#fred's character is so fuckin interesting

[spacephrasing]

so listen

[delafiseaseses]

Ruminations on Andy Scabb

So Andy Scabb's a bit of a weird character, ain't he? I think he is. Let's talk about him.

Basics first: Andy Scabb is a Ghoul who lives in The Gray of North Vegas Square. He's a small-time gang leader, his gang consists of him and two men simply called 'Thug' by the game (though there names are pretty clearly Fred and M.) who wear standard wasteland clothing and armed with 10mm weapons. Andy himself also wears a standard outfit, but he carries a 9mm SMG (as well as some jet and dog meat). Technically, I guess you could also say his girlfriend, Alice Hostetler, is a member in the loosest possible sense. But, yeah, that's his gang: small, poorly armed nobodies who live in The Gray.

Andy's Plan

I mentioned Andy has a girlfriend called Alice Hostetler, the daughter of Don and Becky Hostetler (Becky only gets called 'Mrs. Hostetler' in-game and this first name apparently comes from some scripts or somethin'). Mrs. Hostetler is a 'farmer' in a loose sense of the word and Don is an account manager from the Crimson Caravan Company and he also has ties to the Khan drug trade, but that's not important. What is important is that he has money and Andy wants to steal it. This is explained in the 'Henchman message to Andy Scabb' which reads:

'Looks like you were right. The Hostetler man always carries a full pouch back to their house, every night. The same pouch's empty whenever he goes work to Crimson Caravan, Fred's seen it himself. No chance in hell this is all a coincidence. He's bringing something with him whenever he leaves work. That's gotta be his daily cut from the business. Alice's gonna have to find all that dough for us. If we get caught near their place her bitch mother's gonna snap for the big guns... That'll make Crandon, or worse, Jules, come after us. I ain't too happy about risking my neck for nothing, Andy. Let's make sure Alice's a good doggie first, then do whatever you want with her once we are outta this fucking hole. M.'

So, as you can see Andy and his 'Thugs' (M. and Fred) are simply planning to use Alice to rob her family and use the money to leave North Vegas. Getting into Andy's flat and discovering this note spawns the man himself. And he... is a very curious character.

Andy's Dialogue

So, Andy confronts you as you leave The Gray and you're gonna now learn why I think he's such a weird fuckin' guy. He has only a few lines, but he certainly uses 'em.

His first line is 'What are you looking at, huh? Answer me, or I'll get trigger-happy real quick.' starting with a threat, as you'd expect.

You can respond a few ways, including the classic '<Attack> I'm here to kill you.' to which he says 'Nobody threatens me and walks away alive!' but that's the dull option.

The more interesting options are like 'Relax, I was just leaving.' to which he says 'Wait right there. I don't recall seeing your pretty face before - what do you want?' or 'Wait right there. You told my men that Alice's mother was waiting for me outside, didn't you?' as a bit of reaction to how you got into his flat.

You can try to talk your way away and he says 'Hmmm... I've got my eye on you. Get the fuck off my turf.' or 'Please, I've seen kids who were better liars than you. Tell the truth now - what are you after?' the first one shows he considers The Gray his 'turf'... I don't think anyone cares enough to argue with that.

One thing I love about this conversation is that you can just leave without any speech checks or anything. There's 4 instances of that in Andy's rather limited dialogue. 'Nothing, goodbye.' 'Leaving so soon? And I thought we'd have time for a little chat.', 'Goodbye.' 'It's not polite to leave in the middle of a conversation, but I won't try to teach you manners. This time.', 'Goodbye.' 'Yeah, sure.' and another 'Goodbye.' 'That's right, and good riddance.', so, yeah, Andy makes a threat at the start, but you can just leave.

The most interestin' thing is when you actually talk to him about Alice and his plan, such as 'Yes, I did. I know about your plans for Alice.' his reaction... 'You think I give a shit? Has it crossed your mind that Alice is all the way in this with me?' and, honestly, giving a shit is very much not a thing for Andy Scabb. He really doesn't give a shit.

'Why would she be?' 'Maybe because I'm so good-looking. Maybe because her mother's trying to break her back planting crops that die from rads as soon as they're in the ground. Or maybe she's just a dupe. Why do you even care? She's happy making her own way in the world.' which is... again, caring about things too hard seems a bit beyond Scabb, but you can give a few responses to them last lines.

If you say 'She deserves to know the truth.' his response is 'And... you think that's worth her happiness? Go on and tell her, then. Watch what happens when you crush her dreams.' and... he does mean that you can go tell her. He literally only goes hostile if you attack him first.

We can also quite rightly say to Andy 'You're manipulating her into betraying her family.' to which he says the most interesting of his responses 'Family's just what the world throws on our shoulders without our say or opinion. You think Alice cares about her family? Tell her, then. Family's what drove her to me in the first place.' this is the closest to givin' a shit about anything Scabb takes in this conversation. His distain of family and his oddly poetic way of wording it. Still, he again will let you leave.

Even if you ask 'Aren't you afraid I'll blow your plans?' he'll respond 'And how exactly would you do that?' mate, Alice won't split the Hostetler cut with you if she knows you, Fred and M. look down on her?

You can also say 'A cut from the Hostetlers' money, and I might help you.' to which he'll say 'I'm glad we understand each other. Alice's at her home, getting our means out of this shit-hole. Make sure things go smoothly.', but that never happens no matter what. The quest is over after the Alice confrontation at the Hostetler House and Andy is gone no matter what happens.

Interestingly Apathetic

So... you see now why I think Andy's so weird, right? He really doesn't seem to give a shit about anything. He kind of wants to leave 'this shit-hole', but he's either far too confident in his control of Alice or he genuinely doesn't care even slightly if his plan works out.

Like, is he trying to use the idea that 'Alice won't be happy if she knows I'm manipulating' to make you not go to the Hostetler house? It's pretty half-hearted of an attempt. But I guess that's as much as Andy can muster.

The family thing is the most interesting bit. I guess Andy didn't have a good relationship with his family. He may even be a pre-war Ghoul (though that'd make his relationship with Alice even worse than it is). We'll never know.

Most minor antagonists in Fallout New Vegas have confidence and at least some passion. Barton Thorn is confident that he'll kill you after you clear out the Geckos. Logan is confident when he backstabs you. Even the other two minor enemies of Someone to Watch Over Me, Squatter Bill and Greasy Johnny, are far more passionate than Andy Scabb. But you can just tell Andy you'll ruin all his plans and he'll say "Go on then." with limited resistance.

Some Additional Bits

So, as you probably know, some people go on the internet and tell fibs. Would you believe that Andy Scabb is probably subject to such a fib? In his case it's the assertion that Scabb has Strange Meat in his room... I have looked over that room before and found nothin' of the sort. The only meat associated with Andy is some Dog Meat he has. Like, Andy Scabb is a bad guy, but he's not, but he doesn't seem to be a cannibal. Correct me if you think I'm wrong there, and I'll verify it myself and apologise for this part.

Jules knows Andy, and his line about Alice kinda implies he knows Andy is bad news 'Alice … Oh yeah. I've seen her 'round here much too often as of late. I reckon she's been hanging out with Andy and his crew.'

And one last thing: Scabb. His last name is Scabb and he is a Ghoul, this is presumably like the 'Jason Bright is a Glowing One' situation.

[looney-mooney]

Okay so I actually watched the Velma show and I. I don’t entirely hate it! Yes, the opening monologue fuckin SUCKED and the writing is just sorta… NOT GOOD, but it is an absolutely GORGEOUS show visually and you can really tell the artists put their hearts and souls into it. Edit: please pirate it if you do decide to watch it, don’t give HBO your money. And if you have the opportunity, please watch Mysteries Incorporated instead! It is a genuinely much better show! Velma might be pretty, but it still has all the major pitfalls of bad adult swim content, and should be treated as such. And keep in mind if you decide to read this that I am an incurable optimist who is good at seeing the best in bad content. Anyway.

More thoughts under the cut:

I feel like I started enjoying it a lot more when I realized that these characters are shitty because they’re teenagers and they haven’t really had a chance to figure themselves out yet. Fred started as a shitty misogynist, but that’s because he was trying to impress his absolutely godawful father and earn his love by conforming to his expectations. The more he starts hanging out with Velma, the more he starts shunning those toxic masculinity teachings, and starts becoming the genuine, thoughtful, kind himbo we all know and love.

Daphne starts out as a standard “mean girl,” but that’s because she has abandonment issues from her birth parents leaving her and Velma doesn’t let her say anything before making her own assumptions about Daphne’s situation. When in reality, Daphne’s an adrenaline junkie, trying to figure out who her birth parents are in an effort to figure out why she’s so WEIRD - why she loves danger so much, why her hair’s this orange (?), why she’s so effortlessly manipulative and why she just feels like she doesn’t fit in. She has adventures of her own, selling drugs to afford a private investigator, exploring gem-filled caverns to find gangs who might know something, and she’s just. Interesting! Also, her relationship with Velma is really nuanced and fun to watch play out on screen. Because there is an intense mutual attraction, but they both know they’re not ready for a relationship like that until they can learn to be friends again, and they both respect that. And like, they talk about it! They’re both honest about their feelings for eachother, and I’m gonna admit, it’s a little refreshing to see. It’s not a “will they won’t they” so much as it is a “they’re not ready to and they know it”.

Speaking of Velma, she’s a cynical jerk who thinks she knows everything at first, but the more the show goes on, the more she learns to actually listen to other people and take other perspectives into account, and the more she realizes it’s okay to admit when you don’t know anything at all. Because she does screw up. A lot. The narrative in no way justifies her shitty opinions! She’s scared to admit when she doesn’t know something, but she’s slowly learning to accept the inherent mystery of everyday life. Which, is hard! She has a habit of assuming things to fill in the gaps, and like. On one level, it makes her a huge asshole, but on the other hand… she kind of Literally Has To.

Velma, in this show, has a disability where whenever she tries to solve a mystery, there is the possibility that she could start having potentially fatal trauma-induced hallucinations. Shock and/or distractions seem to be the best way to combat these hallucinogenic episodes. The characters around her treat her disability with respect, even as they show concern for her health and wellbeing. They are willing to do almost whatever it takes to combat these hallucinations. Methods used include Norville making her laugh, Daphne giving her her first kiss, and her father telling her he believes her. These don’t always work, and sometimes they’re so intense her heart actually stops and they have to resuscitate her. At the same time, the characters don’t let their concern turn to pity, and they aren’t afraid to put her in her place when she goes too far, because she IS a jerk! The narrative knows this!!! It doesn’t excuse it! Her need to assume she knows everything means she is HORRIBLE at taking the experiences of others into account, or admitting when she’s wrong about something! But she is slowly learning that she doesn’t know everything. That the experiences of others differ from her own experience, and that she CAN be wrong, and that’s OKAY.

Norville starts out insecure and a pushover, but the more the show goes on the more he learns to stand up for himself - and then when he takes it too far and tries to be a “bad boy,” he acknowledges his mistakes and starts learning how to find a healthy balance. His dad’s a guidance counselor, and his mom’s the school principal, and I think he’s becoming sort of a leader in his own right. Norville doesn’t start out as a shit person, so his character arc is more nuanced, but I think he’s learning and growing just as much as everyone else.

Overall, these characters are misguided, underdeveloped, horny, stubborn, confused, deeply affected by the adults in their lives, and learning how to be better people, just like any teenager. The more the show goes on, the more they all grow. And the more they grow, the closer they get as people. The more they care about eachother, learn to listen to one another, and I think they’re slowly becoming the gang we all know and love.

They’re just… taking their time with telling the story of how it happened. Although I will admit that the story’s pretty muddled by the weird jokes and violence interspersed, though that’s unfortunately pretty par for the course for adult animation, so I’m able to ignore it for things like the stunning set design, animation, and hallucination sequences.

Also, I love Daphne’s moms! They’re sweet, they’re nerdy, they’re shit cops but like in a Deputy Durland and Sheriff Blubbs kinda way, and I feel like they’re exactly the kind of vaguely-stupid but endlessly doting adults that fit right in at a community like Crystal Cove. And adding onto that, the background characters all have such good designs! I love pausing the show and staring at the character designs in crowd shots, because every single design is memorable in their own ways, which makes the community as a whole feel real and diverse, like everyone’s the main character of their own stories too.

I feel like this is a show that put its worst foot forward, and I will admit that I honestly think they did that on purpose. Which sucks, because once you get past that initial “oh god how dare they,” there’s something good there. Yeah, the writing kinda sucks, but you can see where they’re going with it, you can follow along with the mystery elements, and this show is just so genuinely stunning in its visuals. It’s worse than a lot of Scooby doo media, but better than a lot of adult swim shows out there, and it IS genuinely going somewhere. The good parts of it are in the long game, if you’re patient enough to see it through.

I will admit I skipped the first cold open, because that opening monologue just made me cringe so much it hurt, and I don’t feel like I missed anything, sooo… yeah. I will also admit there are a lot of lines I really hate. The language these characters use feels like it’s designed to be as rage-inducing as possible, or at least are used by people who don’t entirely understand what these words mean. But also, like. Velma in this show does feel like someone who sometimes uses words she doesn’t entirely understand, but is too stubborn to admit she doesn’t entirely understand them? Which. I have met teenagers like that. Like, I’m not saying this show is amazing, or that it doesn’t deserve a lot of the criticism it’s been getting. What I’m saying is that it’s not ALL bad.

Please pirate it, because HBO max doesn’t deserve our money after what it did to animation, but maybe be a little less vitriolic in the hatred for it? It’s cynical, sure, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things to like about it. I don’t know, maybe it’s just my unrelenting optimism shining through, or maybe I just subconsciously love finding the best in bad media, but I think this show DOES have something genuine to offer. Maybe all it has to offer is amazing animation, extremely well-done set design, really fun and diverse character design, absolutely phenomenal color palettes and compositing, and a small semblance of character development, but you know what? Maybe that’s enough for me.

[bisexual-horror-fan]

"Then I Am Too." Spencer Gallagher X Human! Fred Krueger.

Well hello! It was the lovely @pyr0sadist’s birthday on the 17th! We are birthday buddies and fellow Freddy fuckers so obviously I had to do something! Sorry it is a little late but I still I hope you love it! Everyone enjoy this little smut piece with Leo’s wonderful character Spencer Gallagher and human Fred! Happy birthday yet again Leo!

—

Rating. Explicit. Length. 1.8K. Spencer Gallagher X Human! Fred Krueger. Warnings: Praise. Dirty Talk. Oral Sex. Blow Job. Throat Fucking. Sloppy. Semi-Public Sex. Bathroom Sex. Groping. Penetrative Sex. Creampie. 

—

He wasn’t expecting it to be perfectly honest. 

Not like he thought he wasn’t good company or horribly ugly or undateable but getting asked out while at work? Seemed so unlikely, the thought never once entered Spencer’s mind. But that is just what happened. 

Stocking and consumed with the task at hand he didn’t even hear the other man approach. He stood next to him, looking down at Spencer, crouched and busy, he liked the look of him and after a moment he spoke up, calling his attention. “Hey.”

He looked up, a small sound of surprise leaving him before a smile overtook his face, trying to be hospitable, also trying to ignore how attractive the man looming above him was. “Uh hi! Is there anything I can help you with?”

He sighed leaning against the shelf, “Nothin’ major, just somethin’ on my mind, a little question I think only you can answer for me.” 

Spencer perked up at that, “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“One. What your number is.” He grinned, arm resting on the shelf as he leaned closer to the man still crouched down, “An’ two. What are your dinner plans for tonight?”

That is how Spencer finds himself headed to the restaurant the man, Freddy he learned his name was, told him he picked out when he called after his shift finished. Freddy was waiting outside, leaning against the wall next to the front door finishing off a cigarette, a smile across his face upon seeing him, “There he is, right on time.”

“Hey.” Came the response, watching as the man who asked him out that evening dropped the remainder of his smoke and stomped it out before holding the door open with a gesture of his other hand, “After you.”

Spencer hadn’t been to this particular restaurant before but he had to give it up. The food was not only startlingly good but fairly priced, and the conversation wasn’t anything to complain about either. 

Freddy was an interesting kind of guy, had clearly done a lot of living already, rough around the edge but with this strange and undefinable and undeniable kind of charm to him that Spencer felt drawn to. 

“Can I ask you something?” 

“I’ve been doing all the asking so far, please.” Freddy encouraged with a gesture of his hand and Spencer cleared his throat before asking, “Why’d you ask me out?”

A light chuckle before he asked another question, “Why do you think I did?”

He wasn’t expecting his question to be met with another question. He thought for a moment before answering honestly, “I…I don’t know.”

“You really don’t know?” Freddy asked, setting his silverware down. “I really don’t.”

“Spencey, baby-” He was a little shocked by the sudden nickname but he wasn’t upset over it, he actually liked it. 

“-you are cute, really fuckin’ cute and I wanted to get to know you better and so far I think you are pretty fun and interesting.” 

Well he felt a little stupid now. I mean that all tracked and made sense, of course he would think something to that effect, why would Freddy ask out someone he wasn’t into or didn’t find attractive? 

“I feel the same way.” It left him before he fully realised what he was saying, but he meant it all the same.

It was a great date by all accounts. Dinner was just about done and Spencer honestly didn’t want to leave yet, he was wondering how to suggest they don’t call it here, to keep the evening going. He took a moment for himself, excusing himself to the bathroom.

He was washing his hands when he heard the door swing open, he looked in the mirror to see he wasn’t alone, a smile crossed his face, about to ask a question but before he could Freddy was on him. Hands on his shoulders and turning him around to face him, pulling him along, walking backwards to one of the stalls. Spencer didn’t fight it, went right along with him and once the door was closed and he was being kissed with so much heat he struggled to take in what was happening. 

He was being so forward, so forceful, the action caught him so off guard and turned him on almost immediately, pulling back, already slightly out of breath he asked, “Wha-what are you doing?”

Rough hands moved, one on the back of his neck and the other sliding down his side, “Awe thought it was obvious Spencey, you’re smart, I think you can figure out what a man like me is after.” He felt the press of a clothed erection against his hip and the intentions were made more than clear. 

“Freddy-” He breathed and the other man pressed on, another rock of his hips, grinding himself further, “Just look at you, fuck, how can I resist? I thought you looked good back at the store but now? All dressed up for our date, dressed up for me?” 

A soft groan, “I mean feel how fucking hard I am, you did that hon.” 

He flushed at the praise, at how filthy this was, at the tone of his voice and what he said, how hot it was and most importantly, how hot it made him feel. He felt wanted, desired and he went along with it all easily and readily, being wanted like this, how could he ever dream of saying no?

“I did that.” He said it softly, as if saying it himself would really make it true and stick in his own mind. The grip on the back of his neck tightened, he leaned in closer, warm breath over the side of his face, a tease of his tongue, “You sure did. Now what are you gonna do about itm, pretty boy?”

One thought, one idea entered his mind and so he first gripped his shoulders and kissed him, hard and rough, taking the way that he had. He pressed into the erection digging into him causing Freddy to stiffen before he started to return the affection. A few more filthy kisses, the older man forcing his tongue into the mix before his want was too much and Spencer dropped down, hands going to the belt now at eye level. He rushed to open it, he didn’t care about where they were, if anything it made it hotter, he didn’t usually do stuff like this, filthy and nasty. 

He pulled him out of the confines of his clothing, heavy and hot in his palm, mouth watering as he took a moment to admire him before leaning in. His tongue flicked over the tip, collecting the bead of pre-cum that had already accumulated, he tasted way too good, lips wrapping around the head and taking him in, sucking lightly. He was rewarded to the sound of a harsh inhale above him, his eyes flick up to see his eyes closed, head pitched forward, lips parted. 

He needed more, needed to wreck him. He sucked harder, hand wrapped around the base of his shaft, slow stroke up and down as he took more into his mouth, he felt more confident the louder he moaned. The curse he pulled out of of him, that soft, “Shit-”

Made him throb in the confines of his own clothes. He needed some relief, Spencer fucked his own mouth as if that would do something to ease the need as opposed to worsening it. Bobbing up and down, spit leaking down his chin, threatening to fall and stain his dress shirt, it was all too much and he pulled back. He kept his hand on him, stroking the full length of him, the head of his dick resting against his cheek as he kept his pace easy, staring up and once Fred opened his eyes, he asked, “Fuck me?”

“Oh Spencey. Get up here.” The way he said it, no one had ever spoken to him like that, commanded him, he let go of his dripping shaft and stood. He was turned around quickly, pressed into the wall of the stall as two hands reached around to the front, started to take off his pants, he breathed out, “Hurry, fuck, need you-”

“Awe I know, I’m here, I’ll make it all better.” He practically purred it into his ear, soon clothes taken out of the way, dropped around his ankles and he was palmed through his underwear, “Oh yes-”

A rock of his hips forward into the contact, needing more, hand slipped past the last layer and felt him. 

His head was a mess, practically swimming, touched and teased, fingers sliding in, scissoring and working. That heavy weight to his back was a comfort, made him throb more, he squirmed and begged, “Please?”

“You think you got me wet enough to slip in real easy?” He asked and Spencer nodded frantically, “Yeahhh, please, M’ ready.” 

Underwear peeled down strong hand on one hip, the other on his shoulder, he adjusted him, got a better angle before lining up and sliding inside. A shared groan broke out from the pair, he arched back, closer, needing more contact. Fred’s hands slid over him, one up his shirt, hand flat on his stomach, the other staying locked on his hip as he began to move and fuck him. 

“I knew you’d feel good but holy shit-” He moaned and Spencer nodded along, a broken moan, “Yea-ahhh, so, so good.”

He wasn’t counting on how good it would feel either, being stretched wide open and touched like this, so intimately and roughly at the same time. It wasn’t going to take much, all the build up, how long it had been for him, hips canting back, moving with him, creating their own rhythm as he felt it building up inside. 

In just a few short minutes, more groping and pawing, more dirty talk filling his ears, he was panting out his approaching end and was rewarded with a sweet, “Yeahhh? Handsome boy gonna cum for me?”

Another frantic nod, hands back, needing more contact still, hands finding Fred’s hips, “Yes, yes, yes-”

Panting out that single word matching every single thrust until his body tensed, eyes squeezing shut and he came with a strangled cry that hardly left the back of his throat. Freddy wasn’t far behind, it felt far too good to handle and Spencer’s orgasm was the trigger for his own, harder and quicker thrusts before holding in deep before holding deep, spilling inside as the aftershocks still rocked the body he was inside of. He practically milked it out of him, clenching hole serving to make his own pleasure so much better. 

The pair were struggling to catch their breath, still wrapped up in each other, reluctant to pull away just yet. 

But what is a few more minutes?

[40orangecuck]

ok ok I think I know who’s going in part 2. it’s gotta be Nancy. here’s some reasons why.

think about it: Nancy is ALL about the future. she plans and plans and plans for plans. she’s going to attend Emerson, she’s going to reunite with Johnathan, she’s going to be a journalist. that’s what would make her death so tragic and blindsiding to the audience: of all the characters, she’s the last one you’d expect to see dead because you already see her future as clearly as she does.

additionally, Nancy is a harbinger of death to her non-romantic interest supporting characters. I was surprised she didn’t react more to Fred’s death because that’s the second time someone was killed by the upside down after she left them alone. I think Nancy finally facing the deaths of Fred and Barb could trigger an emotional breakdown that Vecna will prey on. alternatively, she could be consumed by survivor’s guilt and sacrifice herself to save her friends and family, acting with the same loyalty and selflessness she showed when diving after Steve without hesitation.

I hate fridging so much but I also think Nancy’s death would bring out a side in Steve we’ve never seen before. there’s some suggestions that Steve is building up to a “you’re the only one for me” moment with Nancy, which would be so, SO SHATTERING if it was followed by Nancy’s death (perhaps even worse than Steve himself dying, since he would end up a god damn husk of a man). I think with the cast descriptions of part two, it would even be game for Steve to witness Nancy sacrifice herself for him and everyone else. because that. that would fuckin huuuurrrrrt. and imagine the guilt Johnathan would feel about not wanting to go to emerson with her or not visiting her. so much angst. the never-ending love triangle ending in the most explosively tragic way imaginable.

[strangeswift]

hi! what are your sexuality headcanons? for byler and any other characters! :) feel free to go into depth if you'd like 💛

Yay!!! Love this.

Most of my sexuality headcanons are purely vibe based?? Call it gaydar I guess.

Team Lesbiab:

El Hopper

Barb Holland

Becky Ives

Robin Buckley obviously but that's canon

Angela

The Bisexual Squad

Max Mayfield

Lucas Sinclair

Nancy Wheeler

Jonathan Byers

Eden Bingham

Chrissy Cunningham

Vickie but that's just canon right??

Melissa <3

Carol Perkins (I ship her and Barb enemies to lovers I'm gonna write a fic and you can't stop me)

Eddie I guess? He could also be gay or straight too I don't know. Putting him here to cover my bases.

Probably Murray

Team GAY

Will Byers (canon)

Mike Wheeler (I am a gay Mike truther, primarily because "It's not my fault you don't like girls" reads as projection to me, which only makes sense if he's gay.)

Henry Creel BUT DON'T MAKE IT FUCKING WEIRD YA'LL JESUS FUCKING CHRIST

Team Straight But We Love Them Anyway

Dustin Henderson

Steve Harrington

Fred Benson (this is an unpopular opinion! But he's just straight to me idk)

Don't kill me but... Argyle. I like the idea of him being a himbo ally, like Steve but even better.

ALSO Tommy H is fuckin straight idc what his actor says. The LGBT+ community respectfully passes him back to the straights.

Anyone else I didn't name just assume I think they're straight. I didn't want to list every straight character so I just listed the interesting ones.

[s1mpl3sp0ng3]

that was an hour and a half commercial for mario games

and i fucking loved every second of it

MARIO MOVIE SPOILERS AHEAD!!

bad stuff (that's not really even bad tbh) first:

toad and peach's introductions felt very, very rushed in and i wish they could've given more time to the mushroom kingdom downtown tbh

all the toads being the exact same kinda irked me but that's been a nintendo problem for at least a decade now so. i don't necessarily blame the movie for that

not enough bowser or luigi. i wanted MOAR (but what we got was awesome)

i feel like it didn't devote enough time to fleshing peach's backstory out? like what she mentioned was super interesting and i hope it comes back around full circle in the sequel if it happens

some of the line reads from fred armisen could've been better, he sounded kinda bored (also more of that dk and mario parallel could've been done)

i would've liked to see more peach on her own, they gave her a really interesting setup but she kinda just falls a little flat compared to mario and luigi and doesn't really get a lot of scenes just to herself

not enough charles martinet

there were so many slow-mo shots?? why, like that's technically not bad but there were like 5

the good

IIIII LOVE MARIO AND DK'S RELATIONSHIP they're so stupid i love them seth rogen dk was pretty damn good

crisp rat actually did pretty damn good? i forgot it was him halfway through the movie

charlie kelly luigi. oh my god

jack black put his whole bowsussy into this role

the fight/battle scenes were REALLY kinetic and they didn't pull their punches when it came to these characters absolutely whaling on each other (also very very cool detail that mario didn't sustain physical injuries in the mushroom kingdom but does in brooklyn)

peach was already a badass but they cranked it up to ten here, and it's really nice they didn't go "i'm not like the other girls" with it. what i love about peach is her kindness, bravery, and compassion for her people! they nailed that

illumination did their homework, none of the references or sight/audio gags felt out of place

the score is so good holy shit that end credits theme fucks so hard

illumination didn't do any of the usual annoying shit! no real pop culture references outside of nintendo, no annoying side characters, no bland or boring protags, almost none of it felt like an illumination movie and that fucked

love that they kept mario and luigi in their usual clothes throughout the movie WITH a realistic explanation as to why they dress like that in brooklyn. it made them fit into the world around them while still being visually distinct (that being said seeing them in casual clothes more would've been cool)

they did mario and luigi's relationship perfectly. when they hugged and mario cupped luigi's face in his hands so lovingly... goddamn. they love each other so much!! they're such good brothers!!

there were so many deep cut references, i definitely was not expecting the eel

what they ended up doing with the kongs was hella interesting even if it was the part of the movie that felt the most like an ad for mario kart

i love that actual love and care went into this movie. it has flaws but at its core it feels like mario and that's all i could ever ask for. letsa fuckin go.

bout 2 watch tha mario movie i will come back with thoughts

[cometcrystal]

scoob review

this movie is okay. the last 30 minutes are the best part and the first hour or so is pretty boring. also this is not a scooby doo movie it's a hanna-barbera crossover movie. and that's okay! but it's not a scooby doo movie

the good

EPIC SHAGGY AND SCOOBY FRIENDSHIP MOMENTS. i LOVED their origin story it was so sweet

LOVED the mask gag at the end. that was the one bit of meta i enjoyed

literally pogchamped when fred put the ascot on. probably my fav moment in the movie was that. for the mystery machine

dynomutt was great

vacuum head/dusty is My son

the little robot minions in general were really fuckin cute

dastardly and muttley's reunion? so sweet

i'm always emo when the gang hugs whether it's a two person hug or a group hug

the shaggy and scooby fight felt realistic and made me feel things. well done!

the captain cavemen segment was pretty fun and cartoony and i enjoyed it even tho i don't care about captain caveman

GREAT music which is always appreciated. the song playing at the end while brian was DJing was my favorite. gonna have to look that up later

the animation was SOOOO CUUUUTE more of this style please

i'm ALWAYS ALWAYS a slut for scooby doo going cosmic and scooby himself having supernatural importance. i loved it when mystery inc did it and i loved it when this movie did it

the bad

i know this is a worn-out topic but i wasn't fond of the gang's new voices. i told myself i could give them a chance before i judged them, and i gave them a chance, and they're still bad. there's no personality there at all and shaggy's voice just doesn't hit the mark. yes i KNOW this is a modern scooby but part of the gang's appeal is that they feel timeless

daphne fred and velma should have been in the movie more

did not like daphne's characterization in this movie. she felt off. daphne's sweet ofc but she felt way too generic Nice Pretty Girl in this movie when usually she's got more of a... daphne-ness to her

as a fred stan, this fred is okay, but not the best. he's a lil ditzy but not quite ditzy enough but i'm glad he wasn't bullied in this movie he doesn't deserve it

deedee should have been the new blue falcon. i didn't care about brian at all

NOBODY COMFORTED FRED WHEN HE WAS UPSET ABOUT THE MYSTERY MACHINE FUCK YOU FUCK YOU FUCK YOU

i don't really like it when scooby media tries to be meta about itself. you know like the line where the bowling alley clerk said shaggy talked like what a an adult from the 60's thought a teenager sounded like. the meta always ends up obnoxious instead of witty and charming. we KNOW that the villain is always a real estate agent in a mask we KNOW that the characters were originally flat archetypes we KNOWWWW YOU DON'T HAVE TO KEEP MAKING SARCASTIC JOKES ABOUT IT. DO SOMETHING INTERESTING. this movie didn't do that TOO much but i started thinking about the concept and got angry. but it's there slightly

i didn't like how the movie acted like the rest of the gang dumped shaggy and scooby??? that literally didn't happen??? when simon cowell called them useless the rest of the gang was calling for them to come back! what was that accusation of dumping them about? they love their friends

dinosaur shit is briefly shown on screen

3/5 needs more traps made by fred

[zeleniafic]

6-13 salty asks for HP.

6 - Has fandom ever made you enjoy a pairing you previously hated?

Not that I can think of tbfh! I am a stubborn bitch lmfao

7 - Is there anything you used to like but can't stand now?

Dumbledore. DUMBLEDORE. I could write an entire essay on his manipulating ass oh my god. Also kinda Seamus Finnigan's whole pyrotechnic shtick, that always made me laugh a lot as a kid who was also prone to such ridiculous accidents, but someone pointed out how shit it was for The Hag That Must Not Be Named to make literally the only prominent Irish character known almost exclusively for causing explosions, within the context of British-Irish political tension at the time HP was written and I'm not in the know enough to convey all of it properly but anyway it just makes me sad now :)))))

8 - Have you received anon hate? What about?

Oh countless things but my FAVORITE was posting Regulus/f!oc content and then stumbling across several responses calling it and similar works homophobic bc apparently it's popular on ao3 that he's gay?? or at least it is within a specific circle??? Idk. Being a teenager on the internet is wild and I have chosen to simply forget that I ever saw that bc I know for a fact that I was also that dumb and self-righteous along the hellish journey of growing up

9 - Most disliked character(s)? Why?

Snape. Being abused does not excuse never dealing with your trauma and perpetuating the cycle with the children in YOUR care, not to mention overtly threatening their pets, and that's not even getting into the way he was okay with letting the woman he was infatuated with's husband and literal baby die as long as she was spared for him to swoop in on :))))) similar to Dumbledore I think he's interesting as a CHARACTER but if I met him in real life I would swing on sight

10 - Most disliked arc? Why?

I... honestly can't think of one??? I truly enjoyed every arc, as far as I can remember. Although if I had to nail one down I'd prob say the whole time period where Ron leaves in DH, but it's not so much that I dislike the way it was written, it's just that I personally hold grudges like my life depends on it and child me was not ready to forgive him when Harry was LMFAO I was mad salty as a kid

11 - Is there an unpopular character you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

Once upon a time I would have said Regulus but there's been a renaissance of love for him so I kinda feel like "unpopular" doesn't apply anymore. Although that's in the writing/editing sphere, so maybe still in the greater fandom as a whole?? Idk I don't interact with HP in the wild anymore so I can't say tbfh. Fleur and Ginny both, once upon a time, bc I remember when fandom fuckin hated both of them but thankfully that seems to have gone away!

12 - Is there an unpopular arc that you like that the fandom doesn’t? Why?

The only thing that comes to mind is the way 7th year went, I guess? I think I remember being really disappointed at first as a kid, but then I got swept on that journey and idk. I like the way DH makes the war feel REAL by literally putting everything about Harry's life on hold, right down to not getting to finish school properly.

13 - Unpopular opinion about XXX character?

Oh I've got two fun ones. A) Hermione actually is fucking obnoxious sometimes, and that's okay. Acknowledging it doesn't reduce her character or something. B) Fred and George are actually fucking MEAN sometimes, similar to how the Marauders took things too far at times. I love all of them (**except Wormtail, he can eat shit and die xx) but sometimes people kind of... woobify?? their shitty behavior and I don't like that. You can love them all without excusing or ignoring that they made dumb shitty decisions as teenagers. We literally all do, the difference is that they grew up and matured, unlike certain Potions professo—

[george-fabian-weasley]

Congrats again on this amazing milestone bb! I’m always interested to see which character people remind me of! 🤺🤺🤺 I’m a hufflepuff and am incredibly loyal and am a kind person. I kind of have a hard shell and can seek intimidating but once you get to know me I’m just a softie tbh. I’m very quick witted and am always cracking a joke. I’m quite ambitious but never put my goals above the people I love and my moral compass.

HIIII LANIEEE THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE WISH ILY <333

You remind me of George Weasley!

Let's face it, George and Fred are 6'3 and beaters, there would be some who are intimidated by them

Blimey even I WOULD

But once you get to know George, he's just this naughty little rascal who needs parental guidance ever 5 seconds because this kid loves to prank so much

Out in the public, they might see George as this confident tall guy, incredibly handsome, a jock definitely

Not that they were wrong ; but there is so much more to George than they know

George is very loyal to his friends and family, even to point of protecting his brother's friends when needed

He was c r u s h e d when Percy left home for the Ministry, he felt so very betrayed (that slimy git)

George is also very ambitious you cannot tell me this is not true; let's face it folks, he and his brother created a line of magical sweets when they were STILL in school

And not only sweets, even prank tools! Let's be honest here, if it wasn't for all these pre-Weasley prank products, the twins would've never thought to open a joke shop

George was the brilliant mastermind of all pranks and jokes they had, Fred suggests the idea and George plans it perfectly to happen

This guy is so fuckin smart MA I LOVE HIM

He is the exact definition of just because yo're not smart academically doesn't mean you're not smart at all

George just gives this vibe around him that says 'hey im a teddy bear at heart'

and he is, he definitely is. And to me, lanie gives off the same vibe as George!

She's kind, she's friendly, so so very sweet and her works are de-scrump-dilly-iciously amazing and i love her so much <3

[birdlord]

Everything I Watched in 2020

We’ll start with movies. The number in parentheses is the year of release, asterisks denote a re-watch, and titles in bold are my favourite watches of the year. Here’s 2019’s list. 

01 Little Women (19)

02 The Post (17) 

03 Molly’s Game (17)

04 * Doctor No (62)

05 Groundhog Day (93)

06 *Star Trek IV - The Voyage Home (86)

07 Knives Out (19) My last theatre experience (sob)

08 Professor Marston and his Wonder Women (17)

09 Les Miserables (98)

10 Midsommar (19) I’m not sure how *good* it is, but it does stick in the ol’ brain

11 *Manhattan Murder Mystery (93)

12 Marriage Story (19)

13 Kramer vs Kramer (79)

14 Jojo Rabbit (19)

15 J’ai perdu mon corps (19) a cute animated film about a hand detached from its body!

16 1917 (19)

17 Married to the Mob (88)

18 Klaus (19)

19 Portrait of a Lady on Fire (19) If Little Women made me want to wear a scarf criss-crossed around my torso, this one made me want to wear a cloak

20 The Last Black Man in San Francisco (19)

21 *Lawrence of Arabia (62)

22 Gone With the Wind (39)

23 Kiss Me Deadly (55)

24 Dredd (12)

25 Heartburn (86) heard a bunch about this one in the Blank Check series on Nora Ephron, sadly after I’d watched it

26 The Long Shot (19)

27 Out of Africa (85)

28 King Kong (46)

29 *Johnny Mnemonic (95)

30 Knocked Up (07)

31 Collateral (04)

32 Bird on a Wire (90)

33 The Black Dahlia (05)

34 Long Time Running (17)

35 *Magic Mike (12)

36 Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (07)

37 Cold War (18)

38 *Kramer Vs Kramer (79) yes I watched this a few months before! This was a pandemic friend group co-watch.

39 *Burn After Reading (08)

40 Last Holiday (50)

41 Fly Away Home (96)

42 *Moneyball (11) I’m sure I watch this every two years, at most??

43 Last Holiday (06) the Queen Latifah version of the 1950 movie above, lacking, of course, the brutal “poor people don’t deserve anything good” ending

44 *Safe (95)

45 Gimme Shelter (70)

46 The Daytrippers (96)

47 Experiment in Terror (62)

48 Tucker: The Man and His Dream (88)

49 My Brilliant Career (79) one of the salvations of 2020 was watching movies “with” friends. Our usual method was to video chat before the movie, sync our streaming services, and text-chat while the movie was on. 

50 Divorce Italian Style (61)

51 *Gosford Park (01) another classic comfort watch, fuck I love a G. Park

52 Hopscotch (80)

53 Brief Encounter (45)

54 Hud (63)

55 Ocean’s 8 (18)

56 *Beverly Hills Cop (84)

57 Blow the Man Down (19)

58 Constantine (05)

59 The Report (19) maddening!! How are people so consistently terrible to one another!

60 Everyday People (04)

61 Anatomy of a Murder (58)

62 Spiderman: Homecoming (17)

63 *To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (95) Of the 90s drag road movies, Priscilla is more visually striking, but this has its moments.

64 Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (92)

65 *The Truman Show (98)

66 Mona Lisa (86)

67 The Blob (58)

68 The Guard (11)

69 *Waiting for Guffman (96) RIP Fred Willard

70 Rocketman (19)

71 Outside In (18)

72 The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (08) how strange to see a movie that you have known the premise for, but no details of, for over a decade

73 *Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country (91)

74 The Reader (08)

75 Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (19) This was fine until it VERY MUCH WAS NOT FINE

76 The End of the Affair (99) you try to watch a fun little romp about infidelity during the Blitz, and Graham Greene can’t help but shoehorn in a friggin crisis of religious faith

77 Must Love Dogs (05) barely any dog content, where are the dogs at

78 The Rainmaker (97)

79 *Batman & Robin (97)

80 National Lampoon’s Vacation (83) Never seen any of the non-xmas Vacations, didn’t realize the children are totally different, not just actors but ages! Also, this one is blatantly racist!

81 *Mystic Pizza (88)

82 Funny Girl (68)

83 The Sons of Katie Elder (65)

84 *Knives Out (19) another re-watch within the same year!! How does this keep happening??

85 *Scott Pilgrim Vs The World (10) a real I-just-moved-away-from-Toronto nostalgia watch

86 Canadian Bacon (92) vividly recall this VHS at the video store, but I never saw it til 2020

87 *Blood Simple (85)

88 Brittany Runs a Marathon (19)

89 The Accidental Tourist (88)

90 August Osage County (13) MELO-DRAMA!!

91 Appaloosa (08)

92 The Firm (93) Feeling good about how many iconic 80s/90s video store stalwarts I watched in 2020

93 *Almost Famous (00)

94 Whisper of the Heart (95)

95 Da 5 Bloods (20)

96 Rain Man (88)

97 True Stories (86)

98 *Risky Business (83) It’s not about what you think it’s about! It never was!

99 *The Big Chill (83)

100 The Way We Were (73)

101 Safety Last (23) It’s getting so that I might have to add the first two digits to my dates...not that I watch THAT many movies from the 1920s...

102 Phantasm (79)

103 The Burrowers (08)

104 New Jack City (91)

105 The Vanishing (88)

106 Sisters (72)

107 Puberty Blues (81) Little Aussie cinema theme, here

108 Elevator to the Gallows (58)

109 Les Diaboliques (55)

110 House (77) haha WHAT no really W H A T

111 Death Line (72)

112 Cranes are Flying (57)

113 Holes (03)

114 *Lady Vengeance (05)

115 Long Weekend (78)

116 Body Double (84)

117 The Crazies (73) I love that Romero shows the utter confusion that would no doubt reign in the case of any kind of disaster. Things fall apart.

118 Waterlilies (07)

119 *You’re Next (11)

120 Event Horizon (97)

121 Venom (18) I liked it, guys, way more than most superhero fare. Has a real sense of place and the place ISN’T New York!

122 Under the Silver Lake (18) RIP Night Call

123 *Blade Runner (82)

124 *The Birds (62) interesting to see now that I’ve read the story it came from

125 *28 Days Later (02) hits REAL FUCKIN’ DIFFERENT in a pandemic

126 Life is Sweet (90)

127 *So I Married an Axe Murderer (93) find me a more 90s movie, I dare you (it’s not possible)

128 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (67)

129 The Pelican Brief (93) 90s thrillers continue!

130 Dick Johnston is Dead (20)

131 The Bridges of Madison County (95)

132 Earth Girls are Easy (88) Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum are so hot in this movie, no wonder they got married 

133 Better Watch Out (16)

134 Drowning Mona (00) trying for something like the Coen bros and not getting there

135 Au Revoir Les Enfants (87)

136 *Chasing Amy (97) Affleck is the least alluring movie lead...ever? I also think I gave Joey Lauren Adams’ character short shrift in my memory of the movie. It’s not good, but she’s more complicated than I recalled. 

137 Blackkklansman (18)

138 Being Frank (19)

139 Kiki’s Delivery Service (89)

140 Uncle Frank (20) why so many FRANKS

141 *National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (89) watching with pals (virtually) made it so much more fun than the usual yearly watch!

142 Half Baked (98) another, more secret Toronto nostalgia pic - RC Harris water filtration plant as a prison!

143 We’re the Millers (13)

144 All is Bright (13)

145 Defending Your Life (91)

146 Christmas Chronicles (18) I maintain that most new xmas movies are terrible, particularly now that Netflix churns them out like eggnog every year. 

147 Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse (18)

148 Reindeer Games (00) what did I say about Affleck??!? WHAT DID I SAY

149 Palm Springs (20)

150 Happiest Season (20)

151 *Metropolitan (90) it’s definitely a Christmas movie

152 Black Christmas (74)

THEATRE:HOME - 2:150 (thanks pandemic)

I usually separate out docs and fiction, but I watched almost no documentaries this year (with the exception of Dick Johnston). Reality is real enough. 

TV Series

01 - BoJack Horseman (final season) - Pretty damned poignant finish to the show, replete with actual consequences for our reformed bad boy protagonist (which is more than you can say for most antiheroes of Peak TV).

02 - *Hello Ladies - I enjoy the pure awkwardness of seeing Stephen Merchant try to perform being a Regular Person, but ultimately this show tips him too far towards a nasty, Ricky Gervais-lite sort of persona. Perhaps he was always best as a cameo appearance, or lip synching with wild eyes while Chrissy Teigen giggles?

03 - Olive Kittredge - a rough watch by times. I read the book as well, later in the year. Frances Mcdormand was the best, possibly the only, casting option for the flinty lead. One episode tips into thriller territory, which is a shock. 

04 - *The Wire S3, S4, S5 - lockdown culture! It was interesting to rewatch this, then a few months later go through an enormous, culture-level reappraisal of cop-centred narratives. 

05 - Forever - a Maya Rudolph/Fred Armisen joint that coasts on the charm of its leads. The premise is OK, but I wasn’t left wanting any more at the end. 

06 - *Catastrophe - a rewatch when my partner decided he wanted to see it, too!

07 - Red Oak - resolutely “OK” steaming dramedy, relied heavily on some pretty obvious cues to get across its 1980s setting. 

08 - Little Fires Everywhere - gulped this one down while in 14-day isolation, delicious! Every 90s suburban mom had that SUV, but not all of them had the requisite **secrets**

09 - The Great - fun historical comedy/drama! Costumes: lush. Actors: amusing. Race-blind casting: refreshing!

10 - The Crown S4 - this is the season everyone lost their everloving shit for, since it’s finally recent enough history that a fair chunk of the viewing audience is liable to recall it happening. 

11 - Ted Lasso - we resisted this one for a while (thought I did enjoy the ad campaign for NBC sports (!!) that it was based on). My view is that its best point was the comfort that the men on the show have (or develop, throughout the season) with the acknowledgement and sharing of their own feelings. Masculinity redux. 

12 - Moonbase 8 - Goodnatured in a way that makes you certain they will be crushed. 

13 - The Good Lord Bird - Ethan Hawke is really aging into the character actor we always hoped he would be! 

14 - Hollywood - frothy wish-fulfillment alternate history. I think the show would have been improved immeasurably by skipping the final episode.

[dreamychick]

Shit noticed on this go around in Goblet of Fire when I re read it as an adult.

Harry wore them but was not as excited for those socks Dobby made as he should have been. They sounded awesome. He made them by hand and was something he knew you loved Harry. Be more grateful.

We've said it before but. Fred and Angelina really go to the Ball together. Only for her to get married to George after Fred dies in the end. So. This moment means nothing.

All of the Champions either are or take a Quidditch player to the Ball.

Harry

Cedric

Krum

And Fleur takes the Ravenclaw Captain. What the hell is up with that? Jocks united? Only Quidditch stars can go as champions? Jesus.

What are the fucking odds that Harry actually saw Rita skeeter bug and just didnt know it at the time? Like he actually was right next to her. In the WHOLE garden. She was just. Right there huh.

When they go off to Hogsmead before Ludo offers to help him with the egg they see Krum dive into the lake, he probably had the clue figured out at that point. That's why he was going in. To practice swimming in the lake itself right?

When Harry takes a bath to figure out the egg there is a Mermaid portrait in the room. There is a portrait in the bathroom. Portraits are alive. They can speak to you. This sentient mermaid can watch underage children bathe and that makes me uncomfortable thinking what other kinds of paintings are in other bathrooms.

Myrtle helps harry alot with his egg clue and hes pretty rude to her. I mean shes a bit of a pervert sure. But she does close her eyes when he goes in and out so shes not looking at anything she shouldnt. But when she just asks for him to visit he completly blows her off. Like what an ass.

After he gets stuck in the trick stair and almost gets caught the not Mad eye tells him he should be an Auror. He says "Interesting idea....he'd like to check how scarred the rest of them were before he chose it as a career."

And then he just.....chooses it as a career? Really?

Snape reads a whole gossip collum about a student out loud to the class just to humiliate him. And then moves him to sit in front of him to quietly intimidate him so noone else can hear him. Teacher of the fuckin year.

Sirius loves Harry so much he lives off rats to survive just to be near him just in case hes needed. Thats fucking love bitch.

Teenagers are bitches they really sent Hermione hate mail because of an article that she was being a two-timer on Harry. I'm not saying it's not realistic I'm just saying the teenagers are bitches.

Nifflers are fluffy black creatures with long snouts thank you for that description once again and for confirming that what I said all along was true. In what universe is that platypus looking thing a niffler? He is very cute but he's not a niffler.

Nothing electrical Works no computers nothing with electricity they say so does that mean that I wouldn't have a phone or an iPod or anyting? How the hell do I listen to my music when I'm studying do I have to learn how to Magic my iPod to work without electricity? Cuz that's going to be the first goddamn spell I learn.

We know how protective Mrs. Weasley is of harry because she thinks of him as another son but is she really the type to listen to gossip from someone like Rita Skeeter? Like she sent hermione an Easter basket basically out of spite of a tiny little Easter egg because she thought that Hermione was cheating on Harry like come on now Mrs. Weasley is like the nicest person ever she wouldn't do that. That just seems super out of character

I just realized again that when Krum takes Harry aside to ask if he and Hermione are together, Harry says he feels he and the 18 year old Proffessional Quidditch player are equals.

Krum is 18 years old. Hermione is 14. Im......not ok with that. Its only a 4 year age difference and theyre not doing anything like, sexual. But even so. Im still super not alright with that when you put it like that. Him being a student doesnt change the fact that hes a whole almost grown man and shes still just a child. Yikes. And this from someone who likes Krum.

When they're going to send their letter they meet up with Fred and George who are off to Blackmail or considering blackmail and George tells Ron that he's traveling down the road to become a prefect and Ron gets so offended and says that he's not and I just think that it's so funny because he ends up becoming one and that literally is all of the boys in the family became a prefect except for the twins

When Harry falls into the pensive you hear that Snape was a Voldemort supporter but he turned spy before Voldemort's downfall at Great personal risk. Wasn't the only reason he turned spy literally because he found out that Harry Potter's family was being targeted? So Snape was willingly a Death Eater like he made the choice to become a Death Eater that's not just oh I was a bullied kid you should feel bad for me this is like you're legitimately a Death Eater. Like my bro Death Eaters kill people and they torture them and they do a lot of not nice things. You can't use being bullied as an excuse for everything so you willingly became a Death Eater that was your choice and yes Dumbledore gave you a second chance that does not negate the fact that you made that choice in the first place and that you were a terrible person. And what are you doing with your second chance? You're still being a terrible person. You're not killing people, but you're psychologically torturing teenagers so.....

They saw Draco talking into his hands out the window. And isnt it convenient they always happen to be lopking out windows at exactly the right time to catch the things they need to catch?

Fleur is in love with Bill at first sight, and even oblivious Harry picked up on that. And yet another age gap. 5 years this time. Sigh. At least this one is graduating in a month. I guess thats better. (I do like them together. I honestly think they do have a cute love. But when you notice a pattern it starts being weird. Cuz then its tonks and Remus and that age gap is waaay more. Like the gaps just grow and Im just not cool with it.)

I was gonna wait to post this til I finished rereading. But. I stopped rereading and started other things and Im not going back for a while and ky notes are taking up space on my phone. And my phone is old. So here it is.

I still love Harry Potter. But when you reread it as an adult you do start to see things you never saw before.

[dropping-out]

aah quarantine, a time for me to be bored out of my skull and have way too much time on my hands and i fall back on, you guessed, harry potter. I’m going to write a list of all the characters j* r*wl*ng was too coward (and trans/homophobic) to write

Harry Potter: Bisexual as shit. she definitely did do this, just not on purpose and she would definitely never admit to it. that boy was crushing so hard on both cedric and draco he couldn't keep his wand straight for a second

Hermione Granger: also bisexual. pansy? down. her and ginny over the summer? maaayyybee. also as genuinely interested in krum, but never anything super serious. her and Ron were truly made for each other and I stand by that.

Ron Weasley: unfortunately very straight but NOT HOMOPHOBIC SIT THE FUCK DOWN

Fred Weasley: unsure, maybe some form of queer, he didn’t really figure it out because he worked on the business and he had George :(

George Weasley: pansexual. did end up loving angelina, but he might’ve been fooling around with Lee Jordan (who said that? what???)

Ginny Weasley: BI-SEX-UAL. Her and harry were totally into each other (and if you read HBP again, there is definitely either implied sex happening or implied ~other~ stuff happening when they “go out on the grounds”) but  her and luna?? SOOO INTO EACH OTHER.

Charlie Weasley: this is the one i’m least sure about, he’s either ace and just LOVES DRAGONS or he’s like polyamorous af and like him and all of the people that work together are also all in a sexual relationship???

Draco Malfoy: so gay. so bottom. such princess. kink is harry james potter. drag? 

Pansy Parkinson: so gay. such top. absolute boss fem. her and draco are the true embodiment of m|m and w|w solidarity

Luna Lovegood: demisexual. Neville and her were cute and soft, but ginny’s fire stole her soul

Seamus Finnigan: gayyyyyy but like mickey from shameless gay--very very closeted for a long time but also very in love with dean for most if not all of them

Dean Thomas: bisexual, wasn’t pining after seamus like seamus was him because he’s dumb and jock-y so he wasn't until seamus was getting VERY upset about ginny and eventually his feelings exploded from him that dean realized he was also pretty much in love with him

Neville Longbottom: transgender, it was definitely a point of argument in the family that, idk, dropped him out a WINDOW, but his grandma is the best and said Neville u are u, and also asexual but the most romantic boi anyone has ever MET

Minerva McGonagall: gay. her backstory about the muggle lover of her life that died is FAKE it’s j*’s COVERUP of the fact that she is a lesbian ICON and her wife lived in the cottage nearby the school and Minerva tried to get there as often as she could and eventually harry started going over there for sunday tea

Remus Lupin: KING OF THE BISEXUALS. this boy with is fuckin elbow pads and books and lankiness just omfg. so, so bi. so, so in love with SIRIUS FREAKING BLACK. their love story is one of pining and confusion and eventual “jesus sirius just kiss me” in front of wayyy too many people to fully...enjoy it ;)

Sirius Black: basically as gay as draco malfoy, with wayyy less reserve. “prongs, does my scarf make me look gay? pls tell me it does, moony needs to know i’m gay” “pads, shut UP” 

Nymphadora Tonks: pansexual, nonbinary. they and ginny had wayyyy too much fun at grimmauld place, you could FEEL the sexual tension. they and remus DID sleep together so Teddy DOES  exist but they were so not in love, it was like a “what if” that turned into an “oh shit” but they were both all in for this baby

PLEASE feel free to add on :))

[echthr0s]

I’ve been reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma and it’s really bringing to mind two things that I value that other people don’t seem to grok -- my “bougie-ness” about food and the joy of ritualisation 

(long post alert, and this isn’t even all my thoughts, jsyk)

first of all, I get that me being “bougie” about food is a complicated thing because I too am a known poor (formerly a known vagabond) and have always had to eat whatever I could afford (or acquire by various means). so I guess it seems dissonant at best (insolent at worst) for me to desire food that is usually sold at prices that seem exorbitant when you’re in an income-and-a-half household. who do you think you are? eat this cheap chicken and lettuce-in-a-bag and be happy. 

but like, here’s the thing. it’s... it’s food. out of all the things we pay for, food and shelter are top priority when it comes to our continued survival. I care about where I live, and I care about what I eat, because those two elements form the foundation of how I feel about everything else in my life. I know more than anyone how shitty diet and shitty living conditions (or no living conditions at all) play havoc with mental health. demanding the best of these things for the money we’re paying isn’t arrogance, it’s the baseline level of self-interest. (it’d be arrogance if I wanted a mansion and Gordon Ramsay to cook for me, not if I want a well-maintained sunlit home with conscientious neighbours and fresh vegetables from a local farm on my plate...)

people should care about where their food comes from. there’s a Portlandia sketch that is pretty funny at first glance, where Fred and Carrie’s characters go to this restaurant and start asking a million questions about where the chicken on the menu comes from, whether it’s a local farm, whether the chicken is happy, etc, and they actually go all the way out to the farm to visit the chickens and it’s basically just making fun of the whole “organic/free-range” Whole Foods-ish trend. and I get it. here’s why I get it -- because Whole Foods and its ilk have commodified the shit out of the natural desire to want to know where your food comes from, and that commodification made it corny and -- most importantly -- insincere. that’s why that sketch is funny to me. but it’s puerile and short-sighted to make fun of people because they want to go the extra mile and see the farm where their food is being raised -- because they desire transparency from the people who are providing the substance that will sustain their bodies (or destroy their bodies).

it’s all brainwashing, really. the USDA and company have ensured that there is no transparency. if we really had to come face-to-face with the terrible practices that lead to the cheap meat on our plate, or if we really saw that our beloved breakfast cereal is literally just sugar on top of sugar with zero nutritional value, and even food we think is “healthful” is so processed and so far removed from whole, inherently nutritious food that it’s laughable, and then really came to realise exactly how capitalism and the military-industrial complex have affected every facet of our lives including our supposed “preferences” for fast food and cheap calories... it’s all an ecology. a fucked up ecology, where every insidious piece feeds into the great whole.

so, really, those raw-food vegans and other folks that we make fun of probably have more of the right of it than anybody, if they conscientiously source their food.

as far as the joy of ritualisation is concerned... it’s about seasons, man. every (whole) food has its season. certain vegetables grow during certain times of year. animals grow at their own pace (when they’re not in a feedlot anyway lmao). eating with the seasons imparts a ritualistic flavour to different foods depending on when you eat them. we replicate it with stuff like “pumpkin spice” and “Oberon beer”, where if those things were sold all year round, no one would even care about them as much as they do now. but it’s the ritual of the thing -- the knowledge that when Sbux breaks out the pumpkin spice latte, oh yeah, baby, it’s fuckin fall. when your favourite bar puts out the sign with a stylised sun on it that says “Oberon is here!” bitch it’s summer. (Oberon isn’t even good, man. but like, I get it. it’s a ritual.) look at the holidays. the best ones are based on the seasons -- winter solstice, spring equinox. those are the times when you break out the first [insert seasonal food here], and you feel connected to the great cycles of nature, to which we all belong.

if you can buy lamb and asparagus and oranges all year round, what’s even the fucking point?

anyway fuck it I’m done (until I’m not)

[killinbills]

do you have any characters/relationships that you feel, if you continued on past the end of the book, realistically the would spilt?

looking back i sort of think that at the end of briar,,, i should’ve written fred more aware that the fact that briar was so fuckin depressed and like,,, realistically if they hadn’t died they probably would’ve broken up afterwards so she could actually have some time to,,,, like,,,,, go to counselling,,, and like look after herself on her own??? like not to make everything about clueless but like,,, i really wished i had written fred and briar’s relationship different towards the end in briar and like in clueless it’s gonna be way more Healthy and also,,, idk what i was THINKING he would’ve NOTICED she was in SUCH a dark place he would’ve been AWARE and ur damn well sure he will fuckin notice

tbh i think this is sort of the annoying part about fanfiction, especially ones w teenagers because it’s like,,, you don’t wanna break them up and say they don’t get married and all that,, do you?? like neither the writer nor the reader wanna see that, that’s a lil sad. idk im just very aware that all of mine have pretty much been “get together at 17, get married” but it’s also like??? do i ~want~ to make the relationship realistic and break them up bc maybe i ~want~ to write about them being happy and getting married

i think that maybe past the end of morningstar there might be a time where izzy and peter aren’t together,,,, like not for any reason it just happens naturally,,,, and then when they’re older they end up getting together then. like idk. i can see izzy having other love interests (not ones that i’d write about bc i don’t like writing oc x oc relationships u know) but like,,, i like the idea of izzy having a couple love interests more tied to hell and all that,, like how in caos sabrina had harvey then nick who’s also a witch. idk. this is a strange tangent. this whole ask has been strange tangents lmao. but i 100% have two other ideas for izzy’s other love interests that will never actually get written, just have an idea and a faceclaim lmao

ask me questions!!

[angrylizardjacket]

o trespass sweetly urged {Ash/Honey}

Summary: Ash & Honey play Romeo & Juliet in a university production of  Romeo & Juliet. That’s it. That’s the fic.

A/N: 8018 words. Honey is the loml. @toplesstaylor i owe u my life; honey is hers, as is this concept, she just let me write it. there’s a lot of smoking in this one, but no real warnings. i mean there’s gratuitous shakespeare and misunderstandings, but that’s what u get with this sort of thing.

Ash had fully intended on not telling any of her friends that she was doing this; she had her audition on the night she knew Honey had work and Queen had a gig, and she made sure she was never learning her audition monologue in earshot of anyone that would blab about her little experiment. The idea of auditioning for her university theatre society’s rendition of Romeo and Juliet was too fanciful for her to entertain the idea that she’d be cast, but she was a romantic at heart, had spent too long looking at paintings and pictures of the star crossed lovers in textbooks and art galleries. She couldn’t help herself.

“Ash, call for you!” When one of her dormmates calls her to the phone, she’s confused. It’s been a week since the audition and she hadn’t been expecting to hear back.

“Freddie?” He’s the only one that calls her, the only one that has her number, though even he prefers to just show up unannounced.

“Hi, is this Ash Clarke?” The voice on the other end asks. They’re asking her to play Juliet, and she feels like she’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, for them to tell her it’s a joke.

“What? Me? What do you mean?”

“You’ve got-” it’s the director on the other end, and she covers the receiver, muffling where she was presumably talking to the rest of the executives team, “we think you’ll play very well against our Romeo - who’s a woman, by the way, is that alright? It’s artistic -” Ash is quick to assure them that it’s fine, flushing though they can’t see it, and is immediately worried that they might read into her quick acceptance and realise she’s probably far more into the concept of kissing a female Romeo than they realise, but they just move on, grateful. “You had this real sweetness in your audition, and we think we can help you bring out a fierceness that will be really compelling on stage, hopefully,” she laughs. Ash laughs too, but her heart’s not in it, and her mind’s a thousand miles away, panicking; she never expected to get a role at all.

God, Fred would never let her hear the end of it.

The first read through was nerve wracking; she’d spent more than enough time in the university’s little black box theatre as the costume designer for previous shows, but never as an actor. She’s got a brand new notebook in her white-knuckled grip, smiling awkwardly at the distracted executive team, and she takes a seat in the audience, waiting patiently. As one of the first to arrive, part of her dreads every time she hears the doors open, worrying that it might be someone she knows, even in passing.

So imagine her dread when the doors are flung open, and Honey walks in with the confidence of someone who had already made the stage her home. Which, Ash considers, she sort of already had. Honey greets the director and the rest of the executives with a cool smile, her gaze scanning over the rest of the auditorium, until it settles on Ash, and her lips quirk; Ash, however, is mortified.

“Afternoon, Space Cadet, you designing for this thing?” Honey plops herself into the seat directly beside Ash, feet up on the empty chair in front of her, her tote bag full of highlighters and paper finding a home on the floor beneath the chair. 

“You don’t go to this university-” Ash frowns, suddenly incredibly self conscious- how could she ever help to be on stage in the same play as Honey Woodrow? The woman had more stage presence in her left foot than Ash was sure she had in her whole body.

“Nah,” Honey agreed, “but Lane lives with Emily and was talking about how they needed more people to audition-” it only takes Honey a moment to realise that the names were going straight over Ash’s head, and she gave a thin smile; “the production manager is a friend of Lane, you know, who I work with,” she explained, and prompted Ash, who made a noise of recognition. Looking out at the shabby, blank stage, Honey’s smile is a little bit self satisfied, “I landed Romeo.”

Ash actually blanched.

“God, of course you did,” she all but wheezed, panic building in her, bubbling away in her stomach, along with strands of feelings she couldn’t quite place or name right at that moment. After a beat, she took a deep breath, which was enough for Honey to look over with a frown of confusion at her reservation, but before the brunette can ask, Ash is already speaking, “no, I’m not designing; I’m actually playing Juliet.”

There’s a very long silence. 

When Ash finally looks at Honey, the younger woman is smiling with slight disbelief, and Ash isn’t sure what to read into it, if anything.

“Oh?” Honey asks, quirking an eyebrow, more amused at Ash’s hesitation than anything else.

“Good ‘oh’?” Ash asks tentatively, and the amusement on Honey’s face breaks as she rolls her eyes with exasperation.

“No, it’s a disappointed ‘oh’, angry ‘oh’, mortified ‘oh’; what a fuckin’ chore to have to spend time with you,” Honey leans back. If sarcasm didn’t actually drip from her words, it wasn’t from lack of trying. Ash’s nervousness is melting, little by little, a blush rising on her cheeks as she drops her gaze, chuckling a little. “It’ll be interesting,” Honey muses, which is even more cryptic than the ‘oh’, but Ash doesn’t ask, just nods.

“That’s one word for it.” 

“My star crossed lover,” Honey’s grin is evident in her words as she gives Ash’s thigh a pinch, the teasing banter doing great things for the ginger’s nerves, “you sure you’re up for it?”

“Fuck no,” Ash laughs, but Honey punches her shoulder lightly, assuring her that it’ll be great, and before too long, the director is calling them all over. Despite her nerves, Ash sticks close to Honey, mostly since she’s the only familiar face, though the director seems rather relieved that the women not only know each other, but also seem to get on.

Honey reads Shakespeare like she’s been speaking it her whole life, her words flowing at such a natural pace despite the unnatural turns of phrase. There’s an easy playfulness to the way she speaks her lines, and though the director already looks a little wary.

“I have lost myself; I am not here;” she gasps melodramatically, hand raised to her forehead as if she’s faint, though the sharpness of her grin, despite her overdramatic tone, “this is not Romeo, he's some other where.” It’s already proving to be a very interesting experience. 

Ash, on the other hand, is tentative when speaks, stumbling over the flowery language, trying not to get too flustered as she half stutters through her lines. 

They make it to Act 2, to the masquerade and to where Romeo first spots Juliet, and Honey is almost smirking as she delivers her lines, leaning back on her hands with a casual confidence, gaze flicking from her script to Ash, who was reading her own script like she could divine some infinite wisdom from it.

“What lady is that, which doth enrich the hand of yonder knight?” She asks, and though the man playing the servant speaks, Honey’s still watching Ash. When she delivers her monologue, waxes poetic about Juliet, it’s fond and a little admiring, a surprising take on the lines that somehow works, and makes the director think Honey’s actually put some thought into her character already, “Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.” Ash pauses in her highlighting, and Honey’s grin turns sharp at the faint blush she can spot tinting the ginger’s ears and cheeks pink.

“You gotta chill out,” they leave the rehearsal together, Ash asking if Honey wants to grab a bite to eat, and the moment they step into the cool night air, Honey shoves her hands into her pockets and says what’s been on her mind since she’d arrived. Ash, to her surprise, seems confused by her words, “come on, Space Cadet, you looked like you were about to blow a gasket every time something halfway saucy happened,” Honey hip checked Ash, and who laughed a little, though the set of her shoulders is still tense. “It’s just a play.”

“Yeah, no, I know, it’s just- I’m not used to being on stage.”

“Well you’re gonna need to get used to it, dude,” it may have come off a little sharper than Honey had intended it and she made a point of shifting her tone to something more fond, “you’re the leading lady, aren’t you?”

They get burgers a few blocks from Ash’s dorm and they talk about the show, which manages to help the tense set of Ash’s shoulders, though when she asks Honey if she had any theatre experience, the brunette was still cagey. 

“Performing’s performing, I’m just gifted,” she’s almost insufferably smug, but Ash has known her for long enough now that it doesn’t bother her. It’s not a real answer, but then again, Honey’s never been very forthcoming with any sort of information about her past, even something as seemingly insignificant as whether or not she’s acted before.

Honey has a natural charisma, a confidence when she’s onstage that draws all focus to her, and at first, of course it’s intimidating to be playing opposite her, but surprisingly enough it’s easy for Ash to find her groove on stage. Honey is fast and sharp, but Ash knows her innate timing far better than she had initially given herself credit, and it’s easy, in warm ups, in scenes, to play against her. Despite the younger woman’s somewhat aloof nature, Ash trusts her wholeheartedly. 

They’ve got Ash standing on a table as a proxy for the balcony they’re apparently building for her, and as they’re figuring out their blocking, Honey has taken to sprawling out on the floor just in front of the table, gazing up at Ash with admiration as she delivers her lines.

“I take thee at thy word, call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized; henceforth I never will be Romeo.” She calls up, raising a hand almost lazily and gesturing up to Ash. The ginger looks to the script in her hands before looking sharply at Honey.

“What man art thou that, thus bescreened in night, so stumblest on my counsel?” She asks back, crouching down and peering over the edge of the table; Honey’s giving a starry-eyed expression, and Ash is struggling not to laugh or blush. How Honey manages to keep a straight face while performing will forever be a mystery to Ash.

But the scene goes on, and the urge to laugh dies quickly as Ash finds herself sucked into the narrative, trading banter and lovestruck looks with the woman she considered to be a good friend. Honey, for all she isn’t a fan of casual intimacy, seems at home on stage carding her fingers through Ash’s hair.

“O wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?” She grumbled, though Ash can see a traitorous smirk at the edge of her lips. Ash, now laying on the table script in one hand, reaches out, lifts Honey’s chin with a single finger.

“What satisfaction canst thou have tonight?” She asks, raising an amused eyebrow at Honey’s almost pout that hides her own amusement. The line hangs in the air for a long moment before Honey starts wiggling her eyebrows, unable to hold back her grin, and Ash bursts out laughing. The director calls for a five minute break.

That’s sort of how it goes; bit by bit, scene by scene they work through the script until it’s all blocked. Honey brings an intensity that Ash comes to mirror, until they get to a line or a moment that will end up amusing them, and causing one or both of the girls to break character. Ash is slower to pick up lines, but she finds it easy to learn them if she records herself on cassette saying them, and listening back to it when she’s working on other projects, or up late at night tailoring various garments for her friends.

Freddie’s the first and only one of the band members she tells, and she’s sworn him to secrecy.

“I think I’d do rather well in Shakespeare,” Freddie muses where he’s sprawled out over Ash’s bed of an afternoon while she’s hemming a pair of his leather pants. Ash hums in acknowledgement, but doesn’t comment one way or the other. He’s always been a good performer, but never much of an actor, not in a professional capacity, but Ash has never been much of anything on stage before now so she’s doesn’t think she’s really entitled to comment.

“How are rehearsals coming along?” He’s very pointed in the way he says it, and Ash pointedly refuses to hear the smirk so clear in his words. 

“Good,” Ash muses, “we’re - what did she call it? - polishing, I think the director called it polishing. We’re polishing scenes now.”

“Oh, already?” He asked, and Ash pursed her lips. 

“We’re working on the suicide scene on Wednesday.”

A long silence hangs in the air, broken only by the sound of bedsheets rustling as Freddie moves to lie on his stomach, propping his chin in his hand.

“So what’s it like kissing Honey?” He asks, watching Ash turn pink.

“Wouldn’t know,” she avoided his gaze, hunching over the pants she was working on. Freddie’s smile grows wider. There’s a blush about her ears that is refusing to go away, especially not as he hums thoughtfully, but changes the subject.

The next rehearsal is a mess, at least for Ash, who’s in her own head about everything Freddie had said. She’d been practicing her lines rather diligently in the leadup, but they all seemed to have left her, and she feels like she’s letting everyone down on multiple levels. Even Honey, who usually seems unflappable and strangely patient, seems annoyed. 

“Is it weird?” Ash asks in a break; everyone in the room can feel that the energy’s off. 

“You’ll have to be much more specific,” Honey tells her, deadpan, before taking a long drink of water, “you’re being weird.” She adds after a beat. Ash’s expression sours. She deliberates for a long time, eats an entire apple with a pensive look on her face, and Honey actually leaves her to her brooding to go chat with the director. 

“Is it weird that we haven’t kissed in rehearsals yet?” Ash asks just as the director calls everyone back inside. Honey does actually take pause at that, and it’s the director’s turn to scowl.

“You can if you want,” the director buts in before Honey gets a chance, “but proper stage kisses don’t usually need to come into play until dress runs, you know?”

“Is that why you’ve been weird?” Honey’s half smiling, a little exasperated, but the tension in her shoulders is loosening and that frustrated aura around her is quickly dissipating. 

“I’ve never stage-kissed anyone,” Ash exclaims, and that’s the moment the tension breaks; Honey snorts, rolls her eyes and makes her way back to the middle of the rehearsal space.

“If it makes you feel better we can do it this run,” Honey offers, and Ash nods, gives a grateful smile, though her heart’s beating hard against her ribs. Ash has kissed plenty of people in her lifetime, has kissed plenty of women, but none of them are Honey. It’s not that Ash is unobservant; Honey’s hot, obviously, and she’s got this innate magnetism that draws people to her, and this secretive little smile that she wears sometimes that Ash doesn’t like to think too hard about because it makes her heart beat painfully fast. Of course she thinks Honey’s pretty, has even considered kissing her, among other things, but just in passing… this feels… hollow. 

“Eyes, look your last!” As Honey goes through her final monologue, she gently caresses the side of Ash’s face where the ginger was laying on a table in the middle of their stage, “Arms, take your last embrace! and, lips, O you the doors of breath, seal with a righteous kiss, a dateless bargain to engrossing death!” 

Ash cracks her eye open, just a little, sees Honey looking out to where the audience is, before looking down at Ash, her character breaking for a moment when she sees Ash looking up at her.

“I’m gonna kiss you now,” she warns, and Ash has to bite back a smile.

“You don’t need to warn me, it’s in the script.”

"I feel like I do need to warn you since you were being weird about it."

"Telling me you're going to kiss me at the start of the run was fine, now you're making weird."

“If you’re gonna kiss her just do it,” the director sounds endlessly beleaguered, and Honey smiles gently for the barest moment before she presses her lips to Ash’s. It’s quick, chaste, but something inside Ash sparks, and when Honey pulls away she leaves the faintest residue of cherry chapstick on Ash’s lips.

“Come, bitter conduct, come, unsavoury guide!” Honey’s off again with the rest of her monologue, still holding Ash close, and Ash has to fight to keep from smiling. It’s not how their first kiss should have gone, though Ash has never really considered how it should go, but it doesn’t feel as hollow as she thought it would.

When they get to the costume parade, it’s strange. The clothes don’t sit quite right; they’re sourced rather than made, though it’s what the budget allowed so Ash wouldn’t begrudge them, but it feels strange to be wearing things that she had no say in. It’s been years since someone else dressed her, and she can feel every which way the garment doesn’t fit right. They’ve got her in a high-waisted, forest green skirt, and a short-sleeved floral blouse, and she brings her own pair of shiny, black platforms from home. The skirt has to be safety-pinned into place, and the director thinks the outfit looks better with the top button of her shirt undone, but honestly she doesn’t look half bad. Ash takes a few minutes to look at herself in the mirror of the bathroom where she’d gotten changed, a little nervous to face everyone else in costume, not sure what to expect. 

Honey is the first thing she sees when she steps into the theatre, standing patiently with her hands in her pockets as the costume designer flits around her with a can of hairspray, and the makeup artist is smudging dark eyeshadow in lieu of dirt onto her face haphazardly. It’s not her usual style, but the clothes look like they were made for her. They’ve got her in a garish, blue and pink patterned shirt, untucked, unbuttoned enough that Ash wonders why they’d bothered with buttons at all, over a pair of reasonably tight white jeans, artfully dishevelled with little rips, and dirt along her knees and shins. She looks like she’s just gotten out of a fight, a perfect counterpoint to Ash’s tight, immaculate ensemble, and when she catches Ash staring, Honey just smirks.

“You look cute,” Honey practically drawls, and Ash is suddenly acutely aware of how short her skirt is and how tight her shirt is and how she can’t bring herself to look directly at Honey herself. 

“You too,” Ash says, smiling but still avoiding Honey’s gaze as she walks past to dump her street clothes onto her bag in the audience. The director calls her over and Ash obliges, standing awkwardly next to Honey as they play with her hair, arguing about what to do with it. “Ah, not cute,” Ash amends quietly, and Honey turns to her, raises a single eyebrow, “you look quite, uh, handsome.” Honey just snorts out a laugh and looks straight ahead.

“What if we gave her a flower crown,” the costume designer tried, though the idea was quickly vetoed by the director. Put out, the costume designer dejectedly rifles through the racks of costumes and hands over what she’s calling the ‘masquerade outfits’, saying she’d get to Ash’s hair another time. 

“A costume party is a modern masquerade,” the director says blithely when Honey and Ash exchange skeptical looks, their respective costumes in hand. Ash’s has wings. Honey’s has horns. The director isn’t exactly subtle with her symbolism.

They’ve dressed Ash like an angel, and her heart is in her throat at the thought of what Honey would be wearing. Why is today of all days the moment Ash’s latent crush on her friend decides to manifest itself. Couldn’t it have waited until after the production? Ash walks into the theatre from the bathroom and she thinks she feels her heart skip a beat. 

Honey’s leaning against the proscenium arch, as if waiting for her, illuminated by the golden stage lights. She’s wearing a surprisingly well fitting red, velvet suit, a women’s cut that didn’t actually seem like it needed to be tailored all that much judging by the way it hugged her. The jacket was undone at the front, and instead of a shirt, all she was wearing beneath was a black bralet. There’s a pair of plastic horns sitting on her forehead, and an intricate red mask over her eyes. Ash is frozen in the doorframe, following Honey’s hands with her eyes as the woman lit a cigarette and slid the lighter back into her pocket. 

“Hey Space Cadet,” Honey’s grin is all teeth, sharp, like she knows exactly what Ash is thinking, or not thinking as the case may be, all thoughts having left Ash’s head the moment Honey had smiled at her, looking as good as she did.

“You guys look fantastic,” the director enthused. Ash blinked quickly beneath her own mask, looking away from Honey as she moved to hang up her other costume, before standing patiently as the director and the costume team looked between the two girls, deliberating, making notes.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand,” Honey begins quietly, making her way to Ash with that snake-charmer smile of hers, reciting lines from the masquerade off the top of her head, “This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Before Ash can comprehend what’s happening, Honey’s got a hand on her cheek, thumb brushing her cheekbone. She’s so close, Ash can smell her perfume and the smoke from the cigarette in her other hand, can see the little gold flecks in Honey’s eyes where she’s looking at Ash like-

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t tease me,” Ash rolled her eyes, tone quietly derisive, taking Honey’s hand and lowering it from her face gently, stepping away where the taller woman was getting too close for Ash’s comfort.

“I’m running lines,” Honey countered, but stepped back, giving the ginger her space, the easy playfulness disappearing quickly, her smile tight as she took another drag from her cigarette. “You were struggling last time we ran this one, weren’t you?” She asks, piqueing an eyebrow, but it was far more clinical than Ash was used to her being.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, which mannerly devotion shows in this;” Ash rattles off slowly, frowning slightly as she recalled the lines. When Honey recites her lines, they’re flat, and she stops dead mid-sentence when the director calls them to attention, turning away from Ash with an almost comically sharp turn. It’s as if the temperature of the room has dropped ten degrees, and the silk slip dress they’ve got Ash in for her masquerade does little to hide the goose bumps that lift along her arms. 

They’re the last two in for the fitting, since the director had wanted to spend the most time with them, and she suggests to everyone that they go get drinks after. Ash hesitates for a moment, looks to Honey who, like Ash herself, was back in plain clothes, but Honey doesn’t look at her, she’s fishing around her tote bag for her wallet, not even looking up at the offer. Ash agrees, and to her surprise, so does Honey.

Honey makes conversation with everyone but Ash at the bar, and Ash has it in her to be a little offended. Of course she’s also concerned, uncertain of what had made Honey’s mood turn so quickly, but when Honey physically leaves to get out of a conversation Ash had joined, it feels very pointed; it feels like an insult.

“What’s your problem?” It comes out very sharp, and Ash isn’t drunk enough to say that she didn’t mean it that way. She has to corner Honey by the bathroom. Honey looks her over for a moment, drunker than Ash is but doing a good job of acting like she’s not. She’s still got a little eyeshadow on her cheekbone and Ash has to fight against her impulse to reach out and rub it away.

“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable,” Honey says, voice flat, looking over her shoulder at where the others were seated, talking and enjoying the night amongst themselves. “I think I’m gonna take off.” She doesn’t leave room for arguments or confusion as she slips away from Ash as the ginger is still trying to process what she’d said.

Rehearsals are… strange after that. Honey’s reserved in her performance, not in a way that anyone’s able to accurately pinpoint, but she holds back from touching Ash, from getting to close, from giving her starry-eyed looks as she’d once done. They do full run-throughs and Honey kisses her quick when scripted, but the initial playfulness, the flirty edge to her lines, it had vanished. Ash, for her part, has her lines down, but her heart’s not in it. 

Speaking of her heart; despite how cold Honey had been, that traitorous crush of hers refused to disappear, in fact, it just grew stronger. Honey barely looked at her, barely touched her, and her heart grew heavier with each passing rehearsal.

“It feels like you’re just going through the motions,” the director scrubs her hand over her face during the cue-to-cue; it was the middle of tech week and everyone was already tired. Ash was sweating beneath the lights, sitting up on her balcony, legs dangling over the edge. Honey was leaning against the set piece just below her. 

“We are; this about the tech, not us,” Honey rolled her eyes, sliding down the structure to sit, arms crossed over her chest; she’d been smart, had worn shorts despite how cold it is outside, as if anticipating how warm the stage could get under lights.

“Honey, could I talk to you for a moment?” There’s a softness about the director’s words as she looks between her two leads; Ash has her head resting against the banister, expression teetering on the forlorn side of neutral, Honey had her left foot tucked beneath her right thigh, and was refusing to look at anywhere but a single scuff mark on the stage, “come on everyone, quick water in, water out, be back here in ten minutes to pick up from the start of act two, scene two - Honey?” She offered her hand, and the brunette took it, hauling herself to her feet and following the director from the theatre. 

While the rest of the cast and crew scattered like cockroaches when the lights get turned on, Ash stays where she is, idly swinging her legs. She doesn’t feel dehydrated, just a little disheartened, her fingers curling around the bars of the banister, while she sulked. The man playing Mercutio offered to get her waterbottle, but she gave him a small smile, waving him off. 

The moment Honey bursts back into the room, she’s radiating frustration like Ash has never seen before, making a beeline for her bag and coat in the audience.

“Ash, Honey’s going to grab some lunch and we’re going to have the stage manager fill in; could you go with her?” The director asked, voice painfully innocent, and suddenly Honey’s mood made sense.

“Yeah, I mean I guess,” Ash sighs, finally standing and making her way down from the balcony. She’s glad to be out from under the lights, but the way Honey’s making a face like she’d just bitten a lemon fills her with apprehension. After pulling on her coat, Ash carefully collects up her things, looking around for Honey herself before being told that she’d already left.

They sit, unmoving, in Honey’s car for almost a full two minutes. Silent.

“She wants us to talk about whatever’s bothering us, doesn’t she?” Ash asks carefully. Honey turns the keys in the ignition instead of answering, peeling out of the carpark and heading down the road.

“Nothing’s bothering me,” Honey’s voice was eerily level, though her expression said otherwise, “I’m just trying not to overstep my bounds, you know? Fuck, I’m trying to be respectful, what’s her problem?” There’s nothing Ash can say to break the silence; she can’t look away from Honey’s white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. As time passes, as they get closer to whatever destination Honey has in mind, the tension in her shoulders eases, her grip on the wheel loosens a little, and she reaches over, turns on the radio.

“You weren’t the reason I was uncomfortable,” Ash finally hears herself say, and it’s not exactly the truth, it is in the way that Honey takes it. She can’t outright say that she’d developed feelings for Honey, and that having her so close, she might clue into Ash having those feelings. “I like working with you Honey, I just have my own shit going on sometimes that’s got nothing to do with you.” Another lie.

Honey’s jaw tightens for a moment before she sighs, and pulls over into a parking spot.

“We’re here.”

They get take out together, and eat in Honey’s car, and the mood has shifted to something more familiar, more comfortable. Ash feels like she can breathe again.

“We’ve been doing this shit for months,” Ash half grins as they’re pulling back into the carpark behind the theatre, and Honey gives her a confused look, “if you’d made me uncomfortable, I would have definitely told you by now.”

By the time they get back, the cue-to-cue is up to Scene Four, and the discovery of Juliet’s body, and the woman playing Lady Capulet is wailing as Ash and Honey sneak in the back. Even at a glance the director can tell that whatever had been off between them had been fixed. 

The next day was a dress run, followed by a tech run, and Ash could feel her heart in her throat. From side of stage she watches Honey laugh and make merry with her fellow Montagues, leaning herself against Mercutio to wax poetic about Rosaline, that melodramatic playfulness having come back in full force, lifting the whole performance. 

And then there she is, making her way on stage dressed as an angel, with Lord Capulet, and Honey’s wearing that red devil ensemble that makes Ash’s mouth go dry, and the music starts. She tries to keep her mind on the steps of the dance while people spoke their lines around her, and it manages to catch her by surprise when she looks to Honey, and sees the woman gazing back at her with adoration in her eyes.

“She doth teach the candles to burn bright,” Honey sighs, and Ash feels herself turning pink, and she has to turn away, dancing along with the rest of the ensemble.

The music at the end of the dance ends and the ensemble begins to filter out, leaving Ash and Honey alone on stage. Ash laughing gently, waving goodbye to her dance partner as Tybalt and Lord Capulet finish their lines and leave the stage. Ash, walking backwards, runs into Honey, as is scripted, and when Honey catches her, she holds Ash gently by the shoulders.

“If I profane with my unworthiest hand,” she pauses for a moment, her hand sliding down Ash’s arms to hold her wrists gently, she looks to Ash’s eyes for silent permission, a confirmation that it’s okay, that she’s not uncomfortable as she’d been the last time they’d been this close, saying these lines. Ash, in turn, looks at Honey with awe, with wonder, eyes large and shining with intrigue. She nods almost imperceptibly. “This holy shrine, the gentle fine is this: my lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand to smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss.” Taking Ash’s hand in one of her own, she steps close, her thumb brushing Ash’s palm, gentle, flirty smile adorning her lips as her other hand comes up to cup Ash’s cheek.

“Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much,” she tells Honey in earnest, taking the hand from her face with her own free hand, leaning into her touch for a moment before removing the hand from her face, “which mannerly devotion shows in this; for saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch,” Ash holds out their linked hands towards the audience, carefully and deliberately linking their fingers together, “and palm to palm,” voice gentle, but still projecting, she looks back to Honey, “is holy palmers' kiss.” 

“Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too?“ Honey asks, stepping back and pulling a cigarette from her pocket, as they added into the blocking the week before. Ash watches for a moment as the cigarette is lit, musing.

“Ay, pilgrim,” Ash agrees with a small smile, “lips that they must use in prayer.” She said pointedly as Honey gives her a sharp grin around the cigarette. But she doesn’t move back, and Honey steps up to her, her cigarette balanced between her fingers as her other hand cards through Ash’s hair.

“O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do;” and she’s stepping Ash backwards, which hadn’t been scripted, though the director doesn’t call for the scene to halt, “they pray, grant thou,” Ash’s back hits the proscenium arch, and her expression is so open, so confused and a little thrilled at this turn of events, “lest faith turn to despair.”

“Saints do not move,” Ash’s words tumble from her lips very pointedly, though she’s a little breathless, looking up at Honey, who’s smiling in a way that she knows isn’t an act, “though grant for prayers' sake.”

“Then move not,” Honey smirks, “while my prayer's effect I take.” And while Honey leans in, Ash bounces up on her toes to meet her, curling her arms around Honey’s neck and kissing her hard. There it is again, that spark, that something, and Ash’s heart is singing with triumph, even if it is meant to be just for the stage. When she pulls back, Ash’s mouth is stained with Honey’s red lipstick, and the woman in red is smirking. 

“Thus from my lips, by yours, my sin is purged.” Honey’s wearing a triumphant smile, and she leans away just a little to take a draft of her cigarette. 

“Then have my lips the sin that they have took.“ Ash is smiling, bright and adoring and playful when she takes Honey’s face in her hands, pulling the taller woman back to her.

“Sin from thy lips?” Honey asks with an amused chuckle, smoke tumbling out with her words, hanging golden in the air between them, “O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.” She seems more than happy to let herself be pulls back in to meet Ash for another kiss. 

When they’re on the same wavelength, something magical happens. There’s chemistry between them, the way they seem to anticipate the other without even seeming to realise it. They play off of each other so well, so comfortable with each other, and the director could chalk it up to the two of them knowing each other before the play, being close friends before the project, but that’s not how friends look at each other, on stage or off. 

Tech week leads into show week, and every show in the lead up to opening night is brimming with that same electric chemistry, and none of the crew in the audience can seem to look away. The director thanks them for working out whatever had been plaguing them both, the wording of which has both Ash and Honey rolling their eyes, though the director looks incredibly pleased with herself. 

“You wanna grab a drink?” Honey asks after the preview, for which they’d received glowing praise from the few people and one journalism student who was reviewing that they’d invited along. By now, the panic and nerves were starting to set in for Ash, and she’d agreed without hesitation.

Ash is on her third cider when Honey tells her that she’d invited Queen to opening night. Ash gives such a start, having been taking a sip of her drink, that ciders comes out her nose. Honey passes her napkins, but she’s also laughing; Ash seems much less pleased.

“Roger and Freds are never going to let me live this down,” she grumbled, and Honey’s smile widened.

“It’s not them you’ve gotta worry about, I’m the one with access to the production photos,” Honey reminds her, and Ash’s expression drops. “I’m probably gonna get them framed, maybe get one of you in that angel outfit printed out wallet sized for Freddie, you know he’d love that.” The worst part is that she’s right, he’d show it off at any opportunity, equal parts proud and wanting to embarrass Ash.

“How in the fuck am I attracted to you when you actively try to ruin my life?” Ash sighed forlornly, taking another big gulp of her drink. Her own words take a moment to register, but Honey is already talking.

“Have you seen my face and my ass? There’s your answer.” It’s so blithe, her tone incredibly matter-of-fact, and she finishes it off by taking a sip of her own beer. After a beat, Ash takes a deep breath, looking straight ahead.

“So did they say yes to the invite?” Ash asks, and Honey laughs, low and amused.

“‘course they did.”

And another silence fills the space between them, Ash’s heart hammering hard against her ribs as she considers her next words very carefully. Turning on her stool, she faces Honey, expression uncharacteristically serious.

“Is it- is it normal to develop, like, feelings for your costar in these sorts of things?” She asks tentatively, and Honey’s lips twist into a smile, and she turns carefully, regarding a sort-of drunk Ash with affection.

“I haven’t actually been in too many of these before,” she admits, “you know my forte’s singing-”

“Honey, I love you.”

For just a moment, Honey’s usually cool facade breaks with a moment of panic; she sits up straight, eyebrows raised, mouth pressed into a thin line. Ash’s stomach drops, and after a beat, she’s apologising, but Honey takes her hand.

“Love’s a very strong word, Ash, and you’re drunk.” She says it gently, and Ash, for the moment, is terrified that she’d completely misread the situation. She wants to protest that she’s not that drunk, but Honey’s thumb is brushing against the back of her hand comfortingly, still speaking, “we can have this conversation tomorrow.” It’s far more diplomatic than Ash had expected her to be, but she can’t help but frown.

“If you’re trying to let me down, I’d rather have this conversation now, so I can repress it in time for opening night.” 

That’s enough to get Honey to laugh, and she gives Ash’s hand a squeeze.

“Listen, babe, that’s absolutely not the conversation we’re having, as long as you still mean what you said tomorrow.” And she pauses for a moment before sliding from her bar stool and in between Ash’s legs, taking the ginger’s face in her hands and pressing a soft kiss to the corner of Ash’s mouth. 

They get into two separate taxis outside of the bar, and Ash, who still isn’t that drunk, spends an hour on her bed staring at the ceiling, marvelling over the past few months and everything that had happened. The next day she’s a bundle of nerves, and jumps when there’s a knock at her door.

“Your RA let me in.”

It’s Honey, who’d arrived early enough to take Ash to get dinner before the show. Ash scrambles from where she’d been trying to read on her bed, getting to her feet and making her way to Honey, who’s leaning in her doorframe when she opens the door.

“I mean it. I still mean it, absolutely,” Ash greets her with. Honey’s smile is all teeth.

“Hello to you too,” she murmurs, leaning down to actually kiss Ash. Ash, surprised by this turn of events, is quick to kiss back, her hands finding Honey’s hips, pulling the taller woman closer and smiling against her lips.

“I don’t think I’m quite at love,” Honey begins, pulling back for a moment, and Ash’s eyebrows rise, the barest hint of amusement on her lips.

“Babe, I was drunk last night, and you’re right, love is a very strong word,” Ash is quick to assure her, and she sees the barest moment of relief pass over Honey, before she’s smiling again, her arms around Ash’s neck.

“But I-” she paused, actually hesitated a little, “but there’s definitely feelings, probably,” she’s gone a bit quiet, like part of her doesn’t want to be admitting even this much, and Ash’s smile grows wider, grows far more endeared.

“Probably?” 

“Probably.” Honey actually flushes, but she lets herself smile, lets herself get pulled in to another kiss. 

Ash is the one who steps back this time, grabbing her coat, keys, and wallet, taking Honey’s hand as she closed the door to her room. Honey’s the one that links their fingers together as they head down the stairs to the car. They get trash food together, eating greasy burgers in Honey’s car as they waiting in the carpark behind the theatre for their call time, having arrived far too early. 

Honey’s smoking, her hand on Ash’s thigh as the ginger reads their first review in the university newspaper that Honey had picked up earlier that day. They get four out of five stars and Ash is wide-eyed, closing the paper loudly and bewilderedly musing that she never expected this.

“Which part?” Honey asks with a half-smile, cigarette balanced between her lips where she tips her head to her shoulder to look at Ash. 

“Any of it,” Ash answers honestly, taking the cigarette from Honey’s lips and having a drag herself. Honey smiles, can’t help herself.

“Who knew you were a half decent actor,” she snickered, and Ash flushed, folding up the paper, musing on the statement as smoke sat in her lungs.

“Nah,” she finally breathed out, gaze a little glassy as she looked through the windshield, the cigarette loose in her fingers, “those four stars are all yours; singing’s your forte, yeah sure, but anything you do on stage is stellar.” As soon as the words leave her lips, Honey’s gentle hand is on her cheek, guiding Ash to face her, to kiss her, and Ash laughs gently before their lips meet. It’s sweet, tastes of smoke and something else that’s just naturally Honey; Honey’s kissed her like it’s meant something plenty of times on stage over the past week, but never like this, never so intimate, so gentle. This isn’t a performance. 

Ash is the one who moves, but she doesn’t break the kiss, instead she carefully maneuvers herself, climbs over the stick shift and into Honey’s lap. Honey hums appreciatively, takes back the cigarette and inhales as Ash peppers kisses down her neck and across her collar. When Ash leans back, just a little, she takes Honey’s face in her hands and her smile is blinding. She looks so fond, so proud, and though Honey’s answer smile is much fainter, Ash knows the woman well enough to recognise the affection in her eyes. She kisses her again.

The show is the best they’d done so far, their flirting banter coming as naturally as breathing, and when Honey kisses Ash against the proscenium arch, they hear someone in the audience whistle - Honey thinks it was Roger, but then concedes when Ash says that it was probably Freddie, which they later find out it was.

“I read the review this morning,” Brian tells Ash after the show; she’s out before Honey, who has to wipe the fake dirt from her face, and Queen are waiting for them by the stage door. Each of them wraps her up in a hug in turn, Freddie going so far as to tuck her under his arm once the others had had their turn; he was almost painfully proud. “You guys deserved the full five stars.”

“Well this show was better than the one we did for the preview,” Ash laughs a little, cheeks turning a little pink at the praise. She patted down her pockets, looking for her cigarettes.

“Shame that,” John mused, regarding her fondly, offering her a lighter when she found them, “you did a really stand out job, you know?”

“Who knew you had it in you,” Roger’s beaming, and he leans forward, pinching her cheek, and Ash swats at him, playing at being irritated. That’s about the time Honey emerges, and there’s yet another round of hugs and of praise, but once they’ve all stepped back, Honey slings a casual arm around Ash’s shoulders.

“We’re heading to celebratory drinks, you guys wanna come?” She asks the band, before turning to Ash, wondering aloud if the director or the rest of the cast would mind. Ash shrugged, told her ‘probably not’, before they have a quiet moment of celebration between themselves.

“One show down,” Honey mused, voice dropping low, speaking almost into Ash’s ear.

“We did it!” Ash agreed, passing her the cigarette, smiling as Honey pecked her lips before taking it.

“If either of you-” a voice interupts them, and there, sticking herself between Brian and John, is the director, pointing at Ash and Honey, “show up with a hickey tomorrow, you’re out of the play.” She warned, before heading towards the carpark.

“I know how to cover a hickey!” Honey calls to her, as Ash is apologising quickly, and the rest of the band is struggling to decide whether it’s funny or bewildering. “She’s kidding,” Honey rolls her eyes, “we don’t have understudies.”

“How did she even know we were- ?” Before Ash can get the full question out, she catches Freddie’s very pointed look where Honey’s arm was around her shoulder, and she realised just how close they were.

“Everyone who just watched the show can tell you two are together,” Brian tells her, and Ash flushes, pressing her face against Honey’s shoulder, who’s chuckling. Her grip on Ash tightens; she pulls her closer. After a moment, she’s asking if the guys want to come to drinks, and they’re all agreeing eagerly, always ready to take any chance to get drunk. 

Honey drives her car back to her apartment and leaves it there, since the walk from her place to the pub they were all meeting at was only fifteen minutes. She and Ash talk the whole way there, arm in arm, and a cheer rises when they step through the doors, most everyone else having arrived before them. 

Crammed into a booth with her cast and her friends, with Honey’s arm around her, her hand on Honey’s knee, it feels right. Performing is a strange and wonderful experience, and though she’s pretty sure she’s happier behind the scenes, she can’t deny the rush that is the stage. Or perhaps she just gets that rush from the way Honey smiles at her.