#in the next challenge we get to meet grandma PUCK

[puckconnolly]

@thescorpioracesfestival Tourist Challenge 5: The Scorpio Festival

shoutout to my partner in crime, @colestclairs

links to challenges one, two, three, and four

Challenge 5 under the cut

Every day since Rowan had found out Claire was a rider, she went down to the beach and watched her. There were plenty of good riders and plenty of terrible riders, but no one could touch Claire. She and her capall were on the same brainwave. They just understood each other. Claire was patient and gentle with Elemental, while the other riders were brash and sometimes even vicious towards their own capall uisce.

Then there was Finnigan Kendrick. He failed to ever get off his high horse (pun intended) and looked down on every other rider, while simultaneously flashing an irritatingly dazzling smile to the small crowd that gathered each day to watch the training. He thinks he’s got this in the bag, Rowan noticed. Although Rowan hated the guy on principle, she couldn’t help but notice two things. One, he really is quite a beautiful boy, even if he did have the personality of a raisin, and two, he’s Claire’s only real competition.

Rowan watched Claire and Finnigan the most. She watched as Claire would tread dangerously close to the water, and fair quite nicely, and then see Finnigan discretely try to attempt the same thing without much luck. Elemental and Quicksilver were the same breed, sure, but they were nothing alike. Quicksilver just barely tolerated Finnigan, and even then, she was still prone to trying to buck him off. Elemental and Claire, on the other hand, seemed to be cut from the same cloth.

They almost seemed to be friends, if such a thing were possible.

In the days Rowan spent watching the training, she and Claire had become fast friends. Claire and Rowan would laugh about silly things Quicksilver had caused Finnigan to do that day, or Rowan would tell Claire tales of her home.

“New York City,” Claire sighed happily.

Rowan caught Claire’s eye and raised a bemused eyebrow. “It’s just, that’s where I want to go.”

“Really? Why?” Rowan asked. She loved NYC, but Rowan was a born and bred city girl. She wasn’t sure how a Claire would handle all the nonstop commotion all the time.

“Thisby isn’t home,” Claire started. Rowan just stared, confused. “Ok, obviously it is my home, but I don’t feel like I belong here, if that makes any sense.”

Rowan face broke out into a wide smile. Claire laughed, “Right, I forgot who I was talking to. You’re the queen of not belonging here.” Rowan laughed at that and knocked shoulders with Claire.

Suddenly, Claire stood up and yanked Rowan up with her. She dragged Rowan to the edge of the beach, where the incoming tide tried to pull their ankles back with it, without much luck. Rowan looked over at Claire.

She was a different person than she had been reading to the sheep. Has it only been one week since I met Claire? The girl standing beside her was as wild and free as the ocean. Truth be told, Thisby was too small for Claire. Even Rowan, who had only known the girl a week, knew it to be true.

“This is my last year standing on this beach,” Claire said to waves. Rowan cocked an eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “I’m going to win.”

Some of the islanders are batshit crazy, Rowan decided. “Wasn’t that already the plan?” Rowan teased.

Claire, not catching the teasing tone, or simply not caring, answered, “I didn’t mean it before. Not really. But I do now.”

Some of the islanders are batshit crazy. But Claire? Rowan added, Claire just may be the craziest of them all.

And only the craziest of them all get their dreams.

The following evening was the Scorpio Races Festival. It was the equivalent to a county fair, but with more folklore and cinnamon rolls, Rowan had decided.

“They aren’t cinnamon rolls,” Chester announced. “The Big Apple’s never heard of November Cakes? Despicable! Absolutely despicable!” Chester joked and bought three.

Rowan had just finished taking her first bite of gooey goodness when Claire appeared next to her. “You’re here!” she greeted Rowan with a hug. Rowan attempted to hug Claire but her fingers were sticky from the pastry.

“I had to rearrange my horribly busy schedule, but alas, I am here,” Rowan said with gusto. Then she turned to face her grandparents, and they answered before she even asked her question.

“Go,” Amelia smiled, “have fun with Claire. But don’t get into too much trouble!” She called after the girls, who had run off immediately after Amelia’s first word.

Claire dragged Rowan over to the ferris wheel. It wasn’t very tall, at least compared to the skyscrapers Rowan had grown up with, but it was tall by Thisby standards. It cleared the rooftops of every building in Skarmouth.

“The ferris wheel? Seriously?” Rowan scoffed.

Claire ignored her distaste. “It’s a new addition. It’s only been here for a couple of years.” Rowan sighed in defeat and the two of them got in line.

Once on the ferris wheel, Rowan could see the entirety of Skarmouth. It could fit within the limits of Central Park, Rowan thought. I can see why Claire wants to get off this rock as badly as I do.

Like every other ferris wheel in existence, Rowan and Claire’s car stopped to let new passengers on. There weren’t at the tip-top, but one below. The two of them were giggling about nothing important when their car starting shaking like mad.

Rowan looked at the other cars, frantic, but none of them were shaking. “We’re going to die,” Claire whisper-yelled.

“You literally ride a horse that could tear you to shreds at any moment,” Rowan deadpanned.

Before Claire had time to retaliate, a figure dropped into their car. The car stopped shaking.

Finnigan Kendrick.

Of course.

“You know you’re supposed to get in at the bottom of the ride, not the top, right?” Rowan said.

Finnigan batted his infuriatingly long eyelashes and replied, “Oh, but it’s more fun this way.” He pushed Rowan out of the way and sauntered, as much as was possible in the small space, over to Claire. “This is between the two of us.”

Claire looked to Rowan with panicked eyes. Rowan knew the basics of the feud between Claire and Finnigan, but then again, that was only Claire’s side.

To Claire, Finnigan Kendrick started out a nice boy, who grew meaner and angrier with each cycle around the sun. They were friends as children, but that dissolved quickly. She never knew why he started hating her. Her mom had pointed out that when a boy is mean to you, it means he likes you, to which Claire replied that if that was the case, she hoped no boy ever liked her ever again.

To Finnigan, Claire was everything his family hoped he’d be. She was kind and patient, which made her good with animals, especially capaill uisce. She was universally adored by the citizens of Thisby. She was everything Finnigan wasn’t, and his family not-so-subtly reminded him of it whenever they could. So, he grew to detest Claire more and more until he was so filled with rage that he did terrible, stupid things, like winning the Scorpio Races just to get in his family’s good graces.

Finnigan saw Claire arrive on the beach that first day. He saw that her capall actually seemed to respect her, unlike his own Quicksilver. He was sure he had no competition, until that damned horse ran across the beach twice as fast as Quicksilver ever did and then returned to Claire when she called.

When he saw that, he knew that the only way he’d win would be by threatening Claire to drop out.

He saw his opportunity when Claire and the O’Brien’s granddaughter got on the ferris wheel the night of the Scorpio Festival. He cut in line and got in the car behind them. One of his friends was the ride operator, and he was in on the plan. Stop the ride with Finnigan above the girls, so he could easily jump into their car. Then, when Claire couldn’t escape, he would make sure she dropped out of the race.

He was supposed to win. He was the grandson of Puck Connolly and Sean Kendrick. It was in his blood.

When he saw how scared Claire got as he approached, he smiled a vicious smile.

“What do you want?” Claire’s friend snapped.

“Stay out of this!” he snapped back. Who does she think she is? Finnigan thought.

Claire said nothing, just cowering on the bench. “Claire,” he drawled, “you’re going to drop out of the race, or else I’ll slit the ankles of your precious capall.” His grandfather had inadvertently given him that idea, from a story he had told about Mutt Malvern.

But her friend had other plans. “Yeah, that’s not going to happen.”

He whirled around to face her, “Yeah?” he asked. “And what are you going to do about it?”

Finnigan didn’t have to wait long to find out. He was still in disbelief that this, this mainlander had the gall to call him out, when he was hit with a huge rock to the jaw.

No, not a rock. A fist.

Rowan’s fist to be exact.

Finnigan saw stars for a split second, then hit the floor.

Rowan stepped over his form and squatted down next to Claire. In that moment, Claire was a little afraid of Rowan. But also in awe.

“So let me get this straight,” Rowan said slowly, “you caught and regularly ride a murderous horse, but you can’t handle one mean boy?”

Claire shrugged. She knew it didn’t add up.

“I think you’d do surprisingly well in New York,” Rowan said. The ferris wheel started moving again. Rowan sat down next to Claire and thought for a moment. Then said, “I have an idea.”

Claire finally spoke, “Yeah?”

“When I go back home, I think you should come with me,” Rowan announced.

“To you grandparents’?”

“No. To New York City.”

Claire smiled, “I think that’s a grand idea.”

[gra-sonas]

It’s been just a little over a year since “Liberty Biberty” became a part of our cultural vernacular, but that’s when Tanner Novlan garnered national attention as the tongue-tied, clueless, narcissistic actor in Liberty Mutual’s line of popular commercials. “I had seen the series they were doing of Liberty Mutual commercials in front of the Statue of Liberty,” Novlan relays. “And yes, people do come up to me all the time and say, ‘Liberty Biberty.’ It’s so fun that everyone can relate to that obnoxious actor. He was so much fun to play. When you get BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL, you’re like, ‘Wow, this is a career-changer,’ but for a funny little commercial like that, you never think [like that].”

Novlan auditioned for B&B in March and landed the part but couldn’t start, or even talk about it, until the soap began production over four months later due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I don’t know their old way of filming, so this is my new normal,” the actor relays. “Being the first production in North America to be back, it was amazing. It’s like, ‘This really is the new normal.’ It’s been such a unique process but it’s been amazing how all the producers have come together to figure this out and put forth these groundbreaking guidelines, making things safe and efficient and being able to work around all of this and keep everything alive. They’ve come up with some really creative ways of making shots work, but also feeling natural. Yes, we have to socially distance. We always are wearing our masks so we’re very cautious in that manner, but when you get into the scene and you’re reading opposite Jacqui [MacInnes Wood, Steffy], even if she is off camera, the connection is there, and I think it comes through.”

Novlan is thankful that he had some inside knowledge of how things worked at B&B, since he’s the real-life husband of B&B alum Kayla Ewell (ex-Caitlin). “It’s so perfect to have someone who has already been a part of the family to walk me through this,” he says. “She’s great for advice, and not just on work stuff. She gives me advice all the time on life. Listen to your wife. It’s always a good idea [laughs]. But with this team, I feel like I can ask any questions, and everyone was welcoming and straightforward.” Novlan and Ewell’s real-life love story sounds like it could be part of a soap, too. “It was technically kind of a setup because we both starred in this music video for an Australian band [circa 2009],” he relays. “The band is called Sick Puppies. It was one of their first hit North American releases. The name of the song was called ‘Maybe’ [which can currently be viewed on YouTube]. So, that’s how we met, on this music video at 3:30 in the morn- ing in the high desert [of California], which is where I met the woman of my dreams. We were very professional on set, but there was definitely something special about her — and I held her sunglasses for ransom. We were shooting outdoors and locations were changing and the makeup lady accidentally took our sunglasses home with her. The next day she called and said, ‘I have your sunglasses.’ I went and picked them up. I saw hers sitting there and thought, ‘I’ll give these to Kayla,’ so I snagged them and I said to her, ‘Lunch and your sunglasses?’ Luckily she took the lunch, probably just to get her sunglasses back.”

The rest was history, and the duo has worked to navigate the demands of their chosen profession. “The job sometimes involves distance and being away from one another, and there is also the time away that certain projects can require,” he points out. “It can be difficult sometimes but the trick is, we try very hard to make sure our schedules coordinate so we can be with each other. We have a two- to three-week rule where if one of us is away working for that long, you have to fly out and see the other. It’s almost like a must. And with our new baby, Poppy, we’ll definitely make sure that’s the case. But that’s the beauty of a having a great job like B&B. Luckily, I’m here. I’m local in L.A.” Novlan’s mom, a B&B super-fan, couldn’t be more thrilled about her son’s new gig. “My hometown has 500 people in it,” he explains. “I come from a very small farming community so even just coming home was a shock to her, but she’s cool. Kayla is so down-to-earth that none of that mattered. But believe me, my mother is chomping at the bit to come and visit the set of B&B as soon as COVID [passes]. That may be the real challenge, like, ‘Mom, you can’t wander onto the set. You’ve got to stay over here.’ That’s going to be a great day when it happens.”

Novlan credits his mother’s influence for getting him from Saskatchewan to Hollywood. “My mother was originally from Sacramento so I always thought it would be great to come and work in the U.S.,” he explains. “I started doing some print work in Canada so that’s how I originally came down, but I fell in love with acting as my immigration papers were being processed. I went to acting class here but I never could I have imagined having a career in film. But when I came down here and got a taste of it I was, like, ‘Wow. I’m hooked. This is it.’ ” But he admits he had no idea what he was in for. “My first job was a commercial for T.J. Maxx, back to school,” he recalls. “It was the first audition that I had ever been on and I got it and I thought, ‘Well, this is easy!’ I quickly learned there’s a lot of training that goes into it. So, I came here quite green but over the years, I’ve been able to call it a career.”

Over the next decade-plus, Novlan landed high-profile roles in MODERN FAMILY, ROSWELL, NEW MEXICO, the TV rom-com MY BEST FRIEND’S CHRISTMAS and the upcoming PUCKHEADS. 

He’s up for a ROSWELL comeback, schedule permitting. “There could be a chance that we might see Gregory again,” he notes of playing the caring brother of series regular Tyler Blackburn (Alex; ex-Ian, DAYS et al). “I know ROSWELL has been picked up for a season 3, and the character has been pretty well-received from the fans, as well, which is always amazing and such an honor. You never know. It was a great experience, but right now, everything is about B&B. Even with COVID, we’re finding a really nice groove with maintaining safety while keeping that classic B&B look. It’s been pretty smooth, I’ve got to say. How lucky am I?”

“Sinn” City

B&B fans have dubbed Steffy and Finn “Sinn”, which is just fine by Jacqueline MacInnes Wood (Steffy). “I told him this character is his own,” she says. “He’s not a recast, so I told him, ‘Make it your own and have fun with it. Even though we are eight feet away from each other in scenes, feel free to play with me. Let’s connect as much as we can in these scenes.’ He’s been great. He’s been absolutely wonderful on set and taking direction very well — and he’s a fellow Canadian so, of course, we hit it off immediately. He’s a really sweet guy and he can keep up with our pace. I think the fans will really like him.”

Just The Facts

Birthday: April 9 Hails

From: Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, Canada

My Girls: Married to Kayla Ewell (ex-Caitlin, B&B) since September 12, 2015. They welcomed daughter Poppy Marie on July 16, 2019.

What The Puck? “I grew up playing hockey, and I like to play hockey once a week with a group of actors. We have these really intense games.”

All The Right Steff: “It’s time that Steffy meets a man with a new set of values, and a new version of what passion and love can bring. She just had her daughter and I think she’s ready. Finn seems to have her best interests in mind, and I think that’s a good thing for Steffy.”

Finn In A Nutshell: “Helping people is in his nature but he can get a little too involved, and that can also get him into trouble.”

Grandma’s Boy: “My grandmother is in Canada in a nursing home and the last FaceTime I got was from my mom asking me to help set up grandma’s DVR. They’re very excited about this, and it’s nice to know that my grandma gets to see me every day — and, she’s super-proud that I’m a doctor!”