#from 4 year old xander

[thethirdman8]

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my mutuals. Thank you so much for your company.. I really appreciate and enjoy you, truly..

[lyrakanefanaticwriting]

hehe im actually glad i got this request bc ive been wanting to write a fic like this for a while!!

4 Kisses

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GRAYSON:

Grayson leaned over the bathroom faucet, splashing water onto his face. They were still in the break period of the game. The contestants were urged to relax.

But Grayson could in no way relax considering he had just kissed Lyra Kane.

The kiss was slow at first, her lips softer than they looked, before it became quicker with each brush of his lips on hers. And then, once it ended, Lyra had backed away, and the look on her face…

She looked like she had done something wrong. She looked regretful. And, when Grayson tried to ask her what was going on, she backed away from him.

“I can’t do this right now Grayson,” she had said. Grayson had taken her hand in his a moment before she ran off.

“Please talk to me.” he had said—no, almost begged. She looked at him, and he could tell that she was caught off guard, that she hadn’t expected to see her grief mirrored in his face so visibly. She squeezed her eyes shut.

“214-506-3301.” Was all she said. Grayson’s eyes widened once he realized the significance of those numbers. She let go of his hand gently, before backing away slowly. “Call me later. But right now… I just can’t, Grayson.”

So thats how Grayson ended up on the floor of the bathroom in his room, entering her number in his phone, labelling it “Lyra”. He knew by the words “call me later” that she wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight, either. But Grayson wouldn’t take the risk of interrupting any hopes of sleep that Lyra might have tonight, because her rest is more important that Grayson’s closure. Her health always will be.

Staring at her number in his phone while wishing for a thousand things that he knew would never come true, Grayson finally willed his fingers to slide to his messages, and type a 3 digit number into the group chat with all his brothers; 911.

When his brothers had came, Grayson looked overall normal, aside from the tips of his hair that were wet and his tie that had gone slightly undone. The pain from Lyra’s silent rejection didn’t show on Grayson’s face, and he was grateful, for once, that he had learned at a young age to hide his emotions.

But his brothers noticed every little detail.

“Something wrong, Gray?” Nash asked. His tone wasn’t gentle, but instead sturdy, like a shoulder Grayson had to lean on. Grayson was going to tell them. He was going to tell them that he and Lyra kissed, and how Lyra responded to the kiss. But then he realized that telling them her response would lead to more questions, and he would never be able to forgive himself if he told Lyra’s horrible trauma regarding her father to his brothers when the situation was so complex. He paused, and Jameson took up the opportunity to speak.

“Really Nash? Gray over here hasn’t called a 911 in 2 years and all you have to say is “something wrong?”? Here’s a real question,” Jameson said, giving him a sly smile. “are you ready for what we have planned?” Grayson narrowed his eyes at him.

“What activities can we even participate in? It’s not like we can leave the island, and it might seem a little weird to the other contestants if they see us frolicking around on the island. Besides, there’s hardly any indoor activities that would please you.” Grayson stated curtly. Jameson’s smile widened.

“Whatever you say, Gray.” Jameson said in a sing-song tone. Xander had a matching grin on his face beside Jameson, and Grayson could tell that they had planned this 911 together.

Now, all Grayson could do was fear for his dignity.

Coating one of the hallways in soap and sliding down it in a plastic shed was not something Grayson expected to do today, but then again, he didn’t expect any of the activities planned.

And, once they were done, the age old Hawthorne game called Drink or Dare commenced. And, as it seemed, Grayson was losing terribly.

“Jameson,” Grayson started in an attempt to get Jameson back for all his dares, his voice the slightest bit off as he was getting tipsier, “I dare you to call Mrs. Laughlin and pretend you’re calling Avery.” Jameson snorted.

“That’s it? Wow, you’ve lost your touch Gray.” Jamie said, pulling out his phone. But his fingers lingered as he stared at Grayson with a raised brow. Grayson wasn’t done, and Jameson knew it. Grayson smiled as he continued.

“Pretend you’re calling Avery, except pretend you’re doing something over the phone that not even myself in this state will elaborate on.” Gray continued. Xander exploded into laughter, putting his hands over his ears and muttering “ew, ew, ew”, while Nash was chuckling. Jameson laughed too, but Grayson saw how his ears turned the slightest bit red as he immediately grabbed the shot glass in front of him, spilling its contents slightly as he drank the shot. Slamming the glass down, Jameson directed his focus onto Xander.

“Xander, I dare you to coat yourself in a bottle of shaving cream and run around the island.” Jameson said. Grayson let the slightest smile out as he watched Xander jackrabbit out of the room.

“And now,” Jameson said, twirling his empty shot glass, “we wait.”

Conversation and a few easier dares started up, before out the window they saw Xander with a shaving cream hat, shaving cream face, and shaving cream all over his chest and arms running around the island like a maniac. Grayson’s smile broadened, while Jameson was dying laughing and Nash had to fist a hand in his mouth to stop himself from doing so as well. 5 minutes later, Xander came back in.

“A lot of shaving cream flew off my perfect body, but I have to say, that was fun!” Xander said with a grin as he wiped shaving cream off his face. “Well, it was fun until I slipped.” Grayson snorted. Jameson leaned back in his chair.

“I’m getting bored of this game. How about we play Hawthorne truth or dare?” Jameson asked. Grayson raised a brow in intrigue. “Truth or dare. If you can’t answer a truth or complete a dare, you take a shot.” Grayson narrowed his eyes at Jameson.

“Where did you get all this alcohol from?” Grayson asked in suspicion. Jameson smirked.

“You really thought I’d come to Hawthorne Island without alcohol?” Jameson replied. Grayson snorted. Jameson had him there.

“My turn,” Nash started, his cowboy accent thicker as a result of him getting tipsier. “Jameson, truth or dare.” Jameson smirked.

“Dare. Who do you think I am?” Jameson replied. Nash smiled.

“I dare you to babysit Hannah and Sarah once the game ends.” Nash said simply. Jameson’s jaw dropped as Xander burst out laughing. Grayson couldn’t stop his small smile from broadening either. (Authors Note: i know nash’s kids probably weren’t even conceived yet, but for the sake of this fic, let’s pretend that they were, and that they’re about a couple months old or something)

“Are you serious? You can’t use dares to rope us into babysitting your kids!” Jameson exclaimed, while Nash, Xander, and even Grayson himself were laughing. But then Jameson rolled his eyes.

“But of course I will, I love those two.” Jameson said begrudgingly. Nash smirked.

“You better.” Nash told him. His tone wasn’t dangerous, but we weren’t stupid. Xander redirected his focus from Nash to Grayson. So far, Xander hadn’t taken a single shot, mainly because his hatred for shots had fuelled his dare abilities.

“Grayson, truth or dare!” Xander bellowed. Grayson raised a brow at him.

“Truth.” Grayson answered, after a moment’s consideration. Xander grinning cheekily.

“Where were you…” Xander started, his grin stretched across his face. “a couple of hours ago?” Grayson froze, but only for the slightest moment.

A couple of hours ago, he had been with Lyra. He had been kissing her, and for once, nothing felt wrong.

But for Lyra, he could tell that everything was wrong.

Grayson couldn’t tell his brothers the truth, that they had been kissing a couple of hours ago, because he couldn’t risk letting any information go about her running off. They would sniff a story out immediately, and Lyra’s father’s situation was not his story to tell.

He’d never forgive himself if he compromised any information about Lyra’s father to his brothers without Lyra’s okay.

Grayson spoke to stop the pain in his chest before it started.

“What do you mean?” Grayson asked, tip-toeing around the question. Jameson butted in.

“Where were you a couple of hours ago? It’s a pretty straightforward question.” Jameson prodded, a sly smile on his face and intrigue clear in his expressions. Grayson kept a straight face.

“I was walking around the island. I couldn’t sleep.” He said. Technically, Grayson wasn’t lying. He was walking around the island. He couldn’t sleep.

However, his reasons behind being wide awake, thinking, and walking around the island weren’t for personal purposes. They were for a certain tanned ballerina, who had been plaguing his mind for hours.

So… it technically wasn’t a lie.

Jameson opened his mouth, and Grayson could tell he was about to accuse him of lying, when Grayson received a phone call. He jolted upwards, thinking it would be Lyra, before checking his phone and not seeing her name on the screen, but an unknown number. With a raised brow and slightly deflated manner, Grayson stood up.

“Excuse me for one moment,” Grayson said, leaving the room before answering the call.

“Hello?” he said. There was silence. Grayson’s brow furrowed.

“Who is this?” he asked, to apparently nobody. The silence drew on for a few moments more, before the person on the other end of the phone hung up. Weird.

Grayson put his phone away with a sigh, before walking back into the room.

“Who was it?” Jameson asked, his expression full of intrigue as he wore a sly smile. Graysons brows furrowed.

“I don’t know. The person on the other end of the line didn’t say a word before hanging up.” Grayson said, his brain working through who it could be as he placed his phone face-up on the table. A person who got the wrong number?

“Maybe it’s a prank caller?” Xander offered. Grayson entertained the idea in his head, but seriously doubted it. Nash looked elsewhere as he spoke.

“Maybe it’s Eve.” Nash said. Grayson’s head whipped to his. He was about to speak, when Nash interrupted.

“We know she tried contacting you 2 years back. Is this why you called the 911? Has she been contacting you, and if so, have you been contacting her back?” Nash asked, his gaze steady as he looked at Grayson. Grayson was deeply disturbed. He really did not want to think that it was Eve who called him, and he didn’t want his brothers to think he was calling Eve.

“No. That time 2 years ago was the last. And why would I be trying to make contact with her?” Grayson demanded. Nash gave a half shrug.

“Say what you want, but you don’t have the best track record of resisting against that girl.” Nash said simply, fiddling with his shot glass. Grayson’s head started to hurt, and he wished suddenly that he’d went a bit easier on the shots. His drunk self remembered then that he was supposed to defend himself and rebuke against everything Nash was saying, when Jameson stood.

“Relax, Nash. Whatever Gray and Eve were is over. Besides, just because he gave her a few kisses doesn’t mean the two are linked for life.” Jameson said, his tone unsurprisingly teasing. Grayson frowned as he began cleaning up the empty bottles of alcohol on the table.

“Me and Eve didn’t kiss, but thank you Jamie.” Grayson said, his tone sarcastic, even though he did appreciate the sentiment. Xander laughed.

“Do you need some more kisses, Gray-Bear?” Xander asked him in a baby voice. Nash snorted and Jameson laughed, but Grayson just looked unimpressed as he started putting away empty alcohol bottles.

“Believe it or not, but 4 is good enough for me, Alexander.” Grayson deadpanned, turning around. Grayson didn’t know what it was, but in that moment, it was like all the air got sucked out of the room. Grayson was about to question it as his back was turned to his brothers, before Jameson spoke.

“4, you say?” Jameson pried. But there was something under the innocent curiosity, something that wasn’t so innocent and seemed…. slyer. Grayson frowned. He continued putting the empty bottles in a trash bag they’d brought in case.

“Yes, 4.” Grayson insisted. Maybe it was just his tipsy brain thinking, but something was definitely off. Then Jameson spoke, and Grayson realized what it was.

“Who’s the 4th?” Jameson pried. Grayson froze, but it was so quick that he swore nobody saw. He knew where he’d slipped up; he just had to make sure his brothers didn’t know.

“Hm?” Grayson asked, feigning nonchalance as he tried to downplay it all. Unluckily for him, it didn’t work.

“You said you didn’t kiss Eve, and then proceeded to say you kissed 4 people,” Jameson elaborated, and, when Grayson turned around, he realized Jameson was speaking the words with a great big grin on his face, like he’d discovered something. “There’s Emily, then Avery, then that chick from Harvard, and there would’ve been Eve too, but you didn’t kiss Eve. So who’s the 4th?” Grayson pretended like he’d just remembered something.

“Oh, I must have misspoke then. 3, I mean to say.” Grayson said, nodding as if this were true. But he knew who the 4th person he’d kissed was, and he knew that when he’d accidentally admitted he’d kissed 4 people, his mind was on Lyra.

All his brothers were staring at Grayson with wide smiles on their face that matched their wide eyes. Look at you, Grayson’s mind said in deadpan, you didn’t even have to tell them you kissed Lyra; they already know due to your idiocy.

“What?” Grayson asked, his tone clearly annoyed as his brothers just stared at him. Their smiles only grew.

“You’re lying.” Nash said simply, the words sounding less like an accusation and more like a simple fact. Grayson was going to rebuke his statement… but he couldn’t. Either way, they would know he was lying, and either way, he wanted to tell his brothers about the kiss. It was why he’d called the 911 in the first place.

And that feeling she gave him when she had kissed him—that would never leave him. He would be content to feel that way forever.

Grayson sighed, pulling a chair out from the table they were all sitting around and plopping down in it. He wouldn’t normally be so graceless, but he was drunk, and a part of him couldn’t forget how Lyra had ran away from him after the kiss.

“Who was it?” Jameson sounded like he was about to implode. Grayson looked up at Jameson, and he could feel a lie brewing—“I didn’t want you to judge me for kissing Eve”, just so that he wouldn’t betray any information that Lyra wouldn’t want him to, when his phone, flat on the table, rang.

Grayson couldn’t explain the mixed up excited-yet-horrified feeling he got when he looked down at his phone at the same time as his brothers and saw “Lyra” as the caller.

He saw the exact moment where emotions and different reactions were about to ring out from across the room, when Grayson jumped to his feet, holding a hand out to them.

“You will not act different towards her,” he immediately ordered, picking up his phone. “You won’t give her weird stares every time you see her, you won’t mention anything about this or the two of us to her, and under no circumstances will you make a joke about in-laws. That goes for you the most, Jameson.” Jameson was grinning so widely, and his eyes were gleaming so brightly, that for a second Grayson wondered if he was the one who got kissed.

“Alright, lovebird!” Jameson called out to Grayson as he stumbled out of the room, hooting.

As soon as Grayson closed the door behind him, the room erupted into conversation, laughter…. and cheers? Grayson shook his head before answering the call.

“Lyra.” He said, as soon as he placed the phone to his ear. His heart drummed with the excitement of waiting to hear her voice. And, once it came, his heart began to drum a quicker beat.

“Hello to you too.” Lyra replied. Grayson knew she would make a mockery of the fact that he hadn’t said hello; he wondered then if he was beginning to do things like that on purpose, just to get a reaction out of her. God knows he liked it. There was silence, before she spoke again.

“Hey, I just wanted to say….” her voice trailed off, the words seemingly stuck in her throat.

“It’s okay.” Grayson said. When he didn’t get a response, he spoke again.

“Lyra. It’s okay.” He repeated, squeezing his eyes shut and waiting for her to believe him. She sighed.

“You know…. it’s weird how we always end up on the phone.” she finally said, after moments of silence. Grayson smiled.

“Getting deja vu?” he asked. His words jumbled in his mouth, the effects of alcohol getting to him more than he thought it would.

“Are you drunk?” Lyra blatantly asked, not bothering to beat around the bush. Grayson sighed.

“No. Maybe. I’m not quite sure.” he said. Lyra snorted.

“So you are. Well, I should be going then. You need to rest.” she said. Grayson frowned.

“No I don’t.”

“Yes you do.”

“I don’t.”

“Grayson, please-“

“Maybe I do. But don’t hang up. Please.” his voice teetered on a desperate edge, and he could just barely hear her sharp intake of breath. A few moments of silence passed, before Lyra spoke.

“Okay. I won’t.” she finally said. There was a pause, before she spoke again. “Though I am quite curious, Hawthorne, as to why you’re drunk.” Grayson laughed. He laughed and laughed because Lyra could never know that she was the reason as to why he was drunk.

“What’s so funny?” she said. Grayson could imagine Lyra’s face as she spoke, that smile of hers on it, the one that she never noticed; however, it didn’t matter if she noticed it or not, because Grayson did. Every time.

“Nothing. Nothing at all.” Grayson said once he’d stopped laughing. Lyra made a hm sound as if she had suspicions about that, but moved on.

“I’ve been wondering what the next stage of the game will look like.” she said. “I know for sure that it won’t be so much of a “team effort” as it was previously, but there’s still plenty left unknown about it.” Grayson mulled it over.

“There is definitely more than an air of mystery around it.” Grayson agreed. Then his mind went elsewhere. “It will feel odd, going into the next stage of the game without Odette there.”

“I know. I can’t believe she gave her place in the game to him.” Lyra said. Grayson knew which him she was talking about: Brady Daniels. And then he felt a smile touch his lips once he realized he spoke her words with disdain. Leave it to Lyra to dislike someone she doesn’t know.

“He’s a stranger, Lyra. Besides, if Odette gave him her place in the game, it’s probably for good reason.” he said. Grayson could practically see her opening her mouth to rebuke his statement, so he butted in. “Does Odette really strike you as the kind of woman that doesn’t know what she’s doing?” That made her pause.

“No.” she finally grumbled. Grayson was surprised she’d agreed; Lyra was the kind of girl who fought tooth and nail to be right, and Grayson didn’t mind that one bit. He smiled.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “but did the Lyra Catalina Kane just agree to something I said?”

“Maybe that’s just your drunk mind talking. You’ve just barely stopped slurring your words, by the way.” Lyra told him. Grayson snorted.

“That response seems fabricated.” Grayson pointed out.

“Name 3 fabrics.” she said, with more than just a hint of sarcasm in her deadpan voice. Grayson couldn’t stop a laugh from leaving his mouth then. Lyra was truly getting back at him for his “did you just agree with me?” jab. Lyra let out the smallest laugh at her own joke.

“Okay. You should be getting some rest.” she told him. Grayson could feel his shoulders slumping once he realized their conversation was coming to an end.

“I don’t need rest.” Grayson said, resisting letting the phone call end.

“You’re not a superhero, Hawthorne. You need rest.” she retorted. Grayson sighed.

“I’m fine.” he rebuked.

“You’re not.”

“I am.”

“Wow, you really don’t like admitting you’re tired, drunk, and in desperate need of rest, do you?” Grayson could feel his filter leaving him as his drunk mind spoke truths without a second thought.

“If I rest, you’ll hang up.” he stated simply. He heard Lyra’s sharp intake of breath, this time more like a vague gasp.

“And? Is that so bad?” Lyra finally asked. The more logical part of Grayson cursed himself for being so forward, whereas the sleep deprived, drunk, and aching for Lyra part of Grayson spoke up again, needing her to hear his words.

“Yes.” He slurred, rubbing his eyes tiredly. There was a pause on Lyra’s end.

“Really?” she asked. Grayson sighed.

“Mhm.” he replied in a low voice. There was silence for more than a few moments on Lyra’s end. Then, at last, she spoke.

“We don’t know what time the game will be starting tomorrow. You do need to get some rest, Grayson.” Lyra repeated. Grayson found he became even more stubborn whenever he was drunk.

“No.” he said. Grayson heard a “hmph” on Lyra’s end.

“Fine.” she said. Grayson realized, with a jolt, that the voice was clearer, like she was closer to him.

Then, when Grayson turned, he realized she was walking down the hallway. Each step was a graceful stride, and Grayson wondered how long he could stand frozen like how he was then, watching each of her movements. Maybe everybody else was also fascinated by how she moved.

Or maybe Grayson was the only one who just liked watching her move.

Finally she came to a stop in front of him. She raised a brow at him. Lyra had changed into comfy attire, with her hair loose and strands beginning to fall into her face. The look on her face said “what now, Grayson?”. Grayson stared back.

“I’m guessing you’re here to force me to rest?” Grayson tried. Lyra snorted.

“Good guess.” she said, patting his arm and holding onto it. Grayson took a step—and stumbled. Lyra looked up at him bewilderedly. He gave her a confused look.

“Okay, seems we have to do this a different way.” she huffed, blowing a strand of hair. Holding onto his arm, the warmth of her hands spreading onto it even through the dress shirt, Lyra pulled one of his arms over her shoulders. She held onto the wrist dangling off her shoulders, her touch gentle yet firm, and began to walk.

“Don’t fall.” she warned. Grayson smiled.

“I won’t.” he replied. It was a short walk to Grayson’s room, with Grayson telling Lyra where to go, and Lyra not letting him fall. Finally they reached the door to his room. Lyra hesitated at the door for a moment, before latching onto the doorknob, giving it a twist, and opening the door. She pulled Grayson inside, brought him towards his bed, and then pushed him onto it. Grayson smiled a smile he’d learned from Jameson, pushing himself up on the bed with his back pressed against the headboard. He stared at her with half-lidded eyes, and after a moment, Lyra’s eyes moved to the floor.

“Well, I should be leaving now.” Lyra said, breaking the moment. Grayson frowned. He was about to say something, anything, to make her stay, when Lyra saw something on the ground and froze. Grayson’s eyebrows furrowed. She knelt down to pick something up, and when she straightened up again, Grayson saw her holding a sheet of paper.

“This was sticking out of your suit jacket pocket.” she said, staring at it with surprise etched into her features. Lyra didn’t have to say what she was looking at, because all of a sudden Grayson remembered the drawing.

The one he had drawn a mere couple of hours ago. The one of her.

Maybe he was supposed to be embarrassed that he had kept the drawing. But his head was starting to pound, and he couldn’t find the effort in him to be embarrassed.

“I must say, I captured you pretty well.” he admitted. Lyra gave him a look, but it was half-hearted. Her eyes strayed back to the drawing.

“You made me look beautiful.” she said in a whispered tone. Then she must have caught herself, and Grayson wondered if Lyra had said those words because she thought he wouldn’t remember them the next day. Grayson stared at her.

“I didn’t make you look beautiful, Lyra.” Grayson said. He didn’t have to finish his sentence for Lyra to know what he meant.

He didn’t make her look beautiful. He just captured her. She was beautiful to begin with.

She finally looked up from the drawing, staring at him with slightly open lips, her amber eyes wider than usual. Then she must have realized she looked so shocked because her facial expressions became more neutral, and she looked down.

But Grayson still saw that look on her face. The complex one, the one with a million different emotions on it.

She always wore that one around him.

“I should be going.” she repeated, this time with more certainty as her eyes squeezed shut. Grayson frowned.

“Come here.” he said. Lyra’s eyes opened, staring at him, and she hesitated before walking over to him. He stared at her as she came closer. Once she reached his bedside, Grayson felt possessed by a more fearless spirit.

Or maybe that was just what being in Lyra’s proximity did to him.

Taking her hand in his, Grayson brought her hand to his lips, giving her knuckles a soft kiss as he held her gaze. Her neck tinged pink, her lips parting slightly in shock.

“Thank you.” He said in a quiet tone. For taking care of me, he finished in his head. Lyra was silent at first, before answering.

“You’re welcome, Gray.” The words rolled off his tongue so quickly that Grayson thought he misheard her. Gray. He squeezed his eyes shut, dropping her hand softly as his head leaned back to hit his headboard. Gray. Gray. Gray. He peeled his eyes open to see her staring at him.

“Goodnight.” she whispered. He gave her hand a squeeze.

“Goodnight.” he replied, his tone low and slightly hoarse. She smiled slyly, before walking towards the door, each movement fluid and graceful. She paused at the door to give him one last look, her eyes holding his in a dance of ice blue and amber gold, before she finally stepped out.

Grayson slumped in his bed. He realized then that he had forgotten all about his brothers once Lyra called.

He also realized then that it was worth it, because even with a pounding headache and eyes that were beginning to slide closed, he had never felt more at peace then he previously did at that moment.

In his room.

With Lyra Catalina Kane by his side.

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im sorry the plot changed every 3 lines but i hope you enjoyed it!! 😬😬💗

[inmyheaddd]

walkin’ out the door with your bags - grayson hawthorne x reader - part 5

⤷ “every second counts, i don’t wanna talk to you anymore.”

summary: you go over to the hawthorne house and end up leaving with a lot of new thoughts and ideas formulating about your best friend (?) grayson. wc: 2.9k masterlist || series masterlist — other parts!

previously on part 4…

“you said goodbye at the door once again, and this time, you felt brave enough to his kiss his cheek goodbye. the action took a lot of courage, even though he had practically been on top of you 30 minutes prior. 

it was actually time for you to go to bed now, and you rolled over relentlessly. you couldn’t count how many times you replayed the moment over and over in your head. 

you brought a hand to your mouth as you fought a smile.

grayson, the boy you’d known since forever. his lips, yours. 

seriously, what was your life?”

—

you stood infront of the hawthorne house, tote bag in your shoulder with a large camera inside of it — graysons. you were here to return it, well, that was your excuse, but it wouldn’t be so bad if a certain blonde resulted in you staying a little longer. 

you smiled at that thought and knocked on the door to the hawthorne house, then ringing the bell once you remembered that the likelihood of anyone hearing your knock in that huge house was very slim. 

this time, you didn’t have to wait so long, or even text grayson, because someone opened the door within 2 seconds.

the face behind the door made you stall for a second. you weren’t sure who you were expecting; but it definitely wasn’t nash.

“oh!” you said in surprise as you took a slight step back.

“hey kid,” he drawled out, moving to the side so you could step inside. 

he looked like he was just about to head out, motorcycle keys in his hand and his usual cowboy hat placed on his head.  “how’re you doin’?” 

a smile over took your features and grayson took over your mind before you could stop it. 

“good, i’m doing good.” you exhaled, nodding almost dreamily.

“yeah? that’s good to hear.” nash sent you a look like he knew exactly what was going on with you and his brother. “i’m glad.” 

you quickly remembered your purpose of the visit, the heavy camera in your bag serving as a reminder. “hey, have you actually seen grayson anywhere?” 

xander, who was standing right around the corner with his disheveled school uniform, came into view. his smile faded with his brows furrowing as he looked at nash for a moment, before looking back to you. 

“oh, he didn’t tell you?” xander asked. 

you shook your head, feeling your smile start to make way for a frown of confusion. 

“tell me what?” 

xander tried to hide his surprise, “he’s on a business trip or something. he’s gone for i think…” he trailed off, looking up in thought, counting on his fingers.

“5 days,” nash cut in. “he’ll be gone for 5 days, kid.” 

you felt your stomach drop a little. you were being dramatic— it’s not like he purposefully left you or anything, but why wouldn’t he tell you?

“i’m sure he meant to tell you, he’s probably busy back-loaded with work.” xander said enthusiastically, like he plucked the thought straight from your brain.

“come on,” he nudged you, a wide smile on his face. “you know how our little gray is.” he sang that in a way you would talk about a incompetent 7 year old. “he’s a man of very little words!” 

this boy had a way of making you laugh when not a single part of you felt like you were capable of it. he was, in all ways but biologically, your endearingly annoying little brother.

you cracked a smile, letting a laugh escape your lips. “yeah,” you sighed, “yeah. you’re right.”

“when am i not?” xander grinned.

“…” you blinked at him, “i could name more than a few—“

“— that was actually what one would call a rhetorical question,” he interrupted with his brows raised, holding one hand infront of your face dramatically. “thank you.” 

you snorted and looked over to nash, who shook his head down at the floor, seemingly in disappointment, but he had a smile on his face nonetheless.

your eyes landed back on xander’s, and in no more than a split second, a grin spread across his features and he quickly blurted out: “first to make it to the games room gets all the blueberry scones!”  

he was already running halfway through the sentence. you quickly got to running and you were pretty sure heard nash leave through the front door behind you. 

“what?!” you yelled, half laughing as you ran after him, “that’s so unfair! you didn’t even give me any time— you cheater!“ you huffed in annoyance but kept running, but you just couldn’t get ahead of him. “i never agreed to this, for your information!”

to literally no ones surprise, xander made it to the games room first, but he felt bad. 

“here, take these ones.” he muttered, half chewing, as he placed 4 of his blueberry scones on your plate with the lemon ones on it. “i’m not that bad of a person.”

you both sat criss cross on the couch, a coffee table with far too many scones on it infront of you. 

well, too much for you, but not for xander. this boys bloodstream was probably 30% scones. 

“wow,” you deadpanned as you stared at the plate infront of you. “that might have been the nicest thing you’ve ever done for me.”

xander gasped in astonishment, his brows furrowed. 

“surely not,” he gave you an look, a mix between confusion and incredulousness. “i’m always nice!” 

you raised a brow, “no,” you hummed, “not really.”

“okay, then grayson must have really raised your standards of nice or something— which is strange, because nice isn’t really a word anyone would use to describe grayson— apart from you.” xander spoke quickly, “he’s literally only nice to you.” 

you scoffed in amusement, “okay, first of all, no. and second of all,” you continued, “grayson is nice— and not just to me!” you couldn’t help the smile that spread across your face. 

okay, he wasn’t the nicest person to everyone, but you had to back up your … grayson infront of his brother. 

“please,” xander rolled his eyes with sass, placing his scone back on the table as he pointed at you. “i see that smile on your face. even you know i’m right!” 

“let’s change the subject.” you demanded, your cheeks flushing pink. 

“okay,” xander piped up, “what is it with you and grayson recently?“

“… that’s not what i meant by changing the subject.”  

“stop deflecting.”

“i am not deflecting!” you exclaimed— sounding like a whiny 7 year old. you caught your composure, “besides,” you said, taking your eyes to your lap and biting back a smile. “there’s nothing going on between us.” 

xander was silent, so you took your gaze back up to him. once you were looking at him, he had the most bored expression on his face. 

“you are undoubtedly the worst liar i’ve ever met.“ he couldn’t keep up the blank expression any longer and laughed mid sentence, making you laugh too.

“i am not lying!”

“yes you are,” xander raised his brows, “because gigi told me you kissed.” 

your jaw dropped. “gigi what?” 

“okay, don’t go all anti gigi here!” he raised his arms up as he scrambled, “in her defense, it took me 3 hours, 2 semi-cat nappings, and constant annoying for her to tell me, and she did look super apologetic when she did.” 

you knew gigi was that one person you could trust with anything. besides, xander was one of your best friends too, you would’ve probably end up telling him today anyway. 

the initial shock you felt was fading as you stayed silent. 

“semi cat-napping?” you questioned.

xander shook his head seriously. “… hard to explain.” he said, “don’t worry about it.”

you were only more confused as a frown tugged at your features. “how can i not worry about that? i— never mind.” 

“let’s get back on track here, you and grayson—“ a buzz from his phone cut him off, and he checked. “would you look at that!“ xander interrupted himself with a smile on his face, “he just texted!”

your eyes flicked to your own phone momentarily, like you were waiting to see a message from him too.

you didn’t.

your heart felt like lead in your chest, “oh, really?” you asked, feigning a smile. 

xander saw through it like it was the clearest thing in the world, “what?” he put his phone 

down, “what’s wrong?”

“nothing.” you shook your head, “what do you mean what’s wrong?”

“you have that million miles away look in your eyes,” he said. “something is definitely wrong.” 

“xander,” you laughed, “i’m telling you, nothing is wrong.” 

“and i’m telling you, i don’t believe you.” he deadpanned, then he shrugged as he leaned back. “i’m notoriously known for my ability to keep pestering people until i find answers, so, do with that what you will.” 

“you’re so impossible.”

he grinned, like he hadn’t been expecting you to say anything else. “tell me something i don’t know. like for example, what’s plaguing your mind!” 

you let out a nervous chuckle, shaking your head. 

“it’s seriously nothing, xan.” he gave you another incredulous look, and you hesitated. 

“i— it’s just… grayson hasn’t responded to me, and it’s been like… nearly a day?” you looked at your lap, voice quiter than you had intended. “but, then you just told me he responded to you.” 

grayson always responded quickly no matter what. and even if he didn’t this time, it wouldn’t be that big of a deal. that’s one of the reasons you came over, to talk to him for real. but then you found out he wasn’t even in the state.

you knew he had priorities. but paired with the fact that he just… didn’t mention he was gone, made you feel strange. 

xanders brows only furrowed further, his playful smile flickering for a moment. he looked down confusedly at his phone for a moment like he was making sense of what you had just said, before looking back to you. 

“oh please, don’t think so horridly.” he said as he nudged your shoulder, “you know it’s not like that, i… he’s probably just waiting for the right moment to talk.” he suggested, and despite his best efforts, you didn’t feel all that much better. 

he still continued trying though. “i mean, he’s only texted me 3 word sentences, so i highly doubt he has much free time on his hands.”

“yeah,” you nodded, tucking your hair behind your ears. “yeah, you’re right. he’s always really busy, i don’t know why i’m overthinking this.” 

“hey, it’s alright.” xander nudged your shoulder, a grin growing on his face as he thought if something to say. 

you internally betted this was the part where he’d say something stupid to make you laugh. 

“i don’t know about you, but i’d rather be overthinking than underthinking. unless it’s about problems, i like to not think about my problems at all— but anything else, i love to overthink. my brain is always whirring that way!”

yeah, you were right.

you let out a chuckle, “i don’t like under thinkers.” 

the fact that grayson hadn’t responded to you was still lingering in the back of your mind, but you would let yourself wallow on that later. now, you would let yourself laugh and have fun.

“i think everyone would do themselves and the world a favour if they thought just a little bit more, especially before they spoke.” you joked, but there was a lot of truth behind it.  

xander raised his hand for a high-five. “exactly!” he exclaimed, “although i may be… heavily guilty on the speaking before you think aspect— i agree wholeheartedly.”

that was exactly how fast topics changed with you and xander, you couldn’t stay on track for more than 5 minutes. for instance, when he told a story, he told around 6 side stories, introduced 10 new people, and ‘forgot what he was saying’ 12 times. 

you’d he lying if you said you were any better at telling stories, though. 

— 

before you knew it, it was nearing the late hours into the night, and you were heading home. 

the second you stepped out of the hawthorne house door, you turned on your phone that xander had forbid you from using. 

he claimed it was because you were having ‘special quality friendship time’, but really, you suspected heavily that he was just trying to get your mind off of grayson, and looking for that response. 

you shook your head at that, half smiling to yourself because xander always showed that he cared in the most xander like ways. 

you sent gigi a text letting her know that you’d he home soon. and before you could even think, you found your fingers were moving by themselves. 

of course, you were checking if grayson had responded yet.

(2 days ago, 9:46pm)

you

— I THINK I ACCIDENTALLY TOOK YOUR CAMERA — i put it in my tote bag before i left — sorrrryyy!!

grumpy blonde 👎

— It’s alright, sweetheart, you can keep it.

you

— oh okay — sweetheart — that’s. — new!!

grumpy blonde 👎

— My apologies, have I overstepped?

you

— nooo omg 😭😭  — it’s new but  — in a good way  — also i’ll drop off ur camera tomorrow or the day after

(today, 4:11 pm)

you

— hey, xander and nash told me you went on a business trip or something — how long are you gone for? 

you had texted him that hours ago when xander had went to the bathroom for a minute, and he still hadn’t responded. 

you let out a frustrated exhale you hadn’t even realized you were holding, and you could see your breath infront of you as a result of the cold breeze. 

you rolled your eyes and opened your car door, slumping into your seat. 

still, the back-and-forth, the silence—it felt deliberate. or maybe it wasn’t, and you were just projecting. 

but if that were true, why wouldn’t he say something? anything?

you threw your head back against the headrest with a groan, closing your eyes for a moment to collect yourself.

you thumb hovered over the screen again. you wanted to say something—anything—but there was nothing left to say that didn’t feel desperate.

finally, you turned off your phone and tossed it onto the passenger seat, and started the engine. you told yourself you wouldn’t check again. not today, at least. 

but as you pulled out of the driveway, headlights illuminating the dark road ahead, your phone buzzed. it was faint, you barely heard it, but it was there.

against your better judgment, you grabbed it at the next red light.

(Today, 11:49 pm)

grumpy blonde 👎  

— 8 days.

you

— oh  — okay thanks

now your heart was beating even faster, your stomach felt like it had been trampled on, and your chest was fully hollow inside.

all that time— and all he had to say was 2 words? 

you wish you would’ve left him on opened, ‘thanks?’ what on earth were you thanking him for?  you wish you wouldn’t have texted so much earlier— maybe you annoyed him too much. 

you could feel your thoughts threatening to tumble very fast into places you didn’t want to go into, so you busied yourself with another task as you parked in-front of your house. 

you

— hi nash — are you sure graysons out for 5 days?

nash 🤠

— 100% positive, kid. Why?

you

— nothing haha i just forgot  — thanks though

okay, maybe nash just didn’t know? grayson wouldn’t lie to you, that would just be insane. 

but then you texted xander again. 

and jameson. 

and even alisa ortega. 

and they had all said 5 days.  

why on earth were you the only one being left in the dark here?

worst of all, was grayson lying?

—

you sat in the car for another half-hour after that, trying to keep your thoughts at bay before you went inside with your emotions all written over your face, but it was like your mind was in a perpetual state of “it’s not that big of a deal, you’re overreacting,” ending in, “oh-my-god-what-the-hell-is-happening-i’m-so confused-and-hurt.” 

you couldn’t stop your mind from replaying that one word he used in your last conversation.

‘Sweetheart’

you clenched your jaw. the frustration, the longing, the anger, the confusion—they all blurred together until you weren’t sure which one you felt more.

you finally decided it was time to get inside, you had texted gigi earlier that you were on your way, and you didn’t want to worry her by taking too long.

gigi hadn’t even heard you come in, she was so involved in the book she was reading that she had forgotten about the world around her. 

so when you entered her room with no warning after you had showered, she almost jumped out of her skin.

she cursed loudly, “oh my god! you halfway scared me to death!” she yelled with a hand over her heart, sitting up fully as she shut her book and placed it beside her, flicking on the main overhead light. 

her frightened state quickly dissolved to laughter, and you joined in as you sat down beside her on the bed. 

a frown quickly pulled at her features, “whoa, what’s wrong?” 

either you were the worst person in the world at hiding your emotions, or you just had annoyingly great friends who knew you and could read your face. 

“nothings wrong,” you chuckled. 

here we go again. 

“um, something is very clearly wrong. you’re doing that thing where you try to laugh but it sounds like a muffled sad horse neigh. a very fake laugh.” 

you weren’t sure if you were supposed to be offended. “that’s… a creative way of putting it.”

gigi raised a brow, “am i wrong?” 

you looked away.

“exactly! now, tell me what’s up.”

you gave her a summary on what had happened, how you had asked everyone how long he was gone for and how he gave you a different answer, how he seemed to be avoiding you, and how you just felt so confused. 

somewhere along the rundown, you both lay down on on your backs, and talked as you stared at the ceiling above.

“—god,” you shook your head as you sat up, “i feel ridiculous even talking about this."

gigi raised an eyebrow, still laying on her back. "ridiculous? you? no. you’re concerned. that’s different."

"am i not being crazy, though?" your voice cracked slightly as you looked down at her, and you hated it. 

"i can’t tell if i’m overreacting or if something’s actually wrong. i mean, i know he’s quiet, but never like this. and the timing… right after we—“ you cut yourself off before you could let your mind linger on that moment. “what if i’m just… clingy or whatever?"

"clingy?" gigi snorted, crossing her arms after she got up. "please. i’ve seen clingy, and that’s not you.”

“you’re right, the timing of it all is crazy. i’d be ripping up furniture if i were in your situation.” she joked half heartedly, “you’re just… worried because you care about him. “and honestly, he should feel lucky you do."

"he doesn’t feel lucky right now," you muttered, staring at your phone on the bedside table again. the empty screen taunted you.

"or maybe,” she sang, “he’s just being a dumb boy who doesn’t know how to handle his feelings," gigi countered, nudging your shoulder. "seriously, you’ve met him, right? the guy’s a master at shutting people out when he doesn’t know how to deal.”

you didn’t know if you believed her, but there was something weirdly comforting in the idea that maybe, just maybe, grayson wasn’t doing this on purpose.

gigi’s smile returned, more teasing this time. “you might have to go get him, though. ‘cause, knowing him, he’s probably sulking somewhere thinking he’s doing you a favor by not texting.”

you blinked at her, the knot in your chest loosening slightly. "you think that’s what this is?"

"i think it’s possible," gigi said, her tone softer now. "but whatever it is, you’ll figure it out. and if not, we’ll egg his car together. sound fair?"

you let yourself fall on your back again with a sigh, half laughing despite yourself. “which one?” you snorted.

“all of them. helicopters too!”

“okay,” you laughed. “fair.”

“good. see? we’ve got this. you’ve got this. and if he’s still being weird when he gets back, we’ll corner him and i’ll flood his place with cats. he won’t know what hit him.”

you laughed in agreement, and turned off the lights, tucking yourself in the bed. you and gigi had 3 bedrooms in your apartment, but whenever things got rough, or whenever you missed your best friend, you found yourself in the same room 90% of the time. 

after a few minutes of silence, the kind where you know you’re both awake, you spoke into the darkness. 

“gigi?” 

she hummed quietly, “yeah?” 

“sorry for bringing it up again, but… what do you think i should do? about— about grayson.” 

“don’t be sorry.” she muttered, as she turned her head to look at you. 

“grayson, he thinks self inflicted isolation is the only answer when things get confusing. i guess you have to show him it’s not.” she said. “i think, i think you should just ask him, or talk to him.”

you hummed into the darkness, “yeah, maybe.” 

but that was the thing about grayson hawthorne. simply asking what was wrong never got you very far. 

“thanks, gigi.” you mumbled, and she turned back around, falling asleep promptly.

you turned over restlessly, even with the thick blanket covering you, you couldn’t shake the coldness off of you. 

it was strange, how one incident could change your whole perception of someone so quick.

you knew a lot of things about grayson, but one thing you never would’ve taken him as was a ghoster.

part 6

a/n: sorry guys i couldn’t let them be happy for more than one part taglist: @x-liv25-jamieswife @wish-i-were-heather @thecircularlibrary @whatsamongus @littlemissmentallyunstable

@anintellectualintellectual @lovethornes @maybxlle @sheisntyou @emelia07

 @midiosaamor @sweetreveriee @charsoamerican @hxress23 @imaseabear 

@clarissaweasley-10 @off-to-the-r4ces @thelov3lybookworm @graysw1fe @lanterns-and-daydreams 

@hermesenthusiast @elysianwayy77 @that-daughter-of-hephaestuswa

[danganronpadespairtime]

Chapter 2 part 1 asks

All responses are in this post for organization. There may be chapter 2 spoilers.

(space to prevent misclick)

xmicrophonyx asked: How long did it take you to make the Insane Literature Girl MV? It looked like you spent a lot of time on it!

Making the drawing and video itself took a little over a month. But I had been planning out the text portions (translation, text excerpts, ideas for puzzles) of it for a little over a year (my planning document dates back to May of last year and somehow amassed 12K words..?).

I wasn't working on it continuously for a year, though; it was just an on-off project that I was lazily thinking about for a while.

Anonymous asked: Hi this is a random question but I was wondering if I was just seeing things or not. Does Xander have a tongue piercing? I think in some sprites it looks like he has one and others where it looks like he doesn't. He is totally my favorite character and I love his design by the way!

It's not visible in all of his sprites, but he does indeed have a tongue piercing.

He thought if he had one there he could slip it under his old school's strict "no piercings allowed" policy by just closing his mouth every time a teacher walked by.

Anonymous asked: one genuine question, was there anything specific you were considering when coming up with the cast’s birthdates? or were they pretty much random

Some of the birthdays are specific dates with meaning, then the rest were filled in throughout the remaining months of the year in a somewhat even temporal spread.

xmicrophonyx asked: For this chapter's BDA and fake-out BDA, were they made with 3D assets, just 2D art, or a mix of both? What was the process in making them?

It's a 2D image with a depth map.

Anonymous asked: Is the Hope's Peak the DRDT class went to a high school or something more like a 4-year university for young adults? (Sorry if this has already been addressed somewhere, if the information exists I couldn't find it.)

The second thing. The US's Hope's Peak Academy is post-secondary education. It is equivalent to an American college.

Anonymous asked: I really love the character Fan-Made MVs you do, like for Min and David! Do you plan on making one for every character?

No. I only make MVs for songs that I think fit a character, that I like, and that I have a good MV idea for, which is not something I can control.

Anonymous asked: Does David's new design have a default sprite?

This one is his default sprite.

Anonymous asked: Hi DRDT Dev! This is more of just a simple question and not so much a chapter specific question. We know David like to eat simple foods like ready oat meal. But can he cook small meals like scrambled eggs, omelets or things like that? Oh and how does David normally manage his feelings? I like to think that he journals but this is just a head canon of mine. I'm curious if you could share anything like that about him for us!

He can cook a decent meal, he just prefers not to.

Badly

Anonymous asked: Do the cast have exact ages or are they just deemed “colleges aged adults”?

They all do have exact ages, down to the day, but that's a spoiler. For now, just know that they're over 18.

Anonymous asked: Something I'd been wondering since Rose had talked about her secret with Teruko: She mentions that she was bailed out and came to work under the Spurling Foundation by Richard Spurling. In Bonus Episode #2 with Xander, he mentions the name Duke Spurling with distaste in regards to the Chariton incident. Are Richard Spurling and Duke Spurling the same person? Or separate people? If they're the same person, is Duke a nickname or a title?

Duke Spurling and Richard Spurling are different people, but they are brothers. Duke is (was?) a politician. Richard is a billionaire philanthropist who founded the Spurling Foundation. Duke is not officially affiliated with the Spurling Foundation, but he did receive sizable political donations from that foundation while he was still active in politics.

Duke is a first name, by the way, and not a title. Also, Duke is quite old, in the 80-something-ish age range. Basically, old enough to have been alive during the Tragedy.

Anonymous asked: I was wondering if there are any other characters with canon sexualities?

I said before that I would only confirm sexualities in the story itself, but I changed my mind.

Whit - bisexual Eden - lesbian Ace - gay Veronika - pansexual David - bisexual with a strong female lean. but he describes himself as "straight but also not opposed to any random impulses that may arise" Teruko - unlabeled/explicitly ambiguous

Everyone else is subject to interpretation for now.

citrusircus asked: You've stated before that you don't want any of your assets used with AI, but I'd still like to ask whether or not this extends to the character.ai site (considering no intellectual properly is actually used to make these). Completely understandable if you'd rather people not touch it! Just wanted to clarify.

I don't like character.ai.

tophats-tea asked: Was there a particular incident that caused the scar on Charles’ arm, or was it just a usual chemical spill from working as a chemist?

It's a dog bite scar.

Charles is under the impression that it's a birthmark.

Anonymous asked: why does hu have claws on her hand?

Those are not claws. They are plectra for guzheng.

shi-daisy asked: For my question, I'd like to ask is there anything random you can tell us about Levi? He's my favorite character and I'd love to know any miscellaneous details about him be it preferences or silly info you may have of him or how you came up with his character. Thanks in advance!

He has an almost unruly sweet tooth and will consume an entire bowl of lollipops (his favorite candy) in an hour if he doesn't watch himself.

If you see him in future art with a white stick of some sort in his mouth it's almost certainly a lollipop.

murderacademia asked: Ooh, do you have a random fun fact about Charles as well? :) he’s a big fave of mine! Thank u!

He's secretly very attached to his hair length, and doesn't like the idea of cutting it short.

welpuu asked: do the cast all have favourite colours? if so which ones? (also sorry if this was already asked 😭)

Teruko: red (reasoning: association) Charles: "Why would I assign emotional value to colors? That's a ridiculous waste of energy." (cerulean) Whit: neon pink (reasoning: "Pink!!") Rose: lilac (reasoning: likes subdued colors for their subtlety) Arturo: blueish white (reasoning: sterile) Levi: cerise pink (reasoning: feminine) Eden: daffodil yellow (reasoning: happy) J: black (reasoning: cool) Hu: emerald green (reasoning: elegant) Nico: none (reasoning: no interest) Ace: dark blue/purple (reasoning: refuses to provide reasoning) Arei: azure (reasoning: "I'm blue, so clearly it's the best color!") Min: taupe (reasoning: comforting) Xander: bright red (reasoning: passionate color) Veronika: white in conjunction with other colors (reasoning: brings out other colors well) David: gamboge (reasoning: inspiring)

Since I'm on the topic, here are least favorite colors as well.

Teruko: pitch black (reasoning: unsettling) Charles: dark red (reasoning: looks like blood) Whit: gray (reasoning: boring) Rose: none (reasoning: all colors have their value in the right situations) Arturo: neon colors (reasoning: tasteless) Levi: neon yellow (reasoning: a little hard to style) Eden: blue (reasoning: "Kind of a downer color...") J: pink (reasoning: obvious) Hu: blueish white (reasoning: sterile) Nico: white (reasoning: unsettling) Ace: titian (reasoning: doesn't like himself) Arei: green (reasoning: looks like puke) Min: white and pink together (reasoning: annoying) Xander: dark red (reasoning: looks like blood) Veronika: white in the absence of other colors (reasoning: soulless) David: gray (reasoning: depressing)

cuckaracha asked: but also for a real cool and sexy question. Can we have a totally normal and not fucked up fact about Ace?

When I designed Ace from the start, I wanted him to wear heels (because he is short), but I thought that it was inaccurate for a jockey's outfit, and I didn't do it. But then later I remembered that he isn't jockeying at the moment, so it would have been fine if he wore heels. In any case I decided it'd be okay to add them back in his new design.

When it comes to jockeying, Ace wishes he was shorter (he is on the tall side for a male jockey), but for all other aspects of life he might find it bothersome to be shorter than everyone else. So he might have a tendency to wear shoes that enhance his height. Subtly of course.

Also, he has 9 siblings.

Anonymous asked: taking a note from the levi asker, are there any random fun facts about nico or veronika that you have? those two are my favorites!

Nico cuts their own hair. Veronika's single green earring is a 'good luck charm' given to her by her dearest friend.

welpuu asked: another simple question sorry...im curious about if any of them have favourite ice cream flavours...or like maybe flavours in general? unless thats too broad then the ice cream flavours is fine 😭

Teruko - red bean Charles - coffee Whit - vanilla Rose - red velvet Arturo - chocolate mint Levi - caramel Eden - honeycomb J - black sesame Hu - rose Nico - "the flavor" (doesn't elaborate further) Arei - birthday cake Min - lemon Xander - sauerkraut??? Veronika - funfetti David - pistachio Ace - frozen bananas (actual frozen bananas, not ice cream)

sunriseindigo asked: does rose have a favorite art medium (acrylics, colored pencils, graphite, etc)? also, does she do digital art or is she strictly traditional?

Paints are her specialty, particularly oil, and she rarely uses any other medium. She does not do digital art.

Anonymous asked: would you be willing to spare any fun information about Rose?

Her whole family has plant-themed naming.

Daisy (older sister)

Saffron (younger brother)

Holly (mom)

Iris (mom)

xmicrophonyx asked: Is there any concept art of the DRDT cast?

There is, but it's so embarrassingly awful that I don't think it will see the light of day any time soon.

Other than this.

I'm certain is the first ever drawing of DT. I guess Arei used to have black hair.

Anonymous asked: what does the cast smell like :)

Teruko - Dirt, sawdust, burnt smell Charles - Laundry detergent Rose - Paint and chemicals Arturo - Antiseptic Hu - Womanly perfume (light) Veronika - Womanly perfume (heavy) David - Men's cologne (light) Levi - Men's cologne (heavy). Also, somewhat faintly, leather Nico - Cat Ace - Sweat and menthol Min - Lavender/eucalyptus/lemons/whatever essential oil she decided to use that day Whit - Fruity fun shampoo (for kids) Xander - Men's 3 In One Body Wash (for men). Also, somewhat faintly, gunpowder MonoTV - metal and burning rubber

Anonymous asked: Is the Spurling Foundation and XF-Ture Tech the same thing?

They are totally unrelated institutions. The former is a philanthropic organization, the latter is a for-profit tech company (that also seems to do a lot of other things).

spyrkle4 asked: Question! Will sometime in the future will we know a little more about the sibling characters of some of the cast members? I honestly am just curious about J's brother and wanna know more about him

It’s good to have names to refer to characters, so here are the names of some characters who have been referred to in the story (and additional information about other characters as well)

Fuyuko + Natsuko Nageishi (Arei’s older sisters, by around 2-5 years): They are identical twins, in both appearance and persona. Actually, their appearances are mirrored. The two of them are always seen together and share everything with each other. They are best friends and very close.

Ryan Rosales (J’s younger brother, by about 1-2 years): He likes playing video games, and the two of them play games often. He also loves annoying J. One of his hobbies is cross-dressing.

Elliot “Ellie” Cuevas (Charles’ older brother, by about 11-13 years): Although he has not had an appearance yet, he looks shockingly similar to how Charles looks now. His favorite food is pancakes and his favorite animal is dogs.

Felicity Giles (Arturo's younger sister, by about 3-4 years): She also has not made an appearance yet. She has low self-esteem and admires Arturo a lot.

These characters (and others) have reference sheets, but those are meant for internal use only, so maybe later I will draw reference of their designs to show you all.

zamazencian asked: Is there a fun fact about Xander you could share? He's my favorite guy :D

He has a very weak sense of taste, and most normal foods taste bland to him. As a result, anything he cooks has an overwhelmingly strong flavor that makes it almost inedible to other people. He seems unaware of this.

sourapplecake asked: what kind of accent does xander have? i can’t tell if it’s british or australian or what 😭🙏 <- a little slow

British.

Anonymous asked: Do you ever have any plans of making promotional splash art in the future? I apologize if this has already been asked!!

Not really.

Anonymous asked: Is Min, like... truly really into essential oils and healing stuff?

She is aware that essential oils don't have any scientifically proven meaningfully significant benefits, but finds them relaxing nonetheless.

Anonymous asked: Does David wear hairclips because he likes them or is there some other reason?

It's his manager's idea for "branding." But David thinks they're embarrassingly stupid looking and doesn't like wearing them.

saraanzu asked: do you have the death order for the rest of the show decided in your head already, or are you figuring it out as you go along?

Decided from the start.

xmicrophonyx asked: Any fun facts about Whit?

He's the best cook in the cast. His specialty is French.

Anonymous asked: where did David's hairclip's go after he had his little transformation in chap2? cuz it looked like he ate them lol

www.google.com/search?q=pants+pocket&tbm=isch

Anonymous asked: hi, sorry if this is a silly question but how do you pronounce davids surname? ive seen it pronounced "chee - em" or "keem" but i just wanted to know if there's an official way to say it teehee

CHEE-em

chee as in cheese

em as in seem

0-kaiya-0 asked: Will there be more FTEs?

Maybe, but I'm not sure I want to put out any more polls.

Anonymous asked: will there be any canon couples?

I'm not one to write romance, so don't count on it.

Anonymous asked: Are people allowed to make nsfw content of your characters?

Sure.

Anonymous asked: How is Veronikas last name pronounced?

GRE-ben-SHI-ko-va

Gre as in regret

ben as in the name Ben

shi as in shiba inu

ko as in cold

By the way, here's a tip for (approximate) name pronunciation. If you can identify the origin of the name, go to Google Translate, type it in the left box, set the left language to the appropriate language, and hit the speaker/play button to have it read out-loud.

[cherrys-writings]

I can't stop thinking about this, so now it's going to be your problem too

Imagine little Grayson, maybe 4 years old. Imagine there's a massive storm that woke him up. Now the lightning flashes make the shadows in his room creepier. Sure he can hide under his covers, but there's nothing that stops the near deafening clap of thunder that shakes his bed. Grayson musters all his courage and runs from his room, hands covering his ears. Bare feet slapping on the hardwood floor as he goes to the one place he knows he'll be okay.

Nash.

By the time he gets to his big brother's room, little Grayson is crying. It's not hard to wake 10 year old Nash, given the loud storm. Sure Nash might act annoyed that one of his brothers is coming to sleep in his bed again, but he knows Skye wouldn't even let his siblings into her room, let alone into bed to comfort them. Nash sits up and makes room for his younger brother. He hugs him, rubs circles on his back until he's calm. Maybe he tells Grayson that thunder is just the cloud people going bowling. At some point they're joined by Jameson and possibly Xander (if it happened to be a really loud storm) Maybe he teaches them that you can tell how far away a storm is by counting the seconds between a lightning strike and thunder. All four brothers piled into one bed, Nash between Grayson and Jameson because "you're squishing me Gray!" They all doze off counting the seconds between lightning and thunder. Nash would not admit that he was a little afraid too and liked the company.

For the longest time, Nash is the person the three younger Hawthornes seek when they're afraid at night. Nightmare? Run to Nash. Hear something, but you can't find what made the noise? Run to Nash.

The Brothers finding comfort with each other throughout childhood. Of course, Tobias Hawthorne could appreciate the bond the four boys had. Until Grayson is around 8 or 9 and the old man says something about Hawthorne men not being afraid of anything. Maybe he even says he expected little Grayson to grow out of this already and that's enough to make Grayson stop going to Nash or Jameson when he gets scared. Grayson. Little Grayson, covers wrapped tightly around himself wiping away tears from the worst nightmare ever. Grayson telling himself that he can't disappoint his grandfather by not facing his fears. Little Gray might relay what was said to Jamie and Xander, but he still makes room if one of them needs comfort in the middle of the night. Grayson's sleep quality steadily declined. If he couldn't talk himself out of the fear from a nightmare he would just force himself to stay awake.

[reyreadersblog]

Here are some Avery and Jameson hcs because they're my parents

When Avery goes on interviews and stuff, she takes Jameson with her as a guest and then people ask them questions.

Avery is always worried on Jameson's birthdays because she thinks he won't like the gift she chose for him but Jamie loves it everytime and tells her it's perfects.

They travel together everywhere, LITEARLLY everywhere, like there isn't a single place on god's green earth they haven't visited.

Nan shows Avery Jameson's childhood pictures, some of them are photoes of 5 years old Jamie dressed up as a small cute lamb (i like to belive Skye used to dress up him like that) and Ave thinks it's cute and laughs but Jamie gets so embarassed, he blushes and everything.

This guy whispers most unholy, dirty things in her ear and it's also in public areas, like parties, wedding, and then Avery gets super flustered and be enjoyes it.

Jamie helps her undo her hair after parties and meetings.

They have a favourite TV show (you guys decide) that they watch every sunday.

One time Avery did make up on Jameson's face, like the Hawthorne foundation and stuff, since she needed to test it and she asked Jamie and at first he wasn't sure but then she gave him "the face" he couldn't resist, so he agreed.

When Avery is in the kitchen making coffee or breakfast he always silently sneaks up on her from behind, hugs her and kisses her neck while Ave's laughing and giggling and she says smthg like "okay, okay, Jamie i'm trying to make breakfast"

Ave's that kind of person that easly gets scared during horror movies so she always hugs Jameson and he tries to comfort her, says things like "nobody is taking you away from me, heiress"

Max, Xander, Jamie and Avery go on double dates once in a while and that's when they catch up, but usually it's just Ave and Max hanging out and shopping in big malls while Jamie and Xander are just there holding their bags.

Avery gets so worried when Jameson dissapears for couple of hours, even tho she's used to it, bec she know how careless Jameson is when it comes to taking risks.

So she calls him multiple times and lefts like 10 massages

This is suppose to be a happy hcs..but..when they have fight it's usually about safety, like for exapmle: one night Jamie gets in the apartament and it's like 4 a.m., he looks like someone beat the shit out of him, when Ave sees him she gasps, it's all confusion worry and shock. Then she decides to clean him up and when she is taking care of the wounds Jamie whispers "it's not that serious" and then Avery gets mad and they fight. They always make up tho, time is needed but they always do

And i could write whole fic on thiss!! (Tell me if i should)

~○~○~○~○~○~○~●~●~●~●~●~●~●~●~

[sweetreveriee]

Grayson Hawthorne headcanons before I go to bed!!

• Grayson uses a bathrobe instead of a normal towel because it shows off his slutty waist

• Penwhore.

• He created his own cologne

• Grayson absolutely LOVES fashion. Like when the whole gang goes to the mall he's the one going around with boba and a dozen bags on his arms.

• Speaking of boba, Grayson actually really likes it, but only from one specific place and he orders the same thing everytime (idk what he would get, pls suggest in comments)

• Has a watch collection

• Is offended when people take pictures using phone cameras

• Has been on the cover of several swim magazines (just magazines in general)

• Was the first brother to win Sexiest Man Alive (a few months before Avery came into the picture, Nash has never won it)

• Grayson makes the best fettucine alfredo

• and he's just a good cook in general

• He taught Xander how to bake scones

• Wakes up at 4:00 am

• He goes to the gym and is like the first one there, and then comes back home and swims until everyone else gets up

• Doesn't drink water, he survives off coffee and boba

• Doesn't like tea, he thinks its for people too weak for coffee

• Sometimes he'll go to a random elementary school and gives things to the kids (money, toys, etc)

• Kids absolutely love him

• When he was like 14 and Em*ly was with her parents he had a short lived phase where he dated like twenty different girls (he broke up with them after a week)

• His emo phase started when he was 12 because Tobias wouldn't build him a new pool. It lasted for a month before he became so disgusted with his fashion choices he had to stop.

• Gray knows seven languages (English, Spanish, Mandarin, Arabic, Latin, Russian, and Greek)

• Hated Hamilton because it was too historically inaccurate ("They never had cabinet rap battles!")

• Skye and Tobias thought he had a speech impediment because it wasn't until six years old that he started talking. He always knew how, but never wanted to talk to anyone

thats all i could think of for now! feel free to add ur own <3

[berryz-writes]

Grayson Hawthorne Headcanons- when he was younger

He took ages to sleep. Playing chess games with himself, trying to draw the world map by memory literally did anything to fall asleep faster

Sometimes when he had nightmares he would just lay in bed knowing that Jameson would come to his room first. Once he did they would talk about things (never about their nightmares) but just in general. Once he knew Jameson was asleep he would finally sleep as well

Always took care of Xander even if it meant being the uptight brother

Wanted his mothers attention so would draw her cute cards and gave her flowers that he had dug up from the gardens

When he was bored, if his grandfather was at home he would follow him around sometimes discretely to see what he did and how he acted (he wanted tips on what to do once he got the fortune)

Being super young, Grayson sometimes wondered down corridors, just so he could get lost and then maybe he would get a little attention and someone would come find him

Instead he just found his way back to his room because obvs he's extremely smart

He also made up a lot of games for him, Xander and Jameson to play when they were younger

Always asked Nash for advice before doing anything because he didn't want to do it wrong

Never or barely cried in front of everyone because he didn't want to be seen as weak

He was a quiet child in class but always put his hand up to give the answer

Liked it when Jameson joined his school because Jameson was able to make friends in a heartbeat with literally everyone

Didn't trust his friends completely but he did enjoy spending time with them

His favourite extra curricular was Photography which he had joined because he had wanted to create memories that lasted forever

He is naturally good at drawing/art.

When he was small and the boys had a maid he would tell her "Please could you style my hair so it looks neat?" Cared about his presentation when he was like 6 years old

Also was always so so polite. His teachers always complimented his manners in parent meetings

Great at sports especially cricket but he's not really a fan of how long the game is

Whenever he wanted something he would whisper it at first "Could I please have the crayon?" He had to repeat himself like twice before the other children could hear him

Wasn't necessarily a shy child but he was quiet compared to Jamie

Jamie and Gray always get compared by teachers "You sure he's your brother? He's the complete opposite"

Anytime any child made eye contact with him he would give them the sweetest smile his dimples showing.

He didn't have very close friends but everyone in the class liked him so he was voted for class president quite a few times

His uniform was always so clean like there would not be a spot of dirt on his clothes. He was a clean child.

Unlike Xander who always had paint splotches down his shirt

When Xander was super young like 4 years old, all 3 of them would go to Nash's room and make him read a bed time story on Saturday nights

Slowly this tradition changed to Grayson also getting a part in reading. Xander and Jamie would fall asleep and so whenever it was Jameson's turn to read he had fallen asleep

Nash would ask if he wanted to sleep here as well but because Grayson likes to be independent he would leave to his own room- half an hour later he would creep into Nash's room and sleep next to Xander

Also still liked spending time by himself. Finding a comfy corner in the library to read his favourite book to escape for a bit- he would usually find Jamie here as well seen as though he loves reading

When he was quite young he insisted on having an opticians appointment because he thought people with glasses were smarter. Of course he turned out to have 20-20 vision.

He is the most hot fucking person in the whole of Hawthorne house

[spuffybot]

I just did a watch of Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest. There’s so many amazing little things happening in those first two episodes.

1. The Music: there is so much 90s sitcom music happening. Especially at the end of The Harvest when they avert the apocalypse and it’s just Giles, Buffy, Xander, and Willow reflecting on what happened. The music sounds like it’s from an episode of 7th Heaven.

2. Everything David Boreanaz is doing is hysterical. You can tell it’s one of baby’s first real acting gigs. He doesn’t know what to do with his hands, his arms are swinging inexplicably, and he makes standing still look so painfully awkward.

3. The Wardrobe: We get some of the best and worst looks in these two episodes and it’s quite frankly, iconic. Buffy’s first day of school look literally defined a generation. However her first night at The Bronze look??? What is happening here? And let’s not even get started on Angels shiny plush velvet jacket. He’s giving hot topic vampire.

4. The Lighting: I love how dark season 1 is, it’s a total vibe and I have so much nostalgia for watching this show when it was first on TV. But there are scenes that are actually impossible to see (the opening sequence for example) and there’s a moment in The Harvest where Buffy shatters a window and you can just see where the prosthetics are glued to Luke’s face.

5. The Prosthetics: If you didn’t know, they changed the prosthetics because they were so hard to talk in! Darla is impossible to understand half the time and they had to change some of Jesse’s lines because he couldn’t say “s” words.

6. Darla x The Mythology: ok so obviously we know Darla goes on a journey. It’s funny to look back at these initial episodes and see her behaving in ways that feel out of character. She doesn’t seem to know much about Slayers. She’s easily defeated by some holy water and a cross (wielded by Willow and Giles of all people.) She’s deferential to Luke in a way that makes her seem higher in rank than a fledgling but certainly not the 500 year old vampire we come to know. There’s also so many small mythology things that don’t make the cut or are evolved over time. Giles has seemingly never encountered many supernatural creatures and is unaware of what a Hellmouth is. Vampires eyes glow in the dark and they have talon like nails. Buffy’s stakes look like coffee table legs. I love seeing how the show grows beyond these beginnings.

I’m excited to continue watching season 1. I almost always skip straight to School Hard in any rewatch of the series and it’s so much fun to revisit these early episodes.

[sorastar6]

David Protag AU- Character Personalities (1/4)

You read the title! This is basically the personality of each of the drdt characters in my AU. And if you can't tell by the title, this AU makes David Chiem the protagonist instead of Teruko Tawaki (This is not because I think David is better and he should've been the protagonist, it's purely for fun and an idea that I had randomly, I love Teruko <3). But, that's not all that's really changed (a LOT is changed) so I'll basically explain the main points of the AU and then show the character personalities.

So, the Au takes place 5 years after everyone entered Hope's Peak Academy. They graduated, and became former Ultimate Students, which would make them around 24, 25 and 26 years old. In this AU, there's several HPA (Hope's Peak Academy) scattered all around the USA and Japan. Each character are all from different HPAs, and all of them are divided in duos that went to the same Hope's Peak. Meaning that they knew each other for 5 whole years until graduation.

The duos are as follows:

David and Nico Teruko and Xander Ace and Levi J and Hu Rose and Min Arei and Whit Charles and Arturo

Eden is paired with... Someone special (I'll explain someday)

All of these knew each other for 5 years before the killing game. And they had the same mentality that they have in canon drdt when they first entered. But now they changed but not in really drastic ways, but the 5 years they spent at HPA changed them.

I think that's it. Now I can move on to their personalities! There's only 4 on this post because I'm tired

David Chiem- Former Ultimate Inspirational Speaker

David Chiem once held the title of the Ultimate Inspirational Speaker for his uplifting and optimistic personality, but ever since his graduation, he took a break from his career to "rest". Most people already forgot him, except for his most die-hard fans that patiently await for his return, even though he hasn't shown his face in months. He isn't able to return at the moment, as he can't come back in this... Messy state that he's in.

Nico Hakobyan- Former Ultimate Pet Therapist

Nico Hakobyan always had a great connection to animals of all kinds, and they have been getting better and better at their job ever since they started becoming more sociable. They always say that a certain classmate has helped them come out of their shell. But, a lot of people say that they're a little weird, like their emotions are "exaggerated" or "unnatural".

Teruko Tawaki- Former Ultimate Lucky Student

Even if Teruko Tawaki's talent implies that she has good luck, she has the exact opposite, horrible luck. She always has been unlucky throughout her whole life, but ever since she graduated in Hope's Peak Academy, she became quite the troublemaker. She refuses to stay idly and just let things happen to her anymore, so she now fights back against her luck and refuses to let it take control of her life. Quite the revolutionary change, don't you think?

Xander Matthews- Former Ultimate Rebel

A reckless and loud man that truly deserved to have been the Ultimate Rebel. Alexander "Xander" Matthews is what people would call a "hero". Someone who fights every day for justice and fairness, because he believes that the world can be made into a better place. He absolutely despises anything that he deems "evil" and won't hesitate to do anything he can to destroy it. Even if that "anything" could be something that should make him "evil" too...

[sunnydaleherald]

The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Thursday, April 17

Buffy: Sorry, Faith. I didn't realize that was you. Faith: It's all right, B. Luckily, you still punch like you used to.

~~Dirty Girls~~

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

makeovers (Spike/Groo, G) by Greensword101

A brightness I'd never seen (Buffy/Angel, G) by notexactlycappuccinointheclouds

children of the wild ones (Buffy/Faith, NR) by faithandbuffy

Pie. Endless Pi (Willow/Fred, G) by Greensword101

All You Will Get From Me Is My Support (Giles, Anya, sfw) by merrybloomwrites

[Chaptered Fiction]

Part II: Old Enemies, Chapter 4 (Angel/Faith, M) by MissRed111

Chasing the Light, Chapter 5 (Angel/Lindsey McDonald, E) by CloudSeeker

Shadows on the Wall, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, T) by zinjadu

The Slayer From Another Demotion, Chapter 2 (Spike/OC, M) by alsmith786

You're My Always, Chapter 11 (Willow/Tara, T) by jaythegreenling

Double Date, Chapter 14 (Buffy/Giles, E) by Rippertish

HIGHWAY TO HELLMOUTH, Chapter 1 (Crossover with Supernatural, M) by ptolemeae

The Buffy Drabble Files, Chapter 354 (Ensemble, T) by badly_knitted

With Sprinkles, Chapter 53 (Multiple crossings, M) by dogbertcarroll and Narsil

No Rest for the Wicked, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Faith, NR) by TargaryenPug

Catch a Falling Star, Chapter 4 (Crossover with Parahumans, T) by HMaxMarius

Corrigendo Tabulam, Chapter 41 (Willow/Tara, NR) by lyrical_echoes

Shall We?, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, M) by GingerKI

Comeback Boy, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, M) by noripori

Learning through Fanfiction: The Sequel, Chapter 7 (Giles/Jenny, T) by Jess_Ann_Perreault

Drawn to you, Chapter 1 (Dawn, M) by SidneyPrescottFan

Shadows on the Wall, Chapter 1 (Buffy/Spike, T) by zinjadu

Clean Slate, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, M) by bdenn

Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Merlin Crossover, Chapter 6 (Crossover with Merlin, NR) by alwaysthinkpink

Slayer Reborn, Chapter 2 (Spike/OC, T) by secretshifter

On the Run, Chapter 15 (Buffy/Spike, M) by zinjadu

Time to Heal, Chapter 8 (Buffy/Spike, sfw) by spuffybaby

spike and the stakes, Chapter 9 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by jewelram

Along Came Two, Chapter 30 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by LilithSwan

Multiplicity, Chapter 19 (Buffy/Spike, R) by simmony

Tequila Sunrize, Chapter 3 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Pyewacket

Love's Call, Chapter 6 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Joan963z

Mile Markers and Blood Moons, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, R) by JamesMFan

What the Drabble? Vol. 3, Chapter 40 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13) by VeroNyxK84

Faith Around & Find Out, Chapter 2 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17) by Kenijo

[Images, Audio & Video]

Artwork:Villan Wins by Kittenwritings

Artwork:Team as Family by Kittenwritings

Artwork:some toony shapey buffy doodles by sundayroadkill

Meme: btvs textposts part 7 by slut-jpeg

Gifset:Good night, my love. by anjelia3

Gifset:3.12 ― "Helpless" by dailybtvs

Gifset:BEST OF BTVS: Xander Harris — Season Two by clarkgriffon

Video: Let's Paint Buffy from Buffy The Vampire Slayer! by LInx

[Reviews & Recaps]

...if Angel had stopped interrupting during "Sanctuary" and let Buffy fight it out with Faith... by greenteacology

[11 year old's Welcome to the Hellmouth reactions] by chaoticincompetent

it's also really tragic and compelling that buffy does understand at least some degree of faith's sexual trauma... by btvs3x21

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER | 3x1 "Anne" | REACTION by Andres El Rey

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - but it’s the 1992 movie by Fandom Hype

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 7x1 & 7x2 REACTION | "Lessons" & "Beneath Me" by The Horror Bandwagon

Podcast: Buffy S7E17: Lies My Parent's Told Me by Booze & Buffy

[Community Announcements]

Thursday, April 17 - Challenge week, Day 4 by Fic Promptly

Thursday: time travel by Bite Sized Bits of Fic

Here is my ultimate Evil Nerd Trio fanfiction (and one fanvid) collection by garscrucible

[Fandom Discussions]

What's your favorite underappreciated character moment? by multiple authors

my buffy characters tier list by multiple authors

Episode Titles Double Meanings by multiple authors

So, I'm rewatching Buffy for the first time in years and I'm in love with season 4 by multiple authors

When that particular storyline moved to AtS by multiple authors

Glad the show went until Season 7 and didn't end on Season 5 by multiple authors

Was Spike really just convenient? by multiple authors

S7 was a better ending than S5 by multiple authors

What would Vampire Snyder be like? by multiple authors

At the Ending of the show. by multiple authors

Why does no one carry a crucifix? by multiple authors

What would the relationship between Angel and Dawn have been like? by multiple authors

The Body by multiple authors

The 3 Meet-Up Spots by multiple authors

What’s your honest reaction when you meet someone else who’s watching Buffy/Angel? by multiple authors

What would Angel have done against Glory? by multiple authors

Opinions so far S5 by multiple authors

What's something that doesn't appeal to you like it does to a large portion of the fandom? by multiple authors

the bronze by multiple authors

What did you think of 5 01 by multiple authors

Spuffy behind the scenes. by multiple authors

What if Faith had gone to LA in Buffy's body? by multiple authors

I forgot how pushy Riley was by multiple authors

So I finally sat down and watched Angel and the whole Joss Whedon controversy makes so much sense. by multiple authors

Willow's resurrection spell by multiple authors

[Articles, Interviews, and Other News]

Publication: Actor Michelle Trachtenberg died of complications from diabetes: medical examiner via CBC

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

[fuckyeahfightlock]

Punk Rock Cool Kid Required Viewing (Batch 4)

Sid and Nancy Suburbia Stranger Than Paradise A Clockwork Orange

(I'm rewatching all the "required viewing" films of my alterna-teen years) Notes on these films below the cut.

Sid and Nancy (1986, dir. Alex Cox)

I fear I could go on forever about this film. So quotable, and I still quote it. The punk generation's Romeo and Juliet story, our great doomed romance, played ably by the reluctant Gary Oldman (he turned down the role twice before being bullied into taking it by his agent) and television actress Chloe Webb in their breakout film roles. Troublingly romanticised, perhaps, but these were big personalities with big-turned-small lives and there's true love and tragedy in their story, blighted by heroin, with a punk soundtrack and attitude. They died young, stayed pretty; for better or worse, there's currency in that sad tale. Better to burn out than fade away; hope I die before I get old--two slogans of glamourous, glorious youth so young it doesn't recognise how much more life there is after 18, or 20, or 25, and that no matter how much "living" you pack into a short life, it's still too damn short.

This film is a cartoon that morphs into a dirge, and I feel Nancy was treated somewhat unfairly in it (I recall many people who met the real Nancy saying how much they hated her because she was loud, bossy, unpredictable, "got Sid hooked on heroin"--I distinctly remember someone described her voice as "honking"), and that Chloe Webb's choices were sometimes a bit superficial--the real Nancy Spungen was a very troubled person with a lifelong struggle against largely undiagnosed and untreated mental illness (her mother's book is a harrowing read; I'm rereading it now as I bought a new copy when I ordered the DVD)--Webb's Nancy comes across as a brat, a climber, and somewhat stupid (the real Nancy was exceptionally intelligent) and her moods in the film are pretty one-note, everything from her playfulness to her romantic feelings to her junkie desperation play out "on 11." Oldman's Sid is a youthful goof-off, not bright but probably brighter than Sid actually was, ultimately aimless, lead around by the dick by Nancy's interest in him and her steamroller personality. Somewhere in the middle of all these extremes probably lies the true nature of their relationship--young, horny, addicted, dumb (not stupid)--but the extremes are what makes it a story worth remembering, worth telling.

This film has some truly beautiful, cinematic moments, like the re-creation of Sid's "My Way" music video, the unforgettable kiss in the alley while garbage rains down, Sid nodding out and Nancy mutely staring as their hotel room burns. Alex Cox knows how to frame a shot.

In some ways it's a caricature, but this film was made with true affection for its subjects, and I will always love it.

Notably fantastic performances by Andrew Schofield as Johnny "He likes to be called John" Rotten, Debby Bishop as Phoebe (a composite character who essentially manages the Pistols and then Sid, under direction from Malcolm MacLaren), and Xander Berkeley (who I have an affinity for, just always) as Bowery Snax, Sid and Nancy's New York dealer. Courtney Love has a minor role in this--she auditioned for Nancy but with her then-fat face and terrible acting it's clear why she was not cast--as is Kathy Burke.

We'll never know what really happened in Room 100 at the Chelsea Hotel, but Nancy had been trying to die for years by the time she was found stabbed in the bathroom there, and it's unsurprising that fresh-from-Rikers Sid overdosed and died as soon as he got out (many people forced into withdrawal overestimate their tolerance when they return to using). Most profound of all: when Nancy and Sid died, they were 20 and 21 years old.

Love Kills.

Suburbia (1983, dir. Penelope Spheeris)

I hadn't seen this one in about 25 years; I'd forgotten the distressing amount of casual racism, homophobia, and rampant misogyny, and I'm sorry but there's no way that "no animals were harmed" disclaimer could have been applied. That said, Suburbia is the most important narrative film of the punk era, by a mile.

Suburban child of an alcoholic single mother Evan takes off to join a group of thrown-away teens squatting in an abandoned tract home, where he gets "a burn" (brand) of the gang's TR insignia--for they are The Rejected. Burnout druggie Keef, faux dad Jack Diddley, skinhead thug with a heart of gold Skinner, silly girls Matie and T'resa, maybe-a-goth Joe Schmo (whose jean jacket I modeled my own after), and recent suburban runaway Sheila are among the characters who inhabit the TR house. Notably, Razzle--who has a fat pet rat and tries to tame the neighborhood's pack of feral dogs (allegedly the Pet Shop Boys' song "Suburbia" is inspired by this film)--is played by an impossibly young Mike B. the Flea, later the bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

The film is just barely acted by this bunch of amateurs--they were Los Angeles punks Spheeris recruited because "I couldn't make actors into punks, but I could make punks into actors" who mostly showed up for the $100 a day paycheck--and in one scene Jack says, "Which way is it, Flea?" and Flea replies, "My name's Razzle." It's cute, in Hey Kids Let's Put On A Show fashion. The music is alternately pretty good (live performances by D.I., TSOL, and The Vandals) and kind of weird (Alex Gibson's pseudo-alterna score sometimes reminded me of the '70s soft rock dude in Sid and Nancy trying to sell his "I wanna job, I wanna job, one that satisfies my artistic needs" song to Johnny Rotten because "it's got kind of a punky feel"). The aspect ratio makes me think this was a straight-to-video release??? It's made to fit not a movie screen but a 1980s television screen--the movie is square.

The story is a suburban tragedy, of wasted youth (though it's clear these kids have been failed and betrayed by their families, schools, and society, through no fault of their own--which is probably why it had such strong appeal to '80s misfit teens like me and mine) and the hollowness of life in the ruins of pre-fab utopias. The kids do their best in the face of indifference, anger, and fear. When one of them dies by suicide, the friends don't know what to do, and a lingering shot of the punks standing silent in the front yard of a tract home as they return their friend's blanket-wrapped body to her stunned parents is an image that lingers.

Maybe clumsy, maybe melodramatic, but Suburbia really tries to say something about punk culture, the real mental anguish of teenagers, the value of found family, and the empty promise of the Reagan '80s. In its way, it's similar to Rebel Without a Cause, The Outsiders, or Bless the Beasts and Children--reminders that young lives have depth. Absolutely worth the time; I was glad to watch it again.

Stranger Than Paradise (1984, dir. Jim Jarmusch)

Well, this sure is a Jim Jarmusch movie! I don't know exactly how this ended up in my crowd's Required Viewing clump, except to perhaps thank/blame the Cool Older Guy Who Worked At Our Video Store. There's not really anything punk about this film, except that it's pure indie, which was rare and exciting back in the '80s--much rarer than it is now. It's a New York story of a jobless hipster, Willie, whose teenaged cousin Eva comes from Hungary for a weeklong visit. Willie's friend and shadow, Eddie, tags along as the three roadtrip from Cleveland to Florida, and the whole thing is a very long walk to a single punchline.

It has its moments, certainly. Eva walks through barren, early-'80s New York City streets carrying a tape recorder playing Screamin' Jay Hawkins' "I Put a Spell on You" and later when Willie tells her he doesn't like it, she says, "That's Screamin' Jay and he's a wild man, so bug off," a line I remembered as soon as the film started. Scenes with Aunt Lotte ranting at them in Hungarian, Eva taking the men to see "the big lake" in Cleveland in the dead of winter when there's really nothing to see but a snowy whiteout, and a mistaken-identity moment outside a motel in Florida that leads to a silly mixup that closes the film on a bit of a laugh.

Stranger Than Paradise is a very important independent film, and if you love Jim Jarmusch, this is one of his best. It's pretty fucking DIY, which I guess makes it punk. I take it back--this film is punk. But not in the expected ways. Well worth a watch for punks and film buffs; it's mild and amusing and pays off, but it's not exactly a wild ride.

A Clockwork Orange (1971, dir. Stanley Kubrick)

Another important cult film, made in consummate Kubrickian style (ie, technically intense, wildly perfectionist), which I think was favoured by punks and artsy types more for its unflinching, near-technicolour, bright-lit "ultraviolence" as any more highbrow concerns. It feels subversive, especially the first act, with its serial rapes, beatings, and overarching aura of menace. Youth gangs, mindless violence, music obsession (in this case, classical, most especially Beethoven). . .it all fits in with the youth sub- and countercultures.

Alex and his gang of "droogs" are unrepentant violent criminals, until he is imprisoned for murder and undergoes an experimental psychological "treatment" which replaces his lust for violence with nausea over it. Through a series of coincidences, he finds himself free (now a "clockwork orange"--organic outside, robotic inside) only to become the subject of torture by one of his former victims, which drives him to a suicide attempt. The government, embarrassed by this outcome for the poster child for their "cure," undoes his brainwashing and even offers him a government job, if only he promises not to publicly blame them for his grave injury.

This film is definitely of its moment, and it's a faithful adaptation of the novel, which I appreciate. The violence probably seemed shocking to early '70s filmgoers, but it is hyper-stylized and in some ways almost mild by 21st century standards. I kept thinking through the whole film how very different this might look if it were made today. There's a lot to be said for wanton violence committed in the garish light of day, with a blaring soundtrack of classical marches and symphonies--it's certainly, as we might say now, A Look. But I thought of other, more recent films which enact violence in daylight that are far more shocking, and I think a well-designed reboot of A Clockwork Orange might actually make me squirm. This film almost seems quaint. I mean, it's good. And Malcolm MacDowell was undeniably sexy when at his most unhinged. But I can think of many more contemporary films that do the same things this film does just as well, or better.

The overarching themes of psychology, free will, government overreach, and untamed youth are all well placed and explored, I just don't know if A Clockwork Orange weighs the same as it did 50 years ago. I won't need to watch it again, probably ever.

[mothmans-wedding-photographer]

Mothman's Buffy Rewatch, Season 5, episodes 3 and 4, "The Replacement" and "Out of My Mind"

The Replacement

Yeahhh Xander needs a new place

"Take a break from the violence- oh fighting!"

"What's powering it- raw enthusiasm?"

Who is this guy

This realtor is so done immediately

Buffy and Riley 😭😭 guys

Anya girl

YEAHHH GILES

oh nvm

Hit bro over the head with a goddess of childbirth

Spike rummaging through the garbage like a Raccoon

I was half expecting Spike to be messing with them ngl

Xander gets cloned

I'm pretty sure this was made because Xander's actor has a twin irl

Man that was your last quarter 😭

Dawn is real for that

"It's so nice you've learned to share"

Creepy ass mannequin

Is he hypnotizing him with the quarter?

Girl how old are you?? He's like 19

Imagine if Willow did set the fire for him that would be hilarious

Xander Snoopy dance

"Or! It's Toth"

"Sometimes we all help to save you" 😭😭

"I handled it fine" LMAO

Girl has a list of life milestones

Tbh it would be scary to suddenly not be immortal and fifty years would see small in comparison

Pointing Spiderman meme

Actually a cool plot instead of just evil twin

Was not expecting Xander with the gun

"If Xander kills himself, he's dead"

Anya's face when Riley asked if she owned a gun

"Eleven and a half" "wrong. But see!"

So the nickel was a red herring

Toth makes his return

I forgot how green his teeth were

"Doesn't it make everyone want to lock them in seperate rooms and do experiments on them" SIR?

Anya wants a threesome with them both

Star Trek reference

"Let the spell be ended" well that was easy

"Why don't we just load her up like one of those little horses"

"But she doesn't love me" Uh? Where did he get that impression because she seems sickeningly in love with her

Out of My Mind

Business suit vampires

Spike enters the fray

"I got knitting needles he can borrow"

Seriously why do they keep him alive

"I will know your blood, slayer" okay man

Immediately falls into a grave

I just realized they put Xander's Snoopy dance in the intro

Woaw an intellectual conversation

Willow trying to hype Buffy up

Bro put the monkey head near the Styx water 🙄

"Do me" yeah I bet she would

Riley tackling her 😭

I was confused about the Q reference because I thought it was Star Trek

Harmony is on the lam

"Desperate are you?" Ewwwww

Harmony takes up smoking

"Can you help with the thinking?"

Fuck is Joyce gonna die soon? Is this like lead-up to her death?

Dawn playing with the medical equipment

Bro what's up with Riley's heartbeat

I forgot about the initiative fucked up his heart

Fun fact from Dawn

Me after IB history tbh

She's literally the meme of "The Egyptians believe the most important thing you could do in your life is die"

Who's girl calling

Yeah I probably wouldn't trust this either

"Don't be insecure" great thanks I'll just stop

"Harmony, is it a sodding bread box?"

"The enormous hall monitor"

Man that's not gonna get you any money

The string was slippy

"You should have been here when it was a school"

Nice light spell

I'm trying so hard to care about Riley's feelings rn but idk I'm always on Buffy's side

"If that's what I wanted then I'd be dating Spike" lol

This is like trying to convince the average man to go to the doctor tbh

Wait can bro pick flowers ?

Graham is having a rough day

Smoking right next to the open brain is crazy

"Oh God, sorry, didn't see the sign!" And she's not even being sarcastic

Man he just did your brain surgery for you

Harmony gets wrecked

Buffy just push him off girl

The chip is still oh my gosh 😭

Riley is okay so that's good

Idk man I don't think

Biggest Buffy plot hole is why they keep Spike alive like they have to make up reasons like "oh he can't fight back" neither could the humans he killed 😭😭

WHAT GHE FUCK

Ewwwww

OH ITS A DREAM THANK GOD

[coraniaid]

Some scattered thoughts on rewatching Hush (Episode 10 of Buffy's fourth season).

As I said a few days ago, Professor Walsh would make a lot more sense to me if the writers didn't pretend she was teaching -- or that Buffy or Willow would want to learn -- undergrad pyschology. The opening dream sequence of this episode (much of it, presumably, resembling things the real Walsh might say in one of her lectures, or perhaps is saying in real life while Buffy is dreaming) is a prime example of this. Nothing she's saying has anything to do with pyschology as such. It's explicitly about language and communication ("not the same thing", as the episode is quick to remind us). So make her some kind of English professor! That's the subject you set up Buffy as liking last year and it's also the subject that actually works for the speeches you want her to give! (And yes, it has nothing to do with Walsh's double life as a military officer and demon-dissecting scientist, but crucially neither does rambling about Jung and Freud while pretending to be teaching pyschology).

I also continue to be more than slightly confused about how old Riley Finn is meant to be. He describes himself as "a pysch major" in this episode, which supports the theory that he's an older undergraduate student who happens to be a TA as well. And, bolstering this theory further, at the very beginning of the next episode he'll tell Buffy that "somebody should speak before one of us graduates". So he's a pysch major who's yet to graduate, right? But in that very same episode, Buffy will literally describe him as a "pysch grad student"; and although undergrads acting as TAs and marking papers isn't unheard of, it's something that's far more common for graduate students to do. And I don't really see how Riley could have the leadership role in the Initiative he does unless he's been a member for a while: was he recruited while he was still in high school? (For that matter, how long has the Initiative been going? Are we supposed to think they were active last year, while the Mayor was still around? Or did they only move to Sunnydale a few months ago? I realize these are the sorts of questions you're not meant to ask about Buffy, and yet...)

OK, multiple people get their hearts cut out by grinning monsters while lying in their beds and unable to scream for help this episode, but by far the most horrifying scene is sill the one where Willow goes to the college Wicca group where she'll first run into Tara and tries to talk to its leaders about doing actual magic. It's all very well done (and quite genuinely hard to watch), but it does rather undermine Willow's claim last year [in Season 3's Choices] that she wasn't just going to stay in Sunnydale for Buffy's benefit and that Sunnydale was a particularly good place to learn magic. (And she doesn't even try going to this group until she's been in school for months!) Again, I realize that expecting tight continuity between seasons of this show is missing the point a little, but ... well. Sometimes I like to miss the point.

Speaking of Tara, I'd remembered the scene where Willow insists she's "definitely nothing special" and Tara overcomes her stutter to earnestly assure her that "no, you are". But I'd forgotten it happened so soon in their relationship. This is Tara's first episode! This is their first actual conversation!

Anyway, Amber Benson is great as Tara right from the beginning and I only wish she'd appeared in the show earlier. Does anyone know for sure if Tara only got written into the show after Seth Green's Oz was written out? It certainly seems that way to me, but perhaps I'm wrong. (Supposedly Whedon claimed that one of Willow and Xander was always going to come out this season, but I find that pretty hard to reconcile with what we see on the screen.) It's fun to imagine an alterate version of Season 4 where Willow went to the Wicca group and met Tara as early as episode 2 (and where as a result we got to see Tara in episodes like Fear Itself or Beer Bad or Something Blue). (It would also have been great if Oz had stayed on the show and had to find a role in the narrative beyond being 'Willow's cool and non-threatening boyfriend'.)

Equally I wish this wasn't the last we saw of Giles's "old friend" Olivia (or at least of the real Olivia: the actor comes back one more time for Restless). She's a frustratingly underwritten character in a lot of ways (in part of course because she only actually appears in two episodes) and it's something of a mystery to me how and when she and Giles are meant to have met. But the episode spends a lot of time paralleling Buffy/Riley and Xander/Anya and (to a lesser extent) Willow/Tara as having relationship problems that they struggle to resolve with words (and, indeed, feelings that can't really communicate in words). So it's kind of odd how Giles/Olivia almost deliberately subverts that: Giles has been talking to Olivia and he did try to tell all about the supernatural [and again, note that this very much does not comply with the rules he tries to impose on Buffy; she can't use her calling to impress "cute boys" but this is never something Giles seems to worry about himself] but despite being an "old friend" Olivia just assumed he was making it all up (somthing she was weirdly relaxed about). Anyway, at least the show manages to not literally kill Olivia off, which is honestly better than I'd have expected. (I'm told she comes back in the comics, which would be fun if I thought anything that happens in the comics mattered.)

I know it's mostly just there for a silly and ultimately harmless gag, but Riley and Forrest getting into a secret elevator they know requires voice activiation to work safely (and apparently not knowing the override codes?), despite both of them knowing they can't speak and so won't be able to provide said voice activation, does not exactly suggest they are competent adults who should be trusted with military hardware. Then again, if I was going to list everything that was stupid about the Initiative I'd be at it for years, so let's not even bother.

Overall I think that Hush is a very well made episode and I enjoyed rewatching it. I definitely think it's the strongest episode of Season 4 so far, but I'll confess to not being quite as taken with it as a lot of people seem to be. It wouldn't ever have made my top 5 episode list, and rewatching it now I'm not sure it would have much chance of making my top 10 either. I'm not sure exactly why that is, but I can think of three reasons that all contribute at least a little.

One is that, to be frank, I just don't care about the overall season arc enough to be all that impressed that this episode manages to move that arc along while also introducing and resolving a stand-alone monster of the week plot.

The Initiative were never a good idea and they're still not compelling here (we still don't really know what they think they're up to!). I can't quite persuade myself to care about Buffy and Riley's self-imposed relationship problems. The show still hasn't done anything to convince me why the gang are letting Spike stay with them beyond "Seth Green left so it was imperative we add somebody else to the opening credits as soon as possible ... no, no, we can't add Amber Benson, it has to be a man obviously". And we know that Olivia isn't ever going to come back after this episode, so there's a certain pointlessness to all her scenes with Giles. I guess I'm just not invested in the wider story that's being told here. (Apart from the Willow and Tara stuff, obviously. That's great.)

Another issue is that I think the episode somewhat lacks faith in its central premise. For an episode whose selling point is meant to be that nobody can speak, there's an awful lot of on-screen talking.

Compare this to similiar concept episodes like Season 3's The Zeppo or Season 6's Once More With Feeling, or with this season's own Restless.

The Zeppo's gimmick is that it's a Xander POV episode. And in that episode, immediately after the opening credits, we begin with a scene with Xander [and no other Scooby Gang member around] trying to impress the school jocks with his football catching prowess. The episode only goes back to its usual approach in the final scene, with the rest of the gang talking about how -- in the more usual episode we didn't get to see more than a few partial scenes of -- they closed the Hellmouth and "no one will ever know" how close the world caming to ending, about a minute and a half before the credits roll.

Once More With Feeling is, of course, the musical episode. This is something it keeps up from the (suitably revamped) opening credits to the very final curtain fall. Buffy is singing about going through the motions before anybody's said a word of dialogue. Even after Sweet is defeated, the cast are still singing the question of 'where do we go from here?'.

Restless's gimmick is that it's the dream sequence episode. And, sure enough, everyone is soundly asleep on the couch within two minutes of the opening credits, and they'll only all be awake again about two minutes before the episode ends.

But in Hush? Well, the characters are all still happily chatting away more than ten minutes past the credits. They only lose the ability to speak about a third of the way into the full episode, and not only that but they're all talking again with almost five minutes left to go (time enough for three separate conversations between Willow and Tara and between Giles and Olivia and [at the least the beginning of one] between Buffy and Riley).

It would be more impressive, I think, if people lost their voices earlier, but they can't because the episode still has a lot of work to do to set up its various arcs -- and despite the premise it can't do that without words!

There's a quote I read by Joss Whedon [cited in, among other places, Mark Field's Myth, Metaphor & Morality] where he says he wanted to make "a show where people didn't talk [...] where I would have to tell the story only visually". And, well, okay: by that metric Hush is unequivocally a failure, right? Per J Freedland's data, the average episode of Season 4 [excluding Hush itself] has 762.74 seconds of dialogue. Hush itself has 346.41 seconds. That's obviously a lot less -- less than half as much, even -- but just as obviously Hush is not remotely an episode whose story is told "only visually". It's a story whose second act is told (mostly) visually, but that's not the same thing at all.

Finally -- and this is really the least important element - while the Gentlemen unquestionably look very visually striking and impressive, their big plan is ... not actually very interesting to watch.

Why do the Gentlemen need seven hearts, and what happens if they get them? Why does it take them more than one night to collect them all? Where did the original fairy story about them come from? Well, the show says, it doesn't matter. And it doesn't seem to matter how they get defeated, either. Buffy asks Giles at one point how she's going to get her voice back, and he can't tell her. Then the answer turns out to be "just get Riley to smash that fragile unguarded wooden box you conveniently dreamed about at the start of the episode". No doubt this is all very symbolic of something or other, but it's still a little underwhelming as plot resolutions go. Though honestly I'm not sure what I'd suggest instead except "not that".

[iamagod51]

CHERUB ROCK🪽🦇

Chapter two: Inca mummy girl pt. 1

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⚠️ murder/choking. No spike in the next chapter Xo angel 💕

You, Buffy, Willow and Xander are walking across this beautiful field to head up to the museum for the cultural exchange exhibit. Buffy is complaining about having a complete stranger in her house for two weeks. You can’t understand her annoyance with this situation. you are beyond excited! Different cultures blending, having fun, and learning about different lives there’s nothing more thrilling than that… besides dusting vamps but that’s more of a terrifying experience rather than an exciting one.

Cordelia is showing off pictures of her exchange student, Sven. “Look 100% Swedish, 100% gorgeous, 100% staying at my house!” She squeaked with excitement. She turned to Buffy and asked “ so how’s yours? visually I mean.”

Buffy shrugged “ I don’t know. guy-like?”

Xander rushed in with a worried tone.“By guy-like we are talking big beefy guy-like girl, right?”

“I was just told ‘guy’” Buffy waved him off awkwardly.

Xander goes a little haywire after that piece of information. Saying that “he better keep his manparts to himself.” Otherwise distracted from xanders ramblings Buffy notes that a boy is messing with one of the exhibits masks.

“That’s Rodney Munson.” Willow says “Xander doesn’t like him because he picked on him every day for 5 years.”

“Yeah, I’m irrational that way.”he says sarcastically

“I’m gonna stop in before he gets in trouble” Buffy says.

“ I got it! the nonviolent approach is better here.” You shrug

“ I wasn’t gonna use violence.” Buffy said “I don’t always use violence.” She said with a pout.

You tell her you know as you walk away “hi Rodney” you say with with a little wave “what are you doing?” Your head tilts

“ removing his cavity” he chortles as he stabs his knife farther down the mask’s mouth

“Cool” you smile as you lay your hand over his “are we still good for tomorrow at 4?” You ask

“Yeah uhh English has been a real pain lately, I hate poems.” He looks at you awkwardly “I uhh really appreciate you helping me out.” He puts the knife in his back pocket and keeps his hands there.

“Of course, I love poems and if you need any help in any other classes I can help with that too.” You smile.

“Uhh actually you any good at chemistry?” You’re smile fades quickly.

“Not really.” You pout “But my friend Willow is! I can ask her to come along tomorrow!”

“That’d be great uh thanks Cher I’ll see you later!” He walks away waving. You start to walk back to the group when the loud speaker goes off.

They invite students into the Inca burial chamber. The tour guide begins showing us the exhibit. “500 years ago the Incan people chose a beautiful teenage girl to become their princess.” We walk around the simulated tomb.

“I hope the story ends with a happily ever after.” Willow says with a scared look on her face.

Buffy announces “No, I think it ends with the and she became a scary old, discolored shriveled, mummy.” looking over the body and the crypt.

The tour guide starts again “she holds a plate as a seal to warn off anybody that might wake her.” You look at the girl in the crypt. It breaks your heart that someone's life was taken, especially so young. Your focus breaks when you hear Xander interrogating Buff. The museum door flows with students leaving and heading back to school. All but one student.

Rodney sneaks back to the exhibit. Creeping around to avoid the guards. He makes it back to the tomb and reaches in for the seal. He breaks the plate Waking the mummy, its shriveled fingers wrapped around his neck and chokes him. The last thing he sees is her empty eye sockets, staring him down as he takes his last breath.

You walk down to the library with Willow, she admits that she has a crush on Xander.

“Will does he know?”

“No and I don’t know how to tell him.” She fiddles with her hands. You grab her hand you comfort her and tell her that she should just be honest.

“Willow, you're an amazing person. Anyone can see that. But you know xan, he just needs a little push.” You both smile

“Thanks Cher.” Will blushes “you and Rodney looked cute together.” She gently leans into your shoulder.

You giggle. “Will I’m just his tutor for Englis-.” Your brain pauses. “Rodney!” You exclaimed.

Willow looks at you with confusion. “What about Rodney?”

You look back at her. “He didn’t come back with us.”

Wills face quickly changed from realization to grave concern. “That’s never good, we have to tell the others.”

[meltedbrains]

Tara - a unified scooby?

Btvs goes out of its way to talk about Buffy, Giles, Xander and Willow as a team, 'the scoobies'. Even before season 4 makes it explicit: Buffy is the strength, Giles is the head, Xander the heart and Willow is spirit. Throughout the series Buffy relies on them for emotional and practical support based on these roles (and she continually provides physical strength for them).

But where does this leave anyone else? How can new people fit into this group and contribute without stepping on the toes of the originals?

These extras normally provide conflict for one or more of the scooby gang. Angel has the ups and downs of a first relationship before becoming the big bad of season 2 and then estranged exes who never got closure. Likewise the other romantic relationships (Oz, Anya, Riley, etc.) also provide conflict both internal to the relationship and, through their actions, external conflict for the scooby gang to solve (e.g. running around as a werewolf).

Dawn and Joyce create the typical family conflict of responsibilities, the trials and tribulations of sharing a living space, and the struggles of growing up. As Tumblr user babygirlgiles put it Dawn also represents Buffy's innocence, something that Buffy strives to protect but ultimately loses over the course of season 5, both through the key/Glory plotline and the death of Joyce.

So how does Tara fit in to this framework? She definitely falls into the category of helpful romantic partner, creating and solving conflict in turn. But in season 6 I feel she really steps into her own. S6 is a low point for the scoobies as a whole: Buffy is trying to reconcile with living in a world she finds unbearable and a mission she already completed; Xander is grappling with what marriage means and how to navigate adult relationships; Willow is fighting addiction and how that brings out the worst in her and Giles is facing up to his own over-protective nature and whether he can leave Buffy to stand on her own.

Grappling with their own internal conflict (or just plain absent) the scooby gang are unable to rely on each other; they withhold their feelings, lying to each other and themselves. There's a reason it's one of the more controversial seasons.

Buffy confides in Tara about her relationship with Spike. Tara is her proxy for the scooby gang, able to counsel and console; running magical tests on Buffy's resurrection, comforting her at her lowest, and taking care of Dawn when she can't.

Luckily this doesn't come out if nowhere, in 'The Body' Tara is able to comfort Buffy with her own experience at a time when Buffy is robotically going through the motions and the rest of her friends are grieving Joyce in their own way.

For the most part Tara has already gone through her character arc. She escaped her abusive, gaslighting family, found love and friendship, lost and regained her mind, and set boundaries with Willow over her misuse of magic (while saving the world along the way, but who hasn't done that?).

Because of this stability and maturity Tara is able to slip into the roles of the Scoobies as needed. Able to be the heart when Xander can't see past his own problems, the spirit when Willow is seeking more and more dangerous magics, the mind when Giles returns to the UK. Crucially she is also an outsider, by being removed from the group (post break-up with Willow) there is a semblance of patient-doctor confidentiality. She is already established as someone Buffy can rely on for emotional support (as of S5) but now (in S6) she is insulated from the pity of her close friends: emotional support without the strings.

Btvs is about Buffy's growth as a person, from scared child ("I'm sixteen years old. I don't wanna die.") to young adult ("You're just a girl." "That's what I keep saying."). As she grows she learns to manage her responsibility by S7 she is no longer struggling with her mission in the world, and in a sense she no longer needs the Scoobies ("And at some point, someone has to draw the line and that is always going to be me."). Buffy has outgrown Giles, Xander and Willow, she still loves them and they still work with and rely on each other but she no longer needs them in the way she once did (this is one of the central conflicts of S7 and their relationships but that's another story).

This independence can be traced back to Tara in S6, the season where Buffy is unwilling and unable to connect with and rely on her friends, her usual support system. The system breaks down and Buffy comes to rely on Tara, because of this (and Tara's death) Buffy becomes independent relying on herself instead of the scoobies. No longer leading by committee, leading from the front (admittedly with an iron fist).

Tara's ability to be all aspects of the Scoobies (mind, heart, spirit) translates to Buffy, she learns from her and becomes an independent adult.