “I hurt, I am in pain”?—snows

@snows the ending was WILD—Abberina

Abberina, I spent the whole day lying and crying after the 90s miniseries, are you allright?—Carole

“Wild”??? How are you still living! That ending! Gghh!—snows

Do you need something? A glass of water? Therapy?—Carole

My heart hasn’t recovered yet. And I watched it 4 years ago.–Carole

Christine Who?: One would think that Christine’s debut in Hannibal would have the streamers’ full attention. But no. All eyes were on Raoul in his box. Or maybe just unpacked from the box he came in.

can it be? can it be a robot?—christinegrrl

can it be chreeeestineeee—butdreamsofbeauty

engage clapping program—Aldebaran

clap beep boop clap clap—angelofthelake

beep boop clapping action beep boop—Jadowdra

EXECUTE EMOTION—missbuster

Stache or cache?: Once we were beginning to get an idea of the limits of Raoulbot’s programming, we turned our attention to his most character defining feature—the mustache.

omg mustache—MelancholysChild

His mustache is a little full for me. Oh well. I guess that’s where he hides his secrets.—haunted-hideaway

wowWWWW—put that boy in a floofy shirt and stick him in the pirates of the caribbean ride at disney, damn—snows

it’s where he hides his processer—therosenpants

haunted he needs something to cry into—ashadeintheshade

That is not a mustache, that is fiber optics—Aldebaran

although he is stiffer than the other robotic pirates—snows

Haunted, his secret is his charger entrance—Carole

You keep your secrets then, Raoul—haunted-hideaway

Autocorrect Follies:

Pinging = Piangi–Bozzleboz

Paul Stankey = Paul Stanley—IamErik771

Ironic Statement is Ironic:

I always forget there’s an elephant–yiks

Cooper finds a role:

[as Buquet appears] oh hey look it’s cooper!—snows finally a role for cooper, buquet all the way—Aldebaran ohh wait sorry it’s the other scruffy creepy nasty weirdo—snows

*Best from Onthevirg’s Mom: “like stolles passarino cooper should always be buquet—it’s a fitting role”

Joseph Buquet job performance review:

DO YOUR FREAKING JOB BUQUET. –madamefaust I’ll never get over that line “i promise i wasn’t doing my job!!!!!”—butdreamsofbeauty

The Boy Ain’t Right: Little Lotte made it very apparent that Raoul may have been compromised.

Don’t make fun of him, you guys. The tiny alien in his head driving his body is doing his best, ok?—haunted-hideaway

li tt le l ott e—tearoses

So….Erik’s looking like an awesome choice right about now…–HerbalPath

Usually i’m r/c but uh not today—yiks

His hat is just an excuse he’s going to recharge a bit—Carole

That was almost threatening how he said little lotte—Ladyrock18

*Vintage MadameFaust: Don’t quote me too much, my knowledge is based on judicious use of Wikipedia;-)

[inspired by Raoul’s Little Lotte performance] CHOCOLATES

HUMANS LOVE CHOCOLATES *Biggest Organ in Paris: The mirror scene included a thunderous organ accompaniment. It took me ten minutes to write a non-filthy sentence that conveyed that information while containing the word “organ.” The Saturday Streamers were fired up! Except for a certain statistician–

WOAH—therosenpants THAT ORGAN—PureAnon ORGAN—haunted-hideaway Wow—DocTy ORGAN!—butdreamsofbeauty did you hear that??????—therosenpants organ—DocTy Orrgannnnn—Xyloghost that roused me from Lore Olympus—therosenpants ORGAN!—Jawodra What’s with the loud organ?—maze-zen organ AWESOME—snows THE ORGAN WAS PERFECT—whereisthepersian I loved it!—MelancholysChild Is that new? that’s BADASS–snows Organ <3—Carole The organ is loud because Ben is loud—PureAnon Erik is playing his pocket organ–Abberina It’s the phantom of the phantom of the opera—wheel-of-fish

Oh God now I have to count Organ mentions (>20) and everyone is going to judge me—Aldebaran

*What scent are the Phantom’s candles: Previously established in the official “Love That Lair” candle line, in addition to Vanilla Brown Sugar, Cucumber Melon, Tobacco Spice, Underground Despair, and Hopeless Mist, the newest entry unveiled for this stream was Sepulchral Solitude, a light and airy blend of ennui, nihilism and condensation, perfect for occasional bouts of midnight composing.

*The Phantom’s pillows mentions: 2

obligatory pillow mentions, they are a nice colour scheme–missbuster

Baritone Love Fest:

we! love! a baritone! phantom!—butdreamsofbeauty

Baritones are the best!–PureAnon

Yes!—JacobZ

Yes to baritones. To whatever they ask.—Aldebaran

baritones are incredible—angelofthelake

I like em big and boomy—Bozzleboz

yes they are—MelancholysChild

The deeper and boomier, the better—PureAnon

*Erik has Skillz:

Okay so Ben just flipped through about six alternate personalities in a single line, and that’s impressive—snows

his voice is like chocolate sauce—Benny-Lynne

His voice is so deep I wanna scuba dive in it—Benny-Lynne

The Swagger at Rest:

Sir must you spread your legs so—snows

snows yes he MUST—ashadeintheshade

nice stance—MelancholysChild

Oo. Manspreading—Bozzleboz

but like… the good kind–snows

Sweet Music’s Throne: Ben’s nascent aggression came out in his organ playing. The INSTRUMENT!

OMG HIS KNEES This is really funny to me—madamefaust

He is def using his knees a lot—christinegrrl

Oh he’s….trying to play the keyboard—missbuster

He’s putting his back into that organ playing, there—haunted-hideaway

he’s definitely a more aggressive phantom I think—wheel-of-fish

A good squat workout I guess?—christinegrrl

Lift with your knees man—haunted-hideaway

The key to being an organist is all in the lumbar–Jacobz

Ben’s stance remains a source of….let’s call it concern. Yes, concern:

He’s got good stance—ashadeintheshade

why are his legs SO far apart though—butdreamsofbeauty

because they’re so loooong—missbuster

power stance—MelancholysChild

is he riding an invisible horse?—jadowdra

And, inevitably, boner mentions: 5 (You know who you are. Good thing, because I was watching Ben.)

The Phantom is pleased to announce: boner mentions are ummm holding firm

Christine makes questionable choices:

oh she looked down—christinegrrl

she totally looked down and then bolted but let’s be real WHY RUN—snows

Boner-adjacent vocabulary:

Horny and variants (>17)

Lusty (2)

Organ—THE INSTRUMENT!! (>20)

Christine does not stan a crafty Phantom:

he’s doing so well then he has to bring Barbara into it—Virg’s mom

SEE? I MADE THIS FOR YOU?

OOPS

THAT DID NOT GO TO PLAN—haunted-hideaway

Strange Ships: The debut of a long overdue category highlighting all the really random ships that are proposed during a given stream.

Erik/RaoulBot—haunted-hideaway

Andre/Carlotta–????

Barbara/severed Hannibal head—????

Christine/Luigi—ashadeintheshade

Barbara/new and improved sexbot from LND—Onthevirg

RaoulBot/Barbara—DocTy {streamers were split here that Barbara shouldn’t settle versus OTP}

Yes, I know, it’s a great disservice to Barbara but still, maybe they can bond over replacement parts—DocTy

Only in this streams I walk away with either a new favourite actor, a fanfic recommendation and/or a new pairing to ship—Jadowdra

*Education of the Innocent: Several seminars were held this stream. First, a wide ranging and frank discussion of historically accurate ballet rats, pimping and ummm social diseases. We segued from a dissertation on our own Madame Giry as a probable pimp to the topic of the hierarchy of French Royalty. These topics heavily featured our resident history buffs therosenpants, angedelamusique, PureAnon and madamefaust, with varying degrees of participation in the pimping and social disease discussions. Second, a discourse on “the catch” and variations, the catch being allowed in London and not on Broadway due to union rules. A variant unknown to me, the “half catch” was mentioned. Third, a sadly eye-opening (for some) discussion of the “horsey dance”:

Look, Norm was directed to do the horsey dance. Anything is possible on Broadway.—madamefaust

sorry a HORSEY DANCE—butdreamsofbeauty

HORSEY DANCE???—onthevirg

horsey dance…??—angelofthelake

ah yes the ever classic jumping up and galloping horsey dance—madamefaust

It was more of a forceful trot during ‘Order your fine horses’ in Final Lair—madamefaust

faust you can’t just drop that in chat and not explain yikes—butdreamsofbeauty

someone link the gif—andgedelamusique

[fatefully the gif was linked]

thanks, I hate it!—butdreamsofbeauty

OH I thought that was a JOKE, that was REAL?—ashadeintheshade

oh noooo I saw that in like a compilation of funny phantoms and i thought it was a joke oh no—ashadeintheshade

The Horsey Dance claims more victims–Aldebaran

STYDI Sound effects:

[the Phantom collapses]

plorp—wheel-of-fish

plorp—MelancholysChild

Now I want to hear his palms squeak on the ground—madamefaust

I’m Jewish and I don’t approve of this level of ham Curse youuuuu—JacobZ

Prior to Il Muto the organ makes another appearance. The INSTRUMENT!!!:

Organ boop!—Bozzleboz

Organ again. Oh God now I said it.—Aldebaran

Aldebaran, you can’t escape the organ. The Phantom’s organ WILL find you.—PureAnon

this Erik is so extra he took the organist’s place in the orchestra—DocTy

Il Muto Pillow Mentions: 1

Fascinating discussion about which is worse/better, bad actors or boring actors:

It’s the old argument between what’s worse bad or boring—GlassPrism

is it better to burn out or fade away—wheel-of-fish

Is it more fun to watch an Uwe or a Thiago—GlassPrism

Thiago activates my RAGE setting.—madamefaust

AIAOY is never make me watch this again: Words cannot capture AIAOY. Nevertheless we tried. Here are selected comments.

EXECUTEEMPATHY2.0—missbuster

Maybe there is a rat driving him by his mustache like in Ratatouille. Raoultatouille.—missbuster

turn.her.90.degrees—Aldebaran

if she shakes him, I bet we can hear him rattle—DocTy

Raoul.exe has stopped working—christinegrrl

he bluescreened—butdreamsofbeauty

error 404—angelofthelake

can you even play Doom on this Raoul?—Jadowdra

Does he even like her?—madamefaust

He’s just staring into the abyss—angelofthelake

Why did no one tell him that wooing does not involve low-level dread—JacobZ

<10> no more talk of darkness GOTO20—snows

<20> forget these wide eyed fears GOTO30—snows

his wooing program has bugs–Aldebaran

YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN MY ARCH-ENEMY THIAGO–madamefaust

are they actually kissing?—madamefaust

now you must place your face upon her face and remain still—butdreamsofbeauty

this is depressing—virg’s lil sister

It’s more fun to suffer as a group—wheel-of-fish

Prevailing Theory:

The Phantom clearly switched Raoul with a mannequin—Maze-zen

Fondly Remembering Christian Lund during this AIAOY: 4

Fondly Remembering “the Boop” during this AIAOY: 5

*Requests for AIAOY Kiss replay: 0

Priorities Straight: Host Fish caller for dog pictures on her blog during the stream, resulting in the following mentions

Dogs (35, may need to be adjusted as one of Flora’s dogs is large enough to count as two), Goats (6), Cats (9), Rabbits (5), Chickens (3) Regular non-Cherik deer (1) Pig (1) Cherik deer (9) actual human children (1)

The Masquerade, or as some wags had it due to the mannequins on the staircase, the de Chagny family reunion:

Let’s see the robot try to dance—katarinajones

dance.exe—whereisthepersian

dance.exe failed to start—phantomofthebasement

He is going as a robot to the masquerade–Aldebaran

People gonna trip over his charging cable—whereisthepersian

Relief is the wrong emotion to feel when the Red Death arrives:

Why at a costume party is everyone afraid of a costumed man? How do they know to be scared? Do they hear the background music?—JacobZ

It’s his authoritative stance—madamefaust

Christine’s reaction maybe?—ktarinajones

I think they’re afraid he’s going to drop another chandelier on them. Which, valid.—madamefaust

They saw the bead work. They know who it is.—haunted-hideaway

*Sad comment is sad: commenting on the ornate bow on the score for Don Juan Triumphant

He wraps it up like the present he never received.—haunted-hideaway

*Fathering Gaze lyric: 1

*That staff tho:

“I’m going to a graveyard. I should take my shooty stick with the skull on it!”—haunted-hideaway

We passed the Point of No Return long ago. From the auction, in fact:

his accent, lol–ashadeintheshade

Accent—Bozzleboz

itsa me…—Aldebaran

ITSA HIM—madamefaust

I hate you all—wheel-of-fish

And Ben plays videogames backstage. His inspiration is literally Super Mario.—madamefaust

That was some nice cup stroking—GlassPrism

The Raoul Hole holds no dangers for Raoulbot:

Oh no he’s going to rust and shut down in the lake—wheel-of-fish

They spray him down and moisten him before he jumps in, otherwise he’ll just float on top—haunted-hideaway

Raoul’s wifi is down once more:

Is the boat stuck? Oh, there it goes—madamefaust

The radio signals running Raoul confused the boat—Aldebaran

The organ makes a return in Down Once More: The INSTRUMENT!!!!: 2

Veil Fluff Mentions: 2

he didn’t fluff the veil—ashadeintheshade

I like the veil fluff–ashadeintheshade

Veil Yeet Mentions: 11

The Kiss. An actual human kiss, unlike AIAOY:

ohhh he bends into the kiss—Aldebaran

Aw he’s TRYING to figure out how to kiss—Flora-Gray

He done touched a lady.—haunted-hideaway

That was a good kiss—Abberina

Bozzleboz breaks me, as the Phantom approaches hanging Raoul with a candle:

I burn him now, yes?–Bozzleboz

The Phantom breaks us:

oh god. He just broke me.—Bozzleboz

ohhhh poor angel—Aldebaran

aw erik :(–angeloflake

he’s so resigned:(–Benny-Lynne

we love an exhausted depressed sewer man—butdreamsofbeauty

This Phantom survives just so he can go disassemble Raoul—Aldebaran

Looks Like We Made It:

Time to go plug Raoulbot in for the night—angelofthelake

Performance Comparisons for Raoul/Career Suggestions for Raoul, You Decide:

Nutcracker—Aldebaran

Mannequin Bride—coroaline

Tin Man—christinegrrl, yiks

Edward Scissorhands—GlassPrism

Calculon from Futurama—IamErik771

C3PO—wheel-of-fish

Automaton—ktarinajones

Dalek–missbuster

Cardboard Cutout—haunted-hideaway

Hat Stand–Bozzleboz

*Things I wish I had said:

Christine in Final Lair: She has to go put Raoul in a bag of rice but she’ll be back—Benny-Lynne

*Statistician Aldebaran’s two favorite personal quotes:

little known fact, the red scarf is actually a fanbelt from Raoulbot

19 years on the score, 1 year on the bow

Phew! See you shortly with the By the Numbers of Moscow from LAST week!!! Aldebaran

#saturday streams #aldebaran #by the numbers #submission

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briangroth27 · 5 years ago

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Ready or Not Review

I really liked Ready or Not! It’s a very entertaining horror adventure with a healthy dose of comedy and a great lead in Samara Weaving. The supporting cast is on point too and everyone involved more than capably delivers a really fun thrill ride!

Full Spoilers...

Weaving's Grace is hoping to find a family once she marries her fiancé, Alex (Mark O’Brien), but everything goes wrong when his family tradition of playing a game each wedding night leaves her running for her life. Weaving imbues Grace with a winning way that makes her easy to root for, which is very important since we don't learn much about her interests or aspirations outside the family here. Her interactions with and reactions to the members of the Le Domas clan (along with her struggle to survive) give us a good grasp of who she is as a person (and that's just as if not more important as her biography), but I would've liked to know what she wanted out of life beyond a family and a solid home. Given no one in the movie really gets those details, however, it doesn't feel like she was slighted or underwritten. Her drive to have a family after living through foster homes was strong enough to give her a relatable goal and to fuel the tragedy that what she wants demands her death. The movie sends her through the ringer and Weaving absolutely sold Grace's growing confidence and grit in the face of so many would-be killers. She wasn't ever helpless or short of the ability to defend herself, but carving out an independent life apart from what she wanted was handled really well as the metaphorical component to her literal struggle to survive. I really liked that her most deliberate murder was the one that also eliminated any chance of a happy marriage to Alex, since she kills his mom Becky (Andie MacDowell), whom he loved her more than his new wife.

The script and direction did a great job of balancing Alex’s wish that he was different from his family with the dawning truths that he really did believe as they did and that he would choose them over Grace. The very act of putting her in a situation that could lead to her death without telling her—even if the Hide & Seek card hadn't been drawn in 30 years—was a huge red flag and I'm glad they followed through to the conclusion of that plot point. The romantic music swelling when he told Grace he'd proposed to her because she'd leave him otherwise didn't convince me that he was a good guy (he would have explained why they couldn’t get married or just let her go rather than risk her life if he really loved her), so I was happy the movie used the romantic music as a trick instead of a true emotional beat. There were other small hints at his turn along the way, so his was a nicely-constructed and acted arc too.

Alex’s brother Daniel (Adam Brody) was initially drawn as sleazy and unlikable, so I wasn’t expecting either of the moments where he helps Grace escape. I definitely didn’t think he’d turn out to be the best of his clan, particularly given his role in the last Hide & Seek game they played. However, I fully bought his turn after Brody and the movie showed the toll his choice back then had taken on him and how exhausted with everything about his family he was. Most of the Le Domas family were pretty affable on the surface (accounting for niceties at a wedding), and the actors and writers crafted a nice blend of reasons for them to stick with the family as well as some very entertaining comic relief within the group. Like Grace, we don’t hear a lot about their goals or dreams, but through the writing and performances it was easy to see who these people were from their actions and interactions alone. I did believe that they were truly hoping the Hide & Seek card wasn’t pulled and not just because they knew they’d all be terrible at hunting a person. That obviously doesn’t excuse any of their actions—they still put Grace in that position and immediately went through with trying to kill her to save themselves and the family business—but I liked that the movie took the step of giving them a bit of humanity before carrying out their ritual. That actually made them scarier, since people who do evil, selfish things are still people and pretending that only inhuman monsters are murderers (or racists, sexists, white supremacists, etc.) is dangerous.

There are some solid foils set up for Grace amongst the women of the Le Domas family. Becky is who Grace might want to be: the outsider welcomed into the family so that she can build a large one of her own and in doing so, find a stable home. They have the closest bond, come from similar lower class backgrounds, and the movie makes note of them both being smokers, providing another small connection between them (even if Grace lies about it to impress Becky). The ironically-named Charity (Elyse Levesque) is the cliché reflection of Grace (and possibly how we’d expect a wealthy family to see someone joining them from the lower classes): she’s literally there for the money and security that being part of this family provides. Emilie (Melanie Scrofano) is Grace without her grit (and what Grace hopes the family doesn’t see her as): a screw-up in over her head who has no idea what she’s doing, but who’s desperate to impress the family. Aunt Helene (Nicky Guadagni), on the other hand, is who Grace could be if she were all grit and devotion to the family. Looking at them this way had me wondering if the men in the Le Domas clan are foils for Alex as well. Daniel is set up as the red herring evil brother and their trajectories are opposites: Alex left but never really “left” the family while Daniel stayed, but that only allowed him to stew in how terrible they all are. Fitch (Kristian Bruun) does bring up cutting and running once, but ultimately he’s fully willing to go along with the ritual and between Alex fleeing the family and Daniel drinking himself into snark, before Alex’s turn Fitch is kind of the best son Tony (Henry Czerny) has (even if he’s a son-in-law, ensuring he’ll never be treated like blood). Tony’s devoted to the ritual and will absolutely kill to protect his family, though he wishes he didn’t have to. He’s what Alex probably would have become had Grace pulled a different card. Emilie and Fitch’s sons Georgie (Liam MacDonald) and Gabe (Ethan Tavares) also mirror Daniel and Alex, with one of them being hidden for most of the movie and the other taking part in the family’s ritual “because everyone else was doing it.”

Since I saw the first trailer, I was hoping Mr. Le Bael would be a real demon, so I absolutely loved that he actually was mystically sustaining this family’s fortune in exchange for this ritual! Just before that reveal, when it seemed nothing would happen to the family for not killing Grace before dawn, the family’s awkward “well shoot…what do we do now?” moment was played perfectly, so that was a bit of the best of both worlds. I thought Grace was going to have to fight off the whole family at once somehow, since they’d still have to kill her to get away with it. However, the parade of exploding devil worshipers that followed instead was a fitting end to these terrible people: they’re all brought down by the thing they thought would make their dreams come true (which is a nice parallel to Grace’s biggest dream turning into a nightmare). I thought Mr. Le Bael might offer Grace a deal of her own for surviving the night, but I’m glad he just gave her a nod of approval instead.

The violence throughout the film expertly walks the same cartoony/serious line that the tone of the whole movie does. That’s very hard to do while still keeping the stakes high, but this movie completely and consistently pulls it off. There’s a lot of gore (though not too gross-out graphic IMO) that’s used well to comedic effect, until Grace starts getting injured and it takes a turn to decidedly not comedic; then they play the seriousness and pain of those injuries just as effectively. While the accidental deaths are comical, I wish they weren’t solely reserved for women (Hanneke Talbot, Celine Tsai, and Daniela Barbosa, who play the Le Dormas maids), though I suppose that’s the comment on these villains: this rich family didn’t care about their value beyond bemoaning how well they’d served them.

Criticisms of the upper class like that are effectively deployed throughout the film, from joining/maintaining a ridiculously wealthy family being the only way several characters think they can have a good/secure life, to the only non-white people associated with the family being among their hired and quickly-forgotten help, to their fortune being built on games rather than socially-helpful endeavors (not that diversions aren’t important) as if they’ve never had to take anything but this ritual seriously (not to mention the literal deal with the devil alleviating any hard work they might’ve had to do to make said fortune), to the flimsy “this is just how I was raised” excuse Alex and Georgie give. Given that the butler Stevens (John Ralston), Tony, and Helene are the most effective/vicious hunters, there’s also a vibe that the old white people are the ones fighting hardest to maintain their traditions (sometimes even if they know they don’t make sense anymore) and way of life by using the younger generation as expendable pawns and targets. Even when outside authority figures are trying to be helpful, they’re ultimately playing into the Le Domas family’s interests instead of the common person’s, like when Grace explains that she’s being hunted and the family car’s security agent Justin (Nat Faxon) turns the car off (since it’s been reported stolen) while offering half-meant hopes (and prayers?) that she makes it out alive.

The score is fun (and the Hide & Seek song is very creepy!), while the production design of the Le Domas mansion and the movie in general feels perfectly fitting for this kind of story (as others online have pointed out). The pacing is excellent, giving us enough time to get to know Grace and her new family in the first act before everything goes crazy, which also gives her a glimpse of the life she wants before ripping it away and lets them play some relatable “dealing with the in-laws” gags. Once the game begins, the comedy and thrills don’t stop until the end!

Ready or Not continues the steady build of solid horror movies heading into the Halloween season this year! I can’t wait to pick it up on Blu-ray. It’s definitely a blast and it’s more than worth a trip to the theater to see it!

Check out more of my reviews, opinions, and original short stories here!

#ready or not

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