#i was actually not gonna audition for anything but all my friends were and i didnt wanna be alone during mun bc im still a relatively new

[mayclair]

guess who auditioned for the lead in the school play for the first time in their life tehehehehee

[pre11yyy]

Synopsis: Mark got short of money so he decided to take jeno's idea of trying porn into consideration

A.N: i don't really know how porn works so everything here is made up, also i forgot to a point that this was supposed to be porn so there is that.

Mark has been running short of money lately, so short, none of his part time jobs were enough for his college titutions neither they were enough to pay for his rent, he sighed resting his head on the single black sofa thinking about what he can do, he chew on his lower lip recalling his friend's Jeno words yesterday "what about acting in porn?" the later asked making Mark widen his eyes in disbelieve from the words that left his friend, his ears red "wtf do you mean dude no" he was quick to shut the offer down. But now he couldn't help but think about it.

He had heard stories about people earning so much in a single shoot, he wasn't a virgin but he had never had sex with someone he didn't know, but desperate times call for desperate measures, so he decided to call Jeno and ask for more information about the job. Jeno was quick to answer the phone. "Hey, I was starting to think you had changed your mind about that offer." Mark felt a little embarrassed, but he had to face reality. "No, I'm still interested. I just… needed some time to think about it, I guess." "Well, you came to the right place," Jeno replied with a chuckle. "I've got some connections in the industry, and I can get you an audition for one of the biggest production companies around. They're always looking for new talent." "Really?" Mark asked, feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "Really. Just meet me at the coffee shop tomorrow at noon, and I'll give you all the details you need." "Okay," Mark agreed, hanging up the phone. He sat there for a moment, still unable to believe that he was actually considering this.

But the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like a real possibility. And if he was going to do this, he was going to do it right. He would give it his all, just like he always did. The day of the audition came, Mark had no idea what they r gonna make him do in this audition, lucky for him that Jeno knew one of the guys that he introduced him to as Jaemin, he was quick to reassure Mark about everything, scanning him from head to toe before encouraging him to come to the audition. "So,What do you need me to do?" Mark asked, trying to hide his nervousness. Jaemin smiled, revealing a set of perfectly white teeth. "Well, We just want to see how you handle yourself on camera. We need you to follow my instructions, and do exactly what I tell you. Understood?" Mark nodded, taking a deep breath. "Understood." "Great. Now, why don't you get comfortable?" Jaemin motioned for him to sit on the black leather chair in the center of the room. "Just close your eyes and relax. I'm going to give you some directions through your earpiece."

Mark closed his eyes, taking a moment to compose himself. He could feel the weight of the earpiece in his ear, and the gentle hum of Jaemin's voice as he began to give him instructions. "Okay… Mark… take a deep breath. Now, slowly exhale…" As he followed Jaemin's instructions, Mark felt himself beginning to relax. His heart rate slowed down, and his muscles loosened. He was ready. Or at least he thought so before Jaemin's next words hit him like a ton of bricks.

"All right, Mark. Time to strip for the camera and jerk off." What the hell? As much as Mark knew this is what the job is about he couldn't help the shock he felt, he has never done anything like this in front of anyone before, he cleared his throat reminding himself that he needs the money , this is his only shot to make it out of this hole he dug himself into, and he has to do it. He unbuttoned his shirt slowly, revealing his toned abs and broad chest. Then he slid off his pants, revealing his boxer briefs, which were already starting to bulge. He hesitated for a moment, but then continued, unfastening his belt and lowering his underwear. His cock sprang free, hard as a rock, and he couldn't help but feel self-conscious about it.

"That's it, Mark. You're doing great," Jaemin encouraged him through the earpiece. "Just keep going, and remember to make it look realistic." With a deep breath, Mark began to stroke himself, trying to mimic the movements he had seen in porn. He closed his eyes, focusing on the sensation of his hand gliding up and down his shaft, and the anticipation of the inevitable release. As he continued, he could feel the tension building within him. His breathing became labored, and his muscles tensed. He knew he was close, but he had to hold on for just a little longer. He could hear Jaemin's voice in his ear, guiding him through each thrust, each caress.

Finally, he felt the familiar tightening in his abdomen, and the warmth spreading through his body. He moaned softly as he released his load, shooting thick, white ropes of cum across the room. His muscles relaxed, and he collapsed back into the chair, spent. He opened his eyes, blinking away the last remnants of the orgasm. Jaemin was watching him intently from across the room, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. "Very good, Mark. You will definitely work for us" Jaemin was impressed by the man's cock and expressions, having already a vision of how many people will come searching for his videos in the future . "Thank you," Mark managed to say between ragged breaths not really sure about what he is thanking the man about but he had to say something. "Don't mention it. Now, why don't you go ahead and get dressed? We'll talk about the next steps once you're ready." Gratefully, Mark stood up and began to dress. As he did, he couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed after seeing the mess he made on the leather chair but he shook it off quickly, following one of the staff to another waiting room where other contestants were sitting . He took a deep breath, and tried to compose himself, waiting for someone to tell him what would happen next.

"Mark?" a familiar voice said, and he looked up to see Jeno standing beside him. "You did great in there." "Thanks," Mark managed to reply, still feeling a little shaky. "I hope so." Jeno smiled reassuringly and squeezed his shoulder. "Trust me, you killed it. You're going to be perfect for this job." He paused, then added with a wink, "And don't worry about the mess you made. They clean up after everyone." Mark couldn't help but laugh a little at that. "Okay," he said, feeling a little more at ease. "Thanks, Jeno. I really appreciate it." They sat in silence for a moment, just watching the others in the room. Finally, one of the staff members approached them and informed them about the last test which was for them to fuck a woman, Mark was so nervous, it has been so long since he has been laid or even thought about sex with someone else, he couldn't help but worry about his performance. "Don't worry about it," Jeno whispered to him. "You'll be fine. Just remember to enjoy it." And with that, the woman was brought in, and the final test began.

Mark was so nervous, he couldn't even remember your name. All he could focus on was your body as soon as he stepped in, seeing you laying on the bed in your whole glory, wearing only a red dress that left nothing to imagination, you turned your head upon hearing the door click and you couldn't help the sarcastic laugh that slipped out of you, you were sure that he is inexperienced just by the way he walked towards you, his steps hesitant and unsure. "You can take your time, sweetheart," you said with a smirk, your voice dripping with honey. Mark looked at you, his eyes wide with anticipation, he took a deep breath, trying to calm his racing heart. "I… I don't want to hurt you," he stammered. You laughed, a genuine, throaty sound that made his cock twitch. "Oh, don't worry about that. I can take care of myself." He nodded slowly, still unsure, but you could see the determination in his eyes. He climbed onto the bed, kneeling between your legs, you locked your eyes with his trying to seduce him and wanting just to get over this, sure that he won't do a good job but to your surprise he did.

Mark could feel his cock twitch at the way your were giving him attention his eyes wondering around your body not really sure where he should start with but remembering Jeno's words he followed his instincts trying to ignore the way the camera was on him. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to your inner thigh, and then slowly began to make his way up your body. Your skin was so soft beneath his lips, and you let out a soft moan as he reached your breast. He cupped it in his hand, gently massaging your nipple through the fabric of your dress. "That's it," you whispered, arching your back. "Touch me." He took this as a go signal and slowly began to unbutton your dress, revealing more and more of your body to him. Your breasts were full and perfect, and he couldn't help but marvel at them. With one final pull, the dress fell to the floor, leaving you completely naked. "Fuck," he breathed, staring at your body. "You're so beautiful." You smiled, running your hands through his hair. "Thank you," you purred. "Now, why don't you show me what you've got?" your eyes drifted to the tent on his pants, biting your lips you dragged your foot over it seeing how he dropped his head to the back a small groan leaving his lips, you smirked he looks big and you were so curious to see if you were right or not . He looked up at you, eyes dark with lust and it made your insides clench, maybe just maybe he started to grow up on you, Jaemin ruined this moment signaling you to hurry up as there is more contestants coming in and he didn't want you two to be late. "Come here, Mark," you said, pulling him down to you. "Let's see what you can do." He didn't hesitate, his lips finding yours in a hungry kiss as he pushed his pants down, freeing his cock. You wrapped your hands around him, marveling at how hard he already was so impressed by how heavy he felt in your hold, your insides throbbing with anticipation before you guided him towards you entrance, both of you let breathy moans as you felt him stretch you perfectly, your eyes already watering at his size . "Fuck, you feel so good," he moaned, thrusting deeper into you. "So tight." You gripped his shoulders, your nails digging into his skin as you felt him bottom out. He paused for a moment, letting you adjust, before pulling back and slamming hard into you again. "Yes," you cried, your head falling back, loving the feeling of him filling you so completely.

His pace was relentless, and you knew he was going to leave you sore and bruised, but that was the last thing you cared for, enjoying the stretch and focusing on the way he thrusts on you, your eyes rolled back, moaning constantly while Mark was basically on another dimension, loving the way you clench around him and the feeling of you dragging him down for a kiss. "Oh, God, I'm close," he panted, his rhythm becoming erratic and all the doubts he had about this job started fading away he'll definitely enjoy his job here, he find his hands going to wrap around your jaw, making you lock eyes with him and seeing the way you looked at him, biting your lip and moaning , he knew that this won't be the last time, he'll make sure to keep you coming back to him, he'll make sure to get into this contract and be your personal toy.

"Me too," you said, arching your back and grinding down on him. "m s-so fucking close" everything about you was so pornographic from the way you moaned to your facial expressions, everything was driving him crazy and Mark couldn't help himself, he wanted to ruin you, he wanted you to scream his name and collapse under him. With a harsh cry, your body tensed and you came, your inner muscles gripping him tightly as your release spilled around him. He followed close behind, his cock throbbing as he emptied himself into you. "Fuck," he groaned, collapsing on top of you, breathing heavily. You wrapped your arms around him, still feeling the aftershocks of your orgasm pulsing through you. "That was… intense," you panted. That was the last time you've met Mark, he got accepted to the company yet your schedules never aligned and that was a shame cause none of people you had after him stretched you that good, every time you can't help it but imagine him instead… Months passed by and you started hearing a lot about him, you refused to check out his videos, scared? maybe! But you were more hopeful that you'll have a project together and you wanted to find out what changed, how good he has become, it was more thrilling for you this way and as if the universe had heard your prayers your manager had assigned you a project with Mark, you couldn't believe it, the stars were really aligned tonight.

Receiving the script that same morning your heart throbbed so hard from excitement , you had butterflies in your stomach and for the first time in a long time, you couldn't wait for the day to be over, for you two to meet again and for you to see if he's still as good as you remember.

And here you are, sitting in the makeup chair, wearing a small nurse dress, your boobs threatening to spill from the material, your hair down and wavy, a tiny ribbon tied around it. You're nervous, excited, and a bit anxious. "Almost done," the makeup artist says, finishing up with your lips. There was nothing out of ordinary in this makeup, it was leaning more to the natural side, but you still felt like a million bucks. Stepping out from you makeup room you noticed a more muscular figure back facing you while talking with Jaemin, an undercut black hair styled perfectly, the black button on hugging his body perfectly, highlighting his sculpted form, as it was tucked on his jeans, his waist so much smaller making him stand out, 'that's not Mark right?' there was no way he became this muscular in a short amount of time. Jaemin's voiced cut your thoughts signaling you to come in, the man next to him turned around as well and you couldn't help the way your breath hitched at the sight of Mark, more handsome than last time and most importantly his demeanor a lot different, more confident it was as if he was a different person. You felt his eyes scan your uniform, biting on his bottom lip as he take it in, before smiling at you . "You look great," he says, taking your hand and planting a kiss on the back. "You're not so bad yourself," you tease, taking in his scent, something musky and earthy, and you can't help the way it makes your insides flutter, Jaemin smiled already loving the chemistry "you'll look so good in this video i can sense the hit" he smirked as he took in the tension between the both of you.

"You two know what to do" he said and left, letting you and Mark talk things out before filming. "How have you been?" you asked, feeling a little bit awkward after all those months,"I've been good, you?" he replied, still holding your hand. "I've been… fine," you shrugged. "So… you like the new look?" u gestured to the different color you died ur hair to,He smirked and ran his fingers through his hair. "I do, it suits you." "Thanks," you breathed out. "You look… different." u added and he chuckled and crossed his arms over his chest. "Yeah…I've been working out" he shrugged making you hum in response He tilted his head to the side, studying you, obviously hesitating to say something before he let it go "So, have you seen any of my videos since then?" You shake your head. "No, I've been avoiding them." you replied honestly and that made him raise an eyebrow. "Why?" curiosity very evident on his tone and it made you giggle,glancing away, feeling a bit embarrassed. "Well, i just wanted to discover how much u've improved since then live, you know.."

He smiled at that. "Sounds like you've waiting for this to happen" he gestured to the small studio you r in right now, a bunch of medical equipment filling the space with a single bed in the center. "Well, I've been practicing. I've gotten better at…" he paused, his cheeks flushing a little. "You know." you chuckle at his flustered face nodding in understanding "yeah" you mumbled, shifting your hair the the other side, you could feel Mark's eyes bore into you, his gaze focused on your exposed neck looking forward to what will happen, the scenario playing on his head again, and again and again…

The staff were making sure to set the place perfectly, trying different angles in the camera to see which one works the best before signaling for you to start, Mark was sitting on the small bed which looked even smaller in contrasts with his bigger form, his hands playing with his phone waiting for you 'his nurse' to show up, with a deep breath you stepped in smiling while welcoming him, carrying a small medical kit in your hand. Mark put his phone away, returning your smile as you walked closer. "Hey, Mr Lee, how are you feeling today?" you ask, making sure to keep eye contact. He chuckled, his gaze lingering on your lips. "I'm good, thanks.how about you?"

"I'm doing great, actually." You set the medical kit down on the bedside table and turned bending over a little bit to get the 'thermometer' that fall 'accidentally', flashing your whole ass to the camera and to Mark as your small dress rode up, his eyes scanning your backside as you stood back up, he swallowed the lump in his throat and smiled, trying to not give anything away. "It seems like you're doing a lot better." you tried to soften your voice turning back to him helping him to pull up his sleeves, his arm revealing his toned and muscular biceps, making you want to touch them. "Oh definitely" He replied, his eyes staring at ur cleavage that was presented deliciously in front of him, his pants tightening in arousal, his hand twitches, wanting to touch it, to feel it,

"So, let's get started." You say, taking his hand and leaning him down to the bed, your breasts almost touching his arm. "I need to take your temperature first." "Oh, alright." He nods, his grip on your hand tightening. Once he's lying down, you climb onto the bed as well, straddling his waist. Your hair cascades over his chest, and you can feel his breath hot against your neck as you reach up to take his temperature.

As you take his temperature, your breasts brush against his chest, and you feel his hands snake around to gently grope them through your shirt. He sucks in a breath, his hips bucking against yours in silent invitation. The feel of his strong, warm body beneath you sends a shiver down your spine. But you had to follow the script, trying to pull away from his grasp his hands keeping you tightly from moving, his lips whispering loud enough for the mics to pick "Don't act like you don't like it, you've been teasing me since i came in here, you're my nurse and it's your duty to take care of me, don't u agree?" You moan,despite you shaking your head in disagreement, pushing him away, Mark scoffed his hand going to wrap around your hair tugging at it to expose your neck, his free hand traveling to the front of your dress, groping your breast through the material harshly, your head falling back as he does.

"That's more like it" he groaned as another moan escaped ur lips, his fingers working harder on ur nipples twisting and tugging at the bud on top of the dress, his other hand still tangled in your hair, his tongue traced your earlobe making you shiver "You pretend like you don't want to get fucked yet look at you not even wearing a bra, such a dirty girl" "Please," you beg, arching into his touch.His lips ghosting over ur breasts wetting the fabric with is tongue as he took one nipple between his teeth, his free hand now cupping your ass and lifting you onto him, his hard cock pressing directly into your core.

"God you're wet" he growled, feeling your wetness through his pants,his fingers sliding down under ur panties parting your folds, finding your clit already hard and swollen. His fingers teased you, circling your bud for a few seconds, before he carried you making you sit on his face, his tongue lapping at your wetness, your hands finding their way into his hair pulling at it slightly as he worked his tongue on your folds. "Oh fuck yes," you moan, grinding your hips down against his mouth, using him, rolling your eyes back and arching your back, enjoying his tongue lashing on ur cunt. "You taste so good, baby," he groans, his words vibrating through your body making you tighten your grip on his face choking him with your thighs.

Mark can feel himself getting lightheaded, his vision starting to blur, but he doesn't care. All he can think about is the way your pussy tastes and the way your body feels pressed against his. His fingers dig into the flesh of your ass, and he can feel the blood rushing to his head. He moans against your clit,the vibrations send a shock wave after another one through your body, making you tremble with pleasure. "I'm going to cum," you warn him, and he doubles down, his tongue thrusting into your hole making you throw ur head back, he was so good at using his tongue his nose rubbing against your clit consistently.

"Mmm, yeah," he growls loving your taste, his voice muffled by your pussy."oh my god!" you cry out, your body shaking as you reach your climax, the pleasure rippling through you, your legs turning into jelly as you collapse on top of him. He takes in a shuddering breath, his mind spinning from the combination of the oxygen deprivation and the taste of your cum on his tongue. His cock is painfully hard, and he can feel it throbbing against his pants, desperate to be free and inside you. "Fuckkk" he groaned, his voice rough from the lack of air and the intense sensations that have just washed over him.

With shaking hands, he reaches down and unbuttons his jeans, tugging them and his boxers down to reveal his hardened cock. His eyes meet yours looking down at him with flushed face ur thighs resting between his head and it took everything from him to not bite on the soft flesh, he lifted you again, easily guiding you down to meet his hardness.

"Fuck into me" his voice was so commanding that it sent a shiver down your spine, his hands grabbing and squeezing your ass while his lips attached themselves to ur breasts again biting and sucking on ur nipples while keeping your dress on. "Oh God," you whimper, feeling his cock stretching you open, the same stretch you've been craving for, your hips bucking, ur hands digging into his shoulders as you try to take him in deeper. "Fuck yeah," Mark groans, his hips thrusting up, meeting ur movement, his mouth moving higher, sucking on your collarbones, the saliva on his lips making a wet sound as they connect with your skin. His hands move up, cupping your breasts, squeezing and massaging them, his thumbs rubbing over your nipples, making them hard and sensitive.

"Fuck I love how wet you are," he moans, his hips thrusting up, the thick head of his cock rubbing against your g-spot, sending wave after wave of pleasure through your body. Your moans fill the room, ur hips moving in rhythm with his, your hands fisting in his hair as you ride him, ur nails digging into his scalp as you lose yourself in the feeling of him inside you…. "Fuckkk, I'm gonna…" you pant, your orgasm building, growing, threatening to consume you whole. He growls, his hips slamming into you harder, his hand moving between your bodies, rubbing ur clit roughly, his free hand sliding up your body to cup your mouth, his fingers pressing into your lips"Suck," he orders, and you eagerly comply, taking two fingers into your mouth, sucking and swirling your tongue around them, tasting yourself on his skin, the salty taste of his sweat and the musky smell of his body overwhelming your senses, making your head spin and your pussy tighten around him.

"That's it," he says, his voice low and dangerous, his hand moving back down, kneading ur ass before delivering a hard smack, the sting making you gasp. "Fuck," you cry out, your head dropping back, your eyes squeezing shut, your orgasm washing over you, waves of pleasure crashing down on you, your body trembling with the force of it, your inner walls gripping him, pulsing, milking him. "That's it, baby, cum for me," he groans, his hands gripping your hips, his nails digging into your flesh, his hips stuttering, his own release approaching,

"Fucking shit," he grunts, his hips jerking up, burying himself deep inside you, his cock throbbing and pulsing as he spills himself into you, filling you with his seed, the sensation bringing you over the edge once more, making you scream and sob, tears running down your cheeks, your body shaking with the intensity of your release, the camera quick to capture the scene, both of your fucked out face and his cum spilling out of your hole caught in full HD as he pulled away, leaving you on the bed with ur legs spread open, your body still shaking as he tucked his softening cock into his pants and 'leaving'. The director signaled for cut and the whole set sighed in relief, some chuckling at the state you were in and how quick Mark has become a star, they were impressed and couldn't wait to see how far this will go, Jaemin smirked seeing Mark walking towards him, his hair a mess from all the tugging and pulling, his shirt a bit crumpled and his lips slightly red.

"You did a great job " Jaemin smiled,Mark's lips curved into a grin, nodding and thanking him, his eyes drifting back to you as one of the staff helped you clean up. "She's good, isn't she?" Jaemin asked and that snapped him out of his thoughts. "Yeah, she is"

I wasn't planing to write this now but guess i did lmao, it's not the best in terms of quality especially in the smut as i rushed writing it tbh, but i'll add stuff to it when i get out of work, but yeah anyways... M also planing this to be a series so we will see how it's gonna go

[bebe-writes-stuff]

Hey lovely!! I love your work and I was wondering if you can do a baji x reader smut with like a friends to lovers where he gets jealous when one of his friends make a move on you as a joke but he can’t take it seeing y/n all happy’ with a. Anna that’s not him and can u please include where someone walks in on them at the end and he says something about how they became a couple like someone walks in and he he’s like “ can you ye out I’m trying to help my girlfriend clean up!” I LOVE YOU SO MUCHHHHH I have read so much of ur stuff BbBbdbdbbdbd

Ima be honest, I wrote this when I was high so like, idek if this makes sense

Jealous! Baji x Reader (Smut)

Annoyed by your lack of attention, he huffed and puffed, and you still didn't say anything,

"What are you even reading that you are so invested in?" He muttered glancing at your book before pouting and setting his eyes aside.

"Huh, you don't know?" You turned to him and showed him your book cover.

Romeo and Juliet

"Ew, what the hell. Who the hell even reads that in their free time." He cringed at your sappy choice of book taste.

"Shut up will you, it's for the Drama Club. It's the annual play, other schools come and parents also come. I auditioned for fun, but I got the main role, Juliet." You explained, before someone abruptly opened the empty classroom door, it was lunch time.

"Woah, Y/n, did you actually join the annual play?!" It was Chifuyu, he was breathing and seemed...flustered.

"Oh, yeah. how'd you know?" You asked, tilting your head a little worried.

"The flyers are literally being passed out everywhere, look!" He unrolled the flyer and then slammed it on one of the desks.

You took a peek before,

"Woah.."

"Huh?-"

It was you and Ryusei Satou on the cover. You had a dagger in your hand aimed high at yourself as you knelt on your dead lover's body, Ryusei was lying on the floor with poison that fell in drops from his mouth, the tragic fate of Romeo and Juliet. On the cover, you looked just so beautiful, you looked alluring. Your eyes were magnetic, drawing people in with a combination of elegance and genuine warmth. Baji understood why you would be Juliet, no one fit better, you were beautiful both in and out, gentle, graceful, oh he could go on and on about you. He never liked to admit it, he loved you too much. But why was that asshole Ryusei, Romeo, he thought angrily.

The next couple of weeks, Baji has barely seen you. So imagine how he felt when he heard that the entire time you were with Ryusei practicing for the upcoming play. Almost as if you cheated on him, not like you were dating anyway. He didn't mean to stop, he really didn't. But when he heard your voice from outside the theater room, he stopped to listen. Even your voice made him flushed and nervous. However, he froze when he peeked in and saw how Ryusei had you in his arms as he performed dramatically. You were smiling and laughing even. You looked so happy with another guy, it broke his heart. He felt like punching him, or anyone at this point. It was now after school, Chifuyu stopped by Baji's apartment to study for upcoming exams and projects. Then he asked when he noticed how Baji seemed more angry than usual.

"Are you upset that Y/n and Ryusei are gonna kiss?" he shouldn't have said that.

"WHAT, THEY KISS?!" He shouted

"Ohh, I shouldn't have said that..."

"She can't- No- UGHH CAN SHE QUIT THAT STUPID PLAY ALREADY?" Baji groaned, throwing his books to the side before slamming his head on his desk.

"This is so stupid." He pulled onto his hair. He stopped and turned to Chifuyu, who muttered something.

"You got something to say?"

"Baji, she was gonna ask you to do the auditions with her but you turned her down for the gang, Also the play is in a couple days so I think it's too late to pull out now." He repeated himself, a little anxious.

Wait, he thought, was it that one time? Shit, he does remember when he turned down your request, you looked so sad and he promised to make it up to you, which he forgot to do. Fuck.

Now, it was Chifuyu's turn to be worried because of Baji's sudden absences. He couldn't be that affecting because of a silly play, right? C'mon that's Toman's First Division Captain, he can't be acting all childish and clingy when it comes to you, right? Wrong, he was in his room walking back and forth, whining about it.

Baji stayed home the day of the play, until he got a text from Chifuyu.

-- Holy shit, there's so many people at the school dude!"

He groaned and put his phone down, obviously people came. You were too unreal, too siren-like. He heard a knock on his door, it was his mom.

"Chifuyu told me what's been going on. I'm not here to talk to you because in truth, I think you deserve it. You had a chance and you wasted it and made her wait. And you know worst of all, YOU DIDN'T EVEN MAKE IT UP TO HER, and here you are being all childish and sad about the consequences to your own actions. If I were you, I would take my ass there and make it up to her." She scolded him, maybe it sounded harsh, but it was out of love, she was sad that he was putting himself through this.

"yeah, LIKE I KNOW HOW. AT THIS POINT, just let them be." He sighed defeated,

"Don't give me that bull. You know how Kei, I know what you've been doing." She said in a smug motherly tone.

He felt his face grow hot quickly as he glanced at the copy of the play he had read.

Stupid, he thought

He heard his mother's footsteps fade as she walked away once their conversation died out. She was right, Baji knew what to do, and he was gonna make it up to you, tonight!

Backstage, you were nervous, shaking even. You were wearing a silky and fancy long nightgown. It was a scene where you are on the balcony of your room confessing your love to the hidden Romeo as he listens to your heart-filled speech. The play was nearing its end, which meant it was closing to where you had to kiss Romeo or more specifically, Ryusei. Which you found extremely awkward. You noticed Chifuyu in the crowd earlier in the play, he was waving and cheering. However, it saddened you how Baji didn't come, he probably had another important gang meeting, you thought. It was the final scene now. You were getting ready to step on stage before you heard some ruckus in the background, before you had time to figure out. The play started and you stepped onto the stage. You talked clearly and passionately, You called out to your lover, this is when Ryusei was to step out and capture you in a breathtaking kiss after some sensual words. You waited, but no one came out. You called out again, nervously.

Suddenly, from the opposing curtain, he walked out. The stage lighting made the moment feel unreal, wait am I imagining this? Why was the one that stepped out of the curtain, it was Baji, it was really Baji. You gasped before you continued with your act. it was subtle but you glanced at Chifuyu who seemed also equally confused. Finally, the play was gonna end, the last scene was a recreation of the Flyer. Romeo and Juliets end. You stabbed yourself with Romeo's dagger as you fell onto Romeo's poisoned body. The crowd roared with 'woos" and cheers as they applauded loudly. You felt hands grip your waist, Baji whispered,

"Y/n, meet me in the costume closet after this. It's important."

What the hell was going on? you thought, first, Baji is distancing himself from you, then he shows up randomly in the play you in AND KISSES YOU. and NOW, he wants to talk to you alone after the play. But if you wanted to find out, you'd have to confront him. It was later after the show now, you were in front of the costume closet, no one was back there. You took a deep breath before entering, Baji was waiting, leaning against the wall.

"Hey Baji, what's up?"

"Keisuke, My name's Keisuke."

"Ookay...Keisuke."

He hated how awkward you seemed around him, he wanted you to laugh and smile like how you were with Ryusei. He sighed as he stood up and approached you, suddenly you were pushed against one of the walls.

"Y/n, do you hate me?" He whispered, coming in closer, leaving little space between your lips.

No, quite the opposite actually, you thought, but you couldn't say that. You just looked to the side avoiding his gaze. He gritted his teeth harshly

"Look at me damnit!" He growled as he forced you to look at him directly.

"Tch, you like this don't you?" He smirked as he toyed with you. He grabbed your face, roughly and chuckled. You glanced at his lips as you both closed in on each other, your eyes locked in an electric gaze, anticipation hung in the air like a delicate melody. The world seemed to pause as your lips met, creating an intimate universe where only the soft whispers of your breaths and the tender exchange of kisses existed. His hands delicately cradled your face, and your fingers entwined in the strands of his hair. The kiss unfolded like a choreography of emotions, starting with a tender exploration and building into a passionate crescendo. Time seemed to slow down, allowing you to savor every fleeting moment of this shared intimacy. Your breath hitched as you felt Baji placing soft kisses and even nibbling on your sensitive neck. The warmth of his lips, coupled with the gentle pressure and softness of the kisses, created the obvious tension and the sense of both of your intimacy and arousal.

"Y/n, I'm gonna fuck you now." He already had his hand in your costume.

"Fuck, your this wet because of me, you're not scared of being caught, You little slut." You whimpered as you rode his fingers,

"K-keisuke, wait- I-" You tried to formulate a sentence but your moans cut you off.

"Uh, Y/n! Baji! Are you guys here?" You gasped as you put both your hands on your mouth, controlling your moans.

"Huh?! What you want, Chifuyu! Can't you see I'm helping my girlfriend change out of her costume, go now!"

Embarrassed, Chifuyu runs out, He sighed,

"You were right... Ryusei."

"Told ya." He smirked as he knew, the only way to get Baji to make a move on you was to make him a little jealous. 

[theyluvlyss]

hi! i was wondering if you could write dating hc's for duncan and courtney (separate) please?

𝐈 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐨 𝐝𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐚𝐧 !

but unfortunately, I do not currently write for courtney :(. although, I hope you like what I do have written and that it doesn't discourage you from requesting in the future :).

𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫

《 ♡ 》 headcannons

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭 :

you went on this stupid, island, reality show to win $100,000, which could've most definitely changed your life for the better. but instead, you got a delinquent meat-head who had... somehow, earned your heart faster than the cash. "how" and "why" is beyond you. but at least you could come up with a list of some semi-convincing reasons as to such...

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 :

fem!reader x duncan - she/her/hers pronouns

𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐞 :

season one (total drama island)

𝐓𝐖/𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 :

harsh language/cursing - dangerous elements/themes mentioned - duncan being himself lmao (possibly a little ooc? I apologize if so) - established romantic relationship - casual dominance (cuz ik that can irk some people) - possessive terms (my, his, etc).

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

───────── 《 .°•♡•°. 》 ──────────

When you applied/auditioned to be on the show, you didn't actually think they'd pick you. It was a stupid dare amongst friends back home! No way would they pick some random girl with no experience or even a resume from (home/town/city).

And then, they did😃.

Next thing you know, you're being flown out to Canada and then dropped off from a yacht on some random, deserted island. Just your luck to apply for a scammy and sketchy reality show rather than what you were promised...

And, to top it all off, your host might as well have been a sociopath, your chef, a psychopath, and you were now forced to spend your time with twenty-two other lunatic teenagers for eight weeks. Eight. Weeks. To be fully and completely clear, you did not want to be here.

How could this get any worse?

Duncan. That's how.

He irked you at first. No, you didn't hate him. He actually had his moments where you found him quite funny with a sarcastic quip he had said or entertaining with some random stunt he pulled.

But other than that...

"I'm not jumping. I miss the safe zone and get eaten alive by sharks, and then what?"

"Oh'ho, you're jumping, sweetheart. I'll be damned if you lose this challenge for us because you're not a strong swimmer."

"That's not what I said. And what're you gonna do? Make me?"

...you were firm on your dislike for him.

Not that the feelings weren't reciprocated, of course. Though he wasn't exactly opposed to eying any pretty girls he happened to come across, he didn't intend to date. He came to win $100,000, just like the rest of them. And though he had grown used to the way your attitude struck any and everyone who tried to manipulate you into doing something you didn't want to do, at least you weren't Courtney, stick shoved up your butt.

Onto the more headcanon-y portion of this list...

I feel like Duncan actually wouldn't be opposed to random hookups or anything like that. But, once he has specific eyes for someone, he treats things as if he's already bagged them (manifesting king😻✨️). And in this case, them is you. He didn't get the hots right away, but after a couple of weeks or so of spending basically all of his time around you (being on the same team and all), he wasn't too surprised upon coming to terms with those feelings.

Not that you could exactly tell, with him running around calling you "sweetheart" and "angel-face" and whatever other petnames he could come up with on the fly. You figured it was just him being...well... Duncan! Not to mention, you weren't exactly all that fond of him.

Did he know that? Yes. Did he care? Ehh. You'd warm up. He'd actually make sure of it because even if the show didn't end with him either winning the money or getting you as a girlfriend, the least he'd accomplish is wooing you.

He's not gonna sacrifice his reputation for that, so he'd have to play it cool. And during the seventh challenge, an opportunity came to light; he'd help you concor your fear! Not only would it win your team the challenge, but it'd be a huge step into winning over your heart. With peering eyes (and cameras around), he was there to be your tough-love.

"Get over it, toots, it's just (your/fear)!!"

"Do not mess this up for us, or I'll guarantee you go home tonight."

"I've been in juvie with worse than this...!"

But, without any evidence to prove it besides your word and a blushing face, he was totally sweet on you.

"C'mere, sweetheart, it ain't that bad. You just need a little warming up to the idea, that's all~."

"The worst that could happen is you'll be called a chicken. It's not like you'll get voted off. Not while I'm here."

"Babe, you are entirely too cool to be skeezed out by (your/fear). We're gonna have to work on that, yeah?"

Him sling-shotting you through such emotions and behavior was intense. But not as much as the way it kept you hooked. And every time you would start to grow fed up, want nothing to do with him, even cuss him out...

Life (Chris McLean) would manage to thrust you two back together. Until, eventually, you got together. I mean, no official labels or anything yet, but god forbid another guy on either team just breathed sultry in your direction (coughCodyprobablycough). Or if you got hurt during a challenge. Or whenever anyone (butmostlikelyHeather) had it out for you.

And in those moments, I think Duncan wouldn't be as good as hiding his infatuation with you. Not that anyone actually had the gall to tease him for it. Besides, he had managed to make his admiration for you look cool. Always muttering a slick, "She wants me." to his guy friends, or smirking at any intimate reaction you'd give him in front of your peers.

All in all, he's a cocky shit. But he made it work in a charming way that you couldn't quite place, and made you wonder why you were even attracted to it/him at all.

And, surprisingly, he could be quite the gentlemen. Rough around the edges, sure, but see if you ever have to hold a door open for yourself or climb down from something without his hand being offered to you ever again.

He even makes sure to censor himself around you! Er- well, tries. If he deems a curse word too heavy for you to hear come flying out of his mouth, it goes a little something like this:

" ...So I rush 'im, right? And then can you believe the motherfucker-...! Sorry, babe. Can you believe this idiot actually tries to shank me?! Wild stuff, man..."

As if he's not already sitting around the campfire telling the most gorey juvie/jail story ever. But nope, the extra heavy cuss words are the stuff that's impolite for your ears🙄✋🏽.

#it'sthethoughtthatcounts♡.

OH!! And casual dominance? Definitely a thing in the relationship. Mainly from him, with a simple, "C'mere, doll." or a motion of the hand/finger over towards him. But let's not lie and say this dude isn't a sucker for the moments you boss him around...

"Duncan, go grab that for me, please?"

"I'm busy-"

"Now."

. . .

No further protest, your item retrieved and dropped into your hands with swiftness, and a light red dust on his face badly hidden under a scowl.

Things would get serious/official if one of you two got voted off of the island, though. If you got voted off, he'd be sure to give you the most profound goodbye he can in the very limited amount of time he has to actually say it. Make it very clear you're his girl, "...for anyone thinkin' about trying to make a move while I'm not around." And, he promises that if he wins, he's coming for you, and you'll run off together with the money. Cliche, but how could you say no?

If he gets voted off, he sticks on a brave face and basically threatens you to win lmao😭. Think of it as very intense encouragement coming from a deep down place of love.

"Babe, you better win this whole shit, 'cuz I'm gonna be rooting for you back home. Need these losers to see that my girl is the shit."

I could probably go on forever, but I don't want to make this too long :')...

𝐈 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 !!

this is my first post (as in writing/content) ever, so yay me :D ! and for the person that requested, again, I hope you enjoyed this 'cuz it was fun to write ! although I really don't like the title, but I couldn't think of anything better😭...

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ...𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭

none :(

𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐲 :

anon <3

𝐓𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐚 𝐓𝐚𝐠𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭 :

[yawneneteyam]

ALL THINGS CONNECTED | j. flatters chapter one — what's the dream?

summary: growing up on the set of avatar: the way of water was a dream. your friends had become your family, all except for one. jamie was the one person you always found yourself drawn to, in ways more complex than the title of 'best friends' [1.7k].

pairing: fem!reader x jamie flatters

notes: based on jamie flatters documentary: all things connected. co-stars/friends to lovers. inspired by @cacapeepee. minor mentions of anxiety, foetus jamie.

masterlist ⎸ chapter two

2016.

THEY MUST HAVE LIKED you right? otherwise you wouldn't be back here again, for a chemistry test no other. yeah.. if they didn't like your audition, you wouldn't be sitting here again. yeah, that was it.

the air had gotten stale while you sat in the green room of some office building, on a floor number way too high with windows bigger than they needed to be.

it was your third time being here. your initial reading, the callback and now a chemistry test.

your agent hadn't given you much more information other than that. you knew you would be meeting the boy that could be playing your love interest, and that was intimidating to any fifteen year old. this was the first time you had ever been called in for a chemistry test for any project, you knew it was because it was a huge franchise, but it didn't make it any less daunting; if anything, it only made you feel worse.

you knew you couldn't sit there alone for too much longer before your anxious thoughts consumed you. everything was feeling wrong, your hair too tight and the plastic chair too uncomfortable. it was just nerves, but they had you on the cusp of trembling in your seat. the feeling of waiting was becoming overwhelming and if you weren't out of this room, you were sure you would-

"y/n l/n?" oh thank god.

you stood up quicker than you wanted to, almost tripping yourself in the process. with a mumbled 'hi', you were told to come into the audition room. when the casting assistant turned away you had to restrain yourself from screaming at yourself. what a fucking day.

you tried to brush it off and take a deep breath before you actually entered the room, your heartbeat was still beating at the same quickens pace regardless.

"hi y/n" your eyes scanned the panel before landing on the man who was speaking to you. james cameron sat at a small table across from where you were standing on your mark, with four other people, all casting directors and assistants.

"hi," faking your confidence was better than showing you didn't have any, "nice to meet you all," you tried to ignore the fact that the man who was responsible for making 'titanic' was a few metres away from you, but it was getting increasingly hard when he was watching your every move.

he hadn't been at your other auditions. trying to take this as another good sign, you swallowed the nerves bubbling in your chest.

"alright," another woman spoke up, "we're just gonna run through your sides from your last audition, and then we'll get started with the chemistry read. sound good?"

you nodded without speaking, silently thanking your agent for telling you to go over your old lines from your first two auditions. she always was right, you just would never tell her.

"okay," james quickly pulled a few pieces of paper from the pile in front of him before looking back up at you, "whenever you're ready,"

you took a few seconds, looking at the ground before starting your scene.

"where are you going?" i asked panicked, my breaths heavy.

one of the casting assistants read the lines in reply, not giving you anything to work with. "no where you need to worry about". the point of reading sides is to see how you work with a monotone scene-partner. they want to see what you can give on your own.

"I know you're going to see them," you reach your arm out, "norm," grabbing nothing and stopping in your tracks. "I know you're going to see jake" you whisper.

"sai'ak I can't talk-"

"take me" you plead.

"you know that-"

"norm, please" you move your arm, showing norm has shrugged off your hold, "please, I need to see him". Moving and using the space around you, you were there, in pandora, with norm.. not in some room with james cameron.

"your parents will never allow it"

"they don't need to know," the urgency in your voice was cut-throat, pained.

"I am not taking you away from your clan, you are the next tsahik." you close your eyes at their words, "I'm not going to be the one held accountable for taking you away from your clan, even for a little while"

"norm, I want to go," you start to feel your throat closing up as tears well in your eyes, "max, please" you whisper.

"I'm sorry kid, but you can't come" you let go of the breath you were holding on to, envisioning them walking away from you.

You hesitate to respond, looking around the room in panic. the reality that you might not get to go with them settling in. "he is all I have," you cry, the first tear fell, then another, and another. "please" you swallow the lump in my throat, "please take me with you".

"alright, thank you" the voice of the casting assistant brings you back and out of the scene. you quickly wipe your tears and make your way back to the mark on the ground.

"now," james looks around the table bringing another piece of paper from his pile, "let's start on the chemistry read.. jamie?"

you had failed to notice the entire time that there was a boy sitting in the corner of the room, a script in his hand. he looked around your age, quite tall and well built. his hair was brown and from far away you could see the blue in his eyes. "jamie is playing neteyam" james told you as you watched him walk over to you.

"nice to meet you," he stuck out his hand for you to shake.. he was british.

"you too," you were too concerned with how the panel thought your scene went to give him a full smile. jamie could tell that you were nervous, he felt your hand shaking slightly when yours met his.

"you alright? he asked quietly as he turned onto his mark.

you hesitated before nodding quickly, "yeah," you whispered, "just freaking out,"

"you'll be right," jamie reassured you softly with the nod of his head, "your last scene was great, you'll smash this."

you felt your chest become a little less tight with his words, "thanks."

"okay, so this scene is very vulnerable for these two. it's set in the start of the film where we really get to see a more child-like side to these two characters, who always have to be the strong, mature ones" james spoke. "it's one of my favourite's honestly," he confessed, "so, we'll go from the top- try and make it feel as natural as possible" he explained to you. nodding in response, you checked your mark before smiling up at jamie.

"whenever you're ready"

"skxawng," you spat at jamie, pulling him closer by his ear. jamie worked with you well, moving his head so you didn't have to actually pull him toward you. he hissed in response.

"that hurts," he winced. jamie hadn't adopted a na'vi accent like you had chosen too. you felt a little insecure about your attempt now that you knew he wasn't doing the same.

"good," you didn't change it though, you kept going with what you thought was right for sai'ak. "that is point," I crossed my arms, backing away from jamie. "what do you think you were doing, huh? you are a spotter neteyam, you don't belong on the ground."

"I know!" he stressed, "but I wasn't going to let un'su go down there alone, you know how he is"

"you cannot keep following your brother into danger," you shook your head, "we're kids! you know that right? we are not warriors, we are children"

Jamie's expression softened, "sai'ak," he sighed reaching out for you.

"no," you shrug him off, "I am tired," you admitted. "I know you have responsibilities, neteyam" you met his eyes, "but, we are just kids. you are not the leader of this clan yet, you do not need to act like it all of the time, yes?"

Jamie's eyes met the floor for a while before meeting yours again. "yes," he nodded, "I am sorry,"

"you do not need to apologise to me," you take a step closer to jamie. before you had the chance to think about it too much, you sigh and rest a hand on Jamie's cheek. he shakes his head whilst looking at the ground, leaning into your touch slightly. "you do not need to a mighty warrior all the time.. you know that?" before jamie could say his line, you cut him off with one that felt right, "you can just be neteyam." you smile at him softly.

jamie exhales through his nose as a laugh, "not everyone sees it that way". you were both completely off script now, but it felt natural, so you kept going.

"I see it that way," you tilted your head with a watery smile, tears glazing over your eyes. "I see.. who are you are, neteyam" jamie looks at you like he knew what you were going to say to him, he takes this and runs with it.

he hesitates before speaking, "I see you, sai'ak."

I laugh softly, taking your hands away from his face. "you must have hit your head very hard," you go back to a line from later on in the script.

"yes," jamie chuckles, "but I know what I am saying,"

you stop in your tracks, jamie towering over you. you look up at him and he holds your gaze. "I see you, ma' neteyam" I whisper. jamie smiles, resting his forehead against yours. you close your eyes, allowing your characters to drink in their moment together.

"alright, thanks guys," you and jamie quickly broke apart from each other, claiming your own space once again. "really good," one of the casting directors nodded, "y/n, thanks so much for coming in. we'll be in touch with you over the next week or so regarding the part," you nodded with a smile.

"thanks so much," you exhaled a big breath, feeling a weight fall from your shoulders now that you had finished. "nice to meet you all," you looked from the panel to jamie, who was smiling at you. he nodded and let out a small 'you too' before you left the room.

"she was good," James kept his eyes on the door, where you had just closed it.

"yeah, I liked that one" one of the women on the panel agreed.

"how did that feel jamie?" James asked him, looking up at the young boy.

"good," he nodded, "really good. she was great"

taglist. @littlexscarletxwitch, @thexplosivegirl, @lagoonabluebabe, @rexorangecouny, @ilovejakesullysdick @rhiannonhippiegirl @leelumenaura @playboykenz @couragemydearheart @graysonshaven @m-1234 @coconut-dreamz 

[moralesmilesanhour]

mad props! 03

summary: you're now officially part of the theater club's latest production! just one small problem... wc: 1282 a/n: Can't believe I was able to type this out within the same week. But I diiiid! The songs being performed are: 'Popular' - Wicked 'Ohmigod You guys' - Legally Blonde: The Musical (Original Cast Recording) | Have fun reading ! Feel free to tell me what you thought in the comments <3 (only warning is that the process of putting a theatre production together is probably not super realistic here lmao) 02 03 04

“One five, four five, three five, two five, one five, four five, three-two-one,”

You clutched the white binder containing your sheet music to your chest as you went through every vocal exercise from middle school that you could remember.

From the diaphragm, you reminded yourself, taking another deep breath.

“One five,

Four five,

Three five,

Two five,

One five,

Four five,

Three-two-one–”

“Y/N L/N?” the casting director’s voice called out to you.

Your stomach lurched as you rose from your seat and approached the stage. You handed the sheet music over to the pianist. The blinding stage lights made you sweat beneath your uniform, but part of you was grateful that it hid the faces of your four-person audience. 

The first chord was your cue.

“Whenever I see someone less fortunate than I…”

You sang the lines through your nose, making your delivery as cartoonish as possible. It even earned a few laughs from the dark void in front of you that bolstered your confidence. 

Now, when playing a character such as Galinda, one may be tempted to keep the squeaky ‘princess voice’ the whole way through. But you knew better. 

You added depth to your voice for some lines, maybe a growl here, a cry there; your performance needed to show that you could do more than just play the pretty soprano lead.

You belted the final note, arms spread wide as if you weren’t just about to vomit from nerves, and curtsied.

There was disembodied applause, and then: “Thank you, we’ll be sure to send out an email on Friday to let you know if you got the part.”

“Thanks,” you exhaled as you stepped down from the stage. 

All that there was left to do was wait.

You were jumpy all Friday afternoon. Even Miles noticed your knee making your desks tremble with the way it bounced up and down in the middle of English class.

“Yo, you good?” he whispered.

You shot him a glare while tapping your pencil frantically. “None of your business.”

“It actually is my business,” he shot back, teeth clenched, “ ‘cuz you’re shaking the damn desk.”

“Is there a problem back there?” the English professor peered over his glasses at the two of you.

“Nope,” Miles sighed. “Not at all.”

Your leg stopped bouncing, and you rested your chin on top of folded hands.

“If you must know,” you muttered, “I had an audition the other day, and callbacks are supposed to be this evening.”

He furrowed his brows. “Oh…kay…?”

“What do you mean ‘okay’? I’m super nervous about it–”

“I mean, why are you telling me this?”

Your eyes widened. Why were you telling him this?

“I…well, you’re sitting next to me, and you asked–” 

“I didn’t ask for allat.”

You kissed your teeth, and went back to taking notes in silence.

-

“Oh, the principal’s gonna love that.”

Joshua Baptiste–current president of Visions’ art club–grinned as he watched Miles add his signature to the wide sheet of paper.

Miles replaced the cap on one of his paint markers with a click, assessing his work.

It was a poster for an upcoming pep rally, advertised in bold, sleek letters that curled in and around each other and ended in sharp arrows. Satisfied, he rose to his feet.

“You think?”

“Hell yeah. Better than anything I could’ve put together,” Joshua ran a hand through loose, sandy curls. “I’m more of a portraits kinda guy.”

The boy’s smile was contagious, showing off two rows of light blue braces. Miles remembered how he used to circle back around to his lunch table just to see them when he laughed with his friends, silver earrings tinkling as he threw his head back. 

He’d done crazier things just to see a crush.

Miles returned the compliment, “Your paintings go crazy, though. You could get into art school if you put a portfolio together.”

Joshua shrugged. “Doubt my parents would ever let me go.”

The other hummed in agreement.

“Anywho, I came over here to ask you a favor. Theater club needs an extra pair of hands working on the set, and I already said one of our guys would help out. You in?”

Miles raised an eyebrow at the sudden new project being dumped on him, but he relented. Not like he had anything better to do today.

“Sure. Where to?”

Joshua’s face lit up, and he gestured for Miles to follow him.

“They’re down in the auditorium. You’re a life-saver, man.”

The auditorium was already bustling with students when the two boys entered. There was one group on the far right busy customizing piles of hot-pink costumes with bows and sequins. On the left side, a bunch of kids clutched wrinkled scripts in their hands, practicing until it was time to run through the first few songs. Miles looked up, and taking center stage was a group of no more than ten girls practicing what looked like stage choreography. 

Regardless of what each group was working on, there was an urgency bordering on panic to their movements and voices. Miles thanked his past self for not signing up to be a part of it.

“Oh, thank god!”

A tall, stocky-looking girl wearing pink glasses scurried up to them, carrying a clipboard.

Joshua gestured towards Miles. “Here’s your guy! He’s got an eye for color, you’re in good hands.”

He gave a quick salute before turning to exit through the double doors.

The girl stuck out her hand. “I’m Sarah Park, junior, and student production manager for, uh, all of this!”

Miles accepted the handshake and nodded. “Cool. What’s your vision for the set?”

“Well, it’s…”

Before Sarah could finish, the lights dimmed, and a voice announced: “We’re gonna rehearse the opening, everyone in ‘Ohmigod You Guys’, please take your places!”

She grabbed Miles’ wrist and led him to a seat in the front row and whispered, “You should probably just see it.”

Suddenly, music boomed from the speakers as the stage lights illuminated the same girls from before, now all standing in a straight line across the stage with wide smiles.

They sang a number he didn’t recognize, but there was plenty of squealing as they passed down a blank sheet of paper as a prop. He deduced from the few lyrics he caught that they were playing sorority girls, but that was about it.

As the “Ohmigods” crescendoed, Miles noticed that there was someone entering from backstage that then stood behind the girls. He wondered what for, until the group parted and stepped to the side.

Nothing could’ve prepared him for who stood in the middle of the stage. In a blonde wig.

“It’s almost there, but…”

Miles’ jaw dropped as you recited your lines fully in-character. 

It hadn’t occurred to him that you could smile without malice, but people were full of surprises: Here was the girl who rarely spoke more than a sentence in class until last week, belting her heart out while twirling across the stage. He would have pinned you as more of the debater type.

The song ended on one final “Oh my god!” in unison before the lights were turned back up.

“Great job, everyone, especially for a first run-through. Everybody take five!”

You sighed in relief, wiping away the sweat collecting around your hairline from being beneath a hot wig and an even hotter spotlight. Wig in hand, you carefully descended down the steps with the rest of the cast and made your way back to your seats.

Sarah brushed past you in between aisles, along with a familiar red hoodie.

You paused and spun around on your heel, confirming your fears. 

You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.

[bryngmemoney]

✁FASHION FLIRT✃

Megumi Fushiguro x Reader

⭑story masterlist link

tw:none

Writing between messages!!

🪡Chapter Thirty-four: Show

You walked past a couple of models and students, trying to find him. Moving by the side of yet another collection you finally saw Megumi. He was standing there, simply looking around taking in his surroundings. “Megs!” you announced. He slightly jumped in response, then recollected himself once realizing it was you. “Y/n don’t scare me like that.”

“Sorry, but just wanted to see if everything’s good. I just checked in with Yuki and Ino and everything’s in place, do you feel alright?”

Megumi looked around, before sighing and wrapping his arms around your waist, burying his face into your shoulder, of course being careful to not mess anything up.

“Megumi?”

“Hm, yea i’m good, just a little nervous.”

You patted his back in response, pressing a quick kiss to the side of his face that was still visible to you. “You’ll do fine, and if you do happen to mess up I won’t be mad,” you reassured. “Won’t mess up, just don’t wanna embarrass myself.” You laughed a little, while he stood up right once again.

“15 minutes till start time!” someone in the crowd announced.

“Okay well, I’ll see you after, good luck Megs,”

“Mhm, take care love,” he replied in a more hushed tone, “See you after.”

“Who are those people?” You whispered to Maki next to you. “Which ones, the ones in the front?” You hummed in response, signalling that she was right. “They’re photographers, but there is also a few scouts I heard, then of course the ‘judges’ who are helping grade.

“Ah, okay, i’m kinda starting to freak out a bit.”

“Don’t Y/n! I’ve seen your designs and they look super cool, you’ll pass for sure!” You turned towards Yuji next to you, giving him a smile. “Thanks Yuji.”

“No problem!”

A couple minutes after the official start time the lights began dim around you, and brightening on the walkway. “Oh my god it’s starting!” you heard Nobara whisper-shout.

A few collections had gone by now, and you sat with anxiety waiting for yours to show up. Once Yuta walked out, you nudged Maki next to you. “Look it’s yours!” you excitedly whispered. “Yea, I know,” Maki mumbled in response, and although she seemed nonchalant about the whole thing, the slight fidgeting with the end of the skirt she wore was enough to tell you that she was also feeling a little nervous.

After Maki’s finished up, your breath was caught in your throat at seeing Megumi walk out. Transfixed on watching him walk down, you had your complete focus on him. For a split second you met his gaze, and had flashback of the first time you saw him walk during the audition.

“Lovestruck much?” Yuji said while nudging your side. Maki on your other side was fighting back her snicker at your expression. “Oh shut up, he made eye contact with me!”

“Y/n you’re literally dating him.”

“..And here in front of me is fashion student and designer, Y/n L/n!” Yuji exclaimed, holding up his phone’s camera in your direction in front of him. You turned around and gave the camera a small wave. “They’re dating my best friend, and he actually modeled for them, that’s how they got to know each other!” Yuji spoke indirectly to no one but his little vlog he was recording. “We’re gonna go give him flowers.”

You finally reached the door they had set up in the way of the official backstage and the hallway you guys were walking down. Yuji continued holding up his phone recording. “This is the backstage, we’re about to see all the models.” You opened the door, and with his free hand Yuji held it open letting you both in.

“Do you see him?” you asked as you both made your way through the crowd. “Uhh..” Yuji began, “Wait yeah look!” Yuji pointed, catching his hand in the frame of the video were he points to Megumi leaning against the railing of a short set of stairs.

“Megumi!” You called out, he looked towards you as you walked up the small steps, engulfing him in a hug, then backing up and handing him the roses.

“Say hi to the vlog Megs!” Yuji spoke up, recording from below you two. In response he just turned around, trying to hide the blush on his face, when the collar of the shirt doesn’t do enough, he uses the flowers once he feels Yuji approaching. “Don’t be shy!” You laughed at their antics, finding Megumi’s reaction the best.

“Shut up get that thing out of my face,” Megumi said trying to continue to turn away from Yuji. “Don’t be a grump c’mon!”

In an attempt to snatch his phone away from him, Megumi reached over, however completely forgetting about the lifted up step, causing him to trip over it. With that he tumbled over Yuji, both of them falling backwards. All the camera caught was Megumi’s hand grabbing it before hearing both of them exclaim as they fell, and your gasp, followed by a worried “Megumi!”

“Oh my, what happened here?” You turned towards Gojo who had showed up at probably the worst possible time, a taken aback Utahime besides him. “You’ve gotta be kidding me,” she grumbled, watching as the two boy groaned attempting to get up.

“Sorry,” you apologized on all your behalfs.

Author’s Note: epilogues out now too

guys this was sm fun to write and thank you all for support you’ve shown the story <33

im gonna start on another smau soon in a couple of days, i have two ideas and i can’t decide btwn them so you guys can click here to vote on which one u want to see first!!

hope you guys enjoyed!!

TAGLIST

@iridescentrays @gumimegz @maya-maya-56 @mamafly @lunavixia @swissy23 @coltsgf @m00nglad3-mp3 @etsukis @xosren @qtnfer @oengleli @harek89 @y-sabell-a @morgyyyyyyy @getolvr @liliumaraneae @k3lbade @aiieera @dancedancey @get0sfav @chuyasthighs0 @hyssoplampflickers @kpopanimen @sad-darksoul @vivi-loves-penguins @kasumitenbaz @talkingsperm @nymphsdomain @inlovewithlondonn @rzcnlb @enchantingkitty @fuyuzemi @lysaray @ni-ki-ismyluv @reneny @frumira @mixzimi @miralunaela @dreamxiing @p3achiee @anianurst @fishii28 @arguendo @samutoru @hallothankmas @invisible-mori @aiserex @all-in-the-fandoms @milza12 @nyxlai @daintyminho @tokyodarlng @molovs @hopeladybug @dazaisms

[cowgurrrl]

Layla

Pairing: rockstar!joel miller x actress!reader

Author’s note: oops (fic named after this song)

Summary: Nothing good ever happens on an LA road [2.3k]

Warnings: NOTHING SUPER GORY, car crash, injuries, hospital setting, found family but make it angsty

When you first moved to LA, you and Ryan would drive around for hours, just talking and taking in the sights. Normally, you'd end up sitting somewhere and gossiping about this actor or that producer for hours. But, with each of your busy schedules, it's a little harder to find time to just be friends instead of coworkers. That's why when you both had a free day, you decided to drive around and update him on everything that's been going on. You tell him about the auditions you have lined up, the reshoot schedule, and even what happened during and after New York.

"You met his kids?!" Ryan half-yells in your ear, and you smile as you turn on your blinker to get off the freeway. "That's huge! Did they like you? How old are they? What are their names? Do they want to be friends with Elizabeth?" 

"Sarah is eighteen, and Ellie is fourteen, so I don't think they'll be particularly interested in hanging out with your toddler." You say, and he feigns disappointment before sitting up again, suddenly giddy.

"But they liked you?"

"I think so. They invited me to their family movie night on Friday."

"They as in the girls?"

"We're in a group chat. Ellie's idea, not mine." 

"No shit?" He asks, and you nod. You stop at a red light and turn in the driver's seat to look at him. You can't help the big smile or how it grows when Ryan looks at you all excitedly. "Is Joel just head over heels in love with you now that his daughters like you?" You scoff and roll your eyes.

"It's only been a few months. He's not in love with me."

"I knew I was gonna marry Carolina on our third date."

"Well, that's because you guys are crazy."

"And you think you and Joel are sane?" He has a point, but you'd never tell him he's right. "But, seriously. Do you see yourself being with him for a while?" He asks, and you turn your head to watch the red light turn green.

Before you got to know him, before you went to New York, before he introduced you to his family, you would've said no. You would've made up some lie about how it's just for now, and neither of you is really looking for anything serious. But now he's inviting you over for movie nights and late-night studio sessions like this is how it's always been, and you like it. You like being a part of his life and having him in yours. You just don't know what that means for the future.

"We're just… having fun. I'm not worrying about the future for once in my life. Can you please let me have that?" You sigh, and Ryan throws up his hands from the passenger seat.

"Fine, but I will say one more thing before we drop it," he says, looking at you sincerely. "You seem really happy. Like the happiest I've ever seen you. So, I'm Team Joel, as long as you are. I'll make t-shirts and cheer you guys on, and when the time comes, I'll even officiate the wedding."

"I don't know about the wedding part, but t-shirts would actually be hilarious," you laugh, even though the genuineness in his voice makes you want to cry. You reach over and squeeze his hand. "Thank you, Ryan."

"You're welcome," he squeezes you back. "Now that we're done talking about your love life, can I tell you what Elizabeth said the other day?"

"I wish you would." You say as the light turns green and cars slowly begin moving. Ryan begins spinning an elaborate story about how Carolina's dad was visiting last week, and they were playing in the playroom. You swear you're listening, but traffic is backing up in your lane, and you're desperately trying to get over. Thankfully, someone lets you in, and you can finally go the speed limit for once. Ryan is laughing at his story, and you're tuned back in when he gets cut off by metal crunching.

You don't know exactly what happened after that. You think you saw a black— no, a blue— car sputtering away after hitting you. Your ears ring, and your vision blurs as you struggle to breathe. It feels like someone is squeezing your lungs like a stress ball. Pricks of pain erupt across your face and thighs as your eyes flutter shut. Your head weighs a million pounds, and all you want to do is sleep, but then you hear groaning, and you suddenly remember Ryan.

Something takes over as you look at him, glass and blood all over his body. You unbuckle your seatbelt and get out of the car on shaky legs to run to his side, the side hit by the speeding car. The door is partially dented in, but you're able to open it and see his chest rising and falling. You curse under your breath as you apply pressure to the gnarly-looking cut on his head. He jerks under your touch, and you shush him gently. Distantly, you hear sirens and pray that they're for you.

"Hey. Hey, you're okay. You're fine. We're okay," you say. His eyes open halfway before dropping down again. "No, no, no. Hey, you gotta stay awake for me, okay? You gotta finish telling me your story about Bethy. What did she say? You didn't tell me." 

"Are you okay? We called 911, and..." a kind voice approaches, making you jump. You turn to look at her and watch a flicker of recognition pass over her. "Holy shit, you're-"

"He needs help," you cut her off. "Please, can you help him? I... I don't know what to do. The c...car came out of nowhere, and he..." The asphalt sways under you, and she quickly reaches out to grab your elbow. You shake your head and grip the mangled door for balance. It's then that you realize that your car is stopped in the middle of the intersection, with broken glass and car parts littering the road. You also realize that bystanders surround you, their beady camera lenses pointed at you. A shudder runs down your spine despite the California heat, and something in your side twinges in pain.

"You need to be sitting down." The woman tries to pull you away from Ryan, but you rip your arm away from her. You position your body between his and the cameras, bending over him to protect his bloody face.

"No. No, 'm fine. Need to be with him." 

"Honey,"

"I said no!" You yell as an ambulance squeals to a stop nearby, and paramedics rush out. 

"Are you hurt?" A paramedic asks, medical gear slung over her shoulder as she approaches.

"I think he hit his head. I don't... know. He's bleeding." You say, and the paramedic nods. You think she says something to the kind woman about shock, but you can't hear over all the blood. It's on your hands, your clothes, and in your hair. The dark red is suffocating you, and all you can do is watch.

Ringing takes over your senses as they cut Ryan out of his seat and put him on a stretcher. You repeat Carolina's phone number over and over again. You tell them his blood type, the dosage of his anti-depressants, and his bad knee. The left one. The left one gives him the most trouble. The left one pops when he stands too fast or walks upstairs. He needs surgery, but he won't get it. You tell them he's a father. You tell them that there are people who need him a lot more than they need you. Your legs give out as soon as he's loaded into the ambulance and sent away with shrieking sirens. Someone catches you before you can hit the pavement, and you can feel yourself shaking.

"Your friend is gonna be okay. We're gonna meet him at the hospital. Is there someone I can call for you? An emergency contact?" A medic asks, and you shake your head.

"That was my emergency contact. I... I don't have anyone else. I don't," your chest heaves with panic when a set of numbers flashes in your head next to Carolina's phone number. You repeat to the medic, and they quickly scribble it down. "His name is Joel."

"And who's he?"

"My partner."

Your body feels heavy when you wake up, like someone tied cinderblocks to your joints and told you to swim. Ringing fills your ears before giving way to a cloud of painful noise, and for a second, you wonder if the car crash was just a dream and when you open your eyes, you'll be back in bed. You'll text Ryan about how weird it was and make plans to hang out later in the day. Except, when you open your eyes, harsh fluorescent lights shine down on you. Your face pulses with an unrelenting throbbing. Pressure explodes across your temples, and you grit your teeth as you try to take a deep breath, but your ribs protest. A gentle squeeze of your hand surprises you, but it doesn't hurt.

"Don't move too fast. Doctors said you'd be sore," Joel says quietly. You slowly turn your head and find him sitting in a chair next to your bed, both of his hands holding one of yours. Tears immediately flood your vision, and your chest aches under the weight of your cries. "What's wrong? Are you in pain?"

"'Ryan. Where's Ryan? Is he okay?" It hurts to talk, and Joel has to move closer to hear you, but once he realizes what you're asking, he kisses your hand.

"Ryan's next door with Carolina. He's got some bumps and bruises like you, but he's gonna be just fine," he says, reaching out to smooth your hair down, and you let out a sigh of relief. "You were the first thing he asked about when he woke up, too."

"Really?" You ask, and he smiles.

"Course. Said he could hear you the whole time, but he couldn't say anythin'. He told me that knowin' you were there made him feel safe." 

"I... I told the paramedics about his knee." You sniffle, and he raises his eyebrows.

"You did?"

"His left one is bad. They needed to know. I had to tell them." 

"You did great," he murmurs, wiping your tears away with gentle thumbstrokes. You take a shaky breath and focus all your strength on squeezing his hand. He smiles and kisses your forehead, his eyes glistening with tears. "You scared me."

"'M sorry. I didn't know who else to call."

"Hey, don't be sorry, okay? You did the right thing tellin' 'em to call me. I was scared because you were hurt."

"What's the damage?" You ask, and he takes a deep breath as his eyes scan your face.

"You've got a concussion and bout seven stitches on the side of your face here," he traces a line over his left eyebrow to show where he's indicating without hurting you. "Three cracked ribs and two broken ones from hittin' the steering wheel, some cuts from the glass, and lots of bumps and bruises." You nod as you listen, taking a mental inventory of everything. He watches you process silently, pressing kisses to your hand, forehead, and cheek whenever he gets the urge. Memories of blood, warped metal, and phone cameras run through your mind, and you swallow thickly.

"People were taking pictures of us after we got hit." You say, and Joel nods.

"I saw 'em."

"Out of all those people, one stopped to help us," your voice cracks. "I thought Ryan was gonna die, and they were fucking taking pictures."

"He didn't. He's safe. You're both safe, and Mel is already workin' on gettin' those pictures taken down, okay?" He says. You just nod and wrap your other hand around Joel's wrist, bringing your joined hands to your chest. You stay like that for a while, listening to the incessant beeping of your heart monitor and Joel's breathing. He doesn't rush you or make you talk anymore. He waits.

It would've been so easy for Joel to not show up. Or to show up, focus only on you, and completely forget about Ryan and Carolina. But he didn't. He knew how much they mean to you. He showed up, and he visited them, and was there when he woke up. He talked to Melanie about getting the photos from the accident taken down. He held your hand and said you did the right thing and didn't flinch when he saw your bruises. I'm Team Joel, as long as you are, echoes in your mind, and you smile.

"Thank you," you mumble as you kiss Joel's hand.

"For what?" He asks, and you shake your head.

"Bein' you."

"You're gettin' sweet on me, pretty girl." 

"Mm, I don't know about that one," you say. "Think people will still wanna cast me with a big ass scar on my forehead?" Joel nods as he leans down to kiss you gently.

"Oh, yeah. 'S sexy." He says against your lips, and you chuckle. 

"Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am," A wave of fatigue hits you as Joel settles in his chair again, and you yawn. "Get some rest. I'm not goin' anywhere." He squeezes your hand again, and you close your eyes, letting the pain meds drag you under again. 

You don't remember what you dreamt about that night in the hospital, but you remember blood washing down the drain. It wouldn't stop. There was so much. You remember thinking the blood on your hands almost looked sparkly as camera shutters reflected in the red. Everything looks prettier on camera, right? 

Right?

[centrally-unplanned]

(Spoilers ahead) So with the obvious caveat that the show has several more episodes to go so this all might still be addressed, I am gonna have to lay down some criticism on seasonal favourite Hibike Euphonium right now - this is my complains-about-things blog after all!

The show has an issue in that its Kumiko's story, and the story it is dealing with is that their chosen strategy of intensive auditions that swap members between performances is draining morale - plus her own defeat in said auditions is complicating her emotions and further draining morale as she is the well-liked president. Her friend and co-executive Reina is actively rejecting solutions, and the teacher Taki won't comment on the drama. So she has to solve it. Which she does with, essentially, a big heartfelt speech before their performance.

As a minor aside, right before their sectional performance? I thought the morale issues were affecting practice? Were they or weren't they? Too late to fix that now, right? Not a big deal but I did still want to note it - don't sacrifice realism for drama in a show as grounded as Hibike is.

On to the meat of the problem - Reina and Taki-sensei. Kumiko's big speech is essentially a mea culpa, being a "yeah I should have communicated my honest feelings right out the gate" deal. This choice and the presentation of it generally lines up with Reina being proven right in her stance - including explicit comments from Kumiko saying such.

The problem there is that Reina is totally wrong and also being a huge asshole about it:

You don't get to say this to your bff at the first sign of trouble and just walk away from it - you definitely don't get to do it when you are extremely obviously running interference for your teacher because you have the hots for him. At every turn Reina has made this problem worse - calling out students for casually gossiping on their own time, verbally chastising any dissent, at one point in this episode even contradicting Kumiko publicly in front of the club to argue with a student mid-rehearsal. Her idea of a solution is literally just "club members should shut their mouths and never dissent from Taki-sensei's vision", which since they are human beings and also not in love with him is not actually a workable plan. I would bet at least a third of the drama comes from the way Reina acts, which would make any student both sus of the behind-the-scenes dynamic and double down out of spite. She is a club leader and is failing at her job in a basic way.

And since Kumiko's speech "resolves" the problem, all of these failures are handwaved away; she doesn't really have to say anything, right? Her and Kumiko seem fine now. Her failure as a friend and her failure as a club leader is just sitting unaddressed. Maybe it will come up next episode, but that still doesn't make this "arc conclusion" satisfying.

Now lets move on to Taki-sensei. His "arc", as much as he can have one as a non-core member, is detailed with a lot more care. His thing is that he is just a dude, he doesn't have magic insight or anything, and even Kumiko is putting him on a bit of a pedestal. Throughout the season they have all these little hints about him being not nearly as mature as his role-as-teacher suggests, including his childish snacking habits:

Some have interpreted this as critical, but I don't personally - Taki tends to be explicit about his own fallibility, like when Kumiko asks if he is tailoring their music specifically to win the competition and he replies "idk if that is even a thing actually". And this latest episode definitely peaks at Asuka pointing out that Taki is probably not confident in his choice to deny Kumiko the solo - his confidence in it is faked for the purposes of club morale:

He knows its controversial, he knows morale is hit, and is powering through it.

That is all fine enough, but it also makes him a bad teacher. I won't harsh too much on the fact that he puts way too much in the hands of his student leaders, because its done to center the narrative on their arcs. But, for one, that falls apart when the crisis is explicitly one in Taki. Expecting a student to fix that is pretty asinine. And he definitely brings this on himself - he never explains his decision-making to the students, not even in a sanitized, authoritative way. He just expects them to deal with no guidance. When Kumiko's friend Kanade gets cut midway from a failed audition, she rationalizes the decision really well, explaining that the tuba section was weak and their numbers are capped, so they sacked someone from the already-strong euphonium section.

What a graceful, morale-saving explanation. Which Taki never gave! Kanade just inferred this. He doesn't have to explain every decision in detail of course, but some level of guidance as to why changes are being made would have gone a very long way.

Now you can say "his vibe is just to be standoffish, its his method", which imo is a dumb method but okay, I'll run with that. But if you do that and outsource all of the communication to your student leaders, then you can't also be standoffish with those student leaders. According to the text he knows about the drama; which means he knows Reina is a clusterfuck wannabee dictator and she and the vice president are having open shouting matches after rehearsal, and that Kumiko is spiraling through an indecision crisis. So meet with your damn leadership team and help them nail out a plan. And tell Reina to check her libido at the door or something. Either this above-it-all strategy is intentional, at which point you are botching its management, or it isn't, at which point you are botching being a teacher.

(And if the stakes of all this were small enough that he didn't need to bother having a meeting about it, then Reina is being a much bigger asshole and Kumiko is being a bit of a sob story weakling. I don't think that is the intended message)

I think some of this "harshing on Taki-sensi" I am seeing in the fandom is coming from noticing his failures as a teacher alongside the narrative hints about his arc. But I don't think based on this episode the narrative is going to acknowledge them. Its a "he's human" narrative, which is tonally quite different. I do expect some level of "change" in Reina at least, but it doesn't seem like a real apology is not going to be the offing. And I think it stems from the fact Kumiko is just being overly centered in a story where the conflict is not something she is driving. It has to be her problem to be her story, and this isn't quite enough to meet muster.

But I could be wrong! Lets find out I guess.

[captain-lessship]

Her Pt. 1

It was a party he was invited toHe heard your laugh, his eyes instantly drifted to you. 

You we’re loudly laughing at whatever the girl beside you said, hair flipping forward and hand coming to cover your mouth.

Your beauty radiated with the energy of a new dawn. When you both locked eyes, it felt as if the cosmos aligned you there in that moment.

But a tap on his shoulder brought him back to earth. 

Courtney. 

He looked at her and put on a smile. “Hey, I’m gonna go, I got to be up early. I’m sure Dave can take you home, sweetheart.” She said, kissing his cheek, quickly turning and heading out the door. 

His eyes went back to you. You were in a cigarette smoke haze, like a dream. Before he knew really what he was doing, he was walking towards you and when he got there, all he could say was:

“Hi.”

You looked at him, a pleasant closed mouth grin falling on your nude pink lips, “Hi.”

He laughed nervously, “I-uh,”

“You’re Kurt Cobain. You’re quite the rockstar.” You said, taking a hit of your cigarette. 

“Yeah, I am alright I think.”

“You’re awful talkative, Cobain.” You teased. 

He laughs a little bit, “I figured I should socialize a little bit so, uh, what do you do?”

“I am actress and a model.” You said, “Is Nirvana all you’re up to?” 

“Oh! That’s where I know you from!” He went on talking about a few of your movies. 

You watched him through you eyelashes, a deeper smile resting on your face. “I am glad to have met a fan.” You offered him your cigarette, “Hold that for me.”  He obliged.

“Can I have a hit?”

“Sure,” you were focused on digging in your purse. You pulled out a light yellow note pad and a pen. “Kurt Cobain.” You said to yourself, “It’s a nice name.” You wrote his name on the note, leaving a small note.

You handed it to him, “I actually have to leave so, here. Call me if you want. I am typically free in the evenings.” 

It had been a few weeks since the party and each day since then, without fail, he called you. Same time.

You were settling into bed when phone on your bedside table rang, bringing a smile to your face as you reached for it.

“Hello?” You asked, already knowing who it was.

“Hey, it’s me.” 

“Who else would it be?” You joked.

You could hear the smile grow on his face, “How’s your day?”

“Oh you know, the usual. Magazine covers, auditions, waiting on the call from my best friend.” You quipped, fiddling with your pajama sleeve. 

“I’m your best friend?” 

“You’re up there.” 

It was quite for a minute, it wasn’t uncommon for this to happen between the two of you. You basked it the comfort of it and he enjoyed the happiness that poured through the phone. 

“Kurt?” You finally broke it.

He paused before answering, “So we just finished a concert and you know, I am close to your place and I was wondering if it’d be okay if I crashed on your couch? Just for the night.”

This had happened a few times before and it always ended the same: he ended up at the foot of the bed cause he heard a noise and came to protect you just in case. And it was never just for the night. Sometimes it was a day or three, really depends on her. 

“Sure,” you answered, “I just gotta get you a pillow and a blanket set up. Are you hungry?”

“I am but don’t fix nothing fancy, your really doing me a favor.”

“Okay, okay, nothing fancy but you will have a warm meal when you get here.”

He sighed, “Alright. It should be like fifteen or twenty minutes. I lov- Bye.” 

Silence. 

You didn’t think much of it as you got up and walked down stairs to your kitchen. You know he said not to do anything to fancy but you knew that after a shoot, you wanted something filling and rich. 

You opened your fridge and pulled a few things from it and putting them on the counter, muscle memory tuning in.

[ziggy-stardust-is-in-love]

musical rant rn go

goodness gracious I wrote an entire novel yesterday and it all got deleted. Whatever.

OKAY HERE ARE ALL OF THE MUSICALS I THINK ABOUT IN ORDER

Frozen: Every six year old girl was obsessed with Frozen, including me. Good soundtrack and nostalgia. I still really want my theatre to do this show, but I’m not sure which role I’d want. Elsa, Anna, Christof, Olaf? I dunno. Too many good options

Hercules: One of my favorite movies since I was little. Insanely good soundtrack and super fun characters. If my theatre did this one I still wouldn’t know which role I’d want. Hercules would be great, but Meg is so fun, but Hades is even more fun!!

The Lorax: I’m considering this a musical so shut up. This has also been one of my favorites since I was little. Fun fact: as student council president I came up with the idea of making a Lorax themed bulletin board and we did it!! 💪 I think my presidency will be remembered as year of the Lorax or something like that. We’d come in every meeting and I’d play the soundtrack while we worked, it was perfect. I ALSO WANT MY THEATRE TO DO THIS BUT ID WANT TO PLAY EVERY ROLE. THEYRE ALL SO PERFECT

Sister Act: Pretty uncommon. The only reason i really listen to the soundtrack or anything was bc I was in it. This is the first musical I ever did (I’ve done 5 now) and in this I played Monsignor O’Hara, which is a pretty great role for a first time actor. I got to dad dance a deliver cheesy lines. The soundtrack is pretty good to me, but that might just be because of the distinct memories I have with each one. Like the time the power went out during a rehearsal so everyone sat in front of the stage with their phone flashlights on. That was super fun. Or all of my friends and I playing flee the facility on Roblox. 🥹 miss all of that

Dear Evan Hansen: or however it’s spelled. I’ve only read the book and occasionally heard the songs. The book was really good and I should really learn more about the musical.

Newsies: Second musical I was in and my first big role. Jacks best friend. It was awesome!! Before auditions I went over to my friend Emma’s house. She’s the one who brought me to theatre and we were watching newsies bc we knew nothing about it. I immediately, from the very first scene, wanted crutchie. Emma really wanted Katherine. I’ll always remember Emma FaceTiming me as soon as the cast list came out and telling me we got our dream roles and we were in the same cast. That was the best summer ever.

Elf: I don’t talk about this one too much bc it’s just trauma. I simply played a background elf because of my big role last show. I had two lines 😭 We did this for some reason and I decided “wouldn’t it be just great to bring my bf (now ex) to theatre!” So I did. What was I thinking. Halfway through rehearsals he broke up with me. I had to see him twice a week and it really sucked. I’m not gonna get too far into it bc my ex literally ruined my life but anyways

Wicked: My theatre didn’t do this play, I got to see it on broadway in November. It was really great. I went in knowing nothing about wicked and I came out obsessed. I was able to get a full cast signed poster and a copy of the novel. I’d definitely want to do this production at my theater someday but I just don’t know who I’d want to be. Elphaba or Glinda? Either way great show and good soundtrack for sure

Sweeney Todd: EEE!! Okay so the show itself is incredible. Great story, good characters, magnificent music, a 10/10 show for my theatre to do. The bad part is that this was just for the older age group, which means our director put a lot of pressure on us. Ever rehearsal someone went home crying (usually me) and nobody was having fun. I actually had an incredible role because I mentioned wanting Sweeney in auditions and I didn’t realize how much work that actually was. Thankfully they gave me an even better role: ANTHONY!! Still not my favorite role, Crutchie will always have that, but it’s awesome!! Being a lovesick sailor is basically me.

Heathers: Another fun musical!! We haven’t done this at my theatre and I don’t think we ever will 😔 I personally love belting these songs when I’m home alone, but that applies to basically all of these. Also if you’ve read this far that’s impressive bro. (Also I might start a secret side blog of me singing) but that’s a secret between you, me, and anyone else who read this far

American Idiot: The Green Day musical!! The music is obviously super good and the story is a bit strange but it’s really fun to watch slime tutorials of it on YouTube. (For any of you who don’t know, slime tutorials are what we call videos filming broadway productions because they’re illegal and a way for YouTube to not take them down is if you title them “slime tutorial.” If you ever want to see a bit of a musical poorly recorded on a trash phone, look up the name of the musical and you’ll usually find some.)

Peter Pan: Honestly a trash musical. The story makes no sense and most of the music is garbage. I played a lost boy, which is basically the only fun role in the whole show. I knew all of my other lost boys well, someone of them were already my best friends, so we were just a gang of rascals. Little Shop of Horrors: I went to a local production knowing very little and I came out of this one obsessed as well!!!! The soundtrack is sooo goood and my friends and I are super close to getting our theatre to do it. I would def want Seymour, Audrey, or Orin (the dentist)

WOW TYSM FOR LETTING ME GO ON A RANT I REALLY NEEDED THAT!!!!! YAYYY!!!! I think this is a complete list but I dunno. I’ll see if I forgot something at some point

[tokyo-tower-symbolism]

A Deep Dive of the Junna-Nana Revue in the Movie, or why you really ought to believe in others more

The Revues in Revue Starlight can be difficult to understand.

Usually that’s because of all the imagery and music and symbolism coming at you simultaneously, but this one in particular is confusing because Nana is just so hard to understand. She is absolutely terrifying in the movie, and last time it was because she had to protect her reruns, but we don’t know why she’s doing it this time. And don’t get me wrong, we just had a whole thing where Mahiru chased Hikari with murderous intent, but that was acting! So we keep waiting for Nana to drop the act, but she never does! Even when Junna is crying and has lost the will to fight, Nana just leaves her behind like she doesn’t even care!? What’s going on? Nana is Junna’s biggest fan! What happened to Nana? What’s going on?

So this is my attempt to lay out everything going on and try to get a better understanding of what was going on with Junna and Nana throughout the movie. It’s also part of my series of deep dives into each of the movie’s Revues, and while it should be able to be read as a standalone thing, I will be analyzing the Revue of Annihilation in this one, so I may touch on the issues everyone else is dealing with as well. 

So to start it off, let’s take a look at what Junna’s dealing with at the start of the movie.

And I gotta say, girlie is going through it.

Admittedly she seems fine at a glance, but literally her first scene has her own acting being overshadowed by Karen’s brilliant performance of someone who feels lost after their friend leaves them behind. And if we’re being real, that really says more about what Karen’s going through than anything about Junna’s actual ability, but can you blame her for being discouraged by this brilliant display of method acting?

And it get’s even worse when you realize what they were performing. This is the play that they were going to see at New National. And from the poster and the fact that Mahiru and Futaba were practicing these lines, you can figure out that Junna was playing the lead role in this rehearsal. 

So literally everything in the script is working to make her stand out, but she got upstaged by the supporting cast! Not only that, but she’s also gonna see this her own role played by a professional soon enough, so she’ll have to compete with that too soon enough.

If you take a look at her future plans, you can see that Junna plans on continuing to University, which is a big departure from literally everyone else who is planning on auditioning for Acting Troupes so they can become professional actors straight out of high school. But unlike them, Junna wants to study more about the stage right now to understand it deeper.

And this is a sign of the growth for Junna compared to the start of the series, since she used to be extremely impatient. She was obsessed with becoming the top star and pushed herself with extra practice to the point of passing out to try and make up for her lack of experience compared to Maya or Claudine, so the fact that she’s willing to take it slow and learn properly is much healthier for her in the long run. If you think about it, pre-character development Junna probably would have applied for a troupe immediately after graduating because that’s what everyone else was doing and she doesn’t want to fall behind, even if it wasn’t the best move for herself.

But if she wants to understand the stage, it’s a little odd that she’s applying to a literature department as her first choice. Keep in mind that Seisho is a music academy and her second and third choices are explicitly drama focused, so it’s a little strange that her first choice isn’t explicitly stage related. 

But then again, Junna has always loved using quotes from literature, and she says she’s going to use what she learns to act in college, so it’s not like she’s completely given up! She says as much, in that all of this is so that she can become the star she aspires to be! Also she quotes William Shakespeare because of course she fucking does.

But I think it’s a little sad that the quote she and her teacher recite is about how some are born great, while others achieve greatness, and it’s pretty clear that Junna doesn’t think she’s the first one or that she’s the second one yet.

We see this lack of confidence surface again when Kaoruko accuses them all of having given up their desire to become a top star.

Obviously in the scene we know that Kaoruko is wrong here. Kaoruko even admits as much to Claudine after storming off from the room. She’s clinging to an idealized version of the past, so obviously the rest of them aren’t interested in becoming the top star of a stage that never existed. They are looking to the future instead.

But I wanna take a look at Junna’s reaction in this scene.

When Junna looked at her phone, she didn’t recognize the date, because she had moved on from the auditions, which is a little surprising when you remember how much weight she put into that initial loss to Karen. She was ready to complain to the manager about it too! But then again, Junna had matured since that first revue, and by the 10th episode when she got knocked out of the auditions, she wasn’t bitter. She instead chose to watch and learn from everyone else.

So she and everyone else is shocked to realize that Kaoruko actually still wants to participate in the auditions.

Although unlike everyone else who remains shocked, Junna is the only one who looks away while Kaoruko talks about waiting for another shot at the auditions. Because although this is coming from a place of hurt, Kaoruko accidently hit the nail on the head for Junna. She hasn’t been waiting for the next audition, since she doesn’t think she can compete with top stars as she is now. And from an outside perspective, this scene almost makes it seem like Junna can’t bring herself to look at the brilliance of someone who strives to be the top star of the audition.

But all of that was just my wild speculation about this scene. For all I know I could be reading way too into it, but Junna explicitly says as much to Claudine later in the train ride, so I’m probably not too far off.

On the train to New National, Claudine decides to reenact her conversation with Mahiru in the laundry room, but this time with Junna.

Just like with Mahiru, Claudine takes a look at her questions for New National. And Junna’s questions are… rough to say the least. They’re all about how to handle pushback from those around her or how to overcome hesitation about her career path. And like wow, this is heavy stuff. Can we go back to the power of love overcoming hardships? This got way too real for me way too fast. 

Honestly that thing in her questions about her family makes me think her first choice college being a literature department instead of a drama department might have been a compromise with her parents so they would let her act in college. As I said earlier, girlie is going through it.

But Junna defends herself for having such a long list of questions, just like Mahiru did with Claudine earlier. And just like with Mahiru, Claudine remarks to Junna on how excited everyone is, because thinking of new conversation topics for every single person is hard.

But eventually Junna asks Claudine if she’s the one who recommended Futata to aim for New National. And while Claudine says she simply encouraged Futaba, she does ask if Junna is okay with not applying to New National.

Junna doesn’t directly answer that question, saying she’s no match for Claudine or Maya right now, but she’s going to improve to be their equal one day because she’ll keep learning and trying. Anyways that whole monologue is a nice call back to what she had been saying since the first episode, that she would work hard to catch up to the rest of them and reach her own star!

But don’t let her eloquence deceive you, she absolutely dodged the question on whether or not she was okay with not applying to New National.

Anyways, earlier I mentioned that the conversation was practically ripped from the laundry room scene before, but there was a notable difference. When Mahiru expressed doubts that she would be good enough to get into New National, Claudine didn’t try to comfort her, but Claudine tried to cheer on Junna when she expressed her doubts. 

This is because despite their similar lack of self-esteem, at least Mahiru is at the start line and is willing to at least audition for the best troupe in the world. Mahiru doesn’t need Claudine to encourage or comfort her. 

But Junna gave up before she even started, already deciding that she needs to learn more, that she’s not ready yet. Which is why Claudine tries to give Junna a push, just like she did with Futaba. But even when Claudine encourages Junna literally word for word the same way she encouraged Futaba, Junna is still hesitant to try to audition for New National, too scared to aim for the top star at the top troupe. 

But that’s all in her head. Junna is underestimating herself. Sure Claudine was making a jab at Maya when she said Junna was just as good, but she really does think that Junna has what it takes. And much later during the Revue of Resentment with Kaoruko, Futaba explicitly mentions Junna as a stage girl who has something she lacks.

Junna covers up this insecurity of hers by claiming she’s only not a match now, and in the future she will be, so it’s not that like she’s completely given up. But even so, right now Junna has lost the recklessness she had at the start of the series, that courage to try and become the top star, no matter how slim the chance. The Junna we see on the train is not the same Junna who got mad at her classmates for giving up on becoming Flora or Claire even before the auditions because they were sure Maya and Claudine were going to win. 

That Junna would have snapped at this Junna.

Anyways, there’s a reason that is the last meaningful conversation anyone has until the Revue of Annihilation.

But before that, let’s take a look at Nana.

In Nana’s career counseling, she says her current plans for after graduation are to either apply to New National’s acting troupe, or apply to be part of their production troupe, but she’s not completely sure which one to choose in the end. This is a nice reminder that although Nana’s pretty knowledgeable about the auditions and revues and everything, she’s also trying to figure out her own future, just like everyone else.

It feels important though, that Nana mentions that she knows she will have to choose, and that eventually it will end.

But unlike everyone else who is guiding the new students in their opening scenes, Nana is instead helping out Class B, essentially guiding the existing students instead of new ones.

Although, I gotta be real with you guys, I kinda forgot that Nana’s initial goal was New National.

When I rewatched the movie, I actually did a double take at this scene since I completely forgot that she applied there, and not the Royal Academy for Theatrical Actors where she ends up in the epilogue. And while this may be attributed to the fact that I am illiterate, I think part of it is because we don’t really see Nana get excited about New National with Maya, Mahiru, and Futaba. 

The entire time before their field trip to visit New National, the three of them are talking about it non-stop since it’s their dream troupe, but not Nana. She’s thinking about something else the whole time.

As for what she’s thinking about, we can take a guess.

If we go back to the scene where Karen and Junna are acting in front of potential students, Nana is in the background watching, and it’s pretty clear that Nana definitely relates to Karen. In Karen’s performance of someone who is lost because their friend has to leave them, Nana is the one who finishes Karen’s line, “Why are you leaving?” by adding “my friend.”

Nana’s whole subplot in the show was about how she didn’t want her friends to change and leave her behind, making her alone again like her time in Middle School. And while she made peace with the idea that they would all eventually grow and evolve as stage girls at the end of the show, the threat of them growing apart is still very real, especially as they all graduate and go their own, separate paths.

And unlike every other girl in their class, Nana and Karen are the only two without a clear plan for the future. But while Nana is at least attempting to narrow down her options and aware that she has to make a decision soon, Karen left her future plans sheet blank.

This separation of Nana and Karen from their classmates continues even into their next scene at Seisho. While Karen is who-knows-where, Nana had left to do laundry before she can hear Kaoruko’s rant about how pathetic they all are for not being interested in the audition this time. However despite being physically separated from the group and not participating in the conversation, Nana is somewhat aware of what’s going on with everyone.

Nana doesn’t come in and take part in the conversation though. She chooses to wait outside, despite not being busy with the chores.

This is a switch between Maya and Nana’s usual roles in the show, since usually Maya would be the one to be separated from the group in the show, and Nana would be the one infodumping about what’s going on. My working theory is that Nana feels guilty about what she will have to do later, so she’s trying to isolate herself from her friends before the Revue of Annihilation.

Even on the train ride, Nana only talks to Karen, the sole person in their train car who won’t take part in the upcoming Revue. And it isn’t like the two of them are having some important conversation either, since Nana is paying attention to Junna and Claudine’s talk.

When Junna talks about how she doesn’t plan on aiming for New National right now, Nana stares, although I gotta wonder if she is staring in disapproval or concern?

And like I said, that was the last meaningful conversation anyone has before the Revue of Annihilation.

Everyone, sans Nana and Karen who are conspicuously absent, are surprised to see Revue cloaks fall in front of them and the giraffe wheel going by them, and are disoriented when they find themselves thrust on top of the train in the dark.

Meanwhile, the drums start when the camera reveals Nana, her shadow looming over the position zero. She taps her foot, already dancing to the music of the stage, unlike the stage girls who are frozen in place, save for the movement of their hair and clothes from the wind.

Nana prepares to fight, and cryptically says the train will go to the next station, and then asks about the stage, and about “us”. And I just think it’s notable that Nana is including herself in that question.

Anyways, the train cars behind the stage girls detach and we see the giraffe standing in front of the New National Theater, literally the next station for the train, and he announces the star of the Revue of Annihilation.

When we cut back to the train, the backdrop rises, revealing lights that blinds Kaoruko, Futaba, and Junna, and while they’re distracted, Nana pounces in front of them.

Maya and Claudine say her full name before she starts singing, so I guess that counts as a Revue introduction? It could be a reference to how Nana didn’t introduce herself in the Revue of Solitude? That feels like a reach though if I’m being honest. I think the real reason she doesn’t do one is because the Revue introduction basically states what a stage girl wants out of a Revue, and Nana’s motives are supposed to be a mystery right now.  

Either way, when she starts singing she specifically mentions “wi(l)d-screen Baroque” and “Sing, Dance, and Battle” both of which the giraffe had said outside New National, even though she ought to have no idea about that.

As she makes her way to the other side of the train, dodging and parrying each of the stage girls, the song has Nana asking if they understand the rules, reminding them of the giraffe’s catchphrase, despite the fact that he isn’t there. She also asks what they plan on doing once their life ends, which sounds dumb, but then again a stage girl is constantly reborn so I guess it’s a valid question.

Kaoruko mistakenly thinks this is an audition, but is interrupted by another train approaching, which Nana had been waiting for, sees as it gives her a second sword.   

That second sword is important because it’s a show of how much brilliance Nana has. When Hikari lost her brilliance, her sword significantly shortens, so clearly having two shows just how much hidden brilliance Nana had. In fact the time we see Nana with two swords is the moment she stops holding back and defeats Maya in the original timeline, so it’s a sign that Nana will not be holding back against her classmates this time.

But circling back to the second train for a moment, I wanna point out how it’s strange that something from the outside is helping Nana, considering they were isolated on the train. In the scene before the Revue, their classmates say that everyone else had made it to New National except them, and once the Revue began, the attached train cars all fell away, so it’s a little jarring for a new element to show up on the stage, and a little suspicious that Nana was expecting it.

But that’s just to show that Nana had outside knowledge before this Revue. She knew it was coming.

In the recap/prequel movie, Rondo Rondo Rondo, an exclusive scene added to the end which has Nana see a vision of everyone dead. It’s like the very first scene of the show with everyone lying in the same positions on the stage, except this time there is blood tomato juice everywhere. She brings up the dead stage girls to the giraffe who can’t confidently say he understands, but he warns her about the new ending that the audience demands: “wi(l)d-screen Baroque.”

In another after credits scene from the previous movie, Nana comes to the conclusion “We are already on Stage”, and welcomes Hikari. And I gotta say, I probably should have watched Rondo Rondo Rondo before I wrote the Mahiru-Hikari Revue. I was super confused on how Hikari knew that phrase despite not taking part in the Revue of Annihilation, and apparently it’s because Nana told her beforehand. Although Hikari didn’t really get it, which led to the whole Revue of Competition, and if that interests you then read the write up I did for that.

Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that Nana isn’t attacking her friends for no reason. She’s trying to pass a message onto them. But they don’t know that, and neither does the viewer who skipped the recap movie because they just watched the actual show before this, so why would they want to watch an abridged version?

Hahaha, fuck me.

Now armed with her second blade, Nana aggressively charges at the rest of them, and we get a fixed wide shot of Nana fighting everyone at once. It’s not even a challenge for her, though. She’s weaving through their attacks effortlessly and pushing them back!

But despite this utter dominance, the backlight has everyone shrouded in darkness from our point of view, and literally no one is talking. And in the song even, Nana is bemoaning how no one there has any brilliance. How boring the whole fight is for her.

These stage girls aren’t a challenge for her, they’re a shadow of their former selves.

Also considering this is an essay about Junna and Nana, I feel like it’s important to point out the scene of Nana blocking Junna’s arrow without even looking, while the song in the background talks about how there is no excuse for running away.

Anyways, the first one to break the silence is Kaoruko, who claims she’ll use this to become the top star, but this is silenced by Nana cutting off her clasp, and she tells them that this isn’t an audition.

Earlier in the movie, before heading to New National, Kaoruko complained about how none of them were aiming for the top star. But literally no one was aiming for that because they aren’t performing Starlight anymore. Well, they still have their third year performance, but that’s not what the movie’s about. They all have their own futures they need to work towards, and each of those will take them different places.

They aren’t competing for the same role anymore, so there’s no need to audition.

Anyways Kaoruko calls them all useless for that, but later admits that she’s the most useless of them all. And as I said in my analysis of the Kaoruko-Futaba Revue, that uselessness is referring to her refusal to move onto the next stage.

And don’t get me wrong, Kaoruko was lashing out from a place of hurt, so she didn’t actually have a point, but literally no one here is ready to move onto the next stage. None of them are actually ready to confront their insecurities, so they are holding themselves back from their full potential.

So that’s what Nana means when she says this isn’t an audition.

In Revue Starlight, the auditions were meant to steal glimmer from the other stage girls to use as fuel so the top star could get to their stage of destiny, but this isn’t an audition. The Giraffe isn’t watching the Revue of Annihilation, and there’s no rankings here either.

After the Revue, the giraffe has a scene where he says that he is their food, their fuel. And he meant that literally, seeing as the giraffe is made of various vegetables and fruit, including that tomato that each of them will use as fuel to get to the next stage. So as a result, this time they don’t need to steal from each other in order to get to their next stage.

Basically when Nana says that this isn’t an audition, she’s refuting Kaoruko’s idea that they should still be aiming for the top star in the Starlight Play, instead they need to find a new goal. But literally this entire Revue is showing that everyone lost their edge, so we know that none of them have actually found that new goal yet.

Also it sort of hints at the nature of future Revues, with Position Zero no longer being the goal, and the former rules of the auditions no longer applying.

And I just want to mention that in the background, Nana sings that even if you step off, you are still on stage, and that’s important later because Maya says that she is always on stage if the audience desire it at the end of the Revue, and Maya is also the only one who doesn’t get defeated by Nana, so clearly Nana has a point here.

This philosophy is that none of them can half ass being a stage girl. They can’t just take a break. The need to be in 100% on being a stage girl, or give up. There is no middle ground.

Another important line that Nana sings in the background happens when she throws her sword at Junna, and in the background Nana sings that you can’t just get by with words alone. Plus there was also that line about being all bark and not bite, essentially talking big but not delivering.

I swear it’s like this song’s lyrics are targeted at Junna specifically.

Anyways, then Nana manages to cut the cloaks off of Futaba and Mahiru simultaneously, and repeats that this isn’t an audition. This is because Mahiru and Futaba had been attacking her, trying to cut the clasp off like in an audition, but that’s not how they were supposed to beat Nana in this revue. Just defeating Nana wouldn’t do anything for them, since they’d be in the exact same headspace they were before. In order to beat Nana here, they’d have to be confident in their next stage, but neither of them actually think they can get into New National, which is why both of them lose to Nana.

Anyways, after seeing this impressive display, Junna can’t bring herself to try and fight, or even perform. And this is reflected in the Revue as the music slows and the train goes through a tunnel which blocks the stage lights. At this point, Nana doesn’t even need to run anymore. She just picks up the sword she threw earlier and easily cuts Junna's cloak without a second glance at her.

And when Junna falls to her knees, all she can say is that she doesn’t know this Nana, but Nana ignores her and has already moved on to her next opponents.

And this sucks for Junna. I mean don’t get me wrong, giving up without a fight is pretty tragic for her sure, but that line also calls back to that night after Nana lost to Karen where Junna comforted her.

Initially when Nana tells Junna about repeating the year (time loops, not being held back), Nana remarks that the Junna she knew isn’t called Junjun, introducing this recurring idea for the two of them. Anyways, as is natural when your roommate tells you that they are responsible for putting everyone in a time loop, Junna is completely lost and can’t say anything, exactly like Junna on the train.

Anyways, after Nana loses to Karen, Junna finds Nana again, and Junna doesn’t blame Nana. She says that Nana was trying to protect them, and was well intentioned at the very least. Anyways, during that conversation, Junna complains that she doesn’t know anything about Nana, but by the end of the conversation realizes that Nana is a real stage girl, and that she’s a scardy-cat and a crybaby, like a kid.

And don’t get me wrong, Nana is exactly that, but that’s not all she is.

On the day that Nana faces Karen, Nana mentions that she and Junna haven’t faced each other in a Revue yet. And the next day is when Claudine and Maya fight Hikari and Karen, which means that Junna has never fought Nana before the Revue of Annihilation.

So even though Junna thought that she understood Nana best, it must have come as a shock to her to see Nana like a completely different person. She’s just as lost now as she was when Nana told Junna about the time loops.

Anyways, like Nana, let’s ignore Junna and get back to the action.

The music kicks up again when they leave the tunnel and the train is out in the city, and Nana asks Claudine and Maya the question from earlier, about how the train will reach the next station, but what about the stage, what about them?

Claudine is confused, but Maya says that if the stage and the audience ask for it, she is already on stage.

At this moment, Nana knows that she can’t beat Maya in this Revue, since Maya came to the answer that Nana was trying to get them all to reach. Maya has the wrong idea of her next stage, as we see in Maya and Claudine’s upcoming Revue, but it’s a goal she decided on and she’s wholeheartedly working towards it, so that’s enough. 

And as if to physically show this difference between Maya and the rest of them, the train enters the tunnel again, and blankets Nana and the stage girls she defeated in darkness.

But Claudine, like the rest of us, has no idea what the two are talking about, and isn’t in sync with Nana and Maya who approach each other simultaneously, and is thus ignored. In anger, Claudine charges at Nana, who swipes at her but ultimately goes past her, to lock blades with Maya, who she is evenly matched with. And while Nana couldn’t say anything in response to Maya earlier, she does shut down Claudine for being a bit too talkative.

And the moment Nana and Maya separate is the moment Claudine’s cloak falls off. And the clasp falling off is timed with Nana reaching position zero, because she had finished what she came here to do.

Now that the play-by-play is done, can I just take a moment to say how cool Nana was this entire Revue? Like that thing she does at the end with her hair? Completely badass. 10/10. Absolutely terrifying and I love it.

I’ve been holding it in till now, but oh my god she’s so cool! Like she was completely destroying them and she made it look effortless! And these are like the top students at the top academy! Did you guys see the grace with which she dodges and weaves! Like don’t get me wrong, in the show she had that powerful presence, but there’s only so much of her skill you can convey if you only show her swinging her sword down really hard. Meanwhile this fight choreography undeniably shows the Nana who could beat Tendou Maya countless times for her time loops. And she just makes it look so easy! Like I get that everyone was nerfed because they had no clear idea of their goals or conviction in this revue, but still!

She’s just so awesome. Plus it makes it even funnier that they all call her Banana. Am I really supposed to take her seriously with a name like that? Because I will. Again, she is just that cool.

Anyways, back to the analysis. 

It’s silent for a bit as they all try to process what happened, until Nana says that she feels like she was drunk. But she has to repeat herself a couple times because she speaking softly and the train is loud so no one can actually hear her, but eventually she speaks up so everyone else can hear her.

Anyways Junna points out that they’re minors so they can’t drink. (Don’t tell her about Kaoruko taking a bath in champagne later in the movie. Or the drinking age in France.)

But she’s right, Nana doesn’t know what it feels like to drink strong sake. Instead, Nana’s just playing a character who has. She’s acting. But because Junna refused to act in response, blood tomato juice sprouts from her neck. After all, a stage girl refusing to act is essentially death for them.

Everyone is overreacting to the blood tomato juice that’s gotten everywhere, except for Maya who points out that it’s a prop, because as the only one who wasn’t “killed” by Nana, she’s the only one with an objective view of the stage as she isn’t as affected as the rest of them due to their collective loss to Nana.

As a stage girl, Maya is the farthest from death currently.

Speaking of Nana, she’s not looking at any of them. She’s doing that pose from when she won the Revues in her time loops, where she’s enchanted by that dazzling light. And I’ll talk about this later in the actual Revue, but it’s not a good sign that there’s something else dazzling enough to make Nana not pay attention to them. 

Anyways, Nana’s train car separates from the others, leaving them standing still as she goes off into the distance. Nana repeats her question from throughout the Revue, “What about the stage, what about us?” Only this time she answers, that they are all already dead.

I think it’s interesting that she's including herself in that, because if you remember from her career plan, she isn’t sure about her next stage either. She’s still trying to decide if she wants to stand on stage or create a stage. 

She isn’t already on stage like Maya.

Anyways, while everyone is left behind and standing still, Kaoruko tastes the blood and says that it’s tasty, implying that it’s actually tomato juice, which we later see is the fuel that they need to go to the next stage.

Either that or this was her cannibal awakening.

We next see Nana and Karen riding the train car together alone. Their conversation is mostly about Karen, so I’m probably gonna talk about this scene whenever I get to Karen-Hikari Revue deep dive, but I just want to point out how tired Nana is in the scene. She’s not cold or overbearing like in the Revue of Annihilation, but she doesn���t have that usual friendly, reliable Banana energy either. She sounds mournful when she talks about everyone going their own way, to their own stage, their own roles. And while she tells Karen to find her own stage at the end of the path, Nana gets off the train, claiming she has to go back.

So after those heartbreaking scenes of utter confusion and loss, it’s time to party!

The kick off party for the 101th Production of Starlight is a blast and everyone is happy, except for the stage girls who Nana beat, who are all sitting in darkness. Junna in particular is sitting at the gazebo they usually hang out at, where Nana usually gave them snacks. Nana meanwhile, is nowhere to be seen.

Anyways if you wanna know why I love this scene, check out the section in the Mahiru-Hikari Revue essay since I don’t wanna write it all out again, but what you need to know from this is that this is the moment where everyone realizes it’s okay that they don’t know what they’re doing. No one has all the answers and everyone is incomplete. But they aren’t alone, and their friends can help them figure it out along the way.

Also we finally see where Nana is, because she was helping set up the stage. It’s a little strange that she’s alone though, because setting up that tower required a coordinated effort from the members of Class B.

Anyways, Nana mentions how the time for snacks is over, and instead they need to hunger for a new stage. This is similar to what Nana said to Karen earlier in the train car alone, but unlike Karen, Nana says that everyone else is already seeking that new stage.

Also it feels targeted at Junna, considering she’s the one who is at the gazebo where they always ate those snacks. And if you also consider how Junna is settling for a smaller stage so she can take it step by step and slowly get better, instead of ravenously clawing for the top like she did before.

This eventually leads all of them back to the top of the train car where Nana utterly demolished them.

It’s not clear if Nana is doing a monologue or talking to her classmates, either at the kick off party or the following scene on the train, but Nana reveals that, as seen at the end of Rondo Rondo Rondo, she saw a vision of all of their deaths.

I’m gonna be real, so much of my confusion could have been solved if I had just watched the Rondo Rondo Rondo exclusive scenes. I’m fuming.

Anyways, regardless of who she was talking to, everyone faces their corpses as dead stage girls. None of them are wearing their clasps or jackets, since it’s all in a bloodsoaked tomato juice soaked pile in the corner. They have been defeated. Also, they give off a packaged doll vibe if you ask me, considering how they have the bodies and the accessories neatly laid out, if you ignore all the tomato juice. But the thing about dolls is that they can’t move on their own. They can’t act.

Also the reason they aren’t wearing shoes is because it’s a cultural thing to take off your shoes when you commit suicide, meaning the stage girl corpses weren’t defeated in a Revue, but chose to die. After all, losing an audition doesn’t mean you can’t try again. The only way for a stage girl to stay dead is if they choose not to act, choose not to live. (Apologies to the Futaba-Kaoruko Revue Deep Dive, the curtains were not just blue apparently.)

But yeah, this is a vision of what they could be if they decide they don’t want to be stage girls, which is a perfectly valid path for them. After all, they’re just high schoolers, they have their whole life ahead of them. They can find a new dream to pursue.

But if they want to be a stage girl, they have to go all in on it. Just like what Nana sang on the train, they need to be ready to always be on stage.

So after finding a new resolve at the Kick off Party, the stage girls all face their failures and they all choose to get back on stage. This includes Nana, which is a little surprising considering she didn’t really fail or learn anything new from the Revue of Annihilation, but I guess it makes sense considering she’s in the same boat as everyone else about graduation. 

Okay, I take that back, she probably learned one thing from the Revue of Annihilation, and it’s that Junna is no longer fit to be a stage girl.

Nana saw that Junna no longer had that same ambition that she had last year. Instead of aiming for the top, Junna had essentially given up before she even started. She refused to apply to New National, thinking she wasn’t on par with Maya. She even refused to fight Nana once the gap in skills became apparent! It’s not for nothing that Junna was the first one to “die” on the train.

Nana initially put them all in the time loop to protect them. And the first real shock that made her go down that path was seeing that two of her classmates dropped out of Seisho. And now it looks like Junna is going down that same road.

So Nana resolves to go back into her own role, to the obsession of that girl, to seeing to her end. But for those last 2, the camera shows Junna instead of Nana, making it unclear if she was talking about her own obsession with the past and the end of that, or Junna’s obsession with one day finding her star and the end of that. Probably a little bit of both if you ask me.

Meanwhile Junna is completely lost. She doesn’t know what Nana’s talking about putting an end to. Unlike everyone else who properly faces their stage girl corpse, the shot of Junna barely has it in frame. And this checks out if you see them facing the corpses as acknowledging their failures so they can find out what they need for the future. After this scene, everyone other than Junna knows what they want from their upcoming Revue.

It’s also interesting to compare it to the shot of Nana looking at her stage girl corpse, since Nana herself is barely in the frame. Unlike Junna, who doesn’t know what she’s doing wrong, since she’s not aware that she’s basically given up on being the top star, Nana is very aware of what she’s doing wrong. She’s been very withdrawn and isolated from her friends because she knows that what she did and what she’s about to do will hurt them.

Nonetheless, the two of them both choose to take a bite of the tomato, and accept the fuel so they can reach the next stage. After all, they chose to be stage girls. They are already on the stage.

The Revue opens with Junna rising from a platform, still confused from earlier. She doesn’t know what needs to be put an end to, or with who.

It’s a little odd for Junna to not realize she’s gonna be fighting Nana though, but she’s been through a lot in the past couple of hours, so I’m not gonna blame her too much.

The set of the stage is Seisho Academy, with two giant katanas hanging from the ceiling along with a projector that displays Daiba Film Co., Ltd on a screen.

Honestly, Junna’s entrance here almost mirrors Hikari’s from the Revue of Competition. They were both confused once they got to the stage, unlike their opponent who was expecting them and has complete control of the stage. But unlike Mahiru, who was welcoming initially, Nana isn’t nearly as kind.

Earlier I said that Junna and Claudine’s conversation on the train was the last meaningful moment before Revue of Annihilation, and the reason for that was because that conversation was what pushed Nana to start the previous Revue.

A projection of Junna during that conversation is displayed, and she says “As I am right now, I don’t have enough experience or practice. I don’t even have the resolve to stand on stage”. But what Junna had actually said at the time was “I’m no match for people like Tendo-san, or you” to Claudine.

Basically what I’m trying to say here is that Nana’s whole basis for this Revue is flawed.

Don’t get me wrong, Junna definitely lost faith in herself and her abilities. She isn’t aiming nearly as high as she should be. But it’s a mischaracterization on Nana’s end to think she doesn’t have the resolve. After all, Junna took a bite of that tomato. She’s willing to use it as fuel so she can get to the next stage.

Junna has always had this attitude towards Maya and Claudine. In her second Revue with Karen, we see that Junna saw herself in the audience, or as one in the crowd, unlike Maya, Claudine, and the other top stars who shone on stage. She was always aware of this gap in their abilities. That was why she worked so hard to catch up and surpass them. So that one day she could find her own star.

But Nana’s not completely wrong though. When Junna watched Maya and Claudine's Revue against Hikari and Karen, she was watching intensely and saying that she can’t let them defeat her. But now Junna is saying that she’s no match for them?

And that’s why the second part of the memory is accurate when Junna says that what she said before was “just for now!” Because while Junna believes in her future, Nana does not. When Claudine and her teacher asked about Junna’s future plans, she was always hopeful for her future, but to Nana, it just sounds like an excuse, and she says as much when she enters the Revue. After all, Nana saw how time passing eroded Junna’s ambitions as a Stage girl, seeing as Junna went from someone who would challenge the top stars to someone who gave up before she even tried.

Just like Mahiru in the last Revue, Nana also enters the Revue and immediately opens with her Revue Introduction, since she already knows what she wants out of this Revue.

Unlike her initial introduction with Karen, when Nana talked about how it was her duty to protect the fragile fruits that were her classmates, this time she refers to Junna as an ugly fruit that’s ashamed to live. And while she considered her classmates to be unripened fruits hanging from the tree before, she now sees Junna as an overripe fruit that will fall to the ground since the branch can no longer support its weight.

Because as Nana sees it, Junna gave up. She used to reach out for her dream despite how unlikely it was, but she’s lost that drive. And if Junna never tries, she’ll never get anywhere. Instead she’ll just keep futilely chasing her dream, hoping, waiting for it to come to her some day, but it never will.

Junna’s a lot like how Karen was before her first Revue with Maya, as she’s just spinning her wheels, hoping that her feelings will eventually bridge the gap in abilities between her and those who have been trying to reach the top star long before she started.

If Junna keeps going as she is now, she’ll never succeed. So at this point, it’s basically a mercy for Nana to stop Junna from continuing as a stage girl. It’ll hurt now, but it’ll save Junna from the constant pain of constantly failing to achieve her dream in the future.

Of course this is all just Nana’s opinion.

But that’s why Nana’s here. Her introduction says as much, that she’ll offer Junna a beautiful end, instead of a long, painful, drawn out one.

Unlike everyone else, Nana’s end goal here isn’t to find her own stage or determine her own future, but instead to end Junna’s future as a stage girl, to get her off the stage.

This is reflected in the outfits they are wearing. It’s some kind of military uniform, and I’m gonna be real, I do not feel like looking up the specific branch of the military or what time period they are from. If I had to guess based on my gut feeling, I’d say Nana is an army officer and Nana is either a navy or airforce officer, but it really doesn’t matter right now. What does matter is what they are doing.

Their poses resemble seppuku, or the Samurai ritual of suicide. Junna is kneeling with a blade in front of her, and she’s supposed to use that to stab herself in the gut. And in order to make sure Junna doesn’t suffer a slow death from blood tomato juice loss, Nana is supposed to decapitate her once she does that to end it quickly.

As I mentioned earlier, the corpse of the stage girls on the train weren’t wearing shoes, implying they committed suicide. That’s because the only way for a stage girl to truly die is when she chooses to no longer act. Nana beating Junna in this Revue wouldn’t actually achieve anything, since Junna could just decide to get back on stage again à la Karen.

The only way to achieve Nana’s objective is for Junna to give up being a stage girl of her own free will.

It’s also interesting how they are awash in a red light that references first Junna’s Revue, when Junna had Hikari pinned with her arrows and there was a red spotlight on her. Only this time, Junna is the one who is trapped and unable to move.

Anyways, we get a close up of Junna’s eyes panicking because she’s in a very high stakes situation all of a sudden, when Nana’s sword swings down, smashing the tomato underneath Junna’s discarded cap.

Nana is trying to cut off Junna’s path to the future as a stage girl by destroying the fuel she needs to get there. It doesn’t really do much though since Junna already ate though.

For a second though, you think that Nana actually succeeded in decapitating Junna though, since Nana slowly walks away with blood tomato juice on her sword. We saw on the train that Junna couldn’t fight back, and now she’s frozen in place once again by the scary red lights, despite all the positive connotations of red if you consider color theory.

But we do see Junna safe and sound, having run away from the dangerous situation, although Nana claims that it’s futile considering she lost sight of her star. Basically this is what Nana was worried about, that Junna would fruitlessly struggle, but it’s not as if that would change the end result.

And Junna admits as such, that she can’t see her star and she doesn’t see a future where she succeeds. But she’s never seen that, so her only hope is to continue down her chosen path until she gets there. Plus she brings out that aerial hoop she used in her Revue with Hikari, which she absolutely dominated up until Karen very rudely interrupted Junna, so it’s a way to show that Junna is going to put on her best showing.

Anyways, despite Nana having complete dominion over the stage a few moments ago, Junna takes control and brings up a maze of walls to trap Nana in. Junna may have lost the will to fight Nana before, but she’s ready now. She decides that in the Revue of Hunting, she will be the hunter instead of the hunted.

Junna can’t beat Nana in a straight fight, so she keeps her at a distance and forces Nana on the run with her arrows, and keeps her guessing where the next attack will come from by concealing her own presence. Junna is very resourceful while using the stage, since she distracts Nana by using the debris her arrows cause by hitting props.

And while Junna seems to be winning, this is actually bad for her.

Because a stage girl is supposed to shine, so why is the spotlight only shining on her opponent during the Revue?

Junna’s whole strategy against Nana is suspiciously similar to her plan when she had her revenge Revue with Karen. Just like with Nana, Junna was caught off guard by Karen during their first fight and lost. So in her rematch, Junna is more cautious. She hides in the background and uses the debris from the props to distract Karen.

But Junna couldn’t win like that, and by the end of that Revue, she decides to be more straightforward like Karen. So in the little bits we see of her future Revues, and that one time when she almost beat Hikari, Junna continues to use the stage to her advantage, but she herself is front and center, boldly facing her opponent under the spotlight.

In this Revue though, she regressed, so Nana clearly had a point about Junna not shining as much as she did before.

And seeing as this is a battle for Junna’s life as a stage girl, the least she can do is give a counterargument to Nana.

While sniping at Nana, Junna says a couple quotes from famous writers about how trying is the first step before succeeding, hoping to convince Nana to see it from Junna’s perspective, that she just needs time before reaching her star.

And from Junna’s singing, we get a glimpse into her mindset, that if she uses the wise words from people of the past, or learns from her top star classmates, eventually she’ll drift towards the stage and find her star. But the word drift is troubling, since that implies passivity on her end. She might get there eventually, sure, but it’s essentially up to the tides of fate.

But Junna has always been about putting in the effort to achieve her dreams, so it almost feels like Junna isn’t even sure that she’ll be able to make it. Her list of questions from earlier did ask about how to overcome any hesitations about a career in living on stage.

And you can kind of see this idea in the scenery too.

While Junna is hunting Nana, we see these giant red kanjis, meaning “star,” fall in the background. Funnily enough it’s the same kanji (hoshi) used in her last name. And while Junna does use them to her advantage, we eventually see where they are coming from, the Tokyo Tower above them. Tokyo Tower often represents the stage, so essentially by relying on these stars, Junna has been damaging her own stage.

This is seen more explicitly when we cut to Nana, since these falling stars have destroyed the maze that Junna used to trap Nana. Because Junna is surrounding herself with stars at the expense of own stage, she’s quite literally sabotaging herself in this fight.

But that’s not just in this fight. That’s what’s happening to Junna in the real world. She’s always comparing herself to the greats and consequently doesn’t think she’s good enough.

Anyways, there’s also a shot of an arrow coming at Nana while Junna says that words are her power, again showing Junna’s mindset in the battle. She doesn’t have enough confidence in herself, and is instead using lines from more established writers to compensate. It also links this reliance on words with her bow, her usual method of fighting as a stage girl.

Anyways, Junna couldn’t beat Karen with this strategy before, and she can’t beat Nana with it now either. While illuminated by the red light of danger from before (coincidentally, red light also symbolizes the top star), Nana cuts the giant arrow in half using her own power, and destroys the stars that Junna has been letting cover the stage. After all, those were just props, and Nana is an actual top star.

Nana knocks Junna down, and traps her again. Junna’s attempt at fighting back clearly didn’t impress Nana. Junna didn’t even try to shine on her own merits. She’s hiding from the stage and hiding behind the words of others. Nothing she did in that fight could possibly shake Nana’s view of Junna. And as Nana sees it, if Junna continues as she is now, she’ll never achieve her dreams of becoming a star.

While Junna is pinned to the ground, Nana says that Junna had been beautiful, and in the background you can see pictures of Junna working her hardest at practice and studying.

But I gotta ask, if Nana takes pictures of beautiful things like that, why does she also take one of Junna now? I think this shows that Nana is a little more conflicted about how she feels about Junna’s brilliance than she lets on.

It’s a tiny detail, sure, but photos are important for Nana. She’s constantly taking photos, since she’s sentimental like that, and has tons of pictures displayed in her room. Plus photos are a way to preserve the moments of the past, so it’s almost like her time loops.

But after she gives up on her reproductions, she stops taking them.

Although in this movie, when helping Class B, we see that Nana started taking photos again. Although now she’s using a brand new disposable camera, instead of her phone. The same camera that she now uses to take a picture of Junna while she’s pinned down.

So just like Junna, Nana has also regressed to her pre Karen self during this Revue.

On the train, Nana talks about going back to her old role, and in both the Revue of Annihilation and the Revue of Hunting, and she’s been acting like she did in her Revues with Karen and Hikari. Don’t get me wrong, in the time loops and both those revues, we’ve only ever seen Nana act like this in a Revue. Cold and overbearing, clearly in control and gazing at a goal beyond what anyone else can see. But you’d think after realizing that she didn’t need to protect everyone, she would act a little differently.

But in a way, she is still trying to protect everyone. Her Revue of Annihilation was a wake up call that everyone needed. Even now she’s trying to protect Junna from future pain, in a twisted sort of way.

But while last time she tried so hard so everyone could stay together, this time Nana is deliberately forcing them apart. She stabs a blade between a picture of the two of them walking home in the evening, literally severing their bond. And in the background, Seisho itself splits when she does this.

But we know Nana, and she treasured her newfound friends and school more than anything, literally to the point of sticking them in a time loop so they would never have to separate from each other.

So we know doing this is probably killing her inside.

But none of that is showing in her acting. Nana’s been very cold and ruthless this entire time. Even when you could tell that Nana was mad at Junna for giving her a subpar performance earlier in the Revue, the anger seemed very cool and resentful. It’s completely unlike the last time we saw an angry Nana, when she was desperately shouting, trying to understand Karen in their Revue.

And that resentful anger is there when she was talking about how amazing Junna used to be. About how Junna used to be unaware of the gap that existed between her and top stars, and she could blindly reach out to become the lead.

The thing is though, Junna didn’t foolishly reach out to become the lead in the original timeline, or any of the loops. She was always very methodological in her approach, constantly learning and improving, while never giving up. It’s only after losing to Karen, who’s inner stage girl was reignited by Hikari returning, that Junna decided to straightforwardly aim for the top instead of overthinking.

The Junna that Nana is talking about isn't the one from her reproductions, but the one we saw in the show.

And Nana says that Junna was dazzling.

Dazzling is an important phrase for Nana. In the show, dazzling is how she describes the 99th Starlight. And it was so dazzling that Nana never wanted to leave that moment. She was content to live in that moment forever, since from the first loop to the last one before Hikari arrived, Nana says that particular stage was still dazzling, no matter how many times she reran it. And Nana is always chasing that shine, up to the point in her Revue with Karen, where she asks how Karen is so dazzling, just before she loses.

And sure, Nana lost to both Karen and Hikari in a Revue, but it’s the conversation with Junna after the Revues, when Junna asks Nana to let them make the next stage together, that finally convinces Nana to end her reproductions.

In that moment, Junna was dazzling enough to make Nana's desire to see their future overcome her desire to return to the past.

But unlike the 99th Seisho Festival, Junna couldn’t live up to Nana’s expectations, and she is no longer dazzling.

And this genuinely angers Nana. She grips her sword too tightly, and sounds just so desperate and frustrated in this line. She gave up everything because she believed in the stage girl Hoshimi Junna, but Junna doesn’t even believe in herself anymore. 

That’s gotta be disappointing.

So instead of cutting off the clasp to her jacket, as they normally do to win the Revues, Nana instead smashes the gem on Junna’s bow, literally destroying Junna’s ability to fight, her ability to shine as a stage girl.

Because Nana’s goal isn’t to just beat Junna and show her what she’s missing like on the train, Nana’s goal is to kill Junna as a stage girl, but there’s really no way for her to do that. Sure if the auditions were still a thing she could maybe steal Junna’s motivation for the stage, but that’s not possible anymore. The only way for Junna to die as a stage girl is for Junna to choose that, so Nana instead has to destroy any hope that Junna has for being a stage girl.

Like the start of the Revue, Nana gives Junna her sword to commit seppuku, only this time Nana isn’t offering to see to her beautiful end. Instead, the spotlight follows as Nana just walks away, no longer visibly angry, instead it's more like she doesn’t even care.

And this is tragic for Junna. She’s had doubts about her future, sure, but she received nothing but support from her teachers and friends up until now. So when Nana, the person closest to her, confirms her fears that she isn’t good enough to be a stage girl, she breaks down crying.

Junna cries and asks why Nana said she was dazzling in the past tense, but Nana ignores her, simply noting to herself that Junna was crying.

And this sucks for Junna. It really does. It’s almost a repeat of when Nana beat Junna on the train, where Nana ignored her and just moved on while a defeated Junna was on her knees in the dark. She’s in the exact same position, so like Nana said, despite her attempts to fight, it was futile in the end.

So to motivate herself, Junna recalls quotes about failure and how people can overcome that, but for a moment it looks like that isn’t enough, since she hesitantly picks up the seppuku blade that Nana gave her.

And this is heartbreaking for her. For the obvious reasons, of course, but also because this isn’t the first time that one of them was crying in the dark while Junna started reciting quotes in front of Seisho Academy.

After all, this entire set is just a callback to that night in front of Seisho Academy in episode 9.

That time, Nana was the one crying, while Junna tried to recite quotes to cheer her up. And that time, instead of walking away, Junna hugged Nana, and assured her that as a stage girl, Nana would be fine. But when their roles are reversed, Nana is doing the opposite.But the thing is, what touched Nana that night wasn’t the quotes from great writers. She only cheered up when Junna said her own, original quote, which happened to be her Revue Introduction.

And that’s exactly what Junna does now. She needs her own words. She realizes that the words of others aren’t enough, so instead of using Nana’s sword to kill herself, Junna instead uses it for a different purpose.

She slams the hilt into one of the fragments of her gem that was shattered around, making Nana’s sword her own.

Remember how she said words were her power when shooting an arrow? Well now that she can’t use her bow, she needs to find a new source of power. And using quotes is kind of fitting for a bow, since Junna is using other people’s word, the arrows, and shooting it at the target. There’s a degree of separation there, so that’s kinda symbolic.

Although the first time I heard the line that the words of others aren’t enough, I thought she was talking about quotes by other people, in that Junna relies on using wise words to guide herself. But she could also be talking about Nana’s words. When Nana said Junna wasn’t dazzling anymore, Junna really took that to heart, and that’s what really made her break down, which is kind of surprising after considering Nana completely destroyed her in both of the Revues, but Junna’s built different and would never completely give up from something like that. So this declaration could also be referring to how she decides to ignore the words of others, and truly follow her own path.

So Junna comes to a new resolution. Just like that night when she convinced Nana not to do the reruns anymore, Junna says her brand new Revue Introduction. She says that she knows she’s not enough, and she’s tired of it. But unlike before when she would try to drift towards her star, now she’s going to desperately struggle until she not only takes the leading role, but devours it, calling back to what Nana said about the stage girl hunger during the kick off festival.

And unlike before, when she would previously introduce herself as a part of the 99th class, now she introduces herself as the student council president for the 99th class, which is subtle but also kind of a big deal. You see, everyone else just says 99th class, except for Maya and Claudine, who introduce themselves at the first and second rank of the 99th class respectively. So by acknowledging her own achievements, she’s bringing herself to their level in a way, despite earlier claiming she was no match for them.

(Although I could have sworn she was just the class representative for Class A, but who knows, maybe she got elected in her third year, in which case good for her! But considering there’s like 2 classes in a year, I’m not sure if there is much of a difference.)

So even though Nana tried to destroy Junna’s passion for living as a stage girl, it didn’t work. If anything, that gem on her sword shining shows that Junna is more passionate than ever. After all, the stage responds to the stage girl's passions, and their gems would always glow during those moments.

And now instead of trying to become someone who can impress Nana, Junna instead calls her out. She won’t let Nana ignore her again just because Junna couldn’t meet her expectations, and she also won’t give Nana what she wants either.

If Nana wants to kill the stage girl Junna, then she’ll have to do it herself instead of making Junna do it.

The stage shifts to a yellow (Nana’s color), hazy landscape, with Nana’s swords all around them, pointing at Junna.

The set is still entirely under Nana’s control and hostile to Junna, as seen by the fact that she is still getting utterly bodied by Nana. I get that she’s not used to the new weapon yet, but it’s kinda embarrassing how she is completely off balance and is thrown backwards during each of their exchanges.

But she doesn’t give up, no matter how unsightly she looks. In the background, Junna sings about how she's gonna keep continuing on her journey and won’t ever give up on it, which is remarkably similar to what she said when she first fought Nana in her Revue, that even if she can’t see her star, she will continue down her path.

Meanwhile Nana demands her Katana back since Junna isn’t using it for the intended purpose. And just like at the beginning of the Revue, Nana tells Junna that fighting is futile. That Junna lost her ambition and now she won’t ever be able to fulfill her dream.

While fighting, Nana brings up that Junna just parrots the words of others, but only moments ago Junna herself decided that she would no longer rely on that. So Junna has evolved in the middle of this Revue, but Nana isn’t acknowledging that.

Meaning Nana is fighting now someone who doesn’t exist anymore.

Just like last time, Nana easily beats Junna and tells that she can’t take ahold of her own star, and attempts to walk away again. But just like last time, Junna picks up the sword again, and challenges Nana to kill her herself.

And this bothers Nana.

Just like when Nana brought up how Junna used to be dazzling, she clenches her sword and starts sounding a lot more passionate compared to her cold demeanor from before. Because even though Junna knows she stands no chance against Nana, she’s foolheartedly fighting back anyways.

Exactly like the Junna that Nana found dazzling.

Nana is completely different from before. She’s no longer as dominant as she was during the Revue of Annihilation or in the beginning of the Revue of Hunting. Despite claiming nothing would change no matter what Junna did, Nana’s getting desperate to end this. And when she fought before, her sword would always stop for a moment and lock with the weapon she parried, but now she’s flailing her blade wildly and letting their swords slip by each other after every hit. Not only that, but she’s evenly matched with Junna, despite easily stomping her earlier.

This uncontrolled fighting style is similar to when Nana fought Karen in the Revue of Bonds. She was so desperate to achieve her goal and cling onto the past, but at the same time so curious as to why Karen was so dazzling.

Just like with Karen, in this Revue Nana brings up the roles they play, and how her opponent is different now. But it's not just a callback, but also a role reversal of the Revue of Annihilation, Junna brought up how she didn’t know this Nana, but now Nana is the one who doesn’t know this Junna. And this scares Nana, since as I mentioned earlier, she was fighting someone who doesn’t exist anymore, but she’s only realizing this now.

With this realization, the haze clears and the light turns green (Junna’s color), revealing that Junna was already at Position Zero, the final goal for a stage girl, and we couldn’t see it. Junna reached this point by evolving as a stage girl throughout this Revue. She died and was reborn along with a new weapon. She found a new resolve as a stage girl, so if she wanted to end it here, she would be fine. At this point, she would probably be able to achieve her dreams if she keeps up this passion and resolve.

But that’s not enough for Junna. Instead of accepting an end set by someone else, she steps past Position Zero. She claims she will find her own path, different from the one that Nana planned.

And she doesn’t stop there. She says she won’t accept the roles Nana gave her or any of her stages, and literally bisects the stage and giant sword set pieces in the background. Not only that, but she cuts down the projector that Nana used at the start of the Revue. But this declaration isn’t out of spite though. She’s not mad about how Nana literally tried to get Junna to give up on her dream.

It’s just because Nana’s a shitty director.

In her song in the background, Junna asks Nana where she has been looking all this time. And Junna herself says that Nana was blinded by the light, the same thing that Nana accused Junna of being when she lost her ambition. And looking at the set designs, she was probably right. When they were covered with the yellow light of Nana’s color, the stage was hazy and hard to see. But when it’s green like Junna’s color, it’s clear.

In Nana’s mind, Junna’s role was supposed to have a beautiful end after realizing that she no longer had that ambition from last year. But Junna’s whole thing has been never giving up, and putting in more effort until she can catch up, so Junna was never going to do that. Nana doesn’t understand Junna nearly as well as she thought she did. And for that reason, Junna isn’t going to stand on Nana’s stage.

So instead of waiting to become the star of a distant stage like before, Junna claims the lead for herself now. And instead of relying on Nana to call her dazzling, Junna is now confident enough in herself to claim that descriptor. Just like how she doesn’t need Nana’s roles, now Junna won’t let herself be defined by anyone else. She will no longer say she isn’t a match for people like Claudine and Maya.

When Junna finally swings her sword, we get a shot of the stage falling, but it’s juxtaposed with a shot of Nana’s clasp flying in the air. Because although this stage has ended, Nana’s future is up in the air, and she will continue as a stage girl. Unfortunately we really don’t know anything about Nana’s future though, since both of them were fighting over Junna’s future as a stage girl in this Revue.

Earlier in the Revue, when Nana was walking away from Junna, she was following a pink path to her next stage. Now, at the end of the Revue, Junna and Nana are facing away from each other on that same pink path, but on two different sides of a crossroads. Coincidentally, this forms a giant Position Zero.

So symbolically, this looks like the end of their relationship. After all, Position Zero is the end, and now we have Nana and Junna going their separate ways.

Junna says that the stage she mentioned before where she is the dazzling lead will be her next stage, and that she will never stop reaching for it. That kind of messes up my point from earlier about how she was no longer relying on the future to become a star, but art is subjective, and I choose to interpret it so that I was right earlier. But it's nice to see this Revue helped her find her way, so that’s nice I guess. She’s now properly facing her next stage, symbolized by her green light at the end of the path.

Plus, now that I think about it, she completely destroyed that stage where she was the lead, so maybe it’s for the best that she was talking about a future stage.

Nana is also headed towards her next stage, represented by the yellow light at the end of her path, but I do have to wonder how ready she is for it. Unlike Junna who got a new resolve for herself, Nana’s resolve was probably destroyed by this Revue. After all, she was wrong about Junna, so what if she gets it wrong again?

She sadly says that her reproduction might have ended, but if we’re being literal, her reproduction ended last year. Maybe she’s talking about ending her idealization of the past, since that was the point of the reruns last year, but I think she was actually talking about her relationship with Junna and everyone else.

After all, the point of the reproductions was to make sure their friends never had to go on their own separate paths after graduating, and now that’s basically going to happen in a couple months.

But in a way, the time loops were also to protect the relationships Nana made at Seisho. And her actions here could have completely destroyed her bond with Junna. She literally stabbed her sword between the two of them in the picture, and it can be hard to forgive someone if they try crush your dreams and get you to kill yourself (metaphorically, of course.) She knew that going into this, which is why she was always somber outside the revues, because she knew she was about to do something unforgivable to Junna.

But just like the night that Junna forgave Nana for the time loops, she understands where Nana was coming from and forgives her. Even though they are going their separate ways, Junna looks forward to when they can stand on stage together again. And when she says this, we finally see a shot of their faces and we get to see Nana’s reaction. Very surprised, I think, but also really grateful that there’s no hard feelings between them.

And sure, earlier I said it symbolically looked like this was the end for them because they were going there separate ways on a giant position zero, but Junna stepped beyond the position zero. She can do whatever she wants, and she wants to be with Nana.

Not right now though. But later, definitely.

They “See ya” to each other, implying that it’s not goodbye, just bye for now. And as they go down their respective paths, the water repairs the damaged picture, showing that this Revue wouldn’t impact their closeness in the long run, despite the fact they have to go their separate ways.

It also shows Nana’s discarded camera in the pool of water, showing that Nana no longer needs to hold onto the past so tightly. It also shows that she hates the environment, but in her defense 100 companies are responsible for 90% of all global plastic waste, so I’m not gonna get on her case too much.

But was it really that hard to find a trash can?

Despite Nana being the one earlier to insist that the curtain falls, Junna is the one who sings about the ending as they go their separate paths, but knows they will meet each other on stage one day, since she knows they’ll both continue on as stage girls.

And as they walk away, Nana thanks Junna for helping her arrive at a brilliance that’s like jewels set ablaze, a phrase which she previously only used to describe the 99th production of Starlight that she was always trying to reach.

But Junna is just so dazzling that she can make Nana forget the past.

And while walking away, this time Nana is the one crying, another role reversal for the two of them. So now Junna is the one to mention that “she cried.” And just like Nana before, we see Junna continue down her path after taking a moment to make a steel herself. And since this is a mirror of the earlier scene, we can assume Nana must have done something similar too at the time. Even back then she didn’t want to ignore a crying Junna, but she thought she had to do it for them to make it to the next stage, and forced herself to move on.

But unlike episode 9 though, Junna isn’t there to wipe away Nana’s tears. Nana is still a bit of a kid and a crybaby, just like Junna noticed back then, but now Nana has to find her next stage on her own, so she wipes away her tears on her own, and continues down her path.

Anyways, despite that heartbreaking goodbye, literally 5 minutes later we see the two of them sitting with each other. I mean I know they promised to meet together again soon, but this was probably way sooner than they expected, right? Then again they are roommates and this is like May so they have like 9 months of school left, so their reunion was probably going to be sooner rather than later, but could you imagine how awkward it would be if Nana actually succeeded in making Junna give up on being a stage girl?

Now let’s take a look at their endings.

Junna ended up studying abroad at the New York Musical and Drama Academy. This was not on the list of colleges she was initially applying to, so I’m guessing after the Revue, Junna decided to apply for schools regardless of her chances of being accepted, and she got in! Plus she’s not in the literature department, so she can focus on the stage full time now! And it’s a performing arts school, so I guess she doesn’t need to focus on learning more quotes from famous pieces of literature anymore.

But I thought that she would apply for an troupe instead of a school though, since she got more confidence in herself after that Revue, but in the beginning she said she wanted to study more about the stage objectively, so clearly she wasn’t saying that because of insecurity, but because she really does love the stage and wants to learn more about it.

Plus she says she is having a lot of fun right now, and that’s what really matters.

Nana also ended up studying abroad, but she’s at the Royal Academy of Theatrical Actors. Her initial plan was to go to New National with Maya, Mahiru, and Futaba, but maybe she thought she needed to study more before moving on to the next stage, after all she never really had a moment like everyone else where she found out what she wanted to do in her future. But that’s because she thought that she was already ready to move onto the next stage, although the fact she couldn’t beat Maya and that she also saw herself dead in the vision means she probably wasn’t as ready as she thought. And after Junna proved her expectations wrong in their Revue, she must have realized it herself. Although I’m a little annoyed we never got to find out whether she decided to focus on making the stage or performing. After the ending of the revue, I could see either happening though.

But it’s cool that she’s not alone since she’s with Hikari in London. And while it’s a little sad she didn’t go with Hikari to meet everyone, it seems like she’s adjusted well to separating from everyone, so that’s nice.

It’s interesting how Junna and Nana are the only ones to change their future plans after the Revue. It probably says something profound about the two of them, but I just analyzed two whole Revues and I’m tired of thinking. I guess it just shows that the two of them have a lot to learn I guess? Maybe to show how the future isn’t set in stone and they can always go down new paths?

Anyways, it was really cool to see an actual fight between the two of them, especially because every other main pairing got the chance in the show, even if we only got to see brief moments of it. They have this really interesting past vs future conflict going on, so it was really cool to see that play out in an actual revue.

But boy did it hurt to see the two who were most supportive of each other duking it out. At least they looked awesome while doing it. They really popped off with the fights in this movie, so it was cool to actually analyze their movements and their meanings.

And now let’s take a look at some cool things that I noticed but didn’t mention earlier because that would mess with the flow of this essay:

I didn’t talk about the kick off party much in this deep dive, mostly because I already talked about it in both of the last two Revue Write Ups and I had to cover two whole revues in this one, but there’s a line of foreshadowing in it that’s relevant. 

The line “Be reborn, destroying your old body” is read while Junna is on screen. This hints at her having her gem get destroyed, but coming back to continue fighting with a new weapon, and with a new stage girl ideology.

The more interesting thing about the Kick off Party when it comes to Junna is the fact that she’s the one who brings up how the script is incomplete and doesn’t have an ending. I feel like it’s fitting since Junna herself doesn’t have an end in mind, since she can’t see her destined star yet, but she keeps reaching out because she has faith that she’ll find her ending, just like how the classmates have faith that the script writer will be able to come up with a wonderful ending too.

Also it’s funny because Junna has literally no idea what’s going on during the period between the Revue of Annihilation and the Revue of Hunting. She’s constantly lost and voicing her confusion from the train up until she gets up on that Revue stage. It doesn’t really mean much, but I find it funny.

There are a whole lot of shots in the beginning of the movie where Nana looks straight at the viewer to reference that jump scare in episode 7, and oftentimes it’s not clear who she’s talking to, making it seem like she’s addressing the audience. I don’t really have anything to say about this, just know that while looking for screenshots I had to pause very often so sometimes I got moments where she stared into my soul and I did not appreciate that.

Also, can we just talk about how much unconditional support Junna gets? In her previous songs, it’s heavily implied her parents aren’t completely on board with her decision and she’s had to fight an uphill battle alone for even the chance to pursue her dream, but literally everyone is behind her here. I mean her teacher agrees that her path will be good for her if she wants to become a star, and even though Claudine thinks she should aim higher, she understands that Junna doing what she’s comfortable with is important. Anyways, I just think it’s just really nice that Junna is surrounded by people who love and support her no matter what (yes, this includes Nana despite everything.)

In the Revue of Annihilation, Nana chucks her sword at Junna, causing her to miss and hit the lights, sending shimmering light everywhere which distracts Futaba. This was a tactic Junna previously used against Karen in their second Revue, showing how Nana not only knew Junna so well that she could use her techniques, but also how Nana was so skilled that she could get Junna to help her.

Nana’s literally so cool. What do I have to do to be this suave one day?

Junna’s last name has the kanji for “star” and “to see”, because she is always gazing at stars and trying to reach them. But if you think about it, this means that her star was inside her all along!

Speaking of meaningful names, you can rearrange Daiba Nana’s name to Dai Banana, which means big banana in Japanese!

Thou Shalt not Die is an Japanese anti-war poem where the author mourned her brother having to fight in the Russo-Japanese War and begged him not to let himself be killed. Seeing as the two of them are wearing military uniforms, it really brings into question Nana’s true feelings on trying to kill Junna as a stage girl. Then again I just looked up a summary online and am repeating what some blog said, so as far as I know this could all be bullshit.

But it's interesting how Nana is bringing up literature, since that’s usually Junna’s thing. Although Nana is referencing a Japanese work, unlike Junna who usually quotes Western authors.

Now can we take a minute to talk about how this whole movie is sword propaganda? In what world is a bow not better than a sword!? Bows were way more effective than swords back in the olden days! This is revisionism and I won’t stand for it!

Give Junna her bow back! Actually give everyone bows! Other than Aruru in the mobile game, she can keep her pistols. And that new girl with the boomerang, that’s hilarious. But everyone else should switch to bows.

“Your star is just a piece of space trash” is like the sickest possible burn, I’m still reeling. Especially for Junna who was constantly reaching for a star, but didn’t know what she was reaching for. So to say that the faraway star she was reaching for was actually just junk that humans shot up, it just feels so cruel! They should do more astronomy related burns like this considering how they are all trying to become the top star. Maybe say something about how the hazy landscape they are in is the nebula from Junna’s dying star or something. Honestly that line is just such a good insult, I’m still in awe.

In her song, while she is shining the brightest, Junna brings up how she didn’t look upwards just for show. So even though Junna admits that she was wrong before, she’s not gonna completely disregard her previous methods, and is still gonna use what she learned to shine. This mirrors her advice to Nana back in episode 9, where she told Nana to take the memories she treasured with her to the next stage. And just like that, while she won’t rely on the words of others anymore, she will still use what she learned to become an even better stage girl.

Continuing the previous point, Junna sings about how her unbreakable pen is stronger than Nana’s Katanas. As she said before, words are her power, but now instead of reciting someone else’s words, she’s going to be the one to write them, and no one will be able to break her spirit again.

You know in a way, Nana never went to the next stage in all her time loops. She was constantly stuck repeating the same one over and over again, so she’s probably going to need the biggest adjustment once she graduates. I mean everyone else was used to growing up, but can you really say the same for Nana after she was in the time loops for who knows how long?

But despite probably being the most scared to move on to the next stage out of all of them, Nana made sure she could help everyone get to where they needed to be in order to advance to the next stage. And I just think that was really sweet of her.

Although her methods for helping could have been a bit sweeter if you ask me.

[s-che]

Fool, Choice, and/or Hermit for the tarot asks?

The Fool – What do the earliest stages of work on a game look like for you? OR How did you get into game design?

I first got into game design in middle school, when I audited a course on game theory from... I think maybe a local community college? I was homeschooled for a couple of years, so I was always a little uncertain where the various curriculums were coming from, but there was definitely a year where on top of the regular middle school stuff I was taking asynchronous virtual courses in visual art and games stuff. Didn't actually start tinkering with designing my own games until late high school, when I wrote a pretty bad but fortunately minimalist d20 roll-under spy RPG which I ran for some friends at writing camp. Then in college I wrote a couple of bad indie games discourse infused games which I think I've successfully scrubbed from the internet, and then in 2022 when I decided I hated my job and channelled all my energy into posting random shit on itch instead. I think each of those moments could be credibly be called how I got into game design.

The Choice — Which do you prefer: drafting or editing? Design or playtesting? Beginning projects or ending projects? Fluff or mechanics? Or a pair of your own invention.

Much prefer playtesting to design. As fun as it is to go anywhere, the technical task of taking an object and figuring out what it / is not working and then finding solutions is much more interesting to me than the total flexibility of beginning from nothing. I'm definitely one of those people who needs restrictions before I can start writing anything at all.

The Hermit — What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned about game design? OR Are you interested in collaborating with others?

Just gonna plug again that I love working with other people so much and you should hire me to write for your game Uhhh biggest lesson, hmm. I think knowing what a project is not is as important as figuring out what it is. There's a bad impulse — informed by the hacking culture of games, I think — to bake "you could do the thing this game is about, or, idk, something else I guess" into the text of your game. You're a lot better off writing a game which has a strong identity and trusting that if it's cool enough, people are going to disregard what you've written to make it a game about everything else. You don't have to offer textual approval for the innate plasticity of the universe.

[daughter-of-melpomene]

For the if they were canon ask game: 🎬 + Rosaline Craven, please??

@dancingsunflowers-ocs ✨💖✨

Anything for my Ro baby, and for you, Alexandra!! (Also gonna tag @luucypevensie since she’s Rosaline’s godmama. <3)

HOW THEY'D BE INTRODUCED:

So I don’t think Rosaline would really be properly introduced with a name and everything until Order of the Phoenix, but I can see her continually popping up in the background of various shots, walking around with Pansy or sitting at the Slytherin table in the Great Hall or glaring at Ginny’s back if she’s part of a conversation. There would probably also be a scene where the focus is on Harry and a conversation he’s having while he’s with the Weasleys, but you can sort of hear Ginny in the background complaining about a Slytherin girl who seems to think they’re in some kind of competition, and you know who that is…

WHO THE FANDOM SHIPS THEM WITH:

Definitely mainly Ginny, but I can see people also shipping her with Pansy, since we all love a good friends to lovers arc, or even Luna, since they develop something of an unlikely friendship once Rosaline starts getting closer to the people around Ginny.

WHY THE FANDOM LOVES THEM:

I think for a lot of the same reasons the fandom loves Draco - child of a rich pureblood family of Death Eaters who doesn’t actually want to be a part of what their parents are making them do and who’s secretly in love with the rival they made for themselves - but since Rosaline actually gets her redemption arc in canon, they might even like her better (😅). I also think a lot of people would love her sense of style and her impeccable comebacks.

WHY THE FANDOM HATES THEM:

You just know there would be people who hate her for “breaking up” Harry and Ginny and “turning Ginny gay,” even though that’s obviously total bullshit. I also think a lot of people would call her redemption arc unrealistic or hate her because she’s kind of naturally snarky and bitchy, because you know how people get when female characters are like that.

WHAT THE CAST RELATIONSHIP WOULD BE LIKE:

Camila Mendes seems to be super sweet and funny, so I think she’d get along great with the cast! I definitely think she’d be good friends with Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, and obviously she and Bonnie Wright would do a bunch of cute interviews together.

WHAT THEIR AUDITION SCENE WOULD BE:

Likely the scene where Rosaline approaches Ginny and Neville about joining Dumbledore’s Army during sixth year, where she gives a little speech about wanting to right her wrongs and not wanting to be on the wrong side of the war anymore. It’s an emotional moment that touches on a lot of her motivations and who she is as a character, so I think it would be an important scene to have for auditions and see which actress can nail it.

DEPENDING ON THE FANDOM, WHO THEY’D BE AT PRESS TOURS/COMIC CON WITH:

Likely either the actors for the Silver Trio - Bonnie Wright, Matthew Lewis, and Evanna Lynch - or even Tom Felton, since they do play the two prominent Slytherins in the story.

IF THEY SPOIL THINGS:

I’m sure Camila would never!

IF THE SHOW/MOVIE HAS ENDED, IF THEY’RE HAPPY WITH THEIR CHARACTER’S ENDING AND THE ENDING AT LARGE:

Definitely! By the end of the story, Rosaline has escaped from under her parents’ thumbs, proven herself to be a better person than she ever thought she was, and finally in a relationship with the girl she’s been pining for. A pretty good ending, if you ask me.

send me 🎬 + an oc!!

[immortalsapphics]

i'm trying to take notes on fordism because i have an exam but i need to move out and i think i fucked up class registration and i need to move out and i love my friends and i need to move out and i went to a funeral today and i need to move out and it turns out i forgot i was hit as a child and i need to move out and also i apparently internalized so many experiences and decided they were normal and i only realized this literally yesterday and i need to move out and i'm using all pronouns now because idek what to do about gender and i need to move out and i have exams coming up that i cant bring myself to do anything for and i need to move out and my sister doesnt eat and i need to move out and my best friend has no one in the world but me and her long-distance boyfriend and i need to move out and i think that my three closest friends are my real family but i dont know how to let them know and i need to move out and i'm losing touch with the girl i loved for four years and i need to move out and she's joining the miltary and i need to move out and they told me yesterday they didnt want me to leave and i didnt want to either but we both knew i had to go home to keep the peace and i need to move out and for some reason my toe still hurts even though it's been weeks but i'm gonna ignore it forever and i need to move out and i still haven't gotten my asthma inhaler perscription renewed and i need to move out and my parents are convinced i'm dating my friend who is more like my son and i need to move out and i dont think ive ever taken anything seriously in my life and i need to move out and all my friends are dealing with so much shit and i need to move out and i know moving out wont even solve half of the shit going on and i need to move out and i'm not taking auditions seriously and i need to move out and i'm probably autistic after all and i need to move out and i somehow keep unlocking new trauma i forgot about and i need to move out and my bank account scares me and i need to move out and i was a completely different person even just a few months ago and i need to move out and i'm learning how to be an actual person now that i'm not trapped by school and i need to move out and i don't know what i'm doing with my life and i need to move out and i know that moving out isn't really an option for me right now but i need to move out

[flutter-corn]

**Episode 1: The Beginning**

The sun was setting over the city of Los Angeles, casting a warm glow over the sprawling metropolis. In a high-rise apartment overlooking the city, a young woman named Olivia was getting ready for a night out.

She stood in front of the mirror, applying the finishing touches to her makeup. She had just moved to LA a few months ago, chasing her dream of becoming an actress.

Olivia's phone buzzed on the counter, and she saw a message from her friend Chloe.

**Chloe:** Hey girl! You ready for tonight? It's gonna be epic!

**Olivia:** Hey! Yes, I'm so excited! It'll be good to let loose after all the stress of auditions.

**Chloe:** I feel you. Plus, who knows who you might meet at the club?

**Olivia:** Haha, true. But I'm not getting my hopes up. I'm just there to have fun!

**Chloe:** That's the spirit! I'll meet you there at 9. Can't wait to dance the night away with you!

Olivia smiled and grabbed her purse, heading out the door. She had no idea that this night would change her life forever.

As Olivia arrived at the club, she was greeted by a sea of people dancing and laughing. The music was pulsing, and the lights were flashing in time with the beat.

Olivia made her way through the crowd, searching for Chloe. Finally, she spotted her friend near the bar, chatting with a group of people.

"Olivia!" Chloe exclaimed, catching sight of her. "Come meet everyone!"

Olivia approached the group, feeling a little nervous. But her nerves quickly dissipated as she was introduced to a group of friendly faces.

"This is Olivia," Chloe said. "She's new to LA and trying to make it as an actress."

"Ooh, an actress!" said a guy named Max. "That's exciting. LA is the place to be for that kind of thing."

"Thanks," Olivia said, feeling a little embarrassed by the attention. "I'm just starting out, but I'm hoping to make it big someday."

"Well, good luck," said a girl named Emily. "We all have to start somewhere. I'm a writer myself, so I know how tough it can be."

As the night went on, Olivia found herself having a great time with her new friends. They danced, laughed, and talked about their dreams and aspirations.

At one point, Olivia found herself chatting with Max near the bar. He was funny, charming, and seemed genuinely interested in her dreams.

"So, what kind of acting do you want to do?" Max asked.Olivia took a sip of her drink and smiled. "Well, ultimately, I want to do film. You know, the big screen. But I'm open to anything really. Theater, TV, commercials, whatever. I just want to perform and tell stories that matter."

Max nodded, his eyes shining with admiration. "That's awesome. You know, I actually work in the industry. I'm a production assistant on a TV show. It's not glamorous, but it's a foot in the door."

Olivia's eyes widened. "That's amazing! It's so hard to get a job in the industry, even as a PA. How did you manage it?"

Max shrugged. "Honestly, it was a combination of luck and persistence. I just kept applying and networking until someone gave me a chance. And once you're in, it's all about proving yourself and moving up the ladder."

Olivia felt a surge of excitement. "That's inspiring. I'm definitely going to keep trying, no matter how many rejections I get. It's all part of the journey, right?"

"Exactly!" Max said, raising his glass. "To the journey, and all the twists and turns it takes us on."

They clinked their glasses and drank, feeling a connection that went beyond just friendly conversation. As the night wore on, Olivia found herself drawn to Max's charisma and charm. They danced, talked, and laughed, and Olivia couldn't help but feel a spark between them.

As the club was winding down, Max walked Olivia to her car. They stood in the parking lot, neither wanting the night to end.

"I had a great time tonight," Max said, looking into Olivia's eyes. "I hope we can hang out again soon."

Olivia felt her heart flutter. "I'd like that," she said. "Maybe we could grab coffee or something?"

Max grinned. "Definitely. How about tomorrow afternoon? There's a cute little café near my place that has the best pastries."

"Sounds perfect," Olivia said, feeling a rush of excitement. They exchanged numbers and said goodbye, both feeling the potential for something special between them.