#i always tell people to do some kind of early college academy or at least some dual credit classes in high school.

[sa-banana-ana]

^ THIS!

I'll be honest, I went to a high school full of nerds.

All of us were taking dual credit classes. Getting high school and college credits for the same class. And most, if not all, of us would sit through the pledge doing hw. We had A LOT of hw and would either sit through the pledge and work on it. Or if we did stand up, we were still typing or writing. Not paying any mind to what was going on. Our teachers didn't care too much for us paying attention to the pledge as most of them were also catching up on paperwork, grading assignments, or just didn't care enough to bother with it. We regularly discussed politics in my classes, and the majority of us were quite radicalized in our opinions due to the fact we came from impoverished communities. Most were first-generation high school graduates, on top of being first-generation college graduates.

Some of my classmates have gone on to do really big things locally and nationally. And those doors probably would not have been opened if any of us had not attended that high school. I WOULD NOT BE WHERE I AM WITHOUT THAT SCHOOL. We all graduated with an Associates degree WITH our high school graduation. Which was possible with government funding, sure. But the system is broken, and we definitely took advantage of the opportunity to get ahead and get the education we needed/wanted! I'm currently getting my Bachelors for my dream job. I would not have been able to afford it if I hadn't gone to that high school and would probably have given it up long ago.

So yeah, sit through the pledge. If you get detention because your high school experience is much different than what I had, don't sweat it. There's probably someone else in your classroom too scared to do it as well. Maybe they'll get the courage to do it once they see you do it. Plus, no one's going to give a fuck later on in life. If it comes up, it will be in conversation with friends and family at best. Be the example and protest in YOUR WAY.

dear usamerican high schoolers looking for a way to resist fascism: sit through the pledge of allegiance.

no getting up. no looking at the flag.

everyone will be looking at you. you'll be sweating like a fucking hippopotamus. your teacher will sternly tell you to get up. you'll feel stupid and that maybe its not worth it because you're just a kid in a classroom. but I'm here to remind you that there are no real life consequences to detention. there are however real life consequences to resisting a thoughtless performance of nationalism.

[twistedmusings]

Vil Schoenheit: After VDC Results

“I’m going to ask again, Prefect.”

“Are you going to walk me out?” 

A/N: Only thing I learned from this Chapter is to not trust a Stan kids, because they will ruin the even for the rest of us. 

Needless to say I have now officially began to simp for Vil, happy to find myself among you, Vil stans. 

If you haven’t read part one, here it is! 

Warnings: Chapter 5 spoilers, Lime soda (implied sexy times!) and de-stressing makeout session for Vil.

Vil had almost tried to kill someone today. 

It seemed strange to say, since it was somebody’s life at stake, but he had come to terms that he had shown everybody in his team a side of himself he hoped they would never see. 

He had shown you a side of himself he hoped you would never see. 

After the ‘incident’, you two had barely talked. You weren’t necessarily avoiding him and he wasn’t avoiding you either. There were just a few moments before the VDC officially started and despite the pain in his body telling him to at least sit down, the need to make it to the end of the stage triumphed as he gave it his all out there. 

Blood, sweat and tears. He had shed them all with no regrets. 

So as he stood there, confetti raining down as the people cheered in the grand coliseum for Neige’s song and not his, he was slowly coming to terms with another realization. 

That he wouldn’t let Rook participate in anything he ever did again…ever. 

Two years. Two YEARS he had known this mysterious man and yet there was NOTHING that had tipped him off to Rook being a fan of Neige. Oh no, not just a fan. 

An extremely devoted fan. 

“...Roi de Neige...it really is such an honor!” 

Neige’s laugh was still like metal against a chalkboard to Vil’s ears, smiling as he held Rook’s hand as the other waxed poetic about his performance. He had to turn away, tears still pricking at the corners of his eyes as he wiped them away with Rook’s handkerchief. His life was just one ironic twist after another, wasn’t it? And how frustrating, to be so close to standing first and to be betrayed by someone who he thought he could trust--! 

“Stand proud and say that you are the fairest of them all, Vil! And I am sure that even the Magic Mirror wouldn’t be able to deny it!”

He chuckles as the fanfare continues, looking down at the offending piece of cloth before shaking his head and going over to his friend, handing him back the handkerchief. 

“Go on, wipe your tears. It is your handkerchief after all.” 

Rook’s surprised face was a sight for sore eyes as he dried his tears. “Thank you, Roi de Poison.” 

“Hehe~ There is Vi-kun’s usual smile~!” 

Enjoy it while it lasts, bastard. The moment we get back to Pomefiore you are going to regret not drinking that juice and melting from the inside out because I am going to make you WISH that you were nothing but a puddle of boiling goop after I am done with you, you son of a bit--

“Vil-senpai!” 

His head turns around slowly, watching you run towards the stage before flashing your staff pass at the bodyguards trying to stop you, just like how he taught you. He clears his throat as he straightens himself out, turning his whole body towards you as the stadium quiets down around him. 

Or maybe he was just paying attention to your voice only. 

“One vote.” you give him a forced smile, “Just by one vote, huh?” 

Vil points a thumb at Rook, “The guilty party is over there.” 

You peek behind him, eyebrows shooting up when you see your other upperclassman holding the hand of the team’s supposed rival and silently crying. 

“...that...the VDC really is full of surprises…” 

You both look at each other before smiling as you share a giggle, your hand going to Vil’s arm and giving it a soft squeeze before letting go.

He doesn’t want to think about what he would have done if you had been the one deciding vote. For a brief moment while the announcement was being made he thought that you had been that person, the one person he wished to curse and hate. Vil tried to imagine it, imagine directing all his anger towards you and promising you that every single day you remained at Night Raven College would be hell because of what you had taken from him. 

Would he have gone through with it? Who knows? 

Vil is a lot more relieved about the fact that you placed your trust in the team he had created and voted for him. 

“How annoying.” 

“Truly.” 

“There goes our heater money.” 

“I agree--what?” 

You turn to him, smiling as you gesture down to the hiccuping Grimm in your arms. He had tired himself out from crying and the headache that followed after had kept him glued to your arms. 

“I know he said that he was going to buy tuna with the money we would have gotten but I was thinking of buying a heater for Ramshackle.” you pout, “You guys were all complaining about how cold it was before using magic to make the entire dorm room cold proof. For a brief moment my dream of having heated floors came true.” 

Vil catches you staring at Neige, your stare not one of admiration but of clear frustration and annoyance. 

“And it wasn’t like his song was that good. It was catchy. Catchy turns straight up annoying in a few days. Watch people complain about how they wish it wasn’t stuck in their heads all the time, I give it a week.” 

Maybe it was the strong emotions he was feeling right now, or the fact that he had come to terms with another set of emotions that were directed towards you a long time ago but Vil immediately grabs your hand and holds it close to his heart, your eyes turning to look at him as he stares at you with fierce intensity. 

He wanted you to feel it. Could you feel how fast his heart was beating? 

“Potato, no, Prefect--” 

Your eyes widened, it was the first time he had referred you with that title. 

“I want you to know that I--” 

“Vi-kun!” 

The Pomefiore dorm leader can feel the vein in his head beginning to throb as he hears his rival’s voice, the Royal Sword Academy student smiling as he came up to him and grabbed his hand. 

“Let’s sing together! If we all sing together I’m sure it would be a lot more fun!” 

Neige smiles as he grabs Vil’s hand, quickly interlocking their fingers together as the other complains about the distance. His eyes meet yours before he grins and gives you a peace sign. 

“I’m going to steal him away real quick, I hope you don’t mind!” 

“Neige!” 

You blink before smiling as you wave goodbye, hugging Grimm close to you as you watch Vil be dragged away by Neige to the center of the stage. The small familiar in your arms groans as he hears the music start up again. “Not agaaaaain. Make it stoooop. My tunaaaaaaa!” 

With a giggle, you scratch the top of his head as he buries his face in the crook of your arm. 

“Go back to sleep, Grimmy. Let’s go back home.” 

The music blares behind you as you hum along to the song, bobbing your head to the beat as Vil’s voice comes through loud and clear despite the cheers and the fanfare. 

“See you guys again!” 

You smile and hug Grimm close, walking towards the exit of the Coliseum.

What a bummer. Guess you couldn’t work up the courage to tell him after all.  

--------

“You guys got everything?” 

“Ah wait!” Kalim rushes back into Ramshackle as Jalim pinches the bridge of his nose, “I forgot Vil’s face stuff!” 

You smile at Jalim, “You always seem to have your hands full.” 

“Isn’t that an understatement.” he smiles, “Are you that eager to get us out of here, Prefect?” 

“Not at all. I’ll be really lonely once you guys leave.” 

Jalim stares at you before looking back at the Ramshackle door, his actions making you laugh as you pat his back and head inside. Guy wasn’t used to people being that honest, was he? You smile when Kalim meets you at the bottom of the stairs, hugging you close and saying quick goodbyes as Jamil called out to him for the second time. 

“There they go…” 

You whistle a low tune as you head upstairs, letting out a huge sigh as you flop down on your bed.

It was the most perfect opportunity...and you blew it. 

Vil had been living with you for almost a whole MONTH and you only managed to have a decent conversation with him maybe three times. And you weren’t going to count that awkward moment you two shared that night. 

Probably the reason he didn’t talk to you at all after that! 

He had been concentrating so hard to win this competition and all you needed to do was just give him some good words of support, not go off about how you thought he was the ‘fairest’ in all of the school! What kind of STUPID confession was that! You wanted to be smooth about it and maybe ask him if he wanted to come with you to the Monstro Lounge after all of this was over. 

At least you had gotten some decent words through. It had been inspiring to watch him work. You didn’t really have an opinion on him when you two first met but watching him put his everything into this one competition made you want to put everything into finding a way back home. 

And like always, feelings of admirations grew to something else. 

Something annoying and unnecessary. 

Vil probably saw right through you, the way you would wake up early to catch him humming in the showers as you brushed your teeth. No, he probably caught on when you complimented every single meal he made when it was his turn to cook. Or maybe he caught on when you straight up admitted that you thought he was the most beautiful person on campus. 

You laugh as you sling your arm over your eyes. 

“I’m so messy.” 

A knock on your door bolts you up from your bed. You knew it wasn’t Grimm since he had taken dibs on the bath first and was probably enjoying the hot water you wish you could enjoy as well. Amethyst eyes meet yours as Vil stares at you, bag on the floor by his side as you two stare each other down.  

“...should I just leave?” 

“No!” you immediately get up and walk over to him, “Let me walk you out. It is the duty of a Prefect to see all the guests out, after all~” 

“You only have one other member living in your dorm, potato.” 

“Doesn’t mean I should ignore the title given to me. That’s what Riddle taught me.” 

You make a move to walk out into the hallway but his arm stops you, blocking your way as your eyes look into the deep purple linen. It must be really soft to touch-- “Oi.” 

Whoops, lost in thought again. 

“You say something?” 

Vil sighs and you were expecting the usual disappointed look but your heart nearly beat out of your chest when you saw him smile, your hands clenching into tight fists as you step back two steps. 

“You were talking about responsibilities of a dorm leader, so I’m doing my responsibility as well. I’m thanking you.” 

“Ha! Vil-senpai you shouldn’t be thanking me, it was the Headmaster’s decision after all.” 

Even then he shouldn’t be thanking you, if anything you should be thanking him. 

“So you’re just going to refuse my gratitude?” his fingers brush away some strands of your hair, “Did Riddle only teach you one thing?” 

You try to count by 5’s in your head as your face heats up, how were you still standing up? 

“Sorry. You’re right.” you take a deep breathe, “You’re welcome. I’m glad my dorm could be of some service.” 

It was a good idea to leave out the ‘to you’, it would probably creep him out. 

Silence hung heavy in the room as the two of you heard the clock tick away at the minutes, Vil’s arm still blocking your exit to the hallway. 

“Uhm...Vil-senpai?” 

“I want to have no regrets for this VDC, potato. As frustrating as it is...I gave it my all and I lost.” 

You open your mouth to try and console him but he stops you with just a stare. “But I have no regrets on how I approached this. The method was perfect and the song was perfect. I even managed to shape some rough looking potatoes into decent enough students.” 

He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and picking his words carefully. 

“But I intend to leave this experience with no regrets whatsoever. Both on and off the stage.” 

You tilt your head, “As in?” 

The ticking of the clock stops for a moment as your chin is tilted upwards, starts up again when you feel a hand on your cheek pull you close and stops entirely when a pair of lips press against your own. 

Your arms hang uselessly at your sides as Vil kisses you, his lips unmoving while the hand holding your cheek slithers all the way down to your waist. A shiver runs all the way from the soles of your feet to the top of your head, the sudden rush of warmth making you pull away. 

Yet he selfishly clung to you. 

“Are you going to walk me out, Prefect?” 

The answer is quick as you wrap your arms around his neck, quickly pulling him down for another kiss. His heels click harshly against the wooden flooring as you two walk backwards and fall on your bed, the purple linen you had admired earlier now caressing your arms as you pull away for a quick breather. 

“Vil--” 

He takes advantage of your open mouth, tongue pushing inside and pressing against yours as he pulls your arms away from his neck and pins them to the bedding. You want to keep your eyes open, want to see Vil in ways you hoped nobody else had seen before. The circlet on his head probably disheveled from the rough tumble you two had, the eyeliner pressed so neatly against his eyelid, the way his fingers so delicately kept you from moving as his thumb caressed your wrist. 

You can’t help but whine as he pulls away, trying to follow his lips but being kept in place by those hands on his. Vil watches you take deep gulps of air, his hands squeezing your wrists to keep you in place before moving away to  take off the circle on top of his head as he laid it gingerly on the pillow next to your head. 

“I’m going to ask again, Prefect.” 

Vil presses a kiss to your eyelid, moving down to your cheek and finally your chin as his fingers toy with the first button of your pajama shirt. 

“Are you going to walk me out?” 

He smiles when you hold out your arms open for him, your eyes begging him to not leave you alone. 

Tongues meet before lips as Vil shrugs off his robe and makes himself comfortable in your arms, grabbing his magic pen and flicking his wrist in order to shut the door to your room and locking it. 

Obviously he would have to leave before the raccoon was done with his bath, but he was intending to finish this VDC with no regrets. 

So the little furball could wait. 

--------

Omake: 

“Oi!!! Why did you lock the door!” 

“Grimm don’t come in here!” 

“Hah? You know this is my room too!” 

“I know but right now I’m-ah!-busy! I’m busy!” 

“With what--!” 

“Grimm I’m just busy! Ace left a bunch of his snacks down in the kitchen! I’ll let you take dibs on whatever you want!” 

“....no take backsies?” 

“No--oh Great Sevens--no take backsies!” 

“Fgnaa! I’ll dig in then~!” 

[cocochannel00]

The Azoff Family: A Case Study on one of the Music Industry’s Most Connected Families

(ft. a breakdown of the Grammy voting process and problems)

This is very long so I will try and split it up into categories for everyone (sorry I got carried away- I spent like 2 hours writing this) but enjoy!

*Disclaimer: I want to preface while the majority of this is based in research, some parts may be speculation. I don’t know the family personally so I can’t tell you what goes on behind closed doors but I can tell you how parts of the entertainment/music industry work. I’ve had 5 internships in the industry (one in marketing at one of the big record labels) and the rest of my work is publicity (what I enjoy) and events and a former advisor used to run in the same circles as Irving Azoff (and he spilled some tea last year) I’m not out here to diminish the hard work of any artists or their teams, I’m simply here to showcase parts of the industry that aren’t always shown.*

Please also see: Story Time: How Fan Pages Directly Impact Columbia Records Decisions and Harry Styles Image

IRVING AZOFF: NEVER STOP THE GRIND

Let’s begin with the great business man himself Mr. Irving Azoff Irving Azoff is the literal posture child for connections and power in the music industry (he was also inducted into the 2020 rock and roll hall of fame class which is like a huge fucking deal for a manager to be inducted so you know he's the real deal)

In conclusion, I love Irving Azoff and his drive.

Irving Azoff: Early Years Run Down:

He came up middle class (dad was a pharmacist, mom a bookkeeper) in Danville, Illinois

He dropped out of college to run a small Midwestern concert-booking empire and managed local acts in the era

Opportunity came knocking and he got the chance to manage the Eagles and the rest is history

He's one of the best negotiators and has negotiated business on behalf of stars like Stevie Nicks, the Eagles, and Jimmy Buffet

Azoff has been an incredible manager and his drive to always advocate for his clients while basically not giving two sh*ts about what people think of him has gotten him the incredible reputation he has today.

All of Irving Azoff’s Major Job Positions:

Former President MCA (major label)

Former CEO of Ticketmaster and executive chairman of Live Nation Entertainment, the behemoth formed from Ticketmaster’s merger with Live Nation.

In 2013 he and Cablevision Systems Corp. CEO and New York Knicks owner James Dolan formed a partnership, Azoff MSG Entertainment (Currently still CEO)

----> Azoff also ran the Forum in Inglewood under Azoff MSG Entertainment after MSG purchased it in 2012 (it was sold in 2020 to the owner of the Clippers) — why do you think Harry played the forum for the Fine Line show? Azoff connection

Azoff MSG Entertainment encompasses all of the other companies including Full Stop Management, Global Music Rights (performance-rights org), and the Oak View Group (arena developing company)

He also is the co-founder and manager of the lobbying group Music Artists Coalition, a group that helps lobby for artists-rights issues such as royalty rates, copyright issue and healthcare insurance (see he's not all bad)

Essentially what I'm getting at is this man knows anybody who's anybody. He's the man you want on your team to help promote your music, plan your tour, and get you on that Grammy nom list.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

JEFFREY AZOFF: THE CHILD OF NEPOTISM

So for those of you that don't know, Jeffery Azoff is Harry's current manager and the son of Irving Azoff (the third of four kids). He's currently a partner at Full Stop Management, the company owned by Irving and the one artists such as Harry, Haim, the Eagles, Kings of Leon, and Meghan Trainer are signed to.

Jeffrey graduated from the University of Colorado's Leeds School of Business and started working fresh out of college at his father's old Management company (Frontline Management) working under Maroon 5's manager Jordan Feldstein (the only way you get that kind of internship/job as a 21 year old fresh out of college is if your family or family friends gives it to you). He worked here for 5 years.

Direct Quote from Irving Azoff to Jeffrey (really tells you a lot): "Listen carefully, because I’m going to say this one time. You have a phone and you have my last name. If you can’t figure it out, you’re not my son."

After working for his father, Jeffrey moved on to the talent agency CAA (Creative Artist Agency) where he worked for roughly 3 and half years before joining his dad in forming Full Stop Management in 2016.

While he was at CAA, Irving moved over clients like Christina Aguilera and the Eagles to the talent agency to help with tour booking instead of doing it internally through LiveNation (he was CEO).

Even though I'm sure Jeff has had to work somewhat hard to get to where he is (or at least to mess up his dad's work as he doesn't seem like the type to take laziness well), the door into the industry and every job was basically handed to him on a silver platter.

Not to mention if you watch episodes of keeping up with the  kardashians (like myself) you can actually see Jeff hanging out with kendall and the rest of the fam at their Palm Springs house (you know you're a nepotism kid if you have an in with the Kardashian crew). Invite me next time Jeffrey!!!

Think of the Azoff's as the mafia family of the music industry, you don't mess with the mafia

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE GRAMMY AWARDS: STUDENT COUNCIL ELECTIONS ON STEROIDS

Ok so here's where we’re going to get into a bit more of the speculation/grey area. I don't need to tell you that award shows are corrupt (See the Golden Globes Emily in Paris scandal) and the Grammys are not an exception. Think of the Grammys as one big student council/government elections where despite the fact the teachers tell you six times to vote for the best candidate, you're still going to vote for your friends even if they aren't the best.

A simplified break-down of Grammy voting:

1) Recording Academy voting members (artists, producers, musicians- anyone involved first hand with the creation of music; All voting members must have been producers, performers or engineers on six or more tracks of a commercially released album (or 12 or more digital tracks) and record labels will submit nominations in various categories to the grammys (songs need to be released commercially between October 1 of the previous year and September 30th of this year). You can also become a voting member by either winning a grammy or being endorsed by a current voting member (hint hint)

2) Once received, the recording academy with have the academy of trustees and its reviewers organize them and approve any changes to the 30 categories/fields (aka they can add new categories or remove old ones; so no best ukulele album of the year -- this is where things get funky)

There's speculation that during this stage when these special groups of 8-10 people are organizing genres, there's an "unwritten rule" that you need to be careful what album you green light (especially for famous artists) if you don't want them to win) (Rob Kenner said this- he used to be on one of these committees). Famous people tend to get more votes from clueless or lay Academy members that don't know the specialized categories or don't care enough to listen to songs that aren't radio trending.

3) After the nominations occur, Voting members begin their first voting. Members can vote for the four general categories of record of the year, album of the year, song of the year and best new artist and a maximum of 15 categories, all within their areas of expertise. Now the interesting thing is that while these are the guidelines there is literally nothing stopping them from voting in whatever categories they want (i.g. a rapper voting in the opera category despite not listening to opera). Theses ballots are all tallied and the top 20 entries are determined in each category (funky moment #2)

In 12 of the 84 categories those top 20 go to the ballot and it's done; for the rest it’s not like that. 59 categories including the big four go to a "nomination review committees" (identities are protected so they can't get lobbied... sure) who take a look at the top 20 and narrow it down to 7 or 8. (these are the special committees the Weekend talked about when he was snubbed). They're supposed to choose the nominees "based solely on the artistic and technical merits of the eligible recordings" which lets be real if that was the case Watermelon Sugar (along with most of the others in the category) I don't think would have been nomimated as they are very generic pop (none of them are special... sorry to the WM lovers out there).

This committee is basically held to THE HONOR CODE SYSTEM... I mean tell me when the last time the honor code system worked in literally any scenario (literally wtf). Don't take my word for it though the former CEO of the Academy Deborah Dugan (a queen) filed a complaint against the Recording Academy basically claiming that the nomination review process was rigged (she was fired after 5 months on the job).

Quote from Deborah Dugan "Members of the board [of trustees] and the secret committees chose artists with whom they have personal or business relationships... It is not unusual for artists who have relationships with Board members and who ranked at the bottom of the initial 20-artist list to end up receiving nominations."

These review committees can also exploit there power by adding up to two nominees that don't appear on the top 20 list to the final voting ballot (except in the 4 big categories - which watermelon sugar that one wasn't nominated for)

They also have craft committees for like non performance stuff (like album notes, engineering and arranging) that don't even get voted on by the academy voting members

4) After all of that fucked up mess, the grammy's decided is ok, the ballots go back to the voting members for the final vote. Deloitte (an accounting firm) then counts all of them, seals them in envelopes, and delivers them to the Grammy award show.

** The Grammy's just announced this year they're removing the "secret committees" so let's see how things shift in the next couple of years**

So obviously I'm not saying this to discredit Harry's nomination or his win as Fine Line was in the US top 20 albums for the majority of 2020, however, we must acknowledge privilege. Harry has a big name to him and a huge following, and while all of that shouldn't be taken into account, it does. He also has the Azoffs, a very well connected family with friends in lots of places that would be able to put in a good word here and there to get support behind Harry. Harry won best pop solo performance for Watermelon Sugar in a category with Doja Cat, Justin Bieber, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, and Dua Lipa. Look at the names there, the songs (ya'll can try and remember them cause I'm too lazy to write it out) and tell me that those top names with all of the music produced didn't get there through some connections.

Do with all this information what you will and if you are interested in learning more about the entertainment industry on your own Endeavor (owners of WME, a big talent agency like CAA) is hosting a free online program called the Excellence Program to help guide the future generation of industry executives. The program is a-synchronous and starts on July 12th. Highly recommend giving it a go if you're interested!!!

Alright ya'll that's it. Feel free to message me with your thoughts!

Extra Sources if you'd like to read:

https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkdndn/how-grammys-voting-actually-works-and-where-the-alleged-corruption-lies

https://www.grammy.com/grammys/awards/voting-process

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2020-11-05/irving-azoff-eagles-manager

https://celebrityaccess.com/caarchive/jeffrey-azoff-exits-caa-to-launch-new-management-company/

https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/grammy-awards-secret-committees-945532/

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/grammy-awards-eliminate-secret-committees-voting-changes-1163887/

[introvertguide]

The Road Movie

Most movies follow a general script type depending on genre, and this is used to tell a story that has a satisfying ending. It is interesting when a movie mixes up type and tone and goes against genre type. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it is terrible. Great directing and acting can make the subversion of expectations less jarring (or more depending on the end goal), but the end goal and tone allows us to attach a film to a genre. But what about films that aren't about the end goal? There are many films that are in a sub-genre that focus on the journey with little regard to the end goal. These are what are called "road movies" and can fall under many different genres since the end goal doesn't really matter. Let's address some famous road movies through the years that are also classified in a variety of other genres:

Huckleberry Finn (1931)

The OG of travel films, this was the sequel to Tom Sawyer (1930) and had the same child actors. This wasn't what you would call financially successful, but this was largely due to the Great Depression. The 1939 version of the movie did a lot better and was one of the well known films of child actor Mickey Rooney. This story of travel was an early role for many actors including Rooney, Ron Howard, and Elijah Wood. Although there were threats of death and portrayals of slavery, this film was considered a family adventure in the pre-code film era. I guess a boy escaping his abusive father in the company of an adult escaped slave where people are actively attempting to rob and kill them was considered a fun family romp in the early 30s. This was the same story that came from a book that was banned in schools during the 1980s. It is a great story and I love the works of Mark Twain; I am just surprised at the genre.

Stagecoach (1939)

This is a great movie that transcends the Western genre of which it is categorized. A group of people all have different reasons for traveling from an Arizona territory over to New Mexico. There is word of vengeful thieves and angry Apaches that threaten the small band of travelers. It is actually very intense because the threat feels very real throughout the film. The entire film focuses on the journey and the relationships forged (and broken) on the way. This was the breakout role for John Wayne and was part of an amazing string of films directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne.

Easy Rider (1969)

This is a film that really spoke to the hippie movement during the Vietnam Era. It is statement on how difficult it is to truly be free and how society fears that freedom and tries to destroy it. The film might very well have the worst dialogue of any movie I have ever seen. Actors Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper were actively using drugs throughout film production, so the real draw was the sweet rides and the moving soundtrack. This is a movie where I actually want more driving montages and less character development because I don't identify with the characters at all. Maybe it is a generational gap.

Paper Moon (1973)

This film is amazing. It is the story of a traveling grifter who takes a little girl on the road with him after her mother dies. He teaches her how to make a living cheating people and they form a father-daughter type of relationship. It is a comedy drama that won the girl an Oscar for best supporting actress when she was only 10. Some nice back story, the girl is Tatum O'Neal and is the actual daughter of the grifter, played by Ryan O'Neal. It is kind of strange, but this is a "coming of age" film on the road.

The Blues Brothers (1980)

Now this is what I am talking about. Two brothers go on a trip after being released from jail because they got a message from God. I am pretty sure that this film still holds the record for most crashed vehicles in a single movie. It is also interesting that the film is technically a musical. The brothers stop at different locations and songs break out. In between stops, they are chased by the police in an almost demolition derby style chase. I really enjoy this movie and believe that it really keeps a fast pace (literally and figuratively), but, like many road films, I can't say it is good because it is more of an experience than a story.

Thelma and Louise (1991)

This was an interesting twist on the "run from the law" type of film. Two women are friends and decide go on a weekend retreat. They get in trouble after killing a man who tries to assault them and have to run from the authorities. It has a reputation for being very feminist (despite being directed by accused mesogenist Ridley Scott) because of the negative portrayal of men. It obviously wasn't that bad since it was nominated for 6 Oscars including both leads for best actress. In fact, Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon were both nominated for best actress at the Academy Awards, the BAFTAs, and the Golden Globes. It is the quintessential road film since the end goal is constantly changing and best defined as "away from here."

Natural Bork Killers (1994)

This was kind of a strange film. It is a crime drama where the audience follows two killers with traumatic childhoods as they meet and go on a murder spree. Similar to Bonnie and Clyde, but with gory murders as the focus over bank robberies. It is directed by Oliver Stone, and criticizes the glorification of violence by the media. It is most definitely a road movie because the end goal for the two is simply to be together and enjoy the rush of breaking the law. Hm. It is actually quite a bit like Bonnie and Clyde. Interesting. I would like to make a note that my mom hates this film because of the shaky cam and Dutch angles. It made her feel sick at the theater.

Road Trip (2000)

OK. This is far and away my least favorite film on this list, but it is the most famous "boner road comedy" that I am familiar with. It is a high school/college coming-of-age film that focus on the sexual pursuits of a group of young men. These types of films are marked with gross out humor, gratuitous nudity, and boys trying to have sex. There was a bunch of films like this that came out around the early 2000s and they all had to do with boys traveling some place in search of idealized sex (the plot on this one is a little different, something to do with a sex tape) and generally they find that the best girl for them was there by them all along. It takes a nice idea of character development and throws raunchy jokes and boobs at it. I was not a fan, but it was definitely a thing.

Death Proof (2007)

This is much better shlock. It is the Tarantino version of exploitation grindhouse films of the seventies, but updated to be a women empowerment film. It was part of a double feature that was paired with a horrific zombie outbreak film directed by Rod Rodriguez, but this one is much better on its own. It is the story of an old stunt man who travels around looking for unsuspecting victims whom he can run down in his indestructible car. This is a great example of what a road movie can be because Tarantino took the concept of a slasher and put it completely on the road.

Mad Max Fury Road (2015)

Here is an action revenge film in a post-apocalyptic wasteland where most of the film is driving. The producers couldn't find a director who they trusted with remaking George Miller's Mad Max franchise so the 70 year old Miller said "hold my beer" and made this masterpiece that is arguably better than any of the first three (edit: I guess Miller always intended to direct but it took so long to go into production that he joked in interviews about giving up on it). The original trilogy with Mel Gibson presents an amazing world where most people are nomadic and traveling can be a life or death proposition. Fury Road is the further adventures of the character and his interaction with one Furiosa. The use of many practical effects on moving vehicles that was garnished with CG effects made for one of the best action films in the last decade. It was more than a simple movie about traveling; it was a land were the road was life and everything surrounded the ability to be mobile enough to get supplies in a dead world.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is by no means all of the road movies. The Wizard of Oz is technically a road movie. The Grapes of Wrath is a critically acclaimed road movie from around the same time. Comedies like The Cannonball Run, Smokey and the Bandit, and National Lampoon's Vacation can all be classified in the genre. Rain Man is one of the best films of all time and it can be classified as a road movie. What it comes down to is that, when considering characters, a writer should think about the journey itself and think of how the leads interact with this entity. The road might be the best character in the whole story.

[azazelsconfessional]

((so i was gonna open up my askbox again but I got distracted doing this and watching streams i think idr what i did the past few hours, buuut there's something I need to cover first, especially since there are so many new people around! Hello! Especially since so many of you are playing OCs/MCs.

Don't worry, it's a tip to hopefully help you along! It may get a little long, especially as I try and provide examples. . .but hopefully it'll help.

I'm gonna talk a lot about OCs but this applies to canon characters too a bit. It certainly helps.

Tl;dr, you should have a character profile page.

(also remember that tumblr mobile doesn't really have direct access to Pages made with the Pages function on desktop, so you'll have to link them manually in your pinned or description or host them on another site(I used Google Docs in the apst) or in a regular post(this makes it very easy to lose as a forewarning) for maximum accessibility!)

(rules pages are also really really handy if you have alot of resteictions.)

So, in general, OCs have a bit of a lower reception rate in rp. Idk if that'll be the case here with MCs because they're, well, the main character. Housamo is also a series that lends itself well to OCs pretty well, especially non-human ones, but I figured I'd warn for that.

BUT. That doesn't mean you shouldn't play an OC! It just means there are things you need to keep in mind!

Think of all of the OCs you've seen--you all seem to be fun and wonderful people, and your characters are surely interesting. But. . .if you don't tell anybody about them, nobody will know what's going on or where to start, which makes asking questions a little hard, right? That's easier to work around with MC characters--we've played the game, we know the story, we know the characters, so we can figure out questions fairly easily based on that alone and go from there.

But with other OCs, especially those that don't represent charactera from mythology or fiction like many other characters in housamo do, there's like. Nowhere to start. We may see a face or some dialogue, but otherwise we don't have a frame of reference.

That's where a profile comes in!

Azazel-mun, I don't want to share all of the info about my character at once!

What if I don't know everything about my OC yet and want to figure it out along thw way?

The profile doesn't have to be super detailed! At most it shoule include things like the character's name and age and probably things like their location, profession, grade in school or place of work, etc., and anything you'd notice on the surface like their apperance. It's never a bad thing to include a description of their personality too, or a small section about their history/background. Little things that even you should probably know, too.

You can also section your profile off a bit into things like "surface info," "meta info," "things you could easily figure out about them," etc. That way, no one can spoil themself. Making lists like this can help you think these things through if you haven't already as well.

Let's use Azazel, a character that you probably know already, as an example here. I don't have a profile set

Name: Azazel

Species: Fallen Angel; Capra Therian - an anthropomorphic Goat (?)

Gender(pronouns): Male(he/him)

Age: difficult to calculate; several thousand years old?

Apperance age: hard to say, he's not human. Adult.

Origins: banished from his home world of Eden, has been in the human world for several thousand years

Profession: Priest of dubious denomination, most likely Catholic or Protestant; teacher at Daikanyama Academy; de facto head of the Missionaries Non-Profit charity Organization; supervisor of the Aoyama Missionaries

Role & Rule: Watcher; Revelation - allows him to see anything within the territory of the Aoyama Missionaries and anywhere the pages of his Artifact see

Apperance: Azazel is a 5'10"(180cm) tall, anthropomorphic goat of ambiguous breed, with fawn fur all over his body and lighter fur on his head and around his neck. He has brown, riged horns which curve out and back. Though his eyes are often closed, when opened they're red. He always carried around a leather bound bible with an eye on the cover, and is never seen without several chains on his person, although only the one(s) around his neck can be seen unless he's undressed.

He wears a black priest's cassock with a maroon sash and a capelet of the same color, with the same eye as on his bible on the shoulders of the cape, and brown dress shoes. The front of the robe is always open to expose his bare chest and the chains beneath.

Personality: Azazel is kind and doting, very fitting of both a teacher and priest, although his openly flirtatious, lustful, and secretive nature causes others to distrust him. He doesn't mind this at all. He has a strong adoration for humans, and values love in all of its forms more than anything. He's a bit of a passive person, often being unmotivated but working hard regardless, and seems to prefer to watch others and the world go by, although he won't decline most invitations to take part in it. He is always aware of anything that happens within the extensive territory of the Missionaries, and seems to know and see just about everything about anyone he meets, from their surface to their soul. . . .

If you know Azazel, or take note of some of the wording or question marks, you'll note I didn't explain everything(although I may have shared more than you want to.) This is just a bare bones exampe of how I do my profiles--but it can get even more bare!

I'll do two this time, a more vague version of Azazel's, and another that obscures information all together, using the same or a similar format to the above.

Name: Azazel

Species: anthropomorphic goat

Gender(pronouns): male (he/him)

Age: unquestionably an adult

Origins: Eden

Profession: Priest; teacher; head of a charity NPO; member of the Missionaries

Apperance: Horned goatman of slightly above average human height. Light brown fur, blond fur-hair, red eyes. Wears priest robes and a gold chain around his neck and chest. Carries around a bible with an eye on it?

Personality: Kind of eerie, but friendly and affectionate. A little flirtatious, especially towards humans. Seems to know everything about people for some reason?

Compare it to the one before--see how I've left even more things off or left things ambiguous while still sharing what's necessary or surface level? However, it's also not as engaging or as informative as the other one where I gave more information.

As someone who plays him, profiles like this aren't as helpful for me lol since he knows so much about everyone and everything, having a lot of details helps me play my character!

Now, as helpful as this is, this is also a character you probably know. So how about I do this with an OC? Normally I'm extremely detailed in my profiles and such, especially for OCs, sharing headcanons and ideas for relationships between characters. But, again, I'll try and show how you can show some info while leaving some up to people to ask about to later be filled in.

Name: Kezia

Faceclaim/Art Source: [this is where you would put where you get the art for any icons you use--if you draw it yourself, say so; if you use official art from a series, credit the name of the character and the series; if you use picrews, link the specific picrews. DO NOT USE ART YOU HAVE NOT BEEN PERMITTED TO USE. DO NOT STEAL ART. IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE CREDIT, ASK SOMEONE TO HELP YOU, DO NOT JUST SAY THAT IT ISN'T YOURS. DO NOT USE ART YOU HAVE NOT BEEN GIVEN PERMISSION TO USE OR THAT ISN'T FROM A SERIES OF SOME SORT.]

Species: Human

Gender(pronouns): Female (she/her)

Age: mid 20's~early 30's?

Apperance age: older than she looks?

Origins: Tokyo?

Profession: Professor; Witch

Apperance: A fidgety woman who looks older than she is. She looks anxious and confused as often as she looks curious and confident. Wavy light brown hair. Often carries around schoolbooks and is never alone, always with a Rattus Therian and often with a Nyarlathotep.

Personality: seemingly anxious, but curious and exploratative nonetheless. On the awkward side, but can still keep up with the Nyarls that accompany her. Gets into trouble when she gets ahead of herself in exploring and learning about the arcane, but her Rule allows her to disappear easily.

History: Has always been curious about magic and attempted to run through a Gate when they began to open up. Performed a summon and brought a certain transients to Tokyo and recieved her familiar and the magic to use her Rule as a result. Currently teaches at a college. She stumbled into a certain someone while attempting to explore time, and became a fan ever since.

That tells you a fair amount, doesn't it? Even for someone you don't know? It may even raise some questions that you could ask. At the same time, it doesn't tell you that much, and that can be as much of a hindrance for coming up with questions as saying too much can. It's really up to you what's too much and too little. Here's a more detailed version! Some things have been left vague or confusing in such a way that they could be filled in after being revealed through asks and play. That way, people are encouraged to/given ideas of what to ask--and you can still share things in the long run.

Name: Kezia

Faceclaim/Art Source: [N/A]

Species: Human

Gender(pronouns): Female (she/her)

Age: mid 20's~early 30's?

Apperance age: somewhere in her 30's, maybe even a little older

Origins: Tokyo, with some sort of connection to at least one other world

Profession: Professor of [?] at [?] Academy; Witch

Role & Rule: [?] & [?]

Artifact, Summon, Familiar?: Always accompanied by at least one Nyarlathotep and some sort of man-rat? She also carries around a book that's labeled as a Grimoire, but it's rare for someone to be both a summon-user and an Artifact-user. . . .

Apperance: A fidgety older woman wearing a labcoat and a witch's hat. She looks quite stressed and has trouble sitting still. Her ashy brown hair is thin and a little wavy, with some strands of gray. Although she often squints, she doesn't wear glasses. She carries around a lot of books relating to maths and sciences and one labeled 'Grimoire' decorated with arcane symbols from Gehenna and Old Ones. She's always accompanied by at least one Nyarlathotep and a very short, bearded man who can best be described as a brown rat therian with a human-like face. Sometimes there's a normal rat on her person or in her pockets.

Personality: Kezia is a fidgety and anxious magic practitioner. She's very curious about other worlds and has been since the Gates appeared in this Tokyo since she was a child, however she has been pursuing magic before then. She often appears somewhat confused about or fascenated by even her usual surroundings, but, at other times moves through the world with confidence even in unfamiliar territory. She also likes rats and other rodents, and as such will often avoid felines and birds of prey. She has a tendency to disappear, seeming to walk through walls despite assuredly being alive.

She's a little bit awkward with people, but somehow keeps up with Nyarlathoteps nonetheless. She's a good teacher, once she figures out how to explain things in ways others can understand easily, but can be a bit difficult to follow and flighty up until then. Aware of this, she's rather patient, if a little down on herself at times. However, she most often simply has her mind elsewhere. Despite this and the company she keeps, she's relatively sane. . .most of the time.

She shares a name with a witch from the world of Old Ones who made a pact with Nyarlathotep, believing him to be the Devil. . .and the ratman always at her side uses the same name as that witch's familiar as well. It's. . .probably just a coincidence. . .who would rightfully make a pact with Nyarlathotep?

History: Kezia is an adult human from this Tokyo before the apperance of the Gates and construction of the Walls. She's explored various witchcraft pursuits since she was a child, with what was originally a mere imaginative curiosity and fascination. After the arrival of the Gates when she was still young, she snuck over the fences built around one and attempted to go inside the massive pillar of light, which she attributes to the reason she often seems to struggle with her vision. Several years later, she performed a successful summon and she recieved her familiar, Brown Jenkin, transformed into a somewhat therian form from one of her pet rats, and was given some powers from Nyarlathotep. She has no discernable control over any of the chaotic creatures, however they seem to spend time around her regardless.

At present she's a professor of a subject that interests her at a certain college. She's had other dangerous run-ins due to her excitement over the arcane and "darker" arts, but doesn't seem to show any signs of stopping. However, after an incident in an attempt to explore time itself, she encountered a certain guardian of time and feels reluctant for once to explore it further. . .although she's become quite a big fan of his.

. . .i ran out of steam amd kinda lost track of where i was going. idk if that helped at all really. But maybe it did! I hope it did. You don't need to use any of those things exactly by any means, but that's the kind of thing you usually see in profile pages. Basics like someone's name and birthday and age and apperance and a little about their personality, maybe some history. Oftentimes things like powers and weapons and the like. Interests, hobbies, ways they could be intereacted with, etc. Just stuff that'd help you know the character.

I write everything in paragraph form, but everyone is more than welcome to use a more script format. I love making profiles, myself--it really helps to think about the character and details about them. Normally I make really, really detailed profiles, but maybe I'll try and be more simple about it this time around. depends on how i'm feeling.

I know this seems weirdly hypocritical given I don't have one but when I first made this blog there were like four of us including myself. I didn't see the need for a rules or profile page because I didn't anticipate that there'd be so many of us or, like, people from other fandoms or who aren't familiar with certain characters. I'll rectify that soon hopefully. But I figured I'd pass along this idea/knowledge to others.

. . .I'm gonna go reopen my askbox now. Feel free to send asks again, ask about this, etc! You can send me an IM too if you want. I'll properly close up the guest event tomorrow. I'm real tired rn lol so idk how much i'll get done, but i usually do things super late at night my time, so i have some time to pull my shit together haha))

[emelywrites]

Hi there! Could you write a fic about Diego and the Little Hargreeves? After being basically raised by Diego, she is very close to him, right? I think it would be interesting to see how their father’s funeral happens with them there. Cuz their other siblings barely got to know her, but Diego is more a father figure to her than Reggie ever was, and how she would stand by Diego in everything and showing how much they love each other and rely on one another (he would be so overprotective for sure)

Oh my god, I’m so sorry I took several months to get back to this but honestly I didn’t know where to begin. Now, these past few days I’ve been writing this, and I hope you enjoy. 

(For more parts see my Masterlist)

We Only See Each Other At Weddings And Funerals

Reginald Hargreeves was dead. You, 25 years old, far away from home, trying to stand on your own two feet, could not really care any less. You hadn’t seen your father since you and Diego had gone away from home. After you had graduated you went on to college across the country and now, deep in student’s debt and having just started to work, you truly did resent him.

What does one have an eccentric billionaire of a distant father for if not to pay one’s student debt? When you heard about it on the news one night you called Diego.

“Maybe there’s something in the will for you. God knows, you need it, Little”, he said.

“And to whom would he give something in his will? ‘The other child’? ‘The seven called her Little or something’?”, you wondered while putting some strong alcohol in your cart.

“And even if there isn’t. If you’re there we can discuss what you get. I don’t wanna go either but it feels like I truly have to”, he argued, “I think I’ll need you there, too.”

You sighed. He knew you couldn’t say no to him. He had raised you and that weighed quite heavily as an argument. “Fine. But I’m out the second someone asks who the hell I am and what the hell I want.”

That night you got quite tipsy and went to bed early because your drunk brain wouldn’t let you stay up. The next day at work you organised for a week off so you could go home for “a loved one’s funeral”, trying not to gag while you said that. 

On the train ride to The City you contemplated all the different scenarios that could play out. But nothing came to mind, really. Honestly, you didn’t even know what the others looked like. Diego and you tried to see each other as often as possible, so at least you were excited to see him. When you got off the train, he was waiting for you on the platform. You smiled brightly and ran into his arms, the duffle bag on your back slowing you down slightly and hopping around.

After you’d hugged for a little while he pulled back and took your bag. “Have you seen anyone yet?”, you asked on your way to the car.

“Well, yeah, I saw Klaus a while ago when I got him back into rehab. Not too excited about the rest”, he mumbled.

“I mean, Alison’s last film was pretty good apparently. I couldn’t go see it but I heard good things about it. It’s always great to hear “Hey, are you related to that actress? Cause you, like, have the same name and stuff.””, you laughed.

“Oh, and you know The Times’ alright selling author, Vanya, of course”, he rolled his eyes.

“You know, I think she was right. She was treated awfully, and so was I.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t write a book about it, for everyone to see, without even asking if we were okay with it.”

“Well, you wouldn’t have been alright with it.”

“Exactly my point”, he threw the bag in the backseat while you got in on the passenger’s side.

“Let her be, Diego. She’s been through enough, she doesn’t need us beating her up over living her life the way she wants to.”

He just rolled his eyes and then you proceeded to spend the rest of the car ride talking about your siblings and what had gone on in your lives while you didn’t see each other. When he parked the car next to your childhood home you looked at it with dread.

“Damn, this is what I took a week off for?”, you asked quietly, as if Dad could hear you if you spoke up.

Diego laughed. “Pretend you took the week off to see me.” You both smiled at that and got out of the car.

You took your own bag again and you entered the house. Pogo greeted you at the door.

“Oh, Master Diego, how nice to see you. Miss Hargreeves, I wasn’t expecting you.”

You gave him a short half smile and wrapped your hand around Diego’s wrist, trying to tell him that you didn’t want to make conversation and just get it over with.

“Nice to see you, too, Pogo. (Y/N) and I thought it’d be nice if she came along because she’s his daughter, too, you know. More than any of us, really”, Diego grumbled, obviously disappointed that you weren’t wanted.

“(Y/N)?”, Pogo asked, “That’s a very nice name, Miss Hargreeves.”

“Thank you. Diego came up with it after we moved out. Most people in the world outside this house have normal names”, you said.

You stood in awkward silence for a couple moments until Diego and Pogo nodded in a silent goodbye and you took off to explore the rest of the house.

“It hasn’t changed at all.”

Later that day all six of you stood in the courtyard, along with Grace and Pogo. Luther dumped the ashes while you stood next to Diego, his arm wrapped around you in a protective manner. You raised an eyebrow and let out a mocking snort when you looked at the pile of ashes on the ground, slowly getting soaked in the rain.

“You have anything to say, Little?”, Luther said with a raised eyebrow.

“No”, you said quickly.

Diego looked at you, who was looking at the ground, a smile that was trying to suppress a laugh on your face. The corner of his mouth twitched as he also tried to suppress his smile.

“You think it’s funny? Really? Dad died. Why are you even here?”, Luther asked you as he stepped closer.

“Hey, leave her alone, man”, Diego said.

“No, he’s right, it is funny”, you interrupted, “Look at that. It’s a pathetic pile of dust, that’s all he is now. That’s basically how he treated me my entire life, kind of ironic, huh?”

Alison snorted and Vanya’s lips twitched into a smile, before it immediately disappeared again.

“I’m here because I’m his daughter, too. Honestly, I’m hoping to pay off my student debt with a tiny piece of inheritance that I might not even receive because he forgot I existed. Some of my friends told me that their parents paid for their tuition, isn’t that crazy? And all my friends told me that their parents noticed them growing up. Anyway, I’m gonna get out of the Umbrella Academy’s hair. I was right, I shouldn’t have come.”

You turned to leave when Diego pulled you back. “You’re right. You have a right to be here just as much as the rest of us. Leave her alone, Luther. That’s my sister you’re attacking.”

“Boys, we don’t need a fight today or any day, really”, Alison tried to step up.

“This isn’t about you, this is about Little here, trying to sneak her way back in when it’s convenient.”

“It’s (Y/N) now, actually. And we’re all doing just that right now. We all left as soon as we could. You can’t fucking blame her for existing”, Diego shoved Luther, “Just because you stayed Daddy’s little boy doesn’t mean the rest of us didn’t grow up.”

Luther glared at Diego and then lunged at him. Everyone tried to do something about the two of them fighting but of course they never stopped until they knocked over Ben’s statue. I tightly grabbed Diego’s hand with a frown on my face and my eyebrows drawn together. Luther glared at us and then stomped off. The rest of us followed shortly thereafter.

This had been a bad idea.

[jjmaybanksbaby]

enamel pins, school dances and summer movie nights

or: alternatively, i hate everybody but you

pairing: kiara carrera x rafe cameron (platonic)

warning: cursing, underage drinking, some fighting, rafe cameron being sappy because that deserves a tw of its own

word count: 7.2k words

MASTERLIST

"I’m so glad that they’re still doing this. Keep calm. Carry on," Kiara said to the boys as she stuffed the change from their tickets back into her wallet.

It would have been an understatement to say that JJ and Pope hadn’t been eager to attend the outdoor movie night hosted by the Island Club. In fact, they'd spend thirty minutes listing all the things they would rather do when Kiara proposed the idea. She'd let them grumble about going for the better part of an hour since she knew there was no way the pogues would let her go to something on Figure Eight alone. Pogues always had each other's backs, always. Kiara figured the least she could do was pay their entry fee. Plus, she knew JJ and Pope didn't exactly have extra cash laying around for movie nights.

She would have dragged all three of the boys with her but John B hadn't been back to the chateau all day. Since the cell towers were still down thanks to the hurricane, she could only guess where he was.

"Welcome to the summer movie series. All proceeds go to...." The announcer's voice boomed over the loudspeakers as Kiara lead the boys to an empty space in the middle of the crowd.

"Back to OBX life. You know? Aren’t you guys glad that I made you come?" She really didn't have to ask, she was already sure of their answer.

"Ecstatic," Pope responded, his tone clearly lacking enthusiasm.

"My couch was pretty comfy, I’ll be honest," JJ echoed.

"We’re out of the green zone, man," Pope leaned over, commenting to JJ, out of earshot of Kiara. She didn't know about Topper's boat and Pope wasn't really interesting in bringing her in as another accessory to the crime.

"Dude, tranquilo, okay?" JJ whispered back.

"We're in the middle of Kooklandia. This is the last place I wanted to be."

"Shut up, Pope," JJ snapped, his wide eyes with warning. This was Kiara's thing, they weren't gonna let the Shakespearesque fued between Kooks and Pogues ruin her fun.

-

"Hey, uh…can I get two Pepsis, pleases?" Kiara asked the employee currently manning the snack bar.

"Sure," he replied.

Kiara slide the money for the sodas across the counter and took the cold drinks, watching Rafe slowly approaching from out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, Kie," Rafe said. Kie felt her pulse spike at a nickname he'd originally given her. "Hey, what’s up? How are you?"

"I’m fine," she replied, intentionally angling her body away from him, her gaze resting anywhere but on him. For someone whose presence she uses to be able to relax in, now the sight of Rafe put her on edge.

"Good, good. Um...Tell your boy that we know what he did." Rafe held her stare and Kiara couldn't stop her lip from curling up in contempt.

"Sorry, what boy are you talking about?"

"Uh, he’ll know." Rafe smiled as if this conversation was bringing him some wicked sense of pleasure.

Rafe opened his mouth as to say something else but Kiara turned away from him. "Bye," he called to her as she walked away.

"Douche," Kiara said, loud enough that she was sure he would still hear her. She threw a glance over her shoulder, feeling Rafe's eyes still watching her.

-

Kiara handed Pope a Pepsi. "Just saw Rafe, and he said, and I quote, 'Tell your boy that we know what he did.' What is that?" She finished, handing JJ the second soda.

"Um...Where is he?" JJ asked back.

"Right there." Pope and JJ's heads turned around to look with her.

"Great the whole death squad," Pope said.

JJ grabbed the top of Pope's head, knocking his snapback off as he forced it forward. "Don’t stare, bro," JJ paused. "Just warning you, bro. If they corner me, I’m coming out swinging, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," Pope agreed.

"Slice and dicin’. I’m on edge right now, okay? If that doesn’t work, I got this right here." JJ held up his worn backpack.

Fucking hell, Kiara thought. He brought the gun.

"Yeah, yeah. So, we just gotta stay in the group. They can’t come get us if we’re in the group," Pope remarked.

"Like a school of fish.”

"Stay in the school. Can’t leave the school. Stay in school," Pope repeated to himself.

"I’m sorry JJ…" Kiara interrupted. "Please tell me that you did not bring a gun here. JJ, there are kids."

"No Kie! I didn’t bring the gun. Everything’s fine, okay?" JJ assured, his frantic tone betraying him.

"Oh wow, thank you. That’s really convincing. I love that JJ." Kiara looked from JJ to Pope, trying to assess what kind of trouble they’d caused now. "Founding principle, you guys. No secrets amongst Pogues. What is Rafe talking about?"

Pope leaned it, bringing his face closer to Kiara's. "Kie, it might go down tonight."

"What does that mean?" Their vagueness was making Kiara extra suspicious. "'Might go down tonight.' What did y’all do?"

The boys look at each other, neither of supplying any answers to Kiara's questioning.

"Deny, deny, deny," JJ said quietly to Pope under his breath.

The opening score of The Addams Family cracked through the weathered speakers forcing an end to the conversation. A memory popped into Kiara’s head before she had time to stop it. This was Sarah Cameron’s favorite movie. Sarah used to mouth the lines along with the actors every time they watched it together.

There were a lot of glamorous parts of being best friends with the Kook-queen Sarah Cameron. When they walked down the shiny hallways of the Kook Academy literally arm-in-arm peoples' heads turned and watched them go by. All the mean girls with their once snarky remarks were suddenly complimenting Kiara's "unique style," begging her to tell them where she bought her clothes. (In truth, most of it was actaully thrifted since that was much more eco-friendly.) Plus there was the way Sarah swiped her Daddy's black card without a second thought. Kiara’s family lived on Figure Eight, they were a part of the Island Club but they would never have the kind of east coast old money the Cameron's had.

It wasn’t something Kiara usually minded. The whole money thing. Kiara never saw herself as less than because she didn’t wear a watch that cost as much as college tuition on her wrist. But it was more than that: Kiara never really saw herself as much of a Kook to begin. She didn’t want that lifestyle. She never had. It was her parents who pushed it on her. Her mom had grown up under the crystal chandeliers and ever-watchful eyes. She’d debuted into Outer Banks high society at the age of seventeen like every Kook at that age still did. An action which Kiara scoffed at. Her mom was fully prepared to be another success story of the ring-before-spring pipeline, returning to the Outer Banks after four years of college with an MRS degree and a husband who would be balding by his early forties.

But in a Hollywood-worthy meet-cute that involved one drunk sorority girl and her vodka-induced need for pancakes, Mike Carrera stumbled into Anna's life.

Mike Carrera was the opposite of Anna in every way that counted. His whole life had been hard work and grit, fighting for the things that were rightfully his and taking them when people still refused to hand them over. He had a pipe dream of owning his own restaurant, a borderline fantasy that he was dead-set on making sure came true. Anna loved him and he loved her right back. They eloped to Vegas the week after graduation even though own Anna’s mother was halfway through planning the wedding. They bought cheap rings and a second-hand dress since they were still living paycheck to paycheck. Though the bright lights of Vegas had made the impromptu wedding seem a bit more glamorous than it really was, they both knew deep down their love was the real thing. They promised each other till death do us part and meant it.

When Anna found out she was pregnant, she talked Mike into going back to the Outer Bank. Anna swore up and down the move was only so her parents could help with the baby. They'd live on the cut, work for what they deserved and be happy. Then Anna's parents bought them a house on Figure Eight as a wedding gift and Sunday dinners at the Island club became protocol. Anna slipped back into her life as a Kook and brought Mike with her. When the restaurant turned into the tourist hot spot, the zeros in their bank accounts started growing. The Carrera's got rich but their money could never compete with the trust-fond generational wealth of their fellow Kooks.

The Outer Banks only had one elementary school. All the kids on the island were thrown together at an age where no one yet realized the lines between the haves and have nots. Fifth grade was when it got messy. Every fall the class size heading to the Kildare County Middle School dropped by half when all the Kooks transferred to St. Andrews “Kook” Academy. A breeding ground for Ivy-league-bound eighteen-year-olds who lived with the cushions of their parents' bank accounts.

Kiara begged her parents not to make her go to the Kook Academy. She would have rather died than leave her best friends, Bea and Joey, who were both Pogues and staying at KDMS. She didn't realize that middle school would rip the three of them apart. By eighth grade, Kiara had her new friends. Pope Heyward, John B. and JJ Maybank, but he still went by Junior back then. Even if they were bothered by Kiara's status as half-Kook, in the same way Bea and Joey had been, they never showed it.

Mike and Anna didn't see the need to send Kiara to St. Andrews if she didn't want to go but as high school inched closed with every year, the whispers about the Kook in public school grew louder. The summer before freshman year, her parents offered her a deal - though it was hardly a fair one in Kiara's mind. She could either stay at Kildare County High School but she'd have to work in the restaurant in her free time or she could go to St. Andrews with complete freedom for a year. Kiara knew her parents wanted her to transfer so she caved and agreed to a year at St. Andrews to make them happy. Anna prayed her daughter would find her people at St. Andrews and that one year would turn into four but Kiara knew she had already found her people and was counting down the days till she could go back to them. It was only when Sarah Cameron decided the new girl might be cool that Kiara stopped marking each passing day with a big red x.

-

There was less than a week left in their Christmas break and Kiara was seated across from Sarah at the Cameron's dining room table bent over her practice problems for Mr. Harrings' freshman science. He infamously gave out the hardest pop quiz of the year the first day back after break and Kiara's grade couldn't take her failing it.

"What’s avocado’s number?” Sarah asked, looking up from her paper, her pen frozen in midair.

“What’s what?” said Kiara, thoroughly confused at Sarah’s question.

“You know,” Sarah paused, scanning Kiara’s face for any sign of understanding. “Avogadro’s number. Some kid in my class thought the dude’s name was avocado so we’ve been calling it avocado’s number since.”

“Ah, Avogadro’s number,” Kiara repeated, shifting her papers around until she found the one with all the formulas and constants written on it. “Six point zero two two one four zero seven six times ten to the twenty-second power.”

Sarah punched the numbers into her calculator. “Thanks, babes.”

“Of course.”

Rafe’s heavy footsteps carried through the Cameron’s massive house announcing his arrival home. He strolled into the room, a thick stack of papers in one hand and a garment bag draped over the opposite arm.

“Hey loser,” Sarah said, not inspired enough by her brother's presence to look up from her work.

“Hi Rafe,” Kiara echoed. "Where you been?"

"Being Ward's errand boy. I forgot the key to his office where I was supposed to drop off this contract so he's gonna kill me for that. But," Rafe paused digging into his pocket and pulling out a small velvet pouch. "Merry late Christmas," he finished, handing the bag to Kie. "I saw it and I thought you'd like it."

Kiara reached into the pouch pulling out a small enamel pin of the earth, shaped into a heart with the word "love" in silver written over it. Kie smoothed her thumb over the cold metal.

"You know since you're gonna save the planet and everything," Rafe added.

"Thank you. I love it!" Kiara jumped up from her chair, throwing her arms around his waist wrapping him a hug.

"No problem, Kie." Rafe said.

"Hey, I'm trying to save our planet too." Sarah pipped up.

"Shut up, Sarah," Rafe cracked. "I gave you your Christmas present last week."

Sarah stuck her tongue out at him, Rafe doing the same in return.

"What are you guys working on?" Rafe asked.

"Science," Kiara replied, reaching down to grab her backpack from underneath the table.

"Is that for Mr. Harrings' class?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it is," Kie said, half distracting by trying to decide which spot to put her new pin in.

"I think I might still have my old test from that class if you want them.”

Sarah's head snapped up at the offer. "No way."

"Sound any more surprised, Sarah. I was offering them to Kiara anyway, snob," Rafe shot back.

"I'll share," Kie assured her best friend.

Kiara followed Rafe up the grand staircase, flopping on Rafe's bed while he searched for his old work.

"Henry Spiegel was talking about taking you to a he formal in the locker room before we left for break," Rade relied from inside his closet.

"Isn't he the freshman who made varsity lacrosse?" Kiara asked back. She contemplated the idea of going to St. Andrews' Winter Formal with him. Henry was nice enough, plus he was pretty good-looking. She could stand going with him.

"I told him if I found out he'd asked you, I'd make sure he missed the next three games because of a black eye."

"Rafe."

"What? Do you really think I'm gonna let some dweeb with half a brain who only wants to get in your pants take my little sisters to formal?"

"Who am I supposed to take?” She shot back.

“I don’t know. Not him,” Rafe said, emerging, a small stack of papers in hand.

“You know Denny asked Sarah last week.”

“I know.”

Kiara paused, “You will you take?”

Rafe shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Maybe Ashely M. Seniors don’t really go to the actual dance.”

Kie took the pages of old test for Rafe’s outstretched arm and riffled through them. His name was scribbled on the top of each one in his messy handwriting.

Her eyes drifted up to the Duke basketball poster in the corner of Rafe’s room.

“When do you hear from them?” Kie asked.

“March,” said Rafe, his voice void of emotion.

“I know you’ll get in.”

"My dad'll make sure of it.” Rafe sat down on the bed next to Kiara.

“You don’t know that.”

“I found a card addressed to Ward from the Dean of Student last week thanking him for 'the generous donation from such a valued alumni.'”

Kie's head dropped to rest on Rafe’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, well he’s a dick.” Rafe’s phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket, reading the text on the screen. “I gotta go. I told the boys we’d go hit at the Club tonight.”

“Thanks again for these.” Kie held up the papers. “And for the pin," she added.

“Mr. Harrings always includes the names of the scientists from the unit as bonus questions. Don’t forget to look those up,” Rafe said as he stood up from the bed. "See you around, Kie." He placed a small protective kiss on her forehead before he headed back downstairs.

-

"JJ?" Pope slapped JJ's shin to get his attention.

"What?" JJ whispered back over the sounds of the movie.

"I gotta take a piss.”

"Hold it."

"I can’t hold it. I drank too much soda."

"It’s too exposed. They’ll totally see us."

"I gotta go," Pope pleaded. He peered behind him to see Rafe, Topper, and Kelce still parked in the same spots at the back of the crowd. "They’re blocking the bathrooms," Pope added.

JJ looked around, thinking up a Plan B. "Alright. Come here. I know where.”

"Hey, where y’all going?" Kiara asked, turning her attention away from the movie.

"We gotta wring it out," JJ responded deadpan.

"What? You gonna hold it for each other," Kiara questioned, disgusted at the thought.

JJ shrugged off the comment and lead Pope through the crowd, the two of them ducking behind a large oak tree.

Kiara turned back to the movie playing on the giant screen, leaving the boys to their own devices. Besides, they wouldn't dare start something with all the people around. They were idiots but they knew better than that.

"Crap," Kiara cursed under her breath when Rafe trailed by Topper and Kelce brushed by her, heading in the same direction Pope and JJ had went. She watched their figures disappear behind the screen before she jumped up from her seat.

JJ's gun, the thought flew her mind.

She picked up his backpack with no intention to use it but better safe than sorry. Especially when it came to those Kooks in particular.

"Hey, kick his ass, Top!" Kiara heard Rafe yell as she rounded the corner.

Kiara felt a full-fledged panic run through her body as she took in the sight. Kelce had pinned JJ's arm behind his back and was Rafe pounded his fist into JJ’s face. A foot away, Pope was barely holding off Topper. Whatever Pope and JJ had done had obviously crossed a line.

Kiara ran in without another thought, swinging JJ's backpack in front of her. "Let go of him, Topper! Fascist asshole!" She screamed at him.

Topper grabbed the bag from her, ripping it out of Kiara's hand and throwing it aside. Kiara jumped on Topper's back, desperate to distract him.

"Hey listen, Pope," Topper yelled over the sounds of the movie. "All you gotta do is accept a little personal responsibility."

"Screw you, kook," Pope spit back.

Kiara felt arms wrap around her waist, yanking her off of Topper. The too-familiar scents of Rafe's cologne filled her nose and his breath was hot on her cheek.

She kicked her legs struggling against him, "Let go of me, Rafe."

"Stay out of this, Kiara," he warned, tossing her onto the ground. His gaze fixed on her for a second before turning away. Kiara swore she saw a look of guilt flash across Rafe's face, wordlessly apologizing for tossing her away so harshly but she didn’t have time to think about that while her boys were still in trouble.

"Kie! You okay?" Pope yelled, struggling against Topper who had wrapped his arm around Pope's neck.

"Come on, man. Just admit it," Topper shouted. "Admit you did it, bitch!"

JJ's backpack had conveniently landed close to where Kiara lay. She rolled over, pushing herself onto her knees and crawling over to the backpack. She riffled through it, her hand landing on the cold mental of the gun.

"You don't mess with me, Pogue! You hear me?" Topper continued. Kiara looked up at Topper's face which showed no signs of mercy. Meanwhile, Rafe's fist smashed into JJ's face again and again. The situation was getting worse by the second. “I'm gonna give you one chance. One chance, Pope. One chance. Come on! One!"

Kiara dropped the gun back into the backpack pulling out JJ's lighter instead, two Js craved onto the surface. She had to go big to stop Rafe, Topper and Kelce. Kiara crawled over to the edge of the sheet the movie was being projected off. Fuck, this has to work.

"Finish him off, Top!" Rafe directed.

Kie flicked on the lighter, the wind blowing out the flame the first few times. Her hands were shaking as she grabbed the edge of the sheet and held the blue flame up to it. The fire lit up her face as it took hold, spreading faster than she had expected. The crowd yelped, scrambling away as the orange flames climbed toward the sky.

"Guys! Fire!" Rafe yelled, taking in the sight.

"Get off of him!" Kie pushed Topper away from Pope who fell to the ground gasping for air. "Kelce, let go of JJ!"

"Let's get out of here," Rafe started, fleeing the scene. The other Kooks not far behind him.

"You good?" Kiara asked Pope helping him off the ground. "We're okay." She assured. Her heart was racing, her hands still shaking.

"You're a freakin' idiot," Pope responded.

"I saved your ass. Come on." Kiara threw her arm around Pope's shoulder, leading him away.

The sounds of the film continued to echo over the speakers as the sheet burned to ash behind them.

-

Kiara sat slumped against the wall of the St. Andrews hallway that lead into the cafeteria. The frill of her $200 dress fanned out around her. The dress, in her opinion, had been a colossal waste of money but had Sarah actually squealed when Kiara walked out of the fitting room in it. Kiara had tugged at the awkward way the skirt st on her hips but Sarah wouldn’t shut up about how perfectly the blue color fit the Winter Wonderland theme so Kiara bought it. Now, the sequins itching against her collarbone were just annoying her and Kiara couldn’t help scratching at them, making the already red marks on her skin even angrier. She was so fucked. Denny had pulled out a flash during pictures and somehow it kept ending up in Kiara's hands. The whole dance thing had Kiara incredibly anxious so she kept taking sips of the flash to keep her self busy. First during pictures, then during dinner, and in the limo on the way to the school. Now the flask was lying empty on the floor next to her and her nerves were no less settled.

She longed for her pogues so much the pain of missing them made her stomach hurt. Well, that or the alcohol. At that moment, she would have given anything to be back with them. Back with Pope and his overly nervous tendencies, back with John B. and his ideas that usually lead them into trouble, back with JJ and his flirtatious banter that left her blushing a lot more than she cared to admit. They were her family, where she belonged. Not in the gated communities of Figure Eight with mansions so big they had rooms no one entered for weeks. This whole year had been a mistake. She couldn't stand the fakeness of everybody and everything that came as a side effect to bank accounts with the kind of zeros that could seriously help if the 1% gave up being so selfish. Even Sarah's save-the-sea-turtles-with-men façade was fading away revealing another rich kid who didn’t give a shit about who she hurt. 

The doors of the cafeteria swung open, the bass of the DJ's music filling the previously silent hallway. Kiara looked up to find Rafe jogging down the hall to her.

"What are you doing out here?" He asked, sliding down the way to sit next to her.

"The room kept spinning and...uh...I thought I might throw up so I went to find a bathroom," Kiara answered.

"You know the bathrooms are on the other side of the school?"

Kiara giggled which turned into a little burb which made her giggle even more.

"Jesus, Kiara. How drunk are you?" Rafe picked up the flask from the ground. He could smell the alcohol on her breath without even getting closer over. “Who's is this?"

Kiara paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Denny's."

"Sarah's date, Denny?"

Kiara nodded her head.

"Fuck," Rafe muttered. "Okay, let's get you out of here before any of the chaperons see and write you up." He stood up and held out both hands to held Kiara to her feet too.

Kiara pulled herself, leaning against Rafe for stability. The doors swung open again and Rafe's date marched into the hallway.

"Ugh, thank God. There you are. This dance is so lame. C'mon, we're all going to Joey's."

"I'm not coming. I have to take my sister home. She's totally trashed."

The girl's eyes moved over Rafe's face, landing on Kiara. "No," she corrected. "You're my date. You have to come with me."

"Did you not just hear me? I'm taking my sister home," Rafe replied.

"Are you kidding me? She's not even your real sister. She's hardly even a real Kook. I bet she's just using Sarah and you for your family's money. Just look at her dress. It's the same one every other wannabe trying-to-hard freshman has on. Pathetic."

Rafe pulled Kiara closer into him, wrapping an arm around her shoulder protectively. "You can fucking leave," Rafe spit back. "I don't wanna hear you ever talk about my family like that again."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I was gonna hook up with Brandan tonight anyway. He's way hotter than you." She spun on her, stalking off in the same direction she had come.

Kiara looked up at Rafe, her bottom lip shaking as tears welled in her eyes. "Are you mad at me?" She asked.

Rafe laughed. "Of course not, Kie. Ashley can go fuck herself. Or she can go fuck Brandan. I don't really care." He wiped away the tear that had slide down Kiara's cheek. "Let's go find Sarah so I can take you both home."

-

Sarah was sitting on her date's lap back inside the cafeteria turned South Pole for the night, laughing loud enough at Denny’s shitty jokes that it was throughly annoying everyone around her.

"Get up Sarah," Rafe commanded.

Sarah surprised at Rafe's sudden presence scrambled off her date's lap. Rafe reached down and grabbed a fistful of Denny's shirt. He cocked his arm back and swung his fist straight into Denny's nose which gave a definitive crack on impact. Sarah let out a gasp and rushed forward.

"What the fuck?" She screamed at Rafe, shoving him off her date.

"You're date's an ass. Kie's completed wasted thanks to him" he said to Sarah. "Let's go. I'm taking you both home."

Sarah glanced at Kiara, who was standing slightly behind Rafe feeling both embarrassed at how much she had drank and grateful for Rafe's protectiveness.

"But I wanna go to the afterparty," Sarah protested. "She has you." Sarah's eyes locked with Kiara and Kiara's heart sank. She could tell her "best friend" wasn't about to give up the rest of her night just because she was nervous and had drunk too much.

Kiara shifted awkwardly on her feet. Sarah could have a least pretended to be conflicted, considered missing the party for a second. God, Kiara missed the unwavering faithfulness of her pogues.

Kiara tugged on Rafe's hand and he glanced over his shoulder at her. "It's fine," she slurred. She really needed out of this itchy disaster of dress as soon as possible.

"You're a really great friend," Rafe said to Sarah.

"Whatever," Sarah replied, her voice almost mimicking the way Rafe's date had said the same words. "Let's go find some ice for your nose, Denny."

-

They had found the gold. It was fifty feet down a well under an ax-murders house no less but they'd fucking found it. John B's crazy plan had worked and all they needed to do was get the gold out, a job which had effectively been delegated to Pope. Of course, first they had to wait for John B to get back from his fishing trip with Ward Cameron, some twisted form of pseudo father-son bonding. What was it with men and finishing? Couldn’t they pick a sport that didn’t actively destroy the environment?

Pope sat atop the kitchen counter, a pencil tucked behind his ear, his mouth moving as he made silent calculations. JJ stood in the doorway of the chateau, dripping water from the hot tub onto the floor. Kiara had thrown off the couch cushions and was rifling through the desk draws, slamming each one with frustration when they didn't hold what she was looking for. Kiara noticed this morning that a pin was missing from her backpack. It didn’t seem like a big deal but with every passing second her panic escalated.

“What are you looking for, bro? I swear this house is like one of those Where’s Waldo? books.” JJ asked Kiara.

“Did you just make a reference to a book, JJ?” Pope chimed in from across the room.

“Just because I chose not to read, doesn’t mean I can’t Pope,” JJ replied.

“Both of you are idiots. It’s a picture book anyway, you don't read it. Can you help me find my pin, please? It's the one I've always had on my backpack. The earth, shaped like a heart," Kie explained.

"Right," Pope replied, sliding off the counter where he was sitting. “Why do you care about it so much anyway?”

“It was a gift."

“From who?”

“From someone at the Kook Academy.”

“Sarah?”

“No.”

“You had other friends there?” JJ mocked.

Kie hesitated. “Fine, it was actually from Rafe as a Christmas present.”

JJ and Pope automatically stopped and looked up at each other.

“Bro, please tell me this isn’t the same Rafe who almost beat Pope’s face in last week."

“It’s not about Rafe. It’s about the pin,” Kie said.

“That’s from Rafe,” Pope finished.

“You guys weren’t there. You don’t get it. Whatever," she huffed. “Don’t help me find it then.”

“No, please Kie. Enlighten us," the sarcasm dripped off JJ's voice.

“I said you don’t have to help,” Kie repeated.

“Hey Kiara,” Pope said, grabbing her wrist. He was always the first to tell when something was off with her.

Kiara shrugged him off, wiping away her tears with her tshirt hem before the other pogues saw them.

“There was just this time,” she started, still overturning books like the pin might have been under there. “At a dance. This senior called me a fake Kook. She said my dress looked tacky like I was trying way too hard to fit but I would never fit in because I’d always be a fucking Pogue. Which of course I don’t wanna be a Kook, I was just playing dress-up for the year to please my parents and it’s like she saw straight through. Rafe was there. Like an older brother. Told her to go fuck herself. That if she ever talked about me like that again, he’d tell the whole she had an std.” Kie paused to wipe her runny nose. “He was basically my family so when Sarah dropped me like I was nothing I was sure that meant Rafe didn’t think I was worth his time anymore too. I never reached out to him again and now he just looks at me the same way he looks at every other Pogue.”

Pope cleared his throat, clearly mildly uncomfortable with Kiara’s sudden expression of emotion. It was an almost unspoken rule among the four of them that they didn’t talk about Kie’s kook year. It had sucked, bottom line. She’d shown back up the summer after ninth grade and it was the four of them again just like middle school. No one had the guts to ask about anything that had happened that year so it never got brought up.

JJ couldn't stop himself from remembering what Rafe had said at Midsummers. Tell Kiara she looks pretty hot for a Pogue. Fucking jackass. If he'd been like a brother to Kie, of course he'd know just how to hit her where it hurt.

JJ clinched his fist, wishing security hadn't pulled him away before he'd gotten a chance to swing at Rafe that night. “I still hate him,” JJ announced. “The entire Cameron family thinks they're the shit because they eat from golden spoons or something."

"The expression is born with a silver spoon in their mouth but JJ's right. All Kook’s suck," Pope added.

-

Rafe had wrestled off Kiara's heels after she almost face-planted in the school parking lot on the way to Rafe's truck thanks to them. He'd gotten up her all the back to the Cameron's house and in the front door successfully without her throwing up. Rafe tried to get Kiara to walk up the stairs but she'd sat down on the bottom declaring she would just sleep there so Rafe had delicately thrown her over his shoulder and didn't put her down until he dropped her on Sarah's bed.

Kiara closed her eye instantly and hummed softly, pleased with the comfortable spot she'd landed.

"No sleeping yet. You gotta drink some water first. Hold on."

Rafe dashed across the hall to his own room and grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen from his bathroom for Kiara in the morning. He also snatched the half-drunk water off his nightstand. It wasn't the best option but it was something.

"Okay, okay. Sit up," he said to Kiara, setting the water and medicine down on the bedside table.

Kiara grumbled but pushed herself upright until her back was against the headboard.

"I'm so happy you're my big bro," she said, reaching out her hand to tousle Rafe's hair. "It's always just been my mom and dad and me. And my turtle, Leo, before I lost him." Kiara felt tears wetting her cheeks again at the thought of her lost pet. "I just thought he might wanna play in the yard but then he ran off." The crying made Kiara hiccup which made her cry even more. "He ran off, Rafe. Turles aren't supposed to be fast.”

Rafe couldn't stop himself from laughing. "I didn't peg you as a sad drunk," he said, putting a hand on Kiara's shoulder to calm her down. "It's okay, Kie. I'm sure Leo is just fine."

Her sniffles stopped momentarily and she looked up at Rafe through her tear-soaked eyelashes. “You know no one ever called me Kie before you did. Now everyone does."

Rafe chuckled. "Alright, drink some water and you can sleep."

Kiara accepted the water bottle and pressed it to her lips, taking a swig. "You promise you're not mad at me? About Ashely and the dance?"

"I promise, Kie. I'd much rather make you sure you're okay."

"You're getting soft, Rafe," Kiara teased as she snuggled herself under the sheets.

"Never," he replied, reaching over and clicking off the lamp on the bedside table before he stood up. "Hollar if you think you're gonna throw up."

"Never," Kie repeated, giggling to herself as Rafe left the room, pulling the door closed behind him.

-

John B's face was plastered on wanted posters up and down the island. The entire county was looking for him, desperate to be the first to claim the twenty-five thousand dollar reward. The wholesome treasure hunt John B. has advertised to the Pogues at the beginning of the summer had gone way south, like equator-level south. None of them had eaten a decent meals in days, much less slept more than few hours. The whole thing was taking its toll but the stacks were too high for them to slip up now. They all knew the odds. John B's word would never stand against Ward's. They had to get him off the island.

JJ and Kiara pulled up the boatyard, the keys to the Phantom clutched so tightly in JJ's palm that they left little indentions. He'd emerged from his house, his jaw set and only held up the keys in response to Kiara asking how it went so she decided not to push him on it.

JJ shoved open the rusty metal door of the garage. "There she be. Hey, girl," he remarked. "1983 formula four-oh-two SR1." JJ pulled the sheet covering the boat off, the sunlight streaming in through the windows making the dust lingering in the air visible. "The Phantom," JJ announced proudly.

"Mmhm," Kie hummed.

"First boat to make the run to Bermuda in under sixteen hours, Kie," JJ paused. "Forty years old! Forty. And it's still the fastest thing that Kildare's ever seen."

"It's kind of a junker."

"Really?" JJ turned to her. "She's right there, Kie. She can hear you. Let's just put it this way. You would not be smokin' weed right now if she never existed, okay?"

"I just hope it runs," Kie replied.

"Oh, no, she'll run alright. She's faster than any of the cutters the boy in blue got."

The sounds of motorcycle engines roared from outside the garage.

"Pope. Finally," Kie exclaimed, jogging to meet him. Hopefully, the Outer Banks sun had burned off any weirdness still lingering from this morning, she prayed.

Rafe appeared from behind the boat and Kiara stopped suddenly, not expecting the sight of him.

"Hey, there. What's goin' on? JJ?" Rafe said and JJ also froze at the sound of the eldest Cameron's voice. "How you guys doin'?”

Barry whistled, announcing his own arrival. "Well, well...." The sounds of a gun cocking send the blood rushing to Kie's ears. JJ raised his hands in the air, backing up as Barry pushed the gun to his chest. "See, don't think I forgot about me and you on the side of the road. I'm here because I want my motheruckin' money."

Barry grabbed the side of JJ's face, shoving him to the ground. "JJ! JJ!" Kie screamed as Rafe pulled her back from the scene. "Rafe!" Kiara struggled against Rafe’s taller and stronger physique.

"That's what I'm here for, ain't it," Barry shouted lifting JJ's head up by his hair.

"It's not you we want, Kie. Alright, Where's John B?" Rafe asked.

"I don't know," she screamed back, her hand slapping Rafe's face on instinct.

"I really wish you didn't do that.”

"Look, I know what you did.” Kie’s voice wavered.

"What? What'd I do?" Rafe's face inched closer to hers.

"You murdered Peterkin."

Rafe's hand flew up to Kiara's throat, wrapping his fingers tight around it. Kiara's mouth fell open in a silent scream as she clawed at his hand. "Don't you ever say those fucking words again," Rafe warned.

"Rafe," Kiara pleaded. Eighteen months later and Kiara could tell Rafe didn’t have a single ounce of warmth left for her. The Rafe that had protected her from handsy freshman boys and made her drink water so her hangover wasn't as bad, the Rafe that had once held a deep sibling-like affection for her was gone, replaced by someone with pure blinding disdain for pogues of any kind.

"Understood? Do you understand? Where's John B? Where's John B?" Rafe asked again, his tone growing impatient

"I don't know," Kie yelled. Rafe’s hand was growing tighter around her throat with every word, forcing tears to her eyes. Fuck this. Rafe Cameron wasn’t about to be the thing that killed her. This rich, white asshole couldn’t get away with two murders.

"Where's John B? Huh?"

"I don't know! I don't know!"

Rafe's hand fell away from her throat suddenly. "Don't touch her," Kiara heard Pope screamed, his voice full of rage as he swung a metal pole into Rafe's back. The look on his face was something Kiara had never seen before from Pope. It sent a chill down her spine.

"Hey!" Barry yelled as he attempted to throw his gun to Rafe but it landed on the ground a few feet short.

"Kie! Kick it!" JJ hollered and the gun disappeared under the boat out of reach.

JJ picked up Barry slamming him into the boat. Pope's fist continued to connect with Rafe’s face. Again and again. Crap, he wasn’t stopping.

"Pope," Kie said. "Okay, Pope. Pope! Pope, that's good! Stop!"

JJ, having thrown Barry aside, moved to pull Pope off Rafe. "Hey, Pope! He's had enough, dude."

"He's good." Kie pleaded as Pope reached for a piece of plastic tubing, pulling it tight around Rafe's neck.

"Snap out of it, man. Snap out of it, dude!" JJ said.

"Pope!" Kie yelled again. "Pope, that's too much!"

"Stop, dude," JJ added. "Dude, cmon! Stop! Stop, dude!"

"Pope! Get off!" Kie desperately tried to make eye contact with him

"Let go! Come on!"

"Look at me!" Kie screamed in one final attempt to stop Pope from going to far. Rafe's face was already turning a concerning shade of red. If Pope crossed this line, Kiara feared there would be no coming back. She already had one fugitive to deal with, she didn’t want another.

Pope dropped the tubing, eyes wide with fear.

"Shit. Oh, shit." JJ said.

Rafe coughed from the floor, blood smeared down his chin.

"Okay, we gotta go. We gotta go." Kiara announced, hustling back the car. They had to get the boat ready for John B. They had to get him off the island. Her Pope-like organizational instincts kicked in protecting her from processing anything that had just happened. Letting her forget the look in Rafe’s eyes as his hand closed around her throat. Three o’clock at the dump. They had to stay on schedule. Three o’clock. Three o’clock. Three o’clock.

-

The single yellow heart Sarah had responded to Kiara's ‘Happy Birthday!’ text with stared back at her mockingly. She closed out of her messages, opening Instagram instead. Story after story showed the party she hadn't been invited to. A shaky video of everyone singing to Sarah, her face lit up by the glow of the candles. A bathroom selfie of all the girls who Kiara had through became her closest friends, their faces flushed red with joy. She clicked the side button of her iphone making the screen going black. Kiara couldn't stand to look at it all happening for another minute. She flopped backward on her bed opting to stare at the plain, white ceilings of her bedroom instead.

She should have been, standing by Sarah's side, smiling along with everyone in a tipsy haze of happiness, not watching it happen via Instagram. Kiara knew she wasn't doing anything productive by throwing herself a pity party but God, she was pissed. She wanted Sarah to know it too. She picked up her phone from where she'd dropped it next to her on the comforter.

The line rang twice before a voice answered the call.

“Kildare County Police, what’s the emergency?”

Kiara hesitated. Sarah was sure to figure out it was her who had ratted on the party and that would be social suicide enough. But Sarah really had brought this on herself. She should have invited to Kie to her fucking birthday.

“Hello? Anyone there?” The operator asked.

Kiara brought the phone back up to her ear. “Hi, I’d like to file a noise complaint, please. Two six six St. Margaret Street.”

“Yes, the Cameron’s house,” Kiara confirmed, wiping at her tear-stained cheeks and steading her voice as she relied the rest of the information to the operator.

Happy birthday to you, Sarah Cameron.

taglist! @surferkie

[chilling-in-the-dark]

The Batboys Growing Up as Yanderes Part 2: Dick Grayson

This is a yandere story; it mentions elements of obsession, passiveness, death, murder, attempted rape (Not by Dick but still Its there. I will Italicize this scene so that you can read around it if you need to.), birth control tampering, forced pregnancy(?), kidnapping, and physical abuse. If any of this is triggering for you, I understand, and you don’t have to read it.

As always, feedback is welcomed.

P.S I’m giving into temptation and posting this early, so enjoy this a day before it was scheduled.

Mrs. Wayne had been asking about having a child for over half a year, but Bruce was understandably nervous about the idea of fatherhood. Still, he’d also promised his wife that so long as she was good, she could have anything she’d ever want, and now she wanted a baby.

Once Bruce warmed up to the idea of having a kid, he and his wife found something out; Bruce wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse, but his wife was infertile.

Bruce had taken Mrs. Wayne out to Haley’s circus, the same one they’d gone to every year growing up, to try and help her forget about her condition even if it was just for the night. Bruce sometimes wondered if the trapeze being sabotaged that night was fate because his wife had gotten the child she wanted after all.

Dick had thought he was normal for most of his life, that he didn’t have any of Bruce’s tendencies, but that couldn’t have been further from the truth. Growing up in the circus, he’d never stayed in one place long enough to grow too attached to anyone outside of his family.

After coming to live with Bruce and his wife, Dick hadn’t met anyone he truly clicked with, sure he’d had friends in the superhero community, but none of them were people he could genuinely fall for, they were all too strong-willed.

When he was fourteen, Dick’s tendencies finely woke from their long slumber, because he’d at last seen someone who brought out the darkness in him.

When you transferred to Gotham Academy, you were one of the scholarship students. At first, you’d wanted to turn down the offer, because you’d been nervous about going to a school full of snobby rich kids. You Had heard the horror stories from other kids in your neighborhood who attended with the same scholarship, but you realized that this was your only opportunity to claw your way out of this godforsaken city.

You should have turned it down because you were going to meet a fate worse than the streets of Gotham, no, Dick Grayson was going to become obsessed with you, and there was no going back from that.

Dick thought you looked like a cute little mouse the way you shuffled about the school, trying your best to be invisible as you made your way through the halls, but that just made you more conspicuous.

The kids here walked with their chins held high and posture so stiff it looked like someone had replaced their spine with a steel pipe. They didn’t tuck their chins down and clutch their textbooks to their chests like a shield.

It started out slowly with dick watching you shuffle around the school, you were so painfully shy, he would have felt bad if it weren’t so cute. None of the other kids would mess with you, though, or really even talk to you because the glares Dick sent them could rival Batman’s.

At least that’s what Dick thought until he heard you scream,  he ran to the sound, and when he rounded the corner in the boy’s locker room, Dick found the worst slimeball in school trying to stuff his hand down your pants while his buddies pinned you to the ground. They’d stuffed a dirty gym sock in your mouth to prevent any more screams from leaving your throat.

As Dick watched tears well in your eyes he realized that for the first time in his life, he truly and completely wanted to kill someone, you were his, even if they didn’t know it yet, heck you didn’t know it yet, but you were, and no one was allowed to touch you. These boys were about to learn that the hard way.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Dick’s voice echoed menacingly around the locker room. You’d seen him around but had never had a conversation with him, then again, you could have said the same of the boys who held you down now.

“Only having some fun with the little scholarship bitch who doesn’t realize the only way she’ll be able to leave the gutter is by laying on her back. If you keep your mouth shut, I might even let you have a turn.” Dick punched him in the jaw, not even thinking about how he was going to cover this up, but you were his damn it, he wasn’t going to let anyone else touch you.

It was all he could do not to kill them then and there, but no, that would have to wait until nightfall when he could put all of the skills he learned from Batman to use. The next day three bodies would be found, with one of them missing a hand, but all of them nearly torn to shreds making identification impossible. Dick had been careful in making sure no one could track it back to him.

As much as Dick hated the idea of other guys touching you, at least one good thing had come out of it, in his opinion. You started clinging to him and following him around like your life depended on it. Also, you jumping whenever another guy came within five feet of you was a perk.

Determined to make the most of this, he started acting like your guardian angel, and of course, you fell for him, how could you not. Dick was sweet and charming, always respectful of your boundaries, or so you thought anyway. It wasn’t long before you started dating, and Dick couldn’t have been any happier, he’d even gone all old school and given you his class ring. Was mine the only school that had freshmen buy class rings? Sure, it was more of a way to mark you as his, but still, if someone didn’t know about Dick’s tendencies, it would’ve been sweet.

The next few years of your life passed quickly, and Dick kept up the act of the sweet boyfriend you thought he was. That is until the two of you were seventeen, and you’d let it slip that you wanted to go-to metropolis for college.

It had taken everything in him to bite back his temper. No, if he wanted you to stay around, he needed to play this smart; he couldn’t just take you, unlike with Mrs. Wayne, someone would notice if you went missing. So, Dick came up with a plan, one that would likely get you disowned by your family, and if he was lucky, keep you by his side forever.

All he had to do was tamper with your birth control, and if you think being on some kind of IUD or implant is going to keep you safe your wrong, Dick isn’t against drugging you to remove it and replace it with a fake. If you insist on him using condoms, well, it’s not too hard to poke holes in them.

It isn’t long before you come to Dick with tears in your eyes and tell him the words he’d anxiously been waiting to hear. “I’m pregnant,” Dick shoves down the sick surge of satisfaction that wells up in him when your voice cracks. Now wasn’t the time to let his cover slip, he had to play this right.

It was time to put all of those acting skills Bruce had him learn to use. He did his best to look nervous, he bit down on his lip for a second as if thinking what to say when really, he’s had this planned from the moment, he decided to get you pregnant. “It’s all going to be ok, sure we're a bit young, but Bruce was already married by the time he was our age, I’m sure we can figure this out.” Dick wrapped his arms around you before continuing. “I mean a baby isn’t the worst thing in the world, is it?”

“But what about college Dick, this could ruin our futures.” Dick brought you into a hug to conceal the satisfied gleam in his eyes, ruining your future had been a part of his plan.

He made gentle cooing noises as you sobbed into his shoulder, clutching him like your world depended on it. It had taken a bit of convincing, but you, being his submissive little mouse, had agreed to keep the baby.

Sometimes during the first trimester, when you were trying your best to hide the symptoms of early pregnancy and come up with excuses to cover for your frequent Doctors’ appointments, Dick felt the slightest tinge of guilt. He’d done this to you, you didn’t want it, he knew that, but he’d done it anyway.

That feeling was quickly replaced by the surge of possessive pride he felt when he remembered that it meant the baby was always going to tie the two of you together, your DNA and his intertwined for generations to come.

The oh my god, what have I done feeling stayed around a little longer the first time he heard the baby’s heartbeat, but then there was also amazement because there was really a little human growing inside of you. He was going to be a dad. He wanted a little boy with his hair and your eyes.

Before Dick knew it, you were twelve weeks along and starting to get a baby bump. You were freaking out while trying to figure out how to tell your folks. Dick knew that he’d have to stage telling Bruce to keep you from getting suspicious, but his mentor already knew, because A he’d helped Dick with his initial plan to get you pregnant and B, he was Batman.

When you’d finally gotten to the point where you couldn’t hide your pregnancy anymore, the two of you arranged a sit-down dinner in a popular restaurant with your parents and The Wayne’s both being in attendance. You’d been hoping they wouldn’t make a scene in public, boy had you been wrong.

Dick pulled you into his arms as your parents screamed at you about how you were destroying your life over a guy, one who’d probably leave you before the baby was even born. Then they gave you an ultimatum, get rid of it, or don’t come home. It was only a stern glare from Bruce that kept Dick from flying across the table.

Yes, this was all going according to plan, but that didn’t mean he wanted you to cry, only he was allowed to upset you, and even he drew the line at doing so while you were pregnant. When your parent’s shrieks turned toward Dick, how they’d never liked him, that they knew something was off with him and how they wouldn’t be surprised if he’d gotten you pregnant on purpose.

After that night, you had come to live at Wayne Manor with Dick, and he couldn’t be more ecstatic then the first morning he’d woke with you by his side where you belonged. At least that’s what he thought until he was holding his newborn daughter in his arms.

When the nurse handed her to him, all thoughts of wanting a son evacuated themselves from his mind because she was absolutely perfect. She had a full head of black hair, along with your mouth, Dick's nose, and his mother’s eyes, which had made him want to cry the first time she looked up at him. You’d named her Mary in honor of Dick's late mother.

You’d tried to leave Dick after you’d heard him talking to her about how he’d been so glad everything had gone as planned. Your mouth had gone dry when you realized your parents were right about him, he wasn’t a good man, no he was insane. Dick Grayson was no better than the Villains he fought.

So, one night when he’d gone out on patrol, you’d slipped and tried to pack for both yourself and your six-month-old because there was no way you were leaving Mary in the custody of this maniac. Just as you were about to pick her up and make a break for it, Dick came up behind you.

You felt his anger as it permeated the air, sending a chill up your spine, slowly you scooped Mary up and turned around to see your boyfriend standing there in his vigilante gear while looking at you like he was contemplating all of the horrible things he wanted to do to you. This was the first time you’d been truly afraid Dick might hurt you. You couldn’t believe you’d ever let him within five-hundred feet of you.

“Where do you think you’re going,” Dick's voice was colder than you’d ever heard it before, then again, you’d never tried to leave before either.

“I thought you were supposed to be on patrol?” You asked, trying and failing to divert the subject.

“I was,” Dick growled, “but Alfred called and said he saw you packing, so I rushed right home.” Dick ripped his mask off, throwing it across the room. You shouldn’t have been surprised Alfred was in on this. “I’m only going to ask you this nicely one more time, where do you think you’re going?”

“I’m leaving Dick,” Your voice was strained as you fought to keep from trembling.

“No,” Dick barked moving to stand closer to you

“I heard you talking to Mary the other day, and I’m not letting my daughter grow up with a father who thinks that it’s ok to impregnate his teenage girlfriend, because she wants to make a better life for herself.” Mary sensing your fear started letting out tiny whimpers, this brought her father’s attention to her for the first time since he’d entered the room.

“Put Mary down,” Dick ordered, not wanting his daughter to get hurt in the crossfire.

You’d tried to refuse, but Dick wasn’t having it, he’d forced your daughter from your arms, and while he’d been gentle with her, he didn’t offer you the same courtesy. He lay Mary in her crib, making soothing noises as he did so.

As soon as she was no longer in his arms, Dick’s rage returned to him as he grabbed you by the back of your neck and pulled you out of the room and down the halls, not caring one bit if he hurt you.

It wasn’t long before you were thrown into a room, you’d never seen before. Your upper body collided with the bed in a way that you were sure would leave bruises for weeks.

“Maybe some time by yourself will give you an opportunity to think about how good you’ve had it up until now.” With that last statement, Dick slammed and locked the door.

Tags

@yanderepeterparker​​​

@idkmanicantenglish​​​

@prettyafghan

Grow up as only

@neon-phosphorecsent​​

[medblr-of-a-sleepyhead]

Hi! I just got into MBBS and im starting in a couple weeks. I was wondering if you could recommend me some more indian medblrs? Im having a hard time finding them :\ Also do you have some advice for lil baby med students? Im really nervous lol. thank you

Hi! First of all, congrats and welcome aboard the trying life and times of a med student! 😂

Please go through my tag "blogrecs" to find lists of medblrs (both Indian and not) here! Apart from those I've already tagged, I'll list some more Indian /South Asian medblrs I came across!

@imasmallboat

@a-piece-of-existence

@sillypandagarden

@lalarevisionland

@janeshowers

@drsatan-36

@jekkylstudies

@icarus-study

(if other Indian/South Asian medblrs see this, please say hi in the replies! I'd love to get to know more of you guys too! ^_^)

As for advice, I'll break it down by subjects, that'll be more helpful, I hope?

I personally struggled with anatomy because it was a sudden and kind of a vast subject, I had trouble remembering all the nitty gritty details. I'll recommend you draw a lot of diagrams when you're reading a topic, they don't have to be super clean or pretty, just good enough for you to understand. Refer to as many atlases you want, Netters was definitely the best :') Grey's Anatomy for Students was a massive help, and I still refer to it.

I also relied heavily on YouTube channels like

AnatomyZone

Armando Hasudungan

Ninja Nerd Lectures

Khan Academy Medicine

Dr Najeebs Lectures

Geeky Medics

Medical Animations

and other tutorial channels for little topics here and there (esp embryology)

As for physio and biochem, I'll recommend you read from standard textbooks like Harpers and Guyton / Ganong, no matter what your seniors and peers tell you (because you'll see as you go on, that most of the curriculum will nudge you towards books by local authors, which are somewhat more confusing and lacking in certain core concepts, at least that's what I felt). The standard textbooks will definitely more challenging to go through the first time, but trust me, the basic concepts you'll build will pay off all through your future years! :D

Thirdly, make your own notes! And keep them nice and fresh in a big fat notebook, because you'll be referring to them all through the future years, up until final MB lol 😂

I wish I'd done this part myself more stringently. My first and second year notes are now all scattered all throughout a lot of notebooks and I'm perpetually looking through a swarm of stuff just to find one topic, you get me? :') so, organisation from day 1 is the key!

Next up, you n I both know how memorisation heavy the Indian curriculum can be, and how marks oriented it all gets :')

So I'd advice you stock up on a bunch of previous years MB / semester questions of your college / University board beforehand and keep practicing! Get them from your seniors or bookstore in your college, they should be available.

Go attend your clinics/wards from day 1, don't be discouraged by seniors who might scoff at you for going forwards from early on. Be curious, ask questions, talk to your professors about things you didn't understand, and always remember to ask for help! If group study works for you, then find two or three people who you can form a study group with and study together!

Apart from these, I'll say don't be too intimidated by your professors and peers (and esp some overacheiving ones who'll constantly put your self esteem to shreds, :'D they'll be there)

But don't let them get the best of you. Remember, you're here because you're curious, you love knowing things, you want to know how the human body works, and your ultimate goal is to be a good human being and a compassionate doctor to people who come to you, vulnerable and in need of help. How you empathise with their problems and are kind to them in their times of need will speak much more about your professional ethics than how much fancy technical nitty gritties of medicine you know or how many shining achievements you have on a piece of paper :')

Wish you all the best, and hope your upcoming years in medicine is exciting and happy! 😊

[shoujolover-666]

You never know what you are missing until it’s gone

Here you have the RookVil amnesia fic that I promised you guys. I hope it is to your liking.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29162448

“Sorry, but I do not know who you are. I remember everyone else, but it seems like, as if I never met you before. What was your name again?” Those were the first words he heard from Vil on the day after his Overblot.

After Night Raven College lost to Royal Swords Academy and they were out of sight of the audience, Vil lost his consciousness again. Unlike the others, who overblotted before him, he didn’t have the chance to get enough to regain his energy.

The fact that he had to show a perfect performance on stage only made it worse.

That something like that would happen wasn’t something that was completely unexpected. What was unexpected was the fact that Vil lost his memories. To be more specific, his memories of Vil.

Strangely, the dorm leader could still remember everyone else, even those who didn’t belong to his own dorm.

Rook was smiling, as he mentioned some things they have done together, like the disciplining of the first years or even their training before the Vocal and Dance competition.

He even told the other how he was the one that stopped Neige from drinking the poisoned apple juice, but Vil just shook his head, saying that the face of the person who called out to him was a blur and apologized for not remembering, for the other did seem as if he was someone important to the other.

The hunter just kept smiling, telling the other that it wasn’t his fault, that he couldn’t blame him for not remembering, even if he felt as if an arrow pierced his heart. Was that what his prey usually felt?

“Don’t worry, Roi du Poison. I will stay by your side.”

Vil’s face turned to a grimace and shook his head. “I would prefer it if you wouldn’t. Instead, I would choose Epel to be by my side and help me. He might still be a potato, but he progressed a lot, so I think he would do at least decently.”

Epel, who was also present to visit him out of worry, looked at him with big, blue eyes, an expression of disbelief was on his face as he pointed at himself. His mouth was slightly gaping as he stuttered for a second.

“Me? Acting as a Vice?”

He nodded as the one who was lying on the bed got up and put his hand on the shorter man’s cheek, caressing it with his thumb. “Yes. Your looks have improved a lot, and so have your manners and your obedience towards me.

Also, I do clearly remember how you said that you believe that I can see how you have become the poisoned apple that I wanted you to be… but that isn’t the case. At least not yet. You can become it though, and I do appreciate the fact that you wanted to help me out by standing in the center, even though I do clearly remember that you despised standing on stage. I trust you enough to help me.”

Warmth was in his voice as he told the man with lavender coloured hair of his decision.

“Wait, I do believe that -” Rook wanted to say something against it, how it would be better for him to remain as the Vice to help Vil, but Epel took the dorm leader’s hand as his eyes were filled with determination.

“I am going to do it. You will see, I will become the poisoned apple and become even prettier and stronger than you expect me to be!”

There was a certainty in his voice that the hunter never expected, and he could see a gentle smile bloom on the taller man’s face. The man didn’t know what to think of it. On one hand, he was happy to see the growth of the diamond in the rough, on the other hand, he had a bitter taste on his tongue and couldn’t help but wish for a second to pierce the shorter man with one of his arrows.

For the last two years, he had been by Vil’s side almost all the time, aiding him and taking in his beauty from the front seat as his most trusted.

He never doubted even once that one day, he would lose this position, even after he had chosen to vote for Neige. He balled his hand to a fist, trying to calm down before he excused himself and left. Right now, it was obvious that Vil didn’t feel comfortable having him by his side, so he would leave.

🏹

When the sun rose, he was already up and on his way to Vil when he heard the voice of Epel to his surprise, before the memories of yesterday came up again. This time, he couldn’t help but grimace slightly before he turned on his heel to return to his own chambers. Usually, he would have helped the other with his clothes, and if the other was especially indulgent, with his make up.

He wasn’t needed anymore, which was why he would just go back to sleep again.

His shoulders were slightly slumped, but it didn’t matter, for no one else would be awake around this time of the day, at least not at their dorm.

Well, there was at least one good thing that came out of it. Rook would have more time to enjoy himself with some of the students of Savanaclaw without any complaints from his dorm leader.

That didn’t really comfort him, but at least it would distract him a bit of the loneliness he felt right now.

The hunter didn’t even change his clothes as he let himself fall onto the bed again, grabbing the book in which he had gathered the pictures of Neige. In the past, they always cheered him up when he was feeling down, offered him a light, but this time… even his idol couldn’t fill the hole that losing his spot left him with.

It almost made him regret what he did during the VDC, but he just couldn’t lie to himself.

Neige’s performance simply won him over with cheerfulness and happiness. It was something that made him feel warm.

Would Vil have remembered him if he stayed loyal to him? Or would he have forgotten him either way?

Rook wasn’t sure if the memory loss was a part of the betrayal that his dear friend, his queen must have felt during the moment he admitted it, or if it was because of the lack of rest after the Overblot.

At one point, the blonde closed the book again and sighed, putting it carefully on the table as he looked out of the window.

The sun was higher up, which meant it was time for class. Even though he was used to getting up that early while doing more than he did today, he felt more exhausted than ever. After he glanced at the mirror quickly to check if he was still presentable, he left his room to go to class.

Even if Vil didn’t remember him, he was sure that he still wouldn’t accept it if he were sloopy when it came to his looks as a fellow dorm member.

🏹

Rook wasn’t sitting at the same table as Vil and Epel for the whole week in the cafeteria, but he still had the chance to watch them from a place where they wouldn’t notice him immediately.

He was watching them carefully, his ears didn’t miss a single word they said. It was mostly Vil criticising Epel once again, but this time, the man with lavender coloured hair just took the criticism and was even willing to follow the other’s demands.

Usually, he wouldn’t have done that, always looking uncomfortable, unhappy.

This time, he almost seemed… happy to be able to spend time with the fellow blond, almost as if there never was even the tiniest bit of resentment for the other.

The students from the table next to him widened their eyes when the hunter bent his spoon with one hand and scattered away from him. Not that it mattered to him.

What he didn’t expect was Leona taking a seat beside him, a smug grin was on his lips as he swished his tail lazily.

“It is surprising to see you being apart from your oh so precious dorm leader. What’s wrong, trouble in paradise?”

Leona’s voice had a hint of amusement to it, something that was unusual when he was around the hunter, but Rook didn’t care too much about it right now. If he were in a different situation, he would probably have been delighted by it though. Instead, he stabbed a piece of meat with his fork as he smiled back at the king of lions. “Why would you say that, Roi des Lions?”

He looked at the brown haired man through half lidded eyes. At the moment, these kinds of taunts were less than appreciated.

“It is obvious by how you are not by his side at the moment, and by how your leader didn’t even glance at you. What, did you have some lover’s quarrel?”

Ah, of course the other wouldn’t know what was going on. After all, it was only Epel and himself who knew of the other’s situation, so -

“Or is it that the rumour of him having lost his memories of you is true?”

His head snapped to Leona as he looked at the taller man with a murderous look while the other was simply leaning his head on his hand.

“How -”

“So I didn’t mishear when I passed the infirmary. Heh.”

This time, the lion’s grin widened a bit more. Normally, Rook enjoyed playing with his prey, but he was really considering if he should get rid of Leona once and for all. After all, it was the hunter’s job to get rid of animals like him, wasn’t it?

“Don’t worry, I don’t intend on telling anyone else. Still, I find this situation rather amusing. Well, good luck getting him back. You should act fast though, or else the twerp might get the better of you.”

Did he mean Epel? Why should he? As far as he knew, all the other felt right now was admiration, maybe even pride, so…

When he looked back to the two other Pomefiore students, his eyes widened slightly. Now that he considered what the other told him… Wasn’t Epel a bit too close to Vil? Didn’t he let his touches linger a bit too long?

And the glint in his eyes… no, it couldn’t be. Was Monsieur Cherry Apple really in love with Vil? Not that it would be difficult to imagine it, a lot of people admired and adored Vil because of his beauty, but… no.

This was more personal than the love his fans had for him. He knew that Vil would be unreachable for those fans, but Epel did have the chance to have a hold on his chance.

Rook though… he had lost the chance when he still had it. Did it mean that he lost his chance on a Happily Ever After?

No, he couldn’t let it go like that.

👑

Vil returned back to his room, his mood was pretty good, even if it felt as if he was missing someone by his side. The student with the bob who visited him a week ago… he had a feeling that he had somewhat of an important role in his life, but he couldn’t say what it was. Every time he glanced at him though, he could feel a pain in his heart that just wouldn’t go away, unless he distracted himself. That was why he appreciated Epel’s presence so much lately. He was very diligent and tried his best to aid him as his Vice, even when he was inexperienced and still had a lot of work to do before he could become a beautiful but poisonous flower, his perfect poisoned apple.

As he opened the door to his room, he was surprised by the hand that grabbed him and pulled him inside. Without a warning, his world was flipped before he looked into pools of green that reminded him of fresh grass. What was the man doing here. He could feel a hint of pain, but it was drowned out by the other’s presence and scent. It reminded him of a strange mix of nature, dirt and cologne.

A silent voice in his mind commented how it perfectly fit him. His train of thoughts were suddenly disturbed as he felt the sensation of chapped but warm lips against his.

His eyes widened as he pressed his hands against the other’s chest, unsure if he should pull him closer or push him away, before his head started to hurt, bits and pieces of his memories returning from his unconscious mind as he started to remember why he had forgotten Rook in the first place.

Fairest One of All.

Vil used his unique magic on himself to make him forget the one who made him feel so betrayed under the condition that he would only get his memories back if the other were to kiss him with the expectation that it would never happen.

After all, didn’t he love Neige more than him? The dorm leader had given up on his love for the other after it was revealed that he had been number two of the Neige fanclub, for it meant that he had been dedicated to the black haired man for a much longer time than he had been to him. Something, that had made him feel so incredibly jealous, and it hurt him more than the fact that he lost to Neige LeBlanche once again.

Like that, he wouldn’t burden the other to stay by his side anymore, and he would have gotten the chance to forget his unrequited love and move on. So why?

“Why did you kiss me, Rook?”

He must have spoken the last sentence out loud, for Rook answered him.

“Because it should be obvious that I love you, my queen.”

Rook must have noticed that he had gotten his memories back as well, for he caressed his cheek ohh so gently, something that he didn’t dare to wish for since his Overblot.

Vil could feel the tears that started to gather as he tightened the grip on the other’s shirt, holding him tightly. How could the other still spin such sweet lies for him, even after he admitted that he liked Neige?

It was almost as if the hunter could read his thoughts, for he leant his forehead against his as he looked him in his eyes. A shiver ran down his spine, and he looked away, the intense look on Rook’s face was too much for him. Rook didn’t seem to like this though, for he grabbed his chin and gently coerced him to look at him once again. “I do admire Neige, but he is nothing more than an idol to me. You though, you are the queen I honestly adore, and I can’t bear it to be apart from you any longer, Vil.”

With that, Vil started to sob while Rook kissed his tears silently while whispering sweet nothings, holding him close to the other’s own body. He was shaking, he must look like a mess, but the other didn’t seem to care as he simply stayed by his side until he calmed down a bit.

Vil started to press his face against Rook’s chest at one point.

“I love you Rook, please don’t leave me for Neige.”

Finally, he dared to speak of the fear he had since Rook revealed that he was a Neige fan.

Even though Rook told him that he loved him and not Neige, he couldn’t help but expect the worst. Would the hunter be appalled by his greed and push him away after wishing for something so selfish? Would he be disgusted by his greed and leave him alone again?

Instead of being or doing any of that, he simply pulled him closer as he wrapped his strong arms around him, hugging him tightly as the shorter man’s warmth spread to him.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ever leave you, Roi du Poison, my beautiful Vil. As long as you accept this humble hunter and allow me to stay by your side, I won’t stray from you for as long as I live.”

[volahre]

babe for the weekend - chapter 3

read on ao3 | 1456 words | rated Teen and up audiences for later chapters | Fox Mulder/Dana Scully | Weddings | set in late season 6 | UST | eventual resolved romantic tension

When an old friend from high school invites her to her wedding and she brings Mulder along as her plus one, Scully reflects on her life, her place in the world, how much she has changed and what she really wants.

I originally started this to explore the topic of growing up, aging and feeling like you are missing out within the character of Dana Scully, but it has become so much more than that - but read for yourself!

chapter three

Scully wanted to send thank you notes to her past self for deciding to fly a day early. Used to her weekday work rhythm, she woke up at 7 and after a hot shower – bless this motel and their working boiler, she thought as the warm water ran down her shoulders – she let her hair air dry while reading the next chapter of the book she had started on the plane before styling it. The reception would start at 11, and afterwards there would be a buffet, so she debated whether getting breakfast beforehand was really necessary. Putting on some quick makeup she knocked on the adjoining door between her and Mulder’s bedroom.

“Come in”, she heard his voice from the other side.

He was still in his boxers and the tee shirt from yesterday when she came in. “Good morning”, she said and leaned against the door frame with her arms crossed.

“Morning, Scully”, he answered, shaking out his pillow and blanket.

Catching herself looking at his dishevelled hair for a little too long, she quickly opened her mouth to speak. “I was wondering if you were interested in breakfast today?”

His face lit up and he took a step towards her, but she knew him well, detecting the playfully sarcastic nature of his act. “Oh, you’re inviting me? How very kind of you!”

She laughed, looking down at her feet. Had she made this awkward already? “No, Mulder, I just wanted to ask if you thought it was going to be worth it. We ate dinner so late yesterday and I’m not really hungry right now, and looking at the schedule for the celebration, we’re going to get lunch soon anyway.”

Her eyes went back to him, locking their eyes again as she had done the evening before over their respective plates of chicken salad and fries.

“I’m not that hungry either”, he said. “How about I get dressed and we just go for a little walk?”

She smiled at him, the sun peaking in from the window creating strange shadows on his face. “That sounds like a good idea…I could use some coffee though.”

“Deal”, he said, grabbing a pair of jeans from his overnight bag.

The area was hilly, with sand joining the drying grass beneath the asphalt the closer you got to the beach. Scully was glad to have packed flats along with the heels she planned to wear for the reception.

“Just tell me one thing”, Mulder said as they were sitting on a bench overlooking the promenade, each holding a Styrofoam cup of coffee and the wind blowing her hair into her face (She made a mental note to get back to the motel on time, turning up to the wedding with thick strands sticking from her head to all sides was not a good look).

“Go ahead” Scully wondered if they were sitting closer than usual or if it was the wind blowing his familiar scent over to her.

“How many of the people we’re going to meet today have you been involved with?”

She laughed, thinking about her younger self, wearing braces until she was 17 and always being a little socially awkward, especially compared to Melissa. “Mulder, I don’t know what you think of me, but I can tell you I was not exactly popular in high school”

“That doesn’t answer my question”, he said, grabbing a sunflower seed from his pocket - was that pocket even big enough to hold a bag? - and cracking its little grey shell between his teeth.

She sighed. “There was one guy, Colin, we had chemistry together. He would ask me to help him with his homework, invited me over to his place and all that, and I, naïve and sixteen as I was, thought he was being for real” it sounded so stupid in retrospect.

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Nothing. He was not my type.” She crossed her legs, wondering what her type even was. Tall, dark hair, strong arms, dimples, an unusual interest in the supernatural? Feeling blood rush to her cheeks, she quickly took a sip from her cup hoping her arm would conceal the obvious redness creeping up her face.

“What, are you blushing?”, Mulder grinned softly.

“No I’m not!”, she answered way too quickly. “Anyway it’s not like that. There was another guy, towards the end, I guess. Marcus, his name was. He was really into music, would play me songs by Joy Division on his guitar.”

“A real charmer, I see”

She grimaced, swallowing the last bit of her coffee. “Wasn’t Ian Curtis kind of a jerk though? Anyway” she looked at him, taking a deep breath. “Marcus went on to study psychology if I’m not mistaken. So you two are at least going to have something to talk about in case you meet today.”

Was that weird?, she thought to herself. Implying her past crush and her current- he was not her crush, she reminded herself. Why was she even using this word? Did women have crushes past thirty? Or did you just go on dates and decide to call yourself an item after a certain amount of time? She had been out of the dating game for way too long. Maybe if she started going out with more people again, she would stop having daydreams about people whose relationship with her was supposed to be platonic at most. Outside of high school, college or academy contexts, where would you even meet your crush? At work, a voice inside her head said. Massaging her temples, she realized her thoughts kept spiralling back to one thing, the one thing she had permitted herself access to six years ago.

“Hey”, she heard Mulder say next to her, the source of his soft baritone sounding much closer to her than before. “Are you alright?”

She took a deep breath and sat up straight on the bench as he lay his arm around her, his thumb gently caressing her shoulder. Letting herself sink into his touch, she shook her head. “It’s just weird, the thought of meeting all these people again”, she half lied.

“Shhh, that’s okay”, he said. Not interrupting his movement on her shoulder, he used his other arm to reach over her lap and took her left hand in his right one. After a quick look at her watch, he suggested they go back to the motel and she nodded.

With the help of what felt like almost an entire can of hairspray she got her hair back in place, hoping it would stay over the day, before putting on her dress.

She had chosen a dark brown velvet dress she had found at a thrift shop. It was not particularly revealing, the idea of people who had mostly looked down on her back in the day seeing her exposed shoulders or deep cleavage had seemed intriguing at first, but given a second thought, she realized that it would probably make her uncomfortable in the long run. After putting on a pearl necklace and matching earrings, she felt elegant nonetheless. Dropping her lipstick, her perfume, and her cell phone in her purse, she walked over to Mulder’s door.

As he opened the door, his eyes wandered down her body and his face changed, it was somewhere between a child who was just given his first candy cotton of the year and something darker, that she almost felt he was trying to hide. Had she ever seen him wear this suit before? As weird and clumsy as this man could be, he definitely had his moments. He had styled his hair, the black suit fit him perfectly, complimenting his body in all the right places, and his cologne was just a little stronger than before. Not pungent, but rather…enticing. She stepped a little closer.

“Hi”, he smiled down at her. Was it an illusion, or were his eyes lingering a little longer on her lips than usual?

“We match”, she grinned, lifting her arm to gently touch the brown velvet of his bow tie.

“Yes, we do”, his smile grew even brighter. There was satisfaction now, in his expression, taking over the excitement from before.

She cleared her throat. “We should get going”, she said, turning her face towards the entrance door as if to point at it with her nose.

The venue was only a 15-minute walk away, which they spent in silence, her heart beating loudly against the inside of her chest. Not knowing which explanation she preferred between seeing her old classmates again and Mulder and her walking with their arms linked, she chose to ignore it. This was a completely platonic relationship, mind you.

[when-they-write-stuff]

I didn’t get all the way through the list, but I already couldn’t choose, so 55. “Sorry doesn’t fix everything.” or 75. “What are you talking about? You’re married!” or 80. “But you promised..”

Written for: “Sorry doesn’t fix everything.”

- -

“Tell me a story about how the sun loved the moon so much, he died every night to let her breathe.”

When Derek first left Beacon Hills, that’s what Ms. Morrell told Stiles to think about. He sat across from her just like he had nearly two years ago and picked at the hem of his shirt instead of his lacrosse stick. He hadn’t played lacrosse in a long time; not since the Nogitsune. Not since the return of Kate 2.0.

When Derek first left Beacon Hills, Stiles was told to look on the positive side of things. He was told that by everyone else, at least. Certain other people remained elusive. Certain other people who made Stiles so mad, he stopped going to counseling for an entire three months until his nightmares started waking him up in screaming fits and night-sweats again.

When Derek first left Beacon Hills, Stiles was told to think about the sun and the moon. And he was so fed up with everything sometimes.

He was so fed up with everything.

Like what they faced after Derek left. So many things. Stiles learned what it was like to be considered untrustworthy. He learned what it was like to be considered a real murder. To have blood on his actual hands.

He did this… thing when no one else was around. He didn’t tell Morrell about it and he didn’t tell his father. He most certainly didn’t tell Scott, but they hadn’t been talking that much lately anyway.

And if Stiles’s dad was to snoop around his bedroom one day, he might find a neat stack of letters. Ones that were never sent out, but always slipped in clean envelopes. Ones that were all addressed to the same initials, but there was never an address. Stiles didn’t think he’d send them even if he got an address; but it was a lot like the instance with Derek Hale’s number currently in his phone. He’d stared at it for hours before, debating making a call. A text. Something.

He never did though. Stiles thought he’d have a lot less control with the texts. So he wrote letters instead.

When Derek Hale first left Beacon Hills, the words; “Tell me a story about how the sun loved the moon so much he died every night to let her breathe” had circled through Stiles’s mind so often, he thought he was going crazy.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

When Stiles had gone into high school, he’d never expected to come out of it surprised he’d survived. They all made jokes years and years ago, yeah. But Stiles still couldn’t believe sometimes that he’d survived.

When he graduated as a senior, he’d stopped going to the counseling sessions. His dad had tried to bring up actual therapy but Stiles was at the point where he realized how Derek had felt when he first returned to Beacon Hills years ago. Once upon a time, when Stiles had been an idiot sixteen-year-old kid and Derek was nothing but tired and sad. 

For the first time, Stiles kind of wished he could go back in time and apologize.

Because hell, Stiles was tired. He was sad. He was tired like when Derek had buried himself in his childhood house and attempted to ignore the world. He was sad in that sometimes, he felt like he’d lived and died a dozen lives, and maybe he was just going through the motions these days.

He might have looked for Derek in the crowd the day they’d graduated. Because if Derek Hale was ever going to return to Beacon Hills, it would be then. When most of the danger had passed, when most of them had survived.

Most of them. Not all.

Stiles attempted to organize a vigil for those who hadn’t made it to graduation. A little ceremony. Something, anything, to remember that they all weren’t so lucky.

No one except for Lydia, Melissa, and Stiles’s dad had shown up.

They’d lit candles, murmured a few quiet words, looked over the graves, and Stiles wondered how much it had hurt Derek to lose so many of his pack. Peter had called it like losing a limb. Stiles sometimes wondered if the pain he’d felt when Derek had left was similar to that.

He hadn’t just felt like he’d lost a limb though. He’d felt like he’d lost so much more.

Stiles liked to believe Derek would have come to the vigil if he would have known. Maybe he would’ve taken a candle and stood by Stiles’s side as they overlooked Boyd and Erica’s graves. Surrounded by wolfsbane, because Stiles didn’t know if that was an actual thing, but he remembered seeing it around Laura Hale’s grave so many years ago.

He’d nearly gotten caught when he snuck out one night months ago to plant it. But there was over a handful of purple flowers growing now. Dancing across each grave. Crawling up the stones. Not in the perfect circle like it had been for Laura but… maybe it was enough.

Though, Stiles didn’t know how that could be enough if he hadn’t been.

He’d told himself he was going to leave Beacon Hills after high school. For good, maybe. Or at least for a few years. And Stiles had managed to stay gone for a solid semester, but then his dad had been shot in the line of duty.

Nothing fatal; a shoulder wound that put him in the hospital for six days and took him out of duty for another three months after that. But Stiles had driven straight back to Beacon Hills and hadn’t looked over his shoulder since.

Two years had passed and Stiles sometimes still wrote the letters.

He kind of thought it was stupid.

-

Hey, Sourwolf, remember that one time you left Beacon Hills without telling anyone? Yeah, well, I do too. And I’m so fucking pissed at you for it, I would literally kill to say that to your face. Which, funny story, wouldn’t be my first murder. Remember that time you said I’d be alright? That everything would be alright?

Yeah, well, that’s a bunch of bull.

  Stupid question, but would you pick the sun or the moon? That doesn’t make sense right now and I know, I’d be getting the ‘Seriously Stiles?” growly brows right now. But I’d really like to know. For… scientific reasons. Shut up, I’m probably not going to send this anyway.

  By the way, of the sun and the moon, which one of us is dying here?

  You think I would have had enough riddles to last me a lifetime at this point, but Morrell doesn’t seem to think so. Both her and Deaton get under my skin sometimes, you know? Like, is a straight answer really so damn hard?

It sure as hell seems like it.

  I’m supposed to be graduating and living my life pretty soon. I still can’t make a proper boiled egg and sometimes, I forget not everyone wants to hurt my friends or family. Funny, right? I’m fucking hilarious.

  I swear to god, I love you.

-

Stiles took this one class that talked about poetry and all the questions of the universe. He wasn’t sure why he took it exactly, but there was one thing that caught his attention from the beginning. One story about the moon and the sun; and the constant chase, the constant sacrifice that they made for each other. Over and over again.

He hated that class for all he was worth. He didn't think that was much anymore.

Stiles went to college for another year with no official degree in mind, but maybe he could be a history major or something? But then he got the call that his dad was planning to retire soon and Stiles found himself taking a few steps back. Turning away from the morning classes, the late-night parties, and all of those normal things, and applying to the police academy instead.

For some reason, he always thought Derek would’ve made a good deputy.

Stiles still looked for him sometimes.

He looked for grey-green.

-

I think I could track you down if I wanted to. You know, talk some sense into your little werewolf-y brain. I’d probably say something about ‘Having a plan B’. Because there has to be something else. We were always supposed to have a plan B, weren’t we? Maybe yours was leaving. Maybe it was not looking back.

I just wish I could’ve left too.

-

When Derek Hale first returned back to Beacon Hills, Stiles had friends at the local coffee shop, friends at the Sheriff’s station, and even a few friends from his old Uni days. He had them scattered here and there. He hadn’t written a letter in ages.

When Derek Hale first returned to Beacon Hills, Stiles didn’t actually know it until he ran into the man while grocery shopping. Derek had gone stock-still down the aisle, a basket held loosely in his hand, and Stiles’s milk had gone splattering to the floor.

When Derek Hale first returned to Beacon Hills, Stiles was told it was ‘a second chance’. He thought that sounded painfully familiar. He also thought, for a moment, he was going crazy again.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

Sometimes, he thought he could leave it all behind. Scott had long since followed the rest of his pack to New York City and Stiles had lost touch long ago. There was still the occasional supernatural baddie in Beacon Hills; but Stiles had a little bit more than a baseball bat now.

There was this… misfit group. Those that had been left behind. Stiles; when he’d become a Deputy. Lydia; when she returned back to start her own online company from the ground up. The few who had never left. Or never stayed gone.

Then there was Derek.

Stiles hadn’t planned on speaking to him ever again, thank you very much. He’d made a beeline from the grocery store and either Derek hadn’t followed, or he’d been too preoccupied with the newly spilled milk to give chase.

Stiles saw him later at the coffee shop. He turned right back around and suffered the station’s coffee for the rest of the week.

He saw him running in the early mornings when he left for work.

He saw the man in his sleep.

It had been so long since Stiles had woken up with the memory of blazing red eyes, or sharp electric blue underneath the moonlight, or the simple green-grey that gave him the saddest look before turning away. 

It had been so long.

Stiles made a bonfire in the preserve one night with a pile of his own kindling; a little stack of papers. But then he never went through with it.

One morning, there was a man in his apartment building.

Stiles had never thought his ‘fight or flight’ instincts would kick in when he was facing Derek Hale. But then the man was standing in front of him in nothing but sweatpants and an old t-shirt. He held a bag of bagels in one hand and his mail in the other and it took Stiles one second too long to realize the bastard was living in his building.

It took Stiles one minute too long to realize he was crying.

See, Stiles had imagined their future meeting over and over again in his mind. When Derek had first left and Stiles was still raw, he imagined he might scream a little bit. Maybe curse the man out.

Or maybe just beg him to stay.

Then as the months had stretched on, Stiles thought maybe he’d just give him a hug. That maybe, maybe if he could prove to Derek Hale that there was something left for him in Beacon Hills, he would consider staying around for a little longer.

Jump to three years later and Stiles was just standing here like an idiot, silent tears spilling down his cheeks. And it took him far too long to realize he was crying.

Derek was only a few feet away by the time Stiles snapped back to reality.

Some part of his mind was tempted to punch the man. Some part was tempted to turn and storm off. Stiles thought he could only be more pathetic if he dropped to his knees along with the tears.

Derek looked utterly torn. Stiles hated how little he hated him for a moment.

“Stiles—”

“Do you remember the day you left?”

Derek’s mouth snapped closed and Stiles’s words were trembling. The man made an abortive move forward as if he was going to reach out, but then he promptly drew back. Stiles’s heart twisted in his chest.

“Huh, Derek? Do you remember the day you left?”

“It was… a long time ago.”

“Yeah, asshole, it was. But I just want to know one thing,” Stiles said, and he hated himself for how pitiful he sounded. Because right now, he was pretty sure he hated himself more than he hated Derek Hale. If he even ever had. “Did you ever look back?”

Derek’s jaw ticked and he didn’t say a word. Stiles felt like his stomach had dropped.

“Did you ever think about returning?”

“I’m sorry, Stiles.”

And that wasn’t the answer Stiles had been looking for, but maybe it was the one he should have expected. Silently, he nodded, turning back away. He wasn’t trembling so hard anymore but he still felt like his world was falling apart at the seams.

“Wait, Stiles.”

Despite himself, he froze. Despite everything, despite knowing better. Derek looked shattered when Stiles glanced back and for the first time, he wondered if the man had possibly missed Stiles and much as he’d missed him.

But then Derek just ducked his head again and Stiles knew he was an idiot. “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix everything.”

Though turning away, eyes burning, Stiles sure as hell wished it did.

-

I swear to god, I hate you.

-

Stiles never asked to fall in love, alright? He never asked to look into grey-green eyes and find himself rendered useless. If someone had told his teenage self that one day, he’d been spending his life thinking about a certain leather-jacketed asshole, Stiles would have laughed them off.

If his life was a movie, Stiles thought Derek would have shown up on Stiles’s doorstep. Maybe with flowers, maybe with just an apology.

Stiles would have been careful, cautious. But he would have let Derek in. There would have been soft conversations, possible tears, maybe even a love confession. And then Stiles would have been alright again.

Derek Hale never showed up on his doorstep. Stiles still dreamed of grey-green eyes.

There was this part of him that sometimes still came to the shocking realization that Derek was back in town. When one of the deputies introduced Stiles to his new ‘good friend’ and Stiles had nearly had a panic attack at the sight of Derek’s face. When he went to the farmer’s market for the first time since he was a child and turned the corner to run face-first into a soft henley and firm chest.

Sometimes, Stiles had to stop and take a breath. 

And then like the snap of two fingers, suddenly Stiles nearly stopped breathing altogether.

He’d survived his teenage years. He’d survived psychotic werewolves and bloodthirsty alpha packs. He’d survived demon possession and being forgotten by all those he loved. Stiles had survived one thing after another. All of those dozen lives that he’d lived.

He took a bullet to the chest on a Tuesday morning. And Stiles was pretty sure he was finally going to die.

But when he came-to, it was in a hospital room.

Stiles felt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his brain. There was the faint sound of a beeping machine and someone was hunched over where he laid. Stiles managed to blink once, twice, a low groan leaving his lips, and then the person was jerking like they’d been shot.

Derek Hale made an abortive move to stand, looking like he’d been caught red-handed doing something illegal. Stiles focused in on his face slowly, confused for a second, and then he was pretty sure his heart stopped.

Slowly, Derek sank back into the chair at his side. “Stiles?”

“You’re not really here.”

The man’s face did something strange and Stiles was almost tempted to reach out and touch it. But he still felt like he was floating outside of his body, ears ringing, and this wasn’t real. Either he really was dead or they’d put him on enough drugs to make him see what Stiles usually tried to pretend was a bad dream.

Derek looked terrified. Which was funny, because usually their roles were reversed.

“Stiles, how are you feeling?”

“You’re not really here,” Stiles said again. God, why did his brain hate him? The man’s throat bobbed as he swallowed and Stiles thought that up close, his face looked a little less hardened than it used to. His eyes were a little less sad.

“Stiles, you’re in the hospital. You were shot.”

“I know that,” Stiles said, huffing despite himself. “But you’re not here.”

“I am.”

“No,” he said softly. “No, because this is all a dream. Or a hallucination. Or a nightmare. You’re not here because that’s not allowed. We’re not allowed. Someone told me and I’ve spent three years thinking so.”

Derek flinched. Stiles managed a weak chuckle.

“We’re not allowed, Sourwolf.”

And then Derek Hale took his hand. 

Stiles’s brain logged offline for a moment. His heart skipped a beat. Because Derek Hale— dream Derek Hale, hallucination Derek Hale, whatever— had his hand. And Stiles could feel the warmth of his skin. The steady beat of his heart. The callouses that lined his palm.

Derek took his hand, squeezing gently, and for a moment, Stiles just stared.

Then he yanked back like he’d been burned.

“No, Derek. No, Derek, no Derek, no! You’re not here! You can’t be here! Get out. Get your furry ass out right now or I swear to god, I’ll—”

“You’ll what?”

The words were asked gently. Derek raised a brow, glancing down at Stiles’s chest, and his features tightened a little as he looked back up.

“You’ll what, Stiles? Nearly die again?”

“Fuck you.”

“I…” the man's voice wavered. “I’m sorry, Stiles. But I’m not going anywhere.”

And wouldn’t Stiles have loved to have heard that years ago? Derek would have come back or maybe he would have never left. He wasn’t going anywhere. He wasn’t supposed to have gone anywhere from the start.

“Why?” Stiles asked. “Why now?”

Derek dropped his gaze, starting to pull his hand back. But Stiles latched on as if it was a lifeline. Grey-green eyes snapped back upward and Derek nodded, gripping his hand tight again. “I… I heard what happened.”

“Yeah, so I nearly died. I’ve nearly died plenty of times before, you know. You never showed up then.”

Stiles was pretty sure he was hitting every single point of pain. Because Derek looked more and more stricken with every word and if Stiles was a better person, he would stop. But suddenly, it was all spilling out of him. Because yeah, he could hate the man silently all he wanted, but that had never done him any good.

“Why did you leave, Derek? Goddammit, why did you leave?”

“I had to.”

“You had to leave Beacon Hills?”

“Stiles—”

“Or what, Derek? You had to leave the pack? You had to leave me? You had to scurry off into the night and never so much as call? I wanted so bad to hate you, dammit! How could you let me try and hate you?”

“Because that’s what you were supposed to do!”

Stiles froze. At some point, Derek had drawn away. He just looked at Stiles now, eyes blurry and jaw clenched. For a moment, Stiles was pretty sure he was going to get up and leave. But then the man just ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

“That’s what you were supposed to do, Stiles.”

“Why did you leave me, Derek?”

“Why would you ever want me to stay?”

There was this one letter Stiles had written asking himself the same thing. Why did he want Derek back? Why did he even care whether or not the man decided to suddenly up and leave?

Why Derek Hale? Why would he ever care about Derek Hale?

“Because when you left,” Stiles said shakily. “It felt like losing a limb.”

Derek made a soft noise at the back of his throat, shaking hands clasped together in his lap. His eyes were fixed on the floor and Stiles didn’t think he’d ever seen the ex big bad Alpha of Beacon Hills so fragile. But he was pretty sure right now, if he said the wrong thing, Derek would shatter.

“Because you were gone,” Stiles said. “Before you were even mine.”

Some part of him thought Ms. Morrell was wrong. There was no moon or sun. There was no chase, there was no sacrifice. Unless it was on both sides. Because dammit, Derek looked like Stiles had just said everything he’d experienced. The man breathed out shakily and nodded once more glancing up.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sorry doesn’t fix everything.”

“I know.”

“Are you staying?”

“... Yes.”

“For good?”

For a moment, Derek stared. Then he nodded. Stiles smiled a little and for the first time in a while, felt like he really meant it. He shifted, pulling himself into a sitting position and wincing a little at the stretch of his injury. Derek straightened and Stiles just waved a hand through the air, managing a small laugh.

Slowly, the man relaxed back. 

“Then me too,” Stiles said softly. “I'm sorry for trying so hard to hate you.”

Derek huffed, eyes shining. And it had been so long since Stiles had hoped he’d actually ever get to see that. He reached out and Derek took his hand, squeezing tightly. And it was all so real. The pulse point beneath his fingertips. The long fingers intertwined with his own.

It was all so real.

“I’m not leaving again, Stiles.”

And beneath Stiles’s fingertips, the heartbeat of the man stayed steady.

-

There’s this thing about the sun and the moon, Sourwolf. One can’t survive without the other. And it’s always been about survival between us, right? Sometimes, I’d love for that to all be a lie. I really would. But I need you to survive, remember? I need you to survive, which is why I haven’t let you go.

Which is why I might never let you go.

- -

I should really know better than to write at night bc nothing but angst ever ensues. Thank you so much for the prompt, Matt! I had fun with it <3

(if you enjoy my writing, consider supporting your student writer? You can also request a prompt if you’d like!). https://ko-fi.com/rh27writer

[yeaahishowedupatyourparty]

Next Generation Current Plots

I love andrea. 

please try to like...not just take male plots for your girls

please don’t take any if you’re really not going to be into them because i worked so hard on these 

Adelaide ‘Addy’ Maeve Coleman (DIAMOND BRIDGE)

TAKEN

Victoria - Victoria was addy’s classmate, turned best friend. She was her true friend when the others were kind of bullies. Their relationship has definitely deepened since then and addy can safely say she has a crush on her, but she’s also scared. 

Ethan - Ethan is her ex-boyfriend and they were very on and off throughout high school. It ended badly and addy wants nothing to do with him, but she also doesn’t want him to be done with her and definitely clings to him. 

Youi, Callie and Bianca - Her best friends from high school. In fairness, she probably likes Youi more than the other two but the bottom line was, they were all pretty mean to her and again, it’s the same with ethan, she’s done with them but they’re also her safety net. 

Daphne - Her sister, they’re not the same at all. Addy’s definitely the girlier and more emotional of the two but at the same time they’re best friends because Danny and Zara wouldn’t let them be anything else even if they wanted to be LOL 

WANTED 

NEW FRIEND - She goes to diamond bridge but I guess it isn’t ESSENTIAL that they do too. I just want her to become part of a friendship group where everybody’s different to kind of take her out of her bubble. She’d still be the ditzy and girly one, but i think she’s reaching that point where she realises not everybody is a Callie, Bianca, Youi, Peter or Nicolai with no in betweens. Frenemy - Addy started off wanting to do acting like her parents, but then quickly became excited about music so she’s switched courses early on. I’d love for her to have rivals! Maybe two of them are growing pretty quickly music wise and they’ve been pitted against each other, but because they don’t know any better, they’re pretty mean towards each other. FWB - I feel like she went to diamond bridge newly single and she HATES being single with a burning passion; it’s her toxic trait. So, she definitely would’ve slept with the first guy who gave her the time of day just to feel wanted...Bonus points if some douche from one of the frat houses got pictures/video and it’s an underlying secret that they’ve got a sex tape. 

Allison ‘Ally’ Marie Cortes-Smith (GOLD COAST) 

TAKEN

Brett - Her current boyfriend and best friend. He came to her when she was really going through it and they definitely fell in love super quickly; but it’s also a really healthy and supportive relationship, something ally hasn’t had before. She definitely considers him as her family too, given the chaos of her own at times. 

Haley - Her younger sister; their relationship has been turbulent and while Ally loves her, she doesn’t really want to at times. She feels like the childhood she should’ve had with her parents was spent on fussing over Haley and whether or not they’d get her back. Now she is back, it’s even worse and she can’t shake the feeling that Holly couldn’t care less about where she is - hence why she flew half way across the world for college.

Rowan - Rowan was ally’s boyfriend in high school. He got her pregnant in their final year and she chose to terminate the pregnancy after he told her she was on her own. He then claimed nothing of the sort happened, which turned a lot of people against ally and nobody besides the two of them really knew who was telling the truth. They’ve cut all contact. 

Mila - Her best friend from violet springs; growing up, they were inseparable and ally would probably spend one too many nights at her house for sleepovers. They’ve turned out wanting very different things, though, which has strained their friendship - Mila has stayed local for college while ally left, and they’re both seeing their closeness fade. 

Sofia - Another of her best friends, although they had some tension in high school because Sofia became close with Haley and Ally hated sharing anything with Haley. 

WANTED

Goody Two Shoes Friend - Ally is a bit of a bad influence and Adrian and Holly aren’t TOTALLY to blame for who she is; she’s just a bit of a wild card & unpredictable. I really want her to have a friend she leads astray a little, maybe someone who’s used to always playing by the rules but it’s a hardcore platonic connection and they adore one another. 

People who dislike her... - Since she and rowan go to the same academy, there could be more people who believe his side of events and just dislike ally by default. I won’t be offended by this! I just want all of my next gen characters to have deeper and more thought out storylines 

Toxic friend - Ally is super impressionable and while she’s capable of leading people astray, she’s surrounded by enough sensible people - haley, brett, mila etc. to keep her grounded. I want her to have a toxic friendship with someone who maybe causes her to spiral and become more impulsive than she already is 

Aurora Faith Kingsley (ROSEWELL) 

TAKEN 

Peter - Peter is her boyfriend but they definitely don’t have it easy. They both have pretty big personalities and they aren’t necessarily compatible in the way that other couples are, but they love one another enough to make it work for them. 

Avery - Aurora’s best friend, although since they’ve gone to different colleges and aurora’s started dating peter, that’s become super fractured and difficult. Regardless of what anybody tries to get her to think of avery, she’s always going to have love for him, he’s one of her closest and oldest friends. 

Judah, Whitney & Rowan - The closest things she has to siblings after Josh. They’re the children of Hensley and Christelle; Soraya’s best friends. They all had no choice but to grow up with each other and get along. Aurora definitely considers them her best and they’re constantly hanging out with one another and staying in touch despite being in different academies a lot of the time. 

Callie - Aurora’s second cousin and not somebody she gets along with. They clash endlessly and never see eye-to-eye on anything. It got worse when Callie clearly wanted Peter. Aurora being hot-headed and impatient didn’t take it too lightly. 

WANTED 

New Friends - I think it’d be really cool for her to be friends with certain models who are just starting out and they all grow together, starting with bonding over fashion but then they become even closer as they move through the years. 

Unrequited/Flirtationship - I’ve realised in both verses, I need to keep things messy and interesting if I get bored. Maybe somebody from Paris or at least close by who kind of has a thing for her - or just somebody who flirts with her to annoy Peter, if that’s more believable. She wouldn’t take too kindly to it but wouldn’t be able to help admiring the boldness of it all.  Frenemies - It may be that they got off on the wrong foot, they’re rivals or whatever! If you’re going to pick this one, please have a reason or an idea ready :) 

Belle Cynthia Carmichael  (WEST IVYS)

TAKEN

Nila - EX BEST FRIEND. Nila’s definitely one to go to parties and get wasted and stuff but maybe after Belle’s parents divorced and Belle started going off the rails she was like woah you’re going too far. Maybe while Nila wanted her to tone it down, Belle expected Nila to follow her and eventually things went south, resulting Belle dropping her? I think from afar Nila would still be keeping an eye on Belle but she still thinks the damage has already been done Cam - HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART. They were high school sweethearts and the typical high school couple until Belle’s parents divorced and she pushed him away. Once one of his mother’s passed away and they ended up at West Ivy’s, they’ve sort of developed into messy exes-slash-friends with benefits. Belle’s all over the places with her feelings for everyone but she appreciates the familiarity.  Louisa - COUSIN. They grew up pretty close since Kendall and Anastasia get along. Since Belle’s been off the rails, Louisa’s done her best to keep her grounded and prevent her from getting in to too much trouble. She’s almost like a second big sister. WANTED

Socialite Friends - Thanks to the abrupt ending of her parents marriage, Belle is well and truly off the rails. She’s very Paris Hilton-ish in the 2000s. That’s where I got my inspiration from. She’s all about excess and partying so I feel like it’d be appropriate for her to have a little clique with exactly the same vibe. 

FWB - male or female - Now she’s at West Ivy’s, she’s definitely experimenting and getting a feel for her sexuality because she’s not fully sure. I think there could be one person - potentially a little bit older - that helps her with this. Although, I doubt Belle would form an emotional attachment, she’d like the excitement of having someone new in her life like that. She’s currently a virgin and hasn’t slept with anybody.  

Daisy Louise Romano (LIBERTY ACADEMY)

TAKEN 

Peter and Carter - Her brothers. They’re extremely over-protective; especially Peter; but rather than rebelling and trying to act out like some younger siblings do in that situation, Daisy has become over-reliant on the both of them. They fight her battles, help her navigate through sticky situations and more or less think for her. She’s lowkey struggling without them in NYC but is determined to be her own person a little bit more. 

Delena - Delena was an amazing friend to Daisy and stood by her when she got sick again. The girls aren’t the closest and seem to be doing their own thing at the moment, but Daisy will always consider her a good friend. 

Josh - Josh is someone she’s always had something close with and it’s been complicated, in all honesty. They’ve been close friends for a while and always walk the border between that and something more. Daisy doesn’t really know what she feels towards him; she knows her brothers prefer him more than the other guys she’s been involved with but that’s almost more reason to keep her distant because she’s trying to make her own choices.

Rowan - Rowan is interested in one thing and one thing only; being the first person to sleep with Daisy Romano. He’s charming and knows how to make her blush and go all dizzy, but she’s still cautious of him. 

Nicolai - Nicolai is Peter’s friend and at one point, he had a crush on Daisy. Daisy is kind of fascinated with him in the same way younger girls are fascinated with slightly older guys. She finds him both intimidating and endearing at the same time, but definitely keeps her distance because she knows that’s a no go. 

Avery - Avery is Daisy’s newest friend. She always knew who he was but they never really had much to do with each other until they started at Liberty Academy. She does have a little crush on him and finds him super attractive, but again, she knows he’s not Peter’s favourite person and also has a sneaking suspicion that he’s more interested in Aurora. She’s not a stupid girl and won’t settle for being second choice; if that’s the case, she’d be happy to stay friends with him. Sylvia - Syl and Daisy would always bump into each other at the hospital when they were getting check ups and stuff, but never really got close aside from that bc they were in different schools. So maybe they ended up being roommates and they got really close and Sylvia accidentally took one of Daisy’s treatment letters thinking it was her’s, and that’s how she found out. Louisa - Louisa is her Liberty roommate. Since they’re sharing space, she finds out about Daisy being sick although Daisy doesn’t know that. If/when it gets worse, she sends anonymous copies of her doctors letters to people Daisy’s closest with so that she can get more help.

WANTED 

Girl friends - Daisy’s seriously lacking close girl friends! I feel like she could do with these two types below  Responsible friend - Someone who’s kind of like a Mum friend and has her sit down and think things through, because she’s very impulsive by nature.  Hype (Wo)man - A friend who just hypes her up and encourages her to live her best life, probably the opposite of the responsible friend most of the time :’) 

Darcy Briar Carmichael (ST JUDES) 

TAKEN

Nila - They started as best friends and never really officially agreed to date. Things just went that way after they caught feelings and got a lot closer than they originally thought they would. Dacy still adores Nila but they were 16 at the time, so naturally they’ve grown apart in a romantic sense.  Louisa - Her older cousin. They’re really close and like best friends, they’ve supported each other through everything.  WANTED

Platonic Best Friend - male or female - I feel like because Darcy was the sister who internalised the pain of her parents break-up the most and didn’t show her emotions, it’d make more sense for her to have that one best friend who just knows everything about her. She’s really shaky with it and tries to hold herself together. Obviously their whole friendship isn’t just about her parents breaking up, but still, a friendship where they can just count on each other and it’s obvious they’ll never betray one another would be so cute.

On again, off again boyfriend - Perhaps one guy who she’s not good for/isn’t good for her but they always fall together and then apart again, but everybody knows they won’t be end game. I think she’d know it too but finds it hard to let go of people because there’s probably genuine fondness there too. 

Enemy - Darcy isn’t really the competitive type. She hates bitchiness and would rather have 0 friends than surround herself with all the wrong people like Belle does. I feel like it’d be really cool for her to have someone she flat out hates on her modelling course because maybe they’re very full of themselves and outspoken, and one day Darcy just snaps? And it’s been tense and bad blood between the two of them ever since. 

The son/daughter of her father’s new wife/girlfriend - I imagine her Dad has found love with another woman. Perhaps it’s the Mum of somebody at St Judes? Belle would hate this person but I think Darcy would make more of an effort to get to know them since they’re going through similar things. 

Dixie Gisele Carmichael (ROSEWELL) 

TAKEN 

Fleur - Her twin sister. Fleur is her best friend and worst enemy at exactly the same time and it’s hard for anyone but the two of them to make sense of. They’re on the same wave length at all times and it doesn’t take much for one to know what the other is thinking. They grew up at the top of the social hierarchy in the Upper East Side and in Paris; you’re not in the right crowd on either side of the Atlantic if you don’t know who the twins are. HOWEVER, there’s huge competition between the two of them too. Fleur was the first to really break on to the fashion scene and start getting a whole new level of attention, leaving Dixie behind - bitter and ignored. She wasn’t going to go down without a fight though. She rejected her sisters Rosewell application, meaning she had to settle for a different university outside of the fashion capital of the world. 

Whitney - Whitney is her cousin through Blake being Disney’s step-brother, even though it’s not biological, the Cruz-Mendozas and the Carmichaels have been raised as if they are. Dixie and Whitney arguably have two of the biggest personalities in the family and can be caught clashing and pissing each other frequently, but they make up just as fast and are back to bringing the flavour to family events.  Roman - Dixie has a huge crush on Roman and she really doesn’t care who knows it. She’d never go to the point of making him uncomfortable or putting him in awkward positions - especially because I think he’s dating someone? - but she will always openly flirt with him. Even if it pisses off Fleur, who also has a thing for him and is his best friend.

WANTED 

PETTY Best Friend - She needs a right hand woman who’s like equally as petty as her and maybe they have the shared goal of being at the TOP of their game for this generation, and going down in History. That is a very Dixie goal and I feel like she’s really only interested in people who match her energy and ambition. There’s not a chance in HELL that she’ll be friends with self-victimising/self-pitying people who only care about being in relationships or their love life.

I-love-you-but-not-like-that-lol jk-definitely-like-that-why-are-you-so-crazy-and-obsessed-with-being-the-best-though? - I really imagine Dixie to have a best friend (male please, because it’s mildly romantic) who is just the total opposite to her. I feel like she’d probably meet them through the academy stuff and they’re just grounded/prefer simple things/aren’t raging lunatics who are constantly competing with their sisters BUT they kind of get dragged along with her craziness because they care about her :’) I feel like it’d be a slow burn relationship tbh. They start off purely platonic & see each other through a whole string of other relationships but it’s obvious they really like one another. 

Status!Boyfriend - And by that I mean, a boy who treats her like absolute crap but she kind of keeps him around because he helps boost her status. She’s not like Disney, where she genuinely cares for Brody so she drops her standards a bit. She’ll happily make his life hell too and make it very clear that he’s nothing more than another step to get to where she needs to be - but he’s probably in a similar situation, I imagine. 

Ex-Friend - This could definitely be something to do with Fleur, maybe they KNOW she betrayed her sister and think she’s a bit of a bitch for doing so, so they cut her off. They’d 100% be on Fleur’s hitlist too and I feel like there could be a lot of petty going backs and forth. Like Ally, she really can’t bring herself to fully understand how people can like BOTH her and her sister equally, because she’s kind of the underdog in a sense, so she’d feel super betrayed. 

Dylan Samuel Powell (WEST IVYS) 

TAKEN

Lily - Lily is currently his girlfriend. To be honest, I don’t know where they stand because I can’t remember LOL. They’re both at West Ivy’s and came together at the end of high school. There was a little bit of tension because there was stuff still between her and Nicolai; Dylan definitely isn’t the drama type and I feel like if it was obvious Lily still had split feelings, he’d be prepared to just call it off rather than let it get messy. Josh - A good friend that he bonds over photography and directing with. It’s a mutual friendship that’s developing now they’re at the academies.

WANTED

Old friend - Maybe an old family friend. He spent a lot of time away from Violet Springs. He and Janey both lived in Sweden before they came back to the UK full time. But, perhaps the child of Janey’s friend is quite close to him? I feel this person would know what happened to Janey and why Dylan is so protective over people, particularly his Mum, and is quite attached to home and not leaving her. 

Ex Long Distance Gf - Maybe he was dating somebody long distance for a long time. I feel like growing up in Sweden, he would’ve been a little bit of a loner, but found a lot of connections online. I feel like they would have maybe dated for about 2 years maximum and met up a handful of times, but he might’ve called it off because it just wasn’t working or he found the distance wasn’t working? Maybe she cheated (I feel like he wouldn’t.) Bonus points if there’s a bit of a connection now they have crossed paths again. 

Emmett Charles Hamilton (ST JUDES) 

TAKEN 

Cameron - They’re friends and get high together. There’s really not much else that goes with it. Louisa - This probably would have been painfully young, like early-mid high school and wouldn’t have lasted any longer than a few months. He would’ve got with her to lose his virginity for sure, because douchebags and peer pressure. Just so that there’s somewhere to go with their connection and it’s not just there, maybe they’ve weirdly grown closer now they’ve grown up a bit and still hook up occasionally. 

WANTED

Fake tutor: Emmett was pretty bright but failed classes because he was lazy. Maybe there’s somebody who used to tutor him through his last year in high school because Nate made him have one, and he used to just pay them to sit around and play video games with him before leaving.  Current girlfriend/Love Interest: I feel like this would work better if they were at different academies. Maybe they got together over the summer and genuinely really like each other but they have A LOT of ups and downs. Maybe she’s his complete opposite and somebody who stresses over every little thing, whereas he just coasts through life. It might be nice if she isn’t necessarily from money either - because that could be a big tension point. I feel like their eyes would definitely wander when they’re away from one another and maybe one or both have actually cheated but always feel so bad when they sit back and think about it. 

Jay Alexander Hamilton (LIBERTY ACADEMY)

TAKEN

Sylvia - Jay always had feelings for Sylvia and it was a slow burn throughout high school. Please don’t shoot me @ tiah, I can’t remember if they ever became official but they’re definitely closer now they’re at Liberty and a little bit more mature than they were before. 

Amelia - Gisele and Disney are still good friends, so Jay met Amelia through his cousins and aunt. They’ve always got along really well and Jay is super protective over her, whether she likes him to be or not. Neither of them currently realise the past that their parents had.  Ethan - Ex-best friend. Him and Ethan used to be inseparable but their personalities have started to clash and they’re more like frenemies these days.  Victoria - Ages ago at the beginning of high school, he was dared to date her as a dare and because he was young and stupid, he obviously agreed. She ended up finding out - or he confessed, i can’t remember - and she’s never forgiven him. He gets that, even though he’s personally moved on from it.  Louisa -  A new friend that he’s gained from Liberty.

WANTED

Ex girlfriend - Obviously from school before Sylvia. They’re all still young so I think it wouldn’t have been serious. I just imagine he’s had experience in relationships before. I don’t really have any specific ideas for what the dynamic of the relationship was like.  Summer Fling - This one is more apparent. Obviously, in the summer, he lives with his Dad in the Canary Islands. So, maybe somebody who came on a family holiday with to the hotel and they got pretty close. I feel like he would’ve been good at cutting it off though because...Yeah.  Liberty Friends - I feel like one thing Jay is good at is going from place to place and remaining popular, but he’s also shifting in popularity. He’s not popular because he’s associated with the mean/horrible clique but because he’s a pretty nice person. So, if you have any Liberty characters, please throw them his way for friendships and we can develop! 

Kai Arden Powell - son of Louis & Lexi.

TAKEN 

Sofia - His girlfriend. They’ve been dating for a while and he wouldn’t change it. They’re definitely not completely stable and I feel like they’re young and have a lot to work out, but through Kai’s eyes (because he doesn’t know any better) she’s the one for him. 

Aliyah - One of his good friends he’s made since starting at Willow House. He’s made it clear that he wants to be out of there and is trying to transfer asap but if one thing has come out of it, it’s his friendship with Aliyah! He likes her a lot and will definitely stay in contact if he does move on.

WANTED 

The person who snitched - Kai basically found himself in this predicament because he let it slack in the last years of Gallagher. He ended up paying somebody to write his admissions essays and got found out. Maybe he never paid the person who wrote his and they snitched to the board of West Ivys (where he was originally going to go) and that got him kicked out? He’d definitely hold it against them.  Ex-friends - A friend he used to be close to back in high school but after he flopped and kind of fell of track, they haven’t really spoken to him or reached out for support.  Family friend - Someone he keeps in regular contact with who still supports him and maybe tries to convince him that Willow House isn’t that bad. Like, they recognise that clearly things have bit him in the ass and don’t understand why he’s still trying to cheat himself into a different academy. Basically a sensible friend that he ignores because he’s an idiot LOL 

Ex-boyfriend - He’s bi and I feel like he was one of those kids in school who was super aware of it and open about it early. He obviously had the privilege of having Louis and Lexi as parents, who are VERY loving - almost to a fault, so he’s never really been afraid of judgement or being pushed out because he’s never really been exposed to that. He’s very privileged in that sense.  Maybe his ex wasn’t? And it ended because Kai couldn’t keep hiding it, whereas his ex almost needed to, so they went their own ways?

Charlotte ‘Lottie’ Bradford - daughter of Drew & Annabel.

TAKEN

Yasmine - Yasmine is her best friend. They never really spoke in high school and it didn’t help that Lottie wasn’t there for a lot of it, because Annabel and Drew agreed to let her be home-schooled while she focused on music and (unsuccessfully) try to get the attention of record labels. But, now they’re both in Liberty and they’ve bonded quite quickly. She’s aware that Yasmin is super shy and anxious. Lottie’s the opposite, they balance one another out and she’s very protective over her.  Louisa - An old friend of hers. They were closer during high school and even though they have new friends and are in different points in their lives, they still care about one another.

WANTED (she isn’t even new but has nothing and it hurts my heart) 

Old friends - I feel like Lottie is very much a hometown girl even though she’s moved out and gone far for college. There’s definitely four or five people that she’s been friends with since the beginning of high school and no matter where they are in the world, they keep in contact. These would be people she’d literally cross the world for to help out because she loves them that much. She was never cool at school, but didn’t ever crave to be.

First Love (3 way plot) - Her first love in high school, male please. Again, I hate it when high school romances are super developed and deep because 9/10 times, that’s not the case. I think maybe he thought she was pretty and she loved the idea of being in love, but when she started to become home-schooled, he obviously lost interest slowly and connected with other people...whereas she lacked that social progress because she wasn’t around people her own age. Eventually he called it off, and she took it...awfully. Her toxic trait is she takes all minor inconveniences horrendously :’) 

Ex friend (3 way plot) - Perhaps this was the friend that her first love moved on to. I don’t think cheating would have happened. Maybe with Lottie gone, the two of them just caught feelings for each other. Lottie would have probably cut her out before she even got a chance to explain herself because it would’ve hurt. Bonus points if maybe they both miss each other more than they miss the high school relationships they fell out over. So, there’s potential for them to reunite. 

Ex Boyfriend (2) - This would have been her late high school boyfriend, after she came back from home-schooling. I’d love it if they were relatively new in town or maybe they were outsiders somehow, but him and Lottie just had an instant connection. Lottie was never in the conventionally popular group but she was well-liked and known around the school, so I feel like her getting with somebody who maybe wasn’t on that social level would’ve been a little unexpected? But, I feel like she would’ve been totally in love with him and he would’ve been the person she’s had a lot of firsts with.  I think he’d probably be the one to end it after they grew up and maybe wanted different things from life. Lottie definitely is more angry about this because she’s hurt, rather than because he did anything wrong. 

Crush - She’s now at Liberty (and straight btw!). So, a guy that she’s super into now she’s in a new city and starting a new chapter. I feel like it’d be very surface level right now and maybe he has no idea that she feels that way? OR maybe he does know, but kind of plays on it but never commits and she’d like that :’) but also get frustrated

New friendship -  A new friendship that’s perhaps a bit competitive. Liberty is a very high ranking academy and Lottie is used to music/doing cool things being her thing because nobody really started the same way she did in high school. But, now everybody has a goal of being famous and is doing amazing things? So they go in and out of being friends and being rivals?

Pippa Elizabeth Carmichael - daughter of Kelsey Calemine

WANTED

She’s VERY new and I’m still working out the details of his bio, so I’ll update whenever I can! 

[dailypriya]

⌠ MEDALION RAHIMI, 23, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER ⌡ welcome back to gallagher academy, PRIYA DALY! according to their records, they’re a FIRST year, specializing in MEDICAL TRAINING; and they DID NOT go to a spy prep high school. when i see them walking around in the halls, i usually see a flash of (perfectly messy curls falling on glittering shoulders, taped up hundred dollar bills and gold chains, dress code violations). when it’s the (cancer)’s birthday on 7/15/1997, they always request their CRÈME BRÛLÉE from the school’s chefs. looks like they’re well on their way to graduation.

                              𝖎 𝖘𝖜𝖊𝖆𝖗 𝖙𝖔 𝖇𝖊 𝖋𝖚𝖑𝖋𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖊𝖉

death tw

ACCESS: GRANTED FILE NAME: DALY, P.; AMERICAN HEIR

Priyanka Daly grew up knowing that one day she was to inherit and run the prestigious Elizabeth Daly Foundation, a nationwide medical conglomerate based in New York City that had been around for nearly a century, named after her great-grandmother. It was one of the most respected foundations in the medical community, owning several hospitals around the US, and highly regarded. By the time Priya was born, her mother, Elizabeth Daly III was already seated at the head of the table of the board, her husband, Mark Daly (who had taken her name, agreeing that their daughter would have her mother’s and the foundation’s name) a voting member as well. The married couple were two extraordinary surgeons at the top of their respective fields, general and cardiothoracic surgery. Priya had almost no choice but to dream of being a surgeon like them one day, and to run the foundation with pride, and of course she strove toward it all her life. It was the end-goal, the only thing she could ever see herself wanting, and she grew up to work like hell for it.

Needless to say, the family had not only the money of two world-renowned doctors, but the family’s foundation. Priya, however, never took it for granted, at least not in her adolescence. She was raised to respect both her last name and the hard work that had gotten them all here today, raised to be a good girl, a respectable girl and never complain-- except for when she asked about her name. 

“Why am I named Priyanka? We’re Iranian, and why can’t I be Elizabeth like you and grandma?” she’d asked at seven years old when she’d caught the discrepancy. 

“My little darling, you are named after my very best friend,” her mother had told her with a ghost smile. “One of the greatest women I’ve ever known.”

“Where is she, Mama?”

Elizabeth Daly only smoothed the hair on her daughter’s head. “I’ll tell you that story some other day, sweet one.”

She believed her, because she trusted her mother with her life. As Priya grew, her mother had been her own best friend, and the person she relied on more than anyone, through childhood and adolescence alike. Her idol. In her later teenage years, though, she watched as her mother became Chief of Surgery at the hospital, and the foundation forced her to step back more and more from being a mother, working harder and longer days to give the hospital and the Elizabeth Daly Foundation her full attention. Still, she never stopped loving her daughter.

In early 2019, Mrs. Daly suffered a heart attack. Pretty cruel that one of the nation’s leading surgeons died unexpectedly in the middle of a hospital. Surrounded by doctors, sitting in a building full of medicine’s finest, there was simply nothing to be done, and not enough time to save her. It didn’t make sense to Priya, even as she processed the fact that this happened in part because she worked herself ragged, because she made her career her entire life outside of loving her daughter and husband, and because heart attack symptoms are so much harder to catch in women. What she started to feel instead of devastation was anger.

A beautiful funeral was hosted, and Priya endured kind words from almost every esteemed colleague her mother worked with, every mentor that shaped her, and every student she taught. She was loved, so loved-- that much was evident in the community around her that felt this loss at their core. But Priya wouldn’t cry with them, wouldn’t empathize, because all she could see was people that took her mother from her, people that her mother chose over her own life.

The tipping point was when she dropped out of med school. She fought with her father, she started acting out and behaving in all the ways she’d never been allowed to, feeling herself find some sort of relief in the freedom it brought. She’d stay out late drinking, partying, blowing money and maxing out her cards, though she knew she’d never run out. It felt good, like she could push and push the limits. Priya knew it was a common symptom of people who cheated death to try and chase extremes. She hadn’t been the one to come close to death, but it had affected her all the same.

After a year of her reckless behavior, her attitude and personality turning sour compared to the girl who always said yes and always tried to be the best, the foundation was more than sick and exhausted with the girl who was running their name through the mud of the streets of New York’s elite. And though secretly Priya still desperately wanted her birthright, to one day inherit the foundation, she couldn’t hide her disdain for it in turn.

Then she found her mother’s old medical journals, different ones all filled with notes on her residency as a young woman, plans for medical trials, love letters she’d drafted for her husband. It was an array of the woman she was in all her many sides. And in one of them, Priya found a photo of two young girls: one with long black curls and the same demure smile she’d always seen on her mom, another with short dark hair, brandishing a wicked grin as she held a young Elizabeth Daly close in the sunlight.

Penned on the back read, Lizzie and Priya, Gallagher ‘87, together til the end.

The page it had fallen out of described a place Priya had never heard about. She’d always known her mother had attended medical school later than usual, but she’d never known where exactly she’d been before then. And every time throughout her teens that Priya had asked about her mysterious namesake, her mother had always said, “When you’re older, darling.” She was older now, but she didn’t have her mother by her side anymore. All she had were broken dreams, a broken home, and a journal with a ticket to the last of what her mother hid from her.

By the end of the summer, she’d succeeded in following the trail to Gallagher Academy, dangling her mother’s name and the foundation’s glittery reputation in front of her long enough to get herself an entrance exam. Suffice to say, the material covered was a lot crazier than anything she’d seen in her own college and med-school exams, but Priya had managed to keep her wits about her, using her already advanced intlellect to navigate the test, part of it feeling strangely natural. 

It wasn’t until her acceptance letter arrived that she marched up to her father’s office, slamming the paper down with a bitter grin, and for a moment, Mr. Daly could have sworn he was looking at the spitting image of his late wife’s best friend. Priya only stayed long enough to fight about it, to argue about ‘should’ and ‘shouldn’t’, ‘can’ and ‘can’t’. By the end of the fight, her father could do nothing to stop her from changing her mind, but what he could do was offer a promise. If Priya saw this thing through, and graduated from her mother’s alma mater, he’d do his best to secure her place at the foundation’s board. But if she let her newly reckless behavior screw it all up, that was it. She’d be cut off for good.

“You’re on,” Priya had responded with steely confidence, once again shocking her father with her resemblance to her namesake.

The next morning, she was gone, on a plane to the school her mother had never let her know existed, but had given her both some of the best years of her life, and the woman she’d name her daughter after. Though Priya still holds so much turmoil in her heart, she wants so badly to be able to feel close to her mom again, and this might be the only way forward to do just that. Maybe spy school isn’t anywhere in the plan she’d crafted for herself at eighteen, but it beats staying in a broken home, waiting to be told she’d never inherit her family name the way she’d always wanted. And really, how hard can it be?

TL;DR - THE FACTS

Priya is daughter to two world-renowned American surgeons, also in line to inherit the Elizabeth Daly Foundation, a super fancy and huge medical conglomerate

her mother was the head of the foundation and Chief of Surgery at her hospital, both based in New York City

Priya grew up to be prim and proper, always saying yes and being the good girl

her mom was pretty much her best friend for all her life, even as her work took over she still managed to love and care for her family just as much

they’re Iranian-American, and she was named after her mom’s late best friend

in early 2019, after her mom worked her self ragged for both her jobs, she suffered a heart attack and tragically passed, forcing her father to take over the foundation

Priya knew it was because she worked so hard, that she barely took time for herself outside of others

she started to get angry, angry at the foundation for putting so much on her mom, angry at her mom for letting it happen, just angry at everything

she acted out the way she was never allowed to, starting to blow money left and right, drinking and partying, causing chaos and basically being an embarrassment to the whole foundation

eventually she found out her mom was a Gallagher alum, something that had been a secret to her all her life, so she gets herself an entrance exam

when she passes, her father gives her a promise: if Priya can manage to graduate from Gallagher, he’ll secure her place at the foundation, but if she screw it up, she’ll be cut off for good

Priya takes it on, her biggest reason for going to try and somehow be close to her mom again despite still being so conflicted and angry about everything

wild child is back to school!

let’s go lesbians!!

Medical Training major, because yeah that is the only thing she knows and she was always gonna come back to medicine eventually

reckless and rash, flirtatious and confident, a bit of a spitfire

CONNECTIONS

Nico Casiraghi: knew each other from richy-rich circles, always thought he was an ass; he’s now extra-condescending to her after she’s become such a menace and she hates him even more

Cecilia Casiraghi: also knew her before Cecilia ran away; pretty much just sees her as the ‘baby’ Casiraghi and has no idea how tough she now is

Margot Lusignan: met her at Gallagher, Priya pretty much became infatuated with her after their first meeting, definitely has the hots for her! fwb?

Jo Tran: knew her from New York; didn’t know a whole lot about her before, but now Priya thinks Jo is actually way cool

Ophelia Spencer: didn’t realize they met at the Gala, only sees her as some super rude girl who needs an attitude check!

Mary Sakamoto: the first person to really get her to smile at Gallagher; she’s been pretty happy to slowly become better and better friends with Mary

Stella Manchesi: Medical Training buds! Priya’s a little annoyed with the very casual way Stella takes on medicine, but she’s down with her anyway!

Juno Choi: knew each other from family in New York! Priya definitely thinks Juno is both super cool and considers her a good friend

Raina Virani, Beatrice Fitzsimmons, Calypso Marshall: her awesome roomies who she hasn’t allowed herself to get super close to, but she’d also fight anyone for any and all of them, do not mess with them!

(i’ve been all over the place the last two months, please dm me if i’m missing something or if you wanna plot anything!)

[alwaysahiccupandastrid]

As a drama/performance student who’s hoping to go into acting, let me just say right now that Rachel Berry would never have made it on Broadway.

Oh, she has talent and there’s no denying that. But so do so many other girls and boys. You can’t make it in the business based on talent alone - you don’t get to become a success immediately, you have to work your way up and prove that you’re right for a role or for success. You have to work hard and always remember to keep learning.

That was something that was taught to us very early on in drama - no matter who you are or where you come from, whether you’re an amateur student or a success movie star, you can ALWAYS learn. You should always be challenging yourself and learning. You should always strive to improve and better yourself whenever possible.

Rachel never seemed to want to do that. She got into NYADA (after stalking the dean, which is something else I’ll go into in a minute) and then quit before finishing her education to do Funny Girl - which she then quit to do a TV show that failed. First of all, a casting director is going to take one look at this behavior and immediately decide “no - she cannot commit”. You don’t abandon your studies or the role you do have just because something that’s only maybe better comes along. Obviously many great actors do TV shows and pilots that fail, that’s not my issue - my issue with Rachel is that she never put the work in. It was always the bare minimum. “Oh, I’ve done a year and a half of studying at the best arts academy in NY, I don’t need to study anymore because I got one part on stage” - it does NOT work like that. She couldn’t commit which is a risky behavior in ANY job.

Part of being an actor or performer is criticism - you are ALWAYS subject to criticism. You will NEVER make it in the business if you can’t handle that criticism. Rachel would throw bitch fits and sob and play the victim EVERY SINGLE TIME someone made the slightest criticism of her.

Let’s delve deeper - first, Cassandra July.

Yes, Miss July was a bit mean and rude - but she’s a professor at a top NY arts academy. If you get into a top arts academy like NYADA is in the show, you are not there to fuck around - anyone who gets in has to be committed 100% to their studies, both practical and theoretical. Cassandra July is not there to baby the students and lift their egos - she is there to train and prepare them for the harsh reality of seeking a career in the arts.

In the very first episode of S4, on her first day in class, Rachel shows blatant disrespect to a professor by rolling her eyes. You do not do that to a professor in any subject, let alone a dance teacher. If you can’t respect your teachers or the people who you are learning from, you should not seek a career in the arts. This also goes for ANYONE you work with; if you work with a director or actor on a play or on a TV show, for example, you should always seek to learn from them, even if it’s something small. 

If you are studying the arts, especially at a level where they’re preparing you to be professional actors/singers/dancers, they HAVE to be hard on you. Hell, I didn’t even go to drama school but my drama teachers were always brutally honest with me. They made it clear that “Megan, you HAVE to be louder”, “you MUST learn your lines and practice without a script”, “your accents are terrible”, “don’t just stand there and recite lines! Move!” Etc. Etc. It may be harsh but Cassandra has to be brutally honest so that the kids know what they’re in for; yeah, they’ll get told that their noses are too big for a part. Yeah, they’ll be told “you need to drop a few pounds” or that they’re ugly, etc. It’s sad but true.

“Your pique turns are sloppy” - she’s literally pointing out to Rachel something to improve on. Sure, it’s not the nicest way but no one should be at a performing arts school and expecting nice.

Rachel’s disrespect of a teacher/professional continued for the whole time Cassandra July was on the show. She called her teacher out, was extremely rude and said “you’re jealous because we all have careers and yours is over”, so on so forth. I’m pretty sure if you were actually attending a drama school or performing arts academy, and you had the nerve to turn around and say that, you would be expelled and tossed on your ass before you could utter another word.

If a teacher says “I don’t think you’re ready to do the tango/for this part”, you should listen. They’ve been in the business for a LONG time, far longer than you have, and with loads more experience. The best you can do is listen and decide to study harder and better yourself. Rachel flatout ignored this advice and went ahead anyway because she wanted to be the Star NOW, no hard work or struggle or patience to be seen.

Let’s just say this; you don’t go to the dean of the uni/college and call one of the professors “a lunatic”.

Now Carmen Tibideaux:

For a start, Rachel choked her audition - it’s bizarre and ridiculous that she got in. She didn’t get in on her audition, but because she stalked and harassed Carmen until the dean gave in and came to watch her. In real life, if you fuck that audition up, that is it. You don’t get another chance until the following year when you apply again (and yes, it’s common to apply for drama schools multiple times until you get in - some people who go on to be successful actors have been known to audition as many as SEVEN times).

Realistically, Tibideaux should have not given Rachel that chance because she didn’t deserve it. No other candidate got that chance - in real life, no matter how talented an auditionee is, NO ONE is given more of a chance than anyone else. Everyone is judged on their audition, that’s it. Rachel may be talented but there are many others just as talented and even MORE so than her.

Also, Tibideaux could have in fact had a restraining order against Rachel. This crazy little girl turns up again and again like a complete twat, begging and pleading and just not understanding that she had her chance, she can have another chance NEXT year. I’d have seriously filed some kind of motion against Rachel, as I’m sure any other teacher or head would.

Despite the fact that Tibideaux gave Rachel chance after chance, Rachel was still rude and frankly ungrateful. Tibideaux makes valid points that Rachel is underperforming in EVERY single class. She’s not making an effort to be a part of the NYADA community.

If the dean of your college says that, you do NOT argue back. You do NOT attempt to say “I’m doing great, I’ve handled everything this school has thrown at me”. Rachel’s delusions of herself and her talent are laughable.

I could have applauded Carmen Tibideaux for turning around and telling Rachel how it is: “You are not the first supernova to come through here. You are talented, you have drive. What you don’t have, is you have no foundation. You don’t listen, and you don’t take direction. That’s why you need NYADA. You’re not ready.”

You can’t just expect to be fresh out of school or college and getting the fucking lead in hit Broadway shows. You start as ensemble, you learn, you work your way up. Rachel was too selfish and full of herself to do that. Also, the fact that she cannot listen to criticism or take direction screams that a director would NEVER hire her. She can’t take direction, and that will get her nowhere in her career. You have to listen, you have to collaborate and listen to everyone’s ideas as well as contributing your own.

The actual fucking nerve of a Rachel Berry saying “you’re wrong and I’m gonna prove it to you” - she would be out on her ass and never hired again, never accepted into an arts academy again. If someone older, wiser and more experienced tells you something, you LISTEN.

As an actor myself, we don’t do all of this hard work to be famous (at least, not those of us who actually love our work) - we go through student debt, years of no sleep, years of constant rehearsals, of being in the background waiting for our turn, of learning and honing and crafting our skills so that we can maybe one day do the thing we love most professionally. We actors/dancers/singers/performers are storytellers - we try to craft something meaningful or to tell a story we feel needs telling.

Carmen said something very true and on point: “do you care about the work or is it just about the spotlight?” Rachel never cared about the work - she never cared about being a storyteller or creating art. To her, it was all about the fame and attention.

Some other things:

After quitting, especially in the way she did, Rachel would definitely not be allowed to continue her studies where she left them at NYADA, if at all. At best, she would audition and get in the following academic year, and have to start from the bottom again. Most likely, however, she would not be allowed to study there again.

People in the industry talk. If Rachel was hard to work with when with even a few people, it would seriously damage her chances of being hired again. They would immediately throw away her resumé.

Even her choked audition was fucking irritating as a performer - if you screw up your lines or forget them or whatever, you don’t stop and ask to go again. You carry on. If you’re on Broadway and you get the words wrong, you cannot ask to start the song again in front of the entire audience. It’s extremely unprofessional. At school, when I did my guitar exams, that was KEY - “if you play the wrong note, do NOT go back and redo it - just keep going. You’ll get more points for carrying on than for doubling back”.

^So Rachel stopping and starting is immediately a no-no. At best, they would let her restart just once - but they would not let her have another chance. Even if she was given another chance and she aced it, the damage is done - she wouldn’t have gotten in.

Kurt aced his audition, didn’t mess up or stop, and didn’t harass the dean of NYADA to make sure he got in - Rachel messed up, stopped, harassed Carmen and was a brat. How the Hell did Rachel get into NYADA but not Kurt?? If Kurt didn’t get in, then Rachel DEFINITELY shouldn’t have, end of story.

In short, Rachel is the worst character and it actually pisses me off how inaccurately she’s written in regards to being at a performing arts academy/her success on Broadway. The writers wanted us to root for her so desperately but I would just skip the majority of scenes she was the focus of because she irritated me that much. If the writers wanted to make us root for her, they should have SHOWN her accepting that she had to start in the background and work her way up. They should have at least not let her get into NYADA.

[hetalia-high-school-au-ask-blog]

Introduction!

This is all the information you need to know for this AU thingy!

So this AU is gonna be huge. All the hetalia characters I can think of will make an appearance. Now this will be mature, so if you are not comfortable with DARK topics, do not read it. This is my warning. 

Ships that will be in this (in no particular order):

Alfred x Arthur

Matthew x Gilbert

Ludwig x Feliciano

Lovino x Antonio

Yao x Ivan

Kiku x Heracles

Roderich x Vash

Feliks x Toris

Matthais x Lukas

Berwald x TIno

Emil x Li

Vladimir x Milen

Romeo x Anthony 

Some ships may be added or removed.

World Academy is a school in Washington D.C. It strives to be very accepting and very open, having many different people from many different countries. It has amazing sports programs, as well as art and drama programs. It's a huge school filled with different people, all with different interests. Because of this, the school has many sports from all over the world, such as soccer/European football, American football, and Australian football. The school has the highest grades in the area, and most students are well behaved, thanks to the high discipline by students and teachers.

Now I will give a little blurb about each character in the context of this AU.

Alfred F. Jones(America)- Alfred is an energetic young boy, your classic jock. He is a big sweetheart, with a heart of gold, and would die for his friends. He loves to cook, but enjoys some good chicken nuggets from McDonald's every once and awhile. He is also a VERY big fan of American football, and loves to play with his buddies. Despite being a popular jock, he would never bully someone for anything, especially for their sexuality, since he himself was bi. His life seems perfect, but is there something dark under the surface?

Arthur Kirkland(England)- Arthur is a prim and proper young man, with a bright future ahead of him. He is the student council president, and is feared throughout the school, since he holds the power of a staff member when it comes to punishing misbehaving students. He also has a secret sporty side, not playing on the school's official teams, but for fun on club teams. No one knows about this side of him, and he'd prefer to keep it that way. Very very gay for all the jocks in the school but refuses to admit it.

Matthew Williams(Canada)- Matthew is timid. You could tell from a mile away, if you could spot him. He was shorter than his older brother, Alfred, and is outshined by him in every way. The one thing he had a better grip on were his grades, which mattered very little to his parents. He too had a secret that even Alfred didn't know about, and he knew if he revealed this secret, Alfred would be pissed. Likes to refer to himself as demi, but is more gay than he realizes.

Gilbert Beilschmidt(Prussia)- Gilbert is a very loud and obnoxious boy, constantly harassing both boys and girls about numbers and flirting relentlessly. He hated following rules and would often disobey dress code, and be disruptive during class. Sometimes he'd straight up ditch class and waltz back in the food with no care in the world. He's protective though, especially of his little brother, and who he thinks needs it. He's pansexual, like the entire BTT.

Ludwig Beilschmidt(Germany)- Ludwig is serious and tough, not taking shit from anyone. He is the student council's vice president. He doesn't hold as much power as Arthur, therefore is less feared, but he makes people aware that they shouldn't break rules. He's a hunky man, and attracts many suitors, but he only has his eyes on one boy. A certain art student with a cute curl, and adorable smile. Demi sexual (or felisexual)

Feliciano Vargas(N. Italy)- Feliciano was an art student with an uncontrollable love for pasta. He is a bubbly and happy boy, and is rarely seen without a smile. He is one of the best artists in school and is commonly tasked with making murals and posters for events. He is quite popular for it. His best friends are Ludwig and Kiku, though he feels guilty about Ludwig. He won't deny that Ludwig looked a lot like his old crush from middle school, and kept him around for the fuzzy feeling. Though, he loves Ludwigs company either way. Gay for Ludwig, but doesn't really know yet.

Lovino Vargas(S. Italy)- Feliciano's meaner and more aggressive brother. He is considered by many to be an "evil twin," since his and his brothers personality clash. He does have a few soft spots though. He loves tomatoes, and his love for pasta is almost as big as his brother's. He is outshined a bit by his brother's artistic skill, and his ability to speak to others. It made him feel he was lesser, and he lashed out because of it. He still loves his brother, despite the fact he feels inferior to him.

Antonio Fernandez Carriedo(Spain)- Musical nerd. He loves the classic musicals, and the new musicals as well. Often found singing in the drama room and will no doubt perform any musical song you ask him too. He can play the guitar, and likes to learn his favorite songs and Lovino will play tambourine along with him. One of the happiest and positive boys in school. Pansexual, like all of the BTT, but really likes Lovino.

Yao Wang(China)- Secretary of the student counsel so he is very serious about rules. One of the oldest kids in school, but pretty short. Most people know not to mess with him though, because he takes karate classes, and already has a black belt. He's kind of a neat freak, and wants everything to be perfect. Spends most of the time in the library organizing books and gossiping with the librarian.

Ivan Braginsky(Russia)- Ivan is one of the tallest and scariest guys in school, but is honestly very sweet. He doesn’t try to scare people, but ends up accidentally doing so because he is bad at anything social. He has a few issues, but is genuinely trying to fix himself, and understands people’s views of him. He has a big attachment to his sister, Katyusha, and keeps the scarf she made for him when they were children.

Kiku Honda(Japan)- Kiku is an odd boy. He has a fascination with art and mythology of all cultures. He also values his own life and culture and will happily tell people about it. He is the treasurer of the student council, and is pretty closed off, thanks to his massive love of anime. He tries to not let it bother him too much. His favorite mythology to learn about is greek mythology, since it is so far from his home country and is so different .

Heracles Karpusi(Greece)- A quiet and reserved boy, but incredibly horny all of the time. Often thinks of his friend Kiku in sexual ways, but is often unfazed by it. He quite enjoys these thoughts. He is Kiku’s main source of mythology information, since he himself is greek and they share a mythology class. He hates this guy named Sadik, and has hated him for a really long time because they were an item at one point. He doesn’t like to think about it.

Roderich Edelstein(Austria)- One of the most snobby rich kids you’ll ever meet. He thinks he’s better than everyone else and really only cares about himself. He was the previous president of the student council, but lost the election to Arthur this year. He is still upset about it. Now he spends most of his time playing the violin and piano. At this point he is only concerned about his image to colleges and nothing else.

Vash Zwingil(Switzerland)- Gun crazy, and very protective of his adoptive little sister. He has been in love with Roderich for years, ever since they were children, but has started to hate the person that Roderich has become, but is still madly in love. No one except his sister knows, and he would like to keep it that way. He does get it through to Roderich that he should treat people a bit better.

Feliks Lucasiewicz(Poland)- Very… comfortable with himself. His family is very christan, and he knew he was gay from an early age, and knew his family wouldn’t be supportive. So to give a gainate middle finger to his family, he began to cross dress, and ended up really enjoying it. He often gets mistaken for a girl, and is flirted with. He finds this cute, but usually tells them there’s no point. He is quite desirable among gay boys in his school.

Toris Laurinaitis(Lithuania)- The main writer of the newspaper club, and very shy. He was abducted by Feliks, and has grown a weird crush on him. He thought he was straight for the longest time, but this boy confuses him. He is slowly opening up more because of Feliks, and they go horse riding together a lot. He loves these rides because it’s an excuse to get even closer to Feliks.

Matthais Kohlar(Denmark)- A literal crackhead. He is often caught either in the middle of something bad, or about to do something dangerous. Whether he is always high or just reckless is never clear. He has broken practically every bone in his body, at least once. He is a massive headache to take care of but he's a pure hearted guy who loves his friends. Like this dude should jump off a cliff for the sake of friendship.

Lukas Bindevik(Norway)- Reserved and closed off. He is very mysterious and is often caught talking to himself. He grew up without siblings or friends, and his parents are divorced. He had no contact with his father, and only grew up with his mother, and therefore grew mother-like tendencies. He can be very protective, and is good at talking people through their problems, even with his minimalistic speech.

Berwald Oxenstierna(Sweden)- The tallest and most terrifying guy. He's 6'4 muscular and has this resting bitch face that could strike fear into the hearts of WWE wrestlers. But he is actually a giant teddy bear when it comes to the people he cares about. He's big and buff, his hugs are great. He likes to sing to himself while he's working or lost in thought, and many find this charming, earning him many suitors in the process. He's too dense, and too gay for a certain Finn to realize how popular he is.

Tino Vainamoinen(Finland)- One of the most positive and loveable boys in the world. He is only 5'2, and a little on the cubby side, but he is very confident, not afraid to show off his body. He may seem innocent, but on the inside is one of the most kinky shits. He loves a good pounding and will let you know. He will go into heavy detail about his sex life when he's drunk, making people laugh, or be uncomfortable. He's got his eyes on a certain Swede though. He’s also on the hockey team.

Emil Stielsson(Iceland)- Emil is a new kid. He had lived with his single father since he was an infant, not knowing anything about his mother. His dad never told him. But he came to this school this year. He was very awkward around new people, but found comfort on social butterflies talking to him. He is lowkey kinda emo and is stuck in his emo middle school. He is learning how cringy he had been.

Li Xiao Chun(Hong Kong)- A social butterfly. He somehow ended up being friends with every clique in his school from his broad range of interests and friendly personality. Though he does sometimes get fought over because of just how loveable he is. All the different cliques he's friends want to hang out all the time, but because he has so many friends, his schedule is usually filled. He never fails to make time for his newest friend, Emil.

Francis Bonnefoy(France)- The. Biggest. Man. Whore. He has been with practically everyone in school. Most notably his friend with benefits for 2 years, Arthur. Francis had fallen in love, but Arthur never returned the feelings. He always pressed a bit, to see if there was a chance Arthur changed his mind, but never forced him into it.

Alory Kirkland(N.Ireland)- In college. He’s the oldest of the Kirkland siblings (26). He’s very annoyed most of the time, the simple sound of people talking can make him angry. His little brother, Arthur, is the worst. For some reason that boy in particular could be breathing too hard and it would annoy Alory. He’s so glad to have moved out, away from his loud chaotic family. He loves them but he prefers it quiet.

Allistor Kirkland(Scotland)- The second oldest of the Kirkland siblings (24). He's also in college, but constantly visits, unlike Alory. He’s also much happier and peppy. He was never a role model though, always getting in trouble when he was a kid. But, he was the fun one for sure. He also likes to take his siblings golfing, since that is something that he does love to do. He can get competitive with everyone there.

Reuben Kirkland(Wales)- The most chill of the Kirkland siblings. He’s 22, and will visit every once and awhile. He doesn’t talk a lot, and really only spoke after he turned 16. He and Allistor got into all kinds of trouble as kids. He is an actual role model though and would apologize. When he doesvist, he likes to cook for the whole family, since he’s the one who can do it correctly in their family.

Dwight Kirkland(Hutt River)- He is LOVED by his grandparents and aunts and uncles because he sucks up to them when he’s with them.Because of this he is always sent piles of money, and ends up with about ~1000 dollars a year. He loves to flaunt his money in front of his other siblings and spoils himself with it. This is why no 16 year old should have this much money. They’ll use it on stupid things.

Jett Kirkland(Australia)- The athletic one of the family. He loves to swim, surf, and to play australian football. He has broken too many bones to count and has almost died multiple times thanks to being reckless. Kaelin had to perform CPR one time because he almost drowned. He still continues, even if he almost dies. He is quite dumb and will tag along with Alfred. They have many… misadventures. Let’s hope he doesn't die before he goes to senior year (hes 18)

Kaelin Kirkland(New Zealand)- One of the only people who can keep Jett from actually killing himself. He is a movie review youtuber, and spends most of his time in his basement, researching and recording for videos. He is also lowkey obsessed with sheep. His entire room is sheep themed, and it has caused every friend he’s invited over to laugh and call him cute. He doesn’t like being called cute. Acts older than he is (17).

Peter Kirkland(Sealand)- In middle school(12). He is still obsessed with disney and princes. He is convinced that Alfred is a hidden prince and will try to expose him. Also crushing hard on Alfred. He tries his best to be recognised by his peers, but his efforts are futile, since he just annoys the people around him.He trie ]s to ot let it bother him but he’ll be the first to admit that it did hurt him a bit. 

Wendy Kirkland(Wy)- She is quite aggressive. Jett taught her different ways to pin someone to the floor, and she’ll test these ways on Peter. Arthur tries to stop them, but Jett and Kaelin will make bets on these kids. Wendy always wins, because Peter doesn’t know how to fight back. Other than that, Wendy is very artistic and draws a lot in her free time. She impressed the people around her.

Romeo Vargas(Seborga)- Similarly to Matthais and Jett, he can’t keep himself out of trouble. He got stuck in a tree, and the fire department had to get called to get him out. He may have done this on purpose just to get carried by buff firemen, but that’s unclear. He’s the youngest and most reckless Vargas brother, but spends his time volunteering at the middle school as an assistant, and met Peter and Wendy through it.

Im Yong Soo(S. Korea)- He’s sorta a perv. He can get a little touchy at times, and will constantly flirt with any living breathing human. Kiku finds this annoying,but he knows Soo means nothing by it. He has a tendency to grope when drunk, resulting in a hard slap to the face from Kiku, who was not so nicely touched. Soo apologies\es profusely after he sobered up, knowing that what he did was wrong.

Natalya Braginskaya(Belarus)- Very creepy and has… incestous tendencies towards her brother. She is the one personwho can scare him and is constantly pestering Ivan to date her in secret. She hates Yao’s guts since she knows that Ivan has a crush on him. Thankfully weapons aren’t allowed on campus, otherwise Yao would not be alive. Seriously the girl is unhinged and needs help.

Katyusha Braginskaya(Ukraine)- She’s a very loving and caring big sister, but after a long series of events, she barely speaks to Ivan anymore. She knows he still loves her though thanks to him wearing the scarf she made for him when they were kids everyday. They are slowly working on rebuilding their relationship, but it’s a slow process. She desperately wants that relationship with her brother back.

Sadik Adnan(Turkey)- He absolutely hates Harecles’s guts from some stuff that happened in middle school. They constantly fight, usually behind the school, but sometimes find hospitality while bathing. They have normal conversations in the showers, but are at each other’s throats any other time. He breaks the dress code a lot by wearing a hat to hide his face most of the time, and refuses to take it off.

Gupta Muhammad Hassan(Eygpt)- Selectively mute. He can hear just fine but he doesn't talk at all, preferring to speak over text and emojis. Even then, his monotone personality shows through his texts, where he gives single word responses only. He's very reserved and all that's known about him is that he had something to do with the Heracles and Sadik drama that happened. He refuses to talk about that, text and all.

Lillia Zwingil(Lichtenstein)- Vash's younger sister, and the light of his life. She is very loving to her brother, making food for him every day and seeing new clothes for him in home economics. She also likes to go hunting with Vash, despite her dainty and cute persona, she has a wicked aim, thanks to Vash teaching her. She's also the only one to know his crush on Roderick.

Eduard Von Bock(Estonia)- Hacker man. Well sorta. He likes to work on computers but he'll admit that it's hard for him to work. Not necessarily because he's bad at it, but because his internet is slow. He does his best, but sometimes downloading a file tha tag takes three days only to be told you don't have enough space makes you want to punch a hole straight through the computer.

Ravis Galante(Latvia)- He small and just pushed around by the bigger boys a lot. He is often bullied for his height and shy stutter, and had no way to stand up for himself. He'll begin to speak, but either get shut down or chicken out. So he spends most of his time in the library, sitting in the loneliness. He did like friends, it just made it hard when the entire school hates you.

Gianna Bonnefoy(Monaco)- She's Francis's half sister and is just as flirty. She loves to make everyone around her blush in her presence, either by radiating beauty or making inappropriate comments. Francis will tell her to stop, which is really code for, keep going it's entertaining. She liked to braid people's hair, weather they're boys, girls, or anything in between. If you had hair she wanted to do it up all nice.

Vladimir Popescu(Romania)- Obsessed with everything paranormal. 100% believes in ghosts and likes to go out ghost hunting. He will go to abandoned asylums or hospitals to try and find spooky activity. He can get extremely jumpy and scared when it comes to ghost hunts, and has screamed like a girl on multiple occasions. When he's not doing that, he plays D&D, and is very good at it. He DMs.

Milan Hinova(Bulgaria)- He really likes yogurt. He and Vladimir go on ghost hunts and he is actually very calm. He doesn't believe in ghosts and will brush any sort of paranormal activity off as wind or the state of the building they're in, and is like Vladimir's protector. They'll often record and post videos of these ghost hunts. He doesn't play D&D, but will come to the sessions to hang out with Vladimir.

Anthony Gunner Jones(Molossia)- A sweetheart around his parents and when he's alone, but foul mouthed and angry with his friends. Alfred and Matthew's cousin, who they really like. He will get very flustered and embarrassed if he's complimented, and will punch people in the arms when he feels it's appropriate. He also volunteers at the middle school as a gym assistant, and has a GIANT crush on Romeo.

Thank you for reading.